[FO:E] The Northern Wasteland of Equestria 1

[PurityIcekiller]

[Hope We Don't Kick The Trucket]

Violetta took the last bit of potion, for what little good it did, then prepared to follow...

"Here; I'm no mage, but..."

I am a mage! And a significant one, too. Does that mean...?

"Hold on a moment. I want to try something."

She concentrated on the essence inside her. Once again, some part of her remembered how to direct it, but this time, it was different. Instead of destructive, it felt helpful and soothing. She turned its effects onto herself.

Her injuries faded away a bit, and although they were still there, they were somewhat less troublesome. Some of her essence was gone, turned into the healing energy.

"Huh. That was more pleasant than last time. I think I'll save this for emergencies, though, until I know if my essence can recharge."

[Violetta increases Minor Heal by 1]

"Anyway, I think you've got the right idea. Keep a careful eye out, please." She followed at a safe distance, watching for potential ambushes or traps.

[TheAmishPirate]

[Truck, Truck, Goose]

Fleetwing's eyes widened as he watched her wounds just up and vanish. "Shoot...I gotta get you practicing more magic." he muttered to himself. Maybe traveling with a partner could have its upsides after all.

[Tag: Lycan]

(Also, Purity, we've gotten everybody in the Bar scene for reals this time, you're up.)

[Rebonack]

[Manehatten - MoM Hub]

Freedom.

Is that even possible anymore? Up until recently Surprise had difficulty even separating herself from the systems of the Pink Voice Project. And then there was the injury... She has some vague recollection that they did an operation to help her stay alive beyond the support of her stasis pod. How had Pinkie described it? 'We've got a super duper special surprise for you Surprise! No peeking!'

Nopony really told her anything beyond that. Apparently she was supposed to get out of this pod some time after being hooked up to it. But then the bombs fell...

"I..." PV-4's voice sounds hesitant. Would she be able to stand being alone now that she's in her right mind again? Would she slip back into that machine-like thought process without anypony to talk to. "I don't know... I've been in here so long... The stasis pod might be all that's keeping me alive now. Or maybe the surgery was enough... either way I doubt you all need a crippled two hundred year old pegasus hobbling about and slowing you down."

A pause. And then added hesitantly.

"But... if you really want to try to get me out of here... My stasis pod is in a hidden lab in the Ministry's second sub-basement. The radiation down here has completely corrupted the defense turrets and robots. And they aren't the cute spritebot kind, either. There's a cache of weapons down on the first sub-basement, though. It's still sealed up tight and I can open it for you. I don't think any looters have found it yet. And you would probably need some heavier fire-power to break me loose."

That sounds ominous.

"You would be putting yourself at great risk for me... "

[Manehatten - Stable 29]

"What are manticores?" Vinyl asks curiously.

"Monsters from the mysterious world outside!" Corn says in a suitably spooky voice. "But don't you worry none. We can handle 'em."

And then questions about the way out!

"Oh sure! Why would I only make one way in and out? That would be a pretty plan for a secret hide out," Vinyl explains. Duh. Stupid grown ups. Don't they know anything? She trots over to a nearby panel on the wall and slides it aside revealing a spiraling set of rungs built into an old decrepit looking shaft. They appear to have been welded in place. Probably by the foalbot.

[Lycan 01]

Manehatten - MoM Hub

Sergeant Sprinkles chuckles. "Miss PV, as the highest ranking member of the Ministry of Morale, it is my duty to ensure your survival and safety. Leaving you to rot would be a gross failure to carry out my orders and responsibilities. Even if my programming allowed it, I couldn't forsake a superior officer, comrade, and friend," the old soldier gruffly observes. "Though, it'll take me a bit to get down there. I'm, uh, a bit dinged up."

His already damaged manipulator arm, which was previously dragging along limply, falls off in a small shower of sparks.

"Uh... That'll buff out."



---

Ravine

The front of the old truck offers 100% less landmines. The truck itself is mangled - seems the vehicle landed front-first. No signs of an entrance. Looks like the back door is the only option...

[TheAmishPirate]

Ravine

The front of the old truck offers 100% less landmines. The truck itself is mangled - seems the vehicle landed front-first. No signs of an entrance. Looks like the back door is the only option...

[Looks Like We Really...Trucked Out There, Amiright?]

100% less landmines? That was a figure Fleetwing could deal with.

Sadly, going through the front isn't an option. Figures as much. Wasteland never did things the easy way. Door is locked? You've gotta go through five buildings and a small army just to get around it. As the two ponies crept around where the cabin used to be, he strained for a bit more altitude to travel along the top of the overturned truck. He figured most folks wouldn't think to booby-trap the roof. And that also gave him a prime vantage point to pick out any more mines and traps in Violetta's path.

[Perception] He'd continue carefully moving forward, trying to spot traps, and waving Violetta forward when he figured it was safe.

[Lycan 01]

Ravine

There are no traps on top of the truck. It doesn't look like there are any other traps around the truck, either.

[Benson]

Manehatten Ruins-Horseshoe Tower-Ministry of Morale-Elevator- 11:30 am

Fox Twit

Improved smarts sometimes didn't translate into wisdom, like now.

"Count me in, I'd be no...gentlecolt if I ever let a mare suffer," I said full of herp and derp and well.....maybe a part of me had a heroic streak, at least for mares. Also, a weapons cache, that there did sound interesting, maybe an upgrade was in my foreseeable future.

[Luka]

[Spring near Girdershade]

"Alright then! Follow me, I guess."

And Xithr heads off!

And Gleamy follows, coverring with the cloak
When they finally arrive, the alicorn just stands still for a while and examines the collapsed-rock shelter anf if she can really fit in it

[MCerberus]

Manehatten - Near the Ministry

Scoops thinks things over a bit. You don't need to be psychic to know that there were a lot of pointless dead-ends in that thinking, but she does get to something important.

"We're going to have to get supplies first though. Walking into taint unprotected is a terrible idea. Walking into taint with protection is still kind of iffy, but, well, let's find some meds?"

[Lycan 01]

Manehatten - MoM Hub

Sergeant Sprinkles coughs. "Uh, Miss Ranger, could you, uh," he flexes his weapon arms at the dismembered robo-limb on the floor, "Help me out a bit? If somepony could grab me some scrap metal to feed my repair talisman, too, that'd be grand..." he mutters.

[BladeofObliviom]

[Overpass Shelter]

Hey, it may look unstable, but it's surprisingly sturdy! And surprisingly large, given the circumstances of its existence!

"Well, go ahead and get settled if you like. There's some water that managed to pool near the back, but other than that its pretty cozy."

Swift Hooves stores her stuff in the back and lies down next to it, taking up a level of space that can only be described as "efficient." She's shockingly flexible, really. There should be sufficient room for the Alicorn to rest, though stretching might require her to put her hooves outside.

[Rebonack]

[Manehatten - MoM Hub]

"You all saved my tail back there," Sven speaks up. "Even if the rest of us didn't make it... I still owe you a debt. And the Talons always pay their due. I'll help you find your friend."

Woohoo!

They have some heavy guns as well! That will no doubt come in handy.

"Thanks everypony. And robot. And griffon," PV replies with a small laugh. "I'm glad you're willing to help little old me. But... uuh... I didn't say anything about taint. The radiation is tolerable. There are some store rooms with medical supplies on the first sub-basement as well. Among other odds and ends. Does anypony have a PipBuck? I can mark the locations on your map."

[Luka]

[Overpass Shelter]

Hey, it may look unstable, but it's surprisingly sturdy! And surprisingly large, given the circumstances of its existence!

"Well, go ahead and get settled if you like. There's some water that managed to pool near the back, but other than that its pretty cozy."

Swift Hooves stores her stuff in the back and lies down next to it, taking up a level of space that can only be described as "efficient." She's shockingly flexible, really. There should be sufficient room for the Alicorn to rest, though stretching might require her to put her hooves outside.

Gleamy just goes inside, looks around just in case, then enters after Xithr does, she curls up in front, and after Xithr's asleep, she just takes off her cloak and covers the zebra with it, if it looks like she would be too uncomfortable she would just back outside a bit or just put whatever hooves are in an "uncomfortable" position on herself.
After she's done, she would just start curling up more and laying down.
"....Thank you..."
She whispers before laying down herself and try to fall asleep, it may take a while, but then she would just be quietly sleeping.

[PurityIcekiller]

[I Have Had It With These Mother-Trucking Traps On This Mother-Trucking Truck!]

"Well, whatever kind of purpose I'm supposed to have, it did give me useful spells."

Violetta sniffed at the back door. "Maybe we could just take this way in? It seems pretty obvious."

[TheAmishPirate]

[Truck me, right?]

Fleetwing tensed up as she inspected the rear door, only relaxing slightly when she wasn't immediately blown to bits. "I suppose it is obvious, but then again, some fool went to the trouble of booby-trapping it too. Bits t'bridles there's more where those came from inside." Well, only one way to deal with this; time for him to maybe actually probably fire his gun for once. The Peashooter came out of its holster, and he kept it trained right dead-center on the door. After ducking behind some rubble for safety, of course. "Whenever you're ready, I got you covered." With what appeared to be a dinky little popgun, the sort you might find in a cracker jack box. Really inspires the ol' confidence, doesn't it?

[Tag: Purity]

[MCerberus]

Manehatten - Once More into the Party

"Oh... oh okay," Whadda responds to the good sergeant before quickly grabbing some convenient scrap. There is the matter of the pip-buck he has, but... is it even powered?

"Well... we have the Minister's..." the mare reveals.

[BladeofObliviom]

[Overpass Shelter]

She's in a position that would probably be a bit constraining for a pony. In fact, the way she's curled up actually kinda resembles a Zebra! That's crazy, though. In any case, she doesn't seem uncomfortable.

"...Yer welcome. G'night, Gleamy."

And unless an earthquake happens or something tries to take a bite out of them, the night probably passes with little event.

[Benson]

Manehatten Ruins-Horseshoe Tower-Ministry of Morale-Elevator- 11:32 am

Fox Twit

"Alright, so, can this elevator take us down to the sub basements?" I asked, I had to know, because right now, a rust bucket of an elevator that's over two hundred years old right now, feels like the best bet to get from point A to point z.

[Lycan 01]

Ravine

The door is unlocked. If/when somebody opens the door, they'll find that a large crate is blocking most of the doorway. It needs to either be climbed or flown over in order to get into the truck properly.



MH - MoM Hub

Sprinkles idly hovers in place, a small drizzle of oil leaking from his pockmarked chassis. "Also, I'll need somepony to hold my arm back in place while my repair talisman does it's work. I'd rather not have my limb get stuck on backwards or something..." he grunts.

[Benson]

MH - MoM Hub

Sprinkles idly hovers in place, a small drizzle of oil leaking from his pockmarked chassis. "Also, I'll need somepony to hold my arm back in place while my repair talisman does it's work. I'd rather not have my limb get stuck on backwards or something..." he grunts.

Manehatten Ruins-Horseshoe Tower-Ministry of Morale-Elevator- 11:33 am

Fox Twit

"Fine, I'll do that," I told the robot and grabbed his arm with mah mouth and it tasted gross. I held it up to socket it back in place along with his repair talisman thingys.

[Rebonack]

[Manehatten - MoM Hub]

The robot arm does indeed taste terrible. But anything for a friend, right?

"If Pinkie Pie left her PipBuck in the office I'm sure she had a good reason for it. Nopony else is making use of it now, right? Go ahead and put it on and I'll upload the data," PV-4 suggests.

Oddly enough the PipBuck is already unlocked. Just have to clamp it on over Scoop's foreleg and she'll be good to go.

"The elevator only goes down to the basement," PV-4 explains. "The sub-basements are all hidden. Once that map is up I can lead everypony there. My sensors are working just fine in the basement level and... umm... There seem to be some ghouls down there. Though on the upside they've destroyed all the corrupted defenses on that level already."

[MCerberus]

Manehatten - Basement of Morale

With some trepidation, Whadda clamps on the Pip-buck. It's not so much the dead mare as it is who the dead mare was, oh and the fact that these things aren't so easily removed from a living pony. Luckily the OS seems to be of the same family as power-barding so she'll likely be able to pick up on its functionality quickly.

"Alright, I'm hooked up. Feels kind of weird though. All the extra weight there will take getting used to. Never liked that kind of stuff but it's better than heavy armor at least."

[Lycan 01]

Manehatten - MoM Hub

Sprinkles opens a small slot on the back of his chassis, which he shovels the scrap metal into once Scoops gives it to him. The holes and dents in his armor begin to knit together and buff out. Most of the damage to his robotic body "heals," though a few dings and scratches remain.

He flexes his manipulator arm, which Fox Trot successfully helped to reattach. "Ah, much better."

He then leans in really close to Fox Trot, his pink visual sensors staring into the stallions eyes. "Two centuries of fightin and killin' zebras, traitors, and monsters. You don't wanna know where that arm has been, boy."

He then turns and hovers away, laughing as he leaves a traumatized pony in his wake.

[Benson]

Manehatten Ruins-Horseshoe Tower-Ministry of Morale-Elevator- 11:33 am

Fox Twit


"Uh....I'm just gonna push the elevator button..to the basement then..." My hoof slinked over and pushed the button as I stared at Sprinkles with a grimace, ew.

[Rebonack]

[Manehatten - MoM Hub]

As soon as the PipBuck clicks home a recording begins to play! The voice from the machine should sound quite familiar.

"Oh wow this is going to be SO MUCH FUN! Hiya Whadda Scoops! I guess you finally found my PipBuck, right? Well DUH! Of course you did since you're listening to this right now!"

The mare's voice sounds eerily similar to PV-4's. Just a whole lot less synthesized. And also quite a bit older. Which is kind of ironic, all things considered.

"So I was just thinking to myself and I was thinking 'Hey Pinkie!' and then I thought 'What?' and THEN I thought 'I should totally leave a treasure map for Scoopy when she finds my PipBuck!' And I thought that would be the most superest fantastic idea ever! Way better than just a bunch of BOOOOORING audio-recordings and a few bottle caps in my desk. I mean really? Why would a pony from before the end of civilization collect bottle caps?"

Her voice suddenly becomes contemplative.

"Well... unless they collected bottlecaps. Some ponies do that, right? But that wouldn't be nearly as fun as collecting-"

Pinkie Pie rambles off topic for a good thirty seconds before.

"OH RIGHT! The treasure map! I was going to give everypony a cryptic hint about what the treasure is! *ahem* It'll all be sunshine and rainbows in the end, Lil..."

A pause.

"Whoops! Hehe! Wrong cryptic hint!"

There then comes a cough that sounds suspiciously like a party blower.

"The treasures of the past show the way to the brighter future. But first the bonds of friendship must be tested by water and steel."

Another pause.

"WELP! That's it! It was nice talking to everypony! Ooooh I almost forgot! You and your friends really need to stop being a bunch of grumpy-gusses, Scoopy! What's the fun of a party if you keep it all to yourself?"

And with that the recording ends as the elevator begins to descend.

After a few moments of awkward silence PV speaks up. "So... I, uh... I downloaded those locations onto the map."

[PurityIcekiller]

[Quoth The Ravine "Nevermore"]

"All right, I've got this." Violetta tugged the doors open.

"Huh. A crate. Why don't you fly up and see if there's anything inside?"

[MCerberus]

Manehatten - Basement of Morale

Alright, that's creepy. The Pip-Buck downloaded her Ranger ID and information... oh boy. That means all the correct frequencies are being monitored. In other news, it seems pre-war the Whadda and the dead mare talking through her new piece of tech would have gotten along, if only because conversation partners.

"Surprise, I'll have the radio on, you can broadcast directly to us if the PA system is down."

[Lycan 01]

[Manehatten - MoM Hub]

"Huh. Not the weirdest thing Miss Pie ever did," Sergeant Spinkles idly muses. "Saw her crawl out of a cupcake once. A small, hoof-sized cupcake. They had to reboot me because my logic processor fried..."

[TheAmishPirate]

[Quoth The Ravine "Nevermore"]

"All right, I've got this." Violetta tugged the doors open.

"Huh. A crate. Why don't you fly up and see if there's anything inside?"

[At Least We Have a Good Truck Record...]

Fleetwing trotted out of cover, biting his lip nervously as he glanced at that little, dark gap between truck and crate. "Why don't I? How about radroaches, radscorpions, any number of things just lurking back there in the dark, waiting for a juicy pony snack to come along?" Of course, the other part of his brain reminded him she couldn't exactly climb up that crate alone, and either way, one of them was going to have to brave that truck alone. The pegasus glanced up at the gap again, then sheepishly back to Violetta. "Are...are y'sure you can't lift th' box out of the way?"

[Benson]

Manehatten Ruins-Horseshoe Tower-Ministry of Morale-Elevator- 11:34 am

Fox Twit

Well that was not disturbing in the least, not what bit whatsoever and I am a liar. But that clue...or rather cryptic riddle than clue...it stuck in my mind on what the hay it was talking about...

"The treasures of the past show the way to the brighter future. But first the bonds of friendship must be tested by water and steel."

I had a feeling this wasn't just talking about some weapons cache. Urgh...my head hurt a bit. It probably wasn't talking about memory orbs....urhk...