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[Canterlot] The tour [PM TO JOIN]


Conor Colton

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Flux also took the oppourtunity to organize her thoughts. Underneath mundane thoughts about what new chemicals she would need to purchase and organizing the salvagable mixtures into separate bottles once more, she was going over her motivations. It was rather unlike yourself to be so excited about matters such as the Grand Galloping Gala. Interest in social events has always been very low on your priorities, so why now? Flux thought in silence about such matters, pouring out careful measurements as she did so. The unicorn nearly slipped up once, but managed to correct her magical grasp with a quick focusing on the task at hand.

Friendship is a well-studied topic, she reasoned. A personal student of the Princess herself has looked into the matter, therefore it is only natural for an intellectual such as yourself to be intrigued by the subject. Friendships are formed through social links and experience is one of the most immediate and useful teachers.

But why this colt in particular? Trust came so quickly to you, despite no evidence of such worthiness. Flux crinkled her nose slightly in thought, placing the last few measurements of the saved chemicals onto the realigned shelf. Further information on this topic should be gathered before any hypothesising shall begin, she concluded. Satisfied with this decision, Flux straightened up her experimental notes and set about to looking through Colton's journal for any information about his other destinations.

She looked over at Colton every few minutes to confirm his positive status before continuing her information gathering.

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Colton yawned heavily, he wasn't tired, he just felt comfortable. He tried to get some rest but Sparks wasn't about to let him, Sparks was never a big fan of taking breaks and he was more than vocal about it. After about the third time he pecked Colton, he swatted him away. Colton say that Sparks took offence this and quickly reassured him, "Tell you what Sparks, I'm taking a break but I need you to do something for me." Colton said as he had peaked Sparks' curiosity.

"Eager huh? Good." Colton said as he thought of something to say, "....Okay. I want you to go and...uh." Colton was slipping here, he had to think fast, then he remembered, Flux had her own pet. "Okay Sparks, I want you to go and find Tesla." Colton said as Sparks looked at him confused. Colton kept his composure as he continued, "Poor Tesla is probably,uh, lonely out there, looking for food, and what not. You should go and help." Colton said as he had hoped Sparks had took the bait. Luckily he did as he bolted out the door in search of Tesla.

Colton breathed a sigh of relief as he lay his head down on the mattress and once again relaxed.

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{Yay! 100th post :D}

Flux closed the journal with a finality that made it seem as though she had spent a hundred years finishing her notes. Reading over what she had transcribed, the unicorn discovered that she had nearly copied the entire volume from cover to cover. Nodding in approval at her unconcious foresight, she trotted over to a densly packed bookshelf and slid the notebook into a small space near the very end of the shelf. After a few more cursory scans of the room, Flux declared her repair work complete. Looking over at the resting Colton, she thought hard about her earlier questions.

After an almost uncomfortably long observation period, the unicorn walked to the other side of the basement laboratory/room with a slight sigh. Conclusions had never come in such a difficult fashion to her mind. Flux was used to having evidence and cold fact to help her create a thesis, but odd emotional decisions had no such evidence. Brushing away her midl frustration, Flux trotted quickly up the stairs to asses the approximate time of day. Strange, she thought, taking the steps two at a time, that a gear pony such as Torvus has no clocks.

She gauged the time to be around 5:30 P.M, just before the sun had finished its decent. Returning to the basement, Flux began gathering a few items for the inevitable trip to the Canterlot Medical Centre. "Colton," she called quietly, "It would be prudent for us to leave now, before it becomes too dark for our vision to be of much use. I can make a small light to guide us if dusk comes before we arrive."

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(congratulations :) )

"Too dark?" Colton said in a confused voice, he got up and looked outside to see that it was much later than he thought, "Huh....Well I guess you're right, we should probably head off." Colton said as he readied himself for the trip ahead. He stretched a few times to make sure he was ready, to his own surprise he felt a lot better after lying down even as partially as he did.

He stood at the bottom of the stairs, ready to leave. He had noticed earlier that Flux was reading his journal and that she was taking extensive notes on it, he decided he would ask about that as he thought it was a relevant topic, "So, did you get anything good out of the journal, you seemed pretty interested." Colton stated in an inquisitiveness tone.

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"In fact, I did," Flux answered, trotting over to meet the injured pegasus. She began climbing the stairs slowly, ensuring that her pace was still managable for Colton. "Quite a few pieces o finformation in the journal may provide some clues towards several of my theories. For example, that professor you mentioned had some rather intriguing ideas about magic among ponies. I have little experimental data for it at the moment, but I am certain that there must be a way for the other Equestrian races to form their magic into a more concrete shape. If unicorns developed it, there must be something innate to their physical or mental state that could be produced naturally. With some very specialized and advanced tools, most probably far into the future, it is quite possible that those effects could be replicated in all types of ponies."

She stopped for a moment, running back the information in her mind. "In relation to that Griffon artifact that you gave me earlier, the symbols and architecture you described in your journal definately point to a very early Griffon society, perhaps even a pre-equestrian time. Unfortunately, there is very little surviving lore from those existing species and since ponies may or may not have been present in Equestria at that time, I doubt they made any records on it either. I should look into it later, perhaps at the Great Library..." Flux trailed off, lost in her thoughts as she reached the top of the staircase.

The lack of a solid wooden plank beneath her hooves snapped Flux back to reality just in time to prevent tripping forward. Realigning herself, Flux turned to check on Colton's progress, not wanting to push him too far and aggravate his wounds. "How are you progressing, Colton?"

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Colton once again found himself enthralled by Flux's musings, he was shocked that she had got all this information from a simple travel journal. He found himself wondering about that strange statue but mostly he wondered why it was in a mine outside of Appleoosa of all places, he came to the conclusion that he should probably find out more on the subject later. He pondered how he would proceed as he climbed the stairs, drifting off into though until he reached the final step

Colton strained as he reached the top step, still aching all over. He wanted to disband Flux's worries about his condition quickly, so he responded quickly, "Well I feel a lot better than before I guess." Colton said as she rubbed his wing, "Don't worry about me Flux, trust me I've been through a lot worse than this." Colton stated as he tried to look composed when he was really hiding most of his pain.

As he walked again he remembered something, Torvus. Colton gasped in a panic and quickly turned to Flux, "Wait, what about Torvus? Isn't he gonna be mad at me for wrecking your lab?" Colton said in an increasingly hectic dialect as he paced back and forth, "What will I say? He's bound to see me like this and even if he didn't hear all that commotion it's pretty hard to hide a cast." Colton said as he calmed down slightly and waited for Flux's answer.

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(Just a heads-up, I'm going to visit some family this weekend, so I may not be on very frequently - or at all - depending on circumstances.)

"I am certain-" Flux began, starting to address Colton's multitude of questions. However, with the strange timing the earth pony always possessed, Torvus peeked his head around the corner.

"Why 'ello, Flux. I was jus' comin' to ask ya - Woah!" Torvus stopped abruptly as he took in Colton's physical state. "By Starwirl's beard! Is that was that crash was?" He quickly elaborated to the two ponies, realizing that such a vague statement would be vexing. "I heard some kinda ruckus, but I figured it wa' the usual Flux experimentin' ruckus. I had come down t'ask ya 'bout it, but I see the answer has come to me." He took a quick 360 turn around Colton with a whistle. "Ya definately know how to bang yourself up, Mr. Cloudkicker. I suppo' you were off to tha Medical Center then?"

"Indeed," Flux responded. "That was the plan." The earth pony nodded sagely at the unicorn's words.

"Well, I won't keep ya. Better get that colt straightened out, Flux." With those parting words, Torvus disappeared back into the hallway from which he had come.

"As Torvus mentioned, time is of the essence. Those injuries will not heal themselves unless they are under the proper conditions. I believe that we can still catch the beginning of the night shift if we act swiftly." Flux explained. She didn't want to wait too long to get Colton some professional care, lest his bone begin to set in the less than optimal position in which it currently sat.

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Colton gulped with nervousness when Torvus entered the scene, he never had good luck when it came to these things. "Torvus, I can exp-" Colton was cut off by Torus' response. Colton thought Torvus would be furious with him but he was pleasantly surprised by Torvus' attitude towards the whole situation.

After Torvus and Flux had finished Colton tried to wrap his head around what just happened, then he turned his attention to Flux and replied to her response, "Yeah we should probably hurry, but I think you're making too big a deal out o-" Colton was cut off once again by a small spike of pain in his left wing. He composed himself and looked back at Flux.

"Uh....you're probably right." Colton said as he stumbled towards the door and opened it for Flux, "We better get moving then." Colton stated as he tried to keep some level of his composure.

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(I just skipped the journey for time's sake, hope ya don't mind.)

Canterlot Medical Centre, one of the nighttime Canterlot buildings that was not plastered with bright, colourful signs and filled to the brim with ponies. It had a plain exterior, with the white marble that was common among Canterlot architecture, adorned with a simple red cross as its identifying feature. It was a slow night, Flux observed as the two approached the side entrance of the Centre. The interior was squeeky clean and covered in shiny reflective surfaces. The white floor was polished to perfection and the countertops sparkled. A strong medicinal smell drifted into the waiting room. A few younger ponies sat with their parents while older colts and fillies kept their distance tp retain an aloof image.

Flux trotted over to speak with the desk pony, a red-coated pegasus nurse. "Hello, are there any medical ponies available at the moment?"

"Yes, in fact, your father just finished up an operation," the pegasus replied.

"Oh...yes, of course. Please tell him that I have a patient for him. It's rather urgent." The pegasus nodded and trotted off, while Flux turned and returned to Colton's side.

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Colton was tired and aching from the journey, but once again he tried to keep his composure which was needed a lot considering this was a public clinic.

Colton wondered how urgent his injuries really were if they required this much attention, it worried him slightly but his mind was wiped of all that when he remembered a certain detail of Flux's conversation with the nurse that he unintentionally overheard, the detail regarding Flux's father.

"Wait, did she say father? As in 'your' father? You're dad is gonna treat me?"

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(( HAH! The moment I was waiting for! ))

Gladwin was seated nearby on a pillow, every now and then pecking at his left wing, "I tell ya, I may have been born in Aquellia, but you never get used to the cold..." Gladwin spoke to himself as he pecked at his wind, fixing some out of place feathers. He stretched his large wings out, testing them. "Well, at least those are fine..." He said. His vision then fell to his left talon. He had a makeshift splint on it, keeping it in place. The memories of his crash were all too fresh in his mind, which made him cringe. He let out a sigh and raised his head, only to find two new occupants in the room at the front desk.

Something seemed urgent, obviously. It wasn't hard to see though, that pegasi's wing looked kind of... Wrong. The thought again made Gladwin cringe. He let out another breath, feeling lucky that he didn't mess either of his wings up. He then began wondering if his wings were stronger then a pegasi's wings. A small audible 'Hmm' was heard from Gladwin as he contemplated the strength of his own wings. Well, they DID survive the crash after-all. He wondered what the pegasus had gotten into to pull off such an injury. Gladwin was about to stand to go and ask for himself, but the sharp jolt of pain from his broken talon, made him collapse back to his pillow. He gritted his teeth hard as not to let out a noise. He then let out a breath as the pain passed. Several curses could be heard from under Gladwin's breath.

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(Sounds good to me!)

"Indeed. I suppose I didn't inform you about my father's occupation beforehand. Allow me to explain." Flux took a moment to collect her thoughts before continuing. "My father, Dr. Scalpel Flux, works here at the Canterlot Medical Centre as a general surgeon and consultative doctor. He and I have not been in communication for quite a while - not since I left the University in fact. However, I do not believe that it is due to any animosity between us, merely a lack of time."

She trotted over to one of the waiting pillow, taking a seat and awaiting Colton's probable influx of questions. After another cursory glance around the immediate area, Flux noticed the presence of an ivory and brown coated griffin. A griffin in Canterlot? Quite a rare sight indeed, Flux pondered. I was always under the assumption that most griffin's preferred to stay near Aquellia. Perhaps I shall look into it later.

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"Well I'm glad I'll be in trustworthy hooves then." Colton said as he sat on down on a pillow near Flux's, "Well it's good that you get to see him again." Colton said as he thought how Flux's dad would react to see her bring in an injured pegasus of all things. His mind was filled with possible outcomes to the situation but they quickly dissipated when he notice Flux staring at a nearby griffin.

He nudged his head forward to get a better look at this odd sight and he wondered to himself. Well that's odd, I didn't know Griffins travelled this far out of Aquellia, strange....Colton thought that he should keep this to himself, as not to offend anyone, namely the Griffin.

He looked over however and saw that this strange Griffin was in pain, and appeared to be muttering curse words under his breath, "I'll be back in a second Flux." Colton said as he stood up and approached the Griffin, "Hey buddy, you alright? You looked like you were in pain there a second ago." Colton said cautiously, hoping that his concern didn't bother the Griffin in anyway.

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Gladwin raised up and composed himself quickly after hearing a voice address him. He had been in the waiting room for so long, he had basically disregarded any voice or noise as something that would be addressing him. He looked up to see a pegasus, the same pegasus that he was curious about earlier. Looking at his wing made him cringe again, but he recomposed himself quickly. "Hey, me? Yeah, just a little sprain in the talon." He said with a laugh, he also brought his left talon up for the pegasus to look at, even though it hurt slightly to be pulled on by gravity. He also knew it was more then a simple sprain, a sprain wouldn't hurt this bad. "What about you pal? That wing sure doesn't look healthy..." He said, trying to keep the small talk going.

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Flux followed Colton, wanting to ensure that the splint was still in place. She stopped just short of bumping into the pegasus as he stopped and saw that their destination was a spot just in front of that griffin she had been observing earlier. Rather than jumping in, she listened carefully to the feathered creature. In a light tone, he described his reason for being in the Centre and Flux naturally began to study his talon closely.

After a quick review of what her dad had told her about griffin physiology, the unicorn determined that though the injury was not as trivial as the griffin made it out to be, it was not life threatening and was certainly treatable. Staisfied with this, she began to listen to the conversation again, waiting Colton's answer to the griffin's enquiry.

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Colton looked at the Griffins talon and cringed slightly, of all the Griffins he had ever met he never saw one that was in this sort of shape. He composed himself and shook his head slightly before responding to the Griffin's question, he looked at Flux before he began to speak, "I uh.....A wardrobe fell on me." Colton said with a dissatisfied sigh nearly exploding with embarrassment at this point.

He lifted his head back up and thought that introductions were in order, "Let me introduce myself. I'm Colton Clou-" Colton was cut off by a short pain spike, he shook his head once again and finished his statement, "Cloudkicker..." Colton said as he rubbed the back of his head "Pleasure to meet you."

"I gotta ask, how did you, um, well get like, this?" Colton said cautiously, trying to pick his words carefully.

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Gladwin struggled to stifle a laughter at the pegasus' bad luck. "Sounds like a wardrobe malfunction." Gladwin lost it after his awful pun, and couldn't help but laugh. "It's nice to meet ya, Colton." Gladwin gave off a warm smile. He then looked past the pegasus and saw a unicorn approaching them. It was the same unicorn that the pegasus had entered with, so Gladwin just assumed they were friends. "The name's Gladwin. I'm a griffin from Talonpolis."

Gladwin looked to his injury when asked about it. "Let's see..." He looked back up to Colton, "I'm a mapmaker. I was up in Aquellia, because I was homesick. I decided mapping out the Bad Lands would be a good idea, since there aren't many maps of that area..." Gladwin trailed off, as this is where the story started to go wrong, "Well, I had been away for so long, I had gotten unused to the cold. My left wing here froze up," He pointed up to his wing that was now fully extended, "Fell down and landed on some rocks. Luckily a griffin patrol found me before anything too serious set in." Gladwin shook as he recalled how cold it was. "They sent me here to Canterlot, told me the doc here was one of the best."

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Flux listened intently to the grifffin's story. She had always been quite intrigued by the advanced technologies of their civilization and had been planning to visit Aquellia for quite some time now. Then, the Gladwin's occupation registered in her mind. "A mapmaker, you say? Interesting. I suppose that, like Colton, you must also be something of a traveller." She nodded slightly as she spoke, a mere bobbing of the head.

After a brief moment, Flux caught her impoloiteness. "Oh, forgive me, I nearly forgot to introduce myself! Quantum Flux is my name, though Flux is quite alright." She gave a small dip of her muzzle as she introduced herself. Another part of the griffin's words floated to her mind, "It is interesting to note that the griffin's think so highly of our Centre here. You would think that news of ponyfolk would not usually pass Aquellian borders."

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Colton laughed slightly at Gladwins pun, "Heh, good one, I guess you could call it that." Colton stated as he smiled lightly. He then found himself intrigued about Gladwins occupation, "A map-maker, wow, you must get a round a lot. I assume you must have some pretty good stories to tell." Colton stopped as he thought of a new topic to discuss, he thought for a while until he came up with one.

"That's some nasty business about the wing there, it must have been seriously cold out there, even I haven't had a wing freeze up on me. Well not yet anyway, I'm very prone to disaster as you can probably tell." Colton said as he chuckled slightly as he remembered all his past injuries.

He then turned his attention to Flux after her last comment, "You'd actually be surprised Flux, when I was in Aquellia on vacation I heard lots of talk of ponies, some a bit less favourably than others but you get the idea." Colton said as he rubbed his neck, "But that is kinda strange that they would send you all the way here, it doesn't look that bad to me." Colton said as he turned back to Gladwin.

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Gladwin smiled widely between the two ponies, he loved talking about his job. "Yeah, a mapmaker. I fly around all of Equestria. Mapping roads, cities, forests, mountains, it's all loads of fun. Though, I haven't even explored half of this awesome world," Gladwin let out a small sigh at the thought, "So much to do, so little time." He said with a shake of his head.

He then turned to Flux, realizing she had actually spoken up, "Oh, hello... Flux, you said it was? The name is Gladwin." He said with a smile.

He then turned back to Colton, "In Aquellia, it is pretty cold. The Bad Lands are much worse though. To put it in perspective how cold it is, it's usually where you find dragons." He said, making a mean face to mimic a dragons. "And the higher you go, the chillier it gets. And for me to see all of the land below, I have to fly pretty high... Bad idea." he said with a nervous chuckle.

He then looked back down to his talon, after being questioned about his injury once more, "Well... I admit, I may have requested to be sent here... Honestly, I've never been to Canterlot." He said, wearing a sheepish grin.

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Flux smiled as she heard Gladwin describe his adventures in Equestria. She had always wanted to travel and learn about the different ideas found among the distinct groups of pony and griffinkind. She wondered whether Gladwin had any insights into such topics. After a moment of deliberation, she decided to enquired about it. "You must learn many new philosophies on your travels. care to share a few?"

She also listened closely to his explaination of how he managed to injure himself so badly. Remembering a lesson from the University about how mositure from clouds makes the air cooler, she nodded in understanding. The earth-bound unicorn had always wondered about the sensation of flying, being the inquisitive pony that she was, and had always bemoaned her inability to investigate it.

She laughed at little at Gladwin's admittance, finding yet another similarity between Colton and Gladwin. "Interesting, Colton is here for similar reasons. Canterlot is a rather important place to ponykind, so a visit here is an excellent idea for a mapmaker such as yourself.I was actually going to give Colton here a tour, but unfortunately, complications arose." She indicated Colton's injury as she spoke.

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Colton was surprised by Gladwins openness and also slightly disturbed by his dragon impression, but never the less he thought there was something that needed to be said, "So you requested a transfer all the way here, just because you wanted to visit." Colton said as he raised a suspicious eyebrow, which he then lowered at the beginning of his next statement, "That sounds like something I would do." Colton said whilst letting out a slight chuckle.

Colton stood relived as he rubbed his wing when Flux was talking. When Flux had finished Colton gladly continued, "Yeah, I'm actually here for a while, I only just got here today actually, and let me tell you Gladwin it's been a very eventful first day trust me." Colton said as he looked at Flux and smiled, "I'll have to tell you all about it when we're done here."

Colton's attention was then drawn to one of Flux's last statements, the one regarding the tour, "Well just because my wings a bit sore doesn't mean the tour had to end." Colton then turned to Gladwin, "As a matter of fact, I think this is a great opportunity we have here." He then turned back to Flux, "Think about it Flux, we could continue the tour tommorow and..." Colton turned back to Gladwin, "Gladwin is a map maker after all, what better way to do his job. And since by tommorow my wings will probably feel a lot better I could show you guys one of my most favourite spots here in Canterlot, only accessible to pegasi, and griffins of course, but I'm sure I could get you there no problem Flux." Colton was almost bursting to reveal this location, he paused before he spoke to make it sound more exciting, "The top of Canterlot Castle."

Colton was almost jumping with joy but didn't due to his apparent injury, he composed himself and dragged his hoof across the ground sheepishly, "I mean...if you guys want to anyway..."

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Gladwin looked to Flux with a confused look. Had he learned any philosophies on his journey's? "Ah, I don't really think so. Probably the most important thing I learned though was 'Always smile.' I learned that from my parents. Griffin's are typically viewed as... Well, less then polite," He said with a chuckle, "From most ponies I've met, I can only guess we are kind of... 'Intimidating,' I suppose. So, I always smile, and I am always friendly." He looked up and gave a warm smile as he recalled his pleasant memories. "Sorry, Flux. Other then that, I've got nothing. I just make maps, I don't really study anything." He said with a nervous laugh.

He then turned to Cloton, "Sounds like it's quite a story. I'd love to hear about it." Gladwin was genuinely intrigued. It would be nice to hear about someone else's bad luck for once.

Gladwins eyes went a tad wide as he was mentioned. Colton had been included in the tour apparently, which caused Gladwin to feel a tad warm inside. It was always nice to meet kind and friendly ponies on his adventures. He could argue with himself that it was his favorite part of his job. His eyes went wide again though at the suggested point of interest. The top of Canterlot Castle, could they really go there? Was it allowed? Gladwin could see all of Canterlot from there, and still have a place to draw! It was a luxury he was never granted before. Often times he would have to fly high, and then remember the land below. "I'd love to!" Gladwin said, a little too loudly out of excitement. He then settled back down on his pillow with a slight red blush to his face.

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'Well, even so, such an ideal is quite admirable." Flux gave a dip of her muzzle as she acknowledged Gladwin's words. It reminded her of her mother's attitude toward life in general. Flux had a tendancy to worry about possibilities and assume that the worst would come of a situation. Some would call her a pessimist, but she merely called herself prepared. Her mother had always balanced out this trait in her, reminding the white unicorn that the best could come of situations as well. For a country-born earth pony, Flux thought with a smile, my mother was one of the wisest ponies I have ever met.

Redirecting her attention to the conversation at hand, Flux listened intently as Colton described his idea. She nodded in agreement. "It would be lovely, as long as you feel healed enough to do so. There are a few places that I could share as well, more or less hidden places that I have stumbled upon. That passage way I mentioned earlier, for instance." She thought of seeing Canterlot, a city with which she was familiar, from a whole new angle. Flying must be an excellent experience, she thought. She lapsed into silence after that, trying to recall the steps of a spell for equine levitation she had once encountered during her studies and assessing whether its difficulty would be to great.

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