The crystal ponies had a simple camp set up just ten minutes away from the gorge. The pegasus was smiling. "We were hoping to find relics of the Crystal Empire's past, not, uh, what were you again?" He tilted his head a bit, looking quite curious.

“Humans,” Tom replied, letting out a rather long yawn immediately after. “Thank god you all happened to chance along when you did… we were in just a bit of a pickle with no clue of where we truly were.”

The crystal earth pony nodded her head. "Harmony provides, but she's a little stingy at times this far away from the empire, or anywhere else civilized. What on Equestria possessed any of you to come out this far." She looked at Wave directly. "Are you a human too? You don't look the same."

"I should think not," agreed Wave easily with a sharp smile. "Wave Swimmer, at your service. Temple guardian by trade, though that was recently traded in for companion to these two." She gestured with a hoof at the two humans.

“We happened upon an old temple, containing a relic or two. What were you hoping to do with them? We can confirm quite unambiguously that the temple’s gods don’t look kindly on thieves,” Eric added.

“Yup, definitely not. But, right now, warmth, sleep, and some hot food sound wonderful, if you all happen to have any of that?” Tom asked, looking at the crystal pony questioningly. “Shame I left that book behind, it had a bit on the temple in it. Inside though, it was basically a deathtrap. It was only thanks to Wave that we got out, really.”

The pegasus brightened at the mention of a temple. "You don't say?!" He pointed at his weathered scroll of a cutie mark, a broken bit of clay overlapping it. "That's what I live for! Can you show me how to reach it? Did you find anything in it? Oh please, for the sake of all ponykind!"

The earth pony mare put a hoof on his shoulder. "Easy there, you'll scare them with your excitement, Footnote. Relax. They're about to tell us, I'm certain of it."

“We found a piece that would be great in a museum, and we’re certainly willing to tell what we can about the place. Wave Swimmer here knows a lot more of the place’s history than we do, and would be happy to tell you about it when we get back to safety. As for the temple itself… it kind of collapsed. Maybe someday it can be excavated, when ponykind is ready to return?” Eric looked at Footnote’s cutie mark curiously. “Are you a paleontologist?”

Footnote shook his head quickly. "Oh, no. I don't study living things, just dead things, usually left by ponies, not animals or things." He tapped at his chin before what else was said dawned on him. "Let me see!"

Wave held up a hoof. "One thing! You have to promise, no, swear that it will never be sold or charged admittance to see. Break this oath and the gods themselves will frown on you and rain retribution most swift and dire." She then smiled as if she didn't just give a death threat. "Other than that, sure!"

Tom tiredly chuckled at that. “She’s serious, by the way. Saw a dragon just get swallowed up… then it looked like nothing had happened.” Pausing to yawn again, he looked at everyone. “Now, not to be rude, but I’ve been thrown around, abused, and awake for too damn long, anyplace I can sleep for the next, oh, week or so?” he asked in amusement, grinning a bit at Wave’s words still.

Eric set his backpack down and dug out the tablet, showing it to Footnote and the other ponies. “Is this the kind of thing you were hoping to find?”

Footnote moved immediately to grab it, only to be casually intercepted by the firm presence of Wave, glaring at him. The female crystal pony nodded. "Get some rest by the fire. We'll keep you safe and secure, don't worry." She put a hoof on Footnote's head and drew it back away from the tablet. "Tell the nice siren you promise."

Footnote glanced back at her, then looked at Wave. "Siren? We've struck the gold vein on this, Lost Chance. We'll be famous!" Wave continued glaring at him. "Oh! Uh, OK, we won't charge for it, promise. We'll display it, where anypony can admire it."

“Wave, please don’t harm him, he’s just one of those people. All exuberant when something comes along that hits just the right note to them.” Tom was petting Wave’s neck now as he looked to Footnote and the mare. “Look, we can talk plenty about this later, okay? The three of us could seriously use some rest now, and while the temple is sealed, we’re really not going anywhere in particular, so…”

Eric gathered up his pack and went over to settle in by the fire, warming himself and letting his mind wander. His expression slowly darkened as his thoughts turned toward what he had left behind when coming here.

Wave relaxed at Tom's gentle words and Footnote's assurances. "This is all we could take with us from the temple. It was dedicated to old gods of ponykind. Um, a long time ago… I couldn't say exactly how long."

Allowed access to the tablet, Footnote brought it closer and set it down with the most gentlest of care, staring at it as if it were God himself descended from the clouds. "I haven't seen this exact method of fabrication since…" He pulled out a book from his saddlebag and began making notes, quill held in his mouth and busily scratching notes, all else forgotten.

Lost smiled. "He's going to be busy for a while. I have some snacks, if you're hungry?  I was going to make s'mores tonight. Since Footnote will be too busy to enjoy them with me, how about you, new friends?"

Eric looked up at the mention of food. “I’ll take one. I can’t really manage more than that though. Did you have any snacks with a bit more protein and less sugar?”

Lost Chance looked mildly confused. "Oh, sure. I just thought we'd be celebrating." She began to dig out supplies from her own pack, setting them out in neat rows. "New discoveries. New friends. It's certainly shaping up to be a better day than the last week or so we've had."

Wave leaned forward, sniffing at the sweet smelling things that would eventually transform into a s'more. "What is that, exactly?" She snatched a cookie and nibbled at it lightly.

Eric lectured Wave briefly “it’s a small collection of sweets that are stacked together and lightly cooked to make a delicious treat. Though I’ll let our host go first, as I’m not certain how different their recipe might be from my people’s version.” Eric eyed the ingredients, curious how different it might be. The packaging was certainly different from the name brands back on Earth, even if it was still recognizably s'mores.

Lost nodded at the summary. "That's the basic of it." There are no name-brand materials present. Each thing was wrapped up like someone out there just made them and packaged them for Lost individually, rather than being mass-produced. "Eating it is the best explanation I can think of."

Wave appeared to enjoy the cookie at least, chewing away at it while her eyes rested on the rest, watching Lost settle into stacking and cooking lightly beside the fire. Footnote, on the other hoof, was taking a careful rubbing of the tablet with some charcoal to get a copy of its imprint.

Tom remained more than awake enough at the mention of s'mores, finally deciding to chime in. “They’re amazingly sweet, and made of some of the best ingredients one can find too, chocolate is amazingly good,” Tom quietly remarked, enjoying being given the chance to satisfy his sweet tooth. “I take it you want to give them a try now, Wave?”

Wave nodded quickly. "I want to try it when they're ready. So many things I've missed while guarding the temple!" She decided Tom was warmer than snow and shuffled over to curl up with him, though her vision never left the s'mores.

"I'm all for celebrating if you are," Eric said to everyone present. "A warm fire, new friends, and s'mores sounds like a party to me. " He grinned at Lost sincerely before turning back to the fire and letting his thoughts wander once again, drifting to the last time he and his wife enjoyed s'mores together, realizing it could be the last time.

Running his fingers through Wave’s mane, Tom reached out and snatched the first s'more that looked to be done, grinning at Wave. “Here, it’s hot so be careful, but you can tell it’s ready when everything between the crackers just melts together, but doesn’t run,” he explained, handing it to Wave. “And Lost, thank you, both for helping us and for all this.”

Wave carefully accepted the treat with her hooves. "Your fingers are practically cheating." She let go of the sour feelings quickly when she brought it to her snout and bit down into the explosion of sweet goodness, with that little bite of chocolatey bitterness that worked together nicely. "Mmm, it's good to see that ponykind hasn't stopped progressing while I was away."

This caught Lost's interest. "How long have you been… guarding, was it? They didn't have s'mores back whenever that was?"

Footnote had a ready answer for that. "If she's as old as this tablet, she's older than Celestia!" He sat up and peered at Wave. "You have no idea how valuable you are."

Eric took a s'more for himself. "Well don’t get any silly ideas: stealing a guardian is even worse than stealing a tablet," Eric said with an amused tone, rejoining the present.

Shaking his head, Tom glanced over to the pegasus. “Footnote, correct? You can’t have her, she’s mine,” he joked, peering down at her with a joking grin. “Honestly, I feel really bad at just the thought of being alone for so long, the world outside moving while you stay still…” Reaching out, he got a s'more, this time for himself and bit into it with a sigh of delight.

Footnote inclined an ear. "I wouldn't dream of stealing a living pony like that. How terrible!"

Lost reached over and cuffed Footnote lightly before offering a s'more. "A joke, Footnote. Take a break and snack with us." Which he did, mumbling something into the gooey goodness of the s'more.

Wave looked mildly amused. "Oh ho, so you did steal something from the temple. You must be punished…" A great glob of loosely packed snow appeared over Tom's head before landing on it with a light splat. There was hardly any force behind it, but the touch of freezing water was certainly a shock.

Tom was jolted into a heightened awareness from the icy cold feeling on his head as he started using his free hand to remove the snow, not wanting to ruin the s'more that he’d only gotten a single bite from. “Gah, Wave! I didn’t steal you from the temple, you asked me to carry you out! So, you stole yourself from the temple, so nyah!” he shot out, shivering just a bit as a bit of snow still clung to his hair, but what had landed on his face was gone now.

"So then she needs to be punished?" Eric suggested, "hmm what fate shall she be sentenced to? Aside from the obvious lack of water to swim in?"

Lost frowned a little, but it was a curious frown, not an unhappy one. "I never saw magic… quite like that?" Her eyes darted between the mirthful siren and her human friends, curiosity only building as she chewed on a s'more.

Wave held up her hooves. "Mercy! Mercy! I beg for reprieve. I'll never do it again." She swallowed the last bit of s'more, licking her lips. "I think a few thousand years of service is good for one time off?"

Rolling his eyes, Tom hugged her to his chest, chuckling tiredly. “You will be forced to do… absolutely nothing! You’re too cute to punish, Wave. Even they are, although the crystal effect is more cool than cute, I’d say,” he remarked, letting out a long, rather loud yawn.

"We shall make her sit in the comfy chair!" Eric added, trying a Monty Python impression.  "Confess! Confess! I see you are made of sterner stuff..." He chuckled a few times before settling into a nostalgic smile.

Wave settled against Tom. "This seat is kind of comfortable… You fiends." She frowned and crossed her hooves. "I will have my vengeance yet, and it will be truly awful."

Next Chapter: 8 - A Little Snow Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 41 Minutes