Steel state to fly up stream pointing at the nests and calling out the positions of them. They were pretty hard to miss so this probobly wouldn't take too long. "So, Nova. What brings you out on this adventure if you don't mind me asking."
Nova sighed. "When I chose to be with Static, I never realized Dragons and Ponies were interfertile. I'd heard the stories, of course... the beautiful pure mare that gets ravaged by the evil Dragon, and is forced to bear his half-breed offspring... but I always assumed that they were just stories. When I found out that I was pregnant, I almost didn't want to believe it." Her eyes darkened with anger, and she continued. "Silver was born in the Everfree Forest, while I was on a job for a rich Unicorn client. When I returned to him with his artifact, he took one look at Silver and offered to... buy him. That Faust-cursed bastard thought that my newborn colt was one of those vile forest beasts! He wanted to put him in a cage and display him!" Nova realized that she had been yelling, and took a deep breath. "Sorry. Sore subject. Anyway... when I heard that the Council was looking for a way to further unify the races, I signed up. I don't want my son growing up as an outcast." She glanced at Steel curiously. "So, now you know my story. What's yours, then? Why did you sign up for this?"
"I come from a long line of pegasi warriors. At a young age I was put into combat training and did really well, which is my my cutie mark is what it is. But it never really appeal to me. When the entry draft came around, I skipped it. My Father was extremely disappointed in me and pretty much disowned me. He is the only family I have, my Mother died while giving birth. Just a few months ago he came down with some sort of disease and no one knows what it is. All I know is he is getting worse and I don't know how much longer he has. So I decided that this adventure might show him that I do have what it takes to live up to the family name even if I am not a warrior." Steel looked to see that Scarecrow wasn't listening and whispered,"I knew I would have to be dealing with the other races which is hard for me because I was brought up to hate unicorns and earth ponies. I am trying to work past it but I have a really hard time. Anyway that's my story. Hope it wasn't too boring."
As Blitz trotted along side Swipes he might as well get to know her better, "So, what brings you to the outside world?"
"Well, along with proving my friends wrong, I want to establish trade routes, and maybe set up an merchantry buisness! Also, I would like to-" Swipes stopped talking immediately, as if she just unearthed repressed memories. Her face looked extremely sad for a moment, but she tried to mask it with a smile. "N-nevermind, let's just get bag to the cabin."
The large earth-pony could only help but smirk at the fact that he was the only one who came on this trip just to find a place to settle down. He had nothing to prove anyone, and no real goals to accomplish. He couldn't help but overhear the pegasi overhead, but his highly sensitive hearing from his years of solitude and hunting made his ears highly keen.
"Alright, we have been out here for a while now and we haven't seen anymore nests in the past 15 minutes, I as we go back."
(Augh! I've been waiting days for a response that you had already made! Now I need to figure out why it didn't show up until now.) Nova nodded. "It's unlikely that there will be any more nests this far from the forest. Besides, it looks like the boat is getting full with all those eggs. Let's stop here for lunch, and then we can head back." She flew closer to Steel, and whispered, "I understand your feelings, but don't let your prejudices get the best of you. The Council needs this to work. I need this to work." She called down to Scarecrow. "That's enough for today! Let's take a break here!"
The large pony waved his hat in order to show that he heard. He paddled over towards the mainland carefully, so that none of the eggs would fall from the boat.
Dark Blitz and Swipes were getting nearer to the barn, he still had questions to ask, but he was going to have to ask the ones that really didn't matter, "So umm, what do you like to eat?"
Nova landed beside the boat and looked over the eggs. "Good. They're all still intact. There's a small island just inside the forest. We can relocate the eggs there, or..." She hesitated, remembering a letter that she had received before leaving. "I wasn't going to mention this, because I had no intention of acting on it, but I suppose it would unfair if I didn't tell you. An old client contacted me before I left and offered me a decent sum of money for a few Cragadile eggs. Split three ways, it would come out to a thousand bits for each of us. We can either relocate these eggs safely into the forest, or we can make ourselves a nice profit for our day's work."
Jeremiah raised an eye to this information. "Why would they want some cragadile eggs?" He was not sure why anyone would want them, and he was always careful about transactions such as these. You couldn't be too caredul.
Nova shrugged. "I have absolutely no idea. Maybe he wants to make a really expensive omelet?" She sighed, and explained. "Jobs like this tend to be 'no questions asked.' Those rich Unicorn snobs don't like ponies nosing into their business. You get used to it after awhile."
(OOC: Funny, I was waiting for you to respond and thought the RP had died and just posted to see if I could get it going again. Apparently it had never died at all. That slaps me on the head!) Steel got excited. "Sweet Celestia! A thousand bit! Who cares why they need these eggs I say we sell 'em to this pony. Do you know what we could do with all those bits? We could have a town up and running in not time at all."
Nova nodded. "Obviously, we should relocate the eggs. That would be the right thing to do. However... we could all use the bits, and these creatures are dangerous..."
"Well, you guys can do what you like with your share of these eggs but I am going to take my share and sell 'em."
Nova sighed. "Not unless you happen to know how to contact the client. I'm going to have to put my hoof down on this, Steel. We're either in this together, or not at all." Nova found herself wondering if she had made a mistake bringing it up. She was willing to go along with whatever decision Steel and Scarecrow made, but she had not taken into account that the two ponies might not agree with one another. "So, what do you think, Scarecrow? You don't have to decide right now, but you need to decide before we get back to the farm."
Not wanting to lose the only friend he had, Steel decided the best thing to do would be to just go with the flow at this point. "Alright fine. To avoid any controversy I'll just go with whatever the majority says. I'm still saying we sell, but it both you and Scarecrow want to put them back then fine. I just think all that money could really help us and the Craglidile's are dangerous which could be an issue when creating this settlement. Just thinking for the future." Steel looked away. "Let's just get out of here before the parents get home."
(Sorry for my absence came down with an Sinus Infection.) "Hmmm... A baker that lived close to me could make these AMAZING pastries. Croissants, Bagels, you name it!"
Jeremiah sighed at this conundrum. "It's a really tough decision. On one hand, we could indeed raise a town, but the unknown reason makes me question this. Could you really live with yourself if it turns out that they were raising cragadiles for fights or something? I myself prefer morality over money. Think about the younger generations. What would they learn from something like this? Selfish reasons are not a good thing. I still say we should at least check in as to what they are used for." The giant stamped his foot at the ground. He had years allowing him to think, think about the ways of life and seeing what were the better things in life, allowing him to philosophize. He was sure that morality was to be considered in a time and position like this.
