Rainbow Dash awoke well rested and ready to start the day. She opened her eyes and looked around, taking in the light of the morning sun seeping through the tent fabric. She glanced around the tent as she pushed the cover to her sleeping bag off of herself, and she shivered as the chilly air hit her coat. The other two sleeping bags were empty, leaving Rainbow alone in the tent, being the last one to wake up. She pushed herself up, then stretched out her wings and body, hoping to remove any kinks in her body from sleeping. She regretted stretching her wings out, as any heat they had trapped was lost and replaced by the chilly air. She ignored the cold edge to the air and made her way to the tent flap, then opened it and stepped outside.
It was even cooler outside than inside the tent, which was unsurprising. Rainbow looked around and caught sight of Twilight and Zenith sitting together around a small glowing orb. Twilight had her wing draped over Zenith's back, and her mane and tail were no longer flowing. Rainbow frowned but started walking over to the pair. Twilight glanced back at her and smiled slightly. "I see you're finally awake," she stated. "Good morning."
"Good morning Rainbow!" Zenith chirped from under Twilight's wing.
"Morning," Rainbow replied as she came to a stop and sat down a little ways away from Twilight. She eyed the orb curiously, she could feel the heat radiating off of it, which felt nice, and it looked familiar. She broke her gaze from the orb and turned to Twilight. "Why is it so cold?"
"We are higher up on the mountain than I realized. The air is thinner and traps heat much more poorly. It cooled off during the night too, but it should start warming back up now that I've raised the sun." Twilight answered.
"Well, I guess that explains a few things..." Rainbow trailed off and glanced over Twilight's mane and tail again. "Your mane isn't..?"
Twilight nodded and blew air out of her mouth. "It went back to normal when I raised the sun and lowered the moon. It warrants further investigation."
"Maybe it's only a night thing," Zenith commented.
"Perhaps." Twilight nodded.
Rainbow sat up straighter. "So what's on the agenda for today?"
"I've already sent a warning to Princess Ember. Though I question the usefulness of it... More lives will be lost now." Twilight said evenly. "Besides, I will admit that ruling the dragon lands also is a very..." she tilted her head and paused, searching for the right way to describe it. "Tempting thought." she shook her head. "I will take us to the Tree of Harmony, and I will claim the Elements of Harmony as my own, then I will bring us to someplace more isolated..." she grimaced and bobbled her head. "And warmer," she added. "While I study the elements."
"We're not going after the rest of our friends?" Rainbow asked.
Twilight shook her head. "I would rather avoid that if at all possible. A larger group is easier to detect than a smaller one." She shifted her weight. "Besides, I still have issues with all of them, though I wouldn't go so far as to say I hate them."
"What about me?" Rainbow asked cautiously.
Twilight pursed her lips and looked off to the side. "I saw how badly you felt about abandoning me that night three years ago while I was in your mind. Granted, it could be a byproduct of how heavily altered your mind is." 'Though I doubt it is...' Rainbow ruffled her wings and Twilight shifted her weight. "However, I will keep the promise that I made to you, that I would give being your friend again a chance after this is over."
"You know you can start patching up your friendship before this is over, though, right?" Zenith asked.
Silence reigned for several seconds as Twilight contemplated how to respond to that. Rainbow looked at her expectantly, and eventually Twilight answered. "I have missed having friends," she said evenly. "I am not as stable as I was three years ago. You've both seen that. I would... Appreciate it if you would help keep me from doing something I would regret." 'Like hurting one of you or my other old friends...'
Rainbow's mind briefly went through a series of ideas about what Twilight meant by something she would regret. She quickly forced the thoughts away. "You got it, Twilight," she said simply. Twilight smiled. A few seconds later Rainbow shifted her weight and looked back to the orb. Twilight certainly was less stable than she remembered her being. Compared to even what she was like the day after Twilight... Rescued her... She was a lot less stable now. 'Stress. It's gotta be stress.' she reasoned. She turned back to Twilight. "How are you feeling today?"
"Better than yesterday." Twilight nodded.
"That's good," Rainbow said.
Twilight tilted her head to the side. "Though my healing is still..." She squinted her eyes. "Not adequate."
"Any idea when that spell will wear off?" Zenith asked.
Twilight bobbed her head. "Based on the rate of decay, the spell should wear off within a month, but likely sooner." She paused and looked over to Rainbow. "We were waiting for you to wake up before we had breakfast. I will go take care of that, and I will be back in a few minutes," she stated. After hesitating a few seconds, she lifted her wing from around Zenith then slowly stood up.
Zenith shifted her weight as Twilight walked away. Her back quickly grew cold since it was unprotected, but it was tolerable. She watched Twilight until she entered the tent, then turned back to face Rainbow, who was watching the orb as it flowed and shifted. She pursed her lips. "You know, Twilight shouldn't have needed to leave to prepare breakfast," she said, drawing Rainbow's attention. "She could have easily withdrawn it from her... pocket dimension..." she practically salivated at the thought of learning about that spell. She paused for a second to compose herself. "Even if it needed heating up, she could have used the heat coming from the orb."
Rainbow pursed her lips. "Has she been acting any different today? I mean, I know you've probably not been up that long, but..."
Zenith sat up straighter. "Oh, I've been up for a while. I woke up a little after she raised the sun. She said that I could go back to sleep if I wanted but I said I would keep her company." She chirped with a smile. After a short pause, she continued. "She seems okay... Maybe a little more... Mellow?" she pursed her lips as she contemplated her choice of words. After a few seconds, she shifted her weight. "What was she like before?" she asked.
Rainbow smiled briefly, then her expression fell. "She was... A good pony. A total egghead and a nerd, but she was pretty cool. I don't even think Princess Celestia and Princess Luna combined knew as many spells as she did... She was a good friend and a good leader. You could always go to her for help or advice... She could organize anything you could imagine. She could be a bit... Too serious with some things. She took studying way too seriously, and she could get stressed out at simple things. Heh," she smiled at the memory, "one time she brainwashed the whole town to fight over a doll because she was going to be late in sending a friendship report to Princess Celestia..." Over the next few seconds, the smile slowly faded from her face as she thought about what Twilight had done then.
"That's a little... Disturbing..." Zenith said slowly.
Rainbow shrugged. "In her defense... We kinda blew off her concerns..." She looked to the ground and her expression fell once more. "We didn't listen to her concerns then... We told her it was nothing and ignored her... We all saw how badly she was taking it..." she grimaced.
"She doesn't sound like she was all that stable before this all happened..." Zenith trailed off.
"Well... That wasn't that long after we met her... It feels like a lifetime ago." Rainbow shook her head. "She grew more stable the longer we were all friends... But she could still overreact... Heh, if it wasn't for her overreacting I wouldn't have made it into the Wonderbolts." She sighed at the now bittersweet memory.
Zenith frowned. "How close were you two?" she asked.
"Well," Rainbow bobbled her head and frowned, "she was one of my best friends, but we really weren't all that close. We all still had our own lives, you know?"
"She kept crashing into my house," Twilight said with a hint of annoyance as she walked back over to the pair. Both Zenith and Rainbow looked back to see her approaching. She carried three plates in her magic, along with three glasses of milk and silverware. She glanced over Rainbow, then looked at Zenith. "You would not believe how many times I had to reorganize the library because she crashed into it. After I had just reorganized it," she said in a dull voice, her face betraying no emotion.
"Hehe..." Rainbow chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of her head. "Sorry... Practicing..."
Twilight rolled her eyes but said nothing. A second later she distributed the plates of food, silverware, and glasses of milk. Zenith took her plate, silverware, and glass in her magic and looked over the plate of food. Scrambled eggs, two pancakes with butter and syrup, and a muffin. She glanced back to Twilight, who had sat down about halfway between herself and Rainbow. Twilight was already eating and paying the other two no mind. She turned back to her plate and then glanced to her silverware and then took a bite of the eggs. She closed her eyes and savored the flavor.
Twilight stepped through the portal, and immediately was transported to the cave which protected the Tree of Harmony. As soon as she stepped through she stepped to the side and looked around towards the mouth of the cave. A second later Zenith and then Rainbow followed her into the cave. Zenith cautiously looked over the portal as Twilight closed it. The magic destabilized and collapsed onto itself, then expanded outwards producing a light breeze inside the otherwise stagnate cave.
Twilight looked over the mouth of the cave carefully for several seconds. She had expected the Inquisitor to have soldiers to stall her from obtaining the Elements. She was quite pleased when it became apparent she was incorrect in her expectations. Still, as a precaution, she created a barrier at the mouth of the cave. The wall of lavender magic would block almost everything out as long as it stood, however, it would not prevent teleportation. To prevent that, she cast another spell, one which would not interfere with her newfound long ranged teleportation ability.
After a few seconds of thinking about her work, she nodded to herself. They wouldn't be there long enough to warrant such precautions, but it was better safe than sorry when dealing with the Inquisitor. Especially since the Elements of Harmony were irreplaceable. To her current knowledge, at least. It was possible that in time she would be able to learn enough about the Elements to create more of them, improve upon them, or even weaponize them further. The last option was very tempting to her, but she would never admit that.
Even with as powerful as she was now, Twilight knew the Elements were even more powerful than her. She had not touched the near infinite pool of magic for nearly a decade, but she remembered what it felt like. If she could not reverse engineer a spell to bring Discord to her without needing the Elements, she would force the Elements to work for her. If that did not work, then she would seek out their bearers. Former bearers. Her old friends.
She looked over the lavender wall again, then turned around and strode over to the tree. Zenith was standing before the tree, looking at it in awe. Rainbow was also looking over the tree, but she had seen it before and was less awe-struck than Zenith. Twilight ignored both of them and came to a stop at the base of the tree. She looked over the trunk, then lifted a hoof and gently pressed it against the glowing crystal tree. She lowered her head slightly. "It's been so long..." she said under her breath. She lifted her head and stroked her hoof down the tree once, then returned it to the ground and stepped back.
Not wasting any time, Twilight immediately powered up her horn with her signature lavender aura and turned her attention to the six gems contained in the tree. She gently coaxed the gems out with her magic, softly prying them until the tree released them to her. She was happy the tree did not fight her, but she knew the tree would recognize her, and that it would welcome her back.
She gently levitated the Elements of Harmony down to her, then orbited them around her head so that she could look at each one in turn. After she looked over each gem, she turned around and looked between Zenith and Rainbow. "Let's go," she said simply, breaking both Zenith and Rainbow's focus. Zenith had been looking over the tree, while Rainbow had been watching the Elements orbit around her head. Twilight walked passed them and went to the mouth of the cave. She glanced out passed the barrier, then stored the Elements in her pocket dimension for later use and study.
After she was sure they weren't going to be attacked as soon as she took the barrier down, she took the barrier down, then canceled the anti-teleportation field. Twilight once again found herself half expecting something bad to happen, but once again she was pleasantly surprised when nothing bad happened. 'For once things are going my way...' She prepared the spell to open a portal to Whitetail Woods, or more specifically, it's heart. She spun around on her hind hooves, lowering her horn as she did so, then released her spell as soon as she faced the Tree of Harmony. A pony's length in front of her, the spell coalesced in the air, then exploded outwards, forming a spherical ring of energy around a portal roughly twice her size. She looked over the portal, it's edges glowed white, and she walked to the right, keeping her eyes on the portal. No matter how far she walked around it, the edges were defined by glowing, white energy.
She pushed the thought aside as Zenith and Rainbow walked up to her. Rainbow approached the portal and looked to the other side. It was a clearing, that much she could tell. There were trees at the edge, but the forest wasn't very dense. After a second's hesitation, she stepped through the portal, then stepped away from it and looked back into it. She watched Zenith step through, followed closely behind by Twilight. As soon as Twilight stepped through, the glow died away from her horn, and the portal collapsed. Rainbow's gaze was drawn to the stream of water flowing through the clearing behind where the portal had been.
It was peaceful. And now that she noticed the stream, she could hear the distant rumbling of what she assumed to be a waterfall, along with more pronounced babbling of the water as it flowed downstream. The air was less stagnate than the cave had been, and it was warmer. Not oppressively warm, but definitely warmer than where they woke up earlier. She walked over to the stream, followed by Zenith. The stream was more of a small river. It was wide, but not wide enough to present a challenge to cross in their current state. She could only guess the depth, but the water looked inviting.
She tentatively stuck a hoof into the stream, and quickly pulled it back out. The icy water was a shock to her system, but she recovered in a few seconds, then turned her gaze skyward. In the opposite direction of the way the stream was flowing, there was a simply massive cliff face a few miles away. The sound of the waterfall came from the same direction, but she couldn't see the waterfall from this distance. She pushed her curiosity about it away and scanned the sky again. There were a few rather large, white and puffy clouds lazily blowing overhead, but other than that the sky was clear and nopony was in sight.
"It is beautiful, is it not?" Twilight asked as she silently approached Rainbow and Zenith. Both Rainbow and Zenith watched her approach. She stopped at the edge of the water, and looked at the stream for a moment, then turned her attention to the nearby cliff. "If I was not going to be ruling a nation after this was over, I would consider living here."
"It's peaceful," Zenith agreed. She looked around, then gazed into the water, staring at her reflection, which was distorted by the small ripples in the water caused by the wind and other disturbances. The river reminded her of the river that ran near her home when she was a filly, but she hadn't seen that river in years. She pushed the thought aside and turned away from the river.
"You know you still could, Twilight," Rainbow said. Twilight turned to her and raised an eyebrow. "Live here, I mean. You don't have to be in Canterlot, you could just... Let ponies rule themselves."
Twilight snorted at that notion. "No. I will be in Canterlot, and I am going to rule this nation," she said firmly. "Equestria would collapse without a strong leader, such as myself."
"Equestria hasn't collapsed under the Inquisitor's rule," Zenith commented.
"Equestria is mine. It is my right, and I will claim her as such," Twilight said sharply.
"We weren't saying that Equestria isn't your right!" Rainbow said quickly. She still wasn't completely sure how she felt about Twilight's claim, though she found herself not as concerned about it today as she had been. Perhaps it had something to do with seeing her mane and tail the way they were last night. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, the original rightful rulers of Equestria both had manes like that. "I just meant that... You could take a vacation."
"After he is dead, Equestria will need a strong leader to keep her from falling apart. I do not wish to be responsible for Equestria falling apart. I will need to act quickly to bend Equestria to my will, and that could take a few years. Perhaps I will take a vacation in a century or two," Twilight explained. "I will not be denied Equestria by anyone after he is dead." Twilight met Rainbow's eyes, and the two stared at each other for a moment before Rainbow broke contact and looked at the ground while rubbing her arm with her left hoof. Twilight stood up a little taller, "I will be back soon," she said, "do not venture far," she commanded. After a second to let her command sink in, she spread her wings and took flight. Rainbow cautiously glanced up at her as she flew away. Both Rainbow and Zenith watched her as she flew towards the nearby cliff until she disappeared from their sight.
"So..." Zenith blew air out of her mouth as she looked around. "What now?" she asked.
"We wait for her to get back I guess," Rainbow replied.
Zenith looked at Rainbow. "Anything you want to do then? Or talk about?"
Rainbow glanced at the river and shifted her weight. "Well... If the water was warmer, going for a swim could be nice. But with as cold as it is, I'm not particularly fond of the idea of going swimming."
Zenith turned around and dipped one of her hooves into the river and raised an eyebrow at Rainbow. "You call that cold?"
Rainbow looked at the water, then carefully dipped her hind hoof into it. Immediately, a shiver went through her body as her hoof hit the cold water, and she jerked her hoof back out of it. Rainbow looked back at Zenith. "Yes," she said simply, "that is cold. I don't want to get hypothermia."
Zenith frowned and her eyes darted about. "I think I have a spell that could help with that..."
Rainbow tilted her head. "You think? I am not getting in that river unless you're sure."
"Well. There's only one way to find out now isn't there?" Zenith lit her horn, then pointed it at Rainbow, who shifted her weight uncomfortably. She never really did like that only the unicorn pointing their horn at you knew what spell they were going to use. You could make a guess, based on context, but you could be wrong. Rainbow's body glowed dark blue for a second as Zenith's magic took hold of her. As the glow died down, her body felt tingly. "That should do it..." Zenith said as she cast the same spell on herself.
Rainbow tentatively stuck her hoof back into the cold water. She braced herself for the shock, but it didn't come. The water still held a bite to it, but it was tolerable. She watched as Zenith casually stepped into the water, which quickly rose to her encompass most of her body. Zenith swam to the center of the stream and smiled at Rainbow. She motioned her to join with a hoof. Rainbow slowly turned around and stepped into the water, and then waded out as far as she could before swimming the rest of the way. Rainbow still didn't think it was very pleasant. After she reached out where Zenith was, she took a deep breath, then dunked her head beneath the water. She stayed under the water for a few seconds, then brought her head back up. She shivered a little, the water still made the air feel cooler. She ignored it for the moment, and flung her head and restyled her wet mane so that the water wouldn't run down her face as much.
After a few minutes of flying, Twilight landed on the top of the nearby cliff, next to the river, but a ways away from the waterfall. She scanned the landscape, checking it against her memory for any signs of unnatural changes. The river was in a valley, as it had been the first time, and it cut a path through the forest. On either bank, there weren't trees for almost a hundred feet, being instead a clear meadow. She had found that strange the first time, but she had chosen not to question it. She pushed the minuscule detail aside and scanned the treeline.
Everything was the same. Well, except for the pack of about eight wolves watching her from the safety of the treeline. She almost missed them, they were hidden quite well in the underbrush, but their gray coats stood out, and one of them moved further back into the bush as her gaze trailed over the area. She looked at the group of wolves dispassionately. Their somewhat more intelligent, yet not more intelligent brethren, diamond dogs generally disliked ponies. Especially since the Inquisitor took over. The wild wolves were no different in that regard. But where the diamond dogs were stupid enough to try to attack an alicorn, the wolves weren't. They weren't a threat to her. To Rainbow Dash and Zenith, however, they were. The pack could easily overwhelm the pegasus and unicorn, and because wolves were predators, designed to kill, unlike the three lesser pony subspecies, the pair would be at a disadvantage with that also.
She tilted her head as she watched them, and one of them seemed to back further into the bush it was hiding in, sensing the dangerous alicorn not far from its position. After a few more seconds, Twilight averted her gaze from the curiosity and fear of the pack to scan the horizon. As she expected, there were no pegasi in sight, and the gentle breeze carried the clouds along on their own power, like in the Everfree forest. Unlike the Everfree, however, the weather was less chaotic and more predictable.
Twilight turned back towards the direction she came from and started walking towards the edge of the cliff. As she walked on, the wolves slowly followed her out of curiosity, but they kept their distance. They knew they were no match for the alicorn, who wielded powers beyond their comprehension. The grassy meadow eventually gave way to barren dirt and then hard rock and loose gravel. She stopped a few steps away from the sheer drop off. The sound of the waterfall beside her was almost deafening. The rock below her felt solid enough, so she pressed forwards until she was right on the edge, and gazed at the forest below.
It had to have been a mile high drop from where she was to the river bank. From her vantage point, she could see the clearing where they had arrived, but she could see neither Zenith nor Rainbow, not that she expected to. Still, the view was quite pleasant. She looked up at the sun as it slowly made its way across the sky, right to left from where she was. Her sun. Not anypony else's, but hers. She had been pleasantly surprised that none of the unicorns who had controlled the sun before she took it had tried to take the sun back, not that they stood a chance of succeeding.
She tilted her head back as she heard gravel being kicked around. One of the wolves was slowly approaching her, curiosity plastered over his face. The wolf froze as Twilight looked at it from the corner of her eye. For a second, neither of the moved, then Twilight relented and returned her gaze out across the forest below them. The wolf decided that it was close enough, and didn't want to risk getting any closer. Twilight took a deep breath and spread her wings wide, the action caused the wolf pack to retreat, afraid that Twilight was going to attack them.
After a few seconds, Twilight turned around to make sure she was alone. The wolves had run back to the treeline and were nowhere in sight. She nodded to herself and then turned back to look over the forest. She channeled magic into her horn and prepared a spell. As soon as it was ready, she cast the spell, which encompassed a very large area, nearly the entire forest, extending out from the spot where she stood. Both Zenith and Rainbow immediately felt the effects of the spell, and the sensation of being watched by a predator returned, making them both uneasy.
Twilight quickly went over the information the spell provided her. Her party was not alone in the forest, there were other ponies present, but less than a dozen and spread out over a large area. They weren't a threat, they were innocent ponies, relaxing, walking through the forest, or camping. None of them were anywhere near her or her group. She had chosen the clearing for its isolation and remoteness, but should the need arise, she could easily move them elsewhere. The mountain she was on was a good option to move them if the need arose.
She concentrated further on the spell, and analyzed the information more closely, looking for any discrepancies, or anypony she knew. It took her several minutes to be sure, but nopony in the forest outside of her group was familiar to her. And there were no signs of any danger, though the forest was teeming with wolves and other mostly mundane predators.
After a few more seconds she stepped off the cliff and spread her wings wide, catching the rushing air as she fell towards the river bank. She enjoyed the sensation, perhaps more than she should have. After a few seconds of freefalling, she angled used her wings to slow herself down, and then flew back into the sky. As she flew higher, she looked off in the distance at the approaching storm she had spotted on her flight to the mountain. The dark thunderheads were slowly rolling towards them. It would be at least a day before they arrived, but she would keep an eye on it. Getting caught in the storm wouldn't be fun.
She hovered in the air for a few seconds, then shook her head, and turned to make her way back to the clearing. She slowed as she approached and noticed both Rainbow and Zenith were in the river. She pursed her lips and flew over to the bank and then landed, both Zenith and Rainbow watched her land.
"Twilight! You're back!" Zenith said joyfully as she started to swim over to the shore.
Twilight nodded slowly as she looked over Zenith's wet features. Twilight knew that the water was cold, but she dipped a hoof into it to reaffirm it to herself. "This water is cold, you two should be careful," she chided as a mother would chide her own foal for doing something dangerous.
"She used a spell," Rainbow explained.
Twilight nodded cautiously to herself as she looked at Rainbow. "I... See..." she said slowly. She glanced up at the sun, then looked back at Zenith who had stopped a short distance away from her. She was smiling, almost like she was begging Twilight to join them. Twilight tilted her head as she debated on joining them or not to join them. "I am assuming you two are taking a bath, but for some reason, I doubt that is the case," she said at length. "It is lunch time, we should eat." With a quick spell, she teleported three plates and silverware to herself and held them in her magic, then teleported a generous helping broccoli and carrots onto each plate, and then heated them up with her magic until they were steaming. Both Rainbow and Zenith glanced at each other and shrugged under the water, then made their way to the shore. Both of them shivered as the air hit their wet coats, despite the air being a pleasant temperature, it felt cold because of the water.
Twilight turned around and walked over to the grass and then sat down. Rainbow and Zenith made their way over to her, and she levitated their plates for them until they sat down, one on either side of her. She was slightly irked that neither of them had tried to dry themselves off and that they were leaning against her and getting her wet, but pushed it aside and ignored it as she gave them their plates and silverware. Zenith, sitting to her right, shivered slightly as she took a bite of warm broccoli. Twilight scowled as she draped a wing over her, pressing the filly against her side, and felt how cold she was. "You need to work on your technique," she commented as she draped her other wing over Rainbow, who was just as cold as Zenith. "You're both freezing... If I did not know better, I would say you two slept outside at night on a mountain."
"It's not that bad..." Rainbow said as she subconsciously pressed herself against Twilight's warm body. The pegasus sighed contently internally and closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth.
Twilight wanted to groan and hit her head with a hoof, but she ignored the desire to. 'At least Zenith is trying,' she told herself. She levitated a carrot over to herself and put the whole thing into her mouth and started chewing it up. Using her magic to heat it up had softened it considerably, but it wasn't mushy, much to her pleasure. It wasn't long before she found herself growing cold from the two wet ponies pressed up against her side. "I don't think you two should go swimming in that river again with as cold as it is," Twilight said evenly. She could have easily heated it up if they had asked her. At least a portion of it so that they could go swimming, but they both needed time to recover from how cold they were. She did not want them getting sick, it would slow her down, along with putting them both in danger, maybe even put herself in danger.
"Sorry..." Zenith apologized. She shifted her weight and pressed herself closer to Twilight, enjoying the warmth coming from her coat and the feeling of her wing over her body. If she had to describe how it felt in one word, she would have chosen 'safe.' "The spell did what it was supposed to..." she trailed off.
Twilight sighed, "You're both freezing," she said, taking on a softer, more understanding approach. "I will teach you a better spell for that, along with a better technique. Perhaps I will even teach you my technique..." Twilight found a smile tugging at her lip as she said that, and she could almost feel Zenith's excitement. Twilight felt a shiver run down her back as Rainbow shifted and air hit her damp coat. She poured more magic into her horn, then channeled it into the air, where it started to form into a small sphere. The orb slowly grew as more of Twilight's magic flowed into it, and as it grew they started to feel the heat radiating off of it. Once the orb was about the same size as herself, she stopped feeding magic into it and levitated it a little farther up above them. Zenith and Rainbow watched the glowing lavender orb with curiosity, but both of them enjoyed the heat it was producing. "After we are done eating I will set up camp," she paused before adding, "I feel I should inform you that there is a storm approaching. I would not want you to be surprised when it arrives..."
"How big of a storm?" Rainbow asked after she swallowed a bite of broccoli.
"Fairly big," Twilight replied as she bobbed her head. "Though, I would be fine without shelter, you two would need the protection of one." Twilight tilted her head to the side, "Putting up a barrier around the clearing and part of the river would be easiest."
Rainbow turned to look at Twilight, "You still doing okay today?" she asked. Twilight met her gaze and nodded. "Anymore... Bad effects from what he hit you with? You're not sick or anything?"
"Alicorns don't get sick, and we're immune to... Most poisons." Twilight shifted her weight at that. There were only a few poisons that could affect alicorns, and she did not want to discuss those poisons. Of those few, most of them were very deadly to her species. She would need to take precautions against that once Equestria was hers, even with as rare as those poisons were. Even with her superior alicorn physiology, she did not want to put her immortality to the test. She had the power of five alicorns and a skilled unicorn, and while she did not truly know her limits, she did not intend to find out anytime soon.
"Even with the state you're in?" Zenith asked.
Twilight nodded slowly. "Yes..." she said, though both Zenith and Rainbow could hear the unsureness in her voice. Twilight sharply shook her head, "But that is irrelevant. I will recover in time. Hopefully, by the time I have recovered, I will have the spell ready to bring him to me."
"If you don't?" Zenith asked.
"Then I will continue to work on it until I can use the spell without the Elements. If I am unable to make the spell work without the Elements, then I will force the Elements to work for me and me alone," Twilight said firmly.
"What if the Inquisitor finds us?" Rainbow asked as she finished the last of her meal. "And are you sure trying to force the Elements to work for you is a good idea? What if you break them or what if they hurt you?"
"He will not be an issue," Twilight replied bitterly. "So far as the Elements go... I will not damage or destroy them. As much as a threat to me as they are, they are invaluable tools and weapons I can also use. I will just have to be careful about who I trust with them."
"What do you mean, they are a threat to you?" Rainbow asked, and Twilight averted her gaze and looked into her orb. After a minute of silence, Rainbow finally accepted that Twilight was not going to answer that question.