[FO:E] The Northern Wasteland of Equestria 1

((This thread covers Canterlot and all locations north of it. Map!))

War.

War never changes.

Except when the war involves pastel colored magical talking tiny horses.

In which case war changes quite a bit. But only in so far as it looks a little cuter. Otherwise the horror of war is all too familiar.

Two hundred years ago war raged between Equestria and the Zebra Empire. A war ended decisively with megaspell strikes on each nation, devastating the land and poisoning it with necromantic radiation. The Pegasus sealed up the sky with an omnipresent curtain of clouds, shrouding the surface in perpetual gloom. Survivors retreated into the Stables, massive fallout shelters to protect them from the radiation storm above. Some offered salvation. Others became nightmarish death-traps. But the Stables opened and descendants populated the blasted, blighted wastes.

Some Stables remain closed, forgotten by the world.

The Princesses are dead.

Fell things watch from the Stars.

Unity seeks to consume all.

A new order rises on the backs of slaves.

Harmony is shattered and forgotten.

Discord warps fragile virtue.

And Friendship is dying in the hearts of ponies.

Can light be returned to the Equestrian Wasteland?

Or is suffering and hate its only future?

This can only be answered in the course of time.

This is Fallout Equestria.

((Repost))

[Manehatten - Guttervillie]

Soon enough the rubble is cleared away and a trap door is flung open! Inside is a reddish colored earth pony with a whitish-grey mane. His cutie mark? ...looks like a hunk of meat...

What kind of pony has meat for a cuttie mark?

"Corn!" the unicorn exclaims, throwing her hooves around the huge stallion's neck.

"Ooof!" Corn grunts as he's nearly knocked back down the stairs into the basement. A slight glow of the unicorn's cherry red magic begins seeping into the earth pony's eyes. "Glad to see you too, Swiss. But lay off a bit, I'm still not one hundred percent."

"Whoops! Hehe..." she quickly backs away, looking sheepish. "Sorry, Corn. Got a bit carried away..."

The stallion gives his head a strong shake, causing the magic to recede from his vision. His gaze settles on the pegasus pretty quickly and he gives a snort. "Enclave? What are they doin' down here?"

"Be polite, Corn," Rye admonishes. "She helped us out of a bind earlier."

[Manehatten - Gutterville]

Now what is that?
Down frowns a bit behind her mask, sliding her gaze from the door to Swiss Cheese and their rescued-friend.

"Are you injured?"
Down's tone drops from threatening, to cool. Evidently Corn is not somepony she is going to have to kill, so he has earned the right to her concern for the time.

At least his problem might not have been his fault.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MCerberus

Manehatten - Ministry of a-Morale

Meantally marking down the griffon corpse as [empty], Whadda takes a little look around. She tries to figure out which way to go, generally deciding to do as little backtracking as possible. "Let's go find some more stairs."

Of course, she might drag her hooves keeping an eye out for landmines, snares, and the like. It would be a nice time to run into Nails if he's still around.

---

Manehatten Ruins-Horseshoe Tower-Minster of Morale - 10:20 am

Fox Trot

"Right..." I replied and let her take the lead here, it seemed relatively safer to do so. I kept my ears keened for any sounds here...like..rapid beeping....

[Manehatten - Gutterville]

What's what?

Nothing at all odd just happened. Nothing at all worthy of paying attention to or pondering further. Just a completely harmless greeting among friends. At most weird horn-head witchery. Certainly doesn't need to be worried about.

"Was injured, still a little under the weather. But I'm good to go," Corn replies. By now the red haze in his eyes is completely gone. "Oh! Did anypony find Sauerkraut? When those manticores started smashing things she teleported me down into that basement. I... she never came after me so... is she...?"

"She isn't dead!" Swiss replies with a stomp of her hoof, tone firm and absolute. "She's just fine. We have to rescue her! Right Rye?"

Rye sighs rather morosely. "Well... there aren't that many bodies. And we didn't find her corpse. So the manticores must have been packing ponies off. No idea where, though."

[Manehatten - MoM Hub]

Onto the third floor then!

...

It appears to be a kitchen.

A very very shot-up kitchen. Looks like some high explosives and energy weapons of some kind were getting lobbed around the room given its state of disarray. There's a nice heap of still glowing pink ash in the middle of the floor.

And a disturbingly cheerful voice getting piped in through the speakers.

"Hiya! Welcome to the Manehatten Ministry of Morale hub! I'm PV-4, your friendly pony-computer interface program! I'm just so super-duper excited to have some more visitors today! But you should probably know that only authorized ponies are supposed to be above the first floor. Do you have clearance? My identity scanners have been on the fritz for the past hundred and fifty years! Wonder what's taking maintenance so long to fix them..."

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MCerberus

Meantally marking down the griffon corpse as [empty], Whadda takes a little look around. She tries to figure out which way to go, generally deciding to do as little backtracking as possible. "Let's go find some more stairs."

Of course, she might drag her hooves keeping an eye out for landmines, snares, and the like. It would be a nice time to run into Nails if he's still around.

---

She did indeed run into Nails along the way. He was limping slightly, and his coat had been singed in places. "Hi. Don't ask."

When he heard the computer voice speak, the colt jumped back a bit. He wasn't exactly prepared to explain that he didn't receive authorization from any credible authority. However, he did have a pretty good cover.

"I'm, uh... from the maintenance staff, actually, although I think this place has been neglected. It's like nopony around here cares about architecture and design any more." He shook his head. "Anyway, where is the part that needs fixing?"

[Manehatten - Gutterville]

"Well that isn't very helpful."
Not knowing where the friends and such were packed off to, still assuming they didn't simply run away and hide somewhere?

Doesn't really help with reuniting with them.
"There's probably a trail to follow, in blood or prints. If everyone is fine, then that would be the next logical step to take."
Trails...hopefully she left an adequate one for Pilot and Vane.

"The immediate area seems to be clear, so it'd be best to move quickly."
Down still has a little time to spend "playing with the mudponies", as Pilot would say. Those two dolts better be okay.

With that thought on her mind, she twitches her head towards the door and makes her way out again.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PurityIcekiller

"I'm, uh... from the maintenance staff, actually, although I think this place has been neglected. It's like nopony around here cares about architecture and design any more." He shook his head. "Anyway, where is the part that needs fixing?"

---

Manehatten - Ministry of A-Morale

Scoops would have asked anyway, if that were something she had time to do before she runs into an artificial personality. You know how she rolls. One must wonder if it were Alicorn or crazy computer doing the... it's ash so it would be directed energy beam based...

Anyway, Whadda tries to go along with Nails' thinking. She tries to go along with what she's learned beforehand about the pre-war world. "The previous crew were griffons, some ponies impersonating the princess. They intend to crash some parties, so he," Whadda motions towards Nails, in case the machine has some camera attached, "needs an armed escort... and that's us!"

((Waiting on Benson for the HUB))

[Manehatten - Gutterville]

"I've got Sauerkraut's PipBuck tag," Rye pipes up as she heads out through the door as well, fiddling with the computer attached to her leg. "We should be able to pinpoint her location. Or at least her last location if something is blocking the signal."

The device makes a beep!

Swiss is following close behind Down, prodding at her black enameled armor every now and again. The insect-like suit seems to sort of... unnerve her a bit now that she's stopping to think about it. "Uuhh... what's this stuff made out of? It wasn't... eerr... it wasn't made out of anything alive, was it? Like the shell of a giant bug or something?"

From behind comes a chuckle as Corn speaks. "It looks like some sorta plastic ceramic composite to me, Swiss. Don't worry about it."

"Okay. I've got her location. She was last outside of... Stable29. Guess I'm not getting an signal from behind all that radiation shielding," Rye says, pointing off toward the east.

Manehatten Ruins-Horseshoe Tower-Minster of Morale - 10:22 am

Fox Trot

I won't lie, I was surprised yet happy to see that runt here, at least he was a relatively friendly face rather than what it could have been. Now that whole business with the friendly voiced...voice....and that pile of pink ash....I shuddered. I stood next to Whadda, with my cuff link on my cuff up to my teeth, ready to deny any immediate funny business towards us with a force dome. Nails could be safe too, if he stood close enough.

[Manehatten - MoM Hub]

What kind of business could there possibly be here other than funny business?

Anyhoof!

"Oh gee! I saw them earlier and tried to tell them that she shouldn't be blowing things up in here. But then they just blew up my speakers! What a bunch of meany mean heads!" the voice replies. "Okay, well, I guess that makes sense. The equipment that needs most of the repairing is up on the fourteenth floor. I'll tell the Protect-a-Ponies not to vaporize you!"

That sure is helpful!

A nearby door gives a little chime and slides open, revealing yet another kitchen. "There's just oodles of structural damage, so you'll have to take a very wibbly-wobbly path to get there. I'll open the way!"

A beat.

"You know, I've been trying to call maintenance for the past two hundred and twelve years, but nopony has been answering. A few naughty ponies have shown up and tried to steal things... but you're the first who have come to help me."

Another long pause.

"Did... did something bad happen out there? Is that why I'm all alone now?"

Manehatten - Ministry of a-Morale

Well, score one for outsmarting renegade technology. Maybe she should make a point of that in the inevitable painful debriefing this adventure is going to have. Whadda doesn't exactly trust the machine to not go mentally unstable, so she comes up with something that isn't exactly a lie.

"Well the ministries went through a transitional period where things like that might slip through the cracks... for decades. It's not like anypony wouldn't want to party with you, we're all about fun and smiles and even now there's lots of fun and smiles and things.".. buried underneath death and sand, but even the apocalypse can't stop ponies for partying.

Manehatten Ruins-Horseshoe Tower-Minster of Morale - 10:23 am

Fox Trot

Well that was weird. I did however, did not put my hoof down, just in case. I was curious about something though.

"What does Pv-4 stand for?"

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rebonack

"Oh gee! I saw them earlier and tried to tell them that she shouldn't be blowing things up in here. But then they just blew up my speakers! What a bunch of meany mean heads!" the voice replies. "Okay, well, I guess that makes sense. The equipment that needs most of the repairing is up on the fourteenth floor. I'll tell the Protect-a-Ponies not to vaporize you!"

That sure is helpful!

A nearby door gives a little chime and slides open, revealing yet another kitchen. "There's just oodles of structural damage, so you'll have to take a very wibbly-wobbly path to get there. I'll open the way!"

A beat.

"You know, I've been trying to call maintenance for the past two hundred and twelve years, but nopony has been answering. A few naughty ponies have shown up and tried to steal things... but you're the first who have come to help me."

Another long pause.

"Did... did something bad happen out there? Is that why I'm all alone now?"

---

"Well, all kinds of things have been completely going to-"

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MCerberus

Well, score one for outsmarting renegade technology. Maybe she should make a point of that in the inevitable painful debriefing this adventure is going to have. Whadda doesn't exactly trust the machine to not go mentally unstable, so she comes up with something that isn't exactly a lie.

"Well the ministries went through a transitional period where things like that might slip through the cracks... for decades. It's not like anypony wouldn't want to party with you, we're all about fun and smiles and even now there's lots of fun and smiles and things.".. buried underneath death and sand, but even the apocalypse can't stop ponies for partying.

---

Nails stopped to Scoops give her explanation, then changed his mind about what he had been about to say. "...I can definitely say that things have been busy. A lot of ponies have been... distracted. But I'd better get to work."

He wasn't sure about giving the machine a completely false impression, but it was too late to change their story now.

[Manehatten - MoM Hub]

"Phew!" replies the piped-in voice. "For a moment there I was worried that something terrible had happened and the world had been plunged into some sort of grimdark post-apocalyptic wasteland! But clearly that was just me being silly! After all, why would my new friends lie to me?"

As the ponies head through the door they'll hear a chime followed by a panel in the wall sliding away. Behind it? Looks like an elevator!

"Pinkie Pie always kept lots of elevators stashed around the building just in case of an elevator emergency. I can take everypony right up to the fourteenth floor!"

And then a very important question is asked!

"Oh, it stands for 'Pink Voice Four'. The goal was to make an intelligent program that could keep an eye on things when Pinkie was sleeping. I have access to any console or machine still hooked up to the Equestrian Information Network! But sssshhhhh, don't tell anypony that! It's a secret!"

Then why did she just-

"And the four means that I'm the fourth attempt at the making such a program! The last one had this terrible habit where she would start screaming about the walls bleeding and then kill all weak, frail organics that she could find with whatever weapons she could control. But don't worry! I have state of the art aggression inhibitor programs to prevent me from making all the blood rushing through your weak fleshy bodies goosh all over the floor!"

Well.

That's encouraging.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rebonack

Then why did she just-

"And the four means that I'm the fourth attempt at the making such a program! The last one had this terrible habit where she would start screaming about the walls bleeding and then kill all weak, frail organics that she could find with whatever weapons she could control. But don't worry! I have state of the art aggression inhibitor programs to prevent me from making all the blood rushing through your weak fleshy bodies goosh all over the floor!"

Well.

That's encouraging.

---

Manehatten - Ministry of a-Morale

"Well I'm sure that you're just the most wonderful happy program that makes everyone happy," Whadda replies to the unhinged machine... averagely unhinged actually.

"Well we're going to go up to the fourteenth floor now. Oh, but we may go to see if the other repair crew is still around or left any of their tools behind. They mentioned the roof so we might be there..." Continue the lie...

Manehatten Ruins-Horseshoe Tower-Minster of Morale - 10:23 am

Fox Trot

"Equestria Information Network? What was that?" I asked, such an opportunity for information new to me, I could not just not try.

[When The Ministry Hits Your Eye Like A Big Pizza Pie, That's A-Morale]

Nails shuddered. Great. Insane AIs are never pleasant. He had a feeling that, if they weren't careful, they could end up being fed cake made with sediment and worse.

"I'm guessing the Equestria Information Network was some kind of system for sending information throughout Equestria. It's not that hard to figure out. Anyway, I'd best find the damaged places."

Nails headed to the elevator. Perhaps while he was fixing things up, he could find some way to put sanity into this thing.

[Manhatten - MoM HUB]

Not just an insane AI.

A delusional insane AI that's being lied to.

Just imagine what it might do if it finds out the truth...

Be careful, my little ponies. You trot a razor's edge...

"Oh, well, no... I'm not for keeping everypony happy. Though I've had to fill in a bit since our Super Special Surprise Party Technicians haven't been doing their job," PV-4 replies cheerfully. "It's really weird! There's a whole great galloping gaggle of them on duty right now but I haven't gotten a single surprise party report in a really long time. Somepony muuuuust beeee slaaaaaacking!"

Clearly that's the only reasonable explanation.

It's almost as if PV-4 isn't able to see all the burned-to-death ponies littering the building...

"The Equestrian Information Network is a network of consoles scattered over Equestria! It was designed to be able to survive even an all-out MegaSpell attack and continue serving as a means of communication for both government and civilian ponies! I sure am glad that everything is fine and that there wasn't ever any MegaSpell attack. That would have been super duper terrible for everypony."

The elevator is a bit cramped, but everypony should be able to fit inside.

"The roof? Oh... umm... All my sensors on the roof have been burned out for some reason. I'm not sure why. Maybe you could fix those if you go up there?"

Manehatten - Ministry of a-Morale

"Right then, we'll just be going off to... fix everything then," Whadda replies to the computer that seems to be only a couple logic leaps from murdering them all. But hey, it's not like omitting something is a specific form of lying... wait...

Manehatten Ruins-Horseshoe Tower-Minster of Morale - 10:24 am

Fox Trot


"Right, well, oh lovely piece of machinery, are you capable of knowing what machines throughout Equestria are still connected? Or is that not a function you have?" I spoke in a pleasant tone, no need getting this thing on to put us further on its bad side.

[Manhatten - MoM Hub]

"Please call me PV-4," the elevator's speakers squawk. "Or Pink Voice. Either works! Having a name is a lot nicer than just calling somepony 'machine'. Even our maintenance robots have names!"

The volume of PV-4's voice hushes to conspiratorial tones. "I named them all myself."

"Anything to stave off the boredom, right? I wouldn't want to go crazy after all! That would be terrible," oh yes. Very terrible indeed. "I can access many of the consoles and computers still connected to the EIN. Some of them are encrypted, though. But trying to break in is fun! I've got a lot of time on my hooves after all."

Ponies pile into an elevator!

"Okee dokee lokee! Up we go!"

The elevator makes gives a stomach churning lurch before going still.

"Umm... One second... I think I can fix this..."

Spoiler

Show

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rebonack

((Waiting on Benson for the HUB))

[Manehatten - Gutterville]

"I've got Sauerkraut's PipBuck tag," Rye pipes up as she heads out through the door as well, fiddling with the computer attached to her leg. "We should be able to pinpoint her location. Or at least her last location if something is blocking the signal."

The device makes a beep!

Swiss is following close behind Down, prodding at her black enameled armor every now and again. The insect-like suit seems to sort of... unnerve her a bit now that she's stopping to think about it. "Uuhh... what's this stuff made out of? It wasn't... eerr... it wasn't made out of anything alive, was it? Like the shell of a giant bug or something?"

From behind comes a chuckle as Corn speaks. "It looks like some sorta plastic ceramic composite to me, Swiss. Don't worry about it."

"Okay. I've got her location. She was last outside of... Stable29. Guess I'm not getting an signal from behind all that radiation shielding," Rye says, pointing off toward the east.

---

[Manehatten - Gutterville]

...PipBuck tag tracking.
Of course.

Down pauses some distance outside, suddenly possessed of no need to go further.
"I wasn't aware that PipBucks could do that. How interesting..."

She is preparing to add onto that statement, but then Swiss Cheese gets a little too close for comfort, leading to the pegasus awkward shuffling a half foot away.
Which mostly just looks really silly, in her normally-intimidating armor.
"It is not a corpse, I promise. Don't...touch...if you could, please?"
An awkward stress is placed on "touch", but her tone becomes normal enough after that.
"The details are classified, but it's nothing so gruesome."

Hopefully that satisfies the peculiar pony.
"What are the odds you can make it to the Stable without all nearly dying again?"

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rebonack

"Umm... One second... I think I can fix this..."

---

Ministry of a-Morale

Pushed into a creaky elevator by an insane AI in a dilapidated building causes anypony to question their choices in life. For Whadda, this leads to one important question asked in a low whisper. "Hey nails, what do you think the chance is that we plummet down to our deaths in this thing?"

[Manehatten - Gutterville]

Swiss is still peering at Down rather suspiciously. "Are you suuuuure is wasn't made of some kinda giant bug? 'cuz it really looks like-"

"Oi! Swiss! Stop pestering her," Corn laughs, giving the yellow mare a bit of a shove. "You're going to drive her up a wall in no time if you keep that up. You all hang on a moment. I'm going to go round up my armor and the surprise Sour and I were working on while you were gone."

The massive earth pony gives an equally massive grin before clomping off into a nearby building.

Swiss gives a little 'oooooh!' at the prospect of a surprise. Surprises are fun!

"We'll be able to survive just fine, miss," Rye replies as she absently polishes her shotgun. "The more of our team we have together the better off we are. Power of Friendship and all that."

"Oh!" Swiss begins waving one hoof in the air as if she had a question. "Oh oh oh! We should ask her to join the team!"

Rye opens her mouth to say that isn't a very good idea, but not quickly enough to prevent the Swiss from getting into Down's personal space again.

"You should join Team Ruben Sandwich GO! We still need two more members!"

[Manehatten - Gutterville]

"Ninety-nine percent positive."
It's probably a good thing for Down's visor and mask.
Hides the weird look she's presently giving Swiss.

Corn then proceeds to spare her more of this nonse-no wait nevermind, Swiss Cheese is already back for seconds.

A few responses come to mind, ranging a healthy variety of tones and meanings. A more neutral one is plucked out of the train-of-thought and offered down to the excitable pony.

Also another awkward shuffle step to the side. Personal space is important.
"An unusual request, considering the general opinion of Enclave I keep noticing."

Manehatten Ruins-Horseshoe Tower-Minster of Morale - 10:25 am

Fox Trot



"Well Pink Voice, perhaps after this, you and I can have a little chat about your hobby," I said trying to voice a 'hey...to have this next time...please don't kill me. I stepped into the questionable elevator and held on to the side....just in case. I glanced over at Whadda and whispered. "Highly."

[Manehatten, Ministry Of Magic Morale]

Nails rolled his eyes. "Let's see... Our only transportation is malfunctioning and under the control of this AI... Assuming she's not bored enough to kill us, I'd still say we're pretty much screwed. Something always goes wrong."

He made a mental note that if he actually survived long enough to get access to the things he was repairing, he would make sure Pink Voice didn't have any neurotoxin emitters.

[Manehatten - MoM HUB]

"What are we whispering about?" PV-4 inquires in a way too audible whisper, apparently unable to hear their conversation. That's a bit surprising. Her auditory sensors must not be working that well down here.

"Oh! Well, okay. Nopony has ever wanted to talk to me about my hobbies before! It'll be fun!" the voice replies, sounding quite pleased at this prospect. There comes a loud clanking noise from somewhere below followed by, "Okaywegoupnow!"

WOOOSH!

The elevator ROCKETS up the shaft, accelerating quickly enough to paste a pony to the floor!

"DING! Here we are!"

And then abruptly stops again, very possibly hurling everypony into the ceiling in the process. The doors open and a jaunty elevator tune begins to play. The room beyond is a mess of wires, sever towers, consoles, and a few sparking security turrets hanging dead from the ceiling.

Perhaps more disturbing are several heaps of pink ash scattered here and there. And no burned corpses.

[Manehatten - Gutterville]

Every time Down shuffles back Swiss inches forward. It isn't an immediate reaction and she probably isn't even noticing that she's doing it. The loopy unicorn seems to have a vastly smaller concept of personal space than the pegasus does.

"Well, I think most ponies here on the surface don't like the Enclave because they keep Celestia hidden behind the clouds," Swiss replies after a few moments of consideration. A hoof is pointed in the general direction of the sun.

Rye coughs politely. "Swiss, you know that the sun isn't actually Celestia, right?"

Swiss just stares at the other mare blankly.

Blinks one eye.

Then the other.

Then both at once.

Then turns back to Down, just as spunky as ever! "But I like the clouds! I don't mind it being a little gloomy. AND you're here helping us. That means you're different from all the other Enclave ponies that wouldn't, right?"

She leans a little closer.

"Riiiiiiiiight?"

Manehatten - Ministry of Silly Walks Parties


Scoops tumbles out of the elevator and right onto her face. Hopefully the deadly deadly sharp sword doesn't give anypony more than a stylish mane-cut. The first thing the mare does is make a keen observation, "Hey, we're alive, and there's nothing trying to kill us right now. That's kind of a surprise."