>>143907Silver nods, and is silent for a moment.
"We should have intervened. We knew what was to come after Olenia. Had Celestia ordered our armies to march on Changelings when they declared war on your people, we would not have had to deal with them now."
>>143908There is a subtle hint of a smile
"And
that, was no fault of Johan. No fault of ours, either."
>>143909"Yes, this fault rests squarely upon us...and upon Celestia. I would offer my apologies on behalf of ponykind, if it was worth anything to you."
>>143910"I'll take the liberation from those
griffins... Though I have to wonder why they got as far as they did."
>>143911"Deception and bribery, most likely. Fear also played small part. Last time police raided they found nothing but sweatshop and they gave Sweet Boek fine for it. When New Mareland invaded they found more of same. Police wasn't willing to commit to another raid for fear of large casualities among their numbers, so Baltimare government asked for us to do it instead. None of us expected to find Maarists."
>>143913".... That was amazing!"
>>143912"So that's what they call themselves. That doesn't sound much better than the old world. And we didn't have griffins." "
He pauses, then adds,
How did they capture a parasite anyways? Or was it working with them?"
>>143915>>143916He pulls her into a closer dance, mostly making the right steps, but missing a step and bumping into her at one point
>>143914"There is evil everywhere. What matter is that we work to root it out.
"She was captive as well. They kept her in cage, and fed others they captured to her in order to make changeling honey. I suppose they were selling it as drugs."
>>143917Hooves resting on the colt's withers, Amber follows along and lets him lead. She's distracted from the dance itself by how fast her heart is beating.
"I've, um, never danced with a colt before," she confesses.
Just dropping some inspirational pics poners.
See ya.
>>143919"Me neither" He says
>>143918"Incredible" He says
"Nothing is worse than how those parasites will eat your soul, stealing all that is good from you. But to use that as a tool... This is something else. Something new. Even the West did not have that kind of evil."
>>143920Nice!
>>143923"Yeah. Heh heh. They couldn't dance so well as you anyways."
>>143922"Yes. Sadly not first time I have seen captive changelings used in this way. But they are dead now. They can not hurt anyone anymore."
>>143926"I'm glad you did. And I hope you'll do it again." He says again, smiling and looking into Amber's eyes
>>143925"And again, I thank you for that. You have done me, and the world, a great service."
>>143927She looks back into his purple(?) eyes and smiles.
"Yes, let's definitely dance again soon."
>>143927He nods again.
"Unless you have anything to say or ask me, I think this will be goodbye for now. That stallion who was with you at that altar, I want to meet with him as well, see how he is doing."
>>143929“I am surprised you came to see me. That was not expected. Or perhaps it makes the fighting more tolerable. I cannot say.”
But then he turns his head more directly towards Silver
“Until we meet again.”
>>143928The question is: do they dance more?
>>143930As much as Amber would like the night to stretch on long, she suddenly feels tired and with a yawn asks to return to the table. She looks to see if the same griffon is still busy playing.
>>143931He continues sawing away, having no notice of what Amber and Mustard Trim - or any other pair of ponies, for that matter - are doing
>>143930"I wanted to make sure you were okay. Did not feel right if I did not."
He bows his head to the deer.
"Until we meet again."
Silver turns and leaves the room, heading for the room with the young stallion.
>>143935He gives a nod, and Silver leaves the room.
Up the stairs, down the hall, and Silver finds the room supposed to contain the recovering pony
>>143937Silver knocks at the door.
>>143939Silver tries the door to the room.
>>143940He opens the door, seeing a set up similar to the previous room, but with the bed on the mirror opposite side. This means that the bed faces towards Silver, standing nearer the entrance of the room, rather than away from him, as was the case in the previous room.
There, in the bed, and covered in part by bed sheets, is a white - or rather, a light grey - unicorn male, with red-auburn mane. His eyes are wide
>>143941"Hello? My name is Silver Sword. I was part of group that raided 33 Hoebuck. I just wanted to check up on you."
>>143942His eyes are wide, and he sits up, pulling the bedsheets up high
"Uh, hi"
He has an awkward smile
>>143943Silver enters the room properly, closing the door behind him. He smiles back, with a greater sense of sincerity.
"It is good to see you alive. I am afraid I did not get acquinted with your name, last we met."
>>143944"You're... you're with R&M, right?"
>>143945"Erm...I am afraid I am not familiar. R&M?"
>>143946"Revenue and Migration services? I guess that's a 'no.' Who sent you?" He asks
>>143947"Ah, that makes more sense. I think R&M was involved, all I know is that we were tasked with breaking up trafficking ring at 33 Hoebuck from Baltimare Government."
>>143948waves backHello!>>143949"Oh. You're... with the city."
>>143950"Not really, I was just with group asked to stop bad people."
>>143951"Uh... that's... good." He has an awkward smile
>>143936"Uh. Yeah. That would be neat." He answers
>>143954"It's uh... Popper Nick."
He is sitting upright as best he can - he is moving around more than the stag dared - his teeth are showing, and his lips are pulled all the way back in something that was presumably intended to look like a smile. He speaks with a young sounding voice with a noticeable Dominion accent
>>143936Amber smiles at Mustard, adding,
"Music is one thing I am very passionate about, and it's such a terrific surprise to find somepony who plays an antiquated kind of instrument like I do.
This is the last sort of place I'd expect it, actually."
>>143956"Well, that's- that's really neat. I wasn't expecting it here either. What kind of instrument do you play exactly?"
He places a hoof on the side of his head