Despite that Snow was slowly to start gaining some ground, Orchid was miles ahead of her friend. The smoke and ash from the destruction of the Everfree started to affect Orchid, but nothing seriously harmful was affecting the unicorn. Orchid turned around once more to see her friend, fighting the smoke. She did not know what to believe anymore, she knew that Snow, despite her being the only pony that seemed to be nice to her other then her parents, had an involvement before the last day with the war. But knowing that she was responsible for the near-extermination of ponydom, the destruction of civilization across the world and the uncountable lives of innocents...all from a mare such as her, broke her spirit and heart. Orchid tried to keep running despite her body burning as if she was thrown into the flames of hell. She looked back for a brief second to see Snow still chasing her. Orchid levitated one of the revolvers out of her holster and fired a warning shot nearby her hooves before facing forward and picking up speed. Upon her turning around, Snow would have been able to see the emotion and pure sadness upon her face. Her eyes strained from the tears streaming like a waterfall down her cheeks. "Get away from me !!!" Orchid screamed at the top of her lungs. She would have said more...nasty stuff against her friend if it wasn't for the smoke nearby wanting to poison her lungs and suffocate the life out of her. After covering what seemed to be nearly several miles, she stopped running and collapsed onto the ground below her. Desperate to get away, she even tried to crawl away from Snow, the tears still remaining on her face.
Snow watched as Orchid collapsed to the ground far ahead, even after the warning shot, words in her minds began to ring from the hologram, "To rid yourself of the ghosts of your past." She managed to catch up to Orchid's crawling body quickly, huffing and puffing in exhaustion, "P-please....J-just...G-give...me...a chance...It, hologram said...new life...free from...ghosts of...my past...right?..." Snow laid down next to Orchid, casting an easy shield spell over them, driving out the smoke from the air that immediately surrounded and giving them fresh air, but Snow was much too tired for it to be of any protection, "Please...remember...I am...I am the one...that has to...live with this knowledge...of ultimate responsibility...but I can make it better...efforts by myself before the megaspells...show I was trying to make it up even...back then...I must pick up...where I started, and make up for my...mistakes..Please...Orchid...I can't do this alone...I need you...besides...guess what happens if you run? You become a target...leverage against me if you...were captured...leverage that would work..."
Despite being far to tired to even say anything, Orchid understood exactly what Snow was telling her. She watched as the barrier around her recycled the old air while the new air sucked out the smoke from her lungs. She could barely speak, instead looking deep in Snow's eyes as she began to feel herself lose consciousness. Orchid was absolutely exhausted, and the smoke made things worse for her condition. All she could do was nod silently and returning a slight smile on her face, letting her know that everything was alright. Tears were still streaming as she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
Snow smiled softly, fighting off the blackness of unconsciousness to lift up Orchid and place her on her back, "uf'ing" and grunting a bit under the new weight before trotting out slowly, heading towards the nearest settlement. She had to get herself and Orchid out of there before anything else... *******later******* Snow placed another cool, damp rag on Orchid's face; using that spell New Appleloosa taught her to draw out a tiny bit of the smoke deep in Orchid and to help her cough it out. Orchid had been out quite awhile, but Snow found herself unable to leave Orchid's side for even a moment, tending to her in every way she knew how. From healing potions to the spell, to just these rags, she was trying. New Apploosa wouldn't take them for some reason, so she instead found a hidden tent where she could recipe Orchid in peace...hopefully she would awake soon...
After what was actually several hours, Orchid had reawaken in what felt like an entire lifetime passing her by. Her eyes twitched around slowly before looking around what appeared to be a tent. Still confused about what was happening,she turned her head to the side and eventually seen her friend nearby. She looked at her, despite being tired, as she tried to wake herself up by shuffling herself around her bed. (I'm going away today, wont be back until Friday. Cya buddy )
(Oki, have fun ^^) Snow looked up at Orchid's movements, "Oh, hello Orchid, thank Celestia you're okay..." She said softly to her, trotting over and placing a gentle hoof on her shoulder, "I thought I almost lost you...Hell, we both almost didn't make it. Don't worry about where we are, we're safe. No baddies or monsters gonna get us here...But you need to rest. The Stable Dweller can help Equestria out for now, what matters most is that you make a full recovery before we do anything." Snow sighed and gazed up towards the ceiling, "I messed up, real [censored] bad during the war, I know, and I know that karma is, well, a [censored], but I have a feeling there's a reason why the cyro system glitched to make it to where I was asleep for 200 years instead of 20. Bringing me to exactly the right time. This is my second chance Orchid, my chance to try to make up for my unforgivable sins. And I don't think "long, happy life" involves that. But for now, I need you Orchid, I need you to help me fix what I wronged. And my first plan of action; destroying the rest of my Celestia-damned atomic missiles and then the Messenger!"
(Back.) Orchid responded back by nodding before having to place her head back down onto the make-shift pillow that was supporting her head. She looked at her friend in the eyes and yawned before taking the chance to speak. "I'll be honoured to help you...*yawn* take down the Messenger and that atomic weapon."
(Welcome back ^^ have ya checked out my "A House Divided" RP idea?) "Well, there's more than one atomic weapon; there's many that were developed at...eh...I think it was the Alternative Weapons Research Division. I don't remember exactly where it is, besides, it isn't hurting anypony right now, the Messenger is, or at least has the potential. But for now, you must rest Orchid, and I won't take no for an answer." Snow told Orchid. (Shall we fast forward?)
-11 days later- Snow had finally given Orchid permission to get up and they were just about ready to go when Snow first picked up the news on the radio of her PIN about how the "Light Bringer" had detonated a megaspell at Maripony, destroying the Goddess in one fell move, "We're behind schedule..." Snow had muttered to Orchid upon hearing the news. As they just head out, three pegasi in black carapeice armor loaded with energy weapons suddenly landed in front of them. "ID Match; it's true, Snow Mark is alive." One of them suddenly said, obviously talking into a comm unit, "Proceeding." The pegsus looked at them, "Mrs Snow Mark, the Enclave...Requests your presence. You may play an instrumental role on clearing the wasteland of all the dengenerates that currently occupy it." Snow narrowed her eyes, raising her PEAR in mistrust, putting the pegasi into a combat position, "I must deny." She said flatly, "I will not let my knowledge go into those who I do not trust. And I remember your faction; was just getting its start right before the war." She smirked slyly at them, "Oh how they loathed me for trying to invent technology that would allow unicorns and earth ponies to bypass the need for pegasi." The glare coming from behind the visors could be felt, "Enough Mrs Mark, you have one last chance to come willingly with us..," "Then consider this my answer." Snow growled at them before going into SATS and sending a blue energy bolt from the PEAR into each of their heads, "I feared this..." Snow muttered before turning to Orchid, "Come on, we gotta go!"
"Wha...The Enclave?" Orchid said before quickly following behind Snow. "I thought they were just a story that the Slavers told to keep us quiet. It seemed that they were indeed real...and genocidal freaks." Orchid felt the hairs on her neck raise as she looked behind her to see two Enclave soldiers in pursuit of both of them, both of them just taking aim and firing their rifles. "Snow Mark on pursuit, capture if possible. Requesting reinforcements" one of the solider's responded on his comm link . "Other mare, marked as Orchid Flower. Non important. She shoot to Kill" Orchid levitated both of her revolvers into the air as she took aim as bullets managed to hit their marks. However, the majority of the bullets that she shot were blocked by the Power Armour that were used by the Enclave Soldiers. She then fired an expertly placed round in the visor of a Enclave pegasi, shattering the protective glass around it and hitting him between the eyes as the solider dropped like a stone. "I don't think my weaponry will be particularly useful against these devil horned storm-troopers. I need another weapon, preferably a pistol." Orchid yelled over to Snow before returning fire at the last Enclave Solider, clipping her wings before ending her with a shot to the heart.
"I would give you a pistol, but..." Snow yelled back to Orchid as they galloped as fast as they could, "Kinda blew it up in the demonstration!" She looked forward and allowed her HUD's map to grow a bit so she could see any approaching heat signatures, "We're clear for the time being, but my enemy detection is limited to 500 yards in radius!" Snow informed Orchid, "And the only place to get you a PE pistol like what mine was...We'ld have to go back to MAD...Not enough time for that! Commandos are only ones...with that weaponry!"
"That's alright." Orchid replied before slowing her pace down while reloading, just incase an ambush occurred. "My revolvers are killing them, but I might need to boost the stopping power that they bring. I might need an energy pistol of some sort to take them down, such as a Plasma pistol. Of course, your weaponry is ideal. But I'm going to need a mod for my pistols. If I can find a few modifications for my revolvers and my shotgun, then I'll be pretty well defended." The Enclave were still on pursuit of the group, but looked back at Snow. "We need to hide until the heat dies down! There should be a place nearby!"
Snow nodded quickly, "Lead the way! I'll take the back and take out any pony that gets too close!" Snow said before falling back behind Orchid
After travelling for quite a distance, and the amount of Enclave solider's dinimishing over time, Snow and Orchid eventually made it inside of a small abandoned town that appeared to have been extraordinarily small before the war. Making sure they were out of sight, Orchid bucked open a door to a gun store and quickly closed it inside. Just as Orchid hid behind the counter, she could hear the noises of Pegasi streaming past in their power armour. Eventually, the noises had stopped and the Enclave stopped looking for them. They were safe for now. Orchid got herself up, once the coast was clear and began to look for modifications. It turned out that she found exactly what she needed, a more refined barrel and stock that gave the weapon much more stopping power, a scope for her weapons ensuring more accurate shots and a heavier frame to . However, it was nothing to what she found in the back of the store. A strange Plasma Rifle in mint condition, resting in a corner of a locked room for where it had remained for over 200 years. Dust had been collecting on the weapon, but the sheer craftsmanship of the weapon was incredible. Orchid took her seemingly inferior shotgun out, placing it on the table nearby, retiring the weapon. She picked up a poster of the weapon as she began to mutter it to herself. "The E4-7 Magical Energy Rifle: A uniquely crafted Energy Rifle that combines the deadliest of modern energy weaponry into a single rifle. The E4-7 fires red bolts of energy towards any Zebra that dares to attack an Equestrian, with incredible power and accuracy. The rifle is revolutionary in it's ability to fire nearly eight times more rounds than a standard laser or plasma weapon with a single micro fusion cell while maintaining it's unstoppable killing power. The rifle is also astonishingly durable, capable of surviving a bomb being detonated directly above it. The plan to build this weapon was rejected by the ministry's after deeming that it was too costly to mass produce the weapon. Seemingly one of the very few in existence, the E4-7 can be available for you at an incredibly low price of $50,000 bits. And we have one in this very store ! It wasn't Mark Co level tech, but Orchid had just hit the jackpot. (The E4-7 looks alot like the All-American from NV, but with the colour of the rifle being silver and the lens of the scope being red.)
Snow poked her head out the door of the store they were in, looking around and taking in their surroundings. It seemed...empty, no ponies, no bodies, it is like whoever lived in this small town simply left when the megaspells fell and no one has claimed it since. She couldn't help but wonder why, "Well, seems like the coast is clear." Snow observed before closing the door and turning to Orchid, "But I have no idea where we are or what we are going to do now..."
Orchid walked out of the room with the rifle being holstered onto her back and went into the room, with a confused look on her face. "Well...I guess we can head towards this atomic place that you have been talking about and destroy the payload there, we don't want the Enclave to play with power like that. Or...we can...no, the Commandos are likely keeping that entire place on lockdown."
Snow waved a hoof at the first suggestion, "It's impossible to get into Mark Co facilities without being in the sercurity database. Even if you blasted in the doors, the sercurity systems would make quick work of even Steel Rangers." Snow took a step towards Orchid would suddenly she heard a metallic clanging underneath her followed by the sound of beeping. Before she could react, there was a bright flash and both Orchid and Snow would be unable to stand, falling to the floor, incapacitated, unable to move, but still able to see, for now. Several ponies trotted in, bodies and heads just above Snow's feild of vision, but one voice was unmistakable. "Well well well, it seems we have finally caught up to you." The Soldier said to Snow's unmoving form, lowering his head in front of her eyes, "Did you really think you could run from the Commandos, Miss Mark?" Snow took one more shuddering breathe, boiling with unreleasable rage, before blacking out. *******later***** When Snow awoke, her hooves were shackled together to a concrete floor in a dim cell. Looking over, she could see Orchid's unconscious body laying in similar restraints. All their weapons and armor were gone. Snow sighed and said the first thing that came to mind, "[Censored]"
(I've just noticed that we have 2 posts left until we reach 1000, go figure !) Orchid had woken slowly roughly five minutes after Snow had woken, steel shackles trapping her to a dull concrete wall. She discovered that she had almost no clothing left, and her weapons were taken away. She tried to yell with a burning rage, but only a wimpier came out. She turned around to see Snow, who was just as mad as she was. Orchid looked at her and sighed deeply, not saying a word before looking downwards at the ground. It was like slavery, all over again. Except without the slave collar around her neck, as the chains of misery were strapped around her.
"Oh good, you two are awake." The voice of the Soldier came from over a PA system, "Now, I think you understand why I had to capture you two. I'll tell you the three reasons in case you can't guess; I couldn't let the Enclave get ahold of you, Miss Mark. The last thing the Wasteland needs is those murderers to get hold of Mark Co tech. Second; I had hear about your plans, destroy the Messenger? I could that let that happen. And three; you, Miss Mark, are a very potent tool. Every side wants you so they can get their grubby hooves on your tech, which the Commandos cannot allow to happen, so as long as you are under our protection, that cannot happen. And I apologize for the chains, but that...insurance if you will. Now if you'll excuse me, the Enclave is currently trying to fight its way into Tenpony, and I will not allow that to happen. DJ Pon3 is much too valuable."
