//------------------------------//
// It's About Time! 
// Story: TD's Little Rarity 
// by BronyWriter 
//------------------------------//


Six months later


My eyes flutter open as I hear the door to our room open up. I don't need to see them to know that it is the agents again. I've given up on telling them to leave me alone so that I can wake up when my body tells me that it's ready for me to wake up so I push myself up and sit on my bed. I see that Rarity is still being defiant about her sleep as she has used her magic to pull the covers over her head. 

"Come on you two, it's time to get up," says Agent Johnson. 

"Time for more experimentation?" I say with a yawn. "You still haven't found out anything about how my staff works, have you?"

"We think we might be close to an explanation," says Agent Tanner. 

"It's magic, it doesn't have to be explained by anything; not that you're smart enough to realize that." I stand up and walk over to the dresser where my clothes are stored. 

In the course of the past six months they have moved us to a new facility and given us a far better room than one that's plain white with a desk and two beds. Rarity has an entire workshop in our large room where she can work on her designs and I've been given a TV and even an X-Box with all of the games I could want. I have to admit that when I play the Batman Arkham games I pretend that I'm Batman and the people I'm fighting are all of the people who work here. It feels nice to walk up behind 'Agent Tanner' and slam her to the ground and punch her in the face. 

I decide on a simple pair of blue jeans and a black shirt, and put my shoes and socks on. "What's on the agenda for today?" I ask. 

"Well, today Rarity will be demonstrating her gem finding spell again and you'll be going through a few more interviews about Equestria."

"Repetition is good for apathy I see," I deadpan. 

"You know you can make the best of this if you want to," Agent Tanner growls. 

I shoot her a 'are you kidding me?' kind of look and scoff. "Let's just get this over with," I grumble. I walk over to where Rarity is and pull her covers off. "Let's go, the slave drivers are at it again."

"Oh do be a dear and tell them to kindly go put their shoes on the wrong feet and run two miles," mumbles Rarity. 

I shrug and look up at the agents. "Rarity says that you should put your--"

"Yes I heard her!" snaps Agent Tanner. "Must we do this every day?!"

"You told my parents that I was dead. I'm thinking yes."

"You know we can go back to handcuffs and force whenever you want," says Agent Tanner angrily. "That goes for the both of you!"

"And I'm telling you that I'd break you neck the moment I had the opportunity if you did that to her!" I say. 

"They'd give you the needle for that," she growls. 

"Even better," I retort. "We'd both be dead and really, what do attempts cost me? Would I be imprisoned?" I pause for dramatic effect. "Oh wait, that's already happening! Oh and if I'm executed then my family isn't believing a lie anymore, I really am dead!"

Rarity is out of bed and sitting down nervously. It's almost as if she suspects this will come to blows. Again, I'd be fine with that. If I didn't have any problem punching Celestia then I'm sure as heck not going to miss the chance to give the Tooth Fairy cause to drop by Agent Tanner's house. Although, judging by her expression she's having similar thoughts right now. 

Agent Johnson seems far more level headed, though. "Look, guys, do we have to do this again?" 

"Yep," I say. Truth be told this is far from the first tiff that Agent Tanner and I have had. Being imprisoned by somebody with as little patience as she has is taking its toll on the both of us. I hate her attitude and she hates my snarkiness that comes as a result of that attitude. Seeing some depressing Facebook posts from the last few days isn't helping either. 

Agent Tanner's glare intensifies and she takes out a pair of handcuffs. "Last chance to do this the easy way." 

I look at the handcuffs for a moment, open my mouth and inhale. 

Ten minutes later I find myself sitting in front of Dr. Allred and Dr. Lundgren with said handcuffs on my wrists. They look rather confused at that as they've never seen me with them on. "Why are you wearing handcuffs, TD?" asks Dr. Allred. 

"Because Agent Tanner has a stick so far up her rear she has to be on a liquid diet because it's preventing her from swallowing solid food."

The doctors exchange an uneasy look before Dr. Lundgren clears his throat. "Uh... that sounds... taxing," he says. 

I open my mouth to retort but i feel a lump building up in the back of my throat. My mouth flops up and down and to my surprise the first traces of tears begin to appear in my eyes. I groan and put my head in my hands. I can't freaking do this in front of them. I can't l-let them see me...

"TD... are you okay?" asks Dr. Allred.

I actually do have to wipe my eyes with the back of my hand before I answer. "I..." I clear my throat. "I was looking at Facebook last night." I have to take a few deep breaths before continuing on. "My memorial service was yesterday. You know, the one that they had to have because all they found of me was a torn up shirt." 

The two doctors are silent so I take another deep breath and continue on. "One post on a family friend's profile was a particular gem: 'went to TD's memorial service earlier today. His family was all crying as they said their goodbyes to him. Kristen in particular seemed the most inconsolable. I ask for you all to keep the Powells in your thoughts and prayers.'."

"Oh TD that's--"

He is cut off as my head snaps up and I shoot them a furious glare. "IS IT WORTH IT?!" I screech. "IS YOUR BUCKING SCIENCE PROJECT WORTH MAKING MY FAMILY GO THROUGH THAT?!" 

Both doctors back up and can only look at me with frightened glances. Somehow it only makes me angrier. With a scream of fury I begin wailing on the table in front of me, shouting frankly impressive obscenities at everybody who pops into my mind right now. In all honesty I doubt that either doctor blames me, though they obviously don't care enough to let me and Rarity go. At this point I think my family would be so happy to see me alive that they'd take Rarity in if I asked them to. That and I think we'd move to Canada. 

Well my shouts of fury don't go unheard and Agent Tanner bursts into the room with, of all things, her freaking gun drawn. I wheel about and fix her with my angry gaze. "GO AHEAD! SHOOT ME, PAINT THE FREAKING WALLS WITH MY BRAINS YOU STUCK UP HIGH AND MIGHTY--"

"TD IF YOU DON'T SIT DOWN I CAN MAKE SURE YOU NEVER SEE RARITY AGAIN!!" she screams. 

"And I told you that if--"

"I know what you told me," she says menacingly. "I'm telling you to sit down and behave or I can make things more difficult for you than I can imagine." 

"More difficult than having to find out my family is emotionally devastated by my supposed death that you orchestrated?"

"TD I am giving you three seconds, I repeat, three seconds to sit down or I'll make sure you spend the next week in a room the size of your shower!"

It's at this point that Dr. Allred clears his throat and speaks up. "Um... maybe now isn't the best time for questions. I think we should do this another day."

"He's going to do what I ask him to," says Agent Tanner. "You can question him."

Dr. Lundgren sighs and puts his clipboard on the table. "No." 

Agent Tanner looks at the doctors in disbelief. "No?!"

"That's right," says Dr. Allred with a nod. "We're not going to make this more difficult for him. The man just had to endure seeing his family distraught beyond belief because they think they've lost him; his parents had to bury their child and his sibling had to lose somebody she grew up with."

"We are not going to be so cold hearted that we ask him about an experience where he was torn from his family the first time," says Dr. Lundgren. "So if you could remove TD's handcuffs and take him back to his room; we're giving him the next week off and we'll probably give Rarity a few as well." 

Agent Tanner's jaw drops and her gun lowers ever so slightly. "You...you don't have the power to do that," she says. 

"Yes we do," says Dr. Lundgren. "The president himself put us in charge of TD's questioning. If we want to give him the month off we have the right to do that."

"If you want to contest our decision, take it up with him," says Dr. Allred. "Until that time, would you please take TD's handcuffs off and return him to his room." 

Agent Tanner's jaw moves up and down as if she'd like to hold the doctors at gunpoint and force them to question me about Equestria. Instead, she slowly lowers her gun and puts it away before taking my handcuffs off. "Follow me, then," she says curtly. 

"If she makes things difficult just let us know," says Dr. Allred. 

I glance over at the two and chuckle slightly. I break away from Agent Tanner and walk up to the two of them and shake their hands. "Thanks," I say. "I...I needed that. Sorry if I scared you."

"You have absolutely nothing to apologize for," says Dr. Lundgren. "You never have."

I smirk and nod before giving them a slight two fingered salute. I then turn around and follow Agent Tanner back to my room. She is silent the whole walk back and I can tell that she'd desperately love to give me a what for but she doesn't want to get into trouble. I imagine that if she went off on me she'd never hear the end of it from a lot of people including, apparently, the president. Who'da thunk that?

Agent Tanner opens the door to my room and I walk in without a word. She closes the door behind me and I hear it lock. I make a beeline for the X-Box. It's time for BatTD to wail on some Agent Tanner Joker minions. 

After several hours of vaguely gratifying beatdowns, I hear the door code being punched in and the door opening behind me. I turn around expecting to see Rarity being escorted in, but instead I see that Agent Johnson has just walked in. To my surprise, he appears to be holding two beers. Curious, I stand up and walk up to him. 

"I thought you could use a little pick-me-up after today," he says, extending one of the beers. I gratefully accept it. Ohh, Guinness. 

I open the beer and sit down on my bed to drink it while Agent Johnson puts the other one on a nearby desk. He pulls the chair out and spins it to face me before sitting down. "I'm sorry about what happened today," he says.

I take another swig. "She's kind of a jerk, isn't she?" To put it lightly. 

Agent Johnson sighs and nods. "I guess she can be." he says. "Though I imagine you'll be happy to know that she's being reassigned."

I raise my eyebrow. "Indeed?"

"Yep. After today the higher-ups decided that she wasn't contributing to a positive environment for you or Rarity. She's getting moved and I'm getting a new partner." Agent Johnson chuckles. "It's probably the first time in history where one of the qualifications for a job like this is 'Brony'."

I roll my eyes and take another sip of beer. "Wonderful."

Agent Johnson frowns. "We're going to make sure that my new partner isn't going to do anything rash. Anybody that replaces Agent Tanner isn't going to go all fanboy on Rarity." He looks slightly uncomfortable for a moment. "Because 'doesn't think Rarity is best pony' is another requirement." 

I snort and shake my head. "I take it that you don't then?"

He shakes his head. "I was always more of an Applejack man myself. You?"

"Having known them in real life I can say without a doubt that I prefer the company of Cheerilee and the kids in the show to any princess or member of the Mane Six."

"Yes I heard that Applejack, Rainbow, and Twilight attacked you."

"To be fair I did just punch Celestia in the face," I concede. "But let's not forget that Pinkie Pie set me on fire and Rarity put a freezing spell on me." I glance at the door. "And that's something that I haven't told this one." 

"I wouldn't either," says Agent Johnson with a smirk.

I snort and drink more beer. Even the wonderful taste of alcohol doesn't completely dull the experience of what I saw on Facebook yesterday and I know that Agent Johnson notices. 

"I'm sorry about your family," he says. 

"It's completely your fault, you know," I retort. "It's not like Ben who had ponylust and wishes he could take it back, it was a deliberate action on your part."

"I know," says Agent Johnson sadly. "We did things for them like pay off everything we could think of: house, cars, college, credit card debt, stuff like that."

"That'll fill the hole that my 'death' made."

"It's the best we can do," says Agent Johnson simply. 

"No, it's the best you're willing to do," I reply. "You have it in your power to just let me go and that would be the end of it but you don't."

"You know why, TD," says Agent Johnson. 

"Yep. You aren't doing it so you can keep exploiting Rarity and I." I drain the beer completely and Agent Johnson hands me the other one. I accept it and open it up. "What's gonna happen when Celestia and the rest of them come to get her?"

"We'll try to facilitate peace between us, see what we can learn to--"

"Don't gimmie that," I say. "How pissed do you think they're gonna be that you imprisoned us? You'll be lucky if they don't level the whole place."

"Somehow I don't see Celestia doing that."

"Half of the Mane Six tossed me around like a rag doll for throwing a half punch at Celestia. It isn't her I'd worry about." 

Agent Johnson is silent for a moment as he contemplates my words. "You do know that if they come for her then it would be in your best interests to go back to Equestria with them, right?" 

Now it is my turn to be silent. I begin taking more frequent sips of beer while I think about it. "Yeah," I say. "I do know. I've known since day one here that I'd have to go back if they came for her. Heck, they'd probably make me go back." I finish off the second beer and crush the can. "You only treat me this well because Rarity is here and I can only give you so much information about Equestria. What happens when she's not here and I run out of things to tell you? I'd be too much of a liability for you to just let me go."

"I think you'd find yourself in a similar situation to one you're in now," says Agent Johnson. "We'd house you and you get a government pension to live off of." 

"At the end of the day I'm still locked in a room," I mutter.

Agent Johnson sighs and stands up. "I'm sorry that it has to be this way," he says. "Truly I am."

"Sure you are," I say sarcastically. 

Agent Johnson ignores my tone. "I have to get back to Rarity and the other scientists now. Like always if you need anything--"

"Press the button." 

"Yeah... press the button."

With that, Agent Johnson opens the door and leaves the room, locking me in once again. 


*  *  *  *


The next afternoon sees me in the shower. 

Rarity has been taken away to do more research, but they've assured me she'll have a half-day today. I'm tossing around seeing if she can't figure out how to use her magic to play X-Box. I'd be curious to see how she dealt with the Batman games, though they might be a little violent for her. Having said that, she has watched me play them a bunch of times. She, of course, made a bunch of comments on the fashion of the characters, especially ones like Harley Quinn and Two Face. "I understand the need for a dual theme, but really, he couldn't have done any better than that? I could whip up something better with my eyes closed." I chuckle to myself at those memories and decide on actually letting her play. She's expressed a touch of interest in it. 

I stand in the shower just letting the hot water pour over me. It feels rather nice after the taxing day that I had yesterday. That and the water pressure is far nicer than the water pressure than my shower at school so that's a plus. 

I stand in the shower for a few more minutes before I hear a strange noise in my room. It sounds as if somebody has walked in and is talking. A bunch of somebodies actually. I frown and turn the water off but the voices aren't any clearer. 

I dry off and wrap the towel around my waist before exiting the bathroom and having a heart attack that is brought on by both elation and utter shock. 

There in front of me, looking around the room are Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, and Applejack, the latter five of which are wearing their Elements. 

...huh.