Age of Exploration

[Wylfen Shepard]

Dreamweaver Cyan Hide

While prepping up his potion-making set, Cass couldnt help but roll his eyes and chuckle at Trixie's order. "Yes, my lady", he humored her in a classy voice. While anyone would be annoyed by it, Cassian was actually amused and relieved to hear Trixie's mood brighten. Even if he found her a strange character from the way she boasted and spoke in third-person when he first met her and Starlight. It didnt take long to warm up to Trixie's character. After all, he's lived around ponies long enough to know that many tend to have quirky personalities. A quality about them he was actually quite fond of.

As the bunsen burner lights up, he takes out his personal tea kettle and clay cups, along with his different sets of of herbs that were assorted in smaller bags. When, Trixie and Starlight pressed the matter of his changes, Cassian froze for a moment while filling the kettle with water. "Well uh.....", he reluctantly stammers for a moment before realizing the tea kettle was full and places it on the burner. "How can I explain it?", he asks himself while placing various natural herbs and roots into his medicine bowl. He was lucky he found some of them growing fresh in the wild, so this tea will surely have a refined and refreshing flavor. He placed dried lemon balm, peppermint, fennel seeds, dried rose petals, fresh lavender, dried licorice roots, and freshly plucked chamomile into the bowl to grind while the water heats up. As he was grinding the ingredients, he gave thought in explaining since its alot to cover. That and he needs to keep his secret about the tree and the old underground sanctum he found at The Castle of the Two Sisters as vague as possible.

"Well you see. As i told you when we first met, I'm not from Equestria. However, I didnt happen to mention that I have relations to this land. It's one of the reasons why I came here. To find out what they are and what do they mean for me. I found a few clues around the Everfree forest, but it only led to more questions. That is until I found something....big. What ever it was, it was calling out to me somehow. So all I could do was answer by following it. And thats when I happened to bump into Princess Luna. What ever it was I stumbled upon, I knew it was something important that no one outside the royal family can know about.", he stopped for a moment and scraped the finely-blended paste into the heating kettle. "So, yeah. For a second there, I thought I was in too deep. You know, For a moment I thought becoming a dragon-scaled accessory for the Princess of the Night wouldnt have been too bad of a way to go when I thought about it. ^^'",he bemused with a chuckle. "Still I wasnt ready to go out just yet, so did the protocal when meeting royalty. Kneel and respectfully apologize for my intrusion. And if that didnt work.....well, at least I could have crossed out fighting a powerful deity off my bucket list before going down. But in the end.......and I dont know why, but she ended up trusting me for some reason.", he looks back at the two mares snuggled up in bed. It gave him an awkward blush at first, but he smiled none the less seeing how comfortable they were before quickly going back to watching his kettle. "Princess Luna guided me to the source of what I was looking for. When we found it.....it....did something to me.", he placed his claw over his now Topaz encrusted Crest Mark on his right shoulder, which used to be an unsusally shaped dark brown splotch of a birthmark.

 

[Cyan Hide]

Dreamweaver Wylfen Shepard

Starlight snuggled her marefriend back, equally embarrassed and spurred on by being in company. She stroked Trixie's mane as her other hoof embraced the cyan mare and held her close. They just lay there, fit together snuggly like jigsaw pieces, as Starlight listened to Cassian's story with her eyes closed. As the dragon got further into the story, her eyes opened. There were many curious details that raised questions; What was in the Everfree Forest? Why was Luna there? What did she trust Cassian? What did the source do to him exactly?

Starlight gave Trixie a squeeze before unsnuggling her and sliding off the bed. She levitated over her twin-pronged staff, and approached Cassian, taking the staff in one of her hooves. "May I examine that mark?" she asked in a curious inquiring tone.

 

[Dumbledoof]

HighSanguinaryPriest
The halls of the Night Guard were alive with fighting. The clamor of metal on metal, the yelling, grunting, and general cacophony of fighting happening within the premises. Although, it was something a little bit different than the normal routine. Training, yes, but with a unique figure amongst them instead of the norm.

It was a bloody rabbit. They were rough around the edges—scars here and there, a large one along the side of their stomach, another right along their cheek. Their fur was an ashy gray, apparent in it's distinct quality of looking as if the being was either old or had died. It did not have the look of a rabbit that was alive, that was for certain. Yet it still retained the soft feeling of one. This particular rabbit was neither dead nor alive. He hadn't died and stood apart from the living, but not undead.

A shadowy aura surrounded him as his magic worked. The rabbit, Expellix was he was known, wielded two silver axes. One had the head of a wolf on it, sapphires inlaid into the eyes, and the other was less decorative. It sported a long and very pointy armor piercing spike on the back of it's head. Both blades glistened in the light, sparkling along the edges. The craftsmanship of the weapons was legendary to say the least, considering they were forged by Princess Luna specifically for his use.

One of the fellow Night Guards was on the ground, disarmed, with Expellix panting but grinning. He released his hold on the axes, Insight and Judgment, reaching a paw out to help them up. They looked at him skeptically before accepting, and with some effort, the rabbit did manage to pull them to their feet. He saluted them.

"Good fight." He praised, turning out at everybody else, observing quietly for a moment.

 

[HighSanguinaryPriest]

Dumbledoof

Scrambling back to his hooves, Midnight cursed himself in romaneian for losing to a bunny, be that a rather old and powerful bunny. using his glaive for support, the Umbralcorn quickly started to get his labored breathing back under control. After several long moments of controlled breathing, he had finally managed to do so. "Indeed, a good fight apprentice of Luna." he said removing the rather gothic looking Sallet helm, the Bevor being the only piece covering his muzzle. Raising his left forehoof, he lowered said piece revealing a satisfied if yet humbled fanged grin. "I shall remember to never underestimate a Iepure again."

 

[Dumbledoof]

HighSanguinaryPriest
Expellix smirked a bit up at Midnight, squatting down on his haunches. Insight and Judgment simply hovered on either side of him respective. "Don't beat yourself up over it," his eyes scanned the room, "I'm sure many here have."

He looked at Midnight curiously. "I'm not used to sparring with others. What made you want to?"

 

[HighSanguinaryPriest]

Dumbledoof

"Boredom, Preshow jitters, keeping myself primed and ready for combat. Alege." Midnight replied placing the training weapon back on the rack, his helm floating beside him in his telekinetic grasp. In all honesty, he had a show later that night when he was relieved of duty. it would be his first show in four years since joining the guard. "De ce sunt așa de nervos... sunt doar câteva cântece la unul dintre cluburi..." He muttered under his breath.

 

[Dumbledoof]

HighSanguinaryPriest
Expellix arched an eyebrow, standing up and stretching his arms out above his head. "Pre-show jitters?" He asked. He didn't know this stallion actually ran a show of some sort. It was a bit of a surprise, honestly—he figured being part of the Lunar Guard would take up too much time for those kind of activities. Or... well, maybe it just did for him.

He didn't have anything else to do.

At him speaking Romaneian, Expellix's ears twitched. "Uh... what?"

 

[HighSanguinaryPriest]

Dumbledoof

"Rahat..." He swore realizing he started switching between the two languages. He quickly berated himself mentally before switching back to equish. "Forgive me, I sometimes switch between my first and languages without realizing it. Been speaking both for so long, i Just slip into either in the middle of a conversation if i'm not conscious about it. Can be quite a bother at times if i don't catch it." The hybrid replied a tad bit embarrassed, rubbing the back of his neck.

 

[Dreamweaver]

Cyan Hide Wylfen Shepard
Trixie let out a whine of disapproval as Starlight got off the bed, but didn't bother to try and stop her. Trixie never has quite the magical curiosity that Starlight did, but she could appreciate the attention to detail that the mare possessed and her sense of magical auras. If the mare wanted to look at something, there was a fairly good chance it was a powerful rune.

"Looks to me like it left a mark on you. Are you sure you didn't just draw that on in hopes of impressing a lady?" She asked with a tilt of her head, not overly convinced that the mark was actually real. Trixie couldn't sense any magic coming off of it, not like Starlight could.

HighSanguinaryPriest Dumbledoof
As the two were talking, a shadow began to coalesce behind Expellix. It made no sound and didn't disturb the setting in the slightest, in fact neither of them would even notice it! After a few moments the shadow had formed into Princess Luna, who did what all trainers would do to an apprentice who was distracted.

She leaned down and went 'AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!' in his ear.

 

[Dumbledoof]

Dreamweaver
Expellix just had this gut feeling that something was suddenly off and he needed to run. His survival instincts were just screaming at him to move, hide, do anything. His ears raised up at his sudden alarm...

And then a shadow was over him.

Luna screamed. He screamed in return, though it was in total agony as he jerked away, holding his ear. "GOD DAMNIT, LUNA!"

 

[HighSanguinaryPriest]

Dreamweaver Dumbledoof

Upon seeing his princess, Midnight on instinct snapped to attention, his face that of stone before barking out "TEn-Ch HUT!!!" He barked snapping the rest of his brothers and sisters in arms out of what they were doing, all scurrying into position before standing ramrod straight. Each one like the Umbralcorn, wearing a stony expression. All awaiting their mistress's command.

 

[Dreamweaver]

HighSanguinaryPriest Dumbledoof
Princess Luna wasn't quite expecting the way her soldiers snapped to attention. She had always been rather lax as far as that sort of thing was concerned. Unless there was a war going on, she didn't expect soldiers to stand at attention in her presence or salute her in the slightest. Her only job was training them and leading them when war came.

"... You can all stop that now. Back to sparring." She said, before turning on Midnight and Expellix. She recognized this pony, she knew all of her guards, but she had never actually met him. She held out her hoof for him to shake, "I do not think I have had the pleasure of meeting you yet, Midnight Sonata."

And then she patted Expellix on the head. Pat. Pat. Squish. "... Your ear okay?"

 

[Dumbledoof]

Dreamweaver
Expellix didn't seem to quite hear Luna. He barely even reacted to the pats on the head, still reeling from having her scream right into his ear. His hearing was quite a bit more sensitive than that of a ponies, especially more geared by subtler and hearing at a distance. That was none of those things.

Despite the pain still going through his head, he snapped his fingers a few times on that side. Nothing. His jaw clenched. "... I think you just made me go partially deaf." He hissed. Time would tell... he wasn't even hearing a ringing in his ear at the moment.

 

[Wylfen Shepard]

Dreamweaver Cyan Hide

"Um....sure.", Cassian approved reluctantly for Starlight to examine his Crest Mark, which is what he decided to call it. He wasn't sure how the curious unicorn was gonna make her analysis on the mark, but he was just as curious as her. Even though he kinda felt nervous. After all, it wasn't exactly pleasant when he first received it. He kneels down and sits on his haunches on all fours to make it easier for her. Even when on all fours, Cassian was still large on scale to and average pony. Starlight would probably assume hes about the same if not a bit larger than the largest of the Apple Family's Big Macintosh. And just like BigMac, he kept his expression stern and neutral but he was clearly a but nervous in his eyes.

Trixie's comment brought the young dragon out of his discouraged demeanor. He looked back at her with a raised eyebrow. He then chuckles and smirks, "If I did, I would have picked a more bold color. And maybe a few special effects". He glances back down at the topaz dragon embracing a tree with it's serpentine body on his shoulder. "Still though...", he began tapping his claw on it to reveal it was actually made of Topaz gemstone. "I dont think there are any artists out there that can merge gemstone with flesh." he stated as he began tracing the contrasted outlining of the tree and the dragon. "Especially with this much detail. I'd bet my right claw many craftsman out there would kill to figure out how this is even possible". Upon closer inspection, it almost would seem as if it was a rune of some sort from how the outlining of the picture forms the shape of the crest. And as Trixie would assume it wasnt giving off any magic. At least to the naked eye. It was faint, but it has traces of magic flowing within it. Like a well or a vine connecting to something on the other side. Clearly it functions similar to a unicorn's horn, but it acts more like a conduit. What ever gave Cassian this crest mark, it made some sort of connection with him. And what ever was on the other side, it was something ancient with very old and powerful magic.

 

[Dreamweaver]

Dumbledoof
Aurelia had slooooowly been taking over the office.

It started with her own desk and chair, because she 'got tired of always standing guard'. In her own words, 'why stand guard, when you can sit guard?'. Her desk was beside Starstreak's, although turned so that the front of Aurelia's desk was facing the side of Starstreaks. What started with a desk and chair soon turned into a weapons rack, because obviously a guard needed 30 weapons on hand to protect 1 hippogriff. And now there was a board for throwing daggers at in the corner of the room, opposite Aurelia's desk.

In her own words, 'its there so that if someone breaks in a dagger will probably hit them'. So now she just spent her days throwing daggers at the board, pretty much all of which were dead center in the middle.

Except her latest throw, which launched itself across Starstreak's desk, shattered the light bulb in the lamp and impaled itself into a cabinet full of important files.

 

[Dumbledoof]

Dreamweaver
It was at this point Starstreak began realizing something. She needed a bigger room.

If it wasn't for the fact that Aurelia was throwing knives at a board, some of which came just a little bit too close for her own comfort, it was the fact that two desks took up way too much space. This room was made for a few shelves around a room, a filing cabinet or two, and then Starstreak's big ol' desk in the middle. It was not made for a second desk that Aurelia had decided to bring in, a weapon's rack, a board for throwing knives at, and anything else that she would probably be bringing in eventually.

Star winced as the dagger flew by, impaling itself in her cabinet. Slooooowly, the hippogriff turned around, pulled the knife free, and then pointed it at Aurelia, a stern look on her face. "You need to be more careful with these things, Relly. What are you gonna do when you accidentally hit me?"

Daintily putting the knife down on her desk, Starstreak turned around and opened the cabinet, hoping that nothing was too badly damaged... jeez.

 

[Dreamweaver]

Dumbledoof
Aurelia met Star's gaze and just raised an eyebrow at that question. "... Accidentally hit you? No, no accidents here; that's what the life insurance I took out on you is for. I will 'accidentally' become a millionaire." She sniffed a bit and threw the dagger again, this time actually managing to hit the board in the middle!

She looked around the room and then sighed. "I think perhaps it is time for us to get a bigger room... if you can grab us a room, we can decorate it. Aren't you, like, the boss anyway? Go take someones room and send them here. I'll even leave them a sword as a present!"

 

[Dumbledoof]

Dreamweaver
Starstreak rolled his eyes. "Oh sure, you become a millionaire and don't feel the least bit bad about accidentally throwing a knife into your marefriend?" She glanced over her shoulder at Aurelia, giggling. "Though, I think you'd have to purposefully do it if you planned on hitting me."

Turning back to the cabinet, she thumbed through the different files and papers. Well, it certainly stabbed through quite a few them. That was a bit unfortunate. What was fortunate, though, was that it was stuff Starstreak was going to toss into an archive anyway. They would just have to, uh... copy what was written onto a different paper.

Oh well.

She closed the drawer and turned around, moving around her desk to Aurelia. "You know what, that's exactly what we're gonna do. We're gonna find me a bigger room." She went for the door, opened it, and walked out. "Come on."

 

[Dreamweaver]

Dumbledoof
As Aurelia followed Starstreak out into the hallway, she was busy thinking over something that Star had said a few seconds ago. It really puzzled her mind and made her second guess their relationship. The whole foundation of their relationship was at risk over this little tidbit of information!

"... Wait, I've been calling you my marefriend all this time, but you're only half a mare. So shouldn't you technically be my hippofriend? What's the name for a female hippogriff?? Do you even differentiate genders? Are you even female?"
...
She bit her lip as she followed along, lost in thought.

 

[Dumbledoof]

Dreamweaver
Starstreak paused and turned to stare at Aurelia, giving her the weirdest look she had ever given anybody, before continuing forward once more. Of course it would be Aurelia to overthink it. See, Star was normally the one to overthink. Aurelia... stab first, think later. Of all things... she overthinks the word 'marefriend.'

She stopped again after taking a few steps, turned around to Aurelia, and put her hands to Aurelia's cheeks. "Dear," she started slowly. "I think you've seen underneath my tail plenty of times by now to know the answer to those questions." In which, Starstreak answered none of them.

She continued down the hallway to her original destination as if nothing had happened at all.

 

[Dreamweaver]

Dumbledoof
Aurelia blushed deeply and let out a long sigh, following after Starstreak without another word. There were ponies in the hall who heard what Starstreak said and were giving them all sorts of judgy looks, though Aurelia just stuck her tongue out at them. Take that!

"... Sooo where are we going?" Aurelia asked after a few minutes of walking. This was a big laboratory, and she wasn't sure if they were going to go to the upper floors or not.

 

[Dumbledoof]

Dreamweaver
Starstreak's ears flicked at the sound of other ponies muttering. She didn't really bother sticking around to actually make out what it was. She didn't care, she doubted that Aurelia did either, so that was it. Fuck 'em.

They approached a door at the end of the hallway on the far right, the last one. She turned the nob and opened it up, revealing... a rather spacious thing, but just filled to the brim with random boxes. "This is it." Starstreak announced, scanning her eyes over everything. "It's just been being used as a storage space so far I believe... all things considered, there's many other places on the upper floors that this stuff can be moved to."

She pulled down one of the boxes, using her claws to slash the tape holding it closed easily and peering inside. Just... more boxes, though these ones were obviously used to hold documents. Shouldn't these be brought to the archives? Raising her head, she looked out at the rest of the room. "... Well, I think we've found a little project for tomorrow. Get some extra hooves on deck and sort through all of this."

She turned her head to Aurelia. "What do you think?"

 

[HighSanguinaryPriest]

Dreamweaver Dumbledoof

Taking the offered hoof, Midnight bowed low, and laid a kiss upon it before responding. "Prințesa, ne onorați.Cum poate acest gardian să vă servească, Mama Stelelor?" he said, slipping back into the tongue of his people, knowing full well if he had tried to respond in equish, he would more than likely make a fool of himself. Standing straight again, he released her captive hoof, a look of reverence in his amber eyes. "Vorbești limba poporului meu, da?"

 

[Dreamweaver]

HighSanguinaryPriest Dumbledoof
Luna was about to respond to Expellix, when she felt something very, very wrong happen. She glanced down at her hoof, which had just been kissed, then up at Midnight Sonata. The slight smile on her face slowly turned into a frown, and several guards around them had sharp intakes of breath as they watched the event unfold. Was Luna about to plaster somebodies brains all over the wall?
...
She simply pulled her hoof away and shook her head. "... Yes, I speak your language, and I'm going to let that go for now. I trust that you will not do it again."

 

[Dumbledoof]

Dreamweaver HighSanguinaryPriest
Expellix's eyes widened considerably when he saw what Midnight was doing. The guy had a death wish. He was about to bear witness to Luna repainting the room a bright new shade of red. He temporarily forgot about the pain in his skull. And...

... He wished he had some popcorn right now. Unfortunately, she just pulled her hoof back. Damn it! He specifically turned himself around so his left ear was facing Luna, because the right side was dead now. "Luna, I think I may need to see a doctor." He said casually, just ignoring the fact that Midnight did something incredibly stupid. "Like... uh, soon. Assuming we want me to keep my hearing intact anyway."