The Seed of Hope

by Meadow_Dawn

4 - Arriving at Luminosia, the City of Ideas

The next day, Stalwart received his ticket and orders for relocation to Luminosia when he reported to his station. He wasn’t at all surprised when he saw it and his only regret was leaving some of his squad behind. He put together his belongings in his saddlebag, a larger bag riding on his back as he walked to check on Dawn.

Dawn was amusing to see in the morning. He knocked on her door and entered, only to find her mane and tail with bed-mane, and was sluggish in getting up.

“So, I’ve been transferred to Luminosia-” He started to say.

“And you’re here to pick me up huh?” Dawn asked groggily, rubbing at her eyes with her wrists.

“I… yeah. How’d you know?”

“Got some form from Dusk telling me to expect it and you’d be my escort there.” She said, yawning again as she tried to get out of bed, only to completely fall out of it.

Stalwart winced as he watched the mare demonstrate the antithesis of grace and land chin on the floor with rump and tail in the air. It took a great deal of effort not to laugh. “I see… Well, our ride is going to leave in a couple of hours, so we’d better get moving.

Stalwart waited patiently as the mare tried to get a brush to levitate. He watched the magic waiver, getting stronger and weaker at times, even once getting stuck in the mane before getting un-stuck. She then tried to do her best with the tail, getting readily frustrated with it. Finally, she finished and took a saddlebag that wasn’t there when he last visited and slowly put it on and put the brush away.

They walked to the entrance of the castle, Nightfall already was there and under watch by two guards. Stalwart eyed Dawn and noticed she kept looking to Nightfall, even opened her mouth a little as if she was going to talk along the way, but she grew silent and focused on the path ahead of them.

‘Probably wanting to talk or get some nervous energy out.’ He surmised. ‘The mare wouldn’t stay quiet at all through our time together… not that that has to be a bad thing.’

---

When the group arrived, the two guards left, though Dawn was reasonably sure they were staying in sight range to keep an eye on them all. They had barely been waiting fifteen minutes when she noticed Princess Dusk walking up to the platform, flanked on each side by Twilight Guards with their signature heavy armor.

"I see you three wasted no time in getting here." Dusk commented.

"Well, I hate being late in general, and on the way here, I realized I wanted to make sure I looked over this list of things Celestia asked me about.” Dawn tried to explain, using the spell she instinctively used earlier to pull out a scroll clumsily from the bag. “I'm familiar with the basic principle of many of these things, though not enough to have prototypes built…”

Dusk nodded as she looked to Nightfall.

Night shrugged, "Couldn’t sleep. Hard for me to settle down without something to do."

"Ah. Well, either way, I am glad I did not have to go and get anyone."

"You’re welcome, I guess." Dawn said, unsure how to take the comment. "Celestia said I should talk to you about these principles behind the devices, so maybe we can do that on the way if you’re boarding too?"

"I am." Dusk said.

"Cool. We can talk about that if you want. I can just write my answers on the way too if that’s easier and if I can manage the spell that long."

"Yes, you may join me in the royal car." Dusk said

"Nice. Still barely getting the hang of using telekinesis as it is, so saying it’s loads easier." Dawn grinned, setting the scroll back into her pack right as a loud whistle blew from the train. Dawn jumped in place at the sound, not having expected it and let out a pant as a hoof found its way to her chest to hold it.

"You ok?" Stalwart asked, surprised at her reaction.

"Yeah, guess I’m just easily startled." Dawn admitted with a shy smile, trying to downplay the issue.

"Hmm." Dusk hummed before she walked toward the back of the train.

Dawn wasn’t sure why Dusk hummed, but followed because of the invitation, and Stalwart and Nightfall followed suit.

They boarded the last train car, seeing it spread out like a spacious small apartment.

Dawn blinked in surprise. In hindsight, she knew she should have expected some luxury for royalty to travel in, but it was still an experience she was unused to. Flying coach on an airplane always meant only enough room to bump knees into the seat in front of you. Here it was like an apartment with the setup she saw. She tried to find a comfortable enough spot that Dusk wasn’t going to use, and got ready to discuss the technology's base concepts like Celestia had requested.

Dusk took a seat on the couch and looked at Dawn.

"So... where do you want me to begin?" Dawn asked, finally mentally ready.

"Preferably at the beginning."

"So... whatever the oldest tech is, or the easiest to explain or what?" Dawn asked, confused.

"I suppose the easiest."

Dawn nodded and began to explain air conditioning, saying the premise surrounding how compressed air heats up while decompressed air cools off rapidly, and various liquids can be used as a more lasting medium to ensure longer-term use, demonstrating most of it relied on electricity.

"Hmm… interesting."

Dawn nodded and tried to explain what she knew of telephones, how a coil would be used to register sound, then duplicate it on the other end with some amplification due to how electricity running in coils could create magnetic effects, which could then move speakers to imitate the sounds.

Dusk stared blankly at her, moreso than she usually would and Dawn grew nervous, trying to do her best to fill in the silence and train sounds with her own nervous talking and elaborating her understanding.

Eventually, Dawn moved on to guesses as to how things worked to help make up the technological gap, but it took a good half an hour after the list was more than adequately covered. When she ran out of things to cover, she fell into an awkward silence.

"Curious… I must admit, I did not understand most of that. I feel your home may have surpassed us since I only understood the air conditioning concepts because we have ponies attempting to make a non-magical means of cooling air."

"Oh..." she said, disappointed they didn’t understand. "Sorry, I had hoped it would be of more use."

"No, it is fine. I am sure your notes will be of use in the future."

"Ok, and hopefully it’ll help point in the right direction, even if it’s not quite right." Dawn said, feeling subdued. When all she got was a nod in return, she continued. “So, was there maybe anything that led questions to, or something else you wanted us to discuss entirely?”

"Not especially."

"Oh." Dawn said, looking at the table and thinking about how big of a change everything she covered would cause.

When Dawn did not speak for a bit, Dusk retrieved a book from the shelf and began to read

Dawn took that as her dismissal and moved to sit by Stalwart, feeling calmer around him after his support the other day. She began piecing together that Dusk wasn’t one for small talk, and Nightfall wasn’t saying much at all unless spoken to.

Nightfall kept to himself while Stalwart talked with Dawn about the public details of his assignment, things he was looking forward to in Luminosia, then began to talk about his placement testing since it came up.

“What placement testing?” Dawn asked.

“I’ve been considering joining the Twilight Guard for a while. There’s a bunch of different parts to the Royal Guard, and I’d been shooting for Captain of the Guard somewhere like my dad and grandfather. Truth of the matter is I won’t reach that rank anytime soon because of how many soldiers there are in the Royal Guard that could be worth promoting.” Stalwart explained, “Might sound a bit lazy, but I stand a better chance of standing out in a more specialized part of the guard.”

“Kinda makes sense. I’d think more soldiers would also mean more administration and leadership positions, but maybe I’m wrong. Why that branch?”

“Because when somepony joins the guard, you’re tested to see if you meet any of the qualifications to join some of the branches. I passed the tests for the Twilight Guard, though I’d like to think it was because of my family’s ‘shield’ name being passed down.” He chuckled.

“That has no bearing on our tests.” Dusk said impassively, not even looking up from her book.

“True, but it’s fun to make up answers for the new recruits.” He chuckled. “Only to tell them the truth of course.”

“So what’s their specialty?” Dawn asked.

“Heavy armor and the like. Front line and area control work.” Stalwart said.

“Sounds dangerous…” Dawn said.

The pair continued to make idle talk as the train rode on into the setting sun’s horizon. The trip approached the end of its third hour and nighttime had started abruptly, something that still made Nightfall and Dawn flinch, and a glow started to appear in the horizon in the place of the sun.

Dawn spotted the glow, at first thinking it was the sunset, but it was too white for that. She took a second look, then began grinning. "Don't tell me you guys have Las Vegas over here!"

"Las Pegasus you mean?" Stalwart asked, surprised at the close guess to the name. "That’s a few hours south and a lot more west at the moment."

"No, it’s night." Dusk said simply, as if that explained everything as the glow was getting closer.

"Right, and I can see all the lights from here." Dawn said, unperturbed by their corrections. "so your city has a night-life huh?"

Stalwart snorted with a smile of amusement.

"It has life." Dusk said.

"You knew what I meant, a figurative one." Dawn said, not believing they meant to take her literally. "I might not stay up too late myself, but its good information to know."

"I did get what you meant, and no it, doesn’t have a night-life. It is always active." She said

"Dusk, that’s a yes in my book, just not that the night-life ever ends. It’s like how Las Vegas is called the city that never sleeps. Yours gives that impression." Dawn clarified

She said nothing as they neared the city and she marked her page before putting it away as the light grew brighter.

Dawn waited with mild excitement and watched as she considered what would be coming up for them while Nightfall seemed to keep to himself in a mildly dour mood.

A massive city began to come into view, most buildings with white walls, torches, and oil lamps dotted the city streets and reflected the moonlight in its own picturesque way. Above the city there was enough light shining that a row of lights in the air could faintly display an airship moving through the night sky, reminding Dawn of a zeppelin before it went out of sight from the buildings and bridges the train went between and under.

"Nice." Dawn nodded approvingly, "A bit more oil lamps than I expected... half thought that you'd have tungsten filament bulbs by now, but…" She facehoofed and asked, "That was something else I didn't explain yet huh?"

"No." Dusk said simply, ready to hear yet another piece of information that their world had.

"Whelp, here we go again." She said, getting a quick sheet of parchment and tried to give as much of an explanation of the details that she could with diagrams, how when a specific current goes through it, light is emitted, as well as heat, and while she wasn't quite sure how much tungsten was needed, or how much current, it was easier to make than the LEDs that she only knew what the name stood for that were much more energy-efficient. She explained how they generally had a vaccuum or low pressure internally, and how she guessed it helped with its longevity. Best part was that when the bulb 'died', it didn't leave a mess and the only danger it poses to health is catching things on fire just from prolonged heat exposure.

"We don’t exactly have electricity… Well, outside of unicorn powered things or the few things we power by lightning." Dusk said. "But that is so costly and time consuming there is no way we could power a city."

"Right, it's why we've typically tried to harness either renewable energy like building a dam and letting water run over the motorwheels to generate the current, using steam to do similarly, or even windmills and solar panels." Dawn nodded, recognizing the issues.

"Wait, water will actually work?" Dusk asked, "Polarize will want to meet you."

"Possibly... that’s if and only if what I remember about magnets and copper coils actually being right and the rules here are the same. It boils down to manipulating the protons in the atoms, but that’s way beyond what I remember from school." Dawn said before Nightfall stamped his hoof down.

"Dawn... are you done spoiling every bit of tech you can think of without thinking through the consequences?" Nightfall asked with a grating tone, almost through gritted teeth.

"Proton? Atoms?" Dusk said before he stamped his hoof and Dusk looked to him. "Something wrong?"

"Yeah, she's just dropping info that might not even be the same here without any kind of thought on how this could affect the world even if it is right." Nightfall replied while glaring at Dawn.

"I prefer to think of it as helping repay them for helping us." Dawn pouted. "I'll have to explain later it seems, Princess Dusk. I know not all of it is understood now, but if it is the same, it might help much later down the line."

"Either way, our scientists will want to speak with you… especially about that using water to make power as there is a test of that scheduled in the next couple of weeks."

"I'm willing to do so." Dawn nodded. "I doubt our education or keeping us integrated is cheap, and I hope it helps make up for it."

Nightfall rolled his eyes and looked away.

"Meh, it’s minor." Dusk said, waving a hoof. "Compared to the other things I spend my bits on anyway."

Dawn nodded and looked back to the city, thinking about what else she might remember they could use. There's bound to be plenty of things school had taught her that could be of use. She would make her part in helping out this world for sure, and beamed that feeling out to the city.

Soon the train was pulling into a large, mostly glass terminal, suggesting to everyone it was time to depart.

Dawn made sure she had her things, what little there were, and made sure she followed Dusk. Nightfall was behind her and Stalwart brought up the rear.

The train station had massive skylights, showing the sky as well as statues of ponies everywhere. Murals were plentiful, white marble as a base and designed with form and function in mind, even with the large fountain they passed as they entered the main doorway to the city.

Dawn smiled approvingly. She liked what she saw and continued to look around.

They stepped through the large doors and seemed to be led into a world of architecture she never had a chance to see before. Buildings seemed to almost naturally be present, as if nature itself had a hand in the location of the city, and the people merely stumbled upon it and made slight alterations to dwell among it in tune with what it had in mind.

The buildings were mostly white with red tiles covering the rooves nearby, though some other colors could be seen in the distance. The massive fountain had hedges around it, but cafes were plentiful along with kiosks and small restaurants. Ahead was a large statue on top of a mountain of marble, a pony in armor with a shield on its side and sword in its mouth. The figure held a defiant look despite subtle signs of exhaustion against the unseen enemy. A bronze plaque was at the base of the fountain for anyone to read.

"Whoah..." Dawn said, thoroughly impressed by the display and theming throughout the city.

Dusk said nothing as she walked through the crowd. Every pony they passed greeted her and bowed, to which Dusk nodded to each and every one of them in acknowledgment.

Dawn followed along, hoping she wouldn't get too much attention for being more clearly escorted through the city. Nightfall simply took it in stride by looking like he didn’t care, and Stalwart sighed contentedly.

"Always did miss visiting this place." Stalwart said.

They walked past the fountain, Dusk having a rather slow and relaxed gait.

Dawn spotted a large museum dedicated to magic on the way to wherever they were headed, then one to history, then pegasi, then unicorns, even seeing one for earth ponies and one for shovels. The idea confused her, yet she saw art galleries, large well-tended parks with fountains and statues of ponies. She saw a large university that proclaimed its dedication to teaching advanced magics, and all along she saw houses big and small that all had different designs yet somehow melded into this cohesive design that Dawn couldn’t deny was elegant in its own eclectic way.

Dawn couldn’t help but chuckle quietly at the sight of foals who came up to Dusk to ask questions. It caused a small delay, yet she stopped for each of them to answer a question with her characteristic stoic but detailed manner until the parents intervened to retrieve the foals. The parents would always apologize profusely with many bows, which in turn would have Dusk inform them of where to go to get more information for the foal if they so chose, and then would resume walking once more.

Stalwart eyed Dawn, not being noticed by her. He found it intriguing that she said she had no interest in having foals, yet it was clear this mare seemed to have a soft spot for them if his judgment meant anything.

Nightfall nodded approvingly about how the situations were handled, as well as his evaluation of how the city was designed. As much as it didn't have some of the tech he was used to, it was definitely the kind of city he wanted to be in for patrols once he knew the place.

“I can tell the ponies here are very proud of their city,” Dawn commented, continuing to look around and feeling pleased with the nature of the city and its buildings, “not to mention it was designed and planned out well even to my untrained eye.”

“Thank you,” Dusk said as she led them toward the massive walled-off area of the city with Equestrian banners on it. They continued to approach a large gate that had many ponies coming and going, mostly going. “I oversaw every step.”

"Nicely done." Dawn repeated her compliment, following along as Nightfall fell into his usual 'casual' observance of passersby.

Dusk gave a nod, finishing their approach to the gate in the wall. Three Twilight Guards stood, yet not one of them spoke to any of the ponies coming in or out of the castle, no matter how heavy or steady the stream was. Despite this, they bowed to Dusk.

Once the group had crossed the threshold, it felt to Dawn like they had entered yet another new world. The path they were on led to a small fountain, a unicorn mare in armor holding a sword in magic looking out defiantly at the gate, also with a plaque at the bottom as most seemed to have. On the right side of the path were rows of odd plants that had a similarly ‘odd but sweet’ smell coming from them, while on the other was an almost wild, overgrown area with trees, vines, and other vegetation that made it look dark and dense except for the path. What surprised Dawn was the rain that fell, as it only fell on the dense area to the left, yet hardly anything went to the right or on the path other than a small drizzle. It reminded her heavily of a jungle from the warm yet humid environment it kept.

‘I don’t know how this is even remotely possible… yet no one is questioning it.’ Dawn thought to herself, feeling quite out of place. ‘Even Nightfall isn’t saying much about it or reacting. Maybe I should ask something else...’ Dawn took a breath and spoke, knowing it was somewhat out of the blue. “So I see some of the guards around, what’s the difference between some of the branches of the guard?”

"The different guards each specialize in different fields and situations." Dusk said as they passed the statue.

‘Gee… no kidding Dusk.’ Dawn thought, ‘That’s a child’s- er, foal’s answer…’

"The Twilight guard specializes in heavy weaponry and heavy armor like we covered on the train. Really tough situations or front line work. The solar guard is general peacekeeping and daylight efforts. The lunar guard is for nighttime issues, search and rescue, things like that." Stalwart volunteered. “We can cover that more once we’re inside.

"Oh cool." Dawn nodded, noticing the path they were taking and how few ponies were around to where it was almost deserted. Maybe it was still safe to talk about things like when they were on the train. "I know some ended up splitting it based on the ground vs air vs sea, like what I’m used to, though I still never understood how the navy had some of the air support or were the ones focused on space flight."

"What flight?" Stalwart asked, thinking quietly, ‘Mare… you’re talking about this stuff in broad daylight practically! Everything screams that you’re not from Equestria! I need to get this in a report and get Dusk to get her to know when to talk about that stuff!’

"Space, the lack of stuff between the planet and the moon and sun?" Dawn said, looking at him with confusion.

Dusk stopped, the others following suit and staring at Dawn, or a glare in Nightfall’s case. Dusk slowly faced the green mare with intense eyes. "You mean… you’ve been to the void… and lived?"

"Me personally? Nooo." She said with a brief head and hoof shake. "But we’ve had four space shuttles that could do it with the help of teams of people coordinated on the ground and the astronauts who went up. Only remember two names though, Explorer and Discovery. Beat another country to the moon, put a flag down, and safely got back about 50 or 60 years ago. Why?"

"You left the planet… How is that possible?" She said staring at Dawn openly.

"It took a lot.” Dawn answered, understanding they likely didn’t mean on a personal level. “High focus on science, understanding the nature of our world, physics ‘n all. I understand fuel ended up being liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen as the main boosters to escape the atmosphere, but that stuff is super volatile and dangerous if not handled exactly the right way."

Nightfall sighed and waited, clearly not thrilled she was giving away so much. Stalwart observed the two, returning his main focus to Dawn, who espoused completely foreign ideas without a second thought.

"How do you make a gas a liquid?" Dusk asked with an ever so slight deviation in her voice that those with experience would tell was confusion.

"So any given element is a solid up to a certain temperature, at which point it will melt into a liquid, then another temperature higher up is its evaporation point and is a gas. Haven’t had anything that broke that rule yet." Dawn explained. "Now how they get those so cold it becomes liquid, I have zero idea, but I know that’s the principle behind it."

Dusk stared at her openly, Stalwart giving a similar expression.

Dawn blinked, shuffling in place in nervousness, "What? That’s what little I know... I mean, at least on the fuel anyway."

"You need to talk to our scientists… This is beyond anything we’ve ever even heard of in the craziest of theories."

"Dusk, I mean zero disrespect here, but those scientists are extremely smart and the best of the best. I may be taught basic concepts in school, but I’m not a rocket engineer or an astronomical engineer. It’s much like how you might have a few ponies who can do extremely complicated spells, but everyone else is still taught the general idea behind how the spell works. I can say I have seen one of the four shuttles that got donated to a museum among other things that I’m surprised I still remember from twenty years ago. If you don’t believe me, that's fine." She said, trying to stand her ground as she misunderstood what Dusk intended, "For all I know, your physics might prevent any of what I’m saying from working. I have no idea. I’d have to take you to my place to show you.”

‘This mare… how the buck did that even remotely address the idea that she needs to pass this stuff on to our scientists?’ Stalwart thought, struggling to keep his confusion from being transparent.

Dusk had no such reservation and blinked, “Right… Anyway, tomorrow I’ll introduce you to Dr. Blast. She will want to talk to you.

Dusk turned around and began walking once more, as if no other statements were needed.

"Ok…" Dawn replied with similar confusion as she walked on, feeling like she was missing something..

"So…” Stalwart began to speak, deciding to play innocent and asked, “you were being serious about that?"

"Of course." Dawn said, looking at him with her confusion fading to a mild persistence. "I don’t have anything to gain by making it up, do I?"

“The attention of Princess Dusk and her researchers come to mind…” Stalwart pointed out.

“Oh…” Dawn said, pausing as she said, “Yes, I’m serious.”

“Ah… I just haven’t heard of anyone on Equus doing what you said and it sounds like a fantasy novel idea.” Stalwart said, dropping a subtle hint.

“Oh.” Dawn said, her voice dropping as she realized just how much she rambled about something to someone that shouldn’t have been in the know… on the other hand, she felt mildly comforted that he seemed to give her a correction, which told her he might be in on it but shouldn’t say more. “No comment.”

Stalwart simply chuckled, Dusk not having said any more as the group soon reached the castle’s doors, being met with yet another museum. Dawn was mildly surprised at the first impression of the place is yet another museum, and she was glad to know she wasn’t the only one when Nightfall spoke up.

"Where are we now?"

"My castle." Dusk said as the passed a tour guide leading a group of out-of-town ponies to a set of armors that looked very old.

The walls were covered in old paintings, documents behind glass as well as display cases with weapons, armor, clothing, and other items, even lined with other statues as they made their way to the stairs.

"Your castle is a museum?" Nightfall asked, skeptical.

Dawn looked around passively, rather having expected to be put in an apartment or something, not the castle.

"Just the first three levels." She said as she began to walk up the stairs.

"Oh..." Dawn said, blushing as she realized she was probably going to be worn out after all those stairs.

"Something wrong?" Stalwart asked.

"Just worried for hopefully no reason. I was very out of shape from having a desk job, and I'm hoping I won’t be panting for breath when we get wherever we are going." Dawn admitted.

"You'll get used to it." Dusk said as she climbed the steps, eventually reaching a guarded door. Once they were through, they entered another set of stairs where there weren’t any guests.

Dawn frowned but said nothing as the group followed. She only ended up mildly panting for breath after finishing all the stairs and felt pleased as she hid her heavier breathing, trying to force it to be quiet.

They arrived at a hall decorated with paintings, yet had a pair of guards at periodic paces through the hall, no one else in sight. They traveled along it to an outer area, where there was a window and it displayed the city just barely above the tall walls.

Dawn soldiered on, looking around out of sheer boredom but not being as interested in the art on display much more. Nightfall simply noted the locations of each guard, keeping it in mind for later should the need arise. It wasn’t much longer before they paused at a door.

"This is your room Night.” Dusk informed. “You may use it till I can arrange other lodgings out of the castle."

Nightfall nodded, then went inside with no other preamble. Dawn was surprised at the lack of reaction, then looked to Stalwart and Dusk for direction on what she should do, only to find Dusk had started walking again. She frowned, then began blushing lightly as she realized she was getting a room in the castle too.

"And this will be your room." Dusk said when they arrived at another door a minute later.

"For how long?" Dawn asked, not sure how comfortable she should get.

"Till other living arrangements can be made, if you wish."

"No, no! This is good, I just worried this might be only temporary and didn't know how long I'd be staying." Dawn said. “I get a bit nervous and anxious when I don’t know what to expect.”

"Well, I do not care either way, but if you’d like to stay I need to know."

"I would like to stay for as long as you’ll have me, thank you." Dawn said, giving a bow and going inside.

"I'd better check in to the guard." Stalwart said to Dawn before she closed the door, then turned to Dusk once the door was closed. "That one knows a lot… even with what she says she's forgotten."

She nodded. "Quite. Dr. Blast will want to have a word with her… or a few hundred."

"That’s an understatement… I don't know what budgets you're giving her, but if she does manage to give different ideas that improve our nation, my vote would be to extend it in thanks… Though I know that doesn’t really change much." he said quietly, "I mean if ponies could go to the void like she says… that opens up a lot of ideas and dreams."

"If she’s telling the truth and not just trying to curry favor or work an angle anyway." Dusk said as they walked. "Dr. Blast will be able to figure it out, maybe, but a lot of what she says I question on whether or not it’s real or it’s just made up because it is so out there that it sounds like the ramblings of an insane mind."

"Fair point." He said, "always best to keep a level head. How soon can she be seen and can I be a part of that detail?"

"I imagine Dr. Blast would want to see her as soon as possible once I inform her and you are assigned as her guide."

He nodded and began to follow Dusk down the hall as she began her journey through the castle, "so assume tomorrow. What should my cover story be beyond that I’ve been reassigned here? I have a few days off and thought she'd want company?"

"That was up to you in your assignment, Staff Sergeant.” Dusk informed him, eying his stance as she questioned his assignment. “She won’t know anything so it’s not as if much has changed.”

"Just confirming options and restrictions before I act so everyone’s stories are straight." Stalwart responded, quickly recognizing he was being second-guessed. “Going with a couple of days of leave before starting my duties in the guard with encouragement to explore the city and familiarize myself with it, offering to bring her with me to learn the town together then. I’d better get some rest. By your leave, Princess?

"Your room is next to hers." Dusk said, continuing on her way.

"Thank you." He said, returning the way he came and smiling at the room that was practically next door.

He certainly didn’t plan to violate his promise to take advantage of the mare, but he couldn’t deny he was pleased with the closeness to a cute mare overall. He soon set down his travel pack and saddlebags, knowing that it was almost certain that Dusk was speaking to Dr. Blast. It also wouldn’t surprise him if she didn’t trust his intentions and would increase security due to both the guests and himself, but he wasn’t about to make the choice justified anytime soon...