You are a new member to Spring Heart's fabled dangerous scavenging company, which employs the services of more than 50 ponies to find the most valuable scrap in the most dangerous of places in the Ruined Equestria world, whose exploits include but are not limited to: stealing the entire armory of the once feared and massive Black Swallows gang, who have since collapsed due to the lack of supplies, and finding one of the pieces to Celestia's royal jewellery in the Royal Palace. As a first mission, Spring Heart has decided to directly lead the two of you deep into the feared and respected Freedom Hills, whose automated defenses have done wonders at keeping ponies out, but not Spring Heart, and he is determined to make sure you get through too. After several close calls, the party reached its destination, the rumored final location of the Equestrian Royal Family before being wiped out by the Great Invaders. Spring Heart reached down into his bag of tricks and somehow got you into the first room, which seems to have awoken the bunker from its 300 year long sleep.... ************* Spring Heart looked around quickly as the room filled with light from the ceiling, sliding out his rifle, which he called "Ol' Sparky", and looking around quickly as a robotic voice boomed through the room. "System: In deteriorated state, but operational. Life Support: Operational. Barely. Defenses: Offline. Seemingly destroyed. Occupants: 4...." Spring shook his head to unfocus off the intercom, figuring it for some sort of automated checklist, he's heard similar before, then turned to the group as the voice continued to go through the list, "Right! Looks like we are at the easy part! Same plan as before, stick together, keep your head on a swivel. If you notice something of interest, let me know, then we can decide whether to attempt a retrival or not. Remember, 3 of the 3 ponies under my service who have not made it out on my account was from their refusal to listen to me. And pay no attention to the intercom, probably just some old pre-war system going through a checklist. Now, let's move out! With caution and silence of course..." ************* Tremalion gasped a deep breath as his eyes shot open and he collapsed to the floor upon being released from the capsule he was in, pain shooting through his body as he lay on the ground, body completely stiff. "Ah, so glad to see you're alive sir!" a familiar voice said to him "O-OPIAT?" he grunted, "Is that you? What happened?" "Aye sir, I'm here. And I'm afraid we lost. After the ambush..." "Ambush?!" "Aye. You were ambushed with Celestia, Luna, and Heculius as you were heading out to the front line." "But...We were deep inside Freedom Hills! How could we have been ambushed in secure territory?!" "Magniitiums sir. Magniitiums and drones. The first missile hit near yours and Heculius' vehicle as it was in front. Second struck right next to Celestia and Luna's. Then a squad was dropped in, and they shot your bodies. To make sure you were dead." "But...How am I still alive?" "Luck. After we attacked the Magniitiums before they could escape with your bodies...We brought all of you to the royal bunker to try to save your life..." Tremalion looked to the ground, then looked up to see the shiny blue blob of energy that was OPIAT floating there, "OPIAT...What happened?" "Well...after it beca-" "WHAT HAPPENED TO MY SIBLINGS OPIAT?!" Tremalion cried out in anger and fear, knowing what OPIAT was going to answer with "They...they didnt make it sir..." OPIAT replied, noticable sadness in his usually calm and stable voice. The resulting cry out in agony shook the bunker itself....
Cloud said nothing, simply taking out his weapon, a semi-automatic rifle he simply called 'Thunder', due to the decal of a thunder cloud and a lightning bolt on the stock. He wasn't nervous, but as the facility began to shake for seemingly half a second, he could tell something happened that didn't have much of a benefit to his side.
Steel simply nodded and proceeded alongside the others. He didn't have much in the term of weapons just a semi auto pistol (think Luger ones) and a cavillers sword. Though he wasn't there to aid much in the way of firepower he was more there as a Support stallion. Creating magical barriers and armour to ensure the teams lives. He then felt a slight tremor with a faint sound in the distance. Though he dismissed it as some form of predator. Like a manticore.
Spring narrowed his eyes at the slight tremor beneath his feet, glancing slightly back to Steel and Cloud to make sure they didn't freak out, he continued on, carefully leading the way through the confusing hallways in a general downward direction, as the lower you go, the better stuff you were likely to find... ********** "So...after...that ambush...We lost?" Tremalion asked OPIAT after recovering from the news. "Yes sir...We fought our hardest for the couple days following, me taking temporary command as dictated, but after it became clear none of you were going to wake...Well, the Elements tried their hardest to rally the troops, but they crumbled...there were no survivors..." OPIAT said slowly and sadly, his pulsing generated by speech slow and dull Tremalion sighed, "We could have held out longer...forced them to negotiate a peaceful surrender..." "Sir...I think they would have MAC'ed Freedom Hills into a crater before allowing a surrender...They were here for revenge..And our resistance made them more determined to crush us utterly..." "So...How exactly did Freedom Hills fall, OPIAT?" "I'll make it simple for you sir. They brought Elatians. Transferred them from Canterlot's ruins and overwhelmed our fragile and demoralized defenses..." "How many?" OPIAT made a sighing sound, "You aren't going to like it,...but only a cohort of Elatians was able to shatter a couple holes in our defenses...After that...a whole granarmiida flooded into Freedom Hills...It was a bloody massacre..." Tremalion closed his eyes tight, and a single, shiny tear rolled down his cheek, not only for the lost of his family, but their entire nation, "How long has it been OPIAT?" "...300 years...Equestria...well...It's currently only at 4.3% pre-war population...after only 1.7% were left on the planet..." Tremalion sighed, "Habitability?" "...low...Very little grows...beyond hardy grasses, shrubs, and the occasional tree..." "So...it was an extermination?" "No...I don't feel like it was an extermination...after all...they took the vast majority of the population away...I think they were just trying to kick us down...force us to reset technologically...a show of strength and unwavering as a spectacle to the rest of the galaxy that we know of..." "What of the Gloriians?" "Well, they kinda splintered...Their interstellar half is based out of...Ciilonii...And call themselves that...they control over 40 systems...They have even stolen planets right out from under Brotheria and the Earth Alliance...Both of whom used to be the indisputable masters of this arm of the galaxy...Now...They are slowly being outshined by Ciilonii...And of Glory itself, well, I don't know much other than it's stayed more or less in its own system." Tremalion sighed, and slowly got up, "I don't like the sound of all that...But I think we should try to at least rebuild this planet..." OPIAT made a confirmatory beep, one of his rare reminders that he was just an AI, "Very well sir. Small warning, there are 3 intruders inside the bunker. One the systems have reconized as having been into Freedom Hills before, other two are new. My hypothesis is that they are scavengers." "Well then, I think we should go say hello to them then." "Very well sir. I'll stay here and monitor the system and continue to assess the damages across Equestria." "Good. And OPIAT. Thank you." Tremalion said to OPIAT as he began to walk out "No need to thank me, sir. Just doing as what my programming tells me to."
Cloud continued to remain silent as he followed Spring in the downwards spiral of the facility. After about half an hour, Cloud's ears picked up something as he suddenly froze and spoke quietly. "Hoofsteps." The pegasus spoke as he raised his rifle. "We're not alone."
Steel charged up his horn and cast a spell causing all his squad mates to have magical armour (Think tech armour from Mass effect 3). He then raised his pistol up aiming the the level of an average bandits head.
Tremalion suddenly stepped around the corner right in front of the small group, his height making it to where Steel's pistol was pointing just barely into thin air. With an unimpressed look at the group, his horn flashed quickly and their magical armor disappeared and Steel's pistol to clatter to the ground as Tremalion's essence blocking spell rendered it impossible to use magic, "Ah, there we go." He said with a small smile, "That's much better. Let me introduce myself, I am Tremalion, sole surviving member of the Equestrian royal family." He said in a neutral tone, then narrowed his eyes at Sprint, "You carry the weapon and pieces of armor of the enemy..." He said in a deadly tone
Cloud took a slight step back. He'd never seen an Alicorn before, yet alone up close. Fascinated yet somewhat scared, he lowered his weapon and placed it on the ground. The last thing he wanted was a fight, because he knew that he would die within moments if he even tried. When he noticed the hostility in the Alicorn's voice, he nudged Spring. "Spring. I would start talking if I were you, I don't really want to die today...."
Spring shook out his trance at the nudge, "Oh...eh, this?" He asked, giving his rifle a small movement, to which Tremalion responded with an angry nod, "Well...I honestly don't know what its origins were sir....I just found it...See...We're scavengers, not just any scavengers, but the kind who go into the most dangerous and haunted places to find something we can turn a profit and survive with...." Spring muttered as he quietly set his rifle down, following Cloud's example. "Well...I guess I can understand that." Tremalion responded slowly with, "So. I'll take it that job of yours brought you to this bunker, and this awoke me?" spring nodded, "Well...We thought Freedom Hills was entirely uninhabitated...." Tremalion nodded in a lack of surprise, "I can see how it would seem a lucrative target. Heavy concentration of military equipment, the automated defenses likely made it hard for the passer-by to enter, last location of the Royal Family...." He mused, quieting quickly on the last part, "Now, may I show you what made the Royal Family, or more specfically, my brother and I, so effective and feared in combat?"
Cloud said nothing, still slightly in awe at the Alicorn standing ten feet from him. He only nodded in response to the stranger, looking at Steel and Spring to see their response.
Steel nodded in a agreement with Cloud. "If the tales of my childhood are true. Then most certainly."
