Streets of Fandom, Friday Evening

[myownface]

So, the great thing about this whole situation so far was that all of Sparkle's pointy things and shooty things were still on him when the island had swapped over, because Sparkle had been paying attention on Wednesday, and he wasn't stupid.

Or maybe he was stupid, because he was still fucking here. But besides that

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[imafuturist]

Of course it did. Damn it, Sparkle. Damn it.

Tony was scavenging for supplied to build something to be of use here. As one did when they had issues.

Which would be why he was hesitantly approaching Sparkle. With a jury rigged repulsor on hand.

[myownface]

And yeah, anybody approaching him in streets that looked like these was definitely going to catch Sparkle's attention, repulsor on one hand or no. Sparkle blinked up with a start and kind of skipped back a few steps, reaching for one of the knives at his hip without a second thought.

... Because sure, that would do a whole lot of good against a repulsor weapon.

Wait.

"... Tony?"

[imafuturist]

"Sparkle?" Tony sighed, quickly closing the distance between them. "Jesus, what are you doing out in this?"

[myownface]

"The plan was 'not starving to death,'" Sparkle replied, giving a little relieved sigh at all the 'not actually an axe murderer' vibes Tony was giving off, here. "Atton's gone, the apartment looks like it hasn't seen human life in decades, and I haven't eaten since fucking Wednesday. So, unless Pizza Planet still does delivery..."

Sorry, Tony. Sparkle was a bit on the hangry side.

[mostcocoloco]

There was someone new in the street.

He looked like fun.

Pinkie stood on the top of a lamp post behind Sparkle and watched, her weird extra bendy body silhouetted by the light of her own eerie mane. She was always on the lamp post just behind Sparkle. No matter how far he walked.

[myownface]

Ever have one of those feelings where you really, really, desperately want to look behind you, but you know that the moment you do, everything you're afraid you'll see will be right there in plain sight? That not knowing was probably way better than actually checking to see what was going on? Yeah. Sparkle had that feeling. He had that feeling a lot.

And the hell of it was, Sparkle was fantastically genre savvy as a street kid from Toronto. Not so much for a guy being stalked by a pink horror pony. So, because not knowing was the worst of the evils back in Toronto, here, Sparkle gave in to that chewing need to know. He turned around, and he looked.

And he blinked.

He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but a terrifying pony hadn't actually been on the list.

[mostcocoloco]

He looked! Pinkie loved it when somepony looked.

In another blink, she would be in front of him. A blink after that, baring her fangs.

Hi Sparkle! Wanna play?

[myownface]

No! Nope! Sparkle really didn't want to play. In fact, what he wanted to do was stumble backwards and reach for one of his knives, one of the beautiful and functional ones that Leto had given him.

Sure, he could reach for his blaster, but there was still trauma to go with those. Not that this was promising to be much less traumatic.

"Gonna state for the record that equines aren't generally carnivorous," he stuttered, backing away. "I mean. Just saying."

[trulyshelved]

Karla had their feather! Their feather! The one they'd gotten yesterday!

And she wasn't going to give it back unless they brought someone to her. Allu-Nika knew what Karla did to her food, which was icky, but... well. Feather.

Feather was way more important than someone's life!

They careened down the street, a little doll with two heads, moving in the air. Now and then they giggled, discordantly to each other, peering under rocks and over walls, and tumbling through broken windows.

Seeking, searching, looking for someone for Karla.

[myownface]

Sparkle was getting progressively more freaked out, here. Like, way more freaked out than some empty streets really should lead to. But appropriately freaked out, for Fandom the way it was.

"Don't suppose it'd be too much to ask for just one fast food place to be o--" He froze, held his breath, and looked around sharply.

Something just giggled.

[trulyshelved]

They were a someones not a something!

And, more importantly, they'd heard him. Their giggling ceased abruptly as they plastered themselves on a bit of rock. Their dress and hair and limbs all stood out, brightly coloured against the bleakness of their surroundings but they were limp.

Most people just took them as an abandoned doll when they did that.

Allu-Nika studied the person with unblinking, unmoving eyes. Maybe he'd taste good.

[myownface]

Sorry, Allu-Nika. Sparkle didn't generally let just anybody find out how he tasted. And Karla really wasn't his type. He did spot the doll against the rock. Blinked. Tilted his head at it. Them. Tilted his head.

"Creepy," he muttered, then shook his head and started to walk away. What was one more creepy thing in this place, right?

[kintsukorosu]

Hannibal had been out most of the day; he'd found a few bodies and taken what he could, then put aside the rest for later. Jono had been walking the streets, easy to find, and Hannibal had walked with him for a while, scowling at the new wounds he was sporting.

Now he was heading back to the village again, his sack of well-wrapped meat and bones slung over his back and his shotgun in hand, knives mostly invisible but ready if he needed them.

[myownface]

Okay, killer ponies and creepy dolls and all, Sparkle was not doing super great. He just had to get his ass to the park, that was all. To the park, and then he could... curl up in a ball and eat his own fucking arm or something. He didn't care anymore. Not caring, that had always served him best.

Sparkle didn't care. Sparkle didn't care. Sparkle didn't care. Sparkle Didn't Care. SPARKLE DIDN'T CARE.

And while he was busy telling himself that, he basically almost plowed right into Hannibal.

[kintsukorosu]

"Careful!" Hannibal barked, steadying him. Then the boy's appearance registered. Hannibal's hand twitched for a knife before his nose and eyes told him this wasn't a hollow.

"Sparkle?" Hearing that there were other versions of the ones they'd lost here was one thing; encountering one was another. He raised a hand to touch Sparkle's face, then his shoulder, just verifying his existence.

[myownface]

"Oh, shi-- um."

There was a hand in his face. A dirty hand in his face. A dirty hand belonging to Hannibal in his face, and for a brief moment, in a fit of crazy that mostly suited people on the verge of panic, Sparkle very nearly suggested that maybe Hannibal would like a manicure or something. He opened his mouth, and out came a desperate giggle, instead.

"Shit shit shit Doctor Lecter it's you."

You would not believe the day he was having.

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo didn't think of herself as a hero, really, but she did feel very protective of her friends. And her definition of "friend" was probably way too broad.

So, since she couldn't be sure that everyone was safe, she had put on her ATs and left the relatively safe haven of Hannibal and Jono's place.

She was, of course, skipping along the rooftops, the distinctive high-pitched whine of her wheels audible in the too-quiet air. With the buildings in such disrepair, though, she had to keep her speed down. She definitely didn't want to take a tumble through some eaten-through roof. Especially since there was no good way to know what was inside any given building.

Her eyes swept back and forth, every sense alert. It'd been a while since she'd had to be so aware of her surroundings, but it was kind of nice to know that some skills stuck with you even if you didn't practice much.

[myownface]

Sparkle, meanwhile, was pretty much done with everything. His face was bloody, his pants were torn at the knees, and he was stalking with purpose toward the park, a bloodied knife in one hand.

He was shaking. He was cold. He was completely terrified. And he hadn't eaten since freaking Wednesday.

So the unfamiliar whine of the ATs up above was not actually the most reassuring thing he'd ever heard. He paused, turned his attention upward, and held his knife in front of himself until he could be sure nothing was about to jump on his head.

[soniaroadsqueen]

As luck would have it, Ringo did pick that moment to jump. Though not at Sparkle so much as over, leaping off of one roof-top and arcing toward the one across the street, her long pigtails fluttering behind her through the air.

She sort of spotted someone below while she was airborne, and spun as she landed, trying to get a better look.

[myownface]

And Sparkle... yeah, he kind of made the most undignified sound of surprise and stumbled backwards into a wall. Because the last thing that had moved like that overhead was a murderpony, and he hadn't had the greatest day so far, okay?