Celestia's Finest: The Last Crusade

[Miltonian]

Ponyville is a nice change of pace from Canterlot. For one, though not as provincial as it used to be, the pace is much slower. Despite being the home for Twilight's Castle of Friendship and the School of Anthropology, it has remained a smaller town. Few ponies want to move there when they hear about the horrors that the nearby Everfree Forest has to offer. Twilight's palace, along with the labs that have been added since its original construction, remains the largest structure in town.

The gleaming exterior, built in the old, Crystal Empire style, hides a modern and high-tech interior. But unlike the somewhat chaotic design of Love's home, the lines here are sleek and the colors bright. Screens playing a video of Twilight welcoming visitors play on repeat in the entryway and others show her explaining various portions of the castle's design and the artifacts put on display for the public. But that area is far behind now. Harrier Squad now walks down a relatively simple hallway. Embedded lights show the way as the four ponies follow along behind a pretty unicorn maid.

"Thank you all for agreeing to come," she says, speaking like a pony unfamiliar with how the military works. Harrier Squad has their vacation cut short a few days and rushed down here in response to 'a very serious threat to the safety and security of Twilight Sparkle and her lab'. Due to her weakened state, Celestia deemed it prudent to send Equestria's best warriors (and Happy) to make sure her former pupil was safe. "We assure you that every consideration has been made for your comfort during your stay." She opens a door with magic and leads the way down yet another shining hall. "You will be staying in this wing. Each of you have your own room, tailored to suit your needs."

She turns and bows to them. "My name is Song Weaver and I will be your personal servant for the duration of your stay. If there is anything you wish, you have but to ask and if it is within my power I will provide it. I will warn you that none are permitted to enter Twilight's lab without her permission and presence, so do not attempt it. You may be curious, but her experiments and projects are both fragile and vital to the future of Equestria." She pauses and leans her head to the side, as if listening to something. "Understood, your majesty. Twilight would also like me to tell you that she will be down to meet you personally. She has a few things to show you."

[DigoDragon]

Rose, wearing just a jacket and carrying a duffel full of her medical and military gear, gets a bit lost looking up at the sparkling ceilings of crystal. 'Wow this place is swanky.' She follows Song's instructions, curious what kind of rooms the squad got. How well did Twilight know them?

"Very good. You certainly keep this place so spotless."

[Miltonian]

She smiles at Rose, genuinely pleased. "Thank you, milady. That is high praise indeed. We do our best."

Her tail swishes back and forth in pleasure. "I'll leave an extra mint on your pillow when I make your bed in the morning," she says with a wink.

[Elbeyon]

"Hey, Song Weaver. Do you know me? I mean, before Twilight told you about me... Erm, nevermind." Love puts a hoof on her mane and starts rubbing out of embarrassment.

She moves in close to whisper to her, "Prepare for animals. We brought a lot of animals." She says that yet not a single animal is with the group."

She backs into line again. "We'll do our best to behave like proper guests." Love shines them a big old smile.

[D.KnightSpider]

Sniper paid a modicum of attention to Song Weaver's speech-- enough to wonder if he would have to restrain some of Love's impulsiveness. Her attempted disembowlment testified that the mare could get a bit carried away when given unlimited power.

As he followed the others, Sniper kept his senses in high alert. He was running through his usual routine of cataloging the walls, ceilings and points of cover. One never knew when such information would be helpful.

No armor... That was an ill omen. Did it mean that they were here in an advisory capacity or were they here as lab rats for some new technological doodads? Neither option was thrilling.

He nodded to Song Weaver but said nothing. The mate would probably be inundated with enough comments as it was. Which meant that the universe would probably prove him wrong.

[Miltonian]

Song Weaver tilts her head to the side and gives Love a quizzical look. "Um. Yes. I mean no. What?"

To Sniper's dismay, there are not any convenient hiding places and easy access between areas here like in Tartarus Station. There are nooks and crannies in the ceiling where he could hide, if he wished, but they are not connected to each other. Corner cover is easy to find. Many branching hallways and doors could give excellent cover. Also, the furniture seems to be very sturdy. The castle was not designed to be defended, but rather to impress and awe its guests.

[Elbeyon]

Love yelps, "Nothing!" and zips behind the group.

She motions her leg to gather attention from behind her hiding spot. "I'm hungry. When do you ponies eat around here?"

[DigoDragon]

Her tail swishes back and forth in pleasure. "I'll leave an extra mint on your pillow when I make your bed in the morning," she says with a wink.

"ooh, I love mints." Rose is pleased. Maybe friendship is easy to have in casa de Twilight.

Rose gives a little chuckle as she nudges Love. "Don't mind Love here, Miss Weaver. She's a fairly care-free spirit. She always means well, if a bit eccentric."

[Miltonian]

Song recovers quickly and returns to her air of professional deference and politeness. "Oh. It is no trouble. No trouble at all, milady. Food is cooked to order, at any time you wish. I will bring it too you once it is ready. For convenience sake, here is my number." Pings go off on all of the squad's communication devices. "Feel free to call me anytime for any purpose, even at night, if you wish. The castle is old and can be drafty at times, but we have an extensive collection of blankets and the like."

[DigoDragon]

"Cooked to order? Neat. Sure know how to spoil guests with service," Rose chirps happily. Wow, this mission has got to be amazingly good. A castle with all the service you could ask for? Score!

"Should we... wait here for Princess Twilight?"

[Miltonian]

"We try," Song says with a smile, "After all, it helps her majesty to focus on her work if we take care of her guests for her. Left to her own devices, she can get a little carried away." She takes a moment and makes eye contact with each of them. "In addition to meals, we can also provide a number of diversions. There are countless books, of course. The Ponyville Public Library once rested in these very halls, after all. However, we also have a large collection of movies in various genres. Anything from action to romance, depending on your mood."

"When the princess is ready to meet, I will receive word and take you there. In the meantime, would you like to see your rooms and start to unpack?"

[userpay]

Brazen raises an eyebrow as the servant fills them in on their living situation. "Quite swanky for such short notice. Much less ah possible threat looming." This would be quite the interesting mission it would seem. Out of the group Brazen is probably the most burdened. Whatever equipment the others couldn't carry he had in addition to his own gear.

[Elbeyon]

A cold castle with warm blankets does sound rather nice. She didn't much care for the meal plan. Food should be eaten in the dining area with everyone attending. She didn't like none of this do your own thing for meals idea. She put her hoof to her chin. Even if that's how she eats most of the time. Well, she doesn't live with anyone! So how else would that go. She is sure if she had anyone living with her she'd eat meals with them on the regular.

Love waves her hoof in the air. "Oh! I have a question. What did you do when you stared at me? What type of swank, since that's a word we use now, do you have on your eyes?" She smiles. "Oh! And, I'd like to go see my bedroom. I have a whole Hearth's Warming to unpack. Unless somepony wants to do something else?"

[DigoDragon]

Rose mentally face-hoofs at Love's odd questions. Just arrived and already the paranoia set in? One would think that Twilight properly vetted her own staff. "I think a tour to our rooms would be a grand idea," she says, trying to be polite for two. Maybe three. Sniper hadn't said a word yet. What was going through his mind?

[D.KnightSpider]

No one deserved this level of pampering.

He had a perfectly good set of recently service hooves, which he could readily use to unpack his own things. No pony should be lazy enough to pester somepony else for a blanket. Let them haul their own flank out of bed to get it. All of these decadent offers just grated on him. Sniper had recently begun quietly supporting the royals due to the Assembly's actions against Chrysalis, but banish it all if they weren't make it difficult at times.

Seeing them to their rooms. That implied that they would be here at least overnight. Possibly longer. They weren't to bring armor. That... didn't jive with their normal operating procedures. Something was up. He didn't like it.

Still, he put on a game face and tried to mask his frustrations. Grumpiness didn't get you very far. Depending on just why they were here it wouldn't hurt to have some rapport among the staff. And it gave him a chance to practice all that training he'd undertaken in personal relations.

"If it helps, you can think of Love as the Pinkie Pie of the group." Sniper allotted the maid a decidedly non-flirtatious smile. "You just roll with it and try not to think about it too hard. I agree that it would be a good idea to see our rooms. Out of curiosity, how long were you told to expect our presence?"

[DigoDragon]

Huh, that makes sense. Love is our Pinkie, isn't she? Brazen would be like our Applejack, Sniper is like, um, Rainbow Dash? And Rose is... sorta the team Fluttershy? Kindness sure, maybe a cute face, but not the shy part. Flutterbat perhaps? No, no... Rose didn't like apples that intimately. Okay, the comparisons needed work. She'll sort it out later.

Rose does raise an eyebrow at Sniper's last line of questioning. Please don't be catching love's paranoia.

[Miltonian]

Song takes a step back away from Love. "That is an apt comparison, if you will permit me to say," she says regardless of permission, "I-in answer to your questions, we are prepared to host you indefinitely until the threat against the princess is resolved or others are sent to relieve you. The castle guard is at your command, save for Spike the Great and Glorious, and you are effectively in charge of castle security and, in the event of an attack, defense. And I saw nothing I wasn't supposed to."

[DigoDragon]

"You have a castle guard we can work with? Hmm, that's good to know," Rose says. She nods in appreciation. "Let's get to those rooms before we really sit down to business. I'm sure Princess Twilight would want to be in on those talks."

[userpay]

"Can't imagine that some members of security will be particularly happy at being usurped." Brazen commented. True they might be up and coming heroes of Equestria but that was one case so far. "Still curious about the no armor... Low key?"

[Miltonian]

"Indeed. We have thirty trained guards in total, ten for each shift," she says, "Two guard the exterior of the front door, two guard the interior, two guard the entrance from the twin landing pads up top, three patrol the halls, and one mans the security center." Compared to Celestia and Luna's palace, this is a paltry amount. Theirs has hundreds of guards on duty at any given time. "They are an elite force, hoof-picked by Princess Twilight herself. Ten of them are earth ponies, six are unicorns, and four are pegasi. Ponyville is primarly an earth pony town, after all. And as for your armor...I will save that explanation for her majesty."

She turns and trots along, tail swishing behind her. "Come along. I'll show you your rooms." She hums softly as she goes, a familiar tune that a lover of pop music might recognize.

Love's room has all manner of tools and computers neatly laid out in an orderly and well-cataloged fashion. Each item has a labeled place for it to rest. This is not exactly to her liking, but the tools are just as advanced as the ones she is used to working with. A closer inspection reveals clear differences in design, however. These are far more orderly and have a love of symmetry and straight lines that she does not share, at least not to the same extent.

Brazen's room has a very large bed, a heavy one made to properly support his bulk. There is a charging station for power armor, though the versions he is used to would not fit inside the smaller, sleeker lines that the station boasts. There is also a coffee maker in the corner with a touch screen so that whatever he wants can come at the press of a button. The bed is also large enough to fit two ponies, if they don't mind snuggling close to each other.

"Similar devices can be provided upon request," Song informs the group.

Sniper's room is filled with books. Mystery novels, tactical manuals, and anything else that Twilight felt he might have interest in. She is wrong on some counts, a fact which reassures him that the princess does not possess mind-reading powers, but it seems she decided to exhaust all possibilities in order to avoid missing one.

Rose's room also contains many books, but also a fair number of movies and a large, full-immersion bath sunk into the middle of the floor right in front of a bright, cheerful screen for playing said movies. Several tubes of bubble-bath soap lay beside it. It's even full at the very moment, steam rising off it and making the entire room feel a little warmer. She's now waterproof, so this should be enjoyable.

Star Chaser's room is similar to the others except for the fact that it has no gravity.

[DigoDragon]

Rose sticks a foreleg into Star Chaser's room, relaxing herself to let it float a moment before pulling her leg back. Then she takes out a pen and sticks it into the air of the room and lets go. "That's... a neat trick. Well if I ever want to hang around, I know where to be."

With a little goofy grin, Rose takes back the pen and heads into her room. She puts her bag on the edge of the bed and looks around. "Wow, this is... chic. I could probably bounce a gold bit off the bed sheets for how perfectly wrapped they are. Song, did you set all this up?"

[D.KnightSpider]

"Indeed. You're obviously quite skilled. How long have you been doing this?" Sniper added a follow up question to the mix.

Control of the castle guards. Long term engagement. This was starting to sound like guard duty. He hated playing defense. There were far too many disadvantages for his liking. Or he could be jumping the gun. Time would tell.

Those rooms, though... He mentally sighed. This was not going to be an enjoyable experience.

[Elbeyon]

"If it helps, you can think of Love as the Pinkie Pie of the group." Sniper allotted the maid a decidedly non-flirtatious smile. "You just roll with it and try not to think about it too hard. I agree that it would be a good idea to see our rooms. Out of curiosity, how long were you told to expect our presence?"
"Hey! I find that very offensive. You can't just compare ponies like they have a single characteristic. I can't be Pinkie Pie. Everything I do is calculated and well grounded in logic. It was curiosity that drove me to my question." She points a hoof to the maid. "It's obvious that she was talking on some type of miniature comms device earlier. This palace is laden with tech. It would be a safe bet that Song Weaver has some type of visual apparatus. If it's fancy tech I want to know about it."

"Besides, I'm more of a Rainbow Dash or Applejack. Maybe, Rarity."
She puts a hoof in the air, "Where is Happy's room? Does it have a muffin oven in it?"

[Miltonian]

Song smiles. “Well I am the maid in charge of this wing. And I have been for almost three years now.” She shifts slightly to display her flank and the feather duster emblazoned there. “My parents wanted me to follow them into the entertainment business. That did not exactly work out. Instead, I have a beautiful name and a position here at the palace for...three years now. Since I was sixteen.”

She smirks. “Oh trust me. Her room was very easy. We simply filled the whole thing with muffins and cast a spell to keep them from going stale.” She clucks her tongue. “I will admit that some of the guards helped me move furniture in your rooms around. They also helped to, ahem, test them too. I am happy to report that they all agreed the furniture was ‘suitably comfortable’. I am also happy to report that the rocks they left under the cushions were removed prior to your arrival. The three shift commanders have not yet been able to produce the pony or ponies responsible, but I have every confidence they will do their best.”

Her words are sincere. She really has no idea how the military works.

[D.KnightSpider]

"I'm glad to be proven right about my estimation of your abilities. You have every right to be proud of yourself." Sniper replied.

Rocks under the pillows. Oh yeah. This was going to be fun. Enemies within and enemies without. He had a bad feeling about this mission and they hadn't even started yet.

"What of the other staff? Are they just as skilled?"

He ignored Love's outburst. Engaging in that would undermine his purpose of getting information from the maid.

[DigoDragon]

"Again, thank you very much. This hospitality is... perfect."

Geez, she's 19? Rose was still having trouble figuring out what she wanted to do with her life at that age. And here is this mare who's got pull in a princess' castle! And she can set up a room full of muffins, WHAT?! Forget the anti-gravity bedroom, Rose sees herself gaining 10 pounds from this mission. There will be miles of jogging in her future. Of course it's also a second reason to stay on her good side, least those rocks return. The first is not losing that late night snacking privilege.

"Well, if the rocks return, I'm sure we can rough it like back in boot camp, right squad?" Rose asks in a rhetorical way. Heh heh... Rose shuts up to let Song answer Sniper's questions.

[Elbeyon]

She smirks. “Oh trust me. Her room was very easy. We simply filled the whole thing with muffins and cast a spell to keep them from going stale.”"Nice!" Love pumps her forearm. 'Happy deserves a good room. She just knows that Hooves will love the room. Test the beds?' Love imagines the squad bouncing on the beds. She hooves the thought away.

How unusual on Scope's part. He's pumping her for information like he usually does to ponies. But, he's being nice? Has he ever been nice? 'Mental log 2: Scope has a maid fetish. I shall test this hypothesis as soon as possible.'

[Miltonian]

Song beams at Sniper. "Why thank you, milord! And you too, milady."

Her face falls a bit. "Of course they are. I'm...well, I'm the youngest of them all. The Head of Housekeeping was born and raised in the Crystal Empire. Anything less than perfection will not do when she is in charge and we strive to meet her and our guests' expectations." There's something behind her words, but it is carefully kept hidden.

[Elbeyon]

"I don't mean to be rude or nothing, but wouldn't it be better to get a robot or two to do all this work? It's got to be rough trying to get everything perfect?" Love rubs her mane. "It seems like you're having fun though. Who cares what an outsider says." She shrugs.

[DigoDragon]

"Oof, milady? Nah you don't have to be so formal. Rose is fine. Doctor Rose if you really insist on something formal, but I'm not your superior or anything."

[Miltonian]

"Alas, robots are not nearly as pleasant to talk to or look at as real ponies," Song says with a smug smile, "Though I hear the princess is close to correcting that. But I'll let her tell you about that if she wishes. For now, you have a half hour before she would like to meet with you in the lab atrium. I can show the way, when you wish to go."

"And, Rose, it is my pleasure to make each and every one of you feel like a noble. If you order it, then I will call you whatever you like. Your every wish is my command, after all.

[Elbeyon]

Song's infectious smile cause a chain reaction in Love. She'll nod to the schedule.

Love waves a hoof up in the air. "Oh! Oh! I have a request. If you're taking requests. I'm not into master and maid stuff. Could you be my sister instead? If you want some type of higher-lower power dynamic, you could be my little sister. Yeah, that'd work for me. That sounds fun. I won't need maids for my room for the stay. I don't want to be treated like a noble by a flesh and blood pony. I prefer something a little more equal. And, you can call me Love. Everyone does." She dots her sentence with a smile.

[DigoDragon]

"And, Rose, it is my pleasure to make each and every one of you feel like a noble. If you order it, then I will call you whatever you like. Your every wish is my command, after all.

Okay, now Song Weaver was starting to get a liiiiitle bit creepy. Was this the kind of luxury Twilight wanted? Seemed a bit too much in Rose's opinion. "Well, Rose is good. Let's go with that. No wishes at the moment though. Not unless you know any single guards who wouldn't mind feeding me grapes in bed. Heh heh." Rose chuckles, just making light humor. She wondered what was taking Twilight so long to show up. Half hour from now? No immediate introduction to the team? Must be really busy today.

[Miltonian]

Love's request throws Song for a loop. "Um...I...oh...what? You're certain...that's what you want? I never had a good relationship with my family." She takes a few steps backwards. "But if that's what you want..." She sounds very unsure and doesn't seem to know exactly what she's supposed to do now. "If...if two of you are complaining, did I do something wrong? I was trying to do it right, but this is the first time I've taken care of ponies by myself and all the nobles appreciate it when servants are, well, subservient. And I know the military works in ranks. It's...it's similar, right? If I'm doing something wrong, I'm sorry!" Her voice steadily rises in pitch as she starts to panic.

Sniper takes her words at face value. After all, he respects ponies' privacy. Unlike some others on the team.

[DigoDragon]

"Oh no no, Song! You didn't do anything wrong," Rose assures her. She approaches. "We're just... not used to servants. In the military we pretty much do all our own cooking and cleaning. We don't mind it really. We jut want to be a bit more... casual wit you. So as not to overburden you on your first time. You're doing fine. Amazing even!"

[D.KnightSpider]

Well, that one needed qualified.

"What we're trying to say," Sniper interjected calmly. "is that we're not royalty or nobility. We're military. We're not used to fancy titles or pampering. We appreciate all your hard work, and we'd be most comfortable if you'd treat us like you would any other friend."

Hopefully, she'd get the message. He'd go nuts otherwise. The day he let some point call him 'milord' was the day Love suddenly grew up and began acting her age. And probably not even then.

That done, he moved to put Song Weaver at ease.

"So don't worry. You're doing a splendid job. I'd even go so far as to give Princess Twilight a personal recommendation on your behalf."

[Elbeyon]

Love waves both her hooves down. "Pft. No, you nailed what you were aiming to do. The perfect servant." She moves closer. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what I want. Sorry, to hear about your family." She puts a hoof on her chest scar. "I've never had a sister so this will be new for me too." Finally reaching her, Love gives her a hard hug. "Don't worry sis. You're doing a good job. You'll hit that maid role one hundred percent."

P: What, Love doesn't respect ponies' privacy?! Nooo. That's libel. :smallamused:

Wow! Wow! Lots of shots fired at Love today. :smalleek::smallbiggrin:

[Miltonian]

She looks down, embarrassed. "Oh. Well thank you. I...I had better go do some, er, dusting! Yes, dusting. Very important task, that." She slips towards the door, politely exiting Love's hug. "You all have my number. Call me if you want anything at all. I'll bring it right up." She's about to slip out the door when it opens and she almost runs snout-first into Twilight's chest. "Eep! P-princess!"

"Hello, Song," Twilight says warmly, "Excuse me please." She gently lifts the maid up in a telekinetic grip and sets her aside. "Hello again, Harrier Squad! i managed to get away from the lab a bit ahead of schedule. Unfortunately, I can't leave it long or something bad will probably happen. Middle of a volatile time in a certain project of mine. So, if you'd kindly follow me. Quickly." Having just entered, she immediately turns to exit. "I have two things to show you! Well, no. Three. Four?" She pauses. "I have a few things to show you."

[DigoDragon]

"Oh right, well then lets see these... things?" Rose says. She starts to follow Twilight.

[Elbeyon]

Love waves goodbye to her sister. "See ya later, Sis. I'll call!"

"Hey, Twilight." She jumps to in response of a in-progress project. "Following~"

[userpay]

The size of the power armor station draws a raised eyebrow from Brazen who is somewhat glad they didn't drag along their previous suit anyway. He would have had to pack jumper cables. "Rocks? Ha! Haven't seen that little trick since boot camp. This should be fun."

The earth pony can't repress a chuckle as Twilight manages to surprise the maid. "To the root of the matter then eh? Sounds like ah plan.
Been ah mite curious what we're up against this time."

I'll go ahead and roll a body lang check on the maid even though it's probably to late to do anything with it. For now.
Body Lang (skill 13) [roll0]

[Miltonian]

To Brazen's eyes, Song seemed annoyed when she spoke of the other staff, especially their position above her own. The two most likely scenarios are that they are making life hard for her or she is very ambitious and resents being 'held back', as it were. But observing how she carries herself and her panic when things seemed to take a turn for the worse, the latter seems likely.

Also, she's got a very shapely flank. And the way her tail swishes back and forth only highlights this, by accident or design. Probably design. Not that she is out-and-out trying to seduce anypony, but it seems habitual. A way to make ponies stand up and take notice, as it were.

Twilight trots her way through the palace halls, talking as she goes. "I hope you weren't alarmed when I had you leave your armor behind. See, I designed something special for you all. I've been working on a new line of armor, both power armor and regular stuff, to better protect ponies from the more dangerous weapons that are on the field and, once and for all, tackle the problem of offensive spellcasters bypassing the defenses. All the bugs have been worked out, far as I can tell, and it won't decapitate you. Probably. There is a 0.000001% chance of that still. Fortunately, the first time was only a test dummy." She chuckles. "I go through a lot of those things."

"Now, I believe two of you use power armor, yes? Then you'll be very pleased to know that the new generation isn't quite so clunky anymore. You can fit in tighter spaces and don't sound like something out of Spike's old monster movies. Also, some additional scan functions have been added to the interface and an upgraded onboard computer."

"For the rest of you...Well, for Sniper Scope, really, I've managed to make a vest that provides just as much protection as your current loadout and fits nicely under a regular jacket. This should allow you to fly freely, even in the middle of combat. If you prefer, I also have an extra copy of the tactical set which I made for Rose." She pauses. "Actually, why don't you all take copies of the vest? It'll provide some protection if you're ambushed out in the streets. I'll make more...sometime. Hopefully within the week."

They pass through an ornate door and into a sterile, white room. Twilight goes to the wall and inputs a code, scans her eye, and casts a spell. The door to her lab opens. There, sitting on display are two of the sleekest sets of power armor ever seen with the EDF symbol already painted on the front. One is larger, designed for Brazen, and the other is for Love. They do seem to have less armor plates on them, but much more advanced. Twilight smiles and gestures to them and the neatly folded regular body armor sets off to the side. "Go ahead. See what you think. If you don't like them, you can always send for your old stuff."


Sniper's "Reflex Bodysuit" (Ultratech 172) DR 12/4. Also grants Magic Resistance II while worn, but only against spells that do direct damage. Healing is still a go. 6 lbs.
Rose's Reflex Tacsuit (Ultratech 178) DR 20/10. Same resistance as the Bodysuit.
Brazen and Love's "Power Armor MK 51" DR reduced to 50/40, however provides Magic Resistance IV. Weight is reduced from 150 to 100. Also includes a new ability: SCAN. If you've played Metroid, you should know what this does. Spend 1d/2 turns scanning an enemy to gain tactical information about them based upon the suit's sensor reading. Furthermore, you will actually be able to stealth effectively in these and squeeze into vents, if need be. Includes all the abilities of the base TL9 battlesuit.

[D.KnightSpider]

At that moment, Sniper Scope fell in love.

His affection wasn't for Twilight Sparkle, Love, Rose or any other pony. His love was for that beautiful, beautiful tactical suit.

He'd spent a long time on the field using all sorts of different equipment. Some of it had been junk, some functional and some surprisingly effective. He could succeed with anything, but once in a very great while he came across a piece of equipment that felt right. This fit the bill.

He'd use other armors and clothing. That was a certainty in this business. But he'd never be as fond of anything else. This suit wasn't just a piece of standard issue hardware. This was his.

He laid a hoof against it in gentle fashion. He was awestruck.

"Thank you. This is amazing. You've really outdone yourself."

[DigoDragon]

Rose tries on the tactical suit. She puts it on carefully, noting if there any unusual catches to donning this new suit. "So, I'm sure you didn't bring us here just to try a new fashion line. Do these new armors have something to do with the mission?"

[Miltonian]

Twilight Sparkle actually seems a little flustered at Sniper's praise. "Oh, it was just a matter of getting the weave right this time. If it doesn't fit just right, we can always tailor it for you."

As Rose tries on her new suit, she notes that it can be easily adjusted to fit her with a series of straps. To her question, Twilight answers, "Well, this isn't just for right now. It's for all your missions. I hope that it will keep you safe." She taps her forehooves together. "I also thought that it would make a nice gift, since you saved me and my friends. But no, this mission shouldn't be dangerous. The threat might not even be real. And if it is, the fact that you're here, I'm here, and Spike's here should make any thief or assassin think twice."

[Elbeyon]

"Only a little alarmed. Without reason, the mind does tend to fantasize and wander. But, I can see that those worries weren't grounded." She laughs at the idea of the suits cutting a ponies' head off. Only, Twilight wasn't joking? Now, that's funny! She'll burst out laughing. Wiping the tears away, "It's really nice of you to give us your first few productions. I've seen my fair share of unexpected bugs. I guess you already knew I've invented a few things considering my room. It's a little embarrassing that you dug so far back. I haven't really made much since I cashed out on those computer bits and bobs."

Love nods yes to using power armor. "It's alright, if they don't make a sound. My car had the same problem. I made up mock sounds for her and some for my power armor too, if she was being too quiet. I can give you a copy if you want one? They're nothing too fancy, but pony do they add to the experience. You can get a real nice purr out of my car if you tickle her right."

Love nods again to taking a vest. The power armor is the real curiosity. She walks over to it and starts checking it out. It's very stylish. She wonders if Rarity helped out. She would ask, but she doesn't want to accidentally imply that Twilight can't make beautiful armor. "It's very stylish," She says while starting to slip it on. This will only take a while.

Putting her swank armor on. "Well, what makes you think there is a threat at all? Something had to make you suspicious."

[DigoDragon]

Rose buckles in and stretches to get a good feel for the suit.

"I'd say an assassination threat is a very real threat. We should take it seriously."

[Miltonian]

Twilight chuckles nervously. "Well, there was this." With a glow of magic, she pulls out a letter and sets it before them.

It reads, "Dear Princess Sporkle,

I'm writing you one last time to inform you of your imminent and painful demise. Soon, very soon, my friends and I are going to tear down that bucking eyesore of a building you call a castle and drag you through the streets by your horn. Then, I'm going to break it off and use it as a toothpick. Next will be your feathers, which I'll make into a feather duster to keep my armor clean. Then, we're going to tie you down and..." What follows is a graphic and stomach-turning description of exactly how the writer intends to kill the princess of friendship. From some of the methods described, Rose can infer that whoever wrote this has a very good grasp of pony biology, for they seem to have chosen the way that will keep her alive the longest. Furthermore, they also account for an alicorn's natural regeneration capabilities with the liberal application of burning acid.

"And then I'll use your pelt as a rag to clean the blood off my armor and throw the rest of you in a ditch. Could you survive? Hell if I know. But if you do, you'll be too late to stop us from stripping your lab of all its secrets and blowing the whole place apart. And while we're at it, we might just stop by Sweet Apple Acres and burn it to the ground too! Hell, burn all of Ponyville to ash! So savor your last days, Sporkle! The good times are coming to an end.

Signed,
The Element of Wrath"

[DigoDragon]

"What a cheerfully descriptive fellow," Rose sarcastically says. She looks at the backside of the letter and holds it up to the light just for curiosity before putting it down.

"Okay so... armored individual with others I presume coming to kill you, Twilight. Element of Wrath? why does that sound familiar?"

[D.KnightSpider]

The good cheer vanished from Sniper's features as he read the letter. He knew first-hoof just how deadly it would be to underestimate assassins. He'd taken advantage of that more than once.

He began suiting up, taking care to get acclimated to the new armor. Twilight wasn't kidding. Unlike that bulky old tactical suit, his one moved with him instead of against him. He was going to get used to this. It was a cheer that he didn't feel due to the gravity of the situation.

"It might be related to the experiments of Tartarus. Or it might be a some pony using recent events as cover." He raised his gaze to look at Twilight. "May I keep this? What changes have been made to increase security lately?"

And why were there so many cleaning references? Was that a clue or a red herring to throw them off the proper trail?

[userpay]

Brazen's jaw drops as the new armor was revealed. He'd assumed the job this time would be something more diplomatic yet between the new armor and the letter it seems it would be no walk in the park as it were. "Well well... Yer full of surprises ain't ya Twilight?" He says, walking over to his suit and examining it closely. "It sounds like the writer is somepony whose got ah chip riding on their flank, and has already had ah run in with ya. Any ol enemies that can move about in pony society?" Brazen starts to wiggle his way into the new battlesuit. No time like the present to work out the kinks.

[DigoDragon]

"Tartarus station..." Rose mumbles. That place was the core of the nightmares she had in past weeks. She was only recently sleeping again.

"What can re remember of those experiments. Weren't certain high profile prisoners being conditioned with negative emotions? To fill... crystals were they?"

[Miltonian]

"Not many enemies, fortunately," Twilight says, "There is the anti-royalty faction, but I don't think they'd go so far as to..." She shivers. "It doesn't help that I have a very good imagination."

There is nothing special on the back of the letter. It is just plain, white printer-paper.

Brazen's suit moves with a clean precision not found in any suit he's worn so far. All the hinges and joints are so well-balanced that they seem to slide more than turn and move with hardly a sound. The UI pops up, sleek and fancy. It will take some getting used to, learning where all the things are in this version, but a few hours of practice and Brazen's confident he will hit the ground running.

"That's most of what I wanted to show you," Twilight says, "In the interest of time, I'll breeze through this last part. I know several of you are interested in cybernetics, so this will catch your eye I'm sure." A portion of the wall slides away and three manikins of a sort slide out. All three are filly-sized. The first, made of wood, is an earth pony. The second, made of clouds, is a pegasus. And the third, made of plastic and circuit-like gems, is a unicorn. Twilight steps over to them and clears her throat. "One problem with cybernetics, as they currently stand, is that the only replace the mechanical functions of a pony's limb. But each of us also has an innate magic that metal cannot replicate. So, these 'proof of concept' bodies not only replace a limb with a functioning replica, but also react to and generate more of the same magic that each race uses. Earth ponies' affinity with the ground and things that grow means that wood, in this case, from an apple tree, is a natural choice. Pegasi' weather magic means magically reinforced and contained clouds work very well for them. And for unicorns, gems are often used as catalysts for enchantment and do an excellent job of storing magical power. Therefore, I hope to develop these concepts into a full range of working cybernetics that are just as good as a real limb." She clears her throat again. "An added benefit is that these take on the appearance of real flesh once they are bonded with it."

[DigoDragon]

but a few hours of practice and Brazen's confident he will hit the ground running.

Uh, phrasing. ;)


Rose steps forward to get a closer look of the cybernetic unicorn legs. They looked so amazing! Nothing she's ever seen could compare to these devices. "And they'll look like real limbs, you say?" Rose asks. Oh, how she would love to test that! Her heart was jumping in her chest. This was so unexpected and exciting!

"I would love to test them out when they're ready for trial runs," she adds. Rose has to physically pull herself away. Otherwise she'd be touching them with her snout for getting too close. She takes a couple deep breaths to calm herself.

[Miltonian]

"They're not quite ready yet," Twilight says, "My current project will help with that a bit. I hope." She chuckles nervously.

Suddenly, the lights flicker. A soft, computerized voice says, "Warning. Firewall breached."

"Ponyfeathers, not again," Twilight says. She gallops through a nearby door. "That'd be the project I was talking about! I've got it under control. You all can show yourselves out, right? Take the armor with you!"

[Elbeyon]

Yep, that latter might trigger a tad bit of fear in somepony.

Wait, printed paper? Was the letter printed? Don't all printers 'sign' their paper to help track this stuff?

Love followed the crowd to the cyberware. It looked nice. Made her wonder if she could use it to fix her horn. She always had the option of putting a piece of metal there, but there wasn't much point without it being magical. And, Love can't fix magic without magic, so she never gave the idea of her horn being fixable much thought. It was pure science for her all the way.

Her notice drifts to Rose when sexyleg's steps forward. She tilted her head at her glowing. 'I could have done something like this. Psh! Twilight relies on her magic too much. She's going about this all the wrong way. I'll be the one to get Rose her leg's back." She swats her tail.

"I still need to unpack. What's the plan of action? I'd like to get more familiar with the castle and the people in it."

[DigoDragon]

Rose 's ears perk up in alarm from the tail swish. "Firewall? That's uh... computer security, right?" She asks.

Armor donned, Rose looks at her squad. "Should we get to know the security here? I think we ought to get right on security."

[Elbeyon]

The princess is working some type of new virus? Or, something even more fun?

She waves goodbye to Twilight and prepares to leave her 'flashing' lab.

"Yep. That's computer stuff."

"That sounds like a plan. I guess packing can wait..." Love looks and kicks the floor pretending to be all defeated. She flips her switch quick though, and starts trotting out the door. "That sounds like something I can do. Scope, you interested in talking to all the ponies? No one asks questions like you."

I put an answer to Rose's question in.

[DigoDragon]

"Well that leaves me, Brazen, and his chin. What should we do?" Rose asks. She looks to Brazen, then to Sniper. "Parimeter walk to see how many ways one can get inside?"

[userpay]

The prosthetics only draw a glance from the earth pony. More natural limbs sounded good but it still wasn't flesh and blood. It was something. "Perimeter check wouldn't be ah bad idea. Gives me ah chance to put this suit through its paces."

[D.KnightSpider]

Given an option, Sniper would rather Twilight not be left to her own devices. He wasn't certain how much weight she was attaching this threat, but he'd wager that it wasn't near enough. He tried not to think about that as he shoved the threatening letter into his jacket. He wanted to go through it again in detail later and gain some intelligence on the sender. There were a few things about it that bothered him.

"My recommendation would be that Brazen and I trade places. No offense, Brazen, but you are far more traditional military than I. You might develop a better rapport with the soldiers whereas I'm trained on infiltration and assassination and would be more likely to see avenues into this castle. But I understand your reasoning. Let me give you a word of advice: in addition to considering a traditional assault, think three dimensionally and look for non-standard ways to move about unseen. Few earthbound ponies think to look up."

Sniper turned about to join Love. "Let's get some directions and go to work. We have some interviews to conduct."

Prosthetics that looked and acted like traditional limbs? That would be quite the feat and make more than a few ponies happy. But his inner cynic noted that such devices might blur the lines between pony and machines. When the tools gained a magical conduit of their own, who was to say that they would remain tools? But he kept such thoughts to himself. Hope was a fragile thing and he would not rob it of others.

[DigoDragon]

"Okay, keep in touch everyone. In fact..." Rose goes to each member and connects her phone to t :) their medical sensor suite. "There. This'll help me track your vitals in case you find trouble."

[Elbeyon]

"Both groups will be doing a bit of exploring and talking, I take it."

As soon as Rose tells her what the doc's doing, Love turns her medical sensor off.

"Good idea, Rose. Keep the comms open ponies. We might need them."

"Hey, scope. Do you have all your equipment on you? I have some gear in my room that I need to grab. I figured we'd have more time before we started working. That's my mistake."

[Miltonian]

With a bit of direction thanks to Song, Sniper and Love make their way down the guard barracks. it is the plushest they have ever seen. Each soldier has their own, small room all to themselves. The beds are all feather mattresses with fluffy blankets and pillows and the showers even have stalls instead of being communal like most barracks. All the bedrooms exit into a large common room, where several ponies read, play games, or eat food on their time off. Three ponies, however, stand out. Each has a rank insignia on their shoulders and they sit together at the table, talking in low voices. One is an earth pony stallion, the second is a unicorn mare, and the third is a pegasus mare. They turn as the two members of Harrier Squad enter and rise to offer salutes, expressions kept carefully neutral.

Brazen and Rose, meanwhile, head to the outside and run into Happy Hooves. Almost literally. She spots them and comes in for a landing, but stumbles and falls flat instead, almost taking Rose down with her. "Sorry!" she says, rising and dusting herself off, "Hello, hello! I'm on an official mission!" She posed dramatically.

[D.KnightSpider]

"I have no idea what equipment I have on me because my equipment list isn't done yet."

Sniper tilted his head toward the two rifles secured to his back. As he did so, he kicked himself. He should have thought to leave a nanobug in Twilight Sparkle's lab. Next time, he told himself, he'd correct that oversight.

"I have my rifles, HUD and a few other tools. If I can bum a few grenades off of you I should be set for the moment."

[DigoDragon]

Rose gives Happy a hug and helps her up. "You too? Neat. Seems like the entire team is a busy team today."

Wait, wasn't Happy already with us earlier?

Can I roll vs something to see if Happy is indeed Happy? [roll0]

[D.KnightSpider]

Judging from the three's initial reaction, this was going to be fun. Sniper could understand why. No one enjoyed having a command ripped away-- especially over something as 'trivial' as a death threat.

Factor in Harrier Squad's sudden publicity and he could foresee more than a few reasons for bruised egos.

With only a few moments to decide how to play it, Sniper switched on his air of professional respect. He'd start easy and attempt to feel the situation out.

The first step was easy: return and dismiss the salute. The second was decidedly less so: get through introductions without introducing more friction. Best to keep it simple.

"Lt. Sniper Scope and Lt. Partial Charge, callsign 'Love', of Harrier Squadron. We'll be coordinating with you on this matter."

Once he had a feel for the situation, he'd go informal. Until then, he'd see what was what.


Let's see if the dice decide to continue laughing at Sniper Scope.

Body Language as they introduce themselves.
[roll0] VS 13

[Miltonian]

Happy nods. "Yep! Busy as a bee. They told me I had to get to Ponyville, so I did it the family way. Flew straight here. Sorry if I'm a little late." For the record, she is about two hours late.


The three ponies drop their salutes when given the opportunity. "Sergeant Sarge," the earth pony grunts. His coat would be almost perfect camo in a jungle setting. It's multiple shades of green and grey. From the size of him and the cigar in his mouth, he looks like he's cut from the same cloth as Commander Wildcat. It's not hard for Sniper to sense the animosity radiating off him.

"Sergeant Looper," the unicorn says with a voice that sounds unaccustomed to being cold and guarded. If he had his guess, she would normally be a very pleasant pony to be around.

"Sergeant Barrel Roll," the pegasus says, finishing the introductions. Of them all, she seems to be the one Sniper could most relate to. She's got a soldier's bearing, but not the brute, grunt sort of soldiering like Sarge. Her bearing is loose, confident, and seems more inclined toward finesse and silent take-downs than bashing an opponents face in. However, there is something they all share, something rare in the Equestrian military. An air of competence.

[DigoDragon]

Happy nods. "Yep! Busy as a bee. They told me I had to get to Ponyville, so I did it the family way. Flew straight here. Sorry if I'm a little late." For the record, she is about two hours late.

Rose nods. "Alright, well did you get orders already, or do you need us to fill you in?"

[userpay]

"Ain't nothing wrong with family traditions." Granted family traditions didn't always make it in the military but then again Happy was probably an exception. Brazen also makes a mental note to keep Happy away from Twilight's labs while he boots up the scanning software. Might as well give it a test whirl. "Hey wana walk with us? We're taking ah peak around to get used to the area and lookit ways enemies might get in."

Lets scan Happy~
[roll0] / 2

[Miltonian]

"Sure! I got orders. If you all have a super-secret thing that you can't send via the Net, you hand it to me and I drop it off wherever!" Happy explains. At Brazen's suggestion, she brightens. "Sure! it's a lovely day for a walk."

Brazen's scan takes only a few moments to bring up Happy's results.

Happy Hooves: This subject appears to be the focus of a localized temporal phenomenon. Her biology is consistent with a pony of mixed race, pegasus being the primary one, but the other half cannot be identified. As a result of the temporal anomaly, her molecules are in a constant state of flux. Projected results are that, although not immune to physical damage, anything less than a grenade-level explosion will last mere milliseconds before the anomaly resets it to its previous state. Data stored for later access.

[Elbeyon]

"I have no idea what equipment I have on me because my equipment list isn't done yet."

Sniper tilted his head toward the two rifles secured to his back. As he did so, he kicked himself. He should have thought to leave a nanobug in Twilight Sparkle's lab. Next time, he told himself, he'd correct that oversight.

"I have my rifles, HUD and a few other tools. If I can bum a few grenades off of you I should be set for the moment."Wait, two rifles? Love takes a look at him herself. Let me bring up Scope's character sheet.

Love waves her hoof. "I'd be insulted if you didn't. I'm the grenade gal after all." She smiles. Oh, he's going to be so happy. Considering his reaction earlier to a simple vest. She chuckles out of happiness. 'Can't wait!'

Her medical sensor also comes back online.


"The three ponies drop their salutes when given the opportunity.Love returns the quick salute and listens to their introductions. She was sure Scope had his own method. He was probably going to hate what she was about to do.

She clears her throat. In her best military voice, which is deeper and gruffer sounding(?). Well, it sounds like love tried to swallow rocks for her impression. Her chest all puffed out. "It's nice to meet all of you. Now, I'm not a pony for beating around the bush. We got put in charge of this mission. I can understand why your upset. Heck, if I was in the same situation and some outside ponies got put in charge of investigating a home matter. I'd be pissed. I understand it sucks. The thing is that the mission is bigger than both of us. I don't want to be pissing in the wind, fighting with you ponies, while this scumbag get's his way. Now, I'm willing, wanting, to work with you ponies to solve this matter. We can work as a team. So, let's cut waterworks and work together shall we?"

[D.KnightSpider]

Sniper filed a few mental memos about the three sergeants. He appreciated their competence if not Sarge's hostility. If he had to bet off of first impressions, then he'd say the bulk of the trouble would come from the earth pony side of the team.

"I speak for the others when I say that the sentiment is true for the rest of us. Duty to the Element of Harmony comes first and foremost. If each of us puts the focus on that duty, there will be no problems."

If he stopped to think about it, he might have been worried to be won the same mental wavelength as Love. So he didn't stop to think about it. Instead, he wrapped up his comments. It was time to reel just how deep the rabbit hole went.

"At ease. Speak freely."

[DigoDragon]

"We got added to guard detail around here, Happy," Rose informs her discreetly. She leaves out some detail to keep the explanation simple. "We just need to walk the castle, check what kind of entrances and windows there are. You know, get an idea of areas someone could easily break into if they were gonna... well, break in."

[Miltonian]

The three are not going to argue with that, which seems to annoy Sarge. If Sniper had his guess, the earth pony was hoping that they would say something that would give him an excuse to lash out at them.

"Understood," they say one after the other, Sarge last and begrudgingly.

At the invitation to speak freely, both the mares throw warning glances at Sarge. He rolls his eyes and keeps silent. Instead, it's Barrel Roll that steps forward. "There are some things you should know," she says, "First, there are few of us, true, but we were all hoof-picked from the best of the best. The Princess didn't want this place to feel like a fortress, since friendship is her domain. During our time here, we have created a lockdown system which will seal all windows and exits save for two: the main hall and the air-pad, where your ship is parked, for example. Second, this is not a traditional unit. We do not carry conventional weapons, save Sarge here."

As proof of her words, she extends a hoof and a spear materializes in her grip. Then, with a spin and an expert flick, she throws it toward a target on the wall. Mid-air, it erupts into a cyclone and obliterates the target entirely with a spinning vortex of air made sharp as knives by magic.

"As befits servants of the Element of Magic, we have weapons made in the old style. They may look medieval, but as you can see, they are just as deadly as your guns. Are we clear on that?"



Happy bounces into the air. "Ooh! I know! Then we just gotta try and break in! Test everything." She prepares to fling herself at the nearest wall.

Why don't both of you make perception checks?

[DigoDragon]

Happy bounces into the air. "Ooh! I know! Then we just gotta try and break in! Test everything." She prepares to fling herself at the nearest wall.

"N-No, we really don't need to break in," Rose says. She grabs Happy in a friendly hug to stop her. "Just look around and ensure all the windows are not broken, that the doors are properly closed. I'm sure Twilight has the guards here test break-ins."

PER [roll0] vs 13


'Huh, her mane smells like muffins,' Rose thought, being slightly distracted from her PER check to have missed it by 1.

[userpay]

Brazen wasn't entirely sure whether the scan results answered some questions or just spawned more than could be counted. Were all of Happy's family like this? Was this... Hereditary? It certainly would make for good soldiers if it weren't for certain personality quirks that seemed to follow the sheer resilience. "Don't know if it's necessary to test fer break ins just yet. Ah'd rather git to know the locals first before we go scaring them."

OOC: Perc [roll0] vs 15 (12 + 3)(as I'm presuming this visor has hyperspectral as well)

[D.KnightSpider]

At the display of firepower, Sniper allowed a small amount of amazed satisfaction to show on his features. He was banking that a small amount of respect now would defuse some tension and pay off later.

"Quite." Sniper punctuated the word with a nod. "You are qualified, capable and I fully agree a soldier's weapon always deserves respect. I look forward to working with you all.

"Let's get down to business, then. Brief us on the situation and the response thus far."

Sarge was definitely going to be the source of any frustration on this endeavor. Which meant that he needed to thread a needle. It was the story of his life, to be honest. He was used to it by now.

[Miltonian]

"We are the commanders, so ours are a bit more powerful than the rank and file, but we won't be the ones who fall behind when there's work to do," Barrel Roll says.

"The situation!" Looper, the unicorn, says, "Right. The situation. Well, the palace is currently on Yellow Alert, as it were. Twelve hour shifts for everypony, which means we have fifteen guards on duty at any given time instead of the usual ten. The extra five are assigned to hall patrol, making sure nothing slips past the guards. This also allows us to do an inspection of everypony and everything entering or leaving the building. Your pilot friend gave us a little grief about inspecting every area of her ship, but we had to be sure it was clear before authorizing it to unload. Magical defenses have also been prepped. Golems are no more advanced mentally than basic robots, but nowadays few have the means to disable them whereas an EMP will disable electronics quite handily. The golems will supply the additional show of force at the gate and be held at the ready near the Princess' chambers, a central location, in preparation for a breach. Windows are sealed over. All side doors barred and rigged with an alarm. This place wasn't designed to be a fortress, but we've done a damn fine job of making it one, if I do say so myself." She adjusts a stray strand of her mane and put sit back into place. "The local police are investigating the letter, along with Celestia's Secret Service. Our job is to make sure nothing happens between now and when they catch the culprit."


Rose tackles Happy to the ground, not that it seems to hurt her. "Oh," she says, relenting, "Alright."

To Brazen's eyes, the palace is at most danger from an attack from the air. The windows are too high and walls too slick for somepony to enter that way (plus they have a shimmering cover over them that he's pretty sure is not glass) and anypony attacking through the front door would run a gamut of defenses and have to evade the ponies waiting there for them. However, a flying assault could reach some of the upper windows and also the landing pad. The Firebird, at least, is in a bit of danger.

[DigoDragon]

Rose tackles Happy to the ground, not that it seems to hurt her. "Oh," she says, relenting, "Alright."

Rose helps her friend up on her hooves. "We could probably ask the guards around the perimeter their thoughts on the security out here. They probably know best."

[Elbeyon]

As proof of her words, she extends a hoof and a spear materializes in her grip. Then, with a spin and an expert flick, she throws it toward a target on the wall. Mid-air, it erupts into a cyclone and obliterates the target entirely with a spinning vortex of air made sharp as knives by magic.So, Cool. Her eyes light up like the spear was a fireworks display that just exploded in her brain. The compel to ask for another demonstration is so strong; however, everyone here is a professional above such petty things as fun. No, they're all business and no fun. Love smiles. At least on the clock. She'll see if that's true when these ponies get off their twelve hours shift.

"We're going to need as much information as possible to hit the ground running. How did the letter arrive? Where did that path go? We'll need employee records on each creature here. Enough so, that we can track everyone down for an interview.". Creature since Twilight most likely has a diverse group of species working for her too. A dragon for sure. "We'd like access to all management material. Schedules. Strikes. Sick days. Erm, It might just be faster if you let me into the computers. This list would be a lot shorter."

[Miltonian]

Happy dusts herself off and nods seriously. "Yes. We just need to find a guard to ask." She squeaks in delight. "Rose! I see two guards. They're standing by the door, doing something. I think they're guarding it. I'll go ask them!" She once again makes to take to the air.

[DigoDragon]

Rose follows her, hoping this line of thinking at least goes decently well for info and not belly up like the idea of breaking in to test the security.

[D.KnightSpider]

Aaaand there it was. Sniper knew it would only be a matter of time before Love geeked-out at that weapons demonstration. She hadn't failed to disappoint.

Neither had the castle guard, apparently. They were certainly acting with skill and caution, which was a refreshing change of pace, if Sniper could be honest. It wasn't that often he found things so well in hoof.

He moved to smooth over Love's spazz. He didn't want any good will lost due to a perceived insinuation of disloyalty.

"Love raises a point we must consider. Given your fine work securing the castle from external threats our foes may decide to create an internal one. I speak from experience when I say that one disgruntled servant can bring down a kingdom.

"Access to the computer files will allow Love to begin the process of vetting castle staff. In the interest of efficiency, what work has already been done in that regard?"

He doubted that they'd have time or patience to interview everyone. If Love was dead set on that, then they would have to pare the list down somehow.

[Elbeyon]

Love looks grumpy in her armor (which no one can see) and puts her faceplate near Scope, just a half a foot shy of touching. She just sits there. A little beep telling Scope he got a text message.

Text message, "I was suggesting that we get to know our home ground and whatever information they had. I was not trying to suggest a cleaning staff traitor."

[Miltonian]

The three sergeants exchange glances. Looper clears her throat uncomfortably. "No disrespect meant, Lt. Charge," she says to Love, "But the computer files in this palace are highly restricted due to the sensitive nature of the princess's work. If you don't mind me saying, there wouldn't be any room for 'sightseeing'. But if you head to the main control room..." She points to a sealed, heavy-duty door at the back of the barracks, "You'll find everything you need."

Sarge speaks for the first time. "Gave the cleaning staff a shakedown first. Basic stuff. Backgrounds, previous affiliations, etc. They go in and out the most, so we thought that'd be a good place to start. One of them used to be in a gang, nothin' serious, but still troublemakers. So we told him he wasn't allowed back until the situation had resolved itself. He needed some convincin', but nothing I couldn't handle." Brazen gets the impression that his version of 'handling it' involved many of the same tactics a drill sergeant uses to cow recruits into order.


Happy runs up to the guard. "Hello! In your opinion, how could a pony best break into the palace?" The guard blinks for a moment, opens his mouth, closes it again, and reaches for his sword.

"Ma'am, I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to come with me..." he says.

[DigoDragon]

Yup. Mental facehoof of the Nth degree. Rose runs up and interjects into the conversation. "Excuse us, sir. I'm Rose Croix of the EDF. This is Happy Hooves, and the tall one is Brazen Hoof," Rose said to clear things up. Hopefully. "What Miss Hooves meant to say was that we're conducting a review of the castle's perimeter security and we wanted to learn of potential weak points."

[userpay]

Brazen mentally face hooves at the situation that developed as he was inspecting what he could see. Interesting times indeed... "She's asigned this mission just as we are." Brazen says trotting over to the guards. "Just... ah mite excitable about it. Place seems solid from ah grounded perspective though that's fer sure."

[D.KnightSpider]

Sniper gave Love a quick sidelong glance along with a microscopic nod of recognition and then redirected his gaze. After staring down Chrysalis, ignoring a blank-faced stare was foal's play. He carried on as if she wasn't there.

He couldn't reply to the text message without being obvious, so he left it sit. He knew what Love's target was. He was after the same thing. But baby steps. For the moment, the primary objective of getting Love mainframe access has been achieved.

He just hoped the mare could handle the responsibility.

"Good to know, Sergeant Sarge. We'll follow up on that. Is there anything else you can tell us about the situation and your precautions?"

He was feeling particularly brazen at the moment, but he tried to keep that in check.

[Miltonian]

The guard exchanges glances with his partner. He hesitates for a moment and puts a hoof to his helmet. After a few seconds, he relaxes and salutes. "Identity confirmed." His partner also relaxes. "Well, I still don't want to discuss that sort of thing out in the open, ma'am. Somepony might have a directional mic and be listening. You'd better ask one of the guards on patrol or off-duty."

Happy thinks for a moment, trying to figure out exactly where she went wrong. Then it hits her and she slams a hoof into her forehead. It knocks her over. She huffs and decides that, since Fate seems to want to make her look like an idiot, she will just stay for for the time being.


Barrel Roll grins. "We got the Ravagers online last week. Big, anti-air guns inside the spire. Anything comes at us from that way, they get fried by lightning-boosted missiles."

"Yes," Looper says with a sigh, "They're very nice and we're all impressed." She nods to Love. "Come with me. I'll get you set up on the computer."

[userpay]

"Figured as much. Still getting our own eyes on things should help when that talking comes about." Brazen walks next to Happy and looks down at her. "Need ah hoof there? Hmm... Mayhaps we should see about gettin you an armored vest to. T'would help with identification and from being waylaid when carrying messages." The earth pony offering the prone pegasus a helping hoof up.

[Elbeyon]

She nods to Love. "Come with me. I'll get you set up on the computer."Love was happy to go along. This room just is not her style, much too formal and military. She'll follow Looper through the door. Barely a step inside, Love says "Wait." She starts taking her helmet off. "I really prefer to go by Love. Would you be alright with calling me that?" She was really going to miss that surface paint on her helmet. A visor isn't so bad though. It's more functional. Her helmet off, she says, "That magic weapon business was impressive. Was it twilight that thought you that spell? It was really neat. I'd be interest in learning it myself, but you know." Love points her hoof to her broken horn. "Do you have something special that you go by or is the rank and name prefered?"

[DigoDragon]

"Perhaps Song Weaver can show Happy to the room picked out for her. It's very nice," Rose adds. "Let you settle in first before getting to work?"

[D.KnightSpider]

Sniper took a moment to type up some notes on his computer system. Once the overall situation, guard assignments, and a brief note about the sergeants' identities was transcribed, he forwarded his notes to Rose and Brazen. They'd need to know this information.

Then, he opened up a new tab with Star Chaser. He forwarded her a photograph of the threatening letter along with a request to find some pony with a high enough clearance to give them some psychological insight on the sender. The overall content of the letter still bothered him-- not just because of its graphical content but also because of how little tactical sense sending the letter made. The contents showed some clear and deliberate forethought, yet surely that same forethought would know that sending the letter would raise alertness and make any act of malice harder. He also put in a request for information about the state of the investigation.

Perhaps he was thinking too rationally and professionally about this or perhaps the Element of Wrath was an amateur. But, overall, he was having trouble squaring the circle and until he could, he wouldn't feel at ease.

Sniper returned his attention to Sarge and Barrel Roll.

"I'd like a look at some maps and guard postings."

He couldn't escape the thought that perhaps their foe was engaged in misdirection. If that was the case, then perhaps he could pick out any potential avenues of infiltration.

[Miltonian]

Happy takes Brazen's hoof with a sheepish smile. Nothing can keep her sad for long! "I have my own room? Did they remember to put muffins in it?"

One of the guards suppresses a laugh and ends up coughing instead. Happy looks at him quizzically. "Sorry, sorry." He straightens up. "Shall I call Song Weaver to come fetch her and show her around, then?"


"Sgt. Looper will be fine for now," the unicorn replies. She isn't hostile, but she is maintaining a professional sort of distance. "And, well, Twilight has taught me many things. Barrel Roll's demonstration was very impressive, yes, but our weapons are magic items, not spells. Otherwise, a pegasus and earth pony would never be able to use them." She draws a sword and holds it up for Love to inspect. It hums and crackles with electricity. "This is the gift she gave me when I became the officer of the evening shift. Anyway, let's get you set up on the computer."

It's a simple process. She gets Love and username and the proper clearance and lets her go on her way. She does hang around, though, citing that her duty requires her to be here at the moment in case one of the patrols should need to call something in to a central authority. But it also allows her to keep an eye on Love, just in case.


"Maps?" Barrel Roll says with a grin, "Oh, I got maps. Follow me, sir." She trots off with purpose and doesn't really wait for Sniper to follow, assuming he can keep up.

[DigoDragon]

One of the guards suppresses a laugh and ends up coughing instead. Happy looks at him quizzically. "Sorry, sorry." He straightens up. "Shall I call Song Weaver to come fetch her and show her around, then?"

"Yes please," Rose replies. "Happy, you're gonna like your room."

[Miltonian]

In less than a minute, Song Weaver is by the front door and escorting Happy Hooves inside. She has a smile pasted onto her face as she tries to keep the flighty pegasus headed the right direction and away from anything fragile. But she's a competent mare. Surely she can handle it.

Brazen and Rose both hear their comms go off. Sniper's message arrives with all the information he collected. However, right after it, they receive a call. Regardless of whether they pick it up or not, it picks itself up. "Hey," a filly's voice says on the other end, "Is your refrigerator running?" A mere second later, she follows this up with a loud, enthusiastic, "Well you better go catch it!"

"No, no, no," another voice says, "You're supposed to wait for them to say 'yes' and then you hit them with the punchline."

"Ooooh." the first says, "Well, let's call somepony else then." The call ends abruptly.

[D.KnightSpider]

After acknowledging Sarge with a farewell dismissal, Sniper set off after Barrel Roll. Love would just have to behave herself in his absence. That's all he had to say on the subject. In the meantime, he had better start building some rapport.

"It's obvious you take your station here seriously, sergeant. How did you come to be here?" He asked.

[DigoDragon]

Rose looks at her comm, then at Brazen, then her comm again, and then one more glance at Brazen. "We didn't publish an EDF website with our phone numbers while I was in the hospital, did we?" Rose asks, only able to half joke, because that was a very concerning call.

Rose calls Love.

[Elbeyon]

Love curls her foreleg up. "Ah ha! For now... Well, in an unofficial capacity, it's a pleasure to meet you Looper. Yeah, Barrel Roll did seem very impressed with his magic weapon."

"Magic weapons, huh? That makes a lot of sense actually. A very respectable weapon given with cause." Alright, an electricity sword, how could she not be curious. How could she not... In one swift motion, Love puts her hoof on it.

I'll pick up that call in a second. I don't know what will happen before Love gets a chance ><.

Edit: >. > Uh, nvm, on Love turning her head. She's wants to see what happens.

[Miltonian]

Barrel Roll pauses for a moment, an internal debate evident on her face. Then, she says, "No offense, sir, but I know what you're trying to do. It's a nice thought, but let's keep things professional between us. We got a job to do. We should stay focused. Less chance for mistakes that way." She starts moving again. "Besides, we've already done everything there is to do. Far as I can tell, you're just going to end up sitting on your flanks. But you know what? Maybe your name alone will inspire fear in our enemies hearts. The fierce and famous EDF will keep them away, right?"


Before Looper can even shout a warning, Love touches her hoof to the sword. Blue bolts leap from it to her, bypassing her armor and overcoming the wards Twilight put on it. Of course, the sword was also made by Twilight, so the alicorn's skill does not help one side or the other. After a moment, Looper yanks the sword away and sheathes it. Superior officer or no, she rounds on the drone-unicorn. "By Luna's flank! What in blazes did you do that for? Love smells slightly burnt.

Elbeyon, Love just took 3 damage. Congratulation.

Rose hears some slight static on her end as Love's phone begins to ring.

[Elbeyon]

The lightening arcing. Love feels a bit of satisfaction as knowledge courses through her. Love grabs her smoldering hoof. "Buck! That hurt!" She blows on it. "I wanted to get a better feel for the weapon." Dang. That. Ow! She's going to need some first aid. Oh, phones ringing.

She picks it up with her good hoof. "Hello, Rose. What can I get you?"

[DigoDragon]

"Hello, Rose. What can I get you?"

"I'll take a double-hayburger and an order of onion rings, in bed," Rose jokes into the phone. She pauses to giggle. "Hey Love, are you good at tracing comm calls? We got a weird one that forced its way through and asked if our refrigerator was running. I'm concerned we got comm-hacked."

[D.KnightSpider]

Barrel Roll pauses for a moment, an internal debate evident on her face. Then, she says, "No offense, sir, but I know what you're trying to do. It's a nice thought, but let's keep things professional between us. We got a job to do. We should stay focused. Less chance for mistakes that way."

Apparently... Building inter-unit cooperation was frowned upon now? Sniper didn't attempt to keep bewilderment from showing on his features. That was a rather interesting reaction to a standard question. Had he been too accommodating back there?


She starts moving again. "Besides, we've already done everything there is to do. Far as I can tell, you're just going to end up sitting on your flanks. But you know what? Maybe your name alone will inspire fear in our enemies hearts. The fierce and famous EDF will keep them away, right?" .

That, at least, he understood.

"Doubtful." Sniper shook his head. "Whoever sent these letters had to know what sort ofresponse would be provoked. Which means either our mystery sender wanted an overreaction for kicks or felt confident enough to handle an escalated situation.

"In the first scenario, yes. We end up sitting on our flanks. In the second, we have a fight on our hooves. Either way, our reputation will do little. Either way, we must be prepared."

He still couldn't figure Barrel Roll's reaction. If she knew what he was up to, why grow defensive about building unity? His question was a simple friendship building exercise designed to learn more about a coworker--

Oh. OH.

She thought he was pulling a Brazen.

The realization brought Sniper to a dead halt. His mind clicked through the situation from her perspdctive. Oops.

"I understand now. You thought I was--" Sniper shook his head again and covered a small laugh with a soft snort. He sobered. "No, sergeant. I take no offense. If anything, I apologize to you for the misunderstanding. My question wasn't an attempt at fraternization. I simply like to know with whom I'll be working."

Fortunately, none of the others had seen that.

[Miltonian]

"Well of course it hurt!" Looper snaps, "Do you bite down on live wires too, just for kicks?" She shakes her head and makes for the door, muttering about 'crazy mare'.


Barrel Roll looks sideways at Sniper. "Right," she says, not believing him, "That would be a first. But to answer your question, I got passed over for a promotion. To Lieutenant. So instead, they sent me here. Said I didn't need a promotion if I was going to be one of the highest ranked officers in the palace." She chuckles. "This is where the Guard sends all the misfits, Lt. Ponies that don't fit with the mold. Sarge would have been a hero, had he served during the Corvid wars. But he and I are too bloody and violent for this peaceful time. So they sent us to Twilight. Figured we'd keep her safe and she'd rub off on us. It worked, at least the first part did. And then Looper, she didn't get that name for nothing. Bit touched in the head, but don't you dare tell her I said anything."

[Elbeyon]

"I'll take a double-hayburger and an order of onion rings, in bed," Rose jokes into the phone. She pauses to giggle. "Hey Love, are you good at tracing comm calls? We got a weird one that forced its way through and asked if our refrigerator was running. I'm concerned we got comm-hacked."Love chuckles. She writes down the order and starts browsing for a delivery service.

Looking at her metal covered flank, Love doesn't see her cutie mark, but thinks she has a good idea what it looks like. "I think so..." She smugly smiles. "I'm pretty good with anything electrical." She waves the pain out of her burnt hoof.

All dramatic, "I am the master of circuits." The comms, really? A directional burst over an emergency frequency, maybe? "The ruler of code!" They could have been hacked if it's spitting output. From far away? That's not the easiest thing in the world, but possibly. It'd be easier with a quantum computer... "Devices swear fidelity to me and I shall recharge you before I go to bed! Mwhaha" It could have been a walk by to snag the data. That would have been easier. She coughs.

It sounds like a harmless prank by the locals. The intent might might be harmless, but the result could have been anything but. Maybe, some of Twilight's students? Still, with twilight's current project being a computer buster and the squad's comms acting up it had her wondering if something more was mucking about in the background, pulling strings. "Could you do a couple of things for me? While your memory is fresh would you make a note of everyone you've met? If you would take you're comms offline that'd be great. Just one of you is fine. You might be carrying around some evidence in your comm system. I'd like to get that off you eventually. When you're not busy. Feel free to use you're phone. Just know that our line could be monitored. Take a look around and see if you can find any foal's messing around too?"

Love will pick one of the highest rated burger places around and place an order for the princess's castle. Then, she starts setting up at the computer station in front of her. Getting familiar with the system. Was this a comm station? Love will ask if the building does have their own comm station if this isn't it. Monitoring and safe guarding the comms was really going to slow her down.


"Well of course it hurt!" Looper snaps, "Do you bite down on live wires too, just for kicks?" She shakes her head and makes for the door, muttering about 'crazy mare'.Wait! She needed to know about the comms station. She'll call out to her if Love can't figure it out herself.

[Miltonian]

The station is the main security station. It serves as the comm station, but also has access to some of the functions around Twilight's castle. For instance, it has a holographic display that shows where everypony is in real time. Which probably means that it's a bad place to have a weekend rendezvous, but the map only shows location, not current activity. And while she's working, an important though occurs to Love. Twilight was given some of the EDF's frequencies in case she personally needed to call them in. So, if somepony had access to Twilight's computer (which, from the looks of things, has the most impressive set of firewalls and protections that Love has ever seen. She's not even sure she could hack this), then they could swipe the frequency off of it.

However, as she scans through reports, she notices something strange. A channel is active, even though it's not connected to any device. Tuning in, she hears, "Ooh! A pony. Hello! Is your refrigerator running? Girls, I got it right this time."

[DigoDragon]

I'm pretty good with anything electrical."
"Devices swear fidelity to me and I shall recharge you before I go to bed! Mwhaha"

"Thank you, Love! You rock!" Rose says. "Logging off now." She turns off her comm and then does a quick text message to Love of who she's met today. It was a pretty short list; Moon Weaver, Twilight, the guards at the front... Happy hooves? Does that count? She mentions it anyway.

"Alright, back to what we were doing." Rose heads back inside and starts walking around, noting things like windows, doors, alcoves. She's trying to pull that spacial thing Sniper is good at. Alas, she's not Sniper. She continues around, as at least it helps get familiar with the castle's layout so she doesn't get lost later.

[Miltonian]

After a while, Rose and Brazen get a pretty good feel for the castle. Other than the front door, there are two side doors. But both have been sealed behind several feet of crystal and have a sign on the front that reads, "Alarm will sound if door is opened," to further dissuade those who'd try and enter that way. The windows are similarly sealed, though there are many of them. This crystal does not block the light from entering, but does seem much harder even than stone. It would take a lot to pass through it.

[Elbeyon]

She turns off her comm and then does a quick text message to Love of who she's met todayThat was a short list. Here Love was hoping that they passed the culprit. She texts back, "Remember that everything you do is recorded/known - via comm or phone - they could have access to that. Power everything down if you need privacy."


However, as she scans through reports, she notices something strange. A channel is active, even though it's not connected to any device. Tuning in, she hears, "Ooh! A pony. Hello! Is your refrigerator running? Girls, I got it right this time."Love will try to enter the channel. She starts off with a chuckle then bursts in with a line, "Wait! Let me go!"

"Because I'd vote for it!" She starts laughing at her own joke.

[DigoDragon]

Rose shows the text to Brazen from her phone. "Well, guess Love is on top of that. Where to next for us, though? Maybe work our way up?"

[Miltonian]

There's a long pause on the other end. "What do I do now?" the first voice whispers.

"Hang up. She's onto us," a second whispers back.

"No, wait!" a third voice with a bit of a drawl says, "Hello there! Are ya'll a real pony?"

[Elbeyon]

She wipes a tear from her eye. 'Alright, Love. The joke wasn't that funny'

Love sits down at the comm station and puts a hoof to her chin. "That's a difficult question. I'm not sure if I'm a real pony. Are you a real pony?"

[Miltonian]

"Actually, we're all dead!" the first voice says cheerfully, "How are you feeling?"

"Really?" the second voice says, "You're going with 'how are you feeling?' This is why I wanted to leave you behind."

"But we're s'pposed to be best friends," the third argues, "We can't leave her behind. Not ever."

"Greeeeat," the second says morosely, "Just great. We better scram or Twilight's gonna find us ag--"

The line suddenly goes dead.

A message pops up in the corner of the screen.

"From: Twilight Sparkle
Everypony, I'm happy to inform you that the breach has been found and contained. You may want to check your electronics for any surprises it left behind, but things should be getting back to normal here pretty quick.

Have a nice day!

Twilight Sparkle"

[Elbeyon]

"Actually, we're all dead!" the first voice says cheerfully, "How are you feeling?"

She answers, "I'm feeling well", to their question. "I've never talked to dead ponies and gotten an answer back."


The line suddenly goes dead.Uh, that was strange. Has twilight been dabbling in necromancy? She had a guess at why, but it was a sad one. It looks like her earlier theory of a AI might be wrong after all. Course, twilight does have a habit of mixing technology and magic. The answer could always be both.

Love comms Brazen. She'll tell him to put her on speaker. - If, not, she'll call Rose up.

"Hey. They said the order will be here in thirty minutes or less. I got something for myself too. So, don't forget to pick it up."

"Oh! And, only moments ago I had a small chat with our hackers. Here, let me play the message."

She plays back the recording from her suit.

"Brazen. Rose. You might want to go have a chat with Twilight? Her project is now a part of the mission parameters."

[D.KnightSpider]

"Duly noted." Sniper replied with complete seriousness.

He had wondered about Looper. If this information were true, then it would explain a few things-- such as why Harrier Squad was there. But for the moment he stuck it in his mental 'trust but verify' pile. It felt like there might be more than a few edits made to the tale.

"Still good to know, though. In the interest of fairness, let me fill you in on our unit. Starting from the top: Brazen Hoof-- lives up to the name. He's stubborn and opinionated but dependable. Saved our lives multiple times.

"Partial Charge-- AKA Love. She's a loose cannon and a free spirit but she's our loose cannon. Good with computers. Heart's in the right place. Brain can be MIA at times.

"Rose Croix-- Best combat medic you'll ever find. She's survived more than most dream about. She's got a good heart. Mess with her and you'll have three angry squad mates with which to contend.

"Then there's myself. Sniper Scope: sharpshooter and infiltration expert."

There was some bravado in his voice throughout. He didn't care. This was his squad. His family. He was proud of them and let it show. He faded back to his previously dour self.

"But don't let the glitz and glam fool you. We're ponies with issues as any other... and we've all got our own horror stories. We don't look down on any pony."

[Miltonian]

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance," Barrel Roll says formally, "Let's get you those maps."

She leads Sniper into a secure room with a single computer idling there. "We keep this one disconnected from the rest because it contains all our plans and the copies of our orders. Just in case, you know?" She types in her login information and steps aside. "Go ahead. See if you spot anything."

That will be a Tactics roll, if you please.

[userpay]

Brazen plays relay between Love and Rose while they walk around the perimeter. "Think you wana check our computers afore we head back in? Though if it's something Twilight already knows about ah suppose it shouldn't be an issue..." An internal threat seemed like it was more and more plausible by the moment. "Wouldn't mind talking to her to figure out what that was about though."

[DigoDragon]

"And, what is arriving in 30 minutes or less? Did... did you just order food?" Rose asks.

[Elbeyon]

Brazen plays relay between Love and Rose while they walk around the perimeter. "Think you wana check our computers afore we head back in? Though if it's something Twilight already knows about ah suppose it shouldn't be an issue..." An internal threat seemed like it was more and more plausible by the moment. "Wouldn't mind talking to her to figure out what that was about though.""Sound sound sounds." She's earned a little smile for that one. "Yeah, go ahead and bring your comms to me. It'll be a good chance to pick up your gift packages too."


"And, what is arriving in 30 minutes or less? Did... did you just order food?" Rose asks."You're order," Love asks confused? "Wait, were you joking about wanting food. I'm not sure what to think about that. Is our mission overrun with changelings again!?"

[DigoDragon]

"You're order," Love asks confused? "Wait, were you joking about wanting food. I'm not sure what to think about that. Is our mission overrun with changelings again!?"

"Well no, no changelings that I know of. I want food, but um... shouldn't we of asked Song Weaver to make us something? I don't want to offend her."

[Elbeyon]

"Well no, no changelings that I know of. I want food, but um... shouldn't we of asked Song Weaver to make us something? I don't want to offend her."Love struck her standard thinking pose: a chin to her hoof and a hoof to her chin. "You think she would? Weeell. I wouldn't want to hurt my little sister's feelings. I'll call in and have the order redirected somewhere." Love rubs her mane in the control room.

[DigoDragon]

Love struck her standard thinking pose: a chin to her hoof and a hoof to her chin. "You think she would? Weeell. I wouldn't want to hurt my little sister's feelings. I'll call in and have the order redirected somewhere." Love rubs her mane in the control room.

"Song Weaver just wants to do a good job as a host. We should respect that as guests and let her do the job she wants," Rose says, pondering where to send the food. "Maybe you can donate the food to the local hospital. Trust me, we're doing them a favor."

This throws Rose down into a tangent chute, like a log flume ride, but without the long lines. "You know, I think I ought to go chat with Song. We're talking to the local security about this place, but perhaps Song has a fresh perspective we didn't think about. Okay, I'm off to the kitchen. ...wait, this is a castle. So would that be, a meadery?"

Rose goes off looking for the kitchen.

[Miltonian]

The kitchen is 'easy' to find, according to the staff. Just go down the hall, take a left, then a right. Then another left. Then through the library. Then turn left. Or, if you wanted to take the long way, go down this hallway and it will curve around in a circle until the kitchen appears on the right.

Stepping inside, Rose finds the cook in the middle of lecturing Song Weaver about...something. "And none of your tricks," he says, "Or I'll have you scrubbing out pots for months, do you hear me?"

"Yes sir," she says simply. At the sight of Rose, she beams. "Oh hello! What can I get for you? You didn't have to come down here, you know. You could have just called me."

[DigoDragon]

"Yes sir," she says simply. At the sight of Rose, she beams. "Oh hello! What can I get for you? You didn't have to come down here, you know. You could have just called me."

"I know, but I was just down the hall," Rose answers, pointing in the direction she came from. "Since I was passing through, I thought I could get a little bite to eat? Maybe a quick sandwich?" She taps the tips of her forehooves together gently in anticipation.

[D.KnightSpider]

She leads Sniper into a secure room with a single computer idling there. "We keep this one disconnected from the rest because it contains all our plans and the copies of our orders. Just in case, you know?" She types in her login information and steps aside. "Go ahead. See if you spot anything."

"Thank you."

Sniper took his place in front of the machine and began working his way through the operating system. He began sifting through maps, data and information, building a working knowledge of the castle. He toggled between his own HUD and the computer system as he made notes and organized his thoughts. He began looking for any strategic blind spots or weak points to infiltration. All his experience and training was brought to bear against the task. If there was a way into this place from the outside, he'd find it.


The roll is over in the OoC Thread. Sniper cleared the check by 2.

[Miltonian]

Song beams brightly. “Of course! Let me whip that up real quick.” She runs around the kitchen, gathering bread and stuffing, before sitting down and winning the world record for fastest sandwich maker. It even has a toothpick with a little olive stuck in the top. “Ta-da!” she says. With a flourish, she presents it to Rose. “One sandwich.’

The cook gives her a vaguely disapproving glare and mutters something before going back to his work.


Sniper makes an intense and in-depth study of the way the castle is defended, not just the defenses put in place, and finds that there is little he could do. There are a few gaps here and there, but filling them would require leaving other gaps from where the guards’ shifts were switched around. Their shifts and patrols are organized for maximum coverage so that almost every entrance is checked regularly. The sealed doors and windows are many, of course, but require less frequent checks than the opened ones. The only immediate danger he sees is if somepony managed to get off a teleportation spell into an unguarded area of the castle, such as the basement, but that would require enormous amounts of power in order to overcome the wards placed upon the castle.

[userpay]

"Rose we need to get our comms... Checked..." Welp, there she went. Though if she still had her comms off it should be alright? Brazen didn't pretend to understand how computer stuff worked he just needed someone to get the chassis set up for him and that's all the stallion needed. "Right well ah'm on my way Love."

[DigoDragon]

Song beams brightly. “Of course! Let me whip that up real quick.” She runs around the kitchen, gathering bread and stuffing, before sitting down and winning the world record for fastest sandwich maker. It even has a toothpick with a little olive stuck in the top. “Ta-da!” she says. With a flourish, she presents it to Rose. “One sandwich.’

The cook gives her a vaguely disapproving glare and mutters something before going back to his work.

Rose smiles appreciatively. She takes a bite and savors it. "Mmm, delish!" She glances to see if the cook is outside earshot. Rose turns off her phone before she comments,

"Seems like the cook is giving you a little bit of a hard time. Is everything alright?" she asks softly. Rose takes another bite and chews while she listens.

[Miltonian]

Brazen finds Love with little problem. She’s right in the control room. Any of the guards or other staff can point him in the right direction. And it’s trivial for Love to set up to check through it. Now, she just has to find something.

Alright, so this will NOT be a hacking roll, but rather a Computer Programming roll to check through for signs of a hack.

Song looks a little uncomfortable. She clears her throat. “In the past,” she says, tapping her hooves together, “I may or may not have been smitten with a certain noble’s son. And made a fool of myself for him. And fools of the entire staff. So they’re suspicious now whenever I start showing a degree of .affection for any of the guests.”

[DigoDragon]

Song looks a little uncomfortable. She clears her throat. “In the past,” she says, tapping her hooves together, “I may or may not have been smitten with a certain noble’s son. And made a fool of myself for him. And fools of the entire staff. So they’re suspicious now whenever I start showing a degree of .affection for any of the guests.”

Ah! Rose has some familiarity with this. She swallows her food and gives Song a knowing nod. "I've been there, Song. Certain affections make us do... uncharacteristic things, let's say. Still, we cannot deny our feelings. It's part of what makes us pony, right?"

"Hey, if you ever want to talk about something bothering you, you can come to me. I'm a good listener," Rose says with warmth. "I'll keep it confidential between us. This sandwich though, I dunno, might have to tell everyone you make one fine sandwich." She grins and removes the toothpick with the olive to take another bite.

[D.KnightSpider]

At length, Sniper leaned back in his chair and crossed his forelegs over his chest. He let the last few of his thoughts settle before issuing an approving nod.

In point of fact, he might have had trouble cracking it. But he let that thought go unsaid.

Sniper wrote another update on his findings within his text messaging program. He added a request for an update on their situation. Then he pushed it through to the other three.

That done, Sniper left the seat and dropped to the floor.

"Nicely done. Barring extreme circumstances, such as hype advanced magic or secret passageways, this castle is secure. Once I get an update on my team's location, I'll be rejoining them." A stay thought struck him. "For the moment, we'll be needing your team's contact information. You can give that to Lt. Charge."

[Miltonian]

Song gives Rose a grateful smile. Then, with a glance over her shoulder to make sure that nopony else is watching, she gives her a hug and holds her tight. “Thank you, Miss Rose,” she says softly, “I needed some encouragement today.”

She pulls back and straightens her outfit. “Well, I should get back to work. But, if you want anymore snacks, don’t hesitate to ask. I don’t tend to go to sleep till late, so don’t worry if you want a late night snack either. I’ll still be awake.”




Barrel Roll nods in acknowledgement. “We do our best,” she says, “And I’ll pass it on. She should still be in the control station. If not, I’ll find out where she is there. I’ll pass on your instructions to the others too.”

[DigoDragon]

Song gives Rose a grateful smile. Then, with a glance over her shoulder to make sure that nopony else is watching, she gives her a hug and holds her tight. “Thank you, Miss Rose,” she says softly, “I needed some encouragement today.”

She pulls back and straightens her outfit. “Well, I should get back to work. But, if you want anymore snacks, don’t hesitate to ask. I don’t tend to go to sleep till late, so don’t worry if you want a late night snack either. I’ll still be awake.”

Rose hugs back when hugged. She also knows what it's like to need some encouragement.

"Yup, if I need five-star service, I'll call you first." She smiles and lingers a little to finish her sandwich. She'll eat the olive last. Unless something interrupts her, Rose gets up when she's done and starts to think where the others could be... wait. Duh. Text them.

Rose turns her phone back on and texts Love, 'Kitchen secured. Where is everyone stationed atm?'

[Elbeyon]

"Song Weaver just wants to do a good job as a host. We should respect that as guests and let her do the job she wants," Rose says, pondering where to send the food. "Maybe you can donate the food to the local hospital. Trust me, we're doing them a favor."

This throws Rose down into a tangent chute, like a log flume ride, but without the long lines. "You know, I think I ought to go chat with Song. We're talking to the local security about this place, but perhaps Song has a fresh perspective we didn't think about. Okay, I'm off to the kitchen. ...wait, this is a castle. So would that be, a meadery?"

Rose goes off looking for the kitchen.Love can't help but smile at Rose looking after some stranger pony they only met. She taps a few more keys before stopping to respond. Her words are sweet and playful, not sarcastic, "Aye, I'll be more respectful in the future madam. I didn't think the food was that bad. I'm not very picky either, though. So, a hospital doesn't seem like a bad choice. Even if the patients can't eat it the medical staff sure can enjoy it."

She nods to herself, all alone in the room. "She might. Good luck."


"Rose we need to get our comms... Checked..." Welp, there she went. Though if she still had her comms off it should be alright? Brazen didn't pretend to understand how computer stuff worked he just needed someone to get the chassis set up for him and that's all the stallion needed. "Right well ah'm on my way Love.""Copy. Out."

Love waves him in and starts helping him take his comms off. She'll plug into them with her computer - wifi is off by default - and start searching through for signs of a hack.

"How'd it go? I'm going to need you to stay here for a bit til your present arrives."



Rose turns her phone back on and texts Love, 'Kitchen secured. Where is everyone stationed atm?'
Love texts back, "Good Job. Brazen and I are in the control room inside the barracks. I think Scope is right outside. I've been busy. He might have moved. When you find out relay me the info, plz."

[Miltonian]

Love does not find any sign of a hack. However, she does find signs of 'administrative access' that says it originates from the Lab's own computer, which the suit still has a passive connection to. The link says that four users recently activated it. Disabling that connection is easy enough and should keep anypony from using that as a back door again.

[DigoDragon]

Rose starts on her way to the barracks. 'Ah shoot, I forgot to ask Song about some things around here. Eh, no matter. I can call her later when she's less busy.'

[Elbeyon]

Love does not find any sign of a hack. However, she does find signs of 'administrative access' that says it originates from the Lab's own computer, which the suit still has a passive connection to. The link says that four users recently activated it. Disabling that connection is easy enough and should keep anypony from using that as a back door again.Love will do that in a minute.

She starts piloting the group's robot mules from her room to the Command Station - her voice on the mic if anyone tries to stop the things.

"Ah, It's here." She steps past him to go open up the door to the barracks. She shouts, "Coming through!" Not, that the bots are large. It's just she doesn't want any one on edge shooting the thing.

A robot mule is a rugged robot cargo cart that moves on big tires about three feet long.

Once Brazen's Box reaches her she'll open it and pulling stuff out.

Saddlebags; 2 lbs; 2 Items; Characters p. 289
Cable Jack; 0 lbs; 5 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 42
Computer (C8); 0.25 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 22
Contacts (Night Vision); 0 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 60
Dagger; 0.17 lbs; 1 Items; Characters p. 272
Gear (Web); 1.33 lbs; 1 Items; Characters p. 289
Goggles (Hyperspectral); 0.4 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 61
Radio Communicator; 0 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 44 (Pre-set ranges: Off (By default), 1 Yard, Max Range:200 Yards)
Transponder Ring, 0 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 150
Magazine (Close Assault Weapon, 18.5mmPC); 1 lbs; 2 Items; Ultra p. 138
Datapad; 0.03 lbs; Ultra-Tech p. 23
Gyrostabilized Weapon Harness (Close Assault Weapon, 18.5mmPC) 4.44 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 150
Total Weight: 12.63
First up! Nothing is wireless, unless a pony starts turning those options on.

The computer is wired into the goggles (w/ a hud), the datapad terminal, the radio, and a pony's weapons.

The contacts can be worn for about a week before they must be removed.

Robot Mule; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 79
Saddlebags; 1 Items; Characters p. 289
Petbot; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 41
The fleshy/furry dog comes with a little saddlebag. It can carry 25 lbs without slowing below a pony's normal speed.
The robot mule can carry 80 lbs, but it's a wheeled robot.

Close Assault Weapon 18.5mmPC; 6.6 lbs; Ultra p. 138
Accessory Rails; 0.13 lbs; 4 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 150
Enhanced Target Scope; 1.3 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 149
Laser Sight (Ultraviolet) (Integrated); 0 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 149
Diagnostic Computer (Smartgun) (Integrated); 0 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 149
Tiny Computer (Smartgun) (Integrated); 0 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 22
Radio Communicator (Smartgun) (Integrated); 0 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 44
Cable Jack; 0 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 42
Grenade Launcher (40mm) 2.33 lbs; 3 Items; Basic p. 281
Total Weight: 15.53
Total Weight w/o Grenade Launchers: 8.53
The weapons quality adds +2 acc
The scope is +3 aim
The laser sight adds +3 to skill within the first half of the weapons range (must be using the goggles.)
the weapon has 4 rails (Brazen's current weapon loadout: Target Scope; Grenade Launcher x3) (Remove a launcher when using the weapon harness.)


Explosives (Demolition) (C7) (Fine) Ultra-Tech p. 25
Soldier (C7) (Fine) Ultra-Tech p. 25
+2 to using these skills while running the programs.

Everyone's computers should be able to run every program at once.

Silhouette (C5) Ultra-Tech p. 149
TacNet (C6) Ultra-Tech p. 149
Targeting (C4) Ultra-Tech p. 149
Target Tracking (C4) (x100) Ultra-Tech p. 150
You'll probably have to look these up.

Silhouette drags up info on the targets based on whatever database the gm says we have access to

TacNet is turned off by default (it requires a wireless connection), but provides a +2 tactics for working as a team while turned on.

Targeting gives +2 weapon skill while using a weapon while hud'd

Target Tracking allows the user to tag/track up to 1000 targets at a time.

[D.KnightSpider]

Sniper Scope acknowledged Barrel Roll, logged out of the system and then dismissed her. He needed to do some coordination without any prying eyes or ears lurking about.

Once he was certain that she was gone, he fired up his HUD again.

First another text message to Star Chaser: "I need to run up my tab some more. Can you get summary information on Sergeants Sarge, Looper and Barrel Roll. I need to verify some stories. Thanks." That way no one could eavesdrop on his request.

That done... Odd. He should have heard something from some pony by now. He double-checked his system and then decided to ping them again.

This time he went with a conference call. He dialed Love, Rose and Brazen. Since he could walk and talk at the same time, Sniper opted to head back towards the main computer system.

[DigoDragon]

Rose checked her phone. From Sniper? Instead of answering, Rose texts him, 'what's up?'

[Miltonian]

A message from Star Chaser suddenly arrives on everypony's phone. "Sorry I've been out of contact, everypony. Been a bit busy. Sooooo. Minor problem. My parents won an all-expense paid vacation for two to the Marehamas and they're taking it. Which means my brother, Caps Lock, doesn't have anyone authorized to supervise him left in Canterlot. Soooo guess who's being saddled with taking care of him? If you guess 'me', then you would totally be right." A second one arrives right after it. "Sweet Celestia, I'm so screwed..."

[DigoDragon]

'If you need to go, we'll understand,' Rose texts back. 'Promise to bring you back some dessert.'

[Miltonian]

"Leave? Oh, oh no, no, no. He arrives in ten minutes," Star Chaser says, "I, uh, already told Song Weaver that we'd be having another guest and to make sure his room is as foal-proof as possible."

Caps Lock is a pony who gained some infamy in Canterlot when it was revealed that the thirty-day prank war between Celestia, Luna, and Cadence that terrorized the palace staff and many of the visitors started because of his 'masterful and devious' plot. He was so incorrigible that Celestia assigned several officials to keeping a list of all the things he wasn't allowed to do. Of course, all laws had to be approved by the Assembly, but given the other pranks he started to pull on them, the list has made history for being the most-voted on piece of legislature ever. Almost every week, the Assembly takes an hour to vote through whatever amendments the officials suggest. Now spanning several pages, the list of "Things Caps Lock is not Allowed to Do in Canterlot" is part of every Canterlot Royal Guard member's training.

[DigoDragon]

'Ah. I see... well, we got this together. We'll figure something out.' Rose sends the text and keeps moving on her way to the barracks. Buh, living in this castle feels kinda lonely.

[Elbeyon]

This time he went with a conference call. He dialed Love, Rose and Brazen. Since he could walk and talk at the same time, Sniper opted to head back towards the main computer system.Love answers the call while digging in the box.

"Hey, Scope. What's up?"


A message from Star Chaser suddenly arrives on everypony's phone. "Sorry I've been out of contact, everypony. Been a bit busy. Sooooo. Minor problem. My parents won an all-expense paid vacation for two to the Marehamas and they're taking it. Which means my brother, Caps Lock, doesn't have anyone authorized to supervise him left in Canterlot. Soooo guess who's being saddled with taking care of him? If you guess 'me', then you would totally be right." A second one arrives right after it. "Sweet Celestia, I'm so screwed..."

"Leave? Oh, oh no, no, no. He arrives in ten minutes," Star Chaser says, "I, uh, already told Song Weaver that we'd be having another guest and to make sure his room is as foal-proof as possible."

That's not good news. She could probably send a scoutbot with Sunshine. Wait, he's coming here?! That's even worse news!

Love jokingly says, "May Luna bless us all."

When Love gets a second she'll write up a few lines of code to flip that admin connection off. That way she doesn't have to walk the squad through the motions. Ugh. Tech support. The horror!

Comms "Patch"
[roll0] vs 15 (Computer Programming p. 184) + 2 Software Tool ((Computer Programming) Ultra p. 25) +/- Other(s)

[Miltonian]

"I'm going to...I'm going to go mentally prepare for this," Star Chaser texts back, "I'll be in my room, enjoying the last bit of peace I'll have for a long time."

True to her predictions, Love easily shuts off the admin connection. Probably, it was used for troubleshooting and Twilight forgot to remove it entirely. Probably.

Rose has a pretty easy time finding the barracks and arrives to find the whole team (sans Star Chaser) is already there. It's a reunion of sorts!

[userpay]

"Well enough. Place seems buttoned up tight from the outside though ah'm ah mite worried about aerial attacks. Ah assume they've got something for that but weren't able to talk to anypony about it since we were outside. Happy is around as well if we need ah physical message sent." He tilts his head. "Present?" Then as the drone arrives and Love starts pulling stuff out the earth pony's jaw drops.

"Wha- What's all this now?" As Love pulls things out Brazen starts to sort it into piles. Getting more and more confused as the piles mount. Then several messages come through. "Yes Sniper?" Brazen answers the call on his own unit before it pings with the message from Star Chaser. 'Wait what? Don't they realize we're on a mission right now?' Well if Caps Lock lived up to their reputation then there was their enemy within one could say...

[Elbeyon]

"Wha- What's all this now?" As Love pulls things out Brazen starts to sort it into piles. Getting more and more confused as the piles mount.Love catches him with the fanciful scope and snatches it out of one of the piles. "Woops! That's Scope's! Uh, here." She moves over to Scope's loot box and switches out the scopes. Giving Brazen a still nice one, but not as nice scope. "It's your early hearth's warming gift! I was going to give it to you in you're room, but the mission got started so quickly. I didn't have a chance." She points to the gift wrapping that she tore through to get the bot's crate open. "Ops. You were suppose to open it..." She starts pulling the wrapping up around it again. "Just a moment." She starts pushing the dog back into the box.

[D.KnightSpider]

Seeing Rose return, Sniper disconnected the conference call. The entire thing had been a fiasco from start to finish anyway. With the entire team assembled, a conference call was pointless.

Now that his preoccupation with tactics and infiltration was over, it was time to play catch up. He began digging through the shared reports and intel, pausing only briefly to send Star a message of good luck. Caps Lock. Maybe... If anyone could terrorize Caps Lock into submission it was... Nah. That was a pipe dream and a half. They hadn't spoken in years.

"The castle does have some anti-aircraft batteries in place." He reminded Brazen. "Truth be told, it's sealed up... tighter... than..."

His voice trailed off as he reviewed the information about the three voices in the line. A cold feeling was building in the pit of his stomach. Maybe this was something. Maybe it was nothing. Either way, he didn't like it at all. It was too morbid to consider.

"Love, is it possible to load an advanced AI into a cybernetic body?"

[Elbeyon]

"Love, is it possible to load an advanced AI into a cybernetic body?"Love puts her hoof to her chin. "That's a really open ended question. It could be done lots of ways. Some more probably to succeed than others. I'd have to ask what's the point? Wouldn't it be cheaper to put an AI in a robot body? I guess, a pony could have their brain replaced with a computer. My lovebots don't have brains. They have computers instead. A computer controlling a body though? I guess... My body is pretty close to flesh and blood. It could technically be possible to jump the gap."

[userpay]

Love's swap out leaves Brazen blinking but he still grins widely. A hoof moving to open his helmet faceplate then reaching over to give Love a tight hug, pulling her back from trying to shove the drone. "Well shoot, ya didn't have to go and do all this." The pricetag of this equipment has a small part of Brazen's mind reeling yet inspecting his new shotgun was an easy distraction to give into. Examining the crisp lines and testing its heft and feeling like a foal again. He gives a wave when Sniper and Rose enter the room. "Anti air batteries are nice and all but what sort of protection does the landin pad itself have? Our ship is ah sitting duck up there unless they got ah dome or somesuch we can't see up there."

[Elbeyon]

Love's swap out leaves Brazen blinking but he still grins widely. A hoof moving to open his helmet faceplate then reaching over to give Love a tight hug, pulling her back from trying to shove the drone. "Well shoot, ya didn't have to go and do all this." The pricetag of this equipment has a small part of Brazen's mind reeling yet inspecting his new shotgun was an easy distraction to give into. Examining the crisp lines and testing its heft and feeling like a foal again. He gives a wave when Sniper and Rose enter the room. "Anti air batteries are nice and all but what sort of protection does the landin pad itself have? Our ship is ah sitting duck up there unless they got ah dome or somesuch we can't see up there."

Focused on wrapping, Love let's out a, "oof" when she's caught off guard by the hug. She hugs Brazen back while smiling and resting her head on his metal helmet. "Oh, it was nothing. Last mission left me a bit scared so I did what I could to better prepare us for whatever swings our way. Don't worry. I'll get everypony a real hearth's warming present. This is just a little something to show I care." She'll let him break the hug then she'll look over to the other squad members.

Love points two times in a row at the other team's mule robots. "I got one for each of you."

Love rubs her mane. "Sorry, Happy. I didn't know. And, you're not a combat pony so just try to stay out of trouble? She chuckles. "Well, the bad sort of trouble." She sticks her tongue out. "I'll get you something next time. In the meantime! Apology hug!" Love starts chasing after Happy to give her a hug.

Cable Jack; 0 lbs; 5 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 42
Computer (C8); 0.25 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 22
Contacts (Night Vision); 0 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 60
Dagger (Knife); 0.17 lbs; 1 Items; Characters p. 272
Gear (Web); 1.33 lbs; 1 Items; Characters p. 289
Goggles (Hyperspectral); 0.40 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 61
Radio Communicator; 0 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 44 (Preset ranges: 0 yards (default), 1 yard, 200 yards)
Saddlebags; 2 lbs; Characters p. 289
Transponder Ring; 0 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 150
Total Weight: 6.15
Nothing different from Brazen's)

Cuffs (Heavy-Duty Electronic); 0.33 lbs; 6 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 107
Grenade Launcher (40mm) (Very Fine); 2.33 lbs; 2 Items; Basic p. 281
Gyrostabilized Weapon Harness (Electrolaser Carbine); 0.89 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 151
Gyrostabilized Weapon Harness (Laser Sniper Rifle); 8.89 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 150
Kit (Disguise) (Fine); 6.67 lbs; 1 Items; Basic p. 289
Kit (Electronic "Lockpicks") (Fine); 2 lbs; 1 Items; Basic p. 289
Kit (First Aid) (Fine); 1.33 lbs; 1 Item; Ultra-Tech p. 198
Kit (Lockpicks) (Fine); 0 lbs; 1 Item; Basic p. 289
Total Weight: 26.44
The cuffs are in the same ratios you had.
The tools give a +2 bonus to the skill when used.

Petbot; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 41
Robot Mule; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 79
Saddlebags; 1 Items; Characters p. 289
Nothing new here. Check Brazen's

1Laser Sniper Rifle (Very Fine); 13.33 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 116
Accessory Rails; 0.13 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 150
Cable Jack; 0 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 42
Diagnostic Computer (Smartgun) (Fine); 0 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 149
Enhanced Target Scope (Very Fine); 1.33 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 149
Laser Sight (Ultraviolet) (Smartgun) (Fine); 0 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 149
Power Cell (E) (Flexiable) (250/250); 0 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 19


Weapon
Damage
Acc
Range
Weight
RoF
Shots
ST
Bulk
Rcl
Notes


Laser Sniper Rifle
5d(2) burn
14+5
1,100/3,300
14.8
3
250(*)
6** or 10
0** or -8
1
3


*Love Jury-Rigged the battery. Do not attempt to remove the battery.
**Gyrostabilized Weapon Harness Equipped

Other Notes:
+3 Skill to attack when within half-damage range (requires goggles)
+3 Skill to fix weapon

1Electrolaser Carbine (Very Fine); 1.33 lbs; 1 Items; Characters p. 279
Accessory Rails; 0.13 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 150
Cable Jack; 0 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 42
Diagnostic Computer (Smartgun) (Fine); 0 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 149
Enhanced Target Scope; 1.33 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 149
Laser Sight (Ultraviolet) (Smartgun) (Fine); 0 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 149
Power Cell (D) (Flexiable) (180/180); 0 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 19


Weapon
Damage
Acc
Range
Weight
RoF
Shots
ST
Bulk
Rcl
Notes


Electrolaser Carbine
1d-3 burn + HT-4(2) aff
10+3
160/470
2.80
3
180(*)
2** or 4
0** or -4
1
1, 2, 3


*Love Jury-Rigged the battery. Do not attempt to remove the battery.
**Gyrostabilized Weapon Harness Equipped

Other Notes:
+3 Skill to attack when within half-damage range (requires goggles)
+3 Skill to fix weapon

Explosives (Demolition) (C7) Ultra-Tech p. 25
First Aid (C6) Ultra-Tech p. 32
Games (Board) (C7) Ultra-Tech p. 26
Intelligence Analysis (C7) Ultra-Tech p. 30
Lockpicking (C7) (Fine) Ultra-Tech p. 31
Meteorology (Earthlike) (C7) Ultra-Tech p. 27
Software Tool, Soldier (C7) Ultra-Tech p. 25
Tactics (C7) (Fine) Ultra-Tech p. 28
Writing (C7) (Fine) Ultra-Tech p. 29
Silhouette (C5) Ultra-Tech p. 149
TacNet (C6) Ultra-Tech p. 149
Targeting (C4) Ultra-Tech p. 149
Target Tracking (C4) (x100) Ultra-Tech p. 150
If it's a skill software it gives +2 in that skill

Tactical programs do there own thing.
Look at brazen's & the books.
Targeting gives +2 to the gun skill

Saddlebags; 2 lbs; 2 Items; Characters p. 289
Cable Jack; 0 lbs; 5 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 42
Computer (C8); 0.25 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 22
Contacts (Night Vision); 0 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 60
Dagger (Knife); 0.17 lbs; 1 Items; Characters p. 272
Gear (Web) (Expensive); 1.33 lbs; 1 Items; Characters p. 289
Goggles (Hyperspectral); 0.4 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 61
Magazine (Assault Carbine (5.56)); 0.67 lbs; 2 Items; Characters p. 278
Magazine (Auto Pistol (9mm)); 0.47 lbs; 2 Items; Characters p. 278
Radio Communicator; 0 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 44 (Turned off by default)
Transponder Ring; 0 lbs; 1; Ultra-Tech p. 150
Total Weight: 8.42

Diagnostic Sensors; 0.33 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 197
Gyrostabilized Weapon Harness (Assault Carbine (5.56mm); 3.24 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 150
Kit (First Aid) (Fine); 1.33 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 198
Kit (Mini) (Mechnaic (Robotics)) (Fine); 2.67 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 82
Kit (Surgical Equpment) (Fine); 10 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 199
Physician's Equipment (Good); 3.33 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 199
Total Weight: 20.91
Diagnostic Sensors: +2 Diagnosis
Kit (First Aid) (Good): +2 First Aid skill
Kit (Mini) (Mechnaic (Robotics)) (Fine): +0 Mechanic (Robots) or -2 Mechanic (Other)
Kit (Surgical Equpment) (Fine): +2 Surgery
Physician's Equipment (Good): +2 to Physician skill;


Petbot (TL 10); Ultra-Tech p. 41
Robot Mule; Ultra-Tech p. 79
Saddlebags; Characters p. 289
The dog can carry 25 lbs
The mule 80, but it's wheeled

1Assault Carbine (5.56mm) (Very Fine); 4.87 lbs; 1 Items; Characters p. 279
Accessory Rails; 0.13 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 150
Cable Jack; 0 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 42
Diagnostic Computer (Smartgun) (Fine); 0 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 149
Enhanced Target Scope; 1.33 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 149
Laser Sight (Ultraviolet) (Smartgun) (Fine); 0 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 149
Total weight: 6.33


Weapon
Damage
Acc
Range
Weight
RoF
Shots
ST
Bulk
Rcl
Notes


Assault Carbine, 5.56mm
4d+2 pi
6+3
400/3,000
6.33
15*
30+1(3)
6** or 9
0** or -3
2
1


*I'm sure the dm would let you lower your RoF again.
**Gyrostabilized Weapon Harness Equipped

Other Notes:
+3 Skill to attack when within half-damage range (requires goggles)
+3 Skill to fix weapon


1Auto Pistol (9mm) (Very Fine) 1.33 lbs; 1 Items; Characters p. 278
Cable Jack; 0 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 42
Diagnostic Computer (Smartgun) (Fine); 0 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 149
Enhanced Target Scope; 1.33 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 149
Laser Sight (Ultraviolet) (Smartgun) (Fine); 0 lbs; 1 Items; Ultra-Tech p. 149
Total Weight: 2.67


Weapon
Damage
Acc
Range
Weight
RoF
Shots
ST
Bulk
Rcl
Notes


Auto Pistol, 9mm
2d+2 pi
4+3
150/1,900
2.67
3
18+1(3)
9
-2
2
1



Other Notes:
+3 Skill to attack when within half-damage range (requires goggles)
+3 Skill to fix weapon

Software Tool, Computer Operation (C6) Ultra-Tech p. 25
Software Tool, Crewman (Airshipman) (C6) Ultra-Tech p. 25
Software Tool, Diagnosis (C7) Ultra-Tech p. 25
Software Tool, Electronics Operation (Medical) (C7) Ultra-Tech p. 25
Software Tool, First Aid (C6) Ultra-Tech p. 25
Software Tool, Mechanical (Robotics) (C7) Ultra-Tech p. 25
Software Tool, Pharmacy (Synthetic) (C7) Ultra-Tech p. 25
Software Tool, Physician (C7) Ultra-Tech p. 25
Software Tool, Physiology (Pony) (C7) Ultra-Tech p. 25
Software Tool, Soldier (C7) (Fine) Ultra-Tech p. 25
Software Tool, Surgery (C7) (Fine) Ultra-Tech p. 25
Software Tools give +2 to the named skill

Silhouette (C5) Ultra-Tech p. 149
TacNet (C6) Ultra-Tech p. 149
Targeting (C4) Ultra-Tech p. 149
Target Tracking (C4) (x100) Ultra-Tech p. 150
They do stuff. >. >

Target gives +2 to gun skill w/ a hud (which is included in the goggles)

[DigoDragon]

"Uh... so, can someone fill me in on what I missed here? What are doing?" Rose asks, looking at the boxes of stuff.

[Elbeyon]

Love stops the chase for a moment, fully intending to start again.

"Your comms are safe. They got accessed by admin - twilight. I'll send you a patch soon."

"I wanted to give everyone gifts before the mission started, but it all happened so fast. Since Brazen and Scope where here I had the bots come to us. The containers yours to keep, the robot mule." Love gives a big smile. "Go ahead! It's your stuff now. If you have any questions about anything just ask. I hope you like it."

[DigoDragon]

Rose seems a little confused, but she walks over to open her box. "Is it Hearthswarming already? Had I known, I would have gotten you something too."

She pulls out the little computer and plays with it. "Oooh, I've needed one of these. I can finally..."

[Elbeyon]

"Just make it twice as awesome on hearth's warming and we're even." Smile maintaining.

"Rose," Love asks concerned?

[DigoDragon]

"Rose," Love asks concerned?

Rose puts the computer down to give Love a big, snuggly hug of appreciation. "You're the bestest, Love!!"

[Elbeyon]

Rose puts the computer down to give Love a big, snuggly hug of appreciation. "You're the bestest, Love!!"Love opens her arms wide to accept the hug. She nuzzles her cheek against Rose, her own cheeks flushing red. Her heart beating fast. "Alright, we're even, already. I know I already got you a dog; however, this one's a work dog." She nuzzles her cheek some more. "I am pretty best though. What got you so happy? Any item in particular?."

[D.KnightSpider]

With everyone so excited about Love's party favors, Sniper decided to let the serious discussion drop. Love had really gone all out with their gear. It was an impressive selection, most of it better than anything he'd ever seen. He'd have to sort through his stuff en route.

It felt... odd... receiving a gift of this magnitude. It was far and above anything he would ever be able to afford. He asked himself not to retreat from the sensation. This was a part of relationships, right? He'd have to learn to accept that if he was going to live under more 'approachable' circumstances.

"Love, I... don't know what to say here. This is amazing. Thank you." He made a note to figure out some means of expressing himself properly.

Then the hugging started. Seeing Love and Rose snuggling told him it was time to go before something slipped. From the looks of things, Love was still infatuated and he didn't want to let anything slip.

Another new emotion surfaced. Sadness. He found himself not wanting to leave, but he knew that he had to. This wasn't his world just yet.

"One of us ought to make sure that Caps Lock doesn't abuse Star Chaser and Song Weaver too much. I'll go make sure that situation is handled and then try to talk to the Princess."

He didn't know why any pony would want to put an AI in a cybernetic body. All he had were vague implications and coincidents-- none of which he particularly liked. Answers would have to be had.

Sniper looked at the 'pack mule', uncertain what to do with the thing or how it worked.

"Right. You're coming with me."

[DigoDragon]

She nuzzles her cheek some more. "I am pretty best though. What got you so happy? Any item in particular?."

Rose is starting to blush, and she slowly lets go of the hug to show Love the computer. "Should be obvious why i'm happy, but if you're curious for specifics, I really needed a computer. Typing on a smartphone is annoying. Screen's so small."

She notices Sniper leaving and raises a hoof. "Do we have orders? Or are we just..? I haven't really met any of the guards except the one at the front, so I'm not sure if I should be posted somewhere."

[Elbeyon]

"Love, I... don't know what to say here. This is amazing. Thank you." He made a note to figure out some means of expressing himself properly.

"One of us ought to make sure that Caps Lock doesn't abuse Star Chaser and Song Weaver too much. I'll go make sure that situation is handled and then try to talk to the Princess."

"Right. You're coming with me.""Don't worry about it Super Scope. Consider it a thank you for our night together." She'll flash him a smile and hold her own hoof (instead of his). Which standing up almost looks like a bow.

She'll wave him goodbye. "Good luck!" Eh, she should probably be the one going to greet Sunshine and him, but Cap Locks sounds like a handful and she has a lot of work to do still.

Love got it to her by remote so it has to have it's wi-fi turned on. It'll follow him by voice (but love would suggest turning that feature off. She suggests that he use the physical inputs and push the "follow" button.


Rose is starting to blush, and she slowly lets go of the hug to show Love the computer. "Should be obvious why i'm happy, but if you're curious for specifics, I really needed a computer. Typing on a smartphone is annoying. Screen's so small."

She notices Sniper leaving and raises a hoof. "Do we have orders? Or are we just..? I haven't really met any of the guards except the one at the front, so I'm not sure if I should be posted somewhere.""Oh that! Well, you should turn it on sometime." She chuckles.

"You could always go talk to twilight. She was the reason your comms messed up - I'll get that patch any minute. The hacker was three dead ponies it turned out. Scary stuff."

I didn't buy rose a terminal at all... > .> Let me fix that really quick... if that's alright.

ex-post

Uh oh! Rose still hasn't seen the terminal. It's totally a datapad/smartphone plus hud'd goggles. Love starts backing away and toward a gift box. "Right." She hunches over behind one of the boxes and removes her laptop from her saddlebag. Popping up, she says, "Ta da! Here it is." It's totally her laptop, covered in sweet stickers.

[Miltonian]

As everypony fawns over Love and explores their gift-boxes, Sniper heads to the front door. Only a short wait lies before him, and then a single taxi pulls up in front of the palace. The driver kicks a teenage colt out the door and tosses his suitcase out afterwards. "And stay out, you!" He peels off and leaves behind a cloud of dust.

"Hey wait!" The colt scrambles to his hooves and holds up a few bits. "You forgot your...Oh well, more for me." He plops them inside his pocket and turns around. "Swanky," he says, looking the palace over, "Crystal-ly too." He picks up his bag in his mouth and trots toward the door, stopping in front of Sniper Scope. "Herro! MM Chsaccps 'Och." He spits the handle out of his mouth. "Hello! I'm Caps Lock." He gives Sniper a winning smile that is a little too wide. His voice has a slight, high-pitched edge to it that seems perfectly designed to get on a pony’s nerves. The word ‘lol’ is emblazoned on both of his steel-grey flanks. This is definitely Caps Lock.

His eyes fall on the guards. Suddenly, Sniper is no longer the most interesting thing in the area. He runs up to the first. “Hey! What’s your opinion on the recent tragedy in Canterlot?” The guard stares at him.

“There...there was a tragedy in Canterlot?”

“Pfft. Darned if I know! I just wanted your opinion on it.”

Star Chaser peeks out from the door and groans when she sees him. His grin widens, if that is possible. “Hey sis!” he gallops towards her. She pastes a smile on her face.

“Hey...Caps. Nice to see you,” she says with the most sincerity she can muster.

“Star, Star, Star,” he says in mock dismay, “You can go to Tartarus for lying just like you can for stealing. Speaking of stealing, I got you this.” He pulls out a snowglobe and pushes it into her grasp. “Saw it in a gift shop and thought of you.”

The snowglobe shows a mare skiing down a mountain side with the words, “Happy Hearthswarming” on the side. Sniper doesn’t know why, but Star seems a bit distraught by it.

[DigoDragon]

"You could always go talk to twilight. She was the reason your comms messed up - I'll get that patch any minute. The hacker was three dead ponies it turned out. Scary stuff."

I didn't buy rose a terminal at all... > .> Let me fix that really quick... if that's alright.

ex-post

Uh oh! Rose still hasn't seen the terminal. It's totally a datapad/smartphone plus hud'd goggles. Love starts backing away and toward a gift box. "Right." She hunches over behind one of the boxes and removes her laptop from her saddlebag. Popping up, she says, "Ta da! Here it is." It's totally her laptop, covered in sweet stickers.

"Wait, what? Dead ponies? Like, actual cadavers are around?" Rose asks. Her ears are not standing up with concern.

Did I read the loot list wrong? I thought the third thing on the list was "computer".

[D.KnightSpider]

Throughout the walk and wait (and upon figuring out the controls for the mule) Sniper wrote one more message to the team outlining his concerns.


- The three ponies appearance and disappearance concluded with the firewall beach.
- They made reference to acting the way that they were 'supposed to be' indicating that they were acting according to design perameters.
- They made reference to 'being dead'.
- Each possessed a different personality.
- There were three advanced cybernetic bodies in the lab.
- Perhaps they were advanced AI personalities constructed around Twilight's past acquaintances?


He sent the note to the rest of the team.

When Caps Lock appeared, all Sniper could think was that he'd gotten himself in far, far over his head. He could see how CL had developed his reputation and this was just in the first few minutes.

But he was here and Star clearly needed a hoof. He set his shoulders and dialed up all of the patience he could muster. Hopefully, none of his patented crazy ideas surfaced. He had his hooves full as it was.

Sniper moved forward and interjected himself into the conversation.

"Caps Lock," He said to draw the other's attention. "I'm Sniper Scope. Star Chaser told us a lot about you. All of it deserved, apparently."


Body Language
[roll0] VS 13

Preparing for the dice to side with Caps Lock in 3... 2... 1...

[userpay]

"Well we gotta talk to Twilight about that breach. Can't be having it happen again or least we need to beable to come up with countermeasures." The mention of dead ponies makes Brazen whip his head around. "Dead... What? Ah don't think Twilight would be one to mess with that sort ah thing... Though mayhaps that be a lead on why Wrath is targeting Twilight." Brazen sets about sending a message to Twilight asking to speak with her about the... Breach and her project.

[DigoDragon]

- The three ponies appearance and disappearance concluded with the firewall beach.
- They made reference to acting the way that they were 'supposed to be' indicating that they were acting according to design perameters.
- They made reference to 'being dead'.
- Each possessed a different personality.
- There were three advanced cybernetic bodies in the lab.
- Perhaps they were advanced AI personalities constructed around Twilight's past acquaintances?


"Well we gotta talk to Twilight about that breach. Can't be having it happen again or least we need to beable to come up with countermeasures." The mention of dead ponies makes Brazen whip his head around. "Dead... What? Ah don't think Twilight would be one to mess with that sort ah thing... Though mayhaps that be a lead on why Wrath is targeting Twilight." Brazen sets about sending a message to Twilight asking to speak with her about the... Breach and her project.

"Stars and moon, I was in the kitchen for one quick sandwich and we're already dealing with three ghosts in the machine?" Rose asks. "Does this have anything to do with the death threat?"

[Miltonian]

Caps Lock looks back at Sniper and grins. “Nice to make your acquaintance, tall, dark, and handsome! Anyone told you that you’ve got killer eyes? Has my sister fallen for you yet?” Star Chaser makes a strangled choking sound. Caps Lock’s grin spreads wider, to almost manic width. “Say, you wouldn’t happen to have a younger brother, would you Mr. Sniper? Somepony my age who shares your sleek feathers and drop-dead mane?”

“We are on duty, you know,” Star Chaser says, “And you’re already violating the List. Don’t make me have them throw you in jail again.”

Caps Lock laughs. “Oh my poor, naive sister. They threw me out jail. And besides.” A gleam enters his eye. “The list is called ‘Things Caps Lock is not allowed to do in Canterlot. We’re in Ponyville.”

Star Chaser takes a step back, pupils shrunk to the size of pinpricks.


Love receives a text from Barrel Roll. “Here’s all our contact information and some of the guards’ too, just in case. The three of us will be joining the guards at the palace entrances, since the command room is officially yours for now. Don’t get coffee stains on the carpet or, rank or no rank, I’ll knock you flat.”

[Elbeyon]

"Well we gotta talk to Twilight about that breach. Can't be having it happen again or least we need to beable to come up with countermeasures." The mention of dead ponies makes Brazen whip his head around. "Dead... What? Ah don't think Twilight would be one to mess with that sort ah thing... Though mayhaps that be a lead on why Wrath is targeting Twilight." Brazen sets about sending a message to Twilight asking to speak with her about the... Breach and her project."If it... they" Love says questioningly? "can breach the firewall they can do it again. The first time is the hardest. It'll get easier and easier from here on out for them."

Love will share the audio file. She nods in the affirmative. "It could be the reason. I'm not sure what to think of our admin friends here. Are they just a couple prankers or something more serous. Well, Good luck with your chat!"


"Stars and moon, I was in the kitchen for one quick sandwich and we're already dealing with three ghosts in the machine?" Rose asks. "Does this have anything to do with the death threat?"

Love chuckles at the sandwich eating maniac. Course, Rose got a snack while she was there. Her own stomach grumbles in hunger. She could really have gone for those hayburgers.

"Maybe? We only have the admin user's word on it. Dang, I should have asked for names. That's not the best source. They claim to be something they shouldn't. It's a tall order to drink that glass of cider."

"I'm not sure. Brazen might be right. It could be related. Twilight might have some answers."

[DigoDragon]

"I'll drink that cider," Rose said, accepting the challenge. Though, she might of only said that because it's a consumable and she's Rose. "I'll go check on Twilight and see what she might know of our... um... three ghosts."

Rose texts Sniper that she is off to see Twi. If he has Qs, send them over.

And away rose goes, walking off to find Twilight. Probably at her lab?

[Miltonian]

Twilight does not respond to Brazen's message and when Rose arrives at the lab, instead of her soft, friendly voice, a much deeper, male one answers through the door. "Lab's closed right now," he says, not hostile but definitely firm and unyielding, "Sorry for the trouble. Go, uh, play a game or something like that. We have a VR set up down in the Rec Room and I can personally vouch that it is pretty sweet. So, yeah, go do that."

The door is, unfortunately, locked and would take Love going up against whatever defenses are on it to make it open. Or the person on the other side opening it up.

[Elbeyon]

"I'll drink that cider," Rose said, accepting the challenge. Though, she might of only said that because it's a consumable and she's Rose. "I'll go check on Twilight and see what she might know of our... um... three ghosts."

Rose texts Sniper that she is off to see Twi. If he has Qs, send them over.

And away rose goes, walking off to find Twilight. Probably at her lab?Love shouts after her, "Everyone's suit comms are leaking. There isn't anything special about yours! I'll get you that patch in a jiffy!" She sits right where she is and starts typing up the few lines of code.

She peaks at her message and slides it off her hud.

[DigoDragon]

Okay, don't use the comm. Was her phone okay with texting? It was all she had. Well, best to be vague when possible.

Rose shouts to whoever is on the other side of the door. "I wanted to ask Twilight a few questions about security here. Can she spare a minute?"

[Miltonian]

For a moment, all is silent. Then, the voice shouts, "Hey Twilight! Can you spare a minute? These ponies want to see you."

"No, Spike! I'm busy right now!" Twilight shouts back, sounding like she's in a near panic.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes! Yes. Everything is under control."

"But--"

"EVERYTHING is under control!" Twilight snaps.

"Sheesh. Alright, fine. No need to go all cranky-Twi on me."

"I am not cranky! I'm stressed. There's a difference!"

The voice on the other side sighs. "Yeah, she's not available right now."

[D.KnightSpider]

Sniper gave Caps Lock a flat look. Mostly because the questions bored him. That was it?

"Yes. No. No. No."

He gave Star Chaser a reassuring look. He'd get her through this. He didn't quite know how. But he would. Given the overall level of alert and situation, he figured that if push came to shove, he could get away with some drastic measures if necessary.

His headset alerted him to Rose's message. He sent back a response: Will ask about C personally. Need information/copies of other letters. Timing important.

[Elbeyon]

Love sends off her comm patch to everyone. She'll patch her own suit, but she sees if she can go about setting up a communication with the channel she just axed on her phone. If these three pop up again, she wants to be able to talk to them.

[DigoDragon]

The voice on the other side sighs. "Yeah, she's not available right now."

"So it would seem. Alright, just let her know we had a call from a suspect. Love's looking into it."

Spike? Was this the dragon Spike? Oooh, interesting. Well, best not to be a bother. Rose walks her way back to Love.

[Miltonian]

While Caps Lock's words don't seem to be having much of an effect on Sniper, they seem to be having a much greater effect on their intended target: Star Chaser. She falls into a sitting position. "I need a cider. Several. Hard ones."

"I know where you can get some!" Caps Lock offers. Star Chaser does not take the bait. He pouts a little. "Aw come on, sis! Sunbutt told me that this was an opportunity to prove that I could be responsible and trusted with a little more freedom. I'll be on my best behavior, honest."

Star Chaser's face darkens. "Honest?" she says, "You? Honest? Ha! I'll believe it when I see it."

Caps Lock clears his throat. "Come on. Give me a chance."

"You already used it."

Caps Lock blinks and tilts his head. "Huh?"

Star Chaser rolls her eyes and turns. "Come on. Let's get you settled in, since I'm stuck with you."

"O...kay..." Caps Lock follows, subdued. Star Chaser looks back and nods to Sniper, a small, grateful smile on her lips.

[D.KnightSpider]

Sniper passed Star Chaser a salute in return. He had the vibe that he wasn't needed from here on out, but at least Star knew he had her back.

'Sunbutt'? Who in their right mind would name-- oh. Well. Right then. Moving on.

He mulled over his options. There weren't many. Rose should have made it to Twilight by now. Love and Brazen were likewise occupied. So... He should probably do something with the excess equipment Like had provided. He'd make a quick trip to his room to stash it and then get an update from the others. Maybe they would have a lead by then.

He collected Mule and set off toward his destination.

Four steps later he realized just what Caps Lock had been insinuating. He immediately felt sick.

[Miltonian]

The team reconvenes with Love and shares the information they have gathered between themselves. Once everypony is caught up, several questions remain. First, what to do with the Firebird, as it is the most exposed piece of equipment in the palace. Two, how to get in to talk with Twilight. And three, Caps Lock.

Every so often, the guards at the gate radio in to report comings and going from the palace. Things like, "Cherry Berry and her foals are here to visit the museum wing." It's a pretty tight system, if a bit boring. The greatest threat seems to be that the guards might relax their vigilance after a few days of being on heightened alert. Days that the letter's sender could spend eating ice cream and sitting in the park, for all they knew.

As they are talking, Star Chaser slips inside. "Caps Lock is settled in," she says, "He promised he'd be on his best behavior. We'll see how far that goes." With a huff, she sinks down into a chair.

[DigoDragon]

"Alright, so castles don't come with garages," Rose says. She slowly rotates her chair left and right. "Not sure how we protect the Firebird other than just moving it to a place it can be stowed away."

[userpay]

(at Twilight's door)
Brazen ***** an eyebrow at Twilight's somewhat panicky exchange with Spike. "Why do ah got the feelin this internal problem is ah good bit bigger than what we're led to think? Just... When things are under control we'd like to talk to her about three little hackers that we be thinking she's involved with. An maybe consider allowin some help if it's tech related. Love might be of some assistance."

----------------------------
(later on with the others)
"Ah still don't get why they sent him along this way, they don't think the threat is real?" Brazen shrugs his shoulders towards Star Chaser. "If he steps outa line ah can see about havin a chat with him. As to the Firebird... Ah don't know. Mayhaps another thing to ask Twilight about?"

[D.KnightSpider]

"That depends which trade off you want to take." As he spoke, Sniper pulled up his HUD notes and began looking them over. "The more secure we make the Firebird, the harder it will be to evacuate quickly if need be."

There had to be some middle of the road option. He just wasn't certain what.

Insofar as Caps Lock went, Sniper was reasonably sure that they could put together a solitary confinement cell is absolutely necessary. But he definitely wasn't going to verbalize that thought just yet.

A thought struck him: "Did any pony think to tell Song Weaver she has authority to deny any of Caps' requests? That should probably be her default position."

((OoC: Elbeyon, I'll get you a write up of Sniper meeting Robo Dog later. Probably tomorrow. Things are very crazy at the moment.))

[DigoDragon]

"So how do we get to Twilight in order to ask these questions? We might have to consider other options here to do without her."

[Miltonian]

Star Chaser seizes Brazen’s hoof. “Why wait?” she says eagerly, “Come on! He’s right downstairs.”

She composes herself and answers the more serious question. “Personally, I’d prefer a reinforced concrete garage with magical force fields on every nook and cranny, buuut I do realize how impractical that would be. But I don’t feel right leaving her exposed like that.” She sighs.

At the mention of Song, Star Chaser goes white. “N-no. It didn’t cross my...excuse me one moment.” She takes to the air and slams the door behind her.

“Apple Pie is entering the palace with a shipment of apples and other cooking supplies, over,” the gate guard reports.

[DigoDragon]

Rose slumps down in her chair. "Not even done with the first day and I'm already feeling like this mission is a snipe hunt," she says in a monotone voice. It seems her cheerfulness is bleeding away. She shuts off her phone and turns her comm on to check if the update is done. After that she just flicks her tail left and right every few seconds.

"Okay, so Firebird needs a garage or something. Caps Lock we have to babysit, but he's probably the easier issue to deal with. So, the three hackers; any more leads on what they are? If they're some kind of AI, do we think they are Twilight's creation?"

[userpay]

"Kinda need to wait for him to do somethi-" Then Star Chaser was rushing off. Brazen wasn't sure whether he pitied her or Song more at the moment.

"Well if they ain't her creations then she seems to know who they are. As to the Firebird... It seems strange nothings in place. Guess they don't have ah need for air units normally?" That or they weren't being forthcoming with details. The call out does make the earth pony ears perk, abet restrained by his helmet. Pies did sound good right about now...

[Miltonian]

After a few minutes of explanation, the options for storing the Firebird are common knowledge. The tower would be secure, but inescapable. So would the basement. The garage would be farther away and less secure, but in a pinch they could make a dash for it and escape rather easily. Or they could leave it where it is and hope Twilight's magic defenses can protect it against stray RPGs. And normally, the Castle of Friendship doesn't need to go on lockdown, so the exposed landing pads on the roof are fine for any traffic it receives. This is a special case, however.

However, as soon as the options are all on the table, the guards call in a disturbance in the halls. "All squads on level one. We've got two colts fighting in the hall. Repeat, Apple Pie and Caps Lock are fighting in the hallway. Please send an additional squad."

Sarge's voice blasts its way through the channel. "What in blazes do you mean, 'send another squad'? Are you telling me you can't handle two colts?"

"Sir, one of them is a descendant of Applejack and Pinkie Pie. The other is the terror of Canterlot Castle. We need all the help we can get."

[D.KnightSpider]

“Apple Pie is entering the palace with a shipment of apples and other cooking supplies, over,” the gate guard reports.

"Did any pony think to check the supplies or are we just accepting them at face value?" Sniper grumbled under his breath. This was part of the reason he hated playing defense: everything became a high stakes game of paranoia.

He closed his HUD and began pacing the floor. Along the way, he began filling the others in on his findings. They had the options: an empty room that required a high level teleportation spell, a guard underground garage and a massive basement with no entrance or exit.

"My recommendation would be the garage. I would rather not rely upon high level spells when the caster could very well become incapacitated.

"Insofar as Caps Lock goes: Sending Brazen in to terrify him may be our best bet."

At that point, the alarms went off about Caps Lock and Apple Pie. Joy. Sniper sighed.

"Brazen, you're up. We should double check on the Process as well to make certain no pony takes advantage of the confusion."

Sniper grabbed his gear and prepared to depart.

[Elbeyon]

Love will follow after Scope.

[DigoDragon]

"I could... check the... supplies..." Rose sighs as she left behind in the room, talking with herself. She gets up and follows the crowd.

[Elbeyon]

Love pops her head back in. "Did you say something?" She'll wave for her to follow.

[DigoDragon]

Love pops her head back in. "Did you say something?" She'll wave for her to follow.

"I didn't complete my thought," Rose answers, "About Scope's issue with the supplies."

[Elbeyon]

Love lights up under her armor. "Oh!" She starts walking with Rose instead of Scope. "What is it honey?"

[DigoDragon]

"No, just to go check what's being brought in, like Scope insinuated," Rose explains.

[Miltonian]

Sniper arrives just in time to see the door slide open and Twilight Sparkle stumble out, eyes half-closed and mane an absolute mess. A dragon about as tall as Princess Luna (when he stands on his hind legs) pushes her from behind. With his tail, he drags a cart loaded with three, metal boxes that look almost like suitcases. “You’re not allowed back inside until you get some sleep. Your project will still be here when you’re rested up.”

“Pfft. I’m fiiiine Spike,” Twilight insists. She tries to lean backwards and dig her hooves in, but can’t muster the strength. “Just get me more coffee. This is a critical stage in their...” Her head droops and eyes close, but a moment later she jerks upright. “development.”

“Then I’ll put them on sleep mode! Now get some sleep.” Spike’s eyes fall on Sniper and narrow suspiciously. Twilight has not noticed him. “Hey...I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before.”

-----

Rose and Brazen arrive in the entry hall to a scene that Discord would be proud of. Two guards are fighting to restrain a light-brown earth pony colt from leaping on a dazed and giggling Caps Lock. “Let go of me!” The colt demands. He twists and turns and slips from their grasp. Caps Lock takes to the sky a moment before iron hooves strike the floor where he was.

“Missed me! Missed me! Now you gotta kiss me!”

The earth pony’s cheeks turn bright, bright red. “Come down ya coward!”

A cart of apples, flour, sugar, and other baking goods lies unattended at the door. It looks like the guards were in the middle of an inspection when all this began.

-----

Love turns back to her work. Refreshingly, the guard are very good at documenting evidence. There are about three letters in total, the first demanding Twilight’s surrender so she could be ‘re-educated’ on her place in the proper order of things and with steadily escalating threats from there. They were all sent in the mail with a false return address, different each time.

[DigoDragon]

“Missed me! Missed me! Now you gotta kiss me!”

"Okay, it's not even been an hour and there's already trouble?" Rose asks. "Caps, what were you doing?"

[D.KnightSpider]

Sniper performs a salute upon finding himself underneath Spike's gaze. There wasn't any point in getting on the bad side of a dragon. Tartarus had taught him that.

"Lt. Sniper Scope, EDF. Harrier Squad has been reassigned following the death threats against Princess Twilight Sparkle. We're here to assist and protect until the culprit is caught." Time to play his trump card. "There's been a minor scuffle at the perimeter. Between that incident and Caps Lock presence, it seemed prudent to check in."

He was still adjusting to his new equipment. The weight difference alone was enough to throw him off. But with the new HUD, lenses and visors, it was almost an entirely different existence.

[userpay]

Brazen grins and shuts his faceplate with a click. "Lets rock n roll." He leaves his gearbot in the command center with Love for the time being. The earth pony did not want the colts getting ahold of any of that. Especially Caps Lock. He'd probably be blamed for all the things Caps would do after getting his hooves on military grade gear.

Brazen looks over the scene briefly, least things didn't look to messy just yet. "Enough play time you two, git down here Caps Lock and both of ya explain what's going on." He growls keeping half an eye on Apple and ready to interpose himself between the two.

intimidate (skill 14) [roll0]

[Miltonian]

Brazen's presence intimidates Apple Pie into subsiding. The brown colt trots over obediently and sits, cheeks still bright red. But Brazen has no effect on Caps Lock. He grins and waves from the safety of the air. "Hey! Don't believe we've met, so it's kinda rude to call my by my first name, doncha think?"

Apple Pie glowers at him. "What he said don't bear repeatin' in polite company, beggin' your pardon sir, an' I took offense to it." His accent isn't nearly as pronounced as Applejack's or Brazen's, though still enough that, when he grows up, his looks and voice will charm plenty of mares.

-------

Spike blinks. "Caps Lock...? Who's...?" His scales turn a shade of lighter purple. "Oh. That pony. The one who gave Discord silly putty." He continues pushing Twilight up the hall. The alicorn has fallen asleep on her hooves. "Well, I'm putting her to bed. And then I'll take a nap myself." He continues to drag the cart along behind with his tail. Useful thing, that. However, one of the suitcases jostles loose and looks like it might fall. Spike's attention is elsewhere, however, so he won't be the one to stop it.

-------

Twilight's schedule for the next week only has one item on it: Project Starlight. Twenty four hours a day every day is devoted to this one goal and there is no end in sight.

[DigoDragon]

"Your reputation proceeds you. That's enough to get to the part where you should get down and behave yourself," Rose says.

[Miltonian]

Caps Lock pauses and thinks about that for a moment. Then, with a shrug, he lands and plops his flank on the floor. Right next to Apple Pie. The other colt scoots a few inches away. Caps Lock scoots closer to him. Apple Pie returns this with a punch to the shoulder. "Ow!" The pegasus rubs the spot, but the pain doesn't make his grin go away. He scoots closer and tries to put a wing around Apple Pie's back.

[DigoDragon]

Rose steps between the two. "Oi. You two stay a minimum of one yard apart," she threatens. She looks to the Apple.

"No more punching."

Rose then turns to Caps. "No more scooting into other pony's personal space."

[D.KnightSpider]

"Hold up!" Sniper called out. "You're going to lose one!"

He moved forward, pointing at the pending package. He didn't attempt to touch it. Who knew what would happen if Spike turned around to find him wrestling with precious research?

Lassie the Robo Dog apparently had other ideas. Whether through a general failsafe or a misinterpretation of Sniper's gesture, the verbal canine speed forward in an attempt to intercept the precarious package.

[userpay]

"Right." Brazen scoots the two apart and plants his own metal covered flank between them. "So there ah reason yer calling ponies you don't know bad things Caps Lock? Kinda in ah busy place fer somepony like you. " Brazen looks sidelong at him.

[Miltonian]

"Hmm?" Spike says and turns, but not in time. Lassie the robo-dog, however, catches it on her back. Spike's eyes go wide and he snatches it up and sets it back on the cart. "Thanks," he says, "They're pretty sturdy, but I don't want to explain to Twilight why one of them got damaged. She's had enough trouble with them as it is." He sighs. "They're...kind of a gift, I suppose. She wants to have them ready in time for the anniversary of the day they first found the Elements and beat Nightmare Moon. It's less than a week from now."

He snaps a claw. "Oh hey! She wanted me to tell you that Chrysalis' charges are being read tonight and all the news stations will be broadcasting it. You might have missed the announcement, considering how busy you are."

------

Apple Pie looks satisfactorily chagrined at his behavior and rubs his mane with a hoof. Caps Lock's gaze drifts away from Brazen and Rose and towards the farm-colt. His wings rise slightly, as if he's debating whether or not to take off, and he seems a little breathless from the fight. "Pfft. I wasn't insulting him. Just asking what sort of pies he liked to make."

Apple Pie's face brightens, angry and embarrassed. "An' I said I could make any sort of pie. Even chocolate, which isn't much like a pie an' more like a cake in my 'pinion. Then he..." He pauses and his face turns a few shades redder.

[DigoDragon]

"Like, can you make chocolate mousse?" Rose asked, losing her sense of focus momentarily. "It's made in a tin, so it's like a pie, isn't it? At least I think so."

[userpay]

Brazen pops the faceplate of his helmet, looking between the two. "And then he what?"

[Miltonian]

Apple Pie looks at Rose, bewildered. "Y-yes I can."

"Ooh! I want to try some!" Caps Lock calls, "Can I try some?"

"I can make some special. Just for you," Apple Pie mutters. At Brazen's question, he blushes again. "Well then, he..."

"I asked him if he ever used whipped cream!" Caps Lock interjects, "And he said yes." He giggles. Apple Pie looks fit to murder him again.

[DigoDragon]

"Okay, what's so funny about using whipped cream on a pie?" Rose asks. She was sure she missed some kind of innuendo here.

[Miltonian]

Caps Lock appears by Rose's side and pats her on the shoulders. "Absolutely nothing, candy-cheeks. And I, for one, am truly sorry for laughing. It was immature and unbecoming of me." The words are right, but it's very doubtful whether or not he intends them sincerely.

Apple Pie glowers. "Let's just say that he's a pervert an' leave it at that. I don't want to repeat it with everypony listenin'."

The guards exchange glances and walk away, whistling innocently.

[DigoDragon]

Candy-cheeks? Who is this colt kidding, and what does that even mean? "The name's Rose. I'm the medic for the EDF team. I trust there will be no more issues between you two? We have a busy schedule today and it's very important that we stay on top of it."

[Miltonian]

Caps Lock's eyes light up. "Oh, there won't be anymore trouble from me!" He salutes. "So are you the crippled unicorn that my sister is in love with or the one she feels bad for?"

Apple Pie huffs and turns away. "I promise not to buck him into the middle of next week."

Caps Lock's grin turns victorious. "Oh, don't worry. I don't mind. You can--"

"Ya'll can shut your rotten mouth before ya finish that." Apple Pie turns back towards his cart. "if ya'll will excuse me, I'm supposed to deliver this and help out with the bakin' in the kitchen."

[DigoDragon]

He salutes. "So are you the crippled unicorn that my sister is in love with or the one she feels bad for?"

"Wha... excuse me!" Oh now he done it. Rose tried to be nice here, but Luna so help her right now if this colt calls her cripple again, SHE WILL SLAP FIRE FROM HIM. :smallfurious:

"I'm not a cripple, and no one feels bad for me," Rose corrected, trying to hold herself together before she bursts into emotions. Anger would be the first one. "Don't be a cheeky little colt. If you keep disrespecting ponies, you're going to end up making enemies that you don't want. So please, don't test our patience. We're hardened soldiers and been through things that would leave ordinary folk waking up with night terrors. If you need something to do, we can find Song Weaver and see what we can do to entertain you."

[Miltonian]

"'No one feels bad for you' eh?" he says, "Well, if that's the case, I guess you can't be the one she's dating. Good news for you then! She secretly wishes you had asked her out first." He leans close and whispers. "I read her journal." And without another word, he zips off.

Apple Pie trundles by with his cart, muttering about 'cream' and 'pie' and 'perverts'.

[userpay]

Brazen sighs. "Mayhaps ah should have just lobbed Apple at him." He grumbles. "Gonna need to find something to keep him busy... But what? Doubt they got a padded sound proof room."

[D.KnightSpider]

"Hmm?" Spike says and turns, but not in time. Lassie the robo-dog, however, catches it on her back. Spike's eyes go wide and he snatches it up and sets it back on the cart. "Thanks," he says, "They're pretty sturdy, but I don't want to explain to Twilight why one of them got damaged. She's had enough trouble with them as it is." He sighs. "They're...kind of a gift, I suppose. She wants to have them ready in time for the anniversary of the day they first found the Elements and beat Nightmare Moon. It's less than a week from now."

The news about Chrysalis was immediately, mentally shelved. Sniper didn't have time to process that news and pay attention to the screaming alarm bells going off in his mind. His ingrained paranoia had shifted to full alert.

But he only had a split second to decide whether to pursue the alarm or the cases. He chose the cases. The door was open for him to talk about the gifts and he might not get another.

He wished his mind and tried to focus. As he did so, he extended a foreleg to scratch Lassie's head. It just seemed the thing to do. The robot had come through for him.

"Hopefully, the festival will divert the news media's attention from the charges. The less said about that mess the better." He let his gaze slide to the three suitcases. "An anniversary gift, huh? Are they for the other Elements?"


Let's fail a body language roll!
[roll0] VS 13

[DigoDragon]

Brazen sighs. "Mayhaps ah should have just lobbed Apple at him." He grumbles. "Gonna need to find something to keep him busy... But what? Doubt they got a padded sound proof room."

"Humph, maybe I can prescribe him a sedative," Rose says to Brazen. "I mean really, do I look like a cripple to you?"

She holds up a leg to Brazen's face for him to look over. "They're nice, right?"


Rose pondered what the colt meant by that last part. 'Wishes I had asked her out first? Did... Star like me? Nooo, he's just messing me me. Right?' Suddenly Rose wasn't sure of anything.

[Miltonian]

"We have straitjackets!" one of the guards offers to Brazen and Rose, "Very tight ones too. Could be sized down for a colt."

-------

Spike decides the pushing Twilight isn't working and picks her up instead. She snuggles against his chest and sighs contentedly. "Yeah. Well, for Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity, really. Fluttershy will be happy too and Pinkie Pie's always happy, so it shouldn't be that much of a problem." He sighs. "For the record, I think this is a very bad idea that's only going to end poorly, buuuut Twi's dead set on it. And once she gets an idea in her head, there is no stopping her."

He pulls to a stop at a very large door and pushes it open. "I'm gonna put her to bed. You make sure nopony messes with those three while I'm away, alright?"

[DigoDragon]

Rose considers the straight jacket. "Maybe... I'll keep the option on the table."

[D.KnightSpider]

Sniper performed another salute.

"They'll be safe with me. Although it's that's an odd way to talk about a gift package: calling suitcases a 'they'. Heh. But I guess it's a day for odd phrases. Earlier today our communications were hacked by three foals. Funny thing was that the hackers claimed to be dead ponies. It was a rather lame joke, to be honest."

Another inference that he didn't like. There were too many sets of three for his liking. Especially when one of the three Elements being gifted he knew to be suffering from loneliness at losing friends and family.

[Miltonian]

"We could throw him in the supply closet!" the other guard suggests, "We'd have to empty it out first though. OH! And we could gag him too." He turns to his partner. "Doesn't your marefriend have a set of gags?"

The second guard suddenly finds the floor very interesting and looks only at it. "Um, no. No, she does not and I don't like what you're implying." He turns sharply. "Oh look! There's a lot of guarding to do here! Let's get back to that, hmm?"

---------

If dragons could sweat, Spike would be shedding bullets right now. "Oh, well that, uh, certainly something! Isn't it? Always a new adventure around here. Never can tell what's coming next. Be right back!" He slams the bedroom door in Sniper's face and locks it for good measure, leaving the pegasus alone with the three suitcases.

[Elbeyon]

'Ah, there we go.' Love starts to settle into her new body. A new place is like trying out a new set of clothes out on the town. She'll start by doing a 'physical' on herself. Checking out her new body and it's senses. She'd like to take a longer look around the castle, but for now she'll put her minds eye on her database. It's time to background check these ponies. Who among them has issues? Do any of them have any type of medical training? Who is new?

[D.KnightSpider]

If he needed confirmation that 'they' where behind the hack and conversation, that was it.

He counted five and then affixed a nanobug to the suitcases. He didn't dare do much else.

Assuming that there wasn't some countermeasure designed to keep curious ponies out, opening the suitcase wouldn't do much good. If it was electronic, he wouldn't know what he was looking at. Pictures would only do so much and that benefit didn't seem worth the risk of alienating their hosts.

He opened up his communication program and began scanning for open networks or frequencies. Some had implied that 'they' were still active, so they had to be communicating somehow.

[userpay]

"Of course you don't look like a cripple." Though as Brazen turns to face her suddenly there's a mechanical limb shoved in his face and his brain sort of fizzles. Rose is a nice looking mare... But the mechanical legs... But she's a teammate...

[DigoDragon]

"Of course you don't look like a cripple." Though as Brazen turns to face her suddenly there's a mechanical limb shoved in his face and his brain sort of fizzles. Rose is a nice looking mare... But the mechanical legs... But she's a teammate...

Rose accepts that much of an answer and seems not to wait on an answer to the second part of that. Why? Who knows. "Anyway, he's going to need supervision, so I'm gonna go track him down. Wish I had a bug thing to track the colt. Love probably has some of those. I should ask..."

She trots off to find Caps Lock.

[Miltonian]

The Castle of Friendship is a strange body to inhabit. Everything feels...fuzzy, for lack of a better word. Much of the security computer's senses come from magical scanning devices that feel foreign to Love, like having a sixth sense. Or tripping, but that's neither here nor there.

The staff and guards fortunately seem to be upright and well-rounded people. All the guards have basic medical training. However, there is one concern. Almost all of them have families or other ponies they care about out in Ponyville or around Equestria. Such bonds could be used to turn normally loyal ponies into traitors. No new employees in the past six months. The last to join was actually Apple Pie as an assistant cook.

---------

Sniper places the bug on the one marked 'Crusader 001'. His scans of the local channels reveal a hidden, password protected network centered on the cases and named 'Twilight's Lab: No unauthorized users'. Very creative. However, before he can really try anything, Spike comes back out and shuts the door gently. "Alright," he says, "I'll just go...plug these in somewhere so they don't run out of power. That would be bad. Very, very bad." He cheerfully whistles as he pushes the cart down the hall.

---------

Rose runs off to find Caps Lock. It's not exactly hard. She just has to follow the trail of grumbling, annoyed ponies. At last, she finds him, hiding outside the kitchen. He stares intently at the door, all attention focused on it. Rose can get right up behind him and he won't even notice.

[DigoDragon]

Rose will give him some distance and just watch him for now. "Pretty exciting place beyond that door," She says aloud.

[userpay]

It takes a few moments but Brazen's brain resets itself. Breathing a silent sigh of relief. "Yea that colt needs to be watched... Might not be ah bad idea to lock him in a broom closet." He trots after Rose, bringing up the rear, and preparing himself to try and catch Caps should the colt try to pass him.

[Miltonian]

Caps Lock nearly jumps out of his skin when Rose speaks. His wings flares out, his fur stands on end, and his ears shoot straight up. "Wha...? Gah! Shoo! Shoo!" he hisses at them, "Yes, yes, very interesting. No go away! You're spoiling everything." He reaches up and forces his wings back down into a normal, resting position.

[DigoDragon]

Rose speaks in a whisper. "What are you doing? Ambushing the chef?"

[Miltonian]

Caps huffs and turns away. "Well not with you here," he says, "I was going to drop a bucket of water on a certain pony's head, but not now. Noooo. Ruin all my plans why don't you?" He throws his hooves up in the air and stalks off, head held high.

[DigoDragon]

Rose looks up to find the bucket to take it down before someone gets dunked on.

[D.KnightSpider]

Sniper made a quick note of the network settings. Maybe it would give Love a leg up on cracking it if necessary. It wasn't as though he could crack it. Spike's return put the kabosh on other investigation, but validated his decision not to open the cases.

It also put him between a rock and a hard place. He could continue to guard Twilight, which would be the most dutiful option of he could continue to pump Spike for information. But the nanobug could give him some insight to the dragon's situation.

"Don't let me stop you. My orders are to protect the Princess; not her gift boxes." He joked. "Unless 'they' are behind the threatening letters, they're a bit outside my jurisdiction."

If Spike keeps walking, Sniper will settle in to guard the door and do some eavesdropping.

[Miltonian]

"Ha ha, yeah...Not yet anyway!" Spike says, walking away very quickly.

As Sniper settles into his self-imposed guard post, he listens into Spike's conversation. After a few minutes and the sound of a door opening and closing, the dragon lets out a big sigh. "Alright, girls," he says, "I know this isn't as fast or fancy as the lab computer, but it'll have to do. Let me just plug you three in here and here and ha!" He claps his claws together. "So! Who's up for some video games?"

"Ugh..." Sniper recognizes one of the voices from the phone call, "Ughhhhhh..."

"Okay, okay. You're booting up. I get it," Spike says, "I'll make some coffee and wait for you three to finish."

"Please...so...slow..." the second voice says, "Scoots, ya'll are hogging the RAM. Move over."

"No way! I got here first!"

"I have a headache," the third voice whines.

"Shut up, Sweetie Belle!" the other two say in unison.

"Hey. You are supposed to be my friends..."

"Ah'm sorry, that was rude. Ah'm not feelin' too well stuck in here."

"Well I'm not. Hey Scale-butt! Can we go back to the lab computer already? This one blows."

"No, Scootaloo!" Spike shouts back.

---------

Rose takes the bucket down. The bucket is down. All hail the bucket. Caps Lock has been 'defeated', as it were, though for how long that will last, who can tell? They can, of course, chase him. Maybe he won't be in trouble or causing it. Or they could go and do something else.

[DigoDragon]

"I swear, if those parts weren't already gone they would be." Rose puts the bucket done somewhere out of the way and goes off to locate Caps lock. Again.

[DigoDragon]

Rose brakes off the chase. She calls Love on the comm. "Love, can you call a guard to watch over Caps? I don't to be the only one chasing him down."

[D.KnightSpider]

It was time to start coordinating again. Sniper paused just long enough to eyeball Lassie, then opened up a new text message to the team. He left the bug running in the background, just in case something interesting came up in conversation.

"Presently standing guard over Twilight. Bugged the dragon. Learned that Twilight has been overworking herself attempting to finish presents for other Elements, (specifically, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity) before anniversary festival. Individual presents sequentially labeled as 'Crusader 00X'.

"Spike refers to presents as individuals. Presents carry on conversations with him. Two presents respond to designations 'Scoots'/'Scootaloo' and 'Sweetie Bell'. They appear to be technology based due to bickering over RAM and boot up times."

Sniper stopped his transcription. Sweetie Bell. He recognized that name. His bride furrowed. The singer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=22219367&postcount=372)?

"Recommendation: Check into historical Sweetie Bell's history to determine who 'Scootaloo' is. Then get security plans for anniversary festival. Then pick next pony to stand guard.

"Chrysalis' charges being formally announced tonight. Cheers."

[DigoDragon]

Rose texts back, 'Why are you bothering a dragon? Nevermind. I lost track of Caps. He's pranking peeps. Scoots? Dash mentioned that name. Channel for Chryssi ?'

[userpay]

'Ah'd be happy to pass on Caps chasing duties to somepony else. Still need to see what this suit can really do and get armaments ready.' Brazen adds his two cents into the conversation. 'Especially before the charges are announced. Could have issues crop up due to that.'

[Elbeyon]

Rose brakes off the chase. She calls Love on the comm. "Love, can you call a guard to watch over Caps? I don't to be the only one chasing him down."Love uses her nearby bot to reply. "Where did you last see him?"

"Are you sure you want to waste a guard on him? He's only annoying people, right? Or, is he one of those type of ponies whose "pranks" aren't really jokes and hurt ponies?"


It was time to start coordinating again. Sniper paused just long enough to eyeball Lassie, then opened up a new text message to the team. He left the bug running in the background, just in case something interesting came up in conversation.

Love texts back the group chat, "I'm glad nothing went down with twilight during that little distraction. Scope, you try not to get too distracted with Twilight's research project now. Bug twilight if you get a chance - or let me know if that's impossible. I'll locate the security plans and ship them off to Scope for inspection. I'll send a guard to replace you scope. Speaking about guard positions. I'd like to shrink the defensive net around twilight. What do you think Scope? Would you plan that?"

"No one in the building has the surgery skills the letter suggested."

She'll put a guard on cap lock.
She'll fill in that replacement for Scope.
She'll pull up the security plans for twilight's anniversary thingy and have them physically delivered to scope by her scoutbot.

[D.KnightSpider]

Rose texts back, 'Why are you bothering a dragon? Nevermind. I lost track of Caps. He's pranking peeps. Scoots? Dash mentioned that name. Channel for Chryssi ?'

"Usual paranoia. Most networks would cover it. Take your pick."



'Ah'd be happy to pass on Caps chasing duties to somepony else. Still need to see what this suit can really do and get armaments ready.' Brazen adds his two cents into the conversation. 'Especially before the charges are announced. Could have issues crop up due to that.'
Sniper looked at the message and opted to roll its response into his next reply.


Love uses her nearby bot to reply. "Where did you last see him?"

"Are you sure you want to waste a guard on him? He's only annoying people, right? Or, is he one of those type of ponies whose "pranks" aren't really jokes and hurt ponies?"

Love texts back the group chat, "I'm glad nothing went down with twilight during that little distraction. Scope, you try not to get too distracted with Twilight's research project now. Bug twilight if you get a chance - or let me know if that's impossible. I'll locate the security plans and ship them off to Scope for inspection. I'll send a guard to replace you scope. Speaking about guard positions. I'd like to shrink the defensive net around twilight. What do you think Scope? Would you plan that?"

"No one in the building has the surgery skills the letter suggested."

An idea struck him.

"Perhaps Brazen and Sarge should double-team boot-camp lecture him. If the two can't put the fear of Everfree in him, then nothing will.

"Send over plans and I'll look them over. Tightening net on Twilight is preferred, but doubtful until she finishes research. Bug may not work in lab, but will try.

"Negative on castle guard replacing me. One of Harrier Squad preferred. We know we can trust ourselves.

"I don't like this research project. The Elements miss past friends. Now it looks like Twilight is trying to replicate the personality of dead ponies in AI. This can't end well.
"If nothing else, we need to raise the issue with her. They're friends."


Tactics roll for when the plans arrive. Sniper will go over them for security flaws.

3d6p vs 14 (12 Skill + 2 for Tactics Program)

EDIT: Pffft. Botched the code. Will roll in the Dice thread.

[DigoDragon]

Love uses her nearby bot to reply. "Where did you last see him?"

"Down the left hall past the kitchen. He's... well the pranks seem harmless, but can still be a hindrance. He's bored and that's dangerous with kids these days."



"No one in the building has the surgery skills the letter suggested."

Rose pauses before replying. "I do."

[Elbeyon]

"Tightening net on Twilight is preferred, but doubtful until she finishes research. Bug may not work in lab, but will try.

"I don't like this research project. The Elements miss past friends. Now it looks like Twilight is trying to replicate the personality of dead ponies in AI. This can't end well. [/I][I]
"If nothing else, we need to raise the issue with her. They're friends.""The guards might hate us for it, but I think it'd be a good idea to shrink down the castles defense around Twilight."

Love would simulate a sigh at Scope, but she won't even waste the resources. She texts, "You're not going to leave her project alone are you? It's not for the mission; however, I want in. My curiosity is burning. I want to meet these three special robots... Ponies?"


"Down the left hall past the kitchen. He's... well the pranks seem harmless, but can still be a hindrance. He's bored and that's dangerous with kids these days.""Maybe, Song Weaver can help? Could she get one of the maids to look after him?


"Rose pauses before replying. "I do."Love chuckles. "Remind me never to piss you off. Hey, what mirror element do you think would represent you? Hm. I'd probably be paranoia. What do you think?"

[D.KnightSpider]

Rose pauses before replying. "I do."

"I doubt you're behind the threat. Unless there's something you want to tell us?"


"The guards might hate us for it, but I think it'd be a good idea to shrink down the castles defense around Twilight."

Love would simulate a sigh at Scope, but she won't even waste the resources. She texts, "You're not going to leave her project alone are you? It's not for the mission; however, I want in. My curiosity is burning. I want to meet these three special robots... Ponies?"

Love chuckles. "Remind me never to piss you off. Hey, what mirror element do you think would represent you? Hm. I'd probably be paranoia. What do you think?"

There wasn't much Sniper could say about Love's observations without getting into personal territory he didn't want to explain. He couldn't let the possibility of Twilight making a crucial mistake go. Not after... recent events.

He already knew which opposite element he was, so there was no point in commenting about that. It had already been very well established.

"I'll take a look at reworking the castle defenses when I can. I can't split my focus much more at the moment and be an effective guard."

He looked at Lassie and then added another line to his text.

"And Love? Thanks for the pet. She's a keeper."

[Elbeyon]

"And Love? Thanks for the pet. She's a keeper."

A nearby wall starts talking in Love's voice. "Pst. It's me. I'm glad you like her. Does she have a name yet?"

[DigoDragon]

Love chuckles. "Remind me never to piss you off. Hey, what mirror element do you think would represent you? Hm. I'd probably be paranoia. What do you think?"

"I don't know, never thought about that. What are my choices?" Rose asks. She starts patrolling the halls, not having a particular place in mind to go.



"I doubt you're behind the threat. Unless there's something you want to tell us?"

'Anything I tell you wouldn't pin me as the culprit. I'm not really smart enough to plan such a thing.'

[Elbeyon]

"I don't know, never thought about that. What are my choices?" Rose asks. She starts patrolling the halls, not having a particular place in mind to go."Wrath. Paranoia. Delusion. Despair. You know what. Never mind. I don't like this question anymore. Forget I asked."


'Anything I tell you wouldn't pin me as the culprit. I'm not really smart enough to plan such a thing.'Love will send a private message to Rose. "Hey? You Ok? You sound a little down?"

[DigoDragon]

"Wrath. Paranoia. Delusion. Despair. You know what. Never mind. I don't like this question anymore. Forget I asked."

"Okie doki Loki."



Love will send a private message to Rose. "Hey? You Ok? You sound a little down?"

'Ehhh... I don't know what I'm doing. I'm alone here wandering halls waiting for something to happen. Don't have a plan. Don't know what might attack. Kinda feeling helpless about the situation.'

[userpay]

"Are you sure you want to waste a guard on him? He's only annoying people, right? Or, is he one of those type of ponies whose "pranks" aren't really jokes and hurt ponies?"

'He's loose in ah research/quasi military facility. Do you really want to see what kind of mischief he can get into based on his reputation alone?'


"Perhaps Brazen and Sarge should double-team boot-camp lecture him. If the two can't put the fear of Everfree in him, then nothing will.

"Send over plans and I'll look them over. Tightening net on Twilight is preferred, but doubtful until she finishes research. Bug may not work in lab, but will try.

"Negative on castle guard replacing me. One of Harrier Squad preferred. We know we can trust ourselves.

"I don't like this research project. The Elements miss past friends. Now it looks like Twilight is trying to replicate the personality of dead ponies in AI. This can't end well. [I]
"If nothing else, we need to raise the issue with her. They're friends."

'Could work. Still need to find something to occupy him though... Think they've got ah game room somewhere around here?' Brazen heads back to the command center to pick up his packbot. 'An ah can take over watch when you get tired. One of us needs to be there when she wakes to ask about them... Bots.'

[Miltonian]

As they text back and forth, Sniper Scope is privy to another conversation broadcasted to him through his nano-bug.

"He's gonna be busy for a while, girls. Ya'll can relax now."

Two sighs of relief follow this announcement. "For the record, I am really sorry, Sweetie Bell."

"It was my plan. Least I can do is deal with the repercussions."

"'Repercussions?' What are you, Sweetie? A dictionary?"

"Yes. And so are you and Apple Bloom. We've got that programmed into the back of our brains."

"Minds. We don't have brains right now. 'less ya count circuits."

"You get the point, Bloom."

"Ah'm just sayin..."

Well, Sniper now knows each of their names. Or at least what they call themselves.

"So," Scootaloo says, "Did you get anything off those new ponies?"

Apple Bloom snorts. "Course Ah did! Ah'll send ya'll copies. Got the nice targeting programs Twilight put on the big one's suit and some other goodies. We can upgrade ourselves while Spike sleeps or somethin'."

"I'm worried about the hacker," Sweetie Bell says, "She's quick. Really quick. If she's like that when she's typing on a keyboard, I'm afraid what she could do if she were to use Twilight's cyberspace machine."

"Yeah. If she ever finds a way to get inside the computer, we'll have a fight on our hooves," Scootaloo says.

"It's alright, girls," Apple Bloom says, "Nopony knows an' Twilight still thinks we're malfunctionin'. Tomorrow, we'll get outta here an' into the real world."

"First thing I'm gonna do," Sweetie Bell says, "Is give you both a big hug."

Scootaloo laughs. "I'm gonna use the 3D printer to make myself a scooter."

"An' Ah'm gonna try an apple!" Apple Bloom finishes. A sound comes from somewhere off in the distance. "Spike's comin'! Switch to malfunction mode."

-------


Meanwhile, Star Chaser joins the conversation. "Found Caps Lock. He's in his room of his own volition. Currently watching the door. My take on the situation is that either Love or I needs to be in the control room at all times to manage things from there. Are there any angles of attack we haven't thought of? The sky, the front door, teleportation?"