//------------------------------// // Emotional Connotations // Story: Earning Freedom // by Daxisle //------------------------------// Emotional Connotation "Day 45 3rd day of assimilating with Sin and his companions, 3rd day of being stuck in the same place. As usual, I've grown impatient with time lost. Killing the three changelings to liberate Sin was satisfying enough, but Chrysalis is the only one who matters. I can kill one hundred drones and the rot will be no less, she will just make more in whatever hive she continually crawls back to. I can still smell the disgusting stench of hatching eggs and the sickeningly squishy croach they used to line the birthing chambers that she kept me in. Letting her young sap the love from me... I want to burn it, burn it all away and remove this particular bit of rot from the world once and for all. To hear the burning shrieks of dying changeling larva, the drones wings simmer as they burn, Chrysalis scream and cry, to hear her beg for her life for what she'd done to us in Canterlot. The purity, the goodness, the innocence; tainted. Tainted by her claim on love. And I shall, she took me by surprise last time, a mistake I shall not allow to happen again. However, this must take a secondary position for the time being. There is a new rot to be dealt with, a rot that has targeted a foal of barely a decade and a mare of great innocence and kindness. According to the information I was able to gather, the known anti-imperial political group "Trotski" has moved on from small time protests to more aggressive and violent methods of attaining their goals. Glad I took the initiative to research outside of the temple of Anti-arch, the sages would have left me completely in the dark to my purpose in life in removing the rot. As much as I would like to get back to hunting the Queen, these pieces of filth are of a higher priority. Mainly because I haven't the ability to meaningfully track her down and nopony with any brains would dare play tracker for me, once they discovered whom I was hunting. Luckily, Sin isn't a coward and has agreed to help me find her if I assist him in putting the Trotski dogs down. Cutting out two large pieces of rot from society. I can wait a few days to accomplish that." ~Taken from the Journal of the Valiar, the Red Mage of Anti'arch. "Mine." Sin declared, yanking a hoof full of blueberries from a bushel he'd discovered a day ago. After verifying his mark on the bush to make sure the fruit was the one he'd tested and popping them into his mouth. He buckled a little as his weigh was shifted to the back of his body, completely forgetting how sore and weak his hind legs had been the past few days, and was careful to put his weight forward again. "Careful, Sin." Krystal said from her place beside him. The white mare having decided to join him on this particular excursion out from the shack. She was healing very well, all that remained of her injuries from that night was her slightly discolored, though no longer swollen eye. "Madam Feelgood said your legs were in pretty bad shape. I wish you'd listen to her and just rest for a while." Sin swallowed the berries and gave Krystal a look. "I'll be fine, Krystal. I've walked off worse and gotten better." The amber eyed pony gave him a disapproving glare. "And you shouldn't! It'll catch up with you when you're older. Bodies aren't tools you can just push like this and think it'll be alright in the long run. That's why Papa has that limp on his right side." Sin internally cringed, remembering the scar the old pony had. His face showed no discomfort though. With the way Krystal had been behaving lately, he didn't dare do so. He merely shrugged and gave his usual response of: "Meh, I'll be fine." He grabbed another hooful and chewed thoughtfully, glad that spring had sprung. Bushes of berries and fruit trees would be much easier to come by now, even if some of them were premature... and other poison. Though, the Federalist had spent more of his life outdoors than indoors, and had multiple methods for identifying poisonous vs edible flora and fauna. He'd smeared one of the berries onto his lip and left it there yesterday, to see if his lip would have a negative reaction or not, after checking to make sure the stem and fruit didn't produce any milky juice, of course. Blueberries were a particular for him as far as taste went. Potato were filling, but lacked any redeeming flavor. Three days had passed since the quartet -plus Angle- had set up for a longer term encampment. Scootaloo was doing well, having no memory of what Clover and Panzy did to her and convinced that she'd run into a rose bush. The filly was happy enough to relax a little, but couldn't sit down for long, complaining about a slight ache in her flank. An ache originating where Madam Feelgood had jammed the syringe. Krystal was hard pressed to agree with the lie, but went with it. The off white pegasus mare herself was... different now. Not in anything really discernible, not glaringly so anyway, but Sin could see that she'd changed. She was still the sweet, intrusive and mollycoddling mare she was, but she'd lost the starry-eyed look of innocence and wonder she used to have. It was a subtle change, but one Sin would miss if she never got it back, which he was pretty sure she wouldn't. Now, a more overt change was her startling lack of meekness. Before they'd come to Baltimare, Krystal rarely ever spoke out against Sin's decisions and leadership. Yea, she'd get on him about his language or treatment of Scootaloo, or get distracted or tired and ignore his instructions from time to time, but she'd always be more apologetic than anything, even if she didn't like it. Lately, though, she'd become much more vocal about her dislike for some of his actions and decisions. Mainly those that revolved around the troop's lack of hygienic accommodations and interaction costumes. Bathing wasn't much of a priority for him at any point in time, unless there was a reason for it, of course. Krystal, on the other hoof, seemed to want to bathe at every single chance she could get, and had been harboring a "secret" revulsion for the nomadic methods of toiletry. The interaction time, or lack there of, was the reason she was here now. Usually, the three would be in silence, each going off into their own thoughts through out the day. Krystal saw this as a major problem, a problem that had lead to the issue that caused all of them to be injured in the first place. Sadly, Sin wasn't really in a position to argue her. Trust was in short supply between all of them. Krystal wanted to trust Sin, but between the secrecy and the fact that she and Scootaloo had been actively plotting against him, there wasn't really much to be had nor given. The matter wasn't made much better by Sin introducing a new member to their ranks without consolidating either of them. Valiar wasn't the nicest of ponies in the world, he was more on the anti-social side of the spectrum. He wasn't a talkative sort, but he did have an intimidating presence about him. Not the aura but an air of instability and arrogance. Another thing was his obsession with, what he called: "rot". Or the immorality and negative aspects of society and pony nature as he saw it, from what Sin could discern. Sin, curious about if he would fall under such a category, decided to explore the issue. Valiar explained that his thought process was about on the same lines as Sin's own, but seeing things from a much more... conservative standpoint. Throwing things like drugs and prostitution into the category of immoral and punishable offenses. Punishable... yea, that might be a problem. The pony was also a little bit of a fanatic, he went on about how the innocence of the world was one of its leading virtues and that all things of the sinful rot needed to be carved out of the world in their entirety. Lust, hedonism, general degeneracy, all of these things were an affront to all things good, pure, and righteous and needed to be snuffed out in order to protect civilization. 'Replace rot with government, and what do you get?' Hey Critic, here's an idea: shut up. Besides, it wasn't like they ever saw the mage. Valiar kept to himself mostly, approaching the trio only when he had something to ask or report. Well, approaching Sin, anyways. He didn't seem to care to speak with the others, going out of his way to keep out of sight of both Krystal and Scootaloo. He didn't even partake in the groups food and drink pool, which Sin didn't mind in the least. As far as Valiar was concerned, they weren't "companions" so much as "two camps working in mutual benefit". If he was willing to provide for himself and keep an eye out for the Trotski with no burden upon them, all the better. And as such, Sin could look the other way if the stallion decided to break the non-aggression principal in favor of upholding his stringent values. "Are you sure those are safe to eat?" Krystal asked, breaking the stallion from his thoughts. Sin nodded in the affirmative. "Yea, and if it's not, I've got some charcoal on hoof to bind the poison until it passes." Krystal gave him an unsure look before grabbing a single berry from the bushel and gingerly tossing it in her mouth and chewing. She smiled and made a small sound of delight before grabbing another one. "Mmm, it's good." Well, that was good. She trusted him enough to take his word on the fruit being good enough to eat. "How did you find it?" The mare asked, taking another berry to munch. "Foraging." Sin replied blatantly. Krystal inquired if there was anything more to it, wondering if there was some kind of special skill he'd learned from his time in the woods to just find food bushels like this, since he'd come across things like asparagus and amaranth so easily. Alas, he could only answer as reality permitted. Suvivalism didn't really have keen methods on finding bushels and trees, aside from looking around streams and ponds. It was, for the most part, trial and error for that which could not be keenly identified. Of course, Sin knew a blueberry bush when he saw one, but he wanted to play it safe in any case. Last thing he needed was to be rendered a complaining and useless lump because he was too eager to eat without taking the proper precautions. "What kind of precautions?" Asked Krystal curiously. "Well, first off, when checking for potentially poisonous plants, you never actually touch it." Sin said in a conversational tone. He pointed to a broken bit of the bushle. "I'm a little hypocritical in this, but I broke that part of the bush to see if there was anything inside the stem. Like any parasites or illnesses the plant may have that would infect the berries." Krystal was just about to pop another berry into her mouth but stopped, her eyes wide, full of hesitant alarm. "Don't worry." Sin chuckled. "It's safe." Krystal gingerly placed the berry into her mouth and requested he continue. There were a few things to look for in plants like that, all of which he'd done with Krystal and Scootaloo being none the wiser for it. Every bit of asparagus or amaranth he'd come across had been inspected prior to consumption, with small bits of them finding his way either onto his lips or snoot to check for any effects suggesting poison. He wasn't trying to hide what he was doing from them, it was just second nature to the Federalist to preform these kinds of experiments. Technically, one was supposed to fast for eight hours before doing it, but Sin had developed an accute sensitivity due to all the exposure he'd placed his body under to find if the flora caused: Burning, irritation, numbing or general discomfort. Years of this had proven to circumvent the fasting to a mere two hours, or so he liked to judge. "Oh, so that's why you never let us eat anything when we find it." Krystal said. Sin nodded. It was also why he kept activated charcoal on hoof. Inducing vomiting to remove toxic substances was all fine and good, but the toxic chemicals already present in the body could prove to be detrimental. It also stressed him out that he didn't have the means to make more, with as quickly as he was pushing the tests and pushing forwards, it was really only a matter of time until he'd slipped up and they ended up eating something not fit for consumption. But coconuts were heavy and bulky, and unfortunately, a very necessary ingredient in making more activated charcoal. "Activated charcoal?" Krystal asked with a tilt of her head. She gave it a bit of thought and then frowned. "Hey, wasn't that the stuff you gave me after the river water I drank from made me feel really yucky?" The Federalsit smirked. "You mean the river water I told you not to drink and you did so anyways?" "Yes, that stuff." Krystal paused, her nose crinkling in memory. "What is that stuff anyways? It helped make me feel better, but it also made my..." She trailed off, color tinting her cheeks. "Activated charcoal is... medicine." Sin said carefully, not wanting to let her finish and assault what was left of her delicate sensibilities. "Been around forever, and hospitals still use it for all kinds of ingestion poisonings. We think it came about from the old world, before Equestria. I don't know the science behind it, but when you eat it, the chemical agents in the charcoal bind the poisons in your stomach and allow them to pass out of your body without affecting you as badly." Sin popped another berry into his mouth and cast an eye to his associate, observing her facial expression. Usually when she was interested in a topic, she'd be deep in thought of his words or looking at him intently, right now though, she looked more distracted than anything. She may or may not have found primitive survival methods and medicine interesting, but that would need to wait. "So, what's on your mind? I don't think you came out here with me to ask about poisons and medicines." Krystal looked up at him and her eyes went wide with shock before she began stuttering about how she did find such things somewhat intriguing in an attempt to not offend him. Though, Sin's soft and accepting gaze quieted her ramble and the mare came clean about her intents. "I wanna know if you've decided on what you're going to do?" Sin quirked a brow, though any confusions was quickly dispersed. None of them had spoken on what the next course of action would be ever since Sin and Valiar had intervened against Krystal and Scootaloo's attackers three days ago. The Federalist didn't want to bring it up, not to the girls. After what they'd gone through, he didn't want to think about them moving towards the Trotski by any measure. Krystal, it would seem, was interested to know what he planned to do once they began moving again. Even after three days, Sin still wasn't sure what he planned to do. Both of the fillies were doing better, and the Red Mage was getting anxious to start moving. He wasn't sure how long he could use their injury to justify his lack of action. The only thing the Federalist could see working out was to go with his original plan of turning the Trotski on eachother with the hope of one of three outcomes. One: that they'd be too preoccupied with internal strife to mess with him, Two: cause enough strife via mistrust to fracture the organization's coherence, maybe even cripple and disband it outright, or Three: help install new leadership. It was clear that, as much of a racist bastard as he may be, Smart Cookie didn't care for the violent ways the heads were handling things. The elder earth pony said he was using Sin, and by betraying the other members of the Trotski and telling the Federalist about the trap being set, Sin deduced his part in Cookie's plan was to eliminate his grandson, Clover the Clever and Private Panzy so that he could assume control. And if Smart Cookie was telling the truth in saying that he was once Chancellor Puddinghead, and that his dislike for the Trotski heads made him step down to the second in command role and allowing his grandson to step into the role of the earth pony head, than the Trotski subordinates might be willing to follow him without much fuss. Whatever their rules were for such a thing. That only left the uncertainty on if Cookie was really any better than the current Puddinghead. The young earth pony was a ruthless and cunning sort, much more so than Sin was lead to believe on their first encounter on the Judgement all those months ago. The golden earth pony's kin seemed very much the same, in the sense of his ability to manipulate and scheme. Another issue was the aspect of succession. Even if Cookie was willing to lay off of the violence after the heads fell, that wouldn't mean that the new Commander Hurricane and Prince Platinum would. Sin wasn't sure how they appointed new members to their executive roles. Was it democratic? Appointment by existing members of the heads? If memory served, the heads needed to have a blood tie to the real founders, and he also remembered Hurricane had mentioned how her own kin were in her position before. He hoped it wasn't just hereditary, because if it was, he might have just made some life long enemies. Though, if Smart Cookie and Puddinghead, as well as Hurricane were any indication, that might just be the case. "I have a few thoughts." Sin replied, pressing his lips. Krystal frowned sympathetically, she didn't care for violence. "Like what?" The Federalist decided to hold off answering right away, wanting to organize what he was going to say before saying it. He didn't like putting that much trust in others, but out of all the options present, turning the Trotski in on each other was the only one that could accomplish the goal he needed. There was a bright side to that, though. If peaceful means wouldn't suffice, there was always sneaking into Puddinghead's room and giving him a few nightmares about his subordinates speaking ill of him, or giving him a really lucid dream about someone coming in and telling him something important, having him wake up, rave like a lunatic about the important information that the rest have no idea about, and foster mistrust and a lack of confidence. Sin couldn't stop the devious little smirk from taking his face. It was just a little notion, a toy in his head for his mind to chew on. Sneak into Puddinghead's sleeping quarters, feed him a dream where Clover or Panzy came in to tell him about another country invading or Discord going on another rampage. Keep the dream going to where it felt like an entire day had passed and end when he goes to sleep, and then let the dream really end. He'd wake up thinking the whole day was real, and wake up to continue in the real world where the dream world had left off. Oh yea, sure, it wouldn't work at first. His companions would probably tell him the facts and dismiss the bad dream for what it was, leaving Puddinghead to shake off the entire attempt as a bad sleep... But what if it happened again? And again, and again. Sin's smirk deepened to a sinister hue. To continually fuck with Puddinghead's mind, to blur the lines between fiction and reality, to drive him mad with both lucid dreaming and constantly questioning his own life. Tip toeing over if what had happened the previous day was true or not. His eyes glazed over as his thoughts deepened, the Federalist let his mind wonder a little. Maybe it would better serve not to be so obvious at first? Maybe start out small, give him little conversation here and there that didn't actually happen. Things that both he and the other Trotski could brush off, but that would annoy his subordinates. Tiny, almost unnoticeable things like choosing a specific mare he had his eye on and giving him the false impression that she shared his feelings. Have her flirt with him in the dream a little, and have her express absolutely no interest in reality. Nudge the earth pony on with small influences, pushing him to become more and more bold with his flirting when she failed to return the affections. Then, when she'd pull away, put Puddinghead through the ringer of an emotional turmoil by putting it in his mind that she'd went into his room and slept with him in secret. Making the sweet dream all too lucid for him not to believe it happened. Confused by the constant shift in reality and fantasy, along with his real life actions making him look like a delusional sexual predator, the Trotski would slowly turn on him, questioning his mental state! Yes, yes that would do nicely. Turning his blissful dreams into nightmares of the worst sort. Suffering, suffering in his own mind. It was the perfect plan! Not only did it serve to fracture the Trotski and make Puddinghead pay for what he did, it would take away his martyr status but removing Sin from the equation! None of them would have any indication that it was his doing, how could they? Nobody beside the Federalist knew about the Nightmare's ability to manipulate dreams. Hell, even if it didn't fracture the Trotski, it would certainly throw them into chaos. And why stop at Puddinghead? If Panzy and Clover were there, he could just as easily turn the unicorn and pegasus against each other! Maybe go with the same sexual thing and have them both develop feelings for the same stallion... maybe even Puddinghead himself, just to add a little drama to that mix. Make them have dreams of little fights between the two, throw around some racial slurs, have them talking shit about each other... Yes, yes Sin could see it now. The two mares fighting over the affection of a stallion who's mind was slowly being driven to insanity and madness. Him taking no notice of the two and chasing another mare who constantly tugged between loving him and being disgusted with him, his perception of reality going utterly haywire as his dream fictions conflicted with reality's fact. He could play that so many different ways. He could end up just making all three of them kill each other! It was fool proof, there was no way that- "Sin, what's so funny?" Krystal asked in reserve. Sin stopped what he was doing, all his thoughts, all of his scheming. His mind felt sublimely cruel and callous, the unmistakable influence of the Nightmare. "Sorry." The oaken pony apologized, turning the cynical chuckle into a light hearted one. "Just thinking about it makes me laugh." Krystal's eyes widened and her mouth parted in shock and slight disgust. "I don't think I like that." That did not come out right. Well, it did come out truthful, but not as he wanted it to. 'Laughing about hurting others. Great way to build trust there, big guy.' "Good. Shows you've still got a heart." Sin replied. "I don't plan to kill them anymore, if that's what you're thinking." "Oh thank Celestia!" Krystal sighed, visibly relaxing. Sin eyed the pegasus mare for a moment, "you don't want justice?" Krystal visibly flinched from his question but was quick to steel herself. "No, of course I do. It's just that..." She paused for a moment. "Umm, I- I don't know how to explain it. I want them to pay for what they did, of course. I just... I don't want anypony to die. I- I don't like suffering, and..." She trailed off, her eyes darting around to and fro as she tried to put words to her conflicted mind. Typically, such life worship would annoy Sin, but with her? It made him feel a small sense of relief. Revenge was a terrible thing to want, it twisted minds and turned good ponies into monsters. He was glad she wasn't resolutely tainted by it. Though, something that was troubling to him was how quickly emotional Krystal was becoming. The lack of absolution itself was causing her distress. Tears of conflict began to well in her eyes as Krystal stuttered and frought with her mind's idea of mercy and justice. "I don't... I don't wanna be the kind of pony who wants others to suffer." She said in a voice barely above a whisper and sniffled. Sin felt concern welling in his chest, but understood. Near death experiences were traumatic things, and Krystal's resolve against expressing herself about it was starting to crumble. It was going to be a delicate next few moments, but the Federalist called upon every last bit of his psychological knowledge to deal with it. "Why not?" Sin asked. "After what they did, nobody would blame you." Another flinch from the amber eyed pegasus. "I would." Sin felt himself grow a little heated. "You shouldn't. Krystal, after what they did to you and Scootaloo-" "NO!" She barked, making Sin take a surprising step back from the suddenness of the outburst. He'd seen Krystal happy, he'd seen Krystal sad, but he'd never seen Krystal angry. And as much as he expected the emotion, no amount of preparation could make him ready for seeing the sweet pegasus speak in anger. "No! I don't want to think like that! I don't want to be that kind of pony! Revenge is wrong! It's wrong and it's ugly and hollow and... I shouldn't want it! It's stupid! It doesn't make anything good! I don't want to be angry anymore!" Sin swallowed as he watched the trembling mare huffing and fighting to keep herself under control. He could see she was angry, angry, scared, frustrated and very, very ashamed. Sin knew emotional turmoil when he saw it, Krystal wanted revenge. She wanted the Trotski to pay for what they had done, and she was absolutely disgusted with herself for wanting it. Setting his own irritations aside, Sin turned to her and sat down. He'd need to pick his words carefully. "It's okay to want revenge-" "No it's not!" Krystal insisted through bleary eyes. "Mama Gem said-" "Please let me finish." Sin interjected, his voice gentle and soothing. "It's okay to want it. It's okay to be angry. They hurt you, almost killed you." Krystal's breathing deepened and her lip began to quiver, but she held her tongue. Seeing she would allow him to continue, Sin took a breath. "It's okay, Krystal. It feels bad, I know. Hate and anger are ugly emotions, but they are natural to feel after being hurt like you were. Did Gem and Granite tell you that feeling angry like that is wrong? That all things should be forgiven and accepted?" Blinking rapidly, Krystal's mask of anger crumpled to desperate thinking. She didn't need to answer, the fact her eyes kept trailing to the left and looking up at Sin in guilt told him he'd hit the nail on the head. Such a thing was a double edge sword. One one hoof, forgiving, accepting and moving forward did help the healing process and sending ponies forward to live their lives for the better. On the other hoof, when taught as an absolute, the idea gave off the impression that forgiveness could be given without the other party facing consequence. Making a pony's desire for closure collide with their sense of confused justice. Sin lifted a hoof to place it on Krystal's shoulder, though the mere movement of his body made her flinch and tense as if he was going to hit her. The action struck him in the chest, apparently the emotional aspects of what had happened weren't as suppressed as he had hoped. Slowly, but with predictable speed, he lifted his hoof and placed it on her shoulder. "It's okay to be angry. It's okay to feel angry and to want them to pay." He said softly, "what they did to you was wrong, and you have every right to hate them." "N-no I can't." Krystal said in a quivering voice. "H-hate is bad, and- and Papa said-" Sin silenced her by squeezing his fetlock on her shoulder. Not hard enough to hurt, but enough to give a sense of comfort and command. "I don't care what your mothers or father said, I care about you. Hate is an emotion, it's a feeling. Feelings are not inherently good or bad, they are reactions to things that happen. You can't control how you feel, but you can accept it for what it is." Silence descended, Sin could feel Krystal's trembling increasing beneath his hoof. It killed him to see, hear, and feel her like this. He cared about her feelings, he wanted to see her smile again, almost painfully so. However, he knew this needed to happen. The emotional conflicts were there, and he knew what would happen if she tried to fight them for too long. He wouldn't let that happen to her. Funny, all that time studying psychology to figure out what was wrong with himself ends up being useful to helping others. Suddenly, and without warning, Krystal lunged forward and wrapped her forelegs around him, burying her face into his neck just in time for the first unrestrained sobs to be muffled. Sin shivered from the raw, unabashed pain and hurt in those sobs. Even muffled as they were by his coat, he could hear the mental anguish and desperation in the mare's break down. Sitting himself back on his haunches, Sin did the only thing he could think to do in that moment. He let his forleg on her shoulder travel around her neck and held her close, while the other forleg began absently stroking the top of her head. "It's alright, you're alright." He cooed. Krystal said something but if it was argument or acceptance, Sin didn't know, it was lost between her muffled sobs. For some reason, Sin felt like crying with her. He wouldn't, of course, she needed him to be strong now. He needed to be confident in his convictions, to show her that she could place her faith in his words and to accept her feelings in order to move past them. After a good five minutes of her bawling it dawned on him how much Krystal may have been repressing her own emotions throughout their time together, as well as her whole life. Smiling. She was always smiling, always cheerful, always pleasant and kind. Was that the real Krystal Melody? Or was that who her parents wanted her to be? With as much as she mentioned her parents and what they said, it was clear they had alot of influence on her; more than he thought they should. Gem and seemed like the sort to allow her self expression, but Sandy? He didn't know about. If what he was told was true, the earth mare was abused by another female, and maybe Krystal kept up a happy face to try to set her at ease. Also, and more importantly, what of her father, Granite? Krystal had an obvious fear of him. Not an abused kind of fear, but the kind where his disapproval aroused the worst kind of dread within her. Was that a daughter who loved her father and family a great deal, or was there something more to it than that? Krystal was a pony pleaser, she always wanted everyone to be happy and comfortable. Maybe that was another part of the problem, maybe- 'Maybe psycho-analyzing her can wait? Sin? Maybe you can just be there for a mare who obviously needs you without trying to fix her right away?' "It's not just that..." Krystal mumbled. In his thinking, Sin hadn't even noticed that her trembling and crying had subsided. "Why I'm crying." "What else?" He asked, his psychologically inclined brain eager to absorb a little more data and information. Amber eyes turned up to look at him, and her foreleg tightened as they met the icy blue of his own, their muzzles a scant few inches apart. "I'm scared of losing you." Another small pang hit Sin in the chest, compounded when he remembered the joke he'd made when she woke up about him not being dead yet. "Don't be." Sin reassured. "The Trotski aren't-" Krystal shook her head and sniffled. "Not them, I mean the other thing." One of her forlegs went up to the side of his skull. "The Nightmare in here." Sin let out a soft sigh and his eyes found the ground. Of course, that. He remembered how terrifying he must have looked and sounded to her and Scootaloo. The things he'd said, the Nightmare's possession tainting his eyes and voice. What was he even supposed to say to that? He didn't want to lie, but the truth would be just as damaging. The Alicorn's powers grew every time Sin used them, and if he followed through with turning the Trotski against each other through her dream manipulation... "I'm sorry about what I said, I was angry and afraid about what would happen if you guys did that when it could have gotten you killed." Finally, the mare offered him a smile. A small and sad one, but it was still better than the anger and desperation he'd seen on her for the past few minutes. "You should apologize more to Scootaloo. She's the one you said that to, silly." Yea, he did. Krystal's smile didn't last before her face turned serious again. "Is... is there anything I can do to help? With the Nightmare, I mean." Sin shook his head. He didn't know of any way she could, and honestly, he didn't want her to meddle with the creature any more than what was necessary. As far as he was concerned, the amber eyed pony had suffered enough. "Oh, okay." She said, shrinking a little. Sin was about to tell her it was alright, but was cut short. "Promise me." She said looking up at him again with imploring eyes. "Promise me that if it gets too bad, you'll tell me." The Federalist had no idea what she planned to do if he told her, but figured it was just for her own peace of mind. He could agree to that for her. "I promise." Krystal smiled again and leaned up to plant a quick kiss upon his cheek. Once she settled back down, reality suddenly caved in upon both of them and they realized where they were in terms of proximity and body positioning. Krystal immediately pulled away, her entire head turning a light shade of pink as began twirling her forehooves. Sin felt his own cheeks heat up a little and he already missed the comforting sense of Krystal's body against his own... despite the memory of his last loves betrayal against him. "Umm, we should get back to the cabin." Krystal suggested, smiling bashfully. Sin agreed and grabbed a few berries for the filly. Things were going to need to change between all of them, if this was going to work. Scootaloo was still angry with him, and that was an issue needing to be dealt with.