Xarame stiffened a little at his touch, and shot him a look, but softened when she saw his tears. "Do you think regaining connection to her hive might have something to do with it?" Xarame asked, drying her eyes on a corner of the blanket. "She has a kind of hive mind; do you think suddenly being reconnected to her children may have had some affect on her attitude?"
"That could be the answer," he said, "if it truly has anything to do with this place, the only pony I know that knows anything about it is Frozen.."
(Lol yeah go ahead, I figured you'd probably want your discord back! *tosses him the keys* oh and i got his wheels realigned while I was at it!)
(Aw, but I had him set up to constantly veer off course!) Xarame nodded and gently shook Frozen awake. "Frozen? Discord's back,"
"We're here, Frozen." Xarame said, touching his cheek softly. "Wish we were all somewhere else though." Discord said, managing a weak smile. "We were discussing Met, but you still look tired; should we head back home? Er... I mean, back to the Northern tower."
Froxlzen shook his head as he stood up, rubbing his eyes, "No," he said, "not yet anyway. Where is Mett, what has become of her?"
"I am not sure; I'd imagine she'd return to the Northern Citadel to collect her remaining Changelings, but Xarame and I didn't see her during our trip." Xarame nodded in agreement, still draped in the blanket. "What do you want to do?" Discord asked.
"Capture her," he said simply, "discover if she is posessed or simply mad. A darkness hangs over her either way, she needs our help greatly."
Discord glanced nervously at Xarame. "That... will not be easy. She is a Changeling Queen, and she now has a sizeable portion of her hive with her." Discord avoided Frozen's eyes. "Xarame and I have been talking; If she had meant to harm us, she would have done, and after all she's done for us... We think it's best if we leave her be. We don't want to have to fight her."
Frozen nodded sadly, "I don't either father," he said, "I truly don't.." Frozen sighed and leaned against Xarame, feeling helpless.
Xarame gave Frozen a hug, to try and comfort him. She wanted to break down and stop just as much as he did, but she knew there were other ponies yet needing their help. She swallowed her sorrow and ended her embrace, stepping back to look at her remaining friends. "Do not mistake this for indifference, but we still have a job to do, do we not? I'm sure we will see Met again, and we shall just have to figure out what to do then, but as we speak, there are still more ponies in bondage than liberated in this realm. Ending that should be our main concern. There will be time for our happiness once we are done."
Frozen sniffled and wiped his eyes, nodding gently. Using magic, he produced a map of the realm. Both the watchtower and the fortress were helpfully marked out. Frozen grimaced at the sight of their current fortress being marked off, remembering how.
Discord stood behind Frozen and Xarame to study the map. "That Western Citadel, is that a shoreline it's sitting on? There's a sea in this realm?" He said in surprise. He shook his head. "Well, it looks like it's either that the desert to the South; which do you think Frozen?" (I can't remember if this is right, but I think this is the Eastern Citadel they're at now, so they've got the Southern, Western and Central left to liberate.)
(Correct) "We'll take the one by the sea. The presence of water should make our conquest much easier. The closer to water I am, the stronger I become."
Discord nodded. "That's good to know; I'm not sure we'll be able to rely on the Changelings any more, so we'll need every advantage." He sighed. "We'll have to head back North and then across; I don't want to risk passing too close to the centre."
"I'd like to leave now, if we can; I've had enough of this place,we'll find somepony else to run it. Do you think you can teleport us back North Frozen? I don't much fancy walking..." He rose and strecthed. "Perhaps we could try and get a good night's sleep when we get there. It's been a very long day." "I think I'd like that too," Xarame said, tiredly.
Frozen nodded, "Of course," he said. He chanted a few words, softly, and with a flash of bright light they appeared farther north near a dense forest.
