1521 replies and 47 files omitted.
>>121303Aww, it’s okay little edge pone. I hope you are feeling better now than before
>>121304>>121303*Hugs both ponies, keeping mouth and nostrils firmly closed bear fever pone*
>>121306Awwww! I hope you start to feeling better soon.
>>121307is huggedhugs back I guess we could proceed to the next stage as soon as everypony is here. Midnight may be absent, which could be problematic
>>121308*Is hugged*
\r
>>121311*is hugged back*
Um... was Dark Star wanting to go to the upper level and shoot his bow?
>>121310Hello
>>121312Iron wants to enter through the northern door and act as a stone wall with Khoi (and maybe Sands, depending on what she believes is best at)
Hmmmm....
Even without Midnight around, Dark Star could go upstairs
>>121314Sands seems just a little hesitant to leave Iron with Khoi, but is even less desirous of melee combat, so she slinks off. Khoi and Iron don't know each other well, but she seems.... motivated
>>121315That is all Iron needs to know, as far as he knows.
Should Iron move out now or wait for Silver and Midnight to choose their positions?
>>121316As soon as Iron moves into the actual opening itself, he will be visible to the creatures inside of the square, and from basically every point in the square. This is true of all of the characters. Silver and Mala (and White Sands) are at a special disadvantage because they will have to run past an opening to get to their positions.
>>121318I'm wondering if someone else should take control of that character
>>121320Sounds like they'll need a distraction.
Is it time to pull out the trans advocate Iron again? >>121321Now a distraction could work
>>121322Being on the top level may result in some enemies at the East and West doors being out of line of sight. Dark Star should also be up there before the others
>>121323Hm...Is Skies around Iron for him to ask?
>>121325"Boss, the path for Silver, Midnight and their companions seem to be pretty exposed," Iron comments.
>>121327"Have you come up with anything to alleviate this small blunder? I could act as a big distraction if need be."
>>121329"I think Silver and his companion are just going to have to run past and hope it will be okay. A distraction may be possible, but it is more likely to alert them to danger and will be very dangerous for the one putting on the distraction"
>>121330"Do you think making noises with rocks would help, at the least?"
>>121331"Hmmm.... It could. But there are a large number of them and every single one of them would need to be distracted and not paying attention while also not being aware of danger. If even one of them is looking that way and thinks something is strange, that might alert all of them"
>>121328Just be sure to be up there
before combat begins
>>121332Iron hums.
"That is a problem. Not to mention they will be nervous of the bat-winged pony if they were to casually glance her way."
He looks at Skies.
"I suppose I could stir up trouble of some sort by mocking a big griffon or something."
>>121334"But if you do that, you've substituted them noticing they are under attack because they see silver to them knowing they are under attack because they hear you"
>>121335Iron huffs in frustration.
"Alright. Maybe I could just make an extremely awkward conversation to make everypony look my way. Would that work?"
>>121336Dark Star puts his hoof to his chin in thought.
>>121336>>121337“Maybe it would be better for Dark Star to draw their attention - he’ll be on the second floor and so out of range.... hopefully...”
>>121339“To go to position upstairs? Certainly we can.”
>>121340>>121339"I assume I will have to hold for now, considering the possibility of our cover being blown before the roof pony squad gets there," Iron comments.
>>121342“But once it doesn’t matter if the cover is blown... feel free to be as loud, rude, and obnoxious as you like to our griffin hosts”
She says with a smile
>>121341“Up the stairs. We can go in front of them or behind when there”
>>121343"Lets go in, in front of them."
>>121345“Okay... but I’m best at shooting from behind”
>>121346"Then we can go in the back way."
He Smiles at Her
>>121348“Alright... just remember that somepony needs to tell them all who we are, and give an ultimatum to surrender.”
Outside of the bathroom, to the right on the other side is a stairwell. Going up one flight leads to a landing with another door and another set of stairs going further upwards
>>121353"I'll be sure to include that."
>>121354If Dark Star goes up, he finds the door opens inwards to a hallway
>>121356No immediate activity in the hallway. It's actually less well lit on the second floor, with painted off white walls on both sides, and a tan set of tile on the floor
>>121357Does Dark Star see anypony in the hall?
>>121358Judging from what can be seen and heard, nocreature seems to be active in the eastern hall, second level at that moment
>>121359Dark Star Creeps towards the position they are moving to.
>>121361To the right, presumably, is the North side. This would place them above Iron, and above the entrance to the other part of the building. To the left, presumably, is the South side. This would place them opposite Iron and the entrance to the other building. To the left and in front of them is a closed but wide pair of wooden doors that evidently enters a room that partly hangs over the central square, and also covers the eastern entrance from above
>>121363He goes to the spot the decided on before
[lonely pony stuck in the north noises]
>>121515[floofy unicorn in the south noises]
Alright ponies... let’s try this again. Who is here?
>>121524REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
>>121528>Canadian Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
>>121529I’ll take you to Tim Hortons later
>>121530Eh thats pretty Good m8. Can we get a bag of milk along the way?
>>121531>milk in bagAlright, that’s way too much Canada for me
>>121532All hail, the glorious leader black Trudeau! hey you got any ketchup chips,bud?
Alright, I am at my apartment. Who is here?
>>121535Before she goes upstairs, Blue Shekels ask midnight
“To our winged pony friend, would you like to guard the East entrance that goes to the hallway and the seaside exit, or would you rather trust that be walked off by flame, and instead stand beside silver or iron at either of two other entrances?”
>>121538Midnight pauses for a moment, considering her options.
"I will take the east entrance."
>>121539Blue shekels looks at midnight for a moment, and pauses, as if not certain. But then she speaks
“Okay. That should divide them, hopefully.”
She moves forward a step
“It will be dangerous to go alone. Take Jubilosa.”
The weird catbird looking thing pauses for a moment, then steps forward, each paw in a line, and with some raised hairs visible between the ends of her forelegs legs and where the leather vest begins. Her head moves from direction to direction in quick, clean movements, like a bird, and she looks at midnight with slit, green eyes
>>121540Midnight politely nods to Jubilosa
"It will be good to work with you."
>>121541She twists her head significantly to the right, causing medium-brown feathers on her neck to pop out almost like cards in a deck-mid shuffle. She responds,
“Who are you?”
>>121542"I am Midnight, I am working with the other ponies here."
>>121543“Working what, exactly?”
Her paws are almost in a line one behind the other, and dried blood stains her brown leather vest running down from a slice in the middle, which overlays her dark-gold fur.
>>121544"Well, I am just here to follow orders, not make them. And now, you and I will be working defense."
>>121545“What... what are we defending against?” She asks
>>121546"I... Am not completely sure..."
>>121547She nods, slowly. As she does so, her green, slit eyes are wide and fixed on midnight
[continuing to look for terrorists noises]
Are these terrorists religious based, closer to Muslims? Or are they simply trashing things Antifa style?
I wonder what the bugs are up to...
>>121551Spark finds himself walking through the active mine. Most vehicles move, some do not, and there is no shortage of workers, both actually working and standing around. Some, at attention, some, idle or waiting.
>>121561Spark doesn't really know that at this point. It looks like the exterior panel, as well as part of the engine and transmission block, where damaged by blunt force applied from the outside
>>121567Ruby is still over playing with Mutey and Broody over by the partly flooded area in the lower mine. A couple workers look over, or seem either irritated or intrigued by the presence of the foals, but most pay them no mind, or seem to not notice them.
>>121573Yay!
Spark ponders for a moment.
"Are there workers here that would do something like this?"
>>121576Wasn't the boss there talking to Spark last we left off?
>>121577We'll go with that
"Some of the workers are Equestrians from the area. After many of them refused to work here we replaced them from workers from the Crystal Empire.... they are marginally better. The thing is, really any of them could be motivated to sabotage the equipment. They are not too thrilled about mining for the Hegemony"
>>121578"Any of them make any threats that could be more directly related to these attacks?"
>>121579"Threats? No. No threats. Well, except maybe Gemmy last Tuesday. But mostly they claim it's an outside force"
>>121580"Well, let's hear about Gemmy. Might as well while we figure things out."
>>121581"He made a threat about damaging his shovel last week after being ordered to do something he didn't like. He was detained."
>>121582"Do you think that others that were his friends might not have taken a liking to your punishment and acted out?"
>>121583"The Gendarme say that reprisals and being tough stamps out the will to resist"
His facial expression betrays some doubt
>>121584"Which is why you are having terrorism obviously, internal or otherwise. Your defenses are weak and you don't have a clue where or when it will happen again, but you can be sure it will."
>>121585"Look. I know we are having problems, alright. I just need to make it stop. We haven't met a single quota"