I shoved Sugar Flare off of me, hurrying behind Night Strike. Flare pouted a little, before recovering and standing herself back up. “Jeez, you can’t give your sister a hug when you see her?” She said, smiling innocently. Oh, yeah, because that’s all you had in mind. She re-stacked a few of the robes that she had accidentally knocked over in her excitement, Night Strike glancing over to me, a look of mild disgust on her face.

“Hey, this wasn't my idea!” I responded, a little exasperated. Night Strike turned and, with a sigh and shake of the head, began to trot back down the hallway, Sweetie, Flare, and myself all following along. We soon made it back to the main hall, only to turn down another corridor. “Hey, I heard some big explosion happen in Quebuck while I was passing by, yesterday. That didn’t happen to have been you again, was it?” I asked Strike, smirking a little. Flare pressed a hoof into the center of a large door, a few parts spinning as it slid apart and allowed us to step through, into a small room filled with a few beds with footlockers at the end of each.

“Uh… yeah, that was me... kinda. Dad came looking for me in the TOG, I was listening to music, and, well... that gun is great for getting somepony's attention, eheh.” She slid the large duffle bag off of her back and flopped onto a bed, the springs squeaking a little as she landed. Likewise, I dropped my mostly empty saddlebags to the floor, the umbrella clattering as it hit the metal, drawing the pegasus' attention. “Hey, where’d you get that?”

“Oh, that...” I tried to think of an excuse. “Ah... Greasy just finished it. Wanted somepony to field test it, make sure it’s working and all.” I picked it up as Sweetie walked towards it with a curious look. Sugar Flare sat on the bed opposite the one I sat on, as Strike passed on a quizzical look, obviously wanting more info on it. “It’s an electric prod, supposed to knock out ponies. Pretty potent.” I placed the umbrella on the footlocker, letting Sweetie lift it up and examine it. “What were you doing in Quebuck, anyway?”

Night Strike shrugged. “Blowing up ghouls, scavenging places, yanno, the usual stuff.” She cracked open a bottle of Sparkle cola from her saddlebags, taking a sip of the glowing soda. “I don’t know why you keep not wanting to come along. The herds are really starting to thin in the usual places.” She snickered a bit before taking another sip, leaning against the footboard. I rolled my eyes in response - pardon me if I prefer living and not being sterilized. “Oh, don’t act like you didn’t have fun the last time we went on an adventure. You got plenty of stuff to sell off to Razorwing, didn’t you?”

“Doesn’t mean I enjoyed getting shot at by multiple turrets at once! And don't get me started on the hellhounds...” I grumbled as Flare absentmindedly bounced her hind legs off the side of the bed, looking up at the roof. I opened up my own saddlebags, pulling out the bottle of soda Sugar Rush had given me. Sweetie, growing bored, placed the umbrella back on the locker and trotted out of the room, following a few scribes as they carried a large amount of advanced weaponry through the halls.

“Hey, it’s not my fault you weren’t able to disable them. 'Oh, don't waste a grenade on the turrets Night Strike, Minty's shown me some things.'” The pegasus chuckled and took another sip, myself grumbling through my own bottle. Finishing off my own bottle and tossing it back into my bag, I let off a yawn, stretching and leaning back. Night Strike dropped her empty bottle on the floor and stretched her wings a bit, yawning as well. “Bwuh, guess it’s later than I thought it was. Dunno how our dads did it, living underground like this for years...” She laid back in bed, pulling the thin covers off of the bed and slipping under. “Mmh, Night, Static.”

I slid into bed as well, fluffing up the pillow a bit as I rolled to face myself towards Strike. Flare trotted over to the wall switch, turning the bulbs down before trotting out and shutting the door behind her. “Goodnight.” I closed my eyes, only to hear the door open again as hoofsteps came up to my bed. “Flare, if you try to sleep with me, I’m going to crack your skull open with that umbrella.” The hoofsteps paused, only to turn around and leave, shutting the door behind her again. This might be a long night…

---

I awoke to Strike tearing open a small pack of Sugar-Frosted Bombs with her teeth, idly starting to chomp them down. Rubbing my eyes as I sat up, Strike spat the empty wrapping into her bag, still munching down the cereal already in her mouth. “Morning,” I said, my back cracking as I twisted it. I dug around in my saddlebags, only to remember that I hadn’t brought any sort of food with me. Strike tossed me another pack of the sweet cereal, pouring more into her mouth.

“Mfornfing” She mumbled around the sugary food. I ripped the packing apart and chomped down on the sparkle shaped cereal. Oh, geesh, I’m going to get kidney failure from this... I swallowed as Strike balled up the package and tossed it in her bags. “They really should have more trashcans around here; I don’t think I’ve seen a single one around.” I nodded as I finished breakfast, the door to the small room opening up.

I turned about, my vision met with an older green stallion in power armor, his face covered by a bushy brown moustache hiding a soft grin. “There you two are! Was wondering when you’d finally wake up.” Strike and I stood up, Fringe immediately turning to leave. “Now, hurry up and grab your stuff. Elder Quazar authorized it, we're going to have some time to fly around.” Fringe left without a word, Strike looking over to me, a little puzzled.

I didn’t look at her, trying to hide my knowing smirk. I simply hitched up my saddlebags and followed Fringe, Night Strike quickly picking up the rear. “Flying around... what’re you talking about?” The pegasus asked, as we wended our way through the hallways. Fringe let off a chuckle, shaking his head and refusing to say anything more. It wasn’t long before we reached a large door at the end of the hallway.

Fringe turned back to me, suddenly much sterner. “Alright, Static, remember what we agreed on. You get three laps around the complex; you try to head off with this thing and Quazar and I will have your heads.” I nodded, Night Strike left even more confused than before. Fringe pressed a switch next to the door, a few gears grinding before the slab of metal slid upwards to reveal the large hangar, a half-dozen ponies running diagnostics on a vertibuck.

I looked over to Strike grinning as she stood, speechless. She looked over to me before giggling maniacally and rushing towards the machine, a few of the engineers jumping out of the way. Fringe and I slowly stepped up to the vertibuck, Strike glancing over all the controls on gauges on the dashboard. I lifted myself up into the cockpit, sitting down in the passenger’s seat as Fringe talked to one of the engineers. “Well?” I grinned at Strike.

She giggled again, fiddling with one of the dials. “Dammit, Static.” Was all she could say, still beaming. There was a loud grinding sound as the large hangar doors began to open above us, the cold wind sweeping through everypony’s manes. Strike was practically bouncing in her seat as she watched the doors open, Fringe hoisting himself up into the cockpit.

“Alright, everything looks like it’s set and ready to go. Let me just run you over some of the basics, again...” He gave us a quick tutorial of how to fly, which buttons did what and what lights meant things were going wrong. “And, a few parachutes are packed in back if everything decides to bugger up on you. Just take it easy, we’d rather not have to fish this thing out of a snow bank, and I don’t think your five hundred caps are going to cover any damages. If either of you are anything like your fathers... Celestia help us.” Fringe looked over to me, causing my smile to falter a little. Okay, Night Strike, please don’t make me regret this.

Fringe hopped out and I slid the doors shut, the interior of the vehicle already feeling warmer. Strike took a deep breath, trying to relax as she pulled one of the levers, a wide grin still on her face. The motors roared to life, the blades of the propellers on either side of us slowly building up speed. I steadied myself in the seat as Strike took hold of the controls, inching the throttle forwards. The vertibuck began to slowly lift into the air, the several ponies gathered around stepping further back, holding clipboards and other various things down, their manes blown back by the wind generated by the craft. Strike pushed the throttle a little further, and soon we had cleared the hangar, hovering steadily above the base.

I glanced down from the window, my stomach dropping a bit as I did. Oookay, only looking forward from now on. We began to slowly drift forwards, Strike taking uncharacteristic caution as we began our first circle of the mountain. “How in the name of Celestia did you convince them to let us do this?” Strike asked, still as giddy as ever. We began to speed up a little as Strike grew more accustomed to the controls, her left hoof firm on the stick.

“I sold off a bunch of stuff we found, and had to sweet talk Quazar up a bit. You’d be surprised how much money you’d save when you’re not buying soda and grenades every day, too.” I stuck my tongue out at her playfully as she rolled her eyes. We rose a little higher into the sky as we flew around, the fans blowing a bit of the snow off the peak of the mountain as we passed by.

As we finished our first lap, though, I heard the clang of metal and the sound of something tumbling to the floor. Both Strike and I glanced over our shoulders to see Sugar Flare laying sprawled on the floor, apparently having stowed herself away in one of the lockers. “Hello!” She said cheerfully, righting herself with a grin. Oh, Celestia, why must you torment me? “So, where’re we going?” She asked as she stood up, stretching and shutting the locker she’d just fallen out of.

“How long were you in there?” I asked, aghast. The sound of her cracking her stiff joints was more of an answer than I needed. Strike gave a quiet whimper, thankfully focusing on not having us crash into the mountain, as I rubbed at my temples a bit. We began to descend, Night Strike slowing the vertibuck down. As she did, Flare zipped up to me and planted a kiss on my lips. Gah! No, no no nonononono, that is majorly NOT okay!

I pushed her back, cringing. “Oh, don’t act like you’re not happy to see me.” I leaned away from her, only to be stopped by the right side door. What is it with your family and creepy fantasies?! As Flare giggled, I glanced over to Strike, who motioned for me to take the controls. I raised an eyebrow, but she'd already begun let go, forcing me to take a firm grasp on the hard rubber shaft with one hoof while the other was kept raised defensively. Okay… um… where’d the mountain go?!

I twisted my head to look through all the windows, but all I could see was snow flying about in the air, the robed mare fighting to get her hooves on my own control shaft curiously absent. I began to lower the vertibuck a little more, the ground coming into view a little sooner than I had hoped. As I struggled with the controls, I heard some scuffling behind me, before suddenly listening as the side door slid open. The wind whipped around the cockpit, and I glanced back just in time to see Night Strike shove Flare out of the vertibuck, watching for a moment. “WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU!?” I shouted over the wind, as Strike managed to shut the door.

She hopped into the seat beside me, looking rather smug with herself. “Oh, she’ll be fine; I gave her a parachute and we’re not that far from EQUAD.” I glanced out the side window, barely able to spot a parachute lying crumpled in the snow, Flare’s hind legs sticking out of a bank and kicking wildly. I simply stared out of the window, stunned, feeling as the control shaft moved in my hooves before letting go. “Hey, did you really want to have to deal with her all the way to the SCAB?”

My mind immediately jumped away from Flare, and I turned to stare at Strike. She looked towards me for a moment, before giving her head a shake. “Come on, Static, did you really think I wasn’t going to take advantage of this? I thought you knew me better than that!” The pegasus mare giving a fake pained look, following it with a snicker and looking out of the cockpit glass. I snapped out of my stupor, glancing down at the compass, taking a firm grasp of the controls again. Fighting against Night Strike, I began to turn the vertibuck around, Strike giving me a frustrated look. “Hey, we’ll bring it back, calm down!”

I grunted, trying to wrestle the controls back from her. “We’re bringing it back now, Fringe is going to kill me for this!” The vertibuck shook as we fought, dipping and bowing in the air as we both tried to pull the sticks in two directions at once. Suddenly the whole machine shook violently, tossing Strike and I around in the cockpit, the engines rumbling for a while before they died. I shook my head, spouting off a list of expletives as I found the vertibuck's windshield now half buried in a snowbank. Night Strike likewise crawled from out of her seat onto the tilted floor, looking bruised, but thankfully alive. Oh, she's a dead mare...

I climbed out of the co-pilot's seat, putting a hoof to my head as it ached. “Goddesses... are you okay, at least?” Night Strike nodded, digging around in her duffle bag, which had been tossed into the corner. She produced a small bottle of a faintly glowing red liquid, taking a sip before handing it to me.

“Uughh… good thing my dad's overprotective. And easy to fool...” She chuckled a little as her bruises began to lose their sickly purple color. I took some of the potion, my body’s aches quickly vanishing, tossing the empty bottle back to her as we collected ourselves. I leaned over the controls, trying to turn on the transmission radio, jumping back as a few sparks flew into the air from the system. Well, so much for calling for help.

We lifted our bags onto our backs and slid the door open, a bit of snow falling into the fuselage. I followed Strike out of the crashed vertibuck, looking over the damage. The machine looked intact, but there was no way we’d be able to drag it out of the snow, let alone fix any engine components that might've broke. Strike played with her Pip-Buck, trying to locate where we were. “Hey, good news, Sunrise Castle Air Base should be just over that hill.” Strike pointed northwards, wearing a smile and rolling her jacket back over the pip-buck. I was about to protest when she cut me off. “Hey, at the very least we might find something there we can convince the Rangers to take instead of keeping you locked up with Flare for the next five years, right?”

I grumbled to myself, but followed alongside her. It’s not really like I had much of a choice, anyways… as we made our way to the top of the hill, the base came into view, mostly buried into the side of a large mountain range. My interest piqued a little when I remembered Minty telling me about finding Jolts and Twintails’ BEL here. Well, maybe there’s actually something valuable left... We headed down the opposite side of the hill, slipping occasionally on the hard packed snow. Strike trotted up to a large gate, pulling it open. I glanced over my shoulder nervously, unsure if what I was hearing was just the wind howling or a Hellhound making its way towards us.

I zipped into the building behind Strike, making sure to shut the door behind us. I saw Strike reach into her saddlebags and pull out a large grenade rifle, the metal barrel boasting two fancy ‘T’s and an atom that had been carved in, the word 'Thumper' scratched into the wooden stock. “Do you ever follow any sort of rules?” I asked, dubious that Twintails had let Strike take his rifle. Strike passed along a wide grin.

“Hey, dad has Kindness to keep him occupied, I can... 'borrow' Thumper occasionally, can’t I?” Reaching the main structures, we began to move through the office section, kicking aside debris. “Besides, you can’t really judge, mister ‘Greasy totally gave me this untested umbrella electric prod, no really’.” I could feel my face growing a little hot as Static smirked at me over her shoulder. I pulled the umbrella out from under my saddlebag strap, pulling open a desk drawer and rifling through it.

We made our way slowly through the offices, but found nothing besides a hoofful of caps in the garbage bins. We began to head down a flight of stairs, passing a few 'Restriced Area' signs as we did. I opened the bottom door to reveal several maintenance hallways lined with pipes. As we headed further down into the structure, I heard the sound of metal steps echoing down one of the side hallways. I paused, Strike stopping behind me, a little annoyed before likewise hearing the metallic whirring. I peered around the hallway, spotting a robot slowly walking down it, every now and then stopping to scan the area.

I began to slowly creep up behind it, gripping the umbrella tightly in my teeth. The robot paused, and I stopped in my tracks, hoping it didn’t hear my hoofsteps. It soon began its long walk again, Night Strike watching from the end of the hall with her grenade rifle. Thank you for not doing something stupid this one time... I leapt forward, biting down on the umbrella and connecting the prongs to the robot. The smell of ozone filled the air again as the robot froze, its circuits shorting out before it collapsed to the floor.

Strike trotted up behind me, smiling. “Nice job, sparky. Really living up to your name.” I grinned and stowed the umbrella as we began to head down the hallway again, frequently stopping to check our maps to make sure we weren’t heading in circles. It wasn’t long before we made our way to a small door at the end of the hallway, a sign reading “Valkyrie Project Faculty Only”. Well, if that’s not an invitation for looters, I don’t know what is. I tried to open the door, but it was locked... of course. I grunted a bit, trying to force it open, before the pegasus tapped me on the shoulder. “I got this.” She grinned, stepping back and lifting up Thumper, holding the barrel flush with the bolt. I quickly moved behind her before she braced her stance and bit down on the trigger.

The recoil from the shell threw Night Strike backwards as the dense slug impacted the handle, destroying it, the door flying open and bouncing back. I chuckled a little as Strike headed through the door, rubbing at my faintly ringing ears. Making an entrance must run in the family... We were greeted by another smaller set of rooms, and a large door at the end of the corridor. I trotted into one of the side rooms, finding several desks covered in paperwork and chalkboards filled with complex equations and designs. I opened up the filing cabinets as Strike checked the room across from mine, finding several papers with similarly complicated designs. Oooh, this should get Quazar off my back.

I began to stuff the files into my saddlebags, trying my best not to wrinkle them in the process. As I was glancing over one of the collection of papers, though, I heard Strike call for me. “Static? I don’t think they’ll be worrying over that Vertibuck anymore…” I leaned into the hallway, seeing Strike sitting on the floor just outside the large doors, staring up at something. I trotted up to meet her, only to feel my stomach drop out, my gaze following hers at what was in the large room.

“Goddesses above…”

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