private Another Cultural Exchange (1x1 with Skylight Scintillate)

[Skylight Scintillate 2,226]

@Illiad Easle 

On 2025-11-11 at 4:16 PM, Illiad Easle said:

Starlight and Nova were a bit surprised that Speckle seemed less familiar with those activities, Nova responding, "Oh, do they not do that up in Canterlot? I guess fishing makes sense since Canterlot isn't near much water, but archery isn't unique to thestrals. I heard that we actually learned it from the pegasi."

“Well um, I’m pretty sure they do have archery in Canterlot, but I never really looked into it there?  They don’t really have fishing though.” Speckle replied, making a vague gesture with her forehooves. “That’s kind of cool that archery is from the pegasi though.” 

On 2025-11-11 at 4:16 PM, Illiad Easle said:

"Since you enjoyed that course, and did a pretty good job of it, do you want to try one of the harder courses?"

Speckle nodded in excitement at the idea. “Yeah I would love to try that!” She exclaimed. “Though I do wonder something. When it’s harder to see the branches, do you use echolocation to know where they are, or are you able to fly just fine just by seeing them?” Speckle asked. 

On 2025-11-11 at 4:16 PM, Illiad Easle said:

The other stepped in, looking like they had an idea, "Unless you three want to join us for a game of pursuit?"

“Ooh, what’s that? It sounds fun!” Speckle asked, this thestral’s suggestion having peaked her interest. 

Speckle would ask a few questions to clarify any rules as the game was being explained to her. Once she understood, she would express her interest in playing the game as a hunter. 

[Illiad Easle 3,257]

@Skylight Scintillate

On 2025-11-14 at 12:15 PM, Skylight Scintillate said:

“Yeah I would love to try that!” She exclaimed. “Though I do wonder something. When it’s harder to see the branches, do you use echolocation to know where they are, or are you able to fly just fine just by seeing them?” Speckle asked. 

Nova looked a bit shocked at the question, but Starlight snorted playfully at the suggestion, "No, we don't have echolocation. While we look like bats that's most of what it is. Bats don't have very good eyesight like we do. Our eyes have these special pupils see? Not round like a pony's, which lets us see really well, especially in the dark, like cats do!"

Nova shook off the surprise quickly, not wanting to make Speckle feel bad for asking, and followed up, "Our fangs are a bit more similar to cats than bats too, as most bats don't eat meat."

Starlight added, "It it weren't for the wings and ears, they might call us cat-ponies instead!" She seemed to like that idea.

 

On 2025-11-14 at 12:15 PM, Skylight Scintillate said:

Once she understood, she would express her interest in playing the game as a hunter. 

The rest agreed, especially since being a hunter first would give her an opportunity to get familiar with the course before having to run through it as a prey. The two older thestrals agreed to both go as prey, giving the three younger ones the chance to all go as hunters, so Speckle would be working with Nova and Starlight to try and capture the scarves.

Once the two older ones started running, Nova was quick to pursue, like he had been on the previous course, leaving Speckle and Starlight behind. Starlight didn't mind though, and was happy to stay at Speckle's pace in the course, offering help as needed, just as before. Once Speckle was confident in the course, and after a few almost catches of the runners, Starlight would ask, "So, how do you want to try and catch them? Nova's doing a good job slowing them down, but he'll get tired quickly. Do you think we should each go for one of them? Or should we try and take down one of them together?"

[Skylight Scintillate 2,226]

19 hours ago, Illiad Easle said:

Starlight added, "It it weren't for the wings and ears, they might call us cat-ponies instead!" She seemed to like that idea.

"...Cat-ponies?" Speckle stared at the other two in confusion as she tried to process what they just said. She had never thought about things that way before. However, their reasoning seemed sound. "Huh, that actually kinda makes a lot of sense! That's kinda cool!" She chirped. 

19 hours ago, Illiad Easle said:

Once the two older ones started running, Nova was quick to pursue, like he had been on the previous course, leaving Speckle and Starlight behind. Starlight didn't mind though, and was happy to stay at Speckle's pace in the course, offering help as needed, just as before.

Like the previous course, Speckle started slower at first. The course was definitely more challenging than the previous one, especially since a lot of the obstacles blended in a lot more. With that, it was tricky to simultaneously keep track of thestrals with the scarves she was trying to chase down while keeping track of and avoiding the obstacles. However, Speckle liked the challenge. It made it engaging and fun. 

Unless the older thestrals were intentionally going easy on her, she would attempt a few times to close the gap with one of them. However, each time, she would have to sharply and abruptly maneuver away at the last second to avoid crashing into an obstacle. 

"Wow, this is challenging! But fun!" She remarked to Starlight as she caught her breath. "I don't seem to be able to get close without being forced to turn away from an obstacle. Got any tips?"

20 hours ago, Illiad Easle said:

"So, how do you want to try and catch them? Nova's doing a good job slowing them down, but he'll get tired quickly. Do you think we should each go for one of them? Or should we try and take down one of them together?"

"I think we should take one of them down together. Maybe it's just me not being that familiar with this course, but it feels like when I'm the only one chasing one of them, they have too many options to maneuver away in a way I can't follow. I think both of us going after one of them should limit their options more? And maybe that would be enough to touch ther scarf?" Speckle thought out loud. She would then turn to Starlight to hear her ideas. 

[Illiad Easle 3,257]

@Skylight Scintillate

On 2025-11-27 at 10:33 AM, Skylight Scintillate said:

Unless the older thestrals were intentionally going easy on her, she would attempt a few times to close the gap with one of them. However, each time, she would have to sharply and abruptly maneuver away at the last second to avoid crashing into an obstacle. 

Her having to dodge an obstacle seemed more an intentional action by the older thestrals than a fault of her skills, especially as she gained more practice with the course where she could see that they were deliberately heading towards obstacles when they noticed her swooping down towards her. Usually they'd try to dash under branches that would be in her way but not theirs, forcing her to pull up so they could escape.

They seemed to be doing the same for Elef though, so maybe it wasn't so much going easy on her as they were going hard on him.

On 2025-11-27 at 10:33 AM, Skylight Scintillate said:

"Wow, this is challenging! But fun!" She remarked to Starlight as she caught her breath. "I don't seem to be able to get close without being forced to turn away from an obstacle. Got any tips?"

Starlight smiled at that, "I'm glad you're liking it! They sure aren't making it easy for you." She thought on how to give good tips, "Well, they're doing their best to not get caught, like a prey would, using the trees to their advantage to make themselves harder to approach. One way to get ahead of them would be to think about what you would do if you were being chased, and then aim for where you would go instead of where they are. You won't guess right every time, but you should eb able to get closer that way than just trying to go where they are."

On 2025-11-27 at 10:33 AM, Skylight Scintillate said:

"I think we should take one of them down together. Maybe it's just me not being that familiar with this course, but it feels like when I'm the only one chasing one of them, they have too many options to maneuver away in a way I can't follow. I think both of us going after one of them should limit their options more? And maybe that would be enough to touch ther scarf?" Speckle thought out loud. She would then turn to Starlight to hear her ideas. 

Starlight nodded, "That's an option. We do it sometimes with hunting, where one goes ahead scouting, getting the prey moving and keeping their attention while the others wait to swoop in while they're distracted. It's hard to run from two things when you can only see one of them."

She got ready to start, "Do you want to be the distraction? Or the hider?"

 

If Speckle asked, Starlight would suggest being the distraction, since she seemed to have good practice with that, but she wouldn't dissuade her if she wanted to try being a hider, even indicating that they could both try hiding with Elef's distraction.

 

In either case, this new approach would give them much better luck at getting close to the runners. Speckle even managing to barely touch the scarf on one in one attempt (Either because she got close enough when Starlight jumped out of hiding, spooking the runner back towards her, or because she jumped out at one that Starlight had distracted well enough that they could barely dodge)

Ultimately, their best success came when they ended up following one that Elef was after, the two of them jumping out to finally nab the scarf.

 

The two older thestrals were understandably winded by that point, but came over to congratulate the trio as they all recovered, "Good job working together! There's not much you can do on the ground when you've got so many surprises."

The second one added, "You three all tired? Or do some of you want to try running? We promise we'll try and go easy on you."

[Skylight Scintillate 2,226]

@Illiad Easle 

On 2025-12-23 at 1:32 PM, Illiad Easle said:

"I'm glad you're liking it! They sure aren't making it easy for you." She thought on how to give good tips, "Well, they're doing their best to not get caught, like a prey would, using the trees to their advantage to make themselves harder to approach. One way to get ahead of them would be to think about what you would do if you were being chased, and then aim for where you would go instead of where they are. You won't guess right every time, but you should eb able to get closer that way than just trying to go where they are."

Speckle thought about it for a moment before replying. “Yeah I can see that. I suppose if I were getting chased down by some other creature, I would try to weave through the tree branches as well. Hmm, aim for where they would go… I suppose I could try that,” Speckle thought out loud as she tried to imagine what it would be like to predict where some creature would go. 

On 2025-12-23 at 1:32 PM, Illiad Easle said:

"Do you want to be the distraction? Or the hider?"

 

If Speckle asked, Starlight would suggest being the distraction, since she seemed to have good practice with that, but she wouldn't dissuade her if she wanted to try being a hider, even indicating that they could both try hiding with Elef's distraction.

Before making her decision, Speckle would ask for Starlight’s suggestion. “Hmm, that kinda makes sense. I think I would be quite good as the distraction. I can do that then,” Speckle replied. 

On 2025-12-23 at 1:32 PM, Illiad Easle said:

In either case, this new approach would give them much better luck at getting close to the runners. Speckle even managing to barely touch the scarf on one in one attempt (Either because she got close enough when Starlight jumped out of hiding, spooking the runner back towards her, or because she jumped out at one that Starlight had distracted well enough that they could barely dodge)

Ultimately, their best success came when they ended up following one that Elef was after, the two of them jumping out to finally nab the scarf.

 

Speckle let out a squeak of excitement when she managed to brush one of the scarves briefly. This excitement motivated her to continue the pursuit. Somehow, during this pursuit, the pair would end up chasing after the same thestral as Elef. It appeared that the trio was enough to nab the scarf. 
“We got the scarf? Oh my gosh, we got it! That’s so cool! This game is so much fun!” she exclaimed, holding the scarf up in excitement. 

On 2025-12-23 at 1:32 PM, Illiad Easle said:

"You three all tired? Or do some of you want to try running? We promise we'll try and go easy on you."

As the adrenaline of the game faded away, Speckle could feel the tiredness setting in. “I don’t know, I’m pretty tired,” Speckle replied. However, she would look over to Starlight and Nova to see what they were interested in doing.