Not our world anymore (IC)

[GalacticWar_Xavier]

Twilight watched Winter as she went over to the colt and treated him with motherly affection. Twilight was glad that she had at least made another friend in that horrible place. Airimus took a canteen off his belt and tossed it over to Amalthea after she told him that she had lost hers while being bumped around elevator, the two had stayed quiet through the two ponys' conversation. Airimus sighed heavily, "That elevator's counterweight cables snapped and it plummeted into the basement a few seconds after you all got off it." Amalthea rolled her eyes, "Thanks for the heartwarming revelation." Airimus ignored her to answer Winter's question, though the kiss she had given him still tickled at his mind, "We're heading to the Dune Sea, west of the Empire. In your time I believe it was called the Painted Pinto Desert. The Empire didn't expand that way, there's nothing but sand dunes and buffalo tribes out there." Twilight looked over, "The Dune Sea? Surely a wonderful place like that deserved a better name than that." she said. Airimus shook his head, "Since the old times, the desert has become hotter and drier. Almost no plant life remains out there... Shouldn't you be sleeping?" Twilight sighed in response. Airimus looked over to Amalthea, "So anyways, about that kiss you gave me back there."

[Blue Fox]

Amalthea had been taking a swig from the canteen which was now being sprayed over the floor as Airimus had recalled the kiss she had given him before they parted by the elevator. She hadn't forgotten about it but she hadn't expected Airimus to be so out and forward about it. In honesty the possibility of death had something to do with it along with her personal feelings and worry for Airimus. She composed herself, her face was red and she cursed her own body for betraying her emotions so openly. "Well" she began trying to think of words. "We were all in danger, and I was just worried about you. So I just thought.. in case ..oh forget it" she sighed. Anyone in the room could tell she was nervous and it was only increasing as she was probably about to make one of the scariest choices of her young life. "I.. like you" she said shyly as she held her arm with her other hand. She felt herself redden a bit more as her heart beat faster. She felt silly having these emotions and thoughts, like she was a young apprentice on their first days of Mage College. Winter watched the whole thing with a broad grin on her face. She found the interaction to be sweet and she couldn't help but stifle a laugh with her hoof at Amalthea, 'who was normally quite head strong', for acting this way.

[GalacticWar_Xavier]

Airimus nodded slowly. Amalthea felt tension go down her spine as she watched Airimus' expression intensely. Slowly, but surely, a smile spread across Airimus' face, "Well, I had originally thought that I would never have a girlfriend, what with how much work and studying I did... Not until I got lighter class loads, at least, anyways. But I hadn't ever considered someone like you, Amalthea. Well, I mean of course girls who went to the College. Perhaps, after all this... Well, if there is going to be an 'after all this', we could do more things together other than homework and studying." Rex watched the two with a expression that betrayed complete non-understanding, boredom, and that he didn't want anything to do with that sort of stuff. He went over to Leafrun and sat down next to him, "What exactly are they talking about?" Rex asked the colt, who shrugged his shoulders, "I dunno." he responded.

Twilight, pretending to be sleeping, couldn't help but grin goofily as she listened to Airimus and Amalthea's conversation. That all their friendships had been maintained, and that even new connections were formed after that terrible thing that had just happened, filled Twilight with much more hope for the future. The Sorcerers' Order was in shambles, but that meant that the Empire would likely be on higher alert than ever. It had been proven that the Griffon Kingdom wasn't safe, so they would likely have to move on as quickly as they could. A ways into the desert would be an envoy from Talonopolis to pick them up, but she knew that the tracks didn't go anywhere near that far. She had to rest up for the journey ahead.

[Blue Fox]

As the train picked up speed Nimbus and the other warriors had taken to standing on top of the train. From there they could keep watch and give their wings a rest at the same time. Nimbus and the other Pegasi would rest once they were clear of the border, but even then they would take their rest in shifts so they would always have some pony on look out for potential threats. Winter had also began to close her eyes. She had began drifting off when she felt Leafun curl up next to her, she smiled as she opened one of eyes seeing the young colt looking back at her. Winter offered her hooves and the foal curled in closer as she wrapped her hooves around him affectionately. The young colt had really taken to Winter as some kind of parental figure. Although he knew she wasn't and in truth was still young herself. No she was more like a sister to him by this point, a big sister. He closed his eyes as he let out a small yawn before drifting off along with Winter. She really needed this rest, and she knew she would feel much better for it. She was also in desperate need for a bath to get this dry blood out of her mane.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Winter was standing on some kind of grey floor, there were no walls but the ground seemed to fade into darkness which prevented her seeing any further then the point in which the floor faded. She couldn't see anything else but the small flecks of grey that fell like snow. Something which obviously seemed very odd to her. Winter looked around unsure whether to move but before she could make a decision Twilight emerged form the darkness. She walked towards Winter with a blank expression betraying neither kindness nor hatred as the lavender mare brought a sword out of no where and plunged it through Winters chest. Winter felt no pain as she fell to the ground, she looked up at her friend in time as she brought the sword down to run it through her head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Winter woke with a gasp. She quickly looked over to find Twilight sleeping. She breathed out a sigh hating herself for having such a dream. She had to let go of this. Whatever happened back in that place, it wasn't real or Twilight had been temporarily brain washed... or something !. But whatever it was she had to look past it now. She looked down at Leafun who had wrapped his hooves around one of hers. She was glad he was free of that place and was now getting some good well deserved rest.

[GalacticWar_Xavier]

Aside from Winter, the only one who was up at the moment in the car was Airimus, who had the train cargo door open a crack, looking outside. Since he was standing right infront of it, it wasn't possible to see out, but bright light shone in through it, indicating that the sun had risen once again. He looked over at Winter when he heard her gasp and awaken, "You had one too?... I'm not sure if anyone else has had any... Nightmares of course." He sighed heavily, "I had never thought I would have had to take a single life... But I took well over a dozen back at that base." Airimus looked at his hands, "I keep telling myself that it would have either been them or you all, and that I had made the right choice, like what Nimbus had told Twilight to think... You weren't there when she said it though. It has helped some but..." He lowered his hands, "I still had quite a nasty nightmare about myself, gleefully killing hundreds who were simply following the orders given to them by their superiors." When Airimus thought about it, he knew that Twilight was now the only one in their group other than Rex who hadn't yet killed anybody, themselves, "I guess the best we can hope for is that we end up being able to conquer these horrible memories we now have."

[Blue Fox]

Winter listened to Airimus sympathizing with how he felt. She had only really taken one life during her time there considering whatever happened with Twilight seemed to be... not what it seemed. She hadn't really thought about it but it was only then that she realised that she hadn't cared. In her mind she had already killed Twilight and that was far worse then killing someone who was willing to harm her. Had she not killed Twilight she probably would have felt allot different. She looked to Airimus, she would go over to speak more personally but the little colt was fast asleep, gripping her hoof, and she didn't want to risk waking him up. "I don't think these memories are supposed to be conquered" she said as she paused thinking about how she would explain what she meant. "I think they are supposed to be understood" she paused again as she decided to use Twilight as an example, thinking it may help Airimus understand. "When I came to terms with the decision to kill Twilight I had only a few seconds to make a choice. I had asked her to walk away, but she was content to kill me....she even told me so. I had made a choice that I would need to kill Twilight and save myself so that I could be there for Leafrun, who would need me if our stay was going to be longer then I thought" she said looking down again at the little colt in her hooves. "Twilight had a choice too, but she chose to carry on in her mission to end my life, and so I resigned to having no choice but to act for the greater good. Twilight had a choice, I didn't" she said before adding. "If Leafrun hadn't been in that place, and I had been alone... I probably would have let her kill me" she sighed. "But after all of this I understand. And I think I can live with myself knowing I acted for the sake of some pony who needed me most".

[GalacticWar_Xavier]

Airimus let out the air in his lungs in a huge, heavy sigh as Winter Bell explained what had happened, with how she had thought she had killed Twilight, for very obvious reasons, at least to himself, he didn't believe that pony who had tried to kill her was actually Twilight, "After you and Twilight fell asleep I talked a bit with Rex, about what had happened when they had gone out to look for you. Although I suppose you know where this is heading, that Twilight was never in the Sorcerers' base before that rescue mission." He looked over at Twilight, "She contacted me telepathically right after she had narrowly avoided capture, which was when Rex had last seen her. Given the coincidence, I can most assure you that the real Twilight Sparkle is currently the one sleeping right over there." He looked back to Winter, "Not that I'm saying that your emotions aren't unfounded. They were trying to trick you in a certain way, and from the sound of it, it hadn't even worked the way they wanted it to... I suppose understand them is what I meant by conquering them, implying that we can see past what the memories try to do to us, and try to push on with our lives as they normally should."

As Airimus finished speaking, Twilight stirred and moved her legs around, slowly coming back to rather achy consciousness. Her sides were still black and blue in horrendous contrast to her lavender coat, but it had gotten a lot better since last night, when the bruises had been running from almost from her ribs to her cutie mark.

[Blue Fox]

Winter nodded. "I know now that whatever it was in there wasn't Twilight, but its not that which scares me, it was my ability to allow myself to kill her" she said with a sigh. "Anyway it doesn't matter any more, everyone is safe and that's what matters most. And I'm kind off glad it happened since I know Leafrun will never have to see that place again" she said with a slight smile. Had she known foals were there suffering through that, she would have ventured there herself anyway. She was overjoyed to be out of that place and with a young colt safe in her hooves she couldn't be happier. She noticed that Twilight was stirring and she was glad to see she was doing well. The bruise looked like it had gone down, although it was still pretty nasty to look at. Had that armour not been protecting her she would have been cleaved in two by the giant creature. She felt a jolt around her hooves as Leafrun began to wake up. He let out a few tired noises to be followed by a small yawn. Winter nuzzled the top of his head, "Did you have a good sleep" she asked as she colt repositioned to look up at Winter. "Yeah" he replied happily with a smile as he saw her. The sleep had done the charcoal mare a world of good. Her eyes had gone down and looked relatively normal now, her mane was still a mess but she definitely looked better and it hadn't gone unnoticed by the colt.

[GalacticWar_Xavier]

Twilight lifted her head and gave out a groggy yawn, "I wish I didn't have a spine right now..." she groaned. She slowly lifted herself to her legs. Airimus nodded to Winter, understanding, then looked over to Twilight again, "Hey, you sure you should be walking right now?" he asked, concerned. Twilight nodded, "It didn't break any of my legs, its actually less painful to stand up right now anyways." she responded, "Besides, we're probably in the desert by now. The tracks can't go on for very much farther." The human-built diesel train was much faster than the Equestrian train she had remembered that used this line. Airimus nodded, "I was just looking out the door." He opened it revealing a blazing landscape of sand dunes. Due to the speed the train was traveling at, the heat didn't immediately consume the air, but it was apparent that the desert was likely going to be hot and dry, "The tracks end at a small human town called Lavohk. It's not governed by the Empire, so we should be able to clean ourselves up a little bit there before heading out to meet the airship." Twilight nodded, "Remind me why the airship couldn't meet us at the town?" she asked, a little annoyed that they would have to walk out into the middle of the dunes to meet the Griffon Kingdom vehicle. Airimus shrugged, "I think it was to throw off any more chance of pursuit."

[Blue Fox]

Winter watched as Twilight got to her hooves. "Well at least your feeling better" she said as Leafrun trotted of from the hay stack allowing Winter to get up herself. She stretched her herself out with a audible yawn before getting up fully. She felt so much better now that she had rested properly. But the mention of the air ship threw her a little. "Air ship ?" she asked with a semi nervous tint in her voice. "It's like a air balloon but bigger longer and faster" replied Rex from the corner. Winter sighed, "Of course" she muttered. Winter wasn't the best with heights ever since she had fallen out of a tree when she was a filly. Luckily she had Summer to help her back then, obviously this was going to be far different then being up in a tree. She swallowed hard before banishing the thoughts away. She was actually looking forward to being able to clean herself up when they reached the town that Airimus had mentioned. A nice shower and a bite to eat sounded lovely. Besides she would need to make sure Leafrun had a decent breakfast. From what she knew of children it was that they needed to eat regularly and often. But in truth she wasn't entirely sure. She trotted over to where Airimus had the door opened and look out into the far expanse of dry desert. She couldn't feel the heat as the wind drag from the train whipped at her face. But she had a fair idea of how hot it might be when they eventually stop in the town. Winter rounded to face Twilight. "When we get to this town, me and you are going to find a clinic to have you looked at properly" she said after thinking what might be damaged on the inside. "Just to be safe" she added.