1816 replies and 21 files omitted.
>>158999 →Cover them with something
>>159001Real quick, what does he have that could serve?
>>159001>>159002well, theres my trench coat
>>159002Uh… he out to have a jacket or something. Dark Star has a coat.
>>159003If he doesn't mind some blood on it, that would work.
>>159005Dark Star takes it off and throws it to him
"you can keep it, i'm get the sense it makes me look like a flasher at college."
>>159006Blue Skies giggles
>>159005Silver takes the coat, and it covers his wounds. The stolen items and the guns have to be carefully set down to avoid being visible.
>>159007Dark Star Flips through the notebooks we got
>>159006Silver looks down at it, then smiles at Dark Star.
"Thank you, my friend."
>>159007Definitely. Once they're out of danger they can stop and sort things out.
>>159009It’s difficult to define “out of danger” with the police so near and with the vehicle having been seen - with Dark Star and Silver having been seen.
>>159011Well, hopefully they give up and return to the scene of the crime before too long.
>>159012>>159010Presumably, they drive far away. Far, far, away
>>159014>>159015The vehicle comes to a stop, though where is ultimately up to Silver.
Blue Skies speaks:
"Okay... what the fuck was that?"
>>159016Silver lets out a sigh when they stop, though the emotion behind it is unknown.
"I managed to get one at gunpoint before fighting started and intimidate them into bringing me to Bargain Strength. But they thought they saw opportunity to try to wrestle gun away from me, and then...rest is history..."
>>159017"History? I suspect we'll be dealing with it in our futures. Looks like you never got to speak to Bargain Strength. Do you feel you accomplished what you set out to accomplish?"
>>159018"He is dead, so...I do not know."
>>159020"We Did get his notebooks."
>>159019"The entire set of events that went down" She answers
>>159020"Well... I suppose
they won't be engaging in any witness tampering, or foal selling."
>>159022>>159021"These are both true. What do notebooks have in them, anyway?"
>>159022"Well, i thought it was prudent to get to him as fast as i could. Turns out i was right."
He Turns to Silver
"You're welcome by the way."
>>159023Dark Star Flips through the notebooks
>>159024A number of notes. Best guess is that a majority of it pertains to who owes who money. But the remainder is hard to determine from a casual glance
>>159025I Check the Envelope he had
>>159024>>159025"Yes, thank you my friend. And thank you, Skies."
Silver also looks at the notebooks, especially looking for an entry on the Orphanage.
>>159026The larger envelope seems to have a map.
>>159027Blue Skies closes her eyes, smiles, and nods
>NotebookConfirmed. There is a note about them borrowing money on several dates over 1011, and how much was remaining in the balance/
>>159028Silver mentions these entries to Skies.
>>159028"A Map? theres a map in here?"
Dark star looks at it, trying to make it out
>>159030It looks like a map of the greater Baltimare area.
>>159029"Maybe there's something to correspond to Comte's payments." She says
>>159031"It makes sense. His payments would have reduced balance, and would give time period in which he had them..."
>>159032"Yes... that does. Makes me wonder who is selling live changelings as well."
>>159033Yes. There are a few spots marked. Some in old tow, a couple far outside it.. There are also big, sweeping arrows across the city, heading towards the harbor.
>>159034"Kerr and Wesley said they lived around and were captured by Changeling Colony at Tall Tale. Do Black Hooves have intelligence on criminal elements around area?"
>>159034"Do these areas mean anything to you blue?"
I point out the marked locations
>>159035"Over there? ... No. I don't think so, anyways. I meant who sold them here."
>>159037"Oh, that. It is certainly something to think on."
>>159034Silver takes a look at the map.
"That looks like battleplan."
>>159038"I Don't know about battle plan, looks more like....Gang Warfare?"
>>159038>>159039"It does... I think it's the initial invasion of Baltimare. Maybe the revolt."
Amber sees that the three griffins are left alone in the room, and for the moment, they are silent. It's rather nice room, with hardwood paneling, a fireplace that is currently the main source of warmth for the room, and a wall that has a painted portrait of a griffin in fine dress holding a violin, and a mounted, taxidermy goat head on another wall. A shelf of books is at least half empty.
>>159042Dark Star Raises an eyebrow
"Maybe, but why would somepony have this?"
>>159044She leans over, and takes a closer look at the map, remaining in silence for several seconds.
"I don't really know" She says
>>159043The goat head strikes her as odd in some way.
"Do you mind if I play something while we wait?"
>>159046“Of course not.” Holder answers.
“I have… I need to make a phone call.” He says, nods, and excused himself from the room.
>>159047Nodding, she gets out the viol, and holds the bow…with talons. Feels weird for some reason, but she makes do. She thinks about what to play….
>>159048Endless variety, from among songs known and unknown; those played by many, those played by few, and those played by none at all
>>159049"Meditation from Thaïs" it is, then.
>>159050Amber begins to play, softly, then sharply engaging the string.
>>159051Amber concentrates on the music, but it seems second nature to play. What sadness there is of a whole life being swept away by the capriciousness of politics.
>>159045"He was connected with comte,Right?"
>>159053"He was the one who provided the two pony colts to Comte" She says. "Anything else, we don't know."
>>159052Oh so very many more than one life has been uprooted, overturned, or extinguished by the caprice of politics in the past two generations. No matter. There is something deeper and higher in music. A connection to something at once more advanced and more basic, more complex and more fundamental. In the moment the music is played, it is like the soul speaks into the bow, and expresses itself.
>>159054"Yea."
Dark Star Grinds his teeth
>>159054Music allows one to transcend the worst and the most petty concerns of life. Perhaps that's why all times and all creatures have their form of music, serving as a release for their peculiar problems.
>>159056What is the emotional expression of the piece Amber is playing?
>>159055"Well... At least we won't have to worry about him again? I don't know. That was very inelegant back there, and I don't think we can keep it a secret."
>>159057Very melancholic, yet hopeful. Slow and melodic, with some high notes.
>>159057"Yea this is going to be all over the radio, and on the newspapers."
>>159058Amber has never played like this. She must have gotten better. Erich sits there on the sofa, anxiously looking down and waiting.
>>159059"Yes... that's... that's a problem."
>>159060"I Should have shot that Griffon"
He Rubs his Temples
"This....is not good"
>>159060Something about all this feels off. Not necessarily in an ominous way.
>>159061"Maybe you should have" She says
"So... what's your story to explain this?"
>>159062Helder comes back into the room, himself looking both anxious and relieved. He speaks over the music playing.
"Okay, I've confirmed that we will be meeting at Montierter Helm's house, along with the others. There's a 13:30 train to Griffenheim." He pauses. "Heh. Honestly it was just good to hear someone answer the phone."
>>159063"Explain? to who?"
He Looks a little more worried
>>159063Amber stops the music. It was almost over anyway.
"Well, there's hope at least." What does the clock say on the wall?
>>159064"Well to Seabreeze, most obviously, and to the relevant authorities. Like the police."
>>15906510:37
"Yes yes, let us get our things and leave at once" He says
>>159066He Rubs his temples even more
"I....Have No Idea, what im gonna say. Sea Breeze Isn't Going to be happy."
>>159066"Waiting here would be the worst course of action," Amber concurs. She puts the viol away and grabs the luggage.
>>159067"No, I don't think he will. Worse things happen in Manehattan every day. But there is a reason Manehattan is in media blackout, and Halcyon Shores boasts to his superiors of Baltimare
not being like Manehattan. I would start preparing now." She says
>>159068Erich:
"Yes it would be." All three griffins are very quick in their action, grabbing things. Erich has the least stuff, and Amber and Helder both have much. They grab things, and head to a door towards one of the gardens.
>>159069What is the rest of the building like?
>>159070Amber can’t see until she leaves it.
>>159071Are the hallways more of the same? Were they on the first floor the whole time? When she does leave, she looks back toward the edifice.
>>159070>>159072Not until Amber has left the building does she have even the slightest idea of what she was in. Even now, looking back at it, she cannot see the whole of it, but only a small part. The building is utterly massive, and Amber finds her self at a portion that must be a set of rectangular wings of the larger building. It appears as three, sometimes four story buildings with rectangular windows, a white facade with lght green stripes that run between the windows up to the high, red tiled roof. Most of what is visible is crew quarters, some is a work shop, and some chimneyed section is the porcelain factory. In front of her is an open area of grass, trimmed hedges, carefully pruned trees, and smaller two story houses with green tile roofs beyond a ring of hedges that extends far beyond the wing of the building.
>>159073Wherever she ends up, it won't be nearly as grand as this. It may well be her last look at such a building, a testament to the former glory of the Katerin dynasty. She follows the others, feeling conspicuous in the wide garden.
>>159069He Sighs
"How much trouble am i gonna be in?"
>>159074Moving further out into the lawn, looking back Amber can see that the south wing was a rectangular construction, and recessed a hundred meters further back is the center of the Palace. There are larger squares five or more floors in height, with pointed pyramid-like red tiled roofs that stand up above the rest - one especially tall one right in the center, and two to each side. The construction of the south wing is mirrored on the other side, with the whole front side more than a third of a mile in span, and not visible from her vantage. In front of the center is a large pond, or pool, placed in front, and the few clouds in the sky, as well as the top of the roof of the north wing can be seen in its reflection.
This is not the castle from which the mad princess spent her final years. That distinction belongs to a special construction right out of a fairy tale, located on a hill that sits above the swamps some miles away. This is not the location where the final sane heirs of the Grimclaw - The Katerin - Dynasty were lynched by a mob of peasants. That belongs to an undistinguished town square a few miles into town. But this last relic of the Katerin dynasty, built 250 years ago as the summer home of the Grimclaws, then given the title of "Von Katerin" by the Emperor, lies as a perfectly embalmed corpse of yesteryear, even as the whole principality rots away around it, and even as the minds of the dynasty's last still living ignoble heirs decay and deteriorate.
>>159075"Well.... that's the question. Exactly how caught are you, and how are you going to spin this?"
>>159076"Investigation into Foal Trafficking went wrong?"
>>159077“Well, maybe. But remember. This was about protecting the witnesses in the Comte case.
>>159078"Yes, that's what i was going to go far."
>>159079"Good, good... And it was an unfortunate escalation after they resisted..."
>>159080"Are you sure he's gonna buy that?"
>>159081“No. I think we’d be safer if the Blackhooves thought they had to own it, and if the police wanted nothing to do with it.”
>>159084"Yea, i think you might be Right."
>>159085“Well… put your mind to it, because you don’t want your description on a wanted poster.”
>>159086"I....Hadn't thought about that. There Goes my College plans...."
>>159087Blue Skies reaches over, and pets Dark Star
>>159088"did you see that female diamond dog? i blew her brains out. i can still see it when i close my eyes."
He Grimaces
>>159089She grimaces.
“I saw the last part of that, yes.”
She pets his head.
>>159090"I-I Had to do it, she....she was an enemy combatant...right?"
>>159091“Sort of. She had a knife.” She answers.
>>159092"She Would have chopped up silver...."
Dark Star Stares at the floorboard replaying what happend in his head
>>159092>>159093Silver remains in silent contemplation.
>>159093The timeline is as follows: Dark Star first encounters the diamond dog as an outgoing and friendly hostess for the restaurant. She greats the male diamond dog after he enters, and has an extended conversation with him. There is a sound of gunfire from within the building. The male diamond dog, and then the female go upstairs towards the sound of gunfire, taking an extended amount of time as the male diamond dog was wounded. As a second gunshot rings out, the female gives the male a pistol, and he walks towards the shooting. Dark Star pretends to be an ally, and walks right past her. Then Dark Star shoots the male right in the back. Silver finishes him off with a shotgun burst. The female doesn't see much, but she does see that the male falls. Dark Star yells "it's that one with the shotgun who did it," and the female runs to the male, collapsing and crying at his side. She remains there a while until she stands up, in a fit of rage, and runs towards Silver (a shotgun wielder) with a flip out knife. Dark Star provokes a shot from the zebra, which shoots right through the wall, and hits the leg of the female, causing her to stumble and fall, and stab the ground. Then Dark Star levels his rifle, aims at her head, shoots, and her brains are scattered across the floor as she lies on her belly.
>>159095Dark Star is silent as he recalls the events, the emotions building up in him. he continues staring at the floorboard.
"I....."
He cuts himself off and continues staring as he recalls the moment she Greeted him in a friendly manner and then at the moment dark star took her life. a tear rolls down his cheek.
>>159096It's a fairly limited amount of interaction. Her only words to him were the question ""would you like to go to the bar, or be seated?" and "Okay, have fun," until later saying "You miserable bastard!" to Silver
Dark Star told her "I'm here to meet a friend," he wished her to "have a nice night," and then later "let's go get this bastard" and "That Bastard with the Shotgun! He Got Him!"
And that is all, really. He did not see her face as she died. She faced the ground.
Blue Skies looks at him. It's clear that she does not understand what is going on with Dark Star.
>>159097"I Don't.... She probably had a family. She.......I..I wish she wouldn't had drawn the knife.. Why Didn't she just stay at her friends side. I Don't know why i feel this way about her in particular. Maybe because she was a woman? Maybe because i lied to her and then took her life. does this make me a murder? Did i have to pull that trigger? Would she have Murdered Silver if i didn't? Did i Do the right thing?"
>>159098"Does it matter?" Blue Skies asks.
>>159099>>159100"It is not always glamorous, this line of work."
>>159100She pets him
"Two of the creatures were married, and you don't care for that. All of them were alive, with their own dreams and feelings, childhoods and futures that will never be. It's the same with most who die by violence, really."
>>159101"Yea, i mean its not the first time i've taken a life but this just feels dirty."
>>159102He Moves his head closer to her hoof
"Yea, Well, at least if there is an afterlife they can be together."
>>159104"It is because it was unnessecary slaughter. All started because one colt tried to be hero and stop big bad pony..."