As we walked toward the royal dining hall I gave Connor and Jared a quick lesson on what they should do "Guys you're going to have to act like your characters if we want to gain their trust.Believe your own lie. " They both nodded in understanding. As we entered the dining hall I took a moment to appreciate just how nice it was. You know marble floors, pillars, and expensive drapes. The works, It appeared that the staff must have heard of our coming to dinner as they had set out three very minotaur-esque chairs. I inquired about the nature of the chairs.
"Oh, those are the chairs we use whenever we have minotaur ambassadors here. " Twilight spoke as if she was giving a lesson. Connor and Jared had already sat down and been served. The meal: a large albeit pretty salad, Not what I was hoping for. Several servants trotted about refilling glasses as the need arrived but no matter where they went their eyes were always on us.
Eventually, Celestia decided to ask a few questions. "So what exactly did you three do before you came here?"
Connor looked up. "Well, we mostly just went around looting treasure from structures."
"Structures?"
"You know pyramids, castles, graveyards, the labyrinths filled with the undead. You know the usual."
Jared nodded in confirmation. Twilight looked at us in shock. "You mean your only means of income was to search for treasure and *gulp* kill others?"
Jared looked up from his salad. "That about explains it."
Celestia looked to me. "But you didn't fight did you? You just followed them around and made them pay for supplies that could mean the difference between life and death." It almost sounded like she was angry. How cute.
I stared at her. "No I have fought and killed alongside them, albeit for a price yes, but I would give them supplies free of charge if I thought they would die without them, these two are walking gold mines for a merchant willing to take the risk," I said all of this in my no-nonsense voice. Celestia looked at me and smiled. She then turned her head over to Jared.
She batted her eyes and smiled. "What do you think is your friend a kind person? Also do you trust him?"
Jared looked to her and to me and smiled. "Is he kind? This man once risked life and limb to save an entire village from a giant monster hellbent on killing us, and then he walked right up to that fucker and beat him bloody with a goddamn frying pan. So yeah I trust him, I would follow him to hell and back and have."
Luna spoke up, almost forgot she was there." Well, if you are all such formidable warriors how would you feel about a sparring match with the Royal Guard?"
I looked to Connor and Jared who both shrugged." Why not? We're game."
Rainbow Dash then decided to speak up. "Why don't you tell us some more about the things you've fought."
Connor decided to answer. "Well to give a short list, we've fought: dragons, the undead, pirates, robots, giant insects, evil rabbits, exploding trees, gods, the essence of the sun, oh and the most memorable ourselves in an interesting little duel."
We all began to file out of the dining hall and follow the princesses to the training yard. I walked next to my friends and whispered to them." Do you guys think we've retained our fighting prowess?" They both shrugged and gave me a look that said "We hope so."
Little did I know that we could fight and were going to pretty soon, but that we had other abilities that would help us on our quest.