The Golden Emerald Casino(jump-in)

[GalvinRoe]

Berry sucked a little. Then started crying

I've got a problem, Kai. I.  . . I

Berry stopped wringing his hooves.

[Ryo_D_Disk]

"hey hey calm down, all will be alright, now tell me what happened"Kai's tone changes to a much softer one as he moves himself and Berry to one side leaning on a machine

[GalvinRoe]

Berry took a few, slow, breathes in and spat out the candy.

That stuff is nasty Kai . . . He attempted a smile but it came out poorly. His eyes still glistened.

I-I've gotten myself addicted to gambling, Kai . . . I owe the club alot of money, they won't let me leave now, I've been cooped up here for the past few weeks . . . working it off as the bartender. I-I also can't stop drinking . . .

[LostSanity]

((Hmm... I didn't expect this to become active again. Oh well. I'll try to be active here again too))

Skye was too entranced by the sight she was seeing...

That is... until... she was pelted by rain. When Skye realized it, she quickly flew back into the casino and tried to quickly make her way back to the hotel rooms where she quickly found a bathroom and dried herself off. After that, she made her way back to the room, finding Flora still there.

"What's wrong?" asked Flora

"It's started raining outside" informed Skye

"I see... I guess we'll have to stay inside here until the storm's over" realized Flora

"I guess so..." remarked Skye

"Well... being dull and depressed won't help!! Let's see what's going on!!" decided Flora as she practically grabbed onto Skye and made her come with her back into the main casino area.

Ponies were everywhere. Which made sense since it was now raining outside.

Other than that, nothing had changed, and there still seemed like there was nothing to do.

So... for now... Flora and Skye simply walked around the casino area, trying to see if anything interesting was going on.

[Ryo_D_Disk]

"now Berry you need to calm down and think straight, your addictions are caused by panic and there making you unwell, now the owner of this place cannot be so cruel to hold one against there will"

[Spazicle12]

(Yes thank you
I do love this rp)

Spaz walked into the casino area
'Hhmmm... I sence magic
Either someponies cheating on a machine, a table game, or something else...
Only one way to find out'
Spaz thought to himself and started walking around investigating

[The Wandering Magus]

"Come on, let me show you around a bit while we talk."

The ponies exited the armored room, slowly making their way past the lobby towards the stairwell, talking as they went.

"The place is... certainly different than it once was."

The fat pony just chuckled bitterly.  "You could say that.  Money, money, money.  You keep thinking you can leave it, just one more bit and you can pay your way out of it, but it sucks you right back in."

"What do you mean?" asked Fancy, surprised.  "I mean, I had my entire history and family wrapped up in my estate, but even I managed to leave it in Fleur's hooves for over two years."

The cigar-chomper just shook his head.  "Like I said.  You're lucky, old partner.  You've got good friends.  REAL friends.  The kinds of which wouldn't go and drag you back kicking and screaming into all this as soon as you try to leave."

Fancy's voice softened.  "You mean... the-"

"Family.  Always.  Hay, they talk about gambling addictions as if it were only the poor, unfortunate souls that play their lives away at the tables who lose themselves.  Let me tell you, Lord Fancy, don't you EVER get yourself a profit from this stuff.  These bits, they look shiny, but they're tainted with a shadow that won't wash off no matter what you do with them.  Once you get it, once you start taking more than a look, bang!"

The fat pony shook his hoof as if it were a griffon's claw.

"It gets you.  Debt?  If only they knew.  It's an endless cycle.  The souls lose their lives to me, and there's not a thing I can do."

"You could cancel their debt..."

"And have the Family after me like timberwolves?  I'm just the in-between.  They're the REAL baddies behind all this.  They don't get their money, I'm gone, just like that!  And they want BIG money.  I'm talking FORTUNES.  I couldn't get it all honestly if I tried.  You think I WANT to hold these poor souls in my hooves?"

They were walking slowly through the lobby past Ryo, Berry and the others, surrounded by stallions in suits but still audible by Green Stroke's student.

[LostSanity]

As Skye and Flora walked around, they noticed the sort of "flock" of ponies. Particularly, the ponies in suits who seemed to be protecting somepony.

"Oh wow. It looks like even important ponies come here" remarked Flora

"Well... it is a casino..." reminded Skye. Flora laughed.

"True enough" commented Flora.

The two continued walking around, trying to see what else was going on.

[GalvinRoe]

  Berry looked at Kai, his forehead pressed and folded, a great crease.  " What are you saying, Kai? I'm in debt! I have to pay it off! I'm stuck here till I can, I . . ." Berry paused for a moment, pushing back new tears; his next words made him appear physically ill. "I cannot leave until I pay, but I've still got a chance, I-I can pay off this debt in a couple years. If I could just stop drinking!"      Berry beat his head. "I KNOW what I need to do, Kai. I KNOW and yet I can't stop, I need help!"

  Then . . . Berry turned his full attention to Kai. His eyes, they held a kind of hunger, a hopeless hope. Berry set himself up-right, using Kai as a ladder, he did his best to look happy and overjoyed but his eyes were dark, pits of emotion.

   "Kai, Kai, my good friend! You could help me! You could help your friend, Berry! I only need 13,000 bits, that's all. 13,000 bits and I'm free! Heck! If you could get me 10,000 they'd let me out of here, I could easily pay the rest back, once I was free! OH, and of course I'd get you your money back, I could make it back, after I got out!"

   Berry looked as though he would shake the money out of Kai, his hooves trembled and his face was so contorted Kai almost didn't recognize the 'once-happy' baker.

   "Come on Kai, be a pal!"

   * * * * * * * *

   Bright Mane's ears pricked up, she could of sworn some-one she knew had spoken in that crowd swarming about them. Then she heard it again and even caught a glimpse of a well-kept, blue tail.

   Mane gave a quick glance back at the tragic gambling pony before she leaned into a strange position, eventually, a look of comprehension and certainty came over her face. "What is Fancy doing here, now? Ah, he seems to know the casino kings. .  ."

   Mane shook her name-sake out. Ears, showing her agitation. Her hooves trembled, as if they made to run. . .  but she turned back to Kai and the poor debt-ridden pony.

   "Listen, I need to tell my mentor something, something interesting has come up and I'm sure he'd want to know immediately. I'd help with your friend there . . ." She looked at the pony, her eyes not quite showing sympathy but still holding a kind of sadness. "What I'm saying is: I think I'm pretty useless here at the moment and I DO have something I need to report to my instructor."

   Bright Mane shook her head again, ears still a flurry of motion and left before the others could respond. Charging out of the spell area, directly into the processions path. She turned, searching the suited ponies, making sure she had gotten the facts correct.

   "Yes . . . Fancy IS there."

[Ryo_D_Disk]

Kai looked sad for the pony almost slightly disapointed
"now Berry you know that is something I cannot do, the lending of money from a professional  Is a repromandable act, and a form of pay off against the laws of equestria"

"hey Kai, security picked up my spell traces you don't have long left"

[GalvinRoe]

Berry didn't lose that helpless hope. He just noded and held onto Kai, tighter.
"Of course, we wouldn't want it as a transaction in large sums! This is to be a loan between two friends! A loan! Heh, these things happen every day, it's not illegal for two friends to share a little money between them, never was before! Besides . . .  "

  Berry's eyes darted across the hall. "I doubt THESE people would care, even if you did get the money a little illegaly, as long as it wasn't from them. . .

Berry smiled up at Kai, pain cracking his face like a shattered nut. He spoke with a fevered frenzy, spitting out his words and growing louder as he continued.

"I'm glad I found you, Kai! Now, now I can get out! I haven't been back to see my family in months. I-I didn't tell them where I was going, either! I didn't expect to be gone more then a weekend, it was supposed to be a small vacation!" His bloodshot eyes searched Kai's face. "Have you seen Chilie recently? How is she doing? And my daughter, Sandy, how is she?"

Berry shook his head and grew more excited. "I need to get back to them . . . They've probably sent out search parties . . ."

[Ryo_D_Disk]

"Berry I cannot do this and you know it, but I may be able to contact your family, and if you wish ill spare some details"

"Kai stop questioning your ethics, I'm closing the spell, any longer and we might get thrown out for assumed cheating magic. And you Berry, is this how you deal with situations begging, a pony you know cant ethically help"

[The Wandering Magus]

The fat pony and the aristocrat, along with their entourage of bodyguards, began ascending the staircase.

"I've always preferred the stairs to the elevator.  Somehow, it seems safer.  Less worry of power cutting out and getting trapped, you know?"

"I can empathize."

"Anyhow, like I was saying.  I can't just let go, you know?  There's no way the Family would let me just up and leave like that.  Every time I think I'm through with this business another of them foals go and throw money at us hoping to get more, and end up in debt to us in ways you can't even imagine."

"Couldn't you leave things to an associate?"

"There you go with the friends again.  I haven't GOT any friends I could trust down here.  Not with that kind of money, not with that kind of power.  And even if I did, what difference would it make?  I'm a marked pony.  I could run all the way to the other side of the world, just like you did, but my clients, these poor, poor souls, come from all over the world.  And I've done dirty business, Fancy.  REALLY dirty.  The Family's got me hook, line and sinker, and there's nothing I can do."

"What do you mean?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you.  And besides.  I wouldn't want to put that kind of a burden on you, knowing what I did.  Just know that, even if I could get out with everything payed up and favors put through, they've still got me wrapped around their hoof like a ribbon on Heart's and Hooves.  Banished if I stay, banished if I don't.  There's no winning this game, Fancy."

They came slowly to the casino floor, and both wealthy stallions looked out over the blazing rows of machines, this golden cage, this gilded Tartarus-on-Equestria.

"Look at them foals.  Thinking they could earn a fortune if they paid just one more bit, played one more round.  And the joke of it all," the fat pony started choking up with a mixture of sadness, anger, frustration and black humor, "is that I'm just as much a FOAL as any of them.  Me.  I KNEW the risks.  I KNEW it was all too good to be true.  But something black inside me said just one more round, and I was caught with as much humiliation as the poorest, most wretched debtor trying to gamble back their debts here."

[GalvinRoe]

Berry's eyes' fogged over. "Wha-what do you mean you can't do this? Ethically empared, by my situation? YOU ARE MORALLY OBLIGATED TO HELP ME!"

Berry was shouting vigorously, at Kai.

"YOU CAN JUST WALK AWAY, WHEN YOUR FRIEND NEEDS HELP? HUH? Well good for you doctor-kai, I can't just leave, I'm stuck here!

Berry released Kai to make dramatic gestures. Waving his arms like snakes and shaking his hooves in Kai's face.

"I AM GOING TO DIE HERE!

Berry looked well beyond desperate, his face had broken into different emotions. His eyes were dead, his nose twitched with awfull humour, his mouth was a horrifying hole of anger. And his ears showed his complete anxiety and frustration above it all.

Then . . . it all seemed to crash down, and he looked calm; serene; determined. His face frozen on Kai . . .

"You are not leaving until you help me." His voice a whisper, his hoof already snaking around Kai's arm.

* * *

Bright mane rushed back to Strokes' suite, entering quickly she turned to Right Hoof.

"Hoof, Fancy is here, he's here in the casino!"

Right hoof only had a moment to look suprized, before Strokes sat up from the resting couch, he had taken refuge on. Strokes had been sitting in a shadowy corner of the room; His head: covered by a blanket.

"What did you say? Bright mane, repeat what you said . . ."

Strokes' voice echoed his disdain. He had hopped not to run into Fancy, not this time. . . There were things he needed to get done this time, things that could not be postponed or canceled.

"So . . . Fancy is here, huh? Well, I'd like to see my old friend, I didn't let him know I'd be coming back but I'd like to see him all the same. Where is he Mane?

Strokes only had to think two seconds before he realized he 'needed' to share his thoughts with Fancy, something was wrong and he needed help . . .

Bright Mane shook her head, "I don't know, Strokes. He was walking along with one of the Casino bosses . . . They were headed up-stairs, probably to the casino area, but I wouldn't place any bets on that . . .

Strokes interupted. "Not now, Mane, this is serious, I need to see my friend." Strokes stood, apply a fair ammount of pressure to his frontal lobe. He staggered, took a step forward, then fell back onto the couch. "I-I cannot. I - will you bring him here, Bright Mane? Please? At least something will come of this trip . . ..

Bright Mane nodeed, her eyes soft, caring. "Just, give me a second. I'll be right back."

With purpose and determination, Brightmane sprinted forth, up the stairs.

[Ryo_D_Disk]

"You Pathetic little pony do you really think he would pay your fine, was your existence invaluable to the point of dragging yourself into such a situation then to drag another into it unacceptable"Ryo's already gray colour dims and becomes darker than before

"Ryo Calm down, you shouldn't get stresses you know what happens""Regardless Kai we are leaving the seal is down and we have other matters to attend to" Ryo silently whispered one word which was undesirable in any language as Kai and Ryo fade into darkness to Berrys sigt
"Ryo that was crule removing our perception from him"

"It had to be done he shall not see touch or hear those under thine power mortal"

[GalvinRoe]

Berry began to howl . . . Screaming like a pony being tortured.

"I CAN'T SEE! I CAN'T SEE!

Berry fell onto the ground, flailing like a maniac. Grabbing at anything around him and feeling nothing.

Berry screamed again, thrashing about and knocking ponies over.

Berry had already drawn a small crowd in the few seconds he was visible, now . ..  now people were complaining to the security and the one's toppled were quite upset.

[Ryo_D_Disk]

"Ryo.... no you, that was cruel"
"Pff  he's just being a drama queen I only did a basic spell it will end in a second now let us leave the fool may have his body back"

Ryo and Kai leave the area and head towards the main lobby

[GalvinRoe]

After a short span of time . . . Berry is picked up by the Casino security. Taking him away from the main lobby and assisting any frustrated or 'injured' customers. . .

Anyone wishing to make complaints is taken to put their grivences in with the 'Executive of Complaints and Suggestions'

The whole scandal is forgotten in a matter of minutes and the bustle in the lobby continues, like nothing happened.

[LostSanity]

Skye... stopped. She heard what sounded like... screaming. Flora heard it too and also stopped.

They just stood there, in complete shock, as they watched the pony scream his head off. That is, until, what seemed like casino security took him away.

Then... it was like... nothing even happened. Things went to "normal."

"What the...?!" thought Skye

"Oh my..." remarked Flora.

The two stayed silent after that. They weren't sure what to do or say to one another. They just sort of stood there, frozen, unsure of what to do next...

((  ))

[Spazicle12]

Spaz looked around, confused.
'What in equestria just happened'
He started walking towards the elevator to go up to
The roof, to clear his head