Child's Play - Fallout: Equestria [Reserved, PM to join]

[AsthmaticPegasus]

Sprite followed along, close at Pop's side as she found herself being surrounded by a few other children. She didn't feel as nervous as before, as her disguise seemed to be holding up perfectly. Heck, it could even be a chance to associate herself with more ponies and get herself feeling in tip top shape quicker! The more time she spent with them the less she wanted to bother them... but she just couldn't go on without some form of companionship. At this point she was feeling the effects so badly she was considering a little more drastic measures... but doing something like that would probably get her caught, and worse, harm somepony else.

She tried to greet the others, opening and closing herself silently for a few moments before giving up. She couldn't get around the fact that she was an outsider here, no matter how welcome Pops tried to make her feel. Eventually she just responded to the older colt's orders with a nod.

[Imagination]

After checking their gear, they were off! It was a group of five of them, all armed with fairly light weapons and only their cloaks for armor... Well, except for Pop, who had her Grenade launcher, but that probably wasn't something that was usually needed in the tight confines of the ruins around Hoofington.

Surprisingly enough, they ran into little trouble. A radscorpion that had scuttled into the ruins for shelter, but that was taken care of so quickly it wasn't even all that interesting. Pop, pop, dead. They knew enough backroutes and hiding spots that they could easily avoid staying out int he open and avoid raider patrols. But, at long last, they came to the open road. Everything was dead, the brahmin and two ponies in leather armor. The bags on the brahmin seemed to still have things in them! "Alright... Watch out for traps. Pops, you stay with the new kid and watch our backs, let us know if anypony's coming..."

With an enthusiastic salute, Pop Rocks just grinned at Sprite. "This could be neat! Who knows what these ponies were carrying?"

She seemed to handle a sight like this quite casually... Maybe she had just seen it so much she was desensitized?

[AsthmaticPegasus]

Aw, everypony had guns except for Sprite! It made her feel more than a little useless, considering all she could do was watch as they dispatched a threat, and a relatively minor one at that. Well, it gave her an excuse to sink towards the back of the group and stay out of the way, and the sneaking parts she was certainly no stranger to! She could probably sneak circles around them... literally!

As they came upon the bodies Sprite was a little disquieted, she may have been on the wastes for a little while but... she was young! It certainly didn't disturb her to any extreme, but what about the ponies these two left behind? To be honest there probably weren't any... but still. Sprite didn't have any qualms with staying back either.

"Yeah, maybe they had some food, or clothes... maybe a nice scarf." She said without thinking. It seemed a little odd that these were the first things she thought of, especially since moments before she had been complaining to herself about not having a gun, but when it came to things she needed and wanted it always came down to food and warmth.

[Imagination]

Pop felt like being a good chum. So what did she do? Well, first she took off her helmet and put it on Sprite, turning on the little lamp! Pop had nice mane! ... Well, it was probably nicer when she didn't have helmet mane. Afterward, she held out her grenade launcher to Sprite with a big grin on her face. "Here! Now you don't have to feel left out! I'll even show you how to use it if you wanna! It'll be fun!"

What was out here to blow up? And didn't they want to not draw attention? Explosions would do just that, wouldn't they? But... Who can say no to explosions? Right?

[AsthmaticPegasus]

Wait, whuuuu... why was she suddenly holding a grenade launcher? She didn't even know how to use the thing! The explosives came out of the other end right? And that was the trigger... okay, Sprite was keeping her hoof well clear of that. She had to keep pushing the helmet up over her eyes anyways, it engulfed over half of her head! These were not same exploding conditions, an inexperienced filly wielding a highly dangerous weapon with low visibility? Probably the opposite of laying low.

Suddenly flustered Sprite tried to give the explodey stick back, shaking her head and making the hardhat on her head wobble around. "No no no, I can't..."

[Imagination]

The filly was giggling too hard to try and force her to keep the launcher. "Okay, okay... But keep the helmet on, you look so cute!"

She did! It was even bigger on Sprite than it was on Pop. Just seeing it wobble about like that made her giggle. Not mocking, of course. She would never make fun of anypony for being cute. Unless they didn't want to be cute, in which she'd mock them all the time. Then again, she didn't like being called cute... In fact she didn't like being called little either, so did that make her a hypocrite? Huh.

"Maybe I'll teach you how to use it later when we're not doing stuff. Come on, it'll be fun! Blowing stuff up is so cool! The launcher goes 'foomph!' and then the grenade is all 'PKWOCH!' and then the target is in a bunch of pieces, and then-" The older colt spoke up, poking his head out from behind the cargo "Are you done, Poppy?! Pay attention to the road!"

[AsthmaticPegasus]

Cute? Sprite wasn't cute, she was a creepy bug thing! Maybe the filly she'd changed into was cute, but Sprite hadn't had much time to do that on purpose. All she had done was morph into a filly she'd seen in a random prewar ad somewhere... Nonetheless the compliment complimented her large plate of mac and cheese quite nicely, and made her feel the teeniest of tiny bits better. And Sprite doubted that she should go through with grenade launcher lessons, she'd hate to be known as the filly who blew up half of the town in a random boomstick incident.

"Um, maybe you should keep your stuff..." She said, starting to take off the helmet before suddenly dropping it back on her head in surprise as the older colt shouts from where he and the others were scavving. It was fairly obvious she was a little jumpy and nervous right now, quickly pushing Boom Boom back on it's owner. "... Thank you though..."

[Imagination]

She was alittle disappointed when Sprite turned down her offer. "But... explosions..."

The stern talking-to made her jump a bit, looking back to the colt. "Sorry!" she shouted out to the older one who will eventually have a name. But she say Sprite still had the helmet on. Before the little filly could have a chance to take it off again, Pop gave her a big ol' hug. "I like you, Sprite! I'm glad we found you out in the ruins. I really hope you stay, it would be so much fun!"

She didn't know why but she really liked this little filly. She had plenty of good friends in the Crusaders but by Celestia this one was different! "Hey, after this you wanna play hoofball? I can get a game together with some of the other foals! Do you know how to play?" Hoofball? Ponies still played that? Did they have an actual ball or were they just tossing an old ball of cloth or something?

[AsthmaticPegasus]

Well, Sprite certainly didn't expect this! She was engulfed in a hug as the filly suddenly and unexpectedly squeezed her. The changeling didn't quite know how to react to that... it made her feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside, a sensation that was totally foreign to her. She felt even worse when Pop mentioned keeping her in Chapel and liking her, this sort of thing would only complicate the situation later on... She'd only meant to make a few ponies happy for awhile so she wouldn't starve, not build everlasting bonds of friendship with the townsponies! Oh, what am I going to do now... She thought to herself as she contemplated running away that very night. Pops was a good pony, Sprite didn't want to hurt her...

Sprite hugged her back, silently blinking away some tears behind Pops back. "I um, hope I get to stick around too..." She said before pulling away. "And what's Hoofball?"

[Imagination]

Pops was glad to hear that she hoped she could stay. That meant she could! Or even she would! The excited little filly started happily explaining hoofball, grinning from ear-to-ear. "Oh, Hoofball is awesome! We found a pre-war rule book about it on one of our scavving runs! Pretty much, whoever gets the ball as to run with it, or pass it, but they can pass a certain line if they're going to pass it, and the defending team has to tackle the pony with the ball before they reach the goal! And there's a lot of rules about what you can and can't do, but it's mostly 'don't be a jerk' kind of stuff!"

After a short pause, she continued after remembering something! "OH! Since we don't know what hoofballs look like, we made our own! It's a big ball made of old clothes we found. It smells kinda funny, but you don't really think about it when you're playing cuz you're having SO MUCH FU-"

"Keep it down!" berated Nameless from the cart again.

[AsthmaticPegasus]

Sprite looked over Pops and back at the other ponies scavenging the brahmin, wondering what exactly her chances would be of tackling ANY of them, or avoid being tackled. Prooobably not that high, and the sound of getting beat up over a smelly ball wasn't that appealing either. But she'd be better aquainted with the other ponies at least, and considering this was the whole reason she had decided to stay, the whole thing sounded mildly appealing.

The little filly looked up at Pops, lowering her voice at the colt's orders. "Sounds like it'd be pretty cool." She said in an interested tone. "How many ponies play?"

[Imagination]

She tried to explain it as best she could. "Well, the book says you're supposed to have eleven on each side of the ball and stuff, but sometimes the other foals are total butts and don't want to play, so we have to put less players on the lines sometimes, and if we have an odd number somepony has to be the designated quarterback, the pony who throws the ball. If we have more than 22, then they can totally be substitutes! If somepony gets tired or hurt, then they can swap!"

There certainly seemed to be enough foals to have a full lineup in Chapel... But hey, some ponies were just 'butts' as she put it, and didn't want to play!

[AsthmaticPegasus]

Okay, so that meant if Sprite had the ball 11 people would try and body slam her... plus anypony on her team that accidentally fell on her, because let's face it, it was probably going to happen. "Oh, well, um... maybe I could be one of those ponies that swaps in, so I could watch and get the hang of it." She says, thinking that maybe this way she could get involved and at the same time NOT flattened.

She turned to look back at the others, actually doing her job of watching the road as she sat down next to Pops. This was... surprisingly uneventful. Her experiences on the wastes had left her physically, mentally, and emotionally drained, but now... it all seemed a little peaceful and routine with the way these "Crusaders" went about their daily work.

[Imagination]

She just gave the filly another hug. "Well, alright. Maybe after watching us all play, you can try!" Letting go of her, it was back to business. Watchin' that road. But, being the social butterfly she was, she wasn't going to pass up small talk. "The ball's not that smelly. It just smells funny" she felt like she needed to clarify, keeping her gaze down the road.

"Though my first cloak went missing around the time we made it so we could play. I totally know Spark Plug took it cuz he does that all the time and hides my stuff. Priest thinks he picks on me because he likes me, but that doesn't make any sense! Why would you be a total butt-head to somepony you like? And why would I like him back? Boys are gross. And I have better things to do than be all mushy with a coltfriend, you know? But either way he's all-" She felt silent, ears perking as she spotted some silhouettes coming down the road. She couldn't quite make out what they were from the distance, but they were closing in. Probably to check on the wreckage.

"Hey! Hey! Everypony take cover! Somepony's comin'!" she warned the others, who took a look down the road and quickly went to the rubble where Pops and Sprite were, huddling up and taking cover.

A few minutes later, a few raiders turned up, smoking and joking with eachother as they went up to the caravan.

"I TOLD yous the stuff was still here!"

"Yeah yeah, whateva. Just grab this junk and lets git outta here, this stupid town gives me a rash"

[AsthmaticPegasus]

What was it with Pops describing ponies as butts? Sprite understood what she meant, but she couldn't help but smirk to herself whenever her friend talked like that. "Yeah, I guess boys are gross." She said, thinking back to her brothers in the caverns who would fight each other for fun and pick on her sometimes. She had loved them, she still did, but if they hadn't been her brothers their behavior would have seemed more than a little obnoxious.

But everything was not sunshine and rainbows as Pops stopped dead in her tracks, looking farther down the road with her ears twisted forwards to pick up any sound. There were a few shadowy shapes approaching, and Sprite did not need Pops advice to know that crawling her way behind some rubble was probably a good idea. She sprung away and flapped her little wings to glide a little ways away in a panic, instinctively crawling into the smallest hole she could find. She peaked out from her hiding spot to see that the Crusaders had made it to safety with Pops, but in all her panicky haste she had accidentally set herself apart from the group!

Before she could even think about moving a few Raiders came up to where they had been moments before, fanning out around the dead caravaners. Oh dear, they were going to take all of the supplies! And what if they got close enough to spot the Crusaders? Sprite was good at hiding, and in a good position to escape but... she didn't want to leave the other children to be eaten! Options zipped through her mind as she started panicking again, shrinking back into her little hidey hole.

[Imagination]

It seemed the Crusaders were planning an ambush, ol' no-name whispering and pointing to different foals, drawing a diagram of the attack. A couple of foals with rifles went off in one direction, while pop and one other pony that took a grenade from her saddlebag went in another direction. What was going on? Did they forget about Sprite? Pops sure didn't. She kept looking around even as their leader was explaining the plan, looking impossibly worried... almost to the point of tears! But she knew she had a job to do, and if she didn't, others could die!

Everypony got into position. After a few minutes, the ponies with the rifles starting firing at the Raiders, who cried out in surprise and tried to take cover behind the cart. At that point, Pops and the other filly started sending grenades their way, doin some killin' and flushing them out from hiding. At that point, the other three who were at the original rally point popped up and started shooting. Wee, ambush! Bullets and booms and shouting all over the fine place!

[AsthmaticPegasus]

Sprite cringed as she heard gunfire, taking another peak and expecting the raiders to be lighting up her compatriots. But no, it was the other way around! It seems that the older colt was quite the capable leader as he organized an impressive ambush. They proved to be quite experienced with their weapons, and Pops even helped by blowing the evil ponies up with her grenades. But for a single horrified moment Sprite realized that those three raiders getting blown to smithereens could have just as easily been her had she not been disguised, or if they somehow figured everything out... Pops would probably turn on her, the others would shun her and attack her... And that only made her sink back into her hole even further, shivering and cowering like a scared little filly.

Whatever full, fuzzy feelings had been spread to her shrunk back a little as she came to these conclusions with her own grim perspective of pony nature. In the end it didn't matter, she'd have to move along sooner or later anyways, No matter how much she'd enjoyed being Pops' friend.

[Imagination]

After a couple minutes of exchanging gunfire and explosions, the little battle was over! The raiders were all gone, some bodies in better condition than others. The leader called out for a quick status report, everypony calling out and saying they were okay.

"Alright, good job, guys! Lets grab what we can and split before more show up! Pop Rocks, you still have watch!" He shouted before they returned to their previous task with gusto, just packing whatever they could find into their bags, not bothering to look over its value or condition.

Though Pop and the other filly seemed to have a much bigger focus than keeping watch. Now Pop really did have tears in her eyes, calling out for her little friend in a panic. "Sprite?! Sprite, where are you?!" she was looking all over where they were hiding before, the other filly calling Sprite's name and searching as well. Oh, they hoped she hadn't got caught in the crossfire, or ran back into the city! It was even more dangerous in Hoofington, especially if you didn't know backroutes, hiding places, and you were by yourself!

[AsthmaticPegasus]

A little head peaked itself shyly out of some rubble a little ways away, hearing her name being called. Was Pops really THAT worried about her? She'd met her only a little while ago, and she really cared this much? Sprite crawled her way out of the hiding place, slowly approaching the group again with a little more caution. Tough she didn't have reason to worry, Sprite still felt skeptical about how all of this was going to work out...

"Sorry, Pops, I didn't..." She started, frowning as she sat down a little ways away.

[Imagination]

When Sprite was spotted, Pop immediately ran over and hugged her tight, the other filly just seeming happy that Sprite was okay. Of course she cared this much about her! She loved all her friends! But Sprite was different. Pop found her in the rubble, gained her trust, and made her feel welcome! She always wanted the opportunity to do that for somepony, just like the Crusaders did when her parents went on The Journey. She felt responsible for the filly, and wanted to make sure she was safe and happy. Because unhappy foals all by themselves was no good at all!

"Thank Celestia, I thought you might've accidently got caught in the fighting!" While Pop and Sprite were having their moment, the other filly took the watch for them.

[AsthmaticPegasus]

Sprite was, once again, taken aback by the hug. Though at this point she really shouldn't have been, I mean, spending this much time around Pops you could start to flesh out patterns in her behavior. Like how she loved hugging ponies. A lot. This time however Sprite did return it, though less enthusiastically.

"No, I went and hid... it's like, the only thing I'm good at." She said with a frown, pulling out of the Filly's embrace. "I mean I was worried, but... I couldn't really help and got so scared." Clearly she hadn't been on the wastes her entire life like Pops had, after all she would most likely be used to this sort of stuff, right? Pops probably thought she was a scaredy pony or something

[Imagination]

She just squeezed her tight eventually letting her go and rubbing her eyes, putting on a smile. "I'm sorry, I just get worried when I can't find my friends... After doing this kind of stuff for awhile, you come to expect the worst..."

They didn't have much time to enjoy their reunion, the leader calling out once they had all their bags full. "Come on, lets go!"

At that, Pop Rocks took Sprite by the hoof once again to follow the Crusaders as they ran off back through the ruins. Pop made sure that Sprite stay close at all times, not wanting her to take a wrong turn anywhere and lose the group. Eventually, they all made it back to Chapel, the majority of them out of breath from having to double-back from the scavenge site. All the other citizens of Chapel seemed happy they were back, and other Crusaders coming by to take the loot.

[AsthmaticPegasus]

Sprite made sure to stay right beside Pops, not that she had much of a choice considering the worrisome filly was dragging her around by the hoof as she led Sprite through the complicated pathways the children used to evade anyone who could be even remotely nearby and throw off anyone who might track them. Sprite could appreciate that, considering running away and hiding were her two biggest specialties.

As they made it back to town Sprite began helping the others unload their scavenged goods, trying to avoid idle conversation and sticking close to Pops the whole time. Could you blame her for being skeptical and paranoid, especially considering what was at risk? "So, this is what you do around here? Find what you can and bring it back?"

[Imagination]

She was happy they all made it back, now seeming a lot more relaxed. As they passed along loot, she just made small talk with Sprite. "Yup! We go out into the city, and sometimes outside like we did today, and just look for stuff that might be good to trade! It's how we stay alive here at Chapel!" It was then she found an old necklace in one of the saddlebags, taking a good look at it. But it was swiped away by one of the other Crusaders. "AW!" she protested, but the filly who took it just shook her head. "Godfather said we can't take this stuff, it's all gotta go. We're running low on food"

Who's Godfather? The older colt from before spoke up through the crowd "Yeah, sorry Poppy! Next time!" Pop kicked the ground a bit in frustration, but soon got over it and went back to work. That was a pretty necklace. Oh well. "Anyway, yeah, that's what we do! We used to fight off bandit raids too, but they stopped coming around recently. Too bad, it was fun sometimes! But scary, you know?"

[AsthmaticPegasus]

There certainly was a lot of good loot in that caravan, with some guns and food and random stuff that would probably fetch a decent price somewhere. Sprite felt a little better for helping out, like she was beginning to fall into her own shallow little place in Chapel, but that feeling went away again once she thought about leaving, and how the only thing she had done when the raiders attacked was hide in a hole and freak out. She just couldn't get past the fact that no matter how nice a home this place seemed to be eventually she would have to leave, or risk getting caught.

Sprite helped sort the goods with the others, passing away object after object that could have been incredibly detrimental to her in the days before, but now weren't because she had found shelter for a time. Maybe they could part with some of the more useless, dingy clothing, Sprite was beginning to feel more chilled as she became skinnier from starvation.