[RIOT EVENT, OPEN] The Downtown Barbecue

[Pony Rioters]

RIOT EVENT!
The Downtown Barbecue
Downtown District
25th December, Yr. 4
Mid-day

Background:

A building, set ablaze by rioters, crumbles as the flames spread. The griffons that were hiding inside, crawled out through the lower windows, heavily burned and still on fire.
"FINISH THOSE RATS!" A leader figure yelled. To which his army of freedom fighters complied. Running over to the still burning griffons and beating them to death with bats, sticks and even bare hooves.

As they did their part, he stood up on a pile of rubble that used to be a statue and look out towards the army ponies of all kinds that carried torches, molotovs, alchohol anything that could help make a nice fire.
"Brothers and Sisters! I have no need to tell you why you are here! All I know you want to hear is the screams of Griffons as they burn for what they have done! The griffons cower inside these buildings, waiting for help! Show them it will not come, show them the same level of mercy they showed us! BURN THEM OUT OF THEIR HOLES AS WE MAKE OUR FIERY PATH TO THE TRAIN STATION! TO STOP THEIR RUN OF SUPPLIES!" The leader pony said, to which the large crowd responded with an uproarious cry of vengeance.

"GO BROTHERS AND SISTERS! BURN EVERYTHING IN YOUR PATH!" He said at last, raising his own sledgehammer into the air, again the crowd that followed his words responded with a loud battle cry. They made their way around the former statue and further into Downtown. Everything previous to that statue was on fire, everything ahead of it will meet the same fate if Griffons had touched it. To others who didn't want any part of it, their world will simply be set ablaze, and the Griffons along with it.

[Silver Lining]

"So this is what the griffons have transformed ponykind into. A dying animal giving in to senseless rage", Silver Lining said, watching the scene from a safe distance. Or as safe as it could possibly be on the surface at the moment. At least there wasn't an angry flock right around the empty bakery she was hiding in. "Even if we could defeat the griffons in a single year, I fear it will take much longer for us to be ponies again." The sorrow in her gaze on the cruelty taking place was sincere, but it also served to hide another emotion. Most of all she felt disgusted. Those were the ponies she wanted to help, to give them back Equestria. But right now she wasn't sure if they deserved any of it. Wasn't this just as bad as what the griffons did? Now the ponies were sinking down to the very same level, and had done so for some time already. Those weren't the ponies she wanted to help. This had to end.
 
Putting up a mask of resolve, Silver turned around to her two companions. Prism hadn't been keen on letting her out of the Undercity to deal with the riots, but the Captain definitely was needed elsewhere and handling crowds was one of Silver Lining's strong points. So, as a compromise, she now had two guards constantly by her side and some more rebels on stand-by, waiting for a command. But for now, Silver didn't need them, her bodyguards would be enough. "Let's go, I'll have a talk with the leader."

Luckily the heavy snowfall that had raged through the night had retreated just a few hours ago, but the wind kept on coming and the temperatures were clearly below comfortable levels, and so Silver tightened her trench-coat before stepping out into the dirty snow. Good thing that she had fitting boots.

((Who are the bodyguards? I don't know yet. Any rebels up for it?))

[Hijinks]

At the back of the charging mobs, was a truly baffling sight. A small purple filly was skipping along behind the charging mobs, occasionally throwing small explosives out in random directions. Though, the one thing that would give anypony pause, was the fact that she was actually singing a song at the time.

"Oh the great ravaging riots is the best place for me, oh the great ravaging riots is the best place for me. blam-blam, kaboom! it's best place for Meeeee, for MeeeMeeeeee!"

Hijinks jumped from side to side, taking in the sights of the carnage that the mob had caused. 

"With thingies like screaming and shouting and fire and explosions and carnage. With goodies like molotovs and torches and pitchforks and sticks and bombs! And I get to play my favoritist of favorite fantabulist games like explosive hot potato!" 

She threw one of her boom crackle bombs at a griffon straggler that managed to avoid the mob. Hijinks ignored the squawk behind her as she continued her song.

"Oh the great ravaging riots is the best place for me! oh the great ravaging riots is the best place for me! Cause its the most ravagerific, superly terrific, most chaotically riot in the entire city!"

Finished with her song, she continued to skip after the mob. It was the bestest thing that ever happened to this city! She began humming the tune to her earlier song as she continued throwing bombs at any unmarked spot the mob had missed.

[Harmless Fun]

Harmless stood behind Silver Lining. He was assigned to guard her from any dangers. Apparently, the danger was not the griffons, but rather ponies. Harmless gave a tired old sigh, how could he find peace if he was fighting his own kind? The world seemed to be more confused than he was. 

Harmless looked outside. It seemed that beyond this door, was only chaos and destruction. He closed his eyes, his thoughts moving back to more peaceful times, times where foals were actually able to play on the street without fear of getting attacked. He quickly pushed away these thoughts though, there were more important things to worry about.

"Yes M'am" he replied, and began following Silver out into the streets. "Hmph, should have brought something warmer." he commented as they stepped out into the cold.

[Silver Lining]

The other guard scowled at the prospect of walking right into the heart of the chaos. It was the same scowl he had showed when they were told that Silver Lining was going to the surface to deal with the riots, and probably he would have many opportunities in the very near feature to repeat the process of scowling. But he followed along without complaint, neither about the danger nor about the cold. He just scowled. Hence his name: Scowler. None of his comrades knew if it was his actual name.

It was also with a scowl that he noticed a filly jumping around near the big mob, singing an ridiculously happy tune to all the carnage. Of course, by throwing explosives around the filly was also easily noticed by Silver Lining, who had stopped just a few meters out of the safe cover of the building that had been their observation spot. This she should have noticed earlier, and now it hit her unprepared. Even small fillies were taking part in this, and enjoying it? Suddenly it seemed Ponykind had fallen even farther than she had thought just moments ago. Her expression faltered, showing her shock for a moment, and she changed her plan. The mob leader could wait.

Silver headed right for the filly, carefully watching the small bombs. Luckily, Scowler would be able to keep them away with simple telekinesis, so she didn't expect much danger from them. Once she was near enough to be heard over the general noise, she forced on a smile and called out. "Excuse me, could I talk to you for a moment?"

[Hijinks]

Hijinks stopped throwing bombs when she heard a pony talk to her. She looked at the pony, she was a boring brown colour, but the smile might be worth something, so she decided to 'talk'... for now. 

"Heh, you can talk to me all you want." She replied to the pony. "But it depends on what yer saying if I listen or not." She always wondered why they ask permission first, it seemed a bit silly since they have already started talking to her.

[Harmless Fun]

Harmless sighed as he realized that Silver wanted to talk to the filly. What he wanted to say was 'Shouldn't we be talking to the mob leader?' Of course, if there was one thing Harmless learned over these years, it is to not question your superiors. Instead of voicing his complaint, he decided to whisper a warning instead. "Be careful, that one is dangerous, despite her size."

As Harmless got a closer look at her though, there was something that seemed... odd. Her coat, the colour seemed so familiar. He couldn't quite put his hoof on it though, so he ignored it. Better pay attention to her little explosives, rather than her coat colour.

[Scrapper]

'Scowler' huh? Well, you have to try and be intimidating when you can be classed as a mercenary. But truthfully, he's just got a lot on his mind. Or IN his mind, to be more truthful.

He wasn't paying attention at all, at that point anything could happen and he would have been caught off-guard. Silver, the other bodyguard and himself, they looked way to official and out of place. It didn't help that they weren't yelling and tossing things either.

Thoughts of how entertaining it would be to just lash out at some random rioter entered his head, and were being forced out as they came. He knew he had to stay focused, and some part of him didn't care.
He mustn't draw more attention to them by acting like a sociopath, but that in general seemed like a tougher task than the one at hand.

With his facial expression covered by his infamous skull-mask, he tried to stay as alert as possible while Silver talked to whomever it was she was talking to.

[Silver Lining]

Numerous questions flowed through Silver's thoughts, but she had to choose one to try and make sense of the filly. She spoke, but made her best attempt to keep her smile up "I have to wonder, what's a young filly such as yourself doing in a hazardous scene such as this? shouldn't you be more preferably hiding?"

[Hijinks]

Hijinks giggled. This was like the bazillionth time she had heard a question like that, and she liked to mix up the answer every time, and this time she was thinking a good witty comment would do the trick. Hijinks suddenly gasped, and shouted in a fake excited voice, "Hey! let's hide, cause hiding is really fun!" She paused before adding, "Said nopony ever." 

She looked at the three ponies. They all stood out from the rioters like ducks in a sheep pen. The mare sounded like one of those politicians, so logically, the only smart thing to do was to push the right buttons. "If hiding is so preferable, why don't you just crawl back down whatever hole you came from then?" She asked with smug grin.

[Pony Rioters]

The leader of the mod watched as the rioters moved through the streets to the train station, he watched with a smile as the moved before joining the herd. 
 
One more unlucky griffon that didn't want to leave when the riots started one that had lived in the city years before the war was cornered and beaten and dragged to the leader. The griffon was still alive but only just. "String it up, so they can see what happens to those that stand in our way and burn his home to the ground!" With that they started putting role up so they could hang him form one of the buildings that were not on fire.

[Silver Lining]

Silver was clearly more startled than angered by the sudden rude demeanor from the filly. "Well I never..!" Silver reminded herself to stay calm. "Young lady, I do suggest you try to avoid using such an... obnoxious tone, lest it might cause you more trouble that you'd imagine..." Silver's attention was easily taken away by the griffin being hung, and she stared in awe, murmuring "Just how low have we gone so far..." she turned to the filly one last time, "please, do be careful, keep yourself out of trouble... certainly away from here!" She finally changed her route towards the apparent leader of the rioters. once close enough, she exclaimed "What in the name of Equestria are you doing?"

[Syron]

--Meanwhile in a building nearby

This is insane, Shade thought once again, watching the scene below her with a stoic expression. She had voiced her opinion on this endeavor, but Silver Lining had deemed it necessary to come here herself, and Shade hadn't cared enough to convince her otherwise. Sure, now she and Scrapper had to make sure the leader of the Rebellion would take as little harm as possible, but two borderline insane ponies might actually be the correct choice for an insane task.

The other guard, Harmless Fun, was practically unknown to Shade, making her spend quite a bit attention on him at first. She didn't like unknown factors, so she wanted to figure out what to expect before she had to rely on him to get the job done. She wouldn't be able to say much about his skills until something actually happened that required action from them, but at the very least he seemed generally confident in his skills, though possibly unnerved by the situation at hoof. For what reason was impossibble to tell at the moment. He could probably stand in a fight, but coordination with him would be difficult.

Silver continued the way after just a few words with the bombs throwing filly (who had almost managed to make Shade chuckle with her antics, even though the song had been lost to the distance between them), and after a final check that the attention was still off her target, Shade quickly moved along through the building, and proceeded to jump out of it into the next. Good thing they were built so close to each other, which enabled the assassin to simply jump through two opposing open windows. The way down to the ground-floor would have taken unnecessary time.

She arrived at a suitable ovservation spot just in time to see how Silver called for the attention of the mob. Here we go, Shade thought as she conjured four of her Shurikens in near proximity to her protection target, but hidden from sight by different piles of rubble. One Shuriken was still with her, as always, for the case that she unexpectedly had to defend herself. The last one was resting in it's new default location, where it would stay not only for this mission but forever on: In Scrapper's pocket (or wherever he had put it). Let's see how long it takes until that mob leader rallies them against Silver.

[Hijinks]

Hijinks made an "Oooooo..." sound, like a foal does when they sense a fight that is about to happen in the playground. "Look at me, I'm a fancy lady!" She said to herself in an insulting lady accent before chuckling. Yeah, she was totally going to follow this prude around.

Casting a glance over at the griffon that was currently being strung up by the rioters, she followed behind Silver Lining towards the leader of the mob. "Isn't it obvious?" She answered the bossy mare's question, "They are going to hang that griffon and kill him... Then they are going to cook him and eat him." She threw a smug smirk in the bossy mare's direction. "Durr."

[Harmless Fun]

Harmless tried to hide his grin as they conversed with the filly. He wanted to make a good impression on the leader of the rebellion, and laughing at her would probably not help that. Though, the filly's attitude made him a bit sad, she seemed so innocent, yet... not innocent at the same time.

Harmless quickly followed behind Silver, readying himself for anything. These ponies were acting like savage beasts, and he wouldn't be surprised if they turned on them. He tried to avoid looking at the griffon. He was expecting Silver to try and save it, but considering what's currently going on, it would be best to just leave it to its fate.

[Scrapper]

Scrapper was lost in thought. His senses, hardened through harsh training from his mentor years ago, were still as sharp as they could be. If anything happened, he will still be able to react accordingly.

Though, accordingly may be asking too much from him at this point.

[Pony Rioters]

The Riot Leader turned to face whomever seemed to misunderstand the simple concept of vengeance.

"What does it look like? We all, are getting our taste of vengeance! They showed us, NO MERCY!" He pointed his sledgehammer at the 'High-Class' looking pony. "But you wouldn't understand that, living a better life than all of us, who have to live and survive on the streets! Constantly under griffon watch, always seeing someone being killed for no good reason by griffon soldiers!" He let his hammer drop down to its original position.

After he had finished speaking, members of the crowd began to yell at the group of stand-out ponies. To many to accurately hear what was being said, but it was clearly a mix of death threats and a pure hatred for anything remotely trying to prevent them from their goal.

Other members of the crowd were already pre-occupied. A griffon was swarmed during Silver's conversation with Hijinks, and was having his wings torn from his body. The screams of the griffon in question could be heard over the crowds angry shouting. Some were actually asking to carry out the little foals suggestion of cooking the hanging griffon alive.
At the same time, bodies were being tossed off of rooftops to the streets below. Most of them griffon, some of them ponies who were unsuccessful in killing a griffon, and a mix of both when jumping off of buildings that were set ablaze. The area around the 3 ponies was complete and utter chaos, exactly what the Riot Leader wanted and the crowd he led.

[Silver Lining]

Silver couldn't decide whether or not to be angry with the young filly for not hiding, or fearful of her, giving her a side note like a scolding mother would say, "We... are going to have to talk about you later." She turned back to the pony, and barely opened her mouth before her attention was taken away by the screaming of a Griffon caught both her attention and her ears. she had to pull her eyes away from the sigh of a griffon losing his wings to such a horrendous fate. 

she refocused her attention towards the apparent riot leader, and tried her hardest not to slide her eminent anger into her voice, "Vengeance? Is that really what you want? as an Equestrian, is that really what you want for Equestria? to become a shallow borderland where anarchy reins and hatred is all we care for? The Griffons might have ruined the world we live in, but if we let them ruin the ponies who lived in that world we may never have Equestria back as we know it, even if we eradicated every griffon from the face of the world, We'll wind up no more friendly to the pony standing beside us than we currently are to the griffon over there!" Silver pointed at the griffon being hung. "If we become no better than They are, They'll have every right to wipe us out!"

[Pony Rioters]

The mob leader actually stopped to think about those words, it was true. He didn't want any of this, but all these other souls did. And without his support, they'd be just a disorganised horde of hate that'll slowly die back to nothing more than the same pedestrians they were before this riot.

He shook his head, "I'm just one individual, It doesn't matter how much you convince me! My heart, lies with all these ponies who have suffered!" He jumped of his high stand and walked through the crowd, that split as he moved through it. Once he was through, and almost face the face with the posh pony, he pointed his hammer at her again.
"If you want this to end easily, you are going to have to change every single ponies mind. Not just mine." He then raised his hammer completely and let out a battle cry to seal his dedication to the crowd, and they accepted by letting out a crowd wide cry of their own.

[Hijinks]

Hijinks gave a loud cheer with the rest of the crowd, despite thinking the leader was a big dumb dumb. She just wanted to cheer cause it was fun. She turned to Silver Lining with a mischievous smirk. "I can't believe your rant actually worked! I almost fell to sleep!" 

Hijinks spared a second to cast a glance over at the griffon that had very recently lost his wings. The scene was horrifically similar to certain scenario she experienced, and the sight of it happening to something else made her wince slightly.

"Ugh, that just strikes me as a tad bit over excessive." She normally wouldn't bat an eyelash at seeing a griffon getting his head cut off... but the wings? That's cruel! 

She turned her attention back to her posse of the snobby fat flanks, Mr angry scowly pants, and the background pony. "I have a griffon buddy, ya know? He was all mopey but then I used my wily wily ways to get some free food out of him, so he's pretty alright." She rambled on.

[Silver Lining]

Silver could hardly believe what she just witnessed. the Pony clearly understood that what he was doing wasn't going to do anything good, and yet decided to go on anyway. This was... this was madness! Prism had told her that it was a bad idea for her to come here, and that she was to come back to avoid any conflict, but she had to at least try one more time. She shot the filly a look  of disappointment in her cheering for the wrong crowed, but turned to the crowd once more.

"If you're not going to listen to reason, then maybe some pony would." she addressed the crowd, and more loudly this time. "none of you want to back down. none of you want to stop hating the griffons, I know. I understand it. but take a moment and think what gave them their self proclaimed right to oppress us.they thought they were stronger than us, and certianly came to prove it. Right now, what are we doing, what right do we have to torment them now? Suddenly we're stronger? suddenly it's alright for us to take this heavy hoof over them? I'd say it isn't, and if none of you are going to listen to that, than at least to this; you've taken them by surprise, and that's it. any second now some riot-control griffons are going to show up, and kill every last one of us, with no restraint, because they've already made their point. if we start to disprove them, they will come to prove themselves right, and at the end of the day, they have no right, and right now, neither do we. if we don't disperse right now for the sake of what makes us Equestrians, then at least disperse for the sake of what makes us alive and breathing, before the real enemy shows up."

[Pony Rioters]

The crowd was large, no, huge. And most of what could be heard was whispers and the fire still raging on and the occasional scream.
The riot leader, placed his hammer on the ground and used it as a leaning post, awaiting those with enough sense to leave, and those who have succumbed to their anger to stay.
After a minute, some started to disperse from the crowd. Considering the size of the crowd, many had began to leave. But a few minutes later, only around 30 to 40% of the crowds numbers had left and returned to their homes. And although it was a good dent, the crowd was still an unstoppable army of anger, and it still had the numbers to keep going.

However, the riot leader made it clear that as long as this crowd wanted revenge and guidance, he would remain to guide them forward.
He did remain silent, happy with those who decided to live their lives and suppress their own anger and not willing to speak against their choice. That was what he was there for anyway, why would he disregard that for his own ideals? He was no dictator.
He lifted his hammer once everyone who wanted to leave did. "Well, now that we have this situation dealt with, I do believe we all have a train station to burn down! Who is with me!?" With that, he let out a yell, and the remaining crowd members yelled with him, just as faithful and strong even without the members they lost.

[Harmless Fun]

Harmless said nothing as he followed closely behind Silver Lining. He said nothing when she stood in front of the large crowd of savage animals, and he said nothing when she tried to talk them into backing down. But Harmless decided now was a good time to voice his opinion. "Ma'am. Just like you said, the griffon riot control will be here soon. It would probably be wise if we go back." He stated in a neutral expression.

[Silver Lining]

Silvern wanted to stay, she wanted to protect these ponies in the best way she knew how, by convincing them to leave the scene before things finally got out of hand... but perhaps, more or less a third of the group would have to be enough. She looked to the crowd with regretful eyes, and turned towards Harmless with a solemn 

"Perhaps... it is time we take our leave." She started her trot towards the nearest entrance to the under-market. after a few moments, she moved neck to see behind her the scene  of the pony rioters one last time, quietly wishing them luck under her thoughts of resent towards believing those are the Equestrians she was trying to protect.

[Scanion Blackwing]

He had been observing for a while now. That pony made a decent attempt at quelling the riots peacefully. That's why he did not act at all, but even with the dent the pony made, the mob was still to large and still under good leadership. That had to stop.

No doubt his comrades would be here soon to try and stop the riots themselves, but the loses would be easily minimised if the crowd was disorganised. But one of the ponies amongst the team of 3 had his attention, donning a skull mask, he looked like the general idea of a bodyguard. Something was definitely off about him though, and he didn't leave with his colleagues.

Regardless, he would remain observant, and out of sight.
He turned to his pet with a task to give. "Pay attention now."
"Do you see the pony with the sledgehammer, leading the others? I want you to kill him. And I want you to do it now."

[Void's Mirror]

[as Void]

Covered in a coat, her turquoise eyes switched at his words towards Scanion, then to the pony he was refering to. Kill him was the order and it was an order like every order else she got. She had been standing alongside all the time but not watching.
Now she watched. She watched how the mob moved. She watched the leader with the hammer who was at the front, surrounded by other ponies. Void nodded. Then she made her way towards the mob. Entering the crowd, becoming a part of it. Unfortunately she wasn't good as actor. She didn't scream, didn't look angry like the others around. The question is if anypony notices in their rage.
Void made her way slowly towards the sledgehammer-leader-pony, pushing through the other ponies. Under her coat her wings moved a bit aside so she could easily take the hidden knife when the time comes for it.

[Syron]

Shade patiently watched the croud for change as the exchange went on, relocating her weapons from time to time, though she couldn't move them around openly and had to use the time-expensive version of dismissing them and conjuring them at a different location. From the looks of it, Silver managed to keep the aggression away from her, but wasn't successful in her goals either. A substantial number of ponies left, but not nearly enough. Luckily, Silver decided to accept it.

Shade was about to relocate, when she noticed Scrapper not following the pony they were supposed to protect. She scanned the crowd for something he might have noticed, but saw nothing unusual. Reaching out for the shuriken Scrapper wore around his neck, she gave a few gentle tugs in the direction Silver to get him moving. A final look over the mob then finally caught something odd.

You're not one of them, Shade thought. Among the raging mob, she had just made out a cloaked figure making its way through the crowd, snaking herself through the chaos without drawing attention of those around her. No shoving, no bumping, just following the flow. Hard to spot. But while she was hard to notice from ground level, Shadowstrikes view from above gave her an advantage, and the calm behavior of this lone pony stood out in contrast to those around. This one had a purpose. Judging by her course, that purpose had something to with the mob leader. Shade didn't think he would survive for much longer.

Silver Lining was already on the retreat, but the deed would be done before she was at a truly safe distance. While the mob leader's actions were overall unfavorable, removing him now would likely result in an escalation, and the angry ponies might simply blame the next possible suspect (assuming the culprit was wise enough not to reveal themselves). No doubt Silver Lining would be such a suspect, even if reasonable thought spoke mostly otherwise. None of those fools would think reasonably. Besides... Scrapper was even nearer, and thus in more danger.

Shade briefly considered to stop the pony she assumed to be another assassin, but with her distance and only a few seconds to act, her choices were small. Her weapons were located around Silver Lining, with a mob between them and their intended target. Reconjuring the shurikens would have taken too long, and it was hard to guess were exactly that pony would be once the weapon had fully taken form.

Preventing the murder was ruled out, and so the choice fell towards getting everypony out of the danger zone as quickly as possible. Shade tugged on Scrapper's shuriken again, more firmly this time, pointing the earth pony towards a nearby building. It wasn't the quickest way to the Undercity, but it was the quickest way out of sight.

[Scrapper]

Scrapper was tugged out of whatever world he was in, and by the feeling of the tug in question, he and the 2 others he was with were in danger somehow.
He was directed to a nearby building, meaning whatever it was was urgent.

He quickly pushed his way past the crowd to catch up with Silver and the other bodyguard, once he was there, he placed a hoof to gain Silver's attention over all the shouting.
"We have a problem, getting back to safety isn't an option. We need to go somewhere more temporary, to that building!" He pointed a hoof to where Shade had directed him, so that should anything happen, Silver would still know where to go.
"This is urgent, move your bloody arses!"

[Silver Lining]

Silver was trotting solemnly before her thoughts were interrupted by a startling hoof. Up till now, this "scowler" said practically nothing, and did nothing more than keeping his distance yet following Silver as a body guard, so no doubt she was surprised to hear his voice, as well as the accent in his tongue... and the need to wash his mouth with soap. 

Silver knew better than to argue with her bodyguard for the while; if they were in any form of danger, she certianly didn't know, and certianly didn't want to waste any time putting distance between it and the ponies accompanying her. 

She nodded, and changed course to where Scrapper pointed, whispering him a question with clear concern in her hushed voice, "Are you seeing something I'm not? Griffons?"

[Kroll]

High above the riots, a single, armor-clad griffon flew in a slow circle, surveying the violence and destruction on the ground below. After a few more passes, the griffon dropped a small canister that fell several feet before letting out small cloud of red smoke, which continued to trail out of the canister as it plummeted towards the ground. Seeing that its work was done, the griffon broke its flight pattern and flew off into the distance, maintaining its high altitude.


Elsewhere, atop one of the few non-burning buildings that looked over the riots in the Downtown District, Kroll scanned the horizon expectantly as the other six members of his squad wrapped up their final weapon checks. "How are we looking, gents?" the captain asked without taking his eyes off the skyline.

"We're good-to-go, sir." said one of the soldiers as he finished putting his crossbow back together, his comrades nodding in agreement as they did the same. "Teams  one and three are in position as well. Once we get confirmation from Stormcloud, we can drop the hammer on these guys."

[Scrapper]

"Honestly I have no idea either, but I'm being warned in a rather complicated manner. So can we please get into the building before whatever it is that's bad happens?" He said as they approached the building in question, holding the door open in a gentlecoltly manner

[Harmless Fun]

Harmless said nothing as he followed behind Silver Lining and 'Scowler'. He kept his gaze hovering over the crowd, checking for griffons, or whatever the threat was. Whoever this other bodyguard was, and how he knew they were in danger didn't matter. If they were in danger, questioning him would probably get them killed by the headless horse or whatever else was spooking him.

As they reached the building, he did the gentlecoltly thing and let Silver and 'Scowler' go in first. That and he wanted to make sure nothing followed them.

[Aella]

Aella stood in the small crowd of guards behind Kroll, checking the straps and buckles on her armour and helmet one last time. She was more than ready to get into the crowd and crack heads, the reports of vile cruelty setting her mind on the path to vengeance.

The griffoness moved up beside Kroll and looked out over the burning city.

[Void's Mirror]

Void had almost reached the leader as suddenly a red colour dust and a cannister that fell down next to Void caused confusion among the rioters who stopped walking and others who ran into them. There was a shifting through the crowd and Void lost sight of the pony with the hammer as some splashes of the colour hit her in the eye. She had to blink a few times and look around as she saw him again. And again she made her way towards him, ignoring the ponies around her.

[Syron]

Shadowstrike quickly rushed down the stairs to the ground level, throwing a look out of the next window on every floor. She had expected for the mob leader to be dead by the time she was down, but a column of smoke had caused additional commotion, and a look to the sky quickly confirmed her suspicions about its origin. A griffon was leaving the scene, and probably soon a group of them would come back. The building Shade had directed Silver and the others into wouldn't be safe enough once the guard began breaking this up, and unfortunately Shade hadn't had a good view on possible escape routes from her old spot.

Relocation was another problem. Shade was on the wrong side of the road and had to pass through the mob, in broad daylight, much to her disliking. She pulled her hood deep into the face and cast her shadow spell underneath it to make sure nopony would see anything else than blackness and pulled out of her cover when she felt the crowd momentarily thinned down enough to quickly skip through.

As she moved along, she regularly threw a look in the direction she believed the mob leader to be in, and at the sky. This place was about to blow up badly, and she could only hope to make it through in time.

[Pony Rioters]

The red canister that hit the ground left most of the crowd in a red mist, although it was hindering sight levels, it wasn't going to cause much damage if they knew which direction to go.

The riot leader saw what it mean't. "They are on to us! Quickly! Rush to the train station!"
And so they did, following the street to get out of the red smoke which only dragged along with them as they all struggled to move down the street. the smoke was about 2 ponies high. Anyone higher than that was perfectly fine, although they couldn't really see into the crowd.
The Riot Leader, was standing on a pile of debris, just high enough to be above the smoke.

((Yes, Momma Void can kill him now. But that doesn't mean he won't struggle<3))

[Silver Lining]

((right, I guess I'll just gander at creating the interior of this... "building."))

Silver made a mental note of questioning Scowler about his "rather complicated manners" later,  but for now, followed after him into the building with Harmless guarding their entry, her last look from outside burning an image of a red colored column of smoke snaking its way over the crowd.

The ponies found themselves in another dusty old building, but Silver had already gotten used to "dusty" situations by now. Even then, that didn't mean the dust didn't bother her. Entering the doorway lead the ponies to what can only be described as a stairs-room, with another door leading to their right, and a spiraling staircase straight ahead of them. Silver turned to the jacket-wearing Stallion, "So we're meant to wait it out in here? I'd honestly think putting some distance between us and that... red smoke, would likely be safer."

[Scrapper]

"That gas is obviously just an accident, there's a lot of it in the sky above us and that usually means Griffons are on the way. Most likely, they already have us quarantined in this street. This isn't safe, but it's safer than being out there." Scrapper took a look out of a nearby window.

"At least in here we can act like we had no part in the riot, keep an eye out for a chance to leave though, I'm sure you'd prefer the undermarket over captivity." He left the window and guided the group up to the first floor, and into an abandoned/empty home. Even in a bad situation, he decided the best thing to do was kick back and relax. He took a seat next to a window that still overlooks the street covered in gas, lifted his hooves onto a makeshift table, and waited. Looking over the street, hoping Shade had the sense to stay in her hiding spot.

[Void's Mirror]

The time from reaching the hammer pony and putting the knife out until stabbing it into him where his kidney was, was faster done than a not exactly watching pony would have noticed. That was not only because Void was fast but also because she let there for a second be no room between them so that nopony should have noticed her movement towards him.
Then she hid the knife again under her coat and let herself fall back.

[Pony Rioters]

He should have seen that coming, but a layer of Red smoke makes that difficult. Although the red smoke was beginning to spread out far enough to begin clearing, it was still to hard to guess who done the deed. But he wasn't out of the fight yet.

"We have a traitor in are midst! Take down all who stand in our way, or show any signs of traitorous acts!" He yelled, able to withstand the attack through sheer adrenaline. He was lucky it wasn't the neck or somewhere more important or he'd be out for good. But he kept a ready stance, visibly showing pain by leaning over a little.

The crowd, once again acknowledged. Some continued down the street, others specifically searched for suspicious ponies.

[Kroll]

Kroll frowned as he heard the distant shouting of the crowd in the streets below, seeing that the riot was beginning to move. "Shit...they're starting to move. Bronze Wall won't be in position for another five, so we're going to have to greenlight Stormcloud in advance." The captain moved over to one of the crates that had been placed on the rooftop, pulling out a plague doctor-like mask. "Everyone, grab a mask and get it on. I'm going to signal Stormcloud to commence once they're in position."

The other members of the squad nodded and hastily grabbed a mask for themselves, fastening them over their faces before picking up their crossbows again. Seeing that the rest of the squad was prepared, the captain loaded a bolt with a flare affixed to the tip in his crossbow, igniting it before shooting it up into the air. The bright green flare streaked up into the sky for several feet before making a lazy arc beginning to slowly drift back down to the ground.

"Okay!" Kroll barked before putting his mask over his face. "Aim at the rioters furthest away from the center mass; stragglers and airbornes are top priority. Bodyshots only, gents!" he said as he picked up his own crossbow, taking aim at some of the rioters making their way down the street.

[Aella]

Aella took off her helmet, strapped on a mask and replaced the Galea. She looked down at the street, keeping an eye out for anything that would require her personal intervention.

[Hijinks]

"And then, together, we saved the world from the mushroom monsters." Hijinks finally looked around, expecting an audience of the stuck-up pony and her grumpy friends. She let out an annoyed huff as she realized she was alone, and her company abandoned her while she was rambling telling a fascinating story. 

Casting her gaze over the current chaos of the riot, she realized two things: One is that she could no longer find fat flanks, and two, there are a lot more griffons then she last remembered. Hijinks, the brilliant and quick thinking mastermind that she is, decided that she will play the role of an innocent victim. This included sitting where she was, looking like a clueless filly. 

She was constantly scanning the crowds however. Don't want to get surprised. Surprises are only fun if they don't involve painful injuries.

[Syron]

Shade was in the middle of the street when things started to get ugly. The leader's shouts informed her of it first, and it was even worse than anticipated. The other cloaked pony had indeed tried to kill him, but had failed and instead of leaving the mob leaderless, he had become enraged, and now ponies had become targets.

Go on, cross the street and stand out, or follow the flow and fully disappear into the crowd. For Shade, the latter would be much safer, but it would also mean that Scrapper and the others would be without guidance for a possibly necessary escape. Scrapper had priority.

Though she let the crowd determine her movement a little more, she was still pushing sideways, and if one of the ponies she passed by paid any attention, she would certainly be called out.

[Hijinks]

Hijinks continued to sit there, but as she scanned the crowd, she noticed an odd-pony-out. A hooded black mare, pushing her way against the tide of the rioting ponies.

She's walking the wrong way, Hijinks thought.

But what really caught her attention was her hood. It was sunny sunny day time, but she still couldn't peek under that hood. Hijinks accepted this challenge. No matter what the cost, she must sneak a peek under that hood. Maybe there was a tentacle monster under there... She had to know.

She got up, and bounded over to the hooded pony. "Hey! You with the hood!" with a few playful leaps, she managed to catch up to the black pony fully. Naturally, when dealing with a suspicious, and potentially dangerous pony, the best option is to jump up on that pony's back and get a free ride. And this is exactly what Hijinks did.

Leaping up, she managed to get up on the black pony's back, wrapping her forelegs around mystery pony's body. Hopefully she won't get bucked off again, she hated it when they do that. "Hai! Let's be friends!" Hijinks shouted over the crowd. Of course, this was all part of her plan to get closer to mystery pony and unmask/hood her!

[Void's Mirror]

Void was watching the leader. She wouldn't leave the mob before he had died. Of course, it took some time but it was her task to kill him and she would not go back to her master without having done what she was told. Her master hadn't said how fast that pony was to die.
She kept some distance to the hammer pony, when the yell about a hooded pony could be heard. Void concentraded on other things and didn't quite catch the call, still her body tensed automatically. She could be meant for she wore a coat with hood.

[Syron]

"Hey! You with the hood!"

Shade immediately turned towards the source of the sound, but not in time to evade the filly jumping onto her, or even recognize her as that. It was only the voice and the sudden - though still light - weight on her back.

"Hai! Let's be friends!"

WHAT?!?

She had first thought that she's simply been called out, but this latest exclamation didn't suggest hostile intent at all. Nonetheless, this little show most certainly directed all attention towards them. Shade's secrecy was gone, and the spotlight was on her. She was doomed.

She turned her head to see who she had to thank for this predicament, but not before lowering the intensity of her spell. Upon such close distance, it was way too suspicous to display and would do her little good. Her red eyes where now visible, but her already black fur helped little to pronounce the other features of her face in the still unusually dark shadows. Of course, black fur and red eyes was already a good description if one wanted to find her.

Shade glared at the filly in still controlled anger, quickly recognizing the bomb thrower from earlier. "You've just caused me a lot of trouble, not a good way to make friends", she hissed with venom in her voice. "Get off." Or I'll use you as a hostage if I have to.

[Pony Rioters]

Shadowstrike was unfortunately right, to the highest degree. The filly was loud enough to catch attention, those that stopped to look also ended up halting others, who also stopped to see what was going on.

What you have in the end, is a massive oval of suspicious and angry ponies, surrounded by the completely unaware. With Shade and her new friend in the lower section of that oval.
After being told of a traitor, a few of those surrounding ponies were already prepared to attack should the pony do anything irrational. Unfortunately for Shade, that was the nicest of the horde, the majority of viewers were already creeping closer, pretty much set on gutting the black mare.

As for the riot leader, he was getting weaker every second. His rage could only hold him so far. Soon, he'll be unable to even carry his sledgehammer, his vision was making the haze of red smoke a sea of pure red despite it getting better and easier to see in by the minute.

Soon, the smoke would be a simple tint in the eyes of those who walk in it, and a practical normality to those who observe. All thanks to the crowds newfound haste.

[Hijinks]

Hijinks looked left. Hijinks looked right. Hijinks looked like she was in trouble! Ruh roh! Or more specifically the black pony she was on was in trouble, and she was angry at Hijinks. You say potato, I say tomato.

Now, it was up to her to save the day. She had to save her new friend, even if it meant minor injury. The ring of ponies forming around the two made a nice arena. Perfect. Hijinks hopped off the pony and circled her till she could see her face.

Not a tentacle monster, she mentally checked off in her head. 

Hijinks began her performance by dramatically lifting her hoof and pointing it at the sky. "This goes out to all my fans out there. TayTay, Kitten and BlackButt, you know who you are." She lowered her hoof enough to meet the eyelines of her viewers. She swept her hoof over every single one of them, to show each and every pony how much their attendance meant to her. Then she began to sing, tapping her hoof to a silent beat.

"I'm the M to the E, there ain't no letter three.
And when I start singing, you'll all get jelly of me.
But don't you look sad, and don't chu get mad.
Cause I'm so talented, and you're just bad!"

"Heh, I'm a little filly, see?
But I've never met another that can keep up with my beats.
I'll be singing all week, you'll be thinkin I'm leet
And when I get rockin, well then you're in for a treat.
Yeah!"

Dramatic point to Shady pony. "Rock it!" Her hoof kept up the beat, but now it was time for a new challenger.

((It's about time we made this riot a musical)) ((Maybe this will distract some of them #w/e, I didn't know what to say so I started singing instead.))

[Syron]

((At some point we'll really have to try a musical episode, but I can't see Shade breaking into song now^^))

Shade watched the filly's performance with proper bafflement, but didn't neglect watching the mob for further approaches. Luckily, they were taken just as unprepared and had momentarily stopped to comprehend this. Happy ponies breaking into song was not unusual for the inhabitants for Equestria, but with the war happy ponies had become a rare sight. Not so luckily, the didn't open a path of escape. She was still surrounded, and when the song was over, they would probably quickly resume their advance.

However, the next surprise of having the song passed to her gave her an idea, and after a moment of staring at the young pony, she opened her mouth. "I don't feel like singing while I'm surrounded by ponies who want to kill me for something I haven't done", she said calmly, loud enough for the surrounding threat to hear. "I didn't attack him, and my only intention is to cross the street."

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