[FO:E] The Southern Wasteland of Equestria 2

[Benson]

Wild Rabbit Woods

Yes, yes he was, SATS and all, likely countering it with his SATS, because that would be rule cool trumphin' all, j/k. Swift Star held up his leg to himself and lifted up his head. He glanced at his pipbuck, amused at seeing red blips. Hahahaha heho hahah, amusing.

"I dID noT thrOw tHeM aT YoU, thEY wERE ThrOwN At yoUR WEapONs," Hey, get it right Ducard and stop makin' up stuff ;P....One could almost sense the cheeky smile underneath his mask, almost. He then looked at Elestre, the only one he so far tolerated still, or liked rather.

"tHe ONe nAMed ReD EYe of FiLLYDelphia SEEks aN aUDIence wiTH THRee oF YOu, You WIll nOT Be HARmeD In hIS CaRE."
===========

New Appleloosa-Absolutely Everything

And packets, Benson means those small little restaurant type packets, haha. Anyways! Ditzy Do nods her head keeping a big smile on her face. Steel Creel himself didn't know what to get.

Mags on the other hoof was looking at some neat toys, like this hoofmade doll, which would have made a great companion for own.
===========


Southwestern Equestria- Underground Facility 5:25 PM

When Maul Steel entered the chamber he would see that ghoul the throne-ish thing. The second warrior trying to fiddle with the wires and Chief Green Spike right there.

"You, how did you disconnect them wires and stuff? I can't get the water talisman to work and my people need their water." He demanded.

[MCerberus]

Wild Rabbit Woods

In normal circumstances, such a declaration would be really funny. Nothing about this is normal though. Finder's light spell flickers for a second. "And he actually expects us to believe that? And you?"

[Lycan 01]

Warehouse - Library

Sergeant Sprinkles doesn't seem bothered by the dark. "Huh. Well that's ominous. You got a light, Miss PV?" he asks, before raising his flamethrower arm and activating the pilot light. It creates a fain aura of flickering light around the robot. "That any better? Hard for me to tell - got my Night Vision on."

[Chaotic Bob]

[New Appleoosa]

And so the little group of refugees begin the DARING and FANTASTIC journey to the Commons' House.
What adventures and excitement will they find along the way? What dire secrets shall the learn of the world, perils they shall face?

Probably none. None at all.

This will be a very dull walk.

[Ponyville]

Hey, this place where fantastic things are going down, at the hooves of utterly terrible ponies.

Another guest will be appearing shortly, the enwrapped pony from the hill-top who so generously lent Lamianos his binoculars.
Seems he's decided to observe more closely, going so far as to boldly trot right into town.

[BladeofObliviom]

[Ponyville]

Hey, Pineapple isn't THAT terrible of a pony! Sure, her previous occupation might have been less than entirely ethical, but caps are life, right?

In any case, since she's trotting in that general direction anyway, she likely spots him. She considers ignoring him and going on her way, but curiosity gets the better of her and she soon diverts to approach the other pony.

"Hey, you're alive! I was worried raiders nabbed you, or you got eaten by bloatflies or something horrible like that. Good to see I was wrong!" Pineapple says, with a smile on her face far too wide for those words.

He'll probably notice that she looks kinda different from the last time they met. She's not wearing her barding at the moment, since it's stashed in the saddlebag where she got that oversized Plastic Explosive from. She is wearing a battle saddle, but it's not on quite straight and isn't properly locked in; using it would probably cause it to fly off her back. Oh, and all that wasteland dirt and grime that had been caking up for a month or so is gone. That's nice too.

[Benson]

"Got it. I'll stop by later to make sure you're getting on all right, okay? So long!" Bright Eyes waved and headed over to Ditzy's shop.

When she got there, she quickly spotted the newcomers. "Oh! Hi there! What are you up to?"

Steel Creel looked at Bright Eyes like a deer caught in the headlights. "S-shopping?" He had been poking his muzzle through a bin of scrap metal and old bolts and nuts.
----

[New Appleoosa]

And so the little group of refugees begin the DARING and FANTASTIC journey to the Commons' House.
What adventures and excitement will they find along the way? What dire secrets shall the learn of the world, perils they shall face?

Probably none. None at all.

This will be a very dull walk.

Yep, nothing at all. The building they seek, is around two fused trains wide, two cars tall, with four more fused depth wide. It looks like it could use a paint job, just like most of the 'buildings' in here. There are three lanterns strung together over the sliding door.

[Drowlord]

Wild Rabbit Woods

Elestre was deep in thought. "Finder, if we don't do as Red Eye wants, he's probably going either to take us by force or kill us. So... Maybe it would be a good idea just to go along and be prepared?"

New Appleoosa

Sparky grinned at the newcomer. "Nothing much right now, although might be shopping some soon. You?"

[Dark Elf Bard]

Spoiler

Show

Wild Rabbit Woods

Ducard was frantic, he was nearly jumping out of his armor at any bump or shadow. For all his gusto and combat skill Ducard was not trained for this kind of fighting, he was taught to take down threats head on and trust his suit to handle what's left. Not to do mind games and fight those in the shadows.

And then he spotted the figure.

Wasn't much to go on, but this whole situation has been shooting into the dark really, what difference was there now? The Steel Ranger grinded to a halt, not wanting to get any closer to the thing. Staring at it he decided to answer the unicorns question "You want to know my suggestion for getting out of here," he pauses for a moment, taking a single step forward to try and get a better look at the figure "We burn our way out." Not the brightest of ideas, but slash and torch was a semi viable method, assuming the group could run quickly. Very quickly.

[TAG Whole party]

Southwestern Equestria- Underground Facility Exit 5:17 PM

Maul Steel looked back at his bro for a moment "This pony spent months murdering innocent ponies for delusional reasons and now wants to condemn a pony to a lifetime of slavery and you think killing him is excessive," he pauses, turning back to his gun as he lines back up the shot "You of all ponies should know what slavery is like...." Oooo. That's got to sting. The ex slaver stallion probably didn't mean to be so mean, but sometimes you needed some tough love in order to get your friends to see what's happening infront of them.

[TAG Benson]

Ponyville

Lamianos began to trot back to town, apparently he sent Eledwhen on her way to town with a few simple instructions before he decided to do some checking around. As he walked he noted the ATV and decided to check it out, not yet knowing that everyone seemed to have congregates there. Nodding his head to Razoreye he addresses the griffin with a gruff hello before turning towards Pineapple Blast "Good to see your not splattered brain matter on the walls of some broken down house. A grizzled mare like you is a valuable asset for my cause, and it'd be a shame to have you down after the first mission." He inspected the mare, looking her over to make sure the doc didn't say plant a bomb inside of her while she was in surgery, and once reasonably satisfied he took one last note of her (For more personal reasons) before returning to Razoreye.

"So, we got a broken down base of operations, some bandits of varying degrees of skill, a psycho unicorn, and an ATV. I'm thinking we should raid any towns or old world facilities we can get our hooves on. Avoid any big fish while we rebuild this place and start training the bandits. Raiding expiditions would be lead by either you, me, or anyone we trust enough to competently pull one off. We should probably set up some more well monitored patrols and keep most of our forces home so that we're not defenceless. Given time more raiders, slavers, and psychos will come knocking here: the unicorn and the bandits are proof of that. We just need to start stockpiling and preparing ourselves while ponies trickle in. Thoughts?" Lamianos was fully down from his high and his Slaver side was fully kicking in, he'd put alot of thought into this even though his initial plan was to just sieze an already established slaver operation. This wasn't ideal but it would work.

[Tag Obliviom, MCerberus]

When Lamianos found Eledwhen she was bruised, bloody, and unconscious. And her gun was missing.

Assuming he carried her to a hotel or something she wakes up now.

...What? Lamia? Where am I?

She trots downstairs and goes outside to look for her surrogate father, unless topped by the manager.

[PurityIcekiller]

Steel Creel looked at Bright Eyes like a deer caught in the headlights. "S-shopping?" He had been poking his muzzle through a bin of scrap metal and old bolts and nuts.

Bright Eyes laughed. "A bit jittery there, are we?"

Sparky grinned at the newcomer. "Nothing much right now, although might be shopping some soon. You?"

"You've come to the right place! I'm doing a little shopping myself. I just learned a little while ago that getting caught without a shovel is bad news. Anyway, the name's Bright Eyes. I look forward to getting to know you!"

[Chaotic Bob]

[New Appleoosa]

Not the prettiest building in the world.
But then again, there are very few pretty buildings left.

"Come along everypony...time to get our hard earned rest."
A little glance, amongst the party. Pieces of hope, pieces of doubt.
How could it be as bad as what they left?

...but what if it is?
"That thing Bright-"
"No. Stop. We passed the damn test. Now shut up and get inside. Everything will be fine."
The angry wall of the lead stallion's will prevents further vocal dissent and the group shuffles into the Commons.


[Ponyville]

Caps are life.
Oh yes, that sounds like the peak of morality...

The pony takes Pineapple in for a moment, a swift study of a passingly interesting oddity.
"Evidently I did not. I am looking for the armored pony."
He seems a blunt one, as always.
"You too, perhaps. What was your opinion on the decrepit ponies that were here previously?

[Rebonack]

[Cake Warehouse]

There comes a whine of motors and a sudden blaze of light from Surprise's wings. Seems like they function as more than just speakers! How very useful.

The sudden light reveals that several more book-houses have been constructed in the fleeting seconds of darkness. That's... umm... interesting?

We'll go with interesting.

"Ooooh! This is spooky! The perfect time to tell ghost stories! But I guess we're supposed to be finding Rusty, right? Hmmm..."

Which way to go...

"Well. If the power is out that means that most of the security protocols should be a bit wonkey now, right? Kinda surprised there aren't backup lights and power down here."

Y'know.

Redundancies and all?

[Luka]

[Wild Rabbit Woods]

The colt just becomes slightly more stern, but more of untrust than Stern, Eye mean, he was helping the slavers

Then
"W-Who is "Red Eye" anyways?" He kind of asks.

[tag: everyone in the group, Benson]

[Chaotic Bob]

[Cake Warehouse]

Check Mark continues to be rather nonplussed by the situation.
At least until Surprise pipes up, and then she just smiles slightly.
Or...whatever passes for a smile on a ghoul's face.
"Give it a moment."

In a time span of sliiiightly less than a minute, every other light begins to flicker back on, slowly at first, but with extra strength before too long.
Even better than before, somehow.

The effect, unfortunately, is diminished a bit by the fact that there's overall less than before. Likely because the backup systems can't (or deliberately won't) try to power everything that should be normally.
"After the first failure, the Ministry invested a good deal into assuring that it wouldn't happen again. Backup power here is quite secure.

Or, so I hear. Most of my knowledge is secondhand."

[BladeofObliviom]

[Ponyville]

Morality is for ponies courageous enough to risk scavenging, ponies rich enough to always have the caps for what they need, and very dead conscientious objectors. Pineapple is none of these things, so she plays the hand she's dealt regardless of the consequences.

"Oh, him. Of course. He's a bit outside town. Look for the big tent, you can't miss it."

She visibly frowns as she says this. Maybe her opinion of the stallion is fairly low? However, she seems more confused than anything at the actual question. Despite this, she answers earnestly.

"They're completely bonkers. Even the slavers do what they do for the sake of living, not for some sick thrill they get out of stabbing other ponies to death. These ones were weird, though. Didn't even really respond to anything until we tried to talk to one, then they all went berserk!"

[Tychris1]

Wild Rabbit Woods

Ducard remained silent, this wasn't his place, and this wasn't his call. Whatever the other three decided to do would be up to them. Him? He had a mission.

Southwestern Equestria- Underground Facility 5:25

Deep breathes, steady aim, don't flinch. Deep breathes, steady aim, don't flinch. Deep breathes..... The words repeated themselves in Maul's head as he finally entered the room. He gritted his teeth as he looked at Greenspike.

"You, how did you-"

Bang

That's about as far as the Chief would have gotten with before a trigger was pulled, sending several mechanisms turning and cracking before letting loose a metal round from the chamber of Maul's rifle. He quickly began to reload as he backed up and aimed at the guards, trying to keep them at bay.

[TAG Benson]

Ponyville

Well, now that his "Drug Free Week" was in action, Lamianos needed something to distract himself for the next 7 days or so. Eledwhen should do. Trotting back to town he goes to a broken down house on the outskirts of town where he had kept Eledwhen..... Who's apparently wandering around outside of the house. Great. Smiling, Lamia approaches the foal, still dragging his power armor along, and drops it off at the house.

"Hello Eledwhen. We're home now.... a nice place we can call home."

[TAG DarkElfBard]

[MCerberus]

Ponyville

Razoreye would stick around to keep things stable for a while, but he has things to attend to before leaving. One of them is getting food. The ponies could just eat grains or grass or whatever, but long journeys require something a bit more substantive for a griffin. He makes his way over to Doc. The griffin intends to share, but has to dance around the subject that can get icky for ponies.

"I'm taking a short trip into the forest. I need to know if any of your number would want to eat what I bring back."

Wild Rabbit Woods

The whole Red Eye situation would make anypony uncomfortable. And now it seems the colt doesn't even know just why they might still be dead. In any case, Finder's not going to stumble head-long into obvious death here.

"Then you tell him he can do this chat through a radio," he states defiantly. "I've been thinking on something to smooth over this mess, but I'm not dumb enough to just go trotting into bucking Filly."

[Benson]

Wild Rabbit Woods

The ghoul stared for a moment and listened to them. "iT woULd Be WIsE." He briefly looked at Luka and subtly shook his head. He could not answer the question. He himself didn't really know Red Eye, Red Eye was but a name, a pony he never met before face to face.

In response to Finder, the ghoul shakes his head. "i'M AFraiD I CaN't Do that, LIkE, I ReaLLY Can'T dO THat, PHysIcaLLy." He didn't have the equipment or knowledge of the channel to patch through to Red Eye personally. That was asking the realm of the impossibility.


--

[New Appleloosa-Absolutely]

"Well....I'm not used to a stranger asking me what I'm up to...Well Miss Bright Eyes...a pleasure," He said plucking out a small bolt that got caught in his little beard.

Mags suddenly hopped on Bright Eyes' back causing Steel Creel to wince in minor embarrassment. "Hiya, my name is Mags, yer very smiley, I like that, wanna see the doll Mister Creel is gonna buy me?"

"Wha what?"

Ditzy heard all the ruckus and quickly flew over to give her previous customer a hug. She smiled broadly at Bright Eyes. "Hiya! Nice to see you again!" She scribbled down on her chalkboard.
===

New Appleloosa-Commons

Inside was a relatively roomy place with a catwalk along the walls and the appropriate stairs to get to them. Up there were the rooms with the loads of beds. There were three worn but kinda comfy looking couches. There were already a few ponies chilling on them, three of them in total looking worse for wear.

"Hiya! Welcome to the Commons strangers, and hopefully we can remedy that last bit hahah," A hearty voice from their right said to them. The voice came from a slightly chunky earth stallion with a light pink mane and and lemon colored coat.
=====


Southwestern Equestria- Underground Facility 5:26

The sound of the gunshot seemed to echo forever in there. The unicorn fiddling with the wires sported a look of shock and ran over to Chief' Greenspike's corpse. "Brother...!...No......No....." He bent over his head and found himself sobbing a bit. "No no...ya ain't dead...get your ass up....please..!" He tensed his body and sharply looked at Maul Steel with a deadly glower. "You damn bastard."

The other warrior had a similar look of shock which turned into anger as he floated his spear and pointed it at Maul Steel. "You killed the chief, an act that can't be accepted, you will die right here for your actions!"
===

[Dark Elf Bard]

Ponyville

Well, now that his "Drug Free Week" was in action, Lamianos needed something to distract himself for the next 7 days or so. Eledwhen should do. Trotting back to town he goes to a broken down house on the outskirts of town where he had kept Eledwhen..... Who's apparently wandering around outside of the house. Great. Smiling, Lamia approaches the foal, still dragging his power armor along, and drops it off at the house.

"Hello Eledwhen. We're home now.... a nice place we can call home."

[TAG DarkElfBard]

H-hi Lamia... Her bruised face manages a weak smile. Where were you?

[Chaotic Bob]

[Ponyville]

A big tent.
Noticeable enough.

The pony peers off in the distance for a moment.
"Very well. So the prior ponies did nothing, until specifically addressed? If that is unusual for their kind, what is to say they were not different?"

Some things just can't be learned from observing.
To get a pony's opinions of other ponies, questions must be asked!

[New Appleoosa - Commons]

Ponies! Lots of other ponies! In closed space!

The refugee group condenses slightly.

Trying to not look as uncomfortable as the rest of her group, the lead mare swiftly maneuvers over towards the greeting stallion.
The fellow in charge is always good to approach right away, no?
"To be remedied quite soon, I hope! Hello, are you in charge of the Commons?"

Be friendly, smile, avoid looking slightly ill.
Diplomacy go.

[Tychris1]

Ponyville

Lamianos lies down, looking at Eledwhen as he says "I was in town, clearing it of bad ponies..... Tell me, who did this to you?" he points his hoof at her bruisings, clearly not pleased by them as he continues to study them.

[TAG DEB]

Southwestern Equestria- Underground Facility 5:27

Maul begins to back up, his rifle still raised to the guard pointing the spear at him as he says "Don't make me do this!...." He continues back away, another rifle round sliding into the chamber of the hun ss he floats it to aim at the warrior. He was tryingto nudge his way out of the room, hopefully so he wouldn't have to fight the guards. They disn't do anything wrong, they shouldn't have to die.

[TAG Benson]

[BladeofObliviom]

[Ponyville]

And some things can only be learned by experience.

"Nothing, but it doesn't matter. We tried to talk first, and they responded with violence. Lots and lots of violence. Honestly, we're lucky that Doc Patch showed up; I don't know if I'd have lived otherwise."

Pineapple grimaces slightly at the memory of so much blood. To be fair, she doesn't remember clearly how much of it exactly was hers.

[Drowlord]

Wild Rabbit Woods

Elestre looked at Luka. "Red Eye is a pony trying to rebuild Equestria upon the blood and sweat of a city of slaves, whose population we were destined to join before we escaped the slaver train. Apart from that, his reasoning and his plan, I don't know. That's why I'd decide to go along. I guess I'm too curious for my own good, but knowledge is power."

He turned to Finder. "You see? He can't get us in touch via radio. That means either we get captured roughly before talking to him, or we go along quietly. Which one should it be?"

New Appleoosa

Sparky grinned. "Yep, I'm definately in the right place. I'm Stormy Skies, but you can just call me Sparky. Stormy Skies is a gloomy name. Nice to meet you too!"

[Benson]

[New Appleoosa - Commons]

"Indeed I am. Name is Common Sense," He said grabbing the lead mare's hoof and shaking it vigorously. "What's all yer names?"
===\\\


Southwestern Equestria- Underground Facility 5:27 PM

"Make you do what?? Murder us too?" The more emotional warrior spat glowering at Maul Steel full of hatred. He raised his own spear and pointed it Maul, it was at a farther distance, but it was ready to be hurled at him the moment he tried to make a dash for it.

The other one kept his spear raised, following the non verbal cues of the other one. Seemed like there was a pecking order or something, anyways.

[Dark Elf Bard]

Ponyville

Lamianos lies down, looking at Eledwhen as he says "I was in town, clearing it of bad ponies..... Tell me, who did this to you?" he points his hoof at her bruisings, clearly not pleased by them as he continues to study them.

Well, I was practicing, and a pony came up and I said hello and he started to hit me and he took my gun and I fell asleep.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Ponyville]

"Violence is the way of this place."
So neutral, the pony really seems to be reading off a general script than actually caring about the situation.

Although the topic of surviving seems to bring a ghost of a smile under his wrappings.
Why? Because he seems to know something everyone else forgot about.
"Somepony may wish to disarm the bomb in the bakery. I'm perplexed it hasn't detonated yet."

...huh?

Spoiler

Show

Meanwhile, Razoreye ponders a somewhat valid point. Why didn't the raiders shoot at him?
Perhaps the answer arrives a little quicker than desired, as the rifle-bearer smoothly adjusts his grip to swing it like a bat at the griffin just as he approaches, while the other one baps a button in the explosive pile before turning to grab at his arm.

"If you'll excuse me."
And now he seems to be wondering off to go find Lamianos, what meager information he desired from Pineapple apparently sated.

[New Appleoosa - Commons]

There's the faintest twitch in the mare's...everything, at the hoof-shaking contact, but she restrains most of the impulse behind a slight smile.
"Erm, hello Common. I'm First Trace. My younger brother here is Fleeting Trace."

Said brother, the lighter orange stallion, doesn't look particularly pleased, but at least politely bobs his head.

From there, First begins gesturing a hoof towards the rest of the group in turn. First the slate gray mare (complete with little red colt on her back, snoozing), then the dusky purple stallion, and finally the dirty blue mare dismally standing behind the others.
"Slim Strand with Low Holder, he's just Forager, and she's-"
"Candy Crown."
The other stallion interrupts, as he seems inclined to do when the blue mare gets brought up.

First just rolls her eyes.
"Yes, Candy Crown."

[BladeofObliviom]

[Ponyville]

"Wait, what? Oh, buck!"

And she runs off...

...toward the bakery? Hmm. Maybe she does have some tiny bit of loyalty after all.

Meanwhile, she tries to find a bomb! The fate of Ponyville rests on one mare!

...They're screwed.

[Rebonack]

[Cake Warehouse]

Woohoo!

The lights are back!

"Alright! Now we can continue our grand adventure!" Surprise declares as she deposits an olive-drab pith helmet on her head and goes bouncing off toward the 'library's' exit.

Eerr...

Shouldn't you be a little more cautious Surprise? Just in case there's something horrible waiting for you behind that door?

"Nah! I think we'll be just fine! I've got a really good feeling about this!"

[Tychris1]

Wild Rabbit Woods

Ducard begins tapping his hoof softly, raises his head, and continues eyeballing the ninja ghoul. "Yeesh, that's a freaky thing, even by Red Eye's creepy standards...... Maybe I should learn how to dance? I've always wanted to do the stomp, or do the Watusi. Hmmm...." Ducard begins contemplating what exactly to do with all his free time on missions, well, aside from armor maintenance and practicing of course. Besides, not like he had much influence on the course of what these three were doing, and it looked like they were taking the non idiotic course anyway.

[TAG The dancing gods. Or no one]

Southwestern Equestria- Underground Facility 5:28 PM

Maul was beginning to sweat, hyperventilation would probably start in a minute or two. "Uhh.. um... uh... eh...." He stammered as he continued inching his way out, rifle still aimed at the closest guard. His horn flared a little more as he floated out a single knife, bouncing it left and right to prepare to fence off one spear and shoot the other guard. This didn't look good "DON'T MOVE OR I'LL SHOOT!" He barked, his eyes growing in surprise by his own loudness, but adrenaline and fear were causing his body to act weird and he couldn't really handle all of this. The trigger began to get tighter as he prepared to shoot the first guard who moved.

[TAG Benson]

Ponyville

Lamianos stared at Eledwhen sternly, his face resembling more of an angry dog then a pony as he heard what happened "I am.... disappointed by you, I gave you a gun and the mission to use it. You failed. First rule, ponies don't say "Hello" Every pony is out to kill you or use you if they're not me or somepony I've checked over. You learned that today, the only ponies you can trust, we can trust, is us." He picks himself up and motions for Eledwhen to follow as he continues giving her his rules "Second rule, the only thing you should feel when you pull the trigger, is the recoil...." And off he goes, leading Eledwhen to Cloth Patch to get a once over now that she was awake.

[TAG DarkElfBard, Drowlord (For when we arrive)]

[MCerberus]

Wild Rabbit Woods

Are these ponies serious? Well the two colts could just be sort of naive about this, but Finder's not getting the necessary backup from Ducard. He just sort of sighs and realizes he's not going to win this because he's outnumbered. "If you're going to give up and trot into a trap, then fine. I still think it's smarter to smooth things over then get with somepony else in the organization but buck it."

[Luka]

[Wild Rabbit Woods]

As soon as Elestre mentions Red Eye is the slaver's leader Luka is slightly surprised by being called by the slacer's leader; aaaaand also very very VERY angry, hearing about what Red Eye does with the others, but instead of rampant rage, it would be a held back one, kind of like what others call "hatred", but it's not hatred, it's held-back aimeable fury. His smg holding hoof trembles a bit, possibly giving away that fact to the others.

[tag: everyone there]