Things have been pretty slow lately.
You'd think I'd be relieved about that, but if I'm being completely honest, it makes me kind of nervous. Well, maybe 'nervous' isn't the right word; maybe 'antsy' or 'suspicious' would be a better fit. Yes research and the endless filing of reports keep me busy enough, for the most part, and there's the whole psychic connection thing with Spike, but aside from that, there haven't been any major incidents cropping up since what happened with Starlight Glimmer.
Oh yeah, the other researchers let me name the dragon so I chose the name Spike. I don't know, it just... felt right, and Spike seems to like the name, even if he doesn't show it on his face. I'm not sure what it is, but the little guy either can't or doesn't want to express emotions really well. He always has this kind of blank but weirdly inquisitive look on his face that never really changes. It's like he's constantly sizing you up and finds you... lacking in some way.
I mean, I know better that that's not what's actually going on (most of the time anyway, he actually is like that sometimes), but I can see how it would look like that to everypony else. It also doesn't help that he never says a word to anypony. The researchers who work with him have learned to more or less pick up what he tries to convey through his movements and non-vocal cues, but they struggled in the beginning to the point where I was called in far more than I was supposed to be to 'translate'.
Some of the researchers think he might've developed a sort of autism as a side effect of the extreme circumstances in which he was born. It's possible, but from what I and the other researchers and doctors can tell, the symptoms stop at the lack of facial cues and speech. It's been made very clear that he can understand what we're all saying and he has no trouble when it comes to learning. In fact, his comprehension skills have been shown to be far above average bordering on a genius level.
When I brought it up with Spike, he told me that he didn't really know how, but some of the stuff we were teaching him about reading, writing, mathematics, thaumatology, and a few other subjects, he already knew or had an idea of. I told the guys in the lab about it and another theory was crafted that he may have picked up echoes of the knowledge that I'd already acquired back then through my thaumic signature.
It's possible given how thoroughly magic affects and permeates throughout the equine body and mind. Whatever the case though, the little guy is no idiot. He actually kind of reminds me of myself when I was his age. He enjoys his lessons with me when I'm able to take some time to teach him and he's a hard worker; like mother, like son I suppose. ...That's just an expression, of course. I feel close to him, but not in any way I can really describe without sounding crazy. I'm fairly sure it's not in a motherly sort of way.
It's more like... like the two of us are one entity? Like we both share one mind? Something like that anyway. It's weird and I know I sound crazy, but that's just kind of how it feels to me. That aside, the researchers are working hard to unravel what mine and Spike's connection mean for us and what it could potentially mean for the world as a whole, but since it's only been a little under two weeks since it happened, they haven't made too much headway yet, and that's not the only thing we have yet to make any headway on.
We still don't know what happened back in the Old Castle or where we in the assault team went when we disappeared. To this day, not one of us remembers anything about it and we haven't found out anything about how or why Nightmare Moon suddenly showed up in Canterlot during said disappearance. We've surmised the two events are related somehow through OOPA-118 (the Left Eye of the Nightmare), but we have yet to determine the nature of that connection. Since the thing is busted I don't know if we ever will find out.
If the Princess knows something about the incident or the Left Eye—and both Sunset and I are fairly sure she does—she isn't telling. And speaking of Sunset, I haven't told her about Spike yet due to orders from the top, but I think she suspects something weird is going on. It's strange because I don't think I've given any kind of impression that I have a psychic connection with a baby dragon, at least not around her. The mare is scarily perceptive when she wants to be though so who knows?
Also, he hasn't directly said as much, but I think the boss is aware that I've been sharing a bit more with Sunset than I probably should be. When he told me not to tell anypony about Spike, I got the impression that he was also talking about a certain somepony in particular—like he was hinting at the fact that I'd been discussing confidential topics with Sunset off duty.
Maybe it's just me and my paranoia, but I should probably be a little more tight-lipped in the future just in case, this journal notwithstanding. There's no sign that he knows about it yet, and with where I've been hiding it, I highly doubt even he'd be able to find it so I'm not too worried about that.
Getting back to what I was talking about in the beginning, there's been no news of any major goings-on lately and we haven't gotten any reports of any new OOPArts that need to be retrieved either. In fact, everything is going swimmingly from what I can gather. The reconstruction of the city after the battle between the Princess and Nightmare Moon is coming along nicely and most of the buildings that were destroyed have already been rebuilt for the most part.
The majority of ponies that were affected by the attack are more or less getting back on their hooves again thanks to both the Princess' and Sunset's efforts. Yeah, Sunset actually volunteered to spearhead a relief effort for the ponies who lost their homes and loved ones with Princess Celestia's full backing. Now she's even more of a hero to everypony in the city than before. If I didn't know the mare personally I would've found it all very suspicious—like she was trying to garner public favor for the sake of some hidden agenda—but again, I'm just that kind of pony.
Like I said before, she has her more... unsavory quirks, but in general she really is a kind and caring pony where and when it counts. If anything it's the Princess that I kind of get that 'hidden agenda' vibe from sometimes.
Beyond that situation, even the ponies from SMILE and RIDES haven't seen much action at all. That I am actually relieved about, if only because it gives Prism Streak some time to relax. Thanks to therapy she's doing a lot better than she was before, but there's still some lingering trauma left and if I'm being honest I don't think that experience will ever fully leave her. Still, I'm glad she's doing better—both her and Rolling Stone.
I got to know Rolling Stone a little better through my talk with her and we've talked a bit more since. Like Spike, she doesn't emote very well through her expressions. She doesn't say much either and when she does speak, her tone is as dull and dry as the Saddle Arabian desert, but that's only on the surface. When you get her going, she actually has a lot to say, and a lot of what she says is pretty profound.
She even told me a bit about her family and how she used to work on a rock farm with her three sisters. Apparently she left the farm behind to pursue a doctorate in petrology but that fell through and she wound up joining POUT instead. She didn't really give me any details on why her career path had changed so drastically but something in the way she avoided the question told me her situation was similar to mine and Prism Streak's and that POUT had been involved.
Since things have been slow, I've gotten more chances to hang out with her, Prism Streak, and Sunset. With everything as it is right now, I'm becoming increasingly worried that something horrible is going to happen any day now—like this is the calm before the storm. Prism Streak thinks I'm just being paranoid (she's probably not wrong), Sunset didn't really seem convinced but she promised me she'd be on the lookout for anything strange, and Rolling Stone, to my surprise, agreed with me.
There's no evidence that anything is going to happen, but the feeling won't go away. All I can really do is hope my gut feeling is wrong and that we don't have another Nightmare Moon level disaster on our hooves, not when we just started recovering from the last one.