Chapter 5
The Border
"Is it really that dangerous?" Sunny asked, blinking a bit. "If it is, then why send a guard? Why not bring it back themselves?"
"Again, there are things about this that the both Princesses refused to tell even me, and it is those things that worry me." Raging said, his thoughts returning to that strange mare from a few days ago. She wasn't in the group of in the caravan, and so she was the one pony who was most suspicious at the time. As well, she had called herself a teacher, which only confused Raging even more.
"There is a lot in this world of hours we don't understand." Sunny said, smiling softly at Raging. "Even us unicorns don't know even half of what The Princesses know, even less when talking of Duke Sombra or Lord Discord."
"Indeed." Raging said, nodding slowly at her words. "Especially seeing as both Duke Sombra and Lord Discord are members of Celestia's council of advisors."
"Yes, I know." Sunny laughed a bit more, as she took another swig of the Apple Cider. "Though, it's obvious what Lord Discord advises the sisters on, as he's the Archon of Madness."
Raging Night nodded slowly at her words, sighing a bit softly as he tapped his hoof a bit softly onto the table. "Indeed, though I'm not quite sure what all Duke Sombra advises the sisters on."
Raging Night sighed softly as he avidly looked around the caravan as it began it's moving towards the Griffon/Pony border again. He had sighed in annoyance when Draken Claw had finally returned with the leader of the caravan, so that they could finally make their way again. "All I'm saying is that it makes sense. Duke Sombra was a soldier before the Treaty of Crystals." Sunny Meadow said, as she continued their earlier discussion. "And back then it was General Sombra. He didn't become a Duke until Celestia granted him the central fiefdom that the old Crystal Empire used for it's Capital."
"Yes Sunny, I know." Raging Night said, sighing softly. "As you may know, being a scholar from Canterlot, the Night Guard, Princess Luna's personal guard, are required to take classes in the History of Equestria before they're allowed to take up the mantle." Raging continued, sighing again as he continued to look suspiciously at any shadow outside the trail.
"Yes, I did know that." Sunny said, laughing a bit softly. "It's the same as with the Solar Guard, Princess Celestia's guard."
"We're close to the border now," The Caravan leader said, looking back towards the group, eyeing the Sleeping Draken Claw with a bit of worry, "We'll be at the Border town in a couple more hours, beyond that I can't take you much further."
"That's fine, we'll probably be splitting up then anyway." Raging said, nodding slowly at the stallion, as he continued to look at everything around them. "We will be splitting up right? Me and Draken are heading to a dig in the Griffon Badlands, you said your destination was their capital, right?"
"Yes, it is." Sunny said, smiling softly. "Or at least, the current capital... they change it every few years..." She said, chuckling softly as she shrugged. "But either way, I can wait on my thing, it's not as important as your thing, and I want to be there to chronicle it."
"Is that so?" Raging asked, glaring again at Sunny Meadow. "And why is that? I know that chronicling important events is the job of the Canterlot Scholar's Guild, but is that really something you want to do?"
"Well, yes." Sunny said, smiling at him kindly. "History is something I'm interested in, and well... You and Draken Claw seem to be at the cusp of history, so I want to be there for the whole thing. I even have journal for it." She said, taking a small leather bound book out of her bag, as if to show it to Raging.
"That may be so, but still... I doubt that this mission will be that grand that it would need a chronicler. It's a simple delivery mission." Raging said sighing again. "Yes, I do admit that there is the danger of somepony trying to steal the artifact, or to kill me... but still, this mission isn't that grand."
"Well, I think it will be." Sunny said, smiling again at him, as she moved to pat him on the back. "You never know how things will go. You might uncover some grand plot to overthrow the Princesses, or maybe you'll discover some grand lost ruins from the Before Age."
"I doubt there's anything left to be discovered from the Before Age, many expeditions have crossed the world. So unless there is some subterranean kingdom that we don't know about, or something further into the Changeling's desert, then I doubt we'll find anything of the like."
"It was just an example Raging." Sunny said, pouting a bit as she did. "You really need to lighten up. Are all Night Guards like you? Taking things so seriously?"
"I wouldn't know." Raging said, glaring at her again. "I only know the few who are in my squad, not many else. And yes, we take our job seriously."
"I see... Well, it is nice to know that the guards take their jobs seriously, but..." Sunny said, smiling still. "You aren't guarding the princess right now, you can lighten up a little bit, can you not?"