//------------------------------//
// Second Chapter 
// Story: Author of Reality 
// by LucidTech 
//------------------------------//

        Author backed away slowly, Shining Armor looked at the creature for a while, his eyebrow raised in an expression of puzzlement. “What’s the matter?” The stallion could sense no hostility from the creature, so he saw no reason to be rude to it. The creature had come barreling into the room in a hurry, proclaiming a congratulations that was cut off as soon as he had seen the captain of the guard, now he was acting as though scared of something, a most confusing demeanor swap. Author’s back eventually met the wall and the man stopped, his eyes wide as his pupils began to dart around the room again before settling on the white unicorn who stood in front of him.

        “How many years,” Author asked hesitantly, not sure if he wanted to know the answer to what he was about to ask, “Has it been since the changeling invasion?” The stallion pondered the question for a moment, wondering why that was the first question that he had asked. With a trained eye, the captain of the guard examined the being and mulled over what he saw. He had no visible weapons, he didn’t appear to be a threat, his clothes weren’t extremely baggy and he wore short sleeves, meaning the chance of hidden weapons was slim. Deducing that he was probably a low priority threat, if a threat at all, the captain decided to answer the question.

        “Ten years.” Shining Armor answered with a stiff, militarian tone, his moustache bobbing as his mouth moved. Author’s legs gave out from under him, in a similar manner as being hit by a large blow to the chest, and he dropped to the ground. His body settled into an odd sitting position, he placed his right hand over his face, hiding half of it. His left hand would have been mimicking the act but it was too busy holding the biped up. He began to mumble under his breath. None of the words that Shining Armor heard could he understand, examining the creature again Shining Armor was about to approach when the door opened.

        Luna entered the room, her gaze flicked quickly to Shining Armor then toward the human who remained in his state of utter shock. She looked to the captain of the guard who shrugged at an unanswered question. She looked to Author, who was beginning to stand. “I think I understand why people drink themselves to death now.” He mumbled under his breath. Turning to face Luna his face twisted in rage. Before Shining Armor could react Author slapped the lunar princess across the face, his expression demented by confused anger as Luna’s head was batted away by the force of the blow.

        “WHY DIDN’T YOU FREE ME SOONER! IT’S BEEN TEN WHOLE YEARS!” He shouted at her. Shining Armor quickly cast a barrier spell, targeting any who meant harm to the princess with it’s force. The pink shield passed harmlessly over Author. “I waited one thousand years for nothing! I wanted to... I wanted to...” His mind began to shatter. “One thousand pointless years. I don’t even get to... to meet them... I wanted to watch them grow up...” He said, his mind in shambles as his words became more and more inane.

        Luna turned to look at the man, who was beginning to lean against the wall again, clenching his head as if a horrible migraine affected him. She had sensed the spell cast by Shining Armor, she knew what his qualifications were, she also knew that it had affected the human, it had just decided he didn’t qualify. The sound of hurried hoofbeats echoed through the hall and before long a mare entered the room, he three tone hair fluttering through the air from the sudden jog as her violet body came alongside the princess, she was no where near in as good a shape as the captain, indicated by the sweat droplets that had started to form on her brow.

        “Princess, are you alright? I sensed Shining Armor’s spell and I came as fast as I-” She cut herself off, she followed Luna’s eyes and turned to look at the human, who seemed to be barely clinging to reality. His gaze raised to look at her as well, and he saw something familiar in her, something painfully familiar. The unicorn looked back with a surprised expression, wondering why he had taken a sudden interest in her.

        “Twilight Sparkle.” He stated, his expression calmed but his inner turmoil was still raging within him, as strong as ever. “I see... I see that you grew up well.” It was all he could manage. With a sudden lunge he hurried away, his stomach revolting against the painful twists of emotion that Author had been put through.

        After an hour Author’s mind began working again, he glanced down into the recently flushed bowl of the toilet and sighed. A feeling of utter defeat descended around the man as he stood from his position. He stumbled half-heartedly away from the bathroom, glad that no one was following him. He had made a few mental notes of the castle layout on his way through and was now heading back towards where he had started.

        He entered the cage and closed the door behind him, though it didn’t lock. He slid slowly into place with his back against the wall and put his ear phones into his ears again. His mind was trying to find the silver lining to what had occurred but only came up empty. He wanted to see them all grow up, he wanted to help them all grow up, but they were already grown up, they didn’t need him, he was foolish to think they ever would.

        Meanwhile, back in Shining Armor’s room Twilight looked to Princess Luna, having finally recovered from what had just happened. “Who was that Princess? Why was he so... so... broken? Why did he know my name?” Luna frowned and tilted her head downward. In all her fear of Author she had forgotten he was still a living being, when she had come back Celestia had forgotten about him, Luna had put off reminding her for as long as possible, out of fear. Only recently had the guilt gotten the better of her. True, Luna had no idea that Author had been looking towards a specific event. But it was clear that he didn't expect the need to tell her. Even if he had decided he wanted , well, it wasn't like anyone had gone to talk to him.

        “Unfortunately Archmage Sparkle, I can’t answer any of those questions.” Came the cold response.