The Second Griffon War (Casual Thread - All welcome!)

[Cyan Hide]

Wylfen Shepard Dreamweaver

"Hello, Cassian," Starlight greeted, smiling, glad of another visitor. She'd heard that Cassian often visited while Starlight was taking a dinner/recreation break. Starlight knew that if she was injured, she'd want to see a lot of her marefriend but also knew that she'd also need some alone time, to recharge and relax. Besides, Trixie wasn't the only one who needed breaks to recharge and relax.

The Dragon was a friend to them both but particularly to Trixie. It was good to have somebody else show concern, lest it feel like Starlight and Trixie vs the world. She was grateful for his support.

 

[Dreamweaver]

Cyan Hide Wylfen Shepard
It was Starlight and Trixie vs The World, silly!

Seeing Cassian there made Trixie smile slightly, before she wandered back over to her bed and sat down in it. The room was pretty crowded already with just two ponies, so adding a dragon into the mix made things quite claustrophobic. At least he was an upright dragon and not a huge four legged one! Because then they really couldn't fit.

Still, it was nice to have company, even if it did mean she needed to stop her exercising for now. The truth was that she could use a break anyway. Falling over constantly really pissed her off and was starting to lead to a lot of swearing... which Starlight, for all of her great power, was unable to prevent.

"Please, come in!"

 

[Wylfen Shepard]

Dreamweaver Cyan Hide

The young dragon nods and steps in, taking great care not to close the door on his tail like he did last time. That really hurt like hell. "Good to see you up and about", he said as he start putting his backpack and weapons at the far corner of the room. "So, has The Great and Powerful Trixie been taking her medicine?", he asked Starlight with a knowing look on his face from his raised eyebrow. He recalled there have been times when it was difficult for the cyan mare to take her meds when she was inebriated from the painkillers.

Before Starlight would answer, Cassian snorts a little soot from his nose in irritation to see the flowers on Trixie's nightstand havent been well-cared for. They were drier than a bale of hay with thier pedals barely hanging on. "Well thats a morbid sight for a patient who's recovering from a tramatic injury -.- ' ", he thought to himself with a deadpanned look. He quickly grabs his bandaged long pole in strange wrapping with runes on them. With one hand, he quickly twirls the pole vertically without hitting anything in one hand. Suddenly, he stops with the top end pointing at the flower vase in a snap. The tip flashed a viberant green magical aura as the plants began to spring back to life. Within a mattered of seconds, the dried husks turning into a steong healthy bouquet of flowers. They grew a bit larger then when they were first brought in and thier color became more bright and vibrant.

"I know everyone in this hospital are busy, but would it kill someone to make the patients more comfortable?", he commented while leaning, what actually appeared to be his staff in the corner.

 

[Dumbledoof]

Dreamweaver
It was the next day after Luna had rescued Asa from nearly dying to bandits. Considering how rare crystal dragons were already, especially ones that were princesses... things could go very wrong there. Luckily, though, having the night goddess on speed dial helps on occasion. She would consider her family to be pretty nice!

Unfortunately, though, Asa had a rather difficult time sleeping that night. Tossing and turning, and then accidentally tearing the blanket had her waking up quite early in frustration. Every time she closed her eyes, all she saw was her claw lodged elbow deep in that bandit's chest, gore coating her, seeping between the crystals on her, turning them red. It was understandably horrifying for her.

It was hard to get it out of her head. So she exited her room as quietly as she could. She crept along in the hallway to the nearest window to look out. Celestia's sun hadn't even risen yet over the horizon. Eyes scanning whatever she could see down below... she let out a sigh.

"This is stupid..." Asa mumbled. She had to be—nobody else seemed to have a problem with it... sitting on her haunches, she raised her talons up and rubbed her face wearily, still feeling exhausted, but only slightly less so than yesterday.

 

[Dreamweaver]

Dumbledoof
"Isn't it a bit early for you to be awake, young lady?" came Luna's voice from the end of the hallway, though she was hard to see in the darkness. The sound of hoofsteps told Asa that she was getting closer, and soon enough she was close enough so that the moonlight coming in through the windows illuminated the mare.

She crossed the distance between herself and Asa in no small hurry, and soon sat down beside the young dragoness, not really saying much. She knew what Asa had gone through, considering she had saved her from it, and as such she wasn't at all surprised to find the young one unable to sleep. But she thought it'd be better if Asa spoke first, rather than try and pry information out of her.

 

[Dumbledoof]

Dreamweaver
Asa jumped. She whirled around to face Luna like a deer caught in the headlights. "I-I was just going back to bed!" She said quickly, automatically. But then again, since when did Luna really care about how much, or how little, she slept? Hm.

When Luna came down to sit next to her, Asa looked up at her in a small amount of wonder. She blinked, and then looked away, shaking her head. "... I couldn't sleep. Though you probably already know that if you're here." She let out a small sigh and stared out of the window. It was difficult to try and find the words to explain, even if it was simple.

Her eyes refocused and she found herself staring at her reflection in the window. "I... every time I close my eyes, I just see... what happened. Is killing always that hard?" She tensed slightly. "How do you all do it...? So that it won't bother me when it happens again?" She suspected that would not be the last time she would have to kill somebody or something. Far from it.

 

[Dreamweaver]

Dumbledoof
Princess Luna listened as Asa spoke with rapt attention. She wasn't just listening to the verbal sounds, but the physical ones as well. Asa had that look in her eye that Luna had seen a dozen times over, when someone took a life for the first time. That far off stare. Normally it didn't bother Luna, but seeing it on someone she knew... that bothered her.

Luna sighed slightly at Asa's question and could only shake her head. How was she supposed to answer that? Admitting that killing wasn't hard for her would only do one of two things; either make Asa scared of her, or give Asa a bad example.

"Killing is..." She paused for a moment and slowly nodded. "... Killing should not be something that comes easily to you, Asa. Not ever. No matter how much a pony or creature pushes you to do so, it should never be something you do lightly. Only a monster could take a life and feel nothing."

 

[Dumbledoof]

Dreamweaver
Asa didn't really like that answer very much. "Then I guess I've seen a lot of monsters, Luna, because ponies are doing it. There was a lot of it in the war." She looked up at the princess, frowning. "They did it... you do it."

The whole concept of taking the life of another was jarring. The creatures in the Everfree Forest seemed to have a single-minded focus on it. Gunnolf had come from the Everfree Forest... did he ever have trouble taking the life of another? He did fight in the war, too, helping in the defense of Canterlot. He never did like talking about his old home.

"I don't want to be like you. Or them." She continued, shrugging her shoulders. "I don't think it'll ever... not bother me... but it was survival for the war, right? Is it always kill or be killed if you want to survive?"

 

[Dreamweaver]

Dumbledoof
Princess Luna frowned right back at the small dragoness and shook her head. Children didn't have the best grasp on this sort of thing, and trying to explain it to them was difficult. Celestia would likely be able to do it better. The society Celestia grew up in was a much nicer place, and Celestia had a much better handle on the whole 'killing is bad' concept. But still, she had to try.

"... You cannot compare senseless killing to war, Asa." Luna said firmly. "Do you truly believe all of the soldiers in the Equestrian and Griffon armies felt nothing? I know for a fact that the massive majority of them have nightmares over the things they experienced and did over the course of that war. But in the midst of battle you have to be able to push these feelings from your mind. Close your heart to it. It's the only way to survive, and at the end of the day survival is all that matters. Sometimes others must die, like those Griffon soldiers, to ensure the survival of ourselves and our country."

"Killing for survival does not mean those soldiers are uncaring towards the lives they took."

 

[Dumbledoof]

Dreamweaver
Asa flinched, suddenly looking appalled. She didn't mean to accidentally insult the soldiers like that! Of course they cared about killing like she did... but they were older and understood what was at stake more. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean..." She started quietly but trailed off. Luna did say the majority of them... so there were some who really did not care. Were they really monsters?

... Was Luna a monster?

The dragoness took a breath. No, Luna had saved her. Monsters don't do that. "So sometimes you just have to do it, even if you don't like it. Okay..." Then she didn't really do anything wrong back with the bandits. It was either them or her and she didn't want to die. She leaned over and hugged Luna's leg. "Thank you."

 

[Dreamweaver]

Dumbledoof
Luna wrapped a foreleg around Asa's smaller body and pulled the dragoness into a close hug. Luna's body felt chilly, but her fur was soft so that was a plus. Asa probably couldn't feel much cold through those scales anyway. "Sometimes there's no option but to kill. That doesn't mean it should ever stop bothering you." Luna stated firmly once again, just to be sure Asa understood that this was not something to take lightly. She didn't want the dragoness to become a murderer!

"Besides, you're a Princess... not a warrior. Just stay out of the fight, Asa." She looked at Asa and nodded her head. "Like your mom Cadence does. There's no need to fight, understood? At least not until you're older and more mature... the weight you've put on yourself by killing that pony is too much for a child."

 

[Cyan Hide]

Wylfen Shepard Dreamweaver

"As far as I know," answered Starlight, "But there's more than one kind of medicine."

While Cassian focused his attention on the flowers, Starlight went to sit besides Trixie, nuzzling her. "You did great today, babe," Starlight chimed in a genuine, earnest way. She knew that Trixie hated being patronized. This wasn't patronizing. Starlight always meant what she said to Trixie.

Starlight looked back over her shoulder towards Cassian. He'd finally finished fussing over the flowers. Everyone liked to help and support in their own ways. Starlight was of the opinion that tidying and freshening the flowers was for official meetings and matters of importance, and in all other times should be ignored.

 

[Dreamweaver]

Cyan Hide Wylfen Shepard
"It wouldn't kill the staff to make the plants more appealing to look at, but it might kill a patient who goes into cardiac arrest while his nurse is off buying plants." Trixie said with a slight chuckle, though she was slightly impressed by the magic he saw. "I take it you've been practicing? Just a few weeks ago you didn't seem so comfortable with your magic, now you can do that?"

"... Don't patronize me!" Trixie snapped at the mare who absolutely was not patronizing her. Trixie knew that. But she didn't feel like she did well today at all. She knew that Starlight hadn't patronized her, she was just being overly emotional to this whole thing. Starlight could see Trixie's expression soften for a moment and it looked like she was about to say sorry, though her eyes flicked over to Cassian and she stopped whatever she was going to say.

Being open around Starlight was hard enough, let alone being open around Cassian as well. She didn't hate him, he was a nice guy, but she didn't know him overly well. Openly apologizing is not something The Great and Powerful Trixie would ever do!

 

[Dumbledoof]

Dreamweaver
Nope, Asa hardly felt the cold at all! Even if she did, she was far too glad to get a hug at the moment to particularly care anyway. It felt nice and that was all that mattered to her at the moment. She closed her eyes and let out a sigh, leaning her head against Luna. The memories still made her want to gag but this was fine. She was fine. Everything was fine now.

"O-okay..." She said in response, a bit unsure. Seeing that... that wouldn't be the only time, right? Eventually she would come into contact with something like that again? "B-but... when I'm older... I'll need to learn how..." She started slowly. "N-not everybody will listen." She knew that she didn't always listen if that was enough of an example. What happened if somebody picked a fight and nobody was around to save her then?

 

[Dreamweaver]

Dumbledoof
Luna looked like she was about to say something, when all of a sudden the ground started rumbling. From down the hallway in the moonlight they could see a a brown horn poking out of the stone floor and barreling towards them at a startling rate. Who could possibly be under the castle burrowing around like some sort of horrifying pony land shark?

Silva, obviously.

"... Not again..." Luna let out with a sigh, shaking her head as the filly got closer by the second. She looked calmly over at Asa and just said, "She thinks she's stealthy... and she's going to attack. This is how she sneaks up on ponies. Like a terrifying filly-shark."

 

[Dumbledoof]

Dreamweaver
Asa was understandably startled by the ground suddenly shaking, looking around in a panic. Not again, please, not again. She hadn't even gotten over the Griffon War yet, she did not need to feel the ground underneath her paws shaking again. That was just a sure-fire way to make her seize up, which she nearly did.

She looked down the hallway and gave a small sigh of relief, holding her paw to her chest to try and calm her hammering heart. Luna may have even felt it from her shifting just a tiny bit closer to the mare out of reflex. She wasn't afraid of Silva at all, but... well, she just couldn't help it.

"I'm... I know." She offered in a small voice, staring blankly at Silva coming closer. "She isn't coming to jump at me, is she?"

 

[Dreamweaver]

Dumbledoof
"I do not even know why she is awake right now. Maybe she heard us up? Although her room is a long way from here, so she's probably just being a brat..." Luna said, right as Silvanus jumped at them; only to be stopped midair as Luna's magic grabbed her. The filly had a rather perplexed expression on her face at how she had suddenly stopped moving, before starting to whine and twist around as if attempting to physically break the magical grasp.

When that failed, she looked at Luna annoyedly. ".... Mooooooom I was trying to scare Asa..." She said with a disappointed tone, before waving tiredly at Asa. "... Hey Asa. I was trying to scare you. Mom stopped me though. Whadda hero."

 

[Dumbledoof]

Dreamweaver
Well, she had certainly scared Asa alright, though most likely not in the way she was intending. While the young dragoness tried to calm her heartbeat, she raised her other paw to wave at Silva tiredly in return, thankful for Luna's prevention of her being pounced on. "Hi," she said quietly. "How come you're up?" She said, trying to sound as normal as possible.

No need to worry Silva... hopefully.

 

[Dreamweaver]

Dumbledoof
"I knew that you were up and not feeling good, so I wanted to come see you and make you feel better!" Silva chirped happily, although right as the words left her mouth she realized that probably sounded stupid. "... Buuut if I wanted to make you feel good, I shouldn't try and scare you... so I won't do that again if you're feelin' bad..."

Luna cleared her throat and motioned back towards the trail of rubble that Silvanus' horn had caused in the stone. Silvanus sighed and quickly repaired the stone with her magic, after which point Luna patted Asa a few times and stood up. "Seeing as how Silvanus is here now, I'm gonna get going and do some dream watching. If you need me, just pray away. Bye hun." Luna said, leaning down to give Asa and Silvanus a small kiss on the forehead each before dissipating into smoke

 

[Dumbledoof]

Dreamweaver
Asa gave her a small smile. She could understand that. "I think it'll be a while before I'm feeling better, but thank you."

Despite everything, Asa made a small whine at Luna's kiss on her forehead, but was still smiling anyway about it. It really did feel nice, but it also amused her just a little bit to act like she didn't want it. It was plainly obvious she really did. "Bye, Luna!" She called, though mindful of others sleeping still, and waved.

She turned to Silva and poked the filly. "I'm gonna go back to bed."