Cold Comfort [Closed: Steel]

[SteelEagle]

 

 

Twilight felt herself passing out from the exertion she was going through. The ley line may only have been directly impacting her projection (which by now had ceased doing its job as well as screaming) but it was whipping her mentally with what felt like lava-dripping razor wire. Meanwhile she was jumping between any one of eight different combined spells on the device itself all in an effort to get this thing under control. She was one of the most powerful unicorns in history and as an alicorn was only more powerful, but even that had its limits and she was rapidly coming to the point where decisions were having to be made.

 

But something was changing. One by one the other parts of the artifact were returning to it, completing it and making it whole. And with every piece of the puzzle assembled, she was able to drop a portion of a spell or even a complete spell and refocus her efforts elsewhere. One after another the artifact re-positioned itself and soon she focused everything into her projection. It grew stronger and stronger until it went from immobile to floating above the leyline and projecting a powerful beam into the ley line below. The beam grew in power and focus, forcing the ley line lower and lower. Twilight would have kissed Daedalus in that moment if she could have, but her job was not entirely over.

 

As her projection beat the ley line down, she put the finishing touches on the artifact. In a matter of moments it was rendered inert and the are around her started to fall towards the ground. She caught it all in a bubble and slowly fell towards the earth below. She landed with a soft crunch of her hooves on the ground as the artifact and ship debris was allowed to follow suit behind her. She sat down and started taking deep, gasping breaths as she poured everything into the projection. The beam grew more powerful and split, pushing and forcing the ley line further and further down. It started to clear the local aether, allowing life signs to be detected by certain spells. She made another astral projection and found Daedalus.

 

"Good work, Daedalus," the projection said faintly. "It's clear enough now to try and find the crew. I'm working on..." the projection faded from existence as Twilight focused her efforts on the ley line. It still hurt, but now it was more of a grunting pain than anything else.

[Dio]

Daedalus covered his eyes at the sudden flash of arcane brilliance above. The beam from the Anchor lit the mountain like a second sun. By the time the spots from his eyes had subsided, the glow around the Anchor had vanished. For a moment, the hull fragment remained suspended in midair. Then it began to fall.

 

“Twilight!” He blurted.

 

The mass of wreckage was soon enveloped in the soft glow of Twilight’s magic, however, and slowly descended to the ground. Daedalus felt the surge of adrenaline quickly pass. The tingle in his skin subsided and soon he was left only with the damp of cold sweat in mountain air. It seemed physical trauma would not be the death of Twilight yet.

 

Twilight’s projection materialized next to him again, passing on its instructions before rapidly fading. Daedalus took a deep breath. Twilight was safe, as was to be expected. But of course, that didn’t always allay the concerns that came with attachments. He sighed. Attachments were dangerous. But such was the life of danger that he had consigned himself to.

 

Daedalus brought up the search grid once again. With the ley line interference subsiding, a much clearer picture formed. Life signs began appearing. Daedalus scrambled toward the markers, finally arriving at a chunk of hull that had fallen on a cluster of rocks.

 

“Any luck?” Daedalus whirled around to find the Sergeant right behind him.

 

“Now that the interference has cleared, yes. They appear to be inside.” Daedalus said. He trotted up to the hull fragment and gingerly knocked on it with his hoof.

 

“Hey! Is somepony there? Can you get us out? Help!”

 

“Hang in there, we’ll have you right out!” the Sergeant shouted. “Any ideas?”

 

“I’d stand back if I were you,” Daedalus said. “Everyone inside, back away from the outer hull!”

 

The sergeant’s ears drooped for a moment as he stepped back, involuntarily shivering as a biting chill filled the air near Daedalus. Taking a deep breath and lightning his horn Daedalus drew again from the celestial aether. A low rumbling surged through the rock below his hooves. Suddenly, a shard of black crystal crackling with violet arcs of arcane energy exploded from the ground, tearing a hole in the airship hull as it stretched skyward. Another flick of his horn and the crystal subsided into the ground, vanishing as quickly as it had appeared.

 

“Everypony all right?” Daedalus said.

 

The trapped guards carefully made their way out. Daedalus did a quick headcount. All but one were fully ambulator, the last being carried out on a makeshift stretcher dragged by one of the guards.

 

“Let’s make our way back to base camp. We’ll be able to extract from there.”

Hang in there, Twilight, he thought as he began to lead the troop home.

[SteelEagle]

 

The pain had taken a new, duller form. She was able to channel some of her magical prowess into dulling her pain receptors in the aetheral projection one by one- more accurately, slimming the connection between one thing and another. Of course for every single thing taken she had to give, in this case, her sense of personal balance. She could feel herself starting to wobble, but kept her focus on her job. She could see, or feel, or some variation of, the crew and Daedalus as they started to find the missing crew. She focused on that search, focused on their success, focused on her work. Focus was what drove her and defined her and as she became accustomed to that unearthly pain, and allowed her to cope. The job was nearly done. She could feel it in the shifting of the ley lines, the movement of the world around her. 

 

And just when she was about to get frustrated with how long this was taking, she found that it could easier tremendously. The ley lines were starting to move down of their own accord now. Their natural patterns were being reasserted over the artificial pulling and tugging that had defined their recent history. She as able to pull back and watch as the raw ley lines fell further and further down. She still did a few more passes, but it was shortly apparent she no longer needed to be involved. Her projection started to hover away from the ground and then above it, looking down with white, glowing eyes at what lay below. Soon even that would vanish, as she pulled all of her energy back into herself. It hit her like a crashing wave of violent water, but she was used to this. She was a rock, and they crashed against her.

 

After a few moments she took a few deep breaths. She was more aware of everything for a little while, with the overwhelming magical aura that she had making everything a little more alive when it was pulled back in. The pain was there, but luckily she needed to feel a little of that just to know that everything was okay. She had worried that she would feel disconnected. She worried that every single time this happened that it would be this unlucky marriage of physical ane metaphysical, but she was fine. She threw up once and then haphazardly took flight towards the makeshift base, her loss of balance still apparent as she needed to use magic to help keep afloat at times. She arrived a minute later, wobbling ever so slightly. Luckily, she could speak just fine. "Did we recover all the missing crew, Daedalus? Sergeant, how are their injuries?" She asked, trying to keep her head from washing about as she spoke. She succeeded, to a small extent.
 

[Dio]

 

Visually, it was apparent that the ley line had begun the process of recovery. No longer were there glowing lines of force streaming through the sky and no longer did the island of airship hull anchor itself unnaturally in the immaterium. A quick peek into the aetheric realm confirmed this to be true. Princess of Friendship though she might be, it could not be forgotten that Twilight was also Princess of Magic. With the interference cleared, it was simple to configure a short-range portal with Kyanaster’s help to bring the lost crew up the hill and back to base camp.

 

“Glad you made it!” he shouted - not without a bit of snark - up to Twilight as she drifted down. “I’d hate to have to add ‘got the Princess of Friendship killed’ to my resume!”

 

As was expected, Twilight’s task-oriented focus was legendary; so legendary in fact that Daedalus didn’t actually notice her distress until she had already landed. He frowned as Twilight touched down looking fit to collapse. Her voice, however, never wavered despite her appearing very much like she was going to be ill. Daedalus stepped forward, concerned that he might need to break a fall.

 

“Don’t worry about the crew. We found the last of them so everypony is accounted for.”

 

“I can confirm that,” the sergeant nodded. “Five ambulatory, one with a broken leg, but stable. All things considered, I’d say we got off pretty lightly.”

 

“Let’s get the portal set up so we can get off this damned rock.” Daedalus withdrew his spare canteen from his pack saddle and floated it over to Twilight with his magic, all the while gesturing toward a makeshift bench that had been erected from a fragment of airship hull. Pausing for a moment, he amended his statement, “Well, I’ll get the portal set up. Rest, please, Twilight.”

 

The last bit of instruction was half joked, half implored. They had worked with each other long enough to be past full formal address and long enough that Daedalus could very well show genuine professional concern. His first exposure to Kyanaster’s strain of cosmic magic had nearly knocked him out and the fragment he now carried was but a miniscule fraction of the star’s true power. An entire ley line was quite the step up from a speck of cosmic dust. It was thus reasonable to be professionally concerned, if not outright non-professionally worried.

[SteelEagle]

 

Twilight was extremely relieved. It was excellent news to be sure. No losses. No deaths in this accident, which would have plagued her conscience mightily if they had occurred. Daedalus did his job well. He was a talented stallion. Strong in his own way. In her way, the way she needed him to be. He had been able to organize the search effectively despite all the difficulties he faced due to the ley line. Thanks partially to him they had avoided any casualties. Twilight had done her part bit Daedalus had shown an attractive talent for organization. Even now as the tension died off bit by bot he was task-oriented and on-point. She was endlessly pleased with how he had performed and was assured of such excellent performance in all tasks she asked of him. That, more than anything, was why she didn't take his suggestion.

 

"I can't rest now, Daedalus," she said, half to him and half to herself, "not when there is still work to do," she finished, looking around as best she could. The guilt was starting to gnaw at her as she saw the wounded. She couldn't help but consider they were all here on her orders. Her whims, really. They could have all been home or on more official business but instead she had ordered their presence here. She could have been more careful. She could have sent multiple expeditions out, each one sent to secure one item instead of many. There were a million things that could have been done better, big and small. Most ponies would just accept that mistakes had been made and strive to do better, but Twilight was nothing if not obsessive, a perfectionist without the ability to come through on that title more often than she'd like to meet.

 

She wasn't going to rest when there was work to do. Despite all of the screeching pain that rocked every nerve ending as her senses came into play with the feedback from the ley line, she was the Princess, she was the one in charge, and she was responsible for this disaster that left many wounded. How dare she even contemplate rest when some were injured much worse. Now more than ever, her title meant something. "The portal should work. However, the ley line has been very active recently. That should make any potential portal highly unstable. If you want to open it, I'll  cover it with a aetheric stabilizer spell," she said, her voice betraying her body. She was breathing heavily and her eyes were trying their darnedest to shut and force at the very least a momentary shutdown. Her horn lit up. "Start it, Daedalus."

[Dio]

 

“Perhaps they should have crowned you Princess of Obstinance,” Daedalus remarked dryly.

 

Snark aside, allowing her to push herself like this was dangerous. The longer Daedalus stared, the worse Twilight looked. Though she never said it, Daedalus was almost certain she was in pain. Having her initialize the portal solo would be a mistake.

 

Pushing the canteen closer, however, did nothing to dissuade Twilight. He withdrew the offered water, tucking it away with a mild scowl. Even after all she had been through, she still wanted to handle the full brunt of establishing a stable portal? Even when there were other lives on the line?

 

Daedalus glanced around at the arrayed guards. His eyes lingered on the injured in the makeshift infirmary lean-to. Perhaps Twilight had a point. The longer the injured remained out here, the more likely it was that they would die of exposure or infection. In spite of this, however, there was no way he would let her handle transport. Twilight lit her horn, reaching for the portal medallion in her bags. Daedalus sighed at the command to start. At least Twilight wasn’t going to attempt this solo.

 

“Kyanaster can handle stabilization. Her affinity for cosmic magic makes her particularly adept at handling anything that involves spatial translocation,” he chided. “Don’t overexert yourself.”

 

He lit his horn in response. The medallion floated above the cleared rock and dirt and began to slowly spin. A sequence of glowing sigils appeared in a ring on the ground, the symbols rapidly shifting as coordinates for the portal exit were dialed in. Daedalus reached out with his magic and withdrew Kyanaster from her armor socket, casting her toward the portal. The stellar core began to drop before catching herself and beginning a slow orbit around the magic circle. Kyanaster pulsed with a warm pink glow in time with the shifting sigils.

 

As the cycling of sigils slowed, the medallion descended to the ground, finally coming to rest upon its flat side. A milky white circle appeared above the sigils, beginning with a bright flash but slowly fading to a soft glow. Daedalus cast his analysis tools one last time, the pointillistic display showing the portal to be momentarily stable. He frowned at the supplemental analysis results, however. Twilight’s hypothesis was spot on. The portal was indeed usable, but any further shifting of the ley line could result in instability that would need to be compensated for. With Twilight weakened from her previous actions, it would fall to Daedalus to handle that.

 

“Portal is stable for now. Let’s start moving them through before we lose it to an aftershock.”

[SteelEagle]

 

Twilight didn't allow his snark and his chiding comments to distract her. It was part and parcel of the Daedalus experience, after all. She didn't want a yesstallion or somepony given over to groveling and agreeing with her every utterance. She didn't need a slave or an attendant, she needed a brilliant mage with the wit and wills to make himself known when he disagreed. And if she was in a less stubborn state of mind she might agree. She was in pain. She wanted to rest. She needed to, perhaps. But she worked. That is what she did. She studied and she worked and she studied and she worked. She was a symbol to many and a reliable Princess to most. She had saved Equestria more times than Celestia had recently, that much was certain. She wasn't going to toss away her responsibility and image now just to sate her own need for rest.

 

She could always rest later. She didn't respond as he spoke, instead focusing on her breathing as Daedalus went to work. It wasn't long before the portal was up and running. After a few moments she cast her own spell. She felt herself snake around the portal like a snake around a tube. The ley line was quite unstable. The portal was dangerous. Without stabilization there was risk involved, too much for her sake. Which was why, she reminded herself more internally than anything else, she needed to be here. She needed to do this. he would have enough on his shoulders making sure everything else went off. All she needed to do was ensure nopony got hurt in the process. If she did her job the very best she could do, nopony would even know what it was she was supposed to be doing. That, more than anything, was the surest sign of a job well done.

 

She felt herself snake around the portal and then cover it in her aetheric essence. She acted as an anchor, a stabilizing agent, against which the tides of the ley lines could rock about without interrupting the portal. The portal straightened and would allow easy use for now. She strained herself to make the portal as sturdy and granite like as possible- a construction project writ in aether and hope. She spent more and more of herself, solidifying the portal beyond her initial hopes. Her eyes glowed white, her horn bright, the brightness masking a tear as it rolled down her cheek and fell onto the ground.

[Dio]

The princess said nothing in response, instead beginning to cast another ward on the portal. Kyanaster chirped as their spells met, forming a softly glowing violet grid over the portal. Daedalus’ analysis spell showed that the reinforcements were holding steady for the moment. The crew gathered around, self organizing into a queue as they prepared to move out. The non-ambulatory crew were helped to the portal entrance by those who could move, followed closely by the walking wounded.
 
Daedalus frowned. Despite two separate layers of protection from both Twilight and Kyanaster, there was no way he could ensure long-term stability. While he was far from risk-averse while handling things himself, involving such a large collective of others changed the stakes dramatically. Having dabbled into portals and teleportation since he was young, Daedalus was acutely aware of the harm that could result from malformed portals or void manifold tears, much to his tutor’s chagrin and concern.
 
He sighed as he glanced one last time at Twilight. She was entirely focused upon her task, eyes and horn aglow with light that very nearly hurt to look at. Not wanting to keep Twilight in her state longer than necessary and understanding the need to move the wounded quickly, Daedalus gave the word.
 
“Sergeant, let’s start getting the crew through the portal. The medical staff at the royal hospital in Stalliongrad will standing by.”
 
The sergeant nodded and barked his orders. The queue moved forward, each group of soldiers and airship crew stepping through making room for the group behind them. Daedalus swapped from watching them move to monitoring portal state.
 
The evacuation was going better than expected. Only the last last third of the group remained before analysis picked up anything anomalous. It was small at first, more ripples in a pond than waves crashing ashore. Daedalus would have overlooked it had he not been primed to watch for such things by the prior events of the afternoon. In the aetheric plane, it appeared as a faint humming noise, even above that of the portal.
 
“Not good,” Daedalus murmured to himself. “Sergeant, the portal won’t hold forever. We need to get the rest of them through.”
 
“Unless you want to be cut in half when that portal closes, get your flanks moving!” the sergeant ordered.
 
Thankfully all that remained were those who could move under their own power. One after another, they filed into the portal. Daedalus gritted his teeth as the humming grew. Kyanaster’s orbits grew faster as she attempted to keep pace with the shifting aether. The humming came to an end with a CRUNCH. The portal entrance wavered for a moment and Kyanaster flared brightly as she struggled to hold it open.
 
A low rumble echoed through the mountains and sent a shiver down his spine. The ley line had begun to shift again, settling in after being forcibly ripped from the earth. The last few crew hesitated, not wanting to enter after seeing the portal waver and with the sudden apparent earthquake on the horizon.
 
“Go while it’s still open!” Daedalus shouted above the upset earth. “Don’t make me do this!”
 
‘This’ being what Daedalus did anyway when the crew simply froze in fear. A combination of magical shove and physical tackle sent the mini herd toppling through the portal like spilled dominoes. The sergeant cringed at the crew being bowled over but nodded in acknowledgement as he leaped through the portal. With the crew through, now it was their turn.
 
The tremors intensified and aetheric lightning began arcing around the portal. Weather phenomena formed and dissipated in seconds up and down the mountainside. Wind began to howl and flurries of snow blew through the camp as clouds formed and dispersed chaotically.
 
“It’s our turn now, Twilight!” Daedalus shouted. “Get in! I’ll be right behind you!”
 

[SteelEagle]

 

The aether, even in the best of times, was a turbulent sea of raw power. Even Celestia in all of her experience would be found wanting terribly if she tried to get an honest grasp of it any more than base manipulation. But through uncounted aeons of trial and error, ponies have learned a few important things. And today they were getting a lesson in what scholars would call aetheric flux. For the ponies experiencing it, however, there were few terms they could call it that wouldn't get themselves in trouble with the more proper side of Equestrian society. And for that, Twilight was desperately ashamed. She wanted to call what she saw coming every word in the book for awful, but she didn't have the time. To her credit she gave them what time she could. The portal was trying to collapse immediately. The ley line, due to being held in place earlier, flexed and pulled like a tendon. She had always credited it with certain aspects of sentience in a way. And if she was right and a mind did exist, it was angry.

 

She wanted to tell them but she couldn't. She felt her body almost not be able to even handle basic functionalities. She poured so much of herself into that portal, keeping it safe. It started even before the first group entered. It kept on going. It was this raging furnace that would not be contained. It contracted and pulled and tossed itself around. She could vaguely feel what else was happening- the small tremors that became bigger, the words, the rush, the flow of time seemingly stretched out- but she was in another place. Another world. She was the portal, and the portal was her. By now it was collapsing, even as the last third hesitated. She gave of herself more and more as the nanoseconds went by. By the time they were walking into it, she was the structure upon which the portal now rested, and she was in terrible aetheric pain.

 

She only barely heard Daedalus, and she responded physically by only the barest of margins. She half-staggered into the portal, assured that she was being followed.  Once they entered the portal, however, things changed. The tendon snapped one final time around the portal. Halfway through it, the portal collapsed. With the portal breached, the end vanished. This was all too fast to see physically. Vision didn't even really register ley lines, and vision certainly couldn't register the raw aether. There was a brief and absolutely horrifying flash of outrageous pain, enough to break ever so quickly her concentration. This caused the very start of the portal to also collapse. Both ends all around them were collapsed and the aether was closing in on them, too fast for the mind to even register what was happening.

 

Unless, of course, you were an alicorn who was already projecting herself. She quickly changed the pathway of the portal and created a new exist- right where they were. It was too fast to really think where. Just anywhere but here. Here was a painful death. In what was near instantaneous, the pair entered the portal, experienced unimaginable levels of pain- and then appeared somewhere completely different. High up in the clouds, falling rapidly as if being thrown by an angry giant in the sky. They hurtled towards the ground at tremendous speed.

 

It took Twilight a few seconds to realize they were heading towards a volcano. Her senses were coming back to her. Instinctually she spread out her wings and caught Daedalus. The added weight didn't help. She tried to flap and futilely neighed and waved her hooves in a running motion as they hurtled towards it. She was slowly slowing their descent. Not slow enough. Too hot. Everything was too hot. Her horn lit up one last time. Underneath her came a small ramp of purple magic. She ran down it, and then it curved upwards once the descent was stopped inches above their doom. She ran and ran, flapped and flapped as the ramp vanished behind them. She soon found herself running up the side of the volcanic wall, slowing as she went up. She slowed down to the extent she needed one final leap up to reach the top before the ramp vanished. They landed on the other side, tumbling down the side for what seemed like too long. Finally she came to a rest against a lone palm tree on a sandy beach, far, far from the volcano top above.

[Dio]

As soon as Twilight stumbled through the portal entrance, Daedalus leaped in after, grabbing hold of the Kyanaster and the medallion on his way in. For a moment, he was exhilarated; the same excitement that came with cheating death and tapping arcane powers beyond measure now thrummed in his heart and made his brain tingle. Just a bit longer and they would be nice and cozy warm in Stalliongrad talking about how they’d just rescued an entire troop of--
 
Of course it couldn’t be that simple. Of course not. It was never that simple. With a thundering whip-crack that threatened to make his eardrums bleed, the fabric of reality seemed to stretch and twist, taking Daedalus with it. The horrid nausea was accompanied by crushing and twisting pain as space itself compressed and rotated around him in directions that his limbs were not supposed to go. It was only a last second activation of void cloak that kept him whole.
 
Kyanaster flashed blood red in an ominous indicator of what was about to happen. There were few times that Daedalus felt outright dread. This was one of them. The portal was collapsing and with it, he and Twilight as well. As powerful as he and Kyanaster were, there was no way he could recalculate an exit near the destination they needed. But he had to try. Ending up in an unintended location was better than dying a horrible death via nonexistence. In fact--
 
Twilight was faster. Before Daedalus could even utter a word of command a glowing sphere exploded into existence in front of him. A blast of fresh air struck him as he hurtled through the in-between netherspace even through the protection of the void cloak. The sphere engulfed him in an instant and the searing pain ended.
 
Daedalus gasped for breath as he snapped awake. He was alive. Or so he hoped. He was looking forward to neither afterlife nor wandering the world as a ghost; in his mind, being forcibly ejected from a collapsing void conduit surely counted as being violent enough to warrant creation of a ghost. Thankfully, quick inspection revealed that he was still corporeal and indeed alive, for whatever that was worth.
 
As he got his bearings, Daedalus’ ear twitched at the faint hum followed by a weak chirp. Kyanaster’s light flickered unsteadily as she floated to him, having freshly excavated herself from the… lava? This wasn’t just dirt. This was volcanic soil.
 
Daedalus leaped to his hooves, which proved to be a colossal mistake. Immediately, he collapsed, cursing himself as he landed on bruised ribs and a tired face. His limbs were shaky, his ribs probably hairline fractured, and his inside squidgy bits felt like they had just been run through a spice grinder. It took several minutes before he could summon the fortitude to pick himself back up.
 
Finally somewhat in control of his senses, he took a quick inventory. The mage’s cloak was barely serviceable, its hems in tatters and the hood looked as though a manticore had seen fit to play with it as a cat would a ball of yarn. His hardlight armor had long since lost its charge, probably a result of his sound thrashing in netherspace. Kyanaster and the medallion seemed to be safe. The only thing that was missing was… Twilight Sparkle.
 
“Twilight!” His call echoed across the vast emptiness of the mountain range.
 
“This isn’t going to work,” he mumbled. “Think. How did we get here? Reconstruct the path, use it to find Twilight, then use it to get home.”
 
Carefully so as not to agitate the already thick feeling of malaise, Daedalus activate the analysis spell again. The pointillistic display materialized in front of him, spreading out from the runed circle and outlining the still hot remains of an aetheric construct roughly resembling a ramp in the sky. One end rested firmly in the depths of the caldera several hundred meters above. The other pointed west. West of his position, there was only downhill.
 
The trek down was arduous, even more so in Daedalus’ condition. The loose soil made traversal difficult; any misstep could turn into a potentially fatal face-first slide into a boulder. Daedalus didn’t fully understand how he made it to the beach without falling, but somehow through a combination of Kyanaster’s gravity adjustments and hypervigilance, he arrived alive.
 
It was late evening by now, the fading rays of sunlight in the west outlining dark shapes upon the beach. Daedalus’ vision blurred as exhaustion prepared to put him to sleep on his hooves. But something on the beach caught his eye, something that wasn’t black volcanic sand or the spindly silhouettes of palm trees and scrubby brush. There was a splash of violet.
 
Summoning the last bit of strength he had, Daedalus broke into a gallop, finally culminating in a running faceplant near Twilight. Too tired to fully stand back up, he instead belly crawled to where her still form lay. He propped himself up just enough to attempt to take vitals.
 
“C’mon, you’d better not be dead,” he mumbled.
 
A placement of a hoof on her neck found a pulse. She lived, even if she was out cold. “Shelter,” Daedalus muttered weakly. His horn glowed as he attempted to construct a tiny hut spell, an attempt met with complete and utter failure. The light from the spell fizzled out. Daedalus’ head hit the sand, the hoof used to take vitals flopping limply over Twilight’s shoulder in a vain attempt to cover them with his cloak. With every last bit of energy he had expended, Daedalus faded into dreamless slumber.
 

[SteelEagle]

 

 

Twilight found herself alone in a world of black void and white, searing heat. It was the tug of the aether and all the energies she had toyed with that day, her aura battered around and out of balance. It was a unusual feeling but not something she was alien towards. Ever since her ascension into Princesshood at least. She had so much power and did so much that she was sometimes imbalanced by the sheer magical tug of war between what she was capable of doing ad what her still-developing aura was able to handle. The result of imbalance when you had such power was pain- a white, hot searing pain that raged across her, turning what should have been a painless unconsciousness into a storm of black and pain. She moaned- likely not audibly, but earthily, magically.
 

She drifted for what felt like forever in a cloud of velvet mystery, the pain dulling after a while as she wandered between what was and what could. She didn't think about much here, only the web of magic curling around her. She didn't hear Daedalus cry out or feel him shake her. It wasn't actually until Daedalus tried to cast the hut spell that she was made even faintly aware of something outside of this prison of shadow and light. She walked through- neigh, pushed through- the enveloping fog and reached herself. Using what she could, despite being unconscious, her horn lit up. In a few moments a shelter was made, a small and non-descript tent. Dark enough to shade them, but it allowed light in- perfect shelter, even if it was really only made for one. 

 

It took a long time for Twilight to come to her senses. After all, she only started to really fall under after she cast the spell. The gentle beating of the waves and the consistent breeze which brought the salt water to their nostrils. The flapping of the foal-sized tent flap. The squawk of birds. Only slowly, much later, did her eyes flutter open- to Daedalus, mostly draped over her because of his attempts to help her and the machinations of her tent spell. She blushed and bit her lip, headache or no. "Daedalus...are you awake yet?"

[Dio]

For what felt like an eternity, Daedalus saw and felt nothing but empty blackness. But slowly, steadily, his senses returned, each dulled by the strange filter of sleep. With time, however, they eventually coalesced into something intelligible and familiar.
 
The lapping of waves and the call of seabirds seeped into Daedalus’ ears, slowly replacing the blackness with warm sun and the cold void with the soft caress of a beach towel on warm sand. The Erinys estate had the perk of its own private beach, providing the perfect place for lazily lounging beneath the shade of a large sun umbrella. The smell of salt air mingled with the sultry aroma of wine and olives. But Daedalus paid the food little mind. Instead he nestled in closer to the mare he was cuddling, nuzzling into the back of Acantha’s neck and eliciting a breathy moan from her.
 
“Daedalus, are you awake yet?”
 
“Of course I’m awake,” he mumbled into her mane. “I couldn’t be enjoying you if I were asleep, silly!”
 
Unconscious as Daedalus was, his actions in dream were replicated in reality. Thus, what was done to Acantha in dream was visited upon Twilight in reality. But to Daedalus’ sleep and void-addled mind, he was for a moment, home. He rolled over, still close-eyed and noted that the wine bottle was now empty.
 
“Shall I fetch more wine, my love?”

[SteelEagle]

 

Twilight wasn't prepared for what happened next. Well, she figured nopony'd be. One moment he was barely there and quickly his unconscious mind started to parley what must have been a wonderful dream about a past love- well, she knew which one this was. She did her homework on her Keepers- into physical action. What was she supposed to do? A part of her wanted to play along, if only to...well, she didn't know. Parley all this heartache and drama into a moment of companionship. It would be nice, wouldn't it? Alone on the sand in the warmth of the southern islands. Nopony would know. All Princesses had dalliances at some point, and who better than  Keeper- somepony already trusted with so much, so why not...intimacy? It was an attractive concept, at least to think about.

 

That was mostly because of the pony, of course. Daedalus had a mind as sharp as a razor, never allowing himself to be dulled by process and order. His tongue was sharp but not with unkindness for the sake of ego, but rather opinions rooted in fact and concern. He was a world apart from his Kastroti kin and for that she was greatly thankful. He was an intellectual giant in the world of dark magic. Dangerous and unique, a mind like his was alluring in ten thousand ways, and his loyalty and dogged determination too. There were a thousand and one admirable traits that he possessed and she wasn't entirely sure how to recognize their innate qualities except by allowing herself the fantasy-

 

-Her mind snapped back to reality and she instinctively teleported Daedalus out of the tent and above the water nearby. He floated for a second before he was dropped into the water. Inside the tent, Twilight stood up quickly, wiping the sweat off of her face. She took a deep breaths and waited for the panic and splashing outside to collect herself...time she needed, really.

[Dio]

Daedalus awoke to the sudden swish of air as the teleport displaced air around him. Before he could cry out, he was face down in the shallow water, waves breaking over his head and sand grinding into his muzzle. He scrambled to push himself upright, finally sputtering to the surface as he hacked and coughed the accidentally inhaled water out of his lungs. The sudden adrenaline surge blasted him wide awake and set him looking about.
 
The Assembly? Were they here? Had they thrown him into the sea for prying into their plans? It took a few moments more for Daedalus to fully understand his circumstances. He was not at Erinys estate. He had not been lounging in the sun browsing on wine and olives. Nor was he drowning. Nor was he snuggling with Acantha.
 
As he picked himself up Daedalus bit his tongue, half in amusement and half in embarrassment. While he was fairly certain Twilight wouldn’t vaporize him (else she'd already have done it), surely she would be upset at some unsolicited touching, as accidental as it was. It was like the beginning of a bit of lurid fiction that would be available in certain bookstores. Thankfully, it was just the two of them, so no staff and retainers would cause a scene over such a… misunderstanding. As for Twilight herself, that could be a different story.
 
Daedalus spat the last of the salt water out of his mouth and began the slow trudge back onto the beach. Survival was the first thing on his mind, but Daedalus could not help but wonder to himself. In another life, could he and Twilight have been free to pursue ties beyond mere professional association. He snorted. A schoolcolt’s fantasy it was, becoming consort of an Equestrian princess. He’d indulge himself after they were out of danger.
 
“Apologies. It seems the warp-sickness hasn’t quite... worn off yet.” He chuckled, a bit of uncertainty creeping into the laugh as he approached the tent.
 
It was an impressive piece of hardware he had to admit. While he had merely sought to construct a simple igloo-like hut out of slabs of crystallized aether, Twilight had gone so far as to replicate fabric and tentpoles that softened the sun and sand alike while obviating the sterile, artificial feeling of the hut. Daedalus paused at the entrance of the tent. Whether he would face a clean brush-off or the wrath of an incensed alicorn princess was yet to be determined.
 
“Are you all right?” he ventured.
 

[SteelEagle]

 

Twilight responded very quickly.
"I'm okay...I think. Mostly? I feel more than two million, six hundred and thirteen thousand, and four points of aetheric pain acting upon my aura in the manner of a Neighponese saw, but nothing that rest and relaxation can't solve. Mostly," she said quickly, stoically, an attempt to not betray her incessant worry about the conflicts she had just fought external and otherwise. Her mind wasn't one given to laying about on problems she couldn't solve or emotions that did little other than confuse her in the middle of a crisis. And indeed, this could be a crisis. A missing Princess, aetheric mischief, this was the start of a particularly sour fable.

 

"I think we're on Little Hoof Island, in the Gallopocus Islands. Thunderhooves Island is probably an hour or so away. Little Hoof is somewhat unique; their sands and soils are poor, ad the island is uninhabited. The poor soil is rumored to be the result of a failed mass transit spell that accidentally charged particles in the ground incorrectly. Just one of many possibilities. I always thought that it may have been a bit unlikely, but maybe..." she lectured, trailing off as she picked up some of the soil. She grabbed a jar- from where, one does not ask the Scientist Princess- and put the soil in it. This would make for an excellent time-waster while she did real work later.

 

"We can try to open a portal to the Keep soon. For now I think our aether signature is too in flux. We should give it a few hours. Also, you should dry off," she ended quickly, looking around. There weren't any towels. The ambient heat from the volcano was a good idea, but that seemed like a generally bad idea. So, she didn't have any answers, so best to ask some questions. "How are you? Any deep aetheric pains? Physically we got through this okay. I think we did rather well- the crew is safe, artifact neutralized. We'll have to zao back eventually to actually recover them, though. They belong in the Keep and nowhere else," she said, mind staying rather pointedly and purposefully on business matters.
 

[Dio]

 

Daedalus partially sighed in relief. Twilight’s self-diagnosis with precise numbers more than confirmed she was all right. Nopony else would drop such precise counts so unironically while of sound mind. That alone was enough to say nothing was seriously wrong.

 

On the other hoof, there were two ways Twilight’s absurdly professional reaction could be taken: she was upset and being passive-aggressive or she was silently hinting that she wanted to leave the matter behind. While Daedalus leaned toward the latter, he couldn’t be sure. As his prior encounter with Discord reminded him, perhaps the Maretonian sensibilities were pressuring him to overthink.

 

“Well, a beach is an excellent place to relax and recuperate,” Daedalus said dryly. “Are you sure you weren’t subconsciously looking for a getaway when you pull us out of the warp stream?”

 

Said in jest, to be fair. The thought crossed Daedalus’ mind that they might be caught in a pocket dimension of some sort, seeing as Twilight’s last minute save had ejected them from the between with little consideration where they might end up. There were many bubbles of existence in the multiverse, many islands of reality in the void. Could this be one of them?

 

Twilight’s response said no. She gave a location: Little Hoof Island, far east of where they had begun, and far farther east than their intended destination of Stalliongrad. Daedalus rubbed his forehead. His leg shook not from fear, but from pure unadulterated exhaustion. Still, it seemed they were on the same plane. They could probably attempt to activate the portal again when they had gathered their strength, a point which Twilight echoed.

 

“Any pain I feel is strictly physical. Hopefully that trip didn’t give me a hernia or I’m going to be spending the next few weeks off my hooves instead of the next few hours,” he said with a wry grin. “Then again, I wasn’t the one diving face first into raw ley radiation...”

 

Her final words, however, sent a pang of guilt through Daedalus. How could he have missed it? The artifacts had not come through the portal with them, nor should it have. The ley-sapping abilities of the Anchor likely would have disrupted portal stability further, making it even more hazardous. But at the same time, Daedalus had jumped through the portal with little consideration for the state of the artifact. Now it sat unattended deep in Leota, just waiting for a wayward changeling investigating the ruckus to find.

 

Daedalus’ instinct for self-preservation was still on point. The Assembly would be keeping tabs on him wherever he went after all. But he was more than himself now. Recovering artifacts was his job, his livelihood, and his means to make something of himself. Abandoning the Anchor was a failure on his part. He could easily have remained in the area, recovered the artifact, and called for physical extraction. Instead, he followed himself and dragged Twilight along.

 

“The portal.” He finally said, turning to face the setting sun. His haunches hit the sand as he tiredly sat and mused. “That was a bad call. I should have sent the troops through and then remained behind to secure the Anchor.”

 

“And for that I’m sorry.”

[SteelEagle]

Twilight smirked. She would have loved to say she planned it, but the truth of the matter was that they were exceptionally lucky. They could have been transported just about anywhere within this aetheral plane. In the deep of a volcano and instant death, the bottom of the ocean to be crushed, just in orbit so they suffocated and died in re-entry. For every fatal possibility there were a thousand safe ones of course- her magic, like those of most terrestials, was based around certain axis- but there was always that risk. She was just happy they were only a little bit away from Equestria. It could have been much worse. "I wish I had made a conscious decision to choose a location! If I had, we'd be back at the castle, where I could get some cocoa and some books," she said, looking around. No books, but maybe she could just be sure to get good research value out of the soil.

 

It was good that he wasn't in poor straits. Being a Keeper was hazardous work in the best of times. Even when they weren't opposing agents working against the good of Equestria, Keepers hd to deal with magical artifacts that had a variety of defenses. Not a single agent of hers hadn't been wounded at some point in the line of duty and while nopony had died, she was sure that day would come. Daedalus was her best, she was there, and the task wasn't that dangerous under normal circumstances, but it was still quite good news that he hadn't been hurt in a way she needed to be worried about. He'd be okay. She'd be okay. They'd be okay. "That's good to hear, Daedalus. I'd hate for my top agent to be on the shelf too long when there is so much to be done, and so much adventure to be had. It would be terrible if I had to play the nurse for you," she said jokingly, not wanting to take too much pride in herself.

 

Not that she wasn't amazing. She did just contact the raw aether and she tried to be simple about it, but this was extremely rare. The amount of times a pony had done that in history was recorded as being around six or seven times. Of course that was just recorded- she was sure Celestia had done it far more. But that didn't mean that it was any less of an exciting, history-making journey. So yes, she was proud. But she didn't allow herself the sin of excess pride because it was a harrowing and dangerous experience, not one to try to replicate. Power was as much about decision making as it was about potential, and the end result of the day showed that her decision making left a lot to be desired.

 

Just as she felt that she had a lot to be desired, so did Daedalus it seemed. His mistakes were more forgivable in her eyes. He had made the best choices for their survival at the time. That the artifacts had been left behind was vexing, terribly so, but the crew was there. The artifacts would be safe, one way or another, until they could heal up and get back to work. "Don't be sorry about this, Daedalus. We share in failure and we share in success; we saved the crew, the artifacts aren't missing, and we'll get the artifacts to the Keep. In the end, we'll be fine. Just relax...well, try to, anyway. I don't see a library near here. Hard to read when there aren't any books and no books, little relaxation."

[Dio]

“After all this, I think we’ll need something a bit harder than cocoa,” Daedalus chuckled. 
 
Wine and olives perhaps. A touch of home wouldn’t be so bad after almost dying yet again chasing some artifact across all Equestria. His stomach growled at the thought; whether in nausea or hunger, Daedalus couldn’t tell. Even after the nap and the dunk, the exhaustion lingered, even further exacerbated by the dampness in his cloak and coat from the seawater, a dampness that was quickly starting to sap the heat out of him.
 
“Well, Nurse Twilight, I suppose there is no wrong way to fantasize,” he quipped. “Not much time to relax seeing as it’s almost nightfall and we little more than magically improvised shelter. You said so yourself: your aura took quite a beating. It might be better if we built something a bit more conventional than magical to bed down in for the night. It won’t be as good as a library, but I think it’s the best I can manage given the circumstances.”
 
With that, Daedalus finally picked himself up off the sand, groaning as every joint in his spine seemed to crack and his innards sloshed back into place, still tender from warp sickness. He wearily trotted past Twilight and made for the treeline. Materials were ample, as despite the volcanic soil, there was an abundance of driftwood and palm trees. One in particular seemed to have been felled by a recent storm. Daedalus pulled the rope from his pack and lashed it to his harness, using it to drag the fallen tree into position. Piling sand and rock around it to stabilize it and repurposing the rope as part of a tent frame, Daedalus was able to construct a small shelter out of shrubbery, palm fronds, and the felled palm.
 
Finally wiping the sweat off his brow, Daedalus undid the clasp on his cloak and the latches on his gear, finally ridding himself of the damp clothing and exposing his entire coat to the night air. It had kept him cool while he worked, but now that he was at rest, he began to shiver.
 
“Twilight,” he suppressed a mild chatter in his teeth. “I hate to ask you to do things for me, but do you mind starting the fire? I think I’m dead on my hooves at the moment…”
 

[SteelEagle]

He wasn't entirely wrong to build a new shelter. Hers would have sufficed in keeping them safe but not much more, and she would have had to remake it several times to ensure they stayed covered during the night. It still would have done the job, but she figured this was a better idea overall. She needed some actual sleep. Actual rest. She didn't get that very much. The weight of her position and everything that entailed, plus her ceaseless magical research and artifact hunting, meant she got very little sleep. Her alicorn constitution meant she didn't need the sleep as much as others, but being up for as long as she was could be...taxing, if not physically, if not directly, but mentally, indirectly. Celestia told her that over decades and centuries it got easier as you adapted to it, but that the first twenty to thirty years would be the hardest.

 

"Sounds like a good idea," Twilight said, leaving Daedalus to the work of setting up a more 'permanent' camp. Applejack had shown her a few times but Twilight would admit that her hoofwork left a lot to be desired. There was enough on the island to make a camp, but she wouldn't want to be the one trying to make it work. Luckily, she had a Keeper, and Keepers universally were solid adventurers. He could set it up just fine even if the island's options were simply enough rather than ample. A part of her wondered if they would be sought after. Maybe the other Princesses' were already looking for them. Well, maybe not quite this fast, but still. Celestia would turn the heavens off if it meant locating her brightest student.

 

When he was done, he asked her to get started on the fire. He looked cold- shivering. A fire there would be. She set up some rocks in a circle and got some driftwood, also placing it in the middle of the rocks. At this point her horn lit up and she changed the properties and reactions and within a few moments fire started to sprout up, warming both of them as the sun started to recede into the night to be replaced by the moon, whose reflection was given gentle gravitas by the waves. Twilight sighed contently and made herself comfortable in the camp he had built. She pulled him closer with her wing to the fire and into her. He was shivering, and she was nothing if not helpful. "Will this suffice?"

[Dio]

Daedalus would have protested the bit of pyromancy, but his teeth were chattering too much to do so. At least a proper fire was now going, giving them warmth and a ward from wild beasts for the night. He could finally feel the heat warming his coat. Steam wafted away as he slowly dried. He shuffled closer to the fire as the sun set, only to find himself suddenly engulfed by a wing and dragged over to Twilight’s side. The surprise subsiding at its suddenness, Daedalus finally relaxed under the warm, feathered blanket.

 

“Yes, Nurse Twilight,” he teased. “This will do nicely!”

 

Drying off immediately made things far more comfortable. Daedalus gingerly lit his horn and reached to grab his saddlebag, grabbing a combat ration tin from it. Normally issued to soldiers, the MREs also made good compact food for wilderness exploration. He moved a few stones into a makeshift stand and cracked open the top of the tin, setting it upon the stones to warm up.

 

“Hope you’re in the mood for macaroni and cheese!”
 

[SteelEagle]

 

She rolled her eyes heartily at his response. He was certainly a fan of the whole nurse Twilight thing. Not that it was an impossibility. She had a more than passing interest in medical issues and even imagined herself going into the profession during some of her 'darker' moments under Celestia's tutelage. Even now she sometimes volunteered at Ponyville's hospitals, big and small. She would let his jocular attitude reign unimpeded for now. They had done excellent work today and she wasn't going to come down hard on him for some silly words being spoken. She allowed the words to hang limp in the air without command and the warmth of the fire to bring him back to full coherence.

 

It also allowed her mind to wander over the vast, rolling distance of the ocean. She wondered whether Keeper Kapa would be able to find the lost city of Antiochus soon and whether or not there were still the seven circles of love there. Was it a problem that she could look at the dimming sun casting an orange glow off of the shimmering waves and only consider work? Her mind was a constant engine of activity. Always forward. She didn't afford herself the time to dream when dreams were her reality. So much needed to be done to ensure the well-being of others. So many decisions, so much nopony else could or would ever know. The burdens of leadership and the scars of tough decisions lay within forever.

 

Getting out of her temporary pessimism, Twilight smiled. "That would be great, Daedalus. I'm starving."

[Dio]

Daedalus chuckled at the eyeroll. Twilight was nothing if not unflappable. Most of the time. While he had yet to see her at her worst, it was clear that she felt the weight of her responsibilities from time to time; some days worse than others. This would probably class as one of the rougher days.

 

He idly stirred the ration tin’s contents with a mess kit spoon as he tried to get a read on Twilight. Her mind seemed to wander, her eyes glossing over a bit as she looked out over the waves. She was obviously thinking, but of what, exactly? It finally occurred to Daedalus that he had never really thought to ask.

 

Perhaps it was the Kastroti upbringing talking, but asking was the sign of a fool. Courtesans were expected to know if they could and read if they couldn’t. Everypony wore their masks and donned their regalia and played their parts like neat little school colts and fillies in a play. Even life on the road had some element of that; most of Daedalus’ past clients had both professional and non-professional job components that he was hired to perform. Each of the parts was expected to be kept separate.

 

But now, Daedalus found himself in a more or less permanent position, a first for him in a very long time. He wondered to himself what Mama Belle would say after she found out where he was now. He pursed his lips and gazed into the fire, still stirring.

 

Twilight’s words jolted him back into awareness. “Should be just a few more minutes. With void exposure and the dip it took, this stuff may as well have been frozen.”

 

Removing the fork for a moment, he tested the sauce’s temperature with his tongue. Finding it unsatisfactory, he put it back down and slid back in under Twilight’s wing. He continued to stare into the flame as he spoke.

 

“Ponyville downtown would be buzzing with activity right now; same with Canterlot and Kastrot. Even in the Keep, there’s always something going on in the labs, the archives, the common room.” he turned to look at Twilight. “This quiet feels so strange, like my brain doesn’t know what to do when it gets a minute by itself…”
 

[SteelEagle]

 

They would have a lot of activity right about now. Ponyville wasn't a major city but still had a thriving city center. You could live there years and still meet new ponies and there was always something new happening. So many considered her a small, podunk town when she was quickly becoming one of the biggest population centers outside of the Strand and Stalliongrad. It used to be so different, like so many other things in her life, and that was a symptom of something both incredibly promising and somewhat frightening.

 

"It's funny, in a way. I used to prefer solitude and the company of my assistant and no one else. Being out and about and around others when I didn't have a task at hoof was always a little nerve wracking...or a lot nerve wracking, depending on what was going on. I played hooky on so many birthday parties so I could bury my head in ancient texts...have some peace and quiet. I always wanted my serenity," she sighed and smiled, "now I can't imagine such quiet away from others. I have the Keep, I have my castle, but laughter, friendship, the activity of towns and cities and the dealings I have with ponies all day, every day? That is my new serenity. Its funny how ponies can change. Well, all things change- funny how we can pereive it," she qualified, looking over at the food.

 

"When I first became an Alicorn, my appetite was tremendous. I used to eat around eighteen-thousand calories a day. I had to have thrice weekly delivery of apples to my castle just to satisfy my fruit hunger, let alone everything else. I think I spent a thousand bits once on a weekly supply of cake. It was a bit...much," she laughed, blushing as the mac and cheese was nearing finish. "Now I'm down to a more reasonable  ten thousand calories on average per day. I had a big breakfast at the start of the day, but I'll admit that I've started to look at most of the vegetation around us with very hungry eyes. Back when I was a unicorn, I'd be considering weight loss if I hit more than twelve-hundred a day. All things change," she smiled and sighed once more, content. "Though that isn't always bad."

[Dio]

“To be fair to Spike, it’s not like he’s bad company,” Daedalus chuckled. “Early on I was concerned he would be grumpy or even feral. But he’s quite personable in actuality. Glad that worked out!”

 

While Daedalus would hardly consider Spike anything more than an acquaintance, they were at the very least on amicable terms. “Office culture” among the castle staff seemed to cultivate this. Barring Discord, of course, but Daedalus would hardly consider Discord among the regular staff. Or regular anything for that matter.

 

“I suppose it is a new serenity. When I was a colt, my tutor always chided me for spending excessive time in her libraries or the royal archives while father was in Canterlot. Though I suppose most of that chiding was the result of experiments gone awry after escapades in said archives! Not having been enrolled in a local school while father was on business limited my contact with Equestrians. This is certainly a change from the impressions I got while home in Kastrot when I was younger.”

 

Daedalus raised an eyebrow. “Shall I fetch another? I know this stuff is calorie dense, but I don’t think it’s that calorie dense! Even doing research that required expending of vitae I don’t think I ever breached three thousand. I’m not particularly picky about counting calories, but an order of magnitude change in consumption is something else.”

 

By now, the tin had begun steaming. A quick tap of his tongue on the sauce on the fork told Daedalus it was done. “That looks done. I’ll put another one on and you can have that one. Have to maintain your svelte alicorn figure somehow, eh?”
 

[SteelEagle]

Twilight couldn't help but laugh loudly and openly at the mere thought of a feral Spike. True, like all dragons, greed was part of his makeup and was a personal demon of his that he had to fight. That made him one of the most mentally fit creatures she knew, including royalty from many kingdoms and nations. But even at their worse, dragons weren't feral. Selfish and angry creatures prone to thinking of their needs as not just paramount, but singularly vital. Spike had his brushes with such things but had come out of these incidents stronger for having gone through it. He was a wonderful #1 assistant and good friend. "Spike is a wonder all on his own. It'll be nice to have him around...for the long haul," she said, careful to not ruminate on the elements of immortality.

He spoke more about his upbringing. Failed experiments helping to form a bit of anger in a mentor, an experience Twilight had no real experience with. Celestia was ever-patient with her student. Other students may have had issues with her at times, but it had far more to do with her personality and nature than any event she was part of. She was a experimental filly but also took safety courses to heart; very few experiments went wrong, and even fewer were notable. He was slightly different, but that accounted for more than just experimental failures ad reaction. He was Equestrian in so many ways but Kastroti in just a deep a manner. Such a fascinating mix! She had a Acroneighsian friend who was very much from that city ad hadn't adapted as well as Daedalus had. She had to stifle a giggle about his exploits. "Well, some of us learn differently. You had an adventurous nature even then. Happily, your mentor didn't seem to dissuade you much, my Keeper," she said warmly.

Speaking of, the food. It wasn't a feast fit for a Princess under most accounting but she wasn't going to look the gift pony in the mouth. She was hungry, but really, she could deal with not scarfing down each and every one of his MREs for the trip. She most certainly could after all. “I'll pass on any more. While I have no doubt in our ability to make it back after a short rest, better to be on the safe side and conserve our food stock. Don't want to have to eat you up tomorrow night to satiate my devastating hunger pains, now do we?” She said with a playful wink, though perhaps more playful than she meant. Or maybe not.