20 years ago, a quantum physicist was able to find suspend objects in mid air indefinitely without the need of balloons or wings. The discovery of this was widely acclaimed and had even prompted to Celestia to commission the scientist to design and build a city in the sky. After a decade in development, Solaris, Equestria’s true city of the sky, was built and unveiled to the world. It was hailed as a technological and cultural achievement, allowing all ponies to live up in the clouds. Two years after it’s unveiling, it mysteriously disappeared, vanishing from the public eye… Till a week ago, when it suddenly reappeared just off the coast of Manehatten… For a few days, ponies would look up at the city, wondering what its citizens were doing. Several attempts have been made to enter Solaris. All were met with a vaporizing magic bolt from unseen assailants from within the city. A week later, and the city still sits there, hovering off the coast. With Celestia herself as placing a bounty on information regarding the state of the city, many ponies have been trying to find a way into it, including you. A smuggler has been claiming to have found a way onto the city without getting vaporized, so our group hired him to get them into the city. He tells them to meet him near the near the north docks later at night and that a fake ID card to move through the city will be made for them there. It’s almost night-time right now, so it would be a good time to gather what you need before heading off to the docks and disembarking to Solaris.
Steel law arrived at the dock in his typical Federal agency gear. consisting of a white shirt, holster, trench coat and suit jacket. He lent against a crate and lit a cigarette while waiting for the others.
Variance approached Steel with a skip in his step. He had a grappling hook hanging from his backpack loaded with anything he thought he might need in the sky city. He was ready to find out everything about the city. "Drat. I was hoping more people would be here early. The sooner we head out the better, right?" He tried to calm himself down, but excitement is a powerful thing.
Iesabele softly trotted up to the two, obviously thinking about something. Her mane moved animatedly, like the wind was messing with it, although there was no breeze. She held a bag on her back, and a staff in her hoof.
"Aye." said an old, scruffy looking Stallion who was approaching them from the one dock hangers, dressed in whaler overalls. "You must be the party looking for passage onto Solaris, aren't you? I feel we're short of a body... Anyone of you's happen to see a young earth pony? Brown with a short mane?"
Zak pops out from behind Steel waving his hooves in the air. "Yeah, I'm here", he says, "just had to gather a couple of things". Pointing to his bag in tow, about to burst, he reluctantly asks, "so we heading out yet or what?"
"Ah, good, good, follow me." he says, leading the group back into the dock hanger. Inside the docking bay was a small wooden with a gold trim boat with the cabin built near the back of it waiting to be launched out to sea. It's hard to see, but the group can tell the bottom of it is flat. On the deck of the boat lays a large chest near the bow. The smuggler hops onto the deck. "You all might want to grab some clothes and cash from that there chest, except for you, Mr. "Federal Agent" stallion, you already got clothes. Folks up there don't take kindly to the ill-dressed and poor." He swiftly heads into the cabin, waiting for the rest of the group to hop on.
Variance jumped onto the boat, shaking it slightly, before heading to the chest and opening it quickly. "Well... these are, nice..." He pulled some clothing from the chest and quickly tossed it on.
Zak got on the boat and quickly searched for something comfortable to wear in the chest. "This looks good", he says taking out a dark grey vest with a scarf of the same color. He quickly puts them on and heads towards the cabin on the boat.
Steel leant over the edge of the boat looking out into the horizon. He pulled out another cigarette and lit it alone.
The cabin of the boat is small, consisting of one room with a control panel and wheel near the front and a bare chair and table near the back. After everyone was on board, he flicked a few switches on the panel. A low humming sound can be heard from below deck as the boat moves forward as it gets clear of the hanger and out to sea a bit, he turns to Zak. "You might want to get your friends away from the edges of the boat, that mare over there to throw a dress on, and nab that purse with a good 300 suns in it might quick, the rides about to get little... bumpy. "
"Err, they're not my friends, but I'll tell em". He heads out of the cabin and heads towards Iesabele, tapping her shoulder. "Excuse me, miss, but the captain says you gotta put on somethin too".
Iesabelle sighed. "Alright." she said. "Thanks for letting me know." She grabbed a vest. (Iesabelle: View attachment 7496 )
"Alright" boomed the smugglers voice over a loud speaker. "Hold on tight, we're ascending." the low humming sound sound turned into a whirling noise as the boat slowly lifted up from the sea and began to hover in place before flying smoothly up to the city. "Alright lady and gentlemen, we're flying up at good 13 knots and should be breaking through the cloud cover under the city in about four minutes. I'll be dropping you off in the Midnight District. Main attractions there are The Mother of Night statue, The Moonlight Market, and my personal favorite, the Starlight Pub and Hotel."
Zak peers out from the cabin, looking below as the boat rises. "How fascinating" he says, before turning to the captain, "Why the Midnight District in particular?"
"It's the safest place for me to drop you off at this time of night. The Sun Guards are patrolling the other districts and the district is too active for the Moon Guards to take much suspicion in you." The boat passed through a layer of clouds and into the heart of floating city. Tall buildings that seem to jut from the streets of the city looked as if they were built onto platforms hidden in the clouds. The boat began to drift over to a cloud cluster with darker colored, romantic style buildings with neon signs flashing on the sides of them. "Alright folks, end of the line is almost here. Any last questions? Can't let you all stay on too long when we dock."
"I have one, This city how militarized is it. With all those being shot down it seems surprisingly too much." Once he said that he vaulted over the side. His holstered pistol slipping between the thin crack but he didn't mind. "Guess I.ll be getting a spare off the guards soon. Till then magic and fisticuffs."
(You do know we weren't docked yet, right?) The boat docked in time for Steel to land safely on the docking platform. The platform lead into what looked like a populated market square. The smuggler stepped out of the cabin, giving Steel a dirty look. "Listen lad, you can't go doing crazy things like that. You'll need to blend in with the populace here if don't want to have all of the guard down your back. And, the city is militarized right now. I don't know why or how, but this city doubles as apparently a capital and base." He said a low tone. He looked around quickly before snapping his attention back to the rest of the group, his tone lighting. "Whelp, here's the Midnight District, I'll be ferrying people around sometime tomorrow, till then, I need to get this back to the depot in the Industrial District. Off off now."
Zak quickly hops off onto the docking platform and admires the place. "Well, thanks for your help, stranger", he says looking back at the captain, "anything we should know about this place?"
