Ponyshock: "Pony Party Platoon"

Hmmmmmmmm. I have a feeling that this conversation is going to get really technical. Nova thought to herself.

"Well, if a god does have unimaginable power, then it will likely be able to direct the lives of all living things. However, for this to be true, that must mean that there can be a maximum of one deity, as having two would inevitably cause a dispute for this power. From this, we can draw that the god or gods allow us to have free will in order to prevent war amongst themselves. Therefore, even if there are no gods, a single god, or multiple gods, we will have some form of free will, the amount depending on the number of gods. But I believe that if there is some higher power, then we can not act, but only react to its whims." Nova replied, utterly exasperated after going into that much depth.

Nova then noticed Scrap approaching, hoping that she will get a second to catch her breath before somepony explains what's happening.

Twisted looked at Scrap "Oh, finer points of Religion. It's one of my hobbies actually" She said before turning back to Nova "But you on the other hand, you impress me! Not many are able to stand there own with me. However your thoughts follow Discord practically seamlessly. You believe that we all have free will, and that what ever happens to use is in the end outside our control, and is in the hands of some higher being. The only difference is that the hands that hold the outcome of our lives is but a reaction to the movement of another." She said smiling

"I do very so much enjoy talking to you, but I think we should change topics for the sake that most here would not wish to listen to me babble on about something they do not believe in" She said, trying not to point anyone else "What would you two like to talk about?" She asked them.

Sparks shook his head, it was a little light from that spell. "Twist and Nova, if you guys have the energy to talk about such nonsense right now, you must be fine... I don't mean to be rude, but if we can avoid more of those monsters and keep moving, I would be all the happier."

"So I guess the cult of Discord isn't as violent as the stories lead me to believe, that or this could be an elaborated act... I'll just have to wait and see. Until then, there are ambushes to avoid and places to search through..." He thought to himself

He tried his spell again, throwing his sight around corners and behind things that blocked his sight. Ambushes always put a damper on his day...


[casting scout eyes on where ever it would be appropriate, such as down a hallway or on the otherwise of the door]
[Perception 9: (unless wearing a hat helps, then 10]
[If and only if I notice a potential ambush, or something out of the ordinary, I am going to tell the group in a hushed tone]

Religion...huh...hadn't really though much about that...never really believed in any higher power...just used praying to the Goddesses for a little bit of false hope every once and a while...

Scrap listened patiently as Twisted finished talking to Nova, and when the opportunity arose to change the subject he took it.

"Since we're changing topics, do either of you know anything about what happened to the others or for that matter us?"

Sky heard Scraps change of topic, to if the others made it or not. Something inside Sky broke, she knew that only one pony in that ship mattered alot to her. And that was Flash, her coltfriend, the only pony who mattered more to Sky than everyone else who was with her. She walked up to the group to give her view about the others, "No, but i will find out what happened to the others." She snapped at Scrap, "Only one pony mattered to me there and i need to know if he is ok." She told the entire group, in a rather angry tone.

Twisted looked at Scrap and actually pondered the question, looking around. "This place is obviously built pre war, and unless it was Equestria thinking we should innovate or there was just too many ponies to house them all on land I am going to guess that this is a Stable of some sort, but I may be wrong. I will however base my thoughts on this being a stable and go one from there, to see if anyone else can come up with a different observation" She said before taking a quick breath.

"When we sank we were obviously in the area of this "Stable" and ponies who were authorized to be in this stable were permitted on a boat, and thus instructed to jump off at a certain point. Devices such as the one we were obviously detected by, unless all this is by pure and utter chance, sent out life boats of sorts to obtain us and bring us back in, much like it did with the original ponies who were in here. To avoid over populating a single zone, each pod goes to a different part of the Stable. With these observations I think that there is a good chance the other Party goers are still alive, somewhere in this city. We just need to find them and meet with them." She said, sounding casual the whole time.

She was however shocked by Skys sudden hostilities towards the group "Sky, any god who deserves power does not expect you to go out of your way and forget those you love to please them. We are not trying to undermine your feelings for your Coltfriend at all and I can tell you that I will help you find him" She said smiling at the Pegasus

Sky felt a little better at Twisted's words, and the smile she showed to the pegasus. She was sincere, her face showed the truth of her words to not lie about. So Sky gave a little, and rubbed her mane. "Yeah, ok. Sorry about the sudden snap, he means alot to me and i dont want to know if he is hurt or-" Sky gave a little tear, but rubbed it away. "Dead."

She looked at the rest again, not wanting to be the tearjerker of the group. "Yeah i think your right twisted, if we were brought in that Pod or whatever. The same could have happened to the others, we just need to find them."

"Okay, look, I don't want to be the bitter one here, but Basket, you are being far too optimistic about this. We have no idea if any of the others made it. To assume they did would be carelessly optimistic."

Starry sighed. She cared a lot for everypony on that ship. Cross and Winter, Kes, Trails, and most of all Shutter. They were all probably dead. "The best we can do is keep moving, and try to find out if they're okay. If they are alive, they might need our help, but our first priority should be our own safety. Now let's get moving."

Starry stepped toward the door, readying her sword for whatever she might find on the other side. She looked back at the robot. "Hey, Miss Sprite Bot, do you have a name? Are you coming with us?" Starry certainly hoped the answer was yes.

"I agree with Twisted here. Finding the other survivors will be a priority. But first, I think we need to see for ourselves what lies ahead, becuase this place must all be connected somewhere, and that means the only way to go, is forward." Nova quietly informed the rest of the group.

But what lies between us and them? Nova wondered.

Scrap barely restrained his rage towards Sky after her outburst. Mainly because he was feeling the same loss. Biting his lip to avoid unleashing his anger in a scathing tirade of words he remained quiet as Twisted talked and through the responses that followed. When the others finished he finally spoke up again, this time his voice was quiet "Ready to move. Sooner we get out the better."

He followed Starry to the door and drew his pistol, just to be ready for when things inevitably went wrong.

Atriark blindly flushed the semi hot confetti out of his eyes with his canteen. He blinked a few times and rubed his eyes with a hoof. The zebra slowly rose to all fours, the blood and gore on his coat made him feel...not himself, almost raider like. He was certain he looked rather rediculious with brightly colored confetti stuck to his blood, gore, and other fluids on his Armored Stable 113 Barding.

"Nova, Scrap, I'm sorry for yelling," Atriark said, loud enough for both of them to hear. "I'm just a bit angry because appearantly, in order of importance," he slipped his canteen into his saddle bag. "I am below assautling robots that look like the MoM mare's head."

The Stable 113 zebra checked to make sure his 10mm and his knife were still in their proper places, and began following the others, who it seemed, appearantly not caring if he was following.

Pinkie Bot floated over to Starry.

"OooohIlikeyou,we'regoingtobebestoffriends,anddon'tworrysilly,youcancalleme....Pinkie Bot...hmmseemssomethingiswrongwithmyvocalunitasitturnsoutIcannotpausebetweensyllables,hmmthiscangetannoyingfastamIright?becauseIdontreallyminditjustmeansIcanspreadmoresmilestoeveryponytwiceasfast!!!Yesbluepony,I'llgowithyou!!you'remybestestfriendinalllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllofEquestriasilly!" [Requires Repair 80...]

[Starry Obtained Companion: Pinkie-Bot]
[Perk Granted: "The fun has been doubled!": your character now throws 20% more awesome parties at the cost of being 50% more annoying to other ponies...]

As the group went into the next hallway past the door way they passed a hallway of what appeared to be alot of strewn desks and chairs, with paperwok littering the floor, looking at the far walls on both sides, it was readily apparent that a battle had taken place here once...

----Radio Call: Stock Option---

"....*static*...alright listen up ponies, on your far left is a door to an office area that'll have a ....maybe a single pony in there...you need to go in there and get on the main console so you have a map of the laboratories complex, this place is huge you'll get lost with. Whatever you do, get rid of that pony, they are no good pony that will lie and kill you as soon as you turn you're back...I'm not saying kill them, just....don't be fooled, that pony's been taking experimental Arcana and it has not been too kind...Stock out....*static*"
-------

Twisted disagreed with Starry, but decided to not get into an argument. She knew she would have to out think her is anything was going to change. So she continued to follow along and looked around the room, before she heard the radio call. The indirectness of the pony on the other side made her worry. "We should search this room quietly before we even think about going into the offices... The fact that the pony on the radio thinks that and I quote there are maybe one other pony makes me suspicious. That gives us no helpful information at all and we should be cautious if we enter the room. However we should eventually look in there AFTER we search for resources here" She said, her voice never going above normal speech.

Sparks couldn't help but give himself a bloody facehoof, he knew that ponies were rarely like the stories about them, but he would have never imagined Miss Night to be so... rambunctious. Still, she and Scrap were the only ones with a Pip-buck... He would just have to keep his ears open and eyes pealed for trouble... Celestia knew that beyond a bar-room brawl, he wasn't that handy in a fight, and his Telekinesis skills were so "sub-optimal" at best, he would have to be careful using the shotgun.

"Alright my little ponies, I'll need a favor from one of you, someone needs to be guiding physically me while I use my magic, I haven't really mastered the art of moving and using clairvoyance. While I'm using it I can see into other rooms and around corners, but I'm effectively blind and deaf while I'm concentrating."

Twisted turned to Sparks and smiled "Well, I can guide you if you need too, that way no one who is of use combat is hampered by the task" She said taking a step towards him "I have no trouble with the burden" She said smiling sweetly at him.

Joy...the robots speech box is broken and now its following us...

Scrap moved along wordlessly with the rest of the group until the call came through on the radio halting the progress of the group before giving them directions as to what to do next.

"I agree with Twisted, we should check for supplies here before we move into unknown and probably very deadly lab complex."

A quick sweep revealed nothing of value so he went over to where the door that Stock had indicated was and waited, he wasn't going to be the first one into the room even if Stock said there was only one pony inside.

Atriark trotted behind the rest of the group. As he silently trudged along, he reflected on what had happened thus far. It's probably not safe going alone, but I wonder how safe it'll be staying with them? Twisted and Starry seem to be the most vocal and want things to go their way. They may get in another argument later and it'll draw more of those pony-things.

Atriark said a silent prayer and slipped into a side hallway. "Luna, I know I'm not suppose to be praying to you, you being associated with the stars and all, but I really feel like I need your aid." He prayed softly as he tried his best to tread silently. The Stable zebra had left what could be very loosly defined as a group, behind.

Nova overheard the broadcast on the radio. That pony wanted them to enter a room, to not kill a hostile pony, whilst recovering a map. He was either insane or delusional in her opinion.

"I agree with Twisted, I still don't trust that pony on the radio, and who knows what exactly is on the other side of that door. We need to take every advantage we can get."

I get the strangest feeling that there's more going on here than that voice on the radio wants us to know.

Sparks didn't like the idea of placing his well being in a pony he was trained to distrust... but she also had a point, it did tie down less of their resources. Who knows, it may provide him with opportunity to get closer to the suppose follower of chaos.

His head told him that it was sound, but his gut was in slight disagreement... with a sigh, "That sounds fine, just take good care of my body while I looking elsewhere..."

He closed his eyes and concentrated, he felt like he was floating at first, everyone seemed a lot smaller, or rather he was higher up. Then he saw his body sitting there concentrating. He pressed himself slowly. It was strange to see from a different point a view and feel from another...

Sky follow the group to their next destination, til the radio came on and told them of the impending dangers of the next room. Other ponoes that it seemed, now the group was deciding weather to stay and look for more supplies or go to the next room. So most decided to stay, until Sky noticed some zebra was missing from the group. "Everypony notice we are missing a zebra?" Sky told the group.

After Sky noticed that the group seemed to be missing, Scrao glanced around the group and confirmed that the zebra that was blasted with confetti was missing.

"Yeah Ark, seems to have disappeared...anypony noticed where he went to? And if not we should probably go find him...as much as I want to get out of here; we shouldn't leave anypony or zebra behind." He said back to Sky, though he said it loud enough that anypony that wanted to hear could.

"We could try but this place ain't exactly pony friendly, let's just look around then we find the zebra. Luna knows he ain't going to make it alone." Sky replied to Scrap, abd looked to the group. "You all got that right, let's just look around and then we go find Atriark." Sky told the rest of the group.

Twisted stood near the body of Spark but was distracted by everyone talking about the Zebra "He has been with us this whole time, and we have not encountered any combatants other than those things from before. I heard nothing happen, an no one else seemed to hear anything. There are only two possibilities. He is either dead from the fluid he was injected with, or he left us. I personally see no body so unless there is one of those things here that is capable of subduing a full grown pony without making a sound, he probably left us. There is nothing we can do about that if he did and even then what do you propose us do? We cannot control the actions of others" She said looking saddened "No matter the outcome there is nothing we can do without putting everyone in the group at harm and I personally cannot justify killing several for the sake of possibly finding one person who may or may not have run off. He is in the wakes hands, as he always have been." She said turning back to Sparks "I do hope he is alright though" She said quietly.

"I still think we should at least look for him a little. Even if he did leave us then we could figure out why and possibly get him to join back. I'm not talking about a massive search, that would take too long and would likely get us killed." Scrap replied back to Twisted. "I'm not going to do this alone though so if the group thinks its a bad idea then we'll leave him."

"Yeah, but he could be anywhere by now. He probably left us a while back or during our talk with Stock, its better we stick together. I don't want anypony else leaving and getting into Luna knows what, look Scrap let's just do what Stock says ok. This place seems to be a place with more messed up ponies than the wasteland, let's just stick together, Ok." Sky said a bit outloud to the entire group.