Cryo-7

by Metal Pony Fan

A Voice is Heard

"Tchk... tchk... tchk... tchk."

Twilight looked around the small washroom as she dried her mane with a towel. The clicking started a little bit after she got out of the shower, but it was hard to determine where it was coming from. Every so often, it would pause, then resume a moment later, and she could only hope that there were no problems with the ship, because she would not have the first clue how to repair

If the ship got stranded, she would have to hope it was close enough for her to fly to the nearest planet. And, her magic was returning to normal, so that range was smaller than it was yesterday. If only she had been able to wait for Celestia to arrive on Tirassa, then she wouldn't have to worry about it. The princess generated the first slipstream by her own magic, she could probably sustain one generated by a ship without breaking a sweat.

But, she wasn't able to wait. The Crimson Bolt, the ship Chairman Catch had given them, despite being one of the most advanced on Tirassa, had capabilities slightly below the average Assembly ship. Its quantum slipstream drive would only barely get them to the museum in time to stop the sale of the cryochamber.

"Tchk... tchk... tchk... tchk."

Whatever that sound was, it wasn't in here. And it wasn't accompanied by an alarm. Even given her limited knowledge of spaceships, she knew how much spaceship designers liked their sirens. Any serious problem was usually accompanied by klaxons and warning lights capable of making eyes and ears alike beg for death. Even minor problems, or things that weren't problems at all had their loud, attention grabbing chimes, bells, and whistles.

Draping her towel around her neck, she grabbed the bucket she left under the sink, and filled it with hot water. She would bring this out, then check the main computer and start a diagnostic to see if there was some minor problem causing the sound.

Whether or not she could fix it was another question entirely, and one she didn't want to dwell on.

"Tchk... tchk... tchk... tchk."

She walked out of the washroom, and into one of the ship's three sleeping quarters with her bucket as the clicking started again. The lights were down, and Astral was laying on the plush bed. His back was to her, and he was lightly tucked in under a sheet, since she wasn't sure if the heavy comforter would be comfortable over his injuries.

"Tchk... tchk... tchk... tchk."

Twilight frowned. Astral was making the noise. Was he clicking his tongue? At least it wasn't the ship.

"Twi?" The injured unicorn croaked, before clearing his dry throat. "Where are we? What are you carrying?"

The alicorn glanced at her bucket of water. He couldn't lift his head enough to look back, so she answered, "bucket of water, and we're on our new ship," as she walked around the bed. "You really are a thestral, aren't you? Echolocation?"

"Yeah, never got the hang of making a proper trill or sonar screech, so I have to settle for clicking my tongue." Astral managed a smile for her, despite feeling like putty left in the sun, faded and brittle, any movement might be the one to make him crack. Were he not always grey, he felt like his coat would be drained of color. "How long ago were we on Patch's ship talking about Thestrals and Nightponies?"

"Four days?" Twilight guessed. Her time locked away on the weather platform had messed with her sense of time. "Maybe three? You've been asleep for most of today, how much do you remember?"

"I remember getting shot," Astral tried to gesture to his injured side, but his good side was pinned under him, and he was sore enough that wasn't going to move to free it. The battle was clear in his memory, as was the trip to Tirassa, but everything after being teleported away from the crashed weather platform was hazy. He wasn't sure what was dream and what was real. "I faintly remember the hospital, being put under for surgery. You were there. And, I... I..." A blush hit his face as he recalled what he hoped was a dream.

"So, you remember licking me," Twilight said with a small nod, "good to know."

Astral couldn't bury his head far enough into his pillow.

"Oh, it's not that bad," Twilight laughed, "you were really sweet about it."

Astral lifted his head out of the pillow just enough to peek sideways at the smiling mare. "What else did I do?"

"What do you mean?"

Astral frowned. "Don't play innocent. If I was out of it enough that licked your face, I had to have said or done all sorts of embarrassing things. Tell me everything, now. I don't want you holding my pain-and-anesthesia-fueled ramblings over me."

"Face?" Twilight smirked. "Astral, you only licked my hoof. And then, you complained that I wasn't grape-flavored. Were you trying to lick my face?"

"What?! No! Why would-"

"I'd let you."

Astral's protests died as soon as his thought process hit the speed bump she so casually laid out. He looked over at her, expecting a smirk, or a laugh, not the tight-lipped, nervous smile she wore. "You mean, kiss, I hope."

She gave a small shrug. "If you wanted to."

Astral stared a bit. Something in him wanted to accept the invitation, if only to call her bluff, but he wanted something else far more. He worked his good hoof out from under him, with more than a little struggling and wiggling. His right side was too stiff to move.

He had barely lifted his hoof before Twilight took it in hers. She practically threw herself on the bed with him, wings folding gently around him as she wrapped both her hooves around his. He didn't even tell her that all he wanted was to hold her, to be close to her for at least one quiet moment after all the fighting and danger. She wanted it, too.

They both needed this. A moment of respite, a quiet, healing embrace.

"I'm so glad you're safe," Astral whispered, craning his neck to touch his forehead to hers.

"Don't say that. Not you, not after what you did," Twilight tearfully admonished, slowly shaking her head, rubbing the end of her nose against his, "You... had me so scared."

They stayed like that, not saying anything more, for a long time. Several minutes, letting the simple warmth of touch do the speaking for them, a time too short by far. But, Twilight pulled away after a moment, and busied herself with her bucket of water, and the small towels that sat folded beside the bed. "I'm sorry, I need to do this before I forget." She blinked and rubbed at her eyes, dunked the cloth, and wrung it out. "The doctor said warmth is good for your injuries. Twenty-four hours, and every four hours after that, minimum, I need to set a warm damp towel to keep the muscles relaxed. Or, as often as you feel like you need it."

Astral watched her. She wasn't crying, but she was close to it. He knew his own eyes were burning with the weight of unshed tears. How long had she been waiting for him? First, locked away, prisoner in that weather station, then waiting for him to come out of surgery, then waiting for him to even wake up. He had failed her. "I'm sorry."

She shook her head, closing her eyes as he blew a hole in the fragile dam holding back her tears. Why would he say that? Of all things, why was he sorry? She dragged him into this search. She failed to tell him that she wrote a runic spell to protect herself from high speed impacts. Bullet, aircar, meteor, didn't matter, she would phase out at the moment of impact if it was capable of injuring her. She was the one who should be sorry. And, for all this, he didn't complain. He didn't blame her. "Astral..." She pressed a cloth to his shoulder, careful not too press too hard. He took a sharp breath, preparing for a pain that never came, then relaxed as the heat seeped in, easing the tension in his shoulder. "How's that?"

"Good," he sighed. "That's so much better."

"Good," Twilight repeated with a smile. "Astral..." There were so many things she could say, so many she wanted to. She wanted to apologize. She wanted to explain that she didn't hold him accountable for a single thing that happened. She wanted to tell him that she loved him, and never wanted to see him hurt again, and that he could just stay on the next safe planet they found. But, she knew he never would. He would stay by her side until it killed him, or until she completed her mission, and nothing she could say would stop him. "Astral, thank you."

"You're welcome." He chuckled, then moaned in sweet relief as she placed another steaming towel on his hip. "But let's not to get in the habit of taking bullets for each other."

"Sounds like a plan," Twilight agreed. She wasn't sure if he would want to know, but she had recovered his gun. The enchantment she placed on it made it easy to find among the wreckage, and the extra pieces, the magazines, and all the spare ammunition, were still in her jacket pockets when she got it back. She had all of it locked up in the cockpit, in a small safe she found that seemed specifically designed for weapon storage.

She had seriously considered destroying it, back on the planet, the moment she found it. But, it was Astral's, she would let him make the decision when he was back on his hooves.

She laid another towel over his hindquarters, stifling a chuckle while he sighed. Water was getting everywhere, her fault, for not being more careful about wringing out the towels. "Astral, while those sit, I'm going to grab fresh sheets. Do you need anything?"

"Another pillow might be nice." He lifted his head, stretching his neck. "Maybe two. I'm not used to sleeping on my side like this."

"Two pillows, coming up." Twilight trotted off, out of the room. The door opened automatically for her, and closed behind her. This left her in a large corridor with tall windows providing a view of open space. Stars zipped by, and the energies of a slipstream swirled faintly. She took a moment to stare, slowly walking over to sit by the window.

This wasn't the first time she saw this, far from it, in fact. Free travel to other universities and prestigious academic conventions was a perk of her post at Luna's Academy. But she was so rarely alone on those trips. Public transportation was noisy, crying foals, complaining parents, and even private shuttles were usually packed with arguing scholars. It was different, here in this quiet hallway, just her, and the lights of star travel. It almost felt like she was alone in the universe.

"Well, except for Astral. I mean, he's right in the other room."

"Right," Twilight conceded, "except for him."

It took a beat or two for Twilight to register the other pony's presence, despite having responded to their statement. She scrambled back quickly once she did, wiping out over her own hooves before managing to turn and face herself, or, at least, herself from several years ago. She looked down at the smiling unicorn mirror, and quietly groaned. "And, now I'm hallucinating."

Her unicorn doppelganger shook her head. "You're not hallucinating."

"That's exactly what a hallucination would say," Twilight pointed out.

The other Twilight gave a shrug. "Can't argue there."

"Wait..." Twilight gasped in realization, tapping her hooves as her excitement got the better of her. "You're the echo! My magical echo from the interchange circuit. But, I have memories from you, I thought you got absorbed back into my consciousness."

"So did I," unicorn Twi admitted. "I think going full alicorn battle princess on those jerks who locked us up may have split us up again, because I'm now a separate entity within you. I guess that makes me sort of like Nightmare Moon, or Daybreaker, except you don't really have a terrible, psyche-breaking internalized trauma to turn you evil, well, except the whole torture room thing. You handled the pain, piss, discomfort, and sleep deprivation tactics like a champ, by the way, old us would never have lasted. So, you get stuck with boring, old, me."

"I'm sure you aren't that boring."

"I was stuck in a crystal for several millenia, counting every millisecond with the accuracy of an atomic clock. I can't think of anything more boring than that." The double shrugged, and changed the subject. "So... Astral... He's nice."

"Yeah," the real Twilight agreed quickly, "he is. Why am I worried about what you're going to say next?"

The double sat down, and brought her hooves together. "So, here's the thing, and I'm just gonna lay it all out. You, I, we... We knew the risks. We fixed that crystal knowing full well what could happen. Knowing that I could happen. I was prepared, because we knew the survival of Equestria's inhabitant's was more important, that the continuation of our species was more important. So, imagine my irritation when I find out that I haven't participated in said continuation of the species."

"Continua-" Twilight's eyes went wide. "Whoa! Back up! No, it's only been four years for me, I am not ready to be continuing anything just yet, least of all, this conversation."

Twilight walked away, heading through the nearest door she could find.

Her double was standing on the otherside. "Are you trying to walk away from an aspect of your personality?"

Twilight walked past her without stopping. "So what if I am?" She headed through the room, and through another door, ending up in one of the unused sleeping chambers.

The double was lying upside down on the bed. "You do know it won't work, right?"

Twilight nodded, tight lipped, keeping the expression of annoyance from her face. "Ok, now that I stop to think about it, I see your point."

Her younger self rolled over. "Great. So, look, it's just us. I'm you, you're me. Our conversations are basically happening in the privacy of your own thoughts. There's no reason for shame."

"It really doesn't feel that way." Twilight walked over, and grabbed the pillows from the bed.

"I was wondering if you remembered those." The double hopped off the bed and walked alongside Twilight as she headed out of the room. "Shouldn't you grab one more?"

Twilight looked at the pillows. "He only asked for two."

"One for you," the double corrected, "I already know you're planning to keep watch on him until he's walking again. I don't think he'd mind sharing the bed."

Twilight refused to look over as her face burned red. "Then you should know that would be far too risky given his injuries."

"Is it, Twi?" She put her hoof on the alicorn's shoulder, stopping her in the hallway. "Is it, really? It's a big enough mattress, and I really don't think he would mind if you climbed in next to him."

Twilight looked down at her, then at the empty space on the other side of her. "Aren't there supposed to be two of you? One's supposed to be an angel, and you're both supposed to be little. How'd I get stuck with one full sized little devil?"

"You do realize you don't have to do anything in bed, right?"

"I knew that!" Twilight defended quickly. "You're the one talking about continuation of the species!"

"Oh, yeah?" The double demanded, raising her voice. "Well, you asked for Catch to cast that spell on you without any input from me, so you can't tell me you weren't at least thinking of taking Astral for a test run."

"Oh, my god! Can you please not say it like that!"

"Look me in the eyes and tell me Astral is not the absolute perfect specimen for it!"

Twilight looked over, trying hard not blast the apparition out of existence. She didn't want to damage the ship on a futile effort to silence a fragment of her psyche. She took a deep breath, calmed herself, and exhaled slowly. "Fine, yes," she admitted to herself, "he's totally my type. Maybe once he recovers... Look, I just wanted to plan ahead, and leave my options open. Can we leave it at that?"

"That dark blue mane?"

Twilight threw her hoof up. "Of course we can't!"

"That kind voice?"

"Are we still talking about the same pony?"

"That rugged, athletic build, not too slender, not too bulky? Imagine that muscle and sinew under the dark glint of the Night Guard's armor, that perfect grey coat under dark plate. Those bright eyes, yellow or blue, both look so good, shining just for you as he removes his helmet."

"Please stop."

"As he drags you away from your books, over to the bed."

"No, really, please stop. It's really disconcerting to realize how much I've fantasized about this."

"Well, stop fantasizing, and start realitizing! Or, whatever. Do you think Astral will mind? Once he's a little better, of course. Hell, I bet he'd be willing to give it a go right now."

"There is a taser in the weapons locker, and I will zap myself if it makes you stop talking."

"Fine, open that door, and I will say five more words. That's it. Then I will leave you alone about this."

"Some how, I doubt that." But, there wasn't much else she could do. With a sigh, Twilight made sure she had the pillows, and opened the door.

The moment she saw Astral lying in bed was the moment her double whispered in her ear, "Itty bitty baby alicorn thestral."

Twilight froze in the doorway. Astral looked up at her, and she met his eyes before shutting the door. Once it was closed, she turned on her double. "Why?" She wailed, going red in the face. "Why would you do that to me?! I'm never going to get that image out of my head!"

"Cute, huh?"

"Freakin' adorable!"

"So, did you imagine purple with a blue mane, or-"

"Grey with a purple mane."

"Ooh, messy mane, big purple eyes?"

"Yeeees!!" Twilight fell to her knees. "I'm never going to get that out of my head. How am I supposed to look him in the eyes after this?"

The smaller Twilight shrugged, then poofed out of existence. Her final words echoing through the empty hallway. "Not my problem."

There were still two days of travel until Galvedon.

Comments

[Piemaster128]

BAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHHHAHH (Falls out of chair)

[Da Fennec]

Twilight isn't alone in not getting that image out of her head. Thestral alicorn foals SO CUTE though Unicorn Twilight is wrong Princess Twilight did everything she could thousands of years to make sure most of teh species on Equestria survived

[Thommyknocker]

Oh that funny and cute and very very funny

[Valkyrie]

Those are going to be very, very long two days.

Let's have some possible typos and other things I found in the text and wanted to ask about:

Astral tried to gesture to his injured side, but his good side was pinned under him, and he was sore enough that wasn't going to move to free it.

I cannot exactly put my finger on it, but it feels like something is missing in this fragment. Perhaps He wasn't going to move to free it?

If I was out of it enough that licked your face, I had to have said or done all sorts of embarrassing things.

Missing I, I guess. Or, to avoid repetition, could be altered to "to lick your face" (he typed while making two glaring repetitions in this very suggestion).

She scrambled back quickly once she did, wiping out over her own hooves

I honestly cannot find anything on this expression. What does it mean (rather obvious context aside)?

Twilight looked over, trying hard not blast the apparition out of existence.

Not to blast?

Some how, I doubt that.

Also tried searching on this, but for some reason got nearly no results. Isn't it supposed to be spelled as one word? Are both correct? All I found were those exact questions and no answers.

Oh, my god!

I cannot tell for previous chapters, and I am too lazy to search, and I realise it can be hand waved by saying she picked it up from whatever other specie, but all those aside... what god? :P

[Metal Pony Fan]

10191684
1&2 - Yes, these are good catches, I will fix.
3 - Wiping out=tripping or taking a fall
4 - Another good catch.
5 - As far as I know, both are technically correct, but one word is more common, I will probably change it.
6 - Handwave away, I struggled with this one, and which variant to use,"gosh," or, "goodness," or "goddess," were possible alternatives, but prose-wise, I felt this one had the best flow with the rest of the line.

[Blaster M]

10191684
Several light years away, Celestia's ears start burning...

jk

[Mr Swanky Hat]

Twilight trolling herself XD

[Turquoise pony]

"There is a taser in the weapons locker, and I will zap myself if it makes you stop talking."

[Noobblue]

A legitimate LOL from me. Twilight trolling herself is priceless, absolutely loved it. Not skipping over that moment of warmth though, lot of stuff they needed to say to each other done with an embrace rather than words. Poetic and wonderful. Keep up the good work!

Noobblue

[Timuri]

Absurd and hilarious. And the best part is that Astral likely heard a fair bit of Twilight's talk with herself.