"Having fun?" Trial asks as Spitfire takes another shot of apple cider happily.
"Good enough," Spitfire sighs in relief.
"Spitfire, you drinking without me?" a new voice asks.
"Yes, Vinyl. I'm a customer here," Spitfire says rolling her eyes as a white mare with an electric blue mane walks up with red glasses.
"Hello. Care to join the three of us?" Trial offers, wiggling his eyebrows at her.
"Oh. Such a sexy stallion. You finally found somepony to shack up with?" Vinyl asks jesting with Spitfire.
"Trying to get there," Trial answers honestly, causing Vinyl to laugh hard.
"Trial, don't push it," Rainbow says pushing his shoulder.
"You having fun?" Trial asks leaning towards Rainbow.
"Yeah, as long as you don't push things," Rainbow says smiling.
"Come on. We are here to have fun and drink," Trial says.
"Spitfire, where did you find this fun guy?" Vinyl says smirking at her friend.
"Out in the wastelands near Manehattan. Killed a boar, gave it to us out on a job," Spitfire says shrugging.
"So he is a hunter then?" Vinyl says smirking.
"I guess you could call me that. Come on Spitfire, you have to be warmed up by now. Let's get the hard stuff," Trial says.
"Hard stuff, hard stuff, hard stuff," Vinyl chants.
"Shut up," Spitfire says to her.
"Come on Spits," Vinyl says joining them in the booth.
"Rainbow, get some stuff," Spitfire says rolling her eyes.
"I will," Trial says using his wing to fly up and glide to the bar.
"So?" Vinyl asks.
"So what?" Spitfire asks drinking some more.
"Going to make a move?" Vinyl asks leaning against her friend.
"No," Spitfire says shaking her head unamused.
"Oh, then can I…you like him," Vinyl says seeing her expression changed when she asked.
Spitfire frowns and slams her mug down. "No, I don't!"
"Then why are you so defensive?" Vinyl asks.
"I am not," Spitfire defends.
"What do you think?" Vinyl asks as Rainbow downs another shot and sighs happily.
"Shut up Vinyl," Spitfire says frowning now.
"I'm back," Trial says with four glasses.
"Let's get this show started," Vinyl says cheerfully taking one.
"Ok, I propose a competition. The first one to down their drink wins," Trial says smirking.
"I'll take that bet," Vinyl says happily.
"Not a bet. Seeing who can take it best. Now, on the count of three," Trial starts.
"Ugh…my aching head," Spitfire says holding her head as she awoke.
"Now, now Leone…we just went last time," Trial mumbles in his sleep as he rolls over as Spitfire notices Rainbow and Vinyl sleeping haphazardly all over the room.
"What…well, I guess it isn't a party without something like this," Spitfire says neutrally.
"Heh heh…funny mare," Trial mumbles again before snoring.
"You are cute," Spitfire says smirking, knowing he wouldn't remember it.
Trial groans as he turns over and lays his arm on her lap and pulls her to him as he nuzzles her hip. "Comfy."
"Ok buddy, wake up," Spitfire says.
"Huh? Wha…?" Trial tries to ask before yawning and sees her cutie mark. "Wow. Heck of a mark."
"That's my flank," Spitfire informs.
Trial grins. "And a sexy one at that. How did you like last night?" he asks sitting up.
"I can't remember it," Spitfire says as her hangover hits her hard.
Trial chuckles. "Don't worry. It was a good one and now you are ready for more stress just in case. So…feel I shouldn't ask this when you are like this," he says reaching over and pets her mane.
"What is your name anyways?" Spitfire asks seeing Rainbow and Vinyl as well in the bed.
Trial smiles. "Trial sexy. Now…ready to take on the world or you need time to rest up that head?"
"I need coffee," Spitfire says.
"What's coffee?" Trial asks.
Spitfire blinks and looks toward him. "Seriously? You don't know?"
"Nope," Trial says.
Spitfire groans. "I'm dealing with an illiterate."
"What's an illiterate?" Trial asks confused.
Spitfire groans some more.
Sentire hums as she looks at the map and remembers how it used to be before. "So…the world changed this much?" she asks as she looks at the red zones that Dusk told her to never go into for the trouble of the monsters.
"You sure?" Dusk asks a wonderbolt who had come looking for Spitfire.
The wonderbolt nods. "She hasn't shown up yet. I have a feeling she's spending the night with that guy. Both her and Rainbow."
"But most of your team doesn't believe it, huh?" Dusk asks.
The wonderbolt mare chuckles. "Spitfire hardly went out with anyone at all."
"So you have to join the search parties then?" Dusk asks.
The mare shrugs. "She would be back soon. She will never abandon her job."
"Alright. I will keep an eye out for her," Dusk says.
The mare smiles. "Thanks, Prince Dusk," she says before flying off.
"They find my partner yet?" Leone asks.
"Hardly. He disappeared with the leader of the wonderbolts and my friend. Know where he is?" Dusk asks looking at her.
"I will give him another hour. If he isn't back, I will go looking for him," Leone says.
Dusk shakes his head as he looks over to Sentire. "So…when are you planning to go?"
"Once we rob you blind," Leone jokes.
"Then you won't come back and you will be lost," Dusk reminds.
"Please, we can find our way easily," Leone says.
Dusk raises an eyebrow at that and walks over to Sentire. "Got a plan of action?"
"Yes, we kill monsters and get paid for it," Leone says getting Sentire's attention.
"That's it? That's all you care about?" Sentire asks turning to her.
"Well, we have expenses. Food, water, equipment, maintenance, ammunition, clothes," Leone started listing off.
Sentire groans and facepalms. "I hate they are right."
"Not complaining. As long as they don't fill out a contract against me," Dusk says rolling his eyes. "Hey…if you deal with this nest, I'll let you rest up here. But only if you get the nest."
"Which one?" Leone asks.
Dusk points at a certain spot on the map at a nest a bit away. "Here. A little low level. Simple. Even some of the hunters can handle it. They just don't want to. Lazy good for nothing."
"I will be back soon. Sentire, practice," Leone says.
"Wait. What about…?" Sentire starts before Dusk covers her mouth.
"Make sure you bring back samples or you aren't getting that room and board," Dusk says removing his hand.
"Tell you what, I will bring you back the most intact bodies of each different type there," Leone says.
Dusk nods. "That works. And find your friend."
"One job at a time," Leone informs.
Dusk shakes his head as Leone leaves and turns to Sentire. "Your friends are weird…and savage."
"Just wait till she returns," Sentire says.
"I don't expect less," Dusk says before turning to her. "So…training? What are you? Mage, swordfighter?"
"This thing," Sentire says taking out her scythe and Dusk ducks as Sentire swings it around. "I guess scythe fighter."
"Stop swinging it!" Dusk yells grabbing the handle and stops her. "Okay. You seriously need training. Luckily, I know a mare who could help."
Sentire blinks and tilts her head. "Who?"
"So when can the four of us do this again?" Trial asks entering the library.
Spitfire frowns heavily. "No. Not taking that chance."
"Oh, come on Spitfire. We all had a fun time and we all got laid. I call that a very good night," Vinyl says.
Spitfire groans. "You are becoming trouble for me."
"Aw. I feel the love," Vinyl says hugging her as Rainbow hadn't stopped blushing since she remembered what happened.
"Okay…I'm heading inside," Rainbow says heading inside and stops at the sight of Sentire slowly moving a scythe around with another mare that is Dusk's sister, Gleaming Shield. "What the heck did we miss?"
"Oh, who is this?" Trial asks.
"My sister. And she's spoken for," Dusk says a bit away and says the last part bitterly.
"All good," Trial says as Gleaming took note and her danger sense went off.
"Dusk…who's this?" Gleaming asks pointing her wooden scythe towards Trial as he notices her wearing a guard's uniform.
"One of my guests," Dusk says.
Gleaming hums. "I'm thinking I should stay here for a bit."
"Suit yourself," Trial says leaning on Rainbow.
Dusk groans and facepalms. "How's the training?"
"It is…" Gleaming starting.
"Terrible still. Your right side is completely open to attack. I taught you better," Trial says.
Gleaming frowns as Sentire tries to adjust her stance based on the feedback.
"Right. Dominant foot back. Put less weight on your front," Trial calls making Spitfire stare at him as well surprised.
Sentire tries to follow those instructions as Gleaming frowns to him.
"What?" Trial asks.
"Dusk, I don't like him," Gleaming says frowning.
"I am back!" Leone call pushing Vinyl in.
"Hey! What's the…?" Vinyl stops as Leone drags in a group of dead monsters by a net. "Whoa."
Dusk nods slowly. "Barb! Eris! Make some rooms available," he calls over his shoulder to the upper levels of the library.
"Did a contract without me?" Trial asks.
Leone grins. "You were busy. We needed the room and board."
"Also three," Trial informs.
Leone leans over and looks closely at Vinyl. "Wow. You look sexy enough."
Dusk hums as he looks over a monster corpse. "This is going to help greatly. I'll be back…maybe," he says taking the net bag and dragging it off to a basement.
"Your brother has a weird fetish," Leone says.
Gleaming rolls her eyes. "You should see him when working with experiments."
"Seriously? Why is he so interested in them when there are quite a few attractive mares in the room," Trial points out.
Gleaming laughs out loud and haunches out laughing.
"Ah. You see? His family gets it," Trial says.
"You should have seen him when he was working under Prince Solaris," Gleaming laughs holding her gut.
"I like you. Friends?" Trial asks.
Gleaming grins. "Only if you don't come to me. My husband is very protective."
"Truth be told, would be kinda rude. As I got some action from those who I came in with just last night," Trial whispers into her ear.
Gleaming shoves him away. "Don't get too close. He knows when I am getting so close to stallions."
"So tell me, what weapons do you prefer?" Trial asks.
"Sword," Gleaming says imply crossing her arms.
"Oh, a swordsmare. Tell me, as a captain, you should know the situation out there and be able to hire ponies to do work, right?" Trial asks.
"Only if you want to live here full time. But we have so many applicants, we shut it down. You want jobs, check the guilds around here," Gleaming says pointing out the door.
"But none will pay like the monarchy or will spread reputation like it either," Trial points out, turning her hand back to point at herself.
Gleaming rolls her eyes. "We don't do many jobs for a good reason. One, the protection needed here and only if we are under attack do we start sending out high paying contracts. Besides, the reputation parts only come in from those taking out the nests and those are not easy because we sent fifty to one, five came back without anything to show for it besides the limbs missing."
"Um…guard captain, a word?" Spitfire requests.
"What is it?" Gleaming asks walking over to her.
"You see remember the scouting mission you assigned us?" Spitfire whispers to her.
Gleaming raises an eyebrow. "What about it?"
"We scouted and all the nests were destroyed," Spitfire whispers.
"What?!" Gleaming harshly whispered.
"Yes and from what we gathered, he and his group were the ones who did it. Can we afford to lose them?" Spitfire whispers back.
Gleaming blinks and looks back to Trial as he waves at her. "No…I'll see about talking to Solaris and getting them hired if that's true."
"Alright and I can tell by your expression, no, I didn't say that because I slept with him," Spitfire whispers to her.
Gleaming glares lightly at her and pokes her chest. "Don't ever do this again."
"I can't promise that. As you also do it to your husband," Spitfire says.
"I'm married and I have a position here. You, however, go out there and I can't have you clouding your mind on the matters out there," Gleaming scolds.
"Dear, are you trying to stiffen love?" a voice asks as a weight appears on her back.
Gleaming stiffens up and gulps. "Uh…honey…um…" she stutters as prince Bolero chuckles as he holds her. "Nooooo…"
"Good. Spitfire also deserves happiness after how hard you work here," Bolero informs.
"I'm only pushing her so the city and other places are protected," Gleaming tries to defend herself.
"Um…before you two start, what is next?" Trial asks.
Gleaming sighs and turns to him as Bolero kept holding onto her. "Well, you got the main nest. I must admit, one person did all that, not bad. As for what is next, the guilds have bounties all over for the nests. Maps too. If you want to take a crack at it, why not? But we don't have that much in terms of jobs."
"Ok. Sentire, Leone, time to work," Trial says.
Sentire blinks. "Wait, we are going for a nest?"
"Yep. Might as well get that damn pay," Trial says shrugging.
"Just like that?" Gleaming asks.
"Yeah. Plus, less trouble," Trial says wringing his fingers together as Sentire sees him wrapping up his wires.
"I wish to see," Gleaming says.
"Really? Because we can move faster without you," Trial says raising an eyebrow.
"I want to see your worth," Gleaming informs.
"Very well. I guess because it is the first job for you, we can oblige," Trial says after Leone elbows him in the ribs.
Gleaming smirks slightly at Leone at that.
"Also Sentire, I expect at least ten kills from you," Trial informs.
"Uh…" Sentire stutters a bit.
"Excellent," Trial cheerfully says as he pulls at his hands and ties off the wires.
The four headed out almost immediately to one of the closest nests. It was smaller than most but the proximity to Canterlot made it an all too close threat.
"So…how many died here?" Trial asks casually.
"Thousands," Gleaming says.
Trial raises an eyebrow. "Do you really think sending bodies out here a good idea?"
"It's proximity gives them the opportunity to dig up into Canterlot. We have tried to remove it several times," Gleaming says.
Trial grins. "Then this should be fun. We are hankering for some action. Right, hon?" Trial asks Leone.
"Let's make the cub fight first," Leone says smiling to him.
"Oh yes. Sentire. Please, show us your skills of what you have learned," Trial says smirking before throwing a rock and up came a spider-like creature.
"What?! Why me first?!" Sentire demands.
"We're waiting," Leone says smirking.
Sentire groans out loud and rushes forward with her scythe raised as the spider crawls down and hisses at them before being spiked through it and pinning it to the tree. "Well…that was easy," Sentire says as she watches the spider flail around widely before it dies down.
Leone gives a little happy applause at that as Sentire pulls her scythe off and the spider with it. "Make sure it is really dead," Trial calls in a reminder.
Sentire blinks before slowly reaching out with a finger towards the spider before stopping and shaking her head as she flings her scythe off and sends it flying away. "Yeah…not going to waste time on that."
"It's not dead," Trial calls as Leone facepalms.
"Oops," Sentire blushes in embarrassment as she giggles nervously.
"That so isn't going to be counted," Leone says frowning.
"It is. It's at negative one so she has to kill one more to make up for it and, Leone, please end that thing," Trial says.
Sentire groans hanging her head as Gleaming wonders how these guys killed off the nests.
"We are waiting," Trial says as Leone goes to the spider before crushing its head with a punch.
Sentire looks around before rushing off with her scythe raised as Gleaming scratches her head. "How did you guys survive?"
"Very well. We are just training her right now," Trial says.
"How the heck is she surviving?" Gleaming asks raising an eyebrow.
"How are you?" Trial asks.
"Very well. I can fight. Almost like most soldiers," Gleaming says almost proudly.
"Well, then watch and see the recruit who is getting live experience," Trial says.
Gleaming shrugs as she crosses her arms and sees Sentire going after another spider and stabs it before slamming it repeatedly against a tree till it broke in half. "Well…she's handling it…messily."
"Like a recruit flailing their training sword," Trial says.
"It is a scythe. It's supposed to be slice and be done with it," Gleaming says shaking her head as Sentire stabs another.
"Let her learn. Hand holding only gets them so far. Like your husband to the bed," Trial jokes making her snicker.
"He is the prince of love. I never realized how many fetishes I have," Gleaming says a bit lost now.
"But your giggle suggests you have to lead him into it," Trial says.
"He's a clueless stallion sometimes," Gleaming says giggling.
"Well, everyone has their flaws," Trial says smiling.
Gleaming smirks before frowning towards him. "That doesn't mean I will start sleeping with you."
"Not interested. You have your own stallion already," Trial informs.
"Good," Gleaming says simply as Sentire finally slices down onto a spider and slices it in half and then slices again on the two parts in half again. "She's learning."
"Yeah…so this nest has mostly spider-like monsters?" Trial asks.
"And worms to help dig. But that's mostly it," Gleaming informs looking ahead.
"Worms huh? That requires fire," Trial says.
Gleaming looks him over. "You can do magic?"
"You can't?" Trial inquires.
Gleaming points to her horn.
"So?" Trial asks.
"And you? I don't see that you are a unicorn," Gleaming points out.
"Oh…you're one of those then?" Trial says his tone turning sour.
"One of what?" Gleaming asks, not liking the tone.
"The stuck up snobs who think only unicorns can use magic," Trial says showing it was a sore subject for him.
"Um…it's kinda true. I mean…look. You want details, ask my brother on that," Gleaming says frowning now.
Trial just raised his hand and conjured a fireball from it and waits for her to repeat or correct herself.
"Excuse me?" Gleaming just asks watching it. Trial frowns harder before throwing it at a spider burning it in an agonizing death that lasts a lot longer than Sentire's efforts. "Okay…Dusk is going to want to know about this."
Trial continues to frown as he waits for her to apologize.
Gleaming huffs. "Don't be so expecting much now that I know how you act."
"Snob," Trial finally says making Gleaming freezes.
Gleaming growls to herself before huffing. "Fine. I'm sorry. But don't be expecting any more of that."
"Not a snob anymore," Trial informs.
Gleaming scoffs and leans over to dodge the spider corpse being sent her way as it makes a splat on the tree behind her. Sentire pants heavily as she drags the scythe behind her and frowns at them before pointing to Trial. "You…owe me."
"That was ten. You have one more to meet the quota," Trial informs.
Sentire growls before lifting her scythe up and throws it at them to which they move out of the way and hears a squeal behind them to see that the scythe pierced a spider on the head. "How's that for fucking one?!"
"Alright. Leone, your turn," Trial calls.
"Huh…wha…?" Leone snorts waking up from the bottom of a tree.
"She met her quota. Go ham on them," Trial informs.
Leone yawns loudly and stretches as she gets up before scratching by her tail. "Okay…oh boy. This is going to be so boring now," she says lumbering off.
"Oh and there are worms," Trial adds.
"Icky. I'm going to make sure I don't have slime on me," Leone says still stretching.
"Force them to the surface so we don't miss any," Trial instructs.
"Got it. You better get something good for me!" Leone yells back.
"You know what is waiting," Trial says.
"And I expect a hard pounding," Leone calls.
"Going to surprise her with a good meal and alcohol to drink," Trial whispers to Gleaming.
Gleaming raises an eyebrow. "Something tells me you have a better relationship than most couples."
Trial smirks while Sentire yanks her scythe out of the tree, a little ticked off that they made her go first without backup.