//------------------------------// // Chapter 23 – Aftermath // Story: Fred Walsh: Diverted // by Baguettedood //------------------------------// Chapter 23 – Aftermath "Well, that was all manners of weird. Magic fighting is much more complex than I would've thought. I'm amazed that I helped as well. Also, I'm not going to forget that ozone smell from the teleports. It stays in your nose for ages, I don't even know if I can stop smelling it. So, I'll just ignore it for now. "Anyway, we finally caught DemonTrixie. Now Twilight can rest easier since she doesn't have to worry about being attacked in her sleep anymore. I'd still quite like to know how this happened in the first place, but I doubt I can find out now. Even in movies, it doesn't just 'happen.' There's always some form of progression that must somehow lead into it first." Princess Cadance and Shining Armor did the heavy lifting as they co-operated and used their telekinesis to levitate the unconscious yet still-possessed Trixie. They lifted the sleeping unicorn and began to move it back to the chariot. Fred stumbled a few steps. He felt a little nauseous. He shook his head and wiped some sweat off his forehead. “Do any of you have water?” he panted in between breaths, with only the saddening reply of shaking heads. The human listened to nature for a second. “Be right back, there's a river nearby.” He wandered off, trying to stay upright. “I'd better make sure he's alright,” Twilight said worriedly before following behind him. As Fred walked, he used nearby trees as a balance. One caught his eye. Even though he felt unwell, he could identify it by the mark left many days prior. “Huh, did I really impact that hard?” he verbally asked himself before continuing to the flowing water stream. 'How did I not notice the river was this close when I was here before?' Fred went prone on the riverbed and extended his arms under. He occasionally cupped his hands together to take a sip. 'I hope this doesn't have any bacteria.' The scholarly unicorn arrived and sat beside the human. “Are you alright?” she looked him over. He looked at her. “Yes, I'm fine and dandy,” he replied with a strange mix between sarcasm and delirium before taking another drink. Twilight felt concerned, so she opted to scan him the same way she did when he fell unconscious after first acquiring the topaz. The scan took a few seconds, but apart from that one other result, she didn't have any decent reference points. With a lack of other data, she compared the only ones she had. There were numerous differences between the two data points. “Uh... What's the normal body temperature of humans?” she asked. “It's typically at a core temperature of thirty-seven degrees Celsius, give or take half a degree for the circadian rhythm,” he answered. “Wait, why?” he became alarmed. “You were at that level the last time I checked, but now you're about thirty-eight.” After she finished, a brief silence ensued. The only sound was the river. “How, exactly, did this suddenly just happen?” Fred questioned. “You were using your magic, right?” the unicorn responded. “Yeah.” He used a lot, even though he could barely utilise it in the first place. “I don't get it. Your body should've just dissipated the heat.” “What do you mean 'dissipated the heat'?” Fred became confused. “At least, when unicorns use magic, the energy leaks out into other forms, primarily light and heat,” she explained, “but it's supposed to just dissipated through the focus, in our case, our horns.” “But I don't have a horn,” he pointed out. “Or wings, for that matter, if they count.” “Oh, right,” she realised. “Without a focus, then the heat would have nowhere to go, so I'm guessing it stayed within you.” Fred sighed. He had cooled down a bit and began to feel better. “How fun. I possess an unstable energy manipulator that can kill me if I'm not extremely careful.” “You'd have to find some other way of removing excess heat when you use your magic,” she notified. “Well, how am I doing now?” he prompted her to scan his temperature again, in which she complied. “You're nominal, thirty-seven point four degrees Celsius.” she smiled that he was alright. “Excellent.” He nodded and stood back up. “At least my body's heat regulation isn't totally screwed over.” Once Fred dusted himself off – he was lying on the dirt ground just before, after all, - he and Twilight returned to the other half of the group. Princess Cadance and Shinng Armor, who were still waiting for them to come back, looked over. “Don't worry, you two, I wasn't possessed,” the human reassured. “Now that would be something to be worried about,” he joked and pointed outward in dramatic punctuation. “That's a relief. What happened?” Shining Armor inquired. “Hyperthermia caused by an unnatural increase of body heat through stimulated emission of magical energies,” Fred became excited by his words. He smiled. “Hell yes, science!” He fist pumped. “Which is weird because my very existence here should be disproving it. Oh well. Let's head back.” The unofficial Solar Task Force spent a few minutes returning to the chariot with DemonTrixie, after the unicorn guard retrieved the dropped map, which didn't fare well in the earlier combat. When they exited the tree line of the Everfree Forest, the transport, plus its two drivers, still waited there for them. The two weightlifters placed their sleeping cargo on the front of the flying vehicle before they themselves climbed on board. Twilight and Fred followed suit. With wordless agreement, the two pilots took off, with the occupants magically held in place to prevent inertia from causing them to fall out of the open carriage. Princess Celestia had been watching her windows for signs of the team's return. When she noticed the chariot flying back, she ducked down to the landing bay in the barracks. By the time she arrived, they had only just landed. All four climbed out, accompanied by the levitating Trixie. The two pilots returned the vehicle to the others and unhooked themselves. “We certainly kicked some flank,” Fred commented as they lined up in front of the sun princess. “We should try and cleanse this demon,” Cadance suggested. “Agreed. Take it to the isolated medical bay,” the other alicorn agreed. “Exorcism time.” The human smiled.