Dreamwalker's Tale: Last (!) Adventure

Burning. Drowning. Bleeding out. Jackpot if you got torn to shreds by the initial detonation.

They were not even visible. From up here on top of Mount Aris, any and all survivors were simply absent. Not even specks in the distance. As if the scene itself tried to hide the awfulness that happened right now. With any potential survivor vanishing from sight, it was so nauseatingly easy to forget all about them. They weren’t even there, after all.

“What have you done?” I mumbled breathlessly.

It was efficient.

It was cold.

It was heartless.

“What have you done?!” I screamed in Tempest's face as I whirled around and gave her a good shove. Not a punch, not a kick. For some reason, I had not thought of that. Then again, an actual solid attack she might have seen coming. She might have defended against. But I merely shoved her. She looked so incredibly surprised. It infuriated me even more, but I turned my focus away from her. I did not wish to escalate this into an actual fight. We were here to retrieve her, after all.

So my attention shifted to Luna instead. She still looked in the direction where the wreckage had sunk into the sea, but I knew that she noticed what was going on. “Luna, we need to help,” I stated with urgency. Parts of my own mind had tried to mollify me, tried to keep me quiet and make me sit down on the sidelines like the good little soldier I was meant to be. But this was wrong. And when she looked at me, I saw the very same battle I fought raging in her eyes. She knew it. She knew how wrong this was. And just like me, there was a part of her holding her back. I wanted to scream at her to look at what was happening, but I quickly reminded myself: Nothing. Nothing was happening as far as the naked eye was concerned. There was nothing to see. So I made a second attempt to speak instead and veered into a different direction, but with the same intention. “This isn’t us!” I insisted. “It’s neither you nor me nor is this the pony way! Luna, please, I implore you. Help them!”

A few more seconds of hesitation trickled by before she stretched her magnificent wings to their full span and with a fast run-up, she flung herself off the mountain and raced towards the sea. My heart raced as I watched her shrink down as well. She flew as fast as her wings allowed her.

Unfortunately, that left me alone with her.

I already knew what I intended to do next. What I had in mind to occupy my hooves and mind with until Luna’s return. And she would help me. “We have something to do, Fizzlepop,” I announced. It was not a question. It was not an offer. And I most certainly was not asking nicely for her help.

And she had the audacity to talk back.

“That’s not my name,” she insisted with her usual indifference.

It had not become any less aggravating. I had already turned around and taken a few steps towards the outpost, but I stopped when she rejected her own name. I had not heard any hoofsteps following me as well. I closed my eyes and took a couple of deep breaths. I knew that if she wanted to, she could mop the floor with me. And neither was I keen on this kind of humiliation nor did I wish to fight her in the first place. There had been more than enough violence for one day. But her demeanor just irritated me in a way I found incredibly hard to dismiss.

So I slowly turned around to face her and tried to keep myself from snarling. “Well, you better get used to it, Fizzlepop,” I started with a barely veiled threat carrying my voice, “because after seeing what ‘Tempest Shadow’ deems a ‘good idea’, I really, really hope she went down with that Celestia-forsaken ship over there!” I angrily pointed a hoof in the direction of the coastline, just for emphasis. And I despised her even more for that mildly amused look on her face. “You might think I’m soft. That it’s a weakness. But we worked hard to afford this ‘weakness’. Because it’s a luxury. There’s a reason we don’t kill or maim or torture. There’s a reason why barely anypony knows that the dungeons even exist. There’s a reason why these dungeons are empty. And no matter if she knows it or not, Luna is out there to save a part of herself right now. A part I’m not sure you have even left to be saved. And if you’re done running your mouth, feel free to make yourself useful and help me deal with our other victims.”

I turned around again and stomped away. It was quiet behind me, only the wind occasionally whistled in my ear. As I had almost reached the outpost’s gate, I heard her mumble. “It was a strategically sound decision.”

That could have been something Luna said. I shuddered. I did not know if it was possible. Maybe I was too late already. But I felt this deep-seated urgency to at least save my little kitten from that.

“I don’t care.” I wanted to yell. I wanted to scream it to the heavens. I wanted to scream it down her ear in hopes it might pierce through that lifetime of strife and violence. But I managed to restrain myself. It would not do to yell like that. It would not help, it would not change anything, it would not do any good for either of us. So I sighed quietly instead, put my forehead against the metal of the door, let the coldness seep into my brain and quietly mumbled my reply into the gate. It surely cared as much as I did right now.

After having said my piece, I lit my horn and pulled the gate to the side again. I made my way into the courtyard and looked around. These guards were frozen solid. Petrified. But there were means to unpetrify them, I assumed. And at some point, somepony would come and do just that. At least that was what I hoped for.

But without proper understanding of their internal organization, I could not tell how long that would take. Weeks, maybe. And they were stone. High up on a mountain. Subjected to harsh weather, to winds and rain and birds and who knew what else. Despite my efforts not to think about it too much, my mind already told me what it would look like to unpetrify a guard whose arm had been broken off because a strong gust of wind tipped him over.

We needed to secure them. It was the least we could do to ensure their safety. They probably had families to return to. And maybe they would remember this. How we treated them when they were at their most vulnerable.

I chose the guard who was already closest to a building and tried a few ways of how to best tackle the issue. As a statue, they were way too heavy for me to lift with my telekinesis. I could drag them and I did try that for a few inches, but my mind screamed in panic as I realized that no matter how I grabbed hold of the statue, there was a risk of breaking something off. Dragging him along the ground in a standing position could put too much strain on his legs. Dragging him after carefully placing him on his back could literally grate his back to dust.

I had to be smarter about this.

So I visited some of the other structures. I had not been in most of them and I did not look around to puzzle out their function. No, I searched for ideas and usable materials. And I found what I had come for. A few wheels were easy enough to attach to a round wooden plate. I suspected that it had been a table at some point, or maybe it was a table in the making. Either way, it was a good enough platform to lay the soldier onto and with the wheels I could drag him without causing damage. I just had to saw off the sides. Because the stupid table was too wide to fit through the doorways, of course.

I was in the middle of sawing the left side off when I heard the door open. Confident hoofsteps closed in on me and after a moment of hesitation, she rounded the improvised workstation. Armed with another saw, she started on the other side. I did not trust myself to keep any potential bile in, so I did not comment immediately. We instead finished working on my improvised sleigh. Or was it a scooter at this point? It had no handle, it just—

Oh. Handle. Right.

It was not hard to find rope. It was a little bit trickier to attach it to the improvised cart, but we managed it eventually. And with that step done, we stood there for a few seconds. I looked at our creation with a mixture of pity and pride. It’ll do, I told myself. Even though I wished I could put it out of its misery and that Stonewood might never hear of this creation, ever.

“Am I a bad pony?”

Her question caught me so off-guard that I choked for a second. I avoided eye contact for the moment and tried to come up with an answer that was not just vitriol. After a deep sigh, I shook my head. “I don’t know. Maybe.” It was honest. But it left a foul taste in my mouth. Everypony deserves a second chance, don’t they? “I don’t know you,” I elaborated. “I already told you, I don’t know who Fizzlepop Berrytwist is. I’m not exactly a social butterfly myself. I would probably never have gotten to know her. I don’t even know a lot about Tempest Shadow. Rumors. Second-hoof knowledge. Stuff you shouldn’t base your judgment on. I saw you as a filly, in your memory. You looked so happy. And so hurt afterwards. I know a thing or two about… about what sadness and loneliness and pain can do to a pony, if left unchecked. Untreated. For years and years. I don’t know if you can heal.” For the first time since her question, I allowed my gaze to drift from the nondescript point in space I had tethered my gaze to. I looked her in the eyes. And I saw specks of vulnerability. Maybe there really was still a pony beneath all these layers of dust, blood and war. And I allowed myself a small smile. “But I sure hope so.”

She shakily smiled back after a moment.

It felt so incredibly fragile. This moment. Her smile. That faint understanding we might have reached. But it was enough. “Come on. Let’s get these folks somewhere safe.”

We spent the next hour or so working in relative silence. I dragged my poor little cart around, we slowly and carefully placed a guard on it, we dragged him into a nearby building and slowly put him somewhere safe. Usually along a wall or in a corner, so they would not be pushed over by someone entering in a hurry.

The outpost had twelve guards. We worked as quickly as I was willing to go and we only needed one guard to work out some kinks and establish a good, viable routine for doing things.

We had a little trouble finding the last guard, though. Luna had flung Tempest's stone spheres all over the place. She had usually aimed to hit another guard with them, but Tempest had thrown more than there were guards and, well, Luna had dragged them this way and that way. We found one of them on a roof. We needed to fashion an entire pulley just to get him down.

I found the last guard outside the outpost. Tempest still looked around inside. And I already inhaled to call for her when I noticed a little black sphere lying on the ground near him. Up close and without the cover of night, they looked surprisingly unremarkable. Black stones were weird, sure. But it still looked like a stone. Just a pebble. I carefully lifted it up with my magic and it did not immediately go off.

These things could petrify everything they made contact with.

She’s dangerous, a voice in the back of my head quietly suggested. I had a means to neutralize that danger within my grasp now. She had nowhere to run now. She blew her own ship up. She would need to venture what? Dozens if not hundreds of miles to reach the next outpost or settlement? Did she even have enough supplies she could scavenge from this outpost to make it that far? Could she survive off the land? We could transport her more easily if she were a statue, right? I would not have to endure her confidence. Her smugness and her uncaring gaze.

‘Am I a bad pony?’, her voice echoed in my head.

Am I?

I sighed deeply and rejected the notion. And I pocketed the sphere for now. “Found him,” I half-yelled. “West wall.” We carried him back into the outpost and secured him with his comrades.

Luna had decent timing. We noticed her spiral down from above just as we emerged from the structure back into the courtyard. She quickly looked around, but did not comment. If she even noticed the changes to begin with. She instead addressed Fizzlepop. “How many crewmembers were on board?”

“Twenty-eight. Plus Grubber,” Fizzle replied.

Luna considered that number and seemed content. “Most of them made it out then. They are currently split between two lifeboats and row towards the shoreline.”

Most of them. She avoided actual numbers, even though she knew exactly how many. And of course, Tempest saw the opportunity to once again defend her strategically sound decision. “I triggered the charges when we reached a specific part of the coast. There’s a current that should make it quite hard for them to reach the immediate areas. They will drift off a good distance before reaching shore. It will be days before they are capable of making contact with another outpost and weeks before their report reaches the Storm King.”

And Luna agreed. It was a simple gesture. A single, curt nod. But in my mind, I could see Tempest's poison seep into Luna's head. She was a bad influence. I stepped up to Luna and presented her with the stone sphere. Out of the corner of my eyes, I noticed Fizzle's surprise. But more importantly, I noticed Luna's as well.

“Where did you find that?” she asked as she took it in her own levitation and put it into her saddlebag. In her search for an answer she also looked over to Tempest, who merely shrugged with the same curiosity plastered on her face.

Don’t. It was a weird mixture of Twilight and Fluttershy. Their voices intermingled to stop me. But they failed. And kindness lost another battle. “With one of your victims, ma’am.”

I thrust myself into another dichotomy. On one hoof, a part of me wanted to see her hurt. A part of me wanted to make it perfectly clear that this had not been a battle, I was no soldier, she was not my commanding officer and she had gone too far.

But at the same time, my own heart broke a little when I saw that pained expression in her eyes. When I witnessed how I got exactly what my other half wanted. I could not remember ever addressing her as a superior before. And I felt guilty. I wanted to apologize so badly, but no words came forth. The other side prevented me from doing it. I grimaced and averted my eyes. “Did you help them?” I asked softly.

“I did what I could,” she replied after a moment’s hesitation.

Another bout of worry made my head snap back up to meet her eyes. “Luna?” I asked cautiously.

She quietly sighed. “I promise you, I did all I could do to help them find their way to safety. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

I held her gaze for a few seconds before I sighed in relief. “Thank you.” I wanted to kiss her. Or at least hug her. To show affection. To express without words that I felt bad for hurting her.

And I still could not.

I wanted to save her so badly. But the thought of apologizing was met with the mental image of her cyan eyes staring at me from a mist of stars as she flew outside. Against every warning, against all my attempts to work this out diplomatically, she engaged them all. I was no soldier, despite my training. Maybe there was a tactical advantage in all of this. Securing the outpost might have been a good decision. Especially now that it looked like Tempest had done all of this by herself, for whatever mysterious reason. Would her king even care?

But I could not get past the screams in my ears. The screams of terrified soldiers who believed that unspeakable, unfathomable monsters were coming for them. I knew that there was a warm and tender heart beating in my kitten's chest. I was so familiar with her warmth that despite my knowledge of her darker tendencies, I still felt shocked to have witnessed them in action.

Maybe this was a clumsy way of displaying a firm hoof. If it was, I was going about it the wrong way. I sighed and shook my head. This would need to wait for later. “We should search the outpost for gear,” I proposed instead.

“So stealing is alright then?” Tempest mocked.

Fragile indeed, I reminded myself while I tried to stay calm. “If we find some, I would like to take a single set of armor, one of those helmets or masks or what those are, one of those shields and one of those zapping-forks,” I explained to Luna and decidedly ignored Tempest's insinuation. “I assume we have some kind of defensive technology research department or something?”

Luna nodded. “Something like that. I can make sure it reaches the right ponies.”

Good enough for me. “Good. We still need to be aware of additional weight though. Even with our supplies dwindling, we should not carry too much or we will lose speed on our return.” I looked up at the sky. It was still early. “We should be thorough. Consider what we take and what we leave behind. That way, we can start our way home at dawn tomorrow.”

Despite the lingering awkwardness, Luna allowed herself a small smile and levitated her saddlebags over. She retrieved a single item from them.

The teleportation stone.

I stared at her dumbfounded. I regained enough composure to wordlessly ask her after a moment. How. Why.

“Tia mentioned that the two of you had cut some corners and that it probably had been for the better,” Luna explained. “I imagined our trek back home would be a bit tedious, so I only planned for a one-way trip. This should also help with leaving no additional tracks.”

Fizzle was completely in the dark about the whole thing of course. She had no idea what we were talking about and I saw no reason to enlighten her. She probably had gathered enough information to puzzle things out just by listening anyway.

I regarded the stone for a moment longer before I ultimately shook my head. It was tempting. We could just charge the stone — if it was not charged already — and be home in an instant. But I still had frustrations and anger and other less desirable urges and impulses brewing in my head. And my heart and my stomach. The latter twisted into knots every time I got half a second to remember that hurt expression in her eyes.

I wanted to apologize, but I could not. Not right now. I needed to calm down first. And if we returned home now, I would not apologize properly. It would not be the same. It would not mean the same. It would not carry the same weight.

Things would get busy. Tempest needed to vanish and Fizzle needed to be rehabilitated. Reintegrated into society. There were a lot of questions and decisions waiting for her. And Luna would be instrumental to most of them. She was Equestria's shield and sword, after all. How had I never seen it this clearly?

“I don’t want to leave,” I announced. “Not just yet, anyway. I still think we should leave at dawn. I don’t…” Honesty, I told myself. Honesty is plain and simple, but hard to achieve. “I don’t want to return home as long as I’m mad at you two. I want to try to sort a few things out before we return, if that’s alright with you.”

And I was relieved when they both agreed.

Luna and I let Tempest explain to us how these outposts were built and which section should contain what. Then we split up and searched for loot. With the teleportation stone at the ready, there was no urgency left for a quick getaway. We could be gone within a blink of an eye. Knowing that helped. It gave me a decent backdrop to calm down. To think about what had happened. How we each reacted. How I had messed up.

I heard Fizzle and Luna talk outside on a few occasions. They crossed paths. Fizzle explained what that thing was, or what this thing did. And Luna thanked her each and every time. I stayed clear of them for a while. I made my own rounds, searched my section and once I was done with that, I sat down outside, near the ledge where the pathway led down the mountainside. And I watched the sun move across the sky and eventually dip down.

It was beautiful.

“I hope you had a good day, love,” I quietly whispered towards the horizon, as the sky became tinted in colorful hues. With the sun setting, Spike would set the table for dinner. He would need to fetch Twilight and drag her out of whatever project she had buried herself in this time. She would whine a little because why could he not bother her a little bit later, when she was done with the next step? But he knew better. If he gave her an inch, she would take a mile. And she would not eat at all.

They would gather at the table. Owlicious and White Tip would settle down next to them, with little bowls containing their own dinner. And they would talk about the day and about their plans for tomorrow and maybe they would miss me a little bit. After dinner was done, Spike would gather up all the plates and busy himself in the kitchen, cleaning everything up before heading to bed. And Twilight would open the library window so that Owlicious and White Tip could fly all night if they wanted to. She would return to her book, her science project, her whatever, and lose track of time once more.

I got so incredibly homesick for a few moments that my stomach twisted itself into a knot.

It was time to get back home. I could feel it. And for that, I had to make up with Luna. I loved her. And no matter what I thought of her actions here on this forsaken mountaintop, we had shared an incredibly joyful vacation. Last time I had decided to stand beside Celestia even if she were to go crazy and burn the entire world to a crisp. If my dedication was absurd enough to decide on that without so much as doubt in my mind, then I could easily accept and forgive what Luna had done here. I was merely worried about her.

And I found another angle that helped me put a spin on everything. Maybe this had been a secondary point of this mission: She opened up further to me. Instead of talking about it, Luna did what she usually preferred. She let actions speak. She showed me a part of herself that was considerably darker. A part of her duties that required as much from her.

I sighed in regret and got up as the sun vanished and the moon started to rise. The temperatures dropped almost immediately and every little gust of wind was chilling now. Maybe they had been before, but now I noticed.

When I entered the barracks, Fizzle appeared to be asleep already. Maybe she was, maybe she was not. I would not put it past her to feign it. My attention turned to Luna though. She laid in one of the beds close to the exit. And she watched me. Her expression was hard to read, but even before I took a single step, she scooched a little bit more to the side of the bed and made room for me.

Was it an offer? A request? A demand? Just following a routine? Hope? A plea?

I shoved the uncertainty into a corner, walked over to the bed and settled down next to her. I had not even said a single word, but the mere thought of it already tightened my throat. “I’m sorry,” I managed to whisper despite that. “I’m so, so, so sorry.”

She kept watching me and whatever she was searching for, she found it. A few seconds later, that familiar, kind warmth returned to her eyes. And we embraced each other after shuffling around a little. I held her as tight as I could and tried to keep my breathing steady. With moderate success.

“I was so worried about you,” I quietly continued. “I still am.“

There was an excruciatingly long silence before I was once again comforted by the sound of her voice. “We hail from a time in which conflicts were more commonly resolved with a sword instead of a trade embargo. I remember these times a lot more vividly than my beloved sister does. And I will freely admit that I cherish the thrill of battle. I did so a long time ago and I still do. That being said, I prefer sparring. Actual combat might be more thrilling, but I do not enjoy hurting others. And I can promise you, I do not waste life lightly. To end lives, even a single one, is a great burden. But it is also part of my duties. As much as it is part of hers.”

Was she speaking about Tempest? Or Celestia? I released a shuddering breath and nodded while I simultaneously buried my muzzle on her shoulder. Her reply reminded me of our conversation in the ravine. When we had talked about my own atrocities. “I know. And yet I don’t think I ever truly understood that.” My mind did not dare to stray far, but it was still far enough to consider the consequences for others. “I’m not sure Twilight understands either,” I mumbled. “May I—… is it alright if I talk to her? About this?” She sighed and I quickly piped up again. “You don’t have to agree,” I hastily let her know.

“I know,” she replied. And for just a moment, she squeezed me like a comfort pillow. “I know.”

“If you say ‘no’, I will respect your decision,” I added.

She pulled back slowly. Just enough to bring us muzzle to muzzle again. And for some precious seconds, we simply gazed at each other. She eventually closed her eyes and we shared a kiss. Chaste, but meaningful. “Talk to her if you wish to. You might understand it now. Better than I could ever hope to put it to words.”

I nodded and pulled her into another kiss. “I’m sorry about earlier. I never should have snapped at you like that.”

A small smile returned to her lips. “Just promise me to never call me that again.”

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” This time, we shared a smile.

With the fatigue of the last week still firmly lodged in my bones, sleep was quick to claim me. And the dreamscape was once again, a bit of a hoofful. Due to these circumstances, I did not exactly feel all that revitalized when I woke up. The urge to just crawl further into Luna's warm embrace and stay there for a day or five was overwhelming and I would have gladly surrendered to it were it not for Fizzle being an early bird, apparently.

She was up and about, already tying our loot together with some rope into a neat little package. Our saddlebags were stacked as a pile beside it and the door to our house was open. It let the occasional, chilly morning breeze in.

I hated her a little bit.

But at least this time, I was less serious about it.

We crawled out of bed and both decided simultaneously to ignore Fizzle's chipper attitude. We instead splashed our faces with some water, took a gulp or two, washed our mouths and finished the routine off with a few pieces of Allfood as a poor breakfast substitute.

Sitting together to eat was as good a chance I would get, too. So I sighed and gave myself a mental shove. “I, uh… Fizzle? I wanted to apologize. For yesterday. I might have snapped and that wasn’t okay. Also, I kind of thought about petrifying you? And that wasn’t exactly friendly either. So… yeah… I’m sorry.”

I expected her usual indifference. Or maybe a smug smirk or something. What I had not expected was a stifled snicker. “Well, it’s all fair and square then,” she replied and let a small black stone roll into the center of our breakfast circle. “I was debating for half of last night what to do. I considered petrifying both of you. It would have been easy, too. With you being off on your dreamwalking duties and all that.”

I grimaced as I stared at the pebble. I had not spared one single thought to the possibility that she might actually still just play along. I had not considered that showing that thing off when I confronted Luna was not the brightest idea. As she could easily steal it when we were not looking.

“What made you change your mind?” I dared to ask. We were still here after all. Unpetrified. Maybe she tried to be a decent pony. Maybe she tried to be kind. Maybe she—

“I liked my odds more when sticking with you.”

I sighed internally and shrugged. One day. We’ll get her there one day. “Well. Glad to not be stone. I see you’ve been busy, too. I take it everything’s packed up, then? And we’re ready to go?” Tempest nodded. I looked over to Luna and swallowed that chuckle down that bubbled in my throat. She looked as worn out as I felt. “Right. I’ll make a last round then. See if all the guards are secured. And as far as I’m concerned, we can go home after that.”

Honestly, how Luna had survived this long without her usual coffee intake was beyond me.

We popped back into existence in the vault of the Canterlot Palace.

It was noticeably warmer here. Even though I could see the sky through the windows covered by thick, dark clouds. And heavy rainfall constantly pitter-pattered against the glass. “Ohhh, that’s perfect weather,” I announced happily.

Fizzle took a single look outside and was about to question my sanity when she noticed Luna's wide smile and eager nod. “Tis a most welcome sight indeed!”

“You two are weird,” Fizzle concluded.

I exchanged a glance with Luna and grinned. “Well we both like the smell of rainfall and storms and the sounds the rain makes on the marble tiles and the glass. Adding to that, she has an easier time to fall asleep when it rains. And I just like the general atmosphere.”

“Weird, like I said,” Fizzle insisted.

I shrugged. “Eh. Whatever.” I looked around the room and found nothing else out of the ordinary. All the pieces stored here were still present. No welcoming committee waited for us. So I turned to Luna once more. “I’m tired beyond words. I desperately need a shower. And I wouldn’t mind sleeping for a week. Care to join me?” I hoped to give our little adventure a more well-rounded, positive conclusion. I desperately wanted to make it up to her some more. And to end this 'adventure' on a higher note. And it looked like it would work too. For a few seconds.

But then her eyes wandered across the room and her attention settled on Fizzle. And her enthusiastic smile dimmed down and ended up less overjoyed, albeit still genuine. “I would love to, but you know I cannot.” My shoulders sagged in disappointment. “While many things can be delayed until tomorrow or the day after, a few other tasks do not allow for such laziness. I will need to inform my sister of our return and tell her how it went. Tempest will need to be assigned a guest room and it should be prepared as such. The castle staff will need to be informed as well. And I should probably get the gear we managed to retrieve to the ponies who can make good use of it.”

I sighed. “Alright. Fine. But… I can take a shower, right?”

“None of these tasks I could reasonably delegate to you and none of them will be done any faster with you present,” she answered with a sly smile. And with merely a glance, we stepped closer to each other and embraced once again. “So you may take your shower. I hope it helps.”

I grinned and did not ask if she meant help with the fatigue or if the smell was that bad. Once we pulled apart again, I smiled and guided her muzzle down with my magic to give her a little parting gift. “I hope to see you soon?”

She grimaced slightly. “The next few days will be quite busy. You know that.”

“I can still hope,” I insisted. After all, she had to sleep eventually. And nothing stopped me from slipping into her room.

“You may,” she replied with a quiet giggle.

I raised an eyebrow as I heard Fizzle groan from the sidelines. So I turned my attention to her. “As for you… behave yourself. I have three princesses I can set on your sorry rump if you don’t. One will lecture you about the benefits of being nice, one will twist your opinions without you realizing and one will spank you meanwhile. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!” Fizzle merely rolled with her eyes.

Luna however saw an opportunity and took it. “I thought you do not wish to talk about spanking?”

Her little tease came so out of left field that I snorted and laughed. I gave her shoulder a good shove, but of course: If an alicorn did not want to budge, she simply would not.

Instead of acknowledging that comment with any remark, I strode towards the exit and left these two to their own devices. I made my way over to my own room, threw my saddlebags onto the bed without a care in the world and went right into the bathroom next door. And after barely a minute, I stood in and enjoyed a hot shower.

With each droplet pelting my head and the heat seeping into my skull, I could almost feel the fatigue drain away. Of course that was a double-edged blessing. The tiredness would not truly be gone. Merely postponed. This was a quick fix. A band aid for the symptoms, not the roots themselves.

With my wet mane limply clinging to my neck and my tail stuck to my leg, I put my forehead against the cool wall of the shower cell and let my mind drift away for a moment.

We had been gone for what? Two weeks?

I involuntarily smiled like a madpony when I remembered that first week. Those days on the train when we still made our way across Equestria. There had been both ups and downs, of course. Freezing the cabin had been alarming, to say the least. But the ups were numerous and exciting. I felt my body react to my memories as I focused on one scene or the other. However, the flesh was willing, but the mind was weak. I was simply too tired to do anything besides reminisce.

And funny enough, with all the sex we had at the start of our journey — it was that little flight ritual that excited me the most and brought such immeasurable joy to my heart as I remembered it. I married her. The thought coaxed a silly little giggle from me. And my heart beat a little faster. And my smile grew a little wider.

I had married her.

Despite the joy it brought me to remember that part, I tried not to get stuck. Lest I would stay under the shower for hours. That had happened multiple times. I was prone to getting lost in my own mind.

The second part of our adventure had been less enjoyable. I did not mind taking a stroll. I loved to walk with Celestia in the castle gardens. They were so pretty. Just as she was. And I loved to stroll around Ponyville with Twilight. To meet our friends, see all those friendly faces and wave here and there. It was great.

But we had been trekking for another week or so. With a tent that was a lot less luxurious than Rarity’s. Sleeping on a stone floor or a thin sleeping bag was not exactly comfortable. Walking for most hours of a day on subsequent days was taxing. I was just worn out. Sure, snuggling up to Luna each and every night felt great. Holding her or being held. Waking up next to her. Not just a night. Or a morning. Or two. But for two weeks, I had her for myself.

And just as I had realized with Celestia before: I liked that. A lot. And I would not mind a repeat of that.

Just with less adventure-y stuff. Maybe a simple, straight-up vacation was in order for next time.

Sure, the last day or two had put a bit of a damper on things. But it was not too bad. Nothing a little bit of time and reflection could not clear up. I would talk with Twilight about it. And she would help sort me out.

When I exited the shower, I felt refreshed. Ready to tackle the day? Heck no! But ready to climb into bed, lazily read a book, watch the rain fall and occasionally doze off? Absolutely!

I returned to my room and was surprised to find both Luna and Twilight present. “Okay. That’s unexpected.” I walked over to greet Twilight and hugged her. And I immediately fell in love with her scent all over again. I wished I could just stay close to her and keep hugging her. But that would become awkward real fast, especially with Luna present. And they probably had something to discuss.

“Surpriiise,” Twilight quietly whispered as I pulled back from our hug. “I arrived in Canterlot two days ago. I hoped you would return sooner, but Princess Celestia kept me company.”

I looked in Luna's direction and had to fight to keep myself from chuckling. We both struggled to subdue our urges to roll with our eyes or sigh heavily. Someday, these two would need to sort things out. “Right. What about the Tantabus, though?”

Twilight's smile grew wider. “Oh, I dropped him off with Pinkie and Fluttershy for a few days so that he can learn more about all the kinds of animals and plants. And kindness.” She remained silent for just a few seconds, but her intonation had already made clear that there was more to come. So I patiently waited until she grimaced a little. “And baking. He is probably going to learn a lot about baking.”

I chuckled and hugged her once more. “Don’t worry. I’m sure it will be fine.” After I pulled back, those wrinkles on her forehead had smoothed out a little, even if they did not vanish entirely. At least she seemed less worried about the implications of exposing the Tantabus to Pinkie's unique being for an extended period of time. “So what brought you here, then?”

“Oh, right!” She straightened herself out a little and exchanged a side glance with Luna. Which was not suspicious at all. I followed her eyes and raised a single eyebrow at Luna. I wordlessly asked her what she had concocted. And she tried to put me at ease with a warm smile and a subtle nod. So I turned my attention back to Twilight, right on time for her to ask me a question that was never fair and only had one legitimate, correct answer. “Do you trust me?”

I inevitably grimaced. She looked so hopeful. With her big, pleading eyes urging me to say it. I had obviously lost that battle long before it even started. “Of course I do. Even though I dread to ask… why do you ask?”

Her joyful smile turned a little bit more apologetic when she lit her horn and levitated my saddlebags over. And with a pop and the smell of ozone, she made her own pair appear out of thin air. From the bulge alone I could already tell that mine had been repacked while I took my shower. And hers were bulging, too.

Why.

I cringed. And I tried hard to keep it internally. But I kept asking. Why was everypony close to me suddenly thinking that I was all gung-ho about adventuring? I hated adventuring! The more I did it, the less I liked it! Vacations were fine. I liked those. But for some unfathomable reason, everypony suddenly lined up to take me for a spin. As if they all had just been waiting for me to dare break the seal. And I did just that with my first adventure. The first one I had proposed and the first one I had willingly undertaken. And now I was trapped in an endless cycle of preparations, it seemed. Adventuring and post-processing, leading directly into more preparations.

I did not want to go on another adventure. Ever.

But it was Twilight who asked.

And she had introduced her proposal with the ultimate trick question. There was no way I would wiggle my neck out of this noose. No way I would reject her. Several precious seconds trickled by and I eventually gave up and accepted my fate. I tried to see the upsides of it. I really tried. It would be nice to spend some time with her, I told myself. Some nice quality time. Just the two of us. In whatever horrible setting she had in mind. With whatever horrible beast we would find or hunt or whatever. Probably some ancient ruins with an enchanted library full of hostile spell books that would sling their spells at us.

I braced with a heavy sigh and nodded. “Alright. Fine.” And I looked over to Luna. She looked just as apologetic as Twilight. And a bit pitying. She knew. Maybe she had been the instigator of this. Luna reminded me of her next few days without requiring a single word. Of how packed they would be. With tasks and preparations and a lot of Tempest Shadow. I could do without that. The latter especially. I just was not sure if going on an adventure straight after the last one was a better deal.

And I had admittedly really sold myself on the idea of visiting Luna at night. I could sneak around the castle and shamelessly cuddle her. Wave goodbye, for that idea just flew out the window.

Twilight sidled up to me and put my saddlebags on my back. Due to the last week, their weight felt irritatingly familiar now. And as if she could read my mind, she extended her wing and let her primaries soothingly trail along my spine. “This way,” she said and led us out of the room.

Fizzle and two night guards waited right outside. I pitied the poor sods. Not because of their charge, but because being awake at day while usually being nocturnal was a chore and a half. I simply nodded to greet them and again to say a bit more to Fizzle without saying anything at all. She replied in kind and Twilight led me down the corridor.

“I suspect we will have time to talk about your last two weeks on the way?” I asked.

She giggled softly by my side. “It will be a short journey, trust me. And once we are there, I would love to tell you all about what you missed. Highlights may or may not include Pinkie getting into a bake-off with the Cakes, the Cutie Mark Crusaders getting pranked by Big Macintosh and Marble into thinking they accidentally caused another love poison incident and Rarity single-hoofedly preparing a little stage play for the upcoming Sisterhoof Social Opening.”

I sighed happily. And how could I not? There was no damp, hot, sticky jungle. No ancient ruins or bat pony secrets. No wars and no feisty generals to capture. Just everyday nonsense. The usual madness. I loved it. It sounded like home. “I miss them.” I grimaced a little. It had simply slipped out before I could think.

Twilight simply smiled. “We missed you, too.” And she leaned into me just a little bit. As much as walking side by side allowed. And I was so grateful for it. “I missed you.“

She opened a door on our left. I had to take a look around to see where we actually were and I quickly realized that this door led into a broom closet. Which could have been weird were it not for certain rules of behavior. It was deemed impolite to teleport into or out of hallways of the castle, as it could easily spook the castle staff into messing something up or could give the guards a fright. Sudden intrusions were handled as less of a joke ever since the changeling invasion.

It took me a moment to realize why we were teleporting though. After all, the teleportation stone was on the same floor. But the other one Luna had taken with us. It was probably in Twilight's saddlebags right now to be returned home.

The unappealing prospect was of course to be teleported by Twilight again. She had tried to learn from Celestia and Luna how to do it without upsetting my stomach, but it had not quite worked out so far. Although I had to admit, she had gotten better at it.

I resisted the urge to close my eyes when she charged her horn and instead focused on her lingering smile. I tried to mentally brace for the initial wave of nausea. It worked… more or less. I did not feel quite as sick as usual when we exited this plane of existence only to immediately reenter it far, far away.

“How are you?” she asked with her usual worry apparent in her voice.

I smiled despite the sickening feeling in my belly. “I’m fine. You’re getting better.” ‘Fine’ might have been a bit of an exaggeration, but she understood well enough and nodded. I looked around and realized she had teleported us straight into the artifact chamber. The very room in her castle where she usually kept the teleportation stone around. And just as I had suspected, she retrieved the stone from her saddlebag and placed it back on its pedestal.

“That was a pretty smart move on Luna’s part,” I remarked and followed a little hunch I had had ever since Luna showed the stone to me.

And as expected, Twilight blushed. “Yes. It was.”

I chuckled and hugged her. “Aw, it was your idea…!” Since she did not want to lie to my face, she remained silent and instead simply nestled against me. This time, with no Luna in the room, there was really nothing stopping us from hugging it out for a few minutes at minimum. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too,” she replied. She nuzzled my neck and mane while I lazily traced a hoof over her wings and delighted in seeing them flutter a little.

Reason won out eventually though and I pulled back once more. I could already feel the tiredness slowly creep back in and we probably ought to get a head start on whatever adventure she had in mind. “Alright, where to next? Train station?”

She smiled mysteriously and shook her head. “No. This way.”

“I can’t help but notice that you keep evading my question,” I noted with a chuckle. And of course, she simply smiled and remained silent. I followed her through the hallways of the castle. I loved seeing the crystal floors again. The bookshelves lining the walls. The banners proudly presenting her symbol. And the entire thing just smelled like home. Wood and paper and ink. Not counting that one day with the Tantabus, I had not truly been home for a month or so.

And I was about to leave again.

I considered asking her for a delay. Just a few days to recuperate. A breather. But as I was about to open my mouth, we stopped. I furrowed my brow and looked to the left and the right and again at the door. It was the library door. “Alright. I’m the first one to admit it. I’m confused. What’s going on?”

She did not answer me. Twilight instead opened the doors with her magic. What I saw inside was so utterly surreal that I immediately broke out in quiet laughter while I slowly walked towards it. The shelves all around the room had been emptied. I had noticed some holes in the shelves lining the hallways as well, but I had not questioned it at all. And now, here they were. All the books. Neatly stacked according to size, to form impressive walls and battlements of a… a book fort. A real, actual book fort. Made out of books. With a book floor, and a book ceiling. It was a marvel of structural engineering that the ceiling was as stable as it appeared to be.

I poked my head inside and saw Twilight's bed standing in the middle. With her little night table beside it. It currently featured a single firefly lantern.

As I withdrew my head from the fort, I heard Spike snicker behind me. Both Twilight and him stood there side by side. They watched my reaction and grinned proudly. “We thought you could use some rest after all the recent excitement,” Twilight announced with a loving smile.

“I helped pick the books and stack the walls.” Spike puffed his chest out and grinned even wider. “Welcome home, Dreamwalker.”

I was tired. I deflected any and all blame as to why I was crying with that simple fact. I was just very, very tired. And thus, I made no effort to keep those tears of joy from streaming down my face as I pulled both of them into a crushing hug. “Sweet Celestia, I love you guys so much… so, so, so much…”

“Right now especially, I take it?” Spike asked with a snicker.

I vigorously nodded. “Right now especially,” I confirmed and squished him a little bit more.

“Come on. Let us settle in,” Twilight's soft voice urged me. And I was too eager to follow. We both discarded our saddlebags next to the entrance. The fireflies danced around in her lantern and drenched the entire inside of the fort in a soft, warm glow. The walls and ceiling were solid enough to allow no outside light in, apart from the open entrance. And I could still faintly hear the pitter-patter of rain outside. Apparently it rained in Ponyville as well.

I climbed into bed after Twilight and pulled Spike in with me. She snuggled up to my back and I happily squeezed my Spike-shaped comfort pillow some more. He really had to have missed me. Otherwise, he would have protested a long time ago.

A few moments later, she softly started to hum. I heaved another heavy sigh and started to relax. “When I wake up again,” I mumbled as I quickly drifted off, “we can have my kind of adventure.”

A smile tugged at my lips as I felt Twilight press a little, warm kiss to my neck. “I am looking forward to it.”