Breaking Quarantine

The cause of death was easy enough to determine. A broken spine, the vertebrae were almost crushed into nothing under some immense weight that had likely fallen long ago.

"Hm... I see..." Distortion mused. He looked up, into the sky, seeing if there were any buildings or other structures looming over or near his location, or at least evidence of there having been something there once. If his spine was crushed... either it was accidental, or...

Plenty of structures loomed overhead, and with the number of chunks out missing out of their sides, it could have been any of them.

"Na' predators, then. Na' bandits either." Distortion turned to Star. "I don't think we need ta worry. Just... try ta sleep somewhere without loomin' hazards... and we'll be fine."

"Aye. Have an idea where?" Star said, getting up and walking over to Distortion. He looked at the skeleton of the pony. Poor pony...Pegasus perhaps? Thestral? Doesn't matter now. The ponies dead. He thought grimly. He could very well end up like that in the coming days of this mission. He shook his head and looked for somewhere that didn't have anything looming over them.

In a city consisting of almost nothing but towering sky breakers (because the word skyscraper wasn't tall enough), find anywhere that didn't have a towering building above was pretty difficult. Even at their current height, there was still the lesser half of several buildings above, and signs of them still getting taller as they went deeper into the city. While there wasn't necessarily anything directly above any of the skywalks, they obviously were only so safe.

"I don't think we're gettin' outta the shadow o' danger." Distortion mumbled, shaking his head. "Maybe we oughta go somewhere else? Whaddaya think, Star?"

"I guess. Fly or walk?" Star asked, looking back to Distortion. He spread his wings and gave them a little stretch again. "I don't mind either way, but if something comes and attacks us, I'm flying us away immediately." He stated with a straight face. "I don't want us to die on our second day here."

"Feel up ta it? Flyin', that is." Distortion asked, frowning. "It wouldn't be too good if ya discover that ya can't after flying up a few stories."

"Mhmm. I'm always up for flying. I wouldn't ask if you wanted to fly or walk if I wasn't up to flying. And...If we do drop from the sky...Best not to think of that right now." Star said, waving off Distortion's concerns. He, himself, is more concerned about the environment around them. No telling what was around them.

"The sand'll probably break our fall." Distortion mused. "Anyway, let's g't goin'. Though I don't think the skyscrapers're the best place to be... given their track rec'rd with danger."

Star shrugged and threw Distortion on his back. "Soo...Upwards or forwards?" He asked, looking back at Distortion with a raised eyebrow. He got into a low hover and kept his eyes peeled for anything that moved and anything that made a sound.

"I don't think I'm the bes' pony ta ask... I can't count on my head bein' screwed on straight right now." Distortion looked around. "But maybe... we sh'd aim fer ground level shelter in someplace th't looks sturdy enuff..." He breathed in heavily. "Sturdy enuff ta not collapse on our heads 't any moment."

"Right. Off we go then." Star said, flying downwards. He looked back at Distortion with a concerned look. He winced in pain a little bit as his head started to hurt a tiny bit. "You alright?" He asked, with a raised eyebrow. "You're breathing heavily."

"I'm, uh... I'm fine." Distortion grunted. "Jus'... concentrate on flyin'. Else we crash into somethin' we really ought not to." He squinted, looking around for a suitable place to go.

There were plenty of additional skywalks snaking their ways in between the buildings and over themselves that would serve, as well as numerous buildings that still towered overhead. Large holes in these would allow for easy access, but there was little to tell how sturdy the ancient looking structures were. Even farther below was the ground, and while it had a decent amount of sand on it, there was surprising lack of it down below. Patches of the roadwork could be seen spread about the slowly growing mounds of sand.

Star carefully swooped down to the ground, flapping his wings a bit more when he was close enough to the ground. He slowly touched the ground in his hooves before folding his wings to his side. "Hmm...Not that much sand here...Think that's a bit odd?" He asked Distortion, looking around. It was a bit odd for him. More sand up, but only a decent amount down here. He kept his ears and eye peeled for any sounds and movement, still ready to draw his sword.

"Everythin's odd, in their own way." Distortion landed and tested the ground. "This place must've seen less erosion. Guess that says somethin' 'bout how these buildin's held up over th' years." He looked around. "We sh'd stay in one o' the places around here."

"Right...You can lead the way if you want. I'll keep a look out. We better be safe than sorry in this city after all. Especally when you don't have anything to attack with." Star said, pointing to the rune gun. "We need to find away to fix that thing for you."

"A'right. I think we'll just stop here fer now." Distortion wandered towards the nearest building, looking at it and seeing what it was like.

Beyond them loomed what used to be one of the dozens of office buildings for a long forgotten corporation. Whatever it had done was lost to erosion and time, there wasn't even enough of a sign to identify it. Inside, there was the downward slope of the sand mounds, and a few smaller ones inside but nothing else moved inside.

Distortion moved closer to the building, hoping it was still stable enough to keep them. He moved over to the nearest door and entered cautiously.

Star followed close behind Distortion, drawing his sword and looked around. His head kept looking to either side of them as they walked, not missing any movement. He tried to relax himself and try not to be so...stiff.

The building held for now, with no obvious ominous creaking or just flat out collapses. Around them, the only movement was the seemingly never ending trickle of sand onto the ever growing mounds of it around them.

"Looks safe... fer now." Distortion trotted in less cautiously, observing the area around them and what the room was like. Any signs of decay?