I groaned and slowly stretched my wings, blinking my eyes blearily open. Ugh.

I felt… tired. Sleepy.

Stirring, I raised my head and tried to blink my eyes clear. Sunset was sleeping next to me, snoring slightly.

She looked awfully cute like that.

I shook my head and carefully scooted out of the small bed, looking out the window outside. It was late morning, almost noon.

Wow, that’s…

Okay, that’s later than I thought.

Quietly I left the quarters and silently closed the door behind me, “Amber?” I asked and turned around to look at the changeling, “Never do that again.”

The Changeling looked at me stubbornly, “It worked.”

I bared my fangs and hissed at her, but she stood her ground, just giving a slight buzz from her wings.

There was no way that had ‘only’ been placebo.

“Feel better now?” Amber asked after a second as she sat down, watching me.

I stared at her for a long moment before I sighed and shook my head. Changelings.

The worst thing was that she was right.

I was feeling better.

No, the worst thing was that she knew exactly how I felt, “Amber… just… don’t do it again.”

“Yes, sir,” she said, her wings doing another slight buzz.

I sighed and shook my head, “So, you seemed to have all the answers,” I said, looking to her, “What do you think I should do?”

“I’m not a Queen,” Amber said, looking back at me.

Which was admittedly very fair. It’s not how changelings worked.

I took a slow breath, nodding, “I need to talk to Luna,” I slowly said before I looked to Amber again, finding her missing.

Shaking my head, I moved off in search of my wife.

Which turned out to be more difficult than expected. Yes, the airship wasn’t that big, but it was packed with ponies.

“Good Morning,” Luna said with a smile as I found her and Twilight in the cargo bay next by a collection of items that had been gathered from the temple. Mostly pots and some tools. Luckily the statue had been way too big to bring out.

Personally I had been in favor of a big hammer, but De-Daring, Twilight, Midnight and Moon Dancer had all stared at me like I stabbed somepony when I suggested it, so I let it drop.

“Morning,” I said and moved up to give her a nuzzle.

“Sleep well?” Luna asked playfully and nuzzled back.

I cleared my throat and looked between Luna and Twilight. Twilight looked amused, blushing slightly while Luna smiled at me.

“Be nice,” I sighed and then looked to Twilight, “...Sorry.”

Twilight shook her head, “Don’t be. Our Kitten has been worried sick since she found out your airship went down, about time somepony got her to relax,” she said and smiled, “She’s still asleep?”

I nodded, “Yeah,” I agreed, “We were… up late.”

Luna nodded and nuzzled at my ear with a small smirk, “You’re thinking about something?”

Sighing, I nodded and shifted closer to her, “Want to figure out what to do now. Any ideas about the entire curse thing?” I asked Twilight.

Twilight shook her head, “Not yet, but we’ll figure it out. Midnight and I will keep working on it, but we need more data. The more batponies we can study, the better. We need to correlate the data we gathered from you with other thestrals. You seem to have the real deal, but we need to be certain.”

“I’ll see if I can find some volunteers,” I told her, “But most are understandably hesitant about revealing themselves.”

“The more the better,” Twilight said seriously, “The more data we can gather, the easier it will be to break the curse. And to figure out the underlying blood magic.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” I told her, “Some might be willing to help.”

Twilight nodded and then frowned, “...Is Sunset really still asleep?”

“Was when I left,” I said and shrugged my wings, “She was so cute I didn’t have the heart to wake her,” I admitted.

And I needed to yell at Amber, but that’s beside the point.

Sparks shook her head, “I better go wake her or she’ll never fall asleep tonight,” she said with a smile.

“Have fun,” I said and Sparks blushed as she quickly retreated.