Leaning back after having finished my bowl of stew, I covered my mouth to muffle a small burp, Marchie taking the bowl from the table and trotting back over to the pot on the stove. The stew fell cleanly from the ladle into the bowl, steam rising up from it as she placed it back in front of me. “Go on, eat up. We’ve got way too much for just us too, and we don’t get guests very often.” I began to eat the second bowl of soup, Night Strike pushing her bowl away only for Marchie to refill it as well. Well, I suppose I can’t complain; it is free food.

“So, what brings you all over this way?” Norm asked after swallowing a mouthful of stew. Marchie was attempting to refill Crash Dive’s bowl, but the power armored pony was obstinately refusing any more of the food. She sighed, looking defeated and slightly insulted before moving to pour the rest of the stew out into a large plastic container that had clearly seen better days, fitting a lid on it. “Not much west of Maple Station other than some abandoned towns and campsites, after all.”

“We’re heading to the coast, there’s supposed to be some big pre-war biological research facility there, gonna check it out.” Night Strike answered in between gulps of stew. Norm’s eyes widened a bit as Marchie sat down beside him. “We think there’ll be a generator there, at least one we can take back to fix up our plane. Do know it’s gonna be a death trap one way or another if that's where the freaky fish-things are really from...” Norm looked even more surprised, not to mention somewhat confused. Night Strike's expression shifted to one of slight confusion as well, finishing off another gulp. “Uh… have you guys not heard about us yet? Vanhoover Five? We’ve been on the radio a lot recently.”

Marchie shook her head as she leaned forward, her interest clear on her face. “Goodness, no! Our radio’s been busted for a few weeks now! What’s all this about a plane, then?” A grin spread across her face as she sat eagerly awaiting our answer. Norm stood up and began to clear the table as we finished off our second helping of the warm stew.

“Uh… well, long story short, Night Strike and I kind of crashed a big plane south of here and have been looking for a generator to power up its onboard repair systems for a while now. We figured we could help out around the wastes while we looked, seeing how we’re sort of stuck here till we find one.” I explained. Marchie gave a little squeal of excitement, glancing back over to Norm as he began rinsing out the bowls.

“Can you believe this, Norm? Real live celebrities here in our home!” Her grin widened as she leaned a little further in. “Oh, you can’t just leave it at that! What else have you been doing? Were you the ones that caused that big lightshow in the sky a few days ago?” I raised an eyebrow, Crash and Scouring looking a little more concerned as well. Marchie sat up straight, looking between all of us. “You know? That big glimmering in the clouds! There was this biiiig streak of somethin’ like lightning shooting up into the sky, then sparks and fire were shooting between the clouds, it was a real sight!”

All of us sat in silence for a moment, unsure of what it was that Marchie had just described. “Ah… well, we did overload some sort o' old Tesla cannon emplacement on the coast down south, but that was a few weeks ago, and I don’t remember any fire with it. Jus' a big ball of light.” Scouring finally said, scratching at his chin a little as he thought. “Suppose there could be some other tesla cannon mounted somewhere up here, but can’t know where it’d be or what the heck it’d be guardin'.”

Marchie looked disappointed, slumping down in her chair somewhat. “Oh well, if you ever see it, you oughtta go investigate! I betcha anything whatever’s powering that thingie’s got to be a generator big enough to fix up that plane of yours.” The clock on the wall suddenly struck 11, a small bird popping out and chirping once for every hour. “Oh, goodness, is that the time? We should all go to bed now before it gets any later; you don’t want to be drivin’ all bleary eyed.” Marchie pushed herself away from the table, stepping over to a large satchel and flipping it open. “It’s a good thing I’ve always got some extra blankets. Take your pick of the campers around, and don’t forget to drop them back off in the morning!” She handed us each a thick woolen blanket.

“Uh, thanks.” Night Strike said. We all took our folded cloth and stepped out into the cold night air, Norm shutting the door behind us as we spread out to search for a place to sleep. I opened the door to one of the campers, leaning in to see a skeleton laying on the mattress inside. Nope, don’t feel like snuggling up to some bones tonight. I followed Night Strike over to another, the light inside flickering to life as she flipped a switch. The interior of the camper was slightly less inviting than the one Marchie and Norm had set up in, but it was at least corpse and critter free. “Suppose this’ll do.” Night Strike said, tossing her blanket down onto one of the mattresses in the camper. I let my blanket fall onto the mattress beside hers, laying down my umbrella between the mattress and the wall before climbing under the thick fabric.

Night Strike flicked the light back off and rolled over on her mattress, wrapping herself up in the blanket. I layed my head down, staring into the dented metal wall as I tried to get comfortable. I thought about what Marchie had described, my brain straining to think of what in Equestria could’ve caused it. I shook my head and closed my eyes. Whatever it was, I’m not going to think of a way to stop it while I’m half asleep.

---

I awoke to the sound of Night Strike clattering around in the kitchen of the camper, the oven door squeaking unpleasantly as she opened it. “The heck’re you doing?” I asked, sitting up and rubbing my eyes. Night Strike glanced over to me, pushing the oven door closed again, only for it to fall off of its hinges and onto the floor with a loud crash. Night Strike gave a weak chuckle, moving over to roll up the blanket Marchie had lent her.

“Just looking around, thought there might be some food or something still in the cupboards. Anyway, good thing you’re awake, Crash Dive came in a few minutes ago, wanted to hit the road as soon as we could.” She tucked the rolled up blanket beneath her wing as I sat up and cracked my back, leaning down to begin folding up my own blanket. “You’re lucky she didn’t bother to check inside, she probably would’ve dropped a grenade down the back of your coat if she saw you were still asleep. I think she thought you were getting the mini-tank ready.”

Standing up and flipping my umbrella onto my back, I trotted outside behind Night Strike, heading back towards Marchie and Norm’s camper. The sun had only just barely cleared the mountains to the east, casting long shadows from each of the campers in the park. Aerith and Scouring were already standing outside their campers, using sticks to draw out little games of tic-tac-toe as they waited. Scouring glanced up as Aerith drew a line through her three O’s, tossing his stick aside as he realized it was us. “Good to see you guys’re up. Was getting sick of losin' to this mobster wanna-be.” He chuckled, Aerith scrunching her muzzle as he did, smacking him lightly upside the head with her wing.

“I take it you guys already gave back your blankets?” I asked. Scouring nodded, glancing around the side of the camper we were in front of to check Marchie and Norm’s. Upon seeing the door was closed, he lined in a little, dropping his voice somewhat. “Yeah, and just as a warning, they’re gonna offer you some pancakes before you head off. Try not to let them give you thirds, I feel like a beached whale.” He leaned against the side of the camper and I glanced over to Night Strike, who simply shrugged. We trotted over to Marchie and Norm’s camper, leaving the two to set up another game of tic-tac-toe in the snow.

I stepped up and knocked on the door, Marchie opening it and beaming upon seeing us. “Come on in, we’ve just got a fresh batch of flapjacks off the stove, you’ll want ‘em before they get cold!” She stepped back, allowing us to walk through the door and lay our blankets down beside the others. In the middle of the table sat a large stack of fluffy pancakes, a small glass jar of syrup resting beside them. My stomach growled and I blushed as Marchie went to cooking up a few more, Norm quietly eating his own small stack of pastries.

Stabbing a fork through the top few pancakes, I slid them onto my plate, reaching over to drizzle some of the syrup on top of them. If these things taste as good as they look, I don’t care if I’m going to end up carsick- er, half-track-bike-sick... you get what I mean. My expectations were confirmed as I bit into the pancakes, practically melting in my chair as the syrup oozed out of the batter. Night Strike was looking equally impressed with Marchie’s cooking as she ate her share of the cakes, the chef sitting down opposite us and taking a few for herself. “You five all heading out right away, then?” She asked.

Swallowing my mouth full of pancakes, I nodded. “Yeah, I figure we’ll want to get as far in a day as we can. With our track record it usually takes at least three times as long to get anywhere as we plan.” Night Strike poked me with the back end of her fork, smirking a little as syrup dripped from her mouth.

“We’d cut half of that time out if you didn’t keep wanting to explore every place for more junk to sell off.” Night Strike jibbed. I rolled my eyes, taking another bite of pancakes. Yeah, and the other half would be cut out if you didn’t insist on helping every single pony that crossed our path, or hoarding every single bottle of Sparkle-Cola in Equestria. Norm finished up his plate of pancakes, trotting over to the sink to begin washing it out before slipping it into a large backpack along with the cuckoo clock that had been hanging on the wall. Night Strike and I soon had empty plates as well, though they didn’t stay empty for long as Marchie set down another stack of steaming flapjacks.

“I suppose we’ll be heading out just after you do, then. We don’t want to hang around this place for too long if more raiders show up without your help.” My stomach protested as I shoveled more pancakes into my mouth, but the taste was too good to resist. It wasn’t too long before Night Strike and I had finished off our second helping of cakes, Marchie taking up our plates and washing them clean before stuffing them in with the rest of her dishes. “Sorry you two didn’t get as much as the others, but that’s what you get for getting up later than them!” She playfully chastised. I gave a muffled chuckle, feeling plenty full from the two servings we’d already got.

Standing up and heading for the door, Marchie saw us out, waving to us as we trotted over to our mini-tank where the others were waiting. “Thanks for stopping by! If you’re ever back in Maple Station, we’ll be happy to have you over for dinner again!” I waved farewell before hopping into the driver’s seat, Night Strike climbing on top beside Boomer, Scouring still looking a little sick. The engine rumbled to life as I began to weave my way through the campers towards the edge of the park, Marchie and Norm trotting out of their camper with their overloaded backpacks.

We bounced along the somewhat rocky terrain as I searched for a road nearby heading east towards the coast. Upon spotting a beaten dirt path, I turned the mini-tank towards it, leaning a bit from the sharp turn. As the treads rolled up onto the path, Scouring leaned back towards me, clutching at his gut a little. “Hurk... would ye mind slowin’ down a bit?”

“Seconded.” Night Strike added. I slowed the tank a bit, shaking my head as we slowed to barely moving faster than a brisk jog. Pff, lightweights...

---

The sun was almost directly overhead as the shadow of some buildings came over the horizon, Night Strike and Scouring’s stomachs having settled enough to allow me to pick up the pace. A small power plant sat at the very edge of town, several shacks each with a short cooling tower connected via large, rusty pipelines to the ground. We drove past the plant, turning down a road towards the tight cluster that was the downtown area. I slowed a little as we passed by a theater, the faded sign still displaying that there was a showing of ‘Stallions and Dolls’.

As we continued down the road, we passed by a large marble building, a sudden scream emanating from inside. I brought the mini-tank to a hard stop and slid my goggles up onto my forehead, all of us staring towards the doors leading in. I glanced over to Aerith, Night Strike hopping off of the tank and pulling Thumper out, the rest of us following suit. I gave a nervous gulp as we stepped into the building, pulling my umbrella around. Opening the doors revealed the building to be some sort of library, a large circular desk in the center surrounded by bookshelves filled with old, decaying literature. The middle of the building rose up several stories before it folded into itself to shape a large dome, broken windows lining the bottom of the hemisphere.

Light streamed down through the windows as we walked into the center of the building, fanning out slightly. I glanced around the side of the desk, seeing a pony laying prone on the floor. I rushed over to her, Crash Dive’s head turning to watch as I bent down to look at her. Dried blood was pooled around her head, her mane partly covering what appeared to be a bullet hole. Looking more closely at her, a crumpled note caught my attention, lying beside her body. I picked it up, reading it over; ‘Say Cheese’. Oh, fuck!

“Sniper!” I cried, leaping away from the body. What felt like a millisecond later, the pony’s ear blew apart as a bullet tore through it before ricocheting off of the hard floor. The others scrambled away from the center desk, each of us taking cover behind a bookshelf. I panted, the library now eerily quiet as we all sat behind the shelves, waiting for the sniper to let off another shot. I could see Aerith carefully levitating one of the books off of the shelf, hovering it over to the edge of the shelf as she crept towards the other side. She suddenly threw the book out and dashed to another shelf, the tome she’d just thrown exploding into a shower of pages that slowly fluttered down to the ground like leaves.

I heard a slightly muffled curse and the click of a gun being reloaded coming from the floor above us. I began to slide myself along the bookshelf, keeping my head low. The sound of another book falling from the shelves met my ears, which was swiftly followed by the sound of splintering wood as the sniper took a shot through the bookshelf. Night Strike squeaked a little, lying flat against the ground, holding her breath for fear of making another noise.

Crash Dive unclipped one of her grenades, pulling the pin and chucking it up towards the center of the library. The grenade arced in the air, falling just short of the second floor bannister before it exploded mid-air, knocking one of the crumbling pillars loose. The small marble column fell down and shattered as it hit the floor, sending several chunks flying off in every direction.

I dared to peer around the corner of the bookshelf, spotting Aerith crouching behind another pair of bookshelves by some broken steps. Her horn began to glow as a sign popped up. ‘I think he’s using a stealth-buck, I can’t see anypony up on the second level.’ Her magic suddenly fizzled out as yet another shot rang out, punching a hole through the shelf above Aerith. Shit, this sniper’s actually listening for magic too? What the hell kind of raider is that professional? Aerith made motions of pulling goggles down over her eyes before she vanished, turning herself invisible. Oh my godesses, I’m stupid. I pulled my goggles back down over my eyes, the room lighting up as I could see Aerith’s invisible form sneaking over towards the steps.

Scouring, Night Strike, and Crash Dive were each still laying down behind a bookshelf, Scouring sitting with his rocket launcher at the ready, but unwilling to fire off a blind shot for fear of being on the receiving end of the sniper’s rifle muzzle. Glancing upwards, I could see the magical signature of the sniper laying several feet off of the ground, the glow slightly dulled by the thick marble between me and him. Must be on one of the bookshelves to get a bit of a better view of the central room. Shit, now how am I supposed to tell Aerith that without giving away my position? The sniper was scanning the room with his rifle, one of his ears twitching as he listened for any noise.

I carefully picked up one of the books from the shelf, following Aerith as she climbed up the steps, closing the distance between her and the sniper. She soon reached the top of the steps and was looking around, trying to spot the gunner. Alright, Aerith, please tell me you can spot muzzle flashes. I tossed the book out, the sniper’s head turning to see it skid across the floor, but he didn’t fire off a bullet… of course not, now he’s actually waiting for a clear shot. Cursing to myself, I glanced back over to the others, but they were all unable to see me, limiting any means of visual communication. Not that any of them would be any more willing to step out and be the target for this guy than I would.

Gulping, I got to my hooves, still remaining partially crouched. My legs shook a little as I approached the edge of the bookshelf, glancing over to see the sniper’s barrel still trained on the gap between my bookshelf and the next. Oh, Celestia, this is a terrible decision. I threw myself out of cover, the sniper firing off a shot. Instead of my brains peppering the floor, however, his gun seemed to burst apart, sending him falling off of his shelf with a thud. Aerith rushed over, and before the sniper could react to her suddenly standing over him, she fired off a quick stream of bullets into his head, blood starting to ooze from the holes as he lay still, dead.

I panted as beads of sweat fell down my face, laying stock still on the floor, still in shock I wasn’t dead. Night Strike, Scouring, and Crash Dive all tentatively stepped out from behind cover, looking about at each other. Night Strike gave off a shriek of fright before rushing over to me as I sat up, my legs still a bit wobbly. “What the fuck kind of a plan was that?!” Night Strike said, distraught. “I’m just going to throw myself out of cover and hope for some intervention from Celestia? Sweet Luna above, you could’ve died!” She fell against one of the bookshelves, slumping to the floor. I hurried over to her, helping her back up. She shook her head, still shaken from what had happened. “Just... don’t do that again, Static.” She was uncharacteristically serious, staring me right in the eyes. Hers seemed to be dampened.

Catching my breath as Aerith fluttered down from the second level, I gave a little grin. “Hey, somepony had to be the hero, and you were still cowering underneath books.” Against her will, Night Strike gave a little chuckle, punching my side lightly as she shook her head again. Aerith trotted over to us, her horn lighting up as she cast a sign into the air.

‘Thank the Goddess you’re alright, you’re lucky his rifle blew apart with that shot. I've seen catastrophic breech failures before, but that was... a hell of a lot more catastrophic than usual.’ She levitated a note over to Crash Dive as Night Strike and I collected ourselves. The note gave a description of some sapphire Pegasus raider named Cobalt, wanted for several caravan attacks. ‘This bounty notice was on him, I think he might’ve mistaken us for some raiding party.’ Jeez, you’d think somepony would be able to tell I don’t have any wings looking through a sniper scope like that.

Crash Dive began to trot back towards the mini-tank, the rest of us following. “Let’s hope that’s the only pony going after that bounty. I don’t know why that bounty hunter’d be looking for a caravan raider out here, none of the caravans come around this far west anyway.” We stepped out of the library, the rushing blowing in through the doors blowing some loose pages about. Crash Dive climbed onto the back of the mini-tank as Scouring and Aerith hopped into the trailer. I looked over to Night Strike as she jumped up onto the back as well, settling down beside Boomer. What would’ve happened if I hadn’t gotten so lucky? Would he have still missed my head, just shot my side? A pit opened in my stomach as I imagined myself laying on the ground just as the pony we’d found was, blood pooling out of me.

I pushed the thoughts out of my head, climbing into the front seat and starting up the mini-tank. The engine rumbled to life as I began to speed through the streets, rushing towards the edge of town. Night Strike flipped on her radio, a smooth swaying tune filling the air as we headed further west. I sighed, trying not to think about what might’ve happened. New rule, Static: Don’t ever do something so stupid again.

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