"Sheltered? Whaddya mean sheltered?" Lightning asked slightly offended.
"Sheltered. Sheltered means safe from elements da?" Sasha asked as she looked over towards Sergei who nodded.
"Da, Sheltered from elements is one meaning. What I say is more of what he's told isn't exactly whole." Sergei said explaining it to both his sister and Lightning.
"So you're saying what Raptor and Sid have been telling me isn't exactly the truth?" Lightning said as Sergei snapped and spoke out of turn.
"Da, that is meaning I am looking for." Sergei said as he was sneered at by Sasha.
"Why do you speak out of turn brother?" Sasha said very irritated with Sergei.
"Wait wait wait, nuts to why your pattern's broken, how many other VTOLs are there like us I mean I know Osprey and a few other tilt rotors, but I mean that are like us, plane ponies." Lightning asked very curious of this new world out from behind shaded lenses.
"Little one are you askings of us to tell you about world when we no not your name?" Sasha said making up for her brother's misstep and now wondering about Lightning's curiosity.
"I'm Lightning, an F-35B, the seemingly unwanted child of the F-35 tree." Lightning said giving the Yaks more information than they needed, but Sergei responded in like.
"We understanding of unwanted. We too are unwanted. Sasha not make production, Mechanic here very good at complex repairs. Very lucky to have found him. I make production but navy did not like pitiful payload." Sergei said as he looked at the ground.
"Well, at least we can take off vertically. That's something isn't it?" Lightning said as he tried to lighten the mood, and had the fact that he needed to apologize to Thunderbolt thrust back into his head.
"Lightning, in this world there are very few VTOL jets. Much more common for noisy backwards helicopter." Sasha said exposing the knowledge of these Russian jump jets.
"So Helicopters suck, they're slower than us and can't carry as much. Only thing they do better is hovering, but that shit's overrated anyways. Oh, and speaking of the Mechanic, I actually need to go and talk to somepony he was working on today." Lightning said as the "twins" looked at him in a bit of shock.
"We hear that he pull joke on AV-8. Hear you shot up his shop. We are not pleased by your insolence to Mr. Anon." Sergei said as he stepped down from the porch of the bar.
"I know, I know, I was going to apologize to someone who hurt my feelings earlier. I may have said some hurtful things to deserve what she said. I may as well apologize to them both. I'm pretty sure he knew I shot up his shot with them." Lightning said as he looked down at the ground.
"Then trip to favorite place in airstrip." Sasha said as she took off towards Anon's shop.
"Sasha normally not so excitable. She just really appreciate Mechanic." Sergei said a little embarrassed about his sister.
"Dude, it's fine. Raptor's a whore. There's the second reason why I'm out right now. I hate having to hear her and Sid railing each other. makes me want to hurl." Lightning said as both he and Sergei went after Sasha.
"Well Anon?" Thunderbolt said as she picked at the ground.
"Yea Thunderbolt, that'd be great. Saves me the trouble of having to be shot at." you say as you hear a familiar turbine come screaming towards the shop.
"Who in the name of Celestia is that?" Thunderbolt asks as you just smile knowing it's Sasha, one of your favorite VTOLs.
"Just a very happy Yak-141." You say as you shake your head. Fortunately Sasha was not the Yandere you're afraid of.
"A Yakovlev? Why would they be here?" Thunderbolt asked as you explain.
"Look I'm unbiased to NATO or Russian plane ponies. Since I'm now technically a doctor, it's my job to help those who walk through those doors. Sasha was very ill when she came to me. Her brother was very worried about her. They're the only two VTOLs I can stand Thunder." You said before realizing you just gave Thunderbolt a nickname.
"Did you just?" Thunderbolt asked as the hangar doors slid open and Sasha came bursting in.
"Mr. Anon!" she yells out as she tackles you to the ground protecting you with her soft metallic underbelly.
"Hey, there's one of the twins. Sergei's never far behind you Sasha, where is he?" You say as you stand between her and Thunderbolt.
Per her norm, she doesn't speak as it's Sergei's turn, but instead of hearing Sergei, you hear Thunderbolt's GAU-8 spinning up. You turn around to see Lightning and Sergei. You raise your hand to Thunderbolt's cheek and you're wondering why Lightning is with the Twins.
"What are you doing here you little twerp?" Thunderbolt asks still very angry with him.
"I came to apologize to both of you. Thunderbolt, you're a really capable ground attack pony, I could only dream of being so durable. I'm really sorry about what I said to you. Anon, sir, I'm sorry I shot up your shop during the night. How can I make that up to you?" Lightning said as Thunderbolt goes silent from hearing this apology.
"Sergei, you followed?" You ask knowing that Lightning could have been sent to do this by Raptor.
"Nyet Anon. No followers. Not even Smiths." Sergei said using your nickname for the damned Reaper drones.
"Really not even Smiths? I'm surprised. Lighting, you're a good kid for owning up to that. I'll just leave it at that. I've got a soft spot for the misfits. Just not Sidney. Fucking prick." You say as you lean against Thunderbolt not really thinking about the messages you're sending.
"Yea, I agree with you there Anon. He's got such a thick radome. Doesn't see how bad it hurts when we mock you about."
"Don't say it. I get it. You're sorry." You say cutting Lightning off as you really don't want to hear it at the end of your day especially after being there when the threat against you was made.
"So we're good?" Lightning asked.
"Yea, you and I are cool, so long as you can take a joke on the rare chances I get to drop them." You say as Lightning lets out a timid laugh.
"Sergei, remind Ivan he owes me for intruding on my work today. Wasn't very pleased to have his interruption during a rebuild." You say as Sergei nods.
"Da, we will comrade. we will. You want me to rough him up?" Sasha said with a large smile on her face.
"Unnecessary. Just give him a reminder. Just make sure he doesn't drink all the vodka this time." You say as you laugh a little.
"Anon." Thunderbolt says wanting you to get going.
"Alright, I'll be seeing you two around. Lightning, stick around with these two, you may learn a thing or two about yourself." You say as you walk out underneath Thunderbolt's wing.
You're hiding underneath her wing as she walked towards her home, you're more focused on staying undercover and watching the sky for any sort of trickery from Sidney.
"Anon. What's with you and Sasha?" Thunderbolt asks.
"Nothing. She's just really friendly after I fixed her up. Like I said she came in really hurting. Carbon caked turbine, jammed up control linkages to her rear duct, somehow managed to twist the shaft to her lift fan. She was a mess."You say getting tired at the thought
"She came in as a wreck?" Thunderbolt asked
"No, just really beat up. She took three solid days to fix, and with Sergei looking over my shoulder the entire time I was paranoid not to take my time and fix her properly." You say as the two of you walk to her home, which you've never seen before due to only walking to the bar, to Ivan's and your own home.
"So uh, there's" Thunderbolt asks a little timidly.
"There's nothing between us Thunder. She's just a friend that likes to be around me. The Russians are actually pretty cool, they can drink me under the table like nobody's business, but they're pretty chill. Hell I know a ground attack pone, Frogfoot's his name he's pretty damned chill for a ground attack pony. Maybe it's just the Vodka talking." You say as Thunderbolt gives you a tap with her foreleg which is much stronger than both of you expected causing you to roll out from under her wing.
"Sorry Anon. I didn't mean to." Thunderbolt said as she blushes.
"Eh, don't worry about it, you're just stronger than you look Thunder." You say as you give her leg a playful punch, which you have to do harder than you'd like for her to feel it. You feel your fist throbbing afterwards as her warning lights start to go off.
"Well here we are." she says as you arrive to a hangar on the other side of the runway from yours.
"Alright, you going to let me in?" You ask as she stops at the door.
"Umm, can you give me a second to see if my sister is here?" Thunderbolt asks very embarrassed.
"And leave me exposed outside, then again, I can see T-50 from here, I'd be ok until I can't see him." You say.
"Um what's that word you use for the mares that you're seriously afraid of?"
"Yandere, why?" You ask knowing with your vast knowledge of terms that this may not be good.
"Well, my sister's name is Warthog, and she's off with the Wonderbolts" Thunderbolt said as you walk very slowly beneath her for protection.
"Please tell me she's not here." You say terrified of the Yandere