598 replies and 24 files omitted.
>>166465Yellow Pegasus: “Sure…” he shakes, still laying on the ground with his hooves over his head. He stands up, and darts to the door. The earth pony walks more slowly, hugging the walls and glancing over to the windows above. The mare is the hardest to coax out, staying put in her hiding space. Spectral Streak walks over, and essentially carries her out of the room, looking over his shoulder at the room above. The Salmon stallion stands in the doorway to keep watch at the room, then decides to come all the way into the studio, rather than leave his flanks blind in the hallway.
>>166466Silver, feeling like the least injured of the three and the only one knowing where they're going to go, takes point, keeping his Jenny at the ready as he leads the group back through the parts of the building they already cleared. He speaks quietly to the group as they proceed, just in case there are any eavesdropping changelings watching.
"We are making stop to pick up green pegasus survivor in camera storage room, then we will drop all of you off in second floor office. There is pair of ponies there who managed to sleep through invasion and avoid detection."
>>166467The earth pony is now the one to reply: “Alright, we’ll follow you”. All six ponies are together in the hallway, out of line of sight from the room watching above.
>>166468Silver keeps his head on a swivel as he leads the group towards the camera storage room, where he last saw the green pegasus.
>>166469Silver turns left through the doorway and into the hall, which is illuminated both by electric lights and sunlight through the windows. The three civilians move hastily behind Silver, fearing to stray far, but only waiting until Silver had turned the corner to follow. Spectral Streak takes the rear, keeping his gun pointed at the shattered window, and then, last to leave the studio, behind them. The Salmon stallion takes position with the civilians behind Silver. Silver turns the corner to see an empty hallway. It’s mostly quiet, with the humming sound of distant electronic equipment. It’s oddly serene, with no bullet holes to betray the battles that took place elsewhere in this same building. Silver feels the whole building shake and sway slightly, moved by some tremor that must be imperceptible on the ground. Then it’s over in a movement. Silver hears a very distant sound of footsteps, evidently up a stairway.
Silver arrives at his destination, the film storage room. At first he sees nothing but the shelves full of film reels and various other items, but through a gap in the shelves, he sees the green fur of the poorly hidden Pegasus pony.
>>166470Silver smiles at the green pegasus when he spots him.
"Hello again. Are you doing okay?"
>>166471The Pegasus looks over at Silver with very wide eyes, clearly not expecting somepony to see him. After a beet, he says,
“Oh, it’s you again!”’ Yeah, I’ve just been here… not getting shot…” he moves his tail down under his legs and has an uncomfortable smile. “Did I hear gunfire?”
>>166472Silver nods, and pulls out his flashlight to give the pegasus the changeling test.
"Yes there was. Now, hold still just one moment."
>>166473He squints, and Silver sees his pupils dilate as his ears move back, and he leans back, picking up and folding his left hood. Silver can still see most of the eye. There’s no… obvious reflection? It seems to be an opaque white.
>>166474Eh, close enough. Silver puts his flashlight away.
"Building is not yet clear, but we are moving you and other survivors to more secure office room on second floor."
>>166475“Oh” he moves his tail out. “Okay.” He attempts a less awkward smile.
>>166476Silver motions with his head for the green pegasus to follow, as he exits the room.
"Come on."
>>166477The Pegasus follows Silver outside, where the Salmon stallion has taken point in the front. The ponies go forward down the hall until several figures walk into view from the left at the end of the hall. It’s a white Pegasus stallion in homeguard green with khakis, the vermillion pony Silver saw early, and a third pony, a dark purple earth pony stallion, also in homeguard green. The vermillion earth pony must be in his late twenties, and is actually the youngest. He carries a Jenny battle rifle, as does the white Pegasus, who is older. The last stallion, the deep purple earth pony, is probably in his forties, and carries a design of submachine gun Silver doesn’t think he’s ever seen before, with a heat shield and a curved magazine on the side. At first they point their guns at Silver and the ponies, but lower them quickly. It’s the Vermillion pony who says,
“Wait. Orange!”
The Salmon stallion replies “Kumquat.”
The white Pegasus, who has darker peppered tips on his wings, addresses the salmon stallion. “Is this floor secured?”
>>166478Silver's initial reaction of panic of having three guns pointed at him, his comrades, and the survivors turns to relief when he hears the salmon and vermillion ponies speak what must be a code phrase to each other. Although the salmon stallion is the one addressed, Silver nods in response.
"This floor is secure, we are just gathering survivors we found and moving them to more secure room on second floor."
What's Nadir up to these days?
>>166481reeeeeeeee>>166480"Alright" the stallion says. "What of the top floor?"
>>166482Well? It's a serious question
>>166482"Unknown, most likely there are still some left. We were attacked by machine gun from top floor, though it is dead now."
>>166073Amber comes to the trail, a winding road built on raised terrain above the stagnating brown leaf-stained water, composed partly of mounds of dirt that by happenstance rise above the inundated forest floor, partly of alluvial deposits built up by ancient overflows of the Griffking, partly of peat and the decomposed remains of millennia of plant growth, and partly, surely, of dirt and rocks brought from long distances to fill in and reinforce gaps in the roadway. Even in day time, this pathway must be dark, shadowed by the towering growth of ancient oak trees that must surely have grown before the Grimclaw dynasty, and flanked by a thicker undergrowth of willow trees that blot out most of the rays of the waning gibbous moon. Amber knows both rationally and instinctively that she was right to not trust the road, as the same quality that makes it so necessary to Amber and the flock, makes it attractive to danger as well. Looking into the damp dirt, Amber can see what seems to be the tracks of a recent wagon passing, the showed prints of a griffin paw, and the pawprints of some unidentified by presumably carnivorous animal. And yet the alternative is much worse. The opaque waters of the swamp surely hide quicksand, snakes, leeches, freshwater alligators, and perhaps worse... but worst of all, they take from the flock what they can least spare - time. The road is the only quick way from Katerinburg to the border at Griffking, and with haste they will be in Bronzehill by mid-morning. Amber feels tired, exhausted even, and Helder has to be persuaded by the other members not to stop long for rest at the dilapidated remains of a farmhouse present on an outcropping to the left at some point in the journey.
>>166484"Has it been searched?" He asks
>>166486Silver shakes his head.
"We found these three," he says, as he motions to the yellow pegasus, the earth pony, and the mare, "captive of group of changelings impersonating Home Guard unit in two-story room on this floor. After we killed impersonating changelings, we were attacked by machine gun from second story of room."
>>166487He pauses for a moment.
"You know a bomb was found in the regional administrative building a mile from here, in downtown." Then another pause. "I doubt they did all of this just to take the station off the air."
>>166488Silver pauses for a moment in turn.
"What kind of bomb?"
>>166489"A thermal area of effect bomb that would
not have left us here to be talking about it if the Homeguard and the air reserve hadn't squashed them. We don't know what they have here, but we know damn good and well it's no good for us."
>>166490"Like Colitsyn...these civilians still have to get somewhere secure until building is cleared and we can call for evac."
>>166491"Well... we'll send someone with them. But the Changelings
must be stopped."
>>166492Silver nods.
"Okay then, we will go finish clearing this building. Do not forget about two civilians in second floor office."
>>166493"Yes sir." He says. He motions to the ponies behind Silver. "You. Come with us." He takes his hoof and moves it towards himself in gesture, and the orange mare, the salmon stallion, the yellow pegasus, the green pegasus, and the red earth pony all come to him. "Not you" he says to the salmon stallion, gesturing for him to stop."
Then the white pegasus turns back to Silver.
"So who is going upstairs?"
>>166494"Definitely not...eh..." Silver turns to the salmon stallion, "I realize I never got your name."
>>166495The Salmon stallion seems to hesitate, but answers
"Azelea Bloom... private first class in the War, but a corporal in the Homeguard." He answers
>>166496Silver nots, and turns back to the white pegasus.
"He fought well but took large amount of bullets in fighting, most of which are still inside him. I worry about his continued existence if he keeps going."
>>166497Corporal Bloom stands silently, and then nods and says “I know where this room is located.” The white Pegasus listens to Silver and then says,
“Very well. Corporal Bloom, escort the civilians downstairs.”
>>166499Silver
gently pats Bloom's shoulder, saying to him, "You did good today," before turning back again to the white pegasus.
"I do not know what your thoughts are as to sending somepony with him to help watch civilians, but we may need every pony we can get besides him to clear final floor."
>>166500Bloom breathes in, then breathes out, clearly still in pain from his injuries. He nods. “Thank you.”
The white Pegasus says to Silver:
“Yeah. I agree. Corporal Bloom, can you escort them alone?”
He replies,
“If - if there’s no more bugs behind us…”
The white Pegasus:
“We just came that way. There aren’t.”
Corporal Bloom:
“Uh, yes sir. I can escort them alone.”
He motions back to the civilians
“Follow me”
>>166501"Alright. Rest of you with me. Let us get these bugs."
>>166502They each nod.
The last pony in the group, the middle aged deep purple pony with the submachine gun, holds his gun up and says
“I’m from Canterlot, and I say kill them all!”
They follow Silver.
>>166503Silver leads the group back towards the unexplored part of the building, Jenny at the ready.
>>166485Time is of the essence. Amber says to the rest,
"We can't afford to stop. Don't make any noise, and be prepared to wade into the water if you hear a search party approaching." She idly wonders what latitude they are on if alligators may be a problem.
>>166505To tartarus with alligators, there could be hydras or lake serpents in these waters.
As Amber and company walk, the path becomes surrounded on both sides by water, as if built upon a berm or levy to border an inundated field now long abandoned. Federkield and Erich walk a little ahead, with Helder lagging just a little behind. Then the path goes land that is several feet above water, but overgrown with dense willow bushes and other undergrowth, capped as always by massive cypress and other deciduous trees. It isn't very far into this that Amber can see, under the dim light of the gibbous moon, a small coach mostly parked in the dirt off the road. Amber can see a yoke, but no oxen.
And next to the coach is a female griffin, whose white feathers glow under the light. She addresses Federklied and Erich. "Oh, thank Boreas you're here!"
>>166504Silver, Spectral Streak, and the other ponies walk up the stairs to see a single hallway that is much shorter than the hallways on the floor below, with one room to the left, one to the right, and one at the end.
>>166514Silver starts with the room on the left.
>>166514As they climb the stairs, an avalanche of bullets fired from an airship destroys the building and kills two members.
>>166513Amber, under the pressure of escaping, has never hated damp terrain so much. She wonders to herself if the Hayseed Swamp is like this.
She is startled by this new appearance, who looks as much a ghost as griffon. The greatest surprise is that anyone but the searchers would be in this wilderness. She glares at Erich and Federklied, exclaiming,
"You never told me about this!" Maybe they did, but I have no recollection of it and I'm away from my main notes >>166516F
That's not terribly far from what could happen
>>166517The Hayseed must surely be warmer than this, as a cool Fall breeze is stilled by the undergrowth of willows. Amber hears a rustling in the bushes, which is drowned out by the whining sound of the glowing white griffin.
"The wheel got stuck in the mud on the side of the road and... my husband went off ahead with the ox. I've been alone here for I think a few hours and you're the first to come along... surely you can help move our cart here?!"
The other members of Amber's party are no less surprised to see somegriff else on these roads. Then again, they've obviously had some recent use. Erich and Helder are curious though unwilling to be any part of this, and move slightly closer, while Federklied seems unsettled, and moves further away.
Erich replies to Amber's exclamation, if only to divert attention away from the female griffin:
"Never told you what?"
>>166518Amber's imagination is evidently running wild again. Ghostly griffins will do that.
"I thought for a moment you had a cart waiting. Nevermind."A wagon would provide some helpful rest while continuing on their way, if only for a short while, but only if it is headed in the same direction. Amber asks the griffin,
"Which way are you headed?" >>166519She looks up towards Amber and makes eye contact. Her eyes are a yellow-green, or so they seem in the moonlight. Something in her expression makes it look almost as if she wasn't expecting Amber to speak to her.
"Oh, over towards the village. By the river."
>>166521Helder takes a solid three seconds to seem to notice that Amber is speaking to him. But then he turns to Amber.
"Uh, yes. More or less."