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Post by Red Charge on Jan 10, 2012 8:23:08 GMT -5
The peaceful air of Manehattan was almost awe inspiring that morning, as gentle-colts and fillies went about their business, some to work, other to perform various errands around the city.
A sudden explosion sent a large iron gate crashing at the opposite building, as a pony went speeding out of the Rainlock Estate Grounds and towards the center of the city. Wrapped in a grey cloak, and riding on fiery hooves, the pony sped throughout the roads, leaving behind shocked ponies.
Not far behind after him, a truly wonderous assortment of things came in chase. Among which was a pack of trained ferals, various animated suits of pony armor, statues and the lady of the estate herself, the pegasus mare Gale Rainlock.
"Get back here you thieving SCUM!" She called, a lightning bolt launching from her forearm and exploding a small stretch of road near the escaping pony, who, arriving at a T junction jumped at the wall of a building, and from it launched himself down the street.
The suits of armor that followed also had to jump on the building to make the quick turn, but their heavy shoes fractured and broke the stone, and as the last launched, the cracks shattered, revealing a rather surprised, dark colored, pudgy pony in a bath. Unfortunately for the pony, the bath was supported by the wall and began to slip outside to the street.
"No, no, no, no, nooooo!" The pony cried in protest as the tub came crashing down in the street.
The suits of armor came upon the fleeing pony, who upon the flames under his hooves glided, turned to face them, now gliding backwards with no friction and dodging blow after blow from the enraged suits.
With a quick jab, a burst of flame emerged from his hooves, sending the armors tumbling on the ground. Lady Rainlock however was not so easy to deter, as she extended another hoof, and from the sleeve of her jacket the long tendrils of a plant shot forwards, grabbing at the hoof of the thief.
"Bring the Eye back, you filth." She called angrily, both still speeding along the road, sending carts, wagons and ponies scattering about in panic.
But before she could strike out with another lightning, the plant tendrils burned, and swinging off a light pole, her would be prisoner eluded through an alley, quickly emerging on another road, the pack of Rainlock's trained ferals in tow.
To a nearby Officer Gale called, "That's the Grey Shadow right there! He stole one of my artifacts!" And at his lack of response she cried, "Don't just stand there, I want roadblocks all over the city!"
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Post by mafipulater on Jan 11, 2012 5:15:01 GMT -5
Though Sea Swell still preferred to sleep in through the mornings, her recent routine of job-hunting mixed with the paper-thin walls of her apartment eventually forced her into working along something like a regular schedule.
This particular morning, Sea was going on a routine morning jog. With her CD player in a pocket of her black vest and her headphones on, she couldn’t hear all the commotion happening in the street behind her.
“I’m burning through the sky, yeah! Two hundred degrees, that’s why they call me Mister Fahrenheit! I’m travelling at the speed of light, I want to make a supersonic mare out of you! Don’t stop me now...” her headphones blasted, when suddenly the sound began to skip.
”Oh, what the buck…” Sea muttered to herself as she removed her headphones from her ears. Suddenly she noticed the sounds of panic and an angry yell from behind her.
Sea turned to see a grey-clothed pony barreling down the street towards her, being chased by several suits of armor which appeared to move by themselves, a number of ferals, and a pegasus mare. And none of them seemed to intend to stop.
Sea’s pupils grew to the size of golf balls when she saw what was happening. ”Oh, what the… buck-ing hay is this!!” she screamed, as she dived out of the way. She hid her head underneath her hooves and, startled out of her senses, for a moment she didn’t dare to look up.
With her heart’s beat sounding like a battle drum’s thumping, Sea’s eyes finally decided to dart up just in time to see the shadow of a figure disappearing into an alley. The pegasus that was chasing the pony in grey suddenly called to a nearby officer, though Sea was still too stunned from the event for her words to sink in.
A second later, it hit her.
”W… wait. That was the Grey Shadow?!” she exclaimed loudly.
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Post by Klepto Moonlit on Jan 11, 2012 18:52:27 GMT -5
Klepto found his peaceful nap interrupted by what sounded like a lot of commotion followed by a loud exclamation or two. He was sleeping on a bench, curled up and using a newspaper as a make-shift blanket. What was with all the noise? It was way too early for ponies to be demolishing buildings or whatever it was they were doing. Or was it? How late had he slept? He had been feeling rather lethargic lately, mainly because he hadn't found much success with locating any places to steal from. So far he had only robbed like, what, one store in the city? And that was just a smash-and-grab, nothing to be proud of. Maybe he was just being hesitant, or picky, or lazy.
Klepto rolled onto his side, sleepily opening one eye and closing it a few seconds later. "Wait a second... was that a bathtub?" he thought to himself. Opening both eyes this time, Klepto lifted his head up to make sure he hadn't been imagining it. Sure enough, a good way down the street, an embarrased-looking colt was sitting in a bathtub, accompanied by a rather large hole in his wall. Not only that, but carts, wagons, and ponies were strewn on both sides of the road.
Klepto blinked a few times before stretching and hopping down from the bench. Looking in both directions of the street, Klepto spotted the indigo mane of a familiar-looking mare. He quickly slipped on his saddle-bag and trotted over to her, leaving the newspaper to blow away in the wind. "Hey, there. Long time no 'Sea'," he said, chuckling at the groan-inducing pun he had made. "Almost didn't recognize you with the-" His attention was caught by a stray wagon wheel rolling by right in front of them, falling on it's side a few feet away.
"Yeesh. What did you do?"
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Post by portiabuckworth on Jan 11, 2012 18:58:20 GMT -5
It was such a perfect day! Portia found herself unable to go any slower than a trot as she roamed around Manehatten. The spring sun warmed her back and reflected off the white concrete of the sidewalk, but Portia resisted the urge to put on her sunglasses, wanting to take in as much as she could of this beyond beautiful morning.
Out of nowhere, a flow of rather luke-warm water crossed her path and, with it, a very distraught pony in a rather fancy tub rambling on about a ruined bath. Not far behind, a grey stallion rushed past, nearly knocking her off her hooves.
Portia paused for a moment in confusion, blinking as if to try and process what she'd just seen. It wasn't long until she heard a vaguely familiar voice shouting something about a thief and the name Grey Shadow.
Grey Shadow? The legend? Portia now recognized Lady Rainlock up ahead, facing the same direction as the bathing pony and cantering stallion. With a sly grin and burst of adrenaline, Portia whipped into action. She didnt say much but a clipped, "Pardon" as she leapt over a tan colt to pursue the criminal, the grey stallion that had nearly knocked her over.
Portia felt her cape billowing behind her and grinned as she stepped into a super-hero character facade. Silly thief, did he not know that justice would always be done?
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Post by penndixon on Jan 12, 2012 1:50:45 GMT -5
Moments after sweeping the garbage from the sidewalk in front of his store, he hears a loud rumbling approaching. A blur of color and magic rushes past his store, nearly knocking him over. He maintains his balance and sighs in relief.
He turns to his store and is met with a stray brick to the face, which flies off into a different direction...right into his store's window. He rubs his bloody nose, stunned at what just happened...again.
"..."
His blood begins to boil, and he gets ready to scream...
"RRRRRAA-...oh whatever...What's the point in getting mad."
He collapses on the ground in defeat, covering his face in frustration.
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Post by mafipulater on Jan 12, 2012 4:44:56 GMT -5
Sea Swell's ears perked up at the sound of a familiar voice. Looking up, she noticed the blue-eyed earth pony approaching. "Wha-... Klepto?" she said, still slightly stunned from being nearly trampled over. Picking herself up from off the ground, she looked over the stallion as he drew closer. "Jeez, dude. It's been a minute since I last seen you... you could have called or dropped by to say hi every once in a while."
Sea watched as a wagon wheel wandered in front of them before toppling over. "Oh... I started a riot, you know, because of police brutality and the injustices of the Equestrian government, you know, just the usual..." she said in response to Klepto's question, as she looked herself over. "Ugh, my mane's probably a mess..." she muttered, as she brushed stray strands out of her face, nearly wishing that she decided to keep her mane short instead of letting it grow long. "I'm fine, by the way, you know, thanks for asking."
Suddenly, Sea remembered the pony that rode upon flaming hooves that disappeared down the alley. "Oh, yeah, Klepto! The Grey Shadow - he ran down the street, nearly trampled me to death, that bucking idiot, and disappeared into that alley! You must have seen him run by, right?" She quickly glanced around. Sea could still hardly believe that the Grey Shadow was really real - after all, nobody came up with anything all those weeks ago when he hit those stores downtown. But apparently the legend really was real...
Or at least, if he wasn't real, somepony was running around dressed in grey, stealing things, causing a ruckus, and nearly running over innocent bystanders like a moron. "Really wanna catch that jerk now..." Sea wanted to go chase after the alleged thief for nearly trampling her to death, but she waited on Klepto first. After all, she didn't want to suddenly ditch him since it's been a while since she'd seen him. But she really didn't want to lose the Grey Shadow either...
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Post by Klepto Moonlit on Jan 13, 2012 20:48:17 GMT -5
"You mean you saw somepony who kind-of-vaguely-not-really looked like the Grey Shadow in all the confusion." Klepto responded. "C'mon, Sea. We spent all day digging through the trash after everyone got riled up over him last time, and found nothing! Everyone found nothing! The Grey Shadow is just a boogeyman the security companies made up to increase their sales or somethin'. The guy's as real as I am a lawyer. All that commotion last time was probably just some two-bit, trinket-snatchin' thiefs trying to fool the cops into looking for a pony that doesn't exist."
Klepto was surprised Sea of all people would be first to assume the Grey Shadow was responsible. She had been with him that day when they wasted all that time looking for clues and stuff. Probably just PTSD or something. "Look, if it makes you feel better, Klepto said, slowly trotting down towards the alley, "I'll go with you to 'find him'. It was probably justa run-away delivery cart or somethin', and once we catch up with it we can all have a good-"
Klepto was interrupted by an unexpected hind-hoof, belonging to a pony that had just leapt over him, hitting the back of his head and sending him to the ground, immediately followed by a short "Pardon" as the pony dashed away. "Ugh..." Klepto groaned, picking himself up off the ground. Looking up at his assailant, he immediately noticed a strikingly unforgettable cape. A strikingly unforgettable cape that belonged to that unicorn that had stuck a flier on him the other week! And then a cop had made him clean up all the other fliers she had plastered the city with!
And now she was dashing away, probably not even having noticed that she had just thwacked him in the back of the head. Well not this time. She wasn't gonna get off scotch-free twice in a row. Klepto took off after the unicorn, following her towards the alley. "C'mon, Sea! I've got a score to settle!" he called back.
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Post by portiabuckworth on Jan 13, 2012 21:17:53 GMT -5
Portia ran straight into the alley and skid to a stop. Wouldn't a thief hide while his pursuers ran past him? She snorted haughtily, not this mare. Remembering a spell she'd learned for clearing away dust, Portia closed her eyes and held her breath. It was the same general principle, right? She just needed more energy was all.
Portia's horn glowed fuchsia before a good-sized blast blew nearly every trash can, peice of rubbish, stray cat, and a few birds helter-skelter from the alley. The spell took a little more from Portia than she'd expected, so it was a moment before she spotted her target again.
Swallowing air like a camel swallows water, Portia forced herself to keep up her pursuit. "You are... NOT... getting... away... little miscreant!"
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Post by mafipulater on Jan 15, 2012 3:10:52 GMT -5
Sea frowned, disappointed in Klepto’s skepticism. Even if Klepto somehow missed it, she was sure of what she saw, and it certainly wasn’t a “run-away” delivery cart.
Okay, maybe it wasn’t necessarily the legendary thief himself, but a pony ran by, dressed in grey, and he was being chased by someone yelling after him that he was the Grey Shadow, and that he stole something of hers. It could just be some doofus impersonating the legend, or whatever… that certainly was possible. But the fact was that he nearly trampled Sea to death a moment ago. And she sure as hay wasn’t going let him get away with that!
Suddenly, a caped unicorn leapt over Klepto’s head, smacking him in the process and knocking him to the ground. Sea recognized the cape and the mare wearing it. ”Portia?” A lot of old friends seemed to be showing up today!
Klepto ran off to chase after the unicorn, and Sea quickly ran to catch up with him. ”You ok, Klepto?” Sea asked as she kept pace with him. ”Do ya know her? I think Portia might be after him too!” she added, realizing that she went down the same alley the thief did.
As soon as Sea rounded the corner into the alley, she heard the explosive shockwave of a spell go off, and was nearly greeted in the face by a flying trash can. ”Waah!” Sea screamed, as she leapt to the side to dodge. Just as the dust settled, Sea looked up to see Portia continue her chase.
”Portia! Watch what you’re doing!” Sea yelled as she moved to follow, hoping that she heard. Getting hit in the face with a trash can would admittedly be less horrible than getting trampled, but Sea had just about enough close-calls for one morning.
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Post by penndixon on Jan 15, 2012 4:27:18 GMT -5
Penn shook his head in anger.
"We only replaced that blasted window last week..."
He closed his eyes tightly, trying to calm himself. But it was too much. Not only had the brick broken his window, it's speed and trajectory had sent it hurtling into the most expensive case in the store, which was promptly shattered to bits. His frustration boiled so hot, tears streamed down his face.
"Enough!"
In his emotional state, he failed to realize that his magic was active. He rose on his hind legs, and angrily stamped down on the pavement. With his concussive magic active, a simple stamp became a shockwave strong enough to send Penn skyward. So high in fact, he could see the chase. He shook his hoof at them in disgust as he descended, bouncing off the pavement like a bouncy ball, before taking off after them, running through the alleyway next to him. In his anger, he didn't bother to even manually turn himself, but rather boosted himself off of walls, launching him in the opposite direction that he fired his shockwaves, causing great booms to rip the air around him each time.
"I'll teach you to put me thousands of dollars in dept! THAT VASE WASN'T CHEAP!!!"
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Post by Klepto Moonlit on Jan 15, 2012 10:49:24 GMT -5
"Yeah I know her!" Klepto said, turning to Sea as he continued to run after the unicorn. "She covered half the city in fliers and then a cop made me clean them up! Not to mention the fact that she just hit me in the back of the head." Well this Portia wasn't going to get away with it this time. As soon as he- Wait. How did Sea know her name? "Hang on," Klepto asked as he began to turn into the alley. "Do you kn-"
Klepto was cut off mid-sentence by a wave of trashcans, rubbish, and whatever else had been in the alley hitting him. He landed a few feet back, ending up underneath a pile of garbage and semi-empty trash cans. There Klepto laid for several seconds, trying to calculate what had just happened, before pulling himself out of the pile. "That's it!" he yelled, running back towards the alley.
Now she was in for it. As soon as he caught up with her... well he hadn't really thought it through up to that part, but all he could focus on now was catching that no-good, flier posting, head smacking, garbage-wave sending unicorn. He was so focused, in fact, that he made nothing of the small "booms" that were coming from elsewhere in the city.
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Post by portiabuckworth on Jan 15, 2012 18:29:18 GMT -5
Portia had about had it. Her lungs burned, her sore hoof from falling into the stream was acting up, and she thought she hard a familiar voice calling out to her. But she couldn't just let go of the fact that she was mere yards from catching her thief. She would have to come up with something, and fast.
Brains over brawn, dear Portia, remember, brains over brawn.
Portia assessed the situation as she struggled to keep up her pace. They were exiting the alley now, about to cross a larger street. If this pony was any more nibbler than herself, which Portia knew to be more probable than not, he'd be able to cross without a problem while she was forced to wait for traffic. It seemed a hopeless case. Portia stopped, breathing heavily. If only she knew some way to get up high...
A few booms brought Portia's attention behind her. She beamed. "Oh, Sea Swell! Well met! Did you see? I almost had him! I just need some way to cut him off... Any ideas? Oh! Who's your friend? And what in the name of Shakespony happened to his head? You should be more careful, my dear fellow. This city can be a rough place."
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Post by mafipulater on Jan 16, 2012 4:50:23 GMT -5
Sea looked behind her, noticing that Klepto had suddenly disappeared from sight. She stopped midway through the alley, wondering where he went, when he pulled himself out of nearby a pile of garbage.
”Dude, c’mon! Quit screwin’ around in the garbage; he’s gonna get away!” she said, unaware of what just happened to him.
Several booms echoed throughout the city. She was curious for a moment, but then shrugged and continued. Maybe it was construction or something?
Catching up with Portia at the sidewalk, Sea said, ”Hey Portia! I saw him too! The Grey Shadow, right? He almost ran over me, that buckin’ moron…” Sea glanced across the street. Too busy - she wouldn't make it through. If only she could avoid it all somehow…
Sea glanced down at her wings and frowned. Though Sea got over her inability to fly years ago, having a crippled pair of wings was still incredibly inconvenient.
Maybe she could jump! Wait, no, that was stupid. ”Yeah, sorry, I got nuthin’,” Sea replied, out of ideas.
”Oh, yeah, Portia, this is Klepto. Klepto, Portia.” Still unaware of Klepto’s anger toward the unicorn, Sea concentrated on figuring out how to catch the supposed legendary thief. There must be some way through or around the crowds...
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Post by penndixon on Jan 16, 2012 15:24:07 GMT -5
Penn tore through the streets at what felt like the speed of sound, if not for the fact that he kept launching himself with concussive blasts. They were deafening, but he didn't care. Someone was going to be bucked today. He entered the busy streets with a bang, hesitating only to rear back and leap over the groups entirely, using his magic for propulsion. As he ran the general direction of where he last saw the chase, he kept to the streets despite the time he would save not doing so.
Every time he went airborne, he would check around, to not only see if he was going to land on anypony, but also to see if anyone suspicious was hiding. After a few minutes, he ran past an alleyway that was right next to a crowd, which he glanced at so he wouldn't miss it before jumping. What he saw surprised him.
"Swell?"
His surprise made him trip at the same time that his concussive blast instinctually went off, shooting him through the crowd, knocking everypony involved along with him. In one sweeping motion, the crowd that had given Sea Swell pause had been dispersed, as they all lifted themselves up, angrily looking for the culprit who caused their spectacular stumble. Bursting from the crowd, Penn shook himself off and kept running, adjusting his now broken glasses, mildly embarrassed by his tumble.
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Post by Red Charge on Jan 23, 2012 1:04:35 GMT -5
Emerging off another alleyway, the grey cloaked pony rushed past a group of Rainlock Security, on the fast track out of the city, when the pack of ferals finally caught up. Taking out what appeared to be a large ball, he tossed it on the ground, where it erupted. A fiery flash of light followed by a loud thunder, sending the trained creatures scattering in all directions.
Turning his attention back to the road, he was suddenly halted as the statue of a griffin crashed on the ground in front of him, cracking the cobblestone road and sending pebbles of cobble flying everywhere. It became pretty obvious why no one ever dared stealing from Rainlock Mansion before, with suits of armor, living statues, a security force as well as the trained ferals all in the way of escape. The stallion was unfazed by this and quickly leapt on the head of the statue, hopping off of it and proceeding along the path, statue in tow.
With an almighty leap the statue wrapped its wings around the thief, effectively trapping him. Giving several of the Rainlock Security ponies a chance to surround him. "The Grey Shadow," one of them started, "Caught, what a glo..." The pony's sentence was cut short as the wings blasted free of the statue, and the fiery stallion burst through, throwing more explosive pellets all over, sending the security force into a panic, and dodging into another alley, climbing the fire escape stairwell up to the top of a building, and stopping there.
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