Last time on 'Emergency Town Meeting' Quest:
>Woke up with Sweetie Belle.
>Ran into Rarity, who now likes us.
>In gratitude for saving her and Sweetie she agreed to design you a whole new outfit, despite her. business being nearly burnt to the ground.
>Decided on an outfit reminiscent of Elvis Presley.
>Went to get some food.
>Sugar Cube Corner has been converted into a kinda triage center for the injured, but all the ponies. seem to be getting on just fine.
>Had lunch with Pinkie, Rarity and Rainbow Dash, who was recovering from the buns she sustained.
>Suddenly, town meeting was called by the mayor.
>Went with your pony friends to hear what's what.
You are Rusty Shackleford, a self named human with no memory who has found himself in Equestria. For the last few days, you have been helping out Ponyville, which has been under constant attack by monsters from the Everfree Forrest. Currently, you and a good portion of Ponyville are listening to the mayor, who says they have just received word from Canterlot...
You are sitting near the front and center of the crowd as the mayor of Ponyville is speaking to the ponies.
"We have all come together as a community and prevailed in this time of crisis," She goes on, with a worried look. Twilight, also on stage, hands her a letter with magic. "But I'm afraid there is bad news from Canterlot."
A general murmur goes over the crowd at the sound of this. "Oh this is going to be good." Dash whispers to you and the others. Rarity shushes her. The mayor unfurls the letter and starts reading aloud:
A lot of ponies are whispering loudly, all of them generally worried by this news. The mayor bangs on the podium to get their attention.
"There’s more," She says, continuing:
The mayor hold out the paper over the podium and many of the ponies in the crowd gather over to get a good look at it. From where you are, you can see that it looks like a rough sketch of... you. Or some generic humanoid figure.
It suddenly dawns on you all the ponies are looking at you.
You stand up to you feet, the ponies of the crowd all suddenly backing up at once as you do. Except for your pony friends who stand by your side, but still give you odd looks.
"Uh, does the letter say why?" You ask the mayor. "As some of you may know, I don’t remember anything before a few days ago."
"No, it does not." The mayor says haughtily, looking down at you. "It was very short. But it came from Princess Luna herself, signed and dated."
Another murmur goes through the crowd. You must have looked confused, cause Rarity gives you the quick version about Princess Luna.
"It's very unusual," She explains. "This sort of thing is usually handled by her sister, Princess Celestia. I've never know her to send a letter to Twilight..."
"Whoa whoa," You say holding up your arms. "Now I may not understand all of this, but this all seems a bit strange to me. Twilight, I'm told it's strange for you to be getting a letter from Princess Luna, isn’t that right?"
"Uhh," Twilight says, walking up next to the podium besides the mayor. "It's certainly out of the ordinary. I imagine Celestia is busy right now. But it's definitely from Luna. It has her signature."
Many ponies in the crowd are talking or nodding in agreement.
"OK then," You say walking up closer to the stage, the other ponies parting the way for you. "Ms. Mayor, if you want to take me into custody, I'll understand."
"Hey now!" Dash says, running up to your side. "You didn’t do anything wrong, Rusty!"
"Yeah!" Pinkie says, bouncing over to. "You've been a super great friend ever since you got here!"
"That’s right!" Rarity chips in, also coming to your side. "You've been absolutely heroic."
"Rarity, haven’t you been hating Rusty since th-" Pinkie starts, but suddenly her mouth clamps shut, covered in sparkling blue light. she still making noises.
"Shhh!" Rarity shushes Pinkie, elbowing her.
"Well, I uhh," The mayor says, frantically going over papers on her podium. The mayor seems completely befuddled by this sudden display of solidarity, as do much of the crowd.
"Twilight, have you sent Luna a reply? I'd really like to know if there are others of my kind and why I'm being labeled as dangerous."
"I have been working on a letter just now," She says, pulling out a quill and paper with her magic. "I have questions myself. But I'll include your questions too."
"OK," You turn to the crowd and address all of the ponies. "Look, everyone! I know you're all probably concerned about this, but I haven't done anything to threaten any ponies around here yet, and I don't think I'll start doing it any time soon. I've been trying to help as best I can. And yeah, I've had a few... accidents. But I don't mean anyone any harm."
There’s a general sound of agreement and discussion through the crowd of ponies gathered. Your pony friends with are all nodding in agreement.
"Very well," The mayor says. "We will bring it to a vote. Do we take Rusty and lock him up for our protection? Or do we allow him continue going around town? Those in favor of locking him up, please raise your hoof."
There’s more muttering and a few scattered ponies raise up a hoof.
"All those opposed?"
A lot more ponies raise up their hooves.
"It's decided then; Rusty is free to go through Ponyville on his own accord."
"If there is nothing else," The mayor says again, addressing the citizens of Ponyville. "I ask that all ponies be particularly careful until this crisis is over. I hear by call this town meeting adjourned."
The crowd of ponies talks some and then generally disperses, off to take care of whatever respective problems around town.
"See Rusty?" Pinkie quips happily. "Everyone likes you!"
"Well, at least they like me enough not to put me in jail."
"Nonsense," Rarity says, brushing your clothes a little. "Come now, let's get to work on your new outfit."
"Um, excuse me, Rusty?" Twilight says coming down from the stage next to you. "Could you come with me? I'd like your help on sending that letter to the Princess."
"I'm sorry Rarity, but this is really important. I should go with Twilight and work this stuff out."
"Think nothing of it, darling," Rarity says, waving her hoof. "It's perfectly understandable. I'll have your outfit finished in a matter of hours."
"I have to go too!" Pinkie says. "Mr. and Mrs. Cake have their hooves full now. They probably need help with the babies. Bye!"
"Yeah, I have... stuff, to do." Dash adds. "See ya."
The three ponies all trot off to their respective destinations, leaving you with Twilight. Silently, the two of you walk back to her house. Despite being a library full of very flammable paper, it seems to have been mostly untouched by last nights fire. She opens the door for you and the inside is much like how you left it the last time. Spike seems to be out.
"Now Twilight, I think it might be best if we don't mention me in the letter. You know I'm not dangerous, but I think your Princess might do something... drastic."
"I understand," Twilight says, heading to the basement. "Come down here with me, there’s something I want to show you."
You follow Twilight down to the basement. All those big computers and machines are still down here, buzzing away, doing their thing. There’s more light on now, so you can see there’s a considerable amount of paper scattered everywhere. You also notice there is a very large map on the opposite wall, you presume of the greater area.
"What is it you wanted to show me Twilight?" You say looking around. Maybe it's on of these papers?
*click clink*
You hear something metallic locking behind you and something close around your ankle. Looking down, you see you've been chained by the ankle, the lead hooked up around one of the heavier machines in the room.
"What? Twilight, what are you doing?"
"I'm sorry, Rusty." Twilight says, backing up to the door, with a fearful look. "I know you mean well, but I can't ignore this. I'll come back in a while, I just need some time to think."
"Twilight..."
"I'm sorry, Rusty, I'll get this figured out. The Princess will know what to do." Twilight says, backing up to the door and starting to close it behind her. Just before closing it, she takes a last look at you as you give her your best look of hurt and betrayal. She then quickly shuts the door and you hear it lock with a heavy click.
Well fudge. You're trapped in Twilight Sparkle's basement, chained to one of her big machines. The chain itself looks pretty strong, but it's fairly long, giving you a bit of slack to work with.
Directly next to you is a large machine, you think it's some kind of computer. The chain is attached to it. There are two other machines in the room, nearly as big, on the other side of the room.
At one wall is a small desk with writing utensils and blank paper. On the wall above it is a map. Also, scattered all over the floor are many papers, some crumpled, some with things written on them.
You hobble around with your chained leg and examine some of the papers. Most of them seem to be letters or rough drafts for a letter, many saying the same things.
"Dear Princess Celestia,
It's been over a week now and I'm beginning to get concerned. Is there something wrong? Please let me know."
"Dear Princess Celestia,
Please respond, I'm really concerned. Are you OK? I must have sent a dozen letters by now."
"Dear Princess Celestia,
Please please please respond. Did I do something wrong? Are you angry with me? Please let me know."
Most of them seem to be mostly along those lines.
You also examine the map, though the slack in the chain gives out and you can get all the way close to it. From what you can see, it's a map of Ponyville and a good chunk of the surrounding area. All of the buildings and streets are clearly labeled, as is the nearby areas like the Everfree Forrest, Froggy Bottom Bog, some rives and more.
You memorize the map as best you can. You're pretty sure you got it, you are pretty familiar with Ponyville by now you think.
The chain is locked to you via some kind of manacle or cuff, with its own lock and key hole. It seems pretty sturdy. The other end it seems to be wrapped around the leg of the heaviest machine in the room, the end of the chair is locked together with a padlock.
Inventory check:
You try to force the chain and yank it with all your strength. It's too strong, but you keep at it, giving it everything you got, bracing yourself against the floor and everything. You are so engrossed in trying to force it, you don’t notice when the heavy machine starts to tip over towards you.
It comes down with a heavy THUMP against the wood floor. And of course, your lower body. You tried getting out of the way, but simply weren’t fast enough. The pain is intense, nearly making you blackout right then and there. You try desperately to pry it off of you, but it's just too dang heavy.
You lay back on the ground, feeling really woozy mingled with the pain. Just before you lose conciseness, you hope that Twilight heard the crash and will come help...