private Adventure to Atlantis

[Dawn Stripes 301]

@,

 

Giant pulled out his pistol and grabbed a rag from the truck to start polishing it, since it was there. That usually helped keep his nerves together.

"Ah' know."
He produced his partially-empty bottle of Applejack Daneils and fished around in the truck bed for a second glass--a half-destroyed water bottle would have to do. Looked like he'd found someone to share the next third of this with after all. "We're gonna' die down here," he agreed quietly, pouring drinks.

"We're a million nautical leagues from nowhere in the middle of a bunch of hostiles with unknown powers, half the team still wants to make friends, and the third pony who could help keep us alive wants to drop his swords every two seconds to impress the biggest security risk under our noses. You're a disaster." He waved a hoof expressively. "You're a complete disaster. I'm a disaster, we're one big combined disaster here. Way I see it," he leaned against the truck, causing it to shudder, "It's startin' not to matter much how crazy or scared we are. Might as well start playin' like the devil and try to have some fun before the end."

He clinked his glass against the water bottle as he offered it to Frostbite. "So here's to you, Frost. Nice to meet you. You're one maniacal son-of-a---" Hmm---mare. Never had that problem before. "Well, here's to you, Frosty."

Edited May 25, 2013 by Dawn Stripes

[Agent505 661]

@@Dawn Stripes, 

 

Looking him up and down with a little look of empathy on her face, seeing how he shared her fear, she took the glass and slowly drank away at it, sipping away about a quarter of its contents before she spoke again. "Arctic." She mumbled, placing the glass down and brushing her mane back to keep it from her eyes as she wiped away the remains of her tears. "That's...that's the name I remember being brought up with. Arctic...I don't know if that's my real name or not, generally to avoid confusion I just...called myself Frostbite when I was younger. Kinda stuck, you know?" She had no idea why she was telling him, it just felt like it was the right thing to do, given the circumstances. She felt like she'd already opened up to him, why not tell him the whole deal? Wasn't like they where getting out anyway, and besides, Giant was the one she felt she could trust most down there, after what they'd been through already.

"So...you really think she's our biggest threat? I mean...I can't see it, but..." she sat down beside Giant, combing her mane with her forelegs to at least look presentable again. "What makes you say it though? Because she's different, or because she's...water?"

Edited May 25, 2013 by Creeping Dusk

[Dawn Stripes 301]

@,

 

Giant hicced indignantly. There was no need to go calling him intolerant. He might be traveled, but he still held Equestrian values close to his heart. "I said the biggest risk under our noses. I'm ready to believe there's far worse stuff waiting for us out there." He knocked back the glass and threw the empty cup back in his pack. "She's...water." Giant shivered again. "The ocean is no friend of ponykind." 

He sat back on his haunches, leaning against the truck with liquid sigh filling his eyes. "It's not right," he muttered. "After all of...everything. I knew I'd probably get knocked off on the job, but down here? To have to come back down here..." he shook his head. "I just wish so bad I'd never taken this job. I'd give anything to see the sun again right now."

[Agent505 661]

@@Dawn Stripes, 

 

"Don't suppose anypony here has enough magic to pull up a fake one?" She joked, trying to turn things around. "It's...I know how you feel. Funny how things work out isn't it? I was swallowed by a tree once you know... after that, I never thought this would be anywhere close to my list of ways to leave this life." She downed the rest of the drink and placed her glass next to Giant on the ground, placing her hoof on his. "Come on Sarge, you said it yourself, we can't go out like this. If we are gonna go, we're going to leave our mark on this land, and we're gonna have fun doing it."

[Dawn Stripes 301]

@, 

 

Normally, increasing levels of danger made Giant's training bundle him up in turtle tactics more and more, but the alcohol, the nerves, and Frostbite were all conniving to make a very convincing point. She was even a good-looking mare, under the instability--not that Giant was letting his head get anywhere it shouldn't, mind. He was way past that age. It just made her more convincing than she should have been.

 

His contractual obligations specified that he was to protect these ponies, but if they were all doomed, what did it really matter? The lines started growing fuzzy in Giant's mind, as he checked the remaining two barrels of his battle saddle. "Anything you had in mind?" he said playfully.

[Steel Accord 6,660]

Ocean brought her hoof up to her cheek and held it there for a moment before she stood up. Holding her blanket it her mouth, she followed Steel to his tent and. Without a single word, she kissed him on the cheek and cuddled up next to him. "Goodnight, Steel." She whispered, smiling before she closed her eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Steel didn't want to imagine the possibility that he was dreaming! He pulled his covers over Ocean's own wrapped up form, pulled her into his embrace, and wrapped his wings around her; Ocean was now fully encased in a dry cocoon of warmth.

 

Feeling that Ocean was now more comfortable with his affections, he kissed the top of her head.

 

"Good night Ocean." He whispered into her ear, and drifted off to sleep himself, his head resting atop her's and Ocean's face buried in his chest.

Edited May 26, 2013 by Steel Accord

[Agent505 661]

@@Dawn Stripes, 

 

(I do have to say, this is probably the closest to a "real" romance start i've ever seen, and it's not even the start of a romance xD) 

 

"Well..." she looked around the cave for a second, then peeked around the side of the truck, seeing everypony settle down for the night. "Feel like cutting Iron's throat while he sleeps?" she whispered, making sure only Giant could hear her - she wasn't serious, as much as she would have liked to have been. "That's a surefire way to make sure we don't get back though, right? As much as I hate that guy..." shaking her head, she sat back down at the side of giant and leaned her head on his shoulder. "I'm with you, by the way. The weapons? They're coming with me. In fact...I might actually volunteer to leave my bracelets behind. They help me control my magic more, so without them...well just look at the lake. That was only supposed to be a platform for me to sit on." 

 

Yawning and stretching her legs in front of her she couldn't help but feel like she wanted to just sleep right here and now - the warmth of the stallion was oddly comforting, despite recent events. "I wonder what time it even is anyway..?"

[Milk Wave 454]

Iron Hoof...couldn't sleep. He sat awake, near the edge of camp, staring out at the rocks around them. He found it rather odd. He knew they they were under ground...but it almost felt...like the surface. He just shook his head and walked back to the camp to try and get some rest.

Of course there was the lone pony by the water, listening closely to everything Iron Hoof did. Moon was still awake and lively, looking at the water of the underground lake and studying it closely.

But now, she was more worried about him instead. It had been awhile since everypony had went to bed and knowing that one of the crew was still up made her uncomftortable. It kinda stunk that Moon had to force herself down from helping out Iron, no matter how much she disliked him. But even restraining herself wouldnt do it, and she quietly whispered a regret before standing up and flying over to him.

About 6 feet back is where she landed before silently walking up behind Iron and tapping him on the shoulder.

"Sir, are.. You alright?"

[Dawn Stripes 301]

@,

 

Giant checked his watch. "1400 Zulu." He blinked. "You gotta' keep tabs on that sort of thing in my line of work. C'mon, I wanna' show you somethin'."

 

He led her around to a different truck, where he began pulling out parts and smiling. "See, some of the gear we saved was M.H.S.U. gear. Mobile Hazardous Situation Unit. The guard was workin' on this stuff for the longest time, developing robots that could go into combat situations deemed too dangerous for ponies. All theoretical stuff, of course. Guard hasn't been in a real war in...gee whiz, forevor. But when Shining Armor took over the Guard, he took things way more seriously than the last bloke. That wasn't when I was there, mostly."
He found a base unit and started screwing on some wheels, letting whimsy take him where it would. "But I still got all teh breifings on this. The end result of all teh different projects was a modular system based on a robust magic matrix with a huge power supply pumping through it, and a lot of different parts with standardized interface systems. You could slap together robots for any kind of situation--small arms fire, recon, advanced sensors, search and rescue, even. Supply delivery." He fished some more. "We saved a whole ton of this stuff. ONly a few basic designs were every actually used for anything--a few wheels and a camera, mostly. But in theory, you could hook a few base units together and support a lot of stuff." He threw Frostbie a wrench. "And I feel like upgradig your authorization to technition. I wanna' see what kinda' robot you'd build."

(OOC: Just for the heck of it...there IS a robot!) 

[Count Paradox 3,548]

Dox let her help him up, but as soon as he was, he took his hoof from her shoulders and skittered away toward his tent, not saying anything. 'I'm sorry, Feather...' He thought, 'I just need some time to think...' He quickly unzipped his tent, jumping in and zipping it back up. "Now why the tartarus would Frost do that to me?! I mean, yeah, embarrassing her was the plan, but she didn't have to embarrass me!" He sighed and rubbed his cheek.

[Miss Light Diamond 2,802]

Of course there was the lone pony by the water, listening closely to everything Iron Hoof did. Moon was still awake and lively, looking at the water of the underground lake and studying it closely.

But now, she was more worried about him instead. It had been awhile since everypony had went to bed and knowing that one of the crew was still up made her uncomftortable. It kinda stunk that Moon had to force herself down from helping out Iron, no matter how much she disliked him. But even restraining herself wouldnt do it, and she quietly whispered a regret before standing up and flying over to him.

About 6 feet back is where she landed before silently walking up behind Iron and tapping him on the shoulder.

"Sir, are.. You alright?"

 

Iron Hoof looked over Moon before speaking. "Just fine. I'm just rather...confused. We're under ground, but it feels as if the surface is just around the corner. Maybe its just how big the cave is bu- Hold on...why are you still up? Come to think of it...Why are you all up. Did no pony hear me? Tomorrow is going to be a long day, GET TO BED." He ordered, glaring around at the few ponies still awake.

[Dawn Stripes 301]

@,

 

Giant chuckled, feeling uncommonly subordinate as he ignored the order to turn in. "That's the beauty. Just hook up the sockets and give it a couple twists, and you're good. A foal could do it." He rubbed his chin. "I wonder if we have that net piece they had in that...let's take a look..." he fished around, and when he came back, eyes twinkled. "Hey, whaddaya' suppose this one does?" 

[Agent505 661]

@@Dawn Stripes,

 

(OOC: I admire your faith in the creativity I lack - i'm also concerned with Flame Dancer, you know if we just start pulling things from no where I can see him getting annoyed. But, it's his RP and i'm sure he'll tell us if we're overstepping our marks.)

 

Nothing to see here. 

Edited May 26, 2013 by Creeping Dusk

[Ano170 162]

Feather sank to the ground and watched, stunned, as Paradox ran off without another word and hid himself away in his tent.

 

 

"Well then. "Was all she could say after a moment or two. Just as she thought she was finally starting to get somewhere with getting along normally with other ponies...

 

"I'll figure it out in the morning. " Feather stomped and snorted -probably a bad idea on the ice, she would realise in retrospect - and flue over to the nearest truck, not noticing Giant and Frost Bite lurking behind it. Feather clambered into the front passenger seat and curled up with her head tucked under her wings, suddenly exhausted.

[Milk Wave 454]

Iron Hoof looked over Moon before speaking. "Just fine. I'm just rather...confused. We're under ground, but it feels as if the surface is just around the corner. Maybe its just how big the cave is bu- Hold on...why are you still up? Come to think of it...Why are you all up. Did no pony hear me? Tomorrow is going to be a long day, GET TO BED." He ordered, glaring around at the few ponies still awake.

And I was so close to getting to him too..

 

Moon thought to herself a bit, but stood in her position even if it made Iron frustrated. If it took her forever to get to him, then so be it.

She looked at him in the eyes and smiled a bit.

 

"I don't think that a cave acting like a surface is all that's on your mind. If you want to talk to me about things, then go ahead.."

[Miss Light Diamond 2,802]

@,

 

Iron Hoof raised an eyebrow. "You're a nice mare...but I'm not just going to randomly share my thoughts with anypony. If I have a problem, its my problem and its me who needs to deal with it." He said, walking towards his tent. "I suggest you get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be tiring." He said.

[Count Paradox 3,548]

Paradox continued to pace around in his tent. He liked Feather, but what Frost had just done could have possibly ruined his chances. And then there was Moon... He had made a promise to not let anything hurt her, but what if he had hurt her emotionally? He shook his head and sighed.

[Ano170 162]

(OOC: hmm, can't think of much to put - no sense in waking Feather up, guess I'll give her nightmare to tide things along).

 

Curled up in the truck, Feather was dreaming. In the dream, she was observing a party - being held, she somehow knew, in Canterlot - for the upper class elite of ponykind. Stuffy stallions in tightly pressed suits and mares in big poofy dresses and even bigger and poofier hats stood in close circles, gossiping, swirling champagne and occasionally bursting into haughty, somewhat forced laughter. Classical music droned in the background.

 

A few heads looked up as a stallion entered the room. He was blurred like the rest of the dream ponies, and Feather couldn't quite make out his features, though he looked a little like some sort of distorted Paradox.

 

A handsome buck - the host - approached the latecomer. The two exchanged pleasantries, then the stallion jumped slightly, as if suddenly remembering something.

 

"Oh!"He cried -a polite, controlled exclamation at the appropriate volume of course. "I must show you my new filly." He beamed, flushed with pride. "Took me a while to break her in - you know; clean her up; stick her in a pretty dress; stop her speaking out of turn with all those silly little ideas and opinions, that sort of thing - but I'd say the end results compliment me rather satisfyingly, wouldn't you?"

 

The stallion stepped away. For the first time Feather noticed his absurdly long shadow; she hadn't even realised there had been a mare standing beside him, hidden in that oily blackness.

 

"Mmm, yes. " the host, also apparently seeing the mare for the first time, nodded thoughtfully. "Maybe she'll be a good influence on my wife" the buck leaned in nervously, whispering to the stallion. "My wife's been reading books again..."

 

"What's a book?" Asked the mare, stepping into the light. With a start, Feather realised she was looking at herself.

 

"Ah!" Feather woke up screaming. Pain dug into her side - she was still wearing the battlesaddle, she realised. Trembling slightly from the bizarre nightmare, she slipped of the harness and dropped the saddle on the floor of the truck before curling up and closing her eyes once more.

Edited May 28, 2013 by Ano170

[Miss Light Diamond 2,802]

Several hours later...the camp was quiet...not single sound...until, Ocean awoke to the sound of...something outside. It almost sounded like a slithering.

She wriggled out of Steel's grasp and unzipped her tent flap and looked around...there was nothing. She frowned and went back into her tent to grab her canteen.

She made her way over to the lake to fill it up when she heard it again...something crawling around nearby. "Hello?" She called...then she saw it...a massive centipede, at least three times the size of Ocean crawled out from behind a nearby rock outcrop.

She stared at it before dropping her canteen and running as fast as she could back to the camp. "SOMEONE HELP." She yelled, looking back back to see at least ten more digging up from the ground.

[Milk Wave 454]

@

 

(( OOC- I don't know what im doing but ill try my best~ ))

 

She nodded her head a bit and looked back into Iron's eyes. "Well then, I hope you're able to fall asleep.."

 

==========

 

In the course of several hours, Moon surprisingly fell asleep just after laying back down. Laying on the rocks never really felt as bad as it seemed to her, but since she was also near water the shoreline was much smoother.

It seemed like the rest of the night would go well but..

She quickly woke up and perked her head to the sound of somepony in distress. And what she instantly saw made her jaw drop.

Centipedes were always quite big back up in the surface, but it seemed like these were amplified from being down here. Almost like a mutation..

In the midst of all this was Ocean of course, running for her life. But what could Moon do? She knew that going in there could result in both of them getting killed.

Unless..

So she quickly stood up and flapped her wings a bit, just before moving into a position similar to starting in track. And at max charge, braced herself before letting all four hooves off the ground.

"We need some guns- OHHHHHHHHHH GOD!!!"

 

It was quite a long time since Moon has ever flown this fast. Only in desperate situations could she ever fly like that, and since this was one of them it triggered a sense to overload the wings power.

She was screaming toward Ocean and the Centipedes, regretting ever doing this but quickly she came up with an idea.

 

"Ocean jump and lift your hooves in the air when I accelerate to you from a right angle!!"

Edited May 28, 2013 by Funny Snout

[Steel Accord 6,660]

@,

@,

 

"Mmmm . . . that feels heavenly." Steel mumbled in his sleep. 

 

"SOMEONE HELP."

 

Steel shot up from his sleep . . . Ocean wasn't there.

 

"OCEAN!" He screamed. Whipping both weapons from their scabbards by his bedside and quite literally launching from his tent. He scanned around, panic gripping his heart.

 

Steel saw Ocean surrounded by giant centipedes and wasted no time in attacking.

 

"OCEAN!" Crying her name from on high, he buried both blades in one's head. He looked at her for the briefest of moments. "Run!" He almost whispered with desperation.

 

Slashing, stabbing, diving, kicking, and gouging. NOTHING was going to touch her! Nothing did.

 

Moon was then on intercept with Ocean's path. She seemed to have a plan in mind.

 

That's when Steel was slammed from the air.

 

ScrEEEEEEEEEE

 

This centipede was particularly larger than the others. Steel got to his hooves and tried to stab at the creature but it's hide also appeared to be tougher. It brought it's terrible pincers to bare and snapped at Steel. He back flipped to evade the initial attack.

Edited May 30, 2013 by Steel Accord

[The-Master 1,176]

Star Keeper bolted up straight when he heard the disturbance outside. At first he assumed it was simply the other crew members being rowdy but as far as he knew it was uncommon for them to begin hacking each other up. Pocking his head out of the front of his tent he was greeted to the sight of a number of giant centipede insects crawling along after Ocean, and proceeding to get hacked up by Steel. One so happened to pass by Star's tent, giving the curious stallion a good look at it. "You are beautiful. I've never seen anything like you before. Oh this alone could guarantee me some kind of award back in Canterlot."

 

The insect scampered off further down into the camp and out of Star's line of sight. What's the worst it could do anyway, they aren't even able to attack anything of a ponies size, let alone eat them. It seemed that Steel was taking this opportunity to let off some steam, and no doubt would return bragging about the importance of weaponry. Ignorance is truly bliss.

Edited May 28, 2013 by Lightning-Dust

[Dawn Stripes 301]

Giant was woken by the sound of digging. Given the state his mind had been in recently, it took only several seconds before he noticed the metal centipedes crawling towards the campsite. 

Looked too much like the leviathan that had totaled their sub to be a coincidence.

He didn't hesitate before opening fire. Two centipedes went down in the first clip, and while he kicked the reload switch and attached a new brace, he hopped up in the flatbed of the truck. Made for good cover.

Unfortunately, not all ponies were behind good cover. There were...five, six....blast, there was a horde of them! Giant was tempted to go for a frag, but not while half the team was out there in the middle of it. Steel was with Ocean near the thick of it; how was he ever going to get them out of that position? At least the bugs didn't seem to be opening fire--yet. They'd be toast if that happened.

"Everypony get behind the trucks!" he bellowed at the top of his not-inconsiderable voice, trying to be more careful with his shots.

[Agent505 661]

((OOC: @@Steel Accord, So, I just happened to have

 playing as I was reading your post...))

 

Waking with a start as Giant moved, causing her to fall to the ground after apparently falling asleep on his shoulder, Frostbite jumped up and looked around - what was with all the noise? It didn't take her long after her vison stopped blurring to see the mechanical mess on the other side of the truck, and all over the camp for that matter. "You serious? I was woke up for this?" she grumbled, beginning to charge her horn. 

 

She was about to blast one of the creatures, when one of them tunnelled up from underneath her, causing her to fall and bang her head on the truck. A single droplet of blood ran down her forehead as she redirected her magic on the one responsible for her fresh injury. It didn't quite make it out of the ground before it turned into a shimmering white statue, lifeless and somewhat graceful, despite it's horrific appearance. "Well what do you know?" she laughed as she turned around and froze another one where it stood, a few feet away from the camp. 

 

She began to run quickly behind one of the trucks as Giant shouted, swiftly dodging another centipede as it erupted below her "How many of these things are there?!" she called out to anypony within earshot as she dived behind cover, poking her head back up and charging another spell. 

 

(Well I dont wanna be that guy but one of us needed to have something go wrong didn't we?) 

[Count Paradox 3,548]

Paradox had ended up falling asleep, but woke up to the sound of gunfire. He quickly opened his tent and saw the creepy metal critters. "What the hell?!" He looked around as two of them turned to him and started to advance. He shot out a blast of energy from his horn, but it just dented it. "Dammit..." He looked for an escape route and ran to the left, towards the trucks. He jumped inside and slammed the doot shut. He caught his breath and looked around, becoming a bit startled to see Feather in the seat.