Mane vs Machine: Coal Town (Apply in OOC!)

[Kirby Krackle]

"Coal Town?", Reveille's Pegasus cabbie asked with shock in his voice. "Coal Town's been abandoned since the dustbowl! It's a wasteland! Nopony goes out there, 'cept for a few mercenaries. But those are just rumors." The word 'rumors' was followed by a hearty laugh, which Reveille shared in, albeit awkwardly. After all, a major part of his luggage was a bazooka wrapped in Hearth's Warming paper and a pretty blue ribbon. 'A present to his mama' was easy enough to lie about, as opposed to a 'broken down war machine'. The cabbie went on with his story mentioned facilities that deserved to be condemned, treacherous bottomless pits, loose guard rails and substandard house cleaning.

Once on the ground, Reveille saw just how right his transport was. What looked to be an old mining operation was in shambles! He saw exposed wires, choked on clouds of dust, wondered if he would fall through creaking floor boards and, in general felt unsafe as he explored the the buildings he couldn't find a reason for. Did anypony ever live and work here? They must have. The packs of ammunition and first aid kits must have been new, as there were no flecks of dirt upon them. A surprising contrast to the rest of this place, which Father Time certainly took a bat to. Far behind him, among the cliffs looking down the terrain, a massive machine parked, waiting for an end he didn't want to think about.

Finally, at the end of his travels, he came upon the big secret. This one building, looking just as rotted on the outside and of very high standard upkeep on the inside. He needed his father's ID badge to get past the mechanical sliding doors. He was surprised to see no pony there to greet him. Was he the first to arrive? Did the cabbie zigged when he should have zagged? Was he just in the wrong part of town? He sure as shootin' didn't know. So, he figured, might as well try to be constructive with his time if he was going to have a wait ahead of him. Unwrapping his gun was the first order of business, and to give his shoulders a break, so he set the clunky thing on a nearby counter he didn't notice was labeled 'Upgrade Station'. Secondly was digging through his saddlebag for some rations he took along. Nothing fancy, just a few tough cakes of fruit and nut his Ma insisted he take. Chewy. Okay, more like eating a block of library paste, but sweet and filling. Final order of business was trying not to go insane from that sense of impending doom.

Reveille pulled from the brown canvas sack his brass trumpet, still kept as pristine as the day he got it, and began playing. Just random notes at first to warm up, and then 'Dream a Little Dream of Me'. He hoped he would make it back to his family and his band after all this. He hoped his father would understand if he didn't.

[korok132]

Dust kicked up around her hooves as Sweet Scent continued her walk down the road to her assignment, the defense of a place called Coal Town. She still wondered why, out of everywhere else they could possibly attack, the robots chose to attack Coal Town. Even stranger, why were her employers concerned with defending it? Prior to leaving, she did some research of this mysterious "Coal Town," and found it was little more than an old mining facility. Granted, it was the start of the Mane Co company that employed her, but it hadn't been used for a long time. It was probably run down by now, if not completely collapsed.

Sweet Scent felt a great number of emotions. "Dread" was the most prominent, as the facility finally came into view. The run down buildings in the face of the giant metal war machine brought little hope to the small mare. She feared the buildings collapsing on her head more than the actual robots that were supposed to be attacking the place, which also didn't help.

As the pegasus approached the town, she saw another pony arrive and enter a building with a large metal door. Setting down the pack she was given by her employers, she began to dig through it. She recalled seeing a card in there somewhere, beneath the equipment and clothes given to her to properly be a Medic, as well as some flowers and scented candles she always had. You never knew when one would need a massage, and it was always best to do one with a good smell in the air. After a bit of digging, she finally found the card, which caused the door to slide open. Carrying her pack in her mouth, she was greeted to the sound of the pony she saw earlier playing the trumpet. She stepped inside, the door shutting behind her as it did the trumpeter, and began to unpack. She didn't want to interrupt the earth pony, so she began unpacking silently, first pulling out her "uniform," a large jacket with red crosses adorning the sleeves with a dress shirt and tie underneath. It seemed incredibly high-class for a job that entails a lot of running around, especially on a battle field. With a shrug, Sweet Scent began to put the uniform on.

[Kirby Krackle]

'Relieved' wasn't a strong enough word for how he felt to see the always familiar white coat and red cross. As of right now, 'international symbol of protection' translated to 'probably not a lunatic' and he wasn't at all prepared to introduce himself to hard boiled mercenaries. He could barely talk to his Pa, let alone the real Gun nuts. Professionalism told him to keep playing until the end of the song before making nice with the audience.

"[colour=#0000ff]Good mornin', Doctor. Glad to see a friendly face[/colour]", he said making the assumption. Though there was a sudden nervous crack in his voice. He knew he wasn't a trained Soldier. Did she? Would the other fighters that were bound to show up? This wasn't really a time for charades. Following her trend, he reached into his own pack and donned his uniform, which was a jacket that felt like it weighed as much as he! It could probably stop a bullet or two, he assumed.

[korok132]

As she finished putting on her uniform, the trumpeter finished his song. "[colour=#0000ff]Good mornin', Doctor. Glad to see a friendly face.[/colour]" Sweet Scent was confused for a moment and looked around, thinking she had missed someone walking in. She then immediately remembered that she was hired as a Medic and was wearing a doctor's coat. "Oh. Right," she whispered to herself. "Uh, likewise. Sorry, I haven't been a doctor very long. Not used to ponies calling me that," she said softly scratching the back of her neck with a hoof.

Sweet Scent noticed his voice crack. Nerves? Maybe. She wasn't sure what job he had been assigned, although the massive flak jacket he was struggling with indicated a job closer to the front lines. Experienced combatant or not, the idea of fighting robots isn't exactly high on the "calming" list for her, so nerves were fully to be expected. "Here, let me help," she said as she gently flew over to the trumpeter, helping lift the heavy clothes onto him. "What's your name, by the way?"

[TheBritishBrony]

Reaching down into his saddlebag, Vasilli, or 'red' as most people called him, took a bite out of his sandvich. He had no idea how the people who had contracted him, mane-co he thought they were called, could possibly make something so delicious that was actually good for you. The cab he had been riding in stopped, and the driver looked back to him. "Here's your spot, Coal town." The stallion who had driven Red to his destination had been unnaturally quiet throughout the journey, but most ponies would be when you had a mercenary built like a brick wall with a minigun sat in your back seat. Red nodded greatfully, paid his fee, and got out of the cab, which not surprisingly drove away quickly. There was a sense of doom in the air, with a large machine sat upon the ridge. The heavy already knew what was going to come from that tank, pure hell itself.

Red slung his minigun, Natascha, over his shoulder and began to trot down to the town itself. It was a shambled wreck, but he could care less about it. Walking up to the building he had been told to go to, he pulled out the identification card his employers had given him. There was a small slot to swipe it, which he did. The door slid open quickly, allowing the heavy to walk inside. Two of his comrades were already there. He grunted a greeting at the two, before taking a seat at the counter and setting Natascha down on it. He dropped his saddlebag and donned the uniform he had been given, which consisted of boots, trousers, a short sleeved top, bulletproof vest and a bandolier full of deadly looking minigun rounds. The stallion then proceeded to inspect Natascha, not saying another word to the two other ponies sat nearby him.

Natascha was in good shape, so he took began taking the rounds off of his bandolier and replacing them with his own, custom bullets. In actual facts, it costed four hundred thousand bits to fire the weapon for just twelve seconds, but that cost was being handled by his employers. Taking a quick glance at the other two ponies in the room, he saw one of them was a medic. [colour=#ff0000]"I trust that you will be healing us on the battlefield doctor." [/colour]He said, his voice gruff and loud, a russian sounding accent accompanying it.

[Kirby Krackle]

"[colour=#0000cd]Thanks, Doc. Y'know, if I can call you that. Name's Reveille[/colour]." After introductions, he zipped up his jacket (which he noticed had the emblem of a rocket on each sleeve. 'That's me', he sourly mused.) and strapped the bandolier he dug out next. Affixed to it were a pair of grenades, which he was suddenly really not happy about. How old were these things?! Duds or worse, on a hair trigger? He would have taken the blasted things off but he was afraid they would smithereen him during the attempt.

He then noticed the behemoth of a pony marching in. This was what he was worried about. The seasoned veteran who could sniff out a phony from a mile away. Lickity split, he slapped on his hat and saluted his senior. "[colour=#0000cd]Sir! It is an honor to serve with you in the line of duty, sir![/colour]"

Boy, that sounded fake.

[korok132]

Sweet Scent smiled at the solider as he finished donning his uniform. "Call me Sweet Scent, please. Doctor feels too formal, and not really me." As she lowered herself to the ground, a behemoth of a pony walked in carrying a gun that was easily as big as her. She was used to seeing these kind of ponies up close. Heck, she was even hired to give massages to a few of them. She still felt utter terror at the sight of the massive red stallion. [colour=#ff0000]"I trust that you will be healing us on the battlefield doctor." [/colour]Oh Celestia, she had forgotten for a moment that she was fighting along side them. She was immediately nervous, which was made even worse when she remembered that her job was supposed to be the Doctor. You know, the one that heals them.

She felt wrong. Like she wasn't supposed to be there. She wanted to leave, to go home, to curl under her blanket, and pretend that she's not here. But she couldn't. She was here, and her employers made it very clear they weren't going to take "no" for an answer. "I-uh-I-uh..." She tried to think of answer that would satisfy the red pony. "Er, that is, uh, yeah, I suppose I am. Sweet Scent the Doctor, at your service." She forced a small laugh and smile. "It's, uh, good to meet you, Mister, uh..." She trailed off, being very thankful at the moment that they were both on the same side.

[MidnightBlackhorn]

Jauque was cursing himself as he finally arrived in Coal Town. He was really, REALLY late. He was normally late, true, but fashionably late doesn't exactly apply when the "party" includes stopping armed robots from bombing a base. As he entered the area he saw a powerful looking stallion with a gun that was bigger than Jaque by far. He shivered, certainly glad the big pony was on his side.

He searched his suit for his ID card. "Oh, merde" he said to himself, realizing he couldn't find it. He then got an idea. He hit a button on his hoof watch and ran into the building behind the other pony. Inside he saw two other ponies there. Before uncloaking he announced himself.

"I, Jaque DuPuis, have arrived" he said, hitting the button again.

[Kirby Krackle]

"[colour=#0000cd]SWEET MOTHER OF SUNSHINE[/colour]"

Thanks to the unceremonious uncloaking, poor Reveille was practically on the ceiling, all his fur standing on end. Later on in the evening, he would thank his lucky stars for not holding onto a loaded bazooka at the time, for he probably would have killed everyone in the room on reflex alone. After a few moments, his heart stopped doing the Charleston and hopped down from the rafters to which he was so desperately clutching. It started all over again when he realized what kind of a fool he appeared to be.

"[colour=#0000cd]Sorry sorry sorry! Invisibility is... a new one for me? How did you... Nevermind. My name is Reveille. A pleasure.[/colour]"

He may not have gained his composure, but he certainly tried to act like it. The Soldier extended his hoof in greeting, definitely curious as to the inner workings of this new pony in a very nice suit. He hid all questions though, for fear of being outed.

[MidnightBlackhorn]

Jaque shook the Soldier's hoof

" Comment faites-vous? Mon nom est Jaque. Enchanté de faire votre connaissance." He then saw that the other pony was giving him a strange look.

"Apologies. ow do you do? My name is Jaque. Nice to meet you, Revile"

[korok132]

Sweet Scent was used to people "popping in" on her unexpectedly. However, she's never had any actually just appear out of thin air like that, and was not far behind Reveille in the flying into the air with a loud scream of her own. After realizing he was an ally (see: not a robot), she set herself back down, breathing a sigh of relief. "I'm never going to get used to that," she said shakily.

Looking at the group assembled, the team seemed to be shaping up nicely so far. The pony with the massive gun would probably be able to tear through the robots, keeping their attention while the invisible one goes behind them and does... something nasty, surely. Meanwhile, Reveille would be doing...

She scratched her hoof behind her head. She knew what she was supposed to be doing: Keeping them alive. But so far, Reveille was the only one it seemed without a gimmick. "Uh, Reveille, if you don't mind me asking: what exactly are you going to be doing during the fight?" She still disliked the thought of fighting, and made a face as she said "fight," but surely the robot invasion was likely to begin soon. She better get used to it, fast. "It's fairly clear what the others are doing," she pointed at each pony in order. "Jaque is going to be going behind them, invisible, doing something nasty I'm sure. The big one has a big gun, that's pretty obvious, but I haven't seen what you're supposed to do yet."

[MidnightBlackhorn]

"Madame, I shall be using this" He flexes his left forehoof and a blade popped out "To quite litarally stab them in the back, and this" He draws The Ambassador, a gold plated revolver, "To attack them from far away, and THIS" He pulls out his sapper "To disable the bots so all of you can take out the bigger targets with ease". He pauses, then remembers. "Oh! And This here" pulls out a walet sized container of.......gum? "Will help me infiltrate thier defenses while i'm not invisible"

[Kirby Krackle]

There is is. The big question. 'Just what are you doing on the battlefield?'. Reveille spent a lot of time trying to come up with an answer, except not really. The necessary hours were only half of one on the cab ride here. The rest was spent fretting over the horrors of war and taking a nap. So what did he come up with? Lots of things, actually. Most of them were one-liners or boisterous boasting which all sounded very proud and were probably shouted in his ear by the Commander (Dad) at one point in his foalhood. The Art of War, which he certainly has in his pack and has certainly studied, provided much wisdom but dang it, he could not find anything... conversational. Nothing with punch. Nothing to explain his future actions. So, truly at a loss for words, Reveille simply skipped ahead.

The Earth Pony marched with as much authority as he could muster to his still gift-wrapped weapon. The colourful paper was ripped away to reveal his bazooka in all its dime-story glory. The Tin Soldier was fully prepared to be laughed out of the base.

"[colour=#0000cd]I made it myself. It shoots rockets. Rockets explode.[/colour]"

[MidnightBlackhorn]

Jaque looked at Revile closely, then examined his bazooka. Then shivered.

"I have seen a simillar device only one other time. The pony using it was quite nuts, and one of my comrades had to be cleaned up with a mop. I can only imagine what it could do to some silly robots." he said, while donning his outfit. A red pinstripe suit with a knife emblum on each shoulder.

[Kirby Krackle]

There's that 'horrors of war' thing again. The concept of reducing ponies to nothing more than pancake batter certainly sounded like madness. Both to use such a weapon and to actually build one. Was he half way there already? Maybe. He hoped not. Though, the cobbled mess slung over one shoulder and made of hardware scavenged from a dumpster might be a point against him in that respect. Oh goodness why oh why was the idea of him being crazy now in his head? Now the poor stallion couldn't stop thinking about it! Did the apple fall far enough away from the tree or was he in for a heaping spoonful of PTSD? He didn't know. He also had no idea why he just blurted out "[colour=#0000cd]Oh ho ho, you'll be seeing voided warranties from here to Ponyville[/colour]!" followed by a joyful snicker.

Well nuts, that didn't take long. Time to be worried again.

[Kaibunny94]

Widdlebuscuit popped out of the crate she had been hiding in the whole time she was always early "HAI EVERYONE" she squeaked loudly -MMMMPH MMMMNH- is unfortunatley what everyone heard. She looked around seeing A doctor, a big ol' stallion with a whirly gun, A soldier and....a SPY!! she leapt out of the box and moved towards the spy sniffing at him wearily. She didnt trust spies...they were all spy...ey..... She rose up and faced him dead in the eye the glassy blackness of her mask reflecting his own face on hers.

[MidnightBlackhorn]

"Get away from me, you soulless monster!" the spy snapped at the pyro

[Kaibunny94]

Widdlebiscuit yelped and fell back onto her rump sniffling "awww but...you...you are a spy" -mmph mm mmhn mmmph-

[korok132]

Well, her question was answered as to what the suit-wearing pony did was answered, on top of her fears being reinforced as Reveille presented his home-made bazooka. "[colour=#0000cd]Oh ho ho, you'll be seeing voided warranties from here to Ponyville[/colour]!" That sentence did not fill her with much hope for the sanity of the team. She thought she had found a friend who she could talk to, maybe discuss things that weren't fighting. Nope, too late for that. She was surrounded by crazy ponies.

Scratch that. Never mind the sanity of the rest of the team, what about her sanity? She was a spa pony darn it, not a fighter, even less a Medic. What was she doing here with these crazy mercs, about to fight along side them? The gas-mask wearing rubber pony in a party hat did not help in the least as it burst out of the crate it was in. If the Spy appearing was a seven on a scale of one to ten on surprises, then the Pyro would have been about an eight, but all things considered, she felt about a five.

Which still included Sweet Scent recoiling from the "mmpph"-ing pony as it hopped out and began to sniff the Spy, only to have him swat at... her? She couldn't tell. Sweet Scent wasn't sure she wanted to know anyway. It looked female in shape, she was going to continue referring to it as "she" until proven otherwise. She sighed as she realized she might be the last sane pony in at least a fifty mile radius. "If anypony else is going to suddenly make an entrance, please do it now. I'm sure it can't get any worse than this," she said to no one in particular. Courtesy told her to introduce herself to these new ponies, of whom she hesitated to call "teammates," save for Reveille (There's hope for him yet, she thought), but something told her that there would be more arrivals, and thus more introductions. So, she decided to pass the time by trying to get the strange backpack-looking device she was given ("The Quick-Fix," she remembered it was called) on her back without compromising the use of her wings.

[Kaibunny94]

Widdlebiscuit sighed she slumped onto her forelegs thrashing her tail, she'd scared everypony and all she wanted to do was surprise them...she liked surprises, especially surprises with fire. HEHEHE fire is great....she looked around at the other ponies her glassy eyes reflecting each ones confused face. They were a rag-tag bunch but it looked like they could handle themselves, she didn't doubt their years of service, looking from beaten bazooka to brand new kritzkrieg they all looked like they were in good hands, she deceided it was best to trust this bunch otherwise the buzzy blue people would try and ruin all their friendships, she hated it when people didnt want to be friends so she made friends with all the blue things in the world. She looked up at her teammates hooving at the ground.

[MidnightBlackhorn]

Jaque looks at the pyro.

"One shudders to imagine what twisted thoughts lie behind that mask" he says to the others

[Kirby Krackle]

Fool Reveille once, shame on you. Fool him twice, shame on him. Thanks to the invisible rogue of the group, all the surprise has been sapped out of him. Mostly. His heart still skipped a beat when yet another pony popped up from out of nowhere, masked, and staring at him with dead, goggled eyes. Once again, he was glad his gun wasn't loaded. Although he considered whipping out his frying pan briefly. Only briefly, because... whatever it was, seemed relatively harmless (to them. Knock on wood.) So to him, this Jacques' taunting seemed completely unjustified. The trumpeter's first act of heroism interposing himself between the two before things got out of hoof.

"[colour=#0000cd]So, I'm gonna guess and say there's personal history. Pretty sure we should be ignoring it. We can't fight the other guys if we're fighting each other, right?[/colour]"

Everybody calm? Good. Himself included and he liked that. First order of business was walking over to Sweet Scent and sliding the very science-fiction backpack off to the side ala saddlebag. Problem solved. Next problem was him addressing the pony in latex, "[colour=#0000cd]Though I bet we would all feel better if you lost the mask for a spell[/colour]". The last problem was finished with him sitting comfortably for orders and playing his instrument. 'When the Saints Go Marching In' seemed strangely appropriate.

[Kaibunny94]

Widdle biscuit shaked her head furiously "no no no I can't take off my mask!" MMP MMP MMP MMMPH MMMMPHM MM MMMMMPH! she yelled hiding behind sweet scent.

[MidnightBlackhorn]

Jaque scowled at the soldier. "Now you've done it! You've upset the thing! I've met a pyro before, they will set you on fire and you'll be running around for 5 minutes looking for a bucket of water, yelling for a medic, while getting chased around by a madman in a rubber suit"

[Kaibunny94]

Widdlebiscuit shook her head "no stop it i'm nice please stop arguing" mm mm mph mm mm mmm mmpmmmph she looked frantically around hiding under her forelegs.