Breaking Quarantine

Star stood up and walked over to Blaze, waiting for it to teleport them. He held the rifle over his shoulder, eyeing the door cautiously. When they teleported slightly above the skywalk, he yelped out loud and flailed his hooves a bit, falling. He landed with a thud, grunting. It would probably have hurt less...if he wasn't bruised all over. He groaned and looked around, frowning when he didn't see Arc. "Of course he's gone...I can't wait to get out of this damn..." He tailed off as he looked back at the entrance to the building. He stared at the raiders collecting there and frowned. "We should...probably run before they start shooting us..." He said to Blaze very quickly. He moved into a position where he could dodge more easily if he needed to.

Blaze files Star's mutterings away for later review, the pony he expected to meet and such. For the moment, it was necessary to survive. Blaze quickly forms aaa temporary barrier to block the first volley of shots while it begins fleeing in the opposite direction. "Hurry thestral." It says calmly.

With the skywalk destroyed, the raiders were unable to follow and after a single bend in the suspended walkway, Star and Blaze would be out of sight from the raiders though the shooting continued on for a little while as it could be heard still echoing out through the air. As Blaze and Star were now, they could each still see the old Magi-tech tower off in the distance, giving a clear direction for them to go, but the walkway itself only roughly continued onward in that direction, a bit to the right of the tower itself.

"Yeah. Right." Star quickly hurried after Blaze to get out of there. When they were in a safe spot he sat down and rested a bit, sighing. He looked around and noticed the old Magi-tech tower. He sat there staring at the building for a few moments before ripping his gaze from it and turning it towards Blaze. He looked...it? up and down for a moment curious. "Hmm...Ahh...Thanks. For helping me get out of that place. Umm...Yeah....What were you doing in there anyway?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "And uh...what are you? Because you might not be a pony, but I can't be sure anymore in this city." He said, shaking his head.

Blaze nod,s acknowledging the thanks. In response to star's question, ti answers "I am the Librarian. And you?" It seems to see no reason why anything beyond those introductions might be neccessary, and parts of it already look towards the shielded horizon.

As the two stood upon the old skywalk, it suddenly shook violently and easily with enough force to risk throwing either one off their hooves, if not off the walkway itself. The accompanying boom and sounds of crumbling mortar and other building material would have been expected but whatever caused it all was a mystery obscured by the buildings that surrounded them. Speaking of which, the skywalk Star and Blaze were on at the moment went roughly in three immediate directions. There was back the way they came, back towards the safe zone Star had been at the day before, and then towards another building junction where they could go into another one of the skybreaker buildings.

Star looked at Blaze with a confused look for a moment. "Librarian...?" He tilted his head to the side slightly. Weird..."...I was here because a scientist guy said he needed help getting to his lab. He then said to clear this building for him...Yeah that didn't really end so hot." He growled slightly for a moment before getting interrupted by the skywalk shaking. He stumbled and fell on his rump with a grunt. He shook his head and looked around. He grunted slightly, standing up. He looked at the three directions he could go and thought for a moment. Back is bad, Safe zone is...Okay, Other way...probably closer to the old magi-tech building... He turned and ran the direction towards the other building junction. "I still want to know why you're a librarian!" He shouted over his shoulder at Blaze.

Blaze slithers after him, easily matching pace once its caught up. "I am a librarian because that is my purpose. What else need be said?" Blaze twists and loops through the wreckage. "where are you leading us?"

As the two fled the scene, the distant thudding grew more distant and eventually died off entirely. Blaze would find her question answered even if Star didn't do it, for the tower's shadow soon enveloped them both as it drew closer. The rest of the way to the tower was relatively peaceful and quiet, actually someone unnervingly quiet given just how exciting and loud things had been moments ago. Now there wasn't even the noise of bugs or rats to accompany the two's steps. The route also wasn't always easy and smooth what with parts of the walkway falling away into nothing or sporting small piles of rubble., but it was generally passable. The old Magi-Tech tower was certainly past it's prime, with parts of it crumbling away and a massive chunk near the top was missing. Yet despite the almost bite shaped chunk of building missing, the rest of the structure was still being supported by something of a miracle of engineering.

Eventually Blaze and Star would come to something of an interesting sight a crashed airship was drawing closer. The scuttled vessel was wedged between a chunk of the skywalk and the side of the tower itself making it a sort of bridge. Where the ship connected with the building, a chunk of the wall seemed to have been purposely torn open to allow entry into the massive structure. On either side of the custom created entrance were old battle standards, one being just a twisted piece of metal and the other still sporting a torn rich purple banner. There was also a steely silver hammer made of crystal emblazoned on the cloth.

The entrance seemed to go to a kind of suspended walkway that would have normally allowed ponies an overhead view of the room, but now it just allowed them a view of an unknown depth of some strangely colored liquid that constantly shifted color. There was a set of stairs leading downward and disappearing into the liquid while another pathway seemed to lead farther up and into another room.

Star just shrugged to Blaze. He honestly didn't know where he was going or if he was going in a good direction. But soon he found out just as well as his companion where exactly he was going. As they walked, he had to wonder how much time he had spent here...and how much time he had left. Did he have enough time to get back, or was this just a lost cause. He sighed and shook his head, then fully noticed how quiet it was. "Hey do you know why it's so quiet...?" He said to Blaze, looking around. He at the crashed airship wedged between the skywalk and the tower...A tower that has stayed up rather well. Ahh...Equestrian engineering...What a wonder it was.

He continued to walk along the skywalk till they came to the hole into the build, peeking inside a bit. He hummed and stepped inside, looking down at the strange color liquid. "Gonna take a wild guess and say stay out of that stuff...You know what it is?" He mumbled, raising an eyebrow at Blaze for a moment before continuing deeper inside. He didn't even think of going down and went up the stairs, slowly and quietly. He didn't know what was in here and he sure as well didn't want to find out with a surprise attack or something.

Blaze gives no visible response, flowing along and easily keeping up with Star. "I do not know."
Like Star, Blaze also gives the liquid a wide berth, being well aware there were things in this dome capable of harming it. "I cannot say. Regardless, avoid it."

Moving out of the room full of strange glowing liquid, the two would then find themselves in a place that looked like it had been the sight of a large battle. Dozens of large grooves in the floor, walls, and roof littered there place, almost as numerous as the multitude of impact points that ranged from just a spiderweb of cracks spreading out from a central point, to full on craters that indented the surfaces. One wall seemed to be some kind of smashed open tank, massive pieces of glass littered the floor around it and inside the very bottom, a thin pool of the same liquid could be seen. One other wall had a massive hole in it, opening up to the outside. A ways before the massive opening was a large hammer, seemingly made of dark purple crystal with hard metal bonds to help keep it together, planted into the floor.

There was also another set of stairs that lead further up and into what Star's mission had originally been about. A multitude of scientific equipment lined the walls and formed little islands among a sea of cables in this room. Papers littered ever flat surface along with broken glass, shattered pencils, and other bent/disfigured pieces of equipment. Most of the machines appeared to be broken. A single pony skeleton could be seen, slumped over one of the machines, sporting a slightly stained, but still mostly white lab coat. Clutched in the skeletal hooves was a folder, lightly stained by the years and decay, but still mostly intact, leading to the likely assumption that there was some kind of preservation spell on it.

Star hummed for a moment before nodding to Blaze. Thought of course it was probably best to stay away from the weird liquid you don't know. As they moved to another place in the building, he paused for a moment, looking around the scene. He silently wondered what happened, not asking Blaze because...it didn't seemed to know a bunch of things in this building. He looked at the smashed tank for a moment, seeing the pool of liquid at the bottom of it. He just shook his head slightly and stayed as far back the tank as possible.

He spotted another set of stairs going up and slowly trotted up them. He scanned the room quickly, looking for anything hostile before paying attention to the closer details. Sciencey equipment...cables and papers...and a skeleton. He trotted closer to the skeleton and bent down a little. He gently moved the skeleton to grab the folder. He then trotted over to any nearby table or surface he could put the folder down on that wasn't the ground or broken equipment and flipped open the folder.

Blaze continues flowing along, keeping behind yet still within peripheral vision of Star.

The papers inside were covered in exceedingly complex equations, calculations, and various terms that would probably not make any sense to the guard. Before he or Blaze if she decided to give them a look, got a chance to really delve into the intricacy of the papers, an exclamation from behind them both. "What are you two doing in here!" the pony started, but then saw the papers laid out before Star and he suddenly grew angry. "Hey, put those down and leave now!" he said before drawing out a long sword with a purple crystal guard.

Blaze looks up, several binding spells forming, to be cast as soon as they are able at the new pony. Blaze could not, in theory, want things. And yet.... It desired the sword. Strongly.
As a result, the method with which the pony was maintaining a grip on the sword would perhaps receive slightly less delicate restraints than the rest. Not that any of them were weak, nor were they overtly cruel.

Star growled slightly at the writing on the papers. He was about to flip more through the papers when he heard someone behind them. He quickly slid off the rune gun that he had gotten from Blaze back at the building and held it in his hooves. He turned around quickly and looked at the pony, seeing their sword. His eyes fell to the sword for a moment, making him grumble that he didn't a sword of his own right now. He looked over at Blaze for a moment, raising the gun and aiming it at the pony, pulling the trigger.

The pony held the sword up and slashed through the magic blast Star shot at it, the dark purple crystal that made up the guard beginning to glow brightly. As blaze launched additional magic spells at the pony, the guard continued to glow brighter and even start to pulse as either the pony cut through the spell, or it was drained away halfway through forming. As the stallion cut through the last of them though, he glanced towards the guard and his eyes grew wide in fear.

The pony made to throw the pulsating sword then, but the weapon barely got out of his grasp before the crystal guard detonated, sending out a powerful shockwave in all directions. The technology that filled the room became even more damaged and dented, cables were blasted back and pulled or ripped out of their respective machines, and the stallion was blasted right back down the stairs that he'd come up and out of sight. Though he didn't seem to be finished as his groaning could be heard coming from the stairwell.

The folder of papers that Star had been examining weren't spared from the blast either, being flung wildly about the room before drifting lazily towards the floor. There was no sign of the sword though.

Star blinked as the pony just slashed the magic. His eyes fell on the gem on the hilt of the sword, examining it for a moment. Of course...he didn't get enough time to observe it before it exploded and set a shockwave all around the room. He threw a hoof up, getting sent back onto his rump. He grunted, shacking his head and standing up. He looked around to find out where the folder went before quickly grabbing it and putting it in his bag. He then ran towards the stairwell, looking down to hopefully see the pony.

Blaze, being merely vibrated by the blast, quickly catches the papers in a telekinetic 'basket' before they can be blown away or disorganized. Once the papers are secured, it 'turns' to Star. "What was that gem?" it asks, voice flat.

Star wouldn't see a pony at the bottom of the stairs, but he could hear the clinking and clanking of armor coming from that direction, so it was a safe bet that the pony was still down there and mobile. With the papers secured though, nothing in the research lab Star and Blaze were in moved.

Star frowned and growled slightly, seeing the stallion wasn't at the foot of the stairs. He paused for a moment, remember seeing a hammer that he had just passed off as just something useless. He grumbled something before turning to look at Blaze. "Don't know. Why don't you tell me, librarian. You appear to have been in this city longer than me. Right now we got to go though. Like right now." He said urgently because he didn't want to deal with a pony with a big hammer. Though given how much time he let slip, the pony probably got to the hammer already. He quickly glided down the stairs, the rune gun at the ready.

Blaze bobs a pseudopod, probably indicating a 'yes', and quickly follows Star, several stun spells forming in the air around it. They were perhaps a bit more powerful than a normal pony would withstand without small amounts of permanent nerve damage, but the odds of something weathering them unaffected was very, very low.

Star would be proven right in his assumption as he descended the stair, as not only had the armored stallion managed to grab the hammer, but was now charging after them with it firmly grasp in his jaws. "We will purge your filth from this city abominations!" he called out around the warhammer's handle.

Star blinked, his eyes widening as he saw the charging pony with the hammer. He quickly turned around and flew back up the stairs, practically cursing the whole time. He flew as far away from the door as possible and aimed the rune gun at the door way. He somewhat hoped he didn't just leave Blaze down there by...itself in his hurry. Getting the files was rather easy, he had to admit...Getting out with the files...Oh boy.