A Herbal Remedy [Closed] [Finshed]

Sky just flew around with Flash in the sky, to see of any threat in the horizon. As they neared the a ridge a certain beep noise was heard from her pip buck, 'Thunderlanes misery' the name of the shack it seemed. Sky saw flash relay the news to the group, with cross declaring flash and blaze to go check it out. And cross speak to Lightning in his ear about something, Sky didn't know, she kept watch in the sky. Something is always bound to happen in these types of situations, a trap maybe or just nothing.

He was about to reply to Winter, smiling, but he was interrupted when he was told to go to Lightning."Im always taken to the nice places." He said sarcastically, and walked over to Lightning. He was called out to scout out the building, but the unsurprising thing was that he was crap with stealth. He was more for fighting head on, instead of hiding. "You do know that im completely crap with sneaking, though, right?" He said, looking at the other members of the group and most importantly Cross. He didn't trust him, and undoubtedly Cross didn't trust Blaze either. He followed Lightning carefully, watching his own movements.

Lightning chuckled a little at Blaze's comment and said, "Don't worry about it' It's easy. All you do is keep your head down, stay in cover, and try not to step on any branches." He would glance at him though, adding in a more serious tone, "But in all seriousness, just stick close to me and follow my steps. When we get closer, I want you to stay alert. We don't know what might be up there but I sure don't want to get killed from a simple scouting mission." The pegasus quickly turned his attention back to where he was walking, murmuring, "And I don't want to get caught out here after night falls."

Winter smiled as Cross also complimented her on her singing voice. She had never considered herself to be a good singer since, well, she rarely sang in front of other ponies anyway. Her mother on the other hoof, had been an amazing singer and used to entertain ponies with her voice to bring some extra bits to the house. Her father had been a guard for the city. He was a large towering stallion that no pony dared to fight or confront. He was gentle and a loving father, although she knew he had a dark hidden side that only revealed itself when she or her mother was hurt or in danger. "Thank you" she replied although she thought it might have gone unheard since his attention was stolen by the matter at hoof.

The pair approached the dwelling slowly, Lightning slightly in front of the disgruntled Blazen. As they got closer to the dwelling, it seemed as though all the noise of the wasteland left the world and was replaced by mute silence, only punctuated by the occasional creaking from the aged timber. Checking the EFS there were no red icons, or even yellow ones, turning, they could still see the rest of the group watching intently as the neared the building.

Eventually they made it to the remains of the simple fence and could see a few more details of the shack. There was a simple porch area set with an aged wooden door, to either side were small windows set into the wooden walls. It was probably large enough to have three or four rooms, and seemed to be weatherproof. The door was shut and the windows appeared to all be intact, an unsettling surprise for a building that was presumably 200 years old.

The shack was shrouded in darkness, throwing long shadows that masked what might be behind the windows, and as they approached quietly, there was no way to tell if something or someone was peering out at them. Making their way up the old wooden steps, which creaked and groaned in protest they checked the door. Lightning checked the door whilst Blazen placed a hoof up against the window and tried to see what was beyond.

A bit of rattling and shaking later Lightning worked out that the door was locked and after taking a closer look at the lock, figured the pair were probably going to require someone with a bit of lock savvy to get the door open. Blazen's breath fogged the window slightly as he got close peeking inside, unfortunately the window had enough dust, and the light was poor enough, that he couldn't make out any detail other than blurred shapes.

Their options seemed to be to either go back and tell the rest what they'd found so far and get someone who could unlock the door, or, they could try and break a window and climb through and take a better look.

"I say, we break the window." He said, with a knowing voice. He snuck in with Lightning, and found a door that none of them could open with any tools of theirs. He can probably shoot the lock, make about more sound then breaking the window. "Or i can shoot the lock. Or we can walk back and walk all the way back over here." He said, sounding unsure. "I wonder if theres vents around here." He said, looking around for a vent but finding nothing. "Well thats just great. I was thinking about going through there." He said, and grabbed his 9mm out of its holster. "Wull, its tiem to doo sumtang." he said to Lightning, his voice muffled because of the gun in his mouth. He then put his gun in his holster. "Unless...you'd prefer to walk all the way back?"

Lightning tried with no avail to get the door open but it was obviously locked. For what reason though. The only reason a building would be locked at all was if it had something to hide. Especially a building this old. Now, this could just be somepony's house and nothing more. But, the idea of possibly getting items that could help the group was certainly tempting.

Peering through the window, it was so hard to see anything that was inside. He couldn't see any ponies or anything living at all yet. But that doesn't mean they couldn't be hidden. Lightning had to come up with a decision and he had to do it now. Blazen was waiting on him. Looking at him, he said, "Alright, we'll break the window and go in. But we can't stay long. Buildings aren't locked unless they have something to hide or something worth hiding. Somepony could be in there with a shotgun right now and we could be walking into a trap. Just stick close and follow me."

Pulling out his preferred close-quarter combat weapon, his 10mm SMG, he would pick up a nearby rock and toss it at the window, hopefully shattering it into bits before stepping into the house.

Scrap had zoned out while walking and was only snapped out of it by the little ping noise he had set his pipbuck to make when a new location was discovered. Thunderlane's Misery...sounds delightfull...no horrible connotations from that AT ALL...

When Cross sent off Blazen and Lightning off to investigate the building, he didn't really respond beyond a simple affermation that he understood. Hoping to make the waiting less boring Scrap tries to engage one of the members of the group he didn't really know that well in a conversation.

"So Winter, why'd you decide to respond to the flyer and run around the wasteland for some random pony?"

Winter looked to the Unicorn buck as he spoke to her. She wasn't a hundred percent sure but she knew his name was... scab ? ... sack ? .. no no.. SCRAP ! that was it, Scrap. "I don't really know, I guess I'm just curious. I don't often get to travel in the wasteland so I took this as an opportunity to experience something different" she said honestly with a smile before asking him the same question. "So what has you out here ?" she asked.

"Me? My reason is much more boring and typical-I was running out of caps and this job looked like it would be decently easy, though everything will probably seem easy after my last adventure...Ahh getting off topic there sorry..." Scrap replied smiling back. "Did you know anyone here before this, or are you meeting all new ponies-and zebra?"

Winter smiled as the buck seemed to notice himself going off topic. Not that she minded at all. It was nice that he took the time to speak with her. "Well I patched a few of these ponies up before in Stableton's Hospital.. and I guess I'm sort of seeing Cross Roads. Though he's been a little quiet lately" she said looking over at the yellow Unicorn buck before looking back to Scrap, "Sorry now I'm going off topic" she said with a small chuckle, "But you could say I know some of the ponies around" she said before she asked, "How about you ? do you have any connections from Stableton ?" she asked politely.

A little bit of Scrap's mind twinged when Winter mentioned she was seeing Cross but he didn't show it.

"Yeah I got some connections to Stableton, I lived there for a bit before leaving, came back to help during the battle though, didn't see the immediate aftermath though..but that's a different story, Ive met a couple of the party before, Sky, Lightning and Zestari are friends." Scrap replied before switching topic "You know what's up with Blazen? He really doesn't seem to like Cross."

Winter listened and was quite surprised to find out that Scrap had a hoof in the defence of Stableton. Not because of his appearance but because he didn't seem like the kind of buck to be in the heat of a battle like that. When he mentioned about Blazen and Cross she let out a sigh, "Honestly I don't really know. I haven't really questioned Cross about it. I think they might have some bad history, or at least that's what I'd guess anyway" she said before bringing to topic to Blazen, "Have you noticed that something seems.. a little off with Blazen ?" she asked curiously.

Atriark sat and sighed. As per usual, he wasn't answered, not directly. Cross had decided to have the Pegasus and the drab earth pony go and explored the house. He didn't bother asking for volentiers, just told two to go.

Atriark could guess what everypony else was gonna do, sit and talk and probably set up camp. Atriark would have much rather gone, better than doing little here. But, he wasn't in charge. His time employed in a caravan had taught him to be able to take orders, no matter how much he disliked them.

Wanting to pass the time, Atriark took out his newly acquired 10mm and checked it over. Upon quick examination, it appeared to be in fair condition. It had certainly seen better days, but it wouldn't need repair soon.

"Yeah, I did notice something seemed a bit off, didn't want to say anything in case i was the only one who noticed...he seems kindof twitchy, while it may be rich coming from me but I dont mean like normal nervous twitchy, this is more twitchy like a chem addict going through withdrawal..." Scrap said agreeing with Winter "Though this is all just my guesses, Im no doctor so I can't tell for sure."

Sky overheard the conversation between Scrap and Winter, they seemed to talk about a certain pony in our group. Sky sighed as she flew down to both ponies, "you guys know he is a chem addict right? what he is on, i dont know? But everypony has the look in 'that' part of stableton, a shame though." Sky said to both ponies

Winter nodded before chuckling at his last comment, "Well then I guess it's a good thing I came along then" she said before continuing, "I'll talk to him and see if I can see any symptoms in his behaviour. If I had to make an educated guess I would say it had something to do with Mint-als, although I can't be sure yet since I haven't had a chance to really study his behaviour" she said. She thought for a moment before asking, "Your.. not taking anything are you ?" she asked before quickly adding, "Not that I suspect anything.. I just like to know if ponies need help with anything that's bothering them like chem addiction or mental illnesses... sorry" she said sheepishly. She then heard one of the other ponies called Sky jump into the conversation, "He is ?.. well then I guess I am having a conversation with him after all" she said simply.

Scrap chuckled at Sky's sudden intrusion before responding "I tend to avoid that area of Stableton-stick to the better parts when I'm around and Winter, fortunately Im not really on any chems-though Zestari gave me these leaves, to keep me calm- it may not seem like it, but im not exactly the most stable pony, Sky can attest to this, she's seen a couple of my breakdowns...there harmless though and I bounce back pretty quickly."

"its the truth, he does bounce back after a mental breakdown, pretty quickly." Sky said with a sigh. "but anyway, just let blaze hit rock bottom. And a talk with him will only hurdle him there faster, besides only two things can come out after rock bottom. He becomes totally dependent on chems or, he quits his old way and needs a detox to flush whatever is out his system." Sky finished at last, she somehow knew all this just from a year at the wastes.

Winter sighed, "I know what you're saying but If I can help him I should at least give him the option. If he turns it down then I'll let him get on with it, and whatever happens will then be his fault" she said before turning from Sky to Scrap, "Well as long as you're getting help and are ok then that's the main thing" she said with a smile. She addressed Sky, Scrap and the rest of the group when she spoke her next question, "How long do you think they'll be ?" she asked as she looked off into the distance in the direction they went.

Hmm...she took the fact that I have mental breakdowns on a regular basis, rather well, I suppose the wasteland has enough bucked up stuff that my odd mental breakdowns aren't anything out of the ordinary...

"Barring any incident then they should probably be back soon, but this is the wastes so I have faith something will go wrong." Scrap answered.

Lightning hefted the rock towards the window and it hit square on. With a cracking and shattering of glass the window was breached, sharp shards cascading towards the ground, and making a loud racket that echoed across the wasteland.

The pair held their breath, weapons gripped tightly, muscles tensed in waiting... Time passed, nothing happened. The building returned to its state of quiet except for the occasional delayed sound of another piece of glass falling out of its frame to join its fellows on the ground.

From down the way, the group were mostly just milling around in quiet conversation whilst the pair investigated the building; when their conversation was interrupted when they heard the sound of broken glass reverberating down from Thunderlane's Misery.

Quietly approaching the window, Lightning paused before nodding at Blazen and with his weapon prepared, swivelled around to face the open window. No shot was fired, and no movement jerked past, all that he was confronted with was stale air. With a relieved sigh, he let Blazen know it was safe.

The pair would have to pluck the jagged pieces of glass out of the frame before they could get inside, and as they began to work, Blazen was able to work out enough detail of the shapes beyond, that he determined that the room was a small bedroom.

"And there it is...the sound of things going wrong!" Scrap said in a voice filled with sarcasm,following the sound of breaking glass, before switching his tone. "Hey Cross, should we go see whats happening?"

Lightning tossed the rock which smashed through the window with ease. Once the window shattered, it made an extremely loud noise which made the pegasus wince a little. He hadn't expected it to be that loud but hopefully it wouldn't put the group in a panic and have them run up.

Walking up to the window, he scanned the room quickly, his SMG armed and ready. Nopony was here yet. And there was no screams or anything from the loud noise he made. He gave Blazen a nod and walked in, careful not to cut himself on the glass. Not confident enough yet to put away his weapon, Lightning wanted to make sure this house was secure before starting to search for loot. Talking in a low tone, he would say, "Blazen, get in here and cover me. Let's clear these rooms one at a time before we do anything..."

Blaze's thoughts drifted to his girlfriend, and how she was again. He remembered fondly the time which he walked out of his house and she started saying that she loved things that burned. Her name was Cory. Although many people said that it was a boys name, it could also be a girls name. It all depends on the person. His thoughts were broken as soon as the rock hit the glass, making a large sounding break of the window. "And im not the stealthy one." He said to Lightning, smiling. But he told him to get in there and cover him. They were going to try to clear out these rooms, and Blazen would have done the same thing. You can never trust these pre-war buildings with anything. Not even the structure. This building stood for a very long time, and its architectural designer would be proud, if he or she was alive anyways. He did exactly as he was told.