"Astral, are you sure this is right?" Twilight stepped into the main cargo bay and looked around. "There's nopony in here."
"What?" Astral followed her in. His eyes scanned the now empty cages and workstations. Less than an hour ago, this place was full of ponies cleaning up after the Snake-wolves, and celebrating a sizeable payday. "Guys!" Astral shouted out. "Hello? Anypony here?"
Twilight shook her head. "We're alone. Astral, I don't like the looks of this."
"No," Astral looked down at the knives hanging from him on an improvised bandolier cut and tied from a bed sheet, "crazy as he is, Patch wouldn't do this to us."
Twilight swept a hoof out, bringing Astral's attention back to the empty cargo bay. "You trust him?"
He brought his hoof to his his chest, wrapping it around the handle of one of the gifted blades. "I used to," he said quietly.
"Attention please," the com-system sprang to life, broadcasting Patch's voice through the empty cargo bay. It echoed off the walls, giving his happy mannerisms a dark undertone. "Ten minutes is just about up, and we just did a quick headcount using our internal sensors. Looks like like everypony's made it to the staging areas, so we'll be sealing all doors and emergency bulkheads. On a more personal note, I'm a little surprised that we managed to fit the entire crew on the bridge. I mean, weren't some of you guys in the cargo bay when I told our guests to head there? You're missing out on the chance to see a master in action."
Twilight listened to the announcement, but her focus was on Astral, who stood unmoving as he listened. His hoof tightened on the knife handle, and she could see tears forming in his eyes as strands of gold started to creep into his steel-blue irises. She walked over. "Astral?"
His eyes focused on her as she put her hoof on his. "He was my friend." Astral shook his head. "The snake-wolf... I thought it was an accident... I'm sorry, I didn't think he would do something like this. Can you teleport us to to the bridge?"
"I've never been there. I could get us back to our quarters, the mess hall, or anywhere in between, but that doesn't really help us." She gave his hoof a squeeze. "I got the feeling that you were really happy these last few days. I'm sorry it came to this."
"All right folks, time's up! We're moving!"
"I saved his life the first time we encountered a void strand." Astral looked at Twilight, his eyes showing his confusion at the betrayal before he looked back at the floor. "Why would he do this?"
"It doesn't matter. We're going to face it together, and that's all that really matters." Twilight hooked her nose under his chin, lifting it up. "Astral, look me in the eyes." She pulled back, and he did as he was told. She darted back in, giving him a quick kiss, mashing their lips together for less than a second. "I love you. We're in this together, right? Head in the game, and all that?"
It took him a moment to recover, but when he did, he smiled. It was weak, conflicted, but it was there. And, more importantly, the hint of gold in his eyes started fading. "Yeah, we're in this together."
"Good." Twilight's eyes focused behind Astral. "Because, what the hell is that?"
The stallion turned around. A line of what appeared to be lava had appeared along the wall, near the floor. It glowed dull reds and orange, specked with sections of obsidian black. "That's the void strand." He and Twilight stepped back as it grew out into the room. Once it separated from the wall, it was a cylinder, half a meter across, stretching the length of the cargo bay, and moving slowly up and towards them. "Twi?"
She spared a glance, but kept her attention on the strand. "Yeah?"
"You might want to put a small forcefield in your ears. This could get loud." Astral pulled a knife and readied his pistol. "And, you know, I love you, too."
"Thanks." Twilight smiled as she pulled out her tiny bag of tricks. She had considered a forcefield, but already had another alternative prepped. She dug a puff of cotton out from the bottom of the bag, tore it into four pieces. "With or without the comma?"
Astral looked over as two pieces of cotton floated into his peripheral vision. "With," he answered as he grabbed it and stuffed it in his ears, "but that's a matter of debate that's lasted for centuries."
"Well, I like your answer, myself." Twilight stuffed her own cotton in, and looked over. "It's enchanted, you should be able to hear me, but not anything over a hundred and five decibels."
Astral nodded. "Nice. How long will this last?"
"It's a permanent enchantment, it should last as long as the cotton itself." She pointed at the strand. "So, isn't this supposed to be spitting monsters at us?"
"It will," Astral reassured her, "it should start to deform before any creatures break through. How long that takes is anypony's guess. These things are unpredictable, that's what makes them dangerous."
"Ah." Twilight pulled few more items out of the bag, to have them ready at a moment's notice as the strand passed over their heads. "One more thing. The strand is stationary in space, right? For it to be moving this slowly means that the ship is moving this slowly, yes?"
Astral nodded. "It also means I'm taking Patch's teeth home as a souvenir."
"So, we've pretty well established that he's purposely putting at risk, right?" Twilight looked over at Astral as the void strand disappeared beyond the far wall without incident. "But what does he stand to gain? If he wanted to kill us, wouldn't he have just opened the cargo bay doors the moment we walked in? He doesn't know I can survive in space."
"He does now, I bet." Astral looked up into the corners of the room. He didn't see any cameras, but he couldn't know for sure. His detection spell wouldn't work reliably with all the passive systems a spaceship had running through its walls. At least, not for him, Twilight was a better spellcaster, and might be better equipped to pick out surveillance equipment. "I know you're watching us, asshole!" He shouted into the air. "You put your own crew at risk to get to me. You have five seconds to tell me why you're doing this, or I'm coming after you!"
"Astral," Twilight tapped his side with a hoof, "we've got another one." She pointed to the corner of the room, where another section of void strand appeared high up on the wall. "Or, more accurately, a different part of the same one. And, is it just me, or is getting colder in here?"
"There!" Astral aimed his pistol at it as it drifted up towards the ceiling. "See that bulge on the side? That's something trying to break through. Watch for those. And, yeah, it is getting colder, void strands tend to suck the heat out of the air."
"Got it," Twilight responded with a quick nod. "It's pretty small, does that have any correlation with the size of the creature that's going to appear?"
"Sometimes, but don't count on it."
Just before the strand reached the ceiling, a small slit appeared on the surface, revealing a roiling blue and black expanse within the cylinder. A hoof-sized insectoid creature crawled out onto the surface of the strand. It could have passed for a beetle, but a closer look at it revealed that what look like a shell from a distance was really a mass of undulating legs.
"Gross," Twilight stuck her tongue out. "Slithering Soul-roach, Mycelium pedunculparapoda. Literally, little foot, underfoot. The legs on its back are actually some sort of symbiotic fungus, putting it in the mycelium shadow-genus."
It was knocked off the strand as the anomaly disappeared into the ceiling, and Twilight threw a sunflower seed from her bag towards it as it fell. Both the bug and the seed clattered against the floor. On its back, the insectoid started crawling on its hundreds of smaller legs. Attracted by the traces of Twilight's magic, the small creature slinked towards the sunflower seed.
There was a bustle of movement when it touched the seed. A sunflower sprouted and grew in an instant, leaves and stalk unfurling only to twist around the insect that had disturbed it. It curled and wove itself tight, forming a basket with a single hole on its top, which was sealed when the sunflower bloomed its big, bright, yellow flower.
Astral raised an eyebrow. "So, that's what the seeds were for, nice."
"Thank you," Twilight gave a playful bow, "it's a preservation seal, so it can keep that ugly bug trapped and stable in our universe for approximately twenty-one days."
The stallion looked over in confusion. "Why the hell would you even want to?"
"Shadow-genus Mycelium is the source for some of rarest and highest grade alchemical materials around," Twilight answered proudly. "We got super lucky that it was only the one Roach. They usually travel in swarms of several hundred."
"They're probably running around the halls by now then." Astral blinked. "And what are we supposed to do if we run into hundreds of them here?" He asked in disbelief. "I don't have anywhere near that many bullets."
Twilight shrugged. "Fire works well against most Mycelium."
"They're all yours then. I couldn't cast a fireball if my life depended on it." Astral pointed to the wall. "Heads up."
Twilight turned around. Another section of the void strand, this time moving in a different direction. "Is the ship turning?"
"Yeah," Astral spat, "that bastard isn't taking us straight away from the strand."
The section of strand was almost immediately followed by a second section, only the next was grotesquely distended. Some massive creature, larger than the Snake-wolf cages it passed over and barely visible through the thin membrane between dimensions, fought to tear free of its cosmic womb.
"A Gigantus," Twilight groaned. "At least it isn't a Titano. We wouldn't have room to fight it. There isn't exactly a true evolutionary order in the dark dimension," she explained to Astral, keeping her eyes on what could quickly become their next opponent, "so the taxonomy is a little different. Gigantus and Titano are size classes. There's five size classes; Nano, Regulara, and Extus, Gigantus, and Titano, in that order. Class is not part of the species taxonomy."
"I'm so very glad you clarified that last part," Astral deadpanned. "This thing will be so much easier to fight now."
"Oh, shut up," Twilight shot back. A tentacle covered in short hooks errupted through the strand, and her eyes went wide. "Oculum Stalaspire! Kill it! Kill! It! Now!"
"Good plan!" Astral shouted as the tentacle twitched and lashed out. It slammed into the ceiling and stuck there, hooks embedding in the sheet metal. "How?!"
"When you see eyes, shoot!" Twilight grabbed the tentacle in her magic and pulled. The hooks tore free, and the owner of the tentacle was ripped from the void strand. With a shout, it was thrown across the cargo bay, leaving a gash in the dimensional barrier much larger than the strand was originally. Nearly the entire wall was now a portal into a swirling void of darkness, ringed by the tattered remains of the dull fire of the void strand. "Crap! It was bigger than I thought!"
The mass of hooked tentacles Twilight threw slammed into the wall and stuck there. A shelled, segmented body occupied the center, and it split, leaving Astral and Twilight staring into a hissing, snapping maw, oozing blue-grey spittle between thousands of dirt-brown, needle-like teeth. The broken shells of other creatures lay lodged among the teeth. A long, pink tongue, easily another tentacle on its own lashed about, sporting a single, ivory hook on its end.
"Twi," Astral said quietly as he and Twilight backed away, "I don't see any eyes."
"You will," she reassured him. The creature roared. A deafening sound that grew louder until it reached the threshold of the enchanted cotton in the ponies' ears. "Any second now."
The giant mouth extended out of the creatures body, the surrounding skin stretching to accommodate it. It snapped shut on open air, then twisted, leaving a orb of featureless skin. A line of holes to either side of the orb began to secrete a sickly grey fluid that began to move of its own will towards the center. The fluid met, leaving a slick shine over the orb, and the thing twisted again. Flaps of skin closed over the orb, like eyelids.
"Ugh, here it comes," Twilight groaned, cringing.
The flaps opened with a sickening squelch, and a jaundiced eye, bloodshot with veins of blue-green stared at the ponies. It blinked as it looked at them, eyelids retracting back to show far too much of the eye. Which split open as the creature roared again, revealing the maw contained within. The eye-mouth snapped shut and the eyelid blinked shut with a squishy noise.
Twilight screamed.
Before Astral could fire a shot, she grabbed one of the cages lining the wall. Despite being welded in place, her magic tore it free, and launched at the giant eye, which had barely opened again. The last thing it saw was a tangled steel cube before being smashed into a bloody paste.
Twilight gagged at the sight, shaking with disgust. "Those things should not exist!"
Astral stared at the mess for a moment before looking over at Twilight. "If you were gonna do that, why did you tell me to shoot it?"
"The little eyes!" Twilight pointed at the thing. "Don't be looking at me, it's not even close to dead!"
Astral looked back, and sure enough, another eye had emerged from among the tentacles. It was a fraction of the size of the first, and an angry red in color.
Astral wasted no time putting a bullet through it. It burst like a balloon filled with slime. In his concentration, Astral didn't realize that Twilight was directly to the right of him and his pistol. The empty casing ejected after his shot went down the collar of her jacket.
"Yeowch!" Twilight jumped suddenly. "Hot, hot, hot!" She bounced in place, shaking the hot metal away from her neck and shoulder. She quickly shook the offending piece of brass down and out her sleeve, and it clattered to the floor.
"Sorry," Astral offered, keeping his eyes on the Stalaspire. "You might want to step back."
"No," Twilight picked up the little piece of metal, "this is good." Another eye appeared, and as Astral shifted his aim, Twilight took the shot instead, using the spent casing as her bullet, launching it with magic. She glanced over at him with a big smile on her face. "Hee hee."
"Smart ass," Astral snorted.
"Prettier than your ass," she retorted.
"How do you know? Been checking out my ass lately?" Astral fired at another eye, and Twilight caught the spent shell as it ejected. "Must say, I'm flattered."
She frowned at him, shooting down the next eye without even looking. "Maybe I will start staring at your butt. You sure seem to like staring at my wings."
"I can't help it," Astral defended himself as he rapid fire shot down a cluster of three eyes, "they're so soft."
Twilight blushed and launched two of her casings at eyes that appeared on opposite sides of the tentacle mass. "Well maybe I'll let you help preen them, now that we're, you know..."
"An item?" Astral finished for her as he aimed for the next eye. "Wait, this one's still yours."
"Oh, right." Twilight quickly dispatched it. "So, um, back on the station, you mentioned maybe going on a date when we get back to Canter-" She was cut off by a pair of shots, and had to scramble to catch the shells as they flew past her. "Whoops. Anyway, did you have anything particular in mind?"
"Not really. I was convinced you would say no." A cluster of eyes, at least half a dozen, appeared near the top of the body. Astral waited for Twilight to blast her two, then took out half the remaining ones, leaving Twilight with just the right amount of ammo. "How many eyes do these things have, anyway?"
"More as they get larger, but always a power of three, so three, nine, or twenty-seven. Three's are important when dealing with Oculum." She blasted the next eye with a fireball, not even giving Astral a chance. She shrugged as he raised an eyebrow. "What? It isn't going to be an even number."
"I've fired eleven shots, and you used each piece of brass, so we're at twenty-three with your little fireball stunt. Only four left."
"And, your eyes are still blue," Twilight pointed out. "What? You aren't afraid of interdimensional horrors?"
"You're doing most of the work." Astral glanced back, and frowned. "Twi, the strand hasn't moved."
"Huh?" Twilight looked back as well. "Doesn't that mean we've stopped?"
"Yes," Astral stomped his hoof. "What is that idiot thinking?"
Twilight shook her head. "I don't know, but I'm thinking we take over the ship after this, and find out." She looked back at Astral. "Finish this up. It'll disintegrate when you destroy the last eye."
"What are you going to be doing?" Astral blasted one more eye as she turned around and walked towards the yawning void. There were noises coming from far off in the darkness, and she was taking her jacket off. "Uh, you might want to leave that on. It's armored, kind of why I got it for you."
"I appreciate it," she set it down and kept walking, "but I don't want to risk burning it." White magic swirled around her hooves with each step. The noises were getting louder. Scraping, like wood on leather, or shell on shell. "Keep 'em off me until I'm done."
Astral ran to her side, keeping his weapon trained on the monster behind them. He fired when another eye appeared. The thing was more annoying than frightening at this point. Why couldn't it hurry up and show the last two eyes? "I don't know what you're planning, but I'll cover you."
She smiled, staring off into the nothingness, eyes glowing with pure, ethereal light. Wisps of magical aura leached from her coat. "Be careful and don't touch me, the magic might burn you."
Astral could feel the energy cooking off of her. "No it won't," he said, confident about that for some reason. Maybe it was something the other Twilight said, but he felt safe around what he knew was a dangerous amount of magic. He put his hoof on her shoulder, and the white flames of aura wrapped around his hoof harmlessly. "See?"
"She was right then, the other me." Twilight took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Astral, we have a long talk ahead of us when this is over. I'm going to trust you to keep me safe until then."
"Understood," he said, stepping back. He placed himself so he could watch over her, with the open void strand and the body of the Oculum to either side.
"One last thing," Twilight's voice was starting to echo, and the occasional wisps were coalescing into a solid halo surrounding her, "the amount of magic I'm gathering is going to draw these creatures like parasprites to a picnic the moment I start to release it."
"When will that be?" Astral asked uneasily. The scraping noises stopped getting louder, but no creatures showed themselves. Were they hiding? Just out of sight? And the Oculum was convulsing, its body heaving as the outermost tentacles shriveled and died.
"Right about now," Twilight answered, "get ready."
Twilight's gathered magic exploded outwards. Her glowing shell turning into a shockwave that spread through the cargo bay, then passed through the walls.
The scraping noises were joined by a chorus of screeches. At least a dozen creatures appeared at the edges of the portal. Some above, and some at ground level. Astral recognized them. Vaguely feline in nature, black, leathery bodies studded with irregular chitinous plates. Scorpion-like tails twitched behind them. Two on the smaller creatures, three on the larger ones. And one large eye sat above their drooling, segmented beaks.
These were the things he saved Patch from years ago.
Behind them, shadows swam in the mist. Flashes in the void, like fish in the ocean's night, hinted at something keeping its distance.
Beside him, Twilight collapsed, and all hell broke loose.
The largest of the scorpion-cats rushed forward. It made it halfway to them before it was bowled over by a meter wide projectile. Hooked tentacles tore into its skin. It screeched as the clinging mass gripped and shifted, tearing more and more of it open, flinging black blood everywhere.
A mouth emerged from the mass, clamping down on the struggling creature's neck, tearing out a large bite. The mouth chewed and choked down its meal, then closed as its prey collapsed in writhing pain. It turned towards Astral, fluid covering itself as it prepared to turn back into an eye.
He didn't let it finish. He shot it, three times in quick succession. It didn't explode like the other small eyes, but it did squeal in pain. Astral looked back at the Oculum's main body, grabbing a knife in his hoof upon hearing an answering squeal.
He bit down on the scabbard, and when he saw the movement among the dead tentacles, he drew the knife and threw it in one movement. A second projectile of tentacles launched from the main body which crumbled behind it. Astral guided his knife with magic, adding as much force as he could. He knew he couldn't stop it, but when the knife slammed into the thing, he pushed it sideways enough to deflect it by a few meters.
It slammed into empty floor, and Astral slashed with the same knife until it stopped moving. He then yanked the knife out of it as it turned to ashen dust, and launched his weapon back at the first one. It was still moving, still trying to form its eye despite the damage done to it. A quick slice to the base of its eye-mouth severed it from the rest of the body.
As it joined its counterpart as ash on the cargo bay floor, the scorpion cats stalked towards Astral. Those above leapt to the ground, one or two crashing as gravity took hold of them, but most managed to land gracefully.
The second largest of them had taken over, and stood closest to Astral and the prone Twilight. It hissed as the others fanned out, likely to draw attention away from the attempts to surround their prey.
"Sorry," Astral took aim at the leader, and picked out another two that were standing relatively still. "Hunters don't play by the prey's rules." His first shot rang out, true to his aim, straight into the leader's eye. Astral didn't wait for it to fall. The moment he felt the recoil, he shifted his aim to the next target. It couldn't comprehend what happened to the leader, and was looking to it for guidance, presenting a perfect profile.
Astral fired again, dropping the second target, and shifted again. He fired, but this third shot was a little late, the creatures were all running in panic, and he only winged the creature in the flank. Still, pack structure lost with their leaders, Astral was in a better spot to defend himself and more importantly Twilight.
That was when the lights died.
There was no warning. Not even a flicker. The sudden change in environment calmed the panicked scorpion cats. It was much more like home now, and they turned back to regard their intended prey.
Astral let out an angry snort. Was this Patch's doing? "Like I said," he shouted into the cargo bay, "hunters don't play by the prey's rules!"
Astral shot the closest beast in the head. The darkness wasn't an issue for him. And he knew his eyes were burning gold by now, if only fueled by his anger at Patch. He kept his knife close and ready, and his pistol ahead of him.
One of the scorpion cats tried to flank him, losing its nerve as the unicorn turned to face it. Astral fired once as it leapt away. He only knicked it in the hindleg, but once it landed and collapsed on the injury, Astral Astral quickly reloaded and put it down for good with four more shots.
Blinking away the flash, Astral searched for his next target. He knew he could hit the scorpion cats that kept themselves to the walls, but to conserve ammo and keep them from attacking all at once, he wanted them to think they were safe farther away from him.
Suddenly, they all cowered. Astral felt a deep rumbling through the deckplates, but heard nothing. After a few seconds, he heard the tail end fade of a howling noise, almost like a whale's song, directly behind him.
He spun around, bringing his knife and pistol to bear. He fired blindly into the face of an eel like creature, darting through the air towards him. It turned suddenly, tail bashing the the unicorn in the face as it swam away through open air.
Astral recovered quickly. Whatever the thing was, it wasn't very strong. But it circled overhead, and Astral could see more heading his way. He could also see where he had clearly hit the creature. five rounds, out of seven fired had found their mark, yet barely slowed it down.
"Tough bastards," Astral lamented, bringing his hoof to his face. His cheek throbbed, and he could feel the familiar sting of a busted lip.
He moved closer to Twilight, pulling another knife from its scabbard. The deck rumbled again as the fish-beast overhead cried out. Judging by the pained reactions of the scorpion cats, Astral knew he should be grateful. He felt it echo through his body, but couldn't hear it through the enchanted cotton.
Another eel charged towards him, called by its injured brethren. Astral stared it down, letting it get closer and closer. He waited until was almost on top of him before nearly emptying his magazine into the monster's face. It veered off, same as the first one, but not before Astral lunged at it, plunging one of his blades into its side.
The stallion threw his weight into it, hooves holding the knife in place, angled back as the creature squirmed away. Its own desperate flight let the knife slip from gill to tail, gutting the beast.
It swam several more meters before succumbing to gravity, aided by a pouncing scorpion-cat. It caught the fish in midair, claws digging into the open side, and dragged it to ground. Two more of them joined in,tearing away at the flailing eel's insides.
Astral felt the deckplates rumble once more. A glance into the void showed several more eel's approaching. At least four, and two of them were significantly larger than the other.
Astral dropped the magazine from his pistol. It clattered to the ground as he took the opportunity to reload as the eel's approached. He had left one round in the pistol, so it was ready to fire the moment he snapped a new magazine in place.
He had three more magazines, having spent two of them, and twenty-one shots in each. He also had his knives, but they wouldn't hold their edge forever. "Come on, Twi," he said to the inanimate mare at his hooves, "whatever you did better kick in soon."
"It will!" She shouted as she screamed through the cargo bay, a ghostly image of her tearing through the wall, and zipping across the open void strand. She left a thin trail of magic that was leaking glowing fumes.
Astral looked down at Twilight, who was still there, then back at where she disappeared through the wall trailing a silver-white thread. His eyes were wide, and his mouth hung open as he tried to comprehend what he just saw.
Twilight's trail started growing. No longer the thin trail she left, it was expanding like a net. The approaching eels sped up, shooting for the barrier that threatened to keep them from leaving the void.
The glowing silver treads of the net stretched towards the ceiling and floor. But before it could reach, two of the eels slipped through. One above, and one below.
The one near the floor, smaller and faster, shot straight for Astral. He didn't waste time shooting at it. He took a knife and tossed it at the thing. It went high, missing the beast. Just as planned.
A burst of magic shot the knife down, lodging it in what Astral hoped was the monster's spine. The eel dipped, belly scraping the floor, but kept on course.
With a strained grunt, Astral's magic grabbed the knife embedded in the thing's back, and jarred it back and forth. The eel rocked with the motion of the short blade. Its movements were twitchy and uncoordinated compared to before. Was this working?
The eel was closing in on Astral, and he pushed his knife to the side. He put everything he had into it as he drew another blade. He felt hot, sweat dripped down his coat. He was burning through magic rapidly, and he could feel it. But it paid off.
One last burst of magic dragged the eel sideways just as it reached him. Astral stabbed it behind the eye with the knife he had ready. Then, in the same moment, he spun around and bucked the knife in deep.
The eel flopped to the floor, but it wasn't dead yet. And big brother was approaching from above. While the small eel tried to right itself, Astral took his pistol and started shooting. Shot after shot. Astral squinted as the continuing flashes tried to burn their afterimage in his eyes. The smell of sulphur and the heat of burning powder only added to his discomfort.
He fired until the pistol until it clicked dry. Cursing himself for losing track of rounds fired, he reloaded. The eel was still moving, but barely. it was twitching erratically, shaking, seizing. Astral could only hope it was beyond recovery while he focused on the other one.
When he turned, a blindingly bright mass of light shot down through the ceiling, burning a hole through the massive eel before crashing into Twilight. Shockwaves of pure energy blew everything away from the alicorn, including Astral. The poor unicorn went tumbling as Twilight stood up in the middle of it all.
The magic faded quickly, leaving the two ponies in the midst of destruction, massacred monsters, and slime. Everything was fading to dust, even the surviving scorpion cats. They came apart like sculptures made of dry sand.
"Wow, it's dark in here." Twilight blinked as she looked around, seeing nothing in the pitch black of the cargo bay. "So, Astral, about that date, I've been meaning to visit the Dragon embassy on Canterlot Alpha. I hear they have a grand library that's modeled after the one on Har'Mone, which is of the galaxy's cultural wonders."
"Sounds great." Astral spit the blood out of his mouth and put pressure on his lip. "It's not going to be infested with monsters when we get there for some reason, is it? Because it seems like we can't go more than a few days without facing some sort of life-threatening situation."
"Say, what happened while I was out?" Twilight walked towards Astral's voice, feeling out in front of her with a hoof as she moved. "It wasn't this dark earlier."
He walked over to meet her, grabbing her hoof to let her know where he was. He lit his horn, ramping up the light slowly so their eyes could adjust. "Ask Patch," he spat. "What did you do? I thought I saw you flying earlier, and what was all that light?"
She smiled, a proud, cunning smile, and leaned in close. "That, Astral Plane, was Astral projection."
The unicorn groaned. "Ok, how long have you been sitting on that?"
"I thought of it on the Solomon's Ring," she admitted. "I was really starting think I wouldn't get a chance to- Wait, what happened to your face?"
"One of those eels got in a lucky hit." Astral nodded towards the door. "Let's get up to the bridge before Patch runs us through the gauntlet again."
"Oh, he can't." Twilight strolled over to her jacket. "I sealed the void strand. It's gone for good."
"You what?!" Astral looked back at the wall that, only moments ago, held a portal to a cold, dark hell. "How the hell did you do that? Wouldn't that involve fundamentally altering the fabric of space?"
"Only in the immediate vicinity of the strand." Twilight shrugged. "Don't overthink it. It's not as complicated as it seems."
"If you say so." Astral shook his head. He was sure it was much more complicated than it seemed. He couldn't even begin to imagine the magic involved, the amount of power necessary to make such a drastic change to space itself. "I'm headed to the bridge."
"Good." Twilight started putting her jacket on, collecting Astral's discarded magazines with her magic and putting them in the pockets. "I've got a few words to share with our Captain."
Patch leaned back in his chair, heaving a sigh. He shut down the viewscreen as the two ponies left the cargo bay. "You heard 'em folks, void strand's gone, that wash of magic we saw wiped out any remaining creatures, and it's safe to leave. Double check that with sensors, then everypony get out of here. Astral's got a temper and the hooves to back it, and I bet his filly's the same."
The crew he was addressing was crammed into every spare space on the bridge. Standing side-by-side in the dark of emergency lighting, they started exchanging glances. One of them, the pegasus colt from the cargo bay, decided to speak up. "Captain, why? Why did we do this?"
All eyes were on the colt, but they slowly made their way to Patch. "That's for me to worry about, kid," the captain answered, "I want you to get started making multiple copies and backups of the recording we just made, and the footage from the Snake-wolf transfer. I want everything, sensor data, thermal readouts, and the holocam footage, saved in so many places that we start leaking it from the transponders."
"Why?" the colt asked again, as the bridge doors slid open.
"That's what I want to know."
Most of the crew froze, but Patch just nodded. "You got here fast, Astral. Did ya finally learn to teleport?"
"You know I can't," Astral growled, marching towards the other unicorn and nodding towards Twilight, "luckily she can. It's a pretty short run here from the galley." He glanced around as the crew parted, cramming even tighter together to give Astral a wide berth. His eyes locked on one of the displays, and he froze mid-step. "Are those..." He clenched his teeth, jaw working in anger at what he saw. "Are those our coordinates?!"
With a sigh, Patch pulled his mane back. He stared straight ahead, oddly calm. Far calmer than most of the crew had ever seen him. And he smiled weakly as he answered Astral's demand with a simple, "Yep."
Screaming in anger, Astral leapt at him. Patch made no move to dodge, or even brace himself, and the flying tackle tore the relaxed unicorn from his chair. He hit the deck hard, his armored jacket clanging under the weight of the snarling grey unicorn on top of him, staring murderously down at him with flaming golden eyes. Astral grabbed as much jacket as he could in one hoof and pulled Patch up. His other hoof cracked across his jaw, slamming him back to the deck.
The sound of that impact pulled Twilight out of her shock, and she ran forward. "Astral!"
He looked back, pointing his hoof at her. "Stay out of this!"
This seemed to snap everypony else out of their inaction. Numbers were on their side, why weren't they saving the captain?
Patch laid limp against the deck as his crew started to move. Only, his eyes were open and he was fully conscious. "All crew, stand down."
They stopped in their tracks, but Astral punched him again on hearing his voice.
"Dammit Patch!" The unicorn screamed in his face, dragging up by the collar. "I'm not going to forgive you anymore. I can't! I've put up with a lot, but you just tried to kill us!"
Patch refused to look his old friend in the eyes. He also refused to resist or defend himself. "Come on, Astral, you're the reason we survived our first void strand. I knew you could handle-"
Astral shoved him away, and stood up. "This is that first void strand! The one we mapped out fourteen years ago. You knew it was here! You knew the shape of it! You knew just how to make sure we'd end up right in the middle of it!"
Something hit Astral in the side of the head. There was almost no force behind it, but it stopped him in the middle of raising his hoof for another punch. He looked down. It had landed by his hoof, a small box of crayons, broken colors littering the deck. He looked up again as somepony shouted out, "Stop it!"
Astral didn't see who said it, but the crowded crew suddenly turned its attention inwards. They scrambled about, for something in their midst, shouting at each other.
"Get him!"
"Stop, don't let him by!"
"Grab him!"
One of the crew dove for something, only for it to jump on his head and launch out of the crowd using the convenient springboard. Astral watched it land, and swallowed hard. Before him, stood a small foal, six or seven years old at most, with the same rust red mane as Patch.
"Leave my dad alone!" The colt shouted. Astral couldn't see the horn hidden in his unruly mane, but he saw the sputtering glow of an attempted spell.
"Astral," said another voice in the crowd, "stop this." A mare made her way out, most of the crew stepping out of the way in respect. Her mane was long, its soft, silky purple standing out against her pale, peach coat.
Astral let his hoof fall as he stared in shock. "Gutsy?" He asked in disbelief. "You were on board?"
She nodded slowly. "I wanted to see you, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Not after... We should have been there for you and Coolie when you were exiled." She walked over to the colt and rested her hoof on his back. "Astral, stop it, this is your father's fight."
"We named him after you," Patch said quietly to the unicorn still standing over him. "Gutsy's idea. Woulda been named after Coolie if we had a filly."
The colt looked up at his mother, confusion clear on his face. "Why isn't anypony doing anything?" He looked over at his father. "Why aren't you fighting back?!"
"Son?" Patch turned to face his boy, bloody nose and lip testament to Astral's anger. "Sometimes, fighting means you already lost." He looked back up at Astral, tears forming. "I lost this one long ago. And, I know I've lost any trust you might have still had in me. That I've lost any friendship we once had. But, you still have my respect, and I'm not going to fight you. Let my boy leave, and... you can hit me all you want. I deserve it for dragging you and your friend into this."
"Patch..." Astral shook his head, his anger was already fading, giving way to confusion. Patch's refusal to fight back was something Astral couldn't comprehend. "I just want to know why."
"The King of Tana wants you dead," Patch answered. "This was the safest way for you that still proves I tried."
Astral stepped back. "Patch, did he order you to do this?"
"Not just me, Astral." Patch slowly stood up, bringing a hoof to his battered face. "Every hunter on Tana. He put a bounty on your head, larger than any I've seen. There's a prize for even trying."
"Is that why you did this, Patch? For the money?"
"No! No, never. I have a plan, a dangerous one, but I think I can get the king to rescind the bounty, or back it off a little. Coolie's safe, but I can't leave you a target. At the very least, I might be able to to scare the other Hunter's guilds off of you. You always were one of the best, and the video of this, you taking on an alpha snake-wolf, fighting off nightmares in pitch black void, and that filly of yours altering reality, might remind everypony why you're called Yardrin."
"Patch, if you go back, having disobeyed the king..."
"Why do you think Gutsy and my boy are on board? I snuck 'em off planet. Screw customs, screw choosing one to take with me. We left no record that they ever left the planet. If I'm exiled, they'll both be right here with me."
Astral shook his head. "I wish I could believe you, Patch."
"I understand if ya don't." Patch sighed. "But, if I wanted ya dead, I could have poisoned any one of your meals on this trip. Wouldn't even have involved your filly. Gotta say, I wasn't expectin' her to be a Celestial."
Twilight stepped up. "First of all, you all need to stop calling me Astral's filly. Ok? Second, I'm not a Celestial, I'm an Alicorn. Third, the space station you picked us up at is basically a refugee camp, you would be welcome there if necessary."
"I'm doin' everything I can so it ain't," Patch replied. With a groan, he brought a hoof to his mouth. "Damn, Astral, for bein' outta shape, you sure pack a mean punch."
"Out of practice," Astral corrected, "Not out of shape. And why does the king want me dead? Why now?"
"We don't know," Gutsy answered. "There have been tensions with the Order of Tamers, and they could be involved, but we don't know for sure. All the guilds have stopped speaking to each other, so it's hard to gather reliable information."
Twilight nodded. "I would offer any help I can with this matter, but first, I need to know if we'll reach Tirassa without further incident."
It was Gutsy who answered. "We will, I will see to it myself. We are only ten hours away."
Twilight responded with a nod. "Thank you." She glanced over at Astral, who looked almost as beat up as Patch. "We'll need to rest, please see to it that we aren't disturbed."
"I will." Gutsy walked over to Patch, letting him lean against her. "If you'll excuse me, I need to patch him up, so to speak."
"Yes, of course. Same here." Twilight nodded again, teleporting herself and Astral back to their quarters halfway through the motion. "Oh, shoot," she said suddenly, smacking her hoof against her forehead, "I forgot the bug." She flashed away, leaving Astral alone.
With a sigh, he headed over to the filing cabinet. Digging through the drawers, he found a small medkit and some napkins among various silverware and shelf stable rations. There was even a kettle, bottled water, and a selection of teas to go with the hotplate. Gutsy's idea, no doubt. She couldn't go more than a day without a glass of hot tea.
This was a lot to process, everything that happened. He had felt so betrayed, but was it truly a betrayal? Was Patch honestly trying to protect him in some twisted way?
He opened one of the water bottles, holding it in a shaky hoof and wetting down a napkin so he could wipe down his lip. He winced in pain, but kept at it, gently removing the crust that had quickly formed after getting bashed in the face by the eel. He then patted it down with a styptic from the kit. It stung, but only for a moment, and it felt a lot better than the grit of void dust and drying blood.
Once that was done, he felt along his cheekbone. The soreness told him it probably wasn't any worse than a bruise under his fur. Not the worst he's ever been hit, that's for sure. He probably did worse to Patch just now.
Astral shook his head, thinking of what Patch told him. The king of Tana? Why would he suddenly put a bounty on somepony who had been banished for years? Something had to have changed his mind, but what? Patch did say that Coolie was safe, but how sure was he about that?
With a grunt, Astral punched the hapless filing cabinet, denting the thin metal. Again, he felt helpless. He was a fighter, a good one, but why didn't it ever seem to matter? No matter what he had to fight through, he always lost what was important. He won the fight at Jegoyo Square, only to lose the life he built on Tana to the anger of nobles and royalty.
He sighed and turned his attention to the welt on his neck. The swelling had gone down around the wound, but Twilight didn't get a chance to show off the healing spell she was talking about earlier.
He froze with his hoof on his neck. It was happening again. He was getting close to somepony. A lot of ponies, he corrected himself. He was trying to build something more for himself than the life of a lonely freighter pilot. Would the universe let it happen this time?
It nearly didn't. He thought about the other night. Twilight asked him about his rescue of Fluttershy. She thought he was heroic fighting through what he had, but he couldn't help but see it as a failure. He may have been too hard on himself. He did manage to buy enough time for Fluttershy to wake up at least. But, it could have gone either way at the end, and what if something similar happened in the future? He didn't think he could handle losing anypony close to him again. It had already happened too many times before.
Astral tried to shake himself from his worry as he cleaned his neck with a napkin, then scrubbed down the welt with an antiseptic wipe. He was digging for an ointment cream when Twilight reappeared, her jacket draped over her back. "That took longer than expected," he told her, glancing back, "where's the bug?"
"I left it with Gutsy, with instructions to deliver it to Canterlot. The container will keep anypony I don't know from tampering with it." Twilight tossed her jacket on the bed, walked over to Astral, and sat down next to him. She held her hoof out for the medkit, and Astral handed it over. "I probably don't have enough magic left for any proper healing spells, but I can at least help with this."
"Thanks, Twi." Astral sat still while she applied a cold cream to his neck and worked it in. "You must be tired after what you did in the cargo bay."
"Not so much," she answered with a smile, "not as much as I was expecting anyway. The void strand was smaller than I expected."
Astral nodded absent-mindedly. "That's good." He glanced over as she packed up the first aid kit. He couldn't help but be reminded of his worries. If he was honest with himself, that was probably the thing that scared him the most about her. Not that she was more powerful than him, not that she was part of some secret society that could erase him, but that she may not be there some day. Everypony he met was like that anymore, but the closer he got to her, the more it worried him. "I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier."
"You sound tired." Twilight brushed his mane back to check the back of his neck, where he had been injured by the centipede on Picus. It was healed, quite well, given Radio's work with the dermal accelerator. But, the fur was thin, and white from the nutrient gel treatment. They didn't have the proper dye on the shuttle to counteract the bleaching effect, and it wasn't exactly a priority during their brief stay on Delta. It would take a little while, but it would go back to normal eventually. "Astral?"
He looked up. His eyes were just as gold as when they left the cargo bay."Huh?"
"I said, you seem tired." Twilight let her hoof rest there on his neck. "Is everything alright."
"Yeah..." He rubbed at his face. "This thing with Patch is a bit much to process, and I'm a little tired from using so much magic all at once. Between the Snake-wolf, and the void strand, I'm pretty spent. And I bet I used less magic than you use with each teleport."
Twilight nodded slowly. His magic was quite weak, almost unnaturally so. Proximity to the void could explain that. It leeched magic from anything near it, even the most basic spells would require more magic than usual. "Still, you protected me while I closed the void strand. You got your face bashed in, and I don't even have a scratch."
"Yeah," Astral finally smiled. "I am pretty good at dealing with monsters. It's kind of my thing."
Twilight laughed. "Yeah, you surprised me on Picus. You were good, but I never expected you were actually a pro monster hunter."
"Eh... I was kind of rusty on Picus. Even in the cargo bay now, I wasn't moving as fast as I used to."
"But you had that spell to see in the dark," Twilight reminded him. "Those Pisces Audius, the eel things, navigate in the dark by a very rudimentary echolocation. They rely on their call paralyzing their prey. They didn't stand a chance."
"They were tough bastards," Astral pointed out. "And, what spell?" He shrugged. "I can always see in the dark."
"What?!" Twilight scrambled to her hooves and faced Astral, staring him in the face. Her mind was turning as she studied him, the colors, his golden eyes, and she remembered his disappointment at the lack of fruit on the station, and the gusto with which he attacked the fruit basket on the Solomon's Ring. Only Fluttershy's enthusiasm outstripped his. "Oh, my gosh. Astral, you're a thestral!"
He leaned back from the shouting alicorn. "A what-sal?"
"A bat pony!" She grabbed his jaw, pulling his mouth open. "You get your fangs ground, don't you?"
Astral pushed her hoof away. "What? Yeah, a few times a year. Last time was on Hoofton before we met." He ran his tongue over his teeth. They were still nice and smooth. It would be months before they needed a touchup. "By bat pony, you mean wings like Fluttershy's, right?"
Twilight nodded quickly.
"Then, yes," Astral shrugged, "my dad was, anyway. A lot of the ponies on Serus were, only, we called ourselves Night Ponies. And, none of us were as big as her, or half and half like that."
"Then, you trim your ear-tufts, too?"
"Yes," he answered quickly. "Monthly. Otherwise ponies stare at them when they talk to me."
"Do me a favor, don't." Twilight laughed. "This explains so much. The fighting, the reflexes, the eyes. Astral, I can't believe you never told me!"
"Told you what?" Astral defended. "I didn't even know there was a proper word for it until now. We haven't even known each other that long. I'm sure you would have found out when I went to get my ears trimmed, or my teeth done, or something. And why is it a big deal?"
"It isn't," she said quickly, then quietly added, "I just, kinda have a thing for Thestrals."
Astral smirked at her. "A thing?"
"Yes, a thing," she admitted. "I mean, I am the personification of the transition from day to night. It's only natural I might find the nocturnal, mysterious Thestral... attractive. And it might explain our magical compatibility."
"All I got out of that was, you find me attractive." Astral laughed. "I thought we already established that?"
"We did." Twilight sat and crossed her hooves. "We also established the inverse."
Astral strolled ove to her, magic reaching out to lower the lights as he leaned in close. "You mean, that I find you sexy?"
"Attractive," Twilight corrected quickly, blushing as she brought the lights back up. "We were talking about finding each other attractive."
"You were," Astral corrected, sitting in front of her, smiling. "Thanks for cheering me up, Twi. I was feeling down for bit there."
"No problem." Twilight smiled back. "And I've got something that might cheer you up even more."
"Are you going to kiss me again? Because I was too preoccupied with the apparent betrayal and threat of imminent monster attack to fully enjoy that last one."
She rolled her eyes. "Maybe I will, maybe I won't."
"Maybe I will," Astral suggested, leaning in.
She just smiled, not backing down. "I have a better idea."
Astral froze. He wasn't sure how to respond to that. "Better?"
She nodded, slyly smiling at the stunned look on Astral's face. "Stay right there." She got up, and walked around behind him. She brushed his tail to the side, then sat down behind him so their backs were touching. "You were taught how to meditate in Spellcasting 101, right?"
Astral swallowed hard before answering. "Yeah, why? What are you doing?"
"What we are doing, is meditating." She took a deep breath. "Just in a specific way. Try to relax as much as possible."
"Kind of hard like this." Astral glanced back. She was leaning back a little more than he was, so he adjusted to match. This pressed them together from flank to shoulder blades. Astral could feel her wings against him, moving in small twitches. "Twi? Are you nervous?"
"Yes," she admitted quickly. With a sigh, Twilight glanced back. She found him looking back as well. She wasn't sure why, but it made her happy. "Remember how I said there was a way to quickly recover from magical exhaustion? I want to show you how."
He nodded slowly. "What about those special conditions you mentioned?"
Twilight could feel her cheeks warming up. "The conditions should be met."
"Well, that wasn't cryptic at all." Astral twisted to get a better look at the alicorn. "What were the conditions?"
She turned the opposite direction to hide her blush. "This, um, it's an ancient ritual. Even by equestrian standards. There's a certain amount of innate compatibility required. That much is pure chance. There is also a degree of familiarity required. A level of, um... intimacy?"
"Huh?" Astral turned around completely. "Ok, maybe we should talk this through before jumping to the step-by-step version. How intimate are you planning on getting?"
Twilight brought her hooves to her face. How was it so easy for him to embarass her? Taking a deep breath, she lowered her hooves. She wasn't going to let it stop her. "I didn't mean it like that," she explained softly, "It isn't physical, but, this is most likely going to be the most intimate act I've ever done with anypony. This is important to me, and I feel like I can trust you with it."
Astral was silent for a moment, then sat back down behind her. Now that they were back to back again, he took a deep breath of his own. He had a fairly good idea what she was talking about now. "Are we going to be sharing magic?" He felt her wings freeze, telling him he was right and that she was nervous about it. But, how was this supposed to help recover their magic? If anything, it would consume what little they had left, driving them further into exhaustion. "You know, I've never done this either. But, you don't have to be this worried about it. We can take things slowly, right? I mean, a few days ago, we weren't even sure about each other, we could wait a few more to do this if it makes you feel better. It's kind of a jump to go from first kiss to this on the same day."
Twilight stood up quickly. "You're right, maybe we should talk this over a little more." As Astral turned around, she turned to face him. "Astral, my echo called you a focuser. She said you had the qualities of one, and that you might have been mine if we had met in Equestria."
He nodded slowly. "I'm not sure exactly what that means, but it sounds important."
"It... can be." Twilight paced back and forth, debating just how much to tell him. "I knew a couple that was focuser/caster back in Equestria. I can tell you, it's complicated, and there are a lot of things we would need to discuss if we ever wanted to try to be a focused pair. But, for now, I just wanted to try and perform a recovery link."
Astral put his hoof out to stop her as she passed by him again. "Is that like a resonance link? Where two unicorns work together to make a spell stronger than either of them could alone?"
"Kind of." She shrugged. "By classical Equestrian methodology, there are four classes of magical links. Strengthening, weakening, changing, and preserving. A resonance link is the most basic of the strengthening links, and the most common. Any two ponies can perform one, if they are in tune with each other. This requires some deal of understanding, affinity, a common goal, etc. So, good friends, family members, squadmates, members of a team, etc. could all use the resonance link in theory. Even two enemies, as long as they share a specific goal, might be able to perform a resonance link."
"Again with the teacher bit," Astral chuckled. "I've always wanted my own personal magic tutor."
Twilight shook her head. "And I've always wanted my own faithful student, but let's not get weird here."
"Why not? I could be faithful." Astral lowered his voice. "I could be so faithful, you wouldn't know what to do with me."
"I already don't," Twilight laughed. "So don't make it any worse."
"All right, all right, I won't." Astral straightened up, putting himself on his best behavior. "So, what makes this recovery link different from the resonance link? You've got me curious."
"Well, with a resonance link, you each pool your magic, and whoever has stronger magic focuses on power, whoever has finer control focuses on spellcasting. This lets two ponies cast spells far stronger and complex than either could alone. A focuser and a caster are two ponies that can take this skill to the next level. Generally, the caster will handle the raw magic and primary spell casting, while the focuser weaves their own magic into the spell in ways to maximize efficiency or control secondary effects. The recovery link plays a large part in this, allowing the continuous, and almost immediate recharge of the body's magic reserves."
"I feel like I should be taking notes. So, how does this recovery link let you instantly recover magic?"
Twilight suddenly blushed. "Well... Like you said, we would be sharing magic. Just a little, like a focus light you would imagine during meditation. It takes a lot of practice and training to be able to use the recovery link during spellcasting, years of practice. But we should be able to achieve something close during meditation if we are truly focus compatible."
Astral bit back a smile. "Is it really that embarassing?"
She shrugged. "Using magic to restore your magic, it's almost perverse, like cleaning dust off of a vacuum cleaner... with itself."
"Oh, my word," Astral faked a gasp, "I've corrupted you."
Twilight rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, you can't deny that it's the slightest bit... I dunno, kinky?"
"This coming from the mare that was licking my neck less than an hour ago. You want kinky? How about a little payback?"
Twilight scooted back as Astral leaned towards her. "You wouldn't."
"Wouldn't I?" He bounced his eyebrows, then started laughing. "Your face is so red right now."
Her snout scrunched up as she frowned at the stallion's teasing. "That was dirty."
"Your thoughts are dirty," he countered, smiling as she looked away with a really guilty look on her face. "Oh, they really are, aren't they?"
"Oh, shut up," Twilight swatted at him half-heartedly. He grabbed the hoof, and she looked down with a sigh. "Astral, is this ok?"
Astral saw the hesitation he felt mirrored in her. "What do you mean?"
She shrugged. "I mean, is it ok for us to be this light-hearted with everything that's happening? I... I already feel guilty enough about moving forward with my life while I'm still searching for Cryo-chambers. And, Gutsy told me that you have a bounty on your head, that it isn't deserved, but wouldn't say why." Shaking her head, she scoffed at herself. "Its the same thing, all over again. Mac's hurt, everypony went through hell, and it all traces back to how I set things up. I can't help but feel like I don't have the right to be happy when so much pain is all around me, and so much of it is my fault."
He nodded. He could understand how she felt now. He had been so adamant about telling her that none of what happened was her fault, but he was starting to understand now. It still wasn't her fault. He steadfastly believed that. But, he could see now, how it could feel that way. "My name is the one that was written in blood on the station walls. I'm no less a part of this than you are." With a sigh, he added, "There was something Patch told me long ago, when we first met. 'Nopony's got a right to anything. That's why we have greed. We all want something that the universe doesn't want us to have. Greed, envy, lust, even hope, dreams, and ambition are all there so we can find out which his stronger, the universe, or our own desire.'"
"That's a depressing way to view life."
"Yeah," Astral agreed. "He said all this after mugging me in an alley, by the way, so don't give it any serious thought. He took the last few bits I had after trapping me in a net. I tracked him down, beat the snot out of him, and, somehow, we ended up joining a hunter's guild together. In our defense, we were both broke, homeless, and trying to take care of another pony, so a few bits for food was a big deal to us at the time."
Twilight blinked. "Wait, you met him via mugging? Then became friends, and worked together for how long?"
"Um, couple years." Astral scratched his neck. "It sounds bad when you say it like that."
Twilight shook her head. "Somehow, it doesn't surprise me as much as it should. And, what he said, depressing as it may be, isn't necessarily wrong." She moved closer to him. "Astral, I'm going to be greedy, just a little." She stole a kiss, short and quick, not letting him respond. "I want this. I don't know if I have any right to it, but I want it."
"So do I."
Astral immediately moved to follow up with a kiss of his own. But she stopped him with a hoof, a sigh, and a shake of her head. "There will be plenty of time for that later. But, right now, you should probably go talk to Patch. Now that you've both had a chance to cool down. We need to know exactly what's going on with the bounty if we're going to face it together, and I don't want to see you needlessly lose a friend." She nudged him a little towards the door. "Go on. I'll be here, waiting for you."
He groaned as he dragged himself up. "You better be."