The Pegasus , the Unicorn and the Big Cat (Ciraxis and Boss_Hoss 1)

[Ciraxis]

It was warm spring morning in City of Sibling Love. Swift Squall - unofficial Count of Fillydelphia - was lounging at the hammock in impressive garden situated at the back of his uphill manor. The last two weeks proved to be uneventful. There were no serious crimes in the city at the moment, most of his friends were now busy and he himself didn't have any plans for the while.

In short. Swift Squall was bored.

Now that he finished his morning training routine, unicorn just stared in the sky trying to figure out some kind of activity he can get himself busy with. He really disliked doing noting...maybe some kind of tip out of city would be good idea?

[colour=green]"Adventure"[/colour] he muttered to himself.

[Boss_Hoss1]

Candy Catch-em hovered in place at an intersection as she checked the map for the next leg of the address.

Swift Squall had been a handy asset during the recent mess with relocating "Tiny" the Mantacore, and, well. she could hardly involve Dunder.

His finacee would be seriously ticked at Candy if she even breathed the word "adventure" near Dunder and lured him off to face a legendary beast.

After a moment, she sped down the right street and pulled up short as she saw the end of the street. A manor on a hill? Well now, this was a 'horse of a different colour' indeed!

She circled the manor wall to see if he was anywhere in sight before knocking at the gate.

Suddnely, she pulled up in a hover outside the wall, seeing an occupied hammock "[colour=#daa520]hmmm that should be him... Excuse me! Swift Squall? Is that you? May I have a moment of your time?"[/colour]

[Ciraxis]

[colour=green]"Yes Candy, what is it?"[/colour] unicorn replied without thinking, not even looking at the voice source. Then he realized who was talking to him. [colour=green]"CANDY!"[/colour] he sprung upwards, overjoyed. Bad idea. Laws of gravity kicked in and hammock swung to the side, dropping Swift to the ground. Yet he pulled himself back together so quickly that one could swore that there was no movement between him laying on the ground and being back on all four legs. He brushed his sleeveless jacked before he spoke to her.

[colour=green]"Candy...that's a pleasant surprise! And yes, yes I have lots of...spare time."[/colour] the tone of the last part implied that Squall wasn't exactly happy with this. [colour=green]"Why don't you stop hovering and fly over here Candy? You always welcome at my house, you know. Care for cup of coffee?"[/colour]

While he wasn't showing it, the excitement of his eyes - seen over his green shades - implied that count was very pleased with the unexpected visit.

[Boss_Hoss1]

(OOC; Sorry delay, currently at my parents until tomorrow so access is limited)

Candy Catrch-em stifled a giggle at the fall from the hammock and flew on over to land before him on the grass. "Thank you, I would love a cup, please! Black is fine."

She smiled at seeing how excited he was. Candy certainly hoped this was a good sign for her project.

As she waited for the coffee, she pulled out a folder from her saddlebag, with the seal of the Royal Canterlot Zoological Society on the front jacket.

[colour=#daa520]"Now to see if he likes really tough jobs..."[/colour]

[Ciraxis]

After a while Swift returned, levitating the table, two chairs, two cups off coffee and sugar.

[colour=green]"I brought some sugar if you want it."[/colour] Squall said as he put the furniture on the ground. He sat across the table and faced Candy.

[colour=green]"Well no point in hiding it any more...not that it much too hide left. As you see I am not the poorest pony...and you probably guessed that I am a noble too."[/colour] he started, putting one of his legs on the table.

[colour=green]"I am sorry I didn't told you about that during our first journey, but I didn't perceived my status as something important at the time. After all, what matter is what you become, not who you are born...at last it's what my family and myself believe."[/colour] Swift said smiling slightly. Then he noticed Royal Canterlot Zoological Society seal. Now, that explained a lot.

[colour=green]"I should had guessed...it isn't courteous kind of visit isn't it? What is it this time Candy? A terror of the sky, Argentavis? Or maybe a crocodile from unapproachable swamp? It's obvious you came for help, and you wouldn't need it if it was a simple rodent or turtle."[/colour] swordstallions commented. He leaned forward in her direction, putting his front hooves against each other in such a way that they covered his mouth. He glared at her over his sunglasses, his eyes awaiting even slightest movement of mare lips.[colour=green]"Well?"[/colour]

[Boss_Hoss1]

(OOC: sorry delays, as per my Blog)

Candy sat back, affecting a relaxed manner as he revealed he was indeed a Noblepony and asked what she was after this time.

She giggled sheepishly and shrugged a wing casually as she set the folder down before him. A rough sketch of a leonine creature with a pony outline beside it for scale slid out of the folder. Apparently it was at least the size of a railroad passenger car...

[colour=#daa520]"Oh, sorry, that was supposed to be last in the folder, once you read through the material. The RCZS has commissioned me to do the first examination of a Mountain Lion. the first one in a century has been spotted in a mountain range up North. They think the return of the Crystal Kingdom woke it up and drove it south. [/colour]

[colour=#daa520]Nopony's mane a real study of these things and they need to find out how much of a menace it is. If I cant handle it, they might send it to Tartarus..."[/colour]

She sighed [colour=#daa520]"I need all the help I can get on this one.."[/colour]

[Ciraxis]

Swift sat in the silence for the moment, staring at the sketch and trying to conceive the monstrous size of the animal depicted on it.

[colour=green]".......Let's get straight. You, Candy - was sent to study and possibly catch this? Ridiculous... It can stomp on you and not notice..."[/colour] Squall expressed his disbelief. He stood up and begun to trot back and forth at the opposite side of the table.

[colour=green]"You realize why I tagged along during our first trip? It was because of Dunder and Dunder only. I just couldn't allow him to participate in such reckless and stupid operation on his own. Dunder is my friend...my first real friend I got. And you too know he can be just like kid sometimes."[/colour] unicorn said, shaking his head. While he complained over pegasus childish behaviour, Candy could notice the affection in swordstallion tone.

[colour=green]"And where this brought me? To another ridiculous trip. You know what that means?"[/colour] Swifts stopped and looked directly at Candy.

[colour=green]"That means that I will not let you to go alone Candy. Celestia preserve me and curse your kamikaze tendencies but I will go with you. Because your my friend as well. The length of things I do for you guys.... Besides I was boring the horesapples from myself anyway."[/colour] count said, adding a quite mutter to himself.

[colour=green]"So you have me...and with me you have funds. What else do you need?"[/colour] Squall asked a mare. Now that he counted himself in, Swift knew that preparations were to be made.

[Boss_Hoss1]

Candy listened with her heart beating rapidly as he started in on a rant about why he went on the last expedition, but she caught a tone of affection for Dunder's behavior.

She held her breath as he continued on, sure he was enjoying dragging out the moment for her.

Finally she let her breath out as he agreed to come with her. Her faintly scarred wing fluttered in joy. [colour=#daa520] "Oh thank you, Swift Squall! This will be an epic trip for sure!"[/colour]

She spread out the folder's contents. [colour=#daa520]"I already have steel cabled bolas and nets being specially constructed at the Canterlot Castle armory. Given the terrain, We will need to rent a small airship to get there, just big enough to haul the equipment. There are no plans to actually carry the thing anywhere so we do not need "Enourmous" unless you want the extra legroom. Oh, I hope you are not allergic to catnip, are you? We are hoping it's just stone armored and not a stone elemental cat. We are hoping a ton of the stuff will pacify it after the capture..."[/colour]

[Ciraxis]

[colour=#daa520]"Oh thank you, Swift Squall! This will be an epic trip for sure!"[/colour]

[colour=green]"That's what worries me..."[/colour] Swift muttered in response.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Two days later Swift was exiting his cabin on the board of the airship with an annoyed groan. Unicorn decided to rent an extra large one and insisted to take extra equipment ''Just in Case''. Sworstallion wasn't sleeping well. And not only because of his usual nightmare routine...

While he was not allergic to catnip, the amount of the very stuff was large enough to make everything on board reek with it's smell, including ponies themselves.

[colour=green]"Merciful Celestia...I never thought I would miss Endugu Swamps in Unyasi...and the place odour was horrible." [/colour] he said to himself. It's not like smell was especially horrible. It was it's intensity that was killing him, similar to sniffing strong perfume for too long. Swift shuffled slowly to the airship mess. Candy wasn't there yet. Either she was still sleeping, or took some flight both to warm up her wings and escape the stench even if for the little while.

[colour=green]"Lucky girl."[/colour] stallion said in his mind. Squall took a plate of rice and his favourite broccoli for a breakfast and sat behind the empty table. Normally he would be very hungry at that hour, but catnip smell took all his appetite. Count knew that he needed too eat through, so he did just that even if without much of enthusiasm.