Fallout Equestria: Pie and Predation

[Hazuki]

"Flagon was here to steal things, I would've killed him anyway." Fan Knife said, "Armoise's been here for about two weeks and he hasn't really done anything except recruit for his gang and send in one his followers to get dental work done. He's bad, but not exactly a raider, he's too old and cautious to do anything to hurt the ponies here cause he'd get kicked out or get turned on by his gang, no way nopony's thinking about what's going to happen when he croaks."

"Is there any way I can convince you to foalnap him outside so I can stab him here?"" Viridia asked. There was some potential in taking over Armoise's group to fill Cabbagetown with, but she hadn't been paying enough attention to Moony's plans for the place to know whether that was viable yet. "I only know how to look hot and stab ponies."

[DigoDragon]

Doc picks up the healing potions.

"Tenaculum threatened Stitchheart, then shot Choro. He started that fight."

[Dalinale]

"Is there any way I can convince you to foalnap him outside so I can stab him here?"" Viridia asked. There was some potential in taking over Armoise's group to fill Cabbagetown with, but she hadn't been paying enough attention to Moony's plans for the place to know whether that was viable yet. "I only know how to look hot and stab ponies."

"Viridia, you can do more then that." River Moss sort of whispered, elbowing Viridia's left armor-plated shoulder playfully and giving her a big grin, clearly not that invested with Viridia's current conversation.

Fan Knife, looking at the display with clear disapproval, shook her head.

"Nope. Big gangs eat smaller gangs, like those camels out back, if you get invested in what gangs do around here you'd lose you're mane. Those guys were chumps and now that's a few less in their gene pool. If you want to deal with him, you gotta do it on you're own terms."

Doc picks up the healing potions.

"Tenaculum threatened Stitchheart, then shot Choro. He started that fight."

"Yep, call me if his great-great-great grandkids want revenge or something." Fan Knife replied, "My sister didn't want him out of the room when he showed up, otherwise she would've activated security immediately."

[Hazuki]

Doc picks up the healing potions.

"Tenaculum threatened Stitchheart, then shot Choro. He started that fight."

"Pfft. He's still dead, isn't he?" Viridia said. Not that she wanted to argue the point, since Fan Knife had made a good one about wanting him dead anyway.

"Viridia, you can do more then that." River Moss sort of whispered, elbowing Viridia's left armor-plated shoulder playfully and giving her a big grin, clearly not that invested with Viridia's current conversation.

Viridia playfully stuck her tongue out at the mare.

"Nope. Big gangs eat smaller gangs, like those camels out back, if you get invested in what gangs do around here you'd lose you're mane. Those guys were chumps and now that's a few less in their gene pool. If you want to deal with him, you gotta do it on you're own terms."

"My own terms would be killing him in there." Viridia gestured in Armoise's general direction. "But, whatever. Nopony ever agrees with me when I want to kill somepony. We could be up against the wall opposite a firing squad and nobody would want to kill them until they pulled the trigger." She huffed. "Fine, then, I'll just have to go and grab him myself. I hope y'all like your Viridias minced."

[DigoDragon]

"It's like this, V," Doc says. "I ain't against killing a gang leader. I just feel that we should think this out rather than go in guns blazing. Fan Knife doesn't want us shooting up the place and even if his gang has cruddy guns, they're still guns. We should find a way to lure him away from the crowds at the very least."

[Hazuki]

"Like what, a trail of crumbs? No way he's going to come out of there of his own accord, 'cause he's taking advantage of Fan Knife's no-killing rule to make her his personal protector." Viridia said to Doc. "Here's my plan: Buy the Talon merc, go in there, and pluck out his eyes and have the mercs drag him out if he doesn't come outside."

[Dalinale]

"Pfft. He's still dead, isn't he?" Viridia said. Not that she wanted to argue the point, since Fan Knife had made a good one about wanting him dead anyway.

Fan Knife yawned, which was probably a yes.

Viridia playfully stuck her tongue out at the mare.

"See, that's a third thing!" River said very cheerfully, causing Fan Knife to freeze for a few seconds.

"My own terms would be killing him in there." Viridia gestured in Armoise's general direction. "But, whatever. Nopony ever agrees with me when I want to kill somepony. We could be up against the wall opposite a firing squad and nobody would want to kill them until they pulled the trigger." She huffed. "Fine, then, I'll just have to go and grab him myself. I hope y'all like your Viridias minced."

"Viridia, no one wants you minced." River said, now putting a leg around Viridia's shoulder so that if she flew off, she'd probably bring her with her, "I knew Snowflake for years, and that guy isn't a Snowflake. He's a bad pony, but we've been here for two days and the only ponies who have gotten hurt were the camels who was going to hurt ponies if they didn't buy into their racket."

"even if his gang has cruddy guns, they're still guns."

"Hey!" River said, glaring at Doc with a sort of half-smirk-half-annoyance while still sort of hanging off Viridia's side.

"Like what, a trail of crumbs? No way he's going to come out of there of his own accord, 'cause he's taking advantage of Fan Knife's no-killing rule to make her his personal protector." Viridia said to Doc. "Here's my plan: Buy the Talon merc, go in there, and pluck out his eyes and have the mercs drag him out if he doesn't come outside."

"If you're really set for this, he's a teleporter, and a good one." Fan Knife said as she looked up at Viridia, apparently oblivious to River's antics. "Haven't seen a gun on him yet, and he's not that physically impressive, so I'm guessing fighting fair isn't on his mind. My guess is, though, if you can chase him off, whoever the gang's picked to be his replacement would get his spot permanently. Getting as many ponies on board to keep him pinned down would really be your only option, especially if he makes it to another building around here."

[DigoDragon]

"Hey!" River said, glaring at Doc with a sort of half-smirk-half-annoyance while still sort of hanging off Viridia's side.

Doc gives a half-hearted shrug in good jest.

"If you're really set for this, he's a teleporter, and a good one."

"That's like... the fourth unicorn this month," Doc comments in dry tone. "I don't know much about spellcasting, so I reckon we'd have to disable his horn quickly or he'd get away. Do you know how loyal his gang is?"

[Forum Explorer]

"I don't think Fan Knife will mind."

"Ganger dude, sold him River's surplus, and it's where I picked up Choro." Viridia explained. "And, yeah, I can ask Fan Knife, but it's not something I expect her to do just 'cause I say so, y'know?"

Ugh, I guess that makes him our responsibility? Maybe?

River, with some amount of delay, nodded in what was probably approval, if someone squinted.



River looked somewhat dismayed at the mention of killing in a earnest way, not ironically or anything, which, sadly, was a distinction that had to be made these days.





River blinked a few times and glanced at Stellar again, her thoughts of murder apparently being taken off course by the concept of griffon-banging.



Viridia found that someone was poking her in the shin; yep, Fan Knife, standing right in her shadow. The filly had a small piece of laminated white paper in her mouth, which she spat out into her hoof and handed it over to Moonshadow. Under her right leg was a six-pack of purple healing potions, which she placed on the ground near Doc.

"If you need to make a appointment, use that Pipbuck thing to send a audio file saying what you need, there's about a days delay before it'd reach us but it'll get through no matter where you are. If you get a microphone or something, that'd work too, but I don't think those things actually work as radios unless you fiddle with them, so talk that up with that Choro wizard." Fan Knife said, pointing at the paper in question, which had a rather long series of numbers on it that, presumably, was the ID of some terminal, somewhere, "And the hospital radio's on there, too, it's easy to intercept and jam remotely so if you really need to talk to us personally or get our attention, you could do that, but only do that if you have a really good reason to. Also, no killing in the hospital. If you just rough him up or you get him outside, that's good enough for me, but no killing. That stallion's old enough that if you give him a good beating he'd probably not recover unless my sister saw to him, but that's all I can say about that now that we're here."

Sweet. Thanks Fan Knife.




Anyways, Viridia, we're about to go play bodyguard and kneebreaker for a horse who is making a trade deal with a bunch of slavers. Are we really any better then this Armoise guy? I mean, when I put it like that, I guess I can't really draw the line at killing a gangster all things considered. So count me in I guess. Moonshadow moved to go follow Viridia.

[DigoDragon]

Are we really any better then this Armoise guy?

Doc raises a hoof. "I'd like to think that we are."

"Is the plan to pluck his eyes out, or perhaps try and turn some of his gangers against him?"

[Forum Explorer]

Doc raises a hoof. "I'd like to think that we are."

"Is the plan to pluck his eyes out, or perhaps try and turn some of his gangers against him?"

Moonshadow stared at Doc for a second. Alright, do you want proof that we aren't better then him? You suggested goring his eyes out, and my first thought was 'no, that won't work, Stitcheart will just heal him.' She shrugged. I like the second idea though. Unless we kill all the gangers, somepony is going to replace him, so we might as well make sure that pony is our friend.

[DigoDragon]

Moonshadow stared at Doc for a second. Alright, do you want proof that we aren't better then him? You suggested goring his eyes out, and my first thought was 'no, that won't work, Stitcheart will just heal him.' She shrugged. I like the second idea though. Unless we kill all the gangers, somepony is going to replace him, so we might as well make sure that pony is our friend.

Doc's eyes narrow a bit. "Okay, the eye-gouging was part of Viridia's idea to hire a Talon merc for the job. If you're going to accuse me of a bad idea, at least pay attention that it was my idea to begin with," he explains while trying to keep an even tone.

"Also have to make sure that this new friend isn't going to be a worse problem with their own power-grabbing ideas. You'd want to convince them to go with one of yours."

[RCgothic]

"I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be a teleporter for long in a fight with Viridia," Stellar opines. "She's like, crazy-lucky like that. And you wouldn't be alone V, I've got your back."

[Hazuki]

"I mean, I could aim for the horn." Viridia said. "I hear that's super effective."

[DigoDragon]

"Make that your opening move and I'm fairly certain Armoise ain't going anywhere," Doc agrees.

[Hazuki]

"I'll have to grab some lightning first." Viridia said. "So, uh, are we doing this? Finding the Talons, taking out the horn? Or do we want to talk to the gang first...?"

[Forum Explorer]

Talk to the gang I guess. If we can, I'd rather just kill Armoise instead of him and everypony standing in our way. Moonshadow said.

[DigoDragon]

"If this is a vote, I'd say talk to the gang as well. More ponies on our side means less guns pointed at us."

[Dalinale]

Doc gives a half-hearted shrug in good jest.

"That's like... the fourth unicorn this month," Doc comments in dry tone. "I don't know much about spellcasting, so I reckon we'd have to disable his horn quickly or he'd get away. Do you know how loyal his gang is?"

"They're really not from around here, so I think they'd have to like him." River offered.

[COLOR="#000080"][B]Sweet. Thanks Fan Knife.

Fan Knife, in reply, yawned, as if the gesture really was a routine one.

Moonshadow stared at Doc for a second. Alright, do you want proof that we aren't better then him? You suggested goring his eyes out, and my first thought was 'no, that won't work, Stitcheart will just heal him.' She shrugged. I like the second idea though. Unless we kill all the gangers, somepony is going to replace him, so we might as well make sure that pony is our friend.

Doc's eyes narrow a bit. "Okay, the eye-gouging was part of Viridia's idea to hire a Talon merc for the job. If you're going to accuse me of a bad idea, at least pay attention that it was my idea to begin with," he explains while trying to keep an even tone.

"Also have to make sure that this new friend isn't going to be a worse problem with their own power-grabbing ideas. You'd want to convince them to go with one of yours."

"I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be a teleporter for long in a fight with Viridia," Stellar opines. "She's like, crazy-lucky like that. And you wouldn't be alone V, I've got your back."

River looked dismayed at all the talk of unicorn murder; Fan Knife, in comparison, glanced at Stellar's right, mostly freshly grown wing and raised a non-existent eyebrow.

"I mean, I could aim for the horn." Viridia said. "I hear that's super effective."

"If you can aim for the horn and he's out in the open, aim for the throat instead." Fan Knife said, turning slightly towards Viridia, "You have the weapon for it. Your sword is sharp, but if you only have one swing, it's easier to smash a horn than to try and chop it off."

River now looked rather horrified, and she made a small, shocked sound that sort of sort of like 'oh!', as if she was just now considering the magnitude of the situation. She then leaned further into Viridia, although not too much, really indicating that she really wasn't unsteady at the moment, and she then gave her a rather impressive look of sadness. Her big brown eyes were horribly soft looking and her face was neither tainted by anger or sulkiness; it really was the ultimate puppy face, possibly the platonic model of what they were supposed to look like. In a better world, it would've been a sort of ancient secret pre-war technique to give invaders light heart palpitations, while in reality it was simply very cute and very convincing.

"If this is a vote, I'd say talk to the gang as well. More ponies on our side means less guns pointed at us."

River looked away from Viridia and coughed.

"Shade and Northern Light hung out with them most of the time yesterday, but Shade came back before Northern did." River said, "Should we ask them about it? I think Shade knows Armoise and Northern Light knows the big red stallion who's his captain or whatever. I don't know how Northern knows that other guy, though."

[DigoDragon]

"Shade and Northern Light hung out with them most of the time yesterday, but Shade came back before Northern did." River said, "Should we ask them about it? I think Shade knows Armoise and Northern Light knows the big red stallion who's his captain or whatever. I don't know how Northern knows that other guy, though."

"The more we know about them, the better we can prepare against his tricks," Doc agrees. "I'll go ask Shade what she knows."

Doc trots over to find where Shade is and will get her attention.


"Pardon the interruption, Shade, but it seems a gang leader named Armoise is think of causing trouble and our group is strongly considering doing something about it. Is there anything you could tell us about him?"

[Hazuki]

"If you can aim for the horn and he's out in the open, aim for the throat instead." Fan Knife said, turning slightly towards Viridia, "You have the weapon for it. Your sword is sharp, but if you only have one swing, it's easier to smash a horn than to try and chop it off."

"Yeah, but according to the rules of the world we're in, a blow to his throat won't actually do any more damage than a blow to, like, his torso. But a blow specifically to his horn has the potential to cripple him in a tangible way." Viridia explained to Fan Knife. "If you have any smashing weapons anywhere, maybe I could borrow one for the smash?

River now looked rather horrified, and she made a small, shocked sound that sort of sort of like 'oh!', as if she was just now considering the magnitude of the situation. She then leaned further into Viridia, although not too much, really indicating that she really wasn't unsteady at the moment, and she then gave her a rather impressive look of sadness. Her big brown eyes were horribly soft looking and her face was neither tainted by anger or sulkiness; it really was the ultimate puppy face, possibly the platonic model of what they were supposed to look like. In a better world, it would've been a sort of ancient secret pre-war technique to give invaders light heart palpitations, while in reality it was simply very cute and very convincing.

"...what?" Viridia rasied an eyebrow.

[Dalinale]

"The more we know about them, the better we can prepare against his tricks," Doc agrees. "I'll go ask Shade what she knows."

Doc trots over to find where Shade is and will get her attention.

Shade was sitting next to Andante in a rather tight corner of the truck; Andante looked like she was trying to go back to sleep while Shade also looked like she wanted to simply doze off, but was being stifled by the fact that Laupula was mumbling to himself and fidgeting his hooves together. She looked vaguly irritated at the schizo zebra giraffe thing, but that mild anger vanished when she looked up at Doc.

"Pardon the interruption, Shade, but it seems a gang leader named Armoise is think of causing trouble and our group is strongly considering doing something about it. Is there anything you could tell us about him?"

Shade's little smile turned into a little frown.

"His real name is not Armoise, but Wormwood. He would tell you he is from Las Pegasus and practiced magic there, but he is the son of a pig farmer who lived near the ruins of Ottopaw. His gang sustains itself on smaller gangs and raider bands and he gets his satisfaction from destroying small, local associations he comes across. He does not crave power or fame, but he instead gains his satisfaction in life from his pretensions of civility and that he has snuffed out the life of everyone he's ever wished dead or disabled for three quarters of a century. He is a associate of mine due to him and his gang being worshipers of Nightmare Moon, although their spiritual leanings are far different than my own. Wormwood came to his honoring of Nightmare Moon as he is a occultist and a sorcerer who also mutters prayers to Discord and other less worthy beings, while much of his followers come from small villages in the far north that did not see the sun for years after the bombings and developed their own lore and beliefs. In terms of character, I would say he is very much not a Special Snowflake and that I would say that his presence is ultimately beneficial as the violence he commits is against other gangsters, if that is the reason you intend to enact harm against him."

"Yeah, but according to the rules of the world we're in, a blow to his throat won't actually do any more damage than a blow to, like, his torso. But a blow specifically to his horn has the potential to cripple him in a tangible way." Viridia explained to Fan Knife.

Fan Knife's eyebrow quirked, as if that was the silliest thing that she had heard in the last year or so, but she didn't comment.

"If you have any smashing weapons anywhere, maybe I could borrow one for the smash?

"Killing this guy is your project." Fan Knife said bluntly, "You hate this guy, right? You got that jar of the Canterlot Cloud on the bus, can't you just drop that on him and watch him melt?"

"...what?" Viridia rasied an eyebrow.

River shivered after Fan Knife spoke, but she shook her head and looked back at Viridia. She was pretty warm and her head was close enough to Viridia's that she could see the tiny brown freckles dotted across River's grass-green face.

"Viridia, I know that violence really is the answer a lot of the time, especially with ponies like him, but I don't think killing this guy is the right one here. He's a really bad dude, but if you guys were here and saw what the camels were doing, you would've killed them too." she said, sounding as if her disagreement with the ponies around her was weighing on her mind, "Can't we talk it out first somewhere that if a fight breaks out he could be killed instead of just going in guns blazing?"

[Hazuki]

Fan Knife's eyebrow quirked, as if that was the silliest thing that she had heard in the last year or so, but she didn't comment.

Sometimes I think you're the only one who understands me, voice in my head.

"Killing this guy is your project." Fan Knife said bluntly, "You hate this guy, right? You got that jar of the Canterlot Cloud on the bus, can't you just drop that on him and watch him melt?"

"Wait, you were willing to show me your secret armory before and let me take whatever I want, but now you're not willing to lend me a hammer or something?" Viridia raised an eyebrow at Fan Knife. "Did I do something to piss you off? And, uh, no, no disintegrations."

River shivered after Fan Knife spoke, but she shook her head and looked back at Viridia. She was pretty warm and her head was close enough to Viridia's that she could see the tiny brown freckles dotted across River's grass-green face.

"Viridia, I know that violence really is the answer a lot of the time, especially with ponies like him, but I don't think killing this guy is the right one here. He's a really bad dude, but if you guys were here and saw what the camels were doing, you would've killed them too." she said, sounding as if her disagreement with the ponies around her was weighing on her mind, "Can't we talk it out first somewhere that if a fight breaks out he could be killed instead of just going in guns blazing?"

"River, this isn't about him having killed those gangsters. It's about what he's going to do next. I told him not to go around doing evil ****, he refused, and so we've got to stop him or he'll do evil ****. If he wasn't willing to listen five minutes ago, he won't be willing to listen now, and, frankly, I've got no patience for trying to use regulations and trade deals and political pressure or whatever tool actual governing bodies use to counteract this stuff. Also, no resources to do it."

[DigoDragon]

"His real name is not Armoise, but Wormwood. He would tell you he is from Las Pegasus and practiced magic there, but he is the son of a pig farmer who lived near the ruins of Ottopaw. His gang sustains itself on smaller gangs and raider bands and he gets his satisfaction from destroying small, local associations he comes across. He does not crave power or fame, but he instead gains his satisfaction in life from his pretensions of civility and that he has snuffed out the life of everyone he's ever wished dead or disabled for three quarters of a century. He is a associate of mine due to him and his gang being worshipers of Nightmare Moon, although their spiritual leanings are far different than my own. Wormwood came to his honoring of Nightmare Moon as he is a occultist and a sorcerer who also mutters prayers to Discord and other less worthy beings, while much of his followers come from small villages in the far north that did not see the sun for years after the bombings and developed their own lore and beliefs. In terms of character, I would say he is very much not a Special Snowflake and that I would say that his presence is ultimately beneficial as the violence he commits is against other gangsters, if that is the reason you intend to enact harm against him."

Doc leans in and whispers, "I'll be honest, I'm not 'feeling it' with killing this guy. Yeah, I reckon all gangs are gonna cause trouble at some point, but if we go around shooting every two-bit gang leader, we're going to be at this forever. Viridia is pretty persuasive, but I worry if we just kill him and leave, the rest of the gang is gonna find a worse leader that'll cause worse problems for us, so I dunno what I should think." He gives a little shrug at the end of his sentence.

"Well, thanks for your input. Fan Knife seems to think Arm- Wormwood isn't a problem and she could probably kill him off easily enough with her stealth skills. I'll let the others know what you said." Doc turns to head back to the PC group.

[Dalinale]

Sometimes I think you're the only one who understands me, voice in my head.

You also understand you, too. Clearly, you need to either make some clones or get River on board the Viridia mental express.

"Wait, you were willing to show me your secret armory before and let me take whatever I want, but now you're not willing to lend me a hammer or something?" Viridia raised an eyebrow at Fan Knife. "Did I do something to piss you off? And, uh, no, no disintegrations."

The filly shook her head.

"Nope, I just don't have a reason to hate this guy. If he settles stupid Equestrian crap out where it's out of sight from my sister I really don't have much to complain. Also, that gang he wiped out's been around for a few decades, it was a annoying local horse-town thing and now it's probably gone forever. If you want to kill him, it wouldn't matter if my sister was right next to him, drop the jar on his head from the air as soon as you get him outside and he'll splatter everywhere. Don't know why that'd be that big of a problem."

"River, this isn't about him having killed those gangsters. It's about what he's going to do next. I told him not to go around doing evil ****, he refused, and so we've got to stop him or he'll do evil ****. If he wasn't willing to listen five minutes ago, he won't be willing to listen now, and, frankly, I've got no patience for trying to use regulations and trade deals and political pressure or whatever tool actual governing bodies use to counteract this stuff. Also, no resources to do it."

River waited for Fan Knife to say her piece while looking sort of disgusted, and there was a pretty awkward pause in which the two were looking at each other in the eyes before River started speaking again.

"Viridia, if this guy was going to do anything bad to ponies who didn't deserve it, then this would be the place. I mean, I know there's two really, really rich stallions here like, rich enough that they could melt half the caps they have use that to make a cap-making factory from all the caps they'd have left over, but he hasn't even touched them or done anything like a gang that'd rob ponies or hold them for ransom or anything like that. Evil ponies doing evil things to other evil, uh, things isn't good, but..."

River stopped speaking for a moment, and it became clear that her mouth outraced her brain for a few seconds before she shook her head and continued.

"I mean, killing a dude because he said he wouldn't do what you said in a five minute conversation is a little extreme, seriously. He might just be a old ******* who doesn't think he'll ever see you again. I don't think he's that old because he isn't smart, though. If we made it clear with half of what you guys have, we could get it across to him that you were serious."

Doc leans in and whispers, "I'll be honest, I'm not 'feeling it' with killing this guy. Yeah, I reckon all gangs are gonna cause trouble at some point, but if we go around shooting every two-bit gang leader, we're going to be at this forever. Viridia is pretty persuasive, but I worry if we just kill him and leave, the rest of the gang is gonna find a worse leader that'll cause worse problems for us, so I dunno what I should think." He gives a little shrug at the end of his sentence.

"Well, thanks for your input. Fan Knife seems to think Arm- Wormwood isn't a problem and she could probably kill him off easily enough with her stealth skills. I'll let the others know what you said." Doc turns to head back to the PC group.

Shade, looking rather disappointed at the apparent mess going on outside, glanced at the snoozing Andante next to her and sighed lightly.

[Hazuki]

You also understand you, too. Clearly, you need to either make some clones or get River on board the Viridia mental express.

Clones are never as good as anyone thinks. They always think oh, well, they'll all think I'm the one in charge, duh. Clones of me would just argue about that.

"Nope, I just don't have a reason to hate this guy. If he settles stupid Equestrian crap out where it's out of sight from my sister I really don't have much to complain. Also, that gang he wiped out's been around for a few decades, it was a annoying local horse-town thing and now it's probably gone forever. If you want to kill him, it wouldn't matter if my sister was right next to him, drop the jar on his head from the air as soon as you get him outside and he'll splatter everywhere. Don't know why that'd be that big of a problem."

"It's 'cause I said I don't want to."

"Viridia, if this guy was going to do anything bad to ponies who didn't deserve it, then this would be the place. I mean, I know there's two really, really rich stallions here like, rich enough that they could melt half the caps they have use that to make a cap-making factory from all the caps they'd have left over, but he hasn't even touched them or done anything like a gang that'd rob ponies or hold them for ransom or anything like that. Evil ponies doing evil things to other evil, uh, things isn't good, but..."

River stopped speaking for a moment, and it became clear that her mouth outraced her brain for a few seconds before she shook her head and continued.

"I mean, killing a dude because he said he wouldn't do what you said in a five minute conversation is a little extreme, seriously. He might just be a old ******* who doesn't think he'll ever see you again. I don't think he's that old because he isn't smart, though. If we made it clear with half of what you guys have, we could get it across to him that you were serious."

"I didn't give him an order - I told him not to be a **** in the future, and he said he would be. So. Why do you think that's anything other than a promise to do that?" Viridia asked. "IT's at least worth taking out a chunk of his horn for."

[DigoDragon]

Doc returns to the group. "According to Shade, Armoise's real name is Wormwood and she knows him as a fellow Nightmare Moon worshiper... more an occultist actually. He also believes in some entity named Discord or something," Doc recalls from Shade's information.

"Anywho, Armoise, or wormwood, prefers to prey on other gangs and he gets his jollies by destroying small local associations. Shade says he's not one for delusions of grandeur and shouldn't be a problem, so... take it with however many grans of salt you would her advice. Any of that sound like what you know of him, Fan Knife?"

[Dalinale]

Clones are never as good as anyone thinks. They always think oh, well, they'll all think I'm the one in charge, duh. Clones of me would just argue about that.

Not if they're all riding on the SS Viridia, taking to slow route to Funtown.

"It's 'cause I said I don't want to."

Viridia's little undead ninja buddy looked completely baffled.

"Are you saving it or something?" she asked, tilting her head to the side slightly, "I get that he's just a old stallion, but unless you want to switch the cloud for some gas and a lighter I don't know a cleaner way to deal with a teleporter."

"I didn't give him an order - I told him not to be a **** in the future, and he said he would be. So. Why do you think that's anything other than a promise to do that?" Viridia asked. "IT's at least worth taking out a chunk of his horn for."

"Viridia, if one pony says they won't listen to you and you know that they're going to do bad things, that doesn't mean you can just break their legs." River said, desperately trying her best to ignore the presence of Fan Knife, "Are you just going to kill members of his gang until you get one who'll do what you say? I mean, he's the leader of a gang, they're going to be gangers who fight other gangers, just killing that one guy who has his act together and talks like he ties mares to railroad tracks won't cause the system to crash."

Doc returns to the group. "According to Shade, Armoise's real name is Wormwood and she knows him as a fellow Nightmare Moon worshiper... more an occultist actually. He also believes in some entity named Discord or something," Doc recalls from Shade's information.

River Moss's face fell when she heard what Armoise probably said his goodnight prayers to and placed her head in a hoof and groaned.

"Okay, his name's Wormwood, he's...evil, but still." River mumbled, apparently to Viridia.

"Anywho, Armoise, or wormwood, prefers to prey on other gangs and he gets his jollies by destroying small local associations. Shade says he's not one for delusions of grandeur and shouldn't be a problem, so... take it with however many grans of salt you would her advice. Any of that sound like what you know of him, Fan Knife?"

Fan Knife's ears perked up at the mention of Nightmare Moon, but she just nodded otherwise.

[Forum Explorer]

Viridia's little undead ninja buddy looked completely baffled.

"Are you saving it or something?" she asked, tilting her head to the side slightly, "I get that he's just a old stallion, but unless you want to switch the cloud for some gas and a lighter I don't know a cleaner way to deal with a teleporter."

Er, yeah. That and I don't think I could bring myself to kill someone in that way. It's beyond nasty. Also, why are there so many Nightmare Moon worshipers? Like, why is that a thing? She existed for like five to six hours total til Luna stopped trying to kill everyone.

[DigoDragon]

Er, yeah. That and I don't think I could bring myself to kill someone in that way. It's beyond nasty. Also, why are there so many Nightmare Moon worshipers? Like, why is that a thing? She existed for like five to six hours total til Luna stopped trying to kill everyone.

Doc winces a bit at the mention of the pink cloud. He missed a piece of the conversation, but any dialog talking about killing and pink cloud in the same sentence couldn't have been pleasant. Instead he focuses on the latter question posed.

"Maybe ponies started worshipping Nightmare Moon 'cause it annoyed the zebras."


He takes in a deep breath and flicks some stray hairs away from his eyes. "Alright, I'm... I just don't see the need to kill this Armoise guy right this moment. Fan Knife doesn't think he's a problem and I trust her judgement. None of the other passengers I picked up in there even mentioned him. We got two places to be in short order. If the gang leader really needs to die, I don't see why it couldn't be done tomorrow. We'd have an empty bus; pick up a couple robots at Cabbage Town for support, then come here to spend a couple days after killing him to vet a replacement that'll better serve the area. I doubt his gang would get very far if they tried anything slick here or even if they all up and walked out. Ain't much within a day's walk other than abandoned buildings and feral ghouls. It took us two to get here from Cabbage Town on hoof, and we were a small group with sleds and good weather."