[FO:E] The Northern Wasteland of Equestria 1

[PurityIcekiller]

[Remaining Stationary]

"So basically, it's got decent supplies, but I can't use my main weapon around it." Violetta shook her head. "Oh well, we might as well leave it until I learn, say, an ice or acid spell. Let's get back to the settlement."

[TheAmishPirate]

[These puns are at a Premium]

"Right, we'll probably swing by before heading off to...wherever we're going." With that, Fleetwing led her down the canyon towards the bridge.

"So..." the pegasus suddenly spoke up as they traveled. "You still think we should give these to Fizz? I mean, Bucky had a point and all, that shotgun would come in handy right away. No telling when we'd find enough stuff to make those bombs. And if it takes you a bit to get more offensive magics, well, then we could use the extra firepower right away, maybe at that gas station..." Wouldn't be a good idea to outright disagree, especially when she was a walking pile of healing potions. And burns. Can't forget those.

[MCerberus]

MoM Basement

Sprinkles hovers over to the cupcakes, and immediately tosses one over to each member of the party. "Here. Hang on to this, or smear it on her face. It may take a lot of singing, but we should be able to use the cupcakes-and-zebras trick to get past any more guard robots we bump into," he gruffly states. "I'm not sure if they're recognize Miss PV in-the-flesh."

Manehatten - Basement of Morale

Scoops takes the suggestion, but she's not about to eat a cupcake. She only has room in her life for one massively-expired pre-war consumable of dubious nutritional value. Plus they're stale.

Although it is a good idea to switch out ammo type on the rifle right now when it's safe. Regular bots can be pistol'd.

[Benson]

[Ministry of Morale SubLevel1]

"Well! It sounds like we're going to try to get your memories back into your head, Foxy! With any luck we should be able to catch those nasty Princess-blasphemers by surprise," the assassin casts a rather mischievous looking smile at Scoops. "I should have had some shield-popper rounds in Going Away Party's case. Bullets with a talisman built into the nose? Those should give the alicorns a nasty surprise for sure."

Manehatten Ruins-Horseshoe Tower-Ministry of Morale- Sublevel 1 Basement Floor- 1:00 PM

Fox Trot

"Really? Those kind of bullets exist? Count me in," I replied, a little too enthusiastically. When the subject of the cupcakes came up, I hesitated at first but accepted one anyway.

[PurityIcekiller]

[I Pity The Fuel]

"What?" Violetta gasped, then shook her head. "For one thing... No offence, but I'd rather not help someone I don't like show off for someone else who may not actually be interested in them even if it means you get a fancy gun. It's the principle of the thing. If we need help, why don't we ask that alicorn and... the other one? Whatever she was."

[TheAmishPirate]

[But if we go with Soda Fizz, our reward will be Unleaded!]

"Ghoul." Fleetwing corrected her. "And while she may be alright, she seems pretty attached to that lil' settlement. As for the other one, I don't want something following me around that might suddenly start going all 'Hail the Great and Powerful Goddess!' on me. That one's a time bomb waiting to go off, and I won't have it explode in my face, no sir."

She did have a point about the rewards, though. He doubted she'd be interested in any of Buck's guns, or really anything he could offer. Time to change tack; "And it's not so much me getting a fancy gun, it's us getting a lot more security. Folks don't mess with you when you have a big gun. I guarantee it, we walk out with that shotgun, we'll have a lot less trouble coming our way when we hit the road. Ain't that worth helping a slightly disagreeable fella?"

[BladeofObliviom]

[Overpass Shelter -> Middle of Nowhere]

"Pretty much, though you don't have to come if you don't want to."

And presumably the two trot off in that general direction! There is no way that this can go wrong!

[Tag: Lycan]

[Rebonack]

[Ministry of Morale SubLevel1]

"They're sniper rifle rounds, so don't be surprised if they won't fit in the weapons you've got on your saddle," the cyberpony warns.

And then eats a cupcake.

"Wow! These really ARE good!"

Om nom nom ANOTHER!

"They aren't stale at all! I guess those experiments in food preservation really payed off."

Though the preservatives in the cupcake will probably mummify a pony after they die... But who cares about what happens to your corpse after you die? There are cupcakes to be eaten right now! Surprise makes sure to get leave plenty of frosting on her face rather than licking herself clean like usual.

"Hopefully the song works. If not I can try my security over-ride. But I'm not sure whether that will be all sunshine and rainbows either," Surprise muses as she continues one toward the stairs leading toward the basement. "Huh... still no robots. Do you suppose they all decided to try fighting off the alicorns?"

[Chaotic Bob]

[GRIMDARK Adventures in Stable 29]

She REALLY like her mane!

The manticore comment gets a chuckle out of Sour. "I'm sure they would have been in dire straights if you hadn't aided them. Thank you."

Swiss mutters something in an incomprehensible chittering, hissing language. Ponies probably aren't even able to make most of those sounds.

"I don't believe the Enclave is evil. I can... understand why they did what they did all those years ago. The surface was an irradiated deathtrap for the first few decades after the day Equestria died," Sour replies, her tone morose as she no doubt recalls past horrors. "But surviving on the surface is possible now. I'm sure that if the Enclave were more willing to share their food the ponies of the surface would be willing to trade for raw materials. I can't image there are many gems or sources of metals above the clouds."

Hoo! Seems she's a diplomatic one. No wonder she's the team's unofficial leader.

A glance is cast back at the still living foalbot. "I'm afraid I must agree. I took the liberty to observe exactly what's being done here. It... isn't pleasant. And may be a threat to pony life at large if left unchecked."

Down tilts her head slightly, trying to keep herself from staring over at Swiss.
Perhaps these ponies were used to that...thing's eccentricities, but she still finds herself more than a little unnerved.

At least she isn't physically wearing someone else's skin, like a certain other member of the current group.

"The Enclave is considering the best means by which to approach the surface...but that's all I can say.
The pegasii don't want to leave the world abandoned."
But as that isn't immediately a concern, she leaves it at that, to focus on the more important matter of the moment.

"What have you figured out about this place? Other than the...foals."

[Rebonack]

[GRIMDARK Adventures in Stable 29]

"That this 'Friend Computer' has the means to create many, many more foals. And seems to have an intention of doing so on a large scale."

Wuh oh...

"Some of the ponies taken from Gutterville were to be turned into foals. Others are being implanted with a neural implant that allows Friend Computer to control them at a distance. I... helped as many escape and hide as I could."

But not all.

Sour doesn't seem very happy about this.

"I believe it would be wise to shut robotics factory under this stable down permanently."

[PurityIcekiller]

"Ghoul." Fleetwing corrected her. "And while she may be alright, she seems pretty attached to that lil' settlement. As for the other one, I don't want something following me around that might suddenly start going all 'Hail the Great and Powerful Goddess!' on me. That one's a time bomb waiting to go off, and I won't have it explode in my face, no sir."

Violetta stared for a moment, then nearly impaled her hoof on her own horn.

"Really? You're still assuming Gleam is an evil monster and not just... something like what I am? You don't believe she honestly could have lost whatever makes her evil and found herself out here? That's awfully hasty of you.

"You do have a point about the ghoul, though. I doubt she'd abandon her home over something like this."

She did have a point about the rewards, though. He doubted she'd be interested in any of Buck's guns, or really anything he could offer. Time to change tack; "And it's not so much me getting a fancy gun, it's us getting a lot more security. Folks don't mess with you when you have a big gun. I guarantee it, we walk out with that shotgun, we'll have a lot less trouble coming our way when we hit the road. Ain't that worth helping a slightly disagreeable fella?"

"And you think a gun is worth a bunch of lies to Fizz to make her more receptive to Bucky's advances? You really want that gun, don't you."

[Chaotic Bob]

[GRIMDARK Adventures in Stable 29]

So.
This Stable intends to turn the world into these perversions, a planet of flesh-wearing robots.

That...that is a horrifying future to imagine.
And Down's silence shows just how much so that is, to her.

"Then we have a new objective.
Is that the only horrible surprise waiting for us?"
It's Bad News time. Lay it on her, she's asking for it.

There has to be something else, other than just that one eensy little apocalyptic risk.

[Lycan 01]

Rendezvous in the middle of nowhere

Speaking of the ghoul and alicorn...

Fleetwing and Violetta see them in the distance!

[TheAmishPirate]

Violetta stared for a moment, then nearly impaled her hoof on her own horn.

"Really? You're still assuming Gleam is an evil monster and not just... something like what I am? You don't believe she honestly could have lost whatever makes her evil and found herself out here? That's awfully hasty of you."

Fleetwing suddenly found himself on the defensive. "N-now hold up a minute, I never said nothing like that. Gleam...wait, Gleam?" The pegasus pulled a confused face. Naming an Alicorn just felt weird; everypony he'd met had said they didn't use such identifiers. "Huh. Anyhow, she might seem alright now, but what if she finds that evil again? What if Unity rings up one day, and she answers?

More importantly, what happens to the poor saps she's traveling with when that happens?"

"And you think a gun is worth a bunch of lies to Fizz to make her more receptive to Bucky's advances? You really want that gun, don't you."

"W-well, not really. I mean, that ain't what I'm doing, I'm just giving the sodas to Bucky, and he's doing all that, and...and..." Fleetwing's ears splayed back in shame, and he found he couldn't bring himself to look the filly in the eye. "...I want that gun real bad," he admitted. "Ponies with guns like that don't get messed with, they don't get second-guessed, they say 'Don't mess with me' and folks say 'Yessir!' If I-we, if we're t'get anywhere here, then we need that sorta power. If Bucky's gonna lie with these sodas, that's his business." Darn this filly, making him second-guess his decision. He had a shiny new shotgun, it was all but strapped to his side, it just wasn't fair to snatch it away from him now. At least he was the one carrying the loot, all he had to do was figure out how to get them to Bucky without Violetta ruining everything.

Rendezvous in the middle of nowhere

Speaking of the ghoul and alicorn...

Fleetwing and Violetta see them in the distance!

Wait, was that a change of subject on the horizon? "Oh, look, speak of the devil, there's Swift and the, er, Gleam." He pointed over to the obvious pair of silhouettes, conveniently dropping the subject of the reward.

[Luka]

[Stated spot with EXPLOSIVE capability! ]

Gleaemy could just see the gas station, she narrowed her eyes a bit and could see 2 figures up ahead

"Uh.... There's 2 others there, near the... Building"

[Lycan 01]

[Ministry of Morale SubLevel1]

"They're sniper rifle rounds, so don't be surprised if they won't fit in the weapons you've got on your saddle," the cyberpony warns.

And then eats a cupcake.

"Wow! These really ARE good!"

Om nom nom ANOTHER!

"They aren't stale at all! I guess those experiments in food preservation really payed off."

Though the preservatives in the cupcake will probably mummify a pony after they die... But who cares about what happens to your corpse after you die? There are cupcakes to be eaten right now! Surprise makes sure to get leave plenty of frosting on her face rather than licking herself clean like usual.

"Hopefully the song works. If not I can try my security over-ride. But I'm not sure whether that will be all sunshine and rainbows either," Surprise muses as she continues one toward the stairs leading toward the basement. "Huh... still no robots. Do you suppose they all decided to try fighting off the alicorns?"

Sprinkles hovers alongside Surprise, taking the lead when she'll allow it. "Possibly. They may have called for reinforcements when the alicorns put up too much of a fight, and got all the 'bots to come fight. Hopefully they took a few of the monsters down through sheer weight of numbers. But more than likely, it's just gonna be one big scrapyard up there..." he grunts.

[Rebonack]

[GRIMDARK Adventures in Stable 29]

"The occasional insane foal. The computer's Sentries. And various automated turrets. Ponies with the mind-control implants seem to be kept out on the surface until they're... well..."

She gives Vinyl a sidelong glance.

Yeah...

"This is likely to be a rather touch and go mission. We can't afford to make any mistakes, team. If this thing get through us then-"

"Wait!" the foalbot suddenly pipes up. "Friend Computer knew that there were ponies living outside and didn't tell us? And... and she's mind controlling ponies too? That's terrible! Why would she do that?"

She doesn't seem to think that turning ponies into skin-wearing brain bots is very horrible, though.

[Chaotic Bob]

[GRIMDARK Adventures in Stable 29]

Sentries and turrets! That's information that Down didn't have already.
Things to keep an eye out for, then...

"I will continue to lend my aid for this."
This is turning out better than she had half-expected it to.

Instead of them all insisting on leaving and her having to figure this out by herself, she gets an impromptu strike-team!
Score.
Dare she think it, she's almost pleased.

"We shall ask your 'friend' why if we are able, little DJ. But we should get going, before we get caught.
Staying in one place can't be wise."

[PurityIcekiller]

[I Wanna Rendezvous]

"I'm going to need an explanation of the Goddess before I can say anything about-" Violetta began, but then spotted the others.

"Aha! So that's where you went off to!" she called. "Fleetwing and I were getting some sodas for the ponies in the settlement, and I've been figuring out my powers. How have things been going for you?"

[Rebonack]

[GRIMDARK Adventures in Stable 29]

"Alright. We had best get moving then. Corn?" Sour curtly addresses the huge earth pony.

"Eyup?"

"You lost your armor again, didn't you?"

"Eyup."

The unicorn sighs as her horn lights up. A moment later Corn's armor appears in a soft pink flash. Corn begins donning it once again. He's pretty deft at the task considering that he's doing it on his own. Earth ponies sure are good with their hooves!

Once that distraction is out of the way Sour begins leading the ponies deeper into the underbelly of the stable. Before long they'll arrive at a series of turrets that have taken so much electrical damage that they're hardly recognizable anymore. And beyond them? Comes the steady, rhythmic sounds of automated assembly.

Vinyl is being pretty quiet...

[Chaotic Bob]

[GRIMDARK Adventures in Stable 29]

Well that's a useful spell.

Unicorns are such cheaters.

"Useful trick."
But Down seems to find it a positive.

Now then, onwards, towards doom!

....oooor doom that's already been taken care of!
"Someone beat us to the turrets then. I assume that was you, Sour."
Otherwise, they may have a potential ally about, as unlikely as that is.

"On that note, do we have an actual plan for destroying the facility?"
Down likes plans. She's mostly used to having plans for pretty much anything she does. Especially big, important, destructive things like this!

[Rebonack]

[GRIMDARK Adventures in Stable 29]

"When a unicorn has sort-of lived as long as I have one tends to pick up a few useful tricks," Sour replies matter of factly. She doesn't appear to be hiding her ghoulish nature. Aside from that spell that makes her look less horrific. But that's probably more of a personal thing than one might think.

Remembering one's self and keeping busy are the two surest ways to stave of feral insanity.

"And yes. I disabled them on the way up. Swiss can cause considerable damage to machinery when she puts her mind to it."

The changeling rubs a hoof against her chest. "I don't like to brag..."

"The first order of business is to shut down the robot production and destroy as many of the machines as possible. Getting at the maneframe itself would be much more difficult," Sour reasons. Probably talking about 'Friend Computer'. Though best not to use that word around Vinyl.

[MCerberus]

Manehatten - Basement of Morale

Scoops has finished loading up her fancy new rifle. The first and third bullets are going to be the fancy-smanshy magic ones. And then there's the fancy cupcakes. Maybe... they really are better than standard fare found from a ruined grocery store? The mare takes a bite before moving on... also there hasn't been the word 'fancy' recently enough.

Fancy.

[Benson]

Manehatten Ruins-Horseshoe Tower-Ministry of Morale- Sublevel 1 Basement Floor- 1:00 PM

Fox Trot

"Eh well, better them than us," I replied as I tried that cupcake. It was good, and I don't even like cupcakes. A bit of a shame about the bullets though, ah well, can't have anything.

[BladeofObliviom]

[Inevitable Cagastrophe]

When the Alicorn points out the pair, Xithr responds with some mirth!

"So they are, Gleam! Good eye there."

As the pair approach, of course, Violetta addresses them. Thus, the response:

"They've been going alright. I take it Fizz told you about that crazy treasure of hers?"

She sounds like she's joking. Her face should be entertaining when she realizes that they've already retrieved it.

[TheAmishPirate]

[A Stormy Petrol]

"Aye, she told us about it." Fleetwing jostled his bags, the bottles making a distinct *clinking* sound. "Took a bit of careful thinking - some fool put booby-traps all over the place - but we got 'em."

[PurityIcekiller]

[Oil Be Darned]

"We were just debating what to do with them when you showed up," laughed Violetta. "And I have to say, my healing abilities couldn't have been discovered at a better time. Some of those traps were quite painful."

[Luka]

[Molotov Building! just add fire]

Gleamy just lowered her head shyly
"Uh.... I think the only spell I know right now is to make shields... Not much idea on what else I could cast."

[Rebonack]

[Ministry of Morale Basement]

"A pleasant surprise one way or the other," the cyber pony muses. "I could do without some mean meany mc-mean pants shooting at me new friends!"

Surprise zips up along side Sprinkles and aims to give the floating robot a hug. "And one really great old friend too! Thanks for keeping me company for so long Mister Sprinkles. I probably would have gone crazy without you. Crazier. Gone crazier."

Yeah...

Oh.

Remember those ghouls?

Seems the robots totally ignored said ghouls. And the ghouls totally ignored said robots since they're lacking in tasty flesh. A whole mess of undead abominations are milling around just beyond the stairwell. Wuh oh!

[Lycan 01]

[Ministry of Morale Basement]

"A pleasant surprise one way or the other," the cyber pony muses. "I could do without some mean meany mc-mean pants shooting at me new friends!"

Surprise zips up along side Sprinkles and aims to give the floating robot a hug. "And one really great old friend too! Thanks for keeping me company for so long Mister Sprinkles. I probably would have gone crazy without you. Crazier. Gone crazier."

Sprinkles doesn't resist the hug. He raises one of his claws, and gently pats her on the head. "Yer welcome, Miss PV," he kindly replies. "An' I didn't do it just outta programming. Yer a good boss, and a nice pony. Yer like my little cyborg sister or something, if that makes any sense."

Yeah...

Oh.

Remember those ghouls?

Seems the robots totally ignored said ghouls. And the ghouls totally ignored said robots since they're lacking in tasty flesh. A whole mess of undead abominations are milling around just beyond the stairwell. Wuh oh!

And then there were zombies.

"Welp, time to free some poor tortured souls from their irradiated mortal coil," he mutters, before raising his energy weapon and his flamethrower and opening fire.