A Normal Day... [Closed][Finished]

Rodeo squinted a bit and cocked his head to the side. "Why'd ya even stop me, anyway?" he asked, still squinting.

"I see a strange pony with a gun parading around my medic," grunted Trails, deciding against shooting the buck just yet," who was supposed to be at the meetup, I draw. Right now, I think you're a raider, or a really egotistical prospector. Regardless until everypony has heard you say your piece, you're an enemy."

Rodeo lifted his chin some and looked at Trails through his eye not blocked by a mop of bloody mane. "Yer medic, here, was just takin' me ta see yer group- based on yer attitude and willingness ta uphold yer position, Ah take it yer the leader."

Rodeo looked back at the blue pony behind him who had remained quiet the entire time, then turned back to the brown one who had been threatening him the entire time.
"Ah work as uh hired hoof. Mah allegiances lay only with the ponies payin'. Them who get in mah way, however, ain't no friend uh mine."

Rodeo had had a long day of sitting in an empty room staring at the corpse of his employer he had failed. He wanted away from the whole stand-off, and wanted to get his hooves on his stuff. He saw it best to explain his position to this pony and hope he believe.

"Ah was hired by uh trader in Filly ta escort him down the road. We sought refuge 'ere as night fell upon us, but ran inta uh whole mess'a raiders instead. They killed mah boss, took all our stuff, cut mah eye with mah own knife; then locked me up in that room back that way some when Ah pounded the tar out uh one of 'em! All Ah'm tryin'a do, is find mah stuff so Ah can skedaddle on back ta Filly. Ah recommend ya make way."

"Hey everypony! I'm here!" Starry called, turning the corner of the hallway. She was levitating her pistol a generous distance in front of her. "And right on time, too. I just followed the sound of the gunfire and these three little green dots on my EFS."

Starry trotted slowly down the hallway, just passing by Rodeo. The missle launcher was still weighing heavily upon her back, which slowed her pace. "I did catch quite a bit of your conversation there, starting with where you were talking about the 'up and up'.

"Oh hey!" Starry turned her head toward Rodeo, "You're that pony that went running out of the infirmiry after I blew the door off it's hinges. You weren't trapped in there, were you?"

Rodeo blinked. "Ah was. Raiders locked me in when Ah started beatin' on one of 'em," he answered, looking a bit confused.

Starry raised an eyebrow. "You were locked in an infirmiry. You couldn't find anything to patch that up?" Starry questioned, pointing a hoof at the mess of blood seeping from his facial wound.
"Oh my Celestia! That looks bad!" Starry remarked, her tone changing from one of skepticism to concern, "You've got to let us take care of that!"

Silver Hoof looked at the dragon and sighed. "You cant move much yet can you? Not to mention you're prolly twice my weight? Ill be right back, seems like there's a commotion going on next to the armory."

Silver Hoof trotted off in that direction after setting his new armor down. It was awkward carrying it around and he didn't really think there was that many raiders left around, if any. He followed the rather loud voice of Starry till he saw the flash of green mane that trampled him. He gasped then got angry, he pointed a hoof at him, while walking slowly towards him.

"You! You ruined my whole day, my day was going just fucking fine, I wasn't really hurting at all, surprising seeing as we killed the raiders here, but NOOOOOO.... I cant even enter a damn room that smells like shit and death. Nope, I get my ass trampled all over, and get thrown onto a pile of blood AND shit combined. I came here for one purpose only. More PipBucks. Thats all, I wanted to get in, and get out. My purpose was almost done without much injury. We even got a dragon friend out of this ordeal, something that's unheard of in these parts. But no, I go into the Celestia damned infirmary, and what happens? My. Day. Goes. To. Shit."

Silver hoof was poking into Rodeos chest with every every word on the last sentence. Silver wasn't pleased, he was excited, yes, but the excitement went away rather quickly when he saw the pony who injured him again.

Rodeo blinked his good eye as the blue mare before him barked. "Uh- uhwell, Ah.." he looked around at all the ponies around him for a moment. Where had they all even come from? "Uh... Ah got it ta stop, but then it started again. Ah ain't no doctor, Ah dunno how ta stitch this," Rodeo complained, holding a hoof over his wound and trying to hide his shame.

Suddenly, Rodeo found himself being confronted, and poked even by that little pony he had tackled on his way out of the infirmary. He glared down at the smaller pony for a moment before shoving him back. "Ah thought you was uh raider!" he howled angrily. "Now get on outta mah face 'fore Ah make yer day uh whole lot worse!"

Silver didnt back down, he was angry and had every right to be. He also saw Trails had a shotgun pointed at him. He called over to him and said, "Lets escort him back to the dragon. as for you, Green Flash, whats your name? My appologies for making you feel worse but lets see your story." Silver turned back around headed back to the dragon.

Rodeo was not one for many words to begin with. Now that he was angry and felt his pride being challenged, he /really/ wasn't about to start talking. "Mah name is 'Sir-Pounds-the-fuck-out-of-ponies-a-lot'! And mah story is 'Fuck you, mah buisiness is the other direction'!" he hollered angrily and retrieved his holster by the strap with his teeth, and turned to head back down the hall.

"Ah was wantin' ta make peace with ya'll, but Ah can see there ain't none here ta make."

"Aww, Silver! You hurt his feelings! That's no way to make friends." Starry pouted. "Come on, Sir Pounds-a-lot, you've got to at least let us take care of that wound for you. I promise we won't shout at you any more, or make fun of your name."

She looked between Silver and Trails, "Right guys?"

((Jeez, I really need to check my inbox more))

Techno, who was just staying out of the way of the arguing ponies, sighed.
"Look, if you ponies don't stop this brahmin shit, I'll turn you all into ragdolls. Trails, he meant no harm. He just wanted to retrieve his stuff and leave. Mr. Green pony, all of us here were just scavenging some stuff, and Trails here wanted a new home base. Now since we both know at least the surface of what each of us want, can we stop arguing like brutes and just compromise?" he said, before taking a deep breath and turning to Rodeo, "And if you wanted that cut patched up, you should have asked. I even told you I was a medic."
After the rant he stood looking at the three ponies. "So, you three, come up with some way to get this over with, and if I hear any gunfire or fighting, I'm going to make sure you're all limp for the next month. Got it? Good." He then went to examine the pile of stuff that was retrieved from the armory and medical station.

Silver Hoof sighed and looked at his hooves. He felt hurt and nopony out here in the wastes gave two shits about that. Oh well, guess its just as well out here. At least well... no, they'll laugh if I tell them that. Silver Hoof straightened up and spoke in a far calmer voice, "Alright you heard the medic, All guns down, we don't need to have a gun parade, lets head back to the dragon and set up camp, I don't want to travel back to Filly at night. Too many Hellhounds you know?"

Rodeo let out a sigh, and turned back to Techno. "Ah'd let ya stitch me up, but Ah just don't know ya, partner. There's only one doctor Ah ever let touch me n' he's back in New Appleoosa. Now Ah got me uh problem- Ah need ta find my stuff, n' there's bound ta be more raiders."

Rodeo sat back on his haunches, and started to use his front hooves to re-strap his holster around his neck and over his shoulder. "Ah don't like askin' fer help, but Ah just don't got the firepower ta take on uh whole mess uh raiders alone. Ah told ya'll earlier, they took all the stuff the trader pony Ah was escortin' had, so there's bound ta be some loot Ah don't mind partin' with."

Rodeo removed the pistol from his holster, and cocked it, then replaced it in his holster. "Ah need the stuff they took from me. Ah'm'a run inta uh hornet's nest with er without ya, so Ah'll leave it up ta ya'll."

He stood, and started back down the hall, then stopped and looked back at Techno quickly. "Oh, and Ah forgot ta mention... there's some good bit uh medical supplies there too. That's what the pony specialized in; trading medical supplies." With that said, he turned forward and continued on down the hall alone.

Techno sighed, finished with the digging through the pile of stuff, his saddlebags holding several different meds and a bunch of medical gauze. "Now, was that so hard? Seriously. I'll leave this up to Trails, but I want a fair, thought-out decision, not an outright no. At least give a reason, please." he said, a smile creeping to the corners of his mouth. "And if it means anything at all, I say we should help."

Silver trotted back to the dragon, not saying a word to anypony he passed. He went from angry to depressed really quickly. He sat down next to the blue dragon and started to talk, "I'm just tired now, I don't want to move another muscle. I know you're prolly not the most talkative fellow around either huh? Well I hope you don't mind if I keep talking to you...." Silver Hoof tried to lead the dragon to saying his name.

Trails let out a sigh and lowered his shotgun. "I believe ya. I've lived long enough in the wasteland to know better than trusting a wounded pony just because of their issues. I'll help you get your stuff, but just like you I don't do anything for free. I think if this stiff is that important to you, it's worth a few free contracts."

Starry let out a relieved sigh. She hadn't made a big show of it, but she had been quite concerned throughout the entire exchange.

"I think I may have been through enough for today. I'm getting thirsty, and my canteen is empty. Maybe I should play it safe and head back to town." Starry was almost certain there was water somewhere in the factory, the raiders had to drink something. In reality, she just wanted to get home, where could trade some of the salvage she'd pick up, craft some new explosives, and sleep somewhere she felt safe.

"You're welcome to come with me back to town, Trails. I could show you around. The place is really pretty nice."

Spark Fire had technically been alive for well over a hundred years, but life with the tribe was much different then life outside it. For one, not every pony was a ghoul, just like how Ol'Wart face used to say, and what he saw was not always what was real. In the wild a stinkbug was a stinkbug and a rat was a meal, but out here, things were not what they seemed. Turns out playing pinata was not very fun and ponies could be cruel.

However, these ponies seemed different, they dressed his wounds and injected him with something that made the pain go away... They seemed nice and reminded him of the tribe that he left. He had to return the favor... somehow...

""Spark Fire...My name is Spark Fire and thank you soo much..." The weary dragon whimpered.

Techno perked up the instant he heard the dragon speak. He went over to it and sat down next to him. "Ah, you're awake now, good. Are you feeling better? Less pain?"

Silver Hoof laughed, "Hey now, lets not bombard SparkFire here with thousands of questions Doc. He is after gonna live, right? Lets give him some time, and ask only super important questions. You know, like the ones you asked." Silver Hoof smiled, even though he was depressed he didnt want anyone to see it and start to judge him as a Stable pony. He was learning that was a very bad thing.

Techno gave a skeptical sideways glance at Silver, and turned back to the dragon. "Yeah, he's right. But still, I'd like to know if you feel any better. As your medic, I'd say that's an important enough question for me to know the answer to." he said with a smile. "We'll do the unending questions when you're better."

Sparkfire was a little perturbed with all the attention he was getting, back in the tribe he was generally referred to as something similar to a hunting dog. The Ghouls were kind as happy hunting dogs are the best hunting dogs.

"m..medic? Oh like Doc Feelgood! uhm, how did he used to tell me what to say again? Ah I remember." He said as he began straightening his back.

"I am stable and can be moved under my own accord." he continued, this time bowing and angling his head toward the blue unicorn as if wait for a pat on the head.

It was Sparkfire's turn to receive a skeptical look from Techno. "Alright, two things wrong with that statement there, first being you are NOT ok, and second, you had a terrible madic if he told you to say that. Now, please, answer me truthfully because I want to help you. How do you feel? Any pain?"

Rodeo stopped, and turned back to face the ponies behind him. "Y'all help me, ya gotta stay beside me. Ain't lettin' nopony Ah don't know behind me when there's shootin' goin' on." He started walking again, talking as he went. "Ah heard them come down this way after they locked me up, guessin' they're all up there barricadin' doors n' such once they heard all the shootin' and the dead raiders."

Rodeo's bloody mane kept falling over his eye, which itself was not damaged, but the skin around it was cut wide open and gushing blood again. He was continuously slowing down to lift a hoof and brush his mane out of his view. "Ah- think that- if we was ta try n'- get in n'- flank 'em...- Somepony just go left-- Fuck!" He stopped and sat down on his haunches. "Does anypony have uh damn rag er somethin' Ah can borrow?" he hollerd.