For a Phoenix Feather

Vermillion's face darkened much like it had in the woods. Memories bubbled through his head of a very, very unpleasant day in the barracks some time ago when the creature before him had been freed and decided the whole facility was "so very dull." The guards had not much liked his new designs for it or them.

However, he breathed in deeply and let out a long breath to avoid the futile attempt at punching the draconequus in his smug jaw, because with the thing's magic he was probably bound to miss and hit Twisted instead.

"To what do we owe your visit? Discord, I presume?" His horn fizzled slightly as he restrained the impulse to blast something with a burst of raw magic.

Twisted had taken a few steps from him on instinct, her wings folded defensively around her shoulders as the little Discord snapped his clawed fingers, appearing around the unicorn's shoulders and popping a cork on his horn. "Now now, that's rude and very dangerous to my friend here." He snickered at the unicorn's angry reaction before popping back up behind Twisted, pretending to cower behind her. "Gosh you have such violent friends, Twist..."

Twisted sighed, frowning at him as she turned and gave him a stern... glare? It was hard to think the mare could establish anything close to a glare outside of combat, so Discord ended up chuckling at her. "Dissy!" She had fully turned towards him, her muzzle inches from his. "You put his magic back now, please."

The draconequus smirked a bit and snapped again, the cork gone and his usual magic flow coming back. "Oh fine, since you asked nicely."  Discord then looked over at him, a puzzled look on his face before a wide grin replaced it, "Since you don't seem to like me, I assume we've met. Before my ‘reformed’ times I guess?" He had physically put quotation marks in the air, batting them around with his claws. "But! As you can see I'm a new pony who only wants what my dear friend here wants."

Twisted looked back at him as he entertained himself with her mane, having gone back into it, whether it was for protection or wanting to be in there she did not know. She looked back up at Vermillion quietly, giving a small apologetic smile. "Sorry. He wasn't supposed to come by."

Vermillion rubbed the bridge of his nose firmly between his forehooves as he fought back the headache he could feel coming on. "I had heard he had been freed and ‘reformed,' but this is still going to take some getting used to. How exactly are we going to settle things?" Discord made a 'Who, me?' gesture as he toyed with Twisted's mane. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. It took me months to sort it all out and piece my story together again after you were through with it. Not to mention getting all that syrup off of my armor. And we had to replace the entire armory after you turned our swords into balloons and made us fight to exhaustion with them!" He stamped a hoof, the edge to his anger bleeding away. He tilted his head forward to his mane hid his eyes. "And you read my story to everypony... and they all..." His voice grew quiet. "Why?"

"Dissy!" Twisted frowned at him before her concerned eyes looked over at her friend, "Vermillion, I know it's hard to forgive him, especially with his past-" "Hey!" Discord grumbled, the grey mare shooting him a look before he shut up and she could continue, "But... Everypony deserves a second chance... Right?" She cautiously and gently put a hoof on his shoulder before looking over at Discord, her eyes stern but kind. "Now Dissy..." She paused, moving next to the stallion to try to keep him calm. "You owe my friend an apology, don't you think?"

The draconequus shifted stubbornly on his feet, rubbing the back of his long neck as he met Twisted's eyes, a heavy sigh escaping his lips as he offered a claw to the stallion next to her. "I'm very sorry for my actions in the past." He said, feeling like a five year old who had shoved some other pony over during playtime. Despite his childish demeanor he seemed genuine, keeping his claw out as he waited for the unicorn to react, half expecting him to bite it off.

Twisted turned to Vermillion, her wing now gently slung over his back like she had done at their camp, her eyes soft as she looked at his face. "He can't reverse what happened. But he is sorry. He knows friendship now. And as cheesy as that all is, Princess Twilight is right, friendship can help even the more... rambunctious creatures be better, flaws and all." She smiled at Discord, receiving a stubborn and even slightly embarrassed smile back.

Vermillion sniffed strongly once, swiped a foreleg across his eyes quickly, then extended it and shook the offered claw. "Everyone deserves a second chance. Please don't make me regret this." His voice was a little shaky, but he stood tall, breathed deeply, then relaxed as he let it out, looking straight at Discord. "Like my grandad used to say: best way to defeat an enemy is to make him your friend. Can we go inside now? I feel exhausted."

"Dissy I think you should stay with Flutters tonight.." She chuckled at his frown and booped his nose with her hoof. "Oh come on, I know you love her tea parties. I just already have a guest tonight and we'd like to get some sleep after our trip. Please?" She spoke with this creature with such familiarity and friendliness. It was bizarre. Discord, despite his reform, would always be Discord. How could she be friends with him so readily?

Then one could consider Twisted as a whole... She had taken a complete stranger deep into the woods, controlled a nearly uncontrollable magic when it wanted to kill him, and hurt and burned her wings to protect him, a stallion she had met barely three days ago. She followed her special talent well it seemed and it didn't matter who it was or what they did, she accepted them.

"Oh fine..." Discord scowled a bit at the stallion before looking back at Twisted, "Before I go though." He snapped as a large puff of feathers landed on her and he snickered at the pegasus; the feathers were everywhere. "Dissy!" She grumbled as she shook her head, the feathers falling every which way before she noticed what he had really done: her wings had been restored to full plumage. She grinned and hugged him, sticking a few feathers to him. "Thanks Dis. I'll see you tomorrow. Please let me sleep in?" She nudged him as he headed out, and he gave a small wave to Vermillion.

Vermillion returned the wave with a sigh. "Well... if the princesses think he's reformed and he's been loose all this time without me hearing much about it, I suppose it's worth giving the cretin a chance. He's still got a long way to go with me," he stated with finality. "Now, back to the important things. Like getting some feathering sleep. What's the plan, oh gracious host?" he asked with a theatrical bow, smug grin, and wiggle of his eyebrows.

Twisted smirked as she flapped her newly feathered wings and showered him with the extras, "You're welcome to the same accommodations we had before we left. Or you can have your own room to sleep in next to mine. Guest's choice." She chuckled as she opened the door and let him inside, locking the door behind him and began heading upstairs, "And I'm sorry about Dissy. I told him I'd be gone for a week and apparently he forgot or ignored it."

Vermillion snorted at the comment about Discord as he followed her inside. "Dissy, huh? When exactly did you have the opportunity to get all buddy-buddy with the living manifestation of chaos? And I, uh, I think I might take you up on those previous accommodations," he finished, clearing his throat slightly. "I'm not one to turn down such a generous offer." He smiled only slightly, but even one so small was sly.

Twisted stopped, a hoof on the doorknob of her room before she gave a small smile, "Well... He kinda found me." She chuckled softly as she let him in and walked to the bathroom, "You get first dibs on the shower. Towels are in the cabinet next to the bath." She paused, watching his expression. "I'll explain after we're all clean and ready for bed, okay?"

He paused for a moment to consider, then gave a shrug and nod. They could talk their way to sleep, it would be kinda nice, he thought. He proceeded upstairs, a towel trailing along in his magic as he passed it and stepped into the shower, twisting the tap on with a flick of energy and floating the soap over to him as the water came down with almost scalding heat. Oh yeah, that's the stuff, he mused as the water cascaded over him and soaked his mane. It dangled down the side of his head as he simply rinsed under the spray and let himself soak, the sweat and grime gradually rinsing away.

After a couple of minutes simply enjoying the luxury of civilization, he put the soap to work and scrubbed away the last of the dirt he had collected on the road. He slicked back his mane and stretched, muscles shifting as he flexed. He would definitely be sore tomorrow, but, as he imagined the phoenix feather safe in its box, he decided it was totally worth it. He toweled off his body before stepping out of the shower, draining the majority of the water from his mane. It still hung wet as he exited the bathroom and noticed Twisted on her way to replace him. He flashed her a grin as she passed, blowing a few errant strands of his wet mane out of his eyes.

She tilted her head with a sly smirk on her lips as she passed, flicking her tail at him and his cheesy grin as she shut the door behind herself. He had been a total flirt this entire trip; she had to get in on the fun too. She turned the water on but stood in front of her bathroom mirror for a bit, testing out her new feathers before she looked down at the relic she could not get rid of, a soft sigh escaping her lungs. Why did this have to be her? Scared of making new friends for the fear of hurting them? Dissy could handle himself against this thing. He was the god of chaos after all but... She was not so sure if it came down to it that the unicorn in the other room would be able to handle changing from friend to foe if she...

After about half an hour the water stopped and she wrapped the towel around herself, drying her coat gently before moving to her mane, leaving it down and wet around her face as she grumbled about having to sit down and dry her tail to keep it from tangling. She had thought about cutting it time and time again, but she loved it like this. Extra work and all. When she came out her mane and tail were damp, her wings up, flapping slowly to help dry them off.

"Welcome to the paradise of the freshly showered." A quick glace located the stallion lounging lazily on her bed, looking up through the skylight. She could just make out the lazy smirk on his face. He turned his head to face her. "Hm... I think I pull off the wet mane better."

"Oh shush." she replied sarcastically, climbing up on her side and turning out the lights. She slowly laid out and closed her eyes, the trip had taken more out of her than she had realized. "To continue," she started, her eyes still closed, "Dissy found me after this thing," she tapped her hoof on the triangle, "freaked out when some colt hit me. I ran." There had been little said about the accident though. He did remember a couple colts from his class being in the hospital during his school days.

"Hrm. Bastard probably got what was coming to him. I remember standing up to a couple bullies back in school." Now that he thought about it... "That's actually how I earned my cutie mark. Some jackass elite type was bullying a filly at her locker, so I stepped in and told him to step off. He didn't much like that, tried to hit me." His eyes lost focus as he reminisced. "I just sidestepped his swings. He was a terrible fighter. I started telling a story my grandad told me, adding a bit of my own spin to it. How a noble should act, and that if he wouldn't treat the mares right, then a knight would step in to do what honor demands." He chuckled a little. "The more storytelling, the angrier he got, until he finally landed a hit and gave me the right of defense. I had my practice sword in my locker across the hall. I wasn't supposed to have it at school, but hey, I wanted to do some routines after class got out. I whipped it out with my magic and laid him out and left a bit of a dent in one of the lockers."

He glanced over at her for a moment. "It was the only time I ever got detention and it was worth every boring hour there. I spent the time figuring out what my mark meant." He smiled at the memory. "Took me a few years to really get it, but that's just because it's as overdone as I am. A quill for my writing and love of storytelling, that of a phoenix because of my love of fantasy. The sword was both for my talent with a blade, which was way more apparent when I joined the guard, and my desire to protect my friends."

He donned a deep frown. "Why... why can't I remember that filly's name? We were still pretty young, but she was a good friend of mine, I think..." his head had begun to throb slightly. "Man, that headache's coming back. Maybe I'll remember after a good night's sleep.

"Still," he continued, "I was rather looking forward to a bit more of your story, since I shared mine." He gave her a hopeful but patient look.

By the time he looked over at her she was sitting up and looking at him, almost studying him. "That's... not possible," she muttered quietly before she shook her head and put a hoof to her forehead in an attempt to quiet her own headache.

"U-Uhm, yeah sure..." She paused as she slowly laid back down, "After my parents... I went back to school reluctantly. At first ponies pitied me, but rumors spread and they started getting more violent." She paused before looking over at him. "...I got bullied a lot so when I finally struck back... I was scared I had killed them. So I ran. I got lost in forests around Canterlot and Dissy found me. He didn't raise me but he definitely kept me company through the years. So I'm thankful to him for that.

"I always wondered what happened to the ponies I was kind of friends with... One of them lives here but we don't really talk. He's a grump and honestly, I kinda confessed my crush on him so I avoid him like he's contagious." She laughed a bit, shaking her head as she pulled the blanket over herself.

His face took on a somber cast as she told her story, though a niggling portion of his mind was desperately telling him he was missing something important. It was hard to decipher everything that went on in his head when he was tired. When she got to her crush, however, he could not resist a wry grin.

"Oh, you're into the grumpy type, eh? Just wait until morning when you try and get me out of bed. I am notorious among my battle buddies for being unpleasant before the sun is high into the sky. Well, unless I'm well fed or caffeinated, that is." He enjoyed the moment of levity before returning to her story. "Wait... how did Discord raise you? Wasn't he still trapped in stone?"

Twisted looked over at him with a quirked brow, "He couldn't have been. I could have sworn..." She paused for a minute, her head aching viciously, causing her to groan, " No... I... don't know." She whined a little as she covered her eyes with her hooves, the headache settling behind her eyes, "I'm sorry... I think I'm getting everything mixed up. I'm so tired. W-We have all week, right?"

Vermillion felt just as confused as Twisted looked. "I uh, yeah, about a week and a half..." Damn headache. "Yeah, I guess we're at our limit. Those wolves did a number on us, so some sleep should do us some good." He rubbed the bridge of his nose with a hoof. "Man, killer headache. Night, Twisted. Rest easy..." He settled in and fell into a somewhat fitful sleep, vague memories and ghosting images occupying his dreams until a dark, regal mare stilled his roiling mind.

The mare stood before him on his dream plane, her teal eyes bearing into his as she watched him, "Why do you fret so? What stirs your thoughts?" She asked softly, watching his nightmares slowly flow out of sight. She could just as easily check his memories but, she was a just princess of the night. She knew her subjects all had secrets they would prefer to not share with anyone, even if she could help.

Vermillion tilted his head to the side for a moment. "I'm going to go out on a limb and guess I'm dreaming." Receiving a nod in the affirmative, he decided to see where this led him. "No offense, princess, but why are you popping into my head? I'm pretty sure there are other ponies who need you more. I rarely remember my dreams in the morning anyway. I can live with one night of restlessness." He shuffled in place as he realized he should have bowed, saluted, something... "I'd be all formal, princess, but you're kind of hanging out in my head and I'm on vacation, so, yeah... sorry about that. Pretty sure you're past my conscious filters."

The blue mare circled him for a moment. "Worry not. Though you must also realize every one of our subjects matters and you are no different." She turned a bit, her ears twitching before she looked back at him. "So, what troubles you? If nothing else we are a very good sounding board."

Vermillion resisted the urge to fall over guffawing at the absurdity of his dreaming state, but opted for a snicker instead, explaining himself as she raised an eyebrow at him. "Sorry, highness, just figured I'd meet you at some stuffy event for the guard, not in my head. Haven't exactly had the chance to talk to you or any of the princesses, really. The one time I saw your sister was at the end of training." He shook his head slightly. "Oh well. It seems I can't shut my muzzle in here... we're most honest in our dreams it seems. In that case...”

He turned to face her, plopping down on his plot and summoning a bag of chips. "Huh. Neat. Anyway, I met a mare a few days ago that I click with really well, but the more time I spend around her, the stronger this feeling of deja vu gets. I keep feeling like I'm forgetting something really important, like my marefriend's anniversary or my mother's birthday." He scratched a hoof along his jawline idly as he spoke, idly popping chips in his mouth with his magic between sentences. "And to top it all off I've had this on and off pounding headache that started on our way back from our trip out to the phoenix nesting site. It makes it a pain to think, literally, and the harder I try to think through it the worse it gets. I figured a good night of sleep would help, but I guess that can wait until tomorrow night." He shook his head ruefully. "And I probably wouldn't bother anypony with it, but you caught me in the one place I can't say no, huh?" His cheeky grin made it clear he was not upset about the fact. He had always wanted to tease a princess. He just hoped he could get away with it here.

The mare listened to him before chuckling softly. "My, aren't we charming?" she teased back as she manifested a small set of screens that went through his mind as he spoke. "That is the mare, we assume?" she asked, looking over at him as Twisted began cycling through his mind before a smaller version suddenly stopped in the slideshow. "Perhaps this is what you seek?"

Vermillion stared for several moments, his mouth opening and closing soundlessly. "But, wait, how's that... I know those lockers." As he finished, the dreamscape shifted around him, his mind falling into the memory.

He stood in the hallways at his locker, smiling at the wooden practice sword carefully placed in the back where it would be difficult to spot. He was really looking forward to trying out a new technique this afternoon now that he had finally found a new sparring partner. Finding somepony else who loved the sword like he did was actually rather difficult, so he relished the opportunity.

He was drawn from his moment of anticipation by a commotion further down the hall. He turned and recognized one of the popular kids from the upper districts of Canterlot and his cronies surrounding a pegasus filly at her locker. Not this horseapples again.

He trotted over, not even bothering to close his locker as he stepped over to the confrontation. The social elite, a yellow unicorn with a stubby horn, had that one superior sneer (it would be a crime to call it a smile or smirk) that said he thought himself the best and could get whatever he wanted. As he got closer, it turned out what he wanted was his way with the pegasus. That lit a fire in Vermillion's heart. He smiled, though, when she politely turned him down.

The snob didn't like that. The sneer curled into distaste and he could hear the insults beginning as he closed in. "...would want to date you with those hideous eyes anyway? And who styles their mane that way, those colors are horrid." He pushed her into her locker, and the mare yelped and sniffled. She was beginning to mutter nervously. "And what is this piece of garbage around you..." He struck her across the jaw.

"Hey jackoff, pick on someone your own size." The unicorn and his cronies turned to face Vermillion as he made his entrance. "Well, I suppose that's not fair, what with that dinky little stub you call a horn," Vermillion finished with a sharp grin. The unicorn was furious.

"Stay out of this, commoner. This is none of your business."

"Like hay it's not. You alright, TR?" He could barely make out her nodding. "I'll handle these guys." He returned his attention to the stallions, who had formed a wall between him and the mare. "Let me tell you a little story, you self-entitled creeps.

"Before unification, there was a fair pegasus mare said to be the envy of the land, a beauty beyond compare. When the cold winter of the windigos set in, and the tribes fought one another, she managed to catch the eye of a unicorn prince." The stallions began approaching him, attempting to look intimidating. "But she could see the greed in his heart, that he lusted for her beauty and not for her heart. He came with his bodyguard knights and tried to take her hoof by force." He dodged one of the stallions as he lunged, letting the oaf stumble and fall behind him. The second tried as well, but found himself flat on his face with a little help of Vermillion's magic, which caught him by the hoof and tripped him. The yellow stallion was livid at this point. "Just as he thought he had his way, one of his bodyguards stepped in and said," he stated, enunciating clearly and glancing at the filly, "a knight's duty is to defend the people, so I shall defend her from you." A crowd had begun to form, watching the exchange, and their eyes looked askance of the bully, who was now apoplectic.

The stallion swung, and Vermillion swayed aside as he continued, "The prince flew into a rage..." Another swing and miss. "And had his other knights attack." He ducked and stepped forward under the two thugs as they both lunged at him, their muzzles colliding and leaving them both dazed on their flanks. "And when his knights failed, he tried himself," the elitist stallion leapt at him this time, a shrill cry on his lips as he used his magic to ensnare Vermillion, landing a punch across his jaw.

Vermillion's blue eyes flashed coldly as his temper kicked in, and his magic flared to life. The training sword in his locker careened out, trailing the cerulean aura of his magic, and with a flourish he struck across his adversary's barrel and used the return swing to crack him behind his ears, leaving the stallion a heap on the floor. "But the prince forgot the most important thing," he said leaning down to whisper into yellow's ear. "Those who protect others find true strength."

He looked up to check on the pegasus filly. "You alright, TR?" She had tears in her blue and green eyes as she looked at him with a bit of fear, before turning and bolting away through the gathered ponies. Vermillion raised a hoof in the direction she fled, but it fell flat as the other students bottled him in and school staff descended upon the scene.

And just as suddenly he found himself back on the dream plane, Luna having never left. "I... but how... why don't I remember more? I should remember more! Its how I got my mark, for crying out loud!" He looked pleadingly up at the mare as the dreamscape began to fade to white.

The blue mare smiled at him, "Perhaps another time... I think your friend needs you more than I." She said softly as she more or less threw him from the dreamscape, the sudden warmth of another against his side and a soft shaking welcoming him back into the dark room he had fallen asleep in, the light of the sun behind the mountains turning the navy blue skyscape into a light cerulean.

As his eyes adjusted he looked down to find the grey mare curled up against him, the triangle resting above her head and glowing a dark gold as she shuddered, burying her head against his shoulder. From what he could tell she was still asleep, her mane thrown wildly around her face as the nightmares continued, tears beginning to form.

Vermillion glared at the faintly glowing totem, his mind adding up the previous events with the bits of revelation that were beginning to make themselves known. He was also guessing that both of them having a rough night was no coincidence either. He gently shook her, gradually increasing the amount of force, trying to break her out of her nightmare as gently as possible.

"Twisted, hey Twisted wake up." he grew slightly concerned and agitated all at once. "Come on, TR!" He felt strange as he said it, and was surprised when she awoke with a start.

Twisted gasped, a gold ring around her eyes for a few seconds before they faded, the startled mare slowly looking up at him with wide eyes. "W-What...?" She closed her eyes tight before she looked around the slightly lit room before her mind put her back together and she heaved a soft sigh. "I-I'm sorry," she said before her ears perked up, turning slowly to look at him, her eyebrow quirked as she caught something. "Wait. You... What did you call me...?"

Vermillion blinked the last of his bleariness away as his mind caught up with him. "I... called you TR. Are you okay, Twisted?" His feelings of concern were too familiar to be coincidence. For once he still remembered his dream. He probably had the lunar princess to thank for that. He smiled softly. "Looks like Luna left helping you to me..."

Suddenly the warmth increased as she threw her forelegs around his neck, hugging him tightly and almost toppling him over against the bed. Her sudden flowery scent caught him off guard, the smell of honeysuckle enveloping him as the mare clung to him. "T-That... That's why." She muttered, burying her face into his shoulder. "That's why you're so familiar. That was you, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it was. We are talking about school bullies right?" He felt his muzzle warming up with how close she was pressing herself against him. "I mean, I can get behind some teasing or whatever, but bullies piss me off, especially when they do it to such a cute..." his eyes went wide and he clamped his muzzle shut before letting out a weak chuckle. "Muzzle needs to stop moving without thinking." He was now acutely aware of the warmth that suffused her bed, and he could not ignore that scent. But, he lived up to his own expectations and soldiered on. "What had you tossing and turning like that?"

Twisted blushed, realizing she had just jumped all over her friend in her bed and slowly removing herself from around his neck, rubbing the back of her neck. "W-Well... Uh..." She paused, her eyes darkening a little as she looked down at her hooves. "M-My parents. I don't remember how exactly but, uh..." She felt her bangs fall in front of her eyes as she clicked her hooves together, "The kids weren't... wrong. I felt like I deserved to be bullied like they did."

She remembered the rumors that floated through school at the beginning after the accident. At first the bullying stopped all together and pity replaced it. She did not really know if that was worse. But a few weeks passed, the murder went cold, and so did the pity. The rumor mill started churning out everything under the sun. That she had killed them for their money or that her caretaker at the time murdered them and kept Twisted because he wanted a kid of his own and the money her parents had. But the most popular was that she had killed them just because she could. That she was a monster who would kill anyone who struck her fancy. And that made many of the kids turn to a more violent way of punishing her.

"I don't remember. But I came to, covered in blood, in a dark room with my father..." Her wings curled up around her shoulders and over her muzzle as the shakes came back as well as the tears. "...I relive that so much... And the P-Princess never shows up to stop it... Maybe s-she thinks I deserve i-it..."

She immediately found herself faceplanting against him again, pulled in by his forelegs and held there until her sobbing quieted down some. "The princess isn't like that. She always has a reason." His eyes fell upon the talisman, and he would swear up and down that it was leering at him. "I have a feeling that she's wanted to help but found it rather difficult. It's probably also got something to do with our lapse in memory." Just looking at the thing got his anger boiling, he just wanted to...

Realizing he was beginning to tighten his hold on Twisted, he forced his gaze away and took a long breath to relax. Hopefully she just thought he had given her a reassuring squeeze.

She looked up at him for a moment before closing her eyes and burying her head into his chest, her ears flicked back against her messy mane, "But why? What happened that caused me to forget you and… Celestia knows what else." She heaved a heavy and sleepy sigh. It definitely would not last since the sun was rising, but between the sting in her eyes from her tears and tossing and turning all night she just wanted to sleep without another nightmare.

"I can't say, but I won’t forget again so easily. I have something to remind me from now on." He levitated a wooden box from out of his bags and over to the bed, opening it and showing her the crimson quill that lay inside. "Even if I somehow manage to lose it, which would probably depress me for a while, I'd still remember because..." he shifted and pointed to his flank, "this isn't the first time you helped me find a feather to move forward with." The vermillion feather crossed over a sword now had even more meaning to him. It never gets any simpler, does it?

Twisted giggled softly as she slowly pulled away from him, sniffing softly as she wiped her eyes. "Vermillion?" She smiled softly. "Thank you." She leaned up and kissed his cheek, a small blush on her cheeks as she slowly laid back down and looked up at the skylight, her headache coming back as she tried to remember, the triangle around her neck giving off a very faint yellow glow in the company of the two friends.

Vermillion blushed as well  at the unexpected gesture, but felt it fade slowly as he simply enjoyed the closeness. He rolled so he was facing the skylight too and immediately regretted it. "Ugh, sweet Celestia, why is your sun so feathering bright?" It had really done nothing for the last vestiges of his headache. He returned his gaze to the pegasus lying beside him. "So now that we've got a little more to go on, what do we do next? I'm here for another week or two, so unless something comes up, I'm up for whatever you want to do or need me for." He spared another caustic glance at the talisman. "And it's glowing again. Nothing ever good happens when that thing glows, does it?"

She looked down at it with a small sigh, "I don't know why it's so active..." She turned on her side so she wasn't facing the oncoming sunrise and closed her eyes, burying the relic under her blankets as she pulled it over herself. This was unreal... She wanted nothing more than sleep but her mind was so active. What the hell was going on?

Twisted settled in next to her friend, "By the way..." she started, not wanting to step on his hooves. "...What did you mean when you were talking to Dissy? About your story?"

The soft smile that had found it's way to the stallion's face evaporated, and there was a flash of some strong emotion before he schooled his expression. "Oh, that. He..." he looked away, and back up at the skylight. "I was working on a story that was pretty important to me, and during his whole stint of chaos when he was first released, he managed to take the work I had done on it and scatter the pages all over. What I had left was so out of order it took me weeks to finally get it all sorted out. But he didn't bother scattering it until he..." he trailed off. He stayed silent for several moments before forcefully clearing his throat. "He did something else first, but it doesn't matter. It's in the past and I've got better things to do than dwell on... that." He placed a hoof against the box containing the phoenix feather now resting beside him. "I got what I needed to move forward." He wiped a fetlock against his eyes for a moment, barely mumbling "I hope..."

The grey mare next to him studied his face for a moment before nodding, pulling her bandana off her bedstand and placing it gently over his eyes, "Let's try to get a little more sleep before Celestia demands our attention, okay?" Though he could not see now, he knew she was worried, a hot feeling crossing his muzzle as he felt her take a place at his side and sling a wing around him. Probably to just comfort him, right?

She buried her head into her pillow and closed her eyes, keeping that relic of hers buried beneath her blankets to try to prevent any more disturbances. But how long would that last?

He unconsciously nestled closely to the wing, taking an amount of comfort that was no longer unexpected with the new context he had. He sighed and did his best to fall back to sleep, letting the rhythm of his breathing slow until he finally slipped back into rest. He fell asleep to the harmony of two tired ponies' slow, steady breathing.