[Manehattan] "...ain't exactly the Big Easy." [Closed]

[Ciraxis]

[colour=green]"Hmmmm...clear it seems."[/colour] Squall muttered while scouting the cityscape with enchanted binoculars. They were special in such way that they allowed the user to simply 'remove' weather effect from the field of vision on the mere wish. Those were only part of the special equipment that was stored in hidden room.

Unicorn rubbed his chin as cold wind fluttered his long mane and duster tail. It seems that Capitan Armor was right about lack of outside interference. It was good, having to struggle with hostile intelligence as well as the weather would make the situation more difficult then it already was.

[colour=green]"Still..."[/colour] swordstallion said to himself. The only bit of clear sky Swift could see was just above the Weather Management HQ. And even them seemed to have trouble with fighting the blizzard - their movements was erratic and uncoordinated. Could it be that their leaders was taken out of commission?

Also there were no sign of other weatherponies reinforcements. It was possible that messenger that Shining send wasn't able to make it.

[colour=green]"Well then..."[/colour] he though before putting magical barrier on the broken window. He still needed to retrieve more items from his storage.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

[colour=#40e0d0]"Sir,"[/colour][colour=#000000] The rush was back. The feeling of proving herself against more than just Spitfire, or her fellow cadets was fresh in her mind now. It was a chance to prove she really could be a lead pony. Frig if she was gonna get this chance again now that it meant life or death. [/colour][colour=#40e0d0]"I'm gonna need as many weather ponies as possible to help shut this storm down. I'll also need your help and Swift Squall's too, cap'n." [/colour]

[colour=#000000]Lightning Dust raised a hoof in salute to Shining Armor, ready to perform her duty. She spoke with authority, and confidence. [/colour][colour=#40e0d0]"With all due respect, cap'n, let's rock."[/colour]

[colour=green]"You regained you confidence. Good. You don't seem to be yourself without it"[/colour] unicorn said while entering the room. Squall was carrying several items in the open pouch right now. Six small bottles with an orange liquid, sheath of rolled paper, transparent foil with markings of it, ice pick, three winter trench coats and piece of rope. He also took a second sword now hanging on his left side, to balance the one on the right.

[colour=green]"But as much as I agree that we should 'Rock' we need to tune the instruments first."[/colour] he made them a gesture, to follow him. They entered what seemed to be and conference room.

Swift put a piece of paper on the table and unfolded, revealing that it was city map. After that he slightly turned his head and addressed the other stallion.

[colour=green]"Before I start, I must say that you were right Capitan. No demon sorcerers, cunning monsters or out of control artifacts. Doesn't change the fact that we have Strand weathers slip of the decade on our hooves. At least malicious intent was ruled out."[/colour] unicorn informed.

[colour=green]"Now...I don't want to be a downer pony but no one here but Dust is a weather pony. In case you forgot it's newspaper editorial office. And they won't come to us either. I didn't seen any other pegasi on the reinforcements. It's possible that runner you sent Captain was forced to take a shelter."[/colour] he explained his suspicions.

[colour=green]"Now, since they don't fly to us, we need to trot to them. However Weather Management HQ is located nine cross-streets away from here. And we won't make it if we go outside. Normally those Phoenix Heart Elixirs would help, but they stale and will work 15 minutes top after ingestion. Seeing that we would have to fight the wind and snow even 20 would not be enough. But we don't have to go outside..."[/colour] Squall paused while putting a foil on the map. The makings on it coincided with streets layout revealing...

[colour=green]"Manehattan Sewer System. As you can see the the tunnels go under the most of the city buildings. And they are wide enough, absurdly spacious even. I myself used it years ago. The trip through it...ain't exactly the Big Easy but it's possible."[/colour] noblepony said.

[Dio]

Armor smiled. [colour=#0000cd]“That’s the spirit. I’m glad to see you’ve got your wings back...”[/colour] He was quick to add. [colour=#0000cd]“...in a manner of speaking.”[/colour]

“But in order to fix this, we’re going to need help. You may know where the storm’s nexus is but we need more pegasi to break it up.”

Armor looked out the front window, furrowing his brow in concern. The snow was rapidly deepening. If the guard was fighting this storm, they weren’t going to arrive any time soon. It was time to consider contingency plans.

[colour=#0000cd]“No telling when the REA extreme weather teams are going to make a breakthrough,”[/colour] he said as he watched the snowfall. [colour=#0000cd]“We might have to give them a little help from the inside. I recall seeing a volunteer weather office a few blocks down. I think they’re right on the edge of the storm by the looks of it. If we can reach it, we can get the weather chief up to speed on what’s going on overhead.”[/colour]

Squall then entered, beginning to speak before he’d even exited the stairwell. [colour=#006400]“... No demon sorcerers, cunning monsters, or out of control artifacts.”[/colour]

[colour=#0000cd]“Right.”[/colour] Was the curt response to Squall’s assessment. It was then that Squall mentioned that very same weather station.

[colour=#0000cd]“That must have been the one I saw on my way over,”[/colour] Armor said, looking over the map. [colour=#0000cd]“The fastest way there would be to stay under the awnings and make through these office buildings.”[/colour]

Armor pointed along the map, tracing out a direct path with his hoof. The captain nodded as Squall showed off the elixirs. [colour=#0000cd]“Going through the lobbies will keep us out of the cold so we don’t have to burn too many of those elixirs. The last leg of the trip will be the toughest since there will be a large, open square with no cover and deep snow. The weather station is across the square near the middle of the far side. We could try to go around, but I don’t know if we’ll have enough potions to last us.”[/colour]

Squall then proposed his alternative, tracing out the sewer tunnels on the overlay. The plan was mostly sound in that it would give plenty of cover and keep them out of the weather, but Armor wasn’t terribly fond of closed spaces or the things that happened to creep and crawl in closed spaces. Further compounding the issue was the fact that it was Squall suggesting the plan, the pony who not even an hour earlier had almost killed himself jumping out of a window and then suggested that this mess had been the fault of an evil enchantress. Armor knew what his answer was going to be, but technically he wasn’t the one in charge of this outfit. The captain turned to Lightning Dust.

[colour=#0000cd]“You wanted to fix this mess, Dusty. You’ve got two plans to get there. Which one is it going to be?”[/colour]

[Apolline Allura]

The snowstorm from tartarus itself was a fierce opponent, it seemed. Two routes with too little time, and little resources or extra help to boot.

At a glance, the sewers had to be the more immediate option. She was been in no condition to face the frozen menace of the weather, regardless of however much the nurse treated her wing. That would take time to heal up fully. Not to mention being short on elixirs to travel several city blocks in enough snow to bury all of them with one wrong step.

The underground presented it's challenges in that she had no clue what to do down there; being a pegasus didn't mean you spent time below the earth. You couldn't memorize tunnels full of waste and rats like you could a row of point skyscrapers or a hotdog stand on the ground. She'd have to put her trust in her comrades to get where she needed to be.

Lightning Dust looked between the two unicorns for a few moments before coming to a decision.

[colour=#40e0d0]"We're going underground." [/colour]

If second chances were to be given in order to get out of this situation alive, or at all even, then she'd have to put her irritation and frustration to the side for everypony. Squall included. His plan made more sense to her for sure, even if she was a little apprehensive about it. Another quick analysis gave way to her following statement.[colour=#40e0d0] "This storm gets worse every second we're not doing something about it. Squall, you're the Manehattanite with the sword, so you can take point. Captain? Can you cover our six with some shield spells or something? We don't need anything slowing us down while we're down there, because time is something we don't have a lot of."[/colour]

[Ciraxis]

Swift Squall simply nodded in acknowledgment of Dust decision.

[colour=green]"Very well. Follow me."[/colour] swordstallion said leading the other two into the basement.

"Son..." Hasty News spoke before they gone downstairs.

[colour=green]"Don't worry Dad. I had seen worse then little snow."[/colour] unicorn reassured his parent.

Trotting between the printing presses the trio made their way to the ponyhole cover.

[colour=green]"Before we go..."[/colour] Squall levitated a two maps before both Armor and Dust.

[colour=green]"Those are magical and connected which each other. You will see both yours and others position on it as a moving dots. Also Maps glow in the dark so you can use it as light source. Of course we have those for that but just in case."[/colour] noble telekinesis worked once more, this time with portable kerosene lamps.

Without further delay Swift removed the cover out of the way. Staring down at the darkness below them he said.

[colour=green]"I go down first. If you hear any suspicious sounds, don't follow me"[/colour] swordstallion said with straight face....and immediately after that he jumped down.

After ten seconds or so a loud [colour=green]"Clear."[/colour] was echoed from the pit below.

[Dio]

[colour=#0000cd]“I was afraid you were going to say that...”[/colour] Armor mumbled.

Dusty was in charge, though, and he’d already lectured her on seeing things through. He wasn’t about to pansy out. He had an example to set. The captain took a deep breath and slung the coat over his shoulders. It was no combat utility uniform, but it would do. He dutifully clipped the lantern to the jacket’s mantle, letting it hang in front of his chest to provide a headlight of sorts.

[colour=#0000cd]“Barriers I can do, but with any luck we won’t need anything more than a basic light spell,”[/colour] he replied to Lightning Dust.

[colour=#0000cd]“This is military-grade hardware,”[/colour] Armor scrunched his brow when Squall suddenly produced the automaps. [colour=#0000cd]“Where are you sourcing this?”[/colour]

Squall, of course, was already on his way down, without warning, preparation, or so much as a slow fall spell.. Shining Armor snorted at Squall’s reckless abandon, an attitude that seemed to pervade everything the other unicorn did. The captain tucked the map into his pocket.

Armor lit his horn, plucking a single spell from his library. The glow of his magic changed colour from a faded violet to an earthy green, finally settling around his shoulders as a string of shimmering green runes. “Slow fall spell. Any unicorn who went through airborne school was taught it. You’ll probably be needing this, too with your wing the way it is.”

Armor pointed his horn at Lightning Dust, a ribbon of green runes tracing a path through the air, swirling around her head and finally settling around her shoulders. “There, you’re primed. The spell will discharge when you hit a distance of 1 meter from the next horizontal surface.”

[colour=#006400]“Clear.”[/colour]

[colour=#0000cd]“Guess it’s go time.”[/colour] Armor took one last look at the spot of light that was the basement doorway before leaping into the dark.

[Apolline Allura]

The level of handiness Swift Squall was beginning to show was leaving a much better impression than what she had seen of the suicidal unicorn earlier. He had a certainty in his actions that gave her the assurance that he was maybe just having a bit of a dumb moment before finally calming down to use his head. His reveal of the automaps impressed her, but gotten a different reaction out of Shining Armor altogether.

[colour=#0000CD]“This is military-grade hardware, where are you sourcing this?"[/colour]

[colour=#000000]The where or how wasn't as important to her, but then, she had no parts of the army, nor did she want to. Too much discipline outside of what the academy had to offer. Not to mention a complete waste of time in her opinion, what with Equestria getting saved all the time by a bunch of mares wielding jewelry (or so the stories went). But she hadn't the level of foolishness or reason to share that opinion with the captain.[/colour]

[colour=#40e0d0]"Ever hear the saying, 'don't look a gift pony in the mouth', captain?"[/colour][colour=#000000] She nudged Shining Armor with a small smile. [/colour]

A few moments passed as the two of them prepared themselves. Lightning Dust pulled on the cloak the nurse gave her before heading down to the basement. Shining Armor strapped both Dust and himself up with a spell. The runes settling onto her fur tickled slightly, before the aether spread through her body, lingering in a not-uncomfortable way.

[colour=#40e0d0]"I'll be fine. Just gotta keep off this thing."[/colour] she flexed the wing slightly, the pain no longer the burning agony she had felt from outside earlier. No taking chances on the injury even if it felt plenty healed up. [colour=#40e0d0]"That's a nifty spell. Maybe you got one for busting storms too?"[/colour] Lightning allowed herself a small joke. It had been obvious that he was a talented unicorn, no doubt. Maybe his sister was just as nice with the spellwork.

[colour=#000000]Soon enough, the unicorn that wasn't Armor spoke, giving notice to the two ponies above.[/colour]

[colour=#006400]“Clear.”[/colour]

[colour=#0000CD]“Guess it’s go time.”[/colour][colour=#282828] Armor took one last look at the spot of light that was the basement doorway before leaping into the dark[/colour].

[colour=#282828]Lightning took a deep breath.[/colour][colour=#40E0D0] 'Keep your wits about you and keep moving. They've got your back.' [/colour][colour=#282828] With that bit of mental assurance, the pegasus leapt downward as well. [/colour]

[colour=#282828]The air changed significantly with the descent. It wasn't frigid, but it was a far cry from the warmth of the little safe zone they had been in nearly an hour ago. By habit, she crouched upon the landing, which was cushioned significantly by Shining Armor's spell. For a second, she wondered from how high could a pony fall before the enchantment was broken before shaking her head.[/colour][colour=#40E0D0] "We all in?" [/colour][colour=#282828]she looked around to her companions and nodded. From what she could see around, they were on the right, the sewer water flowing gently down the pathway. [/colour]

[colour=#40E0D0]"All right. Let's get going."[/colour]

[Ciraxis]

Just as his two companions joined him in the darkness of the sewers, Swift Squall answered the Shining Armor question.

"Just like not all skilled fighters belong to army, not all artificers and enchanters work for government either. You're very suspicious for somepony who gets helped...a wise policy." swordstallion explained. However the last sentence was said with such ambiguous that one couldn't tell if his prise was genuine or if Squall was sarcastic.

"Not much changed around here one the first glance. The stench is still horrible through...." Swift commented,

"All right. Let's get going."

"A moment." noblestallion interrupted the mare. Without saying a word, he pulled out a ordinary pieces of cloth and levitated four of each to both Armor and Dust. There was also a set for him as well. "Both of you, wrap your hooves like this. It can be quite slippery in here and this will help up. Not to mention it will muffle our hoof steps. And it's better to not bring attention of some things that live here." unicorn informed his companions while working with wrapping bolts of linen around his limbs. Once he finished, Squall drawn one of his swords. A runes on the blade glowed visibly - strongly enough to rival the light of the lanterns. It was obvious that the weapon was magical.

"Also keep you distance from water. While they should be groggy at this time of the year it's wise not to provoke the alligators." he warned them as he started walking.

[Dio]

"Ever hear the saying, 'don't look a gift pony in the mouth', captain?" She nudged Shining Armor with a small smile.

“I’d go with that if I didn’t have to inspect fresh recruits on a regular basis, Dusty,” the captain smirked in response.

"Just like not all skilled fighters belong to army, not all artificers and enchanters work for government either. You're very suspicious for somepony who gets helped...a wise policy."

“I take it you’ve never worked in administration, Squall. Paper trails are a mile long and brass is always asking questions about requisitions and unit assignments.” Armor wasn’t quite sure if he should laugh or be offended at Squall’s bombastic snark. The captain chose to keep his tone flat, the only alteration being at the end of the sentence, when he exerted himself to extend his light spell farther. This was fortunate, as the extra distance allowed him time to stop before he ran into Lightning Dust.

Armor took the linen strips from Squall, wrapping his own hooves before stooping to help Lightning Dust with hers. His horn otherwise preoccupied with the light spell, he resorted to his hooves. The sudden shift of the aether around him immediately drew his attention. The sword Squall had drawn glowed brightly, the bubble of light seeming to displace Armor’s own light spell.

“Vassar style, circa 958 after Nightmare,” he mused, quoting from his mental library of military history. “Not a perfect replica, mind you, but very good nonetheless. Picked up an appreciation for Destrier Paladins in your travels, Squall?”

[Apolline Allura]

The three ponies travel was going well enough. They'd be at the ladder out this dump in a matter of minutes. Only one interruption came, in the form of more magical assistance from Swift Squall. The level of preparation these two had put into making this trip run smoothly gave Lightning confidence in her comrades, and a pang of guilt somewhere in her subconscious, for the desire to be useful was shouting up at her from her semi-healed wing.

Shining took notice of more of Squall's military hardware, but she was too deep in thought to notice. The light ahead was one of the few things on her mind aside of not falling into the sick sludge nearby. The storm was getting stronger. They were wasting time down here without any sort of faster forms of travel. What if they couldn't make it to rally up the weather ponies in time to get things moving? What if the cold proved to be too much when they emerged from the underground?

Doubts clawed at Lightning Dust, begging her reason of her involvement here. Of why she thought they could win.

Did any of it matter though? The city was facing a serious disaster, and they needed her help. It was the kind of struggle that went far beyond her need to prove herself. Lightning shook her head clear. She was visually perturbed and now hoping to get out there soon. Hopefully they were getting closer to the exit...

[Ciraxis]

“I take it you’ve never worked in administration, Squall. Paper trails are a mile long and brass is always asking questions about requisitions and unit assignments.”

"Bureaucracy, always about the papers. I swear that...." Squall started but stopped and sighed instead, shaking his head. Cursing the name of pencil-pushers would solve nothing. After all they honestly believed that their work was for the best. Even if many of them was extremely arrogant about it.

Knowing the pain of dealing with the 'red tape' Squall could empathize with Captain Armor problems. He couldn't help but look on other unicorn with sympathy.

"Whatever. Let's just drop it."

As they walked through the canals, Squall checking his piece of map from time to time, swordstallion decided to drop some trivia.

"You may not know but Manehattan canals are biggest in Equestria, and second oldest after the ones in Trottingham." he started.

"While both Roam and Canterlot are both older neither could allow to have real sewer system. Roam is basically a series of small islands so they really don't need them...and Canterlot is situated over series of caverns so any digging is a big 'No'. Manehattan on another hoof is single big island with rocky foundation....Dust?" Squall stopped when he realized that the aqua green mare wasn't quite with them at the moment.

"Our enemy right now is weather Lighting, but even more dangerous one is the demon of doubt. Don't let it overwhelm you. Remove such statements as 'could' 'if' 'maybe' or 'probably'. We have job to do and it will be done regardless of obstacles.'" he reassured the pegasus.

“Vassar style, circa 958 after Nightmare,” he mused, quoting from his mental library of military history. “Not a perfect replica, mind you, but very good nonetheless. Picked up an appreciation for Destrier Paladins in your travels, Squall?”

"Not me but my grandfather whom owned this blade before me. And it couldn't be perfect - it's from the first series after all. Over forty years ago my grandfather secured gold medal in swordplay during Equestria Games while wielding this sword. I never had chance to met him, but I wish to repeat my forefather achievement one day." Swift Squall explained.

However their march came too unexpected interruption. A metal bars stand in their way, for the whole width of the canal, metal poles too close to each other for even malnourished pony to squeeze between. Noblestallion once more checked his piece of map.

"They shouldn't be here. Well at least they weren't when these maps were made, two years ago. We don't have time for this." Squall said, frowning.

A moment later he took a battle stance and sheathed his weapon...only to draw it imminently after.

"Zantetsuken." he said surprisingly quietly while performing a quick draw. A blade cut through the bars like they were nothing. Swift recreated the maneuver a two more times, and as the effect metal fragments fell off, making a hole big enough for a pony to walk through.

However all off this made quite a noise ans swordstallion stood still after that. Seconds later a trio could hear something similar to groan from deep within the sewers behind them....but groan not coming from pony throat.

"He awoke....I hoped we would be able to avoid his attention. We must hurry." emerald maned unicorn muttered before walking through the wall. Much, much faster then earlier.

[Apolline Allura]

Feh. Boys and their toy swords.

But what could she expect from two militiastallions? Or at least, one, and one terribly green mercenary. Their talk of weaponry and ancestry faded into white noise for the mare, focused on the task ahead. The sewer was dank, dim and downright disgusting, but Lightning conceded the overflow of raw sewage wasn't as strong in the air as it would have been if outside wasn't freezing to death right about now. And they could be wading through the stuff, so the sidewalk was a boon as well.

"They shouldn't be here. Well at least they weren't when these maps were made, two years ago. We don't have time for this." Squall said, frowning.

"What. The. Hellfire."

Lightning gritted her teeth, growing almost instinctively annoyed. The real work was waiting up top. There was no time to go screwing around in here much longer. "I hope to hooves you know where you're going, Squall. I don't like random bars and quiet muttering-"

GRUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...

Her ears perked up, and the noise came again, louder still.

There were few curse words Lightning Dust had for the situation. And much less words themselves for Squall's response.

"What the hay do you mean 'his' attention?" she hissed. Squall made haste, already out of earshot of her. The mare swore and followed him. "We need to get out of here! Let's just get to the fastest route outta here. And put that butter knife to use if anything tries to stop us!"

[Dio]

Swordplay was merely a scholarly curiosity to Armor. Having undergone REA training in the modern age, swords were an anachronism and an art form restricted to those with unicorn magic or uncanny dexterity. Squall was obviously the former of these. His lineage seemed to read like a history novel and Armor had to wonder if that’s what he was quoting. It was probably best to move on. There wasn’t any way Shining Armor was going to figure Squall out, at least not here.

The other unicorn stopped suddenly. As Armor approached, the bubble of his light spell reached the bars. Standard safety precaution, he thought. Most sewer systems installed these to prevent workers from being swept away if there was flooding while they were doing maintenance. While the main passage was blocked, there was almost always a maintenance corridor bypass, usually accessed by a recessed door of some sort.

“They shouldn’t be here. Well at least they weren’t when these maps were made, two years ago. We don’t have time for this.”

“Patience, Squall. We can just open up the maintenance doors and go --”

Before Armor could finish, a burst of aetheric energy forced Armor’s hair to stand on end. The captain whirled around to find Squall in the middle of a massive sword stroke. The bars glowed red hot and then fell away as they were cleaved in two. Shining Armor facehoofed.

“Overkill is the usual for you, isn’t it?” Armor said flatly.

A low rumbling in the distance caught Armor’s attention. Was the sewer flooding? Did the snow melt finally hit the storm drains? The rumbling slowly resolved itself into a low groan; something organic, something alive…

“He awoke. I hoped we would be able to avoid his attention. We must hurry.”

“Oh for the love of Celestia…” Armor groaned, exasperated.

This day just kept getting better and better. Blizzard from Tartarus. Pegasus with a bum wing. Unicorn action hero. And now the urban legends of sewer gators were apparently true. But Armor wasn’t having any of this.

“Squall, you blew away the only things keeping him in! Now help me fix this!”

Armor reached into the frigid waters with tendrils of magic, fishing for the fragments of the metal bars. Successfully reaching them he pulled them out and pushed them back into place. Sweat beaded on his brow and his forehead began to itch and burn as he invoked multiple magical threads at once. His horn gave off palpable heat as Armor simultaneously held the bars in place and blasted each one with a quick burst of a brightlance spell. Armor could feel his brain burning as he invoked yet another arcane thread to set up a barrier on the far side of the bars. He couldn't see the beast yet, but he could hear it coming.

“Those spot welds aren’t going to hold! Both of you get into the other entrance of the maintenance room and get me something that can reinforce this!”

[Ciraxis]

"What the hay do you mean 'his' attention?" she hissed. Squall made haste, already out of earshot of her.

"The Leatherhead. The greatest denizen of these sewers. The one I was hoping that we could avoid." Swift Squall said..

"He wasn't always dangerous. But many amateur alchemists don't follow the safety procedure with leftover potions and elixirs. Most of the time they pour them down the drain. And it had....effect on him." he further explained. But before unicorn could tell exactly what effect those magical chemicals had on this particular alligator he was interrupted by the Shining Armor.

“Squall, you blew away the only things keeping him in! Now help me fix this!”

"They wouldn't hold him back anyway, even if they would be untouched. He has far too much strength for..." he traided to say, but Captain chevied both the swordstallion and the mare to find something to build barricade.

"That...could work. It won't stop him, but he will be forced to take around route." noblepony pondered before rushing into nearby maintenance room. What he saw among other thing were heavy. metal closets that housed the documents. Perfect for the task. He levitated the first piece of 'furniture' and hurried back to the Armor.

"Leave those bars and help me Shining. He would tear them of the concrete anyway. Those at least he will not be able to grasp with his maw."

Soon all steel closets were pilled up before the bars in the provisional barricade.

"This will buy us a few minutes. We should hurry to the nearest exit. It leads to the Manehattan Museum of History. It's not far to the Weather Management Center if we take the walkways that connects the buildi...." Squall tried to say, but soon the drain that they was in shaked in it's foundations, almost throwing tree ponies off their hooves! It seemed that this 'Leatherhead' that swordstallion spoke of, was now ramming the bars and the barricade in the display of primal power.

"Hurry! This will stop him until he gives up. But he knows sewers better then us, and can take routes unavailable to ponies which he will take. If he catches us, we will not be able to make it on time before the blizzard thrashes the city."

With this words, unicorn run forward, leading the way.