Throttlesky

@, Straight was laying by the fire, but not soundly. He kept on trying to roll over to no avail. His eyes were darting underneath his eyelids. He kept calling out names softly, ones that the others couldn't recognize. "Twilight, Rarity, Sparkler, Pinkie Pie." He kept this up for awhile. (No response? I'll keep going!) Then the names started getting more familiar, "Cleo, Johnny, Lyona, Lyona, Lyona" He kept repeating Lyona's name. Over and over again. The shaking was getting worse. He kept going throught the list of names but he kept going back to Lyona's name. Soon the shakings turned into tossing and turning.

"Dammit" Straight hurt. The impact was to sudden to blink away and the wreak made it worse. He tried to get up but his leg was caught underneath some metal. "Come on come on" his horn shined as he tried to lift the metal off. The metal rose a bit, enough to wiggle free, and gash his foreleg. "Shit". he attempted to put weight on the hoof but more blood gushed out. He looked around for anyone. "Help..." was all he could Mister before the cold and blood loss made him lose consciousness.

"Just straightening things out with Cleo here. But the big thing is that me and Cleo need to find some better weapons. Her gun broke and if we end up fighting bandits or something I wont be very useful. My bow is good for hunting but in a shootout it's not going to cut it.'

"The spell. I have some heavy magic too, but I can't keep a spell that telepathically connects two pony's mind to hold a conversation in their heads for two long. I can do it at distances too for when soldiers need to communicate without exposing themselves from noise."

@, Well first things first then, when we get to Fillydelphia we need to find some new weapons. I'm outgunned here as well. Suddenly the connection was severed. "Sorry can't hold it for too long." (Are we on the cart and moving? We should hurry along if we are just sitting here.) (P.s. Great interaction, but I'm away for awhile will be back later)

"Where is your gun?" -That ticks me off, just because they don't trust her they take her weapons away? What if something were to happen? This group is going to get killed sooner or later if they keep on like this.- "Don't tell me, somepony has it because they can't trust you."

@, "Had a stash during the war, it was a company policy that when a comrade fell in battle, we raided his footlocker for anything that would make him look bad at home when they shipped it back. Playpony magazines, pictures of the mares we met while traveling, I grabbed the smokes because most of us took up the habit while fighting. Didn't want the families back home to think we were a bunch of junkies. Still got some but I'm trying to quit. S.S. looked over at Johnny, he was another good guy in this mix. "What's the story on Johnny over there?"

@, "The reason I'm talking to you is because out of all of us, you look like a soldier. I was in the war too, even though I was just defending this town. I fought and bled with other soldiers. I can't help but trust you. Also, how am I a threat? I have a bow and a couple of knives. I couldn't kill this many ponies and steal their stuff. Besides what would I do with more food? I'd have to carry it all. I'm not a threat. The thing I'm afraid of right now is that somepony will piss off another pony and we will have a fight on this cramped minecart. Judging from how Swig picked us all up, all seven of us, he's got some powerful magic of his own. And to top it off, he's a flake. I've seen flakes and you've seen flakes. If he gets mad, he might just take the whole cart off the rails and kill us all. One second he's happy, taking pictures, the next minute he is threatening to kick ponies off. Has he made threats against you or your group? I bet he has. So if he decides to show more of his darkside to us, we might have to knock him out or kill him. Long story short. I'd be in the same boat you're in if he was messing with me. I trust you. Now trust me and let's be on our hooves in case Swig starts going nuts." Straight grabbed some of his wolf jerky and chewed on a piece. He made a move towards his pouch, but decided against it. "All this stress is only making us on edge, and isn't helping me to kick smoking." (Italics are the thoughts he projects out as well)

@@SwigglySwiggly, -This guy is more of a kid than the one sitting next to me- as he sat in the minecart -Cleo needs to chill though, this isn't swigs mine cart anymore, he's let a bunch of ponies with guns and weapons and I don't even see any kind of weapon to take that kind of firepower on him- Straight kept his bow strung, at this close proximity, it could double as a bludgeon, the wood was hard enough to not be broken. -if that kid gives me a reason, he'll be dealing with a couple of bruises by the time we hit Fillydelphia- @, Straight managed to get to Cleo in the corner, before she could talk to him he shushed her. With a small flash of magic he activated one of his more complex spells. One that served him very well in the war. Mind magic was usually hard but this one just projected thoughts towards one other pony so they can have a private conversation without anyone hearing "This channel is secured, you just need to project your thoughts towards me. If you haven't guessed, I'm Straight Shot. Don't let them get to you, just keep a cool head and all this will be over. I already don't like Swig, he's hiding something. Let's just get through this trip without killing each other. Like I said, if you want to talk, just project the thoughts you want me to hear. The reason I used this spell was because I still don't trust some of the other ponies. You and Johnny are alright, and so is Lyona over there. But the rest I haven't seen much out of, so I can't trust them just yet. But Swig or whatever his name is, is trouble."

(You guys must all be EST cause I show up three hours after all the action.) Straight was surprised by the random hug, but he finally learned the unicorn's forte, magic. The other unicorn has electricity, but it looks more like an area effect than a projectile. Straight knew about electricity spells, but never payed any mind to them. -if what swig says is true, then Johnny better keep the sparks down- Lamp oil doesn't explode, but a fire in a moving vehicle would be bad.

@, -That doesn't make me feel any better- Straight Shot secured his bag and checked his knives. -Things would be 100% easier if I had grabbed a gun instead of a bow- Taking a seat where he could see everyone and the door, Straight started to sharpen one of his knives.

Finally reaching the station, Straight Shot saw Cleo the doorkicker and the others. Another new face was with them. A teenager by the look of him with a red cloak. Raising an eyebrow, he noted this unicorn had no weapon visable. -looks can be deceiving-

S.S. trudged through the snow, the wind slapping his face. "How much further?" He shouted back towards Lyona. @, (Here is a bunch of useless text that probably shouldn't be here but oh look there is a 200 character minimum in place and all I wanted to do was ask a question)

"I got everything I need, and if I need something new I'll find it" S.S. opened the door back outside. "Shall we?" S.S. adjusted his wrappings and put the goggles over his face. (Question: How many years has it been since the war ended, and when did it begin? My character is 20 and I don't know if that's too young or not to remember life before the war)

S.S. looked out towards the town. "I got a lot of history here. I was just a colt when Nightmare Moon took over. I was a bit older when that Chaos thing Discord showed up. My family even went to the coronation of Princess Twilight. When I got older I basically had the same job as you. I made sure things didn't get out of the forest. I'm still doing that now. (Damn phone hit enter) "I don't want to leave. But this town is nothing now." S.S. pointed towards a building shaped like a cupcake. "I had a birthday there. Pinkie pie threw the best parties. She disappeared one day during the war. I( guess I will have to relieve myself from this duty of mine." "Yes I'll go with you all." @,

"It was a good thing that I caught you ponies before you all left. You from around here? Originally that is. I am. born and raised. Got a cutie mark for my bow-work and hunted the evergreen back in the day. I never killed anything, but it was a good day when I ran off a manticore or a timberwolf."

Before S.S. could respond, Cleo left. He turned to Lyona and started helping her pack the stuff. "No, it's not like that. Well it might seem like that. She doesn't even know my name, and she probably wants me dead. But I'm not like them. I just need to talk to her. We had a misunderstanding." S.S. realized that this was going nowhere. He clammed up and kept putting leftovers into the bag

One more question; did a mare about your age come through here? Skinny, blue coat white mane, she looked like that saint that they christened years ago before all this, what was her name? She made the first snowflake. Snowdrop! Yeah she looked like her. Irony isn't it? Either way did you see a pony like that come through? I saw her down south and I needed to see her about something.@,

@, "Oh no, I'm fine. I was concerned about you ponies. Hell I was lucky to even find that wolf that attacked me. I'm set for awhile. But hunting is going to be slim unless we don't scare off the animals. So dare I ask, where are you ponies headed? The markets are nearly empty, I know you ain't growing anything and the weather is getting worse.

"I imagine this is the crew that made all that noise yesterday." Straight Shot looked around at the group of rag tag survivors. He remembered his background in that last group he was in. "Pretty bucking sloppy. Last time a group had that big of a firefight, every bucking animal in the area cleared off for miles. I ran into a wolf yesterday who was most likely hiding from the gunfire. You guys got anything to eat? Well unless you all want to starve in the next week or so, I'd suggest whatever problems you have, solve them with a quieter weapon. Now that that's settled why don't we get acquainted. I know Lyona now. She's a good shot. But I don't know Ms. Doorkicker, or Mr. Gasmask here.

"The names Straight Shot" he replied. (his face is covered in headwrappings and goggle cover his eyes) "Met one of your pegasus friends the day before. I'm pretty bucking cold right now. Can I come in?" S.S. had gotten on his hooves by then and had readjusted the head wrapping and goggles. He checked his bow for any damage. -see? That's what happens when you aren't careful- @@Skullbuster,

Straight Shot was awake again. His head hurt. "Damn, what is up with these ponies..." He checked the time. it was way late and he didn't want to have to find another place to bed down. Slowly he opened the door to the tower, hoping for some life or at least a nice hello...

@@Throttlesky, That awkward moment where I flubbed a word in my audition and didn't even realize it till now... At least you know what I sound like!

(AHHHHHHHHHH CURSE MY SOCIAL LIFE!) When the door kicked open suddenly, Straight Shot hit his head pretty hard. Unable to answer the pony offering to help, he passed out in front of the door to the tower. (Pray I don't die of exposure and no one better sharpie me)