Zarrus

“So… Where we goin?” Zarrus asked. Given the puzzled looks of the two fillies, Zarrus guessed they had no plan whatsoever. They just shuffled uncomfortably. “Do you have an idea as to where this ‘monster’ is?” Again, there was just awkward shuffling. Zarrus sighed. Did they come to him so he could make the plan for them? He’s an adult! He supervises plans!

“So you came out here, told me about catching a ‘dangerous monster’, knows exactly what he looks like, to a point, but just don’t know where he is, what he’s capable of, or how to catch him?” he summarized. Emerald and Sunshine looked at each other, blinked, and looked back at Zarrus.

“Actually, I have an idea!” Sunshine yelled. Her positive attitude never ceased to lift Zarrus’s spirit straight to the heavens. She now had the attention of both Emerald and Zarrus, and she quivered under the gazes. Zarrus chuckled at this/ No matter how outgoing she seems, Sunshine is extremely shy. Ironic, considering how loud she was. “Um.. I was just hoping we could fly around and look for him.” she blushed and looked down, sheepish as ever.

“I can’t fly, Sunshine.” Emerald said. The only flaw in her plan, but it was an easy fix. What kind of griffin would Zarrus be if he couldn't hold a single filly?

“I got that, I can carry you.” he said. No way she could be that heavy, anyway. She turned away from him, and mumbled a barely audible “Okay.”

“That settles it! We can look for the monster from the air!” Sunshine bought her hoof up, and pumped it. “Perhaps we can get our cutie marks?” she thought about it for a moment. “Nah, not in this business.” Sunshine, Emerald, and Zarrus shared a laugh at this thought. “But still, lets begin the hunt.” With those words, Sunshine took off into the air. Zarrus followed, grabbing Emerald in his talons as gently as possible.

Mercer

Mercer had just walked inside of Pone Station. It was not exactly what he had expected it to be. The familiar arches and sun glass riifs adjourned the ceiling, and there was train tracks across the way, but the familiarity stopped there. Aside from the lack of humans, there were several things not fitting the picture.

For one, there were pictures of a mare, which his stolen memories confirmed to be the princess, and she was all over the place. That, and there were ponies in armor around a few corners. They didn’t particularly look threatening, but those horns could still be dangerous. Magic is largely an unknown variable here. That unicorn with the thugs didn’t know much at all about how it worked, always slacking off in class. Scum. He should be a bit weary, for while it is unlikely they have anything that can hurt him too much, there is always the chance.

Alex walked around some more, and noticed that the place seemed to also function as a mail service. He never really understood why a building as large as Penn Station only functioned as a transportation hub, and the ponies apparently thought the same thing. Things around here moved smoothly and efficiently, and it was as if watching something slide across a smooth surface.

This wasn’t the place to waste time, as Alex had things to do.

He scanned the creatures, both pony and griffin, walking around. From the memories he stole from the thugs, he got a pretty small picture of things, but there was one griffin in here who had the information he needed.

He was also a face nobody would mind not seeing ever again.

The griffin’s name was Cirra. She was a murdering scumbag who tried to unite the Man-Manehattan gangs under one name. Harmony, she called it. It was supposed to be a way that the rival gangs could practice their business without impeding with each other. That also meant a slightly more organized crime system. Alex knew from experience that organized crime quickly escalates into a very reliable information circulation ring. Those were unacceptable. You never know when eyes are on you, and that goes double with the presence of magic.

Alex continued to look through the crowd for a griffin that matched the description. None appeared, so he moved through the crowds to try to pick any potential target with the skill that can only come from years of practice. Still, this yielded no results.

He concentrated for a moment, waiting for any indication that the sonar had found a target. It usually takes a moment or two, before he gets an answer. He waited for five seconds, the longest time it took for a return ‘ping’, and decided to walk around once the sound didn’t return. “Damn, she isn’t here.” he said to himself.

It was okay, at least. He wanted information, and a good way to get it was pretty far away, or dead. Still, he wasn’t deterred in the slightest. There was a plentiful mass of creatures to consume. He just had to be careful who he goes after. Still unsure about their capabilities, at least. Sighing, Alex looked over to one of the guards that stood around the edge of the station. One of them shared a slight glance with him, and they both looked away at the exact same time.

Alex turned around, and followed a green unicorn stallion out of the station. He was trotting happily, like he just accomplished something big. The stallion was humming a merry tune, moving forwards with his eyes closed. Mercer wondered how he was able to weave through the upcoming crowd with so much ease. The stallion wasn’t going to stop any time soon by the look of things, so Mercer just followed from a distance while sending ‘pings’ every once a while.

Top Notch

Top was just walking through the streets, humming happily, skipping, eyes closed, all of that. He had a really good day. Not only did the unicorn join one of the gangs that would allow he, and his family to walk around the streets unharassed, he also got into contact with his wife! She also had a good day, and the rest of this day was to be good.

He was happily trotting through the streets, humming like a little filly who found out her long-standing crush returned the feelings. He definitely sounded like a stallion should! Yep!

He had been trotting about, walking into various stores and vendor stands, buying anything he probably needed to buy. Dough, wheat, sugar, carrots, tofu, water, and a hat. These things were essentials when you come back from a long trip, and buying these just made Top feel better. It was inexplainable! Like the time that stallion with the duck came and had a good time all around the city. Ah, that was the day.

Anyway, Top was just walking, happily, minding his own business, but suddenly the unicorn felt something behind him. He swiftly looked behind him, and didn’t see anything out of normal, so he continued on his way, but warily.

He noticed, that every once in a while, he felt like somepony was watching him, but he found the same thing once he turned around. Living in Manehattan, the large groups he had become accustomed to had held many dangerous ponies and griffins and such, hiding among the masses. Luckily for Top, living in this city made him learn to overcome these things. The most reliable way would be to separate from the group, and ambush his pursuer. See how they like it.

Top Notch put his hat on, and stripped away from his sidewalk crowd.

Sunshine

Flying is fun.

As a pegasus, being high in the sky is like second nature. A true home away from home. Being in the air made Sunshine as happy as can be, and it reminded her of the old days with her family. The fun times, as well as the bad times. She never really understood why her parents left her like they did, and now she doesn't think of them as much anymore, because she has a new family.

Meeting Zarrus had been one of the brightest moments since before she was given up, and she hoped her time spent with him would be as fruititious as any relationship. She loved him like family, and he returned the feelings. Sunshine sincerely hoped for the day he adopts her would come soon.

She was flying as high as she could, which happened to be as high as Zarrus would let her fly, trying to locate a grey earth pony with radiates fear. Even thinking about this monster made her feel all fuzzy on the inside. In truth, monsters always fascinated Sunshine, ever since Zarrus showed up and read her those books. It has been her dream since then to see a monster with her own eyes.

And now, the opportunity was nigh, and she shouldn’t waste it. This ‘monster’ Emerald speaks of was clearly magic, and clearly dangerous. Tingling with excitement, the borderline filly flapped her wings harder, and scanned the streets with a vicious resolve. ‘It should not be hard to find him’ Sunshine thought ‘Not many ponies wear dark jackets on these days’. Behind her, Emerald and Zarrus were flying together, also looking down. “Sunshine, come back!” Emerald shouted, an act that almost went unnoticed due to the wind in Sunshine’s ears.

Almost.

She shifted into a glide and allowed Zarrus and Emerald to catch up. Once they did, Sunshine stopped completely, and started to hover around Zarrus. “What? We gotta catch a monster!” she whined, while Emerald shook her head. “How are we supposed to find this monster, if you are moving so fast that you can’t see anypony?” Emerald asked.

“I don’t know!” she exasperated and threw her forehooves in the air. “I’m just excited, okay?” she asked, then sniffed. “Smells like… Roasted carrots.” Sunshine flipped, and dived towards the ground, in pursuit of her snacks.

She slowed down once she could clearly see pony faces, flipped to the side, rolled out of the way of some birds, and landed perfectly. A pony across the way saw this, and pulled out a poster that had the number ten on it. With a huge grin on her face, she trotted up to the stand, and got in line, directly after the next stallion. An exchange of bits later, she was ready to pick up her carrot. ‘Oh, this is gonna be the best carrot ever!’

She paid her bits, grabbed the carrot, thanked the mare behind the stand, and turned around. She began to walk a bit away from the crowd, as Sunshine doesn’t like crowds that much, despite living in the city of crowds. With her carrot in tow, and out of the way of crowds, she began to move it to her mouth slowly, ready to bite into it with all of her skills harnessed from years of eating carrots. Her mouth watered from anticipation, and she prepared to take that one. Crucial. Bite.

And then somepony bumped into her. ‘Noooooooo!’ she screamed inwardly, as the carrot fell from her hoof. She tried to catch it, but her thoughts were faster than her hooves could ever hope to be. The carrot hit the ground soundlessly, and she screamed again, as loud as her imaginative voice would let her. She looked over to whoever bumped over into her, and she heard Emerald yell down to her. “Sunshine, look out! It’s him!”

Sunshine looked over to her right, and saw the grey stallion with the jacket turning around to face her. Blue eyes met green, and she resisted the urge to scream and fly as high as she could.

Emerald

Emerald looked at a petrified Sunshine, and sighed.

Sure, she was worried about her best friend's safety, but the real sigh was directed to the petrification. Emerald should have guessed she would be the one to freeze under pressure or fear, despite being the most rambunctious of all her friends. It was kind of typical, if you think about it. Not pretty, but just typical.

The ‘monster’ simply looked up at Zarrus and Emerald with curiosity, and almost caused Emerald to squirm out of Zarrus’ grip. This stallion had weird vibes that Emerald was faintly picking up. Vibes that makes her feel afraid. It was like an emotion spell was always active on him, and it didn’t feel right. “Zarrus, grab Sunshine and fly up as high as you can.” she whispered. Zarrus nodded, and moved to get Sunshine. Instead of taking off, he placed Emerald next to Sunshine, and walked over to the hooded stallion. Emerald wanted to yell at him to come back, but her solid friend was still pretty shaken up. “Sunshine, you alright?”

“Y-yeah.” she shivered. “Just really afraid. Dont really know why…” she trailed off.

Emerald looked over to Zarrus walking over to the stallion, and Sunshine whispered “Is that coming from him?” Emerald nodded, generally unsure if that was true or not. “Like the Slenderpony stories?” Emerald shrugged at that one.

Zarrus could be seen speaking from this distance, and Emerald hoped that he wouldn’t point in their direction. The unmoving stallion just glanced over at them, then returned his gaze towards Zarrus. Zarrus then gestured over at the two fillies with his paw, and laughed a little bit. The supposed monster’s face stayed indifferent the entire time, but he reluctantly nodded at the unheard question. Zarrus began to walk over, but the ‘stallion’ stayed behind for a moment, then looked around in search of something. He seemed to curse under his breath and followed Zarrus.

Emerald shot Zarrus a glare, but it withered once she saw the irritated ‘monster’ behind him, and she shivered in fear. Another wave of the foreign fear washed over her, and mixed with her preexisting fear. “H-hello.” she shuddered at the look she got. Two crystal orbs void of a soul, the eyes of the stranger seemed to be.

“You shouldn’t chase after dangerous things.” he said. “I dont want a child getting hurt over something like that.” was all he said before he left.

“See?” Zarrus asked. “All of that fear was for nothing.” he said.

Emerald wasn’t so sure about that, but let it slide for now.