Breaking Quarantine

"I don't believe it..." Distortion muttered. His ears twitched. "So I can already control those magic blasts, so long as I focus... through my concussion. And maybe if I get close enough to that creature itself..." His mouth split open in a halfway manic grin. "Eh heh heh heh heh heh..." He momentarily forgot that he was still on Star's back.

Star yelped a little as he was throws inside. He laid on the floor for a moment, in a bit of a daze. He shook himself off and got back to his hooves. "What are you yammering on about?" He asked, galloping after Stalwart as fast as he could. He didn't want to get left behind and he sure as hell didn't want to get left behind with that Turned outside the door, especially after what it did to the skywalk.

Stalwart didn't respond, or look back as he continued down the flights of stairs before arriving at a seemingly random landing and proceeding out of the stairwell and down some hallways. While this wasn't galloping, it was at a decent clip. "If you've got any questions, ask them now while we're in the relative safety of the building cause once we're outside again, I don't want to hear a peep." he said while leading them down other hallways and generally navigating their way through the building.

Star tried to think of a question as he followed Stalwart. He just couldn't think of any, so he just shut his mouth, looking back at Distortion to see if he would as something. He gave a slight shrug. "I don't really have anything to ask. Maybe Distortion has a question?" He didn't really like silence, so he guessed he better get some talking done now.

"... Yeah." Distortion mumbled, still slung over Star's back. He might have gotten off, but his mind was elsewhere other than the present moment. Far enough away that it may as well have been in space, at this point. "Yeah, I gotta question. What were those monsters back there? The ones that shot those magic beams o' destruction and death?"

"Those are the Turned, I thought Buckle and Arachne would have explained that to you two," Stalwart remarked as he continued to lead them. "I'm a little sketchy on the specifics, but the rough is they're the other thing you could turn into if you changed."

"It's... it's almost like they're just magical constructs." Distortion murmured. "Like they're just beings of pure magic. Do you know what the full process of 'changin' is? How does it happen, exactly?"

"They fall in a puddle," Stalwart replied without even a hint of joking. "Or are somehow exposed to a special kind of liquid that fell from the sky and only on this city the day before the quarantine was put up," he continued while trotting along the halls and through the occasional broken wall.

"But, wow, if they're so full o' magic I could almost..." Distortion trailed off. "Almost control 'em..." he gulped. "It's... staggerin'. How many o' them are there, approximately? I need to know what we're dealin' with."

"Too many," Stalwart replied before elaborating on his response. "This city had the highest population density in Equestria when the quarantine was put up, and what caused the changes was basically rain. There was basically no safe place, especially when some of the Turned started destroying buildings which exposed more to the rain."

After one last turn, they arrived at another door. "Alright, we're headed back outside now, but we're not as exposed. You can talk but keep it quiet," he warned before throwing open the door and proceeding along the skywalk. This one had the normal stone like pathway, but also sported a kind of haphazardly made cover out of whatever was available. There were numerous holes, cracks and just missing chunks in the cover, but it was there none-the-less.

Distortion fell silent. Between the concussion and the myriad thoughts swirling around in his head, he didn't have any mental capacity left to allocate to speaking, or thinking about anything else other than the Turned for that matter. He merely lay on Star's back thoughtfully, eyes closed.

Star almost facehoofed when he heard Distortion's question. He wondered if the unicorn was even listening when Buckle and Arachne was telling them about this city. He just rolled his eyes, however, and followed behind Stalwart. "I thought you said you didn't want to hear a peep out of us." He said quietly with a smile. Oh how he loved his smart mouth sometimes...but right now was not one of those times. He had almost shoved a hoof into his mouth when he had said that, despite him smiling.

"Heh, I thought we'd be taking that overhead skywalk the entire way and if we were then it would matter," Stalwart remarked quietly, but with some bite to it. The pathway continued onward, the occasional pile of rubble or crouched form of a pony covered in rags and other junk created breaks in the semi-bleak walkway. Stalwart paid most of these absolutely no mind.

Distortion paid them little mind as he allowed Star to carry him along on his back, giving only the occasional grunt in indication of his continued presence. He had a lot to think about, and as a result he withdrew himself mostly from the outside world.

Star gave a little chuckle at the response he got. He eyed the forms of crouched ponies, but kept following Stalwart. He figured that since he didn't pay them any mind he shouldn't either, but he kept his eyes open. He looked behind him at Distortion. "I swear....If I get knocked unconscious or something like that, you better carry me out of danger." He said very quietly to the unicorn on his back.

Stalwart continued to lead the ponies, along more walkways and through more buildings. Eventually, they arrived at a considerably shorter building, but one that was much wider than those that surrounded it. Obvious efforts seemed to have been made to repair and reinforce what could be of the building and Stalwart didn't so much as hesitate to walk straight up to the ponies standing guard at the entrance. One appeared to be a normal pegasi, wearing the armor of a solar guard minus the helmet and sporting a long lance like pike on the side. The other was unidentifiable because of the mountain of rags that had been sewn together to cover it, but a single glowing red eye peered out from the bundle, and 3 green limbs with clawed ends lazily swung through the air. They gave Stalwart a nod before letting him pass, as well as Star and Dis.

"Watch yourselves in here," Stalwart warned as they entered. "This is kind of neutral ground for all so the best and the worst in the city show up here from time to time." Inside the building, dozens of ramshackle huts had been erected, along with the already existing sections designed for shops had been reconstructed for just that purpose. Food of a dozen different types of preparation, weapons ranging from the simple improvised knife to the what was claimed to be the most advanced rune weaponry in the quarantine, exotic entertainment for those with the desire, and just about anything else the ponies could think of seemed to be at this makeshift bazaar. The crowd of being in here were just as diverse. Earth ponies, unicorns, pegasi, crystal ponies, saddle arabians, zebra, griffon, several Lost of each of the races, and even a couple small drakes and some diamond dogs.

Stalwart continued trotting along with a single destination in mind it would seem, but then he suddenly stopped. Turning around he looked at Star and Dis dead in the eyes. "Be back here tomorrow morning, and be careful. Few here couldn't care less about your best interest," he said before turning back around and disappearing into the crowd, leaving the other two ponies free to roam the bazaar.

Star eyed the crowed with a tiny frown. "I see a lack of thestrals." He muttered quietly so no one could hear him. He kicked Distortion off his back when Stalwart left. He turned to look at the unicorn. "So....What do we do now? Wander?" He shrugged, looking around the spot Stalwart had left them. He didn't quite look at anypony in particular, just around them. He then looked back at the unicorn who basically was distracted for the whole trip on his back.

"I might even be able t' control 'em..." Distortion muttered softly under his breath. He didn't know if he should be relieved, frightened, or both. So lost was he in his thoughts that when his hooves lost traction on Star's back, he didn't so much as try to renew his grip. He toppled onto the floor unceremoniously. "Ouch."

He looked around. "Well... this 's new."

Star looked unamused at the unicorn on the ground. "I swear you need to get your head out of the clouds. What are you even muttering about?" He offered the downed unicorn a hoof to help him up. "What shall we do now? Stalwart left us here. I think we should not get in trouble too much," He suggested.

"Yeah, thanks." Distortion accepted the proffered hoof and pulled himself back onto his hooves. "I dunno what ta do, really. Everything around here looks like it'll cost us, and it's not like we came with any money." He sighed and shook his head. "And we'd be lucky if they haven't moved on ta a new currency 'r somethin'. The last thing we need to be doin' is scouring the place for one-buck bottlecaps."

He avoided answering Star's first question, hoping he wouldn't notice.

Star looked at Distortion blankly. "Wander around then?" He suggested with a shrug. "Also, what kind of idiots would make bottle caps currency?" He picked a random direction and started walking that way. "Having no bits doesn't mean we can't look around, right?" He said behind him at the unicorn.

"The kinda idiots that have bottles." Distortion muttered. He quickly trotted after Star. "Yeah, let's have a look around. Maybe we c'n find somethin' we could come back for later when we find some money. Either way, it'll be good ta get a feel o' this place." He looked around, taking in the scene around him.

Wandering around would certainly reveal a lot in the improvised open market. Goods were constantly exchanging hooves/claws/various other limbs with tons of bartering in the form of yelling back and forth until a deal was made. The smells of different foods came from all around as dozens of stands made their over versions of it, though it seemed most were some kind of soup or at least served from a large pot into bowls.

There were also dozens of claimed magical items up for bartering. Everything from basic runes and charged crystals to a *magical* fork to highly advanced ritualistic spell books to claims at having THE most powerful rune gun. There were even suits of armor up for trade, from the armor of the three courts day, night, and dusk, to crystal knight armor, even griffon scale and dragon plate armors. There was even one pony who was shouting out claims at having a bottle of the pure manifested magic up for trade. "Beware and behold, the ultimate power within the zone. Unleash terror upon your enemies like none could replicate, or take the ultimate chance of fate and douse yourself in a hope to gain power unimaginable," the pony's sales pitch went, though there seemed to be a noticeable open area around him as just about all the bazaar goers tried to avoid him.

"Huh." Distortion directed a little attention to the pony who was shouting about some pure manifested magic nonsense. "I don' even think that's possible... but maybe..." Just out of simple curiosity, he extended his magic feelers his way, examining the bottle that the pony was shouting about. On the off chance he was telling the truth... who knows, he might come across some money later.

Star's eyes lit up as he saw the suits of armor. "Wonder if we can find some better weapons. Right now I don't think one rune gun and a sword can handle a Turned of anything else this place has to throw at us. Maybe we can find something to trade." He suggested, eyeing his own sword. He sighed, shaking his head and looking at some of the food. It was at that moment his stomach decided to growl, much to his embarrassment. "I also just remembered, I'm hungry." He smiled sheepishly at his companion.