The Eternal Nightmare[Closed]

Nova smiled warmly to Arc once more, having enjoyed the night as she shook her head at the question of a place to stay. Nova then listened to Arc's suggestion and blushed slightly, giggling a little.

"Thank you Arc. I wouldn't mind staying at yours tonight."

Nova trots up next to Arc, blushing lightly herself. As Nova reached him, she kissed his cheek gently, blushing a bit brighter as she did so but still smiling warmly to him.

"That was for the dancing." Nova giggled a little again. "Now, which way?"

"Alright, though I'm not making any promises on the edibility of breakf-" Arc started, but was cut short by the kiss on his cheek, making him stop. His face blushed even more, and he nervously chuckled. "O-ok... I... enjoyed the dance too." he said in a slightly nervous tone, his voice trembling a little, mouth turned into a little nervous smile. "Anyway." Arc got himself composed back "This way, Nova." he said as he led Nova from the bar, heading for his home.

---Day 2, morning, Stableton---
The day started to break over the Stableton, the daylight slowly gaining at intensity as it shone through the cloud layer above the Wastes. Arc woke up, for a change withouth a hangover, and got up. Few moments later he woke up Nova, her sleeping on the couch, and started to prepare breakfast for both of them, telling Nova to pack herself while he did so. A few whiles later the two left Arc's house and headed to the front gate of Stableton, both of their back laden with supplies for the trip.

As the two set their saddlebags and sat in the morning sun in front of the gate, waiting for the others to arrive, Arc pulled out a copy of the pre-war map and studied it in silence, thinking about the dangers that may lie ahead. Fact was, the intended destination was close to what was considered a raider territory, and the road there was a bit too close to a place where several caravans vanished, or at least the trader told him so. But, then again... that's why he did not went alone.

Lightning couldn't help but chuckle a little at the stunned look that Spectrum had the second he announced that the Firefly was a gift. It seemed to take a little while for it the register in her mind. Either that or she was so shocked, she must have really couldn't believe that she really owned a automatic energy weapon now.

The second it did click though, it was just as Lightning imagined. Better, actually. Just out of nowhere, Spectrum surged forward and nuzzled him over and over and over again. The pegasus couldn't help but start laughing and nuzzle back. "You are completely welcome, Shooting Spectrum." Lightning could see some of the bystanders around them looking at the two ponies kinda funny but he didn't care. He didn't mind showing her how much he loved her in public. Breaking away from her, the stallion watched as she eyed her new weapon before going to get rid of her 9mm. Good riddance. She also bought herself a nice plasma pistol which was a good weapon for when she needed a stronger punch.

When Spectrum walked back to him, Lightning lifted the Firefly and gently placed it on her back. He gave the pegasus mare a glance over and he had to admit, she looked rather good with a merc outfit on and a Firefly in her battle saddle. "Alright, is that ok for you? Not too heavy?" On mention of home and their ice wolf, Lightning simply gave a nod, "Yes, let's go."


Earlier in the morning, Lightning had woken up and had let Spectrum sleep in a little later as he prepared himself and the other ponies in his home a quick breakfast. Alius, thankfully, wasn't awake yet, but he knew that he had too make sure Dash knew his jobs once more. They had already drilled him over and over the afternoon to night before. But he just had to make sure. With breakfast done, Lightning proceeded to wake the occupants of his home.

Once all of them were up, Lightning ate a very light breakfast for the sake of saving time and excused himself from the others. Going back to his packed bags, he ran over his mental checklist. Ropes, check. Guns, check. Ammo, check. Medical supplies, check. So much to keep track of before going on a journey. He had run through this many times before but before, he only had to worry about himself. If something went wrong, he was the only one in the firing line. This time, he was going to travel with Spectrum. Lightning wanted to be ready for every little thing out there. He couldn't afford to lose Spec if something went wrong...not again...

Once all that was finished, Lightning put on his merc uniform, took his deputy badge off of it and put it in his bag, before doing the task of putting all his holsters on. His pistol. His SMG. His sniper rifle. And last but not least, his broadsword which slung on his left. His bags went on after that before walking out to the others. Alius was up and eating his breakfast near his housemates as well and Lightning couldn't help but smile a little looking at him. "When you're ready, Spectrum, we should get moving. Dash, you will remember what you have to do, right? Don't forget, take him out for walks every couple hours. Don't forget to refill his water and give him his food. And whatever you do, don't let him ruin the house! If you need help, you can find Trails somewhere in the town." With that said, Lightning gave a nod to the white pegasus mare and said, "I'll wait for you outside."

Rad had been up early, he had gone ot to fly for a bit, and loved flying in the early morning air. He had gone out just before sunrise. When the air was still nice and cool. He missed just being able to fly as much as he wanted, but with all the work he had been doing recently, hadn't had much chance. So he was making the most of this opportunity. Though when the sun had just got above the horizon he decided it was enough, and reluctantly made his way towards the gate. He spotted Arc and Nova and glided down, landing beside the pair. "Mornin!" He said with a smile, Rad always felt great after spending a decent amount of time flying. He saw Arc looking over a map and sat down beside him. "So what's the route we're gonna be takin? Anythin we need to be on the lookout for?"

“He~eey Arcy!” exclaimed Violet, who was suddenly standing behind Arc. How she got there without anypony seeing, was anypony’s guess and something most likely she only knew.

“Me and Liz are all ready to go for the Spelunking Quest!” The gecko behind her grumbled. “Although we couldn’t find any Mining Helmets, which is really a shame. It won’t be a real Spelunking Quest without Mining Helmets. Oh, maybe we’ll find some there! That would be sweet!”

"Hmmm... maybe, but it will save us a day or two..." thought Arc, looking on the map floating in front of his face. Then he heard Rad land and greet him a good morning. Arc looked over his shoulder and nodded to Rad.

-“He~eey Arcy!”-

Suddenly, Arc felt few things happen at the same moment. The back of his neck suddenly felt like washed with ice, his eyes suddenly shot wide open, his hearth probably skipped a beat and his body was suddenly jumping away from the direction of the voice.

"Gaah!"

Then Arc realized who was the source of the voice. "Oh... hello... Violet... you scared me..." Arc said through the panting, trying to calm his heart. After the pumping he felt in his head seceded, he looked around, looking for where he dropped the map. He found it lying with one corner in a small pool of water. Oh darn. Brand new copy. Point Mark will kill me when he finds out I ruined it... thought Arc as he rolled it back into the carrying tube.

As the map got packed, Arc again looked around, trying to spot the others. "A-Alright... I think I got the route planned, just have to wait for the rest..."

Dash nodded as Lightning gave him his tasks for taking care of the wolf pup while he and Spectrum were away. He was really grateful for Lightning allowing him to stay here, so naturally he owed him big time for getting him off the street, "Don't worry Lightning, you can count on me." he said with a smile. He had memorized what he needed to do. Dash was agile enough to keep up with the little pup no matter how the little critter tried to evade him, but because Dash was bigger he used more energy more quickly. Not that it would necessarily be a problem, Dash was still trying to gauge how rambunctious he was.

Nova couldn't help but stifle a giggle from Arc's reaction. In truth, she had no idea if it was a proper reaction or not. Arc and Flash were the only two that she knew, for now. Nova was debating whether to simply keep quiet, or try to do something more productive.

Nova settled on the more productive option. Nova nodded to Arc after he spoke, thinking of anything they might encounter and preparing herself for it. Nova looked back to Arc and gave the unicorn a small smile.

"So, now we wait." Nova repeated. "Well, it's better than getting shot at, I'll give it that.

Important public service announcement
Here's the current list of consumables and ammunition on every character for this thread:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ah47zjKU7ksddC02ckFVY1p5NHhtQ1pSS1FQRm9TWnc
In case I made some number wrong, or missed something in general, PM or tell me.
Thank you for your attention

Winter arrived at the front gates of Stableton with all her gear, ready for the journey that laid ahead of them. She spotted the others and made her way over to them silently. As she arrived she gave a polite smile along with a kind gesture to alert them of her presence, "Good morning" she said happily as she trotted over, looking to Arc expectantly for what happens next.

As the group managed to gather in front of the gate, Arc took a look over them and sighed. Atriark was not there. No matter. You have task to accomplish Arc.

Arc hopped on the boulder he used to sit by before. "Alright. I decided to take a small detour, might take us a while longer to get to our destination, but we'll take a wide berth around places we know are often used by raiders. Let's go." said Arc, then he hopped down again and led the party out of Stableton.


---Day 2, Late afternoon, High Wastes---
As per custom, the weather that promised a nice day, or the Wasteland equivalent of a nice day, managed to happily turn into a light rain, turning into a downpour that made Arc think he took a wrong turn and ended underwater again. The road was in worse state than he anticipated, and they moved at much slower pace, destroying the idea that they would be at the destination by sundown.

Arc moodily watched the shadows grow longer, and wished for a shelter for the night so that they would not have to sleep under a cliff in the rain. The thoughts were, however, cut short a a loud gunshot echoed through the low, rocky, jagged hills they were in.

Arc motioned the rest of the group to take cover and climbed on the hill, from behind which the shot came for. As he carefully peeked from the ridge, hidden behind a large boulder, he saw three large overturned carts, moved to make a small fortress.

The fort was surrounded by ferals, all of them scratching on the carts, some of them climbing onto others to get inside and snack on the unseen defenders. So much for going around trouble, it would seem... Nevertheless... a good shelter for the night. Arc turned around and motioned the rest of the group hidden in the small valley beneath him to move up and attack.


[Sitrep]
A small fortification made from overturned carts and carriages. Amount of defenders unknown, though apparently armed. Cartfort is surrounded by ten feral ghouls, ghoul1 to ghoul10

[SYSTEM]
http://www.falloutequestria.net/t659-60-system-revised-now-with-more-ap

Atriark stood on top of a stack of cars, ghouls clammering to get at him. He finished tying off a bandage on his arm, having been cut by one of the mindless ponies. He felt sorry for them, being once reasonable and fun loving ponies, now blood thirsty monsters. Atriark sighed and picked up his .45 SMG, having dropped his hunting rifle in his frantic climb. The runt took aim and unloaded into a ghoul.

(Guns 55, firing at Ghoul 1. 3 Bursts 36 AP.)

“Ooooh...That’s a lot of Zombie Ponies.” remarked Violet as she drew her knife. “Alright Liz,” she ordered her gecko, “you stay here with the others, and bite any ghoulies in the flank if they come by. I’m going to sneak over and stab that ghoul over there in the back.”

Gripping the knife in her teeth to secure it, Violet snuck away from the group and towards the ghouls. Her target the one furthest in the back, or at least out of sight of the others, she approached the ghoul. Slipping the knife into her telekinetic grip, she raised it into the air and thrusted it towards the ghoul’s back, aiming to slice into the rotting pony’s spine and cripple it with one blow. In the event that didn’t work, she’d just go into a slicing fury, attacking the ghoul and any nearby.

[Sneak up on Ghoul 10, 90 Sneak, assuming no AP cost]

[Sneak Attack Ghoul 10 with Trench Knife, 41 Melee, -4 AP]

[If Ghoul 10 isn’t dead, attack with Trench Knife 7 times, 41 Melee, -28 AP]

[If Ghoul 10 is killed, use remaining attacks on Ghoul 9]

[Prepare a dodge, -8 AP]

Nova looked over the scene in front of her, taking note of the ghouls surrounding the carts. Nova knew that it would be best to engage them from range first, so that if things did get up-close the ghould would be weaker. With that in mind, Nova readied her hunting rifle, and took aim at one of the ghouls, trying to remain as quiet as possible as she lined up the shot.

Nova then fired the weapon, hoping that her aim was true and that she would manage to hit the ghoul and take it out quickly.

{Firing Hunting Rifle at Any Ghoul , Guns: 64 , Using 16AP }

Spec was deep asleep when she was roused by someone calling her name, and being a wonderfull morning person she woke as if she hadn't been sleeping in the first place, bright eyed and bushy tailed, litterally. Aluis bounded around her feet but knew to keep his distance after just one stone cold glare he got from spec after stealing her brush and it only took once for the ice wolf pup to learn not to mess with the mare before she has brushed her tail.

The rest of the morning was a rush from eatting Flash's breakfast and while he went over Aluis care as the pup sitter she herself went over behavior expectations with the pup. After a quick suit up and inventory check her and her fellow blue pegasus were out the door.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Although the day had started rather well but the rain swiftly ruined that, she was glad she had gotten back her charm tie back but with the added weight of the rain she had to tie up her tail further, it now was folded in half the charm near her flank as her tail looped around and spurted out in a lazy bun fashion. A gunshot broke her sullen mood as she followed Arc's instruction diligently, taking out her new plasma pistol. Taking Violets lead she started sneaking around the opposite direction of her getting just a bit closer, not as close as the little filly, but just enough to get a good shot with her new pistol.

_________Quick Update HUD_______________
HP:223
DT: 13
-- OUTFIT EFFECT: +5Melee, +5 Gun
AMMO:[list]
Firefly --5 (x60) = 300shots
Plasma Pistol --5 (x16)(-3) = 77shots
============ ACTIONS =================
Firing at Goul #8 three(3) times
--Trigger Discipline
27 AP used -- leaving 9 AP

Lightning waited outside and the second Spectrum came out he would give her a smile and a quick nuzzle before whispering, "Time to tackle the challenges the wasteland has to throw at us once more."


Lightning made sure to walk next to his marefriend through most of the journey. Despite the nice morning, the weather in the wastes had apparently decided to turn for the worse. In the pouring downfall, Lightning's mane had flattened against his head and the rain water dripped off his mane and into his eyes annoyingly.

It didn't seem like they were going to arrive to their destination at sundown sadly, as they had a few delays and misunderstandings. But it was all progressing smoothly and that was more than what the blue pegasus could say about some of his other adventures. However, the second a gunshot sounded out, Lightning was down and ready to act to any threats nearby. Looking at the others, he could see them sneaking toward what looked like a pack of ghouls. To be honest, the fortress in the distance didn't look very appealing and he wasn't sure if any of the other ponies in the group knew the ones inside the fort. But either way, they needed to maintain an element of stealth. Some ponies had already snuck forward before he could give them an order and mentally, Lightning moved to adapt.

Pulling out his sniper rifle, Lightning unfolded the bipod and set it down, letting it rest on the two legs. Using the scope to scan the area and seeing who was attacking what, Lightning would pick out two targets of his own and gently squeeze the trigger.

(Drawing Sniper Rifle, 4 AP)

(Firing at ghoul 2 x2, 26 AP)

(Firing at ghoul 3, 13 AP)

(Total: 43 out of 44 AP used)

Rad followed along with the others, floating lazily a couple of feet in the air on his wings as he did so, it wasn't the same as real flyin, but he still found some enjoyment in it at least. As they came across the ponies under attack Rad flew towards the ghouls, gaining a little height along the way before lining up and flying over the group, blazing away with his carbine as he strafed across and hitting multiple ghouls.

[Using Strafe run perk, attacking Ghouls 4,5,6,7. Guns 55, fast shot trait]

The horn on his forehead lightly shimmered in red, magic of same colour enveloping the sling of the plasma rifle on his back. As the rifle got unfastened and slid over his head to float next to him, he looked back, under the ridge, seeing the rest of them either taking a flanking maneuver around the ridge to get to the ghouls from the side, or in case of Rad, to the skies to strike from above.

Arc rolled back on his legs and lined the rifle on one of the ghouls that was about to get over the wall and get into the cartfort. "Alright, we have good position, try to seem as the largest threat for now, we have to draw at least a few away from the fort!" yelled Arc as the ponies around him started fire on the ghouls below them.


(
Draw Plasma Rifle, 4AP
Firing Plasma Rifle twice at ghoul2, 24AP
)

As Rad took off and Spec with Violet moved away to take the left flank, Arc looked down from the ridge as Nova and Flash took cover next to him and pulled their rifles from their backs.

Whomever was in the fort was about to have a bad end of the day. The ghouls were surrounding the perimeter and one of them was almost finished with bashing down the wagon door that was used as a gate that held them outside. Then the ghoul heaved on his back legs and smashed into the doors with his front hooves, taking them down and opening a way into the fort. His success was, as it turned out, rather short lived, as he was greeted with a hail of bullets that shredded his body and gave him his final rest.

Arc, Nova and Flash took it as a call for them and started to pick shots from the ridge, Arc sending out globes of plasma that seared and let out a trail of steam as they flew through the rain, Nova and Flash having their rifles to serve them. One ghoul went down and the remaining two that were about to storm the gate got both hit by the bullet from the rifles, however they were still bent on storming the castle, ignoring the wounds and advancing inside.

Spec and Violet, meanwhile, finished their flanking and hid themselves in a convenient rock formation. Seeing others open fire, Spec pulled out her pistol and unloaded a burst of plasma into a nearby standing ghoul, causing him horrible scarring but not yet taking him down. Then not only that one, but six of the ghouls turned and started to gallop to Spec, screaming and flailing, promising painful death to her. Spec let the pistol fall down and was almost ready to start panicking, with Violet nowhere in sight.

Then a lightning flashed, and something winged could be seen against the cloudy sky, closing fast on Spec's position. Rad sighted the group of ghouls and bit the trigger, the carbines lightly yanking in the saddle as they fired. As he pulled up from the dive and flown away, three ghouls were left lying on the ground, the last sparks of life gone from them.

The one that was utterly pissed at Spec from engulfing him in plasma was, unfortunately not one of them. The thing was remarkably fast and nimble when it got close enough, and Spec only barely dodged the hoof sweeps it flailed at her. Then it went for a lunge and manage to bite Spec in her wing, tearing the skin and drawing blood before Spec managed to buck it away. The second ghoul to arrive to the scene was about to jump at Spec too, when a trench knife appeared out of nowhere and started to tear it's body apart with surgical precision, leaving only the third. With wounded wing, Spec's attention was already split between the pain and dodging the attacking hooves, getting a hard blow to the temple, followed by a buck to ribs that left behind rather not necessarily unfounded suspicion that it tore or damaged something important inside. Violet tried to draw it's attention away from Spec, but only managed to make it try to buck her, dodging the kick, making the ghoul lose interest in her.


Battlefield report

Ghouls 1,2,4,5,6,10 dead
Ghouls 3,7 severely wounded, now inside the fortress
Ghoul 8 gravely damaged, very close to Spec and Violet
Ghoul 9 unhurt, very close to Spec and Violet

Violet’s silver eyes flashed over Spectrum, the mare was taking a beating and even a cursory glance confirmed that she suffered internal injuries. If she got injured any further they may have a problem, internal bleeding was never fun.

She furrowed her brow and lashed out at the wounded of the two ghouls she and Spectrum were confronted with, hoping to take it out right then and there or at least disable it. Regardless of the results of that she crouched down, taking advantage of the fact that the ghoul assaulting Spectrum hadn’t taken much interest in the filly despite her earlier attempts to distract it.

'Alright ghouly, ignore this!'

Blood dripping from her blade, she struck, hoping to take out the ghoul with a single precise strike in the back, although she was well prepared to completely take it out if that failed.

“Ms. Spectrum!” she called out to the mare as she started assaulting the ghoul herself, “get away before they hurt you even more, I’ve got these meanies!” She punctuated the ‘meanies’ with another stab of her blade.

[Attack Ghoul 8 with Trench Knife twice, 41 Melee, -8 AP]

[Sneak up on Ghoul 9 while it’s distracted, 90 Sneak, assuming no AP cost]

[Sneak Attack Ghoul 9 with Trench Knife, -4 AP]

[Attack Ghoul 9 with Trench Knife 5 times, -20 AP]

[If Ghoul 9 is killed and any attacks remain, use them on Ghoul 8]

[Prepare a dodge, 10 AGL, -8 AP]

Lightning still had his aim, thankfully. His targets dropped easily after his bullets splashed against them with little difficulty. However, after scanning the battlefield with his scope, he caught the sight of Spectrum getting attacked by a ghoul. The fire of anger quickly ignited in his heart as his actions became more frantic, struggling horribly to put the attacking ghoul in his sights.

However, it was too late. Spectrum was attacked once more and Lightning was unable to do anything about it. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to calm down and think. 'Alright, slow down, Lightning. Remember your training.' Violet had already moved to attack the last remaining ghouls. So, two ghouls moved into the fortress and there were two ghouls left out here. So, in that case, Lightning put the two ghouls back into his crosshairs, waiting to see what happens and responding accordingly.

(Firing at Ghoul 8 if Violet doesn't kill him, 13 AP)

(Firing at Ghoul 9 if Violet doesn't kill him, 13 AP)

Spectrum didn't know what angered her more. The searing pain coming from her wing from the wound that was now making her earth bound ( not to mention how filthy a ferals mouth must be making her germaphobia mind race and her heart rate and breathing rate increase) or the fact her first and brand new plasma pistol lay on the dirty waste floors only adding onto the ever piling wave of panic and rage over her luck with the germs.

It was up to anyones interpretation on why the white mare screamed out, even she herself didn't know if it was in anger or in pain. Violet had already killed the one that had brought on all the germ and, as Spectrum saw it, made the planet a despicable place. Seeing the thing dead washed away some of the red that was seeping into her vision but her heart still raced as her muscles screamed at her for retribution over the wrong that had been committed to her wing and gun. But the pain of her other injuries luckily kept her from making such irrational decisions at least for the moment.

Sure she wanted to maim everyone of those filthy stinking feral until they weren't even ash in the wind. But Violets voice cut through all her pain and rage, if only for the fact that she was the one that ended the life of the infected feral that damned her to remain earthbound for now. So for now despite being in a fit of rage the mare listened to the filly and started to retreat from her advance position. At least coherent enough to resist flying away on a damaged wing.

_________Quick Update HUD_______________
HP: ---unknown / taken heavy damage ---
DT: 13
-- OUTFIT EFFECT: +5Melee, +5 Gun
AMMO:
Firefly --5 (x60) = 300shots
Plasma Pistol --5 (x16)(-3) = 77shots

============ ACTIONS =================
All AP for dodging and avoiding further damage

The plasma rifle seemed to face well so far, it seemed. The focusing crystal had the proper alignment and shot true to the iron sights, the resulting containment bubble filled with green glowing gas seemed correctly balanced, having the proper spherical shape...

No, no I won't regret buying this one.

Nevertheless, there were still two ghouls heading for the defender. Arc took one of them in sights and pressed the trigger twice again.

(
Firing at Ghoul 3 with plasma rifle, twice: 24 AP
)

Rad glided through the air after his rather successful attack run on the ghouls, though his guns were both nearly empty, figuring he didn't have time to use them he would have to make use of his knife or spiked shoes, which didn't see much use anyway. He saw the ghouls that had got inside the fortress, he would have to deal with them if nopony else did first.