We'd made our final camp. At dawn, we'd assault the castle-y thing and rescue Vesper. Unless she's- She's not dead. But how do I really know that's true? Because buck you I said it is.

I looked towards the castle-y thing, now pretty close. Hmm... Oh Realta, here comes another one of my 'great' plans... If I could sneak in and get Vesper out before we even assault the place, we could go all out and not worry about them using her as a hostage, hiding her somewhere, moving her to a different place or any other dastardly things villains do.

I glanced over my shoulder. Nobody near. Nobody to notice if I just take a little trip on a Support Circle. This will end badly.

Whistling innocently, I summoned a Support Circle and blasted towards the castle-y thing.

I was walking through the fortress, trying to learn my way around. I'd left my armour in my room as I didn't want to drain its power. I didn't know what it fueled on, so I didn't want to waste whatever it was. Hopefully it's something I can easily get later.

I found myself at yet another bucking dead end. I groaned. Why does this place have so many hallways that lead nowhere?! I doubled back for the three hundred and seventeenth time and continued walking. I won't be able to fight them properly for a while; I need to learn to use the armour properly and get figure out how the buck I can even fight Thana... Uh... Thanadick? I sighed. Great, I can't even come up with a name to call him.

Just before crashing into the wall of the castle-y thing, I teleported forward a few meters. I landed in a hallway. Wow, that was lucky. Why the buck didn't I cast any spells to check if there was even a hallway here?!

"W-Wha' the buck are ya doin' here?!" Shouted a voice from my butt's direction. I looked behind me and- Oh.

"Vesper?" I asked. "Shit, that was easy."

"You can' be here!" She exclaimed angrily. I was expecting a warmer reunion...

"Why not?"

"Because...!" There was a short silence. "Because!"

"Fantastic reasoning as usual. C'mon, let's get out of here; I have the Nick Knacks and Luna in a camp not far from here. We're gonna buck this place up in the morning."

"No!" Wait, what?

"...Why not?"

"These guys are way too powerful for you to beat!" I chuckled.

"I doubt that. Not only have I stolen an experiment idea from Celesmo, I've made a new Arcane Circle. I call it the L-"

"It won't matter! They're too strong!" I sighed.

"Could you at least explain what we're up against?"

"There are three Diamond Dogs and a really, really big demon with a huge wang."

"Because that's important detail."

"The Dogs ate some shit and it gave them magic powers. One can control heat, one can apparently 'warp reality', I haven't seen it so I have no idea what that means, and the third can fuck with your mind. I haven't seen the third one yet though, they say she just tends to not show up." Probably the one causing the nightmares...

"Wait, what do you mean 'they say'?"

"They want me to join them and help them kill Celestia."

"Tempting. Oh, that reminds me, we're fugitives now."

"I- What?"

"Yeah, Cello wants my DNA for an experiment. Specifically the one I stole. Well, Luna stole, but- Anyway, she'll probably be after yours too."

"So? Just send her some tail hairs or something."

"She wants all of our DNA."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Anyway, you can't attack tomorrow, it's too soon. They gave me some magic armour, it's awesome, and when I can learn to use it well enough then I'll send a message to you to let you know to attack." I nodded.

"Okay. But in the meantime, keep sending me general updates so I know you're alright or if shit's going down."

"Alright, but you need to get out of here now."

"Message me every day at minimum." She nodded. I flashed her a smile before teleporting back out and quickly summoning a Support Circle.

Dad teleported away. Alright, screw learning my way around, I need to start training right now. I sprinted down the hallway, taking turns every now and again. I hit another dead end.

"BUCK!"

Author's Notes:

Short, but things are finally progressing.