Tales of Skyline Tower

by Senyu

2. Hide and Fall

“One… two… three… four…”

Lunar Pearl swung her head left and right, searching desperately for someplace to hide as the colt counted out loud. The other children around her were already scampering off to their places, one deciding to chance hiding in the same bedroom the hunter was counting in, while the other two decided to forego the option and rush for a better place out in the hallway.

She bit her lip in decision of where to hide.

“Wait! I’m coming too!” Lunar Pearl hissed when the colt reached ten, and she dashed into the hallway after the two.

As she scurried down the hall, her head was on a swivel, scanning the best possible hiding spots that appeared along the way. The option of hiding behind one of the large vases or statues that were littered throughout the penthouse was tempting, but the stern warning from Lily Wing, along with the rest of the adults, made her decide otherwise, and she let out a huffed breath.

What’s the point? It’s not like he’s not rich enough to buy more.

“I call this spot!” a filly cried ahead.

Lunar Pearl turn her head forward just in time to see a tail vanish beneath the cloth of a table that was set against the wall. Curious as to how big it was, and to remember it the next time she was ‘It’, Lunar Pearl ran over and peeked her head beneath.

“Hey, Lunar! Find your own hiding place!” the filly whispered.

Looking up, Lunar Pearl saw the filly hanging upside down and straddling the middle support beam of the table with all four of her hooves.

That’s a good idea. No one can see your hooves like that. The fillies tail however, swished down and brushed her nose, causing Lunar Pearl to scrunch at it’s ticklish touch. Then again, you don’t need to see the hooves.

Before the filly could hiss at her again, Lunar Pearl pulled her head out and looked for the other one, but he had already hidden himself out of sight.

She blew a raspberry at not being able to see where he had gone, but she had no time to search for him as a voice rang out from behind her. “Thirty! Ready or not, here I come!”

Bat wings!

Lunar Pearl looked about in panic. Should I try the big room? I might be able to hide behind one of the couches. No, Mist Hoof is there. He’d probably tell them where I’m at!

The sound of a door opening nearly caused Lunar Pearl to jump in fright, but she let out a sigh a relief when she realized it was only Silver Platter exiting a room further down the hall. Whether the butler had seen her not, she wasn’t certain, for he moved the opposite direction from her with his eyes in their usual half-lidded state.

How does that pony ever see anything?

“Found you!”

Lunar Pearl did jump that time, and she looked behind her to find the hall completely empty.

He must have found Wisp Wing in the bedroom.

Feeling very foalish at still standing in plain sight, Lunar Pearl locked her eyes on the door that Silver Platter had left from and darted towards it.

Please be empty, please be empty!

Repeating the prayer in her mind, she gave a tiny leap while fluttering her wings, and reached for the door handle, pulling down it down with all her weight. It swung open easily, but not in the direction she thought it would go. It was the kind of door that swung both ways, and as it swung her inside, her hoof slipped from the handle, and she was sent tumbling forward into the room until she smacked into a wall.

“Ow….”

Rubbing her head, she looked around where she landed, and she quickly forget all about the bump from what she saw.

She was surrounded by hampers. Some were stuffed with layers of bedsheets and towels hanging haphazardly around the edges, while others were neatly folded into stacks. She realized that this is where all their linen must have been placed, and she couldn’t be happier.

This is the perfect place to hide! Giggling at her stroke of luck, she trotted up to the nearest messy hamper and pounced into it, burying herself as deep as she could. I hope this one has only my towels…

Once settled in place, and confident that she hadn’t knocked any pieces out of the hamper, she clasped her hooves around her mouth to contain her snickering

They are never going to find me here.

On cue, the door to the room swung open, and Lunar Pearl sucked in a breath, then nearly coughed from a piece of lint that found its way inside of her.

“Mr. Silver Platter?” she heard a young colt say politely. Lunar Pearl strained her ears as her heart thumped in her chest. “You haven’t seen Lunar Pearl have you?”

“No, I’m afraid not.”

“Okay, thank you.”

“Come on! I bet she’s hiding behind one of the couches.”

The sounds of two laughing colts running down the hallway faded away, and were replaced with the defining and proper hoof-steps of Silver Platter entering the room. Lunar Pearl sat quietly as she heard a bundle of clothes tossed into a nearby hamper.

Even Silver Platter doesn’t know I’m here. I am so using this spot every time!

While running through imaginations at being the number one prey in all future games, Lunar Pearl contained her giggling the best she could as Silver Platter exited the room, unaware of him pressing a button on the wall as he exited.

Her daydreams were quickly replaced with tumbling linen as she felt the hamper lift itself up, supported by the sounds of whizzing gears.

“H-Hey! What’s going on!?”

Her world tipped sideways as the hampered emptied itself out, only allowing her a brief moment to see the door between the layers of cloth before falling downwards into the laundry chute she had failed to notice built into the wall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lunar Pearl never screamed louder in her life as she zipped down the black tunnel. It was at a slight incline, allowing her the fortunate luck of at least being able to slide on top of a blanket that she had fallen onto. But even that luxury was short lived when it flipped back and wrapped itself around her. Now, she was a muffled but still screaming pile of blankets.

Down and down she fell, eliciting many curious looks towards the wall from ponies on the various floors, until that is, the chute suddenly vanished beneath her hooves and she landed onto a pile of laundry.

For sometime, Lunar Pearl simply laid within the blanket, staring wide-eyed at the lights shining through, her heart beating as loud as the rumble and hum of machinery that filled the air.

I just fell down a skyscraper… She blinked a few times. I just fell down a skyscraper… A smile began to spread. I just fell down a skyscraper! Still buzzed with the rush, Lunar Pearl burst into giggles while throwing hoof punches and leg kicks in the air. That was awesome!

Besides meeting a vampony princess, her slide down the tower had just been officially marked as the coolest thing she had ever done. Her excitement, however, was cut short by the faint sound of voices, and the gravity of the situation sinking in.

I’m not in the penthouse…

A stallion laughed loudly nearby, and Lunar Pearl brought her hooves to her mouth to hold back her squeal.

“-are so lucky, do you know that?”

“Hey, what can I say? I’m a popular whenever I show up. The mares never get enough of me.”

“You’re so taking me next time you go.”

“Of course I am. In fact, I know the manager. I’ll put in a good word for ya and get you some prime time.”

Lunar Pearl’s heart thumped in her chest as they walked closer, laughing loudly about some place one of the stallions frequently visited, and if she was hearing correctly, it wasn’t a place little fillies was supposed to hear about; something about giggling mares, a stage, and lots of drinks.

“You’re crazy, you know that?”

“Heh, and you will be too once our shift is done.”

“I can’t wait. Let’s finish these last loads and get going!”

The unfamiliar hum of machinery made it hard to hear clearly what the two stallions were saying all the time, nor was she able to hear their hoofsteps, and she nearly screamed again when she suddenly began moving once more.

Not again…

But instead of another terrifying drop, she felt herself being pushed along in what she was certain would have been a hamper of sorts; the drowned out noise of a squeaky wheel confirming it when she strained her ears.

Lunar Pearl gripped the blanket around her tightly as she was wheeled in who knows what direction. Her only indication of direction was the hum of multiple machines passing by, and always accompanied by a sudden laugh from the stallions whenever one said a joke that she couldn’t quite hear.

Soon though, the pushing stopped, and Lunar Pearl heard the faint sound of unicorn magic twinkling directly over her. Staring up, she was able to somewhat make out a field of color between the light above and her blanket, and it became clearer as sheet after sheet was pulled out of her hamper.

“Pony Feathers, some of these got really tangled up,” the stallion next to her asked.

Lunar Pearl felt something move beneath her, and did her best to not make a sound when a sheet was pulled out from beneath her.

“How many bits was it to get in again?” the same stallion asked. At that moment, the blanket surrounding Lunar Pearl glowed blue, and began to pull away from her.

“Not a single bit,” the other replied smugly.

“Seriously!?”

The stallion had yanked the blanket off and around Lunar Pearl at the same time with one swift motion, leaving her completely exposed. Lunar Pearl stared up with wide and dilated eyes at the stallion directly above her; so petrified she was that she didn’t even dare to breathe.

The stallion however, was completely unaware of her as he was looking away with a ridiculous grin.

“You gotta be kidding!”

“Like I said, it’s the best place in the city for it.”

The stallion closed his eyes and flashed an excited smile, then idly grabbed another sheet that was next to Lunar Pearl.

“I’ve been dreaming about this my whole life! Coming to work in the city was the best thing I’ve ever done!”

Any moment he would open his eyes and look back down to his work. Any moment he would see Lunar Pearl staring up with the biggest eyes a filly could have and remaining still as a statue. Any moment he would shout, and her life would be over. Any moment now…

“There you two are!”

Lunar Pearl flattened her ears from the mare’s voice that pierced the room.

“Crap…” the stallion mutter as he looked away and much less happier.

“Do you honestly think you’re done cleaning the storage rooms? The checklist isn’t done, the supplies aren’t pulled from their wrappers, and the mop buckets weren’t even emptied!”

Whoever the mare is, she sounded scarier than any guard Lunar Pearl had upset in Dusk Town.

“B-But… I thought all we needed to do was put them in,” the stallion next to her half mumbled and half yelled back.

“And where did you get that bright idea?” the mare said, her voice still louder than everything else in the room despite her not screaming as before.

“Jackpot said-.”

“Shut up…” the other stallion hissed.

“Both of you in my office, NOW!”

Lunar Pearl watched in disbelief as the stallion dropped the sheet, and walked away with a mortified expression. It was shortly followed by more scolding from the mare before her voice become distant and faded altogether. Then, the only sound in the entire room was the hum of machines, and Lunar Pearl’s matching heartbeat.

She then remembered to breathe.

“Uaaaahhhhh!”

Lunar Pearl brought a hoof to her chest as she panted in relief.

That was too close.

She was safe, for now. But she doubted it would take long for them to come back and finish their job, and she still had no idea where she was, or even how to get back to the penthouse.

She needed to move, and she needed to do it now. If only she could make her legs work again.

N-No! I can’t give up! She gulped a lump that had built in her throat. I-I’ve got to get back. I’m a vampony. Well… not yet, but close enough! Ruby wouldn’t give up, and she wouldn’t let this beat her. Nothing can beat her.

A flashback to how Ruby had protected her from the mare in the woods played out in Lunar Pearl’s mind. Despite the fact it had been completely different than how Lunar Pearl thought a feeding would be—mostly more awful than cool—Ruby’s decisive actions had made a lasting impression, and it was one she would not let go.

“I can do this,” Lunar Pearl shakily said, but with furrowed brows in attempts to bolster her confidence. “I just need to get back. No problem. Any batpony can do it, which means I can too.”

Ready to tackle the world, Lunar Pearl gave a small warcry and leap with all her might out of the hamper. With shaky wing flaps, she landed herself just a few feet away from it, and stared in astonishment to where she was.

Rows of machines on both walls where spinning what looked liked clothes, blankets, and water. There were so many that they were stacked from where she was all the way down the long hallway to another room, a room that had just been deposited more clothes that fell from the ceiling.

“Woah…”

Lunar Pearl stared curiously around the place, before remembering her resolve only moments ago.

No, I can’t get distracted. I’m on a mission. Get back to the penthouse. She nodded her head to no one in particular. Let’s do this. Ready and determined, Lunar Pearl galloped down the hallway and into the room of falling clothes. She only spared a brief glance at the open holes that were too high to for her to fly. I don’t think I could climb all the way up even if I did get to them.

Instead, she chose to walked over to a nearby open door, and warily peak around it’s corners. More hallways, but not a pony in sight. Lunar Pearl frowned as she looked back and forth for which way to go. The sounds of the two stallions from before, however, made her decision clear.

I hope this way gets me somewhere! Without further pause, she bolted the opposite direction of the stallions, all while praying that she wouldn’t run into any more ponies.

The two glum stallions whose eyes were focused on the ground didn’t even see her swishing tail disappear around the corner at the other end of the hall.

“A pay cut for two days? Sheesh this place this tough…” the unicorn moaned sadly.

“Feel grateful it wasn’t more,” Jackpot grumbled, but the unicorn next to him only sighed and hung his head further.

“I’m never going to perform at a comedy club…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lunar Pearl ran with all her strength through the twisted labyrinth that was the skyscraper’s basement. With the roar of the machinery behind her, she could hear other ponies more clearly, and more often than not their sudden and approaching voices caused her to divert her path to another hallway, or doubleback the way she came. With frightful glances behind her shoulder, Lunar Pearl ran and ran.

Augh! How do I get out of her?

Skidding to a halt at the next corner, and breathing heavily, she cocked her tuft ears in the search of any noise. There was no pony in the hall, but there was a muffled commotion of some kind around the corner.

What am I going to do? Every other spot either leads to nowhere or that stupid laundry room again. Lunar Pearl swallowed her dry mouth, and tentatively poked her head around the corner. The hallway was indeed empty, and there was a door at the end of it with a green neon sign with the word ‘Lobby’.

That’s the room Silver Platter said was the entrance to the building. Maybe I can find one of the elevators and-

The noise of a door opening behind caused her to jump, and she leapt around the corner.

“By Celestia, if another little brat vomits again…” a gruff voice said.

Lunar Pearl carefully peeked around the corner into the hallway she had just been, and saw a large stallion placing a large white sheet over a dining cart exactly like the kind Silver Platter used to deliver food. While he grumbled about some dinner guest, Lunar Pearl spied the open space beneath the top of the cart before it vanished completely out of view from the now straighten sheet.

That’s it!

The stallion gave the cart a once over, ensuring that each corner was evenly spaced, then disappeared into the room he had arrived from. Then, with hurried breaths, Lunar Pearl ran as quietly as she could towards the cart, and daintily climbed into the open space underneath it.

Let’s hope those books were right about this.

Before her beating heart could slow down, the stallion emerged from the room and began pushing the cart. The sudden force caused Lunar Pearl to rock in place, but she held herself still in moments, paying extra mind to keep her wings and tail away from the fabric that surrounded her.

Lunar Pearl’s eyes were wide as she watched light spots pass by the sheet as the cart was wheeled down the hallway. Then, a sudden turn, and the hoof steps behind her changed into a steady and tempoed rhythm that matched the way Silver Platter walked. Unable to contain herself, Lunar Pearl grinned in excitement, and held her breath as the green light grew closer.

The cart gently rocked from a small bump before the door, and the green light vanished, only to be replace by a very bright orange glow. At once the sounds of ponies reached Lunar Pearl’s ears, and she flicked her tuft ears each and every way as the sounds passed her.

“-you wouldn’t believe what he said, he actually-”

“We better hurry before the pegasi start the downpour.”

“Well how was I supposed to know that’s what you meant?”

“Hmm? Oh, yes, of course. Anything you want, dear.”

The cart smoothly made it’s way through the large room, all while Lunar Pearl stretched her body as close as she could to the sheet. Her mouth hung open at all the sounds of ponies voices, rolling wheels, and other noises she did not recognize, and even flinched when a sudden breeze blew through the cart that was accompanied by the sound of a metal noise similar to the truck she and the rest of the bat ponies rode in.

The urge to lift the sheet and poke her head out nearly overcame her.

But as memorized as she was, everything became muffled for a moment, and the gentle murmur of conversations and clinking silverware replaced the noisy room she had passed through. Staring through the sheet, she could make out the passing shadows of ponies beneath lamps, and with them, the smell of enticing food.

Her mouth began to salivate, and the temptation to poke her head out once again came back in force. For her sake however, the cart rocked gently from a small rise, and the gentle atmosphere of the room was immediately replaced by the clanking of metal and hissing of steam.

“One order of egg salad!”

“Get those carrots into the stew, now!”

“Soups coming up!”

“Toss me some oregano!”

Lunar Pearl flattened her ears at the commotion around her, and wrapped her tail around herself as the shadows of ponies passed very closely to the cart. A sudden crash to her left nearly caused her to jump from the cart, and she winced at the sounds of one pony scolding another.

This isn’t right! Why didn’t he go to the apartment? They always bring these carts to the apartment!

As she bit her lip in worry, the sheet sudden lifted in front of her and the large leg of a stallion sliding a bowl into the space with her filled her vision. Lunar Pearl scooted back, mere inches away from the edge of the cart. The leg then vanished, only to appear again with more bowls and cylinders. Lunar Pearl sat frozen in the increasingly growing cramped space, watching with terrified eyes as more and more items joined her. Just before she feared that the leg would finally reach all the way back and set a plate onto her, it pulled away, and the cart began moving forward again.

Lunar Pearl let out the breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding, then wrinkled her nose at the aroma before her. Looking at the spread placed around her, forks and knives laid wrapped in cloth, a bottle of wine that remained corked, a cylinder of breadsticks, but what held her interest most of all, was the large bowl of fruit salad.

The clamour of the noisy spaced seemed to fade away as Lunar Pearl licked her lips. One bite wouldn’t hurt, would it? Looking to the sheet around her apprehensively, she realized she had left the noisy room, and was back in the one with gentle voices and clinking plates. The aroma of the food once again wafted by her nose, and her stomach groaned from it. Just one bite, no biggie.

Tentatively leaning her head forward and taking a whiff, Lunar Pearl carefully picked up a chunk of the salad with the most diced up fruit, and chewed it hesitantly.

With one bite her eyes popped wide, and she hastily devoured the rest in her mouth. This is great! Why couldn’t we ever get food this good in Dusktown! Without further pause, Lunar Pearl began munching on the salad greedily, the diced fruits juices running down her cheeks. While busy eating, however, she failed to notice the cart come to a stop, or that the pony pushing the cart was beginning to pull off the items on top of it.

Soon enough he had finished setting up the tables dining ware, and reached a hoof beneath the sheet for the food. Lunar Pearl froze at the sudden appearance of the hoof coming straight at her, and did the first thing she could think of. The moment the hoof brushed her nose, she bite down on it, hard.

“YOUCH!” the stallion screamed as he quickly withdrew his hoof. The clamour of the room calm to a sudden hush, and every hair on Lunar Pearl’s back stood up.

Bat wings…

Deciding that she was as good as caught, Lunar Pearl quickly exited the cart, and found herself beneath the sheeted table.

“My word, are you alright?” one of the ponies sitting in the nearby chair said.

“I’m… I’m fine, sorry for the disturbance. I must have cut myself on something.” There was a quick swish of the carts sheets being thrown aside, followed by a faint muttering from the pony. “That’s odd… Apologises, but it seems they had forgotten something of your salad. I’ll be right back.”

Lunar Pearl watched with wide eyes as the shadow of the cart wheeled itself away from the table, leaving her alone with four chairs around her. The carts gone! Now what do I do?

Biting her lip, Lunar Pearl carefully made her way to the edge of the long table cloth, make sure to stay as far as she could from the chair. While barely lifting the edge of the cloth, she peeked out into the room, only catching the side of the other tables and passing hooves.

Frowning, she lowered the cloth and went to the other side. Repeating the process, she brought her eye as close to the ground as she could, and saw exactly what she was looking for.

That’s gotta be it!

Past three rows of tables were five dining carts lined in a row, full of platters and plates of food, and another one being added even as she watched. Duh, they always come up with eight carts. Now all I need to do is get over there.

Poking her head out further, Lunar Pearl glanced about her surroundings. There were ponies all around at their tables, with servers passing by with glasses of water. But the tables were only a few feet apart, leaving her only one option. Okay, you can do this. Come down, be a vampony! Just do what Ruby would do.

With her heart beating, Lunar Pearl licked her lips and tensed her hooves. Okay, okay, here I go. With one last look to make sure no pony was watching or server passing nearby, Lunar Pearl darted as quickly as she could across the short distance and scampered beneath the next table. The four chairs was replace with two, and after waiting for a moment to hear any sound of commotion aside her heart thumping in her ears, all was well. Ha! That was easy.

Feeling unstoppable, Lunar Pearl quickly made her way to the edge. Only one more table to go, and it’s empty. Looking about once more for the perfect chance, Lunar Pearl swished her tail in preparation, and dashed across. Even as she was sliding beneath the cloth, her victorious smile quickly vanished as she met eyes with a mare sitting at the table for the briefest of moments.

She screamed.

Lunar Pearl kept her momentum beneath the table, not even bothering to check the path to the next table as she high tailed it out of there. In the few moments it took for the pony to scream, she was already beneath the next table, of which was empty to her relief.

“What ever is the matter, dear?”

“Something just ran under our table! By Celestia it was huge! It looked at me!”

“Calm down, dear, I’m sure it was nothing.”

“It wasn’t nothing, Two Shoes! I saw something!”

The sound of chairs scooting back along with servants running over began to fill the room. Lunar Pearl couldn’t help but quietly laugh to herself through the rush of adrenaline. Soon there were a multitude of ponies at the table behind her, and she thought it best it was time to leave. Poking her head out once again, she saw the entrance to the room that lead to she assumed was the noisy room with cold air, and beside it was eight dining carts, their pushers being near the table of the frantic mare.

With a mischievous grin, Lunar Pearl darted for the carts and found a space next to another delicious looking salad bowl.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Did you find her?” one of the colts asked as he meet up with the others.

“No, not yet,” one replied.

“Bat wings! Where is she?”

“I don’t know, but she sure found one heck of a spot. Maybe we should get Ebon Wing to help us look.”

“Mist Hoof did say Ebon Wing was going to be watching over us for the next few days.”

“He’s not allowed to be the prey though if we keep playing.”

“Kids! Time to eat!”

“Coming, mom!”

The small group of fillies and colts dashed down the hall and into the large living room. They watched with eager eyes as Silver Platter skillfully wheeled all eight carts by himself into the room, and begun lifting their contents onto the large table. The bat ponies all began to crowd the food, offering their thanks to Silver Platter as they began to load up. Though, as the fillies and colts began to make their way as well, the stopped at the sudden appearance of Lunar Pearl from behind one of the carts Silver Platter moved aside.

“Lunar Pearl! There you are!”

The group immediately rushed her. “Where were you hiding?”

Lunar Pearl simply smiled as she looked away. “Oh, no where special.”

“Come down, you got to tell us. We looked everywhere for you.”

“Then I guess you’ll have to keep on looking the next time we play,” she said with a grin.

One of them blew a raspberry at her then turned for the table. “Fine, let’s get some food and then we’ll hunt you down again.”

“You guys go ahead, I’m not that hungry,” Lunar Pearl replied as she turned and began skipping away. The rest of them stared at her with wonderment as she hummed a happy tune.

“Since when does she pass up food?”

Comments

[Retiredwriter]

Well nice to see your alive Senyu.