//------------------------------// // 5: Celebrating the revenge for those who had fallen // Story: Adventures in Kingmaker // by Meadow_Dawn //------------------------------// "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."