Nobody parties like the caribou! (Open to all species)

[ShadowWalking18]

Razor blushed at the compliments, "Heh, well you aren't bad looking yourself. You have the right mixture of warrior elegance and strength with the right attracting eye flank." He gulped down his mead, and took a moment to settle himself.

 

He gave a nod at her request to end his attempts to garner some said wood. He sighed a bit, "Right. I'll concede to the point. Was worth a try though."

 

He blinked at the mention of rebels and he gave Sigrun a confused and curious look. But he just shrugged and rubbed his beak as he thought on her question.

 

"Well to tell the truth, I don't see a lot of combat or battle. I'm an unofficial reserve for the Aquillian military, it sort of came with the graduation from its biggest military academies where I went to school. But Aquilla is...well it is a lot more...peaceful now then in the old days. "

 

He sighed a bit, feeling regretful, "Its kinda hard to have a huge history of military and warrior pride in a clan like mine, and be forced to adapt to a more economical power society and world. Its one of my reasons for wandering, I like to find adventure if I can, but my family has a lot of duties required of me. So it makes....well taking risks difficult I guess."

 

Razor then slapped his head, remembering something, "Oh yes, but I did engage in a number of arena battles not too long ago. I forget where it was at, but I won my good share of those fights, lost a few too. I can still remember the beatings I got there." He rubbed at his chest, remembering a few wounds.

 

"I'll tell you one thing, I'll never take a dare to go into battle without armor again that's for sure. Not my brightest move." He chuckled.

 

 

--------------

 

Ironclaw realized that he misheard, and felt rather embarrassed at this. He did start to wish his wife was here, as she was so much better at this sort of thing then him. But just because he made a mistake, didn't mean he couldn't salvage it. He just had to be careful and follow the intel...or..conversation..carefully now.

 

He cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his head a bit, "Oh, Ah forgive my mistake Princess Celestia." He said, "To be frank, the full tale of my military rank is of itself not as grand a tale as one would believe. It was merely the rewarded rank given to me for my years of dedicated service to my country and my people."

 

True it wasn't that simple, so perhaps he could expand on it. If just to save face.

 

"Still, I suppose I can elaborate. In times of peace, few are the moments a warrior can distinguish himself from others. But I suppose I was one of the lucky ones. Once during a battle with a pack of Diamond Dogs who were intruding upon the mining rights of Aquillian territory, myself and a number of my fellow soldiers had gotten trapped on the wrong end of a cave in the mutts had set up to trap us. Myself and twelve other griffons had gotten trapped, and by the look of the cave in, it was obvious any attempt to dig us out would be fruitless. I think we all felt left for dead in that moment.

 

Our commading officer was on the other side, and amongst us trapped I was a sergeant then, and the highest rank amongst us trapped, so natural military succession landed me in charge. It was not a task I had ever had to deal with before. We had few supplies, and were in enemy territory for all we knew, or hopeless trapped. But I wasn't going to merely lay down and die."

 

Ironclaw shivered a bit, remembering that event before going on.

 

"We couldn't go forward, but we could go deep into the tunnel. I figured that, since Diamond Dogs dig so many, there was sure to be a back door so to speak. The only problem was we wouldn't be able to find it on our own. We needed...a guide.

 

Luckily it seemed the Diamond Dogs were coming to us, no doubt to pick off any survivors. We met in a large cavern, were me and my warriors did battle with the dogs and their leader. They out numbered us, but I was not going to let them be my end. I can't remember the entire details of the fight, but my troops told me I fought like a griffon possessed. In the end, most of the dogs lay dead on the ground and their leader a battered mess, though luckily still alive.

 

After some...convincing...the leader showed us the way out of the cave system, and....offered....himself as a prisoner. Not that he had a choice."

 

Ironclaw sighed and then shrugged, "Once we were out, we eventually managed to reconnect with our unit. My commander was impressed by my handling of the situation and the capturing of the enemy commander and had me rewarded to a higher rank. I received a medal, and was given command of my own unit."

 

Ironclaw took a pause, letting Celestia process the information before speaking on.

 

"After that, I suppose I just found myself in a number of moments in which I distinguished myself from other griffons. I would leap to the defense of a cornered or injured warrior under my command. Once during a dragon raid on our gem mines, where I received a Purple Heart for receiving near third degree burns while rescuing a warrior who had broken his wing from a stone the dragon had flung at our aerial units. Other times I merely did my duty as a soldier and was rewarded accordingly."

 

Ironclaw finished saying, "As I said...not the most grand of tales. I merely did what I felt was right. I'm sorry if this doesn't seem enough. Times of peace are not the most exciting."

[RedCedar]

After finding absolutely nothing at the party being offered to drink that wasn't in some way intoxicating, which didn't really surprise him, Bulk Biceps settled on a large and impressively heavy flagon of water. Though he now looked somewhat the part of one of the other attendees, however, he found himself falling back into a somewhat familiar situation: not knowing what to do next. Certainly the caribou here were of an impressive size, some even bigger than he was, if it were possible, but beyond exercize techniques, what, really, did he have in common with any of them?

 

Still, he supposed he was no more out of place than the griffons that were also here. For now he decided to content himself with watching, since there was no further need to be at the center of attention, while Blueblood's honour guard with the unfortunate timing saw to him.

[DerpRavener]

A story of harsh obstacles, extreme odds and when Fate lay down the the gauntlet one griffon rose to meet it.  And the general thought the story was boring.  Celestia laughed softly.  “You sell yourself short, general.”  She placed a hoof on her chin, contemplating for a moment.  “It lacks a certain flare for the dramatic, but that's simply a matter of storytelling.”

 

The rest of what was said was less interesting for being so vague, though to what degree it was caused by General Ironclaw wishing not to tell it and to what degree it truly was uninteresting Celestia couldn't tell.  Perhaps she would have somepony look into them matter later, if only to make sure there was nothing being strategically hidden from her.  She simply nodded in response, well used to dull but necessary tasks that came with or earned on a position.  She was sympathetic, but such matters left little room for discussion.

 

"As I said...not the most grand of tales. I merely did what I felt was right. I'm sorry if this doesn't seem enough. Times of peace are not the most exciting."

In some ways, Celestia understood.  Naturally General Ironclaw was a soldier at heart, as the story and title made evident.  Soldiers often struggled with finding purpose during peacetime, due to their very natures.  All the same, she could never abide by peace being seen as a negative thing.  “Peace allows one to make their own excitement,” she countered, “rather than have it thrust upon them whether they wish it or not.”  While of course a soldier would likely not appreciate peace for its own sake, perhaps she could appeal to him with the idea of control.

Celestia refrained from saying more on that for now, not feeling the need to press the issue for the moment.

 

She decided to shift topics.  Celestia picked up on a common thread among a few of the story fragments, and it piqued her curiosity as well a concern.  “Are dragons a regular problem for Aquella?”  Of course she knew dragons were dangerous, when they were motivated.  She knew of a number of them regularly passed by or through civilized areas.  In her experience however, they tended to be solitary creatures, caring little about things outside a few particular interests.  She had a few prepared responses to them, but the threat was never consistent enough to warrant more than just sets of instructions.

She had assumed this would be true for the nearby nations as well, and would be very interested in confirming whether or not that was the case.

[Zeig]

 

Well, she had her answer.

Actually no, she didn't, because her new Griffun friend hadn't really answered. But studying these brown Caraboo more and more, Yuri was quite certain that her mother and father were shaking their heads in shame of her foolishness. How could she have mistaken these large, furred, and antlered creatures for ponykind? They looked nothing like the pretty and colorful ponies she had come to know!

Even their hooves were all wrong - as in, she could see the hooves.

Yuri was faintly aware of a blush creeping its way across her face, and sincerely hoped that any dragon looking would think it simply from the drink. In truth, mortification was beginning to sink in from her own foolishness, and even though no one could possibly know why she was embarrassed, it didn't help alleviate the feeling. Yuri took a large gulp of her drink, promptly gagged, and coughed and sputtered to begin breathing again, causing an ever larger blush to overtake her face.

Air...yes. Yes! Air was good.

"Air is good!" the white eastern dragon proclaimed loudly, "I must go get the air!" And with only a rustle of wind that knocked over the stool she had been coiled on, Yuri took to the air, rushing out of the hall and out into the frozen cold. Immediately she shivered, her long body instinctively tightening in on itself, but she felt better than she had just a minute ago, flushed body cooling into something more tolerable.

And, more determined.

Clearly, she had traveled too far north...so the only thing to do was travel too far south! Mind made up, Yuri quickly flipped herself around a few times, getting orientated with the sun, before she set off, white body quickly disappearing into the snow and ice.
 

 

 

[[ Exit ]]

 

[starswirlthebearded]

With the wayward prince finally removed from the High King's antlers, the king laughed at his efforts to save face. Even in the face of two ponies who have clearly more experience fighting than the prince did, he felt no fear from the two and kept his spear safely sheathed at his side. The king still smiling "I thank you for tonight's entertainment. It has been a while since I've had a fight like that." He paused "In fact I cannot recall ever having a fight like that!" The king smiled at them. "Come allow me to treat you to a flagon of mead, though I think the good prince needs a flagon of water right now." The king exited the ring and made his way to the bar and placed the order. 

The keep slid over four flagons, three with mead and one with water. The king took up his flagon and raised it "To the prince, who didn't let his lack of ability prevent him from protecting his own honor, as foolhardy as that was." The king took a big drink and scanned the room. He noticed the dragon leaving, which was probably for the best. He and dragons did not always get along well. And he did notice the princess of Equestria talking with the griffon general. That is a conversation he would need to join soon. This would be his first formal meeting with them both, and allies were better than enemies...

[Blueblood]

The honor of a gentlecolt and Prince was a much more resilient thing than, say, his ego.  While the former would only be lost by backing down from a duel, the latter could only be preserved by winning it.  And there was no chance of Blueblood, drunk or sober, winning a fight with any caribou here, let alone their king.  Already shattered by the stinging (and bruising and cutting) nature of his loss to Havardr, the High King's laughter pulverized it beyond the point where it could even hurt.  "We aim to please," He replied with a wan, rueful smile to the caribou's gratitude.  "And it did make for a good show, I suppose."

 

Indeed, he could hardly have choreographed it better, if his aim was to make himself a joke over which both pony and caribou could bond.  That sort of peacemaking was hardly dishonorable, though it was certainly inglorious.  Raising his flagon with Havardr, Dunder, and Star Crusader, he clashed cups and suppressed wincing from any jokes at his expense.  *Honor not hampered by lack of ability... Is that going to be the story of my life?*

 

In any case, he would be more than grateful to settle back out of the center stage for a little while.  Having broken the ice, he was willing to let his Auntie carry the political heavy lifting.  And from the looks of her, Celestia was already taking care of that, talking with one of the griffon generals.  As for himself, Blueblood decided to stay at the bar with his friend and new guard.  "So, you came in with Captain Breezer, right Dunder?  How was the trip?"