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

Silver Hoof woke up when the bright sun invaded his eyes through the cracks of his boarded up window. A year later from moving into the new settlement and yet he still didn't like the new day and night cycle. It mustve always existed thought Silver Hoof, but I still dont like it. He stretched after getting out of his rather dirty bed and went to wash his face but remembered that the only real clean source of water was the towns pseudo water treatment plant. He was told the water was irradiated, whatever that meant. He put his half saddlebag over his back, and set out for the day. He stopped by the water plant and got a drink then set out through the town gate. He had a good feeling he might find something rather unusual today.

Starry Night let out a soft sigh. She had been loitering by the town gate since early morning. She had planned to head out by now to try her luck at scavenging, but as luck would have it, she was completely out of explosives, and she didn't have the salvage to craft another. She had been staring into the horizon in the hopes that a caravaneer might stumble into town, whome she could barter with for some supplies.
Starry was so focused on the horizon, she almost missed the gray pegasus stallion setting out through the town gate. She had seen this stallion around town before, but never made his acquaintance.
"Hey!" Starry called after him, "you heading out into the wasteland?"
Starry took a brief peek in her saddlebags. She had enough supplies for a short journey. She trotted up to the pegasus. "The wastes can be awful dangerous," she paused to adjust her slipping glasses with a hoof. "need some company?"

Silver turned to the rather chipper blue unicorn and saw that she was talking to him. He had seen her around here and there. That color blue was hard not to see. "Sure, but quite honestly, I'm heading to where its slightly dangerous myself." He looked her up and down and then nodded. "But you seem like a smart mare. Stay small and quiet and we will make it out with a saddlebag easily full and without one of these." Silver Hoof pointed up to his scar. He honestly thought the mare would back out the second she saw the raiders, or well, he reckoned that's what they would be called, cept they blew up everything he rightly saw. He thanked Celestia for that much cause their hearing was not so good anymore. "Its about a three hour journey from here, so grab a drink before we go."

"Not to worry, I'm all set on water. Got my canteen with me." she nudged her head, gesturing toward her saddle bag, "I should have plenty of water for the trip, unless I filled the canteen with lighter fluid again."

Starry had already set out down the road walking beside him, it took her a moment to mull over everything he had said. "So... you know where we're headed? What sort of danger are we expecting?" Starry didn't have any weapons on her, and while she felt that she could improvise with something she might find there or along the way(if she had to resort to combat), she wanted to know what she was up against first.

Silver just kept trotting and flexed his wings a couple of times. He didn't want to outright tell the mare and scare her, but he also didn't want to lie. "Yes I know the general location of where we are going, Id know exactly but my damn PipBuck is busted. But in general the umm danger is a) the building, its sorta... blown up a bit here and there, and b) the ponies we have to avoid are the ones who blew it up. I think this place used to be an explosives factory or something at one time, but there's also a lot of electronic scrap there. I'm honestly trying to fix this PipBuck." Silver Hoof sighed a little at the last remark, almost nine months with out the constant hum of it against his leg, and he sure as hell missed it.

Her eyes lit up as he spoke the words 'explosive factory'. She was so caught up with the thought of what she might salvage there, that she could barely focus on what he had said after the two key words. "Did you say explosive factory?! You know, I make explosives, it's sorta my specialty. Wow! I can't wait to get there! I bet the place is flooding in raw materials, I'll probably be up all night and day just crafting explosives from what we scavenge! Of course, I'll let you have half of the finished products, since we'll be working together here. I'll bet there'll be plenty of it to go around!"
Starry quickened her pace into a quick trot, "Come on! Let's hurry! I can hardly wait!"

Starry's eagerness to reach the factory had not faded from her mind in well over an hour of walking, though it had certainly faded from her legs. She ceased her hurried pace half an hour ago, and had taken several sips from her canteen (it turned out to be water).
Starry was beginning to feel that the trip couldn't be getting any more dull. She had run out of interesting things to talk about, but on the horizon she spotted what seemed to be a caravan coming their way. Excitedly, she picked up her pace again, eager to meet who she had hoped was a traveling merchant. She could appreciate a change in atmosphere and a chance to rest her hooves, and sitting down to barter would provide the perfect excuse.

Happy Trails let out a wearied sigh and watched the smoke curl from his cigarette. He was lost in his internal grumbling with the brahmin that wouldn't stop...well stopping. He was happy to have inherited the family business but the business seemed to be a lot less interesting when you were dealing with it on your own. He was distracted by what appeared to be a bouncing blue blob on the horizon.

Part of him was excited to see something other than his pack animals' backsides or wasteland. On the other hoof it could be a raider. Trails pulled out his knife and got his packs in order. Then thinking through the odds, lit another smoke. Just in case it was his last.

"Hi there!" Starry called from a distance. She could see very clearly through her glasses now the brahmin hauling(or not hauling) the cart, and the earth pony sitting behind them. He looked like a decent enough pony, he didn't have any crazy markings, and Starry hadn't known raiders to use brahmin.
Starry slowed her pace as she approached nearer to the caravaneer. "Hi there, name's Starry Night. My pegasus friend is Silver Hoof, I don't think he's caught up with me yet. I sorta out-galloped him when I saw you in the distance. It wasn't hard, to be honest. I don't think he was even galloping, the slow-poke."
Starry paused to catch her breath, and fell onto her haunches to take a rest. "Sorry, been trotting along this road for hours."

"Nice to see a friendly face." Trails said, dropping the knife. "I'd bet your pegasus friend took the opportunity to stretch his wings. I've only got radigator, sorry, just coming from Arbu."

Trails gave the mare a quick once over. She clearly wasn't a raider, too well groomed. Plus the stable jumpsuit was a bit of a give away. He pulled out a pack of radigator and tossed it at the blue mare.

"Take a pack free, judging by the size of you're saddle bags I'm guessing you only though about water and salvage. Out here you've got to worry about that and a shit ton more."

Starry was a little startled by the sudden toss, focusing her levitation magic on the meat a moment too late, as it quickly landed itself upon her forehead, anchored in place by her horn. "Uh, thanks, I suppose." The meat was dripping down her face, and she had to wipe it away with her forehoof before lifting the meat off her horn and placing it in her saddlebag with her magic.
"Actually, I'm still a vegetarian. I've had to make quite a few sacrifices living out here in the wasteland, but thankfully eating meat hasn't been one of them. Still, I'll hold on to it just in case it becomes a necessity."

Trails laughed darkly. Vegetarian that's adorable, he thought. [I]
"Where are you heading anyway? Round here there's not much to see other than a raider haven and your Oasis." Happy Trails looked at the mare for a moment and then nearly swallowed his smoke with shock. "Don't tell me you're going to the bomb factory. It's filled with...well bombs. Now don't get me wrong I love seeing things explode as much as the next buck. More so if it's a slaver, but that's insane."

"Oh, we're heading for the bomb factory, alright!" Starry lifts her head proudly, "I happen to be well trained in the crafting and handling of explosives, I'll have you know! And don't nopony love to see things explode more than your very own Starry Night, standing right here!"
Starry's eyes lit up with a sudden spark, "Say! You wouldn't like to accompany us, would you? We're gonna try our hoof at sneaking in, and you're welcome to join us! If you do, I might even throw a few home-made grenades your way!"
Starry paused for a moment, reflecting on what she just said. "Pins un-pulled, they won't be live."

Trails laughed loudly. He liked this mare's style. Even if he was fairly certain that style would be the very thing that would kill him. He spat out his smoke and took a drink out of his flask.

"I think I'll take you up on that, but good luck on the whole sneaking thing as it's surrounded by a minefield."

"Hmm, a minefield, huh? You'd think my pegasus friend might mention that the two of us would have trouble with that.... actually, that I would have trouble with that." Perhaps it just hadn't occured to Silver that a minefield would be a significant problem for anypony, since he'd never have to worry much about them being a pegasus and all.
"Well, I've disarmed a handful of mines in my time out in the wastes, so assuming they aren't well hidden, it shouldn't be too fatal. In fact, if I can recover a few mines before we enter the factory, that'll give me the opportunity to set up some 'pranks' for our hosts!"
Starry took a glance behind her, noting Silver Hoof approaching. "Oh! Looks like he's almost here! I'll let the two of you get to know eachother, I've hogged enough of your time as it is!"

Silver Hoof sighed as he approached the two chattering and had to say the only thought on his mind, "I told you to save your energy, you'd need it. Not go bouncing down the road ahead like a nitwit." Silver Hoof turned to the unfamiliar pony and immediately sized him up, "Trader huh? You wouldn't happen to have any small pins would ya?"

"Bobby pins huh? Sorry I can't say I'm much of a cat burglar. I've got radigator if you're interested, which you probably aren't. " Trails took out his canteen and dropped it at Starry Night's hooves. "But let's talk about this suicide mission you and your marefriend here are planning. I'm really interested in the bit where the unicorn doesn't go up in a red mist."

Silver Hoof laughed, "Marefriend no, I just met this chipper ...mare today and let me tell you, colt to colt, shes kinda irritating. But I needed help this time round, so I figured why not. But anyhow, meat would be nice, I perfer the taste of it anyhow." Silver Hoof felt a little awkward talking to a trader who only carried one item. Most traders did have pins of some kind.

"A buck after my own heart." Trails said, pulling out half a dozen packs of radigator. "Fill me in on this grand plan of yours, please tell me you have charts. I do so love plans that involve charts." Trails wasn't sure what to make of the pegasus. On one hoof he certainly wasn't as naive to the wasteland as Starry. On the other hoof he was bit too stand-offish. Trails couldn't help but feel like the buck was trying to figure out if he could take him.

Silver Hoof smiled and responded, "Of course I do, I'm not a stupid pony...well not anymore" Silver pulled out a think manual out of his saddle bag along with a small bag of caps. "You're welcome to look over the charts, and this is for the meat, we can cook it when we get there. Silver was waiting for Trails to look over the maps before he explained his reason for going. "I'm silver Hoof by the way, I'm not sure if I was introduced before I arrived."

"Hey now! I'm standing right here, I can hear you guys! First off, I'm not planning to go up in any sort of red mist. Where we're going, it'd be more like a bunch of tiny red chunks, but that's not gonna happen, 'cause I ain't some sorta helpless filly." Starry uncorked Trails's canteen and splashed a bit of water over her face, so she could wipe off the radigator blood with her forehoof.
"And Silver, I tried really hard not to be irritating. It's hard, you know? I tried so hard not to go into detail about my comic book collection, even though it's totally awesome and you have to check it out some time, and I didn't! I have that much self control." Starry corked up the canteen and levitated it back to Happy Trails. "Regardless, I'm also eager to hear the plan. Let's get this all figured out, so we can start this thing!"

"Sorry Starry, didn't mean anything by it." Trails muttered, flipping through the frimy binder of charts. "Silver, you need a few things. First an understanding of sarcasm. Second, a contingency plan for when this one fails. And third, to get special somepony or something. Charts in the wasteland, you have got to messing with me." Trails slung his canteen back around his neck and waited for Silver's explanation.

Silver ignored Trails for the most part and was waiting for him to flip to the right map. When Trails turned to the page of the partially mapped out explosives factory, he spoke up. "Stop! Thats it, the map I'm working on... well sorta. I'm hoping it will be the last one I'll ever have to make. See my reasoning for going there is that apparently there was a few slavers there that the raiders killed off. Those very slavers all had PipBucks on. Those PipBucks were stolen from Stable escapees. I thought that I found the room two days ago, but got lost mapping instead. By the by, the raiders there don't hear all too well... so umm I really don't have a plan other than going to that room and getting the fuck out."

"So you honestly didn't think about the landmines, because you didn't have to worry about it?" Trails sighed and lit a smoke. He slammed the folder shut and shook his head, stable ponies. "Well Starry and I do, but I'm not even sure we should do this. Raiders killing slavers? Doesn't sound much like raiders to me. Hell sounds like we've got ourselves some vigilantes if anything. So tell me exactly why we should, other than your map which no pony who's got their head on straght'll need."

Silver Hoof thought about it and replied while smiling, "Oh the landmines?" He giggled and then tried to put on a straight face. "I took care of those last week. Oh trust me, they aren't vigilantes, but they are a slight bit on the stupid side. Umm...I actually thought of calling em boomers, cause well... they go boom. Quite a bit. If either of you can persuade well, we might be able to take the place over? But like I said, I want whats in that room and then I'm done.

"Persuade." Trails laughed loudly. "Son I'm a caravaner persuasion is my business. We'll get those pipbucks and I'll have a decent outpost, and something tells me Starry's interested in the boom part." He said wiping away a tear. "Let's do this."