Shores: Homecoming (Closed)

[Northwest Slobovia]

North Hangar
Echo Base, Hoth
Mid-Summer, 20 ABY, Maghrl's Timestream

Brit walked into the back of the ship with a neutral expression on her face. She looked to Feen, recognizing his species from her deployment to Sullust, before looking at Tormak. “Those power converters are no doubt frozen solid.” She told him. “We took welding torches to ‘em to thaw ‘em out when I was stationed here. You may have to do the same.”

Feen shrugged. "We dug them out of a collapsed storeroom. Lots of rock between them and the cold." He was thankful for Brit fighting to liberate his homeworld, but more interested in matters at hand.

The testing and division of the power converters went quickly, though there were only fifteen working ones out of the fourty or so in the crate. The Belas agreed to share one between them, which gave the ex-pirates four a piece, and one each for Brit and Giovenith. As some of the broken ones might be cannibalized to make working ones, Sandy suggested they would remain on Hoth, as part of the group's share.

Sandy also asked that they turn over all of the droids. Tormak protested, but Sandy pointed out that his offer was that the pirates get shares of the ship and the power converters, and the red droid wasn't mentioned. Tormak reluctantly agreed, muttering about Coreworlders always driving such hard bargains.

The only surprise was that Amanda insisted on accompanying the ex-pirates to Bespin. "Marisi is out cold. She can't stand up for her own interests. Nor can we just hand these guys guns and hope everything turns out for the best. Tormak has the advantage there. So I'm going to go with them to make sure the deal is carried out as agreed." She added a whispered French aside for Sandy, though Brit and Giovenith could overhear her. "And there's supposed to be one suite in Cloud City with a hell of a view. I'd like to see it."

Sandy reminded Amanda of the risk because the ship could barely fly, but she was unmoved. All she did want was for Soli to be dealt with. Sandy replied in quiet Greek, "I don't think we have much choice. We can't take her home, and the cold here will kill her."

The ship's take-off was wobbly, and it appeared Tormak struggled to avoid over-controlling the ship as the vertical thrusters faded in and out. The ship slid sideways, and the wingtip caught the edge of the wide-open blast doors, cracking the wing at its root. With effort, Tormak prevented the ship from pivoting around and slamming into the cliffside, but it was a near-run thing. Sandy relaxed only when the ship climbed out of range, though it did drop alarmingly a couple of times along the way.

After finally breathing out and taking a deep breath, Sandy turned to Giovenith and Brit. "I'm going to try to have Big Red put some of the other crates back they were. And then I'm going home. It's getting harder and harder for me to pull ousia out of the area, I'm hurt, and sunset will be in a few hours. I'll come back tomorrow and look around more.

"So, what are you going to do about Soli?"

[Giovenith]

"Willow still wakes up screaming, despite what Cadance and Morpheus did? And you don't know why? I think Sandy and I know. Talk to us at home."

Giovenith shook her head with a sigh, a puff of white air engulfing her face. "You can't magic away all of trauma, Amanda," she said, quiet and tired. "Maybe the worst of it. But it's like a stain... you can wash it over and over to make it fade, but it'll still always be there." She turned to face her as she backed up. "And I did tell you before... gods really can't do everything."

"So, what are you going to do about Soli?"

She paused in consideration.

"I'm not sure," she admitted. "I could... I could store her away for now, though. The ice here provides enough reflections. My brother can keep her until we figure it out."

[Northwest Slobovia]

North Hangar
Echo Base, Hoth
Mid-Summer, 20 ABY, Maghrl's Timestream

"I'm not sure," [Giovenith] admitted. "I could... I could store her away for now, though. The ice here provides enough reflections. My brother can keep her until we figure it out."

Sandy's brow wrinkled. "'Store her away'? Your brother... the psychopom-- Oh." He stopped and thought that over. "Keep her on His ferry or in Purgatory or... whatever it is your family does?" His face twisted up. "Once she sees the supernatural, she can't return here. But exile would-- I could convince Amanda that exile and divine probation would do rather than death."

[Giovenith]

Giovenith snorted, though it wasn't clear if it was incredulousness or restrained laughter.

"He just lives in the in-between where our 'realm' is," she said. "She would be safe and sustained there. He could put her into a sleep so she doesn't have to look at or remember anything, and I think we could probably erase her memories of it if we wanted to let her go. Either way, I think it's better than ditching her to freeze to death or shooting her right now, unless someone else here has a magic storeroom to keep her in."

[Monfrox]

Brit kept uncharacteristically uninterested as the two talked. She was still wrapping her head around everything that Gio had said and why Sandy let Amanda head out to Bespin. She didn’t particularly like how he worded the problem as something for them to work out without him, but she wasn’t going to nitpick.

“Put her to sleep. We can send her some place later on. Give her the choice of starting over and not being a piece of shit, or I can have her placed in custody and give her over to the New Republic authorities where she’ll be shipped to a cold cell on a prison station in the mid-rim. And that’s if she’s lucky.”

[Northwest Slobovia]

North Hangar
Echo Base, Hoth
Mid-Summer, 20 ABY, Maghrl's Timestream

Sandy nodded at Giovenith's explanation and Brit's agreement. "All right. Have your brother take care of her. That obviates the need to make any decision about her fate now. Just use care about what she might see or remember."

[Giovenith]

Giovenith sighed, nodding, feeling burdened but also relieved that at least a conclusion had been come to. She used her birds to gently take Soli along with her back toward an icier area, far from the sight of any of the pirates, before selecting an area and brushing away as much of the stray snow as she could until she gleaned enough of her own reflection blinking back.

"I'm not going to hurt you," she told Soli, unsure but uncaring if the slaver could here. "Even though you might deserve it. Just wait for now, and get some rest."

Using the birds and her own hands in tandem, Giovenith gently put quickly pushed Soli through the reflection. She didn't need to enter herself or announce anything; her brother would sense the arrival of someone and immediately seize the slaver, freezing her in a stasis and awaiting his sister's presumed later explanation. Satisfied that that part was done at least for now, Giovenith returned to the group.

Maybe I should have stayed on the beach instead, she thought to herself, sighing internally.

Sometimes she wondered why she was even still... doing this. Going on these adventures. Doing these things. She'd just been running, once, and before that she had just lived with her family like a normal child. Maybe she'd been too passive in life...

It was because of that moment to mindfully reflect in the quiet of the icy cave that Giovenith was able to wind down somewhat by the time she reached the group again, and thus able to glean onto something she had overlooked in the midst of all the working, chaos, and her own personal dramas. It started as a slight negative buzz, similar to that early dread you got right before a headache, and not an entirely unfamiliar one. Squinting her eyes, she looked around for the source of the nauseating energy, and finally settled on Brit.

She stared for a moment, face still, but slowly comprehending. Oh. Them.

This would have to be dealt with.

Remaining calm, Giovenith waited for a moment where Brit and Sandy were considerably far apart in the midst of the hubbub before discreetly approaching the professor. She knew it probably wasn't the best time to be dropping this bomb, but it didn't seem like waiting till they got home was the most sensitive timing either.

"I put her away," said Giovenith at a normal volume, in an attempt to shift attention away from their words. "My brother will find her and make sure she doesn't see too much. By the way..." She suddenly drew in and dropped to a murmur whisper, keeping her tone explanatory, bland, and non-panic-causing. "... there's something more going on with Brit than we think, I think. I sense the presence of Hastur on her. A very dangerous god."

[Northwest Slobovia]

North Hangar
Echo Base, Hoth
Mid-Summer, 20 ABY, Maghrl's Timestream

Sandy ordered the red droid to return the crates to their store room. As he returned to the hangar from examining the room's remaining contents – crushed beyond recognition – he discovered that the corridors had sliding doors, all tucked in their slots. With help from the others, and sometimes the droid's brute strength, he was able to pull them closed. He started with the ones between the hangar control room and the laundry, and worked his way down and back to the ones where the droid was working.

As he used his fusion furnace to melt out one of the doors from the ice-covered corridor, Giovenith approached him.

She suddenly drew in and dropped to a murmur whisper, keeping her tone explanatory, bland, and non-panic-causing. "... there's something more going on with Brit than we think, I think. I sense the presence of Hastur on her. A very dangerous god."

Raising an eyebrow, Sandy gave the young goddess a long, thoughtful look. After a few seconds, his expression soured. "The name is-- I've heard it before, but I can't place it. Long before, before we came to Bielefeld. So..." He rubbed the back of his head for a moment. "Known in my timestream. And-- Yes, mentioned in awe and fear. But by whom? None of our gods are-- They're not thought to be active, so who would fear one?"

Sandy seemed very interested in the door he'd thawing. After a while, he broke his silence. "It would explain several things. And lead to another: Cadance, Princess Cadance. She may be able to help Brit. She-- Amanda describes it as working a miracle on Willow, though without the Sight, Amanda can't tell divine action from magic." Another pause. "Even if she can't do the same for Brit, Her analysis would be invaluable."

With a sigh and a wry expression Sandy finished up with, "I'd been thinking of visiting Equestria again for other reasons. Now I have a third reason. I will let Celestia know we are coming, and tell Her we will want Cadance's help." He gave Giovenith a stern look. "We will have to convince Brit to come, or... bring her otherwise."

[Giovenith]

Giovenith nodded slowly. "Normally I would say just leave her alone, but with everything that's happened, and with something like Hastur... I do guess we don't really have a choice." She folded her arms thoughtfully. "Though if this is serious enough, there might be a limited amount that they can do. Pantheons try not to interfere with the work of other pantheons. Things get deadly otherwise. I guess it depends on what exactly happened to her..." She shot a brief look over her shoulder at the soldier.

[Northwest Slobovia]

North Hangar
Echo Base, Hoth
Mid-Summer, 20 ABY, Maghrl's Timestream

"Though if this is serious enough, there might be a limited amount that they can do. Pantheons try not to interfere with the work of other pantheons. Things get deadly otherwise. I guess it depends on what exactly happened to her..."

Something Giovenith said brought an unexpected smile to Sandy's face, and a momentary twinkle in his eyes. "Yes, they, or perhaps we –" The twinkle in his eyes returned for a second. "–Try to avoid each other, but-- Let's just say I heard a... darkly entertaining story about why neither the Olympians nor the Abrahamics have consecrated shrines where I'm from."

His expression slowly returned to being solemn. "And in that vein, Brit is – at least on paper and by practice, if not divine acknowledgement – a Christian. And yet, this, um, obscure god acted against her.

"It may be better to ask her god for assistance, however, we don't know how to contact Him. So we will... er, have to make do. Perhaps Cadance-- no, let us see what help we can get first, before seeking favors." It wouldn't take much to guess that the favor Sandy meant was for one of the friendly pantheons to make an introduction for Brit to Jesus.

Sandy and Big Red finished packing up, taking things home, and, trying to seal up Echo base quickly. Lifeguard answered his call a few minutes late, and with the usual suddenness: Brit, Giovenith, and Sandy found themselves washed up on George's Beach, dry despite appearances, the setting sun behind them.

George's Resort, Bermeja

Pulling himself to his feet, Sandy tried to make an announcement, but his voice sounded weak from exhaustion. "I'm going to go for a short flight, and then I will cook dinner. If either of you are interested, I could prepare something for us."

[Monfrox]

Brit was glad to be back at the island, though things were still fresh in her mind. She sighed with a heave of her shoulders. She was tired and operating on little sleep.

"Thanks, but I'll have to pass. I'm gonna try to turn in early tonight. Please make sure to wake me before coming into my hut if you need me, though. I've got some things set up so it's easier for me to sleep." She said.

She looked at Gio for a brief moment, but found no solace with her tirade still fresh in her mind. Her gaze shifted to Sandy, but still no solace was found after she remembered what happened between her and Amanda. He would take her side. That wasn't surprising, and it also wasn't anything Brit could blame the man for. He was her husband. She would expect him to be on Amanda's side more often than not. She needed a drink.

"I'll see ya. Take it easy." She said, turning around and heading for her hut. She trudged her feet along the sand up to the door and disappeared into the house. She immediately went about getting into something more comfortable: her tiger-stripe fatigue pants and an olive drab t-shirt. She tousled her brown hair and sighed. Something to eat, and a cold drink. She made a quick sandwich and a cinnamon roll drink that was cinnamon whiskey and vanilla root beer. She sat at the table, listening to music, eating, and just trying to force herself to relax. An M18A1 Claymore was presently sitting at on the floor, facing the front door with a wire leading into her room to an M57 firing device that sat on her end table near her bed.

Brit stared at the ceiling as her sandwich sat on it's plate, half-eaten.

"What the fuck am I doing here...?" She asked herself aloud.

[Northwest Slobovia]

George's Resort, Bermeja

"Thanks, but I'll have to pass. I'm gonna try to turn in early tonight. Please make sure to wake me before coming into my hut if you need me, though. I've got some things set up so it's easier for me to sleep." [Brit] said.

Sandy nodded distractedly to that has he made his way to his beach house. He got half-way there before the import of what Brit said hit him, bringing to mind when Amanda used to sleep with the Walther under her pillow. Waking a traumatized soldier unexpectedly could easily be a fatal experience.

Arriving at the cottage's front porch, he turned to look at the late afternoon sun, low in the sky. It would be a good day for a flight. He reached for the doorknob, paused, and made a decision. Opening the door, he called for Plutarch; the parrot appeared shortly, sitting on his shoulder, long grey tail feathers reaching down Sandy's back. Sandy said something to him, and the parrot took off, heading inland. Sandy watched him for a few seconds, then transformed, taking to the air as the Olympians' mascot, catching up with and then flying alongside Plutarch.

4 AM

Amanda pulled herself up on the beach, squinting into the darkness. How the hell did I used to do this? She used her phone as a flashlight, grimacing as it found the local network and showed the time.

She got as far as the cottage's living room before Sandy woke up. "I'm home, dear!"

"Come to bed," was Sandy's groggy reply.

"I wish. It's mid-morning Bespin time." Sandy grunted and fell back asleep.

[Giovenith]

The Blue Door cafe was already considered “out of the way” in the big city of Manehattan. Tucked away in an alley and easy to miss during a stroll down the busy sidewalk, it was one of those places that was kept as a reserved secret among friends, or something to impress a date with. A place that normal people felt special for knowing about. And there was nothing wrong with that, one could suppose… but they just weren’t as special as they thought, alas. If they were, they would have known about the door in the back, hidden by layers of boho curtains and closely guarded by baristas well-compensated for their discretion.

Willow Streaks was special.

In theory, anyway. Thinking of oneself as special struck him as a bit crass, but he was here, wasn’t he? He entered the front of the cafe without much fanfare and lightly shook himself from the slight drizzle he’d been caught in before trotting up to the counter. The password he’d been told days ago now made a bit of sense, given the weather.

“Excuse me?” he caught the barista's attention, quietly.

“Yes?”

“Rain Boots?” he asked.

She stared at him, deadpan.

Willow paused, a bit concerned, before lighting up with realization. “Oh. The Rain Boots.”

The barista paused a moment, took a look around, and then nodded before opening up the counter and letting him through to the back. The curtains had a noise canceling effect that lifted slightly as they got closer and more so as the barista opened the door and let him through. The door led to a small, poorly lit opening at the bottom of a tall series of stairs, which Willow glided up along with ease. The noise became louder and louder and a rhythm steadily became discernible, identifying its source as music. At the top of the last flight of stairs was a serious looking bouncer standing at an old, sticker-covered wall. Willow repeated the same password to him and was let through again.

The music finally hit him full force. Stretched beyond the little door was a large penthouse with floor-to-ceiling windows covering the walls, a small stage in the center for the band to perform, and alit only by millions of twinkling string lights roped across the high ceiling and mirror shards dangling from wire that threw their light across the room. It was filled with cavorting ponies in many different eccentric styles engaging in many different eccentric activities, from blowing large bubbles, to taking turns jumping through hoops, to getting into a wild catfight over who got to be in the front row of the photo posing with the cubist statue before getting quickly broken up by bouncers. Willow trotted down the steps into the crowd with a relaxed bounce before he was, once again, seized upon by a familiar weight.

“Streeeeeaaaaaaakkkssssssss…” Warble hissed, squishing Willow’s cheeks between his hooves, inspecting him. His mane and tail had been dyed to an electric pink today, and several ponies with suspiciously similar dye jobs hung behind him in a cluster, watching the interaction closely. “You have arrived.”

Unperturbed, Willow gently removed the host’s hooves from his face and gave a genuine smile. “Wouldn’t miss it.”

“Good, good, good, ahhhhhh, walk with me, yes?” Warble grasped his friend by his torso and pulled him along, dismissively waving away his clinger-ons like a cloud of mosquitoes. Growling enviously, they melted back into the crowd with a hop. “Ahhhuh Streaks. My dear. My cat. Myyyyyy screechy little bishōnen of the abstraction, and the petite, and the ‘space vampires aren’t real’...”

“Is everypony still talking about that?” Willow made a sour expression. “Look, I get that the black-out was stressful for everypony, but-”

“Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…” Warble silenced him with a hoof to the lips. There was a pause between them. “... Where, are your tall friends?”

“Oh, the humans?” Willow side-eyed, thoughtfully. “They had other things to do.”

“How, disappointing.”

“Some other time maybe?” Willow chuckled awkwardly, trying to play it off.

“Mhmmmmm.” The host stopped walking. “Well, it doesn’t matter. You’ve been gone for a long, looooong time, and you deserve to relax. Do you have a new piece planned?”

“I’ve been struggling a bit with inspiration,” Willow admitted.

“Well maybe a drink will help. All on me.” Warble gestured for the abstract painter to sit at the bar before moving on with the rest of his guests.

Willow complied with a contented sigh, taking a seat near the stage and ordering a glass of peppermint juice before taking out a sketchbook from his satchel. He briefly caught eye contact with the pretty red-haired singer of the band and exchanged smiles. He perked at the arrival of his drink and took a sip.

“They’re no Saddle Kill or The Rain Boots, but they’re not bad, huh?” said Toola Roola, who had materialized beside him with a calm, smug smile.

Willow sucked the drink down the wrong hole and proceeded to cough it up, the peppermint burning his nose and making his eyes water. He slapped his chest until it was out of his system and breathed heavily.

“Wow, you should be more careful,” Toola said, thoughtfully.

“Uggggh, what do you want?!” Willow snapped, wiping his eyes with his wings.

“Such a gentlecolt,” she said bluntly, taking a sip of her own chocolate mocha. “I was wondering when you’d show up. I’m going to need to catch a lift with you back to see Giovenith.”

Willow blinked, uncomprehending. “What?!”

“Well I had this workshop you see, in Canterlot,” she explained, glitters of self-satisfaction rolling smoothly off of her. “They invited me there to talk to the students after my presentation at the Golden Theater — you know, my new life coaching career? You’ll hear all about it soon, I’ve given Warble free copies of my book for the gift bags-”

Willow snapped his eyes toward the silvery bags on a far-off table, eyes suddenly feeling bloodshot.

“And then because so many of the students were so inspired,” Toola charmed on excitedly, clapping her hooves together. “They told me all about the magicians who live in Ponyville, which is where you live, right? So I made them make me a magic book and-”

“I’m not taking you anywhere!” Willow interrupted, banging his hoof slightly against the counter. This drew the surprised looks of several guests, spooking him into calming down a bit. “I’m not taking you anywhere,” he repeated, more quietly. “I’m not a cab driver.”

“Streaks,” Toola Roola said, her own smile betraying a tension. “Remember the talk we had at the spa?”

“Roola,” Willow gave a tense smile back. “Remember the last time you tried to take control of something that didn’t involve you?”

“What, are you still mad about the space vampires thing?” she asked, wistfully. She sipped her drink again. “I was only making an educated hypothesis.”

“Your ‘educated hypothesis’ landed me in a sewer!” Willow pointed to himself, furiously.

“Only because you insisted...” She emphasized with a delicate poke to his forehead. “... on trying to decide for everypony else what they should think and do. Just like you’re doing now for poor little Giovenith.”

“I’m not-” He winced.

“But if you need some time to think about it, I suppose I’ll have to accept that,” she sighed. “I’ll just, be sure to attend all your shows and showings in case you change your mind.”

That was the last thing he wanted. He looked downward, swallowing down his frustration. “Why are you bothering me like this? I just wanted to have a nice time here.”

Toola tilted her head to the side, observing the young stallion. Her expression remained neutral, though the slight flicking of her ears beneath her beret betrayed some contrition. She smiled a friendly smile and reached out to pat him. “You deserve to have a nice time everywhere,” she said, in a spirited, encouraging tone. “That’s why I’m trying to help you, Streaks. Giovenith told me all about how much you think about and take care of her, and I know that that must be very exhausting. You need to focus on yourself too, you know? Self-care is important!” She wagged a hoof.

He stared critically at her.

“I love helping young girls discover who they are,” she said. “That’s why I still volunteer with my old Filly Guides troop, and it’s why I want to help your human friend now. If you let me help Gio, that can be more time for yourself. To paint, to go to the spa, to hit on Ms. Galleria Gala…”

“Wha- I’m not going to hit on her, she’s like ten years older than me! And she’s my new boss!”

“Then hit on somepony else!” she declared. “The point is! That you don’t like me, and I don’t like you, but that doesn’t mean we don’t still make a great team sometimes. Just like the space vampires!”

“You dragged me into a sewer,” he repeated, growling through teeth.

“And we made it out alive! Together!”

“Look, it’s not even my place to bring you, it’s magic-”

“Pleeeease?” Toola bugged out her already large, expressive eyes at him, batting her eyelashes. “For Giovenith?”

“That’s not-”

“For Giovenith?”

“I-” Dammit. Willow caught himself suddenly thinking about the godling, without any friends besides him and reluctant to go home, feeling lost in her place in life. It was true that he couldn’t do it all. He didn’t want to do it all either… he loved her dearly, he did, but he wanted to do other things too. But was Toola Roola really the right answer…?

“Besides,” Toola said, sitting back and looking up at the ceiling cheekily. “I already told her through our magical communication journal that you were bringing me home when you came back from Dandy Warble’s party.”

Fuck.

–

Bermeja, Shortly After the others’ return

Giovenith slowly lifted herself up from the sand, wiping her sweater dress off, saying nothing to Brit or Sandy. The warmth of the beach was a harsh contrast to the wintery hell they’d come from and she was eager to get somewhere with an air conditioner, far away from the group. It was rare that she wanted alone time, but after all this-

“Sweet Celestia, why did I do this?!” Willow’s voice suddenly sounded from somewhere off, drawing Giovenith’s attention.

She saw a familiar grey form gliding in from the slight distance. She smiled and lifted a hand to wave before pausing in surprise when she saw another, pinker form following him.

“Ohmygosh a beach!” Toola cheered, running ahead, laying down, and rolling all over in the sand. “I loooove the beach, you didn’t tell me it was a beach!” She propped her head up and beamed at him, batting the eyelashes of her big green eyes.

“Ugh!” He sniffed, pinning down his ears and turning up his nose. It had been bad enough that they had had to make their way all the way to Ponyville just to beg those two magicians for help on trying to get her here, but she had spent much of the time already embarrassing him in the nearby town. Stopping to try to find trinkets, talking to everypony... “You got what you want, now I swear to god, don’t screw anything-”

“Willow! Toola?!” Giovenith cheered, her mood doing a 180. She raced across the beach and embraced both ponies at once. “What are you doing here?!”

“Gio, I told you I’d see you, girl!” Toola hugged the humanoid girl right back, and the two were soon snuggling like old schoolmates while a very bristling Willow was stuck between the two of them, evidently not feeling the love between the two cheerful, pink girls.

“Alright, that’s enough!” He shook himself free from their grasp, startling them. “I have had my fill of hugs for the day. Gio, I brought Toola here for you for one day,” he emphasized sternly. “One. No more. And next time, please tell me if you’re talking to somepony I know, okay?”

The godling blushed and nodded, awkwardly. “Ah ha, right, sorry about that. It’s good to see you both though.”

“Right. Good.” Willow took flight and landed by the others. “How were things on Hoth?” he asked, sighing to clear his mind.

“You have to show me all the things you do on this beach, Gio!” Toola chimed, already trotting around excitedly.

Fatigued and needing to vent, Willow took to the air, thought a moment, and decided to turn direction toward Brit's hut. It had been a while since they talked, might be nice to catch up. He landed and politely knocked.

[Monfrox]

Brit jumped out of her skin from her thoughts going back to that hole in Laos as she heard someone knock on her door. She grumbled something to herself and sat up. Her sandwich was now getting stale, which earned a sigh. She put her drink down and walked over to the front door. She looked down and saw her pet mountain pit viper Slick sitting on the Claymore mind.

"Come on, get off that. You're gonna blow yourself away." Brit said as she scooped the snake up and held it up to her shoulder.

Slick slithered and coiled around her neck lazily, flicking his tongue out every so often, as Brit moved the remote-detonated mine off to the side and pointed it away from the door. She opened it up a moment later.

"Yeah?"

There was no one there. She looked left, right, then down. Oh, there was the culprit. Brit had a hand on the door and the other on her hip as she stared at Willow. It felt like a long time since she'd last seen him. Her t-shirt hid her tattoos rather well, making it easy to miss the snake tails of the one on her right shoulder. She managed a tired smile for her best friend the beatnik artiste. Sometimes she wondered how they got so close being so entirely different from one another.

"Hey Willow. Haven't seen you 'round here in a while. Come to chat?"

[Giovenith]

"Yup, not much elsewhere to go," Willow sighed, marching in. "Gio is playing with her new friend, I just got home from a Happening, so I figured I'd stop by. You guys just got home too, right?"


"I love beaches," Toola said. "You remember the story I told you about my cutie mark?"

"I do," Giovenith nodded. "It was very inspirational. What are you doing here?"

"I told you, I want to help." The pony beamed.

"Yes, but..." Giovenith paused, not wanting to seem ungrateful. "... I guess, but why?"

Toola Roola laughed and waved it off before smiling at her, knowingly. "Because you seem fun. And because from what you told me in Canterlot, you don't have many people really being your friend and looking out for you, do you? You seem like the sort of person who is always helping others."

Giovenith paused, before nodding sadly.

"You're a big sister type, just like me!" said Toola. "But how about for now, I'll be your big sister! Would you like that?"

"I would!" It was true. Giovenith had lots of friends and lots of people who cared for her, that was true, but few people who both actively hung out with her and watched out for her. It was usually one or the other. "What should we do first?"

"Why don't we start right here, right now, and build the best sand castle ever?" Toola laughed. "Can't go wrong with a classic, right?"

"Yeah!"

[Monfrox]

“I heard that.” Brit said, watching Toola and Gio for a bit before closing the door.

She returned to the table and pulled a chair out for the pegasus before sitting back down where she was and taking her drink in her hand. Slick made his way down her arm and onto the table, without a care for anyone else present.

“I was gonna try to turn in but I don’t think I’m nearly that tired yet. Might go for a walk and set up a hammock out in the jungle later. So what’s up, buttercup?”

[Giovenith]

"Ooo, a snake," Willow remarked with a hum, tapping a hoof against his cheek. He shook his head and sighed, then rubbed the back of his head with a smile. "I've been pretty busy, in a good way though... been catching up with my parents, trying to get some new art into the market, and..."

He grinned and held up a hoof, pausing for dramatic effect.

"... I am volunteering for the Director of the Museum of Modern Art!" He leaned back and spread his forelegs out, as if the glory of it all was just as apparent to Brit as it was to him. "Jeeze it's so great, I'm learning so much, seeing so many legendary pieces! The Director, she's so cool too, I wish you could all meet her, gosh, you'd all love her." He sighed and sat down with a smile. "What about you, how did the mission go? Sorry I didn't come, just... yeah, issues."

[Monfrox]

Brit smiled a real genuine smile as Willow talked. She missed this. Missed him. He was proud of his accomplishment, and that served to ground her in this time and moment. She took the pit viper and let him down to slither across the floor back to her room to lounge until the night time.

"That's Slick. I picked him up on a mission one time and took him home. But it sounds great - what you're doing. And it sounds like you really have a passion for it, which helps a lot."

Brit's smile soon faded as she got to the burning question. How to tell him? She couldn't be bias. Even if the others may be, she always tried to be honest and not color her own experiences in a certain light.

"It went...okay. But it's not been great for me. I had some history with the place and that only served to make me moody to say the least. I'm not on good terms with anyone right now, though..."

She stopped when she remembered Gio's words.

"I don't know if anyone gets it anymore. And honestly..." She breathed a heavy sigh and leaned back into her chair. "I don't fuckin' care anymore. I'm spent. I'm tired. And the truth of the matter is no one will ever really understand the 'why' no matter how many times I try to tell them. I should've seen it earlier..." She took a drink and looked at him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to dump a lot of heavy shit on you. You're probably tired. Anyway, the objectives were met and there was an engagement with some pirates. Amanda was the only one who got hurt..." She bit her lip, contemplating, but then refocused. "She and I got in a...disagreement over something. I don't really care anymore anyway. You wanna go for a walk with me?"

[Giovenith]

Willow slowly raised an eye but said nothing, for the time being. He gave a relaxed smile.

"Sure, let's," he said, opening the door and leading the way as he flew along.

There was silence for a moment to enjoy the ambience of the wind rushing through the plants, the roar of the ocean, the singing of the birds, and the chatter of the nearby Toola and Gio. He resisted the urge to scowl in paranoid thought and rush over to check on the two to make sure his sworn enemy colleague wasn't doing anything stupid to the little godling, knowing that would only cause further trouble. Besides, there were other things to attend to.

"Princess Mi Amore Cadenza assigned me a therapist," Willow finally said, gliding down slightly to pick up a random seashell before floating back up to a proper speaking height. "I didn't want to, at first, but I felt like I had no choice because, well... she is the Princess." He inspected the inside of the shell for patterns. "But now that I've been doing it... it's like going to any other doctor. Scary, at first, uncomfortable while you're getting treatment... but you leave feeling better." He offered her the shell. "No stickers or lollipops though, sadly." He winked and stuck out his tongue.

[Giovenith]

"Gio, what do you want to do with your life?" Toola asked, smiling contently, as she topped their latest sand castle tower with a tiny flag. It was going to be a magnificent structure, around three feet tall already, with lots of small turrets and a moat. Later, they would look for beautiful seashells to decorate it with.

"Well... I'm kind of like a Princess," said the humanoid girl, packing the sand down tightly into the next bucketload. "So I'll have to do lots of things for people. I don't know exactly what yet, my mom will tell me what my jobs are when it's time." She carefully plopped the bucket down against the ground.

"You have to do that," Toola pointed out, patiently. Starting to feel the effects of the island heat, she fished out a pair of sequined scrunchies from her saddlebag and wrapped her bob-cut mane back into two cute pigtails. She tilted her head and smiled, satisfied. "But what do you want to do? You can't just do whatever other people say, that's no way to live."

"I do want to marry my boyfriend someday." Giovenith blinked.

Toola smiled at her, though somewhat forced this time. It took effort for her to not show her own critical thoughts on her expression. After all, Toola had only just met Giovenith, and yet she had found a way to surf across time and space to contact her. This boyfriend couldn't do the same? Maybe Streaks was right about one thing, she thought. Maintaining her relaxed demeanor, she began to dig out the moat with her hooves.

"Getting married is a very wonderful thing," said Toola. "I'd like to get married too, maybe, someday. But you know, Gio, it's important for ponies... I mean, every creature... to prioritize things in life that don't depend on anypony else participating."

"I don't know about that," Giovenith said, crossing her legs with a frown. "We all need other people in our lives, social life is healthy."

"Oh it is, don't get me wrong," Toola waved a hoof. "But that's not really what I mean. You should have other people, but who you are shouldn't depend on having other people. You remember what I said about the law of attraction, right?"

"Willow says the law of attraction isn't real."

"Okay, well, maybe it isn't," Toola sighed, blowing her bangs from her eyes and looking upward, somewhat exasperated. "I don't really know for sure, and you don't either. But let's just think about it from a... non-magical angle, okay?" She sat down on her haunches and lifted her front hooves in a thoughtful gesture, raising and lowering them in a scale-like motion as she explained. "Everything that we do is affected by the way that we see the world, that’s why different creatures from different parts of the world, or even ponies from different families, act so differently. And even though we definitely can’t control everything that happens to us, we do control some of it, so at least a little bit of what happens to us is a reaction to what we do, and what we do is a reaction to how we think. So sometimes when our lives are a mess, we go to a doctor that specializes in how we think… just like St- just like what Willow is doing right now. He obviously thinks therapists are real, right?”

“He seems to.” Giovenith slowly lifted the bucket off the sand.

“Right.” Toola smiled. “But you don’t necessarily need a therapist to reapproach the way that you think…” She pointed to her own head. “The ‘energy’ that you put into the universe that attracts the ‘like energy’ back, or rather, the consequences of your values and beliefs. It’s our values that make us the sort of ponies that we are. Or, um…”

“People,” Giovenith said, gesturing toward her with a shovel. “We use the word ‘people’ for many of us, and ‘person’ for one.”

“Peeeee-pill,” Toola looked down, sounding it out. “Pee-pill, pee-pill, pee-pill, pee-pill. Right. Anywho, the thing that most don’t really get is that some values are better than others.”

“I think people do understand that,” Giovenith raised an eyebrow, beginning to shovel more sand into the bucket. “Like, racism is bad and stuff.”

“Well yeah, they get some of the extreme cases,” Toola flicked her ears. “But what I mean is more than pee-pill don’t really know how to tell, broadly, the difference between a good value versus a bad one. There’s values that hurt other ponies, sure, those are bad ones — but what makes a value good for you? How do you know that it leads you to do the right thing, and helps you grow?”

Giovenith took a moment to think about this as she carefully pressed the sand into the corners of the bucket. “I’d say… maybe if it makes you feel good, but I know that’s not right, because bad things can feel good too.”

Toola snickered a bit.

“What?” Giovenith narrowed her eyes.

The pony waved it off. “Nothing. But yeah, you’re right, it’s not that simple. There are a few things that go into what makes a good value, but the thing I guess I’m getting at is that partially, a good value is something that you can do on your own without needing anypony else. Like, creativity!” She waved her forelegs through the air like she was forming a rainbow. “Being creative is something that you can do right here, right now, inside your own head. You don’t even need art supplies to do it, you can just… stand there and imagine!”

“Yeah!”

“But take, say, being popular as a value,” the pink artist gave a half-cringe, half-smile. “That’s… not a very good value, because you can’t control whether or not you’re popular by yourself, you need other ponies for that, and you can’t control them. So if you value being popular, it may feel good in the moment sometimes, but ultimately you’re always going to feel anxious thinking about what is on everypony’s minds, thinking about how they see you, thinking about what they want and how you can treat them. You’re giving over control of your life to other ponies, and other ponies don’t always want, or know, what’s really best for you.”

It was getting uncomfortably warm, and Giovenith soon felt no choice but to pull a pastel tye-dye t-shirt out of her pocket before stripping off her sweater dress entirely and putting it on instead. She always wore shorts beneath them over her tights. She took off her shoes and leg warmers for good measure and set them all neatly to the side with a sigh of relief.

“I guess I never thought of it that way,” she admitted, fanning herself. “I guess I just figured it’s always good to think of others and put them first.”

“Not always,” Toola shook her head with a frown. “You can’t put others first at the expense of yourself. If you do, if you don’t value your own autonomy above all else, you’re not going to attract the sort of people who value that about you either. And you won’t be able to guide yourself throughout life even when pee-pill leave and things change.”

Ouch, that was hard to hear. Giovenith wasn’t stupid, she knew what Toola Roola was implying, and she swallowed down the urge to protest the idea that Marcus had truly left her. After all, it was her talk with her and Sandy at the spa that encouraged her to keep believing she’d find him, hadn’t it been? But maybe that hadn’t quite been the right conclusion…

She shook her head and looked down, sadly. “That does make sense. I haven’t had very good judgment when it comes to picking friends…” She sniffed.

Toola bounced over and gave Giovenith’s cheek a nuzzle. “Pee-pill shouldn’t hurt you even if you don’t make very good choices. But until everypony is considerate like that, we have to take care of ourselves.”

“Yeah…” the white-haired girl held a finger to her lips, thinking. “I guess… I guess I’d really like to make my own beautiful little place. I was sort of already going to do that. A garden, a cute house… I’m already confident in my own art.” A small epiphany occurred to her, and she smiled with slight excitement. “Maybe I could help my sister take care of our mom’s country.”

“What do you mean?” The pony returned to digging the moat.

“My big sister plays human as the Minister of the Environment for the Empire,” Giovenith explained, smiling somewhat bashfully as she twirled a shovel in one hand. “She protects the lands my mom cares about and protects our dragons, just like she did in the old times, but with less… force. I really love our home and our dragons too, so maybe I could help.”

“I think that’s a great place to start!” Toola cheered, lifting a foreleg. “Flower power is totally cool! And being in charge of dragons? Bad-plot!”

“Yeah! Or I could even help the environment in other places too,” said the godling. “Since we are going to be adventuring around and helping people. What’s your dream, Toola?”

“To be the best,” Toola closed her eyes and held a hoof to her heart with a satisfied smile.

“That you can be?”

“Ever!” she cheered. But then she leaned back and shrugged. “But, also, to make modern art more accessible to average ponies. Everypony laughs at ponies like me and Streaks because they don’t understand us, and honestly, our colleagues don’t make it any easier. I love Warble’s parties and all, but they’re pretty exclusive. Art should be for everypony to understand and enjoy.”

“You should work with Willow,” Giovenith said. “If he’s working at the fancy museum now, maybe you could work something out? Like a day dedicated to little ponies visiting for free or something.”

“That’s a very lovely idea, Gio,” Toola shook her head. “But Willow Streaks and I just don’t get along. We’re too different.”

“You’re both nice,” the godling offered with a gentle smile. “And smart. And I love you both. Maybe you just don’t see each other the way I see you?”

“You always see the good in ponies Gio, I can tell,” Toola finished the moat. “But sometimes being good just isn’t good enough when it comes to being friends. It’s okay, it’s a part of life.”

A very sad part of life indeed, Giovenith thought.

[Monfrox]

Brit had donned her old MACV-SOG gear before she left her hut. The full tigerstripe fatigues and her ALICE gear that had been modified by her for a more extended fight in-country. It was also all tied down to keep things from moving so much. She knew Willow would act weird about it, but she found these walks rather cathartic. It was nice to not get shot at in the jungle for a change. It was also nice to be with Willow, whom she placed a great amount of trust in. Even if she couldn't walk around in the jungle without her gear on right now, she knew eventually she'd be able to. She took a moment to ground herself by walking up beside Willow and giving his hair a ruffle like usual.

Then she looked down at her hand and slowly pulled it off. A hand stained with blood; could it really be so gentle again? She felt her mind flipping over things like a slideshow and huffed a sigh. There was so much she was ready to talk about now, but would it be okay for him? How would she see him when he went to see Gio? She shook those thoughts from her head. She couldn't control him or what he did, so why worry about it? But the things she did control...

They started on the beach for now and Willow talked about the therapy he was doing, and Brit nodded. But she frowned and looked to him.

"I don't think there's a therapist equipped to deal with what I've seen and done. It's not like...I don't know. There are things I can't explain. Things I've fought that defy comprehension. Things that if I talk to people about, it'll open them up to also be affected by it like me. Just so much..." She looked back. Gio and Toola were still a ways out but in sight. "I'm a monster, Willow. And I don't know if I'll ever be able to truly get over that."

[Giovenith]

"Well, if you ask me, a monster doesn't really acknowledge or care about the fact that they're a monster," Willow said, somewhat plainly. Flying a bit higher, he gave the shell a soaring toss into the sea. He sighed and gave a long blink as he lowered himself back to speaking height.

"You know though Brit, I hate to say it, but something that I've learned recently is that... in a way, being really hard on yourself can be a way of staying... comfortable. Because when you accept that you're just uniquely awful and there's nothing you can do about it... you don't have to, do anything about it. You just float through life taking your hits predictably. You're just existing."

He landed on his hooves and brushed back his bangs from the wind. He had swapped out his own sweater for a white dress undershirt and black t-shirt over it a while ago to accommodate the new temperature he would be encountering daily. The color wasn't ideal, but the genetic lottery hadn't been kind to him that regard, so it was moot.

"But when you accept that you're not the worst, that you're just a guy," he said. "Then you have to actually get to work. You have to figure out what your problem is, go through that trial and error, constantly reassess yourself and what you're doing. All without reward or praise or anything like that, just for the change to be normal. When you think of it like that, seems pretty tempting to believe that no one could ever help you, huh?"

[Monfrox]

Brit looked at Willow. It was an intense kind of look. Her gears were turning in her mind. Should she spill it to him, right here and now? But what good would it do. And yet, she couldn't hide it from him. He was her best friend. Still, would he believe her? And who's to say what he'd do with the information. What would he tell Gio? Or Sandy and Amanda? What then? Would they drag her kicking and screaming to kill her? No, that'd be too much. Even for Amanda. No, they'd probably want to see her fixed, but how? Would they trust her? Could they trust her? Right here, right now, she didn't have a lot of good friends at the moment. Gio bit off her head, Amanda took a jab at her, and Sandy she kept at a professional working relationship no matter what. Willow was the only one to be able to be trusted with this information, but could he? Would he understand what she was talking about when he didn't seem to understand right now?

Brit stood there for an uncomfortable amount of time. The boonie hat she wore completely shadowed her face from the moonlight at her back. She was statuesque on the beach. Planted solidly in her place as her mind flashed and fluttered with ideas and processes. She faced him but her eyes were unfocused and if he could see them, he'd probably be scared. Finally, a coin tossed in her head and landed on a decision. Her boots stepped to close the distance and knelt down to his eye level.

"Willow." Her tone, once calm and even, was now restrained and shaky. "I wasn't just talking figuratively. I am literally a monster. I've...the things I've battled - the very very real things that I have faced down with a gun in my hand, are so much worse than me. And they made me a monster so I could fight them better, and it worked. But even with that, there is so much of me that is screwed up from these battles that I'm afraid...I'm afraid I'll never have the life I once did, with the friends I made. Willow, I am a monster. That barbed wire is real and that blood stains my hands and I don't know what's going to happen if anyone else sees me like that. But there are forces at work that have toyed with me and while I may have side-stepped them for now, they will be back because a king is always paid what he is due."

Brit put her hand up to her face and wiped her wetting eyes.

"Please Willow. I don't want to get anyone else hurt. I tell you this because you're my best friend and I trust you. I trust you to have my back because I will always have yours, no matter what kind of monster I am. But I don't know what else to do..."

[Giovenith]

Willow blinked at Brit's proximity and lowered his ears as her welling emotion. He stayed silent and allowed her a moment to speak and let out her emotions, his expression calm but nonetheless conveying a serious consideration for what she said. After the moment had passed, he lowered his head and used a wing to pull a small rag to charcoal smudges from his pocket, folding it over to the clean side before using it to dab at Brit's eyes.

"I can see that you've suffered a lot. And I'm sorry," he said, gently. "I'm sorry that you don't have anypony who will understand you, it's a very empty, crushing feeling. I don't claim to understand you, just like you don't claim to understand me... not everything is able to be understood." He offered her a hoof to hold. "But you and I both know that we live a life of monsters. I don't know why us specifically, but we're already long there. We've seen and been through horrible things... but also a lot of beautiful things. I've been tortured by darkness, but I've also been the favorite of a shining goddess."

Willow folded the rag back up.

"Do you remember what I used to call you?" he asked. "I called you Miss Firefly, for a small light in the big darkness. That hasn't changed for me. We are strangers in strange lands, Miss Firefly, and I don't believe that there isn't a single strange land out there in the infinite roads we've been given the privilege of travelling where you can't come through this." He offered her the rag to keep. "But you have to want it. Other people can walk beside you, but no one can make you take the first steps down it other than you."

Not expecting an answer right away, he took a moment to be mindful, refocus, taking in the big blue ocean that stretched beyond them. It reminded him of his own happy place.

"Can I tell you a bit about my Princess and the place I've been visiting?" he suddenly asked, looking back up at her. "I think it might help."

[Monfrox]

Brit wasn't sure he was getting it. Well, at this point, she had tried to tell him. And he gave her a much sweeter side of what Gio had said. She never really reached out for help like this, but she remembered that even some of the other Agents of the green triangle told her that people wouldn't get it if she told them. She didn't want to believe it, but maybe they were right. Maybe there were all right. And if that was true, then maybe there couldn't be any help for her. But she still had Willow, at least. He knew at least some of what she meant, and that was enough for her for now. She took the rag and slipped it into a pocket. She took a seat next to him on the beach and sighed.

"Yeah. Tell me. I think Sandy mentioned it back on Hoth..."