Post by The Wastelander on Aug 22, 2015 8:51:08 GMT
Shadow Guard's hoofsteps were distinctive. Even muffled by the dirt, they sounded with a pointed mechanical clanking as his high-tech body moved with surprising fluidity. Were it not for the polished black finish on the metal, one could well have mistaken him for being made of mere flesh. Alas, he was not- and this seemed to immediately draw the eyes of several townsponies. He however was rather used to it, and merely continued on his way into the heart of the small settlement with his own purposes at the forefront of his thoughts. Even to a casual observer it was rather apparent that he was looking for something.
Flashbang stalked out of they mayor's office, irritation obvious with every step she took. "Think they can skimp on payment do they," She muttered under her breath, "Hah. Let's see who's crying next time they need a rogue whytael taken care of." She sniffed, decision made. Townsfolk weren't gonna pay her her full fee? She wouldn't save them next time they asked. Or begged. It's not like she did it out of the goodness of her heart. A mare's gotta eat, y'know. The fact that she got to tackle a whytael outside its nest - she grinned as she remembered it - is inconsequential. At least she got a meal out of it. Nothing for it but to keep moving. She shook herself out of her thoughts and kept walking towards the town gates, only to stop in her tracks. What the hell kind of pony is THAT? Staring at him unashamedly, she took in his clearly metal frame, as well as his determined look. "If that ain't the best example of the word 'built', I dunno what is."
Moonriser just so happened to be in the area, albeit within the local bar. It was the best and closest place to grab a meal before he moved on. He'd had two others with him too, but he didn't know where they'd gone off to. He didn't care either, as long as they weren't being foolish and giving the NPR a bad name. It wasn't until some excitement seemed to ripple through those in the bar that he turned away from the bar to see what. Some ponies were gathered around the small window, looking out at... something. Intrigued what the fuss was about, he slid off the stool and ventured outside, peering around until he spotted what they were all staring at. There was some sort of strange pony walking through town, and he couldn't quite tell what the hell he was looking at. Were they made of metal? Or at least, part of their body was. That must have taken crystal tech to make work.. Maybe he ought to find out what and who they were. One never knew if such a thing would come in handy.
Shadow Guard paused as the stranger very overtly stared at him. Hello to you too, stranger. The earth pony was pulled from his determined path out of fascination for their bright, fiery hair - a rare sight in a wasteland full of washed out miserable colour schemes - and approached them in turn. The plates of his body pulsed with red light matching the glow of his eyes as he did. Once within a conversational distance, it was obvious that his eyes were also Tech. One might have started to wonder what percentage of his internal organs had been replaced with it as his external body was. "Your hair looks nice," he stated in a voice that sounded surprisingly mundane compared to his appearance. Either he'd missed the fascinated words of the other, or he was ignoring them in favor of a regular chat. "Orange is a good colour." A colour he lacked entirely. Alas.
Flashbang blinked, realising she had in fact spoken aloud. Whoops. Taking in the... pony. Yeah, she'd go with pony. Taking in the pony's words, her eyes flicked up to the forelock of her mane sticking out from under her helmet. Her colouring was something she wore fiercely, the bright yellow and orange of her mane and tail making her all that more noticeable. She wondered how much worse it would get if the rest of her weren't relatively pale. Still, the pony before her didn't seem interested in a bad way, so she allowed him the look. "It's a great colour, and don't anyone forget it." She looked him over again, swishing her tail and catching her eyes on the lines of light up red dots. "Red's pretty great too, I suppose." She allowed.
Moonriser wasn't close enough to hear what was being said, but he could at least see a conversation had been started between the newcomer and somepony else. Intriguing. Hmm. Maybe, if he could get that pony alone, he could.. recruit him and hand him over to his scientist to look at back at camp. Find out what made him tick; the technology would certainly be useful. The unicorn decided to head right over just to join.. whatever their conversation was.. innocently enough. "I've never seen you before. What brings you to town?" Moon broke in without a single hello once he was within earshot.
Shadow Guard smiled lightly at the reply, which became a proper smirk at the sudden addition. "Yeah, it is," he both agreed and stated. "All we need is someone yellow, and we'd be set." The colours of fire! Before he could open his mouth to say anything else, another pony had joined them and was entirely too quick to question his presence. "Unless this is your town, I don't think my business is any of yours," he said, his face falling as flat as his tone toward this new presence. "Even if it is, I'm not a threat- I'm just here between jobs." So much for that normal conversation, sigh.
Flashbang looked the interloper up and down derisively - there was something skeevy about him - before turning back to the metal pony. "I don't recommend looking for a job from the town elders. I just cleared out a beastie that'd been wandering nearby for them and they refused to pay me properly. Bunch of cheapskates..." Her voice trailed off at the end, muttering the last comment. She brightened, "I was gonna see if anyone in the bar had a job, and was willing to actually /pay/ for it. It's a better prospect than those ratbag gemhoarding fuckers in the mayor's office, anyway. Wanna come with?"
Moonriser was genuinely surprised by the half-metal pony's response to him and made to cover up for it. "Oh!" He said with an embarrassed sort of half, bringing his hoof up to his mouth as though to cover it. "I never meant.. My apologies. I was only curious! Your appearance is certainly an intriguing one, and I tend to do quite a bit of traveling." The hoof was dropped as he spoke and he smiled reassuringly. He mostly ignored the pegasus up until she spoke, and he listened politely enough once she got talking. Eh. "I just came from there. Their food's nice enough if you plan to get a meal, too, but there's certainly plenty of ponies to speak with." Might as well try to look helpful, no?
They were feeling rather bold after several successful strikes on unfortunate wanderers out in the wastes. A small town couldn't be much harder than a couple of ponies, right? Haha... yeah. Whether out of sheer nads or stupidity the pitch-dark figure sped in from overhead the chattering trio, shooting out of the sky at such speed that they were nearly a blur. At least somewhat intelligently their target was not the hulking metal beast among them, but instead the pale flower of a pegasus standing close by. The rogue would aim to swiftly full-body slam right into the hopefully unsuspecting pony.
Flashbang 's eyes widened in surprise as she spotted the shadow, diving to the side and into the air to avoid it. What the fuck was that? She glared at it, drawing her sword. "Ohhh you so picked the wrong day to mess with me, asshole." She hefted her sword and charged through the air, aiming to hack at its wings.
The dark figure was unimpressed by the evidently obvious lunge and spun around a powerful kick with one hind leg to the flat side of the incoming sword, knocking it right out of the poor mare's mouth and sending it falling toward the ground.
Moonriser. Of all the places for something to happen, he would have never expected a backroads town like this. He'd stepped back quickly when the shadow came whooshing by his field of vision, but he could see now they were evidently after the pegasus. Huh. He wondered why that was? He stood there long enough to watch the pegasus get her sword knocked right out of her mouth before he decided to step in. Why not, if he was going to keep up his facade? His horn lit in an intense glow of magic and he fired off a shot at the darkly clad rogue.
Shadow Guard was apparently rather slow to react, and there was basically nothing he could do anyway. He was an earth pony. On the ground. With neither wings or horn to help him join the suddenly airborne scuffle. Welp.
The rogue, despite being struck by a magic blast that dragged a bizarrely reptilian hiss from beneath the muffling of that eerie bloodstained helmet, wasted no time in drawing a sword from amongst the blackness of their armor into the crook of one foreleg. They'd swiftly dive for the other pegasus and swing the stained-black blade to connect with the pale one's head for a solid 20 damage.
Flashbang shuddered in the air with the strike, tumbling to the ground, her helmet having cracked violently. She wasn't sure it'd withstand another direct hit like that. Pulling herself up, she looked for her dropped sword. It glinted in the distance, stuck blade-first into the ground, a ways away from the metal pony and the skeevy-but-not unicorn. "Hey you two," she shouted at them, "Mind covering me for a sec?" Without checking for an answer or watching what they did, she dashed towards her weapon. Spreading her wings, she almost scraped the ground as she flew faster than she could ever have galloped. Her teeth gripped the hilt, and she used it to slingshot herself back to the other two, dragging it out of the ground with the force of the manouvre.
Moonriser was a little surprised, but yet not, that the rogue remained airborne. Hmph. He guessed he'd have to try to hit them a little harder, then. His red gaze momentarily flicked towards the pegasus mare at her request, nodding minutely. The unicorn turned his attention more fully upon the rogue and fired off another blast of searing magic- maybe this could get their attention.
The rogue was wise to the unicorn's tricks, and looped around the blast in a show-off fashion- just to rub in his failure even more.
Shadow Guard meanwhile took the time to move until he was standing in between - well, roughly - where the armored one remained in the air and the nice orange-haired one was busy retrieving the sword. He was uhh... here, if he was needed? Yeah.
The rogue had swooped after the pegasus pretty swiftly following the brief showpony (ha) moment, but suddenly found the abomination standing in the way. Oh well. Aiming for what flesh they could reach around the pony's head, they swung their sword at him instead, also for 20 damage. Surprise, motherfucker!
Flashbang raced back to the group, only able to watch as the bastard of an armoured shadow sliced their sword into the metal pony, right where he'd been standing between the rogue and herself. She grimaced. He hadn't had to do that, but she supposed she had asked for cover. She'd have to repay him, keep her scores balanced. Using his form as somewhat of a break in line of sight between her and the creepy shadow, trying to have something of a sneak charge, she skimmed the ground as fast as possible before drawing up, diving across the pony's back, and swinging her sword at the rogue again.
Alas, she missed.
Moonriser was a bit incensed to see how the rogue had rubbed his failure in. He just hoped it wouldn't happen again.. Come to think of it, he knew who could probably give that arrogant bird a beating. His horn's glow seemed to brighten briefly before he sent out a thick burst of magic. It would open in the air like a flower, taking on the appearance of a net as it flew towards its intended target. If he could just ensnare them..
The rogue's hooves hit the ground next to the metal one just fast enough for them to push back out of the way of the magical net. It flew by their face entirely too close for comfort. Wow, rude.
Shadow Guard also had to jump back to avoid the reach of the odd spell, directing a surprised and/or annoyed look at the unicorn once it had safely sailed by. Careful of the rest of us, jerk! Returning his focus then to their mutual enemy, the earth pony jolted forward and aimed one shiny black hoof for the rogue's ugly visage.
The pegasus scowled under their helmet as the trio seemed quite set on presenting them with an unfair fight. Cause y'know, they were all about fairness. Heh. As the earth's limb was outstretched toward them, they ducked to one side and then brought their sword back across with intent to shove the blade straight through the middle joint of the mechanical leg. Upon success, the leg sparked, twitched, and locked up on the poor earth pony. The force of the metal limb's malfunction snapped the rogue's blade clean in half, but they didn't seem overly bothered by the fact. That was at least one of these assholes rendered useless.
Flashbang grimaced. That had to be painful. ...If those robotic legs had nerves, anyway. She imagined they did, since being able to feel your own limbs was pretty important to body function. She needed to kill this shadowy bastard already, but she hadn't managed to even land a hit yet, they was that evasive. "Hey, unicorn, try that net thing again when you get the change, okay?. We need to get this git to stop moving." He'd had the right idea earlier. Opponent keeps dodging? Find away to corner them. ...It's not that easy a task with flyers, which was usually a problem she found herself on the other side of. With a nod to the unicorn and a smile to the metal pony, she took to the air, aiming to keep the rogue occupied while the unicorn tied it up. Sword in mouth, she charged again. Hell, maybe she'd get lucky.
Moonriser. Annoyance crossed his face when he'd found out he missed- plus he didn't appreciate being just called 'unicorn' either, although he didn't exactly get to give out his name. Oh well. He'd let it pass. He decided to finally move from his spot, getting closer to the fight so that maybe he could finally ensnare the rogue.. He gave the pale pegasus time while she attacked their opponent before he tried his net spell again- this time, making sure he was more careful.
Shadow Guard's mind blanked out for one blissful moment as his leg flipped out from the disabling strike, but he was painfully brought back to reality as the subsequent magical imbalance caused a surge of it through his body. He cried out and staggered, then toppled right over due to no longer being able to use the front limb he would have needed to right himself. "Shit," he growled from the ground. He wasn't going to be any help with the newly held rogue for the moment, apparently.
They'd been doing so well, too... Suddenly they'd been slapped with the sword again, and then brought down in a net of magic. Despite their best feat of strength, they could not break out of the magical prison. They bucked and reared and threw their head- but all to no avail. The rogue stopped to catch their breath, glaring through the garish spell at the asshole who'd cast it. Fucker was so dead if they could just get free...
Flashbang spared but a glance for the metal pony as he collapsed. She'd help him later, once the dark fucker was dealt with. She smiled when she saw them struggle against the unicorn's net, but fail to break it. Perfect! She took a few steps back, opened her wings, and forced as much power behind her sword as possible. This bastard was gonna get it.
Moonriser managed to hold his spell despite all the rogue's angry thrashing. That ought to teach them, along with the pale pegasus's sword too. He would level a calm stare back at their captured opponent, with a mocking little smirk that he hoped would rub salt in the wound. Ha, try me. It seemed to say while Moon kept his spell up. "Get some good hits in there," He'd encourage.
The rogue howled like a stricken beast at the power of the other pegasus' sword. The pain seemed to rile up their fury even further, as the struggle began anew. At first it seemed as though the net would continue to hold, but one well-placed kick with their back hooves managed to punch through the bizarre magic and immediately freed them from its grasp. The pure level of anger the rogue felt toward the unicorn was almost tangible in the air between them, but after a very brief moment of such hateful glaring the dark pegasus turned away from the group. They launched into the air with a graceful leap, and then made to nope the fuck out. If they weren't pursued, they'd be out of sight in a matter of seconds. Lolbye.
Flashbang 's eyes narrowed. That son of a bitch, running away after the shit they'd just pulled? Oh no. She wasn't gonna let that happen without a parting shot, at least. She zoomed after the rogue, intent on delivering one last hit for satisfaction. She didn't even care if it hit, her pride wouldn't let them go without at least /trying/.
The rogue was so set in their attempt to flee that even another strike to their departing self was not enough to stop them. Not entirely. The force of the strike caused them to wobble and then spiral down as if they were going to crash- but at the last second they managed to pull back up away from the ground and continue flying away. Nope nope nope.
Once the dark figure was out of sight, it became apparent that they'd dropped their saddlepack in their hurry to leave. Ooh, loot~
Moonriser had felt the impacts of the dark stranger's hooves on the net of his magic. He cursed when the net finally snapped, but much to his surprise, the rogue fled. He was almost tempted to fire off a last potshot at them, but ultimately decided it wasn't worth it. The pegasus was handling that anyway, and he could conserve his energy for more important things. He cast the abandoned pack a glance, but left that up to the mare. Instead, he'd approach the fallen earth pony to check on their damaged leg. "It's unfortunate that I never learned much about crystal tech, or I'd try to help. But I do have someone back at my camp that may be able to. I suppose we can start by getting you up first."
Flashbang a broad grin spread across her face as the shadowy jerk almost crashed, just barely managing to leave after her final strike. How pleasing. Her eyes caught the falling saddlepack, and swooped down to where it landed. Loot! She scooped it up and lazily flew back to the others. "Check it, the idiot dropped this when he ran away!" She interrupted, dumping the pack on the ground between the three of them, thus spilling out it's contents.
Shadow Guard cursed under his breath at the receding shape, and then not-so under his breath. "Fucking cockmunch," he hissed. "Try that again, I dare you." It wouldn't bring the rogue pegasus back, but it sure made him feel better. He then looked to the unicorn who'd come over to lend him a hoof in getting back to his own. Hmm, maybe he'd been wrong about this stallion? "That sounds like the best course of action from here," he conceded. Assuming the other would then assist his hefty metal ass into standing up, he'd turn to face the pegasus as she returned with a bag and dumped everything from it onto the ground. Geeze, better hope there weren't any explosives in that bag.
Out of the bag fell a full set of rather fancy looking green and brown hoofboots with their laces tied together to prevent any of them from being lost, a perfectly normal-looking spoon with a small golden crystal set in the handle, and (of all things) a brass incense-burning vessel coloured blue and white like a cloudy pre-war sky. Man, that rogue was carrying some pretty random shit.
Moonriser peered down at the random mish-mash of items that had spilled from the bag. They looked none too interesting, but he did levitate up the spoon with its little golden crystal. It intrigued him, not only because of how useless a crystal would be in a spoon, but whether it did anything. He supposed he'd take it back to test it, but if it proved to be worthless he could just sell it. A few extra gems never hurt.
Flashbang stared in awe at the little blue and white object. It looked like the sky, the old sky, the one her sister had told her stories about. She picked it up reverently, sliding it into her satchel. She wasn't entirely sure what it was actually for, but she would find out, and treat it with care.
Shadow Guard was apparently left with boots, that were made for normal pony hooves. Hooves that he did not have. Oh well. He opted to scoop up the bag and toss the shoes into it, then slung it as best he could over his metallic back. Cool, new bag get. "Well... at least that wasn't a total waste."
Moonriser had tucked his little spoon away in the pocket of his leather armor and watched as Shadow took the last thing: the boots. "I suppose. It was a bit of an annoyance though.. I'll have to watch for that troublemaker in the future." He said with a little wrinkle of his snout. "So.. I suppose you'll want that leg fixed? Of course if you want to rest here first I can certainly wait." Moon said, and turned his attention to the pegasus. "I suppose if you wanted to come, I couldn't stop you."
Flashbang snorted as the unicorn called the fucker they'd driven off 'troublemaker'. She'd use words far more crass for them, even if they meant about the same thing. "You know a mechanic? One who'd be able to deal with this guy's weird ass supertech?" She raised an eyebrow. "Handy. I guess I'll come along, make sure metalpony here gets on okay. Mechanics always have errands that need runnin', too." She slumped to the ground, pulling off her helmet to check the damage done to it in the battle. Perhaps the mechanic might have something to repair it properly. "I'm Flashbang, by the way. Never did get a chance to ask you ponies what y'names were."
Shadow Guard was equally intrigued by the mentioned mechanic. It took a pony of exceptional talent to help with the ridiculous tech level of his body. "I look forward to meeting this pony you know," he said. Oh yeah, names... that thing he couldn't really remember. He had a title though, did that count? "Somehow I got stuck with 'Shadow Guard'," he offered with a one-limbed shrug. "I am not sure how well either of those words apply to me, but here we are."
Moonriser nodded to Flash as he filed away their names in his memory. "Indeed. They're quite skilled. They function as a healer too, but they do know their crystal tech; a bit of a scientist, they are." He explained to both. The unicorn lifted a metal-booted hoof to his own chest as he went on to introduce himself. "I am Moonriser, of the New Pony Republic. Now that this is all settled, perhaps we can get a drink at the bar if you want to rest.. ? Otherwise we can get started. I've no idea where my guards have gone off to, but if they're drunk I'll just leave them behind."
Flashbang squinted a little at that comment. They must be some pretty useless guards if they've both gotten themselves drunk and Moonriser's happy to leave them behind for doing so. "A rest wouldn't hurt, especially to make sure Shadow's leg won't collapse on the trip. Is it far to get to this mechanic of yours?"
Moonriser. The little town was behind them now as the unicorn lead them to the Republic's base. It wasn't terribly far away, so it wouldn't take them long to get there, if the one with the broken leg didn't slow them down. He didn't seem to, so far as Moonriser was aware. It took them some hours to reach the edge of the walled compound and admitted entrance by two guards at the gate. Moon gestured to the buildings with one hoof. "Well, we're here. Finally. Now, I'm sure you'll want to go straight to Tinker and get that pesky leg fixed, don't you? I'm sure we can always have a tour or some such later."
Shadow Guard followed as best he could with his knee attempting to glitch out every other step. That little fucker had done a number on it, there was no two ways about that. As they reached the base, the stallion peered about at the unfamiliar faces. All of these ponies were under the same banner? Wow. He hadn't realised wasteland factions had gotten so big and organised. Maybe he just hadn't been paying enough attention. He gave a nod to the sudden words. "Yeah, that would be good," he agreed. He'd then glance about for some indication of where to start looking amongst the buildings. Uhhh...
Flashbang was frustrated with walking for so long. She wasn't used to being stuck with others to travel, especially others who couldn't fly. She'd flutter up occasionally, just to spare her mind, with the excuse that she was keeping an eye on their surroundings from a higher vantage point. She wasn't sure her companions believed her on that, but it was her excuse and she was sticking to it. She was getting fidgety by the time they arrived at the encampment, although all the bright colours and ponies everywhere distracted her from it. Hearing the other two speak about getting to the mechanic pulled her from her observations, and she nodded along in agreement. She looked to Moonriser, "So where exactly is this mechanic holding shop anyway?"
Moonriser turned back to the buildings and started off with a flick of his tail. "I'll show you. They're usually in their workshop. If not there, then.." He gave a shrug and lead them off down the main pathway of the settlement. As they neared the far end, he veered off towards one particular building with an addition made of stone. A thin stream of smoke curled out from a pipe on it's roof. He opened the double doors and stepped inside, peering around the workshop for any sign of them. "Ohh, Tinker! I have a special.. ah, guest for you."
Crystal Tinker jolted up from their workbench. The silvery one had brought them a gift? A yellow pegasus followed him in, and they looked her over. Barely more than a filly, a few calluses more than the usual wastelander, probably a fighter. Boring. Not their gift, then. The lumbering stallion that came in behind her gave them pause, though. Silvery like their Moonriser at first glance, the pony appeared to be made entirely of metal! Now that was interesting. The plating became darker around his legs, and they wondered if that was purely a design feature or if it had a purpose... Then they noticed the damage to the creature's hindlegs. A perfecly innocent reason to experiment on the beast? Perfect. It seemed Moonriser had learned exactly what kind of presents to give them. They walked closer, inspecting the creature closely. "A guest, you say? Pray tell, what happened to cause such damage?"
Shadow Guard clink-clunked into the workshop alongside the others. His ears twitched as a new figure appeared - apparently, this was the aforementioned Tinker - and abruptly began to study him up close. Uhhhh. Hello to you too..? He stomped one metal hoof on the ground, both to express the sudden nerves of being studied like a mere curiosity and to draw attention to himself instead of letting the unicorn speaking for him. "I'd call them a raider, but they were too well equipped. They knew exactly where to strike to knock me out of the fight, too..." Either that or they'd gotten exceptionally lucky. "I'm told you're a mechanic of skill. Can you fix the damage?" He looked down at the problem leg joint, and then to Tinker- awaiting their reply.
Flashbang followed Moonriser into the long awaited mechanic's workshop - Tinker's workshop, apparently. The intimately examining gaze that looked her up and down as she walked through the doors felt clinical at best, and she knew a dismissal when she saw one. Tinker's eyes lit up when they landed on Shadow Guard though. He would be pretty cool from a mechanic's perspective, she supposed. He didn't seem any more impressed with the pony's clinical gaze than she was, if his hoof stamp was any judge. They seemed pretty absorbed in his injury though, so she took a moment to look around the much vaunted workroom. She didn't get very far before her eyes caught on what ever the hell the mechanic had been working on on their workbench. It looked grotesque. Some kind of fucked up organism in a dish? What the fuck kind of mechanic was this anyway? She shuddered, and turned back to where they were looking over Shadow Guard. This weirdo better be able to fix him.
Moonriser smirked at the expression on Tinker's face upon presenting Shadow to them, pleased to see they were interested. He moved off to one side near one of the stone walls to give Tinker room to look. Upon hearing their query, he opened his mouth to speak but was promptly interrupted by Shadow Guard's stomp. Well, he had it handled. He spared a glance for the pegasus in the room, making sure she didn't go poking around anywhere she shouldn't. He'd probably have to keep an eye on her, or probably shoo her off to some task or other, if he could think of one. Hrmm.
Crystal Tinker tsked. The beast didn't like them prodding him, that much was obvious. Silly beast. They looked up from their examination of his damage when he addressed them, startled at his question. "Well, of course I can fix it. Fixing's easy. No, no, no, the hard part is figuring out how to join it with the rest of.. this." They gestured to the rest of the beast. "I've never come across such a complicated example of crystal tech before. You, my dear, are simply exquisite. I'll have to run a few tests... Make a few mock-ups, yes, yes yes..." They trailed off into an incomprehensible mutter, no longer addressing anyone present. Tools around the workroom started floating, surrounded by their magic. "We start immediately, yes?" Tinker asked of the creature, a wide curiosity and eagerness in their eyes.
Shadow Guard frowned at the rather exuberant persona of the mechanic. Uhhh... They really were something, weren't they? "Yeah, let's do that," he said, not really sure how else to respond. "The sooner the better n' all that." He wasn't sure if he should be concerned by their apparent fascination in studying his tech, or whether he should have been more protective of it- but the need for a functional leg had to come first. Alas. "Where do we start?"
Moonriser's attention strayed back to Tinker and her new plaything as they expressed their delight at Shadow's crystal tech. They seemed like they were ready to get started on fixing that leg, and hopefully gleaning some useful information from the tech itself for their own purposes. Everything had gone as he'd planned, so far. He turned back towards the pegasus and cleared his throat. "Ah.. Flashbang? Why don't we give Tinker some space to work on his leg? I might be able to find you a job to do that I could pay you better for than whatever that petty mayor gave you, hm? At least in the meantime." Moon offered as he turned his back and took a few steps towards the doorway, head slightly turned to catch if Flashbang was interested. If she was, he'd lead her off to try to find something moderately interesting, if he could manage, to keep her occupied.
Flashbang twitched. She shook her head, trying to shake her vision of whatever the fuck that other thing was. This mechanic didn't seem very mechanic-like, and she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to hang around with people who let a pony do... that. She couldn't imagine what kind of job Moonriser would get her to do, if this is the kind of thing their mechanic got up to. She just hoped whatever the fuck this inequine crap was, it'd help Tinker fix Shadow Guard. "Uh, you know what? I think I'm just gonna head off for a while. I've got some friends I meant to catch up with after dealing with the mayor in that village. Shadow, I'll come check in later. I wanna see your leg all fixed up!" She fixed a look at Tinker with that. Don't fuck up my - potential - friend. "I'll follow you out though, Moonriser. You can show me where to grab a bite before I go."
Flashbang stalked out of they mayor's office, irritation obvious with every step she took. "Think they can skimp on payment do they," She muttered under her breath, "Hah. Let's see who's crying next time they need a rogue whytael taken care of." She sniffed, decision made. Townsfolk weren't gonna pay her her full fee? She wouldn't save them next time they asked. Or begged. It's not like she did it out of the goodness of her heart. A mare's gotta eat, y'know. The fact that she got to tackle a whytael outside its nest - she grinned as she remembered it - is inconsequential. At least she got a meal out of it. Nothing for it but to keep moving. She shook herself out of her thoughts and kept walking towards the town gates, only to stop in her tracks. What the hell kind of pony is THAT? Staring at him unashamedly, she took in his clearly metal frame, as well as his determined look. "If that ain't the best example of the word 'built', I dunno what is."
Moonriser just so happened to be in the area, albeit within the local bar. It was the best and closest place to grab a meal before he moved on. He'd had two others with him too, but he didn't know where they'd gone off to. He didn't care either, as long as they weren't being foolish and giving the NPR a bad name. It wasn't until some excitement seemed to ripple through those in the bar that he turned away from the bar to see what. Some ponies were gathered around the small window, looking out at... something. Intrigued what the fuss was about, he slid off the stool and ventured outside, peering around until he spotted what they were all staring at. There was some sort of strange pony walking through town, and he couldn't quite tell what the hell he was looking at. Were they made of metal? Or at least, part of their body was. That must have taken crystal tech to make work.. Maybe he ought to find out what and who they were. One never knew if such a thing would come in handy.
Shadow Guard paused as the stranger very overtly stared at him. Hello to you too, stranger. The earth pony was pulled from his determined path out of fascination for their bright, fiery hair - a rare sight in a wasteland full of washed out miserable colour schemes - and approached them in turn. The plates of his body pulsed with red light matching the glow of his eyes as he did. Once within a conversational distance, it was obvious that his eyes were also Tech. One might have started to wonder what percentage of his internal organs had been replaced with it as his external body was. "Your hair looks nice," he stated in a voice that sounded surprisingly mundane compared to his appearance. Either he'd missed the fascinated words of the other, or he was ignoring them in favor of a regular chat. "Orange is a good colour." A colour he lacked entirely. Alas.
Flashbang blinked, realising she had in fact spoken aloud. Whoops. Taking in the... pony. Yeah, she'd go with pony. Taking in the pony's words, her eyes flicked up to the forelock of her mane sticking out from under her helmet. Her colouring was something she wore fiercely, the bright yellow and orange of her mane and tail making her all that more noticeable. She wondered how much worse it would get if the rest of her weren't relatively pale. Still, the pony before her didn't seem interested in a bad way, so she allowed him the look. "It's a great colour, and don't anyone forget it." She looked him over again, swishing her tail and catching her eyes on the lines of light up red dots. "Red's pretty great too, I suppose." She allowed.
Moonriser wasn't close enough to hear what was being said, but he could at least see a conversation had been started between the newcomer and somepony else. Intriguing. Hmm. Maybe, if he could get that pony alone, he could.. recruit him and hand him over to his scientist to look at back at camp. Find out what made him tick; the technology would certainly be useful. The unicorn decided to head right over just to join.. whatever their conversation was.. innocently enough. "I've never seen you before. What brings you to town?" Moon broke in without a single hello once he was within earshot.
Shadow Guard smiled lightly at the reply, which became a proper smirk at the sudden addition. "Yeah, it is," he both agreed and stated. "All we need is someone yellow, and we'd be set." The colours of fire! Before he could open his mouth to say anything else, another pony had joined them and was entirely too quick to question his presence. "Unless this is your town, I don't think my business is any of yours," he said, his face falling as flat as his tone toward this new presence. "Even if it is, I'm not a threat- I'm just here between jobs." So much for that normal conversation, sigh.
Flashbang looked the interloper up and down derisively - there was something skeevy about him - before turning back to the metal pony. "I don't recommend looking for a job from the town elders. I just cleared out a beastie that'd been wandering nearby for them and they refused to pay me properly. Bunch of cheapskates..." Her voice trailed off at the end, muttering the last comment. She brightened, "I was gonna see if anyone in the bar had a job, and was willing to actually /pay/ for it. It's a better prospect than those ratbag gemhoarding fuckers in the mayor's office, anyway. Wanna come with?"
Moonriser was genuinely surprised by the half-metal pony's response to him and made to cover up for it. "Oh!" He said with an embarrassed sort of half, bringing his hoof up to his mouth as though to cover it. "I never meant.. My apologies. I was only curious! Your appearance is certainly an intriguing one, and I tend to do quite a bit of traveling." The hoof was dropped as he spoke and he smiled reassuringly. He mostly ignored the pegasus up until she spoke, and he listened politely enough once she got talking. Eh. "I just came from there. Their food's nice enough if you plan to get a meal, too, but there's certainly plenty of ponies to speak with." Might as well try to look helpful, no?
They were feeling rather bold after several successful strikes on unfortunate wanderers out in the wastes. A small town couldn't be much harder than a couple of ponies, right? Haha... yeah. Whether out of sheer nads or stupidity the pitch-dark figure sped in from overhead the chattering trio, shooting out of the sky at such speed that they were nearly a blur. At least somewhat intelligently their target was not the hulking metal beast among them, but instead the pale flower of a pegasus standing close by. The rogue would aim to swiftly full-body slam right into the hopefully unsuspecting pony.
Flashbang 's eyes widened in surprise as she spotted the shadow, diving to the side and into the air to avoid it. What the fuck was that? She glared at it, drawing her sword. "Ohhh you so picked the wrong day to mess with me, asshole." She hefted her sword and charged through the air, aiming to hack at its wings.
The dark figure was unimpressed by the evidently obvious lunge and spun around a powerful kick with one hind leg to the flat side of the incoming sword, knocking it right out of the poor mare's mouth and sending it falling toward the ground.
Moonriser. Of all the places for something to happen, he would have never expected a backroads town like this. He'd stepped back quickly when the shadow came whooshing by his field of vision, but he could see now they were evidently after the pegasus. Huh. He wondered why that was? He stood there long enough to watch the pegasus get her sword knocked right out of her mouth before he decided to step in. Why not, if he was going to keep up his facade? His horn lit in an intense glow of magic and he fired off a shot at the darkly clad rogue.
Shadow Guard was apparently rather slow to react, and there was basically nothing he could do anyway. He was an earth pony. On the ground. With neither wings or horn to help him join the suddenly airborne scuffle. Welp.
The rogue, despite being struck by a magic blast that dragged a bizarrely reptilian hiss from beneath the muffling of that eerie bloodstained helmet, wasted no time in drawing a sword from amongst the blackness of their armor into the crook of one foreleg. They'd swiftly dive for the other pegasus and swing the stained-black blade to connect with the pale one's head for a solid 20 damage.
Flashbang shuddered in the air with the strike, tumbling to the ground, her helmet having cracked violently. She wasn't sure it'd withstand another direct hit like that. Pulling herself up, she looked for her dropped sword. It glinted in the distance, stuck blade-first into the ground, a ways away from the metal pony and the skeevy-but-not unicorn. "Hey you two," she shouted at them, "Mind covering me for a sec?" Without checking for an answer or watching what they did, she dashed towards her weapon. Spreading her wings, she almost scraped the ground as she flew faster than she could ever have galloped. Her teeth gripped the hilt, and she used it to slingshot herself back to the other two, dragging it out of the ground with the force of the manouvre.
Moonriser was a little surprised, but yet not, that the rogue remained airborne. Hmph. He guessed he'd have to try to hit them a little harder, then. His red gaze momentarily flicked towards the pegasus mare at her request, nodding minutely. The unicorn turned his attention more fully upon the rogue and fired off another blast of searing magic- maybe this could get their attention.
The rogue was wise to the unicorn's tricks, and looped around the blast in a show-off fashion- just to rub in his failure even more.
Shadow Guard meanwhile took the time to move until he was standing in between - well, roughly - where the armored one remained in the air and the nice orange-haired one was busy retrieving the sword. He was uhh... here, if he was needed? Yeah.
The rogue had swooped after the pegasus pretty swiftly following the brief showpony (ha) moment, but suddenly found the abomination standing in the way. Oh well. Aiming for what flesh they could reach around the pony's head, they swung their sword at him instead, also for 20 damage. Surprise, motherfucker!
Flashbang raced back to the group, only able to watch as the bastard of an armoured shadow sliced their sword into the metal pony, right where he'd been standing between the rogue and herself. She grimaced. He hadn't had to do that, but she supposed she had asked for cover. She'd have to repay him, keep her scores balanced. Using his form as somewhat of a break in line of sight between her and the creepy shadow, trying to have something of a sneak charge, she skimmed the ground as fast as possible before drawing up, diving across the pony's back, and swinging her sword at the rogue again.
Alas, she missed.
Moonriser was a bit incensed to see how the rogue had rubbed his failure in. He just hoped it wouldn't happen again.. Come to think of it, he knew who could probably give that arrogant bird a beating. His horn's glow seemed to brighten briefly before he sent out a thick burst of magic. It would open in the air like a flower, taking on the appearance of a net as it flew towards its intended target. If he could just ensnare them..
The rogue's hooves hit the ground next to the metal one just fast enough for them to push back out of the way of the magical net. It flew by their face entirely too close for comfort. Wow, rude.
Shadow Guard also had to jump back to avoid the reach of the odd spell, directing a surprised and/or annoyed look at the unicorn once it had safely sailed by. Careful of the rest of us, jerk! Returning his focus then to their mutual enemy, the earth pony jolted forward and aimed one shiny black hoof for the rogue's ugly visage.
The pegasus scowled under their helmet as the trio seemed quite set on presenting them with an unfair fight. Cause y'know, they were all about fairness. Heh. As the earth's limb was outstretched toward them, they ducked to one side and then brought their sword back across with intent to shove the blade straight through the middle joint of the mechanical leg. Upon success, the leg sparked, twitched, and locked up on the poor earth pony. The force of the metal limb's malfunction snapped the rogue's blade clean in half, but they didn't seem overly bothered by the fact. That was at least one of these assholes rendered useless.
Flashbang grimaced. That had to be painful. ...If those robotic legs had nerves, anyway. She imagined they did, since being able to feel your own limbs was pretty important to body function. She needed to kill this shadowy bastard already, but she hadn't managed to even land a hit yet, they was that evasive. "Hey, unicorn, try that net thing again when you get the change, okay?. We need to get this git to stop moving." He'd had the right idea earlier. Opponent keeps dodging? Find away to corner them. ...It's not that easy a task with flyers, which was usually a problem she found herself on the other side of. With a nod to the unicorn and a smile to the metal pony, she took to the air, aiming to keep the rogue occupied while the unicorn tied it up. Sword in mouth, she charged again. Hell, maybe she'd get lucky.
Moonriser. Annoyance crossed his face when he'd found out he missed- plus he didn't appreciate being just called 'unicorn' either, although he didn't exactly get to give out his name. Oh well. He'd let it pass. He decided to finally move from his spot, getting closer to the fight so that maybe he could finally ensnare the rogue.. He gave the pale pegasus time while she attacked their opponent before he tried his net spell again- this time, making sure he was more careful.
Shadow Guard's mind blanked out for one blissful moment as his leg flipped out from the disabling strike, but he was painfully brought back to reality as the subsequent magical imbalance caused a surge of it through his body. He cried out and staggered, then toppled right over due to no longer being able to use the front limb he would have needed to right himself. "Shit," he growled from the ground. He wasn't going to be any help with the newly held rogue for the moment, apparently.
They'd been doing so well, too... Suddenly they'd been slapped with the sword again, and then brought down in a net of magic. Despite their best feat of strength, they could not break out of the magical prison. They bucked and reared and threw their head- but all to no avail. The rogue stopped to catch their breath, glaring through the garish spell at the asshole who'd cast it. Fucker was so dead if they could just get free...
Flashbang spared but a glance for the metal pony as he collapsed. She'd help him later, once the dark fucker was dealt with. She smiled when she saw them struggle against the unicorn's net, but fail to break it. Perfect! She took a few steps back, opened her wings, and forced as much power behind her sword as possible. This bastard was gonna get it.
Moonriser managed to hold his spell despite all the rogue's angry thrashing. That ought to teach them, along with the pale pegasus's sword too. He would level a calm stare back at their captured opponent, with a mocking little smirk that he hoped would rub salt in the wound. Ha, try me. It seemed to say while Moon kept his spell up. "Get some good hits in there," He'd encourage.
The rogue howled like a stricken beast at the power of the other pegasus' sword. The pain seemed to rile up their fury even further, as the struggle began anew. At first it seemed as though the net would continue to hold, but one well-placed kick with their back hooves managed to punch through the bizarre magic and immediately freed them from its grasp. The pure level of anger the rogue felt toward the unicorn was almost tangible in the air between them, but after a very brief moment of such hateful glaring the dark pegasus turned away from the group. They launched into the air with a graceful leap, and then made to nope the fuck out. If they weren't pursued, they'd be out of sight in a matter of seconds. Lolbye.
Flashbang 's eyes narrowed. That son of a bitch, running away after the shit they'd just pulled? Oh no. She wasn't gonna let that happen without a parting shot, at least. She zoomed after the rogue, intent on delivering one last hit for satisfaction. She didn't even care if it hit, her pride wouldn't let them go without at least /trying/.
The rogue was so set in their attempt to flee that even another strike to their departing self was not enough to stop them. Not entirely. The force of the strike caused them to wobble and then spiral down as if they were going to crash- but at the last second they managed to pull back up away from the ground and continue flying away. Nope nope nope.
Once the dark figure was out of sight, it became apparent that they'd dropped their saddlepack in their hurry to leave. Ooh, loot~
Moonriser had felt the impacts of the dark stranger's hooves on the net of his magic. He cursed when the net finally snapped, but much to his surprise, the rogue fled. He was almost tempted to fire off a last potshot at them, but ultimately decided it wasn't worth it. The pegasus was handling that anyway, and he could conserve his energy for more important things. He cast the abandoned pack a glance, but left that up to the mare. Instead, he'd approach the fallen earth pony to check on their damaged leg. "It's unfortunate that I never learned much about crystal tech, or I'd try to help. But I do have someone back at my camp that may be able to. I suppose we can start by getting you up first."
Flashbang a broad grin spread across her face as the shadowy jerk almost crashed, just barely managing to leave after her final strike. How pleasing. Her eyes caught the falling saddlepack, and swooped down to where it landed. Loot! She scooped it up and lazily flew back to the others. "Check it, the idiot dropped this when he ran away!" She interrupted, dumping the pack on the ground between the three of them, thus spilling out it's contents.
Shadow Guard cursed under his breath at the receding shape, and then not-so under his breath. "Fucking cockmunch," he hissed. "Try that again, I dare you." It wouldn't bring the rogue pegasus back, but it sure made him feel better. He then looked to the unicorn who'd come over to lend him a hoof in getting back to his own. Hmm, maybe he'd been wrong about this stallion? "That sounds like the best course of action from here," he conceded. Assuming the other would then assist his hefty metal ass into standing up, he'd turn to face the pegasus as she returned with a bag and dumped everything from it onto the ground. Geeze, better hope there weren't any explosives in that bag.
Out of the bag fell a full set of rather fancy looking green and brown hoofboots with their laces tied together to prevent any of them from being lost, a perfectly normal-looking spoon with a small golden crystal set in the handle, and (of all things) a brass incense-burning vessel coloured blue and white like a cloudy pre-war sky. Man, that rogue was carrying some pretty random shit.
Moonriser peered down at the random mish-mash of items that had spilled from the bag. They looked none too interesting, but he did levitate up the spoon with its little golden crystal. It intrigued him, not only because of how useless a crystal would be in a spoon, but whether it did anything. He supposed he'd take it back to test it, but if it proved to be worthless he could just sell it. A few extra gems never hurt.
Flashbang stared in awe at the little blue and white object. It looked like the sky, the old sky, the one her sister had told her stories about. She picked it up reverently, sliding it into her satchel. She wasn't entirely sure what it was actually for, but she would find out, and treat it with care.
Shadow Guard was apparently left with boots, that were made for normal pony hooves. Hooves that he did not have. Oh well. He opted to scoop up the bag and toss the shoes into it, then slung it as best he could over his metallic back. Cool, new bag get. "Well... at least that wasn't a total waste."
Moonriser had tucked his little spoon away in the pocket of his leather armor and watched as Shadow took the last thing: the boots. "I suppose. It was a bit of an annoyance though.. I'll have to watch for that troublemaker in the future." He said with a little wrinkle of his snout. "So.. I suppose you'll want that leg fixed? Of course if you want to rest here first I can certainly wait." Moon said, and turned his attention to the pegasus. "I suppose if you wanted to come, I couldn't stop you."
Flashbang snorted as the unicorn called the fucker they'd driven off 'troublemaker'. She'd use words far more crass for them, even if they meant about the same thing. "You know a mechanic? One who'd be able to deal with this guy's weird ass supertech?" She raised an eyebrow. "Handy. I guess I'll come along, make sure metalpony here gets on okay. Mechanics always have errands that need runnin', too." She slumped to the ground, pulling off her helmet to check the damage done to it in the battle. Perhaps the mechanic might have something to repair it properly. "I'm Flashbang, by the way. Never did get a chance to ask you ponies what y'names were."
Shadow Guard was equally intrigued by the mentioned mechanic. It took a pony of exceptional talent to help with the ridiculous tech level of his body. "I look forward to meeting this pony you know," he said. Oh yeah, names... that thing he couldn't really remember. He had a title though, did that count? "Somehow I got stuck with 'Shadow Guard'," he offered with a one-limbed shrug. "I am not sure how well either of those words apply to me, but here we are."
Moonriser nodded to Flash as he filed away their names in his memory. "Indeed. They're quite skilled. They function as a healer too, but they do know their crystal tech; a bit of a scientist, they are." He explained to both. The unicorn lifted a metal-booted hoof to his own chest as he went on to introduce himself. "I am Moonriser, of the New Pony Republic. Now that this is all settled, perhaps we can get a drink at the bar if you want to rest.. ? Otherwise we can get started. I've no idea where my guards have gone off to, but if they're drunk I'll just leave them behind."
Flashbang squinted a little at that comment. They must be some pretty useless guards if they've both gotten themselves drunk and Moonriser's happy to leave them behind for doing so. "A rest wouldn't hurt, especially to make sure Shadow's leg won't collapse on the trip. Is it far to get to this mechanic of yours?"
___
Moonriser. The little town was behind them now as the unicorn lead them to the Republic's base. It wasn't terribly far away, so it wouldn't take them long to get there, if the one with the broken leg didn't slow them down. He didn't seem to, so far as Moonriser was aware. It took them some hours to reach the edge of the walled compound and admitted entrance by two guards at the gate. Moon gestured to the buildings with one hoof. "Well, we're here. Finally. Now, I'm sure you'll want to go straight to Tinker and get that pesky leg fixed, don't you? I'm sure we can always have a tour or some such later."
Shadow Guard followed as best he could with his knee attempting to glitch out every other step. That little fucker had done a number on it, there was no two ways about that. As they reached the base, the stallion peered about at the unfamiliar faces. All of these ponies were under the same banner? Wow. He hadn't realised wasteland factions had gotten so big and organised. Maybe he just hadn't been paying enough attention. He gave a nod to the sudden words. "Yeah, that would be good," he agreed. He'd then glance about for some indication of where to start looking amongst the buildings. Uhhh...
Flashbang was frustrated with walking for so long. She wasn't used to being stuck with others to travel, especially others who couldn't fly. She'd flutter up occasionally, just to spare her mind, with the excuse that she was keeping an eye on their surroundings from a higher vantage point. She wasn't sure her companions believed her on that, but it was her excuse and she was sticking to it. She was getting fidgety by the time they arrived at the encampment, although all the bright colours and ponies everywhere distracted her from it. Hearing the other two speak about getting to the mechanic pulled her from her observations, and she nodded along in agreement. She looked to Moonriser, "So where exactly is this mechanic holding shop anyway?"
Moonriser turned back to the buildings and started off with a flick of his tail. "I'll show you. They're usually in their workshop. If not there, then.." He gave a shrug and lead them off down the main pathway of the settlement. As they neared the far end, he veered off towards one particular building with an addition made of stone. A thin stream of smoke curled out from a pipe on it's roof. He opened the double doors and stepped inside, peering around the workshop for any sign of them. "Ohh, Tinker! I have a special.. ah, guest for you."
Crystal Tinker jolted up from their workbench. The silvery one had brought them a gift? A yellow pegasus followed him in, and they looked her over. Barely more than a filly, a few calluses more than the usual wastelander, probably a fighter. Boring. Not their gift, then. The lumbering stallion that came in behind her gave them pause, though. Silvery like their Moonriser at first glance, the pony appeared to be made entirely of metal! Now that was interesting. The plating became darker around his legs, and they wondered if that was purely a design feature or if it had a purpose... Then they noticed the damage to the creature's hindlegs. A perfecly innocent reason to experiment on the beast? Perfect. It seemed Moonriser had learned exactly what kind of presents to give them. They walked closer, inspecting the creature closely. "A guest, you say? Pray tell, what happened to cause such damage?"
Shadow Guard clink-clunked into the workshop alongside the others. His ears twitched as a new figure appeared - apparently, this was the aforementioned Tinker - and abruptly began to study him up close. Uhhhh. Hello to you too..? He stomped one metal hoof on the ground, both to express the sudden nerves of being studied like a mere curiosity and to draw attention to himself instead of letting the unicorn speaking for him. "I'd call them a raider, but they were too well equipped. They knew exactly where to strike to knock me out of the fight, too..." Either that or they'd gotten exceptionally lucky. "I'm told you're a mechanic of skill. Can you fix the damage?" He looked down at the problem leg joint, and then to Tinker- awaiting their reply.
Flashbang followed Moonriser into the long awaited mechanic's workshop - Tinker's workshop, apparently. The intimately examining gaze that looked her up and down as she walked through the doors felt clinical at best, and she knew a dismissal when she saw one. Tinker's eyes lit up when they landed on Shadow Guard though. He would be pretty cool from a mechanic's perspective, she supposed. He didn't seem any more impressed with the pony's clinical gaze than she was, if his hoof stamp was any judge. They seemed pretty absorbed in his injury though, so she took a moment to look around the much vaunted workroom. She didn't get very far before her eyes caught on what ever the hell the mechanic had been working on on their workbench. It looked grotesque. Some kind of fucked up organism in a dish? What the fuck kind of mechanic was this anyway? She shuddered, and turned back to where they were looking over Shadow Guard. This weirdo better be able to fix him.
Moonriser smirked at the expression on Tinker's face upon presenting Shadow to them, pleased to see they were interested. He moved off to one side near one of the stone walls to give Tinker room to look. Upon hearing their query, he opened his mouth to speak but was promptly interrupted by Shadow Guard's stomp. Well, he had it handled. He spared a glance for the pegasus in the room, making sure she didn't go poking around anywhere she shouldn't. He'd probably have to keep an eye on her, or probably shoo her off to some task or other, if he could think of one. Hrmm.
Crystal Tinker tsked. The beast didn't like them prodding him, that much was obvious. Silly beast. They looked up from their examination of his damage when he addressed them, startled at his question. "Well, of course I can fix it. Fixing's easy. No, no, no, the hard part is figuring out how to join it with the rest of.. this." They gestured to the rest of the beast. "I've never come across such a complicated example of crystal tech before. You, my dear, are simply exquisite. I'll have to run a few tests... Make a few mock-ups, yes, yes yes..." They trailed off into an incomprehensible mutter, no longer addressing anyone present. Tools around the workroom started floating, surrounded by their magic. "We start immediately, yes?" Tinker asked of the creature, a wide curiosity and eagerness in their eyes.
Shadow Guard frowned at the rather exuberant persona of the mechanic. Uhhh... They really were something, weren't they? "Yeah, let's do that," he said, not really sure how else to respond. "The sooner the better n' all that." He wasn't sure if he should be concerned by their apparent fascination in studying his tech, or whether he should have been more protective of it- but the need for a functional leg had to come first. Alas. "Where do we start?"
Moonriser's attention strayed back to Tinker and her new plaything as they expressed their delight at Shadow's crystal tech. They seemed like they were ready to get started on fixing that leg, and hopefully gleaning some useful information from the tech itself for their own purposes. Everything had gone as he'd planned, so far. He turned back towards the pegasus and cleared his throat. "Ah.. Flashbang? Why don't we give Tinker some space to work on his leg? I might be able to find you a job to do that I could pay you better for than whatever that petty mayor gave you, hm? At least in the meantime." Moon offered as he turned his back and took a few steps towards the doorway, head slightly turned to catch if Flashbang was interested. If she was, he'd lead her off to try to find something moderately interesting, if he could manage, to keep her occupied.
Flashbang twitched. She shook her head, trying to shake her vision of whatever the fuck that other thing was. This mechanic didn't seem very mechanic-like, and she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to hang around with people who let a pony do... that. She couldn't imagine what kind of job Moonriser would get her to do, if this is the kind of thing their mechanic got up to. She just hoped whatever the fuck this inequine crap was, it'd help Tinker fix Shadow Guard. "Uh, you know what? I think I'm just gonna head off for a while. I've got some friends I meant to catch up with after dealing with the mayor in that village. Shadow, I'll come check in later. I wanna see your leg all fixed up!" She fixed a look at Tinker with that. Don't fuck up my - potential - friend. "I'll follow you out though, Moonriser. You can show me where to grab a bite before I go."
To be continued.