With a tapping of hooves against metal, Shinespark stepped across a series of catwalks, making her way back to the pool where Meltdown was staying. The room was mostly dark save for lighting from equipment, its high ceiling combining with the poor illumination to make it feel vast, cold and empty.
The mare she was looking for was resting on the edge of her pool, forelegs folded on the rim and head resting atop them with the rest of her floating in the water, fitfully asleep.
"...That can't be comfortable," Shinespark whispered, debating whether to leave her be.
"It isn't. That's my lot in life."
Shinespark seated herself by the pool. "I can help you."
"Can you?" Meltdown mumbled, looking slightly less out of it than she had been while bedridden, but hardly good.
"Yes," Shinespark answered, trying to meet her eyes. "I'm one of the north's best experts on power armor. And I have a better idea than everyone else what you're going through."
"Then maybe you can," Meltdown replied.
Shinespark blinked. "You're not even going to contest it?"
"I can't argue right now. The temperature isn't right," Meltdown whispered. "None of you have taken advantage of me while I've been cold. I have to trust someone, and that's enough for it to be you. I have nothing to gain by stopping you from trying."
Shinespark noted the water steaming slightly around her, though it was far less than the plume that had surrounded her when she was first dumped in. "I need your help, though," she continued. "There are a few parts of the armor design I want to know how you did in the Empire. Once I have the design finished, the ponies here should be technologically advanced enough to help me fabricate it. Tell me, the atmosphere around you isn't big enough to contain the heat you let off. Ventilation and radiation alone won't be enough. How did you deal with that?"
"I don't know," Meltdown sighed. "I don't even understand what you're asking. I'm sorry."
"...You were the ruler of an entire empire," Shinespark whispered, glancing away. "And you didn't understand how your own armor worked?"
Meltdown frowned and lifted her head an inch. "Didn't Amber tell you how my brand works?"
"Physical strength increases with heat output?" Shinespark frowned. "And that without it, you can barely move?"
Meltdown sighed again.
Shinespark glanced away. "I don't mean to impose."
"It's also my mind, if she didn't tell you," Meltdown murmured, calm and quiet but underneath, upset. "I can walk without my brand, if I don't mind stumbling. But I can't talk without stuttering. Basic subtraction is hard for me. I can't put names to my emotions, remember ponies by faces instead of names and can't follow their interactions with each other or judge their intentions toward me. And I can't defend or even speak up for myself if they do try something."
The water continued gently steaming around her. "When I'm smarter, I've measured and tested heat levels extensively. This much is comparable to an average eight-year-old. I can talk properly. Remember who I was and what I did, but not why. I can't help you with my suit. I don't know what's outside this room."
"...You must be terrified," Shinespark softly said.
"Yes," Meltdown replied. "I am." And then her expression made perfect sense: it was one of a foal trying desperately to be more grown-up than they really were.
Shinespark stepped closer, as close to Meltdown as she dared. "Well... saving ponies is what I used to do. And I'm already working on helping you, too. Do you trust me?"
"I don't remember you a lot from the Empire," Meltdown answered. "I don't remember a lot of anything from after that. But you were nearby while I was cold, weren't you?"
"On the ship?" Shinespark shook her head. "I was present. I didn't do a lot."
"Then you're as trustworthy as I can ask for," Meltdown whispered, her voice strained. "Please, if there's anything you can do..."
Shinespark immediately nodded, eyeing the steaming water warily but reaching out a cautious hoof to touch Meltdown. It was uncomfortably hot, but she found she could do it.
"What are you doing...?" Meltdown winced and recoiled.
"Getting you out of here," Shinespark easily replied. "This room is dismal and if you're in low spirits, it's not helping. They gave us a house by the ocean. I'll tie you to the seawall to stop you from floating away and let you soak in there if I have to."
"Can you?" Meltdown sniffled. "The water here isn't flushed properly, so I've had to go colder and colder..."
Shinespark winced from the contact as she tried harder to pull Meltdown up. "What's the coldest you can be while still walking on your own? I'll guide you and keep you safe."
"Slightly more..."
Moments later, Shinespark had Meltdown out of the pool and against her shoulder, making a mental note to berate whoever thought that a need for an industrial cold bath was enough to make someone spend a night in a place like this. For her, it might actually have been cozy, reminiscent of her old home in Sosa. But that clearly didn't go for everyone.
Carefully, she guided Meltdown out of the facility and across the island, making slow progress as the evening grew later around them. It was nearly sunset by the time they reached Generosity Two, their combined demeanors enough to stop them from being accosted by eager students along the way.
"Shinespark?" Amber was the one to poke her head out the door and greet them. "Woah! Meltdown!"
"I wasn't a fan of her situation," Shinespark replied, throat parched and coat matted with sweat from the heat. "And she wasn't either. Help me get her ocean."
Amber blinked. "The ocean here is warm enough that ponies swim in it for fun, girl. And she thought a glacial river that was constantly flowing wasn't cold enough back in the foothills. Doesn't she need something like an industrial bath?"
Meltdown squeezed her eyes shut, and Shinespark shook her head. "Just tried that. It wasn't cold enough either, and the atmosphere wasn't doing her any favors. She shouldn't have to be alone."
"...Gotcha. Hey Valey!" Amber ducked back inside the house. "We need your sneaking skills!"
"Yo, what's up?" Valey appeared in the door as well, her mouth full of food. "Oh, uhh... You brought her back here?"
Shinespark nodded. "Can we get her in the ocean?"
"Dunno if that's gonna be cold enough, but we can give it a try." Valey shrugged. "In here. I'll shadow swim her through the window, or something... Actually, the sun's right on that place. Let's do it this way instead." She grabbed Meltdown and sprang for the roof, cringing all the way up. "Oww hot hot hot hot hot!"
Amber and Shinespark both waited... and then Valey poked her head back over the edge. "Do any of you have some really fireproof rope? So she doesn't float away?"
"I was going to cross that bridge when I came to it," Shinespark replied. "She wasn't happy in the space center, and no one was around to hear it. Anything is better than that."
"...Okay, you know what?" Valey carried Meltdown back down. "Cold shower. We've got a bathtub. It's not much, but it's what we can do with the stuff we have. We'll just keep it going all night long."
Amber nodded, rushing back inside. "I'll get it started!"
Between the two of them, Valey and Shinespark helped Meltdown into the house. Soon, they stood back along with Amber, cold water beating against Meltdown's fur... and the room rapidly sizzled and filled with steam, the mare rising to her hooves inside the bathtub as some of her strength returned.
"Whew!" Amber pushed a ventilation window high open. "We're going to have to get a fan in here for all this steam..."
For a moment, Meltdown stretched, basking in the ability to heat slightly again. "Thank you. This is... better."
"Better than that freezy vat thing?" Valey tilted her head.
"That worked at first," Meltdown sighed. "But without circulation, the heat builds up. It was probably made for testing extreme temperature transitions. It eventually grew hot enough to be useless."
Shinespark slowly nodded. "Is this a situation you'll be more comfortable in?"
Meltdown's eyes shifted. "I wouldn't like to be confined to a shower stall for the rest of my life. But I'll be able to sleep here and hear myself think. It's... better. Thank you."
"Well, I'm gonna stop crowding this place." Valey stepped out. "See ya, and yell if you need anything."
Amber nodded. "It's a bathroom, not a site for social gatherings. And... your room now, so I guess we'll find somewhere else to... you know. It'll be fine! Say anything if you need me."
There was a moment of silence after she left, Shinespark standing by the bathtub. "I wasn't leaving unless you wanted me to," she eventually said. "I'd still like to talk to you for a while."
"Of course." Meltdown sat back in the tub, letting the water rain on her steaming body. "I am... slightly more lucid than I was. What were you wanting to know, again?"
Shinespark hesitated. "I was going to ask about your armor and how it worked, if you're able. I'm designing you a new suit. Engineering blueprints, not artistic wishful thinking. And I need to know how you dealt with the amounts of heat you apparently can produce... but if that's not possible, there are other things I'd like to ask as well."
"I..." Meltdown furrowed her brow in intense concentration, and the room grew noticeably warmer. "I wish I could," she sighed. "But I'd make a fool of myself trying to explain it. It involves types of energy, and... I can't. Sorry."
"You're better off than you were in the pool," Shinespark noted. "Keep your spirits up. Can you tell me if it's something conventional engineering could solve, or if you used some special magic or higher power?"
Meltdown met her eyes. "Both." She nodded, certainty in her voice. "But earlier versions were less complicated. If you're really serious about this, any improvement in cooling will be an improvement in quality of life for me. As long as it's better than what I have, I'll take it gratefully."
"I am serious," Shinespark promised. "This is what I do."
Meltdown watched her for a moment longer. "You're a good pony. And you have good friends."
Shinespark shook her head. "They're just trying to survive. Helping each other and being friends instead of enemies is how that's been done."
Meltdown didn't break her stare. "I said you're a good pony. Thank you."
Shinespark shrugged. "I'm trying to make something of the life I statistically shouldn't have, but do anyway." She glanced at her cutie mark. "This is... what I do."
"...Hmm." Meltdown looked away. "Maybe saying that is more significant to me than it is to you."
Shinespark flicked her ears. "Explain?"
Meltdown sighed. "I can't understand the reasoning behind a lot of my old plans. I remember what I did. It's especially easy to remember things like the one hundred seventy seven sarosians who died that day on the Mistvale frigate, and it's especially easy to remember them when I can't understand why they had to die. But I made the decision to go there, act upon that plan and carry out my own judgement against them. Garsheeva was always fond of asking me to judge things, while refusing to do so herself. So, when I say you're a good pony, I'm not doing it with the intellect to judge everything you've done, and I'm not doing it as necessitated by a plan for the greater good, and I'm not doing it because making claims like this lets me sleep easy at night. I'm saying it because I mean it."
Shinespark stared at her for a moment. "...You've got a lot on your shoulders. But thanks."
"It's obvious that you do too," Meltdown replied. "But I don't know a lot about your history. I just know... well..." She sighed again. "Nothing. It's just a hunch that it needs to be said."
"Long story short?" Shinespark settled down on the rim of the bathtub. "I used to rule half of a city-state. Not by political power, but public respect. I was far too young for the job... Eleven, when I started. I had a suit of power armor I mostly made myself. I had several allies, and we planned in secret. We had big ambitions. And all my plans collapsed in on themselves and got many of my followers killed and my home destroyed, and I fled in secret on an airship, hoping I could continue my life. Now my horn is broken and I'm living with a body that can't do nearly what it used to." She looked up. "Sound like anyone you know?"
Meltdown slowly nodded. "I remind you of yourself?"
Shinespark exhaled. "That's not the reason I'm trying to help you. I'm trying to help because you need it. But yes. The similarities are almost uncanny."
"There's a lot you don't know about me," Meltdown replied. "...Could I be alone with my thoughts for a while? I am still shaken by warming up surrounded by strangers earlier."
Shinespark nodded. "Everyone else already offered, but if you want to talk again, I'll be back. If there's anything you can figure out how to articulate about how your armor worked, please let me know. I'm already doing this for you, and won't judge based on how much you can contribute."
"Thank you," Meltdown repeated. "I was already planning on asking tomorrow."