Let There Be Light: Sc.16


                                            >As you wake, you realize you are surrounded by sources of warmth.

                                            >Did Noire get behind you?

                                            >No, she’s in front of you, in your arms.

                                            >You’re kinda spooning her, but her wings aren’t out to cover you.

                                            >Yet you are surrounded by feathers.

                                            >You’re on your sleeping bag, unzipped and opened up.

                                            >Hard ground beneath your side.

                                            >No, not ground, it’s rock.

                                            >You spent the night in a cave instead of a tent, remember?

                                            >You open your eyes.

                                            >Yes, this is Noire right here, charcoal grey coat with the little drifting embers in her mane.

                                            >Your arms are wrapped around her barrel.

                                            >She’s still asleep.

                                            >What’s the rest of this, then?

                                            >It’s difficult to move your head, there’s something behind your neck and shoulders.

                                            >It’s one of those sources of warmth.

                                            >It’s also moving, slightly.

                                            >Breathing.

                                            >You’re surrounded by things that are quietly breathing, each in their own slow and steady rhythm.

                                            >Ah, that’s right.

                                            >There ae seven pegasi huddled against your back and legs.

                                            >Your unfolded sleeping bag was, unsurprisingly, a hit with the ladies.

                                            >Some of them, you only realized when they were all laying down, particularly on their sides, had a little  more reason to want some padding.

                                            >The way their abdomens bulged indicated they had two heads to comfort rather than one.

                                            >All the more reason to move gingerly around them.

                                            >You give Noire a squeeze – waking her up, and eliciting one of her characteristic groggy wordless sounds – then try to prop yourself up on an elbow.

                                            >Doing so frees yourself of the pegasus behind your shoulderblades, but a dull pain races up your legs.

                                            >You’re not in the best condition, after yesterday’s long trek.

                                            >Your sharp inhalation at the pain wakes up the pegasus that had been behind you.

                                            >She’s one of the pregnant ones, and the most obvious one of them at that.

                                            >Does her physique no favors that she seems to have the runtiest wings of the lot.

                                            >She’s as bleary-eyed as Noire, but does seem to get the idea of her surroundings much faster, whereas Noire has just cozied up against your stomach and is even now attempting to go back to sleep, probably successfully.

                                            >She emits a plaintive noise, upon seeing you rubbing your legs, then – with a little difficulty – gets to her hooves and ambles over to the mouth of the cave.

                                            >You watch in horror as she falls right off the edge.

                                            >Only to be relieved when she comes flapping up through the air a second later, meandering off to the northwest.

                                            >You must have reacted in some way you didn’t realize, because Noire brings her head around to fix you with half-lidded, unfocused eyes and a concerned sound.

                                            >You give her another light squeeze, eliciting a happier-sounding noise.

                                            “Never mind. Thought I’d needed you to, uh, undo a tragedy. Everything’s fine.”

                                            >You mumble, barely more than a whisper.

                                            >Don’t want to wake the rest of the ponies.

                                            >But a snort behind you indicates not all are asleep.

                                            >You turn to see the same mare who led you here.

                                            >Incidentally, the only one who still flies solo, judging by her flatter belly.

                                            >She’s sitting just apart from the group, turned to be watching you and the pony who’d just left.

                                            >You have no idea what shes thinking. This one’s harder to read than the others, and the ponies haven’t been using words.

                                            >Speech, Noire said, would come to them gradually, as they had to communicate more complex things.

                                            >For now, their life was pretty simple.

                                            >It made you happy, in a way.

                                            >Elegant simplicity probably made for a blissful existence.

                                            >They deserved such an uncomplicated existence.

                                            >You do wonder where the other got off to, though.

                                            >The alert mare – the brave one, Noire had called her – stared at you for a time, then snorted again and paced to the cave’s mouth.

                                            >You slowly, and not without some discomfort, lever yourself  up into a sitting position, then with both arms back around Noire’s barrel, drag her into your lap.

                                            >She only protests at first, then quiets and seems to content herself with trying to fall back asleep while in a heap on your legs.

                                            >The exceptional warmth of her body helps soothe your sore muscles a bit.

                                            >You look from her to the other ponies.

                                            >They’re so much smaller than she is.

                                            >You already knew this in an intellectual sense; the two of you specified their usual size ranges and dimorphism when you made them.

                                            >It’s very different to see them and her side-by-side though.

                                            >Noire probably made herself bigger just to be a better match for your height.

                                            >As casual as the moment you gave her her general form was, she really did do a lot to make herself compatible with you.

                                            >The pegasi are starting to stir now, some of them accepting your presence as if it were no big deal, others seemingly surprised you’re there, even if they’re laying on your sleeping bag.

                                            >More curious sniffs and snorts, cursory re-examinations of your strange form.

                                            >You become the still locus of a small, confused flurry of activity, as the five still around you get about their morning routines, stretching and preening and nosing around and interacting with each other in ways that are as innocent seeming as they are utterly opaque to you.

                                            >As they’re starting to wander off to do their own things, the mare who left early bumbles back into the cave.

                                            >She has a small collection of several different herbs bundled against her chest in her forelegs, and unceremoniously plops them on the stone floor next to you as she gracelessly falls out of the air and into a standing position.

                                            >She presses her snout against your thigh, confused, and you hike up your shorts’ leg for her to make some good contact, to Noire’s displeasure.

                                            >Seemingly satisfied, she turns to her herbs, and starts mashing them together into the stone floor.

                                            >Some succulent provides moisture, so the final result is almost like a paste, slathered all over her forehooves.

                                            >Noire finally sits herself upright, looking slowly between your legs and the mare.

                                            >The pegasus lifts one hoof upand gently presses it into your sore thigh, dragging it around rather inexpertly but managing to get halfway decent coverage of your limb by the time she’s done.

                                            >The technique could use some work, but you’re surprised she’s even doing this at all.

                                            >Well, if they could experiment with gathering different food, why not other uses for plants?

                                            >Most incredibly, while the effect does not seem particularly potent, it’s actually working.

                                            >Your skin and muscles beneath the paste are immersed in a mild cooling sensation, soothing the soreness away.

                                            >It’s not entirely gone, but you can flex your knee without too much difficulty.

                                            >She seems quite pleased with your testing motions, but you still feel you owe her something.

                                            >You fish another fruit out of your pack to offer to her alone.

                                            >Unlike the amateurish enthusiasm she had displayed with her treatment, she seems almost suspicious of your return gift, but eventually accepts it, carrying it off to the back of the cave to consume.

                                            >As for yourself, now that you’re feeling more able, and Noire is at least partially functional, you get to packing what little you had deployed for the night with your friends, and getting your various packs and bags on.

                                            >Some of the pegasi watch you with interest, but others carry on their routines.

                                            >You suppose to them you just engage in Strange Ways, and the meanings of them cannot be yet discerned.

                                            >Once everything is all packed, you get the attentions of the pegasi nearby, and figure out a way to communicate a farewell.

                                            >Noire, meanwhile, makes her way to the back, where the one who helped you now watches.

                                            >After some sort of exchange, Noire returns, and nods her head to the entrance.

                                            >With a final wave, you stride out onto the small platform outside the mouth.

                                            >One downbeat of her great wings gets Noire off the stone, and she latches onto your backpack, hauling you up into the air by it, up over the cliff, then depositing you on the grass above.

                                            “Well, that was an interesting experience.”

                                            >Noire doesn’t look so sure, landing by your side and immediately striking out in what you assume to be the direction of your next stop, leaving you to follow in her wake

                                            “Oh come on, wasn’t that what we wanted to do?”

                                            >After a few moments, she finally looks back, with an apologetic smile. “Sorry. I was just thinking.”

                                            “It didn’t look very fun. I’ve been getting a lot of mileage out of not thinking, you know.”

                                            >Your joking tone gets a weak laugh out of her, but a laugh nonetheless. “Perhaps that is wise.”

                                            >She looks back ahead as you catch up to her side. “The one who helped you, kind of heart, a healing soul. I am glad she did what she did, and I do not begrudge her, but part of me feels like I should have myself, despite my mission to observe our creations rather than infringe on their habits.”

                                            “It was nice of her! As long as something got done.”

                                            >You rub your thighs through your shorts, noting there’s still some paste left over here and there.

                                            “It wasn’t perfect, but I can walk fine.”

                                            >”Taking care of you is my responsibility.”

                                            >You wrap an arm around Noire’s neck and haul her in tight.

                                            “Oh don’t be like that, I know you can do better than they can, and I know you’re willing. If it gets bad again before we stop for the night I’m definitely calling on your help.”

                                            >That pledge gets her to smile. “Thank you. I felt… stuck.”

                                            “Stuck?”

                                            >”Watching her work. I was shackled by my own decision. So close but unable to help, even if due to nothing but my resolve to let our creations do their own thing. Shackled by free will, mine and hers both.”

                                            “What, worried she’d hurt me?”

                                            >Her wings fidget under your arm, now draped over her back and the bundled up tent atop it. “I do not know. I guess.”

                                            “If it’s a pride thing, you should know I have all confidence you’d protect me before anything bad happens.”

                                            >She nudges you with her cheek. “Of course.”

                                            “I don’t know if you saw it, or were still trying to get some shuteye, but I really was worried she almost fell to her death, back there.”

                                            >”Why is that?”

                                            “I guess you didn’t see then. She’s a truly atrocious flier.”

                                            >Noire is silent for a time at this, and her face doesn’t look very happy.

                                            “Don’t tell me you think that’s your fault too.”

                                            >”It is, though, is it not? I set the variability defining their bodies. I created them within those limits. And as a result, one can barely stay aloft?”

                                            “Well she wasn’t that bad…”

                                            >”I said before I am worried I may have somehow failed them. I do not wish to have made their lives unnecessarily difficult.”

                                            “Maybe the ki- uh, foal she’s carrying is just a little too big. Or maybe it’s twins. I don’t know. Plenty of reasons could be behind it.”

                                            >”I suppose.”

                                            >She’s quiet for awhile, but you watch worry on her face give way to a thoughtful expression. “I wonder if anything would come from any similarities with other tribes.”

                                            “What do you mean?”

                                            >”Perhaps she is  weak flier because she is more like their ground-bound cousins. In time, perhaps physiological affinities would lead to some cross-transmission of traits between tribes by interbreeding.”

                                            “Would be an interesting way for them to all come closer together.”

                                            >”That is my hope.”

                                            “It was nice, though, wasn’t it? Getting to see them up close, how they lived.”

                                            >Noire nods and hums a happy sound.

                                            “Attagirl. I’m glad you didn’t let jealousy get the best of you.”

                                            >She huffs at that. “I am not jealous! I know there is no way they can match up to me.”

                                            >You chuckle.

                                            “Oh? How do you know this?”

                                            >”I made this body specifically to accommodate you, by a form you yourself thought was, how did you put it… ‘pretty neat’.”

                                            >You were just thinking about that earlier, weren’t you?

                                            >You shoot her a grin.

                                            “We’ll see if any of our other creations get to you. Who are we visiting next, anyway?”

                                            >”Our next stop is with aforementioned cousins, but it is quite a ways off. We will require two days to reach them.”

                                            >You throw your head back and groan.

                                            “Man, having some wings like you would be nice about now.”

                                            >Noire laughs.

                                            >A clear, proper laugh this time.

                                            >It’s good to hear that come back.

                                            >”Unlike them, Anon, you are too precious to me to experiment on like that.”

                                            “In absence of flight, I can live with that.”