Ramzam

The Fillydelphia Post (Ramzam & ladyonyx04)

“Alright,” Snapshot said in acknowledgement as he jumped down from the bench and set off. He looked around as they went, intent to give the tourist-like impression of his persona, following the streets by a memorized route and not through any sort of path-finding skill. “You know, we have these cloud spires that most pegasi live in, in Los Pegasus,” he said as he and Spring passed by a particularly tall hotel. “They’re like big, vertical apartment complexes. Way taller than that.” The whole trip of several blocks and a climb up the hill saw just as many comparisons between Fillydelphia and cloud cities and, in his excitement, Snapshot developed the walk of a toy soldier, strutting along with his legs straight well before his hooves met the pavement. “It’s kind of weird, really, you can just punch a hole in a cloud if you want to, so there aren’t any walls. Except for maybe the old war rooms and mare are those cool—oh.” Snapshot nearly bumped into the front door of the restaurant he had been headed toward. Nearly lost myself in the act…that’s a little embarrassing, he thought as his muzzle scrunched up.

Inside, the owner of the small restaurant greeted them and set them to a table outside, on the raised patio that overlooked the street. Neighly Avenue was hardly the busiest thoroughfare, but it was well traveled and hosted a number of businesses, marked or otherwise. The waiter came around in short order, exchanged knowing eye contact with Snapshot, took the pair’s orders with a smile, and hustled back inside.

“Not that I’ve asked, but what about you?” Snapshot offered as he leaned against the table. “You from Filly? Or did you move here too?”

The Fillydelphia Post (Ramzam & ladyonyx04)

“’Kay, let’s scoot,” Snapshot said as he slid off the bench. He turned and instinctually paused as his hoof felt around for the fluffy cloud in front of him. After several swings of his hoof, he looked down at the pavement and his leg shot down to meet it. He tried to take several more steps to a similar result and once he had reached what one could consider a decent pace, he looked like a star graduate from the Ministry of Silly Trots. The changeling’s face burned with embarrassment inside and frustration outside. “Ugh, hold on,” he grumbled. Snapshot blurred as he launched into the sky with a thin trail of dust sucked from the brick pavement in his wake.

In the air, he spotted his cloudhouse, along with a few other cloudbuilt structures—mostly weather outposts and other similarly small private properties. Out in the distance, he could pick out a member of the Guard patrolling at high altitude, gliding on a pair of wings even bigger and more developed than Snapshot’s. He turned back to Fillydelphia as it sprawled out before him. He had done this multiple times during his impromptu tour of the city and, like every other time, all the information he had taken in locked firmly into place. I probably know this place better than some of the locals, he mused as he picked through the streets in his search for a restaurant with vacancy.

His eyes settled on a small bistro that, from the look of the chalkboard menu set out front, dealt chiefly in sandwiches. What caught his attention most, however, was the waiter. As the stallion cleaned one of the tables just behind the front windows of the restaurant, he paused and waved directly at Snapshot. Snapshot waved back with a big grin on his face. Despite the smile on the distant stallion’s face, Snapshot felt no radiant emotion, like several other ponies he had picked out in the crowded streets. Fellow changelings saw each other as, in a sense, unlit candles in a sea of flickering flames.

Snapshot swooped back down to street level and expertly landed on the back of the bench with all four hooves one after the other in a straight line. With a big smile, he barked out, “They have sassafras bread sandwiches!” as he shook small wood chips off of his hooves. His expression quickly relaxed as he continued, “Some place called S an’ S on Neighly Ave.”

The Fillydelphia Post (Ramzam & ladyonyx04)

The knowledge brought some amount of relief to Snapshot, but it only brought the slight tinge of regret that he had chosen to become a newspony. His abilities as a changeling would undoubtedly serve him well, but at the same time, he would likely have to disappear in order to keep his secret at the end of the day. The realization of his mistake drew out a sad sigh. What was the point to infiltrating pony society in such a large place if he became a figure everypony would recognize? Snapshot was unable to hide his frown as he gathered himself up on the bench and looked to the sky. “Wanna get some lunch?” he asked after he checked the position of the sun.

The Fillydelphia Post (Ramzam & ladyonyx04)

During the tour, Snapshot was surprised and slightly overwhelmed by the positivity he felt radiating from the ponies around him. Having observed the city before his, ‘arrival,’ he had assumed that there would be more apathy among the population for others outside of their social groups. At the same time, his brain had been working overtime to catalogue every last bit of information he could take in. Streets, names, faces, landmarks from above and below, addresses, all the things he deemed even moderately important were on the table for immediate memorization. Eventually, his taxed brain began to overload and he called for a break.

“Sheesh, this is weird,” he said as he laid across a bench, one wing draped over its back and the other curled against the ground beneath the seat. “Everypony just kind of knows you? And you know them? By name?” His confusion was one part an act and another part genuine curiosity. Every changeling had a name of its own, but in the hive, it was very uncommon to be referred to by said name. Entire generations would often grow up knowing each other by appearances and nothing else, because complex vocal communications were not a necessity. The low capacity for names Snapshot had because of this, he feared, may be an unavoidable flaw in his disguise.

The Fillydelphia Post (Ramzam & ladyonyx04)

Snapshot considered the offer as he stretched out his wings in the open streets of Fillydelphia. He had already memorized a majority of the city’s layout, thanks to the help of several other changelings stationed in the city, but his knowledge only extended as far as landmarks after a whole month had passed. The disguise he had assumed had nowhere near the same amount of time to do so, even with the stronger wings of a pegasus. It would do him well to tap into the knowledge of the locals—and it would be foolish to pass up a chance to bond with and observe his first candidate. “I could always just buy a couple maps…” he mused. His wings made a few flightless flaps before snapping closed. “But we are partners in crime. And seeing things in person tends to help a lot with navigation. Lead the way.”

GEARS - Mecha Sci-fi with Anthro characters. RP in a detailed, story-driven world.

During the briefing, Adrian sat in his chair, hunched over with his elbows on his knees and his hands clasped under his chin, with one foot propped up against the chair’s legs and the other free to fidget at odd intervals. He was not happy about his situation, but just on the edge of tolerance. More bandits, was all that passed through Adrian’s mind. Nothing I couldn’t have done just staying with my old squad. Why in the world was I transferred, again? Even so, a job was a job, and Adrian was bound to carry it out. It was his purpose in life.
When Myrina was the first to ask questions, Adrian took the opportunity to jump in. “It’d also be nice to know how many of the crawler there were.”

The Fillydelphia Post (Ramzam & ladyonyx04)

“Well, it’s not the first , first, but it’s close enough, I guess,” Snapshot said as he accepted Spring’s help and pressed his wings against the wall beside him to return to his hooves. “Everything’s so solid,” he commented as he checked his camera for damage, “I walk all funny. The clouds have a ton of give and are always moving around, so you take these big, huge, wobbly steps when you aren’t flying. It’s like climbing stairs.” He glanced at the floor and sucked in one of his cheeks. “Only, down here, it’s like climbing stairs and the next step suddenly isn’t there anymore.” Snapshot started and swung his head from side to side as though he only recently realized where he was. He rubbed the back of his neck with a hoof and smiled nervously as he said, “The clouds also aren’t as soundproof. Can we, uh, take this outside? It’s kind of cramped in here…” his voice trailed off and his ears slid back as he spread his wings for emphasis—their span very nearly blocked off the entire width of the hallway.

The Fillydelphia Post (Ramzam & ladyonyx04)

Some sort of sixth sense, huh? Snapshot filed the information away in the back of his mind. He had heard of it before, certain ponies with strange quirks that could warn of a great breadth of happenings. In the case of Spring Tales, it would definitely be on the list of potential threats to his disguise. As the question of his origins came up, Snapshot momentarily panicked. He had covered every aspect of his disguise except where he came from. He thought city ponies just wouldn’t care enough to ask. With that expectation shattered he launched an answer off the cuff and made a note to think of more details at a later date.

Half-truths, Snapshot. The best lies are not even lies at all. “I moved here from Upper Los Pegasus about a week ago. Don’t get me wrong, it was nice…but I’d spent my entire life in the clouds. I wanted to see how the ground pounders lived—I mean, my flightless—“ Snapshot bumped his head against a nearby wall and whinnied. He snorted loudly as he as he slid into a sitting position. “Sorry. I’ve never been on solid ground until just a few days ago and it’s totally weird,” he said as he held up his forehooves to grasp at the air and extended one large wing off to the side. “This is the first time I’ve seen anything other than birds or pegasi and I still kind of talk like it…”

The Fillydelphia Post (Ramzam & ladyonyx04)

When Spring Tales’s tail tweaked out, Snapshot’s brow subtly rose. Didn’t realize this form was such a knockout. I’d better play clueless, for now, he thought as he shuffled his wings and revealed the slim pair of saddlebags hidden beneath them. Settin Stone made small noises and mutterings about, ‘thanks,’ and, ‘gratitude,’ as the two ponies left him. The rest of the office floor was relatively plain, after the dim haze that hung over Stone’s decorated office. Snapshot only noticed the blandness of the carpet floor and generic wallpaper as a result of the fact. The only object worth mention, beyond the nameplates by the many doors of the hallway was an overturned jug of water on a stand with a spigot attached to it. It was a bizarre way to store water, as far as Snapshot was concerned, but it was a drop in the bucket of pony confusion that not even the hivemind seemed eager to alleviate. He decided best to hide said confusion and focus on another matter. “What was that thing your, uh…tail did?” Snapshot asked as he closed the door to Stone’s office.

GEARS - Mecha Sci-fi with Anthro characters. RP in a detailed, story-driven world.

I think I'm starting to finally zero in on what I want this incarnation of Adrian to be like. It only took me three months!