Where You Lay Your Head

[Paradox]

January 11

4:20PM

The sun began to take on an orange tint as it began to slowly descend towards the horizon.  Evening would be soon approaching and Quantum wasn't quite sure where he was going to be when that happened. The last few nights he had managed to find places to stay, but with the curfew and the guard patrols, staying in some abandoned buildings or such was dangerous.  It would really do for him to find more permanent dwellings and get a stable job.  

He peered off down an alleyway as he walked by, noting the trash on the street and other detritus.  Even here in a somewhat nicer portion of the city, it was disappointing to see how degraded the once great city was.  Buildings, apartments mostly, loomed up around as he cast his eye around looking to see if there was perhaps still a hotel somewhere he could stay for just another day.

[Scarlet Thunder]

Scarlet sighed, staring up at the beautiful beginnings of a sunset, and threw back the hood on her cloak. Mmm. What a fine evening to be out here. she thought to herself. Stretching, she went into a sprint position, and bounded off and up into the sky, gliding on various updrafts and breezes. Soon after her takeoff, she flew over the city, enjoying how the sun hit the buildings perfectly, making them, to her, look beautiful. However, as she was flying over one district, a nasty gust of wind hit her full in the face, and completely threw her off. Scarlet attempted to regain her casual flight, but failed in everything except cushioning her landing to not break any of her bones. As she landed with a semi-loud smack , she gazed upon her surroundings, and noticed a rather grey pony in front of her. To hide her embarrassment of such a predicament, Scarlet cast her hood around her face, to hide her blush.

[Paradox]

Quantum jumped with surprise as a pegasus- or at least he assumed it was a pegasus, it was a little hard to tell exactly with that cloak- suddenly crashed into the ground a few feet ahead of him.  He ran over to the pegasus as it stood up. "Are you ok?" He asked in a concerned tone.

[Scarlet Thunder]

Scarlet blinked a few moments before standing upright, and made eye contact with the pony. Nodding her head, she stretched out by leaning down, having cramped her back in the fall. But as she did so, the knot that connected her cloak so it didn't fall off loosened, and the horrid thing slid down her body until it gathered around her shoulders and head, revealing her wings and the scars on her body. Screeching silently at her folly and revealing of her scars, she quickly stood straight up again and fixed her cloak, although her head was perfectly visible because the hood had fallen back to her neck again.

[Paradox]

Quantum sighed in relief as the mare, as he could see now that she was, and was about to turn to keep walking when he noticed that when her cloak started to fall off of her a bit, she had a horrible degree of scars along her body and revealed terribly, horribly misplaced wings.  His eyes widened at the sight, and the thought struck him that the scars, though those were common enough in these troubled times, were just slightly too regular and precise to be the result of the war. No, these looked like they were inflicted rather intentionally and cruelly.  He steps forward breathing out "what happened.."

[Scarlet Thunder]

Scarlet opened her mouth to explain, but closed it again, remembering that she couldn't speak. She then resorted to hoof movements, but failed again horribly, as it looked to most ponies that she was randomly flailing her wings about. Placing a hoof onto her face and frowning slightly, she thought for a moment. Wait a second, do I remember how to write? Maybe it's NOT hopeless! She then made hoof movements to show that she wanted to write, and hoped the message was clear. Afterwards she held out her hoof and grinned.

[Paradox]

Quantum watched with confusion for a few moments as the mare began to make odd motions and gestures with her hooves, really not sure what was going on.  His inability to understand her was complemented when he noticed the awful scars on her face and neck as well, something which proved very distracting as his gaze lingered on them.  Finally, though, she managed a gesture he recognized as writing and held out her hoof to him.  Hoping he didn't misinterpret it entirely, he shook it then started to rummage through a saddlebag and found a piece of chalk which he levitated to her.

[Scarlet Thunder]

Star gestured for Cyber to follow her into an alley behind her, to which she flew and started writing her life story from what she remembers, listing with great detail the blood and gore that she witnessed and horror that she was a part of, onto the walls and the ground. After about ten to twenty minutes, she wiped her brow, as she had finished. She made a sort of, "Ta-daa!" stance to her life story, and sat on a dumpster next to her, waiting for the grey pony's thoughts on it.

[Prism]

It was getting dark and once again Rose was by herself, she made one friend but she seam to always run off and leave her alone and she had to try and find some were to see and show how food.

She was starting to wish she hadn't left home, going on adventures isn't as fun as the Daring Do books made out. She was scared, hungry, tried and wanted her Mummy. She had been in this alleyway when someone come down, so she hide. There was more noise going on and she tried to sneak a peek but knocked over a trashcan.

With a loud crash it feel to the floor, Rose froze she didn't know what to do were to hide and there was two others with her she didn't know. She started to panic.

[Paradox]

Quantum walked into the alleyway behind this odd mare and sat down as she began to scrawl and write.. and write.. it was far more than he had expected and he decided to wait to read it until she was done.  After she finished, he started to go over it and his breath caught in his throat.  It couldn't be true- could it? After all, those scars.. A look of horror lingered on his face as he read the whole thing and he sat silently for a moment before just going over to her and hugging her gently.

[Scarlet Thunder]

Scarlet waited until Quantum was finished reading, gently tapping her hoof on something, because she needed something to preoccupy herself with. As he finished, she was a bit taken aback from the hug. However, she returned the hug soon after, nuzzling the grey pony's cheek a little, as was custom with hugs from when she was a little filly. Rubbing her eyes, she look upwards, and watched the sun slowly sink into the horizon, smiling from its beauty.

[Paradox]

Quantum held the hug for a few seconds before there was a clatter of trash cans from the back of the alley. Letting go of the mare and gesturing her to follow, he cautiously approached the fallen can and peered around it.

[Prism]

Rose couldn't find any where to hide so she just hid into her hoofs hopping that they leave her alone as she didn't have any were she could run to and she was only small and they looked so big.

[Scarlet Thunder]

Scarlet looked curiously at the similarly-sized unicorn, tilting her head to the side, as one might look upon a new species of frog. Licking her lips, she laid down on the dumpster, and returned her gazing upon the stars.

[Paradox]

Quantum steps up to the filly, much relieved, but still a little cautious.  Hijinks had well taught him that although somepony may be small and look fragile, they can still mess you up real good.  He crouched down to the little filly and asked her "are you lost?"

[Prism]

She slowly looks up out of her hoofs at the other unicorn. She didn't speck just nodded to him. Still not sure she was safe, she wanted to pull out Teddy and hold onto him but was worried about losing him.

[Scarlet Thunder]

Scarlet noticed the rapidly declining sun, as dusk was settling in. Scarlet glanced at the two, and, to get their attention, slammed her hoof down on the dumpster and pointed to the purplish-blue sky, her hoof a little bruised from this action.

[Paradox]

Quantum looks up as the mare, Scarlet Thunder as she had named herself, tapped urgently on the dumpster.  "What is.. oh!" He noticed that the sun was indeed heading towards the horizon rapidly. "Uhh do either of you have a place to stay? Because... I don't." He hangs his head a little.

[Scarlet Thunder]

Scar bit her lip a little as they talked about homes,and shrugged, gesturing to her wings, and then pointed at the sky. She closed her eyes for a moment, and looked at the other two, completely out of ideas.

[Paradox]

Quantum sighs as he thinks.  Where to go with this poor mare and filly.  There was still that abandoned apartment building, but that was not in great shape, it could fall easily.  Nor did he really want to stay in the same place twice due to the patrols.  But... sundown was rapidly approaching and it was still better to have a chance of being caught rather than a certainty. "I think I might have an idea.  Not a very good one, but it's the only one we have.  Follow me."

[Prism]

Rose shock her head when she asked if she had some were to go. The after a few more seconds the older unicorn said to follow him. Rose was very unsure about this. She didn't know him at all, but it was getting very dark and she didn't have any were to stay herself. "I errrmm..." was all she could say, she was so confused.

[Scarlet Thunder]

Scarlet hopped off the dumpster a little sadly, and then bounded up into the air, soaring upwards until she found a couple suitable clouds, and brought them down to the ground, and made a little sleeping pod for herself. She looked at the other two and shrugged, as it was probably more comfy than anything that she could find in any of the abandoned houses.

[Paradox]

Quantum watched as Scarlet made herself a bed out of cloud, hovering just a few feet away. He was rather jealous, due to the fact that it really did look comfortable, and since he had never learned the cloudwalking spell, it would not benefit him now.  Oh well. He would just have to make do.  Glancing between them again, he said "Are you two just going to stay here in the open like this? Let's at least get indoors."

[Prism]

Rose was still a little unsure about the two, but they hadn't tried to hurt her or do anything like that. They seam find to go with for the moment. "O...ok, its not nice to sleep outside its very cold" she said in a slow voice.

She was starting to think why did she leave home. She was save with mummy and that's were she wanted to be again.

[Scarlet Thunder]

Scarlet hopped on top of her sleeping pod, and made a sort-of oar from the opening in it, and started rowing her way to an abandoned building across the street, cursing silently like a sailor as she did so. Looking back at them, she made a signal with her hoof to signify to follow her.

[Paradox]

Quantum nodded in satisfaction and started to follow Scarlet, wanting to get off the street as soon as possible, since the sun was already halfway gone in the west.  At least, he assumed it was, seeing as the buildings around him usually blocked everything but the sun's highest positions, but the light was getting to that special twilight stage where everything was grey.  He glanced behind him to make sure the filly was coming along as well.

[Prism]

Rose slowly followed them, kept up with them as she didn't want to get left alone once again. She had already been alone for far too long and having others around made her feel safer. 

"Were we going?" She asked in a questioning voice.

[Scarlet Thunder]

Scarlet, when she arrived at the door, got off the pod, and started heaving and shoving the sleeping pod up the two flights of steps, arriving at the third floor, after a long and harrowing journey up the horrible stairs. Wiping her brow with a hoof to rid herself of sweat, she hopped into the opening of the pod, and formed the oar back into a wall, and fitted it back in, sealing herself safely inside.

[Paradox]

Quantum made sure that he kept the slower pace with the filly, figuring that Scarlet could handle herself for the most part, and so did not arrive upstairs until Scarlet was just shutting her cloud pod, sealing herself in for the night.  He looked around a bit at the wreck of the floor, but it was sheltered and the few shattered windows looking out onto the street could not see where they were sleeping.  He started to take a few things out of his bag, then paused. "Here. You can have these, uhm.. sorry what was your name? I don't think you told us." He said as he offered the filly his bed pad and blanket.

[Prism]

Rose followed with the stallion being sure not to get to close as she was still little unsure, but he seamed nice like just like old Pebbles back at home, he always talked and told good story's.

They got to the top to were they would be sleeping. The stallion offered her his blankets, she opened her bags "A good adventure always come prepared" she said as she pulled out a small daring do sleeping bag and Teddy and put them on the floor near were Flash was going to sleep. She smiled at the stallion he seamed nice, he was going to help her "I am Rose Veture, expert adventure and you?"

[Paradox]

Quantum nods at the filly's preparedness. "That's good. Nice to meet you Rose, my name is Quantum Flash."  He puts out his pad and takes a moment to inflate it with magic before lying down with his head on a saddlebag for a pillow and covering himself with a blanket. "I figure we should sleep now so there aren't any suspicious lights.  Sleep well."

[Prism]

Rose looked over to the cloud pod Scarlet was sleeping in. "What do you think sleeping on a cloud feels like?" She looked at it wishing she could try sleeping on some as she was sure it would be better then the floor. 

Her sleeping space was almost done she just needed one last thing. She pulled out a picture frame and put it next to her bed so she could see it as she slept.

[Paradox]

Quantum shrugs. "I really don't know.  I'd imagine it's something like if you got a bunch of really soft pillows and slept on all of them." He noticed the picture and leaned a bit closer to it to get a better view.

[Prism]

Rose wanted to go feel a cloud as she never done it before so walked over as quietly as she could as if Scarlet was sleeping she didn't want to wake her up. Once there she went to touch the cloud but her hoof went right through it. There was nothing solid about it.

The picture she put down was of a mare and stallion. The mare looked like she was in a wedding dress, she was a white unicorn with a black mane. The Stallion was wearing an officers uniform not one of the royal guards one but one showed he was stationed in Canterlot, he was red with a blonde mane. His cuite mark was also showing that was a blue shield with a knight on it.

[Paradox]

Quantum nodded almost imperceptibly in recognition.  Must be her parents he thought to himself.  Something was bothering him about the stallion but he couldn't figure out what.  Shrugging it off, he watched Rose for a little while as she poked the cloud before drifting off into a light sleep.  
(Transition to the next morning whenever you like.)

[Prism]

Rose went to bed soon after playing with the cloud.

In the morning she would be found sleeping cuddling her teddy. It had been some time since she had sleep this soundly and she was going to get as much sleep as she could.

[Scarlet Thunder]

[Timeskip till morning n' stufferoony.]

Scarlet woke up suddenly, unable to see, as the clouds made her sleeping area pitch-black. Poking her head through the wall of the cloud, she watched the two sleep, and a most evil and mischievous plan crept into her head. Adjusting the clouds as appropriate, she jumped up, and then slammed down hard into the clouds, causing the fluff to strike the floor with lightning, a mighty crack following soon after it.

[Prism]

Rose was sound a sleep till the thunder went off. She jumped up from the scream letting out a scream then hid under her sleeping bag shaking. The sound of crying coming out from under it.

[Paradox]

Quantum was jolted awake by an explosion of sound and light.  In a motion born of some experience, he rose swiftly to his hooves, a hidden knife flickering into his telekinetic grip, and he looked around the room searching for a threat.

[Scarlet Thunder]

Scarlet laughed her silent, sarcastic laugh, at the two. She waved in a quite friendly manner, tears rolling down her cheeks. She started mouthing words, but forgot she couldn't speak. Sighing softly, she hung her head.

[Paradox]

When Quantum sees it is nothing but a prank from Scarlet, he puts the knife back into its hidden holder and shakes his head wryly. "You could get a job as an alarm clock." He jokes. He then goes over to Ruby and crouches down near her. "It's ok. It was just a little thunder."

[Prism]

Rose looked out from under her sleeping bag "It... it safe to come out then?" She asked with a snotty sniff. Peering out form her hiding spot and looked up at Scarlet "You big meany" once again giving a snotty sniff.

[Scarlet Thunder]

Scarlet formed some of the cloud into a mustachio, and placed it on her face, starting to stroke it vigorously. She laughed a silent laugh, and formed more of the cloud into a top hat, and placed that on her head. She turned the rest of the cloud and made a billowing cape, stroking her cloudstache with much gusto afterwards.

[Paradox]

Quantum shakes his head in disbelief. "You're just so random." Maybe it's a coping mechanism he thinks inwardly.  He steps forward a bit "So what do you plan to do today? I wouldn't mind a little company personally, these days it gets a little lonely."

[Prism]

Rose's stomach made a growling noise. It had been some time since she had eaten anything. She sat down and put her hoof on her tummy "Find some food, as hungry" She said.

[Scarlet Thunder]

Scarlet shrugged, not really having planned anything. She then remembered one of her life goals. She made a sort of dashing motion, and made her body as aerodynamic as possible while standing. I wanna do a sonic boom! she tried to say, but no words came out. why do I forget this EVERY time.

[Paradox]

Quantum blinks at what Scarlet is doing. "You want to fly? I'm not sure I can help with that so much, but I can watch and give encouragement.  But Rose is right. We should get something to eat first.  Flying's no good on an empty stomach I'm betting."

[Prism]

Rose looked up at Quantum with big puppy dog eyes "Does this mean you will be getting breakfast for me?" She said in the sweetest voice she could.

[Scarlet Thunder]

Scarlet shook her head, and, spotting a pencil, wrote on the wall, "I want to do a sonic boom!" in bright, childish letters. Suddenly, she heard her belly, and blushed in embarrassment.

[Paradox]

Quantum put a hoof to his bag of bits and sighed inwardly, though outwardly he smiled warmly "Yeah, it looks like I'll be buying some breakfast for both of you. Then we can see about your sonic boom Scarlet. I'd love to watch."

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