Fallout Equestria: 221 [Group Alpha]

Frosty was a little taken aback by Attrition’s sudden interest in her gun. She took a step back and then addressed her. “Yes. I got it a while back. It’s… not for sale.” She said, looking towards Sonata. “Anything else you gotta watch out for? Well first are feral ghouls. They used to be ponies, but the balefire changed them. Now before you go shooting anything that looks like a zombie, not all ghouls are like that. There are ghouls who are perfectly friendly. I’ve met a few. At least one was alive before the war. Second are Raiders. Ponies who lost their reasoning and prey on anypony they see. Fierce, but not very smart usually. Third, Hellhounds. Big, ravenous beasts with large claws. They travel in packs and are very sensitive to the ground. While that’s all I really know about them, because I’m not interested in finding out more for myself, I’ve heard some very disturbing rumors. And then there are the various creatures found around the Wastes. Radroaches, Radhogs, Bloodwings, et cetera.” She gave her long explanation.

“Now then, enough time has been wasted here. Follow me and I’ll see you to Friendship City. And I think the reason it’s called that is because it’s built in and around the old Statue of Friendship. I’ve been there a few times, and they’re usually welcoming as long as you’re well-mannered.” She said, starting to lead them north.

Sonata nodded to the reply, mentally taking notes towards the named creatures and gulping at the mention of the hell hounds. "Well thank goodness I can fly," she silently thought to herself as her wings fluffed absentmindedly. As Frosty turned to begin leading them off though, she set about checking the straps on her backpack and making sure it was all secure and there before moving to follow after.

The group’s trek proved to be, for the most part, uneventful. Following the road north the group of stable ponies, led by their wasteland guide, were able to cover a decent amount of ground. Soon, the vista of another decrepit cityscape would be upon them. Off in the distance, at least another day’s travel away, lay the broken city of Manehatten in all of its glory. At this point, the group would come across a few buildings on the sides of the road, probably part of an old villa. There were homes, mostly single or double story, a building sporting the logo of the Ministry of Peace, a derelict schoolhouse, and a building with a sign labeled ‘Sharps And Blunts General Store’.

Those of you with an EFS would detect several red markets in the direction of almost every building, some stood dead still, notably those in the Ministry of Peace building and the Schoolhouse. The others moved around rapidly.

Ardent Vehemence was still out cold on Attrition’s back.

Sonata opted to walk most of the way they'd taken so far, wanting to save her flying energy for when she needed it like during an escape or other such similar situation. She'd contemplated taking out her violin and playing some, but again decided it would best be saved for another time. Then the buildings came into view and Sonata looked towards the sky. Noting the setting sun, she drew her shotgun while spreading her wings to take flight to free up her forehooves for the weapon's use and began to divert towards the buildings. "Think we should use one of those as shelter for the night?" Sonata asked as she continued to creep closer to the buildings. She had no idea if there was anything in there, but so far the outside world seemed to favor at least some caution. "If we are, we should make sure it's clear before it get's too dark, also see if there's anything good to scavenge. Then probably find a preferred building that we can fortify a bit, make sure nothing decides to pay us a visit in the night," she added while approaching the closest building with the gun leveled at the door.

She paused for a minute to cast a glance back towards the group. "And also find a spot for her to rest," she added with a point towards Ardent before turning back around and reaching a hoof out to open the door.

Attrition continues walking along, until the red bars swarm throughout the landscape around her. The others in the group would easily be able to spot her sudden worry. Aloud, she says "There are red bars. Many of them. Possibly hostiles, though in late of the events in our initial meeting, they could be merely scared. Regardless, would should tread with caution, and find someplace to rest and defend Ardent. I assume one of us has some level of medical expertise, and could help her recovery?" This massive tactical strategy comes out in quick, crisp words as if she had rehearsed it for a week. "You have the right of it Sonata. Thestrals, your vision is possibly superior to mine, and your are more or less unladen. Could you find a suitable location?"

For the first half of the walk, Moon had been flying close to the group. For the other half, she had to land and walk, her wings a tad bit tired from flying. She glanced over at Attrition and Ardent every few minutes, hoping the unconscious mare would wake up soon. When they got to the buildings, she smiled a little then frowned at Attrition's warning. She nodded to Sonata and Attrition. "Yeah. A place where Ardent could rest would be nice, and I'm not one to be looked out for medicine. I'm engineering and equipment maintenance." She said, slightly glaring in Attrition's direction, but she made it seem like she was just looking for somewhere they could rest. She scanned the area she could see, trying to find somewhere that would seem like a place they could go to stay safe for the night.

((I can offer nothing but my most sincere apologies for this delay to my fellow players, work and my life have both been far more hectic than I would like recently))

"Finding a spot to test? You sure we can't just make one long run of it?" Purse Cutter asked Sonata as they walked or flew along depending on the pony; the thestral had never put away one of her shotguns and was keeping it readied in case of any more sudden undead hordes. "The sooner we got a roof of some fashion over our heads the happier I'll be." Purse added with a twitch like she was trying to get rid of a fly from her ear.

Purse listened to that unpleasant news. "Oh yay, red bars and more red bars; well it's a good thing those red bars don't mean horrible monsters doesn't it?" She droned sarcastically but dropped down next to Attrition and Ardent, keeping her shotgun primed to cover the two in case anything decided to make a move.

Frosty looked at Attrition and nodded. “Okay, you say there are hostiles around here? Thanks for the heads-up.” She looked around at the buildings, wondering if there was anything in the MoP building or the general store to scavenge. “Well I’m not an expert on medicine, but I know enough to keep myself alive. When it comes to unicorn burnout though, I know nothing.” She made her way to the building that Sonata approached, stopping beside her. “Alright, since we want a roof over our heads for the night, it looks we have some pest control to do.” She stood on the other side of the door as Sonata opened it and peeked inside, her rifle ready in case something pops up and goes boo.

The building closest to the stable ponies and their earth pony guide was a three-floured, tall, narrow row townhouse in a state of mild disrepair. Unfortunately, it seemed its occupants had elected to leave their door locked the day the world ended. Luckily, said door had been weakened by one-hundred-and-fifty-some years of exposure to the elements. The group’s luck would end there, however, as the thunderous boom of thunder sounded from the west.  The hostiles indicated by EFS were still behaving in much the same way, including the six red markers that shuffled to and fro from within the townhouse.

Sonata grimaced as the door didn't budge to her attempt to open it. She glanced around for a minute before flying over towards the edge of the structure and peeking around the corner to see if there were anyone around in more open view, and then after backing away from the corner some, she'd glance up at the structure to see if she could spot an open window or something similar to fly into, but the thought that one of their own was still unconscious and they'd been traveling for quite some time weighed on her. With that in mind, Sonata flew back over to the door and rested her shotgun to the side before dragging her pack about and beginning to dig into it until she came to the sundry items she'd packed, specifically a couple bobby pins and then she retrieved the spare screwdriver she kept for tuning her violin. Turning back to the door lock, Sonata began to work on it. "I can try and get this open, but I'll need some cover while I work. Should know in a minute if this will work or not," Sonata said before attempting to pick the lock.

Moon glared at the door a little, thinking about how they'd ever get inside now. She walked up to the door and tapped it a little, then looked at the lock. They could shoot the lock...but that would make the door useless...ish...and attract some attention with the noise. She looked at Sonata as she took out bobby pins and a screwdriver. She looked at the mare confused for a moment. "You pick locks? What locks are there even to pick in the stable?" She tilted her head to the side before jumping a little when she heard the thunder. "T-thunder...T-that means rain right? If so you might want to hurry with that lock." She urged the thestral, grabbing her pistol in her mouth.

Attrition moves in after them. She was a bit nervous. She had no place to set down Ardent that she would consider safe, but would need to do so in order to fight effectively. She looked urgently at Sonata. "How long will it take to pick the lock, do you think? We need a safe location as soon as we can get to one." Her Eyes Forward Sparkle did not fill her with confidence. Those six blips could be radroaches, but they could also be more of those walking corpses. Attrition readies her laser pistol just in case.

Frosty fidgeted a bit at the sound of thunder. She looked at Moon. “Honestly, rain sounds pretty good. Its the freshest water you’ll find around these parts. Though I’d rather at least try and stay dry.” She gave the area another lookover, glancing at the sky as well. She really couldn’t do much more than wait for Sonata to pick the lock at this point. She was somewhat tempted to kick the door open, but that would just cause more problems. She learned her lesson about that last time.

Sonata’s quick perusing of the area around the home in front of her would reveal very little aside from the dirty, empty wasteland in all of its depressing silence. A few miles off, another bolt of lightning speared its way across the dark grey sky, followed quickly by a thunderous boom that made even the decrepit townhouse the group sought refuge in shake with its sheer volume. It was clear that the upcoming downpour would be very far from the light summer rains spoken of in 221’s history books.

While the aged building had decayed with time, Sonata would not be able to find any open or sufficiently broken windows to fly in, additionally, thick, dark curtains denied any glances into the structure itself. Fortunately for the ponies of 221 and their guide, Sonata would be able to make short work of the front door’s lock. With a click, they were granted access into the home.

The townhouse’s entrance hall was dark, lit only by the light from the now open doorway. All along the walls were pictures of what seemed to be a three pony family, two unicorns and their earthpony filly. Further down the picture ridden hallway and to the right, there was a staircase leading to the next floor, with a door sitting to the first step’s immediate right. To the left, there were three doors. The first would lead to a kitchen which, one hundred and fifty years ago, would no doubt have been incredibly homely. The second opened up into a comfy, although degraded study, with shelves of old, dusty books (most of which were in readable condition) lining three out of four walls, and a fireplace on the fourth.  The third and final door would prove to be locked when tried.  Down the hall and past the staircase there was a living room, complete with a broken television set, a radio, and two sofas. It was here where one of the red blips would present themselves, namely in the form of a gigantic cockroach who was chilling atop one of the sofas.

Again, all rooms aside from the area surrounding the immediate entrance were very dark, devoid of light by thick black curtains, the study especially so, as it lacked any window to speak of.

With the click of the door opening only a few short moments after getting to work on it, Sonata looked back at the others with a cheeky grin. "I'd say it took me that long," she said while storing the lock picking equipment back in her packs and placing them back on her to be carried before switching on her pipbuck's light and drawing back out her shotgun. "Well, I don't particularly mind the idea of the thestrals leading the way into the dark and spooky old house," Sonata added as she got to hovering again with short little flaps of her wings and then proceeded inside. She got to the first door on her left and swung around to look and point the end of her shotgun into the room, but when she saw nothing, Sonata hesitantly flew a bit more into the kitchen.

"I can keep looking around here, see if there's anything still useful if you three want to check out the rest of this floor. Then we can all check out the upstairs," Sonata quietly said to them while already beginning her search of the kitchen, opening doors and pulling out drawers.

Moon waited eagerly for Sonata to finally open the door as she looked around. It was something about rain that just...unsettled her a little. Maybe it was the fact she'd lived in a stable her whole life and didn't know what rain was like...or lightning...or thunder...She saw the flash of lightning from the corner of her eyes and blinked, her ears pressing against the side of her head to muffle out the coming sound of thunder. When the door finally opened, Moon rolled her eyes at Sonata and urged her inside.

She stepped inside after Sonata, pausing for a moment to look at the pictures on the walls. She had to wonder a bit if the family had made it to the stable or not before the mega spells went off. She shook her head and looked into the room Sonata was in. She eyed the kitchen for a moment before turning on her pipbuck light as well and going into the second room. She looked around the room, waving her pipbuck around to help light the area a bit. She paused for a moment staring at all the books. She put her pistol away from the moment and walked over to one of the bookshelves, blowing on them to clear away the dust and possibly see what the books were about. She also quickly covered her face and muzzle after blowing, taking a few steps back.

Attrition cautiously follows the rest of the group, careful not to knock Ardent's horn on the doorway. Once it has been determined that the kitchen is safe ish, Attrition gently eases Ardent onto the floor, looking over her worriedly. "I will guard our leader while the rest of you ensure the safety of the dwelling. Are there any objections?"

Frosty followed the others inside, checking around for any supplies she or the others could use. Doing a quick look in her bags, she found her flashlight and turned it on. With a light source ready, she made her way into the living room to look in there while others checked the rest of the rooms. Upon entering, she noticed the oversized pest chilling on the sofa. Frosty let out a giggle at the sight. “Hey there fella. Is that couch comfy? I’ll bet it is. So, you got buddies with ya anywhere? Well sorry to say it, but I don’t think the others are gonna appreciate your presence here. You might wanna take your buddies and leave.” She gently tried to shoo the bug away. She doubted it would work, and if it tried to attack her, she could easily crush its head. And its legs. And everything else.

The kitchen’s drawers and cabinets held exactly what one might expect them to. Pots, pans, cutlery, hundred-year-old canned vegetables, and spices long past their expiration dates--- the usual things ponies from Equestria-That-Was would typically keep within the comfort of their own kitchens. All were in surprisingly good condition given their age, probably the effect of some long forgotten preservation spell. The fact none of it had been looted before was rather surprising, given the quality of the materials.

Perhaps the small army of ghouls Pon3 had mentioned earlier that morning was responsible.

 Outside, Manehatten’s skyline began to weep. A torrent of rain pounded into the buildings below, punctuated every so often by the thunderous booms of the storm which raged high above the poor ponies of the wasteland. The town home’s old and decaying walls began to shake and groan under the intensity of the bombardment, nevertheless, they held. The fact so many buildings had even survived the megaspell war in the first place spoke volumes of Equestrian engineering. That they would prove to remain structurally sound nearly a century and a half later with zero maintenance was nothing short of a miracle.

Within the study, Moon learned that blowing on an incredibly dusty book was one of the best ways to get equally as incredible amounts of dust in one’s eyes and nose. Regardless of the health hazard, the title of the book was revealed to be: Financial and Managerial Accounting, twelfth edition, by Legal Tender and Monetary Gain. Further inspection of that particular section of bookshelf would reveal that whomever the owner of this study was, they owned all twelve volumes of Financial and Managerial Accounting. Further probing of the surrounding bookshelves revealed that said person also kept a section of their study for children’s books, with titles like The Little Seapony, Daring Doo (Several volumes, in fact), and at least two dozen other titles.

Attrition felt Ardent shift atop her back. The blue mare groaned and lethargically reached up to touch her horn with a hoof. She immediately winced, groaning once more and shifted her weight off of attrition. Ardent wobbled slightly as her body tried, and failed, to keep itself standing. The now prone assistant had her eyes closed, a look of pain dominating her normally untelling face.  “Attrition… headcount.” the mare finally managed to mumble in a voice barely audible over the monster of a storm which raged beyond the walls of the townhome. Ardent Vehemence looked like hell, and probably felt worse all things considered. Still, she seemed more concerned with the wellbeing of those she led out of the stable.

In the livingroom, the Radroach in question made a clicking sound that seemed almost annoyed. It turned to face Frosty and lunged at the earth pony in an attempt to take a bite out of the mare.

Sonata let out a sigh of relief when she not only found food but also empty pots and pans in the cabinets. Sure there was some surprise that they were in as good of condition as they were, but that notion was decently far from the front of her mind. First she set about getting all the cans of food and anything else even possibly edible and setting them on the counter. Then Sonata set about gathering up the largest of the pots and pans and ferried them towards the entrance of the house. Cracking the door open, she peeked outside quickly to take scope of the storm raging outside and then supposing the sight yielded nothing new, Sonata would set out a number of the dishes outside to catch rain water.

Moon coughed loudly, waving a wing in front of her face to blow the dust away. Note to self...don't do that again. When the dust settled, she scanned the books on the shelf for a moment before deflating. Books about accounting..."Well that'd make good tinder if we need to make a fire." She muttered, looking around the other shelves. She paused when she got to where the books for foals were. Curious she took out one of the Daring Do books and skimmed though it. She raised an eyebrow for a moment before shrugging and putting a few of the books in her back. Maybe she could read it some time later.

Her ears perked up to listen to all the sounds in the house, hearing an odd clicking from somewhere father into the house...probably the living room? Maybe... She hummed for a moment before pausing. She strained her ears to hear a voice...the faintest voice. A familiar faint voice... She trotted out into the hall and looked around. She blinked and looked at Attrition and Ardent. "Did she just wake up?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, looking at the unicorn with a bit of concern. "I might not be a doctor but I think she should be resting right now..."

Attrition worriedly helps to the floors preventing her legs from outright collapsing. "Please rest. All stable ponies are accounted for. We have added a new companion to our group. Earth pony, knows the area, has magical energy rifle. We have shelter, for the moment. The others are making sure the building is safe." Attrition, after debating a moment, lays down next to Ardent and lays a wing across her back protectively. She looks up as Moon walks in, and nods. "Mm. Everything alright in the other rooms?"

Frosty almost felt sorry for the bug. She did give it a chance to leave peacefully. Then again, it was a bug. It didn’t know what she was saying. Or maybe it did and it was just pissed off that she had tried to shoo it away. Either way, Frosty had to squish it. While she wasn’t the most agile earth pony, especially loaded with her gear like she was, a simple radroach wasn’t going to get the better of her. As the bug lunged towards her, she swatted it to the side with a hoof. Before it could scurry away or attack again, she put a hoof down hard on its back. With another hoof, she then pounded on its head a couple times. And it's back again another couple times. She knew these things were somewhat resilient, so the more she crushed it, the better. Of course, it left her hooves a bit… messy.

Frosty wiped the bug goo off her hooves using the side of the couch. “Well that was fun.” She said to herself. She picked the flashlight back up and looked around the living room. Spotting the radio, she set the light down again and examined it for parts she could scavenge to keep her own radio working. It was times like this she was glad she had those gears on her flank. Though, one look at the tv told her that thing was beyond repair, but not beyond scavenging for parts as well.

After gathering all of the food in the kitchen, Sonata would find she had at least four meals worth of canned goods.  There certainly wasn’t a lack of rain water for her to catch, and soon the various containers she had set outside would fill themselves with quasi-radiation-free water.

Ardent nodded in response to Attrition’s report. She brought her pipbuck up to eye level, staring at it for a moment before wincing in pain as her horn let out a pitiful blue spark. “Right…” she mumbled, and began manually hoofing through the device’s menus. After a few extended moments of perusal, the blue mare sighed and began rubbing her temples. She then reached for the nearest canteen, greedily consuming the water from within. “I’ll be fine in a few days. Headaches are painful, but, not life-threatening. There are more pressing matters at hoof.”

The Assistant managed to get up off of the wood flooring, and made her way into the living room where she took a seat on one of the sofas after giving the smashed radroach a wide berth. “Ardent Vehemence.” She introduced herself to Frosty, who had already managed to acquire several components for her radio from the broken Stable-Tec AM/FM transistor.

Should Frosty turn her radio on during her scavenging, she would find herself listening to the start of one of Pon3’s regular news broadcasts. The signal wasn’t the clearest, probably because of the storm, but it was clear enough to be understood. “Gooood afternoon ponies of post-apocalyptica! Told you I’d be back, didn’t I?” The rich voice of Pon3 greeted his listeners with a hearty laugh. “As most of you have probably already noticed, there’s a storm ‘a brewin’ in the Manehatten area, and it’s one hell of a doozy. Ol’ Pon3 thinks you should stay indoors unless absolutely necessary. That means you too, caravanners. No profit to be made if you die from pneumonia, am I right?” the voice joked, once again with a laugh. “Right, so, you all remember that feral ghoul horde that sat around all dead-like near Manehatten, yeah? The one near Redstone Villa? Well, apparently some stable pony straight up blew them up all the way to Tartarus. Fancy that, eh? I don’t know what it is about you stable ponies and extremes, but, if you’re listenin’ out there, thank you for making my backyard just a little safer.”

The enthusiastic DJ went on to describe several other happenings around the Equestrian wasteland, and give a warning about the dangers of playing with explosives before defaulting to another song from prewar Equestria.

For the moment, Sonata would just leave the cans of food on the table as there wasn't a need to burden herself down with all that extra weight right now when they'd likely be staying the night in this house, and with the bots and pans quickly filling, she'd make a couple quick trips in and out, taking the full larger containers and pouring them into smaller containers and/or empty bottles if she could find any before putting them back outside. "Can never have too much water" she thought while doing this repetitive work. Sonata couldn't really hear the radio transmission, but she could tell there was some new noise coming from another room and she could only assume that the others had finished going through the rooms on this floor. "Hey, has anyone checked out the second floor yet?" Sonata asked as she glanced towards the stairs and already reaching towards her shotgun.