[FO:E] The Southern Wasteland of Equestria 2

[Rebonack]

[Cake Warehouse - Library?]

Sivr is looking increasingly uncomfortable! "I don't like this at all," she breaths through her beak. "Unarmed, bad plan, no idea what's down here. I'm bailing on this and getting some help. If you're smart you'll all leave too. Rusty knew what he was getting into when he set off alone."

That or he's really stupid.

Maybe a bit of both.

That said the griffon turns to leave.

And Surprise?

She's still picking stuff up at random! And peering at the apparent exit to the room.

[MCerberus]

Ponyville

Not being an experienced and prodigal wasteland doctor, Razoreye can't do much beside stand there and watch. He's worried at what he hears, but doesn't betray this. He's still got to appear intimidating and cold.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Cake Warehouse - Library? Dataland!]

Or something. It probably has an official name, but it's not labelled anywhere.

Dataland seems as good a name as any, considering its contents.


Surprise will be finding a lot of random delivery reference sheets, mostly. Need to know where the cupcake wrappers are, or perhaps the gunpowder stores?
Talk to the cybermare.

What's more likely to be of interest are the employee record snippets for ponies that were otherwise never mentioned elsewhere in MoM databases. Seems a lot of that information was kept here, and here alone.
How secretive.


Check Mark is feeling a little less sure about the situation, now that someone is already ducking out and leaving. This area is pretty trashed, so something bad was happening.
She has no idea what this new world is like, so she doesn't know what danger there is.

Spies? Giant mutant rabbits? Balefire ghosts? Living cakes?


Depending on the sensitivity of Sprinkle's equipment, the best he's likely to get are the sounds of dripping water past the room's apparent exit.
Someone didn't turn off a sink all the way.

[Cake Warehouse - Deeper]

"Alrighty then...yank this wire here, and we have forty-five seconds to get over there, then dash back before Auxiliary flips up all the Security triggers early, or Grimmy appears...
Okay. Route route...four steps back, turn, sixty paces forward, right, thirty paces..."

Somewhere, levels below, something bad is about to happen.

[Lycan 01]

Warehouse - Wrecked Library

"Er, hello?" Sergeant Sprinkles waves at the griffin. "I'm a walkin' armory. Even if I go down, you can just pry my weapons out of my cold dead claws and keep on fightin'. Plus Miss PV has a few tricks up her sleeves. Armored sleeves. Armor. Whatever."

The robot turns to point at the exit. "Somebody needs to fix that leaky faucet. Miss PV, want me to go check it out? Or should we go back the other way?"

If told to go check it out, Sergeant Sprinkles shall do so.

[Benson]

"All right. I'll pitch in, of course."

Bright Eyes made a mental note to find some new tombs to raid soon. She knew she didn't have infinite money, she was just losing more and more all day today, and she hadn't even bought that shovel yet.

"Thank you young Miss, your help with help us help them and them to help themselves," Railright said with a weary smile. They should probably get them checked out by Dr Sawbones, especially the young colt.

Steel Creel's House

"I meant later as in when we're not in this area. When we travel outside of the trade area, I'll do it for her."

Sparky was intensely focused, perhaps very oddly so.

"Anyway, any shopping you need to do? I'd be happy to do it for you."

"Shopping?....Probably...I don't really have a list though...I tend to just....wander into the few shops here until I see something I think I'll need....I admit...I'm an impulsive buyer like that," He said sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head.

[BladeofObliviom]

Spoiler

Show

Ponyville

Doc Patch almost decided to just use Scourge on the mare in retribution for Bent Barrel's condition, but checked his anger. He quickly pulled out an extra-strength bandage and applied it to the wound. He'd make a healing salve once he got back to the ATV. First, to check for concussions or other ailments which could have resulted from her head wound; a good step was see if the mare was capable of responding to speech correctly.

"Excuse me, miss, but you are rather heavily injured. I am a doctor by trade, so I hope you don't mind me healing you."

Ponyville

Well, Patch really should be glad Razoreye was standing near him and pointedly not murdering him. If that little hint weren't there, he'd probably have received two grenades to the face for his trouble.

In any case, while patching up the obviously life-threatening wound on her face, he'll probably notice that her eyes are slightly out of alignment, though it looks to be a result of concussion-based disorientation rather than a permanent condition.

"...feel...dizzy..."

And then her legs give out from under her as she collapses onto her belly, seemingly completely unconscious.

((Pineapple can be godmodded as seen fit by this point, within reason.))

Spoiler

Show

"A lot of luck. I happened to be passing through the area, looking for a skilled crafter, and I asked around." Night Jewel smiled despite her disappointment. "Anyway, it was nice meeting you. I'll let you know when I find something." With that, she turned to leave.

Strictly Business

The dog nearly immediately turns back to the workbench, switching power back to the arc welder just as Night Jewel reaches the stairs.

"See pony later, then."

What a strange fellow.

[PurityIcekiller]

"Thank you young Miss, your help with help us help them and them to help themselves," Railright said with a weary smile. They should probably get them checked out by Dr Sawbones, especially the young colt.

((Now how old is this guy?))

"Oh, it's my pleasure. I've learned to accept that heroism is more than just finding and shooting bad guys." Bright Eyes laughed. "Helping ponies get settled may not sound glamorous, but at least you get to see their smiles."

The dog nearly immediately turns back to the workbench, switching power back to the arc welder just as Night Jewel reaches the stairs.

"See pony later, then."

What a strange fellow.

Night Jewel smiled and trotted out.

Now this is a novelty. He seems friendly, and he's clearly quite intelligent despite his simple speech pattern. A cut above my usual allies, that's for sure.

She then headed back to town to ask around for information on major events. Eventually, she was bound to find clues to Lamianos's whereabouts.

[Luka]

[Wild Rabbit Woods]

The stable dweller wouldn't be doing much, trying to recover the bullets on the ground and making sure they aren't that dusty, because dusty bullets could cause jams, couldn't they?

[Tag: Benson and the whole group]

[Drowlord]

Wild Rabbit Woods

Elestre telekinetically pulled out his broken knife. It wasn't much, but better than nothing.

Steel Creel's House

"'Kay then. Why not let's do that? We've got decent funds and we might need salt for the mirelurk, Sparkle Colas, stuff like that... don't know how many'd sell Cola, but you'd know better than me."

Sparky was relaxed now, speaking in an informal tone.

Ponyville

Patch is pretty glad he wasn't grenaded, yes. He hates it when his kindness is attempted like that and refused with violence. He gets out cloth, two sticks, a hammer, and nails. Quickly hammering the nails through the cloth into the wood with many precise taps, he looks to Razoreye. "Would you mind if I get her to my vehicle? Her head wound is rather life-threatening, and I need to get her rest. My healing salves are also in there."

[Tychris1]

[Wild Rabbit Woods]

Freaking Ninjas. Or bunnies. Or whatever, Ducard still wasn't a hundred percent sure as to what was happening infront of him or what was assailing them. But he did know that Elestre was hardly in any condition to be running from life threatening dangers, and so the Steel Ranger opts to move forward and try to carry Elestre on his back.

[TAG Drowlord, Benson if he wants to interrupt anything with ninja stars or the like]

Southwestern Equestria- Underground Facility 5:12 PM

After some time walking through the facility (Being carried really), Maul Steel finally works up the energy to prod Tough Stomp and say "Let... me down.... When we get out of here.... I have to do something....." And if Tough Stomp listened to the Stallions wishes he would find that upon letting Tough Stomp stand at the exit of the facility that the Ex Slaver was pulling the rifle and bullets he found in the facility, slowly loading them.

There was no way in sweet Celestia's name that he was letting that scumbag live, and when he popped his ugly head out it was going to eat a lead bullet.

[TAG Benson]

[Benson]

Steel Creel's House

Steel Creel gave Sparky a small smile and nodded. "Salt might fetch a pretty penny cap though, salt licks and all being a commodity, hey, who knows, maybe we'll find us a deal."
---

Southwestern Equestria- Underground Facility Exit 5:16 PM

"What?...What are you planning to do Steel?" Tough Stomp asked worriedly when they got to that point. Even Foxfire stopped at this and by default Half Pint as well.
---
Wild Rabbit Woods

From the direction Ducard was facing to take Elestre and by default the others, there was a silhouette of a pony figure that disappeared.
---

New Appleloosa

"Sadly, I've been finding real genuine smiles a hard thing to come by out here in the wastes. We're lucky we have Miss Ditzy and her never ending supply of smiles to make the day less....sad." Railright wanly smiled and shook his head.

[MCerberus]

Wild Rabbit Woods

Finder retreats back to be with the rest of the group, using his light spell to illuminate his gun. He tries to yank the star out of the bolt then just hopes the thing wouldn't immediately jam when fired.

[Drowlord]

Wild Rabbit Woods

Elestre allows Ducard to pick him up, his eyes narrowing as he saw the silhouette. "Ducard, ahead."

Steel Creel's Home

Sparky nodded. "Well then. Looks like we have some bargaining to do!"

He flexed his wings, ready to follow Steel to wherever he might choose to take the pegasus.

Ponyville

Patch picked up Pineapple as gingerly as possible and laid her on her back on the stretcher. "Bella, you and Lance get Bent Barrel. Bags, help me get this one."

Bags grabbed one end of the stretcher in his mouth while Patch took the other end in his. Bella and Lance quickly retrieved the other pony from the alley.

"Razoreye, if you have no objections, we'll take her back to the ATV to get her fixed up."

If Razoreye did not stop him, he'd start doing so.

[Luka]

[Wild Rabbit Woods]

The colt finishes loading the bullets back after cleaning them of dust, he puts the magazine again into the SMG and begins trying to pull the bolt to load, it's a bit stuckish though.

[tag: Benson, everyone else in the group]

[Tychris1]

[Wild Rabbit Woods]

Ducard will begin to carry Elestre off, looking around every once in a while to see if he can catch anything with his peripheral vision before beginning to leave the Woods. Sleeping in the middle of the forest probably wasn't the best idea. Sleep deprivation or not.

Southwestern Equestria- Underground Facility Exit 5:16 PM

"I'm.... planning... On shooting that bastard when he comes out.... No way he's getting away with this scott free..." He began to aim the rifle, lining the body of it up with his eye for precision.

[TAG Benson]

[MCerberus]

Ponyville

"Go ahead," Razoreye states simply. Funny how luck seems to go along with big plans. Finding a useful mare and then bumping into a pony that saves her.

Wild Rabbit Woods

In a haze of tired and adrenaline, Finder just follows along. His light spell is still going and he's rather paranoid at the shadows.

[Drowlord]

Wild Rabbit Woods

Elestre kept a close eye out in the woods, turning his scarred head from side to side constantly and scanning the woods for shadows. He was actually pretty frightened, one of the first times he'd been scared in a long time.

Ponyville

Doc Patch nodded sharply. "Back, my ponies. We'll have a talk when we get there."

The bandits trotted out of town, closely flanking the two stretchers. As they approached the ATV, a sniper rifle was aimed at them by a pony with a green eye cutie mark.

"Halt! Who goes?"

"The Doctor. One wounded, one allied wounded. Get the tent."

The two guardsponies reached into the vehicle and dragged out a huge cloth structure. They set up several poles under it, making a quick but rather shaky tent. Bella, entering it, pounded the poles into the ground.

"Out of the way, Patch?"

"Yes."

The band headed out behind the tent, ready to guard it if anypony hostile attacked. Meanwhile, Patch carefully selected herbs from a medicine packet, mixing them into a pulp in a glass measure. Gently and delicately removing the bandage on the head wound with his teeth, he spread the healing salve over the injury and, hoping that he'd kept her alive (wouldn't want an angry griffon after him), expertly applied a potion down her throat [Medicine]. As he considered the mare, his expression grew oddly softer.

"You know, I might kill you yet, but not now. Not while Bent still has a chance."

He pulled in Bent as well, removing his bandages to set a broken foreleg. Very carefully, he washed the two of them using a small amount of water from the band's supplies. He cleaned Pineapple and the stallion completely and diligently. Wiping his bandit dry and reapplying bandages, he injected the pony with a tiny bit of Med-X. He then tapped him lightly on the nose.

"Wake up."

The unconscious pony blinked his eyes open slowly. "Wha happ'nd?"

"You got bucked to near death by an ally by asking a question. You're a useless waste of my skills. Get out there unless you're a vurnerable filly, which you might be since you got beaten so easily!"

Bent's eyes widened and he scrambled out of the tent before his leader gave him a taste of Scourge, catching a glancing blow from a hoof on his behind. After he left, Patch dried Pineapple off. He pressed his hoof lightly on her cheek. "Wake up, if you would."

[BladeofObliviom]

Ponyville

Presumably, Patch took Pineapple's saddlebags, barding, and weapons off of her before the whole washing thing, and the rest of this post will continue on that assumption. Otherwise cleaning's not going to do much and she's rather heavy.

In any case, the wound's had some time to clot under the bandage, and that alone would probably be enough to turn a life-threatening injury into merely a severe one. A decent medicinal salve would further help that on the way to recovery, and a healing potion just about does it, in addition to cleaning up some of those superficial incisions and contusions.

In any case, she's regaining consciousness even before being poked awake.

"Wha-"

The mare stiffens and her eyes go wide as she realizes that all of her stuff is no longer in her possession and there's a strange stallion bearing down on her. This is going to be a running theme with her, I just know it.

"...Oh, buck."

[Drowlord]

Ponyville

Patch stared at her for a short time, then raised an eyebrow.

"At least I can see your head wound isn't harming you too much. I suppose you might not have heard me while you were nearly unconscious. My name is Doctor Cloth Patch. Your allies let me heal you, which is why you're here; your things are nearby. Are you alright?"

[Luka]

[Wild Rabbit Woods]

The stable colt follows the group after he's finished with his SMG, pulling the loader back, he still pulls the magazine out and puts it in again just in case.

[Chaotic Bob]

[New Appleoosa]

See the smiles of those you help...
Wouldn't that be a treat.


Now, while this conversation is interesting and all, the refugees are looking like they're starting to lose their muster a bit.
"Dead on their feet" probably is closer to being a literal statement than is healthy.
"I don't mean to sound...pushy...but is there perhaps somewhere we could lay down for a bit? Before we get into negotiations or anything like that?"

[Rebonack]

[Cake Warehouse Library]

Nope.

Sivr is already out of there. No waiting. No chatting. Out. This whole place gives the griffon the jeebies and she isn't going to stay down here any longer if she can avoid it. Go tell Heimdalr what's going on. He'll decide how to handle the situation.

Meanwhile!

Surprise has somehow managed to create a tiny house large enough to shelter a single pony out of loose papers and books. How she did whilst nopony was looking at her for a few seconds isn't readily clear, but she pulled it off none the less.

"Nah! We should wait here just a little long!" the cybermare replies. "I have the feeling something good is about to happen!"

[Benson]

[Wild Rabbit Woods]

Up ahead on Ducard's and Co path, there was a figure standing there, just barely out of reach of the unicorns' light spell leaving visual details unclear.

Not too far behind them, Swift Star watched them, trailing and keeping out of sight and sound.
-----

New Appleloosa- Front Gates Area

Well, there was always sitting on the ground, that was a thing :P . "Commons' House, up on the small hill. Run by a pony named Common Sense." Big painted letters saying 'Commons' House', can't miss it, well, if ya can't read, then maybe."
-----

New Appleloosa- Leaving Steel Creel's 'House'

Steel smiled again while Mags jumped on Sparky's back.

"Alright, well, there are a few shops here, and of course Absolutely Everything." He said shutting and locking the door behind him.

"Hey, Sparky, even if ya can't take me to see the sun...I still want to go on a pegasus ride and fly in the sky," Mags said with a big smile.
-----

Southwestern Equestria- Underground Facility Exit 5:16 PM


"Wha?...Isn't that...excessive....I know...what he's doing is...wrong...but killing him?..." Tough Stomp fretted and began to paw the ground if he wasn't already. Of course Tough Stomp didn't know about Maul Steel's more personal and flashback-y reason for his behavior.

"Hauh...you're going to kill...the chief?" Half Pint asked with big round eyes. Sure, from an outsider's perspective, Green Spike may come off as quite some bastard for choosing to keep the ghoul enslaved and siphoned of its magic in order to keep the water going for his people, and having monthly sacrifices of his people out of ignorance and religious belief when he had thought that the water came from the sacrifices made to the Gods. But, for someone like Half Pint, even if Green Spike would have been responsible for his older brother being sacrificed, the chief was still the chief, leader of the people, figure looked up to, to lead them. He was filled with uncertainty.

[BladeofObliviom]

Ponyville

Well, by this point that terror has largely given way to embarrassment. Sometime around the phrase "head wound," the relatively dense mare seems to have figured out that she is NOT, in fact, about to be violated and/or mutilated by angry raiders. Not necessarily in that order.

That's a good thing, of course. It's a lot easier to get someone to listen to you on a friendly level when they're not too busy worrying that you're about to take advantage of them at gunpoint.

"I... ...uh, thanks."

Pineapple's a little dumbfounded, really. She was getting charity from somepony, after all. Either this doctor just decided to help her for the sake of a good deed, or the "allies" that basically press-ganged her decided she was too useful to let die. Hmm. In any case, she quickly scrambles to her hooves, off of the operating table.

"Erm, thanks for fixing me up, I mean. I'll be okay, I guess. Unless I don't look okay. I dunno. You're the doctor here."

Since I don't think I've actually described her properly at any point IC and she's just been newly cleaned anyway, I might as well do so. Pineapple Blast has a dark yellow coat, green eyes, and a darker green mane. Her cutie mark is a cartoonish black spherical bomb with a lit fuse. Her mane is terribly messy by prewar standards, but not unreasonably so considering the apocalypse happened. With all that muck, dirt, blood, and pony viscera cleaned off, in fact, she's actually kind of pretty. Certainly a step above average, anyway.

At the moment, she's also practically spattered with bruises as a result of shrapnel battering her barding, but they look more uncomfortable than serious.

[MCerberus]

Ponyville

Meanwhile, Razoreye was just outside of view being stoic and unapproachable. He briefly in his mind thought of striking a conversation to show some personality beyond 'griffin with the stallion that beat our friend to a bloody pulp' but decided against it. Better to retain the message that screwing with him isn't good for one's health.

Wild Rabbit Woods

The light spell flickers momentarily before being reinforced. The odd mix of how bucked up the situation makes concentration on such trivial things slightly difficult. "What are we supposed to do now then?"

[Drowlord]

New Appleoosa

Sparky grinned, flapping slowly into the air slightly above the town's streets. He got progressively faster and rose some, but made sure Mags didn't fall off.

"Let's go to Absolutely Everything first."

Ponyville

Patch smiled nodded, smiling slightly. "It was no trouble healing you, really. It's better to save a life than end it, when you can. You're free to do anything you want now; you seem to be fine."

He bowed slightly, an odd courteous gesture that seemed very out of place in the Wasteland. "If you wish, you may take a Med-X or two, I can spare them."

The stallion was tall, almost oddly white in color, with a short grey mane that was stiff and pressed forward. On his flank there was a mark of a brown cloth patch. His eyes were golden in color, his smile making them soft and kind. Patch looked very stern at times, but now was not one of them. His frame, angular and thin, was actually handsome in a rather proper way. He did indeed notice that Pinapple was rather pretty; it was one of the few factors that had led to him trying to heal her.

[BladeofObliviom]

Ponyville

"Oh, erm. All right. Thanks again!"

She doesn't actually take any Med-X; The stuff is useful, but very dangerous for the careless. She doesn't really trust herself with it after that fiasco with Dash a few years back. She does take her stuff back, though she doesn't bother putting her barding or battle saddle back on properly. She also doesn't leave, quite yet.

"What happened, anyway? Did we win? The last thing I remember was a knife fight with a crazed mare and this horrible noise."

Well, that explains how she ended up covered in blood and pony organs. Kind of. The extrapolation from there isn't precisely pleasant.

[Luka]

[Wild Rabbit Woods]

The colt tries to get his gun smooth again, pulling the loader back, when Finder mentions that he quickly rushes a bit back, picking up the shrooms, water gas can and the other things/supplies.
"Should we go to the mountain?"

[tag: Whole group, Benson]

[Drowlord]

Wild Rabbit Woods

Elestre nodded slightly. "If we can figure out how to get there without being shadowed every step of the way."

Ponyville

"You won, from what I cleaned off of you, and must have disabled whatever made the noise. It was interesting; I'm trained to resist such things and I still felt it."

Patch looks pensive, his golden eyes lost in thought. The pony organs shook him a bit but didn't make him faint. He was a medic first and foremost, and he couldn't be afraid of anything that prevented him from operating right on a patient.

[BladeofObliviom]

Ponyville

"Hmm. Weird. Well, thanks again!"

And with that, she trots out the door oddly happily considering that she disemboweled another pony less than ten minutes prior. Even if she doesn't really remember it. Razoreye (or Lamianos, if he's back yet) would probably be able to spot her.