Lost in Time

Terry vanished for a few days, and Golden Glow worked to give him the time and space he needed while they went through the somewhat-grisly process of securing the 'artifacts' in the laboratory they had opened. Yes, if they really wanted to, she was sure that they could find him: they had every inch of the temple mapped by now, and now that the drones knew what to look for, even their basic scandrones would be able to lock on to Terry and track him down in a matter of minutes.

But sometimes you just had to give people a chance to work things out on their own.

So that was what she did. She told the others not to bother him, and reminded them that they had plenty to deal with right now. Securing cadavers and hazardous waste was much more intensive than the work they usually did, and sterilizing and securing the lab was going to take upwards of a week. Considering what they had found, they would also have to adjust their schedules for the likelihood that there were going to be more bodies and experiments behind the other closed doors of the facilities, too...

She couldn't imagine what Terry had to be going through right now. What kind of things had to be running through his head: how did you come to terms with the idea that you were some kind of... synthetic life?

But she didn't think of him like that. She couldn't think of him like that, as nothing but some kind of construct, or drone. He smiled, he laughed, he felt joy and despair, he reacted to things just like she did...

He was a person. She believed that, just like she believed that Aeiro was her friend.

Golden Glow sighed as she leaned back in her seat, pushing away the endless forms she had been filling out and rubbing grumpily at her face. Aeiro flitted up beside her, the seahorse smiling supportively before she chirped: “Your productivity has dropped sixteen percent in the last twenty minutes! I think you should take a break and try to clear your head!”

“Yeah. You're right. Maybe I'll go see what Razz and the crew are up to. We're supposed to do an episode tomorrow night, and I should make sure they're not going to make it anything stupid.” Golden Glow muttered, and she stretched out with a grimace. “Dollars to donuts they try and make me do a presentation in that laboratory or something.”

Aeiro flitted down beside her, asking curiously: “But isn't it a huge find?”

Golden Glow grumbled, then groused: “Yes, of course it is. But I'm not a complete asshole, Aeiro, and it's... it's not my story to tell. It's Terry's. I'm not gonna go on PonyTube and tell the world all about how my friend was stuck together in a lab. He deserves better than that.”

She quieted for a moment, then sighed a little, rubbing at her face as she mumbled: “Should have known from the start, though. No one is that nice.”

Aeiro giggled, then she said kindly: “But you like him, don't you? And it sounds like you still think of him as a person.”

“Well, of course I like him! He's a good guy, and he... he tries. Do you know how hard it is to find someone who tries these days? I mean, hell, you've got machines that will wipe your own ass for you, so why would you even bother putting any effort in anymore?” Golden paused, then sighed and slumped in her seat. “He could have let us take over or ignored us, but he was always just that right amount of... wanting to get involved, wanting to help, not wanting to step on anypony's hooves. He deserves better than this. He's a better person than I am, whether they made him in that lab or not.”

Golden Glow grumbled a little to herself, and then she frowned as she heard movement and a mumbling, pushing herself up in her seat before she glanced over her shoulder and blinked in surprise at the sight of Terry. “Hey!”

Terry smiled at her awkwardly: he had his fingers tented, his arms hugging his sides, his shoulders all scrunched up as if he expected to be yelled at. And he was dirty, which was rare enough for her to notice, unable to help herself from blurting: “You look like crap.”

“Yeah.” Terry said after a moment, and then he gave a brief chuckle before he shook his head and murmured: “Sorry. I've been... trying to figure things out.”

“Yeah.” Golden Glow didn't really know what to say, so she gave an awkward smile before she cleared her throat as she slipped out of her seat and headed across the makeshift office to him. She stopped in front of him lamely, rubbing an arm, half-tempted to just hug him as he looked up at her in embarrassment, and then she sighed and reached out to firmly pat him on the head a few times, saying finally: “Well, I'm glad to see you, Terry. If uh, there's anything I can do, you know I'm more than happy to.”

Terry rubbed at his head, and then he smiled a little before he answered: “I think I'm going to take a shower, and... well, after that, I'd like to open up some of the other sealed areas.”

Golden Glow frowned slightly at this, tilting her head, and Terry blushed as he glanced down, twiddling his fingers together before he murmured: “I just... I need to see what else is here now. And I need to decide for myself... what it all means. Does that make any sense?”

“Not really.” Golden Glow smiled a bit, but then she nodded and said hesitantly: “I think we've got all the biohazard protocols in place now, so uh... well, I mean, I know this is personal for you but I can't let you do this alone-”

“I don't think I could do this alone.” mumbled Terry, and Golden chuckled a little in spite of herself. “No, I mean... I know you have to do things a certain way, and I don't want to get in the way or anything...”

“Hey.” Golden Glow interrupted gently, and Terry glanced up at her. “This is still your temple. You're still my top helper, right?”

Maybe that was a little condescending, but Terry smiled a little back at her all the same, nodding hesitantly before he murmured: “I'll try to be, anyway.”

“That's good enough for a start.” Golden Glow smiled a little, and then she straightened as she nodded once, quickly going over in her head what they'd need to do. “Okay, you go clean up and I'll get a hazardous materials team together. We'll open every sealed door in this place and you can go in first...”

She saw the look on Terry's face, and without even knowing why, she automatically offered: “I'll go in with you, how about that? We'll do it together, Terry. You don't have to be alone for this. We'll get your answers.”

Terry smiled in relief at this, nodding with clear gratitude, and Golden Glow smiled briefly back before she said finally: “Okay. You go clean up. We'll...” 'Follow your lead' didn't sound right, so she finished: “We'll work together on this, okay?”

“Okay. Thanks, Golden Glow. I really appreciate it.” Terry said, and he blushed and fidgeted for a moment before turning and hurrying away.

Aeiro giggled, and Golden Glow cocked her head as she looked at the floating AI, who remarked brightly: “That was really nice of you, Golden Glow! And this is a really big find, too! You could do a show on it if you wanted, I bet it would be really exciting!”

“I mean, yeah, but... we'll see what we find, first.” Golden Glow said evasively.

“I'm glad you're working hard to take Terry's feelings into account. I bet he really appreciates that.” Aeiro said, before she asked curiously as Golden headed back to her desk: “Where do you think I was manufactured?”

“I mean... don't you know?” Golden Glow asked, honestly a little surprised as she glanced back at the AI.

Aeiro giggled, then chirped in response: “Nope! They don't provide us with that information for security purposes! And after all, wherever we're produced isn't home, and we don't have a mommy or a daddy waiting for us.”

That struck deep in Golden Glow, making her almost flinch as she looked at the AI, but Aeiro smiled at her: a smile that was incredibly genuine for a living program, as she said gently: “Don't you worry, Golden Glow. I'm really honestly happy! I don't think anyone else would treat me the way you do, or leave my protocols open. And I'm really glad that you were the one who found Terry, too, because I don't think anyone else would really be able to be there for him like you have.”

This made the pony blink and cock her head quizzically, and Aeiro giggled before she said brightly: “Well, think about it! How many other ponies would have treated him like a person? How many other ponies would have put his feelings before their own benefit? And how many other ponies would keep thinking of him as an equal even if he was designed, just like me, to be a tool?”

“A lot.” Golden Glow said almost evasively, blushing a bit as she glanced away before she cleared her throat and almost deflected: “Look, in this business, you need to have an open mind, okay? That's all it is. I'm sure lots of other people would have been just as good to him. Better, even.”

Aeiro only giggled, and Golden Glow huffed at her before she said grumpily: “Fine. Okay, tool, then can you contact Razz? I want a hazard team. I want to record it, too, we can use it as B-roll footage if nothing else.”

“Sure! Do you want me to send the message out myself, or do you want to talk to Mister Razzmatazz?” asked Aeiro, and Golden Glow clicked her tongue as she absently fiddled with her scarf before finally nodding once.

“Let me talk to Razz for a minute. I'll let you handle the professional stuff afterwards.” she said, and Aeiro smiled and nodded firmly before the AI vanished with a blink of static, a holographic screen appearing in front of Golden Glow in the sentient program's place.

A moment later, Razz's face appeared on screen, the stallion blinking and smiling: before he could greet her, however, Golden steamrollered: “Hey, so Terry's back and he wants to open up the rest of the locked doors.”

“What?” Razz blinked and stared at her through the screen, flabbergasted, before he blurted out: “Was that your idea?”

“No it was not my idea!” Golden Glow snapped waspishly, and then she huffed as the stallion shrank almost out of frame before she grumbled: “No, he wants to do it himself. So I need a biohazard team prepped, paperwork filled out, and a camera or a drone. We're not doing this as a show, Razz, and Terry's in charge of opening the rest of them and he and I will check the labs out first, got it?”

“Uh...” Razzmatazz shook his head quickly, then he brushed a hand through his mane before asking uncertainly: “Are you sure about this? I mean, we've got all the equipment here and I've got a work team on standby that I can-”

“There you go, see? All ready already.” Golden Glow paused, snorted, then she said in a somewhat-humbler voice: “Look. This is Terry's call, not mine, okay? I just want to try and meet both sides here. I want to give him the chance to do this, and I want to make sure we're covering our asses too, and I'm not going to get any of you in trouble. If we can get something for the Guild out of this, even better. But... I'm trying to think about my friends first here.”

Razz sighed a little, but then he gave a small smile and nodded a little bit, lowering his head before he muttered: “Okay. Uh... there are four sealed doors, and if we start in the far western wing of the temple and move to the east, we should be able to open all of them with minimal interference to other operations. Is that okay, do you think?”

“That sounds great, Razz. Thanks. I knew I could count on you.” Golden Glow nodded, feeling more relieved than she wanted to admit. “I'm gonna finish up here, then, and let Aeiro take care of the alerts. Then I'll get Terry and meet you guys in the far wing. Sound good?”

“Yeah...” There was a lingering in Razz's voice, and Golden Glow tilted her head. The stallion bit his lip, and then he asked her awkwardly, quietly: “Are you sure about all this still? I mean, if he's a construct...”

“He's a person. End of discussion.” Golden Glow said firmly, and Razz smiled a little as he nodded, blushing faintly. “Anything else?”

“I think that's it. I'll send you a message once we're in place. Should be twenty, thirty minutes tops.” Razz answered.

Golden Glow nodded quickly, then closed the link before Razz could say anything else, breathing out a quick sigh before she winced when Aeiro said brightly: “I'll go ahead and send out the alerts! Can I do anything else for you, Goldie?”

“No, that should be more than enough for now. I'll just get these reports done real quick, and then I'll hunt down Terry and we'll get ready for this thing together.” the mare answered as she headed back to her desk.

She focused on her task, scribbling in notes and details across the report page as she worked with renewed energy and purpose, undercut slightly by the nibbling anxiety that kept chewing at her nerves.

She was glad Terry was back, but she was worried about what they were going to find and how he was going to handle it. He'd literally run off crying after they'd opened the first lab, after all, but... to be fair, she didn't think she'd handle opening a door she'd guarded zealously for a thousand or so years only to find out she was nothing but a doll, and here were where her less successful siblings had been messily interred.

Hell, not even that: they'd just been... abandoned, left to rot. They still had no idea what had scared off Terry's Patrons, why they had left him here to guard this place...

They had a few working theories at this point, though: after all, once this whole region had been mountains, but seismic activity had caused the entire region to collapse into the sea. It was likely Terry's Patrons had abandoned the temple to escape the rising tides: but that prompted the question that if they'd known what was happening in advance, why leave Terry here to maintain the temple and its many artifacts?

Of course she could imagine the answer to that, but she didn't like it, and she didn't want to think that they had really valued Terry so little they had been willing to leave him to a watery grave...

Golden Glow scowled as she jotted the last of her notes down, and then she sighed as she sat back, muttering: “Well, they're all dead and gone and there's no point being mad at history. My job is just digging stuff up. That's all.”

“It's a little more complicated than that, Goldie!” trilled Aeiro, and Golden Glow gave her AI a look as she hopped out of her chair and headed to the doorway, the image of the seahorse flickering happily through the air beside her. “You also analyze the past and try to understand why things happened the way they did, and you serve as a bridge between Equestrian culture and other civilizations, both past and present!”

“Wow, go me.” Golden said drolly, but Aeiro only giggled at her as the mare shook her head, heading in the direction of the... wait. “Uh... can you track Terry?”

“Oh, yep! Just a second, let me interface with the other AIs and monitoring systems, and...” Aeiro clicked a few times, then said brightly: “Terry is at the bathing pools!”

“Didn't we just finish decontaminating those?” Golden Glow asked in exasperation, and then she sighed and muttered: “Great. Well, I guess we know the plumbing systems are still working...”

“Of course, maintenance drones did ensure they were in working condition three days ago!” chirped Aeiro helpfully.

“Thanks, Aeiro.”

When Golden Glow approached the small communal bathing area they'd mostly restored, she was somewhat surprised to see Oneiros floating outside the closed beaded curtain. The little archaeopteryx-shaped spirit smiled at her as she approached, waving a tiny claw hand quickly as Aeiro floated forwards and greeted cheerfully: “Hi there! How are you doing?”

“Surprisingly well.” answered the daemon after a moment, and then she gave a small smile as she bowed her head quietly to Golden Glow, who cocked an eyebrow curiously. “I just wanted to say... thank you.”

“For uh, what?” the mare asked, and the daemon gave her an amused look.

“For Terry, of course.” answered Oneiros, and she hovered awkwardly for a moment before continuing almost hesitantly: “You know that... he came back because of you.”

Golden Glow blushed a bit, and Oneiros continued quickly: “I don't want to speak out of turn or anything, but... your willingness to see him as a person, more than just a tool. It means a lot to be treated that way, even if we're just...”

“You're people. Good people. You and Aeiro and Terry, too.” Golden Glow replied with a shake of her head. “Maybe not everyone is going to believe that, but... I do. And I think you all have a lot to teach the world about what a person really is.”

Aeiro smiled, while Oneiros glanced away in embarrassment and almost grumbled: “That sounds a little bit too childishly-hopeful for me.”

“Well, ponies aren't great at growing up.” retorted Golden Glow, before she paused as she realized something was different about the daemon, squinting at her curiously before she asked: “Wait.”

The daemon looked back at her, nonplussed, before blushing when Golden Glow said: “You're not wearing clothes. Usually you have the same regalia on that Terry wears.”

The archaeopteryxian spirit glanced down at its slender, pretty body, and then she fluffed out her chest as she flapped her little wing-claws before wrapping them primly around herself, replying in a huff: “Well, I'm already covered in feathers, you know! Besides, it's just... extra energy to generate fancy clothes. And if no one else is going to wear them anymore, I don't see why I have to. Or Terry has to, for that matter.”

“Well, I mean, he doesn't.” Golden Glow said with a shrug, before she narrowed her eyes slightly at the way Oneiros' eyes flicked away before the mare stepped forwards, making the spirit squawk as the pony brushed through her and then through the curtain beyond, Aeiro squeaking an apology for her friend's brusque behavior.

Terry glanced up from where he was just gathering his clothes, then he squeaked and hurriedly covered himself, blushing beet red in embarrassment as Golden Glow only cocked an eyebrow at him. She drew her eyes along his body, took in his lithe chest, but where her eyes lingered most was along his waist, where fur smoothly gave away to scale, where the serpent part of him meshed perfectly with the leonine upside.

“H-Hey!” Terry blurted out.

“These are public baths, and I'm public. Also we just cleaned these, Terry, we're not actually going to use them anymore, we were just going to have a display here. Besides, I thought you were going to shower.” Golden Glow interrupted.

Terry blushed deeper, then he said embarrassedly: “I'm sorry, I... I just... it was always a favorite place of mine when...”

Golden Glow softened, then she sighed and smiled, saying in a gentler voice as he fumbled for words: “Hey, I'm just teasing you. It's fine. Look, are you ready to go or not? Because you don't have to do this, you know. We can handle it, or we can even wait. I can still call things off.”

Terry visibly relaxed, giving a small, faint smile before he shook his head and closed his eyes, murmuring: “No. I want to do this, and I... I have to do this. I need answers, Golden Glow. I need to see for myself, so I can decide... what I'm going to do from here.”

Golden Glow nodded, figuring it was better not to push him too much, and he looked up at her awkwardly. They gazed at each other for a few moments, until Terry blushed a bit, then awkwardly looked down at the clothes he was clinging against his body as he asked sheepishly: “Can I have some privacy?”

“Huh? Oh.” Golden Glow snorted as Terry's daemon floated by her head, and the mare jerked her head at the spirit as she said mildly: “Your friend here seems to be adjusting fine to the new culture, you know. Why don't you try it sometime? It's a lot less hassle than putting clothes on.”

“Maybe later.” Terry said embarrassedly, glancing awkwardly up at his daemon as Oneiros hovered pointedly around his head, and Golden Glow snorted in amusement before she shrugged, then turned and headed to the curtain, letting herself out.

After a few minutes, Terry emerged, awkwardly smoothing down his wrinkled tunic as he gave a lame smile to Golden Glow, who smiled back at him before she reached up and firmly squeezed his shoulder. Terry didn't flinch or pull away from the contact, blushing a bit as he looked up into her eyes, and she said: “Well, come on, then. I'm sure Razz is waiting for us by now.”

Terry nodded, then fell in behind Golden Glow as she turned to lead the way. But she didn't feel like she was really leading him so much as guiding him forwards, being there for him when he needed her: this was his calling, his idea, his to see through.

They found Razzmatazz with a team of ponies already dressed up in plastic biohazard uniforms, and Golden Glow scowled as the stallion pointedly held a protective set of clothes out to her. She grumbled under her breath, but took the plasticky, uncomfortable material, quickly slipping her way into the yellow and white uniform as she muttered: “It's not like I'm going to be touching anything...”

“Protocol.” apologized Razzmatazz, before he smiled and held out a poncho and a set of gloves to Terry, who blinked as he took it awkwardly. “You should wear this too. If there's uh... if there's any dangerous or infections elements in the lab, this should protect you a little. Just last year, you know, there were three hundred recorded cases of-”

“Oh, don't start with the statistics.” Golden Glow grumbled as she snatched a helmet away from one of the workers, who stared dumbly at his now-empty hands for a moment before he scowled and headed over to a rolling rack to grab himself another. “At least a dozen of those cases were in lab conditions, by the way. I'm sure six or seven probably involved Vertigo.”

“Ten cases on record involve science officer Running Vertigo!” chirped Aeiro, and Golden Glow gave Razz a pointed look, but the stallion only smiled in amusement as he shook his head.

Golden huffed as she shoved her helmet on, while Terry accepted his own from another pony, smiling nervously as he fumbled to pull the eye protector down like the rest of the ponies had as Razz instructed: “Golden Glow and Terry are in charge of this operation, and will go in first for visual confirmation. I'm going to send survey drones in with them, to check for any faults and get air readings, just in case there's low-lying gases, but I don't expect that will be a problem even if there is magical contamination. After they're done, team A will go in to secure the hazards, and team B will start itemizing everything. I'm giving us an hour for each room. Is everyone ready?”

“Is everyone ready?” Golden Glow said loudly, glaring at Razzmatazz, who winced and deferred to her with an awkward drop of his head.

When the rest of the team nodded or grumbled or at least didn't dissent, she turned her eyes to Terry, saying in a gentler voice: “Just go at your own pace, okay? No rush. We'll start when you want to get moving.”

Terry smiled briefly at her, and then he bit his lip before he turned his eyes to the sealed door, taking a slow breath before he murmured: “Okay. Don't worry, I... I'm as ready as I'll ever be.”

Terry lingered for a moment all the same in front of this heavy, rolling stone shutter with its scratched out symbols, until Golden Glow stepped up beside him, smiling at him supportively as she reached up to gently touch his shoulder, and the serpentine creature visibly took reassurance from her presence, nodding to her once before he pressed his hands to the cold, uncaring stone.

The shutter rumbled, dust hailing down as it jarred and jammed, then finally squealed slowly to the side, rolling into the wall, and Terry took a shuddering breath before he led the way through the maw of the doorway into the pitch-black stomach of the room beyond, with Golden Glow beside him, and the lights of their respective daemon and AI the only thing providing any glimpse into the darkness until Oneiros murmured: “There's a gemstone interface here. I'll try and turn it on.”

It worked, and just like in the last room, it brought flickering gemstone lanterns to light. Terry shuddered at what they saw, but he didn't run away this time: instead, he drew his eyes uneasily over the capsules and the... aquariums, they looked like. Broken glass, what few containers remained full of rotted water and slush, dried corpses of fish and eel on the floor.

The search of the room was quick and efficient: Golden Glow gave Terry time to take in what they were looking at as she flitted around the room, unconsciously moving as if to keep herself between Terry and the rest of the world, to protect him, never straying too far from him, never letting him feel alone for very long. She felt... keeping him company was more important right now than making big breaks or discoveries for herself. Everything was going to be secured and itemized, after all. She was really just the first set of eyes, that was all.

She was here to help Terry.

All the same, even a cursory examination told her what this place was: a specimen zoo. Not nearly as terrible or creepy as the lab they had uncovered before, but it still made her uncomfortable: animal experimentation was largely outlawed in Equestria, except in special circumstances.

They were able to log and secure the area quickly: the drones didn't find anything particularly hazardous, so they marked the area as a work site and they would get a survey team in tomorrow. It was a good start, and it seemed to help Terry, too.

The next lab they opened was similar: there was a creepy skeleton in the corner of a creature similar to Terry, but that was the worst thing it had to offer. Otherwise it seemed more like a private office than a research room, or maybe it was a mock lab, designed for students to conduct their first experiments in. They put some plastic sheeting over the skeleton and marked off a damaged area of flooring, but that was the extent of the adventure.

The third sealed room was the one that challenged Terry's resolve. Inside, they found a magical incinerator, and a pile of petrified remains of failed experiments and bodies that all vaguely resembled Terry. The incinerator was too small for the bodies, but there was a rusted axe laying nearby, and...

Terry had to go back outside to take a breath, but to Golden's surprise, he came back in to help her finish inspection. He wouldn't go near the bodies, but he helped her sort through the pile of magical trash on the other side of the room, and he let Oneiros show her how the incinerator worked while he faced pointedly away.

It chilled Golden Glow somewhat that Oneiros was able to tell her precisely how the incinerator had used to work, but didn't have any clue how she did or even why she did. She just said she had always been a tool to the Patrons while she'd lingered uneasily around the pile of discarded remains, staring at them as if...

When you saw people as nothing but tools, Golden Glow supposed that you didn't care if you discarded them or not.

That, really, explained a lot. Why Terry had been abandoned, why the temple was the way it was, why he still spoke of his Patrons with respect, tinged with anxiety. Because that had been hammered and programmed into him.

Maybe he was the only one of his kind. Maybe he had been the only truly 'successful' experiment. Maybe there had been others, or were others out there somewhere.

But none of that really mattered to Golden Glow. Because to her, Terry was a person, and he was finding himself now, and she found it inspiring, as they opened the next sealed door, that in spite of how shaken he was and how afraid he was, he was still struggling to make sense of it all, he was still looking for his answers, and he was still... finding himself.

They worked hard, opening the rest of the sealed zones, uncovering not just a room, but an entire wing of abandoned offices and dormitories that would have to be fully mapped out at some point, layered in ancient dust: a place that Terry had never seen, a place he had never been allowed to walk the halls of, but now his body had slipped through every room of, peeking through rotten doorways at what had once been monastic cells, and academic offices, and the Patron's private places.

They hadn't really suspected that an entire underground living area had existed, but at least it wouldn't take long to explore. And the last area had just been another specimen kennel, this one full of empty cages and echoes of whatever research they had been conducting here.

As they finished with the last room, Terry slipped away, and this time Golden followed him, drawn on after her friend. She found him back at the public bathhouse, sitting on a bench, watching ponies relax in the water.

Golden Glow rolled her eyes at the sight of the ponies, one of who waved at her awkwardly, but then she only sighed and sat down beside Terry, both of them still dressed in their biohazard uniforms, dusty, stained... not looking our best. That bath does look pretty good right now.

“What am I?” Terry asked quietly, and Golden Glow looked at him with surprise. “I didn't... I thought... I'd find the answer.”

Golden Glow studied the serpent for a few moments as he childishly rubbed at his eyes with the back of his wrist, his other hand squeezing convulsively on the helmet in his lap. “They called me Memnonia, but... what does that even mean? Does it mean I'm a person, or does it mean I'm a thing? Am I Terry, or am I-”

Golden Glow reached up and wrapped an arm around his leonine shoulders, and Terry blinked as she half-squeezed him to her side, the mare saying softly: “You're you, Terry. And you're a better person than those Patrons of yours were, and I'm happy to have met you and happy you're my friend. And I'm really proud of you, because you know what? You did find your answer.”

Terry frowned, and Golden Glow smiled at him as she reached up and pushed back her facemask to gaze down at him with affection and tender conviction. “You're a person, you dumbass, because if you were just a tool, you never would have had any reason to find out why you were made, or what you really are. You wouldn't be curious about where you came from. Tools always know their purpose, but they don't have any meaning outside of that. People... people like us, get to make our own meaning, but we gotta work hard to find our purpose along the way. So... I'm sorry to say, Terry, you're a dumbass person just like me.”

Terry laughed despite himself at this, blushing and lowering his head before he closed his eyes as he rested against her shoulder, whispering a thank you. Golden Glow only shrugged a bit, then rested back in her seat before her eyes roved to the public baths, and she said after a moment: “Anyway, look what else you did, you got some stupid ponies to start using the bathhouse here. You know, Terry, that I'm the one who's going to get yelled at for that.”

The leonine serpent only smiled, and Golden Glow smiled as well despite herself, nodding and letting her gaze tilt upwards, staring up at the ceiling as she murmured: “But I guess that's okay. It's your temple anyway, Terry. I'll just blame it on you.”

Terry hesitated for a moment, and then he looked up at her and said quietly: “It might be, but... I... I think... I think I want to leave.”

Golden Glow looked down at him with surprise, and Terry smiled briefly before he lowered his eyes and nodded once, then murmured: “This was my home, for a long time, but... but I think now it's time for me to leave, Golden Glow. Does that make any sense to you?”

“Too much.” Golden murmured, and then she squeezed him gently around the shoulders before she said softly: “Okay, Terry. You've got time to figure it out though, don't worry. But whatever happens... I'll help you.

“You're my friend, Terry. We'll figure it out together.”