//------------------------------// // 7 - The Friendship Method // Story: Catalyst // by Meep the Changeling //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle - Day 13 The Machine Shop, South Jungle - The Island Today was a very busy, very rushed day. But at the same time, I’d been having fun all day. A bit of a paradox, but that’s the way it was. “Twi! Grab yer gear, NOW!” Nyota shouted, her voice echoing off the walls, snapping me out of my sleep. Despite the grogginess, the urgency and worry in her voice made it straight through my mind and stuck there. This was something massively serious. “W-what? Are we being attacked?” I asked, sliding out of bed as quickly as I could, tossing my blankets aside in a panic. Sir Hoppyfox yelped as I accidently made him roll off my chest where he’d been sleeping. I spared him a sympathetic glance and frown as I activated my implant to equip the armor stored in it. “No. We have permission to tame creatures at the volcano for the next twenty-four hours,” Nyota called. “We need to tame a couple parasaurs for pack animals, travel across half the island because the Juskazan refused to give us travel permission, tame two rather tough dinos, and leave Vulcan’s Anvil’s territory before the next sunrise. “We have just barely enough time if you move yer arse at max speed the whole time starting NOW! Bring a pickaxe, we’re going to get metal while waiting for the tames to finish. An pick up this bag of gear! Parasaur’s can't defend jack, there’s an upgraded crossbow with two drums of regular bolts and a drum of tranq bolts for ye.” I only just now fully got over being woken up like that. Nyota and I had been up really late the previous night working on a joint project. Casting my Animal Empathy spell multiple times a day so I could always understand Razor had been drawing too much of my magic to let me run experiments. We decided to make a collar for me which would maintain the spell for as long as possible. I hadn’t been psyched about it being a collar, but I couldn’t argue with Nye’s point about collars being the single hardest thing to accidently loose. We did put a lot of time and resources into making it. Also she couldn’t make anything much smaller than the prototype I was currently wearing without some practice. Translating a spell matrix into machinery is part science part art. She’d promised the next one would be something for the wrist. But for now, I had to make do with the kinda crude black leather ‘belt’ holding several kinda bulky metal boxes along with a housing for the piece of Quartz I’d charged with thaumaturgic current. It was a bit itchy and a little too heavy… But it worked for now. I’d been able to understand the Parasaurs while we tamed them. Poor things panicked so easily even though Nyota’s tranq darts barely hurt them at all. Fluttershy would probably have wrapped the poor things up in blankets with the same care she’d give breezies. Fortunately the wave of happiness when we gave the pare of them a pile of potatoes a piece was more than enough to make up for a few bad feelings. The two we’d caught were a pair of bright pink and dark maroon females, and I looked forward to training mine to run faster and build her strength. Nyota said I needed to know how to train something before I picked a proper mount anyways. I couldn’t disagree with that logic, but I still liked this parasaur. I named her Strawberry Malt. Mostly because her colors sort of looked like the frothy top of a mug of soda. I liked her a lot in fact. Because she was the key to my discovering a new hobby. Riding cross country. I hiked a lot before, but riding is completely different. Your mount does all the pathfinding, and you really just keep them pointed in the right direction unless some specific obstacle must be avoided. This lets you look around and take in the countryside. Sure you can do that while walking or flying, but you can't just sit back, relax, and enjoy watching the world go by. Riding is like a train, but without the noise, other people, and all being outside with all the smells, sounds, and sights completely unobstructed. Yes, the Island was dangerous, and yes, we had a very strict time limit, but we still got to see some amazing things! Nyota gave me a copy of her map, with all the major tribe’s territories marked on it. In case we got separated I could find my way back home. I’d already made my own compass after all. The map was interesting on its own. The biomes marked on it made no sense whatsoever, but seemed to have a specific pattern to them. The map couldn’t possibly have prepared me for actually traveling through those places. We’d first traveled north across the swamp, skirting around Charlie’s territory into the Brewers’ lands. The Brewers lived in an absolutely massive redwood forest. A nearly completely safe Redwood forest, where all the predators who ventured further inwards than the fringes were obliterated by rock throwing Chalicos and their Ranger handlers. Two of whom we met, as Nyota had arranged for. They gave the two of us a few jars of a dark beer and some bread, then escorted us through their territory. And what a territory it was! We spent a few hours running between mossy boulders and around the trunks of truly massive trees which were festooned with wooden and metal platforms to make arboreal villages, with each home connected to its neighbors by bridges. I’d had plenty of time to get used to the idea of being an alicorn and living forever. One thing I’d decided to do was change where I lived from time to time to keep things fresh. Redwood forest tree city was now the first place on my list! Unfortunately we had to leave behind the beauty, and hospitality, of the Redwoods behind. The original plan had been to cut through the small patch of unclaimed land, up through Keel, and then around to the Volcano since Nyota had been told that The Nameless were not allowing passage at this time. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the edge of the territory, Nyota and I took one look at a pair of Quetzels dropping maybe a hundred people down into the jungle, right over a spot which appeared to be on fire occupied by many peoples screaming one continuous ‘warrrrgh!’, and decided, no. We would go around. Since time was an issue we wound up stopping for just long enough to allow Nyota to build a raft since I’d forgotten to pick up that engram. Then long enough for her to explain to me how the heck the raft moved at about forty knots without a sail, or any other means of propulsion. After the explanation, our trip resumed and we sailed through the swamp and up a river which the map said was the border between a tribe known as the Ranchers, and another called Lindybeige. The Ranchers seemed to inhabit a huge rolling grassy plane. Some homesickness cropped into my mind as I watched their land pass by. I could easily see the whole of Ponyville sitting on top of those rolling green hills. The planes resemblance to Equestria was almost uncanny. I had little choice but to look at them, which made things far worse. The other side of the riverbank was hidden behind a single massive ironclad wall modeled after a castle’s fortifications and painted a dark black. Similar to cast iron. That was all well and good. The creepy bit was the signs. The wall was festooned with endless signs! Each and every part of the wall was labeled in a way which made me think ‘this is just a little bit anal retentive’. ME! Twilight Sparkle. Arrow Loops, the Batter, the Battlements, Crenellations, Embrasures, Machicolations, Merlons, all labeled at regular intervals with arrows painted on the wall to indicate what part was what. Naturally, I’d asked why. Apparently that tribe had been formed by a rather energetic historian who got just a bit over annoyed when people misused ancient terminology. Two hundred years later, and the tribe he founded, the oldest tribe, carried on the tradition of correcting people who called merlons ‘the pokie uppie bits’. Religiously so. According to Nyota, “Nikolas would be pissed about their fanaticism, and probably build a short bit of wall across the river and label it ‘just a bloody wall segment’. Which is why it’s funny!” After another few hours we were able to sail up through Keel, which was yet more rolling planes, but this time with one bank of the river being a part of the redwoods. It was nice to see those towing trees again. I knew Nyota said their tribe was generally non-aggressive but still ruthless at times and I should be very careful in dealing with them, but they had felt civilized. Like a real nation. Kind of like what I’d read about Hound. But with cool tree cities and rockthroing bear-ape-ponies who apparently worked for beer instead of civilized Diamond Dogs. Keel, interestingly enough, was a trade city. We passed their colossal riverside port midway through their section of the river, the entire way having to constantly move around their elaborate wood and steel boats which ferried goods around the rivers. Apparently the Keel tribe were the closest thing to merchants in this ARK. Though they honestly made things worse by making it easy for larger groups to buy the weapons they needed to crush smaller ones. Nyota mentioned she’d tried to strike a deal with them for ammo, but just didn’t have anything to offer them she was willing to give over to ‘gun running warmongers’. To play Discord’s Advocate, of course they were; weapons were definitely in high demand here. Interestingly, while we sailed through, I got to see what the Ranchers did. Which made me facehoof in shame for not realizing it based on their name. They bred dinos and traded them for metal. No one even knew what the tribe’s actual name was, they just called them the Ranchers. The busy trade-way couldn’t go on forever though, and eventually we made it through the sea of boats, landing on a sandy beach a few minutes travel down river. I kind of liked the spot. I could see myself living here, not that I wanted to leave Nyota just yet… Maybe never. After we started to hang out I really liked her. So far, she was shaping up to be a great friend. We had a gentle slope to our left, the one spot in a black rocky cliff which jutted up from the white sand beach like someone stuck a chalkboard into a sandbox. All of this right at the base of a crystal clear river at the foot of a towering dormant volcano, it’s rim partially obscured by the clouds. If I had a camera, I would be taking back so many cool pictures for my friends. Not just of the landscapes, but also the people, and the creatures. I knew that Fluttershy would love to see the pair of petras which perched on the cliff above our raft. They just sat there, staring down into the river, ready to swoop down and grab fish. A red one and a blue one. How appropriate of them to group up by color pairs. “Alright, we have a bit of a way to go on dino back,” Nyota said as she led her orange and white parasaur off the raft, pulling on its reins lightly. “Go ahead and make sure you have tranq arrows loaded in your bow while I call ahead and let them know to expect us.” I nodded, and reached down to the strap running across my chest, grabbed it, and pulled the bow attached to it off my back and into my hands. I’d finally learned why some people kept equipment outside of their implants storage. Ease of access. No need to dig through a menu to find it. It was all right there. Of course, there was also Nyota’s reason. Customized gear. Like the crossbow she’d made for me. I had managed to make my own crossbow. The simple wooden tiller, flax string, and steel bow weapon the engrams supplied and every museum in Equestria had replicas of. I even took down a few carnosaurs with it while Razor taught me to hunt. Which is why Nyota made me this one. I’d made the old one all on my own, so she felt I’d earned something better. Holding the lightweight composite bow by its handgrip, I flipped it over to check the drum attached to the top. The dozen arrows inside were blue tipped, coated in whatever the knockout drug you could make here was. Probably chlordiazepoxide. That would be bad to accidentally prick myself with… And I’d been carrying the bow drawn with a thirteenth arrow ready to go. I turned the bow back over and checked the safety hadn’t come loose. Sure enough the small lock had kept the pump in the ‘pulled’ position, preventing the bow from firing until the pump was slid forwards. Good! No accidental butt piercings. “Yep, ready to go… Are you sure that thirteen arrows will be enough to knock them out? Should I make more to load into the drum later?” I asked as I pulled the strap to slide the bow back onto my back. “Nah, you’re on back up. I’ve got darts for my rifle to do the real work. Ye’r here to learn how to tame important work beasts,” Nyota explained, as she patted the lever action rifle holstered in her saddle before taking her large boxy, brick like radio out of a pouch on her vest. I liked the vest. It gave her a cool ‘commando’ look. I also liked her sans vest; she had very pretty fur. I wish more ponies had fur patterns. At least my mane and tail hair had grown back into full length a day or so ago. Very few creatures look good in just one color. Nyota twisted her radio’s dial then brought it to her ear. “This is Nyota Komeo calling any of Vulcan’s Anvil, do you read. Over,” she asked, staring into the temperate forest at the top of the earthen ramp as she spoke. I decided to play look out too, and turned to look up and down the beach. After all, just because a tribe claimed this territory as their own it didn’t mean that it wasn’t teaming with saurian predators. “We hear you, Nyota,” a male voice crackled over the radio after a few moments. “We’ve got an escort for you. What’s your current position? Over.” While Nyota took out a small navigation device and gave him our position. I wondered briefly if radio etiquette demanded you say the word over, even if the last sentence ended in over. “Roger that, we’ll be with you in six minutes,” the voice said after Nye listed off our coordinates. “We’re willing to let you use one specific section today. You’re not to stray from it. Your escort will show you the bounds. Pleasure doing buisness with you. Over and out.” “What did you give them to let us tame things here anyways?” I asked curiously as Nyota put her radio back in its pouch and climbed up into her parasaur’s saddle. “I’ve got six ‘Tek Foundations’ as they call them,” she answered. “That’s the payment. Pretty damn steep but at least they’re letting us mine too. We’ll be going after an Anky first to maximize our gathering time.” “I don't get it… I got enough metal for the crossbow from breaking a few dozen boulders around your house,” I mused, frowning slightly. “Aye, you got the twenty ore needed to make ten ingots, to make one crossbow,” Nyota agreed. “But we need to get you fully kitted out and you need to learn how to make the best stoff and-” “To do that I need to know how to take out the ‘bosses’,” I interrupted with a nod. “I know.” “Yes. But do ye know that we’ll need either six engram built pump shotguns a piece, along with six hundred shells minimum?” Nyota asked with a sigh. “That’s twelve hundred total shells, which comes out to a total of four thousand eight hundred metal ore, and will require twenty five thousand and two hundred units of gunpowder, which itself will require-” I winced, my ears drooping. “Oh… Yeah I can see the problem now,” I admitted sheepishly. Nyota chuckled. “Don’t worry. It’s a manageable amount with the right creatures at your command. I just don't want to take that much metal out of my stockpile… Aye I’ve got a good bit back home but it’s for specific things. Best to come out here and get it now instead of later,” she explained, turning to give me a polite smile, before frowning worriedly. “Oh, we had lunch earlier. How are ye feeling? Need a hug?” I shook my head happily. So far my experiment was showing some fairly promising results. “Nope! I enjoyed the boat ride with you more than enough. I’m feeling pretty upbeat right now,” I replied, giving her a smile before returning to looking around the beach. “We should just sail around so you can tell me more cool stories about the places we pass sometime.” Nyota smiled happily as she returned to her own watch. “I think we can do that some time so-” “HOLD IT!” A male voice barked from the jungle. I whipped my head to look by reflex. A human male in a full set of mud colored flack armor had seemingly materialized on the top of the cliff. A large rocket launcher was held up on his left shoulder, leveled straight at us. “Vulcans don’t take kindly to fraud!” He barked. “Get moving or feed my dogs.” I slowly reached down for my crossbow, not trusting his word at all. Nyota on the other hand, grit her teeth and only barely avoided slapping a palm against her face. “For for the love of-” She snapped, glaring up at the man angrily. “I told ya guys I’d gotten my original body back! Yeah! I’m a zebra. Like I’ve been saying for longer than you have been here. The wardens finally fixed that.” “Bullshit. Get your stipped ass back to your lake,” he retorted, adjusting his aim slightly. “Hey, if you don’t want those foundations, that’s fine with me. I can trade them to the Megalodons, along with a few walls. We’ll see how you like shipping your ingots when they have ships you can’t sink,” Nyota exclaimed throwing up her hands dismissively before snatching her radio off her belt. “This is Nyota, your escort is being a shithead and loosing you those foundations. Over.” “What’s the problem? Over,” the same voice from before reapplied immediately. The escort lowered his launcher, activating his implant to retrieve a radio himself. “Chief, this ain’t Nyota. I’ve heard the stories about her. She’s a human. We’ve got a pair of Beastfolk here. Over,” he explained. “Stand by,” the radio man ordered. A few tense moments passed. Then Nyota’s radio crackled again, allowing me to hear the other person’s weary sigh. “Jake… Turn on your HUD when you use your spyglass. I’ve got a telescope trained right on the three of you, and my HUD’s on. Do you know what I see? Raft Owner: Nyota Komeo. Parasaur Tamed by: Nyota Komeo. “Nyota’s been insisting she’s a zebra since before there were Beastfolk here. LONG before. Always thought she was a bit of a nut and had lots of biomods on the outside. Lots of people do. Looks like she really is an alien. Either way, the system says that’s Nyota, and you can’t fool it. Take them up to slope four, just like we arranged. “Nyota, I’m sorry for Jake’s trigger happiness. He’s new. Fourth month of his sentence. Go ahead and give him the foundations and I’ll give you two an extra hour to work. Over and out.” “We have a HUD?” I asked Nyota with a whisper, a curious frown on my lips. “Y-you’re kidding me, right?” She asked eyes widening in shock. I shook my head no. “Tap your implant’s button,” she instructed before turning up to our escort. “Come on, you're wasting our very limited time up there.” “It was an honest mistake, sheesh! I’ll be down in a sec,” our Escort spat, dissolving the rocket launcher and vanishing into the forest behind him. “Watchmen and Scouts should know to keep their damn HUD on while on the job!” Nyota called angrily. I tapped the diamond shaped button on my implant. Immediately a set of very small icons appeared in the lower right hand side of my vision. Each one was rather simple to understand, one for how much progress I’d made towards the next survivor level, one for my overall health (which I suppose was how much my implant could repair my body at the moment, rather than a ‘you are x percent healthy!’ indicator) thirst, hunger, all of it right there to see. Easy as can be. The more interesting thing was I could see green letters floating above the raft, our parasaurs, and Nyota, listing their names, level, and a line underneath reading ‘tribe: Dragonslayers’. “Can we see the names of people not in our tribe?” I asked as I looked around, trying to see if I could see the text for our escort in the forest. “Only if we’re within five meters from them, and there isn’t a sight barrier between us and them,” Nyota answered. “Okay. And I’ve never asked but why is your tribe called the Dragonslayers?” I asked again as I switched the HUD back off. “Because we’re the only ones on the Island to have slain the Dragon,” she replied with a proud smile. “I did it on my own before they did, and that inspired them to try it. But they couldn’t do it alone since they don't have my tools. But they pulled it off as a team, then asked me if I’d join them since we’re the only ones with the ability to make things from the advanced technology tier.” “And you're not worried about giving those things away?” I wondered, just a bit worried about giving away something she claimed could make a boat unsinkable. Nyota shook her head. “No. Just foundation tiles. All it will let them do is make a building that can’t be easily brought down. The walls will still be quite breachable. So in the event we ever have to attack said building, we can still get in,” she explained. “It doesn't hurt us. Though it could help them a lot. Depending on how they use them. And now for the question about what had been bothering me for the last minute or so. “Don’t you think you were just a bit hard on that guy just now? He made a mistake anyone could, you’re in a different body now,” I pointed out with a concerned frown. She shook her head. “If he were a friend, or a person from a civilized society, yes. I would have been. Absolutely. Here? Unfortunately, ye need to come across as hard, scary, and dangerous. I also do my best to come across as reliable and honest. The problem is, the minute anyone with more numbers than ye thinks you’re weak, they’ll attack. “Remember Twilight, these people are loyal to each other. That’s all. None of them have gotten to the third stage of rehabilitation. They are all in step two. Unite with others to form a small band of survivors for mutual gain. They have yet to realize the gains that can be made when many groups come together.” I nodded, Nye’s behavior making perfect sense now. I opened my mouth, wanting to explore that further, but our escort emerged from the trees atop the ramp, riding on the back of a huge sized dull brown colored wolf which rather than being sleek and muscular, roughly resembled Celestia after the time a noble dared her to eat thirty cakes. Which meant round, and floofy. WIth a look of regret in the eyes but happy satisfaction in the smile. Despite knowing that a wolf that massive had to be a very formidable beast, all I could think when I saw it was, ‘Awww, it’s a big ol chubby puppy! I want one.’ There are no words for how happy I was that I didn’t say those words aloud… “Come on,” Nyota said, nodding towards the ramp before spurring her parasaur forwards. I nodded and climbed up into my saddle, quickly guiding my own mount to follow after her. When Nyota reached the top of the ramp, she held out her hand, and quickly transferred the foundations to our wolf riding escort, who nodded in thanks. “Oh, and by the way,” Nyota said as he started to turn around to lead us through the forest. “I only yelled because ye need to learn to do yer job right. Kill someone like that and you will start a tribe war. Also, the rockets are kinda slow. At that distance I could have shot it down with my pistol. “That’s not a boast. Ye could probably sprint faster than that thing if you upped yer speed to one fifty. If yer gonna use rockets, ambush with them. Don’t assault.” “Noted,” our guide grunted before nodding towards the forest. “Come on. You’ve been given permission to hunt on S2. It’s three quarters of the way to the top of the mountain-” “Volcano,” I corrected reflexively. “Whatever,” He grunted irritably. Our guide lead us a very short distance through the forest, where we reached the first of many gates. Vulcan’s Anvil had walled off the entire volcano, and the foothills surrounding it, with massive thirty meter high stone walls. The walls were simplistic, with no real means of defense atop them save for spotlamps and the occasional turret protected by a steel barricade of sorts. But that hardly mattered. The wall was easily six meters thick. The gate we went through had three sets of huge steel doors, and as we passed through into the volcano’s foothills, I noticed the wall’s quarried stone was but a facade. A thin layer coating a solid ring of steel surrounding the volcano. This must be the anvil in Vulcan's anvil. Inside the wall the foothills had been converted into farmland. Food, stone, metal, and animals all sectioned off into orderly areas by smaller steel walls. Occasionally you’d see a small home, nothing bigger than what you’d expect for a couple of middle class ponies in ponyville to own. Except made from solid steel, and designed in a very boxy, yet easy to defend, though very bland to look at ‘style’. These people were all about industry, efficiency, and showing off their wealth. You could tell by the iron castle they’d constructed which was built almost at the very top of the volcano, anchored the the stone by countless support beams and terraced platforms. The fortress sat atop the volcano much like a crown, towering above everything save the very top of the crater. That’s likely where the tribe’s chief had their swimming pool full of hot mares and stallions. Flood the crater, hope magma’s close enough to the top despite the domancy to make a hot springs. It’s what I’d do with it. A series of elaborate stone ramps and walkways spider webbed down the volcano’s sides from the fortress, allowing access to any given part of the volcano itself. Even from the kilometer or so away from the base, I could see maybe fifty people riding various creatures around the walkways, ether going to or from one of the exposed faces, or pulling a wagon of materials upwards towards the fortress. Our escort led us to the closest access ramp, taking us past a small farm which were raising these huge armadillos which not only looked adorable, but Nyota informed me were called dodeks. Which mean we got to go home with one! But not one of those. Those ones were especially bred for mining. Very valuable, and thus not for trade. The ramp network had lots of gates along the paths. These gates were just wood reinforced with metal, with the archways formed from stone, much like the walkways themselves. Even with my rudimentary understanding of defenses, I could see the value in being able to contain a ‘breach’ to very specific areas of the access ramps. With a gate every fifty yards or so, anyone without the equipment to scale the wall formed by the next highest walkways foundation would be forced to break through the gate. Thus, slowing them down. The protection was made even better with the ramps connecting the walkways vertically being spaced out so there was no straight shot up the mountain, with two gates between each vertical ramp. We’d moved up from the base of the volcano to the first ramp, and were moving along a flat section of walkway to the next upwards ramp, when Nyota and our guide’s radios crackled. “Jake… What are you doing?” The man who I assumed was one of the chief’s lieutenants asked irritably. Jake fumbled for his radio. “Taking them up like you said. Over,” he answered grouchily, his tone implying a silent ‘tailhole’ at the end of his sentence. “Nyota, I’m sorry. I believed Jake was ready for duty as an escort but he clearly isn’t. Jake, you’re taking them the wrong way. You’re done for today. Go back to the barracks for reassignment. Nyota, if you and your friend will wait right there, I’ll send someone else to guide you the rest of the way. Over,” he said, almost ordering us. I frowned suspiciously. Nyota did as well, taking her radio off her vest. “Nyota here. I think this guy can do the rest of the job. We can just turn around and go around the other side. Over,” she said, one hand subtly reaching down for the pistols on her left thigh. Oh… Yeah, this would also be a great place to ambush people. “I insist. We have certain structures built on the slope that are not for outsiders to see, and Jake has proven untrustworthy. Remain where you are and I’ll have someone else take you to your section,” he repeated. Jake spurred his wolf onwards, moving towards the far gate in a loping run. “Mhm,” Nyota sighed. She turned, guiding her parasaur to turn around, her lips parting to give me an order, her face half angry, half worried. She got no further than that before the walkway exploded. Shards of stone flew everywhere, my ears rang, blocking out the sound of two sections of walkway crumbling, forming two huge pits, one in front of us, and one behind. Our parasaurs panicked, running along the section of walkway, nearly shaking me off. Hidden trapdoors in the remaining sections opened, allowing a half dozen people in cast iron black streamlined, modern-looking armor to leap up onto the walkway, immediately sweeping rifle like weapons upwards to bare on us, each one spraying a cloud of fire from the muzzle. The fire was more than my parasaur could handle. She twisted, turning into a blind sprint I was too scared to even think about stopping, and ran off the side of the walkway. As I fell I saw Nyota reach up and pull her chainsaw from it’s scabbard on her back. My hearing returned just in time to hear the weapon roar to live over the sound of crackling fire, gunshots, and animal screams. I plunged over the edge of the walkway, stirrups keeping me in the saddle as my mount slammed into the side of the volcano twenty meters below me. Something wet snapped. She screamed. The loose pile of rubble we landed on gave way, sliding down the stone slope with an impossibly loud rumbling roar. Still the stirrups kept me held to the saddle, even as the rockslide threw us this way and that, smashing me into the ground, forcing my screeching mount to roll over me several times. The chaotic fall ended with a blinding flash of white as my head smashed against something, and I jerked to a stop. I don’t know how long I lay as if dead. I lost my ability to track time in the fall. I was aware of where I was, pinned between a tree and the corpse of my parasaur. Somewhere inside the ‘top’ edge of one of their lumber farms. But the sensation of time passing simply wasn’t there. It was like I blinked and suddenly a few minutes had gone by. As my awareness returned, I could hear gunfire from the slope above me. But very faintly. It wasn’t my ears having a problem. The walkways was pretty darn high up the slope, and the guns here were quieter than I remembered guns being. Distant snaps and cracks. Not the distant booms you’d expect. Odd. At least it meant Nyota was alive still. I wanted to help her, but I was really certain that I was concussed at the moment. Moving would be bad. Besides, she’d given me the map so I could go home if we ran into something like this. She wanted me to go, not to come to her rescue. But did that mean I should? “Twi, if things go south, just go home. I’ve got a few tricks incase I get captured. Ye don’t. I’ll get away in a day or two, but they could keep ye for weeks before I could safely get ya out of there. Just come back home if we’re attacked and separated,” Nyota instructed, her stern look making it clear she was completely serious. “Y-you're kidding!” I exclaimed in surprise. “You don’t want any help?” Nyota shook her head. “I… I’m starting to care for ye, Twi. An even if I didn’t, I don't want ye to get hurt when I can get out on my own. I’ve done it before many times. Besides, if I’m gone for more than three days, someone needs to use that radio right there, the red one, and call Drake. He’ll get the whole tribe to come rescue me. Ye can help me best by calling down a platoon of seasoned knights, their mounts, and one very angry alpha raptor.” No. No it meant I should go with her contingency plan and call the brute squad. That would definitely be the best course of action. And I was dying, right? That meant I’d be home soon and I could just call right now. Screw her waiting in a cell for days! She’d said that if that happened to me I’d probably be raped and tortured for kicks while they sliced parts of me off to eat! Nye wasn’t going to go through that for one single hour. Of course… I was carrying a lot of equipment which she’d customized. Nyota worried about her things falling into enemy hands. Crap! I couldn’t just die. I had to get out of their base at the very least. I had to get this stuff out of here. They couldn’t have it! Especially since Nye had given me two grenades she said were never ever ever to be lost. And I was carrying them… Okay. The plan. Remember how to move your body. Get out of here. Go home. Call Drake. Tell them the Vulcans had Nye. Get on Razor’s back. Wait for them. Go get her back. Kick their chief in his testicles for being a treacherous jerk. Yes. Good plan. I just needed to move. How did I move? I tried to move my left arm. It cracked, and I felt the bone splinter. Screaming in pain, I bit my lip to keep from passing out, closing my eyes tight to block out the pain. The rubble shifted slightly, my eyes snapping back open in fear. My head turned just fine, with only a little stiffness, allowing me to see some rubble slide off a crude camouflage trapdoor near the base of the tree I was pinned against. I gulped in fear. They had hidden guards here too… I was doomed. At best, they would get those grenades, my armor, my bow… A long reptilian snout poked out of the trapdoor, sniffing the air before the door was opened completely and a small Troodon hopped out. I’d never seen one in the light before. Small, very slender. With The same feathery plumes on the arms like a Raptor, but with a semi thick tail, tiny non-hook-clawed feet, three taloned hands with opposable thumbs, and without a raptor’s head feather mohawk thing. Instead they had a soft fuzzy coating of something between fur and feathers on their backs, flanks tails, the back of their neck, and head, with smooth skin everywhere else. This one had a striped pattern of minty green and powdery blue, with a white stripe on its snout. It blinked sleepily, even smacking its lips like anypony I knew would before looking at me hungrily and chittering. Hello, possible early night snack. Please scream again if you want me to help you die and are cool with me eating the body you leave behind, it instructed in an extremely creepy way. Due to being polite. And sounding like somepony who woke up to the scent of fresh cookies. The creepy reality of being asked to scream in fear at the presence of a predator to give permission for it to eat me, combined with the definite concussion I had compelled me to speak. “Actually,” I croaked wetly in English for reasons my brain didn’t really have. “I’d really like to not be killed right now. Thank you.” The troodon chirped a wordless sound of surprise, hopping backwards slightly, cocking its head to one side. You understood me? How? It asked, going from sleepy and hungry to sleepy and amazingly curious like I’d flipped a switch. “Magic collar… Animal empathy spell. Based on a language translation spell,” I mumbled. “Can’t die. They’ll get my stuff. Nyota said not to let them take my stuff.” Okay. What if I take your stuff and put it in my nest? They won't get it then and I like stuff! The Troodon asked eagerly. I shook my head, moaning as it caused my shoulder to burn painfully. “No… Don’t want to die,” I mumbled. The troodon stamped a food angrily. Oh come on! You’re already about to die! I’d just be letting you wake up in bed faster, and I already said I’ll take your stuff so they don’t get it. I can even make it instant. One quick bite, just one fang piercing your throat, and with how hurt you are my venom will go right to your brain, it protested. I didn’t eat yesterday! I’m starving. You have infinite bodies. What do you care?! “Dying hurts really really bad. So does coming back… It’s a punishment. This is a prison. Dying’s made to be as bad as possible. Cuz you’ll die a lot here,” I mumbled, my vision starting to blur. NO! NO! Pull yourself together. This body has nanites in it, right? They WILL fix you. Do you hear me you little robot bastards!? It’s overtime! FIX IT! The Troodon hopped backwards again, hissing in a way I didn’t quite understand. It hurts? It asked me sounding like I just proved the world was round to him. “Uh huh,” I confirmed, vision starting to clear up as I put all my willpower into surviving. I didn’t know how I would escape the troodon, but- I’m so sorry! We… We thought it didn’t hurt! If we made a thing to let us come back to life it wouldn’t hurt, it apologised, a sympathetic series of chirps carrying its words to me. Wait… The chirps. They weren't like Razor’s hisses. One sound with lots of meaning due to emotional states. They were lots of short very precise sounds strung together. Those were words. In a sentence. With meaning built right in there. Cool beans! “It’s scary too,” I mumbled. “The world goes black. No. Not black. The world goes to nothing. You can feel you have no body. You can’t feel cold, but you think you should feel cold. Then everything burns as you come back.” The troodon’s head dipped sadly. Others might not care, but I don’t like torturing prey… So, even though you smell really really tasty, and I want to eat you super bad… Just hold on for a while. But if you die before I get back, can I eat this body? Please? You smell so tasty it’s almost arousing! it begged. “Okay,” I agreed. Yay! It chittered, quickly diving back into the hold the trapdoor hid. I continued demanding my body heal itself faster. I could feel my consciousness wanting to drift off, but every second I forced myself to keep going, it got easier to stay here. I could do it. I could will myself to live long enough for my implant to heal my wounds. I could make it out of here. My concentration was interrupted as the troodon’s head poked back out of the hole, looking arround with its golden eyes cautiously before hopping out of the hole, dragging a tattered hide backpack by a strap with one talon. The bag clinked. It zipped next to me and opened the bag with its mouth, revealing the bag to be half full of green glass bottles, half the size of a wine bottle. Each one filled with a bright red faintly glowing liquid. The troodon fished one bottle out, gripped it in both talons, ripped the cork out with its teeth, spat it out and stood up tippy talon to pour the liquid into my mouth. Drink it. These fix wounds. I steal a few whenever the apes brew them, it instructed. I didn’t need to be told that. Vinegar, lemon, battery acid, and charcoal. The distinct taste of a healing potion, one of the potent ones. Not even questioning how the Vulcans learned to brew healing potions I swallowed all of the bottle I could, even though a lot of it spilled out of my mouth, due to the surprisingly friendly troodon pouring way too fast. Nonetheless, within seconds of swallowing all I could, I felt my arm jerk and screamed in pain as the bone cracked back into place. My whole arm went numb and burned right at the core as the bone fused back together. Feeling returned to my legs, and I realized that I hadn’t felt them at all until just now. I’d had my back broken… And I wasn’t pinned. I could wiggle out of this. The pinned feeling was due to my crossbow squeezing against my back and the parasaur, pushing me against the tree. The troodon seemed to wince as I wriggled free. Your metal-hide is crumpled in. Maybe take it off so your ribs can go back where they belong? it suggested. I looked down. The entire right side of my armor was caved in by about three inches. I flexed my arm, pulling my implant into position, and took off the currase, replacing it with another I’d made but not had the time to get painted. The moment I did, I felt my ribs crack, and then my lung reinflated. “Ow,” I whimpered. Was that more painful than dying? I was asked via a very curious series of chirps. I frowned, thinking back on the death’s I’d experienced before. “No. Almost, but no,” I decided with a firm nod. Then I’m glad I helped you… I can eat your parasaur, right? The troodon asked hopefully. I nodded, then paused, looking down at the ‘slightly bigger than a filly’ dinosaur. It totally had Lyra’s EXACT colors. Also ‘it’ used language. Real language. Which my collar was likely only able to translate since it was based on a language translation spell. “It’ had a sex, and a name. I should call them by it. “Uh, thanks for saving my life. What’s your name?” I asked hopefully. I’m Chipfang. Named for my great grandfather who taught me Human, incase you were curious, Chip answered, flashing me an expression which I think was a proud smile. What’s your name? “Twilight Sparkle, nice to meet you,” I said, kneeling down and extending a hand to shake by reflex. To my surprise, Chip reached out, grabbed two of my fingers, and shook. You’re a female, right? Chip asked out of the blue. I nodded. “Yes, I’m a mare. What are you? I um, I have problems when it comes to saurians, avians, and reptiles,” I admitted with a blush. That’s okay. We’ve got all our stuff tucked inside, your males have it all dangly, and your females have the chest bumps. I can see how you’d have problems when you’re used to easy ways to know like that. I’m male. I asked because female Equus have much stronger scents. The humans will be able to track you easily, and I can’t mask your scent. “You need to get home fast, before they find you… I just woke up enough understand there’s a fight happening here. Heh heh…” I blinked in surprise as halfway through Chip’s statement, my Empathy spell stopped translating his words as thoughts and simply began to let me understand the sounds. It really was a language! Also, the more efficient version of my spell I’d been forced to make just outclassed the original translation spell it was based on. It auto-updated. That gave me some interesting science to do later. Yay! “Wait, you would help me get out of here?” I asked hopefully. “Even if you don't have a scent blocker that will work for me, can you point the way to the outer wall? I’m kind of disoriented.” Right. Big wall. One step at a time, Twi. Chip nodded twice, then hopped over to my dead parasaur, and ripped a huge chunk out of her side. Wolfing the raw meat down in a few quick bites. “Bleh… Cooked food is better…” He grumbled. “The wall is that way.” Chip flicked his tail, pointing behind him and slightly to the left. “Thanks,” I said, stomach turning slightly as I watched him continue just ripping chunks off the corpse to eat. I turned towards the direction Chip indicated and took a few steps, slightly wobbly ones, but with each one being more steady than the last. “If you wait for like, eight more bites, I’ll escort you home,” Chip offered. “Now that I think about it, they will come here to find your body. And they’ll find my den. I need to move anyways.” I stopped and turned back around. “Y-you will?” I exclaimed in honest surprise. “I have to say, you’re very nice for something which wants to eat me!” “I do. A LOT! But I won't. I can only justify eating another sentient if it doesn't hurt them, or they attacked me. It hurts you, and you haven’t attacked me. I um, I thought coming back didn’t hurt you before… You do smell REALLY good though,” Chip almost whimpered before turning around to face me. “I don't do it for free though! I’ll need payment.” I raised an eyebrow. “I um, I understand you’re a people now… But the Troodon who chased me before didn’t have tools. Not even stone ones. You definitely don't trade with humans sooo what do you need money for?” I asked suspiciously. “Piling up so I can lay on it and pretend to be the dragon,” Chip joked with a smile. “No, but really I don't want money. I want a big thick warm blanket. Holes are cold.” “Oh!” I said with a smile. “Well sur-” “And a hot meal with spices!” Chip added super quick, tail wagging eagerly. I laughed, smiling at the hopeful look on the not-so scary looking anymore face. “I can’t cook anything fancy yet, but I can make you some cooked meat,” I promised. “Deal?” Chip asked eagerly, holding up a talon to shake. I nodded and shook it. “Deal.” “Great!” Chip exclaimed with another smile. “I’ve gotten a good belly full of meat, but we’re nocturnal. It’s super early for me. Just a minute…” Chip vanished back into his hole, and pushed out another two bags, which I picked up for him, storing them in my implant. They didn’t weigh enough to slow me down, but oddly enough when I picked them up I got a message. Stored Item not fully compatible with ARK Prison System Survival Implant Firmware 257.38. Activating, consuming, or equipping this item requires Elerium Industries Civilian Survival Implant Firmware 3.92 or greater, or Elerium Industries Military Battlefield Enhancement Implant Firmware 2.01 or greater. Please drop the item at the next convenient opportunity. “Huh…” I mused. “I um, I picked up your things for you.” “Thanks!” Chip called before popping back out of his hole, holding a small glass jar full of cold coffee. The effects were instant. The mint colored troodon pulled the jar’s lid off with his teeth, and then downed the coffee in one gulp, closing his eyes as he tipped his head back. When he opened them, they were glowing. Not reflecting light like a cat. Literally glowing. With a fairly bright yellow light. Chip hissed a non-word hiss of pleasure. “Ah yeah, that’s the stuff! Instant personal nighttime. Just add stimberries to water. Let’s go!” He yelped excitedly, immediately breaking into a full tilt run in the direction he indicated earlier. I had a hard time keeping track of the little speed demon as he sprinted full tilt through the trees at about point zero two of a Dash. I half expected to see a tiny rainboom ahead of me. Instead we burst from the treeline, ziped over a stone roadway, and into a field of corn. Then right out of the field, onto a straight road leading right for a section of the wall. It wasn’t far, at this breakneck pace we would reach the wall within just a few seconds. “Hey, dumb question, but can you climb metal things?” Chip asked excitedly. “No, can you?” I called back between breathless panting. “Yep! Claws will dig in enough to climb right up! Um, can you open their gates? Or do you have a rope?” he asked worriedly. No… But I did have explosives. And there were two gates… which were kinda thin. And this was an emergency. “Go for the gates, but stay back from them,” I instructed, turning left to make a beeline for the closest gate. Chip altered course as well, rushing headlong towards the gate chittering something the ‘language’ portion of the translation couldn’t understand, but the ‘animal emotions’ side translated as AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! All in all, Chip reminded me of why Fluttershy was not allowed to drink coffee anymore. And I loved it! I skidded to a stop, armored boots throwing up a shower of dirt and pebbles as we reached the gates. Surprisingly, no one was guarding them. Perhaps Nyota was still fighting and they called for back up. That or they just didn’t have the horsepower to guard their gates and set up that ambush at once. I flicked my wrist, opening my implant and conjuring both of the Tek Grenades Nyota had given me. One in each hand. The oddly spiky rounded cylinders dug into my palms as they appeared, not enough to cut me, but certainly enough to hurt a little. These were made for use with armored gloves that were not leather backed with metal… I pulled the pin on one, and threw it, aiming to get it to land right at the base of the gate. Instead, it hit the gate, bounced off, and exploded mid air. Rather than the bright flash of energy I expected, the grenade simply melted into slag. I thought it was a dud for a moment, but then the air around the detonation point rippled and shimmered, and a wave of blast-furnace level heat slammed into me along with an audible “WOOM!” as if an invisible fire blazed where the slag had fallen. The metallic stretch of vaporized metal saturated the air as the wave of heat battered me almost senseless. I reflexively shielded my eyes from the heat until it fanished five seconds later. When I looked back, a nice three meter wide hole had been melted through the gate. The edges of the hole glowing white hot. No visible slag on the cracked charcoal ground which had once been dirt. “C-can I throw the other one?” Chip asked eagerly. “Can you throw it far enough?” I asked, both impressed and dumbfounded by the thermal detonation. “No…” He admitted with a sigh. “Can I climb on your shoulder and pretend I throw it?” “Sure,” I chuckled, amused despite the danger we were definitely now in. There’s no way someone would miss that… Chip turned around and simply jumped up onto my shoulder, spinning around, his talons scarily easily digging into my pauldron as he turned around and got situated. The moment he was in place, I threw the second grenade through the hole in the inner gate. This time I nailed the throw, and the heat wave blast was much less intense, the surrounding metal structure absorbing most of the energy, the entire gatehouse slumping inwards slightly under its own weight as the steel heated up enough to become malleable. “HA! Take that, door!” Chip cheered hyperactivity. “You can suck my tool having dick!” I snickered. “That was my tool,” I teased. Chip chirped sadly. “Can I have this? Please?” He begged. “Sorry,” I said, taking a breath before running through the ruined gates and out into the forest. With any luck, our raft would still be there. I doubted they would sink if if they didn’t guard their gate. It definitely had to be a numbers thing. Their fields for farming had been empty. Their wallops only guarded by turrets. They’d put a bunch of people on ‘work’ detail to make them seem to have a lot of people to hide the lack of other people, who were laying in ambush. No one would be available to sink the boat. True to my prediction, by the time we reached the forest edge, panting and sweating, and ran out onto the cliff, the crude raft was still sitting in the water just next to the beach. Pointing to the raft I yelled, “Get on that, we’ll sail down river!” Chip nodded and simply jumped off the cliff, landing on the beach five meters below, none the worse for wear and zipped right onto the raft. I followed his lead, but too the time to stop, grab the top of the ledge, and lower myself down before dropping. Slower, but less ankle breaking. I turned and ran across the beach, leaving a wake of sand in the air as I crossed the distance to the raft. The moment my feet hit the deck I grabbed the raft’s tiller and cranked it to the left. The raft turned around as if it had wheels, easily gliding off the beach and pointing south down the river. Chip yelped in alarm. “What in the crap is- How does this thing work?” “Space magic,” I informed, repeating Nyota’s explanation word for word. “Seems legit,” Chip decided after a moment before taking a handful of berries and a little bit of dried meat out of a tiny saddlebag I’d only just now noticed he was wearing due to it being very thin and dyed his fur and skin colors. He offered me the barriers with a smile. “It’s nighttime, and we’re not in danger. Dine with me, newfound horse friend?” I bent down to grab the berries, nearly making the raft slide laterally down the river as the tiller barely moved. “Sure! I’m pretty hungry after healing up like that,” I said gratefully. I hoped Chip didn’t steal all their healing potions. I had a feeling that the Vulcans would need a lot of them a few minutes after I got to the radio… Nyota - Day 115,353 South Jungle - The Island I could see my house up on the hill. I had made it. I was battered, my gear burnt, cut up, and bloody, my weapons broken, like my ribs, but I’d made it. That had been a hell of a thing… Almost bought the farm when they broke out the bolos. Good thing I practiced cutting my way out of those things. Of course Charlie would put a bounty out on me… And of course the Vulcans would accept military service as payment. STUPID! The whole deal was suspicious… I should have known from the beginning then they limited the area we could hunt and didn’t offer to let us buy two of their dinos. I moaned, half in physical pain, half in emotional pain. I had no idea if Twilight was okay. The bounty was for both of us alive… If she’d been killed, she was okay. Losing Tek grenades was bad. But my house being easily breached would be preferable to her being caged. I limped my way up the path, almost stopping to kiss the ramp as I set foot on it. Actual foot too. The sole of that boot had been melted clean off. I had to get inside. I had to see if Twilight had made it. If not, medkit. Put on good gear. Kill them all before they traded her to Charlie. I reached the door. The nanoweave helixed open for me, the light and warmth of my garage poured outwards like a heavenly blanket of comforts and goodness. And in the white glow of my garage's lights, sitting down next to an ankylo, a dodek, a troodon, and Razor, was Twilight. Her gear was a mess, not as bad as mine, but there she was. With the dinos we’d set out to get. And a god damn Troodon! “You’re okay!” I shouted in relief, laughing happily and limping forwards to give Twilight a hug as fast as my battered body would allow. Twilight smiled as I ran for her. “Oh thank goodness! You’re okay too! I was about to call your friends,” she said, wrapping her arms around me first. Returning her hug, I leaned against her just a bit too hard thanks to my knee failing. “Y-you're hurt,” Twilight exclaimed worriedly looking back at the troodon and asking it a question in English. “Do you have a healing potion she could have?” The troodoon chittered its nonsense chirps. Why could I never understand them? I understood everything else. “Okay, I think that’s a fair trade,” Twilight said with a nod before turning back to me. “Did you know those chirps are a language? Chip there is a people!” Oh… Well, buck. I’m kinda dumb I guess. That was stupidly obvious in hindsight. “That would explain why I could never understand them with my talent,” I said, grabbing a nearby crate and plopping down on it. “So… How the hay did you get the dinos we wanted and also not die?” Twilight shook her head. “You first! How did you survive that? There were twenty of them at least, and they had fire shooters and guns, and-” I laughed and shook my head, then felt my tail raise in alarm as the Troodon hopped in front of me. But instead of going for my groin with a bite, Chip offered me a bottle of healing brew. Taking the bottle from him, I nodded in thanks, and took a deep swig. I felt the potion go to work almost immediately. GIving the nanites in my body the energy and materials to fix everything they could. Damn these things were useful. It’s ironic that I never figured out how to brew them. Zebras: World renowned for alchemical knowledge. Nyota: can't figure out how the hell you make a healing potion in over three hundred years. Despite knowing several of the other concoctions available on the ARKs by heart. Heh. “I almost died... As you can see. That was a bad one,” I understated with a shit eating grin, before taking a breath to summarize my escape. “I took down the first wave with semi auto fire, but they just kept coming! Sheer luck, most of them were in front of my Parasaur so I popped my chainsaw into sixth gear and just ran them down. After they took her down and boloed me I cut myself free and handled everyone who got close with a combination of small arms fire and hand to hand techniques. “I managed to roll off the walkway and slide down hill after five minutes of melee. Got up and ran into the forest. Had to go a bit guerrilla. Set a few claymores up. Knifed a few. The usual. Made it to the wall, scaled it with a grappling hook, got into a sword vs chainsaw fight with their chief, lost my saw, jumped from the wall, twisted my ankle in the process and managed to limp out of rifle range only taking two hits.” I reached down and pulled my two pistols from their holsters, staring at them in my hands distantly. “I… I am completely out of ammo,” I said shaking my head slowly. “That’s never happened to me before.” Holstering my guns, I looked up two Twilight and gestured to the room. “Now yer turn, lass! How… How this!?” I demanded, awestruck. Twilight smiled proudly, deservedly so, and sat down in my chair across from me, her tail swishing behind her. “Well, my parasaur ran off the walkway when they started to shoot fire. We kinda caused a rockslide and I wound up concussed. I happened to land near Chip’s den and woke him up. He wanted to eat me, but he understands English, so I was able to talk to him. Turns out he’s got morals and won't eat us since he knows it hurts for us to come back to life now and he’s against needless suffering. “He gave me a healing potion, he collects tools people make. Jealousy, mostly. Also I think he’s aroused by technology. Literally. “He offered to escort me home since he has to find a new nest now anyways, and I accepted. I owe him two blankets, a cooked meal, and now also a knife. One for bushcrafting, not combat. Anyways, we made it to the gate, I melted it with the Tek Grenades you gave me and then we made it to the raft. Which they didn’t sink because I’m pretty sure they put all their people on that ambush and sailed home fairly uneventfully. “But, while sailing, Chip spotted the anky on the bank and pointed him out because he finds them to be super tasty and wanted to know if we could stop long enough for a snack. I said we were looking for one of them to get metal and he offered to knock it out with his venom for another blanket. I figured since you said to wait days before calling for help it would be fine to accomplish half of our mission, and so we landed and tamed him. “While we were doing that, well, it turns out troodons are incredibly good at hunting specific creatures, and when I mentioned all we needed now was a dodek, he went and found one. It wasn’t too far away, so he dropped it with a few bites, and I tamed it for us too! “Then we all sailed back here. I got here just a few minutes ago and was about to call Drake like you said so we could all go and save you from those jerks, but I cooked Chip some meat as per our business arrangement which has now become a friendship… Which reminds me, can he stay here?” “Why are you even asking?” I demanded incredulously. “Of course he can! He’s a person, a highly skilled tracker, and his species are a real pain in the ass to fight. Chip, ye can live here. You’ll share Twi’s room though.” Chip chirped happily, smiling at me. It was the first time I’d seen a Troodon smile. Or seen one that wasn’t trying to bite my bits off in order to drop me so they could eat me alive… She’d been ambushed by a very deadly force. Escaped, accomplished the mission which had just come fully tits up, and made a powerful and loyal ally in the process. I couldn’t possibly have done any better myself. I hadn’t even taught her my tricks and she was performing just as well as I could through her own methods. She’d become someone who could be my partner, not my student. That was the hottest thing I had ever heard in my life! I smiled wide enough for it to hurt. But that was okay. I’d finally decided how I felt about this Twilight. I stood up, stepped over to Twilight, and gave her a loving kiss. “And that’s how ye earn my respect, Twi,” I said as I broke the kiss and limped off towards my room. Twilight blushed at my kiss, kicking her feet slightly, clearly happy, but unsure how to react. Ah well, I’d let her start things off if and when she wanted too. I was ready now, but I was a patient mare. I could wait. “We’re taking a day off to recover. Then we’re getting you proper equipment. Ye don’t need me to teach ya any more basics. Ye'r ready for real work,” I said as I made my way to the elevator. Pausing for one moment to take another look at Twilight in all her accomplished glory, I smiled one last time, and then went to my bed. The potion was nice and all, but I needed some real sleep to get the rest of the aches and pains out.