I landed painfully onto my back, Scouring Charge standing over me. "Aye, an' that's how it's dun." He grinned down at me as I stood myself back up, rubbing my neck a little. Sheesh, you think you could give a demonstration without doing it on me? "Should be a good enough counter if somepony catches ya' off guard. Just make sure you jam that cattleprod you got into 'em before they get back up." I twisted my back, feeling it crack a little as I did. I glanced over my shoulder as I heard Night Strike trot up behind us, Aerith gliding through the air lazily. "Well, and here's an eager tester!" He chuckled, nudging me towards her a bit.

"Oh, Static! Guess who just joined my side in the Cola wa-" Before she could finish I spun around quickly, bending over and sweeping her front legs off of the ground as I stood back up, twisting my body to roll her through the air. Unfortunately, as I attempted to release her hooves, she managed to tense her grip, pulling me down to the ground with her. I landed with a grunt, straddling over her, my legs pinning her to the grass. "Static... y-you know all you gotta do is ask me, right?"

I sputtered and stepped off of her as Scouring broke out into a fit of chuckles. "Well, you certainly did a lot better than I expected for a first try, 'specially with no horn and all. Best work on that balance, though." He laughed as Night Strike stood up, Aerith landing beside her, looking both of them looking thoroughly confused. "Was just trying to show Static the counter my second-in-command in Company B taught me. Still not really sure how either of them manage to do it, I always need to cheat with a bit of magic."

"Well, give a little bit of warning next time you try to pull something like that off, alright?" Night Strike said, picking up the soda bottle she'd dropped. She slipped it into her bag before leaning onto the mini-tank. "Well, anyway, Aerith got the Valkyrie up out of the mud, cleaning out the turbines should be a lot easier now." I nodded, thankful we wouldn't need to try digging it out ourselves. "Not to mention she clearly knows which soda is the superior brand." Night Strike said, smiling smugly.

I rolled my eyes. "Congratulations, you got somepony addicted to something more habit forming than Dash." Night Strike rolled her eyes as well as I trotted around the small tank, looking over the treads. Plowing through the forest and over the rocky field last night seemed to have done a lot more damage than I'd originally thought, some of the gears and chains had needed to be cleared of foliage, and the right side's suspensions now squeaked much more from the strain of running over a particularly large boulder. For a first time driving this thing at night, though, can't say it's that worse for wear...

"Have you eaten yet?" I asked upon hearing Night Strike's stomach growl. A small blush crossed her face, and I let off a sigh. "How in Equestria do you manage this? Seriously, you practically live off of that soda." I began to make my way back inside, the others following me. The smell of cooked fish met my nose as the door swung open, Crash Dive wiping down one of the pans.

"There's your lunch." The power armored pegasus nodded towards the table where Night Strike's fish sat, a thin heat vapor rising off of it. We all crowded around the table, Crash Dive putting away the cleaned utensils. I pulled over the box of snack cakes, still a little hungry after my own lunch. Aerith and Scouring grabbed one of their own out of the box, though Night Strike was too busy finishing her fish to notice. I glanced into the box, counting only a couple cakes left. Well, better make sure I pick up a few more on our next outing. “The tank still working fine, then?”

“Yeah, just a little dented from last night, but no severe damage. Worst case scenario, onr of the outer road wheels pop loose on one of the tracks and we’ll need to screw it back on.” I bit into the cake, pausing for a moment. “Do you have any tools for working on stuff like that around here?” I asked, mouth full of snack cake. Crash Dive tried to hide her look of annoyance, but nodded.

“I’ve got a few, should be enough for at least a patch job if it breaks down on the road. It wouldn’t hurt to find somewhere we could get some proper tank repair tools, though. If there's anything left of Seahoof, might be there.” She got up, trotting over to the actual lighthouse part of the house to retrieve the toolbox. I swallowed my snack cake, slipping the box into my saddlebags in a weak attempt to stop myself from grabbing another. Night Strike finished up her fish and went to clean off the plate as Crash Dive came back down, hauling a large rusted toolbox on her back. It wobbled precariously as she made to open the door, but Aerith’s horn simply sparked to life, opening it for her and helping to get it properly balanced again. “Mmh, thanks.” Crash Dive said simply before trotting out to the tank.

I turned to face the alicorn, looking a little confused. “So… um, I don’t know how to say this, but… why are you an, um, alicorn? I thought all the princesses had died… and…” My voice trailed off, Aerith giving off an air of disbelief. “Sorry.” I muttered, my ears flopping downwards. Aerith’s expression softened as she conjured up a screen beside her, words scrolling across them.

'It's fine. Surprised you haven't seen my kind before, we were common before the day of sunshine and rainbows.' She gave a small nod, an equally small smile forming on her muzzle. Both Night Strike and I looked extremely confused, glancing towards each other for a moment. Crash Dive trotted back into the house, pulling up a chair to the table. Night Strike tilted her head a little, trying to recall something.

“I think my dad said they found a frozen alicorn up by Emerald Ridge one time… But he also said it was wearing a parka and looked like it was trying to fish through the ice, so I didn’t exactly take it seriously.” I wracked my brains, though I don’t remember Minty ever mentioning an alicorn, let alone an Eskimo one. Night Strike shrugged. “So, what exactly happened, then?”

Aerith’s magical screen popped up again, this time her words accompanied by small simplistic images. 'Before the war, the Ministry of Arcane Sciences had tried to create a way for ponies to become alicorns. They eventually succeeded, though not before the bombs fell.' The screen showed a minimalistic unicorn being dipped into a vat, only to come out as an alicorn. 'Even worse, while it did turn ponies into alicorns, it removed any sort of personality in the process. They became linked to a ministry mare who fell into the vat during the war, becoming the Goddess and forming Unity.' Another image of a pony was dropped into the vats, but rather than an alicorn coming out, some sort of twisted monstrosity was shown, possessing several wings, hooves bent at odd angles, the only truly recognizable feature being the somehow still intact head. I inwardly thanked Aerith wasn’t more detailed in her imagery.

'When the Destroyer--' Aerith paused, the images fading to be replaced by only words. 'Sorry, Lightbringer. When she killed The Goddess, all alicorns lost their connection. Some of them couldn’t survive without it, and many couldn’t remember who they had been. After Unity dissolved, we were all lost amongst the wasteland, nowhere to go.'

We all sat in silence, myself feeling slightly queasy. “Um, well…” Night Strike said, rubbing the back of her head awkwardly. “At least you’re doing alright, I guess? I mean, you've got us now, right?” She fell silent again. Crash Dive and Scouring Charge stood up, moving towards the steps. The rest of us followed, hoping for something to break the uncomfortable mood.

“We really need to find a generator for the Valkyrie sooner than later, we’re catching more attention each day.” Crash Dive finally said. “At least we’ll have a good way of getting it back here with that tank thing. Get ready to head out, we should make it to Maple Creek by dinner easily, get a head start on our way back to Seahoof. Memory serving, our last trip there was cut short by somepony setting off an ant colony.” I trotted out to prep the tank as Night Strike went to her room to retrieve her saddlebags. Aerith followed me out, her horn glowing as she levitated the old hunting rifle off of the table.

I hopped into the driver's seat of the mini-tank as Aerith climbed onto the back, leaning up against the large grenade machine gun fixed onto it. The engine rumbled beneath me as I pressed the ignition, giving it a few testing revs before turning around to face inland. I glanced down at the various dials and gauges, giving the fuel one a few taps. What does this thing run on, anyway? I turned in the seat to face Aerith as we waited for the others to come back out. “So, I didn’t really get a chance to ask last night, but what kind of stuff are you good with? Somepony up in Maple Creek is looking for a new engine, are you any good with repairs?”

Aerith tilted her head a little, waving her hoof in a ‘so-so’ kind of manner. Her magic flared, and her little screen popped up again 'Kind of. I can take apart just about any standard infantry-issued pistol, rifle, or SMG.' I nodded, figuring with Crash Dive’s Enclave knowledge we should be able to fix up Trout and the Valkyrie with enough time. I glanced over at the sound of the door shutting as the others trotted out of the lighthouse, hopping onto the back of the tank. The tank began to roll forwards, Night Strike stuffing her saddlebags into a small hatch on the side.

“Well, we’ll see if we can find something more suited for you up at Maple Creek.” I said over the engine, water splashing up against the rocky outcropping as I drove over the narrow land bridge. I stared up at the large Valkyrie, it's form much more imposing now that it wasn’t half buried in mud. I turned and began to follow the road inland, the treads rolling smoothly over the small rocks in the path. “There might be a few pistols left in that duffel bag, if you’d rather toss the rifle for now, though.”

Aerith unzipped the Clearwater police bag, rifling through its contents. She levitated out a few shotguns, letting them slowly rise and fall in her magic as she dug through the weapons. Night Strike held the bag open for her as we followed a bend in the road, a smile appearing on Aerith’s face as she slid out two of the small 10mm pistol. She returned the rest of the guns to the bag, zipping it back up. “We’ll still need to get some ammo, traded some of that stuff for forty-mil grenades back in Hopeville.” Night Strike said.

It wasn’t too long before we came to the old stone bridge crossing the river, myself slowing the tank as we approached. “Yeah, I don’t trust that bridge at all.” I wasn’t even sure if it was wide enough for the tank. Crash Dive leaned over the side, looking down at the river flowing beneath the bridge.

“It’s not too deep, we could try to ford it. We don’t have much of a choice anyway, we need to cross and it’s only going to get stronger and wider upstream.” Reluctantly, I spun the mini-tank around, trying to find the narrowest point in the river. The engine roared as we sped forward, water spraying up into our faces as the front splashed into the river. I revved the engine again, forcing the tank through, trying my best to adjust to the flow of the water hitting the side. Thankfully, the tracks were able to catch the ground and plow forwards, water streaming off the tank as I plowed two trails of flattened grass to get back onto the road.

I looked over my shoulder, everypony slightly wet, but doing fine. Night Strike grinned, looking eager to try it again. I faced forwards, starting to make our way towards Maple Creek once more. The sun was beginning to lower in the sky as the edge of town appeared, myself starting to slow the tank down, glancing back to Crash Dive. “Do you want us to leave you off here again? We might want to leave the tank too anyway, I don’t really trust myself driving through town.”

Crash Dive shook her head, instead slipping on her helmet. “I’ll just stay with the mini-tank, you four can go about your business.” I began to slowly trundle the half-track forward, Scouring Charge looking a little worried, slipping on his own power armor’s helmet. Nearly all the ponies we passed stared with wide eyes as we rolled through town, myself taking extra care heading down the narrow roads. We pulled up in front of Sulfur’s Stockpile, the mini tank’s engine dying down as I hopped out.

Night Strike slung the Clearwater PD duffel bag over her back and hopped off the tank, Aerith following suit, but Scouring Charge stayed with the tank. “Uh, yeah, I’d rather stay here. I don’ think the owner would be too happy if she recognized me from the Company.” I shrugged and we headed inside, finding Sulfur placing some shotguns on old wooden shelves. She turned as the door slid shut, her face lighting up.

“Ah, hello again, it’s been awhile since you last stopped in!” She trotted up to us, a wide grin on her face. “Anything I can get for you? Ah, and your friend?” The unicorn mare's grin faltered slightly as her eyes fell to the alicorn, her attention being drawn as Night Strike simply slid the bag off of her back, unzipping it and beginning to place the various weapons onto a table. Sulfur’s eyes widened as she picked up one of the revolvers, turning it over in her magic. “Well, I certainly hope you’re planning on buying something too, I don’t think I’ve got enough caps for all of these!” She chuckled a little.

I stepped up “Actually, we were wondering if you had any sort of submachine guns, thirty cal rifles, really anything that's general infantry issue.” Sulfur nodded, levitating the guns over to the counter and trotting up to a few guns hanging on the wall. Each boasted large magazines hanging from the bottom, ranging from simple mouth guns to ones so bulky they seemed impossible to handle without magic or a battle saddle.

“Well, it’s not the widest selection, but I’ve got nearly everything you could want. Simple 10 millimeter pistols or SMGs, maybe a .22 silenced long rifle if you’re more on the stealthy side.” Aerith’s grin widened as her magic enveloped one the larger guns, this one with a drum magazine, slowly lowering it down to eye level. I sighed a little internally - of course you’d want the most expensive one. “That’s a .45 Auto, 'Chicacolt Typewriter' they call it, a little finicky when it comes to repairs but there ain’t many other guns that’ll get as much of a kick at that speed. Drum mag and recoil compensator standard ”

We trotted back over to the counter, Sulfur running a quick lookover each weapon on the table. “Alrighty, with the pistols and the .45 Auto, that’ll come to…” She punched a few keys on her cash register, her eyes going wide and a weak chuckle escaping her. “Me still owing you 38 caps. Eh...” She sounded slightly surprised, but shrugged and handed the caps off to Night Strike, Aerith grinning widely as she slid her neck through the strap on the Auto. Night Strike and Aerith made their way out, as I made a quick transaction for a few more flash grenades before following them out.

We climbed back into the small tank, myself slipping the extra grenades into my saddlebags resting on the floor before heading back through town again. As we made our way through, a sweet smell met my nose, similar to that of the sweet shop back in Mooscow. “Mmm... anypony mind if we take a detour?” Night Strike shook her head, smelling the sweet scent while Crash Dive merely shrugged. I started to make my way towards it, Scouring Charge grabbing a hold of the grenade launcher to steady himself as we turned a corner. We arrived at a rather large building standing in front of a line of trees, ponies moving between them, filling up buckets with the spigots embedded into the bark.

Night Strike and I hopped out and trotted up to a small stand in front of the structure, a caramel colored earth pony filly standing at it, wearing a light jacket. She smiled as we approached, various bags of candy wrapped up and set out on the counter. I looked over the display, bags of soft brown-tinted sugar laying next to a few slabs of brittle wrapped up in plastic. Night Strike pointed to the ponies milling about behind us. “Hey, ah, kid, what’re they doing here?”

“They’re getting the sugar for the sweets. You ever had maple candy before?” Both of us shook our heads, the vendor’s smile fading slightly to be replaced by a look of mild surprise. “Really? We normally don’t get people visiting from where there aren’t any maple trees.” I’m not sure there are any trees back home, period. The young pony’s smile immediately returned though. “Well, we’ve got the best maple sugar candy there is! Wanna try one?” She opened up one of the bags and pulled out a couple pieces of the light-brownish leaf shaped candy.

I sucked on the sweet confection, my smile of delight mirrored on Night Strike’s face. “Well, it’s certainly the best I’ve tasted, even if it’s the only I've had.” I fished around in my saddlebags for my bag of caps, pulling them out and handing over the necessary number. The filly smiled as she poured the caps into a small lockbox behind the stand as Night Strike and I each grabbed our own bags of candy and moving to head back to the tank.

However, before we could, we heard a familiar voice call out. “Oy, thunderbolt and missile-mare!” We turned to see Ripple trotting up to us, wearing a grin on his weary face. “Sorry, never was good with names. It’s good to see you two are doing fine, though. Any luck finding a replacement for Trout’s old engine?”

Both Night Strike and I looked a little sheepish, glancing at ech other for a moment with weak smiles. “Ah, sorry, we haven’t been able to find anything yet.” Ripple looked slightly disappointed, but shrugged. “We haven’t been to Vanhoover yet, and we’re still looking for a generator. Maybe there’ll be somepony selling off their old fishing boat there we could break down.” Night Strike looked at me.

“Since when did you have enough caps for a freaking boat?” The look of confusion was apparent on Night Strike's face, to which I raised my eyebrow. Come on, haven’t you learned I can weasel any price I want at this point? Night Strike rolled her eyes. “Well, we didn’t really fully check out Seahoof, at least, not after those ants started pouring out of every crevice. There might still be something there. Would help if we knew precisely what kind you needed.” Ripple’s grin returned.

“Ah, eheh, just a basic triple-expansion steamer. Don’t worry too much about it today, I’ve lived long enough without the engine, I can wait another couple of weeks. I hope you’re able to find it soon, at least.” We bade him farewell and walked back to the small tank, Aerith and Crash Dive playing a game of cards on the back as Scouring Charge watched on in confusion. Crash Dive scooped up the deck as we hopped back in, the motor purring. Night Strike popped another candy into her mouth as I turned us around, looking for a hotel.

I pulled up to a small building as the sun was finally beginning to set, parking the mini tank beside a few carts out front. We all piled out and headed into the lobby, Night Strike trotting up to the desk. After handing over a few caps to the clerk, she tossed one set of keys to Scouring, holding onto the others. “Alright, boys one room, girls the other,” She paused, looking over to Aerith. “You… are a girl, right?”

Aerith shrugged, 'I’m one since the dipping. Don't really remember much after that.' Ok, not going to think too hard about what that might mean. We all headed upstairs to our rooms, Scouring Charge unlocking the door and stepping inside the boys' room. I slid my saddlebags off as he lay Sunburst on the small desk, pulling off his helmet ant taking a whiff of the air. He began to slide off his armor as I flopped onto one of the beds.

I pulled out the bag of candy, tossing one to Scouring as I bit into another. “Mmh, say, what exactly did your company do last time they were here?” I asked curiously. Scouring Charge blew out a slightly exasperated sigh. He climbed into the bed opposite mine, rubbing a few stiff joints from his power armor.

“Well, let’s just say it involved a lot of Wild Pegasus, high explosives, lasers, and one pony’s poorly chosen pie cart parking spot.” He slid under the thin blankets, giving his back a few more stretches. “Mmh, my company's got some nice buggers in it, but they really don’t hold their drinks well. Though, neither do I, to be honest.” He rolled over in bed, switching off the small oil lamp as I tied the bag of candy back up and slid into bed myself, thankful for a full night’s sleep after last night’s events. Oh, sweet, sweet sleep...

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