(Canterlot) The Great Game: Part 1

[MisterChippy]

OOC: This RP will take place in MANY places aside from Canterlot. Canterlot will, however, be the main location where the characters meet up, so that's where this thread is. This RP will also take place in PMs.

The warehouse didn't look like a very good place for a secret meeting. Sure, warehouses are supposed to be the place of choice for planning a crime or conspiracy, but normally people chose abandoned warehouses. Not the League of Equestrian Farmers biggest, most active shipping house. Why chose such a public place for such a clandestine meeting?

Each pony (and griffon) wondered this as they approached the building. The letter had said to be in front of the warehouse at noon. Well, it was currently 11:59 and the warehouse was bustling. Ponies kept coming in and out, hauling hay, apples, oranges, cherries, and all kinds of produce over to the train yards to be shipped across Equestria. How was anypony supposed to find anyone in this mess?

Suddenly, a loud whistle blew, signaling that it was 12:00. In less than a minute, every pony who had been hard at work just a minute ago had gone, leaving the entire warehouse district empty except for a few ponies, staring blankly around at the now barren landscape. After looking around for a few moments, they realized that they were all here for the same reason.

(Now, time to talk amongst yourselves.)

[Not you Phil. You show up in a little bit.]

[Ciraxis]

[colour=green]"So...this is the place?"[/colour] lone unicorn muttered to himself. He checked the letter one more time - yes, there was no mistake. Few day's ago he received the letter. The message held details for the first step of so called 'Game'. According to it he was supposed to meet with the other participants at Canterlot warehouse district at 12:00. So here he was, standing in his best traveling gear - Swift Squall wasn't going to give fate any chances. His usual brown trench coat was replaced with black duster - stuffed with equipment and thrown weaponary. Around his waist hanged heavy belt, which in turn held one of the money punches, a whip and a dagger. On his back was a special harness in which Swift carried his sword.

Suddenly, a loud whistle blew and the crowd begun to disperse. Yet Swordstallion quickly noticed that despite pushing masses of workers, there were ones who stood in place, not moving an inch - those must be these 'others'. At first unicorn had an urge to join the stream of ponies, sneak into an alley and from there up the roof of one of the warehouses, to spy upon others from above - but he resisted that.

Instead he himself chose to imitate the statue, turning his face into expressionless mask. Only his eyes - thankfully completely hidden from others by his trusted shades - followed the ones who was left. And they suddenly widened when he noticed Sparks and Sleuth.

[colour=green]"Wha-what are they doing here?"[/colour] he wondered, surprised. Stupid question - it was obvious - the same he did. Squall didn't seen them from the time of the robbery in Fillydelphia Museum of History. He closed to the distance slowly.

[colour=green]"Yet again, our paths cross. And yet again, in unfortunate circumstances."[/colour] Swift greeted them.

[colour=green]"Both of you got a letters."[/colour] It wasn't the question, that was a statment [colour=green]"And so did I"[/colour]. Swordstallion sighted - he just hoped that both of them would take the situation seriously.

He turned around and gave others a glance....what a mixed bunch.

[FermataTheBasse]

Wordplay was wearing her sole piece of 'bling' as it were, a golden butterfly hair pin that glittered in her hair right above one of her ears, below which were her eye-hiding sunglasses. She was a rapper, but not that much butch, she kept herself reasonably pretty for a filly her age, with hints of makeup, eye shadow, eyelashes, where it was called for. She was still unsure of her own decision to join the 'Game', was still unsure as to what the game was actually even supposed to entail. It was strange enough that everypony sans a few who seemed to be just out of place as she was had suddenly vanished the moment the clock turned. But she was pretty sure she was the youngest present, by the looks of things. Already a bad vibe was coming out for her.

[colour=#40e0d0]"Are we supposed to know each other already? I don't recognize a single one of you." [/colour][colour=#000000]That was a statement made in response to the first stallions to speak, as they seemed to have familiarity with one another already. She met Sword's glance evenly, her shade masking her eyes and making her seem cooly disinterested, as was their job. [/colour]

[Bellosh]

[colour=#008080]~I still can’t actually believe I’m going along with this malarkey…~[/colour]

Glaring at the nearest clock, Ingrid Marie counted down the minutes until twelve noon. Why she was summoned to this bustling warehouse she had no clear idea at all; one would think that for mysterious games, an abandoned location would be a more suitable meeting spot. One thing was for sure though; she was going to give Tartarus to the accursed twerp who summoned her here today. She had more important things to do than this baloney, like magic counseling back at Celestia’s School or teaching basic magic to unicorns over at the Equestria Orphanage.

The warehouse workers left the premises for lunch hour as twelve struck, leaving behind an oddball batch of ponies standing around. Ingrid guessed that these were all the other poor suckers invited to participate in this twisted game. The magic counselor made no attempt to communicate with the other “players”. Instead, she spent her mental energy envisioning what she’d do when the ringmaster finally revealed him or herself.....

[Chapien]

Sparks had been waiting in the corner of the warehouse for nearly an hour, having shown up to Canterlot early and having nothing else of interest to do. It took him several hours to find the warehouse in the first place, and even then he had found it with an hour to spare. With nothing else to do, Sparks entered the warehouse, removed his hat, and stood in a corner, toying with his latest creation - a puzzlebox he had made for the purpose of fine tuning his skill at engineering. To say that engineering was Sparks's life would be an understatement. Sparks loved engineering with a passion that few others felt, dedicating all of his time and effort to his trade.

He was able to quickly ignore the sights and sounds of the warehouse, concentrating fully on his work, something that wasn't too difficult for Sparks. Sparks had grown up and spent most of his life in Stalliongrad, after all, one of the busiest cities in Equestria, filled with factories and workshops and warehouses of all kinds, many of which he had visited since his employment by Northern Storm Industries, and the young engineer was no stranger to the hustle and bustle of the warehouse. In fact, he actually rather enjoyed it.

It wasn't until the whistle rang that Sparks snapped out of his concentration. The workday had ended. Workers were beginning to stream out of the place, obviously intent on heading home. Sparks quickly shoved his box and tools into his saddlebag and pulled his hat firmly back onto his head, remaining in the corner and waiting for the crowd to disperse.

After what seemed like an eternity, the warehouse was empty - save for himself and a few other individuals, standing in an awkward silence across the warehouse. Well, it was an awkward silence before another stallion who seemed somewhat familiar approached him - then it evolved into awkward conversation. Sparks listened to the stallion and remembered who he was; he was at the location where the Fillydelphia museum had so unfortunately been robbed. He simply nodded in response, smiling nervously at the pony.

[HarringtonSleuth]

[colour=#ff0000]It's okay...you can do this. No pressure...if there are guards anywhere around, they probably won't spring or even look your way...[/colour]

This wasn't the P.I. Pegasus's first visit to Canterlot as he had gotten into a spot of trouble the last time he was here. If it was his choice, he wouldn't be in this city at all. But somepony...or some other creature knew what he or she shouldn't know given that he isn't a widely known stallion. Nopony's eyes would light up at hearing the mention of his name as much as they would at the sound of Twilight Sparkle or Pinkie Pie or even Princess Luna. And yet, a stranger had information on him and photos of his parents and sister that he only figured they owned.

He arrived at the warehouse front 38 seconds before the appointed time of 12 noon. He searched around as there seemed to be quite a few ponies still on the clock at this time. He never figured that they would meet in such a bustling workplace for a strange meeting.

As soon as the whistle blew, he flinched as the workers packed up and cleared the area. When the dust settled, he stood before a small group who didn't appear in the same garb as the warehouse workers.

[colour=#ff0000]Maybe they're involved in this somehow, too...[/colour]

[colour=#ff0000]"H-hello...I don't suppose you know what's going on, either... but this stranger seems to know us. Perhaps all too well."[/colour] He turned to those he recognized from the Fillydelphia Museum case. [colour=#ff0000]"Fancy seeing you two here again. I'm certainly curious as to what we're here for."[/colour]

[TotalEcplise]

Bored, Pound was so very bored. The cynogriffon had gotten to the warehouse quite awhile ago, and was laying on his back on an awning above everyponies heads. He had some things (namely picking up his polished and cleaned cane and his freshly pressed coat) he wanted to do before heading off on what was probably the larges goose hunt he'd every been a part of. Because of his errands he ended up at the warehouse early. It was a strange place, not strange in the normal sense, but strange contextually. A secret meeting, in broad daylight at a busying shipping installation. Though it made sense in his mind, it was just like some of the metaphors he'd use in his rhymes, call something its polar opposite for the sole purpose of highlighting the contrasts between them. Pound tossed the idea around inside of his head as he folded up his shades and snapped them to the lapels of his coat. He placed his top hat over his face to block out the midday sun and drifted off to dream land. It was almost noon and the place had been busy the entire time, he had no way of telling who was here for the same reason as him with all the activity going on down there.

He was half asleep when the whistle sounded, causing the shocked cynogriffon to nearly jump off of the awning he was dozing on. He shook away the confusion and scanned the area of the were. There was no one in sight "hmm, where'd everybody go?" He picked up the sound of voices below him, so he peaked over the awning. Below him was a small congregation of ponies, they obviously weren't warehouse works so he assumed that they had all received letters similar to the one he got. He jumped down from his perch and spread his wings so that he would glide down slowly. He clutched his black fire ruby studded cane in his right hand and placed a pair of sunglasses on his face with his left hand. He landed in the middle of the group of ponies and brushed his coat off.

"So, I take it dat ya all here cause of some letter dat ya got with pictures and crud that no one else should know about ya." He looked at the group of ponies. "Probably ah madpony."

[FlameddragoAG]

Static Arc was never really the type of pegasus to travel somewhere new. He always liked to be close to his home in Cloudsdale or Ponyville, but when he found out that this location to these 'games' was in a warehouse in Canterlot, Static was hesitant at first. He had to move away from his home for who knows how long for the first time in his life. He had wondered if it was really worth it at first, but then he thought of the danger his parents might be in, and steeled himself again. This wasn't for him, he wasn't out for this so called prize, this was about his family, and to find out why this charactor was interested in his family and himself.

Static had packed some food and other objects in his saddlebags, like money and a picture of his family, to remind him why he was on this quest. Static Arc had flown down to Ponyville towards the train depot, and hopped on the first train to his target and readied himself for the impending challenges ahead of him.

It took him some time, but Static managed to get off the train at Canterlot at about 11:42 AM, early enough for him to explore the inside of Canterlot and be in time for 12:00, which was the time he was supposed to be at the warehouse.

Wow, this place is huge! I always thought it was big from the view in Ponyville, but I didn't know it was this big!

Static was utterly amazed by the structures in Canterlot. He spent most of his time just wandering around, looking at all the shops and looking at all the fancy ponies who populate the place. He even had to stop by a donut shop and bought one to snack on as he made his way towards where the warehouse was supposed to be located.

Suddenly, Static had a slight feeling that he may have dawdled off in the city for too long. It may be too late to meet his mysterious letter sender!

Static started to panic a little as he kept up the pace, following the letter he was given to find out where he was supposed to go. He kept up his fast trot until he heard a faint sound in the distance. it sounded like...a whistle?

He followed the sound of the whistle towards a building that more or less looked like a warehouse. Ponies of every species filed out of the building, looking as if they worked there or something.

I had better check inside to see if this is the place. Mabye there are some ponies still inside, mabye to show them the letter and see if this is the right place.

Static Arc cautiously peeked inside the warehouse, and saw a group of ponies he never saw before in a small group. Static Arc entered the building and prepared himself to ask the ponies. he cleared his voice and said:

[colour=#40E0D0]"Umm, excuse me, but could one of you help me out? I have this letter here with some directions and I'm not sure if this is the place."[/colour]

Static then took out the letter and showed it to the group of ponies. Hopefully they could point him in the right direction.