//------------------------------// // Chapter 23: Day in the Life // Story: Past, Present, and Future // by Bpkyle777 //------------------------------// Smith and I were laying down in peace on my illusionary beach, the fake sun beaming down on us. Even though we both knew it wasn’t real, the warm sand under our backs still felt great. I turned my head toward Smith, looking through the bars that separated us. Even my powerful illusions couldn’t get rid of the magic proof bars, or the door that made up the entrance on my other side. We always found it hilarious how, no matter where I put us, there would be a random door and bars in the middle of it. With the bright light coming off the sun, I could easily see the magic dampener around Smith’s curved horn. His chitinous skin was a little pale and peeling in some places and the green shell on his back was slightly faded as well. With his magic stopped, he’s had to solely rely on me for nourishment, so he nearly died the first month in here until I found a way to help. Smith looked around the beach, taking in the sights of a thin grove of palm trees behind us and the occasional fake beachgoer sunbathing in the distance. After a few moments, the Changeling growled and sat up, staring out into the ocean. “Why do you keep doing this?” “Huh?” I said, sitting up as well. “What do you mean?” “This!” he motioned around us. “All of this, almost every day! Trying to make me feel like I’m not hopelessly stuck in some prison for the rest of my life!” Smith turned his back to me and leaned against the bars. “Keeping me company and coming to visit,” he slowly lowered his head, “even after all the hurtful things I said to you.” I sighed and sat back to back with him against the bars, facing the door. “Because you’re my friend, Smith. I don’t want you to ever forget that. You’re having a hard time, and that’s when friends are needed the most.” I turned my head to the side so I could see him out the corner of my eye. “And don’t worry. You won’t be stuck in here forever. I will find a way to get you out. You’ve never hurt anypony who didn’t deserve it. In fact, you’ve saved lives multiple times. I can honestly say that I’d even trust you with mine.” Smith brought his hooves to his head and growled some more. “Why?!” he buzzed. “Why do you trust me so much? When I was accidentally revealed to you last year, you were quick to accept it, knowing full well what a Changeling was and what they normally do. Not even a week before I was arrested, you trusted me with your secret of who you really are. You just-” Smith shook his head. “I want to hate you, to find a way to blame you for my being in here, and I did… in the beginning. But the past couple of months, I just…” Smith quieted down a bit. “I can’t bring myself to do it anymore.” Separating myself from the bars, I turned around to face Smith, his back still to me. “That's because you are a very loyal friend, Silver. No matter what happens, or who comes between us, I know you’ll still be there for me, just as I’m here for you. What you are doesn’t dictate who you are. I only wish Lulu could see it the same way.” Smith flinched at my mentioning of his ex. “I’ll admit, I had doubts about you back when I first found out.” He quickly looked back at me, frowning. “But after you were incarcerated, I had time to think about it. You hid what you really were from everypony for the same reason I did, fear of losing those closest to you, and unfortunately you got the short end of the stick in that regard.” Smith’s eyes drifted back to the floor but I continued anyways. “That’s why I’m still your friend. Even though you lost somepony you love, I wanted you to know that you’d never lose me as a friend, no matter what.” My horn lit up as I extended a hoof to him through the bars, as I usually did when I gave him nourishment. Smith mulled over my words for a moment before slowly turning around completely and placing his hole-lined hoof against mine. I released the spell and he gasped, taking in a lot more at once than he was use to. “You once commented on how much leftover love of Celestia I would bring for you,” I said as I continued to hold the spell. “Truth is, there is more than one kind of love, like love for family… or friends.” Smith’s eyes widened as I stopped the spell and pulled my hoof away. “Everything I’ve been giving you for the last few weeks has been the love I hold for my best friend, and everyday it gets stronger.” Smith sat there, slightly frozen, before slowly pulling his hoof back to look at it. After a few quiet moments, he looked back at me, a small grin on his face. “You really do care about me.” “Of course I do, you dunce!” I scoffed. The bars prevented me from reaching over and whacking him in his head. “If I didn’t, why do you think I keep coming here? Obligation? Pshh, please,” I waved a hoof dismissively. “I have important magic things I could be researching.” “Whatever,” Smith rolled his eyes with a smirk. “Even with a year of practice, you still couldn’t magic yourself out of a cardboard box without blowing up half of Canterlot!” “Hey! Just because that nearly happened once, doesn’t mean you can keep reminding me of it.” We both laughed and turned to the ocean. A few moments passed in silence before I laid down on beach, tucking my legs beneath me. “So,” Smith started. “Anything interesting happen since the last time you were here?” “Not really. I finally filled my second journal,” I said as I levitated my empty one out of my saddlebags nearby to show him. “Aside from that, just the same old, same old. Well, except…” I stopped to think for a moment as Smith raised a brow at me. “Back in January… did we ever venture out to the Everfree Jungle?” I turned to him. “You, me, and a few guards?” Smith quickly shook his head. “Not that I can recall. I think I would remember going near that evil place.” “I thought so.” I sat my head back down on the warm sand. “Although…” I looked back at Smith, who had a hoof to his chin. “I do seem to recall you asking Celestia about something near there around that time.” My head shot up. “Oh, yeah! I asked her if I could investigate the area where I appeared in Equestria.” I thought about it some more. “She… was about to let me go, when Luna came by and convinced her otherwise.” “So you didn’t investigate?” Smith asked. I shook my head. “No. Tia let me send another unicorn to check it out though, but he came back with nothing.” I sighed and turned back to the ocean. “What does that have to do with what’s happened recently?” “Hmm?” I looked back at Smith. “Oh, just… a strange dream I had.” “About… us going to the Everfree?” “Yeah,” I nodded. “We were the ones investigating instead of that unicorn. The thing is… it seemed so real. Almost like a memory instead of a dream.” “Have you tried asking Lulu-” Smith quickly caught himself, “-ahem, Princess Luna about it? She’s supposed to know a thing or two about dreams, right?” I sighed. “Well, I was going to, but when I brought it up at breakfast and she asked me more about it… I don’t know, I just acted like I couldn’t remember it. Luna… She seems different somehow.” I frowned at Smith. “Ever since what happened between the two of you, it seems like she doesn’t trust anypony anymore, me least of all! She claims her new sleep schedule was for her duties, but I think it’s really just to avoid everypony during the day.” We sat in silence for a few moments before I shook my head. “Well, one problem at a time, starting with you,” I pointed at Smith. “I think I may be on to something to help get you out of here, but I need to do a little more digging to make sure it will work. The beauty of a new government is the fact that loopholes can be found anywhere!” I winked at him. Smith smiled at me as I stood up and stretched. “Thank you, Zack.” “No problem! That’s what friends are for.” I looked around at the scenery. “I still have a little while before my lunch date with Tia, so where do you want to go next?” He looked around with a hoof on his chin. “How about-” *BONK* “Ow!” Smith burst out in laughter as I rubbed my head and looked around. Settling at my hooves was a large coconut. I turned around to see a monkey in the palm tree, taunting me. “Why you little…” I only ran two meters in his direction before slamming my muzzle into the invisible wall of the dungeon. I fell backward and started rubbing my sore muzzle while Smith just laughed even harder. “I think it’s safe to assume today’s Monday,” he laughed while I just grumbled to myself. ------------------- Well, that was eventful, I thought as I wandered the hallways back to my room. I knew that he had something to talk about. I’m just glad he finally got it off his chest. I glanced around as I passed by multiple guards and maids, all going about their business, the occasional one greeting me. The halls seemed quite busy today. After a while, I slowed to a stop in front of one of the many grand windows found all over the castle and looked outside. Although I couldn’t directly see the sun, I could tell it was nearly at its peak in the sky. I feel like we’ve both just lifted a huge weight off our backs. I took a deep breath. He’s my friend, I don’t care what anypo- “Oof.” I shouldn’t have stayed still for that long. Why is it suddenly so hard to breath?! I glanced back to see a maid’s periwinkle flank resting on my ribcage. Maid? Periwinkle? I think it's just Mrs. Hooves. The maid gasped. “I’m so sorry, sir! I-I didn’t see you,” she said, frantically trying to get up and help me. Mrs. Hooves was a wonderful maid with a silver mane and tail here at the castle, albeit slightly clumsy, not unlike myself. Kind of reminds me of a certain Wall-Eyed mare from the show. I grabbed her outstretched hoof and she managed to pull me up, despite her lack of coordination. I righted myself and looked at her, rubbing my head as a headache took hold. “It’s alright, Mrs. Hooves. I shouldn’t have stopped in the middle of the… hallway…” Oi, my head. “Ugh-” -Flash- Bubbles… “Oh! I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you there!” “It’s quite alright. It’s actually my fault. I shouldn’t have been standing still in the middle of the pathway like that… I’m actually trying to get through to the library.” … “I know the perfect way you can help us! Could you fly around town and ask if anypony’s seen my friend?” “Can do! …Uh, I never got what he looks like…” … “Well, I think I’m going to take off. I need to get home to check on my little muffin.” “Dinky, right?” “Yeah, how’d you know?” “Lucky guess…” -Flash- “-ir? Sir, are you alright?” I slowly blinked and saw that I was lying on the ground again. The floor, my old friend. “Y-yeah, I’m fine,” I tried to reassure her, standing back up on wobbly hooves. “A-anyways, it was entirely my fault.” I started to massage my head again. “Are you sure you’re alright?” she asked, really concerned. “You just sort of passed out for a moment there. I was afraid I hurt you.” Ignoring the pain in my head, I lowered my hoof and put on my warmest smile. “I promise I am alright,” I said softly. “Thank you for your concern, though.” Mrs. Hooves slowly nodded as a smile made its way to her lips. Oh, the power of Tia’s smile. Love it. “Well, if there’s anything I could get you…” she offered. “Actually,” I said with a hoof on my chin, “could you have the kitchen go ahead bring our lunch to Tia’s room?” She quickly nodded. “Yes, sir. Right away.” She turned and was about to leave before I stopped her. “And Mrs. Hooves?” She paused and turned her head back to me. “If you could stop calling me ‘Sir’, and just call me Zack or Knight, that would be lovely as well,” I smiled warmly at her again. The mare returned the smile. “Of course… Zack.” Mrs. Hooves turned back around and continued on her merry way. I had only taken a couple steps toward my destination when I had to stop and rub my head again. Why did I pass out? And why do I have the strangest sense of Déjà vu? ----------------- Lunch with the Princess of the Sun was just like any other. We sat on a picnic blanket on her balcony, overlooking the whole of Canterlot as well as the distant fields and jungle. The sky was crystal clear, letting the sun warm us up as a crisp breeze occasionally rolled through. Tia and I sat up straight with our plates hovering in front of us as we nibbled on our beloved daisy sandwiches and daintily sipped our teas… …At least until the local Pegasi guards finished their rounds near the balcony. As soon as the final guard was out of sight, Tia and I let out a breath as we sat down our plates. I pulled out a hidden stash of chips and various fruits from the cupboard near the doorway while Tia flashed in a couple bottles of pop and two slices of cake. What? A sandwich and tea is not a very exciting picnic, but a princess simply cannot be seen going ham on a bunch of junk food. Relaxing, we both spread out on the blanket, huddling closer together and making sure we were both comfortable. Tia was lying so that her front hooves extended out in front of her and I was leaning against her side. She started telling me about recent events in day court; a few complaints from and about the nobles, a few compliments to Tia and Luna’s rule, and an argument between two ponies over the ownership of a pet, but what caught my attention was an incident with a farmer. Apparently, she claims that one of the nobles just outside the castle robbed her of her land in some crazy tax scheme. I wouldn’t put it past those arrogant little… Anyways, Tia promised to look into it and gave the farmer a section of unowned land quite a ways south of here, just past the Everfree Jungle. What caught my attention, however, was her name. “Cherry Delight, you say?” I asked. Tia nodded. “Indeed. I’m sure you can guess what her family farms,” she giggled. “They intend to settle there and build a small village.” “Oh, really? Do they have any ideas for a name?” “Not that I’m aware, but having the settlement just on the other side of the Everfree, I’m sure it will become a very important junction.” I chuckled. “I’m sure it will.” We continued talking, slowly running low on pop. I told her about the incident in the hallway a little while ago, to which she just laughed at me. “Yeah, yeah,” I rolled my eyes. “Laugh it up.” Tia calmed down a little. “It’s just so like you to stop in the middle of a busy hallway like that. Why did you stop, by the way?” I proceeded to fill her in about what Smith and I discussed in the dungeon. She almost teared up at the part about my love for my friend. At least until I got to the coconut, then she was laughing at me again. “And then he said, ‘I think it’s safe to assume today’s Monday’” I mocked Smith’s voice. I can never get that buzzing sound right, though. “He’s certainly got you pegged by now,” Tia giggled and I rolled my eyes. “I am proud to see how far you two have come as friends. I may not be that much older than most ponies around here, but I’ve still seen how important friendship between two ponies can be.” “And how old is that exactly?” I questioned with a smirk. Tia shoved me playfully. “I’ve told you before, I’m not going to tell. You should know better than to ask a mare about her age, anyways.” I chuckled. “I thought that only applied to a mare’s weight?” Tia growled and narrowed her eyes at me, but her smile told me she knew I was only picking. Shifting closer to her front, I rolled onto my back. “Well, in any case, I’m sure you’ll get a mage under you to study friendship one day.” “It may be important,” Tia rolled her eyes, “but I doubt friendship contains enough magic to study.” “I don’t know,” I shrugged. “My friendship alone is enough to keep Smith alive. There may be more to it than we can see,” I smirked. Tia giggled. “If it will make you feel better, I’ll be sure to make note of that.” I grinned and moved so that the back of my head was resting on Tia’s extended forelegs. Tia took the opportunity to lean her head down. Her lips met mine and I gently pushed back with my own. As she pulled away, I sighed happily and stared up at the sky. I don’t think I could be much happier right now. My mind began to wander until a large cloud passed over the sun, providing a moment of shadow over all of Canterlot. I slowly sat up and looked at Tia, who was also confused. “I thought we were supposed to have clear skies for the next few days,” I said. Looking to the west of the castle, I could see a large group of dark clouds heading our way. “That doesn’t look like it’ll be pleasant.” “Indeed not,” Tia said. “I’ll be sure to discuss this with the weather ponies.” She looked back around at what little food we had left. “I suppose we should clean up. We do not want to be outside when those clouds get here and I must get back to court soon.” I nodded slowly, still staring at the approaching clouds. Something feels… off, about them. Ignoring the feeling, I joined Tia in cleaning up the balcony. There was still a decent amount of chips left, so I stored them in the cupboard again. I looked around and saw Tia gathering the last few pieces of fruit, including one delicious looking red apple. Tia had just levitated it up to eye level when I suddenly jumped for it, catching it in my mouth. She looked at me curiously, her aura still holding the apple in place, and by extension holding me in place, before giggling. “Wha?” I asked around the apple in my mouth. “I lighe ahhles.” Tia just laughed some more. She pulled me closer using the apple and kissed my forehead, just below my horn, before letting go of it. Happily pulling it from my mouth, I started munching on the apple as I levitated and folded the checkered blanket we were just on. Before I could do anything else, however, somepony knocked on Tia’s door. “Enter,” Tia called out, still gathering the dirty dishes into a pile. When I heard the door open, I turned my head to see a blue unicorn, slightly lighter than myself, bowing to Tia and me. He wore a white shirt collar with a red tie and had a solid black mane, styled backward in a series of spikes. He was levitating a folder by his side, the top of which was emblazoned with Smith’s cutie mark. The Unicorn’s own cutie mark consisted of a brown gavel over a written document of some kind. “Mr. Wright,” I beamed. “So glad to see you again.” The Unicorn raised his head back up and rolled his eyes in irritation. “And you as well, sir. And again, my name is Writ, not Right.” “Wright, Writ, Right, whatever” I chuckled. “You honestly look like a ‘Wright’ to me.” Writ just sighed and shook his head. “In any case, I need to see you immediately regarding my client.” He glanced around at the various picnic supplies now being cleaned up and chuckled nervously. “I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything.” Tia teleported the supplies and dishes away while I just chuckled again. “No,” I said. *Rumble* A distant crack of thunder vibrated through the air. “…The storm already did that.” “Storm?” Writ asked as he stepped closer to the balcony, just to see the dark clouds that have only gotten closer. “That’s strange.” “Indeed it is,” Tia said. “I’m afraid I must go now. I need to look into this sudden change in weather.” “Of course, your highness,” Writ bowed as she approached the door. I followed her to the doorway and gave her a quick peck before she left. “I’ll see you later.” I watched as she turned the corner of the hallway before turning back to Writ, who was smiling at me. “What?” “It’s clear that what you two have is special,” he said. “Putting aside the fact that she’s a princess, everypony can only dream of having something like that.” I returned a soft smile. “Thank you, Writ. That’s nice of you to say.” Before he could add anything else I straightened up. “Now, what was it you wished to speak with me about?” He cleared his throat and his expression quickly shifted back to a professional one. “You should probably come with me.” A quick smirk appeared on his face. “I may have found something to help your friend.” ---------------------- No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t seem to sit still. I was just so darn excited! Dinner would have probably been more awkward with all the strange looks I got if my mind wasn’t in a different place entirely. I couldn’t be entirely sure, but I think I had a huge grin across my face the entire meal. It was almost time for dessert to be served when Tia’s voice brought me back down to Equestria. “Zack, are you alright?” she whispered. That’s all it took for me to fully realize that I had been vibrating slightly in my seat for the last twenty minutes. Mentally shaking my head to clear it, I looked around at some of the concerned glances I was getting from the nobles sitting near me. Luna, who still looked slightly disheveled from having just woke up recently, was making a point to not look at me. The Unicorn sitting right next to me almost looked fearful. I gave them a weak smile and chuckled nervously. “Sorry about that. Just, uh… a bit excited with how my research is going.” Everypony seemed to calm a bit. Well, except for the poor mare next to me. She still looked a little nervous. Tia looked at me skeptically. I knew she figured what I was really excited about. “I take it the meeting went well?” Tia asked in a hushed tone. “Oh, did it ever!” I whispered back. “I’ll tell you all about it later tonight.” I realized I was grinning like a fool again and took a few deep breaths to calm back down just as dessert arrived. Tia giggled at my antics before looking at the slice of cake that was placed in front of her. She proceeded to eat her slice of doubly-triple chocolate cake before humming in appreciation. At least it’s easy to know what Tia would want for Hearts and Hooves Day, I chuckled. Now that I was calmed down and eating my brownie-ice cream combo, I noticed the seat across from me was strangely vacant. “Tia? Where’s Starswirl? I haven’t seen him since this morning.” She paused just as a fork-full of cake approached her mouth. I could see her force herself to put it back down before looking at me. “I’m not certain. He left before breakfast. Something about one of his experimental alarms going off.” Tia started to raise her fork again until I asked another question. “Alarm? Alarm for what?” Tia lightly huffed on her floating piece of cake. Not even bothering to lower it this time, she said, “I don’t know, Zack. He mentioned something regarding extra dimensions or some such.” Before I could ask anything else, she quickly shoved the cake in her mouth, immediately relishing the flavor. I chuckled until a voice cut me off. “Excuse Us. We have some pressing matters to attend to.” Tia and I looked over at Luna, who was standing up looking slightly panicked. We watched as she quickly trotted out of the room, nearly knocking over one of the servants. Luckily I was able to catch him in my magical grasp before he fell. After making sure the servant was fine, I gave Tia a curious look. She matched my gaze and we both shrugged. Probably forgot something in her room. She can be a little, er… airheaded at times. Especially when she first wakes up. The rest of the meal went without incident. Tia finished her third slice of cake, I made amends with the mare next to me, servants cleaned up after us (I offered to help but was turned down). Overall it was just the same old, same old. Tia and I left the dining area and made our way back to the bedrooms since Tia’s duties were done for the day. It stayed unbearably quiet between us. I didn’t want to talk about my meeting with Writ until we were completely alone. What? I’ve grown pretty paranoid the last few months! You would too if you’ve been targeted for foalnapping and assassinations as many times as I have… Well, it was only twice… and almost half a year ago… but my point still stands! Thunder quietly rumbled outside, bringing me out of my thoughts and giving me a conversational idea. “So, crazy weather, huh?” In a world where ponies directly control the weather, it is as excellent topic starter. “Indeed,” Tia replied. “I talked with the local weather coordinator and he says that this storm shouldn‘t exist. The best explanation he could give for how it formed was ‘Everfree Magic’.” Tia giggled. “His team is trying to get some sort of control over it right now, but it would seem like the storm is too much for them.” I smiled. “Ah, well, no storm is going mess up the castle with those defensive spells Starswirl drummed up.” “And those spells would normally require constant recharging if not for your input on the matter,” Tia pointed out. “I’m sure a genius like Starry could’ve figured something out on his own,” I shrugged. Tia rolled her eyes. She hates it when I put my abilities down like that. We had just arrived at our hallway when- *Flash* *CRACK* An unexpected lightning strike scared me out of my mind. Even the ever-stoic Princess Celestia flinched in surprise. Once she was able to calm her heart rate, she looked at where I had just been standing, only for her to see a lone set of saddlebags clumped on the floor. “Zack? Zack, where’d you go?” “…U-up here…” Confusion flashed across her features before she glanced up to see me upside down, clinging for dear life on one of the support beams on the ceiling. “How did…” A warm smile reached Tia’s lips as she shook her head. “I swear, sometimes you seem to be part Pegasus.” “O-oh, Ha h-ha.” I stuttered. “N-now could you be a dear and help me d-down? I d-don’t know how much longer I-I can hold on…” As I spoke, my rear hooves had already begun to slip. I looked up/down at Tia in time to see her spread her wings partially before tucking them back to her sides. “I don’t know~,” Tia sung. “It’s kind of cute to see you in peril.” “Aww, c-come on!” I whined. I looked back at my hooves to see a rear one slip free. Scrambling, I tried to pull it back up to the beam, only for my forehooves to slip. “Eep!” was all I managed to squeak out before clinching my eyes shut and plummeting… …for all of one meter, into a pair of soft forelegs. I cracked an eye open to see Tia smiling and holding me in midair. Letting out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding, I sighed “oh, thank Celestia.” I chuckled lightly. “Literally, I guess.” Tia just rolled her eyes again as she brought me to the ground. “I still cannot believe those kinds of sayings have caught on. They say them as if my sister and I are some sort of deities.” She sat me down and, without warning, I immediately went to her side and jumped onto her back, nearly knocking her over and earning a slightly annoyed glare from the alicorn. “I don’t know,” I smiled as I wrapped my hooves around her neck. “You’ll always be my Amaterasu.” At her blank look, I decided to explain a bit. “She’s the Sun Goddess in one of the religions on my old world.” Realization set in and Tia turned from me, blushing. “Please, I’m no goddess.” “Whatever you say, Ami!” I chuckled before tapping her back and levitating my saddlebags back up to their usual resting place. “Now come on! There’s still something I need to tell you!” Tia smiled at my antics before making her way down the rest of the hallway. We passed her room, then the kitchen, then window after window, each one typically showing the beauty of the night sky, although right now it was dark and rainy. As soon as we approached my room, I noticed my door was slightly ajar. Hopping off Tia’s back, I motioned for her to keep quiet as I shrouded myself in invisibility. I peeked into my room to see a unicorn standing in the dark, and holding some sort of small device over my bed in a dim silver glow. Unicorn, Silver, quirky device, hasn’t been seen all day. It didn’t take long to put the pieces together. I stood behind him and lowered my invisibility. With a flicker of cyan, I lit the candles in the room and spoke up. “Why are you in my room, Starry?” Not a single reaction. Not even a bucking flinch. “Oh, hello Knight,” he greeted coolly. “Just scanning for anomalies.” “In my bedroom?” “Yes.” “How the hay did you even get in here?” Starswirl stopped what he was doing with the weird apparatus and turned to me. “You have your ways around your inventions, and I have my own around mine.” I guess that makes sense. He made the magic locks on the castle doors. I lifted the saddlebags from my back and sat them next to the bed. “But there is still that little thing amongst ponies called ‘privacy’. Heard of it?” I heard Starswirl grunt in some sort of acknowledgement as he messed with his little gizmo. It was a small sort of rectangular box with various wires coming in and out of it. There was also a small, immobile dish towards the front. I couldn’t help but feel it looked somewhat familiar as Starswirl mumbled something about the dish suppose to be spinning. “You could have at least asked,” I grumbled. “Asked what?” I turned around to see Tia walk in, regarding Starswirl in confusion. “Asked if he could break into my room and scan it with… whatever the hay that is.” I turned back to Starswirl. “I mean, you even ran right past me this morning.” “This morning I had no idea my search would lead me here,” he replied, not even looking up at us. “So you’ve been searching all day?” He nodded. “Searching for what, exactly?” Tia asked. I guess that’s important too. “A tear,” he said quietly. Tia and I looked at each other in confusion while Starswirl fiddled with his gadget some more. Before we could ask further, he sighed and put the doohickey away. “I guess I should be going. My scanner seems to have stopped working so I’ll let you two get your sleep.” He trotted to the doorway. “Good night.” “Wait! I’m not done with you!” Before I could even step out the door, there was a flash of light and he was gone. With a defeated sigh, I stepped back in the room, shutting the door behind me. “Today’s been a long day,” I mumbled, rubbing my face with a hoof. Tia followed me as I made my way to the bed and plopped down on it. “Ugh, I hate Mondays.” Tia cooed as she settled down next to me, nuzzling me. “At least today wasn’t all bad,” she pointed out. I managed a smile and looked up at her. “I suppose you’re right. Smith and I had a heart-to-heart, I got to share a balcony picnic with a beautiful mare,” Tia blushed and glanced away for a moment, “and, according to Writ, we may be able to free Smith! As soon as next week, if need be!” “Oh?” Tia beamed. “You two have found something substantial?” My smile quickly fell to a half smirk. “Eh… not exactly… What we plan to use is more of a… technicality, if anything. An error we found in the laws on citizenship.” “Citizenship? Care to elaborate?” “Well, Smith entered Equestria as a Pegasus pony,” I started. “One of the very first things he did here in Equestria was try to join the Royal Guard-” “-And to be a Royal Guard, one must become a citizen of Equestria,” Tia finished for me. “Exactly, which he did, passing the test with flying colors, if I recall correctly from the records.” Tia slowly nodded. “Alright, but what does his citizenship have to do with freeing him now?” “I’m getting to that. Now, as a citizen of Equestria, Smith has inherited the inalienable rights that come with that title. Including the right to a fair trial!” “So… since he never got a trial, your plan is to give him one? I fail to see how this will help too much, since he was arrested for being labeled an enemy of the kingdom.” Ugh, racism amongst ponies. It’s almost sad. “Changelings are labeled as enemies to the kingdom, BUT once again, we refer to those inalienable rights he has as a citizen. The law says that he, and I quote, ‘will not be discriminated against, regardless of race; Unicorn, Pegasus, or otherwise.’ I’m sure the lawmakers only intended the ‘otherwise’ to include Earth ponies and Alicorns, but that’s where the loophole is. There is no law against a Changeling becoming a citizen, so they cannot just strip him of his citizenship, and thus, he will be given a fair trial, and his guilt will only be determined by his actions as a citizen of Equestria, and we both know that he has never done anything wrong in the eyes of the law… well, besides a few misdemeanors, but I mean, come on. Even I have a few of those.” Tia pondered my words carefully. “That… may just work. Is everything in place for Writ to see this through?” I shook my head. “Not quite yet. He still needs to iron out a few details and he said he would share it with one of his lawyer buddies to double check that everything will work, but in a day or two, Smith could be on his way to freedom.” *Crack* The thunder made me jump, but it wasn’t quite as bad as it was in the hallway. I glanced outside the window to see that the rain had gotten worse. A warm wing made its way across my back and pulled me close to Tia’s side. Thunder doesn’t really scare me. In fact I find it quite relaxing. But since coming to Equestria, I’ve become a lot more jumpy at sudden loud noises. I wonder why that is? “Well, I certainly hope it all works out for you,” Tia said as she nuzzled the top of my head, bringing me from my thoughts. “I do too.” A yawn escaped me and I chuckled. “Today really has been a long day, so I guess we should be nodding off soon.” Tia nodded in agreement and we both got off the bed. She started preparing it before I noticed my saddlebags still sitting on the floor nearby. “I’m gonna put my stuff up. I’ll be right back.” Levitating my saddlebags, I started emptying a few of its contents. I noticed the journal and decided to go ahead and write while it was on my mind. “Do you mind if go ahead and fill out today’s events, Tia?” She glanced at me to see the journal floating next to me. “No, go right ahead. I still need to wash up anyways.” With that, she made her way to the bathroom and I turned to enter my study. I finished unpacking the last few things from my saddlebags and teleported it back to my nightstand before setting the journal down on my dirty desk. I chuckled when I saw that I forgot to clean up my mess from the explosion earlier. I was about to lift a quill from nearby when a light tapping sound distracted me. Turning my head and swiveling my ears, I could tell it was coming from the window. Cautiously, I approached the window to see what was causing the noise. As soon as I was right in front of it, the tapping stopped. I also noticed the rain was no longer falling on it. Carefully, I opened the window inward, only wide enough to stick the tip of my muzzle out. Bad move. Before I could react, the wind picked back up and flung the window inward, sending me flying against the back wall of the study. In my daze, I was almost tempted to do that again, when I suddenly got a terrible migraine... -Flash- Wind… Rain… … “The storm ended up worse than we thought. Everypony should be careful going home tonight.” “Don’t worry, everypony. I’ve got a solution.” “What?” “Bubbles…” … “Whoa. That… was… AWESOME! I want to do that again!” “No, you’ll just hurt yourself again.” “Aww, come on…” … “Where did you park your wagon?” “I hitched it right outside the farm’s main entrance. Why?” “So, you didn’t crash it into the top of an apple tree then?” “WHAT?!...” … Darkness… Black aura… “Muahahahaha…” -Flash- “-ease wake up! Zack!” “Huh? Wha…” I rubbed my head with a hoof and tried to look around. I was leaning against the wall on the far side of my study. Any papers I had lying about were scattered around the room and there was a sizable puddle in front of the window. Tia was lying in front of me, the worry on her face quickly shifting to relief as she watched me wake up. “What- augh… what happened?” “I’m not certain.” Tia instantly looked worried again. “I heard some kind of ruckus in here and when I came to inspect, you were lying here unconscious and the window was wide open!” I groaned as my memory slowly returned to me. “It was my fault. I’m sorry.” Tia raised a brow at me but huddled closer regardless. “I heard a tapping at my window and the rain had stopped, so I went to check it out. The next thing I know, I’m being flung across the room in a torrent of wind, and then…” I grew silent. “And then what?” she asked, curious. “I… I can’t remember…” “Well, you were probably knocked unconscious from the impact,” Tia guessed. “No, no. There was… something else…” The pain in my head grew. “Something about… another storm… and then somepony… dark? I’m not sure…” My voice faded out towards the end. “Come on. Let’s get you to bed.” Tia picked me up in her golden glow. “We can clean this mess up tomorrow.” In my incoherent haze, I managed to give a murmur of agreement and Tia carried me to the bed. I had already begun to drift off as Tia laid me down and crawled up beside me. A warm, feathery blanket wrapped around me and I leaned my head against the fuzzy white wall to my side. As I faded to dreamland, I heard the rain outside beat relentlessly against the windows and the occasional roll of thunder. Somepony must be very angry right now… ------------------------ I am VERY ANGRY right now! I know, sir. What are you even doing? You are supposed to be keeping your namesake by making his life a living nightmare! Voices… they seem… familiar… I’m sorry, sir. He just- Just what?! He has obvious doubts for Luna and the Changeling, but what do you give him instead? I wonder why it’s so dark… Aside from a disgruntled lunar princess and a temporarily out of reach friend, he has the perfect life! I don’t want his life to be perfect, I want it to be living TARTARUS for what he did to me! I understand that, sir, but- It’s not enough to just kill him and his friends, no. I want them to watch as their worlds fall to pieces around them. Watch as the very ponies they care about abandon them and leave them for dead. But once again, all you’ve managed to do is give this idiot the love of his life! How one manages to screw up so badly- Sir! WHAT?! Ooo, that echoed… Ahem, this is not my fault. Y- Ah! Before you say anything, let me explain. Whatever he is, he’s no pony. For some reason unknown to me, his mind is less malleable than a typical pony’s. It’s like his mind is almost shielded from direct influences like mine. If I could hazard a guess, I’d say even Luna could not manipulate his dreams without his conscious consent. She sounds smart with her smart words… Whatever doubts he has, I cannot easily magnify them like I could any other pony. The most I could do in a single day’s time was increase Luna’s distrust in him, put Smith just out of reach, and even make Mondays slightly worse than normal. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I search, I cannot seem to find even the smallest doubt for Celestia. Is somepony growling? Heheh, that sounds funny… Then what? You have full power over this illusion! Just manually upscale his doubts! I cannot. If things get unbelievably worse, he will realize that something is not right, and the illusion will be broken. … If I may suggest, sir… while I cannot influence his doubts directly, there is more than one way to create a nightmare. Hmm… Do it. Bye bye strange head voices! I’ll miss you…