rubycity_ooc | MARCH TEST DRIVE

Welcome to the Ruby City Test Drive!

The rules are simple:

Pick your prompts and post your character, making sure to include the character's name and canon in the subject line.

Tag around, making sure to follow the game rules. If you're not sure about something, don't be shy - check with the other player!

We recommend staying away from "I just arrived" prompts. Instead, write your test drive threads as though your character has been in the city a while and is responding to our periodic events, especially if you're going to use your test drive threads as application samples. This will give mods a better understanding of your character, as well as make more dynamic prompts for other players to respond to.

This one's obvious, but just in case you forgot: have fun!

KEEP RUBY CITY WEIRD
ONE ► You've been here a few weeks now, and things haven't gotten any more logical. You're on your weekly run to the grocery store and, for the umpteenth time, you notice something . . . not quite right. Maybe there's some unusual food on the shelves, something you don't know how to identify or would never have considered eating back home; edible chalk or an entire refrigerator full of ostrich eggs are more likely than you think! Or maybe it's something even stranger than that. Was that janitor's closet always there--and if it wasn't, do you really want to investigate? Have there always been seven aisles, because you really think you remember six last week . . . Whatever the weirdness this week, you're going to have to find a way to deal with it, whether that's by confronting it directly, asking another shopper for help, or turning to the network in dismay.

TWO ► While there are some reasonably fun places to hang out in Ruby City, the catacombs don't fall into that category. They're dark and miserable and terrifying, seemingly designed to trap you and draw you in, maybe even alive. The walls shift in an ever-changing maze, leading you further and further in, coaxing you towards any number of pitfalls. How long have you even been in here? Hope you brought a light, although it won't help much against the ghosts. Maybe you have a friend (or an enemy) with you; if not, you can try calling for help on the network, but let's be realistic: this isn't the kind of place that gets great reception.

THREE ► You've found an abandoned house. Again. This is a fairly frequent occurrence, given the city's eerie emptiness and tiny population. On a whim, or maybe even by accident, you enter the house and find the detritus of the previous owners. Pictures in frames of smiling friends, notes written from one person to another covered with inscrutable inside jokes, even a place on the wall where the former occupant used to hang their watch when they went to bed. Do you feel like an invader, or do you consider this place yours for the exploring? Either way, there's a lot to think about, or a lot to steal. If you're alone, you can philosophize on the network; if you brought a friend, you can philosophize in person or just get to looting.

MONSTERS ALL AROUND
FOUR ► In your time in Ruby City so far, you've seen plenty of monsters already. Honesty, you can't get away from the ghosts. This is a new one, though: there are a bunch of thestrals around this month, and while they're largely shy of people, anyone who heads into the forest is likely to come across them. If you've ever experienced someone's death before, you'll be able to see them in all their skeletal winged horse-y glory, witness them peering at you with their shining white eyes and considering you with a bit of mistrust. If you haven't experienced a death, congratulations, you just ran into an invisible dead horse. On the plus side, they're not violent; they just want to hang out being death omens, but they're scary enough to look at that you might ask for advice, either from a companion or the network at large.

FIVE ► Here you are, minding your own business, taking a walk in the park. Just like any other day, right? Wrong. So wrong. All of a sudden you hear growling from behind you, low and hungry; you turn around to see--something very ugly, half-man half-wolf, all excited to eat you. And the best part? There's a group of them. Maybe you call out for help. Maybe you holler and run away, or try to climb a tree. Or maybe you make a Blair Witch-style network video, the better to strike fear into the hearts of your neighbors. Either way, you better find a way to get away, or you're lunch.

SIX ► You totally have a clean conscience. Absolutely. 100%. You've never done anything wrong in your life; we know this, and we love you. So then why are you seeing the Adh Seid? Every night at midnight, a beautiful woman enters your home to remind you of all the awful things you've done in your life. You could set a clock by her, she's so persistent, and you can't figure out any way to get rid of her. How do you cope with this? You can ask someone, but that would mean admitting your guilty conscience. Or you could just vaguepost. Everybody loves a vaguepost.

SOMETHING'S HAPPENING
SEVEN ► So . . . you died. How did that feel? Terrible, right? Dying sucks. But coming back is sometimes even worse. Before the vision of Death you've seen (whichever one makes most sense to you, whether that's a big skeletal dude in a black cloak or something else entirely) lets you reenter the land of the living, it tells you that you have to give something up in exchange. That something can be physical, like an item or even a body part, or something less tangible, like a memory or skill. You'll get it back eventually, but for now it's out of your reach. Hard to cope, right? Maybe don't die next time. In the meantime, you're probably going to have to ask for help as you adjust, so make sure to reach out on the network. Unless you're the stoic sort, in which case, never fear: there are enough nosy people in this city that somebody's sure to notice sooner than later.

EIGHT* ► Perhaps you've been recruited by Dil herself, or maybe a friend or stranger has insisted you assist them in the locating and collecting of certain unique items. The exact nature of these items has been kept from you, but you know enough to know that there's something deeply wrong about them--or, at least that's the sense you get from this whole affair. Really, the entire town seems off-kilter, and even a simple mission to retrieve a simple object or two takes a lot of consternation. There's been whispers about a mirror, but you're not entirely sure, yourself.

The seaside sounds like a good place to start, in the closed, off-season stalls and high dunes. Maybe you've been pointed towards the Obelisk, where, even if you don't find whatever it is you're looking for, you're bound to find someone who can help. The library is another place that may be worth looking into--though it's possible the mutable bookshelves and dark rooms are more trouble than they're worth.

NINE** ► Ruby City is not what it was. While as long as you've been here you've known it as a very strange place with long stretches of boredom interrupted by horrifying upheaval, the city it has become now is totally, completely . . . pleasant. Nothing bad ever happens. No one questions anything, because nothing bad ever happens! And if someone asks about a bad thing that may or may not have happened, they are silenced. Quickly. Which didn't bother you until you woke up this morning and suddenly remembered the old city. What do you do? Is the right choice to conform and try to stay safe or fight against this Stepford city? Be careful what you say on the network this time--but who knows, maybe someone around you has woken up just like you have.

________
* This event is based off our February-March 2017 Mirror event.
** This event is based off of our June 2016 Pleasantville event.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Three: Action

[She hadn't meant to pry. She'd just heard a noise coming from inside, something that sounded like a baby animal crying, and so she'd knocked, and the door had opened just the smallest bit, and, well, one thing always led to another. She'd looked for a solid ten minutes, upstairs and down, calling for whoever or whatever might have been inside, but the only thing that answers her are the echoes of her own voice. Nobody home. Not that that's unusual.

Before she leaves, she lingers for a moment more, and her eyes fall upon a framed picture on a table near the door. There's a moment of hesitation as she reaches out, but inevitably she picks it up, fingers brushing at the slightly dusty glass. Six girls smile up at her, mid-laugh, frozen forever. She traces one cheek, an arm around a shoulder, as the corner of her mouth twists just a little. There's a noise behind her, the creak of the door opening, but she doesn't move. The people who lived in these places don't come home, in her experience.]

I know some people think these houses are creepy, but I don't know. I just think it's...kind of sad. What about you?

Seven: Network

[They say that Death rides a pale horse. Sunset Shimmer knows now that isn't true. Death is a pale horse, towering and small all at the same time. She's looking at him right now, at the familiar shape of hooves and muzzle and flank, feeling the echoes of those limbs in her now-familiar fingers, the faint weight of a horn on her brow. In death, maybe, she's what she used to be. Old Sunset and new. He tells her she can go back, finish what she started, but she has to make a sacrifice. Has to give up something in exchange. She opens her mouth, but what he takes isn't exactly what she'd planned to give. Maybe that's why he took it.

Which is why this network post is text, unlike all of her previous. You can't make a voice post without a voice, after all.]

This might be a little weird, but is there anyone out there who knows sign language? And can teach it?

What's going on that you need sign-language for? Something wrong with your voice?

[applejack how are you typing with hooves the greatest ruby city mystery of all]

Yeah, I guess you could say that. I mean, it's not wrong, more like...gone? For now, anyway. I just don't know for how long, so I'm just trying to be prepared. That's all.

[Seriously though are there little suckers on those hooves or what]

What in tarnation? Is that some kind of spell affecting you?

[Well, she can't just come out and say she died, can she? She doesn't want to worry Applejack. Not that this is her Applejack, the one she knows, but...ugh, alternate dimensions can be such a headache. Instead, she just...skates around the question.]

No, no spell! Just...a trade, I guess? I just wasn't exactly clear on the terms. At least I can text, though, right? It's not that bad.

Well, yeah, that's better than nothing. But I'm worried about you. That just ain't normal. What did you need so badly you had to give up your voice?

[Her life? Ugh. There's no way to really avoid this, so maybe she can just...Say it carefully. Make it seem like less of a big deal.]

I didn't want anyone to worry, but...I got hurt. Pretty bad. And somepony--I mean, somebody offered to help me get better. So I guess it's kind of a magic thing? But it's not really a magic thing. And I'm fine, really! I'm just...Well, going to be quiet for a while, I guess. No breaking out into song in the middle of the square.

[too bad SHE WORRIES ANYWAY]

I'm awful glad to hear you got better but I sure wish you would've told us sooner. We could've helped!

[could her friends have helped tho]

MARCH TEST DRIVE

Sunset Shimmer | Equestria Girls

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