//------------------------------//
// C39 - The Other Ponies Are Sleeping 
// Story: Trapped In Canterlot 
// by TartarusFire 
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"And are you going to tell the Princess about your research then? If there’s really a difference, it sounds like it could be important or something." Spike was digging a long lasting eye booger out with a claw.

"Ewe, that’s gross Spike. Err, yes, this could be something important. If there is a major difference between ponies and other species, we could open a ton of possibilities.. perhaps even overcome those differences."

"Sounds great. However, I’d like to point out two important things."

"What do you mean? I’ve—"

"Missed the Princess’s PSA, which might I add nearly every pony went to."

"Hey, there’s supposed to be a report out later.. I can just catch up when it comes out."

"But most importantly, you missed breakfast by sitting in a pile of books for the past three hours. I mean.. how do you function, Twi?" He scratched his belly. "No matter what I’m doing, I just can’t stop thinking about food when the time comes."

She deadpanned, "You only ever think about food."

"Eh," Spike jumped off of his chair, "I’ve got my priorities straight. In any case, we should leave the library, don’t you think?"

A muffled pop, accompanied by a sigh of relief, made Twilight wince. "I swear; every time you stretch your arm like that, I think it’s going to break."

"Eh, ‘s not that bad. Let’s go eat."

"Sure." Twilight stood up, with only a few books falling off. She had since removed and stacked most of the books, only omitting the few she was still looking at. "But we’ve got to come back a little after noon because the samples of the trial should be coming in then. Ooh, I’m so excited!"

"Pfff, says the pony who gets more excited over samples than lunch.. or breakfast for that matter." Spike shrugged, "It’s kind of in between actually."



Twilight was rather miffed at brunch. Oh the food was delicious, she had decided, but Spike had pulled her away too fast before realizing that she could have been reading while eating; checking out books is what the Library was for!

"Capital ‘L’.."


"What?" Spike’s question caused some food to be spat back into his plate. Shrugging he picked up the food and finished chewing it.

"Ahh! What is it with you and disgusting me today?" Twilight coughed. "Well, I was thinking about how I always think of the library with a capital ‘L’. You know, just something that stands out."

"Eh, sentiment. I don’t really mind. That’s kind of random though." He went back to eating a massive sandwich of grilled hay and lettuce.

"No it’s not!" She had said it with more force than necessary, causing other ponies eating in the castle courtyard to stare. "Err, I was just thinking about how I forgot to bring a book to read because we left so quickly."

Spike had managed to snag a few gemstones from a noble... for a noble cause, and he had them sitting on his plate. Crunching down on them, he deflated a bit. "You’ve been on a binge for the past few days. Give it a rest for an hour or two. Sometimes, I worry."

"Well, this could be a big thing. Imagine the differences between ponies and other species, say griffons, because that’s what the sample that is coming in. It’s about why we have such access to magic. I am so curious, and that book I was reading was the only one I found comparing the similarities between ponies and griffons."

"Yeah, yeah. That’s great, but are you going to eat that?" He mimed taking the bowl of salad from her tray.

"Ugh yes, I was distracted."

"Clearly." He finished off his last gem, an emerald.

Twilight squinted, noting the discrepancies of his food. "Spiiiiike. Where did you get gems from? We didn’t pass our tower on the way here."

He looked down at his empty plate and then back to Twilight and then to the wall and then to the conveniently placed clock on the wall. "Oh wow, would you look at the time: five past noon!"

"Noon? Oh joy; I bet the samples from the records of the crime are in!" Twilight took the plunge. She ate her salad voraciously, like an—animal. She belched, quite stallionly. "Let’s go!"

"Gah! Don’t levitate me around after eating such a large meal, Twilight!"

"Well you shouldn’t have stolen those gems then, huh?" She tore off with Spike on her back, a much faster travel than walking side by side.

"Well, that noble mare," something came back up into his mouth; Spike forced himself to swallow, "She was being awfully mean to the guards. Don’t worry. They have enough gems."

"Stealing is bad!"

"Hey, I’m allowed one free raid per noble."

"Allowed?" Twilight skidded around the corner. "Who gave you permission?"



***



Celestia sat, drinking tea. Calming down took longer than expected, at least an hour had passed. She pondered if she even liked tea after drinking it for so long. Perhaps not... perhaps the action was the best part and not the tea. "Oh, I forgot the tea bag." It was definitely the action.

"I think that’s been long enough. Thankfully court is held only on Saturdays.. I need to ask Raven what I’m doing." She rose from her private couch and slipped her gold hoof things back on. "I forgot what these are called..."

A knock came from the door.

"You may enter."

It was not Raven who entered. Relic plopped down into a chair opposite to the couch. "Sorry if I seem rude, but I’m so tired. I’ve been awake for thirty six hours, doing work. I hope you don’t mind."

"Not at all. I was going to see to my schedule though, so you may have to wait if there’s something else that takes priority."

"’S all good. Actually... Raven found me; I must be losing my touch. She said that you’re pretty much free for the day. Except for the paperwork, but that can come later."

"Ah, wonderful." Celestia kicked her ‘hoof things’ off and sagged into the plush couch. "I love this couch. Care for tea and scones?"

"Don’t mind if I do, Princess." He levitated the pot and dunked a scone in. "Oh shoot. My mistake. Let me get a cup."

She chortled at his sleep deprivation. "No worry, I have left crumbs in my tea before; it’s just extra sugar."

He managed to pour himself a cup with his field of magic. "It’s not just that. I’m rather disturbed."

"Oh," she started leering, "what for?"

"It’s as you said. That’s what worried me."

Celestia breathed in deeply and let the breath go slowly. "Chaos magic. I was hoping she wasn’t steeped in it..."

"I can’t say for sure what the effects are, but she clearly had almost her entire mana pool full of it. If she were to try regular magic, I’d say that she would have a hard time pulling enough magic to levitate something. However, I did check back in and the amount of normal magic had increased slightly; I think the ‘chaos magic’ is slowly fading away."

"Oh? What do you think about that?"

"Well.." He looked towards the ceiling, "I would be overstepping myself, but I would think it would be a good thing for her to be able to cast magic properly. Plus, I have no idea if it’s messing with her psychologically or not, it leaving is a good thing; I think."

"Has any pony asked her yet?"

"Highness? I kept watch and took measures like you asked. What are you talking about?"

"Her mother was a psychopath, and her father is MIA, and presumably KIA, since the crime scene. What does she think? What do we know about her? How do we know she’s not another Empathy to be?"

‘Relic’ ventured the failsafe, and if not, there was always another pony who could make something. "Magic?"

"While extremely useful at most times, I doubt magic is the answer here." A hoof reached Celestia’s muzzle and rubbed. "Ugh. We’ll need something like a psychiatrist or something. Caedes is undoubtedly a mess... Then we figure out what to do."

"A child psychologist. A psychiatrist prescribes medicine.. and that’s not legal without the right papers."

Celestia sagged back into her couch further. "I am just so exhausted right now. Work, work, work, and planning; really kills a mare or princess." Sagging into the couch would not do. She flipped up entirely and laid upon the cushions. "I’m going to sleep and you can’t stop me. Unless you get Raven or some pony."

"Yes Princess. Would you like for me to arrange something? I was eavesdropping for the most part while I was faking sleep, and the filly is pretty much a train wreck."

"No, Naaaah—excuse my yawn, but I have a few ponies I trust more than the average doctor, so I’ll get right on it later..."

"Sleep well Princess."

"It’s only a nap, but make sure to have some pony send up food in an hour or so. I’m starving."



***



Twilight was having the time or her life. Spike was more bored than a plank of wood.

"Twilight, what are we doing again?"

"You’re sitting there, so I can supervise you. Me? I’m taking a list."

"Then what’s the biology book for?"

She scrunched her muzzle. "You caught me. I’m looking at diagrams and the listings of cells and their components, such as mitochondria."

Spike scoffed, "Sounds like a riot."

"Oh it is!" Sarcasm was not something Twilight was smart about. "The list is alphabetical with all the cell components in alphabetical order. I am taking measurements and listing the total instances of each piece! I think this is us reaching the turning point of my theory."

"Which is?" He asked because he had forgotten to pay attention the other bajillion times Twilight had explained this grand understanding of magic.

"Since you obviously weren’t paying attention, I am trying to figure out why ponies have so much more magic, than say a griffon. Because that is what happens to be this other tissue sample. Now shhh, this is a library, plus I’m concentrating."

Spike rolled his eyes. Twilight had brought a microscope to the library to look on the preserved tissue sample of skin from a griffon trial from years ago. "So how long is it going to take?"

"I think about twenty more minutes will do." She rotated a lense on the microscope.

"Alright, finally, we’ve been here for almost an hour."

"Oh yeah, this is only the first sample. We’re going to be going through two more."

"Why are you so cruel to me, boredom?!"

The librarian promptly came over and started to quietly berate both of them for being so loud.



***



Donut Joe was an upstanding citizen. Heck, even the Princess liked his products. However, that didn’t stop the problem of the mid noon lunch rush. It had only dawned upon him as to why Tracker hadn’t come to work was because he was missing.

Of course he was just now being let out of his holding cell from the castle as the speech was being prepared. He hated how his business was closed because of being jailed.. jailed! All because he had employed Tracker, his best part time worker, and he had to be isolated for interrogation.

Well, whatever. Today was the day he would open right back up and get back to making pastries.


A little scrub and it was good to go. Donut Joe flipped the sign to open and waiting for the lunch rush. He hadn’t been open for some time, so either there would be a flood of customers or not that many.

He gagged. "I just have to be the best lunch spot on this side of town.." There were well over a hundred ponies outside.