Diaries of A Sludgenoid: Light Your Heart Up

Light Your Heart Up
[Co-Written with Sneaky]
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"It's good you came to me when you did. Those Dog's filthy nails are not to be trifled with. You could have been dead by morning with that amount of Bacteria in your leg wound."
Nova Sugar says as she finishes wrapping up Rokarx’s injured foreleg, currently in his pony disguise as Eclipse.
>"D-Did you get it all out?"
He says panicked at being told he could have died so quickly
"E'yup, got all that nasty Dog Dirt out of the wound. You should be all set!"
She says cheerily taking pride in her work.
>"Th-Thanks. I g-guess I should have been more careful when we were sneaking in."
"No it was probably our fault. The place smelled so bad they could probably smell our cleanliness."
She says chuckling merrily.
"We should probably head to the bridge to let Comet know, he's probably worried about you after I panicked at the site of your wound when we got back."
>"Y-Yea, he was in a rush to get us back after I got attacked."
He lightly stands back onto his bandaged leg as he gets off the table, making sure it isn’t in pain anymore. Feeling better, he makes his way back to the bridge with Nova, tapping away at her hoof mounted computer at a gait by Rokarx’s side.

As the two walk back towards the bridge, the ship suddenly shakes violently.
>"W-What was that?"
Nova trips over her misplaced hooves looking up from her computer as she faceplants into Rokarx, sending them both rolling to the side as the ship takes a sharp turn.
>"Ahh!"
Rokarx shouts in surprise as he falls and lands against the wall pinned under Nova from their tumble. Once the ship stabilizes, Comet's voice is heard over the intercom.
"Cyberkons are moving in to attack! Everyone get to position and brace yourselves!"
"Ooof, oh I'm such a clutz. Sorry Eclipse!"
Nova says blushing as she stand herself up, and lends Rokarx a hoof doing the same.
>"I-It's ok."
He says as grabs Nova's hoof and stands back up.
>"W-We should probably hurry to the bridge, Cyberkons can't be good news."
"Yuppers..."
Nova says as she turns around to head back through the door they tumbled through.

As they correct themselves after their fall, the ship rocks violently again, throwing the two through the air. This time pinned beneath Rokarx, Nova looks around trying to figure out what room they've been knocked into this time.
"Oh, erm w-where what was that?"
Nova says rubbing her head with a hoof. As Rokarx collects himself after being tossed again, he quickly gets up when he sees Nova under him.
>”O-Oh, S-Sorry..."
"I-it's okay let me just-"
He backs up into the wall of the small room as he gets off her, and a beep is heard
"What was that?"
She asks worriedly as lights, and loud beeping begins to fill the tiny room.
>"Hmm?"
Rokarx turns his head at the sound, seeing that he backed into the pod launch button. The door to the room slides shut, and a voice plays.
[EJECTING ESCAPE POD IN 3.. 2…]
"Ooohhhhhnonononnononono"
Nova dashes for the exit but it cut off by the door closing in her face, she falls backwards, lip bleeding a little from the impact. She begins whimpering. Rokarx looks up at the door, his ears dropping at the voice.
>"Uh oh..."
[...1]

The room shakes as the pod ejects from the ship. Out the peep hole on the door, they can see the Stable shrink in the distance. Nova got up to her hooves, checking her communicator.
"They're out of my range! Is there a radio on this thing or something!?"
She says with increasing panic.
>"I-I don't know! I-I haven't worked with escape pods much!"
Rokarx opens up the pod's control panel as he starts to fiddle around with the controls. Nova starts feverishly searching around the pod for anything resembling a radio.
>"I-I can't get control of the pod, the c-controls are jammed."
Nova looks out a window.
"This can't end well.... where are we even going?"
>"I-I'm not sure. B-But the stable should record that the pod's ejection, so they should be able to find us easily once they get away from the Cyberkons."
The pod shakes, out the window they can see one of the Cyberkon ships shooting at them.
"I...I hope they can get away from them..."
Nova's eyes widen as she realises they're under attack.
"Is there some way you can make us go faster? Outrun that thing?"
>"N-Not really, the controls are jammed up. A-And even if i could steer the pod, it couldn't outrun a ship..."

A blast hits the pod, sending it spiralling and spinning out of control. Nova curls up pitifully in the corner of the escape pod. Rokarx holds onto the control panel to brace as the pod spins out, looking down over at Nova curled in the corner.
>”D-Don't worry, I-I'm sure we'll be ok..."
"We’re gunna die... I don't, I don't want to think about what my regeneration will do in a vacuum...."
Nova sobs into her hooves.
>"P-Please don't cry."
Rokarx lets go of the panel and slowly shifts over to Nova as the pod spins.
>"I-I've been in bad spots before, b-but it usually ends up okay i-in the end."
The pod shakes hard in another direction as they hit something. Out the window they can see the pod has drifted into an asteroid field Nova looks up at Rokarx with a sniffle whipping her cheek with a hoof.
"Well I-I don't.....What are we going to do?"
Rokarx looks out the window, he braces against the pod's wall as it shakes again from colliding with another rock
 >"I-I don't know, I-I guess we just hope."
"....."
Nova sits silently still weeping quietly, after a few seconds her horn glows as she tugs Eclipse towards her.
>"Wha?"
Rokarx says in surprise as Nova pulls him in, but he doesn't resist. Nova sniffles, stifling her sobs, and resting her head on Eclipse's shoulder as he’s pulled down next to her. Rokarx looks down at Nova, feeling uncomfortable at first at the closeness. But as he hears her sobbing stop, he puts a hoof over her shoulder.
"Thank you...it's nice to know that i can find something warm even in a different sp-species..."
She says sounding a little embarrassed.
>"Y-You’re welcome. I-Its nice to be with somepony a-and not have to worry about m-my disguise."
"It must be hard hiding around everyone."
>"Y-Yea, e-especially when I would get killed if they found out..."
Cutting the moment short, an asteroid slams into the pod's door, sending it spinning backwards violently. Nova closes her eyes grabbing onto Eclipse tightly.
>”Ah! D-don’t worry, these pods a-are durable. W’We’ll be fine.”
He says trying to stay calm as the pods rocks violently. Nova breaches an uncomfortable amount of pressure as she squeezes him, whimpering softly. Rokarx wheezes slightly at Nova clasps down on him, but he doesn’t object. He puts a hoof around her to hold her back, trying to help make her not feel as scared. Nova begins to ease off of Rokarx, but as soon as the peace sets in it’s gone again as they are both thrust towards the ceiling, the view outside the pod shifting from the black expanse of space to a blue sky atmosphere. Before the nausea of gravity’s sudden presence can set in ,Rokarx is sandwiched between Nova and the ceiling. Rokarx yelps in pain as Nova slams into him. Half in pain and half in comprehension, Nova sobs loudly at their plummet towards the imposing planetscape. Rokarx tries to move his legs, but the g-forces hold him tight to the pod’s wall.
	The view outside glows a bright white as the pod heats up from the re-entry, blinding the scenery, and their path. Splayed with sheer terror, the two ponies could feel the forces that held them lessening as the pod cooled albeit slowly. Moments later four explosions are heard originating from the outside of the pod, a sound which is quickly followed by the wispy sounds of multiple parachutes attempting to catch air. The pod’s speed drops suddenly, Nova slamming forward into the pod’s floor from the momentum, Rokarx landing on top of her with a sickening crunch. Rokarx winces in pain as his injured leg hits the floor, his vision blurred from the impact.
	The approaching ground comes back into view as the pod cools, starting to slow. Not for long though as the pod rocks to the side suddenly as two of the parachutes rip off. The pod spirals to the ground from the uneven balance, the two passengers unable to move as the pod slams into the sandy surface, falling on it’s side, and sending them both bounding into the wall of the pod with an oomf. Rokarx rolls off of Nova, his vision starting to come back into focus now that the pod has stopped barreling. He looks over to her, wondering how well she took the landing. To his immediate shagrin a trickle of blood flows off her mouth as her head falls to the side to stare at him with wide, dead fish eyes.
“Ro-rokarx…. I-I can’t…”
Rokarx feels his heart sink, seeing Nova battered like this. He quickly stands, pain shooting up his injured leg. He nearly falls back over, but he ignores it as he clutters back to his hooves, moving over to Nova.
>”N-Nova… I-I’m so sorry, I-I didn’t m-mean to land on y-you…”
His eyes start to tear up, feeling guilty over causing this to happen.
>”P-Please b-be okay…”
One of Nova’s eyes close as her pained breathing comes to a subtle halt. Her single eye still locked with Rokarx’s eyes.
>”N-Nova?”
He says, worried at her stopped breathing, reaching a hoof out to her. A disgusting twisting noise is heard as Nova suddenly shoots awake. Entire body spasming she attempts to draw in large breaths as her body rearranges itself sadistically. Rokarx jumps back, shocked at Nova’s shifting. Nova coughed as she stood up, resting her back against the pod’s new walls.
“That…. could have been a lot worse...”
She says looking down at the floor between her legs obliviously where a pool of blood had amassed. Rokarx looks at her, a bit scared at what just happened.
>”Wha… A-are you alright?”
“Yeah… I… I broke a lot of things….are-are you okay?”
She says looking concerned for Rokarx.
>”M-my leg hurts a bit f-from being shaken up…”
He sits down, the rush of adrenaline from being concerned for Nova’s safety having faded, the pain coming back to him.
>”B-But what about you, y-you looked terrible. H-How are you moving?”
She scooches closer to Rokarx gently looking over his wound, as a corona of subtle light oozes through the pod, soothing his pain at a touch.
“I can regenerate… It’s usually pretty painful. But that time i just blacked out for a minute.”
Rokarx visibly relaxes a bit at the touch of Nova’s healing, but still looks at her with worriedly.
>”Oh, th-that’s good. A-Are you sure you’re alright? Y-You just fixed yourself up, and you looked pretty bad…”
Nova sighs deeply,
“I’ve been through worse… the pain is usually what gets me but i’m pretty sure you severed my spinal column, or broke it at some point cause I couldn’t feel anything below my neck. Not that I’m the best judge if that was true.”
She says solemnly, and matter of factly. Rokarx’s eyes tear up again.
>”I-I’m so sorry…”
Nova cocks her head to the side, in an eerily similar position compared to what it was in when she stared through him on the floor.
“It’s alright Rokarx.”
Nova leans in to give Rokarx a tight hug around the shoulders.
“I’m just glad I broke your fall.”
>”Th-Thanks.”
He says slightly sadly, starting to feel a bit better.

Nova pulls her hooves away from Eclipse, clambering out of the pod and standing up to look around.
"Desert....some vegetation....oh..."
Rokarx stands and follows her out of the pod.
>"W-We got knocked around a lot, I-I hope they can find us soon."
Nova clambers out of the pod, looking around the outside she opens a small hatch. Looking through a very meager amount of small silver packages.
"They, they forgot to restock the emergency food on this..... we have maybe one days worth of food."
>"Th-They should find us by then. W-We should probably look around for m-more food, and water."
"Right, I-I’ll try, and climb some of these trees... Check to see if the water in that pool is clean," Nova says handing Eclipse a metallic instrument.
>"O-Ok."
Roarx takes the instrument and heads over to the lake. He dips the end into the water, taking a sample. Approaching one of the trees, Nova begins slowly climbing up to the leafy top. Reaching the top, the surrounding area is mostly dry desert, aside from the small oasis they're at. Nova lifts her circuit off her head, flicking it into the escape pod from atop the tree's leafy roost as she pulls her hood back around her neck, letting her long golden mane swoosh around her shoulders.
"Doesn't seem too hot, were lucky this place seems habitable."
Rokarx comes back, and shouts up to Nova.
>"I-I checked the pool. It said the water's clean!"
Nova looks around below her for anything resembling fruit. Shuffling around the leaves she finds some plump looking blue fruits like giant pears-shaped blue berries.
"Looks like some kind of fruit up here."
She begins climbing down the tree.
>"Oh, that's good. At least we have some extra supplies now."
As they look around at their potential resources, the sun starts to set.
>"I-Its starting to get late. A-And there's no sign of the others..."
"We should probably set up shelter around the Pod so they don't have to look far."
Rokarx looks over to the dented pod, the door hanging limply, having broken off one of the hinges.
>"Y-Yea, they'll probably be looking for the tracking beacon in it."
"That's what I was thinking, and... it's probably more conditioned in there then out here. Should we strip the trees?"
>"Wh-What for?"
"Building a shade shelter around the pod..? I am not a fan of sitting around in a boiling metal pod all day.."
>"O-Oh, right. That does sound better."
The two strip down the trees surrounding the oasis, making a large bedding of leaves weaved together and a canopy to block the sun. Making use of some containers from the pod, they gather a decent supply of water from the lake to hold close to camp. Nova seems pleased with her recollection of Yggdrasil survival skills.
"Better get some sleep."
>"Y-Yea. We didn't get bothered yet, so at least there's nothing hostile living around here."
He says as he sets up a spot to rest on. Nova lays down several feet from Rokarx facing away from him.
"G-good night Eclipse."
>"N-Night Nova.”

Early the next morning Rokarx awoke to the sound of foil packaging being unwrapped. He sits up in the leaf bed, shielding his eyes from the bright desert sun peeking through the canopy and turning to the sound.
>”Wha?”
Nova looks up from a pile of leaves she’d been working over, they were covered in a few foil wrappers.
“Good morning Rokarx, feeling peckish?”
Rokarx stands, and looks around a bit nervously.
>”N-No, I’m fine.”
Nova trots over to Rokarx floating two large leaves around her head, sitting a laying on her belly a few feet in front of Rokarx, Nova sets the leaf plates down in front of them. They appear to be carrying two small square stale bread looking crackers, and a limp piece of carrot.
“But I slaved all morning to make these!”
She says half jokingly. Rokarx looks down at the small breakfast on the leaves, feeling a bit more calmed. He sits down next to his plate.
>”O-Oh, nevermind... I-I guess I could have some.”
He says as he picks up one of the crackers, and takes a bite. Nova does the same picking up the carrot off her plate, biting it in half Nova pulls a hoof to her chest as she chokes on the carrot.
>”A-Are you ok?”
Nova coughs meeping lightly,
“I-hrmm I’m okay, that carrot didn’t go down right.”
She says as she floats the remaining half of the carrot back down onto her plate, not taking her eyes off it like it was a poisonous snake. Rokarx finishes his cracker, and pushes aside the carrot after seeing Nova’s reaction.
>”I-I think that’s enough for me…”
Nova looks down at the food with a melancholy look.
“Well, good, cause that’s all we have...”
Rokarx pushes the remaining cracker and carrot on his plate over to Nova.
>”Y-You can have mine if you want. I-I’m fine with only eating a little bit.”
Nova lifts a cracker nibbling on one of it’s corners. Gaining a sour look on her face she lifts up both plates, and proceeds quickly to the side of their enclosure. Dropping the contents of both plates into the nearby sand she spits out the cracker bits in her mouth, before covering it all in sand. Rokarx stands up, watching Nova as she dumps the food.
>”Guess w-we don’t have anything now then…”
Nova trots back over wiping the nasty crumbs off of her tongue.
“Ech, those could hardly if at all be considered food. I think Mandy would’ve died on the spot if those crackers had touched his tongue...what uh, do you think we should go looking for food?”
Nova asks sounding a little lost, and misguided.
>”I-Is there other food around here?”
“When i was up in that tree, there were a lot of fruits, I wonder if they’re edible.”
>”I-I guess we’ll have to find out.”
Nova stood up walking over to the tree she climbed the previous day, Rokarx following behind her.
Putting a hoof on the trees bark she begins quickly scaling up the tree. After a few moments a barrage of fruits start dropping around Rokarx. He holds up his hooves to try and catch them before they hit the sand. He catches a few before he can’t carry any more, the rest falling around him. He scrambles to try, and pick up the fallen ones, but not looking up, a fruit lands on his head, making him spill all the ones he was holding.
>”Oww…”
Nova’s head peeks over the top of the tree.
“Oh! Sorry Rokarx!”
She says as she starts sliding down the tree trunk.  Rokarx rubs his head where the fruit hit him.
>”I-Its ok. I should have been watching wh-where I was standing.”
Nova plants her hooves back in the sand, and makes haste over to Rokarx, raising her hoof up to Rokarx’s head rubbing the spot the fruit hit him in as a subtle aura of light emanates from her soothing his soreness.
“I’m sooo sorry Rokarx, i’m such a butter hooves!”
Rokarx closes his eyes, and hums happily as Nova soothes the spot.
>”I-Its not your fault. I-I can barely feel it now.”
Nova reaches out with both forelimbs wrapping them around Rokarx’s head, drowning him in her own overzealous worrying, and her soft breast.
“Nonono it was my fault i should have been watching what i was doing!”
Rokarx’s eyes snap open in surprise as Nova pulls him in. He looks up at her, now blushing at their sudden proximity.
>”I-Its fine, really. I-It didn’t even hurt that much.”
Nova retracts from Rokarx as her glowy aura fades.
“Okay. Well i need to eat some of these fruits. I’m going to go all loopy if i don’t get something.”
She says before scooping up one of the fruits. Rokarx nearly falls over as Nova moves, but catches himself quickly. He starts to pick up all the scattered fruits that he dropped.
>”I-I’ll gather them up, and help carry them b-back to camp.”
Nova starts floating a gathering clump of fruits in the air as she bites into one of the fruits.
“Hrmm it’s kinda sour..”
>”I-Is that bad?”
“Not necessarily, I’m not in pain...or dead, so I’ll assume they’re fine to eat.”
Nova finishes gathering up all the fruit that Rokarx missed, heading back to the camp. Rokarx sets the fruits down in a pile next to the crashed escape pod on a bundle of leaves. Nova pours the fruits she gathered onto the pile.

As they lay on their backs, in the shade of the canopy, the day dragged on endlessly.
“Sooo, boooooored.”
Nova looks over at Rokarx,
“What are you going to do about it? The Sympathy knight needs some sympathy!”
She says jokingly.
>”I-I don’t know. There’s n-not much here except sand…”
“We could make...sand...stuff….”
>”L-Like what?”
“Castles or something. I dunno!”
Rokarx rolls over onto his hooves.
>”Th-That sounds like it could be fun.”
Nova sits, yawns, and then stands up, heading over towards the lake’s shores.
“Come on, I can’t regenerate boredom.”
>”O-Okay.”
Rokarx stands up, and follows after her. Setting down in the sand by the waters, Nova starts arranging the sand in little piles with her hooves, as opposed to telekinesis. Rokarx sits down across from her, scooping sand into a pile.
>”How do w-we build stuff from this? I-It just crumbles apart.”
“Well if you put water on the sand then it becomes much more sticky so it won’t fall apart so fast!”
Nova says trying to make it sound interesting, as she float a glob of water over to dump on a patch of sand in front of Rokarx. Rokarx looks down at the wet sand curiously, he starts to clump it together into a pile, making a pyramid.
>”O-Oh, that does work better.”
“Try something else, the sand, and water work together much better then you’re allowing them to.”
>”L-Like this?”
He squishes the pyramid together, making a large tower out of the sand.
“Yeah, good job! Now let me see if i can just...”
Nova squints closing her eyes as her horn glows, slowly trickles of water flow upward from the sides of the tower removing the moisture from the tower before she flicks the globe away, and starts placing shells around the tower.
>”Th-That looks nice. I didn’t know y-you could build stuff from sand before.”
“Yeah… I used to have time to do this a lot… before.”
She says losing herself in a neutral nostalgic moment.
>”B-Before what?”
“I-I don’t like to think about it..”
Nova says gaining a stammer as she starts to stand up in a hurry. Rokarx looks down to the ground.
>”O-Oh, sorry…”
As she plants her hooves to stand it sends a ripple through the ground which she takes no note of as she walks purposely back to the camp. A crack rides up the tower as a seashell falls out of place, clattering among the ones on the bottom of the tower. Rokarx picks up the shell, and places it back, only for it to fall back down. Rokarx looks at the tower sadly, then turns to Nova as she leaves. He slowly stands, and heads back to the camp after her.
	Nova sat on the opposite side of the camp from where Rokarx arrived. She stared off at the beautiful sunset hidden behind the clouds. Rokarx stops at the edge of the camp, wanting to leave Nova her space.
>”S-Sorry if I touched a nerve o-or anything…”
Nova turned her head slumping her shoulders at Rokarx.
“No no, it’s okay… i just… i can handle death in the future because i can help it. But nopony can change the past.”
She says solemnly. Rokarx takes a cautious step forward.
>”O-Oh, I didn’t know. I-I’m sorry about your loss.”
“You’ve got nothing to apologize for. It wasn’t your fault.”
Nova said before laying down away from Rokarx as the sun slips over the horizon. Rokarx is silent, and lays down on the edge of camp facing away from Nova.

The sun rises up on the third day. Rokarx wakes up, rolling over to see Nova still sleeping. He looked to the sky, no sign of the Stable or anything. Seeing their supply of water low, Rokarx heads out to refill their water supply for the day from the pool. Nova awoke alone at the camp. Feeling hungry she made her way over to the fruit trees. leaning up against the spongy bark of one of the fruit trees staring at the pile of amassed blue fruit. Reluctantly reaching over Nova pulls one of the fruits from the pile with her telekinesis. Lazily opening her mouth to receive the fruit she jerks in surprise when the fruits clear juices burst forth down her throat. Her mild discomfort passes as the flavor hits her tastebuds, like something from a dream Nova greedily consumes more of the fruits tasty flesh.
	Rokarx makes his way back up the hill to the camp, lugging the container of water on his back. He spots Nova in the distance, gulping down the fruits, juices dripping down her chin. He stops, biting his lip at the sight. Its been days since he last fed, and the sight of Nova was so enticing. She's been so nice to him, she wouldn't mind...  He stumbles as the water shifts and sloshes around in the jug on his back, snapping back to reality. He thinks to himself.
>(No, no, don't think like that. She's a friend, I don't want to force that. But still…)
Setting the jug down and laying on the grass, he settles to watch from afar.
	Ready this time, Nova holds out her supple tongue up and out as the fruit is squeezed for every last drop of it's glorious juice. Spilling quit a bit on herself she removes her armor's harness letting it rest gently on her forelegs, as she cranes herself down to lick the juice off of her bare chest. Rokarx squirms as he lays lower to the grass, watching Nova eat is almost too much for him to handle. He looks away for a moment.
>(Come on, control yourself.)
He turns back to see her licking the juice off herself, and his face grows red in blush as he feels the blood rush up, and rush low.
Laying down on her back, fully stretching herself out Nova plucks a fruit from the pile lapping at it's rough, and smooth outside before nibbling into the base taking the skin in her mouth as she sucks out all the fruits flowy insides. Hastily biting into a fresh piece of fruit Nova seems surprised when her face is splashed by more of the juices, letting them run down her face, and neck she lay there giggling to herself as gravity tickled her with the juices flow. Rokarx's wings flare up as he watches Nova work the fruit.
>"Mmm..."
He lowly moans as he grinds his length between his chest and the ground. As Nova bites the new fruit and showers herself in the juice, he tenses up as he feels his stomach get drenched as well.
	Lapping up the remains of the fruit Nova licks her tender lips as she stands up, lazily refastening her harness. Turning towards the waters, she heads that direction to clean up, as her face, and neck are still mostly covered in sticky juices.
Rokarx lays in the grass in bliss feeling relieved, but hungry as a green flame washes over him as his disguise peels back. However when he sees Nova get up and walk in his direction, he panics. He stands up, only to feel wetness dripping off his stomach and grass stuck all under him. He quickly tries to wipe it off, but only smears it and the grass around on his chitin. Seeing Nova grow closer, he quickly rolls onto his back and dumps the jug all over him washing the white stickiness off. Nova chuckles at the changeling's display.
"You feeling alright there Eclipse? You seem to have dropped your disguise."
He quickly gets stands back up, blushing in embarrassment.
>"Y-Yea, j-just tripped walking back..."
He looks at the now empty jug laying on the ground.
>"G-Guess I need to get more water now."
Nova smiles cocking her head sideways at Eclipse.
"You know i've never actually seen a sludgenoid up close like this... You're very interesting..."
She says eyeing Eclipse.
"Here I'm heading to the water I'll get the jug for you, you just go lay down, I think the heat may be getting to you."
He scratches the back of his head and laughs a little.
>"Heh, y-yea I guess."
Rokarx picks up the jug to hand to Nova, then heads back to the camp.

As the sun lowered in the sky, the desert was filled with the warm orange glow of dusk. Back at the camp, Nova and Rokarx prepared for the night.
"Your wound seems to be doing fine. It's amazing what some of these new medicinal things they are making can do without magic."
Nova says rotating a fresh sheet of white bandage around Rokarx’s foreleg.
>"Y-Yea, I barely even remember I have it unless I look down at it."
He says as he looks down at his bandaged leg, flexing it slightly. Nova smiles warmly.
"Well just don't push it Mister, we want that leg nice, and healed tidy by the time the others show up... Are you feeling alright? I'm concerned of your spill earlier."
>"I-I'm fine, j-just got a little tripped up when coming back."
"Are you sure it's not something else? I'm here to help you Eclipse… Speaking of which, I'm betting your real name isn't Eclipse. Would you be more comfortable with me calling you by your Sludgenoid name?"
>"I-I guess I was a bit distracted... A-And if you want, m-my true name is Rokarx."
"Hmmm"
Nova seems buzzingly happy.
"So that's it then. You know, this whole ordeal has been kind of relaxing, but I can see why this might be stressful. You comforted me in the crash so it's the least I can do to help you. That's why tomorrow I'm going to give you a Sympathy Knight Massage, guaranteed to alleviate any, and all stress, or knots. I won't take no for an answer Mister."
She says beaming in a half joking manner. Rokarx blushes at her massage offer.
>"Y-You don't need to do that. I-I'm fine, really."
Nova scoots close to Rokarx bumping his flank with her own unintentionally as she glides a pressing a hoof down his side. Rokarx shivers as she feels him.
"Nonsense, I didn't even touch a major group, and you feel like a tangled knotty mess.."
Nova turns around to face away from Rokarx shifting her behind, and moving her legs around in the bedding to press her back into Rokarx's side as she lays on her side.
"Goodnight Rokarx."
After Nova lays down next to him, Rokarx looks down at her, then lays down on his back. >"G-Goodnight Nova."

The sun dawns on their fourth day on the desert planet, the sun fills the canopy cover with soothing yellow light, as only the wind can be heard for miles. Nova awakens first as the light shines down through the canopy. A black, hole riddled leg is draped over her. Drifting in, and out Nova snuggles the cheese leg automatically, and affectionately glad it's there. Rokarx, still in a mostly sleep state, curls up against Nova upon feeling her snuggle his leg.
	After a few minutes pass Nova slips out from under Rokarx's arm drinking deeply from their jug of water Nova awakens Rokarx, and offers him the jug.
"Good Morning Rokarx."
She says giving a wide mouthed yawn. Rokarx opens his eyes, looking up at her.
>"M-Morning Nova."
He stretches and stands, a bit slowly, taking the jug for a drink. He coughs a bit as he puts the jug down. Nova seems concerned
"Are you okay..? You look like you slept terribly.."
She says glumly.
>"I-I'm alright, j-just... a little groggy."
He rubs his eyes as he talks. His chitin much paler than yesterday, a dulled light gray rather than its vibrant jet black hue.
"You look terrible Rokarx, just...just lay on your stomach, and take deeeep breathes."
Nova says as she urges him to turn over.
>"I'm f-fine don't worry..."

He protests, but he slumps down to his stomach anyways. The way he does so, its unsure if he's laying down because Nova asked, or if he just can't stand anymore. Nova stands over Rokarx eyeing his entire form before setting upon him with her forehooves. Pressing deeply into his clustered back. Breathing long and soothingly, Nova slides her hooves around Rokarx's spine scanning his being.
>"Mmm."
Rokarx sighs in relief at Nova's touch. He starts to relax, and his wings flutter a bit as she works at his back. Feeling around deftly, Nova feels up Rokarx's sides, focussing around where his wings meet his back.
"Your back is interesting, its like soup in some places, and iron in others..."
>"O-Our carapace is tough, but we're r-really soft at the joints where they meet and bend."
He responds, closing his eyes, and losing himself in thought as Nova continues.
“Mmmmm, you feel nice..."
Nova enjoys herself as she drops down to straddle Rokarx's back gently. Sliding her hoove up, and down his entire back, and sides pressing gently, and accurately at the right pressure on all the right places along Rokarx's back.
"How do you feel Rokarx? Am I pressing too hard?"
>"Ahh~ N-no, you're doing f-fine..."
Nova taps a few points on Rokarx's back sending pleasurable tingles through his body as she slides down to work on his legs. Unsure how to go about it, Nova works up and down the inside and outside of Rokarx's thighs. Rokarx shudders as Nova touches the points along his back. He loses awareness of his surroundings as he fades into a bliss as Nova moves downwards. As Nova works along his thighs, Rokarx hums in pleasure as his wings weakly flitter. His length subtly pokes out from under him, protruding out at the sensation of Nova’s strokes. Nova retracts from Rokarx blushing like a super nova, lost for words.
“Uh, oh, um uhm h-hey Rokarx, you uhm, oh my..."
She says locking eyes with Rokarx’s expanding member,
>"Wha? Why'd you stop?"
Rokarx's attention is pulled back in as Nova stammers, and then he notices his exposure. He tries to move away, but is too weak to get up, and only manages to crawl a few inches. He pulls up a few of the leaves from the camp's bedding to cover himself.
>"I-I-'m sorry, p-please don't be mad."
Nova steps backwards away from Rokarx pushing her hair behind her attentive ears.
"I'm not mad Rokarx, I just... Are you sure you're okay?"
She asks sounding embarrassed at the situation, yet also genuinely worried.
>"Y-You're not?"
He says, loosening up slightly and not looking as panicked, but still tense and keeping covered. >"W-Well, its just... I haven't eaten in a while..."
Nova's eyes widen as she smacks her forehead like she just realized how much of a dope she is.
"So that's it? That's why you've been acting all weird? Rokarx please, I'll do anything for a friend when they really need it."
She says lightening up with a smile.
>"A-Are you sure? I-I mean, I-I don't want to make you do s-something you don't want..."
He loosens his grip on the leaves a bit, but they still remain over him. Nova cocks her head to the side at him.
"It's completely fine Rokarx. I live well so that others may do the same."
She says still smiling warmly.
>"Th-Thanks Nova. I-I was starting to get kind of worried I would starve before the others found us."
He says with a nervous chuckle.
"Shy to death?"
She says giggling in response.
"Now what exactly do you need me to do to feed you?"
She says confidently.
>"W-Well, we feed off emotions. I-I found any that are given willingly d-don't hurt the other pony like draining does. Brother usually kept me well fed with treating me nice, and congratulating me when we did well on a mission."
"Well now i'm just offended that you're starving while trapped on a desert planet with just me."
She says jokingly.
>"O-Oh, no, I didn't mean it like that!"
He says, waving his hoofs in apology and dropping the leaves.
>"I-Its just you've been so nice, I-I didn't want to cross a line, and feed on you."
Nova takes a few strides towards Rokarx.
"Rokarx you can feel free to feed on me any time you like, especially now. You really look like you need it."
>"Th-Thanks."
He turns on the ground to face Nova head on, still laying sprawled on the ground.
>"Y-Yea, its been a few days. I-I'll need something big, so I-I can have the energy to move at least..."
Nova sits in front of Rokarx in a similar position on her stomach with one of her hooves tucked under her breast, and the other tapping her chin as she looks towards the shelter's leafy roofing inquisitively.

"Hmmmm I dunnooo... I'm starting to have second thoughts."
Rokarx's ears droop.
>"What? B-But you just said..."
He says with confusion, and sadness in his voice. Nova adopts a sinister grimace before wrapping her hooves around the back of Rokarx's head, pulling him in as she kisses him on the lips compassionately.
>"Mph!."
He's caught by surprise by Nova's sudden pull. He closes his eyes as his whole body loosens up at the feeling, and at finally having food.  Nova adjusts herself forward leaning a bit more into the show of affection before breaking off, a trail of saliva taper off the side of her mouth.
"Mmmm, feeling any better?"
She says pleasantly, before wiping the saliva away. Rokarx lowers his head to the ground as the kiss is broken, a look of satisfaction on his face and some color back into his shell.
>"Mhm. Y-You taste nice..."
Nova gives a giggle at the sludgenoid’s reaction.
"You too Rokarx, youuu need more?"
She asks not missing a beat.
>"I-If you don't mind."
He says looking up at her.
"You go first this time."
She says sitting back a little.
>"A-Alright."
Rokarx lifts himself up, propping up to a sitting position as he scoots closer to Nova. He sits there for a few seconds, blushing and looking around nervously before closing his eyes and leaning forward to give Nova a light kiss. Nova sits up after receiving the kiss.
"Come on, you didn't even feed. You gotta put your own emotion into it if you expect anything strong back."
she says trying to instigate, while simultaneously motivate Rokarx.
>"S-Sorry, I-I'm not really used to this kind of stuff… I-I'll try to be better."
He scoots closer to Nova. He puts a hoof behind Nova's head, staring into her eyes. Never before had he taken true notice of Sugars eyes. Left a hue of brightest pink, right the orange flow of a churning star.
>”Y-Your eyes…”
“Yes?”
She says still goading his renewed kissing fervor.
>”I-I never saw them this close. Th-They’re different colors.”
“They’ve been that way my whole life, only patients ever rarely notice them...”
>”Th-That’s too bad, they’re beautiful. I-I’ve never seen anything l-like them before.”
Nova’s bravado chips away as she looks down, and too the side blushing,
“Th-thank you Rokarx. Th-that’s very swe-”

He holds her for a moment, catching her off guard as he slowly pulls Nova closer, tilting his head and closing the gap, kissing her deeply. Nova releases an internal sigh of pleasure as she melts in Rokarx's hooves, returning the kiss gooily. Feeling her return the kiss, Rokarx slides into Nova's mouth, caressing her tongue with his own. Nova's hooves shift around her as her ears flop in static pleasure. Expertly receiving Rokarx's tongue with her own she moans pleasurably. Rokarx wraps his other hoof around Nova's back, holding her close. He eventually pulls away, breaking the kiss.
>"W-Was that good?"
In response Nova goes back in solidifying a bit as she levels her head with Rokarx's gliding her hooves along his back still massaging him, as she takes him back in for a caressing kiss. As Nova pulls him back in, Rokarx lowers both his hooves to her back, holding her close. Pressing and sending tingles through Rokarx, Nova's massaging melts away his feelings of tension. Maneuvering the moment, Nova pulls Rokarx down beside her on the leaves, separating her mouth from his she slips in beside him, holding him in a gentle spooning position with her head snuggled against his neck.
>"Mmm."
He moans as he feels his entire body relax under Nova's hooves. He smiles at her as she snuggles against him.
>"Th-Thank you Nova, for this. I-It feels good having someone besides Brother that I can be around, and not worry about hiding what I am."
"You shouldn't have to hide around anyone, it's monsters like Sunshine that spread the sickness of hate throughout the universe. We really need more good ponies like your brother."
Nova says as she reaches up, and down Rokarx's forelegs squeezing, and pressing gently.
>"Y-Yea, but there's not much that can be done about that. B-But at least these moments make up for it."
"Yeah, these moments… So are you all full? I don't know that much about Sludgenoid feeding..."
She asks sounding still a bit worried as she finishes up unclenching the knots around Rokarx's wounded leg.
>"Y-Yea, that was more than enough you gave me, I-It really helped."
He sighs as she finishes massaging his foreleg.
>"I-I feel a lot better."
"You're welcome, i told you you'd enjoy it. Guaranteed 100% knot free. Well, what now..? Oh, wait almost forgot, the best thing to do after all your muscles are relaxed like this is to sleep. You'll wake up even more refreshed than you are now."
>"That sounds good. A-After all of that I'm too relaxed to want to get up."
Nova begins to stand leaning on a hoof, reaching over she gently strokes the side of Rokarx's head causing an interesting feeling like hes about to start laughing out loud before he feels sleep call out to him. Rokarx closes his eyes as he falls into slumber, a smile on his face of relaxation and bliss.

Rokarx becomes aware at the sudden cool breeze of evening winds upon his face. Air filled with the sweet scent of fruits and crisp aqueous oasi. He finds himself staring at the planet’s desert sun scooping low behind the distant mountain range. A distinct pinkish orange hue fills the landscape of his vision as he becomes aware of his thirst, and hunger. To his surprise a convenient cup of fresh cool water lay beside him in the canopies leafy floor.
Rokarx sits up, and stretches.
>"Ahh, she was right. I-I feel great."
He looks down noticing the water left for him.
>"S-She thought of everything, she r-really does enjoy caring for others."
He picks up the cup and gulps it down.
>"I-I'm glad that I got stranded with her, I-I don't even want to think what would have happened if it was Sunshine..."
Nova rustles around in her corner of the canopy cover disturbing the leaves below her as she whimpers worriedly with a saddening, hurt look on her face, in an the midst of an apparently disturbing dream. Rokarx walks over to Nova, worried at her discomforting look. Unsure of what to do, he lies down beside her, and wraps his hooves around her in a hug.
>"D-Don't worry Nova, Everything is f-fine."
He whispers softly causing Nova to peacefully stir awake.
"Mmmmmm, good afternoon sleepy, I hope you dreamt nice things..."
She says dreamily.
>"I-I slept fine, what about you? Y-You didn't look so well."
"Yggdrasil hasn't granted me a decent rest in many moons."
She says flatly.
>"O-Oh, I'm sorry..."
“It's fine, it's not your fault, I'm willing to bear witness to these horrible things in the hopes that I'll be able to stop at least some of them before they happen."
>"I-I wish I could help. After all you've done for me, d-doesn't seem right to let you have to deal with nightmares."
"Well, the only thing that could stop the dreaming would be to abandon the Sympathy knights, but that'd just make me more worried, because I'd never know when something bad was going to happen… I'm glad i get these visions. I'll save more lives than my nights are worth, even if i live a millenia."
>"Th-That's great, I just wish I-I could help you so you don't have bad nights."
"Dreams don't control how I see them. Remembering that i have people in another place that i can brighten the day of is enough to get me through. I mean it helps to wake up to a friend holding me close, but you can't be made to be here everytime."
"W-Well I'm here now, a-and I want to help repay the kindness you showed me."
He says as he squeezes her closer in a hug.
"Mmff, well i'm glad you love my kindness as much as i do. Speaking of help, you've been asleep since yesterday morning."
He loosens up his hug-hold a bit.
>"I-I was? I guess I m-must have been pretty worn out."
"Not very surprising, definitely the longest i've seen someone go without a blow to the head. Are you still feeling okay? Hungry at all?"
>"I-I feel much better, not all lethargic or weak l-like yesterday. I-I am feeling a bit hungry, after sleeping that long..."
Nova scooches backwards snuggling up into Rokarx's chest.
"I'll let you decide how you want to go about that, acting a little more assertive will wipe that stammer out, even if it is adorable. Just think of how well it went yesterday."
Nova gives a pleased sigh recollecting the previous day's activities as she fidgets, and grinds lightly against Rokarx.
>"O-Oh, well, u-uhhh..."
Rokarx stammers as he tries to respond. Nova's closeness and grind causes his body to speak for him as Nova feels something prod against her back. Nova pulls one of Rokarx's arms around her holding it tightly with her fore hooves as she subtly sways one of her hips back, and forth across the tip of Rokarx's member. His stammering is cut off as Nova pulls his hoof, he tries to respond but only softly moans as Nova brushes against him.
>"A-Ah, N-Nova... m-maybe, if you don't mind..."
"What..? I'm sorry Rok I couldn't catch that one, what'd you say?"
Nova says innocently as she presses her plot against Rokarx's member. He squirms in her grip as she presses on him, which only presses them closer together.
>"C-Could we, mmm..."
He moans slightly as the rubbing continues.
>"Could w-we have sex?"
Nova turns around to look Rokarx in the eyes.
"We can do whatever you want. All you have to do is tell me exactly what you want me to do."
>"O-Oh, well... I-I don't really know what. I-I, haven't really done this much..."
He says, face reddening with blush from embarrassment.
"Hmmm, well then just listen to your body, what does it tell you?"
>"M-My body?"
He looks down at himself for a few seconds before looking back up to Nova.
>"A-All I can tell is it wants this dealt with."
He says nodding down at his lower region. Nova ducks down, running a hoof along Rokarx's side and his hip, leaving her mouth with his rod. Nova protrudes her tongue painfully slow, not breaking eye contact with Rokarx's member as she leans in to lick in a swirl around the tip. Rokarx shudders as her tongue makes contact.
>"Ahh... Y-Yes, that's g-good."
Gliding only the very tip of her tongue down to the base of Rokarx's shaft, Nova brings over a hoof to caress him, as her other hoof works seamlessly to turn Rokarx's lower chest to jelly with it's supple movements and tender massaging. Rokark squirms at Nova's caressing, sighing at each touch.
>"Mmm, y-your hooves are so soft..."
Nova giggles in enjoyment toward his reactions.
"You’re not bad yourself Rok.." she manages to let out as she continues caressing his large member.
>"C-Could... could you m-maybe, use your tongue again? Th-That really felt good."
Nova sits up on her elbow shifting Rokarx onto his back with telekinesis as she runs the tip of her tongue up his length. Rokarx flails his legs in surprise as Nova rolls him over, but fully relaxes as her tongue makes contact.

Nova wriggles between Rokarx's legs, pressing her furry breast against the base of Rokarx's length, as she runs both her forehooves up his hindlegs. Rokarx wraps his legs around Nova as she nuzzles against him. Settling her hooves into perpendicular positions above Rokarx's pelvis, pressing in and around the area relaxing Rokarx even further into a state of mushy pleasure. He moans softly as she begins to massage around his pelvis, and he places his hooves onto hers to follow the movements. Wriggling her warm form around in Rokarx's embrace Nova smiles warmly up at him before slowly going back down to put the tip of Rokarx into her mouth without breaking eye contact. Rokarx grips Nova's hooves tightly and thrusts up slightly as she takes him into her mouth. Nova easily accommodates the roughness, enveloping half of Rokarx's member now. She begins working her tongue around his length, as her hooves continue expelling the tight knots that accompany climbing to release. Rokarx bites his lip as Nova works him. He lets go of her hooves, letting his forelegs fall to his sides limp as he melts under her massage
	Coming up off of Rokarx's wetted shaft, Nova takes a deep breath, her chest pressing against Rokarx's member and thighs, he could feel her heart beat calmly against him. Rokarx sighs as Nova pulls off him, his hardness twitching in pleasure, which only intensifies as the cool dusk breeze blows through the camp and across his wet length. Spreading her shoulders, and wrapping her forelegs around Rokarx's back to buck his hips up into her, Nova begins to take more of Rokarx's length into the back of her mouth, her hot even breaths beating against the base of Rokarx's rod. As he’s lifted up, Rokarx squeezes around her tighter with his hind legs as she takes him in deep.
	Pressing herself against him as Rokarx begins to feel his climax at hand, Nova finishes loosening Rokarx's lower back and hips, eliminating all resistance as she lurches forward taking the rest of Rokarx's length into her slick bubbly warm throat. Rokarx grips the camp's bedding as Nova takes him fully. He feels his body tense up despite all of her work.
>"N-Nova, I-I-I'm..."
He clenches his legs around Nova tight as he bucks up, forcing himself deep in Nova as his hot insectoid seed bursts down her throat. Nova retracts with a sensitive motion as Rokarx's girth slicks out of her throat. Gulping down the sludgenoid's hot cum, Nova laps away the remaining strands around Rokarx's length before sitting back a little, licking the strand from her mouth. Rokarx letting go of Nova, lets his legs slumping to the ground as she pulls back. He lays there on his back, breathing heavily.
>"Th-That was great..."
"Hhhmm i can tell you've been needing to do that for awhile. Before we continue.. how about a change of locations. Something a bit more 'watery' perhaps."

He props his forelegs behind him so he can face Nova.
>"Y-You mean the lake?"
"Yup"
>"O-Okay."
He rolls over and slowly stands up on his hooves
>"A-A cool off at the water sound nice."
"Hh-hh-hm."
Nova laughs internally smiling with her head cocked to the side, ears erect as she bites down into a piece of the fruit from a nearby pile. Rokarx bites his lip slightly as Nova eats one of the fruits.
>"A-alright."
Rokarx starts to walk down to the lake. Nova tosses the remains of the fruit, licking her lips of the juices, she quickly catches up to Rokarx.
"Mmmmm, you seemed to take a liking to that... Now that you've learned how to listen to your body, at least partially. What is it telling you to do at the lake..?"
She asks innocently.
>"Hmm..."
He looks up in the air in thought.
>"I-It wants to take a swim, I-I'm a little sweaty after what we just did."
She stifles a laugh,
"Alright if you’re all full then you don't have to go all the way..."
>"Wh-What do you mean?"
He says confused. Nova comes close enough to Rokarx's side to bump hips, as she speaks with a bit of curiosity.
"What? Did you never learn what "SEX" is? I mean i gave you Oral "sex" but that wasn't exactly "SEX"."
>"O-Oh, w-well sort of. I-I didn't really know much u-until recently, th-that is..."
He stammers as he blushes in embarrassment. Nova gives him a worried, and sorry look,
"Oh, I'm sorry Rok, i didn't mean to embarrass you."
She says comfortingly nuzzling his neck with her muzzle.
>"N-No, its fine. I-Its just last time it was a bit, rough and confusing..."
She sounds worried,
"Oh..? Tell me about it, as a Sympathy knight i must at least count as a therapist on some level."
>"W-Well I can't remember too many details, b-but I was beat up a bit when it happened, a-and I was worse off after..."
"They hurt you?...Were you abused?....You poor thing! I-I… Rokarx when we get in the water i'm going to help you forget about whatever happened."
Nova says sounding determined, and compassionate.
>"I-It was better than being killed as the alternative..."
He leans against Nova, resting his head on her shoulder as they walk.

As they approach the water's edge Nova slips off her cloak unveiling her entrancing figure, as she takes a few steps into the water before intentionally falling over completely submerging herself. Rokarx holds at the edge as Nova submerges herself. He takes a few slow steps in, the crisp water relaxing his legs. He steps forward a little more before diving in next to Nova. As he enters the waters Nova moves beside him, and overtakes him from the side sending him onto his back with her looming over him, forehooves by his shoulders.
"Now Rokarx i'm going to need to ask you again to tap into some of that kissing power, and show me how much you really know about Sex."
He yelps in surprise as Nova catches him by surprise.
>"A-Alright, I-I'll try."
Nova gives a pleased smirk.
"Good, you may begin."
She states smile glistening in the warm sunlight. Rokarx nods, and leans his head up to take Nova into a kiss while she still stands over him. Nova returns the kiss, slipping her gentle tongue into Rokarx's mouth to caress his tongue. Rokarx pulls back from the kiss, and looks up at Nova.
>"C-Could we roll over. L-Like swap positions?"
"Only if you do it."
She says sounding a bit pleased.
>"O-Okay."
He holds Nova into a hug and rolls to his side gently, splashing the two through the water until Nova is on her back, and Rokarx is laying on top of her. He moves his hooves to her shoulders, and behind her head as he leans down and pulls her into another kiss. Nova hardly returns the kiss, lamely prodding the inside of Rokarx's mouth as her sense are overwhelmed. She melts in the Sludgenoid's affectionate hooves. Rokarx pulls back when he feels his shaft brush between their stomachs. He looks down at his renewed stiffness, then back to Nova's face.
>"S-So, a-are you ready?"
Nova nods approvingly cracking a smile as she looks into Rokarx's eyes wriggling her hips beneath the water, her ears perk up. Rokarx lifts off of Nova, backing up slightly, looking down to her nethers. He places his front hooves to Nova's sides as he lines himself up, and then slowly slides the tip in. Nova grabs at Rokarx's forehooves with her own as he penetrates, letting a low moan slip. Rokarx continues, pushing himself in halfway. He holds there for a moment, before pulling back and sliding in again, moving in slow strokes. Nova closes her eyes, letting out long affectionate moans at the stimulation between her legs. As Rokarx begins winding in and out, Nova draws him in for a kiss as the shifting waters lap at the entwined couple.

Rokarx closes his eyes as well, as Nova pulls him down for the kiss. He wrestles against her tongue as he begins to increase the pace of his thrusts. Growing more restless, and yet simply dissolving in ecstasy, Nova's moans of pleasure become more audible yelps of merriment, as her tight passage massages, more, and more of Rokarx's cock. Rokarx continues to hold the kiss, his tongue moving more sloppily as he moves faster, the water splashing around them. He moans out as he feels himself reach his peak, thrusting his length fully into Nova, coating her insides with his alien jizz.
	Nova sqees as she reaches her own climax waves of ecstatic pleasure emanate from her being. Her entire body slumping into the waters she wraps her hooves around Rokarx pulling him closer to her before she breaks off the kiss, forcing him down onto his side as she herself rolls onto her side, content to lay together forever Nova buries her soft face in Rokarx's neck.
Rokarx collapses onto Nova as she pulls him close, too worn out, and too in a state of bliss to pull himself out of her. He wraps her in a hug in return as she rolls them to their sides. He nuzzles her head as she curls in close, not speaking a word.

The sun rises the next morning, the warm morning breeze blowing across the two entwined ponies, and the cool waters flowing against their backs. They awake, still holding each other close and looking into each others eyes. Rokarx's carapace has returned to its healthy jet black coloring. Nova leans forward and plants a kiss on Rokarx's forehead, before slowly standing up with a stretch, and a yawn.
"MMmmmmm, that was a fine job Rokarx. I wonder if the others have forgotten about us yet."
She says half jokingly as she refits her harness around herself, adjusting the riffles of her robes cloth folds. Rokarx stretches on the ground and stands up.
>"Y-Yea, I hope they show up soon. B-But I wouldn't mind being here with you for a bit longer."
He says as he nuzzles up against Nova after she gets her harness on. Nova ears perk up at the contact. Turning her head to smile comfortingly at Rokarx.
"It sure is nice just relaxing all day, but we really do need to get back to the mission, ponies need us."
>"I-I know. This was nice though, j-just being able to relax."
“It was nice relaxing with just you, on this planet. Anyone else would have made me just awkward, and tense. I'm glad i can relax around you, and I also hope that we can feel the same way once we're off this rock."
>"I-I don't see why we couldn't, a-aside from the others being around."
Nova's smile brims like the sunrise.
"Anytime you need anything, or want to talk about anything just come see me, I'll try to keep you alive long enough to let that happen… A-also if you could tell your Brother that he doesn't have to worry about me ratting you two out, or something like that i'd appreciate it."
>"Can do, I-I'm sure he'll be relieved you helped me out while we were stranded here too."
They continue eventually reaching the canopy camp, spending the morning back at the camp relaxing and talking, a nice cool down after their bonding.

The calm silence they've been used to over the past few days is broken as a rumble tears across the sky. Peaking out from under the canopy they can see a Stable ship entering the atmosphere. Nova squints staring up at the Stable as it descends.
"Do you see what i see?"
She says her voice rising in excitement.
>"Y-Yea, its must be them!"
Rokarx says, excited as well. The Stable touches down in the desert, a short distance away from their camp. Nova runs out to meet the ship.
Rokarx follows behind her, before stopping for a second.
>"Oh, h-hold on a sec. Just in case..."
A flash of green and a few seconds later, he's back disguised as his light purple pegasus form, and he continues running. The two can see a familiar pegasus jump out from the stable and run out towards them. Nova keeps running, but is quickly overtaken by Rokarx, running with much more fervor to his Brother. Nova blushes at his enthusiasm. Rokarx catches Comet around the neck in a hug, glad to be back with his brother. Comet is breathing heavily, out of breath from rushing over.
"Sorry... it took so long. I'm so glad... you're both ok..."
He says staggered between gasps.
>"I-It's alright, you found us, th-that's all that matters.”
"H-hi Comet...."
Nova says sounding embarrassed, and relieved that he's here. Rokarx lets go of Comet as he finally catches his breath.
"Hey Nova. We would have found you two sooner, but we didn't see the alert that a pod was launched until after we lost the Cyberkons. And that asteroid field made it impossible to track a launch path."
"Well at least you found us....uhm...can i have a hug too?"
Comet is caught off guard by Nova's request, looking confused for a second.
"Oh, well sure, I guess..."
He steps forward and puts a hoof around Nova, giving her a slight hug.
"I hope you two weren't too worse off being stuck here for so long."
Rokarx joins in, wrapping his hooves around the two for a group hug.
>"I-It was nice, we built up a camp, and everything."
"It was relaxing. We didn't get attacked or anything."
Nova says as she accepts the group hug happily.
"That's good to hear."
Comet says, warming up to the hug.
>"Y-Yea, Nova took good care of me too."
Nova release her part of the hug. Rokarx lets go as well
"So what's happened? Are we needed for the rest of the mission?"
"No, after we saw you two were gone and a pod was ejected, the other's went to finish up while I went out to search for you. And besides, you've both been out here for a few days now. I don't think jumping right back into a mission is a good idea, living off those emergency rations can't be good for you."
"Actually this planet has a lot of fruit trees, we ran out of rations on day one."
>"A-And we found a lake with tons of water."
Comet looks concerned at first hearing they ran out of rations, but looking over the two, he looks relieved.
"Glad you were resourceful. But by now the others probably finished up anyways. Now come on, I'm sure you two don't want to spend any more time here."
"Heh, yeah."
Nova says smirking at Rokarx as she steps aboard the ship.

Rokarx runs aboard the ship, heading to the cockpit, and the co-pilot seat. Comet stops Nova as they step inside. "Thanks Nova, for taking care of him out there."
"It was no problem."
He puts a hoof on her shoulder.
"No, really. It takes a load off my mind knowing there's someone else in our group I can trust to keep him safe."
Nova looks around at the ground, and then into Comet's eyes.
"I'll always keep us safe."
"I'm glad you're by our side."
He says, staring back.
"Now come on, let's meet back up with the others. I'm sure they're as worried as I was."
Nova follows Comet up to the cockpit.
Taking a seat behind the wheel, with Rokarx to one side, and Nova to the other, Comet starts the ship.
"Alright, let's head back home."
The ship's engines roar back to life as the ship lifts off, soaring into space as the desert planet shrinks behind them in the distance.