[FO:E] The Northern Wasteland of Equestria 1

[Benson]

Manehatten Ruins-Horseshoe Tower-Minster of Morale-Rooftop - 10:44 am


Fox Trot

What the frack were these...pegasi unicorns...pegacorns....unigasi....nah...that last one sounded stupid. I felt though like I should have known about whatever these were.

"Crap in a sack..." Was all I could utter, it felt appropriate. I carefully inched my way ahead, following the cues and commands from Whadda and Sprinkles.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Manehatten - Outside Stable 29]

Ah yes...there is...the crunch-time focus that she had faintly suspected.
Down watches Swiss as she focuses, but doesn't keep looking for too long.

Can't keep her gaze on the changeling even before the magic helps it along.
Instead, she makes a little noise and returns her attention to the turrets.
Breaking those would be useful...
"Crunch time can do that to a pony..."
Diversions diversions...far too many enemies. Swiss blows something up and...then what? She'll be expecting something clever no doubt. But...

"The Enclave has notoriety. If I make a move from above when she makes her explosions, I may be able to draw most of their attention."
And fire.
"You may be able to move in from an angle if you move quickly."

[Rebonack]

[Manehatten - Outside Stable 29]

There he is. The lone pony patrolling the east side of the compound. Earth pony. Kinda brownish. Orange mane. Nice barding and weapons!

Too bad none of those do him any good at all when a hoof lashes over his mouth and a pair of fangs sink into his flesh. Within a matter of seconds all that remains is a dessicated husk being pulled out of sight by his new double.

Rye's PipBuck crackles quietly.

"I'm in," comes Swiss' voice. "Bunch of fuel stored around back here. I'll rig it to blow. When they head back to see what happened hit those turrets hard. Guise is a brown stallion with orange mane, watch the friendly fire. I'll head below and see what we're dealing with. Once the turrets are down head for the entrance."

"Good hunting, Swiss. We've got it covered," Rye replies as she lines up her beam rifle on one of the two turrets.

Corn has no ranged weapons to line up!

Though he does pull another section of his helmet out of his saddle-bags and clamps it over his face. Interesting piece of tech, that. Metal helmet with a few sensors built into it and an EFS on the inside. Completely shields his head.

And the only part of his armor that's actually powered. "We still don't know yer name, miss," the huge earth pony says. "Reckon we'll be needin' ta get yer attention in a hurry here pretty soon. What should we be callin' ya?"

[Chaotic Bob]

[Manehatten - Outside Stable 29]

So Pipbucks do have...of course they do.
Down you dummy, they share most other techs, why not the ability for short comm-lines?

Not...that that is presently useful, with hers being on the fritz.

"Down Feather.
Don't worry about getting my attention, just do what you need to do."
With that, the pegasus begins slinking off some distance from the group.

When the explosions start, she'll join the attack, launching strikes at the other turret. But she'll be taking to the air when she does so, and doesn't want to reveal the others' positions as a result.
One does not make a good distraction when you point out your allies.

Her suit is designed to look intimidating...hopefully that coupled with Enclave notoriety and the ugly energy blasts she'll be delivering with make her a bullet magnet.
She's used to being a bullet magnet.

[BladeofObliviom]

[Northern Equestria - Knows not where she's going to...]

Xithr seems very still for a few moments upon the scope while the other two are speaking. Then, she says to them, incredulously:

"She - She has a cutie mark."

[Rebonack]

[Manehatten - MoM Hub]

Pegacorns! Unipegs! Though neither are really correct since alicorns are part earth pony as well. Harmony between all three tribes.

...

The alicorns continue to sit there, completely unmoving.

"I don't think they're aware of what's going on," one of the griffons pipes up. "They're in a trance or something. But some more of those nasty things are on the way and we shouldn't be here when they arrive."

"So if we're going to kill them we need to kill them all at once. Without their shields they aren't much more durable than a normal earth pony," squawks another.

[Manehatten - Outside Stable 29]

"No guards inside," comes Swiss' voice over the com. "All the defense turrets look fried. I can seal the doors once we're in. Detonating in three two-"

BOOOM!

A huge billowing fireball erupts from behind the building, sending ponies sprawling to the pavement and looking about frantically! The guards begin galloping toward the source of the blast! Even the ponies at the turrets are looking in the wrong direction.

Time to strike!

Rye bursts from her cover and opens fire with her beam rifle. Corn gallops along beside her, readying himself to leap in front of his friend as soon as bullets start flying her way.

[Lycan 01]

[Manehatten - MoM Hub Rooftop]

Sergeant Sprinkles chuckles darkly. He raises his flamethrower-limb, and his magical-energy-weapon limb. "I can handle the two on the left. You folks think you can get the two on the right? If we hit 'em at the same time, this ought to be easy."

"Too easy..." he mutters under his mechanical breath.

[PurityIcekiller]

[Isn't She A Bit Like You And Me?]

"It might have been that. It might have been something unusual about them. Is this a sense you have? You didn't seem to notice it..."

Violetta would have considered this more, but she was distracted by the mention of the cutie mark.

"Isn't that normal? Does the mark mean anything unusual?" She pulled back her cloak and leggings to see her own circular symbol. "Don't you have them too?"

[TheAmishPirate]

[Northern Equestria - I used to wonder where Nowhere could be...]

[Northern Equestria - Knows not where she's going to...]

Xithr seems very still for a few moments upon the scope while the other two are speaking. Then, she says to them, incredulously:

"She - She has a cutie mark."

Fleetwing nearly gagged on his own gun. "What in the...are you sure? It ain't a fake or nothing?"

[Isn't She A Bit Like You And Me?]

"It might have been that. It might have been something unusual about them. Is this a sense you have? You didn't seem to notice it..."

Violetta would have considered this more, but she was distracted by the mention of the cutie mark.

"Isn't that normal? Does the mark mean anything unusual?" She pulled back her cloak and leggings to see her own circular symbol. "Don't you have them too?"

Fleetwing opted not to let go of his gun and show his off, instead simply nodding to the filly. "That's the thing though; Alicorns don't have one. They lose it when they get all hive-mindy. So either that's a fake for some reason, or...or..." The skittish pegasus scratched his head. "...or I don't even know what's going on anymore."

(Purity, waiting on Night Jewel in the Bits and Credit thread)

[MCerberus]

Manehatten - Rooftop of a-Morale-ity

With the crazy alicorn shields and plans to start shooting, Whadda goes into a more military way of thinking. "First thing's first, we need to figure what position we're in now. Any injuries? Ammo check?" But of course you can't really suppress the nature or voicebox of a caffeinated Scoops.

"Oh, and the elevator is working. When you start moving around do the tangos move or anything? We could just take it down and easy."

[BladeofObliviom]

[Northern Equestria - Nowhere Mare, Please listen...]

Xithr shakes her head.

"It doesn't look fake. I was in Spec Ops before the war; I know what a fake Cutie Mark looks like.

She's acting really weird too, like she's confused...

...Without the guidance of a superior...

...Oh. We might have a very different problem on our hooves than previously assumed. I'm going to try something. You two wait here."

She removes her rifle from the rubble, places it upon her back, and unless stopped begins wordlessly trotting towards the Alicorn.

...Well, she's lost it.

[Benson]

[Manehatten - MoM Hub]

The alicorns continue to sit there, completely unmoving.

"I don't think they're aware of what's going on," one of the griffons pipes up. "They're in a trance or something. But some more of those nasty things are on the way and we shouldn't be here when they arrive."

"So if we're going to kill them we need to kill them all at once. Without their shields they aren't much more durable than a normal earth pony," squawks another.

Manehatten Ruins-Horseshoe Tower-Minster of Morale-Rooftop - 10:45 am

Fox Trot

"And how are we to do that? Can another energy shield cancel out an energy shield? Or is that an odd pipe dream and I should shut my pretty mouth?"

[PurityIcekiller]

[You Don't Know What You're Missing]

Fleetwing opted not to let go of his gun and show his off, instead simply nodding to the filly. "That's the thing though; Alicorns don't have one. They lose it when they get all hive-mindy. So either that's a fake for some reason, or...or..." The skittish pegasus scratched his head. "...or I don't even know what's going on anymore."

"Oh, I see. Maybe she got it back somehow. Has that kind of thing ever happened?"

Xithr shakes her head.

"It doesn't look fake. I was in Spec Ops before the war; I know what a fake Cutie Mark looks like.

She's acting really weird too, like she's confused...

...Without the guidance of a superior...

...Oh. We might have a very different problem on our hooves than previously assumed. I'm going to try something. You two wait here."

She removes her rifle from the rubble, places it upon her back, and unless stopped begins wordlessly trotting towards the Alicorn.

...Well, she's lost it.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Violetta got to her feet and darted after Xiphr.

As she got closer, she noticed the sensation she had been feeling was getting stronger. It felt like... Power! That was it! She was reacting to the power, wasn't she?

And then she stumbled. I have got to learn to think and move at the same time.

[Luka]

[Northern Equestria - Nowhere Mare, Please listen...]

Xithr shakes her head.

"It doesn't look fake. I was in Spec Ops before the war; I know what a fake Cutie Mark looks like.

She's acting really weird too, like she's confused...

...Without the guidance of a superior...

...Oh. We might have a very different problem on our hooves than previously assumed. I'm going to try something. You two wait here."

She removes her rifle from the rubble, places it upon her back, and unless stopped begins wordlessly trotting towards the Alicorn.

...Well, she's lost it.

The alicorn's confusedness would become more evident as Xithr approaches, she would get a clearer view of her: She's looking down, like thoughtful and lost, not much about her that would look proud or anything, neither much that should look like the ave

She doesn't notice the zebra aproaching and just sits down, on top of the small hill she just climbed. If she approaches closer she may hear her talking to herself.
"...Elements of... what was it?... I need another lead....Come ooon...JJust another lead please..."

[Rebonack]

[Manehatten - MoM Hub]

Actually the alicorns are sitting outside the shield with the griffons trapped inside. Wouldn't help too much to trap themselves in there with the griffons, right?

As it stands there's nothing between the four alicorns and whatever fast moving metal objects our heroes feel inclined to hurl at them.

"We can't get through this damned barrier," the first griffon replies. From her voice? Sounds like Blackbeak. The griffon that had been on the radio. "Our weapons are fine. Divebomb is a bit out of sorts, but I think he'll survive. The sooner you blow those alicorns to Tartarus the sooner we can get out of here!"

Woohoo!

Flee before any more show up!

That would be a great idea, yes?

[Lycan 01]

Manehatten - MoM Hub

Sergeant Sprinkles hovers over the nearest alicorn. He places his buzz-saw right next to her throat, then levels his magical energy weapon with the flank of the alicorn across from her. "Alrighty then. Let's get in position folks. This is gonna be fuuuuunnnn..." he croons with what sounds like grim excitement.

[TheAmishPirate]

[Northern Equestria - He wants to be missing the inevitable slaughter]

"Violetta, no!" Fleetwing grasped at the unicorn, but all his hooves grabbed were empty air. That foalish little...didn't she hear Swift tell them to stay put? And for that matter, did she miss the whole "abomination that will kill you" part?! But now it was too late; the alicorn surely had spotted them both. Now the rest of her hunting pack would know they were there, and it was only a matter of time before more showed up, and then it was good-bye, Violetta and ghoul. And there wasn't a thing him or his dinky little gun could do about it. The pegasus stomped the ground in frustration, and then resumed huddling behind cover, watching the two of them and hoping for a miracle.

[BladeofObliviom]

[Northern Equestria - Nowhere Mare, the Wooorld is yours to bear...]

Xithr continues forward, ignoring the cries of Violetta and Fleetwing alike as she approaches the Alicorn.

One word is all she needs.

"Harmony."

[Luka]

[Northern Equestria - Nowhere Mare, the Wooorld is yours to bear...]

Xithr continues forward, ignoring the cries of Violetta and Fleetwing alike as she approaches the Alicorn.

One word is all she needs.

"Harmony."

"Yes! maybe Elements of Harmony! it feels..Close!......Wait...huh?"
She raises her head surprised, then looks at Xithr
"...Uh...Hi...You're not running away or shooting?....It could be the first time...I think" She didn't seem very dangerous, nor did it seem that there was any weapon close. She was unarmed... What?

[MCerberus]

Manehatten - Rooftop of a-Morale-ity

Scoops moves over to one of the Alicorns that aren't next to an insane murderbot, with a sword still drawn and ready for MURDERMURDERMURDER. "Get ready to move, give us a counter," she orders of the griffons. Plan of action, high slice down on the horn and a second slash down on the neck.

[PurityIcekiller]

[She's As Blind As She Can Be]

"Violetta, no!" Fleetwing grasped at the unicorn, but all his hooves grabbed were empty air. That foalish little...didn't she hear Swift tell them to stay put? And for that matter, did she miss the whole "abomination that will kill you" part?! But now it was too late; the alicorn surely had spotted them both. Now the rest of her hunting pack would know they were there, and it was only a matter of time before more showed up, and then it was good-bye, Violetta and ghoul. And there wasn't a thing him or his dinky little gun could do about it. The pegasus stomped the ground in frustration, and then resumed huddling behind cover, watching the two of them and hoping for a miracle.

"I can't let her investigate alone, can I?" Violetta shook her head and ran onwards.

"huh?"
She raises her head surprised, then looks at Xithr
"...Uh...Hi...You're not running away or shooting?....It could be the first time...I think" She didn't seem very dangerous, nor did it seem thta there was any weapon close.

"I don't fear you," she told the alicorn as she approached. "I just don't understand you. Maybe you don't understand yourself either, but I hope not. That would make things even more awkward here."

[Chaotic Bob]

[Manehatten - Outside Stable 29]

"No guards inside," comes Swiss' voice over the com. "All the defense turrets look fried. I can seal the doors once we're in. Detonating in three two-"

BOOOM!

A huge billowing fireball erupts from behind the building, sending ponies sprawling to the pavement and looking about frantically! The guards begin galloping toward the source of the blast! Even the ponies at the turrets are looking in the wrong direction.

Time to strike!

Rye bursts from her cover and opens fire with her beam rifle. Corn gallops along beside her, readying himself to leap in front of his friend as soon as bullets start flying her way.

The explosion, the cue.

Down leaps up into the air, just as her companions begin their charge.
Okay, key is to be distracting. She has more room to dodge potential weapons fire than the earth-bound ponies do.

"Look at the pretty birdy..."
VATS flicks up again and she begins picking her targets.

She's choosing a peculiar strategy here, with her sniping: she directs a few shots towards the turret, as agreed, but then intends to begin spreading her shots around towards as many of the enemy ponies as possible.
Draw as much ire as possible.

[TheAmishPirate]

[Northern Equestria - Oh wait, that's a song you guys are doing]

Fleetwing would continue to hide like the self-preserving coward he was. From this distance, he couldn't quite make out what they were saying, but his imagination could fill it in with all manner of horror. Maybe the beast had them entranced, or had already taken over their minds, or any number of magical terrors it could inflict simply by talking. The pegasus shivered, continuing to watch out of some morbid curiosity.

[BladeofObliviom]

[Northern Equestria - Just sees what she wants to see...]

Lies. Alicorns are never unarmed.

Xithr continues.

"I've suffered too many wounds from ponies who assume me to be a monster; I would not grant you such a fate before finding out if you were civil or not.

In any case, are you okay? I saw you from a distance and thought you looked distraught, or perhaps even confused."

Hey, where'd that accent go? That's weird.

[Luka]

[Northern Equestria - Just sees what she wants to see...]

Lies. Alicorns are never unarmed.

Xithr continues.

"I've suffered too many wounds from ponies who assume me to be a monster; I would not grant you such a fate before finding out if you were civil or not.

In any case, are you okay? I saw you from a distance and thought you looked distraught, or perhaps even confused."

Hey, where'd that accent go? That's weird.

[Northern Equestria - What's with all this singing in the middle of nowhere?]

Nothing is never unarmed anyways
Well, "unweaponed"

"Yes...I'm... Kind of trying to find out who I was ...But I'm lost; earliest thing I can remember was a....Flash of light..."
She looks a bit lower
"...I don't remember much before that, I have hints but... That's kind of it."
Then looks again at Xithr
"I....Still remember after that...I think, but... I don't feel like if that was myself...And then I was, but...For how long was it?"
She said that, with a tone that sounded somewhat regretful.
"Most ponies just ran away or started shooting when they seen me, but you didn't, that's different"

So yeah, she looks and possibly is VERY confused and lost, and maybe distraught too

[PurityIcekiller]

[Nowhere Mare, Can You See Me At All?]

"Yes...I'm... Kind of trying to find out who I was ...But I'm lost; earliest thing I can remember was a....Flash of light..."
She looks a bit lower
"...I don't remember much before that, I have hints but... That's kind of it."
Then looks again at Xithr
"I....Still remember after that...I think, but... I don't feel like if that was myself...And then I was, but...For how long was it?"
She said that, with a tone that sounded somewhat regretful.
"Most ponies just ran away or started shooting when they seen me, but you didn't, that's different"

So yeah, she looks and possibly is VERY confused and lost, and maybe distraught too

Violetta sighed. "Oh, great. That makes two of us without memories. We'll have to work on fixing that." She turned to Xithr. "Say, is amnesia really that common a condition?"

After a moment of thought, she turned back. "Well, maybe you could disguise yourself a bit. Wear a cloak over your wings. That kind of thing. I haven't been shot at for my horn, although someone here did threaten me...

"Say, are you injured? Since you mentioned being shot at and all..."

[Rebonack]

[Manehatten - Stable 29]

Down gets plenty of attention! Several nasty burns and one disintegrated pony later and bullets are filling the sky. It took a little while before anypony thought of looking up, but the attention came eventually. Thankfully only four ponies really have a bead on Down and none of them have any of the magnetically accelerated weapons that could really ruin her day.

Though it looks like one of those manticores just spotted her. With a huff the monster hurls itself into the sky.

What festivities!

One of the ponies at the turrets gets clipped by one beam and disintegrated by the second, leaving nothing more than a heap of pastel colored ash behind. As for the other turret?

Well, that pony ducks out of sight for a moment before bringing the minigun to bear on the charging armored earth pony! The weapon roars to life and peppers Corn with rounds, some plinking off armor and others thudding into flesh. If the wounds bother him he doesn't show it.

With a surprisingly graceful leap he hurls himself at the turret-pony, crashing down upon the poor unicorn like a living meteor. Nothing left but paste by the time Corn is done. And a quick buck to a second foe sends the offending pony slamming into a nearby wall before dropping into a lifeless heap, limbs twisted all akimbo.

Wow. Corn is pretty darn strong.

While Corn had simply plowed through the onslaught of firepower Rye takes a very different path. Hitting her proves to be frustratingly similar to boxing with shadows. The mare moves with uncanny grace, agility, and alacrity, dancing out of the line of fire moments before the trigger is pulled.

Seeing where the Team is headed three ponies dart in front of the Stable entrance in hopes of heading off Rye. To say that they find themselves sorely disappointed is a pretty dreadful understatement. She weaves and dances around their shots, summoning up her SATS and reducing one the pony's faces to a cloud of red with a pair of blasts from her shotgun. The weapon is then casually tosses into the air in a high arc moments before a hoof plants itself in the base of a guard's neck.

The pony's eyes widen with the sound of a sickening crunch as something rather important is crushed. Her companion, a deep blue unicorn, levels her own battle rifle at Rye and opens fire point black. Only to find the weapon seized by the brown earth pony and redirected into the gagging stallion.

Still in the middle of shock and trying to process what's going on the blue unicorn takes a buck to the chest with enough force to send her sprawling backwards. She gives a cough as she feels the tell-tale scrape of a rib against a lung and scrambles for her weapon-

-only to have Rye catch the earlier thrown shotgun in her teeth and send yet another pony riding into the hereafter with the Pale Horse.

"Would you all quite messing around?" comes Swiss' voice from inside the the Stable. "Get in here and I'll seal the doors."

[Benson]

[Manehatten - MoM Hub]

Actually the alicorns are sitting outside the shield with the griffons trapped inside. Wouldn't help too much to trap themselves in there with the griffons, right?

As it stands there's nothing between the four alicorns and whatever fast moving metal objects our heroes feel inclined to hurl at them.

"We can't get through this damned barrier," the first griffon replies. From her voice? Sounds like Blackbeak. The griffon that had been on the radio. "Our weapons are fine. Divebomb is a bit out of sorts, but I think he'll survive. The sooner you blow those alicorns to Tartarus the sooner we can get out of here!"

Woohoo! Flee before any more show up! That would be a great idea, yes?

Manehatten - MoM Hub

Sergeant Sprinkles hovers over the nearest alicorn. He places his buzz-saw right next to her throat, then levels his magical energy weapon with the flank of the alicorn across from her. "Alrighty then. Let's get in position folks. This is gonna be fuuuuunnnn..." he croons with what sounds like grim excitement.

Manehatten - Rooftop of a-Morale-ity

Scoops moves over to one of the Alicorns that aren't next to an insane murderbot, with a sword still drawn and ready for MURDERMURDERMURDER. "Get ready to move, give us a counter," she orders of the griffons. Plan of action, high slice down on the horn and a second slash down on the neck.

Manehatten Ruins-Horseshoe Tower-Minster of Morale-Rooftop - 10:45 am

Fox Trot

I pulled out the gun from my pack and held it tight in my mouth, the AP ammo bullets in the chamber. I aim to shoot at the alicorn Whadda is attacking, to help in making sure its dead and what not, or at least try to.
--


(What sort of cover is available?)

[Rebonack]

[Manehatten - MoM Hub]

There are plenty of large air conditioning units on the roof of the building as well as the spire bearing the communications and sensory equipment atop the tower. Lots of nice things to hide behind if it comes to a fire-fight.

Blackbeak nods. "Count of three. We'll focus our fire on any that are still standing once you ponies have fired."

The griffon merc's weapons load and prime, ready to rain some death on any alicorns who survive the initial onslaught.

"Time to ruin somepony's day. One."

"...two..."

"THREE!"

[Lycan 01]

[Manehatten - MoM Rooftop]

Sergeant Sprinkles is about to pull the triggers.

Then his visual sensors notice that Fox Trot is aiming at Alicorn #3, instead of #4, just as the griffin is calling them to fire.

"Aw ponyfeathers," the antique robot grunts under his mechanical breath, realizing that this may get a lot messier than it could have been.

Oh well. Too late.

The moment the griffin gives the call, the buzz-saw attachment whirs to life, and Sprinkles punches it straight through the left side of the alicorn's neck, driving the spinning blade through her carotid artery and jugular vein. That should be enough to kill her.

He also fires a magical energy blast at Alicorn #2. He aims for her flank, trying to hit the center of mass without hitting her rib-protected chest. A headshot would run too much risk of missing, especially if she flinched before the round arrived. A hit the to side should bring her down just as well, or at least cripple her horrendously.

Oh, and for good measure, he blares patriotic symphony music through all his speaker systems as the chaos erupts.