Celestia's Finest: The Wasteland Wailers

[DigoDragon]

Love arms an anti-tangler on herself. "What's the worst that could happen!?" She laughs.

"I get trapped in a fuselage fire?" Rose suggests.

[Miltonian]

Everypony straps in good and tight. Commander Wildcat looks a little green. Airsick, perhaps?

Fighting the failing power systems and struggling to keep the bird level, Star brings the Thunderbird lower and lower. She kills the remaining engine, setting the ship into a glide and relying on maneuvering jets to keep them on course. There's a nice, flat plateau she's aiming for. "Everypony, hang onto something! This is going to be rough!"

The Wonderbolts latch onto the top and use their strength and jets to try and slow the ship down. But the impact is still much harder than is healthy. The nose comes down just a bit too hard and the whole thing flips onto its back, landing and sliding in the sand until it finally comes to a stop. The Wonderbolts are thrown free and go spinning off into the distance. Everypony, even with Love's tangler grenades, feels blackness clawing at the edges of their vision. And for a time, they remain that way, unconscious or nearly there. But that can only last for so long.

Spoiler

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So, now you've crashed. Sorry Rose. PTSD and all that. But you are all alive. What now?

[DigoDragon]

Spoiler

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So, now you've crashed. Sorry Rose. PTSD and all that. But you are all alive. What now?

Spoiler: OOC

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Watch the documentary Wings of Hope, then get back to me about what PTSD from an aviation crash is like.

The tangler had detonated in her hooves. She didn't remember anything beyond getting a face full of tangler. Maybe she went blind? Or stopped breathing? It was all blackness. Maybe Rose was slowly suffocating to death from tangler foam. She couldn't tell. She wasn't conscious to know more than memories of crashing. Falling out of the sky. All her legs would be gone if she woke up, but maybe she'll never wake up this time.

[D.KnightSpider]

"Shake it off. Get up and get moving."

"But, Dad, I--"

"No 'but's. No excuses. Ponies are depending on you. What are you going to tell them? That you wimped out in a mud puddle? Get determined. Get angry. Whatever you have to do, you do it to get back up and get in the game. Don't you dare let them down now."

He wasn't going out like this. Not here. Not now. Sniper pumped his subliminal anger into his veins. Fatigue and shock burned away. Life returned to his limbs.

Pain built a nest in the back of head and took up residence. He grabbed it and used it as fuel for his angry fire.

Don't lock up. Don't go into a flashback. Don't freak out at being confined.

Don't fail the squad.

Sniper clawed his way back to full consciousness.

"Is every pony alright?" He finally croaked.

[Elbeyon]

Love and Brazen had to be the better off in this situation. They were fitted with power armor to protect from compression and they both had anti-gravity units equipped to deal with the internal extreme g-force. Love rolls her head as her body starts to recover. Wellness check. Everything seemed to be fine? Her alerts weren't telling her she was missing a limb or dead so that was great. The alerts on her hud all close out at once as she forces them off her screen. She looks around her. The pull on her meant she was upside down. Her little raccoon danced as she twisted and turned.

First things first - She needed to save herself. Love pulls herself up toward the seat's bottom with her legs to relax the pressure on her restraints then unbuckles herself. She puts her forehooves on the top of her seat while upside down, flips downward to an upright position, and pulls upward to climb the chair into a hugging position.

Hugging, she pulls the anti-tangler out of a pouch and tosses it to the back of the craft and detonates the aerosol spray to free anyone trapped by the tangler.

Her head near the "floor" she moves over to Star's seat. She pulls a bot, a knife, and tape out of her bag. She tapes the mare's legs to the seat and unbuckles her too. Gripping with her legs, she puts her forelegs under Star to support her and commands the bot to cut the tape. Carrying the mare princess style, Love drops to the "ceiling" in a catching humanoid postion.

[DigoDragon]

Rose's face melted off.

Or it rather felt like it did as a horrid stench shot up her nostrils. She coughed violently, unable to suppress her lungs fruitless search for breathable air. Technically blood had oxygen within the hemoglobin parts, but that only works when it's in her veins and not getting sprayed all over whatever direction down was at this moment because it wasn't to her right. Fight or Flight tried to step in, but was gut-punched by her logic center that knew better. She gasped for enough breath to cast. Purify Air.

Her horn flashed a lovely lavander and the immediate area blew outward like a wave of Fabreeze splashed upon the gliding ship of Oust riding a sea made of Glade. Seabreeze scented. Sorta. You had to close your eyes and imagine the scent part. Honestly it smelled like gym socks and piss in here.

[Purify Air: 4 yard radius, FP cost 4]

Rose hung there. Breathing became a thing again, as it rightfully should have been. Phew. The blood rushed to her brain, fully of delicious oxygen. Her ideas sorted themselves. First order of business; her brain told her to reach down and unbuckle herself. Her legs felt like dead weights so she used her ponykinesis magic. Get free, help others.

*click*

*thud*

She slammed into the ground like a sack of potatoes. Mmm, potatoes. Sigh, stop listening to your brain, Rose.

[Miltonian]

Sniper hears a few groans in response to his question, but nothing coherent. Seems that took pretty much everypony out. If Sulmandeer came back right now, who knows if they could even manage to put up a defense. Some of the pressure disappears when the tangler strands evaporate, but he now knows for sure that he is upside down.

Star is very, very unconscious. Not wounded, but definitely stunned. She will be out for a bit. Love has her marefriend safe in her grasp, no complications in getting her down.

Rose, however, fell on something hard and cold. Metal, probably. And Brazen's suit protected him from the worst of everything.

A few of the others begin to stir. Green Pine and Powder Keg first. Seems the earth ponies had a better time of it.

[DigoDragon]

It hurt all over. Rose trembled as old memories haunted from the deep crevices of her mind. Rose rolled up into a ball and hold her legs. Oh good oh good oh good. She kissed each and everyone one of her legs for still being with her. Thank the stars. She held herself a little longer.

Rose dared to open her eyes. Everything was a blur. "Ughhh... anypony get the license plate of that Luna-damned planet that got in our way?"

[Elbeyon]

No fire? No fire meant it should be safe to open this tin can up. The holo on her phone gets activated to show a large luminous cube to provide some light. It was the "blank" screen. She could see fine through three different vision enhancers, but she wasn't sure about Hornet squad or the others. Love walks Star out toward the back of the ship and tries to open the door. She'll put her down around there, somewhere that looks safe, and then go to try to help free Green Pine.

[D.KnightSpider]

"You can rest when you're dead. If you don't act, others will be dead."

Sniper fumbled at the strap clasps with one hoof. The other hoof found purchase on a safety railing. The blood pooling in his brain made coordination hard. Tough. Suck it up.

The release gave. Gravity spun him around. He jerked to a stop. His hoof-hold held, as did his shoulder, despite the combined efforts of gravity and his own body weight to sheer it off. Focus. Get those wings moving.

He managed a controlled plummet to the ground. Pain in his legs joined the pain in his head and shoulder.

Prioritize. Prisoner. Secure the area.

Rose.

Sniper squinted. Focus. Rose was on the floor. Powder was...

Multitask. Sniper grabbed his rifle with one hoof and touched Rose's shoulder with the other.

"You okay?" His voice sounded like sandpaper.

[DigoDragon]

"You okay?" His voice sounded like sandpaper.

Rose attempted to get up. Her hooves shook because her brain was scared they might fall off. It was quite some time since Rose felt this mangled. Those were memories she wished she never had. She nodded to Sniper, just so he'd have a response and she closed her eyes. Rose felt for the 'ground' and pushed her hooves against it. She imagined she looked like a clumsy newborn calf standing up for the first time.

"Yeah... Banged up, but gonna lif..." Rose sounded like she had been a 20-year chain-smoker. "I'll check for injuries after I find my med kit thing. You do the thing with protecting."

She looked around for Angel and her medical supplies. Hopefully in that order.

[userpay]

Spinning. Darkness. Alarms. The feeling of the suit's anti-grav kicking in helped ease some of it but the stallion was still left disoriented as things finally settled down. "Ah'm fine. Just glad there's several layers of metal between me and the ground this time." Brazen undoes his mag boots and hardness and half falls, half floats to the ground as his suit keeps chugging along. For the moment however he starts going about trying to free ponies from their harnesses and set down safetly while he pings Seafire's comm. "Hey, ya'll alright?"

[DigoDragon]

Rose points vaguely in the direction of the exit. "We should evac. In case of fire hazard."

[Miltonian]

There isn't any fire. The burning engine got buried in a pile of sand. Any fire that tried to take hold was quickly shown the nearest exit.

Love lays Star out in the hot desert sand. Her suit warns that the surface temperature is mildly dangerous, but she should be fine for a few minutes. By the time she re-enters the Thunderbird, Green Pine has dropped from his seat and is working the kinks out of his back. He seems none worse for the wear. What is a surprise is that Corby is down beside him, helping Red Tape struggle free. The red-maned unicorn has lost his glasses and is doing more fumbling than anything.

Rose reaches Angel, who hangs unconscious from her straps. Her medical supplies were secured below her seat, which means it's fortunate that Rose is a unicorn with telekinesis.

Seafire answers groggily. "Planted my head into a sand dune. Rang my bell, but I'm alright. We're searching for Zero and we'll be back at the crash-site in a jiffy."

Brazen begins unstrapping Ace from his restraints when Powder Keg lets out a groan and opens her eyes. "This doesn't look like sexy-fun-times. So why am I hanging upside down?"

[Elbeyon]

The head count was going well. The targeting software was updating the tags on everypony. Harrier squad was up on its hooves. Hornet squad was half awake. Red Tape was getting assistance. Keg was safe and talking even if she was stuck without help (for now). That left only the Commander?

Love walks back in on the "ceiling." "Pine, secure the entrance."

She goes to Wildcat's seat to check on him.

[Miltonian]

Commander Wildcat is the oldest pony here. Though still in fighting shape, this crash hit him the hardest. He looks pretty rough, but Love can get him down pretty easily. And Green goes and guards the entrance as soon as Red Tape is down.

"Remind me not to go on field missions anymore," the bureaucrat says with a groan.

Powder Keg huffs and swings a little in her restraints. "Gotta be a release here somewhere." She begins fiddling with them.

[DigoDragon]

"This doesn't look like sexy-fun-times. So why am I hanging upside down?"

"Ship crashed that way," Rose answers. She retrieves the medical gear with her magic. "We got injuries to tend to. You need help getting out of that seat?"

[Miltonian]

"Well I don't WANT to land on my head. Like my face the way it is," Powder Keg answers.

[DigoDragon]

"Alright, gimme your hooves." Rose positions herself under Powder Keg to catch her. "On three. One, Two, Three--"

She uses her PK to release Powder from the seat straps.

[Miltonian]

Powder Keg lands on Rose's face with an 'oof'. She slides off and falls to the floor, legs shaky. "Wow. That was the world's worst trip."

[Elbeyon]

Love super jumps up onto his seat, grabs her hooves to the side of the craft, supports herself with the empty seat straps nearby, cradles Wildcat, unbuckles him, and then drops to the floor, carrying him princess style.

She'll take him outside and put him down under the watchful eyes of Pine near Star.

She reaches into her bag and throws a ball of microbots into the air and commands them to hover in a sheet above the two knocked out ponies. A tiny bit of shade should help.

Spoiler: OoC

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Angel is still hanging? Rose took her medical gear and left her?

[DigoDragon]

Powder Keg lands on Rose's face with an 'oof'. She slides off and falls to the floor, legs shaky. "Wow. That was the world's worst trip."

Rose rubbed her pained face. "I don't know... lots of ponies wouldn't mind getting up close to this face," she stated.

She wobbled over under Angel's seat and does the same thing with her, though skips the count since Angel is unconscious.

[Miltonian]

"No, no, your face is fine. I meant the flight over," Powder Keg staggers towards the entrance. "Gonna see if I recognize any landmarks. Just to be clear, you'll shoot me if I try to run, right?"

Everypony begins walking or carrying each other out towards the sand. The sun beats down mercilessly, but they are alive. The Thunderbird isn't entirely wrecked either. And Love's hovercars are still around. Two of them, that is, one of which is heavily damaged. All in all, things could have gone a lot worse.

[Elbeyon]

"Non-lethally," Love quips to Keg.

The cars get a signal to touch down near them.

Love looks over keg for any gear not expecting to find any, and, finding none, she offers her the water bottle from her hip.

There is a lot of work to do. Love stands still and looks over the ship while her cars get here.

Spoiler: OoC

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I though Love had three cars? Two fresh and one damaged?

[DigoDragon]

"No, no, your face is fine. I meant the flight over," Powder Keg staggers towards the entrance. "Gonna see if I recognize any landmarks. Just to be clear, you'll shoot me if I try to run, right?"

"Yeah, I think that's the general orders we're given." Rose is a bit casual with the way she delivers the line. Mostly because it's not high priority right now.

Everypony begins walking or carrying each other out towards the sand. The sun beats down mercilessly, but they are alive. The Thunderbird isn't entirely wrecked either. And Love's hovercars are still around. Two of them, that is, one of which is heavily damaged. All in all, things could have gone a lot worse.

Rose starts on medical exams for everyone, healing the serious injuries first. She'll attempt an Awaken spell to bring Angel back to consciousness. She cannot rest until everyone is satisfied with their care given.

[skill checks in roller thread]

[Miltonian]

"Eh-heh. Right." Powder Keg plops her flank down and lets it sink into the sand just a bit.

Spoiler

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Nope. One was shot down, though might be recoverable. Another was hit, but not destroyed.

Angel Wings comes awake with a gasp. "Alright. Pain. Pain means I'm not in Heaven yet. Darn, but also yay." She sits up. "Hi, Rose. Do you want some assistance?"

Between the two of them, everypony's injuries will be taken care of in an hour or so.

[DigoDragon]

Rose tries to be optimistic as she treats injuries. "Well, guess we're stuck here for a while, but the Thunderbird might be repairable... if we can get get it upright."

[Miltonian]

Powder Keg shakes her head. "No. We need to grab everything of value and go. Everypony for hundreds of miles saw that crash. They'll be here, tomorrow at the latest, and they'll be ready to kill anypony they find for Equestrain tech. That's how scavvies operate."

[Elbeyon]

Love keeps her mental processes going while staring over the ship. Flipping the Thunderbird wasn't going to be easy, but she was starting to get ideas. Water shouldn't be an issue once the vapor collector is set up. Power shouldn't be an issue as long as they play everything right. Food was a worry - she didn't know how much the EDF packed. They have the ship for shelter. As soon as her cars got here, she can start searching out there location.

Love stops her mental search and moves over to the doctors. "Rose?" She interrupts hoping she's not too busy. "Can we wake everypony up? I've got plenty of capsules for everypony."

Spoiler: OoC

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Oh! I see the thing that is going on. Love had four cars total.

Revive Capsules BioTech p. 152

[DigoDragon]

"Angel and I can have everyone up in a moment. Though Powder is saying we should move, so we probably want everyone awake soon anyway."