Bugs and Guns
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Oh, today was a long day. Stupid merchant not having enough caps to pay for a whole armory's worth of guns and ammo... okay, fair point, but still. Least the timed grenades were neat and arguably useful things. Ditching both duffel bags by the left side of the bed, I tugged off my jacket, Crash Dive stepping back through the doorway and likewise removing her helmet. I gave my wings a shake, some old feathers falling out of them - guh, that was pretty damn annoying how they build up all the time. Taking to slapping the post of the bed with them a few times to beat the feathers out, Crash Dive turned and stared at me, myself realizing... eventually. I let off a weak chuckle, folding my wings back up, looking to her with a sheepish grin. "Eheheh... old feathers, yanno, gotta get them out somehow, right?"
"Can't believe I have to ask this, but, um, do you know what preening is?" Preening, preening, preening... doesn't ring any bells. Returning a blank stare, Crash Dive slowed in removing her armor, just seeming to stare at me for the few moments before I responded with a shake of the head. Oh, what is it, you're making me feel really stupid right now, Crash Dive... "You've got to be kidding. Didn't your parents ever show you how to preen yourself?"
"Uh... I'm pretty sure that they're not the best teachers for how to, um, preen, because they're both stallions and I'm a mare... though in retrospect, preening probably doesn't mean anything like that, does it?" Huh, yanno, I don't think I've seen Crash Dive blush before. She shook her head, pulling off a few more pieces of her armor to leave just her wing covers, shoulders, and bodysuit on again. Trotting over to me, she sat me on the bed, looking to my wings for a moment before turning me around and laying me flat on my stomach. Okay, my turn to blush...
"No, not quite. You might not be able to tell the difference, though..." The soft material of the bodysuit's hooves gently reached between my body and wings, sending a rather unfamiliar tingle up my spine. O-ho-kay, um, Crashy, I appreciate what you're doing but I don't think we're each other's types! She stopped for a moment - finally - letting off a soft hum and thinking. "Just, out of curiosity, how did your... fathers clean their wings out, anyways? You, um, you should relax your wings for this, too..."
"Oh... uh, I think they both would take turns standing either side of the TOG's 17-pounder and firing it off, let the blast from the muzzlebrake blow all the dead feathers out. I guess a tank gun works for that." Shrugging, I felt as the pink-maned pegasus stretched my right wing out to it's full span, another tingle coming up my spine. Woah, feeling somepony else handle your wings is weird... She stopped, just as I was beginning to feel her breath on my wings. Oh, this was weirder...
"Your fathers own a tank. A tank-tank. A, moves on two tracks, has a big functioning turreted gun with ammo for it tank. Celestia above, next thing you're going to tell me is that they've got a missile silo or something, too..." Yeah, believe me, they wish they did... Crash Dive leaned forwards again, her muzzle close to the feathers of my wing, each breath making a tingling sensation shoot up my spine. Ooooh, this was getting a bit freak- an intense shiver overcame myself as she stuck her muzzle inbetween my feathers, a faint tugging sensation being felt as she pulled back out. What was... whoo... huh, that was... something. Her hooves gently rubbed through the layers again, myself giving my wing a quick ruffle from the feeling. "Goddesses girl, if you do the same thing as your fathers... how the hell can you fly like this?"
"Just ignore it, I-I guess... wuuuh, h-how much longer should this take? N-not that I'm complaining..." She leaned in again, nuzzling between my feathers and pulling a few more old ones out, gently massaging them afterwards. Celestia above, this felt... oh, this felt good. My other wing popped out, ruffling as well, the power-armored mare making steady work of both. Don't really remember when I finally passed out, but... goddesses Celestia and Luna above, that was heavenly.
---
"Alright, we're stopping at the general store first to pick up a few food things, gunsmith next to see if he's got any more shells in or made for you yet, and then the Triage to see about picking up some healing potions for the next part of the trek to Seahoof. Looks like there's a road that leads down there out of Hopeville, passes through an old town called Bridleshade that we can stop over in for the night if need be. I don't think we'll be getting as far as we usually do, so... well, it's something." Static let off a small grunt as the Clearwater Police Department duffel bag settled on his back, at Crash Dive's insistence. I hovered alongside, letting the feeling of the cool breeze pass through my feathers. Okay, dream-flying was pretty awesome, up until I took a balefire bomb to the everything... but post-preening flying? Oh man, nothing like it...
"Yeah... yeah, sounds good to me. Whoo..." I let off a slight chuckle, lazily doing a roll above the road surface and coming to a stop on my back, resting my head back against my forelegs. Relaxation, thy name is Night Strike... the little bell above the door jingled as Static stepped through, myself almost kinda saddened to touch my hooves against the ground again. I just felt so light and unencumbered now, it's awesome! Letting off a small sigh, the old floorboards creaked beneath my weight, trotting inside and nosing through the duffel bag. Lesee, 1250 bottlecaps, 70 bottles of Sparkle-Cola RAD, 19 bottles of regular Sparkle-Cola, a few snack cakes and sugar apple bombs, ammo for Thumper...
"Alright, here's a crate of the stuff, haven't been able to sell any of these. Honestly, I'm glad I won't have to be the one to eat another whole crate of these goddess-damned things..." The unicorn behind the counter had levitated up a wooden box labeled 'Fancy Buck Snack Cakes', Static giving me a short glance and smug smirk. So you're getting a crateful of snack cakes, great, I hope you don't expect me to carry it tubby. He pulled out his cap satchel, the cashier undoubtedly noticing just how much he was struggling with it. "Er... alright, you want the crate, it's 800 caps for the lot."
"800 caps!? Are you kidding me, there can't be more than 30 packages in there, and last I checked those snack cakes only cost 20 caps apiece. Can't be worth more than 600, max, assuming they're all still intact." Oh, great, Static's doing that bartering thing again. This'll take a while... I trotted up alongside Crash Dive, the power armored mare catching me with her eyes as I slotted in by the counter.
"I, uh, I think I'll head over to the gun store, see if that guy's made any more ammo for Thumper. Static tends to take a while with things like this..." The power armored mare nodded in response, myself trotting out as Static and the cashier fell into another bout of arguing. Sheesh, do we even really need that many snack cakes? I'm sure there's some goodies left in Bridleshade still. The bell above the door jingled again, a chill breeze coming up off from the reservior, myself letting my wings catch it as I shuffled through the duffel bag and pulled out a bottle of regular old Sparkle-Cola. Mmm, classic taste... a little warm, but eh.
A radio played out Radio KAOS somewhere in the distance, myself keeping the fresh bottle held as I took back to the sky once more, letting off a light sigh. Ah, flying once again... shame the distance is so short. Well, plenty of time to do more flying on the way down to Seahoof, at least - hell, if I didn't have to keep it trotting speed I'd be able to get there in a day, easy. Oh, c'mon now Strikey, you sound like you're turning into an Enclave recruit... pah, yeah, right.
Landing outside the shop, the door creaked slightly as I swung it open again, greeted to the beautiful sight of all those lovely big hoof cannons and other assorted guns. Ooh, Thumper, look, it's your pump-action cousins in 25 mil flavor! Heh... ooh, now those were big bullets. A big belt of big bullets, brilliant for beating bad guys and blowing apart brains~ Shame they're not rimfire, and that Thumper can't load them. With a powder load like what I think they've got though, I'd be worried about breaking my neck if I tried that... Trotting up to the counter, I gave the small bell a few taps, the sound of somepony letting loose a few curses coming from the back room before the gunsmith from before trotted out, a slightly worried expression on his face.
"O-oh, eheh, you're back. Ah, change your mind about the offer on the fifty cal bullets? Isn't anything else that packs quite the same amount of punch as those things, eheh..." He let his chuckle taper off, looking down at his foreleg with a small grimace. Upon a bit of closer inspection... oh, that's a nasty burn mark. Ow... yeah, that explains that. "Fucking thing... got burned last night trying to pour a mold for those slug shells you wanted. Haven't had to do it in a while, I hope it's worth it. Anyways, what can I get you?"
"That's actually why I dropped by, wanted to see if you had any more of the Dragon's breath made yet. Making a trip down through Bridleshade, want to make sure I won't run out, heh." Passing the gunsmith a weak smile, he let off a small sigh, shrugging in response. Okay, that's not a 'yes, I do have some made' look on his face... "So... if no on the shotgun shells, ya got any other forty mil grenades left? Any at all?"
"Sorry, when I said that what I sold you yesterday was all I had, I meant it. Pardon me if I have my doubts you'd need many more just to go through Bridleshade, but if you really need more then Seahoof would be worth checking out. If you can get inside, at least." He let off a small chuckle, looking down to his foreleg and drawig in a breath through gritted teeth. Turning himself about, his eyes met my own for a moment, glancing back to the burned spot on his foreleg. "I think I might be able to have a few of the slug shots done by the end of today, Celestia willing. Sorry I can't be of more help right now."
"Ah, don't worry about it. Try not to kill yourself, I need somepony that can make these shells!" We shared a light chuckle as I turned and trotted through the doorway, Crash Dive and Static heading down the roads towards me. Sheesh, took you long enough... With a strong flap of the wings, I bolted over to them, Static actually ducking as I shot over his head. Scaredy-pony~ "So, you got your snack cakes finally? We're not gonna have to stop at the Triage longer because you're going to eat yourself into a coma, are we?"
"Har har. It's all muscle, I swear it!" Static tapped a hoof against his jacketed chest, his loaded saddlebags shaking a little as he walked along. Yeah, muscle doesn't usually jiggle on it's own, tubby. "We're just going to the Triage to pick up a few healing potions to make us set, can't know what we'll find in places that aren't wetlands. We're at least more than armed to handle anything short of a hellhound, though."
"No thanks to you, mister 'flash-bangs and umbrellas are all I need'." Sticking my tongue out at him, he took his umbrella in his mouth and swatted at me with the tip, myself moving just in time to have it miss me, mostly. Well, at least he didn't have it turned on at the time. He slipped it back under his saddlebags' strap, the clinic building coming into view down the road.
"Hey, we haven't really had a chance to see what those things can do, have we? Don't bash 'em if I haven't even used 'em yet!" Answering him with a slight eyeroll - never understood how somepony can live in the wasteland and still be a pacifist - we stepped through the set of doors that led into the lobby, myself and Crash Dive hanging back while Static trotted over to the desk. The place was definitely a lot more well-lit than the last time we were here, with more ponies milling about and other assorted sounds of beeping and hospital things, I guess.
"Welcome to the Hopeville Medical Clinic. I've detected a few severe injuries on your person, is there any manner in which I can be of assistance?" A service robot hovered over to where myself and Crash Dive stood, it's electronic eyes looking at the power armored mare. Severe injuries? I mean, I knew she took Med-x for pain, but... "Scans indicate severely injured tissue on the wings, please remove your armor for treatment." I blunk a few times, looking to Crash Dive and seeing her still staring up at the robot, the expression on her helmet seeming to get more furious by the moment. For solid pieces of metal and plastic, that's impressive. "Please remove your armor to recieve treatment to the affec-"
The rebar cannon mounted on her back choomed out, sending one of the solid shafts bolting into the front side of the robot and out the back, throwing the heap of a robot back to land near the receptionist's desk, and Static's hooves. Save for the sounds of beeping and other medical equipment, the waiting area was completely silent, everypony staring at either the wreck of the robot or Crash Dive herself. The service bot ade a few sickening grinding noises, it's speech coming out warbled. "Are you satisfied with your care?"
Static gulped, turning back to meet his eyes with the receptionist's, letting off a weak chuckle. "Eheh... ah, yanno, I think we can live with only the one box of medical supplies, on second thought... sorry."
---
"Welcome back, you're listening to Radio K A O S, KAOS in Vanhoover. Our top story today comes out of the town of Hopeville, where the Triage is operating under the glow of the original electric lights installed over two centuries ago. The reports come from Emerald, the Triage's head handymare, that a trio of wanderers were able to restore functionality to the old Vanhoover Reservior Hydroelectric Dam. She wasn't able to catch their names, but if you're coming from Hopeville and happen across a blue earth pony with a lightning bolt on his flanks, a dark-blue pegasus mare with a grenade rifle, and a third pony wearing black-painted power armor, give them some thanks. They've made getting things back in shape over in Hopeville a lot easier.
"I'll get some music going for you fine folks out there in the wasteland, here's another Roger Trotters album, the one this station is named for, Radio KAOS. Enjoy."
Flicking the pip-buck radio off, the long expanse of the dam's floodplain stretched out far to our east, the river that flowed from it's bottom winding over towards another lake. Sheesh, this place has got so much flowing water around, you'd think it would've been green even before the lightbringer smacked it in the everything with a megaspell of happiness. Well... maybe not, with the dam being clogged up, and the water probably irradiated to high hell. Still pretty weird to see so much of it flowing at once.
"Looks like Bridleshade's just ahead. We can do some scavenging around there, then see about finding an undestroyed building to stay for the night. When we came through during Operation Cauterize, it was used for pre-ranging our artillery on the cloudship. Wasn't inhabited when my group passed through." Crash Dive kept her eyes ahead at the small collection of buildings, the river we'd been following winding away towards the east. Okay, yeah, that wasn't a completely disturbing thought at all, Crash Dive. Letting off a small shudder, we pressed on along the road, passing by another wagon service station, Static looking over at it.
"Guys, hey, this place might have some more stuff. Worth checking out at least, right?" Myself stopping and looking with him, Crash Dive turning herself around to glare at us. Or, maybe just look at us. It's really hard to tell with that helmet on... Static let out a weak chuckle, looking to myself meanwhile. I answered them both with a shrug, having Thumper out at the ready.
"C'mon Crash Dive, we'd be scavving in ruins the rest of today once we get there anyways. Besides, haven't had lunch yet." As if on cue, Static's stomach let off a loud rumble, the earth pony wearing a blush. Myself wearing a smirk, it sounded like Crash Dive let off a sigh, shaking her helmeted head and trotting back to us, heading for the door of the store portion of the station. Same setup as the one we slept in, a bit more in disarray but still recognizable. Glad we don't have to sleep in this one, at least...
The power-armored mare glanced around the inside, looking to a fallen shelf and flicking her armor's barbed tail up. The inside of it glinted in the light from the windows, starting to slice at the supports of the shelves, Static's head poking up from behind the register with a bobby pin in his mouth to look at the commotion. Of course he's picking the lock the 'sensible' way... ballistic lockpicking is just better! Crash Dive kicked at the shelf a few times, the metal braces that held it up cut almost clean through and falling apart against the force easy enough. She picked up the lower portion of the shelf that she'd cut away, setting it back upright and pulling out a small hotplate from the saddleboxes on her armor.
"Still have a few fish that I can cook up, shouldn't take more than a few minutes." The red eyes of crash Dive's helmet settled on myself for a moment, the mare inside it pausing before removing her headgear from her armor, setting it aside. Nodding in response, I looked to the fridge section, scanning the murky glass of the doors with the taste of Sparkle-Cola watering my mouth. Mmmm, let's see if this one has the same goodies... minus the giant bugs.
A few minutes of rummaging through the fridges turned up exactly nothing, myself sitting down on the side of the improvised table across from Crash Dive, the smell of cooked fish filling the air. Static, meanwhile, wore a wide grin, gulping down a bottle of Sunrise Sarsaparswilla from a six-pack he stopped me from vaporizing. "Oh, c'mon Strikey, it's not like you don't have enough Sparkle-Cola in your bags to supply a supermarket already. Besides, I thought you were against wasting perfetly good soda~"
"My definition of 'perfectly good soda' is very different compared to your definition of 'perfectly good soda', Sparky. Crash Dive, you got any preference on it?" Looking to the pink-maned mare as Static stuck his tongue out at me, Crash Dive blunk a few times, looking between us. Pulling a few plates out of her saddleboxes, she moved to pull the fish out of the hot pan, setting the three pieces of meat on the plates in front of us.
"Can't say that I do. Any brand of soda, isn't exactly one of the things we had in the Enclave, and I didn't exactly spend too long wandering before getting my lighthouse and making sure nopony else would." An outsider in the soda wars... interesting. Oooh, I'll win her over with Sparkle-Cola RAD, show her the obviously superior bra- "And no, I don't think I'd be interested in either. Not exactly a fan of stuff that's sat around for two centuries, last experience I'd had with things like that nearly cost me my life." ...nuts. Eh, can't win 'em all, just means more soda for me!
"What was it like, in the Enclave?" Crash Dive gave Static a hard glare for a moment, the earth pony rubing at the back of his head and clearing his throat as she did so, ending it with a weak chuckle. "I-I mean, um, we know a few ex-enclave back home, a few deserted before the Tsetse was destroyed and the rest are survivors from it. The deserters generally prefer not to talk about it, and the rest... um..." Letting off a weak chuckle, Static went back to eating his strip of fish, chewing it quietly. Crash Dive let off a small sigh, looking out through the window that faced the road for a moment.
"Your fathers managed to single-hoofedly take down an entire raptor... I'm still trying to wrap my head around that one. Mostly around the fact that the officers flying it parked it right over a missile silo in the first place..." ...she had a pretty good point. Man, my grandpa was stupid. "Those deserters you mentioned, did they still have their cutie marks?" We blunk at her a few times, myself with half of that strip of fish she'd set in front of me in my mouth. Giving each other a glance, we nodded in response, the power armored pegasus giving a chuckle and shake of her head, taking a bite of her own strip of fish.
"That probably explains the raptor then, those officers were so incompetent they probably couldn't find their flanks if they had a flashlight and a map. Any good officer would've hunted those deserters down and had 'em branded like the dashites they are. Hot iron right on the cutie mark, burns it right off in a few seconds... a normal dashite branding takes a few minutes." Goddesses Crash Dive, we're trying to eat! As if I needed more of an excuse to not want to be related to that crazy group in the sky, deserters get their cutie marks branded off? Celestia above... "Their methods of making sure soldiers didn't think about deserting were effective, to say the least."
"You don't say..." Static looked about as white as his mane was, dryly swallowing down the last of his strip of fish. I don't think his original question was about what the Enclave did with their deserters... she's pretty good at changing the subject. Picking up the plates and putting them back inside her saddleboxes, Crash Dive got to her hooves, fitting her helmet back on and looking around the shop. Myself and Static followed suit, heading towards the doorway and looking up at the sky. Huh, we spent longer in there than I thought we did...
"C'mon, getting to evening as it is. Still need to get to Bridleshade yet." Trotting back onto the road, Static and myself both looked about at the scenery - well, besides the destroyed houses, it was a pretty nice stretch of road with the mild tree cover, and being in a sort of natural bowl is pretty neat too. Can almost see all the way to the east, and the lake and mountains over there. The wind rustled the trees slightly as we passed through a small group of structures, almost sounding like voices for a moment.
Then the wind sounded like manic screaming. And red bars popped up on my EFS. And I just realized that we just walked into an ambush. Lovely.
"YAAAAAAH!" A barely-dressed pony with a mane in a mowhawk jumped from one of the buildings, Static grabbing his umbrella from under the bags he had on his back and backing up against Crash Dive, myself jumping to the air with Thumper. A second pony with manic eyes appeared from the forest, the sound of a bullet pinging off of Crash Dive's armor making Satic duck and cover, stabbing at the first pony with his umbrella. Well, at least it's just drugged-out-of-their-minds poorly-equipped raiders... drugged-out-of-their-minds poorly-equipped raiders that apparently have things shooting balls of fire! Yeep!
Getting some air, a few more ponies appeared from the wrecked structures and forest, myself diving down out of the sun and blasting one of the ponies in their surprised face. Oh, forgot that I had a slug loaded... that ain't pretty. Heading back up, the barrel swung down as the break action opened, myself fitting in a regular HE shell meanwhile, Crash Dive senting a bolt through the chest of one of the raiders' chests and Static fiddling about in his saddlebags for something. Now isn't the time for a snack cake, ya dolt! Another group came up behind Crash Dive, myself diving straight while Static threw something at them. The hell was that?
Dodging a bit of fire, a blinding flash filled my vision moments before I was about to throw a forty millimeter fist of high explosive pain at the trio. Sure sounds like something exploded, though... pointing myself back skywards, I blunk and rubbed at my eyes, looking back down to see the small group get skewered by three bolts of rebar. Aw, Crash Dive, I wanted to blow them up! Ooh, those other guys are getting close to them, and Static hasn't thrown another one of those thingys at them yet... aiming forwards, a few bullets whizzed by, and I was afforded a lovely view of the sheer look of 'oh crap' on all their faces. Thumper sounded out, and soon there was a crater with a few dismembered limbs around it. Zooming back up through the dust cloud, a fireball nearly landed right on me, myself looking back in time to see the pony with the big flame-throwing thingy disappear momentarily in a blinding flash, and Crash Dive charging up towards him.
Thumper reloaded with another HE shell, I swung back down by Static, his chest heaving as he breathed around the mouthpiece. We shared a glance before making way over to where Crash Dive stood, the pony that had the flame-thingy currently having his face pummeled in by power armored hooves. Okay, Crash Dive, I think he's down... The raider let off a spurtling gasp as the power armored mare stepped off of him for a moment, picking up the big flame-thingy. Well, taking the weapons from the ponies who attacked you is one of the wasteland rules, kind of.
Crash Dive reared up onto her back legs with the new weapon, bringing it to bear on the pony whose face was doing a great impression of a bowl of radroach guts, and opening it up. The fireballs took to his coat and mane, turning him into a screaming, gurgling mess, the power amored mare emptying the rest of the ammunition in the gun onto the already-burning pony. He let off another blood-curdling scream as he desperately tried to crawl, slowly burning up, eventually - thankfully - succumbing to the flames. W-well, um... nope, yep, nope, no words. Oh, wait, here's some... "WHAT THE HELL, CRASH DIVE!?"
She dropped the big gun, setting herself back down onto her hooves, turning her head to stare back at us both. Wordlessly, she turned and started back down the road, us both watching her for a few moments, just standing there, stunned. Every now and again she'd stop at a corpse, pulling the rebar bolts out of it, I guess, before moving on. I shared a long look with Static, us both eventually thinking to keep moving with her, minds still trying to process the sounds of that pony's screams. Okay, yeah, definitely going to have to ask her about that. Just... goddesses above...
---
"Molly Manticore's Pizzeria... well, at least it looks intact." When Crash Dive said that Bridleshade was used for artillery target practice, she wasn't kidding. The place looked like it was more rubble than buildings, and save for the odd empty safe or broken wardrobe there was pretty much nothing left of it. Sure as hell weren't going to go back to the service station and risk getting ourselves turned extra crispy while we were asleep, though. "So, why didn't you hit this place back when you were shooting the big guns at it?"
"We thought it might be a good place if we needed somewhere to set up a ground station, short flight from Seahoof and was the only building big enough to double as a vertibuck landing pad. The battle was over before we could check it out, obviously." Crash Dive smashed in the wood slats that barricaded the doors, Static biting at his lip nervously as we stepped inside. Man, this place was a mess... well, from what we could see just from the light coming through the door, anyways. Still, I don't think the war would've specifically thrown tables around like this without blowing the hell out of the rest of the building.
"Guys? I got a bad feeling about this..." Static stuck behind me as Crash Dive moved further inside the building, heading over to a pile of trashed chairs and tables while we tried to figure out where stuff was inside here before we bumped into it... easier said than done. Kinda. Static had his umbrella pulled out, obviously a little more jumpy than usual - well, can't blame him too much, old places like this usually had at least one old robot still kicking somewhere, ready to jump out and fill your face with pain. Or fire. Or plasma. Or lasers. or general pant-wetting uncomfortableness. I let off a sigh and shot him a near-invisible glare as he bumped into my rump, feeling about on the wall and coming across a panel.
"Oh, hey, I think I've got the light switch... you can stop being such a baby now, Static. Thought you saved that for the bedroom." Letting off a small snicker, the switch clicked and hummed with electricity flowing through it, the lights... not coming on. Ah, ponyfeathers. Well, it turned on something somewhere, at least... Static stuck close to me as Crash Dive's eyes looked over at us from across the room. It was... deathly quiet, before a lone music box started up, the strange, mangled tune being quite effective at making us all collectively shit ourselves. The three sets of circular, blood-red eyes over at the other end of the room helped, too - it also helped us know where to send all the pain in the universe we could.
Crash Dive's rebar cannon sounded first, the bolt shooting through something metal with a plastic coating. Robots, great. I brought Thumper to bear as Static rummaged in his saddlebags for another flash-bang, quick in sending a plume of very angry fire bits in the general direction of the eyes, a smell of burning wood greeting my nostrils. Turning around, Static hurled the nonlethal but very disorienting grenade over at whatever the eyes were, it promptly detonating and illuminating the interior for a moment as I reloaded Thumper with High Explosive. The rebar cannon choomed again, myself aiming directly at one of the pairs of eyes and pulling the trigger, the compact projectile flying straight for and impacting against the outer shell of the robot, blowing it to smithereens and leaving it a mangled mess, the other two pairs of eyes shaken about by the blast. As I turned to load another shell in, a figure appeared in the doorway, his horn illuminating the interior of the pizza place with a bright light - or maybe that was just Static's second flash-bang going off.
"What in Celestia's name are ye'll doin' in here?!" Well, that's an accent. Isn't exactly Fringe, but... close. The barrage of terrified as hell shooting came to a stop, all of us looking towards the new figure that'd just appeared in the doorway. Steel Ranger unicorn, whitish coat, black mane in a short mowhawk... mother of mercy that's a hell of a rocket launcher he's got there. We all looked at each other for a moment, then looked back to the Ranger with the odd accent, calming down for the moment. Well, at least I killed the thing making music...
"U-um, we were... trying to kill the robots so we could sleep here. Why?" Static lifted himself to his hooves, the ranger loking primarily at us both. He seemed to jump slightly as he noticed Crash Dive's eyes, the power armoed mare trotting over to us, smashing a table in the process. Well, better he knows she's with us and not a robot. The stallion thought for a moment before letting off a laugh, trotting over to us.
"Aren't any robots here lad, unless that's one you're walking with. Good thing you 'ere all crazy enough to start shooting though, this place inn't the best place to think about sleeping in, not tonight." We glanced between ourselves for a moment, then back towards where the eyes were, the Ranger tapping a hoof against the ground and waving towards the open door. "C'mon, I've got a camp up on a hill a short ways away from here, was goin' tah watch the fireworks from there. Loaded this place with enough explosives to banish those fockin' creepy animatronics you were shootin' up to the moon." Animatronics... well, he at least was right about the 'fucking creepy' part. Well, still felt good... did he say explosives?
Wearing a wide grin, I let off a light chuckle, trotting over to the stallion and stowing Thumper on my back. Ow, ow, owie, man his barel gets hot fast. "You had me at watching the fireworks. Please tell me there's at least a balefire egg in there, too?" He blunk at me a few times, a smile crossing his own muzzle as he let off a laugh, Static and Crash Dive trotting with us as he started moving back for the doorway.
"You kiddin'? I've got at least ten o' the things set up dunstairs, along with a massive bloody mortar shell I was just able to get over here. Dropped it down a basement hatch in back, has at least five bricks of C4 'round it." Oh, sweet mother of Celestia, if he wasn't a Steel Ranger and I wasn't as smart as I am I'd let him have me right then and there. It's nothing personal, the big armor's just kind of a turn-off. Giddily bouncing on my hooves for a moment, Static came up on his other side, Crash Dive doing the same on mine.
"Just when I thought we had enough ponies crazy about explosives in the wasteland... ah, sorry, I don't think we caught your name. I'm Static Charge, the pegasus currently acting like an idiot next to you is Night Strike, and the pony next to her is Crash Dive." Stepping back out into the night, we turned back west, heading for a small hill a short ways outside of the town. Note to self, smack Static in the back of the head later... after we get to watch this place go up in a gigantic firey explosion just shy of a small tactical megaspell, of course. Fuck you Molly Manticore and fuck your pizzeria and creepy animatronics in their everything.
"Heh, funny that, if names meant anythin' we might be brothers. Sergeant Scouring Charge, Steel Rangers B Company." Both myself and Static stopped for a moment, staring at the ranger, before continuing on and catching back up. Same second half of a name, same initials... It's a good thing that we call you Static, Static. A short walk later, and we arrived at a small building, which appeared to have been some kind of store/house before the war. Well, least it's intact. Scouring Charge stopped us all outside, heading in and pulling out something that looked like the detonator Crash Dive gave me back on the dam... oooh, boy!
"Make yerselves comfortable, show's due t' start in a moment. Anypony got a music request fer it?" The unicorn grinned, Static and Crash Dive sitting back against the wall of the building as I fiddled with my pip-buck, bringing up that old song dad put on it. Hey, it's a big explosion, and you watch the ending of Doctor Strangemare enough times you start to associate it with those. Cranking the volume up, the mare's voice filled the air, Scouring Charge letting off a light chuckle.
"Really... 'eard that lass is a big hit up by Maple Station, the northern gateway. Haven't been thare m'self yet. Does sound lovely, doesn't she?" The unicorn grinned widely, myself and him swaying to the music as Static and Crash Dive probably watched us judgingly. The second chorus started up, us both singing in a unison as he swung teh detonator around in his magic. "We'll meet again, danno where, danno when, bu' I know we'll meet again, soom sunny day..."
"Keep, smiling through, just like you, always do, 'till the blue skies drive the dark clouds, far away! So will you please say hello, so the folks that I know, tell them 'I won't be long!' They'll be happy to know, that as you saw me go, I was sing-ing this song! We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when!"
"But ah know whe'll meet again, soom sunny, day!" With a wide grin and laugh, Scouring charge pulled the detonator, a second's delay letting the music wind down as the town - and pizza place - were engulfed in a massive, orange fireball. The blast wave rumbled up the hill, smacking into us and sending myself stumbling backwards, Scouring Charge letting out a large holler that I joined him in, watching as the explosion cooled and rose, forming a bit of a mushroom shape. Oh, mother of Celestia, I love giant explosions.
---
"Welcome back to Radio KAOS, chaos in Vanhoover. We just pulled in a special report from out of Hopeville, some residents that were over by the Vanhoover Hydroelectric Dam have reported witnessing a massive explosion come from the town of Bridleshade. Thankfully, so far, it appears that nopony has been hurt in the explosion. Asking me, I think that somepony out there found a big bomb they wanted to set off somewhere, and probably got what they deserved when they managed to do it. Never play with explosives unless you know how to not get yourself killed, kids. Anyways, that's the late night news reports, and this disc jockey's looking forwards to getting some sleep. From Radio KAOS to you, goodnight, Vanhoover."
-----
I gave a little sigh as the dust from the explosion settled, Scouring Charge collapsing the wire on top of his detonator. Is it too much to ask to find at least SOMEBODY in this wasteland that isn’t obsessed with explosives nor hates me? I swear I’m going to end up a vaporized shadow on the wall if we pick up another bomb-crazy pony... “So, whot exactly brought you three through Bridleshade, anyway?”
“We were just heading south, planning on heading to Seahoof Armory. Yanno, scavenging for old world tech and the like.” I sat myself up, the last bits of the fireball fading out and leaving behind the cloud. Scouring Charge whistled, a small smile of disbelief crossing his face. He folded up the small detonator and slid it onto a special clip on his power armor.
“You three better be packing some sort of super tank or somethin', otherwise you’re likely t' end up as unrecognizable clumps in the mud. Tha' place’s security has been runnin' on high alert ever since the bombs fell.” He stretched a little, various bits of his armor releasing hisses of air as his back cracked. “If you want to stay for the night, feel free. The least I can do is offer you somewhere to sleep before ye go and kill yourselves.” What an uplifting stallion. Seriously, are all power ranger stallions with accents this blunt?
Regardless, we followed him into the structure we'd been sitting against at the side of the road, the last hints of light long gone and replaced by the stars above. I unrolled my mattress and curled up onto it, Night Strike laying hers out beside mine, still wearing a stupid grin on her face. Crash Dive trotted into the back room as Scouring Charge laid out a bundle of dusty old clothes onto the floor. He set the large rocket launcher he’d been carrying beside him, folding in small collapsible scope and mouthpiece. “Hey, you think he could tag along? I mean, it never hurts to have some extra firepower, yanno~” The dark blue mare grinned widely, and I rolled my eyes in response.
“You just want to see that rocket launcher thingy in action, don’t you?” Night Strike giggled softly and I glanced back over to Scouring Charge, who was laying his head down on a brick of C4 as he pulled a thin blanket over himself. I sighed, knowing I was going to regret this later. “Fine, but isn’t he part of some Brotherhood company? Wouldn’t they be looking for him?” Night Strike waved her hoof dismissively, causing me to sigh again. I rolled over on my mat and began to drift off to sleep, cursing myself for always giving in to Night Strike. What is it about that mare...
---
Our hooves clacked along the broken stone road leading out of town, Crash Dive grumbling a little under her helmet as Scouring Charge trotted alongside us. He flipped open a small hatch similar to the one on Crash’s armor that she stored Med-X in, picking out a small cube of salt and popping it into his mouth. “Didn’t you say you were with Company B? Why are you coming with us?” Crash asked, her frustration coming through very clearly on the helmet’s speaker.
Scouring Charge gave a small, slightly forced laugh. “Ah, well, y'see, with the rest of the Brotherhood, and wasteland, trying to track us down, we figured we ought to head out separately. You’d be surprised, but it’s a lot harder for other ponies to recognize members of a company if they’re not all together raising hell.” Ah, right. Still probably need to cross Hopeville off of our places to visit until he’s not with us anymore. I certainly don’t need ponies throwing eggs at us or something. "We certainly don't mean to cause anypony harm, but, ah... well, we're called Bad Company for a reason. More the other two twats in the company than me."
We continued down the road, myself pulling out a box of snack cakes, the dark blue mare beside me letting off a small laugh. “Ah, 200 year old dessert cakes, breakfast of champions.” Night Strike chuckled as I bit down into the slightly stale sweetbread. Her smirk faded as her own stomach growled and she glanced into her saddlebags, only to realize she’d forgotten to grab some food related substance in town. I returned the smirk as she pulled out a Sparkle Cola and popped the cap off. “Oh, shut up. I can live off of nothing but soda for a year anyway.”
She took a swig of soda, turning her head to face Scouring behind us. “Oy, Scouring, you don’t happen to have a side when it comes to the great cola war, do you?” I rolled my eyes. Jeez, no one else is as obsessed with that soda as you are, with the likely exception of your own family. Scouring Charge shrugged, sucking a little on the salt cube in his mouth.
“Don’t really care. Why?” Night Strike put on a confident smile, pulling out a bottle of Sparkle Cola RAD, the blue drink’s glow barely visible in the dawn’s light. My eyes widened a little as Scouring lifted the bottle up with his magic - she must really want to win him over if she was willing to hand over one of her RAD.
“Best Sparkle Cola that pre-war food has to offer, only a few left out in the wasteland. They’ve got twice the kick, and sweet, sweet, flavor as the original.” I couldn’t help but giggle, listening to her go on - Strikey, I thought you didn’t listen whenever I was selling something off. I brushed a few strands of my mane out of my face before stepping a little closer to Scouring.
“Of course, the real value isn’t in taste. At least, not for a fine connoisseur of explosives such as yourself.” Night Strike faltered and Scouring Charge raised an eyebrow, which only made my grin grow a little wider. “You see, the thing that gives Sparkle RAD its special kick is the special ingredient: Strontium-90. Mix up this concoction with some turpentine and Abraxo, and you’ve got yourself a bomb your best incendiaries couldn’t dream of matching up to. Not to mention the rest of the ingredients makes a beautiful rainbow of colors when it goes off.” Scouring Charge’s eyebrow only raised a little higher as he looked down at the small bottle in his aura.
He pushed the bottle back towards Night Strike, who looked thoroughly disappointed. “Uh, no thanks, not particularly interested in drinkin' kerosene.” Night Strike pouted a little as she slid the bottle back into her saddlebags, glaring at me. I smirked smugly, holding my head a little higher as we continued down the road.
“Oh, stop being so grumpy. Now he won’t try stealing them from you later for a fix.” Crash Dive paused for a moment, steadying her oversized harpoon. “Hey, where exactly did you get that launcher thing, anyway?” I asked, turning and walking backwards to face Scouring Charge.
Scouring Charge grinned as Night Strike’s ears perked up. “I got ol’ Sunburst here a few years back. Found some blueprints in a pre-war facility when I was with a Steel Rangers chapter that’s a bit further east of the Vanhoover one. Got one the scribes to fix it up for me without telling the elder. If he ever 'eard about it, it’d take years before he’d release it into the field with how strict his rules are with new tech.” He patted Sunburst lightly. “She’s a real beauty, inn't she?”
Night Strike gave a little sigh. “Jeez, first my dad finds a Balefire Egg Launcher and now you get some sort of rocket slinger? How come the only things we ever seem to find in pre-war places are tax returns and hoof grenades?” I gave her a slightly confused look, her eyes meeting my own. Need I remind you of the four megaspells we have in a giant prototype flying machine?
As we trotted along the road that ran alongside one of the lakes, a few splashes could be heard from behind us. I looked over my shoulder, spotting a large four legged monstrosity crawling out of the water. Its spiny body was coated with a collection of foul smelling plants, its jaws snapping angrily. “Ah, shit... Radigator.” Crash Dive said, steadying her stance. She shot off one of her harpoons, which struck one of the Radigator’s legs. It growled and snapped its jaws again, stepping forward, the leg the harpoon had landed in dragging along the ground.
The Radigator whipped its tail menacingly, attempting to lunge forward. I swung my umbrella, biting down on the handle. The twin prongs struck the creature’s head, causing it to stumble backwards as the sound of electricity arcing through it could be heard along with the smell of ozone. As it opened its mouth to let out a low angry rumble, both Night Strike and Scouring Charge fired their weapons into it. I ducked as the explosives connected, causing the front half of the Radigator to burst into several meaty chunks and fly off in a cloud of red mist.
I gave a small whimper, wiping off some of the guts from my coat. Oooh, that smell’s never going to leave this... At least Scouring and Crash have easy to clean armor. Night Strike wore a mixed expression of disgust and triumph as we turned and began to head back down the road again. “Well, heh… that was fun. Better than those mutant fish-thingies..."
Following along it further, the road came to a small wooden bridge, the planks creaking as we stepped across them, a stream flowing beneath us. The water shimmered in the sunlight, bending and rushing around some rocks resting in the riverbed. My ears flicked a little at the sound of the water flowing beneath us - I never really noticed just how quiet the northern wasteland usually was until now. We followed the road away from the lake a little, heading into a light patch of woods. I pulled out my umbrella, hoping we wouldn’t run into any more animals; at least back home most things wouldn’t last out in the cold for very long.
The sun streamed down through the gaps in the trees, creating thin shafts of light that illuminated the slightly rockier path. Night Strike pulled Thumper off of her back again, sliding a new grenade into its breech. Crash Dive kicked a rock into the foliage, the sound of leaves rustling slightly echoing through the forest. We followed a bend in the road, Night Strike peering off in the distance. You sure that it isn't just a pegasus thing, Strikey? “Hey, there’s a shack over there. Maybe there’s some ammo or something, worth checking out, right?” We headed off of the road towards the small building, the faintest sound of a sigh coming from Crash Dive. I beat aside some plants with my umbrella, a large rabbit-looking thing skittering away in fright.
Knocking on the rotting wooden door, I waited for a moment, listening for a response. None came, so I opened the door and stepped in, the rest following myself inside. The floor creaked underneath us as we inspected the small shack, all fanning out to different areas. I lifted a rifle off of a display stand on a stone fireplace, examining the dusty weapon; aside from the general stiffness of the reloading lever from lack of use, it was in extremely good condition. I slipped it underneath my saddlebag strap as Night Strike trotted up to a large stone barrel connected to the wall, a small collection of burnt wood resting beneath it. “What the heck’s this thing?” She asked, tapping the side.
“Looks like a homemade still.” Scouring Charge said, trotting up next to her. He levitated a glass from a nearby cabinet and let it over beneath a spigot in the still. Twisting it open, a frothy brown liquid poured out into the mug. He sniffed it tentatively before taking a small sip, immediately grimacing and giving his head a shake, Uhm, yeah, drinking some Celestia-knows-how-old home-brew, I really don’t think that was the best of ideas. “Well, it’s lasted better than I thought it would. Strong enough to knock out a mule, though.” He wasn’t speaking lightly; even as the drink floated by me to a counter in his magic, the fumes were enough to make me slightly dizzy.
The other three trotted over to raid the rest of the cabin as I looked down at the still. I grabbed a few bottles and corks from underneath the counter of the kitchen, bringing them over to the barrel. I began to fill them up with the liquid, trying not to breath in the heavy aroma. I pushed the corks tightly into the mouths of the bottles and slipped them into my saddlebags. “You'd better not be using that stuff for incendiaries.” Crash Dive said, noticing me stashing the bottles of moonshine.
“Hey now, bars would pay a lot of caps for new drink recipes.” I let off a small chuckle, trying to justify the behavior to myself a little as well as her. Crash grunted as Scouring and Night Strike returned, pocketing a few bits of ammo that had been stored in the bedroom. “Ready to head out?” They nodded and we trotted back out of the hunting shack, making our way back to the road.
The road wound its way further through the woods, the light streaming through the trees dimming slightly as the sun began to sink in the sky. My stomach clenched a little as we continued onwards, sincerely hoping we would make it out of the woods before it became too dark to navigate. “Uh, how much further is it to Seahoof?” Night Strike checked her Pip-Buck, twiddling the knobs a little.
“It’s just southeast of here, but the road looks like it heads south a ways before splitting off. It’s probably faster just to break off and head straight there now.” I frowned a little, not too keen on wandering blindly through the forest. I looked over to Crash Dive who was fiddling with a switch on the side of her helmet. The large light affixed to it began to glow and she turned eastwards, beginning a slow march through the undergrowth.
We followed her, keeping our weapons at the ready in case we ran into another Radigator, or bloatsprite hunter, whatever those things from before were. Branches snapped beneath Crash Dive and Scouring Charge’s heavy armored hooves, the large unicorn flicking on his own small light connected to his armor's shoulder. I stumbled on a large protruding root, but managed to catch myself before I faceplanted into the dirt. The ground sloped downwards slightly, forcing us to mind our steps more to avoid tumbling painfully down into the ditch.
We followed the ditch path south, myself hopping onto a few rocks to avoid the sticky mud that Crash and Scouring trotted through at the bottom. Night Strike hovered beside me, her wings occasionally slapping some overhanging branches and knocking dead leaves loose. She was absentmindedly humming a soft tune, the several bottles of Sparkle Cola in her pouch clinking against each other. I could go for one of those… not really in the mood for Sunrise. I glanced into my pouch, only to remember that any bottles we’d come across were swiftly snatched up by missile-butt flying next to me.
I grumbled a little, my ears flopping down as we continued along. I glanced at her saddlebags, but knew better than to try swiping one of the bottles from her - not to mention whatever Crash Dive might do if she saw me stealing from a pegasus. Guh, it was easier to sneak stuff from ponies back home... The trees began to thin as we trotted further on, and it wasn’t long before we were standing at the edge of the forest, the ditch opening up to reveal a larger, lower lake, the large Vanhoover Dam barely visible off in the distance.
On our side of the lake was a large compound surrounded by high fences - something tells me that that's Seahoof. A few robots could be seen patrolling the area, several mounted turrets slowly spinning in place. Outside of the heavily guarded buildings were a few long bunkhouses like those back at Jericho Beach. A few robots walked between these buildings, though not nearly as many as those surrounding the main compound. “Alright, so how exactly were you three planning on gettin' in, anyhow?” None of us responded to the unicorn, not having expected the facility to be quite so well guarded.
“Break down the front gate and go in guns blazing?” Night Strike suggested, wearing a grin. I put a hoof to my forehead in response, shaking my head. Yes, Night Strike, I’m sure all those military-grade turrets are really just fancy water pistols and won’t shred us to pieces the moment they see four unauthorized intruders. She gave me a little glare. “Alright, smarty pants, what do you think we should do?” I scanned the compound, trying to see if there were any holes in the robots patrol routes.
“Um... there’s a medical bay over there, doesn't seem like any of the patrols pass by it.” I pointed to a small building amongst the collection of sleeping quarters, the red plus on it's front plain to see. “If we can get in there, it’ll make for a good base, and there shouldn’t be any robots in there other than auto-docs. Or, at least, not many.” The others nodded and we began to slowly make our way towards the fence. I was thankful the sky was beginning to darken as we approached the base, though the long hours of walking we’d done the past few days still made my legs ache. Oh, screw the generator, I'd be happy if this place had a tank to ride in instead. Long as we don't have to do any more walking...
I paused as we reached the fence surrounding the longhouses, realizing now only one of us could really get themselves through the fence... maybe. All unicorns know how to teleport themselves, right? I glanced over to Night Strike, who looked to be thinking the same thing as me. “Well, I can probably fly you over. Unless you decided to scarf down more of those snack cakes when I wasn’t looking.” She smirked and I rolled my eyes, but allowed her to fly above me and lift me under my forelegs. She grunted as her wings flapped in desperation, pulling me off of the ground. Come on, I don’t weigh that much!... Probably.
I tucked my back hooves up as we passed over the barbed wire atop the fence, Night Strike quickly falling back to the earth, both of us landing in a heap. Well, so much for a graceful entrance. We stood up and brushed the dirt off of us, looking back to Crash Dive and Scouring Charge. Scouring looked over to Crash Dive, letting off a weak chuckle. “So, uh, you think you’ll be able to fly me over too? Can toss my power armor over t' give you a lighter load.” I bit my lower lip, imagining Night Strike’s angry face behind her helmet’s visor.
“U-uh, how about we just grab some bolt cutters to get you guys through?” Scouring Charge looked confused, but nodded nonetheless. As I began to walk away to explore the living quarters, I noticed Night Strike wasn’t following me. I turned in time to see her standing a few meters away from the fence, Thumper in her mouth, and... oh, you gotta be kidding me. There was a loud explosion, the part of the fence she hit blasting apart. “What the hell are you doing?!”
“There, they’re through. No stupid bolt cutter fetch quest.” She stowed Thumper, grinning smugly. I was about to retort when a laser singed my ear, forcing me to duck and pull out my umbrella. So much for stealth. Night Strike quickly reloaded Thumper and fired it off at the robot that had just fired at me, as Crash and Scouring scrambled through the broken fence. The robot fired its laser again, which bounced off of Scouring’s armor, singing the ground. He fired off Sunburst, the rocket blowing off the robot’s head.
A few more ran around the corner, these ones a little larger, miniguns mounted on their shoulders. Aw, crap. I jumped into the shadows, darting around the building as Crash Dive fired off a harpoon. It managed to strike one of the robot’s pneumatic tubes connected to its leg; hot air hissed loudly as it shot out of the tube, forcing the robot to halt as its front legs crumpled beneath it.
I jumped out behind the crippled robot, lightning jumping from my umbrella into the combat control inhibitor on its back. It sparked before falling to the ground, it's components thoroughly fried. Scouring managed to hit one of the miniguns affixed to the still standing robot, sending the rotating metal flying off as Night Strike hit it squarely in the chest. The robot keeled over, oil pooling beneath it like blood.
I trotted back to the other three, glancing around in case any more robots were coming after us. “Come on, let’s get to the med-bay.” Crash said, her cannon thunking slightly as it reloaded. We trotted towards the bunkhouse with the large red and white cross hanging on the door, stepping quickly inside as Night Strike fired off another grenade at another robot shuffling its way towards us.
The lights flickered on, revealing several beds with autodocs placed at the ends, their tools dusty and rusted. I breathed a sigh of relief, and slid my umbrella next to the hunting rifle on my back. Night Strike flopped onto one of the beds as Crash set her rebar cannon down. “I think we should be fine for the night here, none of the robots down near the armory seemed to notice our break in.” She said as she sat down. “We’ll figure out a plan of attack in the morning."
I nodded, gladly laying onto one of the mattresses, trying not to think about what caused the stains as I drifted off to sleep, instead choosing to think over my choices in companions. Just one pony out in the wasteland not crazy about explosives or hates me, is that too much!?
-----
"Mmmh... G'morning, Thumpy~" My vision was only mildly blurry as consciousness graced me once more in the Seahoof medical bay, the four centimeter diameter pipe that was Thumper's barrel being right in my vision. Daddy never showed you the love you deserved after he picked up Kindness, did he, Thumper? I'm just making up for it~ As I sat myself up in bed, Static rubbed at his eyes, looking over to myself picking Thumper up out of bed. Oh, don't give me that look, it's not creepy!
"I... think I'm just going to pretend I didn't see that." Shooting him an eyeroll, I slid myself off of the med bay bed, opening up Thumper's break action and turning to the duffel bag I dropped between two of the cots. Static can say all he likes about it, at least I ain't stupid enough to sleep with a shell loaded - that'd just be plain irresponsible. Oh, let's see... hm, on my last few slug shells. Suppose I can make do with the incendiaries until the guy back in Hopeville makes more. I mean, unless Seahoof does have more... Oooh baby, let Seahoof have more 40 mil shells. A laminated card was tossed over to me in a grey magic aura, the power armored unicorn smiling as Static fit another one of the cards around his own neck.
"Found these in one o'the drawers 'ere, base pass cards. Ought to keep us from gettin' shot at, least for a while." Looking at it for a moment - ah, I'm always a sucker for pre-war history - it did seem to be an ID card of some sort, one for a pegasus stallion. Ooh, I hope the robots don't recognize faces, or genders... sliding the strap over my head, it dangled in front of my jacket, Crash Dive looking over at myself and Static as she trotted out of a storage area in the back of the hut, her armor's shoulder closing. Didn't take much thought to guess what she'd eventually managed to find here... our eyes met and lingered for a while, Static giving me a slight nudge as the door opened up. "Heh, beautiful day out, inn't it?"
"Lot better than waking up back home. Least I'm not freezing my flanks off..." Static trotted up alongside Scouring Charge, myself walking to them with Crash Dive, the warm-coolish... chill-softish... temperate air of the Vanhoover morning outside greeting us. Gee brain, why'd it take you so long to come up with that for me? Guh. We stepped out onto the hard-packed ground, the hydraulic fluid pools of last night's fight glimmering in what faint light reached us from over the mountains. The robots patrolled in the distance, our small group of four making way towards the inner fence of the compound.
A hovering sound filled our ears as we passed by the rows of bunkhouses, myself brandishing Thumper while everyone else turned to stare at the alley where the sound was coming from. The robot stopped and approached us - okay, it isn't killing us, so it's already significantly better than last night. We all shared an uneasy glance - well, I think we did, at least... hard to tell what expression Crash Dive had under her helmet - as the robot looked us over in turn, before hovering over to myself.
"Good Morning Leiutenant, good to see you up and moving again. General Red Leaf will be glad to hear that he'll finally have a pony guarding the ordinance storage wing again, it's been under watch by robots for..." It took a moment to think - processing the number, I'd guess. "Two centuries, ten years, two months, and three days. That's two centuries, ten years, two months, two days, 23 hours and 59 minutes longer than it should have been, Leiutenant. You're lucky he's not here to really tear you a new one. Come on." Answering the robot with a few blinks, I looked back at the group, the robot hovering off towards another road. Well, I guess if it's just going to let us in, then... alright? Shrugging, we followed behind it, soon getting to the interior perimeter fence and moving along it.
The interior compound of Seahoof kind of reminded me faintly of Sunrise Castle, with the massive hangar buildings. Inbetween each hangar was a big water tank, connected to some rusted red pipes and lengths of degraded rubber hoses - well, suppose they had to put fires out somehow. Fire at an armory, with all the ammunition around... okay, once we clean this place out of all the stuff that could be useful to us, can we please blow it up? Even just a little bit? One hangar, I swear, just detonate one hangar's worth of ammo... Static seemed to catch on to the stupid grin I had on my face, hitting me in the side of my head with his umbrella. Bloody earth pony...
"No, bad Night Strike, no blowing up anything while we're here." Rubbing the spot where he hit, I shot him a glare and a good view of my tongue, continuing on. Crash Dive's rebar cannon resounded behind us making us both jump as a length of solid steel embedded itself in the building next to Static. We both turned to look back at the power armored mare, Scouring Charge likewise staring at her in surprise. Okay, throwing him into the trees because he asked about your wings is one thing Crash Dive, nearly splattering his brains all across the dirt is an entirely different level! Static stood there, frozen, myself trotting between him and Crash Dive meanwhile, passing the mare in the power armor a disgusted glare.
"I... I can explain, I swear that it misfired! Night Strike, I didn't-" Dropping a foreleg around Static's neck, I let my glare linger on Crash Dive, almost being able to stare at her behind her helmet. Huh, maybe I did pick something up from Dad. Hugging the earth pony close, we kept moving up to the entrance of the armory, the power armored pegasus hanging back behind us. If she wanted to test my nerves, she'd gone too far this time... but, damnit, she's the only pony we really know from down here that won't blow the fact that the Valkyrie is our plane. I blunk a few times, looking back at Scouring Charge for a moment, himself still looking behind and watching Crash Dive - yeah, we're probably gonna have to tell him about it if we find a generator here, aren't we? Fuck me with a fuel rod... goddess-damnit, I need to come up with my own catchphrase.
We soon arrived at the gate, the robot leading us across the wide stretch of land between the barracks and the storage hangars, us all just seeming to take a moment to appreciate the size of the buildings. Sweet mother of Celestia, just thinking about all the explosives, ammuntion, weapons... I felt a little faint. The robot brought us to a small doorway, giving a salute and hovering off somewhere. Watching it head off for a few moments, we all glanced at each other, Crash Dive keeping herself, and her cannon, turned away from the rest of us. Probably for the better. "So... split into groups, see what we can find here, that sound good?"
"Aye, s'pose so. Anythin' in particular you're looking for here, or did we just come all this way from Bridleshade t' see about restocking on ammo?" Scouring let off a small chuckle, tapping Sunburst's underside with his forehoof. He paused and thought for a moment, looking up at the structure before us, and the crest on the large loading door. "Now I think of it, a good bit o' the stuff I used the other night came from crates with that logo. Would be worthwhile after all... 'specially would like t' know just what kind of gun fires a shell that big. Was at least six hundred millimeters across." Well, that certainly got my attention. Six hundred millimeters... that's almost ten times as big as the gun on the TOG! Oooh, the things we could do with that... Bridleshade's still kind of intact, for the moment...
"A-ah, yeah, anyways, groups. I think I'll stick with Night Strike, for my own health... lesser of two insanities..." The earth pony looked to myself, as Crash Dive's armor whirred, moving her over to stand beside Scouring. She responded with a silent nod, Static moving himself to be out of the power armored pegasus' cannon's fire arc. Couldn't blame him. "We'll, um, we'll handle this building, you two can see what's in the rest of the place. Any explosions or screaming, well, we'll probably be able to find each other. Right?"
The pair of power-aromred ponies answered him with a nod, turning themselves about, Crash Dive looking back at myself through her mask. Well, if she'd wanted to kill Static, she could've done it long ago... nnf, don't think about this now, we'll have a talk later. Focus on the fun explosivey goodness that's inside the building instead. Static fiddled with the door for a moment, before turning himself around and kicking it open. Hey, ballistic lockpicking, I am teaching you stuff! He looked back to myself with a small smile and weak chuckle, readjusting his saddlebags and umbrella. "Don't think I have any bobby pins left."
"Don't apologize for that, nothing wrong with a little forced entry every now and again~" Passing along a smirk, he responded with a light laugh and shake of the head, peering into the entrance to the large hangar. Airlock-type seal, of course, wouldn't do to have moisture or stuff get in to ruin the explosives. Oooh, I could smell the cordite from here... "Alright, so, first order of business is to find where they keep all of their explosives. Second order, find a big wagon to transport as much of their explosives as we can. Third, blow the rest. That's a plan, right?"
"You had me up until the third step, and I'm not gonna be the one hauling the wagon from the second." The earth pony let off a grunt, stretching his back, his spine resounding with a few pops. Ouchie... "I dunno about you Strikey, but if we can find some kind of vehicle that ain't hoof-powered, I'm happy. I can only carry so much of your stuff along with mine!" Our hoofsteps echoed as we moved through the airlock-chamber-thing, Static stepping up to the inner door and wrestling with the wheel on it, it screeching loudly as it eventually started to turn. Woof, hope that it only got that way post-war... and that it doesn't close automatically.
"Hey, you're only carrying my bedroll and the Clearwater duffel bag, that ain't too much! I did sell off at least a few of those guns, didn't I?" The earth pony answered with an eyeroll, the heavy inner door screeching as it swing out into the expansive black hangar, the dark expanse making us both a little wary. Really don't need another set of creepy animatronics greeting us... Static searched on the wall beside the door for a light switch, managing to at least find it and flip the lever up. A loud clacking sound filled the air as the old breakers flipped over, electricity flowing through the overhead lights and turning them on in sequence, the yellow-hued illumination revealing...
Mother of Celestia, that... that was a HUGE gun!
We both stared up at the short-barreled mobile artillery piece, jaws hanging low as we stepped inside the packed hangar. I... uh, yeah, I think we found what that shell Scouring was talking about was fired from. Sweet Celestia, if this thing can run, and if we can move the rounds onto it... It's just a shame that we can't fit it on the Valkyrie. Dad would love this. My stare of amazement slowly turned into a stupid grin, wings spreading wide and hovering myself up into the air, darting over to the self-propelled artillery. Getting closer, the wind from my wings kicked some dust about, a caked-on layer falling from the side of the gun's recoil mounting and revealing a faded name; 'Shining'. Well, isn't the name I'd pick for it, but 'Big Bubba' probably doesn't sound quite as nice if it were needed on a report.
Landing on the flat front of Shining, the massive 60-centimeter bore was plainly visible, a stupid giggle escaping myself. Ooooh, those shells had such a big boom they made mushroom clouds, I really hope that this puppy can work... Static finally made his way over, looking around for a moment before jumping himself up onto the sheets of metal over the tracks, looking over Shining with me. Grinning widely, I looked to him, his eyes still stuck in the amazement phase. C'mon Sparky, it's such a big gun! His gaze met mine for a moment, before moving to look down at the portion I was standing on. I followed him with it, taking a step back off of the dust-covered grates and looking at them for a moment. Ooh, engine... hopefully it's still in good shape.
"And the moment of truth is... fucked." Well, that was disappointing. It'd take a whole workshop of ponies to fix this rusted to hell mess. I can't even tell where the turbines end and the generators begin, or where the motors were. Celestia knows what state the reactor's in... "Yeah, trying to run this thing under it's own power is a fast way to get us all killed in a reactor explosion. Probably. Goddess-damn it." Letting off a small huff, I slumped back against the recoil mechanism, staring down into the rusted engine compartment. Oh, Shining, why ya gotta do this to me? Static trotted over to where I was slumped, resting a hoof on my shoulder.
"C'mon, I'm sure there's something else here that isn't as completely broken. I doubt this thing's that fast anyways, looks longer than the TOG, and not nearly as enclosed. Still plenty more here for you to fawn over, yanno, maybe there's another one of those rocket-thingies that Scouring has." Ah, Static, you knew me so well. He smiled and shrugged, trotting over and hopping off the back of the giant arty and landing hard against the concrete floor, looking over at the racks of huge shells on the other side of it. Sweet mother of Celestia, those were big shells...
"Hm... I think the regular-size ammunition's over this way. You gonna be fine browsing here by yourself, come find me afterwards?" Hovering in place for a moment over him, Static thought for a moment before responding with a nod, myself passing him a grin before flying over to the back of the hangar. I know I saw a rack of grenade rifles around here somewhere... ah, there we are. And the ammo is... there! Smiling widely, I let myself drop to the ground, looking back at the long extended barrel of Thumper resting on my back. Don't worry boy, you'll be getting some new food soon~
"Alright Royal Equestrian Ordinance distribution systems, what've you got for Thumpy 'n' me here?~" Opening up the sealed boxes - oh, that was a good hiss - the large collection of grenades brought that same wide grin back across my face, looking over all of them as they rested in their sorted boxes. High Explosive, High Explosive Incendiary, Plasma, Pulse, High Explosive High Velocity, Solid Slug, Dragon's Breath, Birdshot, Fragmentation... like a filly in a candy store. Oh, Thumper's gonna be full for a good long while now. As I looked over the pallets of grenades, the labeling on one nearest a doorway caught my attention, myself moving to inspect it further.
"'40mm LVGR Ammunition reserved for testing of MWT Automatic Grenade Launcher Mk VI, located in R&D. DO NOT USE IN REGULAR STOCK.'" It took a moment too long for me to process what that meant - did you hear that Thumper, they actually made you a pony-portable automatic-fire cousin! Oooh, now this was something I had to have for myself. Shining might've been a bust, but surely this Auto Mark six couldn't be as damaged! And if this pallet is closest to these doors, then it's only logical to assume that... "Hello, Seahoof Research and Development department~"
The doors opened with a small hiss, the smell of stale air, unspent cordite, and gun grease meeting myself in a pleasant aroma. Oh, mercy above, places like this were always fun to wander around in. Just like Greasy's old place, with the missiles and a few left-over half-cooked creations, or Sunrise Castle... somehow, I doubt my chances of finding another Valkyrie here, great as that'd be. No, here, there were just guns. Guns and ammunition...
Not catching sight of the Mark six on first entry, what did draw my attention was a big rifle with a big barrel and big clip, and a scribbled-down note on it. Must be unicorn, earth ponies or pegasi could never write this neat... "'August 6th, improved bolt and carbon-fiber body installed on the select-fire automatic anti-personell .50 caliber rifle. Reminder to tell General Red Leaf that this thing is a one-pony war crime waiting to happen.' War crime..." I looked back to the big gun, taking a closer inspection of it. That clip size... hm, if I remember from the pony back in Hopeville, that thing probably has about 20 rounds a clip. Those were pretty bloody huge rounds, though... nnfh, I need to think about it. Find the Mark six first, see if you can carry it, then come back for the big fifty cal auto.
Trotting further into the R&D section, the sight of several empty shell casings of various calibers caught my attention, recognizing at least a few of them right off the bat. Thirty-ought-six, forty five auto, twenty mil cannon, forty mil cannon... on the list, more ammo for the Valkyrie's forward guns... forty mil rifle, seventeen-pounder, six inch, eight inch, twelve inch, fourteen inch... sheesh, how big did they go with these damn things? Well, I mean, at least 60 centimeter, obviously. What were they doing with all these, anyways? Looking around for a clue, the whiteboard at one end of the section of the room did seem to give a few answers, at least. "Ministry of Arcane Sciences Mark 13 'Solar burst'... very high explosive, tests show a useful payload to caliber places it on par with zebra balefire eggs. Forty mil rifle shells and general-use hoof grenades made, on Blastback's table..."
Not wasting any time after reading that, the next few minutes were spent trying to work out which table in this room was Blastback's, via a time-proven process of opening everything I could. The ammunition box on the polished metal table eventually got my attention... which took far longer than I want to admit... myself opening it up gleefully and peering inside. Oh, Tia's smiling on me today! Giggling stupidly, I pulled the soft foam out of the box first, carefully removing the brass shells with black-painted payloads and looking them over. The very tips of each shell seemed to glow with a golden hue, myself giggling madly as I set my duffel bag on the table and undid the zipper, looking inside. Okay, so maybe if I budge the Sparkle-Cola around and eat up a few snack cakes, I should be able to fit the box in. Or, I could do the smart thing, and get Static to carry it for me.
Or I could stop getting distracted and get that automatic Thumper already!
Leaving the duffel bag on the table - it isn't going anywhere, I'll be fine as long as I focus - I stepped into the third section of the department, and lo and behold, there she was. Oh my Celestia she was a beast. She's practically as big as I am! I took a moment to trot about the automatic grenade rifle - or, grenade machine gun - in the center of the room on a short pedestal, just admiring her unpainted beauty. A bit of white-bordered black paint caught my attention, on closer inspection producing a name for the beautiful thing; Boomer. Ooh, sweet mother of mercy, I love the pony who thought this was a good idea. Now... let's see if I can carry her.
Hooking one forehoof around a support halfway along the gun, my other one moved to rest in the back support for it, giggling as the screen on the loadout showed a boot-up sequence. Computer assisted fire control, sweet~ The latches that secured it to the pedestal released, and with a grin I steadied my back hooves on the ground and lifted. It seemed to budge a little - I think - myself straining against it's weight. Okay, Boomer's a fatty, no denying that... still trying to pick her up, one of my hooves managed to slip beneath me, and the next thing I saw was the ceiling above me and the forty millimeter automatic pinning me to the floor. Damnit Tia, why'd you have to blink on me like that! Oh well... "Static! Could use some help here, I'm stuck!"
Well, for how cluttered this place seemed to be to navigate on the ground, he certainly seemed to get here fast. Thanks Sparky, always got my back when I screw up... I grunted, trying to shove Boomer off of me again, the earth pony letting off a small chuckle as he gave his head a shake, looking at myself. "Strikey, if you wanted to be pinned down so bad, you just had to ask me~ C'mon, let's get this thing off'a you." He moved himself around to the back end of Boomer, slotting his own hooves into the grips and managing to pick the whole thing up in one go. He stumbled slightly, fixing his balance, myself shimmying out from under where the gun was. "Sheesh, no wonder you were having issues, this thing's making me winded just holding it. Don't tell me you actually want to use this thing!"
"Eheh, yeah, on second thought I think I'll stick with the first gun I saw here. For the better, Thumper might get hungry if I were using Boomer all the time..." I let off a light chuckle, Static setting the forty millimeter automatic on the ground. Trotting back through the Solar Burst shell dev department, I moved back over to the duffel bag, looking to the box of ammunition beside it. Oh yeah, I was going to have Static carry it... hope he says yes. Sliding the duffel bag onto my back, I was, admittedly, rather surprised when the blue earth pony picked up the metal ammo box, a smile on his muzzle. "U-um... okay, uh, thanks. You sure you're not going to be overloading yourself?"
"Heh, you know there's a reason that I was able to get over here so quickly, right?" ...okay, well then, going to answer my question with a question, that's cool. He trotted back through War Crime's R&D department, myself turning to look back over the gun. C'mon buddy, you're gonna be coming with me~ Lifting up the rifle from it's stand, and searching for the battle saddle mount... I'm gonna need one of those, aren't I?... the sound of a small engine turning over caught my attention outside, prompting me to fit War Crime onto my back and see just exactly what it was that Static managed to dig up. The earth pony grinned, hopping into the forward seat of some weird little... thing. It looked like a shrunken tank fused with a bicycle, or something. The Clearwater duffel bag hung off of one side, along with the ammo box being set in a rack beside it, Static letting off a chuckle as I trotted over to it. "Better than pulling a wagon, right? Almost a tank."
"You don't say... huh... we could make it a tank, yanno~" The earth pony shot me a confused look, myself smiling and peering back through the open doorway to the R&D department, and the unpainted forty mil automatic that rested on the floor. Static let off a slight groan, his hoof hitting his forehead. Hey, it couldn't hurt...
---
Boomer bounced slightly in the improvised mounting I'd managed to cobble together for her, myself wearing a stupid grin as I sat on the side of the mini half-track-thingy, Static driving it along the cracked pavement outside the hangars. Oooh, Thumper and Boomer are gonna be able to eat well for ages now~ As we drew near the hangar we were fairly confident that Scouring and Crash Dive had went into, a low thud resounded from inside the building, followed by sirens starting to fill the air around the base. Oh, that can't be good. The tiny half-track came to a stop just before a section of wall that reverberated with small explosions for a moment, before exploding outwards and showering us with concrete specks. Scouring Charge leapt through the hole, followed by Crash Dive, the power armored pegasus pumping some rebar shots into the hangar as they both ran towards us.
"What the hell's going on!? What happened in there?" The unicorn took a few panting breaths as he hefted himself up onto the top of the mini-tank, his magic rummaging around in the Clearwater duffel bag for a moment before pulling out one of the ten mil pistols and loading a clip. Oi, he breaks it, he owes me the caps for it! Crash Dive eventually got herself around to the back, the suspension bouncing as it took the weight of the two power armored ponies, both of them still firing at the cloud of dust. Just about ready to ask them what they were doing, again, a complete swarm of huge ants flooding out from the hole. "Okay, that's a whole lotta nope right there. Static, floor it!"
The engine roared as the mini-tank spun around, myself steadying on it's back and shimmying about, picking up the trigger for Boomer. Whole lotta nope, meet a hundred eighty forty mil rounds of pain per minute. Turning the gun around to fire backwards, a wide grin crossed my face, Scouring Charge jumping slightly at the sight of the muzzlebrake coming into his view. Taking aim, I only held down the trigger for a moment, a short volley of three rounds flying out of the gun and landing smack in the middle of the ant crowd. The explosions tore apart the nasty things, myself giggling for a second.
And then the whole ant colony detonated.
The steel gate that marked the exit to the facility was swiftly rammed through by Static, clattering as it was then rattled by the explosion going off behind it. Okay, exploding giant ants, that's definitely a new one to me. As the blast settled, and the one hangar wall finished collapsing in the distance, Crash Dive looked back at myself, pulling her helmet off. "Yeah, I think that's why Seahoof wasn't raided yet. Ants got in and ate the gunpowder and cordite for some of the shells. That bloke made us learn it the hard way."
"Ay, I didn't know they'd go up like that! Lucky we cleaned the place out before we ran inn'a them, eh?" Scouring let off a laugh, shuffling around one big bag that he'd hung over his armor, undoing the zipper in plain sight of the three of us. What was that, fifteen, twenty bricks of C4? And 5 balefire eggs? Oh, Tia above, you're so kind to us today~
---
The drive back to the lighthouse was... honestly, not that bad at all. Turns out that little bug has some great off-roading capabilities as long as it isn't forest it's going through, and we were actually able to get back around sundown, just before the tides came in. Of course, afterwards that just left filling Scouring Charge in about why we were -really- at Seahoof... shit, I actually forgot why we were there, too. He seemed to have taken it well, if the confused stare he had on as he entered the lighthouse after seeing the bomber crashed in the mud was anything to go by. But hey, between Boomer, War Crime, the half-track-thingy and the Solar Burst ammo, did that really matter? It was still a major success in my book~
Us all moving to settle in and catch up on some sleep, I rested in the kitchen, going through the large collection of stuff we'd managed to pick up from Seahoof while drinking down a Sparkle-Cola. Alrighty, sorting time! Forty mil shells first... twenty boxes of straight HE, with about thirty rounds per box, 600 rounds. Ten boxes Incendiary, 300 rounds. Ten plasma, ten pulse, five timed, five slug, five dragon's breath, five buckshot... yeah, Thumper and Boomer ain't going hungry anytime soon. Hm, I am gonna have to get some ammo for War Crime at some point, should've stopped over in Hopeville. Ah well, we can do that tomorrow. Now, for the other stuff...
As I was moving to pick up the bags that Scouring Charge had picked up, the whirring of power armor caught my ears, Crash Dive standing in the doorway that connected the kitchen to the rest of the house. She had a solemn look on her face, standing there for a moment, thinking. Well, now would be a good time to talk about it... "I'm... I'm sorry for what happened, back at Seahoof. I swear that I didn't fire the cannon on purpose, I..." She let off a sigh, looking up at myself, and the other bench across from me. Moving herself over to it, she sat down on the edge, myself pulling the duffel bag off of the table.
"Look, I know that he's your friend, and that I have to live with him if... you gotta understand, you're the first pegasus I've seen in a decade. Better or worse, well, you're the closest thing that I can call a friend right now, with half the wasteland hating me for being me, and the other half thinking I'm some kind of ghost, or something. I just don't... something with the radio set it off, maybe, I rewired my helmet for it about five years ago. Thought I pulled the radio antenna com part out, it could've been something on the base causing interference, or something. I swear, I didn't mean to hurt him, Night Strike."
Silently, I stood myself up, looking Crash Dive in her face. She knew she had more to lose by killing Static than just a pack mule... she stared back up at me, that distressed look in her eyes passing on the truth, or at least a damn good lie. I'm inclined to believe the former. Standing beofre her for a moment, I lifted a foreleg and wrapped it around her neck, pulling the old mare into a hug. Holding it for a while, Crash Dive timidly returned it, light whimpers escaping her. Alright Strikey, let's see if you remember it from dad... "Ssh, ssh, it's okay. Static's not hurt, I believe you, just, please don't scare us like that again." Giving her one last squeeze, I took a step back, my eyes meeting her reddned and teary ones. She sniffled lightly, rubbing at them with her armored forehoof.
"T-thank you. I won't." Crash Dive regained herself, if slowly, myself sitting back down across from her. She kept her eyes low, resting a hoof on the table, seeming to think for a moment. "Y-you know, I owe you both more than you think. The reason..." She paused for just a moment, swallowing dryly. "The reason I was so fast to pull you out of your flying machine after you crashed, I was standing up on the cliffs that night, watching the waves crashing against them. I didn't know if I was going to be coming back to my lighthouse that night." Well, that confused me for a moment. If she were standing just on the cliffs, couldn't she just-... oh. Wow, I really am kinda slow on the uptake, aren't I? Sheesh... Crash Dive let off a small sigh, looking up past myself at the wall.
"Getting late. I think I'm going to head for bed, you should do the same. Deserve the sleep." The power armored mare picked herself up off of the chair, trotting around the few duffel bags that littered the floor. I watched her for a while, her coming to a stop in the doorway and looking back at myself. "Thank you, Night Strike. Goodnight." She trotted off, myself resting back in the little booth, just looking down at the table for the moment. Hmh... she definitely had some issues, but... she's got friends now. Even if she doesn't like one of them, she's got friends. Might be just what she needed.
Packing up the collection of ammunition, and setting it over in one corner of the kitchen, I finally decided to check the time myself. Woah, yeah, it was pretty late. Eh, I've had later nights, though. As I was heading for the doorway, an admittedly unnerving sound came from down on the thin land bridge, myself stopping and looking to the window. Call me crazy, but that sounded like a mare's scream for help... nope, that was definitely what it was. Oh, crap, hope she isn't caught in the tides, or something. Well, better safe than sorry.
The door shut behind me as I leapt off of the small porch, wings spreading wide and carrying myself down over the short bridge. Shit, I should've grabbed a flashlight... Oh, wait, duh, my legputer can do that. I think. Fiddling with it for a moment, the sudden change in brightness blinded me, myself turning it over and going back to scanning the ocean afterwards. The mare screamed again - okay, I was getting closer, at least - her wet mane eventually becoming illuminated in the bluish light from my pip-buck. She thrashed about in the water, looking up at myself for a moment and madly splashing for help.
Swooping down, I managed to just about get my hooves around her own, flapping and pulling hard as I could manage to help drag her over to the lighthouse's island. Sheesh, she needed to lay of the snack cakes, too... or, maybe it's the chain links around her back legs. And the weird collar around her neck. She panted heavily, myself setting down in front of her and lookng her over, the mare passing on a smile for a short moment. Then her head exploded.
Recoiling from the shock of watching somepony suddenly having their skull blown off by whatever that collar-thing was, I think, I took back to the skies and spat out a bit of grey matter, letting off a scream in disgust. Okay, on a scale of one to ten, this was fucking freaky! Trying to rub what was left of that mare off of my face, I didn't quite notice as a magic aura encompassed itself around my back legs, or the sound of something heavy being levitated up behind myself. I certainly did notice when said heavy thing came down smack on my head, and all the lights went out.
Fucking aces, Strikey.
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