Symphony actually ended up letting out another little squeek when he was lifted up from his seat, slowly listing into a barely audible high pitched snoring rythym, only giving occasional movement with little flutters of his wings, or his ears twitching to the conversation going on between those who were carrying him, though otherwise he proved to be a fairly calm 'sleep drunk'.

Just as they neared the stairs though he kindof instinctively wrapped a wing around either one of their backs and mumbled something in a quiet squeekie voice, it carried oddly well despite the noise of the bar, though still managed to be unintelligible to a normal pony... Then quite suddenly he leaned his muzzle up and to the side towards Sound while still mostly unconcious, and quickly smooched him on the cheek before mumbling out "Mmmrrllfff... what a sweetie..." Then went more or less properly limp again.

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Breaker on the other hoof, laughed boisterously at the goings on, Taking his mug back up and guzzling the rest of his drink in one more gulp, then reached up with his other hoof to adjust the Stetson... which looked rather odd ontop of both a Metal helmet and a cloak together... Though he started on his way around some of the tables closer to Thunder "Hahah, Careful Little guy, My ass might be too heavy for you to take being covered by it, HAH!." while in the midst of talking to Thunder, he also made a point to observe the rest of the bar, maybe, or maybe not, noticing certain things taking place that other's would prefer not be noticed.

Spark and Sound approached the table of the unconscious thestral so they could help the poor guy out. Sound went through some of his belongings until he found a key to one of the rooms of the tavern. Sound awkwardly picked up the bat pony and slid him off the chair trying to make sure he didn’t just fall over and hit the ground. Sound let him drape over his back. “Spark, you’ll take a hoof and I’ll take a hoof and we’ll drag him up together alright? Help me pull him over, wouldn’t want to give him a concussion along with a hangover.” After they moved him so both fore hooves were draped over their necks they began dragging him across the bar floor. He was surprisingly soft and his hair was quite soft while still being tough, it felt kinda good up against him like that. As they passed by the bartender Sound whistled at him to get his attention and motioned for him to toss him a beer. Since Sound hadn’t claimed his free one yet, the bartender tossed it over and Sound caught it in his mouth and proceeded to just slide it into one of his pockets.

“Iwouldn’t worry about it too much if I were you. If we were from the way he talked he seemed pretty harmless and it would be pretty obvious we didn’t steal anything from him if we were still in the room with him. Also, I’m fine without a bed. I don’t care whether I have one or not really but as a gentlepony I refuse to make you sleep on the floor. If you insist on having me sleep on the bed though, then we could just sleep together.” Sound actually said that with a completely straight face. He wasn’t kidding at all about that.

As they got to the stairs, the thestral wrapped its wings around both Sound and Spark, pulling them all closer together which sound rather liked but still felt embarrassed for Spark as she was obviously not quite used to this. It was a bit strange when the Batpony suddenly kissed him as they were making their way up, giving him a quick smooch on the cheek. This caused Sound to actually blush a bit as he wasn’t expecting that to happen. He smiled sheepishly at Spark. “Well, he’s quite an affectionate one haha. Apparently I’m a sweetie.” His lips felt admittedly kind of nice too. He still wanted Spark just as much and nothing had changed there, but he wouldn’t deny that he found this thestral awfully cute too.

They finally made it to his room and Sound pulled out the key to open it. When they entered the room, it was pretty barren but had all the basics of a tavern room. There was a twin size bed at the far end near the windows, a couch in front of a small fire place in the middle of the room, and small table with a lantern in the corner. Sound moved the thestral with Spark and lifted him up onto one side of the couch. “Thanks for helpin me out with that. I’m glad to be actually sleeping in a room for once instead of hanging out on a roof above one. Not many Pegasus, most ponies wouldn’t think to look up there to mug some pony haha.” He had to admit, the way that thestral was curled up on the couch despite being in a drunken stupor was still mind boggling adorable. Sound walked over to the table pulling out his bottle of beer, and then with a quick jerking movement slammed the bottlecap off of the glass bottle. Catching it and putting it in his pocket. He downed a great deal of it as he walked back to the couch and put the bottle down right next to the unoccupied half of the couch.

Sound went ahead and took off his bounty hunters duster and draped it over the back of the couch. He then flipped himself up onto the couch and landed on his back spread eagle with his head supported by the arm rest. “It’s best if we get some rest now, Spark. We got a long day ahead of us tomorrow and a pretty big day for you if I’m not mistaken.” He yawned, still displaying no actual knowledge of decency in his positioning and completely devoid of any manners. How he knew of how to be a gentlepony and without knowing common courtesy was a complete mystery. He would occasionally lean over to the side and take a sip from his bottle of beer. “Sleep well, Bright Spark. I am glad that we could be friends, it’ll make this trip so much more pleasant. You sleep well too, drunk pony. I look forward to hearing more of your music heheh.”

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Meanwhile downstairs, Thunder laughed as he watched that quiet little unicorn yet again rob another pony. He could call him out on it right here, but he found it funnier to let the unicorn think that he was unaware of his doings. It wouldn't be long before that Unicorn began robbing them as well when he got the chance, and thats when he would have fun with him... in the mean time however, fun seems to coming in the form of one beast of a crystal pony. After some very lude banter and clearly suggestive acts Thunder was already following this pony up the stairs to his room excited for what was to come. Surprisingly his room just so happened to be right next to Midnight Symphony's. For half the night 'very' loud moaning and grunting could be heard from through the wall into Symphony's room. It was going to be a long night....

The thestrals room was surprisingly large, bigger than the room Spark had been living in. Together they laid the sleeping pony down on the sofa where he curled up without waking again.
While Sound opened his beer, Spark took a little look around the room. There wasn’t much to see, a nice sized bed, some cupboards, a sofa and windows looking out over Friendship City. Not wanting to miss what could be her last chance to see the city, Spark crossed the room and looked out at the dim, flickering lights that sprawled the settlement. She felt a little nostalgic as she cast her eyes over the dilapidated shacks and houses that made up the home she’d known for so long.

Finally, Sounds voice drew Spark from her wordless goodbye. He had a point, there would be a lot of walking tomorrow and she was unlikely to see a proper bed for a while. Turning back from the window she blinked as her eyes readjusted to the darkened room.

“Good night Sound, thanks fo…”

Her words died as she caught sight of the now dusterless stallion spread over the sofa.

“Umm…” She averted her eyes blushing profusely and without another word climbed into the bed, facing the wall away from the stallions.

If the sight of one clothless stallion was embarrassing for Spark, then the sounds emanating from the next room were nearly unbearable. A more confident pony might have pounded on the door to shut the two up. Spark however remained curled in a ball, her face as red as her mane until the early hours of the morning when the sound finally ceased.

Once Deposited on the couch, Symphony will have shifted a bit onto his back, curled his legs against his body, and instinctively close his wings around himself for warmth, and slip right back into adorable little squeaky snores... totally oblivious to the noise going on in the next room over.

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Breaker... well, Half the tavern probably knew what he got up to... For Thunder's sake, hopefully he doesn't quite live up to his name!

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The next morning, around roughly 9am, The Caravan was in the midst of being set-up and organized for the road, a Caravan of 5 Carriages lined up half-way between the bridge and the Statue itself.

The front and rear Carriages are made of Steel, armor plated and contain a pillbox ontop for somepony to shoot from, as well as armored windows, and contain a light levitation engine that will lessen their load on the pony pulling it. For the most part these contain weapons and ammo, along with other important supplies or packages. On each of these stood 3 guard, the rear One had 3 of the General combat armored guards on it, and the front Carriage contrasted with 3 guards in 'cleaned' raider-like metal armor... it seemed that one of the 'plain guards' may have been substituted for a metal-head.

The 3 Between these are made of a mix of wood and steel, hold most everything else, and keep a bit of room free for exhausted or injured passengers. They have a roof hatch for easier access while on the move, and plated rails to avoid falling off, but otherwise anypony ontop protecting it will be pretty exposed, especially from above. There were a couple of other hired guards lingering on the rooves of these as well.

There were also several Brahmin and other much smaller caravan's lingering about to piggyback on the 'safety zone' of traveling with a properly heavily armed caravan, of course contributing a guard or 2 or their own and a bit of payment.

The Two business ponies that were running it were waiting near the rear cart, a few other Caravaneers and a couple of what seemed like 'fancier' business ponies with then conversing about something. The pair were keeping an eye out though, and anypony that arrived to the caravan received their 'down payment' immediately, in the form of a small, launched, sack of Caps coming their way with the 100 cap payment, and a reminder that they'd be leaving at 10am.

[that'll orchestrate the ability to just go about your 'preparations' in the same post if you'd like to get all that done at once ^.^]

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Being Naturally acclimated to the darkness tended to make the transition to 'sun-light' more jarring than most ponies... Hence Symphony waking up as soon as the sun-light started to peek in through the windows of the room, urging a quiet but high pitched yawn from him coupled with stretching out... and 'then' realizing that for some reason there vas a mare in his bed and a Stallion on the couch with him 'woah... what in tartarus did I do last night?' The confusion lasted all of about 3 seconds before his head split wide open... or, felt like it, calling forth a little whimper as he rolled off of the couch and hugged his head a little 'FUCK!... that explains it... Oh, Ally, must thee be such a cruel mistress?!... better get to fixing this I suppose.'

He jumped right into his morning routine, despite the still dozing company, and set to grooming his mane an tail first, stripping out of, and storing, his 'civilization suit', and replacing it with a set of blackened, anti-shined, leather armor... This was immediately followed by a minor breakfast of cleaning meat chunks off of a Shish-kebab, and then a short-term removal of his collar.

Chances are the other 2 would be awoken by the pulsing sound that came next...

Symphony had himself sat down in a corner of the room, releasing obviously 'batty' sounds at the wall, a high pitched pulse rebounding off of it and leading to him wincing sharply after each... though as this continued the wincing died down and little by little the repeating sound turned into a soft, steady, tone.

The sound of movement roused Spark from her short sleep. For a small moment she panicked, not recognising her surroundings. When she spotted Sound on the sofa and the bat pony however her memory quickly caught up.

With a groan she rolled over and curled up again. It had been getting light when she'd finally fallen asleep meaning she probably only had a few hours at best. Hardly ideal for a long journey and the sound of the two stallions next door would probably haunt her for a while yet...

Finally she unravelled herself from the warm duvet, ensuring her traveling cloak was still covering her fully and flopped off the bed. Her saddlebags still lay on the floor where she'd left them the previous night. She quickly checked nothing had been taken and once satisfied lifted them onto her back.

By this point the bat pony had taken up position in the corner making high pitched sqeaking sounds and didn't seem too bothered by her presence. Despite her curiosity of what he was doing, she decided it would be best to leave him be. Instead she trotted over to the sleeping Sound and prodded him awake with a hoof. Luckily for her he'd rolled over in the night, though she still felt a little embarrassed by the memory.

"Wakey wakey" she sang right next to his ear before prodding him again. "It's time to get up and meet with the caravan"

She turned around hoping the tavern would have some form of shower but was left disappointed. The clinic probably had the only shower for miles and she couldn't really go back just for that...

Chance was awoken to the pleasant and sweet sound of Sparks voice in his ear. Sound groaned a little as he stretched the morning tightness out of his muscles and then without warning he wrapped his fore leg around the back of Sparks neck and pulled her up close to him. “Heheh, careful now Sparks, I may just get used to being woken up by your sweet voice in my ear each morning. I can honestly say it’s a much more pleasant way to wake up.” Sound chuckled and gave her a peck on the cheek before flipping over the side of couch whilst grabbing his Duster at the same time and throwing it on in one fluid motion. It was obvious that he had practiced this before.

It was then that he noticed that strange noise emanating from one corner of the room. “Da hell is that ungodly noise though, I’d rather not be woken up to that in the morning… Oh, its you, how are you this morning cutie. If you wouldn’t mind could you stop that please. . Heheh you weredown and out last night when we picked you up off that table, I don’t imagine you drink too often considering how much of a light weight you are.” Sound walked over to the thestral and patted him on the back. “Does anypony got any food stuffs I can cook a pretty good breakfast for us, I’m not bad atleast I don’t think so… I cook for myself all the time.” Sound asked walking back over to Sparks and giving her a warm smile, taking a second to adjust his bandana and make sure it was on just right.

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Thunder, woke up still in the arms of that ‘massive’ stallion, he wouldn’t mind stayin there a bit longer but he had some work he had to get done before the caravan got too crowded. Thunder had of course woken up at 8 A.M. so he could survey the caravan crew setting up and see where he could make some efficiency changes. He gave the unconscious Diamond Breaker a soft but deep kiss before sliding out from underneath his hooves. It wasn’t until he hit the floor that he realized just how soar he was and nearly fell over upon making contact with the ground.

Thunder chuckled to himself as he gathered his bag o’death (the saddlebag he keeps all of his explosives in) and limped out the door. Each step his legs wobbled a bit threatening to give out from underneath him. Thunder didn’t care though, the grin on his face more or less displayed that as a point of pride. Upon reaching outside, Thunder leaned up against the wall and waited for the caravan to arrive so he could help set it up. Of course he offered to rig their more valuable equipment with various traps for a nominal fee of 100 caps per trap. Just to ensure against any of the mre sneaky thieves that may get past the group without detection. The traps could vary from explosive in case of important documents, in which said documents or equipment would be immediately destroyed upon forced seizing or maiming traps which would generally cut something off in the case of somepony trying to get in. Explosive traps would cost 50 extra caps.

The small mare let out a surprised sqeak as she was hooked from behind and pulled against Sound. She felt herself blushing again as the stallion pecked her on the cheek and tried to hide her red face behind her mane while Sound swooped off the sofa and put on his duster.

Spark stayed put as the Brown stallion talked to the bat pony and Instead searched through her bag for a comb. Typically it had sunk right to the bottom and she ended up digging though healing potions and other drugs to find it. When at last she did, she set about taming her mane which had become a wild mess during the night. As she started working through the knots she heard Sound ask if either of them had any food. Where he planned to cook she had no idea but she did enjoy cooked vegetables!

Using her magic to comb her tail she had another search through her bags. Most of the space was taken up by medical supplies, she'd been relying on the caravan to provide the food. After a few seconds however she emerged holding a box of 200 year old cereal and placed it on the floor looking disappointed.

"All I've got is ceral" she replied still hoofing through her bags "Oh and some Fancy Buck Cakes... Nothing to cook though, I didn't want to pack anything that could go off..." she looked thoughtful for a second before adding "Maybe they do food downstairs at the bar?"

Sound looked a little disappointed but his cheerful demeanor still remained unaffected."Haha, looks like im not the only one who is bankin on the caravan feeding us." He picked up the cereal and looked it over. "You think this might be stale? Haha. Well if you don't mind i'll take one of those snack cakes, its good to get a little sugar in yourself before a long trip yeah?" Sound swiped up one of the snack cakes and took a bite out of it. Now speaking with his mouth full. "Now i believe it would be a good time as any to start making our way down stairs. *gulp* Lets see what food we can get from them, and see what kind of caravan we will be workin with, if its as big as they say we may have some hi-tech shit goin with us".Sound made his way to the door and opened it for Spark. "After you." Sound winked at her and stepped aside.

Symphony's ears instantly flitted back at the sound of the room's other occupants moving, swiveling slightly at them before turning forward again to catch his sonics more directly again... for a short time he ignored sound's commentary about his sonics, relishing in the relieve it created instead and slowly began to ease off of the sounds once his intentions were completed, only to tense just slightly at the sudden patting on his back.

He took a short moment to bring his collar up and snap it back into place on his neck, a strange musical tone slipping out of his mouth when it did, then he finally turned to lock eyes on the earth-pony behind him, his voice displaying a familiar practiced musical tone once more "Actually, I drink quite often for fun, I suppose it helps that I have a personalized Hang-over cure to fix negate the suffering, and a method of tracking down anything stolen during my vulnerable moments... I promise you, if you ever drink yourself unconscious you'll be 'wishing' you woke up to that 'ungodly noise'... Better to be excruciating for a minute than agonizing for hours... though I do hope you have a better ear for lovely sound than that, 'music' is kindof my thing and you're going to be hearing a lot of 'noise' from 'me'."

with this done he quickly retrieved his saddlebags, pausing to give them a little sniff before strapping them down and stretching out as thoroughly as he could once more"As for me, I already ate a snack, though I would not be opposed to something else to eat, I should warn you though, 'cute' as I am, I am indeed 'carnivorous' by preference" He paused to accentuate this by licking at his terribly sharp teeth for but a moment "Though proudly 'NOT' cannibalistic, so no need to drum up those old fears... I do kindof like fruit too though."

"That said, I am going to assume that the 2 of you are here because you dragged me up here after I passed out yesterday, even going so far as to find my key without stealing anything, which is more than can be said of 'some' ponies these days... hrm, I would apologize for unusual behavior during my intoxication, I have a habit of getting strangely both 'dark' and 'affectionate' at the same time."

He quickly noticed though that the other's were prepared to move ahead already 'Lovely, It's nice to wake up to somepony that isn't painfully slow in the mornings... Luna knows, it took me years to get a routine down that'd shrug off the mornings!' It was sudden that a puff of black mist saw him vanish from sight, only for another similar puff to have him appear once more on the other side of Sound and Sparks, a lot closer than before and with a playful little chirp from his throat spoke again "That's funny, I once met someone who was absolutely enamored with fancy buck cakes... I never did understand why it hit them so hard, I swear it bordered on addiction!... Hrm, I don't quite recall if I introduced myself or not last night, so just incase, My Name is Midnight Symphony... I believe the bar does provide food, but while their booze is strong their food is sub-par... If you want a proper meal, I suggest we make our way to the bridge where the caravan should be waiting, get our down-payment, and use a piece of the time we still have here to get a quality meal at a nearby restaurant, and perhaps stock up on a bit of extra... Though the caravan does tend to keep a considerable stock of Rations, they are 'most definitely' stale but edible."

with that he suddenly 'poof' vanished again, reappearing in the hallway facing Sound through the open door with a playful grin "Shall we 'away'?" and off he started trotting.

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The 'offer' from Thunder to booby trap the stores of the Caravan was politely declined, Security of stock was certainly important, but it was proffered to ensure the 'integrity' of the stock as well... plus, it was let slip a bit that they had their own methods in place for tracking down anything that was stolen, courtesy of someone else who traveled with the Caravan.

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Breaker awoke to find that his 'fun night' had slipped out from under his hooves while he slept, of course the hang-over couldn't compare to the satisfaction he'd gotten from the previous night, just a simple mumble slipping out "That little guy is tougher than he looks, hahah." Before long he climbed out of bed himself, fore-going the issue of bathing for getting his armor and fresh traveling cloak back on... Of course this meant he stank of sex as he came into the hall-way at just about the same time a certain thestral and other companion's were coming out of their own room, providing a leisurely little wave and a big grin "well, good morning 'companions to be', Lovely morning isn't it?"

The Thestral very easily figured out what had happened the previous night by the scent allover the bigger stallion, actually earning a bit of a blush from him before he got to work clearly trying to ignore that, and the fact that the big pony appeared just suddenly join them on their way down to the bar.

Boreal Dusk

I managed to pry open my eyes, squinting around to try and get a sense of what time it was. Of course, the room I was in didn't have any windows, although I still had my PipBuck. I pulled the machine up to my head, squinting once more as my eyes weren't accustomed yet to the glow emanating from the PipBuck. I groaned, it was only 7:32 in the morning, probably a good amount of time before the caravan actually left. I shut my eyes and changed positions in an attempt to doze off for a little while longer, but it was futile. I sighed deeply, finally gaining the strength to get out of the bed. It wasn't really a bed, more of a dirty mattress littered with faint remnants of blood, saliva, and other stains I didn't really want to think about, although it did make me question if some ponies had such low standards. I really couldn't complain, as I specifically chose this place due to how cheap it was, hoping to save up my money.

As I prepared my equipment, I had realized that I hadn't eaten much in a while, although I didn't have any food on me at the time. I grunted quietly, as the prospect of searching for a place where I could get some food wasn't something I had planned for nor fancied all too much. As I geared up, I made sure to keep track of the time. When I left my room, it was already 7:58, so I still figured I had some time to focus on getting a breakfast meal into my stomach.

It took me more than a while, but I found some guy selling meats on a stick for pretty cheap prices. He was shady, no doubt about it, but he didn't ask questions. A expedient trade, just how I liked it. I figured I could safely eat my meal in the amount of time I got to the exit of the city. As I moved slowly, trying to eat, I took note of the city at this hour. Already ponied were out and about, even some young fillies and colts were out playing. Who the hell would want to raise a foal in this fucked up world? I thought to myself as I passed the energetic younglings.

I soon finished my meat and checked my PipBuck for the time once more. It was now 8:22, so I figured that now would be as good as ever to head towards the caravan. As I reached the outskirts of Friendship City, I went to pick up my rifle from its storage in preparation for the caravan.

As I walked towards the caravan, I made sure to inspect my rifle, levitating it in front of me as I went along. It was free of any dings, but small scratches were visible along the stock. It looked much better than it had a while ago, as I had literally spent all of my caps paying for repairs, getting ready for this job. Truth be told, I was rather anxious to put a few holes in something with this. This baby could have put a hole into anything from a bloatsprite to one of those heavily armored Steel Rangers I sometimes heard about. If this thing didn't kill it in one shot, I could have bet that whatever was on the receiving end would buckle over in pain. It was a versatile rifle, my FN FAL, although it was heavier and had a reduced range when compared to a standard sniper rifle. I had pondered on whether I should have named it, although no one really would have cared about the name of the gun.

I soon found myself at the caravan, with one of the organizers recognizing me and throwing me a bag with a large amount of caps inside of it. I adeptly caught it with my one hoof and levitated it into my saddlebag, making sure it was secure. I then immediately noticed that jerk unicorn from last night and cringed at the thought of having to work together. This was going to be a long trip.

Spark felt herself cringe at the thought of a pony eating meat. They were of course suppose to be vegetarians and eating meat probably had some adverse effects on their digestive system. Looking at the bat pony, Midnight Symphony, she could definitely see that meat was part of his kinds diet. She tried her best to hide the little shudder at the sight of his sharp, pointed teeth.

Turning back to Sound, she nodded politely at seeing him holding the door for her. As she took a step forward however, she became aware of a silight sensation alongside her. Before she could react, the bat pony appeared again in the doorway. Suprised, she backed away a little, suddenly finding the strange pony a little more intimidating despite his seemingly friendly demeanour.

As they made their way downstairs, Spark trailing behind Sound, they came across the giant pony from the night before. Spark immediately recognised his voice from the adjacent room and promptly stared at the floor, her face once again that bright shade of red, unable to look the pony in the eye. She hung even further back after he joined them not wanting him to catch on that she'd heard the entire thing through the thin tavern walls.

The bar at the bottom of the stairs was much quieter than it had been the previous night and Spark took the oppertunity to get some distance from the group. Despite what the thestral had said, she picked up a menu board and browsed it. The food actually sounded quite nice and there was even a selection of foods without meat! Disappointingly however the price was a little high and this reminded her that she had very few caps. With a small sigh she deposited the board back on the counter and looked back to see what the others were up to.

Sound laughed at Midnight’s retort. “Well you certainly haven’t gotten any better at holding your liquor then, im pretty sure I drank as much as you and didn’t anything more than a light buzz. The singing you do is just splendid, don’t get me wrong. However, your miracle headache cure is not as well recepted.” Sound ruffled Night’s air before he made his way to the door and opened it for Sparks.

Suddenly the Symphony poofed in front of him and startled him. “Hey now! I wasn’t aware thestrals had that ability, you like a vampony or something? I mean im used to seeing ponies eat meat, you do what you do to survive… well in your case its actually part of your diet but still. Hold off on the poofing its kinda… hmmm whats the word… startling? I guess… whatever. Away we are.” He exited the room following Sparks shamelessly trying to get a quick peak at both of their flanks but not saying anything about it.

They came across the brick wall of a stallion from last night as they walked down the hallway and he greeted them asking them about their night. Sound grinned and retorted back. “Not quite as lovely as your night was it seems. Not that theres anything wrong with making the most of your last night here, would’ve done the same given the opportunity… buuuut you did keep poor Sparks here up all night, you can tell by the bags under her eyes. Just try to keep it down next time. Hahaha!” Sound continued on following the group down the stairs after giving Breaker a playful punch to the shoulder… which actually hurt his ankle a little but he wasn’t going to admit to that.

He was considering what their options were for a decent breakfast when he noticed Spark grab a menu but then soon afterward set it back down. He walked over to the table and sat down next to her. “So are you just as broke as I am? Hey, c’mon lets get over to the caravan and collect our advance pay and we can see if we can find a street vendor before we head out, ok?” He rubbed her shoulder and gave her a friendly smile, he was back to speaking more quietly again in order to comfort her for the long road ahead. There needed to be atleast one pony on this tea with a little compassion, he hoped he supplied enough.

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Thunder was a business pony and refused to give up just yet. Explaining the finer points on how his traps worked, describing how the first tier traps are guaranteed not to damage any of the goods that it is meant to be protecting. He showed the lead caraveener how his own saddlebags were rigged with what seemed to be the components to a ballistic hoof. Also describing how there is a specific way one must open the bag in order not to set off the trap, but he explained that he couldn’t show how on his bags because of security and business reasons.

Thunder immediately noticed Boreal heading his way over and that he stopped the moment he noticed Thunder standing there. Thunder’s legs were still shaking a bit and he still had quite the limp with every step, but he didn’t show any pain on his face. He began limping straight toward him with a big grin on his face. “Well, well. It looks like the bitch didn’t puss out after all, or is it that your just looking for more opportunities to steal everyone else’s caps as well? How much did you steal last night anyways? Did you promise to pay them back in your mind, knowing full well that you never will? Do you ever consider the repercussions that your actions may have on that pony’s life… Maybe that one pony you dragged out into the alleyway owed somepony money…. Maybe the pony he owed money to isn’t very forgiving about lost money… maybe… just maybe… that pony was me, and I killed him for it…” His smile grew even bigger as he stared at him and let his words sink in. Then, suddenly he burst out in laughter slapping Bolero on the back. “Nah, I ain’t a thug I’m a demolitionist. I don’t give a shit who’s money you steal, just don’t steal anything from me… Boreal was it? I sneaked a peak at the roster you signed onto. Anyways if you do, you may find that your pillow has a land mine in it. Hahaha! Welcome aboard fucker.” He ruffled his mane before turning to leave and see if he could seal a deal with someone on this caravan and earn a few more caps.

Spark nodded at Sounds suggestion that they head to the caravan first and smiled a little as he rubbed her shoulder.
“That sounds like a good idea… Though I’m still not sure If I’ll get any caps.” She pulled an uncertain face “At least… It didn’t get brought up yesterday”. For a moment the mare tapped the table with a hoof looking thoughtful.
“I think I have enough caps for a small meal though. We can go to my favorite place!” She brightened up a little at the idea. “Come on, we’ll stop by the caravan and then I’ll take you there if we still have time”
She led the way from the tavern tugging Sound by the fore hoof with her magic as she did so.

Friendship City was pretty busy by this time. A number of ponies trotted about their business or sat around on makeshift seats talking loudly. As always in the wasteland, the sky was the uninspiring, dull grey of the ever present cloud.
Nopony paid attention as Spark weaved her way down one of the staircases that connected the various levels together. Once again she had her hood pulled up though this time it was against the wind blowing in from the sea.

The caravans meeting place was on the little island at the statues base so it took a little time to traverse the distance. When she finally stepped off the final staircase It was easy to spot the large group of carts and ponies all standing around waiting to leave. It surprised Spark a little, she’d never seen such a large caravan in the city before and the sight of so many ponies unnerved her a little. Suddenly feeling less confident she slowed down and waited for Sound to catch up.

Sound was taken a little by surprise when Sparks started pulling him along by his forehoof and by her sudden excitement, as withheld as it was. Though it was quite nice and awfully cute to see. He trotted after her proud to see that she was really warming up to him and wanted to see how this plays out even further. Normally he would protest against her wearing her hood, but given how the wind was blowing it was understandable although he didn't wear one. "Whoah, haha slow down a bit Sparks." He was also legitimately surprised how much energy she had this morning given how tired she looked earlier. Maybe she was a morning pony.

Spark slowed when reaching the large caravan, obviously intimidated by its size. She stopped and waited for Sound who was right behind her. He saw how nervous she looked and gave her a little nuzzle. "Wow, thats a lot bigger than what i'm used to seeing. Don't worry though, this is good for your first time out. These large Caravan's tend to be a lot safer and are attacked less given the amount of fire power that they bring with them. Though that does make us..... ummm nevermind heheh... errr... anyways c'mon lets get our money and don't worry i promise they are going to pay you as well. Your a part of the team now, you have our back just as much as we have yours. Besides guarding a caravan like this one isn't all about who has the biggest gun. True that may be the case in smaller caravans, but in this one its who is willing to step up and do their job whether that be a gunslinger like me, or a medic like you." He kissed her cheek and gave her another quick nuzzle hoping that might draw out some confidence in her and show that he was there for her.

Spark again felt herself blushing as Sound kissed her on the cheek. She didn't mind and actually quite liked it but at the same time she wasn't entirely sure what to do or say in return. Instead she scuffed the floor with a hoof shyly looking down.

The moment was finally broken as two bags of caps were thrown their way. Spark only just managed to catch them in her magic before they could hit the floor. She balanced one on Sounds head with a smile and held onto the other unsure. She had a quick glance round to ensure it wasn't meant for somepony else before slipping it into her bags.

It didn't seem like the caravan was going to leave immediately so Spark led Sound to the docks near the statues base. Only a few structures were built down here and they were mostly pre-war, not scrap built. A few rust covered boats were tied to the aged wooden posts along the docks edge.

Spark led Sound past a few crumbling buildings to a better maintained cafe on the water front. Most of the windows had been replaced by boards though it seemed a few had survived the years of weathering. The door was made from cobbled together boards and creaked in protest as Spark pushed it open. The inside was warm, heated by a little fireplace on one wall. The space was well lit by the light from the surviving windows as well as the fire and a string of fairly lights strung around the ceiling. Much of the floor space consisted of rickety wooden tables and chairs with a counter set along one side. A couple of ponies were seated at the tables talking quietly. One, a large blue stallion wearing a grubby apron trotted over to greet them. He walked with a limp on his right foreleg but crossed the room quickly a smile on his face.

"Spark! I thought you'd left! Didn't think I would be seeing you for a long time yet!" He then glanced at Sound "and who's this? A coltfriend?"

Spark had just lowered her hood and was now regretting it as she couldn't hide the light red that formed on her face.

"Um... Hi" Spark replied with a sheepish smile "This is Sound Chance, he's going to be travelling on the caravan with me. Sound, this is Big Cook, he runs the cafe." She gestured at the big stallion.

"Ah, good to meet you Sound" the stallion said grabbing Sounds hoof and shaking it firmly. "It's good to know Spark will have some company on her trip" he gave Sound a wink "She's a fantastic little mare, saved my leg y'know" he raised the leg he'd been limping on to show off a large scar running along it. "Anyway, table by the fire or by a window?"

Spark looked at Sound with a questioning look allowing him to make the decision.

Symphony had the courtesy to at least appear a bit apologetic for his 'surprising' teleporting trick, and kept with the others as they headed down into the bar, though he gave a bit of a playful snark to Sound "Heheh, There's more 'magics' out there than just unicorn magic and the natural laws that govern it ya know? and how many Thestrals have you actually met? I have other tricks too, though I still need to refine most of them..."

Of course he sniggered playfully once Spark darted off dragging Sound behind her... though this left hime alone with breaker for the time being, leading Symphony to glance over and look him up and down once before stating "So... break your buddy last night?"

"Hahah, Actually, he's a tough little bastard, for a unicorn... left him limping though, probably still getting awkward stares at the caravan, heheh."

"heheh... well, at least you're still good for a laugh... He seem as dangerous as he did crazy last night?"

"Eh, Unstable maybe, but that's nothing new in the wasteland... Though I'd scoure the immediate vicinity before going to sleep if I were you... just to be safe."

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Their conversation progressed fairly idly as they made their way to the Caravan, Recieving their Air-strike of coin purse as everyone else had, though they parted quickly enough when Breaker spotted a familiar certain unicorn, and vectored to make sure he passed by Thunder and his current chatting buddy.

"Heeey, Thunder buns! How's that limp treatin ya? heheh" He punctuated this with using a fore-hoof to playfully swat at Thunder's rump as he passed by, then turned a little grin to the second unicorn with him "Careful with this one, he's 'crazy', Never had anypony else think of using a grenade for something sexual!" and with that he continued on around them to the caravan... was he joking? who knows?!

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Symphony mean-while took his time examining the caravan, noting the sudden shift, though small, in the types of guards present, the layout of the Carriages, even having a little chat with the 2 business ponies before he headed off to get a last thing to eat too.

The pair of Business ponies still politely refused the additional traps... Fancy as they might be, though they explained a bit further, pointing out that they already have systems in place that allow easy tracking of thieves, though not going into particularly strong detail on 'how' those systems work... The preference was to both capture a thief alive as well as find out where they came from, so perhaps an offer was made to let Thunder have a little 'fun' interogating if someone got caught.
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A couple more individuals joined the caravan, namely another smaller caravan and a couple extra generic guards... More importantly though, a certain somepony far less inconspicuous showed up.

This particular pony was an unusually small Unicorn, roughly a head shorter than average, though funny enough his horn was not as diminutive, with a pure white coat, contrasting Raven blue mane, and Bright orange eyes. His only attire was a pair of plain saddlebags, seemingly stuffed with booze and meat on one side, and a variety of ammo/explosives on the other, And a simple un armored shirt that read

'I am a Reaper.
Don't believe that?
Make me prove it.'

Once out in the open, he'd made a bee-line for the Caravan without a word, took a seat on the corner of the rear car, and just stayed there looking bored.

After receiving their money and being told that they had an hour before the caravan leaves, Spark led Sound across the docks of Friendship City and only a short walk away they arrived at Spark's destination. It appeared to be a quaint little cafe with windows you could actually see through which was uncommon as ponies rarely gave a shit about their windows. There was a nice view out across the water and looking over the Manehattan, although most of the city was in ruin it still looked nice from a distance. Sparks then introduced Sound to the owner of the establishment who was bigger than sound but not quite as big as that pony Diamond Breaker. Sound began to snicker when Big Cook asked if he was her coltfriend. "It's a pleasure to meet you sir. This is quite the pleasant cafe you have here."

When he saw Big Cook wink at him at the mention of keeping her company for once it was actually Sound's face that turned red. "Oh... um yeah no, i mean yes. there's a big group goin on the caravan but yeah she seemed a bit out of place in the group and i just wanted to make sure she would be alright..." Sound blurted out kind of awkwardly and then cleared his throat. His face changed back to normal almost instantly when he described how great of a doctor she was and asked them where they wanted to sit. "Oh thats great. I've been trying to tell her of the importance of a good medic on these long haul trips that we make as im no good with medical equipment and a lot of times end up spilling half of any health potions i have. If its alright with Sparks though i'd like to take the seats next to the window, i've always loved the ocean even if its irradiated now. its still quite beautiful."

Big Cook let out a large booming laugh at Sounds obvious discomfort.
"I'm just messing with you, you seem like the decent sort. Really it's good to know someone is looking out for her".
He showed the pair of them to a table next to a large window. The glass was immaculately clean and the view as clear as it ever could be on a cloudy day.

Spark climbed up onto the chair and turned to face the blue stallion.
"Thank you Big, could we have a couple of menus?"

The stallion nodded and headed off to the kitchen leaving Spark and Sound alone again.
Spark let out a little sigh looking out the window across the water at Manehatten.

"I'm going to miss living here... Not just the showers, beds and food but everything else. All the ponies are so nice and..." She broke off a conflicted look upon her face.
"Ugh, I can't believe I'm having doubts now. Yesterday I was all ready to go and now I'm just not sure!"

While she continued to stare out the window another stallion, this one short and thin, trotted up to the table and deposited two chalk boards with a list of foods scribbled on them.

Sound gave a beaming smile at Big Cooks approval. "Well i feel that its more that i'm the lucky one for finding such a beautiful and intelligent mare. I have a feeling she'll be saving my life more times than i'll be saving hers haha!" He walked over to the table with Sparks and sat down after thanking the big pony for his hospitality. He began looking out the window and over the city imagining what it must have been like before all these terrible things happened to the world. The ocean view had a relaxing effect on him and he felt all of his muscles loosen up as he looked over the beautiful scenery.

He then heard Sparks let out a sigh and then began speaking. She expressed her doubts about the trip giving the impression that she wasnt ready for life out in the wastes. A pony set menus down in front of them but he ignored it and leaned across the table and gently turned her head to face him. "Sparks, remember what you told me last night. You told me that that you wanted to show equestria that there was still good left in the world and that you wanted to help every pony see it. You wanted to inspire hope. The wastes are hard and unforgiving but the determination i saw inside of you showed me a mare who was ready to face it head on and endure all the hardships it may throw at her in order to secure your dream. You have something that most ponies now could never find and all ponies strive for and thats a reason to live, a reason to keep moving forward. I refuse to let doubt snuff out the Brightest Spark in equestria and i will stand by your side until you've acheived your dream because you've inspired me already."
Sound spoke softly but confidently with his hoof held to her chin as he looked into her eyes without blinking once. His muzzle was only an inch away from hers as he spoke and even after he finished speaking he held the same position looking at her with a determined look in his eye.

Spark couldn't help but smile a little at Sounds speech. As he talked she felt the knot in her chest loosen somewhat and her doubt fade slightly. He was right and he really seemed to believe in what he was saying... Even if it was a little cheesy...

She spent a few seconds looking at the stallion as he held her chin. He was sweet... If a little rough in places... But he meant well and genuinely seemed to care about her. He was good looking too, handsome in wastelandy heroish kind of way. Different from most stallions she had met. She hadn't even known him any longer than a day and already knew him better than a lot of ponies in Friendship City.

She blinked, realizing she'd zoned out staring into Sounds eyes and looked away awkwardly.

"Thank you Sound... You're right I can do this. It's just a big step to leave everything behind..." She pulled a face "Sorry I feel like I've dragged you all the way over here just to worry about stuff." She looked around for something else to talk about and caught sight of Manehatten through the window.

"So what's it like out there?" She asking gesturing out the window. "I've only been outside a town once and I don't really remember that much"