Sunburst was pissed for numerous reasons, half of which were not his fault.

Reason 1: He was stuck with a snooty princess who wouldn't stop complaining.

Reason 2: He forgot where the safe house was.

Reason 3: Pseudo was bitching about how he forgot where it was.

Reason 4: He was running out of water.

Reason 5: Night was approaching.

Reason 6: Said princess was bitching about how dark it was.

With the sun setting, Sunburst was running out of options on what to do. The vast majority of the predators in the badlands hunted by night. He could try for one of the caves in the canyon face, but that could be the home of a very nasty creature or worse. He could try and find an explorer in the area, but he hated ponies and they would attack if they saw him with a changeling. The local flora in this area was edible so he was good on food, but only a rare few had water in them. Those were limited to cacti and there were only a handful in the canyon.

Another problem was that the princess would be bitching soon about the lack of food she had. While changelings could eat regular food, it did them little good and caused their bodies problems. She needed to feed, preferably soon. He could let her do it to him, but that would drain his energy and that could lead to his death here.

Sunburst sighed, he had to make a decision soon or the land would make one for him. Looking around the canyon wall, he spotted a cave roughly ten feet off the ground.

"Perfect."

His sudden speech made Pseudo look at him and ask. "What is?"

"That cave, that's where we'll sleep tonight."

Pseudo looked at the cave. She was clearly not amused. "That is no place for a princess. I demand a bed and food, I'm hungry."

Sunburst was going to snap soon, he had been dealing with this since sunrise and the princess wasn't making this any easier. "What did you expect, a fancy hotel and a fresh meal? Cause let me tell you something. There isn't any place like that in a good twenty miles. If it wasn't for where we are, I would keep walking. But, seeing as how the local wildlife has a tendency to violently rip any being, pony or changeling, to shreds we will need a place to stop for the night."

Pseudo looked like she had just been slapped.

Sunburst continued. "Now get your ungracious, unloved, over-sized flank in that queen damned cave right NOW!"

Pseudo didn't say anything, she just obeyed. No one had ever yelled at her like that before; in fact, no one had ever yelled at her. She flew up into the cave without hesitation.

Sunburst sighed. He had to get up there now, and being a unicorn, that wouldn't be easy. "Fuck me with a cactus."

He had a decision to make now. Either try and find a way up. That would take up a lot of time and energy that he didn't have. Or, he could stay down here. Not a good idea either. The wildlife would probably kill him. That left one option: ask Pseudo for help.

"Pseudo, can you help me up?"

...

"Pseudo, don't make me say it."

...

"Fine, I will. Pseudo, will you please help me up?"

...

"Oh come on. What do you want from me, a snack? Cause I'll let you if you get me up."

Pseudo elected to stay silent, but levitate the unicorn up to the cave. Once inside, Sunburst realized how small it was. He had to crouch to get in.

"Thank you."

Psuedo nodded. Whatever fight she had before was gone now. The day had been stressful on her. The damage done to her psyche wouldn't recover for some time. It was only until ten minutes ago did she realize how hard this journey was, and why there hadn't been a new queen in the past one hundred years.

Sunburst chose to lay down next to the princess. "Hey, I'm sorry I yelled at you. I know that its the first time some one, let alone a pony, has yelled at you. But you need to understand that if we didn't move out of the open, then we might have died there."

"It's okay."

This surprised Sunburst, she didn't complain like she normally did. Either she was really hungry or she was changing. Sunburst thought it was the first one. "Do you need to feed?"

"Yeah, but we haven't found a pony yet that I can feed off of."

"What about me?"

"I can't, the queen put a spell on you that made it so we can't do that to you."

"Damn, even if I give consent?"

"No,"

"Well that sucks for you."

Pseudo didn't say anything else so Sunburst decided to take care of his own needs now. He ate half of the various fruits he had with him. Most of them were from the desert, but a few came from the stuff that Mirrors Edge had given him. He also drank the last of his first canteen, leaving three empty and one completely full.

With nothing else to occupy his mind, Sunburst looked over all of his gear. It consisted of his saddlebags, a map of Equestria, a small sword, four canteens, a dozen pieces of various fruits, and the cloak that Mirrors Edge had given him.

Now Sunburst was bored. There was nothing else to do but wait for the sun to rise.

"Hey Sunburst, I'm cold."

This was the first time he had ever heard of a changeling being cold, but it made sense. Most of their species was resistant to the elements because of their shell. All of the grubs were constantly cracking their shells and it would grow back even harder than before. But the princess might not have done that, she would have thought it low and base.

This left Sunburst in an awkward situation. "Uh, here take my cloak."

Pseudo took it hesitantly. "Won't the cold bother you?"

"No, the cold is all I've ever known. I prefer it to the heat of day. Now I'm going to sleep; if you need anything else, you're going to have to get it on your own."

And with that, he lied down and went to sleep.

Sunburst felt something moving against him. Immediately, he woke up. The first thing he did was open his eyes. He saw nothing. So he focused on his hearing. He heard the breathing of a being next to him, but it was too soft to be a predator looking for a meal. So he focused on his touch. He felt the shell of a changeling up next to him. It was the princess.

Huh, must have still been cold. Oh well, it's not really bothering me.

With the mystery solved, he tried to go back to sleep. Next Chapter: The Morning After Estimated time remaining: 11 Minutes