Hope's Refraction

"...Brandy?" Shadow blinked, chuckling. This would be kind of cute if it wasn't for being awakened so rudely... Still, Brandy? What kind of threat was that?

"No, seriously. Are they kidding? Is this some kinda weird pony humor?"

Scales looked over her shoulder at the others, then turned back to the foals.
"Listen, squirt. Didn't your mom ever teach you not to wake up a sleeping dragon?"

"Kids... How you've woken up out friends. Why not we just put down the weapons and just talk whatever it is that bothers you all out? I mean.....we don't need to fight now do we?" Rough Diamond the "Earth Pony" asked as she got out some rope out of her tail, getting ready to fight if need be.

Zakiyya smiles slightly at the shear absurdity of the situation still half convinced that this is still a dream.

The lead filly scoffs at you all  “i don’t think you understand brandy” she says eyes narrowing “we” she gestures to the rest of the foals, “are the ones in charge here, now how about you be quick about it and give us your stuff before we decide to carve up your pretty little faces?”

"Oh, my...You're serious. You really think you can take us, don't you?" Shadow's expression was one of surprise before she began to laugh. "Oh, wow, ah, ha, ha, ha! Oh, that's rich! Kids, you are in WAY over your head. I've fought before, and I have no doubt those two..." She gestured at Storm and Scales at this point, "can handle themselves. So, foal, why don't you take another look at who you're trying to mug, drop your weapons, and walk away before you get hurt?" She narrowed her eyes, leaning in and generally trying to look as menacing as possible. "Or you can press this and there won't be a single one of you walking away."

Persuasion: Step off kid. Don't wanna add "Childkiller" to my reputation list.:

Several of the foals have started shaking at shadows words and several of the foals have started muttering to themselves.
After a few seconds of debate the lead filly speaks up again “tch...you got lucky this time” she says narrowing her eyes at the lot of you “seems a few of us think you could actually take us” she lets out a whinny of laughter at this “so just this once, we’ll let you go.....though we do expect tribute next time!”
At this they group seems to  make a beeline in a southerly direction, you could probably catch up to them if you started now, but do you want to?

(the city you saw yesterday is towards the SW )

After staring off in the direction for a moment and rubbing her eyes a bit Zakiyya passes a note to Shadow Did that really just happen?

Shadow took the note, reading over it before responding. "Yeah, a bunch of foals just tried to rob us. Honestly? Can't say as I've had that happen before, but it's far from the worst welcome I've had." She stretched a bit, looking around. "Rather glad we set up watches now, that could have been bad."

"They weren't taking my things," Scales muttered... well, more like growled. Her eyes flashed as she drew her body around her saddlebags, as if suspicious that the highway foals would be back.

"What we're a bunch of crazy-looking kids doing out here anyway?"

"Personally... I"m just glade we didn't need to fight them. I know we'd have taken them and took them down hard, but still... Don't like fighting myself." Rough Diamond states with a shutter.

That must have been why the spiderpony liked hiding, Scales thought. She suppressed a shudder at the image that followed, of a giant spider descending on her from a dark corner...
She promised Storm to give them a chance, but still- best to keep spider and the fly where she could see them.

"Alright, look, we can't just sit around all day," she said instead. "Let's face it, we could totally take those brats. Hell, they wanted to take my stuff away!" Her tail wrapped around her backpack again, as if to make sure it hadn't been moved in the interim. "I'm madder'n anyone of you! But like I said, we could totally take those brats down, so I say we just forget about it. They ain't worth it. Since we're all already up, I say we just keep moving towards that city."

She smirked, her muzzle and eyes glinting in the light of the fire as she spread her wings. She looked positively draconic.
"You know, unless you little ponies are afraid of the dark and all!"

A giant spider, creeping through the dark at her...
Scales kept on grinning widely.

"Desperate, probably. Didn't seem to have guardians. Probably formed a gang for mutual protection." Shadow shrugged, thinking a bit and glancing at Diamond for a moment before looking back to Scales and nodding. "You're right. There's no point in sitting around and waiting to starve. The sooner we get to civilization, the better." The firelight actually made Scales look kind of intimidating...Most likely what she was going for, but still, mission accomplished at any rate.

Zakiyya kicks at the dirt for a brief moment her shoulders slumping. Silently, she yawns as she looks off in the distance for any signs of civilization and how far away it might be.

perception:

Her wings missed a beat as Shadow mentioned the foals desperation. An image came to mind, of pegasus couple Losing their filly. None of those kids had been Pegasus ponies, but still...

"Yeah," she muttered to Shadow. She coughed a little.
"I mean, um... Yeah. Civil-thingie. Good idea. Hey! Storm! WAKE UP AN' LET'S GET MOVIN'!"

With that whole mess sorted out the group continue heading towards the city, which by Zakiyya’s estimate should be about a day away, leaving you two arrive just as the sun sets.

About a hour into the trip you notice that milky way has disappeared. Throughout most of the trip she had hung around the back of the group and that, combined with the general monotonous walking has apparently allowed her to slip away from the group....though surly she couldn’t have gotten far?

"What're we supposed to do, drag her by the hooves," Scales replied, irritably. She wasn't angry at Storm... or at least, not just at Storm. But she told everyone to go for the city- Milky slipping away like that left Soft Scales feeling undermined.

It was a feeling which wasn't helped by Storm though; after his words earlier, she was... annoyed.
She'd still back him, of course; it was just a sibling irritation. But still... having him undercut everything she said to do didn't exactly inspire confidence in her leadership...

She sighed.
"Look, she knew where we were goin', an' what we were doing. If she wants to go off on her own, then she's free to do that."

Spoiler:

"She's not our concern. She's a big mare, she can handle herself. Or perhaps she had an attack of intelligence and realized what she was travelling with?" She chuckled softly, shaking her head. "Besides, she disappeared without us noticing. There's no telling when she left, or where she was headed. It simply isn't feasible to drop everything to try and look for her." The 'unicorn' shrugged, breaking stride for only a moment. She would have preferred Milky Way stick around...She was a source of emotions to feed on if things got bad, and one of the few links to home Shadow had. Still, it wasn't as if she particularly cared.

Soft Scales agreed more with what the flypony was saying than her brother.

She slumped her shoulders with a sudden, guilty feeling.

Spoiler:

Seeing the Dragon-ish Pegasus going into a slump Zakiyya picks up the pace to catch up with Soft Scales. She then meets her eye before giving a nod and smile of confidence.

"Storm..." Scales said... or, more accurately, whined. She floated awkwardly to the ground, staring at her brother with an awkward, uncomfortable expression.

And then she saw the zebra's look.
She blinked for a second, then puffed out her chest. Yeah- she was supposed to be in charge here, wasn't she? And the boss didn't show any weakness, even in the face of family.
Heck, especially in the face of family.

"No," she said, firmly and clearly. "Starpony made her choice. I'm making ours. We're goin' to the city."