//------------------------------//
// II - Found 
// Story: The Sound of Silence - Part 1 
// by Dauthdr 
//------------------------------//

	"Seriously? You can't open a child proof cap?" Celestia stood behind the living room couch, setting down a jug of juice to help with the 'terrible, life ending horror".
"Shut up. My hand's just cramped from writing so much." Luna sat on the couch, an open binder laying on her lap.
"And you want to be a teacher." The elder sister playfully slapped the other on the back, handing her the bottle. "Tsk, tsk, tsk."
Dropping a pill from the bottle, Luna put the cap back on. "I don't mean to brag, but even with a cramped hand, I can still put the cap back on." The two shared a laugh. Grabbing a glass of orange juice, Luna put a pill into her mouth. "Here's to finishing the greatest essay ever written," she said, raising her glass.
Celestia poured herself a glass, tapping it against Luna's. "Even better than my 'best essay of Canterlot University since ever'?" she asked, drinking her juice.
"They will look at yours and call it the 'second best essay of Canterlot University since ever'." Luna replied, draining her's, swallowing the pill with it.
"And here," Celestia said, refilling their glasses, "is to your last day on anti-depressants."
"I don't think I could have come this far without you. At least, not this fast."
"I told you, I'm here for you no matter what." The sisters clinked and drained their toasts again. "But it seams that therapists actually know what they're talking about."
Luna laughed. "Hey, psychology totally is a real science! It may not have rigor, but it stills follows the scientific method! Therefore, it is science!"
Celestia laughed, sitting on the couch and pouring more juice. "By that logic, so is alchemy."
"Actually, researchers have decoded ancient alchemic notes. Turns out they were actually on to something."
"You're making a philosopher's stone, aren't you?"
"Noooooo. No, no, I wouldn't do that. Until I had a steady income to fall back on."
The two sisters laughed. "Well, then, I look forward to being immortal with you," Celestia said, hugging her sister.
Calming down, Luna turned and asked, "So, how'd the practice test go?"
"Not a kid under seventy. Discord's low was seventy-three," Celestia replied.
"Isn't that pretty low for an honors class?"
Celestia giggled. "Don't tell him that, remember the last time we broke his ego? Although, he did take it pretty well when I pointed out his first year of the class."



Old Bill Bronze had served in the Canterlot City Police Department for nearly forty years. And yet, nearing his sixtieth year, he was still one of the best cops in the force. Commissioner Bronze insisted that, despite his rank, he work out on the beat. He claimed it was for health benefits, although no one would have faulted him if he said he just liked the thrill of the chase. Every day, he told whatever partner he had that he was two days from retirement.
This year, his partner was a new recruit named Shining Armor. "Now kid, don't take being a cop as an excuse to eat donuts. We have a responsibility to keep these citizens safe, and that requires a healthy body."
"You eat twice as me! Besides, I've been holding back. I've started dating this girl —"
"Hey, don't go jinxing yourself! I've got two days —"
"Do you have real plans of retirement?"
"Actually, yeah, but I'm not stupid enough to say them out loud."
In his years, Bronze had seen nearly everything. His weirdest case was some old bat trying to cast this spell to create a lovecraftian horror. Crazy wasn't what made it weird, it was the purple goop everywhere that got to him. It ate away at everything softer than a rock, burning a hole through five floors of derelict apartment. The whole block had to be quarantined just to make sure it was gathered up before it hit a week point in a pipe. What was even weirder was the way it almost looked like it had faces, or even hands. Whatever it was, he had nightmares about it for a year.
However, on a case more important to this story, he lead an investigative team to find a teacher who had gone missing three days before some poor girl went on TV to accuse him. Having a daughter of his own, he vowed to catch that monster. And when he caught him in a ditch on a highway a week later, he knew exactly who had done it. But, as luck would have it, he was alone when he did find the body. After hours of internal conflict, Bill had decided that he would have done exactly the same thing if it was his daughter. And so, he took the body and dumped it into a river. He did this with great care, although this was before searching for trace evidence had become protocol, so he did not take as much care as he would have in the present day. He didn't lose so much as a wink of sleep.
"Hey, Sir? I think we have a bunch of loiterers over there. They've been standing there for the last ten minutes."
"Armor, you've got a good eye, but you'll need better than that if you want to survive. Let's go check it out."
The two pulled up to a group of fifteen. Getting out of the car, Bill and Shining walked up. Bill's voice had an air of command that he had learned to use when he first joined. "What's going on here?"
A small, elderly man made his way up to the cops, his left hand on his back and his right on a cane. "I was just asking my neighbors for some change. My granddaughter's cat is really sick, and we don't have enough to pay a vet."
Bill took out a pen and pad. "Well, loitering is against the law. Don't worry, it's just a fifty dollar fine. Shouldn't hurt your fundraising too bad."
Shining Armor stepped forward, facing his superior. "Sir, I know we're supposed to keep the law, but isn't the law supposed to help the average citizen? Besides, it's not really loitering if they were walking around the block." The hint not being subtle at all, the group began meandering away from the officers.
The Commissioner put the pen and pad away, reaching instead into his pocket. "Hahaha! You've made my day, kid. With a heart like that, maybe you will last." Pulling out a number of fifties, he handed them to the old man. "Sorry, just testing the kid. Actually, I have a bit of a soft spot for cats, anyways. Come on, rookie!" And with that, the two officers left the group to their business. And they definitely weren't loitering.



Celestia bolted up from her bed. It wasn't that she had a bad dream, just that she thought she heard something. Glancing at her alarm clock, she saw that it was three in the morning. Just as she laid back down, she heard the noise again. "Is that...?" Her question hung in the silent air.
Tip-toeing past Luna's door, Celestia made her way to the front door. Carefully unlocking it, she silently opened the door.
"Sorry, did I wake you?"
"Damn it, Lulu, I was trying to be quiet because I thought you were asleep."
"Sorry, Celly, but look! He's so cute! You said I could get a kitten when my doctor took me off my pills!"
"I meant from a pet store or something, not a stray!"
"Hey, a stray is totally 'or something'! Besides, look at him! Don't turn away, look at him! Look at him and tell him he can't stay."
Celestia stood in silence for five minutes. "Fine. But he's your responsibility."