Fox continued to watch Sunset's grin worriedly as she slowly floated alongside the path into the mines, the lava below flowing up to meet her in defiance of known physics as her magic drew it to her. Tricky moved up close to Fox as he saw this. "Uh...should I be scared?" he asked worriedly.
"Of Sunset?" Fox asked carefully. "Not for your own well being. ...physical, anyway." He frowned as he stared into the Mine. "Though...what she might do to any Sharpclaws we encounter now that she's been told that as long as she has that glow she doesn't have to hold back as long as she doesn't damage the infrastructure...well, you might have nightmares about that."
"Pretty sure I'm already going to have nightmares about the Sharpclaws taking my Dad and beating me up," Tricky observed flatly. "You sure watching what she's gonna do won't help with that?"
"If you were a carnivore, I'd certainly agree that it could help," Fox agreed. "But you're an herbivore. As such...well, I suggest you plug your nose unless we need to hunt for something. Just to be on the safe side."
The local wildlife - mostly strange bat-like creatures that laughed when they dove on an unsuspecting victim - proved to be smart enough to avoid Sunset for the most part. One attempted to dive on Tricky, however...only to be incinerated by a beam of focused heat and magic Sunset shot it with, leaving the wings to flutter away like discarded leaves.
"Or she might be a bit neater about this than I expected," Fox allowed as he saw the beam arc down into the lava after it destroyed its target.
"Sunset's so cool!" Tricky agreed happily.
Much to Sunset's displeasure, the magma cave did not last long, and at that point they were back outside and in the snow. Her aura faded back to normal levels, setting her down on her hooves. "Well, so much for that," she grumbled irritably.
"There'll probably be more magma caves," Fox pointed out. "For now, it's probably easier to free the Snowhorn Tribe if you aren't worried about accidentally roasting them."
Sunset glanced back and forth between the magma caves and the snowy region. "Hold on..." Holding her hand out into the magma caves, she called a sphere of magma into the air above her hand, where it swirled around happily in her magic without cooling. "There we go!" she said happily as the Sharpclaws in the area took one look at that and fled.
Fox chuckled. "Okay, time to free the Snowhorns."
The Snowhorn Tribe was chained up near small huts, the chains held fast by key locks. With Tricky's help, it didn't take Fox long to find and dig out all the keys, freeing the Snowhorns. The first they freed spoke up. "Thank you for releasing me," she spoke warmly. "If you're heading down into the mine, please keep a look out for Belina Te, the Gatekeeper's daughter." Her expression became pained. "She didn't mean to get us into this mess by telling Scales about the Spellstone. She did what she thought was right. Please help her."
"That's what we're here to do," Fox confirmed. "There's no real point to blaming someone for a past mistake in the middle of a present crisis."
"Thank you," the mammoth offered warmly. "This might be of use to you." She dropped an odd cog into Fox's hands from her trunk. "I found it while I was working. It looked important, so I hid it from the Sharpclaws."
"Thanks!" Fox quickly stowed it in his pack to keep track of it.
As they continued on, however, the sphere of magma Sunset had gathered eventually cooled and hardened, dropping from her grip as she shivered. "Damn..." she muttered angrily. "This whole place is hot and cold, hot and cold...it's really doing a number on my magic..."
"Let me help!" Tricky offered eagerly. Taking a deep breath, he pointed his muzzle near to Sunset and exhaled a blast of flame right in front of her.
Sunset let out a sigh of relief as she caught the flame in her magic, wreathing it around herself to replenish herself and warm her body. "That feels so good..." she murmured as she practically cuddled the captured flame.
"...I'm not sure which of you I should be more surprised at right now," Fox murmured in a droll tone.
After a bit more exploration through the snow, they were eventually able to push their way past a thick snowstorm with the help of a Snowhorn giving them a lift, as the cold was too much for both Fox and Sunset to push through on their own. During the ride, Tricky ran ahead to explore as the snow didn't bother him as much. Fox was worried at first, until he saw Sunset completely calm. "Aren't you worried about him? he asked curiously.
"He's got a bit of my magic in one of the jewels he's wearing," Sunset explained, "designed to interface with the Warpstone's magic. I can feel that bit of my magic - and his energy through it - from anywhere as long as we're on the same planet. He's just fine, and I'll know if he isn't."
Fox frowned as he led Sunset out of the blizzard and into a cave. "Well, if you say so-"
"Speeders!" Sunset called out as she raced past a pair of Sharpclaws she slammed against the cave walls to a pair of speeders like the one Fox had ridden back at Ice Horn. "Now I get to ride one!" Hopping on, she sped down the nearby tunnel.
"Sunset, wait!" Fox yelled out as he leapt onto the other in pursuit.
The tunnel twisted and turned for a while before spilling out into yet another magma cavern, though in this one the magma was mostly below ground, only coming up through a few vents where it wasn't funneled into machinery for power. As Sunset felt her power grow, she leapt off her speeder to attack any Sharpclaw she could see. Fox quickly chased after her, now more concerned about getting separated than about Sunset getting hurt.
"Fox! Sunset!" Tricky waved to get attention from the cell he was in.
"Tricky!" Sunset called out, zooming up close and unwittingly melting the bars of the cell to slag before she consciously reigned in her magical aura. "What happened?"
"I lost you both in the blizzard, and then some Sharpclaws snagged me and tossed me in here," he explained happily. "But I wasn't worried. With how hot this place was, I knew you'd find me and make them all pay!"
"So...the fact he wasn't worried at all is why you didn't realize anything was wrong?" Fox asked in mild amusement as Sunset facepalmed.
"Shut up, Dad," she groused, though without much conviction.
It didn't take long after that for the trio to find the key to the other cell, where a young female Snowhorn was locked up. She was crying as they approached, but immediately gathered herself as she caught sight of them. "Who are you?" she demanded as she backed away defensively.
"Fox and Sunset of Team Star Fox, and Crown Prince Tricky of the Earthwalkers," Fox introduced.
"Belinda Te, I presume?" Sunset asked carefully.
"You are correct," Belinda confirmed. "Did my father send you to save me?"
Fox and Sunset exchanged glances. "I'm...afraid not," Fox allowed. "He only sent us to...retrieve the Spellstone."
Belinda scoffed derisively. "My father is a fool!" she snapped out angrily. "I had to save the tribe! If my father weren't a Gatekeeper-"
"Then it would have been some other tribe that faced the same dilemma," Sunset concluded. "And if you hadn't acquiesced to save the tribe, your father would have to protect you specifically, both out of love for you and because breaking the line of the Gatekeepers could have caused untold disruption of the planet's magical fields beyond what's already happened, and as soon as Scales knew that he'd be able to force even more cooperation out of your father." She noticed everyone staring at her. "What? I studied the Lore. It's why those of Gatekeeper Lines are considered noble, and are only allowed to mate within their own tribe to ensure fertile offspring, because if the line isn't preserved the Gate they Keep becomes unstable."
Belinda nodded firmly. "That's exactly right! And my father-"
"Probably knows that as well as you do," Fox interrupted, "but he had to do what he did because if he gave in too quickly, Scales would catch that he was hiding something, and he'd probably want to break the Line if he knew he could do so because he wants to use the planet as a power source. And your father couldn't say anything to us because he's not just the Gatekeeper and your father, but also the leader of your tribe, and has to act it for the tribe's sake."
"And how would you know my father's mindset so well?" Belinda demanded crossly.
"Oh gee, I wonder why I would understand a leader with a rambunctious, impulsive daughter so well?" Fox offered teasingly, reaching out to ruffle Sunset's hair.
"Do I need to remind you that my body temperature not being above boiling is a conscious effort on my part to reign in my magic now, Dad?" Sunset teased.
Belinda chuckled to herself. "Perhaps you have a point. Either way, for now we must return the Spellstone to its Temple. We need to get to the bottom of the mine. I know a path I can take, but it might be difficult for you to follow-"
Sunset promptly threw Fox onto Belinda's back and picked up Tricky. "Charge!" she declared excitedly.
Grinning back at her, Belinda charged through the back wall of her cell, using her tusks to punch through the stone walls as she made her way down.