//------------------------------//
// C37 - Node 
// Story: Trapped In Canterlot 
// by TartarusFire 
//------------------------------//

Her sobs committed mutiny against her words. "I-ch-" She choked. After breathing heavily, Caedes resigned to clenching and crying.

Deepsky was utterly out of his depth. For years he had been skimming the surface, taking the good with the bad, being happy most of the time. There was nothing serious to the point that a simple hug could not fix within his close-knit family and extended family and his friends.

He decided to reach for her shoulder, some light touch for comfort.

"Don’t touch me!" She forcefully slumped over to the opposite side, letting his hoof dangle there. "You’re not my da— " she choked again " —dad‘s job!"

"What’re you talking about? I was only—"

"No." Her word hung in the air like an armada, a loaded statement. "You don’t know.. ‘Cause it’s been like what? Three days?" She opted to crawl under the sheet, while only her tail poked out. "He.. he would be here right now... Right now! But. After everything.. he’s still not here. I know if he were here, he would be here... And I get that he’s not coming back..." She started to sob uncontrollably, some of them forming into little giggles.

"Wait. I’m sure after everything that he’ll turn up again. It was chaos that night, and I’m sure we can find him." Missing her shoulder, he smoothed out where she had been prior with a hoof.

"No! He’s not! I.." Caedes’s head shifted downward, avoiding nonexistent gazes. "I wouldn’t have even left if I knew otherwise... then none of this would have happened... ... But! I know otherwise. He’s gone, and I hope Empathy never comes back. That’s why I had to run because she... And after she took him..."

"I-I think I understand, Caedes."

"No you don’t! You would’ve left me alone instead of trying to replace ponies!"

"It was never my intention." Deepsky’s eyes glanced across the room. "I, we, were only trying to make you feel better. I was playing to my book not yours. I.. can leave if you want me to."

"..."

"I can’t make a decision if you don’t talk to me."

"Okay..."

Okay to stay, or okay to leave? "I’ll just be on the other side of the room; at least until the right of passé expires." He stood up and motioned to Evershade to follow him. Apparently his actions were what Caedes had wanted because she had made no sounds to correct him otherwise.

Evershade elbowed Deepsky before hobbling away on three legs. "Pssh, jerk, ‘Shade."

"I think you’re going about it wrong, but whatever. I’m going to sit this out. Just remember, Celestia’s speech is today, so the right of passé ends today."

"You’re not the only one going to sit this out," he grumbled under his breath.


Red Cross was being happy being devious and out of sight. "There’s nothing like trickery to let your own problems become some pony’s else’s." She figured they had grown slightly attached, so she would be able to care less about caring less; doing medical work, not psychology was her shtick.

"Smart Cross. You’re even better at being lazy than I am." Laceration stretched out, yawning from his nap. "When I’m lazy I end up having to do more work, yet with a little effort you can make your own work disappear."

"..Shut up."

"Nope!" He clopped his front hooves on the counter. "I won’t say a word to any pony else though." He looked at Cross and then looked out of the corner of his eye. He looked at the corner of his eye again. "Heyyyy, where did Relic go?" He started to sweat.



***



Clip clop, clip clop. Clip. Clip clip! Clip-clop-clip-clop-clip-clop CLIP CLOP! Relic had been stalking a target down the deserted hallway. He had been notified by another Silent Staff member that he would fill in as the new ‘Relic.’ Of course, there had never been a ‘Relic’; it was the subterfuge of Celestia’s Silent Staff. As far as any pony knew, there was only one pony, a pony called ‘Relic’ being paid in the staff except that the massive pay of six thousand bits an hour was split among dozens of ponies, not just one.

‘Relic’ cringed at his loud hoofsteps, and his magic had contained all sound into his personal space, making the sound even louder. He had been trailing a suspicious noble for fifteen minutes, watching has the stallion harrumphed at certain objects, apparently wondering aimlessly —except he hadn’t backtracked though any of the halls.

So the painfully obvious Blueblood was casing for some information. Too bad for him, he would never go down to the back of the castle where many of the servants and ‘plebians’ worked. All in all, ‘Relic’s’ job was to make sure he wouldn’t snoop in the wrong place.

He considered his Princess’s thinking. Celestia could probably pass him off as an alibi who made sure the scene was kept from any alteration by outside means. Either way, she was probably just doing something that he didn’t need to be aware of.. though seven thirty was a bit early for her to wake up.

"I hate grunt work."


As it turns out, ‘Relic’ was being watched by another pony. The head of the Silent Staff smiled, opening a green portal and stepping away at her sabotage. There would be no pony taking ‘Relic’s’ vacant watch post.



***



Eight in the morning. "RIIIING! GET UP YOU PORTLY, CAKE —" and a hoof smashed right though the alarm clock. It couldn’t talk, but it helped to imagine it yelled insults.

"Ugh. Twilight would never forgive me," Celestia massaged her temple." —losing my temper every morning, but hay, venting’s important." She stood up and cracked her back and stretched her legs. "Good thing I have a closet of these little demons."


Breakfast was cautiously served every morning, and always after the ritualistic clock smashing. Her teapot and tecup were emptied, leaving her with no choice but to face the day. Raven came into the room, looking more refreshed and tired than usual from her prior day of indoor hotubs.

"It’s today, Princess."

"I know. It will go downhill from here, for one reason or another."