Set six years after season 6, Occupied Equestria presents an alternative history where the Changelings have conquered half of Equestria, while a former Equestrian colony - soured to Princess Twilight's notion of harmony with all creatures because of their encounters with griffins - Invaded and took the other half. In Baltimare and the Equestrian Southeast, the magic of friendship has weakened, as Communists, Changeling infiltrators, Fascists, gangs, and corrupt creepy politicians threaten the city. This role play is based in large part upon the Equestria at War mod for Hearts of Iron 4, and uses D&d 3.5e mechanics
In the North, in Bales, Brie has just aquired a carriage with which he shall make the journey into the Changeling Occupied Zone, alongt with Spark and Onyx. In Baltimare, Dark Star recouperates from injuries sustained in a near fatal encounter with a Changeling opperative. Silver helps treat two traumatized orphans, and Iron examines ancient secrets in the Jungles
1847 replies and 157 files omitted.
>>103899"Sure I can. You have other history pieces inside the temple for you to substitute them. The pots themselves are not worthy of historical value by themselves, there are some gold coins on the ground to pick up and present to your superiors and you have history to spare with the frescos. You have other options than the pots."
Iron leans to Cauldron again.
"Be at the ready, Grant may try to attack us. It should justify killing him," he whispers to her. "Spare the mare if you can, but if she tries anything funny, you can do what is best."
With that, Iron continues his slow walk towards those juicy pots filled with money.
>>103900“Alright, tell you what. How about a 20% finders fee?”
>>103901Iron fakes a long yawn, clearly uninterested as he walks even further.
It would be funny to be jailed by police into doing Black Hooves service. >>103902The pots are indeed there
“You only found this because of us, you know@
>>103903"I believe I have already told you why that point is moot. Do you want to be reminded of your impending demise with the bandits? You would have died and not even see the pots to begin with. You have all of the history scattered in other parts of the temple."
He slows attaches one of the pots to his person, taking his sweet time.
Don't tell me I have to accept his in order not to break the rest of the plot. >>103904NahPear slinks off to the area around the entrance, Grant stomps around, complains to pear, then heads towards the entrance. Cauldron gets to the pots. Grant ultimately lopes over to near Iron’s position
>>103905Iron takes note.
"They might try to ambush us," he whispers to her. "Be at the ready."
Seeing Grant close to him, he awaits any sort of response while he finishes strapping his first pot and starting the second one.
>>103906He hears
“Raiding native grave sites is a crime”
>>103907"Good thing I am a native, then."
(Is he looking to be killed or something?)
"Why did you not bring up that to the band of raiders you were with before? Maybe they would have relented in their search and let you go."
He chuckles, then turns stoic.
"If it did not dissuade them, why should I?"
>>103908“Ugh! Very well.” He lopes on by Iron, past the two of them, and disappears out of line of sight beyond the appex of the cavern trail
>>103909"I smell an ambush." he says out loud for Cauldron to hear.
"They may try to use that police you mentioned in order to steal the loot we have worked for. Any alternatives or methods you know to either make it before them or other sellers closer to this place?"
>>103910“We’re out in the middle of the Jungle. There are many ways to avoid police or Saltmane”
>>103911"I will trust you on that. They are certainly going to try and take these pots back."
Smiling at his prudency, his pot tying increases in pace, going for those last three pots after securing the second one, but wavers as other possibilites are brought up.
"Can they track your identity from how you look? Perhaps they will submit a report to arrest you."
>>103912“I don’t know. I know they’ve never seen me before, and to the police, one Zebra generally looks the same as any other”
Cauldron looks back, and it becomes evident that Pear is slinking up. She has all four idols with her
>>103913Iron nods to his partner, knowing she is relatively safe from institutional retaliation.
However, when Pear brings the idols with her, a small chill courses through Iron's spine.
"Uh oh. They are definitely planning something," he mutters.
>>103914Pear casually slinks up to Iron and Cauldron
“For all of my colleagues... ‘lack of tact,’ he has a point. Removing items from an archeological site without careful cataloguing can disrupt the investigative process”
>>103915He nods.
"While I agree, I must point out that these pots are not the only examples of coins inside the temple. There are some strewn about the floor, even including chalices still untouched by us."
(Time to make my play.)
He sighs.
"I have risked my body for you to be able to document what history is in here."
Looking at Cauldron's most recent wound, he continues.
"I simply cannot take a measely 10 or 20 percent of profits when I almost died about 3 to 4 times and even got my partner injured because I insisted on being here when she was extremely reluctant to accompany me."
He looks back at her, determined. "We deserve better for enabling you to reach the story you waited for so long, risking your boss' mood for it. This was what you wanted. A story worthy to document. Not some pots that add to the footnote of what really matters here: What happened to these ponies."
(Hopefully this works.)
>>103916She blinks, then says “very well,” and slinks past Iron, almost as if the question never interested her in the first place
Cauldron has a kind of irritated look on her face
[1d20 = 15]>>103917Iron uses empathy to feel Cauldron's emotions that cause her irritation.
aka Sense motive.
(That went better than expected. I assumed something bad was going to happen. Still, that should spread the tiniest seed of doubt on enforcing her partner's wishes... hopefully. Cee-vee-lized folk are strange.)
>>103918She’s been shot, personally killed at least 2 ponies, and has generally been involved in a large amount of haste she is not used to
>>103919Surprised she only showed these emotions now, tbh. Guess adrenaline is fading.Iron is bemused that expedition ponies are trying to implicitly state threats if he doesn't give away the pots and agree to their rather unfair trade.
He wraps a foreleg around Cauldron, knowing the pain she's going through, and pats the zebra's shoulder.
He checks his body to see if all the pots are strapped on his body.
The DA randomly decided to pretty much dismiss all of the misdemeanor marijuana cases. Going through every unresolved case from the last six years took a whileSome defense attorney went around my back and got the first assistant to dismiss a cruelty to animals case I spent hours working on. I am not pleased>>103920She accepts the foreleg, but remains serious in her demeanor
“What is next?”
>>103921Oof. That is quite the sudden and dickish moves that have recently happened to you.That defense attorney is a real dick. Pretty sure he/she wants to hinder you because he/she's scared of you having better success than her tbh."We are in the final stretch. If we were to stay the night here and rest
aka get some HP through hours of resting and losing rations., do you think they will have enough of a headstart to reach a city and report us?"
>>103922“I do not know, but much can happen in a day”
>>103923Iron hums.
"We should leave then, before they decide to actually go through with reporting us. It should be a safe trip with you watching my flank."
He squeezes a small hug with his foreleg.
>>103924This gets a brief smile out of her
“I’m skeptical as to how safe things are going to be”
>>103925Iron ponders.
"Do you know how much we need to travel to reach cee-vee-lai-sei-tion?"
>>103926“We are a number of miles from the nearest railway station. We could also follow the river. There should be a village or saw mill eventually, and onwards to Saltmane, Mareida, or Tenochtitlan.”
>>103927"Perhaps going along the river is best. It would increase our chances to pass by without much issue and allows us to rest and heal our wounds before setting off."
BTW how much heal for simple resting instead of sleeping? >>103928“It increases the chances of encounters with other ponies, if that matters to you” she says. She sounds calmer, but with a slight air of stress still about her
Perhaod half as much, but Iron still needs to sleep eventually to avoid being exhausted >>103929Seeing Cauldron calm herself with the proposition means that she really needs this rest to restore her sanity.
"I do not think it will be much of a problem. We fought hard and now we rest for a bit."
He squeezes her again.
"It gives me more time to feel your smooth coat."
Good enough. Real sleep comes when mission is complete. I'll take this downtime to excuse myself, since I have class soon. See you in 4 hours! >>103931I hope Brie comes around today.
Spark looks around to see if there is anypony passing by talking. It seems Spark's favorite pastime is eavesdropping.
>>103932Coming from the area of the check point are two earth ponies, one of a grey coloration, the other of a pink, scurrying by:
“We can’t leave Cinnamon Heart”
“The consulate will provide us with papers... don’t lose hope. We will get her soon.”
Two ponies, both unicorn stallions, in line to go across the border:
“I’ve seen commissars occasionally, visiting the Paper Mill at Riverside. I was an engineer on the pulp mill there when one visited, in a random inspection. He didn’t ask me any questions, but I could see he looked at me with clear disdain when he passed”
“I haven’t had that issue, or at least I haven’t seen it. I did a number of geological surveys in the occupied zone in the Messabi area two months back. Bare woods. No pony bothered me. The woods were surprisingly quiet. I was expecting them to be teaming with action.”
An earth pony mare mare with two foals, petting the medium length hair of s lime colored filly:
“It’s okay, you will see your father. We’ll just have meet him at Whinnychester. It’s okay. It’s okay.”
>>103933Although all are interesting and a bit depressing, Spark tries to listen in to the ones talking about a Cinnamon Heart and hopefully learn a bit more.
>>103934>>103934Through listening to them, Spark learns that the group of mares is a group of either friends or relatives who are trying to emigrate from the Changeling zone into East Equestria. “Cinnamon Heart” is the third member of that group. These two mares were able to cross, but due to some defect in paperwork at some point, Cinnamon Heart was not allowed to emigrate. These two mares seem more than a little disturbed by this fact, and one of them hopes to talk a consulate into providing the requisite paperwork
>>103935Hmm... I don't know how we could help as we would be going the opposite way, but worth a shot if we run into her.
>>103936And thus, Spark chooses to do nothing
>>103937What's that mean? I don't think I can cross the border, snatch a pony, and bring her back by myself. I need some level of teamwork.
>>103938Use sorcerer magic to teleport the last mare to the other side.
Teleport as in sweettalk the guards to death.
>>103931Gimme a minute or two to reach laptop status to continue. I need my
Mad Fast Typez to treat the zebra like a chieftain!
>>103939Fine. I guess if I should die on this mission, it might as well be now.
>>103937I approach the ponies that were discussing Cinnamon Heart.
>>103940Spark would have been sitting inside of the cabin of the carriage in a red cushioned seat that facing an opposed set of seats, along with the ersatz foals. To listen to the condensations, he would have pulled the latch up on the window, and slid the window open to look out at the passing ponies. Now, Spark opens the door on the carriage to get out, possibly doing the same careful opening and closing one night use to prevent a pet dog from exiting a house as you leave, Spark doing the same to prevent the ersatz foals from roaming about. Spark walks towards the two mares, looking at them. The grey earth pony mare is the first to take notice of Spark, looking at him approaching, but not saying anything to him. As he comes closer, the pink mare notices the grey mare looking over to her left (and the pink mare’s right), and decides to look over that direction for herself. Neither yet says anything to Spark
>>103941"I heard you mention something about somepony not making it though the border?"
>>103931Iron lessens his grip on Cauldron, smiling like a doofus.
"I think you would like some time to relax and let go of any and all fears. Do not worry. I am here to help you through and create the best opportunity you will ever have in your life."
He frowns, looking ahead of Cauldron, then returning his gaze, smiling again.
"At least for now. There might be even bigger opportunities that can help you accomplish any dream you have ever had."
>>103942Grey mare:
“Yes?”
She looks at him uncertain of his intent, but she is swiftly outspoken by the pink mare.
Pink mare:
“Yes! My sister Cinnamon Heart was supposed to come with us, but the border guard said that she did not have adequate cause for going through the border. Now on my paper it said that the two of us were going to live with our grandmother in Manehattan to help support her, and Cold Stone here had her paper that said she was going to Manehattan to live with her husband whom she said emigrated earlier. Now the guard saw us and saw that the three of us were together, and they passed through Cold Stone here first, then they let me through and stamped my passport, but when Cinnamon Heart came up and also told them that she was going to live with our grandmother to support her in her old age they told her that our grandmother only needed one pony to support her. So they refused to stamp her papers. I thought that that wasn’t right, so I tried to argue with the guard but he told us to get back, so we had to go on through and Cinnamon Geart had to get out of line. She’s my sister and so we’ve been around for years, I don’t want us to be delegated. Cold Stone says she thinks we can get permission from the consulate here, but I don’t know about that. I do not want to lose my sister...”
She speaks quickly and indefinitely. Her coat has a kind of faded appearance, almost like a pastel colored Easter egg dipped in the dye only momentarily. She looks unhealthy, a bit undernourished and slightly wrinkly. Her eyes look tired, even as her voice conveys energy.
>>103944She looks at him, then let’s our breath in a very long sigh
“I guess that’s true. These should sell for quite a large amount. That should open up some opportunities
>>103945"You aren't going to lose your sister. Don't worry."
Spark turns to Cold Stone.
"Do you really think you can get permission here? How much of a long shot is that?"
>>103946“Oh thank you, I don’t even know how I could live without my sister I really need her...” she continues speaking very quickly
Cold Stone’s disposition is more reserved.
“Who are you? We were going to go talk to the consulate to see if they could provide us with a visa”
Cold Stone is also slightly malnourished looking, but has more muscle than the thin pink pony
>>103945Iron does his best to huggle the zebra.
"You still sound rather sad about it."
>>103947"Just consider me a friend. Now, if you try for that visa and it doesn't work out, come back to me. I will get her through."