Although it seemed the main crowd had already come in, there were bound to be those a little bit later than others. Some way off the edge of the island, a ferry sluiced through the water, its destination just minutes away.
At the tip of this boat, a pegasus leaned carefully over the hull, allowing the very faint breeze on her face, as she peered forward. She shifted her hooves, feeling a mounting excitement despite herself. Oh, what a fantastic island this was! It would be something that Amber would admire greatly, particularly for the weather machine. Making a mental note to give her friend a message when she arrived, Nightingale stepped away from the edge, leaning over to retrieve her suitcase, holding the handle by the mouth. Alongside her, a gray cat paced anxiously, the trip across water having made her nervous. "Just about there, Percy," she mumbled, muffled from the handle obstructing her mouth.
Finally, coming to a slow halt, she thanked the pony running the ferry before stepping off, hooves now on the island that would be her home for the foreseeable future. Now walking with a careful gait, she proceeded towards the destination. How she even managed to get an invitation, she still didn't know, but she was an opportunist at this point anyways. She slowed her walk when she saw the checkpoint gate, slowing before setting her case down carefully, the guard coming towards her. Popping the suitcase open, she began rummaging, tail twitching as she sorted through her belongings.
"Let me g-" was as far as he got before Nightingale's head popped up again, neatly folded letter in her mouth. She took it in her hoof before passing it off to the stallion, who opened it and inspected it with well measured scrutiny.
"There have been others?" This was a turn of events she wasn't quite expecting. She would have preferred not needing to talk much, though obviously there was going to be some trick to this whole deal.
"Yep, seen a lot of folks such as yourselves come through with an invitation from Marks. Any idea what that's about, by the way?" he inquired.
All she could do was shrug. With a final nod, he creased the letter again and handed it back. "Enjoy your stay." With a dip of the head and doubts whispering in her head yet again, she leaned down, nuzzling Percy's head before grabbing the case once more.
____
And even a little bit before this mare came through, another had passed by mere moments ago!
Curly had always loved Manehattan. Of course, growing up in a place all your life, people are bound to. They may view it as a busy place that needs to slow down, constantly growing and changing, but she had always felt a sense of homeliness when around. It had been a few years since she was last in this town, having moved to Canterlot a couple back, but she had never imagined she'd be passing through again for this reason.
A red sportscar rumbled carefully down the roads, Curly Brace leaning excitedly over the wheel. This was really going to be something special, and she was feeling mounting excitement for each mile that had passed by. She was almost to a point where the roads would start to crawl, but that didn't bother her much. The time would come.
"Oh, this is so exciting!" she blubbered excitedly, turning to the passenger seat. "Definitely a change of pace, wonder what all is going to happen there..." All this was said to a small rabbit, who barely seemed to acknowledge the excited talking of her companion as she looked towards the island, nose twitching. "I know, Sue, can't wait to get there either." Shifting her attention back to the road, she adjusted her red scarf as they set down the street once again.''
Slowly, painfully, they had made their way through downtown Manehattan, and even Curly was a little tired of the monotony of the event. As such, a sense of relief came when they crossed the bridge relatively lacking in the hustle and bustle of the busy city. She rolled her car up to the checkpoint gate, giving a wave and a cheery "Hello!" to the one manning it.
"Hello! I'm here from invitation from Mr... Marks?" she said, attention divided as her hoof wandered around the dashboard in search of the paper.
"Authorization?" he asked. He seemed to be used to this, and she quickly figured there must have been others, as well. Oh, how exciting! Having some company around would be tons of fun on this little trip. Finally ending her search when Sue irritably held the letter out to her, she seized it with gusto and presented it to the other pony.
"Everything appears to be in order. It's not too far from here." He stepped back from the car. "Enjoy your time here."
"Not a problem!" she chirped back as she started rolling again. though she wanted to wander the island a bit before she went there.
_____
Nightingale came upon the mansion, a look of astonishment on her face as she examined the exterior of the pristine estate. She had never dreamed she would even be in a location with such a building, much less making it her abode for any period of time. Shaking her head and closing her hanging jaw, she strode towards it, a bit of a bounce in her step. She figured she would go straight to a room, get her suitcase set down, and see if Amber's little experiment had worked out. Now that she was done with harder walking, she knelt a bit, extending a wing to the cat next to her. Percy gratefully clambered up, carefully nesting himself between her wings.
Walking through the door, she was surprised to see a sizable crowd had already developed. With a sigh and the desire to get to the flight of stairs as quickly as possible, she began edging around the gathering. She briefly glanced around, hoping to remember at least a few faces. That one, I might be able to remember... They look like an interesting one...
Suddenly, this silent inspection came to a halt. She knew that stallion! The one with the brown coat and tipped wings. suddenly feeling excitement from the recognition bloom in her chest, she dropped the case, cantering quickly over to him, Percy hissing in frustration as he was thrown around. "Orbit? Wow, is that really you?"
((I don't have time to write Curly's right now... I'll do that in the near future!))
Edited by Quoth the Raven, 03 March 2015 - 12:18 AM.