Adventures in Kingmaker

by Meadow_Dawn

First published 11th of February, 2017

Dawn was a daughter of two barponies, until a relic was placed in her home and burned it and her family to the ground. She was given a second chance to live, in another world, full of more danger than Equestria. Will she survive?

Equestria once had a Meadow Dawn, who was presumed perished in the fire that consumed her family's home and tavern. She was given a second chance by a creature between the worlds who pulled her through, saying that she could live and find a way to return home, or even raise the dead. She resolved herself as a filly to do what she could to do both. She grew up to be a capable adventurer, mentally scarred by the fire, but eventually joining up with a group from the nearby growing kingdom, who happened to include the king.
Where will her adventures end up? Will she stay alive long enough to return home safely? Will she find romance? No one knows since this is a roleplay between two players in the ongoing campaign!

(The dm cancelled on us partway through.)

0: The background chapter

Author's Notes:

Thank you for choosing to read this story. Generally speaking, this story is more a roleplay that has been attempted to be carried over into a story. I may not succeed fully, but I will do my best, or add revisions if needed. Porting this over is easier due to my significantly less available time, but I'm open to attempting the maintenance of this project until things change. If anyone has questions or if something doesn't make sense, let me know.
We are going through the Kingmaker campaign in a system called Pathfinder, ponymaker included for an all pony (practically mlp) adventure. It's a paizo system that's often been referred to as 3.75, mixing better aspects of 3.5 and 4th editions. Want more information? visit d20pfsrd.com.
Cyrus' pieces are written by his player, and Dawn is written by myself.

Meadow Dawn was not an adventurer by choice. She grew up as a foal in a peaceful land when an artifact came to her parent's bar that they didn't recognize. Merry Grain took it as payment for a customer's tab, though Charmed Scotch has his own reservations. Little did they know the artifact was a message. The artifact caught the building in a blazing inferno, and Meadow awoke to smoke pouring into her room as she coughed, stumbling around.

She started to pass out as she leaned against her bedroom mirror, feeling quite sad that she didn't get to spot her parents in the end, when a voice asked, "Are you lost?"

A dark pony-shaped form stood nearby. She was only 8 years old, and nervously stood her ground, "W-who are you?"

"I am a teacher, and a guide... do you wish to go home little one?" He asked.

"I want to go home, and my family safe." She said, thinking of the smoke, her fears already coming to her throat.

"That will not be an easy task. You left your world behind... but there is another world where you may yet find your family, though they would not be the same. Or, should you gain the power needed, you can return to your world. What do you choose?"

In the end, after a good cry because of homesickness and grief, she agreed with the guide's plan, to go through to another world to find a way to return to her home and to bring her family back if they had passed away.

Years passed in this new world. She was left near a brewery so very similar to where she had grown up all along, but the family there was not familiar, and they were skeptical of her claims. She worked hard to gain their trust through employment and eventually became like a child's cousin who lived with them.

Eventually, though, her ability to gain power and knowledge was not enough after she reached apprenticeship age. She heard many adventurer's tales serving there, both prosperous and disastrous. She hoped that she was ready to adventure, but she took all of the money she had gained after her apprenticeship started, invested in the necessary starting equipment, and became a mercenary.

She never got past her fear of fire, as it engulfed a caravan she was trying to protect, but she never gave up. Now she looked for a place of growing power, to gain further prominence as an accomplished mercenary, to build networks and gain more ability so she could accomplish her childhood dream, from which she never wavered. Her purchases were few and directed, ensuring she would stand the best chance of survival and ability to purchase the things needed to arrive home.

Dawn was a Magus, one who struck a balance between the physical abilities of a fighter, and the arcane arts of a wizard. She was average in terms of her strength compared with other ponies, between the brute force of an earth pony yet not as weak as pegasi tended to be. She was as agile as an earth pony which came to no one's surprise, but her intellect and fortitude were her strongest points. They helped her get out of many troubles in spite of an impulsive action or twenty.
Dawn invested slowly in her equipment. She knew she had to get the best things possible. She saved up for a chain shirt at first, and by the time she was about to join the Savage Lands, she wore an enchanted Agile Breastplate. It cost her nearly all the money that she had to get it, while still getting a light quickdraw shield made of mythril enchanted to a small degree and a scimitar of the same level. She trained herself to be able to endure and rely on her magic more than most magi.
She knew how to improve her defenses, at the expense of accuracy. She ensured she could use her magic to hold two items at once, thus letting her wield a sword and a shield without risking losing a spell. She had a fox familiar that was more for companionship, as she never let it go into combat.

Dawn met Cyrus, the unicorn leader of the kingdom growing in the Savage Lands, while exploring in the direction the townsponies pointed, following their trail. She tracked them down to a crypt and heard the sounds of battle, but despite her charge, she only just arrived as they struck an undead pony down.
Cyrus questioned her of her intent, and she spoke plainly. "I wish to join your group, I lend my services to those that can pay well, or help me in my quest to return home."

There was some reservation from the rest of the ponies, who put her ill at ease, but the unicorn smiled and granted her permission, 'hiring' her and talking with her on the way.
Her next day with the group did not bode well. They continued along the river, exploring the kingdom when they discovered a water fey had charmed two loggers and were holding them hostage.
The king wanted to settle it diplomatically, and Dawn was far too eager to assist. She tried to be diplomatic, but when that failed, she drew her weapon and threatened them to stay in place because their ruler required it.

Sadly, despite the unicorn's attempts at negotiations, one of the party proceeded to cast a spell at the fey, enraging them and causing her to drag the men deeper into the water in order to drown them. The loggers blamed the group for the loss of their comrades and proceeded to attack. It was a bloody struggle for them, and despite her and the unicorn's attempt to not kill, the others were not so forgiving. Soon they all lay slain and the unicorn king infuriated.

Cyrus, A unicorn prince from another world. He doesn't hide the fact he is a prince, though the way he acts doesn't really tell people he is a prince, nor does he really tell anypony he is a prince do to nopony actually asking. he is currently looking for his sword that went missing when he woke up in this world, the sword that is the proof of his lineage, only he can unsheathe the blade do to it being enchanted so that only those of Cyrus' blood can wield it, looks like a short sword with a gilded handle with the family crest on the sheath.

While Cyrus somewhat acts weird in pony standards, he is actually still trying to get used to his current form, as he was originally a human in the world he had come from. When he first awoke in the strange world he ended up in, he woke up near a river, he had his hoof on his forehead as he woke up with a headache. "Huh?" he noticed that something was off, as he felt something on his forehead that wasn't supposed to be there. He felt it with his hooves and to him, it felt like a horn, "W-what!?!" he was starting to get unnerved by this discovery as he looked at what were supposed be his hands, but found that instead of hands, he found hooves. "No... no no no no no no, Gods no!" he was starting to panic, he sees the river and proceeds to see his reflection seeing not a young man in a red tunic wearing a bandana on his head. Instead, he saw a white unicorn with a blonde mane wearing his clothes (oddly enough his pants were missing).

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He yelled at the top of his lungs at what he had been turned into and freaked out, his yell being heard miles away. After a few minutes he calmed down. "Ok... OK, this is not... a big deal... I just need to find another person who can turn me back... yeah... that easy..." He says as he was still having a hard time grasping at the reality of his situation. He then reaches for his regal sword, staring at the crimson blade always seemed to calm him down, but finds that the sword is missing. "God damn it!" he shouts as he now realizes that he just lost his family heirloom. He looks around to find it, but the sword seems to have vanished as it was nowhere in the immediate area. He then wandered, alone, with no one to help him.

He then finds a village and goes in horrified that the inhabitants of said village were nothing but ponies like him. Though he finds that there weren't just unicorns though, some of said ponies didn't have horns, instead either wings or none of the two traits. He walked clumsily as he is not used to walking on all fours yet, hell he couldn't even walk on just his hind legs. He immediately assumed that he was in a different world, because he would have known about sentient ponies back where he was from. He then finds a flyer about exploring a cave full of centipedes he buys a rapier to arm himself with and heads out.

There he started traveling with a band of adventurers where they explored uncharted lands, eventually taking out a band of thieves that resided in the area. Once they completed that the blade lords granted them rights to start a kingdom of their own. Cyrus was going to let someone else lead the kingdom since he wasn't planning on sticking around since he needed to both find his sword and find a way home. Fate was cruel as everyone in the group picked the young prince to be king, Cyrus could do nothing but accept.

During his reign, Cyrus and his friends managed the kingdom, debating on what they should and should not develop first. though his was more painful than he thought as his comrades kept coming and going essentially giving him the sense of loneliness he felt, back when he first arrived in this world, and back when he was a boy, as no noble wanted to be his friend.

Eventually he and his two loyal retainers, Hidle and Aegeon, went to explore a cave, where they were attacked by plants and a giant Owlbear. They managed to take care of the Fungi and plant monster no problem as Cyrus created a floor of fire with grease and Spark to keep them from being overwhelmed. eventually both Hilde and Aegeon charge in to fight the Owlbear but it was too strong and Cyrus stood hopelessly watching as his friends were outmatched, the told him to flee and live. Cyrus didn't want to but saw that it wouldn't make much difference if he did join the fray, so he did as he was told and fled, tears streaming down his eyes as he heard the Owlbear mutilating them. When he got back to the kingdom, he shut himself in his chambers, angry at how useless he was, at how he couldn't save his friends... he was in severe depression for days, as it felt it may have been his destiny to be alone, forever.

Eventually he met some new companions, even one of his old ones came back after a journey of enlightenment... supposedly. They explored a crypt looking for treasure to help develop the kingdom. During that campaign, after they dispatched the undead king, Cyrus taking its broken rapier as his own, Bolster was unfortunately just a figment from his imagination. But then he meets Meadow Dawn, a Unicorn like him who came to aid them but was disappointed that she was too late to be any help. Cyrus welcomed her into the group with open hooves, as he is always eager for another friend.
Though he was proving to be a terrible leader, as he was always used to Tom being there to help him make his decisions as he was a pacifist by nature. Twice things have gone horribly wrong because he couldn't keep things in line with his companions. It wasn't until Dawn confronted him about how he did things where he realized how he couldn't rely on others to do things for him, now having more determination then ever to lead instead of being dragged. They were good friends since, he even shared a few tales of his past life at times when they were alone together though omitting parts that said that said he was once a non-pony.

1: Aftermath of the loggers

Dawn sits nearby, having eaten her fill of the day's hunt. She looked over to the young leader and quietly asked while the others were away, "So... I see you got everyone in line. What plans do you have for yourself and the kingdom?"

Cyrus looks at Dawn and then looks up at the sky, stars shimmering in the night sky, "Not sure in all honesty. What I really want to do is find my sword. It is the only thing I have to remember my home. As for the kingdom, I guess it’s to build things like a smithy and at some point actually finish the castle." He never thought much of the future, only what is going on in the present.

Dawn nodded, cleaning her mess kit before sitting down nearby. "Look... what's going on? You've had this distant look on your face every night since I've joined your party, and I've only seen it in my own reflection... are you ok?"

".... I guess I just miss my home, the kingdom I was to originally inherit. I tend to feel lost in this place. And then how a lot of my companions here just leave without a word. But I suppose loneliness like this is to be expected when your companions aren't tied down to the responsibility of a kingdom. Doesn't mean I won't miss them though, good and bad." Cyrus says, his tone sounded slightly somber as he continued to watch the shimmering lights in the sky.

Dawn nodded just as solemnly. She knew something felt off about him, and the way he avoided what she was driving at only confirmed it. It’s how she avoided the topic herself as a foal. "Not from this world either huh? So, the sword is your reminder of where you come from I bet... I've got nothing from my home... I still miss my family..." she took a breath and let it out slow before adding, "you plan to return home yourself?"

Cyrus looked at her puzzled, "Wait? You too!?!" he asked, surprised by what the green mare just said. He never mentioned another world so Dawn guessing that he isn't from this world is rather surprising, he laughs at this revelation, "Wow, I didn't think I'd find someone in the same boat as I am." He calms down before answering, "To answer your question, I don't know. It's hard to weigh my own desires over the desires of the people." He says, looking at Dawn.

Dawn nodded, "Yeah... my home was burning when I woke up as a little filly... I nearly died from the smoke and fell through my bedroom mirror... I still dream of my parents and brothers burning in the fire." She shook her head and returned to his line of thought, "Don't mind me... as long as I'm around, I'll do my best to help. We'll figure out a way through... ever thought of training a backup ruler so you could go home?"

"... I'm sorry about your loss..." Cyrus says in a sad tone, "I didn't know, and now I get why you didn't want to come near me when I charged my sword with fire that one time." He says, he then got back on topic with the kingdom, "And no, it never crossed my mind to train someone to take over if I ever did decide to go home... if I ever found a way back that is." He says.

Dawn looked him dead in the eye and said quietly, "Look... if you're not happy, you'll regret doing what you don't want to do, no matter how good you are at it. I'm halfway readied to return to my home as it is... so the question becomes... would you want to return home if you could, and if not, what's stopping you?"

"I do want to go home, however, I can't leave my sword here." He answers looking Dawn in the eye as well, "But I also want to do everything I can for the people here before I leave, I want to make sure I left them in a manageable state once I do go home."

Dawn nods. "I'll do my best to make sure our spell is ready. I promise not to leave without letting you get that chance to return home as well. Of that, you have my word, even if that means waiting until we find your sword."

"Thanks, I couldn't ask for more." Cyrus says as he smiles, he then has a thought "I get the feeling that spell would require more power than anyone of us alone could produce. You want to try combining spells as a team?" Cyrus asks. He and Tom always combined their attacks whenever they had the chance, always landing powerful blows to their enemies, he didn’t see why it couldn't be done with magic.

Dawn hummed, looking up at the stars, "You know... that... that might be it... I'll have to study up on this more, but I could have sworn my magic kindergarten classes mentioned some sort of story about doing just that!" She stood, walking quite close to him before adding, "If you ever want somepony to talk to, about home or magic, or something else, you're welcome in my tent whenever you wish."

"I'll keep that in mind." Cyrus says as he looks back up at the stars, "You know, I always wondered if the stars in the sky were actually other worlds... I wonder which one is mine." He says not taking his eyes off of the sky.

Dawn chuckled, "I'll have to ask Princess Luna when we get home... that'd be nice if it was just up there..." she said, stopping to stand on her hind legs and reaching a hoof toward a bright star.

Cyrus reaches for a star as well, wondering if that star he reached for is the one he belonged to. "Look out, Cyria, your prince is coming back!" Cyrus says with a grin, he may have the emblem of Mareth on him, but his heart shall always be with his home. "The biggest reason I need that sword back is because it is proof I am the heir to the throne, as only those born into my family can draw it from its sheath. Seriously, Tom tried." Cyrus explains looking at Dawn again.

Dawn went back to all fours, nodding, "Never heard of Cyria, but then I'd guess then you never heard of Equestria either... we'll get you home, just you see." She smiled, flicking her tail confidently.

"That's true, I've never heard of it in my life, but I know we'll get back to our homes in one peace, I'm sure of it." He says as he pounded his hoof onto his chest. If there was one thing he's always had, it would be his enthusiasm.

Dawn laughed, "You know... I'm really glad we met." She yawned silently, mouth gaping before shaking her head, "I think I've reached my limit... See you in the morning Cyrus..."

"I am glad about that as well. See you in the morning then." He says as he starts looking at the fire, a dangerous thing if used the wrong way, but a gentle light if handled with care. At least that's what his magic instructor once told him when he almost gave himself a phobia of fire back when he first started to learn magic... maybe he'll tell her at some point.

Dawn woke for the last shift, watching over everyone as they slept, smiling broadly at Cyrus' sleeping form on occasion. She felt really glad to have met someone that was like her... stuck in a world and hoping for a way to get back. The sunrise was beautiful, though she knew better than to watch it except briefly and continued to survey the land around them.

Cyrus wakes from a dream where he was back in his world again but as a human like he originally was, being with all his friends again. He stretches like he always does when he wakes up, "Dang it, why couldn't night last a bit longer..." he says as he wanted to sleep more, he then looks around and sees Dawn, "Morning Dawn." He says before needing to cover his mouth from a yawn.

Dawn smiled at him, unaware of his dream, but barely heard his comment, "Dreams always seem to leave us right as we want them, unless of course, you get a message from the princess of the night... Did you sleep well otherwise?"

"Yep, slept like a log. Bugs don't bother me much, plus I always like being outside, so I can't complain, and you?" He asks, he has heard of the name Luna before, but she wasn't a princess like Dawn said hers was, Luna is the Guardian spirit of the moon where he's from.

Dawn smirks, "I can't stand the bugs when I'm sleeping, but that's why I have a tent... I slept well... for once, I dreamed of some good times..." She sighed and got a fire going with some simple magic and got a small pot of water to prepare for any teas or coffees the group might want, "Feeling hungry?"

"Yeah, I am a bit hungry actually," Cyrus says as he gets up and does a cat's stretching motion. Cyrus's mane was in a bed head since he barely woke up, there is even a cowlick or two sticking out of it.

Dawn nodded and got a morning soup started, knowing the group was going to be hungry. "So, what was life like growing up for you?" She asked, half laying down on her side against a log

"Well... as a colt, I was... difficult to most," Cyrus says trying to find the right words. "I will just straight up say that I hate being formal, while most of the noble colts and fillies were well mannered and educated... I was a brute in comparison. I tried my hardest to get along with them, but my demeanor kinda scared them away, they didn't even enjoy the pranks I did. Of course, none of the pranks were aimed at them, but still. Growing up in that castle was incredibly lonely." He explained.

Dawn nodded, "Yeah... I could see why... no point in hoofing around the issue when a direct question'll do... wasn't there anypony who was your friend? Eventually?”

"Haha, funny thing about that. My best and only friend at the time wasn't even a noble, he was a commoner... but he tried to steal from the royal treasury," Cyrus said smiling at how funny the circumstance was.

Dawn laughed heartily, "So a prince became friends with a thief!" She finally caught her breath and looked at his side before asking, "So where's your wings?"

"What?" Cyrus asked confused. "Wings? I’m pretty sure I never had those." He said. He didn’t even know there were ponies like that, "Um, why did you ask?"

Dawn looked at him curiously, "because all royalty are alicorns... or... I thought... I know Celestia and Luna did, then there was the new princess..."

"... I guess not all worlds follow the same rules... or I will somehow turn into one by sheer luck, who knows." Cyrus says as he shrugs, he inherited his magic from his mother, so it might be that she is a unicorn in pony sense, his father can't use magic though so he might be an "Earth Pony" as ponies in this world refer to them, he was not sure.

Dawn hummed, thoughtful as she stirred the pot then put some bread on the skillet to toast, "I guess so... so, what happened between you and the rogue? They a mare who stole your heart instead of the treasure?" She teased as she poured the soup into a bowl for him and offered it

"No, he was a colt like I was, his sentence for trying to steal from the treasury was that he had to be my friend for a few months, as decreed by my father. Honestly, I found it surprising that my father would send a commoner to spend time with me, he might have been getting desperate as none of the young nobles wanted to be my friend, the first thing I did with him was show him a prank. The victim was the scribe who runs the royal library, I essentially made him sit on a bag that made a farting sound when he sat on it. He didn't know it was there so that made it even funnier, we climbed a tree to get away." Cyrus started laughing, "The way the old stallion stood up was priceless. My friend at first wasn't laughing, but he did after he felt safe enough to remember it, he laughed as hard as I did, we were best friends since." Cyrus says fondly remembering that day.

Dawn snorted before laughing innocently. "Good. Nopony should be without a good friend." She said quietly as she continued to hold his now cooling soup with her magic, waiting for him to take it while wondering what else to talk about.

"Thank you." He said as he sat down and took the bowl with his hooves and used his magic for the spoon, "I think I mentioned his name to ya." he says after swallowing a spoonful of soup, "but just in case I didn't, it was Tom." he says before eating the next spoon full. "Great soup by the way."

Dawn chuckled, "Thanks... I hope we find him too... what's he look like?"

"Thing is that I think I am the only one who ended up here thankfully, but in case he is here... well he would be easy to spot for two reasons, one he almost always wears his armor, one of the pads has the royal emblem on it." he says as he draws the emblem in the dirt, which looked like a crown with five lines ascending and meeting at a specific point. "The other is his massive sword, that thing is so easy to recognize it is not even funny."

Dawn smirked, "Yeah... definitely nopony that'll have those two things..." She served herself some food and once again grew quiet, trying to think of what she wanted to talk about. She liked his practicality, but struggled with thinking what more to ask when she sat down and said, "Anything else? Or did you want to talk about something different?"

"Hmm, let's see. You mentioned princesses from your world, and how you mentioned Luna going into dreams, would you mind explaining some of that to me... just in case the spell goes wrong and I get sent there with you. It would be good to know a bit about how things work there just in case." He says, while he did make a good point, he was mostly just curious.

Dawn smirked, "Sure..." she said, slowly explaining what she knew of her two leaders from her foalhood memories. She started to suspect he wasn't from her world, both from the need to explain what every foal knew, but also how he said it at the end. "And that's about all I really remember honestly."

"Hmm, Princesses that control the sun and moon, interesting." He says as he puts his hooves in a thinking pose, "Where I'm from the nature of my world is governed by Twelve spirits. The Spirits of Fire, Water, Sky, and Earth govern the basic elements. Then above them are the spirits of Light, Dark, Life, and Death. And finally, the spirits that govern all, The spirits of the moon and the sun." He explains, "Just knowing about them is the easy part, finding them is the hard part."

Dawn hummed her interest, "Are they ponies still like our princesses?"

"I have never seen them myself, so I can't say, though I would assume The sun spirit, Sol, would take the form of an alicorn, and so would... Oh gods! I just realized that the moon princess from your world and the moon spirit from mine have the same name!" He says as he laughs at the Luna revelation.

"You only just figured that out!?" Dawn laughed, eventually sighing before speaking through her smile, "You know... this really makes me wonder... what if all the worlds have these similarities... that there's something in common no matter where you go? Wouldn't that be somethin'?"

Cyrus drinks what's left of the soup in his bowl before answering, "Ahh, yeah it would. Our worlds may be different in some ways, but we're the same in others." He says with a smile.

Dawn smiled, taking a deep breath and letting it out, "You know... I'd be tempted to go to your world first if we could, visit your place before I go to my home, figure out a good way to go back and forth so we could visit.... what do you think?"

"Whether it's yours or mine first, it is still a great idea," Cyrus says as he thinks about it. Though wonders if she will freak out like he did when she becomes a human, he thinks he'll cross that road when he comes to it.

Dawn nods, "It's a promise... Anything else I should know?"

"Hmm. No, nothing at the moment," Cyrus says as he is trying to think of anything else she should know.

Dawn stretched out, spreading each leg individually before putting out the fire, "Well, we'd better head back to the kingdom sometime today... "

"True, we still have a naysayer to catch," Cyrus says as he remembers the pony who was spreading rumors about him, causing unease to the people. He doesn't exactly care what others think about him per say, but he can't forgive them for spreading anxiety throughout the kingdom. "Second I catch him I am putting him in a dungeon," he says as he gets up to get ready to march.

Dawn smirked and nodded, ready to help him with this issue

Dawn and Cyrus returned to the kingdom, and she enjoyed the quaintness of the place, yet she couldn't help but notice that there were groups that gave them frowns or scowls. Cyrus had given them the order to address this, but she didn't know what to expect.

"Cyrus, what's going on with this pony or group of ponies?"

"Well, it was before you and everyone else joined that me and my previous comrades found this pony just telling everyone how me and my friends are not to be trusted and other negative things. We tried to clear up any misunderstandings we thought he had for us, but it turned out it might be that he might have a personal vendetta against me. Either that or he might be trying to spread anxiety over the kingdom, I just don't know." He says. He is more serious right now than he was back at the camp.

Dawn nodded. "Either way, he's trying to cause trouble. Know anything about what they've been saying? Anything specific?”

"Basically, from what I can tell, any good intentions we have been doing are being twisted into lies to convince the people that we are not to be trusted. A giant turtle we dispatched so that the fishermen could fish in peace, he made it look like we were attacking the local wildlife for no reason. Then another time when we saved a pony from a werewolf attack, we kept the said pony under custody to make sure he wasn't infected, only for the stallion to twist that as well. I personally don't care what Ponies think of me. Hell, I would encourage ponies having their own opinions. What I can't stand is said opinions being used to make my subjects uneasy." Cyrus explained.

Dawn growled, almost uncharacteristically as she said, "I hate those types. Tearing down the success of others, often to turn themselves into a hero or martyr for their own agenda. This will need to be handled with tact. Any ideas?" She asked, already thinking of a couple ideas.

"I want to have him arrested for the most part, but I doubt doing just that would be enough to stop him. If he persists, then I probably won't have much choice but to resort to executing him as an example to the Kingdom, and I really don't want to resort to that." Cyrus says, his face showed that he was not a big fan of the Idea.

Dawn smirked, "Yes, don't give them the martyrdom they seek. What if, upon being caught, we gave them a mission? In front of everypony, if they want to be a hero, they can't refuse... I'm not sure what that mission would be... but give ‘em something that would show the ponies the truth, that we want to do good, and give them an opportunity... if they refuse, then you question their character... what do you think?"

"I suppose that could work, if the reason he is doing this is to spite me, he will probably refuse, proving he isn't saying what he says for the good of the kingdom." Cyrus says as they continue to walk, thinking of what sort of mission he should give. It shouldn’t be something absurd that anyone would refuse, but not something too easy that anyone would accept.

Dawn nodded, "You can't give any followers ammunition to his cause, or else doubts stick in their minds and it can take a decade to fix it. " She then smirked, "What if he were head of an expedition to protect the wildlife we're dealing with? I still remember a tree we didn't do well with…"

Cyrus thought for a moment, "I suppose that can work, if the wildlife is truly what he says it is, then he should not have a problem accepting. If he refuses, it will start putting doubts in his followers and they may start questioning him... this could work." Cyrus says as a smile shows up on his face, "The best way to prove your point is with action, if you can't back your words with action, then you have no reason to complain and no right to criticize."
Dawn nodded, "Yep. Seems like you're really taking that to heart. Ever need any help, I'll back you up, no questions asked."

"I will count on you whenever I need it, Dawn," Cyrus says, he enjoys talking to Dawn, at the very least she listens to him, unlike everyone else. He worried that might be due to him being a pushover though.

Dawn wasn't aware of those doubts or thoughts, and didn't really think of him as a pushover, but she did see a bit of herself in him in a way. She even wanted to show him the path she used to keep herself on the way to the goal she cared about most.

2: Saved from Insanity, practice arranged.

Author's Notes:

Background note

Cyrus' party continued to explore the Savage Lands, so they could know where the kingdom could expand to should it have the funds to do so. They survive an attempt on Cyrus' life with a kind of assassin creature that was never spotted, and they killed an assassin vine, a sort of trap plant that grabs passerby to feed itself. They went upstairs to find a rather attractive mare dancing, trying to seduce them all. Ironically, Dawn and Cyrus were oblivious to it (had succeeded their will saves), but were so naive that they both thought the mare was just trying to kiss their giant fighter pony companion (i.e. they failed their sense motive checks).

They proceeded to kill the creature upon learning of it's... vampiric nature, and then explored the rest of the place, which included a pressure plate trapdoor'd room that they both were able to hold their breath from initially. Cyrus had the bright idea to think that the trap would only go off once, and proceeded to take a big breath of insanity gas. Dawn, being the after-battle healer through herbs and such, tried to save him from his insanity. The successful roll however, as good as it was, was deemed that Dawn did mouth to mouth and used magic to breathe for Cyrus. Naturally, the entire group got to joke that the two of them were an item from that point on.

Dawn hangs in the back with Cyrus, embarrassed at their companions combined teasings for the method she tried to use to help him recover from that poisonous gas. She looked over at him then quickly looked away, hoping he wasn't upset with her for being the subject of those teasings.

Cyrus doesn’t know what to think at the moment. It was circumstantial, but it still was his first kiss all the same. The fur around his face was bright red as these thoughts went through his head, completely oblivious to everything around him.

Dawn noticed the blush, and feeling guilty, she quietly chimed up, wanting to own up to how bad he must be feeling right now. "Hey, Cyrus. You uhm, feeling any better now?" She asked, berating herself for starting with such a cliché.

Cyrus barely heard Dawn and barely manages to come back to reality. "Huh?" He didn’t pay attention to her question, though he felt a bit awkward around her at the moment.

Dawn spoke again, voice shaking slightly, "I... I hope you're feeling better. I was just trying to help earlier and... I mean... nevermind."

"Uh, oh! That! Y-yeah, it is mostly out of my system now, I am not seeing any transparent black shadowy creatures at least. So, uh, yeah, thanks." Cyrus said. It was hard to look at her due to how awkward he felt. "I am not mad, honestly I'm not." Cyrus worried, feeling the need to clarify that for some reason.

Dawn nodded, "G-good. I-I didn't want you to be affected by that mist stuff after all. So, uhm, what do you think's in the chest?"

"Um, not sure really." He starts, "Can't be gold since the chest isn't that heavy, it's probably some equipment I think, nothing like armor or weapons, but equipment all the same." He says, the chest really wasn't too heavy. "But the only way to find out in the end is to get it opened by Jus’tav." Cyrus points out, still feeling awkward.

Dawn nods. "That'll be helpful, hopefully." She said, still feeling that awkwardness between them. Finally, she couldn't bear it and mumbled, "Sorry."
"Why are you apologizing?" Cyrus asks confused, "You did nothing wrong. If anything I should be apologizing for dropping all those rocks on you and Adalgar, even if it was for a good reason."

Dawn blushed and shook her head, "I-I dunno. You seem to be a bit red on the muzzle and I thought.... nevermind..."

Cyrus really looked at her this time, exclaiming, "Well you look a bit red yourself!"

Dawn flushed near crimson under her fur, making her muzzle look like a deep forest green color, "H-hey!" She pushed against him with her shoulder
"Hey!" Cyrus pushed her back playfully, his face was still slightly red, but his smile seemed to be returning, "That was uncalled for!"

Dawn laughed and pushed him back again, "Don't make me kiss you again!"

Cyrus was laughing with her, as he didn't feel as awkward as he did several minutes ago, "Go ahead, you already stole my first one you thief!" he says as he pushes her again.

Dawn laughed and pushed up against him and then kissed his cheek just because he said to before saying, "You stole mine too you royal pain!"

"When you put it that way, we're both thieves here." Cyrus says grinning, not knowing what to think about that bit of news. "Um, Sorry?" He says finally.
Dawn smirked, still embarrassed but trying to hide it, "Was it really that bad though? I mean..."

"I... don't think it is. In hindsight, I kind of enjoyed it." Cyrus said his face got red again when he thought back to it. Despite the fact it's with a sentient pony, ‘Then again I am also a said sentient pony. So, there are no problems here, right?’ He thought. "It… just took me by surprise is all." He added.

Dawn blushed, looking away as she tried to focus on walking in a straight line, "Y-yeah. You're tellin’ me."

Dawn took a deep breath and let it out before asking, "I don't exactly see you around camp doing a whole lot. What do you do for fun anyway?"

"Hmm, let's see. I pretty much practice my swords skills when I get the chance, practice some of the magic spells in my spell book. When we are at the kingdom though, I usually sneak out in my old attire before I became king, to see how the people are doing without alarming them that the king is among them and so. Plus, you already know about me stargazing already so I don't really need to say much." Cyrus said as they walked.

Dawn nods, "Is there a specific routine you do for your sword practicing or spellcasting?"

"Well it's more trying to get used to using a longsword since it feels different than my regal blade. With a rapier, I practice moving and trusting to ‘move with finesse’ as my fencing instructor puts it." Cyrus explains, "with magic I practice the chants and motions without actually using the magic at first. I wouldn't want to blow myself up or burn the area down. Speaking of burning, I almost set myself on fire one time when I was still a colt, scared the heck out of me." He grinned.

Dawn head tilted, wondering why he would fight with a longsword then instead of a rapier, but stayed quiet as she listened to the story, before flinching visibly at the sound of almost setting himself on fire, "Y-yeah. That's why I hate it. Nasty, dangerous stuff. I barely can handle using it to cook as it is..."

"Yeah, at the time I thought my own spells won't hurt me as long as I am the one casting it, I practiced fire magic inside an abandoned barn. Not a good idea, but I was dumb and did it anyway. That hurt a lot." He said, "If my magic instructor hadn't been passing by when she did, I don't think I would be here. I was afraid of fire for weeks, though I got over it after my magic instructor told me to think about fire this way, "Fire can be one of two things, a dangerous thing if used the wrong way, but a gentle light if handled with care." It helped me get over my trauma and actually think before I cast fire magic, I want fire to be a gentle light, though that doesn't mean I won't use it to attack if I need to." Cyrus says, he then felt the need to address Dawn's discomfort. "And sorry for making you uncomfortable with that tale, I didn't think it would make you uncomfortable."

Dawn shook her head, took a deep breath before letting it out slowly, and spoke, "Yeah, I didn't exactly have a teacher, I've had to teach myself, and I-I've always just run away until I had to learn for the sake of cooking. Like, I know that it can be helpful, protective and all that just like anything else. But... I can't help but feel scared of it, you know?"

"I know what you mean, out of all the elements fire is the most dangerous, but is the easiest to use as it is one of the most basic to conjure. But if I was able to get over it, I think you can too." he says putting his hoof on her shoulder, "I'll help you if you want, it’s the least I can do." he says with a smile.

Dawn nods, looking even more nervous than ever, almost as if there were fire nearby as they walked, "Yeah, I-I really need to get past this. I'm-" She took another deep breath, unintentionally walking closer as she closed her eyes before opening them and looking ahead, "Tell you what, you help me with that, and I'll give you somepony to practice your swordplay with, sound good?"

"Sounds perfectly fine to me." Cyrus smiled in return at the idea.

It was noon when Cyrus donned his old adventurer’s attire, the simple red long sleeve tunic and his bandana. He always wears it when going out alone since the guards can't recognize him in it for some reason, he always wondered why. He then stands in front of his window and casts feather fall, he then proceeds to jump out, landing safely on the ground thanks to the spell. "Ok, now to visit the locals." He says grinning as he made for the still incomplete castle town.

Dawn soon trotted out alongside him, inconspicuously joining him while having her hair tied up into a braid and covered with her cloak, which was covering her heavily enchanted breastplate, which covered her torso much more thoroughly, though felt more confining. She said nothing as she kept her shield and sword at her side, taking in the town a bit more thoroughly this time as they went.

He made his way through the town until he arrives at the residential districts. He casually greets everyone he comes across as though he were a mere commoner himself. Most greet him back as they know him, though they don't seem to realize that he is the king. Though Cyrus had the odd feeling someone was following him, which somewhat made him uneasy. It wasn't until he turns around near the item shop that he sees his stalker. "Ok, who's- Dawn?" He asked confused he was sure he snuck out of the castle without anyone knowing. That is, until he remembers actually telling Dawn he sneaks out from time to time. Though he was sure he didn’t tell her he was heading out.

Dawn chuckled, "Don't mind me, was just keeping tabs on you. Can't have anything happen in a bad back alley can we?" She smirked and took up a position on his left side, "So, having fun talking to your citizens?”

"Pretty much. I can't be inside doing paperwork all day, that stuff is stressful. Besides, I'm not that helpless." He says as they walked, "But I guess having company wouldn't hurt, at least I won't get nagged at to go back to the castle at once."

Dawn chuckled, "I'll protect you from those guards who insist that happen, push comes to shove. You like doing this a lot?"

"Yep, Gotta’ get my fresh air somehow, plus I like meeting other ponies. It is comforting to be myself rather than act like what I'm supposed to be." He says as he waves at some passers-by, to which they wave back.

Dawn nodded toward them in greeting before looking back at him with renewed respect, "You really are down to earth... Ever wonder if you should have been an earth pony instead?"

"Hmm, maybe, I just love to chat with others. I have no idea if it is to make up for the lonely early childhood I had or that I just want to make friends I cannot tell. Plus if I was an earth pony then I wouldn't have been able to inherit mom's magic, so I am quite happy with what I am." Cyrus answers.

Dawn nodded, "Definitely nice to be able to use magic that's for sure. Ever had your magic accidentally cause a prank or two that you loved so much?"

"Hmm... let me think." Cyrus stops to think about it, it took him a few minutes to remember something. "I do remember this one time I used levitation magic to cause a guard to think there was a poltergeist. It wasn't intentional at first as I was looking for something in the dining hall. I was using my magic to move the some of the light things around as it was still pretty weak back then. Though my magic was strong enough for lifting two chairs at the same time, and I had the brilliant idea to crudely stack the chairs on top of the table." He explains as a grin was forming on his face. "Now I was at the far most point under the table at the time so I couldn't be seen unless you look under it, even then the place was dark. So he happened to be passing by and I left the door open. He looked inside and saw my dancing lights in the shape of an earth pony colt, on top of the table, with two floating chairs at the far side of the table, stacking themselves." He said was a wide smile on his face, he was at the point of laughter. "He dropped his weapon and shouted, "Ghost!!!" That startled me and in my panic, my spells dispelled themselves, the dropping of chairs freaked him out even more and runs, screaming like a little filly, no offense." He said laughing, saying the last part just in case.

Dawn laughed and laughed, "Oh boy... that's tame but damn that's funny! I still barely remember a time when my parents freaked out over my foal magic at one point. Turned them into a colt and a filly for about an hour just because I wanted somepony to play with!" She continued to laugh as her mind wandered to memories from back then, and preventing herself from feeling sorry for herself, she shook her head and asked, "So, what about foal magic, did you have any time where your horn caused your family any issues growing up?"

Cyrus laughed at the part where Dawn turned her parents into foals. "I don't blame them!" He says, laughing hard. "Um... ok maybe it wasn’t my parents, but one time I accidentally turned my fencing teacher into a nutcracker. I thought it was funny, but mom freaked out and turned him back. She was apologizing a lot, but it was a good laugh." Cyrus said, "Oh! There was one that involved my dad actually, I accidentally gender swapped him somehow. I don't remember it since it happened before I could barely walk, but my mom told it to me and said she laughed so hard that she constantly ran out of breath."

Dawn laughed, hard herself, almost leaning on him in the process, though it didn't help picturing the scene and then wondering what his father would have reacted like by picturing Cyrus in that boat... the Idea of him being a mare though was very unlikely.

"Oh no, don't you die on me now!" Cyrus says laughing, both seemed to be leaning on each other. "Well, I guess I know what to look out for when it's my turn." Cyrus says as he still laughs, though wasn't laughing as hard anymore as he was calming down.

Dawn finally gets her breath back and kept leaning on him before taking a deep breath and letting it out as she calmed, "Gods... I can't remember the last time I laughed that hard. What would you do if you went through that?"

"Try to change myself back of course." Cyrus said as he thought about it, "Though I think before that I might freak out and yell."

Dawn smirks and then playfully frowns, "Awww, I was hoping to find a nice mare to settle down with." She chuckled before asking, "feel up to more sword practice yet? Or maybe go through routines in some heavier armor? I mean, we can't exactly count on somepony else to take our blows n all."

"Considering my luck with companions, I would say that is wise. Plus everything seems to want to kill me for some reason." Cyrus says thinking back to the incident with the wisp and the ruins where there were attempts at his life.

Dawn nodded. "You got a set you can practice with, or would you like to try mine?

"I haven't gotten a set yet, so yeah I would try yours right now since we have yet to build a smithy unfortunately." Cyrus says as he feels that should have been one of the first things to take care of.

Dawn smirks, "All right. I'll let you wear it, but don't you dare run off with it!" She said, bumping him.

"Hey! I am no thief you cur, I feel offense to thy claim!" Cyrus says in an accent, acting like a stuck up noble.

Dawn looks in mock horror, "I see through thy false demeanor! All this time spent as a pony of the herd... I see I was mistaken!"

Dawn added quietly, "if I didn't trust you, I wouldn't have offered."

Cyrus laughs, "I know, and it makes me happy to hear that." He says as he smiled.

Dawn smiled in kind, not being disappointed by this.

Dawn quietly spoke, "gonna practice now or a little later?"

"Hmm, I suppose we can start now, any practice done now is a boon in the future." Cyrus says as he waves at a group of ponies with a smile.
Dawn waved as well to them and turned to go to her usual training area.

Cyrus followed suit as he was somewhat in the mood to get some training in, he never knew what might try to attack him like that again and wants to get better so that he might not need to feel paranoid about getting targeted so much.

Dawn undressed out of the armor, taking her time using her magic to unfasten it and set it down carefully as she looked to him. "You still have that under armor tunic on right?"

"Yeah I do." Cyrus answers as he was wearing it under his red tunic, "Have to be ready to get some training done when I can." He says, it was a habit he picked up from Gearfried, as Gearfried claims, "There is no such thing as being the strongest, yet it is a goal everyone pursues, which is why training should ever be neglected as there may always be one stronger than you." He and Tom kept that lesson to heart.

Dawn nodded, "I can see why, but I'd sooner fight smarter, not harder. Now, let's see how well this fits you." She said as she lifted the armor with her horn magic. The breastplate seemed to shimmer on occasion with a ripple of deep green, indicating the magic-laden in the metal. She first moved to place the back piece that was to cover his back and sides, slipping the straps over his head that would connect to the front piece

"Good thing I don't I don't train as much as Tom, a build like his would have made this thing too small." Cyrus says jokingly as the armor fit him pretty well, it was slightly small for him, but not enough to hinder him in any way.

Dawn smirked and spoke a key magic word and it shook on top of him like a vibrator motor, stretching and conforming it to his build and form until it was almost perfect, at which point she moved to hook the chest into place, "you were saying? Had to pay extra for that."

"... Not a thing." Cyrus said shrugging, he honestly did not know that would happen.

Dawn chuckled, "It's ok to laugh Cyrus. I was teasing. You had no way of knowing it would do that unless you cheated and tried to detect magic... cost me most of my savings to get this... it definitely works... tries to repel attacks made to the wearer and gives you a nudge on how to move to mitigate the blow..." she rambled, securing those straps and trying to appear unabashed as she ducked her head below his belly to get his final strap secured.
Cyrus tried not to think about it when she went down there, though at least this isn't back when he first arrived in this world, it would have felt so much more awkward back then as he wasn't used to his body at all back then and felt embarrassed not having pants.

Dawn finally pulled back and went to her chain shirt that she had been used to and donned it facing away from him. She was still crimson under the fur and was trying quite hard to remember they were about to fight, completely ignorant of any view he might have until she turned around and took up her sword and shield.

When Cyrus draws his long sword out, he always imagines the invisible force he uses to wield his weapon as though they were his human arms. Any movement he makes with his weapon he imagines as though he were making it with his old body. He still isn't used to wearing this kind of armor yet, but it isn't like he hasn't worn anything like it either thanks to his training back in his world. He takes up his stance, the sword positions itself to match how Cyrus imagines it.

Dawn brandished her blade and said, "Today, I'll focus on offense while you're wearing that, and then we'll switch it up since it's vastly better than our old armor... are you ready?"

"Sounds good." He says as his sword shifted into a more defensive position. "Ready when you are." He says, ready to parry her attacks.

Dawn nods, and proceeds to do several broad slashes against his sides, intent to make it easy at first, and to see for herself just how defensive that armor really was.

while the armor did slightly limit his movement, he parries most of the slashes with ease. A few slashes do manage to slip past his defenses and hit his sides, thankfully the armor is protecting him much better than his old chain shirt.

Dawn smiled and then proceeded to go after him in other ways, trying to be creative after noticing his somewhat limited movement. "What's the matter, pony got your tongue?"

Cyrus grins as he started to get creative as well, most of his movements seeming like he was either dancing or playing around. "Not even close." He says as he sidesteps one of her swings.

Dawn laughed and pushed her shield forward to block his shield and went to slap him on the side with the flat of her sword.

He immediately used his sword to parry her attack and jumped back. "Almost... but no dice." He said with his hoof stretched out, though he barely remembers that he has no fingers. Damn it! He thought as he was going to do a no motion. He quickly gets back into a defensive stance.

Dawn chuckled and took a step back, having been heavily on the offensive for the last several minutes, trying to reassess his weaknesses and find a way to go around it, then realized he favored one side and proceeded to attack the other, so that if he were stuck on the idea of being right hoofed, he would have to fight left hoofed!

Aw, shoot! He yelled in his head. As a human, he was always right-handed. And now Dawn is attacking his left side, his weaker side. He is doing the best he can to protect it, but seeing as how he is in visioning his human body holding his weapon, he is at a slight disadvantage. He then has a thought, Wait, I can just switch hands. His sword shifted as though he were now holding it with a left hand, "Nope! Not this time!" He says, his face shows that he is enjoying himself.

Dawn continued to fight, narrowing her brows as she realized something was off. He wasn't showing that weakness he had before.

"What's the matter, pony got your tongue?" He asks with a grin, he constantly "switches hands" whenever it looked like she was starting to focus on his opposite sides.

Dawn laughed, "You got me, and you learned well... anything specific you want to practice before we trade off?"

"hmm... nothing I can think of at the moment." Cyrus says as he used his magic to unfastened the armor, especially the straps under him as he was not very comfortable with Dawn going down there.

Dawn nodded, stepping out of her chain shirt and shaking her head, feeling the sweat come off her neck. She started to head toward him to help but then realized he was already taking care of it. She blushed herself as she noticed his, remembering the awkwardness to it from before and patiently waited.

Once Cyrus finished removing his armor, he sets is down gently as it wasn't his to begin with. "Ok I guess it's my turn to attack," he says as he puts on his chain shirt once again, normally he wears it under his tunic, but in this case, he doesn't care as much and wears it over his red tunic.

Dawn donned the breastplate, saying the keyword to make it fit perfectly before fastening it. She took up her sword and shield, joking, "smells like stallion now, ugh."

Cyrus laughed, "Then maybe you should have used it first, maybe then it wouldn't smell like that." He says as he takes up his Longsword, "You ready?" he asks as he goes into his battle stance.

Dawn smirked, "Maybe you should have taken a bath this morning, give it your all!"

"Oh, now you've said it!" Cyrus says as he starts the assault, slashing at Dawn with his longsword, he doesn't stay still while slashing, he is constantly moving, stepping and slashing.

Dawn moved, but not often. Her steps were calculated, defensive, and relying on feints with her sword and shield both. She seemed just at ease using her sword to block as her shield

Cyrus sees that the first approach doesn't work as Dawn is constantly expecting his attacks. Bored? Let's switch it up a bit. He thought as he thrusts as though he was using a rapier when Dawn least expected it.

Dawn frowned at first, narrowly missing being hit and shifted the angle of her shield so it tilted away from her body like a roof of a house on its side. She often feinted an attack on him at the same time he attacked, just to mess with him, then shifted toward moving more, testing the agility of the plate and smiling... she barely felt hampered. She wasn't terribly dextrous, and she knew this was practically the best choice of armor for her

Cyrus kept up his attack, only thrusting when he felt she won't expect it, he was never very strong compared to most, which was why he trained to use his more dexterous abilities to make up for that shortcoming. He eventually faked a thrust and did an upward cut instead, now trying to take advantage of his swinging speed and control.

Dawn barely moved her head out of the way in time, getting a cut along her cheek. She glared ferociously at him for a second before closing her eyes and pulling her weapon back into its sheath and her shield on its quick release hook. "I think that's enough for now... You've definitely been getting better."
"Uh... whoops, sorry about the cut, I think I was getting a little too into it." He says with an apologetic smile, he awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "But glad to hear I'm getting better all the same."

Dawn smirked, "Yeah... I think we both were, but that's why we're cutting it here... I'm not about to let myself get angry just because you actually got me. I'll save that for our enemies. So, what'd you think of the armor?"

"Only one thing I can say, I want one." Cyrus says with a grin on his face. He then pulls his bandana off his head, it was incredibly soaked with sweat to the point it was dripping. "... I think it's safe to say we both need a bath after this." he says twisting the bandana of all the excess sweat with his magic.

Dawn laughed, "I'm with you on that one. After we clean our armors off of course... lead the way." She breathed heavily, sweat dripping off strands of hair of her barely braided mane. She winced as a drop got into her wound and stung, hen cast the magics needed for the slight mending her body needed.

"Right, back to the castle!" Cyrus says as they headed back. he put the bandana back on his head, even though he knew it would just get soaked with more sweat, but at the very least it would keep more sweat from getting on his face. As they approached the castle, Cyrus removed his bandana and put his crown on since the guards never seem to recognize him with the bandana for some reason. "Eh?!? King!?! What are you doing out of the castle!?!" One of the guards asked surprised. "I was out on a walk around the town like I always do. Dawn just happened to follow me this time. But enough about that, let us in if you please." Cyrus commanded, "Uh, as you wish sire." The two guards stepped aside.

Dawn chuckled, "We really need to train them better..." She said quietly to him as they entered, following him closely

"Yep, that we do, we also need to build a garrison, get a militia going, finish the freaking castle... Yeah, we still have a lot to do." Cyrus says, "On top of that, how the heck they don't recognize me in my old clothes is beyond me."

Dawn laughs, "I have no idea.... we'll get it done, don't worry... which way to the baths?"

"This way." Cyrus says as he leads the way, the baths were at the back of the unfinished castle since the river is there. a small part of the river was fenced to be used as the baths, Cyrus forgot why they separated the baths in the first place when ponies don't really have a need for clothes as he observed from his time here. He suspects it was his idea, though he can't remember if it really was.

Dawn nodded and followed him along, then seeing the river, she smirked, "Separate baths huh? Oh well. I enjoy a good soak some days. See you soon." She said, heading toward the mare's side of the baths

"See ya." Cyrus says as he heads into the Stallion's side of the baths. He removes the chain shirt, tunics and his bandana and steps into the water, the water was cool and refreshing, and he felt the sweat and grime wash away. "Ahh, that's nice..." He says relaxing for a moment, then he drags his red tunic and bandana into the bath as well to wash all of the sweat out of them. once he did, he hung them somewhere to dry and proceeded to wash the chain shirt as well, he can see how worn it was, as he had the thing even before starting his adventures in this world. "Welp, you've served me well, but it doesn't change the fact that I have to get something better." he says before starting to wash it again.

Dawn washed off her new armor meticulously, making sure to use the special cream that they included that would continue to enhance its resistance to rust and damage. She was pretty sure she was oversold on it, but this will hopefully keep her safe until she is finally ready to head back to her home. She washed herself off soon after and got out, letting herself drip dry, despite the shivers that it caused her... the chilling air felt much more frigid and she got her more casual clothes on to relax in, a cross between a set of pants and a dress, the continued look of yellows and greens matching her coat and hair. She stepped out and stood near the entrance of the stallion's side, keeping her bundle of armors nearby while her clothes hung to dry. She knew they would be returned by the staff, but she didn't want to leave her armor anywhere but by her side, just as she always had her sword and shield at her side.

Cyrus was out of the water polishing his longsword, he had no intention of enhancing the blade since he was going to end up trading it off for his regal sword anyway, so he saw no point. He found spare king's attire where the servants usually put the things, despite how much he told them there was no need. He dons them anyway, a silk short sleeve red tunic and a white silk shirt that goes under it, there was a cape as well but he didn't feel like wearing that, he got out of the baths with his stuff. He sees dawn when he exits the baths, "Hey, been waiting long?" He says casually.

Dawn shook her head, "Not terribly... though I'm starving. Feel like going to the larder and doing some raiding?~"

"Yup, that work out made me hungry, Let's go." He says as they headed off to get something to eat.

3: Combining their Strength, a test of strategy

Author's Notes:

Background:
Not much to say, it continues from the last chapter, but after we had discovered the diabolical team feat that lets one caster amplify a spell at the cost of a readied action while the other casts, and it gets the amplification without increasing in spell slot cost. Combine that with Dawn getting a discount on metamagic casting spell slot increase... it's potent. Cyrus' player pretty much started calling the empowered lightning bolt spell 'thoron' due to his fandom of Fire Emblem.

Cyrus is outside in an open part of the castle, it was night and he was practicing using his spell strikes, chanting the spell then swinging his sword. He wasn't really using the spell as the blade of his rapier is never charged with magic. "Shocking grasp!" He says then thrusts the blade at an invisible target.

Dawn walks on the scene, watching him practice, her hoof steps quiet before saying, "You've been hard at work... sure we're ready to give this a try?"

Cyrus stops what he is doing and looks at Dawn, "Hey, didn't see you there, if you're talking about the combine magic thing I was talking about earlier, then yeah. The sooner we master it, the sooner we can use it to go home once we find my sword." Cyrus says as he sheaths his Rapier.

Dawn shook her head, "I don't mind helping, but you need to find time to rest eventually... I'm not your mother, so I'll leave it at that." She said, setting down her supplies and taking off her hat and cloak, trying to ignore the chilly air.

"Yeah I know, I'll probably find some time to practice during the day at some point." Cyrus says as he approaches, he will admit that sometimes he does go a little overboard when he practices while they are in the kingdom.

Dawn shook her head, "As your not-doctor, I insist that tomorrow you rest, and I'm going to keep my eye on you to make sure you do!" She chuckled before approaching, "So, we've gotten some of the basic theory down... you focus on casting the spell, and I focus on making it stronger. Should I be focusing on your horn, or your sword, your hoof, or what?"

Cyrus draws his rapier, "Well we won't really know until we try, let's try it on my sword first once it's charged with Shocking grasp." Cyrus says as he touches his Sword with his hoof, "Shocking Grasp!" he chants, the blade glowed a bright yellow color with electricity pulsing in the blade. "Ready!"

Dawn nodded and focused on pumping raw magical power into his sword, trying to picture how electricity would be put into that sword in even greater strength, despite her lack of understanding of how that spell is normally cast

Cyrus sees the electricity starting to pulse fiercely, the blade started to glow twice as bright and more electricity is being produced, "I think it's working!" Cyrus says smiling as he sees the results, however, his smile quickly goes upside down as he realizes that the light is getting way to bright and the electricity was starting to make the fur on his hoof stand on end, his pupils shrunk with fear. "Stop! You-" He tries to tell Dawn to stop, that she is charging it with too much magic, but he was cut off when the magic in the sword literally exploded. Sending him flying towards a tree, he crashed with enough force to make the tree topple over. Some of his fur was black from the explosion.

Dawn gasped and rushed over to him, pulling her healing kit and getting her healing spell readied in case his injuries were severe. She felt horrible and practically fumbled as she tried to help despite her magic

Cyrus was in a daze, it looked like his eyeballs were spinning as though he were in a cartoon. "Wow... why are the stars spinning?" He asks in the daze. He then coughed and a puff of smoke came out, his face and other parts of his pearl white fur were stained with black soot.
Dawn was over his back and sides, looking for any signs of broken bones, open wounds or anything, feeling guiltier as she went despite no issues found so far.

Surprisingly despite hitting that tree with a lot of force, there were no broken bones found anywhere, and his spine seemed to be perfectly intact. Cyrus barely slips out of his daze and realizes he is in a lot of pain, "OW ow ow ow, my back!" He says in pain, he was glad he was wearing his chain shirt under his clothes again, he didn’t want to think of what might have happened if he didn't.

Dawn sighed in relief and punched him in the shoulder.

"OW!" He yelps when he got punched there, "That was uncalled for!" He struggled to get back up, his legs feeling like jelly because of all pain he is in. He then pulls out his wand of cure light wounds, he always seems to carry that around no matter what. He tries to use it to heal himself, but his pain wouldn't let him concentrate and he ends up dropping it.

Dawns casts her celestial healing before muttering, "That's for making me worry..."

"Not like I meant to!" He says as he tried to use his wand again. He failed a few times before he finally managed to use it, the celestial healing helped greatly by constantly lessening his pain. He managed to heal himself enough to where he just aches. "That's a whole lot better..." he says with his lessened pain. "I knew something would go wrong, but I didn't think THAT would happen." He says rubbing his back with his hoof.

Dawn sighed and stuck very close to him, "Damn... that went south fast...what happened? I heard you say something but couldn’t cut it off..."

"I tried to tell you to stop because you were charging my spell with too much power. Though to be frank, I didn't realize how close it was to doing that when I tried to warn you." Cyrus explains, "Geez it feels like my dad is right when he told me I have the devil's own luck..." he says looking at the toppled tree.

Dawn smirks and gives him a tight hug before quickly getting up and saying, so a slower buildup of energy until we find that tipping point.

"Yeah, I think that would be best. I don't want to try my luck again with another tree... or my back." He says rubbing his back. "Now that I think about it, where did my sword go?" He says looking around. He casts light on his horn to see what's in the dark.

Dawn adds her light to the search until she stepped on the handle and heard a crunch. She moved her hoof and called out, "Cyrus? Uhmmm... I found your sword." She said before mumbling, "the handle and hilt at least..."

Cyrus went to her location and whistles at the black singed object. "... well... glad that wasn't me." He says looking at the broken sword. "Looks like I'll have to use the long sword then." He says as he draws his long sword. "Ok, from the top, we were too hasty last time, now that we know that, things should be smoother." He says as he gets into position. "Shocking grasp!" He chants, the blade glow like the previous sword did and is producing electricity. "Alright, nice and slow this time!" Cyrus says, not wanting a repeat of last time.

Dawn nodded, already trying to slowly ease that power in, focusing on the blade and pausing every other second to listen to his cue.

At first, nothing seemed to happen, but the spell eventually began to get a slight bit stronger, slowly the light emitted by the blade got stronger and the electricity started to become more rampant. "So far so good..." Cyrus says as he continues to use his magic to maintain the shocking grasp, to keep it from dispelling prematurely.

Dawn continued, feeling the strain of enhancing the spell, letting it get more intense as they continued to build it up

Cyrus feels the spell is enhanced a good amount and is yet to feel like it is at the verge of exploding. "Ok, maintain it there." Cyrus says, he knows it could go further, but didn’t want to risk a surprise explosion to the face again. He wanted to see how much more powerful it is currently.

Dawn heeds his order, doing her best to maintain it despite the magical strain, she could not easily defend herself with her sword and shield she realized, as they stayed sheathed and she did her best, the power wavering but she did her best to maintain it and feel roughly how much power she was pouring into that blade

"Ok... now to see how this goes." He says as he readies a swing, he swung the blade, but because both were exhausted from maintaining the magic for so long that the magic dispelled on its own. Cyrus was finally showing his exhaustion. "I think we need to find a way to do this more efficiently. I feel really drained." He says as he sat down on the ground. Shocking grasp was never meant to last that long in the first place.

Dawn nodded, collapsing next to him and half laid on him like a recliner, "Yeah... we can't keep this up during combat for long... I'm a sitting duck, and it's not like foal stories where the bad guys will sit there waiting..."

"I know what you mean... sure would be nice though." He says as he looks up at the night sky, "I think we need to get an idea of how much to put in at once so that I can use the spell immediately, that way we won't be left open." He says thinking about how to get the spells out immediately and not take so long to get it prepared.

Dawn took a moment to catch her breath, "The hardest part, honestly, was maintaining it... getting it to that level shouldn't be too hard, we just can't do it for more than that sword swing...

"Yeah, not to mention shocking grasp was never meant to be held for that long... so we have to get the spell out quickly or everything dissipates." Cyrus points out, he wasn't sure if he wanted to try that again, he burned through his magic reserves just from trying to keep shocking grasp active for so long.
Dawn nods, still laying against him as she asked, "Does your sword always need to be a focal point? I'd hate to try and cast that spell and have it be your hoof that blows apart..."

"That would not be pretty." Cyrus says as he cringes at the idea of losing his hoof. "I think it depends on whether or not I'm using my spell strikes. It's not a problem with spells like shocking grasp or frigid touch, but for others like snowball, magic missile, and scorching ray, I think those might require that my hoof or I myself be the focal point since those are used at a distance." He says as he tries to see how to go about it.

Dawn nods, "What about some sort of metal rod like an uncharged wand for safety?"

"I guess that could work, it would absorb most of the excess magic if something like that happens again, plus it can be used afterwards as well." Cyrus says thinking about it. "I think we can save trying it again for another time, I ache all over and that shocking grasp drained a lot of magic." He then loses himself in thought, "Um, out of curiosity... When you do get home, what are you going to do once you get there?" He asks, he didn’t know why, but he felt like asking. he then rubbed his eyes with his hoof and left white circles on his black face.

Dawn shrugged, "I honestly don't know. I usually read or study anymore, but it's gotten old... Why, what do you do?"

"I am usually just trying to take a load off and do whatever I feel like, but that's if our spell sends me to the castle. If not, then I guess it's to get to the castle post haste." Cyrus answers. He honestly was not sure what he would do once he does make it back to his castle.

Dawn nodded, getting up slowly, "Mind if I join you?"

Cyrus gets up as well "Hmm? You mean coming to my world? I don't mind in all honesty, in fact, I welcome it." Cyrus says, though his face does show a slight concern, "But aren't there others you want to see in your home?" He asks.

Dawn laughs, "what's this about going to your world? I was asking if I could join you at the castle!" She chuckled a little more before asking, "Why, are you maybe hoping I will come with you?"

"Uh... I completely misunderstood what you meant." Cyrus says, the soot staining the fur on his face was hiding his blush, "But yeah heading back to the castle is good, let's go." He says, now he felt incredibly awkward. I am a freaking dumb ass, He thought.

Dawn smirks, "You didn't answer my question," She said quietly, "I think I'll take that as a yes..." She teased, bumping him with her shoulder.

"Well think what you want, it's not like it matters too much right now." Cyrus was not very good at hiding his embarrassment, even with the soot covering his blush.

Dawn laughed, sticking really close to him and finding him rather adorable

Cyrus now feels rather conflicted, while this was making him rather uncomfortable, yet he doesn't mind it all that much. Because of how conflicted he is, he can't exactly say anything without it sounding incredibly stupid, so he decides not to talk for now.

Dawn quietly chimed in as they walked in, "so have you played any board or strategy games?"

"Well, I have been required to learn to play chess." Cyrus says thinking about it, learning to play that was a necessity while he grew up, he never understood why, "other than that, I haven't played anything else."

Dawn smirked, "so, I've been trying to recreate a strategy game I had seen once in a mirror, watching another world... care to join me and see what you think?"

"Well, considering I have nothing better to do... alright, let's see it." Cyrus says, he was quite curious about this game from another world.

Dawn smiled, "Been getting a woodcarver to help me out a bit. It's rough, but I'll show you how it plays." She said, easily reached her room and revealed the simple yet well-lit place.

"Alright, let's see it then." Cyrus says, he looks around the room, he wasn't expecting Dawn's room to be so simple, yet that is probably what he finds so charming about it.

Dawn chimed in, "Sorry about the mess..." she motioned to the desk with scrolls and a bookshelf littered with scrolls and books in no particular order. She went to the moderately comfy chair and moved them next to the bed, "feel free to climb up on my bed, put a few spells on it for comfort I came across. I'm rather picky about my chair." She said as she pulled out a rather elaborate wooden board, which was smoothed with many terrain details painted or lightly etched in, then got many of the smaller pieces resembling a wall, with one side painted with a red or blue flag, the other holding a number or letter.

Cyrus climbs on the bed since dawn offered, "Huh, it somewhat reminds me of those maps that commanders use to plan out a battle." Cyrus comments as he looks at the board.

Dawn smirked, "That's the idea... this guy went so overboard, I paid him extra, which he tried to insist I didn't, so I told him to take that money and duplicate it for others so he could sell it for profit. told him how to play too. Now, each of these pieces gets to be on a square in these first four rows, and this board is 10 by 10, so that's 92 squares if you don't count the 2 lakes over here." She said, pointing to the middle, relatively evenly spaced between the sides.

Dawn continued, "You line up your pieces where you want them to be. 10 is the weakest unit, and there's a bunch of them, but they're the only unit that can move more than one square at a time but only in a linear way. there's about 10 10s, 9 9s, and so on, and the lower the number, the better chances they have to win, unless," She pauses and smirks, "They meet the S. The S is a spy that can kill your 1 and only 1 general numbered... one! however, it loses to all the other units. The B is a bomb! Some sort of fire magic that acts like fireball or something, that kills the attacking unit unless you have a minesweeper unit get it, and that’s an 8. The F? that's your flag, the thing you want to protect the most."

"I see, the goal is to capture the enemy's flag while defending your own, sounds simple enough." Cyrus says, he is starting to think of how to approach this game. "Is there a limit to how many pieces you can move in one turn?" He asks.

Dawn nodded, "Of course, just one piece per turn."

Dawn pulled up pieces and started placing them on the board, number and letter side up, "Here, let's play like this so I can show you, unless you don't like strategy... I should have a couple others around here..."

Cyrus nods, "Alright, let's see how this plays." he picks up some of the pieces as well and starts placing them on the board like how Dawn has been placing hers though he places his pieces differently.

Dawn smiled as he placed his pieces, and then began teaching as they went. She took it easy on him, explaining why she did what she did and why he might consider different moves at times. In the end, she still won, but hoped he learned a lot if he liked it.

"I think I have the general gist of it now." Cyrus says setting up his pieces again, "I will tell ya right now, I am a sore loser and these games won't stop until I win." He warns.

Dawn smirked, "It's almost midnight... you sure?"

"Try me." He said in a serious tone.

Dawn nodded and set up once more, this time getting her pieces upright with her color flag facing him. She was tired already, but wasn't about to give up!

Cyrus was right when he said he was a sore loser, he kept demanding rematches every time he lost, strategy may not be his strong suit, but that didn't stop him from having fun with the game.

Dawn eventually lost from sheer fatigue, and after he won, she climbed into the bed with him and leaned on him before falling asleep faster than he could take a breath.

Before Cyrus could even react to anything his drowsiness kicks him hard, "Oh gods... I think I... over did... it...again..." he says before he immediately fell asleep. He remembers this happening with almost anything that involved winning or losing, he was competitive to a fault. At some point it made his friend Tom throw some sparring matches just so he can rest due to Cyrus being way too competitive. Cyrus instinctively leaned to Dawn because she was the warmest thing closest to him.

Dawn innocently slept against him and eventually fell on her side on the bed due to his weight. letting him half lay or cling to her in her sleep as she enjoyed the warmth shared

Because he is asleep, Cyrus isn't aware of what he does, he reached for Dawn and pulled her towards him. He liked the warmth and wants to keep it close, not aware of what it is. a smile was on his sleeping face, for he felt at peace.

Dawn definitely didn't mind at all for that same reason and slept peacefully until dawn, when she started to wake, not wanting to move because of that comfort

When the sun's light hit Cyrus's face, he buries his head into the bed, "No... Five more minutes..." By how his tone sounded, he wasn't aware of anything around him, only aware of the sunlight trying to wake him.

Dawn tensed at first, then giggled quietly, remembering the fun they had last night and let him stay put... they had been through so much he deserved some time sleeping in.

Instead of five, he slept for ten minutes before he started to wake up, "Ugh, sometimes I hate you sun..." he says as he opens his eyes and gets his face out of the bed. He starts to drowsily look around until he noticed Dawn beside him, "...... uh...... morning." he says, realizing that he ended up sleeping in Dawn's room, with Dawn right next to him. Needless to say, his face turned bright red.

Dawn giggled again, and on a spurt of impulse, moved in to kiss him and said, "You're a father." Before busting out laughing.

There was a look of horror when she said he was a father, he was speechless and a lot of panic was going through his head as he felt he wasn't ready to be a father yet. However, when she burst out laughing, he understood that it wasn't true. "Dang it! Don't do that, I thought my heart was going to stop!" He says, though a bit relieved that he really didn't do the deed.

Dawn laughed harder before calming and moving quickly to pin him to bed. "That's what you get for going and going and going, little king... I expect we'll need to play these types of games more often." She said as she got off him and climbed down from the bed to get dressed. "Besides being good mental training... it's really fun to do those things with a good friend, ya know?" She asked as she barely got her shirt on her neck, turning to look at him expectantly

"That's true. It was pretty fun, even though I lost most of the time." He said with a grin. He gets off the bed and stretches. "As Tom says, I am way too competitive for my own good, as you saw last night." Cyrus says before a yawn came out. "But I will admit I did go overboard again."

She laughed, "Well then, how about this, each night, we'll play one or two games, until one of us have won 100 times. Winner of that night decides who sleeps where that night." She smirked, "a mare could get used to having a body pillow~"

Cyrus's competitive nature got the better of him, "Alright You're on!" He says with a grin, not thinking about what happens if he loses since this is between friends. He had no intention of losing.

Dawn smiled as she walked past him, and flicked her tail in his face, "Better get accustomed to losing... I won't take it easy on you now!"

"Well, I won't make it easy to win either." Cyrus says, though a small part of him in the back of his head was starting to think he might have dug his own hole. Cyrus pretty much ignored that small part of his mind and headed out, he needed to change his clothes as well and get some breakfast, he knows he will fall asleep if they make him do paperwork again.

Dawn turns back around and goes into her room, packing away her game into her tent supplies. she was going to make sure he didn't get away from this unless they were in battle!

4: A near death experience

Author's Notes:

Background:

Oh boy... so this session was really rough. Cyrus and company had gone to a lizard fortress to rescue a kidnapped colt named Tig. Cyrus and the rest had been trying to peacefully inquire about them, and were about to leave, when the cat/persian of the party had climbed over the wall, and heard the child sobbing. the party rushed to action and proceeded to charge the place.

Sounds good right? Well... we split the party. Yes, we know, horrendous idea. Basically the persian proceeded to try and go into the one room where a boss and his two powerful slaves/concubines were, while cyrus and dawn proceeded to the other one that was practically a boss as well... the worst part? the bat pony that had only just joined us, decided to literally give the persian cover by peeing in the chimney stack to create 'pee smoke'. I wish I was joking. It worked so well that the DM made it a thing, gave them a bit of burn damage, and then proceeded to tell us as the rounds went on how the persian was getting killed and the bat pony was knocked unconscious yet clinging to the wall out of reach of the aligator pet concubine things.

Meanwhile, Cyrus and I/Dawn proceeded to get rid of a whisp nemesis, barely calm the colt down, and then realized that our party had just been wiped outside of the two of us. I was still in view, and was willing to take a stand and hold them off while those two made a break for it. Instead, Cyrus proceeded to cast dancing lights to imitate the will o whisp that was tormenting the colt, and tried to hold the enemies off with it as it was viewed as a deity. Cyrus' highlight was that right as Dawn was looking at the jaws of death (the two gators), he made a natural 20 on his wisdom check, realizing that the absolute best thing he could do is make the whisp fade away, and thus make it look like their god was abandoning them.

They ended the battle gathering the remains of their fallen half eaten friend and the unconscious pee-smoke inducing bat to figure out how to pay to bring him to life while nursing the other one back to health.

Cyrus was carrying young Tig on his back, he managed to calm the young foal down enough to the point where he falls unconscious due to exhaustion. Cyrus can tell he has been through a lot especially since he had been missing for a month. "I still can't believe that worked." He says to himself as he heads to the cart to drop Tig off, glad that most of them got out of this battle unscathed.

Dawn nodded, having already cast her healing spell on their batpony companion. She was weary, especially having also needed to gather the remnants of their feline companion who fell to the alligator, in the hopes that he could be resurrected. "You did well... I was really scared back there. Two alligators and that... thing... just you and me and my mind going blank and not even remembering half the spells I had available to me... That was incredibly clever of you." She said, kissing him on the cheek before going to the front to help pull the cart and get a move onward to safer lands while their gryphon companion helped to guard and keep watch along the journey.

Cyrus flinched at the kiss, "Uh, yeah... I was grasping at straws there, I really thought he was going to see through that." He says as he helps pull the cart as well after setting Tig in the back in as comfortable a position as he could, he really wanted to bring Jus'tav back to life, he wasn't willing to lose another companion. "To think they regarded that wisp as the spirit of a great warrior, I never would have guessed."

Dawn nodded from the front, having just secured herself to one of the two pulling stations, "All the same, I'm glad that we weren't all food today. Come, get everyone situated and let's get this cart moving so we can get them to safety and find a good cleric for him."

"Right." Cyrus says as he gives the order to march with haste, he and Dawn pulled the cart from the ground, while Grim Glider pulled from the air, Cyrus found out that this entire mess was her doing and roped her in to help, much to her dismay. They made good progress in how far they managed to travel in a day, they stopped by Tig's home since it was on the way and Cyrus personally delivered the foal to his parents. They were overjoyed to see their son safe and home, "Sorry it took so long." Cyrus says with a smile on his face. They had nothing to offer, but the father told Cyrus that he will let his family and friends know of his kindness. They offered to let them spend the night there, but Cyrus had to decline, he had no time to waste. They managed to go a few more miles until they had to stop for the night, setting up camp.

Dawn was bone tired so soon after having gotten so much combat and then so much hard labor in. She tried to remember how to cast the spell for a substitute of good rest, just so they could have her on watch as their only real defensible pony, but she barely got her tent laid down on the ground along her bedroll before she climbed into it and laid in that bedroll with her tent as her pillow for her head. She felt a little guilty about it truthfully, and she wanted to be able to talk with Cyrus, but she was so tired. She laid there, expecting to fall asleep, only to sigh in frustration. her body was tired but now her mind refused to rest.

Cyrus volunteered for first watch, he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep immediately with what he just went through. When he saw that alligator approach, he was honestly scared, just like that day with the owlbear, he only intended to heal Dawn incase the Alligator was going to follow him. He didn't expect her go out and fight it, and when he saw Jus'tav's mangled body, he was afraid he was going to lose everyone again, just like how he lost his friends to the owlbear. He knew that fear was keeping him awake, yet he couldn’t help it, it almost happened again. When he was sure everyone was asleep, he let that fear show on his face. When he saw the other alligator and the giant lizardmen approach Dawn, he knew she wouldn't be able to take them alone, yet he couldn’t move. It was at that moment he remembered those lizardmen referring to the wisp as their god. He then put his prankster abilities to the test and conjured a copy of the wisp that he and Dawn killed and sent it out, hoping to scare the Lizardman away. His fear intensified when the Lizardman didn’t go away and instead begged for the fake wisp for its aid. He thought long and hard for a way to save Dawn, eventually he managed to get an idea, he made the wisp retreat, making it refuse the lizardman's plea. He was glad things turned out well in the end, but couldn’t help but fear the worst. Staring at the fire usually calmed him down, but it proved to be ineffective this time.

Dawn stirred slightly and spotted Cyrus brooding and tried to tell herself to talk to him when morning came, as she was just about to pass out. Her dreams were fitful that night and she was glad to be woken from them when her shift came. She soon got a small pot of a delicacy of ‘cocoa’ going and sipped it readily as she surveyed the surroundings. She shivered and looked over to Cyrus as often as the circumstances would allow. It almost seemed to her like he was sleeping just as poorly. After another of her quarterly patrols around the outside of the campsite, she sat down, back to the low fire so she wouldn’t lose her night-adjusted sight, and put her hoof on the ground next to his cheek, using her wrist to stroke it and try to reassure him. They went through a lot, but they did what they had to do and were still alive, with the ability to revive their companion.

Dawn continued to be oblivious to that fear he had, having heard of his fear of losing the people and ponies that have joined his party. In the end, she did what she had to. She trained herself for exactly this reason, to fight and protect herself so she could return home. Nothing was going to stop her, and ever since the discovery of somepony else who had that goal, she was going to ensure they could as well, just as she promised.

"Not again... please... not again... I don't want to be alone again." Cyrus says, he was sleep talking and was not aware of what he was saying, but it was evident that he was having a nightmare, "I'm sorry..." tears started to stream down his face.

Dawn scanned the skyline, feeling a sadness cross her heart and gently held him to her side, trying to help him find some comfort and help him ease from a nightmare to a more pleasant dream. She blushed lightly as she knew he was close to her flank, but she just wanted to see him happy again as she wiped the tears from his face and rubbed his forehead reassuringly.

Cyrus seemed to have calmed down at this, as he didn’t look as scared now. After half an hour he was starting to wake up, at first he pays no mind to his surroundings as he wakes up, "Not again..." he says, implying that this isn't the first time he had that nightmare. He looks around now and sees Dawn next to him, he wasn't aware of her watching him in his more pitiful state. "Morning." He greets simply.

Dawn continued to hold him gently, still wanting to let him find some peace, “Morning…” She hesitated, not really sure what she should say at this point, her sympathy in full swing. She didn’t want to see him cry, but knew better than to speak of it.

"Ugh, I still ache all over from all that travel we did yesterday." He says as he gets up and stretches, some of his bones popped as he did, "Well that didn't sound good..." he comments. Bones popping during a stretch usually meant that one wasn't fully rested, at least to him it did. He hated that nightmare, it always pops up whenever he least expected it. He wondered if he should share it with somepony, to lessen that burden. But he quickly scrapped the idea as he didn't want to burden anyone with it. He looks at Dawn and goes, "Um... What's for breakfast?" He asks, the smile he gave was forced, it was pretty obvious to anyone who knew him well enough since they know what his genuine smiles looked like.

Dawn chuckles weakly and holds him close to her as she used her horn to crack some eggs into the skillet and pulled out some salted jerky they had prepared to warm up alongside them. “Something that needs less preparation than soup… we only have a week for Jus’tav.” She paused, not wanting to be tactless, but wanting to show she cared, “If you ever need to talk about things, I’m here for you. Doesn’t hurt that glider is asleep in the cart either. So, please, just-” She let her voice trail off, not really sure just what it was that she needed to say.

"... I guess I can tell you." Cyrus says as he sat down, "Ever since that encounter with the Owlbear, I sometimes relive that moment where I just watched as my comrades are killed, frozen in fear." He says, tears started to run down his face once more. "I wanted to save them, I really did! But they told me to flee, to live. In the end, I did the most logical thing anypony would do, flee and leave them behind. You don't know how painful it is. Running while you hear the sounds of your friends being mutilated, echoing through the caverns as you escape. That nightmare always comes up every now and again, as though to tell me that I will always end up alone, no matter what I do." He stares at the ground. The memory was very painful to recall, his heart ached every time.

Dawn picked him up as best she could and hugged him close, letting him rest his head on her shoulder or neck. She gently rocked him like a mother would, or at least she hoped like it, and tended to the breakfast quietly as she spoke just as softly, “Cyrus, you’re right. I can’t imagine it, and your pain is great, I can feel it.” She said as she raised a hoof to his chest and held it there. “Your friends did the best possible thing for you, and they probably knew that if they didn’t, you wouldn’t get to live. Back there… I thought we almost got that point. I didn’t see a way out, so I dashed out there if anything to buy you time so you could live, and take up my research maybe so you could make your way home.” She took a breath and kissed him on the forehead, taking the food and putting it on a plate, slowly putting it nearby. “You were really clever back there. But even so, you need to realize something really important… Death happens, and what matters is how we react. Your friends died protecting you because you are amazing and don’t know it yet. You can keep moping about their death and make them sad, or you can buck up and be glad that they gave you the biggest gift they could. After all, we got to meet, and your friends don’t want you sad, do they? I’m sure they understand you miss them, but your world doesn’t have to end with them, does it?”

"You're right... I know you're right, I try to live for them as well... but it still hurts in the end. I don't want to lose anypony else... I don't want to go through that again. I refuse to let it happen again. I especially don't want to lose you." He says as he looks Dawn in the eyes, both of their green eyes meeting. "You're my closest friend here, and we said we would go home together. Maybe I sound childish right now, but I refuse to lose you and go alone. We will get through this together, no matter what. I owe it to Aegeon and Hilde to live, but I swore not to let that tragedy happen again, and I swore to avenge them when the time is right. I can't afford to die now, nor allow anyone else to die before it is slain." He says, most of his sadness seems to have been replaced with determination.

Dawn quietly nodded, “so, let’s go ahead and keep training so we don’t lose anypony else, and make sure your friends smile when we get to your home in one piece. By the way,” She chuckled, “Better eat your breakfast before your jerky becomes too inedible.”

Cyrus looks at his plate and laughs, "I probably should, shouldn’t I?" He asks as he picks up his plate with his hooves and used his magic for his utensils to eat. "Thanks for listening to me, I really needed to get that out of my chest. And as you said, we'll train to prevent it from happening again, so let's eat and get ready to move again, Jus'tav isn't going to revive himself." He says, his smile returned to his face. "You know, I wonder if some poor bloke is trying to draw my sword, they will be awfully disappointed to learn it won't get out of its sheath, and even then it won't kill anything because it will be blunt and harmless to anypony unless I use it." He says thinking about it, he laughs at the thought of some random pony’s attempt to use the blade.

Dawn blinked and suddenly got an idea. “You know… If it has been found, there’s probably rumors floating around about it. Why not, next time we’re in the kingdom, ask if anyone’s heard of a sword that refuses to work for anypony? If not, then why don’t we spread the rumor that there’s a mystical magical sword of whatever properties that will be sure to grab attention? That way, once it’s found, it’s just a matter of going there and then soak up the drama from you effortlessly drawing it and putting it into your sheath.” She giggled and added as she headed over to the cart, “If you really wanted to be an ass, you could say, ‘Oh, that’s where I left it. Sorry!’ and treat it like it was no big deal!”

Cyrus laughs at the suggestion, "Who knows, maybe someone did find it but won't want to give it up, I mean the guard does look like it is made of gold, they might probably keep it as a decorative... well we have nothing to lose for trying it, so we'll see." Cyrus says as finishes his breakfast and goes with her, after the others wake up, and had their breakfast, Cyrus set them up and ordered the march, with the same set up as before, which Glider was not happy about, it takes them five more days to arrive at the town, they went to the local clergy to find someone who can resurrect their fallen companion, to which they do, they were told to leave Jus'tav's remains there for the night and the ritual will commence in the morning as preparations need to be made.

Everyone stayed at the Inn and each had their own room. Cyrus was in his room thinking of how to use a shield eventually, it was possible for him to use them back where he was from, but here they always got in his way. He was also thinking about strategies to use in the marathon of the game he played with Dawn before, because they always exhausted themselves to the point they couldn't play. He dared not write any of his game plans down as one never knew who could end up prying in their things... either that or he would end up accidentally leaving them out for the world to see, he wasn't going to risk it.

Dawn knocked on his door, carrying the board game and figuring he was present. She learned to really enjoy these moments together, and having him sleep in her bed was a prize she looked forward to teasing him about later. She was relieved that they didn't have to worry about Jus'tav getting revived anymore, and was in a suitably good mood.

Cyrus goes to open the door, "Come in, I was expecting you." he says as he lets Dawn into his room, all the rooms were pretty much the same. "Ready to start our 12 game marathon?" Cyrus asks, ready to play so many matches in a row, he had a lot of fun last time, so he was excited.

Dawn smirks, "No, we're doing just one, MAYBE two like we originally agreed... After all, we have to study to get our spells readied and memorized for tomorrow, just in case. I will refuse to play you more than that, no matter how much you may throw a tantrum~"

"Fair enough." Cyrus says with a shrug, slightly disappointed, "I am not intending to lose anymore than I already did, so I hope you’re ready." he says once the board and pieces were put down and he starts setting up his pieces, he was going to match Dawn's experience with the game with his cleverness, he didn't get away with a lot of pranks from just running away after all.

Dawn smirked, intending to be a lot more devious and misleading. She placed her pieces on the board and made sure that two of her three highest ranked officers were hidden behind bombs, while the highest was near the flag, as was a many scouts that could detect or catch his spy, assuming the bombs failed. “Are you ready to be my pillow tonight?” she teased.

"You wish." He says as he starts by moving one his edge pieces one step forward. his strategy was incredibly risky as he placed his flag near the top, with four of his strongest units surrounding it, with the scouts close by to catch the spy, he knew what he was doing was possibly fool hardy, but if he can trick Dawn into thinking the flag was somewhere else, he might win.

Dawn smiled, instantly analyzing each piece that he did and didn’t move. She played cautiously, making calculated low ranking unit losses so she could send just the right unit in to kill them. If they died, she noted the higher ranking unit and maneuvered herself to flank him on both sides. She always seemed to have a move or two planned ahead for each situation, and rarely made a move that cost her more than she cost him.

Cyrus laced both sides of his flag squad's area with bombs, he hardly moved his scouts more than one space, since they can be recognized easily, he is still unfamiliar with the game despite the previous marathon they had. It was almost time to put his plan into motion.

Dawn had been keeping her eyes narrowed and watching carefully. It was extremely common for flagged areas to be covered with bombs. Only the foolish or insane kept none near their flag. She only attacked units that moved and smiled, “I think I see what you’re doing….”

"Oh? And what am I doing?" Cyrus asks, keeping his eyes on the board, the biggest self imposed rule for himself whenever he does his pranks is to never react until the prank is done. he was very good at not making any weird expressions or gestures that would give him away.

Dawn continues to smile without answering, knowing that watching an opponent and where they're looking was almost always a clue for the inexperienced. His focus always returned to two key points, and she intended to use it. Carefully, she made her moves to advanced with a mixed set of units. a bomb pair, a couple scouts for along the way that were still alive, and her upper tier units along with her spy.

Cyrus smirked on the inside, he hardly looked anywhere in the direction of his flag, he had a feeling what he does in the board is only half the battle, he continues what he does, leading her to a dead end.

Dawn continued to fight, and frowned heavily as she lost one of her two major players, her second highest rank. She still had her third and first, but hadn’t captured his spy. Her brows furrowed. For all her genius, she was incredibly easy to read.

"Aaaaannnnnnnd.... that's the game." Cyrus said as he took the flag with a squad that consisted of the miner, spy and scout. He kept those three units out of any fights until the coast was clear for them to strike. "Told you I wasn't going to make it easy." he says with a smug look on his face.

Dawn laughed and bowed to him, “Very well… and where will I be sleeping tonight?”

"Hmm... I didn't think about that." Cyrus admits as didn't give much thought into it as all he was concerned with was winning this match.
Dawn chuckled and climbed up onto the bed next to him, leaning against him like before, “I see… Maybe we could read a book or something?”

"Well I have nothing better to do." Cyrus says as he grins, he always enjoys Dawn's company so he didn't mind.

Dawn chuckled and used magic to gather her books and pulled out a new one she had just purchased to read, laying out a few for him to have the option of reading himself.

Cyrus does take one himself and reads as well, he hardly took the time to read anything in this world, either because he would rather do something else or in the case of his current status, got sick of it because of the amount of paperwork he has to deal with. In this case though, he isn't complaining since he is curious about the books this world had to offer, he may as well see what he might have been missing this entire time.

Dawn herself was enjoying a tale of romance between an elf and a dragon who was protecting her from a clan of bugbear shapechangers. Some of the options included the more mundane, exploring what life might be like for a world without magic, while others included an alternate reality if magic worked differently than it currently did. Titles such as “The Misenchanted Sword,” “Detective Joe,” and “Help for the Bedwetting Child” which was probably in there by mistake.

Cyrus picked a book titled "Chronicles of the emblem of flames: The dark dragon" and so far he was enjoying it. "So... Mars and I can relate, We're both princes, and we both have swords that can only be used by our respective families... which we both lost for one reason or another." He comments as he finished the prologue. "Though the main differences are that he is an earth pony, and I am a unicorn, he can't use magic while I can, and he has an older sister while I don't have any siblings, I freaking envy him on the last point." he says as he starts to read chapter 1.
Dawn hummed as she looked up at him, “I’m sorry, what were you saying?” She asked. Clearly she was enjoying her book, “I see….” She bluffed as she looked down. “I hope to get to that sword book eventually. The characters aren’t ponies for some reason, but I dunno, seems a bit different, so I’m sticking with the familiar for now.

"... Yeah, weird." Cyrus says hesitantly. Technically I'm not supposed to be a pony myself... but I guess that isn't important for now. He thought as he continued to read the book he had.

“Although…” Dawn spoke up, putting the book down as she continued to lean against him, “Can’t help but wonder what it’d be like… only two legs, no horn magic… what do you think?”

"Hmm... That is an interesting thought, rather curious myself." he says as he puts one hoof on his chin as he thought. ‘Gods this is getting awkward! I am denying myself damn it!’ his face never reflected what he felt in his thoughts, he just kept reading the book he had.

Dawn shrugged and leaned against him more, completely comfortable in his presence in light of all the hardships they endured. Eventually, as another hour passed, she yawned and set her book down, staying nearby while her mind began to shut down.

Cyrus was in the middle of the fourth chapter when he started to feel drowsy, his horn magic dissipated and he fell asleep before he could put something to save his spot. He dreamed he was back home, back to being a human. He never forgot what it was like to walk on two legs and neither how it felt to have hands, the reason he didn't pick up a shield in this world was because he didn't know how it would work without his hands, plus he wasn't as used to using his telekinesis as Dawn is since she was a pony from the get go. Though reading the book gave him some ideas as to how it could work. Since he was asleep, he scooted closer to the nearest source of warmth, that being Dawn, as he was not aware of what he did in that state.

Dawn smiled gently as she caught the book for him and carefully moved the books onto the end table with a scrap piece of parchment used as his bookmark. She smiled happily as he went close to her. She laid him down carefully before taking the sheets bunched up near the foot of the bed and brought it up over them and tried not to giggle as she felt his hooves wrap around her body to hold her close before falling asleep herself.
The next morning Cyrus gets woken up by the sun's rays yet again, "Ugh, just when the dream was getting good too..." he says as he sat up drowsily, he looked around and saw that he slept with Dawn like he did back at the kingdom, I swear if she tries to pull that on me again, I am not going to be happy.
Cyrus thought as he looked at her, he wondered if this was going to keep happening every time they finish one of their games, he swears he could hear rumors about them spreading before it even happens.

Dawn slept peacefully for a few more minutes, looking peaceful and oddly vulnerable compared to all those times she was out in adventuring gear. She started to shift slowly and moved a hoof to her face, rubbing at her eyes before stretching. She pulled back instantly once she felt his leg with hers and blushed, “O-oh! C-cyrus…. Right… H-how’d you sleep?”

"Pretty good all things considered." He says as he starts stretching as well. "Well we better get to the temple to get Jus'tav brought back, they should be done with preparations by now." Cyrus says as he got off the bed, then getting all of his stuff together since they only paid for that night.

Dawn nodded, slowly getting off the bed herself and gathering her things before leaving and trying to put her mind on the task of getting Jus’tav back to life. She was soon suited up and readied to go at his side to go to the church, though her mind kept wandering to how that morning’s wakeup call was. It felt nice to sleep in a bed, but even nicer not to dream of fires and family long gone.

Once the party arrived at the temple, the priest they paid to bring their dead companion back started the ritual. A holy light enveloped Jus'tav's dead remains and was putting him back together. Any pieces that were lost after his death regenerated to be as though he never lost those pieces in the first place. When Jus'tav suddenly sat up gasping for breath as his spirit came back to his body, Cyrus patted him on the back with his hoof with a big grin saying, "Welcome back!" He was incredibly happy to have his companion back.

Dawn smiled and nodded to him, “It really is good to have you back. Sorry if we didn’t make it so well last time, but we’ll do better next time. We’ve been working hard to make sure that’s the case.”

Now with Jus'tav back from the dead, the group head back to the castle though it takes at least two days to get back, the first night they stopped for camp, Cyrus lost to Dawn because he got overconfident and made a dumb mistake. "Darn it!" he says as they were in Dawn's tent, "I can't believe I let you take my spy and general like that, argh!" He was not very happy he lost.

Dawn chuckled and tapped her sleeping bag, “You can take a guess as to where you’ll be sleeping tonight… I’ve already used my alertness spell on our guard. They’ll be good without rest the whole time. Got your book handy?” She giggled as she thought to herself, ‘probably the only reason I really wanted that spell!’

"Yeah, I have it with me." Cyrus says as he pulled out the book he was reading at the inn. Because there was no longer an urgency for getting back, he was able to take it easy at the back of the wagon to read more of his book, he was currently in chapter 10, where Mars and his army must infiltrate a castle to rescue princess Crimson Glow, in order to free Princess Scarlet Claw from their enemy's hold on her. He was enjoying himself with that book, from what he's heard, there are currently three books out, and the one he is reading is the first one.

Dawn smiled and enjoyed her time together, listening to the fire crackle as their horns lit their books. She eventually yawned and closed her book up, getting into the sleeping bag and looking up at Cyrus expectantly, as if he should join her in the bag in her tent.

Cyrus closes his book and looks at her, "Well... I did lose." He says simply and joins her in the sleeping bag. This is going to be awkward. He thought as he climbed in.

Dawn chuckled, “Yup… I wasn’t kidding when I said I wanted a warm body pillow.” She had this happy smile on her face that was transparent. She had grown to enjoy his company a great deal, between all their study together, fights, spellcasting, and she didn’t pay him any mind this night when he got into the bag. She zipped up the side and let the airy bag practically seal them in together from the neck down and shivered happily in place. “Good night Cyrus.”

"Good night." Cyrus says as he closed his eyes to sleep. At first it felt a bit awkward needing to sleep like this, he hardly uses a sleeping bag because of his habit of sleeping so close to the fire. But he guesses it is better to sleep in one this time since he is not close to the fire. He hated to admit it, but he was starting to get used to sleeping with Dawn, though the first time around was mostly due to them playing the game till they dropped. A smile grew on his face as he slept, for he was comfortable next to Dawn.

Dawn slept readily until morning, at which point she used her magic to bring her study materials close until Stalwart was ready to wake. She knew she needed her spells ready for the day ahead, and blushed as he moved in his sleep, hoof going down to her lower belly, but trying to focus. After all, he was asleep and didn’t mean it intentionally.

Cyrus slept soundly throughout the night. Cyrus woke up about ten minutes after Dawn. He drowsily opened his eyes and tried to stretch like he always did, only to feel slightly cramped and his hoof going up some fur. He realized that he was in a sleeping bag and remembered he was sleeping in it with Dawn, he quickly retracted his hoof, "Er... Sorry!" Cyrus apologizes quickly, his fur going bright red.

Dawn chuckled and wiggled her legs, accidentally rubbing his own, “N-not a-“ she froze, realizing what was going on, “u-uhm… how’d you sleep?”

"Um, pretty good actually." Cyrus answers, he used his horn magic to open the sleeping bag, he needed space to stretch. He gets up and stretches himself. "Much better." He says after stretching, he uses his magic to get his spell book, he sits down and looks through all of the spells he learned so far.

Dawn chuckled, “Couldn’t wait to get away from your mare friend huh?”

"Er... what?" He asks confused, it took him a few seconds for it to register in his head, his face turned red again. "Uh... that was not the intention... wait what?" Cyrus asks again, he could have sworn she called herself his mare friend.

Dawn laughed and got up from the bag, “Nothing, nevermind. You missed the joke.” She shook her body, shivering slightly in the crisp air and donned her clothes as she reviewed her spells.

"Er... right then." Cyrus says as he goes back to his spell book, choosing his spells, he always takes shield, that spell has saved his flank more times than he can count. Snowball is another choice he likes since there have been times he needed to stay away from the fray. other than those two, he always had a hard time choosing his spells.

Dawn finished quickly, nearly always sticking with the same spells over and over again. She started to don her armor, when she saw him still studying. She quietly trotted up behind him and gave him a surprise hug, draping her forelimbs over his shoulders while saying, “Hai there!”

Cyrus looked see Dawn, "Oh hai." He says with a grin, he went with a lot of his usual spells, including force sword in case the enemy's armor was too hard. After he finished he closes his book. "How ya doin?" He asks Dawn who was still hugging him.

Dawn chuckled and put her head on top of his and shrugged. “Not bad, hoping Jus’tav can cook breakfast this morning to any degree of success this time…”

Cyrus laughed, "It was his turn now wasn't it?" He says, he hopes the food doesn’t get burnt like last time. "Well, if it does go bad, at least we have rations to eat if it does."

Dawn nodded, “Yeah… oh well. I’ve got plenty. What’s on the agenda for today? We’ve saved the colt, are we going after that nay-sayer again or that forest drake or something new?”

"We are heading back to the castle right now to get any shopping done... while we look for the naysayer that is, he is a slippery bastard I'll give him that." Cyrus says as he thinks about it, "then we will probably try to kill that drake again. Then explore what's left."

Dawn nodded, "Sounds like a plan... though, I don't suppose anyone could make some drake-skin armor could they?" She asked in a fit of inspiration, stepping toward their tent flap.

"Hmm... not sure, maybe the smith back in the kingdom might, I am not too sure." Cyrus says exiting the tent with Dawn, he was hoping that breakfast was edible since Jus'tav didn't do a very good job last time.

Dawn frowned already at the breakfast… it was only half burnt, but was still crispy. She had tactfully ignored the dish and proceeded to eat her ration, then turned near crimson when glider asked how their ‘sleep’ was. Glider, being the tactful pony she was, practically asked her in particular what she’d name the prince or princess after their ‘fun’ of last night. “For the last time! We didn’t do anything but play a board game!”

'... why do I have such nosey retainers?' Cyrus asked himself, he was so annoyed that it helped him eat the half burnt breakfast. It didn't stop his face from going slightly red though. "It's as Dawn says, we played a board game and nothing more." He said as he finished. "Anyway, once everyone finishes their breakfast, we will head out. You are still on pulling duty Glider, you still haven't worked off your sentence." Cyrus said with a glare, he still hasn't forgiven Glider for the little mishap that almost cost them Jus'tav and all their lives. Glider groans because she has been doing nothing but pulling the cart for the past week.

Dawn smirks but decides to help out by pulling the cart along with them, thinking over how the combined magics might work if they mastered other spells together.

The party had arrived at the castle just as the sun was setting, after eating, Cyrus was out in his usual practice area practicing his spell strikes, he found he and dawn have yet to practice combining their spells after the lizardman incident. He knew they were close to perfecting it, they just needed to go at it some more.

Dawn stuck by Cyrus’ side after they arrived, tired, but grateful for a home to return to. “Home sweet home… I wonder if it’ll ever be finished…”

"With that owlbear around... not likely." Cyrus says as he swings his uncharged blade, "We'll have to take it down before the end of the month, or else we might not have the funds to rebuild everything again." he says while swinging.

Dawn nodded, continuing her magical concentrations, practicing her ice and lightning on her blade and stabbing or slashing at a wood log to test its effectiveness. “Why aren’t we-“ she stopped, remembering the reason why that might be easier said than done. “Well, what can we do to keep it from happening?”

"Well... we can go around exploring areas we haven't been to yet, and get stronger exploring them, then there are several quests we can do to get funds to equip ourselves for the fight. Then there is the combining our magic we have yet to perfect." Cyrus lists off, "Speaking of equipment, I have to remember to buy a breastplate tomorrow before we set off."

Dawn nodded, “Definitely need you to have as much protection as possible… After all, who will else would I play board games with?” She laughed and then asked, “You ready for another try at that spell combining?”

Cyrus takes one final swing before answering, "I thought you'd never ask." he says as he takes his position. "Ok, we just need to get the timing and amount of power to put in at once. You ready?" he asked as he readied his stance, ready to strike the log in front of him.
Dawn nodded, “Lets do this!” She said, readying herself to cast, intent to get him up to the needed power and holding it there for those few crucial seconds.

Once Dawn said she was ready, Cyrus chanted the spell and his sword glowed with electricity and swung the blade at the log.

Dawn surged it up to that practiced level of magic output, trying to get it there fast but without getting it higher than it should, hearing the familiar cackle and watching it strike the log.

When the log was struck with the blade, it was being electrocuted as the blade cleaved into it, the log was pitch black after the magic died down. Cyrus picked up one of the halves with his magic after he sheathed his sword, "I think we did it!" he says as he holds it up with his magic.

Dawn squees loudly with delight and practically jumps on him in her excitement at their success. "We did it, we did it we did it!"
"Whoa!" Cyrus falls over at the sudden glomp, he laughs as he was happy that they finally got it down. "Yup! We did it!" He says with a smile on his face.

Dawn laughs giddily before getting off of him and clearing her throat “w-well, it’s about time!” She said, trying to stay composed while they basked in the glow of success.

"Yeah, it is, I am not going to lose though." Cyrus says as he gets up, he is determined to win the game for the night. "this success has me pumped so I won't lose!"

Dawn smirked, “Funny, I was about to say the same thing!” She said, leading the way to her room to give that board game yet another go. They played, and while it got very close, she lost to the king by leaving one side exposed and a scout was able to capture the flag!

"And I win, told ya I wasn't going to lose." Cyrus said with a grin on his face, "That makes two wins for me and one for you... not counting all the games prior." Cyrus said as he used his magic to write a score page in a blank journal he had.

Dawn frowned, “Didn’t expect you to get so good so quickly…” She sighed and bowed to him like before, “So, where would you wish for me to sleep, King Cyrus?” She giggled lightly, knowing he didn’t like those titles.

"Ugh, you know how I hate formalities, especially between friends." Cyrus says looking a little annoyed. "For that you are sleeping in my room." Cyrus wasn't thinking when he said that.

Dawn smirked, “I know Cyrus, I’m just teasing.” She said as she put the game away. “After you~” she said, suggesting he should go to his room. If she were honest with herself, the system of betting winner choose where loser sleeps was turning out quite well!

Very well." Cyrus said as he lead the way to his room, while the room was grand, there were some things scattered around, "Uh, sorry about the mess." he says as he clears some things off the floor, Dawn steps on a note book, in it were sketches of ponies and others with names on them, she recognizes the ones on the later pages and even sees a sketch of herself in it.

Dawn paused and picked it up, looking at that page of herself and smiled as she put it down on a desk nearby, "you make me look much prettier than i really am. Do you enjoy drawing?"

"Huh? Oh, uh... kind of. I mostly just draw whatever companions I have in this world, but I guess if you liked your entry, then I guess I did a good job." Cyrus says as he scratches the back of his head, it was clear he never intended to show the journal in the first place. "Anyway make yourself at home I guess." He says as he climbs on the bed and starts reading his book.

Dawn laughed, "don't tempt me or i might just start cleaning your room!" She shook her head, "its funny really, i feel the need to clean when with others, but my own room's allowed to be a mess... im such a hypocrite." She chuckled as she climbed up near the foot of the bed to read her own book

"Please don't, last time the servants cleaned my room, some of my stuff was missing because they thought they were junk." Cyrus says as he did not like the idea of others moving his things around. "Anyway, I guess we can cross mastering the combine magics from the list of things to do since we just mastered it."

Dawn smirked, "sounds good to me! I feel the same on my room. We have a system and it works," she said as she opened her book

"At least we agree on something." Cyrus said grinning as he continues to read his. He was getting close to the end of his book by the time he felt drowsiness hit, "I don't know about you, but I'm gonna sleep." he says as he puts his book away. "Good night." Cyrus then gets comfortable on the bed and sleeps.

Dawn read just a little more, then shivering in the chilled wintery air, pulled up the covers over them both as she left herself drift to sleep.

As before, Cyrus instinctively seeks the nearest source of warmth, that again being Dawn. He then pulls her closer to himself like he always did, never aware of what he does in his sleep. He smiles as he feels the warmth of his companion right next to him.

Dawn wiggled in place and sighed, happy for the companionship, even if glider loved to make them feel awkward for it. She fell asleep thinking on that initial bet and thought, "worth it" before being lost to dreams of warm clouds and back massages.

In the morning, Cyrus wakes from the sunlight pouring in from the window, he reluctantly opens his eyes. I swear, once this castle is finished, I will have blinds on my window and will have the last laugh, mark my words you damn ball of fire. Cyrus thought as he glares at the window. He drowsily gets up, he pretty much stopped questioning Dawn sleeping with him at this point, both didn't seem to mind this and it doesn't seem to matter who wins the game at the moment since the outcome ends up like this regardless. he looks into his spell book and sees one of the new spells he jotted down, the fly spell. he stares at it then looks at the window, he decides that now would be the perfect time to test the new spell. He carefully gets out of bed to not wake Dawn, walks up to the window and chants the spell, from his back grew ethereal wings of magic in a red color as that is the usual color his magic comes out as in this world. He first sees how he can control the wings, eventually figuring out it was with his mind since they were magic wings. He backs up a little before going for a running start, jumps at the last possible second, and spreads his ethereal wings once he is out of the window. He was gliding at first since he wasn't moving his wings, but then he angles them to make himself ascend. "Whooohoooo!!!" He shouts as he went higher, however he forgot that he was supposed to flap his wings as well, so he started to fall, "OH CRAP!!!" he shouts as he falls into some trees, breaking his fall.

Dawn stirred heavily, being quite sluggish but swore she heard Cyrus' voice. She reached over to where he had been sleeping, only to feel alarmed that his spot, while warm, was empty. She bolted up and rushed around the room, trying to figure out where he went.

"Ow... that was rough." Cyrus says as he is lying on a branch. Aside from several bruises and a hurt back, he was perfectly fine, he checks his ethereal wings to see if they're broken, which they weren't. "Ok, flap wings, got it." He says as he prepares to jump yet again. He jumps with his wings spread like before, this time he flaps them every so often to stay air born, though rather clumsily. "Easy, easy." He says to himself trying to keep himself in the air.

Dawn tried to keep calm, after all, there wasn’t that much trouble he could get into, right? She yawned, stretched, and headed over to the window, looking out idly without intending to look for anything in particular.

Cyrus's hoof came up and grabbed on the edge of his window, he was flapping his wings hard trying to stay airborne, "How do pegasi make this look easy!?!" he says while he struggles, he is slowly rising to the window.

Dawn nearly jumps out of her skin when she suddenly spots Cyrus with wings! “C-cyrus!? What the hells!”

"Uh... hi Dawn. I felt a little adventurous, so I decided to try out the fly spell, not as easy to use as I thought." He says with a forced grin and as nonchalantly as possible.

Dawn stared openly at him, then looked down and saw some broken wood below and smirked, “I can imagine… Still, couldn’t wait to find out what it’s like to be an Alicorn huh?”

"Uh... no I just wanted to see what it was like to fly, we are the only two who couldn't till now." He says as he puts his other hoof on the window and starts to pull himself up with the slight aid of his ethereal wings.

Dawn laughed and used her own hooves to pull him up as well, only to use too much of her own weight and toppled over backward, pulling him on top of her. In spite of it, she started laughing at herself even more than she already had been.

Cyrus laughed as well since his flying was really bad. "Well that was fun." He comments before he realized he was on top of Dawn, "Um... Uh... sorry!" He says as he gets off though the red ethereal wings have yet to dissipate. His face was red from the position they were both in while he was picking out twigs and leaves from his mane and tail, the latter being the only thing he was still not used to having.

Dawn smiled and slowly got up, looking over his wings, “Red… I wonder why red… your coat is white, and your tail… gods it’s a mess! Don’t you ever brush it?”

"...No, I don't." He says hesitantly as he didn’t want to admit he completely forgot it's existence despite it being attached to him.

Dawn laughed and shook her head, “Geeze… Didn’t your mother teach you about how to care for your tail, fur, or anything?” She let out a sigh through her smile and said, “Come on. Can’t have you make a bad impression on somepony just because you don’t know any basic grooming…”

"Alright." He says as he followed Dawn, he moved the ethereal wings about to see how much control he had over them. Though he couldn’t do it too long as his wings unmateralized since the spell wore off. "Aw." Cyrus says disappointed as he was starting to get the hang of controlling them.

Dawn chuckled, “You know, if you were a ‘proper’ prince, you would probably have wings all the time. Or at least, I think so. Nopony’s seen a male Alicorn though…” she said, getting out her spare brushes and starting to use one on his coat from the neck down his body.

"Maybe I just wasn't meant to be an alicorn or maybe I just haven't earned them yet... who knows." Cyrus says as he shrugs, he wouldn’t have known anyway since he wasn't supposed to be a pony in the first place.

Dawn laughed, “No idea… but maybe one day. I haven’t seen you smile so much since you won that game against me for the first time.”

"Well its not too surprising when you have to consider I was afraid, alone, confused, and just flat out home sick." Cyrus points out. "I guess I'm just happy to find somepony who understands what I'm going through, especially since you're no different in terms of being in an unfamiliar world." He then looks at the mark he had on his flank, a blade infused with fire, he wondered why he had that, he was never able to figure it out.

Dawn nodded and continued to brush, getting many knots sorted out, occassionally painfully. She studied that mark as she did before asking, "Hey Cyrus? How did your parents choose your name?"

"Uh... oh my name?" He asked as he came back to reality, "Well, I guess my dad just wanted to name me after the kingdom I guess, I never asked." He admitted. He never did wonder why his parents called him that. "And you?"

Dawn nodded, thinking as she brushed his midsection toward his back flank, “I was named Meadow because of my coat of fur. When I got my cutie mark and we celebrated my cuteseanera, I was called Meadow Dawn after that, and it kinda stuck. My mark always reminds me that there’s somepony out there who needs a good smile, a guiding light of sorts, and I trust that’s true for me as I try to return home….”

"I see... I suppose that was true in my case. Thought mine would have reflected my nature, but I guess reflecting how I fight works too." He says. He still didn’t know what he was talking about, he just said it because it made sense to him.

Dawn looks at him curiously, “Y-you… don’t know what a cutie mark is do you.”

"Huh?" He asks.

Dawn looked at him more seriously, “I’ve kinda figured something’s been off here…. Level with me… Were you always a pony?” She asked. She knew it was a long shot, but so much of what he did and didn’t do as a pony always seemed off. How he handled his weapon, how he tried to grab things with his hooves still despite being a unicorn and being able to use horn magic, and with him being from another world, she just couldn’t shake this feeling that he knew either a lot more or a lot less than he let on.

His head drooped down and the shadows of his mane covered his eyes. "Does it matter?" He asks, there was a bit of fear in his voice and a bit of sadness, as though he was scared of the outcome of what would happen if he did tell her.

Dawn hugged, trying to reassure him as best she could. She interpreted his answer as a definitive ‘yes’ and did what she could to help. “Geeze… no wonder you’re so out of sorts… To me, it doesn’t really matter that much, but it explains a bit.” She paused, trying to think of just what else she could really say. “Sorry if I upset you by asking…”

"Please don't ask me about it again, it's hard enough to get used to what I am without thinking about what I truly am." Cyrus says soberly, "Plus it's not something I want to talk about."

Dawn nodded, feeling rather guilty for having brought it up at all, and continued to focus on brushing down his flanks while dwelling on the subject. She realized she struck a sore nerve, and didn’t think it was going to be that hard on him, but in hindsight, realized just how stupid that was. She barely mumbled a “sorry” before continuing her task, hoping this didn’t ruin their friendship.

"Its fine, its not like I wasn't expecting it to come eventually, I mean with how often you're with me... it was only a matter of time." He says, looking a bit more depressed, "I just don't want to lose my closest friend here, and I felt that truth would have made you leave me." he admits, his fear was still there.

Dawn sighed in relief and then moved to in front of him and gave him a kiss with her eyes closed. She held it for a couple seconds before chuckling weakly, trying to sound more confident than she felt, ‘Y-you won’t get rid of me that easily… I mean really, we’ve done how much together already? C-come on…” She said, trying hard to keep her hooves on the ground for fear they’d start shaking. She felt horrid, as if he thought that she would leave. Had she done that bad a job showing him what she was truly like?

Cyrus was not expecting the kiss, when she finished, he had to ask, "So... you really don't mind that I am not really what I am?" he asked, his eyes peering from the shadows of his mane at Dawn, as though scared that she wasn't telling the truth, his green eyes looking into her's.

Dawn shook her head, “N-not yet anyway… I honestly don’t know what I’d think if I did see you as something else, but… it doesn’t change how you’d act right?”

"Last I checked before coming here, I don't think I've changed at all, my body may be different," Cryus says as he put his hoof on his chest, "but my heart won't change for that reason." he says as he hugs Dawn, "I'm just glad you won't think of me any different." Cyrus says with tears streaming down his eyes, relieved that this wouldn't change anything between them.

Dawn nodded, unable to speak and tearing up herself. She had worried she had said the wrong thing at the wrong time again, and now she knew that it was not the case. She may not know what he had been like, but now she knew not to talk of it and held him close, because she treasured her friend and was glad he would still stick around.

Cyrus held her for a few more minutes before letting go, "I guess you were still doing something." he said with a small smile as he plucked another twig from his tail with his horn magic.

Dawn chuckled weakly and brushed her eyes with her wrist before going back to stroking his flank with the appropriate tools, “Y-yeah… we’ll get you sorted out in the end. If anyone gives you a hard time, come to me ok?”

"Right, you'll be the first to know." Cyrus says with a small chuckle, You know, being a pony isn't so bad... at least I have someone I can count on here... still doesn't beat being human though. He thought as he continued to pull more debris from his tail.

Dawn nods, "I'll help you out as best I can, that's for sure." She said, looking at his tail and shook her head, "Ok... this... looks like it's gonna hurt. It's so tangled I'm surprised nopony noticed before now... then again, neither had I... Mind sitting down on the edge of a chair or your bed? This might take a bit..."

"Uh... sure." Cyrus says as he climbs on the bed like Dawn asks, he was not sure he wanted his tail to be groomed because of Dawn's comment.

Dawn took a deep breath, placed a blanket over his hindside for his own privacy, and then started to brush from the top, but when it tugged too much she tried going from the end, using part of her grip on the brush and straightening out the tail down low and working her way to the end each time, the other part gripping the hair above it so it wouldn’t hurt when she had to be more forceful.

Cyrus felt some of it, and it hurt, "OW, ow, ow, ow, ow," He did not think something like this would hurt. Ok, I take back what I said, being a pony is not good after all! He thought as it almost felt like his tail was being pulled off.

Dawn stopped and looked up to him, “Sorry… gods, your tail is a mess…. If we want to take care of it and not risk hurting you, we might have to just cut it shorter, and focus on brushing it above a certain point, then once it’s long enough to still give you some privacy, cut that part off and go back to maintenance…” She sighed and tried to take it smaller pieces at a time, not the whole tail, but small bundles at a time to make it infinitely more bearable.

"Yeah... that sounds better..." he says as he is relieved that it wasn't hurting anymore, "I don't even know why my tail is so long in the first place." Cyrus commented as Dawn continued to brush his tail.

Dawn chuckled, "Probably because you didn't have anypony to learn about how to handle that I imagine... any idea how long you want your tail?"

"I don't know, as long as its easy to manage, seriously its been that long since I got here." Cyrus says looking at his tail.

Dawn laughed briefly, “I guarantee you THAT’s not true. Specially if you’ve been here long enough to become king… Honestly, I’m thinking right about halfway down to the ground would be about right for you. Long enough for privacy, swatting flies, yet short enough to not get muddied up by the ground and dirt or mud unless you take another tumble.”

"That sounds good I guess, You're the expert." Cyrus says leaving it to Dawn's better judgment. "Will probably start brushing it every so often now so that I don't have to go through that again." Cyrus says cringing at pain from earlier.

Dawn nods, grabbing some scissors and carefully snipping at it at as close to an even length as she could manage before playfully patting him on the rump, “Sounds like a plan. Your royal tail has been trimmed. Climb on down and let me know what you think of it and I’ll try to keep it in mind for next time.”

Cyrus climbed down from the bed to look at his tail, "Yeah I think this looks good, might miss its original length, but eh, I think I prefer it like this." Cyrus says as he continues to examine his tail.

Dawn smirked, “Cyrus… if you stay like you are for about a year or so, you’ll practically get it down to the old length anyway. How long since you came to this world and… well…” She asked, trying not to so directly remind him of whatever he was beforehand.

"Um... been here for a bit more than half a year now." Cyrus says as he tries to remember how long its been. "Well I doubt we'll stay here for that long. but good to know in case we do." Cyrus says with a grin, "Anyway we should get going and get some breakfast, we can't go looking for a naysayer on an empty stomach." He says with a smile.

Dawn smirked, “Yeah… let’s eat. Though, for future reference, it’s taken me a good 2-3 years to get everything I have now, and I fully expect this to take another year or two to get the materials I’ve encountered so far, not counting any adjustments for bringing you with. So, better pony up and get ready to stick around this world with a good friend for a while longer.”

"Wouldn't have it any other way Dawn." Cyrus says with a grin, as long as he has dawn as his companion, he wouldn't mind waiting a few more years, he wasn't going to be alone for a while, and he prefers it that way.

Dawn laughed as she waited for him by his door, “So, about that flight spell…”

5: Celebrating the revenge for those who had fallen

Author's Notes:

Background:

Cyrus and company finally encountered the cave that held the giant owlbear that had demolished his old companions as they tried to hold it back enough to let him escape and live. Dawn and Cyrus worked together to sling spell after spell at the thing, nearly any swipe powerful enough to almost kill him in one blow. At one point the owlbear connected with him and dealt a grevious blow, but before it could hit him again, Dawn dealt a final blow with two stone disci to pummel and cut it into submission. He used his wand of cure light wounds to regain his ability to fight, and they had cleared out the threats to that cave.

"Well that could have gone better..." Cyrus says as the group leave the cave, he felt a bit sluggish after getting stabbed by one of the giant purple bugs. He didn't feel ill, just sluggish. He couldn't believe that there were so many bugs on the other side of the hole in the ceiling. But he was happy they dealt with the Owl Bear and retrieved the bodies of his former comrades.

Dawn nodded, looking him over in concern. Her spell seemed ot bring him back to normal for a little, but it was all too brief and she was nearly spent on magical energies. "Cyrus... you probably should get some rest in the cart or something.. you sure you're ok?"

"I'm fine, it was just a scratch, nothing life threatening." He says, though he didn’t want to know what would have happened if he wasn't so quick and nimble, plus his new armor helped.

Dawn stood close next to him and said, "I was worried... you almost looked like you were going to shake when we encountered that owlbear... I never expected it to be THAT big... and then seeing what it did to our animal friend.... I'm really glad you're safe."

"Yeah, it surprised me the first time as well." Cyrus says remembering the first time he encountered the Owl Bear. "I didn't expect it to shrug off the lighting bolt I used the first time. It was alot tougher than I thought." He then remembers how he seemed to refuse to move, it didn't seem to be out of fear this time, but of anger, if he was to die, he would have taken the Owlbear with him. "I have to admit, I was not expecting that lighting bolt, thanks."

Dawn nodded, "I... I was worried and kinda panicked. I didn't know if casting my own spell was right or if i should have helped you with yours... I just... I couldn't stand by and risk watching it cut you apart. You know?" She said this all quietly, her voice almost quivering before she took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "A-anyway... " but she never continued, unsure what to talk about.

"It kept me alive so I would say it was a success." Cyrus assures, "But I'll try to be more careful next time, wouldn’t want to leave you without an opponent for your game." He says with a smile, he felt some guilt that he was going to deliberately risk dying just for a grudge. It was shameful to think about. "It is getting dark, so I guess we should set up camp, after that we shall see who wins today." He says with a smirk, he feels it would do no good thinking about what happened, so he decides to change the topic to at least try to take their minds off death.

Dawn nodded, leaning against him just a little bit before she went to get her tent pitched and set the game and their things inside before getting the mess kits ready. It was her turn to cook tonight and she was still a fan of heavy, thick stews. Thankfully, everyone’s hunts was more than plentiful and they ate heartily. Dawn had a goofy smile from the amount of food she ate, and barely walked to her tent in peace. She had cast her alertness rest spell thing on their feline rogue, and thought it was almost sad that she could cast the stupid spell right, yet couldn’t remember its name at the moment. Still, she and Cyrus won a night of rest to themselves for being the main ones to tackle such a huge foe and she was going to make full use of it.

"Darn... I lost..." Cyrus says with an annoyed tone. He got overconfident and lost several key pieces for his plan. He then takes out the journal and jots down a win for Dawn. "Note to self, be less predictable." He says to himself.

Dawn chuckled, going around the board to sit next to him and leaned against his body as she stated, “Well, looks like I have my sleeping buddy once again. Still, it’ll be good as a reminder that you didn’t die in the process and keep the nightmares away.” She said, giving him a kiss on the cheek before slowly, wearily picking herself up and spreading out her sleeping bag, unzipping it and laying it out. She and Cyrus had since realized they could have more room by bringing their sleeping bags together and linking them as a top and bottom respectively. She levitated a book over to her and continued reading it, relaxing as she read about the tales of a two legged rider of dragons.

Cyrus had finished the book he was reading a bit ago, he enjoyed it and thought about how it would be like if they both met, he could only wonder. He climbs into the sleeping bag with dawn and went through the book to find his favorite moments. He then remembered that he had a question that he wanted to ask for a while but kept forgetting, "Hey Dawn, I've been meaning to ask... whatever happened to your fox? I only saw it when we first met but haven't seen it since." he asks out of the blue.

Dawn looked up and headtilted, “What do- Oh!” She balked, surprised at herself for not noticing. “Dammit! I never can keep an eye on him!” She used her magic to try and call out to him, silent otherwise, and soon enough he trotted along into the tent and gave a headtilt of his own. “Ah, there you are… Cyrus, meet Mr. Fox. A little girl I helped rescue and protect asked me to care for him, and we’ve kinda been inseparable since. Even so, I loathe to bring him into battle like our companion does – especially with what happens – so he goes out and does his own foxy things. Prolly has found a good mate or two to knock up if I had to joke.” She smirked though winced as she had a slight nip from him as she commented about his possible habits.

"It looks like he doesn't like being accused of that." Cyrus says as he laughs, "But yeah I get what you mean, Adalgor already lost two mooses already, and is currently trying to make the Owl bear cub his new familiar... probably a good Idea not to get your little friend involved in these fights as you said." Cyrus says as he holds his hoof out, seeing if the fox would let him pet him.

Dawn chuckles as the fox rather readily goes over to him and sniffs at Cyrus before staying put. “He’s a clever one, despite the name. Still, he doesn’t want to be called anything else. The girl who helped pull him out of that collapsed den called him that, and that’s what he’ll stay.” She chuckled and began to tease. “Come on, get in bed. I miss my blanket warmer~”

"Alright, I can't complain really." Cyrus says as he gets in the sleeping bag. He really couldn't, on one hand he lost the match so he has to, on the other he really didn't mind at this point, mostly because it was strangely comfortable having someone near him as he slept. He felt more tired than he usually was, which he concludes might be the poison from those bugs, Adalgor explained that it wasn't lethal, but that it could have left him paralyzed. "Good night." He says as he goes to sleep.

Dawn slept against him as always, herself curling up around Mr Fox, who would leave her grasp once she fell asleep to do his own things. He acted more like a free roaming pet than a familiar more often than not. Dawn slept soundly, no dreams, and felt groggy and almost dead tired come the morning.

Cyrus wandered in his dream, until he came across a clear split, it felt as though he was at the edge of his dream and that of someone else. he follows the split without crossing onto the other side. He eventually came across a cliff and at its edge on the other side of the split sat a lone red pony with a white mane. from what Cyrus could tell, this pony was a stallion from his build, though couldn't tell if he was a Unicorn or an earth pony since his back was turned towards Cyrus. The Pony wore a blue tunic, a pale yellow scarf that seems to be reinforced, and a worn feathered hat. Cyrus could also see that the mystery stallion had a shortsword at his side, meaning he was a swordsman. Cyrus was about to talk to him when the dream stopped there, he drowsily woke up, "Dang it, so close." he said both drowsily and disappointed.

Dawn slept, stirring slightly as she felt movement, but didn't wake. Her horn glowed lightly, like a nightlight in the early morning.
Cyrus looks over to Dawn and smiles, but then he ponders about the Pony he saw in his dream, he has seen several red ponies before, but had yet to see one with a white mane, "Who the hell was he?" he thought he would have tried to sketch him, but he has yet to have seen his face. He continues to think about it for several minutes.

Dawn woke up sluggishly, barely getting up and almost tried to stand on two legs, until her balance felt really off and went down to all four. She shook her head and mumbled, "silly dream... why only two legs and no horns." She snorted before going over to cyrus and leaned against him for warmth, "mornin..."

Cyrus's thought was interrupted when Dawn leaned on him, he looks at her and smiles, "Morning." He greets back, he decided to put the thoughts on the strange pony to the side for now, it wasn't important that he knows about him anyway. "Slept well?" He asked.

Dawn nodded, stretching slowly, "yeah, just feeling weird. Was enjoying this book so much i nearly dreamed i was in it... you?"

"Uh, funny you should mention weird dreams, for some reason mine felt connected to some other pony's... It was weird." Cyrus says scratching his head, "But I guess it was just a dream so I shouldn't worry too much about it."

Dawn shrugged, "unless you or they were casting a premonition type spell or communication one... i don't know how to detect one, but still."

"Well I know I didn't cast it, plus the guy wasn't paying attention to me so I can safely conclude its just a dream." Cyrus says as he uses his horn magic to bring his spell book to him, "Plus we have six days until the new month starts, so I think it would be a good idea to explore some more before we head back to the castle." Cyrus says as he opens the book to prepare his usual spells.

Dawn nodded, looking over to her stack of magisterial items, approving coursework and guidelines for the kingdom... when the time came anyway.

As Cyrus studies his spells, he picks up one of his pencils with his horn magic, he then sees his journal and tries to pick that up with his horn magic as well, though is finding it difficult due to him already holding something else. Eventually the magic disperses and he lets out a "Tch" as the magic dispels, he was still finding it difficult to get used to his horn magic, at least when it came to lifting multiple objects anyway.

Dawn looks over to him confused at the 'tch' sound he made and quietly asks, “Is everything all right?"

"Uh, everything is fine, don't worry about it." Cyrus says reassuringly. This time bringing the two items to himself one at a time with his horn magic.

Dawn frowned, watching him, but not wanting to hurt his pride trying to offer more help. She learned through a lot of difficulty how to hold two things at once, but she knew he was struggling, but knew that if he wanted help, he could ask for it.

Once Cyrus finished picking his spells he closes his spell book and gets up, "I don't know about you, but I'm hungry." He says as he stretched, looking as though the disappointment from earlier never happened.

Dawn chuckled, "all right. What are you in the mood for?"

"Hmm, not sure." Cyrus says as he puts his hoof on his chin thinking about it. "Mmm, I can't say, I'm not really craving anything specific."

Dawn chuckled, "all right, I'll see what we can do." She left the tent, leaving him to his own devices. She tried to cook up some patties, intent on making burgers. She remembered how resistant she was to eating some of this world's foods, but has grown to enjoy it.

Once Dawn left the tent, Cyrus tries to lift multiple objects once again, he wants to ask for help learning to get used to his horn magic now that Dawn knows his secret, but his pride kept preventing that from happening. The magic dispelled again and he looks slightly more annoyed than he was previously, "Tch!" He says in annoyance as he tries again.

Dawn cooked the burgers that Jus'tav requested everyone have today, putting some of the seasonings onto Cyrus' from her own supplies before carrying their food in. Dawn spoke up, "here you go Cyrus... got you a drink too if you want." She said, pulling out one of her wine bottles

She smiled on the inside, having personally enchanted the carrier for her drinks to be always just the right chilled temperature for the flavor.

"Oh, thanks." Cyrus says as he let his most recent attempt dispel as he goes to get his meal, he takes the burger with his horn magic and takes a bite from it, "Delicious as always!" He says as he takes another bite, his frustrations melted away with his enjoyment of his food.

Dawn chuckled and kept the wine flowing as much as desired. It was fun to see him enjoy himself.

Cyrus didn't drink much, he was always mindful not to be careless of how much he drank, the last thing he needed was to end up drunk. He remembers a time when one of the guards back in his own world got drunk, it was not a fun time as he got angry easily and got mad at Cyrus for a comment he did, he was lucky Tom and Gearfried were there to stop the guy, but that was traumatizing all the same. He did not want to end up like that and accidentally hurt anyone.

Dawn chuckled as she drank half the bottle. She could hold her liquor, and she was celebrating. Cyrus was still alive, they killed the menacing owlbear, and he complimented her food again. She was getting slightly red, mostly in her ears that seemed to be a lighter green, almost yellow as she drank till she put away the bottle. She felt slightly unsteady on her hooves, but that's when she knew to stop, and she was a grinning mare, giggling at much of what cyrus said if he spoke.

Cyrus was describing how he mostly wanted to focus on getting the castle finished, but stopped when he noticed how Dawn was giggling when he really wasn't saying anything funny, "You alright? I don't think I've been saying anything funny." He says slightly concerned. Though he probably could guess what was going on.

Dawn shrugged, trying to stop giggling and said, "I'm just happy. We killed the owlbear! We kept the kingdom safe and have cause to celebrate! Come on... when ponies in the kingdom hear of this they'll want a happy king to tell 'em!" She said exuberantly, standing up on only her hind legs with little problem a pace behind him.

"I guess you're right, that is a reason to celebrate." Cyrus says as he sees her point, his friends were avenged and the kingdom is safe from the Owl Bear. He stood on his own hind legs and caught Dawn as it looked like she was off balance, "Ponies aren't exactly meant to stand on their hind legs you know." He says, he has a little trouble himself due to the way pony hind legs are not meant for this, but his experience as a human allowed him to do it better than Dawn.

Dawn giggled and stayed in his arms, giggling more, "you're pretty good at this. You done it before?" She wobbled before going down on her four legs right next to him.

"Let's just say that I had a lot of practice and leave it at that." Cyrus says as he goes back to down to all fours, it was clear he wasn't going to go into detail even if she asked.

Dawn giggled again and stepped out into the outdoors again, intent on taking a walk and cooling down. She felt hot and a walk was just what she needed. She called out as she closed the tent behind her, "remember to have fun Cyrus! See ya soon!"

"See ya." Cyrus waved as she left, he pondered on what fun to do, he looked at his pack and looked through it, looking for something. he looked for several minutes until he pulled out a baton, he remembers that he got it back in his world after helping a wondering fire dancer who was trying to get by. He taught Cyrus how to do it, but Cyrus was not sure how to pull it off in this form though, he would have to figure that out on his own. He put it away and continued to look through his pack, he then pulls out an item he hasn't used in a long time, his old whoopee cushion, he stares at it for a moment then a devilish grin appears on his face as plans start forming in his head. "Oh I'm going to have fun all right." he says as he stuffs it into his tunic to use on his first victim.

Dawn eventually came back, looking much more like her usual self, less red and wobbly. Her hair was still damp and she smiled broadly in the glow of positivity, likely still feeling plenty of her wine, but hiding it better. "Sorry to keep y'all waiting. We ready to move on?"

"Yeah, we are, we just finished getting everything together." Cyrus says as he finished putting some things in the cart. He was considering who would be his first victim out of his long hiatus of pranking, the two he is considering most is Grim Glider and Jus'tav. "Anyway it looks like you've cooled down a bit." Cyrus says as he notices that she is doing better at the moment.

Dawn giggled a little, "yeah, sorry bout that. It'd been a while since i drank. Wait, whatcha up to?"

"Hmm?" Cyrus looked at her confused, hiding his sense of mischief, "Just getting things ready for us to explore the surrounding area, why?"

Dawn shrugged, "Just feeling really good about today, that's all."

"Ah, ok then, that makes sense, victory with the Owl Bear and the like." Cyrus says with a smile, "Well let's cover as much ground as we can before the end of the month, that way we'll know if they're worth taking for the kingdom." Cyrus says with a lot of enthusiasm, "That ought to make our subjects happy as well."

Dawn went over to the tent, packing it up after putting all their things away. She often had to pick up after Cyrus, but she didn't mind. It was a bit of an unspoken agreement between them that she would take care of it while he slept in her tent. She admired how well their game stayed intact despite night after night after night of constant play, happy about it in the end.

Once everyone was ready to go, Cyrus gave the order to march, the next area they visited didn’t have anything of value despite all of their exploring. They eventually made camp due to it getting late. As everyone was getting ready for dinner, Cyrus now chose his target and got ready to execute his plan while everyone was getting their rations, as Grim was about to sit down, Cyrus used his magic to throw the Whoopi cushion without anyone knowing. Glider sat on it as it was passing through, applying enough pressure for a fart sound. Cyrus, Jus'tav, and Adalgar looked at her as her face turned bright red. Jus'tav and Adalgar started laughing and Cyrus quietly muttering an key word to make the cushion vanish, all while "trying" to tell the laughing duo that it wasn't that funny... when internally he is laughing his arse off.

Dawn laughed and tried to keep it down, but she couldn't help it. Even as the bat pony tried to protest with how she wouldn't do something like that.
Success! Looks like I still got it! Cyrus thought as he was calming the other two down, satisfied at his accomplishment, plus getting even with her on the side was a plus since he still won't let go of the fact that she was what caused Jus'tav to die in the first place. He retrieves the Whoopi cushion while the others weren't looking, ready for the next victim when the opportunity arrives.

Dawn laid in the cart, enjoying seeing everyone together.

Eventually it came time to once again play a match, though Cyrus kept accidentally making his moves easy to read as he could not stop giggling at the prank, making it hard to concentrate. It had been so long since he did one that it felt great that he succeeded in the prank... at the cost of a win. "Darn, I lost." He said, though he didn't mind as much because of his successful prank.

Dawn chuckled, "you know the drill. Sleeping in my bed tonight." She yawned and stretched, going over to her desk to prepare her spells. She pulled her things to the side, giving him room to study as well while her horn glowed softly.

"Yes Ma'am." Cyrus says as he gets his spell book, "That was still a funny sight, I didn't think Glider could get any redder than she already is." he comments as he looks over his spells, he had almost forgotten how much fun it was to pull pranks.

Dawn chuckled, "I know right! I have no idea what made her do that! I mean, everyone has to do that sometime! but you'd think she was eating a diet of beans today!"

"Yeah, that's what I thought as well, maybe her diet of fallen foes caused it." Cyrus suggested as he continues to look through his spell book while playing dumb.

She sighed happily as she reviewed the fly spell yet again. she was really looking forward to giving it a try, even if incredibly nervous

Once Cyrus finished preparing his spells, he closes his book and puts it away, he then sees Dawn glancing at a specific page in her spell book. Cyrus glances over her shoulder to see the fly spell he tried some time ago, "Don't forget to flap the wings." He says teasingly.

Dawn laughed and teasingly grabbed her pillow to hit him from behind. "Don't remind me!"

"Gah!" Cyrus says as he gets hit, "What was that for?" He says as he laughs.

"For startling me! Besides, i had to get you to laugh somehow. You've been too quiet today on that front."

"I guess you're right, I guess I was focused on what needed to be done." He says, though that was a lie as what he was actually focused on was having fun with a prank, though he decided not to say anything about it at the moment.

Dawn chuckled, "Come on, let's do something fun together for once that isn't that board game."

"What do you have in mind?" Cyrus asks as he raises a non existent brow. "Though I will admit that the board game will get boring if we don't do other things from time to time."

Dawn smirked, "We're both learning how to fly right? Why not have a race?"

"Hmm, they do say friendly competition does bring out the best in others, plus flying is fun so... Alright, lets do it." He says with a grin.
Dawn laughed, "Where should we start and stop? We can only fly for so long after all."

"Good question..." Cyrus says as he brings out his spell book again to look over the details of the spell. "Hmm... I am not sure how long we can stay airborne, but I guess 100 feet would be a good distance for now since we are still learning on how to fly." Cyrus says as he continues to look at the spell's page to make sure he didn't leave any details out.

Dawn laughed, "All right... Low altitude, so we don't fall far or hard... Still, 100 feet seems really short... I mean look, it's based on power, but it says by the time you can cast this, you can fly at least five minutes... Maybe after a 2 minute race, we have fun with the other two minutes or however long?"

"... Good point." Cyrus says as he closes the book, "Two minutes then, lets see who can fly the best in that time."

Dawn trotted along a little ways, trying to look over the best area for them to fly, "Here we go, why not have us fly to that tree and back to the cart. First one to make it back wins, if one of us crashes, we stop and stick together and they're the loser... that sound good?"

"Sounds good, the cart is the starting point so lets head there now." Cyrus says as he heads out, once the two reached the cart, Cyrus used his arcane mark spell to put on a rune that translates to "Finish" on the cart, "First one to tag that on the way back wins." Cyrus says as he got into position, he was confident since he did have a head start the other day, so he has a basic idea on how it works.

Dawn chuckled, casting the spell and shivering as she felt the wings on her back, "Whoah... that feels... weird..." She giggled, "I'm an alicorn now!"

Cyrus casted his spell as well and ethereal red wings emerged on his back, "I know, it's amazing." Cyrus says as he stretch his wings, "Now, on the count of three, One..." Cyrus prepares to run to gain momentum, "Two..." He has his eye on the tree. "... Three!" Cyrus dashes as fast as he can, and lifts off once he gained some speed, continuously flapping his wings to stay airborne.

Dawn started to flap her wings as fast as she could, running like he did and jumping to get some height and gives a loud yell of excitement. She didn't think flying would be this easy!

‘Ok this is much easier the second time around.’ Cyrus thought as he flew, flying fairly quickly as this was still a race, he looks back at Dawn who looked like she was having time of her life he smiles at the sight, but snaps of it and keeps his eyes forward this was still competition and he wanted to win.
Dawn looked ahead to where he was, seeing him ahead by a little bit and grinned broadly, flying toward the tree and gaining speed.

Cyrus looks in the corner of his eye to see Dawn starting to gain on him, "Oh no you don't." He says as he picks up his pace tagging the tree and starting to head back to the cart by making a U turn.

Dawn laughed and pushed herself to go faster, trying to follow him into the turn, moving her head around in the process. She squealed as she continued going straight and then went quiet as she flew headlong into a treetrunk and knocked herself out.

Upon Dawn suddenly getting quiet, Cyrus stopped for a second and looks back, she was no longer following him, "Dawn?" He asked as he flew back where he came from, looking for his companion. He eventually found Dawn next to a tree, unconscious. "Dawn! Oh gods are you alright!?!" He asks, not hearing a response, he puts his head on her chest to see if she was still breathing, breathing a sigh of relief to find that she was still breathing. Cyrus pulls out his trusty wand and casts cure light wounds to heal Dawn, hoping that might wake her up.

Dawn groaned as she slowly woke up. She soon moved a hoof to her head and groaned, “Ugh… Who put the second horn on my head?”

"Well it looks like you’re alright." Cyrus says as he puts away his wand. "Ok, how did you crash into a tree? I thought the path was pretty clear." he asks concerned.

Dawn smiles and then groans as she stood up, flapping her wings once to steady herself out of instinct, "I... Couldn't turn." She said, hanging her head a little in embarrassment.

"Oh... that explains it. How I did it was tilting one of my wings up and the other down." Cyrus says as he spread his wings and did the motions to demonstrate what he meant as he explained, "It helps that we literally have three examples to observe."

Dawn chuckled and then groaned, muttering, "Damn headache." She spoke up and said, "guess that makes you the winner... how much time you think we got left to fly?"

"Um... I think two minutes already passed since we started the race so... I think we have three minutes of flying left." Cyrus says as he mentally does the calculations.

Dawn nodded, “Better not waste the time we have left, that was no easy spell…” And without further notice, she flew as best she could back to the cart!
"Right." Cyrus says as he flies close behind Dawn, wanting to fly as much as possible before the spell wears off.

Dawn tried to experiment slowly with turning, seeming to weave and stumble a little bit, but getting to where she was more in the air than running on the ground.

Cyrus mostly figured out how to turn by watching Glider, Adalgar, and Jus'tav flying. that was one thing he had trouble with the first time he flew, so he watched them until he could figure out how they do it.

Dawn laughed and started to speak, when her wings disappeared as they reached the cart. She stumbled on her legs a little before running her chin into the ground when she tripped. She groaned and stood up, shaking herself of any dirt and wiping herself off, blushing at how royally she botched the landing.

Cyrus quickly lands to make sure that his spell doesn't dispel while in the air, though because he was hasty with his landing, he lost his balance when he landed and trips. "Oof... That could have been better..." He comments as he gets up, his wings then dissolve into the air as though they never existed. "You alright?" he asks as he approaches Dawn.

Dawn shook her body like a dog would after getting out of water and let out a big sigh, “Yeah… Just a wounded pride… This is a lot harder than our companions make it look.”

"I agree with you there, they make it look way too easy..." Cyrus says brushing some of the dirt off of himself with his hoof. "But now I can say that I'm not the only one that crashed into a tree." he says jokingly with a grin on his face.

Dawn groaned and added, "All right, all right... Sorry I laughed at you before when you fell into the tree..."

Cyrus laughs a bit before yawning, "Anyway, I think we've had enough excitement for tonight, lets head back to the tent."

Dawn nodded, quietly turning to follow him before saying, "I still got to the cart before you did~"

"I technically won, though." he says as he dispels the arcane mark on the cart, "Anyway the point of the race was to practice flying, we still need to work on our landings though..." he says as he continues walking.

Dawn nodded, mumbling, "You need to have a bit more fun now and then Cyrus..."

"I did have fun, most fun I had in a while." He says with a smile on his face. "Honestly I can't wait to do this again."

Dawn smiled and then started to chuckle, "Good... sorry. Guess i might be a more sore sport than I thought..."

"It's fine, I am taking things way too seriously as of late, so I really do need to take things easy." Cyrus says as they approach the tent, "Mares first." Cyrus says trying to be gentlemanly.

Dawn chuckled, nodding her head to Cyrus before stepping into the tent and started to get their study materials together, looking over that spell in more detail, particularly on better flight.

Cyrus enters the tent after Dawn, he uses his magic to pick up his spell book and starts going though his spells again, he always prepares several fire spells for use, but hardly uses them since doing so makes dawn uneasy. Even so he prepares them anyway incase he might need them. He then attempts to lift another object, a pencil while still holding his spell book with his horn magic, only for the magic to disperse again, "Ugh, I can't seem to get it right." He says as he tries again, he feels that as long as he is in this form, lifting multiple objects with his horn magic is essential as he has no hands and using his sword with his mouth is too awkward.

Dawn watched him quietly from her spot, smiling at his attempts. She looked over ger spell list, not changing it at all and rememorizing them. After all, why fix what isn't broken? Admittedly, she looked at her reduce and enlarge pony spells and smirked. Their newcomer Topaz was still an adorable foal adult, and it was so tempting to see what a foal Cyrus would look like.

Dawn spoke up at that thought, "What do you think about the foal?"

(roleplayer’s note, Dawn forgot she was in a tent and assumed they were at the castle once again, due to what was stated next and who they then talked about)

Cyrus stopped what he was doing for a moment and looked in Dawn's direction, "Oh, Topaz? As farfetched as his story sounded, I believe what he says to be true, I mean you already know of my secret, so I can relate with him. He looks capable, though I guess we need to keep a closer eye on him when we fight, I can't imagine his small body being able to last if monsters try to kill him."

Dawn nodded, "he'll definitely have to be watched, though if his healing abilities are to be believed, as long as we stay nearby, and shield him, he'll undo our wounds."

"That is true... Although when he first got here you kinda had that look as though you wanted to wisk him away or something, either that or I might have just been seeing things." Cyrus says recalling the events in the throne room.

Dawn blushed and looked away, "I thought he was just a foal that was trying to ask the king for a mission... t-that's all!"

"Uh huh... right." Cyrus say sounding skeptical, he can tell there was more to it than what Dawn claimed. While his friend Aria may not be like Dawn in most ways, the one thing they did have in common is how they almost act to things they find cute, though he is thankful Dawn doesn't punch him in the face like Aria does. "You sure that is all?" He asks as he uses his magic to get his sketch book. he holds the book in his hooves while he used his horn magic to use his drawing utensils.

Dawn huffed and returned her nose to her studies, muzzle so red it almost showed through. She thought about the other instinctual reasons she had, but didn't want to share after that sarcasm. The back of her mind tried to contrive of some sort of prank to get even in the meantime

Whoops, I think I went too far there. Cyrus thought as he glanced at Dawn's direction, he thinks he might have touched a nerve, which wasn't his intention. He continues to draw Topaz, their new companion, as that is what he always does for every new person they meet.

Dawn smiled on the inside as she saw the reduce and enlarge pony spells. He wondered why she responded the way she did? She'll show him. She planned it out in her mind. They would add spar like usual, and her last attack would shrink him to size, and in his surprise, she would cast enlarge on herself to accentuate the difference, maybe scold him like her adopted mother would! She had no real idea what she wanted as an end goal, but it was too funny to ignore.

Cyrus felt a chill down his spine, a chill that always told him to watch his back. Well... Fuck. He thought as now he was getting a little paranoid. It was always those chills that got him out of trouble when a prank goes wrong, he would be a fool to ignore it, but this time he didn't know what to look out for, as there was no prank gone wrong. For now he thinks the best course of action is to act like everything is fine and be prepared incase something unexpected happens.

Dawn finished her studying and smiled at him coyly. She went to the door and called, "I'm going to get a snack. Want anything?"

Cyrus thought for a moment, "I'll let you decide, I'm not thinking of anything in particular at the moment." He says as he looks back at her.

She smiled more and nodded, heading to the kitchens to put together some grilled cheese sandwiches and rolls for their inevitable day ahead to the next challenge. She returned after about half an hour, yawning.

By the time Dawn gets back to the room, Cyrus had finished his sketch of Topaz, he looks over it one last time before closing the book. He hears the door open and looks to see Dawn coming in with the sandwiches, "Ah you're back." He says as he gets up and goes to her, he uses his horn magic to pick up one of the sandwiches and takes a bite. "Mmm, this is great!" He comments as he eats the sandwich.

Dawn chuckles, "It's just grilled cheese. You make it sound like it's a Cherry topped ice cream sundae."

"Never had it before." Cyrus answers as he takes another bite. He looks like he is really enjoying the sandwich.

Dawn laughed and shook her head, "Well... doesn't that beat all... Oh well, enjoy."
"Will do." Cyrus says as he eats the sandwich, savoring every bite. After Cyrus finished he stretches a bit b
efore saying, "Well it's getting late, I need some sleep, but... do you feel like sparring tomorrow? I want to be ready for when when we face the forest drake again."

Dawn chuckled, "Of course. like we always do.' She said, keeping it nonchalant as her mind briefly went over the picture of what she would try to do
"Right, same time as usual I guess. "Cyrus says before he climbs onto the bed, "Good night." He says as he drifts off to sleep.

Dawn woke up and stretched slowly. Her dreams were fitful and unsettling. She quickly tried to dismiss them from her mind as she tried not to disturb Cyrus. He had to have been just as tired out as her she figured. She walked by their desks and then smiled once again as the memories of her plans from the prior night came to the forefront of her mind. Today, this morning, she would spar with him with their training swords, and surprise him with that spell. She never really casted either one in combat, so it would be fine to use them for a little fun right?

Cyrus's dream was the same as most of his dreams since he arrived in this world, to be home, to see his friends, and to be human once again. He then gets a rude awakening from the sun once again, "Grr, why do you have to be so rude sun?" Cyrus says as he drowsiely sits up, looking around with half open eyes. He sees Dawn, "Morning." He says as he yawns and rubs one of his eyes with his wrist.

Dawn smiled back at him and waved. “I take it you didn’t sleep well either huh?”

"Probably not." Cyrus says as he stretches, there were some popping sounds as he did so. "And that confirms it..."

Dawn nodded, “Should we do our usual sparring before or after breakfast then, or at all? You’re sounding like an old Stallion with those noises you’re making after all.” She teased.

"After, I really want to be ready for that drake... And I'm not old!" Cyrus says annoyed at being called old. "Anyway let's get some breakfast to get started, we still have a few days until we depart, but I want to get as much done as possible." Cyrus says as he gets off the bed, he goes over to his desk to get his brush and starts fixing up his bed head.

Dawn nodded, chuckling, “Whatever you say. Feel up to anything specific?”

"I don't have anything specific in mind, so I'll leave it up to you." Cyrus says as he finished with his mane, he was about to put it away until he saw his tail, "I almost forgot about you..." he says as he starts brushing it, not wanting to experience the painful unknotting again.

Dawn looked back at him, wondering what he meant and almost taking offense, until she realized he was brushing his tail. She smiled gently and left to go fix some breakfast. Perhaps some toast, jam, and a bowl of oats, milk, and honey this morning would be best. She went over to the kitchen and let the cook they had know what they would request, offering to help if need be.

"There, now I don't have to worry about those knots for now." Cyrus says as he finished brushing his tail, doing it exactly how Dawn taught him to. It is a lot more work to maintain than he thought. "Well, going to be staying here for a while longer, may as well make a habit out of this." He comments as he puts the brush away and heads to the kitchen himself, he may as well since he had nothing else to do.

Dawn just managed to finish cooking and put it all on a tray when she turned around and almost bumped into Cyrus, “Oh! Cyrus! I… everything ok?”

"Yeah, everything is fine, I just had nothing better to do." Cyrus responds as he backed up a little to make sure he didn't get in the way.

Dawn chuckled and started to set the tray down on one of the dining tables in the other room. "Well, let's eat up. We'll get right to our sparring shortly after. Got anything specific you want practice against this time?"

"Hmm." Cyrus puts his hoof on his chin as he thought about it, "Lets see, I think we need to focus on our offence a bit more, it didn't hurt us too badly, but it did manage to get away." Cyrus points out while he thinks about it.

Dawn nodded, "So getting past their defences or something else?" she asked as she got herself a rather heaping mouthful onto her spoon before having it disappear into her mouth.

"Yeah that should work, we need to take it down before it has a chance to run." Cyrus says before eating some of his breakfast.

Dawn nodded as she finished off her mouthful. "Ok, Pure defence it is." She chuckled as she though about her earlier plans

"Right." Cyrus says as he eats his breakfast. After they finish they head to their usual training area, Cyrus had his breast plate equipped, it isn't as good as dawns as it isn't enchanted, but it still gets the job done. "Ready when you are." He says as he draws his sword.

Dawn smirked, drawing her sword and shield. She took a deep breath, letting out any tension she might have had before holding them at the ready.
"Aaaand go!" Cyrus says as he begins his attack, starting with a thrust from his longsword, he was not planning to hold back.

Dawn quickly moved her shield to the point and deflected it to the side, smirking, "gonna have to try harder than that!"

"Point taken." Cyrus says as he immediately changed the sword's course as it bounced off the shield, making it go for one of Dawn's sides.

Dawn eeped without intending to and used her sword to deflect while instinctively pushing her shield up against cyrus to throw him off balance or block his view.

Cyrus steps back to avoid the shield, surprised by the sudden shield bash, he almost lost his balance but quickly regained his composure. he then fakes that he is going to attack Dawn's right, changing his blade's course at the last second to make it into a thrust.

Dawn pulled her sword and shield back quickly, trying to stop the swipe. She soon cursed under her breath as the blunted tip struck her in the rib.

After the successful hit, Cyrus jumped backwards and grinned, his sword in its usual position. "Got ya."

Dawn smirked, "I noticed... again!"

Cyrus proceeds to attack, faking some of his attacks when Dawn least expects it, only made harder by the fact that the fake outs are entirely random.
Dawn continued to block as best she could, using her shield where she wasn't sure if he was feinting, and her sword when she was. She got hit once more but was fully on defense and barely able to keep up most of the time due to his constant fakeouts.

Cyrus manages to hit Dawn a few more times before he stops, "I think that is enough of my offence, your turn Dawn." He says as he takes up a more defensive pose with his blade.

Dawn nodded, stinging a little before casting her regeneration spell to ease her bruises. She set down her shield and focused, looking him over as she gripped her sword tightly in her magic's grip. She looked him over and considered her options, pacing to the side a couple steps before shifting back
Cyrus continued to watch dawn, ready to parry with his blade, normally he would have switched to his rapier, but that weapon got destroyed when they tried to combine their spells the first time. plus the one he got from the Wight king is still broken, so he can't use that either. He continued to keep eye contact, the most important part to watch for in a fight.

Dawn smiled as she worked out her plan then set it into motion, imitating cyrus' own style of constant feints and not feints, always aiming for gaps in his armor

Cyrus didn't fall for her feints so easily, Dawn's eyes gave away most of the fake outs she would do, causing him to either parry or move for the attack to miss, she managed to hit him once.

Dawn narrowed her eyes then decided to take a different attack. If he was going to predict her moves, she needed to find a way to throw him off. She feinted less as she tried to get an opening, a weakness, anything, when she noticed his legs. They were vulnerable...

Cyrus looked confused as Dawn's gaze went downward, but realized at last second that she aimed for his legs, he barely lifted his front legs to avoid the attack, but then realized he is left open.

Dawn smiled as she used this chance. She charged her horn with magic and as her sword was blocked, she tapped him with her hoof on the chest
As Cyrus managed to block the sword, he felt the tap and looked at Dawn and saw her horn glowing. His eyes shrank as he realized what that feeling he had was trying to warn him about. "What are-" he started, but then realized that every thing around him grew. "Wh-wha?!?" He asked confused, his voice a higher pitch than what it normally is as his mind is trying to peice together what just happened.

Dawn giggled and looked down at him smiling as he reached his half height. "Oh my goodness youre so cuute! ... although..." She pauses to think, and then casts the enlarging spell on herself, making him look like an even smaller foal. "Awwwww, who's the adorable colt now~"

"Um, I can see how it looks that way, but uh... I would like to be back to my normal hight now." Cyrus says with a nervous tone in his voice, smiling nervously as he did not know what Dawn had planned.

Dawn laughed, reached down, and used her mouth to pick him up around his midsection like a kitten to put him on her back, "Victory is mine! I have captured a king!~" She said, going on a tangent and trying to get him to have some fun.

"Wh-whoa!" Cyrus says surprised at getting picked up. As he was placed on Dawn's back and as she said she captured him, he got an idea, "Oh noes, I got captured!" He says playfully.

Dawn laughed. "So, you're a young colt on top of a large mare... were should we stampede off to first?"

"Um..." Cyrus thought about it for a moment, "I don't remember the last time I went to the farmlands outside of the city, I guess we can go there." He says as he shrugs.

Dawn laughed, "All right, first few minutes trotting around the kingdom!" she said, charging out of the gates and rushing along the road to the wilderness outside, intent to get to the top of a hill just behind the castle, practically ignoring what he said with her own ideas of fun.

"Whoa!!!" Cyrus says as he did his best to hold on, which proved to be difficult without hands.

Dawn rushed outward to the hill, just to the side of the castle, and soon slowed to a gentle cant as she reached the top, and used her magic to lift him off her back and set him down in front of her to face the view of the lake, island barely visible in the distance.

Cyrus opened his eyes when he felt they were no longer moving, he looked at the sight as he was being put down, "Wow... I don't think I've been here before..." He comments as he takes in the view.

Dawn chuckled and settled down on the hill, having cyrus between her forelegs and looking out. "You should see it at sunset... the sun setting over the water's edge before starlight bounces off the surface of the near still water..."

"I can imagine." Cyrus says as he continued to stare at the lake, "I remember that place over there is where me and my companions fought off a giant turtle, and boy did it have a thick shell." Cyrus says as he points to the general area of one of the edges of the lake.

Dawn chuckled, wrapping around cyrus, "Tell me more about it..."

"Alright since you're interested." Cyrus says as he goes into detail about the giant turtle. He went on for several minutes about the fight, "... and Bolster pretty much kept its attention by punching the dang thing while yelling "BOLSTER!!!", though I was pretty much the one doing most of the damage as magic always by passes armor you know. But in the end we killed it and the fishermen pretty much gives us a ride on their boat when ever we need to travel through the lake as thanks... Uh, I hope I wasn't boring you." he says as he looks up at Dawn.

Dawn laughed and hugged him tight to herself like he were a foal, rubbing her muzzle against his horn before the spells started to wear off. She sighed out loud in a sort of disappointed moan as she let go of him and sat upright.

"Ah, back to my original size." he said as he was back to his full size and his voice was no longer high pitched. He looks at Dawn and sees her looking rather disappointed that the spells wore off, "You really do like foals don't you?" He asks with a sympathetic smile, "If this was about my comment yesterday, then I'm sorry, I didn't really mean for it to come out that way."

Dawn smirked, "Perhaps... figured you could enjoy a bit of goofing off. You've pushed yourself hard and I wanted to help you get away from it all for a bit..." She said, thinking rather deeply about his comment about foals.

"I guess you're right, it started to get difficult to do so after everything that's happened, especially after my friends died and others leaving me... I guess I really needed this, thanks Dawn, this was a lot of fun." Cyrus says as he looks back at the lake. A smile spread across his face.

She chuckled and hit him on the shoulder on his armor. "Race ya to the castle in flight. First one back to my room wins."

"Alright, you're on!" Cyrus says as he chants the spell and red ethereal wings sprout from his back.

Dawn casts her spell and a lime green pair of wings that match her coat sprout from hers, "Ready... Steady.... Go!" She said, running and getting herself to take off as best she could!

Cyrus ran as soon as Dawn said the word "Go" was said, he spreads his wing and took off. He had no problem keeping up with Dawn, but was not going to let himself lose, so he brings his speed up to be able to pass Dawn.

Dawn flapped her wings and tilted herself slightly to steer as she felt her tail flap in the wind behind her. She whooped and called out ahead to him, "Don't think you're gonna beat me Cyrus! I've been practicing!"

"Like hell you are!" Cyrus says as he gains speed, "I am not losing to anyone!" He then flies upward and uses gravity to speed up, using the momentum to reach her making them neck in neck.

Dawn continued to fly just barely above the castle wall height, intent on taking the most direct route before. She watched him from the corner of her eye rise up, slowing himself during the ascent only to regain part of the speed he lost from before. She smirked as his lead by a bodylength had slowed to only a nose lead, and she had the better maneuverablility she thought. She smirked as she thought he might try to go through the castle halls, and she turned early to get to the courtyard and fly in to her window as the 'fastest' way to get into her room.

Cyrus did go in through the castle halls, though he pretty much memorized every nook and cranny of the castle as though it were the back of his own hoof, knowing where all of the shortcuts to every part of the castle are. Cyrus uses his sword to make very sharp turns with out slowing down.

Dawn fluttered near the outside windows, trying to remember which one was their room till she saw their books on the desks and dove for it

Cyrus sees the door after going through a few corridors and uses the open/close spell to open it, he then stabs the longsword into the ground ahead of him and uses it like a pole to make a sharp turn to enter the room without losing any speed. He and Dawn managed to enter at the same time, but due to their speed, they had a hard time slowing down. "Oh crud!" Cyrus says as he tries to make himself flap the opposite direction to stop.

Dawn gasped as she flew headlong into him, collapsing on the ground in a headachey daze. Her head rested on his cutie mark as his hit her on the side. She laid still, trying not to make any of it worse as her head throbbed

Cyrus was dazed due to crashing into Dawn. After a minute or so, he finally comes back to his senses somewhat, "Gods... that hurt... you alright?" he asks as he still felt his head hurt.

Dawn groaned, shifting a little as she tried to get to her hooves. "I guess... got a splitting headache. I don't think we'll be stabbing anyone with our horns anytime soon... ow, that hurt to say..."

"Same." Cyrus says he rubs his horn, during his first few weeks in this world, he learned that unicorn's horns are much more sensitive than they look, while being durable enough to stab things with if needed. He tries to use his horn magic to get his wand, but even doing that hurt. "Ow, I don't think using our horns is a good idea period."

Dawn laughed, only to wince as she finally stood, "yeah. No fun..." she sighed and used her arcane energy to recharge her healing spell and cast it on cyrus

"Thanks." Cyrus says as he struggled to get up, "It looks like a tie... just thinking about it hurts." He says with a grin.

Dawn smirked, "Yep... now i can say i saw what a colt-Cyrus looked like to boot. if only i could have had a picture..."

"I didn't exactly see myself in the mirror when that happened, so I can't really draw it." Cyrus says as he shrugs.

Dawn chuckled and shook a little in place as she let her wounds heal. "well, at least now i know what you look like that way... now any time you don't agree with me, i can remind you of what it's like to be a foal again~" She laughed, not intending to do any such thing.

‘Technically I was never a foal in the first place, but same difference I suppose.’ Cyrus thought in regards to what Dawn just said. "Oh yeah, I have been meaning to ask, what are these cutie mark things on our flanks? I can't exactly ask anyone else or things might get awkward." Cyrus says as he looks at the cutie mark on his flank.

Dawn headtilted and looked at him confused, "what d'ya mean? You don't have them where you're from?"

"Well you already figured out that I wasn't originally a pony remember." Cyrus points out, "I never had it till I ended up here, back where I'm from, nobody has anything of the sort."

Dawn looked at him a little surprise then sat down, "i guess you heard the term somewhere before and wondered... a cutie mark is kinda, i wanna say a mark that tries to explain the core-est part of yourself. Like, mine is a sunrise because i refuse to give up on the idea of going home, so i always look to the new day ahead. Sometimes it's about your profession or passions though..."

"I think I get it." Cyrus says as he puts some thought into it, "Thanks, at least now it's not going to keep nagging me about what the heck it is."
Dawn looks at his, "so, what'd yours be about?"

"Good question." Cyrus says as he takes another look at it, the image of a blade coated in flame, "If I had to guess, I think it may be from my preferred method of fighting, using both weapons and magic in one attack, but I am not entirely sure on that." he says with uncertainty, it was clear even he wasn't sure about what his meant.

Dawn raised a brow as she looked at him and shrugged after. "I'd have guessed passion for something, not sure what, but fire isn't always magic Cy."

"Yeah, I know that, it is only one of several elements after all." Cyrus says as he scratched the back of his head, "I am pretty sure my first guess was not it. Ugh, this is going to irritate me more than not knowing what a cutie mark was."

Dawn laughed trying to hide her mirth behind her hoof. "How in the world do you have it and not know? It's like saying you don't know how to fight yet you've been in battle and can defend yourself!"

"I know! Yet I can't Figure it out!" Cyrus says slightly irritated, "Its like winning a contest that you didn't even enter, and you're left wondering how the hell that happened."

Dawn laughed, trotted to his side and gave him a tap on the shoulder with hers. "Well, we can keep guessing meanings as we go. Bound to be right sometime right?"

"I guess you're right, we'll figure it out eventually." Cyrus says feeling slightly better about it. "I guess figuring it out isn't too important right now."

6: Facing your Fears

Author's Notes:

Background:

The party had continued to explore and looked to a new area before encountering a cave full of trolls. Their quest required them to gather up troll blood. Dawn tried desperately not to panic, having a huge fear of flames to the point she has to make a will save when fire is made in her direction or to assist with fire based activities in combat. They cleared the first room with some difficulty, but then their gutsy persian who was still level drained from the partial ressurection (for the party didn't have enough for the restoration to be full), proceeded to receive a critical hit and was effectively squashed into mush in front of the entire party, including an oracle stallion with a stature of a colt as an adult. They watched in horror as they knew they had no funds whatsoever to bring their companion back, able to adventure or otherwise.

The party had to leave the cave due to how much the ordeal had taxed them, both in spells and in spirit.
chapter edited to add closure and is up to date for sessions up through end of feb 2017. More session progress will be needed before we can post/rp more.

Dawn was crying as they left the cave, spells depleted, and knowing full well they had a bigger two headed troll and a few more still to go. She shook, the screams of the dying and the heat of the flames that came from cyrus' hooves and horns to deliver the deathknell still shook her mind even as she knew it was necessary to protect the ponies of his kingdom.

"A-are you alright?" Cyrus asks as he walks next to Dawn, though he really didn't need to ask as it was plainly obvious that she was not alright, he knew full well how much fire terrified her, yet he had no choice but to do it anyway as the things just wouldn't die if he didn't, that and he didn't alright either as they lost their friend Jus'tav a second time, this time they can't bring him back as they had neither the funds nor the time, plus he was literally flattened into mush so they couldn't do it even if they wanted to. Cyrus was holding his anguish in to seem stronger than he really was, that and his hoof and sword were slightly singed by all the fire he had to use.

Dawn took in a deep breath, letting the last few tears fall from her face as she tried to let a moment of serenity come through. She took a second breath, then a third.

Dawn opened her still glistened eyes and looked in the cart for supplies, magical and otherwise. "I... will be. Just... the burning... no one deserves that fate. I know we have to but..."

Cyrus guilty looks down as he was the main one causing the burning, "I understand, I really do." He begins, but he really didn't know what to say to comfort her, so he decides to speak his mind instead, "I know this will sound heartless, but it was either make sure they stay dead and ensure our safety, or allow them to come back and wear ourselves in an endless battle and eventually die." He says, "I did what I had to, even at the potential risk of scaring you even further then you already are, and I would rather have that than let any harm come to anypony in our group..."

Dawn nodded, "I dont hold it against you, truly. Not killing them could kill 10 or 20 of our ponies later on." She took another shuddering breath and let it out slowly. "Poor Jus'tav... We need to make a memorial to commemorate the fallen, remind the people of those who sacrificed themselves for their safety... who knows, maybe a festival or competition could be made to help the townsponies be prepared for misfortune... i don't know. I just hate seeing more of my party fall in battle. It never gets easier."

"You're not the only one..." Cyrus says as he remembers his companions Aegeon and Hilde sacrifice themselves so that he could live, "After we get the castle built and a proper military going, that should be the next thing we do, they do deserve to be remembered for their sacrifice, I still can't believe he's gone this time... damn it!" He says frustrated that he let another one die.

Dawn took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "It's frustrating, but... maybe it's for the best? You heard how he was after we revived him and he was weakened... I'm not sure if he'd forgive us if we couldn't undo further weakening anyway...For now, we have to prepare for tomorrow. No sparring tonight. let's plan out what we'll do. I won't let them take another live... no more." She said as she stomped her hoof firmly on the ground, trying to be resolute once more.

"Alright, I guess that's what we'll do." Cyrus says as he let himself calm down, "Though I will say that even after we take care of these guys, I won't stop memorizing fire spells, there may be more of those monsters down the road and I would rather not be caught off guard, plus we still need to deal with your fear." Cyrus says pointing that out. "But that can wait for now, first we have to set up camp and rest... though I do hope that other Pony in the cave was able to make it out alright." Cyrus says as his voice trails off at the mention of the other pony.

Dawn nods, shaking a little as she walked over to a suitable spot and laid down, "I know cyrus." She said quietly, "I know i can't stop you from memorizing fire spells, i know you need it. I..." she stopped and took a deep breath before letting it out shakily, "I will not let my fears control me. We will protect our own and stop these threats to the kingdom. I just... need a minute to rest."

"Then rest, I can handle some of the set up." Cyrus says as he uses his horn magic to get the tent from the cart, he had a general Idea of how to set it up from watching Dawn do it, so he is fairly confident that he can do it.
Dawn nodded, letting him set up the tent while trying to come up with a plan of attack for the troubles ahead. She pulled out her bottle of mead, intent on preserving it, yet wanting to dull the pain a little. She knew she had to deal with more tomorrow, and she knew she had to be even more capable than before.

Cyrus had a slight bit of trouble since he has yet to master picking multiple things up with his horn magic, but manages to set up the tent regardless, later that day the other Pony that got left in the cave finally made it to the camp, after they ate for the day, Cyrus was in Dawn's tent studying his spell book, making sure that he had plenty of fire spells this time around, while still keeping several of his usual ones.

Dawn came in after she drank and relieved herself, coming in with some green tea she had been chilling before with periodic rays of frost. She walked slowly to cyrus, somber as she came to realize he was probably suffering just as much, having lost others before now as he told her. She set the drink down next to his books and sat next to him, leaning gently before quietly saying, "Made some tea if you want it."

Cyrus looks up from his spell book when Dawn spoke to him, "Ah, thanks Dawn, I would like some." Cyrus says as he put the book down and poured himself some tea, he thought back to his friends that died previously, he felt that they didn't deserve their deaths that maybe he could have done something to prevent it, after sipping the tea he lost a bit of the tension and knew that there wasn't anything he could have done but live. "Well, I'm glad Nitta was able to make it out of the cave in one piece, he seems to be a swell guy mostly from first impressions." Cyrus says, trying to bring up a topic that didn't involve death.

Dawn nodded, "He seems like a good enough guy, even though he seems to be rather capable, it looks like he's ready to move on... pity. It seemed like he could have been a rather capable fighter..."

"Yeah, We can use someone like him, oh well, maybe we'll meet him again sometime, in the mean time Both of us and Glider are the fro-" Cyrus stops himself when he realized something, "Now that I think about it... where is Glider anyway?" He asked as he came to the realization that Glider was nowhere to be found.

Dawn blinked and frowned, "I don't know... to be honest, it wouldn't surprise me if they up and left without a word..." She sighed and leaned more heavily against him, drinking some of the green tea herself before sighing. "Our party for adventuring is getting so small... It's practically just us, adalgar, and the foal..."

Cyrus let out a sigh as well, "Welp, there goes another one... If I have to be honest, I should already be used to this by now, I mean it eventually got to the point where I was literally alone for a week or so, just me and a half finished castle." Cyrus says as he looked like he was curling into a ball, remembering that loneliness scared him.

Dawn hugged him close to herself, trying to find solace herself by comforting him. "You are not alone... never alone again. We'll find a way through this, just like I promised." She shook yet again as her own fears and insecurities surfaced, but she kept holding onto him in hopes that it would be of any help.
Cyrus felt himself loosening a bit as he was hugged, the feeling of loneliness fading away. He hugs Dawn back, "You're right, we got this far, so we don't have much to worry about, and I'm glad you guys will stick with me to the end. Especially you Dawn." he says as a smile spread on his face.

Dawn chuckled weakly, another set of tears making her way down her cheek. "Yeah... to the end." She echoed quietly, laying her head against his as she tried to let the last remnants of her grief flow out of her as she knew she wasn't alone either.

Cyrus wanted to continue hugging Dawn, but he accidentally moved his hoof to were it made contact with the singed part of it, "Ow!" He said as he retracted himself, "Oh yeah, I forgot about that." He says as he looks at the singed part of his hoof. "Too many fire spells." He says as he does an awkward smile.

Dawn nodded, quietly whispering, "It's fine..." She shivered a little and then calmed, her eyes starting to drop as she started to fall asleep holding him as he intended on studying.

Cyrus finished memorizing a few more spells before he yawns, he uses his horn magic to bring over the joint sleeping bag and wraps it around them like a blanket. He then let himself drift off into sleep, leaning on Dawn as he dozed off.

Dawn slept like that until early morning, her dreams uneasy, but made better with having Cyrus closeby. She woke up before him, realizing she had been crying in her sleep, and proceeded to use her magic to pull her materials over and studied her spells, making sure she had the arcane power to perform today after all she had happened. She studied lazily, her mind attempting to steel itself for more flames by picturing the ponies back in the kingdom that she stood to protect. She made a promise to Cyrus that she would help him in that task, and somehow, despite her fears of fire, she felt a calmness wash over herself as she resolved to protect others from her fear, and studied intensely with that resolve.

Cyrus woke up a few minutes after Dawn did, rubbing his eyes drowsiely. "Morning." He greets as he uses his horn magic to bring over his sword, he drew it out to polish it. He wanted to be ready to finish the job they started before, to keep the kingdom safe.

Dawn nodded toward them, having drank some of her green tea that he hadn't during her studies. "Morning... we ready to get this done?"

"Even if we aren't, we can't afford to high tail it back to the kingdom or we risk the owlbear incident again." Cyrus says as he remembers the destruction the Owlbear did, "I don't want our ponies to go through that again."

Dawn nods, "That's exactly what I was thinking... I think... I think I can move past my fears, if only for one day... for the sake of the ponies back home."
"Right, lets give it all we got and we should do fine." Cyrus says as he finishes polishing his longsword, "If we do get through this, then maybe it might cure some of your phobia, either that or I am just doing wishful thinking."

Dawn smirked, "I get the feeling it's wishful thinking, but if it works, I'll have to kiss you and very nearly owe you my life."

"We'll see, but first we have to deal with this troll problem, otherwise it will be for nothing." Cyrus points out, but then his stomach growled very loudly, causing Cyrus's face to turn bright red. "But before that... we eat." he says, clearly embarrassed.

Dawn nodded. "I feel like i couldn't possibly, but we must..." She sighed and started digging in her bags to see where she put her trail rations.

Cyrus proceeds to do the same, he manages to find one and proceeds to eat it. "Well, as we said, everypony is depending on us to get this done, so lets give it our all and take these trolls out." Cyrus says with a grin.

Dawn nodded, trying to be serious but spots his smile and can't help but smile in return. "Let's take them out and protect our ponies back home."

The party ventured into the cave one more time, determined to vanquish the remainder of the trolls once and for all. They did well, bolstering their confidence, and even Dawn appeared to have a willpower of steel, until they encountered the final creature in the cove.

Dawn dove into battle, intending to get the creature's attention so that Cyrus could cast his spells on him, only to be hit just the wrong way between her armor with his lightning elemental whip, and proceeded to lose two thirds of her endurance from her wounds. Cyrus rushed to assist, only to receive the same fate and nearly fall in battle. Dawn once again saw a case where only one of them might live. Last time she had used her vanish spell to help someone escape from such a strong foe, they saw right through it. She took a chance, and defensively cast her spell to make him be invisible and then tried to flee, evading his opportunistic attack and getting around the corner.

Cyrus fled, getting round the corner ahead of Dawn, but then the boss gave a sudden surprise and let loose a fireball at the corner, blasting nearly the whole party, and knocking Dawn unconscious and bleeding out. The oracle of the party rushed in to heal her wounds, and got her on her hooves. They all attempted to flee again, but Dawn was hit by yet another fireball and was dazed. Any further damage would knock her out again and she feared desperately for her life as she wondered if that would be the end of her adventure, if she would return home. Thankfully, she was healed enough by the oracle again enough that they all could flee and escape unharmed...

Cyrus ached all over as he walked out of the cave, "Damn it! why did this happen again?!? Ow." He says frustrated that they were forced to retreat once again, he couldn't believe that troll had gotten the better of them, Cyrus's pride was severely crushed.

Dawn staggered her way to the cart and leaned against it, breathing heavily and looking sick. She barely could look up to him, having felt that she came far too close to death... If they didn't have the oracle in the adventuring party, she worried she would have died... leaving her best friend behind, not going back to her hometown at least once... The thought of which would have brought tears to her eyes if she weren't so busy trying to keep herself from being sick.

"Dawn... how are you holding up?" Cyrus asks in the brief moment where he wasn't indulging in self pity. He was scared that he almost lost his most faithful friend to those monsters, he would have never been able to forgive himself if he had lost her too.

Dawn shook her head, "I... I'm fine." She said, body shaking. "That was too close Cy... far too close..." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, asking while she kept her eyes closed, "Just what is the point of all our training if we still almost died out here like this?"

Cyrus looks a bit more frustrated now that Dawn brought it up, "I don't know!" He says with his voice raised, "I would have thought we would have been ready for anything! But NO! He almost killed us without breaking a sweat!" He is almost shouting at this point. "Or maybe we might have been ready if we had taken our TRAINING MORE SERIOUSLY!!! Yeah, maybe if we hadn't goofed off that one time maybe we wouldn't have gotten beaten like helpless puppies!" Cyrus says before realizing what he just said, his expression changed from anger to regret, "I... I didn't..." Started eyes started to grow big as he really didn't mean what he said, he steps back a bit saying, "I... I..." He could no longer look her in the eyes as he turns around and runs into the nearby forest, ashamed at what he's done.

Dawn called out after him and ran to follow. She understood his pain, his sorrow. It was hard to hold it against him as she pushed herself to follow him, yelling out his name. She still felt sickened by what they went through but desperately tried to call out after him. "Cyrus! Cyrus I know what you mean! Stop running!" She kept yelling, soon dropping to her knees and breathed heavily, trying once again not to be sick, whispering, "Please..."

In the trees above Dawn was sobbing, as Cyrus had climbed a tree to escape, one of and possibly most effective method he had to get away with a lot of pranks when he was a boy. He couldn't believe he had taken out his anger out on Dawn, she didn't deserve it yet he did it anyway. He couldn't face her now after what he's done, he couldn't hear Dawn over his inner turmoil as he continued to cry.

Dawn continued to grieve alone, trotting slowly off to the campsite and spending some time with the foal sized healer, making sure he knew just how much she appreciated his efforts to keep her alive, then left him a message/request that if he should see Cyrus, to let him know she was worried about him. He seemed to catch on quickly and told her he would. She then set up the tent wearily and went inside, curled up on the sleeping bag, feeling quite alone after he ran off.

Cyrus couldn't bear to go back, not after what he did, so he made a small fire after he climbed down from the tree he was in. He was alone again, and after he was told he would never be left alone again by the one friend he cherished. "She probably hates me now for what I did..." he tells himself sitting close to the small fireplace. he knew he couldn't stay there forever as he needed to go back to the kingdom. He pulls out his wand and starts to heal himself with it. He knew they would need to inspect the cave again, to see if the troll was still there. When he was done, he puts his wand away and curls up next to the fire, but found that it was difficult to sleep, especially with the amount of guilt he felt but he manages to sleep in the end.

Dawn couldn't sleep alone after all their time together. She looked around the campsite, asking the oracle if he had come back. Upon discovery that he had not, she went off, light off her horn and went to go search for him, tired, and alone. She wasn't about to stop and let him run away from their troubles, after all, she missed him.

Cyrus's sleep wasn't very deep as he couldn’t replace the warmth he loved with the fire. He felt more lonely than even his years in the castle in his youth couldn’t compare, he missed Dawn, but he couldn’t bring himself to face her, his body shivering at the loneliness he felt. When he felt a light, he opened his eyes drowsiely, "Morning already?" He asked before realizing that it wasn't sun light, he turns to look at the source, his eyes taking a bit of time to adjust before he could make out the who it was. His eyes widened as he saw the last pony he expected to see, "D-Dawn?" He asks slightly afraid.

Dawn looked around, hearing her name, "Cyrus? Are you there? Please answer me..."

Cyrus wanted to answer, but his guilt kept him quiet. He slowly got up and tried to back away, but he ended up breaking a twig, the sound resonated throughout the quiet forest.

Dawn turned her head toward the sound and intensified her light, trying to find him, "Cyrus, please come home... I really need you right now." She called, the last part getting quieter as she felt bad about calling it out. She looked around, hoping he would somehow be there when she looked at each bush or shrub

Cyrus resorts to climbing the tree again, he climbs it rather easily with his experience. He didn't bother to get rid of the small fire pit he made, left there in plain sight. He hid in the branches of the tree, he knew most often overlook looking in the trees.

Dawn looked around, searching desperately for him before spotting the campfire and walked over to it, intending to look it over. there were still a couple embers that were still red at the bottom and so she looked again at ground level, hoping that maybe he was still here.

NinkinDude: Cyrus wasn't as careful at putting his wand back in its holder causing it to fall. "No!" He whispered as he tried grabbing it with his hoof, forgetting he was a pony for a moment. The wand falls and stabs into the ground next to Dawn.

Dawn blinked and looked down, spotting the wand and carefully pulling it out of the ground with her horn magic. She gasped as she recognized it was Cyrus' with the familiar scratches and looked up.

Cyrus's eyes met Dawn's as she looked up, "Um... Hi." He says as there was no longer a reason to hide now that she saw him.

Dawn sniffed, looking up at him confused. She didn't know why he was up in the tree, why he was trying to hide from her, but on the other hoof, she was relieved as everything to see him safe. She stood there a minute and then quietly asked, "You gonna come down?"

"I... I guess." Cyrus answers hesitantly as he now climbs his way down the tree. When he got down he couldn’t look Dawn in the eyes due to his guilt.
Dawn looked at him for a few seconds before walking up to him and hugging him close with both her forelegs, "Thank you for being ok... You have no idea how worried I was about you." She said, trying hard not to cry.

Cyrus was surprised about the hug. "Y-you're not mad about that stuff I said?" He asked his voice cracked as he was at the verge of crying himself.

Dawn shook her head, "How could I be mad? I nearly lost everything... and then you ran away... I..." She stopped herself, trying quite hard to hold it in, despite her breath's shuddering.

"E-even so..." Cyrus started, he felt his chest hurt from holding it in, he needed to let it out, "I... I... I'm sorry!" He cries, it finally became too much to hold in, "I was frustrated, angry, disappointed... and I took it all out on you! You didn't deserve that but I did it anyway. I'm sorry."

Dawn hugged him tight and was brought to tears herself, not wanting to reply as she let him get it off his chest. She had him back, and she was content with this.

Cyrus cried for several minutes before he finally got it all out of his system. "I... I think I'm good now." He says as he felt much calmer now, but didn't want to break the hug just yet.

Dawn continued to hold him, shedding tears quietly of her own. "Good... i know it's rough, but that means we just have to do better. What we're doing clearly isnt enough... but, we don't have to go it alone, right?"

"That's true... fate brought us together... and we managed to survive so far... so I guess our defeat wasn't too bad, we survived to live and fight another day." Cyrus says as he hugged her a bit tighter. "As long as we live, it should count as a win for us at least."

Dawn chuckled and winced, "y-yeah, but if you squeeze me any tighter, my burns will kill me."

"Oops, sorry!" Cyrus says as he backed off. He then uses his horn magic to retrieve his wand and used it to heal Dawn up, "That should do it." He says as he finished, putting the wand back into it's holder, "Can't have you dying now."

Dawn laughed and then started to cry more, feeling terrified still at the thought of how close she came to that

Cyrus cringed at what he just now realized what he just said, "Um... We should probably head back, the others must be worried sick about us." He says to try to take their minds off that little brush with death.

Dawn nodded, staying quite close to him as the walked back. She was relieved to have him back, and had grown too fond of him to bear the idea of adventuring without him.

Cyrus was glad what he did didn’t cause his friendship with Dawn to sour. He would have hated to lose the closest friend he had here. He couldn't imagine how unbearable this quest would be without her.

Dawn walked back, seeing the oracle and playfully ruffled his mane much to his chagrin. She guided cyrus to the tent and soon fell asleep in the sleeping bags, worn out from her previous injuries and the late night run to find him.

Cyrus climbs into the sleeping bag with her and falls asleep instantly. As he slept, he pulled Dawn towards him like he always did. He smiles as he now had that warmth he longed for in the forest that fire could never replicate.

Dawn sighed and slept soundly that night, glad that he was with her, waking up slowly the next morning. She didn't want to move, just on the off chance he was still resting, and to enjoy his companionship.

Cyrus was already up and studying his spell book as he didn't have a chance to the previous night. He noticed that Dawn was stirring as though she were waking up, but didn't seem to get up. "You do know I'm already up right?" he asks.

Dawn laughed quietly, "well damn. And here i thought i could feel you against me still." She got up slowly and hugged him from behind for a few seconds before returning to her own studies

Cyrus smiles as Dawn hugged him, "I'm glad things worked out, but I can't exactly leave that troll in that cave." Cyrus frowned at the last part, "I have to be sure that thing is still there, if it is, then we have to slay it."

Dawn felt herself freeze, not wanting to believe it, but he was right. She tried to study, yet couldn't get her mind off how close she came before. She studied all the offensive spells she could, magic missile, stone discus, and made sure all her potions of cure light wounds were accounted for and ready to be chugged down in an emergency.

Cyrus finished memorizing his spells along with thinking of ways to get to the troll without provoking an attack, he knew he was ready this time. "You ready?" He asked Dawn.

"Not really," she said, "but if I whittle him down with these spells, you burn him to death or melt him. Deal?"

"Got it." Cyrus says, ready to finish the fight once and for all. Later that day the group exit the cave mostly because they could not find the troll anywhere in the cave, Cyrus was confused, relieved, and disappointed. "I think he might have slipped out while we slept." Cyrus comments while they headed towards the cart, everything was already packed as they had no intention of staying another night.

Dawn let out a sigh of relief. "Probably... makes me glad he didn't wipe us out last night. Still, he's still alive, able to do harm..."

"Well if we find him again, we know what to expect, he won't get the better of us twice that's for sure." Cyrus says optimistically, "But we can worry about him later, right now we should start moving out, hopefully we can finish the castle soon and get a barracks for more troops, I don't really like how another kingdom just started to build out of nowhere, and on the lands the blade lords gave us no less."

Dawn nodded, "I'd like to avoid conflict, but they're encroaching and if we leave them alone, they'll only make problems later..."

"And the worst part is... it was the ponies who approached me, claiming that they needed resources to help with their farms that are building it. and this was back when Mareth was in its first months as a kingdom." Cyrus says with a bit of a sense of betrayal.

Dawn growled, "I swear I'd want to ask for repayment, with interest due to misleading you or outright lying... still, thatd probably make them mad eh?
"Indeed, It doesn't look like they are plotting anything right now, but I want to be prepared for the worst if it comes down to it." Cyrus says, "And it wasn't really like they didn't repay us, they helped us cut down on the resources needed for the shop we have. But in all honesty, I hardly think that grants them the right to do what they please."

Dawn nodded, "so many problems..." she grew quiet, not sure what to say, but not leaving his side since last night, save for matters of privacy.
Cyrus simply grins, "Well no use worrying about it right now, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. For now, lets go home, I just want to rest when we get there."

Dawn nodded, "That'd be amazing to sleep in our own bed again after all that..." She sighed and commented quietly, "I just hope we get more that join us. The four of us simply aren't enough."

"Agreed, Maybe we'll run into Nitta again and he might be willing to join us, who knows." Cyrus says with some optimism.

Dawn bit her cheek lightly as she tried not to speak up. He probably knew full well how difficult it was to keep ponies with him. She knew he struggled with it far more than she did, and didn't want to rub it in his face. She considered the possibility of hiring help, but it would cost more than they could afford and reduce further income, instead of someone who would stay and chip in as needed more likely than not...

"Its Okay if you want to say it." Cyrus says suddenly, "I am very much aware of my terrible luck when it comes to help, kinda used to it by now." he says as he shrugs, though that was a lie as it does bother him when companions leave.

Dawn shook her head, "Just means we have to pick up more of the slack or something, right?"

"Yup, that is what it means." Cyrus says grinning, "can try to rely on our companions, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't better ourselves incase any of them are absent."

Dawn nodded, continuing their walk back to the kingdom, "So, if the number of companions or ponies in this party is an issue... what if we were to hire some to join us? Have we ever looked into that before?"

"Well... I did consider it a few times, but the problem is mostly that we don't have the funds to hire somepony competent, plus sellswords rarely stick around if the situation looks grim." Cyrus explains.

Dawn nods, sighing loudly, "It was a thought... I knew it was too good a situation to be true. At least Raeonn hasn't left us, and he's the reason why we're both still here able to talk. Think we should do anything special for him?"

Cyrus thinks about it, "I suppose... no we really should, as you said, we wouldn't be here now if not for him, question is, what should we do?" Cyrus asks as he is not sure what they should do for Topaz, he may look like a foal, but he remembers that Topaz is actually older than he looks.

Dawn thought about it, "Well, do we know anything that he likes other than money?"

"Nothing that I know of." Cyrus answers as nothing comes to mind.

Dawn sighed quietly as she considers what to do for him before another topic crossed her mind, "What duties do we have back in the kingdom?"

"Well... aside from what we usually do every month, not much. There is the matter of finishing the castle we have to get done, establishing a military in case the new kingdom that popped up out of nowhere decides to be hostile. Other than that, there isn't much else." Cyrus explains, "Though I thought we already went over this."

Dawn nodded, "That's right... We did, sorry, I kinda forgot... I was just trying to figure out what we could do, whether we should take a break from adventuring to hone our skills, or learn something new, or... something. Sorry, I just... this has gotten to be so much to handle after... well,"
Cyrus simply nods at what Dawn was trying to say, "I know what you mean. Honestly I feel we need a break, just enjoy ourselves for simply surviving that ordeal."

Dawn nodded, "So, what should we do? I mean... we need to relax, but we have so much on our shoulders... and you were right, we do need to practice more than just running to the hill..."

"Hmm." Cyrus started giving it some thought, "I don't remember ever going to the park we have in the Kingdom. I have been meaning to for a while now, but it keeps slipping my mind." Cyrus says as he remembers that they actually have one.

Dawn smiled slightly, "That would be nice. Just to have fun, maybe have a picnic?"

"I honestly can't remember the last time I had a picnic." Cyrus says as he tries to remember if that part of his childhood happened or he was fooling himself, wouldn’t be the first time it happened.

Dawn chuckled, "I've heard of em, but never been taken on one. It was always too busy anywhere I went. When should we do it?"

"I guess the day after we get back, unless something unexpected happens." Cyrus says with a shrug, "Honestly I am really looking forward to it."
Dawn laughed quietly, "Yeah, that'd be nice, lay down on a soft blanket, relax for a day before looking around at the taverns and pubs to see what adventurers we can rope in..."

"Yeah, hopefully we might find some that are willing to join us in the long run." Cyrus adds in.

"You never know... Should we get some posters made or do any advertising of some kind?"

"I don't know... after that little fiasco with that guy trying to turn our own kingdom against us, I kinda don't want the wrong sets of eyes thinking we are vulnerable."

Dawn nodded and tried to think of a solution on their trek back, going quiet. She liked the idea of a picnic, but she couldn't get his last words before he ran away out of her head. She had to come up with something to improve their odds against foes that were able to so readily harm them.

Cyrus took a deep breath before looking at the clouds, "I wonder how everyone is doing." He says, thinking of his old companions.

Dawn nodded, looking at the rest of the party and misunderstanding, "Well, our foal healer is quiet, but he always is. think we should check on him?"

Cyrus looked at her for a moment, then chuckled as he sees the misunderstanding, "Yeah, I think that would be a good Idea." He says smiling.

Dawn nods, "I'll take care of it then." and she walks over to Glint to strike a conversation and make sure he hasn't suffered.

"I guess we'll wait and see." Cyrus says, wondering what the future holds for them.