Fallout Equestria: Tarts and Tribulations

[Inspector Valin]

"I guess I can't expect you to understand though--you've grown up sheltered in a warm, safe stable that has everything you need. You've never experienced what it's like to live out here. To really suffer in the elements of the outside world and experience the danger. Not like, the danger of a giant slime monster, but the daily dangers of disease, famine, cold... that sort of thing."

Wrong. Move.

Choro glares at Doc with a fiery look. She can't even speak: her anger's running too hard and too deep. Doc has no right to say things like that! He met her days ago, he's got no idea of the things she's been through on the road here, and never asked her about it. The stupid stallion just assumes that as a Stabledweller, she's got no idea what the Wasteland is 'really' like. Cute little Choro couldn't have ever been hungry on her travels thus far, right? Couldn't have spent nights on the railway tracks; cold, alone and in the middle of nowhere. She was a Stablemare, so she must have left the Stable five minutes ago or something!

The little mare is fuming, and doesn't try to hide it. At Doc's final question, she shakes her head. "No. I think a robot settlement could benefit pony settlements in the long term, more efficiently than they could as isolated workers or labourers. And that giving them the chance is the right thing to do."

Thanatos took a moment and looked down at Choro; the stallion's face looked stern.

"The idea of a robot city that could interact peacefully with ponies is, to put it simply, odd. Why do you believe such a thing could be done? They are machines that were made in a factory; they are not people, and there is no positives to allowing them the independence to act on their own accords. Even if the robots here achieved the ability to monitor their own, filly, the individuals here would require so much reprogramming that whatever personalities they have developed over since the war would have to be wiped clean. These are robots that were made to turn cows into products; this is a city where brahmin vote in town meetings. What good could a independent group of them be for the world?"

"What good can a pony that shoots others do?"

Dichoro meets Thanatos' gaze evenly. Unlike when Doc spoke, the green stallion's words have left her more... cold. She takes a second before speaking, letting her anger fade and rallying her thoughts to make the argument as rational as possible. The mage takes a deep breath, and smiles ruefully. "I'm speculating, with all of this. So I can't refute you with hard evidence. But observationally, the robots here don't have personalities based around their jobs, with the Overseer being an exception. Vaughn and Madeleine are both fine with simply leaving. Both demonstrate the synthetic's ability to adapt and be more than the sum of their code. Take that, science!"

Ok, she can give herself a little personal leeway, for the sake of a small personal victory. Choro hoofbumps the air at that: one more triumph for old magic over excessive codification. The little indulgence given, the wizard returns her attention to Thanatos. "All that would be needed is a scrubbing of the values the Overseer was running on; the commands based around Crunchymunch. Removing the programming around that, and destroying the slaughter equipment would be a solid start for something new to emerge here, and is achievable."

Simple, true and Dichoro has no doubt about her capability there. "As to what they can offer, precision. I think Doctor Wagon was rather overestimating the skillset of a basic Mr Handy, with his idea of robots for everyone, but mechanical manipulators can offer more strength and precision than ponies can." Well, a bit of a simplification, but a common belief she doesn't need to correct. Before mulling the point, she barrels on. "And as a population, they're labourers who don't require food and water to function. If we could get a factory built here, the goods produced would enter the Tauronto economy. What could Stitchheart do with a new source of medical electronics, say? Or your family with new refrigerators or generators, Mr. Thanatos? You couldn't maintain that variety with full industrialization, but you don't need that to start producing goods. A source of new electronics could be a major step towards restoring Tauronto's infrastructure."

Dichoro pulls her hat down, adjusting it a little. She nods to the group, acknowledging a little of her argument's weakness. "Tenuous. Theoretical. I'll admit both of those. But the potential good makes it worth considering to me."

[DigoDragon]

"And as a population, they're labourers who don't require food and water to function. If we could get a factory built here, the goods produced would enter the Tauronto economy. What could Stitchheart do with a new source of medical electronics, say? Or your family with new refrigerators or generators, Mr. Thanatos? You couldn't maintain that variety with full industrialization, but you don't need that to start producing goods. A source of new electronics could be a major step towards restoring Tauronto's infrastructure."

"Or destroy Tauronto's economy," Doc added in. "Nopony will be able to compete with a self-sufficient factory that makes everything. Cheaply too I bet. Mechanics and laborers are out of work, entire families get displaced because they can't find work here and have to leave. More ponies probably resort to thievery just to eat. The Olives could get by for a while, they got money and other sources of income, but what happens when the robots start into the farming business? The water trade? Eventually ponies are gonna be fed up and fight the robots. Then what? Will the robots fight back? Does the Great Dichoro start the next great war, pitting machines versus ponies?"

[Forum Explorer]

Moonshadow went past the long walkway that was missing a side wall; nothing happened.

Moonshadow went through the square chamber lined with pipes and sodden with water and moss; nothing happened either.

When she went back through the door to the 'kitchen', however, she heard a loud 'BEEAP', and the lights inside kicked on.

Moonshadow saw that one of the small tables in the room was loaded down with food; a large green ceramic bowl contained what appeared to be a hearty tomato soup, another green bowl appeared to have a rather fresh-looking salad prepared and drizzled with some opaque dressing, and a fresh pie with white icecream was slowly fusing together in a separate tin. In addition, there was what appeared to be a sparkly flan covered with liquid mercury and a tall sundae glass containing layers of sparkly blue and red crushed gemstones, topped with a few fat rubies connected with thin wires of spun silver.

"You're meal has been completed!" said the hologram, which sounded quite happy at the turn of events, "That will be one hundred and seventy seven bits, please. We accept checks, cash, and bullets."

Wow, I completely forgot about that. Well, I'm afraid there's been a change of plans. Wrap all that up to go, because Crunchmunch is officially being shut down as of today. Then prepare to eject your core, so we can take you with us as well.

[Inspector Valin]

"You're arguing with a strawmare, Doctor."

Dichoro tuts. She sounds more like a schoolmarm than the meek wizard who'd been standing there not too long ago. When she speaks, it's measured and calm, controlled. "The facility can't produce an endless supply of robots. For a start, it lacks an endless supply of power. Each unit would consume more charge, just like a pony consumes more food. For another thing, what does the factory gain by bringing economic devastation to the Wasteland?" The wizard tilts her head, looking curiously at Doc's reactionto her rhetorical question. "Continual expansion was a programmed objective of the Overseer, which the hackers exploited. Without that directive being imposed on the robots here, you'd be more likely to see preservation being the focus, and making good use of resources like energy is part of that. There's also likely several issues where the help of ponies would be beneficial, such as maintaining the power supply, troubleshooting glitched programming, delivery, negotiation. Robots and ponies would end up helping each other, for the good of us all."

For a moment, all of Dichoro's seriousness and severity melts away, and Doc can see Choro's eyes, hopeful and pleading. The idea of robots and ponies, working together in harmony rather than one lording it over the other, is intoxicating to the little mare. It's a chance to put all her ideals, all her beliefs into practice. But that look recedes. Choro's learned that ponies like Doc and Thanatos don't listen to her ideals anymore. Dichoro takes a second to calm herself, before resuming her more detached, lecturing style. "Also, I never claimed such a facility would be able to produce food or clean water. This place isn't some kind of Glorious Equestrian Restoration Kit. My focus was on the electronic side, both because that's the hardest thing for ponies to produce by hoof, and because it opens up other rebuilding possibilities. Electrical construction and repair would assist in, say, rebuilding the Tauronto power grid. The lack of specialist equipment is one of the major factors stopping projects like that from happening, and this place could be converted to create the necessary electronics, given time and resources. In the long term, it could help restore Tauronto as a whole, rather than a loose collection of settlements in the ruins of an old city."

[DigoDragon]

"Well, let's approach this from a different angle," Doc says, shifting positions. "You now say that ponies would be beneficial to maintain the facility. So, two questions to start-- One, which ponies would you trust to come do the work here, and two, how do you propose to protect this place? Just a small armed group of us was more than capable of shutting this place down."

[Inspector Valin]

Doc's suggestion leads to silence for a moment. Then Dichoro laughs, weary and wayswept, "To start? Doctor, I threw this idea out as an idea, a possibility that had an appeal to me. And you're going to have me justify every possible issue and problem and damaging scenario here and now, off the top of my head? After everything we've been through today?"

The little mage lols her head. It's the truth. She'd thrown out a possible idea that sounded good, she hadn't intended to have to form a full plan here and now. Frankly, she'd rather get a good night's sleep than continue with this much longer. However, there was still work that needed to be done, debate about the future aside. After a second to collect herself, she looks back to Doc, "Let's change positions a step further. What's the root of your objection here? Because you've gone through several different reasons why this is a bad idea, but haven't stuck to any single point. Your angles have seemed almost contradictory. Robots working with ponies directly would be better, oh no, too many robots would put ponies out of business. Robots might dominate and oppress ponies, oh no don't put robots in boxes under the earth. I get the impression you've decided the idea's bad, and are trying to justify that. If we're going to continue with this discussion, I'd like a better sense of where you're coming from."

[DigoDragon]

Doc glances over to see where Vaughn is going. Make sure they were on track. He turns back to Choro. "Alright. I admit half my arguments are utter hogwash; not even putting an effort here and you can blame fatigue or laziness if you want. Sure. So let me just regroup my thoughts and lay out how I want this day to end--

"We've busted this factory up pretty good. It's done. Tauronto saved from the Overseer's crazy idea. Mission complete and all that. So what now? Well, now I want to gather all the research papers on the biotech this place did. Get it all together and go over it. See what might be helpful towards things like cures for diseases, share those with other doctors, then burn the rest of it. Find the feed this place used, and burn that too. The chubby donkey critters can stay, but I wouldn't fiddle with them. Just let 'em alone. The server... well, I guess Madeleine can go, but we take that server apart piece by piece. I'd like to sell some parts for cash cause, not to put to fine a point on it, I burned through our supply of healing potions to keep everyone going in those fights. Nice work with the lightning bolts, by the way."

He shifts his legs again. "As for the robots, I don't care about some robot-run town. I rather these bots get good homes at some of the small settlements around. Help folks with day to day tasks. Give 'em a good purpose that is far removed from this haunted place. But I got someplace to be real quick, so I need less ideas and more doing. I ain't got the time to fiddle with fixing turrets and reprogramming machines. It's more work that I care to invest, and I don't see how we can make it secure from the next group to happen along looking for salvage. I say we just take what we can carry and go. That's my stance. Any ideas thrown out that keep deviating from the original plan just wasting time in my mind."

[Inspector Valin]

"You've got somewhere to be?"

Choro looks a little surprised at Doc's synopsis. It made some sense of his reaction, but she simply hadn't anticipated it. The little mare takes a second, trying to think what might be pressing on the good doctor's time and focus. Then the answer hits her. And she blushes. That's... more than reasonable, and explains why Doc wasn't in the mood for anything that seemed like a delay.

The little mage nods, giving the good doctor an apologetic look. "That's fine. Ok. I wouldn't ask you to spend time and effort on something you didn't believe in." He must be missing Miss Mirror a lot. The group had come north from Oakville, leaving her behind. Choro looks down at Vaughn for a second, before returning her eyes to the blackness. "I see potential in this place. In the robots. But I can't fault you for being tired, and wanting to leave to spend time with your marefriend. There's a lot of things that still need to be done, but... we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

Silence, briefly. Eventually, Choro coughs, "Changing topic, there's the question of that assassin." There's been a lot to deal with, but this continues to weigh on Choro's mind. She takes a second to revisit what they've learned aloud, looking for any flaw in the apparent logic, "She killed the group Mr. Thanatos' family sent here. She was seemingly trying to keep this place operational. Combined with what Ms. Madeleine said, about the Overseer being hacked through a Hippocratic Holdings backdoor, I think it's safe to say somepony deliberately reactivated the factory and used it as a weapon against Wasteland communities"

She looks across the assembled group, "Does anyone have further thoughts on this?"

[DigoDragon]

Doc raises an eyebrow at the mention of marefriend, but doesn't comment on it. He does, however, have an answer for that last question. "Yeah, if you see them again, don't hesitate to shoot. We broke their toys and thwarted their attempt to skewer us. Ain't gonna show up again any friendlier than the first time."

He looks over to Thanatos. "Have you seen that assassin before around these parts? About yea tall, clad all in medieval style armor with a lance and the ability to teleport?"

[Inspector Valin]

"I meant 'who could've hired them', silly."

Choro chuckles, gently tapping Doc on the side. The little mare hums to herself, "It doesn't make sense on the surface. Which makes me think it's one part of some larger plan. If 'mass murder' was the opening act, whatever comes next can't be pleasant. Or good for the Tauronto Metropolitan Area. I feel this is something that needs investigating."

[DigoDragon]

"I meant 'who could've hired them', silly."

"How do you know the assassin isn't the one that wanted to turn all this on?" Doc asked.

Choro chuckles, gently tapping Doc on the side. The little mare hums to herself, "It doesn't make sense on the surface. Which makes me think it's one part of some larger plan. If 'mass murder' was the opening act, whatever comes next can't be pleasant. Or good for the Tauronto Metropolitan Area. I feel this is something that needs investigating."

Doc only shrugged at that one. "We have zero clues on what the motive was to turn this place on. Could be anything, even something as simple as 'oops'."

[Dalinale]

"I hate this place." Viridia said, as she looked between each room and then picked up the Crunchmunch bobblehead. "I bet that an unusually large number of people could grow to have an obsession with this cheap crap and want to fill up entire rooms and shelves with it." She mused to herself."YO! IS ANYPONY HERE?!"

"Hello." piped up from some overhead speaker, the AI's voice quiet and whispery, "I happen to consider myself a pony, although, given Equestrian media, if you would as well. Can I have your opinion on the subject? After all, you are friends with two cyborgs."

"What good can a pony that shoots others do?"

"Don't ask me, I'm not a fan of cops." Strata said.

Dichoro meets Thanatos' gaze evenly. Unlike when Doc spoke, the green stallion's words have left her more... cold. She takes a second before speaking, letting her anger fade and rallying her thoughts to make the argument as rational as possible. The mage takes a deep breath, and smiles ruefully. "I'm speculating, with all of this. So I can't refute you with hard evidence. But observationally, the robots here don't have personalities based around their jobs, with the Overseer being an exception. Vaughn and Madeleine are both fine with simply leaving. Both demonstrate the synthetic's ability to adapt and be more than the sum of their code. Take that, science!"

Ok, she can give herself a little personal leeway, for the sake of a small personal victory. Choro hoofbumps the air at that: one more triumph for old magic over excessive codification. The little indulgence given, the wizard returns her attention to Thanatos. "All that would be needed is a scrubbing of the values the Overseer was running on; the commands based around Crunchymunch. Removing the programming around that, and destroying the slaughter equipment would be a solid start for something new to emerge here, and is achievable."

Simple, true and Dichoro has no doubt about her capability there. "As to what they can offer, precision. I think Doctor Wagon was rather overestimating the skillset of a basic Mr Handy, with his idea of robots for everyone, but mechanical manipulators can offer more strength and precision than ponies can." Well, a bit of a simplification, but a common belief she doesn't need to correct. Before mulling the point, she barrels on. "And as a population, they're labourers who don't require food and water to function. If we could get a factory built here, the goods produced would enter the Tauronto economy. What could Stitchheart do with a new source of medical electronics, say? Or your family with new refrigerators or generators, Mr. Thanatos? You couldn't maintain that variety with full industrialization, but you don't need that to start producing goods. A source of new electronics could be a major step towards restoring Tauronto's infrastructure."

Dichoro pulls her hat down, adjusting it a little. She nods to the group, acknowledging a little of her argument's weakness. "Tenuous. Theoretical. I'll admit both of those. But the potential good makes it worth considering to me."

"Or destroy Tauronto's economy," Doc added in. "Nopony will be able to compete with a self-sufficient factory that makes everything. Cheaply too I bet. Mechanics and laborers are out of work, entire families get displaced because they can't find work here and have to leave. More ponies probably resort to thievery just to eat. The Olives could get by for a while, they got money and other sources of income, but what happens when the robots start into the farming business? The water trade? Eventually ponies are gonna be fed up and fight the robots. Then what? Will the robots fight back? Does the Great Dichoro start the next great war, pitting machines versus ponies?"

Thanatos looked bored by the conversation.

Strata, on the other hand, just looked amazed by the conversation, or, rather, looked at Doc like he was on drugs when he started mentioning economics.

Wow, I completely forgot about that. Well, I'm afraid there's been a change of plans. Wrap all that up to go, because Crunchmunch is officially being shut down as of today. Then prepare to eject your core, so we can take you with us as well.

"My personality core is located behind the front counter; if you would be so kind, take my speaker, as well. It's located right next to it." the hologram replied, sounding unconcerned with the recent change in events."

"You've got somewhere to be?"

Choro looks a little surprised at Doc's synopsis. It made some sense of his reaction, but she simply hadn't anticipated it. The little mare takes a second, trying to think what might be pressing on the good doctor's time and focus. Then the answer hits her. And she blushes. That's... more than reasonable, and explains why Doc wasn't in the mood for anything that seemed like a delay.

The little mage nods, giving the good doctor an apologetic look. "That's fine. Ok. I wouldn't ask you to spend time and effort on something you didn't believe in." He must be missing Miss Mirror a lot. The group had come north from Oakville, leaving her behind. Choro looks down at Vaughn for a second, before returning her eyes to the blackness. "I see potential in this place. In the robots. But I can't fault you for being tired, and wanting to leave to spend time with your marefriend. There's a lot of things that still need to be done, but... we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

Silence, briefly. Eventually, Choro coughs, "Changing topic, there's the question of that assassin." There's been a lot to deal with, but this continues to weigh on Choro's mind. She takes a second to revisit what they've learned aloud, looking for any flaw in the apparent logic, "She killed the group Mr. Thanatos' family sent here. She was seemingly trying to keep this place operational. Combined with what Ms. Madeleine said, about the Overseer being hacked through a Hippocratic Holdings backdoor, I think it's safe to say somepony deliberately reactivated the factory and used it as a weapon against Wasteland communities"

She looks across the assembled group, "Does anyone have further thoughts on this?"

Doc raises an eyebrow at the mention of marefriend, but doesn't comment on it. He does, however, have an answer for that last question. "Yeah, if you see them again, don't hesitate to shoot. We broke their toys and thwarted their attempt to skewer us. Ain't gonna show up again any friendlier than the first time."

He looks over to Thanatos. "Have you seen that assassin before around these parts? About yea tall, clad all in medieval style armor with a lance and the ability to teleport?"

Thanatos looked troubled by the question, and lowered his head slightly so he was facing both ponies at nearly eye level.

"I did not get a good look at it; however, anyone can wear armor, and a choice of weapon means nothing. Cyborgs are a rare and strange thing in the world, and I am aware of only a few in Tauronto, including you and Stellar. Given that the individual is a unicorn, I would have to judge that the mage's guild is the likely source of your assassin. However, that means very little; the mages are not a unified front and many of them are nearly independent. The Steel Rangers may have been dogs, but the mages are cats; their high committee does not know half of what their members do, and those that do know would likely lie to you if they did. If you intend for investigate further, find someone rich enough to sponsor a cybersurgery for a mage guild member."

"I meant 'who could've hired them', silly."

Choro chuckles, gently tapping Doc on the side. The little mare hums to herself, "It doesn't make sense on the surface. Which makes me think it's one part of some larger plan. If 'mass murder' was the opening act, whatever comes next can't be pleasant. Or good for the Tauronto Metropolitan Area. I feel this is something that needs investigating."

"First sane thing you've said since we've been on here, Choro." Strata said, giving the filly a smile.

Doc only shrugged at that one. "We have zero clues on what the motive was to turn this place on. Could be anything, even something as simple as 'oops'."

At 'oops', Vaughn landed. With a slight jerk forward, the ponies were placed in front of a near-city of stacked towers and shadows.

Strata, not looking thrilled by current events, looked at Doc with expectation.

[DigoDragon]

looked at Doc like he was on drugs when he started mentioning economics.

Funny thing that. I've been the only one out of my recent traveling companions that I know, to have taken a variety of drugs with any sense of regularity, and yet I seem no worse for wear. Huh, maybe there's something weirdly magical about earth ponies that makes them so resistant.

"If you intend for investigate further, find someone rich enough to sponsor a cybersurgery for a mage guild member."

Doc takes mental not of that. "Hmm, did not know that the whole guild is so... loose. Would explain that one unicorn. It's a good idea, T. I'll keep it in mind to think about."

At 'oops', Vaughn landed. With a slight jerk forward, the ponies were placed in front of a near-city of stacked towers and shadows.

Strata, not looking thrilled by current events, looked at Doc with expectation.

"Oops indeed. Well guess we're here. Thanks for the ride, Vaughn." Doc climbs down from the big robot and looks around with his flash light and night vision.


Per (1d10)[1] vs. 7

[Forum Explorer]

"My personality core is located behind the front counter; if you would be so kind, take my speaker, as well. It's located right next to it." the hologram replied, sounding unconcerned with the recent change in events."

Cool. Oh, and you might want to think of a name for yourself. Moonshadow said, before going and retrieving the memory core+speaker.

[Hazuki]

"Hello." piped up from some overhead speaker, the AI's voice quiet and whispery, "I happen to consider myself a pony, although, given Equestrian media, if you would as well. Can I have your opinion on the subject? After all, you are friends with two cyborgs."

"I have no idea who you are." Viridia told the voice. "And...ehh. I only discriminate for one thing, and if you're a disembodied voice, I don't think that's on the table regardless."

[Inspector Valin]

"First sane thing you've said since we've been on here, Choro." Strata said, giving the filly a smile.

Choro's face twists at that, forming a strange wavy shape. On the one hand, praise and smiles from Strata make the young mare's heart melt. Whatever questions might be asked about the ghoulish professor, Choro has never doubted her wisdom or lost respect for her. On the other hand... first sane thing? That stung. The young mare whimpers a little, any comment she might have made forestalled by their arrival.

At 'oops', Vaughn landed. With a slight jerk forward, the ponies were placed in front of a near-city of stacked towers and shadows.

Strata, not looking thrilled by current events, looked at Doc with expectation.

Choro follows Doc, starting to take a look around the area. She spends a second to reactivate her EFS; no sense in being less than thorough. She starts trying to find a wall or door, anything to mark the firm transition to some kind of laboratory area.

[Dalinale]

"Oops indeed. Well guess we're here. Thanks for the ride, Vaughn." Doc climbs down from the big robot and looks around with his flash light and night vision.

Per [roll0] vs. 7

Doc stood at the beginning of what could have easily been a row of buildings; however, this was a row of cages, and a place that smelled like rust and ammonia. Before him was a maze of cages that could've held Tauronto, and finding what he needed to do could've taken all day.

Luckily, he found a map, right in the middle of one of the cages, right above what appeared to be a working desk.

Apparently, there were three-hundred and thirty-four cage stacks, each up to fifteen cages high; daunting numbers, in all honesty. However, it also confirmed one thing; if he took the right path and kept going forward, he'd bypass the vast majority of the cages and would be at the labs quickly enough. As for the path, it was empty of any 'guests'; no sign of anything in the cages, either.

Far away, he could hear the occasional scuttle of hooves and a whispered, high-pitched voice every so often, but there was nothing nearby. It appeared that the labs were located on the rightmost end of the area and most of the voices were coming to Doc's immediate left.

Cool. Oh, and you might want to think of a name for yourself. Moonshadow said, before going and retrieving the memory core+speaker.

Moonshadow heard a soft clunky noise, and a tubular object about the size of a hoof produced itself from behind the counter.

"This is rather abrupt. Handle me gently." the hologram replied, before dispersing entirely.

"I have no idea who you are." Viridia told the voice. "And...ehh. I only discriminate for one thing, and if you're a disembodied voice, I don't think that's on the table regardless."

"Well, that's fair. I don't discriminate against ponies, either; given that I am about to become one, it would be silly for me to do so."

The voice paused.

"A question; what is you're relationship status?"

Choro follows Doc, starting to take a look around the area. She spends a second to reactivate her EFS; no sense in being less than thorough. She starts trying to find a wall or door, anything to mark the firm transition to some kind of laboratory area.

Same story as before; a great deal of dots came up on her Pipbuck, a mix of red and green, but none close by. Doc, luckily, spotted what appeared to be a plain workstation, and said workstation had a map on it.

[Hazuki]

"Well, that's fair. I don't discriminate against ponies, either; given that I am about to become one, it would be silly for me to do so."

The voice paused.

[COLOR="#ccccff"]"A question; what is you're relationship status?"

"Well, I'm in a pretty good relationship with my parents, Shovelly Joe, he was a donkey prospector that sometimes came to town, he had some cool stuff, so I got on well with him. There was Broad Barns, who was inexplicably big-boned, I'd probably call him an acquaintance? Coal Soul, okay friend, terrible kisser. Vanilla Slice, ehhh, I could take her or leave her..."

[DigoDragon]

Doc waved at the group to follow, pointing at the map and then taking the right path towards the lab. "Keep an eye out for the red dots," he whispered to Choro as he started the trek.

[Forum Explorer]

Moonshadow heard a soft clunky noise, and a tubular object about the size of a hoof produced itself from behind the counter.

"This is rather abrupt. Handle me gently." the hologram replied, before dispersing entirely.

Moonshadow didn't bother to respond, picking up the object, before returning to her corpse retrieval quest.

[Dalinale]

"Well, I'm in a pretty good relationship with my parents, Shovelly Joe, he was a donkey prospector that sometimes came to town, he had some cool stuff, so I got on well with him. There was Broad Barns, who was inexplicably big-boned, I'd probably call him an acquaintance? Coal Soul, okay friend, terrible kisser. Vanilla Slice, ehhh, I could take her or leave her..."

"My apologies, I mean if you happen to be single."

Doc waved at the group to follow, pointing at the map and then taking the right path towards the lab. "Keep an eye out for the red dots," he whispered to Choro as he started the trek.

(Roll Luck)

Moonshadow didn't bother to respond, picking up the object, before returning to her corpse retrieval quest.

Moonshadow, backtracking back to the scene of the crime long passed, found herself where she needed to be quickly enough, all without passing any robots or new strangers. The corpses were all untouched and there wasn't anything of note that had changed.

(I'd suggest she make some complementary rolls.)

[Forum Explorer]

Moonshadow looked around, checking her EFS for any enemies or allies for that matter. Fan Knife was still missing after all.

Spoiler: rolls

Show

Perception (1d10)[10] vs 10

Agility [roll]1d10[/roll vs 9

[Inspector Valin]

Choro follows the group, face sullen. This place is... nightmarish, in ways both grand and subtle. To think that ponies had built an edifice like this makes the little wizard at once sad and quietly angry. This is an atrocity. And ponies are capable of so much good. The war changed Equestria, but all the same, there's no excuse for Crunchymunch.

Or for Hippocratic Holdings. The name plays again in Choro's mind as she trots along. Something a step removed from the city of cages to focus on. The idea of an umbrella group, overseeing projects like this is strange to her. Crunchymunch, technical laws or no would've been the stuff of scandal in Equestria. Hence the high walls and security. But there was some group of puppeteers behind it, combining multiple companies and resources? What'd this Holding group intended? Were they purely in it for profit? Tracing them could be a step towards tracing the assassin... Choro hums, pondering how best to try and track business records in an environment like this.

[DigoDragon]

(Roll Luck)

Luck (1d10)[4] vs. 6

[Hazuki]

"My apologies, I mean if you happen to be single."

"...you mean if I'm down for boning?"

[Dalinale]

Moonshadow looked around, checking her EFS for any enemies or allies for that matter. Fan Knife was still missing after all.

Spoiler: rolls

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Perception [roll0] vs 10

Agility [roll]1d10[/roll vs 9

First off, a quick check around the area revealed that, yes, the calf she found about a hour ago was still sleeping on a cardboard mat, undisturbed.

As for the rest, everything else appeared to be untouched, including the cyberpony corpse.

[Which, in addition, has a WG of 140.]

Choro follows the group, face sullen. This place is... nightmarish, in ways both grand and subtle. To think that ponies had built an edifice like this makes the little wizard at once sad and quietly angry. This is an atrocity. And ponies are capable of so much good. The war changed Equestria, but all the same, there's no excuse for Crunchymunch.

Or for Hippocratic Holdings. The name plays again in Choro's mind as she trots along. Something a step removed from the city of cages to focus on. The idea of an umbrella group, overseeing projects like this is strange to her. Crunchymunch, technical laws or no would've been the stuff of scandal in Equestria. Hence the high walls and security. But there was some group of puppeteers behind it, combining multiple companies and resources? What'd this Holding group intended? Were they purely in it for profit? Tracing them could be a step towards tracing the assassin... Choro hums, pondering how best to try and track business records in an environment like this.

As Choro walked forward into the dark, Choro eventually stepped on something that made a squishing sensation akin to stepping on a balloon filled with mud. What she stepped on was only partly covered by her suit; sticking out from under her hooves were four stubby yellow limbs, each with a little hairless hoof at the end. The yellow fur stuck out in the filth brilliantly and it was quite clear that what Choro had just stepped on was not some malformed mouse, but some kind of tiny equineform, her leg being enough to smash the rest of the critter's body to dust and mush.

Luck [roll0] vs. 6

Doc, walking past the towers of cages, saw little especially concerning. Yes, the place was filthy and unsanitary and certainly smelled like a place where dumb fat donkey things gave birth and lived and crapped and died over the course of a few hundred years while being positioned next to a lake of liquid meat, moldy and rotten and yet some places being distinctly 'fresh'. Yet, there was no actual threats in sight and it didn't look like any of the cages nearby was currently in use, and while he did spot the occasional yellowed bone sticking out of the concentrations of refuse lining the cages, there was no signs of any actual violence.

In addition, laying on the floor in the middle of the hallway was a baseball bat, lined with barbed wire and large, thick nails, rusty and nigh-putrid looking, as if had been made from the heartwood of a rotted tree and was glazed with the refuse of a thousand midden pits. It looked like it could give someone a fatal disease by giving it a quick look, and it looked like it could've been a weapon to torment ponies long before it soaked in the fetid mess around it. The wood was a mushy-looking red with yellow and green spots of rot, but it looked solid enough, surprisingly.

[The Befouled Slugger is a Baseball Bat of Good quality with both the Barbed and Toxic modifications.]

"...you mean if I'm down for boning?"

"Or up for boning, as some might say it. But yes, you are rather attractive, and the body I will soon be obtaining is a conventionally attractive blond female that is, biologically, in it's mid twenties. Would this be acceptable?"

[DigoDragon]

[The Befouled Slugger is a Baseball Bat of Good quality with both the Barbed and Toxic modifications.]

Doc carefully picked up the unholy object and looked it over. "Well ain't you an intimidating stick?"

He took it along. He wasn't skilled in melee combat, but maybe he could fake an intimidation attempt with this weapon. He checked back with the other ponies in his group that they were still following before he continued on.

[Forum Explorer]

First off, a quick check around the area revealed that, yes, the calf she found about a hour ago was still sleeping on a cardboard mat, undisturbed.

As for the rest, everything else appeared to be untouched, including the cyberpony corpse.

[Which, in addition, has a WG of 140.]

Right, I completely forgot about you. Moonshadow said softly. She quickly gathered up the loot, and then walked over and poked the calf. Hey, wake up. Time to go, and all that.

[Hazuki]

"Or up for boning, as some might say it. But yes, you are rather attractive, and the body I will soon be obtaining is a conventionally attractive blond female that is, biologically, in it's mid twenties. Would this be acceptable?"

"Rather attractive? Underselling me a bit, but," Viridia frowned. "Where are you getting the body?"

[Dalinale]

Doc carefully picked up the unholy object and looked it over. "Well ain't you an intimidating stick?"

He took it along. He wasn't skilled in melee combat, but maybe he could fake an intimidation attempt with this weapon. He checked back with the other ponies in his group that they were still following before he continued on.

Before Doc could get another foot in, Strata walked over towards him and motioned towards the putrid weapon he just picked up.

"Mind if I borrow that?" she asked, "In case I need to fight anything off, like zombies. I don't think we can rule out having to fight zombies, and I'd like to have a zombie-fighting weapon."

Meanwhile, Thanatos silently looked at the ghoul unicorn, a very mild look of confusion on his face.

Right, I completely forgot about you. Moonshadow said softly. She quickly gathered up the loot, and then walked over and poked the calf. Hey, wake up. Time to go, and all that.

The calf woke up slowly; while it was roughly as tall as a small pony, it's body was longer and as such it took some time to right itself, wobbling on it's legs as it stood up. The two heads on the mutant cow were disimular; one had a small set of horns, while the other did not.

The calf, after standing up, looked at Moonshadow with it's big brown eyes, and it answered her request with licking the pegasus on her face, apparently not caring about the fact that she was wearing a plastic suit.

"Rather attractive? Underselling me a bit, but," Viridia frowned. "Where are you getting the body?"

"There is a non-functioning cyborg body nearby; I believe your friend Moonshadow found it on her way in. It is mostly intact and my sensors first assumed it a particularly advanced android. Regardless of terminology, it is currently a empty shell, and I would see more issues with downloading myself into one of your current robot friends then simply seizing what's available."

When the AI spoke next, it sounded apologetic.

"I am sorry for underselling your appearance, but you are attractive, objectively the most attractive person I have ever seen. I would rather not break into poetry while I am still in a computer terminal. I hope it will be more natural for me when I am equine-shaped, at least."