//------------------------------// // Dinner, Comics,Siri. // Story: Family // by FleetlordAvatar //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle trotted up the road to Sweet Apple Acres, Spike riding atop the saddlebags on her back. In his claws he held a large china bowl with a lid. Lifting it slightly, he inhaled deeply, smelling its steaming contents. “I’m telling you Twilight, this casserole has to be my best work yet,” he said proudly. “If it tastes as good as it smells then I have to agree,” replied Twilight as the delicious aroma drifted her way. “Well, I am a pretty talented chef,” he replied smugly. “Before I learned to cook, all you ate were instant noodles and dried vegetables.” “Hey,” she replied indignantly, “I’ll have you know I am an excellent cook.” “No offense, Twilight, but you couldn’t cook anything without magic or a kettle.” Twilight huffed a little at the dragon’s statement, although he did have a point. She could cook, but compared to Spike what she created was about as interesting as a cucumber sandwich. In fact, until the young drake had learned to cook, she would sustain herself with caffeine and instant foodstuffs. Her research (and stomach) would later confirm this was not the best diet for a growing filly. Spike, however, could create culinary masterpieces with just about anything, which was good considering he was in charge of the shopping when one project or another occupied her attention. She had seen and tasted just what the young dragon was capable of creating, and, if the smell was anything to go by, she had no doubt whatever was in the bowl would taste delicious. Arriving at Sweet Apple Acres, Spike hopped down from Twilight’s back as she knocked on the farmhouse door. Over by the barn they spotted Big Macintosh, Applebloom and Granny Smith loading up a cart with baskets. The three Apples took notice of their visitors and waved to them, which the two returned. A moment later, the farmhouse door was opened by Applejack. “Thanks fer coming Twi, Spike,” she said, throwing on a scarf. “I’m grateful yer able ta watch Reiver while we get some more of the harvest done.” “It’s no problem Applejack,” replied Twilight as she set her saddlebags on the kitchen table. “Glad to be of service.” “Ordinarily I’d have Granny watch him, but she’s insistin’ I need every available farm hoof right now, an’ I have ta agree.” Applejack took a nervous look at the grey clouds that were currently hanging ominously over the farm. “It shouldn’t be getting this cold at this time of year; Granny reckons we might have snow.” “Maybe it’s blown in from the Everfree Forest?” suggested Twilight. “There has been some strange weather there lately; Princess Celestia even has me studying it.” “If it has, then I’m gonna talk ta Dash about it,” replied Applejack. “The weather team need ta get a lid on this pronto or I’m gonna have ta deal with ruined crops.” “I’m sure it will pass,” reassured Twilight. “But, if it would help, I’ll share any results I get with you.” “I would appreciate that Twi,” replied Applejack. “Well, I’ve got ta get goin’. Ya’ll take care, an let me know how he’s getting on. Big Mac had a talk with him an’ said he got a mite upset.” “Don’t worry Applejack,” replied Twilight. “We’ll keep an eye on him.” “You can count on us,” chipped in Spike. With a nod of affirmation, Applejack disappeared out the door and trotted towards her family. “Applejack, move yer caboose!” cried Granny Smith. “We gotta git those apples inside afore those clouds decide ta freeze tha whole orchard solid!” Shutting the door behind their departing friend, Twilight started unloading her saddlebags while Spike took the bowl to the kitchen. Out of the first she levitated some of the mysterious artefacts she was studying, along with reference books and notes on the Everfree’s weather and laid them out neatly on the coffee table. She had been planning to do conduct her research that afternoon at the library, but with Applejack’s request she had to move her studies to the farmhouse. Opening the second, she looked over the items Spike had brought along. Normally, Spike would have stayed at the library, but he had insisted he come along with the dinner he had spent all afternoon cooking. She suspected he wanted to meet Reiver in person as he had even offered to bring some books to help entertain him; of course, he had failed to mention they were comic books. “Hey, Twilight? Do you know where Applejack keeps the plates?” asked Spike, popping his head out of the kitchen. “They should be in one of the top cupboards,” she replied. “Let me help you with that.” Lighting her horn, Twilight Sparkle opened the top cupboards and levitated out three bowls and glasses while Spike located the cutlery and helped her set the table. Setting the casserole dish on the table, he lifted the lid, releasing a delicious cloud of steam into the farmhouse. Grabbing a ladle, he spooned out portions of the casserole for himself and he was about to do the same for Reiver when Twilight stopped him. “Sorry, Spike, but Reiver’s condition means this is too rich for him to handle right now.” “Come on Twilight, can’t the guy have something nice?” grumbled Spike. “He must be sick of apples by now.” “Spike,” replied Twilight firmly, “Reiver is severely malnourished, if he had some of your casserole it could very well kill him.” “Whoa,” replied Spike, wide eyed at the thought. “I guess when you put it like that…” “Don’t worry; he’ll have the chance to sample your cooking once he’s well enough.” “So where is he anyway?” asked Spike, replacing the casserole dish lid. “He’s probably sleeping,” she replied. “I’ll go and get him. Would you mind getting some applesauce and glasses of water ready?” “Sure thing,” he replied. “Thanks Spike, I don’t know what I would do without you.” Exiting the kitchen, Twilight made her way upstairs to the guest room, the floorboards creaking under her hooves. Reaching the door, she listened for any sound from within, but hearing nothing she decided Reiver must be asleep. Gently, she rapped her hoof on the wood. “Reiver? It’s Twilight. May I come in?” “Mgh...huh?” was the muffled reply. Slowly opening the door, Twilight saw the colt’s small shape snuggled under a cocoon of bedcovers. Applejack’s faithful collie was likewise snuggled into the colt’s sleeping form and she saw Reiver had a foreleg wrapped around the dog’s furry shoulder. With a small smile at the adorable scene, she lit her horn and gently pulled the covers away from the colt. “Come on now you two,” she said gently. “Dinner’s ready and it’s getting cold.” The mention of food was enough to cause Winona’s nose to twitch, and as soon as she got the scent of Spike’s casserole she scrambled out of Reiver’s grasp and bounded down the stairs, leaving the weary colt sleepily rubbing his eyes. “Huh,Oh, hi Twilight,” he yawned. “Where’s Applejack?” “She has to work in the fields today with her family,” she replied, “so she asked me to watch you.” “Okay, cool,” he replied, still a little tired. “I should probably find a hobby; all I seem to do right now is sleep.” He tried to flatten his mane, which stuck up like a porcupine, but it kept springing back, causing Twilight to giggle. “Maybe hairdressing,” muttered Reiver. “I think I can help,” replied Twilight, using her magic to open the dresser. A few items floated out until she found what she was looking for, a comb. Before Reiver could say anything, it had floated over and started gently combing his mane. “Do you mind if I try?” he asked, just a little bit indignant that she hadn’t just given him the comb. “Oops, sorry,” she said sheepishly. The comb stopped moving and levitated in front of the colt, yet, as he gripped it with his hooves Reiver could feel it slowly sliding out of his grasp, almost like it was falling through molasses. Nevertheless, he tried to comb his mane by himself, except it slipped out of his hoof at the first knot. He tried a second time but it happened again, and then a third. “It’s just a comb, why can’t I be given that at least?!” he groaned in exasperation. He tried one more time, very slowly lifting the comb and dragging it through his mane, but again he couldn’t keep a firm grip and it fell to the floor. Frustrated, he slammed a hoof into the floorboards. “Are you okay?” asked Twilight, concerned. “No…I’m not alright,” he replied, taking a deep breath as he tried to calm down. “I can barely lift a comb with my own hooves Twilight, even practicing with Big Macintosh didn’t help. This would have been so much easier if I was a unicorn, but I had to be an earth pony.” “There’s nothing wrong with being an earth pony,” replied Twilight. “Oh…of course,” he replied, suddenly aware he might have said something wrong. “But it’s just you make all that levitation look so easy, how do you do it?” “With time and a lot of study,” replied Twilight. “Magic isn’t something unicorns are naturally talented in, we have to learn control. I had difficulty turning the page of a book before Princess Celestia taught me how to control my magic.” She gently put a hoof under his chin and tilted his head so she could look him in the eye. “You’ll get better,” she said with an encouraging smile, “even if you have to practice before regaining full control. I’m sure Big Mac won’t mind helping you again.” “…Yeah, he’s a nice guy, um stallion,” he replied. “Thanks Twilight, I tend to get a bit wound up in my own problems”. “You’re welcome,” she replied. “Now, how about we forget the comb and get some lunch?” “Sounds good,” said Reiver as the pair exited the guest room. “Now, there’s something you should know,” said Twilight, pausing at the top of the stairs. “My assistant Spike is here with me.” “Oh…” replied Reiver. “He’s not a pony,” continued Twilight. “He’s a dragon.” “Okay,” replied Reiver. He already knew this of course, but decided to feign ignorance. “Soooo…is he nice?” Twilight giggled a little at the colt’s question. “He’s very nice,” she replied. “I just wanted to let you know so you wouldn’t be scared of him.” “Scared? Why would I be scared?” he said. “I can’t be scared of someone I haven’t met before.” “I guess not,” replied Twilight, remembering the incident with Zecora. “Come on then, dinner's getting cold.” Descending the stairs and moving into the kitchen, Reiver spotted Spike by the back door. The dragon was with Winona, the collie lying on her back while he rubbed her belly with his claws. Upon seeing the pair, he left Winona and walked over. “Come on Twilight, it’s getting cold,” he moaned. “I’m not having a repeat of the time you went to get an egg from the market and came back six hours later with no egg and eight new books.” Twilight blushed and sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck while Reiver just laughed at the story, causing Spike’s attention to shift to the young colt. “You must be Reiver,” he said, holding out a claw. “I’m Spike.” “Nice to meet you,” replied Reiver, accepting the claw. “I’ve never met a dragon before; this is quite exciting.” “Well, I can be an exciting person,” replied Spike as he shook the offered hoof. “I can’t wait to hear about it. I see Winona likes you.” The collie had righted herself and bounded up to the group and was currently rubbing her muzzle affectionately against the dragon’s side. “Yeah, but I think she’s just after some of our dinner.” As soon as he said the word, Winona barked happily and bounced over to her food bowl. With a roll of his eyes, Spike took the dish and spooned out another portion of casserole. Sure enough, as soon as the bowl hit the floor once more, the collie immediately began tucking in with doggie gusto. “Told ya,” said Spike. “I guess dogs are the same anywhere,” observed Reiver, Spike giving him a quizzical look. “They always think with their stomach.” The comment earned a few chuckles from the dragon as he scratched Winona’s ears. “Come on you two,” said Twilight. “Like Spike said, it’s getting cold.” Taking their seats at the table, Reiver saw once again that he was limited to a portion of applesauce and water. Meanwhile, the delicious smell of vegetable hotpot assaulted his nostrils and made his mouth water. “I can’t believe this,” he groaned, faceplanting on the table. “I’m sorry Reiver,” replied Twilight, “but you know why we can’t give you anything rich.” “I wonder if this is karma for my exotic tastes,” he muttered quietly. As the three began to eat, Spike turned to Reiver. “So…Twilight says you lived in the Everfree forest.” “Spike!” exclaimed the unicorn. “Sorry, I should have explained that you don’t like to talk about that.” “It’s fine Twilight,” he replied. “Yes Spike, I did live in the Everfree Forest, but I really, really don’t want to talk about it.” At Reiver’s tone, Spike took the hint and the group fell into an awkward silence before speaking up again. “Sorry you can’t have my casserole,” he said. “I think I really outdid myself with this one.” “It’s okay Spike,” he replied. “I honestly wish I could try your cooking, might give me a few ideas.” “You cook too?” replied Spike “Yup, I love cooking. I had to learn when I found out I was allergic to wheat.” “Wow, dude that’s harsh. I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t eat my favourite gem cakes.” “So what do you cook?” asked Twilight, wondering how somepony so young would even be allowed near an oven. But then again she let Spike cook, although the main difference between him and Reiver was that the dragon was fireproof thanks to his thick scales. “Actually, I like to bake.” “But I thought you said you were allergic to wheat?” said Spike. “Yes, but that doesn’t mean I can’t bake things. I love improvising things or adapting recipes to suit me, like I would use corn flour in cakes or soy milk in hot chocolate.” “Soy milk, blegh,” replied Spike in disgust. “That stuff’s gross.” “I know,” replied Reiver, “but add enough chocolate powder and it makes a really sweet drink.” “So…your parents let you cook things by yourself?” asked Twilight. “…Kinda,” replied Reiver, suddenly aware that his current age made quite a few things off limits. “I would…get the ingredients together and my mum would help mix them up, then she would put them in the oven.” He smiled nervously at Twilight who, thankfully, looked relieved rather than suspicious. They ate for a bit in comfortable silence before Spike spoke up again. “You like comics?” he asked. “Only, I thought you might be bored so I brought a few over.” “What you bring?” replied Reiver, his face lighting up. “Some Power Ponies, a few Marevengers, I think there’s a Supermare in there as well.” “Cool,” he replied, genuinely excited about Spike’s comics. Back home he was a big comic book nerd, but more than that, here was something that he might be able to actually read…well, look at. As he couldn’t understand Equestrian (and was consequently getting nowhere with the magic book), and with no TV or internet to speak of, he had found himself starting to get bored. As Reiver started asking Spike everything he could about the different comics, Twilight couldn’t help but smile. Spike had few friends outside Twilight’s own circle; the fact he had insisted on coming along was now bearing fruit as he connected with Reiver. The rest of their lunch passed quite quickly as the pair’s conversation shifted between a few different topics, Twilight chipping in every so often, but she mostly just listened as they debated heroes, villains and just about everything in between. “You were right about outdoing yourself Spike,” complimented Twilight as she finished her portion. “That was delicious.” There was a happy bark from the corner as Winona agreed with her, the collie having licked her bowl clean. “Thanks Twilight,” replied Spike before turning to Reiver. “Sorry you couldn’t have any Reiver.” “Don’t worry,” he replied as he finished his own meagre meal. “I’m sure I’ll have another opportunity.” As Spike started clearing the table, Reiver did his best to help the dragon, explaining to Twilight that he felt like he had been a burden on the Apples and wanted to try and pay them back for their kindness. “I can understand you wanting to pay back the Apples,” she said, levitating a few plates into the sink with her magic, “let me help at least, we don’t want to break any plates.” Reiver reluctantly agreed with the unicorn; the last thing he needed was to smash the Apple’s dinnerware. With the three of them working together it took no time at all to finish cleaning and clearing the dishes, and as Twilight levitated the last few dishes back into their cupboards she turned to Spike. “Now I’ve got some work to do. Spike, why don’t you show Reiver those comics you brought?” The drake’s face lit up at the prospect of not only getting some time off, but that he could do it with one of his favourite pastimes. “Thanks Twilight! Come on Reiver,” he said, grabbing the stack of books and heading upstairs, the little colt scrambling after him, pausing only for a second to allow Winona, who had been resting on the living room sofa, to bound up after them. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Once upstairs, both dragon and colt rummaged through Spike’s selection before settling down against the bed's headboard with their chosen literature. Spike had an issue of Power Ponies in his claws while Reiver had found a comic called ‘Justice League of Equestria' and settled for that. Meanwhile, Winona had settled herself between the two and was sleeping off her lunch in the combined warmth of the two bodies. “That was a good find,” said Spike, noticing Reiver’s choice. “I didn’t even know that was in there, must have missed it when I was packing up.” “I’m glad you did,” replied Reiver. “This is awesome.” He finished by showing Spike the page he was looking at. In typical comic book fashion it depicted several ponies fighting a larger than life villain in a giant robot centaur. Reiver had immediately recognised the one swinging through a cloud of smoke as The Mysterious Mare Do Well, but the other five were completely new to him. Yet, despite having to subtly trick Spike into telling him the title and being unable to read the speech bubbles causing some frustration, he was able to pick up the gist of the action “Yeah, they are pretty awesome,” replied Spike. “The JLE is a bit of a new comic book but they’re already getting quite popular.” “The only one I really recognise is Mare Do Well, all the others are new.” “Not really,” replied Spike, leaning across Winona so he could see. “In fact, the rest have existed in one way or another for years.” “This one,” he pointed to the lead mare in the image, she had a shield on her costume like Superman, but it depicted a Sun and Crescent Moon similar to the Equestrian Flag. “She’s Supermare, she’s existed since comics first started but her new shield was introduced after Princess Luna’s return. This seapony with the trident at the bottom of the page is Whirlpool. Until recently her creators wouldn’t allow her to be published outside the seapony kingdoms…” As Spike pointed out the various heroes and the main villain in the image, Reiver listened with rapt attention, it was clear the dragon had been reading comics for a long time if he had this depth of knowledge. Reiver himself had his own extensive collection of comics and fantasy novels back on earth. They were mostly DC and Marvel, but he did have a few pulp fiction comics in there along with some anime. He smiled a little as he realised that he would be behaving exactly like Spike right now were the situation reversed. “…and finally the robot is called Workhorse. He hadn’t been in a comic for about ten years and then he was bought back by Enchanted Comics specifically for the JLE.” “…wow,” said Reiver. “You really know your stuff.” “Yeah, well, I don’t like to brag,” replied Spike smugly before turning back to his own comic. “Sometimes I wish I could be a hero like these guys,” he said wistfully. “I thought you already were a hero,” asked Reiver, looking up from his own comic. “Didn’t you save The Crystal Empire? Isn’t that kinda like being a superhero?” “…yeah…I guess so,” he replied, “but it’s not like I have powers like these guys.” “So?” replied Reiver. “Being a hero is not about having powers; it’s about doing the right thing, like you did when you saved The Crystal Empire.” He held up his comic again to show Spike, and ran a hoof over the characters as he spoke. “It’s comics like this that shaped my moral code, these ponies help others because, ultimately, that’s who they are. They have all this strength and special power but they know that such power is best used to help others, they even throw themselves into danger if they lose their power because at the core of it all they are good ponies. They inspire others to do the same and at the end of it all they never give up hope, so that’s how I try to live, I never give up hope and I never forget to be a good man, er colt.” There was a stunned moment of silence as Spike took in what Reiver had just said, even Winona had woken up and had apparently been listening to the colt’s speech. “Wow…” said Spike, finally. “That’s deep, dude.” “I have my moments,” Reiver chuckled, “and I meant all of it, you don’t need powers to be a hero Spike, just be yourself. I mean, you’re Twilight’s assistant, you keep her grounded, and I doubt she could save the day without you.” “Yeah, she tends to overreact sometimes,” chuckled Spike. “You know, she once had the entire town chasing after an old toy of hers.” “So I heard,” replied Reiver. The two read in silence for a few minutes before Spike spoke up again. “So how did you hear about me saving The Crystal Empire anyway?” “I once found some old newspapers to sleep under,” replied Reiver. “I remember the headline was something like ‘Dragon saves Lost Empire’, but I didn’t make the connection until I realised you were the one in the picture.” “I remember that,” replied Spike. “You know, I had ponies mobbing the library wanting autographs.” “Did you like the attention?” “At first, but then it just got annoying. I couldn’t leave without getting cornered by somepony or other,” replied Spike with a hint of irritation. Reiver chuckled a bit. “That’s fame for you Spike.” “I was actually kind of glad when the hype died down, I don’t know how Twilight and the others put up with it.” “They probably bribe the papers; I wouldn’t be surprised if Princess Celestia was involved somehow.” “All I can say is, I’m glad I don’t have to deal with the press on a daily basis.” Reiver grinned a little at the dragon’s statement as the two settled back into their selected comics, Winona snoozing between them. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Meanwhile, Twilight was busy looking through the notes she had brought, after their breakthrough with the black box she had been dividing her time between the artefacts and Princess Celestia’s weather assignment. But when the Princess had asked for a progress report, Spike had insisted she tell her mentor about the mysterious objects as there was probably a connection between them and the strange weather, and Twilight found herself in agreement as her most recent weather data showed an increase in the same type of chaos magic that saturated the Crash Site. So after a concerned letter from the Princess asking why she hadn’t told her sooner, followed by reassurances that she was fine and the artefacts seemed to be harmless (although the locked box still caused a few concerns), the Princess had granted her full access to the Canterlot Library and Archive, including the restricted sections, to hopefully speed her research. Currently she was focusing on the first part of the puzzle, the strange weather patterns coming from the Everfree Forest. Since discovering the Crash Site she had set up several monitoring instruments in the forest nearby and, in typical Twilight fashion, she had set up machines to record just about any relevant data she could think of, including one to monitor the background magic levels. It was these readings she was meticulously poring over and comparing with the other meteorological data she had collected. “Let’s see,” she muttered. “In recent months the level of magic has been increasing slowly which could be related to the rise in rainfall as it also coincides with a drop in the ambient temperature of the forest. But the recent frost is indicative of a rapid decrease in days, not months, which doesn’t make sense, unless…” Switching to the magical data, she skimmed the chart, noting that the magic was increasing at a steady rate. However, when she checked the last few weeks leading up to the present she saw a spike in the magic levels, which coincided with her discovery of the strange vehicle. “The Everfree Forest has always been affected by magic,” she muttered. “But this is a massive increase in a short space of time. What could be causing it? And how does it relate to that vehicle? Did it cause the increase, or was its coming here a result of that?” Magically pulling over a scrap of parchment, she floated her quill over the page and began making notes. The more she thought about the rising levels of magic, the more she worried about what could happen if it kept increasing, they might end up with a storm that could threaten Ponyville, maybe even the whole of Equestria. Pausing, the unicorn mare looked over to the artefacts she had brought with her, one of which was the black box. Out of the rest she had brought the wooden box with the strange symbols as well as the silver medallion and a book on symbols and sigils. Deciding she might find some sort of clue in the artefacts; she levitated the black box over along with a blunted quill Spike had made so she could manipulate the device. Activating it, she scrolled through the images with the quill for anything she could recognise before checking the machines clock, smiling slightly as she recalled confirming her initial suspicions about its dating method. Her assumption had proved correct when she done some more detailed calculations along with some more research into the Romane calendar, the traditional Equestrian calendar was divided into seasons, with a hundred days for spring, summer, autumn and winter. However the Romanes had used a calendar of thirty or so days, divided into individual periods named after their rulers or gods. Resulting in a roughly three hundred and sixty five day year, some further investigation into the machine’s functions had confirmed that it used a similar system when she had found a way to view its entire calendar. She also saw more of that strange writing, suggesting something had been using it. While she scrolled through a few more of the images on the device she pushed a little too hard on the button near the base of the glass, in a moment the screen had blurred and more writing had appeared near the top. However, Twilight didn’t have time to dwell on this because then it did something completely unexpected. “Hello, what can I help you with?” It spoke. With a startled yelp the unicorn jumped back, somehow managing to keep the device in her magical grip. After a few seconds she pulled it close once more. “Umm…hello?” “Hello, what can I help you with?” it said again, in what was clearly a male voice. Twilight was stunned. Up till now this thing hadn’t shown any signs of being anything other than some sort of machine. She hadn’t considered the possibility that it might be able to talk. Then she started to wonder, was this thing intelligent? Had it been in some kind of hibernation? What if this thing was sentient? Would it be angry that she had been experimenting on it? Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she looked at the facts; this thing had previously shown none of the traditional signs of being a living thing. In fact, it had not so much as twitched when she conducted her experiments, so she could therefore assume it was not alive in the traditional sense. So what was it? “Um...hi,” she said to the device. “I’m Twilight Sparkle, nice to meet you.” “Searching for Twilight Sparkle,” it replied. “Sorry, I’m having trouble connecting to the Network.” Twilight cocked her head, what was it talking about? What network? “Who are you?” she asked, deciding she might have more luck asking it about itself. “I, Siri, was designed by Apple in California,” it replied. Siri, she finally had a name for the device, and now she knew it wasn’t a living being. It had been created by this ‘Apple’ in somewhere called ‘California’, she would have to check an atlas later, but that definitely didn’t sound like anywhere in Equestria. Magically pulling over her quill and some parchment, she decided to document the conversation. “So…why did Apple make you?” “For one reason only: to make your life easier, and more fun. (I guess that’s two reasons, huh?)” Scribbling a few notes, Twilight wondered how anypony could consider how such a small device could possibly make their life easier. Admittedly the bird game was pretty fun and the calendar would be useful, but she wouldn’t qualify that as making her whole life easier or fun. She decided to ask it something else. “If I may ask, are you male?” now she knew it had been created, normal gender rules might not apply despite the male voice. “I was not assigned a gender,” replied Siri, confirming Twilight’s suspicions. “Do you…eat?” she asked. Clearly something like this had to get power from somewhere. If it was created then it might be similar to a golem. One of her professors in Canterlot had owned a small one made of gems that kept itself running by eating coal. “I’m not really good with food, because I’ll be too busy stripping.” Her mind screeched to a halt. “Excuse me?” “I’m sorry, could you repeat that?” replied Siri, innocently. Twilight’s brain struggled to process what just happened, and the thought crossed her mind that Siri might be a bit smarter than it let on. She would have pressed on with her questions, however the sound of somepony on the staircase interrupted her. Quickly using her magic, she swept the artefacts into her saddlebag as Reiver descended the staircase, followed by Spike. She failed to notice that Reiver had not only seen the artefacts, but recognised them for what they were. “See, I told you there was no pony else here,” said Spike. “Are you sure?” replied Reiver, mentally noting where Twilight’s saddlebag was lying. “I could have sworn I heard another voice down here.” “Well, unless Twilight has some secret coltfriend hiding around,” replied Spike. “But I don’t think that’s likely.” “Hey!” said Twilight. “No offense,” he added hastily. “So, how are you both doing?” she asked. “Great!” replied Spike. “I was just showing Reiver my comic books.” “Spike’s got an awesome collection,” said Reiver. “He’s told me that he’s got some rare issues back at your house.” “You know it,” replied Spike. “I’ll show them to you the next time we’re over, or if you get well enough to visit, whichever comes first.” “Good to see you both getting along so well,” said Twilight. “Now, I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve still got some work to do.” “No problem Twilight,” replied Spike. “I’m just gonna get a drink, you want anything Reiver?” “Just water for me please,” said the colt. As Spike disappeared into the kitchen, Reiver turned towards Twilight and saw she had gone back to the reams of parchment that coated the coffee table. With her attention focused on her work, he saw an opportunity and slowly crept around the unicorn to her saddlebags, carefully reaching in and quickly pulling out the first thing he felt, stuffing it into his jacket pocket before he lost his grip. As Spike returned with two glasses of water, the two headed back upstairs, with Twilight unaware she had just been robbed. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx A few hours later the Apples returned from the fields, glowing in the satisfaction of a full day’s work well done. As Twilight and Spike prepared to leave, Reiver came to say goodbye as he had honestly had a good time talking comics with the dragon. “Thanks again fer lookin after Reiver, Twilight,” said Applejack. “It was no problem Applejack,” she replied, watching Spike say goodbye to Reiver. “If you ever need somepony to watch him again, just ask. He’s become good friends with Spike and I think they would love to spend more time together.” “I’ll keep that in mind,” replied Applejack, smirking slightly when she saw the pair go through a hoofshake ritual that only children seem to be able to understand. “Come on Spike, we’ve got to go.” “Coming Twilight,” he replied. As they moved towards the door, Reiver put his hoof on Twilight’s own to get her attention. “Thanks for coming Twilight,” he said gratefully. “And thanks for bringing Spike as well, he’s great fun to hang out with.” “It was no problem,” she replied with a smile. “Get well soon, Reiver.” “I will, see ya later.” With a quick wave to the pair, Reiver watched them slip through the front door and out into the sunset. “Applejack, if you don’t mind I’m going to go for a lie down,” he said with a yawn. Apparently, talking comics had been more exhausting than he realised. “Sure thing sugarcube,” replied Applejack. “I’ll call ya down later fer dinner.” “Thank you,” he replied as he climbed the stairs to his room. Once inside, Reiver took off his jacket and sat on the floor by the dresser. Unzipping one of the pockets, he rummaged inside and removed what he had taken from Twilight earlier. It was the olive wood box. Taking a moment to gently hold it in his hooves, he studied the tiny lock and sighed in relief when he found it hadn’t been tampered with. “You know, she’s going to come back for it when she realises it’s gone.” “You know, I REALLY hoped you were a two-time hallucination,” replied Reiver in frustration. “Tough luck mate,” replied Bedlam from his position on the dresser. “Like I said, I’m not a hallucination. But you know I have a point, once Twilight’s had her initial freak out, she’ll retrace her steps back here and then we’ll both be in hot water.” “Don’t you mean I’ll be in hot water?” “Same thing mate, talking to you will lead to me and I’d rather not have the prised pupil of the sun on my back.” Reiver looked from his water painted clone to the box in his hooves and sighed in resignation; he did have a point. “I’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” he replied. “You know this is all I have left of mum.” “That I do mate,” said Bedlam soberly. “But without the key we can’t get inside.” “That doesn’t matter,” replied Reiver as he got up and pulled himself onto the bed, the box still between his hooves. “What matters is that it’s safe with me again.” Settling down, Reiver drifted off to sleep; Bedlam disappearing as soon as it was clear the colt wasn’t going to wake up. What neither of them knew however was that their entire conversation had been overheard by Applebloom, who happened to pass by at just the wrong moment.