Consciousness returned slowly for Twilight, accompanied by the sting and aches of her various injuries. She opened her eyes to find herself standing on nothing, roughly one meter above the ground.
The unexpected sight shocked her fully awake with a short yelp, and she tried to spread her wings on instinct. She found her wings bound, and quickly realized that she was in no danger of falling. She was strapped into some sort of harness, and standing on a transparent floor. Comfortably warm air was blowing on her face, and she was almost completely dry.
She found the button to release the harness, and freed herself to perform a more thorough inspection. She was clean, and wrapped with thin blue cloth under the borrowed jacket. New bandages covered some of her cuts, and the nagging pain some of them caused when she moved was gone.
Behind her, Astral leaned up against a control panel, taking a light nap. He was still pretty muddy, but was also almost dry, probably thanks to the gentle flow of warm air through the transparent capsule they were in.
She nudged his shoulder, easing him awake. "Hey, did you do this?"
"Hmm?" He shifted his weight as he woke, and glanced over. "Yeah." He yawned. "I didn't want to be blamed if you kicked the bucket. Is your fever gone?" He reached up, touched her forehead, and sighed. "No, still there."
She slapped the hoof away. "I don't have a fever. My body temperature is just naturally higher."
Astral scoffed. "Maybe I should have left you in the rain then."
Twilight stomped her hoof and walked to the other side of the car. " What is your problem?! Are you this rude to everypony, or is there just something about me that makes you extra abrasive?"
Astral stood up. "Aside from the fact that you tried to kill me?"
Twilight groaned. "We've been over this!"
"Yeah, afterwards!" Astral tromped over to her. "That's the kind of thing you have to tell somepony before you stick explosive spells on them."
"Believe me, I wanted to, but-"
The unicorn grabbed her by the collar of his jacket. "You talked to me up there," he growled. He tapped his the side of his head with a hoof. "I heard it. So don't tell me you wanted to, because you did!"
"Let go!" Twilight tried to back away, but Astral held tight to the jacket. For the first time in a long while, she was genuinely scared for her own safety. "Let me go, or I'll... I'll..."
"You'll what?!" Astral shouted as he shoved her against the wall. "Vaporize me like you did to those drones? Rip me in two like those cargo containers? Or do you have something else in mind? Cause I would just love to hear all the different ways you can kill me."
Twilight closed her eyes. "I can't!" She cried. "I can't do any of that!" She opened her eyes and looked at Astral, slowly shaking her head. She slumped against the wall, letting the unicorn support her weight as tears ran down her face. "Not anymore." Astral slowly lowered her, but didn't let go of the jacket yet. She laid on the ground, looking away from the unicorn. "My magic's gone. Until I recover, I can't do anything." She closed her eyes again. "I can't fight you. Please, don't hurt me."
With an angry grunt, Astral let go of her and sat down heavily. "If I wanted to hurt you, I would have done it earlier." He ran a hoof through his mane and tried to calm down. "I just want to know why. Why me? Why didn't you try to communicate sooner? Why abduct me and coerce me into joining you? I was just fine before all this happened."
"There's no special reason behind it. It could have easily been some other freighter pilot looking for an easy job." Seeing that he was controlling himself, Twilight slowly sat up. "But there are reasons for everything else, if you'll let me explain."
Astral crossed his forelegs. "Explain why you waited to use your telepathy first. Then I'll decide if I'm going to listen to the rest."
"Do you know how much energy it takes to initialize an engine's reactor core?"
"The exact figure varies based on engine size and configuration, but you have to create a self-sustaining fusion reaction, so ten gigawatts minimum."
"The cryoship engines required fifteen, and we only had one power source capable of producing that." She pointed at her horn. "Myself, and the other alicorns. Luna, Celestia, and Chrysalis each initialized two of them. I initialized Cryo-seven and the Philomena, which had a smaller engine."
"Yeah, I get it." Astral rolled his hoof impatiently. "Except for right now, you're stupid powerful. What does this have to do with my question?"
Twilight fought back the urge to snarl at him. His constant bickering was burning her up! "You know how a spacesuit works?" She snapped at him. "It has to hold pressure in, provide oxygen, heat, magnetic pull, etc. Well, I have to do that all on my own. My body does it without thinking, but it eats up magic like there's no tomorrow. Now, I can last three or four days, and travel halfway across a system in that time, but only if I don't do anything else."
Breathing heavily, Twilight stood up and stared down the grey stallion. "Any additional spells use magic a hundred times faster. Between fighting those drones, fighting you, and making sure you didn't die. I almost didn't- didn't-" She wobbled on her hooves, like a gravity sled on the edge of burn-out, then collapsed.
Astral caught her before she hit the floor, and she struggled against his grip. "Cut that out, will you?" Astral dropped her. "You're burning up. Your body temperature may be naturally high, but it's gone up since earlier." Astral went to the control panel and turned the heat down. "Take the jacket off."
"No!" Twilight sat up weakly. "I can't let anypony see my wings."
Astral pointed outside. "We're in the middle of nowhere! The only pony around is the one in the harvester, and he's probably 2 klicks away by now." He lifted his head and looked around. "And there aren't any cameras in this thing."
Twilight followed his gaze as he looked around the cabin. "How can you tell?"
"I have a spell that can detect electronic devices. And, different ones give off slightly different signatures. I can pick out any cameras or microphones within ten meters of me." Astral looked down at her. "And in the likely event that you don't believe me, remember that you're wrapped up in those towels."
Twilight looked down at her chest. The cloth wrapping extended far enough down her barrel to go past her wings. There was just one problem. "I can't take it off."
Astral sighed. "Fine, burn up then."
"That's not what I mean!" She made a sound that was halfway between a groan and whine. "I don't know how."
Astral laughed, sure that he misheard. "Are you saying you don't know how to take off a jacket?"
Twilight crossed her hooves. "Stuff it. I've never worn clothing without the benefit of my magic before."
"So, you need me to take it off for you?" Astral laughed even harder. "Angel of destruction to helpless housemare in just days, that's quite the fall."
Twilight lifted a hoof. "I can still punch you."
Astral grabbed her grounded hoof and tossed it up, knocking her off balance. With both hooves up, he was able to grab the jacket by the sleeve. A yank and a twist later, it was removed from the alicorn without fuss.
"There." The unicorn shook the jacket, spilling out the puffy stuffing of crumpled towels. He tossed the jacket back to her. "It should be a bit cooler now."
Twilight tossed it on the floor between them. "You did that to prove I wouldn't be able to hit you."
"No, I did that to prove I know how to take a jacket off."
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"
"What, seeing the pony who wrecked my life have to deal with being powerless?" He shrugged. "A little. But for what it's worth, I accept your explanation."
Twilight eyed him suspiciously. "You do?"
"Don't get me wrong, I still dislike you, but at least I know why you waited to use your telepathy now. Now, how about you explain why you didn't just use that fancy shuttle of yours to meet me at the edge of the system? I saw the weapons panel on that thing, you could have blown eckrt out of space before he got that missile off."
"You say that like any of us can pilot the thing."
Astral blinked. "You mean, you can't?"
Twilight shook her head. "I can perform basic maneuvers, but I wouldn't know the first thing about flying it in combat. Then, look at the rest of our group. Silver obviously can't fly it. Mac was still in your cargo hold. And Jasper, besides working for the president, can barely drive an aircar." She sighed. "The only thing we use the shuttle for is to bounce us between stations and landing platforms, and autopilot does that just fine."
"So, I paid the price for your poor planning. Then why do you even have it? That thing is so customized that I find it hard to believe you didn't have something in mind for it."
Twilight nodded. "We've been waiting for something. Up until now, our search for the missing cryo-pods, my friends, has been limited to the realm of data. We've been doing research, watching the black market, and trying to trace back ownership of my pod. Now, we want to take matters into our own hooves. We want to go track down leads, and search for ourselves."
"Then why haven't you?"
Twilight sighed softly. "We needed you. Or, somepony like you. A pilot, one with combat experience."
"Why me, specifically?" Astral lifted his hooves and dropped them in frustration, too agitated to stay still, and too confused to know what to do with them. "Why didn't you just hire somepony? Mercenaries can be found anywhere. Hell, stick a flyer up at the local bar, you'll find a dozen pilots looking for work. That's how I got stuck with those apple crates in the first place."
"There are a ton of other considerations besides flight experience. Things like secrecy, adaptability, the fact that we have to rewrite their entire knowledge of history." Twilight looked down at her hooves. "But, honestly, I recommended you to Celestia after our fight."
Astral's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. "Why would you do that?"
"I didn't think she would insist on us working together." Twilight groaned. "I suggested that you would be a good bodyguard for Silver. She's an excellent negotiator, and would probably be able to get more done if she was able to get out into the thick of things, but last time she went out on her own, there were... problems."
"Because she's blind?"
"There were some smugglers who tried, and failed, to take advantage of her because of that." Twilight shrugged. "Apparently, human snouts break easier than a pony's."
"So, you think a bodyguard, even if it's just for show, would keep that from happening again." Astral shook his head. "That still doesn't explain why you suggested me."
Twilight looked out the window. "I suggested you because we fought. I was more powerful than you in every way, but you didn't run or give up. That kind of courage," she glanced over at him, "or stupidity, isn't common." She looked back out the window. "Not to mention, you are the only pony who has ever come close to defeating me on their own since we left Equestria. Even if you and I are bound to be enemies, I want you on our side."
Twilight stood up and faced Astral. "I don't want to admit this, but we need you. I need your help. There are over a thousand ponies out there who are still frozen in their cryo-chambers, and there are less than a dozen ponies looking for them. We need all the help we can get."
"I'll think about it." Astral walked over to the control panel and hit the button that would take them to the hoverbus station. "If I'm going to be stuck working with you, that's all I can promise."
Twilight nodded. "That's all I can ask. I'll talk to the princess again, and see if she'll let you, Mac, and Silver take care of things."
"Good, then we can just stay out of each other's way." Astral looked down at the panel. "Why isn't anything happening?"
Twilight walked over to the panel. "Did you hit the button?"
Astral smacked his head. "Why didn't I think of that!" He said sarcastically.
"Oh, shut up." Twilight hit the bus station button, imagining Astral's face in it's place. Then, she smacked it a few more times for good measure.
Astral slapped her hoof away. "Hey, don't just-"
A synthesized female voice interrupted him. "Harness override engaged."
Both ponies looked up at the speaker on the ceiling. Astral looked down at Twilight. "Override?"
She looked past him, at the wall where she had been buckled in when she woke up. "Harness override."
Astral followed her gaze to the harnesses on the wall. In that moment, both ponies knew what was coming. They also knew there was no time to prepare for it. They looked back at each other as the capsule started moving, slowly groaning as mag-lev fields kicked in.
"Shit?" Astral asked.
Twilight nodded. "Shit."
The capsule shot off like a rocket, hitting its max speed within a second. The two ponies hit the far wall and were glued there by their own inertia as the capsule screamed over kilometers of cultured forest.
"I blame you for this!" Astral yelled over the screeching of the tube transport.
"There's a shock!" Twilight shouted back.
The car made a sudden turn, throwing them against the other wall and pinning them there like butterflies in a collector's tray. Astral was stuck between polyglass and the back of a cloth-wrapped alicorn, and he tried to push Twilight off of him.
"Hey! Not the wings! Where are you-" She suddenly let out a loud squeak and elbowed the unicorn as hard as she could, extracting a shout of pain from him. "Watch the hooves, buddy!"
The car took another turn, and the situation flipped. Now, Twilight was backed against the opposite wall under a stallion who was trying very hard to fight centrifugal tendencies. Only a shaky pair of hooves kept inertia from forcing them together.
"Don't you dare!"
"Not exactly here by choice." Astral strained.
Twilight pressed herself against the wall as Astral started losing the fight, and their faces started closing together. "You let go, and I swear, I'll take up necromancy just so I can kill you twi-"
The rest of her threat was cut off when the car took another sudden turn, mashing their lips together and pinning them against the other wall again. Then, just as suddenly, the pod went into a long, sloping dive, plunging them into a state of temporary weightlessness.
Once separated, Twilight punched Astral in the face, splitting his lip and sending him tumbling. He caught himself against the harnesses and steadied himself. "Hey! I didn't do that!"
Twilight stood in the air, completely motionless despite not holding onto anything. "I don't care."
Astral rolled his eyes. "Seriously, does zero gravity mean anything to you?"
Twilight looked down at her hooves. She lifted one and set it back down like there was an invisible floor beneath her. She looked back up. "I already told you, I don't have much control over this."
The unicorn sighed and spit out the blood from his busted lip. "Whatever."
Twilight groaned in disgust. "Did you have to do that?"
"Do what?" Astral looked over at the glob of bodily fluids floating slowly away from him. "Oh."
The capsule hit the bottom of its dive and started climbing. Twilight was dropped to the floor, and the bloody spitball splattered the floor in front of her. "You are so lucky that didn't hit me!"
Astral was barely able to hold himself up by the harness. He struggled to look out ahead, hoping that a glimpse of the capsule's path would help him prepare for the shifting forces. What he saw only made him wish he hadn't looked. Up ahead, the forest farm ended, and city began. The transport tube joined dozens of others, twisted like crazy straws around sprawling buildings and skyways. "You might want to hold on to something."
"Like what?" Twilight snorted. "I'm kind of stuck."
The capsule hit the first curve and Twilight was slammed against the wall opposite Astral. Less than a second later, there was another curve. Astral gave up his grip on the harnesses to catch and grab her. Immediately, the capsule hit an interchange, and was dropped to another tube, several meters below. This was followed by several more twists and turns.
As they were tossed around, Astral held tight to the purple alicorn. If he didn't, there was every chance that one of them would end up impaling the other. In between bumps and bruises, Astral noticed that Twilight wasn't complaining or fighting. She must have realized the same thing. That, or she was knocked unconscious.
The capsule came to a stop, and Astral looked down at Twilight to check. She was holding on to him just as tightly as he was holding her, and she looked up at him. Then, there was a muffled scream off to the side.
Both ponies looked over. Their tube car had stopped next to one that appeared to be public transportation. A dozen ponies, and one young gryphon all stared in shock from their harnesses. At least one old mare had fainted, and another was covering the eyes of the young foal next to her. The gryphon said something to the Pegasus colt next to him, and before Astral could blink, they both had cameras out and were snapping away.
The cars started moving again, once more playing pinball with the two ponies. The winding urban transport tubes beat them around for at least a minute before coming to another stop.
Twilight groaned into Astral's stomach. "How long do you think it's going to stop this time.
Astral looked out the side of the car. "I think it's over." The transport tube was an easy step off the asphalt ground, and nearby was a small, three-walled bus station shelter. Astral started laughing. "We made it!"
Twilight sat up. After looking out, she started laughing too. "We did! Finally! I am so glad that's over."
There was a slight hiss, and the capsule door opened up. It was still raining, but Twilight hopped out immediately, ignoring the downpour. Astral grabbed his jacket first, as well as one of the discarded clumps of shop towel. Then, he jumped out after Twilight. He ran up to the alicorn, and used the towel to swat at a reddish smear on her mane.
"Hey!" Twilight yelled as he walked away from her. "What was that?" She saw him wad up the towel and try to walk casually to a garbage can near the bus station. "Was that-"
"No!" Astral tossed the towel and headed for the shelter. "No. Whatever you're thinking, that was not it."
Twilight breathed a soft, "ew," before walking over to the shelter. She found Astral studying a digital schedule posted on one wall. The wall opposite the schedule held a static map, and the third held an advertisement for some local restaurant. In the middle of the shelter, under a single hanging light, there was a small bench where Astral had set his jacket. She sat down on it and sighed. "So, when's the next hoverbus?"
"In about an hour." Astral sighed and walked over to the map. "Not that it matters."
"Why do you say that?" Twilight looked over at the schedule. There was fifty-seven minutes left until the next scheduled bus arrived. "It's a bit of a wait, but we don't have much choice."
"What about the fare?" Astral pointed back at the schedule. "Look at the bottom. Non-cardholders are ten bits per pony. I don't know about you, but I'm not a cardholder, and I don't have any money."
Twilight checked the bottom of the schedule. The price list was followed by five words in bold letters, "No exceptions! Services are automated!"
She looked back at Astral. "Think they'll let me use the senior discount?"
Astral shook his head. "Funny, but if they use a carbon reading to check age, and it throws out your real age, it might be misinterpreted as fraud."
She sighed and went back to the bench. But she didn't sit down just yet. "It might just read my apparent age, and not the five thousand extra years."
Astral shrugged. "Either way, no discount. And we still don't have the money to pay for it."
Twilight groaned and walked over to the map. "All right, where are the towers on this thing?"
Astral looked down at the alicorn. The blue cloth she was wrapped in was wet and not very concealing anymore. He grabbed his jacket and draped over her back. When she looked up in surprise, he shrugged. "Your wings were showing." He cleared his throat. "As for the towers, I'd say they're right about..." He walked around to the other side of the wall and tapped it twice. "Here."
Twilight shook her head. "I get it, they're not on the map. You could have just said that, instead of going back out in the rain." She waited a moment for a barbed response, but none came. "Astral?" She peeked around the wall, but there was no sign of the grey unicorn. "Astral?"
Heading back into the rain, Twilight walked all the way around the shelter, searching for Astral. There were buildings nearby, and alleys between them, but she wasn't about to go exploring while low on magic. Astral was nowhere to be seen, and without any magical options Twilight had to give up the search. She walked back to the shelter's bench feeling betrayed.
She should have known he would make a run for it, but she was hoping he would go back like he agreed to. She climbed onto the bench and laid down. If she could get some sleep before the bus came, she might be able to store up enough magic to do... something?
She groaned quietly. Who was she kidding, she didn't have a plan. Her best bet would probably be to just sleep until she saved up enough magic to teleport to space. But that would probably take a day or two, and she was already hungry from skipping breakfast.
She looked over at the restaurant ad. She might be able to go there, explain that she had an accident, and ask to use a com-panel. And hope that nopony asks her to take off the jacket, or asks why she's injured, or asks why she's wrapped in whatever this blue cloth is.
No, the restaurant is definitely out of the question. If Astral was here, he could just go in and ask to use the com-panel. Was that his plan for his own escape? Or did he have another? Did he come up with something, then ditch her in order to carry it out?
She pounded on the bench in frustration. "Astral, you idiot! I trusted you!"
There was a clang of metal, and familiar scoff. "I never asked you to."
Twilight spun around. "Where did you go?" She all but yelled at the pony standing casually behind her. "And... What the hell is on your head?"
Astral glanced up at the jet black fuzz covering his forelock. "Well, see for yourself." He gave it a soft poke with a hoof, and two bright green eyes popped up on two little stalks.
Twilight screamed like a scared filly and fell off the bench. She then scrambled to her hooves and backed away from Astral. "What is that thing?!"
The furry black ball had nearly fallen off of Astral's head, and was now unfolding itself into a slender, four-limbed creature that was trying to climb away. Astral sat down and held his hooves up, giving the creature's sloth-like movements something to latch on to. "You scared her."
"She scared me!" Twilight kept backing up until her flank bumped into the map. "And what do you mean, her? How can you even tell?"
"The eyes." Astral slowly moved his hooves, and the creature held on. "Males usually have yellow or blue eyes, and girls get pink or green." Astral cupped his hooves to his chest, and the tiny fuzzball climbed into the space and curled up. The eyes looked up at Astral and closed slowly. Then, the eyestalks folded down into the dark fur, and Astral was once again holding an oversized pompom. He looked up at Twilight. "You've never seen a prill before, have you?"
The alicorn mare shook her head. "I saw pictures of them in Eckrt's file, but they didn't look like that."
Astral sighed sadly. "You probably saw a picture of one after it was exposed to radiation. When he attacked the Philomena, Eckrt used mutated prills as a spearhead. I fought and killed one of them, then vented the atmosphere, dooming any that were left."
"It doesn't sound like you had much choice." Twilight moved closer, but kept a small distance from the prill. "Where did you find this one?"
Astral looked behind him, at the sheet of metal on the ground. "Same place I found that, a pile of garbage in one of the alleys." Astral gently cradled the sleeping creature, rocking it in his hooves. "Somepony left her in a box, just forgot about her because it was convenient."
Twilight inched closer. The prill was making little warbling noises as it slept, almost like it was snoring. "It's weird, but kind of cute. I know somepony who would love to see this."
"One of your friends?"
She nodded slowly. "I haven't seen any of them in so long."
Astral sighed. He was probably going to regret this. "I don't know if you'll find them, but I'll help you search."
Twilight's eyes widened in surprise. "You will?"
He nodded. "Now that I know about them, I can't just leave a bunch of ponies scattered in boxes around the galaxy."
"I don't know what to to say." No, that was wrong, she did know what to say. "Thank you."
"I'm not doing this for you." Astral set the prill down on the bench, and it curled up even tighter, letting out a soft squeaking noise. "It's for the ponies out there. They deserve to be saved by somepony they know, so I'll work with you to make that happen."
"I don't care what your reasons are, this really means a lot to me."
"Good." Astral grabbed the sheet of metal he had found earlier, and held it up in front of him. "Because I need you to risk another episode of magical exhaustion, by punching a hole out of this."
Twilight pulled the metal down with her hoof. "Maybe I'll punch a hole out of you."
Astral raised an eyebrow and gave the alicorn his best, "I dare you," look. "Do you want to get out of here?"
"Yes, but how is poking holes in a piece of metal supposed to accomplish that?" She crossed her hooves. "And why can't you do it?"
"I need to punch out a circle the size of a ten-bit coin. I might be able to do it, but it'll have a jagged edge."
Twilight brought a hoof to her face. "Please tell me you aren't going to try to pay the bus fare with a fake coin."
Astral rolled his eyes. "Do you want to do it?"
"No!" Twilight shouted. She immediately looked over at the prill, making sure she didn't wake it up. She looked back at Astral and continued in a much quieter voice. "That's crazy. It will be recognized as a fake, and police will be called out to arrest you for counterfeiting currency."
Astral tilted his head to the side. "Have you done this before?"
"No," she answered way too quickly. "And I'm not going to do it again. We can come up with another plan." She pointed at the advertisement on the wall behind them. "How about we go to that restaurant? You can go in and ask to use a com-panel."
Astral looked over. "That chain went out of business two years ago. That sign shouldn't even be there."
"Then, maybe some other restaurant took its place?"
Astral shrugged. "Maybe, but do you want to go strolling through this city at night? I don't even know how safe this area is, let alone the rest of it."
Twilight looked out at the darkened city beyond the shelter. She hadn't even considered that. "But, is getting arrested really a better option?"
"Who said anything about getting arrested?" Astral patted the sheet metal. "This stuff is so obviously garbage, that nopony will ever think I expected it to be accepted. I wave down the police aircar when it approaches, then I can just explain that I got lost with my, uh, sister, or ugly cousin, or something, and that I was acting out of desperation. Then I can ask to call a friend to come bring us home."
Twilight shook her head hesitantly. "It's risky. What if they don't buy the story?"
"I assume you know how to get ahold of Jasper, the presidential aide?"
"Of course. Why?"
Astral snickered. "Well, 'sis,'" he air quoted. "How do you think your everyday police officer will react if you ask to call a friend in the president's inner circle?"
"They'll throw us in a mental institution," Twilight responded flatly.
Astral groaned. "Well you don't tell them who you're calling, you just make the call and make sure they see who you're talking to."
The alicorn shook her head. "That's crazy."
"But it works." Astral scratched his mane. "I've done it twice, hauling cargo for celebrities. You'd be amazed how far the promise of an autograph can go."
Twilight sighed. "Fine, I'll do it. Just let me get a little bit more rest first."
Astral gently picked up the sleeping prill, clearing the bench for Twilight. "You have twenty-three minutes before the bus arrives."
She checked the schedule before laying down on the bench. "Actually, it's twenty-four, but you were close."
Astral let out an annoyed snort. "It's always 'close."' He set the prill down against Twilight's side, prompting some mildly panicked squirming from the alicorn.
"What are you doing?" She hissed. "I don't want that thing."
"There's a reason ponies have been keeping prills as pets for the last few millennia." Astral nudged the tiny creature and it started to nuzzle itself into Twilight's side. "Just give it a chance."
Twilight stayed stock still, unsure of the alien creature touching her. She didn't even get a chance to do any research on it, and he expects her to be fine sleeping with it? Sure, it was warm and soft, and the little cooing noises weren't so bad. And the slow rhythm of its nuzzling was quite...
Astral chuckled to himself as Twilight drifted off to sleep. "Looks like alicorns are even more sensitive to a prill's charm than regular ponies." He watched the two sleep for a moment, then quickly looked away. For just a moment, it had crossed his mind that she looked cute. Only thing was, he wasn't one hundred percent sure he was thinking about the prill.
He sat down next to the bench and shook his head. He had to be thinking about the prill. Cute was a word you applied to things that were harmless, things like baby prills, or curaxxan wolf-bats before they get big. Alicorns weren't something that could be considered harmless.
Except, at the moment, this one was harmless. He snuck a quick glance. She was hurt and exhausted, definitely in worse condition than he was. And, it seemed like she wasn't given the benefit of medical attention after their fight.
Another glance turned into a stare. Objectively, she looked just like a regular mare. If you couldn't see her wings, you could mistake her for a normal unicorn. At one time, she might have been a normal unicorn, or a Pegasus. But, Astral got the feeling that she was a bit more magic than flight.
He found himself wondering what she was like before becoming an alicorn. Did she change at all? Aside from the wings and extra powers, of course. Does a change like that change a pony's personality? Does it change other ponies? Did it change the way ponies on her world saw her? The way they treated her?
Speaking of which, he could probably stand to treat her a little better. Maybe lay off on the sarcasm a little. Then again, the same applied to her.
He sighed and forced himself to watch the time tick away on the schedule. If only they had met under different circumstances, then... What? He didn't have many friends. Strike that, he didn't have any. There were ponies that he met who he was on friendly terms with, but he didn't keep in touch with any of them or anything like that. The life of a freelance pilot wasn't exactly conducive to the forming of long term bonds.
That included romantic bonds. Come to think of it, he could only recall one mare that he ever dated, a pegasus mechanic on Earth Station One. And it ended rather quickly, after an unintended insult and resulting argument. After a first date like that, it would be hard to do any worse, but he hadn't tried.
Wait a minute! Astral shook his head violently. Was he actually considering this alicorn as a romantic possibility? Just how many times had he been hit in the head these last few days? Besides...
Besides...
Actually, Astral couldn't think of anything. Just the fact that they were currently in some sort of weird 'enemies with the same goal,' relationship. Oh, and the whole, 'they tried to kill each other,' thing. Other than that, the more he tried to think of logical reasons why he shouldn't even consider it, the more he came up with logical reasons why he should.
She could handle herself in a fight, maybe even better than he could. She was much more adept at magic, aside from a few minor drawbacks. She wouldn't die if anything went horribly wrong in space, unlike him. And, as much as he hated to admit it, she wasn't exactly bad looking.
"No! No, no, no. I've been planet-side way too long, that always leads to problems." He looked over at the schedule. Two minutes till bus, time to get to work. He did his best to shake all his unnecessary thoughts away, then poked the sleeping object of those thoughts. "Magic girl, get up. The bus is on the way."
Eyes closed, she rolled onto her back and stretched out with a smile on her face. The baby prill, dislodged from its sleeping place, crawled into the jacket she wore and soon started snoring again. Twilight giggled at the tickling fuzz and yawned. "Five more minutes, princess. I read that book yesterday."
Twilight's head hung off the bench in front of Astral. As he stood over her, he tapped her on the chin. "Wrong pony," he said flatly. "Try captain of the guard."
He only referenced what Celestia said as a joke, so he wasn't expecting the alicorn's eyes to fling open so quickly. "Shining?" She asked quickly. "Where?" She sat up so fast that the unicorn couldn't move out of the way, and he caught the sharp end of a horn on his own chin.
"Ah! Careful!" He shouted in pain. It wasn't bad, but the impact had drawn blood.
Twilight looked back sleepily. "Oh, it's just you." She yawned again, oblivious to the fluffy black creature lazily climbing up to top of her head. "What did you do to your face?"
"I cut it shaving," he responded sarcastically.
"What were you doing shaving? And what where you shaving with?" Twilight asked, completely missing the tone of his voice. She hopped off the bench and stretched out. "And where'd that animal go?"
Astral waited for Twilight to look over at him, then he pointed up.
She looked up, and when she saw the black fuzz wrapped around her horn, she let out a loud shriek. She spun in place, almost like she was trying to dislodge the sleep lump. "Get it off, get it off!" She shouted at Astral. After a few spins, she stopped and pranced nervously in place. "What's it doing? What does it want?"
"It's sleeping. And it wants you to punch out a ten bit slug for me." Astral lifted up the sheet of metal and held it out to the panicked alicorn. "Get over it, you're a thousand times more dangerous than that thing could ever hope to be." Twilight opened her mouth to spout an appropriate reply, but Astral cut her off. "No time," he pointed out into the rainy night, at an approaching light, "that's probably the bus. Can you do this?"
With one last worried glance at the prill, Twilight nodded. "I think I got enough rest."
"Good, because time's up." As the bus pulled up, Astral pulled the prill away from Twilight and held up the sheet metal. "Ten bits."
"Right." Twilight nodded to herself and repeated to herself, "ten bits, ten bits, ten bits." She closed her eyes and held up a hoof, visualizing the coin as if she was holding it.
Astral was expecting her to take the metal from him, but she just punched through his magic with hers. Her spell hit the metal with a crack like thunder, and a steaming metal round dropped to the ground. Astral looked at it for a second, then groaned. "What are you doing? That's way too small!"
Twilight looked down at the coin. "Oh, right! Canterlot bit, not Equestrian." She launched another bolt of magic at the sheet metal, and a much larger blank fell to the ground.
"That's more like it." Astral dropped the metal sheet, shoved the prill back into Twilight's mane, and ran to the bus with the counterfeit bit. The bus had parked a fair distance from the shelter, but Astral made it before the bus pulled away. It wasn't a full sized bus, but a little hovering taxi, only big enough for one or two ponies. This area of of town must not see much traffic.
A sensor on the bus alerted its automated system to his presence, triggering a prerecorded voice. "Greetings, potential passenger. How may I be of assistance?"
A panel on the side of the small aircar lit up. It showed a map of possible destinations, and a list of prices for additional services. A slot next to the panel also lit up. "Here goes nothing," Astral muttered under his breath. He braced himself for the alarms that were about to sound, and inserted his fake coin.
"Current balance, ten bits. Please select a destination."
Astral looked back at the panel. It showed a list of all the places he could go for ten bits, and explanations of how much cargo he could bring with him. "That shouldn't have..." On a hunch, Astral used his electronic detection spell on the taxi. He expected to find a transmitter, sending out an alert signal, but there was nothing beyond what you could expect from an automated vehicle.
He looked back at the shelter. "Twilight! Get over here! And bring two more coins!" He looked back at the map, and started using the touchscreen to search for a destination that would help them get back across the planet. Behind him, he heard two more thunderclaps as Twilight made more coins. This was followed by a soft thud and the squeak of a panicked prill.
Astral shook his head. "Of course she did."