[FO:E] The Northern Wasteland of Equestria 1

[Lycan 01]

Manehatten Scav Post

Sprinkles raises a set of manipulator claws to his vocalizer unit, and coughs. "Technically Miss PV, you're the Minister of Morale now."

[Chaotic Bob]

[Manehattan - Fourstar Lobby]

Down isn't so sure this little explanation of how Swiss works is making things better.
Less confusing, faintly...but not necessarily better.

But she can at least see that Swiss doesn't seem to mean any harm.
"She is...not something I ever expected to meet down here. I knew there were some strange things, compared to what I was used to above, but I keep getting surprised."
Not just by Swiss either. Pretty much the entirety of her adventure with TRSG!...

She tries to keep her functional gun tilted slightly away from the direction the EFS is detecting the hostiles in the lobby.
Easier to spin it towards them across her body, than outwards.

Creep step, chatter, creep step...

[Rebonack]

[Manehattan - Fourstar Tower]

"I'm somewhat surprised that you aren't aware of Swiss' kind," Sour muses as the pair grow gradually closer to the hostile contacts. "Changelings caused quite the stir in the years before the War after their attempt at conquering Equestria. There was paranoia for months afterwards. Everypony worried that their friends or loved ones had been replaced by a shape-shifting empathic parasite."

There's a slight edge to Sour's words. Seems she recalls the events quite well.

"It wouldn't surprise me in the least if they're as common above the clouds as they are here on the surface."

And on that note!

"Halt government scum! This is private property of the Fourstar Corporation!" drones a trio of protect-a-ponies!

[Chaotic Bob]

[Manehattan - Fourstar Tower]

That thought seems to get Down to just completely stop her little sneaking steps.
Sort of staring ahead perplexed for a moment, before looking right at Sour with a somewhat serious tone crawling into her voice.
"And how common are they here on the surface?"


And then robots!
"Halt government scum"s a new one...probably not going to be able to chat her way through that, wearing armor of the old government's aerial fighters.

So just time to make with the pewing.

A brief dip into SATS, a couple tags on one of the P-ponies, and then she's skittering over towards cover.
Be able to do more firing safely there.

[TheAmishPirate]

[Girdershade - This Romance is Fizzling Out]

"She...*pant*...she didn't..." Fleetwing paused to catch his breath, the mad impulse to hyperventilate in panic helping none. Taking a deep breath, he tried to organize his jumbled thoughts into something coherent. "Violetta didn't mean that...I mean, Bucky didn't ever say that...to us...he just...well, acted like he fancies you. I mean, like he really really likes you. More than friends likes you likes you. And it seemed like he thought you didn't know he felt like...that?" Come to think of it, what had he said about Fizz apart from, "Hooves off or you'll get yours"?

Anyway, if she tried to duck around him, he'd move to keep blocking her path.

[Rebonack]

[Fourstar Tower Lobby]

"Perhaps about as common as the griffons, I would guess. One for every twenty ponies or so. Of course the changelings tend to be more... secretive about their presence. Swiss normally is as well, save for those she's seeking to befriend. I believe she feels uncomfortable about feeding on emotions of an unaware pony."

So things are said.

And then robots happen. Down's shots cause the machine's armor to melt and glow, but they're all still standing.

Sour isn't quite quick enough, taking a blazing bolt of magic across her flank before scrambling to cover. She winces a bit as her flesh sizzles, the pain causing her to lose her grip on the illusion she usually keeps shrouding her appearance.

Without it?

The unicorn is emaciated and skeletal, her eyes all but gone and the empty sockets smouldering with motes of necrotic pink magic. Fissures in her mummified hide leak wisps of pink fog that dissipate into nothing before drifting far.

"I'll flank them," she says quickly before vanishing in a flash of magic. Hopefully before Down can get a good look at her. Soon there after ribbons of lightning comes arcing through the room and dance between the robots.

The robots don't seem very happy about it.

[PurityIcekiller]

[Buckying The Trend]

"What? Hey! I did mean that! Fleetwing, what are you doing?" Violetta made a mental note to talk to the pegasus more thoroughly about this later. "When you feel that way about somepony, shouldn't you show it?"

[Chaotic Bob]

[Fourstar Tower Lobby]

Down gets incredibly quiet and still as Sour finishes her little statement.
Changelings are that common?

A combination of this thought, robot-ponies firing laser blasts around her, and the fact that her mask inhibits peripheral vision seems to be keeping Sour pretty safe from having her visual secret noticed.

Little more than a firm nod is given, as she teleports away.
Focusing on the battle for now.

Keep her head down, time the blasts, try to poke up between them, pop out a couple shots, duck down again...rinse and repeat.
Well. Until her cover collapses. But that problem will be dealt with later.

[Rebonack]

[Fourstar Tower Lobby]

Good thing too!

Sour is a bit sensitive about her appearance. Hence why she uses the illusion.

The electricity arcing between the robots seems to be slowing down their reactions quite a bit. They have pretty decent shielding against electrical damage, but at the same time this is fairly nasty stuff.

They turn and fire a few beams at Sour, only to miss as the unicorn ducks around a corner of her own. Which in turn gives Down a clear shot on the nasty things. One of them is reduced to a heap of ash and another gets a leg clipped off.

Wow. These things are pretty darn resilient!

[Chaotic Bob]

[Fourstar Tower Lobby]

One down.
One crippled.
The other...still quite functional.

Down frowns a bit, noticing them in all their distracted glory.
Not looking at her, means she can creep closer...
"Focus fire if you can! Break the whole one!"

She calls out across the small battle, even as she lines up a shot at the more 'pristine' protecta-pony's legs.
Spread around the crippling, hopefully make them less scary.

[Benson]

Manehatten - Scav Post

If the looks previously meant anything, the unicorn seems like she likes what she sees. Oh Fox Trot, you lady killer. She stays close and gives him a little pat with her tail. "You can just call me Pretty Pink. Why don't we go continue the party elsewhere?".

Manehatten Ruins- Theater Row -Scav Post 3:47 PM

Fox Trot


"Well Miss Pretty Pink...where do you have in mind?" I asked tilting up her chin with my hoof and glancing down on her. And then the music suddenly stopped as I looked around in confusion. "Hauh...what's going on..."

And then that stuff between Surprise and Sprinkles. Hauh. Ah. Hmmm. Heh. It was kinda cute. I couldn't help but warmly smile at their exchange.

===================

Manehatten Merchant Madness And Demolitions of DOoooooooOOOooOM!

The brahmin glare at the caravaners as they all flee towards the sky. The mutant cows quickly trundle towards cover, and as the cloud of mutating debris approaches, one casts and other dirty look at the sky and yells "Aw well all of ya'll can just go fu-"

And then the cloud hits.

Manehatten Merchants and Doom Clouds

Once Lucky and Flim (or is it Flam?) reach a safe height up above the doom cloud, the pegasus lets out a sigh of relief. "Alright... I think we're safe up here... Guess we should wait 'til the cloud settles?"

"Fliiiiiim!" the pony in Lucky's grasp yells. "Are you okaaaaay?"

"I'm fiiiiine!" the pony in Gwendolyn's grasp yells back.
"Wait, I thought you were Flim?" Lucky observes, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"No, I'm Flam!" Flam huffs indignantly. "You really need to pay more attention, Mister Lucky."

Lucky just rolls his eyes.

"Well that just great, sarcastically speaking." The griffon narrowed her eyes and was almost close to accidentally dropping Flim. Well, there went the brahmin and the twin's wagon.

[Lycan 01]

Manehatten - Skies Above Death Cloud

Flim clings to Gwendolyn for dear life. "Thank you for saving us," he squeaks, before adding: "Again..."

Flam looks down at the roiling cloud of debris and radiated dust. "Ouch. I hope everyone's okay."

"Eh," Lucky shrugs. "Pretty sure those Ruben Sandwich folks made it into that building just fine, and that Enclave gal could probably dance around in that stuff thanks to that fancy armor of hers."

"What about the brahmin and the manticore cub?" Flam asks, worry in his voice.

"Oh, I'm sure-" Lucky begins to answer, before his expression goes flat. "Wait, what was that last bit?" he deadpans, before turning to look at Gwendolyn. "Seriously, what was that last bit?"



---
Girdershade

Soda Fizz looks back and forth between Fleetwing and Violetta, very confused.

[TheAmishPirate]

[Girdershade - So a Pegasus, an Amnesiac Filly, and a Cola Maniac walk into a bar...]

Fleetwing leaned over to shoot Violetta a pained, "please, for the love of everything, stop making this worse" look. "Well, maybe, but there's more than just "we're friends" and "we're in love." A lot more!"

Then back to Soda Fizz; thank the stars she hadn't started crying or something. That had to mean he was saying something right. "Look, l-let me try an' explain; Bucky talks like he wants something more to happen between you two. Maybe he wants to spend more time with you, maybe he wants to have dinner with you, maybe...a-a date or something?" Truth be told, he had barely a vague idea what a date actually was, only that his paw and maw often talked about it when they got all mushy, so that had to be something relationshippy. "All I-I know is that he didn't ever mention...er, the L-word, just said he thought you were playing around with him, a-and I didn't want you to go and get the wrong idea. We just wanted t'make sure you knew what was going on with him. Y'know, in case you weren't just playin' around."

Fleetwing had to wonder what he had done to bring this sort of fate upon himself. Just a few days ago, he was scoping out a town for rumors of a vendor who dealt in rare weaponry. Now? He was in the "Official Sparkle Cola" museum with a brainless unicorn, an Alicorn what wasn't an Alicorn, and a ghoul, trying to explain love to the curator before she decided to marry the town bodyguard.

If he didn't know any better, he'd say this was the start of a very bad joke.

[MCerberus]

Manehatten - Scav Post

Well cupcake stallion doesn't quite know what to think. He's never been part of a SUPER HUG before. Still, everything seems to be coming out in his favor since Surprise arrived. "Um... I'm ink jet," he can only reply. Since he needs a description now, the scavver is an earth pony stallion in piecemeal clothing like most. He's got a faded cyan coat, faded yellow mane, and faded magenta eyes. A strikingly garish combination yes, but it's colorful!

Pretty Pink seems to be the type to continue parting. She goes close to Fox Trot and purrs, "Well I do have a private room." In the distance Pop is shaking her head.

Up on the roof Scoops has come back to a realization she made back when she first heard of Surprise being alive. That gives her an out for this whole situation. It would sort of be treason if the Star Paladin orders the cyper-pegasus in, but he's not her normal CO so buck it. The Ranger starts making her way downstairs to pull Surprise out for a private conversation.

[Benson]

Manehatten-Gwenny


"The manticore cub?....Oh crap....Sir Ly---the little guy was probably still following me.....shoot...." She herself didn't know the manticore cub had stashed itself away in the wagon under stuff.


Manehatten Ruins- Theater Row -Scav Post 3:47 PM

Fox Trot

"You do, do you? Well then, lead the way," Hoof smooch and lazy smirk. I gestured for her to lead the way on.

[and disaster should strike upon Fox and deny him this soon-ish, a perfectly timed soon-ish ]

[MCerberus]

Manehatten - Scav Post

Pretty Pink leads Fox to one of the rooms set off for those in need of privacy. The commons are the seats overlooking a ruined stage, so there's not much there. "Make yourself comfortable," the mare states before walking over to a ruined table.

"Let me pour you something." She levitates a bottle and looks like she's emptying it... wait did Fox Trot even see any glasses?

[Rebonack]

[Manehattan - Fourstar Tower]

The arcing stream of electricity suddenly focuses on the still whole P-Pony right as Down shoots its legs out from under it, scouring its body and finally slithering into some portions of its frame that haven't been properly hardened against the surge of power.

It fries, twitches, and falls still.

The remaining P-Pony cries out with a defiant, "Hail the Zebra overlords!" as it charges toward Down, weapons blazing.

Then?

PHOOMP!

A grenade sails over Down's head, bounces off the ceiling, and lands directly between the robot's front legs.

kaBOOM!

Thus ends another killer robot. Followed by a loud squee. "Eeeeeee! It works!"

Hey look! A changeling levitating a grenade launcher! She seems pleased as punch. And as everypony knows punch tends to be extremely pleased at all times.

[Manehattan - Scav Outpost]

"Nice to meet you Ink Jet! You are now officially my newest friend!" Surprise replies cheerfully! Wow, what an honor! Being somepony's new friend is great! Especially when the somepony in question seems to have a supply of cupcakes to dispense. But hopefully the friendship isn't predicated soley on the possession of sweets.

The cyberpony is about to continue but then Sprinkles mutters something. It's enough to make Surprise stop mid-thought. "Wait... what? No, that can't be right. I'm just a Party Technician. There's no way I could be the Ministry Mare! That's a job for somepony important! Pinkie was the Element of Laughter. I'm... I'm not even a good pony, Mister Sprinkles!"

[Benson]

Manehatten Ruins- Theater Row -Scav Post 3:48 PM

Fox Trot

I laid lazily laid on my back in a chair and looked around this hovel, eh, could be a worse looking hovel. "Do you even have glasses hun? I don't think I saw any...Oh!...actually...what drink is that?"

[Lycan 01]

Manehatten - Above the Death Cloud

Lucky blinks a few time. "Well, first of all, I think Manticores are immune to radiation, so as long as he found a place to hide, he should be fine. Second of all..." he tilts his head to the side, "Why is there a manticore cub in the first place?"

"Miss Gwendolyn fed it," Flam observes with a cheerful smile.

"So it started following us," Flim interjects.

Lucky gives Gwendolyn a very unamused stare.



---
Manehatten - Scav Post

Sergeant Sprinkles hovers up a few inches, as if trying to straighten his posture or something. "Miss PV," he states authoritatively, "You are currently the highest ranking member of the Ministry of Morale in operation, and you are certainly the most knowledgeable and experienced operative. And look at what you're doing!" he exclaims, flailing a claw at Ink Jet. "You're force-feeding cupcakes to folks, throwing parties, and making new friends! You're lifting spirits and brightening days! I'd say that's pretty damn "Ministry of Morale"-y, wouldn't you? Whether you realize it or not, or whether you're willing to admit it or not, you are the best choice for Minister of Morale right now, both by virtue of rank and by virtue of character. And don't try pulling the 'I'm not a good pony!' card, because we both know that ain't true."

[MCerberus]

Manehatten - Scav Post

Pretty Pink lets the bottle rest on the table and screws a cap back in. "Well I never said it was a drink," she ominously says while turning around. Turns out she's currently levitating a soaked rag of some sort... and now the unicorn is walking over to where Fox Trot is sitting.

Ink Jet has a short little meep after a robo-claw comes close to his face. Sure Surprise might be the wonderful dispenser of joy and baked goods, but Sprinkles has to work to not look intimidating. He helps to reinforce the scene though. "I don't know about any of that, but it's much better here now than when exposed to some of the soups around here."

"HEY." One need not guess where that came from.

Whadda eventually makes it down the stairs and briefly experiences a 'what in the bloody mane of Celestia' moments. Still, she has something she needs to do and completely ruin the mood for the ministry... sentients... "I need to talk to you two for a moment." She's kind of sad, kind of serious.

Not serious is the pony that managed to get their hoofs on the mirror ball. The cord holding it up snaps, and the poor scavver falls and starts rolling around hugging the out of control thing.

[Benson]

Manehatten - Above the Death Cloud

Lucky blinks a few time. "Well, first of all, I think Manticores are immune to radiation, so as long as he found a place to hide, he should be fine. Second of all..." he tilts his head to the side, "Why is there a manticore cub in the first place?"

"Miss Gwendolyn fed it," Flam observes with a cheerful smile.

"So it started following us," Flim interjects.

Lucky gives Gwendolyn a very unamused stare.

Gwendolyn shot back her own stare, of a narrowed eye glower. "What? Yea I fed the little cub. Figured we would be able to ditch it at an opportune moment when I noticed it started to follow us."

Manehatten - Scav Post

Pretty Pink lets the bottle rest on the table and screws a cap back in. "Well I never said it was a drink," she ominously says while turning around. Turns out she's currently levitating a soaked rag of some sort... and now the unicorn is walking over to where Fox Trot is sitting.

Manehatten Ruins- Theater Row -Scav Post 3:49 PM

Fox Trot

"No drink? What kind of private party is this?" I faked a dumb smile eyeing her soaked rag as I sat up and casually got off the chair. That was a little weird. "What do you got there?" I asked keeping that idiot smile in place and looked to check out the bottle.

[MCerberus]

Manehatten - Scav Post

Pretty Pink goes over to stand next to Fox. She doesn't respond to his desire for a drink. "Does this smell like chloroform to you?" The mare shoves the rag at the poor exile's face.

If he doesn't dodge it, he'd find out the following: yes, yes it does.

[Benson]

Manehatten - Scav Post

Pretty Pink goes over to stand next to Fox. She doesn't respond to his desire for a drink. "Does this smell like chloroform to you?" The mare shoves the rag at the poor exile's face.

If he doesn't dodge it, he'd find out the following: yes, yes it does.

Manehatten Ruins- Theater Row -Scav Post 3:48 PM

Fox Trot

"Chloro..form?...Aw fu--" In one motion I bit the rag being shoved in my face and lunged over to this mare to shove it into her own muzzle. If I was going down, so was this b****....Eyelids heavy.....feeling familiar...

.....narration...fading...

...

[Lycan 01]

Manehatten - Over the Death Cloud

Lucky facehooves. "So, we have a pet now. Lovely." He smirks, and shakes his head. "Nice to know you managed to pick up a hitchhiker while I was getting blown up and dealing with the Enclave."

"Time out," Flam suddenly interjects. "What's this about the Enclave?"

"Yeah, you mentioned somepony in Enclave armor," Flim points out.

"Aren't they the bad guys?"

"Yeah, shouldn't she have killed you for being a 'traitor' or something?"

"Boys, remember what I was saying about not all the bad guys being bad guys?" Lucky frowns. "Well, thank Luna almighty, she happens to be one of the good bad guys, if that makes any sense."


---
(Will reply in Scav Post after Surprise responds to Sprinkles)

[MCerberus]

Manehatten - Scav Post

The mare can also feel her senses fading. Of course, while they're both struggling to keep awake, Fox Trot might note the bottle. There's something Pretty Pink failed to notice.

Happy Time Party Gag Chloroform
"Great for pranks, realistic smell without the creepy consequences!"
~A Ministry of Morale Product~

And he'd be fire. Manehatten is a silly place.

[PurityIcekiller]

[Girdershade]

"Uh... Fleetwing, do you have an addiction to overcomplication or something? I think things are pretty clear here. What's this about... dates and such?"

[Benson]

Spoiler

Show

Manehatten - Over the Death Cloud

Lucky facehooves. "So, we have a pet now. Lovely." He smirks, and shakes his head. "Nice to know you managed to pick up a hitchhiker while I was getting blown up and dealing with the Enclave."

"Time out," Flam suddenly interjects. "What's this about the Enclave?"

"Yeah, you mentioned somepony in Enclave armor," Flim points out.

"Aren't they the bad guys?"

"Yeah, shouldn't she have killed you for being a 'traitor' or something?"

"Boys, remember what I was saying about not all the bad guys being bad guys?" Lucky frowns. "Well, thank Luna almighty, she happens to be one of the good bad guys, if that makes any sense."

"Don't go facehooving me. I'm not the one who made a whole building explode or something." She rolled her eyes. Frankly, she was on the tense side with all that happened. She listened to Lucky's spiel, and just listened.

Manehatten - Scav Post

The mare can also feel her senses fading. Of course, while they're both struggling to keep awake, Fox Trot might note the bottle. There's something Pretty Pink failed to notice.

Happy Time Party Gag Chloroform
"Great for pranks, realistic smell without the creepy consequences!"
~A Ministry of Morale Product~

And he'd be fine. Manehatten is a silly place.

Manehatten Ruins- Theater Row -Scav Post 3:49 PM

Fox Trot

What?

My eyes opened and re-read the bottle. I did a double take. My mouth hanging open. Well I am an idiot. The 'Be Smart' figurine must be of the selective moments variety. This wasn't that moment. I stood up and towered over the Pretty Pink on the ground with a look of un-amusement.

"That had better have been a lame prank attempt, because anything else will just make me sour here."

[Lycan 01]

Manehatten - Hovering Over Death Cloud

Lucky huffs indignantly. "It's not my fault somebody rigged a bunch of demo charges or something on the 13th floor of that one office building, which I just happened to accidentally trigger while trying to hide from the Enclave. Because I totally wanted to get blasted across a street and halfway through a different building, which I somehow survived with just a few bruises and scratches. Yes, that was totally my intention," he huffs again, before turns his face away from her and pouting. Gwendolyn should probably be able to tell he's be a bit sarcastic and dramatic, and isn't actually mad. Not at her, at least. He's clearly not happy about being blown up...

Flim and Flam just stare in confusion.

[Benson]

Manehatten - Hovering Over Death Cloud

Spoiler

Show

Lucky huffs indignantly. "It's not my fault somebody rigged a bunch of demo charges or something on the 13th floor of that one office building, which I just happened to accidentally trigger while trying to hide from the Enclave. Because I totally wanted to get blasted across a street and halfway through a different building, which I somehow survived with just a few bruises and scratches. Yes, that was totally my intention," he huffs again, before turns his face away from her and pouting. Gwendolyn should probably be able to tell he's be a bit sarcastic and dramatic, and isn't actually mad. Not at her, at least. He's clearly not happy about being blown up...

Flim and Flam just stare in confusion.

"Well I'm going to go survey the damage, maybe the Brahmin...didn't die...maybe the little cub is okay," She sharply sighed and off in the air.

[Lycan 01]

Manehatten - Hover Over the Death Cloud

"It's probably eating the brahmin," Lucky deadpans.

"That would be unpleasant," Flam pales.

"Weeeee!" Flim exclaims as Gwendolyn takes flight.