The Multi-Dimensional OC Bar

"Somewhat dangerous, but nothing ol' Griff couldn't handle." he said, beginning to down his third beer.

"I don't suppose..." Schwarm hid a smile. "I don't suppose it has anything to do with an event in the east of Equestria...?"

"That's the one. Turns out the commander of enemy forces was our commander's once-beloved friend or something like that many years ago. Unfortunately we didn't get to kill it."

Schwarm blinks. "Okay... well, that was a lot more than I actually knew. Thanks for the info." He paused. "Who was your commander, anyway?"

"Ician." Griff says and downs his third mug. "Not enough..." he says to himself. "THREE MORE LARGE BEERS TO THIS TABLE, PLEASE!"

"Fitting." Schwarm smiled widely. "He's usually the one who requests my services for the Guard. Your... transformed state as a snake reminded me of his pet."

"I actually learned that form during the mission, since waiting for anything was boring." Griff says.

Schwarm nodded. "Good use of time. Why'd you choose a snake?"

"Why not a snake? It's a good stealthy animal, that's for sure.. do you not like snakes, mr....?" Griff asked, pausing briefly to let the trader say his name.

"Schwarm." He said. "Call me Schwarm. As for snakes... well, let's just say I've made a habit of staying out of their way when I can. They can be quite poisonous. Otherwise..." He gestured to his eagle. "I have the means to... take care of them."

"Griff." He said. "I did notice your metallic bird.. it's .. quite strange.. but, I saw too many weird things along my adventures to be too intrigued.."

"I have, too." Schwarm nodded. "When it comes to strangeness, the world has a lot more to offer than just Talon." He patted his bird's head. "My eagle's name."

"Fitting name for that kind of bird... I am quite familiar with eagles myself."

"Oh?" Schwarm raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

Griff chuckles and transforms into his eagle form. "Like so." He says in his eagle form with a grin.

"Ah." Schwarm nodded. "So you're a versatile shapeshifter then. Useful ability."

"It is indeed. If there was an aquarium around, I'd show you my shape for underwater travels." Griff says with a chuckle.

"Hm." Schwarm contemplated it. "Pretty efficient for solo travels. But I can't say it'd serve me very well - I'm the airfaring type, myself."

"I see." Griff says. "Well, I am gonna make a break from jobs for now, seeing how much I got paid by the Royal Guard.. but I do anything for the right amount of money. T

"How much were you paid?" Schwarm asked, interested.

"Around seven thousand bits for participating in a large battle." He said. "But if you ever need an escort for wherever you'll be going, you can always try to find me. But looking at you, I think you can handle yourself well alone."

"Seven thousand?" Schwarm's eyes widened. "Wow. That's a lot of money." He blinked. "Hold on, a large battle?"

"Hundreds of soldiers on each side, yes." He said, slowly realizing he shouldn't reveal too many mission details to someone he just met. After transforming back into his unicorn form, he also realized that he's a free mercenary, not some whimp guard who lives close to the Castle and thus can say whatever he wants. "We basically had to take out a changeling hive."

"Changelings, huh? Can't say I have any strong feeling about them." Schwarm shrugged. "Still, that sounds pretty big. I wonder why I didn't hear anything about it till now."

"It made me realize that being in love can be terrifyingly dangerous. Ician almost died because he refused to finish off changeling commander whom he loved, for Celly's sake!" Griff said and started downing his beers, one after one.