SL-5: Love, Fluff, and Thunder

Sassi gave Astral a friendly nudge, the other Thestral chuckling as they walked along the city street. She couldn’t even remember the joke, only that it had made her smile. He always did.

Her body froze.

It felt as if her skin was crawling, the invasive mind control spell forcing the mare to stand stock still as Astral was abruptly slammed against a brick wall.

Two lab-coated unicorns calmly levitated a sword, making sure Sassi was watching as they sent the weapon into Astral’s chest.

Sassi wasn’t sure what she hit, but the shattering of something indicated it was fairly heavy as the Thestral woke up with a scream. Tears sprang from her eyes as the mare sobbed, her entire body soaked in sweat as she shivered. The door swung open- Astral pausing as he saw his special somepony crying on the bed. The fact he had a combat knife half-drawn made the mare smile through the tears.

My panicking must have felt different, like there was a threat instead of a bad dream.

She hadn’t had one of these nightmares in some time. Usually, it was a general fear, but rarely the horrific, disturbing control from the memories of the controlling spell.

Setting the blade down, her stallion hopped up onto the bed, giving her a bit of space as he always did. She appreciated his sensitivity, so much. But that wasn’t what Sassi needed or wanted at this moment. Astral let out a soft yelp as his marefriend wrapped him up in a tight hug, crying into his shoulder. His comforting embrace immediately soothed her fears, the stallion settling back onto some discarded pillows.

It was so illogical. Sassi knew it was a natural process of dealing with PTSD. Yet she couldn’t help but feel ashamed as her body shivered, the mare desperately wanting to just feel in control of herself again.

Astral’s comforting scent as he hugged her close helped. She could focus on that. On his breathing as she snuggled underneath his head. A heartbeat that she fought mutants and terrors to preserve.

“You’re ok, Sas,” a soft, comforting whisper made the mare’s fluffy ears twitch, and Sassi couldn’t help but choke back a few more sobs.

“W-wasn’t m-me I w-was scared f-for.”

He just hugged her tighter at that. “Well, I’m okay too,” Astral whispered, nuzzling the tops of her ears. Despite being rather rough from just having woken up, Astral’s voice still put her heart at ease.

She didn’t try to sleep- that was too much pressure. But Sassi was able to at least doze. Wrapped up in Astral’s embrace was one of the few places she felt truly safe, especially as a loving hum echoed through their mental link.

“Love you, S-sas,” Astral’s voice hitched as he hugged her tight. He couldn’t mask the worry over their link, a desperate desire to make her feel better. Drowsiness tickled at the edge of Sassi’s mind, the mare snuggling into Astral’s fluffy chest. He didn’t need to try so hard. Just being here was enough.

The fear was chased away as she listened to Astral’s familiar heartbeat, her head moving ever so slightly on each rise and fall of the Thestral’s chest. The horrid memories easily dulled to an obnoxious, but forgettable hum.

“Love you too, Astral,” she murmured, managing a slight smile as his hug tightened.

Sassi yawned, adjusting the sunglasses on her face as she walked with Astral down the suburban road.

“You falling asleep there? I wouldn’t blame you,” her coltfriend remarked.

“Eh. I’ll live. I got some sleep that was quite nice,” she said with a giggle. “You are like, the best pillow ever.”

She’d never get tired of making her stallion blush a bright pink.

“But I do like exploring these areas. Even if it’s some small shops and houses,” the mare added with a sigh.

“I don’t like the city, I’ve decided,” Astral said. “Too busy.”

Sassi nodded, walking over to press against her stallion’s side. Even the simple contact put her heart at ease, especially when Astral spread a wing over her.

“I can’t compartmentalize anymore,” she said softly. “Before, I had a mission when I was out of the Silo. I could ignore the noise and creatures. Now I just have to learn to process it all at once. It’s overwhelming. I can’t keep track of everyone.”

“Hence liking having a wing over you at those times? Helps to focus just on me?”

With a nod, Sassi reached over to give Astral a brief kiss. “Yep. And it helps. Just knowing you’re there makes it a lot easier.”

“Well, happy to help!”

His cheerful reply made Sassi giggle. “Another reason I love you. Want to key the home portal?”

Astral nodded, looking down as some discarded fliers stared at them on the ground.

He activated the portal, then picked up the gaudy advertisement before stepping through. As they reappeared in the living room, Sassi watched the shoulders of her Thestral slump. The stallion flopped onto the sofa with a soft grumble of frustration.

“What’s up?” she asked, dropping off her saddlebags and trotting over. With a hop, she landed at her stallion’s side, draping herself across Astral’s back and looking at the flier with him.

“Oh.”

Astral shook his head, setting the flier aside. “Maybe I’m just over-reacting.”

“I don’t think you are.”

He let out a rather dramatic groan, punching a hoof towards the flier.
“I know everyone is on edge and tired of it! But like, a multi-city gathering?! I know it’s for some big hoofball matchup, but that’s tens of thousands of creatures here! How will they handle security? Ugh. Next week is going to be a nightmare!”

A soft huff left Sassi’s mouth, the mare nuzzling into Astral’s ears.
“I don’t like it. But I don’t blame them.”

“I don’t either,” he admitted. “They’ve had what? Three? Five? At least that many big events with half as many creatures, and nothing. Not even a drunken idiot was arrested, let alone some limbo monster. Multiple gatherings of thousands which would have been a perfect target, and just…crickets.”

His ears flattened, and Sassi tightened her hug around his barrel.

“I just-It’s not over for me,” Astral whispered. “Until that thing is either proven to have left or dead, I don’t know if I can let it go.” A hoof reached over to grip one of Sassi’s tightly. “It certainly doesn’t help the nightmares.”

“I think I’m one of the few ponies who can say I know how you feel,” Sassi admitted. “I get the heebie-jeebies thinking about how much of a security nightmare it’s going to be. Let alone how uncomfortable that many creatures are. Just…I wouldn’t want to be there even without the freaky creature threat.”

“Not a fan of cheap food and screaming creatures?”

“Had enough of all of that in the Silos,” she replied with a deadpan, Astral abruptly torquing his head to look at her.

“Wow that was dark, Sas,” he said, his marefriend abruptly giggling.

“Yup! Dark humor is a great coping mechanism,” she replied cheerfully. “But my point stands.” The mare leaned forward to rest her forehead against his. “It’s okay to be freaked out and worried. I’ve just- I have to force myself to not think about it. I can’t change it, so I’m not going to freak out. I can be aware, but not paralyzed. I learned that in the Silos too.”

Astral let out a frustrated sigh, shifting to wrap Sassi up into a tight hug as he nuzzled into her shoulder.

“Well, our therapist agreed with you; I remember that. Right as always.”

“I have my moments.”

He took a few deep breaths, still not having any idea how she smelled like a lightning strike coupled with a fresh meadow without any perfume. But he wasn’t going to complain.

“While it’s not worth stewing over, doing something, even a small something, usually helps,” Sassi said. “So, want to go check the ammo stocks and oil the shotguns?”

Astral’s ears shot up so fast they might have generated their own electrical current. Sassi couldn’t help but laugh as she hugged him, the two of them hopping up from the couch.

The walk to their hidden basement was a short one; a bookshelf moving aside for a set of stairs. The massive set of rooms was extensive, the entire underground storage area about as large as the house itself.

And it was the smaller of the basements- the one under the observatory was as big as a stadium and stocked to the brim with supplies.

In this case, they had a specific large-caliber ammo room set behind one of many standard security doors. The ammo cans were stacked to the ceiling and magazines were pre-loaded for various side-saddles that were hung in an adjacent room.

The stallion had to admit, it put his mind at ease. They had checked things dozens of times, both the ammo and the other various supplies in the basement. But a simple, mindless scanning of the various supplies they had did settle his heart.

Oddly though, Sassi seemed troubled. He could feel something twanging away at their link, and the mare was distracted, even if she hid it well. It had cropped up a few times in the past week or two, an odd, specific sensation of unease. But Astral usually wouldn’t have paid it any mind. They both were dealing with trauma, after all.

Yet it had gotten worse the past few days. There had even been a nauseating spike of shame yesterday.

Did I do anything wrong?

His ears dropped at that. The unease on her end seemed to crop up at the oddest of times. Asking him to pick where to eat was a common one. Now that he thought about it, Astral couldn’t help but notice most of the time was when she was asking him to do something.

Why would she feel bad about any of that? I don’t get it.
Does she think I’m not capable of making a choice? So, she needs to push me?

Is she ashamed of me? That I’m dealing with stuff?

That thought hit Astral harder than he expected, the stallion pausing as he stared at a pile of loaded magazines.

Surely that couldn’t be it…

“You good, Astral?” Sassi asked, looking over to him as concern swam in her gaze. Yet there was something else.

We promised to be honest with each other. But how can I when I don’t know what’s going on with her?

“Yeah, just thinking,” he admitted. It was a deflection and not a lie. If they had to talk about something serious, he didn’t want to bring it up out of the blue.

The sooner they could talk, the better. Astral just couldn’t bring himself to say anything at the moment. And somehow, he had a feeling Sassi picked up on it because a hint of apologetic regret swam through their link.

I still love her. I just hope she can tell me what’s wrong.
I just hope it’s not me that’s the problem…

The unicorn danced back and forth, a cheerful grin on Arcane’s face. There wasn’t anyone around to see him, after all.

Arcane hadn’t known that disco music was something he needed in his life. One of the many discoveries as of late.

As the song wound down, he reached over to grab a freshly filled bottle of his newest culinary concoctions. He took a large swig-

“PSHAW!” Arcane gasped, blinking tears away from his eyes as he glared at the offending beverage. “That is…*cough* a bit much!”

He gingerly set down the bottle, then slowly inched a hoof back towards it.
“Wait. Why do I want more?” he muttered. “You just hurt me! And yet, it tasted so good.”

The stallion shook his head, looking back at the contraption chugging away in his backyard, just outside his “dancing area”. Some creatures would assume it was an alcohol still- and it certainly bore some resemblance. However, Arcane had cobbled together what looked like an assembly line of burners, boiling pots, mixing jars, and fruit presses into a strangely streamlined amalgamation of pipes, tubes, and fire.

He wouldn’t ever touch alcohol. But this wasn’t producing liquor. The chef he was, the stallion was trying his hoof at a gryphon delicacy; slightly carbonated, spiced fruit drinks. It was a very acquired taste- but spicy drinks were something he had grown up at least sampling when living with Mally.

And now he had a prototype to his own. Despite the pained look on the stallion’s face, he couldn’t help but nearly trot in place with pride as he took another sip. A blend of cinnamon, apple, hot pepper, cardamon, allspice, and a hint of sweet syrup. It tasted like an apple pie that then punched you in the mouth.

The bonus was that magic was only involved in turning physical levers and mashing fruit- otherwise, the process was entirely natural. He could have created something from chaotic scratch of course.

But using magic to complete usually physical cooking steps like crushing fruit just wasn’t the same. Sure, the chaos magic also ran the machine well enough- but the stallion certainly didn’t want to leave it alone. So, he shut off all the burners and magicked them away to a storage portal. Picking up one of the large jars, he put it in a saddlebag and took a few deep breaths.

There was another reason he wanted to get that project started today; a peace offering.

I’ve made a fool of myself twice in front of her. May as well try to salvage what little remains of my demeanor.

The lesson with Discord had helped; at least in some weird way. Arcane had actually managed to get some sleep, so he wasn’t a total wreck. Finding out that disco music made him feel oddly happy was another lift to his current state of mind.

As good of conditions as any.

With a *pop* of magic, he appeared outside of Nilliana’s shop, and already awkwardness flooded the unicorn’s frame. How would he even start?

He shook his head, walking in with another deep breath. There was a gentle chime of a bell, and a familiar voice called out from the opposite corner of the store behind the central shelves.

“Hello! One second…” Nilliana walked over in front of the counter, pausing as she looked at the sheepish unicorn. “Arcane?”

WHATDOISAY?

With words failing him, Arcane levitated out the bottle from his saddlebag and set it on the counter.

“Spiced drink?” he asked, managing a weak smile. “A peace offering for making a fool of myself at least once? If one out of three conversations can be somewhat normal, I’ll count that as a win.”

The gryphoness raised an eyebrow, shrugging as she examined the bottle.
“I appreciate the gesture, but I stay away from alcohol. Hasn’t mixed well with company, I’ve found,” she admitted. “But regardless, thank you. You weren’t that bad.”

“I broke down crying in your store and then was half-asleep when you were having a bad day with groceries.”

The deadpan delivery from Arcane actually made a soft *snrk* leave Nilliana’s beak. He had a point there.

“Alright, well, peace offering accepted.”

“Do you have a minute? I’m curious why exactly you were looking for me. Now that I’m not a wreck,” Arcane admitted. “And the drink has no alcohol. I won’t ever touch the stuff. It’s a take on Gryphon spiced beverages. It’s really spicy though.”

Her ears perked up at that, the gryphoness shrugging nonchalantly. “I’ve got a few minutes- not too busy now,” she said, waving a claw to turn the sign on the door to “back in a few minutes,” then popped off the top of the drink. “And really? Not a fan either? That’s nice to hear. I appreciate the warning, but I can handle my spicy foods.” She cast a brief spell to confirm there weren’t any dubious substances in the bottle (out of sheer habit,) and then took a sip, nodding in approval. “That actually really-OH SWEET *cough* STARS!”

Nilliana let out a choked gasp, eyes watering as she glared at the bottle as if it had personally offended her. It took a few breaths, and the gryphoness actually let out a choked laugh as she took another, more cautious sip.

“Oh my gosh. What is that?! I haven’t had something with that much kick since…ever! Did you get Celestia to spit in it or something?”

Arcane stared at her, Nilliana waving a hoof. “Eh. Sorry. Not the best analogy.”

“Well, sun princess, spicy, I’d say it works. I have a rather unique view of alicorns, as you may imagine.”

“Ooooh, right,” the gryphoness said in a hushed tone with a wince. “Right. But seriously. That was good. Not sure if you have more of the stuff, but I’d gladly buy some. Phew.”

She had to admit, the fact Arcane visibly brightened up was rather cute. He was awkward, to say the least. But he meant well, and that was better than most.

“Also, Arcane?” Nilliana said, her tone softening. “Thanks for what you did in the grocery store. Y’know. Checking if I was ok.”

“Bwa? You’re welcome?”

The utter confusion on Arcane’s face would have been utterly hilarious in any other circumstance. Instead, Nilliana couldn’t help but feel sorry for the unicorn. Arcane tried to hide it, but he didn’t have a poker face to speak of. There was just confusion written across his entire being, along with a significant amount of embarrassment. The stallion wore his heart openly, and Nilliana could appreciate the simple honesty. It was both surprising and rather refreshing.

“I can’t even remember half of what I said, but I’m glad I could help,” he finally mumbled, eyes drifting to the floor.

“Nothing bad. You were just adorably honest. It was a nice change from most creatures, actually. You also, uh, didn’t seem to have a filter between your thoughts and what you thought you didn’t say.”

Arcane’s face immediately turned a bright red, Nilliana holding up a claw. “I already said you didn’t say anything bad! It was just rather funny. It certainly made me forget about the cruddy day I was having.”

“Glad to…help?” the stallion managed to say through one word taking up most of his thought process.

Adorable?

“So. To answer your question, I want to be honest first. Since we’re having our first normal conversation,” Nilliana said, waving off a yawn. “Sorry. Not you. Insomnia. Anyhow. Part of the reason I was allowed to move here and have some funding to get settled, was to have official Gryphon Empire business. Emperor Tanzil has looked after me for a while, but he still has to justify stuff to the council. In this case, they were obnoxiously interested in you.”

“Me?”

She nodded, gesturing to the unicorn. “Well, specifically, they wanted info on chaos magic. I said sure, let me move here and I can learn what I know, and then tell you.” the gryphoness immediately held up a claw as Arcane let out a growl, eyes narrowing. The entire room flexed with chaos magic, and Nilliana winced. “Let me finish, please. That’s the official reason, as there had to be one on paper to give me the financial help, what little they allotted.

The other part of that is where I intend to tell them where to shove their intentions. I’ll tell them whatever you want me to. I wasn’t about to interrogate you. Not with those intentions. N-not after what you went through.” The gryphoness’s voice wavered ever so slightly, and she shook her head at annoyance of it.

“So. That’s the official reason, and one I want to be upfront with because when it comes to governments and shady creatures wanting to learn about chaos, I’m not about to hide that from you. Whatever I tell the Council I learned, even if it’s absolutely meaningless, they’ll believe me because of my position as a high-ranking mage. So, you have control over that. I’d suggest against relaying any way they could utilize chaos magic, personally. The council always rubbed me the wrong way, even if Tanzil trusts them.”

The unicorn’s posture relaxed, Arcane clearly cautious. “Well, I appreciate it.”

“The main reason is because I’m just curious. Totally selfish. I just want to learn how you do what you do! You stopped magic! Like. How?!” The gryphoness exclaimed, her abrupt, animated voice making the unicorn jerk in surprise. “It was awesome, and I have no idea how you did it! But I want to know! Chaos magic works in ways that defy all laws, but sometimes it doesn’t. It’s just so cool!”

Nilliana abruptly became aware of Arcane’s stare, the gryphoness’s cheeks brightening into a pink blush as her feathers fluffed.

“A-anyways. The other reason was to get away from stuff. Don’t want to be recognized due to some of my work. Just a fresh start. And, to be honest, I’d rather have a fresh dating pool.”

Arcane then raised a hoof, and Nilliana couldn’t contain a chuckle.

“Aye?”

“Uh, I think I’ve heard that before. Were you at a restaurant at night? “The Curried Noodle?” I didn’t see you. But, uh, if I’m right, you didn’t see me.”

Staring at the unicorn, Nilliana let out a groan.
“Well. So much for the faceless stranger. That makes a lot more sense,” she sighed. “Yep. That was me. And that was you…oh.”

The gryphoness’s ears pinned back, Nilliana letting out a hiss.
“Crud. I’m sorry, Arcane,” she whispered. “What made you leave, what I said. I didn’t-I just-”

“It’s alright.”

“Are you kidding me? No, it’s not!” Nilliana growled, shaking her head before collecting herself. “Look. I didn’t know, and I’m sorry. Unintentional or not, I stirred stuff up. And that’s the last thing I wanted to do.”

The forced, casual shrug from the unicorn pricked at the gryphoness’s heart as much as she hated to admit it. He was trying to play it off as normal despite turmoil in his demeanor and gaze. But how could he just do that? After everything he had been through?

Maybe he does that, or otherwise, he goes insane. I know I would.
He has to play it off as normal. If he dwells on it for too long…it eats him alive.

“So, yeah. That’s where we’re at then. So, maybe we can start somewhat fresh? No masked meetings at a bar?” she suggested, holding out a set of claws.

Trotting forward, he shook her hand, nodding with a weak grin.
“I’d like that. And you’re curious about chaos magic?”

“I mean duh! How could I not be?!”

Her exclamation made Arcane’s eyes widen, the gryphoness looking anywhere but the unicorn as she stammered, her fairly calm demeanor quickly returning as she shrugged.

“It’s interesting, alright?”

It took a few moments for Arcane to fully process things. It was so odd why Nilliana tried to cover her passion and interest in the subject. She seemed so much more animated, but then almost apologetic whenever she broke out of that shell.

She’s nice either way. Not sure why she’d want to hide all of that. Well, gryphons aren’t known for being so enthusiastic. Ponies are the animated ones; gryphons are more reserved and pricklier. At least, that’s what they want you to think.

“I can tell you a bit of stuff if you want,” Arcane said. “I can’t use fancy language with it, because I don’t fully understand it. I gleaned some stuff from the Silo studies and their reports, but a lot of it is just intuitive. But I can try.”

“Can I take notes?”

The last of the gruff demeanor Nilliana had abruptly melted away. There was just such an adorable eagerness in her eyes that Arcane almost laughed. It was childlike and just…

Happy.

He mentally slapped himself, trying not to stare. Those green eyes just sucked him in.

“Notes? I mean, yeah?”

With a wave of her claws, a pen and notepad appeared, the gryphoness visibly trying to stop herself from prancing in place.

“Maybe just start like, what is it? Chaos magic I mean. In what I sense it’s a different form of energy,” Nilliana said. Arcane could see the gryphoness physically restraining herself from trying to act too excited.

It made him both happy and rather sad. The reason for the latter feeling in Arcane’s chest was because Nilliana’s behavior had seemed oddly familiar.

Someone told you to stop acting so weird, didn’t they?

He shook his head, focusing on her question.

“So, yeah. It’s a form of energy, to say the least. Apparently, I can control it differently than Discord. It acts like an animal. A friendly energy that is happy to lend its power to you if you know how to ask,” the stallion explained. “As for how I stopped your magic, that’s the weird part. It was instinctual. I just wanted to freeze everything and have an advantage, so the magic just…did. I think a general thought, be it creating something or taking an action, and I let the chaos magic do whatever it wants to achieve that end. Order within chaos.”

The gryphoness scribbled onto her notepad, fluffy ears standing at attention.

“An animal? That’s interesting. I’ve never heard it described that way before. Only the bits from what Discord said,” she mused. “So, it works differently every time?”

Arcane found himself oddly surprised that Nilliana kept asking questions. He half expected her to just get immediately bored.

“It does. So, like, if I created a hoofball, for example. One time the chaos magic might just create a normal ball out of thin air. Other times, it might create a cotton candy cloud, rain down chocolate candies, and form those into a rubber ball.”

“That’s fascinating,” Nilliana murmured, ears still locked onto the pony. “And what about your chaos dimension? How does that even like, work?”

Arcane looked over to the door, a smile managing to take root on his features.

“How much time do you have?”

The sign flipped to “closed” with a magical wave, the gryphoness barely able to contain her excitement with an inviting grin.

“Long enough.”

How could I resist those eyes?

The stallion wasn’t sure how long they talked. It mostly was him explaining things, and Nilliana listening. At first, he kept expecting the gryphoness to shut her notebook and return to her shop. Most creatures were interested, yes. But once you got past the “it’s like Discord magic and enjoys manifesting in food-related ways,” their interest waned, and that was that.

Or they just thought he was a freak and avoided the stallion as much as possible.

But Nilliana just didn’t miss a beat. Answers were met with more questions and frantic scribbling in her notebook. Instead of stopping the pair shifted to a more comfortable table and chairs and continued to talk.

He didn’t go into too much detail- mainly because the stallion didn’t know the ins and outs of arcane theory, even if he found it interesting. Arcane just tried his best to delve into how he used chaos. Creating his city, how the dimension worked, or at least how Arcane understood it to work. He touched on the random nature of chaos magic bringing him creatures to help, along with how the magic helped or wasn’t able to help day-to-day life.

Arcane ended by elaborating on how the chaos magic drove physical processes in the spiced drink machine, how creating food from magic was perfectly safe and nutritious, but it just lacked something. It wasn’t even really a discussion on chaos magic as much as it was Arcane trying to learn more about cooking.

It was when he was explaining how the machine worked, that the stallion noticed something very, very odd. He wasn’t sure when it happened, but Nilliana’s demeanor had shifted. At some point, the gryphoness had set her notebook aside and just listened. She propped up her head up on her claws, fluffy cheeks puffed out as a genuine, soft smile had meandered onto her beak.

Nobody had ever looked at him like that before. Arcane wasn’t sure why, but it made a bit of heat rise to his cheeks. The two green eyes he admittedly adored were gently focused on him, yet they had a tender, sincere backing. A bit of amusement flickered in their depths, but genuine interest and an almost innocent, affectionate glimmer occasionally surfaced.

She was just listening. To him.

There were a few moments when Arcane had to catch himself. Fluttershy had said it’d happen, random emotional surges. But this was different. Someone actually bothered to hear what he had to say. Even if it was just to learn about chaos, he wasn’t being ignored.

The gryphoness seemed to catch herself, abruptly looking around and shifting to sit up a bit straighter. Her feathers fluffed, a light pink tone starting to surface on her cheeks. She was, admittedly, one of the more beautifully adorable creatures Arcane had seen in a while.

Of course, with his sheltered lifestyle, maybe that wasn’t saying much. Or maybe it was.

“I think that’s all that comes to mind,” Arcane managed to say, trying to tie his previous thoughts up without stammering. “I mean, there’s probably more. But I’m uh, not sure where that other train of thought went.”

“I think it’s really interesting. All of it,” Nilliana admitted, still putting on the forced nonchalance. “Thank you, Arcane. I really did find it fascinating, even how you made the drink both with and without magic.”

She got up and stretched, the gryphoness pausing. There was a clear hesitation as if Nilliana was having an internal conversation- the flicking of both her tail and ears was indicative of some sort of frustration.

“Hey, Arcane? About what you saw. My eyes and stuff?” she said, looking over at him. “I think I remember yours. Maybe we could talk about that next time?”

“What?!” he exclaimed, then looking over at her in genuine surprise. “You do? I’d like that, but, next time?” he repeated, head tilting in slight confusion. Nilliana waved a set of claws, the notebook flying to her grip.

“Well, yeah. If you want to, at least. I still have a ton of questions. Like, a serious list! If that’s ok.”

“No! I mean, yes! It really is. I’m just happy someone finds it interesting. Most of the scientists in and out of the Silo wanted to know Chaos’s application for military purposes. Not so much creating cuisine.” He admitted. “I’d be really happy to answer any more questions you have.” It took everything the stallion had to not choke up at the thought.

Someone wants to talk to me? Not some formal interview. Just someone who is interested in chaos magic?

And she said she remembered me? So, it wasn’t a hallucination? I had always feared…

“I mean, I’m not terribly busy the day after tomorrow? Same time?” she suggested, the gryphoness sending the notebook to float onto a counter.

“I’d like that. I can bring more of Celestia’s spit if you want.”

Nilliana abruptly laughed, the sound echoing off the walls before she caught herself and nearly choked.

“T-that’d be one marketable name for it!” she managed to say, holding out a set of claws. “Thanks again, Arcane. See you the day after tomorrow?”

He shook the offered claws, nodding with what felt like the first easygoing, natural smile in a long time.

“See you then, Nilliana.”

After trotting out the door, he vanished with a pop of magic; there were more drinks to create, after all!

After the stallion vanished, Nilliana couldn’t get the smile off her face. The guy was so odd. But in the best way. Even if he didn’t understand the intricacies of arcane theory, the pony tried. He seemed as bemused by chaos magic as Nilliana did.

Yet seeing the passion on his face as Arcane described his city and his chef adventures made the gryphoness smile again. It had been rather amusing, being able to see a rather cheerful pony emerging from his shell. The stallion was a pretty handsome guy, which made his genuine nature all the more interesting. No filter; it was just who Arcane was.

Handsome?

The gryphoness let out a hiss, shaking her head as she meandered back to the counter. That put an immediate damper on her thoughts.

I can’t think like that. He’s just a nice pony willing to let me ask questions regarding chaos magic. That’s it.

Nilliana wanted to believe it. But a set of claws reached up to grip her chest as she took a shaky breath. She hadn’t felt like this in a long time. A simple, warm glow as Arcane had talked enough for the both of them about his spiced drink-making machine. Just listening to a passionate pony share his love of something. The excitement and joy in his eyes had been just…

She shook her head, the gryphoness gripping her chest tightly. Nilliana walked back to turn the sign back over, the physical action helping her think.

He’s just a new friend. I can’t go there. I won’t.
I can’t…