//------------------------------//
// Progress Report 
// Story: Time and Masks 
// by Hopeful_Ink_Hoof 
//------------------------------//

	Dinky woke up and looked around.

"Ruby?"

After the excitement with the guard, Dinky and her friends had found it easy to stay awake the rest of the night.  When the medics had taken the injured pegasus, the four friends began to talk and wonder, trying to figure out what happened.  Aside from it not being an earth pony, they could not figure anything else out (a pegasus could have used a storm cloud or a unicorn could have used a simple spell), but they had fun speculating on the possibilities.  At some points they just made up stories that were as outrageous as possible.  It made it easier to stay up and watch the sunrise.  After breakfast, Wind Tunnel and Twinkleshine went home while Ruby and Dinky went to bed.

Now Dinky was awake and Ruby was nowhere to be seen.  Wondering where her friend was, the filly got up and started searching.

The lavender unicorn found her ruby-colored friend.  Ruby was sitting at the table in the dining room, talking excitedly to Princess Luna.  The conversation stopped as Dinky entered, turning to notice her arrival.

"Your friend was telling me about your adventures last night," Luna stated.  "You had quite an exciting night."

"Thank you, Princess Luna," Dinky said as she walked in and took a seat.  "Where's Princess Celestia?"

"Sister is most displeased that one her guards would be attacked on the castle grounds while we were elsewhere.  Celestia is awaiting a report on the guards condition as well as if any others were similarly affected."

"Others?"  That had not even crossed Dinky's mind.  In a way it made sense.  After all, what would be the point of attacking only one single pony?  Then again, why attack any pony at all?  "Why would a pony do this?"

"It is difficult to hypothesize," Luna responded, "without sufficient information on the pony.  It could be a great many number of things.  We will have to learn more of the pony responsible before we can speculate on the motives.

"Instead, I wish to hear of your experience during the events.  I am quite curious as to what it feels like to place a pony in temporal stasis."

"Exhausting."  Dinky then went on to tell her part of the story where she used her magic to freeze the guard in time so that his injuries would not get worse and kill him.  It did feel quite tiring, like she had to use nearly all her energy.  As Dinky told her story, they were eventually joined by Princess Celestia.

"Good..." Dinky turned to look out the window quickly, "...evening?... Princess Celestia."

"Good evening Dinky," Celestia replied, "Luna.  Ruby."  She joined the three of them.  "I have received word if you are curious.  The guard is alive and stable.  He is expected to make a full recovery."  She let out a sigh.  "Also, he was not the only one who was struck by lightning last night.  I would say he suffered the greatest injuries, but unfortunately at least two died due to what happened.  It was lucky that the two of you were able to aid him or there might have been three."

Dinky and Ruby both relaxed at the news the guard would be okay, releasing a tension neither realized that they were carrying.  The relief gave way to sadness at the news of two deaths.  Dinky could see the hint of grief on her teacher's face.  It always seemed that Celestia seemed to take any attack or injury on her subjects the same as if it were one of her friends or family.  With a thousand years of rule, that had to create a lot of grief.

It was hard to imagine what the princess was feeling.  At the same time, the filly felt a bit of guilt as well.  Was there something she could have done?  Maybe if they had been quicker, one of them could have seen the pony responsible for the attack.  It was possible they could have done something to stop the attacks and save the others from being struck by lightning.

"If you will excuse me," Celestia said, "it is time for me to lower the sun."  With that, she turned and left.

"That means that I shall have to raise the moon," Luna added,  "If you will excuse me."

With that, Dinky and Ruby were left alone while the princesses went to attend to their celestial duties.  The pair still time to hang out together until the morning when Ruby would have to head back to Ponyville.

"Want to go see if the Poison Joke is growing?" Dinky asked.

"Sure," Ruby responded.  The two started walking to head down to the ground floor and a small green house just outside the castle's alchemy lab.

"So..." the ruby red filly said, "Do you think the pony will attack again?"

"Probably," Dinky groaned, rolling her eyes.  "Why would they stop when nopony even knows who they are?"

"Too bad we aren't older.  Then we could do something about it."

Could we?