I Can Have a Dark Side IC (Closed)

Dash nodded at Cyber Star, he remembered a few times when the guns of Friendship City had roared to life. He, at least, had found it awesome. He didn't know why Cyber Star thought of the guns more as decorations than effective weapons, but he supposed they'd always disagree like that, so why bother starting an argument over it? The Council could do what they wanted.

Dash then directed his attention to Spectrum, listening to what she said she had overheard. Dash raised an eyebrow, "So he's taking the data out of the computers, or is he just copying it?" Dash whispered a question back, "Because from the looks of things, whoever used to live here won't really be needing it if what I think happened here, happened here. But I'll keep an eye on him."

Bone rolled his eyes at cuppas response, it would be so much easier to just lob off that hair rather then continually fussing with it. But ponies tend to be pretty attached to their manes. He finished cleaning his weapons before he reequipped his armor, slid the gauntlets onto his talons and placed his signature sledge on his back along with his grenade rifle.

The griffin started down the hallway back to the atrium before he checked behind himself and slipped into one of the side rooms. "Ami can you hear me?" Bone head said into the empty room, remebering that the AI said that she could see everywhere in the stable and expected a hologram of the alicorn to appear.

Lucky kept his mouth shut as he thought about the idiocy of Bone's suggestion to the mares, and rinsed soap from his own mane. He scratched a bit at the more coarse facial hair that he had been neglecting to get after with his knife as well, and looked around his area until he found the trimming tools.

He then began to hum to himself as he set about the task of removing his short and stubbly beard, starting up an unusual ditty more cheerful than his normal tunes while he did so.

Simultaneously, he started pondering the amount of time it would take for something horrible to happen that would probably end up with him or somepony else getting shot and/or killed. He settled on sometime under half an hour.

Xeshir let out a groan as Cuppa finally caught on. "I want to Cuppa...I want to so bad...But I can´t." Said the zebra as she tried to avoid looking at the brown unicorn. At least this time she was able to hear what Cuppa said without begin left dumbfolded. "If you say Ami has the same personality as a normal pony, then think about it. She was just told the world she knew was destroyed 200 years ago and that everypony she knew is death. How would a normal pony react to that?" She asked Cuppa.

Cuppa frowned in thought as Xeshir asked that question, though she was also snickering in her mind about the fact that Xeshir was apparently having to restrain her usual habits for some reason. "Ah can only guess she's in shock an' still tryin' t' figure it you in 'er head, so t' speak. She's probably usin' that cake bakin' as a distraction o' sorts. But either she's gon have t' try an' face th' fact, or somehow distract herself every minute o' every day until she's over it." Cuppa attempted to explain.

"Though, why can't ya do any o' yer flirtin' an' such? Ah couldn't imagine somepony actually gettin' ya t' refrain from yer usual antics." Suddenly, Cuppa had changed the conversation towards Xeshir, a curious grin on her face... It was almost as if she found Xeshir's anguish a little funny, even leaning towards the zebra and raising a brow, the mare physically close enough to the zebra for just about anything imaginable, almost touching noses, in fact.

It wasn't every day Cuppa got to tease somepony as such, so she was taking what liberties she could.
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A moment later, when Bone Head was in the Atrium by himself and he was asking for Ami, the alicorn appeared as if on schedule, light cascading from the wall until the form of the alicorn was complete. "Is there something I can help you with, Bone Head?"She innocently asked.

Though, for a glimmer of a moment, Bone Head's vision would blur and distort with the forming of the light.

He would see varying flashes of colour and a focal point for it all, which happened to be darker than any night anypony could encounter, which could not only be seen, but heard and also felt.
A faint howling blended with screams would pass by his ears and if he looked at the almost void-like focal point, he would somehow feel that whatever he was looking at was hungry.

And then that brief moment would be over, and everything would be normal with Ami the Alicorn smiling and patiently waiting for him to talk. "You asked for me?"

Xeshir would have moved backwards as Cuppa leaned in, but she was already on the edge of the pool and found herself unable to do anything as Cuppa´s nose touched hers. She let another sight. "I am in a relationship now Cuppa...I don´t know if I like it, I don´t know if it will work, but I have to do it for her..." Xeshir went thoughtful for a second before realizing Cuppa was still uncomfortably close. "Back off? Please?" She said with pout, hoping that at least her adorable-ness would help her in this situation.

Genuinely seeming surprised as Xeshir explained her situation, Cuppa then gave a nod. "Looks like it's bein' tough on ya, bein' in that relationship. Still ah gotta say ah'd never have figured ya'd be one fer settlin' wi' somepony, yer too adventurous fer that." She said before sidling back and settling back into her original place.

"Though, it seems like yer bein' forced inta the relationship. That ain't the way you get yerself a special somepony. Ah know that much, at least if ya go by cheesy love stories an' such... Or are they bad examples?"

Bone head blinked a few times as he tried to comprehend what he just witnessed. It was as if he starred into the void itself. He shook his head and refocused on the task at talon. whatever it was it didn't seem to have hurt anything. "Ami can you tell me which level the security office is on and how to get to it from here?" The griffin asked.

Arc leaned onto the kitchen counter, his face pushed into his hoof. He couldn't think, not here and not like that, especially if he was supposed to be baking cakes with Bakewell. His head was starting to hurt.

Alright. What the hay, why not. We need to scout ahead anyway.

Arc looked at Ami. "Ami, I would like to access level 2 of the stable. I know my way, just... keep the doors open for me, please. Rad, Nova, you two with me, please."

Arc hopped back on all four and left for the lower level entrance, following the map on his pip-buck.

(Leaving for level 2 of the stable)

Marcus chuckled again as Radiant and Clean tried to reassure Cross there was nothing wrong. True, nothing violent had occured, so there wasn't much cause to worry, especially with the "dangerous" area closed off.

Then his vision changed, almost as if he were looking through a red mist. He also saw blood... everywhere, bringing him such a fright that he gasped, stmubled back, and tried blinking it away as if that would help him unsee what was there.

Surprisingly, that did help, but that didn't make him any less scared. He dropped on the spot to bow and mutter a small prayer in his native tongue, trying to calm himself down after the brief, terrifying vision. Whatever it was that he just saw, it did not bode well...

Despite all of her doubts and misgivings, Bakewell couldn’t stop a small nostalgic smile from brushing ever so gently across her features as the good old metal door slowly opened. The mare took a moment to release a soft and content sigh as she stared at the shiny, clean, organized shelves that sat before her stocked with things the cook would never dream of finding in the wasteland. Not everything was the same as her old home, but so much of it was that the mare was instantly comforted by thoughts of comfort gone past.

“It’s just like home.” She commented in a hushed voice, it was quite possible that a small happy tear escaped her eye as the outside world became, for a moment, nothing but a dull buzz of background noise. “Only without the constant hatred. And the eventual mass murder spree.”

And then it was time to get to work, Quickly fetching the ingredients listed, Bakewell began making trips between the pantry and kitchen area. It was between one such trip that Scrap got her attention.

“The maps? You mean like on my pipbuck? Uh, sure. I don’t know what you’re really talking about, though…” The beige mare spoke as she brought up her forelimb and looked through the maps.

“…um. Do you mean that thing on level four?” She asked, shaking her pipbuck leg up and down violently before rechecking to see if the scrambled letters were still there. What is that?” She squinted, before trying to read the scrambling text aloud.

“Fff…gihes…hgsszee…uh, vhha….vhaii? Ugghhh.” She gave up, breaking off into a groan. “It’s giving me a headache.”

Scrap nodded to Bakey when she asked if what he was talking about the room on level four.

"Yeah that thing. I can't figure out what it's supposed to be."

Scrap continued to squint at the gibberish that was the room label as Bakey tried to read it aloud. He couldn't make any more sense of it, so he figured we'd just ask Ami about it.

"Lets just leave it be Bakey and not worry about it too much, we're not gonna be going anywhere near it anyway."

Turning to the alicorn projection he asked.

"Hey Ami, can you tell me anything about the rooms on the fourth floor?"

Xeshir bit her lower lip as Cuppa talked. She knew exactly what she was talking about. "Its just that...Well...She was hurt a lot in the past...And after I helped her went through it by telling me her story she said she had...Feelings for me...I just couldn´t force myself to say I don´t share those feelings with her." She then slowly got out of the bathtub and began drying herself with the nearest towel she could find. "It´s very complicated Cuppa...And I think we should be done with these baths by now, see how the others are doing." Said the zebra, desesperately wanting to change the subject.

Cuppa gave a worried frown as Xeshir explained herself as much as she wanted to, poor mare just didn't want to break the heart of somepony who was already hurt, even Cuppa could understand that. "Sure, if ya think it's fer th' best. But ah've gotta say summint about it first. Ya didn't wanna say ya didn't love 'er because she was already so hurt, wha's the point in breakin' summint already so broken, after all?" Cuppa started, climbing out of the bath as well.

"Also, are ya gon' tell everypony with a bad past who comes cryin' to ya that ya love 'em? Cause nowadays, that's a lot o' ponies." She then added after shaking herself off, not really needing a towel as she put her clunky combat barding back on. "Good luck wi' yer relationship, Xeshir. Maybe ya can end up growin' t' really love 'er eventually." Despite the possibly harsh meaning under everything she said, Cuppa had a kind tone to what she said, even so much as giving a faint smile as she wished her luck. "Ah guess seein' if th' others need some help is a good idea. But it's not like we're in danger in here, ya know?"

(Gonna do the SW post later :P)

Violet’s face bore a bright smile as Bakewell got lost in the moment, commenting on how much this was like her old home to her. The filly was happy to see her friend so happy, if only for a fleeting moment before reality, specifically the reality of what happened to Bakewell’s home, ruined it a bit.

Still, it didn’t seem to ruin things all that much, and Bakewell seemed quite happy as she and Violet set off to work, pulling out and collecting ingredients. Violet had a bit easier time transferring items from the pantry to the main kitchen area, if only because of her magic, but Bakewell did have to point out a few ingredients to the filly that she didn’t recognize.

They were interrupted when Scrap asked Bakewell to check the maps that were suddenly on her pipbuck, Violet assumed they were transmitted in someway by one of the other teams. Violet of course couldn’t see them, and she was kinda curious what Bakewell and Scrap were expressing confusion about.

“Hey, what’s on the fourth floor?” she whispered to Bakewell. “I can’t really see what you two are talking about because...You know.”

"Huh... Ain't seen myself this clean n' presentable since the stable..."

Lucky took his eyes off of the mirror he had been using and started the process of putting his gear back on. As he did so, he noticed a new note had appeared on his pipbuck, and hurriedly finished dressing so he could see what it was.

He opened it, and saw that it was a map of the stable. He went through the floors, checking the layout and otherwise looking for anything suspicious. It looked like a normal stable to him though, nothing really out of place, nothing peculiar or immediately dangerous... And then he saw the room on the fourth floor.

"Yep. Definitely under half an hour..." He mumbled to himself as he made his way back out into the rest of the stable. He decided to go ahead and take a look around on the next floor, to see if maybe there were any meds just laying around that he could possibly take.

“Oh, right! I’m so sorry, Vi. I forgot that you don’t have a pipbuck!” Bakewell whispered back at the younger filly with a smile, bring her leg-mounted computer over in front of the friend with unique sight in a position that would have normally allowed a normal pony to read the screen. Bakewell’s attempt to cover-up that Violet was having trouble seeing certain objects due to her super secret unique vision was much smoother than the last several times she and Violet had gone through similar occurrences; The grown mare seemed to be getting better at covering up truths as time went on. Perhaps having actually experienced the vision had made things a bit easier, as well.

“This is the map of level four. Look in the top right corner; there’s a room set apart from the rest, down that long twisty hallway there with no other rooms around it. The other areas are labeled, but this room’s name is complete unreadable gibberish, see? Words on words on words, and it might just be my eyes playing tricks but I could swear they’re moving around a bit.” She quietly explained, attempting to make it appear as though she were simply showing Violet the map while trying to include enough in the way of details to give Violet a reasonable idea of what was being talked about, since she couldn’t read screens.

Xeshir nodded at Cuppa´s words. Perhaps there was some winsdow in them...Although it seemed a little strange to take advice from a mare named after coffee beans while they were both bathing in a Stable that had been deserted 200 years ago, but it still was something to consider.

After drying her, but leaving her mane wet, since she decided it fitted her well, Xeshir trotted towards the kitchen, following the signs around the stable. She thought she had heard some ponies going there to bake a "cake". Perhaps she could ask them if they knew where her group was.

Cuppa followed Xeshir out of the bathrooms and looked down each direction she could head. "Stay safe, Xeshir. Ah'm sure nuthin'll happen in 'ere, but ya never know." She said before turning off towards the sign indicating towards the second level of the Stable, known as the Infirmary. She didn't really need to go tell Bake she was done with bathing, she was busy in the kitchen with Ami, baking.
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Ami raised a brow at Bone Head's request. "It's on the third floor, just follow the stairs and when you get to level three, turn right, and then take the next right. It's straight down the hallway, at the end being the Camera Monitoring Station. This facility doesn't exactly have a Security Office, as I am technically the security of the entire Stable, we just had others assigned to monitor the cameras in case I was offline due to any damage done to my core." Then pausing for a moment and leaning towards the griffin, she kept her brow raised questioningly, her holographic image flickering and freezing for a moment as she moved and spoke. "Why?"
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As Arc said he was going to go explore the second level of the Stable, Ami frowned but gave a tiny nod. "If you really want to. But you're always welcome to come back and help with baking." She said with a brief smile before she was promptly spoken to by Scrap. Something about the fourth level and rooms.

"Oh... Uhh... The fourth level is where all the major projects were conducted and tested, as there is a specific test area just for when potentially dangerous tests are to be conducted. The testing chamber could probably safely contain anything short of a balefire explosion and keep everything outside the chamber intact." She began, peering at Scrap's pipbuck to look at the map. Then poking a part of the screen with her horn. "In fact, that's where my matrix core is. So would that technically make that my room?"

Then she seemed to just freeze up, gazing at the screen for what could be considered a brief moment. Possibly from just realising what room Bakewell had just described, or from a completely different reason entirely. "Oh, but you must leave that room alone. I can't see into there and it's the Stable's last project before... you know." Ami seemed to freeze up a little again before returning to her normally fluid movements.

"Sorry, I may be able to see the entire Stable without issue, but appearing in more than one place is apparently somewhat taxing for my core's matrix. I would suspect it's due to the damage on the core itself." She then explained, now simply awaiting any more inquiries.
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As Xeshir was walking on her own, just passing by a window she could only assume lead into the Residential block, she'd end up spotting her faint reflection in it.

And her reflection didn't seem impressed by something and Xeshir would feel an invisible force sweep her hooves out from underneath her as the reflection shimmered for the briefest of moments.

The mare would greet the ground and when she'd look up, her reflection would still be in the window, laughing down at her as if what had just happened was funny.

And then she'd hear hoofsteps, and looking towards the source would reveal that Arc Weld, Nova Surge and Rad Boom were all just leaving the kitchen.

Arc, Nova and Rad would also see Xeshir laying on the floor... for some reason.
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Spectrum gave a small shrug at Dash's question, then glanced over at Cyber Star, who was still occupied with the terminal and his pipbuck.

"Got anything you two want to check out? Actually, could you guys go find Amber? She's probably still in the Residential block, giving herself a clean... I swear she has no idea what cleanliness is...." He asked somewhat impatiently, not even drawing his gaze from the terminal as he worked.
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In the bathrooms, whilst Lucky was dressing and checking his pipbuck, he'd hear a knocking off a hoof on glass coming from the mirror he'd been previously shaving himself in front of.

Upon looking over at the mirror, he would only see a reflection of the room he was in, not his own, as if he wasn't even there. Though the mirror did appear to be shimmering for a few seconds.

Then Amber would emerge from a shower cubicle, looking all nice, clean and still dressed... as if she'd gone in with her overalls on.... A weird thing to do by most standards.

"Now I'm all nice and clean, those prissy ponies better appreciate this." She said as she flicked her mane out of her eyes and gave a little wave to Lucky before she started heading towards the door leading out of the bathrooms.

Meanwhile in the baths, Bada Boom was still relaxing in an individual tub, as if he wasn't locked in a 200 year old Stable that could possibly be dangerous.


(waiting on Cross to make a post for his group :T)

Bone head smiled as he started to make his way to the stairs. "Oh, just going to do some inventory." The griffin said nonchalantly. One he was on the third floor He would seek out the armory and if it was unlocked would proceed to liberate it's supplies. If it is locked then he would use his skills, to take the door off it's bloody hinges!

(Looting armory if nothing gets in the way. If armory is locked then knock the door down with either Lil miss, -Melee: 54 or Grenade rifle - Explosives: 54. Then loot.)

Nova simply followed along with the rest of the group, knowing Arc had a map and she'd end up getting lost without it. That was then they stumbled upon Xeshir, who appeared to have herself stumbled recently. Nova suppressed a small laugh and smiled innocently at the zebra, unable to pass up the opportunity.

"I didn't even know you could get a Sunset in here, let alone one of those ones." Nova reached a hoof down in an offer to help the zebra up. "Still, I wouldn't exactly pass one up right now myself."

Rad followed Arc out the kitchen, not really having much else to do, he would have stayed to help with the cake, but really didn't trust himself not to break everything or something. As he headed down the corridor he caught sight of Xeshir on the floor, and couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. "what ya doin' doing there Xeshir?" He asked, figuring it possible she may actually have a reason for being on the floor.

“Aaaah. I see. Thanks Bakey!” she told the older mare, playing along. She was able to piece together enough to know what the deal was from that, even if she knew little about the rest of the floor itself now.

She looked up as Ami explained what went on in the fourth floor. She raised an eyebrow at the mention of the mystery room being the last experiment here before things went batty. That peaked her interest, and a small smile began to form on her face.

When Ami glitched out, Violet got an idea. “Hey Scrap, aren’t you good with computers and fixing things?” She remembered Bakewell mentioning something like that before. “Maybe you could take a look at her core-thingy when we’re done with the cakes and see if you can repair it? If that’s fine with you Ami.” she added to the AI.

If this worked, Violet would have an opportunity to sneak a peek at that room. She was here to look at shiny Stable Experiments after all, and this sounded like it fit the bill. She didn’t even need to go into the room, or even touch it, with her eyes unless the wall was ten meters thick or filled with pure magic she’d be able to see through it, so really for her the danger factor was minimal. And if it was either of those...Well, she knew when to call it quits.

And even if this plan didn’t work she could probably sneak over to the fourth floor anyway easily enough. This Stable still had airvents at any rate, and those are always a quick mode of travel if you know what you’re doing.

Bakewell glanced towards the door as Rad left, a small frown formed on her face for the briefest of seconds before she forced a smile back into its proper place.

The earth pony listened to Ami despite the small distraction. The place sounded like trouble, and Bakewell had a distinct desire to stay as far away as possible. Violet obviously didn’t share those sentiments, and Bakewas reasonably sure that the filly wanted to mess around with the room. It was just the Violet thing to do. Not that Bakewell thought that the filly couldn’t handle herself, but the mare didn’t want to deal with any extra risk while stuck in this Stable. When it came to deadly Stable Experiments, Bake had already realized that nothing good could come of them.

“I don’t think that Scrap’s expertise really extends to Stable tech, Vi.” Bake quickly answered, not giving Scrap an initial chance to accept or refuse for fear that he would accept. “Besides, I’m sure Ami doesn’t want some random pony from out in the wasteland messing about with her brain or whatever! Nope. We had better just stay off of that entire floor. Mmmhmm. Besides, Scrap still needs a bath when we’re done here. We all do!”

Xeshir stared with bewilderment at her own reflection, which had by now dissapeared. Her mind was flooded with hundreds of different questions. What? Who? How? Where? Why? The zebra was unable to find even one satisfactory response. Maybe it had something to do with her just sitting on the floor and staring at the wall as if it was going to shoot her.

When the rest of the group came and asked for an explanation Xeshir racketed her brain for a possible answer. "I...Guess I tripped?" She said without much conviction, but at least it was better than saying her reflection was playing tricks on her.