Once time rolled on to about 5 before 10, The Caravan altered their position away from 'out of the way' and moved on to line up along the central path that was blocked by a raised Bridge, with several smaller Pack Brahmin caravans along the sides.
In addition to the afformetioned 5 Carriages of Metal or wood and the Stallion's that now stood hitched in the Armored sections that protected them while pulling:
There was also 5 Individual Pack Brahmin along the sides, the Caravaneers of which were sticking to walking along-side the Carriages near them, each one possessing a personally hired escort or 2 though they tended to seem more run-down and cheap than the other guards, typically armored with just a shotgun or a pistol of some sort.
Pretty much everypony had a gun, or access to one at least, though the collection of metal armored Ponies on the front car also had a collection of Melee weapons on them, while their more normal looking 'combat armored' counterparts in the back appeared to be using various rifles, or battle saddle in the case of the non unicorn.
Non combat ponies were going to be staying in the Central passenger Carriage.
The rooves of the 3 central carriages quickly became host to the other hired guards, or would be in the case of those not present already, Forward one soon acquired a very large Crystal Earth ponies covered in his traveling cloak, the middle one having a couple of other much more generic guards already present, and the third one now had a certain bat-pony sitting on it, and next to him was perched a different Pony in heavy metal armor and a battle-saddle that happened to contain a rocket launcher on either side.
The 2 lead business ponies were currently perched on the edge of the Rear most carriage preparing to give a little speech before leaving. The other 'fancier business ponies' already resided in the central Carriage. There were also a pair of 'last minute arrivals' in the form of a pair of Griffon mercs, though they stayed on either side of the central carriage, most likely hinting at being hired specifically by the other 2 ponies in there.
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Said currently unnammed Reaper took notice of Thunder approaching, though he gave no noticeable hint to this until the unicorn got closer, where he shifting from sitting to laying down on that corner of the Carriage and casting a Mildly deadpan expression his way, only broken by a slightly raised eyebrow "You know, you're the first one to 'willingly' encounter me since I got here, much less approach me yourself... I might be surprised if Big Daddy hadn't already appraised me of our 'associates' incase I ran into them while I'm 'abroad'... Thunder Struck right?"
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Breaker and Symphony didn't have much to do while waiting... Breaker chose to conserve his bits and just wait, though Symphony got an extra 'meat-kabob' from one of the Caravaneers, which he took his time cleaning off this time... one of the other guards had been giving him 'looks', so he made a bit of a show of 'savoring' the meat just to put him off, snickering madly when he quickly looked away and seemed to be growing agitated suddenly.
Of course, he perked up and waved cheerfully to Sound and Spark as they came Sprinting back 'just in time'.
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Moment later the pair of businessponies rose up on the top of the rear carriage, giving off sharp whistles for attention, that didn't seem to phase the reaper away from the little conversation.
"Alright every'one', we're getting ready to move out, so hurry and get yourselves situated!"
"we'll be taking a pretty straight forward path to Tenpony tower, since it's fairly nearby we shouldn't have to worry about 'much' happening before we arrive, but for those who haven't been out in the actual 'city' much, Here's some fair warning for you."
"Though the distance is short, The Caravan 'is' quite large, and there's a fair chance that we'll draw the attention of some Raiders along the way."
"Slaver's are extremely unlikely though, they can't be foolish enough to think it'll pay off to attack us... unless it's red-eye's... In which case, you'll know, they're the only slavers with a surpluss of griffons."
"That aside, the only other potential threats we are likely to encounter should be ghouls, or an occasional Manticore."
"That said, it pays to keep your guard up, If you actually see something suspicious, don't hesitate to make it known, better you annoy with a false alarm than miss the change to warn against an actual attack."
"Now then, the 'senior guards' on this trip are... Mr. Crush."
A certain one of the metal armored ponies in the front, an especially large home-made looking sledgehammer strapped to his back, waved a hoof with a gleeful grin.
"Steel Splinter"
The large Stallion with the Launchers gave a snort a single wave.
"And Green-eye"
One of the Combat Armored guards in the back with a particularly nasty looking Snipe rifle gave a wave... oddly enough, his left eye seemed to be missing and in it's place was a smoothed round emerald that was probably his name-sake.
"If one of them tells you to get down, you should listen, it'll most likely mean something 'they' think is dangerous is coming, and this should be taken seriously."
"As usual, the 4th Carriage has the surplus boxes of supplies, medical, surplus ammo, cheap food, they are in the white boxes, 'only' the white boxes. use them only as needed."
"Once we get going, we won't be slowing down for anything, unless of course the way gets blocked."
"and we won't stop if you start falling behind, sounds a bit cold but it's vital."
"It's going to take some time to get to Tenpony, and we will 'not' be caught in the open at night."
"Exactly, we've got plenty of guns, but it's still better to avoid the Nocturnal blood wing swarms."
"Now everyone get ready, we'll be properly leaving shortly."
The sounds of grinding metal could already be heard as Friendship city's connecting bridge began to lower to allow them to leave the city, and beyond the bridge and walls it was all too obvious the state the city was in, though there was no immediately visible threats about, yet.
[Just as a fun little note, feel free to make up names for the other guards, as well as 'notice things' as we're traveling. If you've got something particularly 'exciting' in mind, feel free to run it by someone to see if they like it too, doesn't necessarily 'have' to be me, I like surprises too and it oughta be fun either way =3]
