(I know, but Discord's emotionally and socially a little inexperienced, he'd never admit it; hence the truth poison! XD) Xarame broke down in tears, throwing her hooves around Frozen and sobbing into his coat; the emotional toll of the recent events was too much to bear, and she'd had to suppress her fears and sorrow for so long...
After a while, Xarame's sobbing subsided. She sniffed and let go of Frozen. "I- I thank you for your concern, but now, I think we must return." She stood up and made ready to head back to the fortress.
Xarame smiled a little. "I think that would be a better way to go; I'm not so big a fan as you of this snow." She took his hoof, only hesitating slightly.
With a bright, transient flash, the two were transported back to the courtyard of the fortress. It was only then that he reluctantly released his hold on her.
"I hope we have not returned too late; a long time already he has had to wait," Xarame said, heading into the tower and up the stairs, any trace of her sorrow hidden once more.
Frozen followed behind Xarame, concern for his friend washing over him as he ascended the long climb to the top of the tower.
Discord was unconscious again by the time they made it to his bedside; Met was silent, obviously focusing all of her focus into holding back the poison; the effects of Frozen's essence seemed to be wearing off. They had arrived just in the nick of time. "You are back. I pray your trip was successful?" Met asked as they entered, not looking up from her work.
(got your message on xbox!) Frozen nodded and handed Mett the flower. "Here it is," he said, "I dont know if Xarame needs to prepare it any particular way."
Xarame nodded, grabbing the flower from Met's telekinetic grasp with her mouth. Moving over to a small alchemy table in the corner, she dropped the flower into a pestle and mortar, ground it up, then brewed it in a tea, along with a handful of other strange looking flowers and leaves. Walking back over to his bedside, Xarame poured half the tea into a cup which he gave to Met, and then paused as she let the rest cool a little. After Met had poured the contents of the cup between Discord's lips, Xarame sighed. "I apologise, this will cause much pain, but without it, some of the poison may remain." She tipped the scalding tea onto the wound. "Gaaaaahhhhhh!" Discord screamed, arching his back until he was barely touching the bed. After a second, he collapsed down again. "Who knew being stabbed could result in so much pain?" He said, weakly. He could feel the tea working it's magic though, the poison receding until Met was able to draw the last of it out. Finally free from that particular nightmare, he let out a sigh of relief. (Yeah, I was just being nosy really, checking out what games you'd played)
(no problem, I shot you a friend request!) Frozen patted Discord's stomach, in relief. His eyes were full of tears, but he was grinning. "Glad to have you back," he said, chuckling in relief. Frozen turned and hugged Xarame, lifting her slightly off the ground, before lowering her and pulling her close, "You're an amazing mare Xarame!"
(You did? I thought I'd already sent you one! I still get confused by the Xbone's interface sometimes ) "Glad to be back; I'm not sure where I was, but was even worse than here! I think it may have been my subconscious..." Discord said, floating out of the bed and stretching. "Eep!" Xarame squeaked, caught of guard once more. "P-please! Frozen, warning!" She stammered, tears welling in her eyes; she appreciated the sentiment, but her nerves were shredded, and she couldn't handle such sudden outbursts.
(Xbone = Xbox One I've got a 360 too, but I don't use it as much any more.) "I know you did not mean harm, but sudden movements still cause me alarm." Xarame said, stepping back a little and wiping her eyes. "Now if you'll excuse me, I feel in need of rest; this whole day has been quite a test." She nodded goodbye to them all and then trotted out of the room. "Yes, it has been quite draining for me as well," Met said, looking incredibly worn out. Sustaining the spell for so long had clearly required a lot of energy. "And I'm sure you two have things to discuss," She added, looking pointedly at Discord as she followed Xarame. "Hmm." Discord would have glared at Met for that, if she hadn't been pivotal in saving his life. Or quite so alluring... Shaking his head a little, he turned to Frozen. "Xarame must really like you, Frozen; when I touched her shoulder, she hit me." He said, trying to cheer him up.
(i only have a 360 sadly!) Frozen sighed, "I understand, I really do," he sighed, "She's beautiful isn't she?"
"Beautiful? Well I, um..." Truthfully, Discord found it very difficult to distinguish between different ponies and zebras, usually relying on their colouring to tell the difference. "The important thing is that she seems to be a very decent mare. I'm probably not the best one to be giving this kind of advice, but I'd say she just needs time; I only talked with her briefly, but it's clear she's been through a lot." He said, standing next to Frozen and giving him an awkward pat on the shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. This kind of thing wasn't really his area of expertise.
"I understand," he said, "I do. This kind of thing does not offend me in the slightest, although you must think me silly." Frozen turned to him, "So what do you suppose Mett meant about us needing to talk?"
