//------------------------------//
// Chapter 24 
// Story: Away and Afar 
// by PropsValroa 
//------------------------------//

Upon waking up, she was pleased that she didn't get woken up and asked why she was cuddling with Jump Start. Collapse smiles and slowly got up from the bed but not after a bit of just laying there and feeling Jump Start's warmth. 

Sometime after Collapse woke up while she was busy resting on the other pony, said pony started waking up, likely prompting Collapse to immediately move away.

After a large stretch, Jump Start opened her eyes and looked around.

At the same time, they could hear the door of the bedroom Magloria was in opening up.

Collapse shifted off of Jump Start and stretched.  Collapse was going to do one other thing. With a cheeky grin she stood up and began moving her hoof to Jump Start's snoot. Before long Jump Start was booped. "Boop." Collapse giggled tiredly. Collapse wanted to begin Jump Start's day with a boop. She wanted to do the same with Magloria, but that probably wasn't a good idea.

The moment that Collapse's hoof reached the front of Jump Start's muzzle, she froze. She blinked a few times, first focusing on the hoof touching her, then the one responsible for it.

"Uh... morning? I... finished the masks last night, if you didn't notice... so..." She said, finally moving her head back and breaking contact.

The sound of hooves approaching, the sight of a blue blur and then the bathroom door opening and closing was the only indication that Magloria was even there. She'll probably greet them later.

Collapse was a bit entertained by Jump Start's reaction and moved away from her and showed her the 3 disks that her and Magloria got when Jump Start was alone. "Yeah I saw. You did a pretty good job...What do you say about having breakfast and completing the masks?" Collapse suggested, and went off to cook up some mushrooms on the heating unit. That is, if there were any other mushrooms available to eat. 

Magloria's movements were easily noticed but Collapse let her do her morning routines. She didn't want to interrupt something and cause a scene.

Collapse had no trouble cooking up some mushrooms. After all, they had to have taken some along the journey, otherwise their supplies probably wouldn't have had lasted. The mushrooms started roasting after a few minutes of being near the unit.

"Ah, the purifiers! Umm, I think I'll work on adding them to the masks while you're busy." Jump Start said as she scooped up the disks, placing them on the table next to the masks and began working.

Magloria finished off her time in the bathroom and stepped out, nodding as she saw the pair working. "Morning." she said.

Collapse proceeded to cook up the mushrooms to a proper roast. They were neither too cooked, nor undercooked. She wanted to have a nice meal for all of them, as well as getting compliments from the two others. By doing so, her goal was to make everyone satisfied. Eventually, Collapse wanted to see a truly sweet and innocent smile on Magloria's face.

After a few minutes passed Collapse would look to Magloria. "Good morning, Magloria. Any dreams today? I couldn't really remember mine." she asked casually as she roasted the mushrooms. Soon enough, Collapse would sit down and bring out the mushrooms for them to eat as she bit into her own. "Some for you, Jump Start, and some for you, Magloria." she stated.

Of possible note, was that she gave the three of them equal amounts.

When they each received their mushrooms they gave Collapse a thanks, though some sounded more appreciative than others, as to be expected.

"We really should get some cutlery..." Magloria mumbled to herself as she picked her first mushroom from the small cluster in her aura.

Jump Start meanwhile took a big bite out of hers, resting on the table next to her. "Mmm, nice and hot. I sort of forgot how nice a hot meal is when we were out exploring." Jump Start said, getting back to the purifiers, only pausing to take a bite or two from her meal.

Magloria shook her head at the question. "Nah, no dream this time. I guess I'm more interested in what we do next now, rather than reflecting on what we did." she shrugged, scarfing down one of the smaller pieces whole.

Collapse smiles at the thanks she got and watches as they eat the mushrooms. Collapse savors the bites she has and chews for a long period. It was a hot meal and she was going to savor it while she had the chance. "We should buy some cutlery today maybe, or find a way to make our own. Hot meals can change the whole course of a day." she spoke in agreement with them.

Looking to Magloria she nodded. "Looking forward I see, I can share that sentiment. Even though what we went through was...horrible to say the least, we are blessed that we made it and I think keeping busy is a way to deal with it properly." she said, looking down at the ground slightly as she stopped chewing for a second after she finished that statement. 

Magloria finished off the last of her meal before speaking again. "We can go get cutlery while we're out finishing the masks, though we're doing it afterwards. The tar would need time to properly set in place before it could be worn."

She began moving over to the front door, intending to walk around a little bit outside before they get moving anywhere. "Sure, if you say so. I'm going to stretch a bit first while Jump Start finishes her work." she stated before exiting the house, leaving Jump Start to silently keep working on attaching the purifiers, and Collapse to do whatever.

Collapse accepted Magloria's statements and looked to Jump Start as she was attaching the purifiers. "Well, alrighty." she spoke to Magloria before she left. Upon her being left alone with Jump Start she would sit down and proceed to help Jump Start out with the purifiers. She might as well make herself useful and didn't have any other ideas for what she would be doing other than just standing around. 

"So...what do you think about this? About everything." Collapse asked suddenly as she was helping Jump Start out.

Jump Start looked to Collapse as she approached, giving a look of appreciation when she saw that Collapse was deciding to help her out instead of watching.

"I really don't know. I never actually expected to do anything like this. It was supposed to be that we go sailing for a couple weeks, find some new place, see some new trees and plants and stuff, map it out then call it a day and come home."

This stuff-" she pointed at the purifiers, "-I could expect, since there could've been something we hadn't prepared for and needed to jury-rig something. Other civilizations? Rare, but not impossible, but cave exploration...?" she shook her head, letting a long pause sink through as she adjusted a purifier to fit better within the mask's socket.

"I'm going to enjoy when I can feel the sun on my back again. Or smell freshy baked bread in the streets. Down here is nice and all but... I miss things." she said, finishing the last mask. They were all ready to leave now, so they could probably inform Magloria.

Collapse nodded in agreement. "I am thinking the same thing really...I have friends back home and things I would like to get back to when I get home. As fascinating as this all is...its quite a shame we came here under such bad circumstances." she stated as she was helping out with the masks.

"To be entirely honest I expected us to come across another civilization on land. I always imagined there could be more ponies out there on different continents and landmasses, or other races entirely. We know of the Centaurs, Changelings, Griffons, but we don't know as much about them let alone our world, really. We don't even know how far the world extends on for." Collapse stated, a hoof to her chin. 

"There is something I once thought about. You know how you have Canterlot where the rulers are? It seems the more distant you get from that the more wild and rough things get. Sure you have cities like Detrot and Manehattan but still...Canterlot is a paradise compared to some places even within Equestria itself." she pondered that. They were about a weeks away from the nearest known land, she thought. And with that, they were miles underground. At least that is what Collapse figured.

"A bit of a personal question here though, what do you think of Magloria? I think she is mysterious and I think we owe our lives to her." Collapse smirked.

"I dunno about Canterlot being a paradise... It looks nice, but you've got to wonder what happens beneath it's shiny... appearance. Plus imagine what the rest of the place could look like if all the bits in Equestria didn't flow into that mountain..." Jump Start said, then stiffened upon realizing what she said.

"Not that there's anything wrong with having a flourishing capital, of course...!" she quickly added.

Glad of the subject change to her captain to forget the previous thing, she spoke her opinion. "Well, she's our captain, and very good at it. I'm grateful she's saved our lives and all that. Is there really anything else to say?"

Collapse noticed how nervous Jump Start got and put a hoof to her shoulder. "You got a point there honestly...but don't tell anyone I said that. I've never been to Canterlot so I can't say one way or the other really...Hmm, did you ever say which are you were from? I remember you telling me a bit about your life before. Maybe when all is said and done we could go there." she stated, in an understanding fashion. She actually agreed with Jump Start now that she thought of it.

To Jump Start's last question she would say, "She is a very...blue mare. She is just so blue. I like the color blue." Collapse giggled playfully at that. A light blush came across her cheeks. "A-anyway, let's go show her the masks." she stated as she got up and gathered the masks.

Jump Start thought it over. "I lived in the town that Magloria's ship was docked at, and that's how I got here, but I originally came from an agricultural town by the name of Whinnyston. Lots of croplands, a few trees here and there. Nice enough place if you were an earth pony."

Jump Start focused on Collapse's face when she talked about Magloria, raising an eyebrow as she started realizing what was going on. "Yes... let's..." she said, dismissing things for now and headed over to the front door.

Collapse didn't speak of what she just said about Magloria as she follows to the front door. "Well in Dodge Junction there were a lot of Earth ponies too. My mother was actually an Earth pony. It was hard to learn magic for me due to the lack of resources on it. I'm not as strong as I should be with magic because of that. So with limited resources I decided to delve into what I could do with what I had...which was to construct things and take things apart. Find out how things worked." Collapse spoke as she follows out the door with Jump Start.

Jump Start merely nodded at what Collapse said, proceeding to look around the lake in search of Magloria. She didn't have to search for very long, since the evidence of where Magloria was was pretty obvious.

What appeared to be hurdles, poles and other equipment were set up upon a strip of land near the lake, Magloria running through them like an obstacle course. Weaving around poles and jumping over the hurdles. When she finished, she ran around and back to the start to try again.

Collapse's jaw visibly dropped upon seeing what Magloria was doing there. For a bit she was silent as she took in the sight that lay before them. "What the...!? How did she set that up so fast, she was only out of our sight for a few moments! She must be some kind of magician!" Collapse exclaimed, her eyes widening at the sight as well. It was most impressive to say the least. An idea crossed her mind.

"T-that is quite...something to say the least! I uh, maybe she could train us on this obstacle course?" Collapse suggested with a wide nervous, yet hopeful grin.

"Well yeah, she is a unicorn." Jump Start pointed out, "And a skilled one at that. We've seen her make rafts out of ice many times haven't we? Those didn't take very long, so this stuff probably wouldn't either." she said.

Meanwhile Magloria continued to run her course, too focused on it at the moment to realize that the others had stepped outside.

"Indeed she is. A time ago she said something about her being part of something that was far more...trained than the Royal Guard. Trying to think, you have the Royal Guard...I think Starlight had mercenaries? Or was that someone else? I don't know anything about the guard if I am honest. But Magloria didn't want to tell me what it was, and she considered the Royal Guard to be full of Rookies..." Collapse smirks at that.

"Magloria is from Creamwood. I can't say I know anything about that either, so it is all a mystery to me. I am probably more of use to us now that I have a tool set." Collapse added as she watches Magloria.

"Isn't the Royal Guard supposed to be the best of the best though? Where all soldiers with promise end up going? I haven't seen any, but I have heard the occasional news of what they did, and it seemed impressive enough. What could Magloria have done to make them seem bad?" Jump Start pondered.

At that point Magloria had finished her second run of the course. She seemed like she was about to do another when she finally noticed them. "We ready to go?" she asked.

"Well hmm, I don't know what could be better than the Royal Guard...I remember one time the Royal Guards were sent into my home town for something. What for? I never knew, but I remember seeing them in their armor and the carriages. Perhaps it was some kind of inspection or something, but that's the only chance I ever got to see the Guard up close. Hehe, one of them gave me a lollipop! I was only a filly at the time." Collapse said to Jump Start with a sweet grin as she recalled the memory.

Her innocent memory was interrupted by Magloria's question and Collapse stepped forward and shrugged. "Nice obstacle course! I was thinking maybe you could teach us to do those kinds of moves?" she asked innocently.

"Teaching you is easy. All you need to do is know how to clear the course." Magloria said, "Going beyond that is the hard part. It requires both agility and endurance, as any good fighter should have, and those I can't teach you."

"Feel free to try it out if you want." She said, a hoof pointed to the icy obstacles in offering. "All you need to know is that putting force into your back legs is best for clearing the hurdles, and being in control of where your forelegs are positioned will help you steer around the poles."

"Trying to clear it as fast as possible is, obviously, the goal here." she added.

Collapse nodded. "I will keep that in mind. You are free to join me, Jump Start." Collapse would proceed to the start of the obstacle course. After a few moments of hesitation she would begin to proceed through it. As this was her first time she was a lot slower than Magloria and had a few narrow misses to some of the hurdles. Collapse was able to complete the obstacle course but at a much slower rate than what Magloria would likely have been satisfied with. At least she didn't crash into anything. 

At the end of it Collapse looked to Magloria, and Jump Start. She smiled, apparently finding success at not hitting anything. She wasn't fast at all though. Obviously had a lot of work to do.

Jump Start thought over the offer, eventually deciding that she would try the course once, after Collapse was done.

Magloria hummed, internally assessing Collapse's performance. Once she had reached the final hurdle, Magloria spoke.

"From what I remember, you're about average for any common pony, though you didn't seem to push yourself very hard. If you were applying for a spot where I trained however, your slowness would be pointed out to you very clearly. If you didn't improve by a large amount within a week, you'd be kicked out." she said.

Jump Start decided that now was the time to start her run through the course. While she was better at the hurdles than Collapse, she seemed to struggle with the finer control when moving around the obstacles. In the end, she had a similar time to Collapse, receiving a similar lecture from Magloria.

Collapse nodded in understanding and observed Jump Start's movements through the obstacles and seemed to cheer her on silently. Upon the end of it all she would look to Magloria. "Yeah, I will push myself harder. No doubt you've done this for years, so me and Jump Start have a long way to go." she spoke in a hopeful manner. Collapse clearly looked up to Magloria, in all sorts of manners. She felt as if Magloria was both a teacher and a friend even though they didn't know much about her.

"So, the trick is to push yourself more? Let me try again with that in mind..." she stated and would go back to the start. This time she would proceed through the course with passion and pushed herself more than she normally would. She didn't want to tire herself out. Collapse was clearly lacking in the hurdles, but with finer control she performed better than Jump Start. Compared to last time there was noticeable improvement. Now that she had been through the course once she knew what to expect so there weren't as many narrow misses.

Collapse had went through faster, but compared to Magloria she was just a beginner. At least there was a bit of improvement if anything.

The moment that Collapse left for the starting point again, she could hear Magloria muttering "Maybe I should give her weights equivalent to the standard equipment packs... Later, if she's insistent maybe."

Once she was done again, Magloria addressed her directly. "A bit better, but you're still not pushing yourself very hard. If you were, you'd be panting from the effort." she instructed.

Collapse listened to what Magloria had said for that moment. Collapse would be sure to remember that and keep that in mind. By the end of it, Collapse had smiled to Magloria as she was addressed. "Yes, I am glad I did better. Can I ask a question though? How did you get into training like this? You are pretty proficient at it." Collapse spoke, lifting one of her hooves in nervousness of asking that question.

"That's simple. I listened, I learned and I trained hard enough that I could train others if I wanted to. It's not like such a thing would've been very useful in Equestria though. Most ponies aren't used to and won't go through the full courses, so it's either train weak soldiers or do something different. You already know my choice." Magloria stated.

Since no one seemed to be using the agility course anymore, Magloria lit up her horn and sent out a wave of magic at it. The ice quickly began to melt, and would become nothing but puddles of water in a few minutes, tops.

Collapse looked to the agility course and watched it begin to melt. It was a shame, but Magloria could easily build another one. "Well I am going to listen, and train from you. I know that I was never a combat oriented pony, but given as we are in an unusual situation it wouldn't hurt to learn." Collapse said with determination and looked to Jump Start, hoping that she would do the same. 

"Well, time to go?" Collapse asked.

"Yes, time to go." Magloria agreed. She technically didn't need to create an ice raft, but it would be faster than letting all 3 of them swim through the water instead.

Once the raft was complete, she waited for the others to get on before setting off in the direction of the tar pools. They arrived soon enough.

Collapse had boarded onto the raft and watched as the scenes transitioned to the tar pools. Upon arriving at the tar pools she would exit, and proceed to help Jump Start in gathering the tar and applying it onto the masks. This would likely be an uneventful process.

It was uneventful, but was interesting to see how careful Jump Start was when she was given the bowl of tar.

Instead of just slapping on tar and calling it a day, she took one of the paintbrushes in the tablet writing studio and carefully painted over the fabric of each of the masks, avoiding the metal and filter parts.

She even went back over each of the masks for a second layer, to 'make sure they were sealed'. The result were 3 black masks with a bit of reflective grey where their noses would be.

"All done." she stated.