Manehatten's Black Market

Turn order: Rusty, Burning Heart, Suspicious Package, Swift Time, Critical Drive, Shadowfax, Shy Smiles, Sky

[Ok RP starts below this text line]

Rusty made sure the cloak he was wearing covered his flank. It's not that his special talent was embarassing, or that he wanted to keep his special talent a secret. It's just that his flank didn't have a cutie mark to hide.

Making sure his blank flank was covered, Rusty made his way to the Industrial District. His alchemy lab was running low on supplies, and he knew where to get them for cheap. Sometimes he wondered how his sellers got the materials at such low prices.

Keeping his head low, he made his way onto Streetroad Dr. and turned at The Rd.

He didn't see anypony there selling anything.

(That's odd, where are they?)

Burning Heart had guard duty in Manehattan again. This time in the Industrial District. At least there was less crime here than in the Slums. A lot less pleasant, though. Seemed like every five minutes Burning was choking on factory smoke. If this place wasn't part of Equestria, she would have never come here.

While patrolling, she saw a rather suspicious pony trotting around. He appeared to be looking for somepony. He covered himself and kept his head low. She couldn't do anything to him. At least not yet. But she kept a close eye on him. There's a lot of shady ponies around these parts.

Swift was visiting some "family" in Manehatten but she couldn't visit them if she couldn't find them. Swift noticed a stallion heading somewhere. Maybe that was her cousin? Swift was utterly confused. She followed him wondering who it was.

Critical Drive trotted down The Rd. in Manehatten to perform an investigation. He heard rumors about some sort of Black Market in the town. With his search warrant in his vest, he started investigating. The first thing he noticed was a stallion in the alleyway, in a cloak. Suspicious. He walked up to him and flashed his attorney's badge.

"Hello there," Critical said, "What brings you to-"

He was cut off mid-sentence when the stallion looked up to make eye contact.

(His face...it's so familiar...) "Do I know you?"

Shadowfax trotted through the Industrial District with a big smile on her face. She was in her Lunar armour patrolling the the streets of her hometown. She takes in a deep breath through her nose and lets out a sigh.

"Ahh... Good ol Manehatten.."

She spots another guard and makes her way over to her.

"Hey there, everything look clear?"

Shy trotted down Manehatten's industrial district. He'd had an exhibition that day and had made a solid amount off it. The funniest part of the affair was watching ponies looking at these pictures, thinking that they understood what the paintings were about. For example, one stallion had thought that his picture of a moonlit night suggested his romantic prospects. It demonstrated the opposite- it actually represented Shy's negativity, with it's dark, moody palette and striking outlines to highlight his confusion, anger and frustration.

After that, he had left the art gallery he was exhibiting at. He didn't actually have to be there most of the time- mostly just at a question-answer session he had to do to talk about the stuff he could actually tolerate. Naturally it was a pretty short session.

Now he was trotting through the district. He was thinking he'd taken a wrong turn somewhere- he'd heard of some sort of nice large park area in manehatten, and he'd wanted to go to see if anything in particular inspired him. However, it appeared he was wrong this time direction wise.

As he walked, he saw a pony who'd been featuring quite prominently in his thoughts lately. What was Burning Heart doing all the way over in manehatten? He thought a moment. Well, he needed directions and a quick catch up talk wouldn't hurt. He trotted up to burning and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey Burning. It's me, Shy. Listen I'm a little lost. Apparently there's meant to be this lovely park in the city somewhere I was hoping to go but I think I've taken a wrong turn. Could you give me directions to where it's located?"

Sky was flying through Manehatten's street, she didn't know what was going on she was starving she had no money, she only had one thing that was a home,Sky wanted to have a rest from flying she didn't know where she was when she flew down she was standing in front of a huge sign that said on it "Welcome to the Manehatten's Black Market" "black market i hope there's food well free food at least"mumbled sky.


Sky walked in it was really busy all she could see was paintings,food but mostly paintings weird language paintings "what the"said Sky in a confused way



_______________________
character:
Sky

(This pony in front of me...it's as if I'm looking in a mirror, except his coat doesn't have the-) A flying blur interrupted Rusty's thought process as Rusty's cloak was blown off.

Rusty instantly became nervous. Now this professional attorney he was looking at knew Rusty was bald and had no cutie mark!

Rusty grinned and said, "Probably, but my memory is a bit blurred at the moment." Knowing that one pair of eyes would follow another, Rusty looked up at the pony that flew over him at such an amazing speed. Maybe he can trick the attorney into looking somewhere else, so Rusty could slip back home quietly. Although, when Rusty turned his gaze, he came upon a sight to behold- the blurred pony, apparently a mare, was walking into a building with the sign that read "Welcome to the Manehatten's Black Market" on the wall!

(Black Market? Oh Celestia, what have I gotten myself into?)

Burning Heart saw so many things going on. First there was a Pegasus zooming over her head, blowing her mane back a bit. Then a Lunar guard was signaling her. Then she got a better look at that cloaked stallion. Then Shy Smiles came...

Burning looked at Shy. Her memories of him flooded her mind. She pushed all of those awya and talked to him like any other pony, even though she was still clearly blushing.

"Oh, hey Shy. Um, just go down the road, make a left, then take the second right. You should be at the park. Need anything else?"

Burning looked back at the former cloaked stallion. Huh, not the best looking. Probably had a nice personality, though. Then she looked again and saw a sign that said "Manehattan Black Market." Why were they that obvious? Burning waved to the Lunar guard to go over there, but to just observe them. She wanted to see what they would do.

Burning Heart stood across the street, looking at the stallion, and saw another one. He looked very law like. Not like Burning, who handled law enforcement, but more like an attorney. Could be either a really good or a really bad spot for the first stallion. Let's enjoy the show, shall we?

((Do you people really think I'd miss the opportunity?))

~~~OC: Suspicious Package~~~

"Thanks a lot, there ya go. Just don't get caught anytime soon!"

The other pony simply nodded, still glancing around nervously. As soon as he had his hooves on the wanted item, he walked out of the alley at a brisk pace, looking around a bit before heading off to wherever he was going. Probably doesn't do this kind of stuff too often... Coulda sworn he almost had a heart attack from how nervous he was...

Package put his newly acquired bits away and then looked out of the mouth of the alley, once again keeping his gaze on the store across the street for a few moments, one with a large sign hung near its front door that said "Manehattan Black Market". As always, the Pegasus couldn't help grinning at the sight of those words. In all reality, the building actually did not sponsor any part of Manehattan's black market, but it was named that simply as a joke by the mafia head that had had it built. Most of the locals already knew this either from experience or from random gossip, but new ponies often thought this store was the legitimate thing. It was even funnier with newly transferred security, who often felt the need to investigate the building as soon as they spotted the establishment.

Some of the stallion's fellow high-tier black marketeers thought that the store was an insult to what they did, but he thought that it provided a good distraction at the very least. That really was one of the few reasons why he had chosen to open up shop in that specific alley on that specific street. Security was never too prominent in that area because of the "Black Market" that had been established there, which meant that it was easy for the Pegasus to do business without getting caught.

Package sat down again, shifting his gaze back to the array of contraband that he had brought with him. He almost always did business in his own "home" because of the limited amount of stuff that he could bring with him when he was selling somewhere else, but it was still not too uncommon for the stallion to bring his set-up somewhere else in order to help out the potential clients that couldn't get to him otherwise.

At that moment in time, the Pegasus took a mental note of the inventory that he had left. Over the course of the past three hours, he'd served a fair number of ponies, making around 550 bits in total, give or take a few. Looking through the supplies and equipment he had left, he saw that he was running low on things to sell. A few weapons, some drugs and other consumables, one of the rare forbidden spell tomes that he had been able to acquire, and that was it. This lack of merchandise wasn't entirely bad, as it meant that he would be able to leave soon enough, which in turn meant that he was less likely to be disrupted by any security or snitches.

Taking a sip of the whiskey found next to him, Package once again turned his head to face the mouth of the alley, watching for any new customer or threat that might decide to stop by.

Swift looked at the bald cutie markless stallion Nope, that's not him! she thought nervously she didn't know anypony and frighten that she might have to socialize with ponies so Swift covered her face an trotted the other way bumping into ponies along the way, she didn't want to be there but her parents had made her and they thought it would be "a chance to make friends"

Swift saw a mare going into the Black Market. She quickly turned around and zoomed toward the mare.

"What in the world is wrong with you?! This is the Black Market it's where they sell bad things... A-at least that is what my parents told me..."

Shadowfax followed the pony's wave to a sign saying 'Manehattan Black Market' and to were two stallions were standing. She raised a eyebrow and frowned.

Realy? Thats not discreet at all..

she started to slowly sneak up to entrance of the Black market.

Shy noticed Burning Heart blushing at him. She didn't still...? Nah. They'd wrapped that all up. Then again, he felt something for her. He couldn't tell what it was. Was it lingering romantic feelings? Was it simply friendship? Hopefully the second- she wouldn't want to go out with him again. He wasn't really the type anyway.

He noticed she was keeping an eye on that black market sign. He looked quizzically at her.

"I don't think that's a real black market. They wouldn't be that obvious. If anything it's probably a distraction. There are a few suspicious ponies about. Anyway, I'm off. Maybe see you around."

He trotted off, unsure how to feel. He almost felt like he had something else to say to her, but he'd forgotten it. Ah, it probably wasn't important. He noticed a member of Luna's guard walking up to that black market. How stupid was the law enforcement? No wonder crime was so common here. He also noticed a few pieces were in place for an entertaining little show up. A shady pony bring stopped by a passer by. A quite tough looking stallion, clearly involved somewhat in law and trying to get info from another pony.

Huh. Another blank flank. Shy didn't know how many others like him there were. Shy wasn't really that good at much- he mostly did well at art through manipulation and making the audience feel intelligent.

Shy decided this should be amusing. He leaned against a wall, getting himself a good view of the black market area. This was going to be a laugh.

Critical fell for Rusty's clever trick and looked up at the Black Market sign. Oh, yes, the attorney remembered this place well.
(Ah, the days of my youth. Like the scent of a fresh lemon...)
He used to try to climb on top of the sign. If he remembered correctly, this wasn't actually a black market hideout, which further prodded him to ask this rust-colored pony a few questions.

Critical turned his gaze back to the pony to find himself looking at the alley wall.

(Oh, where'd he run off to?)

Critical looked to his left and saw that he had ran to catch his cloak. Must be pretty important to him. Either that, or he didn't want the whole town knowing how that pony, almost an adult, didn't know what his special talent was. Not that Critical had a problem with late hoofers.

Critical walked up to the pony again as he fumbled to get his cloak back on.

He hoped that talking to this pony (or trying to, rather) wasn't a waste of time.

Sky walked in looking around and seeing the prices but it looked to her that it wasn't a good market at all there was hardly any body here and the food was just plastic "maybe that's why it's called black market after all"said sky to her self.

Sky turned around and saw a colt looking at a sign and was going to another pony sky was bored from here misery she was scared,hungry and alone she wanted to make friends but who would want to be friends with a orphan sky couldn't just give up she wanted to do it because her tiny,little skinny legs was tired from walking sky wanted to fly she put her beautiful black wings out and started jogging until she finally reached the sign the black market she started flying towards the mysterious colt.

Sky was a few meters away from the colt but she decided to walk instead she saw another pony with a black cloak on I hope there not trouble thought sky,sky landed perfectly and started walking towards the ponies once she got there she didn't know what to do she said "Hi um I'm Sky I'm lost do you know where I am and where there's free food?".

Rusty heard Sky coming a mile away, from the speeds she was traveling at.

"I'm Sky bla bla bla"

"Yes, I've 'heard' a lot about you."

"Bla bla bla free food"

"Sorry, can't help ya there!"

"I don't sell anything for free, old sport."

Rusty turned his gaze to see who had spoke to find a Shady Vendor.

"Rusty," Shady Vendor said, (My name's not Rusty!) "Who's this?" Shady motioned his head towards the lawyer.

"We wouldn't want him finding out about your...little secret...now would we?"

Secret? What secret?
...
(Oh, THAT secret...oh boy.)
Well, this lawyer pony guy would help him, right? Right?

Burning Heart was starting to catch on. That place with the sign was clearly some sort of cover up for the real Black Market. Nonetheless, she decided to follow the ponies in. Couldn't hurt to look now, could it?

Burning followed the stallions into the "Black Market." She saw a very shady vendor, the brown pony from before, and the lawyer. Looks like we got the Three Stooges in the black market. She stepped up from behind him to see what was going on.

"Burning Heart. Royal Guard. What is going on here?"

((Thank you all kindly for le patience))

As he watched, Package could see a fair amount of ponies entering the "Black Market," and none of them looked like they were locals. Best of all was a mare in the traditional Royal Guard armor, going in and probably expecting the worst. The stallion was itching to leave his set-up and see what would happen inside the building, but he knew that it would be safer to stay where he was. He would just have to hope that something interesting would happen outside. He sipped his whiskey once more.