“Alright, I suppose we ought to just pick up where we left off. What do you know about Project Cerberus?” I said, standing in front of the bleeding, bruised captain, who spat a tooth onto the floor before speaking.

“Not much, other than it’s something dangerous. I already told you it’s some kind of megaspell delivery system, like they had pre-war. Least, we're pretty sure it's megaspell - could be balefire bombs, too. Saw zebra writing on some of the bots...” He swallowed, only to cough up a bit more blood a moment later. Even his breathing was ragged; Celestia, did Night Strike break one of his ribs? “I don’t know any details on how it works, we weren’t the ones building it, and the crazy fuck running the place wasn’t letting us peek at the schematics anyway.”

“Who is this ‘crazy fuck’? And what about the actual facility this project is in, I need details on that.” I probed, shifting my weight a bit as the captain took another breath. The soldier behind him remained silent, whether due to a fear of answering or a lack of answers, it was unclear.

“Name’s Haukohl, at least I think that’s his real name. The guy’s over 300 years old, could’ve easily changed it in that time.” I raised an eyebrow at this remark. So, another megalomaniac ghoul bent on Equestria’s destruction? And here I thought my dad took care of the last one... The stallion paused, trying to pick his next words carefully. “He’s uh… not exactly a pony though. He’s a brain. In a jar. Apparently some kind of life prolonging experiment they had at the base beforehand. He’s got himself hooked up direct to the mainframe of the bunker, it basically lets him transmit orders to the bots instantly. If he’s killed or the mainframe is shut down, that’d probably stop more of the bots from flying out of there, if it didn’t make them all go into some kind of standby mode.”

I nodded, making a mental note as he continued. “No idea where it is, though. Captain Slipstream was the one who normally talked with him and, well, your friend shot him out of the sky while we were surrendering.” He glared up at me, a bit of blood still trailing out of his nose. I gave a bit of a sigh, looking down at the floor for a moment. This interrogation really wasn’t being nearly as informative as I was hoping... I looked back to the officer, trying to think of what to say.

Before I could speak, however, Crash Dive stepped up, looming over the captives in her power armor. “Alright, cut the bullshit, I know you know more about the base than this. You’ve been working there at least since you left me for dead back in Bridleshade. I know the Enclave, somepony like you isn’t willing to go about your orders blindly. You know something about the base that you aren’t saying, so - Sergeant - spit it out, before I get to work on the bones Night Strike left unbroken.”

The sergeant looked Crash Dive up and down, weighing the odds. “Alright, let’s say there is something there I know about, and it’s something I want. I know you guys aren’t gonna kill us, we’re too valuable to you, and it’d ruin your whole namby-pamby ‘Vanhoover Five’ image, wouldn’t it? Maybe we stop the talk here, and you make do with what you’ve got.”

As the stallion was talking, I wracked my brains trying to think of what he was hiding. Tech? Did the Enclave really care that much about it like the Steel Rangers did? A weapon? It sounded like Cerberus was the only thing there… Caps? My eyes went wide as I suddenly remembered the gold shipment in the submarine. It was headed towards Cerberus, wasn’t it? And if that was just one shipment…

“I think I know what it is you want, but you’re not getting it.” I spoke up, stepping forward as Crash Dive took a small step to the side. “Once we’ve cleared the base, the Steel Rangers are taking control of the facility, and there’s no way in Tartarus that much gold is going to go unnoticed by them. And that’s assuming you can even get back to get it once they’ve got a Paladin guarding every entrance, exit, hallway, and restroom in the base. So it’s either you tell me the layout of the base, including where the gold is, and I can bring you back any bars I can carry, or you’re left penniless upon your release and at risk of being shot the minute you poke your head up around Cerberus. The Rangers are definitely not going to be as forgiving as we’ve been once they have the base under their control.”

The sergeant’s calm look faltered, and he glanced downwards as he began to think. The other soldier seemed to let off a sigh - probably just thankful he wasn't on the receiving end of all the questioning - but remained silent as always. After a minutes of debating, the officer finally grumbled out, “Alright, fine. We’ll tell you what we know…”

---

I scanned the sky above the air base, trying to spot the Valkyrie as Aerith stood beside me. She twirled her hat lazily around on the muzzle of her rifle, clearly tired of waiting. Ponies were still hurrying back and forth between hangars, moving quickly to repair and refuel planes that had returned from their bombing runs. Several began to taxi out onto the runway, following the signals of a pony waving around a couple flags. On the far side of the runway, even more ponies were loading and launching our own missiles over at Fort Maple, each one leaving a loud buzzing sound in the sky as they sped off to impact. I'll be surprised if there's anything even left of the base after all this...

Not long after the line of planes began to speed down the runway and take off, I spotted a speck speeding in from the south, one that quickly revealed itself to be the Valkyrie coming in for a landing. Aerith and I covered our ears as the Valkyrie slowed, descending down in front of the hangar we were waiting outside. Geez, don’t know how I forgot just how loud those engines are. The door to the cockpit opened, and Aerith and I hurried up the ladder inside, Night Strike not bothering to make a full landing.

“You get all the information out of those Enclave bastards?” Night Strike asked, smirking a bit as we boarded. I strapped myself into the seat behind hers as Aerith was forced to simply find a good place to hold on. The ladder retracting and door sealing shut, the Valkyrie's engines roared once more, the aircraft turning quickly about and beginning to speed back southwards. I nodded, peering through the sights of the tesla cannons to get a good view of what direction we were actually heading.

“Yeah, just about everything we could probably need, save for an actual detailed floor plan. Should be easy enough to piece together their info from the diagrams we downloaded off their computers earlier, though.” I responded, quickly looking back up from the camera, my stomach already queasy from the short glimpse. “So, uh, do we actually have a plan of getting to the base without getting, you know, blown up?” I asked, suddenly remembering the last time we had tried simply flying over.

“Same as before, I’ll pretend to drop some bombs further away, you and Aerith will hop out the bay doors and glide to the base. So long as you’re invisible, I don’t think they’d know you got in,” Night Strike said as she turned the Valkyrie slightly to stay on course. Aerith gave a small grumble, not too keen on trying to fly with me on her back again. Oh, come on, I’m not *that* heavy. At least be glad I’m not wearing power armor…

Night Strike began to lower the Valkyrie, as off in the distance Fort Maple slowly came into view. Aerith and I started to make our way towards the door to the bomb bay, Night Strike flipping a few switches as she slowed a bit. The two megaspells and two conventional bombs rattled in their frames as the Valkyrie shot through the air, Aerith pressing herself up to the wall as I did the same, trying to find a good grip. There was a crackle of static as Night Strike’s voice came in over the intercom. “Alright guys, I’m opening up the door, gonna drop a couple bombs then swing around. Jump out after the first run, and you should be close enough to the main base. And… be careful.” Her voice died off as the bay doors open, the rush of wind whipping and buffeting us as the bombs rattled more.

Two of the clamps suddenly released, dropping one bomb after another down towards what looked like open countryside. Suddenly explosions could be heard around us, the Valkyrie shaking violently and turning sharply to avoid a blast of shrapnel. I stumbled, falling into Aerith who wrapped her hooves around me and dove out of the Valkyrie as it peeled away. Struggling, I managed to climb up onto Aerith’s back, activating my suit as her own horn glowed, and she shimmered before disappearing from view.

We were hovering directly above the large compound, the guns below us spinning around in an attempt to track the Valkyrie as it picked up speed, the autocannons opening up as she sped towards the base. Holy shit, this is a lot closer than Night Strike made it sound! I tightened my grip, only to loosen it a second later upon hearing a soft ‘urk’ from Aerith from my accidental choke-hold. We drifted down towards the base, the explosions eventually dying away as the Valkyrie sped out of the artillery range. With a soft thud, Aerith touched down hard, and I rolled off her back, both of us looking around for some way to enter the base.

We hurried off towards the closest building, several robotic dragons and manticores patrolling the area. Many of the dragons were carrying bombs as they took to the skies, flying southwards towards the bases the tanks had overrun earlier today. Aerith and I circled the building, pausing to wait for a manticore to pass by before we opened the door and slipped inside. We found ourselves standing in an abandoned armory, the guns on the walls covered in dust from years of disuse. At the back of the room was what looked like a freight elevator, likely for carrying power armor up from storage. ‘Suppose this is the best option for now’, Aerith’s magical sign read as she trotted up to the elevator. She gave a cursory glance to the weapons on the racks, but considering their age and condition, deemed it a bad idea to try them out.

I looked at the elevator, grimacing a bit. It barely looked like it was going to run, and who knew how noisy it was going to be. Between riding a rattling, old elevator, and taking my chances with more dragons, though… I stepped onto the elevator beside Aerith, pressing the lowest floor available. There was a buzz, and a computerized voice complained “Fifth floor and below must present pass card for authorization.” Ugh, alright. I pressed the button for the fourth floor, hoping it didn’t need any identification. The doors to the elevator shut surprisingly smoothly, and we were soon descending into the base, a small dial above the buttons indicating the floors as we passed by them.

Soon the doors opened to reveal a long steel corridor, one that was eerily quiet compared to the ruckus on the surface. Aerith and I stepped out into it, our hoofsteps echoing through the facility as we made our way slowly through. We passed by a few open doors that lead into small offices, each one covered in a layer of dust. Alright, there has to be someone around here who has access to the lower floors… We stopped in front of a door labeled ‘Security Office,’ and stepped inside. The room held filing cabinets overflowing with papers, along with a desk that was equally as cluttered. I glanced down the hallway, slowly closing the door behind us and switching the invisibility of my suit off.

Aerith’s own magic faded as she stepped up to the desk, flicking a switch as the terminal resting on it whirred to life. I opened one of the drawers of the cabinet and rummaged through it as Aerith typed away, keys clacking softly. Her horn began to glow as a sign appeared beside her. ‘It looks like I can get us a bit further down to the main security hub. Looks like it’s near the vault too. Suppose that makes sense, you’d want a good eye on the treasure...’ She furrowed her brow, looking closer at the screen. “…huh. Looks like gold wasn’t what all those shipments were for, though. Actually, the submarine we found might've been an exception, usually they'd get a bi-yearly shipment, never had more than a hundred bars on base at any time. With all the mercs, it's a safe bet that number's pretty low now, too. All the other shipping manifests seem to be about carrying medical equipment from Shady Shores.” Her horn and sign fizzled out as the terminal began to whirr even louder, several loud clacks and clunks filling the room as a bright red pass card slid out of a slot at the bottom.

I looked over her shoulder, a bit disappointed. “Wait, seriously? But I thought the Enclave soldiers said there was way more gold in here!” I said, a bit whinier than I had intended. Aerith waved her hoof dismissively, swiping the card up. She stashed it in her coat pocket before she shimmered and turned invisible once again. I activated my suit and followed behind her as the door appeared to open by itself. Still the hallways were quiet, with no sign of any life, normal or robotic, anywhere. “Isn’t this a bit… odd?” I whispered to Aerith as we walked towards the elevator. “I mean… this is the right base, isn’t it? Why isn’t there anypony down here guarding it?”

Aerith’s response was simply a small sign appearing in my visor, showing a small pony shrugging. We stepped back into the elevator, Aerith plugging the card in and pressing the corresponding button. A pleasant-sounding beep came from the speaker and we began to descend once again. It wasn’t too long before the elevator came to a stop again, and we were stepping out onto another floor. This one looked even worse than the ones above. Lights flickered above us, barely getting enough power to sustain their feeble glow, and the floor was coated in a layer of dust even thicker than the one in the security office. “What in Tartarus…?” I mumbled to myself as we began to trot through the halls.

We turned a corner, still hearing nothing beyond our own hoofsteps. Aerith came to a stop, causing me to bump lightly into her. I muttered a quick apology as the keycard appeared out of seemingly nowhere, the alicorn withdrawing it from her pocket. Sliding the card into a reader beside a door, the metal door opened, creaking loudly as we stepped inside. The security office was full of terminals, either sitting on desks or built into huge databanks sitting on each wall of the room. The only area that was devoid of machinery was a section of the wall opposite the door, in front of which sat a chest-high advanced terminal, covered in buttons, levers, and dials.

I wandered up to the terminal as Aerith booted up another, only for all the other terminals to begin their boot up sequences as well. The room was full of the soft whir of cooling fans as terminals lit up, clicks of tickertape being fed through vast machines quickly joining in. “Well, any idea where to head next?” I asked, turning away from the advanced interface and stepping up beside Aerith. She fiddled with the machines, tapping through multiple menus as she searched the various options.

‘Looks like there’s another elevator on the opposite side of the facility, that should take you down to the main command center. Looks a bit like a cross between the databanks at Shady Shores and the control tower up at Vanhoover Air Base,’ Aerith’s sign read. I nodded, my eyes scanning the screens that showed the room she was talking about. As it did, I noticed a small label of the room we were in. ‘Cerberus Construction Center’.

“Hold up, what’s that thing?” I said, pointing out the option. Aerith tapped backwards before selecting the option again. A light began to slowly pulse behind us, drawing our attention to the advanced terminal I had skipped over. The orange bulb below the lever was glowing faintly, beckoning me to step up to it. I glanced back at Aerith, who simply showed the shrugging image yet again. I carefully wrapped my hoof around the lever, and pulled downwards.

Gears ground into motion, and what had appeared to be a wall behind the terminal opened up to reveal a shutter covering a thick glass pane. My eyes went wide as I saw what was beyond it, Aerith letting out a short gasp as well. The window opened up into an enormous silo, where a missile nearly fifty feet across sat. All around the missile clambered robotic dragons, piecing together parts of the body, small jets of flame shooting out of their mouth to act as welding torches. One’s tail sliced through a piece of metal, cutting it to the appropriate size for a new sheet around the main body of the missile. I took several steps backwards, my legs growing weak as I watched the metallic beasts continue their work.

“Holy shit…” Was all I could manage to say, still staring at the enormous weapon. I shook my head, trying to pull myself out of my stupor as I walked back over to Aerith. “…okay, okay, so, uh, that thing's a… lot bigger than I was thinking… and… uh… yeah…” I gulped, looking to her. Even through her shimmering form, I could tell she shared my worry. “Let’s… uh… let’s get down to the control center now,” I said after several more moments of standing in silence. Aerith nodded, but as we turned to leave, we heard a loud clang from the wall behind us.

We turned around to see a robotic dragon staring through the window into the room, its eyes scanning about. They flicked from the door, following a trail along the ground before reaching the spot where Aerith and I stood, staring directly at us. We were both frozen in place with fear, neither daring to move an inch. Suddenly the dragon let out several loud klaxon blares, lights glowing as the terminals around us fizzled out. What?! How’d it know?! The dragon vanished from view, dropping down and scurrying along the sides of the silo towards a large service door.

I rushed out of the room, but the moment I passed through the doors, alarms began to ring around us and the door slammed itself shut. I turned around, punching at the keycard slot. “Aerith?! Aerith, get out of there!” There was a flash, Aerith teleporting herself through the door before cantering off down the hall. I raced after her, looking down as we ran. I noticed Aerith’s hoofsteps appearing in the thick layer of dust on the floor, revealing her movements as she dashed around a corner to the command center elevator. Fuck, fuck, fuck, they’ll see us anywhere we go!

I tried my best to kick up as much dust as I could chasing after Aerith, but it did nothing to hide the trail of steps behind us. Loud clanging and clatters could be heard, along with synthesized roars as the dragon slipped into the corridor, chasing us down. It let out a jet of flame, the flames engulfing the suit as I sprinted away. Gah, fuck, fuck, fuck! The lens of the helmet cracked as it heated up, wires fizzling as the suit’s stealth field began to die.

I tore off the helmet as the flames died away, throwing it behind me, only for the dragon’s talons to smash it into the dust as it clawed its way after us. I panted, racing after Aerith, who threw herself into the elevator and mashed the buttons. Hold that elevator, I swear to fuck if you don’t hold that elevator… I dove into the small room, crashing painfully against the opposite wall as Aerith continued to press the buttons in a frenzy.

I rolled onto my back, watching as the dragon prepared another jet of flame. Before it could fire, Aerith snatched up my umbrella and jammed it into the buttons, sparks flying as the circuits overloaded themselves. The elevator lurched, and we were suddenly sent plummeting down the shaft, the dragon’s fire burning up the cables above us. Aerith grunted and gave several incoherent shouts as she dragged me to my feet, her horn flaring as a bolt of magic blasted a hole in the ceiling. Aerith jumped up, her wings flaring as she hoisted me out of the falling elevator. Deftly dodging the whipping cable, the alicorn began to slowly hover downwards, the elevator finally reaching the bottom of the shaft with a terrible crunch.

I dared to look upwards, spotting the dragon’s head poking through the elevator door. It let out an indignant clack of its sharp beak, unable to squeeze into the small shaft to follow us. Aerith’s wings fluttered as she came to the elevator wreckage, landing gently atop it. I gave a sigh of relief, taking my umbrella back before bending over to attempt to pull open the doors to the lowest level. Aerith’s horn lit up, and with a grunt of effort, we managed to pull the doors open and drop into the hallway.

Unlike the floors above, the hallway leading to the command center appeared to be well maintained, the lights glowing brightly along the practically polished metal surface. Aerith and I cautiously approached the door at the end of the hallway, both glancing towards each other before pushing the door open.

We were greeted by rows upon rows of computers and terminals, all whirring, humming, and beeping as they lined the walls of the room. Thick wires ran from each of the computers, snaking across the floor up onto the desk at the center of the room. And sitting on that desk was a large glass jar connected to several more complex machineries, in which a brain floated calmly. A voice soon crackled in over a speaker connected to the jar that was... unnervingly, just as calm. "My, my, so the Vanhoover Five finally have some representatives sent to appear before me. You both certainly did take your sweet time getting here, Static Charge and... Aerith..."

The voice forced Aerith's name out with more than a hint of anger, whether it was well-placed or not being anyone's guess. Honestly, I was just a bit more unnerved that he knew our names - I mean, we weren't exactly keeping a low profile the last few months, but still... Taking a breath, I stepped forwards, eyes focused on the jar. "The game's over, Cerberus, our friends are gonna be blasting open your doors and wrecking that missile any moment now. You've lost."

The brain floated quietly for a moment, before the speakers erupted into a loud bout of laughter, forcing me to cover my ears as Aerith conjured up a pair of magical earmuffs. Egh, are we sure that the real project wasn't something to do with the way this room reverberated sound so loudly? "Eheh, oh, stars above, you've made it all the way to my inner sanctum, discovered my project, and yet you -still- don't know my true name? For as many of my dragons you've taken down, I think I may have given you too much credit. Though, I suppose I may have been a little overzealous about what I did allow you to copy from these databanks all the same..." Both myself and Aerith shared a glance with each other, her eyes as wide as mine. He... he knew about that? How!? "Oh, don't look so surprised, it's unflattering to you. I'm linked to every part of this facility that has some form of electronics in it, do you think I wouldn't have monitored a storage drive getting plugged in on a surface console? And to just rip the poor thing out without properly ejecting it, I'm surprised if you got anything off it at all, even without my own bit of corrupting the data!"

'Hey, we were under a lot of pressure at the time, your damn robots weren't exactly making it a walk in the park for us!' The blue alicorn beside me stepped forth, understandably a little annoyed by that. Her magic flare up, her rifle levitating out beside her. 'How about we see what happens when you aren't properly ejected, ya damned dirty stripe...'

Reaching a hoof up to try and keep her from firing - don't really want to have her somehow accidentally set off the launch circuits while we're still in the base - the brain let off another bout of laughter, catching us both by surprise and forcing Aerith to drop her rifles as she made up an even bigger set of earmuffs. "A-hah, oh, WOW, you -must- be at least as old as I am to remember THAT old insult! And to use it so childishly as well, my gods above... Doctor Haukohl, not my birth name but the closest approximation your offices of citizenship could be bothered to put down. Not that it really matters, anyways, I'm sure my name will live on as Cerberus once the missile takes flight. At least, to those who may survive, anyways..."

"And what makes you so sure your missile will fly?" Taking another step forwards, the brain floated in front of us, silent. "We saw the missile before we got here, it was still being constructed by your dragons. If it does launch, it'd probably tear itself apart before it even breached the atmosphere. Not that we're even going to let it get to launch in the first place." The brain - Haukohl, I guess - only seemed to settle in the jar, my eyes focusing on it as the hum of computer banks filled the air around us. I blinked a few times, looking up around the room for just a moment, a very good point dawning on me, and probably Aerith as well - he didn't have any defenses in here, at all, did he? No roof-turrets, the floor's too cluttered by wires to have any pop-up turrets there, and I kinda doubt the desk would be hiding any, either. It'd just be the dragons, and without the brain controlling them...

"Oh, those utterly incompetent oafs! No wonder they left me to surrender, their utter laziness and inability to do ANYTHING without me babysitting them left me short on construction robots! If only I never let them take those dragons for those stupid recoilless rifle warheads..." I turned my head to grab the handle of my umbrella off my back, before what he'd said sank in. Or, more specifically, the way he had said it - I've done enough sweet-talking in my life to know when someone's putting up a show. Still, I pulled the long Taser up, just watching the brain bob silently. "Hmh, unimpressed then? Well, you can't fault me for trying. Though, if you really think killing me will save the day, then perhaps your misguided and mentally unstable marefriend might've gotten into your head too much, Static. The truth of the matter is, whether I'm still in this jar or not when you leave, heh heh... I've already won. And there's nothing that you nor your hopelessly deluded friends can do about it."

I lifted up my umbrella, gripping the handle between my teeth tightly as I approached the tank. Well, if he’s going to make it this easy… I leaned backwards, only to swing my neck around and smash the end of the umbrella into the tank. With a resounding crack, several fissures appeared in the glass before the entire structure gave way. Gel rushed out over the desk, the brain flopping pitifully onto the wood. Lights flickered, shutting off one by one as each of the computers tied to the brain began to shut down, silence falling in the center.

I stepped backwards, glass shards crunching under my hooves as I walked back around to the other side of the desk where Aerith was standing, her horn now the only source of light in the room. “So, what in the name of Celestia and Luna was that all about?” I asked, trying my best to wipe some of the coagulated gel off of my umbrella before stowing it. Aerith just pointed to a skeleton slumped up against the back of the desk, previously hidden from view. Several wires ran from a sickeningly large hole in the back of its skull up to the brain. I bent down, noticing a piece of paper clutched in its grasp.

Pulling the paper free, I held it up closer to Aerith’s horn, trying to read the extremely faded ink. It looked like some kind of print out, important sounding codes and labels running along the top and bottom. ‘Project Cerberus: Supersonic Low Altitude Missile, Balefire Bomb Delivery System. Expected Completion: 2085. Director Haukohl approved for surgery to oversee facility due to death of Senior Officer Zephyr’. I let the note fall back to the floor, unsure of what to think. I… suppose that answers that question, at least…

“Uh… any idea if there’s a way out that doesn’t require climbing up a broken elevator shaft?” I asked, looking around the room. Aerith shook her head, and began to trot back down the hallway we’d entered from. Ugh, getting out of here isn’t going to be fun… She peeked her head out of the gap at the top of the doors above the crashed elevator, looking upwards.

‘It doesn’t sound like anything’s moving around up top anymore… you think killing him actually did shut the whole base down?’ She asked. Looking to her, I let off a quiet sigh, nodding lightly - I sure hope so. Trying to avoid those dragons in the light was bad enough… I squeezed through the gap after her, before climbing up onto her back as she spread her wings and began to fly up the shaft. I lowered my head as we approached the door at the top, wanting to make myself as small of a target as possible. As the hallway came into view, however, we were met by the robotic dragon lying motionless on the ground, its eyes no longer glowing.

Aerith landed, and I slid off her back, stepping slowly up to the dragon. Aerith poked at its claws a bit with her gun, but the robot failed to react. We headed back to the security station, the window revealing the various robots that had been working on the missile to have ceased in their activities too. I let out a sigh of relief, leaning up against one of the computers as I did. Finally… now it’s just a matter of drilling our way out of here…

---
Aerith blasted through the elevator shaft doors with her magic, both of us climbing through into the armory we had entered from. The alicorn gave her wings a healthy shake, clearly exhausted from the effort. We trotted outside, the air no longer filled with the sounds of artillery fire and robots stomping around. I lifted up the flare gun and fired a shot off, the ammunition exploding brightly above us. It wasn’t long before I spotted the familiar shape of the Valkyrie coming into view, Night Strike swiftly bringing it down beside us.

We clambered aboard, Night Strike beaming brightly as she pulled me into a tight hug. “Oh thank Luna, you should’ve seen the way those dragons dropped out of the sky! They sparked and fizzled and dropped like stones! Ha! Best freaking feeling I’ve had since drinking RAD for the first time.” I rolled my eyes, returning the hug before stepping over to my seat as Night Strike did the same. She brought the Valkyrie up and began to fly west, back towards the lighthouse. “Crash Dive and Scouring should already be back, Scouring’s radioing in that it’ll be safe for the Rangers to start picking apart the ruins now that everything’s off.”

I nodded, leaning back in my chair as we sped through the sky. There was a crackle of static, and Crash Dive’s voice came in over the radio. “Uhh… Night Strike? Static? You guys heading back to the lighthouse, right?” She asked, sounding a bit worried. Night Strike flicked a switch before responding as I sat up a bit straighter.

“Yeah, why? Something up?” She pulled the controls around, lowering us as the cliffs of Vanhoover appeared in the distance. There was a moment of silence before Crash Dive responded, now sounding a bit more confused than worried.

“Uhm… yeah, some pegasus in a tank the size of a football field is telling me if I don’t tell him where Night Strike is, he’ll shove a fuel rod so far up my ass my spit will glow in the dark. And some unicorn’s asking about Static too, though he hasn’t threatened me yet, so I’m a little more inclined to cooperate with hi-“ There was the sound of an explosion, Crash Dive shouting loudly “Gah, jeez, fuck, it was a fucking joke, you mad stallion! Fuck, I can see where Night Strike gets it from... asshole!” The radio went silent, Night Strike looking back over her shoulder to me. I shook my head. No. No way they made it all the way down here.

But even as I was thinking it, the lighthouse came into view on the horizon. The tall structure sat in the water as always, but up on the coast was a large rectangular shape. One that looked distinctly familiar. No. Way. Night Strike brought the Valkyrie down right in front of the TOG, nose to nose. We sat in silence for a long moment, a white unicorn with a teal mane and a golden pegasus with a jet black mane both leaning out of either side of the tank. Night Strike's eyes were wide as she undid her belts, jumping out of her seat and nearly tripping over herself diving out of the cockpit door. I followed soon after her, Aerith jumping out as well to see Night Strike jump up into Twintails' forelegs, sending them both falling to the snow. “W-what took you so long?! You find me wandering through Quebuck after an hour but it takes you a few months to make it here?” Her large grin and tight eyes betrayed her words, the pair of them getting back to their hooves.

“Oh my Goddesses, thank Luna you’re alright! We’ve been looking for you for so long, we... Oh, just, never leave me again!” Twintails worked his way through tears, still squeezing Night Strike tightly. As the two fell to their own brand of reunion, I turned my attention to the unicorn standing outside the other side hatch, rushing to his own hooves.

I couldn’t stop myself from grinning as I hurried over to him, being pulled into a tight hug by the old unicorn. Even the cold metal of his leg under his jacket felt welcoming as we sat there, finally together again. “Heh, should I tell Cross Stitch you ditched his shirt for some fancy new armor? I don’t think he’ll take that too well. And Greasy was pretty angry when she found out you swiped her old umbrella without her testing it first, said you’re lucky the thing didn’t blow up in your face.” Minty joked, poking at the stealth suit. I let out a weak chuckle, shaking my head and sitting down next to tank. I took a deep breath, trying to relax - guh, I never was that good at getting over being shot at...

“How the heck did you find us? And, why’d you take the TOG? I get it’s a moving fortress, but I would’ve thought you’d be on the first Vertibuck down here if you knew where we were.” Dad just shrugged and let off a chuckle, the sun glinting off of his shiny metal horn as he shook his head a little bit.

“Oh, you know Twintails. Even when we need to get somewhere fast, he insists we bring as much firepower as possible. And your… flying, thing sent out a distress signal when it crashed, or something. I would’ve thought you’d have noticed that, sure gave Quazar a heart attack, yanno.” After a shall chuckle, he waved his hoof, shaking his head again. “Bah, it doesn’t matter in the end. I'm just glad to finally have you back again, Static...”

I chuckled again as dad pulled me into another hug, shaking my head, only to flick my ear a moment later. There was some kind of… humming, in them. Don’t tell me I’ve finally got Tinnitus after spending so long with Night Strike. The humming grew louder, though, starting to sound much more like rumbling. I noticed Night Strike and Twintails had stopped talking, both of their gazes directed upwards. I turned around, my eyes growing wide as they finally found the source of all the noise.

A thin trail of smoke was rising up in the southeast, topped by a bright white flame.

Project Cerberus... had launched.

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