A Ponies and Dragons omake: Hearth's Warming (Check OCC thread!)

[Kirby Krackle]

Stories? Oh, does Curtain Call have stories. Even when he isn't lying, our dear rogue could spend weeks telling tales of what he's seen and whether or not he was successful in taking it from its rightful owner. Aside from the previously mentioned instances involving hat collections and top soil, the phantom thief has given chase to everything from the mundane to the confusing. A famous Lunar prophet no longer holds claim to his coat of many colors. A bank boasted its vaults being impenetrable until he flooded the building and swam past the pressure sensitive magic. The Griffon kingdom has a set of forging plates designed to make perfect counterfeits of Equestrian bits, or rather, they had. More than a few reputable paintings on museum display are secretly forgeries. And these are just the stories that end with him winning. The more exciting ones, at least he thinks, are the ones where he's beaten to the punch, barely escaped authorities nipping at his tail or betrayed by a supposed ally and left stranded in a cider barrel floating off of Manehattan's docks, with the shore slowly getting smaller and smaller. But those are just the robbery stories. There are just as many murder stories, some of them overlapping even. Those he would rather not tell a single soul.

And he would be telling (most) of these stories at Razor's request with a smile on his face. But, right now, he's currently trying to process the concept of 'Royal Pardon'. Right now, the poor guy can't even wipe the drool off his chin.

[Trilobite]

"Oh my goodness, yes. The Locust Cult! 'All fear the great devourer!' " She giggled. "Some ponies not far from Fort Shieldheart, where I was stationed at the time, had taken it into their heads that an irregular migration of locusts had supernatural causes. An astounding series of coincidences had me half-conviced, but a certain handsome young nature expert, sent by Canterlot, was able to demonstrate that a new crop of sugar was attracting the little beasts. In the end, we had to make a demonstration, placing a sugary confection in the clock which the cult had become convinced was responsible for, and protected from, the ravages of the swarm..." She sighs happily. "And thankfully, apart from one brutish stallion--there is always one is there not--no one stooped to the level of violence."

"I am truly blessed to have such friends as yourselves. What shall we do to celebrate this day of days, and welcome our new friend Razor Wing?"

[Bramble Rose]

"Hey, wait!" Bramble said indignantly. "That was me who demon-" Then it belatedly clicked. His face turned a bright red, and he got a big goofy grin. "Oh. Right. *^_^* Well, you, ah ... " He cleared his throat a bit. "All your plan. Looks on their faces" He couldn't seem to stop grinning madly.

Silk Scroll raised her eyes to the heavens and shook her head a bit, an amused smirk on her face, but Blue Agave simply roared with laughter and slapped his son on the back, nearly sending Bramble's face right into his morning custard. Bramble did his very best to be annoyed, but that big grin kept slipping back onto his face, the slim stallion seeming to be very susceptible to flattery.

​

[Kirby Krackle]

It was completely involuntary when the song popped into his head. Just as when it looped back for a second, then a third, and so forth. Not to mention when he started to sing along, just under a whisper. Poor Curtain Call couldn't contain it. He was too busy reliving every line on his rap sheet. He couldn't imagine having a life with it blank, though he did have a dream or two way back in the day. Gradually, he began to sink into his chair, not having the will to straighten out his eyes, let alone his spine.

"...you know when that shark bites/with it's teeth, dear/scarlet billows/begin to spread/fancy gloves, though/wears old MacHeath, babe/so there's never ever ever a trace of red/Now on the sidewalk/one Sunday morning/Lies a body/Oozin' life/Somepony's sneaking/around the corner/could that somepony/be Mack the Knife..."

[RazorWind]

"Hah! Oh my, quite the run you all have had." the warrior Pegasus chortled, "Spouse Thieves, Dark Wizards, and Misguided Cultists... must have been exciting for the lot of you!" he beamed, beginning to munch on a pancake or two. The comment of a certain nature attuned stallion and the flustered expression of the small Bramble Rose caused Raz to chuckle around his full mouth,before taking a swallow, "Well, if you'd like to hear, I have a few tales of my own to share! Where I come from there's no better way to spend an afternoon with friends then by regailing recent exploits," he nodded eagerly.

[Trilobite]

"I think that is a capital idea! And I think a round of hot drinks is just the thing for the telling of tales. Ma Custard, I wonder if you might not let me help warm up some more of your delicious brew--and perhaps we can swap recipies?" She excuses herself, banging into the edge of the table as she rises.

[RazorWind]

Razor's smile widened ever more and he nodded eagerly, "Excellent! Now then.. what story to tell.. hmm." he tapped a hoof to his chin as he pondered. After a moment his bright saffron eyes opened and a smiled passed over his snout; clearly this story was one he was fond of. "Ah! Of course... this one is always exciting."

Raz's hoof raised and waved slowly, as if painting a picture in everypony's mind as he began, "A long ways away from here, in the frozen northern lands that my village and others like it settle, I had set out to explore the nearby mountain range that looms in the horizon just to the east. Every morning the snowy peaks would shine in Celestia's sun.. but nopony dared venture to them. There were tales of dark forces, treacherous traps, and roaming monstrosities that lie within. Supposedly, an ancient ruin lay within the mountains; a place long since abandoned, that once served as a gathering place for a cult of Dark Magic users." he let the premise sort of settle for just a moment, before continuing; he did so enjoy telling his stories! "Not one to listen to the warnings of old stallions I decided to make my way there one day to discover it for myself, to see if the tales were true at all. I flew over the northern planes for several hours before I reached the mountain's base; a convenient trail led up into the rocky outcroppings above me. The winds around the mountains were too strong to risk flying so.. I took to my hooves!"

Raz's eyes seemed to.. glaze over slightly; as he told the tale he was actually seeing it take place before him all over again. Every detail of the stone path he climbed, every twist and turn in the pathway, and the biting cold of the mountain winds, "It took me almost three hours of climbing to reach a dead end; a single balcony-like structure that looked out over the planes in the direction of my village, but no entrance to any temple, or ruin of any kind could be found! At that point I was ready to return home to tell of the non-existent "dark magic" temple before I felt something give way under my hoof.. and the sound of ancient stone grinding against itself signified one thing..." he grinned, "A secret door had been opened! It was right there in front of me as I was turning around; a stone door that had sunk into the floor. Feeling my natural adventuring instincts take over, I pulled my hood down and ventured within the darkened halls, naught but the light of the outside to give me direction, at least until I ventured deep enough to need my own torches to light my way; not a single light source still remained in this ruin.. it had to have been quite old!"

He paused a moment to take a drink of cider (his throat was beginning to feel slightly dry after all this talking) before he continued, "I'll cut passed the uninteresting bits.. it took me quite a while to get to the inner most parts of the ruins. As my hooves carried me into a wide, deathly quiet room I beheld something interesting.. a tome still seated upon a pedestal at the very center of the room. If I had to hazard a guess now, it had to have been some sort of ritual chamber.. or an orientation room. Either way I approached the pedestal, torch still burning and examined the musty book.. everything about it was completely faded, I even looked within at the pages themselves; not a single word still in place, or not fully legible as time had faded the ink away. Feeling more then slightly disappointed I began to make my way out.. before I heard something behind me," now he was getting to it.. the climax. The point of danger that any tale of adventure and exploration would build up to, and even -he- was excited to be remembering it, "A strange, rattling noise.. followed by a slight hissing. I turned my head and beheld nothing less then a moving skeleton; eyes red and glowing and staring right at me! It let out a deathly hiss as it reared its fore legs up to try and strike me, though I narrowly managed to leap away in time. Transferring the torch from my hoof to my mouth, I immediately prepared to defend myself, and with my tail I drew my father's greatsword.. the sword that I had to unfortnately leave with the gate guardians before coming here," he let out an annoyed huff at that, "But I digress! It was just me and a walking skeletal guardian facing off against each other in the inner most sanctum of this ancient ruin.. its unfeeling and mindlessly staring me down as I waited for its next move. Sword at the ready I reared back in preparation just as it came at me with another mad charge," his hooves pushed outward into the air to signify a rushing force, his smile and eyes widening as his own excitement mounted, "But I leapt to the side at the right moment and brought my blade across its side, slashing off a few rib bones that fell to the floor in a clatter. I must have made it angry as it let out another loud hiss, and turned to charge me once more, this time leaping through the air at me! I leapt back once again, but this time spread my wings and took to the air, letting the creature slam itself into the ground. I reared back and dove down for it, my own forehooves pushing outward as I made my own charge attempt. I felt myself connect with it and land on the ground behind it, and heard only the sound of bone clanging and rolling upon the ground as I beheld that I had knocked its head clean off!" he grinned as it seemed he had reached the end of his tale, but he raised his hoof, "However.. I soon heard even more rattling. I turned my body around and beheld a cluster of red, deathly eyes staring at me from all around the room, hidden within the shadows... and a collective hissing noise soon after. I had no choice, I sheathed my weapon and gripped by torch tight as I flew toward the exit to the inner room!"

Another sip, and he continued, "I didn't even look over my shoulder as I could heard at least a dozen or so more skeletal warriors chasing after me. The ceiling of the passageway and the walls were too narrow to fly and so I could only gallop as quickly as I could toward the secret door. I rounded the last corner and practically flew up the stairs toward my freedom.. but my heart skipped a beat as the light of the door was becoming slimmer and slimmer; it was -closing!-" the -real- climax had been hit now, and soon the conclusion would follow; the daring escape was next, "With no other option I spread my wings and flew as fast as I could through the narrow stair way toward the shutting door; the undead warriors still close behind me. I swear to Commander Hurricane my heart was going a mile a minute as only a small slit still remained open in the doorway, and with a burst of speed I flung myself toward it; my underbelly brushed agianst the rising door my tail just -barely- cleared the space as I flew out. I heard the stone slab slam into the ceiling, and quite a few bashing of bone against it as the horde of undead seemed to have broken themselves upon it as it shut... I was out, laying on the balcony once more, just letting the adrenaline drain from me."

He took a deep breath and relaxed back in his chair.. for somepony who had narrowly escaped certain doom he was smiling quite widely! Perhaps it was just the excitement of knowing he had brushed shoulders with death itself and lived to the tell the tale that was making him so undeniably jovial. Either way he had relaxed; his tale told and a -bright- grin on his face, "Afterwards I returned home and told my village of what happened... I owed an apology to the veterans. Though they seemed impressed for me having gone to such a dangerous place alone, even if I had no trophies to bring back. I didn't even have time to snag the book I had found in there.. although it would not have served my use with the poor condition it was in. Either way it was an impressive journey to have made; one of several I've made in fact! Though that one is always the most fun to tell,"

He finally seemed to snap back to reality and peered around the room; a tinge of red crossing his cheeks as he rubbed his neck bashfully, "Oh, um, ehe.. my apologies.. I went a little overboard." he bows, "Do forgive me."

[Trilobite]

Ironmane listens raptly, and shivers afterward. "Eww...skeletons. But really, Razor Wind, there is no need to apologies...that was a gripping tale! Ancient evils, mysterious ruins, and a thilling escape! Did you ever learn who or what was behind those terrible undead warriors?"

[RazorWind]

The pegasus smiled to Ironmane, a soft chuckle emanating from him, "Well! Glad you enjoyed it, Ironmane. I do like telling tales of my own adventures though I can get very much into it," he nods, "Though to answer your question, no I did not find the cause or learn of the cult itself that created those monstrosities.. but for all I know that place is sealed up and not much of a danger except to those that enter it." he tapped his hoof to his chin, "Though.. they were obviously guarding something, or perhaps were charged to guard that tome before time faded everything within it away."

[Bramble Rose]

Bramble Rose eventually came out of grinning half-aware state in time to hear most of the story, focusing upon the storyteller with a fair bit of interest. And, admittedly, a small bit of envy. His parents had several harrowing undead tales, which his sire would relate at the drop of a hat, and his mother would feed in her own little comments whenever he made her out to be too much of a 'helpless academic' when they'd first met. He knew Ironmane had a few daring tales of her own, with sword flashing in her ever-present style, and Curtain's nonstop chatter notwithstanding, assuming even half of what he said was true, he was always being terribly clever and sliding by at the skin of his teeth, and from what Bramble could tell between the lines, the dashing rogue was always skirting the proper side of the law. A proper scoundrel the sort that the mares all loved. As dull as Hurricane's training sounded, she had really stepped up when it came to action and adventure. If he could ever get her talking, he would wager that her own stories would be tremendous.

"Oh, my ... " Bramble said approvingly, not letting his envy through into his voice. "That sounds quite harrowing - you were fortunate and skilled indeed to escape with your life, and not join those creaking hoardes! I would be fascinated to learn where this hidden tomb might be - the society would be all too interested in sending a proper archeological survey team to research those ruins. Who knows what historical relic or fascinating tidbit of culture they might find in there?"

His adventures involved dangerous creatures, it was true - but usually he wasn't being called upon to vanquish them, just talk to them. He'd hardly been the pony that Razor spoke of in their last grand adventure for the princesses. The flaming blastfruit vines that had been setting forest fires and encroaching upon the town - it just needed a vital nutrient after a landslide had cut its supply off, and once the townsfolk supplied it they'd been able to live in harmony. The woodsprites simply wanted some good pranking in return, and the lumberjackrabbits were hardly dangerous, except to the houses they devoured in minutes.

The timber wolf pack ... hrm. Yes, not nearly as impressive, but if he was going to add to these tales, it was his best bet. And besides, the look on the town leader's face ... if he couldn't go for dangerous, he could at least go for amusing.

"Well, for my own tale... there was this small logging village, you know the sort. Settled in somewhere in the Northeast, in an absolutely gorgeous stretch of kettles and moraines that rumpled the land like a tossed blanket. The logging village was rather well established, and some of their lumber makes its way here to Canterlot, where it's fashioned into some of the finest furniture. The grandfather clock out in the hall is actually a gift from them - the case, at any rate - after I was able to help them with a small matter. You see, a pack of timber wolves had begun harassing their loggers. There had been some attacks, and blows exchanged on both sides... some ponies had been badly wounded, no matter how many precautions they tried to take. After all, they had to go out into the forest to cut down the trees, and there is only so much one can do."

"I had been referenced them by a village that I'd helped with a blastfruit infestation, so Thorn Blossom and I traveled down the road to visit them for a time. Lovely countryside they have there - you should see some of the cliffs. Gorgeous rock formations. And the plant life was just so lush! Well, we arrived in good time, though the villagers were, of course, a little reluctant to come welcome us!" Bramble laughed softly. "I tapped one pony on the shoulder and asked him where to find the head of the village, and he turned around and nearly wet himself as he scrambled back and away! And of course, the rest of the town came out with axes and torches at that point." Bramble rested his fore hoof upon Thorn Blossom's shoulder, grinning in amusement. "Lucky for us, Blossom here is rather a bit more intimidating than the timber wolves they were used to dealing with. She's a rather exceptional beast. Aren't you? Yes you are!" He said this with absolute fondness in his voice, smiling up at his fanged companion as if she were just an over-sized poodle.

"At any rate, the situation wasn't too hard to take in, once the misconceptions about Blossom were put to rest. We rested the night, and fresh the next morning, we traveled out into the forest. If one knows timber wolves, and of course we do, it's not hard to find a pack. Or rather, to let the pack know you are there, and let them find you. The appropriate howls, the challenges, and the pack will surround you quite swiftly. A bit nervous a situation, of course, but one needs to make certain to keep a confident mien, and not let one's nervousness through onto one's face. We simply had to establish a bit of dominance. Sadly, for some reason, Blossom decided she didn't want to establish her dominance -" and at this he gave her an exasperated look, "and instead deferred to me as her alpha. Usually she treats me like a wayward cub, but on this day, she pushes me forward and tells me to challenge their Alpha. Well, the timber wolves weren't impressed, so I had to do some rather quick legwork to avoid his claws, and then my vines had his component pieces and pinned him down. He decided to try to return the favor, but I rather walked through his own clinging vines rather simply. My control of so many vines certainly convinced them I could hold my own, but it was the lack of concern about his own vines that impressed them more than anything. The rest of the pack were about ready to join in at that point, but Blossom just stared them down before they could really get involved."

Bramble shrugged a bit. "Not terribly dangerous, when one knows what one is doing, but I'll admit I felt a bit unsettled, when a dozen timber wolves emerged from the forest all around me, snarling and growling." Unsettled nothing. Even knowing exactly what he was doing, his stomach had been doing flipflops, but he was hardly going to admit that he was so terrified over such a minor little thing as a timber wolf pack. Not after Razor had talked about facing up against skeletons! You can't talk with skeletons! It's not like these timberwolves were as big as Blossom.

"So after we finally settled down to the point that they'd tell me the problem, we spent the rest of the evening getting to know each other, and rested in the pack's glade for the night. They're a very pleasant sort once you get to know them - very affectionate. And their sapling cubs are ADORABLE. Just the sweetest, most playful little things! Almost as big as me, of course, but still! They've got these hugs paws, and still are covered over in all these sweet little buds and leaves... " Bramble smiled fondly at the memory. They'd knocked him down several times, and he supposed he was fortunate that their poisoned thorns turned away from his coat. He'd never encountered eastern timber wolves before, and that poison was new to him.

"At any rate, the next morning, fully refreshed and with my magic restored me, we journeyed back to the town en masse. it took more than a little convincing to get them all to stand down ... come to think of it, dealing with ponies isn't so different than dealing with timber wolves. I got most of them with my vines, the timber wolves intimidated the rest, and I got up in the head's face and snarled at him till he gave the order to everyone to stand down. Good thing, too, cause my magic was just about exhausted. At that point I helped build up his courage, got him to stop cringing and flinching every time the alpha of the pack made a noise at him, and we settled down to delineate the logging area. The timber wolves help the forest grow more swiftly, you see, which is just why the lumberjacks were there - but they didn't realize that the timber wolves were the reason! So once they established the timber wolves' immediate territory and home, and agreed not to encroach upon it, the timber wolves were more than happy to help the ponies out in their own way. A simple negotiation between two sides that couldn't speak each other's language." His lip quirked... "Goodness, the look on his face as he sat down a few feet away from the timberwolf to discuss terms... oh, mercy. Ah, I suppose you had to be there, but it was something like this." Bramble put his hooves on the table and leaned back, his face suddenly growing tense and his eyes wide, a big, tight-lipped and nervous grin on his face. Then he relaxed again with a laugh.

Funny, yes, but nothing impressive. He'd just walked in, made himself known, and then they'd talked.

​

"You know," Silk Scroll said thoughtfully, after Bramble had finished, "It seems you might have glossed over a few details when you shared that story with us ... all you had to do was find the timberwolves and talk with them, indeed ..."

[Kirby Krackle]

"Oh the shark, babe, has such teeth, dear/And it shows them pearly whites/Just a jackknife has old MacHeath, dear?/And he keeps it just out of sight..."

[Kirby Krackle]

Tornado Ali, so focused on drinking in every word spoken at the dinner table, was beginning to neglect proper table manners. By complete accident, a good half of a spiced peach tart ended up on her cheek instead of her extra busy mouth. Oops. She was quick with the napkins before any of the Dam's 'ahems' could be fired. She also listened with a twinge of jealousy. Here she was, training to be some great hero while these four already were. So many adventures under their belts. So many experiences. Sights, sounds, smells (of skeleton, bleh), flavors. And she got to enjoy none of these things, forced to sacrifice time spent in a vast and beautiful world for... training. Training training training. If she had a Jammie Dodger for every time she's heard the word 'training'.

Hold on a bit. Training. She did have stories of her time at the monastery. But no, no, they were akin to paint drying. Nothing grandiose like tales of the undead or Timberwolf cubs. Oh, but she was so tired of clamming up! In fact, she wouldn't keep silent anymore! Even if her stories were dull as mud! By the Hurricane, her voice will be heard!

About time, girlie.

Quiet, you.

“Ahb gub bun abut...” Ah! Mouth full! Swallow, stupid! Swallow! “OhmygoshI'msososorry.” Her napkin was busy again, this time pulling the double duty of cleaning her face and hiding her embarrassment. “I mean, uhm, I don't have many memorable moments. Just drills and prayers. But we do have rights of passage. We have to complete this ceremonial whoop-dee-doo before we can ascend to the next level of our training. In this case, I earned my lightning from the Jereed.” Upon noticing the blank stares from the ponies without wings, she started blushing again. “Right. Let me back up. Uhm. You know this”, she motioned at Razor, “But for everypony else, the Jereed.”

It was here that, amazingly, she and her patron were in perfect sync, reciting directly from ancient lore. This doesn't happen much. “The Jereed, chosen weapon of Commander Hurricane. The Thunderbolt. The Sky Piercer. The Beak Breaker. The Holy Fire. Crafted by the Goat forgers Cinder and Broker in the molten heart of Equestria's tallest peak. A golden javelin that cannot break and cannot miss and seeks the hearts of liars and traitors and mutineers. Well, it was stolen. Somehow. And I guess they wanted me to go retrieve it.”

“According to the monks, it was more goats. They claimed to be direct descendants of Cinder and Broker and that the weapon was their birthright. And off they fled back into the mountain they called home. I... ahem... don't know the area very well.” She was blushing again, omitting the fact that she tended to doze off during her classes. “So one of the monks accompanied me! He was a royal pansy when it came to actual combat so keeping the bears and such in the forest off us was my job. And I'm good at it!” She sounded so smug.

“Okay, see, first there was this BIG metal door, right? And I mean big. Three of these houses on top of each other big. Big big. And also forged by Cinder and Broker, so also unbreakable. But it would open if the old tongue incantations was properly read. I, uhm... couldn't." More blushing. "Old Featherduster was actually going to try it. And he kept saying 'Young pupil, in no conceivable fashion will you kick down this door' and other garbage like that. And I'm kicking it pretty hard too. So, while he's there reading a book, I get an idea. I pray for strength. All of it. Well, all the strength I'm allowed to have. I think I got bigger than you, Ironmane!” She giggled like a school filly. “So I did the door again. Well, not the door. The stone surrounding the door. One buck. Two bucks. Three bucks. Tada! A hole we can crawl through!” Smug.

“The inside was, well, also really big. Like one massive cathedral or courthouse or something. Dusty. Boring. Next door! And Featherduster is screaming at me now, going 'Oh you can't smash through this! It's priceless and an essential piece of Pegasi heritage!'. Fine. Whatever. But it's not covered in runes like the first door. We open it up and WOOSH!” She threw her forelegs up for emphasis, nearly tipping the chair back enough to fall. “A storm! THE storm. The wind and rain here would tear Canterlot to pieces. All localized entirely in this one room in our way. Featherduster wants to pray the wind away. Or have me sit and endure it or something. I wasn't listening. I was busy actually moving the clouds and clearing a path for the geezer while my strength was still up. The clouds were... regenerating or something. Magic clouds. But we were clear in no time!”

“Door number he apparently didn't expect. It's at the bottom of this looooooooong winding staircase. There were some guards. Whatever. Behind the door is the forge itself. Big rivers of liquid metal! Hammers and anvils and stone pillars and a massive golden statue of the Hurricane herself. It's sweltering. And all the way at the far end of the forge are the goats who stole the Jereed. They're threatening to send it back into the fires that birthed it if we don't leave. And they have all this fire magic ready to go if we don't. So I leave. Not far, mind you. Just back up the stairs to door number two. I open her wide and sure enough, the storm is in full force again. It expands to fill all that extra space and I just count to thirty before I shut it again. Back downstairs, no more fire. The goats are knocked silly. Everything is an absolute mess. I win, right? Nope.”

“The Jereed is shattered. Unbreakable! And now in pieces. Featherduster is SO angry! He's ranting and raving about how I made a mockery of centuries of tradition and missed the point of these tests entirely. Yeah, that's right. All tests. None of it was real. No danger, no theft, no goat thieves. Well, the goats were real, but they were working with the monastery. 'At this rate, the lightning will NEVER be yours' he huffs and puffs at me! Meanwhile, he was lying to me the whole time! The whole time!” Memories of her outrage were beginning to resurface and there was a bit of static in the air. In the tiny kitchen, manes were frizzing and silverware would snap at any hoof trying to pick it up. Her eyes were occasionally flashing white. “Lying! To his student! Who is supposed to be some sort of prodigy! Lying about the weapon of myth that's supposed to 'seek the hearts of traitors'! OF ALL THE ABSOLUTE NERVE!”

Her temper was at its zenith and with that final outburst, the lightning that 'would never be hers' arced from her flailing hooves to a still stunned Curtain Call. He flew back into the hallway. The poor guy never saw it coming. Neither did Featherduster, as history repeated itself this morning.

“...OHMYGOSHIAMSOSOSORRY!”

[RazorWind]

Razor Wind sat quietly at the table listening to the tale of the young purple unicorn(or at least Raz assumed he was young.. the little pony was quite hard to identify with his androgynous looks!) and smiled brightly while the little guy regailed his side of his own heroic tale. Sure it wasn't filled with thrill and danger, but it was intriguing to hear of social disputes between the timber wolves and the village of confused ponies.

"A good tale nonetheless, Bramble! Sometimes a more diplomatic hoof must be played in order to achieve a favorable result for everypony. Though... I get little opportunity to do such in my travels. I'm sure your charismatic skills are valued highly by your group!"

He beamed brightly; he meant every word he said. He was always eager to hear the stories of others,be they fast paced and action packed or thought provoking and intriguing! Bramble seemed to show more the visage of a quiet, yet wise individual who could talk down a situation, a far cry from the 'wrath of nature itself' unicorn that he'd heard so much about. Not to say that it was a disappointing revelation, simply an expected one! Besides, even if these ponies were nothing like what he'd heard, they still had to be experienced adventurers, right?

The Pegasus cleric was up next in the table discussions, and spoke of her trials to attain the Blessings of Hurricane, a practice that Razor was indeed familiar with.. Though one he never took part of.

"Aye, miss Ali, I know the trial of Lightning. Though my calling was in traveling the world and fighting miscrients along the way! Not so much in the realm of studies and texts."

Though, given the rest of her story it seemed she was of the same mindset as well. A free spirit gifted unfortunately trapped in a very rule filled environment... And one with a universally fierce temper as well. This was made apparent when during her finishing outrage she thrust out her hooves and released a blast of thunderous fury right into the poor stallion Curtain Call, sending the deshevled rogue back into the wall. Razor, and most likely all the other guests as well, sat there stunned and in awe at the accidental display of power... Perhaps the stories about this one were a bit more accurate then the others.

"Uh.. well..uh... Very impressive, miss Ali! Though, ah... Is he alright?" the Pegasus asked,sliding from his chair and trotting over to inspect the thoroughly electrocuted rogue.

[Kirby Krackle]

At first, there were no signs of life. Just the smell of stallion cooked medium well wafting through the air. Only after a minute or two of anxious staring by the rest of the breakfast table did Curtain Call finally stir, coughing up a tiny puff of smoke. He groaned, his joints aching in protest as he tried to pull himself up into a seating position. It wasn’t long at all before he gave up, deciding the floor was more comfortable. Tornado Ali meanwhile, saw none of this and was, inappropriately, panicking. So much so that she skipped the minor details of checking vital signs and went straight for chest compressions. This was standard practice at the monastery, naturally, as its citizens suffered from more lightning strikes in a month than the rest of Equestria did in ten years. And were our dear electrocuted rogue actually in need of such treatments, he would have admired her skill in the field and thanked her heartedly on keeping his brain alive before a curative spell could mend the singed flesh. Instead, he simply felt like he was on the receiving end of a savage beating.

“I- OOF Plea- OOF Ali-OW Sto-GAH”

Chest thump thirty ended. Curtain Call’s ribcage felt broken in a few places. But the good news is she stopped. Right? No. The Kiss of Life was next, as per extensive training. He would be having none of it, beautiful mare atop him or otherwise. He could smell breakfast pastry on her breath by the time he tumbled the both of them, the Pegasus now pinned and prone.

“Stop! Stop helping me! In the name of Celestia, stop helping me!”