I groaned as I felt my Pip-Buck vibrating as the alarm went off, a small beeping emanating from the speakers. My other hoof slapped onto the screen as I fiddled blindly with the knobs, my eyes still clenched shut tightly. With a click the alarm went off and I slowly opened my eyes, staring at the bedside table my umbrella was leaned up against. Night Strike grunted and snorted a little as I rolled out of bed and wandered over to my saddlebags, hitching them up and taking a hold of my umbrella. Thinking for a moment, I lifted up Night Strike’s duffel bag, and tossed it onto her in the bed. She snorted again as her eyes fluttered open, lazily flailing against the loaded olive-drab sack. “Gnnngh, couldn’t just shake me awake?” She asked once her brain had ground back into action, pushing the bag off of her. Sliding out of bed, the pegasus slipped the large bag onto her back, before following me out of the room and towards Aerith and Crash Dive’s.

“I think if I did that, I’d just shake up all the soda you’ve got in your gut.” I said, cheekily. Night Strike shoved one of my legs lightly before reaching into her duffle bag to pop open another bottle of Sparkle-Cola. I mean, I guess caffeine and sugar -is- a good way to stay awake... Stepping up to the others’ room, I knocked a couple times, Night Strike covering her mouth as she burped. Crash Dive greeted me as the door swung open, looking much more alert than Aerith as they stepped out of the room together. Sheesh, I really need to get whatever it is that gets Crash Dive up and moving so easily.

We all headed downstairs, going straight for the door outside, having emptied the kitchens during dinner the night before. Stepping outside into the brisk morning air, we trotted up to the mini-tank and piled in. I twisted the ignition, which only caused the engine to sputter for several seconds. C’mon, stupid cold weather… I smacked the back of the mini-tank as I turned the ignition again, which thankfully caught as the engine rumbled to life. Easing forward, I began to drive towards the eastern mountain ranges, looking for a gap we could head through.

---

The half-track bounced over a few rocks as I drove along, the biting wind causing me to bury my muzzle into the collar of my jacket. Twisting the handles of the mini-tank, I steered around a cluster of fallen rocks as we approached the base of the mountain crests. I squinted through my makeshift goggles, spotting a valley in the distance where some trails of the earth’s underlying magical energy converged to flow through. Night Strike leaned back into Boomer, watching the landscape roll by as Aerith took a few potshots at some roaming bloatsprites with her machine gun.

I turned into the valley, the mountains rising up on either side of us as we zipped through. A few large boulders lay on either side of the valley, showing signs of ancient landslides. The path wended this way and that, growing so narrow in some spots the sides of the tank grazed up against the rocky walls. The ground sloped up a little as we continued through, eventually widening back out to allowing for a comfortable amount of wiggle room as we drove along. As we continued, though, the sound of the engine’s rumble grew louder, sounding as if it was straining a little. “The heck? You can skate across a newly made land-bridge over a river, but can’t handle a ten degree incline?” I said aloud, looking back at the engine casing of the tank in confusion.

“Sheesh, maybe I should have Oil Slick look you over agai-” I looked forward again, only for my voice to die in my throat. Looking down into the small valley ahead, the sight of a large mechanical beast caught my attention, glowing bright blue with magic through my goggles. I pushed them up onto my forehead as I brought the mini-tank to a shop, just looking down at the rumbling beast with everyone else. It vaguely resembled a tank, I think, plates of armor that had been rather unprofessionally bolted and welded on giving it a bit of a scruffy appearance as two of the smaller turrets on the front scanned side-to-side lazily. Blinking for a few moments, I slowly began to look around where the tank rested - massive skeletons, some stripped bare while others were still decaying littered the area, making bumps in the fresh snow that filled the valley floor.

I chewed at my lip for a moment, looking back to the others, unsure of what to do. Aerith looked equally puzzled, staring down as the tank's turrets continued to scan the valley. Night Strike, of course, was beaming as she shot into the air off the mini-tank's back, rushing for the valley floor to get a better look at the multi-turreted landship. Oh, Celestia, she’s going to be turned into swish cheese by all those guns! Grimacing, I followed closely behind her with the mini-tank, hoping that whoever or whatever's in the turrets can tell a bunch of ponies from a hellhound. She dropped onto the back of the tank as we drew near, her hooves clanking against the metal as she landed. A second later the turrets stopped in place, slowly starting to rotate themselves around to focus in on us. Oh, shit.

There was the sounds of scuffling from inside, along with a raspy call before the main turret turned about, pointing it's significantly larger gun towards me as Night Strike hopped herself up onto the roof of one of the smaller rear turrets. I fumbled with the controls, twisting the ignition and speeding backwards. The trailer bounced and swerved behind me as I tried to back away from the gunner's view, only to veer off course and jackknife behind me, the fender resounding with a metallic crunch - oh, come on... Desperately trying to move the tank back into gear to drive forwards, I barely had noticed the top hatch of the tank had opened, landing against the metal with a loud clang. “Ach! Calm down, you're no hollenhund...”

I looked up to see a zebra popping its head out of the tank, leaning up against the rim. He blinked a few times, looking us over, before turning to see Night Strike. “I do have to ask vhat you were intending on doing to my tank. Is your first reaction upon seeing something vith seven fifty-caliber maschinengewehrs always to try and jump on it?” Hey, that was entirely Night Strike’s idea! As I caught my breath, I noticed the zebra’s coat was not only striped grey and... darker grey, but had large gashes across it, revealing tendons and blood vessels shifting about as he moved. Jeez, just how many ghoul tank owners live in Vanhoover? “So, ahm, anyvays... who’re you?”

“Vanhoover five… well, four at the moment. You, uh, wouldn’t just so happen to be allowing tours of your tank here, would you?” Night Strike, asked, still grinning widely. Crash Dive shook her head as I carefully drove the tank forward, dislodging the trailer and pausing to look back at the crushed fender. That's gonna take a lot of polish... The zebra ghoul raised an eyebrow quizzically as Night Strike inspected one of the smaller turrets that sat around the main one, the cannon-caliber gun sporting coils in a similar fashion to Jolts' barrel - wait... a gauss cannon?

The zebra gave a nervous chuckle, watching Night Strike inspect the tank. “Aheh, ahm, not unless you’ve got a month’s supply of Rad-X you can chug down all at once. Deathtrap's been through a lot over ze years, time hasn't been entirely kind to her. Or her main reactor... not as much a problem for yours truly, but I wouldn't have my face quite that close to the viewslots if I were you.” Night Strike took a moment to retreat from her close inspection, her pip-buck audibly clicking away, looking a bit crestfallen. She hopped down off of the tank's back, looking over it for a short while, seeming to think. “Ah, vhere are my manners, I'm Caution Tape, und, heh, this big landship is Deathtrap.” He patted the steel casing, the tank releasing a quiet electric hum as the turrets seemed to start to scan back and forth again, ignoring us, apparently. Another raspy squawk could be heard from inside the tank, when suddenly another head, this one belonging to some sort of bird, popped out beside Caution Tape’s. Its feathers were a vibrant green and seemed to flicker and shift slightly, almost looking like a slowly burning candle as it shone with an unearthly glow.

“Ah, und zis little troublemaker is Peridot.” The bird clicked its beak indignantly, staring down at us. Caution Tape chuckled a little, placing a hoof down by Peridot’s chest. She stepped up onto his arm, her talons grasping tightly as she slowly walked up to his shoulder. “I, ah, take it by your faces you’ve not seen a balefire phoenix before?” I suddenly realized my mouth was hanging open, and closed it. Balefire phoenix... why am I not surprised that that's a thing. “I found her not long after the war, was hanging about in the rafters of the Stalliongrad Ordinance Depot when I went in to give Deathtrap a few firepower upgrades. She was pecking at the top of Deathtrap all while I vas trying to refit the piddly thirty caliber machine gun placements with ze fifty caliber guns, und add the dual fifty pintle mount here. No more ordinance officer to deny my requests, heh...”

Before I could respond, Aerith let out a long squeak of joy, her wings spreading out as she flew up to get a better look at the bird. It eyed her warily as she approached, spreading its wings a bit in an attempt to look more intimidating. Caution Tape gave a small grunt of pain as her talons dug a little more deeply into his skin. Aerith leaned in, grinning widely as she looked at the glowing bird. She puckered her lips, making little kissy-sounds. Peridot relaxed a little, lowering her wings to her side. “Careful now, fraulein. I think ze only reason she hasn’t torn more holes in my skin vith those claws of hers is just because the rads help keep it intact.”

Aerith placed a hoof up to Peridot’s chest, who proceeded to hop on, only to hop off her hoof a moment later. Aerith rolled her eyes as Peridot hopped down onto the body of Deathtrap, myself thinking. “Hang on, did you say you were from Stalliongrad? Like… pre-war Stalliongrad? You wouldn’t happen to've known a mare named Rolling Tracks, would you?” Caution Tape froze, his eyes going wide.

“Rolling Tracks? She’s alive?” Caution Tape let out a giggle at a far higher pitch than any stallion should be able to produce. “Oh, wunderbar! I need to contact her! Where is she? How’s she still alive? Vell, I guess she’s probably a ghoul zen too, oh, right you said that, und War Mare’s still working? I just can’t…” Caution Tape prattled on and on, even Peridot looking at him a little uneasily as he bounced in place from the excitement. He eventually took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. “Ok, ok, sorry, it’s just been a very long time since I’ve last seen her, I knew she was a very strong mare but I'd thought I was the only one at the Stalliongrad Proving Grounds that survived the war.”

“Well, uh, eheh, I hate to burst your bubble, but she’s kind of a couple hundred... thousand kilometers north of here. Last I saw her, she was escorting a group from NEAMO Crater to Topatow… that’s a fair way further north than Mooscow and Quebuck, you probably know of those places better.” I said, looking up at Caution Tape. He frowned a little, looking down at his tank.

“Oh, schiesse, I had enough difficulties getting to Cantercross, I’d never be able to make it that far in Deathtrap... even besides the obvious. I hit an old anti-tank mine laid on ze highway between Merritt und Hope, blew Deathtrap's track und a few of her road wheels clean off. A passing caravan was able to help me jury-rig it back together, but, vell...” Caution Tape let off a sigh, looking down at the busted track. "Hit a snowstorm, wound up straying east, ended up caught in this valley. The muck caused her own engine to strain und snap the fixed track link, and I've been here for months." Aerith looked over to us, and I immediately knew what she was thinking. No, no, I am not backtracking a several days’ trip just to escort a freaking tank! We'll help fix his track for him, after that he can make it just fine!

Aerith, sensing my annoyance, rolled her eyes, her horn flaring up. 'Oh, calm down, Static. I don’t think we’d all need to head back anyway. I mean, I don’t mean to be rude, but at the same time I'm pretty sure neither you, Night Strike, or Crash Dive would be of too much help in repairing the track. This thing seems like it's a hell of a lot heavier than the mini-tank.” She nodded her head. I calmed down a little, though even splitting up to leave Aerith heading back alone seemed like a bad idea. 'Aaaaaaand,' the word was drawn out on her screen as her magic suddenly encompassed my saddlebags. “I -can- think of something you stand to gain from this.” She levitated out the old stealth armor I’d picked up from the Sunrise Sarsaparilla plant, holding it out with a smile.

She floated the armor over to Caution Tape and let it fall into his hooves, the zebra looking it over in confusion. 'You’re pretty resourceful. Know anything about old zebra tech? We found this a while back but can’t find anypony around that’d know how to fix it.' Aerith passed on a smile, looking to the tank ghoul. Caution Tape’s eyes went wide again as he turned the armor over in his hooves. He stammered a little, leaning against the hatch rim and inspecting the wires and casings of the armor.

“I, uh… meine gottin, vhere did you find this? I mean, ah... I think I might be able to get it working again, yes. Though it’d probably take a few days for me to find the right parts, und some stealth bucks to rewire the thing.” Aerith looked smugly over to me, causing me to grumble a little. Geez, I’m losing my bartering touch.

“Alright, you can stay to help him get back to Maple Station. Hopefully we can tag back up with you again when we get back from the Air Base.” I said, a little defeated. Aerith beamed and clapped her hooves together, Night Strike looking a little disappointed as she hovered back over to Boomer, letting off a sigh. “Aw, cheer up, Strikey. I’m sure you’ll have plenty of other death machines to distract yourself with once we’re up at the airbase. Contrail did say that they had plenty of those big anti-air craft guns you like so much.”

Night Strike set herself up on the back of the mini-tank and answered me with a light nod, waving up to Aerith and Caution Tape with a weak smile. “Well, see you guys later, then!” Aerith waved back as Caution Tape ducked down into the workings of Deathtrap, Peridot hopping down after him. Aerith dropped down into the tank as well, and there was just enough time to hear the sound of a Silver Shroud radio play crackle over the air and the alicorn let off another squeal of delight before the hatch fell shut with a clang. The engine of the half-track rumbled as I pulled forwards and went around the long sides of Deathtrap, settling back towards the east and speeding up. “Alright... so, how far until the next town?” Night Strike asked, leaning over the side of the mini-tank a little.

“I dunno, a couple kilometers, maybe? Don't think that Caution Tape would've strayed that far east if he was coming from the north... then again, don't know if the towns he mentioned are even on our wasteland maps.” The valley only grew more jagged as we drove along, one of the mountain ranges falling away, leaving us climbing along the side of one mountain. I slowed, not particularly in the mood to attempt to grow wings in a near-death scenario should we go careening off the edge. Gwuuh, stupid pre-war road designers...

---

The sun was starting to lower in the sky as we eventually spotted a town in the distance, placed precariously close to the edge of the cliff side. The road widened as we crested the summit of the mountain, the cold air whipping around us as we slowly approached the town. I glanced down, suddenly bringing the mini-tank to a stop as I noticed large glowing disks scattered about in the fresh snow through my goggles. “What’s up?” Night Strike stood up, trying to peer over my head.

“This place has a hell of a lot of frag mines in it, I don’t know if I can see any good place to try and drive through.” I scanned the ground before me, but I couldn’t spot an area that was wide enough for me to bring the mini-tank through without blowing off one of the treads, or worse. And if to add insult to injury, the field lay between the edge of the cliff and another sharp incline in the mountains, negating the option of heading around. I grimaced, pulling back and moving the mini-tank away from the minefield and towards a ditch. I brought the tank to a stop at the bottom, shutting off the engine and climbing out, releasing a sigh. “Unless you want to try and disarm every mine in that field, I think we’re just going to have to walk it. We can figure out some way to get it across tomorrow, just cover it with the tarp until then.”

Crash Dive climbed out after me and started to pull the large tarp off of the wagon, spreading it out to try and hide both, Night Strike looking uneasily back at the rather poor hiding spot. “You sure there’s no way through?” She asked, following closely behind once she’d taken her duffle bag from the trailer. I shook my head, making my way towards a path that had been laid out in the field, just barely wide enough for two ponies to stand side by side. I looked down at the ground, carefully maneuvering myself through, the cold snow crunching underhoof. Night Strike hovered behind Crash Dive, who stayed as close behind me as she could. It seemed like forever, each time I looked up to check how far we’d gone, the edge of the field never seemed to grow any closer. Crash Dive’s light swept across the field, illuminating some of the mines as it passed over them.

Giving a sigh of relief and pulling my goggles off upon reaching the other end of the field, we were now standing at the edge of town. Night Strike landed beside us, and we headed in, looking about at the structures. The buildings appeared to be even more dilapidated than most pre-war settlements, and an eerie silence hung in the air as we walked down the streets. We turned down another street, bombed out buildings lining it on either side of us. My ear flicked as I heard a small clack of something bounce down onto the street in front of me. I had barely enough time to register what had happened before Crash Dive grabbed ahold of me and pulled me backwards. The grenade detonated with a loud bang, sending shrapnel everywhere as I shielded my face. A few pieces cut into my legs, though Crash Dive’s armor managed to deflect most of it - ah, crap, ambush!

Gunshots began to ring out as gryphon mercs appeared on either side of us, firing through the shattered windows of the storefronts. Night Strike whipped out Thumper, firing a grenade at one of the buildings. The blast tore apart the facade as it detonated, sending the mercenaries sprawling to the ground, feathers aflame and blood splattering the walls inside. Picking herself off of me, Crash Dive pulled the pin on a plasma grenade, before chucking it up towards a gryphon camping on top of one of the stores with a sniper rifle. He took his rifle by the barrel and just managed to smack the grenade away with the butt, causing it to explode mid-air harmlessly before he took aim again.

I pulled out my umbrella, the prongs sparking angrily as I ran towards a few of the mercenaries that were attempting to rush us with shotguns. My heart, already racing, began to speed up, when without warning, everything suddenly began to slow around me. The mercs were still clearly running at full tilt, and yet their hooves still took ages to swing up from behind and plant themselves back in front of them. One of the gryphons lifted his shotgun, pointing it at me before firing. I managed to jump out of the way of the buckshot before it went off, leaving him open to a jab at the neck from my umbrella. The mercenary stumbled, flopping to the ground in slow motion.

Before the others could figure out what had happened, I bit down on the handle of the umbrella, attempting to shock the second gryphon of the group, only for a feeble jolt to barely even arc across the prongs. Oh, of course this thing can’t recharge any faster... I resorted to smacking the merc upside the head, knocking him to the ground as Crash Dive slowly picked up one of their discarded shotguns and emptied it at the one I had just knocked down. I ducked as another one fired, causing him to instead fire upon one of his comrades. The gryphon was thrown backwards with the force of the blast, letting out a deep cry of pain.

I was about to jab the umbrella into the final merc’s neck when suddenly my vision became blurry, myself wobbling unsteadily on my hooves. Oh, fuck, not now, not now! I jabbed fruitlessly into the mess of colors as time slowly ground its way back to its normal pace. The gryphon had darted to the side, and I could only watch in wide-eyed terror as he pointed his shotgun towards my side and fired. I screamed, flung to the ground as blood began to pour out of my gut. My teeth clenched together tightly as I tried to get back to my hooves, tears starting to stream down my face.

“Get the fuck away from him you motherfucking shitfuck!” I heard Night Strike yell, diving towards the merc that'd hit me. She slammed into him, both of them rolling on the road for a few feet as Night Strike punched at the gryphon, a crack being heard as she got a strike against his beak. He tried to get his wings spread and flee, but Night Strike hit him upside the head with the butt of Thumper, emptying a shot into one of the merc's wings. Yelling incoherent vulgarities, she pulled out the Gryphon's sword, stamping the merc against the snowy street. Sparks flew across its blade as Night Strike raised it high into the air, before plunging it down into the mercenary's throat, silencing his screams.

Crash Dive rushed over to me as I coughed, blood splattering onto the concrete. “Sit back down, you idiot. You don’t want to lose any more blood, do you?” She bent down, tearing off one of the merc’s clothes into thin strips of cloth. Night Strike was panting, still standing over the gryphon’s body as she tried to slow her breathing, a momentary lull breaking the action. Another explosion went off somewhere, before the dark blue pegasus shot off again, the bloodied sword sizzling as the electricity burned off the gore. Crash Dive tossed me strips of the merc's underclothes as she tore new ones, a purple pouch landing in front of me as well. “Get those over the wound and that inside you, now. We’ll find some proper bandages soon.” I obeyed, wincing as I stretched my legs to wrap the cloth around my waist. My Pip-Buck buzzed as I was bandaging myself up, a small notice appearing on its front.

'Your health is low! You should find a healing potion or some water to drink!' Thanks for the alert, Stable-Tec...

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