The team slowly woke up from their slumber. A familiar aroma filled the air, causing their ears to perk in attention. The literal bubble of magic still enveloped the team, protecting them throughout the night. Fail Safe didn't know anything about the capabilities of the natives of this world, so he just conjured up the highest grade protection spells he could muster. It left him taxed, but it's certainly better than being dead.
Connie was the last to wake up, her talk with Brandon prior to falling asleep took about an hour. By the time she did get up, the rest of the team was packing up their sleeping equipment and folding neatly into their saddlebags. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she did the same.
Deep Thought fastened a strap on his saddlebags and looked over to Connie, dark bags beneath her eyes, her mane a mess, and her eyes had veins in them. "Didn't sleep again i gather?" He inquired.
"No, I did. I just stayed up later than the rest of you." She said, rolling her sleeping bag up into a cylinder. "Insomnia is a bitch."
He shrugged. "I wouldn't know." He said, cracking a smile. "I am sensing a pattern here. What did you get up to while we were out?"
"I talked with Brandon for a while. We drank some alcohol." She said, sliding the sleeping bag into her saddlebags.
"Alcohol? What's that?"
Deep Thought hopped down from the couch, causing a loud clop sound as his hooves struck the hardwood floor. Giving a few stretches, he poked his head through the magical bubble before freezing in place. His face scrunching up, not in disgust, but confusion.
A hoof wrapped around him and he was pulled back into the bubble. Leading Edge put a hoof to his mouth, signalling for silence. Unholstering his weapon and holding it in his mouth, he creeped towards the edge of the bubble, scanning the room.
Taking it as a silent signal, the entire team drew their weapons as well, scanning the room in silent concentration. They quickly cleared the living room and then moved onto the kitchen. Having done this thousands of times, each room was cleared flawlessly. The sweep turned up clear and the team met up in the kitchen.
"So what's on today's agenda?" Connie said, looking at Lea.
"Well, first thing I want to do is make sure that we can reestablish a connection with command in the event they get that portal open." He said. "We should set up our radios so they send out a ping on a high gain every so often."
"How often should we ping command though?" Deep Thought asked. "If we do it too often, we could drain our batteries."
Leading Edge thought for a moment before shrugging. "Every half an hour?"
"Sounds fine to me." Deep Thought said. "I'll get to work on that while you guys work on breakfast. What do you want it to say?" He said, making his way towards the door.
"Set it up so I can prerecord a message to be sent." Leading Edge said. "Please."
"I'll see what I can do." He said, leaving the room with Fail Safe in tow.
After the two left, Connie spoke up. "Wait, why are we sitting in the kitchen? Our food is in the living room."
"That... is a good question." Leading Edge said.
As silently as hooves against a hardwood floor could manage, they made their way into the living room and into the protective confines of the magic bubble. They grabbed their prepackaged food and ate it in silence. While the team was eating, Brandon walked into the living room and stopped in his tracks.
He cracked a smile and shook his head. "I'm never going to get used to seeing you guys in my house."
One of them shrugged. "We'll be out of your hair in a few. After breakfast, we're going to do some checkups on our equipment and then we're leaving." Leading Edge's voice said, echoing slightly from within the bubble.
"Where would you be going?" Brandon inquired.
Leading Edge tilted his head slightly, causing Brandon to crack a smile. "To Hasbro of course. Why?"
"How would you even get there?" Brandon asked. "It'd take you an awfully long time to get there on foot."
Lea held up a hoof as if to object, but set it down slowly. "I hadn't really thought of that. The time part I mean. How far is Hasbro anyways?"
"Well, if we were to take a plane." He said, earning a confused glance from the team. "A plane is a method of transportation that travels well above the speed you five are capable of by an order of magnitude by flying." He explained, earning a slow nod of understanding.
He continued. "Anyways, taking a plane to get to Hasbro would probably take a few hours. Taking a car however," He said, earning yet another set of confused looks. He didn't bother explaining. "Can probably get there in a week or so. I don't travel so those numbers are off by a lot."
"What about trains?" Connie asked. "Do you have trains?"
"We have trains, yeah, but they're not really meant for civilian transportation. It's more for transporting a metric shit ton of various items from point A to point B." He explained. "Sure, you can hop aboard and become a stowaway, but that's a risky game to play. They have security checks and they check a few of the carts when they come to a stop."
"What are you trying to say, Brandon?" Leading Edge inquired.
"I'm saying that without my help, you're going to find this endeavor difficult."
Leading Edge thought for a moment, drawing his gaze away from Brandon. After a minute or so, his eyes met Brandon's again. "Why should we trust you?"
"Well." Brandon started, walking towards the kitchen. He stopped at the door way and motioned for the team to follow. "I made a little something for you guys." He stepped into the kitchen, but after a few moments of silence, he stepped into the doorway again. "It's coffee."
That certainly got their attention because they were practically climbing over each other on their way to the kitchen.
"WHERE?" Connie screeched.
After removing his hands from his ears, Brandon pointed at the black device that made various bubbling noises. Brandon went into a cabinet and pulled out a few cups. One for each of them. He filled each cup and gave it to each member of the team.
They glanced between each other before one of them took a sip and quickly scrunched up.
"What's wrong?" Deep Thought asked.
"It's bitter."
"Oh, hang on." Brandon said, opening the refrigerator and pulling out a bottle. "Creamer." He said, shaking the bottle to emphasize its contents. Taking one of the cups that was in front of Connie, he poured a small amount of the white liquid into the coffee and gave it back to her.
She grabbed the cup and took another sip. This time, rather than scrunching up, she visually relaxed. She grabbed the bottle and passed it to another member of the team. That other member also added some of the white substance to their drink and passed it to he next member. This process continued until the entire team had a sufficient amount of flavoring in their drink.
"So?" Brandon prompted.
"I'd say we're on good terms now." Leading Edge said with a smile. He straightened slightly and he addressed the team. "Alright, let's get those radios working. We've got a long journey ahead of us, team."