//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Off Duty // by awf //------------------------------// It was a restful night and Celestia had no problem waking up well before sunrise. She lay in her bed for a minute, listening to the sounds of the quiet house. Again, she heard the thing in the basement. It was a barely perceptible hum, but now that she knew what to listen for, she couldn't help noticing it. Especially in the pre-dawn stillness. It was getting ridiculous! The stupid machine was beginning to take on mythical proportions and the alicorn couldn't be having that. Time to go down there and find out what the device was for! Despite her imagined bravado, the pony still muffled her steps and crept down the stairs slowly. She was ready to flee at any moment. The only sound, besides the creature's constant roar, was her own thundering heartbeat. All too quickly she was on the bottom of the stairs. The noise seemed almost deafening now, but that might have been just her imagination. Whatever for did the human use this thing?! It never produced anything, nor consumed any materials. Celestia wasn't familiar with industry, even the rudimentary, hoof-operated devices her subjects used. But she was sure she should understand what it was the thing did! The TV, she understood. The stove and the oven were just an improvement on things she already knew. Even the dish-washer and the laundry machine were obvious. The car was a weird replacement for a carriage - one that didn't require ponies pulling it. This monster was a mystery. It didn't seem to do anything, except make noise. It never even moved. The thought made her breath catch and her heart skip a beat. Her blood ran cold. Was it that it hadn't moved, or simply that she'd never seen it move? Thinking about the monstrous assembly of pipes and blocks being able to roam the house was the stuff of nightmares. The pony crept forward. The door was open and Celestia thought she could see a faint glow in the room. It was red, like Tartarus itself. The human didn't havea portal to the nether-world in his house, did he?! She carefully poked her head around the doorframe. The monster was full of fire! It was plain to see trough a tiny window on the front part. The flames, fanned into a roaring fury, were what was making all the noise. "What the buck are you?!" It went dark instantly. The noise stopped. The light vanished. Celestia gave a short 'eep' and jumped back. It had heard her and didn't like her questioning. Any moment now it might come for her! With a very brief flash of magic, the mare slammed the door shut and ran back, into the relative safety of upstairs. She ended up in the living room, trembling and breathing heavily. She needed the human! Surely Rawsthorne would know what to do. Demonic infestation was probably a common thing in this strange world! She didn't want to go into the ground level hallway - it was too near the dreaded basement. The mare took the spiral staircase, jumping two steps at a time. Her haste didn't pay off. Nearly at the top, she missed a step and plunged forward. She hit her snout right on the railing and had to scramble her hooves furiously to keep from slipping down. Celestia grunted as she dragged herself into the room above. She rested for a moment, then burst out of the library and into Rawsthorne's room. She leapt and landed on the bed. "Rawsthorne! Come quick, it's after us! We have to go now!" The human gave a surprised shout and flailed around himself. A stray hand landed right on her face, but the pony hardly noticed it. She wrapped all four hooves around the human and clung to him for dear life. "Please, listen to me! The thing in the basement! I went to look and it saw me! It's after me! HELP!" Finally, Rawsthorne woke up fully from the strange dream, only to find that it was actually happening. He recognized the pony and, despite her tight grip, didn't try to fight her off anymore. "What in blazes has gotten into you?!" the man demanded angrily. "It's the middle of the night! Let me go!" The authoritative tone calmed her down and Celestia was able to peel herself away. She remained on the human's bed, shivering slightly. Her ears swiveled this way and that, seeking out any sound of the monster in the hallway. It was surely just outside the door by now! Rawsthorne sighed and placed a hand on her withers. "Calm down, girl," he said, not unkindly. "Tell me what spooked you." The mare swallowed a lump and focused her eyes on the human. Her ears folded down in fear. "T-thing! In the basement. Pipes and m-metal and things!" Rawsthorne's gaped in surprise. "You mean the central heating?!" It was like a slap combined with a cold shower. For a minute, all the pony could do was open and close her mouth in shock. Then she shook her head. "It can't be! It keeps roaring all the time without anypony near it! And there's fire inside it! And just now it heard me!" She grabbed the human again, but this time he didn't resist. "I went to check- I heard it from my room. And I saw the fire inside! And then I said something and it heard me! It went quiet suddenly!" The human put a hand on his eyes. "It's automatic," he said flatly. She unwrapped her hooves and pushed herself away, so she could look at Gregory's face. "What does that mean?" He didn't move his hand away as he explained: "It means the central heating turns on and off by itself, whenever it's needed. If the house gets too cold, or hot water runs low, it turns itself on to heat them up. And when it's warm enough and there's plenty of water, it shuts off again." The Princess was gobsmacked. She had enjoyed a bath last night and the water had been warmed by the monster?! She spoke slowly, to give herself time to wrap her head around the idea. "So that's why there's..." "-fire inside, yes," Rawsthorne finished her sentence. "And it's not going to-" "-eat us, no. It can't move. It's a machine, Celestia. A convenience, just like the TV, or the car, or the oven." Now that it was cleared up, the human sounded nothing so much as exasperated. "I- I see." His shoulders shook, but the mare couldn't see Greg's expresion. The hand was still on his eyes. She was worried the human was angry at her sillines. She let him go and shuffled away. Then she realized the human was laughing. It started as a low chuckle, but he pulled his hand away from his face, looked at her expression, and burst into a full laughing fit. It seemed to go on forever. Celestia couldn't help her embarassed blush. She lowered her muzzle to the bed and closed her eyes, but however tightly she folded her ears against her head, she couldn't shut out the laughter. She had known! The first time she saw the thing, she had known it was just a machine, serving a purpose! But she worked herself up into a frenzy over it. It had roared at her by chance. Of course it roared again when she was preparing her bath! The pony had been using up a lot of hot water, the machine had to make more. It falling silent just as she was looking at it was pure chance. The mare drew a breath and heaved a deep sigh, partly out of relief, but mostly out of embarassment. It took ages for Rawsthorne to wind down. He had to wipe the tears out of his eyes when he looked at her again. "Shut up." "You thought it was a monster!" the human said and started chuckling again. "Not. A. Word!" She glared as fiercly as she could, but it only seemed to make the human more jovial. "You actually went down to fight it, and it scared you off!" he said, accusingly. "Dear Lord, frightened by central heating?" The mare gave a low, annoyed growl. She was embarassed enough without the man driving it home. "I'm warning you!" He didn't seem to care. "Just how old are you? Did I get a child or something?" "No! NO! If you must know, I'm-" She stopped herself just in time before she blurted out the real age. It would have raised some eyebrows. She quickly said the first number she could think of. "-thirty!" There was barely a pause and Rawsthorne didn't seem to notice it. "Thirty and you still believe in fairy tales and monsters?" The pony raised her face toward the ceiling and heaved an exasperated sigh. "For your information, Mr. I-never-get-scared, there are real monsters in Equestria! Dragons and manticores and changelings and things I'd rather not even think about!" Finally it worked. The human stopped poking fun at her and his face grew serious. "Fascinating place," he remarked dryly. "It's beautiful and I wouldn't have it any other way. And it's my home!" His hand went back to her withers, but then slid down her barrel. Despite her annoyance, it was deeply comforting. "What time is it?" the human asked. Celestia tried to sense the sun again, but it didn't tell her enough. "Early morning." The human reached over to the nightstand and picked up his watch. The numbers and hands lit up. The pony stared in fascination. Such a useful idea! She put it on her mental list - something to talk over with Twilight Sparkle. She would undoubtedly find a spell to do that. "Nearly five," he said. "When must you leave?" "I need to be in my car at six-fifteen." The mare did a quick calculation. "Breakfast will be on the table fifteen minutes before six. I expect you there, too." She slowly disentangled herself from the bedcovers and stepped over the prone human. A hand shot up and caught her hoof. The Princess froze. "Come ask me next time you find something 'mythical', okay? Before you work yourself into a panic again." His voice was kind and there was not a trace of his laughter left. Celestia decided she was grateful. "Thank you, Rawsthorne." She leaned down and nuzzled the surprised man, then jumped from the bed and left. She paused in the doorway and looked back. He probably couldn't see her in the dark, but the pony smiled anyway. "Remember - five forty-five." The best way to get over her embarassing little incident, Celestia decided, was to throw herself into work. She was already making plans. More eggs, of course. Panckaes - one couldn't start a day without them. And now she had whipped cream and real fruit! Oh, and some pudding was left from the previous night. She would even warm it up again. Oh, and istead of just tea, she would make lemonade for the human. It would be a feast fit for a king! She didn't even notice when she started to hum a faint, pleasant melody, nor the fact that it made the human smile as he watched her go. As soon as Rawsthorne was out the door, Celestia went back to the basement. She felt a little uneasy, but pushed past the tightness in her chest and entered the room with the 'central heating'. She traced a few of the pipes wiht her eyes and tried hard to understand what they were for. It was still a mystery. She inspected the blocky objects against the wall. Yes, the little window was there, so that humans could see if it was working correctly - if the fire was hot enough or something, the mare guessed. Just above was a gray panel which reminded her of the sauna controls. There were little switches and dials and glowing numbers, made of little straight ligts. She read: 150. The pony took a step closer and inspected the switches. She was beginning to recognize the symbol - a little circle with a vertical line on the top. Humans used that same image on all the machines and it was usually to turn them on or off. There was one like it on the stove and on the oven. And even on the TV and sauna. A few of the others were labelled 'pump 1', 'pump 2' and so on - obviously for moving the water around. Celestia decided not to touch anything. If she broke it and didn't know how to fix it, the house would get cold. More importantly, there would be no hot water for her bath, which would be an unthinkable tragedy! Now that she knew what the thing did, it wasn't scary anymore! True, it was daytime and some light filtered from a small, grubby window near the ceiling. But she wouldn't fear the thing even in full darkness anymore. Of course she wouldn't! Finally, Celestia was able to enter the little room to the side, where Rawsthorne had told her to take the laundry. It did have a basket, with a few clothing items and several enigmatic machines. They had circular hatches on the front and the mare could see gleaming metal inside. At least these weren't scary. Undoubtedly one of them was the 'washing machine', but she didn't know which. But the thought reminded her - there was a pile of laundry hidden in her wardrobe. The pony blushed again and quickly felt for it with her magic. It was a matter of seconds to float the pile down and drop it neatly into the basket. All that was left was for the human to show her how to operate this 'washing machine'. She was feeling immensely pleased with herself as the mare made her way back upstairs. She gathered up the dishes and took them to the kitchen. There was also a machine for washing dishes, but until she knew how to use it, the pony could wash up faster with her magic. She began with the empty pudding cup and her face darkened at the memory. The human had refused it! What baffled her was that he ate the pancake with apparent enjoyment, but then refused dessert. She couldn't quite wrap her head around it. In the end, she had to eat it herself! Again! The nerve of the man! Celestia couldn't help stomping her hoof in anger. She'd show him! When Rawsthorne came back from work, he'd find a bucking cake on the table! And it would look so bucking delicious that he wouldn't be able to resist! The pony remembered the perfect recipe for it. There was some fruit left over, too! Before she started, however, the mare lifed up the pudding cup to her nose an sniffed. Then she looked around herself, as if afraid someone might be watching. She blushed and guiltily licked the dish clean. Then she put it down and did the same with the pancake plates. There was still some whipped cream and jam on them. The blush remained on her face until she had washed all the dishes and put them away. Then the mare thought about what to do next. The cake could wait until the afternoon - she wanted it to be as fresh as possible when Rawsthorne came. The windows it was, she quickly decided. She had gotten the idea the previous day as she examined the cleaning supplies. One of the bottles promised brilliant windows and the mare was eager to try and see what it did. She began to hum her little melody as she went about her business. "Excuse me! Hey, excuse me!" a strange voice rang out over the front lawn. Celestia looked up with a small start. She hadn't even heard the car approach - the sound of traffic had just blended into the background somehow. Suddenly there was a yellow, metal carriage stopped by the side of the road. A woman had gotten out and was walking over to Celestia. The mare quickly swallowed her mouthful and picked up the garden shears. It took all of her concentration, but Celestia endeavoured to look as if she had been simply trimming the hedge. Not eating it in any way! "Hey, can you talk?" the lady asked. "I heard you ponies can talk." Celestia was wary of strangers, but she still tried to be polite. "I can. May I help you? Is there something you require?" The woman had stopped at a safe distance, staring hard at the floating shears. The pony followed her gaze and gently lowered the implement to the grass. At long last the human continued. "Oh, no, nothing!" she quickly said. "Do you live here?" Celestia looked at the house, then back to the staring lady. "Yes." She kept her responses simple, hoping the stranger would be satisfied and leave. She could defend herself, if a human became beligirent, but the mare didn't particularly wish for a situation where it would become necessary. Luckily, the human realized she was staring. She started and took a hesitant step foward. "Sorry, sorry! I saw the news, but I never thought I'd see one of you for real. I just wanted to take a closer look!" She kept her magic at the ready. Mr. Plain had warned her that strangers might try to foalnap her. Ponies were becoming quite valuable as their numbers on Earth fell. The alicorn made a mental note to raise this issue the next time she spoke with the human ambassador. Ponies who entered into servitude willingly, were being foalnapped and prevented from returning home when their debt was repaid! Right now, she looked at the woman and saw that she was more nervous than malicious. The Princess quickly decided that her unexpected visitor was telling the truth. "You may come closer. I will not bite." She made her voice pleasant and her smile bright. It worked and the lady slowly approached. "You're taller than I thought," she commented. "Oh, and such a lovely white!" Celestia kept her smile. "Thank you. In fact, my owner washed me just last night." This took the stranger aback. Her expression darkened slightly and she frowned. "Oh, one of those sort..." It took a few moments for Celestia to understand what the human meant. Then she blushed a little and quickly set the record straight: "Oh! Nothing like that, I assure you! Mr. Rawsthorne is very polite to me." That seemed to help. "Rawsthorne, Rawsthorne, yeah, I think I've heard of him. Lawyer, right?" "That is correct." There was nothing more to say and the two didn't really have anything in common. After a few awkward seconds, the lady touched her lip. "Uh, you've got a bit of- a little something." Celestia squinted at her snout. There was indeed a leaf stuck there - one she hadn't noticed while she had been focusing exclusively on the woman. She quickly brushed it away with a foreleg. She couldn't help the slight blush. "Uh, thank you... I was just- I'm trimming the hedge-" The pony lifted up the shears again with her magic, as if to demonstrate. The sight of her faint yellow aura lifting the tool made the lady step back nervously. "I was trimming it, and... well... it's honeysuckle. It smells really nice!" For a moment Celestia couldn't meet the woman's eyes. "It'd be a shame to let it all go to waste." Finally the stranger pulled her gaze away from the floating shears. It took her a few seconds to replay the last few sentences in her mind. "Oh, don't mind me! I'll just be... going." The woman flashed a nervous smile. The pony returned it, a bit more steadily. Then, after a brief internal struggle, the lady stepped closer and held out a hand. "It was nice meeting you! I'm Christine. I suppose you could call me a neighbor, but I live a few miles down the road." The pony lifted a foreleg - it was a human custom Mr. Plain had explained to her. But she saw that her hoof was caked with mud. It seemed impolite to shove that into the woman's hand, so the alicorn extended a wing instead. She placed one of the strong, primary feathers into Christine's hand. The woman didn't even grip out of fear of hurting the wing. "Celestia. Nice to meet you." There was something else on her visitor's mind, so the mare waited patiently. Finally, the question came: "Do you think Mr. Rawsthorne would mind if I brought my daughter to visit you someday? She's crazy about ponies, ever since she saw the news on TV." Celestia couldn't yet say if her owner would agree to it or not, so she gave the woman an apologetic smile. "I will ask him. If you could come around on Monday - about the same time as today - I'll have the answer, Christine." That seemed to satisfy the woman. She said her goodbyes, went back to the car and drove off. Not without turning and staring at the pony every few steps, of course. When she was alone again, the mare giggled to herself. It had been a strange encounter, but not an unpleasant one. Except for being caught eating Rawsthorne's hedge. That was a little embarassing. She inspected the dent in the hedge and groaned. There was no way to even it out with the trimmers. Hopefully Rawsthorne wouldn't notice. The fragrant plant had smelled so good! And it had been ages since the Princess had had a chance to simply graze. Come to think of that, some of the grass looked pretty tantalizing, too, especially the young sprouts by the side of the house. Perhaps, Celestia thought, if she was really careful and bit evenly. Maybe no one would notice if she had just a taste? After a bit more of the honeysuckle, of course. And she'd have to get seeds for some delicious flowers. If the seasons were the same as in Equestria, there should be time to get a few delicious sprouts before the humans dropped snow on the land. She leaned closer, inhaled the sweet scent and took a tentative nibble. The garden shears dropped out of her magical grasp, forgotten. The hedge was ruined! Celestia had done her best to even it out with the shears, but there was an obvious patch of bare bush, right there in sight of the entrance. There had been no way for her to fix it and the mare was decidedly uneasy. She had meant to eat it evenly, but she got lost in thought and her mouth had just done its own thing. When she was full and looked at the damage, the alicorn knew it wouldn't pass muster. The hedge was ruined! There was a large hole in the green foliage, right in the sight of the main door. She briefly considered trying to cover it up somehow, or maybe paint it in some manner. She shook her head. There was no chance in Tartarus that Rawsthorne would miss it. Even if, by some chance, he didn't spot it tonight, he would certainly notice in daylight. Her mind raced with various plans and schemes, until the pony sighed and accepted her fate. No, trickery would be entirely unprofessional. She simply had to admit her blunder and face any punishment the human thought appropriate. She really couldn't judge. What was an appropriate atonement for eating his hedge? How important was the look of his house to Rawsthorne? Based on the blocky, misshapen, ugly architecture, the pony would have said 'not at all'. But the lawn was well-kept and perhaps her eyes saw it differently. Maybe this kind of building was considered the height of fashion on Earth? She realized that she had absolutely no frame of reference in this. So far the human had been amenable and friendly. Maybe he would take this in stride, or maybe he would be livid. Celestia imagined punishment after punishment, each more dire than the last, as she paced up and down the hallway waiting for the human to return. She could stop him if the man tried to do anything too drastic, but guilt mingled with her pride and the alicorn knew she would accept whatever he imposed, short of maiming or killing her. Celestia was fairly certain, he wasn't the type to really hurt her over something like this. Perhaps the worst would be a few lashes with his belt, she hoped. She really hoped. The car came, waited, and drove in. The garage door slid down after it and the car door opened. She heard the footsteps. The pony sat on her haunches, right in the middle of the hallway. She looked miserable, with her downcast gaze, folded ears. Even her mane seemed to droop down. Her eyes seemed on the verge of tears. Perhaps, if she looked sorry enough, the punishment would be milder. It took surprisingly little doing, she found. Maybe she was a slave only on paper, but somehow, in some way, she had taken it to her heart. The incident with the basement monster proved it. As a ruler of Equestria, she would never be afraid of it. But perhaps she had left her mantle of the Princess under her bed. Perhaps, finally, she was able to simply be the pony underneath. Right now that meant a frightened and very sorry slave mare, who had done a bad thing and was awaiting punishment by her master. It all seemed appropriate and it was different enough from her normal state of mind that she quickly spotted exactly what she was doing. Like she had told Mr. Plain: it was strangely liberating to let go. With a small start she realized that the human had come in, stopped, and was now staring at her. "Celestia? What's wrong? Did something happen?" She was glad to hear a note of concern in his voice. It gave her hope. "I have made a stupid mistake today, Master." She knew that the title was unavoidable in this case. Somehow the human knew it too. He didn't correct her. The mare raised her eyes and steeled herself for the judgement. "I went to trim the hedge and... damaged it. Inadvertently!" Rawsthorne was taken aback. "Damaged? What do you mean? What happened? Show me!" She got up on unsteady hooves and led the way to the front door. She stepped outside, extended a wing to point, and let her head fall down. The human looked at the bare patch. Then he looked at her. "Why didn't you say you don't know how to use the shears? I would have taught you." The pony heaved a sigh and glanced up, briefly. "It wasn't the shears, Master. I... ate it." That gave him pause. He looked at the hole again. Then at the pony. Then back to the hole. "You ate the hedge?" he said flatly. Celestia nodded silently. "You ate the hedge," the man repeated. "Is it even edible? I don't know if you have the same kind of plants back in-" he had to search his memory for the name. "-Equestria." "It is honeysuckle, Master. It is edible for us. And delicious." There was a prolonged silence as they both looked at the damaged bush. Finally, the mare could stand it no longer. "What will be my punishment, Master?" He moved at last and looked at her. A hand came, as if to pet her, but paused in the air. Then the human sighed. "In a way, it's quite funny, you know? But that is right where it shows. I thought you had more self-control. You certainly acted like you had!" It was all true. The pony nodded to it all. She should have had more self control! Except that the entire point of her vacation was for Celestia to relinquish the mantle of command. Perhaps she had done it the wrong way around? She let go her self-control, but kept bossing the human around. Maybe a good belting would set her straight. "I expected better of you, Celestia. So your punishment will be that you will go to your room without dinner - or dessert - and stay there until morning. Make sure to use the toilet beforehand." It was a lot lighter than she had feared. The loss of dessert stung, but in her relief the mare didn't mind. "Thank you, Master! I'm sorry!" "And don't call me Master!" "Sorry!" She had the entire evening to think. Celestia went through the events of the past few days in her mind and tried to understand what was happening to her. The slavery thing was a ploy, of course. But she had wanted to do it properly. She had accepted her role fully. But what exactly did that mean? She was subservient to Rawsthorne, that one was a no-brainer. It meant she did whatever he told her, that's how the whole thing worked. Although, the mare realized, there were undertones. Being a slave to a good master also meant that she would be protected. She would expect to be fed, cleaned and given a safe place to sleep and live. She would be given everything she needed to perform her duties. True - in the Canterlot Castle the Royal Sisters didn't have to concern themselves with finances. The accountants did all that. But the money was technically theirs, so any expenses incurred in the running of the castle came, figuratively, out of their coin-purses. Here, however, the money belonged to Rawsthorne. The house was his and the food and water also. She was given their use, but there was a fundamental difference. If the human had refused to buy ingredients, she would have to make other dishes. And if he gave specific orders what she should cook, that's what she would have prepared. It went even deeper. The master provided more: safety and stability. Perhaps she had somehow, subconsciously known that all along? Maybe that was why the central heating had frightened her so? She had never even considered fighting it with her magic. Partly, because it belonged to her owner, but mainly, Celestia realized, because it was his duty to keep her safe now! Some of the decisions were no longer hers to make. But that was alright. It meant, among other things, that she was allowed to be afraid! Of course there were also anomalies. She kept trying to boss the human around. When she thought it appropriate, she took charge of the situation. The bath, for example. And her insistence on breakfast. And her secret Quest to get Rawsthorne to appreciate pastries. Perhaps, Celestia thought, that was simply her being used to command. That part of her had to be suppressed now, but maybe it found ways to leak through. After all, it had been a part of her for millenia. When she stripped away that, what was left? Maybe that was why she acted almost like a little filly? At least now that she understood it, she could decide what to do about it. Should she continue down this path? Give in to the slavery thing, accept Rawsthorne's ownership of her. It might change her, at least a little. Would she be able to discard it again, fully, when she went back? If it did changer her, would it be for the worse, or for the better? On the other hoof, if she nipped this behaviour in the bud - then she would have to act, which would completely negate her relaxing vacation. She would have to watch every word and action. She would have to pretend, just as much as she had to do with all the dignitaries and diplomats. She looked out the window where the moon was half full. "You are undecided too, Sister?" And it didn't help her think when her stomach growled like that. The honeysuckle had been tasty, but it wasn't really a meal. She was starting to miss dinner! It was going to be a long night, she feared. The mare was painfully undecided for long moments. But then, as if a switch flipped in her head, she had the answer. "Okay! It's the vacation I wanted. Let go! Relax. It is out of your hooves, Celestia." It was simple. She would go with the flow. She would be a slave. She would relinquish her grip on herself and enjoy the moments. If it made her act like a young mare again, so much the better! Her master was the good sort and obviously cared about her, even after mere days. Perhaps the experience would change her, but it would be for the better. After all, hadn't she always preached seeing both sides of an argument before reaching a decision? Knowing what it was like to relax and give over control of her life was the opposite side of how she had always felt and acted. The alicorn floated her vest and hoofguards from under the bed. She chose to imagine that they represented her as a ruler. Having decided to walk around 'naked' had been her first, symbolic step to leaving them behind. They were a link to her past - to her normal self. She wouldn't need them here. But also, they were a connection to her Sister and her subjects. The mare kissed the emblem on the vest. She had to say goodbye, even if it wasn't forever. "I'll come back to you someday. I promise. But now I need to be somepony else." She put them back under the bed and climbed in. Having made the decision consciously, she felt like a large burden had been taken from her back. Goodbye Celestia, Princess of the Sun and ruler of Equestria. Hello Celestia, a happy and - sometimes - naughty slave mare. She fell asleep with a smile on her face.