Ponyville Unexpected Friendship(Private, ATTN: DerpRavener) [Finished]

[DerpRavener]

'Spring Breeze' thought about it for a second. “I guess that makes sense. And I can't fault you for wanting versatility.” She looked toward the sword again. “I still think something smaller and quicker might be more useful, less to carry and easier to switch between.” She realized this might be seen as arrogant, and truth be told she was not expert so she added, “but what do I know.”

She closed her eyes for a moment, listening to the ambient sounds until it was interrupted by Tehengu asking about her skill with weaponry. She looked over. “Me? Not a lot, my weapons training was pretty basic.” She waved a hoof. “I know where the pointy end goes, and I know how not to hurt myself with most things but most of my training was in unarmed fighting. It has its limitations, sure, but it's very versatile and I can't be disarmed.”

[PyroBlaze]

Spring was still fixated on the sword for a moment, saying that she thought something lighter would be better. He was strong enough to use the sword with one hand, though it became slower and less powerful that way. Still, when he used both claws, it was plenty fast for him.

She then began talking about how she had pretty basic weapons training. Tehengu chuckled when she said she knew where the pointy end goes and how not to hurt herself with most weapons. That was always a good thing to know. Then she talked about how she had mostly had unarmed training.

"Hmm... It seems strange for an army to primarily teach unarmed fighting, but whatever. It's a good skill to have, since, as you say, you can't be disarmed. They gave me some basic training in that, though I'm not all that good with it. I suppose I'm good enough though." He said, looking back at Spring.

[DerpRavener]

Ahh, there it was. Tehengu found it odd that an army might focus on unarmed combat. If he continued that train of thought, he might conclude that something was off about her story and become suspicious, and that was something 'Spring Breeze' couldn't afford. She wasn't in danger yet, and she still felt like she was in control of the situation at least as much as she needed to be, but this was still the point where she had to be careful.

'Spring Breeze' shrugged. “I kinda chose it for myself. Not every group had that focus.” That seemed a bit more reasonable, than a whole Equestrian force fighting unarmed. And again, strictly speaking true. “We were a useful group to have around in case things went wrong,” she added with a faint smile.

She nodded as Tehengu described the state of his own unarmed training. “Makes sense,” she said in agreement, following up his comments, “you're already armed. Wouldn't be much point to going in armed if you expected to lose your weapons. If you've got a weapon, and you know how to use it, hoof to hoof combat wouldn't be needed most of the time. Too much training would be a waste.” She realized she was rambling on a bit. Tehengu was the quiet type apparently, and 'Spring Breeze' felt an urge to fill in the gaps.

[PyroBlaze]

He looked over at her as she took a bit to respond. Not long after he looked at her, she shrugged and said she had chosen to specialize in unarmed combat, and that not every group had that. Alright, that made more sense, but still... Unarmed specialists at all in an army seemed strange. Oh well, it's not like he knew how the equestrian army worked, his experience was in the griffon army. At most, unarmed was the secondary method of fighting.

He watched her as she commented on how it made sense he was less trained in unarmed fighting, since it wouldn't make sense to go in armed if you expected to lose your weapons. She finished by saying too much training would be a waste.

"Yeah, I suppose it would be. A brain can only retain so much." He said, smiling faintly at her. Something still seemed off, but he could ignore it for now. He didn't feel like he was in danger, and he had learned over the years to trust his feelings as well as his senses.

"So, what was it like in the REA?" He asked casually, keeping his gaze on her. He may not know how they worked exactly, but he knew what the equestrian army was called.

[DerpRavener]

'Spring Breeze' smirked a bit at Tehengu's comments on brain capacity. “I was thinking you had better uses of your time, but that's true too.”

He asked what being in the Royal Equestrian Army was like.

It was an interesting question for 'Spring Breeze', as strictly speaking she'd never actually been in the REA, but she could only imagine it was comparable to her position in the hive. She had to, or else she didn't have anything to say. She wasn't too worried though. Aside from a little uneasiness, as from this point on she would have actually lied to him, she was certain that if she combined her experience with what she knew about Equestrian culture she could come up with a reasonably accurate answer. Or at least one that seemed like it.

“The REA?” she echoed, thinking for a moment, “in a word, orderly.” She fidgeted a bit, getting into a more comfortable position. “I'd say discipline was the most valued thing. Combat ability is important, but you have to remember that much of what you're doing is city patrols, during which nothing happens nine times out of ten. For the first nine, you have to be disciplined enough not to get bored and wander off, nor jump at shadows. For the tenth, rash action puts you and your whole squad in danger. Both are particularly true given how close we work with civilians.” She scowled, remembering the attitudes of some of a few of her former comrades. “Of course, naturally not everypony will be...fully dedicated to the ideal, but that's the basic idea.” She paused, trying to remember the right details. “We set up mock skirmishes every so often, during slow months, which served as both practice and a way to keep guards' minds on task.”

After a moment she looked meaningfully at the gryphon. “Was that similar how you had it in...the group you were a part of?” She'd realized half way through that she didn't actually know what army he'd used to be a part of, but it was too late to stop at that point.

[PyroBlaze]

Spring seemed to be contemplating something before answering his question. Probably just digging up old memories of her service in the REA... Hopefully that was what she was doing. Eventually, she answered, saying it was orderly and that they needed a lot of discipline since they often dealt with civilians and things were often uneventful. She also said they had set up mock battles every now and then, which made sense. They needed to keep their skills sharp, even in times of peace. After a moment, she turned the question around and asked him how it had been in the army he had been a part of.

"I was part of the griffon military, and... Well, loyalty was expected of us from the start, so they focused more on our abilities than they did on keeping us on their side. Don't get me wrong, they still earned the loyalty, it just wasn't the main focus." Tehengu said after a moment's pause. "We really didn't deal with civilians all that much, so they didn't worry about that either. We mainly took care of scouting missions or taking strategic positions." He was leaving out a couple of the things he had done, but she didn't need to know about those missions.

"Like you said though, not everyone shares the same ideals. For me, that someone was a squad member." He said before looking away from the mare. Memories of that final mission were going through his head, and he didn't want to talk about it. He may have to though, since he already brought it up.

[DerpRavener]

Tehengu served in a gryphon military, which 'Spring Breeze' was unfamiliar with, and said how they focused more on raw combat abilities than what her training had been like. He also said his purpose had been scouting or targeted attacks, which explained the different focus of the training. He seemed to have misconstrued what she'd meant by discipline, but it didn't seem worth the interruption to correct him on it.

Tehengu also mentioned that he too had an experience with fellow soldier less dedicated to the cause, one could say, though the way he said it and the pause that followed made 'Spring Breeze' think it was a more personal story than hers. She'd just been speaking in general, referring to how not all soldiers would approach training and practice with the same degree of seriousness. Tehengu on the other hoof, seemed to have something more specific and by the sound of it painful.

“That sounds bad,” 'Spring Breeze' said a few moments after he'd finished, “do you mind if I ask what happened?” While in some ways she didn't want to pry, particularly since she was trying to avoid giving him similar information about her history, she was also curious. She'd also found that sometimes it was good to talk about that sort of thing, and it could be a good way to get to know somepony.

[PyroBlaze]

Tehengu gave a small grunt at Spring's words that what he had said sounded bad. After that came the question he was dreading, but figured was coming. She had asked what had happened. He gave a sigh as he stared up at the sky, trying to decide if he even wanted to talk about it. After a minute or so of silence, he broke it with another sigh.

"Might as well, I suppose." He mumbled to himself before speaking louder so Spring could hear him clearly. "It started out as just another mission. Me and the squad were out scouting, keeping hidden, all that good stuff. It was going well, until... Until we were discovered. At that point we went into combat mode, and began to fight the enemies. We were doing good there too, until one member of the squad decided to sacrifice another griffon's life to save his own. I would have killed him there, but I was distracted by some enemies that had made it up to my sniper perch. By the time I had dealt with them, I could find no trace of my squad except for one other. Even the traitor was nowhere to be seen. I figured that was the end of him, so I helped the survivor escape and we ran from the enemies together. Turns out I was wrong about the traitor, as he met up with us. I would've killed him there too, but he convinced me that it was in my best interest to keep him alive. The three of us then escaped together. As soon as we were safe, that traitor turned on us again, killing the other survivor before turning his attentions to me. We fought, sword against sword. That didn't last too long though, as he was quickly disarmed. Unfortunately, he was better at unarmed combat than he was at melee weapons, and he disarmed me as well. We fought claw against claw for a while, during which he scarred my face and rendered one eye useless. After that, I managed to knock him far enough away that I had time to retrieve my bow and get an arrow drawn. A second later, and the traitor was no longer a concern." He explained, trailing off a bit at the end.

"I know I've already got my revenge, but that traitor killed my whole squad! I was friends with all of them except for him, through no fault of mine." He added, a couple of tears rolling down his face, which he then attempted to hide by rubbing his temples, using his arms to wipe up the tears.

[DerpRavener]

Tehengu paused, needing a moment to think about it, before he launched into a tale about the betrayal and final fate of his former squad. There were a few things 'Spring Breeze' didn't get from the story, such as who the enemy was, or why the traitor would have acted the way he did. The gist of it was clear enough though, and she could forgive the gryphon for forgetting those kinds of things when the story brought this out of him.

'Spring Breeze' wasn't exactly sure what to say. “That's...that is...um...” She'd never been in a situation where she felt the need to actually comfort another pony (or gryphon). The closest she'd gotten was needing to snap a pony out of a panic, but even there she used a very different approach. She eventually settled on, “...My condolences.”

There were a few things she was still thinking about, but if Tehengu was in a situation anything like hers, and so far it sounded like it was, it was still too fresh in his mind for 'Spring Breeze' to be poking at it. She felt it best to leave well enough alone for now, and guessed Tehengu might need a moment or two, so she remained silent and returned to looking over the meadow and enjoying the ambiance.

[i'm running out of things I can think of for Naj to ask for the moment. If you've got more ideas then go for it, but otherwise I think we've met our goal and want to think about moving toward a conclusion after a few more posts.]

[PyroBlaze]

Tehengu didn't give any sort of response to Spring's words, simply staring up at the sky as he relived the mission in his mind. He didn't do anything for a good long while as he tried to get his emotions under control again, or at least get the tears to stop. When he had finally managed to get them to stop flowing, he sighed again and looked at the mare.

"So, why'd you leave? Seems only fair you tell me after I told you." He said, looking at Spring as she watched the surroundings.

(Yeah, we seem to be reaching the end here. I'd be fine with ending soon.)

[DerpRavener]

"So, why'd you leave? Seems only fair you tell me after I told you."

'Spring Breeze' stared at the gryphon for a moment, contemplating her options. She considered saying that she wasn't quite ready to tell him yet, and that she needed more time. She could have brought up that she hadn't insisted that he tell her, merely opening up the option instead, and demanded that he give her the same choice. She had her doubts that either of these would go over well with Tehengu, however.

She was saved by a stray thought. She realized that, if she was careful, she tell an approximation of her story and leave out just enough details to avoid any suspicion. “Yeah, only fair,” she agreed eventually. “It's not quite the story yours was, though,” she added, stalling for time a moment while she got her thoughts in order.

Taking a breath, 'Spring Breeze' began. “We were called into Canterlot to bolster local forces, following a threat on the city, around the time of the wedding. From there came the changeling invasion, and though we were able to hold our own for a while we eventually got hit by a particularly nasty surprise attack that left my group scattered. Due to the confusion I ended up taking charge of some stragglers and...” she grimaced as she recounted her personal failings, “well let's just say that while I was a good soldier I had no business being in command. When I finally made it back to the main force, I was the only one left. Through my own decisions I'd lost the rest of them.” She swallowed. “I'd had a good record up until then, so I was given a chance to leave gracefully. I took it.” She waved a hoof in a broad sweep over Ponyville. “And here I am.”

Though 'Spring Breeze' was pleased she'd been able to navigate it successfully, and without even lying strictly speaking, at the moment that was overpowered for the moment by the her own feelings of regret and isolation. She fell silent, and stared down at her hooves.

[PyroBlaze]

It took a little bit of staring at her in silence, but Spring eventually agreed to reveal why she had left her army, saying it wasn't quite the story his had been. That was fine, he was still learning something about her. He listened as she told her story, which had an ending much like his did, returning without a squad and leaving because of it. The major difference he saw was that she had lost her squad because she was thrust into a position she wasn't prepared for, and he had lost his because of the traitorous actions of a squad mate.

Something about the story gave him pause though. The way she told the story... It was almost as if she could've been on either side of the battle. The first part of the story indicated she was part of the REA, but the rest of it didn't really point either way. He watched the mare stare at her hooves, obviously saddened by the retelling. After a couple moments, he spoke.

"Sorry to hear that. Your leaving was much more forced than mine. Not your fault you were unprepared for the realities of command though." He said, looking away and giving her some measure of privacy with her thoughts.

[DerpRavener]

"Sorry to hear that. Your leaving was much more forced than mine. Not your fault you were unprepared for the realities of command though."

Though she didn't disagree with the the statement, 'Spring Breeze' still looked sullen. She'd considered that idea at times, and was never quite sure if she could agree with it. “You aren't wrong,” she said after a moment, “but I keep wondering if I could have done something different. Maybe I should have forced somepony else to be in charge. Maybe if I'd just left them to their own devices, and focused on keeping myself alive things would have turned out better for them.” That she couldn't say for certain in any direction wasn't any comfort.

After a moment of quiet, she suddenly added. “I still dream about them sometimes, my old squad...” She trailed off, not wanting to say more for the moment. She sighed. Well this conversation had become morbid. She looked out at the meadow once more, saying nothing else for the moment.

[PyroBlaze]

Tehengu listened as Spring talked about feeling that if she had done something different, like relinquish command or not joining up with the squad at all, would have had a much better outcome. He simply stayed quiet for a minute as he thought about her words. It wasn't good to live a life in the past. She then revealed that she still dreamed about the squad she had lost.

"So do I, so do I..." He said quietly before speaking normally again. "You can't live a life of 'what if's. What's past is past. You should focus more on what you can do now than what you should've done then. If you were the highest-ranking soldier in the squad, I doubt any of the others would've done much better at leadership. If you weren't the highest there, you shouldn't have been in command anyways." He finished as he stared up at the sky again. He wasn't sure why he kept looking up, there was nothing going on up there any time he looked, except for that one bird.

[DerpRavener]

Tehengu muttered that he had similar dreams, though 'Spring Breeze' couldn't tell if she was supposed to hear that or not, before looking to her and saying that she should be focusing on the future or present rather than worried about the past. He tried to argue that she wasn't to blame for what happened, regardless of how she felt. She wasn't too happy with his specific argument, but the sentiment was there and still welcome.

She wondered briefly if Tehengu was really in any position to be giving that advice, an amused smirk appearing on her face, but she had to admit she hadn't known him long enough to be sure of that yet. “Yeah, I know,” she said eventually. “And in truth, I am thinking more about the future than the past right now. It's just, something like this never really leaves you alone.”

'Spring Breeze' grunted, and stood up. “I think I've been sitting here too long, I need to stretch my legs.” In truth, she needed a break from the gryphon. The conversation was dredging some painful things to the fore, and she wanted some time to herself to think.

Still though, she couldn't really blame him. He seemed like an okay sort, and he meant well. And his comments weren't even that bad just, a bit much for her at the moment and all at once. As she started to walk away, she turned back for a moment with a faint smile. “It was a good talk. I'll see ya around.” She waved, then turned forward again and began walking away.

[PyroBlaze]

Tehengu listened as Spring said she was more focused on the future than the past. If she says so. He made no comment though, watching her as she commented on how an event like that never really left you.

"Yeah, I understand." He said just before she stood, saying she needed to stretch her legs. She walked away for a bit before turning back and saying it had been a good talk. He smiled at her as she turned back around and began walking again. He stayed where he was for a moment, watching her. She was a nice mare, and one that could relate to him on a deeper level than most. They had both lost much because of their military careers. She also seemed like she would be able to handle herself in a fight. Maybe he could invite her on a mission sometime.

Oh well, enough of that. He stood and stretched, looking away from Spring. Now to see if he actually could find work today. He began walking down the street in the opposite direction of the picnic field, hoping to find a pony in need of his services.