Old Friends and New Faces [Open]

Scrap Parts walked the dusty streets of New Appleoosa-alone-just like he did every day since he had arrived here from Stableton. Scrap was a practical unicorn and he knew his weaknesses and he realized that having no friends was not beneficial to him and that finding sompony he could have to back him up would be a good thing.

"I suppose one of the bars would be a good place to find somepony to befriend."He thought before his pessimism kicked in. "Or a good place to get yourself shot."

Shaking off his doubts he headed to the closest bar in Appleoosa.

Rough Sketch stood back and looked over his work, his tools arrayed all around in a scattered mess. The old stallion, the local barkeep, had hired him to fix a water purifier that had broken some days back, and it had proven particularly troublesome.

Seems several pieces needed replacing, as they could not be fixed, even with his considerable mechanical prowess. Those pieces had given him a hell of a time, that is, collecting them. But now it was fixed, and the caps were worth it. He pushed the goggles he wore up onto his forehead and gave the purifier a tap. It hummed to life, and Rough Sketch smiled at this.

Yes, it worked. Now, those caps...he'd have to head back inside after he cleared up his tools. They were everywhere.

[...]

He sauntered back into the bar from the back door, glancing around. It was mostly empty, except for a few characters in the back and a younger stallion whom had just entered. He cocked an eyebrow.

Sketch had been in this town for at least a week, doing jobs here and there and everywhere to get by. He hadn't seen this pony though. Then again, he supposed there were parts of New Appleoosa he hadn't visited yet.

He had a quick discussion with the barkeep, who handed him a small pouch of caps for his work, and dismissed him. Rough Sketch nodded his acknowledgement and started to stride out, colliding with the younger stallion, whom he hadn't seen there. He managed to keep ahold of the caps, though.

"Ah...sorry. Didn't see you there."

After a long nights flight from the wastes,Sky found herself in the familiar town of new appleloosa, landing in the gate, she looked around trying to find the place she came for. and there into the distance she spotted it, the bar. "thank you." Sky said with a prayer to Luna.

She opened the door to the bar to spot very few ponies inside, the way she liked it. 'finally a bar that has some peace and quite.' Sky thought to herself as she walked up to the barkeep. "your finest whiskey if you please." holding out a small bag of caps the barkeep nodded and pulled out the orange liquid, poured into a glass and slid it to Sky. "thanks." she mumbled as she sipped in the whiskey, she quickly looked around the bar to see she had passed two ponies. Her eye quickly caught glance of one them, a certain grey unicorn with a red mane.

"Scrap!"

"Its all good" Scrap said while rubbing his snout with one of his whooves. "It was actually my fault, I wasn't looking where i was going either."
"He apologized! He's not going to shoot you if he apologized! Try to befriend him!" Scraps brain screamed at him inside his head.
"Hey, how bout I buy you a drink as my way of saying sorry." Not waiting for an answer he headed toward the bar when he heard a familiar voice call out his name.
"Hey Sky!" Scrap yelled back. "C'mon, don't just stand there i'll introduce you to my friend Sky." He said to the pony he had just run into.
With that he continued on his way towards the bar abet this time to go sit by Sky.

Rough Sketch glanced at the door as the other pony, who's name was "Scrap" if his ears had served him, walked over to the bar. He had invited him over. He seemed awfully friendly, offering to buy a stallion a drink for merely bumping into him. He seemed a bit nervous; that much Sketch could tell. Sort of young, too.

Then again, free drink. It couldn't hurt, and he could use some company. Why not? It's not as if he had anything else to do at the moment, as all the jobs were done for today. The only thing he could do now was kick back, eat, and sleep. In that order. Mostly sleeping, to be honest. Might as well count this as "kicking back"!

"Sure thing."

"hey Scrap what you been up to? been awhile since that job at the ruins."Sky carefully sipped her drink. "And who is this other stallion?" she pointed to the brownish colored pony moving over to Sky and Scrap.

Rough Sketch took a seat next to Scrap and the mare, who's name he did not know. The barkeep asked him what he wanted.

"Eh. Something mild. Not a fan of the entire 'passing out drunk' routine. Tried it once. Never did it again."

He waited for a moment as the barkeep got his drink, chosen randomly. Did it matter to him? Not one bit. A free drink was a free drink, on the behalf of this "Scrap" character. And his friend, for that matter, the mare on the other side of him. He was curious.

They seemed as nice a pair of ponies to meet as any.

"I haven't been doing much since last time I saw you. Mainly just scavenging what i can hoping to find some bit of old world tech to fix up and sell." Scrap replied after taking a drink from his spirit of choice. "As for my friend here, I just bumped into him and figured that one can never have too many friends so I offered to buy him a drink."
Turning to the pony beside him Scrap introduced himself by saying " I suppose we've never been properly introduced, I'm Scrap Parts, scavenger and repairpony and thats my friend Sky, she worked with me and a bunch of griffons on a scavenging job a while back, But thats enough about me. You are?"

Sky was happy to hear about from her friend, learning of what he has been doing since they last met puts a smile on her face. she stayed quite and listened for the response of the new pony.

Rough Sketch glanced at the two and gave the pair a small smile.

"Rough Sketch. Also a mechanic, by chance..." he cleared his throat. "So, you're Scrap Parts...who's your friend again? Didn't catch her name."

The bartender handed him his drink, sliding it across the counter to him. Rough Sketch nodded his thanks, and set a few caps down, but didn't drink it. Not yet, at least. He had to admit, he was somewhat...curious? About the two. Awfully friendly. Not a bad thing, he supposed.

"Another mechanic, well glad to meet sompony else who shares my love of fixing things." Scrap replied after taking another swig of his drink. "As for my friend, thats Sky."

"Oh, so I did hear right. Great, then. Nice to meet you both." Rough Sketch drummed his hoof on the countertop a few times, looking around.

"Quiet, huh." he took a swallow of his drink, previously untouched.

"..."

He wasn't one to run his mouth in idle conversation, so unless these two had something to say, it was going to be a quiet evening. Unless...well, maybe he could...no, SHOULD strike up a conversation. It'd be a nice change of pace. New acquaintances, not just employers or his friend back in Manehattan.

"So what's your story? I'd tell you my own, but, heh, it's not all that exciting."

"My story? Nothing too interesting but since you asked-born to some traders, traveled with them till they were killed by bucking raiders, moved to Stableton and lived there till i got fed up and stole this baby." Scrap said lifting a hoof to show off his stolen Pipbuck. "So all together a rather boring life, in retrospect."
"Sky here is the wanderer, she's the one who probably has cool stories."

"Huh. Well, that's a bit depressing, now isn't it. Family killed by raiders. Poor sod."

Rough Sketch patted the Scrap Parts on the shoulder, and looked at Sky.

"What about you?"

"my story? you really want to know." she looked at there faces.

"fine, but you guys owe me a drink." She quickly looked around, "all right my story is actually part of everyone Else's story here also, but we each have something different to tell. We all grew up in a vault, the great vault one thirteen, a vault of no prejudice or hate, all races living in harmony, But the vault had a secret mission, to see if we can live in peace while one of us was given a drug for pony to lose his mind. They killed him but his family lived and had some form of the drug in them, so a hundred ninety years later his descendents, started to inhibit the signs of the drug, and after a month lots of ponies went crazy to the drug.

As for me i survived cause i was a security mare,but......" Sky started to tear up a bit. "......i saw my parents, they both had succumbed to the craziness. They both attacked me, and........" tears were starting to pour out from her eyes. "i shot them both, they nearly killed me, i didn't want to shoot but i had no choice, if i didn't i would have died."

Sky put her head in the bar, using her hooves to cover her face as sobbed. Skys mind started to think, if they went crazy then should she have drug in her system, what if she would become crazy just like them.

Has everypony here lost their parents? Or something? Rough Sketch thought to himself as Sky went on with her story. He scrathed his chin with one hoof, pondering the part about the drug. Hereditary drug? Unlikely, but then again, he wasn't a doctor. He wouldn't know, now would he. He had to admit to himself that the idea of this mare going off her rocker was not something he'd like to see.

"...okay, um...sorry? Sorry I asked, yeah. That's it. Didn't mean to cause trouble." he smiled sheepishly, but there was no warmth to the expression.

"..."

He nudged his glass away, more than half full. He wasn't thirsty all of the sudden, even for a free drink.

"I'm so sorry Sky, I had no idea." Scrap said quietly. "I wasn't trying to reopen any painfull memories." He passed a drink to the mare as a small form of consolation.

Rough Sketch let out a breath. He glanced over, and smiled a little.

"Well...maybe it'd be best to leave my past alone. Wouldn't want to make you feel...hmm. Feel..." he gestured with his hoof, searching for the right word, or phrase.

"...ah, yes, feel like I was rubbing it in your face. It was decent, no tragedies, at least. Let's leave it at that, mmk?"

High Flyer was thirsty after exploring the wastes. he found the nearest town which happened to be Appleoosa. he wounded in to the nearest bar.

"its ok and thanks," she picked her head up and wiped some tears away. "im already come to peace for what i did, its just i haven't thought of it or told it to anyone else at all. just need a moment to get my head together and dont worry about rubbing it in. Seen to much of the wasteland to know how many ponies died." She looked at a bottle the bottle of whiskey, grabbed it with one of her hooves and chugged half of it in one swing.

"...you know, I'm going to have to scrape you off the floor if you keep drinking like that, Miss Sky." commented Rough Sketch. He knew, not from personal experience but his friend's, that drowning one's sorrows in alcohol was NOT a good idea.

Because sorrow can swim.

"its quite all right, nothing much to do in a town like this, but i best be heading home, being tipsy is not on the to do list today." She got off the stool and fell onto the ground, "would you guys mind helping me get back to my place?" she said with a grin.

"No problem Sky" Scrap said with a small smile while helping her off the ground "If a friend won't help a friend home when they need it then they aren't really a friend."

After somepony fell of a stool High Flyer looked and saw his old fri
end Scraps.High Flyer put down his drink to help Scraps help the pony.

Scrap glanced back toward the pony that tapped his side.
"Hey I'm a bit busy at the mome-Oh, hey Flyer, good to see you again-I'd love to catch up but im a bit preoccupied at the moment. Tell ya what buddy, I'm gonna help Sky here home but I'll be right back and we'll catch up." Scrap said. "You should go meet my friend Rough Sketch over at the bar while you wait."