Snow stared at the town, as if lost, "Stable 2..." She suddenly muttered, "My home!" She suddenly galloped off, as if ignoring what Orchid had to say, leading the mare through twists and turns of the ruined town before she suddenly turned onto a side alley that ended in a large, open plot of land covered in bright white flowers with a large, three story house standing in the center, "White Hopes..." Snow muttered as she trotted through the feild, "They survived..." She continued, "Of course they would..." Snow looked up to her house, which was in surprisingly good shape, then suddenly froze. "my family...MY FAMILY!" She suddenly yelled, tears suddenly streaming down her face, galloping into the home, oblivious to Orchid. By the time Orchid could have made it in, she would have seen Snow holding a unicorn stallion's skeleton on a ruined couch, tears streaming down her face as a holo tape played. "Should have known I wouldn't have made it....I-I'm sorry Snow...I...I won't be able to be there when you wake up in twenty years...I-I...S-Snow? I...I know you likely won't hear this but...-violent coughing- Oh Celestia, the air is green! How could I have been so stupid to think I could have made it in time?! Coggy, Bubble, and Darky...They all made it I think...but...I'm sorry darling........I likely won't last long..,The PIN you gave me is going insane on the radiation detector...Ran out of RadAway and RadX...S-Snow....before I go....If you ever hear this...I love you....I love you with all my heart....-more violent coughing- H-heh...T-that's blood....-body is heard collapsing to the ground- "I love you too...Kleft..." Snow whispered to the skeleton before breaking down into tears
Orchid entered the room where she found Snow curled up on an old couch nearby what used to be her husband. Orchid had heard the beginning of the holotape as she entered the home, and remained soundless as she heard the final message to his wife. Orchid looked down onto the floor in sadness before walking to a staircase without Snow noticing and sitting down on the first step, reminiscing on the thoughts of...no...it was far to painful to think about. She was the only one who had made it out alive. It had been nearly nine years since she made her escape, watching the faces of the ponies she had grown up with screaming in agony...watching her own parents being murdered in front of her. She looked at the ground, on the verge of tears. She had kept up with the illusion for long enough before finally leaving the home of Snow Mark. She had never met a pony like Snow, yet alone somepony nice. Many had abandoned her when she had absolutely nothing left. She found a place to keep to her thoughts close to the Carousel Boutique. She had been trying to hide these emotions for so long from Snow, now they were flowing through her like water. She felt like putting a bullet to her head. But she needed to remain strong, she needed to keep the promise she made so many years ago. She was not ready to tell Snow what had happened nine years ago. Not yet....
Snow eventually found her way back to Orchid after crying until she couldn't cry unmore and burying her husband's remains among the White Hope, only to find Orchid not doing so well herself. Not really knowing what else to do, she wrapped her hooves around Orchid and pulled her into a tight hug, not saying anything, not really knowing what to say. Hell, she didn't even know what to do. Her family was gone, dead long ago. The fact that she would never see them again...She knew inside she had to rebuild, a new family, if she was going to survive, a family of friends. And Orchid was a good start.
When Snow decided to hug Orchid, it took the mare completely by surprise. The last ones to do this were her parents; she had never been hugged by another pony for many years. She did nothing, just allow the moment to pass as Snow pulled her tighter. She had managed to stop the tears on her face, but failed to stop the uncontrollable sobbing.
Snow gently rested her head against Orchid, her old motherly instincts kicking in, "Shh...It'll be alright..,everything's gone and past...I'm here for you..." She gently cooed at Orchid, rocking the two of them back and forth, "It's okay to cry it out..."
After awhile, Orchid eventually stopped crying. The terrible memories of her past had made the crying worse, but she did eventually calm down. The unicorn remained silent when the moment passed, but she replied soon after to Snow. "Thank you...." Orchid replied. "That meant so much to me. Remind me to tell you about what happened when I was younger. I don't really want to speak about right now."
Snow nodded and gave Orchid a small squeeze before taking a step back, "We all have our moments we'll rather forget. I feel like there's some...quite a few things that I'll discover about my past that I would wish I hadn't." "Oh good, you're finally done with your touching sobfest, but I would like to know right now what the hell are you two doing in Commando territory? Or as I will specify, MY territory." A cold voice suddenly interjected, and the pair looked over to see a brown unicorn with blue eyes, one with scar going down to his mouth, and wearing what seemed to be a heavy-duty version of Snow's armor, staring at them menacingly, "And you, white mare, why the hell are you wearing Mark Co Commando armor?"
"Well...W-" Orchid began before ending up in a stutter. The stallion staring her in the face had obviously seen many battles. Dressed in an armour similar to Snow's but much more bulky and protective, she could tell that the weaponry he carried was far too advanced for her to currently comprehend, not to mention that the fearsome looking pony was likely to kill her if she didn't manage to get something out. "Please don't kill us. We haven't done anything wrong..."
"Oh goddess..." Orchid thought, facehoofing her self. "Nice work on using your *Communication* skills, you just made yourself look like an idiot. Seriously, your better then this !" Orchid sighed deeply before looking at the pony. "Just...let's get this over with." (I'm thinking of possibly making Orchid a Commando, but not entirely sure if I should go ahead with the idea. Also wanted to do something somewhat funny with Orchid, which is why I made her a blubbering mess on the last post.)
(Okays. And if you couldn't tell, I decided to change up the Commandos under Julion to be a bit like the Steel Rangers with technology, only their focus is on Mark Co tech) The stallion turned and lead them out of the building, out of Ponyville , through the Everfree Forest, until they arrived at a bussling army camp with more than a hundred ponies milling about.it, but the stallion lead them, finally bringing the two mares into his tent where there was a desk and a few chairs around it. "Sit." He ordered as he sat down on the side of the desk opposite of the two, "Now, I'll give you two an option, easy way, or the hard way to explain yourself." "and what would those entail?" Snow asked. "For you, the easy way is to strip out of that armor so I may see your cutie mark. It would be the only way you can prove to me that you are Snow Mark, by some miracle." "And if I refuse?" "Then I will MAKE you." He replied in a deadly tone. Snow swallowed and nodded, blushing slightly in embarrassment as she undid her armor then let it drop to the floor, leaving her without any sort of protection, and revealing the strange question Mark with several marks around it that was her cutie mark "By the goddesses....it is you..."
(At the moment, I'm redoing the Brotherhood and the Federation. I've decided to connect the Brotherhood into not being a secretive faction and instead, integrating them with the Federation. Los Pegasus would have taken at least 60 years to rebuild, and the Federation would have not been established until 75-80 years after The Last Day when the city was alive and kicking. The Brotherhood, after the destruction of Big Mountain, was instead located to a base near Los Pegasus, like how Nellis is close to Vegas IRL. However, I'm also focusing on something called "Meta-Pony's" and various other stuff. I'll PM you if you want to know more.) Orchid remained silent throughout the entire ordeal. Wondering about where her fate could lead her. In wasteland standards, she was quite well trained, able to take down an entire squad of heavily armed Slaves in her lonesome. However, she knew that she was absolutely nothing to the stallion staring her in the face. Deciding not to embarrass herself like she did last time, she said nothing.
Snow quickly got back into her armor after the confirmation from the stallion, before suddenly turning towards him and stopping a hoof, "Now you know! You owe me that you tell me who you are and what in the name of Equestria are you and your ponies doing in my armor and using my weapons!" The stallion sighed, "Fine." he said bluntly, "I'm the Soldier, Commander of the Commandos. I founded the Commandos several years ago as both an alternative to the Talons which have been known to betray a contract for the right bottlecaps, and also in honor of my many times greatgrandmother who founded the Commandos before the war. Never understood why, but I had come to find the Commandos used Mark Co tech almost exclusively, so I have made the gathering and safeguarding of Mark Co tech the Commandos primary objective, we have already made many expeditions into zebra lands gathering the remains of tech left by the Commandos prior to their withdrawal immediately before the megaspells fell. I would take a guess that thanks to our expeditions, and the relative scarcity of Mark Co weaponry and assorted technologies, nearly 90% of all Mark Co technology outside the facilities which have been unaccessable since the Last Day. The other 10% is likely mainly assorted rifles and Disruptor grenades." Snow stared at the Soldier for several moments. "What?" "I-I'm your many times great aunt....The one you founded the Commandos after, she was my sister, Master Protector Dark Light..."
Orchid remained silent, watching the ordeal go between the Commando and Snow. She had a feeling that she was going to be asked something pretty soon, so she sat upright and started to listen.
"I just have one question..." The Soldier suddenly pipped up, "If you're over 250 years old, how do you look so young?" Snow shrugged at that, "Something about "de-aging agents" in the cyro chamber according to what my pre-freeze self said." The Soldier nodded slowly at that before looking at Orchid, "And what about you?"
(Sorry I could not respond. The schools internet at the moment is absolutely shocking !) "I'm 25" Orchid replied bluntly, avoiding any information about her past as she could. "I'm not a particularly interesting mare. I just wonder around the wastes earning a living." Orchid tired to hide the fact that she did not have a fantastic childhood, far from it. Whenever she thought about it, she could only remember her former friends before they were killed. She was concerned that her presence around Snow might endanger both of them, considering who she is.
The Commando nodded slowly at Orchid's answer, obviously not satisfied, "Anyways, I have a mission for the two of you, it's quite simple actually. The Mark Co Armaments and Research and Development division in Manehatten, all I want to know is what is inside. Do that, and I'll have both of you leaving here with plenty of bottlecaps." He looked at them expectantly
Orchid nodded in reply. "Sounds simple enough, although I'm expecting insane security measures inside of the facility due to it being Mark.Co. Not to mention that it's in Manehatten." The unicorn mare wanted to reply that the mission was going to be easy, but she didn't want to jink herself incase something bad did happen. The sooner she could leave, the better. And yet again, if she survives, she would be walking away with what many ponies would consider a small fortune. (I've believe that I have nearly run out of Internet. If I dont reply later, I wont be able to until Monday. )
(Okay, That's fine ^^) Snow smiled, "The hardest part will be getting there. From what I saw at the MAD facility, all defenses are automatically geared to reconize my face, even after over 200 years." She said confidently, "Is there anything in particular?" "Yes, in fact. I know that your company was working on something big to send to the Commandos in zebra lands, something so powerful that wasn't a megaspells that could punch a hole through any defensive line, name those around the Zepbra capital itself. I'll tell you why after you return, but trust me, it's a good reason."
(Managed to visit my grandparents, was able to just squeeze this post through.) "Wait... it can destroy any form of a defensive line....and it's not a megaspell?" Orchids mind was doing back flips at the thought of this. From what she knew, the megaspells nearly destroyed ponydom and all other life on the planet. The dead wasteland that became apart of the scenery was constant across Equestria. And to think there could be something even more powerful, even more destructive then a megaspell... Her mind was blown away at the thought, but she could not help but feel afraid. (Timeskip?)
(Sure) Snow and Orchid stood in front of a pitifully small building in the ruins of Manehatten, it was about the size of a shack, but somehow, it had withstood the test of a balefire megaspells and time very well, even the symbol above the door was hanging proudly, albeit burnt black. It was the logo of Mark Co with the words "To advance and protect Equestria;A.R.D. division; So that a bright future may be won" "Tell you what, my past self sure liked sayings..." Snow muttered as she approached the door, and a camera instantly popped out looking straight at her, before emitting a red scanner laser that made its way up and down her body. "Identification; CEO Snow Mark. Welcome to the A.R.D. Division. Enjoy your visit. Please state if you have a guest." "Uh, I have a guest." Snow said to the camera, motioning to Orchid, who was instantly scanned in turn, "Confirmed. Guest had been updated into one-visit database. You may now enter." The camera finished before withdrawing. Snow gave Orchid a confused look before pushing open the door, which lead instantly to a single elevator and stairwell. The elevator pinged open in greeting, "And you'ld thought Stable Tec built stuff to last..." Snow muttered before leading orchid into the elevator. ********* Snow stared in shock of the sight before her, it was an absolutely massive pony-formed robot reminiscent of the Steel Ranger. In front lay a single terminal and it was obvious it was on a platform meant to rise, "Equestria's Messenger..." Snow muttered randomly to Orchid before trotting up to the terminal as if in a trance, then suddenly a loud, threatening voice boomed out from the robot, "Weapon Systems: 90% Operational. Navigational Systems; 100% Online. Eye Forward Sparkle and Enemy-Friend Detection; 100% Online. Current Mobility; 0%. Deployable? Yes. Objective; Destroy all Zebra, win the War." Snow remained silent before turning slowly to Orchid, the fear in her eyes obvious, "I created this..." She said, "I meant to build 5....They were meant to force the Zebra to surrender without the need for megaspells or some of the...More disturbing ways the ministries had in mind....." Snow said quietly, "It...It's not the worse....Thing I made...."
