Fallout: Equestria - Empty Quiver Pg. 70



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Fallout: Equestria - Empty Quiver Pg. 70 - by the-furry-railfan Submission information:

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Fallout Equestria Empty Quiver fanfic pegasus Night Strike hangars airfield snow mountains box canyon Vanhoover Air Base flying machine Stork clouds goggles grin











The strong-smelling liquid sloshed as Static emptied the last bottle into the Stork's fuel tank, the simple skid suspension taking the weight well. Stepping down from the small stepladder he was using to reach the top-mounted tank, the earth pony let off a sigh, setting the emptied bottle on the ground. "Well, that's all we've got. Hope it'll be enough for... well, however long this thing'll have to fly." Serene passed on a nod, turning to the aircraft and starting to turn the propeller around a few times, for... some reason. Static looked towards myself for a moment, leaning back. "Speaking of, have we decided on who's flying this thing? Because I'm not really going to trust something we just threw together over a few days that's supposed to run on distilled moonshine."



Sharpwing let off a small groan of annoyance, planting a hoof against her forehead. "In case ya didn't get the memo, we haven't really got many choices in pilots. The race is sort of Stallions-only, and I doubt Serene could have a tapeworm's chance in a pet shop when it comes to flying this thing." There was a small clatter from the other side of the Stork, drawing our attention to a notably annoyed red-coated unicorn. Sharpwing responded with a roll of her eyes. "Oh, come on Serene, piloting an aircraft and piloting your Sterm-vulker at night are two very different things. Besides, you wanna risk falling out of this thing without me to back you up?"



"I'm beginning to regret allowing you to handle most of ze construction. Zhe seat is nothing like I designed it, especially..." Oh yeah, because we can totally afford strapping a whole fancy throne onto the front of this thing. I shared in Sharpwing's annoyance, the unicorn adjustibg his glasses and releasing a sigh. "Either vay, zat is a good point. If Static von't und neither of us can, our options are quite limited... und I doubt zat powered armor would vork well vith zis airframe, even being ze Enclave kind."



"So... guess that just leaves me, then. Yay." Putting on a weak smile for a moment, it fell to a sigh, myself trotting up to the flying machine. Come on, Strikey, you're gonna have to figure out how to fly a big metal thing without crashing it into the ground sooner or later... this'd probably be the best place to do it. You can get this, you know how all it works, you helped build the darned thing... "So... do we have to get permission to test fly or something, or can we just take it out and start it up?"



"Well, first things first, we probably need some sort of disguise for you if you're going to be flying in the race. I was able to find something in the back room of those three stallions' hangar, while you were getting the slow one to give up the fireproof fabric..." Crash Dive wore a smile on her muzzle as she trotted off to a side room for a moment, sounds fo rummaging around coming from it. After a moment, she reappeared, carrying a frankly ridiculously heavy-looking jacket, scarf, hat and set of goggles, letting them fall to the shop floor. "From the looks of it, this should cover up all of you without fuss. Not like they'll be able to tell once you get airborne, unless they have binoculars or something."



The red-coated unicorn trotted over, looking over the pile of loose heavy fabric for a moment, before picking it up in his magic. Well, I guess it might work, kind of would lose use of my wings but concealing Thumper and a few rounds of buckshot and high explosive shouldn't be too much of a hassle with it... which begs the question as to why Serene instead passed it over to Static. The earth pony stumbled a little as he took the clothes, Crash Dive quickly going from surprised to confused to annoyed - how can she do that so well? "Zat vill work for ze race, though ve don't need it quite yet. Stallions are allowed to choose mares to test fly their flying machines, in case of... vell, unforseen complications. Nothing more zan zat, though. Still, it vould be helpful if you wore zis around until ze day of ze race, Static, give Turbine no reason to assume an impostor."



"Nnf, well, I guess that makes sense. I'll just have to hang back on race day, so Turbine just thinks I'm flying." Static shuffled the heavy flight gear around, starting to slip it on over his regular jacket, adjusting the heavy fabric on himself. I trotted over to the small seat on the front of the Stork meanwhile, climbing up onto it and looking about at the bare controls. Alright, so we've got the flight stick-thingy here, rudder pedals there, and the throttle lever strapped to the side of the seat... aside from the fact that there's no way to strap myself on, if it works, it works. Static pushed the pair of flight goggles up on his head, voice muffled by the thick scarf. "So, we gonna take this thing out for it's first test flight or what? Kind of hoping the fuel doesn't eat its way through the tank before we have a chance..."



Serene gave a nod in response, his horn flaring with magic as it pulled open the hangar doors wide, myself raising my foreleg to shield my eyes from the bright daylight reflected off the snow. With a sudden jolt, I grabbed onto the control stick for stability, feeling the flyer lifting up into the air a short way and looking around in confusion. Serene's magic had taken ahold of the aircraft's base, the unicorn carefully easing it out onto the snowy runway, myself letting off a sigh. Okay, just like flying a Vertibuck or the Valkyrie, you can do this, Strikey... hopefully without plowing into the ground.



The Stork settled on the two skids after it was fully outside, Sharpwing trotting up on my left side to check things over. She fiddled with one of the knobs on the side of the chair for a few moments, before giving a nod. "Alright, the engine should be primed and ready to start up, just push on the ignition and hold it until it starts purring. The snow should give you low enough ground resistance to take off once we get to the runway, hopefully... just pull back when it feels right, yeah?"



She wore a weak smile, myself answering her with a nod before pausing to think for a moment. If it's annoying to ride on the mini-tank without goggles on... Looking back, Static trotted over on the opposite side, myself waving him closer. He blunk a few times as I pulled the flight goggles off of his head, fitting them on myself. A giggle escaped me as he let off a cloudy huff through the scarf, pulling it down from his muzzle. "You could've just asked, yanno."



"Aw, but then I wouldn't have gotten to see your cute face before I took off~" Wonder if it was the heavy clothes or me that made him blush like that. Giving him a quick parting peck, Serene trotting out ahead caught my attention, the unicorn looking back with an uneasy expression for a moment. Looking past him, the sight of three other figures coming out of a hangar caught our attention - as did their, um... what. "I... is that supposed to be their flying machine?"



"Well... it's a far cry from May's airship, at least it doesn't seem like it has a balloon for lift. It... -might- work?" Sharpwing looked on with the rest of us, just as confused by the sight. After a moment of watching them, the earthen-colored pegasus let off a sigh, a forehoof meeting her forehead. "Oh, barking spiders, they're doing one of their presenting bits. Won't clear the runway until they're finished... ech, come on. Least we can be entertained for a bit before takeoff, and size up their... whatever the heck that thing is."



Looking to the rest as Sharpwing started to trot over to the hangar on the far side of the runway, I was met with a shrug from Crash Dive and Static's bewildered face. Well, I'm sure the Stork can just sit for however long it takes these guys to take off... well, without damaging itself, hopefully. Hopping out of the seat, I passed on one last glance before following behind Sharpwing, Serene already trotting along before Crash Dive and Static finally followed. I landed up beside Sharpwing, scratching at the back of my head a little, pushing the flight goggles up. "So, these guys think they're presenters for some pre-war TV show? That's... something."



"Haven't a clue what's made 'em think like that, but they're pretty harmless on the whole, and relatively entertaining. Not that great at vehicle design, but they mean well." By the time we arrived at the hangar, they seemed to be starting to roll whatever their flying machine was supposed to be further out, one of the trio trotting over to us. Sharpwing let off a small chuckle, putting on a smile. "Ah, Calm May, that's quite the, um... interesting flying machine you've got."



The brown-maned unicorn nodded in response, watching as the rest of the group caught up with us, before glancing back at the machine. "Ah, yes, this here was actually mostly Heavy Strike's and Fast Track's idea. The idea was to make a flying machine that's both small, light, and comfortable for driving on an average repaired road as well. Using a tricycle-wheeled chassis and sporting a foldable wingspan of about six meters, the hope is that the little half-ton thing should easily take to the air, given a long enough run-up. Rather optimistically, Track decided an appropriate name for our tiny vehicle would be the Reliant Robin - asking me, considering it'll be relying on heavy steel wings rather than a comfortable heated balloon, I think they just want to rub my successful attempt at a flying machine in."



A small scream came from where the, uh, Robin was, us all looking to see a pegasus' flanks sticking out from one of the windows. The legs kicked open air as the third of the group, a larger grey-maned earth pony, trotted over with a look of annoyance. May let off a quiet chuckle, looking on with the rest of us. "Oh dear, seems that the Hamster's gotten himself stuck again. I told you we couldn't have the wings extend to block the doors, ya pillocks!" The older unicorn shook his head in disbelief, trotting over to the other two, while I just sat my flanks down in the snow and watched on. Well, got the entertaining part down...



"Alright, they oughta get their flyin' machine out onto the runway without fuss now, we'll just wait for them to wrap up their laps and then see if the Stork compares. Kind of think most of the time they just want someone to talk to, bless 'em..." Sharpwing turned and started to trot back to our hangar with Serene, myself still sitting in the snow for a while. I mean, if we have to wait for them anyways, might as well be entertained in the meanwhile. Static and Crash Dive both settled in as well, May and... ahm, I think the earth pony's Heavy Strike, right, eventually managing to pull Fast Track out of the window.



Definitely feeling better about our chances.



---



"Engine primed, control surfaces moving, turbocharger... turbochargering. Right." Some considerable time and a lot of Heavy Strike shouting the word 'Power', and an astonishing spectacle of the Robin actually managing to take off and land later, we were finally able to get the Stork out onto the runway to perform our test flight. Sharpwing moved up alongside myself, passing on a nod, the goggles moving down over my eyes. "One full lap of the air base and we can call it, remember that you're going to have a large bit of prop torque so be prepared for that. If anything goes wrong, try and get it low to the ground and bail, least you've got wings to help you with that. Good luck."



Passing her a single nod, the earthen pegasus flew off to the side of the runway, myself looking down to my left at the throttle and ignition controls. Whoo, alright Strikey, you can do this, just like flying a Vertibuck. My forehoof reached down to the starter lever, pushing it down two clicks, the electric motors on the engines whining and making the pistons turn over in the cylinders a few times before the two boxer 8s roared to life. The aircraft rolled slightly as the propeller started to spin, my hoof releasing the starter lever and moving to the throttle behind it. She started, good, step one done...



The throttle slowly eased open as I pushed the lever forwards, the engine's roar becoming louder and more air being sucked past me to the propeller and down the radiator and turbo intakes on the sides. The Stork slowly began to lean forwards on the shock absorbers, tilting left as the propeller pushed more and more. Eventually the aircraft began to move forwards, the torque from the engine sending me skidding towards the left - ergh, uh, right, um, right rudder? Right rudder. Pushing my back hoof against the pedal and pushing the stick to the same side, the aircraft settled itself back out, heading straight down the runway once again. Okay... really hope I don't have to worry about THAT with the Valkyrie.



Pushing the throttle open further, the wind really started to pick up against my face, the snowy runway rushing by much faster than before. Taking quick, short breaths of the frigid air, eventually I had the throttle fully open, the Stork beginning to leave shallower ruts in the snow. I pulled the control shaf to my chest, gritting my teeth and wrenching my eyes shut - please please pleeease take off before I run out of runway... the wooshing of snow under the skids faded, myself feeling as I was rolled backwards, body facing the sky. Cracking one eye open, the large clouds in the bright blue sky met me instead of the tall mountains in the distance, myself blinking. Leaning forwards - and easing the stick back forwards, because I -really- didn't want to throw myself into a loop right after takeoff - I peered over the side of the seat, watching the snowy ground fading away, the roofs of the hangars well behind me. This... this thing actually works!



"Ha-ha! Oh, fuck me with an ROQF seventeen-pounder, this is somethin' else!" Leting loose a gleeful cackle, the Stork settled back into level flight, myself just taking in the scenery for the moment. Alright, okay, she took off, let's see about that fly-around. Looking around to get my bearings, I let out a breath, nodding to myself more than anyone. The improvised engine thundered along behind me as I tilted the stick to the left, the whole aircraft rolling in accordance and slowly starting to bank that way. Pull it back a little... and we're in a nice easy turn. Good.



Leveling off as the Stork carried me back around over the collection of side hangars and buildings on the eastern edge of the airbase, I pushed the stick forwards, bringing us closer to the ground as it whizzed by. The roofs of buildings whoosed past as I passed over them, takng a hoof off the stick to wave at the few ponies on the ground. Oh, yeah, flying's nice, but I'm going this fast without getting tired... I can get used to being a pilot. Hell, I'd love if we could at least take this back with us... we're gonna need a bigger Valkyrie.



The extent of the air base passed by underneath, myself heading for the far edge of the box canyon the runway was situated in. Okay, so you do fine in a slow turn, let's see if you can handle a tighter one... the Stork rolled quickly as the air was deflected on the wing edges, the elevator pushing the whole thing around very quickly. I felt my stomach trying to force its way to my back legs as the scenery flew by in a blur, myslef tending and grunting from the sudden forces almost out of instinct. Releasing the stick saw the turn to settle back out, blood finding its way back into my head as i rolled back to level, passing over the landing strip once again. Okay, yeah, let's... not do that again.



The second pass and turn went by fast, myself finding my hoof moving for the throttle to actually pull it back. I had a feeling this thing was gonna be fast, but, damn, pulling a turn that hard and taking off as quickly as it did? This thing's nuts! I soon had to turn back around, weaving slightly in the air as I lined back up with the runway, looking across the long white expanse. Easing back the throttle turned the Stork from a plane into a glider, minor adjustments needed to keep it level as it touched down working just fine as the snow drew closer. Perfect test flight, if I do say so myself.



The skids took the weight of the airframe, the engine purring lightly behind me at idle as the Stork skidded to a stop a good distance away from the hangar. Wearing a grin and watching the rest starting to rush over, I nudged the throttle forwards, the Stork moving over to meet them. Yeah, definitely got the hang of her... hopefully. The engine fell back to idle as the distance became close enough, myself reaching down and pulling the start lever up, breaking the electrical contacts and shutting her down. The turbo whined to a stop inside the body, my head falling back against the small cushion as a sigh escaped me. Regular flight? Yeah, that's nice. Powered flight? Oh, baby...



Static was first to reach me, surprising considering how heavy that jacket must be, wrapping his forelegs around me. Woah, okay, easy there tiger... "Oh, thank Celestia that worked. You're alright, right? That was a really sharp turn you pulled back there Strikey, I was worried you'd fall off or something." I passed on a nod to the earth pony as he broke the hug and took a step back, myself climbing off of the Stork. Sharpwing and Serene started to move it off of the runway, us all trotting back over to the hangar doors.



"I'm fine, Static, a little positive Gs never hurt anyone, heh..." Rubbing at the back of my head, the red wing of the Stork came to a stop over us both, Serene and Sharpwing turning to face down the runway after pushing the Stork up to the doorway. Crash Dive joined them, both myself and Static peering around the boxy aircraft to see the hangar at the far end opening up... and a mini-tank coming out of it. Scratching my mane again, I watched on, Serene shaking his head and letting off a cloudy sigh. "What, who's that?"



A slender black nose poked its way through the hangar doors after the Motorbug, attached to a very large aircraft precariously balanced upon two centerline-mounted wheel sets. Temporary-looking wheel struts were on the far edges of the ridiculously long wingspan, which bent slightly under its own weight as the craft followed the half-track out onto the runway. It centered itself, the Motorbug driving out of the way, the stallion behind the handlebars pulling out a flag and waving it back and forth a few times.



The engine inside the slender craft whined up to speed, kicking up a masive white cloud behind it and sucking in even more loose snow through the intakes either side of the body. The brakes were released, and it didn't take particularly long for the strange airplane to get up to speed, the wings bending upwards and releasing the trailing wheels as air started to become caught underneath them, myself catching the words 'Dragon Mare' written on the side of it underneath the cockpit canopy as it shot past with blistering speed. The nose lifted up, and with a flurry of snow the craft was quickly up in the air and climbing fast. We all stood watching it as it darted over the far mountain range and out of sight, my jaw hanging slack as a subsidence crater found its way into my stomach. Serene brushed some kicked-up snow off of his jacket, scoffing slightly before releasing a huff.



"Zat... zat vould be ze competition vich ze Storch has to beat." Okay... definitely feeling a lot less better about our chances.



---



"Fine mares and stallions of the Vanhoover Air Base, welcome to the tenth annual North Vanhoover Aerial Rally! The race is due to begin shortly, with the takeoff in the traditional order of lowest to highest chances, so before they reach the start lines please allow me to introduce to you our fine competitors all aiming for the title of the Vanhoover Air Base's new Air Marshal!" The thick jacket and flight hat muffled most sounds as I trotted out of the hangar alongside the Stork the following morning, completely concealed by the getup. Thumper brushed against my side, along with a few spare buckshot, slug, and dragon's breath shells in my jacket pockets, making walking all the more awkward - Celestia, I hope that we can get started sooner than later...



Serene was busy topping off the fuel tank with as much of the alcohol as we had left, fitting the cap back into place, while Sharpwing did some last-minute fiddling with the control surfaces. Long as this thing can get me and all this stuff up in the air as easily as it did with just me, this is gonna be fine... the loudspeakers throughout the base opened up again, making me wonder just how loud they were for them to be coming across so clearly in this thick getup. "From the TGAF hangar and taking to the skies first, we have Hamster... ahm, correction, Fast Track, and the trio's aircraft named the Reliant Robin. With an astonishing roll rate and ridiculous engine aboard, it's a certainly amazing sight to see taking to the air, folks. Let's just hope they can manage that..."



Looking down the runway, the three stallions were all pushing their craft into place, the odd ridiculously shiny car making it difficult to see some portions of the action from this angle. Seriously, couldn't they have built a thing a little less... polished? At least the Robin was easier to look at in comparison. The smaller pegasus of the group eased himself in through the window of their air craft, adjusting the helmet he wore and strapping himself in, the unicorn and earth pony taking up opposite sides of the craft and chatting with him for a few moments. After a couple nods, they headed back over to the side of the runway, May encompassing the vehicle's small rear-mounted propeller in his magic and starting it up.



The tiny motor aboard buzzed as Fast Track opened the throttle wide, eventually generating enough power to get the thing rolling down the runway. After a good few hundred meters, the front wheel lifted off from the snow, the rear wheels threatening to do the same as it buzzed by our hangar. A stiff breeze lifted it for a moment, the craft gaining altitude just as it had yesterday, myself, Serene, and Sharpwing all watching on. Alright, breathe, they were the ones least likely to be issues... and most likely to have issues in return. The Robin fluttered in the air for a moment before flipping upside down on the far end of the runway, the nose end burying into the snow and causing it to roll end over end a few times before finally settling on its roof. That didn't look good...



A white-painted half-track rushed out from between one of the hangars towards the crashed aircraft, a siren on it blaring wildly, the two other stallions on their team either disregarding or forgetting the vehicle they'd brought and starting to run towards the crash site themselves. Okay, I knew they weren't going to be too much of an issue as competition, but I wasn't expecting or hoping for anything like that! Passing a worried glance to the earthen pegasus mare beside me, the anouncer came across the loudspeakers. "Ah, the ever-present danger of crashes shows its unfortunate presence once again here at the Vanhoover Air Base. Thankfully our other competitors should not have to worry about this impeding their takeoff, as Fast Track had the courtesy to crash off of the runway's end. While the paramedics are tending to whatever injuries that Fast Track may have, could we please see the next competitor line themselves up at the runway's start?"



"How callous can ya get?..." My voice was muffled by the heavy scarf as Serene and Crash Dive started to move the flyer down the runway, myself taking a long look towards the crash site before following. It was a long walk to the runway's end, my forelegs shaking slightly by the time the Stork was centered and set up. The heavy bottom of the flight jacket acted as another layer of cushioning ontop of what little there was on the seat, myself squirming about again as Thumper jabbed into my side. Sharpwing trotted up beside the stork, fiddling with the throttle a little once again and letting my eyes catch hers.



"Alright, you'll have a minute headstart or so, I don't think Turbine quite knows what this thing can do. The race route's just through the mountains, extends to Saddlebrook and then a straight shot back here, that's when you have the most to worry about him overtaking." Nodding in the thick clothes, my hoof reached down and pushed the ignition, the engine whining for a moment before turning over and coming to life with a healthy roar. Moving the stick around confirmed the control surfaces were all working, with some right rudder being applied already. Sharpwing checked over everything one more time, before looking back towards myself. "And remember, try to not open up the jacket unless you have to. Don't want to end up disqualified..."



I answered her with another nod, the pegasus rushing over to the side of the runway with Serene and Crash Dive, the loudspeakers crackling again with the announcer. "Our next racer comes from well out of town, one of the esteemed Vanoover Five, hailing from a little city to the north known as Mooscow. Considering how he and his mare assistant wound up all the way down here, we can only assume that he made the mistake of allowing her to fly their original vehicle. Static Charge and his aircraft the Stork, let's hope you have some better luck than Fast Track did, gotta keep things interesting, after all." Taking a few slow breaths to calm myself, I gazed out to the end of the runway, gloved hoof moving for the throttle and easing it open. Here goes nothing...



The engine's roar started to grow louder as more fuel entered it, the Stork once again leaning forwards on its landing skids before overcoming the friction on the ground, starting to push forwards over the snow. Quickly picking up speed, my forehooves pulled the control shaft in, the Stork pointing its nose upwards for a few moments before gracefully lifting off the runway, starting to climb high. The crashed Robin flew by underneath me as I let off a sigh, giving my head a light shake, all sounds replaced by the loud roar of the Stork's engine and the wind wooshing by my thoroughly wrapped head. Good work, boy, now let's get this race started.



The mountain ridge to the south of the airbase rushed past underneath, myself dipping the nose of the Stork down to slip into the natural snow-filled valleys on the other side, starting to wind my way through them. Saddlebrook's the halfway marker, and until then I should be safe, if this is supposed to be the race route then that wide-winged Dragon Mare's gonna have a hell of a time trying to get through while at speed. Probably would be a good thing if I knew where Saddlebrook was in the first place, though... duh, legputer's got a world map. I probably should have remembered that fact sooner than now, I was just about to try and blindly meander my way to a town I've never seen before in a time-critical race... Goddesses, I'm such a genius sometimes.



The Stork settled on its flight in a decently long valley, allowing me a moment to push the thick sleeves back on my left foreleg, revealing the screen. Statis, Inventory, Data... Local map, World map. Okay, so if I just- A wooshing sound filled my ears as the Stork sudddenly rolled violently, my hooves grabing the control stick in time to narrowly keep myself from plowing into the side of the valley. Hohohokay, pip-bucking and driving a tank is one thing, pip-bucking and flying is another, pip-bucking and flying a flying machine? I'm just full of stupid decisions today. Ensuring that I wasn't about to hit the side of another mountain in the next few moments, I looked back to the map, zooming it in for a more detailed picture of the surrounding area.



Weaving with the valleys and following along some old roads and train tracks drew me further towards the south, a group of streets arranged in a grid pattern situated in the base of a valley several kilometers from the air base looking like the halfway point to me. Pushing on the throttle lever, there was a little more give yet in the movement, my hoof nudging it open slightly more. The engine roared just a touch louder behind me, the shearing wind biting at parts of my exposed foreleg as it flew by even faster, myself all the more thankful for this heavy coat. Halfway to the halfway mark...



The mountains and valleys started to grow larger as I drew closer to Saddlebrook, the black wispy clouds of chimney smoke denoting it's location on the far side of the range just up ahead. Meandering my way towards it, I pulled back hard as I drew near the mountain's base, the Stork climbing fast up the snowy, rocky formation. I drew in breaths as deep as I could manage of the chill, high-altitude air, the Stork's turbocharger still whining away and force-feeding air to the cylinders, myself eventually cresting the top, able to level off and start heading back down into thicker air. Letting of a sigh and peering out to the valley beyond, the sight of the town inside it... wasn't what I was expecting.



Craters and wrecked buildings littered the area below, the smoke columns I'd thought were from fireplaces instead being from the smouldering remains of the houses themselves. I settled the Stork out for a moment, flying out long over the town and getting lower to get more detail. A few figures seemed to scramble about on the destroyed roads, none of them appearing to be pony in nature, the southern edge of the town coming up almost as soon as I'd reached the northernmost side.



Putting the Stork into a banked turn, I brought her around again, cutting back on the throttle slightly - what the hell happened here? Couldn't have been megaspells or balefire bombs, there wouldn't have been anything left. Looking more closely at the debris trails, parallel dotted lines of scorched asphalt caught my attention in the streets, my brain faintly recognizing that distinctive electric burn... tesla cannons. Automatic tesla cannon fire at that... oh, crap. This place was hit by the Harriers. But, why would they go out of their way to take this place out, anyways? Unless...



A massive stream of flames shot up from the ground in front of me, myself catching it just in time to shove the control shaft hard right, rolling and narrowly avoiding the plume. Okay, Harriers killed it and now robo-dragons are occupying it, just great! Shoving the throttle open as wide as it'd go, the burst of acceleration pushed me back into the seat, climbing towards the north fast. I held the stick back as the mountain range and clouds drew closer, leaning over my shoulder to look past the body of the Stork. Right side was clear, but as I looked over my left, the faint glint of very angry metal caught my attention coming up from the valley, and from just to the east... Well, so much for that head start!



I leveled the Stork off in a cloud bank, breathing the frigid, thin air and wiping water off of the goggles, trying to listen for the sounds of billowing flames and the whine of an electric turbine below. Pushing the stick forwards, the Stork's nose fell, and it slowly appeared out of the cloud bank, myself scanning around. Okay, no robo-dragons behind me on the left, none on the right... but a lot of problems directly ahead and below. Oh, no...



A few hundred meters ahead was the Dragon Mare, and between it and myself flew a smaller robo-dragon, the metallic skin glistening in the morning light. The robo-dragon seemed to keep pace with the long-winged flying machine, the foreleg that wasn't keeping the Stork steady reaching to open up the thick flight jacket over my regular one, and grab Thumper. Swapping hooves on the stick, I was able to pull Thumper comfortably against my shoulder, the strap around my body keeping her from falling off anytime soon. Got a... birdshot loaded, alright, not standard anti-dragon ammo but it'll have to do. I hope.



The Stork picked up a little more speed as I dropped in closer to the pair, the robo-dragon getting far enough ahead to look into the cockpit before slowing down slightly, landing carefully on the back of the Dragon Mare with its wings still outstretched. It crawled its way along the aircraft's body, myself drawing the Stork in closer and closer, Thumper held firm in my shoulder. Right, what's gonna be the best place to shoot at this thing from... that isn't going to also hit the other plane. Answer, not many places. Not going to have much of a window to do this in, either, not at this speed... on the upside, I'm overtaking him still.



Pulling the Stork up off the wingtip of the Dragon Mare, I readied myself and held Thumper out, which was a hell of a lot easier said than done when you had to manage keeping an air craft steady at the same time! The robo-dragon dug its claws into the skin of the electric jet, the head snapping over to look at myself for a moment before it let off a roar, keeping its mouth open. The firey pilot light of its flamethrower ignited, myself tugging Thumper's trigger lever at the same time the first few sputters came from its mouth, the dragon recoiling as its head was met with forty millimeters of pellets. Flames sprayed wildly around, my hooves pulling the stick back hard and gaining altitude as the dragon's momentum shook the other aircraft about. Oh, come on you bastard, let go!



Fumbling another shell into Thumper - solid slug this time, that should do it - I looked back to the Dragon Mare, and the robo-dragon on it. The latter was following me with its gaze, another roar caught on the wind as it let go of the black fuselage, soaring up to me instead... I take it back, you didn't have to let go! Throwing the Stork into a dive, I braced Thumper with my shoulder and knee, a hoof reaching down and opening up the throttle as wide as it'd go. The little movement I got in response for my attempt wasn't much, but it was comforting. Leveling back off and readying Thumper again, I scanned around in the sky, looking up just in time to see the slightly-larger-than-pony-sized robo-dragon coming in above me. Oh, fuck me with a 17-pounder...



Swinging Thumper skywards as fast as I could, the shot rang out loud, the 40mm steel-cored slug burrowing through the belly of the robo-dragon and sending it rolling off to the side with another roar. An orangeish mist sprayed from inside, before it gave way to massive flames, the robot exploding as it smashed hard against the mountainside. A breath I didn't realize I was holding escaped me as Thumper fell back to his resting position, myself catching my breath afterwards. Okay... now that's out of the way, winning the race, so I can go and just pass out for the rest of today. Yeah...



Gaining back some altitude with the Stork, I scanned the sky behind me, trying to find where the Dragon Mare was. Couldn't have gotten ahead with a dragon weighing it down, and I'm sure I probably picked up enough speed to have a healthy lead from that dive alone. A loud roaring sound filled my ears as I checked behind myself again, looking over just in time to see the aircraft in question spewing large flames from its fuselage, and closing fast. That can -not- be a good thing... though the way he kept the craft flying steady as if it was meant to be doing that did beg the question. Then again, as the Dragon Mare shot past with a sudden extra burst of flames from a section on the fuselage, and then started to rapidly slow down again... shit.



Diving back down to try and meet with the crippled aircraft, the familiar shape of the mountain range at the southern end of the runway came into close view, my eyes focusing on the black-painted jet burning up beside me. Pulling up along its length, the stallion inside seemed to be in a panic, trying to look behind at the rest of his aircraft. We crested the mountaintop at roughly the same time, the flames from the fuselage licking at the tail section and catching on it just then. His eyes, wide and panicked, met my own through the canopy, the southern end of the runway approaching fast. Come on, Strikey, think!



Looking down to the control stick, I rolled the Stork to the right, flying just above the back of the Dragon Mare. Staring down into the canopy at the stallion inside, I waved my free hoof in an upwards motion, pointing to the landing skids on the bottom of my own flying machine. Well, it wasn't the best of ideas, yeah, but it was better than him going down with it! It took him a precious half-second to realize what I meant before a burst from his horn blew the canopy off the top of the aircraft, and he leapt for the landing skids.



His forelegs wrapped around one of them tightly, myself pulling the Stork up and away from the flaming aircraft and pulling back on the throttle, watching the Dragon Mare touch down on its belly. It skidded down half the runway, heading off the northern end and landing in a snowy mound several meters beyond, a motorbug with a water tank rushing over to the scene and starting to douse the flames, myself putting the Stork into a banked turn as we finally passed over the runway's end. Well... that's one way to end a race.



Swinging low over the air base atfer finishing the turn, I leaned forwards far as I could, looking into the terrified face of Turbine. Okay, now how to deal with him safely... "Uh... I'm gonna bring us in low and slow over a snow bank, you can leap off there. It's either that or I land with you still on the skid!" He blunk a few times in response at first, before answering with a quick nod. Passing back over the southern end of the runway with the throttle barely open, the large snowy berm at this end drew ever closer. Welp, now or never... "Jump!"



The unicorn's hooves released the landing leg, myself watching as he fell and rolled against the snow, opening the throttle back up and bringing the Stork around a third time for the landing. She purred into a stop about fifty meters from the mound, the skids taking her weight and allowing me to finally let go of the control shaft entirely. Pulling the ignition lever up brought the engines to a stop, a long sigh escaping me as the constant noise finally ceased, just resting myself back in the seat. The loudspeakers sounded out across the air base, the announcer understandably flustered - not every day a mare wins this race, right?



"U-uh... um... r-right, Stallions and Gentlemares, since Fast Track crashed on takeoff and it seems that Turbine's Dragon Mare had become critically damaged before landing, thank Celestia he's alright, uh... well, it is my pleasure to announce the new Air Marshal of the Vanhoover Air Base, Static Charge!" Well... I mean, at least we won.







Full Story Arc





Fallout: Equestria created by kkatman

