We ate and talked with Old Reed for a while before turning back into bed. I set my alarm clock to get us up again shortly before midnight, hoping it would not wake any other guests. I had already told the innkeeper about our intention to head out for a while during the night so as to not alarm him about our late night exit and entrance. He seemed to accept it, saying every pony has their own special needs, and to just try not to wake any pony when we took care of ours.
We got up with ease despite not sleeping much. It was nighttime, our instincts already told us we needed to be up. We through on our life packs, and we carefully made our way out of our room and outside, doing our best to make no noise as we went. The inn was dark, but that made little difference to us. We were more concerned about floorboards and squeaky doors. Mera's wings were erect again, showing her excitement for what we were going to be doing.
When we got outside we found a perfectly clear night. This town gave off no light pollution and we could see the stars in perfect clarity. It was peaceful and a little romantic. Mera was still much too stiff in the wings due to her excitement though, and we took out our calming drug to try to soothe her a bit, she wouldn't be doing any flying with stiff wings. We shaped vague images and I talked to help her visualize what she needed to do.
"Alright, just like that little Pegasus filly you need to stop thinking about your wings as what are lifting you," I explained. "Your wings are just what you channel your magic into, or my magic in your case. It is like a Unicorn and their horn, they are just the conduit for the magic that makes you able to fly. If they were responsible for actually having to lift you up by pure physics it would never happen, they are too small for our bodies to do it that way. What you are doing when you flap your wings is making your own personal magic field."
"If that is how it works, then why does it work for you?" Mera asked curiously. "Shouldn't your anti-magic cancel it out? It seems kind of like a Unicorn levitation, which doesn't work on you. Plus why should it matter how strong your wings are then?"
"I really don't have an answer on how it works for me," I told her honestly. "I think it is because it impacts the air around you instead of trying to move you, if that makes any sense. It isn't working on me, it is working on the air. As to why the wing muscles matter, the stronger the wing muscles, the more magic they can exert on the air."
"Okay, so why do I not shoot up out of control when I flap my wings as hard as I can?" Mera said, as she moved her now more relaxed wings up and down with fast beats.
"Because what you are doing is just a confused mess of magic then," I informed her, waving away some dust she had kicked up with her wing-beats. "You have to make sure you have your wings work in tandem with one another, and make a steady field of magic in the air around you. When beating them as hard as you can you aren't controlling what they are doing to the air. Once you actually get yourself into the right rhythm instinct will take hold and you should be able to direct the flows to allow you to move around in the air as you wish, within limits. We can't fly as well as Pegasi, and we are more at the mercy of the wind. You have to learn how to make the wind and the magic work for you together."
She continued to look at her wings as she slowly moved them up and down, trying to visualize how they were supposed to work. She eventually sighed and doused and put away her pipe, before standing to her hooves. I quickly did likewise.
"Let's see if I can figure this out," she said, with a defeatist tone. "I don't really understand it, but hopefully instinct will kick in like you said."
"Just close your eyes for this time," I instructed her. "Outstretch your wings, and just feel the air around them. Try to imagine that air as an extension of yourself, the air around your wings as part of your wings."
"Okay..I will try," Mera muttered. "It still is hard to imagine."
"We will get there," I assured her. "Now keep trying to focus on that and slowly, in sync, move your wings up and down, slow steady flaps. Feel how the air moves when you flap them. It moves, and you can feel it move. Focus on that."
She kept her eyes closed and looked to be concentrating. After a minute or two her expression changed as she started to get a feel for the air, and her she started to grin excitedly.
"Keep yourself calm, don't get overexcited again," I told her. "Now, feel that air and make it go straight down. Don't make your wings push it down, you push it down. The air is part of you and you need to to all go down."
She kept her eyes shut, and didn't notice as her hooves left the ground. She was now hovering steadily two pony lengths up in the air. I spread my wings and took to the air a short distance from her. The wind was low and it was a good night for flying. It was time to get her to actually fly instead of just hover.
"Keep your eyes shut and keep listening to my voice," I instructed her. "Keep that air down but see if you can get additional air to push you towards my voice."
Her let out a gasp realizing for just now that she was hovering, but she did as she was instructed and kept her eyes shut. Her face scrunched up in thought for a moment and she adjusted the flap of her wings slightly and pointed herself towards me, and started moving.
"Now go back to just keeping the air under you," I said as she came up close to me, eyes still shut. As she pulled herself into a stop and resumed her hover I smiled. "Good, now keep yourself calm, and open your eyes."
She opened her eyes and looked down. Her wings didn't go erect, but she did bring her forehooves up to her muzzle to suppress a giggle. I flew a little bit further away again.
"Now, just as before, fly to me," I told her. This was the moment of truth. "Don't think about how to do it, just do what you already did, your instinct should be kicking in, let it guide you."
She looked over at me and took a breath. Then she began moving at a steady pace towards me. When she reached me she giggled again.
"Now to work on your ability to maneuver in the air," I grinned as I spoke. "I am going to do a little circle, you follow behind me as close to my path as best you can. Just give me a two second head start so we don't accidentally collide in the air.This should feel more and more natural to you the longer you are in the air, at this point I doubt you ate putting any thought into hovering, you are just doing it."
Her eyes went slightly wider as she realized I was right, that she wasn't thinking out what she needed to do to hover.I began making my circle, she watched me move and went to emulate me. Her motion through the air was as good as mine, not flawless, but I was only a passable flyer, not a good one. After we did our little circle I brought myself to a halt, and was pleased she was able to pull herself into a steady hover, without warning.
"So, how do you feel?" I asked my wife, as we hovered at least four stories above the ground.
"I feel wonderful," she beamed. Then added with mild concern. "A little tired though. Should I feel this tired this quickly from flying? That little Pegasus filly didn't seem to get winded this quickly."
"She is a Pegasus, and you are a Thestral," I said simply. "Pegasi are better at channeling the magic to keep them in the air. We don't have the same level of magical muscle for it naturally. We have to work twice as hard for the same result in the air. I am personally not a great flyer and you get your magic from me, and you are trying to get your body to do something new. We will keep working on it over time. You will eventually be able to cover some decent distance without tiring out too much."
"I am just glad to be able to do it at all for the moment," she said as she let out a laugh. Then she looked down to the ground. "Um..how do I get down safely?"
"The same slow beats of your wings, just gradually keep less and less air under you. You can try to be brave and just fly down and try to land, but that will likely end in a crash since you are not practiced at it. When you get near the ground just have your legs spread to land on all four hooves, and stop your wings when you are close enough to the ground to feel safe about the drop," I then demonstrated the technique for the slow hovering landing, coming to an easy landing on the ground. She observed me and then followed after with no major problems. She did stop her wings a little higher than I would have advised, and came down the fairly hard to her hooves. She wasn't hurt though.
I gave her a quick embrace to replenish whatever magic she might have expended. Another reason to keep this lesson short was I wasn't sure how fast she was expending the magic she absorbed from me. The major drawback of her current grey coat was it gave no indication of how much magic she was holding. I didn't want to discover the hard way that she expended all the magic quickly, and then fell helpless out of the sky from several stories up.
"I hadn't thought of that," she said as she felt my worries. "I am not sure if I would notice either, not with how tired I was anyway. I could easily mistake being magically expended for physically tired. There always seems to be some new rub with my abilities. Why do they have to be so complicated?"
"We will work on sorting those out when we care in Crystal Heart and you don't have to be on guard as much about them misbehaving," I reassured her before gesturing that we needed to start walking back to the inn. We had actually moved a good distance down the street from the inn while flying.
When we reached the inn we found Cozy Hearth indulging herself on our shared addiction as she sat outside the inn. I was starting to think Hot Sticks' village was no so poor and destitute, they certainly had customers everywhere.
"Please, don't mind me," she said sheepishly. "I get a bit stressed sometimes, and prefer to keep my methods of soothing it secret from my father and daughter. Which takes me out here late at night sometimes. At least I don't drown myself in alcohol, like some mares do. I didn't mean to spy on you two. Just thinking about how to handle Care's needs."
"We don't mind, we are guilty of the same escape regularly," Mera said with a smile.
"Are you rehabilitating from an injury?" Cozy Hearth asked Mera curiously, as she puffed away. "You didn't want to have Care touching your wing, and it looked like you were being taken through flying exercises just now. Did you hurt your wing?"
"No," Mera shook her head. "It's complicated. I don't know a good way of explaining it, or whether I am even allowed to explain it. I have a lot of magic that reacts erratically with being touched. Hopefully I will learn how to better control it in the future, but for right now I have a very short list of ponies that can touch me."
"Must make having a special some pony difficult," Cozy Hearth said glumly.
"Lucky for me my wife is one of the two ponies that it is okay to have touching me," Mera said as she rubbed up against me. Cozy Hearth did a double take as Mera did.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize you two were a couple," Cozy said apologetically. "We don't have many same-sex couples in this area. There is a lot of pressure to have foals, so we can expand our community. I am actually shocked my father doesn't get on me more about finding a good stallion and having more foals," there was a touch of bitterness in her voice over the proposition.
"What happened to Care's father?" I asked as I fished out my own pipe again, Mera went into her own pack as well.
"That whole thing was a big mistake," Cozy said mournfully, then jerked her head up and looked at us. "Not having Care, mind you. I love my daughter. But I have always been..like you two, but there was all this pressure to settle down with a stallion. You don't understand how much pressure. So, I got it in my mind that I just had to have sex with some stallions, and then I would feel more attracted to stallions. I ended up having some quick flings with some of the sailors, figuring it was better than trying to do that with the town ponies. I am not even sure which one got me with foal. I was young and stupid. Didn't work either, still not attracted to stallions," she went back to grumpily puffing at her pipe, with her ears lowered.
Mera and I looked at one another. We wanted to help the mare, but were not sure how to make her feel better, or do anything for her problems.
"Well, don't try to get involved with any more stallions. It isn't right trying to force yourself into a relationship that won't make you happy," Mera told the Unicorn. "It wouldn't be fair to you daughter or any future foals to have a loveless marriage. Plus there are temporary enchantments that can cause you to have foals with another mare, I don't know why getting with a stallion has to be done, not when there are alternative methods of having foals."
"You must come from a very well off family," Cozy Hearth replied glumly. "Yes, there are enchantments you can buy to do that kind of thing, but they are expensive. Most Unicorns in this town know very little magic aside from levitation, and maybe one or two other spells tied to their cutie marks. All I can do beyond levitating things is a simple light spell and start a small fire. Unicorns that can cast the kind of spells for mares to have foals with other mares cost lots of bits, more than almost any pony here could save in years. We don't produce much of any food on our own here, which leaves us having to buy food from the outside, along with most supplies. There just isn't any way to come up with the bits for really expensive things."
"Is there a post office here?" Mera asked.
"Yes there is, out by docks. Why?" Cozy Hearth asked with a raised eyebrow.
"We are going to be in Crystal Heart for a while, years most likely." Mera explained. "If you find a marefriend that you want the ability to have foals with, then we will purchase the enchantment for you. Just send a letter to us in Crystal Heart and we will send you train tickets to take you and your marefriend from Canterlot to Crystal Heart and back."
"I..couldn't possibly..ask that from you two," the Unicorn stammered with shock and disbelief. "That is far too kind a gesture. You must be very well off if you can offer something like that, but I would feel so guilty accepting such a generous gift."
"We make more than we will ever need," Mera smiled. "It is only fair that we use all that to help out other ponies. And you have been kind to us. You deserve to be shown kindness in return."
"Thank you," the mare cried happily, and moved to hug Mera, which Mera quickly dodged. The unicorn realized what she had done and looked embarrassed. Before she could feel bad about almost touching Mera I came and embraced the Unicorn instead. She smiled with joy as I did.
"I'm sorry, I forgot about the no touching," Cozy said to Mera while still smiling. "I am just so happy. I promise to always make sure Thestrals are welcome in this inn just as my father has, and promise to teach my daughter, and any other foals I might have to always be welcoming to you too. Thestrals have done so much for me. They saved me from being eaten as a fully, taught my daughter how to fly, and given me hope for expanding my family. I can never do enough to repay that kindness."
"Being kind is its own reward," I told her as I released her from the hug. "And it is a pony thing, not a Thestral thing. There are good and bad Thestrals just like any other type of pony. Every pony should want to be kind to their fellow ponies. You may not be perfect, but you are a good pony."
"If you ever come by here again your rooms and baths are free. I can give that as a gift at least. I wish I could offer the same for food, but it costs us too much," she said with happy tears still in her eyes.
"Whatever is not a burden on you," Mera told her, accepting the offer. It would be rude to refuse it. Cozy wanted some way of feeling she was repaying us, and we couldn't take that away from her. "I think we should head inside. If Pearl and I don't try to force ourselves to sleep, then tomorrow is going to be miserable trying to travel in the day, and you likely are going to be dealing with an eager bundle of feathers and fur as soon as she wakes up."
"Yeah, and I likely need to make sure I give her a thorough preening too, if she wants to fly," Cozy grimaced. "I am going to have to get her in the habit of doing it for herself. I love my daughter, but I don't love feathers in my mouth. If she is going to fly then daily preening is going to need be a new morning routine for her. Best to start that tomorrow. Part of independence is being able to take care of your own hygiene needs after all."
Mera and I giggled as we all went back in the inn for the remainder of the night.
***
We were woken up by Sunset shortly after dawn. I was pretty sure she was making fun of us when she did it, but was too tired to really pay it attention. After a hot bath and food we were ready to get back to traveling. We said our goodbyes to Old Reed, Cozy Hearth, and Cozy Care. I was not sure how much attention the last two paid us, as Care was very happily flying around the roof of the inn and Hearth was trying her best not to chew on her hooves nervously as she watched her daughter. Cozy Hearth would surely get more comfortable with it in time, but for right now the mother was worrying about her filly falling from the air.
There was a dirt road that headed north out if the town, with wagon ruts worn well into it. It cut straight through the woods, but seemed to be well maintained. Sunset explained to us that this would take us to Sire's Hallow which was the last town of significant size before we reached Crystal Heart. After that would come scattered small walled villages. It would take a few hours to reach Sire's Hallow, and perhaps two more days after that to reach Crystal Heart.
We were told Sire's Hallow was a unique town due to it's population. It had equal parts Unicorns, Earth Ponies, and Thestrals; making it one of the few places you could find a fair number of Thestrals living alongside the other tribes. This was due to a Lunar Guard garrison at the location. Sunset assured us that we should have no further problems with our tribe, as Luna had made it abundantly clear by broadcasting Rose Thorn's fate to the dreams of all our fellow Thestrals. Even if any pony among them didn't care for us they wouldn't dare do anything to make the Alicorn of the Night angry.
"Sunset, I have been meaning to ask you if you had anything to say about what Water Shadow told us," I spoke with the larger pony privately as we walked. "The stuff that pertains to me and Mera. We have tried to figure out anything we can about it, but you are more familiar with all the Greaters than us."
"She might have been on to something, but I can't guess who or why," Sunset said sadly. "The Greaters and I have our differences, but I still consider them friends. I don't want to think of one of them doing something so despicable, but I do have to admit it is possible. You would be surprised how much ponies change over thousands of years. My memory is as bad as the rest, but I know that we would all be unrecognizable to our younger selves. The ponies we were are long gone, and I cannot be sure who wouldn't do anything to further a goal. I don't even have a guess at what the goal might be. I hope it is just all random chance, but I have give have to admit Shadow makes an excellent case."
"So no idea on who to look at or what kinds of things to look for in clues?" I said with disappointment.
"Not much," Sunset said regretfully. "I heard you discussing Starlight as an option. I know her better than most of the Greaters, and I don't think she would do something like this. I think it would horrify her. But the fact that she has been deeply involved with you is worth looking into. Whether she is responsible, which I don't think she is, or some pony else, there might be leads in exploring why she was where she was, when she was."
"So you think we should dismiss her as a suspect?" I asked, hoping that I could get some more direction.
"No, she is still a possibility," Sunset said with lowered ears. "I might be blinded by my friendship to her. I wouldn't even rule out the Lessers and other immortals. The Lessers are still just as dangerous as the Greaters, and immortals can get up to some major mischief with enough time. There are a few immortals that are extremely dangerous even if they decide to do something spur of the moment."
"Any particularly dangerous immortals you can think of?" I asked, getting frustrated that the list of possible suspects was growing instead of shrinking. I couldn't even put names to most the Leaders, and the list of other immortals I had met barely made up a fraction of them.
"Grogar comes to mind first " Sunset said as she looked off in the distance. "He has the desire to do something like what happened in Starlight's Folly, and that settlement is closest to where he makes his lair. Discord is a possibility, but it is impossible to figure out what he is thinking, and he almost never has actual plans. Grogar is likewise bound to a certain area and is if he could leave that area he would have done it a very long time ago. So I don't think either of them are probable. There just isn't enough information to point hooves at any possible suspect. The lead you two came up with is the best option to follow for now."
"Just how well do you hear?" I asked out of curiosity, changing the subject.
"If I am trying to listen in I can hear conversations from hundreds of pony lengths away clearly," she said with a smile. "If I am not deliberately paying attention then it is all just background noise I tune out. Alicorn hearing is extremely heightened. The Greaters can actually hear prayers through special focus stones. They have to be focusing on a particular pony while touching the stone to do it, and the pony has to be praying right then, but they are capable of hearing prayers. The system for doing it is just not a very effective one."
"So you deliberately eavesdropped on us," I said with annoyance, ears going flat.
"Originally I wanted to make sure that Mera wasn't going to get herself in trouble, and neither of you were forthcoming," Sunset replied. "And you forget that I am a spy for Twilight."
I suddenly had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. This brought two horrifying options to mind. The first was that the Twilight princess herself was the one manipulating events, she was the Alicorn who wanted to know what we were doing, and the one with the most power to influence events. The other possibility was just as scary, and that was Sunset herself. Sunset had volunteered to be put close to us. Perhaps it was just paranoia playing at my mind, she was also the one who had suggested that it could be a Lesser as well. That could all be just to make us not suspect her. ARGH! Why did this have to make me look cross eyed at every single pony?
"I am sorry Sunset, I have to ask. Why did you want to be the one keeping tabs on us?" I asked her, not knowing any better way of saying it. I just wanted to clear her at least as a suspect.
"Biblo, mainly," Sunset replied with honesty. "Well, Mera now. There has always been just me and Starlight who were strong immortal empaths, and now we find another strong immortal empath. Being an empath is difficult, and I wanted to be able to help her out. Not that I was disinterested in you, but you were of secondary interest."
"I guess that is a believable answer," I sighed. "This paranoia is going to drive me insane."
"Just follow up on that Pegasus lead and see if that gives any more information. You aren't going to make any progress on figuring this out until you do that. Until then just relax about it, unless something else comes up that could tie in. I can deny I am involved, because I know I am not, but that won't settle your mind at all," she told me sympathetically.
"I will try my best," I said halfheartedly.