Back to Business
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I looked up out of the window of the workshop, the sound of airplanes passing overhead having died down once Turbine and his large jet had taken off. Thankfully everypony else in the airbase was out watching the race, leaving myself safe to hide... though even if one had bothered to come snooping around here, I doubt they’d really bother checking around extensively. Could probably just hide myself up in the walker if I needed to, or something. I leaned up against the side of the workbench, letting out a sigh as I tried not to think of what Night Strike might have to be dealing with during the race. Come on, Static, Sharpwing already told you the racecourse, it’ll be fine. My ears perked up as a light buzzing could be heard overhead, well off in the distance. Standing back up, I peered back out of the window, trying to spot the source of the noise.
As the buzzing grew louder, though, a roar could be heard growing in the distance as well. Pressing my face into the glass to trying and get a better view, I couldn’t spot anything, and the cold of the window eventually forced me to push back from the glass. The roar grew louder still, and suddenly the sky was full of a black-nosed fireball streaking through it. I drew back in surprise, rushing to the other side of the workshopand the window there, my eyes wide as I watched the plane crash down into the snowbank on the other end of the airfield. Sirens blared out as a small half-track with large tanks of water rushed out of a hangar, ponies dousing the flaming wreck as they approached. My heart pounded in my chest as I wondered what had happened to the huge jet. My ears finally picked the sound of buzzing again and I began to search the skies, moving back to the other side of the shop, now able to spot the silhouette of the Stork against the sky. Something fell from it as it passed low over another snow bank, before it turned around for a landing.
The Stork skidded to a stop on the snowy tarmac, the crowd of ponies rushing over to it. I bit my lip, looking between the window and the door as I contemplated rushing outside. If anypony were to get Night Strike out of the jacket, who knows if our plan would work anymore, let alone what they'd do with her... I tried to get a better look through the crowd, but it was impossible to see what was going on amidst the large group of ponies. After a moment, a figure managed to fight their way out of the crowd. The bulky jacket and turned up hood quickly revealed it to be Night Strike as she hurried away, the other ponies taking a moment before they all realized their winner had slipped away.
Night Strike broke into a gallop as ponies broke off to chase her, others staying behind to either talk among themselves or to admire the Stork. Crash Dive stepped out in front of the group as they were about to pass her, causing them all to halt in place. Whatever she was doing, it was working. Night Strike managed to kick through the door into the workshop, panting heavily as she tore off the scarf and began to undo the buttons on the jacket. “Sweet Luna above, if you thought I was a fanatic for Vera, these ponies were practically ready to trample me to death!” She threw the jacket to me and I began to throw it on, working to get my hooves through the sleeves quickly as she went to work helping wrap the scarf around my neck, something on it jabbing me in the side. Nngh, couldn't have pulled Thumper out before you passed it on? “Alright, let’s hope you thought of some good excuse for this, because I sure as heck didn’t.” Before I could respond, she shoved me towards the door, jumping out of sight as it opened and I was yanked out by Serene.
The mass of ponies all gathered around, a barrage of questions being fired off by the crowd. How did you manage to overcome the Dragon Mare? What caused the explosion and fire? What happened to Turbine? How did you manage such a daring rescue? I stammered, looking back and forth between the ponies, trying to come up with answers. “I, uh, the Stork, uh…” Internally kicking myself for not asking Night Strike for details in the short time we’d had together, I eventually was force to blurt out some explanation. “T-there was some sort of, uh, encampment halfway up the race course! The mercs there had more guns than you could count!” A hush came over the crowd, and I got a bit of confidence back before beginning to elaborate. “I had to avoid dozens of volleys and bullets, we’re lucky we made it out alive! The Dragon Mare wasn’t so lucky, Turbine was swerving and tumbling and barrel rolling all over the place, but one of the group had a mortar, and, well, even with Turbine’s maneuvering, he was a bigger target, one of them hit him and set the Dragon Mare ablaze! I was barely able to get above the Dragon Mare and have Turbine jump aboard before the plane crashed down at the end of the runway.”
“…But, why did you come over here after you landed? There was a whole victor podium set up back at the finish line!” I paused as the random pony asked that question, doing my best impersonation of a deer caught in headlights. I shifted about in place a bit, leaning back against the door, biting my lip a little as my mind raced for an excuse. The sound of a forty millimeter round falling out of the pockets of the jacket suddenly met my ears, and I leaped at the chance.
“I had to return my dear friend,” Opening the door, I leaned in and managed to yank Night Strike out, who was hiding listening to the conversation. “Night Strike’s grenade rifle and ammo! Haha, you wouldn’t believe how, uh, tempting it was to not try air bombing those mercenaries as I flew over!” I stuffed the grenades into her hooves, grinning widely as she only returned a confused stare. “Good thing you sent those along, though! I know I wouldn’t have wanted to crash land in their territory unarmed!” The crowd continued to mutter back and forth, though at least they seemed to find the answer satisfactory.
A few ponies parted as Turbine trotted up to me, his mane singed and his flight jacket bearing several scorch marks. He took a deep breath, trying to make himself as presentable as possible, despite his ratty clothing. "Mmh, well, while I can't comment on the grenade rifle, I think I'd remember a mercenary encampment. I believe you might be exaggerating the truth, my successful competitor... assuming you were even the one flying in the first place. Your coat is astonishingly a much darker shade when you're airborne, isn't it?" I dryly swallowed as the unicorn stared me down, shrinking a little in the heavy flight gear. Oh, crap... Night Strike picked herself up beside me, trotting forth, a determined look on her face.
"Well, if it wasn't a mercenary camp that took your plane down, then what was it? I know for a fact that Static wouldn't have stooped so low as to shoot at a competitor if he didn't have good reason, and considering how everypony's mentioned your past successes, I'd doubt your aircraft would be the kind to suddenly burst into flames." Turbine's expression slowly moved from annoyance at being talked back to by a mare to a certain dawning realization, a smirk coming to Night Strike's muzzle. The crowd murmured behind him, some ponies glaring at him warily. "And that's a good point, according to Serene and Sharpwing, your plane was powered by an electric motor. If that's the case, what, exactly, on it would burn like what we saw when you came in? Asking me, I'd say it looked a bit like a flamethrower fuel fire more than an electrical one..."
Turbine looked between us both for a few moments, taking a step or two backwards, the crowd's murmuring becoming angrier by the moment. The unicorn stammered, glancing about for a bit before glaring daggers at us, albeit faltering. "Ye- bu- nngh, so what if it wasn't a mercenary camp! I... Graargh!" Serene and Sharpwing flanked us, both of them stepping closer to Turbine as the crowd surrounded him. Well, I mean, a semi-peaceful takeover works, too... It was Turbine's turn to be bombarded by questions, himself stumbling in the crowd. He stammered a few more times, before throwing his hooves to the air. "ENOUGH! I didn't even qualify for the win, anyways! So what if I -may- have used a rudimentary afterburner system to provide some extra kick the first few times to gain my position as leader, there wasn't any rule forbidding it! The system wasn't without its dangers, obviously!"
The murmuring of the crowd took on more sinister tones, a few ponies around the unicorn reaching out to grab ahold of him. Okay, this is starting to seem like it's gonna be a little less than semi-peaceful... wait, I'm the new leader now, aren't I? Drawing in a breath, I stood up, some of the crowd glancing my way. Here goes nothing... "Hold it, hold it! He might've done some seriously questionable things, but, well, killing him won't solve anything! He's one of the only ponies here still with a, um..." Looking to the end of the runway for a moment, the smouldering wreck of the Dragon Mare filled the snowy embankment, grey clouds slowly drifting skywards from its body. Ech... "...partially intact functional flying machine, wouldn't you want something like that to learn from? And besides that, don't you guys have any sort of jail or holding cells, anyways? Better to let him live with what he's done."
The crowd quieted for a moment, most seeming to nod in agreement as a group broke off, hauling Turbine off with them. I let out a sigh, relaxing back and looking across the crowd again. Alright, that's taken care of... now for the other part. “Ahem, anyways, uh, I think this might be the record for the shortest term of Air Marshal you guys are going to have. Not to be rude, that is, but the Vanhoover Five… well, three at the moment, has a lot of work to be done around the Vanhoover wastes still. And it’s a little hard to help make sure the towns around here have enough firepower if we’re stuck in the middle of a mountain range dozens of miles away.” The crowd’s muttering started up once again as well, ponies looking back and forth as they wondered what was going on.
“I’m afraid I’ll have to… delegate my position to Serene Steel and Sharpwing. They helped us design and build the plane after all, they had at least a hoof in the victory today.” A few ponies started to look a little miffed, their mutterings becoming louder. Those weren’t the rules! You can’t just change the leader, can you? Sensing trouble, Crash Dive stepped forward once again, her deathly glare somehow able to be sensed even through the dark visor of her helmet as she stared down the group. Taking advantage, I quickly straightened up a bit, trying to look as intimidating as possible. “It is completely within my right to do this. I won the competition. You want an official changing of rulers? I declare myself king. No more races to decide victor, I am leader from henceforth.” The crowd looked even more agitated, but Crash Dive was able to easily silence them. What wonders a good set of intimidating power armor can do...
“Now, Serene…” I pulled him over before having him place his hooves on my chest. I threw myself down dramatically, flopping to the snowy concrete as the others looked upon in complete bewilderment. “Oh! You have bested me in a fight! You are truly the rightful heir to the throne! You are now ruler of the Vanhoover Air Base!” And without another word, I stood back up, brushed off my coat, and walked back inside the workshop. The dumbfounded silence was deafening, to say the least.
---
“I still -really- can't believe that actually worked.” Night Strike let off a small grunt as we loaded up the trailer to the mini-tank, now hitche up to the back of the much larger half-truck, Crash Dive pushing around a few boxes of explosives to make way for a stash of ammo from the supply hangars in the air base. I sat myself in the driver’s seat, looking down over the side of the tall vehicle as Serene Steel and Sharpwing stood by to see us off, the rest of the members of the air base having gone off to their standard duties for the day. “Still wish we could fly the Stork back with us, though. You absolutely sure we can’t?”
“Not unless you trust flying back on however much booze is left in that thing's tank. Besides, I doubt it’d survive another dragon attack.” Crash Dive opened up one of the boxes of ammo in the trailer, searching through it to ensure everything was in place before securing the lid shut and hefting herself up onto the back of the half-truck. Checking that the left wing and engines from the Seafalke - so there was a sister aircraft to the Seaddler up here, who knew? - were all properly secured, she worked her way around the generator, seating herself on the back seats of the half-truck's passenger section. “You’re probably going to have a hard time keeping the ponies here from tearing Turbine apart after all that he's done to this place. You sure you can handle them?” Crash Dive asked, looking over to Serene and Sharpwing.
Sharpwing nodded, leaning onto one hoof and crossing the other in front of it. “It'll be an uphill battle, but after all that he's done we'll be able to get most o' the residents here to see that leavin' him alive and unable to fly'll be a fate worse than just killin' him. Lot of ponies lost family because o' him, we'll just make sure he knows beond a shadow of a doubt how much pain he's caused.” Crash Dive nodded, Night Strike settling down onto the passenger seat of the half-truck, staring wistfully at the parked Stork. “Anyways, ah, sure you saw robotic dragons up there, though? ‘Cause even Static’s story seemed more reasonable, and he wasn’t even flyin’.” Night Strike nodded, and Sharpwing looked a bit more nervous. Serene waved a hoof dismissively, a small grin crossing his face.
“Bah, if zhey do decide to attack, ve have more zhan enough to repel zhem. Especially vonce ve get ze Stormvalker running again.” His grin widened as he glanced back to the workshop the hulking metal beast was still being stored in. Sharpwing rolled her eyes as I flicked the switch, the massive engine in front rumbling to life. Whoo, momma, that sounds like a -lot- more horsepower than what the mini-tank has... The red unicorn looked up to Night strike for a moment, a small smile crossing his muzzle. “Und ve can also look after ze Storch, too. Might be able to find some vay disassemble it for transit, even. Still, are you sure you don’t need anyzhing else? Ve’d be more zhan happy to help you now zhat ve have free roam again.”
Looking over my shoulder to the several dozen crates of new ammo and weapons, I tried to hide my own grin, my mind already attempting to work through how much Maple Station might be willing to pay to arm their own personal army. “Nah, I think we’re good.” Revving the engine, I turned the massive truck about, and began to trundle off towards the entrance to the airbase. Night Strike idly flicked through her Pip-Buck, the radio crackling a bit as it struggled to get a reception this far away from the station.
“-ey all you fine p----- ---- -- ----- -AOS, and we’re co---g in live from ou- ----- --- -- the middle -- --- sea, as always. News today, at---- -- ---oov-- -owntown, was quelled --ickly by the local po---- force, not much going on else--ere. No new of the V------er Five lately, other than --- Alicorn stuck up in Maple St---on. Hope you guys --- d---- ---igh-.”
“Coming up next, the –ver famous, -----------“
“Well you can --ck it, you can ---- it,
You can st—and you can stro—it at the hop
When the ----- starts spi----
You cha---- when --- chick—at the hop
Do the ---- sensation that is -----in’ the nation at --- -op”
---
I yawned, rubbing my eyes as the headlights of the massive half-track illuminated the road in front of me, the loud engine in front droning away. The road twisted as it ran through the canyons away from Rock Ridge, the massive size of the half-truck making the journey a little more perilous. Night Strike shifted about in the seat beside me, stretching and rubbing at her own eyes as the very last hints of light faded from the sky. The front of the truck bounced as we rolled over a small rockslide on the path, jolting me awake. “Bwuh, why didn’t we decide to stop back in Rock Ridge, again?” I asked, trying to suppress another yawn as we continued. Night Strike looked over her shoulder, raising an eyebrow and attempting to give a firm glare of disapproval, though it didn’t come through very well through the bags under her half-open eyes. “I know, you don’t want to be reminded. I still think there could’ve been some place there that we could’ve camped out for a couple hours.”
Slapping my cheek to stay awake, my back hoof pressed down on the floor pedal, speeding us up a bit as we exited the vaster parts of the mountain range, reaching the flatter sections between them and the hotel resort. As we drove across a shallow valley, I peered off into the distance, trying to spot the hotel in the darkness. Against the starry sky, it was only visible by the lack of pinpricks of light, leaving a rectangle of inky blackness. Driving closer to the hotel, however, began to reveal the sound of clicking and chittering, a shiver of disgust running up my spine as I slowed our approach. Crash Dive sat up in the back seat, leaning over the side of the half-truck's body. Her headlamp combined with the headlights of the half-truck to reveal the barrier surrounding the hotel.
The chittering grew louder as we pulled up beside the barrier, the large engine purring quietly. I noticed something moving beneath the barrier and stopped the half-truck, motioning to draw the others’ attention to it. Night Strike pulled Thumper up, dropping a grenade into the breech as Crash Dive scanned the several hardened black legs moving about the posts of the makeshift fence. Creeping the massive half-track along the side of the fence as best as I could, easier said than done with something that weighs eighteen tons, I slowly turned the corner, and had to quickly muffle a scream of fright. An oversized scorpion turned to face the light, hissing as it snapped its powerful claws at us menacingly. Night Strike fired off her grenade, cracking the tough carapace of the scorpion. It stumbled backwards, jabbing its tail forward and clacking its pincers as it retreated behind another section of the fence.
A pair of scorpions ran out from the side of the hotel, their spindly legs digging into the dirt as they rushed forward. Crash Dive shot a bar of rebar at one, myself reving the engine of the truck to try and scare some away. Clicks and cries of pain could be heard as the solid rod of metal pierced the tail of one of the scorpions, severing it partially. It flailed about, twitching and writhing as the other ones crawled over it. “Where the hell did these come from?!” I shouted, plowing the massive half-track forwards and crushing a few of the scorpions as Night Strike sent another grenade into a grouping of them. I grabbed my umbrella in my hoof, leaning out of the tank to swat at another one of the buggers trying to climb up the side, which lunged with its tail. It froze for a moment, the electricity coursing through it from the strike. Crash Dive was able to clamber over to my side and send another bolt of rebar through its tail as it was paralyzed, sending it flying backwards from the force as it waved its pincer arms about in agony.
The remaining scorpion was attempting to crawl away, but Night Strike slid another grenade into Thumper before raising it up to look down the sights. The grenade fired with a thud, and landed directly on the scorpion’s back. It exploded, bits of the arachnid flying in all directions, with some splattering on the windshield of the half-truck I am finding myself exceedingly more thankful for. Ech, gross... The chittering stopped, though I wasn’t ready to let my guard down yet. Pulling the large vehicle to a stop outside of the hotel, we climbed out and headed inside, our weapons still at the ready. The lobby was dark, the only light coming from Night Strike and my Pip-Bucks and Crash Dive’s helmet. “You think there’s going to be more of them hanging around here?” Night Strike asked, looking around nervously.
“Maybe. Maybe that bomb that blew up the carnival disturbed a nest or something. You can always barricade the doors, you’d hear them trying to break into your room, then.” Crash Dive said in her usual dry tone. She headed up the stairs in the lobby and over into the room she'd been in previously, Night Strike and myself following her, stepping into the room we'd likewise taken originally. Wel, at least the raiders didn't move back in...
Stepping into the familiar dark room, Night Strike set Thumper down on the table before making her way over to the bed. I shut the door behind us, searching around for something to block it. Finding nothing better, I grabbed a chair behind the desk, pulling it over to lodge it underneath the knob of the door. “Suppose we should be fine. I don’t know if any of those scorpions could fit through the doors of the hotel, anyways.” I trotted over to the bed, where Night Strike had already curled up under the covers. Slipping in beside her, I curled up in bed, closing my eyes as I wrapped my hooves around her. I sighed as I slipped into the long awaited embrace of sleep, snuggling up with the dark-coated pegasus as she did the same to me. Yeah... we'll be fine.
-----
"...so, is a Gauss rifle an energy weapon or a ballistic weapon?" It was early the next morning when we'd climbed back aboard the half-truck and set off westwards again, Static with his legputer switched over to the map and glancing down at the screen every so often just to figure out where we were headed. Apparently going to explore ground zero of a 70-kiloton megaspell warhead explosion and dancing on the radioactive ashes of the animatronic manticore caught in it is something that 'normal' ponies don't do... puh, killjoys. I instead busied myself with looking over the burst-fire gauss rifle, fiddling with some of the parts and turning the crank on the side - probably determines the length of the burst, or something. "I mean, yeah, it uses electromagnets and coils to launch the projectiles, but the projectiles themselves are just little metal rods, aren't they? Just like bullets, except, yanno, smaller in diameter... and more rod-shaped."
Static let off an annoyed sigh beside me, the half-truck winding its way through the mountain roads. "Well, I assume it's technically an energy weapon, how else would Minty be so good with using Jolts? You know how good he is with that stuff, and I think we both can remember the last time he tried using a conventional gun." A shudder ran up my spine as he mentioned that, my brain being as courteous as ever and bringing those memories back up. Great soda massacre of '84, who could forget... even I felt bad, seeing all those smashed Sparkle-Cola and Sunrise Sarsaparilla bottles. "Besides, it uses that energy weapon ammunition, anyways, doesn't it? All the signs are pointing that way."
"Now hang on, Static, I might not like to remember my time in Basic with the Enclave, but I'm fairly confident in remembering that whatever gauss weaponry we had was classified in with the heavy ballistic guns." Crash Dive leaned herself forwards against the back of our seat, resting her hooves between us. She leaned forwards to get a look at the Burst-Gauss I had in my lap, thinking for a moment. "Granted, the ones I remember seeing weren't exactly like that one... ours were the M72, old Germane make, I think? Eh, still, they were called ballistic weapons back in my day."
The earth pony glared back at the power armored pegasus, a frown on his muzzle. "Well, whatever those gauss rifles were might've been classified as ballistic ones, but I'm tellin' you the Equestrian models have got to be some sort of energy weapon, otherwise there's no way Minty could use Jolts as well as he does. Maybe the Germane ones are just weirder versions or something. Probably had to use that crank on the side for charging the shot, or something." Static gave his head a shake, turning his attention back to the road. Sheesh, who'd have thunk a simple question would turn into bickering like this? It was Crash Dive's turn to be annoyed, moving herself forwards to smack the back of Static's head, the surprised earth pony's muzzle managing to make the half-truck's horn beep as it impacted the steering wheel.
"I don't know what kind of gauss rifle your dad's 'Jolts' is, but I can assure you that the M72 didn't need to be charged before firing off a shot. I might not've used one of them myself, but from the stories I heard about them, they were lifesavers to anypony lucky enough to get one. Could blast a hellhound clean apart, or even break through the shield of an alicorn and still have the power to leave a hole through their chest. Not gonna stand for you disrespecting it." Static rubbed at the back of his head, grumblung slightly, passing on a quick glare to Crash Dive. The half-truck got underway again after Static gave his head a shake, seeming to think for a while.
"Fine, fine, won't call that Germane gauss rifle by any names. Still, even though these fire metal projectiles, they do it using electromagnets rather than gunpowder, so, energy weapon. Hell, plasma weapons like Minty's other rifle fire projectiles with mass, and they're energy weapons, aren't they?" Resting the Burst-fire Gauss on its stock with the barrel pointing skywards beside me, I rubbed at the back of my own head, letting off a sigh. Yeesh, note to self, don't open up this can of worms again... Crash Dive let off a huff of her own, thinking quietly, the mountain roads still winding about and buried in snow.
"Plasma isn't affected by ballistic drop-off, though, and no matter what the muzzle velocity of that type of gauss rifle is, it'll still have some arc at far ranges. Might take a couple kilometers, but sooner or later you're going to have to aim above the target due to gravity and air resistance." Aaaand Static's looking annoyed again. See, this is why I prefer conventional guns, from a .22 cal pistol up to a 28cm railway cannon they all work exactly the same way, explosives fire a bullet at high enough velocity to give whatever's on the receiving end a very bad day. Nobody's gonna bicker about what a grenade rifle should be classified as... yanno, besides 'fun sniping weapon' or 'useful close-quarters weapon'. "So, yeah, the Gauss rifle is a ballistic weapon, because it has a ballistic trajectory."
Static's hooves wrapped tighter around the large steering wheel, a certain look on his face letting me know that I probably ought to try and defuse him before we go motoring off a cliff in a 20-ton-loaded half track. "Okay, whatever, it's an energy weapon that fires a ballistic projectile, let's drop it before we end up being the ones dropping, got it? Sorry I even asked..." Looking between them with the Burst-Gauss sitting beside me, they both let off cloudy sighs, the air in the open covered seats of the half-truck's crew compartment seeming to calm. That's good, everyone's stopped arguing.
The chill mountain wind blew up from the valleys below, filling the deafening silence that found its place back again between us all. I rested back, looking through the clear windshield of the half-truck at the southwestern roads, peering off towards the next range that hopefully would lead us on to Maple Station. I fidgeted a little from the silence - guh, really wish we had better radio reception out here... and I also wish my brain-to-mouth filter worked a little better. "So... why do laser weapons have recoil?"
Static and Crash Dive had started up their bickering again as I stuck my hoof over my mouth a few moments too late, the only thing that I could do now being to sink back into the long cushioned seat of the half-truck. Gonna be a looooong ride...
---
The eastern gate to Maple Station drew closer, Static keeping a hoof held up to shield his eyes from what was left of the fading sunlight. Might've taken two whole days straight just to get from the lodge over here, but at least we can finally get another good night's rest, again... I let off a grunt, stretching my back in the seat and looking around, leaning forwards against the half-truck's dashboard. "Nnf, fuggin... I should've moved more Sparkle-Cola over from the wagon before we left." Picking myself up, I swung around on the outside of the half-truck to the second row of seats, climbing back in and rummaging through my duffel bag. Crash Dive let off a sigh of her own, most likely out of boredom more than anything, myself eventually managing to find a still-intact bottle... keep it together, still have a hell of a lot more left between the load at Maple Station and the Lighthouse. Just... relax.
Flopping back into the front seat with the bomb-bottle, the cap came off with a hiss of carbonation, allowing myself to partake in that sweet sweet nectar of the goddesses. Might not be Sparkle-Cola RAD, but, hey, best I've got. The rumble of a small engine and clattering of tracks caught our ears as we came up to the gate, Static slowing us down as a smaller... boat on tracks trundled in front of us, caught in the headlights. It seemed to stop to look at us for a moment, before quickly turning out of the way, parking up alongside the road with its bow towards our front. The top hatch of the small turret clattered aside, the multicolored striped zebra... ZONY inside poking her head out, and shielding her own eyes from our headlights.
Taking the hint, Static fumbled for a moment before eventually managing to switch the beams off, pulling the massive half-track up alongside the amphibious light tank. "Oh, oh my, um... we're going to need more room in the tank shed, aren't we?" Sensha let off a weak chuckle as Static returned a sheepish grin, the ghoul zony looking over the half-truck and all the stuff loaded on it. I let myself rest against the dashboard, taking another sip of soda - well, least they'll have some extra space once all the Sparkle-Cola is loaded back in for us to take home. The Zony let herself rest back against the hatch ring of the turret, scratching at her thin mane. "Well, certainly have had a busy week or so from the looks of things. You can head on in and over to the shed, won't have to worry about any mercenaries catching you here. Not that you'd have to really worry about them catching you anywhere, anyways..."
I blunk a few times, my tired brain confused about that for just a few moments. But, wait, the mercenaries are all dead, though, I... am not gonna finish that thought. Static answered her with an exhausted nod and small wave as Sensha ducked back inside her tank, the small engine starting back up and the strange light tank driving off. I rested back in the seat, the cool evening air helping to keep me awake to some extent as Static slowly drove us through the town, pushing on towards the familiar railshed. Of course, duh, they wouldn't know about it all the way over here, haven't had anyone able of calling it in to Radio KAOS out there. For the better, I guess... at least now we can get things on the track of looking back to normal.
The doors to the long railshed opened wide as we drew up near them, Mad Jack and Rheinmetall holding them open for us with wide smiles on their muzzles. The engine of the half-truck was amplified by the smaller confines of the brick building, Static shutting it off after passing by Porschia. A long groan escaped the earth pony beside me as he slumped back in the seat for a moment, before dragging himself to the side of the half-truck to exit it, myself doing the same. Rheinmetall trotted over to meet me, looking over the half-truck as he did, eyes wide in amazement. "Meine Gottinnen, a Sonderkettenkraftfahrzeug nine Clydesdale, it's been centuries since I've seen one! Ahem, vell, saw the front of one, that is... These feats of engineering have ze pulling power to rescue tanks of ze same weight class as Porschia, I was close friends vith some of ze recovery crews that used these things. Vhere did you find a functional one?"
Taking a long gulp from the bottle of Sparkle-Cola I had in hoof, and draining half of it in the process, I gasped for breath before answering him. Guh, that road trip really took a lot out of me... who knew sitting still for so long could be so draining? "Eh, ah, Vanhoover Air Base, actually. Think they were using it as a utility vehicle more than an armor recovery one, what with the big generator on the back and all..." Nodding up to it, Rheinmetall moved his gaze, adjusting the glasses that rested on his muzzle momentarily as he examined the large device bolted to the back deck. A long yawn escaped me as I went to drown it in another gulp of Sparkle-Cola, this one nearly finishing the bottle off. Caffiene and sugar, you're failing me... "Mmh, sorry to say, but we drove here straight from Twin Peaks lodge, we're all pretty much beat. It's fine if we leave this here and go to the hotel to crash, right?"
The unicorn stood examining the large half-track for a moment, before blinking, managing to turn his attention away from it and back towards myself. "Eh? Oh, um, ja, of course. Eheh, do apologize, just handling a lot of fond memories..." Rheinmetall trailed off for a moment, one of his hooves gently resting on the half-track's track, a quiet sigh escaping him. A light smile came upon my muzzle as I turned myself around, giving my head a light nod... probably more due to tiredness than anything. Nice seeing an old ghoul happy. My ears caught Rheinmetall clearing his throat for a moment as I stood beside the front wheels of the half-track, myself turning to face him. "Ahm, right, before you und your friends go, zhere is one last thing..."
Looking at him in confusion for a moment, the sound of a speaker crackling on on the other side of the railshed caught our attention, Rheinmetall's grin giving way to light laughter. I trotted around the front of the half-truck... what'd he call this thing, a Sonder-ketten-krafting-farzug nine Clydesdale? Guh, I'mma just call it the Clydesdale - looking for the source of the theme music filling the workshop. One of Fyre's top hatches clattered open in an aura of blue magic, a familiar mare's voice echoing from it... what. "When evil trots the streets of Baaston, one mare lurks in the shadows, shielding the innocent, judging the guilty. That guardian is... The Silver Shroud!"
The black wide-brim fedora covering a deep blue mane burst out from the tank, the alicorn followed by her favorite Chicacolt Typewriter and Battle Rifle, striking a pose with her wings spread wide to cast odd shadows from the overhead light at her back. She landed in front of Fyre in a bow, picking herself back up and wearing a determined look, one that quickly broke to a stupid grin and silent giggling as she looked over our expressions. Glad to know you're still finding ways to enjoy yourself, Aerith. 'Sorry, couldn't resist. Caution Tape fashioned me up a fancy little soundbox, yanno, just for that little extra kick when I'm fighting for the forces of good and righteousness!' Considering how she was cracking up, I can only say it's a good thing she doesn't have to vocally say that...
Static was joining in with her light laughter for a moment, interspersed with heavy yawns from the exhausted earth pony. His baggy eyes fell to the floor for a moment, before they opened wide as they could manage to, a memory coming back to him. "Oh, Caution Tape, right! Ahm, where is he, he was fixing something up for us... well, me, is he finished with it yet?" Aerith blunk at him for a few moments, tapping a hoof against her chin and trying to remember herself, Rangefinder popping out of Fyre's open commander's hatch. Ehm... oh, right, that soda-ruined stealth armor. Guh, c'mon Sparky, some things can wait until we're not both ready to pass out on the floor.
"Heh, sorry guys, Caution Tape and Deathtrap are over patrolling the western gate right now, won't be back in for a couple hours yet. Guessing you sorta missed the lack of gigantic landship taking up space in here, huh?" Rangefinder wore a smirk and leaned herself on the top of her tank's turret, Static blinking a few times sheepishly. I had to glance over to the rest of the empty railshed myself, looking at the oil-stained concrete floor and red brick walls that made up the rest of its length - yeah, that... that would be a pretty good giveaway. The ghoulified pegasus let off a light laugh, Static rubbing at his exhausted eyes as he looked at the rest of the railshed with me. "Sheesh, you all just come straight back here from halfway across the wasteland? You better go get some sleep at the hotel, my treat. We ain't going anywhere, I'll let Caution Tape know you finally arrived."
"Yeah... ehm, thanks. Really were put out of it by the trip..." Static passed on a tired nod as he made way for the railshed's side door, Crash Dive following along beside him. I passed on a wave to Rangefinder, the pegasus returning it, Aerith wearing a grin as she moved herself up beside me as I passed by the front of Fyre, heading for the door as well. A gentle sigh escaped me as a grin found place on my muzzle - well, least we're back to the Vanhoover Four again.
The soft blue lighting of the railyard filled the air as we passed over to the more permanent hotel structure, the crisp night air and frigid snow underhoof helping keep my brain awake long enough at least for the short walk. Aerith's horn flared up beside me, one of her screens popping up as we neared the hotel's entrance. 'So, you know how we turned that old power station on the coast into a crater awhile back? Well, Rangefinder got an idea for something that we could do with it, eventually, anyways. Lot of the ghouls coming through here are heading north for the more irradiated places, and, well, there's a brand new radioactive hot-spot just a few days to the west now.' The alicorn wore a soft smile as we passed through the entrance, moving from the frigid snow to the heated lobby. Mmmh, could just collapse on the floor right now... brain, wait until we can get in a bed, please.
"Nnf, think you could give us the run-down tomorrow, Aerith? We kinda did a multi-day journey in one straight shot, we're all exhausted, just... tommorow, okay?" The alicorn blunk for a moment, looking at myself in a light surprise... I think... before passing on a single nod. She moved herself over beside Crash Dive as Static tossed me the other room key, myself fumbling to catch it... and then fumbling to catch him. Ugh, c'mon Sparky, just a few flights of stairs between us and sleep. Sweet, sweet, necessary sleep...
---
"Thanks for agreeing to help, guys, this one's probably the most ambitious plan I've had in a while." The sun shone brightly through the high windows of the railshed, casting long shadows across the vehicles around. Guh, between having to half-carry Static up those stairs and being exhausted myself, I don't think we made it to our room before passing out... still woke up in our room's bed, though. Thank you, Aerith, I guess... Rangefinder stood at the front of Fyre, an old scribbled-on map fastened to the tank's large dozer blade. The ghoul pegasus smiled as we made ourselves comfortable, watching her as she pointed towards the location of Hornsworth and the Battered-Sea.
"So, as you probably know, the megaspell you set off at the Battered-Sea kicked up a helluva lotta fallout. I'm not an expert on these things, but thankfully enough we did have a few ponies who are experts come through, and they said that the bomb's left behind a lot more radiation than it was probably supposed to. Their best guess was that there was some sort of arcane reactor in the basement that got blown open when the bomb went off - what this means is that now there's a nice big waterfront crater that's nice and clicky for all of those who kinda need that stuff to survive. What I want to do, using Fyre here, is see if that place can be turned into a nice town with a little legwork and a lotta time. Think you guys could help?"
We all passed glances to each other for a moment, Static scratching at the back of his head. Well, she's got ambition, I'll give her that... I guess the bulldozer helps, too. And the gun -can- fire High Explosive and AP Balefire Egg shells... "The bit about a reactor getting blown open does make sense, something had to be powering Pearl and the Shady Shores facility still, but why d'you need our help to get it done? You're not expecting us to have to build up the whole place, are you?" That... was a good point. Guh, at least let us unload the wing and engine for the Seaddler first before you ask us to start hauling building materials halfway across the wasteland with the Clydesdale. "I mean, yeah, we can sell stuff to help a town defend itself, but building one from the ground up is sort of completely out of our scope."
Rangefinder looked on towards Static for a few moments as he spoke, before breaking out in a laugh. Uh... did I miss the joke, or something? The ghoulified pegasus leaned herself against the top of the dozer blade, rubbing at one of her eyes with her wingtip and regaining herself. "You're kidding, right? Of course you guys don't have to help build the place, the kind of ponies looking to settle down at a place like there aren't incompetent morons that don't know how to use a hammer and their own hooves, or have to be told exactly what jobs to do. Nah, I'm just askin' because you guys've been there before, know the area, and Fyre doesn't work too well out in the field with only me in her. Just need a guide and somepony to help with support, we can handle the rest."
So, a legitimate reason to drive into ground zero of a megaspell explosion, and beyond that do it in a tank with multiple heavy machine guns and the lovely Royal Equestrian Ordinance Quick-Firing seventeen-pounder? As if I needed any more reason than that. A stupid grin was on my muzzle as I felt my wingtips brushing against Aerith and Static, both of them passing on glances towards myself. Static let off a sigh, shaking his head. "Well, I guess we can help out, got to get back to the lighthouse sooner or later anyways. Last I remember we just ran into raiders with flamethrowers in Hornsworth, and a couple at that one campsite, so the tank might be a little overkill..."
"Static, if you don't let me put a 76.2mm ROQF armor-piercing shell through a raider's face, I'm breaking up with you." My hooves crossed over my chest, my best pouty face forming on my muzzle as Static blunk at me a few times in disbelief. After a second, I broke down to a small giggle, the earth pony rolling his eyes in response. C'mon, Sparky, you know I'm not that petty... "But, seriously, unless the raiders managed to fix up that thing we killed to death in the face with C4, I think at best we'll only need Fyre's main gun for shooting HE shells to clear rubble in the crater. Most other stuff we can handle with what we've got already."
Rangefinder seemed to lean back on her hooves for a moment, biting at her lip as she drew in a breath. Okay, so, what, more than just raiders? Did they mutate from the radiation, or something? Oh, Celestia please tell me that that animatronic didn't mutate somehow too... "Well, that's the thing, there was a couple that passed through here a little while back, said they ran into you guys the first time you went to the Battered-Sea. They set off west to head back home, but came straight back here saying that there was... -something- living in the crater. Something really, really big and nasty, with glowing eyes, too. No clue what to expect, but if it's like a giant hellhound or dragon or something I do not want to be taking any chances. Have had the ammo cart working overtime to make a load of APBEBC rounds for Fyre just in case."
Well, on the upside, something legitimate to use the gun on! Or, well, not likely to have Static yell at me for shooting in the face with it, anyways. Looking over to the earth pony beside me, he seemed to think for a moment, before he seemed to turn as white as his mane, eyes wide and mouth loose. Um... not making me feel too good, Sparky. "Th-... the hoofprints, tracks, whatever, those giant dents left in the top of the sub we blew up... y-you don't think that whatever left those could be..." It took me a moment to remember exactly what he was talking about, but when my brain finally did find the right memory... yeah, the tank is pretty justified as having now, I think. Then again... we did set off two megaspells with it nearby...
"N-now hang on, Static, whatever that thing was we probably already killed it with the megaspells. A one-kiloton explosive shockwave is transmitted a lot further and with much more force underwater than through air, I'm sure it's probably just some little mutated creature that they mistook for being bigger than it is because of fog or something that's living out at the crater, nothing to freak out about." I let out a weak chuckle, Static not seeming to calm down too quickly - from the size of the holes that thing left in the steel armor of the sub, I really don't blame him. Still, don't think we should jump to conclusions so quickly, no sense getting the brown pants when we still have time to get weapons together and everything.
Rangefinder let off a small sigh, pulling the map off the dozer blade and folding it up. "Whatever it is, we're gonna have to deal with it either way. Get that taken care of and then I can radio back the all clear for the Battered-Sea, and ghouls can go and settle it. Nice to have you guys onboard for it, couldn't do it without your help. I still have a few things I need to prep for the trip, should be good to go in a day or two if you don't mind sticking around."
"I'm sure we can hang around for a while, we could really use a rest after that last whole trip. Besides, 'Mr. Cellophane' here still needs to pick up his fancy armor." Static shot me a quick glare that I answered through sticking my tongue out at him, us all getting back up on our hooves. Oh, c'mon, I said I'd call you that sooner or later~ The rumble of a large, heavy tank filled the air outside the eastern end of the railshed, the zony in the light tank ahead of it pulling open the doors and quickly parking her vehicle just inside, allowing the zebra in the much larger and longer tank to slowly trundle it in. It's front stopped a meter or so away from Fyre, Caution Tape shutting off her engine and climbing up through the interior. "And speak of the devil..."
The top hatch of the tank clattered open, the ghoulified zebra inside looking down from the tall perch at us, his eyes lighting up momentarily. "Ah, wunderbar, you've finally arrived! Ahm, one moment..." He ducked back inside as Static trotted up alongside the Deathtrap's armored sideskirts, looking up at the central turret. Heh, forgot just how big this damn tank was... almost as big as the TOG, probably a little lacking in the armor and anti-armor departments compared to it, though. Caution Tape popped back out after a moment, holding a mass of black and dark-grey fabric with an orange visor, wearing a grin. "Zhere we are, should be all fixed up und ready for use! I, eheh, did try to keep it as un-irradiated as possible... hopefully it's not too bad."
Static wore a grin as he gleefully looked over his apparently now-functional sneaky suit, pulling the zipper on the back open and climbing inside it. Well, guess I can't really blame him for wanting to wear it soon as possible. The helmet's softer parts filled out as the head of the earth pony fit inside it, the entire outfit covering up his coat and managing to even flatten that silvery mane of his. He poked at the helmet with his hoof for a moment, before the air seemed to shimmer around him, the earth pony completely disappearing from sight. I blunk a few times at where he was standing, only able to catch the faintest odd shimmer of light - well, it works. "Oh, boy, it is weird to be able to see straight through my hoof like that... I love it!"
"Heh, you're not going to be wearing that thing all the time now, right Sparky? I wanna be able to see your cute blue flanks at least some of the time~" I stuck my tongue out at him... I think, only to end up biting it in surprise as I felt a rubber-softened hoof suddenly poke me in the wing. Stumbling over - hey, wings are sensitive! - Static let off a giggle next to me, my view snapping over there only to find myself staring at a surprised Crash Dive. "Ach, oh for the love of- at least use it for important stuff, too."
"Important stuff, important stuff... oh, like sneaking a nice thick cushion over your cute flanks?~" While I couldn't see it, I'm pretty sure that Static decided it was his turn to be sticking his tongue out at me, his hoofsteps quiet against the concrete floor as he kept trotting around. If my face was cold before, that angry blush on it was heating it right up now. "C'mon, Strikey, I'm just having a little fun. You'd want to do the same if you had something as cool as this~ I bet I could even-"
We could only really watch Crash Dive as she suddenly stuck her hooves out to push against something vaguely pony-shaped, grabbing hold of it and hefting it over her head for a moment. The transparent mass let out a Static-sounding scream as it landed with a hard thump against the smooth concrete floor, Crash Dive looking down at it as the suit flashed back into vision, the earth pony inside of it laying on the ground, stunned. The power armored pegasus let off a light breath, glaring down at Static - well, I mean, at least she didn't thrown him through the roof. The orange visor faded to clear, Static letting loose a cough and recovering himself, still laying on the floor.
"Okay... point taken... don't talk while wearing this thing in stealth mode."
---
"K A O S Radio~"
"You and I are listening to K A O S, KAOS in Vanhoover. It's a beautiful winter morning out there today, and we've got some good news straight out of the town of Maple Station for you. The Vanhoover Five is finally back together again after long last, well, at least for the most part. According to the quick interview our informant station there could provide, Static Charge, Crash Dive, and Night Strike were all preoccupied over the last several days overthrowing the leadership of the town of ponies taking up residence at the Vanhoover Air Base, in probably one of the most bizzare coups I've ever heard of; the construction and racing of flying machines. Hopefully what this means is that whoever was flying the air craft they came down in has better luck flying them back home again, heh.
"The Vanhoover Five went on to explain that as well as overthrowing an apparently sexist cheating asshole of a leader, they also were able to eradicate the most recent band of mercenaries that had been sent after them, in what I can only assume to have been a spectacular display of overwhelming firepower and enough explosions to add an extra few kilotons onto the running tally they're racking up. Trust me guys, I'm pretty sure you've already won the postwar medal for most overall explosive destruction, heh. When pressed further for information, they declined giving it - suppose they had good reason to do so. We don't pry for more information than what somepony's willing to give here at Radio KAOS, let alone a group of ponies who've quite thoroughly demonstrated their ability to blow things up, heh.
"Unfortunately, one bit of information they were able to relay was concerning the town of Saddlebrook, nestled in the mountain ranges out to the west. To anyone who had family living there, I'm sorry to say that Saddlebrook has been completely razed to the ground by what the Vanhoover Five could only assume were the Harriers and whoever or whatever was in control of them. They went on to also say that apparently the town is now occupied by robotic dragons... at this time, we can only assume that there were no survivors. For the sake of the loved ones who have been lost in this tragedy, I sincerely hope that the Vanhoover Five will be directing all their efforts towards avenging the destruction of Saddlebrook, and bringing those responsible to justice. Make it as brutal as you can muster, guys, assholes like that deserve it.
"On that somber note, I think it's time I wrap up the morning news. You're listening to KAOS, and here's Roger Trotters with The Post-War Dream. Hope you can enjoy it."
-----
Pulling the helmet of the stealth suit off, I took a breath, shaking out my flattened mane and stepping back outside into the cool air of the railyard. The bright morning sun shone down, warming the area up a bit as the rest of the group exited through the railshed doors. Carefully folding the smooth material of the helmet, I slipped it into my saddlebags as we made our way through town, taking another deep breath - I suppose one thing that’ll take some getting used to will be all that stale air in the helmet. “So, we’ve got a few days ahead but the rest of the day off for now. Anypony got a plan of what we should do?” I asked, looking at the others. Aerith shrugged as Night Strike shook her head, blowing air out from between her lips in a display of boredom and annoyance.
“Well, if it was up to me, I'd head out there right now. But nooooo, exploring ground zero of a megaspell detonation at some pre-war research lab, or, well, apparently anywhere, is ‘crazy’, and ‘suicidal’.” She grumbled a bit, shaking her head in anoyance. I rolled my eyes in response - I figured you’d rather be bored a couple days than heavily irradiated and dead, Night Strike. We trotted through town, passing by the shop district as ponies shouted from their stands to try and persuade customers towards their stores. One pair were arguing heatedly over the price of some rather suspect looking mushrooms, while I spotted another mare needing to repeatedly pull her young colt down from the counter as he reached for a few polished marbles on display at separate shop.
A familiar voice met my ears as we made our way through the railyard, my head turning to search around for the source. Admittedly, in a town full of ghouls and regular ponies, it wasn’t that difficult to spot a gryphon... Royce was facing off against a rather large stallion, both standing stalk still as they glared at each other. “I already told you, I ain’t handin’ over any caps to you, I won those fair and square. Not my fault your buddy never learned how to lose without pitching a fit like the spoiled brat he is. Now, why don't you piss off before I shove my claw so far up your ass you’ll be coughing up scales.” The stallion didn’t budge, still staring down at Royce as she stared up at him. Suddenly the stallion reared up, about to bring his front hooves smashing down onto the gryphon. She jumped to the side, whipping out a revolver from her holster, firing off three shots into his legs. The stallion gave a cry of pain, falling to the ground. He tried to climb back to his hooves, but they gave way almost immediately, leaving him lying on the ground, blood pooling in the snow.
Royce holstered her gun and let off a cloudy sigh as we ran up, looking over to see us approach. “Oh, hey guys. Just takin’ care of some business I had, I hope we’re clear now.” She said, turning back to the injured stallion and passing on a firm glare. The stallion nodded, tears streaming down his face as he carefully got back to his hooves, limping away pathetically. The former merc gave her shoulders a shrug, looking back to us. “Was just going to go kill some time at the shooting range, not much going on at the bar today. And Salty Straw stays I’m not allowed back in there until I’ve paid up my last tab anyway... wanna come with? Would be nice to see how well you shoot at stuff that isn't me-shaped, especially without an automatic cannon.”
“Eheh, yeah... I suppose we could tag along. Don’t really have much else going on anyway, and maybe we can finally actually try out that burst fire gauss rifle Serene was fawning over.” Night Strike suggested, rubbing at the back of her head. Royce tilted her head in a non-committal way before turning around and starting to walk towards the edge of town. We followed after her, passing underneath the railyard marshalling tower that acted as a sniper post at the far end of Maple Station, heading towards the north. Royce slid her saddlebags off of her back once we were standing at a low wooden fence that surrounded a pre-war farm. Reaching into her saddlebags, she pulled out several dusty, cracked dinner plates.
“Probably better you guys came along anyway. It’s not really easy to try skeet shooting on your own.” She handed the plates over to Night Strike and Areith before undoing the strap that ran along her jacket. It was only then I noticed the large gun that had been hanging onto her back. The rifle boasted a long, shiny barrel that tapered to a sharp point. Along the foregrip and barrel ran several large magnetic coils, several large wires and tubes running from the grip to the stock. Taking the gun in hand, Royce pressed a small button on the back of the hexagonal reloading mechanism. With a high-tech sounding whir, the piece rolled open, revealing four rather oddly shaped slots. Digging around in her saddlebags again, the gryphon pulled out a box of ammo, flipping it open to reveal several small glowing emerald cartridges.
Sliding the cartridges into place, Royce spun the chamber before sliding it back into place and lifting the gun up to eye-level. “Alright… pull!” Aerith took one of the plates in her magic and whipped it forward, watching it sail through the sky away from us. Royce tracked the spinning china before pulling the trigger on the gun. An explosion of plasma burst from the end of her gun, streaming through the air as a beam before smashing through the plate.
I stood, mouth agape as pieces of the plate rained down into the field in front of us. “What the hell kind of plasma gun is that?!” I looked back at the machine, the cylinder giving a slight click as the light on the back of switched from red to green. Royce simply nodded for another plate, and I regained my senses as Aerith tossed another one into the air. She fired another shot, the beam of plasma created by the gun dissipating quickly after breaking through the second piece of kitchenware.
“Beacon rifle. ‘s what I like to call it anyway.” Royce responded, as if that answer satisfied any possible questions I could have had. Another shattered plate later and she looked over to Night Strike. “Mind flying up and tossing some that ways? It’s not too hard hitting things moving straight back, you know.” Night Strike nodded, taking a few extra plates before beating her wings to become airborne. Hovering a few meters in the air, she tossed a plate like a Frisbee, Royce tracking its movement sideways before firing off another shot, the gun beeping and sliding open its cylinder to accept more of the cartridges.
“Where did you get it, though? And, really, how the hell is that gun firing plasma at such high speeds? The whole thing with plasma is you can’t get the mass to stay together after a certain speed, why else would any projectile move so slowly?” Royce shrugged as I watched her fit six more rounds in the cylinder, shutting the revolver rifle once again before taking aim. Her shoulder bucked as she fired another shot, leading her to rotate it a little to relieve the pain from the kickback.
“You don’t need to know where I got it. Just because we’re not going after you doesn’t mean we gave up on paying work completely, idiot. And fuck if I know how it works, our appraisal guy said something about highly dense packs of plasma, supercharged magnets, I dunno. I stopped listening when it was obvious he wasn’t talking numbers. All I know is it’s got a hell of a kick and needs these weird plasma crystal .45-70 rounds. Thank Luna Merlin’s good with that kind of stuff, I ain’t wasting my time figuring out how to make bullets for this thing.” Royce held up two talons before motioning to Night Strike. The Pegasus obliged, tossing a plate and waiting a few moments before flinging the second at a different angle. The first plate shattered as the others had, but Royce only managed to clip the second, sending a small chunk off as it spun in the air before landing in the snow below.
Grumbling a little, Royce reached into her bags to pull out a bottle of whiskey. As she popped the cork off, she noticed the large Gauss rifle Night Strike had discarded next to her bags before taking flight. Lowering her Beacon Rifle, she pointed towards the burst gauss with a talon, before lifting the glass bottle to her beak. “What’s that?” I lifted up the gun, allowing Royce to get a good look at it as I peered through the scope. Still looks the same as Jolts' scope, at least...
“Some gun we got off the other group of mercenaries that were after us. Some kind of cross between a gauss gun and an assault rifle, I think. Burst-fire action.” I pointed the gun out towards the field, steadying myself slightly before pulling the trigger. I immediately tumbled backwards as the gun let off five loud shots, snow being kicked up into the air as Night Strike squeaked with fright and dodged out of the bullets as I landed in the snow. And this is why I prefer my umbrella.
Crash Dive stepped over to me, taking the gauss rifle from my hooves as I recovered. “Give me that before you shoot Night Strike down like a pigeon. Argues non-stop about energy weapons on the way down here and can’t hit the broad side of a barn…” I brushed the snow off of myself as the power armored pegasus got a feel for the weapon, shifting it about in her grip a little. She placed a hoof on the crank, rotating it to a smaller double burst shot before waving to Night Strike. Night Strike hesitated for a moment, still a bit shaken from my attempt to fire the weapon, but soon tossed another plate into the air. Crash Dive followed it with the barrel of the gun, taking careful aim through the scope before pulling the trigger. The gun let off two quick zaps as the energy discharged and twin pins flew through the air. The plate shattered, a few pieces hit by the second pin practically turning into dust.
“I thought you said you didn’t like using energy weapons.” Night Strike said as she fluttered back down to the ground with now empty hooves, landing with a small plume in the snow. Crash Dive slung the weapon over her shoulder, securing the strap around her armor. Royce reloaded her gun, Aerith throwing a few more plates into the air for her to shoot at.
“I don’t like using them out of practicality, but I -was- trained to use them. I’m pretty sure any one of you trying to make use of it is going to either blow one of our heads off, or break the thing trying to get it to fire explosive rounds.” Night Strike looked a little taken aback. Well, I suppose she hasn’t really been on the receiving end of Crash Dive’s elitist attitude a lot. Crash Dive turned to leave, Aerith dropping the plates and looking a bit disappointed at being unable to continue shooting with Royce.
The gryphon seemed to take notice, her large wings carrying her over as she held her plasma revolver rifle by the foregrip. "Woah, woah, guys, what's your hurry? You only shot one plate, and I know you've got some guns other than that fancy Gauss Rifle, don'tcha?" Crash Dive looked at the muzzle of the Burst-Gauss as Royce pointed towards it, before returning her gaze to us. Aerith seemed to get a smile back on her face at the same time, Night Strike just seeming confused. I... guess she does kind of have a point. "C'mon, stay a while. I... really could use the company."
"I'm going back to the hotel, just to make sure I don't have to worry about any of you blowing yourselves apart with this Gauss rifle. Won't speak for anyone else." Well, that does make sense. Aerith wore a big grin as she hopped herself back over to the pile of plates, pulling her rifle and tommy gun out as well. Night Strike hung around for a moment, landing beside Crash Dive as she tracked her with her eyes. "You know where to find me if you need me, you can enjoy yourself in the meantime. We've got the rest of today to relax anyways."
"Ehm, alright, if you say so. You gonna stick around too, Static, or..." Night Strike trailed off, rubbing at the back of her head awkwardly. "Ehm... right, forgot that you kinda only use melee weapons. Well, I mean, you can still hang around, right?" Crash Dive trotted back into town as I looked over to the shooting range, seeing Aerith and Royce firing upon the same plate with near-simultaneous retorts of their rifles. Well... I -could- try hitting one of the plates out of the air with my axe... nah.
"Eh, sorry Strikey, I don't really think this is for me. Besides, I think we're running low on food anyways, might as well stock up on stuff while we're hanging around here." The dark-blue pegasus wore a faint look of defeat, her shoulders slumping as she passed on a nod. I let off a small sigh, trotting up to her and planting a small peck on her cheek. "I'll be at the hotel afterwards, then we can... I dunno, get a nice dinner or something, some actual decent food."
Night Strike wore a smirk as she returned the light kiss, taking to the air and hovering in place for a moment. "What d'you mean, Sparky, we've got plenty of food. The other half of a trailer of Sparkle-Cola, at least~" She let off a light chuckle as I answered with a sigh, shaking my head and watching her hover off towards Aerith and Royce. I turned to face back towards town, starting to trot back to the hotel. Oh, what am I gonna do with that pegasus...
---
The ground rolled along underneath us as we drove along the next day, a guitar melody emanating from Night Strike’s Pip-Buck and a medium-sized tank traveling behind us. I leaned out of the cabin of the half-truck, trying to remember the route we'd taken the last time we came through here - huh, maybe I’d actually be able to recognize it if I put my goggles back on, things look pretty different when they’re not all glowy. “You sure we’re even going the right way? I would've expected we'd hit that one town we got the goggles from by now.” Night Strike said, looking down at her map. She tapped the screen, causing it to fizzle a little as the small cursor indicating her blinked slowly across the virtual countryside.
“I could’ve sworn this was the way there. A couple dozen miles north of the camp site, right?” I turned as we passed by an old collapsed train tunnel that ran into the side of the hill. I glanced down at my own Pip-Buck for a moment, trying to determine our location with it. Why is it Stable-Tec seemed so particular in which locations it’ll automatically update? No old shack with a sparkle-cola guy in it, but it thought that overlook up at the hotel was worth marking for some reason.
'I'm pretty sure it was more of a straight shot west. I don’t remember passing near any more mountain ranges between here and Shady Shores.' Aerith said via-sign as she scanned the area around us, the roar of our own engine almost overshadoed by the echo from Fyre's. Well, horse-apples. I spun the steering wheel of the machine, the treads and wheels digging into the thin snow as I tried to turn us southwards, the sun already starting to dip across the horizon to the right of us. 'Well, I suppose it’s at least a good thing we left early now.' Aerith’s sign read. The sun cast long shadows over the ground as we drove along, the sky turning to a deep orange.
The tank behind us came to a stop as I made the turn, Night Strike looking over with me as the hatch above the driver's side swung open with a clatter of metal. "Hey, what're you guys doing? I thought you knew the way there!" A grimace came across my face as I sunk back in the seat, letting off a sigh. Stupid navigational skills, ya failed me... Night Strike picked herself up, hopping over to the back seat and moving behind me to the edge of the truck.
"Yeah, we do! Static's just not used to driving this road without wearing his magic-vision goggles, we'll be there soon enough! Just keep following, Rangefinder!" The tank ghoul pegasus gave a shrug and ducked back into her tank, myself letting off a small huff and looking to the route ahead. Stupid lack of properly maintained roads and trade routes and stuff... the dark-coated pegasus sat herself back beside me, rubbing at her neck and adjsting herself in the seat, the engine roaring as I pressed down on the pedal. The half-truck lurched forwards, us moving back alongside the railroad tracks as they headed towards the south, following them for a while.
As we continued to head for the coast and crested over a hill, I slowed down to see the land in front of us. Far off in the distance on the shoreline was a darkened ring on the ground, turning from the snowy fields and sparse forests surrounding it into a dark, dusty, debris-ridden field of dirt. What used to be the Battered-Sea power station was nothing more than a deep glowing crater, surrounded by a high rim of rock and scattered building materials. A section of the cliff had even been blasted away in the explosion, crumbling down into the sea below, the water sick and luminescent with radiation. Closer to the hill, however, sat the remains of the town of Hornsworth. The small suburb was spared complete destruction, as only part of it was close enough to the blast radius of the megaspell to receieve any of the debris rain. However, combined with the previous gas explosion, many of the streets were in total ruin. Buildings layed in pieces scattered over the road, the destruction only looking worse as you headed closer to the crater. Oh, sweet Celestia, I can't believe we're doing this...
I shut off the half-truck's engine, falling back into the seat, the tank behind us moving up alongside before shutting its own engine off. Rangefinder climbed out through the driver's hatch, climbing over the barrel of the long gun to drop down beside the tank, trotting over to us. "Well, there she is, Hornsworth and her Battered-Sea Power Station. Heh... might be better off calling the place the Glowing-Sea now, thinking about it. So, you guys you guys ready, or are we gonna hold the assault off until tomorrow?"
“We better set up camp here for the night. It's already late and we've traveled all day, we don’t have any good reason to go down into there now.” Crash Dive said, opening up one of the chests we’d moved into the back of the vehicle from the mini-tank’s trailer. She pulled out a few blankets from the chest, tossing one over to Aerith, as Rangefinder nodded and returned to her tank. Night Strike looked disappointed, looking longingly down to the town. She flustered some random syllables out, whining a bit.
“B-b-b-but… Megaspell ground zero! We're so close!” She complained, leaning forward onto the dashboard, staring down at the destroyed town. I shook my head, leaning back into the seat while Crash Dive trotted back up with the pile of old comforters. Aerith passed me one of the blankets, leaning up against the side of the half-truck's soft cab cover as she wrapped herself up. Oh, you can wait a day to go poking around some irradiated hell hole, Night Strike. I wrapped the blanket around myself as Night Strike pouted beside me, staring down at the town below us. Closing my eyes, I tried to drift off to sleep in the front seat of the truck. Well, I suppose I’ve slept in worse places…
---
My eyes fluttered open, my vision a near complete black. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust, seeing Crash Dive and Aerith fast asleep in the cabin of the truck along with me. I rubbed my eyes a bit, yawning as I didn’t want to guess what time it was. Rolling over, I tried to fall back asleep when I heard a small explosion off in the distance. I sat up, my ear flicking a bit as I wondered if I’d really heard it. There was a pause before another explosion sounded off, coming from the bottom of the hill, at the edge of the town. I looked forward out of the windshield of the vehicle… only to realize Night Strike wasn’t sleeping in the passenger’s seat anymore. Oh, Celestia, you can’t tell me she really thought that was a good idea.
I threw the blanket off, climbing into the driver’s seat again. The engine roared to life, the vehicle shaking as I shifted the gears and began to head down the hill. There was some muffled grunts and complaints from the back seat as Crash Dive sat up. “What’s going on? You get spooked or somethin', earth pony?” She asked, shaking her head as she reached to put her helmet back on.
“No, it’s just one of our teammates decided that charging in alone in a radiation filled town was a really good idea! No points for guessing who!” I responded, trying to keep the half-truck on the sloping, winding road. Crash Dive cursed as Aerith slowly woke up as well, glancing about curiously. The vehicle bounced off of a few rocks as we headed down. We slowed a little as we came to the edge of the town, the roads already built with little room between the buildings even more narrow from the errant rubble now covering some of the streets. I slowed down a bit more, trying to listen over the clicking of my geiger counter for any more telltale explosions to find Night Strike. Oh, Celestia above, please tell me she's not... SLEEP-shooting!
Rather than explosions, however, I heard something give a raspy cry, and my stomach clenched as the headlights illuminated a pony-shaped form in the road - A ghoul dressed up in tattered raider gear, holding a beaten up hunting rifle. It gave another raspy call, lifting up the rifle and firing a shot off towards us. A loud ping of the bullet striking the front fender and ricocheting off filled my ears before I snapped back to reality. Speeding forward, I had just enough time to see the ghoul’s reaction before he fell under the vehicle, several loud thumps and the sick squelching of a body being crushed under twenty tons of metal filling the air as I plowed over him.
Aerith levitated up her guns, ducking down as she looked around for more ghouls from the back seat. A few more ran out from a collapsed shop, one wielding a large super sledge in its magic as another was firing off a sniper rifle. Aerith sprayed the ground with her tommygun, spraying up dirt and blood as the two ghouls fell to the ground. I spun the wheel, careening around the corner, only just managing to slam on the brakes in time to avoid crashing into a figure in a dark-brown rubber diving suit and brass helmet. Night Strike stood still, unaware of the sound of the ghouls behind us. “Oh, hey guys. 'sup?”
…I’m going to kill her.
-----
The sound of my breathing echoed inside the brass helmet as I clumsily stuffed another round of buckshot into Thumper, shutting her breech and looking up at the big form of the Clydesdale in front of me. Okay, credit where it's due, even with the headlights being mostly obscured by those metal covers with the slit cut out, they sure as hell were bright... I trotted myself over to Static's side, the earth pony staring... well, glaring down at me. "Ehm, Static, you know that this place is in the heavily irradiated zone, right? Would've thought you'd be smart enough to get the other suit on before coming down."
The earth pony just sat there and stared for a long while, his mouth seeming to try and find some words to vocalize - take your time, Sparky, not much to worry about this close to the edge of town. A muffled feral scream caught my attention from behind the half-truck, myself bringing Thumper to my shoulder and aiming using her forward sight. Sheesh, it's like whoever designed these diving suits didn't expect somepony to have to shoot while wearing one... fair point. Eventually one of the ghoulified raiders showed themselves, charging at us with a lengh of pipe in it's mouth, quickly being dispatched by forty millimeters' worth of lead pellets. Whoo, these guys pop a lot more satisfyingly than the ones in Quebuck...
Static was still trying to form a sentence as I trotted over to the dead raider's corpse, whistling a small tune. Guh, eighteen years of listening to CONELRAD and you end up getting it all stuck in your head. 'Civil Defense is common sense. Ask your local Civil Defense office for a copy of the Family Fallout Shelter booklet.' Hah, maybe we should see if anypony had a fallout shelter on the outskirts of town here... "...when your white count's getting higher, hurry, don't delay. I'll hold you close and kiss those radiation burns away~ Crawl out through the fallout, baby, to my lovin' hooves, through the rain of Strontium ninety~ Think about your hero - when you're at ground zero! - and crawl out through the fallout back to... what the what."
As I finally reached the corpse of the ghoulified raider, the busted stock of another forty mil grenade rifle caught my attention on his back, along with a small satchel of ammunition. So, this raider ghoul had a... mostly alright grenade rifle on him, with ammo, and still decided charging us with a lead pipe was the best course of action. Okay... well, I mean, courteous of him to leave me the ammo, but, come on... The half-truck's horn beeped, catching my attention, Static angrily waving at me. Grabbing the ammo bag, I trotted back over, pulling the spent casing from Thumper and replacing it with a fresh one.
"Okay, can I just ask what the hell you're doing out here so early in the goddess-damned morning!? Don't you have the faintest sense of self-preservation!? Or even just the common courtesy of letting us know you're charging ahead into a bomb crater!?" Huh, never noticed how much Static liked to flail his hooves around when he was angry. I rubbed at the back of my... helmet, the earth pony letting off a sigh as the first few hints of daylight started to fill the sky. "Just, look, you could've at least woken up and told one of us!"
"Hey, I tried to! Not my fault you're a heavy sleeper... and I was so excited that I didn't really sleep. Eheh." Static just shook his head in response, starting the engine of the Clydesdale back up and letting it purr for the moment. I let off a breath, the glass of the helmet fogging up as I hefted myself up onto the back seat. "I was only going to stick to the outskirts of the town, clear out and scavenge whatever I could. I'm not that suicidal, Sparky... I'm wearing this suit too, aren't I?"
Static only responded with another sigh as he got the half-truck moving again, turning us back east and out of town. I leaned back in the seat, the metal of the helmet clunking against the metal backing, my eyes just staring up at the soft fabric of the roof. A bluish magic lit up the bottom rim of the helmet, undoing the few nuts I'd just about managed to fineagle into place to try and secure it, the alicorn sitting beside me pulling the whole thing off and letting me get a full breath of fresh air as we reached the winding road up the mountain. Whoof, yeah, that is a bit better... 'I'm really just surprised you were able to get yourself into this thing without our help. Would have thought at least one of us would've woken up to all the noise.'
I let off a weak chuckle, rubbing at the back of my... head, yes, that's right brain, head, looking over to Aerith as she rested the heavy helmet on her lap. "Eheh, yeah, I kinda wanted to get down there soon as I could, so I just grabbed the suit and flew down until my pip-buck started clicking. Conveniently the radiation only starts to get really bad after you pass the welcome sign into town, slipped it on there and started walking. Think I was only down there for, I dunno, half an hour before you guys showed up?"
Static shifted the Clydesdale into a lower gear as the slope increased, having us crawl up the mountainside to the overlook we'd stopped at last night. I gave my wings a small flutter inside the heavy rubber of the suit - guh, well, feels better than having those damn weights on with it, but the constriction isn't really for me. Hope this doesn't take too long to get done with... or at least that Fyre is mostly radiation-proof. The earth pony in the front seat looked off to the side for a moment, before looking back towards us. "Let's just get back to the campsite, have some breakfast, and actually form a plan. And hope Rangefinder is awake, too..."
"Yeah, was gonna try and wake her up before I went in, but she's a bit heavier of a sleeper than Sensha was and her tank's got much thicker armor. Bet that the sound of her engine would've at least woken you guys up and got you moving." I let off a chuckle, resting back in the seat as the road levelled out to the overlook. Static turned the Clydesdale around before shutting off the engine, slumping back in the driver's seat while Crash Dive and Aerith both climbed off. I leaned myself forwards, resting against the back of the forward bench beside Static's head. "Hey, look, I'm sorry I ran in, Sparky. You know how I am sometimes."
He let off a long sigh, rubbing a foreleg against his forehead. "You've got that right. Well, I mean, at least once this is over, this'll be the last completely suicidal place left in this wasteland you want to explore. Guess I can take solace in knowing after this I don't have to worry as much about you causing me to lose you." He let his head roll to the side, meeting my eyes for a moment. Releasing a small sigh of my own, I leaned forwards and planted a light kiss on his cheek, passing on a nod. Alright, Strikey, this is the last place you can really go all-out, let's try and not do anything too monumentally stupid for Static's sake. Key word being try. Static sat himself up, shuffling over to get off of the Clydesdale, before looking back towards myself with a smirk. "I dunno about you, but I kinda found those suits to chafe a lot. Well, least everywhere besides my rump... how's yours holding up?~"
I passed on a look of confusion as he grinned, seeming to want to release a chuckle. "My rump? What d'you mean, Sparky, it's feeling fine. I mean, yeah, the rubber could've used some more cushioning than it-" And Static's snickering. It took me slightly longer than I want to admit to remember why my choice of words for describing the suit was a bad one.
"Thought you might say that, and forget to wear that, too. We are gonna have to, Strikey, navigating Hornsworth to the Battered-Sea took long enough without dealing with the whole place being irradiated and full of Celestia-knows-what. I don't think any of us could focus listening to you squeaking it up everytime you tried to talk to us~" Static hopped down from the half-truck, my face heating up to counteract the cold as I held on to the back of the front seat. The earth pony looked up towards myself as he was trotting off, wearing a smile. "So, gonna guess you'll just have your usual breakfast of RAD, right? Suit yourself, just reminding you that soda's carbonated~"
My forehead hit the back of the front seat, myself letting loose a long groan. This is gonna be a long day...
---
"Sounds like a good plan to me, Fyre's machine guns'll tear those raider-ghouls apart. Hell, means I can ride with some of the hatches open, too, always wanted a nice hot suntan~" Rangefinder wore a smirk as we sat around the small cooking fire, the food already eaten and preparations being made for the first charge. I was pretty understandably excited - then again, when there's a fifty cal belt-fed machine gun and a thirty cal MG coaxial to be used against soft targets like ghoulified raiders, can ya blame me? Static shuffled in his diving suit, the heavy rubber and brass of it squeaking as he got himself comfortable.
"Long as we can keep most of them in front of you, that'll do me fine. The half-truck isn't exactly endowed with armor, and I can't really use what speed it has if we're following behind you. You sure that this'll work?" I wore a wide grin, passing on a nod from inside the helmet to Static. Come on, putting me in charge of a tank's worth of armament, with my own going alongside? This'll be a cakewalk. Crash Dive fitted her helmet and rebreather on as Aerith helped Static into his own suit's helmet, Rangefinder passing on a grin to me as Static settled in his sealed suit. "I'm gonna try and keep some distance, so feel free to give it as much speed as you'd like and pull emergency stops if you have to. Faster we get through there, the better..."
"Oh, come on Static, we can't leave a town full of ghoulified raiders hanging around. We gotta make sure we're thorough in thinning the numbers out through the application of lots and lots of machine gun, shotgun, and anti-tank gun fire." I wore a grin that Rangefinder shared, Static responding with a shake of his head inside the heavy helmet. Aerith pushed some of the snow onto the fire, snuffing it out, as the suited earth pony made way for the Clydesdale's driver seat. I followed behind Rangefinder as she moved for Fyre, a strong beat of her old wings carrying her up ontop of the tall tank, landing near one of the opened hatches. I spread mine to join her... only to be reminded that they're currently inside a rubber suit not designed for pegasi. Great.
Letting off a sigh, I trotted up to the side of Fyre, using the long bar that supported the dozer blade on the front as a step to try and heft myself up ontop. Eesh, come on pre-war tank designers, why can't you have had all tanks have convenient side doors for easy entry? I mean, the TOG has 'em, Avery has 'em... Okay, that's only two, but still! The engine in the back of the tank roared to life as I wrapped a booted hoof around Fyre's 17-pounder gun barrel, pulling myself up the forward sloped armor to the top of her turret. I let off a huff, fogging the glass of the helmet slightly, the commander's hatch behind the .50 cal machine gun opening with a small clatter. Rangefinder stuck her head out of it, wearing a small smirk. "You're not too used to an M4, are ya? Come on, let's get you in and Fyre buttoned up..."
Rangefinder helped pull me the rest of the way in through the hatch, myself falling to the familiar position beside a seventeen-pounder's breech, the optics for the gun and mechanisms for rotating it inside the turret coming to rest gently in my hooves. Oh yeah, now this feels right... Rangefinder climbed past beside me on the left side of the turret, pausing at what was presumably the loader's position, the breechblock... Wait... was this gun mounted sideways? "I've already got one APBEBC loaded, gonna assume you know how to work this thing. I've got 77 rounds to spare, you're gonna have to load and aim though so just kick something to let me know you wanna hop to the top MG instead. Got it?"
I gave her a quick nod as she shuffled the rest of the way down into the driver's position, myself putting my eye to the gunsight... or, well, as close as I could. Stupid helmet... The engine roared behind us as Fyre gave a small lurch, the large tank starting to move forwards and crunch in the snow. I rested back in the gunner's seat for a moment, looking around the position. Okay... huh, not many outside optics on this thing, is there? Swinging myself around, I felt the tank's front dip down, steadying myself against the shield welded to the gun. Hokay, yeah, second thing of note, not used to this thing's speed, either... I hefted myself up from the gunner's seat to where the commander's was, hooves moving to the small periscope that poked up through the hatch... and getting annoyed at the helmet again. It's like they weren't expecting somepony to be wearing an improvised radiation suit in this thing... point taken.
Conceiting defeat, I pulled myself back to the gunner's seat, settling in. Okay, has been a while since I was last in the TOG... damn, must be a couple months, now... let's just see what I can remember. Gotta be careful to not smash the muzzlebrake against anything while we're in town, if nothing else - heh, now that part I remember. Okay... vertical wheel controls gun elevation, horizontal one turret rotation, that switch controls the hydraulic motors for traverse, and those two buttons on the floor must be for the main gun and coaxial. Bit different than the TOG, but I can work with it. Rangefinder brought us around the corner at the base of the ridge, heading in towards the town.
As we pushed on through the narrow rubble-filled streets, I slowly traced the turret back and forth, scanning the road ahead. Pulling back from the gunsight, my eyes fell back to the hoof triggers below me - mmh, probably should have asked which one operated which gun before Rangefinder got settled. Well, worst case, whatever I'm aiming at will just end up being -really- dead instead of just pretty dead. Assuming they aren't hiding around a corner of a street too narrow for me to bring the gun around to aim at them... stupid 55 caliber-length barrel. Well, at least the commander's hatch opens sideways...
Rangefinder slowed as we neared a pile of rubble blocking the road, stopping the tank a block away from it or so. Wearing a grin, I brought the 17-pounder on target, lifting it a short ways to get it pointed further down the road. Well, not the most exciting thing to shoot with an Armor-Piercing Balefire Egg, Ballistic Capped shell, but at least I'm justified in doing it. Not to mention it's an excuse to figure out which button fired what. Settling the gun, my right back hoof pushed down on the left trigger, it responding with a click... and the .30 cal machine gun mounted on the other side of the 17-pounder responding with a muffled spray of bullets and tracers, kicking up dust on the roadblock. Okay, left is coaxial, then. So the right...
With a satisfying click, the hammer in the breech of the anti-tank gun was released, flying forwards and striking the primer at the back of the shell. The propellant inside the brass casing ignited in the barest fraction of a second, exploding outwards and forcing the milled-down aerodynamically capped crystal down the length of the barrel at nearly a kilometer a second. The recoil dampeners caught the breech as it was flung backwards by the force, the spent casing ejecting and clattering to the tank's floor and the suspension taking the rest of the force imparted by the shell. The shaped balefire egg burrowed into the roadblock, before filling the road ahead with a blinding light, concrete and debris clattering against the front and turret of the tank. I peered through the gunsight, seeing the first hints of a mushroom cloud forming itself in the middle of the road, hooves still trembling as a pleasured sigh escaped myself. Oh yeah, I -really- missed that feeling...
Rangefinder let off a laugh as I leaned back in the gunner's seat, just about able to see her grin as she looked up towards myself. "Ha, figured you'd know what to do. Ammo's under ya, you wanna reload, I'll get us mov-" A loud thump hit the side of the tank, rattling the whole thing and sending my helmeted head against the metal wall of the turret. Oww... as if my tinnitus weren't bad enough, this diving suit rings, too. Rangefinder picked herself up, looking to me for a moment before taking ahold of her periscope and scanning around. "Ah, shit! Okay, change of plans, get on the fifty while I put another shell in, and if your friends are right on our ass tell 'em to back up 'cause I can't get the gun down that street. We got a lotta company!"
The ghoulified pegasus clambered up from the driver's position to the loader's, pulling another one of the 17-pound shells up from the floor and moving to fit it into the breech as I likewise moved up to the commander's hatch. Okay, turn this handle and push up, aaand we're out... and the gunfire's already starting! Bullets pinged off of the hatch doors as I let them both fall into their opened position, catches on the hinges making them act as some shielding as I poked my head up. Okay, sounds like the fire's coming from the left side, so-
Another blast rocked the tank, making the brass helmet clunk against the hatch ring and snap the commander periscope protruding from the right-side hatch door to full forwards position. Nngh, yeah, whatever that is, that bastard's SO dying first. Gritting my teeth and getting my bearings back, I saw Rangefinder pick herself off the floor and shove the shell the rest of the way in, the breech accepting the round with a familiar clunk. I forced myself the rest of the way up out of the hatch, hooves taking hold of the machine gun in front of me and racking the bolt to put a round in from the belt. Okay ya sons of bitches, Strikey's mad, so who wants a half-inch of supersonic lead to the brain first!?
Leaning myself forwards from the hatch to bet the gun around, the cluster of raider ghouls at the end of the road caught my eye, all of them opening up with their own cheap rifles and submachine guns. Funny how drugs and severe radiation poisoning can impair fear reactions. My booted hooves gripped the handles of the machine gun tightly, pulling the trigger and releasing the bolt, the first shot flying downrange as the second loaded itself in, a hail of gunfire filling the road. Dust, dirt, and debris was kicked up as I traced the fire onto target, just letting the fifty do its work and hosing down the group. A smirk came onto my muzzle as I saw one of them explode in a hail of firey shrapnel - woops, there goes mister missile launcher.
Fyre's engine roared beside me as she gave a lurch, starting to move backwards, myself still tracing fire down the street and hearing bullets pinging off her side armor. She came to a stop after a meter or two, Rangefinder bringing us forwards and angling us towards the corner in front, the fifty spraying a bit more of a smokescreen before I dropped back into the turret. Jumping to the gunner's seat, my hooves grabbed hold of the traverse controls, the turret swinging around to point down the road as the dust started to clear. The small dinks and pings of pistol-caliber rounds hitting the thick steel still filled the air, my back hoof moving between the two buttons while the sight lined up on one of the poor bugger's chests. Well, I mean, the coaxial -is- a little offset to the main gun, and I have no reason to believe the gunsight isn't perfectly zeroed in...
The right button clicked again as another milled-down balefire egg flew from the barrel, the ghoul raider and his friends vanishing in a sudden bright flash and mushroom cloud. The blast from the muzzlebrake and the shockwave from the explosion both echoed in the morning air, a certain pleasant sense of quiet replacing them as the sounds faded and mushroom cloud rose. I let off a sigh, leaning back against the inside of the turret, reveling in the sounds of Fyre's engine and the half-truck's motor behind us. A Royal Equestrian Ordinance seventeen-pounder, a fifty cal commander's machine gun, armor for days... makes me really miss the TOG.
I centered the gun back forwards as Rangefinder turned us back down the road through town, leaving the commander's hatch open. The engine rumbled behind us as I pulled another of the shells up from the floor, feeding it into the breech of the anti-tank gun. Huh, can't remember the last time I had to manually feed a shell in on the TOG's gun... dunno if I ever did, for that matter. Listening to the breech accept the new round with a satisfying thunk, I hefted myself back up to the commander's position, bringing a hoof over to get the fifty pointing back forwards. Leaning back on the hatch, the irradiated, destroyed town passed by, myself releasing a sigh and looking back towards the half-truck behind us. Welp, if we're lucky that was all Hornsworth had to throw at us... shame, I really wanted to use the gun on that animatronic.
---
The rest of the ride through Hornsworth went fairly uneventfully, unfortunately, myself able to spend most of it with my head sticking freely out of the commander's hatch as we pressed on through the irradiated town. The geiger counter on my pip-buck clicked intermittently as I drew in slow breaths of the outside air, just surveying the landscape visible past the rubble. Fyre's engine roared as Rangefinder put her into a lower gear, the dozer blade on the front shoving the debris out of our path and allowing us to finally move through to the outer edges of the town. I braced myself as the tank got over the pile, landing roughly on the other side before pulling forwards, leaning back to my previous position.
As my eyes fell upon the wasteland before me, I couldn't help but take in a quick gasp, eyes settling in on the greyed, disturbed earth and sick greenish glow before us. Trees, charred and bare, all were bent and uprooted to point away from ground zero, torn by the blast wave. The intermittent clicks from the geiger counter back in Hornsworth were slightly more frequent as we pushed onwards, the engine of the half-truck powering up behind me and pulling up alongside Fyre. I looked down from the hatch, pushing the right-side hatch door over to get a better look, Static facing up towards myself and quieting down the engine. "You're really blasting us with dust back there, taking on too many rads! We should be fine to travel alongside now we're out of the town, yeah?"
"Yeah, that's fine! Just stay where you are, and make sure we don't ram each other!" Static gave a nod before moving the Clydesdale off our side a few meters, still pushing on towards the remains of the Battered-Sea. The area affected by the blast only became more desolate as we pushed forth, the ground buckled and littered with debris thrown by the half-kiloton explosion. Celestia above, that's right, this was only five hundred tons equivalent, and a ground burst nonetheless... makes you glad we didn't try using one of the Lulus from the sub pen for this, eheh. Hoo boy...
As we approached the raised lip of the crater, the geiger counter's previously intermittent clicking was more of a steady stream, myself lowering down inside the tank to get the helmet's intake into somewhat less irradiated air, eyes still poking over the top. A thick, nasty fog lingered around the crater's edge, blocking out sight of the sea, the faint hints of reinforced concrete and steel, and shattered smoke stacks showing precisely where the Battered-Sea and Shady Shores once resisded. Rangefinder pushed Fyre over the crater lip, myself bracing against the hatch rim, finding myself staring straight down into the crater. Sweet mother of the ROQF seventeen-pounder...
The waves crashed and battered against the glowing bottom, the whole place forming a small new bay on the coast, the water down below sick and greenish-blue with intense radiation. Looking around as much as I dared to, with my legputer definitely far from happy that we're there, -something- out in the fog caught my eye. I stared out towards it for a few more moments, trying to catch it again. Nothing happened for a short while, until- there! That's it! A glowing beam pierced through the fog, dissipating out into the clouded-over skies as the source of it moved around in the crater. As if to punctuate it, whatever it was let off a completely unearthly roar, seeming to even shake the fog in the crater... I'm gonna try my damndest to not use that diaper I'm being forced to wear right now, but at least I have it on!
The top hatch clattered shut above me as I dragged both sides down, practically throwing myself to the gunner's seat and starting to scan the crater for whatever that thing was. An armor-piercing balefire egg will definitely ruin it's day, an armor-piercing balefire egg will definitely ruin it's day, an armor-piercing balefire egg will definitely ruin it's day... goddesses, I hope an armor-piercing balefire egg will ruin that thing's day! Rangefinder shot a worried look up to me before running Fyre's engine, the drive sprockets pulling the tracks backwards and us out of the crater slowly. Oh, why did Marchie and Norm have to be right about this!?
Fyre stopped on the lip of the crater, myself bringing the gun around as the red beam slowly made its way out of the foggy depths of the crater. Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me silly with a tank gun, come on out so I can put this shot into you damnit! The gunsight finally settled in on the creature emitting the light beam, the red glow obscuring its form for a moment. As it turned its head to look around, though... no...
I blunk a few times, just staring through the gunsight of the tank at the thing out in front of us, hooves limp on the traverse controls. Um... okay, no, maybe the perspective's just screwing with me, radiation can affect non-electronic optics too, right? Yeah, maybe... I leaned back from the gunner's position, trying to gather my thoughts back together. Okay, so... nnfh, yeah, it's just the gunsight, I gotta get an actual visual on this thing for myself. That seems like a sensible plan of action, and there is that fifty I can use, anyways... Yeah.
Shuffling back, I swung open the commander's hatch, poking my head back up out of it. My legputer clicked a little faster as the radiation from the crater started to hit me in fuller force once again, eyes peering through the fog at the creature slowly shambling around in the scorched earth. It finally reached the top tier of the crater, red glowing eyes scanning back and forth in the thinned fog and mist, pulling itself around on small hooves. And I couldn't help but laugh.
"Pfffffft, hey, Rangefinder, you think we can handle this one? Maybe-snrk, maybe we should call in the other tank ghouls! Oh goddesses, this is rich..." I let myself fall forwards as my hooves caught against the forward edge of the hatch rim, my own laughter echoing in the helmet and drowning out the clicking of my pip-buck. And to think we were all worried about some giant sea monster, that- that's just a friggin' baby anglerpony! Doesn't even look like it has armor! Oh, sweet Celestia and Luna above... "Oh geez, okay, heh, yeah, I'll-I'll handle it, don't worry. Night Strike to the rescue! Ehaheh..."
I hefted myself up out of Fyre as Rangefinder opened up the driver's hatch, sticking her head out to see the 'monster' for herself. Snickering and shaking my head in the helmet, I made way to the Clydesdale parked on the other side of the crater's rim, Static, Aerith, and Crash Dive all watching me in confusion. The earth pony rubbed his booted hoof against the back of his helmet as I started to go through my duffel bag, unable to wipe that stupid grin off my face. Lesee, Thumper? Eh, nah, you had your turn earlier today. War Crime? Well, maybe... the helmet probably helps with the tinnitus. Ahm... ah, Slicey McSparkface, that might do the trick. Oughta use you more often... oughta give you a better name, too.
"Ahm, Strikey, are you feeling alright? You're acting even more insane than usual... and that's saying something." Static rested back in the seat as he saw me pull the sword out, carefully balancing the flat edge of the blade on my back before meeting eyes with him. Another bout of giggles escaped me, myself only able to shake my head in response, climbing down from the Clydesdale. I paused for a moment as I was trotting away, before looking back and waving them to follow, biting my lower lip to try and hold a straight face. Easier said than done...
They all shrugged between themselves as they climbed off, following me around through the small trough Fyre made in the crater's edge to the inside of the crater itself. I'd like to think they were as dumbstruck as me when they finally saw what was making those menacing red lightbeams in the sky... I pushed on towards the mutant anglerpony, watching it try to be menacing and hiss at me. Ah, bless, poor thing doesn't even have its teeth grown in yet... Almost feel bad about this. Grabbing the handle of the sword, it crackled slightly in the damp, humid air of the crater, myself trying to remember what Static was trying to teach. Okay, so shift weight on the back hooves... compensate for the helmet... and hold the sword out straight. Night Strike; sea monster hunter, has a nice ring to it...
I brought the sword up high over my head, the unlucky anglerpony hissing at me again as it still failed to recognize it's fate. The heavy blade came swinging down, a muffled gory slice parting the mutant creature down the middle and sizzling its insides, the blade's tip burying in the radioactive mud and dirt of the crater's edge. The light beams from the eyes lingered, almost disturbingly long, myself pulling the blade free from the earth and wiping it down with a booted hoof. Placing it back onto my back, I wore a grin, picking up the corpse of the mutant baby anglerpony. "Well, guys, crater's clear! We can just say it was a giant sea monster that I took on in an epic melee battle, right?"
Aerith was happily clapping her hooves together for me as Static and Crash Dive both elected to bring a forehoof to the front of their helmets, shaking their heads. Oh, come on, lemme have this, we're already famous enough that no matter what somepony's gonna say we're awesome. Hell, I might just have to keep this thing and find somepony to have it stuffed, a reminder of the epic showdown where I went one-on-one with a gigantic anglerpony, down to my sword and went and sliced it's belly clean open, ripping one of the babies out on the end of my blade... okay, that might be a little too graphic. Still, though! I chuckled, starting to carry the split-open baby anglerpony back to the group, the earth pony already looking a little squeamish as I got close. I rolled my eyes in response, shaking my head. "Oh, c'mon Static, we've seen wor-"
The tremendous sound of a roar filled the air behind me, echoing up from the crater and causing me to stop dead in my tracks. Everyone else seemed frozen in place as well, eyes wide as dinner plates, staring off into the fog behind me. A loud thumping sound filled the air, the ground rumbling underneath our hooves as I turned to face back towards the crater's bottom, something REALLY big and nasty starting to take a silhouette in the fog. It stopped for a moment, my brain still trying to comprehend what my eyes were seeing. In the few parts that weren't trying to process the sight of an actual giant sea monster before us, well, at least the terrified sarcasm part of my brain still worked...
"Hey, Rangefinder, can I see Fyre's gun for a sec? I need to... live up to my catchphrase."
The creature roared again, myself rushing back towards the safety of Fyre as the rest clambered for the Clydesdale, the resulting retreat being probably on the far side of undignified. Aerith was first to reach her guns, starting to light up the monster with her Chicacolt Typewriter and bigger rifle, with Crash Dive being second to start sending hunks of rebar at the creature. The Clydesdale's engine roared as Static got it moving behind Fyre, turning and speeding back a far ways as I finally got myself up into the commander's hatch, the gryphon sword clattering into the tank behind me. I don't know what that thing can do, I don't WANT to know what that thing can do, I just know that that thing needs to be dead in SO MANY WAYS RIGHT NOW!
The many heavy hoofsteps from it rattled the tank as I grabbed hold of the fifty, letting off a scream that echoed in my helmet, the trigger levers releasing the bolt and emptying a spray of armor-piercing and tracer bullets out at the sea monster's hide. The rounds that I could see the flightpath of just seemed to harmlessly ping off, however - not to mention make that thing even angrier. Oh-ho-ho, fuck me with a fuel rod so hard right now...
Rangefinder threw Fyre into reverse as I slammed the top hatch shut, jumping on the gunner's seat instead and immediately starting to bring the turret around. Fyre's suspension bounced as we raced across the blasted landscape, my hooves doing their damndest to keep the gun level enough for a firing solution - then again, when the target's THAT big, not as much of an issue. The crosshairs lined up on part of the creature, a sickly greenish-blue glow coming from something in front of it, piercing through the fog and illuminating its face... as if I wasn't already terrified enough!
The 17-pounder beside me cracked out with a shot, the armor-piercing balefire egg seeming to impact the creature and detonate in the familiar blinding flash, another roar letting loose from the injured beast's mouth. I jumped from the gunner's seat, bracing myself as Rangefinder swerved in the rubble, grabbing hold of another shell. Bringing it up to the breech, I slammed it home, clambering back for the gunner's seat and looking back through the gunsight. Instead of the monster, I was afforded with sight of the Clydesdale rushing around, the burst-fire gauss letting loose in Crash Dive's hooves as Aerith brought War Crime into the party. Okay, aiming the wrong way, then!
My hoof flicked the switch for hydraulic traverse, the turret swinging around to point off Fyre's other side and back at the monster. It seemed to be following the Clydesdale with it's gigantic eyes for the moment, me finding myself staring deep into the black voids that they were. My breath caught in my throat, rear hoof resting against the triggers for but a moment, another angry roar and sudden jolt as Fyre ran over something bringing me back to my senses. Get ahold of youself, Strikey, this is your chance to, yanno, actually kill a real sea monster! Yeah, that's nice... fuck me...
My rear hoof slammed the trigger again, the 17-pounder throwing the three-inch-milled balefire egg straight at the giant anglerpony monster's face, detonating right between the eyes. It let off a piercing shriek of pain that could be heard inside the tank, myself jumping back to the turret floor to grab another shell. As I managed to wrestle it out of the rack, Rangefinder threw Fyre into a hard turn, myself falling forwards and knocking the round's nose hard against the steel interior of the tank. The milled crystal started to glow and vibrate slightly, a dry swallow going down my throat - fuck aiming this one!
Throwing the active round into the breech, I jumped on the gun seat, barely looking through the sight before my back hoof hit the trigger. The armed round flew from the barrel, myself only checking what the gun was pointing at after it had left. What I did see was the Clydesdale sihlouetted in front of a balefire egg explosion... I am so going to have to make that one up to them, oh my goddesses, I nearly- FOCUS, DAMNIT! Thanks, brain. Climbing back, hooves still shaking, I pulled another shell up from the floor, this time managing to put this one home without arming it prematurely. The turret swung back around, myself catching sight of the monster again... the giant teeth attached to it's face even more alarmingly big thanks to the scope's magnification. Boy, I'm glad I'm wearing a diaper.
It lunged forwards as fast as it could to try and catch us, which wasn't really all that fast but when it's a couple tons of flesh, muscle and bone flying at you it sure seems pretty fucking fast! Fyre's main gun let loose again, the round seeming to hit the teeth and ricochet a few times before detonating and taking half of the monster's jaw with it. I let off a small sigh of relief, just reveling in the fact that it won't have as many things to rip us apart with... before Rangefinder started having to swerve Fyre about, giant yellowish spires raining from the sky as the creature let loose another roar. On second thought, explosions plus teeth made out of razor blades and spikes probably doesn't mix too well.
The teeth that embedded themselves in front of us snapped in the dirt as Fyre ran them over, myself jumping down again to get another round. Come on, this bastard's gotta have some sort of breaking point! Uh... wait, if I can land a round in an eye socket, that might get close enough to the brain. Maybe. I don't have many options here! The round slammed into the breech as the turret shook, gears and motors grinding in protest as the gun presumably hit against one of the teeth scattering the ground. I caught myself against the turret's side, clambering to get back into place - oh goddesses, sorry, Static can pay for repairs! The gunner's seat fell under me once again as I turned off the powered traverse, bringing the gun to focus on the sea monster's face once again. Gotta aim for the eyes...
The radio behind me crackled as it picked up something, my hoof hitting against the trigger and loosing another shell. To my dismay, and horror, this one fell a little short, just managing to completely blind the creature instead of killing it. Okay, no, I can take another shot, thats fine! Jumping back to grab yet another one of the rounds, the whines and static over the receiver at the back of the turret finally turned into a coherent voice, one I found myself pausing at hearing as the next round settled in. "Aye, you guys're havin' a party without invitin' me? Hope ye don' mind if we cut in!"
I sat at the back of the turret, stunned for a moment, a loud thump heard outside. Jumping to the gunner's seat, I stared through the optic, just managing to catch a non-balefire-egg explosion against the monster, watching it recoil in pain as the shockwave passed through. Hooves moved to the controls again, lining the crosshairs up against the gory hole left where its eye was, myself drawing in a deep breath. Okay, one more shot...
Time seemed to slow down as the trigger clicked, myself watching the bright greenish tracer the milled crystal left in the sky as it flew, another blast rocking against the side of the creature. The shell vanished in the blood and gore of the thing's destroyed eye, a bright flash illuminating the thick skin from inside before half it's face exploded outwards in a shower of gore, painting the crater from green to red. Another few regular explosive shells peppered the skin, tearing new holes, the whole monster slowly falling to the earth. It hit with a heavy thud that was felt through the tank, a dust cloud kicked up in its wake obscuring sight of it. The explosives volley sustained for a few moments after the giant anglerpony went down, myself just sitting in Fyre, silent aside from the sound of my breathing.
Rangefinder watched the dust settle outside for a few long moments with me, before I stood and moved backwards to the commander's hatch. The steel doors clattered aside above me as Rangefinder opened up her own hatch, a certain silence befalling the crater as we just looked on towards it. The Clydesdale pulled up alongside us, Static shutting off the engine and sitting silently as well, Crash Dive and Aerith staring on at the vanquished creature. The clicking of our pip-bucks fell to a steady tick, myself falling back against the hatch ring and tapping the metal a few times. I dryly swallowed, breakng the silence, the thrum of an engine in teh distance barely heard.
"I think... I think that's enough excitement for one day."
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'Well, worst case, whatever I'm aiming at will just end up being -really- dead instead of just pretty dead.'
No shame in a little overkill! Anyway, my thoughts on this chapter are kinda jumbled, but I really did like it. It's good to see the Vanhoover Five(four) back together, and I did have quite the laugh at the back and forth about Gauss weapons. Overall, I thought the chapter had a good balance of action in it, both predictable and (thanks to Night Strike) unpredictable fighting. I had to say, I had a feeling that you wouldn't leave the red eyes of death as the joke it was in Far Harbor, but I wasn't disappointed. Too bad that Bethesda didn't go that way with that quest, would have been a better end to that quest line. But, anyway, loved the chapter, and as always, can't wait for the next one!