Gamer's Day [Wild Wasteland]

[Note that this thread is a Wild Wasteland thread. It is not for the faint of heart, nor the serious of temperment. Leave your seriousness at the stable, fillies and gentlecolts, for there is feces to be sprayed on buildings, and turtle shells to be thrown at go-karts.]

The group of eight ponies, one griffin, and one zebra gathered around the campfire. Why this particular group of rather odd ponies (and such) has come together is rather unimportant in the grand scheme of things, although if you’re curious I’m sure they’ll explain through inner-monologue why exactly they came together. Or some such.

Anywho, as this group did whatever it was they were doing around the campfire, eating, sleeping, reading, telling inappropriate stories, sharing a certain magazine about mares and swords, etc, the pipbucks of the ponies in the group who had them started to beep. The beeping was rather annoying, so it forced the group to quickly investigate, revealing that the pipbucks were recieving a distress call from a stable a few miles away.

“Oh please Celestia let somepony here this...If anypony out there is alive and can hear this, this is Green Coat from Stable 77! A whole bunch of these...these...Zombie Ponies just stormed into the stable! I think almost everypony here is dead! Please, will anypony come and help?” Banging could be heard through the recording. “Oh Celestia, I think they found me! I don’t know how long that door can hold, so if somepony can hear this, please, I need help! I’m sure there’s something in here I can give you in return, please just come help me!” Obviously this is a rather serious situation. Anywho, distress signal came with the location of the stable, which was automatically marked on the pipbuck maps. How? Magic, which is the actual explanation actually...Anyway, lets see how the party react...

The hulking mass of scars, fur, and feathers known as Kestrel quickly reached down and turned off the annoying signal on his pipbuck. After putting up with the sound of the senders voice.

He had been cleaning his rifle, carefully going over each part, making sure they were in perfect running condition as he went. A call to action had him reassembling the weapon in record time and securing it to his back.

He looked up then, his cold, predatory eyes scanning over the others. Waiting to see what they thought of this situation.

Lightning had been enjoying the others' company, having a little camp out in the middle of the wasteland. It was strange and still, it was a fun experience so far. Somehow, they managed to get a griffon and a zebra to join them too. As always, Lightning had his weapons on him and for the meantime, while he talked to the others, decided to take the time to clean them. Mainly his SMG. It had been with him for a few battles and could use a good cleaning.

A beep from his Pipbuck didn't catch his attention at first but after a few more annoying beeps, he let out a low sigh and finally accepted to listen to the message. Once the frantic voice of a pony came through and it was obvious that this pony was going to need some help, Lightning didn't waste any time reassembling his weapon back together and loading in a fresh mag. Releasing the bolt and listening to the satisfying click, he holstered it quickly. "I guess we better go check that out."

Scrap was enjoying the campfire. The company was great and the everything was good although occasionally things may have gotten a bit awkward. He also really couldn't figure out why Kes of everyone he knew had decided to join them. But Scrap decided that it wasn't important and was about to bust out the bag of un-opened marshmallows that he had come across when the wastes had to intrude and his pipbuck picked up a distress call. When Lightning said that the group should go check it out Scrap agreed hiding his remorse over the fun of the campfire being broken up.

Bakewell had been laying down, warming herself by the fire. The warmth from the flames felt nice on her coat, and she began to wonder how hard it would be to make a proper fireplace, like the ones seen in pictures or in ruined pre-war houses. Her thoughts quickly moved from the thoughts of roasting radscorpions over an open fire when she heard a message suddenly play from her pipbuck.

Oh no! A pony in need of help? How terrible. Clearly their nonspecific goals of honor and justice and not-actually-all-that-ness could wait.

“You guess we should check it out? I know we should check it out!” She insisted, getting up. Bakewell had grown up in a stable, and knew all about having your entire world fall apart and angst angst angst.

“Come on, come on! Let’s go.”

Mona gave a nod to Bakewell from their position by the campfire, as they stood up and checked their 9mm. It sounded like if it was 'Zombie Ponies', then a band of feral ghouls had probably invaded the stable, and that shouldn't be too hard to clean up.

Besides, while they probably wouldn't have any caps due to it being a Stable, the tech that they may have on offer could be more then enough as compensation...

"Did you get a location with the message?"

She asked, the monotone straight to the point.

Kes held up his pipbuck and did something with it. The transmission had included map data that provided a location for the group to go should they so desire.

"Got it." He said, nodding off towards the horizon in the general direction of the place. With nary a sound he pushed himself up onto his feet and ruffled his feathers. The dust that had accumulated on him fell off in a small cloud.

Kes could use a bit of action, and if nothing else the stable might have some good loot. So why not go and check it out?

Kes activated his EFS and set a waypoint on the map for his location; it showed up as a hollow triangle on the small compass that dominated the lower left hand side of his vision Now he knew where to head to get to this place. Most of the time he would use just his normal internal compass, but he had not really tried out this waypoint system yet. Could come in handy, and now was as good a time as any test it.

(will edit if necessary)

Zestari was rather enjoying the campfire. The dancing flames and the warmth of the embers, good food provided by Bakewell and good company, made for a pleasant break from the monotony of Stableton, but like all good things, it couldn’t last.

The peace was broken by the distress signal from a nearby stable, and as loath as Zestari was to leave the fire, she couldn’t in good conscience ignore that signal. At Bakewell’s enthusiastic prompting, and the general group movement, she stood and shook the stiffness out from having sat by the fire for so long. She quickly gathered her things, as well as her pistol; Zombie Ponies were never a good thing to hear. Besides it was a stable, and for Zestari, that was an exciting thing.

She turned towards Kestrel when he announced he had the signal, and prepared to follow the Griffon.

Violet Star had been eagerly waiting for the marshmallows that Scrap had, having even gone as far as to find a nice stick with multiple ends that she sharpened with her cleaver. How she found such a stick in the ruins of Manehattan is a mystery to everypony. However the potential to roast such sugary delights over an open fire was interrupted by the distress calls emanating from the pipbucks that some members of the group were wearing. “Ooh! Plot time!” she said as the annoying beeping was turned off and ponies began playing the message from the stable. “Sounds serious. Sorry Scrapy, looks like those mallows will have to wait for later!”

She dramatically threw the stick she was carrying away, drawing her cleaver and jumping up onto a large piece of rubble, thrusting the weapon into the air with her magic. “Come on everypony! We have a stable to save from some mean ghoul ponies! For great justice!” she exclaimed, ever-present grin on her face. Of course anypony with a pipbuck would know that she was pointing in the complete opposite direction of the stable, but would anypony want to ruin her moment?

Sky had been in a nap next to the fire like Bakewell, wasting away the night like she had so many times before. The distress signal came to the group in everyones pipbuck, leaving Sky to think they will go and save the pony or ponies that are stuck in the Stable.

She sat on her haunches to look at the others, Bakewell insisting they go check it out and the others agreeing with them. Might as well go with them, nothing to lose to go check out a stable with rest. Sky got on her feet and nodded to the Kes and Bakewell, just another day in the wasteland.

Cross had off to side near a tree, listening to music on his pipbuck as he usually did, he wasn't much of a sleeper unless he was actually tired...Still once the call came through, everypony's pipbuck starting beeping like crazy...agitating Cross, he was just starting to relax.

Still nonetheless he got up and headed towards to others so they could prepare to make their next move. Cross greeted the others as he joined them and went up to the other magical unicorn in the group

"Thats the spirit Violet! Lets bring that magic" Cross was getting just ever more interested, even if the occupants were dead. Stables had so much Arcanic tech he'd could already see himself pouring over notes extracting the knowledge they held. Not to mention the talismans...so much good could be done with the talismans for the wasteland if he could just get his hooves on them....

Starry had been playing with her pipbuck when the distress call came. She was flipping through the various menus and displays, wishing the pipbuck could do something more exciting. The group hadn't really gone for Truth or Dare, and her ghost story sort of fell flat on it's face. Starry was bored. Very, very bored.

When the distress call came, though, she perked up immediately. She was initially glad for the distraction, but after hearing the contents of the distress call, she was overwhelmed with a sense of urgency. Starry had been about to insist that they save those ponies, but she was beaten to it by at least three other ponies.

"Y-yeah!" Starry agreed with them, "Let's go save those ponies!"

With the party’s mind set on saving the ponies, if there were any left, in Stable 77, they set out on their quest, ready to vanquish any ghouls they came across in the stable!

Did any of them suspect what was to come? It’s very doubtful.

Anyway, after a harrowing journey through the ruins of Manehattan, fighting off radroaches and piles of scrap that some ponies may have mistaken for a hellhound, the party’s long and epic trek of thirty minutes time concluded at the door of Stable 77. The wide open door with a bloodstained entryway and several mangled corpses visible inside. It seemed like a great place for a stroll.

Stepping inside the obviously cheery stable, the party could see that the entryroom was a horrible mess. Bodies everywhere, machinery and panels torn, why, it was like a horde of ravenous ghouls ran through here!

Kes narrowed his gaze and reached back to draw his rifle, checking to make sure he had a round loaded before he began advancing into the bloody mess of the stable entrance.

The mangled bodies and smell of death had no effect on him. He had seen worse. Caused worse even. He just blocked out the smell and began to move. Letting his eyes scan around as his legs dodged the bodies on the floor.

"Messy." He commented aloud after a short while. He never liked messy. Killing should be straightforward and brutal. The only mess should come from the blood stains. The prey should never suffer. This was defiantly a ghoul attack, or raiders one.

As the group approached Stable 77, Lightning could see, through the darkness, the bloodstains all over the door. Slowly, he would pull out his 10mm SMG and ready it. Never know when something might pop up. Once they stepped inside, the young pegasus would frown at the bloody mess of bodies and other internal guts spilled everywhere.

The next thing that nearly got to him was the smell of death. He had seen fresh kills but the smell of decomposing bodies of ponies, that was still pretty new in his mind. It nearly made him want to spit out his SMG and just run back outside for some fresh air. However, he forced himself to hold himself together. He didn't want some blood and guts caked on his gun anyways. What kind of enemy would do this anyways...?

Approaching the great steel door imprinted with '77' was an exciting experience for Zestari until the evidence of wholesale slaughter appeared. As they stepped over the bodies, the scene of bloody destruction all around them, Zestari's face was set in an expression of slight horror. The place was trashed. Wrecked beyond any imagining she'd had, and the bodies. Oh, what an awful sight.

"How many do you think there are?" she asked, nervously wincing at each fresh sight of death and destruction. She drew her pistol from its holster and waited a fair distance behind Kestrel and Lightning as they began to look around.

“Too many.” Bakewell muttered grimly. The scene of a bloody stable was far too familiar to the mare. Bakewell was suddenly very thankful indeed that in her escape from Stable 133 she had been in far too much of a rush to stop and admire the scenery. The only thing that could make this sight more ghastly would be if she could recognize every single blood smear and mangled body.

Resisting the urge to turn back right then and there, Bakewell stayed back and thought about a stable layout as Kestrel and Lightning did their thing. She knew better than to get in the way, but still wished that they would somehow work faster.

Mona's only responce to the carnage was to draw her 9mm and give it a quick check.
She wasn't heartless, and she felt bad for the ponies who had died...but she had gotten used to sights like this after a life growing up in the wastes, to the point where it didn't really affect her much anymore...

"Let's move on. We shoudn't stay in one spot for long."

Sky slowly drew her 10mm Smg at the site of the destruction, a place like attacked by ghouls. Talk about a site everything destroyed, all of it cause by some ghouls who wanted lunch. Sky just followed the group inside, ready for anything that may come. Sky just nodded at the pony Mona Tones, stay in spot and they over run us.

Scrap drew his lightning pistol as they approached the stable. The whole place was coated with gore and mangled bodies. Despite the devistation Scrap held back the bile that was rising in his throat from the stench and nodded to the others to signify that he was ready to keep moving whenever.

Starry returned to the group, after briefly dashing toward the exit to relieve herself of her lunch. She had never seen this much blood before. She'd seen corpses, of course, just not so many, and she couldn't remember seeing any that had been... partially eaten.

She drew her sword, and checked the grenades on her belt before she followed behind whoever was leading the group. She needed to stay near the front, since she was carrying a sword, but she wasn't feeling quite courageous enough to take the lead.

Cross gazed at the piles of corpses laying about near the stable, the sight was pretty gruesome, but it simply was...these things happen, but what bothered him the most....

..was the smell... the stench of rot and decay, of every little sin ripping through the blood and flesh of the ponies who been damned here this day...it was sad, they were Stable dwellers...they could've done so much if they could've made it...

Rather than expose himself any longer, Cross's mask outline began to radiate and covered his face once more. The filters activated, clearing the impurities and stench intoxicating the air. Stepping over the corpses he looked for any unstained tools they could use....pipbucks, weapons, anything. Once he completed that he looked to the other ponies, and with a familiar metallic growl, his mask modulated his voice.

"Area's clear, we should proceed....watch your step..."

Kes took the initiative and began advancing deeper into the Stable. His steps measured and silent as he went, his rifle seated firmly in his shoulder.

He took the lead for a few reasons. One, he was a lot better at sneaking around than most of the others. And Two, he knew he could take a hit a lot better than the others could.

Hopefully they would not run into trouble anytime soon.

Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly if you were familiar with her, one of the few ponies neither disgusted nor horrified by the sight of the numerous bodies was Violet. Although the smile on her face did vanish at the sight of the corpses, she didn’t seem like she was about to vomit, nor did the expression on her face bear anything but determination. They had to stop the ghouls that did this and save anypony still alive here.

However, while Cross checked the bodies for anything useful, Violet herself stopped by one torn in half, eyes glowing as she bore a curious expression on her face. ‘Hmm....I don’t see any bite marks on these ponies, it looks like this one was just ripped in half...that’s strange...” she noted that in the back of her mind as she continued on with the rest of the group.

Cross’s looting didn’t turn up much, just some torn stable jumpsuits and bloodstained pipbucks. And he already has one of those, so why would he want one covered in blood? He’s probably not into that kind of thing.

Anyway, the group ventured further into the stable, weapons at ready in case a ghoul decided to chow on one of their faces, an unlikely prospect as we’ll soon find out. They found themselves entering a hallway, with Kestrel in the front and everypony else behind him. What made this particular hallway so noteworthy that the narration has to mention it is because, unlike the entryroom and the few rooms they ventured in one the way here (which were trashed but not as blood-drenched as the entry), this one was pretty much untouched. The other reason it’s being mentioned is because, before the party had much time to contemplate the suspiciousness of the cleanness, the door shut behind the last pony walking in, followed by the door in front of them, trapping them in. And as if that wasn’t enough, the lights went out, which was likely met with a variety of reactions ranging from shock to calm to obliviousness in the case of one filly who can’t even distinguish light from dark.

Sit tight kiddies, this is going to get fun! I’d get some popcorn if I were you.