Stroll through the City of Hope [open]

[Silver Lining]

Year 4, Dec 15 - Morning

On the surface, the sun was rising, but Silver had lost touch with the surface a bit. All she could see when she looked up was a dark and rocky cave ceiling. She didn’t spend all her time in the Undercity, but most of it, and the few times she actually saw the sky didn’t do anything to readjust her sleep-wake cycle. It was totally off, she had probably woken up around 2 a.m.. Not that she had any sensical sleep rhythm anyway. She was awake when she was needed, and slept when she found the time. This morning there hadn’t been anything that required her immediate attention, and so she had occupied herself with reviewing different proposals and operations to be discussed in the next meeting, but now she was done with that, and needed a break before she would throw herself at the next possible work, whatever it would be. And she should show herself in the Undercity anyway.

She stood up from her desk and went over to the mirror, giving herself a scrutinizing look. “Not like this”, she mumbled, and picked up her brush. After some long minutes of mane tweaking and general grooming, she finally decided that she looked well enough and left her office. The corridor it was located in belonged to their primary base, a “hidden” complex every rebel knew, at least partly. Different to the public headquarters, they tried to keep things a little more quiet about this base, but it being the center of all current rebel activity made it known anyway.

Silver’s appearance was the same as always: a well of confidence for everybody watching her, accompanied by a warm smile when she made eye contact. The griffons could have stormed the place right this instant and she would have been able to give everybody the hope that the end hasn’t come yet. All the work she did… it wasn’t as important as this. Equestria needed a leader unfaltering in their goals and ambitions, and able to inspire everybody else. “The Pony of Hope” they had called her in the last days of Trottingham, though there were only few still alive who could remember. Now Silver Lining had to live up to the title she had once earned. So far, she seemed to do well enough.

On her way through the base’s main tunnel, Silver spotted a pony of particular interest. “Good morning Prism”, she said once she was in talking distance.

[Prism]

Prism had already planned out his day he was going to go by Steel Strikes smithy and drop off his armour, it at done well but the attack they did showed him he needed to get it looked at as it was at the point all it would do was slow him down. Then he would play a visit to this Megabyte he had heard about and see what toys she had. He almost walked past Silver or he would have if she didn't say anything “Ma’am” He said nodding his head a little “Anything I can do for you?

[Silver Lining]

Silver chuckled at the formality coming from somepony she considered a good friend. After all, the preparations for the rebellion had pretty much begun with him, and despite quite a number of dissensions, both of them always only had the best for Equestria in mind. “Ma’am? There are a lot of ponies constantly calling me that now, but I didn’t expect it from you. It’s perfectly fine if you call me Silver, like in the past two years”, she suggested smilingly.

[Prism]

Prism looked at her knowing what she meant “Well you hold a leadership position, its only right I show you the respect that rank holds…. Ma’am” He said the last part with a bit of a smile.

[Silver Lining]

Now he was teasing her, she knew that, but it worked anyway. Mostly because while he was teasing her, he actually meant what he said. She showed a slight expression of displeasure, but with other rebels coming through the tunnel she kept most of her demeanor upright. "I'd prefer it if you talked to me as a friend rather than a superior. But I can already see it coming, you'll start talking about how you have to be a good example to the others."

[Prism]

Prism nodded "And others will expect us to act that way too. I have already started getting those that will be joining us as soldier's to address me as Captain. It shows structure and order something that will help hold the rebellion together... and I have always like being call Captain" He drop his more serious face and smiled for the last part.

"But not to worry in private I promise to drop the formality if you like" Hoping that would make her feel a bit better, as she had just taken on a lot of responsibility in a short time.

[Silver Lining]

"One more thing I'll have to get used to", Silver said sighingly before pulling herself together and set up a serious, though still warm expression. "Well then... captain. Nopony has knocked on my door all morning, so I just wanted to see if anything of interest has happened."

[Prism]

He grinned a little at the word captain "Well all is quite here, I am about to pay a visit to that smith that helped us, Steel Strike and see if he can do anything with this amour." he shifted his weight right so she could hear that he was wearing his plate mail under his coat.

"Then I am going to that Megabyte I have heard about and see what toys she has" That was all his plans at the moment as things had been quite but soon it would be time to plan something else as it had been two weeks since they attack the warehouse.

[Silver Lining]

"Sounds like I'll be accompanying you part of the way, I just about to take a stroll through the city myself", Silver answered with a nod and began to walk towards the base's exit. "I think the visit at Megabyte's workshop will be to your liking. A creative mare for sure, and with the ability to make her ideas reality. I'm sure her creations will help us a lot in the future."

[Prism]

"Well let us walk and talk then" Has Prism started to walk off. "I plan to get some of her creations and test them in the field to make sure they work for when we need them. As being shown something on display and when you really need it to work are two very different things"

He walked slow to start with to make sure silver wasn't left behind before he went to his normal walking pace "You watch yourself and take a guard with you. Last thing we need to hear is losing you when your out for a stroll" He was worried about her safety. He was sure no griffon knew about her but that didn't stop random attacks or killings.

[Silver Lining]

Silver raised an eyebrow at the suggestion of a guard, something she considered quite unnecessary. "Sorry, let me rephrase that: I'm taking a stroll through the Undercity. As much as I liked to talk to the ponies up there as well, it's too risky to do on a large scale. So at least I have to show presence down here, and I'd rather not have a guard in friendly territory. They need to be able to approach me casually, and a guard adds distance. I don't want to seem unreachable."

[Prism]

Prism let out sye of relief "Well if you sticking down here then that's fine. its a lot safer down here but still keep your eyes open" he knew she had to meet the ponies of the undercity she was their facemare and keeping her hidden wasn't going to work for the rebellion.

"I will come and find you at the end of the day and let you know how things went my end" He knew is was going to the city as that was were Megabytes workshop was but knew there was an underground path so shouldn't be too risky.

[Silver Lining]

"If I don't sleep then", Silver replied with a chuckle, and turned her eyes upwards for a moment. They were out of the base now, in the maze that was separating it from the Undercity. Here the ceiling was still relatively low, but even in the actual city where there was a lot of space above their heads, they had a ceiling. There was no real "outside" here. "Without a watch I wouldn't have any idea what time it is at the moment. As much freedom as we have here, it still feels like a prison."

[Prism]

"There is a lot worse places we could be right now" he was sure he had come very close a number of time.
"Maybe that should be something I will get hold of, would have its uses" knowing he would mostly not see a good one or someone willing to just give it up.

[Silver Lining]

"I'll keep my eyes open for you, maybe I find something. Would be a shame if you were late to a meeting because you didn't know the time." Prism being late? That was actually hard to imagine for Silver, he simply valued discipline to much to allow himself that. But that left Silver wondering how he actually managed to do that without at least seeing the passing of sun and moon. But in the end, the topic wasn't really worth much wondering about. "By the way, the hospital is already running low on supplies again. They practically worked over the whole Undercity, but there are still too many patients coming in. I expect a request for resupply coming in soon. Unfortunately, we're low ourselves."

[Prism]

"If the hospital is running low then it affects all of us. I will make sure I drop by at some point and see what I can do for them, as I am sure they will be the once to put us back together when things start to get messy" He mentally added that to the list of things that he needed to do.

"We need to start some sort of training school for those that want to learn to fight or at lest defend themselves. I will be looking to start that in the next week or so" He added knowing it best to let Silver know what he was up too.

[Silver Lining]

"Silvern is already planning to provide magical training, you should coordinate with her", Silver answered with a nod. "And you should see if we have somepony in our ranks who is specialized in magic combat, Sil is only covering general spellcasting."

Soon the tunnel opened up to a massive cave, the core of the Undercity. Here the ceiling was high enough to allow actual buildings on the ground, and as the population had gotten bigger, streets had formed, populated mostly with ponies and diamond dogs doing their usual business, though zebras and other species weren't unusual either. The only thing that was not to be found down here were griffons. The last truly safe place in Manehatten.

From the exit of the tunnel, there were three streets - differently sized paths between the buildings - leading away. "I'll leave you to your business now, I'm heading off in another direction", Silver said, turning towards the street to the left, running along the cave wall before making a turn towards the center. "See you in the evening!" If I'm not too tired then, that is, she added in thought, still annoyed over having no clear sleeping schedule.

[Prism]

"I will be sure to talk to her, but I plan to do more of an earth pony battle training as you can't always use magic or fly. I will do Unicorn battle training as well and leave Dawn to do the air combat" He felt that very pony should know how to fight as an earth pony that's what his father made him do and he was much better off for it.

They walk on more till they got to the exit "If I don't see you I am sure I would do tomorrow if not you know where my little office is" He said before he headed to the black smith that would be his first stop.

[Silver Lining]

Now on her own, Silver Lining began her walk through the Undercity. Many of the inhabitants recognized her; after the recent events it was hard not to hear her name in conversations from time to time, and most of them had listened to her speech, and a good part of them had joined up afterwards. They had seen a mare who wasn't broken by the war and who had showed them that there was hope, a light at the horizon they could reach. In short: In the Undercity, Silver was a celebrity now. And she didn't shy away.

She held her head high in confidence, letting her charisma speak. The weapon that had bought the Rebellion to life. Charisma, and a well planned heist. But while most watched her with respect or admiration, there were also those who weren't convinced yet. Silver didn't blame them. After all, this freedom she talked about was far in the future, and would be paid for with blood. But, if they had doubts, now was the time for them to speak to Silver personally. She did her best to seem approachable, which wasn't difficult for her. A warm smile and nose not too high, no trouble at all.

((This thread is open now. Whoever wants to have a talk with Silver, here's your chance.))

[Fiery Essence]

Fiery sighed softly while sitting in the dark tunnels under the large city of Manehattan, using the light of her horn to chase away the dim light around her. "Nothing fun ever happens here... Dull, boring, crap." She said to herself, voice echoing through the dark tunnels as she brought her forelegs up behind her head while resting against the wall. "At least nopony has been stupid enough to piss me off, that's a plus..."

[Silver Lining]

Silver heard a voice echoing through the tunnel, not really sure what was said, but she walked on with her head still held high and a warm friendly smile. She soon came across who she guessed would have been the soruce of the voice. It was a pony she hadn't met before, and it was always good to meet somepony new as it could mean a new member to the herd.

"Good Morning", she said with a warm smile.

[Fiery Essence]

Fiery glanced towards the pony with a raised brow, keeping her casual positioning on the ground. "'Sup? Need something?" She asked bluntly, keeping her eyes on the unfamiliar face to get a reading of her. "Don't expect to get much for free, though."

[Silver Lining]

It was not till she was right next to this pony did she notice all the piercing that she head. This did shock Silver a little as she hadn't seen anypony do it that much before, but she did well to hide it.

"No I don't need anything I am just out for a walk and to meet ponies", she said, keeping her normal polite tone. "I am Silver Lining, who might you be as I believe we haven't met before?"

[Fiery Essence]

"Name's Fiery Essence, what's it to ya?" Fiery asked in a grumpy tone of voice that suggested a lack of sleep that had lasted for quiet some time. "Nice coat, I guess. Know anywhere a mare could get some food and stuff?"

[Silver Lining]

Silver felt sorry for Fiery, clearly she needed help and there was still plenty of supplies left from the raid. "The Rebellion is always here to help a pony in need. We have got food and water and a place to rest your head if you need to. I would be more then happy to show you the way if you like" As she held out a hoof to help her up.

[Fiery Essence]

Fiery raised a brow at the words offered to her. With a nod, the mare took the hoof and stood up back onto her hooves. "Thank you, I appreciate it." She replied with a faint smile that managed to break away her scowl. "I haven't eaten in a few days, no good jobs anywhere and I'm not really liked by the griffons."

[Silver Lining]

"Nobody here is liked by the griffons, and the same goes the other way around", Silver answered smilingly as she walked with Fiery to the public HQ. "They can't come down here, it's the perfect hideout. Possibly the last free place in Equestria."
The topic of work for a living was luckily just as easy as the problem of hunger, if Silver's impression of Fiery so far was accurate. "If you can't find a job in the Undercity, the Rebellion could always use another set of hooves. And a horn for that matter."

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