"That's true. You need a great deal of carefulness when dealing with Nightmare. And honestly, Celestia terrifies me when I think about what she has been through." Vindicar nods, "Aside from another reason..." he adds much more quietly.
“Thought so, that’s why I’d rather… avoid doing so until it will be completely necessary. As for Celestia, well, she doesn’t really terrify me. While I was a foal she has been in my family’s house a few times over all those years.” He doesn’t seem to notice the last part.
Vindicar smirks and looks aside. "I'd rather not come close to any of them without good reason..."
“I’d seen enough of Celestia in my life. As for Nightmare… Well, while Moon City seems to prosper plus you and Mythic trust her, I still would rather not approach her myself.”
"They don't?" hippogriff tilts his head in surprise.
He laughs “I don’t know if they don’t know or not. Just I think you would already ask Nightmare about it then”
"May be the fact it's foreign has something to do with it. Even if you knew its meaning, it didn't affect you much."
“Maybe. Maybe. Who knows. If Nightmare or Celestia don’t know, who are we to know that?”
"Hmmm, you know, that idea about name subtly imprinting the area talent will belong to makes some sense. In your case name wasn't descriptive, and you ended up having talent that is unusual for your family."
“Perhaps, or perhaps not. You see, my name is a paradox. It means ‘being confident’, and you very well know my personality, especially around griffons. If my talent was to take after my name I would be leader of something, like division of the guard and such.”
"And another interesting thing is that majority of ponies seem to have very descriptive names. It's like their parents knew everything beforehoof... On the other hand, may be foal is given new name once he or she gets the mark?"
“You know, I never thought about it. As you can see my name doesn’t have anything to do with my talent. So was with my family. But here in Ponyville however… I can think of three things really.
First - your name sets your talent, so pretty much your parents are responsible for it. However, with me it’s not the case, so I don’t think it’s a good theory.
Second - name change. I never asked anypony if they always had the same name they whole life, I do however know some foals who recently got their cutie mark and it fit their names, with no time for change.
Third - when parents name their foal they have some sort of subconscious premonition what their foal’s talent will be and give them a name related to it. Taking the amount of magic in Equestria I wouldn’t be surpried if both it was true, and that some ponies would be able to concentrate or other things, completely isabling the premonition…"
"Well, there are more interesting aspects. How predetermined the talents are, for example. I guess having talent imprinted since birth doesn't make much sense, but I'm not sure if pony can develop any talent if given right upbringing..."
“Oh, you mean that” He ponders it for a moment “I never really thought about it, but in my case it sure wasn’t my upbringing, else it would be something very typical to pegasi.”
"Well, I kinda have a history of clinging to narrow circles of friends." Vindicar smiles back. "It still puzzles me, though, how you ponies get your marks, especially those who have rare and unusual talents. I tried some books on the subject, but those either covered basics I know already or were written in such impenetrable magi-speak I could barely understand anything aside from conjunctions and prepositions." He smirks and shakes his head a bit.
“How we get our marks?” He seems to think for a bit “To be honest, I have no idea myself. All I know is that when we realise what our talent is, then bam, cutie mark happens. Me for example, I got my cutie mark after I fixed a small radio that I got as a gift. Especially taking that a certain repairman told me back then it can’t be fixed. Figures out he just didn’t know anything about electronics. But nevertheless, having fixed something that was deemed unrepairable gave me a certain feeling that this is my thing, five minutes later I noticed that radio on my flank” He smiles to this memory.
"You could say you're well-known in narrow circles." Vindicar giggles quietly. "I tend to think that those narrow circles are the only ones that really matter, though."
He laughs lightly “You know Vindicar? I never thought about it that way. And no matter what, I can’t fin anything to counter it, meaning you have to be right here.” He smiles at the hippogriff.
"Robot, huh? Interesting." Vindicar nods a bit and smirks. "The fact you have been offered that job also speaks something. I reckon you must have got yourself a reputation for that to happen."
“Hah” He chuckles lightly but shakes his head “I could say so, yes. However, that offer was made by a friend of mine from Canterlot, who knew what I’m good at. It wasn’t really a reputation thing.”
Hippogriff sits down nearby and spreads his wings a bit. "So do I, my friend, so do I... You know, I've been curious... what was the most complex project you have to work at? I mean, if it's not secret or something."
The stallion quickly answers the question “Nothing big to be honest. In Moon City I didn’t do much yet, just some small things. And Ponyville, as you know, doesn’t have much complex technology.” Quick bite “However, I was once offered to work on some sort of a robot… or was it a cyborg? Anyways, in the end the project was cancelled so I didn’t even get a chance.”
Vindicar comes closer, smiling, actually happy to find a reason to get away from his thoughts. "Hey there, Pewny! Enjoying yourself, I see?"
He quickly takes another bite “I sure do, Vindicar. It’s been some time since I took a nice walk around here.”
Lost in his thoughts, Vindicar glances over Pewny, and it takes a whole second for him to realize it's not a weird patch of shadows, but a dark-coated pegasus. Remembering about pony's nervousness, hippogriff decides to play safe and waves his wing instead of simply coming closer.
Taking a bite, the pegasus, out of the corner of his eye, notices a wave, turning his head over he quickly recognises the hippogriff and waves back to him with a smile.
Hippogriff walks along the edge of Ponyville. This quiet, lovely place with perfect proportion of nature and civilization usually works wonders on his mood - something he'd appreciate right now.
If the hippogriff was to look around he would notice a familiar pegasus sitting by a tree, eating a sandwich, relaxing.
