Of course, Collapse would follow Magloria's choice of going to the outpost near Carocal. Hopefully something there would prove worthy of interest to their situation.
Collapse seemed to notice their concerns and realized what they thought of her mindset at the given time. Wasn't unexpected, though. To that she said that after all they had gone through, encountering something strange like that wasn't at all shocking to her. She admits that she would have rather hugged something fluffy and mare shaped instead of whatever the white thing was.
Neither of them, especially Magloria, pressed further for conversation, since they both knew exactly where Collapse was going with it. Instead they focused on their destination.
Eventually they arrived a distance away from the panthin outpost, now staffed by a couple of different cats in the watchtower. Magloria looked down at the map. "Well, accuracy tested, I suppose. Now we know exactly where we are, and where to head next." she said.
Collapse was pleased at their accuracy being proven correct. She looked at the map and pointed out that one question mark. Out of all the things, that was what called out to her the most above all else. "Well, you know where I wanna go. Is that cool with you?" Collapse asked the two of them. Her eyes looked eager to explore that area.
"Yes, it's fine. Let's just get on with it then." Magloria said, filling up their various flasks as much as possible with fresh water for the trip ahead. They weren't going to have such an easy access to clean water, so they might need it.
And with that done, she began to lead them through the jungle, knowing that this trip was going to take at least a few days worth of travel. It better be worth it.
Collapse walked alongside Magloria as they trekked through the jungle. She was most certainly glad she had her boots on and all her gear, for they would be traveling for a few days. "Better be worth it." she said to them. As they walked about, she didn't have much to talk about it seemed. Perhaps Jump Start may wanna talk about something?
For the next half-dozen hours they spent travelling through the jungle, only really dealing with something rarely, such as a snake in their path, or a hive of bees that they needed to avoid so they don't get swarmed and stung. Usual aggressiveness of a hot, hostile jungle.
Jump Start didn't have much to talk about during all the walking aside from casual conversation, though she did tell a story about when she was home. Turns out honey was NOT supposed to be used to cure *that* condition. It's a good thing Jump Start found out by watching someone else do it, rather than do it herself. Was an absolute mess.
By the time they stopped, it was because it was sunset and they had found some shelter. They could just rest and keep going the next day until something interesting happened if they wanted.
As they traveled about Collapse would more or less share the more mundane details about her life. In her early years she would help her mother out on their cherry farm and would occasionally visit family in other areas of Equestria. Her youth didn't have much to it, in most cases.
Upon hearing Jump Start's story she would smile at her as she talked about it. Collapse then would share an embarrassing story about how she got paint all over her tail when she was painting. Very embarrassing to say the least. Even after all these years, that story still embarrassed her to think about it.
When they found shelter she would sit down at the spot they found. "Well, that seems to be that for now." she remarked casually.
Magloria nodded, setting down their *new* petal beds, which had been snagged on the way. As if they would travel through kilometers of jungle and they wouldn't find another flower like that.
"Why does there always have to be so many insects at sundown though?" Jump Start complained, swatting away the small swarm of mosquitoes that they had attracted.
"Try rolling in mud." Magloria suggested bluntly as she collected some branches, sticks and twigs for a fire, much to Jump Start's obvious disinterest in dirtying herself so thoroughly for what sounded like no reason.
Soon they'd have themselves a fire, and be ready to go to sleep.
Collapse would lay down on the petals before looking to the two of them, smirking at the thought of Jump Start rolling in the mud. It would keep the flies away, so that was a realistic suggestion. But it also brought a smile to her since she imagined herself scrubbing off Jump Start with a brush and getting her all clean afterwards. Would be quite amusing.
The bugs were indeed annoying, though. Collapse wouldn't want to go back to a jungle after they finally left this place anyways, that was for sure. Looking to the two of them, they'd know exactly what she wanted. It was like clockwork, really.
And like clockwork, Magloria clearly had no interests in letting Collapse get that close when it wasn't necessary. Jump Start understood well enough though, and set herself down next to Collapse. Not too close though, what with the fire and the ambient jungle heat making it uncomfortable to stay together for too long.
If there was nothing else, they'd all be ready to sleep, ready to repeat the day of trekking until something interesting happened.
Collapse reached over to Jump Start and just gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder for now as she stretched out. It was far too warm to do any close body contact, even for Collapse. She would fall off to sleep just like that, provided if nothing else had really happened. Hopefully they didn't have to go much further than they had already gone, but that was the price they would pay for investigation's sake.
When they woke up it was dawn, giving them a good start on the day ahead of them. After dealing with the usual morning business of rationing out water and food supplies, they were ready to continue on to their destination.
On the way they kept a constant lookout for anywhere that they could refill their supplies. They encountered a pond of still water at some point, but unfortunately it was too risky to attempt bottling it. Still water was often contaminated with various nasty pathogens and other tiny creatures that wouldn't have agreed with them.
Some berries were collected from some bushes on the way, and carefully tested to make sure they weren't dangerous. After a few licks and a couple hours they were deemed safe to consume, showing no signs of issues.
It was midday when they came across their first proper roadblock. A tall cliffside stood ahead of them that was not marked on the map, stretching on beyond their sight to the left and the right.
Their only easy way up the cliffside was with Collapse's fly ring, however using it to pick up all 3 of them ran the risk of it straining too much of it's power and potentially failing mid-flight, or consuming a lot of it's power otherwise which may cost them in the long run.
"No rope, no grapple, ice stairs are too dangerous in this weather. Hmm..." Magloria muttered as she thought over a possible way through this.
Throughout their journey there Collapse would take note of their surroundings. She tested the berries before the others did, or at least she was willing to. Perhaps one could say that she would rather take pain and risks before others. If there was any less annoying trait to her - it would be that. Sure, she may invade personal space at moments and be extra clingy now and then, but what mattered most was her loyalty.
Upon looking to the water she looked at it, and was weary of possible parasites in the water to add to their concerns. Parasites were something that she also had a fear of, knowing how long tapeworms can get. The thought sent shivers down her spine to say the least. It was not something that was a pleasant idea to think of.
When they came across the roadblock she instantly knew what she may have to do. Carry them up one at a time, like she did with the void crags below. Problem was that this was a much greater distance. With a concerned look at the cliffside she would glance back to Magloria.
"One at a time maybe. I want to avoid pushing my fly ring whenever possible as it isn't at a full 100%. We are lucky we got it to work at the moments we did, and while I repaired everything I could with it - I want to avoid pushing it beyond what it was designed for. Let's see if there is a way around this cliffside, although that will run the risk of wasting time." she pondered.
"So taking you up one at a time, quickly, is the best I can really do in this case. Unless you have any other ideas." she stated calmly.
Magloria looked over to Collapse. "It's going to take quite a bit to levitate us up there, even by regular unicorn magic standards." She began looking around, trying to find anything that may help before she focused on some of the nearby trees.
"Perhaps we'd be able to make it easier to get up if we had a head start, such as a higher place to start from or-" she paused, suddenly thinking of a crazy idea, "-or being launched as most of the force needed." she said.
"Being launched? How would we launch ourselves up there?" Collapse pondered as she looked around. "Best thing we can do though is get to a higher point. Probably up the trees, are you suggesting that we launch ourselves up there using a branch or a tree?" Collapse asked, a bit confused by that.
Magloria nodded. "Pretty much. Some of the branches look like they should be big enough to hold our weight, and flexible enough to not snap when under pressure. Strip the leaves from one, tie up the end with a vine, then when it's ready to be released, cut the vine." she stated, before adding "Of course, this would be stupidly dangerous if we didn't have your fly ring to help control our uhh... 'flight'."
Jump Start looked rather nervous at the idea of being flung out of a tree. "I don't really like that idea. I don't really want to be thrown into the air like a rock." she whined.
Magloria sighed. "You're going to be in the air regardless, this is just the faster option that takes less time to do."
"Right. Let's get to work." Collapse spoke, not objecting to the idea. Collapse would proceed to begin setting up on the branch that she thought looked the best. With her magic she would strip the leaves and look for a vine up the end with. If she located one she would do so successfully, getting it all set up the best she could. Although the others were free to help, should they want - although Collapse didn't ask for help.
Once it was done she would look to the two others, seeing if they were ready for what was to come. Collapse was ready, but she wanted to make sure that they were all ready.
Collapse spotted a big, long branch near the middle of one of the trees nearby, the angle of the branch pointing in the general direction of the cliffside. There was actually quite a lot more to deal with to make it safe to use. Not only the leaves on the branch itself, but also other nearby branches that could've hurt them if they accidentally hit them on the way. Those had to be chopped down with the axe.
While all that was happening, Jump Start and Magloria had been the ones to go find and collect the vines, returning with 2 thick ropes of vine. One for the first pair of ponies to use, and another for the second pair, when Collapse returned from the top. That way they wouldn't put too much weight on the branch, and it would launch them extra high.
Once it was all ready, they had a stripped down branch, the sky above clear of objects and the branch bending in a very unnatural fashion, tied down to a root at the base of the tree.
"Jump Start, you should be launched first. I can easily cut the vine for both of us." Magloria suggested. Jump Start was still unsure of the whole idea, but slowly nodded anyway.
Once it was all ready Collapse surveyed their work to make sure everything had been prepared properly. Everything looked to have been prepared and she looked to them, as if weary of actually doing this. Nevertheless she would summon her fly ring into place and check it over for a minute or so to make sure everything had been fine on it. Likely it would be alright.
Provided if everything checked out she would get in place, looking to the two others and signaling them to get into their proper positions. her fly ring would slowly power up passively and in her mind, she was more than prepared to get up to its maximum power. Once they were ready to cut the vine, Collapse would be ready to do the next part - holding onto them as they went off into the air. That would all depend on if her fly ring worked properly, and if the branch launched them correctly.
Hopefully they wouldn't end up hitting the cliffside and breaking all of their bones.
Magloria brought Jump Start over to the branch, choosing to stay behind for next time, so the ring wasn't overburdened. Jump Start tightly latched onto Collapse, the hug so intense that it almost felt like she was being broken in half. Jump Start must be real nervous.
"3... 2... 1..." Magloria counted down, drawing out her shortsword and swinging at the vine. "Launch."
~~Collapse and Jump Start were flung into the air straight forwards, where they hit the cliffside and broke all their bones.~~
Perhaps it wouldn't have mattered much if Magloria had joined them. The amount of height the pair gained was far more than what was required, causing them to easily reach the top of the cliff face and even surpass it.
Collapse also became aware of a annoying, loud, high pitched sound next to her ear. It sounded a lot like Jump Start.
Collapse would change her stance in a way so that Jump Start's hug wouldn't touch the fly ring by accident. Collapse would yelp at the sudden hug, but there was really no time to react to the hug in time. It was a lot tighter than what she wanted. As they were launched off, Collapse's fly ring would pulse with magic, propelling them a bit.
It was then she realized they went far higher than they needed to, which meant it had worked better than expected. "It's okay Jumpy!!!" Collapse called out to Jump Start, unaware that she called Jump Start that name again as she was too focused on the situation that lay ahead. Collapse allowed them to reach the apex of their height before using the fly ring's magic to gently coast the two of them down to the top of the cliff side.
It was better to do that and use gravity for her advantage so there would over all be less stress on the fly ring to begin with. Before long, Collapse would gently touch down on the top. "Its okay, now, Nothing to be afraid of..." Collapse cooed Jump Start, once they were safely touched down.
Jump Start didn't stop screaming, eyes tightly shut the entire time until they had reached solid ground. The moment they did, she immediately released the hug and backpedaled away from the yellow mare.
"Let's NEVER do that again!" she cried out, keeping low to the ground as if the earth would protect her... which given her nature, it probably would if she was trained.
Collapse heard a call from down below. "Hey! You make it up there alright? Come back down so I can join you." Magloria shouted up to them.
Collapse looks down to Magloria. "We are fine, don't worry!" she called out before turning back to Jump Start and giving her a few gentle pats. "Well, we are going to have to come back down there on our way back. Its okay, its okay..." she spoke to coo Jump Start gently and gave her a few pats.
With her fly ring making her levitate a few inches off the ground she'd do a slight gallop in the air and would glide on down towards where Magloria was. The way she glided off downward was slow yet graceful. She was doing this to use as minimal power from the fly ring as possible, and before long she'd land next to Magloria, ready to bring her up.
"Going down is easy though. We're always being pulled down. It's going up- and at high speeds! -that I don't like." Jump Start stated, looking a bit calmer after the reassurance, but still unhappy about the past minute.
By the time Collapse had reached the lower ground once again, Magloria had already climbed onto the branch, a new vine tied and ready for use. How did she even get up onto the branch anyway? Surely she couldn't have levitated herself up, and there's no signs of ice or water.
She patiently waited for Collapse to join her, merely glancing around at their surroundings as if lost in thought about something, not that she'd speak about it anyway.
Collapse gets in position on the branch, noticing very quickly how Magloria got up on the branch like that. Obviously she was hiding something. It would be something Collapse would bring up later on, not right this instant.
"Well, you ready?" Collapse asked and looked into her eyes a lot deeper than normal. It wasn't a bashful or cheery look - but more of one conveying that she knew something, without putting it into words. Collapse really wanted to ask further but didn't wanna pressure her as of this moment.
Either way, Collapse was ready to carry her off when she would cut the vine.