The Last Hunt (Adventure, possible other tags)

Star looked at Aerv as he increased his speed. Not wanting to get left behind, he increased his speed as well. He frowned when Aerv stopped talking, nodding to him a little. "I'm perfectly alright with you not talking about it. I understand not wanting to talk about a specific topic." He continued to listen to Aerv with a smile. "Guess we three ponies...err...Two ponies and whatever Nuria said she was are gonna see some interesting stuff in the dragon lands eh? Hope we don't become crispy pony bits for dragons." He shrugged a little, frowning.

"If you find burning corpses and volcanoes interesting, sure!" Aerv responded and observed for Star's reaction. "I'm just kidding. About the corpses, that is. But yeah, there are many interesting things, I suppose. Deserts, jungles, lakes, mountains... " the dragon started counting. "Oh, and death thing... Yeah, I'll do my best to protect you. But I'll need you all to work with me and do what I say. I know that I am not to be trusted because of my kin, but please just trust me there." he said before pausing. "Even though, with my size, most dragons have a good reason to not pick a fight with me..." he said and grimly chuckled before smiling at Star, seeing that they had done a few circles. "Well then, that was good enough for now. Don't wanna waste hours flying around, after all. Mind leading me to the dining room, Star?" Aerv asked once they landed in front of the castle again.

Star stared at Aerv for a moment as he mentioned burning corpses. He then let out a breath that he didn't realize he was holding when Aerv said he was kidding. "Oh thank Luna you were kidding...I do think volcanoes are somewhat interesting. Never seen one fully." He said with a shrug. He then nodded when Aerv said they should stop flying for now. Star blinked for a moment. "Uhh...Dinning room? Err...I have no idea where it is. I don't work at the castle, I'm not a guard." He said with a sigh, shaking his head. He walked over to the nearest guard. "Excuse me sir. Where is the dinning room?"

After arriving at the dining hall, either by your own accord, or by the escort of a guard, all would be able to see the very large hall with decorations depicting the sister princesses as well as all three tribal leaders. The massive table to adorned the center of the room was for the moment bare of anything aside from a few ponies that were sitting at it. Being the first to arrive, Sharp would find herself at a mostly empty table, at least until Nuria arrived. A short while after though, a few other ponies entered, they were talking lightly too each other and seemed to be bickering about something until they laid eyes on Nuria, which ceased all light chatter, as the ponies lowered their voices to incomprehensible murmurs.

They still took their seats at the large table though, well away from Nuria and Sharp. The two, likely nobles if one was to guess from their formal attire, were soon joined by more similar pairs that entered and almost repeated the actions of the former. Talking lightly upon entering, and then in hushed whispers after seeing Nuria. Along with the murmurs were looks of fear, disgust, anger, and a few others, but possibly the most prominent was that of fear in the nobles who were unlucky enough to have to sit across from Nuria and Sharp. That fear almost rose to screaming levels when Aerv and Star entered the scene, taking the only seats left, the ones next to Sharp and Nuria. The awkward and fearful tension wasn't allowed long to build though before a familiar figure of radiance entered the room.

"Ah, there you four are, and thank you for attending noble ponies of Canterlot," Celestia said as she strode into the room with her sister.

"We would offer apologize for such a sudden call at such an ho-" Luna started, but was cut off by one of the nobles who were sitting across the table from the group of four.

"WHAT IS THAT THING DOING HERE!" he demanded in a panicked voice and with a point towards Aerv, and then a point to Nuria, "AND THAT ONE!"

"Why they are my honored guests and foreign dignitaries, duke Filigree," Celestia replied without a moments hesitation. "I have invited them AND you among all the other nobles you sit around for this wondrous occasion. Talks with the dragon lands are to begin shortly and so that we may finally see peace and respect between us," Celestia went on.

"Dragon's cannot be reasoned with," called out another noble pony, "they're mindless, fire-breathing killing machines. I don't know what spell you used to keep this one passive, but it won't fool me!" called out another pony who decided to make a bit more of a show by standing up and shoving back his chair. "And that abomination has made me lose my appetite," he added with a gesture to Nuria though he didn't make any motion to leave the room.

Neither Celestia or Luna responded this time, and instead they turned their heads towards the four sitting together maybe halfway down the table. The diarchs gestured for the four to speak, to say their piece, and to see how they all handled the harshness of close-minded nobles.

Nuria thought, for once in a long time, that she looked nice. She was out of her ugly black disguise and into her more formal silken robe, the color of white gold, trimmed in dark teal with a red dragons sewn about. She even managed to decorate her mane a little with some small beads. She nodded to sharp when she entered the dining hall and sat down. In fact, she almost cracked a smile at the situation. It wasn't often that you got to eat dinner with royalty. She looked at the two nobles as they walked in and nearly greeted them... As they reminded her exactly why she was here in the first place.

It didn't even take a second for them to stop talking and start murmuring, taking Nuria from a nice dinner setting, to what was probably one of the most uncomfortable places she'd been in a long time. And then more of them came, and more of them. Why were so many ponies here? When Xereth arrived, she almost felt relieved that all of the attention was suddenly on him and not her. And then finally the princesses arrived! What a relief, they would talk some sense into these ponies. She stopped her thoughts and looked at the noble that dared call her "that." And another that called her "abomination." That made her angry. And she hated to admit it, but this was how she assumed Xereth felt at her name calling. She didn't have to take it though, she was a warrior. She could easily burn them all away and not feel a shred of regret for it.

And the princesses were being silent now, looking at the group as if they had something to say. Well, she had been the first to speak out up until now, why not continue the trend? She glared at each of the nobles in turn. "I would think that you Equestrians would be far more respectful than to insult your allies." She started. "Instead, I see you cowering in your seats like commoners. Firstly..." Nuria had to take a massive swallow for all the pride she had just eaten, and lightly punched Xereth as a gesture towards him. "This is Xereth. He is not a thing. And I am hardly an abomination. I am a Kirin, and my name is Nuria Wintersbane."

Aerv silently entered the room, now already slightly filled with noble ponies. He noticed the immediate change in the mood upon his entry and he sat down next to Sharp, putting the chair away as he didn't exactly need it with his size and he would merely break it if he sat on it. He kept a stoic expression as the nobles started flipping out, and he could very well smell the fear in the ponies, which didn't surprise him. He had hoped that the twin sisters would at least slightly cease the chaos, which they did.

The dragon almost admired the braveness of the one pony who decided to cut Luna off during her short speech and then listened carefully to what Nuria had to say, barely even reacting to the light punch on his side. He patiently waited for Nuria to finish her introduction before closing his eyes for a moment and opening them again as he collected his thoughts. He could only hope that they would believe him, seeing as he was wearing a cloth with symbol of Luna and her medallion.

His voice now sounded like a mash of growling and normal voice, and his companions could easily recognize the difference. "As Nuria here said, my name is Aerv Xereth, and no, I am not a thing, I am a dragon, thank you very much." He began and looked at the pony whose name was apparently duke Filigree. He then looked at the other pony, who even stood up. "That may be true for some, but not for all. I am not under any spell, as I probably can't even be put under a spell. And no need to call my... companion here an abomination." he said before coughing himself off. "I do not mean you any harm, but if you're still too terrified, I suppose you're free to angrily leave the princesses' presence. Now how about everyone calms down? I arrived here for a reason, and that reason is not striking fear into your feeble hearts." Aerv said and looked at the princesses again, as if looking for a reaction and continuing his stoic expression.

Nuria’s nod was met with a smile and a wave from Sharp. It was nice to see the kirin could be civil too. When the noble ponies of Canterlot began shuffling in, she shuffled uncomfortably. It felt as if every eye in the room was directed in her general direction, and considering her present company, they probably were. She began idly brushing her newly cleaned tail with a hoof in an attempt to pass the time. When the two princesses trotted into the room,  Sharp only noticed them after they had spoken, her eyes had been locked on her tail.

She listened to Nuria and Aerv speak to the disgruntled nobility in silence, waiting for them to finish so that she too may speak. After they had both spoke their mind, Sharp reached over to Aerv’s face and lightly bapped him on the nose with a hoof. “Don’t be scary for the sole purpose of being scary, Aerv.” She chastised the dragon. “Look, can we all just sit down and eat dinner like good little ponies? Whether you like it or not, my good noble ponies of Canterlot, the reality is your rulers aren’t racist bigots anymore. Things are going to change. Probably not all at once, but they will change. You can sit around and hate it all you want, make it a miserable experience for yourselves… or you can embrace it and enjoy it with the rest of us. The choice is completely yours, as it always has been.” She finished.

Star had been smiling when he and Aerv came in, but it quickly vanished when he noticed there were nobles in the dinning hall. He quickly turned and thanked the guard who had shown them the way to the dinning hall before following Aerv to the two seats. He sat down in the only other seat left right next to him. He turned and faced the princesses when they came in and smiled just a little. When Luna had been interrupted by the one named duke Filigree, he frowned. He then growled a little when the second noble said Aerv had a spell on him. It took some will power not to out right fly out of his seat and beat that noble up with his bare hooves, plus it wouldn't look good on him and his companions. He just continued growling in his seat as he listened to Aerv, Nuria, and Sharp speak. He didn't know if he should say anything and there was the fact he didn't know what to say. He just looked down at his hooves and growled quietly. "Bucking nobles..." He muttered quietly so that only Aerv and maybe Nuria would be able to hear.

The nobles didn't seem to thrilled with Nuria, Aerv, or Sharp's replies to them. "Well I won't wait here to be incinerated by a monster in sheep's clothing," the noble who'd actually taken a stand called out as he moved to depart.

"You claim to love your ponies, princesses, and yet you've put us all in danger by letting those things enter this sanctum city," Duke Filigree commented as he too stood up and began to depart. "And there are no such documents that make ponies the allies of any dragon," he added with a sharp look towards Nuria, "or their spawned abominations," and with that he moved to follow the other noble out of the room.

A few more got up to leave as well, some with just murmurs and others with outright statements. "You've no place here", "I don't know what the princesses were thinking, you monsters should have just been killed", "you've been changing a lot of things princesses, and this is one of many steps too far", were just a few noteworthy ones. Yet despite that all, there were a few nobles that remained at the table, and each of them received a very warm smile from the princesses.

"It's good to see you are still with us lady Mist, duke Granite, duchess Arcanna, headmaster Tome, commander Cirrus, lord Verdant, and lady Orchid," Celestia recited the names of each of the remaining nobles who still sat at the table, and nodded as they were addressed. Going in order, an almost white light blue pegasus, a dark grey earth pony, an indigo unicorn, a green unicorn, a light grey pegasus, a green earth pony, and a purplish red earth pony.

"We are all in agreement that change can be good when tempered with some caution and observation, nurtured as it were, " headmaster Tome replied in a surprisingly deep voice and with a light nod.

"Change has already brought quite a bit benefit to all of us in recent times," lady Orchid spoke up next with a gentle voice that was almost hard to be heard.

"And our forces stand much stronger now that we have greater versatility, so long as the ranks can stop arguing with each other," commander Cirrus called out in a higher pitched voice, but with such a strong sense of purpose that it was hard to not take seriously.

"We are glad to hear such support, and from all the kinds of pony we see over," Luna replied, sharing her sister's smile. "Now that the nay-sayer's have departed however, why don't we get dinner under way," Luna added then with a nod to a guard who poked his head into a door for a moment and a line of servers, mostly unicorns, with various covered dishes wandered into the room and around until they found the respective being they carried a dish for.

"Our head chef Skillet would also like to personally see if his attempts at satiating each of your pallets, especially on such short notice," Celestia said with a gentle nod towards a very tall, very large earth pony. Though the stallion's small expression looked almost comical on such a large figure.

"Oh, you flatter meh princess," the stallion commented. "And I would also like to extend some apologies before hand should what I prepared not be up to standard. Alas, reports on dragon and I believe I heard the term Kirin?, and their eating habits have been... sub par to say the least. Why even the recommended menu's for a thestral are far from what they could be," Skillet apologized with an awkward and strained smile. The servers lifted the lids all at once, revealing the various meals for each. Celestia and Luna both had specialized and extravagant salads before them with a bundle of extra toppings to their own preferences. Star would find a collection fruit prepared in a few different ways, Nuria with a platter of excellently grilled fish and a small side salad, Aerv with just an assortment of fish ranging from sushi to grilled, and Sharp would find a salad similar to the princesses before her. "If there's any changes I should make, please, dun hesitate to speak up."

Good riddance, Nuria thought to herself as one by one the nobles started to leave. Though even though she thought that, it still hurt her feelings. Though she would never dare admit it! At least there were a few ponies that stayed behind, but at this point, she barely had an appetite. Until she saw her meal, that is. Steaming grilled fish. She had to swallow to keep her mouth from drooling. She hadn't had a meal that looked that good in forever. What was even the proper etiquette for eating in the presence of royalty? She didn't want to make a fool out of herself, so she just waited to see what the others would do.

Aerv sighed as some nobles left, partially in relief that they won't have to ruin his experience in the castle and partially of disappointment as they couldn't see the truth. He was happy to say the least when a few nobles stayed, hoping that at least they would contribute to the friendship between him and pony race. He calmly watched as the servants brought the dishes to the room and placed them in front of everyone present, accompanied by the head chef. His voice did sound a bit weird, almost silly to the blue dragon, but he brushed it off. Must be pretty normal, he thought as the meals were finally shown and a smile finally came up on his stoic face. The variety of fish and the smell made him instantly more hungry, and he first looked at his companions, then the rest of nobles and then at princesses, as if wanting confirmation that he of all beings present is allowed to have such a feast after being considered an enemy by most. Once done, he would slowly and as politely as he could eat piece by piece, not wanting to make too much mess.

“Mmm… If I didn’t know any better, I’d be disappointed with the lack of reaction.” Sharp said mostly to herself as the nobles shuffled out of the palace’s dining room. More than likely, the princesses had just added more fuel to the fires of racism and bigotry by inviting them to dinner and allowing them to voice their opinions, but, fortunately for her, matters of Equestrian politics were currently beyond Sharp’s stature. She didn’t envy the poor ponies who had to deal with nobles like Duke Filigree on a daily basis.

“Thank you kindly, Chef” Sharp said in thanks when served. A fresh salad was a nice change of pace from trail rations. Soon after everyone was given their respective meals, Sharp gave a polite nod to the Princesses and the remaining nobles, before she began to eat her own, floating individual bits of her salad in front and into her mouth with magic.

Star just continued to growl quietly as he listened to all the nobles leaving. They hate dragons so much that they would dare leave in the princesses presence...He had to admit they had courage. When he heard Celestia call out the names of the nobles who stayed, he looked up and smiled a little, glad some nobles could look past the fact Aerv was a dragon. He sighed a little and shook his head, trying to clear away the thoughts of hurt he wanted to induce on the nobles who left.

When the food was brought out, he looked looked down at his food and tried not to gape at the fruit. He mentally named the ones he knew off the top of his head and grinned. He quickly looked around the table at the nobles, princesses, and his companions. He then eat one of the fruits and grinned like a little colt. He swallowed the fruit. "Mmm. Thank you, Chef. This is just fine." He continued eating the fruit, one fruit at a time.

The servants departed and the chef expressed his gratitude for the compliments with a little bow and some words of thanks before wandering back into the kitchen, presumably for his own dinner. The princesses smiled lightly and nodded to each other before enjoying their own dishes along with the nobles who mostly had varying forms of salad before them as well.

When all were finished, the servants came back out and took the plates wordlessly, waiting only long enough for any to offer words to be passed back to the chef. After they departed though, it was one of the remaining nobles who spoke first. "So, Aerv I believe you said, I would like to know your reason for willingly taking our ponies into these lands of yours," Duke Granite spoke up first.

"And if they are met with opposition on the way in and out, would you raise claw and spit flame to defend them?" piped up Commander Cirrus.

"And what of you two, why so willing to go through such a daunting task as to try for peace against a race that is known for little more than destroying?" Lady Orchid asked Star, Sharp before catching herself and throwing an apologetic look at Aerv and Nuria, "no offence intended."

Headmaster Tome remained silent as he seemed to be studying Nuria, and when he did speak it was a simple question, "can you breath fire like that of the real dragons?"

Lady Mist, Duchess Arcanna, and Lord Verdant remained silent for now, but their gaze was readily on the 4 subjects of inquiry. Celestia and Luna for the moment had opted to more just lean back and try to minimize their presence in the room.

Aerv smiled and thanked the servants, licking around his mouth to get any pieces of fish that weren't inside before listening to the nobles. He first turned to the noble with the name Duke Granite and coughed off. "It isn't exactly willingly, Duke." he answered. "It is more of a job that the princesses gave me if I want to stay in this ponyland." he explained and attempted making a weak smile, as if trying to show that he does not exactly approve of the given job before turning his head towards Commander Cirrus. "The least I can do is assure them that I will do my best to protect them, Commander, as long as they understand that in dragonlands, I am the leader and they do as I say and are fine with it. Following my orders out there is pretty much vital for their survival." he answered to commander. "I can't completely guarantee that they'll make it out alive, but I can guarantee that I will do whatever is within my power to keep them alive." he added before smiling at Lady Orchid. "None taken."

As soon as she saw everyone else enjoying their meals, Nuria wasted no time with her own. It tasted fantastic, just salty enough for her tastes and still quite moist. "Mmm, thank you, Chef." She said with a big smile. She continued eating and rolled her eyes at Lady Orchid. She didn't bother giving a response to that comment. It was just another reason to be annoyed at dragons. It was only when Headmaster Tome spoke up that she stopped eating to answer.

"Well... Yes, I can..." She said.

Sharp ate her salad with purpose, floating up small portions at a time before silently enjoying each individual bit. Her previous food related comment seemed to be a grievous understatement, as fresh salad rapidly proved exponentially more pleasant to consume than trail rations were. As her companions conversed about orders and their following, Sharp simply tuned most of it out, salad now, boring conversation later. Nom. Nom. Nom.

Star paused for a moment, a fruit in his mouth. He blinked a few times, looking at Lady Orchid. He looked over at Sharp who was enjoying her salad and not listening at all. He quickly swallowed the fruit in his mouth and licked his lips of the fruit juice. "Make peace with a race known for destroying..." He thought about it for a moment, taping a hoof to his muzzle. He looked at Aerv and smiled a little. "Because of dragons like Aerv. Not everyone in a race is the same. Most of the race is known for destroying, but that also means there are others in that race that don't want destroy. It'd be like saying, and this is hypothetical here, a group of thestrals hate on the sun and Princess Celestia and want to get rid of her. So they try to attack her. But you can't really hate on the whole race for what those thestrals did or tried to do." He said, glancing over at Celestia. He really hoped that made sense whatsoever. He quickly went back to eating his fruit, acting as if he was tuning out everything just like Sharp.

Duke Granite and Commander Cirrus nodded at the respective answers they received from Aerv. Though Commander Cirrus apparently wasn't finished as he continued his questions. "Alright, and that leads to the assumption that should a peace treaty be refused, you'll side with the ponies for your sanctuary since if it fall to them, you'll be right back where you started. And actually with you actually being a dragon, as well as knowing more about their politics than any of us, what would you rate the effectiveness of a peace treaty between our two kinds."

Headmaster Tome "hmm'd" at Nuria reply as he seemed to lower his head slightly in thought. "What other draconic traits might you have inherited, and can you also trace your heritage back to any more well known dragons?" the Headmaster went on.

"And you've been quiet this whole time, what's your opinion on this expedition?" Lord Verdant asked casting a glance towards Sharp.

"But he is the first out of every dragon we've ever seen that hasn't been of the mindset to burn everything in sight. With your group of thestrals that you've mentioned, we already knew of many others that didn't share their beliefs," Lady Orchid countered with a slight grin. "Still, your faith and hope for a peaceful resolution is refreshing and you have my hope that it is reached," she went on. "And hopefully soon we can put an end to the need for these dragon hunts and spare the youths such a dangerous occupation. Which does bring up a slight curiosity if you'll indulge me, why is one so young in a company of dragon hunters?"

Nuria looked at the headmaster with a frustrated expression. "Kirin aren't related to dragons." She stated. "At least, the ones that I know aren't. How would that even work? If you're asking what dragons and Kirin have in common, then aside from fire breath, I guess I could say scales, claws..." she lifts up a clawed appendage and shows it off for the headmaster for only a moment before putting it back down.

"Maybe our choice of food as well, but that's about it." She adjusts her silken robe before continuing to eat.

Star swallowed the fruit in his mouth and cough. "Ah...true...But you see what I'm trying to say right?" He said before continuing to listen to Orchid, eating a piece of fruit once in a while. "Oh um..." He fidgeted around a little, his eyes going down to his hooves. "Well um...You see I don't have parents to well...take care of me and give me a home. So well, I became a dragon hunter which is kinda ironic considering I'm a bit of a softhearted fool sometimes." He said, smiling awkwardly at Orchid as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Aerv slowly and carefully nodded at Cirrus' assumptions, although the second part of his question made him lower his head. "True, I am a dragon, but I am a free dragon. Since I belong to no clan after the incident, I thus never really bothered to understand politics if there were any to begin with. How would a peace treaty work, I have only a slight idea, and from my experience of making deals with the rest of my kin, it leads me to believe that it is rather unlikely for them to accept it. Still worth a try, if you ask me, and if all else fails, you'll still have a dragon of your own on your side." Xereth answered Commander Cirrus and shook his head, hoping he didn't disappoint him too badly with his answer.

Sharp was taken out of her salad-born enjoyment by Lord Verdant’s question. She looked at the pony for a moment, as she both thought about her response and finished chewing on some heavenly lettuce. “My opinion? Mm… This salad is really really good.” she said completely seriously, before her eyes widened in realization and she blushed lightly. “Oh. Uhm. We’re probably going to fail, but, it doesn’t hurt to try.” she added with a shrug.

Commander Cirrus adopted a a serious expression, for all of about 3 seconds before he grinned. "Well, worst come, we'll have a nasty little surprise for them then," the commander said before leaning back, apparently satisfied with his inquiry. Lady Mist however leaned forward then with a question, "and what is the terrain of the dragon lands like? What's the geography like?"

Nuria seemed to have thrown the Headmaster for a loop with that realization as his eyes widened just a bit before nodding at the other answers. "So if not from dragons and their kin, then where do these... features come from?" the Headmaster went on to ask.

Lord Verdant seemed quite pleased with Sharps answer. "Good honesty, and coupled with a good attitude, hehehe," he said around a couple chuckles. "Let's hope then that this venture does pay off," he added. Duchess Arcana looked over then, sizing up Sharp it would seem.
"And do you feel prepared to enter those lands and try to accomplish this likely fool-hardy task?" she asked.

"That's a terrible shame, and another that it was allowed to happen," Lady Orchid said with a concerned frown. "Was it dragons that did the deed? Are you hunting them now for vengeance along with the need for money?"

Aerv sighed in relief that he didn't disappoint commander Cirrus too badly. For some reason, he liked Cirrus' attitude. He then turned towards Lady Mist. "It's very mixed, miss." he said and shrugged. "It's a mix of almost everything, mountains, charred fields, jungles, deserts, volcanoes, beautiful forests, lakes.. I could go on, but you probably get the idea." he said and gave her a smile. "Across the great sea, however... mostly mountains." he added, looking around if anyone else wanted to ask him about anything else.