Senseless Writings

The sun was rising on a new day as four ponies and a spirit were waking from their peaceful night. Or at least it was peaceful for Winter and Flakes as they slept on the other side of the barrier. For Thunder it may have been better if he wasn't stuck with two drunks who couldn't control themselves. He wondered if he would have to be stuck in a situation like this in the future and instantly became worried. Soon enough Ace and Nature slowly started to wake up before one of them started to instantly go into a panic.

"I-I can't see! Where am I?! Was I kidnapped?!"

"You’re wearing a blindfold." Thunder said with a bit of an annoyed attitude in his voice.

"What? Oh, I am. Wait, why was I wearing a blindfold?"

Ace and Nature were slowly traveling out of the town with Winter, Thunder, and Flakes. They looked like a combination of being sick and nervous as they slugged their way to follow the others. This was of course a combination of a hangover and guilt from having spent all the money. Ace didn't even have the strength to go and grab a cloud he could use to float on instead of having to walk with them. He tried to look at it simply as punishment for what he did.

They were all on a small path that connected from the town to the nearby forest. The forest was mostly just a normal one unlike some of the other strange or dangerous forests in Equestria. The reason they were going in however was to check out the Thunder Tower that was located deep inside.

It was mostly a silent trip except for Flakes who didn't really understand the situation. She could tell something had happened but felt it was something she wouldn't understand. Winter had also insisted that she traveled with her instead of Mother which made her a bit worried about whatever it was that had happened.

When they all reached the Thunder Tower they decided to split up a bit to look around. Ace and Nature were to stay outside and look around while the others checked the inside. They could tell they were probably just being left behind so they wouldn't get in the way but decided not to care as they didn't want to move much anyway.

"So do you remember anything from last night?" Ace asked after they rested for a bit.

"No. Do you?" Nature asked still a bit in pain from the hangover.

"No. It's a bit hard to believe what Thunder said. How did that happen?"

"Maybe it's better if we just forgot about it." Nature said with a bit of a sad tone in her voice.

Ace felt a bit awkward as he realized he may have accidentally brought up her amnesia problem. He thought for a minute about how to change the topic and soon remembered a flier he saw back in town. The flier mentioned "finding yourself" or something along those lines and had the address to the businesses location.

"Did you notice those strange fliers in town?" Ace said while attempting to steer the topic in a new direction.

"Those looked a bit odd but interesting." Nature replied realizing the mood was a bit strange.

"We should see if we can stop by before we leave town again. I think it might be able to help us, or at least ease us a bit." Ace replied a little excited about the idea.

"Well I only hope the others are as eager about it or else we might not go. It would be nice if we could loosen this tension a bit though."

Inside the tower Winter and Thunder parted ways to look around the tower faster. Flakes stayed with Thunder as he explored the lower levels and Winter checked the upper levels. It was like the other towers with its usual clockwork and strange machines with a few exceptions. It almost felt like a city in itself with its constant ticking and rumble.

The reason most of the machines look the same in most towers stems from two simple facts. The first being that they were also created for testing and so were left behind with no function simply as a kind of blueprint to look back to help form the real machine. The second fact was Thunder Heart first started to make the machines in Equestria meaning most had no purpose at all except to test the designs for the machines basic functions themselves.

Some of the machines may have been for general purpose but even so only a small amount in the mess of machines actually had a real function. The towers in the Outlands however were supposed to have more working machines as they were designed for specific purposes to help Thunder Heart in the Outlands. Winter didn't really expect to find much in the towers in Equestria though.

After a while she got a bit bored and started to think back on everything that has happened so far. Even though it has only been a few days she felt like it's been months with all that has happened in such a short time. Even Nature who she only met recently already felt like she had been with them for almost a week.

She soon started to feel a sense of guilt as she worried about what she has been doing over the past few days as well. She was probably trying to deny it but she had been acting strange ever since they left from Weatherville. She noticed that she had been getting more irritated and annoyed with her friends and lashed out at them a bit.

Even if they did something wrong why was she getting so angry? She would usually try to accept situations as they came but instead has been getting angry at the smallest of changes. She began to ponder what could be causing her blood to boil so easily. Was it stress from the situation with the changelings? Did she really not want to come along after all? Or is what her dark reflection said back in the crystal world starting to make sense?

She started to feel a bit sick and annoyed after thinking about it too long. She thought about talking to Thunder about it but then suddenly became annoyed even more. Whatever it was she needed to worry about it less and loosen up. They had yesterday off but she didn't really do much to calm her stress. She decided to just stop thinking about it for now and try to solve things later.

After a while the group regrouped outside the tower to discuss what to do next. They hadn't found anything particularly useful around the tower and decided to give up on it. When Ace and Nature proposed the idea of visiting the location mentioned in the fliers they were a bit surprised Winter easily accepted it. It seemed like she took some interest in the words "finding yourself" and figured they could use the break.

It was getting to be around noon as they left the tower and Winter took one last look behind her. As much as she wanted to ignore her problems they still filled her mind to the brim as she felt ready to explode. She felt like she was taking a gamble with "finding herself" and decided it was now or never. She turned her head away from the tower as she continued with the others back into town.