"It gets worse?" Orchid questioned, looking at the enormous robot in front of her before . "The ministry mares in their old age must have been quite...um....insane, but who am I to judge. I was not alive back then. This alone is quite confronting, but i'm guessing that it's going to get much worse." (I'll post as much as I can before I have to leave. Also, http://unnatural20comic.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/2014-02-06.jpg)
Snow nodded slowly, "It gets much, much worse." Snow replied, "I can't think of JUST how bad or why, I just know that it does." She says, "However, I will not scour this place trying to figure it out, this is what the Soldier wanted. I've already downloaded the schematics to my PIN, so we can leave." She informed Orchid, "Unless you wanna explore that is."
Orchid turned around at Snow. "You're killing me with curiosity. But...it's for the best if we leave. That robot is giving me the creeps. I don't want to begin to understand what else could possibly be inside.[/U]
Snow and Orchid had been trotting towards the Everfree when a camp that looked fresh, and sizable, came into view, just around the same time massive amounts of smoke started drifting over the horizon. Quickening pace, it soon came to be revealed that the camp belong to the Commandos, who had fled the Everfree just in time to avoid being burned to death. Entry to the camp quickly revealed a large number of Commandos covered in anti-burn bandages and burns, and it was obvious they were only seeing those able to walk with their wounds... ***** "Goddesses Damned Red-Eye is trying to burn down the whole damned Everfree, that's what happened!" The Soldier nearly yelled upon being question by snow after the two were lead to him, "we got damn lucky we smelt the smoke. As far as I know, we didn't take a single death, but some good Commandos are gonna be OOA for weeks! Now, please tell me you have a least a little good news." Snow swallowed and gave the soldier her projection glass and activated her PIN, bringing up the Equestria's Messanger schematics. The Soldier hmm'ed as he studied them, "Well, looks like we got ourselves a base to go to." He said simply, "I will not let this knowledge get out, especially not reach the damn Steel Rangers! I know that "SteelHooves" recently has made a rebellion, doesn't mean they're any better with tech." The Soldier sighed, "Sorry, but your payment is currently a pile of ashes in the Everfree, we only saved ourselves and the tech. But, I will not suspend payment, instead, how about a favor, think on it, could be anything you wish."
“As much as I would love to see Red Eye hang, he doesn’t deserve that liberty.” Orchid replied, taking out a combat knife and twirling around her hooves. “A war against Red Eye would not be fantastic, but something is going to happen. So...why don’t we even the odds.” The mare took her combat knife and sent it sailing across the environment, before hitting a burnt tree nearly fifty meters away with incredible accuracy. This not only proved that she was skilled, but that she meant business. “I’m going to Friendship Valley, and killing any Slaver that moves. I only request the ammunition to make that happen. Whatever the result, it’s going to hurt the Slave market...Bad.” Orchid replied before deciding to walk back to the tree and take her knife. She stopped next to Snow. “That’s my favor done. Now it’s your turn. Also, I’ll tell you why I hate Slavers so much later.”
The Soldier smiled slightly before shaking his head in amusement, "If it's slavers you wish to kill, you are best to follow us then. Tenpony has recently come under siege from Red-Eye's forces if DJ-Pon3 is to be believed, and while I know my Commandos are in no shape for a direct attack to break the seige, I know that by sheer reputation, our arrival in Manehatten will draw a not insignifact number to attack us. Which is something I know my Commandos could turn into a bloodbath, and you could join in if you wish. if not, find Blacksmith, he's the armory commander, he'll have all the ammo you need." The Soldier then turned to look at Snow, "And what is your favor, Miss Mark?" Snow pursed her lips then remembered the mention of DJ-Pon3, and from what little she's heard of his broadcast, he seemed to know a lot about the Wasteland, "I have a simple request, get me into Tenpony. If what I've done isn't good enough to do that, then I will activate Equestria's Messanger for you under the promise to use it to only attack forces like Red Eye and those spacers and raiders." Soldier smirked at that, "Red Eye's alicorns will need know what hit them, consider it a deal." Snow then turned to Orchid, "And tell me why after you consider Soldier's deal."
(Tactical long post incoming!) “Alright. It’s a deal, I’ll be happy killing any slaver I come across. I’ll go ahead and see Blacksmith and gather what I need.” Orchid spoke to the Solider before turning around to see Snow. “I’ll tell you in a sec.” After leaving, Orchid returned roughly ten minutes later with rounds for her sidearm’s alongside a combat shotgun. She wore light armour for maximum mobility, but still gave her a standard amount of protection. Once she got back, she eventually encountered Snow in her lonesome. “Alright, I’m back. I don’t particularly enjoy telling this story, but it’s something you need to know about me. ” Orchid then sighed deeply before continuing. “I was born as a slave in Fillydelphia to Red Eye. His soldiers often patrolled the streets of the city, vicious and unstable as they constantly threatened our lives with their weaponry. The slaves in the city were extremely overworked, dehydrated, starved and overall weak from the harsh treatment. The housing conditions were almost uninhabitable, even the homeless would not call it shelter. My parents were born as slaves, and I was one of many slave children that were forced to wear slave collars. I did not particularly have a great childhood; some of the ones I knew disappeared entirely some days. I watched as one of Red Eye’s men shot Cl-...sorry, one of my friends in the forehead for stealing bread when I was 8. His brain matter covered my body from the hooves up. It was the first time I ever felt blood.” “I worked for Red Eye as his slave until I was 16, nearly dying several times due to the working conditions. One night, I came home to discover my parents tied onto the ground. Before I could even cry for help or even acknowledged what was going on, one of the soldiers appeared from behind the door and slammed me onto the ground. He pulled my head up as the leader appeared to them, confessing of the “Sins” that my parents have committed. My parents were crying uncontrollably, confessing they were innocent. I knew that they were innocent; my father had been looking after my sick mother at home. For a few days prior, my father had stopped. As the leader pulled out a machete, my parents looked at me. Tears streaming down their face, but they were smiling. They were speaking to me, but the words that had stuck to me were ”I love you, the last words they spoke before the blade both struck them, decapitating them both. Their heads rolled amongst the floor in my direction, landing directly in front of me. They were still smiling. I screamed and cursed, as loud as my lungs could allow me to. But those animals....they were laughing, laughing hysterically like they just witnessed one of those pre-war comedians. Just as they were about to take me next, the lights went out and something happened. I cannot remember what happened next in detail, but when the lights came back on. Everypony but me was dead. I killed them in a fit of rage.” Orchid said, her tone full of sadness. “I got the key to disconnect my collar from that leader, who happened to be my family’s master. I was now a wanted criminal in the view of Red Eye. I had nowhere to go. Staying in Fillydelphia was suicidal, so me and my best friends...the ones I could save...we escaped the city.” “We were on the run for months. No pony would give us shelter out of fear. One by one, we were hunted down like animals. My friends who did not die of starvation or dehydration...were brutally murdered. Eventually...it was me and my marefriend. We spent one night together before I woke up one morning and she had vanished. I never seen her again....she never gave up on a task. She...loved me.” “Ever since I escaped 9 years ago, I have been on the run. I have been alone, never having a friend in that entire time. I had associates, but never true friends. I have been training myself to take down those monsters.I killed hundreds of them, earning quite an infamous reputation for myself as a ‘Slaver Hunter’. Eventually, my luck ran out and I got captured. That’s when you found me, and I still owe you my life. ” “It’s just... when we were in Ponyville, that holotape reminded me of my parents. I don’t cry often, that got that beaten out of me in Fillydelphia. But...those words...they reminded me of my parents.” Orchid said, starting to tear up and wiping it away. “Sorry. It’s just hard for me to explain without trying to cry.”
Snow simply put her hooves tight around Orchid, pulling her close into a tight hug, "It's ok to cry, remember?" She spoke to Orchid at barely more than a whisper, "The ghosts of our past will always haunt us, real or imagined, it's just best to keep them down." Snow pursed her lips, "Orchid? Would you like to try to bust into Tenpony with me? We could go see the DJ, and I'ld be surprised if, from what I hear, a place like Tenpony not having a spa." Snow continued to hug Orchid close, trying to comfort her, "And so, so sorry to hear about what happened to your marefriend..."
Orchid raised an eyebrow. “What’s a spa? I’ve never heard of one. Is it some pre-war drink or something.” Orchid then shook her head. “Anyway, I’ll really appreciate the support you have given me, and your offer for Tenpony. Should we get going to Manehatten.” (Internet is back, Crim is back in business ! Also, timeskip?)
(Alright) The Commandos appeared before Manehattan as the sun began to set. With Manehattan being a sprawling ruin of a once beautiful city, the Commandos broke off into small fragments to cover more ground. Their overall objective remained the same, stopping the siege of Tenpony and securing the Mark.Co facility that the deadliest creations of ponydom called home. Orchid had separated from the Commando force, deciding to get revenge against the slavers. Orchid took her dual revolvers out, levitating them above her head as she stood at the top of a bridge that led to a road below her before jumping down and entering a full gallop. She began to head down the road that led to the tower itself, beginning to see dead Slavers. The moment she seen a large squad of Red Eye’s soldiers, Orchid took off at incredible speeds. Galloping at a full sprint, she took out her grenade and arched it across the air. Upon realising the explosive, the Slaves were taken back by a single mare attacking them. With the grenade coming down to earth as it fell just below their heads, Orchid fired a single precise round at the grenade itself, showering death upon the Slaves as the shrapnel tore through the entire upper half of their bodies, shredding the heads and necks of the slavers. With the Slavers dead, the remainder of the Slaver force, numbering just under fifty. Orchid swapped to her shotgun in a blur of movement as she ran towards the enemy, dodging the rounds of fire coming at her direction. Once she got close enough, she began to fire at the slaver forces. To the slavers, the fact this mare is destroying them so quickly in her lonesome and with such skill petrified them, causing their accuracy to be lowered as their guns swayed. Within the first thirty seconds, nearly half of the force was dead at her hooves. Orchid was experiencing absolute satisfaction from causing the demise of the ones who had tortured her, stole from her, and the indescribable treatment of her and her fellow slaves. As blood covered Orchid, she had the widest smile on her face...
"I am Equestria's Messanger." the giant mech boomed as the final line of code was inputed to activate it and target Red Eye's forces, or really, any pony that shot at it that was also shooting at ponies not shooting at it "Mission; drive the Zebra invaders from Manehatten." okay, so it still thought it's targets where zebras, but no matter. Snow watched with the Soldier to her side as the giant robot pony rose up to street level. "Threat to Equestria: Celestial Tier. But not for long." the robot disappeared to the surface. ****** "Surrender or you will be eradicated," the Messanger boomed as it fired a hail of lasers from the band of sensors where the eyes on a pony go, blowing apart a group of Red Eye's soldiers with ease. So far, the Commandos rallied around Equestria's Messanger had not really had to fight themselves, the Messanger was simply overkill. And Snow could help but feel proud a terrible superweapon of hers was being used in the right way against those that deserved it. all the while, they were advancing steadily on Tenpony. Snow looked up to look at the tower, and she swore she saw a sky carriage flying straight into it. Then 3 alicorns with shields up suddenly dive bombed the Messanger, "You will be ERADICATED." the Messanger boomed before the mini-megaspells launcher rose from its back, sending one bomb straight in the middle of them before it exploded, wiping the Alicorns from existance. The Equestria Wasteland's enemy, brushed aside by Snow's pre-apoctlyptic genius. She couldn't help but be impressed even more with herself, "Striped is a sign of weakness!"
(BETTER WIPED...THAN STRIPED!!!) Orchid could hear the robotic voice from nearly a mile away. Turning around after the last of the Slavers fell dead, she could just see the robot's head peak above a building. Happy that the robot had been activated, there was almost no need for her to fight against Red Eye. Instead, holstering her weapons and heading towards Tenpony.
Snow had climbed to the top of the Messanger, remembering of a special system for manual control she had built in. Opening up the panel at the base of the Messanger's neck, she programmed in a spot to where she could literally be launched by the Messanger at Tenpony. She knew that even with with the Messanger, a direct attack on the siege camp would be suicidal for the Commandos, especially since the 30 or so left in fighting condition were following the mech. All it took was the Red Eye forces noticing that once they reached the camp of likely hundreds of various troops. The Messanger suddenly stopped as a blue shield suddenly popped up in front of it. "Analyzing barrier...High level area denial spell. Likelyhood of succeeding; 0%" the robot boomed, opening its mouth and shooting a massive laser that punched clean through the spell, not only that, the blue sparks travelled along it, dissolving the shield as it spread, unknowingly to the Commandos and Snow, killing the alicorns keeping it up in the terrible way of killing their very essence, turning them into essentially empty shells. It didn't take long for the Messanger to arrive at the destination, Snow once again at its hooves, next to the Soldier. Tenpony loomed large in front of them, with Red Eye's camp a half mile from them, it would be quite the flight, but she knew the Messanger could fling her that far. How soft the landing will be? That was harder to tell. Snow and the Commandos took up defensive positions as those in Red Eye's camp did the same, not wanting to attack the fifty meter tall Messanger of Death, and the Commandos simply not having the numbers for a full-fledged assault, even with the Messanger. "Hiding is the tactic of Cowardly Zebras. Embrace Equestria or you will be eradicated." the Messanger almost taunted, but nopony was insane enough to attack it. "Well Soldier, looks like we part ways here." Snow said as she kept her head down behind cover in case of snipers, which drew a simple grunt in response from the Soldier, "Oh, and don't think you'll find anything deadlier than the Messanger at the ARD, I made sure." Snow said with a wink, showing off the projection of a single bomb progressing to a massive explosion much larger than any megaspell, "The world isn't, and will never be, ready to have that knowledge." She said quickly before the Soldier could react and climbed up the Messanger again. Going to the manual control console, she targeted those guarding the Four Star Line entrance to Tenpony, firing various weapons at the defenders around it before placing herself in the launcher, making sure no mini-megaspell was in it, then fired. Flying proved to be quite fun, right up until you have to catch yourself from splattering from the ground. Her magic slowed her, but not enough to make slamming into the ground soft enough to not get instantly knocked out. She would later awake in Tenpony's medical clinic. (drew a fun little comic :3 http://thesnowypony.tumblr.com/post/76268894062/drew-my-first-comic-a-joking-thing-related-to-my
Orchid was sitting right next to Snow's bed, ensuring that her friend was alright. She didn't know any pony else, so she remained at her side like a loyal dog. Upon realizing that Snow had awoken, her expression facial turned into happiness. "Oh, Snow ! You're awake." Orchid replied before deciding to get the news out, speaking slower then usual so it was easier for Snow to understand since she had just woke up. "Well...we won. Equestria's messenger made sure of that, and the Commandos obviously took down a lot of Slavers. I agree with your action to destroy ARD, but I don't know about what the Solider thought about it. I didn't see him, but apparently he was furious. He calmed down eventually." Orchid then paused. "You've been out for about a day, receiving the finest medical treatment available on the house." Orchid then smiled, the first time in what seemed forever. "Your...welcome"
(Snow didn't destroy ARD, she simply removed all evidence of the...worse tech. But we can go with that, Equestria's Messanger is more than enough, she could have destroyed ARD, but saved the schematics) Snow nodded slowly, "A day..." She muttered, suddenly curious how Orchid got in, but fought it down, "Well, I need to go see DJ-Pon3, I need his knowledge." She said, "And...I feel like I could help him in return. The longer I'm out here, the more I come into contact with my technology...The more I remember. And I think the ponies of the Wasteland could use some of that knowledge; of the Old World." Snow looked Orchid straight, saying in a completely neutral tone, "The Wasteland is bad, yes. But war time Equestria...It was a whole different kind of bad..." She said, getting off the medical bed slowly, her legs wobbly, "And thanks for standing by me Orchid..." Snow added, "Why don't you try to get us a room, sell some supplies, that kinda thing, my meeting may take awhile..."
(Whoops. Sorry bout that. ) Orchid got up and stretched slightly before replying. "Sure thing. We should be able to have a room available for us within the next half hour. On the other hand, I’ll discover what on Equestria a ‘Spa’ is.” Orchid then went out the room to perform some duties. After she had acquired a room, she decided to have a little adventure across Tenpony Tower like a little filly, eventually arriving at what was a bath house. “I wonder if there is a Spa in here...”
The elevators pinged open into the room just before the area where DJ-Pon3 made his home. Taking a deep breath, she constructed what she would say in her head as lifted a hoof and knocked, and had to knock and knock again, unknowing of the two lovers inside who were just getting intimate... It took awhile, but finally a grey unicorn mare with a mess of messy blue mane poked her head out, the slight irritation just barely visible under her demeanor, "Sorry, DJ-Pon3 isn't seeing anyone right now, he's busy." She said very simply Snow raised an eyebrow, "Too busy to make room for a pony who could actually do the Wasteland some good with her knowledge, you realize I am Snow Mark, former CEO of Mark Co, right?" The unicorn stared at Snow in disbelief before saying, "One moment please."
