evilcorgi

"AAAAAAAUGH" Marble screamed in pain. It felt like his kneecap had caught on fire. Both his front legs immobilized, he shifted his weight to his back legs. He lost his balance almost immediately and crashed onto his back, which was less painful than if he had collapsed on his injured forelimbs. Marble clenched his teeth, closed his eyes and flailed his back legs in pain.

True Shot sat in the cover he'd found, and grieved silently for a moment. He'd known Citrus for as long as he could remember. They were both so excited to live here, free from Celestia's rule. All their plans and aspirations were gone now because True Shot convinced Citrus to go on this rebellion. This was his fault, and he knew it, but he didn't care. The only thing his rage filled, depressed mind wanted, was a crossbow bolt through Marble Stripe's head. If only he hadn't run out. Luckily for him, something shiny caught his eye. On the ground, where some of the rebels had been traveling, was a single, abandoned crossbow bolt. True Shot snatched it up and ran back to his perch. The unicorn with a broken horn was awake, and standing still. True Shot took aim, about to magically pull the trigger... but wait... Who's that mare he's talking to? True Shot thought for a moment. "I won't kill him... I'll kill someone he cares about" he decided, unaware of the pony's social situation. "Then again, it'd feel a lot better to kill him..." He decided to let luck decide. He unloaded the bolt, tore one feather off, and reloaded it. gasp... sigh THWANG _____________________________________________________________________________ "Oh, I'm a stick in the mud for trying to have-" Marble stopped talking and took a deep breath. He turned to Silver Heart without another word to Aegis. "Miss, is there anything you can do to remove this bolt?" Marble asked in exasperation. "I just want to go home." THWANG THUD

"Oh, well buck you! What, are you defending the rioters now? I didn't say a word about you and you still act like I insulted you." Marble attempted to use his one functioning leg to turn away, to amusing effect. "that's what I get for trying to strike up a conversation..." he muttered. Marble glanced over at the white unicorn "And who are you? Were you here the whole time?"

"Why do you want to know?" Marble asked, groggily. [response here, try to mention that she's a nurse] "Oh, you are?" He asked rhetorically. "Uh... this leg is numb from the shoulder down. You can fix that, right?" "Oh, well, the sure-shot that shot me did so from a whopping five hooves away. A real sharpshooter he is. Ohh, quick, sign this star up for the Gryphon Guard, he's a real talent." Marble sneered.

"What? What!?" True shot exclaimed in pure rage. He quickly notched and fired another bolt only for it to soar over their heads. Out of bolts, he ran to some bushes and started to decide what he'd do next. ______________________________________________________________________________ THUD Marble flinched as he slid off Poppy's back, onto the ground. He groaned as he slowly opened his eyes and tried to get his footing back, only to have a sharp pain soot through his shoulder, knocking him back down. "Ugh... What am I covered in?" he asked in a half-conscious stupor.

True Shot dropped his crossbow, and rushed over to Citrus' motionless body. He was horrified at the damage that had been done, and he hoped against hope that his friend could still be alive. "Wake up..." he said in a shaky tone, shaking the body "Come on, wake up!" True Shot began to shout. His head tarted upward toward where the assailant had fallen. "What!?" he said aloud. To his bewilderment, the body was gone. True Shot quickly snached up his crossbow, and looked around frantically, aiming where he looked. There! He was being carried away on the back of somepony else, escaping in a crowd of fearful citizens. True Shot took aim, and fired into the crowd. Somepony fell, but not the one he was concerned with. He reloaded and fired again, and again he missed. He quickly glanced toward Kashmir to find that it had been evacuated, save for one swordspony. "good..." he thought, as he gave chase to the escaping crowd. He tailed the caravan from about thirty feet as it split at every turn. The group got smaller and smaller until it had shrunk to three mares, one stallion, and... him. The one who killed citrus. Luck stayed with him as they stopped in Posey Park in front of somepony else. "perfect" He breathed in, steading his aim. THWANG! He fired the crossbow as the air vacated his lungs. ((Windbreaker or someone else can decide where the bolt flies))

Marble arrived at his home in Cameron Suites. Amused by the knowledge that those simpletons at the party were going to be harassed by some angry janitors, Marble sat down, and picked up a book. He had stayed up this long, he was at least going to see the fireworks (or whatever those delinquents had planned). He could see the Kashmir Restaurant from his room (it was about a block away), and he had time to burn, so he started to read, occasionally glancing up to see what was going on. He sat for about 15 minutes before the party-crashers arrived. "Ah, here we go." He said to himself, setting down his book to watch more intently. Marble chuckled to himself briefly as he watched the panicked guests scramble as the bunny-masks shot some sort of projectiles at them. Man, those guests sure were panicked... too panicked. Marble squinted and leaned closer to the window to try to see what was going on better. Was that blood!? "Oh Celestia..." Marble muttered in realization. The crossbow he saw, their strategic approach, it all made more sense now, and it scared the living daylights out of Marble. He got up, and walked back and forth frantically. Should he go help them? "as if. I"m not risking my life for those assholes" he thought. But then again... he would be revered as a hero. Book sales, publishing deals, and all the potential money were too much for Marble to give up. He looked around his room for something he could bring. He settled on grabbing a kitchen knife, and he galloped back to the restaurant. This closer he got, the more scared he became. "no, keep going! Think of what's at stake!" He kept telling himself. He approached the party, knife in mouth, and ran toward a rebel from the back, the noise he was making masked by the chaos coming from the massacre. "This is it..." he thought to himself. Marble pounced on a stagler, knocking him over. The blade sticking out of the side of his mouth, he cocked his head to the side, and plunged the knife into the assailant. The knife made a sickening TWACK. Marble was disgusted by what he had just done. He let go of the handle, the rebel screaming in pain. He tried to get up, but Marble began to viciously stomp on the soldier. He had no idea what he was doing, he had forgotten why he came here in the heat of the moment, but adrenaline and fear kept him going. "Oh Celestia, why did I do this!?" the shortsighted author thought. He kept stomping on his victim. He couldn't stop now. One wrong move, and he was done for, another statistic from this disaster. THUD THUD THUD Marble stopped. The crossbowpony was bleeding like mad, not moving, not breathing. A soldier a few paces further ahead looked back. "Ey, Citrus, are you- OY! WHAT'D YOU DO!?" The pony shouted at Marble. Marble began to back away, terrified. He began to run away, when suddenly twang TWACK! Marble stopped dead in his tracks, a burning pain coming from his chest. He looked down slowly. A crossbow bolt was lodged near his shoulder. His balance failed him, and he fell to his knees, and slumped over. He was loosing blood fast, and he was hyperventilating to boot. "No... Stay awake... sta..." He muttered, as he fell unconscious.

Marble was silent and motionless for a good 15 seconds. He had wasted his night, gotten injured by Galt's drones, and now he was being insulted by some nobody journalist. He was absolutely fed up. He stood up slowly, with a forced smile. "Have a nice night, everypony." and he walked away. Marble slowly walked through the halls of Harmony, on his way to his home, when something moved in the corner of his eye. It was faint, but it appeared to be group of about five ponies, wearing bizarre rabbit masks. "Where are the others?" one of them whispered, sounding exasperated. "sigh for the third time, we're going in separate squads so that-" The second leader was cut off. "Hello?" Marble shouted. "I can see you. What are you doing?" "Buck, run!" The leader shouted, and they all rushed off in the direction of the Kashmir Restaurant. Marble caught a glimpse of something metal on one of the ponies. Was that a crossbow? "Hey, wait!" He yelled in vain. Nothing was stopping them now, and they were too fast for Marble. "At least there was someone that party didn't want..." He muttered. There was no way that those delinquents could do any harm. They probably just wanted to throw eggs as the hoity-toity party-goers. The idea put him in a slightly better mood. He continued to trot off to his apartment.

Marble set his glass down. Whatever was in it was pretty bad. Not terrible, but not worth drinking. "Oh yeah, and what's that supposed to mean?" He said, glaring at Poppy Seed. "Have you let that thing near you eye? I was half blind for a month." Marble went to grab something else from the bar "not that I wouldn't be happy to give you a reason to see that machine" He said under his breath. He knew this party was going to be a waste of his time. A four star restaurant filled with some unimportant morons wasn't anything he'd be losing sleep over again. Marble glanced over at the pony Poppy gestured to. "great. Now a bucking desk clerk's at the party. 'best and the brightest' my flank"

"Oh no. There's no way in Hades that I'm letting that thing near my eye again. I should probably see a real doctor or something. ((Ahem, Silver Heart))" Marble glanced up at the clock. "Finally," He sighed, "15 more minutes before we can all go home." Marble slumped onto one of the bar-stools and poured himself a glass of whatever Darkstorm set on the table. He couldn't read the label in his current state, so he took a sip out of a leap of faith.

@Darkstorm "No, don't worry. I only took about three shots to the left eye." He said with a watery, slightly reddish left eye. Marble walked up to meet the grey pony. "Marble Stripe, acclaimed author" he said, overestimating his own fame. "Is there any cider back there?" He gestured to the bar-counter.

Marble sat at his table, alone, with no one but a few fans in search of autographs to keep him company. There were many many peers here, but Marble had alienated himself from all of them at some point in his career. He had been greeted by a few distasteful glares, but not much else. Marble was just beginning to wonder if he should just leave, when his attention was diverted to the overblown appearance of Galt. After the applause ended, Marble opted to order another drink instead of just leaving. After all, maybe there's still a publisher he hasn't insulted or pissed off yet. It had been only about a minute before another distraction hit the party. For whatever reason, Galt was attacking Steel Accord with a few nerfed ((Is that word too un-ponyish?)) versions of those flying sentries. Marble just watched in surprise, until a couple mis-fired shots persuaded him to take cover. Marble was unlucky enough to pick a table that was close to the firefight, closing any escape options he might have had. After it was all over, he emerged from underneath his table, to see that the party had been mostly deserted.

"Well, maybe it was different where you came from, but I-" Marble's eye was caught by a shimmer from Steel's sword "...Had different experiences. Guess that was just me though!" He said with an uneasy smile. "If you'll excuse me, I have to go now." He said hurriedly. He decided that he didn't want to anger the city's finest swordspony. He trotted in an unclear direction. ((Oh, crap. Uh... oops! Didn't think that through (the Luna thing) ))

Marble butted into the conversation at that last response "I beg your pardon? Freedom in Equestria was a joke! A giant lie cooked up by those alicorns! It was a absolute dictatorship, and don't even get me STARTED about that communist gryffon..." He said with a scowl. ((Uh... I posted this seconds too late...))

Marble Stripe walked down the streets of Harmony with a disinterested look on his face. He had been invited to some dumb party that he had no interest in, just for writing a couple books that the ponies of Harmony ate up. It not as if he wrote anything that shouldn't be obvious, they were just a couple of informational books about entrepreneurship and budgeting and the like. As he soon learned, the price of fame and wealth was the people's desire to follow him as a personality, as opposed to an author. As he approached the party, he quickly imitated a pleasant demeanor. He ordered a few drinks, and he talked to few ponies asking for tips, before he sat down at a table, and prepared to spend the rest of the evening drinking. He could barely stand being surrounded by these unimportant urchins. Marble was preparing to order another drink, when something caught his eye. Was that... It was! Steel Accord, one of the city's biggest celebrities Marble was well known to a degree, but Steel's fame dwarfed Marble's! He couldn't waste the entire evening without talking to him. He stood up and walked over to the table where he and another pony "Who he suspected was from the press" were sitting. he muscled past their waiter. "Excuse me gentlemen, mind if I join you?" He said in a sophisticated manor, already pulling out a chair.