A Fools Errand [ closed ]

Sanctity shifted his saddlebags squeamishly as the voices behind him grew louder and more irate. This was decidedly not how he imagined the day going. He wanted to help track down some poor souls family and reunite them, not cause a fight over Dash of all things. He looked behind him nervously, seeing Floret squaring off with Bonehead, the tension in the air being almost palpable. He opened his mouth, trying to think of something to say, some way to calm them. No words came to him. He turned his head forwards once more, examining the horizon sourly, as a downcast expression washed over his face.

A gruff voice broke him out of his thoughts with a start, nearly causing him to trip over his own hooves. The rather scary Griff' was now right next to him, talking about the event in a rather detached manner, as though it was something inconsequential.

"If I'd had some more... I probably would have. I just- I don't know." He said, in an almost deathly quiet whisper. "I'm going to go scout ahead for a bit. Maybe I'll cause less trouble that way."

He huffed for a moment, exhaling a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in. Ironically, this whole exchange had mad him feel so... Tired. It was like he'd taken the opposite to Dash, whatever that was. Then, he switched pace, moving at a pace that put him further away from the rest of the group in increasing margin. He needed to be alone for a bit. Travelling in a group might be safer, but it had perils he wasn't used to, and he'd rather be responsible for taking down some random waste critter than causing trouble amongst his travel partners.

[Scouting for the group; Perception 6, Sneak 50, Survival 30]

The group so far had been bickering for Fea seemed like forever, at first it seemed innocent enough by bickering standards as such she just chose to ignore it as she fully expected this group to act like the adults they were, but that seemed out of the question as the bickering only escalated as they were nearing the end of their first day of venturing to Ponyville. She let out a defeated sigh as she realized the only way this was ever going to end was if she treated them like the children they were acting like, not only that but she feared if this type of conflict happened now it would only make a combat situation all the worse if they couldn't at least depend on one another to tackle a simple hostile together as one.

In one bold movement Fea stopped in her track and turned to face the others, her voice coming out loud and in a stern tone that spoke of her frustration and disappointment and held a note that spoke of her knowledge of dealing with children (and that she was treating them as such) "Quiet! all of you-" each and every one getting a harsh look as she paused, Marcus having defused the major problem of the purple mare and Bone at each others necks but trying to pick where to start on this cluster pile of argument was difficult. As she watched the unicorn who unfortunately started this whole heated debate ran ahead "I don't expect any of this rag tag team to get along but fighting over something as simple as an personal opinion over Dash is extremely childish."

first thing first despite his help Fea turned to Marcus "Don't get me wrong I am for the idea of not giving a chem to a filly due to so many medical reasons, but life is unpredictable and if need be we may need to give her a small dose, that is how the wastes are and that is what we must live by in order to see the next day." a frown as she remembered his promise "Right now they are in hell itself and I don't think making promises we can not keep is a wise idea, they need something concrete to stand on, not hopes and ideals, what happens happens and we will work to best obtain our goal of saving them, even if that means giving them a little dash to at least get away from the raisers till it's safe" next on her list was diesel although he had the same ideology as her, stating that 'his word was final' was like kerosene on the fire, although she was having to push people around as she spoke now it was only due to them not finding stable ground on there own, having him try to make it was only causing more of a problem "Diesel! we all have our opinions, but again, we can't be so narrow minded and strong willed, that only leads to failure if we start closing down on what we think will happen and setting stones on that ideal. this is a group so even if it's nice to have a plan, we need to tackle this as a whole despite our differences if we even have a hope of saving the family! so please refrain from staying that your word is final, everyone else as as much of a say as you" although by now her voice was loosing volume it still held the same tone as she continued on her shit list. "Flora I do appreciate you for what you said, right now Dash would not be good choice even recreational." she had no problem with those that took chems, if they were able to take them and still be in complete control of there life then they, for the time being, knew what they were doing and did not need someone nagging them on how to run there life in a different yet still proper method "We have a job to do and that mean acting responsible with the action we take, but we could of handled it better as it can be clearly seen on how we are at each others necks over such a trivial matter" she did appreciate the mare, she did prefer brash words to false comfort words, they lived in the wastes and the inhabitants had to be twice as harsh to survive and nice words would only lead to downfall, but that wasn't the view of most ponies as they were known to be fool-hardy optimists at an almost genetic level.

For now she had to deal with the one stray unicorn that had run off, "Bonehead..."she could say so much on Boneheads behavior, her own nature just found his recent wording just bothersome and thus to just ignore the fool but it wasn't fair to reprehend others when he was the one causing several of the problems "Just shut up, you and speaking in our non-native just don't mix"

Fea took to the sky with all of the tongue lashing being dealt out looking over the group one last time "Now it's starting to get dark, instead of fighting or dishing out apologies that are either false or begrudgingly spoken how about we find a place to set up camp while I try to wrangle up our missing member" Her voice was not to be questioned, although she wasn't forcing them to look, it did convey that this was the end of their silly little fight as she zoomed along the direction Sancity took

It didn't take long to find him, his mane sticking out in the bland colors the wastes had adopted, realizing that the same was applying for her but that only meant there need to find shelter all the more dire and flying no longer a smart idea "Sancity..." It seemed like she was constantly at a loss of words today as she came up to the unicorn her voice soft, one reserved when she was either talking to kids, or showing someone around town, but with her no longer in that profession it might as well evolve into what she was doing now, trying her best to comfort another "I have no problem with you taking Dash recreationaly, you appear to be in control of your life and thus you need to take advice from no one" even if she was talking to herself she continued on as things needed to be told to him as well, if everyone was getting a slap on the hoof, paw, and talon for what went down it was everyone "But please think ahead, I know you put that stuff away, thinking responsibly and the giving it to a filly is semi-a good idea, but not everyone is so open minded about them, best to keep them in your pack little one" she knew Sanctity was and adult but she couldn't help but call him such, she may be a small griffon but she was still rather large compared to ponies "so what do you see?" Fea's eyes weren't up to par as most of her race due to her accepting things as they are.

Sanctity's ears drooped as the griffon spoke to him softly. It felt like she was being deliberately gentle with him for some reason, which made him feel even worse. It was like she was trying to ensure he'd be nice by being nice to him. He looked up at her and apologized with a quiet "Sorry".

He made note that some ponies didn't like chems and that he should probably be a little more careful about using them in the presence of others. He wondered if there were any other things that people didn't think were okay that he did. He'd have to ask somepony about it sooner rather than later, lest this happen again.

The griffons tone changed slightly as she asked what he saw and he perked up. A chance to prove that he could actually be useful was sorely needed.

"This is raider territory" he said, his voice a little louder as his confidence returned "That tree we just passed has holes in it that looked like the were made by rifle rounds, and there were a few markings back there that indicated the start of someponies territory. Can't say I know against who, but we're tresspassing, and that's worse than just being caught by a band."

He looked away from Whitefeather, his eyes focusing further out into the wastes for a moment before he started speaking again, his voice taking a darker tone. "If they find us, they'll kill us, skin us and eat us. And if we're very lucky, they'll do it in that order."

He shuddered and clenched his eyes shut as a few memories were stirred up, before looking back at their leader.

"If we're going to camp here, we're going to need to have people watching out"

Marcus dropped down to all fours and bowed his head apologetically to Ms. Whitefeather as she began to scold each of them for their behavior. She was right, of course. They did not need to be fighting amongst each other, especially for something as trivial as Dash. Marcus felt ashamed for letting the argument reach the level it did.

His opinion was not changed on the subject of the filly, however. It might have been a point that he would have argued further, except every other member in the team seemed to have voiced against him in the matter, making him very alone in his opinions. No matter. He would still find another way to help the filly and her mother, added chemicals be damned.

Taking a deep breath, Marcus turned his attention to the surrounding landscape as Ms. Whitefeather made her way towards Sanctity. He made a note to confront Sanctity in the future and apologize for shouting at him earlier. Friends needed each other for support, after all, especially in a team that seemd to be falling apart already.

Marcus gazed into the the landscape and searched for a suitable place to make camp. The group would need shelter against the darkness of the night.

[Searching for a defensible bed-down location: Survival 50, PER 5]

Viktor hung his head low as Fea told him his flaws. After Fea flew off ahead to find Sanctity, Viktor turned and went off following Marcus. As he finally caught up with him, "Marcus, I just wanted to apologize for the way I was acting earlier. On any other circumstance I'd agree with you that Dash to fillies is unexcusable. But you have to remember that for them right now, a little Dash isn't going to change them after what they have seen." Diesel decides to help Marcus find a suitable spot for camping out.

[Searching for a defensible bed-down location: Survival 39, PER 5]

Floret frowned as Whitefeather turned and moved away. The fact that the only one escaping a proper scolding was, of course, the other griffon did not escape the unicorn’s notice. Normally she wouldn’t have minded, the lesser races always were biased towards themselves, especially the more easily hate able ones such as griffons or diamond dogs. But Bonehead had made a vivid death thread upon her person for an argument that he, not her, was causing. The purple unicorn felt she was at least a little justified in not being satisfied with the simple “Shut up” he had gotten while everypony else was chewed out. To add even more insult to injury, Whitefeather hadn’t even called Floret by the correct name! The unicorn was not sorry. She forgave nothing.

Floret stomped closer to Marcus and pointedly ignored Diesel’s approach. She glared angry daggers into the landscape as she tried to help look for a suitable spot to camp, but her heart and mind wasn’t into it. She was really only looking so that she could say she had helped.

The only rational member of this group was the zebra with a hilarious mustache. This is what was wrong with the wasteland, right here. In this little group. Mostly the griffon portion of it.

“Thank you for your assistance, Marcus.” She said, waiting for Diesel to finish and giving the zebra a chance to reply before starting her own words, though the purple pony tried not to make the fact overly apparent.

“Rip my horn off and shove it up my flank, indeed. I don’t trust him to not kill me tonight in my sleep, Marcus. What are we going to do?” She whispered quietly enough to ensure Bonehead couldn’t listen in. The smallest bit of actual concern pulling into her voice and suggesting for the first time that yes, she was scared of Bonehead fulfilling his threat. He had snuck up upon her earlier with her awake, It would be even easier with everypony asleep.

Diesel glanced sideways as he listened to Floret talk about Bone, as they walked he could hear concern for her life in her voice. Thinking for a moment Diesel decided to speak up, "If he tries anything I'll stop him myself, okay?" He prayed that would help calm the unicorn down.

Bone head smirked a bit as whitefeather scolded the other members of the group, he smirked even more when she only gave him a "shut up," a remark that was about as effective as water on a duck's back.

Bone inhaled , taking in the finer details of land surrounding them, the blood stained dirt, the bullet riddled trees, the pony skeleton they passed earlier. This was indeed raider turf, no place like home. The threat of being discovered by a random patrol was slim but still vary possible. He decided to separate from the rest of the group as they looked for a suitable camp and perched himself on the branch of an old tree, blackened by the bale fire of the years passed. The wood swayed under his weight a little but remained attached to the trunk. He scanned the horizon for movement, be it raiders or a cretin griffin and unicorn returning from their field trip.

Marcus glanced first at Diesel as he spoke his apology and nodded. "All is forgiven, Mister Diesel. We do not need to think on it for the time being. I, myself, apologize for letting the argument get out of hoof. I pray we do not come across another argument like that."

That was when he noticed Floret make her way over to him and Diesel, thanking him for helping her. He almost let out a smile until she dropped her voice to a whisper and spoke of how she feared for her life, alluding to Bones' previous threat. He felt a slight tug at this and nodded as Diesel spoke to her, trying to reassure her.

"Very good, Mister Diesel. Lady Floret, you are safe amongst the group here. We will not let him harm any within our group."

He gazed off after Bones as he broke away and sat upon a tree. Marcus paused long enough to cast a slight glare his direction before turning back to Floret.

"If it makes you feel better, stay by my side this night. I do not sleep deeply, so I would be quick to wake if he were to try anything."

Floret looked at Diesel in surprise when he offered his assistance. She had expected the diamond dog to ignore her at best, and attempt to mock her at worst.

“Thank you.” She said, fully intent on taking him up on his offer. Every unicorn could use a bodyguard, after all, and really, the dog would be much better at keeping featherbrained griffons away than the zebra.

Floret’s nose wrinkled slightly in habit-formed distaste when Marcus made his offer. Something about the way he had worded it, “Stay by my side this night.”, made Floret feel slightly sick to her stomach. The unicorn mare had dealt with her share of wasteland creeps, and her experiences there probably made the mare’s mind over-react to the statement. The unicorn struggled as she weighed her pride against her life. Sleeping alongside a zebra was an unforgivable disgrace to unicorns everywhere, even if nothing aside from sleep happened (Which it wouldn’t, unless Marcus wanted a bullet through his brain) the situation would be distasteful, and she would never hear the end of it. Bonehead himself might even pick up on it. But on the other hoof, if she moved off and slept on her own, that made her flowered flank an easy target and delicious meal for the two barbaric griffons. They could probably feast on her perfect flesh and remove all of the evidence before the others even awoke. And then they would twist the situation, her death wouldn’t be enough to that insatiable griffon hate, they would make her seem like a traitor and a coward in front of everypony while in fact they were the cowards for striking a slumbering target. The tales of the cowardly unicorn would spread as the party eventually told other ponies, who would tell other ponies. Her image would be ruined alongside her life.

“Two and a half forelegs away from each other.” She finally set her terms to Marcus, forcing the unwelcome scared tone out. She refused to appear overly weak “And we have to keep watch anyway.” She pointed out, “So we should volunteer to keep the watches and not let the feathers over there take any shifts. A three pony rotation isn’t as comfortable as a six, but it’s not impossible. I’ve pulled off decent night sleeps with only two. We can go Marcus, me, Fid- I mean Viktor, and then repeat. And we’ll all be relatively close in case anybody tries anything.”

Viktor nodded as he looked at Floret, he agreed with most of what she had to say. When she brought up only the 3 of them taking watch he shook his head. "It would be wiser for you to get as much sleep as you can, and let them stay up and tire themselves out. I can stay up while you sleep and keep watch for Bone trying to get you. Sound better?" As they walked he gained a flat look when she said 'Fid', turning to her again he started to speak in a calm even tone. "Call me Fido and see where you'll be... I had enough of that growing up in New Pegasus. I won't have it from some upstart unicorn, you hear me?" By this time he was stopped and standing in front of her.

Floret stopped as Viktor moved before her. She looked up at him and gulped. Never before had she traveled with such a group so eager to turn to party violence. It had to be the mix of races and lack of unicorns to do the thinking.

“Hey. Come on, It’s just a habit. The last Diamond Dog I travelled with was named Fido, and you all look the same so I used the wrong name! Don’t be so upset over an honest mistake. It’s not like I didn’t correct myself!” She lied. The last dog she had traveled with had actually been named Scruff Mc.Ruff, and it was years ago. Hee had looked nothing like Viktor, either. “You were just offering to protect me, but now you’re making threats on my life just like the griffon! I thought you were better than that. Are you going to threaten to break my horn and shove it up my private parts, as well?”

She skirted around to the other side of Marcus, using him as a bodyshield between her and the dog. The unicorn wasn’t entirely sure she trusted the dog to keep her safe at this point. Not if he was so prone to go from offering to protect her to threatening her within ten seconds flat, all because of a mistake she had managed to fix in time anyway! Floret couldn’t wait to get out of this embarrassingly horn envious group.

“There’s no need for this. It was a mistake and we’ll never get anywhere if everybody keeps threatening to kill everypony else. Shall we just get back to looking for a place to set up camp?”

Diesel sighed as the mare went to assuming he was going to kill her. "I never said I was going to kill or attack you in any way. All I said was see where it gets you, that doesn't mean death. What it meant was me not guarding you tonight, nothing more." Walking forward again Diesel began to look for a spot to camp again. After a while he turned back to Floret, "Look, my life wasn't what you would call easy, my parents left me for dead because of my eyes. I grew up alone almost all my life, in New Pegasus no less. I got called Fido almost my whole life. So pardon me for thinking you thought yourself better then me."

Marcus began to grow confused as Floret took her time to think on his offer of protection. He grew even more confused when she put terms on his offer as well. He was used to his tribe where help would be accepted if one was to offer it to another seeking it. Setting up caveats to that offer afterwards was unheard of for Marcus, especially if one felt their life was on the line.

Perhaps it's a pony thing, he thought. He pushed away his confusion and nodded towards her as she finished her proposition. "Of course, if that is what you are comfortable with. Though I think you are forgetting our other Unicorn member in your idea for guards."

Marcus was then taken aback as Diesel and Floret began to get into an argument with each other, causing him to visibly slump as he brought a hoof to his face.

"Please, not so soon after the last argument was fixed. We have more important things to worry about this night. First, finding a proper camp area. Second, making sure we are ready to rescue the mother and daughter. Please do not forget this."

“I know, Marcus. I wasn’t meaning to argue.” Floret replied, turning and inclining her head towards the diamond dog. “and I am sorry, Viktor. The previous conversation has simply put me a little on edge, and I jumped to conclusions based on your size, foreboding words, and we-both-know-what.” She apologized, sincerely sorry for her unfair conclusion, though she didn’t think herself better than Viktor. She knew she was better. Not because of some different eyes. The only genes worth looking down on somepony for were the ones that made them an unfortunately un-unicorn race, dooming them to a worse life.

“For what it’s worth, my parents left me for dead in the middle of the wastes when I was nothing but a little foal, too.” She mentioned, though she kept certain details out, such as the fact that she had never even gotten to know them personally, or that she had technically had a father figure, even if he had not been related by hereditary means. These facts would make her seem less sympathetic to the dog that she really wanted on her side right now, instead of against her.

“If something is wrong with you.” Floret made one last comment before falling silent until the three had done the job White had assigned. “It most certainly is not your eyes. Anybody who suggests such a thing is foolish.”

Because the real problem with Diesel was his brutish existence as a Diamond Dog.

[Assisting search for campsite: Survival 20, PER 5]

As the daylight hours became sparse the group would find that despite everything they had made wonderful time although the same could not be said about their surrounding area, sparse of even trees the area had clearly been picked apart by the raiders that had claimed the area for their own as not even the dead and charred flora has mercy from them, what hints of remains they had been trampled and beaten aside making the terrain flat and dangerous. Most of the group would find nothing other than indications of past struggles. But, for the zebra of the group, he would notice some shadow play on the ground some distance from them.

At first glance it appeared like just another aged and small sink hole that appeared before the war thanks to the worn edges that would allow creatures to venture to it's depths. But the part that would attract Marcus's gaze to it was one of the far walls had concealed a deeper chamber of caves the spun deep into the earth. It was unclear just how far down it went nor whom or what could lay below, but for now the central chamber was big enough for the party, diamond dog included, to have a safe place for the party to rest for the night that would be out of eyesight from the raiders that frequented the lands they stood on.

Diesel smiled as he sat down in the cave, "Marcus, you did good finding this place my friend." Looking outside the cave he laid back and couldn't help but smile. Watching the group he sat back up, "So who can start a fire for us? Not sure about the rest of you but, I'd like to not go hungry, but I'm no stranger to it." Slipping his machete onto the ground next to him he slid his gauntlet off next to it.

Marcus smiled towards Diesel as he sat down. "You are welcome, Mr. Diesel. This cave benefits us all."

He then gave a short whistle to get the attention of those that were farther away, waving so they would see where the cave was before heading inside as well. As he stepped inside, he began casting a careful eye around the cave.

"We must take care in lighting fires out here, Mr. Diesel. We may find ourselves drawing unwanted attention, both from the outside and within."

(Observing the chamber for anything dangerous or suspicious, PER 5)

Bone looked in the direction of the whistle, "Looks like the zebra managed to find a hole to duck down in." He flew down from his perch on the tree and ducked as he entered the cave. "Fire would be a bad idea." he said in response to the others. "The smoke will just give away our position." Bone head saw that the zebra was gazing deeper into the cavern and walked up next to him. "I really doubt we're the first ones to seek refuge in here." he mentioned as he readied his talons for anything that came looming out of the darkness.

(Preparing for any creatures that might try to remove us from the cave. Razor talons-unarmed-51)

Sanctity trotted back to the group as somepony let out a high pitched whistle. The rest of them were standing around what looked like a sinkhole, however, as he got closer, he saw that there was a much deeper chamber inside it. Whoever in the group had spotted that had either had very good eyes, or been very lucky.

He listened as they discussed the possibility of setting up a fire. He looked away from the group, towards the sun and tilted his head slightly, trying to get an idea of the time.

"As long as we keep the fire small, don't burn anything wet and put it out before sundown, it shouldn't be that visible" he said calmly as he levitated a small tin out from his pack that served as his tinderbox and placed it on the ground.

He looked at Bonehead and nodded "Good point. We should keep our eyes out for anything moving inside there, don't want some rad critter sneaking up on us."

He levitated the tin back up to his mouth and bit on it lightly to keep it secure as he looked around the edge of the sinkhole for a good place to set up shop.

[Sneak 60, PER 6: Looking for a good place to set up a hidden campfire, Survival 30, PER 6: Looking for some not completely burnt wood to use. (Using Hatchet when necessary)]

Floret smiled slightly as the zebra’s natural instincts lead him straight to a hole in the ground. As distasteful as staying in a cave may be, it was certainly better in just about every way when compared to the wasteland norm of staying outside.

“Good eye, Marcus.” The unicorn complimented as she settled down, sliding off her saddlebags but keeping her small 9mm in her magical grip. It took effort to not make a wise crack about how his eyes had succeeded where the supposedly eagle-eyed felines' had failed, but she managed it. She had a much better idea anyway.

Floret sat down and yawned, more for effect than for actual fatigue, and nodded her head towards Marcus and Bonehead.

“You know, if anything is in there you guys aren’t going to do much good sitting on the brink staring in. The big muscular close range griffon should actually go deeper and make sure the place is free of giant radiated rabbits or something. unless he’s scared, I mean.”

Bone head glanced over his shoulder at flower girl. every time she opened her mouth he wanted to shove a live grenade in it. But she did have a point, it would be far easier to go in a clear the cave out rather then wait for it's possible inhabitants to make a move. "Scared." the griffin scoffed, "No smart, delving into a deep dark hole where I can't see anything is one easy way to get killed." bone smiled, "That's why you should come with me. I could use somepony with a glow in the dark traffic cone on their head to light the way. And seeing that you don't seem to be doing anything else productive, it would be a great benefit to the group." He turned back to the cavern and resumed his watch while the unicorn responded.

(Previous actions still stands)

Diesel sighed as the two started to fight among each other again. Standing up he grabbed his things and started to walk into the cave, sliding the gauntlet back on and unsheathing his machete. As he walked into the cave he turned to the two, "How about you shut up and some one provide me with some cover? I can use my tremor sense to spot if anything is in the cave." Turning around he walked farther in, not even looking if anyone was following him. Sliding his feet on the ground as he walked he tried to see if they were alone or not in the cave.

[Using tremor sense to spot any threats; Per 5]

“I’m not walking off into a dark cave with you just because widdle Bonehead is scawered of the dawrk and need a night light.” Floret said dryly. Her mask was back up, and she was doing a decent job hiding her fear as she got back to her hooves and moved her saddlebags back on with a sigh.

“I’ll go. But by Celestia’s grace I’m not going along with you. She spat, intending to walk up to the diamond dog but finding to her surprise that he was already there.

Floret blinked in surprise at his outburst. “Mister Viktor! I was just going to ask you for your assistance.” She insisted, matching his pace and keeping a few steps behind as the unicorn regained her composure. Diamond Dogs were big, strong, and above all else tunnel dwelling creatures. Diesel would surely be familiar with how caves work and have little issue finding his way around. While far from the nicest choice, the large animal at the very least seemed much less likely to gut her and blame it on cave dwellers. Besides, he had offered to stand watch over her tonight. This was technically the same thing, right?

“Thank you for your assistance. Let me know if my horn gets too bright for you.”

Bone really needed to find a grenade if floret was going to keep talking. Luckily the diamond dog seemed willing to give the scared little unicorn an escort. "Fine, you take the lead, i'll be right behind you." he said as he placed himself between viktor and and floret. He looked back to the others, "You lot stay here and finish setting up camp, If we're lucky then we'll return with some rad hog meat or something else worth grilling." He said confidently.