Not our world anymore (IC)

[GalacticWar_Xavier]

Twilight drank some more water as her scheduled time came up once again. She watched the sunset silently with Starling for a time. Thinking deeply on what she had experienced throughout her time here. She had learned and seen so much over the course of her and Winter's around 2 weeks here, most importantly to her, she had learned about Love. Life in Equestria already seemed like a distant memory to her, now. However, she remembered what Princess Luna had asked of her, she knew she had to find a way back home. She also wished that she and Starling would be able to be together somehow, and she wished that Winter and Leafrun would get a similar happy ending, as Twilight looked and saw the charcoal mare's motherly embrace on the colt. As Amalthea engaged in a conversation about their so-called town, Twilight got to her hooves for the first time on her own power since she had collapsed. She stumbled a bit like a newborn foal, but her legs found their strength once again. She cantered over to Winter, "Hey." she whispered to Winter, careful not to wake Leafrun, "I just wanted to say I'm sorry for scaring you like that."

Amalthea looked to Starling, "Hope, huh?" she said, smiling, "Makes sense on a deep level. Although I'd still want to call it something else if I were you. Because if it were to be named Hope, then, 'Nimbus is tearing down Hope' doesn't sound very good." She looked to the grey pagasus mare who was yanking planks of wood off of a nearby building to build a campfire, "Heh." Airimus laughed, Nimbus looked over, having missed the whole conversation, "Huh?" she asked. Admiralty was already shivering, having nothing on, and any heat that would have been trapped by his coat was flowing right out thanks to its light color.

[Blue Fox]

Winters eyes opened as her head risen from her hooves to face Twilight. She offered her a warm smile, glad to see she was back on her hooves after coming close to passing out earlier. "That's ok Twi, I'm just happy to see you're ok!" she said quietly, also making sure she didn't wake the sleeping foal in her hooves. "I do need to talk with you though" she said as she carefully took her hooves away from Leafrun so he could carry on sleeping while she spoke with Twilight. She got to her hooves and stretched a little before leading Twilight into the street, it was safe now that the sun was setting, plus they had plenty of water now. When Winter was sure they were out of ear shot of the others she looked to Twilight with a concerned expression. "I just wanted to make sure everything it ok, I mean with you and Starling. I know that what we're trying to do must be haunting you" she said softly as she remembered the pain of loosing Sky, she hoped Twilight would never have to suffer that pain.

Starling looked to Amalthea and chuckled, "You're right, maybe that name wouldn't work" he said. He jumped a little as Twilight stumbled, making a move to support her, but she caught her strength and seemed fine. He smiled as he watched her go over to Winter before turning his attention to the last bit of sun fading beyond the horizon. He looked to Admiralty and noticed he was feeling the cold seep In now that the sun was leaving them. "You should go inside if you're feeling cold. I'm not sure how much longer the air ship will be" he said trying to at least be civil with the stallion.

[GalacticWar_Xavier]

Twilight nodded and followed Winter out of everyone else's earshot. She hoped nothing was wrong, though she didn't want to automatically assume that just because Winter was pulling her aside necessarily meant there was an emergency. She was of course her good friend and she would be just fine if she wanted to spend a little time with her. When Winter said that she wanted to know if Twilight was doing okay now that it was set that they were on their way to finding a way back to their own time and her feelings about Starling, Twilight's ears instantly drooped, "Well... To be honest I've been trying not to think about it, or hoping that things will turn out well." She dug the front of one of her fore hooves around in the sand beneath their hooves, "I hadn't expected that Starling and I would have such powerful feelings for eachother. It just suddenly sprang upon me, the way he believed me when I told him who I was, and the way he and I have so much in common... I know, I probably..." she trailed off, it hurt her too much to say it, that she shouldn't have taken Starling's invitation. By that logic, they shouldn't have made any friends in in this time. It was too unnatural, too cruel. She looked back up to Winter, her eyes telling her that she didn't want to, that she couldn't finish the thought.

Admiralty gave Starling a wary glare, being the initial one who had felt that he was hiding something. He shook his head, "That Pegasus and human will have a fire going soon. I'll be fine." He used more respectful words all the same, though, as Starling was a fellow Unicorn, from this time as well. He looked over as Nimbus piled the planks a little ways into the street to keep from accidentally setting one of the houses or buildings on fire, "Ah, horse feathers, I'm gonna need to call Sunflower with the matches." she said. Amalthea then walked over and snapped her fingers, the pile of wood then went alight, leaving Nimbus dumbfounded for a few seconds, "Oh, right... Magic." she said sheepishly.

[Blue Fox]

Winter looked at her lavender friend understanding her hesitation and the feelings she is likely going through. When Twilight hesitated Winter placed a hoof on her shoulder to let her know it was ok, she didn't have to say anything. When the fire started she looked back to Twilight. "Come on, lets get warm... again" she said jokingly to lift the mood. She didn't know how the future was going to plan out but she could never blame Twilight for her feelings, and in truth how was she so different, she was doing the same sort of thing with Leafrun. The young colt had become dependant on her and if she left without him, it could severely harm the foal in more ways then she wanted to think about. Even the thought of it made her heart cry. When they reached the fire, Nimbus and the few other Wonderbolts had gathered some bigger flatter stones from the desert, using the blankets they packed to make them into chairs, or simply place the blankets around the fire for the ponies who wanted to lay down. Winter got onto a blanket and lowered to her haunches. Leafrun was up but seemed to be in conversation with Rex. As for everyone else, they seemed to be making their way over.

Starling trotted over and with him was his armour that he places with the belongings of everyone else. He wouldn't need to wear it until they got onto the air ship and he really didn't want to anyway. Right now he wanted to settle down with the warm feel of the fire licking his coat, hopefully with Twilight by his side. He saw she had looked a little upset when talking with Winter but he chose not to ask about it simply because he felt it wasn't his place. If she wanted to tell him what was upsetting her she would let him know, or at least that's what he hoped.

[GalacticWar_Xavier]

Twilight smiled and chuckled slightly at the joke about getting warm, though it was roughened by slight sniffles as her feelings about Starling and what she was trying to do once again clashed within her. She wiped her eyes with the back of one of her fore hooves and made her way over to the fire. She looked at Starling as she approached, she wished she wouldn't hurt him anymore than she might be already bound to. But she knew that at this point, the only way she could possibly hurt anymore than that, was to not give him all the chances he had left to spend time with her. She went over to him and slowly put one of her fore hooves around his back, smiling at him lovingly, "Nice fire isn't it, honey?" Twilight said, leaning her head against his.

Nimbus and her Wonderbolts finished setting up the fire accommodations, "Good work, team." she said, looking around at all her comrades. Airimus and Amalthea took up the two seat-like set-ups and looked into the fire together, "Do you think we'd make a difference when Twilight and Winter got into the dragon country?" Amalthea asked. Airimus looked at her, "Well, I believe I heard that Spike would be joining them, Starling will be staying with them as well... I'd say that we'd likely make a difference." he responded. Amalthea nodded, "Well, what I was worried about is that our elemental spells might be useless against any hostile dragons we encounter. They can withstand the heat of lava, and most of the offensive spells I know are fire-based." Airimus shook his head, "Pheonixes can hurt dragons with fire, and you know lightning bolt spells. Those are hotter than the surface of the sun."

((Crummy post, but my car is parked illegally, sorry.))
((I shall now edit this post to make it better now that you've seemed to have gone for the night :P))

[Blue Fox]

Starling smiled up at Twilight and nodded. "It sure is" he said as he looked to gaze into the fire. He was lost in a trance for a few minutes, again that thought of what he eventually had to confess burned in the back of his mind so much so that he wondered if it was the feeling that was warming him up instead of the fire. It was going to be tough, but if he planned on spending the remaining years of his life with her then she would need to know. After all it was only fair...right. He breathed out heavily before getting to his hooves. He was still looking into the fire but then turned as he spoke. "I'm going to do a round check of the area, make sure the fire is well covered by the houses" he said before Nimbus stopped him. "We already took care of that, a few of my Wonderbolts are patrolling the perimeter as we wait" she said with a raised eyebrow. Starling nodded, "Then I guess I'll go run a calibration check on my armour. You'll be surprised how much TLC that thing needs" he said before disappearing beyond the light of the fire. He trotted back over to the saloon and pulled his armour forward, running it through its tests. Needless to say it didn't even need the tests, everything was always fine because he always took such good care of it.

[GalacticWar_Xavier]

Airimus jumped slightly as his radio crackled, "Harmony Team, this is KAS Eagle's Scream broadcasting on secure channel, at this point in time we are approximately 1 hour, 37 minutes out from the rendezvous point. It has been confirmed that there are no Imperial aircraft in the area except for a light helicopter at 2-0-3 from the rendezvous point, outbound. Be there or be square, maintain radio silence." Airimus hardly knew what half of the message meant, but he at least knew how far away the airship was. Twilight watched Starling go to run some tests on his armor. She wondered if anything was bothering him, if it was the same thing that was bothering her. She curled up on the blanket Starling had been occupying, and listened to Airimus and Amalthea some more, lacking anything else to do.

"Well... This adventure, we didn't just blow up a convenience store, we blew up the Sorcerers' Order HQ." Amalthea said jokingly. Airimus laughed, "Well, I guess a magical adventure isn't a magical adventure without something blowing up." Twilight put a fore hoof up to her mouth stifling a laugh, Rex laughed as well, overhearing the comment, "What were you two doing when you blew up that store?" Rex asked, still chucking. Airimus sighed a bit, hesitant to tell the story infront of Winter Bell and Twilight Sparkle, "I guess you could say that we were trying to find Dream Castle, you know, wherever the Elements of Harmony were being kept. Well, we stopped for a bite to eat at a store located next to the Everfree Forest, and a pack of Timber Wolves went into the parking lot and surrounded the store. It was just me, Amalthea, Jerek, Samantha and the store clerk and there were six of them. Now, Jerek was a sixth year at that point, I'm only a fifth year right now, and this was about three years ago, he was really into Force spells, so naturally, when the wolves appeared at the storefront, mind you we were in the back of the store, he uses his most powerful one. Not only does he turn the timber wolves into a bunch of shards of bark, but he takes out the entire storefront, all of the merchandise between himself and front of the store, the windows and several cars and trucks parked in the parking lot. Combined damage totaled 200,000 Imperial Marks, or about 80 million Equestrian Bits. Jerek was expelled and served 3 months in a county jail to avoid the fines, but he says to this day that it was worth all of it."

[Blue Fox]

Starling had long since finished his tests since it took all of about five minutes in theory. But he didn't want to join the others just yet. He breathed in some of the warm night air and wondered where his life could take him some time in the next two years. Would he still be here, in this time. Would he even be alive. He looked up at the stars that now shone through the shroud of darkness. They seemed more sparkly then usual and he thought it probably had to do with Luna's return. He had a hard time digesting that when Twilight first told him. But when he looked around at all of those who followed her he had to give no doubt and believe her full heartedly. Feelings aside he knew he trusted her, and in times like this that counted for more then most would realise. In his mind he went over every spell he's ever invented, all the uses they had gone to weather to serve medical or military. And when he looked back on all his work he had to wonder if it was all worth it, now that he was leaving it all behind. He looked back to the fire and saw the shadows of the flames licking Twilights coat. They seemed so happy, laughing and joking even though they had gone through so much. He turned, looking back to his helmet staring deep into the cold lifeless visor. In the reflection he could swear he saw the faces of all the lives he took. The dreams he would often have of being in a forest surrounded by all the people he killed, their expressions never quite unreadable, but the eyes staring through him as if they were mourning something. It broke his heart every time, but it was a constant reminder of what he did, forced or not. And that was his punishment, and a punishment he would take.

Winter laughed with the others as the humans explained one of their mad adventures. She listened for their other stories after Leafrun and Rex began asking for more and more, of which the humans happily obliged. She was in the middle of laughing again when Nimbus approached. "Ok everyone on your...feet..hooves...feet-hooves. Oh everyone just get up !" she said in frustration. "The Air ship is inbound and will be here any minute" she said as she gathered some of her things.

[GalacticWar_Xavier]

Twilight nodded and got herself to her hooves, she couldn't believe that it was actually midnight now. She knew, though, that once everyone got settled, they would all start feeling tired. Over one of the buildings she could see a group of lights approaching them. It grew in size until it was twice a dragon's-size craft which began descending toward the town. It flew by means of a group of four engines which were located on the craft's bottom and it had two large wings, triangle-shaped with another pair coming out of the back, but pointing upwards at a 45 degree angle. The airship looked more like a description of an airplane than the balloon-type craft she was used to see bearing the name. The Eagle's Scream settled onto the sand beyond the town's main building clusters and the bottom front of it opened, extending a ramp to allow boarding. The engines which were throwing a rather billowing cloud of sand everywhere around it powered down. Twilight marveled at the advanced design of the craft, it looked as if it could go extremely fast, and chances were, it could. She looked at Winter, "Well, I guess we can all officially say that we rescued you and Rex." she said, offering Winter a smile.

[Blue Fox]

It took Starling all of about two minutes to have himself ready. His armour closed around him and his helmet secures to his head before he threw his saddlebags over his back. He waited a few seconds for his HUD to start up before he began moving. Winter and Leafrun were now ready and Amalthea had done a last minute check to make sure they had everything. Nimbus put out the fire before motioning for them all to follow. Winter was silent as they approached the giant vessel, she was definitely impressed by it and hadn't seen anything quite like it. Leafrun was also in awe as he stretched his neck to look up at the sheer size of the thing. When Twilight said they had been officially rescued she shuddered remembering what could have been if they hadn't come to save her. She smiled at her lavender friends before replying. "And i can't ever thank you all enough" she said softly as they walked towards the boarding ramp. Starling had merged from the back with the group, the rest of the Wonderbolts beside him. Nimbus climbed first and turned at the top as she began a head count, as they entered the craft.

The interior was quite spacious and offered a fairly comfortable journey from the looks of it. There appeared to be double doors on the other side which lead to the cockpit of the craft, but they remained locked at all times unless they were on the ground or it were an emergency. When they were all inside the engines roared once again as the craft began readying itself to take off. They all got themselves to a seat before the craft began moving into the air, or at least that's what it felt like. Starling looked to Twilight from behind his steel helmet. "How are you feeling ?" he asked to make sure she was all right.