Shimmer was surprised that the buck bowed before her, as if she was some kind of royalty, and she seemed to blush at the mere mention of his name. How was he to know that obsidian was one of her favorite minerals? "It's a pleasure to meet you, Obsidian. My name is Star Shimmer." She smiled brightly despite the buck's warning about the dragons. "A dragon helped to save my kind from the Dark King. Granted, he was an infant but-" She suddenly noticed Venquis' approach, and nodded toward him. "Will you be traveling with us, too?"
"I will be traveling the roads with you as well, yes." the Ryborian tavern owner said. "I will not let anypony, even Celestia, start another "Black War" scale genocide." Venquis continued, turning around to Luna. "If worse comes to worse, she might not be able for redemption. And if she threatens my race with another genocide, Sihana (Sihana is a ryborian goddess) willing, she will not make it out of this situation alive."
Luna nodded grimly. She fully understood the severity of her sister's crimes. "I do not want to believe that it will come to that. My own past is well known. I was saved from my madness, and I pray we are not too late to save my sister from hers." Silver listened to the sorrow in Luna's voice, and swore to himself that the Night Princess would get her wish. Celestia would be saved, and he would destroy anything that stood in his way. Even his new allies. Venquis appeared to be out for blood. He needed to be watched carefully. "Indeed, Venquis. If Celestia will not see reason, then we will, of course, do what is necessary. But let us talk of other things. I think it might be best that we all travel together. We should gather supplies. If we pack lightly, Cobraheart and I will be able to fly the group to the Crystal Empire in a small wagon. Unless, of course, we run into trouble."
"My tavern is always equipped with supplies for when i decide to travel. And traveling light will able to allow us to move much faster. Just take what you need and we might as well be on our way." Venquis said. "And i wish for Celestia to be saved, not for her to die. If she never sees reason, then we will do what needs to be necessary. Just remember, her cousin was the one who eliminated 90% of my race. I want the princess i know to return to the way she is. She is becoming more and more like Eclipse everyday, until she would become exactly like that murderer. If we lost this 'War', she would come after my race next and you Princess.' "Im not out for blood. I have saved her life by curing her of her illness, it was Eclipse that i have killed." He spoke telepathicly to Luna, not wanting his secret to be revealed. 'I have a feeling that she might be able to be saved. If not, then you know what we have to do. And im sorry if we are ever going into that path."
Silver glared at Venquis. In a whisper that only the Ryborian could hear, he spoke angrily. "The Night Princess wants her sister alive. I do not care how far gone Celestia is. You say that you want her alive? Good. Forget all other options. When we reach her, no matter what, I will not allow anypony to kill her. Should you move to destroy her, you will have to go through me. Princess Luna has seen far too many ponies that she cared about die. SHE WILL NOT LOSE HER SISTER. Do I make myself clear?" Silver turned to Luna. "Venquis is right, of course. We'll do what we must. I'm certain that there will be no need to destroy your sister, though. Nopony is beyond redemption." Luna smiled weakly. "Of course, Silver Crescent... Shall we talk outside?" She could always tell when Silver was hiding something. She just wasn't sure what it was. Silver and Luna walked out of the tavern, and waited for the rest of the group.
Venquis took Silvers aggressive speech to his mind. He knew that as a Night Guard, Luna was the reason he lived. He tend to know that Equestrians were ferociously loyal to other ponies in positions of power, especially the princesses. He wasn’t Equestrian, so he does not know of the influence and power that the Princess to a perfect extent. Ryborian culture is different to Equestrian, but knew that even through no such thought to kill Celestia had come to his mind, Silver was going to become what some more disrespectful people of his kind call a ‘nuisance’ if he thought such a thing could happen. He went outside while the rest of the group was gathering outside to take a moment for himself. He stood alone several meters away from the rest of the group as they packed for the trip. He thought about Silvers words until he spotted a courier just arriving at the scene. The Courier did not say much, but knew that the letter she delivered was exclusively for the Ryborians eyes only and then left as soon as she arrived. He opened it and began to read its contents, which Venquis felt his heart skip a beat. His eyes widened in horror and disbelief. He was shaken to the core of the letters contents and threw the letter to the ground before angrily walking away from the group silently and enraged. He was about fifty meters in front of the group until he was stopped, as a member asked what is wrong.
Yclept walked outside behind the group, partially trying to sneak, then burst into the group, talking to Luna,"could your humble little group use an infiltrator in it?"
Star Shimmer had packed fairly light, but at Venquis' suggestion, she took another check of her inventory: Her lance (a standard lance that bore the emblem of the Crystal Empire, a snowflake), a few rations of crystal berries, a few rods of graphite (she didn't care for quills or pencils), and last, but not least, her ever-present journal. After checking that her equipment was secure, she milled around the area, taking a mental note of everypony she would be traveling with. Her only major concern at this point was the seemingly already strained relationship between Venquis and Luna's guardian, Silver. However, she felt confident that if they came to blows, that Luna would be able to settle things quickly. And speaking of Venquis... Shimmer glanced up in time to see him throw a note on the ground. As he began to walk away from the group, she glanced over at Luna, who seemed to be busy talking to somepony else. Hastily, Shimmer trotted toward Venquis and addressed him. "Excuse me... Is there something wrong? What was that note about?"
Luna smiled at the new pony. "Of course you will be welcome. I'm sure that your skills will prove useful. For now, though, you seem to have me at a disadvantage. You already seem to know me. Might I know who you are? "
"I-umm, probably....", Yclept says, pulling off his cloak hood (he's a criminal with a bounty in Canterlot)
"I apologise. I still do not know you. I have been in exile for a long time... Are you famous?" After spending so many years in the Everfree Forest, Luna knew very little of what went on in Canterlot.
"No, not famous, just another average pony...", Yclept lied really well (XD he spent a year or two lost in the Everfree)
"I beg to differ, before going on the run. I saw a poster of you with about 2 million bits as a bounty. You must of stirred up Celestia quite a bit and im okay with that. Anyone on the worong side of the empress is a friend of mine. Except serial killers, drug lords, pedophiles and rapists". Cobra walked alongside Yclept smiling before turning his attention to the road ahead until they got to a bridge. Gaurded by 9 Royal duelists. one of them being... "SETO KAIBA, I thought you learned your lesson when I beat you on the Fillydelphia docks. Anyway why are you here". Seto just scoffed and replied in a stuck up voice. "Well Cobi, As you are now an enemy of the state and I am your mortal nemesis. Celestia offered me a position which I gladly accepted, King of all duelists and im here to return you DEAD... or alive". Cobraheart finally replied with a serious demeanor. "Well, Seto I guess... IT'S TIME TO DU-DU-DU-DU-DU-DU-DU-DU-DU-DUEL!" as Seto and Cobra fought the others were left with the other 8.
(Wait, did that just really happen?) Obsidian looked at the eight remaining enemies, and he unsheathed his staff with his mouth. "You are mean. I do not like mean creatures. Please let us pass or else." The eight just turned to each other and laughed. "What are you going to do about it? Hit us with a stick?" "That is correct." He threw his staff into the air, and caught it in his horns as it came down. He twisted his head, sending the staff spinning at the ponies. He chased after it, and as it struck two of them in the head, he grabbed one of then ends, and spun on one hoof, hitting another three. He threw the staff again and charged another, tackling him to the ground. He lifted the one he had tackled and threw him backwards, causing him to collide with the staff and have it fly straight into the face of another. The staff rebounded off who it hit and landed inches from Obsidian's hoof. "You can run now." He said the last standing duelist.
As the final duelist turned and ran, he found Silver Crescent standing in his path, twin swords poised to strike. "But... I surrendered," the duelist protested weakly, as the blades struck. Silver flicked the blood from his swords and turned to Obsidian. "You fight well, young buck, but you show mercy when none is deserved. Had he made it back to Celestia, she would know that the Night Princess is in Ellion."
"Mercy is only act that makes us more than mindless beasts. Dragons teach me much. They said, it is most important lesson..." Obsidian frowns and turns to the 7 unconscious duelists. "Do they not deserve mercy? What if they have love ones? I can not deny your concern. However I do not approve the method you chose take."
"If they have ponies who care about them, they should not have sought death." Silver stood over the unconscious body of one of duelists, and swung his sword. "SILVER CRESCENT! STOP!" At Luna's shouted command, Silver froze, his blade halting a mere fraction of an inch from the duelist's neck. He turned to the Night Princess, confused. "Princess? Is something wrong?" Luna sighed. "Indeed there is, my knight. Look at yourself. You have forgotten your honor. Even when you served Nightmare Moon, I've never know you to kill a helpless opponent." Silver sheathed his swords, thankful that the princess had stopped him before he crossed the line. "Indeed, Princess. I am... sorry. I do not know what came over me." He looked at the unconscious duelists. The problem still remained. If they were allowed to return to Celestia, they would tell her of Luna's whereabouts.
Yclept quietly said,"2 million eh, now, that's pretty good, last I checked it was only 1.5 mil", then chuckled
Venquis noticed Star Shimmer behind him. He was clearly very upset and furious over the contents of the letter. He knew that the rest of his race was back on the home continent which they originally came from from over 4,500 miles away, well away from Equestria. But what happened back in Ellion... "Have you ever lost something that you cared for?The only reason you lived?" he spoke as calmly as possible. He turned around to look at Star, as tears of anger came down his face.
Star's eyes grew wide when she saw the tears streaming down Venquis' face. She stifled a sniffle as she thought about his question. The answer, was of course, yes. She took a deep breath and tried to choose her words carefully. "I...I used to be a librarian...or a teacher...or maybe a student...I don't know. None of us, the Crystal Ponies, I mean...can remember anything about what it was like before King Sombra. But I remember books. But that's not important... When Sombra came, we lost our freedom. Then we lost our homes, our friends, and some of us lost our families. I said that none of us remember what it was like before Sombra, but I will tell you that I remember everything about what it was like during his reign. Even with everything that he took from us..." Tears were flowing down her face at this point and her entire body shook as she recalled those terrible, nightmare-inducing memories. "What he took from me..." She took a couple of gentle steps toward him, and spoke more softly. "You're not alone..." She stepped up to him and rubbed the side of her face against his neck. "You're not alone."
