Fallout: Beyond Equestria 165: Xero Hour (Part 19)

[2016-01-13 13:36:45] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Previously...
[2016-01-13 13:37:44] <Mare-Do-Well> 3CopyCat's shields go up around everyone as the Mother of Balefire roars.  "Enough!  Die!  All of you!"  What follows are words in an ancient draconic language, full of raw and dangerous power.
[2016-01-13 13:37:55] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Within her shield, CopyCat sees a shimmer that grows into a wound in the very air itself.  Each of her friends sees the same... and the thick, broiling pink vapor that starts pouring into their shields, swiftly filling them.
[2016-01-13 13:38:04] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The Mother of Balefire is not done with the hellhound who has so greviously wounded Her, however.  With a swipe of Her left wing, she sends one of the balefire eggs at Mitzi.
[2016-01-13 13:38:11] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The balefire egg bounces, the wounded dragon's aim untrue.  But the explosion of green, necromantic fire is massive enough to envelope Mitzi anyway, rending apart her shield and felling the hellhound.
[2016-01-13 13:38:17] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Mitzi is thrown by the blast, the Shield evaporating and the blast of bale flame washing over her. While it had the benefit of heating the air and making the pink cloud rise, the explosive force hurls her against the wall again, and she slumps down, her bandages burnt to ashes.
[2016-01-13 13:38:32] <Mare-Do-Well> 10"We think it is time for you to join us, Noble_Heart," says the Voice of Vault LIV.  Noble_Heart can feel a strange and frightening pull, the sensation of cosmic undertow.... but she remains.
[2016-01-13 13:38:44] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Noble_Heart steels herself as best she can. "I am not prepared to leave yet. Nor would I with you." She coughs from the choking, burning, horrid pink mist surrounding her.
[2016-01-13 13:38:50] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Within his pink-clouded shield, Shatara barely sees several red lights appear on his E.F.S.
[2016-01-13 13:39:16] <Mare-Do-Well> 3His flight has taken him close enough to the factory for the automated defenses to lock on.  The air fills with sprays of heavy gunfire.  Sparks and ruckus erupt across machinery and engineering struts.  Fortunately, only one turret has a clean shot.
[2016-01-13 13:39:17] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The minigun turret sprays Shatara with cold-enchanted bullets, tearing down his protective shield and greviously wounding the griffin.
[2016-01-13 13:39:26] <Mare-Do-Well> 3...
[2016-01-13 13:39:40] <Mare-Do-Well> 3 Get_Lost has no idea of what is going on, but is a Solaris and has a plan. she won't stop until it is done.
[2016-01-13 13:39:41] <Mare-Do-Well> 3...
[2016-01-13 13:40:02] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Fallout: Beyond Equestria, Session One Hundred and Sixty-Five: Xero Hour (Part Nineteen) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2aHcANs4GE
[2016-01-13 13:40:14] <Mare-Do-Well> 3--- Session Begins ---
[2016-01-13 13:45:03] * CopyCat 's eyes go wide in shock and she mentally screams out Mitzi's name as her friend drops. She could feel the hellhound, but barely. CopyCat drops her shields as quickly as she can, beating at the air around her with her wings to try and disperse the thick ball of pink cloud around her. But the most important thing was to try and help Mitzi.
[2016-01-13 13:51:53] * CopyCat closes her eyes, focusing on the bond she'd formed with Mitzi over their travels. The happy memories, the shared jokes, the multiple times Mitzi saved her life. Healing magic flows through that bond, closing Mitzi's wounds and bringing her just barely back to conciousness.
[2016-01-13 13:54:07] * Mitzi stirs, hind leg twitching and kicking a bit
[2016-01-13 13:57:34] * CopyCat leaps away from her pink cloud, aided by her wings, and turns to flee back into the corridor they'd come from. She couldn't do anything to help while attracting the dragon's ire. She pauses by Golden_Dream to flap away the pink cloud around her as best she could, and sets off after Get_Lost. She could sense that Get had a plan. It might be their only hope.
[2016-01-13 13:58:09] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The Mother of Balefire roars.  "Why won't you just die?  You are not worthy to live forever!"
[2016-01-13 13:58:57] * Get_Lost yells back "That makes us part of not worty to live forever club? in that case, you are clearly the president!"
[2016-01-13 14:10:57] * Golden_Dream  coughs and sputters. The pink gas. She really didn't like it anymore. She swore, she saw her mother sitting there, breathing out this horrid pus. It made her angry. "What th' fuck do you call livin'? Staying drug in a vault with a bunch of voices that forgot their own names? Never havin' good-
[2016-01-13 14:11:42] <Golden_Dream> food or family or parties or jus' seein' the sun set over the horizon, that sound like livin' t' you?"
[2016-01-13 14:12:39] <Mare-Do-Well> 3"The purpose of life is to end!"
[2016-01-13 14:13:12] <Golden_Dream> "Th' purpose of life is t' start again, over and over."
[2016-01-13 14:14:07] * CopyCat pokes her head around the door frame. "Because we're friends! And friends help each other up when we fall, and look after each other when we're hurt, and stand beside each other to do what's right!"
[2016-01-13 14:15:24] * Noble_Heart struggles not to choke on the pink within her shield. "No one is 'worthy' of life eternal. It is a gift which must be earned anew each day. Through action, courage and the strength to know one's mistakes will be with them for all time. Things someone like you could never understand."
[2016-01-13 14:15:48] <Mitzi> "In dat case," growls Mitzi as she gingerly gets her paws under her, "Yu furst." She sneers weakly at the dragon, being in as bad of shape as her or worse, but still feeling her righteous anger.
[2016-01-13 14:17:10] * Bookwright sends telepathically to the group: <I hope you folks have a plan because we're about to get slaughtered.>
[2016-01-13 14:17:40] * Golden_Dream  feels the vomit coming up in her throat. <If Shatara did his part, then th' plan's t' start runnin' about now."
[2016-01-13 14:17:53] * Bookwright <We are doing a hell of a lot more than tickling this dragon's tail!>
[2016-01-13 14:21:49] <Golden_Dream> <'Cause if Shatara did his job, then this place is about t' go up in a big way.>
[2016-01-13 14:22:39] * Get_Lost at the dragon's consideration about purpose of like, yells back from where she is "Fine for me! then die and leave us alone!"
[2016-01-13 14:25:39] * Golden_Dream  starts to bolt over and back into full cover. She hopes that she could find /some/ dirt. Some. Please.
[2016-01-13 14:35:42] * Bookwright careens back into the cavern to repeat his attack run, hoping against hope that the dragon won't see him coming again.
[2016-01-13 14:44:00] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The dragon sees him coming... for the last time, as Bookwright's shots blind her in one eye.
[2016-01-13 14:44:58] * Bookwright flings the Jukebox gun in front of him towards the mother of balefire, and as he loops around and flees back towards where he began, the Jukebox gun screeches twice.
[2016-01-13 15:25:21] * Mitzi sees the Dragon blinded and goes in for her last stand. Barely standing though she was, she has enough vigor left to charge at the dragon again, intending to finish what she started. She brandishes her claws with the remaining strength that she can muster, her friend's efforts and peril filling her with determination.
[2016-01-13 15:41:24] * Golden_Dream  bolts about, looking at the surrounding area for cover and... Well, the plan. And then she pulls out her shotgun and fires twice into it's eyes. Hey, better to go out swinging, right?
[2016-01-13 15:43:21] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The Mother of Balefire roars in pain and rage, blood running from Her eyes ans spilling from many grievous wounds!
[2016-01-13 15:52:36] * Noble_Heart releases her magic from the shield surrounding her, instead drawing the massive crystal lance from her side and levitating it. She rises from the pink smoke and turns in the air, plunging down towards the Mother of Balefire with her lance aimed at the other eye. As she draws close her horn crackles unleashing a bolt of lightning moments after her lance makes contact.
[2016-01-13 15:52:57] <CopyCat> ((CopyCat is actually in the chamber with Mitzi. She had to touch the hellhound's body to heal it... leaving her now very much open to the Mother's attacks.))
[2016-01-13 16:02:54] * Get_Lost the marre gets everything she needs and starts working on the pad. after she breaks security, the robots of the stable will probably go insane, so she has to do things fast and make sure they work
[2016-01-13 16:03:47] * Shatara yelped in alarm as the thick pink death flooded his bubble, instinctively diving away from a bubble that was bound to his position...into a sea of red dots and gunfire. A stream of deathly blue tracers from an inconveniently placed turret shattered his the bubble, tearing straight through his power armor and riddling his chest with icy death. Coughing with shock, he keeled
[2016-01-13 16:03:47] * Shatara over in the air, his decent barely slowed by his limp wings, clattering to the floor of the chamber in a bloody heap.
[2016-01-13 16:05:03] * Get_Lost the matrix is in front of her. she has literally no timee, so she plants the seed in it and... well, she needs something. something to make the seed grow now and adapt to the matrix.
[2016-01-13 16:05:06] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Noble_Heart's attack earns a savage, primal roar from the Mother of Balefire as she blinds Her other eye.  The dragon's eyelids clinch tight, blood seeping out from between them and running down Her cheeks.
[2016-01-13 16:05:31] * Get_Lost also, she needs the tree to be, well... the tree-est tree of every tree that ever tryed to tree
[2016-01-13 16:05:59] * Get_Lost "HERE! WE! GO!" the mare pours in the matrix, on the tree, the vial of changeling blood too
[2016-01-13 16:06:29] * CopyCat cries out as Shatara tumbles out of the air and land-crashes nearby.
[2016-01-13 16:06:30] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The cloud darkens, filling with shifting pulses of light.
[2016-01-13 16:08:36] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The Mother of Balefire is blinded.  But vision is not the only sense by which a dragon can pinpoint its prey.  "YOU WILL PAY!" She roars.  Her maw opens, green fire lighting the depths of her throat.
[2016-01-13 16:09:44] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The pink cloud continues to kill, both those trapped in the bubble shields and those free of them.
[2016-01-13 16:11:53] <Mare-Do-Well> 3One of the turrets that was tracking Shatara finds a new target, swiveling around to fire at Noble_Heart!
[2016-01-13 16:14:09] <Mare-Do-Well> 3There is a crack of thunder as the turret fires at Noble_Heart with a weapon designed to kill Steel Rangers.
[2016-01-13 16:15:12] <Mare-Do-Well> 3There is a second crack of thunder.   >> *KRABOOOOOM!!!* <<
[2016-01-13 16:16:24] <Mare-Do-Well> 3And then a third, deafening, followed by a wash of light that permeates the Vault and beyond, penetrating walls and flesh.
[2016-01-13 16:18:28] * Golden_Dream  lowers her head, looking at the floor, watching the ichor drip drip down from her mouth. She felt like her mother. She felt like her father. She wished her brother luck. She hoped that she would see them soon, and her brother in time.
[2016-01-13 16:18:33] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Everyone feels as their wounds, no matter how fatal, mend completely.  Only the damage from the Pink Cloud remains.
[2016-01-13 16:19:00] <Golden_Dream> ...
[2016-01-13 16:19:10] * Golden_Dream  feels like shit, but is alright.
[2016-01-13 16:20:06] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Everyone hears the screams of a multitude of voices ripping through their heads.  To Noble_Heart, the screams are piercing and painful.   She senses more than sees as the Voice of LIV cracks in the brilliant white light, shattering, then pulverizing into dust.
[2016-01-13 16:20:49] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Get_Lost feels a surge of primordial life energy overwhelm and consume her.
[2016-01-13 16:21:32] * Get_Lost feels it, but doubts she can do something about it
[2016-01-13 16:22:02] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The too-bright light fades, leaving everyone nearly blinded by it.  But there are now other sources of light in the room that burn like small suns in the darkness.
[2016-01-13 16:22:13] * Noble_Heart does her best not to fall out of the air at the sudden unleashing of magical energy.
[2016-01-13 16:22:31] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Each of the seeds planted by Shatara cracks, sprouts, and begins to grow.
[2016-01-13 16:23:54] * CopyCat gasps, feeling her wounds healing... and more importantly feeling her friends regain their strength. Most of them, at least.
[2016-01-13 16:24:34] * Golden_Dream  looks around from her station, not getting up. Her head noddled to every seed sprouted. She grinned a little. "Guess we get t' stay a lil' longer, huh?"
[2016-01-13 16:25:22] <Mare-Do-Well> 3An ectoplasmic whirlpool maelstroms where the Voice of LIV once was, not drawing things in but tossing them out.  Ghostly, half-formed figures of zebras begin to fill the chamber.  Strands of aetheric energy wisp between them.
[2016-01-13 16:27:12] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The maelstrom dissipates violently.  And where its center was, there is now a pony, flapping her wings and looking first surprised, then mightly pleased.
[2016-01-13 16:27:37] * Mare-Do-Well 3says, "Awwww yeah!"
[2016-01-13 16:29:33] * Golden_Dream  hacks. "Yay!" She whimpered out in the strongest voice she could muster. What with the mouth full of blood. And maybe other stuff, she didn't know, she wasn't a doctor. Blood isn't supposed to have an alcoholic taste to it, right?
[2016-01-13 16:30:45] * Mare-Do-Well 3stares at her hooves.  "Full corporality!  Awesome!"  She swoops up.  "Thanks for the save.  You have no idea what it was like being stuck in that."  She looks around.  "I feel like I'm in my prime!  Leave these guys to me.  I'm worth any hundred zebra."  She narrows her eyes and gets her battle grin on.  "You guys deal with the dragon!"
[2016-01-13 16:34:24] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The Mother of Balefire stumbles, stunned.  She blinks, Her eyes no longer blinded nor seeping blood.  She looks, if anything, as fully healed as everyone else.  But Her expression is not one of a creature just saved from the brink of death.  Her expression is one of sickness and horror.
[2016-01-13 16:35:02] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The air fills with a crackling sound, like Sugar Bombs with fresh milk.
[2016-01-13 16:35:27] * Golden_Dream  blinks. Oh. Right. She's stewing in a hotbed of magical radiation.
[2016-01-13 16:36:04] * Golden_Dream  looks at the dragon. "So. Round 2, then?"
[2016-01-13 16:36:43] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Something moves past Golden_Dream.
[2016-01-13 16:36:58] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Several somethings move past Mitzi and CopyCat.
[2016-01-13 16:37:11] * Golden_Dream  blinks, then stares at the something. "Hey, there. What're you?"
[2016-01-13 16:37:42] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The baby dragon turns, blinking at Golden_Dream with big, baby dragon eyes.
[2016-01-13 16:38:20] * Mitzi roars triumphantly as she feels a surge of vitality and feels all of her more recent burns heal.
[2016-01-13 16:38:42] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The balefire eggs are balefire eggs no longer.  The megaspell purged them of the necromancy that filled them.  Now they are dragon eggs once again.  And they are hatching.  All of them.
[2016-01-13 16:39:03] <Mare-Do-Well> 3There were hundreds of balefire eggs housed in this factory.
[2016-01-13 16:39:17] * Noble_Heart beats her wings as the baby dragons begin to assemble. "I believe that today you will learn an important lesson about justice. And the difference between sacrifice and betrayal."
[2016-01-13 16:40:12] * Bookwright sees the baby dragons below. He frantically opens his saddlebags and extracts the freshly hatched baby dragon.
[2016-01-13 16:40:48] * CopyCat gasps, looking around in awe at the herd of scurrying baby dragons. "They. Are. So. CUTE!"
[2016-01-13 16:41:46] * Golden_Dream  blinks. Dragon. Huh. "Hey, buddy. Are you alright?"
[2016-01-13 16:42:03] * Bookwright "My. You're a cute one."
[2016-01-13 16:43:33] * Mitzi blinks and looks down at the myriad of newly hatched infants. She raises a paw and rubs the back of her head. She hadn't gotten to see her sister's puppies, but this was kinda nice.
[2016-01-13 16:44:05] * Get_Lost trots back to the dragon room and takes a look around "sis...  sis it work?"
[2016-01-13 16:44:08] <Get_Lost> *did
[2016-01-13 16:44:37] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The baby dragon coos at Bookwright, then begins to suck the tip of its tail.
[2016-01-13 16:44:57] * Get_Lost feels great. "what the... when did this become dragon repopulatio program!?"
[2016-01-13 16:45:35] * Bookwright sets the hatchling down and scrambles in his saddlebags for a few seconds. "Dragons eat... gems... here we are!" He extracts the hoof-ful of gems he'd been carrying around. Cautiously, he holds one up for the hatchling. "Baby wanna treat?"
[2016-01-13 16:45:39] * Get_Lost also, looks up at the mother of balefire trying to see what happened to her
[2016-01-13 16:46:19] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The baby dragon greedily snatchs a gem and begins sucking on it.
[2016-01-13 16:46:34] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Get_Lost is glowing brightly.
[2016-01-13 16:46:50] * Shatara groans and stirs, blinks the spots out of his eyes as he sits. What just happened? There was pink, and bullets and... He looks down. There were distinct, ice-rimmed bullet holes riddling his breastplate. He poked a talon through one, twitching a little as his sharp talon pokes at the intact skin beneath his fur. Nope, definitely not dead. Somehow. He looks up, taking in
[2016-01-13 16:46:51] * Shatara everything around him, taken a bit aback. "...Okay, how long was I out?"
[2016-01-13 16:46:58] * CopyCat squee's. "Get_Lost you did it! You're the Mother of Dragons!"
[2016-01-13 16:46:58] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Light pours out of her eyes and mouth.
[2016-01-13 16:47:37] <Mare-Do-Well> 3"No!" roars the Mother of Balefire.  "NO!!"
[2016-01-13 16:48:29] * Get_Lost "i... don't think so? i just... activated the matrix, with a seed of life to.... you know... this place was full of necromancy and.... what the... is that minister dash?"
[2016-01-13 16:48:58] * Golden_Dream  gives the Mother of Balefire a grin. "Hey, Mother of Balefire. Didn't y' hear me? Th' meanin' of life is t' start again over and over. Y' remember that?"
[2016-01-13 16:51:58] * Noble_Heart backs away from the now very angry dragon. "It would seem, in the end, that your 'sacrifice' was not as final as you thought."
[2016-01-13 16:53:58] * Get_Lost "how is xero ding?"
[2016-01-13 16:54:44] * Get_Lost also checks herself "i... i hope nothing kills me right now or i'll be trapped here forever like htat pirate...."
[2016-01-13 16:55:18] * Golden_Dream  snickers. "Get, I think with as much as we did here, I don't really think we /can/ die right now."
[2016-01-13 16:55:52] <Mare-Do-Well> 3A terrible, grinding, warping sound fills the air.
[2016-01-13 16:56:46] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Reality ripples.  Bends.  Tears.
[2016-01-13 16:57:04] <Mare-Do-Well> 3... then rights itself.
[2016-01-13 16:57:09] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The Mother of Balefire is gone.
[2016-01-13 16:57:13] * Get_Lost that's the problem, you can't die but your body can be destroyed... but you don't die... get it? bad. also... this looks very bad
[2016-01-13 16:57:18] <Get_Lost> ""
[2016-01-13 16:58:24] * Mitzi blinks in surprise as the Dragon suddenly vanishes. "Uh... wut happened?"
[2016-01-13 16:58:46] * CopyCat blinks at the lack of Dragon. "... for not wanting children she really takes peek-a-boo seriously."
[2016-01-13 16:59:15] * Golden_Dream  blinks at the situation at hand. And then at the baby dragon in front of her. "I 'unno. Here's a better question, though. What're we gonna do with all these dragons?"
[2016-01-13 16:59:58] * Noble_Heart blinks in some surprise. She hasn't seen something quite like that before. Then contemplated something. "We wonder whether the cloud above remains..." She looks into the cages searching for the one with Xero.
[2016-01-13 17:02:46] * CopyCat quickly becomes a pony-shaped dragon climbing frame.
[2016-01-13 17:04:29] * Get_Lost "okay, how do you put a notice for a hundred baby dragons giveaway?"
[2016-01-13 17:05:38] * Get_Lost "i think they eat pretty everything but they prefer gems and carbon-life based food...."
[2016-01-13 17:05:55] * Bookwright hoists the hatchling onto his back and flies gently into the room. "So... Um. Does anypony, or griffin, know where a dragon orphanage is?"
[2016-01-13 17:06:37] * Golden_Dream  blinks, then recoils. "I got no idea. Th' only place I have th' faintest that /might/ be cool would be th' Crystal Kingdom. If they don't jus' straight up eat it whole."
[2016-01-13 17:10:31] <CopyCat> "Is everyone okay?" asks the pony-shaped blob of baby dragons with CopyCat's voice.
[2016-01-13 17:10:36] * Noble_Heart calls back down. "We could ask Spike. Or Mouse. Though We suppose that is more of a long-term solution. Perhaps The Silos might have some ideas." She continued searching for Xero. "It is highly unlikely that we shall see the Mother of Balefire again. She has been consumed. Either by the Stars in retribution for her failures, or by her own magic and self-doubt. Which, We
[2016-01-13 17:10:37] * Noble_Heart cannot say for certain."
[2016-01-13 17:10:46] * Get_Lost frowns and looks at the big empty dragon space "told her she was a goner"
[2016-01-13 17:11:00] * Get_Lost "gotta listen to your doctor"
[2016-01-13 17:11:50] * Golden_Dream  inhales. "Welp. Let's, uh. Jus' start herdin' 'em out, I guess." Golden Dream. Dragon Herder. She liked that.
[2016-01-13 17:12:44] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Noble_Heart finds Xero's cage.  Xero's body lies within it.  Dead.  In a Vault where nothing can die, Xero's body has ceased even its mockery of living.
[2016-01-13 17:13:13] * Get_Lost "oh... hi dash, nice to have you here...."
[2016-01-13 17:14:18] * Golden_Dream  stares at Get_Lost. She didn't /quite/ know what happened, but she's fairly sure she's the reason for it. "... Get, what did you do?"
[2016-01-13 17:14:20] <Mare-Do-Well> 3A breath later, Xero herself appears in a shimmer before Noble_Heart.  A ghost, badly faded, like Mare-Do-Well when she was struggling to be seen.  But worse.  There is an unpleasant hollowness to the ghost, like something vital is missing from her very soul.
[2016-01-13 17:14:57] * Noble_Heart blinks and frowns. That was... Not what she was expecting. And was more than slightly disappointing. She backed up slightly at the sudden spectral appearance. Okay, that was definitely not what she was expecting.
[2016-01-13 17:16:15] * Get_Lost looks at golden "i... planted a seed of the tree of life on the megaspell matrix and... well, watered it with changeling blood? you know, if you have to go blind, you better do it all-in"
[2016-01-13 17:17:32] <Mare-Do-Well> 7Xero's voice is but the hint of a whisper, fragile.  "It will be easier to die now.  I only need to find a Reaper Zebra.  But I still wish to see Fluttershy before I go."
[2016-01-13 17:19:46] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The turrets and sentinel begin attacking everything they can target.  And there is a swarm of newly hatched dragons that fit the bill.
[2016-01-13 17:20:41] * Golden_Dream  inhales gravely. "No. NonononoNONONONONO" She whips out her shotgun, loads the slugs, and keeps firing until they're all dead, or she is.
[2016-01-13 17:21:41] * Noble_Heart tragically still does not speak zebra. She tilts her head to one side. "CopyCat! Miss Xero could use someone to talk to." The sound of gunfire draws her attention. "We shall help deal with this problem."
[2016-01-13 17:21:50] * Get_Lost runs for a terminal, trying to do something about that
[2016-01-13 17:22:25] * Golden_Dream  immediately feels her blood going to her mouth. "FIGHT ME, YOU MECHANICAL BASTARDS!"
[2016-01-13 17:22:34] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Before the turrets or sentinel robot can be terminated, there are a dozen dead baby dragons.  Their bodies fall, shed by their ghosts, who hiss and cry at the machines.
[2016-01-13 17:23:38] * Mitzi throws herself in front of the nearest group of baby dragons. She wasn't going to let any infants die if she could help it
[2016-01-13 17:24:25] * CopyCat screams. The dragons on her scatter. "Noo! Get_Lost, please stop them!" She takes to the air and passes Noble_Heart, swapping places with her purple sister as she requested.
[2016-01-13 17:25:42] * Golden_Dream  inhales and /howls/ out in a voice that absolutely radiated hatred, "NOBLE OR GET LOST. GET THE FUCK. OVER. HERE. /NOW/." TerminalterminalterminalterminalTERMINALTERMINAL
[2016-01-13 17:26:09] * Get_Lost runs at a terminal and starts working on it
[2016-01-13 17:26:25] * Golden_Dream  howls out again. "/NOW./"
[2016-01-13 17:27:13] * Noble_Heart dives towards the terminal as fast as she can. The prospect of leaving children, or anyone else but -especially- children, to die was unacceptable to her. FLying down the hallways at top speed searching for the security office to shut down the security.
[2016-01-13 17:27:29] * Mare-Do-Well 11meanwhile is actively engaging the zebra ghosts en masse.
[2016-01-13 17:29:27] * Bookwright reloads the Jukebox Gun and lets it off the leash again.
[2016-01-13 17:30:44] * Golden_Dream  attempts to put a shot into every single one she could find.
[2016-01-13 17:32:28] * Shatara draws his rifle and opens up with.
[2016-01-13 17:37:28] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Shatara, Golden_Dream and Bookwright destroy the closest turrets and badly damage the Sentinel as Noble_Heart and Get_Lost race to the terminal.  The alicorn reaches it in record time, hacking the terminal with almost suspicious ease, and shuts down the factory floor security (despite the help of a little phoenix icon).
[2016-01-13 17:38:20] * Get_Lost is trying a different work, something more radical
[2016-01-13 17:38:33] * Noble_Heart breathes a sigh of relief. Then slowly does her best to check whether or not she could access the other security in the facility and disable that as well. And, for that matter, whether or not there was a way to open the facility to the exterior. There were still active turrets outside on their way in, but there might be a more convenient way outside.
[2016-01-13 17:38:43] <Mare-Do-Well> 3When Get_Lost arrives, she starts reprogramming Beaky...
[2016-01-13 17:42:30] * CopyCat arrives beside Xero's cage just as her friends power down the turrets. She breaths a sigh of relief, before seeing Xero's body. "Oh..." she murmurs, before spotting Xero's faint ghost. "O-Oh! Xero! You've err... you've lost weight!"
[2016-01-13 17:44:09] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Noble_Heart finds what she is looking for: there is a cargo lift at the far end of the factory floor.  One large enough to carry multiple completed warheads.  If she is right, the cargo lift should exit in the vicinity of a vacant lot on the very edge of town.
[2016-01-13 17:44:26] * Noble_Heart blinks in some surprise as Get Lost takes over the terminal from her, watching curiously at what the other pony was doing.
[2016-01-13 17:45:22] * Golden_Dream  's hooves shake. She let them die. She was uncomfortable moving, so she let them die. She had to feel emotions, so she let them die. This realization does horrible things to her head.
[2016-01-13 17:45:45] <Mare-Do-Well> 7Xero nods.  "Thank you.  All of you."
[2016-01-13 17:46:41] <Mare-Do-Well> 7Xero repeats, her voice still a fragile hint of a whisper,  "It will be easier to die now.  I only need to find a Reaper Zebra.  But I still wish to see Fluttershy before I go."
[2016-01-13 17:47:11] <Mare-Do-Well> 7Xero adds, "And there are things you should know."
[2016-01-13 17:47:30] * Golden_Dream  swiftly starts hurling herself into the fray of zebra ghosts.
[2016-01-13 17:48:16] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Golden_Dream finds herself fighting back-to-back with a very happy-seeming Rainbow Dash.
[2016-01-13 17:49:27] * Golden_Dream  howls out with the most intimidating voice she could muster, "SURRENDER, OR FACE OBLIVION. THESE ARE YOUR OPTIONS."
[2016-01-13 17:53:24] * Bookwright feeds the hatchling on his back another gem. "So. Um. Zebra ghosts please go away?
[2016-01-13 17:53:40] * Bookwright "I mean, you can't really hurt anything here..."
[2016-01-13 17:53:47] * Get_Lost stops working at the console and takes a few steps back
[2016-01-13 17:54:10] * Get_Lost "aaaand.... enjoy forever rebboting, birdie"
[2016-01-13 17:55:07] * CopyCat nods to Xero. "We would be glad to take you with us. We would like to grant your wish."
[2016-01-13 17:55:11] * Get_Lost the screens on all the terminals are stuck on a rebooting sequence: the program starts up, activates the OS, then a window opens, does something, and the computer reboots
[2016-01-13 17:55:16] <Get_Lost> and again
[2016-01-13 17:55:19] <Get_Lost> and again
[2016-01-13 17:55:23] <Get_Lost> forever
[2016-01-13 17:55:34] * Shatara shifts his attention away from the deactivated turrets, and to the zebras. "ZOMBIE GOASTS, LEAVE THIS PLACE...wait, I used that one already, didn't I?"
[2016-01-13 17:55:53] * CopyCat takes a deep breath, "And we will listen to whatever you have to tell us, Xero."
[2016-01-13 17:56:19] * Get_Lost turrets and robots power on and power off like a heartswarming eve tree, never really finishing the power up sequence
[2016-01-13 17:56:32] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The zebra ghosts don't seem to be real ghosts... not in the way that Mare-Do-Well is.  They are... something else.  The wisps of ectoplasm that flow between them ripples constantly, pulling their recognizable forms apart like sand castles washed by the tide.  They form again elsewhere, or merge into each other.
[2016-01-13 17:57:07] <Mare-Do-Well> 3CopyCat and Noble_Heart have the distinct impression that the Voice of Vault LIV is a single necromantic "unity".
[2016-01-13 17:59:07] <Mare-Do-Well> 3It takes several minutes for the Voice of Vault LIV to come to the conclusion put forth by Bookwright.  But when it does, the more zebra-like forms seem to melt into the aetheric haze, with thins until it is invisible.
[2016-01-13 17:59:31] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Golden_Dream senses that "they" are still here.  But only weakly.
[2016-01-13 18:00:01] * Mitzi looks relieved when the turrets go down, then turns her attention to the myriad of infant dragons with a smile.
[2016-01-13 18:01:26] * Shatara looks around as the last threats dissipate, and flops back onto his haunches, absently poking himself through the bullet holes.
[2016-01-13 18:04:33] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Shatara finds all his bullet holes have healed.
[2016-01-13 18:07:04] <Mare-Do-Well> 3He is whole... just a less healthy whole than in normal.
[2016-01-13 18:11:28] <Mare-Do-Well> 7"The Caesar has intentions aimed at Equestria.  All that has held Her back is the troubles in Her own lands -- Vault LIV and the pirates -- as She has not wished to deal with possible threats on multiple fronts.  Now, I believe, She will begin to move more overtly.  Already, She has agents in your country."
[2016-01-13 18:12:30] <Mare-Do-Well> 7"She is ready to conquer if She must, but She intends instead for Equestria to welcome Her with outstretched arms."
[2016-01-13 18:13:36] * Noble_Heart returns to the main storage area. "We have little time left. With this, things move quickly. Our friend, Miss Doo, is still trapped. Her duplicate walks Equestrian soil doing the bidding of the Caesar and worse things crawl in the darkness. It seems at this point all roads lead to Roam."
[2016-01-13 18:14:26] <Mare-Do-Well> 7"I know that Fluttershy has returned -- that I have the chance to apologize that I believed forever lost -- because Fluttershy is the Caesar's next target."
[2016-01-13 18:14:42] <Mare-Do-Well> 3--- End of Session ---