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private Cold Winter Nights [1x1 with Bronislav84 ](IC RP)


LordSwinton

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@@bronislav84

 

OOC:http://mlpforums.com/topic/118732-1x1-with-bronislav84/

 

It was a bitterly cold winter. The land was blanketed with thick inches of pure white snow. The wind howled liked a wild timberwolf.

 

Everypony stayed in their cozy home, keeping their oives toasty. None dared to venture out into the cold. The town was empty, not a soul to be seen.

 

In the outskirts of town, a pony too old to be a colt, too young to be a stallion was trudging through the snow, braving the harsh winter weather. Having ran away from school and stole onto a train, he was miles and miles from home and all in his own with no familiar faces and no one to turn to.

 

In the distance, he spotted a hut with his blurry vision. Joy leapt in his heart. Shelter, he thought, I need shelter. This motivated him to move faster though he had begun to loose sensation in his hooves and they were wobbly and unstable like a plate of jelly, barely able to support him.

 

He dragged himself to the doorstep and knocked the door repetitively, banging it harder and harder each time, desperately waiting for an answer.

Edited by Swinton
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I was working on my latest invention. An automatic stove-oven for the Cakes. The intricate details of making the first prototype from scratch meant that it would take a while to finish. I also had to make sure it was compatible with my Come to Life spell. My lab was filled with blueprints all over the walls, and components I was checking would work individually. I had a long winter to finish this, and not going out much suited me just fine with the cold outside. Though that also meant that I might have to go out to the scrap shop in the cold if I ran out of parts to melt down.

 

Sparky was upstairs dusting the ground floor. He frequently did this without being asked, and today was nothing new in his routine. Melted or scrapped prototypes littered the floor of the rooms. I liked to think up things at odd hours of the day, but I usually just moved on and didn't clean things up. I always thought I'd come back to it.....eventually. So the place was pretty much always a mess.

 

I heard knocks on the door. Who could it be at this late hour? I usually didn't get many visitors. I looked up from the blueprint. "Sparky would you get that? And close the door quickly once you let whoever it is in. We don't want the warm air escaping."

 

The electric heater in the center of the living room buzzed to life on it's own and floated closer to heat the door, getting ready to welcome the visitor. During the winter months the solar panels didn't collect enough light to have power during the night from the battery, so I used the river by town to turn a turbine to provide power. The automatic broom hummed to life too, getting ready to sweep any dirt or snow back outside.

 

Sparky stretched out his claw and opened the door, letting the visitor in. He scanned the visitor into the database. The automatic broom neatly cleaned up around him as the door closed on it's own behind him, then floated back to it's spot, motionless again. The heater floated closer to warm up the visitor and blew hot air in his face, then floated back to the center of the living room.

 

"Sparky! Who is it, and what do they want?" I called up to him from the basement. He turned to the visitor as if to mean answer the question.

Edited by bronislav84
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"Could I please stay till the storm blows over? I promise I won't be a nuisance. Please?" He stammered, lips peeling, cracked and bleeding, doing his best pleading eyes though there wasn't a need to, he was already quite a sight to behold. "My name is Starchase."

 

The breeze of heat returned sensation to his hooves little by little. Though it did feel weird having an automatic broom sweep around him and answering to a robot, he wasn't about to complain.

 

The warmth of the room was a pleasant temperature, as if nature had decided to reward him for dragging himself miles through the snow. It was then he realized he was exhausted. He hasn't had a proper meal for days. The adrenaline was leaving him. He felt himself crashing to the ground, his hooves failing him.

 

"Sorry" He mumbled, trying valiantly to pick himself up. He gave up and sat on the floor. He felt dizzy and nauseous as though the room was spinning wildly out of control. It became hard for him to even hold his head up. He could feel black spots invading his vision, an unwelcomed sight. He didn't know what happened next as he suddenly blacked out.

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I hadn't heard anything from the visitor. Nothing. Whatever he said just wasn't loud enough to carry down to the basement. I stopped what I was doing and went upstairs to see what was going on.

 

And what a sight. Our visitor was young-ish unicorn um....colt?....stallion? I wasn't sure of his age, but he was male of that much I was certain. Could be around my age, but I also had no idea. He'd collapsed a couple of feet past the door. "Sparky, move him over by the heater please. I'll go get the electric blanket and some instant oats."

 

Sparky did as he was asked, carrying the visitor into the middle of the living room where the heater was floating.

 

I went into the kitchen where the fridge was. It wasn't exactly a new invention since other ponies had this, but mine was electric powered. Depending on the season, it either got power from the solar panels on the roof of my hut or a generator from the river like right now. Many little pieces of Bismuth were connected to copper wires from the generator. One side of the Bismuth got hot and the other got cold. The cold cooled the inside of a chamber, and that's what preserved my food for a long time.

 

I opened the unit with my magic and floated out a cup of instant oats. The expiration date was good, so I put it into the warmer unit. The warmer unit worked on the same principle as the heater in the living room. Wires were coiled and got incredibly hot. This heat warmed the inside of the chamber where the frozen oats container was, warming it up to an edible temperature. I floated out a clean plate and dumped the steaming oats out of the container onto the plate. Floating the food with me, I then pulled an electric blanket out of storage and came back to the room. Covering the visitor with the blanket, I sat down in front of him and set the plate with the oats down between us. I then took the wire that ran out of the end of it in my hooves and started to put electricity into the coils in the blanket to heat him up.

 

I calmly waited for him to wake up. If he took too long I'd run a wire from the generator and go back to working on that stove-oven.

Edited by bronislav84
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Starchase felt like he had died and gone to heaven. He could feel warmth enveloping him like a cacoon. It felt so good he didn't even want to get up. Twitching his nose, he smelt food.

 

Still rather reluctant to actually wake up, he shifted about. Then he noticed the bed was a bit...off. It felt so awfully hard it was like sleeping on the hard wood floor in his dorm. This irked him. He was used to sleeping on his rather spingy but comfortable bed with his feather filled pillow and stuffed piglet. Not that he would ever admit to the last one. Hamlet was to remain a secret. Only 3 ponies knew about it, his parents and the housemaid. 4 if you count the classmate that walked in one him once.

 

Fluttering his eyelids, he cracked open an eye, still blurry. Almost immediately, both his blurry eyes were wide open. He couldn't believe them. He really had died and gone to who knows where. In front of him sat a golden mare? He was still adjusting to the light but he couldid feel the heat radiating from her like the sun. He had a stupidly content look on his face like an idiot.

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He woke up and looked at me really silly. I sighed, stopping putting electricity into the blanket to let it cool off. This was going to be one of those nights, wasn't it? A night I'd get next to no work done. I really felt like reaching out and slapping the visitor across the muzzle, but instead I decided to contemplate exactly how hard to hit him. I reached out with my magic for one of Sparky's dusting cloths and lightly smacked him with it. I was unsure if it had any effect, but at least it was clean. I then floated it back to rest on the mantelpiece.

 

"I brought you food. You should eat to get your strength up. There's some tasty daisies in the oats too. You'll like it I think. I know I do. Give me a second though." I then got up to head back to the kitchen to get the thermometer from its resting place. Floating it back with me I stuck it in his mouth before he could say anything.

 

"Now keep that in for a bit. You can eat afterwards." After a minute I checked it and he indeed was running a bit of a fever. "Oh this is not good. You have a bit of a fever. Maybe you caught a cold. I can make you a cold compress if it gets bad, just ask." I went back in the kitchen, put the thermometer away, and came back in the living room to sit back down in front of the visitor.

 

"I'm Lektra Bolt. And what's your name?"

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"My name is Starchase, Miss." He sniffled, putting down the spoon by the bowl. Generally, Starchase did not enjoy instant food or any kind escpecially oats but he was absolutely famished! But it did not make him forget his finely honed table manners. He chewed his food in a calmed and composed manner before swallowing unlike a starved pony he is. He had his standards.

 

"I'm sorry if I'm being an inconvenience, Miss. I didn't mean to distract you from your most important work." He gave her the big sorry eyes as he ate.

 

He tried not to sniffle or sneeze as he ate. Even though it was no longer freezing cold, he felt irritable and sleepy. He definately had a cold. A bad one at that. He wished he could snuggle up in a bed with a hot water bottle and a certain piglet.

 

"May I inquire what that is, Miss?" Starchase pointed at the robot. He'd seen robots in school before for science projects and hobbies but nothing like that. He couldn't really make out what it looked like. It reminded him of a toaster, but of course he'd never tell her that.

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"Nice to meet you. Eat your fill. I have lots of instant food, though I myself prefer the fresh kind." I wondered if I forgot to bring a spoon, but it seems I hadn't. "We can have a doctor here in the morning to figure out how to treat you. I wonder if Nurse Red Heart would make a housecall in this storm?" I just continued to sit and warmed his blanket a bit more with my electricity.

 

At the mention of my work I stopped generating electricity. "Good guess. I work on what I call Magitek. Enchanted objects. Building them isn't enough. You need to cast the right spell to give them their purpose." I pointed a hoof to the floating heater. "Like that heater for example. I made it float and warm guests, though I usually prefer solitude."

 

Starchase then pointed to Sparky, inquiring about him. Sparky beeped in annoyance at being called an object. "Actually, 'that' has a name. He's called Sparky, and he's my assistant. He can be called a pet, but he's a little to smart for that. He cooks, cleans, does the heavy lifting, and helps out around the house. The spell that brings him to life is very complicated and requires potion ingredients to create the right environment to be cast. It's extremely hard to reproduce and it's one of the accomplishments in my life I'm proud of."

 

"Are you able to walk?" I wondered if he would be interested in what I was working on in the basement lab. "If you are, maybe you would like follow me to the basement. You're pretty much stuck here for a while, so might as well make the best of it until the blizzard blows over."

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"Thank you for your concern, Miss. I believe I am fine now, thanks to your care. For that I am deeply grateful." Starchase bowed his head slightly, giving a small apologetic smile. He'd never been near mares much, he wasn't sure how to please them, there was always nasty rumors from the seniors about how nasty they could be but this mare seemed alright,she was nice to him. He got up on his wobbly hooves, barely able to stand on his own.

 

"Good...robot? Hello, Sparky." He cooed, he had a feeling it didn't like him. Maybe he'd get one when he got out of school. A real puppy. He was never really good with inanimate objects, like the pet rock whose name shall not be mentioned. He quite liked the little hut with all its funny little machines, not seen anywhere else. He was highly impressed with her level of skill.

 

"Yes, I would like to see your creations, Miss. No doubt they must be astounding like this...Sparky here. I've never seen such advanced mechanical contraptions in all of my travels in Equestria." He hoped she liked him, or he might get kicked out and sent back to boarding.

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"Really it's no problem, but I would prefer it if we could be on a first name basis. Only clients call me Miss, and even they usually prefer to call me Miss Lektra." I sighed at that and shook my head. "It's still waaaaaaay too formal. I prefer just Lektra. If I call you by your name can you call me by mine?" I then sat up and watched him talk to Sparky.

 

Sparky actually liked the attention and was surprised that Starchase knew the word robot. It wasn't exactly common. He spun around in place a bit and rolled up to Starchase's side like a child, rubbing up.

 

"Come along this way, and you know I'd prefer it if we were on a first name basis Starchase." I led him down the stairs to the basement.

 

My basement lab was littered with crumpled wads of paper. It was frankly, a mess, but I liked it this way because I knew where everything was. There were a couple of melted failed prototypes of the Stove-Oven I was working on, parts laying around seemingly at random, and schematics for the oven hung up on hooks on many of the walls. My workshop table was in the middle, with a storage closet of unused inventions off in the far corner. The stove oven was on top of the table in a half assembled state with parts laying about that still needed to be put in.

 

"So what do you think? It's messy isn't it?" Sparky followed us downstairs and started to dust with a duster. The heater was following Starchase too, making sure to keep him warm since he was sick. I hoped it wouldn't be too inconvenient for him.

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"Sure...Lektra," He blushed lightly. First name basis, he wondered if that meant something. Probably not. "I would be honored."

 

He watched in awe as Sparky dusted the stairs as they descended. He had seen an automated duster but Sparky was really something. "Good Sparky!" He praised the multi functional pet.

 

He was shocked by the state of the basement. The labs at school were always strictly kept neat and tidy, not a nut, bolt or spanner out of place. This was a stark contrast. It was beyond any sort of mess he'd ever seen. He supposed there was a method to this madness. She was on a whole different level after all.

 

"How curious. What is that oven? What does that suppose to do?" It seemed deceptively simple like any other oven but he could tell it wasn't complete as its guts seemed to be on the table. He stood by the inventing table, eyeing the invention. He could feel the soft heated air blown out of the heater, it seemed to have followed them downstairs. He wished it was more widely available. It would make life a lot more convenient.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sparky went on to dusting the basement and collecting some of the crumpled wads into a bin. I didn't need them anyway and the paper could be destroyed and reused later.

 

I really wanted to explain how the oven worked, but that's not what he was asking. We had ovens and stoves. Not everywhere, but we had them. "Well you probably aren't asking how a stove or an oven actually works, since we already have those. Besides mechanical engineering isn't something easily explained. You might know Sugarcube Corner makes their confectioneries in one. In fact this one is designed to replace it." I moved around the table making sure I had all my tools for the umpteenth time. "It's a pretty standard combination stove and oven, but like most things I make it will be enchanted. This one will have the magic ability to eventually operate itself, once it learns things cooked on it." I moved over to a part laying off to the side, floating it up. It was a hand like non-hooved living things had. "This appendage here will pick up ingredients and do the cooking for it's owner, once the oven has magically analyzed recipes and learned to cook. I'm going to make eight of them. The mechanism is based on Sparky's arms being extendable, so it can grab ingredients from a distance and cook on itself too. But it's not finished and won't be for a while." I explained as I watched Sparky clean up the place. He was about halfway done with picking up the crumpled paper balls by now.

 

"So what do you want to do now?" I felt like entertaining a guest right now instead of working. I put the arm back down in it's plaace.

Edited by bronislav84
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"How do you come up with all these? They're simply fascinating!" He asked curiously while slightly shrinking back from it as the hand did surprise him more than it scared it. He watched Sparky dispose of the papers in the corner of his eye. Why was he not surprised. The mechanical pet could do seemingly anything and everything. "You could be the richest mare in all of Equestria if you ever mass marketed these. It would make a world of difference. But what's the fun in that. I suppose a creation is a more personal object, no?" He cracked a smile.

 

One could never put a price tag on art. In a way, these somewhat kooky inventions were a work of art, there were no defined borders when it came to it. Granted it is not a gallery piece by any means but it did carry itself with much sophistication. "Your folks must be awfully proud of you!" He laughed lightly but gave a quick sniffle and a cleared his throat. His head had cleared up significantly since he woke up. He felt like he had a clearer head than before and he wanted to know more, about the inventions and her.

Edited by Swinton
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  • 4 weeks later...
(edited)

"Actually, I don't usually come up with them. Well I do, and I also don't. Let me explain." I levitated a clipboard that was laying nearby with a layer of dust and shook it out. Sparky sped over and reactively cleaned up where the dust had fallen. "I get a request. Usually they're vague and I have to fill in the blanks myself. Sometimes I come up with ideas myself, but often I'm occupied just working on requests." I showed the clipboard to him. It had some requests I'd crossed out with a quill as finished. I then floated it back down on it's spot. "I get a request and I design an enchanted device to fill the request. That's where most of the ideas come from, really. If I get my own idea and it's not well received, I reuse the metal and file the blueprints away." I watched as Sparky continued cleaning the lab, showing off and tossing the wads skillfully in the bin. "As for money, I have enough to cover my expenses. Most of my money goes into buying food for Sparky to cook for me, but some like what we recently ate is the instant kind. I can't cook, and when this invention is finished I will make one for myself as well to relieve some of Sparky's work. We have to think of others first, though. If it's not well received I will just keep this one."

 

I then realized what else Starchase meant when he said money. "Wait, mass market Sparky? That's not really possible. Well it is, but it's extremely hard. The intelligence spell requires materials from all over Equestria. It takes about a month of travel to gather these, since some take a while to replenish. I then have to grind them into a powder and stand in the middle of it, casting the Advanced Come to Life Spell. This is the strongest version of my enchantment spell, so it has a name. Normally it's just called an enchantment." Wow that was a lot of explaining. I hoped I didn't just blow his mind. I paused, letting that sink in. "Either way yes, it would feel weird if everypony had a Sparky of their own. I don't really want to mass market him, even though I could."

 

"Hmm, my folks? Yea I suppose they are, but they have their own branch of the company to run." I watched as Sparky continued to clean up the lab of dust and paper wads. The bin was probably getting kinda full.

 

It was getting kinda late in the night. Well, later anyway. I wasn't tired, but probably any moment now Sparky would tell me I should go to bed.

Edited by bronislav84
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  • 2 weeks later...

"I suppose Sparky here is a personal pet. It sure beats those stupid hard rocks that people have the guts and shear gall to market as a companion for sure." He laughed. He hated those. Which is why he once threw it out the window and it got him in trouble. A rock is a rock and nothing but a rock. And he preferred if it stayed that way.

 

"Doesn't it ever get lonely here?" He asked. He hoped she wasn't offended. Or worse...He didn't want to be kicked out. "I mean, no offense to Sparky here, I bet he's a great companion, but this location is rather far from town being in the outskirts and all." He sort of regret asking that. He was internally slapping himself for it. He tried to shift the subject back to her work.

 

"Your line of work is rather precise and highly specialized, what inspired you to do this? Surely you didn't just wake up one day and found out you wanted to do this for the rest of your life. What's your motivation? What drives you to do all this amazing machinery?" He looked closely at the difference bits and bobs around the room. They must've taken up lots of her time. He for one knew he didn't have the determination to do this sort of thing. And he was lazy.

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  • 4 weeks later...

At the mention of the word 'pet' Sparky ran into Starchase's back right hoof harshly with intent to injure him, but I stopped him with metalbending before he actually connected. He struggled and tried to extend his claws to injure Starchase, but I held him back by holding his claws in place with metalbending also. "Sparky! Stop! Just stop. I don't think he meant to actually insult you with the word pet." Sparky stopped struggling and beeped angrily. I could swear it sounded like a raspberry. He then went back to cleaning and skillfully throwing the paper wads in the trash. "Sorry about that. He's extremely sensitive about being called a pet out loud. He has some pet tendencies, but he's as sentient as we are. He used to be able to talk, but he decided it messed with his job performance so I reluctantly removed the function." I paused at this point and looked at Sparky to make sure he wouldn't get mad at me for saying it. "He gets angry if somepony calls him a pet, so please don't. I may not be able to stop him next time." I sighed at what could have happened if Sparky actually connected with is charge or clawed at Starchase. I was actually surprised he didn't shoot a magic beam or something, having that capability.

 

"But no, I'm not lonely. Sparky does keep me company, and I'm kept entertained by job requests. When I don't have a request I just design and make things for the heck of it. I have this whole Dangerous Invention Vault with an EMP field on it and locked up tight. It takes a while to make things and I haven't run out of ideas yet. Besides, I do get the occasional visitor like you. I'm comfortable with this location. It gives me privacy and keeps me far enough away from those who don't like Magitek. They can pretend magical theory isn't moving forward and live in their cloud-coocoo-land, but I know better. Hehe." I yawned. I was actually getting tired. How long was I up?

 

The third question was actually interesting. "Actually, I'm considered lazy. I'll explain that in a bit, but if you're interested in earlier stuff that's actually more fun. My folks are innovators and inventors. It's a family thing, so in a way I did actually wake up and decided I wanted to do this for the rest of my life. Not immediately, but I was around this kind of work from the get go. It was actually when I was struck by lightning that I decided I wanted to further magical theory, and my flank was no longer blank. You could say the bolt changed me, and I'm grateful for whichever Pegasus allowed that cloud to escape." I wasn't going to get any work done, so I decided to just watch Sparky dunk paper balls while I talked.

 

"As for being lazy, my kind of lazy is different. I'm into my work, but not much else. I don't like to go out much, though I do socialize on occasion. My work keeps me busy, but when I'm not working I have my inventions do stuff for me. Sparky shops for me, cleans for me, and cooks for me. Sometimes when he's doing other things the enchanted broom cleans up the house, and the door is designed to open and close on it's own as well. I automate where I can, even though Sparky handles a lot of the menial stuff." I paused a bit here, thinking Starchase thought I didn't appreciate Sparky. "It's his function and pleasure to help me out. Might sound like a lowly existence, but that is what I designed him to do. Besides, he knows I appreciate him so he doesn't complain." At this point I went over to where Sparky was and kissed him on the head. He paused with his 'game' to whistle and beep. He twirled around and we hugged. I then nodded for him to continue cleaning up.

 

"So yea, that's me. I'm getting kinda sleepy though. I feel like I've been up for what feels like more than 48 hours, and I lose track of time kinda easily. What do you say we get the guest room fixed up for you?" I started to head up the stairs to show Starchase the guest room.

Edited by bronislav84
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"I'll keep that in mind." He mumbled as he stared warily at Sparky. He was all to aware of how close he had been to having a chuck of his hind hoof forcibly ripped off. Who knew Sparky could be so violent, he sure didn't. "Sorry, Sparky. I offer my most humble apologies. In no way or manner did I intend to insult you." He hoped he didn't hold grudges but he might sleep with one eye open just in case.

 

"Yes, sleep,to perchance a dream, of course. I'm deeply sorry to have kept you awake, Lektra." He apologized as he followed behind her numbly. It excited him that she allowed him to stay and he was grateful she was a decent pony and not some deranged psychopath that could haved chopped him into pieces when he was cold and out. He was staying at a proper house with a proper bed. WITH A MARE. It didn't bother him much but if his parents caught wind of this, he'd most likely have his head on a pike. A silver pike. He didn't know what the fuss was about ponies gossip all the time, especially among the higher circles. The rumor mill never stops anyway.

 

"Goodnight, Lektra." He bid her sweet dreams.

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  • 1 month later...

I spent the night working on orders and performing maintenance on some orders from clients. I finally passed out eventually. Apparently I was more tired than I thought if I just passed out. That usually doesn't happen.

 

Starchase was still asleep when I woke up and Sparky made breakfast for us. As usual I was going to spend the day working, but I might go out to Sugarcube Corner for sweets. I really felt like ordering a big chocolate cake for just myself and eating the whole thing. Mmm, cake. I sat in the living room just thinking about cake for a while, then I realized it was still snowing like crazy outside. Where would we go, and how would we get there without freezing our muzzles off? I would be fine using my armor, but he would probably freeze to death. He was sick before and was recovering anyway. Would his fever even go down by morning?

 

I sent Sparky off to ask Nurse Redheart and the doctor from the hospital to come over and see how he was doing. Was he fit to go outside? Would he be staying over a couple more days to avoid freezing in the cold? They would be here soon. There was no way the patient would come to them, so this was the only way.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Waking up with toasty hooves and beneath a warm blanket, Starchase legitimately thought he was at home. He was about to yell out for his mother before he realized this wasn't his home and he wasn't in his room. Sighing, he pulled the blanket up over his head and curled into a ball. He didn't want to get out of the comfortable bed. He wanted to snuggle up into a warm spot and go back to his land of dreams.

 

Drowsy, he got up on rather wobbly hooves to the bathroom to freshen up. The loss of warmth hit him like a strong blast of winter. It wasn't cold and he found himself adapting to the room temperature. Seeing himself in the mirror, he looked miserable and droopy. As he descended down the stairs, he held on tightly to the railing, feeling rather dizzy. He felt a great deal better than yesterday when she found him on her doorstep but he was far from full health.

 

"Good morning, Lektra!" He tried not to yawned. "And you too Sparky." He added on after a second thought. He didn't want to b rude. Truth be told he was rather worried that she'd tell him to leave.

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