New Beginnings [Closed] (Dated)

Double Edge stared at the wide mound of dirt, parts of it rose and fell unnaturally, making its shape never really natural to the surrounding land. Bits of bone stuck out of the earth, each picked clean and bleached under the unrelenting sun. In that mound lay so much of his life, it was the reason for much of the sorrow that filled his days and nightmares that haunted his nights. That mound and everything that followed. Squeezing his eyes shut, the unicorn tried to stop himself from crying as his throat got choked up. Now was not the time to grieve that time had come and gone long ago. Now all he could do was survive and help those that needed it. Make the world a little better. Fight back the tyranny that had descend on his nation. Along with his sister, it was all he had now. He wondered what was going through her head. Like himself she too had lost everything aside from him.

Opening his eyes, two single tears rolled down his face. "I'm...so sorry mom, dad, I never should have been there...I promise I'll help make all this right once again. I won't let you or all those buried with you to have died in vain....I promise."

Static Shock stood close to her brother's side, her vision blurry from her tears. It had been a long time since their parents death, but every time she saw this place, the pain came back full-force. Static choked back tears at her brother's words, then opened her mouth to speak. "Mom... Dad.... I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I wasn't there to help you... If I was, maybe you'd still be here... But we're gonna fix it. Me and Edge are gonna make everything right, I promise! We'll get rid of the Griffons and make Equestria safe... We'll make you proud of us..." She tried to say more, but her voice broke and she began to cry. After a moment, she managed to compose herself and wiped her tears, looking at the mound again. "I-I'm sorry..." She turned to her brother and sniffled, her eyes bloodshot from her crying. "We should go soon, Edge... You know the Griffons don't like ponies hanging around here too long..."

putting a hoof around his sister, Double hugged her, trying to give as much comfort as he could in these hard times. "Yeah, yeah your right," he said letting go of her, and turning his back on the mass grave. "Lets go home." Trotting away from, the black unicorn came to a small pile of his stuff. Placing his saddlebags and two sheathed swords back on, Double looked down forcing himself not to look back. He hated this place, hated the memories that always came back...but no matter how much he hated it he could stop coming back.

Without saying a word, Double gestured toward the path they had came from. Trotting ahead, the siblings made their way along the dirty pathway, hiding amongst nearby vegetation whenever either of them saw a gryphon in the sky or patrolling along the roads. Eventually they made it to the very edge of Manehatten. Galloping to a nearby grate, Double quickly undid the lock, throwing open iron barred door to let his sister in before he too descended into its depths.

Stepping down a ladder that had been set up for those entering into the underbelly of Manehatten, the pair trotted through the stone carved corridors that were the lower ranks of the city above them. With each step their hooves echoed, their only light was their illuminated horns.

The path they were on suddenly opened up into a wide atrium of stone. Torches outlining the walls illuminating the make shift village that dwelled beneath the city. Foals ran through the dirty covered "streets" scavenging for any sort of valuables they could find. The two wandered past a couple shops each selling what they claimed to be fresh food, fresh food, that was a laugh. No that food, like everything built in this city was scrap or waste. The gryphons knew of this place, they knew that ponies were living down here, but they didn't care, to them these ponies were in the exact place they should be, under their claws, wallowing in filth. Double gritted his teeth, he'd show them....he'd make sure that those gryphons paid for all the pain they caused.

Stopping at a makeshift hut, Double slowly opened the door, making sure as not to break its fragile hinges...."well...home sweet home I guess."

Static slipped inside the run-down hut, and waited for her brother to close the door. Once he did so, she sat on one of the makeshift beds and looked at Double Edge. "Edge... What do we do now? I mean, how can a bunch of ragtag ponies possibly hope to beat the Griffons? They beat our armies, and now we're in hiding in the sewers! How can we do this?" Static sighed, normally she wasn't like this. She was usually upbeat and happy, but the trip to their parents gravesite had ruined her mood... As evidenced by the fact that she was actually asking her hotheaded, impulsive brother for advice.

Double walked over to his sister, sitting down next to her, hugging her again, "We'll just keep on fighting, we'll attack them from the inside." the unicorn grimaced at the next words he had to say, "We will hit them where they can't defend. We'll drug their food, poison their water, attack them in their sleep, stab them in the back. We...we'll break every single code of honorable fighting that dad ever taught us. I don't want to....but we don't have a choice." Images of his dad and mother resurfaced, their bleeding corpses at his feet. "Its what they did to us."

Static winced at her brother's plan, but she hugged Edge back tightly. The idea of breaking her father's rules, even after all this time, and in this sort of situation... She didn't like it, but she knew it was what they'd have to do. "Okay, Edge... I've heard rumors of some sort of resistance forming... If we can find them, we'll have more numbers, it'll be easier for us... And our talents would make us useful to them too. We'll get rid of them, Edge. I know we will. We have to." She broke the hug and stood up, walking to an old, dirty cabinet and grabbing a package of old, hard crackers with her telekinesis, tossing some to her brother. "Now come on, we'll have to have energy if we want to find those rebels."

A small smile formed on Double's face as he saw his sister slowly return to her typical self. Taking his share of the crackers, he took tried to take a bite, having to resort to cracking off a smaller piece before he could chew it properly. They were old and near rock hard. Double wouldn't dare wager if they were still good or not. They were food thats all that mattered good or not, it was better than nothing.

Taking another bite, Double found himself wondering about these rebels. "Yeah, I heard a few days about I heard two ponies whispering about them around one of the market stalls. Said that a bunch of ponies have been secretly attacking the gryphons." Standing back up, Double threw on his blades, taking extra care to cover the weapons with his saddlebags. Even down here in one of the refuges from the tyrants above, things could easily get dangerous. Added security was always a good thing to have. "Maybe we can find those ponies again," the unicorn said trotting over to the door, "get them to spill the beans on where these rebels are. The sooner we join them, the sooner we get back our country." Gently opening up the door, Double stuffed one last of the cracker in his mouth, stowing the rest in his saddlebags, before ushering his sister out the door.

Static chuckled as her brother shooed her out of the house, then focused her attention on chewing the cracker in her mouth. She'd discovered that if you tried to crush them up, they were a bit easier to eat, but she hadn't had the chance to crush this one before Edge pushed her out. She smiled to her brother as she shut the door behind him, and trotted towards the Undermarket, as it was nicknamed. She didn't know who these ponies were her brother was talking about, but she tried opening her ears to the conversations around her.

Atriark had heard of this place, but had never seen it. Undermarket was worse than poor living conditions. It was absolutely horrid. The foals were playing in streets of trash and other waste. The smell alone was enough to make him gag, so the zebra runt had a scarf around his muzzle, cutting the smell out. He trot slowly into the centre of Undermarket and looked around. The sight was horrible, but he was also amazed what ponies would do just to have a safe place to live.

"Why are you black and white? Did somepony color on you?" a filly asked.

Atriark looked down and chuckled. "No, I'm a zebra. My coat is already like this."

"Okay." The filly bounced away, not saying goodbye.

Static looked around the cavern, trying to find anything out of the ordinary. It wasn't hard. There was a Zebra hanging around the Undermarket, talking to the foals. Not many Zebra's came down here, and she'd certainly never seen this one before. She nudged her brother and motioned over to him before trotting over to the striped Equine. "Hey there, stranger." She said in a friendly way. "Haven't seen you around the Undermarket before, what brings you down here?"

Trotting through the compacted filth that passed for streets in Undermarket. Double Edge kept his eyes out for the ponies he had seen talking about the rebels. He couldn't remember who what they looked like exactly, but if he could hear their voices then he could easily tell if it was them. Going on autopilot, the unicorn followed his sister through the stands as he continued his search.

All of a sudden she came to a stop. Double almost bumping into her. Looking to see what had caused the sudden stop, Edge saw a zebra shooing away a foal. Zebras never came down here unless it was for something they couldn't get on the surface. Immediately flags began to shoot up in Edge's mind. Even more, as his sister walked up to the runty zebra.

Trying to hide his nerves, Double Edge moved closer toward the zebra, slowly moving his saddlebags back just enough so he could easily draw his blades if things went south.

"Hey there, stranger. Haven't seen you around the Undermarket before, what brings you down here?"

"Yeah...haven't seen a zebra down here in months..." Double chimed in trying to be at least a little pleasant. Maybe he really wasn't some sort of spy....doubtful.

Atriark looked up and saw two adult unicorns not only approach him, they actually spoke to him. The runt turned to face them. "Well hi you two." Atriark bowed slightly. "My name is Atriark. And I'm, believe it or not, a doctor. Yes, I know it sounds strange, but it's true. Truthfully, I've never been here before. Been ord- assigned to see if I can lend aid. I want to help."

Static blinked in surprise at the small Zebra's answer. "Help? You want to help? That's... Different. Not many people try to help us ponies anymore, especially not way down here." Static had picked up on the fact that Atriark had changed his wording at one point, and figured she'd check that out. "So, Atriark... Who told you about this place? Better yet, who sent you down here, if anyone?"

Atriark mentally facehoofed at the slip he made. He scrambled to recover. "Well, I was sent here by a clinic on Main Street. And yes, I want to help." Atriark tried to divert and take over the questioning. "I'm new here, where's the best place to go about helping out? Is there an empty store I can occupy?"

Double raised an eyebrow to this zebra's story. He didn't trust a word he was saying. How could Main Street learn about this place? Why would it send a doctor down here when the rest of Manehatten was in more need? No this zebra was lying through his teeth Edge was sure of it. "Main Street huh?" He replied. Double didn't want anything to do with this zebra. His mental flags were still shooting off the more they talked to him.

Still watching the striped equine, Double leaned closer toward his sister, "Come on lets get out of here, I don't trust this zebra one bit, lets just find those rebel ponies and get out of here."

Static leaned over and whispered to her brother, shaking her head slightly. "No Edge. You're right, something's fishy here, yeah. But this is our home, and if he's up to something, we need to find out what. If you want to go on and try to find those ponies, you can. I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself." She smiled warmly to Double Edge and nudged his ribs playfully. "Atriark, if you want to set up a shop you really just need to find an open spot and something to make some sort of counter out of. I could help you find some old wooden pallets if you'd like."

A forest green pony slowly started to walk down the dirt road, collecting dust on his coat from a previous action that he did. A smile moved across his face as he realized that Atriark was not permanently damaged from his fight with SangWing, but the smile disappeared as his mind started to slip into thought once more. His eyes stared ahead, passing glances to each small makeshift dwelling that the ponies managed to create. A small dagger was wrapped around his back and sheathed near his right forehoof. His face was impassive, which was good and bad.

Atriark silently cursed, his lie was seen through. He couldn't tell these ponies who he was, he didn't even know who they were. "No empty shop?" Atriark sighed, I don't really need a counter. I'll just start my check ups." Atriark slid off a small bag from his back. "Either of you need any medical attention?"

Double glared at the zebra, he wasn't getting it through his head. What was his problem? "Like my sister said, if you want a shop just grab some plywood. This is Undermarket not something you see up on the surface. Alls fair down here." Double said, his horn lighting up as he grabbed a nearby clump of wood dropping it at the zebra's hooves. "Have fun, and no we neither of use need medical attention, thanks for asking."

Walking briskly, but not out right trotting, Contra Wain kept looking around him self from time to time to see if he wasn't followed.
Luna damn those blasted Unicorns. You will be payed when Equestria is restored. Really? I don't see something like that happening in like a 1000 years and I freaking lost my goods. How the heck am I going to get them back. How much is it going to cost me? Celestia I hope that there quartermaster is as greedy as the one down south.

Not paying much attention while lost in his thoughts, Contra walked in to somepony.
"He can't you see I am walking here?" Contra said in anger for not having payed any attention to his surroundings, before quickly feeling all his pockets to see if he still had everything. Doing this Contra Wain noticed that he had dropped the books and quickly tried to pick them up again.

Atriark gave Double an 'are you serious?' look. Could the unicorn stallion be any more hostile? "I'm not sure if you heard me or not," the zebra said as nice as he could, slidding the clump of wood aside. "But I said I did not need any wood. Whether or not you believe me, and I am guessing you don't, I am just here to help. Now if you don't need any medical attention, could you at least send somepony who does to me?"

Static mentally facehoofed and sighed. "I'd like to apologize for my brother, Atriark. We've had a difficult time down here the past few years, and some ponies get a bit suspicious... Alas friend, I fear you may have made a trip in vain. Everypony who lives down here is pretty well versed in how to keep from getting sick, we have to be in order to survive down here. You might find some minor first-aid to do, cuts and scrapes and the like, but there's nothing too serious down here. If you'd like, however, I can show you around, maybe you'll get lucky."

"And with that," Lobo concluded, walking alongside a yellow mare, "I believe I've summarized the comprehensive list of reasons for which I will not take this job, Miss Cheddar." The pony next to him seemed to shrink at his toothy grin. "However, if you do have a need for high-risk artifact recovery that doesn't involve sewers or assaulting gryphon soldiers in the open, please consider my services. Good day."

With that, the Diamond Dog turned and walked in a different direction. Cheddar left with an expression reflecting both dissatisfaction and mild terror. Lobo didn't want to end with that sort of impression, but even he couldn't win 'em all. He'd had the cuts and bruises to prove it.

"Ah, well. At least now I can get some shopping done," he said to himself, walking along the winding Undermarket. "Maybe there'll be a surprise in store."

Static jumped in surprise when a new Zebra materialized, but this one she recognized. She'd seem him around, he seemed to be in charge of a few things. She shot a glance at the crossbow in his back, and raised an eyebrow at it. "Hey there. No problem, we just saw this new Zebra wandering around and decided to talk to him. I just got done telling him that there's not many sick ponies here. Nice crossbow you got. I'm surprised the Griffons haven't caught you with it yet."

Static filed away Zuberi's comment to Atriark, and answered his question. "I'm Static Shock, this is my brother Double Edge. We live down here, out by the outskirts. We've got a little hut, we've been down here for a few years now. We're scavengers, we find things. Every now and then we sell stuff in the market here." She decided to bring up that earlier comment now. "So... What makes you say there'll be more sick ponies here later this week, Zub?"

Lobo's ear flicked towards a group of ponies and zebras talking as he walked past, slowing down a bit. He had to admit, the zebra with the crossbow was dropping some rather rebel-esque words. He didn't oppose the rebellion, sure, but with his tendency to carry weapons, Lobo didn't exactly want to get roped in with them by the long foreleg of the law. The talk about sick ponies in the future also seemed a tad concerning. Probably wind up with a bodyguard contract in the near future, he mused.

Static tried to keep a straight face, but she had to crack a smile at that comment. "I see. Our lovely benevolent overlords at work again." She said sarcastically, making it clear she had no love for the Griffons. "Sometimes I wish the was something we could do about it, y'know?" Suddenly, she saw a Diamond Dog off to the side who had stopped walking and seemed to be listening. She lowered her voice and nodded slightly towards him. "Looks like we might have company..."

The "woof" he received was enough for him. Lobo stalked over to the group, fists clenched, and tapped the offender on the shoulder. "Excuse me, sir. Just wondering if you'd feel like making that joke again."

Static raised an eyebrow at the approach of the pretty intimidating Dog. "Um... I don't think he meant anything by that, sir. He's right though, we have to try and stay upbeat in these hard times. If you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at, right?" She said, trying to smooth over the situation. "So Zub, what was that about destroying the asparagus? Wouldn't it be better to steal it and distribute it down here? We could be productive on two fronts then!" She said with a grin.

Lobo huffed. "I enjoy humor, but certainly not as a result of someone's breeding." The Dog's hackles lowered a fraction. "And honestly, I've heard more subtle conversations in the tunnels back home..."

The Dog raised a paw defensively. "Even if I wanted to jump into that kind of trouble, I don't work for free," he said simply. "I'm a businessdog first. The other stuff comes attached to that."

Static chuckled and nodded. "It'd be quite easy to get out of there with the goods if you had some unicorns who knew a teleportation spell." She said with a short, subtle wink. She was pretty sure by now that this Zebra was a rebel, and maybe even his friend. And the fact that the Dog knew what they were talking about and hadn't run off to rat them out seemed to be a good sign as well. "Oh come now, friend! It'll be fun!" She quipped playfully before turning serious. "The food really is needed down here..." She continued. "We just had our last pack of old, stale crackers, and I know there's some ponies down here who usually have even less than us..."

Lobo grimaced. "I'm not hurting on bits," he replied carefully, "and pro bono civilian contractors don't last long. Besides, the conversation isn't even about food."

Double listened to the zebra, Zuberi, and his sister talk to the Diamond Dog, first a new zebra, now this diamond dog! Edge's eyes shot from the zebra, to the dog then back again. No no! They seemed to be fine, they were just passing through, he had to keep his cool. There was no need for violence....not yet at least. Keeping part of his mind on the blade in handles, Edge tried to enter the conversation as well. "Seems to me like the conversation kinda changed, but what my sister says is definitely true, any help to get food down here would be a big one. Not just for her and I, but for everyone else as well. I don't know how we could even pay you." the unicorn gestured toward the surrounding area, "as you can see there isn't much wealth here."

Xarith had no idea what he was doing down here to be perfectly honest. I mean sure he came down with some things he was hoping to sell, but other than a roll of bandages and a few other necessities that anyone could be selling.

Shifting the metal bars in his sleeves, he trotted down the tunnels and observer his surroundings. Down here the ponies freely ran around and conversed with each other. It was different above ground though. Out there one rarely saw a pony stay on the streets for long. In fact the only time Xarith saw anypony let alone held a conversation with one was only when he was talking with a costumer.

The zebra just sighed as he shifted the weight on his back. He did this for a while before he decided that is was time he used his resources. He flipped the dirtboard on his back onto the ground and hopped on momentarily relieving the fatigue he was feeling. Gliding down the corridors he heard some ponies talking in the distance. Only meaning to take a quick glance, Xarith glanced over his shoulder.

At this point he would of almost ran over a little kid if he hadn't swirved out of the way. Not only was seeing two zebras down under was a sight to see, but one had a weapon and was holding quite an intelligent conversation with a Diamond Dog.

'What a weird sight to behold,' Xarith thought to himself as his board slowly rolled over to the group.

'Then again... Seeing a zebra on a dirtboard...'

Atriark leaned up, having finished putting a band-aid on a colt's scuffed up knee, who then scurried off to play. He hadn't been paying attention after greeting Zuberi. Yes it was a surprise to see him, but it was a welcomed one. The runt slipped the small medical bag and turned to the group. Wow! It had gotten bigger. Now there was another pony AND a diamond dog.

"What's going on?"

Fuse took his time walking down the various tunnels, the entire time he whistled 'pop goes the weasel' to himself to pass the time, until he hears talking. He decided to wait around a corner and listen to the group before, attempting to introduce himself.

Lacking the patience to stand Fuse just sits "if they want to meet me they will come to me" he mumbles before picking back up where he left of in 'pop goes the weasel'

Static looked at Atriark, her head starting to spin. It was getting confusing in here... "Well, we were 'joking' about stealing some food, and then we gathered a crowd, and now we're apparently discussing payment of some kind. It escalated quickly. So, how about everyone take a deep breath, and we can start over?" She asked cheerfully, showing off her winning smile.

"And that, dear gentlecolt, is the problem." Lobo gave the zebra a look. "The words 'gryphon' and 'HQ' combine to have some serious negative connotations, particularly when it comes to the matter of going there."

Double couldn't help but chuckle, he was itching to get back at these gryphons for what they had done. Stealing food would be a nice hit on them. Not big, but not small enough for it to go unnoticed. Wait a minute...."Zuberi, how do you know about this outpost if its supposed to be a secret? Is there something you're not telling us?"

Xarith rolled in slowly with on his board as he hopped down and slung it over his back in one quick motion. The topic of food had just come up and the zebra was always looking for new places to supply his shop with. Slowly approaching the group he spoke up. He wasn't particularly sure it would work, but he was starting to run on low. There were some questionable things about it...

"-Hey there. I couldn't help but hearing the mention of supplies on main street? I have a small stand up there and I always need new places to buys things from. Mind if I hop in?"

Xarith took what the zebra said into consideration. He tapped his hoof on his chin for a while before he had finally made his decision.

"It's always good to make connections," Xarith said extending his hoof out with a friendly. "Names Xarith Treviant. Traveling merchant and Alchemist. Who am I owing this thanks to?"

Fuse grew bored of waiting and decided to show himself, he rounded the corner and watched on still whistling.

Xarith just happily smiled as his new zebra compatriot shook hooves with him. When the question of his weapons came up, he only extended his smile even more as he stood up on his hindlegs. He then banged his two forelegs together and made a resounding metal clank that echoed throughout the tunnels. Then from under his sleeves he allowed the two metal rods to fall out and onto the ground.

"Always come prepared!" the zebra said as he scooped the bars back into the sleeves of his coat.

Double rolled his eyes, another zebra? What was this the invasion of the striped equine? Anyways that wasn't the point. I guess we're forming a team...in that case, my name is Double Edge." Double said, extending a hoof to the rest of the company. "don't really have a title, me and my sister are just trying to survive." Letting out a sigh, the unicorn pushed back the saddlebags hiding his sheathed swords. "I'm not that great with magic except levitate, and teleport, but I'm pretty good with a sword....if we need a quick exit, I'll try and get as much of us out of where ever it is we're going."

She found herself wandering the underbelly of Manehatten now, much like she had wandered the underbelly of Fillidelphia. She rounded one corner, then the next, trotting along at a leisurely pace, enjoying the damp arched halls of the city's underside. It was almost soothing, if it weren't for fatigue and hunger wearing her down.

Oh yes, she'd do fine with water- it was easy enough to drink from some city taps. Food was another thing- anything in a trash collection depository was either flat-out rotten or already taken. Clean food was too expensive, and having such a low pay as a textile worker, she would not be able to afford food nor rent. It was one of those months.

Rounding yet another corner of the monotonous hallway, a voice struck her ear, catching her attention specifically because of what it mentioned. She froze, interest paralyzing her.

"... supplies we get are to be donated and distributed.." said the voice of one male...

Suture twitched. Supplies meant food, perhaps weaponry or medicine- all things she could use. Though, she stayed back for a moment, still listening intently to the conversation. Another male voice introduced it's self, following by an introduction from the first male. Then, the resounding clatter of metal against stone. She jolted, taking a step back out of paranoia.

No chances... , she thought. No chances.

Fuse was actually suprised by the size of this market place and couldnt help but smile. He kept a leizurely pace as he searched for anyone who might be able to supply him his favorite thing in the entire world ,Dynamite. Fuse looked around and had no luck, so he decided to pull out one of his few remaining firecrackers, he rolled it around in his levitation field and figured this one had a three second fuse. Smiling as focused his magic and lit the fuse. When he was busy using his magic he wasnt watching where he was going and bumped into the back of a Zebra, causing him to fall back on his haunches, loose focus and drop the lit firecracker on the ground.

Lobo shook his head. "My rates are competitive, but they still exist. I'm not risking my business and my neck for something that could be done without stealing from right underneath their beaks; not without some bits to give me incentive..."

Rationale remained in the back ground (for the most part) when it came to the planning provided by the two zebras and other ponies. As much as he wanted to get revenge on the griffins for what they have done, he was uncomfortable with going into griffin territory, especially when ponies were outnumbered to griffins. He moved up behind Double Edge and nodded his head. "I'm willing to join into this. The more food we get for the rebels, the better we can fight back against them. Our diet has been... limited... ever since the griffins took over." He responded.

Atriark was hardly paying attention and was actually considering leaving the conversation. If Zuberi wanted him for their raid, he would give Atriark the details. He had began backing out, having enough of plots and actually wanting to do what he came down here to do. Turning to leave, Atriark bumpped into somepony. The small zebra turned to see who it was- CRACK! Atriark jumped and yelped as a firecracker went off near his right hoof. He landed and cried as pain shot through that same hoof.