What we've learned today (Shade + Scinti)

[Syron]

Year 4, November 13, before dawn

-- Outside the city --

A dark blue pegasus flew through the night, grim, golden eyes locked at the city before him. He was exhausted, but finally he was here. This had been the easy part, now he had to find Shade. How to find a pony who was a master in hiding? Usually with a good portion of luck. A lot less luck in his case, but still a bit. He landed by a group of trees, still far outside the city, carefully keeping his left hindleg from the ground. Blowing an annoying blond hair out of his face he set down to reast for some time before he would search for his friend. The last one.


-- The Hideout --

Nothing had happened since Shade and Scrapper had returned. No unwanted visitors, nothing caving in, and the water supply had been taken care of. They didn't have a valve yet, but a smaller hole in the pipe that only slowly filled up whatever container they placed underneath did the job for now. At first the sound of dripping water had been a little annoyance, but that quickly had been taken care of by giving the water something to run down at. A string had done the job.

Of course Scrapper had gone to sleep shortly after arrival, but for Shade it wasn't the time to sleep. It was night, and so now was time for activity. That she had missed her sleep the day before didn't matter. She didn't sleep during the night. She wasn't tired anyway. But in the end, all she did was sitting in a corner of the room, eyes closed and surrounded by perfect darkness. Yet, she wasn't asleep. Her attention had been turned inside, on her mind and emotions, watching herself thinking. When something happened, her ears would inform her. Only once every few minutes her eyes shot open for a moment, taking a quick look around before closing again. From time to time, her neutral expression wavered slightly, a short twitch before everything returned back to normal.

Shade hadn't meditated like this for a long time, it hadn't been necessary. She had been able to keep control of her emotions without fault, not once in five years had she been overrun by her them and driven into a rage. The previous morning it had happened, and everytime Scintillance was around she felt how she was driven near the edge. She had to regain secure control again. It was a purely mental matter, and so her body had a few hours to relax, but she knew she would be tired anyway when the day began. She wouldn't see the sunlight, but her biological clock usually worked just fine.

In her head, a battle was going on. Shade had intensionally allowed some of the unwanted emotions to run free. Careful at first, then fighting them back. Again and again, always letting loose a little more. Now she felt anger taking over. Pictures of a griffon came to her mind, light gray with black wings. Skylight's murderer. But he wasn't there to be the target of her anger. Her hoof twiched as she barely avoided hitting whatever was there. It was a useless action that would only damage her already injured hoof even more. As rational thinking took hold again, she noticed that her breath had sped up. Quickly it was brought back to normal. Eyes opened, scanned the room, and closed again. The next round began. And then the next, and the next, until Scintillance finally disturbed her.

[Lance]

Do you... always do that creepy meditation thing? I'm pretty sure it's not working. Scintillance was sitting right before Shade. he watched as she started to breathe more frantically, gaining a harsher and harsher expression over her closed eyes until she opened them. if this was meditation, it obviously wasn't calming her down.
Oh! Oh! You made up some weird method to make yourself angrier? I don't know if that's incredibly brilliant, or gosh darn insane! He chuckled. Same old smiley-Lance.

[Syron]

The sound of Scintillance's voice entered her mind, and was ignored as some shred of memory. But Lance was brought to attention anyways, causing the emotional turmoil to grow and slowly overwhelm her. When she opened her eyes she didn't have the neutral expression she usually had when she looked around the room, it was contorded in anger and hatred. At anything that was in reach. Scintillance was in reach. To Shade's defense it has to be said that she somehow managed to let him end his sentence before she drove her hoof underneath his ribcage, with all the force she could muster. Which wasn't comparable to a trained earth pony, but wenn taking a blow into the solar plexus a trained unicorn would be more than enough to make it an unpleasant experience.

[Lance]

Lance took a series of bipedal steps backwards, holding both of his front hooves over his new found injury, and fell to his haunches. a few wheezes later, he found the breath to say No, no, I'm fine... just a... a little winded... 'hello' to you too...

[Syron]

Shade apparently tried to hold herself back, but when Scintillance talked, the attempts on regaining control apparently failed. For a short moment her horn glowed unusually bright for the black unicorn, before darkness seemed to explode from it, hiding Shade and much of the environment completely, safe for an area around and behind Scintillance' light source. And the center of the darkness was quickly moving towards him to give him another blow.

[Lance]

Scintillance was barely paying much attention to Shade while he focused on his <insert-PAIN-here> but if there's anything he'd never fail to notice, it's the change in lighting. thinking that his light orb was faltering, Scintillance pumped some more energy into his spell, causing a brighter glow. Lance did not like the dark.

[Syron]

Despite his efforts, Scintillance only managed to make it bright enough for him to get a glimpse of Shade's raging grimace before she was on him again, a short distance away the light was already gone. Only a short reflection warned the stallion of the knife that was suddenly in Shade's hoof.

[Lance]

It may have been a split moment for Lance's pupils to shrink at what's going on before his little reflex-mechanism kicked in. He leaped away from shade, instantaneously dissolving his light orb and leaving his "Aegis" in his wake, either as a wall for Shade to run into, or a blinding light, or both. Unfortunately, his leaping away had him trip over an unrecognizable object, and gave him a short tumble, before turning his head to Shade. Daflank is wrong with her!? ... And then whatever the heck he tripped over decided to be alive. oh brilliant.

[Scrapper]

Scrapper felt a bump whilst he was sleeping, interrupting his dreams and, more importantly, his sleep in general. His head shot up, he never was one for being woken up before he wanted to, so his mood was already bad. "Oi! What's the bloody script with waking me up?" He turned to look at Lance, and gave an irritated sigh. He then turned to look where Shade was and only saw her barely because of Lance's light "Whoa.. That's a lovely mood your in Las, what's he done to get you this riled up?" Under his smart response he was more concerned as to why Shade was in such a bad mood to look like she wanted a certain pony near him dead or gone.

[Syron]

Scintillance would quickly realize: Light was not helpful to calm Shade down. Staring directly at the suddenly appearing wall of light only short distance away from her was painful, and so another wave of anger washed over her, errupting in a furious scream as she blindly charged at the conjured shield, giving another burst to her shadow spell. Weakened by the darkness and being struck with a sharpened horn, the light gave in to the raging unicorn. The force of the impact still caused Shade to stumble and fall to the ground, and though she was on her hooves quickly, she apparently had lost her orientation as she wildly looked around in the darkness to find her target, her vision uncomfortably handycapped for some time.

[Lance]

Scintillance was definitely worried. He knew he was running on fumes, what with spending the whole day draining away at his reserves, but his Aegis just got shattered. that just... it's never happened before. Not by physical means, at least... as for the mare who broke it, Lance just couldn't bring himself to harm her. looking down at Ferrous, he voiced a quick a little help here, would ya? Lance dashed over and grabbed Shade from the side, keeping her front right hoof afloat above the ground, and tight away from use, hoping Ferrous would know what he'd meant for him to do.

[Scrapper]

Scrapper gave a tired sigh and got up onto his hooves and walked right in front of Shade, he pushed his goggles up and chuckled. "Las, that prat woke me up, even I want to give him a bit of a stab." He looked at Lance, who was still holding Shade's left leg in place. "And to be honest, he's a bit of a bellend but there's nothing I can do about that." Chuckling, he looked back to Shade. "And since you haven't kicked me in the face yet I'm going to do something, very stupid. Because at this point, if you knock me out at least I won't get woken up by that lightbulb" He raised his right hoof and booped Shade's nose, on perfect cue with that he said "Boop." still chuckling happily afterwards.

[Syron]

Shade struggled in Scintillance grip like a wild animal until Scrapper caught her attention. He seemed to have a calming effect on her, her struggling got less violent as she seemingly concentrated on his words, though her expression hardly softened. Beeing 'booped' on the nose caused her to snap after the offending hoof in a last outbreak, but after that her struggling slowly died down completely. She had her eyes closed again, not moving at all, but her neutral expression wasn't back. As the morning before, she now had to fight sorrow, but this time she couldn't allow herself to deal with it as slowly as she had the last time. She tried not to think of him, but with his presence she had to get her full control back as soon as possible. For several minutes she didn't react to anything, apart possibly from a few twitches, and just stood there. By the end of it, she was not as calm as she wanted, but calm enough to not lose control again in the next instant. Scintillance... She turned towards him, her voice strained and her look partly apologetic, partly sad. I'm sorry. Nothing of this was meant against you. You... You interrupted me at the wrong moment. I fear I can't explain it to you right now, I would risk the same happpening again as long as I haven't calmed down completely. She turned away from the other two ponies. Please excuse me for a few minutes, she said and went to search for a silent spot to bring her mind back to order, the source of the darkness leaving with her.

[Lance]

Lance had a bit of look of horror when all Scrapper did to help was boop Shade on the nose. He wanted to laugh, sure, but there's a next-to-insane mare in his grip, and being the stallion that he is, physical strength doesn't always trump insanity. He was relieved, of course, when Shade calmed down; glad that she forgot she still had a pointy horn on her head, and all she had to do is swing it to the side... really, he wasn't thinking any of that through.

It's back to mysterious Shade again, and Lance thought he knew exactly what she's thinking about. Before he could utter the name, he figured that would certianly not make Shade feel any better. that, and it's a delicate issue, and there's another stallion in the room. Shade probably wouldn't want him to go around telling everypony in the world about the fate of their mutual friend... but he's not one for sitting back and doing nothing.

are you sure you want that moment to yourself, Shade? the more you dwell on it the worse you seem to get... Yesterday, Shade was mourning slightly after a harsh dream, but the distraction of meeting scrapper got her back to some senses.

[Scrapper]

Scrapper gave Lance a small nudge to get his attention, "Let her go Lad, I'd rather not need to clean your blood off the floor if she has another go at you." He thought for a second, who was it that he was referring to? He was sure he heard things like it previously. It was enough to keep him curious, and after those few seconds he made sure he had Lance's attention. "Mate, what do you mean about the more she dwells on it? What happened that I don't know?"

[Syron]

Shade only stopped for a moment to answer Scintillance' question. It's not your fault, but you're still the reason for this outbreak. I appreciate the offer, but you're a constant reminder. Not helpful for calming down. Before anypony could say anything else she had disappeared in the shadows.

[Lance]

Lance was definitely hurt, being told that he's a reason for the outbreak. He's always one for helping others, but to know that he's the very opposite? His ears flopped down, along with his gaze, as Shade made herself distant within the shadows. When scrapper decided to get audibly curious, Lance directed him outside the room, to the outer caves, Where he could disturb Shade the least.

Scraps, Shade and I obviously aren't the most... "compatible," of ponies. especially not years ago. back before the war, there was another filly-a pegasus- that the night and day had shared... Scintillance chuckled, realizing how redicilously poetic his friendship with Shade and Sky was. I'm talking about the Sky. Skylight. whether it was my sunny, lively attitude or Shade's dark, sometimes freighting humor, She easily got along with us both. Not sure Shade and I'd ever even talk to each other, if it wasn't for Sky...

But that's a story for another time. thing is, Shade watched Sky get killed by a griffin when the war started... I didn't even know until just a few nights before... I guess I'm doing a better job at hiding that pain than Shade... but where the credit's due... she lived through the event... right before her eyes... while she was still no more... than a filly...

Lance was doing his best not to get emotional... but his sentences were starting to break, and his eyes were getting heavy... the topic was fragile for him as well, and preferred ti keep off it. But he was willing to explain it; Scrapper deserved to at least know what motives lay behind his two companions.

[Scrapper]

"Sky.. Sky.. Where have I heard that before.." he began to think, he knew he heard a name like that before. It might just be coincidence. His left hoof suddenly went up to the left side of his face and held it, and he groaned loudly as he recalled some of his past that he could actually remember. Once he remembered that Lance was right next to him he quickly put his hoof down, and quickly went back to what he wanted to say. "I don't know, Lad. Who knows where I heard that name before. It could be pretty common, but cheers. I know all too well what a bad memory can feel like, especially one you have to live with your whole life."

[Lance]

Scintillance noticed Ferrous' groan, as he mulled over "Skylight" being a common name... but he simply couldn't recall any other pony sharing her name. Not that it mattered much...

When Ferrous was done speaking, Lance couldn't help but wonder, well, that sounds rather specific. now that I think of it, I don't think I know anything about you from before we met, other than the name your parents gave you. So... what's your story, if you don't mind me asking? Lance tried to say it in the nicest way he could, though it wasn't a very "nice" thing to ask. but really, the whole time he's decided to not have Shade kill him the night before, and now having him dragged along for the ride, he really didn't know anything about Ferrous, much less why he hasn't left off on his own yet. what are Ferrous' intentions, he wonders...

[Scrapper]

Scrapper sat down, still a bit tired. "Mate, that's a delicate question for me." He waited a few seconds before continuing. "To be honest, I don't really know if this IS what my parents called me. I have real bad memory problems past a certain point in my life, and trying to remember them.. Isn't a good idea. I don't know my family, where I'm from, anything. It's kinda.. Haunted me for my whole life, even now. Only thing that helped me forget was really loud, electronic music. And now I'll rarely get a chance to get that little cure" His hoof went back up to the left side of his face, memories that he could recall coming back from whatever corner of his mind they were left in. "As for when they attacked, I've been alone. Surviving, for such a long time." His vision started to go red, even in the darkness he could see it. To Lance, his eye's would dimly glow. The same way as when Shade saw them when they were on te surface, just not as bright. His head started to irritate him and he knew he couldn't say much more, incase he had an attack. "Look, mate. I'm gonna need to stop remembering.. Like, right now. It's not a healthy choice.." His hoof went from his left side to his head, from the throbbing pain that was bothering him.

[Lance]

Lance sat beside Scrapper, forcing himself not to press any further into Scrapper's past; he could see some kind of disdain, under that masked face, and goggled pair of eyes. He tried to change he subject, still relevant to his own question, however. so you've come to think you're better off surviving in a group, than on your own?

[Scrapper]

Scrapper thought for a moment, had He? Normally whenever he tried to be part of a group, it was always a fight for control and it never lasted long. If you on your own there is no power struggle, your word is the best you have. Not only that, but none of them have managed to sustain a good level of stealth, which is a great skill in this day and age. "That's... debatable." He paused. Realising that Lance may not see things the way he did, but he knew that Lance saw bad things of his past. He didn't even go into much detail for that to be obvious. He continued, "The nightmares? They never go away, mate. Once you've been on the battlefield, tasted the exhilaration, the tension... it all becomes part of you. Once you've awakened the warrior within... it never sleeps again. That's mostly what kept me the way I was, for the thrills. And you won't even begin to know how many lives I have under my belt... Pony and Griffon alike."

[Lance]

Scintillance could see how Scrapper and Shade managed to get along. though their personalities differed, their slates were the same; unclean. He knew he should've felt some anger to scrapper's past, riddled with death, maybe even resent, but all he could feel was pity. how could a pony live with himself, after killing another... and then Lance thought to his own death count... realizing that he had... none. somewhat caused four griffins to die, but it was Shade's hoof that dealt the killing blow, not his...

staring at his own hoofs, Scintillance concerned himself with Scrapper's words. what nightmares, what ghosts would haunt him, when he truly discovers that he'd become a killer. if he'd become a killer. No... in an Equestria like this, it would only become a matter of time.

closing his eyes, Scint set his horn aglow, and slowly conjured his martyr before him. there's none under my belt... I'm a living weapon, conjuring up tools of war at will, and I've not a single soul claimed by my blades. finishing his Martyr, Lance turned to look at Scrapper, with sad eyes. Scraps... how literal are these... "nightmares" of yours?

[Scrapper]

Scrapper observed Lance's weapon. Not a single soul was claimed by it, yet he took his time in learning to cast it.
He thought about Lance's question, and the response came pretty quick. "All to real, mate." Still watching the conjured weapon, he continued, "My real nightmares come from what I can't remember, the nightmares that can really mess up my day. I-... Next to my constructiveness, Fighting was the only thing... the only thing I was good at. Killing is never something you should get used to. It'll only just go to show that you've taken a lot of lives away from their family and everyone who care for them.. In death, the only thing I believe I will get is the chance to see the faces of all the things I've killed..." Scrapper pushed his goggles up, his eyes still glowing dimly.

[Syron]

Taking a life is easy. But their families and friends, when you meet them it's often worse than any physical attack. At least if it's not griffons. As would have been expected of Shade, there hadn't been an early hint of her presence. Her voice had suddenly been there, and moments later her silhouette was visible in the shadows before she fully stepped into the light of Scintillance' weapon. The best you can hope is that you never realize the harm you do.

She was apparently back to normal, hood pulled down and showing a serious expression. Again, I'm sorry for attacking you, Scintillance. When I lose control like that, I try to kill everything that's near me, and I fear there's not much I can do about it once it's happening. If it should happen again, don't hesitate to knock me unconscious. It's a wonder I calmed down as I did.

[Lance]

Lance couldn't help but tip forward to look at Ferrous more clearly; really, he's never seen those eyes of his, which've been a mystery to him for a while now. What is that... violet? red? ... Pink eye?-
-his thoughts were interrupted by Shade's voice, cutting through the dark like her blade would a throat; silent and unexpected. well, this time, at least. but it was totally unfair, normally he was expecting her all the time. Props, Shade. Props.

caught mid-leaning, Lance slipped forward, chin first into te ground before quickly recovering to his previous position, to listen to Shade. thankfully, his focus wasn't lost over his Martyr. When Shade was done talking, Lance closed his eyes once more, really cringing them this time, as he reformed his martyr into a small, round, yet flat object. That's alright Shade, all is forgiven. Huh. Am I... the only one among us without... no, I think I'll leave that aside. aaanyway, Lances awkward conjuration of a circle began to forma handle, comparable to a ping-pong paddle, or a tennis racket. welp, I'm going to need this conjuration ready, in case you flip out again. say, anypony know if those cartoons had some truth to them? y'know, the ones about the frying pans knocking out ponies in one shot? Lance's conjuration was complete; a frying pan. a glowing, yellow, buzzing frying pan.

[Scrapper]

Scrapper didn't notice Lance looking at him, but he did notice Shade a couple of seconds before she spoke. His vision being red seemed to make the dark less prominent and he managed to catch her.

Scrapper grinned when he looked and listened to Scintillance, "Believe in it enough and maybe." He chuckled, "I'll sell you a Shako for a couple sets of metal and you'll look fantastic!"
Thinking on Shade's word more, she was right. And normally he didn't care to think about others when it came between his life or theirs. But it seems being made to talk about it makes him realize what he's done.
"Heh, by all means Las, trying to kill him won't be my way of solving anything. He stood up and streched, still exhausted but he thought he could stay up for a bit longer. "Insulting him instead can do wonders to your mood. Oh, and you should be honoured! I've never actually booped somepony before." It happens every time, after just waking up his fantastic ego came flying out and it would rarely slow down.

[Syron]

Shade smirked ever so slightly as Scrapper mentioned his unusual therapy. The booping was kinda risky, doing things that would usually annoy me only make things worse when I'm in rage. You shouldn't do that again. Though, apart from that... She paused and looked at him in thought, trying to figure out how he had done what he had done, ending her rage with only his presence and a few words. I don't know why, but somehow you seem to have a calming effect on me. One more reason to keep you close I suppose.
With a glance to the bright frying pan, she raised an eyebrow in doubt. Does it break as easily as the shield?

[Lance]

without warning, the Pan immediately slammed into the cave wall, echoing loud and sudden. Lance had an unfamiliar serious expression to him when he did so. His spell failing earlier certainly bothered him, and Sade just reminded him of it. he levitated the pan over ti himself. not even a scratch, so to speak. no. and yes. hard to say. after a short pause, Lance sighed before continuing, My conjurations are only as strong as I can make them. My shield, the Aegis, would break a pony's everything before a pony broke through it. I think what broke it is your... Shadow magic? light and dark never really worked out, and I could see you were messing up my light orb before the shield. that, and I've been draining myself all day, but even then, I'd just pass out, not have my conjurations weakened...

Remembering how low he was on energy, and knowing himself for never putting the right judgement on how he wastes his energy, Lance dissolved his frying pan o' light.

[Scrapper]

Scrapper grinned when he was suggested he shouldn't boop Shade's nose again, "Like I said Las, It was a stupid idea and I was kinda hoping you'd knock me out buuuut, no luck there." He nodded when Shade mentioned him being somewhat "Calming" to her, not that he'd know. He hasn't been in a group for a while now.
When the conjured pan slammed against the wall, he couldn't help but follow along. Halfway through the impact noise he mimicked it. Shouting out a loud, "PAANG!" following it with a rythmatic vibration in his voice to finish off the mimic. "Not nearly loud enough for my taste." He lost track of the conversation because he remembered a song he liked to listen to, he tapped both his front hooves to a beat and his head bobbed back and fourth as well. The others would probably notice he looked quite lively compared to before, but he was lost to what he enjoyed. He didn't care what they thought of it.

[Syron]

Though Shade found Scrapper's behavior somewhat amusing, she only looked disapprovingly at the two stallions. Not nearly silent enough for my taste. Through those tunnels that can be heard for quite a distance, please no more slamming pans into walls. Sighingly she came back to topic. You definitely will have to put up with my shadows, and it doesn't feel like I have spent a lot of power, so just use something consisting of real matter. Your shield has given me nothing more than a slightly sore neck. No need to find something this instant though. As long as you don't interrupt me at the wrong moment again, you might never experience it again.
Considering this topic done for now, Shade finally asked the question she originally had planned to ask as soon as Scintillance had come back. Anyway, you think that rebellion might be something?

[Scrapper]

Scrapper stopped when Shade said talked, "What do you mean not-... Hm, never mind. Luckily, I can't make a pan out of nothing, with my face. So you won't need to worry about me." He sat down and yawned "Well, I'm sure all of this is very important. But I'm really tired, and Scrappy needs his sleep." He lay down fully and tried for some sleep. But he'd listen to the conversation as long as his body would allow. Just in case.

"Oh, and I'm sorry for making noise Shadsey. Won't happen again" With that he tipped his goggles back down, and tried to sleep.

[Lance]

is that rebellion something? I think so. for the first that I've really seen around here, ponies, and a few non-equines, have assembled together to offer what that had to one another, a real, organized defense against griffins. Lance played around with a metal frying pan, before continuing. per example, the under market's getting emergency tunnels placed leading to different areas across the under market. strategic points for guerrilla attacks, or escape routes should we need them. I'm help with that, what with my tool-conjuring abilities, along with a diamond dog born to dig, and a cartographer of a zebra. we've also got an educated unicorn leading a magic-combat-training course for a few unicorns. I'll be joining that course, and... a little more. I think I'll need whatever magic abilities I can access knowledge to, they'll come in handy, I'm sure.

Lance placed the pan beside him, and finished, and that's just what I've gotten myself involved in. Everypony has their own unique sets of skills, and we're utilizing them to the fullest like a proper team. I think this rebellion's one worth following. and oh yeah, I've gotten myself a job. Lance remembered the pan he set beside him. holding it up to Shade he asks will this one do?

[Syron]

-- Outside the city --

As he had expected, the blue pegasus found a hint to Shade's location at the spot he had told her of, a group of stones in a small grove. Nothing exceptionally noticable, but possible to find and identify if known about. Unfortunately, it really was only a hint: A piece of black cloth, most likely from her cloak, and a sewing needle. That was all he would get, it would have to do. Hopefully he wouldn't need long to find her hideout, and hopefully the hint was up to date. He cringed when his broken hindleg accidently touched the ground, then beat his wings and flew away to begin the search.


-- The hideout --

Good night again, Scrappsey, Shade said and concentrated on Scintillance report. At least as far as her concentration wasn't partly caught by the frying pan the other unicorn had pulled from... somewhere. It didn't really surprise her all that much, he had done similar things before the war, but it was slightly baffling anyway.

What Scintillance had to tell was interesting indeed, it sounded like the rebellion was to be taken seriously. And Scintillance apparently had managed to get a good hold in it, possibly it had been a good idea after all to assign him to gathering intel. Yes, it will do, as long as you manage to hit me hard enough, she said, smirking a bit at the thought that she was advising somepony how to knock her unconscious. I won't let you try beforehoof though, I already have been knocked out via hit to the head yesterday. That's enough for now. Thinking about the rebellion again for a short moment, she told Scintillance what she had in mind about it. Good work on integrating yourself in the rebellion. It sounds better than I expected, I think it can't hurt to support them a bit. I'm a little too selfish to do it just like that, but in exchange for the right information, I'd be willing to remove difficult targets for them. Do you think they would accept such an offer?

[Lance]

Lance smirked, slightly, in a little pride from getting a compliment from the normally cold Shade. letting her finish, Lance gave some short thought to his reply, I've seen a number of ponies capable of holding their own in a fight, but I might as well consider myself among the stealthier ponies there, assuming I kept my conjurations to a minimal, and of the two nimble ponies I've really come across, one was a dancer, and the other obviously had some bad blood with another rebel. perhaps with more than just him, she's got a strange air to her. In short, yeah, I think they'd love to have a stealthy assassin to take care of a few things. or at least, one that can fight, and probably won't stab them in the back after their information's been sucked dry. But I'm not sure what information they may get their hooves on, other than stolen battle papers or such from griffins, I haven't seen anypony, or griffin, capable of being a spy. except for that "bad blood" pony I mentioned.

Lance couldn't help but feel all "official" inside. it was a strange and pleasant feeling. he then got a quick thought, Hey we're not going to stab them in the back, right?

[Syron]

Wait, YOU are one of the stealthier ponies? Shade stared at him completely flabbergasted, or as much as she allowed herself to. I hope you're better than I give you credit for, otherwise this rebellion won't last long. Telling herself that they can't be all be such a lightbulb as she knew Scintillance to be, she pushed the topic aside, a possible argument wasn't helpful. As long as they help me and my friends, I'll help them, simple as that. If they can't help me, I'll only go after my own targets, which will probably still be a help to them since we practically have the same enemy. I don't think you'll have to fear that I turn against the rebellion.
Then there's only the lack of spies... I suppose that's normal for a newly founded rebellion. I'm surprised they're as organized as you say they are. This will only change over time, I suppose...
She had to consider it a bit before she decided in favor of the rebellion anyway. Alright, I have to stay in Manehatten for at least two more weeks, and I don't really have anything to do. And I don't like being bored. They might not have valuable information just yet, but I'll help them. Normally I don't collect favors, but in this case it might pay out.

[Lance]

Lance laughed at Shade's remark, Shade Shade Shade, do you notice a lamp in a dark room, if nopony turned it on? I may have simply used a figure of speech, but don't think that I don't know how to hide... I simply know when to stop hiding. after all, who pulled you into a closet while you were fleeing from griffins, and kept quiet long enough to get a good jump in on the fight? I'm certainly no assassin like you, but I certainly keep out of sight, if need be. I spent half my life, doing it...

[Syron]

Scintillance actually decided to stick to that topic. Sighingly Shade gave in to it, despite wanting to talk about something more important. If you're already at it, who blinded me in the first place? Traps might seem useful, but you don't know who might walk into them, and they also tell everybody that a place is somehow important to somebody else. And that situation with Scrapper... You revealed yourself, with no weapons ready, when you knew nothing about your opponent. If he had been a griffon loyalist, you'd probably be dead now. Of course, nothing of that actually told of Scintillance' ability, and she simply hadn't seen him action enough to say much about what he could do, and what not. It took a second of thinking to identify the real problem. You might have the skill, but you lack the caution.

[Lance]

If I bothered with caution... Lance had a whole argument going in his head, reasons to say where Shade was wrong, to say that his Aegis was more than easy enough to handle scrapper long enough for the back-up mare to get to him, to say that a blind pony should have been at least a little bit more alert to a stallion grabbing her. and then he knew he was being cautious that instant, thinking things out. He sighed, and finished his sentence. I don't think I would've ever met you proper.

[Syron]

If we had acted differently, our lifes would have been different. That's quite obvious, and besides the point, Shade replied instantly. She would have had answers to Scintillance' thought arguments, for example had he no clue about Scrappers actual speed, but since she didn't know of those arguments, she also couldn't answer to them. If you want to keep something a secret, whatever it may be, your presence or the way to the undermarket, you won't get far without caution.

[Lance]

fine, fine... I'm tired, you're Shadowstrike, and Scrappy's already napping... I guess we're all getting grumpy... I think we should all hit the hay before either of us would test how sharp our hours are, mkay? Scintillance didn't even wait for the reply before trotting past Shade towards the deeper part of the new hide-out, but then he remembered where the conversation seemed to go off track. if you aren't keen on joining the rebels directly, I can be the stallion on the fence. I'll grab the missions, you do 'em, I'll get the information. I had you figured for the complicated mare. and at that, Lance made himself comfortable in the floor, and made a mental note to find some kind of cots around the under market when next came the chance.

[Syron]

I can agree on that. This argument is pointless anyway, Shade said, actually ending with a yawn as she suddenly realized how tired she was. She walked into the corner where she had meditated earlier and lay down, having practically the same thoughts about a cot as Scintillance. Complicated, maybe. But at least I can move around without anypony recognizing me as that assassin working for the rebellion, she replied to his last statement before letting herself fall into sleep. The sun should coming up now, so it was the right time for that anyway.

[Sponsored content]