open Deceptive duality RP

[Starstream 182]

Link to OOC thread

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As noon sets in over the land of Equestria the streets of the cities on the ground as well as those in the skies start to show their population, a population the size seemingly no city was built for. All across the country moans and groans of hunger and irritation could be heard. Big cities were rampant with theft and small villages were banding together to share whatever food was left among the way too large population.

Throughout the skies of Ponyville flew a uniform clad group of pegasi. One light brown pony in particular flew around barking orders at the others, instructing them as they went about distributing small bags of fruits to the villagers. After a good while she flew down to the park and took her own bag out of her pocket. She sighed as she looked at the halved apple and the single cherry she was allotted. She rested the bag next to her and stared off into the sky where her colleagues were all still very active. A shiver ran down her spine as she noticed the clouds drifting over the village. Clouds that were not planned to be there according to the weather forecast for today. She groaned, annoyed at the prospect of even more work to do.

 

As she opened her bag she muttered to herself, "ugh... It's like the whole village has suddenly become the Everfree forest! Well... minus the plants anyway..."

Edited July 21, 2013 by Starstream

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

It had been another long trip. The detour had lasted days longer than they had expected and when they had finally docked, Kingfisher had been surprisingly keen to get off the boat: much as she might act otherwise, she didn't have quite the same love for the sea as Red did.

 

While he had head straight into Canterlot, Kingfisher had instead packed supplies and wandered towards the town in the other direction, secretly celebrating the chance to be on her own for a while. Again, she didn't mind being at sea, but being stuck on a tiny ship for weeks could send a pony stir crazy.

 

"What in the Sisters names happened 'round here?" She muttered to herself as she wandered down the street.

 

The docks had been quiet, subdued even. She had put it down to the time of their arrival but walking into Ponyville now, she couldn't help but feel a shiver run down her spine. She couldn't place it exactly, not from her first glance into town, but everything seemed... so morbid.

[Snowy Storm 57]

Dark sat in a small opening in the Everfree Forest. Chaos was free and roaming in the world just like the images he saw when he tapped into the power of that place. A Timberwolf emerged from the forest.

Dark stood from his place and faced the Timberwolf.

"Away with you" Dark raised his hoof and a black gunk formed around the timberwolf. It howled in pain as it fled back into the forest.

Dark could feel the energy of the timberwolf became his own. His turned red for a moment, before fading back to pink.

"It seems like the Everfree forest is expanding. Something is coming" Dark sat back  and breathed in the magic in the air. 

[Starstream 182]

Star sighed. She lowered her hoof and placed the apple back in the bag. She couldn't bring herself to eat while there was still work to be done.

 

Star took a deep breath and got off of the park bench. She decided to go look for the other head weather ponies to discuss what they could do about the weather for now. Not sure where to start her search, she just walked ahead, hoping she'd run into one of them eventually as she worked her way through the village.

 

As she walked she silently thought to herself, "We should have really organized this better."

[Fluttering High 55]

Soulfire frowned. Something was wrong with the fire. He was helping his parents, what with all of the crazy things going on. As a chilled breeze had started blowing, he had decided to make a fire to heat up the house. But it wasn't working properly. His mother looked nervously over his shoulder. "What's wrong? Can you not make a fire?" She sounded on the verge of panic. With all the odd things happening, he didn't blame her. "It's not that it won't start", he said, "It's just harder to get it going, and once I do..." He searched for an apt description.

 

"Imagine a pony lying on her side. That is a fire when it's out. You are trying to get her to stand up straight, which is a nice, average sized fire, but if she falls over on the other side, it is the fire when it's too big. Now imagine the pony with a giant weight strapped on her back. It's harder to push her up, and she falls to the other side much to easily once she is up. That is how the fire is behaving right now."

 

His mother looked nervous at his example. "Why is it doing this?", she said. Soulfire glanced out the window. "I don't know."

Edited July 22, 2013 by Fluttering High

[Nuclear Neurotic 56]

The massive looting and arson had consumed Manehattan.

The gray unicorn's abilties had proven themselves in this apocalyptic world. When everything was harmonic, her explosive spells and radiation powers had no usefulness. But in this crazed world that was now Equestria, they gave her the chance to protect herself.

 

Nuclear had come home with the meager food she had managed to steal. She called out to her parents, but only silence echoed her words.

 

'Oh Celestia...please not them...'

 

She sniffed the air and froze before lowering her ears. The unicorn could still smell the scent of homemade explosive and smoke. Looters had killed her parents.

That act of murder had severed her last connection to this godforsaken city, finally prompting her to leave.

 

By now she had walked far enough that the ruins of Manehattan were a mere speck in the horizon.

[Starstream 182]

Star couldn't find any of her colleagues anywhere in town. She suspected they might have gone off to the families living just outside the village. She headed for the cottage nearest to where she was at the moment.

As she neared Soulfire's house a chilling sensation washed over her like a bucket of cold water. "S-S-Sweet Celestia! It-t-t's even w-worse over h-here!" She placed her hoodie over her head and rushed to the house, banging on one of the windows. "H-Hey, is anyone in here?"

[Fluttering High 55]

"Wake up, WAKE UP! Oh Celestia, not her." Soulfire is panicking now. As he frantically tries to wake up his mother, Treewatcher, he feels the cold breeze washing over him again. It feels almost malevolent now. "No, no, NO!"

 

Suddenly he looks up. Somebody's outside, yelling. Ponies scrounging for food or valuables, maybe? He had heard about the chaos in Manehattan, with looters raiding other ponies property and even killing others. He approached the window nervously. "Hello? Is anybody out there?", he yells. He peeks out the window to see a light brown pony, with black hair and a turquoise streak in her tail looking back up at him.

[Starstream 182]

She stared back at him and tried to smile, shivering under the harsh cold. Before her stood a somewhat famished looking yellow pegasus. She tried to see if there was anyone else in the house along with him but she couldn't look past him.

 

She stood there, staring awkwardly for a good minute or so, before getting an idea. She rummaged in her bags for a few seconds and took out one of the few fruit packs she had left, showing it to him.

Edited July 30, 2013 by Starstream

[Fluttering High 55]

Soulfire nervously took the package from her. He hadn't eaten anything since the morning of the day before, and was starving. Having to take care of his sick mother had occupied most of his time, and he hadn't been able to get out of the house too look for food.

 

He wondered who the mare was that had offered him some of her food. Most ponies were hoarding anything they had for themselves.  He hadn't seen this pegasus around before, but banding together was always a good way to survive in a disaster. He flew down from the low window to stand by her. "What's your name?", he asked nervously.

[Starstream 182]

"S-S-Starstream H-heartlocke... I'm-m With the P-Ponyville weather team. We were passing out ration packs t-t-to villagers and I had  some l-left." She couldn't stop shivering as she spoke. "I was out here l-looking f-for my c-colleagues, but... it seems I got d-disoriented. h-how far off of Ponyville am I?"

Edited July 30, 2013 by Starstream

[Fluttering High 55]

"It's only about a half-mile th-that way," he says. He points down the road to the west. Soulfire shivers. "It's even colder out here then it is inside," he says. We need to get away from here. It's like something is trying to freeze us. He remembers his mother, lying cold on the living room floor, and has to suppress his sadness.

 

He shakes it away. "We need to g-get out of here. I think something is making it cold on purpose, and whatever it is, it's not nice. Trying to think logically, he says, "We should head away from Ponyville. Something is h-happening, and it's targeting the ponies. Is th-there anypony you know that could help?"

[Nuclear Neurotic 56]

Nuclear was despondent to say the least. She traveled along the mostly empty roads. Her stomach growled, making her sigh.

 

'I only packed enough food for a week....I don't want to eat all of it now...' she thought as she neared a forest.

Another sigh escaped her lips as she sat down beneath a tree, her body aching from all the walking she had done to get away from Manehattan.

 

"I guess....I could rest my eyes...for a bit..." she said aloud, after taking a couple bites of a half loaf of stale bread.

[Starstream 182]

Star thought deeply for a while, trying to think of someone, anyone, who she knows who could shed some light on the situation, but to no avail. "I d-don't have many connections outside of...  the v-village a-and C-Cloudsdale, and the situation in Cloudsdale was e-even worse last time I ch-checked." She shook her head and sighed. A little cloud of vapor formed before her face as she did so. "For now l-let's just get out of here. I-Is there a-anyone else with you in th-there?"

Edited July 30, 2013 by Starstream

[Fluttering High 55]

Soulfire looks away despondently. "My... My mother was," he stutters. "She was old, and th-the cold got to her. I don't know where my f-father is. He left the house a few days ago to get f-food, and never came back."

 

He looks off into the distance. "We should g-get going," he says as he starts to turn away. "It's only getting w-worse here, and nothing's holding me b-back anymore." He sighs. Soulfire starts to walk towards the woods, then looks back. "You c-coming?"

Edited July 30, 2013 by Fluttering High

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

 

Sorry about the lack of posts, I was waiting to see if any of the missing players appeared.

 

 

"This is... This is chaos!" Kingfisher muttered to herself as the pushed through a small crowd of sickly looking ponies, a few of which followed her saddlebags with hungry eyes. Flashing the cutlass beside her pack seemed to discourage them - for the time being.

 

She had only brought enough supplies for a one way trip: she could probably scrape by on them long enough to get back to the ship, but what then? Red was in Canterlot: she wasn't you g to find him anywhere near soon enough. No, she was on her own for this one: her captain would have to fend for himself.

 

"I need to find sompony sane enough to tell me what's going on..." She murmured, casting her sight around town and back outside its borders.

[Starstream 182]

Star hesitantly watches the yellow pony. She nodded. "Give me one minute." She entered the house and looked around for a while. In one of the rooms she found a mare laying motionlessly in front of an uncharred pile of cinder wood. She took her weather pony jacket off and wrapped it around the mare's corpse. She carefully lifted the mare onto her back and headed back out to her son.

 

Outside she tried to give Soulfire a somewhat compassionate smile. "Okay, n-now I'm ready. Just one q-question, I-Is there... any p-place she'd want to be... b-buried?"

[Fluttering High 55]

He looked back towards Ponyville. "She would want to be buried in the woods. Plants were her special talent. She owned the flower nursery out by the edge of town." Soulfire takes a deep breath. Trying to not let the sadness get to him, he says "There's a little glade in the forest. She always loved to sit by the stream there and just watch the plants." He takes his mother's body from Starstream. "Thank you", he says sadly.

[Starstream 182]

She nodded and wrapped her wings around herself in a futile attempt to keep warm. She watched Soulfire and said, "we should bring her there, and then we should head back to the village. If any of my colleagues are back then we could maybe ask them if they know anything more about what's going on."

She turned to the forest and waited for him to take the lead.

[Fluttering High 55]

Soulfire tests his wings. "I won't be able to fly with her. We're going to have to walk," he says. He starts trotting towards the woods. As they enter, Soulfire suddenly feels warmer. Its like the cold was surrounding my house, he thinks to himself.

 

The walk to the glade takes about an hour. Soulfire buries his mother beside a miniature waterfall that he had always loved to jump off when he was a colt. "Goodbye, Mom," he says, and then turns away. He has to hide the tears that start to appear. He wipes them away after indulging himself for a few moments. "We should get going. We need to find some help." Soulfire takes off and starts to fly towards Ponyville.

Edited July 30, 2013 by Fluttering High

[Nuclear Neurotic 56]

After a few paranoid moments where her fear of someone attacking her interrupted her attempts at taking a quick nap underneath the tree. She used her small pack as a pillow, curling up to keep herself warm.

A brief thought crossed Nuclear's mind before she succumbed to sleep.

'If I died in my sleep...it wouldn't be so bad...'
 

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

Kingfisher barged past a coughing stallion who had positioned himself in her way: normally they had enough sense to avoid her but this time they were all either too stupid or too desperate to care.

 

"Get away from me!" She told him as he fell to the ground: the pathetic sight stirring an emotion inside her. Reaching out a hoof to help him up, she almost forgot who she was. Who she was supposed to be.

 

Getting her emotions under control, she reached instead for his mane and roughly dragged the colt upright.

 

"What's going on here? Tell me!" She yelled at him, receiving no answer but a slight whimper as he sunk to the ground again. Turning away with a forced look of contempt, the mare picked her way further around the town - inwardly wincing at the suffering all around her.

[Fluttering High 55]

Soulfire was flying over a small road in the forest when suddenly he saw a flash of yellow. Stopping to take a closer look, he realized it was a lone unicorn. "Somepony's down there!", he exclaims. He swoops down towards the grey and yellow unicorn with Starstream close behind him.

 

As he gets closer, he sees that it's an emaciated mare lying on the ground, curled up. He touches her shoulder. "Hello? Are you alright?", he says. She looks exhausted, he thinks to himself.

[Nuclear Neurotic 56]

@@Fluttering High,

 

Nuclear gasped, her yellow eyes snapping open. A yellow glow came from her horn immediately creating a small explosion in response to being startled from her light sleep.

 

"Don't hurt me or I'll have to hurt you!" she shouted, stumbling backwards out of fright.

 

It seemed like this frightened mare had walked a long way and from the sound of her accent, it sounded like she was from Manehattan.

 

"Please, I don't want any trouble!" was another shout as the dirt and smoke cleared, the unicorn looking terribly hungry and scared but with a glow around her horn showing she was prepared to protect herself.

 

"T-tell me who you are and I won't hurt you!"

Edited July 31, 2013 by Nuclear Neur☢tic

[Fluttering High 55]

Soulfire stumbled back a few paces himself, startled by the small explosions created by the startled mare. "It's okay! We're here to help." He motions to himself and Starstream, who was standing a few steps back. "My name is Soulfire. This is Starstream. We were flying back to Ponyville, but we saw you all by yourself."

 

Soulfire saw that this mare was very hungry. "Are you okay? You look like you could use something to eat", he observed. It was true. The pony was swaying on her feet, and you could count every rib. "We have some food. Please, take some." He takes a package of fruit from Starstream and holds it out to the grey mare.