The Everfree forest had a habit of smothering the desire for conversation with its almost oppressive gloom, so while the group was quiet Twilight was content just making observations as they followed their path. The depression was fairly uniform in depth and only varied when it was intersected by large stones that had been forcibly buried or in areas where the dirt walls had fallen inward on themselves and along the sides of the trench the trees had been pushed over or snapped at the trunk while smaller plants had been crushed and torn out of the ground. Whatever made this cut an impressive swath of destruction, I'm just glad it hadn't come down somewhere within Ponyville. Images of what that might have looked like began to paint themselves in her imagination but the sudden appearance of a cyan pegasus waving both hooves over her head snapped her out of it.

Everypony took off at a gallop though the air was a mix of excitement and dread as to what they would find.

When Twilight got to where Rainbow had flagged them down she found the trench had widened out to either side to form something akin to a bowl, the trees tipped outward at awkward angles away from what lay in the middle. She ran her eyes over it, spending a few moments analyzing everything she could see from this distance against the knowledge from all the books she had read over the years so when she turned her friends were looking at her expectantly.

"Spill it, Twilight. What is it?" AJ asked and looked nervously past Twilight.

The unicorn followed her stare and glanced at it once more before answering "Well, it doesn't appear to be a dragon-"

"WOOO! Called it!" Rainbow interrupted, giving an enthusiastic hoof-pump to which AJ let out a snort and rolled her eyes.

Twilight quickly continued before Dash or AJ could say anything further that might reignite their argument, "It doesn't appear to be a dragon, at least not like any of the ones I've read about. It also doesn't fit any sort of description from the other wildlife books I've read, either. W-We should take a closer look, though." With that last statement Dash flew over to begin inspecting it and the other ponies moved a bit closer as well, each of them murmuring some form of question of whether or not it was alright on the off chance it woke up or could respond.

Now that Twilight was much closer she could make out how unnaturally smooth the light grey surface was but when she reached out to lightly touch it it was painfully cold and her hoof retracted almost instantly, nearly at the same time that the others also ventured to make contact with the same result. Levitating a stick she found in the mud she tapped the spot she had touched and got a soft hollow sound. Definitely not a dragon. Maybe it's armor of some form? The whole thing was wedge-like in appearance, reminding Twilight of an arrowhead in that the object tapered from one narrow end up into a wider area and splayed out into two offshoots, fitting the description of wings, one of which was still intact that ended with a boxy frame around a metallic cylinder that pointed toward the narrower end. The wider end - Twilight assuming it was the rear from the way the object had come out of the portal - had several cylinders poking out of it, each ending in a fluted cone section though one of the cylinders sat slightly lopsided in its housing, all of which were billowing a large amount of steam. Its form is aerodynamic, that's for sure. Had it been right-side up she imagined the best way to describe the appearance would be predatory by the sleek curves and aggressive angles.

"Hey Twilight, there's some markings on it up here but they're all kinda... jumbled," Rainbow's voice came from above after which there was a pause as she wiped some mud away from another spot, "Sorta looks like a design or something."

"There's some symbols over here as well," Fluttershy added while AJ turned her head to try to read it.

As the realization dawned on Twilight's ears flattened back and her head fell below her shoulders as she slowly backed away out of outright disbelief of what she was seeing though somewhere within that disbelief was also a fear of the unknown.

"Look at 'em upside down, they look like letters of some sort! And there's a yellow 'n black line with an arrow pointin' down over here that says, um... it don't look like any writin' I've seen before but doesn't this look like some sorta safety device, like a release or somethin'? There's some dirt coverin' the bit below that, want me to dig it out so I can chance a read of the rest?"

"I-It's a ship," Twilight said in a stunned stupor.

"Wait,” Dash poked her head over the edge of one of the wings, “What?!”

Giving a nod Twilight took several steps closer as she began summarizing her observations, "I'm fairly sure. The writing on the outside, the body material is most definitely manufactured rather than natural, and the curves and angles are all engineered to increase aerodynamics. Just look at it, Dash. Doesn't it have the body of something built for speed?"

Rainbow gave the ship a once over before nodding her agreement, "Well when it came through that portal it was going fast enough to do a Rainboom, I know that much."

"That's probably because these large cylinders at the back are letting off a lot of steam and just before crashing I noticed they had a blue glow to them that went out which leads me to believe at some point they were for propulsion. Everything I'm seeing points to it being a vessel and, if you remember, the first thing it did before it crashed was try to reduce its forward momentum," Twilight said as she worked her way around the craft until she found scorch marks in the dirt at what could now be reliably called the front that confirmed what she was saying, "With a reverse thrust."

"So..." Dash said, looking for somepony to finish the thought for her.

Every ship I've read about has had some form of crew. Twilight cast a worried glance to each of her friends, "So there was a reaction to suddenly appearing somewhere, meaning somepony might be in there and in need of our help. AJ, did you say there was something that might have a release somewhere?"

"Yeah, over here. Ya want me to dig it out?"

Twilight was frantically digging with her front hooves before AJ could finish her question. This ship had been going fast when it hit the hill. If anypony was in here, please be okay. Please be okay. Please be okay. These three words repeated over and over in her thoughts and between her and AJ it didn't take long to move the dirt out of the way revealing that the line AJ had mention outlined a square-ish region on the side - about two body-lengths in width by three high - and the arrow had been pointing to a lever. A series of characters over the door was a source of some contemplation but the more Twilight stared the more similarities she drew between the symbols and the equestrian alphabet until the word "Airlock" was the sum of her deliberation. Turning to the letters Applejack had discovered Twilight deciphered them to say "Manual Release" and used her magic to manipulate the lever but nothing happened. She tried once more, but the door refused to open.

"Maybe it's stuck?" Rainbow offered.

Applejack squared herself up to the side of the ship and wiggled her flanks in preparation for what would come next. "Well then, let’s see what happens if we KNOCK!" she said, giving it a good buck and as she backed away a few paces there was a rewarding hiss of air as well as a minor imprint of her hoof. The ponies watched as the door slid back into the doorframe before it eventually retract completely into the hull. The door opened into darkness, a heavy fog pouring out and dissipating at Twilight and AJ's hooves rather eerily. Squaring her jaw as a way to draw courage where none existed Twilight focused magic into her horn to create a light and stepped into the gloom, her friends following behind her side by side but they had all barely gotten inside when they encountered another door bearing the same word 'Airlock'.

"Just an educated guess," Twilight said, "But I think the door behind us is going to have to close before this one will open."

"What if it traps us in here?" the anxiety in Rainbow's voice was clear to her friends though Twilight was the only one among them that knew of her claustrophobia, "M-Maybe it's stuck, like the last one was? AJ, why don't you give it a kick-"

"Whats the matter, flymare? Scared?" the farmpony playfully teased, happy to take the chance to get back at Dash for all the jokes about the destroyed apples from earlier this morning.

"Me? No way! I just... like to have room to move, ya know? It's a bit cramped in here for anything other than low-speed hovering," she retorted with some bravado by leaping to the front of the procession though she did a good job of hiding her glances at the uncomfortably close walls.

With everypony ready Twilight pulled the lever to the inner airlock and the door behind them slid closed with a soft hiss. After the seal had been achieved the same fog that had poured of the door when they first got it open began seeping out of vents in the walls and though there was the muffled stamping of anxious hooves the group remained quiet, however Twilight subconsciously held her breath until the inner airlock opened.

The group exited the airlock into a fairly large hallway, wide enough for all of them to stand side-by-side comfortably with room for a fifth, and gazed around at their new surroundings. While the outside of the ship had looked largely unscathed from the crash the interior was a complete mess and as they moved in further they had to step carefully because the surface under their hooves was littered with miscellaneous objects that must have been strewn about upon impact. Numerous panels on the walls had been jarred off revealing the wiring and circuitry below and some were occasionally popping in a shower of sparks, casting a strobe-light effect over the hallway; one of a set of double doors at the far end of the hallway hung at an odd angle which kept its partner from closing properly and above their heads a heavy cloud of gas poured from a dangling tube, dissipating in midair.

A sudden squeak from Fluttershy caused everypony to jump. "Oh, I'm sorry!" she whispered, her head down near her hooves, "I didn't hurt you, did I?" When she didn't get a response she raised her head to find all her friends looking at her and her face quickly turned crimson at the sudden overwhelming feeling of being in the spotlight so she stumbled to explain. "I... was going to look through the crack in the doors, and um... when I went to move this chirped," she lowered her head down to one of the objects to try talking to it again, "Um...hello?"

The small device flickered twice, then an area lit up. "< Hello, >" a strange female voice replied, causing all the other ponies to gather around the little square of light as Fluttershy gingerly picked the object up and cradled it in her forehooves.

Fluttershy looked each pony around her, getting a nod to continue. "Oh... my name is Fluttershy. Do you have a name? Are you... hurt?"

"< Hello, designation 'Fluttershy,' >" the light pulsed in time with it saying each word almost like one of the equalizers at Vinyl Scratch's shows, "< I am this ship's Integrated Avionics and Navigation Assistant, or I.A.N.A. module. You may call me 'Iana' or 'computer' for short, whichever you prefer. Status: a majority of my primary systems are catatonic and the current interface we are using is damaged - power failure imminent. Recommend replacement or repair at soonest opportunity. >"

"Oh you poor thing! Here, let’s get you comfortable," Fluttershy tucked the little gadget snugly in her soft pink mane, "Is that better?"

The little box blinked in response, "< Unit sensors offline, I am unable to qualify 'better' at this time. Gesture logged and placed in scan queue. Thank you for this experience, Fluttershy. Do you require further assistance? >"

At the question Fluttershy looked to her friends for guidance and a pantomimed conversation of moving lips and waving hooves took place, each pony trying to communicate which question to ask the little box next. Fed up that the routine was getting them nowhere Rainbow hovered closer and spoke up, "So um, did you say you were a computer or something?"

"< New operator detected. Requesting identity designation, >" it beeped mechanically in its flat tone.

"New what?" Rainbow looked confused until Twilight mouthed 'it wants your name' at her. "Oh! You can call me Rainbow Dash. So, are you a computer?"

The device chirped then continued, "< Designation ‘Rainbow Dash’ entered. Affirmative: I am a form of computer capable of adaptive learning. >"

"Alright, cool," Dash realized she was on something of a roll and continued with her line of inquiry, "So could you, like, access information and stuff?"

The chirp that emanated from the device had a positive sound to it before the voice even answered. "< Certainly, Rainbow Dash. What would you like me to access? >"

"This is designation Twilight Sparkle speaking. What can you tell us about the crew?" Twilight interrupted.

"< Thank you, designation added. Error: inquiry blocked. Access denied due to insufficient security clearance attached to profile. >"

Twilight was a little frustrated that she hadn't had the foresight to guess that there would be some form of security protocols within the device to prevent just anypony from gaining access though in their current situation time was of the essence and any information could prove to be vital. With a huff she tried something else, "Okay, so what can you tell me?"

"Until more ship systems are brought online I only have access to a remote command log generally used by repair droids for diagnostic maintenance. Would you like to see a log of the last commands the crew entered, Twilight Sparkle? >" The light on the box flickered and dimmed slightly.

Twilight confirmed she would and a small cracked screen came to life on the little box in Fluttershy's mane. Twilight read a page or two but was unable to decipher exactly what the commands were for but a thought struck her, "Iana, when were these commands entered?"

"< Checking, one moment. Approximately zero hours forty three minutes ago from a single console in Piloting shortly after re-entry into an unknown atmosphere and prior to shutdown of primary ship systems. Would you... like me to direct you... to Pilotinggggg- >?"

"Yes please!" Twilight eagerly answered but all she got was a beep and the glowing light was gone.

The unicorn frowned. Crabapples, that little box could have been useful to us. "Alright, we've got a destination and an approximate crew count now. Look for some indication of how to get to Piloting," she said, turning to focus her magic back into a light source.

"Hey!" Dash exclaimed, getting her friends attention, "These green lights weren't on when we came through the airlock thing. Think maybe that computer thing turned them on?" The green lights Dash was talking about ran parallel to the walls on both the floor & ceiling and traveled through the broken set of doors that wouldn't close properly.

Everypony was too preoccupied making their way across the debris-strewn floor to notice Fluttershy, nearly in tears, gently take the lifeless box down to give it a tight hug, whisper a thank you, and return it to her mane before moving to join her friends. The one functioning double door slid quietly open when the group got close shepherding them deeper into the ship as they continued to follow the green lights.

The hallway on the other side of the doors was similar to the first, in both appearance and condition, however it was much shorter. Numerous dead screens lined the walls, the purple light from Twilight's horn reflecting off of them like eerie pupils that followed the ponies as they walked past. The group was already halfway through the door at the end of the hallway when Rainbow glanced back and noticed the tears running down Fluttershy's face.

"Hey 'Shy, what's wrong?" she asked, hovering up along side the walking Fluttershy.

"She's-" the yellow pegasus started, wiping the tears away with a forehoof which also grabbed Applejack's concerned attention as well, "She's gone."

"Who's gone, sugarcube?" AJ chimed in and took a step closer.

Fluttershy removed the small box from her mane once more, cradling it like a small animal. "Iana. She's gone."

"You've still got that broken thing?" Rainbow remarked as one of her eyebrows climbed up her forehead, "Just toss it back on the floor where you found it, it's junk now."

We don't have time for this, Twilight thought. "We can take care of her um... 'remains' when we get out of here, Fluttershy, but right now we need to keep going." The farmpony came over to put the yellow pegasus in a hug to comfort her and while Flutters was busy wiping her eyes again AJ and Twilight both shot Dash a glare for her last insensitive outburst that clearly hadn't helped matters.

What did I say?! Rainbow Dash continued to hover in reverse through the door ahead of them intent on giving some space to the ponies directing stink-eyes her direction while comforting the distressed Fluttershy. Why do they have to pretend and treat it like was some living creature? It was only a machine. It even said it should be replaced! She was still mentally grumbling and wasn't prepared when a mass of scale-like bumps brushed up against the lightning bolt of her cutie mark and she quickly spun around to find herself almost face to face with what her brain told her was a skull.

Expressionless and silent the face stared back at her, Dash's own shock reflecting back at her only adding to her terror.

"AAAAAAAAAH!" she screamed, hooves and wings going every which way in a panic though in her spasm she felt something take a hold on one of her wings and a back hoof. Dash tried her best to buck her way free but she wasn't in a position to give a solid hit and the more she struggled the tighter the thing seemed to hold on.

"DASH!"
"WHAT THE HAY?!?"
"OH NO!"

Hearing the commotion ahead of them Twilight, AJ, and Fluttershy came tearing into the room, stopping below where Rainbow as tangled up as their eyes all went wide.

"HELP! IT'S GOT ME!" Dash threw her hoof into whatever was constricting her with a crack as her hard hoof connected with the large body in the side.

"R-Rainbow, stop!" Twilight cried.

"DO SOMETHING!" Rainbow responded, bucking with her free hind hoof once more and this time she connected with something which caused both of them to fall to the floor with a loud THUD! however the thing was now pinning Dash on her back beneath it. “GET IT OFF OF ME!” she continued to smash her front hooves into it anywhere she could though the only available areas were mainly the shoulders and head rather than a target that would get her leverage to get out from underneath the creature, "GET THE BUCK OFF!"

Twilight increased the light from her horn. "Calm down and look at it, Dash!" she said, "It's not holding you; YOU got caught in some straps from your own panic."

Rainbow's heart was beating as fast as it ever had been but the level calm of Twilight's voice was slightly reassuring and she did what she was told. The longer she made herself look the more the nightmare she had seen was being replaced with reality. It wasn't holding her, her hoof had gotten caught in one of the loops of strapping; the scaly skin rubbing up against her wasn't... well it might be skin but it wasn't grabbing at her at all, it was just rubbing against her as the legs or whatever limbs those were lay there limply.

The faceless-face still freaked her out a bit, though.

"Ok, I'm cool," Dash said, exhaling heavily. With a little help she untangled her leg and wriggled out from under it to join the three other ponies that had formed a circle around the figure though none of them spoke and a heavy air of uncertainty hung around them. "What..." she started to say still a little short of breath and shivering because she was coming down from the sudden bust of adrenaline and fear, "What is that thing?"

"That must be the crew," Twilight moved closer to the figure sprawled out on the floor, poking it lightly with an exploratory hoof, “Let’s just hope your thrashing and bucking didn't hurt it further, Dash.”

------------------------

It felt like he was swimming, waves of consciousness ebbing in & out and carrying him from present to past.

"What is that?"
It had been a shuttle full of MagnaGuards. The Master had taught her Apprentice to think for himself and question orders but she made it clear that her order to run was not one to be questioned by pushing him through the blast door and locking it from her side.

"I ain't seen anythin’ like this before."
He had told them the weapon was a reward from a bounty; the truth would have gotten him killed. He took care to conceal it better after that.

"We'll drag it out if we have to."
Hauling the freighter through the asteroid field had wrecked havoc on his ship. Thanks to his Master's instruction, ship repairs came as second nature to him. It had helped that she was a terrible pilot and provided much to practice on.

"Almost there..."
A couple carrying an infant had come running out of one of the biodomes at the edge of the extraction quadrant. Intel had told them that area was clear.

"What will you do if it wakes up?"
The pirates hadn't been ready for him to wake up. Their downfall; his profit.

"I don't know if you can hear me."
What...? Who was speaking? The voice was not one he knew.

"I'm so sorry."
She was apologizing to him, for what transgression he didn't know. But this wasn't a memory, was it? He slogged his way through what felt like waist-deep water toward the source of the voice as it continued to speak to him.

------------------------

Fluttershy threw the door open while Applejack and Rainbow lowered the creature out of the cart, both of them situating one of its arms around each of their necks and dragged it through the library's living room. "Almost there..." Applejack said through gritted teeth, one of the creature's sleeves in her mouth to keep the arm from slipping off as they maneuvered into the guest room and with a final heave-ho rolled the creature up onto the bed and lay it on its back.

Twilight closed the library door behind her and quickly thanked the four guards who had escorted them from the edge of Everfree and had now posted themselves outside to deter any curious pony from disturbing the occupants as Ponyville was in an uproar and word that the Element Bearers had brought a creature back from the forest had spread quickly. One of the guards had even gone and collected all the equipment Twilight had left in the gazebo earlier that day much to her appreciation though as she trudged to the guest room she dropped the equipment in a heap on the floor without a second thought to follow the trail of muddy hoof-prints and two muddy drag marks. Entering the guest room she joined the circle of ponies that were silently standing around the bed watching the inert creature.

Eventually Rainbow took one for the team and was the one who broke the silence, "What do we do now?"

Fluttershy gently placed one of the creature's arms that had been hanging off the edge of the bed back up by its side and pulled a blanket up around it although the length of the creature prevented its whole body from being covered at which point everypony exchanged unsure glances and with who-knows-what laying in front of them they decided it was probably best to move out into the living room to continue the conversation and closed the door behind them. When they had all found a seat on the arrangement of furniture or on the carpet in the living room side of the library they started where they had left off with Dash repeating her question.

“Darling, is it wise to keep this–“ from her spot on the couch Rarity paused to wave a hoof at the door they had just come through, “–animal in your home with you?"

“Rarity, we couldn't just leave it-” Twilight started to reply.

“But what are we doing if it wakes up?” Rarity asked without letting her finish, "What if it needs help we can't provide?"

Twilight could only look at her hooves as they traced circles on the seat of the armchair beneath her from her own despondency of feeling helplessly without information, “I-I don’t know...”

“What if it-“

“I think she gets it, Rarity, why don't you give her a break?” Applejack growled, getting up from her spot on the floor to physically stand between where the two were seated, "Twilight's tired and stressed - like all of us are - and grillin' her like ya are isn't goin' to help matters."

Rarity blinked several times in sudden realized how dejected Twilight looked before her face softened and she launched into an apology, “Oh, I’m so sorry, dear Twilight. I truly didn't intend any of that to come off as spiteful or nasty, I suppose I'm just nervous because I haven't heard whatever contingency is in place if this creature isn't as, um... friendly as we hope it is.”

“T-There isn't one, Rarity, I haven't had enough time and I have zero information with which to come up with one. Right now if it wakes up all I can do is try to communicate with it and hope it can understand we mean it no harm,” Twilight said wearily. And if it isn't friendly I’ll just have to contain it until the Princess can arrive. She'll know what to do.

For a good long while Dash, Rarity, Applejack, and Twilight tried to collectively brainstorm a course of action however quiet Fluttershy's fidgeting in her seat eventually drew their attention. When Applejack asked if she had though of something to add to the discussion she gave the smallest of head shakes, "Um, I need to go check on my animal friends but I'd like to come back later. If that's alright with you, Twilight, I wouldn't want to impose..."

"You're all welcome to stay, if you'd like," Twilight offered with a tired sigh, "Even though it's only early afternoon I know it's been a long day for all of us; I'm going to take a shower to try and relax a bit but if you'd like to order a pizza or something just be sure to tell one of the guards outside. The last thing I want is my house to be put on a blacklist because a guard arrested or roughed up the delivery pony." With that said she headed upstairs.

The shower felt better than she imagined it would. Twilight lay on the bathtub floor, her hooves comfortably tucked under her while the hot water spraying from the shower head played over her coat, gently massaging the dried mud from the trench out of her fur and loosening the stiff muscles she had all over. She raised her face into the stream, closing her eyes and relishing the sensation though it didn't take long for her bangs to get completely drenched and when she lowered her head they flopped down over her face. She snorted and was about to curse her bangs when she realized it felt similar to when Aloe and Lotus Blossom put a hot towel over your face at the end of a massage so she left them like that until the warm feeling had ceased then climbed out of the shower and dried off. Feeling somewhat rejuvenated if not cleaner, at least, she headed back downstairs to check on her friends.

AJ and Rainbow were passed out on the couch, a nearly-empty box of pizza open on the floor in front of them, and in her search for Rarity and Fluttershy the unicorn discovered a note was pinned on the front door. Twilight plucked it from where it was pinned with her magic and gave it a quick glance, immediately recognizing the elegant script to be Rarity and the note was to tell her she had gone back to the boutique to freshen up with a shower of her own as well as also mentioning that Fluttershy had gone to her cottage to make sure the other animals would have everything they needed as she intended to return to the library later in the day.

Barely reaching the end of letter a sudden gurgling rumble came from Twilight's stomach as it voiced its displeasure from being ignored all day. Putting the note down, Twilight floated the last slice of pizza from the box over and had a mouthful; she didn't like being "that pony" that took the last slice, but the synchronized orchestra of snores coming from the couch told her they probably wouldn't care at this point.

"BLEH!" Twilight made a sour face as something unpleasant hit her palate. Pineapple and... hot sauce? I must have taken one of Rainbow's slices, that pegasus is always ordering something weird on her pizzas. That discovery turned the rest of the slice rather unappealing so Twilight made her way to the kitchen to pop the fridge open in search of something to wash the flavor down. She perused the available selection and finally settled on a bottle of hard cider she had stashed at the back, she quickly bent the cap off with her magic and eagerly tilted the bottle back and the first mouthful of the amber liquid provided immediate relief.

Twilight slowly trotted back out of the kitchen, the cider floating with her, and paused in the doorway to spend a moment thinking of nothing in particular as her mind's gears ground together seeking traction though as her daydream ended she found she had wandered back to the guest room and now stood in front of the closed door. After an argument with herself whether she should be doing this Twilight carefully turned the doorknob to make as little noise as possible then poked her head into the room. No change. Seeing the figure was still stretched out, its chest rising and falling steadily under the blanket, Twilight moved the rest of the way into the room and closed the door behind her before moving to the side of the bed and plopping her flanks down on the carpet in a comfortable sitting position.

She wasn't sure how long she quietly observed the creature because the half-empty bottle of cider - now sitting on the nightstand - was helping to blur the passage of time. Her eyes roamed over the figure; its scaly coat was mostly dark grey to the point of being almost black depending on the way the light played off of it and bands of dull yellow highlighted its shoulders and knees. It looked comically out of place because the bed was too short to accommodate its legs and so wide that another one of its kind could fit beside it. Twilight leaned forward, putting her head down on an empty part of the bed and her eyes just drifted closed.

"I don't know if you can hear me..."

The words had escaped her mouth before she realized she was even speaking, "I'm not sure you can even understand what I'm saying, but I just want to say... I'm sorry." Twilight could feel the weariness bubbling up again but this time she made no effort to hold it back and the cider flowing through her was making it easier to say what was on her mind. "I'm so sorry. It's my fault you crashed your ship here. I was tired and maybe that caused me to I miss something in my calculations," the tears were welling up behind her eyelids but weren't to the point where they were rolling down her cheeks, at least not yet. But by Celestia it feels good just to say all this out loud. With a sigh Twilight cleared her throat of the guilt that had temporarily robbed her of her voice to say what came next, "And now here you are, hurt and probably lost because I'm such an... egghead." Weak as it was it was the best insult she could think of to hurl at herself at the moment.

Opening her eyes Twilight scooched her head closer to the arm Fluttershy had put back up on the bed, resting her muzzle in the open palm before closing her eyes once more. She wanted that physical contact; if the creature couldn't understand what she was saying maybe it would comprehend the gesture. "Please be okay. Please. I'm scared because I don't know what to do to make this better - none of us do, we don't know how to help you. You're the first of your kind Equestria has ever seen, as far as I know. I'm sorry. Even if you don't ever forgive me," the comfort of the soft mattress coupled with the weariness from all the pent-up stress was quickly dragging Twilight into the realm of sleep and the pause between her words grew exponentially longer, "please... just be... alright." Her breathing became rhythmic as she finally gave in to slumber.

Time continued to pass as the two lay on the bed, both hurting in their own way.