A Shadey Nightmare Night(Social celebration)

Nix just laughed loudly as he tipped himself back in his stool. Getting back down, he pulled his seat closer and pulled a light wine from his satchel. Oddly enough, it was already in its glass as the zebra took a sip of the beverage. He tipped the glass slightly in Kestrel's direction as he sat back down and put his shades back up to his eyes.

"That'd be nice Kes. Although, I do like the fact that this nice guy over here appreciated the amount of effort I put into keeping this counter clean."

Docs horrible line went unnoticed. Breathing a sigh of relief that the wizard convention had given him no head; he turned to walk away when he heard the cultish dressed zebra mutter “act like we aren't some sort of league of evil?". Oh shit. There was a league of evil in town, and they were disguised as party goers. Wait no; even worse; they weren't dressed up at all. The league of evil was simply milling about in their evil clothing with the party goers being none the wiser. Who would suspect a group of villains in a party where everyone pretends to be villains?

Two of the league; the unicorn dressed as a nurse and the cultish looking zebra wandered off to the bar before Doc could decided what to do. They were off to drug innocent ponies no doubt; Trough hoped the bartender caught them before someone got roofied. The only one left was that pony with the tentacles poking out. The unicorn unsettled Doc for a moment; maybe there was something... wrong about that mare. On the other hand; she was the only one of the league to be alone. This was his chance; if Doc could get a connection in the League of Evil; he could figure out where they would attack, and if he knew where they would attack; he could get there afterwards and charge a premium to the wounded! Troughs master plan was all in place; the only thing left to do was make contact with this covert agent of evil. Mustering his swagger; Doc approached the unicorn with the squid in her hood.

"Did you fall from heaven? Cause you look like you need some attention of the medical variety".

Fea let out a sigh, she was late and she knew it but what was she to do it took a bit longer sewing up her own costume had taken more time than she had planned. Having talons was one of the wastes biggest advantages, while some only saw it in gunslinger Whitefeather found the alternative and found the hobby of sewing, allowing just a bit more control and finesse than unicorn magic woven material (at least those without a cutie mark in it) She let out a soft sigh as she approached the rather large party.

Her own costume was ordane enough, a simple deep purple hoodie that was rather on the lacking side of cloth, but her arms and talons were adorned with bangles and leather as well as a multitude of necklaces. A string and clasp to hold her hoodie from falling over her solders. It was a rather lavished yet simplistic look that fit the wastes yet spoke of sophistication that fit a a Griffon female such as herself. Fea's outfit although probably out of the ordinary for the rest of the pary goes could be rather odd but she rather liked it and if any pony pestered she can just brush them off by stating she was a witch of the wastes.

Making her way through the crown she made her way to the bar, finding it the only place that she would seem fit to not be crowded and the one to weed out most of the over-the-top party goers, although the drunken one would be no better but it was an agreeable trade. Taking a seat she placed to hard taps on the bar counter. " Think a Blueberry Tea would be plausible barkeep?" she looked at the Zebra that was serving others, it was a rather odd request so "Either that or a Brain Eraser will be much appreciated" right now even saying the word blueberry was pleasing to her tongue even though the actual drink was just a mix of two liquors with some tea to boot. Right now she just wanted a drink as she peered around this so called party taking in who was where and speaking of what, the party having taken off like pony with there mane on fire.

Sanura quirked an ear, in fact rather close to Deus given that the mare was so intent on being wrapped around her. Naturally the line would reach her ears as well as she lifted her hoof into the air again, tugging her mask back down over her face as she giggled, "I'm a medical pony!" she chimed perhaps a bit too cheerily in response to the cheesily put together pick up line from the Doc. It was too easy, she just -had- to say it because the circumstance was too good for her to not interrupt!

“Wow, lucky! I bet most ponies think you spend days even finding the stuff to maintain it properly” Bakewell chuckled and smiled back.

“And here I am with boring white. Oh well, at least I don’t have to worry about gray hairs, right? You won’t even be able to tell!”

“Who, Me? the DJ?” Bakewell asked, a blush showing through her beige coat when Rad suggested that she liked the faceless disc jockey, even though the conclusion her mind had jumped to probably wasn't what Rad had intended.

“No, nooo. No no no. Not at all. Never.” She insisted way too heavily. “Wow, it's gotten a bit stuffy in here... Anyway, don’t be silly. Why would I like him? He’s just honest, and friendly, and has an amazing voice, and is probably super amazing…”

Winter nodded and without word left for her own destination, for there was something she now needed to do, apologize. She moved through the crowed with little effort, her smaller frame giving her an advantage to maneuver through through the other ponies. Eventually she found Bake talking with Rad and took a deep breath as she approached. "Bake?" she said in a low tone, "Can we talk?" she asked, hoping she wasn't so mad as to not talk to her.

Rad just had to laugh, he hadn't expected the response he got from Bake, but couldn't help but tease her a bit about it. "Right, never, it's not like he's been able to inspire the entire wasteland to keep going with that amaaazin voice of his, and I bet he ain't half bad to look at either eh? But of course ya don't see him that way at alll eh? not even a teensy little bit right?"

Rad laughed, and looked to see the mares reaction, before quickly adding in. "Hey, maybe he'll like me!" Rad could have continued, but he saw Winter approaching and figured he should let the two talk, he could carry on his teasing later if needs be.

“I know, right? With a voice like that, he has to be the most stallioniest buck in all of Equestria! No! No way! There’s no possible way he would be into you though, no offense. There’s zero chance that his barn door swings that way, not with a voice like his! Though, to be honest, I didn’t think your door would, either…”

Before she could continue further along that train of thought, her attention shifted as a familiar voice said her name, fighting for the attention her current conversation was holding. Bakewell inhaled sharply before turning and allowing her eyes to verify the identity her ears had suggested. Winter Bell.

“Um. I’m sorry Rad, excuse me for a second.” the earth pony said, flashing a smile that hopefully masked her nervousness. Bakewell nodded to the blue unicorn, silently asking Winter to follow her farther away from Rad. The cook didn’t want her new friend to hear any false accusations that would tarnish a reputation with him.

“What did I do now?” She finally asked, stopping suddenly and turning to Cross’ fiancé once they had moved out of easy hearing distance.

Dash got up from his seat and walked over to where Athanix was apparently serving drinks, "How're things over here?" Dash asked, "I hope things are going well. I hate to see a barfight evolve out of something tonight, after seeing what a Pipbuck prank could result in."

Winter breathed out in relief as the larger stronger mare agreed to speak with her. She gave an apologetic look to Rad as they walked some place they could talk. At Bakes words, Winter lowered her ears a little as she felt that same feeling of guilt slide along her stomach. "Bake, I'm sorry" she began as she looked to the floor for a moment, "Arc told us what he did, and I feel awful for accusing you for what happened" she said, her eyes looking up to meet the Earth Pony, "I made a judgement and should never have questioned your capacity to do something like that" she said, shifting on her hooves a little, "I'm not from a stable.. and I don't know allot about Pipbucks, so I just assumed.. and before with the shove I just.. I'm really sorry" she finished.

Bakewell listened as Winter apologized. The mare was still in no way happy about what had occurred earlier, but at least she had the comfort of knowing that her friendship with the graceful unicorn wasn’t completely doomed to failure.

“It’s okay, Winter.” She sighed. “I… I guess I would have acted the same way if our roles had been reversed. I still wish it hadn’t happened, but at least Arc seems to have learned his lesson.”

To be honest, there was something else on the mare’s mind. Something she didn’t want to touch on, but felt as though she had to. If Bakewell allowed herself to back down from the question now, she would never build up the courage to ask it again.

“Winter, I value our friendship. I want it to continue, but I need to know something.” She approached the subject carefully. She imagined the line she was about to walk to be a very delicate one.

“Winter, what has Cross been telling you? About me? Does he really hate me that much? Does he really think I’m trying to ruin his life? Does he even believe that I didn’t attack him on purpose? I don’t want our friendship to suffer or anything, but I can’t not think that maybe it’s better if we keep our distance. I don’t want cause you any relationship issues.”

Collateral got up out of his seat and casually brushed the dirt off of his white outfit. "Well, I guess I'll be going now, I've got to look for a job and..... stuff. Was nice talking to you while it lasted."

He flew over to the door, thinking about his next move. I could probably take up caravan work, I hear it pays good.... He thought twice. Although I'm not sure if anypony would take a 14 year old with a gun seriously.... Or any 14 year old, for that matter. I'll be getting my hooves wet regardless. Ugh, I wish I could just go home.
Collateral opened the door as he felt the cold autumn air flow through his mane. He stepped outside and saw he wasn't alone, at least for now.
New life.... clean slate.... He took his picture out of his pocket and stared into it for a few seconds. "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

This was that step.

(Changed costume, so I removed my first post.)
Blitz was a late arrival to the party, but it was for a good reason as he strode into the hall, face obscured by a gas mask and wearing a heavy military coat for cold weather, a hood pulled over and then a military hat donned upon Blitz' head, just stopping above his horn with a polished red star on.

The mask itself had a pair of filters, one either side of the mask and it had two bright purple lenses which concealed his face, the long military coat concealing most of him. He also floated a cup along side himself, which had a white surface surface and a black square and a red heart painted inside the square.

"Mr. Snippy, are you in here? Anyone in here seen him?" Blitz called out, putting on a slight accent as he called out to make his arrival.
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Winter felt better for all of about half a minute before Bake asked her a question. She paused, a bit taken back form it as she looked to Bake with concerned eyes. She thought on that for a moment before she replied, "No I don't believe he hates you or dislikes you, he said you were acting foalish, but I could never believe he would hate you or dislike you like that" she said honestly. She tilted her head, "Bake, I don't want to loose you as a friend. Even if Cross felt that way, which I'm certain he doesn't, he would never ask me to chose between a friend and him. To ask that of a pony is just, plain mean" she said, furrowing her brow slightly. She hit an idea, "Maybe you can come and talk to him about it? clear the air?" she offered. Maybe if they talked they might be able to figure this all out and then they could all be friends.

Marcus was surprised to hear that Nova had been raised by Zebras in her past. Perhaps he would look more into that fact at a later time. For now, though, he had to agree with her: The weather was getting cool and they were both missing out on the celebration.

He smiled at her. "Of course. I imagine we both came to enjoy this party. We will not be enjoying it out here." He qestures to the entrance of the celebration. "After you, riddler Nova."

“Uh. Well…” Bakewell kicked a hoof absently at the floor. Winter’s words had reassured the pastry mare slightly, but there were still doubts in her mind. And then the subject of actually holding a conversation with Cross popped up.

“I’m not sure that would be a good idea. We’re both in a bad mood. I’m terrible with words even when I’m in a good mood, anyway. I would just make it worse.” She reasoned, but there were unspoken reasons behind her words, the foremost being that the mare flat out did not want to tell Cross that she was sorry. She didn’t want to accept fault or defeat to him. Even having heard his reasoning, Bakewell still blamed Cross for the attack on Stableton. He had caused a lot of harm because of the fight, including personally almost killing the buck that later became Bakewell’s husband. She wanted to be friends with Winter, not Cross.

“I think I would rather if you just took a message for me. Could you tell him that I’ll try to stay out of his mane?”

Kestrel nodded and turned to grab Bonehead, Pulling the bulking mass of the Raider up and onto his back. The Brute was a bit heavier than he looked, but nothing Kestrel couldn't handle.

Backing up slowly Kestrel turned and began to walk away, he glanced at the new comer to the bar, a Griffoness dressed in a rather interesting costume. Kestrel offered her a nod, and began to walk away.

"Excuse me a moment, going to take out the trash." he said to the rest of the bar before padding off, body on his back, and mood nonchalant.

Once out the door Kestrel stuck to the shadows, ducking down alleyways and maneuvering towards the border of town. It wasn't exactly far from here, just a quick jog/walk and Kestrel would be there. Keeping to the shadows would hopefully prevent any unwanted attention as Kestrel...removed Bonehead safely from the equation.

Winter felt her spirit drop a little as Bake declined but she still felt allot better. She simply nodded as Bake asked her to courier a message back to Cross, "Of course?" she replied.

“Thanks.” Bakewell murmured. For some reason she felt slightly ashamed. “Uhh. Maybe I’ll stop by later. I can’t go right now though, it would be rude to leave Rad for that long when he’s been so open and helpful. Was that all you wanted? Anything else I can do for you before I get back to him?”

Who was this imputent zebra? Deus was about to snap something back, but then her mare spoke up. Deus was very pleased by this response. "Yes," she whispered into the perked ear, "I would love some medical attention." And then she squeezed her for a moment. She was now completely ignoring the new zebra and began to slightly nuzzle the mare.

Alw was reaching for his sarsaparilla when a loud thump shook the bar knocking the sealed bottle over. Ale knew what it was the second he heard it but he fancied a glance over at the scene. Bone head was out cold, "Oh this is priceless." he mused. He started to look around the bar for a pen or something he saw this as a great opportunity to get some revenge. Sadly kes carried him off before ale could do anything, "eh probably for the best." he said as he picked up his drink. He removed the cap and threw it into his pocket, you think a bartender would figure to remove the currency from the bottle before serving it, but maybe that was just ale's bit bitter side talking. Levitating his drink over to his side he decided trot amongst the crowd as he walked he noticed a newcomer enter the hall. The pony was wearing what appeared to be a trenchcoat of stalliongrad and a gas mask. "eh might as well start with him." he said as he started to close the distance "Can't say that I have heard of a mr. snippy but if he's lost i can help you find him." Ale offered, trying to sound like how he imagined the hero he was portraying sounded.

We're just talking about some things that go way back, nothing important though." said Night-Shade. He was looking around the party, looking for Bliss, but he couldn't spot her through this crowd of ponies. That and he didn't know what her costume was.

Shade looked at Aerion. "Why are you in a tuxedo, what are you supposed to be?" he asked.

“I’m a medical pony!” the nurse chimed in right after Doc Trough had made his move. “Son of a ravenous shit weasel!” Doc thought to himself. The other two members of the league of nefarious plotters had taken notice of him. Not only had his ploy failed in a titanic show of fireworks, but the self proclaimed medical pony and the cultist one had begun communicating in some touch based secret language that he had no hope to decipher. Tipping his turban in respect to the clever ploy of the two mares; Doc backed away. Deciding that he would try for a beer again Trough headed back towards the bar. While weaving through the crowd; he noticed the scary looking Griffon Doc had seen at the bar earlier, he was dragging another Griffon of to somewhere outside. What in the actual tartarus was wrong with this town? Was that Collateral Damage guy from earlier the only sane one here? Even Collateral was an outsider though; perhaps some pony had been slipping LSD into the water supply? Doc briefly considered dunking his head in the nearest well to be done with the day.

Saddling up to the bar the bar; Doc Trough took a seat next to a White Griffon in a witch costume. Witches were probably the only thing Doc was not afraid of. He had snuck all around the wasteland for an entire year and never seen anything close to a witch. In his opinion; any magic that wasn't mundane in origin was probably just made up to scare people, and Trough had enough things to fear already.

“Hey; we met at the hospital before right? Your name is..... Whitefeather right?”
Whitefeather was the only person Trough had seen at the party who he actually knew; although he suspected that Beat and Ash Health were around here somewhere. Doc was increasingly sure that this was the only party in town. Following his introduction Doc leaned in and whispered.

“I saw some tough looking Griffon in a lizard costume pass out after his first drink; you might want to clarify any drink order you make with the bartender, or ya know.... ya might end up with a little something... extra”

Winter smiled, "No, I think that's all I needed Bake and thanks" she said before she politely left Bake to get back to Rad. She would go find Cross again and maybe start to enjoy the party a bit more, now that everything was cleared up, well, more cleared up then it had been. She found Cross again and smiled as she made her way to him.

Bakewell watched Winter walk away for a moment, before turning and making her way back through the crowds to where she had left the pegasus moments before. “Rad?” She called, pushing through the gathered ponies. “I’m so sorry about that. Get taken over and forced to throw a glass at somepony and suddenly everypony wants to have words with you, I guess. What were we talking about, The DJ, right? Oh, also the quest to save souls. With the DJ. That part’s important.”