A Herbal Remedy [Closed] [Finshed]

Cross nodded as he picked up the signs of frustration from Flash...dammit, Blazen was quickly making himself a liability...Cross was nearly distracted as he noticed it appeared Blazen was asking Winter for fixer......now he was playing on the sympathy card, Cross didn't want in any way to make Winter unhappy, but Blazen has already failed the second test.

Cross quietly spoke to Flash "Thats the second strike Flash, I hope you know what it means if he gets a third" Waiting for a nod, Cross turned around to the rest of the group.

"Flash is in charge if anything happens, Scrap and Winter, on me, we're going in." There wasn't any reason for Winter to go, he just didn't want to leave her here where he couldn't protect her. Scrap however, would be essential to getting that tech unlocked. Cross gave Blazen stare, he better know that he was on thin ice.

One more screw-up that hurts the group and he's out...

Winter Bell nodded as she heard her name called to go along with Cross and Scrap. She had no idea what use she would be, going with them. But she didn't have it in her to question him considering he had the trust and respect of every pony here. And since there was, or seemed to be an obvious reason for that she felt there was no need to question why he was doing anything anyway. She was sure whatever he was thinking was for the benefit of the group. She trotted up to his left and gave him a smile to let him know she was ready for whatever they were about to do. She then looked for Scrap before she would follow Cross.

Blazen caught the look on Cross's face, and he glared back. He didn't care about what the idiot thought; and, from what he had just seen, he brought Winter just because he was there. He sighed, and when they left, he approached Lightning. "What did you tell him?" He said, frowning. He knew.

"Urm...Ill fix it when I get back, you can just hold on to it for now." Scrap said to Atriark after hearing Cross call for him. "Im just about ready Cross, just one sec."

He handed the 10mm to the zebra and turned to follow Cross. "Ready."

Cross looked at Winter, and tried to return her warm smile but deep down he was afraid if forced to deal with Blazen, ...she might not smile anymore. He remembered what she said about being himself, but he would always be afraid. He could be terrifying when forced too, ....slowly he began to remember the Battle of Stableton and shuddered, it was still hard, he saved Stableton but so many ponies didn't care, he had to force himself to work for the Dreg general...and he hated it, but in the end it did save them despite what he had to lose of himself in order to do it.

As soon as Scrap huddled over, Cross eyes flared and the magic began to enwrap them.

*FLASH* the 3 of them now stood in the middle of the house.

"I needed to talk to you two, Winter, I know you must be wondering why you're here but I wasn't about to let you stay out there where I couldn't make sure you were safe, and Scrap, you've been loyal ever since I first met you-" He paused, looked at the terminal, and then looked back to Scrap

".....you can unlock that terminal and listen at the same time Scrap", Cross said a bit sarcastically and bit jokingly.

"Winter I'm sorry, but if Blazen threatens the group anymore then I'm going to be forced to deal with him, I don't want you two to be afraid of me, if theres anything you need to ask me, please do so, I don't want to lose control...and the sad thing is, I never doubted myself when I was alone in the wastes....having friends, honestly....I've never been so scared in my life."

Winter smiled affectionately as Cross explained with the reason why she was here. Honestly she thought it may be a little unfair in case the others needed her for any reason. But she understood his feelings and why he wanted her here rather then outside with the dangers of the wasteland, Had the situations been reversed she might be inclined to do the same. Her ears dipped when he explained how careful he was being, with himself and about Blazen. She didn't like that he felt this way and if he was doubting himself then that wasn't good for him or any pony else. She looked at the floor for a moment, her purple eyes looking around the floor as she thought for a moment before she straightened up, looking to Cross before the trotted a few steps closer, her cheeks turning a slight red. She gave him a small kiss on his muzzle, closing her eyes for merely a few seconds before taking a step back, "If you begin to doubt yourself again, I want you to think of that" she said with a smile. What she meant had nothing to do with the kiss itself as the kiss represented a symbol to remind him how much she trusted him and his judgement. Hopefully that would be enough.


After a small pause she decided to go back to the conversation about Blazen, "As for Blazen... all I can do is try to help him. But if he gets worse or you think he might be a danger to any pony... I wont hold it against you if you do something about it" she said finally. She was concerned for the brown buck and hoped he could figure himself out before the group turned on him.

Scrap blinked a couple times, trying to adjust after the sudden change, after Cross magicked then into the shack. Scrap nodded, letting Cross knw that he heard and listened attently until Cross said to get working on the terminal.

"Sorry, i'll get working on it, shouldn't take long-unless they got it locked up tighter then a ministry secrets terminal-I'll get it open." He said turning to the terminal and proceding to imense himself in the task at hand.

(Rolling to unlock the terminal, Science 75, luck 6, Roll 96+18=114)

While Cross continued talking he quietly unlocked the terminal. After Cross finished talking Scrap said "I finished unlocking the terminal, password was flying... so original... oh and I see what you mean about Blazen, though he really just doesnt like you for some reason..."

Lightning gave a simple nod at Cross and say, "Understood." Seeing Cross call Winter and Scrap, it looks like they'll go up to the ridge themselves. That was fine with him but he wished that he could have completed the mission himself. Oh well.

The pegasus would walk back to the rest of the group when he saw Blazen walk over to him, a frown on his face. By the look of it, he already knew what he told Cross. So, in response, all he said was, "The truth." He would walk away from Blazen and sit down, a long sigh escaping his lips.

Blazen frowned even more, he bet he didn't even tell him that Lightning rammed him. The buck quickly walked away, and grabbed everything that was his. "I dont even belong here. Incompatible colors." He said, and checked if he was ready and everything else was. He walked back up to Lightning, his frown now gone. "I dont blame you, but anyways, im leaving this group. Everypony doesn't even like me, and i can tell Cross is trying his best to tolerate me, which isn't much. Ill stay here and tell them that im leaving, which their reactions i can guess wont be very surprised." He said to Lightning, and once he sat down away from the camp and in front of the building where they disappeared in to the building, started taking apart his 9mm slowly, seeing the intricate mechanics and then put it back together.

Lightning watched as Blazen picked up his things and declared that he was going to leave. Honestly, the pony had made his patience run rather thin and he didn't mind much that the pony was going to leave. But for the sake of arguments, he would say, "Are you even sure of that? We're just trying to get this job done and get it done together. Yes, Cross may be trying to tolerate you. Yes, I am a little unhappy with what happened earlier. But don't be stupid. There's alot of land between here and back to Stableton. Do you really think you'll make it back without being attacked by wildlife? Think about it. If you really want to walk off, fine. But if you want to survive and make it all the way back to the town, then I suggest you just tolerate everypony until this mission is over." Sighing heavily, the pegasus just tried to catch one more moment of peace and quiet.

Sky just stood watch while Flash and Blaze went to search the shack, with them to return with a frustrated flash. And Cross to decide to change the team to him, Scrap, and winter. Again Sky didn't do or say anything, She just watched on as they left and to see Flash tell blaze whats what.

And Blaze was leaving the group, really? he cant tolerate this. Just some simple commands, to follow orders. Cant say that i blame him, he tired and now his best wasn't his all. Sky walked up to blaze, "Leave now and Cross will most probably get more distrustful of you." She said in a calm tone.

Scrap unlocked the terminal in moments; the password lockout was hardly anything complex. The screen flashed and a couple options scrolled across the screen:

> Unlock Safe
> Log Entry 1
> Log Entry 2

He selected each option in turn.

Safe Unlocked...

He heard a muted clunk from nearby as the safe was unlocked. Then quickly went through the two entries.

Entry1:

Well, looks like Equestria is gone. Could see the glow over the cities for ages afterwards and could practically feel the land itself heave and a part of it die. Not that it matters. None of it does. A fitting end for such a pointless and stupid war. We all went in with such hubris, perhaps we are deserving.

Entry2:

I'm going to end it. I thought being out here alone would help me reconcile the loss of my brother. I suppose not, instead the peace brings memories and dreams that I can no longer handle. I've decided this is it, I'm going to dose myself up on Med-X and end it. Hopefully in the beyond I'll be reunited with Rumble under better circumstances.

Wow...this Thunderlane...he survived the end of his world and couldn't find the strength to keep going...I was right earlier...There is nothing good here...just another life shattered by the wastes...

Scrap sped-read through the terminals log entries becoming momentarily depressed by the messages contained within. He turned to the other two that were with him.

"There's a safe around here somewhere, computer unlocked it, the rest of the terminal is just personal entries are just the former owner's reflections on the end of the world and his subsequent suicide."

"Im just going to wait here." Blazen said, deconstructing the 9mm and reconstructing it. He knew the ins and outs of this thing thanks to Cory teaching him how. She was amazing. He tried not thinking of her at times, but he always comes back to his head. He pushed the thoughts away and began to think of the present. Sky was right, that would only make Cross a lot more distrustful with him. "Well, crap." He said, reconsidering. "He better not be talking behind my back again or thats the last straw."

Lightning watched as Sky tried to talk some sense into Blazen. Apparently, it worked for now. The pony was going to stay. But it would be foolish for the earth pony to walk back alone. The wastelands would kill him in a matter of minutes.

Changing thoughts, it was about time to do a recon flight around. Even though they weren't going anywhere. Still doesn't hurt to take a quick look around though. But he didn't want to take off and fly himself. Lightning had to stay with group in case something happened. Instead, he would turn to Sky and ask, "Hey, Sky. It's about time we do our recon flight. Do you mind do it for me and report back in?"

Atriark sighed and placed the 10 mil that Scrap told him to hold in his saddle bag. He looked over to the drab earth pony who he could not remember the name of who was talking to the pegasi and it didn't sound promising.

Without anything else to do, he trotted up to the rest of his party and decided to have a listen.

Along the wall, a short distance from the terminal the safe door swung open. A quick rummage inside revealed:

A carefully folded officers uniform (no armour value, just stylish)
A stack of 100 pre-war bits
A framed photograph depicting two pegasi in officer uniforms
A box of 10mm rounds

Further searching the living area, they found a few packs and tins of palatable pre-war food.

Moving to the bathroom, the first thing they discovered was a few long-ago used syringes of Med-X, and in a medicine cabinet, an unused health potion and a couple of bandages. Further searching of the shack didn't reveal anymore hidden items.

Cross picked up the picture and stared at it awhile...he felt nolstagia rise up from his chest, but as easily as he had chosen to pick up the picture, did he place it back inside the uniform's pocket. It was a nice uniform, but perhaps...he shouldn't be the one to decide what happened to it, Cross took a step back and motioned for Winter and Scrap to go through the treasure they managed to find.

"You guys decide, I don't mind regardless, as soon as you're ready, I'll take us back down"

Winter only took the health potion and the bandages. There was no need for her to take anything else as she didn't have a gun for the rounds and she had no use for caps or a uniform for that matter. She put the medical equipment in her saddlebag and was pleased to see she now had quite a collection. It pleased her to know that their chances of survival were increasing because of the stash of medical items they now had available. When she was finished she trotted back to Cross and waited for Scrap before waiting to be teleported back.

Sky had actually had talked sense into blazen, that little talk had worked. Just need him to see this through, if not he will die in the wasteland. A moment later Lightning asked her to go recon for the in the mean time, A good time to stretch her wings.

"Yeah, sure Lightning. Ill go recon around, keep watch over everypony else." And with that, Sky took to the sky.

Seeing that the others were done going through the safe Scrap grabbed the 10mm ammo, he couldn't use it but seeing as Atriark had a 10mm it would still be usefull. He also grabbed the stack of pre-war bits and put them in his bag, while they weren't worth quite what they used to be-they still could be sold for some caps. Done with the safe he picked up the tins of pre-war food that the others had left; once again based on that they could be sold or used by him or the group.

Satisfied with his salvaging he returned to where Cross and Winter stood.

"Do you want that uniform Cross? If not I'll grab it. But after that I'm all ready to go"

Blazen walked back to the small camp they had formed, waiting for Cross. He looked at one of his saddlebags, and the meat that Blaze had found was still good. He breathed a sigh of relief. He waited for Cross to come by again, thinking about his girlfriend. This was normal for him.

Cross simply nodded as he used his magic to slip the uniform into his pack, it was weirder scavenging especially when you knew the victims had lives, ...they were ponies at some point but at some point he'd slowly forget and just take real ownership of the uniform. Cross signaled the other two ponies to huddle closer and then...

*FLASH*

They now stood in front of Flash. Cross stepped forward.

"We didn't find anything worth mentioning, mostly some medical supplies for Winter...Did anything happen while I was gone?" Cross sternly asked.

Blazen walked up to Cross, looking a little disturbed, but he'd never talk about it. "Okay, so soon we need to set up camp because this meat i got from the radhogs are not going to be good forever. And, have you been talking behind my back?" He abruptly asked, staring into Cross's face. "Because i know you have." He said, answering his own question. "I will leave if i pose a danger here, but right now i have no intent on killing innocent people."

Lightning watched as Sky took off to do a recon flight around. Before much longer, a flash appeared before him and there was Cross, Winter, and Scrap, all standing in front of him. Looks like they finished gathering to stuff. At least they found medical supplies.

Giving a nod, the pegasus would answer, "Nothing very much. I sent Sky to do a fast recon flight and Blazen and I had a few words but nothing too serious." He glanced at the earth pony before saying, "And I would keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't go running off."

Before Lightning had the chance to say any more, Blazen walked straight up to Cross and confronted him. He let out an annoyed sigh and let the unicorn handle the situation from here.