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Post by Bowie on Mar 17, 2013 0:02:34 GMT -5
Shade's frustrated blast had burst a pipe, spraying the unlucky unicorn with a blast of sewage water. The unicorn spat out the foul tasting liquid before moving down the sewers.
Shade ended up walking through the sewers for quite a while, the minutes melting together as he trudged through the tired, old terrain. He may have even been walking in circles. It certainly felt like it at some point. Eventually, after what felt like an hour at least, Shade did manage to spot something. Two Fourth Fleet officers, the law enforcers of Royal Rocks, each holding a lantern as they trekked through the sewage.
"Think we found 'em," one of the officers said to the other. "You the one who's responsible for the burst pipe?"
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Post by Shadestride Scythe on Mar 17, 2013 0:17:12 GMT -5
Shade turned, and spat the liquid off to the side, flaring up his horn, "Well it's about time, gentlecolts.", he grumbled, his black mane soaked and hanging down off his sides... he looked a might beaten and bloodied indeed to them, "Don't even concern yourselves just yet. Can you please just let me out of here...", stopping just before the two, standing as tall as his wounds would allow him, blood trickling down his forehead but he narrowed one eye hard, the other open. Shade seemed to be quite unhappy.
At least he found allies... despite them being down here to clean up a pipe burst, "If you want me to go back and fix it then fine.", he grunted most unhappily, "But can I please get my wounds tended to first? I'm not going to complain to any of you about why I'm down here! I would just like to get to the surface. Clean myself. And then go before the bloody Council and ask they send me away for something far less risky.", he did his best not to yell or show too much anger.
However the officers were pretty safe to assume that the former Shield Caster, who'd protected their mighty Royal Palace-minus the fool King before Stygg- during the siege not a few weeks(Or months) ago. He didn't expect to be known by any of the fleet officers, and at this point it did not matter to him. In all sincerity... he wanted out of this sewer. He wanted to break a small particular ship in half... and he would do it the second he ever got the chance to next time.
He shook his head very gently, and let it down, standing before the two officers, "Gentlegriffons...", he corrected himself, "This has not been the best of days..." at least during the siege he succeeded in thwarting attackers.
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Post by Bowie on Mar 17, 2013 0:44:21 GMT -5
The two officers exchanged looks, the first whispering in the other's ear before the second nodded in return. Not a moment later, the second officer had tackled Shade into the sewage, pinning his snout below the water level. The griffon had his arm wrapped around the unicorn's neck, using his weight to keep Shade's thrashing body as still as possible. The unicorn could feel something heavy placed over his horn, and it was only after a good several seconds of struggle that he was let up for air.
"Rogue unicorn," Shade heard the first officer say, only to have his head slammed back into the filthy water immediately afterward. He was brought up for another breath after several more seconds. "Endangerment to himself and others," the griffon continued, Shade's head again pushed back into the sewage after he had finished. "Arrested for trespassing," he stated as Shade was brought back up, "Destroying public property, and resisting arrest."
The second officer had a pair of handcuffs locked onto Shade's forehooves, and then proceeded to yank the unicorn up violently. Shade would find that the object placed on his horn, what felt like a lead cap, completely blocked him from casting spells. The two officers clearly weren't going to take any risks with a unicorn caught using destructive magic. He could still move with the cuffs on his hoofs, but there was no way he was going to be able to run. Not that he could anyway with his broken leg.
"Let's get him to a station," the griffon said, putting away a notepad he had been writing in. "Find out what to do from there." The other officer nodded, grabbing Shade's forearm and pushing him forwards.
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Post by Shadestride Scythe on Mar 17, 2013 9:15:38 GMT -5
It became quite clear that well... this day could get worse. Without describing the tustle with the two griffons and getting swamped a second time. Shade stood firmly, dripping wet in disgusting sewage a second time, only this time in cuffs.
"... You have to be bloody kidding me.", he growled quietly. He got to his hooves at their discretion, and grit his teeth behind his calm-looking lips. Did life have some awful fortune boded for him? Then again he did understand that he'd damaged the kingdom's property, getting his head dunked a second time, then a third, and rising for air with gasping breathes, "you got it wrong, friend!", he was dunked again, risen up, "Will you give me five minutes to calm down an expla-!", again.
If he didn't have the cuffs on... But he would stay strong, hoping that this could not get much worse in the short-run. Though at this rate... well it probably would. Finally when he could stand, he held his broken leg out of the water, "Make it worse why don't you~", he grumbled, spitting sewege to the side, and groaning.
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Post by Bowie on Mar 17, 2013 15:59:57 GMT -5
The two officers didn't seem to care much for Shade's broken leg, merely leading him out of the sewers instead. Eventually they brought him back to the streets of Royal Rocks, where the unicorn would discover that it was now night. He must have been unconscious for a while. Even if Shade wasn't being put under arrest, Filcher's ship was likely long gone.
The two officers took Shade through the streets, bringing him into a brightly lit processing station. It took several seconds for his eyes to adjust, during which time they led him into a cell at the other end of the building. Inside were two other griffons, a smaller one looking around nervously and a hawk-panther griffon laying down on a bench. With Shade in the cell and the door locked, the two officers left, probably caring more about taking a shower than monitoring the three's activities.
The cell wasn't clean, but it could have been worse. Shade was still the smelliest thing inside.
"A pony?" the arrested hawk-panther griffon asked with a dry laugh. "What a treat. Usually the tourists are goody four-hooves." The griffon pulled himself up, turning to face Shade. "What's the matter? Didn't you know the Wind Festival was a few weeks ago?" He let out another laugh before stepping forward, examining the unicorn from top to bottom. "You know, usually I can tell what someone's in for just by looking at them. But you? You're a puzzle. Cuts, bruises, broken leg... maybe you were in a fight, but I'm not getting that sort of vibe from you. You smell like rotten fish though."
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Post by Shadestride Scythe on Mar 17, 2013 16:17:28 GMT -5
It was a treacherous walk for him. But around the time the three had acutlaly reached the station, and he was thrown into the cell... he was incredbly calm, if not incredibly aggravated. Not once looking at the other two until he was spoken to directly. He was not a happy camper right about now.
Essentially he never had heard of the festival the griffon talked about, nor did he really care about it in any sense, "Please tell me we get our one call?~", the unicorn joked cynically, raising his hoof, and rubbing it across his head. He wondered if Shoel could be of any use right about now if he could just get the word out to him. But then again the ambassador might be on some diplomatic quest as he thought about it right now.
His anti-magic cuffs prevented him from responding by shoving the griffon aside. So instead he remained looking at his hooves... that or rubbing his injured head with them, "I hear that...", he replied eventually, making a hard sigh, and shakily sitting down more comfortably, "And what by tell, are you here for, my feathered friend?~", not sounding all too excited to hear it but there was little else he could do. Peering outside the thick cell bars, then at the other, smaller griffon, "You to.", placing the question on the two of them.
"Because I don't mean to brag or anythin... Just bloody beaten with uh crowbar, and then dumped'en the sewers. Little devil took my book... And my coin... Next time I might be in here for murder.", Shadestride cursed quietly, looking aside, gritting his teeth. He was joking... sort of, but currently why would he not? It wasn't as though it was gonna get any better.
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Post by Bowie on Mar 17, 2013 17:18:51 GMT -5
The hawk-panther griffon burst out laughing at Shade's last sentence, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye. "That's rich. You got your tail handed to you and you think next time it's gonna be for murder? You're the type of guy who doesn't have a next time. You get sent to the big house, and you get pushed around a bit. By the time they let you out, you're so scared you can't even think about killing someone let alone leave the house without a diaper."
"I've seen the tough guy act before, pal. It goes away reeeaal quickly once you realize how deep you're in." The griffon took a step forward, putting a talon on his own chest. "This is my third time. Last was for mugging, this one was for breaking out and killing the guy who turned me in. Tiny here?" he said, pointing at the smaller griffon with his thumb, "It's his second time in for smuggling. He's scared, because he knows what's gonna happen to him. Now you," the griffon said, leaning so close to Shade that his beak was almost touching the unicorn's snout, "You may not be scared yet, but you're gonna be scared. You're gonna be ten times as scared, because you don't know what's gonna happen. You never done this before."
"Sometimes, though," the griffon said, grinning maliciously, "You gotta try new things." A moment after he had finished, the griffon had kicked Shade's broken leg, instantly sending the unicorn to the ground. "You know, I say I killed the guy who turned me in, but I'm still feeling a lot of frustration. Now would be a great time to get some of that out." The hawk-panther planted his talon on Shade's back, pinning him to the ground while his claws dug into the unicorn's skin. "What about you, Tiny?" he asked the other griffon. "You can't be happy about being in here either. Care to let off some steam?" The smaller griffon looked down at Shade, before looking back up and nodding in agreement.
To say the least, it wasn't a very fun night for Shade. The two griffons used him as a pony-shaped punching bag of sorts, relieving themselves of their pent up stress. It didn't go a long way towards making his condition worse, but it was mighty painful. The two didn't stop until they'd finished with their fun, leaving the unicorn motionless on the center of the cell floor, too exhaused and in too much pain to even move. The officers either didn't notice or didn't care.
"Shadestride Scythe," a voice called. It was late morning the next day, and an officer within the station had called his name. "Someone posted your bail, a Shoal Whitecap. Couldn't make it here, but he asked you to get yourself to a hospital." The officer opened the cell door, allowing Shade to walk himself out of the building.
"Take care, unicorn," the hawk-panther called mockingly.
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Post by Shadestride Scythe on Mar 17, 2013 17:49:13 GMT -5
Why did this happen to him?...
His eyes peeled open, covered in bruises and marks, more bloody than he was before, his cuffs making it even harder to move. Finally though when he was released from his imprisonment, he stumbled out of the cage, panting, and breathing more ragged than he had the first beating... he looked to the griffon officer, one eye swollen shut, jaw hung open... possibly a little broken in some places.
"May I... have my cuffs removed?~...", he asked, closing his only good eye and looking down at his chained hooves, and at the piece around his horn. He turned his pupil on the black-panther in the cell behind him, "Mmmm~", he smirked, "At least I Have bail.", flicking his tail, gritting his teeth in a smile. Sure... he was beaten.
Only his smile had nothing to do with being teased. It had come to a revelation actually. They'd actually popped a bloodvessel in his only good eye, the other of course... swollen up. His lips were bleeding from the kicks and the punches, his mane a bit tattery and filthy, "Heheh...", but when he looked back to the officer, he was still wounded, "I'm ready to leave, sir.", he shook his head, "And I'm really sorry about the whole pipe incident...", sure they had probably beaten him for using destructive magic but... he didn't WANT to comprehend anything else, "Just doing what you're trained to do is all.", he exhaled, hanging his head in some weakness, his broken leg throbbing, lifted agaisnt his side.
"It won't happen again...", the things he did for this nation, and the Horseapples he took in return.
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Post by Bowie on Mar 18, 2013 20:40:29 GMT -5
"It'd better not," the officer said, not seeming to care much for Shade's apology. He removed the cuffs from the unicorn's hooves, and the cap on his horn. The officer then left the unicorn alone, expected to walk himself out of the building.
"Figures you'd post bail," the hawk-panther griffon said from the cell bench as Shade moved towards the door. "But don't worry! I'll be thinking of ya."
Shade again found himself on the streets of Royal Rocks, with the sun showing there was still an hour or two until noon. Now there was nothing between him and a hospital. He could finally get his wounds tended to, and his leg looked at. A doctor was probably exactly what he needed right now.
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Post by Shadestride Scythe on Apr 11, 2013 14:31:49 GMT -5
The Unicorn waited until the officer was a good distance away. A low, distasteful growl to show his newfound hate for... most griffons suddenly. Flicking his eyes back into the petty cage, feeling his magic able to return to his sharp horn, "How sweet of you, Bird.", he replied, "Think of me when the only light you'll get is that ray peering through that little window of yours..."
Of course... the pony didn't really have anything else to throw at him. Essentially Shade was and forever will be... the butt of this joke. His terrible night had left him with something that would flair around in his chest for centuries AFTER his death.
But that didn't keep him from taking one hateful sneer to the smaller of the two Griffons, "Hegheghegh!", it was a gritty snicker, shaking his head, "I hope you had a good time!", he spat quietly... at least Shade wasn't afraid to admit he had an awful one. Wanting that putrid sac of feathers to suffer... hopefully he'd get the same cell with the panther griffon, "Keep your friend here nice company while you're at it!~", turning, limping to the door, but fighting the worst of it to look higher than he was.
Sure Shade's pride, and his friendly attitude had been ruined. But that didn't mean he wouldn't enjoy thinking about these two rotting away while he got off free... a few beatings was far better than life imprisonment.
His horn flared up as he made his way to the door, grinding his teeth together. No more of this city... for more than one reason now it was a far better idea to leave. First he'd see a doctor for his leg, then he would see to the first ticket he could afford off this hellhole. Unless the world had something else it desired to throw at him!
But he'd be more likely to levitate and impale somepony rather than accept another delivery job. It wasn't often he'd ever considered up and killing a griffon or a pony out of sheer hatred for what had happened to himself. Normally he could fume it off.
"Let's just get a brace for th's leg~", he grumbled the first of his numerous issues to succumb. Limping his way to the hospital.
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Post by Bowie on Apr 13, 2013 13:25:00 GMT -5
After quite a bit of limping, Shade finally made it to the hospital. The receptionist there got him a wheel chair, a nurse rolling him down to the other side of the building. "Had to consolidate the Pony Ward after the attack on the city. Lot of injured griffons who needed the space." Indeed, Shade was rolled past dozens of injured griffons recovering from the attack on Royal Rocks the previous week. They seemed in various states of recovery, some with merely a broken wing and others in much worse condition.
Finally they reached the far end of the building, a sign hanging above them reading PONY WARD. The nurse hadn't been kidding when she said that the ward had been consolidated. In fact, it looked like it had been relegated to the end of a hallway. There couldn't have been more than three or four rooms that made up the whole area.
Finally Shade was taken into one of the larger rooms, finding a very small number of ponies inside laying on rolling hospital beds. It seemed they were using the inspection room to house the hospitalized ponies as well. The nurse took Shade to one of the beds, right next to a comatose earth pony. "Fill out this paper work," she said, handing the unicorn a clipboard, "And we'll have our doctor get a look at your leg."
The Nurse then left Shade alone on the hospital bed, alone with the ponies and not feeling much better than before he had arrived. Aside from his comatose neighbor, there was a light-blue pegasus pony across from Shade with bandages wrapped over his right eye. His other was being used to stare at the newcomer. A female unicorn was a few beds down, reading a book, and another pegasus looked like she was asleep.
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Post by Shadestride Scythe on Apr 13, 2013 15:45:50 GMT -5
By Celestia's beard it felt good to be off his leg. The wheelchair was like a moving cloud to him. He let off a hard sigh, letting himself be limp, "Fine by me...", giving a light shrug of his bruised shoulders. Shade was more interested as they wheeled by mirrors and reflective objects... finally able to see himself, and what condition he was in. He snagged a small fragment of glass off a passing table, "Well ain't I the most charming looking Stallion right about now~", joking with a bitterness, cocking his brow, turning his head left to right, inhaling and letting out a low sigh, "Right then...", dropping the small fragment into a trash receptical.
Well at least he was off his leg, that much did make the difference. To him at least. The pain was more like a contant burn... only moving or tapping it would invite a piercing agony. He did not think much about how long he would wait; just content that he wasn't in a prison cell, or in the sewer... or worse. Gritting his teeth and giving a low growl to himself. At least he had control over his magic again, "Thank you nurse... apologies I don't have anythin ta tip you'weth..." as she'd handed him the papers and turned to be on her feathery way.
He let his head down, levitating the utencil, and poking it's tip to begin his signing. His mane hanging limply over his ears and eyes from all the abuse, "Hm?~", he blinked, looking up, and turning his eyes to his neighboring vegetable pony.
There weren't all that many here. The thought of tourism crossed his mind. Why would anypony want to live in this city? Full of hatred for magic. His bloodied eye closed, pressing his hoof over it, and looking down the line. The one-eyed pegasi, the slumbering winged pony not to far from. And then there was the unicorn as well. Training his eye to maybe get a peek at what she was skimming through... but it wasn't easy given his handicaps.
Shade remained quiet for the duration of the silent introductions, turning his head and blowing his sickly mane out of his eyes... he'd have to fix it up later, "Forgive me... Eh'where are my manners.", he spoke nice and quiet. Mostly to the cyclops pegasus who just so happened to be staring. He sat up more, signing his name into the clipboard, and jotting down the required information, "Shadestride... but you can call me Shade...", maybe a good idea to perhaps make some aqquaintences? So long as he kept quiet. He did his best to make sure his voice didn't travel out of the room.
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Post by Bowie on Apr 13, 2013 16:42:16 GMT -5
"You really smell," the one-eyed pegasus responded. "Hope they give you a bath."
The female unicorn began to snicker, but it was quickly cut off as she winced and wrapped a limb around her ribs. "Sorry," she said. "Didn't mean to poke fun."
"Shade, huh?" the pegasus continued. "My name's Ink Slinger. I write for the Canterlot Herald. That's Peach Pleasant," he said, pointing at the unicorn with the book, "That's Breeze Chaser," he continued, pointing at the sleeping pegasus. "And that's uh... we don't really know his name. Been here longer than the rest of us," he spoke, nodding towards the unconscious earth pony next to Shade.
"So yeah. That's the gang. For now at least, I get out tomorrow." A sort of awkward silence passed, no one wanting to ask Shade the obvious question of how what exactly he had done to be in such a poor condition. "So uh... you from around here? Visiting from Equestria?" Ink asked.
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Post by Shadestride Scythe on Apr 13, 2013 17:07:21 GMT -5
He took little offense... if he was any of them there was a good chance he'd have laughed at himself. But he'd already gotten used to his stench, not wiffing it nearly as badly. That much got a light, winded chuckle out of him, sitting back and levitating the clipboard to the table, "I guess you could say that... I sure hope They'll let me clean up~", technically he was no longer visiting, nor was he planning to stay any longer. Initially Shade intended to stay in the city, but his latest adventure discouraged him from seeking property on city grounds.
"Pleasure... Just wish it was under... more pleasurable circumstances.", he adjusted himself to comfort his torn leg, "The day I can trot a clean trot... That's when I'll leave.", the unicorn giving a subtle nod. He no longer had his hat, leaving it in the jail cell. Not like he wanted to go back and get it anyway. He could survive without his usual garb.
He turned his sights on the comatose pony, "Even know how he got like that?", he asked, trying to sound friendly, but his current condition left his tone a tad off place, turning his eyes back, "So... if you don't mind me askin... what brings you all here?", from Ink Slinger, all the way down to Peach Pleasent, and Breeze Chaser.. though he refrained from being too loud, not wanting to wake the pegasus up.
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Post by Bowie on Apr 13, 2013 17:27:04 GMT -5
"Not really," Ink spoke, answering Shade's question about the comatose pony. "Think he went into surgery and came out like that. Was before the assault on the city though, so I don't know what it could have been. The doc's probably the best person to ask."
"Now to answer your other question, I didn't go into the mountain during the assault. I work for a newspaper, ya know, so I thought it was my duty to get a first-hand account of what was going on. Piece of shrapnel thought otherwise." The pegasus shrugged. "Nothing big, but my eyesight's gonna be crud in this eye from now on. Peach, you wanna share?"
"Broken rib, similar story," the unicorn answered, turning a page in her book.
"There you go. As for Breeze, I think she's just sick or something. Had surgery yesterday so she's probably just a bit tired and out of it. Now, why are you here, Shade?"
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