The Sun Sets

'Well there goes my shot there. I'm not going to find anything here. Maybe I could risk it regardless.' Emerald's eyes look towards the exit, but along the way her gaze crosses in front of the foals once more. 'Sigh.'

She couldn't leave on such a low chance, not until the parents of these kids were cleared and in good health. 'I'm sure sis is fine. No news is good news, the pegasi have been pretty good with spreading the miserable stuff.' As she took steps back over to the circle of kids, she swallowed her personal fear and put on her happy facade, because the crowd was relying on her. Before she got there, she was interrupted by such a small pegasus. Seeing the wing bandages, she flinched. Bone injuries were not good for somepony so young and developing, especially in an area as sensitive as that.

'And this is why you never entertain kids. But it can't hurt to help just a little bit.' Emerald got down on her knees in order to look eye-to-eye with the youngster. No point straining neck muscles that linked in with those wings if it wasn't necessary. "Let me see if I can help you. I'm going to need to know one or two things first. Do you or your mommy have names I can ask ponies about? And I'm a little bit taller than you, maybe I can help look around if you could describe her a little bit, like her mane colour."

She was tempted to stress her back to let the kid ride on her back to help look, in the off-chance they were in the clin--

"She was in the clinic here, right?" Emerald waves a hoof around the waiting room, just to ensure the filly knew where they were was called a clinic.

rolls:

Jaquir had, since he got in on the airship, been mostly lurking in the corner of an Inn called The Crossed Paths. Somehow, it felt right as he coped with the loss of the thought-immortal being of light. He actually became known by the patrons as 'The shady Griffon', and made a friend or two. After a few days he started to help rebuild, with his outfit stashed and only the black headband that covered his disfiguring scar on. He dropped a few beams here and there; a result of depth perception issues, but remained, thanks to the forgiving nature of ponies, well liked. By night, he stalked the streets, not for any particular reason, just due to a need to keep going, to not give in to despair, even though the living avatar of light and warmth was dead.

He was in the town hall, in his full outfit, albeit without the crossbow, relaxing. He'd been shifting beams the size of trees yesterday, and felt he deserved a break. The door whacked open, and he watched the clerical-looking pony walk in.

----------------
Sorry for the late post. Reliably, right as I'm like 'let's go', my Internet conks out.

Stormeye:
Perception: 25
You have deduced about all you can about the disease. However, the cut, while small, continues to bleed, slowly despite being quite shallow and several hours old. The other two have no open wounds.
Arcana: 16
You do not detect any magical effect or aura around the three. It seems that whatever the disease is, it is entirely mundane.

Emerald:
Diplomacy: 25 (unnecessary)
"Oh, um, yeah..." the filly rubs her head, and you can see a large knot where something heavy must have hit her. She cheers up at the idea that you're going to help her. "My name is Sunset Streak. Mommy's yellow, with a brown mane, and a pretty flower Cutie Mark. She told me to wait here for her, because she had to go get something, but she said she would be right back... but she's not here yet." Her smile falters and she looks around again. "Can you please help me find her?"

HS, JS:
Inside the town hall, things are at least quieter, if not necessarily any better off. Ponies who must be officials of some sort argue with each other in hushed tones along the length of the hallway. You can overhear two Ponies at the reception desk. "We need the mayor's approval on this contracting work! Without it, there are going to be a dozen half-finished new buildings in the town square that have no purpose!" "Well right now the mayor isn't approving anything. He hasn't come out of his office in two days, and his aide isn't helping, saying yes to everyone that shows up at his door. That's why nopony has any idea what they're supposed to be doing right now." "So why isn't anypony stepping up and taking charge? Without actual direction, these volunteers are causing more harm than good. And speaking of taking charge, where is the Guard? Shouldn't they have sent relief support by now?" "They're busy with the big towns. I heard they've had to completely rebuild Cloudsdale- the whole town was completely vaporized by that dragon..." The two continue speaking, but don't offer anything else of importance.

Not wanting to get caught up in the argument and so choosing to bypass it entirely, Holy Smokes walks over to the griffon and asks, "You know which one of these is the mayor's office?"

Bronymous wrote: "Oh, um, yeah..." the filly rubs her head, and you can see a large knot where something heavy must have hit her. She cheers up at the idea that you're going to help her. "My name is Sunset Streak. Mommy's yellow, with a brown mane, and a pretty flower Cutie Mark. She told me to wait here for her, because she had to go get something, but she said she would be right back... but she's not here yet." Her smile falters and she looks around again. "Can you please help me find her?"

Emerald hopes her smile seems genuine. Somepony could be going back for any number of things, after all. Her mind was already spinning. 'Clearly not going back for a sibling or she'd say it. Maybe personal effects? Knowing the horsefeathers, Sunset's father is likely military, not going to show up anytime soon, if at all, "mom" is the only chance she has.' She resisted the urge to pat the filly's head: She wouldn't want to tap a bruise. It was an unreliable narrator issue: For all she knew, the mother could have been grievously wounded and sent her along to not see her die, tarnishing the vision of her life. Deep down, the unicorn knew her sister would be like that, she herself probably would be too. Maybe helping the child would help keep her mind off the one constantly returning concern.

Unfortunately for the filly, her chosen savior wasn't the most dependable of ponies, and really wasn't that much older, relatively speaking. Though a charlatan and mountebank, Emerald was no liar. "Since you gave me your name, now I give you mine. I'm Emerald Trance. I'm a storyteller, not one of the dependable adults that your mom likely told you to seek out, like city guards or tax auditors. I'm not the best for the job, but I'll see what I can do. No promises. But I can try."

A brief wait for the affirmation, and she continued. "That means I'm going to need two more things from you, as best as you can remember. First, I want you to tell me the best you can where your mom left you, since it's probably the easiest spot to start looking. I can't bring you along since she said for you to wait here and I'm not going to make you break a promise to your mom." A brief smile to hide her inner thoughts. 'Last thing I need on my rap is abducting a kid and showing her her mom's mangled corpse by accident.'

"So I'll need that. Number two, can you tell me your address? I think knowing where your home is would help. After all, she went back for something, so she's probably going to be somewhere from home, to here, and I can walk along that route and see what I can see and tell her you're waiting." Emerald really hoped it was something silly like a sprained hoof...

"Hrrm?" Jaquir raised his head to see who was talking to him. "Oh, the mayor's office? I have no clue, I'm just in here to get away from the hustle of rebuilding".

"Of course, another layabout in a building full of people who are supposed to be running things." Holy Smokes comments before walking off to find the mayor's office himself. It shouldn't be hard, it'd likely have a plaque or such.

"Hey!" Jaquir shouted, as he clambered off the bench and set off after the officious pony - who he'd never seen doing any work here. "I've spent the last four days doing heavy lifting and construction work, even though I've never been here before!"

"Good for you. Maybe when I find the mayor you can ask him to give you a gold star." Holy Smokes replies.

"Hah. You are the epitome of laughter. It's the next left, then up two floors and four doors down, if you're serious about seeing the mayor"

"Why didn't you just say that when I asked?" Holy Smokes asks giving him a glare and then heads off in the direction the griffon said to go.

Stormeye goes off to find Physical Medicine. "Whats your take on this illness thats affecting these latest patients. Its not something I've run into before."

"Because", Jaquir said, still keeping up with the clerical pony, "The mayor is busier than an anthill at the moment, and casual dismissal discourages the merely irate."

"For that matter, why are you after the mayor anyway?"

"Because nobody out there knows what the hell to be doing and making sure they do is the mayor's job. I'm finding out why that isn't being done and will make sure someone is doing so soon." Holy Smokes replied.

"Yeah, you're pretty much right there. The mayor is supposed to at least help coordinate." He paused a second then added "Come to think of it, I've been here a week, but I don't think I've seen you around. Did you just arrive, or was it just chance I haven't seen you out and about."

"No. I was here before then on some....business. It's been chaotic lately, not surprised we haven't met. The name's Holy Smokes." said Holy Smokes, lifting himself up to the heights of politeness.....or at least as polite as he felt like being.

Emerald:
Sunset cocks her head in confusion. "She... left me here. She brought me after..." She zones out a bit, trying to remember. "Something happened, but I can't remember. She brought me here and my wings really hurt, and I had a bump on my head. She waited with me here until they fixed my wings, but then she said she was going to go out and help, but she would be back soon, and she hasn't come back yet, and..." The young filly starts to break down into tears again. "A-and, she s-s-said we can't go home, and she l-left me here..." Sunset buries her face in her hooves and begins sobbing.

Stormeye:
Physical Medicine looks up form checking the bandages on a Pony's leg. He says nothing but motions for you to follow him. "I can't tell you anything more than what you can see. The symptoms aren't coherent to any virus or infection we know of- it's almost like they were picked at random from a list. If it weren't for the fact that everypony afflicted shows the same symptoms, I would say it's just a slew of random illnesses all hitting at once." He looks around the ward again, before looking back at you. "If I had to guess though... these look almost like some form of withdrawal. But none of the patients share a common medical history, and they certainly don't use any kind of drug." He turns to begin his rounds again. "I think the best we can do for them right now is keep them under surveillance, and hope that resupply gets here soon."

Dodger, seeing nothing of interest or any way to help, goes back out to help with construction.

Nodding, Storm Eye looks around for any other pony in need of assistance.

OOC:Perception check. Any other pony in need of assistance.
Roll(1d20)+10:
2,+10
Total:12
/wince

OOC:Arcane check. Is there some link between Celestia's passing and the current sick people.
Roll(1d20)+7:
20,+7
Total:27

OOC:History check. Is there some precedent for something like this, like when Luna was sent to the moon a thousand years ago?
Roll(1d20)+7:
10,+7
Total:17
Probably a 'Lol! Maybe!' right there.

Star sighed. "Well, now I feel useless." She looked around wildly for something to do.

"Now, now, little one. Don't cry." Emerald carefully rested a hoof against the foal's ankle, offering a bit of pony contact in a clearly uninjured area. She wasn't about to pull her into a hug, that's much too personal, but she felt bad for the kid. "I said I was going to try to help, and I will. Everything turns out fine in the end, no matter how it seems right now. My sister taught me that. Now we're both going to keep our promises."

Emerald walked over to the pegasus nurse with a star cutie-mark. "If you have a bit of free time, I have a bit of a problem you might be able to help me out with." She briefly explained the issue of the child's lost mother, and the description she was given.

"If you don't mind terribly giving a flyby around the area and see what you can see, I know the youngster would appreciate it, while I check out the streets."

RavenscroftRaven wrote:"Now, now, little one. Don't cry." Emerald carefully rested a hoof against the foal's ankle, offering a bit of pony contact in a clearly uninjured area. She wasn't about to pull her into a hug, that's much too personal, but she felt bad for the kid. "I said I was going to try to help, and I will. Everything turns out fine in the end, no matter how it seems right now. My sister taught me that. Now we're both going to keep our promises."

Emerald walked over to the pegasus nurse with a star cutie-mark. "If you have a bit of free time, I have a bit of a problem you might be able to help me out with." She briefly explained the issue of the child's lost mother, and the description she was given.

"If you don't mind terribly giving a flyby around the area and see what you can see, I know the youngster would appreciate it, while I check out the streets."

Star perked up at the request. "Sure, I'll get right on it!" She put the first-aid kit back into its spot.

Leaving the clinic, the purple pegasus leapt into the sky and started flying over the city. It was pretty hard to see, however, with the mist from the falls getting into her eyes.

((Perception check: Roll(1d20)+7:
4,+7
Total:11
Yeesh...))

HS, JS:
Following Jaquir's directions you soon find yourselves standing outside a wooden door with an icon of a female pony emblazoned on the front of it- the Mare's restroom. Before either of you can contemplate this unexpected outcome, it opens, and a haughty looking Unicorn comes out. She freezes as she sees you waiting outside the female restroom, and gives you disgusted look before pushing past you, muttering something about "perverts" under her breath. As she walks down the hall, she joins a group of 5 other ponies and a donkey, all milling about outside a large set of double doors, the right-hoof of which has a golden plaque reading "MAYOR HARDWOOD".

Dodger:
Outside, you find yourself in the North East Plaza, an area you've become quite familiar with in the past few days. Besides the Clinic, there is also a Theater, Library, and some restaurants centered around a park. The condition here is slightly better off then towards the center of town. There aren't as many workers rushing about, and no debris from the outskirts has been brought here. However, every once and a while you can see another injured pony make his way up from the aid tent to the clinic, and messengers constantly bring "orders" to groups of workers, only to have them overwritten by another messenger a few minutes later.
Perception: 19+10=29
You hear a loud noise from over near the theater, and as you look, you see a group of Pegasi, and one griffon, fly away from the area. Another pony, an Earth Pony runs after them for a bit, before giving up.

Stormeye:
Perception: 12
There are no immediate emergencies. You can count 2 more ponies nearby who seem to be suffering the mysterious illness.
Arcana: 27 (Derplicate)
You already determined there is no magical effect related to the ponies. Whatever it is, it is entirely physical.
History: 17
There have been many epidemics in the past, and many are well documented, but nothing comes to mind immediately. Maybe some research could help you.

Star:
Perception: 11
You can't make out any pony with the mother's description in the immediate area, but you can see the bustling crowds of the workforce concentrated around the Town Center to the southwest. You also spot the Earth pony whom you had spoken to earlier.

"Hmm..maybe I need to do some research." Stormeye goes over to the clinic library, and starts going over the tomes present.

She scanned once more before landing amongst the crowd of ponies. Maybe should could ask them for help?

Star walked up to a nearby stallion. "Excuse me, sir?"