Vagabond's Rest (Stygg)

[Nul]

Manehatten was alive with activity despite the war that was waging in other parts of the kingdom. However it didn't mean that this place didn't have it's fair share of trouble. Two ponies could be seen walking one was obviously a sophisticated pony the other was a bodyguard of sorts with his ashen coat and black mane and tail. He gave the presence of a soldier type but didn't look the sort "Here we are my good pony thank you for escorting me through these dreadful streets" these two were in the more social elite part of the city as the socialite produced some bits the last half of the payment for the job "I do hope we do business again" the other pony said to the gray one and went inside the building leaving the gray unicorn alone.

"Not soon enough...." the gray unicorn thought sarcastically, of all the jobs he does bodyguard work was one of the most dull ones. However he was paid and that was enough.

Turning he went back to the main part of the city as some ponies gave him a wide berth as he began to think closing out his mind to the many ponies surrounding him. He hated being in large groups but he would have to deal with it for a while longer. He had come here escorting a large group of refugees along with a few others to guard them, luckily while the war raged elsewhere these refugees were left mostly alone. Stopping to see a family talking about how little money they had after their home was destroyed. He felt a pang of remorse as they had two foals with them.

"Regret later Nul, everypony needs the light of hope" he thought to himself as he pulled half of the money he had earned and walked over to the family placing them it in front of them and turned walking away from the shocked family.

"Th..thank you kind pony!" the father shouted at him but Nul nodded simply and kept walking unaware that this good deed did not go unnoticed.

[Gilda]

Gilda had opted to return to Manehatten during the evacuation to Fillydelphia from Canterlot – she had contemplated completely ditching the purple squirt, Spike, the mutt, Bowie, and worst of all, the nag, Trixie, but afraid they’d actually care what happened to her, she simply told them she had some unfinished business to attend to and would catch up with them back in Filly in a few days time – Junior Speedsters honor. On her fly over, she struggled with the idea of just ditching the other two entirely; still unsure how she still felt about the whole embodiment of her ancestor, fate and all that was not her thing. But, she was not going to be a lame flip-flop like a certain Pegasus, she told herself.

Once back in the city, she had gone to Rainlock’s estate in hope of finding the mare and seeing about any more opportunities, maybe mention the whole return of the ancient heroes thing – though, she figured, Rainlock already was well aware of it. Maybe even before she had hired her on as a lackey. Would explain a few things. However, she wasn’t home and, as far as she could figure, she hadn’t been in some while – likely since the invasion. Rainlock’s security was certainly present in the upper-districts. Her telltale goon squads had the place in check, same for the other districts by, what Gilda assumed, were the other rich jerks’ own security forces bumping heads with one another as if Manehatten was mare to win.

The biggest change from the last time she was here was the influx of refugees who sought the shelter of Rainlock’s security forces in a city they single-hoof liberated with nary a scratch compared to Fillydelphia. She had to talon-it to Rainlock, she really put the Equestrian army to shame sometimes. Too bad Rainlock hadn’t boot all the riff-raff off the streets though – it was a depressing sight to watch hungry ponies as they fought over food scraps and a few measly bits, as they cried out for help. Thankfully, for Gilda, she was just as down and out as these equines, and charitable ponies abound – like that grey unicorn that just plopped down a hooffull of bits before a dirty family of ponies. While the father and foals were distracted as they called to the kind soul as they lauded over a few of the bits, Gilda took the opportunity to sweep her tail at the remaining pile still on the sidewalk and in one smooth motion landed them in her talon. Wasn’t much, but it should buy a decent lunch, after-all, it had been a long flight from Canterlot to here.

As Gilda passed by the charitable grey unicorn, she smirked, ”Good deed for the day, huh?” She scoffed, bits still in a talon, as she pressed forward and made the first right down another street.

[Nul]

Nul looked at the griffon as she spoke to him, in a scoffing manner as he just looked at her "Gues not all are very friendly, figures" he said as he watched the griffon the the right down a street as he then watched as a group of shady ponies looked on and started to tail the griffon "Not my problem.....ah Tartarus, if she even got hurt I'd feel bad" He thought to himself as he began to follow the griffon and the group that had seen her take the bits. As he followed he contemplated what would make a pony go so far just to trail a griffon for some bits? Nul started to get a really bad feeling about this as he hurried his pace catching sight of the griffon and her shadowy followers. He tried to get a better look at the ponies to identify them but there were too many ponies between him and them.

Grumbling he took a side alley and looked around making sure no one was around his horn glowed amber. The metal bands around his front legs began to extend and clink into place up to his shoulders. The metal also extended down to his hooves and encompassed them. However instead of hooves they became metal claws almost similar to a griffons. Lifting one up he began to test each digit making sure the magic he used was in full effect. Nodding his satisfaction he slammed his claw into the building next to him and with the other and began to scale the smaller building. If anypony saw this they would freak out and try to call the guards but he was careful about being seen.

At the top he peered over the edge and had a much better angle of view then he originally did before and he caught sight of the griffon and the ponies following her. From what he could see they looked like any other pony except they wore medallions of some kind. Were they allied to somepony or some group? Looking over he found the building conveniently connected and nodded to himself. Moving across the rooftops he tried to keep his sights on the griffon mostly concerned for her safety.

[Gilda]

((Don’t get too carried away with Deus Ex Machima with those gauntlets – keep em simple, you can upgrade them later. ))

Gilda thought to herself as she glanced about the street before her as she decided what would be the best bet to eat with her ill-gotten gains. As in Canterlot, Ponyville, and the rest of this lame country, a good portion of meat was next to impossible to find. Of course, she could opt for something sweet, but it had been months since she partook in some hunk of meat ripped from the bones of living. She pondered if one of the refugees would sell their foal for the bits, eh, bet pony taste’s bland she concluded. She stuffed the bits under her armor and continued down the street.

As she passed a street vender, which sold some fried treats, she took pause, stepped back and took a gander at what was offered. Weird fried ball things on a stick, no idea what was inside, fried-hay on a stick, fried carrot in a bun, again, all rather bland and not entirely suitable for a griffon diet – but she was hungry. As she perused the goods, if Nul was as attentive as he appeared to be, he’d likely noticed the odd coloration of one of her eyes. Unlike other griffons, with their yellow to orange irises, this griffon had heterochromia with one yellow and one magenta colored eye. The magenta one never appeared to focus or move, a fake eye perhaps? And it so happened to be on the side of her head where the group of medallion-laden ponies trotted from – she seemed blind to their approach.

”Hey, dweeb.” She said to the vender as she reared and leaned upon his cart, and pointed to the fried balls on a stick. The vender turned from his wok of hot oil on a coal-fire burner to look where Gilda had pointed. ”What the buck are this? They good?” In the vender’s distraction, Gilda had slinked her other talon, opposite the approaching ponies, up towards the handle of boiling wok of oil. There it waited, partially obstructed by the cart, the vender and displays of food.

[Nul]

((I will cant really go to far with metal claws other then what griffons can do with theirs.))

Nul watched the griffon as she stopped at a food cart likely looking for something to eat "Dont griffons eat meat?....Questions for later right now business" he thought to himself as he peered down and slowly climbed down an alley carefully. He still wasn't use to using his own claws to climb being born with hooves and all. As he touched down he was in the alley right next to the car and the griffon. Being this close he saw her claw reach up to the wok of oil and he wondered did she know she was being followed? He leaned in the shadows as he waited to see if the ponies would come closer and indeed they did. He began to examine them.

There were four ponies in total each looked like they had been in a few scrapes. There were two earth ponies one was red the other yellow. There was a Pegasus with white coloring and the only other one was a unicorn who like his earth pony friend was red. One thing he noticed was that the red unicorn was in the flanked on all sides except from the front. Thats when he saw the glow and something sharp from the side start to show. "They cant be serious!? They are going to attack in broad daylight!?" Nul had to think quickly or else the griffon was going to get a knife thrown at her. 

Looking down he saw a pebble and using his own magic he threw it at the red unicorn. He was hoping to hit him in the head and distract him making him forget the dagger or not launch it at all. He hummed softly as he then shot the small projectile at the unicorn hoping to hit the mark.

[Gilda]

Nul’s pebble struck the unicorn dead in the cutie-mark. Not exactly a damaging attack, but it provided enough distraction for Gilda to suddenly swing around, hot wok with oil in talon and blanket the unicorn’s head in the boil vegetable oil. It elicited a scream of anguish and agonized pain from the pony as he dropped to the ground as he continued to scream and burn. Gilda continued her swing as she slammed the burning hot wok into the yellow earth-pony’s muzzle with a loud thud and crack, as the wok snapped the pony’s jaw from its hinge and left a sizable burn-mark in his fur and flesh.

”You want some more of this?!” Screamed the griffon defiantly as she stood with the cart to her back and watched the two remaining ponies, dented wok still in talon as she threatened her aggressors with it. Her wings were flared as she stood on her hind paws, dwarfing the two other ponies with her size, she was ready to fight and seemed to be reveling in it. ”Come on! I’ll bucking eat you all!” She flared her other talon and jerked forward in an attempt to intimidate the remaining two. ”Your friend there is already half done to my liking, so how about it. Who wants to be double battered and deep fried next?!”

The vender had now taken cover behind his cart, quivering, while the griffon taunted her attackers. With an enraged griffon, their unicorn down and probably dying and the other earthpony out of commission, the two remaining attackers were at a serious disadvantage. This griffon was not green to a street fight and may actually be crazy.

[Nul]

Nul watched has the pebble smack the cutie mark and he grumbled, alteration and enchantment were his strongest suits. "Levitation is trickier then it looks" he thought to himself but he did see it created a good amount of distraction and he watched albeit a little painfully as the oil was thrown at the unicorn and the earth pony was smack right out of consciousness. That left the white pegasus and the red earth pony. However they didn't seem fazed about it instead it made them angrier as she taunted them. The yellow earth pony was about to charge only to stop from moving as Nul and moved out of hiding and held three nails to the back of his neck where his spine was. Moving would be a fatal mistake as it would end with him being paralyzed or dead right here.

Nul had to give credit due where it was due, these ponies had the guts to attack in broad daylight and were aiming at what Nul could guess was a well trained Griffon or just a sociopath. Either way the pegasus now noticing the claw holding up his buddy looked at Gilda then Nul and it was obvious he didn't want to tango with either of them.

"Buck this i wasn't paid enough to deal with two freaks" the pegasus grumbled and shot off running from the fight.

"Smart move" Nul thought as he turned his attention to Gilda and the earth pony he was holding up as he stared at the medillon around his neck. No, not just any street thug these ones were hired by someone to go after the griffon and thats when he noticed the pony behind Gilda with a knife floating above him. Another unicorn was attempting to stab at Gilda. Thinking on instinct Nul grabbed the earth pony with his other claw and threw him at the unicorn attempting to stab at Gilda. With the large body thrown the unicorn would have to be lucky to dodge the incoming earth pony.

[Gilda]

The earth pony Nul threw made contact with the unicorn behind Gilda, they both tumbled over each other before landing with a smack against the sidewalk a meter away. For their trouble, they skidded right to the hooves of a Rainlock security patrol that had come to investigate the commotion, likely concerned it may have been some remaining diamond dogs causing trouble. When the unicorn looked up and saw the well-armed Rainlock guard, his eyes went wide, horn tried to alight, only to have it brutally smashed by the butt of a Rainlock automatic crossbow. The unicorn howled in pain and his hooves grasped at the shattered stub that was his horn. The earth pony was out cold.

Gilda turned her attention to the new, grey pony, the same one she recognized from earlier. ”You want a piece of me too, charity hooves?” She threatened with the mangled wok. She gave the pony a once over, that cold magenta eye seemingly analyzing him before she turned and slammed the wok back down on its burner.

“Miss… Gilda?” Exclaimed one of Rainlock guards, “Not surprised to see you at the center of this.”

Gilda dismissed him with a wave of her talon, “Ya, ya, now don’t go taking credit for this. I totally had the dweebs.”

“And that one?” The other guard mentioned as he nodded to Nul.

Gilda looked at Nul, then back to the guards. ”No clue, but he hasn’t tried to kill me yet so don’t worry about him. Also, where’s Mrs. Rainlock, I got business to discuss.”

“Meeting of the security council, there’s been some issues since last you were here.”

”So I’ve figured.” Gilda replied as she turned back to the vender, pulled a few bits from under her breast armor and tossed them into the broken wok – though grabbed one of the fried balls of whatever on a stick and down two quite quickly before gagging and tossed the remain one away. With her talons now free she leaned down and begun to rummage through the first unicorn, pilfering any thing of value from the body, including the knife and medallion, which she yanked off and gave it a quick look over. She did the same the yellow earth-pony with the shattered jaw and large burn on his face. She looked up then to Nul, ”They’re mine, got me? And what’s your story anyway? Don’t recall asking for any help with these punks.” She punched the yellow earth pony in the fracture, which elicited another painful moan from the pony as she yanked the medallion from around his neck and pocketed in her armor.

Meanwhile, the two guards were busy as they dragged away the other two ponies that had tumbled to their hooves, likely taking them to a place far worse than what Gilda could have had in store of them. Rainlock was not known for being delicate with troublemakers in her territory.

[Nul]

As the earth pony collided he watched the two of them roll away and skid a few more feet only to land at the hooves of the local security detail. Looking over the security detail he found them intimidating but only because of their numbers. He watched the unicorn's horn get shattered and he felt the pain but showed no emotion to it. He deserved what he got for trying to be an assassin. As he then looked to Gilda was "rewarding" herself as he with their valuables as she then spoke at him directly. A small pad of paper was produced from his bag as he had a pen scribble some words on it and showed her.

"Name's Nul, and as far as you should care i'm a merc for hire" the note said as he looked at her and the bottom of the page "I'm mute so dont expect me to say anything anytime soon" the page said as he then flipped it around revealing more words "And if i didn't help you would have more then just a feather stuck in your back. I also believe they were hired by somepony to either kill or harm you" its said lastly as he moved to the unicorn and checked him.

He was dead from the burns, not exactly a nice way to go out but effective as he rummage around what storage the unicorn and produced a envelope and motioned for Gilda to come over opening it and producing a letter. Reading the letter over he found that his suspicions were right. These five ponies were not professional assassins as he had guess but somepony had hired them to kill Gilda. He then showed the note to the griffon.

[Gilda]

Gilda smirked, nearly smiling as Nul explained on paper his lack of talkativeness. As the griffon stuffed the last of her loot under her armor, she let out a little cheer. ” Halle-bucking-lujah, finally, a pony who just might not annoy me into a rage.” She professed, ”Wish more ponies were mute, would make my life so much better. No more hearing your stupid names, no spontaneous singing. Ah, that would be grand.” She detailed longingly, as if she just discovered her happy place. Once her celebration had ended and she spied what Nul wrote next, she snorted, ”Yea, whatever, I’ve taken worse. Don’t be expecting a thank you, either.”

When Nul presented the letter from the dead unicorn, Gilda rudely snatched it from his hoof and gave it a quick read as she shot the body of the burned unicorn a disdainful look, not out of spite, but of disgust. The letter could have least mentioned how much her head was worth, that’s something a girl like Gilda needed to know. ”Psh, losers. Don’t care-“ She crumbled the letter up and tossed it over her back, it smacked the head of the vender pony. ”Not the first time someone has wanted me dead, seriously doubt it’ll be the last.” She gave the dead unicorn a swift kick with a hind leg, ”Amateurs, always ask for some of the bits up front. Barely had a coin on you, dweebs.” She had just begun to turn away, when it dawned on her. With an air of suspicion, she turned back to Nul, her eyes fixed on him like a hungry predator. ”Say, it’s awfully convenient you showed up as you did… Now, I’m not accusing, but I would seriously consider the next few words you write on that stupid little notepad of yours – you know anything about this? You seemed awfully interested in those cheap medallions they’re wearing.”

[Nul]

As he listened to what she said he found extremely arrogant and this annoyed him but decided it was best to ignore the problem then cause one. He really wasn't looking for a fight anyways but knowing this day he wont get the rest he wanted as he then listened to the griffon trying to accuse him of knowing something more then he did. When it dawned on him he did know something which made him curious as he wrote more lettering on his notepad. When he finished and he was satisfied what was about to be said he showed her.

"I may know something. Those medallions look like a family crest, one of the social elites of the city" the wording said as he moved over to the dead pony and looked him over "Also dont get your hopes up. I saw them following you sticking to the shadows as they went along. If i did know you at one point then those memories are gone. Complete amnesia" the wording said as he lifted the amulet and looked at it "These were common thugs, rookies. Next time they wont take that chance" the lettering said as he looked at her with a smirk.

"You look like the kind for some street justice. Want to to check it out?" the last wording on the paper said. She looked like someone who wouldn't turn down a good fight let alone if it led to something that will make her look good. Himself he was just making sure no one would get hurt in the crossfire. He wrote a few more woods "Who knows you may find something more valuable." it said. He had to play on her desire for wealth from what he saw she like the finer stuff in life.

[Gilda]

”Sheesh, didn’t ask for the sob story.” Gilda retorted in her, clearly, usual dismissively mean manner as she read down the notepad; she continued. ”Yeah, well duh. You’d think whoever hired these goons would think, ‘oh, Rainlock hired her for some nasty little business, so obviously, let’s not send someone competent to deal with her’. Frankly, I’m insulted.” Her indignity dripped from her ruffled feathers.

Then, Gilda contemplated his suggestion. Yes, she could go on this trek. Risk her hide once more, maybe find something – more than likely get another headache, blackout and be all the more a mental mess for it. Though, she was curious what it was this time that had some, she assumed, pony on her case. Wonder if it was the Cassius, only thing of value she had on her – least that she figured more knew about. Maybe one of Rainlock’s goons blabbed to another house. Doubt it was her cousin, wasn’t her style, she’d used competent ponies, or griffons if she really wanted her done in.

”Say I cared either way, you know what house they belong too?” Gilda asked of Nul, still seemingly disinterested. ”Normally, I’d run this by Rainlock, but then again, she’s not around right now so that leaves you… Nul? Ancestors, pony names get stupider by the hour. Fine, Nul, point the way. And I swear, if you’re yanking my tail, I’ll cut that butt symbol off your hide and make it into a napkin.”

[Nul]

He rolled his eyes as he lead the stuck up griffon back to the social elite area of the city with large homes. As he led her it was steadily getting darker as it was soon night as they had walked across nearly half of Manehatten before he stopped and held up the amulet. Looking at a large gate he compared the amulet and the gates symbols and nodded as he wrote another note "This is the place. Something is troubling me" the note said as he peered through the gates.

"Where in Tartarus are the guards...." he thought to himself as he looked up the wall. His horn glowed amber as his claws reformed as he scaled the wall and lept to the ground below and looked around not waiting to see if Gilda was following. He had been past this place many times before and there were guards at the front gates always. He looked to the mansion type home and saw no lights save for a small candle like light moving on the ground floor. He wrote another note quickly before Gilda was over the wall.

"There are no guards and not even a trace of security. You'd better be ready for a fight" the note said as he started to the house making sure to keep to the shadows. He felt like there were eyes looking around but he couldn't see a blasted thing. If he had to guess the guards were either inside or gone.

[Gilda]

A shadow blanketed over Nul and he was suddenly snatched from his withers by two strong talons into the air. Gilda, not content with simply walking into someones property had opted to instead fly, and needed to bring the unicorn with her before he was caught. Thankfully, for the both of them, Gilda was surprisingly fast, nearly unbearably so for the unicorn in her grasp. They were able to clear the long walls, long lawn, and find a gently sloping perch on the roof, just above a series of balconies, in what seemed like a second or two. She set Nul down before she landed gracefully beside him.

"Fine, we're here. Now don't make me regret bringing your flank along." She whispered sternly as she slinked along the roof, peered over the edge to the balcony below, and dug her rear claws in as she leaned over the side to peer through the double glass doors. She scanned the room beyond, dark, just as it had been from street-side, with no visible activity. She leaned back up and beckoned Nul over. "Come here, I'll set you down so your stupid hooves don't wake the entire block." It was clear from before, she was obviously far stronger than Nul could hope to be - but that was the benefit of being a griffon. All the while, Gilda couldn't help but think to herself that this was a very, very dumb idea. Obviously a trap, she should just have notified Rainlock's goon squad about the connection. Let her deal with it; politics and conspiracy was not Gilda's forte, what was her forte was delivering a pummeling to ponies who thought they could get the drop on her. So, here she was, doing something stupid so she could slate her urge to beat up some second-teir plutocrat.

[Nul]

As he was lifted up he made a annoyed hmm sound and he felt her set him down on the roof. He wasn't used to being picked up by griffons and was a little uncomfortable with it. But then again he had two metal gauntlets that mimicked griffon claws so who was he to complain about any griffon claws. As he nodded and let himself be lowered onto the balcony he made sure his claws were changed back to the metal bands. Upon touch down he made his way to the room's door and pressed his hear against it and heard talking.

"Man this old geezer is creeping me out some. Keeps strange items all around his house saying its for research and stuff."

"Shoot ill be glad when my contract is up. So what were the other families doing here?"

"Beats me something about Rainlock and her little groupies"

"Ya mean that griffon? Yea I heard her welcoming party was beaten pretty easily. Poor Gemmy, burned to death by hot oil"

"There are worse ways to go...hey you dont think the griffon..."

"In public? I hope not!"

Nul sat and listened and groaned quietly as he moved back to where Gilda was as he produced a small note "Well I was right about two things. One the guards are all inside and two these are the ponies who ordered that hit on you" the note said and continued "I also think they are going to make a move on Rainlock" the note pointed out looking at her "Your choice. We go in and get some information and you take and do what you want or we leave and tell Rainlock what we learned."