Of Prophecies And Priorities
IC date: Autumn 54, 1007
OOC date: November 12, 2012
PCs: Sadaka, Jellybean, Blackbird, Winter-Solstice
NPCs: Professor Redmane, Glimmer
GM: N/A

After Blackbird's rescue, which really needs to get put up on the site but I suck at logs, the pony was out cold for a solid week. Sadaka was left to her own devices, and the imposter 'bird was…well, no one will quite say what happened with him, but he's certainly not here. But today, Blackbird wasn't in his bed when Sadaka went to check on him. Oh no!

This unexpected absence is… unexpected! And resulting in a semi-panicked search through the Base, the little zebra poking her head into every room to look about before dashing on to the next one. Where'd he go where'd he go where'd he gooooo?! It's not like there's that many places /to/ go! He'd better not have gone outside or so help her she'll… she'll… give him a really good talking-to, that's what she'll do! Hmph.

Jellybean is following after Sadaka, trying to help her in her search. He seems equally off-put though perhaps less panicky at the fact that this has happened. Eventually he offers a suggestion: "Maybe he had to go to the bathroom?"

In fact, he is not outside. Nor is he in the bathroom! A panicked search brings them to the lab, where he is hunched over one of the work benches. He looks very tired, and he doesn't look like he's actually /doing/ anything, but he's laid his head on his hooves and he's toying with a bolt in thought. Sigh.

Sadaka skids to a stop in the doorway of the lab, drooping in relief. "Papa! /There/ you are. What are you doing? Why aren't you in bed? You're supposed to be resting." Frown. Sternly.

Jellybean lands in the lab itself, peering over Blackbird's shoulder curiously. "What're you doing, Mr. Blackbird? What's that you're making? Shouldn't you be in bed? I bet you'd feel better if you were in bed. Me and Sadaka could make you some soup."

Blackbird blinks and sits up looking back. "Ah— yes, I am supposed to be resting, aren't I?" he says with a small apologetic smile. "Sorry, peanut. I was just over her thinking." And if home's anything to go by, he does most of his thinking in his own home lab. "Soup? Er. I'm not actually very hungry, Jellybean, but thanks. It's appreciated."

Sadaka tilts an ear, hesitating a moment before moving down to sit beside him. "What're you thinking about?"

Jellybean nodnods agreeably to Blackbird and sits down on the bench as well, giving the father and daughter some space to be all father-and-daughter-y. "Can we help?"

"Well…" Blackbird quirks his mouth, trying to figure out how to phrase it as he sits up a little more and rubs his touselled mane. His back is striped with criss-crossing whiplashes, which are healing nicely by now, but still definitely there. "I was just thinking, Sadaka, that you've done such a good job here. You were smart and brave and rescued ponies from the camp, including me. And I was thinking that you've grown up a lot, peanut, and I wanted to make you something." But, he rests his head on a hoof dejectedly. "But I can't think of anything good to make you, and there's not a lot of stuff here to work with. So I'm just thinking, is all."

Sadaka blinks and blushes, rubbing the back of her head with one hoof. "Aww… Papa… you… you don't gotta make me anything. …I couldn't just let 'em have you an' all the others. I had to do /something/." She looked down, tilting an ear. "…Ms. Snowfield said the good guys win in this story, but we just gotta wait around for them to show up and do it. But they're taking forever, an' stuff's just getting worse, and all these ponies are trying so hard. So… I dunno, I thought… maybe we're supposed to be the good guys, since we're the ones who just… showed up outta nowhere. …That's dumb, isn't it?"

Jellybean says "I was thinking about that too. I don't know if we're the good guys, but we're on the right side here. I'm sure that if we do our best things'll all work out." He rubs his brooch. "I'm sure they will.""

Blackbird chuckles a little. "I know I don't have to, but I'd like to. My…my daughter's growing up into a very fine young mare, and she's entitled to something nice for once." But, still, nothing to make. As for her assertion of the good guys, he pauses, and grins. "No, not at all, peanut. Sometimes you can't just wait around for things to happen. You have to make them happen yourself. And Jelly's right, we're on the right side, and working hard will make things turn out right. That's how all the good books go, right?"

Sadaka nods. It /is/ how all the good books go. "I wanna go home, but I don't just wanna leave everypony here like this. It doesn't seem right. They're good ponies."

Jellybean nods to Sadaka. "But it sounds like we'll be able to help them. I wish we could reach Nightmare Moon somehow. I just know that deep down she's feeling lonely."

"Nightmare Moon is…" Blackbird winces. "She might be lonely, but you'd have to get through layers and layers of Killing Spree to get there. But you're right, Sadaka, we should help them if we can. I've got no idea went on for the last day or two, or however long I've been out. Are there plans for an attack or anything?"

Sadaka sighs. "Well… some stuff happened on Nightmare Night. There was this… song, and…" she shook her head a bit. "One and Two kept getting in my way. I dunno where it came from, I couldn't go see. But… but they said it was Nightmare Moon, and that she fought some ponies outside. And then something about… more dead things. But I don't know if anypony is planning anything…" she gives a wry chuckle. "They don't really tell me that stuff."

Jellybean says "Nightmare Moon said something about a prophecy. I wonder if we can find out more about it?"

Blackbird grimaces, then blinks. "Wait, Nightmare Night is already past? I was out longer than I thought." He looks to Jellybean and strokes his chin thoughtfully. "That's a good idea. Maybe we should go ask Glimmer about it?"

Jellybean says "Do you think we should? She always looks busy." Smart ponies always look busy to Jellybean. "But I bet she'd know about it."

Sadaka blinks. "A prophecy? 'Bout what?" She tilts her head. "Hm. Well… maybe." Prophecies are always real important in stories, at least! "If we know what it is maybe it'll help."

Jellybean blushes. "Me, maybe, but I don't think it really is. When I showed her the sun brooch she said something about a 'foal of prophecy.'"

Blackbird slides stiffly off the bench and stumbles a little before catching himself. Whew! "Alright. Well come on. Let's go get information on this prophecy. She might be busy, but if that's the case, we can ask someone else maybe." He leans down to heft Sadaka on to his back, and then, with effort, Jellybean too. "C'mon, little bits. Let's go look!"

Sadaka blinks, doing her best to stand lightly and avoid any of the whip marks. She nuzzles lightly against Blackbird's neck, still looking somewhat worried. He's supposed to be /resting/! But… prophecies!

Jellybean holds onto Blackbird's back, wings fluttering as he tries to stabilize himself.

Out they trot, at a…well, honestly a pretty leisurely pace. But Blackbird peers into rooms as he goes hunting for Glimmer and/or her nicer-humored counterpart. He finds them in one of the side rooms, surrounded by books, Glimmer nearest to the door as she floats a few books onto the table.

"Hello," Blackbird says politely, "we were coming to inquire about a prophecy."

"A prophecy?" Glimmer blinks, before eyeing him suspiciously. "What kind of a prophecy? Why do you want to know?" Squiiint.

Jellybean gingerly hops off of Blackbird's back and flies around the room in a slow orbit as he tries to explain things. "When I showed Nightmare Moon the sun brooch she said something about a foal of prosephy only I think she was mistaken because I don't think I'm really a chosen pony but she seemed to think there was something going on so I was wondering if you knew anything about that kind of thing? Pretty please?"

The Professor is also in this room! Currently leaned over a desk, pouring over a wide open book. Mutter. Mutter. Mutter. One ear perks! They have visitors. The old pony sits up, his back making several loud pops, Redmane's head tipping back to catch sight of Jellybean flitting around in circles. "…Ahhh. Little ones. What's this I hear about questions?"

As Jellybean speaks, the Professor finishes righting himself, turning to regard the other visitors. "Aha. The Foal of Prophecy." he says, glancing to Glimmer. His brow creases thoughtfully. "Hadn't I explained that before..? Or was that another pony that was asking? It's so hard to keep track of these things sometimes."

"I don't know, Professor," Glimmer mutters as she returns to the table. "But if they don't know, you might as well explain it again." Huff. Blackbird reaches back and carefully unseats Sadaka, setting her down on the floor with a private wince. "Terribly sorry; we seem to have missed the explanation."

Sadaka nods. "We never heard the story… sorry." She scuffs a hoof sheepishly. "But… but we'd like to hear it now."

Jellybean nods eagerly. "I'd love to hear it, please, sir?"

Winter-Solstice's head abruptly leans in from around a door off to the side, silently watching with intense eyes and perked ears. Prophecy sense… tingling.

Professor Redmane adjusts the spectacles perched on his nose, slumping back into his cushion. "Hmm. Very well. It may be what I need to make more sense out of what's going on anyway." He rubs his face with his forehooves, finding his usual warm smile to give to the assorted visitors. "It's a fairly quick story. But it's an important one. To us, anyway."

Clearing his throat, the Professor pulls the book that had been sitting on his desk off, into his lap instead, turning a page back. "This book is one of our most precious ones. It's the book of Predictions and Prophecies. Brought to us by Glimmer there herself when she…came to us." The Professor's smile lifts to the unicorn, then back to the assorted ponies. "It was apparently the last version printed before the Queen cut off the printing of public copies. And for good reason."

His hooves smoothing over the pages, one hoof stops at a particular line. "There's a prophecy in here that appears to be about the Queen. 'After a thousand years of darkness, a foal bearing the light of day shall bring back the dawn.'" Redmane shakes his head slowly. "One of the ponies that represent the Elements was a little colt named Daffodil. Cute little guy, his cutie mark's very similar to the trapped Queen's. A sun. We thought he might be the one the prophecy spoke of. It was actually the whole reason we chanced the spell we used, because he could have very well been the catalyst needed to bring our rightful ruler back. But…"

Trailing off, Redmane's gaze falls on Jellybean. "…You actually brought sunlight with you. Queen Moon certainly noticed this. As did Bloodrage's pegasi. It's possible the prophecy could have been pointing to you, too." Now the Professor leans back once more, his eyes lifting to regard Blackbird. "Of course, knowing prophecies, it might not be either of them."

Glimmer looks at the Professor at that remark about her arrival at the camp, then looks away at the books. She adjusts her spectacles, ears flicking back. Blackbird, though, settles down in a sitting position. Not at all because he's tired, no! That's just what you do during stories. Yes. "Surely. But both are quite probable, I see. Does it matter that Jellybean is usually not a foal at all?"

Jellybean rubs his mane with a hoof, blushing. "Oh. Well. I mean, like she said I'm not /really/ a foal."

Redmane spreads his forelegs. "Prophecies are tricky that way. You're not usually a foal…but you /are/ in the shape of a foal, and conveniently carrying something that creates sunlight. In the grand scheme of things those events coming together are about as unlikely as a newborn foal in /our/ land of ice and snow spontaneously sprouting a sun mark on his flank."

The Professor shakes his head. "I've been looking for more prophecies. More correlation. More /something/ to shed a little more light on the subject, but this is the only line that seems to pertain directly to the Queen herself. Or at least, her rule over the land."

Sadaka tilts her head thoughtfully. "That's… pretty vague. Are all prophecies that vague?" She blinks, looking puzzled for a moment before looking over at Blackbird. "…Hey. Hey, didn't… that gypsy pony Siyana and Lav talked about, didn't she come with us? Don't gypsies know about prophecies and stuff?" They always do in books! They're usually the ones who give them!

Winter-Solstice's expression gradually sours, but she listens through the whole thing. Until the end. "I heard this one already!" she pips up from her around-the-corner lean. "Have they prophecized the sequel yet? You know, the one where they tell us where the sun laser is buried. Clearly we need a foal because only he can sneak down the ventilation shaft and open the vault from the inside."

"Prophecies are pretty vague, and often roundabout," Blackbird agrees. "It could be language as clear as day, but then it'll pull the rug right out from under you. Fate magic is like that. It's slippery." And speaking of fate magic, he ponders. "Manyara, yes. She's here somewhere. She's a very powerful, very knowledgeable witch. She might know something" Oop. He blinks, whirling and tottering as Winter surprises him. He seems pretty unsteady on the hooves. "Oh huh. Hey, Winter-Solstice, right? I don't think that's how things work." Oh, Blackbird. Of course that's how things work! Silly dizzy pony. "…is it?"

Jellybean blinks at Winter, coming to a rest on the ground in front of her. "…what's a laser?"

Winter-Solstice lifts a hoof and points it at Jellybean, making the hoofy sign for a gun. What is it? Only ponies know. "Pew pew pew," she says. She then turns to beam a smile at Blackbird. "Well, might as well be how it works. I like to think prophecies are like those fill-in-the-blank games and you can sort of dress 'em up to suit your fancy. I fancy lasers." She slips out from behidn the corner, REVEALING, that there is a bucket wedged on one of her back hooves. Every fourth step of hers goes *donk* against the floor. "It's about self-actualization, you see."

Sadaka blinks. "What's self-ac… self-axe… actul…zation?" She blinks again at the bucket. Hello bucket. "…Ms. Rusty talked about lasers once. …I think she was gonna put 'em on a cart. For some reason."

"It's…I think therefore I am," Blackbird supplies. "Making yourself what you want to be. Something like that, anyway." He's too tired to think straight. "I want my prophecies to have lasers in them. 'specially Rusty's. … I miss Rusty." Droop. But then he glances to Winter and blinks. "Why's there a bucket on your leg?"

Jellybean says "Did you self actualije that you had a bucket on your leg? I think it worked!"

Winter-Solstice shrugs at Sadaka. "BB's got it," she says. Apparently Blackbird doesn't know her all that well, but she's already on nickname terms with him. She then squints at Blackbird, then Jellybean. "Why is there a what on my whatnow?" she asks, looking down at her hooves. She pauses, then jumps in place. "Oh! That's where that went." She looks back up at peers at the professor, expression serious. "By the way, Professor, Sodium Fizz and I were up at the camp last night. Did anybody tell you about that yet or should I do that? There was some big stuff that happened."

"Ah… Yes." Professor Redmane mutters amid the sudden talk of lasers and whatnot. "Lasers. That's a possibility too. If that beam of light over the forest is any indication." The elderly pony turns a page in his book, as though looking to resume where he'd left off, when he's addressed! "Hm..? No, my dear, I don't believe I've been caught up on recent events from yesterday yet." He smiles serenely. "What happened?"

Blackbird also looks curious, as he pulls Sadaka in for a hug and murmurs, "Hey, the prophecy could always be about you, sunshine." Mwah.

Blush. Sadaka giggles a bit and nuzzles him shyly. "I dunno, Papa. I don't think I got the sun with me. But if I did I'd give it to 'em."

Jellybean says "I was hoping that if I showed her the sun she'd remember her sister." He hangs his head. "I guess I was wrong."

"Awww," says Winter, smiling at Sadaka and Blackbird. She then looks up at the Professor and beams a smile. "Anyway we were there and Evil Snowfield's army of zombies was besieging the place like -whoa.- And we snuck in and listened to their generals and Nightmare Moon is trying to pull out, she can't take the heat of all the zombies. And then Sodium used a petrification potion and something else to turn Nightmare's Will to stone, and then steal her head. We brought it back. It's in the pantry right now. And Nightmare's Eyeball was pretty steamed up, I could tell she wanted to give me an earful but she totally couldn't because did you know she can't talk? Anyway either the Nightmare forces up in the camp are totally going to leave entirely or they're totally gonna come fix our business what for."

She smiles again, then reaches over with a hoof to touch it to Jellybean's chin and nudge it back upright, then pat him on the head.

"I beg to differ, kidlet," Blackbird says with authority. But he listens to Winter's story, ears perked. Glimmer, however, whirls, knocking a /book/ off the /table/. Gasp, she is that flustered. "You brought WHAT back?!"

The Professor similarly blanches. "You /what/?" Left gaping by the news, he nearly tips over in his cushions, his book falling off his lap and landing face-down on the floor. "Y… You have /Will's/ head, in our /pantry/?"

Jellybean faints.

Winter-Solstice looks down at all the books on the floor. So as not to feel left out, she reaches out with a hoof and pushes another sitting on Glimmer's table off, and after it lands with a slap, smiles up at the pair. "Yeah. Turned to stone. In the pantry. Honestly there isn't a lot else in there right now so it seemed like the best place to put it. Besides, if you were looking for your head, where would YOU think to check? The pantry?" Winter's smile spreads into a grin. "I don't think so!"

Any kind of serenity left in Redmane is washed away by this new news. All that's left behind is shock, with the Professor /staring/ at Winter as though she'd taken that second head and attached it to her very body! "Y… You /killed/ Will… Stuck her head in our pantry… And Nightmare's Eyes saw it?" One of the old pony's eyes twitch. "I don't know whether to scold you or give you a medal!"

"You— you'll have brought the full fury of the Queen on our heads!" shouts Glimmer. Apparently she'll take up the scolding mantle! She can do that, yes she can! "Don't you know how much she loves Will?!" Whirling on the Professor: "Professor, if we don't get this fixed /now/, our base is done for! Kaput! GONE! We need the elements and we need them /now/!"

Sadaka gapes at Winter. Wait, they did /what/? …How does that even /work/? What? And then there's yelling. She winces and lays her ears back slightly. "…E-elements?"

Winter-Solstice beams a grin at the Professor. "Well, it was my GOOD FRIEND Sodium Fizz, actually, not me. I was just sort of along for the ride. But seriously though I helped with some of the heavy… lifting?" Winter's voice trails off as Glimmer lights into her, and the big mare doesn't seem especially offended, but she does look a bit more thoughtful than she did a few moments ago. "Well… we already DID have Will prisoner here once before. And they already totally know about this place and that it's full of kids. I don't think she can really get any more mad with us than she already was." Her smile returns and she shrugs haplessly. "Huh! Hey, you have a plan to get the Elements back, then? Cool!"

Blackbird blinks, holding onto Sadaka. He nods a little along to Winter, though he's apprehensive. "If anything, we should at least be ready for an attack, right?"

"I /had/ a plan." The Professor corrects, looking suddenly very, /very/ weary. "This…" He fans himself with one of his books, going quiet for a long moment. Blackbird's suggestion brings a quiet nod from the elderly pony. "Yes… Of course. But this base won't be able to withstand much of one. We need another plan. We need to consider moving. Evacuation." His face grows grim. "…And there's only one safe place left where we can take an army of foals with any chance of keeping them out of the Queen's grasp. Not to mention all of our own hides."

Winter-Solstice quiets once more, her smile fading. Uh oh. Things just got serious. She turns to look to Blackbird- he's an honest to goodness adult, not like Winter, who is just sort of a fake adult- and then looks down to Sadaka, a bit worried. She then looks up to the Professor once more, worried and expectant.

Sadaka blinks and tilts an ear, edging a bit closer to Blackbird instinctively. "…Where?" she asks quietly. "…Wherever it is, we… maybe we can help! One and Two and Three and Dakani can maybe hide foals in small groups, it worked on me and the sled, and… and… and if we gotta move, we… uh…" she trailed off, blushing. "I m-mean… we wanna help. 'Least, um, I do."

"We can't risk foals—" Glimmer starts, before Blackbird cuts her off. "No, Sadaka's proven her chops. She can help. And we need all the help we can get. If we're evacuating everyone, we're going to need a way to get ponies safely to the hive, right? She's right: the ghosts can conceal ponies, if needed."

Winter-Solstice looks to Sadaka, listening, then smiles, nodding up at the professor. "Yeah, we can.. wait, the hive?" The color drains from Winter's face, and considering she's white, there wasn't much to begin with. She turns to stare at Blackbird. "The hive? With zombies? What? Are you- why there? It's infested! I mean come on that's a cool place to go and fight evil and all but bringing EVERYBODY there? We don't have enough heroes to go set up shop there!"

"Not just to the hive." Professor Redmane states. "Through the rift. At least I hope it's a rift. Ruby was going to investigate it and come back with help. Perhaps even the Elements. But it seems we'll be following her through." His gaze lifts to Winter, his face finally regaining a bit of the smile from earlier. "My dear, you've done this world a service. There's no doubt about that. You should feel proud of yourself. But now I'm hoping we can count on you to help us move this lot out of harms way…even if its through the path of greatest resistance." Through the zombies.

Sadaka tilts an ear. Zombies? Zombies sound… unpleasant. They're like… ghosts without the ghost. Bodies with no pony in them. …That idea is kind of terrifying, not least of which because the concept is finally helping her understand why the gypsy pony had refused her a late-night wish despite much pleading. She shudders a bit, gulping and clearing her throat. "Where… where's it go? The… rift, thing."

Winter-Solstice listens to this all with more gravity than someone with a bucket wedged on their hoof has any right to wield. She bites her lower lip, then, and nods, firmly. She then grins. "We'll get everyone there safe, Professor!" She quiets a bit, then, and frowns. "Wait… but…"

Her eyes abruptly well up with tears. "This is your home, though! Are you going to leave it forever? I… I've been living here for a long time, too! It's not my home but it's like a vacation home, sort of!"

Blackbird frowns. "Can we get the pegasi involved? I'm sure aerial support would be helpful. And…it can't be to anyplace worse than here… right?"

Redmane rises from his cushion, giving Winter a pat on one big shoulder. "One step at a time, my dear. Of course we don't intend to abandon our home. Everything we've done has been with the intent of fixing it. But we can't do anything if we're being hunted. At least, not so long as they know where we are." He smiles wanly, "This base served its purpose, and it shall serve us one last time… I do have an idea."

Blackbird's suggestion brings a slow nod to the old pony. "Yes. We must send someone to contact them immediately and let them know. It's only a matter of time before they're hunted too…they may as well join us. Besides, we'll need all the help we can get just to break through."

The Professor frowns. He's not positive this is the best decision. It just feels like the only decision left. There's still so much to think about! "We'll cross over, see if we can find some help, and then come back to fix it. At least, that's my plan now."

"Okay… okay!" says Winter, nodding briskly. She blinks away the moisture in her eyes and steels herself. "Okay!"

"We'll help any way we can," Blackbird says firmly. "Really, it's the least we could do."

Sadaka blinks and perks her ears. "There's Pegasi? Maybe that'd help. There's not many in the base that I've seen… an' I think the other camp's got lots of 'em. It looked like all the guards were, an' there was this grey one, I think maybe she was in charge, I dunno…" She clears her throat again. "But seeing stuff from above could be helpful, right?" She looks up at Blackbird. "Too bad we don't have the whirlygig."

"That is a bummer. More ponies above would be very helpful. I wonder if I could make one here?" Blackbird frowns thoughtfully. Glimmer just shakes her head and puts her head in her hooves. For once, she's silent, except for a little sniffle.

Winter-Solstice is thinking, possibly of desperate flights across the tundra, possibly of pie. She looks up towards Glimmer, watching her, then eases to her feet and approaches… tap tap tap *donk* tap tap tap *donk.* "What's wrong, Glimmer? Look at this way, you guys have a chance to go someplace else, now!" Winter is doing her best to sound Encouraging, although she STILL feels guilty about Glimmer, and she probably always will, and that's definitely interfering with her chin-upper-ness.

Professor Redmane makes a soft 'harumph' of sound. He gives Glimmer the lightest of nudges, follows it up with an equally gentle push to Winter's side, and flashes a much more genuine grin to Sadaka and Blackbird. "This is no time to dwell on what's happened. There's only the future to think of." He clears his throat. Again. "Glimmer. You have to make sure all of our important documents and texts are packed. You've got to organize this evacuation. Winter, I would greatly appreciate your help in rigging up a few…surprises for our unwelcome guests. I have a few ideas…" He turns his head to Blackbird and Sadaka. "Perhaps I can rely on one or both of you to handle the pegasus? Or perhaps…" He dips his head. "Perhaps I should do that. Hm."

"We can handle the pegasi," Blackbird says firmly. Nevermind that he's straight out of the infirmary; there are ponies to rescue! And what is Blackbird but a pony with serious white knight syndrome? Dumb butt. Glimmer sniffs and forcefully rubs her hoof over her eyes, bumping her glasses out of the way in the process. "Just something in my eye," she mutters wetly. "It'll be fine. I'll pack up the books and get the checklists. I'm sure— it'll be fine."

Sadaka tilts an ear, looking over at Glimmer sympathetically. "…It's not like you won't be back. …We'll all be back. We're goin' with you… so we'll find someponies to help, an' come back, and… and fix things." Somehow. "We'll find what foal it is and bring the sun back and everything'll be happy again." That's how the story books end, right? Happily ever after? Bad guy defeated, good guys win?

Winter-Solstice watches Glimmer. She's not convinced, but she's not going to press the matter. "Okay," she says, before turning and nodding to the professor. "Traps. Got it. I'll, uh, let me go check the head and then I'll come back and you can tell me what you have in mind." She shuffles back and starts making her way towards the cafeteria. "Road triiiip! This is gonna be so excitiiiing!"

The Professor nods. Good enough for him! It's not optimal, but it /is/ something, and it needs to be put into action. So there it is. With all that said and done, Redmane slumps back into his cushions. "…I think, for the moment though, I need a nap. All this excitement is bad for old hearts."

"We'll let you alone," Blackbird promises. He gathers up Sadaka and trots out, leaving Glimmer to her focused, methodical, one-hoof-at-a-time book gathering, and Professor to his nap. "Think we can build one?" he whispers up to Sadaka, trailing after Winter a bit slowly with his aching self.

Sadaka tilts her head thoughtfully. "…Maybe. They got lots of scrap an' stuff. But I dunno what we'd do for machine parts." Well, the whole thing's made of machine parts! But she probably means the bits that make it go. Engines and what-not. "But we can try! …After you rest," she adds with another stern look.

Blackbird laughs, tiredly. "Yes, ma'am. I think a nap sounds really good about now. Will you be okay on your own, Stripey?" Like she hasn't been fine on her own all week, but y'know. He frets.

Sadaka nods. "Of course I will be! I'll start looking for parts or something."

"Atta girl. Stay safe, Dakadear." Setting her down, he gives her a little kiss, and then changes course, staggering into the dorm instead for a much-needed rest. After all, there is much work to be done, and doing so without rest would be foolish.