//------------------------------// // Chapter 53 // Story: Away and Afar // by PropsValroa //------------------------------// The maze of corridors around her reacted to her thoughts, but it wasn't so straightforward. It never was so straightforward. She knew that if it was, none of this would be happening. Did she know that, or was she told that? Maybe she thought about it when thinking over other things. In any case, she began making her way somewhere, but she never seemed to follow the same path. The corridors were broken, and she kept flicking between different ones, unsure as to which one she should really walk down to reach her destination. The walls around her began to blur as her headache intensified. She couldn't remember the way to the room. She knew it was around here somewhere, but her thoughts were scrambled. At last, through the hazy green and orange miasma ahead of her she saw the lights of the room. By this point walking straight was hard. She just felt like curling up and trying to endure the headache instead of moving forward, letting everything end here. But she didn't at the same time. As the headaches got more intense she refused to let them take control over her mind. There was a chance this all wasn't real, but even if it was she would still force herself to press on. She had to find answers - that was more important than submitting to whatever pain this place induced. She didn't know how long it took her to find the room but noticed that the place around her would react to her thoughts. If that was the case, she'd go further. The headaches had to stop. Collapse was in control of her mind and thoughts and she wasn't going to let that control her, so she thought about it simply just going away and never returning. Yet for now, still, the headaches persisted and she forced herself through them as she would walk straight towards the lights of the room. It was time to push through it all, hopefully the room with the lights had the answers she needed. The closer she got to the room, the harder it was to keep going, like an invisible tar was slowly building up around her legs, overwhelming her ability to move forward. She managed to barely get close enough to the room to make out the light runes, or the way they were positioned. They were in the shape of some... ring of sorts... a great ring, with more lights stretching off into the unknown. The headache grew too much. She might've been able to control the realm around her, but her persistence has it's limits. The world around her faded into an endless swirl of darkness as her focus was torn apart... Then the pain dulled noticeably. She felt warm air against her fur, and she could hear insects. She found out that her eyes were closed and she could feel like she was lying on something soft but dry. "-apse?" she heard as she felt a hoof shape press down on her side, shaking her a little. When she opened her eyes, she saw Magloria standing over her, looking down at her which what could only be described as... concern? Collapse's eyes slowly opened as she layed there and looking up into Magloria's eyes. Collapse's eyes for a few moments were blank as she processed what just happened. So it was a dream, after all - more of an induced dream if anything it seemed. Collapse only grinned somewhat daringly, "Whatever that thing is - It's nothing like I've ever experienced before. You need not be concerned about me. There was this temple of sorts surrounded by tinted blue plants. I went inside the building. It was almost like a maze, rooms everywhere, but I *knew* which ones were important and which weren't..." she began to recount what had happened. "I saw living quarters, a gathering gall for large audiences, and the most interesting part was the room with all the levers that seemed to change colors. I flicked one of the levers and I felt the clicks of the lever reverberate throughout my bones, and in my mind there was a deterrent against unwanted guests. There were other levers...unwavering, caring, dangerous, all each their own levers..." she put a hoof to her chin as she sat up, in deep thought. "I was looking for the room with all the lights and runes that I had thought of before I went into the...dream, but as I did so within the dream the more my headache within the dream continued. There were odd colors everywhere. Last thing I remember was a great ring with those lights stretching off into the great unknown..." she spoke, looking into Magloria's eyes. Throughout her recount, her gaze was locked within Magloria's eyes. Contrary to what Magloria would think, this wasn't a gaze of admiration of love, but it was one of intense contemplation upon Collapse's condition. It seemed Collapse was more concerned with what had happened to her in the dream rather than what happened in the real world. Magloria's expression grew more confused and perplexed the more Collapse talked about what she experienced. When her explanation was done, Magloria sat back, looking like she was thinking everything over. Jump Start filled in the silence. "Uh, that's not what we saw. What happened was after you said you wanted to hug the... thing, you got too close then fell unconscious. Magloria immediately brought you away and we ran back to camp. The thing didn't follow us, thankfully." she said. One of her hooves touched her chin as she thought aloud. "It was actually quite similar to what happened to Magloria... you know, down in the caves with that strange mist." she figured. Magloria looked back over to Collapse again, having finished her pondering. "It's possible that thing is more alive than we thought. It sounds like it tried to tell you something, or it leaked information into you." "You didn't happen to hear whispering while you were... dreaming, did you?" she asked. "No whispering, but whatever that was - it was not just any normal dream. It was real. It wasn't like a lucid dream either, it was something that presence invoked into my mind. But I had no communication with...whatever or whoever it was, no." Collapse started off, by answering Magloria's question right off the bat. "But whatever that thing is, it has a very similar feel to the strange mist in the caves. I feel like it's connected somehow. Remember those large...constructions we saw down in those rivers? I feel that whatever this is, it's connected to that. There was once a great civilization here, who was capable of doing all that underground so long, long ago..." she suggested, thinking aloud. "That palace or temple I saw, it had blue plants all around it. Perhaps if we were to go far off into the jungle we'd find something like that, or this is something from a far off time or place. I don't know, but if there really was a past civilization here than that...thing is the one who holds the records to whatever it is." she spoke, an idea crossed her mind. "Now I have an idea that neither of you may like, but perhaps we could go back to it later on and I can touch it again, but this time, you can leave me next to it. You two will stand there in close proximity to it, or hide behind a tree. Observe my unconscious body - so if anything happens you can get me and run." her eyes narrowed slightly. "We have a mystery on our hooves here. I'd very much like to figure this out, Perhaps this may give us a lot more clues about this place than one would have thought. It can't surely only be Panthins, dangerous snakes, and jungle misery, can it?" she asked. "But you said there were odd colours everywhere, didn't you? Were the plants really blue, or were they just oddly coloured?" Jump Start asked. "It sounded like things didn't make sense, so maybe they weren't?" Magloria shook her head. "No, we're not going back to that thing and letting you go through that again. We have no idea what other things it could've done to you, so better not risk it." "If we come across anything that happen to be similar to what you and I saw, then *maybe* we can investigate. But until then, we're going to focus on what we'll be doing with the Panthin maps and construction of our boat." she said. Clearly Magloria wasn't nearly as interested in the whole mystery as Collapse was. This calls for ~~complete disregard for her opinion~~ negotiation or patience. Collapse's eyes blinked slightly to what Magloria said, as if she was slightly disappointed by her response but there was no objection. Her tail swooshed slightly. "Well, alright. Maybe that's for the best." she spoke calmly. Then a thankful smile went across her face. "Thank you for saving me. I know nothing bad happened but it easily could have. Seems like you saved me - yet again." an eyebrow rose as her thankful, innocent smile grew. "Seems like it's been a long day. Maybe it's time we lay down and rest a little bit - and come up with some plans as to what to do next time with the white thing and where we'll go on the maps, perhaps?" she said, rhyming intentionally. Magloria shrugged. "To be honest, the thing didn't really do anything when you touched it. Barely flinched, or what looked like flinching. Just went on it's way even as you fell down. You were probably fine regardless, but still doesn't stop anything else from finding you." she stated. Magloria moved around their shelter in order to find her own bed, roughly laying down on it as soon as it was found. "Personally I think we should just leave it be. Let it keep... wandering. Unless you can speak strange ghost, we're not going to be able to help it anyway." Magloria ended her conversation, letting Jump Start start up her own. "I think those checked marks on the maps are probably good. Means the panthins approve of whatever is there." she said. Collapse layed down somewhat closer to Magloria this time, laying there as she looks to Magloria with those innocent brown eyes of hers. "Well, alright. Maybe we'll find something about it eventually." she spoke, her tail wagged slightly as she looks over to Jump Start. "Yeah, we'll look at that tomorrow. I think we have enough wood for a ship, right? We don't need a ship the size of the Constance anyways and I can imagine that after we look around this area at the map, we can go about seeing help from the seaponies to construct this ship. It's going to be a haul to get all the wood to the beach though." Collapse stated, as she stretches. "We probably do, I dunno. I have no idea how much of that wood is going to be useful, and how much isn't." Jump Start said, lying herself down flat and straight on one half of the bed, not immediately curling up around Collapse this time and instead using the bed more like a pillow for her upper body, instead of an actual bed, the rest of her on the floor. Seems weird to do that, but maybe earth ponies like sleeping on the dirt? Or she doesn't like the bed anymore. They might need to go out and get new petals at some point, or find something that's better. Maybe the panthins have something they could use. Collapse looks to Jump Start. "Maybe we can sneak some beds or cushions out from the panthin areas. Maybe they have those beds to where they curl up inside of it." she said, almost gawking at the thought of Magloria and Jump Start curled up like cats inside of one of those cat beds. However Collapse looks over to Magloria this time and seemed to blink a few times in hesitation. "Would it be alright if I sleep with you, tonight?" she asked calmly, and respectfully. Jump Start tried to think about what it was that Collapse was referring to, but she never really owned a cat, and didn't pay attention to anyone who did, so all she could do was guess. "Do you mean a sleeping bag? Do cats sleep in those? Or is it like... a dog bed where it's just a fluffy bowl, but for cats...?" she asked. Magloria quirked an eyebrow, but didn't move otherwise. "Why? Let me guess, the dream shook you up more than you like to admit?" she questioned. "Its like a circle thing and the cats can curl up inside of it, you know those like cat tree things? With the circular beds? Maybe we could have a...pony tree." Collapse giggled a bit at that as she moves a bit closer to Magloria. "Maybe it did, it was definitely something...*unexpected* and I am glad you rescued me from any possible harm." Collapse said to her, as if nervous of admitting that. At the mention of a 'cat tree' Jump Start grew very confused, now trying to imagine a circular tree bed... for cats? Even worse was when she tried to imagine one for ponies. What would that even LOOK like? Ponies napping on circular branches? How did they even get up there? Magloria rolled her eyes. "Fine. If it really startled you that much." she said, granting Collapse permission to get close. The things she does for this mare, honestly. Collapse looks to Jump Start, blushing a little at her confusion before she snuggles up to Magloria gently, her hooves gently resting by Magloria's neck. She didn't fully embrace Magloria or restrict her movement but she was pretty close. Magloria can see those brown eyes and that gentle smile, along with seeing her tail wag a bit. Collapse would point to the spot next to her, indicating for Jump Start to lay down next to her so the three of them can all lay by each other. Jump Start gently shook her head. She was perfectly fine sitting where she currently was, half-lying on the ground. While the invitation was nice, she was already in a good spot. Magloria tried not reacting when Collapse got close and instead focused on trying to get to sleep. Because she was like that.