A Disparate Bond

by the7Saviors

A Jolly Hunter

After they had agreed to meet up with Fleur later that night, the two fillies searched around the library a bit more as they looked for somepony to tell them where to go for breakfast.

They were about to give up and head to Aeon's office when Twilight spotted a weary looking stallion sitting at one of the other tables with seemingly nothing to do.

While oddly standoffish, he at least informed the fillies of where to go and who to see about food—though he gave no direction, much to both the fillies' annoyance.

Deciding to just ask somepony on the way, Twilight and Starlight left the library and made their way down the hall, stopping at a nearby intersection that split three ways.

Ahead of them, the path continued forward until it reached a spiral staircase that led upwards to another floor. To their immediate left was another staircase that led down to a lower floor.

The path to their right led further down a hallway lined with several wooden doors on either side. At the end of the hall was a large set of double doors.

Twilight recognized the hallway as the one that led back to the dungeons, and thus, most likely wasn't the path they were looking for.

According to the somewhat cooperative stallion, they were supposed to see a sandy brown earth pony mare with a dark brown mane and tail by the name of Pot Sticker about breakfast.

The mare in question was supposed to be serving it in the Great Hall. Since that was all they had to go on, the fillies would have to either find the Great Hall themselves or ask somepony who knew where it was.

Twilight hadn't read much on castle interior, but she did vaguely remember passing through the Great Hall during their tour, and at least knew it was somewhere on the ground floor of the Fortress.

So it was downstairs they went, going from the third floor and bypassing the second floor until they reached the first. Up until this point there hadn't been much traffic—with the fillies only having seen a few creatures going to and coming from the library.

The first floor was an entirely different experience altogether. The halls weren't so crowded that they couldn't navigate, but that didn't mean they weren't jostled around a bit here and there.

They had been lucky enough to be left alone despite the odd looks they had gotten during their first tour, and for that, both Twilight and Starlight were thankful.

Twilight couldn't help but find the fact that there were so many creatures hanging around the Fortress odd. From what little she did know about castles and the like, the halls weren't usually so... crowded.

Most of the time it was only the castle staff traversing the halls, and the only time there were regular citizens about were when they were seeking an audience with the ruler.

By some unspoken agreement, Twilight took the liberty of memorizing their route while Starlight scanned the halls for somepony to ask directions to where the Great Hall was.

Most simply ignored the increasingly annoyed pink filly, but thankfully with so many creatures wandering about the halls, it didn't take long to catch one willing to talk.

They had stopped a friendly looking Abyssinian tom, and the cat pointed them down the hall and to the right where there was another massive set of ornate double doors on one side of the wall.

They found that the doors were currently propped open and many of the creatures were going in and out of the room. The two fillies glanced at each other, and with a shrug from Starlight, they made their way towards the doorway and stepped inside.

"Oh, wow," Twilight breathed, looking around with wide eyes, "that's... a lot of creatures..."

As it turned out, the Great Hall wasn't simply a name. The room was massive, at least twice as big as the library, and three times as long.

There was a long row of tables that stretch from one end of the hall to the other on either side of the room. As Twilight had pointed out, the room was filled with creatures, most of which sat at the tables.

The majority of them spent their time eating, drinking, chatting, laughing, and just generally going about their business as several ponies and diamond dogs went around serving or clearing away trays of food and drink.

Starlight narrowed her eyes as she scanned the lively scene, something about the whole thing not sitting right with her. Twilight, who was about to comment to the other filly, took notice and frowned slightly.

"Starlight?" she asked with a small hint of concern, "what's wrong?"

Starlight blinked and shook her head before turning to Twilight, a small frown of her own making its way across her face.

"It's... well, there really is a lot of creatures here."

"Yes," Twilight replied slowly, unsure of where Starlight was going, "I already pointed out as much."

"Well... doesn't it seem odd to you?" Starlight continued, "I mean—"

She yelped as she was pushed to the side by a heavyset griffon coming into the Great Hall. She glared at the griffons back as they passed, the griffon himself not even acknowledging the filly he had bumped into.

"Well, that was... rude," Twilight muttered, scowling at the griffon. She turned back to Starlight, raising a brow at the other filly, "Maybe we should... not stand in front of the doorway?"

Starlight grunted an affirmative and the two fillies headed further into the room, opting to keep an eye out for the mare as Starlight continued on from where she had left off.

"Don't you find it weird that the town outside looks so... so..." the light pink filly twisted her hoof around as she tried to find the right word, "so... rundown, yet everypony here looks like they're living the high life?"

"Well... I guess," Twilight replied, looking around the hall, "I do find it weird that there's so many creatures in the Fortress as it is, but it's not like the Fortress is in the best condition either, Starlight."

"Okay," Starlight conceded, "but what about all this food? Where are they getting it all? I know Burning Comet said they trade and collect food from the desert and other towns, but from the state of the town, you'd think there wouldn't be a lot of food going around—at least not like this."

Twilight slowed her pace as she thought about what Starlight was saying. She looked around with a contemplative frown, watching the many creatures as they ate and drank.

She furrowed her brow as something caught her notice.

"I think..." she turned back to Starlight as she spoke, "I think everypony—er, everyone here is either a Hunter or a Defender... or I think most of them are anyway."

Starlight raised an eyebrow and looked around, noticing that Twilight was right. Most everyone in the hall was wearing some kind of armor—whether in part or in full, with some resting helmets next to them or leaning their weapons against tables.

It looked like there were a few civilians, but for the most part, many of them were soldiers of some sort. Starlight turned back to Twilight with another shake of her head.

"So a lot of them are soldiers," she replied with a sniff, "what about it?"

"Well, if that's the case, then I think I kind of get it," Twilight answered with a thoughtful nod, "back in Canterlot, the ponies in the Royal Guard have to eat a lot so they can turn all that fat into muscle when they train, maybe it's the same here."

Starlight grimaced and was about to respond, when a deep hearty laugh from her left cut her off. Both fillies turned to the table on their left to see a large earth pony stallion somewhat isolated from the others.

The stallion wore black armor, but even with most of his body covered, the fillies could tell he had muscle... and lots of it. This contrasted oddly with his bright periwinkle coat and long pale yellow mane and tail, highlighted with burgundy stripes.

The stallion's laughter died down to an amused chuckle as he turned in his seat to look at the two fillies—a surprisingly kind smile on his grizzled face.

"Ye got it in one, little lady," said the deep voiced stallion, "despite what ye may think o' the Grey Asylum itself, we're pretty well off when it comes ta food an' drink."

"Really?" Twilight asked, tilting her head curiously, "but... everything is so broken and... well... like Starlight, said... rundown."

"Yeah," Starlight added, eyeing the black armored stallion warily, "where does all the food come from? I may not have traveled around the desert at all, but I doubt there's that much food just lying around out there."

"Aeon's Blessing," the stallion replied with a snort, "that's what some o' the more daft folk around here call it."

"Aeon's Blessing?" Starlight replied, giving the stallion a flat look, "really?"

"Aye," he answered with a shrug. He picked up and tore a large chunk out of a loaf of some kind of seasoned bread before speaking again, "Aeon tells us where ta go ta find food, an' we always manage ta bring back a big haul—mindin' we don't run into any beasties along the way.

"We barter with other towns from time to time for food, but most of it comes from out in the desert. Since no one knows how Aeon finds all that chow," he airily waved a hoof, "they just chalk it up to Aeon's Blessing. Buncha roadapples if ye ask me."

He polished off the loaf with three more bites and sighed in satisfaction before turning back to the fillies. He was about to continue when he noticed both the fillies eyeing the rest of the food on his plate.

He frowned slightly for a moment before shaking his head with a small chuckle.

"Why don't the both o' ye join me fer a bite?" he suggested, gesturing to the empty space next to him, "ye look like ye haven't eaten in moons."

"What? With you? Now?" Starlight asked, taking a step back, "why would you just... why would we... we don't even know you!"

"Name's Tungsten, lass," he said with another shrug before gesturing to the seat once more, "damn good Hunter, and loads o' fun to be around, especially when there's booze to be had... now take a seat the two o' ye an' I'll get Pot Sticker over with some more grub."

Twilight and Starlight looked at each other, the two of them having a silent debate in which Twilight shrugged and trotted over to the table before hopping onto the seat next to Tungsten.

Starlight's eyes widened incredulously for a brief moment before she gave an annoyed growl and stomped after Twilight and hoisted herself onto the seat next to Twilight.

"Don't be like that, Starlight," Twilight chided, "at least we're finally gonna get something to eat. And this is our chance to learn more about this place and the desert."

"Yeah, I guess," Starlight grumbled, pointedly staring at the table in front of her with a scowl, "just wished you'd stop cozying up to every stranger who stops to talk to you... or the other way around."

"Not everypony is out to get us, Starlight," Twilight said with a slight frown, "I don't think it's fair to treat everypony like a potential enemy just because we don't know them."

"On the contrary, lass," Tungsten interrupted with a grim frown, "yer friends got the right of it... fer the most part."

"What do you mean?" Twlight asked, turning around to face the much larger stallion with worried look, "I know not everypo... everyone is gonna be as nice to talk to, but—"

"All the same, ye should be careful who ye decided ta chat with, little lady," Tungsten interjected, his frown turning stern, "there be some vicious folk in this town, an' they'll gut ye as soon as look at ye if ye give em' a chance."

Both Twilight and Starlight swallowed nervously, shying away from Tungsten's intense gaze. Then all at once, the stallion's grave look fell away in an instant and was quickly replaced with a toothy jovial grin.

"Now let's get the two o' ye something ta eat, eh?"

Author's Note:

A bit of a fluff chapter admittedly, but I figured we could take a break from all the insanity and slow things down a bit before jumping into more of the drama and thrills.

Also I wanted to introduce a new character.

Comments

[Zeprto678]

Is his last name Steel? 🤣