Ask Lyra

You are a good pony from an honest upbringing. You refuse such selfish thoughts and vow to return as soon as possible! But in your righteous fury, you forget that part about a toothbrush. Oops!

This might be your only chance to get supplies from town. You have to make sure you’ve thought of everything before going back.

There were fires lit in the main hall and the armory, so you assume one of the two have a means to produce a fire. But just the same you pack a camping, extended-neck lighter. No particular reason why that model, it’s just the only lighter you own. You aren’t sure how to make a torch, and being that it’s the middle of summer, no idea where anyone would be selling wood outside of hardware store, building-grade lumber, which is a little outside of your price range.

Unfortunately part of living in a utopia is that weapons, even just models, are strictly regulated. Most guards don’t even carry any. It would take you weeks to get a hold of even one, and and would likely cost more than you make in a month.

That last thought gives you pause. Sure, if you had to be there you’d likely be better off with Princess and Amy. But you don’t. You technically have no reason to go back. You were asked to scale the mountain, and you did. You didn’t receive any further orders.

Your breathing becomes forced. You begin to worry that maybe you’re trapped here too and you just don’t know it yet. You ask if it would be alright if you left now to get some supplies. Princess nods and signals for them to head back outside. Amy glances up to you, seemingly on the verge of tears, but says nothing. She appears sorry.

Along the way you try to explain that your tools will come in handy when you come back. And you’ll be sure to bring food and blankets. Whenever you make eye contact they nod, but otherwise show no sign of response.

The three of you return to the hall where you first met. You notice now much warmer it is in here by contrast. Still cold, but not dangerously so. You leave your gauntlet, bow, and arrows on the table, to lighten your load. You tell the two ponies you’ll be back as soon as you can, and even leave the food and drink you had left with them.

They both wave and lie down on the rug surrounding the table while you head for the exit. Amy still seems to be fighting back tears. You wish you could console her, but you’re somewhat frightened by what happened. You’ve seen enough horror movies to know that it’s entirely possible these two aren’t actually on your side.

After leaving the building, you turn around and look back until you’ve passed the still opened gate and can no longer see the building’s doorway.

…

That was two hours ago. You take one last step and find yourself at the end of the mountain’s trail; back home in town. The moment you stop your head floods with thoughts, not the least of which is troubling…

Back at your home, you grab two more sets of saddlebags. You fill one with your smithing tools and three blankets. Another with an ample supply of food and water. You have one empty saddlebag with two compartments that you can still fill, along with a few bits you had lying around to possibly buy something.

It’s roughly four in the afternoon.

You make your humble suggestion to Amy, but she turns away and hides her face. At first you think maybe she’s crying, but when she turns back, she looks angry. She stares into your eyes with a frigid hate that chills you more than the cold. She repeats, in a very harsh tone, that she can’t leave. Neither of them can leave until they get back what was stolen.

When Amy breaks that horrifying gaze, you shiver.

Took a minute, but I got it.

You don’t have any lockpicks.

You don’t know who slenderpony is.

There’s nothing to collect.

You don’t want to hug Princess.

You don’t want to talk to Princess.

You’re just standing outside in the snow! It’s freakin’ cold and it’s getting colder by the second!

There’s no door so you drag yourself inside before you get frostbite in your hoofsies! Still shivering like a manmare, you wipe the snow off your body while Princess and Amy follow suit.

After you regain control of your senses, you apologize to yourself for flipping out like that. All that snow was piling up on your back and it’s really cold. Evidently, you hadn’t quite recovered from the last sortie through the snow, because holy crud that was so cold it hurt!

Princess emits a light from her horn and you look around to get your bearings straight. You appear to be at the far end of a hallway that goes the length of the building’s curved side. That’s straight ahead. To the left is another open doorway leading to a room, but it’s too dark to see what’s inside. The stone walls are bare and, try as you might, you can’t find a single marking of interest. The building feels cold, but at least you’re out of the snow.

You pause to remind yourself of the trip here. If you traveled without stopping to eat, it would likely take four hours to descend the mountain and climb back up, plus whatever time it would take to gather supplies in town.

This is really hard… I shoulda got Boscov to help me with this one, but I’m too far along now.

In case there was some confusion, I’m not working on the theme from Skyrim yet. It’s on the short list, but I have something else to get out of the way first.

I am working on another recording. It’s just taking a while.

S-Skyrim…