Harmony is quite a few donations away [open]

[Serene Tranquility]

Eastern Residential District, December 14, Mid-Day

The Eastern Residential District. The improvised shacks and deteriorating buildings painted the streets, forming the maze which is district. One building, however, stood out from the rest. It was a rather large wooden building with a fresh coat of paint. A sign above the entrance read in big bold letters, "The Harmony Foundation". Inside the building, were crowds of ponies, lining up for a free meal. 

Serene stood behind a counter, opposite the entrance. "Please! we need more! my family can't survive on this!" A frantic mare shouted at Serene. "I'm sorry miss." Serene tried to yell over the noise of the crowd. "But we just can't spare any more food, you'll just have to ration the food to last for a few days." The mare, in reply, turn her back on Serene, crying. This really broke her heart, but there was nothing more Serene could do, they were stretched thin on supplies. Looking to her sides, were the few volunteers she received, each one handing out food and supplies. Even then, it wasn't enough. If the charity didn't get more help soon, she was sure they were going to go under.

Serene sighed as she prepared for the next pony in line. This was going to be a long day.

[Tida]

Tida wandered the Eastern district with his instrument slung over his back, looking for a "harmony foundation" after hearing about it from other ponies around the city.  According to what he heard, they were a group of ponies that helped the poor populace by distributing food and other free services.  He even heard that they helped griffons!  Tida had to go to see this place for himself, as he thought that this group had the right idea on how to solve Manehatten's problems.  Tida thought that the rebel's methods were counter - productive; sure, they were removing the griffon oppressors from Manehatten, but a lot of innocent ponies were more often than not being caught in the crossfire of the rebels and the griffons.  He started to become lost in thought, as he started to think back to his situation before he moved to Manehatten.

Wandering the streets, he heard a door open with a crying mare coming out.  Breaking his train of thought, he looked inside to see a crowd of ponies lined up, waiting to receive food and supplies.  Tida walked in, making his way through the crowd and asked one of the ponies handing out food and supplies off to the side, "Is this the harmony foundation?"

[Serene Tranquility]

Serene forced a smile as a brown pony approached, "Why yes, this is The Harmony Foundation" she said in a cheerful tone. It always helped to keep a smiling face, especially in these times. Seeing a friendly face can make all the difference for a down-on-his-luck pony. "Are you here to submit a donation, or are you looking for food or bedding?" She silently hoped it was the former.

[Tida]

Tida looked at the cream - colored mare in front of him.  He had a feeling that she was smiling through her teeth, as he looked around him and saw the expressions of the other ponies.  A lot of the expressions were ones of desperation and general negativity, which wasn't that surprising, considering the current circumstances.  He also noticed that there were a few volunteers compared to the many waiting in line.  Taking it all in, memories of his life in Neighpon started to surface...

Shaking away those thoughts, he said to the cream - colored mare: "I would like to make a donation of bits and my time to help out.  In fact, it looks like you could use help right now.  What can I do to help?"

[Serene Tranquility]

Serene mentally cheered, 'A donation!' she thought excitedly. Of course on the outside, she kept the same smile, though this time it didn't look forced. "Of course sir! Bit donations are made through that yellow mare with the orange hair over at the end of the counter over there." She said, pointing in the general direction of one of her helpers, Petal. 

"For donating your time, well we are currently understaffed in everything. If you had some medical training, we have a few nurses at back that could really use the help." Serene was the only one that could be comparable to a doctor, but there has so far been no serious cases that required her attention. "You can also help with the homeless and refuges in the sleeping quarters. The kids, especially, need somepony there for them."

'And finally', Serene thought, 'the front lines'. "And if you are good with stocks and such, we could really use a hand at the counters, handing out food and water." Serene took a deep breath. 'Phew, I really need to write that down on a poster', she thought.

[Tida]

Tida went over to the end of the counter to where she pointed and pulled out a small bag of bits from his instrument bag, and he gave it to the yellow mare with the orange mane.  Walking back to the cream - colored mare, he said to her, "I would like to help with the front, as well as the sleeping quarters."

[Serene Tranquility]

Serene looked behind the brown stallion and noticed the increasing number of irritated and hungry ponies in the line. "I can't spare the time to show you our system myself, so if you go through that door behind the counter over there," She pointed towards a door near Petal, "You will find a grey stallion called Fleet Hoof. Tell him you want to volunteer for counter duty and he will show you the system we use." 

Using her magic to pick up a quill and a clipboard, she scribbled something down on the piece of paper. "Oh, pardon me. My name is Serene Tranquility. It's a pleasure to have you with us mr?..."

[Fleet Hoof]

The backroom was a dark and musty room filled with books and crates upon crates of random stuff. The room was only illuminated by two candles, each on opposite sides of the room. The windows were destroyed long ago and were replaced with wooden boards. Boxes filled one side of the room completely, and each one a note on the side with different writings such as 'food' or 'sleeping supplies'. 

The walls that were not occupied by crates were lined with various shelves, each with a book on various subjects such as medicine. One shelf held the stock records and other important information in the charity. In the middle of the room sat a small worn-out table. A stallion sat on a chair, sifting through various documents and parchments that lay on the table. The numbers that were displayed on the papers did not help his increasingly bad mood. 

"Ugh" Fleet Hoof groaned. "If this keeps up, we won't even be able to hand out crumbs." Something needed to change. The thieves guild only has a few members right now, including himself, so big heists are out of the question. Fleet will need to recruit new members, but thieves in this city are too stubborn. He needed something big. He needed a way to convince thieves to join his group. Perhaps Fence could offer some assistance. 

Fleet stared off into the darkness of the room as he thought of ways to attract new members.

[Tida]

"Tida" he told Serene as he gave her a slight bow.  He made his way to the door that she pointed to, past the mare that he gave his bits to.  He opened the door and went in, making sure to close the door behind him.

As he entered the room, he saw a stressed grey earth stallion sitting at a table looking over various documents.  Taking his instrument off of his back, he leaned it against one of the shelves that was next to him and made his way over to the table.  He stopped in front of the stallion and asked, "Hello there, are you Mr. Fleet Hoof?  Miss Serene told me that he could show me how to work the system that the charity uses to distribute supplies at the front.  I would like to volunteer for counter duty in front, so it would be good for me to know how things are done."

[Fleet Hoof]

Fleet's ears perked up at the sound of the door creaking open. He looked up from his papers to see a brown stallion walk into the room. As he addressed him, Fleet took a heavy sigh, "Mister? I don't think I'm that old yet, or at least I hope not." Fleet Hoof stood up and moved to one of the shelves, carefully scanning the contents for something.

"Ah, here it is." He said, pulling out a few pieces of paper. "This should tell you what you need to know, but it's pretty simple." He handed the notes to the brown stallion. "Basically, you act nice. Somepony asks for food, you give them one ration, two for families. Rations are already prepared and put into bags so all you have to do is give it to them and write down on a piece of paper how many rations you are giving out. Don't worry about ponies who come back twice, we have a unicorn marking each one as they enter the building, so she'll take care of anypony trying to cheat a few extra rations." 

Finished with his rant, Fleet sat back down at the table and began looking through the documents again. "Any questions?" He asked.

[Tida]

Tida looked over the notes, and it seemed easy enough to perform.  As he looked over the notes, he remembered something that he wanted to know.  "I..." he started to say, but decided against saying anything else as his question could wait until later, and it had no relation to the work that needed to be done.  Making sure that he understood what to do, he thanked Fleet Hoof for the help and returned to the front of the charity.

Walking up to Serene, he said, "Ok, I understand what to do Miss Serene".  He looked around and asked, "So, where are the rations to pass out?"

[Serene Tranquility]

Serene's good mood rapidly declined again as she continued to hand out food to the line of ponies. One caught her eye as she came up to the front of the line. Something told her that despite the disguising cloak and scarf, it was somepony who had managed to sneak past the unicorn at the door for seconds. A closer look showed Serene that she was right. "I'm sorry, but we just don't have enough to give you more today" she told the disappointed mare.

Serene sighed with relief as Tida returned; it was nice to have a little help. "Right here." She told him as she indicated a container placed under the counter. "Just do remember that we really cannot afford to give extra rations to anypony no matter how bad they look. We may not have enough for everypony as it is."

[Tida]

Tida got right to work, handing out the rations to the ponies in line, and making sure to record the amount of rations that were being handed out.  Luckily, it seemed that everypony that came up to the counter wasn't a pony that had already received a ration, so the process went relatively smooth.

However, as he continued to pass out the rations he noticed that the remaining rations in the container would not be enough for the amount of ponies that were still in line, as it seemed that there were the same amount of ponies in line when he started to pass the rations out.  Hoping that the answer to his question he was going to ask Serene wasn't what he thought, he asked her as quietly as possible to avoid the ponies in line from hearing it, "Is the rations in the container all that is left to give, or do you have more?"

[Serene Tranquility]

Serene continued handing out rations, occasionally casting a glance over at Tida to see if he was handling the work properly. Thankfully, Tida seemed quite competent. Her mood was quickly improving, that was until Tida asked her a question.

"No, of course not. We have plenty of food supplies in the back." She called out loud so that even the ponies in line could hear. Turning to a hushed whisper, she turned to Tida, "But they are quickly running out. At this rate, we won't even last for a month." And a month was being generous. Serene sighed as her bad mood quickly came rushing back. She had no idea what to do. 

Just then, an elderly grey pony in rags came rushing to the counter, straight towards Serene. "Help! I've been mugged!" He yelled, leaning on the counter while panting heavily. 

Serene recognized the old pony instantly. She sighed, "I have no time for your lies, Dumpster." Dumpster was known for his tall tales and his constant fibbing. He would often make excuses to get an extra ration.

"But I'm not lyin this time!" He gasped, "Look, I'll prove it." He turned to the side and lifted the rags, revealing a scorch mark. "I've been assaulted!" 

Serene looked closely at the scorch mark, it looked pretty bad, possibly an electrical spell by a unicorn. But as she scanned the injury with her magical detection spell, the traces of magic on the mark were actually from a pegasus. She gasped, there was only one pony that could have created such an injury like this. "Who assaulted you? what did they look like?" She questioned Dumpters.

Dumpster stuttered, "Er... I dunno, I didn't get a good look at her." Serene could tell he was lying through his teeth.

"Tell me, was it a little purple filly with a blue mane and a pink bow tied around her midsection?" She asked. The gasp and the look that Dumpster gave her answered the question for her. "Mimi..." She said to herself, partly in disbelief.

[Tida]

Hearing the description of the pony that Serene gave, Tida vaguely remembered a filly matching that description.  He remembered about a week ago in the western residential district a purple filly used him as a shield, and that a dark grey unicorn that was chasing her, only for him to jump over them for reasons unknown.  He couldn't remember anything after that.  He was going to ask Serene about the filly, but decided against doing so at the current moment, as she seemed slightly unnerved by that.  Also, if the rations weren't being handed out, the ponies in line might start to get out of hand, and that would not end well if that happened.

Tida resumed passing out rations and recording the amount of rations being given out.  He was hoping that he could get through the day with nothing serious happening.

[Serene Tranquility]

Serene turned to Tida. "Tida, I need to go speak to Fleet about this, hold the line for me, okay?" She didn't wait for a response as she turned around and headed for the backroom. Realizing that Serene had disappeared and left that line unattended, the ponies in her line began shouting their complaints

"Hey! I've been waiting in this line for ages, that isn't fair!" One pony shouted. "Yeah!" shouted the pony second in line, "I demand compensation, I- er, we deserve two food rations!" The rest of the ponies shouted in agreement. 

Dumpster, who was still standing at the front of the counter was unsure of what to do. "Uhh... Can I have my food now?" He asked Tida hopefully.

[Tida]

Whatever Serene had to discuss with Fleet Hoof seemed extremely important if she had to leave right away.  Tida looked at the line of ponies and mentally prepared himself, as he would need to be focused to perform the task properly until Serene came back, as well as to make sure that things didn't get more out of hand.

Hearing the elderly grey pony ask him about having his food, Tida smiled at the grey pony and said "Of course you can have your food..." but immediately turned to a neutral expression "... as soon as you come back here from the back of the line.  You see those other ponies in line?" as Tida pointed to the line of ponies "they have been waiting in line longer than you have.  It would be unfair to them if somepony were allowed to just walk up to the counter and receive their ration.  If that were allowed to happen, then there will only be fighting for rations, and ending in fighting between ponies."

Turning to the line of ponies, he told them in a loud voice "unfortunately, I can't hand out extras since we are short supplied, and I need to hand out rations to as many ponies as possible.  I will get the rations to you, but all I ask is a little patience!  Your help and understanding will expedite this process."

Politely asking the elderly grey pony to move to the back of the line, Tida started to get to work, handing a ration to the pony at the counter (aside from the elderly grey pony) and marking that down using a tally mark.  He hoped that Serene would come back soon from her business with Fleet Hoof.

[Tesshu]

Tesshu was currently flying over the cloud line of the city. It was peaceful to look at the vast layer of fluffy, white clouds. For it gave him a moment of false sense of reality, that there weren't any ruin and decay underneath but purity. The griffin gave a sigh knowing that he can not escape from reality. After a few moments of flying he gently landed on the cloud cover. He ruffled his wings a bit before looking up towards the azure sky. With the closing of his eyes and a deep breath he began to pray. It was a normal thing for a griffin to do if they lived under the Northr Tribes. He prayed for many things such as protection or sometimes even world peace. It was a bit childish for a grown griffin like him, but there was nothing wrong to be a bit childish.

After his prayers he decided to look through some reports to pass the time. Normally he was suppose to be at the port to let the higher ups know that he was here. But he came three days early so he can scout out the city so he can know his surroundings and to say the least he was not impressed.  He looked down to his sides to see his Divine Wind was strapped firmly to his side and has his bag on his other side that contains currency and military documents about himself. He pulled out a piece of paper that talks about his friend that he put in charge of leading Ponyville. It was a bit uncomfortable leaving his former station since he worked hard of trying to make the ponies lives as comfortable as he can within his power, because having control over happy ponies are much better than having control over ponies that want to slit your throat. So he was a bit on guard since he feared that a aggressive griffin could lead the village and ruin all his hard work. But thankfully his friend stood up and volunteered to be in his steed. 

He read through the status report and was a bit happy that things were going smoothly. The food stock was plentiful for the winter and ponies started to put out decorations for hearth warming eve. But it seemed there were some doubts from the ponies about his friend ability to lead the town. 

"Well at least its a much better report than any other city status." He murmured as he put away his status report. With a few flaps of his wings he glided down below the cloud cover to survey the city some more. The first thing that caught his eye was a rather large wooden building with a fresh coat of paint. A sign above the entrance read in big bold letters, "The Harmony Foundation". With interest and curiosity building up with him he glided down towards the ground and landed in front of the building. 

As he walked through the building he saw a crowd of ponies in a line. He tread carefully because he knew that griffins had left a bad mark on ponykind. With a silent prayer he walked to the counter where the carmel brown stallion was. When he got to the counter he gave a bow to show his respect before looking at the stallion. "Greetings Earth Pony, my name is Tesshu and I can't help but feel interested in this place. You see I am new to the city and I was wondering what this building stood for?" He spoke politely as he looked around at the mass.

[Serene Tranquility]

The ponies in line grumbled as they realized they weren't going to get extra rations, but thanks to Tida's ability to keep a cool head, business continued as usual. That is, until a griffon walked in. Griffons were not a rare sight in the Harmony Foundation, as griffons were welcome here. The ponies in line murmured between each other and threw dirty looks at him as he cut in line to the front, but they didn't do anything else because he currently had a weapon. 

The guards near the entrance readied themselves, as this griffon was not a usual visitor. Most times, they would ask visitors to disarm themselves, but this griffon looked like he held authority, and without proper commands from Serene, the guards decided to let him though without hassle.

[Tida]

Tida saw a griffon, crimson in color enter the Harmony Foundation.  Tida was slightly surprised, as he had only heard of griffons coming to the foundation for help.  This is the first time that he actually saw a griffon enter.  However, this griffon seemed like he didn't need any help, as the air around him felt like he had some sort of authority in Manehatten, which made Tida slight nervous as to why he was here.

Coming up to the counter, much to the annoyance of the other ponies in line, Tesshu gave a bow before talking to Tida.  Tida reciprocated that by bowing himself, as he was taught by his grandfather to show respect to others regardless of their species or loyalties.  Before answering Tesshu, he mentally steadied his nerves, as a slip of the tongue could possibly end badly for him.

"This is the Harmony Foundation, whose mission is to help the poor and homeless of Manehatten."  Tida paused before continuing "I-I'm sorry Mr. Tesshu, could you please move to the side?  These ponies have been waiting in line for a while to receive their food, and I would like to get it to them as quickly as possible so that they may have something to eat."

[Tesshu]

"Ah, that is a good cause indeed." He smiled before relaxing he was holding the line so he steped out of the way, "Pardon me for that. I did not intend to hold the line, I was simply looking for information about the place." Tesshu said to the Earth Pony before moving further away from the line. When he got a comfortable distance away from the crowd he sat down on the floor to wait. Tesshu was a patient griffin, a trait he gained from the war and when he was working in Ponyville. He waited for the line to shorten by going in a trance of meditation.

[Serene Tranquility]

The ponies in line still continued to throw dirty glances his way, but they mostly ignored the red griffon. The process continued like normal, but the line seemed to be growing longer, rather than shorter. More and more desperate ponies entered the building and lined up for a free meal.

Eventually, the door to the back room opened up once again and Serene walked out, looking a bit frazzled but a lot more calmer than she was before. She walked back to her original spot, next to Tida. "Sorry about that, something important came up." She said. She looked up at the red griffon that was meditating on the floor. "Who's that? He's not a griffon official is he?" She started to panic again. She hoped Tida or any other volunteer said nothing to offend him. The charity needed the support of the griffons, or else this place will be doomed to fail

[Tida]

Moving to the side, Tesshu allowed Tida to continue to pass out rations to the ponies in line while he sat, meditating.  What an interesting griffon Tida thought while looking at Tesshu as he vaguely remembered that ponies in his village sometimes meditated in a similar way to Tesshu when he was a colt.  Hopefully, I might have a chance to talk to him later.  However, it looked like more ponies were getting in line for a meal, so he stopped his current train of thought, and brought his attention back to passing the rations out.

Noticing the door to the back room opening, Serene returned to her original spot a few moments later.  Tempted to ask Serene about the important matter with the filly, he decided against asking, since it was definitely not the time for such questions at the current moment.  "That is Mr. Tesshu" Tida said quietly to Serene.  "I don't know if he's an official, but he wanted to know more about the foundation since he's new to Manehatten."

[Tesshu]

In his trance Tesshu notice the increase of the line which cause a slight frown to appear on his face. While poverty was not rampant in his homelands as it was in the other houses, there was times where food was hard to come by due to the over hunting of the wild. His tail flickers a bit as he thought of something.


"Hmmm, I could give a large donation from Ponyville without damaging the food stock. But the problem is that it might attract more poor ponies which in turn will cause the cause need more food."

He though over in his head as he got out of his trance to stretch his wings a bit. 

"But then again, it would be a good gift because of Harth Warming Eve this month."


Will Tesshu is a griffon, he still respect the ponies tradition.

[Serene Tranquility]

Serene looked over at Tesshu with an analytical eye. Whoever this griffon was, he could be important, so it was best not to antagonize him. Her only concern was that he was currently equipped with a weapon. She sighed and returned to work, hoping she made the right decision to leave him alone.

Eventually things started to cool down. The lines started to decrease. This gave Serene little comfort, knowing there will be an influx of homeless ponies just before curfew, looking for a place to stay. 

Just then, a small pink filly with a yellow mane hesitantly trotted into the building. She walked up to the counter, towards Tida. "Exscuse me sir, have you seen my mummy?" She asked innocently.

[Tida]

Tida was relieved that the line was starting to finally shorten, as things were calming down.  He was also relieved that it was mostly uneventful aside from someponies trying to get extra rations, and what looked to be a griffon official entering the foundation to gather information for reasons unknown.  All in all, nothing bad happened, and that's a good thing... these ponies have enough things to deal with on a daily basis Tida thought.

Shortly afterwards, Tida noticed a small pink filly hesitantly enter the building.  She approached the counter and asked him where her mother was.  "I'm sorry... I haven't seen your mother.  Maybe if you could describe your mother to me, I could help you to find her" Tida said to the filly in a reassuring voice.  Truth be told, Tida wanted to help the filly to find her mother; the feeling of utter helplessness when an important pony in one's life disappears... Tida experienced that feeling too much in his foalhood, and wanted to help ponies avoid that feeling, especially foals.

[Serene Tranquility]

The little filly grinned. "She's pink, like me! But she has a orange mane and she's much taller! Her cutie-mark is a pretzel. Can you help me find her? She said she would be here, but I waited aaaaages and she hasn't shown up." She was holding back tears now.

With a sniffle, she looked back up at Tida. "We were walking home when these bad ponies stopped us. Mummy told me to run so I did, but now I don't know where she is!" The filly was openly crying now, eliciting a few sympathetic looks from the ponies waiting in line. "Please sir! I just want my mummy! I just want to go home!"

----------

Serene was talking to another customer when she heard a filly start crying. One thought came to her mind when she saw the filly crying her eyes out in front of Tida. Buck me.

Serene had to deal with this pony first. She hoped Tida could handle it.

[Tida]

Tida slightly panicked when the filly started to openly cry.  He tried his best to calm her down.  "Please, don't cry" Tida said in a very calming manner "I can help you to find your mommy.  If you could wait a moment, we can go together to look for her after the line becomes shorter.  Can you do that?"  Tida asked the filly, smiling warmly.

Tida turned to Serene "Miss Serene, after the line has shortened more, could I go with this filly to look for her mother?  She needs help, and I understand what she must be feeling right now."

[Serene Tranquility]

Serene looked at the poor filly. She has reduced her cry to sniffles. Her story would mean that her mother was currently dead or bleeding out in one of the alleyways. She needed to act now.

"You can go look now, I can handle the line." She turned to the filly. "You should stay here with me, in case she does come here." The filly responded by looking up at her with those pained eyes. Oh, how it pained her to look into those eyes.

Turning to Petal, she whispered, "I want you to go with Tida. Go get some other volunteers but make sure they travel in pairs, we don't know who is out there."

Petal nodded and run off into one of the back rooms, whispering to the rest of the counter volunteers as she went.

Serene nodded, satisfied. Turning back to Tida. "You should take Petal with you, she's one of my brightest nurses." The poor mare will probably need a nurse... if she's still alive. Serene shook her head of such thoughts.

She has to be alive, she thought. She looked at the filly. She has to be...

----------

Petal returned a minute later. She walked up to Tida with a half smile on her face. "Hello again Tida."  Her expression melted away into one of concern. "We should start looking. Who knows where this filly's mother is." she whispered out of earshot of the pink filly.

[Tida]

Tida saw Petal approach him, and gave a slight bow of his head.  "Hello Petal"  Tida said as he smiled.  He nodded at what she said "Yes, we should look for her mother as soon as possible" Tida whispered to Petal "especially before nightfall, since the curfew is in effect..."  Tida's expression saddened slightly "I just hope her mother is ok."  Mentally shaking his head to clear away the negative thoughts, he looked at Petal "In any case, I'm ready to go when you are."

[Serene Tranquility]

Petal nodded and started walking towards the door. The ponies in line who heard the filly's story offered their sympathetic looks of good luck as they passed. As they breached the door and stepped outside, Petal couldn't help but feel a bit hopeless as she took in the sight of all the makeshift homes and beds. Petal recognized that filly. It was pretzel's filly.

Poor pretzel, she thought. Please be okay.

She took off towards where she remembered Pretzel lived, relying on Tida following her.

-------------------------------------------------------

-Summary-

Characters: Tida, Serene Tranquility, Fleet Hoof, Petal (npc, charity volunteer)

Summary: Tida arrives at the recently founded Harmony Foundation to offer a few bits as a donation and offer his time as a volunteer. Serene and Fleet gratefully accept his help, and Tida works at the counter, handing out food. As the lines get smaller, a filly runs in and says her mother is missing. Expecting the worse, Serene sends Tida and Petal to look for the filly's mother.

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