Lullaby squeaked in joy and hugged Lucky, then lead him and Thunder around to the trees so they could find where her father landed
Lullaby hears some hoofsteps as they walked. "We are not alone..." she said calmly as she walked. "Get ready..." she added
Taffy nodded mutely, and sat in the tree, gripping one of the branches and wondering if this was all some crazy hallucination; a pegaus? Appearing out of nowhere to rescue her? She'd only ever seen a couple of Pegasi in her life, and they'd both been really old... Taffy stopped worrying about that when she saw his weapons though; she'd never seen anything like them! She had a fierce desire to study their mechanisms...
"Uhg... that didnt ended up well..." Darky said as he swam out.of the water, then walked towards the tree, wondering where her daughter was. He sighed and walked to the tree, readying his sword to deal with the radscorpions if they were there
Arcus had dropped down from the tree, hovering above the last remaining radscorpion. "Aaaaaand... one more!" he chuckled, aiming both blades downwards and slamming the triggers together, impaling and killing the radscorpion instantly. "Ugh, I'll have to clean the blades after this..." he muttered, pulling the cords on the blades, flying back up to the tree. "So, question for you, how the hell did you get stuck in a tree? With radscorpions after your ass, no less?" he asked Taffy, as he fumbled to get the blades and cords back into their bases. After doing so, he pulled back the hood on his armor, revealing two piercing orange eyes staring straight at the mare... Two eyes that were oblivious the the presence of a pony almost directly below them...
"Oh, Ah had an outstandin' bar tab." Taffy explained, dryly, before chuckling a bit. "Nah, Ah was scavengin' that carriage down there, and Ah must've disturbed their nest or somethin'" She said, distractedly as she stared at the hoof blades. "What're those? C'n Ah look at them?" She asked, smiling, and leaning towards him to get a better view.
Well, he managed to deal with them before he arrived. Darky sheathed his sword once he was below the tree. "Hey! You okay?!" The alicorn asked thrm from below. He was separated from the others, worried about her daughter
"Your fault for getting into a radscorpion bar, then." he smiled, shaking his head and still fumbling with the blades. But suddenly... Arcus blinked, holding his hooves out to her. "These? Oh, uh, ballistic hoofblades, basically." he grinned, pulling back the sleeves on his armor. "Try not to hit the triggers, though, that wouldn't be good..." he said, as he gestured to two small squares on the inside edges of his forelegs.
Taffy peered at them closely, turning her head about to look at every angle. "Fascinatin'..." She murmured, resisting the temptation to touch them. "Ballistic ya say? But no cartridges... Must be some kinda tiny scale spark generator!" She deduced, excitedly. She had to cut her inspection short however, when she heard a voice bellow them...
Arcus rolled his eyes, still extending his hooves towards Taffy. "Ballistic in the sense that it fires, of course. And no, they're springloaded. Pretty crazy powerful springs on these... Although, I could probably make the blades electric if I plopped a spark generator on these, hmm..." Arcus replied, before he drifted off in thought... ... Was he seriously thinking about this now? It didn't really matter, though, since his attention quickly snapped back upon hearing a voice... Directly below them. Well, at least it wasn't a threat! Turning to Taffy, Arcus tilted his head, "... Friend of yours?"
Taffy smiled strangely, and looked away. "Ah doubt it..." She didn't have any friends, and had been travelling alone for a couple of weeks now. She looked down to see who the voice belonged to. "What th' hay...?" She muttered, frowning. A pony with wings and a horn? She was starting to feel as though she'd been short-changed in the genetic lottery. "Uh... Yeah... We had a slight radscorpion problem, but, uh... everythin's perfectly alright now. We're fine. We're both fine here now, thank you." Taffy called down to the strange pony, with a slightly nervous smile. "How are you?"
"Could be better... just crashed on a lake..." he said calmly as he rubed the back of his head. "Why dont you come down? Is safe down here." He added
"Errr... I rather not talk about it..." he said blushing a bit in embarrasment. "And it is not important right now"
Arcus was listening to the two talk, leaning over the side of the tree with interest. And, well... "Pretty sure that the story of how you crashed on a lake is the most interesting thing to tell right now." Arcus laughed, pulling the sleeves back on his armor. "But still, quick question, are you after a bounty, by chance?"
"Are you a hallucination?" Taffy asked Darky, still peering down from her tree at him, uncertainly, " 'Cause I never seen a pony like you before..."
