There was a dark flash over both backpacks. A flash may be an odd word for darkness, but it worked just like a bright one, save that darkness pulsed instead of light. Wave seemed to at least notice it a little, glancing off before looking back at Eric. "Well neither of them are here, so we can't ask. You'll fix that, right?" She crossed her forehooves. "We can go to him if we have to."

“Go to who?” Eric, asked. “‘Q’ arrives and departs as it will, so far showing itself only in the form of messages. At most, glowing writing in the air. I don’t know where to go to talk to it. As for Discord… I guess we could talk to him at some point, and see if he can and will send us home. But I don’t know what we could offer to motivate him to do so. It sounds… uh, boring to him? Which is kind of his antithesis.”

Wave wobbled a hoof. "Why would you want to go back to your old world, Eric, anyway? What's there? What's so good about it?" She pointed at the ponies, then herself. "We aren't there, just more humans." As if that was a bad thing.

Lost frowned a little. "Stop being so thoughtless. Why wouldn't he want to be around more of his kind, if he had the option?"

“Actually, I kind of agree with Wave. It’s interesting to see such a strange new world, and meet new peoples. If I wasn’t married, I would probably turn my back on my world and simply embrace this one. But I owe it to my wife and son to at least try to be reunited. Whether that means here or there. And, honestly, my means of earning money back home doesn’t apply here… so unless I pick up a new career, being able to provide for my family would mean going back home,” Eric said. “Though if I can’t get home quickly, I’m going to need to sort that out here anyways.” I could always have a promising career as a chocolate thief, he thought with amusement.

Wave bobbed her head, "See, exactly. I'm just telling the truth as I see it." She exposed her wickedly sharp teeth. "Predator to predator. The way it's laid out, you don't need to go back. I bet you could find a new wife, if you wanted to." She tilted her head. "Unless ponies just don't do it for you?"

“That would, uh… take some getting used to. I just… I feel bad about it, okay? I don’t want my son to have to grow up without a father, or my wife to have to scrabble to make ends meet because I’m suddenly gone. If I was dead, fine… they’d be in the same spot and I couldn’t do anything about it. But I’m still alive, so maybe I still can do something? I don’t know,” Eric said. “But this is a magical place, right? Maybe I can learn some kind of magic that will just, you know, magically fix things?” And maybe once I’ve learned enough control to attempt something so radical, you, my shadowy friend, will be enough.

Lost shook her head. "I don't truck with magic, 'sides the Crystal Heart anyway, and that one's special." She sat up and reached for a second carrot to gnaw on. "It keeps the darkness away from the city."

"It won't work while we're together. You may feel a little prickle, a tiny pinch, but nothing more than that. If you wanted to be rid of it entirely, I'm sure that would be within your power. If not, do avoid the place while they're holding their little 'festival' if you like your skin intact." The voice was heard by Eric alone, dark and urgent.

“Will it cut me off from your power?” Eric thought back, “leave me powerless within the city? It may be worth it for a time, but I need to know.”

"We are one. If you remain during the festival, it will shatter us. That is when the heart is at its most powerful, and when we should not be there, unless you mean to shatter it before their whorequeen has a chance to recharge it."

“Do you know when the festival is? And I meant will my power be cut off there the rest of the time? I don’t intend to hang around near the heart too long, regardless, but I’d hate to depend on you when you can’t help,” Eric thought. Glancing up again he asked Lost “don’t you have unicorns and such in your society that use magic? One of them might know.”

Lost bobbed her head. "Of course there are, not that many though. Most crystal ponies are like me, earth ponies." She pointed at herself. "But we do have some pegasi and unicorns, just less often." She pointed at Footnote, who had become buried in his thoughts.

"That is up to you. We think you have the will to keep focus, but you will prove us right or wrong when you arrive."

Eric nodded, as much to the shadows as to Lost Chance. "How far are we from the city? Assuming that was your destination. I'm eager for a bit more warmth when we can get there."

Lost pointed back towards the crevice where she had dug them out. "We were going to look down there, hoping to find something, and we found you instead." She smiled. "Even better, I think? Cadance will want to say hello to you all." She looked out into the snow, frowning. "It was about a week to get here."

"Cadance?" Eric asked, feigning more ignorance than he had so he could think a bit. ”That's the Princess of love. Right? Will she sense you?”

Lost replied, but her words were lost. The dark presence spoke over her easily, "Don't use your power around her, or she will notice it. Her husband is also dangerous, though less so."

"I suppose we can take the time to meet her when we get there," Eric said, hoping it made sense as an answer to Lost. "Though it sounds like it will be a long walk. I should get some rest first. It’s getting late. You should rest too."

Lost softly cuffed Footnote on the back of the head. "He's talking to you. Get some rest. I'll make sure the camp stays safe." She sat up tall and ready, apparently meaning to watch over the camp and be ready.

Eric did his best to make himself comfortable, closing his eyes. I don't suppose the powers of darkness include the power to go to sleep easily? Eric asked the shadows, as the all too familiar restlessness if his mind began to take hold.

Without prompting or words, Eric fell into slumber, held in the grip of merciful void. Lost didn't notice anything unusual, just sleeping humans, a siren, and her friend, and she watched over them while the night passed. The next day would hopefully turn out better for them all, with home becoming the new goal.

The next day, the snow returned, blowing in fitful gusts across the camp. The fire was the first casualty, but it was time to move, or so Lost claimed as she gently shook each pony, human, and lastly a siren to wakefulness. "We should get going. We'll freeze if we just sit here."

Eric groaned in displeasure at being awakened, but without a warm comforter to snuggle into against the cold, he was unhappily roused. He gathered his belongings, standing up with a yawn as the unavailability of caffeinated soda slowly made its way into his brain. Shadows… can you get me a diet coke? This is an actual question. Perhaps a first test of your ability to cross between worlds. 20oz should do for now.

The shadow knew not what a coke was, to say less of a diet variety, but it let Eric form it, taking the idea of a coke from his thoughts and dreams and forming it into the perfect ideal of cokeness. With a harsh flare of darkness, there was soda, perfectly chilled and ready as the most sacred of shelves would contain such a thing back home. It was all a lie, of course, but it would taste and fizz correctly, so good enough?

Wave sat up suddenly, looking around and shivering. "There is something closeby." She bared her sharp teeth in a little hiss. "We should go, or we'll have to fight, and a lady doesn't show off that side of herself." As if she hadn't already murdered in full sight of the others.

Tom awoke with a quiet noise of discontent, although full awareness came quickly as he sat up, that chill more effective than a cold shower. “Come on, can’t we get a break here?” he complained, rubbing the crust out of his eyes as he peered at Wave. “If only you could use what you did on that dragon, but I’m guessing it’s not an option?” he asked, stretching a bit as he felt a bit of dull soreness permeating his body.

Wave snorted. "Not a thief, so no fury of the gods." She crossed her forelegs. "And frozen water isn't water, so what do you want me to do, flop at them?" She turned up her snout, then noticed the crystal ponies busily packing up to go. "Are we going to the city?"

Footnote nodded quickly. "We have to get the tablet to safety, and all of us as well. It would be best to head back right away. I doubt we'll find anything that even compares to this find."

Eric opened the magical beverage and sampled it, before drinking more heavily. “I agree, let’s get moving swiftly. The sooner we get out of here, the less wolves or what not we’ll have to deal with.”

Lost leveled a placid gaze at the bottle of Coke that was in Eric's hand. "When did you get that?" She pointed a hoof at it.

Picking Wave up carefully, Tom stood up and chuckled tiredly, still in the process of waking up. “We’ll just have to get to their city, then. Should be warm, and maybe I can find some way to get new clothes, too.” Pausing, he looked over to Eric, frowning. “I didn’t know you had soda in your pack… when did you pull it out?”

Eric blushed and stuttered a bit as he rapidly strung together a plausible sounding excuse. “It was in one of the side pouches on my pack, and I dug it out just now as I was getting my gear together. I was saving it for this morning, as I’m not likely to get another one until I can manage to find a way back home.”

Wave tilted her head at the black drink, getting curious and reaching for it. Her hoof didn't extend far enough to get at it from Tom’s warm embrace. "Let me try some!"

Lost turned away, apparently satisfied with the reasoning. "Just be careful with it. It could freeze solid in the cold. Are you alright? None of you are dressed very well for the cold."

“I’m feeling a lot better than yesterday, but… yeah, frostbite and freezing might happen if we don’t stay warm. It was in the middle of summer where I was at before I found myself dumped here,” he explained to Lost, taking a step or two towards Eric, unable to resist grinning at Wave’s reaction to the soda. He could feel the scrapes and cuts picked up from the day before, and sleeping out in the cold, even with the fire, left a chill inside him. At least it helped to numb those cuts and the slight ache he was feeling.

Eric quickly swigged most of the bottle before letting Wave have the last two ounces or so. “Aaaah,” he said with satisfaction. “We were having a heat wave where I came from, record setting for our area. So yeah, I wasn’t prepared for the cold either. All the more reason to hurry, unless you ponies have something you can spare? Though our different shapes don’t make it that easy…”

Wave eagerly finished off the soda, only to break into a coughing fit as the tingles of carbonation hit her throat and lungs. "You didn't say it was alcohol." She swigged the rest of it down, apparently approving of whatever it was. Despite being naked and scaled, she showed no signs of actually being cold.

Footnote moved to Lost and dug around in her saddlebags before producing two jackets made for pony front-ends. "We did bring some spares, in case ours got wet. They should… mostly fit?" He didn't sound certain, but held them up for a trial run. Of course, one of them was much larger than the other, one sized for a slight pegasus, and the other a heavyset earth mare.

Carefully, so as to not drop Wave, Tom reached out for the larger of the two. “Thank you, Footnote, Lost. Anything is better than nothing, and hopefully we won’t have to borrow them for too long.” Being careful not to damage the weirdly shaped jacked, Tom shrugged his way into it, mostly, the material proving to be quite warm.

Eric hmm’d as he took the smaller jacket, trying to figure out a way to make it work. It was obvious it wouldn’t stretch over his broad shoulders put on normally. With a bit of work he put it on backward, slipping the backpack straps over it and letting the pack keep his back covered. At last he shrugged, amused that his arms were kept a bit closer together than normal. “I feel like a t-rex or something,” he said with a chuckle. “But it’s better than nothing. Thanks Footnote.”

Wave approved of the jacketed Tom, snuggling into the increased warmth of the properly protected human. "Now we're ready to go." Next Chapter: 10 - Cozy in Caves Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 22 Minutes