Ruins of the Rebel Base (Neutral)

Package shifted his gaze slightly when he noticed a fourth pony walking through the ruins of the Rebel base. He saw that it was a mare, looking to be pretty much freaking out as she scoured the ruins. The Pegasus thought that he had seen her around the base before, but he couldn't recall her name or anything about her.

Package quickly gave his attention back to the three ponies that he had spotted earlier, the crosshair of his sniper rifle's scope trained on Vassago's head. He would let Smith handle this situation for now, but if things didn't go well then the Pegasus could kiss his life goodbye.

"Ah...!" Loyal's expression turned into one of pain as Oz applied pressure to where it hurt. Bastard. "No, I don't introduce myself to mercenary pegasi with a gun trained on me," she replied with a growl, "Last time I did that, an angry mob chased both of us." Her sentence was punctuated with a glare.

As she was not the one addressed by the Earth pony, her attention was drawn to the possibility that other ponies might have been in the area. Her gaze was a able to spot the strange foreigner mare from before, rushing about like a headless chook, and...ah, sniper cover was present it seemed.

Loyal started counting in her head. One, two....three...

OzyManedias smirked pleasantly at Loyal as she winced in pain.
"No, I don't introduce myself to mercenary pegasi with a gun trained on me,"

"Well, Little Miss Maid, Knives are hardly a good ice-breaker in a conversation. Especially when aimed at my vital organs." his smile did not break, but the his caustic tone betrayed his less than civil thoughts on the Maid. His attention was brought once again to the gun wielding (and none too pleased) Smith Wesson.

"You, Vassalus. Ya got ten seconds to explain what the hay you did here, and don't ya dare lie to me, 'else you wanna be buried here."

OzyManedias stood there staring at the barrel of the gun. To his right there stood an insane psychotic maid straight out of some foreign comic book. In front of him stood a plebeian hick with a itchy trigger hoof.

Both seemed rather intent on doing OzyManedias bodily harm.

OzyManedias laughed, calculated, disarming, and very very nervous.

"Alright. Enough jokes. This is me becoming serious. You want to know what I was doing here? No funny stuff." He very slowly started to reach into a still-intact pocket of his ripped up jumpsuit.

"I am an Information Broker. I buy and sell secrets to and from the Rebel Forces. I dropped by to try and sell a key bit of information I stole from a officer in PonyVille a while back to your resident tactician."

one of the small fires left from the explosion danced on OzyManedias' golden eyes.

"Now lets think like the calm, rational adults that we are. If I sell to the Rebel forces, why would I want to sabotage or endanger them and destroy a client? That's a horrible business model for a pony such as myself." He stared down the barrel of Smith's gun. His hoof brought out a business card that he flicked towards Wesson.

It read: "Vassalus Vassago: Seller of the Lost and the Found, Merchant of the Happened and the Happenings to Come."

"I hope you understand that my unwillingness to explain my situation to you earlier was not due to hostility, but caution. In my line of work, secrecy is key. Take my friend here." OzyManedias nudged Loyal again, right in the same cut.

"She still hasn't had the good courtesy to give her name! In this day and age, a name can be a very dangerous thing."

"That's a lot to believe," he replied, remaining skeptical in tone.

In reality, Wesson was running the information through his head, looking for flaws or mistakes. The 'business card' was nothing short of suspicious, although it did match Vassago's mysterious demeanour. What did stand out from his explanation was how he claimed to sell from the Rebels as well as to them. However, this was not the current issue at hoof. And Vassago did have a point about destroying a client being bad business.

Smith Wesson set aside his disgust at the pegasus' lack of empathy and gestured around them.

"Ya haven't explained what happened here," he point out. His eyes looked over to the mare and he turned his gun on her. "Unless it's you that had some part in it. Either way, Ah figure the only ponies alive must have got somethin' to do with this."

Torna was still freaking out. She saw the scene and hovered nearby without getting too close.

Package kept watching as the three ponies exchanged words that he could not make out, not moving from his spot and always keeping his rifle's barrel aimed at the Pegasus that he and Smith had met before. For a moment it seemed that the mare of the trio had glanced at him, but he didn't really care whether she had or not. She wasn't too important in the current situation.

Vassago seemed to flick some sort of card towards Smith, who in turn caught it with his free hoof. The Earth Pony observed the card while constantly keeping his gun trained on the other stallion, who was in turn explaining something from the looks of it. Package found himself getting somewhat curious as to what the ponies were saying to eachother, but didn't come any closer to the group. The mare may or may not have spotted him, but at the very least he could stay out of the real threat's sight.

Loyal was only half listening. Most of her attention was focused on the main building, or rather, what was left of it.

"I was...there," she frowned, "Now...I am here. And not only am I still alive, I'm fully conscious, and with only mild...ly severe headaches, and possible internal breathing, bleeding?" She spat on her hoof, and looked at it. "Internal bleeding."

Returning her focus to the ponies at hoof, she then said, "I believe that I am currently running on an uncertain amount of adrenalin and the full magnitude of the situation has not appeared to hit me yet. Since I really should be dead, I'd recommend-"

Her eyes glazed over and her world started tilting. She closed them, and counted to ten. "An infirmary before I, when I collapse here and now." She opened one eye and smirked cynically. "Else I'd probably die anyway, and Mr Bribes here might as well shoot me to make it quick."

Monologue ended, Loyal collapsed again, coughing.

As Loyal talked:

OzyManedias felt the pain of his own wounds seeped into his body. He kept his breathing even, and was able to stay standing despite the growing pains.

He noticed her cutie mark. A scythe, how appropriate. She was a killer, and she would kill and kill and kill. OzyManedias had an epiphany.

Until somepony killed her.

He would be the one to kill her. This Mare of Death was going to die by his hoof. Not now, but eventually.

This was his bond. His promise. He would honor it if it killed him.

Loyal collapsed onto OzyManedias, coughing and sputtering up blood.

"Oh no." OzyManedias turned her over and started to dress her wounds quickly and feverishly. "You won't die now. Not like this. I promise you that. It is my Bond. Thou will die by mine hoof and nopony else. Nopony else but mine. Mine alone and nopony else. ha hA hah" His staccato chuckle sounded unnatural and feverish as he worked furiously to keep the mare alive. He didn't turn away but addressed Smith Wesson.

"Go away Wesson, we didn't blow up your stupid base. Ms. Maid here needs help. I'm going to help her. Don't you have survivors to look for?"

Wesson watched the display, feeling a sense of sadness. Here was a mare who was dying from her wounds, while a stallion in similarly poor condition attempted to help her, despite having been trying to kill her when they were first found together. All of this was taking place here, on the ruins of the rebel base; a place now reeking of death and tragedy.

But then anger rose inside of him. Wesson gasped his revolver tighter, the weapon shaking slightly. Such horrors needed to be answered for. Ozymandias was surely responsible, yet he claimed innocence. If he was not to blame (although this was highly questionable) then the answer of who was all to clear. What needed to be done was clear. Slowly, Smith Wesson holstered his gun.

"Ah ain't killing you today 'cause Ah don't know if ya did this or not. But make no mistake, if Ah find out it was you, the next time we meet will be your last."

With those words, Wesson turned and trotted away. He spotted Package in the distance, his rifle trained on the scene. He approached the pegasus, placing a hoof on his shoulder.

"Leave 'em. We got work to do," he said quietly, "Look for survivors and gather any remaining soldiers. Then tell 'em all to go out, find other rebels and supporters all over Equestria. We meet in Ponyville one week from today. Got it?"

Torna overheard this, and decided it a good idea. She proceeded to look for survivors, probably in vain. She still hovered, to avoid stepping in pony remains.

The unknown mare spoke for a few seconds, after which Vassago and Smith exchanged a few words between themselves, the Pegasus supporting the mare as she spoke. And then...it was over. Somehow. Smith put away his revolver and turned around to walk away from the pair of ponies. Package kept his rifle trained on Vassago for a few moments, but lowered his scope soon enough. He wasn't sure about what could have made Wesson decide to leave the other ponies alone, but the stallion doubted he would do so without good reason.

Package noticed that Wesson had spotted him, and was now walking towards the Pegasus at a steady pace, so he cradled his sniper rifle in his hooves in a natural grip and floated down until he was hovering only a few feet above the ground. The Earth Pony neared him, and spoke as he did so.

"Leave 'em. We got work to do. Look for survivors and gather any remaining soldiers. Then tell 'em all to go out, find other rebels and supporters all over Equestria. We meet in Ponyville one week from today. Got it?"

Package nodded. "Got it. See you then."

The Pegasus then flew straight up a hundred or so feet and, using his scope, he located the few survivors to be found among the ruins of the base. Those that were gravely wounded he left in the care of a local doctor that had been living near the base, and those that were able to walk on their own, which were even fewer in number, he sent out to the various Rebel bunkers and safehouses that had remained intact throughout the war, telling them to spread the word that all Rebels and supporters of their cause were to meet at a hidden safehouse located in the outskirts of Ponyville, one week from that day.

(As Loyal is non responsive, you may skip over her.)

((Ozy is too busy trying to revive Loyal. Skip me too. Also I cannot for the life of me think of anything to do.))

With his orders followed, Smith Wesson gave one last look back at the havoc around him and to the faint figures of Vassago and the mare in the distance.

"Ah vow that the lives lost today will not be forgotten," he whispered to himself, "What happened here...will help end this war."

Turning away, Wesson tilted his stetson down over his eyes as he trotted towards Appleloosa. "Ah swear on mah life."

There was much work to be done...


(Smith Wesson has now left. Remove him from the post order)

((Actually, I'm fairly certain that there's not really a posting order left. If I'm correct, this thread is pretty much over. Either it ends here or this is continued on somewhere else.))

((Shtuff is gunna go down in Appleoosa, but Ozy and Loyal are still here with Torna, just out of commission for a while. Probably will come back later))

((Sooooooo... *Le shrug* I guess this is either over with or we roleplay out Wesson's plans in Ponyville. And then the stuff in Appleloosa is a more separate roleplay, I guess.))

( Wesson's plans in Appleloosa aren't really role-playable (if that's a word). It's more for the sake of the plot. We can start a Ponyville thread set a week later if you guys like. I'll have to ask Brawny though... )

((That'd be fine with me))

((Fine with me))

(Fine with me)