Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Dsarker]

Friesden's sadness is gone now, replaced with anger. "Don't speak about my mom that way. She wouldn't shoot Jaxler! She's a guard!" She turns her back on Granite. "Please leave."

[L1wW]

"A guards job is to protect ponies by harming bad ones. Jaxler was bad, therefore he was shot at. Falcata, you were there, what happened with Jaxler getting arrested?" Granite says, he takes a look at the alicorn next to Falcata. "You seem familiar from somewhere..."

[Omicega]

.

[Dsarker]

"I...I...I think I am, Falchi...Just...Just Granite here. He...I don't think he'd harm me."

[L1wW]

"Falcata, I've been trying to explain myself to Friesden about not seeing her, you know, because I got shot by a crossbow when Jaxler was getting arrested, anyway Friesden won't believe a word I say, maybe you could shed some light." Granite said. His voice drops to a whisper only Falcata could hear. "Er... if it would make Friesden breakdown then don't say who took the shot... or if you think that wouldn't prevent her breaking down then just say I'm wrong... I don't want Friesden to be hurt..."

[Omicega]

.

[L1wW]

"Falchion, I assure you I would never think of harming Friesden, I'd rather die before strike her." Granite says. "Nothing will ever change that."

[Dsarker]

"If...If that's true, why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you ask Panacea to get me? I...No. Granite, no. No more."

[L1wW]

"Sorry, I woke up in a hospital bed with Panacea getting her assistant to knock me out. Then I woke up again to see my kidney on a tray next to the bolt that was beside me. I also didn't want you to see me stuck in a hospital bed. I thought that might be a bit too much for you after the incident with the assassin."

[Dsarker]

"Granite. I'm not a feeble filly anymore. Just...Just go. Goodbye, Granite."

[L1wW]

"As you wish..." Granite turns away from her and walks away. He turns his back on the love of his life. "Don't let her see you cry." Granite whispers to himself. He walks away from the happiness of his life. "Just keep walking Granite, just keep walking..." Granite whispers again. He goes home, a shell of the stallion he once was. Granite failed.

[Kryptid]

This takes place a week or so after Indigo visited her. The new avatar is for Chestnut; her colors are an eyesore, aren't they? Hehe...

Experimenting with Magic

Attempting to relax as she laid across the cloud-patterned sheets of her bed, Sarissa perused a book which she had brought from home long ago. It was titled "The Beginner's Guide to Magic", and it was the only book on the subject that she possessed. Intended for young foals, the material within was very basic in nature. It explained some of the fundamental theory behind magery, safety precautions when practicing the magical arts, and some easy, common spells such as telekinesis. It didn't cover the advanced subjects that Sarissa wanted, but at least it was a good starting point.

Beside the book were several sheets of paper with notes written down. Some of the writing were quotes that came from other books she had read in the past. The rest was a combination of diagrams and numbers she had drawn up from her own studies. The frustrated unicorn rubbed her face; she had yet to solve the fundamental flaw with her Vitalsight spell. Although she was beginning to gain an understanding of why it worked at all, she was still missing some vital information.

There was a translucent glass jar on Sarissa's nightstand, within which was a treefrog she had captured earlier in the day. She fired up her Vitalsight spell, causing the world to disappear into blackness. As always, the frog disappeared from sight as well. She then stared at her own hoof, revealing red, glowing veins. Time to do some more tweaking.

The unicorn began to mentally feel for the Strings of Fate that bound the world together. Before her was an amazingly complicated assortment of mystical fibers, each one vibrating at its own frequency and loaded under a specific tension. It was like some fantastically giant, three-dimensional spider's web, but far more complex and fluid. Manipulating these strings was how all unicorns did their magic, but adjusting the strings that connected to one's very own eyes was never an easy thing to do. Some time in the past, however, Sarissa had managed to locate the strings that affected sight and concentrated on those.

She decided to be safe about it and only work on the strings in her left eye. That way, if something went wrong, she would still have one good eye to perform her duties with. That was the theory, anyway. Sarissa had concluded that the reason that she was able to see mammalian blood was because the frequency and tension of the strings in her eyes already closely matched those that made up the blood of mammals. This was probably due to the fact that she herself had mammalian blood flowing through the vessels in her eyes. If she wanted to see the blood of other species, she'd have to match the characteristics of the strings to that of the novel blood types.

As she felt for the strings that made up the frog's blood, she could see that they were vibrating far too quickly for her to possibly count them normally. Trying to eyeball the frequency of those vibrations would have been as difficult as to trying eyeball how far away the Moon was. The axe-lord would have to find the right combination of frequency and tension through trial and error. She spent hours manipulating one of the strings in her left eye, writing down any notable effects when she found them.

For most combinations of tension and frequency, nothing obvious changed about her vision. Sometimes something unusual would pop up, but the results weren't very useful. At a frequency of 1,320 cycles per second and the tension reduced to about half normal, her vision of the world was cast only in shades of blue. At 1,330 cycles and double the standard tension, everything became as blurry as if she had opened her eyes under water. She had a moment of panic at 1,410 cycles and 3.2-fold the tension, as the eye became blind. Thankfully, the subsequent loss of concentration cancelled the spell and her sight instantly returned to normal.

Finally, something interesting began to happen at 1,440 cycles and 5.2-fold. Something of the frog was beginning to show up in her Vitalsight; a dark red smudge. Sarissa drew a quick breath in excitement; she was getting close. She slowly increased the tension to 5.4-fold. The smudge began to grow more pronounced and brighter. At 5.7-fold, she could almost see individual vessels, but the image was still blurry. She ramped it up further to 5.8-fold; she had never pulled one of the Strings of Fate so tightly before. The unicorn became aware of an unusual buzzing noise coming from the string in question, but initially ignored it. The image of the frog's circulatory system was almost perfect. Just a bit more...

At last, six times the baseline tension was reached and the frog's blood became as crystal clear as her own. Grinning from ear-to-ear, the copper mare let out a cheer of "Yes!", even though nopony else was around to hear her proclamation of victory. The string was now buzzing violently. Unable to withstand the force placed upon it any longer, it snapped. Sarissa's excitement was suddenly struck down by a sharp, stabbing pain in her left eye. She grunted at the unexpected sensation, pressing a hoof onto the affected area. Nervously, the mare slowly opened the eye and was greeted by a fuzzy vision of her room tinged with pink.

She scampered over to the mirror to examine the damage. Her left eye was blood-shot and decorated with a distinctive red blotch beside the iris. "Crap! What have I done?! What have I done?!" Sarissa yelped. I'd better get this looked at. Just before leaving, she quickly jotted down another note on one of her papers: "1,440 cycles + 6-fold tension = AVOID!!!"

Not taking the time to put on her armour, she simply left her room and headed straight to the hospital. The bright light of the Sun caused the eye to sting worse, so she squinted it shut in an attempt to bring some relief to it. Quickly reaching the entrance, she knocked on the door to the first office she could find, "Panacea! Chestnut! You guys in there?!"

The door is pulled open by a very concerned unicorn mare.  Chestnut sees Sarissa's stricken expression and motions for her to come inside.  She just barely managed to notice the spot on her eye when she asks, "What's the matter?  Are you hurt?"

"I-I was messing around with magic, and something went awry. Th-there's something wrong with my eye! It hurts and I can barely see out of it!"

That... could be bad.  Chestnut gestures for her to move where the lighting was a bit more amicable to diagnosis and takes a closer look.  She wasn't quite sure what she was looking at though, this was a bit outside her domain.  "Oh, I see... let me get a better look," she says, trying to buy time to think.

"...i-is it going to be alright?" Sarissa asked fearfully. If she had done permanent damage to that eye, it could hamper her ability to see and hit her targets. It might also create a blindspot on her left side that adversaries could take advantage of. The last thing she wanted was to fall behind the other soldiers because of a stupid mistake on her part.

Chestnut examines her eye as best she can visually before concluding that she could come to no conclusion.  "Hold on a second..." she says as her horn flickers briefly.  "It looks like you just burst a blood vessel, which will be fine.  You shouldn't be having any trouble seeing out of it though."

"Just" burst a blood vessel? Something like that isn't a big deal? "Well, vision in that eye is blurry, and it still kind of stings. Not to mention that it hurts more if I look at bright light." Sarissa thought for a second, "I was pulling on one of the Strings of Fate that connected to that eye...but I pulled too hard and it snapped. That's when all of this started. Does that help you any with a diagnosis?"

"Hmm..." Chestnut vocalizes as she thinks and examines the eye magically.  A blistered retina, that was not good.  "It does look like you hurt yourself a bit more than is obvious."  She pauses the body reading spell and thinks for a moment.  "Don't worry though, I think we can get you fixed up in just a moment..."

Sarissa's pupils shrank, "...i-it's worse than you thought?" Though initially tense, Chestnut's second statement helps to relax her.

"Well, I mean there was a bit more you can't just see with your eyes," she says in response as she flips through a book.  Aha, there's the spell she was after.  "This should help though."  Chestnut's horn flickers again with a pale gold, circled by green wisps of magic.  As the spell completes, Sarissa feels the pain in her eye drain away to tolerable levels, and her blurry vision mostly corrects.  She can actually make out Chestnut's expression with her bad eye now.  "There, how's that?"

Rubbing her near-regenerated eye, the axe-pony sighs in relief, "Ah...that's a lot better. There isn't any pink tinge to my vision anymore, and I can see things pretty clearly now. Thank you." She blinked several times, noting the marked reduction in the stinging. "So...should I do anything to keep this eye protected until it completely heals? Or is it all better now?"

Chestnut thinks a moment and steps over to a nearby chest to fish out an eyepatch.  "It should get better on its own, but this will help," she says, offering it to Sarissa with her magic.  "If nothing else it'll help reduce the pain if you're out in the sun.  Try to stay indoors as much as you can."  Truthfully she wasn't sure how much better it would get, but she was feeling optimistic about it.

Accepting the item, the blonde unicorn placed the strap around her head. "Thanks again. I'll be more careful from now on." She begins to walk out of the office, "See you later, Chestnut." Sarissa was feeling a bit self-conscious walking around with an eyepatch on. What might the other ponies think? Well, whatever they thought, they'd best keep it to themselves if they knew what was good for them...

----------

Laying in her bed that night, Sarissa stared at the wall as she groaned in disappointment. How am I supposed to make my spell work if the force needed will snap the string and blow my eyes out? Charging her horn, she twirled a bit of the unkempt yellow mane that had fallen over her forehead with her magic. It was much akin to how a human woman might wrap a finger up in her long hair if she were bored. She singled one strand out and pulled at it a bit. If you were that string, how would I keep you in one piece? The unicorn then went back to messingly around aimlessly with her hair.

She paused as a thought crossed her mind. Grabbing a larger mass of her hair with her telekinesis, she realized that many hairs together are much stronger than a single hair. Could that really be it? If she were to spread the needed force through several of the Strings of Fate instead of just one, each individual string would only carry a fraction of the critical level of tension. Her heart skipped a beat at the revelation. As much as she wanted to experiment with that idea right now, Sarissa decided to wait until a later date when her eye was healed. If something were to go wrong yet again, the damaged eye could become permanently blind. Or worse. Rolling over, the copper mare sighed with a smile; at least now she could go to sleep with a sense of hope.

[Maklak]

(( 24th Timber, 261:  Kit gets wounded in the caverns.  ))

Contrary to Indigo's suggestion there wasn't a temporary camp inside the caverns with one or two squads on permanent guard duty. Instead, both the soldiers and the masons were rotated in and out, the reason being that the caverns made ponies uneasy and they missed the sun. Also contrary to Indigo's suggestion, the reserves were assigned to guard the caverns, but since building a hoofhold there was his idea in the first place, he accepted. Not that he had a choice.

The reserves have just descended the stairs and are about to enter the airlock and replace Partisan's squad. Jaxler's ear twitches as he get near a junction. He hears a slight ruffling from one of the corridors, so he loads a bolt into his crossbow. The dark places of the world are home to most of this world's greatest abominations. Anything from a blinded dragon to a spider comprised of fire could be waiting for them. "Quiet… I heard something." The pegasus says softly.

Nopony is stupid enough to ask "Hear what?" they just stand still and listen. There seems to be somepony calling for help from the mines, so after only a moment's hesitation Indigo says "move", intensifies his light spell and they all run towards the sound.

The ponies run into a lone guard pegasus fighting a Draltha, with another one close by. Jaxler aims, while the three other ponies run in front of him and charge. He curses, and shoots the other monster instead. If falls dead after a few bolts to the head, so Jaxler charges the one everypony else is fighting, not wanting to accidentally shoot any other ponies. It is over before he can break the distance, though.

Indigo doesn't have time to think. Screaming “GUARDS! MONSTER ATTACKING!”, he leads a charge against the monster fighting the grey pegasus. She is wounded and fights for dear life with her crossbow. When the Draltha fighting Kit sees three new ponies, it faces the new threat. Using group tactics, they circle around it, with one pony defending, and two other flanking and hitting it. Axes prove a devastating weapon against unarmed opponents, even this large and the Draltha is quickly severely wounded. After that Indigo manages to cut off its head and the fight is over almost as quickly as it started.

Just after the fight, Indigo and Oil Macepony turn their light spells into a searchlights and quickly check the surrounding area for more monsters. They see and hear nothing, so they decide, it is clear and switch their light spells back into spheres. Indigo faces the wounded mare. “Kat? What are you doing here alone?”

“I.. heard a.. noise..” Kit whimpers, panting and gasping for air as she slumps onto the ground. Her hoof is smashed and she is heavily bruised everywhere as well. It was a miracle  that the poor little pony didn't get smashed into a pulp by that Daltra. Her crossbow is too damaged to shoot.

Indigo takes a look at the gray pegasus. She is severely wounded in a hoof. “Jaxler, give me your flask.”

Jaxler shrugs and does as told. “Fine, but why exactly do you plan on doing with it?”

“We need to disinfect the wound.” Indigo turns to the mare and shoves the handle of his Axe into her mouth. “It will hurt, so bite this.” The militia captain takes Jaxler’s flask, sniffs it, and pours some of it on her wound, fine-tuning the flow with telekinesis. Kit just groans in pain. Indigo pulls some bandages out of his saddlebags and hastily puts them on her leg. When he is done, he begins “We need to get you to the hos...” then looks at the fallen Draltha, walks a few steps away and retches. As the adrenaline rush stops, he just stares at the corpse and shakes. His light spell collapses, but not that of Oil Macepony and the rest of ponies still have lamps.

Jaxler takes note of Indigo's weak stomach. How could such a green soldier be put in command of an entire unit? “Get a hold of yourself, stallion! You realise your acting worse now, then when the thing was still alive!” Jaxler glances at Kit, who is in obvious need of help. “Calm the buck down, and help move Kit to the hospital, and if you're too shaken up by a single kill, then I'll gladly take over!“

Indigo closes his eyes and does his best to vomit everything he can. He doesn't stop shaking.

“Fine... Zaeroth, you drag Indigo out of here. Me and Mace will help Kit.” It was disgraceful for Indigo to fall apart at the sight of blood. A warrior should be able to at least hold his lunch like a grown pony, not act like a horrified foal. “Can you walk Kit?”

Kit is in too much pain to talk. She just breathes, trying not to die, and shows Jaxler her smashed and bandaged hoof.

Jaxler sighs at her hoof and sighs once more, realizing that Kit is handling this better than Indigo. “If you can't walk I'll just have to carry you on my back. Macepony, follow behind me and make sure nothing jumps out and mauls us.”

As Jaxler, mindful of her wound, tries to lift Kit onto his back, he looks towards the corridor leading back to the mines and notices Lady Virtue standing there with a guard. She shakes out the worst of her shock and approaches the group. "What happened here?" she asks before noticing Kit's wounds. "Oh no, we've got to get her to Panacea..."

“Virtue, can you take Kit back? Indigo appears to be traumatized and I'm probably going to have to help drag his sorry ass out of here and I'd like to be able to scold him for breaking down.”

“Of course.” Virtue looks rather sick herself, but maintains her composure and takes Kit on her back.

Meanwhile Zaeroth approaches shaking Indigo. “Hey, you alright? It's over. Let's all get out of here.” Indigo just gives him a hollow-eyed look and says nothing. “Snap out of it!” That doesn't work either, so Zaeroth tries one final thing before carrying the unicorn out on his back. He slaps the traumatized pony.

That finally manages to catch Indigo's attention. He looks at Zaeroth with anger. After a moment he blinks, says “Thank you.” and looks around. He picks his axe and shield, but his telekinesis is unsteady and so are his legs. He looks at the others, shaking only slightly. “Oh buck this bucking horseshit!” He restores his light spell.

Everypony casts Indigo a glance. He seems to be better. “Wh... why are you here?” he addresses Virtue.

"I wanted to come down to have a look at how the wall was coming along." She frowns a bit. "Then... I heard the fighting."

“When you are done with Kit, please get a few ponies to move these things to the abattoir” says Indigo in slightly high pitched tone. He looks around. “The rest of us... let's continue.” He pulls his flask with telekinesis and takes a few sips to wash away the taste of vomit, then stands up and walks towards the wall. Everypony else picks up the scattered weapons, with Kit's crossbow being taken by Virtue's guard and they prepare to leave.

Still quivering slightly, Indigo goes with his squad to finally cover the entrance into the mines and the area where the wall is being built. Indigo mostly shakes his anxiety off after a few hours, or at least stops showing it and his body and spells no longer shake.

How could Indigo just fall apart like that? they were right in the middle of a danger zone, there was an injured pony, and Indigo just started to quiver like a baby. What if another monster had jumped out? They had no way of knowing for sure, if there were more of them hiding in the dark and they had a downed pony. The guy could have gotten killed, and guess who would be accountable? Jaxler was the only real soldier in the reserves, so how could Virtue put such a soft pony in charge of a unit? If he does this again, he might not be the only pony to get hurt or killed because of his actions. After a few hours of thinking, Jaxler decides to talk about it, taking note that it would be best not to have have the other reservist hear this conversation. “Indigo! I'd like to talk with you. In private.”

Indigo is watching and listening to the caverns, but Jaxler’s voice breaks him out of it. The unicorn looks at Zaeroth, Oil Macepony and the nearby masons. Everything seems to be in order. He knew Jaxler would want to mock him for his cowardice, but asking to talk in private is unusually thoughtful of him. “Fine.” says Indigo and they walk a short distance back towards the airlock, where they shouldn't be heard by the others.

“Okay then... why... the... buck... did you fall apart like a foal, when there could be more monsters waiting to carve your face off and Kit was laying on the ground unable to walk?” Jaxler's voice explodes. “THE HELL! You could have bucking died and GUESS WHO'S FAULT IT WOULD BE!”

Indigo winces, takes two steps back and quivers again, but less than he did right after the fight. “I don't know!” I might as well be honest with him “This was my first kill in combat. I looked at the severed head and lost it.” Indigo sighs.

“I know killing is horrible, but that doesn't give you the right to fall apart WHEN PONIES NEED YOU! I had to give bucking orders and carry Kit out while you were spilling your guts. Last I checked that was the Captain's job!”

“Know what? Fine, you proved yourself in crisis. I'll make you second in command and I don't care what Halberd and Partisan have to say about it during the next captain's meeting! Congratulations.” Indigo closes his eyes, takes a few breaths and calms down a bit. “Fauchard said, it would get easier, eventually. I know, I lost it and you don't have to yell at me. Now, unless you have something else to say, let's just go back to our posts.”

Jaxler calms down and gives Indigo a glance. “I have one more thing to say then. You handled your first kill better than I did.”

Indigo raises a brow at that, but decides not to ask. Was his first kill a pony? “The butcher's shop and the cleanup after the massacre helped, I think. Oh, and Jaxler.... thanks for handling this in private. If I ever get like this again, slap me. It worked this time.”

“You didn't even need to ask me” Jested Jaxler.

“Heh. Let's get back and see if anything else dangerous shows up.” says Indigo, no longer shaking and actually feeling much better. The two of them return to their posts at the wall. The rest of their shift is uneventful, and Indigo is at least able to perform his duties.

[Maklak]

(( Not long after Kit was wounded by Draltha. ))

Less than a fortnight after their fight with Dralthas, the reserves were relieved from guarding the caverns by another squad. It was early night when they emerged on the surface. Indigo told everypony in his squad to take a day off, so Jaxler went to get drunk. The reserve captain decides to go check up on Kit at the hospital. After a short talk with Panacea, he approaches Kit's bed. “Hello, how is your leg?” What a stupid question.

Kit gives Indigo a smile, seeing that apparently the stallion has come to visit her. “Oh my leg's fine Indigo, but my hoof  still hurts. Panacea said that It should heal soon enough though.” She answers with that cheerful smile on her face. Then begins to frown ever so slightly in concern “And.. how are you? feeling better?” She asks, wondering if he's fine after what happened in the caverns.

“Ah. That's good to know. I'm... fine.” he sighs, not really looking 'fine'. “Why... why are you so happy?” asks Indigo to change the subject.

“Because I'm still alive and I'm grateful for it.” Kit chirps in answer, still beaming her smile at him “Thank you for saving my life, Indigo. I might not even be here if it weren't for you.”

You remind me of Sekashi, only younger. Indigo's expression shifts a few times as a wave of emotions washes over him. Mostly regret and pain, but he settles for sadness. I just can't tell her that if it wasn't for me, there wouldn't be any rescue in the first place. “I... have an obligation to protect ponies in Dawnpick. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm tired.” He says with as level voice as he can manage and turns to leave.

Kit feels something is wrong with him. She isn't sure what, but something just doesn't feel right. “Indigo?.. are you.. alright?” She asks with a concerned voice. Even though she's the pony who is on the hospital bed, she somehow knows that the poor unicorn is even more wounded than she is. And she wants to help.

Indigo stops, still facing away from her and closes his eyes. “I am alive and unharmed. So is the rest of my squad.”

“I don't think you're unharmed..” Kit says with a slight frown. “Indigo, If there's anything I can help at all... Just tell me, okay?” she offers, sincerely wanting to help back the pony who helped her.

Indigo turns back to her with a pained expression. “Just get well.” You owe me nothing.

Kit gives him a slight sad smile. “You too Indigo,” she says as if she were the one visiting a wounded pony in the hospital.

He nods and leaves, lacking for words. He goes about the next position on his to do list: getting himself a dinner. Not that he feels hungry.

I know that something is wrong with him.. I just know it, but.. what? He avoided answering my question about the cavern incident too... And... is this even the same pony Kat told me to watch out for? he just seems so... tired. Kit thinks as she watches the unicorn leave her and the hospital. She wonders, if she could do anything at all for him.

(( I might as well put it here: Finding wounded Kit prompted Indigo to get his squad to train first aid with Panacea and they carry around some basic healing supplies (alcohol, bandages, needle and thread, yarrow, mint and a few other herbs).  ))

[Maklak]

(( Early Moonstone 261, not long after Kit was wounded by a Draltha: Indigo finally gets into Amor’s bedroom. ))

Less than a fortnight after their fight with Dralthas, the reserves were relieved from guarding the caverns by another squad. The place made ponies uneasy, so frequent rotation both among the workers and soldiers was necessary.

It was early night when they emerged on the surface. Indigo told everypony in his squad to take a day off, so Jaxler went to get drunk. The reserve captain checked up on Kit at the hospital, went to the dining hall to get himself some dinner and carried it to his room. He cleaned himself by the well, ate his meal without feeling hungry, cleaned his armour and tried to sleep, but still felt uneasy after the fight. He didn't want to be alone, so he decided to go and see the one pony, who he could talk to, despite it being rather late for a visit.

With racing heart and a few other symptoms of anxiety, the unicorn gets out of his room, closes the door and walks towards Amor's place. He knocks. “Amor, I just got back from the mines. Please open.” he says in pleading tone.

By this point, Amor's cavern shift was over and she was awaiting the next one. In her room, she was brushing her curly mane in front of the apartment's green-glass door, using it as a mirror. Some other mares envied her copper locks, but would consider it a curse to keep them in order. Still, she did not desire to have a straight mane. The grass is always greener on the other side of the hill. The faint silhouette of a familiar unicorn appears behind the door, he knocks and appeals for the door to be opened. She drops the brush down to the door's side and after undoing the locks, opens the door. “Indigo, did the patrol go well?” She asks in a worried tone.

“I... well, nopony died. I... I need to see you. Please let me in.” says Indigo weakly.

The blue unicorn worries Amor again, but understandably so. Her mind races with thoughts. Did he trot into one of the abominations down there, the Green devourers or Jabberers maybe? Unlikely. Is he still distressed by the Draltha incident? So he is the pony who saved Kit. They had to just be there in the Dralthas’ path as the beasts foraged on the mushrooms. She then tilts her head and utters endearingly: “Indigo, what's wrong?”

I'm having some sort of panic attack. “I just... don't want to be alone now. Please.” says Indigo, looking at her with puppy dog eyes.

Letting him in and seeing the door shut, the mare's mind was making her regret it. Amor you foal, first time you let down your guard down and invited a stallion into your bedroom he wanted your life, not your love. “Indi…” Cut short by the surprise hug, Amor braces herself against the stallion. Why, do I let him do this? Could I tell him to stop? But I do enjoy it. She reflects, but stops when she notices the other unicorn’s quickened pulse. Calming down, she relaxes and returns the hug. She finds it painful, but hides her discomfort. “Alright, tell me everything.”

“Thank you.” Indigo gives her a hug, putting his head under her neck, more akin to a foal seeking comfort from its mother than to a stallion wooing a mare (which would be the other way around).  “I... we were in the caverns. My squad was assigned to relieve Partisan's. When we were still in the mines, there was a scream, so we galloped to check it out. We run into some Dralthas in a part of the caverns, that should be safe. They are over twice as big and ten times heavier than ponies and pretty aggressive to boot. Jaxler shoot one dead, but another was already beating Kit down. She got lost and separated from her squad. There was no time to think, I yelled and charged at it and somehow killed it. Then we helped Kit with her wounds. But afterwards... I fell apart in front of my squad. I wasn't a burden when it counted, but couldn't handle the stress later. Zaeroth helped me pull myself together and somehow Virtue was there. She and her guard got Kit to the hospital and later told some ponies to move the Dralthas to the abattoir. Kit's hoof is broken, but it should heal. We continued our patrol, but... you were right. I could have died down there. And that's not even the worst part.” He shakes and gives a few sobs.

Amor was with one of the first mason groups to go down into the strange world of the caverns. Mostly to transport blocks, rations and tools to make the masons' camp. The task of barricading the caverns' chokeholds and openings from bottom to top was made dangerous by the forgotten beasts and other nasties that could come from the deep under-dark. Having an experienced militia-pony squad was different then having only the guard and reserve. She continues to listen to Indigo's remorse. I count him lost, who is lost to shame.

“The whole exploration and expansion into the caverns was my idea. Sure, it had to be approved by Virtue, Halberd and some other ponies, but I started it. And then Bardiche, Kit and even Stiletto got wounded because of it. There is no stopping it now. The operation has gone too far and well, we have a lot to gain from it, but... how many ponies are going to get maimed or die because of it? And even if we succeed, there is no guarantee that we won't miss some tunnel. All it takes is one hole in our defences. We weren't even able to secure the mines so far and Wool died because of it. Amor, I'm such a fool.”

The mare shushes him a bit and speaks quietly into his ear. “A fool thinks himself wise, but the wise stallion knows himself to be a fool. Indigo, your hoof was not the only one in the plan, others could have simply said no.” Amor turns her head towards the gate tower, then to the heavens and mentally in-wards. How cruel are the gods, even crueller fate and the foolish ponies that abide by that cruelty, why had I chose the latter? She thinks while listening to Indigo, as his warmth causes her stomach to churn.

“And you know the worst part? Kit thanked me for the rescue. She doesn't even know, she wouldn't be there if I kept my mouth shut. I don't know, if I can take it anymore. I don't want ponies to get hurt because of my stupid ideas.” Indigo lies down on her floor, still hugging her and begins to cry.

Huffing in her common manner, with her breath barely visible in the winter chill, the mare lets the stallion melt and lies down to provide support. The two lay there in the in the cool night, backing away, Amor could not sleep within the stallion's presence. She just lies there, pushing away all thoughts coming into her mind.

After a while Indigo stops crying, and simply falls asleep, still with his head under hers. His expression softens until he looks almost endearing. He unconsciously shifts into a more comfortable position a few times, but otherwise his sleep in untroubled. For the first time in days, he wakes up rested in the morning. At first he is confused, doesn't know where he is and feels something heavy lying on his neck. He stirs, sees Amor next to him and the memory of what happened last night returns to him in an instant.

Amor's night was spent in meditation until Indigo's stirring broke her trance. “Morning Indigo… Did you sleep well? I'm sorry if you got cold.” Maybe I should get a rug or something. She gets up and stretches her stiff legs to restore the circulation.

Indigo stands up from the cold floor and works on his own legs. Amor was warm, but her stone floor was chilly, even through his robe and fur. “Thank you. I did. You... helped me. But I really shouldn't be abusing your hospitality like that. I'm sorry for it. Maybe you have a point that I'm a burden, but I'll try to just pull myself together and endure next time.” He looks at her bed, with sheets still straight and remembers, how he woke up. “You didn't sleep on your bed?”

Shaking her head sluggishly, Amor voices her resolve. “I couldn't let a friend sleep alone on the cold floor. Also… being a burden unto me is not a problem, it is others that you must be strong for.” She staggers to her brush beside the door, then stands in front of her clear glass window and huffs in disappointment, that it lacks much of the mare's reflection, her old green glass window once had. Amor lays the brush on her bed and turns towards Indigo.

“I feel better now. Thank you again. I have a day off now, is there anything you would like from me? I can bring you food if you want.” says Indigo.

Placing her left fore-hoof under her snout in thought, she ponders his question. “Breakfast sounds nice. Let me wash up and I'll meet you in the dining hall, if that is alright with you?” She says as she gathers her mason's smock and other work accessories.

“Yes, but I can bring you the food here, if you want. I really owe you for last night.” answers Indigo, oblivious to the fact that she didn't sleep at all.

“Thank you Indigo, but today I prefer to eat in the dining hall… and think nothing of it. ” She moves to the door and opens it for them. The two ponies go their different ways and met up in the dining hall, where they eat and talk as usual.

Indigo didn't do much that day. He walked around the camp, noticing what changed in his absence, went to Lady Virtue and Halberd to present his reports, cleaned his room, did his laundry and laid in the sun, relaxing and thinking, how to repay Amor. She helped him and he felt as if she lifted an enormous weight from his back. Sure, he still had some burdens, but could deal with them.

Amor went to the mason workshops and laboured on making stone blocks throughout much of the day, feeling sleepy and yawning occasionally. Nopony noticed, that she had no sleep the previous night. After work and dinner, the mare was happy that Indigo felt better, but feared what the future held for Dawnpick. She went to sleep early and had nightmares of cravens.

(( NOTE: Somepony seeing Indigo leaving Amor's room in the morning could possibly start some rumours about them being lovers. But given the fact that the two were seen together for years and the laxity of Dawnpick, nothing interesting would come out of such rumours, maybe apart from a few mares thinking that Amor is desperate. ))

(( NOTE: Looks like Indigo acted as a 'reverse psychic vampire', dumping his emotional trash on another pony. She really is too good for him. I also find it funny, that her work schedule for the day after he deprived her of sleep was “work until too tired to go on”, while his was “buck around”. Isn't that cute? ))

(( NOTE: Amor is a step closer to bonding Indigo. ))