In Changelingia (West Equestria), Brie gains the support of a Changeling queen for his endeavors. Spark is doing his best to help an ill Wolf spiritual leader.
In Free Equestria (East Equestria), Iron is trying to intimidate a group of criminal griffin interlopers. Fantasy Play is helping to shut down an Anarchist press. Silver is helping his new household. Amber Sunset is walking through the city, and Dark Star has just finished helping the orphans.
2365 replies and 51 files omitted.
>>137748"Okay." Pear follows him as Silver starts the walk back onto Hoebuck Street, then down to where Hoebuck Street splits off from Horseman Avenue. It's dark night, past twilight, yet still creatures roam the streets, as though the work day is over, the bars are far from closed. Nor is the darkness pure, as street lamps cast an almost obnoxiously yellow light upon that which is under, and waning gibbous moon casts a pale white light upon all, making the two ponies fairly visible to the groups of creatures - mostly griffins, though a couple zebra can be seen - who pass by talking in drunken merriment. Pear stays close to Silver, very close, as the two walk down the street the few blocks to Sacred Heart. Turning around the corner to Horseman Avenue, Silver sees the old Gilman Hotel, and across from it, the crumbling spires on either side of the street-facing portion of the Church of the Sacred Heart. Up the stairs to wooden doors, a paper on the door advertises reduced cost for lessons on the Schuhplattler.
>>137757Silver puts his hooves on the wooden church doors, and tries to open them.
>>137758This works, actually.
Silver opens the door to find the wooden floored almost square room with sections to either side, with its decaying ceiling, has had most of the seats removed from the floor. Only a few chairs can be found off to the side, and there is what resembles a tabernacle over in the back besides a couple doors, a recessed are, and a raised section holding the equipment of a band. The center of the floor is clear.
>>137759Silver lets out a forlorn sigh.
"This used to be Northern Orthodox church. It is sad to see it in such state."
>>137760She looks up, and around, carefully studying the church
"I can see... the sections to the side look to be added on in later construction. The shape of the center section is more like the Reformed tradition... But this is very degraded."
She looks rather solemn, staring at the white paint on the lower sections of the walls, or what frescos of the princesses that were never covered, higher up on the ceiling.
>>137761Silver trots around the wooden floor, listening to his hoofsteps for any hollow sounds that would expose a hatch's location.
>>137763On the main wooden floor - that is, the portion of the floor in front of the raised section holding the altar and the musical instruments - Silver can hear a ring that signifies that underneath is neither solid foundation, nor at any part is the floor especially thin or hollow, as if suspended over air by a single sheet of wood. The sections off to the left and right, which don't even have wood, provide no ring.
>>137768While Silver looks for some kind of hatch, he asks Pear a question.
"You have experience with different denominations of Celestialism. Are there any you are more attracted to than others?"
>>137769There does not seem to be any hatch on the main floor in the front portion of the room.
"That's.... Well, my father was in the Reformed Tradition. He didn't attend much. They have a very solemn way of practicing, I think. My Mother was in the Harmonist Universal sect. They are more ritualistic. Especially the rites of the brand her mother came from. There's something about the ritualism that appeals to me."
>>137770Since this implies there are other parts of this church, I would assume Silver goes to check those. He nods in response to her answer.
"And Northern Orthodox?"
Sorry, I've been preoccupied lately. I can start playing again tomorrow.
>>137771She tries to give a faint smile. Or she seems to, if Silver is paying attention
"They are more mystical. They are the opposite of the Reformed, in many ways."
The raised section, half circular in shape, is comparatively solid, or even entirely solid at points, though segments near the instrument resonate a bit more. Going down on the floor below, behind, and to the sides, the segment that separates the main floor from the section that surrounds the platform containing the altar, is solid. But just a step beyond, and it sounds more like the main floor. The semi circle surrounding the platform is wooden, but it is a different sort of wood, seemingly older than the main floor. It sounds comparatively normal...
Until Silver arrives on a section in front of a door. Here is an unmistakable knocking sound when Silver stomps on it.
>>137784 That's alright. I'll probably be around tomorrow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsM_VmN6ytk >>137787Silver nods in response to her question.
"It is much how I remember it. I thought it was so odd learning as foal that other denominations thought idols of Celestia were blasphemous."
He smiles once he hears the knocking sound, and attempts to use his magic to lift on this section of floor.
>>137803“Well, the idea is that it isn’t Celestia herself, but what she represents...” she stands there with her mouth partly open, and tilts her head a little to the side, like she is contemplating whether to say more. But she does not continue.
When Silver pulls at the panel, it seems to give slightly, to lift up a small fraction of an inch. But it does not rise, as it stops
>>137805Silver looks over to her, a little curious what it was she was going to say.
"What is wrong? I find what you have to say on religion very interesting."
>>137806“Well... I meant that the reformed think that placing too much emphasis on physical representations of certain figures can amount to fetishism... and in any case, distracts from the ideas, and the principles the representations are made to represent.” She says, somewhat softly
>>137807Silver looks around for an outline of a hatch in the floor, or anything that looks like a handle.
"Then what is it they think of Celestia? Not as our Goddess, but as pony and our ruler?"
>>137809“Well... that’s a matter of politics, really. But generally... She is the mother of Equestria. Or at the very least, the older sister, that helped guide the ponies through life.”
>>137810"But she is physical representation of Harmony, yes? Would they have problem worshipping her?"
>>137811“Heh. They worship the harmony itself.”
>>137813Silver pauses, shrugs, and returns to looking for a way to open the supposed hatch.
>>137814“I never said it was true... or even that I fully understand their theology...”
There seems to be a kind of outline in the floor, maybe where the boards end. It seems to correlate well with the door on the wall
>>137816"It is alright, I suppose it is just differences between Northern Orthodoxy and Reformed beliefs. We less worshipped Harmony - though we did worship it somewhat - and more worshipped Goddess Celestia herself."
Silver decides he should probably try the door.
>>137817It’s... a walk-in closet. There are costumes on racks on each side. There is no light on. The floor is the sand kind of wood as outside.
>>137818Silver desides to try to see if the floor of the closet is the hatch he's looking for.
"I am somewhat curious, since this is topic I do actually know about: what is it you know about Orthodoxy?"
>>137819Roll wisdom
“We covered some of its principles in Comparative Religion when I was an undergraduate.”
[1d20+3 = 16]>>137820"Like what? If you do not mind me asking, that is."
>>137821Silver can make out the outline of a wooden rectangle on the floor at the beginning of the closet, and extending into part of the floor outside.
“Well, a belief that a connection to the larger universe can be made by means of experience and feeling, rather than, let’s say, action.”
>>137822"That is very intellectual answer, I must say. I am afraid I do not know quite what it means."
He tries the hatch now, since the door is open.
>>137823And
clack. The hatch opens. Pear jumps slightly. The hatch opens to a wooden stairwell to a dark basement with brick walls.
Sorry I wasn't able to make it, that's entirely on me
>>137824Silver smiles at Pear before pulling his flashlight from his bags and descending the stairs into the dark below.
>>137826The room is dark, revealing nothing but where the light hits. The floor is concrete, and the walls are a yellow brick of a semi-modern style. It looks like the room is a full sized basement.
Pear takes a peak down
“I wasn’t expecting this...”
>>137827Silver shines his flashlight around the room, to get an idea of what is inside. He steps forward to give Pear room to come down.
"What is it you were expecting?"
>>137828Mostly the room is open, evidently occupying, for the most part, the area under the main floor. The stairs going down goes towards a wall, requiring Silver to look back to see most of the room. Though much of the space is empty floor, it has more than a few items of note. A number of chairs, like what Silver saw a few nights before. A set of restraints. A stone statue of a griffin, albeit admittedly a fairly mundane looking one On each side of the room painted onto the wall, a symbol like a radiating and rotating sun. And what seem to be entrances.
Pear answers
“I don’t... know”
But she doesn’t hesitate in following Silver down the stairs
“Probably should have tied my tail up...”
>>137829The restraints confuse and concern the elder unicorn. He looks back at Pear.
"Well, if you did not mind having your hair down, we could tie your tail up into bun."
>>137830“Well... usually I just wrap it, to keep it out of the way and to keep the moisture in the air from messing it up. Maybe a bun is necessary in a structure like this? Maybe... a long tail could be pulled by an attacker? I don’t know....”
>>137831"I do not think we will run into one...I hope. It is more if you are worried about messing your tail."
Which directions do the entrances face, relative to the rest of 33 Hoebuck?
>>137832Two. Actually three, but one is in a section that makes it look like a side room One door facing Horseman Avenue. One door a little north and facing East, opposite of Horsemsn avenue and to the left of where Silver entered. One on the right side, in a set of wall that protrudes into the basement.
“I... alright. I should probably just wrap it then, as I do in most field work”
>>137833"Alright. Need any help, or do you have it covered?"
>>137834“It’s difficult to do while standing... normally I do it while sitting, but the floor is dirty... so I wouldn’t mind help.”
>>137835He nods, gives her a soft smile, and gently pulls out the band he used to put up her mane. She feels his magic grab a hold of her tail as he offers her an apology, before he trots behind her and works on putting it up in a neat little bun. He focuses solely on her tail, and averts his eyes away from anything
else in the same vicinity to give her at least the barest minimum decency.
>>137836She pulls out a second or more bands rather than letting her mane come down; she wants that up for the same reasons as her tail.She lists her tail up slightly to let this be done, not seeming to mind any part of the process. Soon, Silver is able to get it into a neat enough gun, though the amount of hair in her long, somewhat bushy tail is rather high.
>>137837Thanks for the clarification.He smiles to himself once the job is done.
"There! Not bad for old stallion, eh?"
>>137838“Uh, sure”
She smiles awkwardly, moves her tail, then turns around to face Silver.
“Now let’s try to uncover whatever is hiding here.”
>>137839Silver nods, and starts with the side room.
>>137840Opening the door... Silver finds a small room, perhaps five by seven feet and rectangular in shape, with a hole in the concrete on the floor, and indeed with no floor at all in portions with clay and sand visible, a single empty pail on the ground, and a couple pipes visible at the end of the tiny room.
>>137841"What weird room..."
Silver trots over to the hole in the floor, and looks into it.
>>137842It's a square hole, and inside is sand. The sand is moist, and partly mixed with silt and clay. In some areas is several; inches deeper than the floor, while on the side opposite Silver it even escapes the floor and covers a small portion of the concrete.
Pear remains in the main room and looks around
"I know some buildings were raised about four decades ago. I wonder if this is one of them."
[1d2 = 2]>>137843"With as close as building is to ocean, I can believe that. I wonder if this hole was dug to measure ocean levels, and if it started filling with water it was alert that ocean was rising."
Ultimately, Silver decides there isn't must else of interest in this room, and heads back into the main room. Looking at the two other pathways, he picks one at random.
"Eeny, meeny, miny..."
>>137844"Mo."
He chooses to explore the entrance opposite of Horseman Avenue.
>>137844She takes a peak into the room
"Looks like unfinished construction. But maybe. If the water table is this high, something has gone wrong."
The entrance is covered by a small steel door that takes some effort to pull open. But when Silver does, it reveals the entrance to a tunnel with brick walls, and a height just barely enough for a quadruped to walk through. While electric lights seem to be rigged inside of the tunnel (a wire running through the ceiling is visible), there is no light in the tunnel, and Silver stares into darkness with no end in sight
>>137846"Let us see where this leads, shall we?"
After waiting for Pear, Silver shines his light down the tunnel and follows it.
>>137847She looks down the tunnel, somewhat concerned, but follows.
The tunnel goes forward some length, likely at least 100 feet, straight and away from Horseman avenue. The floor is dirt, and at points the tunnel seems to sag. This goes on until it dead ends at another door.
>>137848Silver tries to open the door.
>>137850At first the door scarcely budges, though a scraping sound hints at what may come with more effort. Evidently the door presses hard into the bottom of the doorwell, bent out of shape from its original construction. With a shove, the flies open, and reveals another tunnel. But this tunnel is older and lined with yellow brick, closer to cylindrical in shape with curved walls, and much taller, while running perpendicular to the direction Silver came. The floor of the tunnel is slightly lower than the floor of the tunnel Silver is moving through, and the ceiling somewhat higher. This tunnel, too, is unlit.
>>137851"This is not what I was expecting at all..."
Silver cautiously presses forward.
>>137852The tunnel goes off in two directions, one to the left and north, and the other to the south. The tunnel feels at least somewhat damp, and in the silence Silver can hear the scurrying of mice.
Pear:
"It's like a dream I had. Or like those serials they play at the cinema, or on the radio."
[1d2 = 2]>>137853"I suppose I could see that. How long ago do you think this was built? Was it part of original construction?"
Silver chooses...
>>137855This path goes maybe 50 feet. The tunnel dead ends at a brick wall - though it is a brick wall that looks a little different in color from the remainder. Immediately to the wall's right, is a concrete door well. Though there is no door, and there are steps leading up to a door well.
>>137856"Huh. Looks like this path was sealed off at some point."
Silver tries the door wells on the right.
>>137857There is one door. It seems more modern. It is locked.
>>137858Silver looks at Pear.
"Well...unless you have way to unlock it, now would be good time to step back so I can buck it open."
>>137859Silver scarcely needs to say anything. She stands far back, though she seems to be averse to the darkness.
[1d20+2 = 20]>>137860Strength: Silver turns around where he stands, and quickly bucks the door.
>>137861The door has five points of contact with the wall: three hinges, the closing mechanism, and the lock. All five are broken as the door breaks from the wall and falls to hit the wall on the other side.
Just looking in, Silver can see a lit white washed wall
>>137862Silver looks back to Pear.
"Come on, there is light in here!"
>>137863Looking inside, Silver can see that he is on one side of the end of a hallway. Exactly what this building is isn't clear, but it's certainly newer than the tunnels from which they came
>>137864Silver decids to trot along the hallway to find out the mystery of what this place is.
>>137569Amber's ears twitch anxiously as High Sewn recounts her encounter with the gang members.
Are ponies that mean? And why would anypony cause trouble all of a sudden? >>137867The officer seems to ask High Sewn a number of questions, but the interview concludes eventually, and the officer walks away, and out of the shop.
>>137865Silver enters the hallway to find white washed cinderblock walls, dead ending at a window on the left, but continuing down the hallway on the right, with a couple doors, a window looking into a room, and ending in a door
>>137870Silver looks in the windows, first the one in the dead end, then the one into the room.
>>137871The windows are simple pieces of glass. The one at the far end leads into a larger room with a high ceiling, concrete floors and a light on the far end with stacks of some rectangular item some five feet high in piles. Looking into the window on each of the rooms, it seems to be an internal office space in a bricked in room with one window on the far side.
>>137873High Sewn sighs
"Clean up and replace the window, I suppose."
Amber gathers information about hardware stores nearby. [1d20+2 = 20]
>>137875A contractor who specializes in repairing windows can be phoned, to replace the window hopefully from stock in town. Windows can be carted and either installed by a crew, or simply delivered and installed by the recipient.
>>137876Amber approaches High Sewn with an anxious smile.
"Ma'am, this here is a phone number of a shop that does windows. Do you want them to install it or us to do the job?" >>137877She looks at Amber for a moment.
"It's probably best to let them install it."
Outside, a stallion in a baggy grey duster and a fedora looks inside the shop.
Amber hurries to clean up what's left of the broken glass. She calls out to the stallion, "Don't mind the mess. Is there anything you might like?"
>>137872"What in...where is this place? Pear?"
>>137879The stallion approaches Amber. The duster covers much of his body, baggy on the back, but showing part of a short black tail, large hooves covered in greyish fur, and most of his face. His muzzle is a dark grey, and his fur is a grey with a purplish hue, though it has several stripes along the back of his neck and the side of his face that are a much darker grey. His mane is well kept and short black, and his eyes are a dark amber. His fedora covers the tips of his ears, though the bottom portion is visible. His grey duster has a rectangle with checkered yellow and black and a mare on it, as well as a separate circle with three downwards left facing white arrows in it.
"Ma'am. Do you work at this establishment?" He asks. His voice is deep, and definitely accented to the Celestial Coast region.
>>137880Pear, though reluctant, comes up and into the hallway
"I... Don't know... it looks like a building in Eastern Redheart."
>>137882The stallion sits down, and pulls out a pencil and a notepad, holding it in his hooves and looking back at Amber
"Tell me - if I could avoid going through your boss - was this establishment the victim of a politically motivated attack?"
>>137884He looks at the drawing next to the window, and seems to reproduce it with delicacy in his notepad, gripping the pencil with his oversized hooves.
"So did you see him? What did he look like? Did he yell out any phrases?"
"He didn't say a word, but he did apparently draw that…" she says, gesturing to the anarchist symbol by the shop. Amber then painstakingly repeats the description she heard Guy give the police.
>>137886He takes the time to write or draw something as Amber describes it to him. Then he looks back up to Amber
"Where did he go?"
>>137881Silver nods, and decides to keep exploring the building until he can find an external window or doorway.
>>137889Amber hesitates, looking between the shop and the direction of the chase.
Well, it's just about cleaned up, I don't think we're going to have more business today and they'll be installing the window themselves. Plus, it's not that far anyway…"Alright, I'll take you there."Sorry, have to call it for today. >>137890At the end of the hallway, turning right, is a door that leads into a room that, looking through it, seems to be a reception area or foyer. This area is not illuminated in the night
>>137892Surely, if there's a foyer, there's a nearby exit. He goes into this room.
>>137893The door to the foyer is locked, but a mechanism to unlock the door can be found on the inside, which Silver presumably uses to unlock and open the door. This looks like a simple reception area with a desk, a window through the door to the back, a pair of simple wooden chairs, a hallway leading off to the left, some paper with writing hanging on the wall on a cork pin board on the left, and windows and a door on the opposite side
>>137906Silver trots over to the cork board to read the hanging papers.
>>137907On the wall are papers talking about varieties of doors available for purchase. Wooden doors, sometimes steel. Varieties with glass windows or not. Some information about what materials are in short supply, and about varieties of shipping and installation.
>>137908Silver's muzzle scrunches in confusion at this information, and investigates the window and door opposite to the cork board.