Breaking Quarantine

Star shook his head. Sure they were probably being used just to get out of the barrier, but...Pyre was still on his mind. "I will not let him grow up in a city like this..." He muttered, keeping his eyes closed but still had yet to fall asleep. He kept his ears open encase something were to attack him and Distortion in their sleep. He groaned a little at Distortion's snoring, opening one eye and glaring at him. He shook his head and closed his eye again.

The night passed peacefully aside from the snoring and occasional distant very un-ponylike roar echoing all the way from the inner city. In the morning though, the smell of waffles wafted through the building, quite possibly stirring all the residence within it. It very obviously awoke Pyre, who's glee filled cheers at the apparently rare breakfast made more than enough noise to wake Star and Dis. Especially when he came by their room, threw open the door, and all but yelled in, "c'mon you two, it's time to get up, mom made waffles!" Then he ran off, presumably back to the dining room to eat his breakfast.

The dining room itself was once more fairly well set up with Arachne, Buckle, and Pyre already at their seats and enjoying their meals. On the table sat another plate with a still sizable number of waffles resting on each other in a stack, a container of syrup that was opened and had already been seen some use, bowls of a fruit like strawberries, blueberries, and orange slices. Arachne and Buckle sat with steaming cups of smelled like coffee while Pyre had a mug of lighter colored tea. When Star and Dis would enter the room, Arachne would stand, asking "coffee or tea?"

DIstortion tossed in bed, squeezing his eyes shut. "Mm... five more minutes, ma... I don't wanna... hm?" He opened his eyes. "Oh, right."

Groaning, he rolled out of bed, all but collapsing on the floor before his legs agreed to work together with his brain. He eventually stood up, prodded Star with a gentle 'wakey wakey' and then stumbled out of the room, heading to where the glorious waffles were releasing their enticing scent.

It was a few moments after entering the dining room that he realised that he had been asked a question. "Oh, um, coffee, please. No sugar or milk."

A small smile appeared on Star's face as Pyre threw open their door. He still didn't get any sleep last night. It was nighttime, his time, thestrals time. When Distortion had probed him, he slapped the hoof away and opened his eyes. "Don't poke me." He rolled out of bed, landed on his hooves ever so gracefully. He put on his armor and his helmet. He walked out of the room and towards the dinning room. He looked at Arachne with a smile. "Coffee please." He sat down in a seat and started to eat the waffles.

Arachne disappeared only to return a moment late with a pair of cup, slightly steaming with the liquid inside. The sweetener and sugar were already on the table. The meal was good, but the table was rather quiet until Buckle spoke up. "Well, I think you two will like what I managed to dig up. It's not much, but in here ya learn to make due with what ya get. Managed to slap back together one of the older modeled rune guns, should shoot pretty good. Great thing bout the originals was simplicity and function. Not a lot of fancy stuff to get in the way and risk malfunction."

"I also rooted through Pyre's stuff some and found one of the old officer knives. Not entirely sure what rune it's got on it, but I know it's got some magic to it. Dang thing was still sharp despite all the years it's been in the rough of things," Buckle continued, though when he mentioned that it had come from Pyre's recovered good, the youth beamed with pride that anxiously awaited praise in the form of his fathers hoof ruffling up his already messing mane.

Star took a sip of the cup of coffee, enjoying the taste of it. His ears perked up at the mention of a knife that was still sharp. "Knife? I can use that knife." He said, smiling a little bit. He continued to eat his waffles, taking sips from his cup of coffee occasionally. He really did need coffee after staying awake last night.

Distortion took a sip of the coffee, listening intently. "A rune gun? Cool!" He said excitedly through a mouth full of coffee. "How does it work?"

"Sure, sure, they're still in the workshop. When you're done with breakfast, come on back and I'll show ya," Buckle said before getting up and moving onto the back room. Pyre watched his dad leave and then turned his attention back to his mother.

"Mom, can I go and help dad?" he asked pleadingly. After some inspection of his plate, Arachne gave the youth a nod to which he cheered to before bounding off his chair and following his father. Arachne then turned her attention back to the two remaining ponies. "Is der anything else you'd like for breakfast?"

Star watched Buckle and Pyre leave. He turned back to his plate of waffles and finished the rest of it quickly. He smiled at Arachne, swallowing the waffles that was in his mouth. "Oh no. But thank you for the offer." He drank the rest of the coffee that was in his cup and made his way over to the workshop. He really wanted that knife, have something he can use for range attacks.

Distortion finished his own coffee, remembering to give a small 'thank you', and then hopped out of his chair. He followed Star over to the workshop with bounding, excited steps.

Arachne nodded with a small smile at the excitement present in the stallions. "Boy's an zer toys," she mumbled happily while beginning to clear the table. As Distortion and Star would enter the workshop they saw Buckled ruffling Pyre's mane a few times, though the newcomers presence would cease the action almost immediately. "Well, that didn't take long. Alright look here," Buckle said pulling a long barreled thing off the table, holding the large contraption in his fore hooves.

It was mostly metal, with the only exceptions being the straps that would act as the tether/anchor. "This is the rune gun. It's an older make, but should work just as well. See there's this slot here," Buckle began by pointing to a open semi-circular slot right behind the barrel where what looked like some kind of disk would fit. "This is where you stick in what Magi-tech called the rune cartridge. It's usually just a basic elemental or magical projectile rune which would normally be rather dangerous since the things are difficult to aim, but with the gun," Buckle continued to explain.

Then he grabbed one of the glowing gems and fitted it into a slot a bit behind the cartridge chamber. "That's the crystal hammer, where you stick a charge mana crystal if you're not a unicorn, or just being lazy as one. Then all you have to do is," Buckle let the sentence hang as he shifted the weapon around awkwardly for a few moments before pointing the barrel to the other side of the workshop where nothing was really gathered, the wall already bearing a few scorch marks. Holding the weapon in both hooves, Buckle grabbed a strap in his mouth and gave it a tug. There was a click, and about half a second delay before a ka-thunk sound billowed out of the barrel of the gun along with a small fireball that slammed into the wall.

Setting the gun down, Buckle was chuckling at Pyre's pleas to do it again, but Buckle shook his head. "Maybe another time Pyre, but how about you get that knife from before," he asked, to which Pyre's was more than happy to oblige. A few second of rooting around later, Pyre came back holding what looked like a small slightly curved dagger in it's sheath. He tossed the thing onto the table and then stood back eagerly awaiting praise for such a good find on his own. "I didn't get a chance to actually figure out that thing's runes, but just from they way it's held up over the years, I'd say it's magic at the very least going to keep it pretty sharp and strong."

"Ooh." Distortion breathed. "Ooh! Ooh! I want the gun! I want the gun!" He cocked his head to the side. "So... do I still need ammo for this thing?"

"You'll need charged mana crystals and the runes themselves. The one I've got in it now is pretty sub-standard and won't do much. It's barely even scorching the walls. Unfortunately, I don't have a surplus of runes, those things are too valuable to have many of on hoof. The mana crystals are pretty easy to find and use, and you can use your own magic since you're a unicorn, to activate the rune, just you have to be pretty careful or it might activate in the wrong direction. Like I said, it's an older model and doesn't come with all the fancy or safety features of the newer ones. Though even those are quite a few years old now what with no real new ones being developed," Buckle explained while pulling out about 5 of the charged crystals from his little drawer of them. "This should give ya a decent number of shots and so long as you don't drain the gems completely, you can recharge them and use'm again."

Star watched the excellent display, his ears flat against his head to muffle the sound a little bit. "That's impressive. Oh the things Magi-tech has achieved." He looked over at Distortion. "Yeah...You can have the gun. I want the knife." He really did like his swords and knifes. He also didn't get any information about the magic stuff. He really did need to learn that in his spare time.

"I see. Well, off hunting then!" He said cheerfully, accepting the crystals. "By the way, do these runes run out? I'd rather ask now than find out in the middle of a firefight."

"The rune's don't because there's not really any magic to them. They're more like a stencil to shape the magic put into them. The only reason one would stop working is if it broke or you overloaded it," Buckle explained while he stood up, beginning to lead them to the door, though not before hoofing the knife over to Star and helping Distortion with the straps that fastened the gun to his side. "Now I've sent word to my friend Stalwart, he should be able to help ya, but I'm not sure how long it'll take. Though you two seemed well enough equipped to stand a chance," Buckle went on as he lead them with Pyre following eagerly behind.

At the door, Arachne was waiting on them, a concerned smile on her face. "Be careful out zer, de city haz no mercy for dose dat aren't."

Distortion gave them a grin. "I got no mercy for the city either. Let's see who wins out." He coughed. "Thanks for the help, anyways. I really appreciate it."

He turned to Star's knife, trying to interpret the enchantment on it and see if it was one that he knew - having dealt with many over the years, he found it a likely possibility.

Star took the knife and put it in his saddlebags. He followed Buckle towards the door and looked at Arachne, Pyre, and Buckle. "Thank you for you're help. We really appreciate it." He turned towards Distortion. "Now, we best get going." He started to trot down the road. "And to think I though we weren't gonna find any life in this barrier..." He muttered quietly with a smile.

Goodbyes were exchanged, and soon the two ponies were well on their way to the city. After a lengthy walk back to the original street, Dis and Star would pretty easily be able to get back on track. Getting back onto the raised walkway would be a different experience. almost comfortably, the ground lowered away as they went higher into the air. Occasionally the path would be partially blocked by bits of rubble or wreckage, but these were generally easy to navigate around.

The buildings that surrounded them also seemed to grow, but at a much faster rate as they got deeper into the city. It wasn't long before both of them would have to cran their neck's upwards to even try to see the tops of the towering structures. The buildings themselves were in varying states of destruction, ranging from just damaged windows, to entire chunks of building just missing. The towering buildings also almost made a jungle of materials that practically blocked out the Magi-tech tower. Almost eerie was the complete lack of noise here.

Distortion hopped forward without a care, humming a cheerful, upbeat tune as he went. His gun, however, was raised in the air and swinging around wildly, as if it was trying to find a target that wasn't there. He still wanted to study the enchantment that the runes gave to Star's knife.

"Hey, Star!" He said cheerfully. "Can I have a look at your knife? I want to see what the runes do."

Star kept on walking, flying over some wreckage that was blocking the road. He kept his ears and eyes peeled for any movement or sound and was ready to grab one of the two knifes in his saddlebags. "So..." He finally said, looking over at Distortion. "Did you take down any notes about what we've learned so far?" He asked, kicked a small pebble that was on the ground.

The dagger was something alright, but it would take actual experimentation to fully determine what all it did. There was an outright enchantment on the dagger, completely separate from the runes that were along the blade. The runes on the blade were for in fact strengthening and sharpness to keep the blade keen despite terrible conditions. The actual enchantment on the blade itself however couldn't be identified, but whatever it was was keeping the runes active on the blade itself.

Further examination however would have to wait, as something moved in the buildings above them as they progressed. The shift causing some of the rubble to come loose and fall to the walkway below, almost hitting the two as they walked. Whether this was intentional or not would for now at least remain uncertain, as whatever it was couldn't be seen.

"Huh, interesting..." Distortion mused. "Hm? Oh, what notes?" He raised an eyebrow. "I was supposed to be taking notes?"

It was at that moment when the rubble almost hit him. "Huh. Well, would you look at that." He aimed his gun at the buildings above. "Wanna investigate? The last time we did that, I got a free gun."

Star's ears stood up straight at the sudden noise as he unfolded his wings and flapped them a few times to get away from the rubble. He turned his gaze upwards, trying to spot whatever cause the rubble to fall. He was quickly grabbed the knife that was provided by Twilight from his saddlebags and held it at the ready. "Aye, but I'm the only one who can fly up there. So, you cover my back encase whatever it is attacks me, kay?" He didn't wait for Distortion to answer before he flapped his wings and flew up to where the something was, his knife was still at the ready.

"Yay! Action!" Distortion kept his gun trained on the place where he'd spotted movement, though his eyes wandered around to make sure he wouldn't be ambushed... at least not without his knowledge. Hopefully.