Group 4 Session 16

<uSea_a_GM> **Start of Group 4 Session Sixteen**
<uSea_a_GM> Our party has found themselves in the well-lit and brightly painted StableTec lobby. A big screen on one wall declares: Welcome Morale Officer Private Eye
<uSea_a_GM> LOCKDOWN IS IN PROGRESS
<uSea_a_GM> PLEASE REPORT TO SECURITY
* Short_Fuse looks around; "Are we trespassing? It seems to think we are."
* Wafurasi is now known as Zepheniah
<uSea_a_GM> There is a desk to one side, and a large door opposite to the one you came in.
* Price_Signals ([email protected]) has joined #FalloutEquestriaPNP
* Milia glances back and forth between the rest of her group. "Lockdown's are usually a bad thing, right?" She turns back to the loudspeaker on the wall and calls out. "Hey, Sweetie Belle, you still there? Lockdowns are usually a bad thing, right?"
* Price_Signal has quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds)
* Cerberus takes a look around, perplexed "come again, what were we supposed to find here?"
* Short_Fuse shrugs; "Beats me. I only really came here out of boredom." He smirks; "Looks like that was a good call, this is getting exciting."
<uSea_a_GM> "Lockdown? I dunno, but this is going to be so cool! I haven't had friends over in ages!"
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* Milia chuckles. "Well, at least she things we're friendly." she mutters quietly.
<Milia> ((thinks*))
* Short_Fuse blinks; waitaminute; "Did you say your name was Sweetie Belle? That's rather astounding; you must be as old as I am by now."
* Milia takes a look at the large door, seeing if it requires any sort of key or password. "Anypony wanna see if there's anything in that desk over there, while we're at it?"
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<uSea_a_GM> There's a set of buttons beside the door. One of them might open it.
* Short_Fuse shrugs and trots over to the desk, pulling open the drawers and looking for... anything really
<Artifica> (ugh.  too light a green)
* Cerberus shrugs and trots towards the desk "sure..." while she looks in the drawers ,the foal chats "hi sweetie, i am cerberus... i guess we can be friends, want to play with me? i have a doll"
<Short_Fuse> (MY EYES! DX)
<Milia> ((hehehe))
* Price_Signal groaned, "Lockdown huh. That's...not a good sign."
<uSea_a_GM> "Of course my name is Sweetie Belle. Who else would I be?"
* Short_Fuse looks up; "You could be a dictionary or something."
* Arcane_Sleeping[A] is now known as Arcane_Scroll
* Artifica smiles.  "Pleased to meet you, Sweetie Belle.  I love your voice."
* Milia grins. "Oh, snap! BUTTONS!" she turns back to her group. "Should I press 'em?"
* Short_Fuse takes the bottle caps and sets the bobby pin on top of the desk. "Anypony need to put their hair up? Celestia knows I don't."
* Short_Fuse slips a pencil and clipboard into his saddlebag. Who knows when you might need fresh stubbornite
<Milia> "...I'm pressin' 'em."
* Milia presses those buttons. Why did buttons have to be SO ENTICING?!
<uSea_a_GM> "...you're a dictionary..." the voice grumbles. "Wait, you know who I am? Do you know my sister? Um, she's feeling sick right now, do you think you could help her?"
* Short_Fuse trots up to the intercom; "Your Sister is Miss Rarity, Mare of the Ministry of Image, right? Is she in there too?"
<uSea_a_GM> The door opens in front of Milia, revealing a wide metal corridor.
* Cerberus tilts her head "we could try, yes... where is she?" then looks at the others "we have a medic, yes?"
* Short_Fuse shrugs, then says to Cerberus; "I'm good at blowing things up. Putting them back together... not so much."
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* Artifica nod.  "I'm a medic."  Well, it wasn't too far from the truth.  "I can try to help."
* Milia nods to herself. Job well done, those buttons didn't know what hit them. "Well...that was easy..." She lets the rest of her group talk to the nice ceiling filly for the moment and peers down the long hallway, trying to spot any noticable details. ((PER 3...nope!))
<uSea_a_GM> "That's right Mr. Gravel-voice. She's been asleep now for ages, I think something is really wrong with her!"
<Milia> ((errr, per 6 woops))
<uSea_a_GM> Milia can see a door at the end, but that's about it.
* Milia shrugs and trots back to the rest of her group, now paying attention to the conversation.
* Short_Fuse smiles; "Name's Short Fuse Miss Sweetie Belle. Apparently we do have a medic, so I guess we might be able to help."
* Cerberus trots away from the desk "i found a bobpin and a couple of caps, who needs them?"
<uSea_a_GM> "You can help? That's great! I'll ask the Elly-vator to go up to you."
* Short_Fuse already pocketed the caps, silly Berry
* Short_Fuse nods, despite the fact that it's an intercom. "Sounds good to me."
* Milia raises a hoof. "I could use the pin. I...can sort of pick locks. Sort of...kinda."
* Short_Fuse looks to Milia; "They make locks that you can pick with bobby pins? Guess putting your hair up wasn't practical enough anymore."
* Milia snerks. "My mane's too short to use 'em like that, anyways."
* Short_Fuse shrugs; "Well, guess that's utility for you." She trots down to the end of the hall, where presumably the elevator was coming
* Artifica pets.  "I really like your mane."
* Milia squeaks.
<uSea_a_GM> "Thank you Mr. Grav-er, Fuse. I'll get everypony ready!"
* Cerberus trots behind Short_Fuse after giving the pin to milia
* Short_Fuse calls back to the intercom; "Just remember to play nice. I'm a little old for rough-housing."
* Milia tosses the pin into her saddlebags before trotting down to the end of the hall as well. Her face was a bit blushed; Artifica's comment may have gotten her just a /tad/ embarassed!
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* Short_Fuse gives voice to Price_Signal
* Artifica smiles and follows.
* Cerberus "ah, i think that's a turret.... guys, you better stop" the foal raises her voice "hey sweetie, are the turrets deactivated?"
* Short_Fuse looks up at the turret; "That's kind of what I meant by avoiding rough-housing."
* Milia skids to a halt. Well...not really, she was just trotting. More like, she just stops walking. "...turret? Oh horseapples, where?..." her gaze slowly drifts over to where Cerberus had gestured to. "...crap."
<uSea_a_GM> A ceiling mounted turret blinks down at Short_Fuse and Milia at the end of the hall. From their new position they can also see a pair of heavy bulkheads on each wall. They are marked: Security
* Short_Fuse loosens the strap on his grenade rifle. If it did come down to 'rough-housing', he intended to win.
* Price_Signal took a step back. "Yeah...we might not want to advance too hastily..."
<uSea_a_GM> Beside the bulkheads are a few buttons, an intercom, and a slot like the one outside.
* Milia slowly backs up. "...is that thing aiming at me?"
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* Cerberus sits down and looks at the turret "well, maybe if this sweetie pony is in charge of the place, she can tell the turrets we're friends? sweetie, can you do that?"
* Scorch_Mechanic[A] is now known as Scorch_Mechanic
* Short_Fuse cals back; "Anypony got a keycard? I wasn't paying attention before."
<Artifica> "Sweetie Belle"
<Artifica> "Sweetie Belle?"
<Artifica> "um...Sweetie?"
<uSea_a_GM> From the lobby intercom comes some scuffling, then the foal's voice again. "Yes? Hello! Are you ready to go down?"
<Artifica> "Sweetie, why is there a turret looking at us?"
* Milia calls out, never taking her eye off the turret. "Now, when you say go down...do you mean in a crumpled, bullet-filled, corpse-like fashion?-" she turns to Short Fuse. "-err, no offense intended."
<uSea_a_GM> The turret, looking much like a machine gun with a camera attached, switches between Milia and Short_Fuse, but lingers on the zebra. A light on the camera part is flashing orange.
* Short_Fuse slips his grenade rifle off. "I most certainly am not bullet riddled."
<uSea_a_GM> "A turret? Isn't that one of those things you get on castles?"
* Price_Signal watching the turret swing around, started to take a few steps backwards.
* Milia is starting to get gradually more nervous. "I more meant the corpse like part okay that thing is totally looking at me is it flashing orange why is it flashing orange?" she stammers, hardly pausing between her words.
* Artifica ohdears.
* Milia facehooves. "...dammit. Right. Zebra...."
* Short_Fuse actually snorts a bit of a laugh; that sounded like something he would say.
* Cerberus "well, we can try that special ID card we also used on the door... maybe it will let us pass?"
* Short_Fuse calls back to Cerberus; "I was wondering about that. Bring it up, quick."
* Cerberus shrugs and trots towards the security station, takes the ID card and uses it in the slot "here we go..."
<uSea_a_GM> The card goes into the slot, and the turret quickly switches between each party member before reaching a conculsion. It makes a loud 'Be-Burr!' noise, and the light switches to red.
<Milia> "...shit." she deadpans.
* Short_Fuse sighs; "Oh crap." He kicks his Grenade Rifle up into his mouth
* Cerberus tries to reache for her rifle, bad luck is bad....
* Price_Signal perked up before the others, largely because he was more paranoid about the whole situation. He clumsily gripped his hammer with his mouth.
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* Scorch_Mechanic[A] ([email protected]) has joined #FalloutEquestriaPNP
* Scorch_Mechanic[A] is now known as Scorch_Mechanic
* Milia drops into an aggressive stance. She wanted none of this 'going down' business. At least not the type this turret would be enabling.
* Short_Fuse eyes the turret closely. One detonation anywhere within its blast range would probably be enough to at least crack the lens. If he didn't blow the whole thing up first.
* Price_Signal saw as the light turned an ominous red and immediately came to the worst conclusion. He yelled out a quick warning to the rest of the party as he flew to the camera, swung at it once, and immediately flew back in hopes of avoiding its terrible revenge.
<uSea_a_GM> Price's blow nearly smashes it out of the ceiling, that was some hammering!
* Milia nods, approvingly. She approved of this 'hit it really hard' technique that Price seemed to employ.
* Short_Fuse blinks; that was impressive. "Alrighty then, my turn. I suggest everypony step back a bit."
* Short_Fuse notes; "I use really big bullets."
* Short_Fuse jumps back fifteen feet, then clamps down on the trigger twice. He only really needed one to hit at this point. Or be relatively close at least.
* Milia decides to listen to the nice ghoul with the grenade rifle. "Yoink!" she exclaims as she leaps back to avoid any blowback.
* Short_Fuse turns around after firing his shots. Cool guys don't look at explosions. He begins to trot away slowly.
* Price_Signal gulped. It was good he moved away quickly...
<uSea_a_GM> Both of Fuse's grenades strike true, englufing the turret in a ball of flame. Twisted metal is all that remains.
* Short_Fuse feels the rush of the blast wave tease what little remains of his mane. He blows the smoke off his rifle barrel and smirks. "Boom."
<uSea_a_GM> At ground level, a slot slides open and a very short, flat robot that looks like a frisbee scutles out and heads over to the debris scattered over the floor.
* Milia clears her throat and brushes herself off, her ears ringing from the sound of the dual explosions resounding through the enclosed space. "Well then, I think we learned a valuable lesson here! One: this building doesn't like stripes, and two: apparently sledgehammers and grenades trump racism." She grins, grateful for the fact that she wasn't shot.
* Short_Fuse turns around. The explosion was over, so he could look now. He spies the small robot scuttling about the debris. "That thing is adorable. I want one."
<uSea_a_GM> *Ding!* The elevator doors open. A few minutes earlier would have been nice.
* Price_Signal laughed. "Wait, you're telling me we've got turrets that only fire on zebras? Think of the possibi- oh. Never mind."
* Short_Fuse trots towards the elevator, but stops to look at the robot. He studies it for a moment.
* Artifica watches the little cleaner robot with amusement.
* Milia begins to trot into the elevator, chuckling at the adorable little robot. "See, now this robot I like. It's not trying to shoot at us." As she passes, she 'playfully' baps Fuse in the side. Ew, squishy.
* Artifica gives Price_Signal a glower and gets on the elevator.
* Short_Fuse is bapped. Too bad it was by a mare
<uSea_a_GM> the patter of little metal legs comes to a halt as it reaches the first clumb of rubbish, replaced instead by munching noises. Two thin antennae wave around.
* Short_Fuse squees; "Okay, I want one of these." He starts looking for a way to make the cute little bugbot his own
* Price_Signal trotted onto the elevator, giving a slightly sheepish look.
* Short_Fuse flips the cleaning bug bot over with a gentle nudge of his hoof. he flicks the off switch and waits for it to stop squirming before slipping it into his saddlebag.
<uSea_a_GM> The elevator is another large metal affair, easily big enough for a dozen ponies. One wall has a panel full of buttons with lights behind them, but none seem to be lit.
* Short_Fuse smirks like a foal on Hearth's Warming Eve; "It's not even my birthday."
* Cerberus approaches the elevator after having retrieved the ID card muttering that it's not a good idea to use it anymore
<uSea_a_GM> Another wall features a poster advertising a 'Big Brother' series of robots (Perfect for watching your foals and for home defence!)
* Cerberus takes a look at the poster "meh, everyone knows that dogs are best friends ever...."
* Short_Fuse touches the intercom; "Miss Sweetie Belle; what floor are you on?"
* Milia cocks her head at the wall panel. "Goddess, I hope this thing friggin' works."
<uSea_a_GM> It shows a giant metal stallion standing between a group of foals (playing in the sun) and some evil shadows filled with sneaky zebras.
* Price_Signal gave a frown, completely ignorant of Cerberus's background. "Dogs? Those disgusting beasts? Who would want one of those?"
* Short_Fuse takes a moment to reload his Grenade Rifle while waiting for an answer
* Milia spots the poster and balks. "Oh come on..." she grumbles.
<uSea_a_GM> "yes, I'm here," says Sweetie over the intercom. "Are you all ready in the elly-vator?"
* Short_Fuse motions for everypony to get inside. "Yeah, we are."
<uSea_a_GM> "Ok, it says you need to hit any button and it'll bring you to the boutique. So you just need to find the any button."
* Artifica resists the urge to nod.  "Yes, we are, Sweetie."
* Milia is so on that shit. There were buttons to be pressed, and dammit she was gonna press 'em. "Any button it is, then!"
* Milia mashes those buttons, awww yeah.
* icekatze has quit (Quit: I must go, my planet needs me.)
* Cerberus frowns at Price_Signal words and mutters "always better than filthy pegasi..."
<uSea_a_GM> There are various nondescript labels to choose from, such as: Ground Level, Level 1, Level 2... Product Testing, Product Demonstration, Boutique, etc...
* Milia shrugs and presses Boutique.
* RainbowYoshi is now known as Karina
<uSea_a_GM> The elevator doors close and it begins to descend.
* Short_Fuse chuckles; "Button mashing is fun. I used to be a champ at it."
<uSea_a_GM> Down and down and down it goes...
* Milia shudders and glances over to the ghoul. "I'm not entirely sure why, but for some reason that sounded /really/ gross."
* Short_Fuse shrugs; "I look gross, I sound gross, I smell gross, and probably taste groos by extension. All I really need now is to feel gross... wait, I do. I'm offensive to all five senses. That's gotta be a world record."
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* ChanServ gives channel operator status to Strobe
* Cerberus yawns and stretches, she seems quite absent
* Cerberus "problem is... i don't remember what we are looking for in this place...."
<uSea_a_GM> After what feels like an age, the elevator stops and goes *Ding!* again. The doors open and you are met by a little white unicorn with a big smile and even bigger green eyes.
* Milia chuckles quietly at Short Fuse. "No argument here. We just need to get a unicorn to read your mind or something and make it six."
* Cerberus looks at the unicorn and smiles too "hey, hello there! i am cerberus, i brought the doll! show us where's your sister so my friends can take a look  at her while we play!"
<uSea_a_GM> "Welcome to my sister's boutique, I'm Sweetie Belle!"
* Cerberus approaches the other filly ad whispers "dont' tell the others but i have no idea of how pony cubs play... pleas teach me"
* Short_Fuse steps forward and extends a hoof; "Short Fuse. We met on the intercom Miss Sweetie Belle."
* Milia waves a hoof down at the filly. "H-hey there, kiddo, I'm Milia."
* Cerberus blinks a couple of times, confused, then sniffs at the fillt with curiosity
* Short_Fuse begins to humm Sweetie's Big Race for soem reason
* Milia wonders if this filly is good at racing at all.
<uSea_a_GM> Sweetie shakes Fuse's hoof happily, then smiles at Milia. "Hi Milia it's nice to meet you!"
* Milia smiles at the filly. "Hey, ditto! Nice to meet a friendly face after the treatment we got on the top floor. So, your sister is in trouble, right?"
* Artifica smiles.  "Hello, Sweetie Belle."  She looks around.  A boutique?  How positively wonderful!
* Short_Fuse tilts his head and looks around; "Kinda looks like Carousel Boutique. My mother bought a few things there once. Never did find out what happened to her."
<uSea_a_GM> "Come on I'll show you all around and take you to meet my sister." She trots out into the wide, open room behind her.
* Cerberus blinks again, even more perplexed and goes for the full recon, this trime: sniffing both extremities and trying to lick the foal's muzzle; the little filly seems to be more worried than usual while she inspects the pony in her own weird way
* Price_Signal stood back for a bit, but eventually followed the small filly.
<uSea_a_GM> Along one wall are piles of fabric, neatly folded, and a set of half-dressed ponnequins inhabit one corner like they were huddled together for warmth. However the eye is drawn to a bizarre tea party arranged around a table on the other side of the room.
* Milia glances around the room as the group follows Sweetie Belle.
<uSea_a_GM> The guests include a teddy bear in a bright dress (sitting on the table), a sleeping mare with purple hair, and an enormous robotic stallion with a top hat balanced on the end of its drill-like horn. Imagine Big Mac wearing a suit of Power Armour, then wearing a second suit on top of the first suit and you'd be pretty close.
* Artifica watches Cerberus curiously.
<uSea_a_GM> Dozens of child's drawing are displayed on the walls, most of which show a pair of white unicorns playing together.
<uSea_a_GM> At the back of the room are a pair of metal booths, with a row of consoles beside them.
<uSea_a_GM> An office occupies one corner, its windows would allow anypony inside to watch the whole boutique. The door, however, is closed.
* Short_Fuse blinks; "Well now, this is quite the setting."
* Milia is very, very confused by Cerberus, even still. She leans over to Artifica and whispers. "Uh...is she okay? She sure does lick a lot of stuff...like, everything. All the stuff. Is that...normal for her?"
* Short_Fuse has his eyes fall on the big Macinbot. "Hot damn."
* Artifica leans to Milia, "I'm more worried about Sweetie Belle.  I think Cerberus has picked up on something we haven't... in her own strange way."
* Short_Fuse shrugs; "Well, at least she's not a robot or something."
* Price_Signal gave a grimace, "...this doesn't really look that...lab-like to me..."
* Short_Fuse looks to Price and deadpans; "Of course it doesn't look like a lab. It's a boutique."
* Cerberus detaches from sweetie and aprpoaches Artifica whispering to her "doesnt' smell nor taste like a pony, more... like a plushie..."
* Milia scrunches her face a bit when she spots the tea party. Combined with the other fairly odd aspects to this place (see: everything), the zebra couldn't help but feel quite unnerved. "Uh...yeah, I think you might be right there. This place just screams 'wrong'...how the hay's a filly survive all on her own in a place like this anyways?"
* Cerberus then mutters "plase that mare with the purple mane, take a look at her, she seems still alive..."
<uSea_a_GM> Sweetie walks up beside the sleeping, purple-maned mare and shakes her shoulder. "Rarity, hey Rarity. We've got guests."
* Price_Signal gave a shiver, "Yeah...this place gives me the creeps."
* Short_Fuse follows Sweetie Belle and and observes the sleeping Rarity. She was looking pretty damn good for being two hundred and fifty.
* Short_Fuse notes mentally that the 'good looking' internal comment was entirely platonic
* Milia lets her attention linger on the ginormo-bot with his dapper top hat. "I really, really hope that thing's for show...-" she stops when she hears Sweetie Belle call out that name. She turns towards the filly. "-wait, Rarity? Like, /the/ Rarity? Ministry mare Rarity?"
* Short_Fuse looks to Milia and nods; "Looks like it."
* Cerberus reaches Price_Signal too andd whispers to him the same thins she said to Artifica "that filly doesn't smell like a pony at all, like more a large plushie"
* Price_Signal gave a grimace. Ministry mares. The only ministry mare Price had learned about was Rainbow DAsh and she well...you know.
* Artifica stops at Cerberus' words. Then floats out her brush and runs it through the filly's hair as she tells Price_Signal.
* Cerberus then proceed in informing also the rest of the group, always whispering and trying to talk when sweetie is not paying attention
* Price_Signal gave a strange expression. Smell? Was that how dirt ponies interacted with each other?
* Artifica turns and trots over to the mare with the purple mane.
* Short_Fuse blinks; "Whirr click? That doesn't sound healthy. Did you swallow something funny Miss Sweetie Belle?"
* Artifica begins checking "Rarity's" vitals.
<uSea_a_GM> Sweetie Belle shakes her head at Short_Fuse. "I didn't swallow anything, but I did get poorly a while ago. I think my sister caught the cold after me."
* Artifica frowns as she works.
<Milia> "That's some damn cold..." she mutters
* Cerberus since she did everything she could, now it's time to inspect the only interesting part of the whole room: the tea party. the foal sits next to the other guests and takes her plushie from the saddlbags, sitting it with the teddy bear and waiting for something to happen... she seems a bit confused, maybe this is funny only if you really understand it?
* Short_Fuse looks at Artifica; "So, what's the diagnosis doc?"
<uSea_a_GM> "I tried going up the elly-vator to get help, but I always seem to fall alseep and end up back here."
* Short_Fuse smiles at the filly; "Well, you're lucky we came along then, aren't you?"
* Cerberus tries movingg her plushie a bit and mutters "yes mr. teddy, i'd love some more tasty beverage... baah..." still doesn't sem convinced... maybe she had to try harder to find the fun?
<uSea_a_GM> The armoured war machine (in a top hat) reaches for the teapot with two enourmous hooves, very very gently picking it up and tilting it to pour out a cup of tea for Cerberus... if the pot wasn't empty.
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* Arcane_Scroll is now known as Arcane_Scroll[A]
* Price_Signal has quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds)
* Cerberus "oh, tank you mr. fancy hat, this tasty beverage is super... uh... tasty, i guess?" the foal looks at the empty cup... this was stupid... no berry, you must uinderstand where's the fun, you MUST! "i heard that the sheeps and the bears are going to trow a party these days, have you been invited?"
* Artifica smiles to Sweetie Belle.  "Yes, I can see that your sister is not well, but I'm not entirely sure how to help..."
* Milia instinctively jumps back a bit when she sees the giant pony start to move. She calms down after seeing it's only trying to pour tea, however. Milia raises an eyebrow at the sight. "Hey, at least it can be gentle, I guess."
* Short_Fuse is half expecting a police pony to show up and break up this scene for being entirely too silly
* Milia spies the office in the corner. She trots over to examine the door more closely.
* Price_Signals gave a frown, he had no idea what was going on and just stood idle.
* Milia reads the placard on the door out loud. "S. Belle, joint CEO...uhhhh..." she turns back and glances at the filly. "...okay...definitely going to be asking about /that/...but first..." the zebra tries to open the door...only to find it locked.
* Milia stomps a hoof and nickers in frustration. "Ooooof course." she deadpans.
<uSea_a_GM> Sweetie Belle looks up at Artifica, tears in her eyes. "But she even stays sleeping when we get to bed on time..."
* Short_Fuse trots over to Milia and gestures to hsi rifle; "I could probably have that door open pretty quick."
* Milia nuzzles around in her saddlebags and produces a bobby pin and a screwdriver. "Let'sh call zhat 'plan b', okay?" she retorts to Fuse.
* Short_Fuse nods; "I like being plan B. B for Boom. It works nicely."
* Artifica winces sadly.  "I... I'll do everything I can."
* Milia had only recently picked up this skill after being forced to travel on her own, and so she was still...well, there's really no other way to put it. Terrible. She was NOT a good lock picker. But sometimes she got lucky!
* Milia really hoped this was one of those times.
* Zepheniah is now known as Mirage
* Cerberus decides that the teaparty can wait, insteead goes watching what iis doing the evil poisoning zebra; looks at the lock for a moment, then at her "uh... want me to sheer for you?"
* Milia snaps a pin. "Dammit...okay, the locks still good at least. Let's...try that again!"
* Cerberus nuzzles the zebra "c'mon you almost did it!"
* Milia did almost do it. She did not completely do it then.
* Artifica looks around, the gently lays Rarity out, doing a closer examination.  She has her suspicions...
<Milia> "FUCK."
* Milia looks to Fuse and Cerberus, sheepishly. "S-sorry...lock broke..."
* Milia facehooves. "Remind me to practice that more...dammit."
* Short_Fuse blinks; "Plan B?"
* Cerberus "meh, i guess it's just a bit cranky...." the foal tries opening it "nope, it's closed..."
<Milia> "It's somethin' alright..." she grumbles
<uSea_a_GM> "But... but... she was teaching me to make dresses... and tea parties aren't as fun when it's just Mr. Bubbles and me doing the pouring." Sweetie begins to cry, but gets quieter and quieter, slumping onto the floor.
<Milia> "Well...maybe the filly plushie over there has the key?" she mutters to Fuse and Cerberus
* Cerberus she looks up at the ceiling and behind the various objects in the room, looking for something "i have a better plan B"
* Milia cocks her head. "Y'do?"
* Price_Signals sighed, any plan was worth hearing at this point.
* Price_Signals is now known as Price_Signal
* Cerberus finds what she was looking for: a maintenance panel, similar to the one from where the little cleaner bot arrived earlier "yes, i think i do..."
* Milia grins. "Smart filly. Remind me to give you a snack cake when you get back!"
* Short_Fuse blinks; "I'm not sure I like Plan C. It doesn't have an explosions."
* Cerberus opens the panel revealing areally small conduit and frowns "i'm not sure i can fit..."
* Short_Fuse tilts his head; "Eating too many snack cakes?"
* Cerberus sighs and shakes her head "no can do, sorry.... even without the barding and everything else... it's too flat..."
* Artifica telekinetically reaches out and begins giving Sweetie Belle brushies.  "Please.  Don't cry.  I... I may be able to help.  But I may have to..." she pauses.  "...operate.  And that's not something that I should do alone with her.  It's not for little sisters to see."
<uSea_a_GM> The giant robot suddenly stands up and stomps towards Sweetie Belle. With surprising delicacy it lifts the foal and carries her to one of the booths at the back of the room.
* Short_Fuse blinks; "Well... that's very responsive service."
* Short_Fuse is amused. For being a giant kill bot, the thing had a nice posterior
* Milia smooshes her face up to the window and looks at the door from the inside. "Wait. Let's CHEAT." she exclaims, turning back to Fuse and Cerberus. Milia peers over to Artifica, slowly.
<Milia> "Artificaaaaaaaa!~" she whines.  "This lock is being a jerrrrrrrk!~  Can you come unlock this door for ussssss?~  There's buttons in this office but I can't mash them through the glass without magiiiiic~"
* Short_Fuse looks at Milia; "Was that whining or complaining?"
* Milia shoots a perplexed look at Short Fuse. "Ummm...whichever gets the job done? You know what...I think...yeah, that was whining."
* Milia nods confidently.
* Short_Fuse shrugs
* Cerberus leaves  the rifle against a wal; this place didn't seem dangerous at all, then trots towards the crying filly
* Artifica watches, then gets up and trots over to the booths in the back of the room.
<uSea_a_GM> Sweetie Belle has gone completely silent. Lying down in the egg-like metal booth she looks alseep. But she doesn't move at all.
* Artifica examines the metal booth.
* Short_Fuse twiddles his hooves. Nothing much he could do at the moment without blowing something up, and that seemed to be taken off the table. Wait, what table?
* Short_Fuse isn't sure why he wanted to blow up a table
* Milia takes out her bottle of Wild P. She was in about the same position as Fuse, seeing as the only avenues of investigation left to her involved getting violent with the door. Might as well drink!
* Cerberus since the robot is now sleeping, the foal goes back to the others and sighs "i guess now only arti can do something without making a mess...."
<uSea_a_GM> Artifica's suspicious are proved correct, they are indeed some form of recharging station. The terminal beside Sweetie's both shows a green wire frame image of a filly with curly hair, but also displays a yellow box with a flashing lightening bolt symbol inside the wire frame's back. “ERROR Spark Core not recognised_” is written beneath.
* Short_Fuse shrugs; "Like I said, good at making messes, bad at cleaning up."
* Milia takes a swig. "Ahhh...whiskey, you always give me warm and fuzzy feelings..." she turns to Cerberus and nods. "I am very good at making messes! Not too bad at cleaning up...until the DAMN LOCK BREAKS!"
* Milia makes a rude gesture at the door.
* Milia was positive it was mocking her in a door-like fashion.
* Cerberus giggles "hey... that stuff you are drinking seems strong! can i have some? i mean, if it doesn't makes me feel ugly like that cigarette..."
* Short_Fuse looks to Milia; "Can i have what you're having? It looks like fun."
* Milia looks back and forth nervously. "...uhhhhh...I...uhhhh..."
* Milia looks down to Cerberus, grinning sheepishly. "Have you ever had alcohol before, sweetie?"
* Milia didn't want a repeat of the cigarette debacle.
<uSea_a_GM> Checking the terminal beside the other booth, Artifica sees a similar picture but this time of a mare, and the box and lightening bolt symbols are red instead of yellow. It also has the words: “Core transfer complete_” flashing on the bottom.
* Cerberus nodnods "yeah, i had my share before the change... but i never tried that one... only, i'm not suree how pony cubs react to that..."
* Price_Signal had the most peculiar expression, "...change?"
* Cerberus nods to the pegasus "yeah, a couple of weeks ago..."
* Milia decided that was good enough reasoning for her. She nudges the bottle towards Cerberus. "Okay...but take it VERY slow at first, okay? Just a tiny little sip!-" she realizes the filly had said something a bit weird, though..."Wait...the hay? 'Change'?"
* Short_Fuse whispers into Milia's ear; "Based on her age, could me 'mare troubles'.
<Short_Fuse> "
<Short_Fuse> *be
* Price_Signal naturally assumed "mare problems" and gave the most awkward glance, "oh. I see. Ahah."
* Cerberus tries to take the bottle while she replies "really, guys? isn't that evident by itself? my rifle, my armor, my name?"
* Milia recoils slightly from Fuse's odor, being this close to the ghoul. "Auuuughhh..."
* Wasteland_Daisy is now known as DancingOnTheAshes
* Milia turns back to Cerberus. "...not really! When I was a foal I lived with a bunch of other young fillies and colts who all wore armor and had guns. We had to, or else we'd have been killed by raiders or taken by slavers in a matter of days."
* Cerberus sighs "i was a hellhound, okay? please don't laugh"
* Price_Signal had a completely quizzical expression. He naturally assumed "hellhound" was the name of some kind of gang or tribe or even raider clan.
* Milia mutters under her breath, sounding slightly depressed. "Instead it only took a few years...ugh...-" she perks up when Cerberus drops the bombshell. "-wait WHAT?!"
* Short_Fuse blinks; "Oh. That explains... a lot actually."
* Price_Signal continued being confused, "Is there a reputation here? I mean, what are we talking about? Tribe, gang, clan?"
* Cerberus "yeah, then i run into a killing joke vine... maybe i was overconfident... so here i am... actually, it's not all that terrible, but i hate puce, and i was a male, originally..."
* Milia isn't laughing. She's more shocked than anything. Well...shocked and immensely curious. She stares right at Cerberus. "No shit? Really? How'd...uh...how'd...*this* happen to you?"
* Cerberus "and a lot larger... and adult... and i had a dignity..."
<Milia> "Oh...holy crap...Well, shit, drink up, dude.  You've earned it."
* Price_Signal took mental notes in his head. So apparently, there this was this dirt pony tribe called the hellhounds and they seemingly had superstitions about certain types of plants, expelling members who had been "defiled" by it. Made sense to him.
* Short_Fuse blinks; "Killing Joke. Nasty Stuff. I actually touched Poison Joak as a young colt. It sucked."
* Cerberus shrugs "the worst part was my wholee fammily chasing me to wqsh the shame with blood... i fled just out of sheer luck..."
* Doubleclick ([email protected]) has left #FalloutEquestriaPNP
* Short_Fuse nods; "That deserves a drink. Maybe three."
* Milia had only heard a few scattered stories about killing joke. All of them were horrible! She trots up beside Cerberus and pats the filly on the back. "Well...at least you're still alive, yeah? I'm just...fuck, that's horrible though. I'm sorry..."
* Milia nods to fuse. "And a snack cake." She then produces exactly that, and offers it to Cerberus.
* Price_Signal frowned. Dirt pony superstitions were indeed vile. Sounded to Price like a typical honor-killing driven by superstition. "That is..unfortunate. I wonder for what reason such a superstition would exist."
* Cerberus "meh, i guess i deserved that, somehow... i used to kill and eat ponies, after all... but, i mean, my tribe wasn't exactly one of those that welcomed that lilpip girl with open arms..."
* Cerberus "and now i have to taste what it means to be on the other side of the line... sucks to be me, i guess? so, can i get that booze now?"
* Milia had nudged the bottle over to Cerberus already!
<Milia> (( :P ))
* Short_Fuse loosk to Price; "Ain't a Superstition. Never heard of Poison Joak or Killing Joke?"
* Cerberus takes the bottle and sniffs it, making a face, but tries drinking a bit ayway, just a teeny sip... only, as soon as thewhiskey touches her tongue, she goes all red "woah! it burns!"
* Artifica moves over to the others.  "I think I can save them.  But I need the right... parts."
<Milia> "Sucks to be a lot of us..." she chuckles at Cerberus' reaction.  "It burns /so good/."
* Short_Fuse points to the office; "Could be spares inside."
* Price_Signal gave Short Fuse the strangest expression, "Well, I'm no dir- I mean earth pony botanist."
* Short_Fuse blinks; "Me neither, but I've seen it first hoof. Well, before it mutated anyways."
* Cerberus turns towards Artifica "yeah, there's lotta stuff blinking inside that office, we can see it from the window but the door is jammed shut... maybe you can open it from the inside with your unicorn mumbo jumbo?"
* Milia nods eagerly at Artifica, as if to say 'what the hellhound said'.
* Artifica looks at the door. She focuses her magic, attempting to open the door from inside.
<uSea_a_GM> One of the random buttons pressed does the job and the door slides open.
* Cerberus goes back licking the floor to chase away the taste of owies from the wild pegasus... the floor tastes like clean
<Price_Signal> "Is it common?"
* Short_Fuse shakes his head; "Not really. All that there is of it would be in the Everfree area
<Short_Fuse> ."
* Milia is overjoyed to see her current arch nemesis finally defeated. "HAH! Take THAT, you goddess-damn door! That'll teach you!"
<Price_Signal> "Ah. Not familiar with that area at all. Not much into geography."
* Artifica dashes in, quickly looking for replacement power cores.
* Short_Fuse notes; "You don't seem to be much into anything."
* Milia trots inside, heading to the terminal.
* Price_Signal 's eyebrow rose. "...and what is that supposed to mean?"
* Short_Fuse shrugs; "You're dispassionate. Live a little."
<uSea_a_GM> beneath the desk you can now see a safe, and there are several lines of text on the terminal's screen:
* Cerberus "yeah, maybe i should introduce you somee of my former hellhound friends... they loved it when you pegasi tried to enslave a whole tribe... i'm sure they would have a lot of opinions to share with you"
<uSea_a_GM> https://docs.google.com/document/d/11c7xjwA218z0xyGUDg4hyPgCMgRou3yktulBEEpX2A8/edit
* Artifica frowns, looking at the terminal with Milia.  "It looks like Rarity did indeed sacrifice herself to save her sister.  But it's not working like she had hoped..."  She pauses.  "Or maybe it is.  Maybe all she hoped for was that it would last long enough for help to arrive.  We have to be able to save them both."
<uSea_a_GM> **End of Session Sixteen for Group 4**
* Artifica attempts to unlock the safe.