open Crimson Dawn

[Time Shield 402]

(Link to OOC thread)

 

CRIMSON DAWN

 

 

*   *   *

 

The morning sun glistened brightly against the tall buildings of Manehattan.  Beautiful weather was scheduled for the day, and those who lived in the city were taking full advantage of it.  Street vendors had long lines of ponies to buy their wares, young fillies and colts were taking to the parks to play, and with the main business week over, there was anticipation for the relaxing weekend ahead.

 

Even on these slower days, however, city life can still be hectic and fast-paced compared to life out in the country, and with all the distraction the city provides, it can become all too easy to forget about the rest of Equestria.  News may travel fast within the city, but one rarely seems to takes notice of events outside, except when it is something so major that it simply cannot be ignored.

 

Thus, the city went about its business this morning, blissfully unaware of the danger that was soon to be approaching...

[crispy fries 432]

Redwood had moved from Ponyville to Manehattan about a month ago, and had secured work at the docks. She was an ex-soldier, and still made sure to keep herself in good physical condition. Redwood lived in a working class district near the docks, and began her morning like any other. Got up, worked out, tied her bandana around her head and set off to the docks for work.

[Guest]

Diva was a teacher at the National University of Manehatten. There, she taught drama and the performing arts as she had been for the past few months. She as arguably the youngest 'professor' there, albeit not one in the field of science or magic. She lived in a relatively large apartment. The place had a distinct lack of fragile objects.

 

Morning came, and Diva was still asleep, sprawled on her bed. Her mouth had small trail of drool. She wouldn't have class till later in the afternoon. She could sleep in.

[Summer Breeze 2,528]

silk shine woke up, it was later as she had expected. the sun was shining and it looked like a normal day. silk opened her window and looked at the streets below, from her apartment she had a great view of the streets of manehatten. it was a day like every other for the lilac colored unicorn, she had to work on her mix and see if there where any bookings for shows. silk grabbed a glas of orange juice and her laptop. when she opened her email there was nothing new, she sighed. life as an upcoming DJ was hard and if she didn't get a new show soon she ran out of money. but she didn't worry about it too much, that wasn't something silk did often. she tried to work on her new song for a bit but had absolutely no inspiration so she closed her laptop and saw a pile of books she needed to bring back to the library. silk levitated the books and went outside. it was a verry nice day, the ponies of manehatten seemed a little les rushed today and there where even some birds singing.

silk trotted down the road to the library, she could also have grabbed a taxi but she needed watch her money and the weather was far to nice to waste. silk walked past her favorite cafe and thought about getting some brunch there but decided not to, she wasn't really hungry and she still had enough food in her fridge at home.

[Time Shield 402]

Redwood passed a newsstand along the usual route she takes to the docks.  The beige stallion at the stand was opening a new bundle of newspapers, and looked up to greet her as she passed.  "Mornin'," he said, tipping his cap slightly.  As there wasn't anything particularly newsworthy today, he didn't immediately offer her a paper like he usually did when there was a big headline.

 

 

Elsewhere, as Silk Shine was making her way towards the library, a ball bounced across the sidewalk in front of her, with a pair of young colts in close pursuit.  They nearly tripped her up as they ran by.  One of them had a little more manners than the other and stopped to say, "Oops... Sorry, miss!"

[crispy fries 432]

"Mornin'," Redwood replied to the stallion as she continued on her route. When she finally arrived at the docks, Redwood was greeted by her boss.

 

"Mornin' to ya, Redwood," he said in a gruff voice, "We got a ship fresh in, needs unloadin'. It's a big shipment of imported goods."

[Summer Breeze 2,528]

when silk walked along to the library she almost stood on a ball, if she had put her hoof down she would have stood on it. two young colts followed the ball and also almost ran over silk, silk felt annoyed and almost wanted to do something to the little ponies but one of them was so polite to excuse himself and he looked so cute and happy to play with his ball that the anger melted and summer smiled to him to let him know that it was alright.

then silk continued on her way to the library, but looking over her shoulder once to see the little colts still playing with their ball. then she looked where she was going again because she almost bumped into somepony, but she managed to step aside just on time. finally she arrived at the library, the books still in her saddlebag. she gave them to the librarian with a smile and walked to the books to see if there where some new books to read.

[Mentis Soliloquy 3,025]

(*pants* sorry I'm late to the start people)

 

Sapphire walked down one of the many streets of Manehatten she'd been here a few times now for various reasons this time it was pick up a rather special book for Twilight that was coming from Griffonstone and she'd been sent to retrieve it a job she volunteered for an excuse for a small holiday away from Ponyville. She continued towards the docks her amour making it's normal near crunching like sound as she walked and she got a few stares and odd comments she always did not many ponies see EUP around in somewhere like Manehatten at all but she did not mind the attention she like wearing her Onyx coloured amour.

 

(Ref photo, just replace Em for Sapphire)

 

 

[crispy fries 432]

@@Mentis Soliloquy,

 

Redwood noticed Sapphire walking down the docks as she began to unload the ship that had come in.

 

She walked up to her, extended her hoof, and said with a smile, "Well, ah didn't expect to see a uniform today. Howdy, ah'm Redwood. formerly Sergeant First Class Redwood."

[Mentis Soliloquy 3,025]

@@crispy fries,

 

sapphire was a little in thought until she was met by a red earth pony, who seemed rather friendly and extended her hoof to her. Which she of course returned with a good shake. "Nice to meet you Redwood, My name is Sapphire, corporal working in Ponyville's guard, we are there to help and protect the Elements of Harmony nice to meet a former guard, where you serve? Canterlot, heck the Empire?"  

Edited March 13, 2016 by Mentis Soliloquy

[crispy fries 432]

@@Mentis Soliloquy,

 

"I ain't servin' no more. Ten years and a knife in th' gut will put you outta the game. Back when ah was, I got stationed all over Equestria. Ah was in Canterlot durin' th' changeling attack, that's how ah got this," said Redwood, pointing to a scar on her neck. "Ah been to Saddle Arabia, th' Crystal Empire, you name it. Ah'm from Appleoosa though."

Edited March 13, 2016 by crispy fries

[Mentis Soliloquy 3,025]

@@crispy fries,

 

"My sister was in Canterlot during the invasion too I was aswell but I was not in the guard at the time, we've only been in Ponyville. Appleoosa hey? I've heard about that little town sounds like a nice place. So where do you live now then? Redwood?" She was now distracted from her task but it was only a book.

[crispy fries 432]

@@Mentis Soliloquy,

 

"Ah live here in Manehattan now, and ah I work at th' docks. Should probably be gettin' back to it. Nice meetin' you, corporal," said Redwood as she snapped off a crisp salute.

 

Redwood promptly went back to the ship, and began to unload the goods inside. Meeting Sapphire had put her in a good mood.

[Summer Breeze 2,528]

silk found some new books at the library, some new daring do books and some other books that looked interesting to her. she levitated the pile of books and walked outside, the weather was still really nice and silk decided not to go straight home but to make a detour. maybe she could go to the docks or something, she ships and the sparkling water always gave her inspiration and she liked the feeling of the seabreeze through her manes.

 

silk trotted down the road to the docks, the streets became les busy when she came closer to it. all the fancy ponies were  in the center and the real, working ponies were here.

 

silk had to concentrate on levitating the books to not let them fall, magic had never been one of her strong points, so she could only enjoy the scenery so much but suddenly silk saw a rather different pony from the corner of her eye. she kept walking but she turned her head to see the pony better. it was a mare and she was wearing some kind of armour. without realising it she started to walk slower and eventually stopped walking but concentrated on the fancy armour pony, looking at other ponies was something silk always enjoyed doing, not in a creepy way ofcourse, but when she saw somepony walking down the street she sometimes wondered where they would go and where they came from and what they where thinking.

 

now silk was thinking the same things about this pony, she didn't look like she was from manehatten and why would she be here, at the docks. she was so concentrated on all of this that she suddenly heard a 'bouf' next to her, she looked and saw that she had dropped her books. silks face turned red, she looked around to see if nopony had seen her and started to pick up her books from the ground.

[Time Shield 402]

As the conversation went on, the ponies in the area mostly continued about their business, although a few of them had stopped and were looking up at something in the sky.  It wasn't unusual to see pegasi flying about the city, but this was different.  High above the city there were what appeared to be two pegasi flying overhead, wearing the armor of the royal guard of Canterlot.  They were only visible for a few seconds before they disappeared from the narrow view of the sky that the nearby buildings allowed.  Moments later, a larger group of them appeared--about two dozen--heading in the same direction as the first two.  Six of those were also pulling chariots containing more members of the royal guard; unicorns, since obviously they could not fly.  The direction they were heading looked to be the outskirts of town, but whatever their destination was, they were in a hurry to get there.

Edited March 13, 2016 by Time Shield

[crispy fries 432]

Redwood once more turned her focus from unloading the ship to look up at the sky. She saw the team of Royal guards overhead, and couldn't help but get an odd feeling in her gut.

 

'Somethin's goin' on,' Redwood thought to herself.

 

A team of Royal guards like that was an odd sight for sure.

[Mentis Soliloquy 3,025]

Sapphire looked up to see scores of her colleagues flying off into the distance, that was not a good sign something was happening if there were so many going to where ever they were needed. She quickly moved to the boat to find what she'd been sent for so she could get back to Ponyville. 

[Time Shield 402]

The ponies of Manehattan began to notice the royal guard flying overhead, and the streets became filled with confused murmurs. Finally, one of the unicorns in the chariot cast a spell and began to speak in an amplified voice, loud enough to reach those indoors as well as those outdoors:

 

"Your attention please. By order of Princess Celestia, all citizens are to immediately seek shelter indoors. This is not a drill. You must comply within five minutes; after this time has passed, do not--I repeat, do NOT--let anypony else indoors wherever you are taking shelter. Remain sheltered this way until we have sounded the all-clear. Do not panic, follow instructions, and no pony will be harmed."

 

There are echoes of similar speech in the distance, where other royal guards are relaying the same message to each section of Manehattan at the same time.

 

At the conclusion of the announcement, there is an immediate tension in the air; the ponies of Manehattan begin to take on a mixture of confusion and panic, many of them trotting towards the nearest buildings to take shelter as instructed. A few others here and there start galloping in other directions, attempting to head home instead.

Edited March 18, 2016 by Time Shield

[Mentis Soliloquy 3,025]

Sapphire was even more worried now this was not good at all being exempt from the orders allowed her to make her way to the boat and get the stupid book after which she started doing her job helping foals and the elderly into the closest buildings making sure that everyone cleared the streets. 

[crispy fries 432]

"Aw, hell," Redwood said to herself.

 

She proceeded to follow the guard's instructions and trotted over to a warehouse on the docks along with several other dockworkers. What was going on? What could warrant the royal guards ordering an entire city to stay indoors?

[Guest]

Diva was awoken by the sound of the amplified voice. She groggily rose herself to see what the big deal was, pulling back a curtain. She noticed a flying chariot pass by her window, and jumped back in fright. 

 

"Ah!"

 

Well, her feathers her ruffled, and she was pretty awake now. She sighed; looks like she wouldn't go back to sleep after all. 

 

Choosing to make herself a water ( her entire block had signed a petition to ban any form of high-caffeine beverages in her apartment ), she sipped it from a mug as she lounged on her couch, listening to the announcement. 

 

As she listened to it, a deadpan look crossed her face. 'So, they woke me up just to tell me to stay in bed?'

[Summer Breeze 2,528]

silk was so busy with picking up her books that she didn't see the ponies flying over her head. just when she had gathered all her books the royal guard ponies started to speak and silk got a little heart attack which caused her to drop her books again. she snorted angry and scraped her hoof over the ground from frustration.

 

she got even more frustrated when she heard the guards say that they had to go to a shelter or home, if she didn't need to pick up those bucking books she would have been able to go home in time, now she needed to hurry if she wanted to be there in five minutes. she thought about what she would do while picking up her books and decided to  hurry home. it wouldn't really matter if she arrived there one minute later.

 

but because silk felt so stressed she could not concentrate and picking up her books was just so slow, she decided to ignore magic and pick them up like normal ponies, with her mouth. this still wasn't quick enough and she got frustrated more and more when time passed by. but she also didn't want to leave the books behind since they were not hers, but from the library.

[Time Shield 402]

As ponies attempted to follow orders and get indoors, there were several shouts from a group of royal guards, not far from where Redwood and Sapphire were.  A lone blue pegasus was flying high over the rooftops, and three of the royal guards appeared to have broken off from the main group and went in pursuit.  They tackled the blue pegasus in midair and struggled with him, trying to restrain him.  They dropped out of the sky and skidded to a halt on the street; everypony in the immediate area backed up quickly to give them room.

 

It was difficult to see what was going on, but there were odd sounds coming from the blue pegasus, crazed shouts that sounded more like barks or growls rather than speech or calls for help.  Eventually, one of the guards struck the pegasus on the head, knocking him out.

 

While two of the guards relaxed, the third backed up, holding one hoof to his other foreleg, cringing in pain.  The others immediately assumed he had hurt his foreleg during the landing, although there was no external injury visible; perhaps it was a bone fracture?

Edited March 22, 2016 by Time Shield

[Mentis Soliloquy 3,025]

@@Time Shield, 

 

Sapphire ran up to the group. "What the heck is going on? What's wrong with the pegasus and your comrade? Is he ok? I can see to that here trooper I have some healing spells so hold still let me have a look at your leg." She walked over to the hurt one, she was the highest ranking guard of the four so she'd get the answers she needed when she'd looked at the injured guard...

Edited March 22, 2016 by Mentis Soliloquy

[Midnight Memories 5]

Treble floated through the streets, no particular purpose but feeling she should be doing something important. She flapped her wings faster, the bow atop her head fastened on tightly. "Is there somewhere I should be?" she wondered to herself as she sped up.