Pony & Blade: Warparty

Ch. 3: Adventurous Eaters

Stevius had ordered the majority of his troops to stay outside Dhirim's walls while he and a select few gathered supplies. In an effort to show his charges how life naturally worked inside city walls, Stevius had covered an old wagon in cloth and placed them on said cart with one of his sergeants. So far everything went well, until they began to near the marketplace. The hustle and bustle of Dhirim's market amazed Twilight, who recognized many of the goods being traded, and wanted eagerly to learn of trade similarities. She watched as people exchanged money & merchandise, such as weapons and armor, they soon neared the food section of the market, and Twilight saw something that made her heart sink. It was a hanging carcass, that of a seemingly healthy Cow. She couldn't possibly comprehend why anyone would do such a thing to a poor animal, and noticed the surrounding masses. It was mostly a crowd of poor folk, some so full of their penury as to sink so low to begin pickpocketing unknowing strangers. Some of the more fortunate were bartering merchandise and buying food for their families in the city, -Oh...- Twilight thought, -I can't believe I didn't see it...-
"Is something wrong?" The sergeant asked,
"You... you eat meat, is that right?"
"Of course, it's a necessary part of staying alive I believe."
"Well, I won't tell you what you can and can't eat," Twilight said, staring despairingly and worriedly at the dessicated cattle's corse, she began to notice all the different, strange foods flowing there.
"You've got to think Twi," Gavin began to intrude, "My... OUR, species seems to have a far more diverse diet than that of ponies."
"That seems a bit obvious," Twilight retorted, "Why couldn't you warn me earlier about this, seeing you are the expert, and since when did I say you could call me Twi?" She then raised an eyebrow, slightly annoyed and slightly amused at Gavin's attempts to win her entire trust. It wouldn't be long till he gained that trust, he reminded her of spike in a way, she sorta liked him, only in a more 'Annoying Little Brother' sort of way. And sure he was argumentative, but so was she at times. Gavin shrugged, smirked and replied.
"I thought it'd be better for you to see for yourself, and regarding your nickname, you never said I couldn't."
"Well the shock sure hit home with me," She said as they moved past the meat market. "Never would have thought that any other sentient being would eat another living being for sustenance." She rolled her eyes, emphasizing her sarcasm, she may have never seen seperate entities this 'intelligent' before, but she would have eventually deduced that it was part of their diet, and not think that they murdered an animal for pure entertainment value. Gavin then sighed, and turned to the sergeant.
"Didn't she throw that knight at you the other day?"
"Yessir, but Stevius told me to leave it alone," He replied solemnly, "Better to forgive and forget anyway, eh?" The man then chuckled to himself.
"Damn, I could use some moral high-ground here for once..."
"Trust me, when you're with Stevius, you always have the high-ground." The sergeant winked.
"Ha!" Twilight replied, "If anyone is holding any moral high-ground here it's me." Twilight said smugly.
"Y'know, I'm starting to feel a little hungry here, would you mind if I took a..." Gavin was cut off by twilight's horn emitting a dim glow.
"Don't even try it." She said bluntly.
"Ok, Ok! It was a joke, jeez..." Gavin then rolled his eyes mockingly at Twilight, which made her a little relieved,
-Did I actually think he would try that?- she thought to herself, -By Celestia, I can be stupid sometimes...- she then did a mental facehoof and replied nervously. "Of course it was, not like I thought you would try eating me or something."
"Haha, you have nothing to fear Ms. Sparkle, I have no interest in pony meat," He then leaned in to whisper to her. "I'm not so sure about the other guy though..." He then let out a devious smile as Twi's anxiety increased.
"You three are very lucky that sheet muffles above you," Stevius lectured, "You're talking as if this is some sort of field trip to some royal feast." He then contemplated his words in thought, noticing that this technically was a field trip. After what seemed like an eternity, the sun began to set, and the droves of people with it. All that remained on the streets were cutthroats, drunkards, and other undesirables that would ruin anyone's day. Stevius had set up camp outside of the city, and was bringing his party into camp when a messenger arrived with a letter. The mysterious man had a black robe covering his body, and a hood covering his face. He walked in an awkward manner as if he was still getting used to being sober after a drunken spree. All he did was deliver a letter, addressed to Gavin, and hobble away into the darkness. Stevius gave him the letter and advised him to keep it now and read it later, but Gavin opened it, revealing it to be a surprisingly blank parchment, with a single strange mark in the middle. The mark had a strange allure to it, as if drawing him closer. As he moved his hand slowly across the letter he began to feel as if his mind was being invaded, and quickly withdrew his now shaken appendage. He then decided it was time for rest, as Stevius then led Twi and him to their tent for the night. The tent that was set up for him was sized for about two soldiers, or in this case, a pony and a lazy-ass. Gavin then began to lay down on his blanket, thought happy thoughts to take his mind off of where he was, and drifted off into a tired slumber.