//------------------------------// // Chapter 51 // Story: Away and Afar // by PropsValroa //------------------------------// Looking over everything Collapse was a bit disappointed that there was not much else of interest around the area. At least they had known more about the various areas and buildings now at this point. She didn't really see the need for building something like the blueprints there, when they should be focusing on building a ship. "Well, I'd say tomorrow we should look around for things we could use for the floor here and see what we can do with the ship, but I'd say we should call it a night." Collapse said, looking to the two of them as her tail was wagging. Ready for another session of cuddling for the night, it seemed. Yeah, that's definitely what it was for sure. "We can't doing anything for the ship until we get the proper tools, which we failed to get. Unless you want to build it out of whole logs and knobby branches, I'd suggest putting it off for now." Magloria pointed out, moving to the bed on the far end of their new shelter, away from the other larger bed. Jump Start folded the maps and blueprints back up and stored them again, before making her own way over to the bed, curling up into a ball so that Collapse could inevitably wrap herself around her, because of course she would. Collapse seemed to hesitate more this time, her tail wagging as she looked between Magloria and Jump Start. Her eyes settled on Magloria as her tail wagged faster but she hesitated and eventually wrapped herself around Jump Start gently and gave her a pat, smiling in the dark before she'd inevitably fall off asleep surrounding her Earth pony companion. Collapse still felt a warm softness around her hooves when she awoke, Jump Start having slept like a brick again. Probably because of the lack of sleep from the previous day. Even though she could see a bit of sunlight come in through their new window and doorway, the place was still somewhat dark and... likely to her relief, a cool temperature. Magloria wasn't there however, her bed was empty. She must've been outside somewhere, doing something. When Collapse had awoke she would lay there for a few minutes and relish in Jump Start's warmth. She would smile warmly and whisper, "You don't give yourself enough credit for a lot of things..." at the quietest volume before standing up and peeking out of their shelter. When she peeked out of the shelter she looked about for Magloria, maybe she could catch her doing something secret or something like that. Looking outside, she didn't find any sign that Magloria was around. Nothing else seemed to have been touched, aside from wood now being placed inside their fire pit. Though there were a large amount of splashing sounds over by the river, which could be where Magloria currently was. Collapse would be a little concerned to see that Magloria wasn't around but would listen to the splashing. Smirking somewhat, she thought that she could catch her in the act. She would head towards the river slowly and quietly, wondering if it really was Magloria that was splashing about. "COME BACK HERE YOU LITTLE PRICK!" Collapse suddenly heard from the river, sounding very much like an angry Magloria. Was it really a good idea to go any further? Eh, of course it was. To Collapse, it just meant more Magloria time which was always a good idea. When she broke through the trees she could see what was happening. Magloria was swimming about in the water, looking very angrily into the currents. At first it looked like she was just swimming, then her magic brought her spear out from within the depths. Whatever she aimed at, she missed. She took aim again, glancing around constantly until at last she saw her target. Her magic thrust her spear forward at brutal speeds, causing another loud splash. Her furious scowl turned into a sinister grin when she saw what was on the end of her spear. Triumphantly, she brought it back to herself once again, a fat fish speared through the side. "Gotcha." she declared. Collapse watched the whole thing unfold with a slightly concerned expression. The way Magloria moved about and expressed herself was more unhinged than she would have acted while around the others. That was interesting in it of itself. It wasn't to be unexpected either, that Magloria would hide her emotions from them deliberately. Upon seeing Magloria finally spear the fish she also smiled in turn. It was interesting to see Magloria act like that, it was a more devious playful side to her. Perhaps that was a bit of a glimpse into her fillyhood. Instead of showing herself right at this moment she would proceed to just watch her actions further, doing her best to be hidden. If Magloria would catch her, it'd be more than possible for her to just play it off as her doing something else. Magloria was too busy dealing with her catch to be focusing on looking through the bushes and trees. She seemed to be much calmer now, since the fishing session was over. Scraping the fish off the spear and onto the bank of the river, she moved over to a spot where her shortsword and a pile of freshly picked orange-looking fruits were. She set her spear aside and drew the sword, before proceeding to gut the fish. By the time she was finished there was a descaled, organ less piece of meat ready for cooking, and a pile of remains that had already been swept away by the river. Cleaning her blade and spear, she picked everything up in her magic and started off back in the direction of the camp, only now noticing Collapse hiding in the foliage. When Magloria notices Collapse in the foliage she looked to her and greeted her as if nothing was out of the ordinary. "Good morning, I was just wondering where you were." she smiled innocently. Looking to the piece of meat she was curious, was Magloria just getting that for herself? Or did she intend to share? Collapse didn't mind fish, she's had it before but not in any significant quantities. Collapse rose an eyebrow slightly at the fish there. "After all that's happened I've never seen you get so angry. A fish of all things. Don't worry, I won't tell Jump Start about that!" she giggled, almost like they were two fillies hiding a secret. Magloria gave out a mumbled "Morning", then gave a snort at the mention of what happened in the river with the fish. Clearly she did not appreciate being reminded of the fact. "Harpooning has never been my forte. Spears aren't balanced properly for it, the water messes with my aim and small fish are quick." she stated, passing by Collapse without acknowledging her further and heading back, her loot in tow. Once back at the camp she set down the pile of fruits that she had collected on the ground, and the fish on a small piece of wood next to the fire pit. She turned to Collapse. "If you wouldn't mind starting the fire so we can get some warm breakfast." she requested, pointing to the wood waiting be set ablaze. Collapse wouldn’t really speak of what happened with the fish further as she didn’t wish to upset Magloria further but she understood her reasons. It was interesting to see, though. Wordlessly Collapse would spark her ignition spell and light the flames after adding the wood to the fire pit. Another thing she would do would be to awake Jump Start with gentle nudges. Yes, even boops too. When Jump Start woke up she smiled and said good morning to her, then she would sit by the fire and watch it burn, wondering what Magloria had in mind for breakfast for today. “What do you think we should do today?” she would ask Magloria. Jump Start rolled over one way on Collapse's first attempt to nudge and boop her, so she had to try again. The second attempt received a hoof swat at Collapse's own, but it was enough for Jump Start to wake up, where she groaned, stretched and acknowledged her presence with her own good morning. Back outside Magloria was already busy levitating several fruits and the fish above the fire, letting them slowly heat up and scorch. When the others approached she looked over to them. "So, do any of you want some of the fish?" she asked. Maybe it might sound good to have a little bit of taste variety. Eating fruits constantly could get a bit oppressive, when previously they had the variety of fruits, vegetables, dairy and grains, plus other things like sweets. That was assuming that Collapse even liked fish enough to accept some, of course. Collapse had smiled innocently and her tail even wagged a little bit in excitement of waking her up. She enjoyed seeing Jump Start being awake and aware of things, and listening to what she had to say. Quickly her cuddlyness would calm down as she looked over to Magloria and the various fruits and fish she was holding over the fire. "Yeah sure, I'd like to try some fish. I've had it before but maybe a change in palate can do us some good. Plus it's healthy for you anyways. So sure!" she chirped before sitting down near the fire to wait until the food was cooked. When the food was done she'd allow Magloria to give them the various portions, as if letting her decide how much they would eat. In due time, Collapse would bite down into her portion of fish and chew. Savoring the taste. Jump Start didn't look particularly enthusiastic about the idea of eating fish, but that didn't stop her from accepting the offer. "Only a small piece please. I'm not that keen on it, so I'm just going to stick to fruit mostly." she said. After getting their requests, Magloria draw her short sword and began cutting the fruits into halves, passing out roughly a third to each of them. Then she moved onto the fish, cutting out a small piece for Jump Start, and splitting the remainders in half for herself and Collapse. Those were passed out as well. Jump Start went straight for her piece of fish, nervously taking a bite of it. "Mmph... that's oily." she complained. Magloria stuck her own piece of fish into her mouth and chewed. "That's what fish tastes like. Savory too. Nothing like plants." "I can see that..." Jump Start muttered, quickly swallowing the fish before taking a bite out of a piece of fruit. Her look of enjoyment showed she much preferred a plant over meat any day. Collapse nods and seemingly enjoys the taste, having been thankful of how Magloria cut it into thirds for all of them to share equally. "It tastes good. I really do wonder why ponies don't eat this more often." she commented casually as she swallowed her chew. Perhaps she was more of an adventurous eater than one may think? It looked certainly possible to say the least. "Heh, savory. Yes, it's savory." Collapse said, holding back a giggle for some reason, perhaps she was thinking about something naughty too, but only if they were paying added attention they would notice how she held herself back from laughing. Cheeky little pony, Collapse is. Oh, how they'd probably end up being very concerned if they had a way to read her mind. "It's because of the way we developed. We just don't like the taste of meat. It's only been recently that we really decided to explore eating such things, at least beyond the pegasi anyway." Magloria stated, idly playing with her fish bones as she spoke. "Something about having cloud settlements over ocean waters long time ago drove them to enjoy the taste of fish much more than us unicorns or earth ponies do." Thankfully they couldn't read Collapse's mind, because otherwise Magloria would likely disapprove, especially if it involved herself. Instead she continued. "Chances are that we grew to enjoy it from the pegasi actually. Or perhaps the griffons when they showed us how to prepare it properly, after we were done turning our pudgy noses up at the smell, that is." Jump Start rose an eyebrow at Collapse's mirth. She didn't know what she found so funny about eating fish. Collapse nodded in understanding. "You know it would be super helpful if we had a pegasi around you know? We have two unicorns and one Earth pony, I wish that someone else could have been with us so we could have a pegasus with us, you know? I've noticed over the years in my travels that ponies are opening up to the idea of fish and seafood more." she commented. "I'll make fish a part of my actual diet when I get back actually to be honest. Not only does it taste good but it is pretty healthy for us. I've heard that, ever since Twilight, Starlight and Cadence took the mantle of the previous rulers that there has been an accelerated amount of change, and progress over the years." she remarked. "Perhaps that's part of it." she suggested. "We don't get to pick and choose who gets lucky and who doesn't. If we did, there would be a whole lot of injustices that wouldn't be." Magloria stated, her tone becoming wiser. "It was fortunate enough that three of us came out of the whole thing alive, and even more so that we were relatively uninjured too." Her tone returned to normal. "Besides, we didn't have many pegasi on the ship anyway. Just a few that could watch for trouble from higher up. Statistically speaking, they weren't likely to be here anyway." "As for the lot up in their diamond towers ruling over everything, they probably did accelerate the acceptance process, but I'd much prefer to believe that it was the ponies themselves that considered it an option and spread it around for others to consider." she said, finishing off her food as she did. Collapse nods in agreement with Magloria. "Can't change fate, some say. I do personally believe in luck and fate. We got really lucky, like you said." she spoke as she finished off the fruits, but taking her time to savor the fish, as if the fish tasted a lot better than the fruits to her. "I also much prefer to believe the same. I feel like that our society had gotten too comfortable in a lot of things, and it is good to see innovation and invention into realms most would deem uncomfortable. If you ask me, the previous rulers didn't do much good for us. While it was a stable rule not much changed...for a *really long time...*" she pondered, with a hoof to her chin there. "Heh, that also reminds me that one of them was once known as Coronal Flare and wanted Eternal Day, she was on the sun for 1000 years...talk about great rulers." Collapse scoffed somewhat at that. "I wouldn't know about nor do I really care about the previous rulers. Though I may look old enough to have lived right at the end of their rule, I most certainly didn't live under their banner when they did." Magloria stated. She got up, gathering sticks and branches of varying sizes, along with some vines. "So if they wanted to keep everything stagnant, that's on them." she said, setting the stuff down in a pile next to Jump Start. "There you go, some things set aside if you ever wanted to make that grill." Jump Start gave a nod, casually playing about with the pieces she was given. "So... what else are we doing today, then?" she asked. Collapse looks to Jump Start. "Well, we could get together the materials for the ship maybe. Get started on a timber pile, perhaps." she spoke, then looking to Magloria and giving her a bit of a different look. It was difficult to really judge what that look meant, perhaps it seemed more like a longing look? Not so much for Magloria, while of course it would be, but for the times in the past. "Or, or what we could do is go to the various areas on the panthin map here, check out what they've discovered." Collapse added. "You mean those materials?" Jump Start said, pointing over at the couple dozen trees that they had stacked near the edge of where Collapse had previously gone woodcutting. "It's probably not enough for a whole ship, so I suppose we could go get even more wood..." Magloria shrugged at both suggestions. "Labor day or exploration... hrm... multiple days." she paused, considering how long it would really take them in order to each some of the map markers. "Really doesn't matter what we do to me, as long as we're being productive." Looking to the wood Collapse took out her modified 'axe' and looked to them. "Lets get ourselves some wood. At least get the same amount that we already have, if that's fine with you?" she suggested to them, preferring the idea of getting more work out of the way. Collapse wanted to explore but wanted to wait on that for now.