Breaking the Nightmare

Ashen Coat closed the door to his shop, stepping outside with his new Bolt Rifle on his back and saddle bags full of Spark Batteries. His house/shop was entirely closed up, windows shut and locked and the shutters on the storefront closed. That only meant one thing, Ashen was going scavenging.

Although his planned salvage run wasn’t a normal scrap one, he had enough of that at this point anyway, even with the stuff Kestrel took and what he used for their mods. No, now that he had a much more powerful weapon, he was planning on hitting some of the old-world places he avoided before, factories with defensive systems still online and the like. One in particular he wanted to head to was the one he lost his old plasma pistol in, the one he had from Stable 113. He wouldn’t mind finding it again, and with his Bolt Rifle the robots in there shouldn’t be too much of a hassle if he’s careful.

As he mind went over the possibilities, calculating difficulty and travel time among other variables, he stopped as he passed through the gate, noticing the group gathering by it. Cross Roads, Kestrel, Lightning Flash, and a griffon and pegasus he didn’t recognize. Many of them looked worried about...something. Ashen was not particularly concerned with whatever was wrong with them, so he simply nodded and started walking off into the wastes....

Kestrel looked up and caught the eye of the Buck that had so recently given his arsenal an upgrade. Reviewing the kinds of issues he ran into last time he was there, Kes figured a brain would be a good addition to the team.

A necessary one even.

But how to get the guy on board? Ashen was even more removed than Kes was in most things. The gryphon thought heavily for a moment before coming up with a rather...selfish excuse.

"Headed back to where I got that Bolt Rifle. Want in?"

Ashen stopped as Kestrel called out to him, turning looking over his shoulder to face the griffon. Wherever they were going, it was the same place Kestrel got that Bolt Rifle he bartered from him. ‘A scavenging run? No, there has to be more to it then that, with those looks on their faces.’.

“Where exactly is that?” Ashen asked as he turned to face the group. “And what are you planning on doing when you get there?”

"Fillydelphia. We get in, get our target, get out. You get to scavenge tech and scrap while we move, we get your head when we need it." Kestrel explained again shifting his gaze towards Cross.

The buck was being unusually quiet.

Cross exhaled and looked around him, he wasn't sure of the various reasons some they were here, but he saw a mix of guilt, friendship, and greed... Burrowing his eyes beneath his hood. Normally he'd give a little speech, and instruct the group how they should take this ...but quite frankly he wasn't in the mood. He breathed deeply and raised his heads to address them,

"...We find her, and then we leave, its simple... We do this cleanly and anyone who plans to hold us down should stay down because if so as much breath while we're there I will shred your tongue myself." Cross then took a turn and began the march towards Filly, taking he took a quick look at Kes, he nodded to the griffon. Out of everypony there, he was the only one Cross fully trusted to get Winter back and this was his home, so he'd best take lead...

Safiya remained silent as she stuck closer to Kes, feeling more... comfortable as she, like most, preferred familiar ground and she had already learned a fair bit about the gryphon. When the group decided to move, she followed without question. She just hoped they reached the mare in time. Safiya wouldn't admit it but she had very few friends, and it was for the basic reason that they can die quite easily in these times, and also essentially hurt you emotionally for it... and this was a prime example of that. She knew loosing Winter would wound her, a wound that would heal, but a wound she didn't want to take. Winter was coming home, even if she had to strike the mare down and bring her back by force.

Kestrel returned the nod he got from cross, a silent promise hanging on the air with the gesture. Alright...time to get this show on the road.

"Let's move." Kes said authoritatively. Taking the first steps on what he felt was going to be a long journey. Looking back he noticed that Saf was sticking closer to him than the others; though that 'closer' was really measured in mere inches. Not many would noticed that, but Kes did.

He didn't complain though. To him, her doing that signified that she at least trusted him enough to stick close too.

Heh...Trust. Funny thing Trust is. Cross was trusting the life of his mare on him, the others in a way inadvertently trusting him to lead them well. He should have felt good, proud even. That these folk trusted him that much.

Instead he felt worse than he already did. This was his fault, why the hell were these rookies trusting him. They should be blaming him. But no...here they were handing their leashes to him and telling him to lead them on. Pushing the abusive thoughts aside Kes focused his eyes forward and began to plot out the route to Filly.

He knew it well already. Hopefully it would not take the team long to get there.

"Time to fix your mistake Kestrel."

'Fillydelphia!?' Dash thought, 'Why in the Godesses' name would anypony go there!?' He went quiet, thinking about the stories he had heard about that place. Another fear that had been burning in the back of his mind was that perhaps his brother had been taken there. If that were the case then there was no better time than now to go and see if his fear were nothing but a fear. His resolve to take Kestrel's gruff offer to join their expedition was only strengthened by the fact that somepony he knew from back home was there as well. He definitely had to help with that. Dash steeled himself, he would face whatever truths awaited him there with the safety off.

Lightning listened quietly to Cross, nodding his head gently. If they wanted to bring Winter back safely, this would have to be an in-and-out mission. No reason staying any longer than they had too. The pegasus would take his place walking near Cross. He couldn't imagine how the stallion could be feeling right now and by the looks of it, Cross looked like he needed a friend. Even if he didn't want to talk, Lightning would just be there anyways.

Fillidelphia...Well, that does explain where Kestrel found a gun like the Bolt Rifle in such good condition. If they were anywhere, they’d be in Filly. He probably found the pneumatic weapon he was having him repair as well there.

There would be a lot of technology and high-quality materials to be found in Fillydelphia...Although previously he kept the place off his list due to the dangers presented there, with the slavers and like. However, with a full group...Chances of surviving jump dramatically, especially since this group was rather well equipped. An opportunity like this would not come along again for awhile, if ever.

“...I see...Very well, I will come along.” Luckily he was already packed for an excursion, with several spark batteries and a few health potions, he would not need to go back to get anything.

He turned to Cross as he said his piece, quirking an eyebrow behind his goggles. Clearly there was more going on here...Even Kestrel seemed...different. He couldn’t quite place it, although emotions and the like had never been his speciality for obvious reasons. Regardless, he nodded at the unicorn and fell in line, following everypony on the trek to the slaver city.

The group walked along the old world road, away from Stabletone and off towards the direction of Fillydelphia. The road was cracked, dry and worn from centuries of time and neglect, a depressing reminder of what was once a great nation, another faded vein of a population that no longer exists. Cross and Kes lead from the front as the the rest followed, keeping no particular formation as they ventured onwards.

The dry sand of the wastes washed along the beaten road, swirling around their feet, sand cutting in, reminding them of where they were with every step they took. As they walked onwards it wasn't long before they found themselves looking towards a building that sat on the side of the road. It was medium sized, maybe was once some offices for some kind of firm, long since abandoned now, left to stand as an old world relic in the forgotten world. The building itself showed no movement, but in one of the windows was a glint that shifted every so often.

The ponies of the group with higher perception would see something long and dark sticking out from the window, though it wouldn't straight away be obvious.

Kestrel's gaze locked onto the faint glint in the distant window, immediately his hand came up to signal that the team stop their movements for a moment.

Carefully he let his predatory gaze scan the building, tracing the area around the glint. From this distance, even with his incredible vision he could not make out the full details of the object hanging out the window. His mind already had an idea about it though.

There was a sniper in that building, albeit a very inexperienced one. Whoever it was was stupid enough to give away their position by sticking their barrel out the window. Assuming Kestrel's guess was right.

Only one way to find out.

"Lightning scope out the window, identify that glint. Everyone else get ready to run."

Lightning stayed alert as they walked down to Filly. The wasteland was a very unforgiving place, especially the city they were headed. There was no way he was going to get killed over the mistake of dropping his guard.

The second Kes stopped the group, the pegasus paused in mid-step. There was a building in the distance. And a strange glint that kept coming and going. Something was up. Lightning's ears perked up when Kes called out his name and gave him his orders. "Got it." Taking out his sniper rifle, the one that used to be Kes', the blue stallion peered down the scope, scanning the building and the mysterious glint.

Cross froze in his steps he saw a gleam from a far off Window. He heard a familiar low growl from Kes and paused. He didn't really have too many options right then...If they had to run, he could teleport himself and a couple others away but this could quickly turn south. Trying to make himself as inconspicious as target as possible...which pretty much meant doing what he was already not doing.

He took a glance at Flash in his pheriphial vision and hoped his tactic worked.

Dash paused when Kestrel ordered the group to halt. He knew the deal from Harmony. And from the look of the place up ahead, he had to figure that simply getting in would be the easy/being useless part for him due to his armament of noisey and fully automatic weapons respectively. Dash knew that his dark coloring gave him a slight advantage when not moving, but he would stay with the group regardless. He stayed silent, the situation was less intense than that sunken city, but that did not at all mean it was less dangerous.

As Lightning Flash scoped in on the building in the distance he would see the long slender barrel of a rifle pointing outwards away from them, though every so often the barrel would turn back to their direction and the glint would return. It appeared at firs that the sniper hadn't noticed them, which changed fast as Flash remained scoped on the building. The Sniper had picked up on their position due to the glint on Lightnings rifle and was now observing them. Flash would see some shadows passing in the building beyond some of the other windows, but nothing so major that he could really tell. The Sniper had not fired... but her was very much aware of them now.

Lightning frowned as he caught sight of the sniper barrel poking out the window. There was a pony over there with a rifle. He watched as the sniper scanned the terrain. Lowering his voice, the pegasus would say, "We do have a sniper over there. At least one pony. Possibly more." His heart skipped a beat when he saw the sniper turned his or her rifle toward their position but this time, didn't scan past them like before.

Worried that the sniper had a bead on them, Lightning quickly dropped prone on the ground and whispered somewhat loudly, "DOWN! Get down!" The blue stallion mentally kicked himself as he believed that his scope might had just given away his position. He would turn to Kes and already knew the griffon was going to be disappointed in him, "The sniper has detected us..."

Dash hit the ground immediately when he saw that the sniper's aim seemed to settle on them, "You don't say..." Dash said through his teeth, "We need a system for getting past this guy... I'm talking cover to cover and covering fire, unless anypony has any better ideas."

"Give me your rifle kid." Kes said reaching back and holding out his talons for the sniper rifle Lightning was holding. The gryphon seemed to be one of the only folk not startled or scared at the prospect of being detected. If anything he seemed rather...serene about the whole situation.

Dash's idea could be shot down by anyone that decided to take a look around. There was no cover out there, it was a killing field. The sniper had chosen a good position in that regard.

When Lightning forked over his rifle, if he did that is, Kes would bring it to bare and then pull out a trick that he had recently picked up back in New Pegasus. His plan was simple, flash out a simple Morse code message using the glint off his scope.

'Friend or Foe?' it read.

As he waited for a response, his mind dredged up the memory of the last time he had used this trick. It was the day that he had encountered Safiya, or Rookie as he liked to call her, for the first time.

She and Zestari had been approaching the Khan's camp at Bitter Springs. The griffoness, upon spotting the glint off the very rifle Kestrel now held, had taken action and had flashed out a message with a piece of glass.

Hopefully the trick would have the same result as last time and no one ended up getting shot at.

Lightning wasn't about to argue with Kestrel when he asked for the rifle. The young pegasus quickly handed his rifle over, watching at the griffon closely for any signs that he might be angry or disappointed in him. He detected no signs of any of that. Or any sign of emotion to be honest. Sighing, Lightning just turned his eyes back to the glint, taking note of this event and making sure he knew to never make the same mistake again.

Saf watched carefully as Kestrel used Morse Code to signal what seemed to be a sniper. She didn't bother moving or looking for cover as it was obviously a killing ground and not only this, the sniper had seen them. If she was going to be shot... she would have little say otherwise in the open like this. So the best she could do was watch and hope that the return signal was a good one.

Cross bit his teeth as they had to quietly stay very still, while their fate was possibly being decided by a mysterious force beyond their reach. Blinking in frustation, Cross slowly dug his hooves into the dirt to get his balance in case he had to move. Glancing at the others, he spoke through his teeth.

"If this goes bad, I can get one or two of us out of here...if things go bad, but you'll need to get close"

As the group waited for the reply in the distance something quite alarming happened. Another glint appeared in another window, followed by another, then another. Soon several windows were lit with glints, all pointed at their direction. From the distance a high pitched whine rang out as a voice seemed to amplify over speakers... or at least a speaker form some place on or near the building, "You there.. on the road, come to the base of the building... and no funny business, no one wants any unwanted accidents" said the deep male voice before there was another whine, signaling the talk wasn't going to have a discussion.

We ain't got time for this Kestrel thought before he turned back to the group and announced the teams plan of action.

"Listen up, all of you continue heading towards Filly, Rookie you lead, Lighting your second in command. Follow the road for a few miles and dont stop unless you have too..." Kes started motioning toward Filly with a flick of the head before continuing pointing at Cross with a talon.

"...Red, your with me. We are going to see if we can deal with this peacefully. All goes well we will catch up with the group in a bit." The gryphon then tossed the sniper rifle back to Lightning and began to walk towards the building.

His logic for this plan was simple, get the team moving and get them out of danger, but appease the unknown party. If he took Cross with him, he could teleport them out if things went south. If things went well the two moved on and caught up with the group further on up the road.

Hopefully.

Cross nodded as he silently caught onto Kes's plan, they wouldn't have any trouble rejoining the others between the two of them. Cross slowly relaxed his muscles as he took a deep breath...and took a step foward. Matching hoof for talon, he walked alongside Kes as they made their way to the building, hoping the crowd wasn't too trigger happy.

In a low voice, Cross growled to Kes making sure they wouldn't see his lips move.. "The moment you realize we need to leave, tap my horn and I'll know"