[FO:E] The Northern Wasteland of Equestria 1

[Chaotic Bob]

[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.

And that is precisely why Down asked.
Always a good way for said second entrance/exit to be revealed.

With the question of the manticores dealt with (for the moment...), it is time to move on to the next phase of the operation: the same thing they were doing earlier.
Trying to find TRSG!'s missing member.

"I would suggest Swiss, myself, and the child ascend in the lead, as a matter of practicality."
They can likely all get up and back down the quickest, if need be.

'sides! With Vinylbot at their side, maybe they won't die horribly or something.
Or maybe they will die horribly, but oh well.

[PurityIcekiller]

[Truck Or Treat]

Violetta examined one of her legs. "...I'll see how much I can move it, but it might be a bit heavy." She looked for a good spot to get a grip, then tugged at the crate.

[TheAmishPirate]

[Truck Or Treat]

Violetta examined one of her legs. "...I'll see how much I can move it, but it might be a bit heavy." She looked for a good spot to get a grip, then tugged at the crate.

[Time to Play our Truck Card]

Fleetwing - a coward maybe, but not a complete jerkwad - moves to help her as well, tugging from the other end.

[Rebonack]

[Manehatten - MoM Hub]

"Probably a good idea. Would be best not to draw too much attention to where you're going," PV-4 replies. There comes a brief crackle of static and her voice is now coming from the PipBuck's radio. "Alright. Here we are! Just be careful of-"

The elevator doors opens, revealing a pair of ghoul ponies just kind of standing in the middle of the hall aimlessly. From their decayed outfits it looks like they used to be MoM personal. Probably fled down here to avoid the flames and succumb to the radiation instead.

As soon as the monsters spot our heroes they hiss and charge!

"-the ghouls..."

[Manehatten - Stable 29]

Time to go up!

Up the rungs they climb!

Swiss' hooves seem to have an uncanny ability to stick to things. She had been hanging onto the underside of that overpass a bit earlier. The Changeling could no doubt scale the wall of the shaft even without the steps.

The foalbot uses both legs and manipulator cables to get a firm grip on the rungs as she ascends.

The others... might have a bit more trouble. But at least Down has her pegasus cheatery to help her out.

Eventually a hatch will be pushed aside as our heroes spill out into the maintenance level of the Stable. Lots of hissing pipes down here.

[Benson]

Manehatten Ruins-Horseshoe Tower-Ministry of Morale-Elevator- 11:37 am

Fox Twit

My thoughts about the riddle were cut short when we arrived and came face to distant face with a pair of ghouls.

Finally! Something I can actually kill!

I whipped out my silenced 10 mm from my bag with my mouth and let out two shots at a ghoul on the left. The first two shots in my gun were also my last two AP rounds.

[Lycan 01]

Manehatten - MoM Hub

Sergeant Sprinkles idly raises his magical energy beam arm, and cracks off a shot at the ghoul that Fox Trot didn't shoot.



---

Ravine

The crate begins to creak and squeak, and is eventually dragged free and out of the truck.

The interior of the truck is full of bottles. Almost all of them are empty, and form a deep layer on the bottom of the truck, completely concealing the floor from view. There are also several small wooden crates and boxes stacked and strewn around, marked with the Sparkle Cola emblem. Most are broken open and empty, but a few are still closed. And at the far end of the truck, there's a large black safe resting on its side.

[TheAmishPirate]

[Ranting and Ravine]

"Ooooooooh." Fleetwing half-said, half-chuckled as he rubbed his forehooves together and licked his lips. It was like opening a treasure vault; bound to be some good loot in here. "You check them boxes for full bottles of cola, I'll get that safe in the back." He'd just about taken a step inside the truck when the pegasus froze, and then promptly extended his wings, blocking Violetta's path.

No. This was way too easy. Two mines out front, and that's it? And Fizz had sent how many poor souls after this cola? Well, no idea on that front, but out of all the ponies she'd told, at least one of them had to have gone after it. No way there was this little protection. If there weren't anything guarding it, then that must've meant a trap of some sort. But the inside of the truck as completely clean, wasn't it? An empty bottle rolled across the floor and tapped his hoof. Well, maybe not. "On second thought..." Fleetwing knelt down and started kicking and scooping bottles outside, focusing on the area where the crate used to be. "Stick close t'me, and clear out these bottles. I got a bad feeling about this." He kept up his bottle-clearing, hoping that the other bottles would naturally roll to fill the space, gradually clearing up and giving them a semi-clear look at the floor.

[MCerberus]

Manehatten - Basement of Morale

Following the bullets/crazy energy beams, Whadda draws her katana. Ghouls are much better than robots for this weapon, as they are made of soft, sliceable flesh.

[Rebonack]

[Manehatten - MoM Hub]

Thankfully Sven decides to hold his fire and employ the claws on his power armor instead against the ghouls. Blasting them with that railgun or the plasma cannon at close range wouldn't exactly be healthy for the nearby ponies.

Between slicing, blasting, and shooting the two undead ponies are reduced to so many burnt, perforated, and eviscerated undead pony bits.

...poor things. They never asked for this.

But at least they're at rest now, right?

"Sorry about that," comes PV's apologetic voice. "I'll try to give you more of a warning next time. Keep an eye on your EFS, that should give you a heads up."

In other words Scoops needs to call out the bad guys via her new PipBuck!

There are several other enemy indicators nearby. But judging from the EFS they're hidden away elsewhere in the basement.

"Head down the hallway and take the third door on your right."

[Lycan 01]

Manehatten - MoM Hub

Sergeant Sprinkles hovers on ahead. "I'll take point. If there's any radiation, I'll give y'all some warning," the gruff old soldier observes.

As he moves to the front, the robot is struck by a thought. "Everyone hold your fire until you are certain a target is hostile. Ghouls can sometimes stay sane, right? So, there's a chance that maybe one of 'em down here is still in their right mind. So, we need to be safe. We need to be sure. Just in case."

Sprinkles' tone is not confident or knowledgeable. It is obvious that he knows his hope for finding an old comrade is vain. But it is still a hope he clings to...

[MCerberus]

Manehatten - Basement of Morale

Lots of red, 3 green signatures... everything appears to be in relative order. Whadda follows along in second keeping an eye out for ghouls. She's not sure what makes a ghoul feral, but the long loneliness down here couldn't help. But if Sprinkles wants to see, she'll go along until it becomes an issue.

[Benson]

Manehatten Ruins-Horseshoe Tower-Ministry of Morale-Basement Floor- 11:39 am

Fox Twit

It felt nice being useful there in combat, I think I had a dopey grin on my face for some time. I reloaded my gun with two more bullets and stuck close to Whadda.....because she had the map of course!

[Rebonack]

[Manehatten - MoM Hub]

None down here besides the hollowed out echoes of those who were once living. Nothing left but hunger and hate.

Our heroes move down the hall and presumably jaunt off through the door that PV indicated. Beyond the door IS!

...

A broom closet.

Wut...

Maybe PV was wrong? This doesn't look like-

"Stand back everypony. I'm opening the way down."

There comes a groan of aged machinery and the grind of stone against steel as part of the wall slides away to reveal a flight of stairs headed deeper into the underbelly of the city.

"There used to be a service elevator. But the shaft was filled in with concrete once all the machinery was set up down here. As far as I know the stairs are the only way to get in and out now."

Fortunate that the secret entrance wasn't too far into the basement. Otherwise there would have been quite a few more ghouls to deal with. And speaking of! The terrible things must have heard the gunshots and now they're swarming toward the party's location!

Best hurry!

[Benson]

Manehatten Ruins-Horseshoe Tower-Ministry of Morale-Basement Floor- 11:45 am

Fox Twit

Alright, hooves down, this is pretty cool, secret staircases, passageways tucked away deep underground, it tickled something pleasant in me or rather, poked a feeling of familiarity. Well anyways, I walked inside, gun held in my mouth as stepped down and waved at the other three to follow.

[MCerberus]

Manehatten - Basement of Morale

Scoops follows right behind Fox, though Fox might be deprived of his favorite 'views' at this moment. "Remember, we need to move quickly if there's radiation. It's cumulative... oh and if you get too much but not enough to kill you you go zombie and likely feral considering the current company."

[Lycan 01]

Manehatten - MoM Hub

"Oh what, no confetti?" Sergeant Sprinkles asks with genuine confusion.

And then the ghoul swarm.

"Get moving!" the robot barks to the rest of the team. "Organics first! They'll wanna munch on you more than me!" he growls, hovering to put himself between the rest of the squad and the approaching wave of mutants.

"I am Sergeant Amadeus Sprinkles of the Ministry of Morale! Submit to proper identification!" he loudly declares to the encroaching horde, before unleashing a burst from his flamethrower to create a barrier of flame in the middle of their path.

[Rebonack]

[Manehatten - MoM Hub]

Down the hatch fillies and colts!

The ghouls provide no identification other than incoherent snarling. Pretty sure that doesn't really fit the bill for what Sprinkles is inquiring about. The flames seem to do a pretty decent job of convincing them not to follow too closely. They might be feral monsters but they still have some self preservation instinct.

Once Sprinkles gets a move on PV will close the passage behind them.

"Alright. These labs all house sensitive or joint experimental projects between the Ministry of Morale and the Ministry of Arcane Science. There's... some weird stuff down here. Be on your guard," PV-4 explains as the party faces a large set of metal doors with 'SB-1' written on them in large block font. Sloooooowly they ease open revealing-!

A brightly colored pastel... kitchen?

It looks like a kitchen anyway. A whole bunch of them. A nearby counter top is heavily laden with cupcakes that still look as fresh as the day they were baked!

"They were experimenting on food that would never spoil in here," comes PV's voice. "The early breakthroughs were used in a lot of civilian products."

Explains why 200 year old food is still edible...

[MCerberus]

Manehatten - Basement of Morale

Yes... civilian products. Everyone in the wastes has had the good fortune of coming across some oddly edible possibly irradiated leftovers from before the war. Edible does not mean tasty after all this time. Scoops just makes her way through the kitchens.

[Lycan 01]

Manehatten - MoM Hub

Sprinkles hovers on through to the next door. He's a robot. Why should he care about food?

[PurityIcekiller]

[Craters Gonna Crate]

"You don't trust anything, do you?" Violetta shook her head and began sorting through the bottles. "You seem to think the world has it in for you or something."

[Lycan 01]

Ravine

The bottles roll and clink towards the empty space, the thick layer of glass containers slowly but surely thinning out.

A few bottles don't budge, though, staying gathered together in small patches. It seems they must be caught on something.

As the bottles further grew thinner, it becomes apparent that the remaining bottles are resting or stuck on top of bear traps...

[Benson]

Manehatten Ruins-Horseshoe Tower-Ministry of Morale-Basement Floor- 11:53 am

Fox Trot

"Well that's...interesting actually....I wonder if its actually edible...Eh...well...that's not something to find out now," I looked at the tasty cupcakes but moved on.

[Rebonack]

[Manehatten - MoM Hub]

As everypony and robot are moving on they may notice the sound of thoughtful chewing being them. Should a glance be cast back at the table Sven will be found with a half-eaten cupcake and some pink frosting on his beak.

In the event of odd looks, "What? They're good."

Aaaaanyway. The radiation is certainly a potential problem down here. But it doesn't look like it'll be an issue for some time yet. Just don't decide to get eight hours of sleep otherwise you'll probably wake up as a ghoul.

"Alright everypony. There's a fake refrigerator there on your right. The weapons cache is inside it."

Should the fridge be opened our heroes will discover that it's nothing more than a cleverly disguised door. Considering how many fridges, ovens, and other such appliances are down here the chances of finding this thing are pretty slim unless somepony is opening up everything.

As for the cache itself?

Well. Suffice to say the griffon is drooling.

Racks of guns. Boxes of ammo. Shelves piled high with spark batteries. Satchels of explosives. Combat knives aplenty. Body armor of both the light and heavy sort. Most types of conventional weapons seem to be represented and the only thing missing are powered armor and heavy weapons. Certainly far more than anypony could ever dream of carrying out.

Though two things stick out in particular.

One is a pastel colored cannon sitting forlorn and forgotten in one corner.

Another is a large black carrying case with the words, 'Going Away Party' written across it.

[TheAmishPirate]

[Crate Expectations]

[Craters Gonna Crate]

"You don't trust anything, do you?" Violetta shook her head and began sorting through the bottles. "You seem to think the world has it in for you or something."

"Mostly 'cause it does! And it ain't just me, it's all of ponykind!" Fleetwing momentarily stopped chucking bottles around and gestured to the empty, rubble-filled ravine. "Does this look like a friendly world t'you? 'Cause I can keep on telling you, it's everything but. You stop thinking for just an instant, an' that could be the last mistake you made. Heck, we nearly got blown t'bits just a few moments ago!" The pegasus shook his head, and went back to clearing the floor. "I'm just trying to keep alive for a little while longer. That's just about all I can hope to manage right now."

Ravine

The bottles roll and clink towards the empty space, the thick layer of glass containers slowly but surely thinning out.

A few bottles don't budge, though, staying gathered together in small patches. It seems they must be caught on something.

As the bottles further grew thinner, it becomes apparent that the remaining bottles are resting or stuck on top of bear traps...

As if it weren't obvious enough, the pegasus tapped her on the shoulder and pointed to the sharp, pointed traps. "Y'see those? Those there are bear traps. Those pointy bits swing together and bite your leg off. Y'know, if you went and just waltzed into the truck and all."

The pegasus grinned, thoroughly enjoying the rare opportunity to be proved right. "And that, Violetta, is why it pays t'be extra careful." Fleetwing chuckled to himself, then promptly slipped on a bottle and cracked his chin on the truckbed. "Ow! Son of a..." The pegasus glanced at the (relatively) innocent mare next to him and bit his lip. "...very respectable lady."

Fleetwing started to pick himself up, blood dripping from a nasty cut on the jaw.

[MCerberus]

Manehatten - Basement of... WAIT I WANT ALL THE GUNS

Aaaand there's something every mare goes crazy for: firepower. There's plenty of .308 for her to restock... some hallow points maybe? Good against ghouls if they're available. Now for a pony that's used to long-arms, her new sidearm shouldn't have to worry about recoil. Hopefully there's a .45 or clip-fed magnum for her. If or if not, her new pistol is attached to her armor along with some magazines.

The armor is so tempting though. Light ceramic armors... so tempting, but this is kind of part of the uniform and she'd never hear the end of getting rid of her reinforced synth-leather getup... annoying scribes and their records. Add in a combat knife and if light enough a good assault weapon because, why not.

After much internal rambling and collecting of new toys, Whadda goes over to the case. She attempts to open it to see what wonderful deathbringer could be inside.

[Lycan 01]

Manehatten - MoM Armory

"Huh. I could use a new loadout," Sprinkles observes. He hovers over to the robotic weapons selection, and begins looking for an upgraded weapon or two.

He finds an MEW with a bit more punch and a faster rate of fire, and casually switches it out using his manipulator mechadendrites. He also changes out the power feed, to allow him to fire the weapon more times without having to wait for the energy supply to recharge.

He eyes the cannon. "Well that looks fun..."

[Chaotic Bob]

[Manehatten - Stable 29]

Time to go up!

Up the rungs they climb!

Swiss' hooves seem to have an uncanny ability to stick to things. She had been hanging onto the underside of that overpass a bit earlier. The Changeling could no doubt scale the wall of the shaft even without the steps.

The foalbot uses both legs and manipulator cables to get a firm grip on the rungs as she ascends.

The others... might have a bit more trouble. But at least Down has her pegasus cheatery to help her out.

Eventually a hatch will be pushed aside as our heroes spill out into the maintenance level of the Stable. Lots of hissing pipes down here.

Down would probably offer to help folks up the ladder.
But that would involve touching and slowing down, both of which she is opposed to.

She is also opposed to all of that hissing pipe nonsense...
Those make hearing rather difficult, and if gas is being released into the walkways, then vision could be an issue too.
Possibly dangerous, if it's boiled water vapor.

"No congratulations party...I'm somewhat surprised."
They're not being jumped right away!
That's either a good thing or a bad thing, which makes the pegasus nervous.
"Where do we go from here?"

[PurityIcekiller]

"Mostly 'cause it does! And it ain't just me, it's all of ponykind!" Fleetwing momentarily stopped chucking bottles around and gestured to the empty, rubble-filled ravine. "Does this look like a friendly world t'you? 'Cause I can keep on telling you, it's everything but. You stop thinking for just an instant, an' that could be the last mistake you made. Heck, we nearly got blown t'bits just a few moments ago!" The pegasus shook his head, and went back to clearing the floor. "I'm just trying to keep alive for a little while longer. That's just about all I can hope to manage right now."

"There's such a thing as being too paranoid, you know-"

As if it weren't obvious enough, the pegasus tapped her on the shoulder and pointed to the sharp, pointed traps. "Y'see those? Those there are bear traps. Those pointy bits swing together and bite your leg off. Y'know, if you went and just waltzed into the truck and all."

The pegasus grinned, thoroughly enjoying the rare opportunity to be proved right. "And that, Violetta, is why it pays t'be extra careful." Fleetwing chuckled to himself, then promptly slipped on a bottle and cracked his chin on the truckbed. "Ow! Son of a..." The pegasus glanced at the (relatively) innocent mare next to him and bit his lip. "...very respectable lady."

Fleetwing started to pick himself up, blood dripping from a nasty cut on the jaw.

Violetta winced. "...and yet you still manage not to be paranoid enough. At least you didn't fall onto one of those things.

"Here, hold still." She concentrated a bit and cast her healing spell on Fleetwing. "Try not to fall again. I only have so much essence here."

[TheAmishPirate]

[Crate and Peril]

Fleetwing drooped his ears in embarassment and mumbled a sheepish, "Thanks...."

But once the spell was done, he had to marvel at his companion's magical ability. For somepony found out in the wastes with no memory, she sure could be useful. "Shoot, it's like it weren't even there. That's something else," he mused as he rubbed his healed chin. "When we get back, I'll make sure you get a lot more time t'practice this magic stuff. But first, we gotta disarm these here traps."

Breaking off a few wooden planks from the opened crates, he passed one to Violetta and stepped towards the first trap. "Nasty as these things are, they're the easiest thing t'disarm once you know they're there. Just watch this;" He carefully maneuvered the board and pressed down on the pressure plate in the middle of the trap. "Just aim for that bit there, and you're golden. They don't reset unless a pony comes along and does it by hoof."

[Rebonack]

[Manehatten - MoM Hub]

Sven briefly inspects the Party Cannon, but quickly decides the odd weapon is just a little too garish and bulky to bother with. He settles with collecting some spark batteries for his weapons. Sadly there isn't any railgun ammo down here. What a shame...

Finding .44 magnum rounds doesn't prove to be terribly difficult. Only one magnum revolver, though. Probably somepony's personal sidearm as opposed to the more standard issue pistols that can be found in much greater numbers. There are certainly assault rifles to be found as well.

As for the case...

Opening it is easy enough. Inside the case is a sniper rifle. The weapon is currently broken down and in exceptional condition. Looks to be a single-shot bolt action gun, though should it be touched Scoops will be able to feel the slight hum of a number of enchantments on the weapon.

Though most interesting?

Cutie marks have been painted onto the gun with painstaking detail. What's more obvious care had been used to touch them up over time. Quite a few cutie marks in fact.

And the cannon does indeed look fun! Sven hadn't even touched the thing. But if Sprinkles does so he'll find that not only can the cannon be picked up, but it can be hidden away Celestia-knows-where and drawn at a moment's notice. Despite the fact that this is clearly a violation of several fairly important physical laws.

Seems our heroes found Pinkie Pie's personal sidearm.

[Manehatten - Stable 29]

Oh come on.

Everpony loves hissing pipes. They help add to the atmosphere! What would be the point of plumbing a dead Stable if not for the great atmosphere? May as well just wander around getting shot at in the Wastes instead.

Rye points with a hoof after peering at her PipBuck. "This way. I marked the direction Sour was in before the signals started getting scrambled."

And that said she sets off down the catwalk!

What's with pre-war architects and catwalks, anyway? One would think putting catwalks above dangerous looking machinery would be a bad idea.

Vinyl scoots up along side Down as our heroes clomp down the steel walkway as quietly as is possible. "So! Umm... What's it like outside?" the foalbot inquires curiously.