Upsides to Downtime (Invite only, attn: Lyipheoryia)

[Windwright]

A train pulled into Canterlot station. This was by no means unusual; many trains pulled into Canterlot Central Station, and many of them were from the Crystal Empire, just as this one was. What made this train relevant was one of its passengers. There, in the third cart from the end, her mane can just be made out against the press of pastel ponies pushing for the exit. Once it was clear, Aqua calmly collected her suitcases and levitated them out of the door ahead of her.

 

As she stepped onto the platform she immediately spotted exactly who she expected to: One of her parents' valets here to collect her. Which was precisely why she had elected to pack all of her armor and equipment for what was essentially two weeks' leave. She trotted up to the valet, calmly deposited all of her suitcases in front of him and announced, in a tone that brooked no argument, that she was going to find a café for a light breakfast and then report to the palace for an official debreifing, that she could find her own way back to the estate, and that her parents need not concern themselves about entertaining her until nearer to the evening. And then, while he was sputtering to recover himself and counter with what she was sure was an itinerary for the day, she turned and strode off, ostensibly in the direction of the barracks.

 

She'd just maneuvered herself a little over nine hours of freedom before she would need to slip back into the strained life of an aristocrat, and she was unabashedly proud of herself. But first she really would need to stop by the barracks.

​

[Lyipheoryia]

Agile closed his eyes, breathing in and out. Today's training had been tough, but not too tough. He had chosen the next shift, which meant he had fifteen minutes to calm down and ease the intense sweating session he was having. He opened his eyes, lying down flat on his bed. Breath in, breath out. He felt a strange shudder go through him, and he found himself huddling underneath his blanket. Breath in, shiver, breath out, sneeze. He promptly got out of his bed-he would have none of this eerie sickness!

The barracks were mostly empty, and he struggled to keep himself under control. His shift was in five minutes, and he felt positively horrible. His vision was starting to blur...was that a moving blob? He blinked, and his vision seemed to clear, if only for a second. A pony, a mare was coming towards him. The world swayed beneath his hooves, and he grabbed onto the nearest doorframe. His vision started to fade, and a migraine struck his head. Hard. He breathed in and out, hoping to steady himself. When the corners of his vision turned black, he cried out for help, "Miss! Help!" Everything blacked out, the pain in his head becoming too hard to bear.

[Windwright]

Aqua was nearly to the barracks, having taken an admittedly roundabout course, when she heard breathing in the empty halls. Heavy breathing, and not just the kind that comes from an under-trained rookie overworking himself.

"Miss! Help!" she heard someone call out just as a yellow pegasus fell, literally, out of the barracks door in what looked like a dead faint. Thinking quickly, Aqua projected a rod of pure force underneath the pony, hopefully catching him under the chest and preventing him from falling over.
 
"Woah!" she called, sprinting the remaining distance to the hapless guard. "Take it easy, what's wrong?" she asked.
 
Well, she had wanted some excitement in her day.

​

[Lyipheoryia]

Although his vision had completely blackd out, he could still hear.  The mare was talking to him, although he couldn't quite understand what she said.  His ears felt clogged up, dunked underwater, and flashed into high altitude all in a second.  It hurt.  He took a deep breath, and breathed out.  Breath in, breath out, Miss, I think I'm sick.  Could you please take over my shift today and report that Agile is at in infirmary?  What came out, however was, "Hss..aaahhhh sssk.  Shhhfft, tdeee Aaaagaaaiille eeee infirmmmaaarreee,"

[Windwright]

"Hss..aaahhhh sssk.  Shhhfft, tdeee Aaaagaaaiille eeee infirmmmaaarreee,"

Infirmary was right. At least, that what Aqua thought she heard. She wasn't sure who this stallion was, but he certainly would need to see a doctor. He was talking and trying to move on his own, which meant he was well enough to move. Which led to her hoisting him carefully across her back in a firemare's carry.

 

"Right, come on, let's get you to the infirmary. Just don't get sick over my saddlebags, please." She said. She wasn't sure if he could actually hear her, but one thing a guard always needed was to follow regulations. Her mental map could use some updating, but she was fairly sure the infirmary was...this way..? She set off, just the same. If nothing else, she could find another guard and ask for directions. She wasn't even sure who this pegasus was, but she wasn't going to just leave him in a hall.

​

[Lyipheoryia]

"Coooomee aaaand cheeeef meeester seergeeent wondeeebooolll" He blurbed out.  Where was the mare taking him?  He could very well walk on his own and move.  He tried to lift a foreleg, and it jolted sideways into an odd, painful angle.  Maybe not.

[Windwright]

"Please stop fidgeting sir, I don't want to drop you or have to carry you by magic." Aqua said, passing from the naturally lit corridors into one of the interior, torchlit areas. These had made her nervous at first, with the soft lighting and perpetually flickering shadows, but it was the fastest way to the guards' infirmary she knew of. Unless she was misremembering things again.

 

Of course, if she was hearing correctly, the pegasus was a wonderbolt and they might have their own infirmary, but if they did she didn't know how to reach them. Now that she was in a darker area, though, Aqua remembered the streaks she kept dyed into her mane. She channelled some of her magic through the dye, causing them to start shedding a steady cyan light.

​

[Lyipheoryia]

This strange mare was taking him to a strange place through strange hallways, in a strange grip. She was very strange indeed. The shadows on the wall flickered with each step she took-or was that just his hallucinations? He suddenly felt very uncomfortable, and had the urge to get into battle stance-legs bent, head lowered and up, wings flared. He edged his muscles to the pose, but ended up...sliding...onto the floor. His hoof bumped into something, and that something clattered. It was cold and smooth, almost slimed. Despite all of his training as a Royal guard, he still feared slimed things, "AHHHHHHHHHH!"

[Windwright]

Aqua hadn't felt the stallion slipping until he was nearly off, and by then it was too late to stop him. He screamed, and Aqua's training and instincts caused her to duck and whirl to face the (non-existent) attacker head-on, power flowing from her horn and setting up a small barrier between her and...and...between her and nothing.

 

Aquarelaxed and rolled her eyes, mostly at herself, and watches the pegasus, considering her options carefully. Technically, she was a guard, but she wasn't stationed in Canterlot, and certainly not the barracks. She didn't want to just leave the pegasus here, but she had no idea how to help him, she didn't know if another guard could help her or would recognize her, and without her commanding officer to support her claim, she was just a well-trained and disciplined unicorn mare wandering through the palace with a shrieking and possibly injured pony. She didn't like them odds.

 

Then again, there wasn't much she could do about it, so she sat down and continued watching while she thought.

​

[Lyipheoryia]

(Would you be alright if I invited Spitfire to join in? Or would you prefer this rp to just be for us?)

[Windwright]

(That's fine)

[RainbowFoxxy]

 

The mare landed lightly onto the runway of the training grounds. Though she had staff to so it for her, Spitfire liked to make rounds of the Wonderbolts training facility for herself from time to time. It never hurt to give things her own personal touch. As it was, she had gone over the entire place from top to bottom over the last couple days and found not even the slightest problem. Every bolt was tight, every floor swept, every cloud generator was in perfect working condition. She had to hoof it to her crew, they were good at what they did. The whole of the operation that made to Wonderbolts the ace flying team they were was top notch! She would expect nothing else. She had selected the best of the best from grounds staff to the current Chief Master Sergeant of her flight team.

 

There was going to be a training course for new hires later in the season, but for now Spitfire was confident in the abilities of everypony at work in the training center. One more place on the list to check off; the barracks. It was sort of a locker room/bunker for those that worked either on the flying team or whose jobs directly involved communication with the team. All sort of serving ponies traversed the barracks, even guards headed for their shifts at Canterlot Castle. Though she didn't train the Guard, she was in charge of the barracks and thus crossed paths with them at times. They were mostly a straight forward lot, not given for messing around or acting foolish. Just the sort of pony she liked. In fact, she had chosen Wonderbolts from their ranks on occasion just as the Guard had selected some of her team to work for theirs.

 

She trotted into the western corridor of the barracks, pushing her sunglasses between her ears as she went. This particular section could use a bit more lighting, especially during the earlier hours of the day. The sun really didn't have as much effect until later in the afternoon. She made a mental note to have some wall sconces mounted to the walls of the corridor she was now trotting down. She rounded the corner and found a mare she hadn't seen before sitting on the ground. In front of her, in a heap was the Chief Master Sergeant of the Wonderbolts, Agile Speeds.

 

"What in Celestia's name is going on here?" She narrowed her gaze at the mare. Had she been responsible for this?

[Lyipheoryia]

Agile heard voices, a whole lot of them, to be honest.  They all seemed muffled together, all of the voices.  Or were they voices?  They also sounded like hoofsteps, or unicorn magic spells, or power surges, or...or...All of the sounds suddenly stopped, and a high-pitched frequency slammed into his ear.  He tried to cover his ears, What in the world was this mare doing?  Can she not hear the sounds?, but his hooves seems lifeless.  He had no magic to protect himself, and his wings seemed...to not be working at this point.  To add to it, his vision was still gone, he still felt a raging river of fever inside him, his muscles burned like fire, his body was limp, and HE WAS SICK!  I was supposed to be on duty today.  I take duty very seriously.  WHY AM I SICK?

 

A voice echoed down the hall, yes, he was sure it was a voice.  Something that sounded like "wwtt nnnn eeeelllsseeeaa nmm iiiinng oo eeee".  Yeah, it seemed that his ears were going deaf-too. 

[Windwright]

Yep, there it was. Another guard stumbling across her. Aqua mentally sighed and turned her head to see who it was, then immediately snapped to attention and saluted Spitfire. She wasn't sure how her ranks overlapped with those of the Wonderbolts officially, but she knew their leader when she saw her.
 
"I'm honestly not sure ma'am." she answered immediately, "I was coming to the palace to debrief myself after returning from the Crystal Empire for leave, when this pegasus nearly collapsed in the hallway. He's been speaking, but I'm not sure I've understood him. So far, I've gathered that he's sick and needs an infirmary, he may be a Wonderbolt, and he might be a guard, but I only know that because he was falling out of the barracks, ma'am. I'm PFC Aquamarine Gleam, ma'am, I'm a Royal Guard stationed in the Empire."

​

[RainbowFoxxy]

 

Spitfire listened to the information the Guard chirped at her. She was in order, obviously not responsible for Agile being in his current state. She saluted Aquamarine back.

 

"At ease PFC." She nodded towards the pegasus on the ground. "We need to get this stallion to the infirmary on the double. I don't know what happened to him but he obviously needs help."

 

The yellow mare stooped down near the Wonderbolt. "Master Sergent? We're going to get you some help."  With that she began sliding Agile onto her back. "PFC Gleam? Could you assist me in carrying him?"

[Lyipheoryia]

(I'm going to skip, as Agile is delirious and cannot really do much.  He can't move, his voice seems to be missing, he can't hear.  He will wake up shortly before they all reach the infirmary.)

[Windwright]

"Yes ma'am." Aqua replied, using magic to help guide and stabilize the stallion. The thought of how embarrassing this would be in any other situation briefly crossed her mind, but Aqua knew better than to entertain that sort of thing for long.

"Who is he, ma'am? I heard you call him 'master sergeant', and I'm guessing he's a Wonderbolt in that case, but I've been in the Empire for a while and don't really know anyone in the ranks here." she said, half for conversation's sake, and half to sate a curiosity.

​

[RainbowFoxxy]

 

Spitfire had managed to get the stallion cross ways onto her back over her wings. At least she could carry him this way. There was nothing else to be done really. He seemed like he was really sick and waiting for medical attention to come to him might have taken too long. She was happy to have the assistance of Aqua's unicorn magic, it made the going much easier.

 

"Yes, he's our Master Sergent right now. A rank that rests below mine as the Captain of the Wonderbolts, however he is a high ranking officer in our ranks. Agile's role is essential in training new recruits and keeping the Wonderbolts in proper flying order. I would say it's a rank similar to Commander in the Guard." There was more to it than that, but it would suffice as an answer. Plus it did take away from the situation they were in. Spitfire wished they would run into another pony or two that could help.

 

"We need to get him help as soon as possible. He's not looking good." She continued at a fast walk through the barracks towards the infirmary.

 

"How long have you been with the Guard PFC Gleam?"

[Lyipheoryia]

Agile's hearing was returning.  He tuned in to the two mares' conversation, and hearing his Captain describe him as "essential" made his heart gleam in pride.  He begged his voice to return, dearly wanting to add a few words.  He listened to Gleam's self-description: The Empire, eh?  He had always dreamed of flying into the Crystal Empire, to spend a day for tourism and not on duty.  He imagined sparkling, colourful crystals and sparkling gems.  He thought of translucent-coated ponies and their beautiful Princess.  Oh, the Empire.  He drifted off, a dark shadow covering his eyes.  A hush echoed all around him, and he lost conscious-for the third time in the hour.

[Windwright]

"I joined as soon as I was old enough to." Aqua replied, using her magic both to steady the stallion and to illuminate the more shadowy patches. "That's sort of a family tradition, I suppose. We join the guards, serve for a few dozen moons, then retire from the guard with honours and whatever rank we attained. I rather thoroughly disagreed with more or less every part of that after the first."

 

She thought about it for a few moments, then added. "I'm not sure I'd really do well as an officer anyway, if I'm being honest with myself. No offense to you, ma'am, but your job looks like a lot more trouble than it's worth."

​

[RainbowFoxxy]

 

No offense to you, ma'am, but your job looks like a lot more trouble than it's worth.

 

Spitfire turned under the weight of Agile and smiled at Aqua. She was fast beginning to like this mare's style. It took guts to say things like that in front of officers and Aqua seemed to say it with no trouble at all. The Captain took no offense, the unicorn was not part of her squadron.

 

"Whew!" She exhaled and kept moving forward. "I'm not sure any pony is coming to help. What do you think? Should one of us go ahead and get help? I don't want him out for too much longer." Spitfire turned to try to look at Agile. "I have no idea what's wrong with him."

[Lyipheoryia]

As he shifted in and out of conscious, Agile found each fleeting moment of life harder and harder to reach.  An involuntary twitch spazzed along his right foreleg, and he hypothesized that it shot straight-almost like it had been zapped by an electric current.  The spasms began to stretch onto his left foreleg, then onto his lower body.  His breathing became laboured, thick and hard.  Phlegm seemed to cover every chance of a good breath, and he began feeling hot.  Really, really hot.  It was like an earthquake, a tsunami, and a volcano all in one-tremors, lapping waves, and the unbearable heat.  The pain, gave him one clear moment, and he used it to the best of his advantage, "Mercury..."  poisoning, he meant to add.  His breath faded before he reached the word, but he hoped that his Captain would understand what he meant.

[Windwright]

Aqua was about to answer Spitfire when Agile said the first fully coherent thing she'd heard him say. She blinked and made a pair of mental connections that visibly altered her stancing.

She'd been half assuming the stallion had either partied too hard or had some kind of fainting sickness, but 'mercury' started to paint things in a different light entirely.

"Poisoned?" she asked cooly, professionally. "Could the poisoner still be around? If so I should stay with him, ma'am. I'm easily the slower of us and I'm not sure where I'd go for help, but I have a few tactical defensive advantages."

She was already reassessing the hallway, looking for the most and least defensible positions, such as the differences were.

​

[RainbowFoxxy]

 

The Captain found herself unsure of what to do next. One thing for sure though, Agile needed help and he needed help now! She shifted the stallion back to the ground and took to the air while speaking.

 

"You stay here with him Aqua. I'm going to go get help. We can figure out how this happened later, Agile needs help first. We don't have any time to spare. i'll be back as quickly as I can!"

 

With that Spitfire took off. If he had just been sick she would have kept carrying him. However, if he was poisoned he needed help now!

[Lyipheoryia]

(My plan is to have him sick for on more round of posts, then wake up with severe symptoms while the others look around to solve the mystery.  He will try to join in and help-but it will be rather...interesting with his poisoning side effects.)