Last time on 'You Are Not A Plumber' Quest:
>Took the far left tunnel in the pit and discovered it empties out in to a massive dark cavern with running water.
>Found a pool of water and drank, but decided to leave, especially when you started noticed there were a lot of living creatures who were getting too close for your comfort.
>Went back and took the middle tunnel.
>Followed it until it came to a strange pink glowing curved wall.
>Probing the wall, you were able to force yourself through it and emerge out the other side and continued down the tunnel.
>Fell down a hole and emerged in yet another cavern completely encrusted with gems and jewels.
>Found a mine cart and track, but were unsure if you should take it.
>Gathered some gems by hand and went exploring, leaving gems behind you like bread crumbs.
>Nearly stumbled upon a little camp with two pony guards standing watch.
>Tried to sneak up on them, but they smelled the smoke from your torch and went searching, passing you unaware.
>Went into their camp, found some stairs cut in the wall and ascended.
>Emerged out into a sewer.
>Found the nearest manhole cover and finally reached the surface.
You are Rusty Shackleford, a human who has found himself lost in Equestria with no memory.
Currently, you have emerged from the sewers of this pony city you are not familiar of. There is a massive glittering pink, semi transparent dome encompassing the entire city from what you can see. The buildings are much more ornate and taller then those of Ponyville, though many are badly damaged and there’s ruble in the streets.
As you are standing there looking around, you see that a little foal is looking at you only a few feet away. There’s a lollipop in their mouth and they are looking at you intently.
Inventory check:
"Hey there." You say, try to seem as nonthreatening as possible, waving to the little pony.
As soon as you do, the candy falls from the pony's mouth and it lets out a high pitched squeal and runs off down the street.
From where you are, there seems to be two directions to go along the street. The little foal ran of down the street heading toward the center of town. The other way seems to be leading to head to the edge of the city, toward the shimmering pink wall. But there’s also a few little alleyways and side streets you could take and the building directly next to you has a crumbled wall. You could probably climb up the rubble into it.
From what you can see the street you are on is devoid of ponies.
The slightly crumpled wall seems to be a tempting to at least hide out, so you start to climb up the rubble. Its almost like a ramp leading to a room on the second floor open to the air.
About halfway up, a brick slips under your weight. You are unable to balance in time and go tumbling back down the way you came, painfully bouncing off the rubble and pavement. You come to a stop not far from the open manhole, bruised and battered. Coughing violently, you get to your hands and knees. You don't seem to be hurt to bad, you think. At least there’s nothing broken.
As you are gathering yourself up, you can hear a very loud shrill whistle call out in the distance from somewhere.
You quickly get to your feet and duck down an alley across the street from the crumbled building, your collective cuts and bruises making you sore all over. The alley is unsurprisingly a bit dirty, with some cans of garbage off to one side, as well as come small wooden crates stacked to another side. There’s a few back doors on both sides of the alley, probably back entrances.
As you are getting your bearings, you can hear the whistling getting closer, now coming from multiple sources and directions.
You keep charging down the tunnel, trying now to slip of the bits of wet paper strewn about the ground. As you get close to the edge of the alley, its blocked by a gold armored pegasi blowing a whistle in his mouth. As soon as he sees you, he skids to a halt and the whistle drops out of his mouth and his eyes widen.
You come to a halt as the guard's stance widens and looks to get ready to charge. The whistling continues, more chiming up behind you and beyond the alley.
"Whoa hold on! I surrender, OK? I'm not armed or anything!" You shout at the pony, holding your hands up defensively, showing you're not holding anything.
The guard looks at you with a confused look, hesitating. He relaxes a little and doesn’t seem like he's going to bowl into you.
"Over here! In the alley!" He shouts out over his shoulder.
In a matter of moments, you are surrounded in the confined space of the alley with gold armored pony guards at both ends, many of which are brandishing sharp spears pointing at you.
You are completely corralled in between these ponies. Most of them are armed and their expressions are as serious as the edge of their weapons. You back up against a wall, still trying to be nonthreatening.
"Nyeeeehhhh.... What's up doc?" You say, trying to lighten the mood. The humor seems to be lost on the ponies. Tough crowd.
"So... any of you guys know Flatfoot or Bacon? Had a little run in with them."
A few of the ponies give each other side ways glaces and there’s a general murmur, but you can't really catch anything they're saying.
"Yeah, we kinda got separated when we got ambushed by some diamond dogs," You say, keeping up the topic. "Did... they make it back OK? My friend Rarity was with them too."
"No," On of the guards says. "We were expecting them to have returned from Ponyville by no-"
"Enough!" One of the guards says stomping his hoof down, cutting of the other. "No more talking! Remember what the princess said. He is to be brought before her. She'll know what to do. Lets get him loaded on the cart before there’s a scene."
A cart is pulled over to the end of the alley shortly afterwords, similar to the one you were in before. You are loaded in with some firm prodding from the guards. In a few moments, you are being pulled along down the street, the considerable number of guards either pulling the cart or walking along side you in a rough protective circle.
The cart trudges down the paved streets with you in the back, laying back against the bars and dealing with the deja vu. As you sit there, you take in the scenery of this new pony town. The buildings are far large and more ornate, many of which have beautiful gilding. In places there are statues and sculpted fountains.
But there is clear evidence of destruction. Scorch marks blacken every couple buildings and more then one seems to have been competently burns out entirely. Some are in various states of crumbling.
As your impromptu procession continues down the street, you see more of the inhabitants. Many of them are glancing from windows or doorways, some brave ones even standing on the sidewalks, all clearly afraid and curious about you. It all reminds you a lot of Ponyville, making you feel oddly... homesick, you guess, even though you only were there for a few days.
"Hey," You whisper through the bars to one of the guards. He looks up when you get his attention "Hey buddy. Which princess are you guys talking about?"
"Princes Luna," He says, his expression still clearly guarded. "Our orders are to take... you to her, and that's what we're doing."
You do seem to be pretty popular, so you try to make the best of the situation. You stand against the bars, waving to your adoring public, blowing kisses and making light of the circumstances. This goes on for a few minuets until someone throws a rock at you. It bangs noisily against the bars of the cage with a clang, startling you slightly. You stop and sit back down.
"Hey buddy," You whisper to one of the guards again. "Hey, what's happened here? Things seem pretty... bleak."
"Monsters attacks are what happened." He answers, still facing forward. "Canterlot has been under siege. A lot of places were hit hard before we put the shield up."
"How could monsters possibly assault this city? It seems pretty well protected."
"It is now," the guard replies. "We weren't expecting the first of it. The first leviathan attack was devastating before the princess forced it to leave. Things didn’t improve much, but the shield is helping."
"Damn." You reply. You're not sure what a leviathan is but it sounds pretty bad. "I came from Ponyville and its in pretty poor shape itself. I have friends there. We helped drive off monsters ourselves."
"Really? I wouldn’t have thought..." He trails off, looking you up and down. He then shakes his head and faces forward again.
"What do you mean 'I wouldn’t have thought' what? Please, put yourself in my shoes. I woke up in the middle of the forest a few days with no idea who or where I was. On top of that, everything and anything is trying to either kill me or is petrified of me! I just want to know what is going on, which is primarily why I surrendered to you guys in the first place"
"I... I had no idea." The guard is clearly taken aback.
"Have there been others of my kind in these monster attacks? Is that what all... THIS is about." You say, gesturing to are bars all around you.
"No, you're the first I know off." The guard replies, facing forward. "We were just told that you were dangerous."
"Well I'm not!" You say mater of factly. "At least not to ponies. Heck, I've helped Ponyville fight back jelly cubes, a giant spider, and helmet head."
"Huh..." The guard says. he seems to be mulling over what you told him.
"Sorry for yelling." You say. "I'm just particularly not happy about... you know, everything. By the way, do you know anything about my friends? I was able to get Rarity and the two guards freed, but I don't know what happened to Pinkie Pie."
"I'm sorry, but I haven’t heard anything."
Defeated, you lean back against the bars of you mobile prison as it clatters down the street. In the distance, a dazzling structure of white and gold soaring towers is becoming steadily larger as the guards approach. Eventually you pass through a heavily guarded gate and are parked into magnificent courtyard. In the center is a huge fountain of two ponies rearing up on their hind legs.
The guards open your cage and tell you to get out.
You comply, getting out of cage and on your feet. With some not too forceful prodding, the guards direct you up a massive marble staircase and through the equally massive doorway of what you assume is the palace. Inside, the walls soar up with wide vaulted ceiling, making you fell very small. The walls are draped with beautiful silk tapestries and there are statues of ponies placed in regular increments. You are almost lost in admiring the considerable magnificence of this entrance hall when you are nearly knocked off your feet from the side.
"Rusty! You're OK!"
"Pinkie?!"
You're shocked (and a little injured) to see Pinkie Pie on top of you with a big wide grin. She leans down and gives you a rib cracking hug.
Pinkie!" You shout happily, hugging Pinkie back warmly against your bare skin. "How did you get here? What happened? Are the others ok?"
"I dunno!" Pinkie says getting off you with a happy shrug. "I just got here. What happened to you guys?"
"Its a bit of a long story."
"Well, I was standing on a rock all alone when...." Pinkie suddenly seems aware of all the guards around and are separating the two and pushing you back to your feet. "Oh yeah, you're still in trouble."
"Yeah, seems like." You say as the guards start prodding you forward again.
"Don't worry Rusty!" Pinkie cheers, walking along side the guards. "I'm sure we can get this all sorted out." '
The two of you are lead up more stairs by the guards, heading directly forward though the palace. Doors are opened for you and are almost immediately close behind you. Pinkie keeps pace along side, having her by your side making you feel better about the situation.
You are brought down a long carpeted hallway lined with large stain glass murals shining colorful light in from outside. Your steps and the clops of the pony hooves are muffled lightly on the plush read carpet as you reach the far end of the hall. Here two more armored ponies stand guard next to each of the doors. The guards leading you and the door guards exchange wordless nods and you are lead into the throne room with Pinkie.
Much like the rest of the palace this rooms is richly decorated. But your eyes are immediately drawn to the large throne atop a series of carpeted steps, giving you bad memories of your run in with Rex. Sitting on the throne and looking down on you is a dark blue pony with a shimmering nightly mane that seems to sparkle with tiny pinpricks of light. Unlike any of the other ponies you have seen before, she has both pegasi wings and a unicorn horn.
Rusty Shackleford stands before the Princess.