CherryRie

((OOC: Anypony still interested in this? I'm still defiantly game. Anyone wanting to join just post up and leap in! They’re totally expecting guests and most foals in the area will know ‘the password’ anyway XD There is still plot to be had here and I haven’t shelved the thread yet ^^, ))

PeaBee was not best pleased about this. In fact the little Pegasus was downright miserable. It had been a few days since the impromptu bug hunt, three whole days since her family should have arrived to take her home. Yet here she was, still in Ponyville, stranded in the small town for a whole week by a rockslide somewhere up the train-line to Trottingham. At first it had been scary and novel, but after the latest setbacks home sickness taken a hold on the filly, she just wanted to go home. Since hearing the news Peanut had barely left the room at Old Oaks and the caretaker, Miss Birch, was beginning to worry. Thus arrangements had been made to get her a temporary place in Ms Cheerylee’s class. Presently the small paint Pegasus was slumped behind a spare desk in the back row of the class. She felt tired and alone in the crowd. Nothing on the blackboard made any sense to her, having only just started school back home and only once a week at that. Why did she need to know how numbers worked anyway? And then, there was the Wonder Bolts. Everypony was practically bouncing in their chairs with excitement. It was all so... well it didn’t annoy her. But it made her wonder exactly what all the fuss was about. Had any of the other foals in the class of them seen them fly before? She very much doubted it. And if they hadn’t seen them fly, then it was all word of mouth and bedazzlement from fancy posters. They were star stuck. Where as she saw them over the lakes every few weeks, more between tours. The fields of Legume Farm rested on the edge of the Nimberguite. Out there, a stone’s throw from the city in the clouds, the still air was always ideal for perfecting manoeuvres and thus had served as their training grounds. None of this meant anything to young Peabee. Flying just wasn’t her thing. Yes it was pretty to see the group carving elegant paths through the sky, souring, swooping and diving in perfect harmony like graceful elements of air. But despite her oversized wings, her hooves were well and truly set on the ground... ...Still, better if she wasn’t noticed. After all, she got to watch them a lot, so she didn’t exactly need to be first inline. Keep out of the way and in a few hours she could go back to Old Oak Inn and hide. Grabbing her Barber coat in her teeth, the short filly pulled the cloak over her back and fastened the collar, hiding the majority of the wings.

Not to worry Tempy ^_^ I think I'll be free tonight from 7pm GMT, so we might be able to resume!

Not to worry Tempy ^_^ I think I'll be free tonight from 7pm GMT, so we might be able to resume!

Hello everypony. For those who are wondering what the hay this thread is about, last night several Chat residents started up an Irc-RP called 'Decent into Canterlot Crypts'. An adventure / interaction game, the premise was that the party have been hired to guide a researcher through the maze of old Canterlot in order to find certain artefacts. Suffice to say it was an absolute blast, especially given how impromptu the event was. We have archived the events so far on a google Doc (see below) and with any luck will be resuming play sometime this weekend. Be warned the doc is raw RP mastery and requires a suspension of disbelief and ignorance of both grammar and spelling. (SEE THREE ‘AND’S! Its leeking! Quickly Brazil! Contain it with your mighty eyebrows!) This thread will be used to archive the info that the group collects on their journey and coordinate times for new sessions. Let me say that this is a fairly open RP at the moment, and most pony's are welcome to join and leave whenever they please, you'll just be considered inactive for the latter time. If you wish to join in, please feel free, but do make mention here so that I can actually keep track of everypony CANTERLOT CRYPTS ARCHIVE Presently; We join our heroes in the Caverns beneath Canterlot Castle as they endeavour to uncover the secrets of this forgotten land and hopefully find a way home too. After searching a tower and discovering various magical maguffins, our valiant ponies were suddenly attacked by a fiendish creature, all fangs and legs. Defeating this foe proved a quick, if somewhat haphazard, task and after rescuing their charge from its clutches, they now head towards the central spire that dominates the centre of the domed cavern. The party have attained a 'Simple Map'!

“No.” Croaked the filly, tears flowing freely as she gazed into the crystal depths of her beverage. “That’s the worst part. Poison goes where poison’s welcome. But what they do, even if it’s not ‘legally’ wrong, is wrong in a more fundamental way.” Bitter sarcasm began to lace Cherry’s words. Behind the bar, Dusk suddenly became very engrossed in cleaning a glass. “After all, it’s not ‘their’ fault that Rhubarb leaf isn’t as tightly controlled as it should be. It’s not their fault that she got hooked on the foul stuff either. Maybe they could have stopped supplying her when she started showing, but surely she knew the risks, so why bother? Not their look out. After all, it’s just Business.” She was almost spitting through the tears now, teeth gritted in anger and pain “Business that cost her everything. Her job. Her Mate... her foal. Six weeks premature and suffering from leaf poisoning. The poor thing didn’t stand a chance. She has to live with the fact that her weakness killed her son. But it was those parasites who used that vice for their own petty gains.” Breathing heavily to choak back wracking sobs, Cherry seemed to be gradualy zoning out, speaking more to herself then anypony in particular. “Celestia has given us a world that’s so close to perfection, nopony need want for anything. But ‘they’ exploit weakness, let ‘profit’ guide them like some unfeeling machine. Horse-apples, I’d only gone in to the clinic for some aspirin, just some feathering aspirin. What was I supposed to do? Leave her to face the wreckage alone?” “Maybe not all the blame can be placed at their hooves, but most of it can. Whether it’s gambling on the economy, selling out ponies’ homes from under them or providing Leaf to pregnant mares, nothing is beneath those ‘ponies’. In a thousand tiny ways they chip away at the world, and for what? A hoof full of Bits?!?" And at this she rounded on her drinking partner, eyes wide and pleeding, "Money can’t buy happiness, or a soul! And it should never be exchanged for either!” Rage subsiding, the Pegasus settled slightly with her head resting in her fore-hooves “Directly or not, ‘They’ steal away lives and leave others in ruins, all for the sake of a few shiny coins. And they’d do it all again if they could. As far as I’m concerned, they don’t deserve this world.” Something about her tone enthecised that this was not a suggestion of cardinal punishment, but rather insidious observation, as though literally taking the world from a pony was worse than death.

Cherry gazed blurrily at her drinking buddy. Despite the mugginess floating in her head, righteous indignation still bubbled to the surface, showing in her expression far more then she would have liked. “Don’t just assume that every business is the same. I can’t just... If accepting fate means sacrificing the happiness of others, then I’ll gallop till my legs give out.” Distracted as he was, the business pony didn’t notice the look Dusk shot across the bar as the broken glass was whisked away and replaced by a fresh beverage. He’d seen this before, something had happened and left the filly in a bad way. Cracks were forming in her composure, any second the alcohol would win out and the dam would break. And this slimy goit was the last pony she needed to be around when that happened. “Miss dawn, would you like me to-” “No!” the filly blurted, wings ruffling as she confronted the buck. “No, I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to sit here and drink till something in life makes sense again. Everypony meanders around in a daydream, like the world will magically become perfect if they just ignore the bits they don’t like. Well it’s not perfect-” she slurred, voice cracking with pain “-for some it’s bucking horrible. Just the idea that there are ponies out there that would actually make it WORSE for them... horse apples I can’t do this anymore.” Something had shifted about the Pegasus. Gone was the perpetual smile, replaced by soul crushing despair “I promised Sunny I wouldn’t do it again, I PROMICED... but I couldn’t just... Celestia curse it, it’s like I’m dying inside.”

Laughing richly, Cherry rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly at the business pony’s suggestion. “Funny you should mention that. You could say I’m the odd one out in the family, their business isn’t to my taste and I really don’t want anything to do with it. Mind you that’s not for lack of trying on my parent’s part.” Once again the filly looked up at the long mirror, watching the other patrons with the inebriated subtlety of a half brick. “Makes you wonder who you’re out to please sometimes, yourself or them. Grandfather started the business. I thought he'd be upset that I didn't want in. But ya know the funny thing is, though I know he’s 'unhappy' about it, I think... I hope, he’s proud of what I’m trying to do instead. Somehow that dosn't make it seem as awful.”

All in all, considering they had to launch into the plot rather quickly, not a bad episode. I can see they had to make a lot of concessions to keep everything together. Sadly, though Discord's entry is suitably dramatic, the entire plot is horribly flawed at the setup point. Considering what we learned about the elements from the original pilot eps it doesn’t make a lick of sense why they would even bother searching. Unless you're telling me that neither an immortal goddess nor her supposedly highly ‘intelligent’ student have made the childish leap of logic required to realise the Elements were never physical objects in the first place >.< The trick with any illusion is to know where the rabbit is. In the case of the ‘locked room’ disappearance trick, it is safe to say the bunny was never in the box to begin with. I have a feeling that, given how much Luna was mentioned in the setup scene, that we might see her step in to slap some sense into our heroes. Hopefully, now that the stage is set the next episode will be a real humdinger. Honestly, over all I can't say I'm disappointed. It was brilliant entertainment with everything I've come to expect of the amazing show that they're creating. I'm just surprised at how forced and awkward the whole first half of the episode feels, dumbing down the some of the characters to the point at which it defies belief. .. You know, actually, if this is how things really are; as in our heroes really wouldn't 'get it', then they deserve everything Discord throws at them. For now I'm rooting for our Chaotic neighbourhood Draconaquis. He and his amazing voice can whisk away my laws of causality any day.

Frictionless hooves. I can only imagin it ending in a game of Cherry curling >.>

She was falling. Clouds wrapped around her, enveloping the young filly in soft moist air. Butterflies fluttered around in her stomach as vertigo drew her onwards, hair was drawn out into long streamers behind and nightgown billowed with the rushing wind. The sensation was as real as anything she would experience in the waking world. She had jumped so high. Up through the broken lines of a foal's painting. Out above the ruins of a forgotten world into an awaiting sky of rainbows and unending blue sea. Her hooves brushed the crest of a wave as it bore upon the sunset and watched as it broke against a sharp barricade of light, shattering into a thousand tiny white birds. Now she fell, dragged down into unfeeling darkness. Once so gentle a wind stripped away both the clouds and her beautiful gown, leaving her venerable to crushing empathy. All around the figures of ponies rose through the air like counterweights to her decent, shedding their black fur and sailing into the vast blue of freedom. But it was not for her. She knew this. As the rhythmic pulsing of the dark threatened to overwhelm all, the world vanished and was replaced by the scent of oats. An unfamiliar ceiling greeted Cherry’s open eyes. Awaking with barely more than a blink, she watched for some time as the stark shadow of a fan slowly crept across a featureless off white landscape. Somewhere in the entombing room of daylight shades and cotton blankets, the studious pendulum of an old clock cut the world into carefully measured moments. From deeper still wafted smell of cooking oats. Rolling over onto her aching side, the filly regarded the decanter that stood on a bedside table, bending the curtains beyond into a strange warped fluidity. A bowl of water on the table proved a welcome relief to her parched throat. Despite the lack of gut rot or piercing headache, the young mare still felt horribly hung-over. Vague recollections of the night before began to coalesce, events slotting themselves into place like a disorganised pack of playing cards. One thing she remember immediately was ‘his’ face, the sense of utter betrayal conveying most of what she needed to know in reassembling the other scattered bits of memory. Yet even with this revelation in hoof, panic still did not break through the depressingly heavy sanity pressing down on her mind. Neither bound nor drugged, her wounds had been tended too and the door before her lay open into the room beyond. She was in a comfortable but not exquisite bedroom, its tasteless curtains billowing slightly from an open window they had been drawn across. All in all this was most unexpected. Whad did she remember? What had happened last night? Where was Rich Tea? She felt like a chariot had run her down, her mate was missing and she felt.... empty? Where she felt the righteous fury should have been, there was only an awful pit of numb nothingness. That much loathed part of her that was always watching proffered up several self analysis’, ranging from simple shock to ‘delayed traumatic displacement’. One grave burden of knowing the minds of other ponies is how horribly you got to know your own. With a mind to make a swift exit the filly slid carefully out of bed and plodded her way to the open door. Beyond she could see a small sitting space and simple kitchen, now mostly occupied by a well built Pegasus buck, definatly not Ritch Tea. A sofa nearby had a spare blanket thrown over the garishly outdated plaid cushions, clearly having surved as the stallion’s bed the night before. The only other furniture in the room was a small standing table, upon which a beautifully maintained sword and sheaf were reverentially laid. Not quite what she had been expecting, but significantly more welcome then the back of a stable wagon. As if on cue the filly’s stomach gurgled in protest at the previous night’s meagre meal. Oh well. It wasn’t like she could sneak past her impromptu host and, truth be told, she was very hungry. Stepping full length into the adjoining room, Cherry coughed politely to the stranger in front of the stove.

“If I wasn’t wanting of the company, I wouldn’t have invited you to chat, hun.” Cherry nickered, watching Dusk carrying drinks to the party she had seen in the long mirror. “It’s just...” Faltering mid exposition, the filly cast her gaze back to the steamed glass as once again she failed to frame some complex thought. Finally she seemed to settle on shifting the conversation in a more comfortable direction, at least for a little while. Waving a fore hoof in a motion that both dismissed and boasted an over extravagance brought on by inebriation. Max’s sense of smell had been right, the filly been drinking long before she’d entered this particular bar. “You don’t seem so bad, from the outside in at least. I’ve kept worse company that’s for certain.” Time began to glide past for the drinkers, the awkward minuets of silence quickly adding up for another half hour. Woozy from rhubarb intoxication and starting on her fifth intreguing cocktail, Cherry saught for something to pick up a conversation again. Although she'd never admit it, she was terrable at being lonly, simply couldn't get the hang of keeping quiet when there was space to fill with conversation. Something in the mirror caught her eye once again. Muzzy recognition caused a slight shift in the young face that suggested the expression had become genuine. She was drunk, but still she felt like she had to care and couldn't bring her self to look at the biuness pony beside her. Now that gaping maw of emptiness was tearing once more at her chest, threatening to rip the filly in two if she didn't brake the awful silence. “So what do you work in? Marketing? Banking?”

“To see if you knew the answer too.” Replied the filly, honestly. Despite the ever present smile, pity now edged Cherry’s sanguine eyes. “Have to admit you’re really good at that though.” She continued in amusement “It’s like you almost believed it yourself.” Sighing theatrically, the Pegasus rested her fore-hooves across the bar and stretched the smile a little further. “You know, I don’t think I want to go down this path. It’s been one of those days and right now I just want to relax an' pretend I don't care.” For a moment something seemed to catch the filly’s gaze before it returned to Max “So, do you have any amusing anecdotes, or maybe a have game of pool? Suppose that would be a good group activity," At this she paused to take a strategic draft from her tumbler "- we could invite your ‘friends’ to join in too, if you like?”

“Same again, Ms Dawn?” Dusk queried as he swept up Cherry’s empty glass in a glimmering aura, leaving the Filly with the straw in her mouth. “Something a little fruitier I think. You pick, hun.” She replied, smiling from behind the bent pipe. Twiddeling the ornament thoughtfully, the filly observed as her old friend began wisking down various brightly coloured bottles from the shelf. At least the distraction gave her a moment or two to think though an answer. Eventually with Dusk whisking bottles in through the air in a flurry of creation, she turned back to Max. “Oh, it’s not that the circumstances aren’t sometimes difficult or overwhelming at first glance.” She explained, feeling out her words carefully. “But once you strip away the elaborate ideals we surround our lives in, it’ll always come down to the same formula. What was it now? ‘Needs breed drives, which return fulfilment and enrichment, which give rise to new needs.’ I think that’s what the book said anyway. Ponies convince themselves that something hurting them is insurmountable because they make them out to be more complicated then they need to be. Sorry to say it hun, but we’re just a kind of animal with intelegence and pretentions of aw-Oh!” Pausing for moment the Pegasus observed the large ornate glass that had been placed in front of her. Inside a strange red concoction glistened tantalisingly. With a look of mild confusion, Cherry leaned over and dipped the straw between the crushed ice cubes, taking a long tentative sip. “...It tastes purple?” She exclaimed, eyebrows raised at the smirking bartender. Dusk chuckled as the cocktail apparatus began to clear itself from the table “I thought it would match your mane perfectly, Ma’am.” Giggling slightly, Cherry rolled her eyes at the stallion and returned to her drinking partner’s conversation “Anyway, I mean, for instance; you look like the kind of stalion who's done well for himself. You're healthy, you look well off and secure in life... so are you happy? An’ don’t lie,-" She insinuated groggily "- cause I already know the answer.”

“Hmm. No offence, but I come here specifically ‘not’ to talk about things. You know how it is.” Though her pleasantly disarming smile did not seem to fade, something about the filly’s tone seemed almost disappointed. As briefly as it had surfaced, the flotsam of open emotions drifted back under the sanguine sea of Cherry’s heavy eyes. “As for the quotations... well, mindreading is for unicorns and stage magicians. Really it’s a case of knowing ponies. No matter how complicated life may seem sometimes, everypony has the same problems deep down.” A feeling was stealing over max as he listened. Speaking to the youth felt odd, like talking to yourself while somepony else was listening, a conversation with a reflection. All the while were those sanguine eyes, tranquil unjudging mirrors. Something must have show on the business pony’s face, as the filly quickly looked back to her enticing drink. Taking a long sip and gesturing to the barkeep for a topup, the pegasus razed an eye brow as though something had just slipped her attention “Oh, and it’s Cherry by the way. So, whats yours?”

“-nuh really.” A pained voice slurred from under the tangles of purple mane. Watery eyes looked up from the coble roadside, their pupils unfocused as they gazed first at the face of her rescuer and then at her rash exit some two stories above. Glistening lines pocked her red coat, outlining the edges of cuts and shards of glass. Oblivious to her injuries the mare began to lift herself back onto all fours but stumbled heavily as her uncoordinated legs refused to propel her. Momenterily defeated, the mare leaned against the red brick wall and tried to gather her scattered senses. “Thanks,” She wheezed, turning to her unlikely saviour and offering him a groggy smile “Verah... Gentlecoltly of you. I... I aught ta’go. They’ll be back soon.” Glancing at the empty window once more, a sorrowful grimace beset the filly’s features, as though something was hurting her more than the shards of glass. Stealing her addled thoughts, the young Pegasus pushed herself unsteadily towards the ally exit... and began to slowly keel over like a birch tree in a stiff wind.

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“Oh hun,” Chuckled the filly, the smell of old spirits and merriment clinging to her breath “there’s always a reason, good bad or otherwise.” Despite her playful avoidance of Max’s questioning, it seemed that the Pegasus was becoming more relaxed in the light conversation. Gradually the tension was fading from her face, her mood evaporating like the dew slowly drying on her coat. “Like you, for instance, if you don’t mind my saying. I suspect-” she cleared her throat, striking a dramatic pose reminiscent of some fairground soothsayer, “-That you have reached a dichotomy in life, a difficult situation or choice that you would rather not face, not just yet.” Pausing briefly, she winked at the business pony's mixxed expression and dropped her stance giggling “But then again, that describes every lone drinker in this place. SO! How about we break from the annals of the lonely and instead drink ‘together’?”

Well here is a turup for the books and no mistake. Undoubtably some of you will know about my semi insomnia and that its liked to cirtain members of my family being almost-alcoholics and getting back home at two in the morning. Yet today I find myelf typing this blog under simmerlar duress and being Delighted to do so. While blatered out of his tiny firey haired little mind, My bother made it back in one peice and actualy came away before the party had finished. He'd wanted to come home for sometime by the sound of things, but hadn't been able to get a taxy. For anyone who's been through this sort of thing before you'll know how big of a deal this is. Now I just wish he'd answer my texts thanking him and saying I owe him cake.... wonder if I've got the wrong number? >.>

From the jagged remnants of the window a panicked face stared down at the theatre below, dabbing at a blooded nose with a crimson soiled handkerchief. “Don’t hurt her! Just bring her back inside!” Glancing up at the young stallion, the pursuers closed in, growling lowly at the pintsized Pegasus presumin to give them orders. “I through you said she was under." Barked a shadow, stepping up to the fallen filly "This dosn’t look very under to me. We tried it your way, now we do it ours, so shut it and go clean yourself up.” Ears pricked up at the sound of hoof beats approaching. Palpably the atmosphere thickened as two sets of grey eyes turned towards the silhouette of the newcomer. Through the gloom came a snort of arrogant amusement, followed closely by the spark of brass horseshoes against the worn cobbles. “Keep walking, shorty.” Spoke the first shadow, stepping between the crawling figure and the unwelcome audience “This ain’t none of your concern.” Behind the bulky winged shade, the second stranger pinned a heavy hoof upon the weekly struggling shape, pressing the drug addled victim down as a she flailed in a glut of slurred cusses.

Taking another long drag from the bitter sweet concoction, Cherry turned to regard the well dressed unicorn with a searching gaze. Unlike the other patrons of the bar, her features seemed to be a contained oxymoron, a week but genuine smile gracing a face that seemed both young and old at the same time. Yet her eyes were stranger still, sparkling with a reassurance and strength of character that couldn’t be dampened by any weight the world could place upon them. No one could worry about a pony with eyes like that, they just seemed so disarming and sober. Right now those sanguine orbs were searching Max’s own, as though taking his heart and weighing it against a feather. “Posibly,” Responded the Pegasus, her smile stretching just a little further “But I doubt that would normally worry you. Besides, I have the bits and the reason, surly thats all that anypony else needs in a place like this?”