Thundershock

"I was about to say," the unicorn continued, "that if the earth pony's in trouble, depending on how you got her name, you... you might not have the right name for this pony.

"What does she look like?"

North would try to remember what Fantasy told him. "I believe she has a dark brown coat... I don't know much more than that." He'd sigh before apologizing. "Sorry for being a bit snippy, things are a bit crazy right now."

The unicorn stopped and looked around her floating papers at North. "The dark brown one?" she asked. "Her name's definitely not Copper! I'm not sure what it is, but it is not Copper."

"Why would you name a dark brown earth pony "Copper"?" one pegasus muttered the other.

"Why would you name an earth pony "Copper" at all? Copper's really pretty!" the other pegasus whispered back.

"I think she belongs to Whistling Winds." the unicorn told North. Whistling Winds was the pegasus North had spoken to earlier.

North would tilt his head a bit in confusion.  He'd shake his head, nodding to the unicorn.  "Thank you for your cooperation.  And keep an eye out for that outsider, alright?  Stay safe you three."  He'd take off, heading out the door and into the street again.  Once outside he'd take flight, heading back towards his previous stop.  He'd scan the sidewalks as he goes, trying to see if maybe he'd be lucky enough to catch the mare along the way.

North would not have the fortune of passing over the brown earth pony again.

North would land outside of the building he was just at prior. He'd quickly trot in, walking up to the Pegasus and speaking before she can say a word back. "I was told a dark brown mare, earth pony mare works here. Apparently their name isn't 'Copper' like I was told. Do you have any idea where they are?"

"Mud?" the pegasus asked. "You were looking for Mud? I don't know where she is right now- she's off delivering mail somewhere- but-" She stopped suddenly. Her eyes narrowed. "Well, she should be delivering mail, but I suppose I don't know that anymore, now do I?" she muttered darkly to nopony in particular. "Anyways," She addressed North again. "She should be back around midnight. If I were you, I'd wait for her. I don't think I could hold a guilty earth pony down."

North would seem to perk up a bit; nodding towards the pegasus. "I'll wait then. Do you have someplace I could sit down? I don't want her running the moment she walks in cause she sees a guard in the main room."

The pegasus paused and thought for a moment. "The earth pony bunks." she said finally. "You could wait in there. Or, if you don't want to spook them as they come in for the night, you could stay in their bathroom. I'll say it's broken."

North pony would think for a moment before speaking. "I think I'll wait in the bunks. Thanks for your help. Hopefully this will be resolved fast and then you won't have to worry about her again."

Winds nodded absentmindedly, already focused on the work in front of her once again.

North would be alone for hours, until finally, shortly before midnight, earth ponies would come in steadily, in ones or twos and sometimes threes. Many of them gasped upon seeing North, and just as many avoided eye contact and adopted a clearly unusual silence. All of them looked exhausted, some only bothering to walk far enough to fall into their beds. A few mares' bellies hung from pregnancy, and one was clearly close to delivery and was almost too exhausted to move. Most of the stallions were stretching sore muscles and cracking their backs; one had a clearly unnatural dip in his spine. A few ponies nursed injuries: swollen joints, swollen hooves, hooves worn to the nub, dark bruises and welts, sometimes cuts.

North would have almost an entire hour to gaze upon it all.

Finally, Mud came in. She looked as she usually did: dirty, unwashed, dull dark brown coat, with the occasional spot or bump of dark blue or purple; worn-down, dirt-dusted hooves that looked ready to crack; a body reminiscent of Fantasy's own thin frame, despite a muscular build; paper cuts at the edges of her mouth; big, dark bags under her eyes. All things considered, she was in better condition than most earth ponies North had probably ever seen. Mud stopped dead in her tracks and stared at North. Glanced around the room, then looked back to North. "Penstroke gave me up, I'm guessing?" she asked finally.

North would remain mostly quiet while waiting, keeping to himself in a corner and mostly staring at the floor and ceiling. Once Mud walked in he'd stand up and stare directly at her. He'd simply nod to her as she talked. "You need to come with me, right now. Don't make this harder on either of us, understood?" He'd speak sternly, but not overly threateningly.

Mud sighed. So much for trusting a unicorn. "Yes, sir. Lead the way, sir."

North would nod, looking towards the other Earth ponies, a quick scowl forming across his face. He'd walk over and grab Mud with a hoof, dragging her out of the room, then outside into the street.

He'd then take her into an alley, looking around for anypony else before speaking. "Listen, earth pony. You have some plan for getting Penstroke out of the city, right?"

Mud blinked, surprised. "Uh..." She'd had a plan for getting out of the city. A plan she had formulated with Bushie and several other Grounds, and was still formulating. In fact, it wasn't even so much a plan as it was a goal with some supplies they'd managed to get or make, and the alliance of a handful of unicorns and one pegasus. That wasn't even accounting for the fact that half of them, Mud included, hadn't even been planning to try to bring the outsider along. She'd said she had no idea where this place was on a map, after all, so aside from her information, what use was she to them? "...yyyeah? More or less?"

North would become relieved at this information, though the more or doesn't fill him with confidence. "I have Penstroke with me, safe. Well, not with me right now, obviously, but she's safe. When were you planning on doing this? There's not much time."

"Thaaat's kinda the problem." Mud looked away nervously. "We... don't have a plan. We have... ideas, and supplies. But no plan. We... we weren't even... we probably couldn't even have saved Penstroke. Not without losing a lot of our numbers, and not without... the thunderbird being unleashed."

North would become enraged at hearing this, kicking a nearby wall hard enough to chip it.  He'd move closer towards Mud, his voice echoing in the alleyway  "You weren't even going to take her?!  You bucking..."  He'd look away from her, calming himself, but only a little before looking back.  "You need to make a plan and you need to get her out of here.  Otherwise I'll drop you off this city personally!"  

He'd go quiet for a moment before continuing.  "I'll help."

"Great." Mud said quickly, internally questioning what good a temperamental blank-flank pegasus could do her and the Ground. "Frankly, we need all the help we can get. We have plenty of ideas, but we're going nowhere as long as the thunderbird's around.

"And don't get angry at me about Penstroke! I wasn't the only one contemplating that, and it wasn't out of malice! You can't afford to coddle and cling to everypony who gets into the Ground, or you'd lose everything and everypony you ever worked for!" And they especially couldn't risk their numbers on an outsider unicorn who couldn't even help them beyond what she'd already told them.

North would roll his eyes. "Not out of malice? Sure, you were probably just going to use than toss her out the first chance you got! Your kind is, and will always be worthless!" He'd trot away for a moment, trying to calm himself before he burns this very fragile bridge.

After about a minute he'd trot back over, seeming to be slightly more relaxed. "Look, I don't like this anymore than you do. I'll do whatever you need to get her, you, and however many other damn earth ponies you want, out of this city. I can't stop the thunderbird, but I can get close to it. We just need a plan, something to distract the thunderbird long enough for you all to get out."

Mud snarled and fumed at North's words, but restrained herself. There was nothing to gain from talking back, and besides he wouldn't listen. Pegasi never listened.

"You could distract it." Mud said darkly. Then, seriously, "Like I said, we don't have a plan, and if the thunderbird gets in our way looking for Penstroke, we're not going to have enough time to make a plan. We might not even have time to shit ourselves."

North growled a bit at her words before forcing himself to remain calm. He'd think for a moment before sighing. "I couldn't distract the thunderbird long enough for you to get out anyway. We need something bigger."

He'd look up at the sky, remembering how late it is. "No use talking about this when we're pissed off and tired. How can we contact eachother?"

"Smoke signals?" Mud suggested sarcastically. "We're not talking if we're away from each other. Letters are our only other option and they're too slow. And unless you wanna try sneaking into a Ground base somewhere and staying there until we leave, this is probably the best time to talk."

North would groan, the sleepiness from his incredibly long and stressful day catching up to him.  He'd look back to Mud, trying to think of something, but he fails.  He'd then hold his head in his hooves for a few moments, letting out a muffled shout.  "None of this would be happening if that damned night guard didn't try to kill her.  She would've gotten that stupid ship and been out of her safe and sound."

"A pegasus doing something to ruin everypony's lives." Mud said, "Seems like the same-old same-old to me.

"Aaaaanyway, do you have any big ideas?"