> Trapped In Canterlot
>  by TartarusFire
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> C1 - Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

         ..not an accident                                                                           ...be removed
...condemned to
...she swears
...a hazard to society
...dismemberment
...only one corpse
...may not be her fault


... destined to be
...is on trial for— 



She woke.

And she cried knowing the one she loved the most was next to the one she hated most.



Hours of shallow sleep passed before a cusp of sunlight became visible. She never moved from her bed. Nights ended the same way, awake in terror.

In all the stories, all the poems, the one who had it all was happy. The affects were profound and joyful, but as for her, she didn’t want it all. She wanted to remove some pony.

It confused her. 

Why was the thought of her disappearing so appealing? Why did it make her feel giddy at the thought of her family breaking apart?

It was unnerving. It went against everything she had read and been told.

It wasn’t the disappearance that made her skin crawl, for it is what she wanted. But why?

In all of those books, those books with happily ever after’s, every pony had everything they wanted. Only after the hero gained what they wanted, were they truly happy. But as for her, she wanted to lose something to be happy. Her fur ruffled.



Half an hour after dawn, the clock chimed a simple alarm. Her thoughts were interrupted by an opening door. By comparison, the pony was a giant and was holding a bowl of gruel; this constituted as breakfast, lunch or dinner. In this case, it was breakfast. Levitating it down onto a filly-sized table, the pony closed the door and left her alone to her own thoughts.

Today's breakfast was different however. The bowl came with a card written in a different hoof-writing than the one who delivered the breakfast.

Happy sixth birthday, Caedes! I'm sorry I can't be here to celebrate in the morning, but I will be back tonight! Just wait a little longer, so we can have some fun!
- Love, Daddy

Caedes stared at the paper.  Any joy felt at the moment was crushed.

Another wasted year. 

A cracked squeak broke the silence with muffled crying. 



******


It wasn’t always like this.

...No, it has always been like this for her.

It shouldn’t have been like this. It shouldn’t have started with her. 

There was no guarantee that anything would work. Fate and Chance, there was no choice! Fate, the most powerful force.... No matter how far a pony may run, Fate will catch them in the end.

I never asked for this. She never asked for this. Why did this happen to us.. to her?

Cursed? For what reason? Did we tempt Fate? Did we anger them? Was it even our fault?

The only choice was to obstruct Fate’s dealings. But what power does the goddess hold? Names. Names are Fate’s hellhounds. Names are the most powerful magic, the magic of unrelenting correction to guide a pony down the path chosen for him or her. They are the chains, binding us. 

But we found it. We searched exhaustively across for anything that could help. We looked for magic: black magic, white magic, artifacts, runes, scrolls, and everything in between. And we found an answer. Maybe not the best or most perfect answer, but it had been long enough since we started. 

She was two years old by then. Two years for her True Name to shape her future. We were worried it wouldn’t even work, but that Dark Alley changed everything.

...This is the only way Caedes can be free from her name. She is no longer a slave.

Is it for the best? Yes. Is it better than it was?

Absolutely not.

I distance myself from her. It breaks my being to never smile, to never greet, to never love. But I can’t care. I am unable.

I cannot care.

...

Why doesn’t this bother me?



Just being around others tempts Fate. I learned this the hard way when Caedes regained her color. She was completely... normal... for weeks. I became nervous and started experimenting.

It worked, but Tracker was concerned. I don’t know if this was the right thing to do, but I feel free from my name. If I no longer am bound by mine, than she will no longer be bound by hers. I don’t know when this’ll end. Perhaps never? I just need to keep moving forward. 

Unless something breaks.

And I think it’s been too long already.



It’s her birthday today. My daughter’s birthday...

I am a terrible mother. 



******



Hooves on the ground. Face forward. Stand.

Stand.

Stand.

...

Every year of this feels longer than the last. I don’t want this... but it’s too late to turn back now.

We decided after we found the—solution? It’s been four years. Four years. Celestia, that’s two thirds of her life!

At her birth, Empathy told me how she felt her True Name. The names are gifted at birth, and her’s.. her’s was terrifying. Empathy clutched her arm, to prevent dropping Caedes from shock.

Empathy said it felt like dropping into water in the Frozen North.

We were distraught, Empathy especially though. Caedes smiled back up at us with her lustrous blue eyes. Neither of us had the heart to give up, which was never our first intentions.

And that two year quest... We took all our vacation time, and nearly emptied out life savings. And we found something. That dark spot in your peripheral vision... We were in an alley. I almost left, but I felt magic pulling at my horn. The dark spot was a door leading to the answer.

"You can’t change what’s already been decided,” The shopkeeper said. “But. Things have yet to be decided."


...


It wasn’t perfect.

It was the most logical solution! But... But... It doesn’t feel right.

However, those two weeks of her regaining her color proves that it is necessary.

No friends. Private tutors. Hiding her real name from herself. Isolating her from other ponies. Little to no time outside of her room. Keeping her away from magic. Spending little time with her...





It feels like a crime...


Something repressed rolls down my muzzle.



> C2 - The Average Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Right here. I wonder if it’s the same spot.

Her door in this hallway. I’ve been here far too many times. 

Did – did she do something? I heard movement...

Hmm. I don’t know. But now, I don’t hear anything. I wonder? Was she doing something and stop? Because of me?




What am I saying?! Of Course it’s because of me! HehahahehahaHA!

Well that’s going to leave a good impression of me. Laughing outside of the door like a mad-mare.

I wait outside her door nearly daily, just waiting for something to happen. I stalk her. I need an excuse to execute... the final part of the plan, the ultimatum. Creeping around. Waiting, watching, listening...

Am I the one the mad-mare copies?


I stand here. I stand here waiting for something to happen. I don’t really know why I’m here. I felt like I should be here, like something bad is about to happen. Is this feeling the curse in my veins? Is Fate  guiding me? Am I a pawn to my own paranoia?

I find my hooves shaking and I’m slumped onto the wall, trying to maintain my balance.


The agony has become worse. I don’t know what I’m doing anymore. I just follow the routine. Yes, the routine... It has not failed. I assume that it will be fine, consistent even. Just keep her alive and away from anything that might change her disposition.

Including me.



***



The gentle plodding of hoof steps caused Caedes’s ear to twitch. Every so often, Empathy would come around to do whatever it is she does. Sometimes she stands for periods of time; sometimes she murmurs whispers of something akin to longing or regret.

A manic laugh rang throughout the bedroom accompanied by muted words. Caedes’s attention became far removed from her book. Lying down on the carpet, she froze, eyes locked onto the door.

Perhaps today was the day she would come in, breaking her schedule.


Thud.


Caedes’s heartbeat bled into her ears, casting away all other sound.

The air became stagnant and hard to breathe. Her face heated up in anticipation. Sweat formed on her fur.

A wall clock ticked away hours. Countless dust particles floated past in the beam of light.

The waiting game.




As if nothing had transpired, the hoofsteps moved away.



...

A soft sound farther into the house released her pent up stress. Her legs unfurled back onto the carpet. Straddling her book, shallow breaths became deep breaths which became regular breathing. Laying her head into the book, she was thankful for the absence of her mother.



***



The guards were swapped out in six hour intervals, for a total of four shifts every twenty four hours. It so happened that it was three in the afternoon, and the third switching of the guards, occurred. Guards roamed about, going to the barracks to remove armour and then either leaving to the castle commons or into the city.

"Hey, Tracker." The cerulean door guard elicited no response. "H-Heheeyyyyyyyyyyyy Tracker."

"What?"

"You crying buddy? I saw ya crying back there. Wellll it was one tear but you know, still noticeable."

He paused, looked down to his hoof, and came up with the most stallionly thing he could. "I yawned."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Shoot," he made a snapping sound somehow, "if only I could be that stallionly. Forcing my entire yawn into one eye to the point where a solemn, stallion-like tear falls down my face."

By now, other guards with various stages of removing and adorning armour gazed toward their conversation.

Noticing their eyes, he magic’ed their breastplates off and placed them on the supply racks. Taking his hoof, he placed it around Tracker’s withers. "Come ooonnnn." He swung them out the doors and into a private corridor.

"I’ve seen you yawn before. It’s rare, but I’ve never seen you do that before. What’s really eating you?"

"I don’t want to talk about it."

"Stubborn much. Come on, look at me. "The floor seemed to captivate Tracker’s interests. "Can’t ya tell your good ol’ Greenback what’s wrong?"

"Well," he turned to the side to avoid looking directly at Greenback, "I... it’s nothing much, just a passing thought."

Doubt, "Mmmhmmmm." Greenback inched forward slowly, making sure Tracker would not notice his movement.

Reassurance, "Yep."

Silence,"..."

Clippity-clop. Greenback rushed in front of Tracker.

"Awkward, Green. What’re you doing anyway?"

"It’s harder to lie to a pony when you look at them in the eye."

By this point, he wanted to circumvent telling his friend about his family issues. "Okay. I’ll stop you right there." He put a hoof in front of him, "I have other places to be. Being a guard pays well in all, but it’s only a six hour shift and life in Canterlot is expensive. I have a temp-job I need to be at in about thirty minutes." Tracker side stepped. "Now if you’ll excuse me..."

Tracker trotted off, leaving Greenback in the corridor. "Friends are supposed to trust each other..." Greenback walked away, feeling a bit annoyed, intent on resting back at his apartment in the castle commons.



***



"What do you get when you have two large, muscular stallions working in a small kitchen with far too many customers?"

"I don’t know. What boss?"

A grin spread across his boss’s muzzle, "A part time job." He patted Tracker on the back. "All right then. We got to prepare some fierce pastries today! We have around seventy customers on the pre-order list and what appears to be tens more outside that door!" He waved his hoof around, gesturing to the front counter and beyond. "This is a war."

"Sir!" Tracker saluted abruptly. He was trained for war. Perhaps that’s why he chose the most violent part time job he could find, the late lunch rush at Donut Joe’s. "I’ll make you proud, sir!"

Joe chuckled, "Good. That’s why I’m paying you the big bits. Not enough room for three back in the kitchen here, what with the taxes and cost of land, especially these days."


> C3 - The Intermission Known As Life
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Phew, good work." Joe wiped a hunk of Danish from his apron. "That was a bit larger than usual. Think those ads are working?"

"YOU HAVE ADS?" Tracker practically fell over but instead sat. "Why... dear Celestia, why? There’re so many ponies already..." He massaged his face with a double face-hoof.

He shrugged. "Bits are bits. Also, they’re permanent ads," he smiled, knowing Celestia placed them in a prime location, permanently advertising his shop in the castle, "because I know ponies who like what I make." He savoured the irony from his employee’s outburst.

Joe proceeded to clean up a few spills on the floor. "So what’s with you? Anything interesting happening?"

His comrade fell silent.

And even more silent.

They looked around, trying to mitigate the effects of an awkward silence.

"Ah right. I forgot to ask earlier, but I need a small cake. It’s my daughter’s birthday—"

"Congratulations." He patted Tracker on the back. "Come on, stand up. Cake’s on me today. A birthday for a great employee is as good as reason as any other." Joe walked to the opposite side of the counter. "We’ve got all kinds of cakes as you know, but maybe you’d like something more custom?"

"W-elll," Tracker scratched off a piece of wet dough that had crusted on this muzzle, "It shouldn’t be too large, I don’t want her to get sick after all."

"We have plenty of small cakes. Flavor?"

"Eh... not too sweet but savory?"

Donut Joe moved two steps to the left. "That leaves the angel food cakes, the sponge cakes, and the red velvet cakes. Any preference?"

"I think a flavor besides sugar would be good. I’ll take the velvet cake please." He went around from the backside to the front side of the counter. "Can you put her name on it please?"

Joe reached for a frosting tube, but decided to ask, "What’s her eye color? I think the name should be in that color."

"She has silver eyes with a tint of blue in them." He crossed his hooves in the countertop.

"Nervous about something?" He reached for a silver tube. "I Don’t get silver that often. Ah... What is her name?"

"Uhm, yeah. It’s Caedes. C-a-e-d-e-s."

Joe started writing, "You’re looking a little sweaty. Sick?"

"Nope. Just a little hot after all that baking." He smiled on the inside at his cleverness.

They said nothing as the diner was filled with sounds of paste coming out of a bag.


Insight, "It has occurred to me that you’ve never taken Caedes to my diner, Tracker."

Evasion, "Well, you never usually eat at where you work, right?"

Suspicion, "And during the three months of working here, I didn’t know her name. You’ve never mentioned her by name."

Nervous, "Well, I’m usually only here for an hour, so it’s not that unusual to talk just about the job."

Suspicious interest, "Well, we talk plenty during and after the late lunch rush. Including now."

Wanting to flee, "Sure. Okay. Can I have the cake? You finished a minute ago."

Irritation, "Fine, but I’m just concerned after all. You can’t just brush ponies off trying to help."


Except no one can help her. "Well. I’m not trying to. It’s just that I’m conflicted about some recent things, so I just want to spend a good day with her." Not knowing when it’ll all come crashing down doesn’t help either.

"I’ll just box this up real quick." A few things rustled underneath. "Okay, I’ll let you go for now, but I’d like to know more about her."

He levitated his cake, and with a nod, Tracker closed the door on his next stop.



"The Library, aaaaaannnnd Twilight. Why is it always her?" He had paused by the help desk, intent on asking for help until he saw an older unicorn filly, almost a mare. She was there all the time; heck he didn’t know if they were employing her by now.

"Sir, I can hear you. We’re in a library, so anything above a breath can be heard with ease." Tracker reddened. "So, how may I help you," she placed her book down on applied theoretical magic.

He coughed lightly, "I’m wondering if there’s any way to help a pony learn magic better? Like..." He trailed off, unsure of how to phrase what he wanted.

"Well, we have books on self-learning, the differences between innate magic and crafted magic, the principles of casting, and many guides to magic."

"You see—" A soft plodding of hooves interrupted his thoughts.

"Oh Twilight, thank you for taking over momentarily while I was busy." The matte librarian nudged Twilight out of her chair. "Now how can I help you, sir?"

"Well I was asking about magic, and—"

"Oh nope, nope, nope," the librarian waved her hooves. "Actually you were asking the self-read expert over there. Sorry to interrupt, but she practically lives in the magic section."

"I’m no expert," she mumbled.

He gained a sly smile. "I’d thought you would be embarrassed about living in the magic section."

"I wish! It’s be useful for all kinds of research! I could make hypothesis, make new theories, study for all my tests all the time! And.. You’re giving me a look. What’s that for mister? "

By this point he was trying to hold back a laugh. "Well, I’m a guard in the castle, and I’m always posted on the first floor, so I thought it was just a joke about how much you liked to study."

Twilight became flustered. "Studying is serious business. Now can we get back to magic please?"

"Oh right. Well, those sound like great options, but I’m looking along the lines of a magic—aid? Not for me but for another."

"Really," she deadpanned, "I hear that all the time and it just turns out to be a lie."

"Nope. See, I can levitate things just fine. Besides, I wouldn’t be a guard if I couldn’t pass the bar for magic, now could I?"

"Fine... Okay. Now then. Magical Aids are a bit tricky. However after reading through that section a few years ago, I can tell you that there are aids that range from trinkets to techniques to special sigil’s, or runes. The choice is yours, but of course you can read through several or all of them." Her pride swelled into a smile on her face.

"Wow. You sure do know your stuff it sounds like." He considered the options. Most sounded well off, but he wanted something fast and easy. "Hey, can you help me pick some of them? I really want to get home soon."

"Oh okay then. I’ll just get the simple guides of each then." She walked away.

Minutes later, shuffling sounds of books could be heard accompanied by annoyed groans. A large thump echoed into the main lobby of the library at which the librarian became amused and perturbed.


> C4 - It'll Come Back To Bite
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Here are beginner guides to runes, The Introduction to Magic Lines, the beginner guide to techniques, Further Your Magical Ability with Action - vol.1, and the beginner guide to talismans, Magic Items and You, in that order." A deceptively small stack of books weighed Tracker down by vast amounts.  

“I also thought to give you these; since almost no pony bothers with aids anymore because they’re content, or they are already powerful without. Not a lot of need except in war.”


"Phew. I though these books were supposed to be small?"

"Well they’re enchanted to be heavier, so you can practice with your increased magical aptitude. It was a common practice that fell out of favor about three hundred years ago." She tsked, "What a shame."

"Thank you for the help Twilight; you are such a nice pony, don’t let the nobles tell you otherwise."

"Oh that reminds me," She flattened out her mane which had frazzled hairs sticking out all over the place from rearranging the books with a flick of her magic, "if it’s not too nosey, why are you wanting to get home so quickly with many books in magical aids?"

His face darkened as he remembered his earlier moral conflict: was the unethical treatment worth it?

He lightened up rapidly, hoping for her to glance over his negative demeanor. "This box is special. Can you keep a secret from the librarian?"

She gasped, "A secret from a librarian?! That’s harrrd! They’re so tricky and smart! Also that’s mean."

"No, no. The secret will only have to last until I’ve checked out." He got closer, ready to whisper into her ear. "It’s a birthday cake." Tracker stepped backward, out of her personal space.

"B-but you can’t... No food’s allowed in the library."

"But would you want me to lose a birthday cake for my daughter?"

"What? Of course not!"

"Then do we have an agreement?"

She nodded solemnly. "Okay. Only until you get checked out with your books. After that, you’re fair game. I can’t have you missing your cake, but I also can’t let library rules be abused." She gave a cocky smile.

Unfortunately it fell in concern. "Hey mister, is everything alright? You were kind of sad back there for a minute."

He spoke as he turned around, levitating his books and cake. "Yes, I was just remembering I had another chore to do for today." I can’t lie to her face... And lying seems to have become more natural as of late... "I’m just going to check out these books and be on my way then."

And he left without any interruption from a worried pony.



That’s a third time. Am I in the wrong? Three ponies and I’ve denied them all. How farm am I willing to go for this tainted charade?



***



Four Thirty. She had counted five hundred of the past seconds. "He’s always home by four..." She murmured into her pillow. 

Her back leg had cramped up, replacing any boredom with a mind numbing agony when she moved. "Please be okay, daddy..."



***



Not everything is as nice as it seems. Once the deception is ripped away, you can see the rotten meat underneath it all.

Is that why I am here again? In this same spot as yesterday. And the day before that. And the day before that. And nearly every day before that.

I breathe.

Why? Can’t I?

Nothing says I can’t help her.

Nothing says anything will happen except her relief.

But. I don’t want to. I don’t care if she feels pain. It doesn’t matter to the big picture.

All that matters is her safe passage beyond her own Fate.

Nothing here matters.

Oh why? Why are we cursed? We’ve done nothing! Celestia damn you!


Magenta to gray. Life to waste. This is Tartarus in Equestria.



***



Her cake is a meaningless gesture. She doesn’t want sweets, Caedes wants life.

...

Was it truly the two weeks years ago that started all of this?

Those experiments. The experiments that permanently drained Empathy’s and Caedes’s colors. They were horrors meant to solve the unfixable problem. But they worked. Yes, they stopped her True Name from affecting her, but is it just to neglect her in the process?

It was Empathy’s idea...

Every time I come to thinking of the morals, I always end up thinking Empathy.

I love her.

No.

I loved her. I tolerate her.

She planned most if not all of this after that... success.

She ruined her life and nearly all of ours after quitting her counseling business. She said she just couldn’t feel about how the other pony felt.

I think she lied.

She just didn’t care.

The one I promised to stay with forever until I die.

Until I die. Will my death come early?

...Do I want it to come early?



***



Tracker stopped in front of his home’s door. His mind was flooded with questions, bringing his mood down. Instead of anticipating the upcoming fun with Caedes, he had brooded. So many questions plagued him now that he could see the faults. He had known about them, but they became more apparent and impossible to explain away with every passing year.

He knocked and opened the door. "Caedes I’m home!"

His back hoof closed the door while focusing on carrying the books and cake. A fast set of retreating hooves came from down the hallway. Guessing Empathy was moving about unseen, he went to Caedes’s door, and opened it.

Her ears were perked up, but she didn’t say anything. She was curled around her pillow, with her eyes screwed shut.

When he petted her mane, it was moist with sweat. He placed the books and cake on the ground, so he could ready a spell he learned from helping Empathy with her business, a day long ago.

His magic welled up and formed over Caedes. Cyan magic sunk into her fur, and into her muscles. It was an old spell meant to relieve muscle tension made hundreds of years ago to help the old into their final sleep.


She looked up at him, and wrapped herself around Tracker’s fetlock.

He looked around and climbed up onto her bed. He lay down and curled up around her.

Cake could wait.


> C5 - And Bite It Shall
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hours they slept. It was not until eight did their restful respite end.

She stirred from her rest first, nudging Tracker on the snout as she twisted herself out of his grasp, making sure to scratch him with her horn.

She felt off. Her sense of balance was hindered by vibrant colors assaulting her. No matter where she looked colors swirled with sharp clarity. Closing her eyes helped ease her sight, but she fell over onto her father as she lost balance.

He woke as the soft thump shook his barrel. "Mmm. How you doing?" He looked down to his left, and saw her dull pinkish red colored fur. "What? Are you alright?" An alarm woke him up futher: her fur is normally a mute gray...

Caedes slouched further into his side. "I.. Colors hurt." She let out an umph sound as she rolled over and pressed her face into Tracker’s soft coat. "I don’t feel too good..."

"Let me see your eyes."

The command was unsettling to her. "Noooo...."

"Please? It’ll only take a second."

She unburied her nose from him and placed her head sideways onto his leg. She looked up with amber eyes. "Can I close them? It’s t-too warmm.."

A chill ran up his spine. Amber eyes. Her original eyes. It was happening again.



***



She paced around lost in her thoughts. Angry, violent thoughts shifted and bubbled to the surface.


Magic. He used magic on our daughter. 


She snarled. 


IS HE A FOOL?

No, of course not. He’s an idiot. A traitor who wants more with fewer hardships.

And we will all have to face the consequences of his mistakes.

Magic here, magic there. It does not matter because we have a perfect solution! Imbecile. The more magic, ambient or otherwise could undo everything.


She had been pacing in circles. Every day since her birth she had been in circles.


And with direct magic...

Damnation to her, all of our sacrifices, and suffering.



***



"Just lay in bed sweetie, you’re just going to be sick for a few days. It’ll pass quickly. You’ve had this before," his words practically steamrolled Caedes.

"You talk fast, daddy..."

He levitated a blanket around her and laid her on a fresh pillow. "I’ll be back soon. Just try not to move too much!"



***



Gone, in an instant, Tracker rushed to the other part of the house where the demon was at.


But why do you always leave me for her..?

Did I do something wrong? How many times have you done this?


She rolled over with a sigh and noticed the pain of looking around had mostly gone away.


Is it because. Because? Because you tricked me into thinking you love me?

Why?

Just why?

I’m so tired of all this.



***



"What’s wrong Tracker?" She could barely hide the sneer on her face. "Why do you look so worried?" There could only be one reason to be this worried. Nothing more troubled him than family matters.

"I—Caedes, she’s.. She’s back." He had went to hug Empathy, but she side stepped out of his grasp.

"Idiot. Why do you think we never spend time around her? Or... did you use magic on her?" It was as if he had looked into the eyes of a beast. "Tell me you didn’t use magic on her."

He didn’t say anything. There was no need. "Damn it!" She bashed her hoof over Tracker’s horn. "Grab the Ingredients! I’ll start making what we already have!"


May Cerberus have mercy on your soul Tracker. You’re going to Tartarus for this, and I’ll make sure to send you myself.



Only a minute amount of ingredients came from the kitchen. Others were more.. exotic. Most of the came smoked and salted from the basement, along with a thick, brown cloth bag. A leaf of lettuce was thrown in for its nutritional properties. Most of everything else were things no pony should ever consume. They were told it was to help the process and to keep it from wearing off.

"Quadruple the amount from the bag, Tracker. We have to stop this, TODAY." She smashed the cutting board in half. "Make sure she eats it all. We can’t have her break out completely, again."

He nodded, subservient to the master of this plan, perhaps his life. Everything was in line with her.

...Until today he realized.



The bowl bubbled as if it had been boiled. It was pitch black and as savory as liquid blackthorn. In short, it was the potent equivalent of ten meals of the regular gray gruel.

"Caedes, I’ve got some." He paused, unsure of what it actually was. "Some medicine to make you better." He pushed the cracked door open.

And found her on the floor, eating a piece of cake she had ripped off. It was slathered on her face after having forgone limited bites, having eating nothing for years except gruel.

"You shouldn’t eat so much, Caedes. It’s late." He checked the clock; it was nine forty. "You won’t be able to fall asleep with that much sugar."

"Don’t care." She buried herself into the next side of the small cake, ignoring him and his words.

"Erm, in any case, this medicine will make you feel better." He put the bowl down on the scratchy carpet. "Eat up!"

The words were muffled through the cake, but it was a definite tone of denial.

He was taken aback, "Really?" Under normal circumstances, she would’ve begrudgingly accepted just due to the fact that he had asked. "Are you mad at me?"

A grumbled replay was all he got.

"I’ll take that as a yes." He walked around to get behind Caedes. "Come out of that cake now or I’ll drag you out." She did not elicit a response. "Okay then. You asked for it."

He started to pull on her tail with magic, but he realized that she was pulling the cake with her. "Really? Come on!" He ripped the cake forward with magic while he held down on her tail, pinning her to the floor.

Caedes’s face was covered with white icing and red bits of cake. And she was not happy.

"Oh. Well." He sighed from the situation. "You do need to take your medicine sometime soon, soooo...." He scooted the bowl closer, waiting for her to go over and eat from it.

And the bowl came a little closer.

And closer.

And it was at the tip of her muzzle.

He nudged it between her lips and started to tilt it.



Through the entire minute of urging her to eat from the black sludge, he had not moved. Her frown had only deepened. She was not happy. And when he tilted that bowl, she was very unhappy.

His hoof was on the other side of the bowl, moving it upward, and now she hid under her bed.

"Caedes?" His fetlock had a small indentation slowly turning red. "Did, you bite me?"


> C6 - But It Can't End
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

This was not Caedes. That filly was not her. She was kind, and generally went along with anything reasonable. She read often. She would share, if it ever was needed. She was a good pony. She held would wait for others before enjoying something. She was a good pony.

This was not Caedes. She had been... she had been not herself. She was everything she should not have been. She had not been good.

Or was this her?

Tracker was unsure if the magic had changed her at all. It was only with how she was before that she.. had.. been.. that way.



He whispered, "We’ve made a horrible mistake." More revelations chilled him to his core. "And we don’t even know who our daughter is."



***



Half an hour. Half a Celestia Damned Hour!


Empathy could only brood.


He couldn’t even feed her.

Well if he can’t, I sure as Tartarus can.



She walked. The sound echoed around her. From her hallway to Caedes’s hallway. There was a deathly silence. Floorboards creaked, moaning under the recent stress.

And her door was open. Empathy stopped, listening to a soft sound. It was crying. Tracker was breathing deeply, sounding stressed.

She peaked, her dark pink fir hidden in the shadowed corridor. He was leaning on the foot of the bed, staring intently at the ceiling. The bowl was still on the ground, with some of it staining the carpet. The sounds were probably from Caedes, wherever she might be, Empathy decided.

So the demon walked in, fiery mane with tips of gold swaying. Her hoof steps were silenced by the carpet. "Having trouble?" Her masked presence filled the room with an unknown dread of what to come. 

He straightened up. "No-no. I was just resting a moment."


Annoyance, "Your smiles fool no one. You never planned to feed her did you?"

"Well.." His hoof tensed in anticipation.

Savage anger, "It has occurred to me that you are obstructing her salvation. Do not the sabotage process."


Ire dribbled off of her and clouded the air. They stood in relative silence for a moment. Tracker dared not to move or speak before something regrettable happened. However, Empathy unexpectedly spoke first.


Crooked logic, "It seems like we’re all a bit tense. I think we should all relax a bit."

Regrettably conceding, "...Agreed."

"And we should all relax, a lot." She lit her horn.

"I don’t really think we need magic for this," his words slowed, "I really, realllly don’t—" he yawned "—think that we need the magic."

"We don’t but you do." She stalked toward him.

He wobbled on the carpet. "What are you—"

Tracker fell over from the flick of his horn tip. "Just a little bit of pain, and they’ll pass out."


She managed to step on the gruel stain, so she wiped her hoof off. "Now then. Where might you be, Caedes?" She knew of course, but Empathy didn’t want her to know and run off. She silently grabbed Caedes’s pillow off of her bed with a yellow aura. "Sweetie, you need to take your medicine..."

Empathy ripped the bed off the floor, tossing it over, revealing a filly cowering with amber eyes. "You will eat this."

She didn’t reply, but her darting eyes said otherwise.

"And, here comes the pillow!" She smashed it on Caedes’s muzzle, stuffing it in her mouth and covering her nose with the edge. "Yes, just have a little magic," she cast her muscle tension spell, "and sleep well."



***



Acrid. Vile. Thick and slimy. Her throat was covered in the substance. No ordinary medicine could compare to the hideous nature of whatever was in the concoction. And yet.. it was oddly relaxing. Having eaten it for years, Caedes had acquired only a minor dislike of it.

"Or is it the medicine’s fault?" She openly mused, seeing morning light filter through the window.

She hadn’t slept this well in a long time, ironically by being smothered unconscious and magically abused. She felt angry but the fire left her as rapidly as it came.

Glancing over, she had noticed that her bed was on its side, and a mark of something or some pony being dragged indented the carpet. She guessed Empathy was tired after all of the work, and just did the base minimum effort after forcing the tar-like substance down her throat: placing her on her blanket and dragging the offending things out of the room.

No cake, no books; an ordinary every day.

And it was ordinary except for the bed...

"Is it really still there?" She had jumped up after seeing the corner of something brown sticking out from under the edge of the mattress. Making her way there, she only fell a few times over her front leg which had fallen asleep.

"Yes!" She squeaked, putting her mouth around the corner and pulling at it.

And pulled.

And pulled some more.

It was slow going, getting the thin book unwedged from beneath her mattress. She sat and puffed at the cursed thing, like it was mocking her.


She giggled, "You will be defeated!"

Her miniature war raged: her army of teeth and legs against its mattress and weight. There was no sure victor as both were taking tolls on each other. And then, something miraculous happened. The corner became a side. A side with enough gripping room to make any pony else involved in a mattress/book war envious.


"Took you long enough to get out of there, bookee." She stroked it’s cover. "I’m sorry I had to hurt you with my teeth. But you were being stubborn." She looked to the clock, estimating an hour had been lost to the tides of battle. "Well I suppose it’s time to read you!"

She trotted back to the blanket with the book dangling from her mouth. She dropped it and nuzzled its cover open. "The Int..ro..duck..shon," hehe, duck, "to Magic-al Lines." She stared at it. And breathed on its promising page, letting her mind wonder.

A warm, sunny morning on a Saturday, with nothing to do except reading. With no pony watching, and no rules or work to follow.

No pony. An average day.

A few tears escaped her cringing eyes.



> C7 - Not Without A Reson
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

No direction. Just alone for another day to brood.

Except for the hooves coming closer to her door.

Caedes closed the book and hid it under the nearest side of her blanket. Dragging the cloth over the rest of the secret prize, she laid back down on top of it, to have it go unnoticed.

A minute later, the door opened, revealing the day’s meagre rations. The only difference between yesterday’s ‘medicine’ and this was that it was gray instead of black.

Beckoning Caedes to move toward her, Empathy stood while holding the bowl slightly above the ground.

Caedes looked up to grab the bowl.


Silver eyes and gray coat. Empathy nodded as Caedes ate.

Empathy was intent on making sure the food was eaten and not dumped into the toilet. After yesterday, they were on a razor’s edge.

Noting that the bow was empty, she trolled over and stopped above her daughter. She waiting, wondering about nothing in particular. The bowl rose, and Caedes received a stroke on her mane. Both shivered from the unusual contact. Empathy took her leave, wondering why she had stroked her.



She raced back to her book. Anything to get that touch out of her mind. She obviously didn’t care at all. No. None at all. She curled up, hugging herself in confusion.

"Why?"

Nothing else passed through her mind. Only why mattered.



***



When did it all change?

That wasn’t the proper question; she knew it had happened long before they were married.

When did it matter?

A better question she told herself, believing it was the ansewer to the most recent problem, but she was wrong.

Why does it matter?

The best question.

It only mattered because some pony cared. It only mattered because they — no she, because she cared. There was no more they. It had ended yesterday.

A stockpile was all that was left. How long would it last? What then? An untrustworthy sitter?

Was it the right decision? Probably not. But it had happened so very regrettably.



Never ending. It would never end. As long as she or one of us.. me exists, it will never end.

They will come for her. They will not let her free.

Unless they never come at all.

Which scenario would happen? Metaphorically chained, existing while bound and watched, or would it be fleeing from the consequences of an undeniable urge, an urge shattering the conception of peace. 

Why would their gods forsake them? Laughter, enjoyment, reveling in the darkest form of Harmony?

It didn’t matter why. Why did not matter.

Why never mattered.

How was only a temporary question.

What will come of all this? A plague unto our lives currently, but how will it develop? Will it change into an insatiable drive?


...


And what of me? What role do I play in this twisted game of Fate? Am I the sword, the shield, or the pawn? I can’t be a pawn, I’m her mother. No, Tracker was a pawn, only useful up until this point.

Both our lives remain.


Yet, I still care. This magic was supposed to take that away from me.

Or is it simpler than caring? Is it just pondering how life has become this?

So why?


Why did I stroke her?



***



"Just focus on the book," she told herself, "nothing else matters right now."

She flipped the title page.

"Page two. Self Dia-gn.. Diagn.. oh.. sis?" The word’s meaning eluded her. Feeling grumping from forgetting the dictionary, she lamely rose and walked the short distance to a rather thick book on the floor from where it had previously been used.

Positioning it between her horn and on her forehead, Caedes managed to push it halfway before she stopped for a breather.

Finally next to her blanket, she tipped over and lay on her back. "That was farther than it normally is..." Sounds of panting flowed around the room.

Almost ready to give up before it had even begun, she nosed the dictionary open and rubbed her muzzle. "I feel like I’m going to have lots of paper cuts before I get much of anywhere in this new book."

Thankfully ‘D’ was close to the top, so flipping to the page was easy. It was between Damage and Diphtheria, she was sure of it.

"Di-a-gno-sis: A series of tests used to find error." Her eyelids drooped. "A series? That’s going to be in the ‘s’s..." She had called it. It was going to be a long day.



"Sear-re-s: one after another, usually to describe an event." She frowned grimly. Tests were never a good thing. "Back to page two then."


"These diagnoses are meant to find out how much aid you need.

First off, prepare to levitate.
You will need to time yourself, so have a clock nearby.
This book is enchanted with a stress. The stress will increase over time if you are open to this page, so do not close it! Otherwise it will become just heavy enough to become annoyingly taxing.

So, are you ready? Good. Levitate this book for as long as you can, and time yourself.


When you are finished, turn to the next page for results"

She murmured self-defeatingly, "Good thing I’m in the ‘s’ section. I need to find out what ‘stress’ and ‘taxing’ mean..."

A small paper cut filled excursion later, and Caedes had enough information to know what she was about to do. The book was trying to test how much magic she had access to and how much effort she could use.

Rarely using magic hadn’t helped her ability by any means, but with such small amounts, previously determined, almost any spell was impossible, including levitation.

She humored the book. "Right... levitation... that worked out so well before."

Magic swelled inside her—there wasn’t much of it. It came out of her horn, ensnaring the book. It wrapped around the side. Stress started building inside of her. There wasn’t anything left.

Gasping, the aura surrounding half, if she were optimistic, of the book faded.

Grabbing the sides of her head, she fell down in agony at the sudden headache. "Da-ang. Bo-ook! I—" she teared up, "I ha-aa-te you!" She kicked it, relishing in its fake agony.

She managed to kick it to page three.

"Well done, regardless of how well you might have done, Nice Pony.
Here are the pages of Where you should go, based on how long you levitated this book.

15+ minutes: Wow, okay, you’re scaring me.
10-7 minutes: You really don’t need this. Enjoy your magical prowess.
7-5 minutes: Pages Four through twenty should suffice.
5-3 minutes: Pages Twenty-One to Thirty-Four will do.
Less than 3minutes: Thirty Five to Forty-Three. You need some help.

Good Luck!"

She gaped at it. "I couldn’t even pick it up for even a second... Is it even possible for me?"



> C8 - And There Is A Reason
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Thirty five… Thirty five…”

She proceeded to flip pages at a more reserved rate with fresh, small paper cuts from the dictionary on her muzzle. As far as she could tell, the rather short book was filled with diagrams and short paragraphs explain how things worked in excruciating detail.

“Okay. Here it is.” She propped her hoof on the page. “And there’s a big warning in red: Magic performed by runes collapses in on itself unless properly diffused.” Another unhappy grumble came from Caedes, “Back to the dictionary…”



“So, it’s supposed to go into itself, and explode? I’m pretty sure explode is when it makes a boom sound.” She rubbed her muzzle, tinging her fur with a light touch of red. “It also notes that the way to properly—diffuse, get rid the magic is to let any extra magic go back into you and out into the air.”

Simple enough she understood, but she had no practical knowledge of how to let the magic actually filter back into her.

“Nice Pony, welcome to your first lessons in the most basic and most used runes in magic.

If the index was off-putting, I apologize. You see, I’m not a very nice wizard. I call you ‘Nice Pony’ because I want ponies to call me that.

In any case, here is your first lesson.
Draw the following rune, keeping the warnings in mind.

-|-|-
-|-|-
-|-|-

This rune is probably the easiest in all terms of drawing, and using. This rune is simply meant to be a capacitor – a symbol to hold magic and to use it when required.

Just connect to it by pressing your aura to it, and put magic into it.

The work itself is nearly effortless no matter how much magic you may possess. The rune is specially designed after the original to make the magic that requires it to stay functional, and not collapse, to cycle between you and it, so it takes only a thought to keep it active.

The simple explanation of this rune is to have access to a large cache of magic to perform more advanced magic.


You need to practice this rune before moving on to page thirty six.”


Caedes stared at the book. The book stared back.

“I don’t understand anything.”



***



Twilight was enjoying her Saturday. It was the one day of the week that she had set aside from studying,  practicing, and preparing for tests to just have fun.

This day was no different, the fourth Daring Do book had come out only a few days before, and Canterlot had the first shipment. Many nobles would deny partaking in such a pointless activity as ‘reading for fun,’ but the books were always gone in four days at the latest.

Twilight had read through the first chapter like Celestia eating a three-tier cake. Scratch that, she would never thing of the princess doing that—besides the obvious point of its dubiousness but also because watching her had been like watching a dying animal drinking water.

“Chapter two: The Hike and Flight.” She smiled. “Another chapter title wonderfully descriptive, but filled with a promise of adventure.” She squeed.


“Something was tearing at her. It was as if she had left the water running, but that was ridiculous. She was a Pegasus, and used clouds for water. No, it was the nagging thought of the strange pony from the woods, the woods of shadow.” Relatable Twilight remarked. “Then suddenly, it struck her. Daring Do had heard his warning. The warning of deception.”

“It feels too familiar… What am I missing?” She skimmed through the paragraph again.

And again. And a third time.

“I could’ve sworn this was familiar. However, none of the previous three books had any mysterious stallions and future deception. Although, there was that one trickster.” She hummed in thought. A good problem was a puzzle waiting to be solved.

“Is it the book, or is it me?”

Twilight recounted her events for the day: brushing her teeth, eating breakfast, going to the public archive and getting the newest Daring Do book…

And nothing stuck out. The library though—it was full of answers and questions all the time.

“Perhaps… No. Wait a second!”



Guards by nature are stoic creatures. Even the most stoic creatures can become nervous by predators. And the predator was casing them.

Strip searching was the most awkward event to happen since last Tuesday.

The current commander trotted over, “Miss Sparkle. May I ask why you are removing the helmets of my soldiers? …And apparently only the unicorns as well.”

“Well, I…”

The commander could hear her bite her lip. “Are you perhaps.. looking for a stallion with the right color? I assume you’ve figured out the enchantment of uniform color is in the helmet. You can pick and choose, as they say.” StrongBrow’s eyebrows wiggled.


“Ewe. I’m not looking for a stallion-friend.” The hallway’s demeanor seemed to fizzle out even though no pony moved. “I’m looking for a pony I met yesterday in the public archives. ‘Said he was a guard.”

His eyebrow-bushes rose. “And have you tried asking them?”

“They wouldn’t respond…” A hoof scuffing sound echoed.

A twinge of irritation caused StrongBrow to tense repeatedly. “Well, you can just come with me, since I have yet to make my rounds before the changing of guards occurs. Plus, you can ask questions, and they’ll answer since you’re with me.”



“Not a single one. I bet they’re lying.” The stallion didn’t even know why Twilight was poking around, but it didn’t interfere with his temper. “Actually, I think a few are missing today. And since I didn’t properly get notified, it’ll be coming out of their paychecks.”

“Well thank you, Commander StrongBrow. I know I didn’t find him, but it was a good way to narrow down the search options, especially since we went through three floors where a regular guard would be.”

“Yer welcome, Miss Sparkle, but I think it’s about time all the ponies started changing shifts. It’s three now after all.”



***



Lunchtime had been complicated. Caedes had almost forgotten to hide the book before Empathy had delivered lunch. Eating was the least of her problems, as Empathy had questioned why she had her dictionary out.

It was as simple as explaining that she couldn’t move it easily and that she was just lazily going through the book. None of which convinced Empathy, but Caedes didn’t know. Also the fact that there were many paper cuts on her did not add credibility.


Now that three came around did she start to think about yesterday again. And then an hour passed.

Her books, except for the hidden one were gone. No cake.

But most importantly, Tracker was nowhere.

> C9 - A Detail
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two more hours after the first.

Three hours of waiting.

But he never came.


The door never opened, Empathy never greeted, and there was stagnation in the house.

Laying around for hours, waiting for no pony to arrive.

Her book had still been hidden since lunch, waiting to be read.


"I miss you dad."



***



Was it a mistake?


Yes, he did fail, quite miserably, but he did do his part for quite a while. It was just... hindering circumstances that were to blame.

—But he had overstepped the boundaries. The ones set in place since the beginning.

There was no doubt that everything would have failed even if he did not go.

Why do I even care? I know it was the right choice. Why bother thinking about it again?

Is it Caedes? Is Caedes really what I’m asking myself about? Was it necessary to smuggle her to unconsciousness?

I suppose it could have been avoided – But! If she had refused to eat the food, she could’ve choked to death. 

No, she would not have eaten it, and these years would have been wasted if not.


She paced faster. There was nothing much to hold onto besides the promise of the goal: the goal that had fueled her madness.


Is it insane? It is logical. Why wouldn’t it be the right thing?

There is no magic anywhere in Equestria like that. It is raw and unfiltered. It is what Fate is not. It is the only thing that can counter it all.


A nagging doubt became seeded. After all the time praising and defending the effects of the magic, a new thought came to pass.


What if it doesn’t work like that? There’s no evidence, no data. There is only a forgotten pony who promised such. 


‘Things have yet to be decided.’ A can of worms. A can opened and left to rot.



***



Half an hour until dinner was served. The amount of effort to unhide and hide her book again would not be worth her energy. Caedes had waited five and a half hours – since lunch – to see if any pony came. No pony did.

She remembered the rune looking something like train tracks, but without loose paper it was pointless. She had some left over in the corner, but Empathy would be furious for her using it when not being used for education.

"Just one sheet?" Staring at the other desk with random supplies for being homeschooled and by private tutors, Caedes contemplated the consequences. Her musing lingered on the paper until she lost focus, and her sight moved onto several sharpened pencils. Only a few strokes were required to draw it.

A single paper missing is nearly unnoticeable, and light usage of a pencil would be hard to notice. She decided to go for it.

"18 minutes to go." Bored with waiting, Caedes rolled around the floor, releasing boredom.



Soft thuds from hooves came from the closed doorway. Caedes had managed to dizzy herself and was waiting for her head to stop throbbing.

A voice chimed "dinner." It was not pleasant. As much as she would like dinner to pass, Caedes never looked forward to interacting with Empathy.


After the door opened, any number of events could occur.

She seemed different. Caedes couldn’t tell, but she seemed less.. mean? But she was twitching intermittently; Something was wrong.

"Here, eat up." The bowl lowered but it dropped the last inch to the floor, splashing a little onto the carpet. Empathy quietly hummed in anger.

She left in the usual way after it had been eaten – reclaiming the bowl and shutting the door.



Being a creature of habit, Empathy was no likely to come back until breakfast. Caedes made her move.

She walked over from her ‘work’ blanket and went to where her learning supplies were. She slid the top most loose leaf paper off the top of the stack and then grabbed a pencil in her mouth. Transferring the pencil to the top of the dictionary, Caedes went back and put the paper in her mouth, scrunching her nose at the weird taste.

The corner of the red blanket was lifted, revealing a wealth of information that was nosed out by Caedes. Carefully picking it up, she dropped the corner of the fabric and put the book on top.

A bit of sweat rolled off her forehead. "That was harder than I thought." The hushed voice dissipated, unheard by any pony. She laid her muzzle down. Soft, patterned breathing was heard moments later.



***



Empathy was not having a good day. Yesterday, Friday, had tired her out. From usage of potions to casting magic often and in high doses had exhausted her. Going to the kitchen, she levitated a thick, cloth bag out of a hiding spot above the cupboards.

"I need some of this." She kept telling herself it wasn’t an addiction, but every day like clockwork, she came around to eat a few of the strange seeds.

"Not nearly as much as I give Caedes, but I have no idea how many are in here. We’ve—I’ve been emptying this bag for years, and it’s still full." She ate three more and sighed. "Just what I needed."

Storing the bag for later, Empathy contemplated going to bed. "I probably shouldn’t sleep yet. I left the basement a mess from yesterday’s... excursion."


The door opened to an unlit room. She had to light her magic to be able to see the bottom of the stairs. After the echoes of descending stopped, a carved spot in the wall was grabbed in a navy aura. The switch pulled lit up an array of small lights, encompassing the perimeter of the room.

Three tables were placed side by side, forming a large table in the center. A corner was blocked off by a tiny smoke house. Beakers and magically chilled liquids were in the center of the table. Measuring instruments were on the farthest side from the stairs, and alchemy tools were on the closet side.

Empathy grabbed a mortar and pestle, energized by the prospect of alchemy. "Let’s make some ‘medicine.’"

> C10 - Leading To Ruin
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Darkness lit the room. It was clearly shadowed with umbrae hiding in the darkest of spots. Stars made streaks of light on random parts of the room. The window was closed, but the chill of night seeped in from the outside.

None of this was new to Caedes. The first tens of times, waking from nightmares, she had been scared. Over periods of time, the room became a sort of peaceful wonder to her. Now however, it was one in the morning. She had fallen asleep a little past seven.

Eyes crusted over, she blinked and yawned. She was glad having woken up peacefully instead of another horror from sleeping.

Caedes moved to stand but fell over. Even with the sleep, she was exhausted. Rolling to her side, she gazed out the window to the stars.

"Whoever made them... must have put a lot of work in them." She wrapped herself into a burrito on the edge of the blanket, making sure not to spill her supplies. "They’re pretty."

Sleep came once more.



***



She cursed under her breath. "It’s always that one glass beaker that spills." She flipped it off the ground, "But nooo~ it couldn’t just stayed where I placed it."

The bubbling concoctions simmered down as her magic left them. "It’s too late for this mess. Besides," she waved her hoof around, "I’ll just let it congeal like always and just mix it up in the morning. I’ll deal with the actual mess later."

Powering down the four year old makeshift lab, the burners were extinguished, the miniature smokehouse was unlit, the array of lights were switched off, and the mask of darkness was replaced. Moans came up with Empathy as the stairs contemplating on giving up under her hooves.


Locks clicked on the basement door. She stood in the main hallway with a corridor that led to Caedes’s room. Walking the end of the main hallway, the master bedroom stood in all of its rotting glory. Items were tossed or thrown off of shelves, picture frames were smashed, towels and articles or clothes littered parts of the floor, and the bed itself was one sided.

Having no energy to deal with it from her tantrum the day before, she collapsed onto the bed. Passing out, she nudged the box with the scrapbook back under the bed.



***



They rose at dawn.

Caedes hid the book while Empathy went down to the basement.

The bowl of medicine was retrieved and up the stairs as Caedes tidied up.

She waited and her Mother brought the food.

Every day for four years, neither knew the clockwork they were trapped in. Some things changed, but ultimately Caedes’s True Name was suppressed and they worked in a broken harmony.



***



She hadn’t even looked into the room. In fact, she had even righted the bed which now stood in its original place.

Something was very, horribly wrong.

Caedes was panicking on the inside. Everything was going okay which was saying too much. It wasn’t as if a peaceful morning hadn’t passed before, but there had been no exchange of glares, there had been corrections of her own mistakes, and she almost seemed normal.

Panicking after breakfast, she had opened her book back to page thirty-six, with the scribing instructions.

"Calm down. Just keep it together, me." She didn’t think her words helped her panic. "Just do this. Do magic... you’ve never been able to do it before..."

Nervous, she sloppily scribbled down the rune by bearing down onto the cover of the dictionary. "No, that won’t do!" She rubbed her eyes.

Whispers came, "I should be grateful, but..." A pang of silence hung in the room. She squeaked.



***



"And you’re sure that’s everyone from yesterday that wasn’t here, Captain StrongBrows?" asked Twilight.

"Yes, for the third time, Twilight." He stopped walking, holding his position. "There are a few others who have yet to check in from their absence." His clipboard hovered in yellow. "We have four others gone today with two unknown absences."

"Two? That’s much better than the ten yesterday. Can I have their addresses, I want to visit them." She unintentionally pouted a bit.

"Against Regulations Ma’am. We cannot give out confidential information without paperwork or an order from the Princess." He shrugged. "Not my business either. I suppose you could as Princess Celestia, but it’ll be hard to convince her to give out personal information. She’s quite protective of her guards." Strongbrows snorted. "Heh, ironic."

Twilight felt slighted somehow. "With all due respect sir, I can convince the princess nearly anything short of making ice cream illegal. She wouldn’t do that, it’s her go-to food after meetings."



"No, Twilight."

She wined, "But Princess..."

"No twilight." Celestia placed her teacup down to stare directly at twilight. "No matter how hard you try and convince me, you shall not succeed. You see—" She rose, starting her lecture at max "—I cannot do such a thing. Not because I am incapable, nor do I not care about you, but think about the third party, the affected ponies. This guard was obviously disturbed by something that he did not tell you. He had the right to do so."

Celestia gestured toward the other guards. "They have the right to privacy. You have the right to privacy. If I were to give you the addresses of the guards, it would be an invasion of their privacy. I am not about to throw civil liberties away for your sake of curiosity."

"But it seemed really important Princess. What if—"

"And what if it was just gas? What if a family member had just died, and they didn’t want to talk about it? You see, even if there was a problem that needed intervention, we have to have a reason, a reason that has plausible denial."

She stood, and flared her wings. "Do you understand Twilight Sparkle? This is a matter of freedom, and we cannot obstruct it."

Twilight bowed, having been cowed by the speech. "Yes Princess."



***



The paper was untouched. It had taken many tries, but Caedes had managed to impress her aura of magic onto the rune. It had received it and glowed, but something was wrong.

Something was always wrong. The rune shimmered and started to twist on the paper, crumpling it up from the excess strain on it.

It had turned blacked and a resounding pop had exploded from its disintegration.


The door slammed open. "Caedes! What are you doing!"

Empathy scanned the room, revealing only the mysterious book and ashes of the paper being out of place.

A book which she should have found and taken, yet Caedes stilled possessed it. "Give me that book!"

> C11 - Leading To Misery
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

She wrenched the book out of Caedes’s grasp. She watched her fall to the carpet, a foot off the ground. The thoughts crushed any stray feelings she had towards her.  "Cry. I dare you."
 
She slammed the door on the way out, pausing to listen or a moment. Sniffles were heard, but no crying. Acceptable.
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
Three Again, it was Sunday.
 
Three Thirty, again, half an hour later it was still Sunday.
 
There was no Tracker.
 
 
The conflict left her confused and beaten. Tossed away like garbage, she was left to decay in her own troubles.
 
No, the worst was the thieving – mugging. The demands had been expected but only because she had an illicit item was she tossed. It was as if Empathy blamed her for her own failure to find the book.
 
All of it is why she sulked. It was common to cry, but it became shorter every time. Every time she lost more of her sensitivity.
 
 
 
Perhaps by her hidden personality, or by growing a spine in the new one, Caedes created a plan.
 
If only she could escape. But where? The front door was always locked, and the handle was far too high for her, or her magic to grab. A window? Any in the house would be easy to spot. However.. her own was a better choice. It was out of the way, and she could tamper with it as she liked. It had a padlock on it though.
 
"If I could just—" A hoof pressed on the door. Caedes’s legs clenched. Her heartbeat rose, and her breathing became shallow.
 
A minute ticked by until the hooves left again, deeper into the house.
 
Slowly releasing the stress, she contemplated on how to remove the padlock, imprisoning her.
 
"I don’t know the numbers to open it. And you can’t cut metal." Exasperation flowed out of her mouth as a raspberry.
 
 
It came again. The foreboding hooves outside the door came again. Perhaps they were just standing. Perhaps they were listening. Perhaps it was out of malice. Perhaps it didn’t matter. The second time, same as the first time, every fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes to prepare. Fifteen to act.
 
They left, a minute later. A thought occurred to Caedes: a new routine.
 
 
She rolled around on the floor, amusing herself again as she looked for something to use. Any tool for escape.
 
A normal room with normal supplies, not tools, supplies.
 
"Nothing to do..."
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
The Introduction to Magic Lines: a tool in the wrong hooves. Caedes shouldn’t have hidden this. She’s lucky she got away so easily.
 
But now, now I have changed it again. The clockwork needed to be changed. I have no way of knowing what she knows, and she will never tell me. Every fifteen minutes, I shall listen for magic.
 
And should any be casted...
 
—Thirty minutes to dinner.
 
There will be a problem for us all.
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
Other books on her small shelf, sat forlorn, never to be read again. Caedes stared at them, whiching they were actually useful. They sat, refusing to change into any useful books, mocking her.
 
"Ugh!" She exclaimed softly to prevent any extra ire. "You’re all useless fairy tales and junk!" She nodded at her wisdom. "And.. it’s close to six. Dinner is probably going to be here soon."
 
 
 
Dinner came preceded by two checks at fifteen minute intervals. Her fur stood up every time Empathy came and stood silent for a moment. This time was with a bowl of food.
 
"You’ve probably noticed me every now and then, is that correct?"
 
Caedes nodded and half drank, half ate the grey mush.
 
"I don’t even know if you can understand what’s even written here, but I don’t take chances." She cleaned up and made to leave. "That is your only warning."
 
 
Even though her mother left, she nodded in affirmation. Between her rolling and eating food, her eyes drooped. Lying on the ground, she dozed off.
 
 
 
Waking up, it was dark outside. Looking upward, the clock hands were shadowed, reading some time after eleven.
 
Carefully affirming to herself to stay awake, she nodded. Thinking was a good tool to stay awake. Her room led her to believe it held no help to escape. Working backwards, her memories swam toward the book; even though it was gone, it still had proven that she could cast magic.
 
The rune was like train tracks:
 
-|-|-
-|-|-
-|-|-
 
And it was dangerous to let the magic go. It would go boom – explode.
 
All she had to do was press her magic to it and not forget about it.
 
 
"Yes!" She had managed to memorize the important stuff. She hoped she wasn’t forgetting anything crucial.
 
A little jig later had managed to eat enough time to the point that the hooves were heard again in the house. Thinking that it was one of those intervals, she stopped moving until she noticed that the steps were moving down the main hall to a door that she had never heard open before.
 
Once the sound creaked shut and the hooves had faded again, she set out to enact the plan.
 
A pencil, a sheet of paper, and a thin book were nearly silently moved to the wall, under the window where the lock was fastened. She had held her breathing to be even more silent but regretted the action.
 
Small labored breaths became slightly visible in the chilled air under the window in the starlight.
 
Enjoying herself in the rare feeling of accomplishment, the peace was shattered once more. The fury of hooves sounded like a demon from Tartarus, skidding to a halt in front of the barrier to Caedes’s sanctuary.
 
Pregnant silence filled a void, the rush begging to be answered. Thankfully, Empathy had moved away nearly as fast as she had came. Only a few seconds had passed until she rushed away, back to the mysterious door.
 
Caedes flopped onto her flanks, sitting down relieved. She had worried that Empathy might have caught her, but as long as magic wasn’t involved, she was safe.
 
It was only a matter of time until that came to pass.
 
 
The thin book, something about a princess and a prince getting married, was flipped to its blank back where it was rough and easy to draw on. The paper was a test sheet for drawing in the dark. Besides a minor squiggle in the middle, Caedes found it easy to draw except for in the shadowed parts of the room.
 
She etched thick lines into the book’s back. Halfway though, that time had come again. Midnight came, and so did Empathy. It had seemed that she had finished, as after her stalking time was up, she went to the bedroom door, the one without the metal clinking sounds.
 
It had to happen after she had fallen asleep.
 
 
It was the waiting game.
 
 


> C12 - Prelude to Darkness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Listening through the wall opposite of the window, Caedes focused on listening for fast movements of Empathy, checking to see if she was awake.
 
An hour had passed in muffled silence, waiting for the noise to cease, yet it persisted.
 
 
Starting to get heavy lidded, the pervading silence made Caedes’s ears droop from the stress of listening.
 
She whispered, "Silence?"
 
Renewed hope came back to her, jolting her from her near slumber.
 
Dashing back over to the wall, she sat close to it. Her mane sashayed over to the right side, the side she did not wear it normally, so she tossed it back over. Pulling a pitiful amount of magic, she touched the rune, exciting it.
 
Ten minutes passed, and her initial joy died.
 
Twenty minutes had passed, and the energy she had given herself had been lost.
 
Forty minutes had passed in the same way: giving most of her magic to the rune and stopping, waiting to replenish her magic, and continuing the cycle. She had nearly fallen asleep, but the area around the rune started to darken, letting her know that her efforts were about to come to fruition.
 
Forty five minutes later ended with a yawn. The rune seemed to be at its maximum which had turned black and burnt around the rune while the lines themselves glowed brightly enough to ruin Caedes’s night vision.
 
Stretching, she got up from the book while keeping the magic at her forefront, lest it all drift away. "What now?" She ran her hoof in the carpet, watching the book. "What magic can I use this with to get the window unlocked?"
 
 
"...Stupid me. You can’t just figure out how to get a window open... You ‘re a failure at magic. All you can do is make stuff float – sometimes." She berated herself, knowing that it had been a pointless endeavor in the end.
 
Her words had not fallen on deaf ears however.
 
Actually figuring out how to use the stored magic had never occurred to her. Just getting enough magic to make a decent sized spell was hard enough. She was pacing in front of her means to escape.
 
 
 
An eruption threw the door of the room off its hinges. Empathy glowered in the room, having been woken up by self-defeating ranting. "AND WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!"
 
"What—" was all the time Caedes had to say before she focused herself on the monster that had invaded her room. The explosion was small, but forceful enough to collapse a small section of the wall behind it while its light masked another flash as Caedes was thrown from the miniature explosion.
 
 
 
A buzzing sound haunted Empathy’s ears. Years of time flashed before her eyes as Caedes was blasted away, hitting her bedframe. All the time, wasted by one single book. A book that was brought by an usurper to the plan.
 
Caedes knew how to escape; she knew how to make her own destiny.
 
It was horrifying.
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
Her vision was blurred, and she couldn’t seem to find a way up. Caedes stared at a wood post with a smear of red. Touching her forehead, her hoof came back tarnished with the same color.
 
Standing, she fell over, apparently without balance. Her right flank and leg were raw. She gazed down, only to find that she had landed on her right side, preventing the injury from being seen.
 
Attempting to regain balance, she stumbled upright, and glanced around at the carpet. It held a slightly darker hue as she looked around with white spots clouding parts of her vision. Finally noticing the hole in the wall, her initial goal took over, and she fled.
 
The hole had left her with splinters in her belly, but she couldn’t feel them. She felt nothing. Not her hoof, not her head, not her leg, nothing. Everything buzzed with a dull ache, letting her dash about onto the streets in the dark of early morning with vision obscured by orbs of light and everything being too bright.
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
She hadn’t noticed it before. The event might have been salvageable by force, but as soon as Empathy had seen it, she had lost any urge to move.
 
Initially that flash had seemed strange which she had disregarded. However, now that it had been revealed, it was most assuredly a strange event.
 
 
While she had been attempting to walk toward Caedes, her burnt flank showed some fur which should have been seared away from the blast. Instead, it was a hued image in the center of her flank.
 
A cutie mark from an accident. A mark of Fate does not work based on accidents. However, this one did.
 
It had marked the end of an era: an era of life, Caedes’s life.
 
No greater obscenity or slight had ever been presented to Empathy. No matter what she did, no matter how far she went to maintain the balance, Fate had still won.
 
"Nothing awaits except for agony. It was all a lie in the first place."
 
She cringed, bringing her hooves to her face. "I wonder if Fate had conspired against me, against all of us to bring the chaos into our lives to guarantee her mark. I cannot fathom what twists have been turned, allowing for this absolute outcome."
 
Magic flowed into her horn. "I cannot stand being a puppet... I must make sure that I am anything but part of Harmony. I will regret my life intersecting hers, not for my own sake, but for hers."
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
She ran into the night. Sounds of two Night Guards flying overhead whipped by, intent on investigating the sounds. Caedes could care less.
 
Besides being dizzy and unable to think straight, she was free! After so long, she could finally be away from Empathy. Slowing to a quick trot, she breezed over small hills and on top of paths. The castle was high in the sky, and she could do as she pleased.
 
 
 
From far behind Caedes, sounds of metal clashing rang into the night.
 
 


> C13 - Volition
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

There is no greater offense to Harmony then ending it prematurely. That creature is an affront created by Harmony. It is the parallel that runs alongside it. I prefer to call it Bad Harmony. In the existence of Harmony when there is no Bad Harmony left, it will spawn it, and just like Harmony, Bad Harmony will spawn it if there is no Harmony left.
 
That is my only conclusion. I have mulled over her existence for long enough, four years, truly. It has not been blatantly obvious until now.
 
The kitchen is just a short walk away, and in it are knives from Griffon cooks, large butchering knives that are whittled down into points, making for a heavy blade that can pierce deeply into meat.
 
Up until now, they were just interesting trinkets from a time when none of this mattered, a better time. The shop keep managed to sell us a set of three—three! We had wanted one as a souvenir from Griffonstone, but we were roped into buying the set.
 
They would do.
 
 
Thuds came from outside, where her room used to be. It was no longer hers; she forfeited it along with her breath after Fate instilled her with direction on her flanks.
 
I walk ominously back toward the room. Who knows what the sounds could have been. It’s Canterlot, they are undoubtedly guards. Odd though. Most guards are unicorns and don’t fly...
 
 
I peek around the doorway’s edge—Crap! They’re thestrals! Day guards are pushovers compared to them.
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
"I wonder what happened here."
 
The other guard landed. "No idea ‘Sky. Looks like the wall took a beating though. Probably by magic. Tch, unicorns and their magic, thinking they’re better than every pony."
 
"Don’t get lost on your thoughts now, ‘Shade. We need to investigate and keep an eye out for danger." He nudged a charred plank. "Lots of burns and splinters. Maybe an explosion or sorts."
 
The pair continued on investigating the exact circumstances of the disturbance. They deduced that whatever it was, was a possible threat to the peace of the city.
 
 
A lone mare trotted out of the shadowed doorway. "And what are you two doing?"
 
They straitened on reflex, preparing to attack or flee if necessary. "We are investigating the disturbance here. Do you live in this house, ma’am?"
 
She snorted, "Of course, I am the sole owner and pony who lives here. Now shoo."
 
Glancing at each other, they nodded. Whatever the event was, she did not want anyone around, meaning she was participating in suspicious activity – a reason enough to detain her.
 
The first guard, Deepsky, continued, "Ma’am, we have probable denial that you are participating in suspicious activity in disturbing the peace. We are going to have to detain you for further questioning."
 
"And on what basis? This is my home, my property. I’ve done nothing wrong." Frustration crept into her tone. She had other places to be, things to do at three in the morning.
 
"For starters, you have caused a disruption, waking several neighbors. Secondly, even though this was your property, you need a permit to set off explosives or cause explosions, thirdly, you have told us to leave without a second though. That is by definition, suspicious activity."
 
She cursed inwardly. "And if I refuse?"
 
Evershade finished Deepsky’s explanation, "Then we will take you by force."
 
 
 
From far behind Caedes, sounds of metal clashing rang into the night.
 
 
 
She had concealed her weapons in her mane, taking the first move at Evershade, marring his armour. Empathy jumped backwards as his comrade attempted to pummel her with a right hoof.
 
The combatants squared off in a triangular pattern, Empathy inside the house, while the two guards had backed up, covering the exit.
 
"Crazy mare. Why is it always the crazy ones, Evershade?"
 
"Because we’re lucky like that, and no, it’s not the good kind of luck." He dashed, breaking the standstill, angling a flying kick at Empathy’s barrel.
 
She jumped out of the way, leveling a knife at his exposed midsection, but it was deflected by Deepsky throwing a board in its path.
 
Caught off guard by the blade being deterred, she was tackled by Evershade from behind. Managing to keep her balance, she levitated a second knife, wildly slashing at the ground.
 
A snarl rose from the living battering ram, "Curse it! Deepsky, she got my leg!" He fell and rolled on the ground. "It’s pretty deep! I think she cut into my tendon—"
 
Even with a well-positioned stance, Deepsky was having trouble while listening to his partner and defending against two blades and one on the rebound. Blocking the two with his armour, the third bounced off of hit fetlock, shearing some fur off; he had fallen backwards slightly and was using his wing to maintain balance when a knife struck in the space between his armour and his wing joint, eliciting a howl of pain.
 
Deciding to leave the knife in the guard, Empathy dashed away with two knives in the momentary pause of the skirmish.
 
"Shiz, man, that looks bad." Evershade hobbled over on three legs. "I’m going to call for backup." He tapped on the crystal eye gem on the front of his dark blue and gray armour. "This is Evershade, from squad N9. We have a runner. She is a dark pink shade with a red mane. She has assaulted two guards. Treat as hostile with unknown intent. Over. We are heading to base for medical attention. End."
 
Evershade looked over to Deepsky, resting on his good side, clenching his teeth, trying not to yell. He moved to pull out the knife, but Deepsky stopped him. "With all due respect, I’m pulling this out myself. You can’t feel where I’ve been cut, and I’d rather you not cut me more."
 
With confirmation, he slowly pulled it out, slicing open more tissue. "Damn it. This is bad. We’ve got to go." He practically jumped upright. "Put your bad leg on me, and we’ll walk out of here faster. Don’t tough the wing."
 
They trotted out to the Castle for medical attention; they had one of the best doctors who could treat stab wounds in the modern era.
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
By now it had been only a couple of minutes since she had started running. Out of breath, she leaned against a decorative tree on a street corner. No idea where she was heading, her goal was to get to the castle. Thankfully, it was downhill mostly for the last street she had ran on.
 
She breathed hard, and longed for the burning in her lungs to stop.
 
 
No rest for the weary; a knife had pierced the trunk of the tree, narrowly missing her ear. She bolted, as Empathy ran up to the tree and unwedged her knife. Only an alley ahead, Caedes was running for her life against a much larger opponent.
 
Weaving around a trashcan, Empathy managed to line up another shot and clipped Caedes’s barrel. Careening into a trashcan, Caedes dumped it, causing Empathy to fall, and proceeded to exit the alley.
 
Frustration clouded her speech. A wild growl came out as she dashed upright from the metal obstacle. Having woken even more ponies up, it was becoming less and less likely that she would end this chase with anonymity.
 
Sprinting though another alley after having rested for a faction of a second left an iron taste in her mouth. Caedes also started feeling the effects of the blast – her leg ached every time she moved. Granted there was more damage to be had, but adrenaline had taken off the worse of the pain.
 
Empathy had chased her onto an open lawn. Plenty of shots could be lined up, or if she got close enough, she could grab her with magic. Unfortunately, Caedes kept stumbling and consequentially changing her path, making either choice nearly impossible.
 
She heaved as her small body was giving out. Another corner was turned, exiting the lawn and into a series of fancy gardens and small alleys. Her brain churned out ideas, but none of them would end in her escaping. Jumping over a decorative garden fence, her leg gave a distinct pop and she could no longer move properly.
 
Empathy had just rounded the corner in time for Caedes to disappear. Fairing little better than the filly, she breathed heavily, trying to regain some of her stamina. Quickly checking the alleys, she became frustrated due to losing her quarry.
 
Silence reigned between the two, one hidden, and one searching. It hadn’t occurred to either one how important the quietness was. In fact, sound had never even seemed as a viable option to Empathy. Except when she checked the alleys, there was no clipping of hooves, fleeing which meant that Caedes was still right here, somewhere in the garden.
 
A dastardly grin spread over Empathy’s muzzle. A trick for a trick she decided. "Blast, I lost her." She struck a loose cobble. "Now I’ll never find her.." Her two knives were expertly stashed back inside of her mane.
 
Walking around, she decided to look for any off plants or gray colors.
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
There. She’s right there.
 
 
She trotted slowly. Ever so slowly, she came closer. Caedes’s breathing increased becoming shallower, attempting to be silent even though her exasperation.
 
And then, they were next to each other.
 
 
Time slowed to an imperceptible pace.
 
Would she grab her now? No, just to be certain...
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
Empathy moved past, and the tension eased slightly out of Caedes. That is until navy magic swept her up into the fiery gaze of her executioner. "And here I made you think that you were free. Don’t EVER believe that. I will always find you."
 
Metal glimmered in moonlight as it was grasped out of her mane. "And now I have to wonder. What would have happened after today? If you were left as is, what would happen? I can only imagine the uproar and horrors the public would incite... not to mention ‘legal’ action. Of course everything I think of will end up tails, but really, I am not a fool.
 
"I know there is a glimmer of hope in your future. It is a glimmer, a spark of hope for a safe future, one of normalcy and comfort. But as I have said, I am no fool. Metaphors out of the way, it is a spark, and sparks do not grow to fire if there is nothing to catch fire. In this regard, this is the only way.
 
"Anything.. anything is better than being a slave to Fate. Your True Name Caedes, your Name has cursed you, and I am very sorry I can’t fix it, but I can make amends—no—make it right."
 
The blade was positioned directly over her writhing form. Even trapped as she was, she struggled to live.
 
"Poetic Justice really." Flipping the pointed side down, it was plunged into the top of her barrel.
 
 
A scream covered the sound of wings.
 
***
 
Even after all this time, it’s taking so long to do it. I swore to this end as a means to stop the ungodly destruction of her life. And yet.. Yet it’s been over a minute and she still lives. I could have stabbed her clean through by now, many times.
 
***
 
A squad of nine thestrals in armour breezed onto the scene. Flapping in the air, the captain ordered the other eight to hold formation causing Empathy to snap out of her daze. "Put the filly down this instant. You are under arrest for crimes of participating in suspicious activity, assault and attempted murder of guards and others."
 
He pointed with his hoof for the squad to take aim. "Train your crossbows on the mare. Make sure not to hit the victim." He flapped downward a bit more. "Surrender yourself, and face the consequences of your actions."
 
She looked up into the sky to see the thestrals ready to fire. Staring back to Caedes, she noticed blood dripping from her mouth – still breathing but unconscious.
 
"Dead soon, anyway..." Cursing Celestia for the interference, she made the most desperate move she could think of: she threw the knives at the guards, and tossed the filly into the air at random.
 
"What?!" The captain roared, "Grab the filly! Stop that madmare!"
 
The victim being tossed caused enough confusion to the guards to lose their aim and to open a window of escape. Empathy ran, back to her home with a long planned escape.
 
The group split. Six guards went after Empathy, shooting off a bolt whenever she exited an alley. The other two and the Captain stayed behind to assess damage control and to attend to injury.
 
 
"Gah!" Empathy doubled over in pain from being shot in the back. "Tartarus damn you!" She skidded back onto her hooves, only a block away from her house. So close, and the thestrals were only a second behind. Making a desperate assumption, she teleported into an alley beside her house.
 
They became confused, but fanned out, searching for the elusive convict. Empathy had the sense to run through the wall’s hole which was closer than the front door. Yanking off the locks to the basement, she practically jumped into the darkness, allowing for her memory to take care of the landing.
 
The thestrals had seen her enter her house; now they clamored though the hole, speeding though the hallways, hot on her trail. Noting all the noise coming from the left, they found the basement door opened.
 
The potion was still there. After using the previous one on Tracker’s body, she confirmed that it indeed worked.
 
The night guards had found her and were about to fire when Empathy smashed the beaker on the ground, causing a massive white flash to appear, burning a black scorch mark on the ground.
 
She was gone and nowhere near Canterlot.
 
 


> C14 - An Awkward Surgery
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The two of you, guard the scene." Two thestrals floated over and perched on a few building tops, keeping an eye on the area.
 
"You holding the filly: take her to the castle ward for immediate treatment, and no don’t remove the knife. I have no idea what it pierced." He flew off.
 
"As for me, damage control and report." The captain noted some details and pulled a tiny notepad out of a hidden compartment on his breastplate which contained a small pencil in its binding.
 
Surveying the scene would take only a matter of minutes for an experienced commander whereas tracing the path of the involved ponies would take hours to consider the possible events and circumstances.
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
Practically falling over, the threstral skidded into the medical bay of the castle. Thankfully the entrance was large so he didn’t have to worry about crashing from such a steep angle of entry.
 
"Medic—" he reconsidered, since he was already in what amounted to a hospital "—Doctor! We’ve got a stab patient here that needs urgent attention!"
 
A brown earth pony was attending to two other ponies, but had dropped everything considering they were going to live if not live with a few bruises. "Alright! Bring her to the table-counter thingy." He motioned to the slab of sanitized metal covered with paper. "’Never been good with names of objects. Put her down here. Nurse! We’ve got another!" He ducked down and gathered surgical instruments from drawers: a scalpel, surgical thread, a needle, and some wipes.
 
Prepping by laying the tools out in a useful order, he asked the guard what he could tell him about the situation.
 
Being shooed back a few steps he began, "We were directed to her by her screaming. She was being levitated while also having this.. rather massive knife being shoved into her. After yelling at the suspect, she threw her at random, and I managed to catch her like this." He held his hooves out while balancing on his hooves. "I tried not moving her and flew back here on orders not to remove the knife."
 
He worked through the story, slowly removing the knife to cause minimal damage. The wound appeared to be deep and almost fatal, as after it had sliced the edge of her lung, it was probably only centimeters away from her heart.
 
"So," he made small talk while threading the needle, "She was stabbed, and then thrown, causing this to move around quite a bit." He knocked the knife a bit, causing a tinny sound. He started cleaning the wound as a nurse came to help out with magic, sewing the sliced tissue back together. "And then you caught her, making the blade sink deeper and do even more damage. Great job." He would’ve been less sarcastic, but really; that guard should’ve thought of that.
 
He seemed off put. "Well sorry! I only had seconds or less to react, or she would’ve most certainly have died!"
 
Caedes had stopped breathing halfway through the rant. "We’re losing her! I had expected this, but start casting some magic to keep her heart working, and I’ll get her to start breathing again!" He opened her muzzle, and breathed in, then carefully pressing on the opposite side of her back, so she wouldn’t have to be flipped over. Repeating the process, the nurse nodded, and Caedes had stabilized.
 
The guard was nervously silent. The brown doctor opened the conversation back up. "Look, I didn’t say you did your job incorrectly or unwell. I’m just making a point."
 
"A point?! She could’ve just died, and you’re making a point?"
 
He was finished cleaning, and the cut was almost finished being treated by the nurse. "Yes. I’m only saying that it could have ended better—" He walked off, leaving the guard speechless momentarily. The gauzes had been left by Deepsky and Evershade. "Back. It could’ve ended better, but I prefer to minimize damage, since I am a doctor after all." He unrolled a bit and started wrapping Caedes’s barrel.
 
He was still angry but also amused at the doctor’s attitude. "Really? That’s it. I thought this was going to be for some deep reason or something. What with all the small talk and all."
 
"Not as deep as this cut."
 
Silence.
 
"Seriously? That pun.. Lookee there!" He pointed at the nurse cringing, stitching one last knot on Caedes’s wound. "See, even she thought that was bad. Also.." He stared at the doctor while he finished wrapping gauze around Caedes. "How come I haven’t seen you before? Where’s Doctor Laceration?"
 
"Oh," he looked up from his work momentarily. "I was just passing though." He opened a drawer with a hoof and placed the roll of gauzes in. "I’m just here because some pony thought he’d get drunk today, and well. You can’t have a drunk doctor working." The drawer clicked closed. "And here I am. That should answer both your questions."
 
"Hmm. Okay." He turned to leave. "So what’s your name then?"
 
"Oh me?" He fixed an invisible bowtie, "I’m The Doctor of course."
 
"’Night then. Or actually morning now—just a couple of hours ‘til sunrise." He flew off, trying to figure out what happened to Dr. Laceration.
 
"Wait.. both questions?" His wings fumbled in the air. "He’s drunk himself into a stupor... again."
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
The Doctor walked back over to his two current patients, carrying the unnamed filly. Placing her on a bed in the ward, he trotted back out and came back in with a blood bag on a rolling stand. Affixing a tube into the back and then feeding an intravenous needle into her hoof, he pulled the sheet over her. Metal tables do not make for warm surfaces after all.
 
"Probably should’ve gotten the blood sooner," he murmured in hindsight, "Makes the surgery safer." He was still satisfied though, saving a pony’s life would do wonders for acute depression.
 
"Now then, you two," The guards picked themselves up from their slouches, "You there, on the left—"
 
"Evershade, sir."
 
"—Right, anyway, you won’t be walking too soon. The cut you received separated both parts of your tendon nearly completely. Thankfully, I was able to piece it back together, where it’ll heal. I’ll put a split on it in a moment. And you on the right—"
 
"Deepsky."
 
"—I swear I was going to actually remember your name this time!" He chuckled sheepishly. "Well, I have bad news. Your wing joint, if I remember my anatomy correct, is supposed to be wrapped in muscle and tissue. Your’s however, has a rather large piece missing, since I had to remove some in order to close the wound properly. I’m afraid I have no estimate how long you’ll be grounded, but it’ll probably be something more than a year. "
 
Deepsky grimaced. Besides the burning pain in his muscles, he was now the equivalent to a middle weight earth pony. "Dang. Existential crisis much."
 
Evershade nodded slightly. "I bet that sucks, but then again, I have to fly everywhere now, soooo..."
 
"Yes well, you two won’t be going anywhere for the next couple of days, so get comfortable."
 
The guards scooched backwards onto their beds, getting ready to sleep through the day to keep up with their scheduled work hours.
 
The rustling was interrupted by a squeak and a pillow being hugged in a tiny pony’s sleep.
 
"That was cute." The Doctor and Evershade hummed in agreement.
 
 


> C15 - Ishy Situations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A clock yelled her in the face. "Eight Thirty! Get up, get up!"

A hoof missing gold adornments smashed through the pile of metal—it had melted before she could touch it. "No." The voice of an eternal diplomat carried a force of terror to it, daring the pile to make another sound.

Pleased with her action, she rolled over, lavishing in thought of going back to sleep.

Only to be interrupted by three knocks at her door. "Breakfast, your highness. Raven sent a slice of cake today."

"Curse Raven and her ability to get me out of bed; first the breakfast along with waking up and cake, or really any pastry? How can I say no?" She all but yelled in her head.

"Come in then. Drop the cart off please." A yellow maid came in, setting the cart in the middle of the room. Bowing, she left Celestia’s quarters.

"A note?" Her magic swiped the paper off of the cart. 


"There was a disturbance last night. ‘Sent you cake to warm you up to paperwork in the morning.

-Your Secretary, Raven"


"You know, for once, I’d like to have something sweet, or rea in the morning without strings attached."



***



They had been awake for hours after their injuries were sealed, light medication only numbing the feelings. They had started talking to The Doctor and were wondering about an early dinner or late breakfast.

"I suppose you’re right. You can’t heal on an empty stomach; I have to look out for my patients." Apparently he was absentminded and forgot the important part of living, food. "I better wake up the actual doctor now. I have to talk some sense into him while your food is being delivered."

He walked away, prompting Nightshade to voice a question. "If he’s a doctor, why is his cutie mark an hourglass?"

"Counting the seconds to death?"

"Yeah.. but if you get your cutie mark when you’re young..." They shivered.

"Too dark for me, Nightshade. Too dark, and I’m a thestral."



***



"Wake up doctor!" He flipped the light switch, illuminating a stallion with a knife and stiches as a cutie mark. "I found you drunk again! Seriously, I have to cover for you all the time, and it’s always during an emergency!"

He cringed under the light and shoved the pillow over his hears. "Whooves, keep it down. Hangover, remember?"

"Don’t call me Whooves, you know I prefer being called The Doctor." He moved over to a small fridge, revealing a glass with a pinkish powder in the bottom. Opening the fridge, he purloined orange juice and a raw egg. Cracking the egg, and pouring the juice, he shit the fridge and stirred the mixture.

"You need to wake up. I made the usual along with some protein powder I found on a trashcan lid." He didn’t voice that he was only mostly sure it was in fact protein powder. "Come on. I’ll even turn out the room light."

His cousin groaned at his own exertion. Once the light was off, he slumped onto the floor with a sweaty plop. Picking himself up, he chugged the fantastically horrible mixture. "I hate your cure for hangovers every time I drink it. Except now it’s even worse being grainy from the powder."

"Oh, and I’ve moved you up a timeslot, so you need to start working at nine a.m."

"Damn it, cousin."



***



The same goldenrod colored maid walked into the corridor leading to the ward. Her brunette hair was in a hairnet, as the kitchens had required if she was delivering to the hospice area. Using her mouth to open the rear door into the ward, she trotted in, looking for the two patients on the list for breakfast.

Inwardly cursing after finding a filly that she had not accounted for, she pushed it toward the dark blue one first. "Good morning sir, I have breakfast here." She displayed the cart’s wares.

There was a staggering array of breakfast and possible lunch items on it; the only response Deepsky could utter was an appropriate, "Uhh."

Amused, she hoofed one of several bowls of salad to him. "This’d probably be better for a healing pony than pancakes would be."

"Thanks." He nibbled on some of the strawberries on top. "If you could just leave the cart, we’ll eat off of it."

While it was a completely appropriate thing to do with any pony that requested it, as far as Maple was concerned, injured ponies should not be out of bed. "I don’t think I can do that. You need to stay in bed to heal up."

He grinned. "So you want to stay? Am I attractive, or did you just forget that there are nurses?" Flummoxed, she turned and stormed away, grumbling about having to deliver another cart with more food for the filly, due to protocol.

Before she could exit entirely he called back, "Sorry. But, just disregard the filly. This is enough food for three or four ponies let alone two and a filly. They probably didn’t update the public ward sheet after four a.m."



"The hay was that Deepsky?" Nightshade blurted out after Maple had left the room. "You didn’t even know her. She could’ve been in the young adult castle’s work study program. Are you really that desperate?"

He shrugged, feeling conflicted. "I didn’t really mean it like that. I was just poking a little, but now I feel bad ‘cause she was just being nice... Now I feel even guiltier. Thanks for that, partner."

Being blissfully unaware of sarcasm that he was, Nightshade responded gleefully.

"Sometimes I wish I had a partner with an ability to understand sarcasm."

"I feel like that general sentiment is shared between lots of ponies."



***



"I wish I had a government that didn’t rely on profuse amounts of documentation." She had a stack of over three hundred papers floating in her grasp. "Stack one of ten, here we go."

"Princess, if you are wondering, that’s the general status report of the night’s events. The next one is the detailed accounting of it, the next stack is the general status report of the infirmary, the next stack is the detailed version of that, and the next two stacks are general and detailed versions of collateral damages, the next two stacks are the two versions of complaints and welfare of Canterlot, and the last two stacks are the daily stacks of paperwork needing to be signed into law or denied."

Raven had the biggest crap eating grin plastered on her muzzle.

She looked to her secretary. "You can burn the other stacks; it’s only this one, and the damage reports that actually matter. And is there anything I actually need to read besides the first twenty or so pages of the first report? It looks like most of it is just blank papers."

"Nope."

"Well, you can joke as much as you like as long as I get a something yummy out of it." She pondered her words. "Also, put back all this blank paper would you? Just because it grows on trees doesn’t mean it’s free or cheap."

> C16 - Into Another Loop
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Raven had collected all the blank paper, cutting the stack sizes into fifths. "I don’t think I can do this every day Princess."

Celestia had only read the documented times from nine p.m. to midnight when Raven had prompted her. "And why not? I don’t mind even if it does take a little time to get things put back together. Cake for breakfast is worth it."

"No, it’s not the time that’s a problem. I know you get a little bored every now and again." She scuffed her front hooves. "It’d get old really fast, but that’s beside the point. It’s what’s in the report that is bothering. I figured to sweeten you mood because that’s dark stuff in there, Princess."

"Hmm. Any particular timestamp I should skip to?" Her curiosity had been piqued.

"It starts at three in the morning, but I’d start at two thirty to make sure to get the full picture."



***




"Deepskyyyy! Stop hogging all the food!" It had been ten minutes since his last outburst, just listening to the munching of his friend.

"Not my s’fault.  S’hould be," crunch, "nurs’es that’d feed us—" munch.

"Come on! Just walk over here slowly, so you don’t accidentally stretch your wing muscle."

"But. ‘Slurp. I feel. Chomp. Saaa—burp—d ‘bout that pony! Eating makes me feel better!"

"Just get the buck over here! I’m starving!"

Deepsky choked on a bit of pineapple in his fruit salad after hearing Evershade curse around little ponies.

"She’s still asleep, no harm done. Now come on!"

Working the food out of his throat, Deepsky collected himself and managed to stand while cringing from his wing. Being more careful, he nosed the cart forward over to the left side of Evershade. Clapping his hooves, he moved over, observing his prey. After calculating the best way to capture breakfast, he removed several apples, a plate of pancakes, some round breakfast pastries, and a whopping bowl of salad.

"You know, ‘Sky, you can just sit next to me if you’re not finished eating."

His friend nodded, rejoining the feast.



Half an hour later, the mass of food was dented with two lightly sleeping guards nearby. A familiar earth pony with a spikey mane came out of the back room.

"Ello, chaps." He was more cheerful than the last time they had seen him. "I’m heading off to my home. Just dropping by to say goodbye." He stared at the two guards. "I watch you while you sleep." He snickered, "I’ve always wanted to say that. Now then, for the third one of mine—" Doctor Whooves turned to stare at her.

She had broken out into a sweat and had effectively crushed the pillow with her limited gripping area. "Unusual.." He trotted over, looking around for anything peculiar. Finding nothing he supposed to check for illness before believing it was some random nightmare.

"You’re quite warm there." He petted her mane back down, fixing where his hoof had parted her hair. "I’ll just go get Laceration; Pawning off the work he should’ve already been doing is a full time job afterall."



***



"My guards caused a fight after a citizen that resisted detainment caused a magical explosion and was fairly skilled at fighting." Celestia thought it sounded like a fairly decent written action novel, or at least a scene.

A curt nod, "Yes, your Highness. That’s only the very start though. There’re altercations and property destruction as you already know."

"They suffered Intermediate but not life threatening injuries? It was just one mare." Her papers floated in a lazy circle, "Well unicorns are rather troublesome when they can do deft levitation."

"To be perfectly clear, the detailed report goes into some specifics and the wounds caused were either unintended or lucky shots. I wouldn’t worry about completely retraining the guards."

"Okay." She moved the fourth page to the back of the stack. "And the suspect was seen exiting at a high pace with leaving one guard behind. The guards called in and," she flipped the page again, most of the space being taken by blank space between the lines and timestamps, "the two went for medical treatment. The rest of squad N9 regrouped and combed the city for the suspect." Another flip. "Following a trail of collateral damage, they overheard a shriek..."

She soured. "This truly happened Raven?" Celestia looked down for confirmation. Raven was sitting down, a bit unusual, but she had clearly not slept well with tired, sunken eyes.

"Mmm, yes. They are very diligent reporters, except the ponies that do the summaries leave out some important details from time to time."

A page flip, and it was covered in neat type font. Leaning back, Celestia read everything—twice. There were two timestamps, one at the top and one at the bottom, ten minutes apart. Grimacing, she filed away the page for later reference. Figuring out that was the pinnacle of the events, her stack was floated back over to her faithful secretary. "So, where are the involved ponies now?"



***



The Captain of squad N9 hated being detained. A group of nine other thestrals, fully armed, milled around, nervous about their enclosure. One of them stubbed their hooves and gave a yelp, almost a squeak.

The Captain of squad N9 didn’t mind being detained except when forced to share a cell with antisocial guards.



***



"So you say she’s sick?"

The Doctor leaned on the doorframe. "Well, I think so. I never went to medical school and generally picked up on most of your usual work due to you getting dead drunk." He deadpanned. "She’s really warm on the outside; I know what a fever is."

"Eesh. Sarcasm much."

"Yes well, I’m tired of doing your work." He turned to leave and stopped when his cousin called out to him.

"Are you really mad or just trying to get a clean exit?" He turned on the sink, rinsing his glass out with a purplish aura.

"... Yes?"

"Sure, figures. I’d say both." Breathing in deeply, he flicked the lights on with his magic. "You can just leave you know. However, I’d like to ask if there’s been any progress on her identification."

Whooves shrugged. "Maybe some. Most offices were closed, ponies were asleep, and the public records here are incomplete."

"Ciao, and thanks. I’m so sorry." He grabbed him by the withers. "I’ll promise not to get drunk.. while I am actually in the office."

He patted him back, "Only for you Laceration; only for you."


> C 17 - Progressing
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Nurse, I’ll need some assistance checking the vitals of the patients."

She grumbled as Laceration called out. Her shift had ended nearly an hour ago at dawn, and her replacement had yet to come in. Picking herself, she tied her maroon hair into a bun using magic; she had been woken from a nap.

"Doctor, you know I have a name." She grimaced, opening a chilled cabinet with blood bags. "I hope you remember it because I am very, very angry at you."

"Eh?" He turned around, facing her. She was most definitely ready to murder him. "Nurse..." He choked,  on his next words, praying that he actually remembered his partner’s name, "...Mend?"

Something about stallions and names of close coworkers tickled his ears before a reserved slam closed the cabinet. That was definitely not her name.

"You just stay right there." Her right ear was pointed down, ready to slice his eye, should he as much as twitch. "You really suck at your job, except for the impromptu surgeries which are exceedingly rare that none of us but you can salvage. I’ll take the patients’ vitals, and you can fix any mistakes that I’ve made, acting on your behalf, helping out your forcefully drafted cousin." Red Cross’s tail slapped him in the face, marring his muzzle.



Her magic surrounded their foreheads, throats and midsections. Reading general vitals, but a little above average temperature, Cross figured they were fine—except for sleeping in the same bed slumped over one another, in an awkward position.

Swiveling around to the opposite side of the room before any lewd thoughts were to come to mind, she noted Caedes’s position, and moved the sheets off of her before levitating her slightly to wrap magic around her barrel.

"Elevated heart rate, and a very high fever." She removed the nearly empty blood bag and replaced it with the fresh one she had been keeping suspended in her field. Levitating Caedes and the equipment over to the examination table, she peeled off the last sheet of paper and replaced it with a new sheet.

"Laceration, get your plot over here. I need some cold water and rags; this filly has a rather high fever with 18 degrees over the average."

Downgraded to menial labor, Laceration plodded depressedly but quickly over to the sink with a bucket in tow.



***



"And you’re sure that this does not need my immediate attention, but rather merited consideration as an event that only stood out?" Celestia felt that it was a rather one sided conversation and to her secretary no less. "It seems like more of a concern than just usual happenstance. Tell me, what’s there to do today on the schedule?"

Raven inwardly groaned. Even thou it was her job to organize and file the paperwork, scheduling was always distasteful. "Well, there are petitions to be looked over for an hour, and there are no major court issues today, but that’s taken up by playing dignitary to the aristocrats, and then it’s time for lunch. Then at one, you’ll be revising aged laws and tax code due to expanding markets and technologies.

"From there, you’ll be holding an open session for citizens to voice suggestions, complaints, or alterations to current government practices for two hours. Meetings with the parliament follow suit with any planned meetings with nobles, and then sleep."

The usual morning routine never sat well with Celestia, "Erase the morning pandering and toss any petitions from ponies not on the whitelist." She straitened. "We’ve got work to do."



***



The records office was buzzing with ponies on enough coffee to feed an entire city block – no pony liked the records office, especially those who worked there. Overflowing with papers, the inbox for papers delivered in the daytime was left mostly untouched because the inbox for nighttime had priority currently.

Mister Transcript fished out the paper and made a request to the Canterlot Public Records Commission for information on ponies living at 45 Twelve East Street. "Fast Bag! We’ve got one again."

A slightly overweight Pegasus trotted out of a corner. "Really? I don’t get enough exercise as it is. Gimme it."

Transcript grimaced. "At least you get paid for doing next to nothing compared to us. We’re political cannon fodder." He paused realizing he forgot to tell his co-worker where to go. "Ah yes, deliver this to the CPRC."

"Can do!" He jumped off the balcony, clipping his hoof. "Shoot, every time!" He tumbled down into a couple of lone bushes placed conspicuously at his exact spot.



***



"Yes, yes. I realize you do more work than me on a daily basis. But I still do my part well when the opportunity arises." He had his hooves in the air while defending himself.

"Just like last night?"

His hooves lowered.

"Tch, whatever. Just undo the temporary stiches I gave her. Here’s a few cc’s of anesthesia." Red Cross placed a syringe on the table. "Just don’t kill her accidentally." She walked over to a chair and slumped down exhausted.



The anesthesia had slowed her pulse enough to work on her without causing her to bleed out. After removing the stitches and slicing open the wound with a scalpel, he noticed the recess had begun to pool with blood, highlighting the perforation in her chest cavity.

"It’s a wonder you could sleep at all with your lung filling like that."

He reached for a plastic tube with a hollow end. Feeding the tube into her lung, he forced the fluid into the hollow end, and started stitching the cut. Feeding the thread was no problem, but maintaining both actions caused him undue stress after waking up from his earlier stupor.


"Annnnnd, done." He knotted the final thread on her barrel and sanitized the wound. "Phew. You’ve gotten luck, filly. Now if I only had something to call you." He rubbed her back. "Whoops. Almost forgot to get you another bag. Your insides were leaking badly. And I might’ve spilled you a little..."


> C18 - Developments
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hmm. I probably shouldn’t wake her up." His nurse was out cold, spilling drool onto the wooden armrest of her chair. He levitated Caedes off of the table and rolled her metal post back over to her bed.

He walked back and stared at Nurse-Name-On-The-Tip-Of-My-Tongue. "Eh, I’m close enough to the ward anyway, what the heck." He picked her up carefully and placed her down on the bed beside Caedes. Tucking them both in, he left in silence.

A whumph and a skitter of hooves clattered into the medical bay. Laceration cursed the noise, if his nurse had woken up, she’d be very cross. "Cross? Woo! Red Cross, I remember now!" A very angry groan rummaged around the sheets and gave up, releasing a sigh of whenever she was needed she’d come.

"Poo, I woke her. Who’s there?" He paced down the small operation room to the hallway where gray feathers and a pony’s snoot poked out. "Sir?" The snoot ducked for cover, and the feathers receded.

Some shuffling came from the corner and Fast Bag stepped out. "I’ve got identification to deliver to the Medical Bay, sir." His wing ruffled the saddlebags open, and pulled out a thick, white envelope. "Here you go!" He left, intent on returning to his post in the public records office of the castle.

"Well, that’s the fastest paperwork has ever come here."



***



"Ah yes, good to be back to the old grind." Celestia smiled and inwardly grimaced at the terrible smell in the musky office. "Except for this smell. Is this place never cleaned? I swear I left those papers in that exact spot the last time I was in here, months ago."

Raven was still following her Princess around, clearly with nothing better to do since the schedule was effectively wiped for two and a half hours. "No, Princess. You specifically stated for no maids to clean out your study if you were not in here with them."

"Err. That’s because of this.. reason. Hmm. Just let them air it out and keep a guard posted by it, so no pony can enter then. This musk is starting to get to me." Of course it would not have been a problem if the floor and part of the bottom of the walls were not covered in plush, velvet carpeting.

Celestia sat, pulling out papers from a drawer with a cloud of dust motes visible in a ray of light from the window. "I learned this very well from my student, Twilight. If she were here right now, she’d try to make three lists per list, so if anyone asks, I made three lists, okay Raven?"

Celestia’s face was all business, so Raven automatically agreed.

"Good. Now then, who was involved in the whole event of the conflict?"

"Squad N9 with other squads notified on lookout while they were posted in the city. Two guards who directly confronted the mare at first were wounded and now reside in the infirmary. The rest of the squad is on lockdown in a detention cell."

The quill scribbled and scratched. "Seems a bit harsh, but protocol exists for a reason.. Okay. Now are the areas it occurred at contained?"

"Yes, ma’am. The alleys and homes have been commandeered and quarantined from the public for the most part. The main road in the east district was allowed to be unobstructed as the chase only led through that portion without mass damage."

More motions came from the quill. "Got it. Now, I’m going to tell you what we’re going to do, or me alone; you can come if you wish since you pretty much are free until eleven thirty." Her secretary nodded. "We are going to visit and oversee each of these areas and directly find out what the investigation is turning up, since bureaucracy is counterproductive. After that, we will visit the wounded, and congratulate them on their heroic duty." She stood, folding the paper and motioning for Raven to hold onto it.



***



"So are we going to be let out?" The caption stared the interrogator down like a ravenous wolf ready to strike.

The significantly smaller stallion eased back into the opposite chair, feeling less than intimidated. "Unfortunately no. I came to explain that you will be let out after the crime scene has been resolved or you have been granted early freedom by the Princess. By all means we should be able to let you go, especially since you reported it well. Buuuut, you can have a booby prize for now."

A mare, yellowish with a brown mane walked in with five or more carts hooked together, double stacked with food.

White Hoof smirked. "I think it’s a pretty good booby prize at least. You don’t get to eat like this unless you’re Celestia or in the hospital ward."

"Dude. We should be asleep by now. It would be about one a.m. for you day ponies; the only reason we can’t sleep is because the boys back there are nervous wrecks." He softened. "Looks like the food’s good. I’ll probably fall asleep with some pancakes..."



***



Laceration had waited awhile for these papers. It was uncommon for him to be excited at a name, but he was rather enthralled by the mystery of the little pony that had spawned this nightmare of chaos..

The flap on the envelope was slowly peeled back, his OCD preventing him from ripping it jaggedly. Laceration grabbed the top paper and—

"Good heavens!" The paper was a shock, even though he had encountered similar papers before. "What’s this? The table of contents says there’re over thirty pages. How many do you really need?" He trailed off, reading down the list. Most of the initial pages were reference pages leading to other stacks of documents of similar natures to determine prior residents while the actual documents enclosed contained housing statements, the deed, and most importantly the home census.

Forgoing his organizational tendencies, Laceration pulled the entire stack out, pulling the last three pages described as the home census – one page per pony.

Unknown to him, he glanced over the first two papers, the married couple of a missing guard and the attempted murderess.

"Here it is: age 4 at the time of the last census. Caedes G?"


> C19 - Aware
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Strange. I was unaware that a letter could be a legal last name. Most ponies just use their race if they could not have thought of one. No matter, you are Caedes, young filly." He placed the document stack on the tiny nightstand next her bed.
 
Arrayed in a concave pattern, the beds were spaced by a small table, about half a square meter of table space.
 
He left, planning on calling in the next nurse, since his cousin accidentally moved her up into the next timeslot as well. "Really, Whooves. Next time check who is being notified, so ponies like her don’t have to blamelessly suffer."
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
Walking through town was always a hassle. Ponies would, bow, greet with title and overall just be sticks in the mud asking for ‘royal’ favors. Today though, today Princess Celestia was almost glad an incident occurred with enough walking space for several blocks cordoned off by guards.
 
She had her walking space without the bustle of ponies; she could truly enjoy the serenity. Stopping to nod her head to the left, she reminded herself that this was caused by something no luxury was worth. A piece of darkness seeded the area, having caused turmoil in her city.
 
Ignoring the quaint scenery, she trotted upon the ending of the journey. Being the most heavily guarded spot by over eight ponies to rebuff any citizens from entering, an area was specifically marked off in front of the posh garden.
 
To the untrained eye, the cobbles were ordinary. However, if one were to look hard enough, there were smudges on their dim opalescent surfaces, further clouding them with dark red, nearly gray. An even more expert eye would have to notice the speckles further out, where one would have summarized where she was thrown.
 
Currently thrown for a loop, Celestia wondered if the documents have already been processed by both offices. Taking leave, she worked backwards along the trail, noting the positions of strewn objects. At the main intersection of East Street, a tree was specifically sanctioned away, which bore the deep mark of a cut.
 
Ignoring the stares and calls of the passersby in the street, she flew over them, continuing to the end of her journey. There was markedly less of any disturbance here, but when she asked a guard they had replied that it was necessary to keep the entire scene away from public eyes.
 
And her eyes finally gazed the building. It was white on the outside with a tiled roof. Everything was neat and orderly, the lawn showing no signs of being molested by hooves; it embodied the word pristine. Except the wall.
 
It was charred and blown apart. Remnants were strewn outward with debris moved into the hole in the wall from the fight. She was going to approach the destruction, but several guards came out with objects enclosed in the standard quarantine unit, a metal box.
 
"Princess," A thick browed guard acknowledged, "How may we serve you?" He bowed slightly, making sure not to drop the four boxes he was levitating.
 
"Ah. Strongbrows, my faithful caption of the guard. I have come to directly investigate and learn what has transpired. Bureaucracy will likely make this into a mess before it gets to me, so I have decided to become directly involved in what can be summarized as a momentary crisis. The nobles and parliament have already asking questions, and I need to provide answers and reassurance."
 
 "Understood Princess." He bowed further, placing his boxes on the ground while his subordinate rose and took leave with the contained objects. "Now that we have a moment of peace, what would you like to know?"
 
Silently thanking her apt guard, she responded with a small but bright smile. "I understand the events of what happened, but I do not know the identities of the ponies involved, nor do I know the reasons behind such actions. I need to know whether or not this affects us beyond this event."
 
"The last night shift passed in the paperwork for the identification. It should be processed faster than the other documents submitted later, so we’ll know the exact ponies living here, but I believe I know at least one of them. My guard who had been missing is still gone and I summarize from his employment documents is that he lived here at one point—"
 
She cut him off with a curt nod. "Thank you. I only needed to know the rank or title of the pony; your suspicions have been noted. As for the reasons.. have you found any of the belonging inside the home to be of significance?"
 
"Well, some of them are strange and others are normal. My guess is that something just wasn’t quite right in the household, like distrust or something. Although, we did find a smokehouse in the basement along with some quack alchemy items, so I suspect some pony was not quite sane in the head. I bet it was the mare, possibly the filly’s mother." Strongbrows shivered.
 
"I – I understand that feeling, captain. Madness is not a path any pony should trot down."
 
He took  a bit of reassurance in her words. "We’ve found some interesting and possibly condemning items of significance though."
 
Strongbrows whistled toward a guard with a red marked metal container. The default white guard passed it over on a wing to his commanding officer. "Here. I don’t know what it is, but it just feels.. wrong."
 
Celestia picked the cube up, sliding the top off. The contents took her breath away and made her magic flicker. "But ..How? I thought this was destroyed when we..."
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
A rapturous sound needled her ears. A slight thrum of magic buzzed around the room. A faint smell she could not place made her muzzle scrunch in disgust. And something was stuck to her hoof.
 
She moved, trying to peek at herself, failing to move or to open her eyes. The crust around her eyes was nearly impossible to dislodge. Using her free hoof, she rubbed the crusty substance off of her eyes only to find light blinding her. Rolling over, she peaked ever so slowly at her leg.
 
It wasn’t stuck to her, it was in her.
 
 


> C20 - Results
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Having never been to a place such as this, Caedes started to breathe, hard. A foreign object was in her, a place with unknown intent encased her, and literally unaware of what had actually happened caused her to panic.
 
Thrashing around a bit, she sat up with enough purchase on her pillow to grab ahold of the slender object with her teeth. Tugging at the object, a spasm of pain lashed through her. Even more terrified by the prospect of further pain, she whipped her head backwards and pulled it out, creating a gouge in her leg.
 
A flicking ear caught the sound of distress, alerting an eye to open.
 
Fighting the stiffness in her legs, Ceades managed to push off the sheets that were tucking in around her.
 
By now the eye had fully awakened and took in the sight of an escaping patient. Red Cross was not about to let that happen. Ridding herself of her own bedding, she jerked upright and managed to grasp the filly in her magic.
 
Just the prior day, Caedes was ensured by such a spell.
 
She thrashed around in Cross’s magic, adding further injury to herself and making the nurse’s job harder. “Hey, stop moving!” Caedes did not respond in any way. Cross attempted a more soft tone, “Just hold still, and it’ll be okay soon.”
 
She sized up in the aura, before lashing out even faster, trying to throw the larger pony’s magic off of her.
 
“Wh-at? Laceration! I’ll need some help; we’ve got a wild patient!” The doctor came in rapidly, noting if Cross was asking for his help, it must’ve been serious. “If you just hold her, I can put her under with some magic. I don’t have enough concentration to do both simotanteously at the moment.”
 
Folding his magic over the small, gray pony, Laceration grimaced as he noticed who Cross was having such difficulties. “You might want to hurry, Cross. You weren’t joking; she’s a hoof-full.”
 
“I was already halfway done when you fully assumed grabbing her. I’ll just –” she let out a red pulse which leached into Caedes’s body “– Do that. It’s faster than a regular sleep spell because the spell is just a strengthened version of a stress reliever spell.” Her words sparked a horror into the filly. She stared until she fell limp, whereupon the two doctors noticed a rivulet of red on her foreleg.
 
“Seriously? Again?” Laceration was not happy about having to patch her up again; all these wounds were just redundant with Caedes. He sighed, “Just bring her back to the table for some stitches and bandages, and I’ll see to her. Just try to figure out how to keep her from doing – that after she wakes up again.”
 
 
 
“Psst.” A pause. The sound moved closer to a fuzzy, tufted ear, “PSSSSSST!”
 
“AH! I swear I didn’t mean it!” Deepsky rolled off of Evershade. “What am I doing?”
 
“I think you must’ve slept through that then. So now that the doctor and nurse are done, I’ll tell you what happened.”
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
Celestia had stayed silent for a time. After opening the box, she gazed into it, her eyes unfocused on anything. Strongbrows figured he had let her brood long enough and coughed. He coughed louder this time. Celestia did not elicit a response.
 
Madly grinning on the inside, he concocted the best plan of action to draw the Princess back to reality, seeing as the other guards had started to stare and go lax on the job. Creeping silently forward, he raised an outstretched hoof. Annnnd, a tinny sound was elicited from a fast poke at the box.
 
“Ah. Hello, Strongbrows.” She peered at the guards without turning her head. “I take it I zone out?”
 
He bowed slightly to save her dignity, “Indeed. Would you care to she about that bag of black seeds? It made the guards’ coats crawl when they levitated it with magic, so I assume from your reaction that it must be significant.”
 
She mulled it over. Her tongue rolled in contemplation. Realizing that it would impede or hinder their investigation, Celestia decided to give the key pieces of information about the bag. “Well, a good place to start is that these seeds are one of the four types of magic. These are made from Chaos magic.” A nervous shiver went up the guards collective spines. “So, you do remember where or rather who they came from. Long story short, I had assumed that these were wiped away by Harmony magic until today. All you need to know is that these will cause unpredictable results in any way they are used.”
 
A veil of silence hung over every pony. Work resumed with a serious tone, and eyes sharpened. When a catastrophe was remembered, they were there to help prevent another.
 
She capped the cube again by sliding the top in place. “Take notes and keep a lookout for seeds. I can only surmise that wherever they are, something important happened there.” She left, flying away back to her castle.
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
“Didja get it all Deepsky?” Evershade asked with a bit of glee like a puppy.
 
“Yeah, I knew after the first two times. I think the third was redundant, and the way you changed words with every retelling threw me off.” He was soured from being woken up after only a few hours of sleep.
 
“Sheesh, grumpy much? You could’ve only slept two hours instead of four. Dude, it’s like ten thirty in the morning.”
 
“Ten thirty? I thought we fell asleep sometime past seven. That’s three and a half hours.”
 
“Shup.” Evershade sniffed at his partner’s better math. “I made it sound better.” He crossed his legs over each other and leaned back. “So, do you think we should even do anything?”
 
Deepsky thought about it and realized that he was still on Evershade’s bed. He moved over and sat up on, and started to scooch over to the side of the bed.
 
“Hey where’re you going?”
 
He chuckled awkwardly. “I thought I should reclaim my bed, since I managed to fall asleep in yours.”
 
“Oh no you don’t!” Evershade leaped forward, and held Deepsky on the bed. “My leg’s numb from having you use me as a body pillow. It’s time you return the favor. Besides, We’re comfier than the thin sheets and shoddy pillows.” Wrenching himself onto the bed, Evershade pulled Deepshy with him, and then rolled over on top of him, making sure to keep his wing from being strained or pulling at his own harmed leg.
 
Deepsky, being a decent sport and was still rather tired, allowed the action to happen unabated. After squirming to get comfy under his friend, he asked, “So, what do you think we should do?”
 
“I don’t know ‘Sky. That’s why I was asking you.”
 
“... Why do I give out all the life advice when you clearly know I mess up a lot of that stuff. Remember the delivery pony from breakfast?”
 
He thought back to the event, “Crap.”


> C21 - Intersection
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Try as the might to figure out something to help any pony in the ward, doctor or patient, they lost the battle and succumbed to sleep. Red Cross moved back into the ward to check on the patients and Caedes’s third blood bag when she realized the two bat ponies were in an even more compromising position.
 
"Look away now, Red. You shouldn’t think like that."
 
 
 
She failed.
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
Even though Raven was bored to tears just relaxing in the Castle, it was preferable than being hauled around by the Princess, as Celestia had stated, "I will be flying to speed up the journey. You can come and be carried because you will never catch up to me on hoof, or stay here and rest." It really wasn’t much of a choice. Still, the in ground hot tub was always lonely at ten thirty in the morning.
 
"Ahhhhh, yeah. This is great." She had sunken deeper into the steaming water with only her snout poking out for air, so no pony could understand her bubbling words of joy. She played around for a moment, just letting bubbles pop on her fur.
 
Her leisure was killed though by a metal sound on stone which revealed a white some pony with an aurora mane. "Hello Raven. I’m here to invite and to check. Actually, I need to check that I haven’t missed anything first. I just completed the round with the investigation."
 
She sighed, and clambered sloppily out of the warm water. "Ah, here’s my stuff." A pile of assorted writing utensils and papers were stacked, far out of the splash zone of water in case anything random happened. She levitated a paper off the floor, "The first thing on the list was marked off by you, as ‘due process.’ You just finished the second one of ‘direct involvement’, and the third is related to the second as, ‘visiting the ward.’"
 
Relieved at being able to remember such a simple list, she laughed slightly. "Ah yes, just checking to see if my memory had left me or not! In any case, I wanted to invite you along, in case you are curious about the events, and the medical bay should provide some definite answers to this ordeal." The sound of dribbling water finally caught her attention. Her smile became more genuine, "Oh, I forgot. I could.. help dry you off if you do want to come."
 
Raven pretended to think about it: Curiosity satisfied or even more than twenty minutes of soaking in a rare treat of a hot tub all to herself. "Nope. I think I’ll stay here... Because after all this is over, you might need an impartial pony to help with.. decisions?"
 
Both mares considered this, and had a silent agreement. Celestia left, and Raven all but jumped back into the water, "Ahhhhhhh."
 
 
 
Celestia thanked the layout of having the bathing room and the medical hospice on the first floor; it made the walk much easier to navigate through the winding hallways. Most ponies living in the castle commons had left to work at their respective businesses, leaving only the wealthy enough to afford to not to work behind, so it was no surprise when her trot slowed to nearly a crawl as she had to greet back the usually snobbish nobles that greeted her.
 
Finally skirting the corner into the side hallway leading to the medical bay, she ended up being stopped by a closed door. "How odd," she thought, and called upon her magic to knock on the door.
 
"We’re closed to the public unless you have a medical emergency," came a slightly disgruntled male voice. "Come back tomorrow to visit."
 
Even stranger. "Ah, I hope I’m not intruding upon something important, but I came to see how all the patients from last night’s debacle were holding up." Her soft voice cut through the door.
 
A few hooves could be heard scrambling from behind the door. "Oh Princess. We can’t refuse you after all..." His voice turned into mumbling about patient safety and dictators. "In any case, I can confirm that the two wounded guards are hindered a bit and one of them will be disabled for a while to come, but they are well. The filly, Caedes, is stable, but we were facing concerns with her wellbeing and closed off the hospice for safety."
 
Celestia nodded, and stepped through the wide entry into the ward. She thought the bat ponies were cute, snuggling like they were. She surveyed the opposite side with a much smaller pony, strapped down to the bed by soft cloth. Intrigued, she asked, "What are the purpose of the restraints? I assumed this was about safety."
 
Laceration chuckled. "Well, it’s not about contamination, but when she awoke, she was causing a lot of self-harm. We think that it may have something to do with the strange surroundings and the circumstances where she was last lucid."
 
"Thank you for answering my questions, Doctor." She bowed slightly in appreciation. "Now are there any further documents you could provide a copy of to help with the mysterious circumstances?"
 
He thought about the medical forms which thankfully were confidential without an official request, even for the Princess. About to shake his head, Laceration remembered, "Well, the documents provided in the Housing statement would be something to look at. It contains her current family members and other biographical information which would have to be requested again, otherwise."
 
"Wonderful," she gave a smile.
 
"You know, Princess. Now that I think about it, the census was dated two years ago, and her age was four." His face was devoid of expression, "She’s six years old and nearly died.  It would have been a waste of life."
 
"And we all thank you. In time, she will as well. We can only hope that she will be able to live to her fullest, and you Doctor Laceration have enabled her. You’re a wonderful pony."
 
Laceration smiled, but opted not to correct the princess. Even if he wasn’t the first pony to take care of the wounded, he had helped keep them together...
 
 


> C22 - Back
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia had left, telling the doctor that she was about to run out of unscheduled time before lunch, and she headed away with the packet of papers in tow. As if time was against Laceration, Nurse Patience showed up a few minutes after Celestia had left.
 
"Any why did you force Red Cross do my regular shift?" She had an ear twitching backwards in a miniscule but provocative display of anger. "I honestly don’t like you at all, but really? Are you trying to make her pass out?" They both looked toward the ward with Cross snoring lightly under light bedding.
 
"Honestly, you’d probably hate me even more if I said some pony else messed with the time sheets and sent out the appropriate notices, so I’ll just tell you that it was important and we couldn’t afford the time to switch out workers."
 
A snarl escaped Patience’s muzzle.
 
"O-oops?"
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
Twilight was having the time of her life. For the entire morning she was free from the regular schedule and had the entire time to do research into her latest idea: if ponies had magic but minotaurs and griffins had comparably less to no magic, where was the difference?
 
She had made a checklist, of course she did, which involved her steps in just the first research. Unfortunately, getting s live subject had to be skipped over as every pony was a pony in the library and there were no griffons living in Canterlot as far as she knew.
 
Therefore, she had conducted research into the body structures and how healing magic affected minotaurs and griffons. Such documentation was rare—
 
"Twilight!" Spike hissed in a half whisper. "You’ve been here all morning. Lunch is about to start."
 
"But Spike, I could be onto something that could change the course of how we view magic in living beings," she whispered back much more quietly than Spike.
 
"Well, if you miss lunch again, the Princess will be even angrier than she already is."
 
Twilight stiffened and stared at nothing in particular, "She’s angry?"
 
He scuffed his foot. "Well, I’m pretty sure she is, but—"
 
"Well we better go then!" She picked him up and tossed him onto her back. "There’s no time to lose!"
 
A loud shush emanated from the librarian’s direction. "No yelling in the library!" Twilight guessed Ms. Paperback hadn’t know it was her yelling because she would’ve been very confused at Twilight yelling at all.
 
 
They were at a good pace dashing though the guards. Even though lunch was over fifteen minutes away, the dining hall was on the second floor and they were on the first floor, meaning they had to travel through many halls and around any ponies in their way.
 
"Twi-Twili-i-i-ght!" Spike’s voice was distorted as she hit a bumpy patch of dirt in front of a doorway leading to the staircase. "I don’t think she’s mad at you though!"
 
Twilight asked breathily, "Then who do you even think she’s mad?" She entered the staircase to the second floor.
 
"Well, you know how she just gets really quiet? She was kind of like that yesterday and what I saw of her today." He had managed to hold on around a sharp corner. "Twi. Please slow down! I can’t keep holding on like this! Besides—you’re nearly there and you probably have lots of time to spare now."
 
She obliged him which all things considered was a good though. The guards looked at her when she went by and she brought some stares of other ponies too which was the usual every few days this happened.  Also, being tired slowed her down as well.
 
"Phew. I. Think you’re right." She stopped for a moment as she realized this was the last hall before the entrance to the caslte lunchroom. "I just.. I just.. catch my breath..." She wheezed hard.
 
Spike made a face. "Wait a minute. You were going to the lunchroom?"
 
"Yeah, why? —" Wheeze.
 
"Didn’t I tell you the Princess wanted to talk to you over lunch? You know, the other side of the castle?"
 
"..."
 
"You okay, Twi?"
 
"UUUUUGGGGGHHH!"
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
It was definitely shaping up into a murder mystery she had decided. Celestia had asked Strongbrows after leaving the infirmary about his missing guard. After he had confirmed that the picture in the envelope, the one belonging to Adept Tracker, was the guard who had gone missing and never reported in, she stewed the concept of a guard M-I-A and a murder happening inside the same family. Something was rotten in Canterlot, and half of the reason she already knew.
 
The steel cube she had taken from the scene was certainly involved deeply into the mess, but a better question is that if her unicorn guards, even the pegasi, were given chills from just being near it, why had the family even kept it around.. even to the point of the seeds being scattered everywhere throughout the home?
 
The catalyst was found, but what was the true motivation?
 
 
Celestia had been waiting for Twilight for a few minutes again. She hated being late. "Oh Twilight, what distracted you this time?" She murmured in thought.
 
A resounding thud of a door being opened rapidly responded. "Speak of the chaos.. There you are Twilight. I was wondering if you were going to forget to eat lunch again." Celestia stared at the upturned pony on the floor. "You look tired. Would you like something to eat?"
 
"Y-yesss, Princesss." She was wheezing even harder than before. "I wa.. was going... WRONG place!" A gasp of breath followed.
 
"But I thought I stopped by and told Spike that I invited you to a lunch today?"
 
"Hehe," his index claws tapped together. "I kind of forgot. I was distracted and we accidentally ran to the castle lunchroom, and then I remembered."
 
"No Spike—Not we, I ran!"
 
An awkward chuckle preluded an air of silence. Twilight was catching her breath upside down while the Princess looked on and stared at the pair.
 
Once she had recovered enough breath not to wheeze out any word, the Princess continued. "Well, would you like to eat? It’s what you came for after all." She rolled out a cart of food from beside her with magic. She stared as Twilight Stared back. "Mmm, this is a good apple." Still no response. "Twilight, do you have something on your mind?"
 
Twilight still didn’t speak. "Twilight. Are you okay?" Celestia stated to worry about her student’s wellbeing.
 
She coughed and rolled over onto her four hooves. Twilight moved forward a few paces and sat, grabbing a daffodil sandwich. "I’m sorry Princess. " She looked down, away from the Princess’s gaze. "But, are you mad at me?"
 


> C23 - The True Nature of Home
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"No Twilight, I am not angry." She grabbed her with a wing and levitated Spike away from the wall. "But I do need this," she hugged them both.
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
The scene in the family’s house on Twelve East Street was finally being wrapped up. The several detectives on the scene were finishing up with the final room, the master bedroom. Throughout the house, there had been seeds scattered about, but for some reason, there had been a stain on the carpet of the room which continued into the hallway and down into the basement.
 
Now the reason was clear. The room was in a disarrayed state. And there was broken furniture in the middle of the floor, a dresser. The trail was thin from the dresser, but one of the bedposts was broken off and the stain was magnified into a splash; that stain in the eggshell carpet led out of the room.
 
Documenting the scene caused the detectives to scribble furiously, each one writing down what the scene and theorizing what it meant. The privates to the detectives stepped in and took pictures after the senior detectives had finished.
 
Still unfinished, crime scene investigators collected the evidence when was then encapsulated in metal containers and given back to the guards for safekeeping. It was like this that the entire house had been documented.
 
The closet was bare; the dresser was empty, and the room was mostly bare. The bed however, was lavish. Probably left over from a more peaceful time, it rose off the ground enough to have boxes stashed under it. Most of the objects appeared to be keepsakes, but one box stood out. It was slightly poking out from under the bed with residue and detritus on it.
 
Inside was a photo album.
 
 
 
Magic experts had been cultivating the basement after it had been documented. The magic lights were still off as they could be trapped, so protocol demanded portable light to be set up.
 
Two massive tables were placed side by side, taking up the entire center of the room. A grille was still warm from the recently burned out flame that hadn’t been shut off since Empathy snagged her translucent, purple potion. The rest of the space was covered in all manner of powers, glassware, alchemic instruments, and substances of questionable health hazards.
 
The little walking space that was left around the tables was blocked at the corner of a room by a black box. It had a door on its bottom, which when opened revealed spent coals. It had another door, much larger than the first; which revealed a smokehouse with cured meats in it – noting too out of the normal in Canterlot, as there was a meat eating population of thestrals and fancy upper crust ponies.
 
The four ponies working on deciphering the alchemy’s means coordinated with the two criminal investigator mages to determine what magic had been worked in the room. Any information was documented, and it added up to a conglomeration of several types of magic.
 
Even more disturbing were the burned scorches on the ground. The potions themselves were not just alchemy, but they were appeared to be mixed with a physical form of an unidentifiable magic type. Then, the team assumed regular unicorn magic activated the potion, triggering it.
 
Whatever the magic was, it permeated the scorch mark, and flooded the air.
 
 
 
Even though it was one of the first rooms to be dissected, Caedes’s bedroom was still being cataloged to the point of a paperwork nightmare. After the initial report of her condition being stabilized, they had been given instructions to find out the living conditions of her room, due to her deteriorated state.
 
So far, it had been discerned from the matted state of the carpet, along with a few spills that she had been in the room often, if not completely shut inside. It may have been foal neglect, but without further evidence or testimony, it was forced to be overlooked.
 
The room had two small desks, one with school supplies and one closer to the door with a few cards on it. There was a folded blanket on the floor with a worn dictionary and some paper on it. There was not much else to note, other than a bookcase which had dust gathering before it was assaulted by debris from the explosion.
 
The reason it was taking so long to finish the work on the room, was because the explosion had covered everything in hunks of wood and splinters, not to mention scorching everything in a five foot radius.
 
 
 
"Mondays." The sergeant on the scene was not happy after Caption Strongbrows had left shortly after the Princess had.
 
A guard who had been loading containers into a covered chariot transporter nodded after being told by one of the investigators to pack up. He ran over to the sergeant, "Sir," he saluted, "We have cleared out all evidence necessary, and the ponies inside will be done shortly." He stood at attention.
 
"’Bout time. It’s almost noon and lunchtime." He blinked at what he had said. "Er. Private, whoever is working now will stay and hold the scene. Anyone currently working will also take a lunch break after the relief comes, and then you will take post again. Am I clear?"
 
"Sir!"
 
"Dismissed."
 
 
 
The road crews had marked everything, but there was ultimately less evidence as it was last leg of the event. Only one covered transporter was needed, but the scene was still off limits to the civilians. Strongbrow had notified the sergeant the same way as the one by the house.
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
"So... you’re not mad, Princess?" Twilight had asked from under a wing.
 
Celestia considered this and drew back, lest she accidentally hug Twilight too hard and cause her to choke on her sandwich. "Well. I think it’s more complicated than that. I’m not angry at you.. or any pony in particular. It’s just everything recently has been very taxing."
 
Twilight moved back over to the food trolley, grabbing a pear while spike had a ruby and a salad. "How so princess?" She spoke between bites.
 
The princess snagged more food and a familiar dessert from her favorite establishment. "Ah. The cake’s good. But in all seriousness Twilight, it is nothing you need concern yourself about. It should be resolved in a few weeks at the longest." She ate a fancy parfait, "You seemed rather rushed when you came in. Would you like to share?"
 
"Oh yes!" Twilight clopped her hooves together, smiling vehemently. "I had this idea, and I think it has validity to it from the research I did all morning. How are ponies dissimilar to other races that have little to no access to magic?"
 
 


> C24 - Mondays...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight had been speaking a storm of words, most of them theories and leads. And yet, she was getting to a point, worthy of any college thesis.
 
"So, after researching acupuncture diagrams, I was sure that magic flows through all living beings. However, it appears that in pony diagrams, the magic is slower, and feeds into a pony. I think we are like capacitors for magic in that respect. But why does this happen only to the severity that it does in ponies?"
 
Princess Celestia was taken aback. Even after all the times Twilight had broken new ground in a field of study, the insight was astonishing. "I take it that’s where you were ‘interrupted’ by Spike?"
 
"Yeah, but I also hit a dead end in the live subject portion, so it wasn’t too bad of an interruption."
 
"Astounding." The Princess drank some tea which had been delivered shortly after the hug they shared. "However, I have a confession to make Twilight."
 
Twilight scrunched her muzzle from the thought.
 
"Well, first off I should say that you should pay more attention to this conversation Spike, I bet it was you who told Twilight that I was angry in the first place." The purple pair blushed due to their respective follies. "The ethics and privacy discussion we had at lengths previously was a little bias, I must admit. However, I did not wish for the circumstantial evidence to suggest otherwise, so you would fully understand what was important.
 
"The guard that went missing was quite strange." She sipped her tea, empty and paused to refill her own cup, as well as her companions’ cups. "The castle staff had received a tip off from a well-grounded pony about some strange circumstances surrounding him and his foal, now old enough to be considered a filly. The tip would have caused the discussion to be a moot point, as I had the moral authority to issue a legal search in the morning on Saturday. I waited until the later hours and use the Night Guard to prevent any unwelcomed panic, and as you probably don’t know, an event happened which has been causing an agony of work recently.
 
"This event happened yesterday, or rather this morning, as one of the Night Guard’s squads of thestrals intercepted a violent action in the city..." Celestia stopped, almost revealing more than she had intended. "In any case I am dealing with the situation, and the point was that if you had known about the tip and its repercussions, your lesson would have been wasted."
 
A tense moment fizzled out as everyone present had continued to eat and drink through the silence. This was one of the reasons why Celestia always had food at important meetings or in general with any stressful talk.
 
Twilight levitated her teacup down and finished eating. "So, is there anything you would like me to do, Princess?"
 
"Dear heavens, no." She waved her hoof dismissively. "It’s... complicated but I assure you, it is being dealt with safely, and efficiently. Honestly, I am looking forward to your research. I know you have.. excelled at the normal curriculum in my school, so I would like to hear more about your thesis."
 
"It’s a thesis?!" Twilight lurched upwards and nervously stepped in place. "Oh, oh no! I’ve got to rework my entire basis! I’ve got to just.. just.. DOCUMENT IT ALL!" She laughed as her hair lost its neatness, hair springing out of place, becoming frazzled.
 
"Twilight, Twilight! Stop right now!" Celestia forced Twilight to sit down with her magic. "I’m sorry if I used the wrong words. Now can you please calmly explain what you had already planned?"
 
She was still breathing rapidly, but the almost a mare, spoke with confidence. "I was. Making a study based on population statistics and live test subjects. So it could be applied with greater generalization." Satisfied with her words, she had noticeably relaxed under the golden aura of magic.
 
Celestia released her hold and sighed. "I’m sorry about that Twilight, but you should light up a little." Twilight nodded. "I am truly interesting in your study. Honestly, the subject has never been approached due to closed mindedness about other species, so I am genuinely happy in you to prove yourself above such things."
 
They hugged for a moment, forgetting Spike was in the room who had turned around, embarrassed. He was also eating a sandwich of his own making.
 
"Oh, yes Spike." He turned to face her. "I said you should also listen in because I know how perceptive you are. However, I just want you to know that it’s not always about you two should I be angry or irritated."
 
Twilight stepped back sheepishly from Celestia. "Actually, he did try to mention that you may not be angry at me, but I kind of zoned out with running all over from the library."
 
This time it was Celestia’s turn to elegantly scrunch her nose, elegant from practicing for decades in front of a mirror. "Then Spike... you have had your first step in running a country when you become a princess – prince."
 
"Eh, sure." He spit out a few pieces of bread. "I think I’m about full though."
 
"Spike’s right, Princess! We could be doing so much more research by thus point!" She levitated spike after he swallowed his last bite of sandwich. "Come on Spike, there’s no time to lose!"
 
"Ahh!" He coughed and felt nauseated, "Couldn’t we—" He held his mouth from accidentally belching some food back up "—take it slower on the way back?"
 
"Nope!" She bounced, much to his aggravation. "Bye Princess!" She left in a flurry of blue and magenta hair.
 
Spike yelled from around the corner, "I hate Mondays!"
 
Twilight could be heard chastising him, "But Spike, Mondays are the most productive day in the average work week!"
 
 
 
Overall the situation had gone rather well. However, there were quite a few blunders when compared to other proceedings. Celestia sighed. "Mondays..."
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
Laceration rubbed his sore jaw from Patience’s punch, "Mondays..."
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
The guards keeping the scene cordoned off had been waiting for fifteen minutes, far longer than it should’ve taken the relief guards from the castle to come. The sergeant sighed, "Mondays..."
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
Squad N9 was nearly completely asleep in their detention cell. All things considered, it was a nice cell with bedding for ten ponies. The thestral Commander sighed. "Still stuck in here..." He dozed off into the pile of bat ponies which were already asleep. "Mondays..."
 
 


> C25 - Machinations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The daily after lunch rush had begun. From three to four, ponies in Canterlot shuffled positions all around the city. Jobs offering six hour shifts were far more common than any other length due to the synchronicity with the castle bringing in more bits.
 
Of course Laceration wanted to leave, since his ‘new’ shift had officially ended ten minutes ago, but Bone Saw had yet to come in. Bored, he sat in a chair with the next nurse that had replaced Patience. Silence pervaded the large room, with only a thin curtain partially blocking off the section that was the ward.
 
A light coughing sound echoed through the curtain. Intrigued, but too lazy to do it himself, Laceration poked the nurse to check on the patients. Rolling her eyes at the poke, she got up to check on the three, possibly four, patients if Red Cross had fallen ill.
 
Coughing, the nurse looked away from the stallions sleeping on each other. Red Cross was glanced over.. Caedes, that’s what was on the patient’s clipboard, had started to roll around, but was prevented by the cloth straps.
 
"Hey, Doctor Laceration," she spoke with an accusatory tone, "Come here a minute."
 
Moaning, he walked over, silently begging for his shift to be over. "What’re you talking about, Vein?"
 
Vein pointed at the bound filly. "That. What the Tartarus?" She paused with her hoof still pointing. "Also, I think she’s sick."
 
"Oh yeah, that." He proceeded to retie the straps with brown aura. "Yeah, she’s kind of crazy at the moment, so she’s a hazard to herself. Just read the summary on her clipboard at the foot of the bed, and I’m sure you can handle it—"
 
"Vein! Sorry I’m late! I—" He belched "— I fell asleep after stuffing myself at the hayburger place around the corner." He stared, not used to seeing Laceration at this time of day. "Oh hello. I’m just going to get cleaned up—"
 
"Ugh!" Laceration threw his head back, "Another setback. Yeah sure, just hurry up and wash up."
 
The doctors took their places while Vein checked for Caedes for illness. "She’s very warm. I’ll go get some cold rags." She trotted out of sight where running water could be heard. "Well, while I’m working on this and Bone Saw is getting washed up, tell me the story of what happened."
 
"Fine. I’ll cut it short though because I’m sure a fast shower doesn’t take that long." He coughed as Vein walked back in with rags being wrung over a bucket of water. "So, I kind of... fell asleep and I had a replacement tell me what had happened. So," he clapped his hooves, amusing himself, "basically, Caedes, the filly, fled from her home somehow. She was chased by a mare which was intercepted by the two guards here.
 
"They sustained vicious but not fatal wounds and were patched up in my absence." Vein had finished placing the rags on Caedes and started to soak the cloth restraints. "So, the filly was then chased and caught by the mare who then attempted to murder her. The results were a lot of stiches needed."
 
Through his entire story he waved his hooves around in the air, trying the capture the feeling of the moment. All that was left was Vein giving him a twisted frown.
 
"The actual Tartarus? Are you serious?"
 
"You don’t have to sound so doubtful, but yeah; the Princess is going to explain the whole situation in a couple of days to the public."
 
She shrugged, contemplating the results of such horrid action. "And the guards in the streets...?"
 
"Probably, I haven’t looked outside yet." He yawned. "It’s been a long day and I’ve only been awake since five."
 
A sound of cloth rubbing down wet fur entered the room. "Yeah, I’m pretty much done right now Laceration, you’re free to leave." The other doctor was gone at ‘done.’
 
 
 
Bone Saw had a fun time reading the clipboards at the foot of the beds. Even though the reality of his job was in front of his face, he loved the stories they could tell or could be read into. He snrked as he read Red Cross’s clipboard, "Abnormal Sleep Deprivation. Fell Asleep at 10a.m. Sleep should last between eight and twelve hours."
 
He let it fall back with a clack on the metal bedframe. "What’cha  gawking at, Vein?"
 
Nurse Vein had her mouth slightly agape at the few pages she had pried apart from under the metal clasp. She just sort of stared at the first paragraph, the quick summary.
 
"Vein?" He walked a few hoofsteps to look at her shoulder. "Vein?" The proximity to her ear jolted her enough to break her focus.
 
"Uh.. Right. I was just.." She looked it over again, forcing herself to piece it back together without looking. "Just, read it."
 
He shrugged, not bothered too much by diagnoses. "Multipl bruises along the barrel. Splinters embedded into flesh all over the body (Mostly Removed). Lump on head, indicating blunt trauma. Non natural substances stuck into coat." He grimaced finally, reading the second half of the summary. "Gashes along barrel, indicating projectile wounds. Fur on left leg is burned or seared off. Ear is slightly molested, with skin peeled off. A major cut into barrel, near fatal."
 
They stood in silence, letting the seconds tick by. Bone Saw understood perfectly why his empathetic nurse was frozen. "I see.." He was no longer smiling in ambient joy.
 
"I—just can’t stop imagining. Especially how it felt. And, what caused her to get covered in splinters and sharp objects?" She lifted a hoof to stare at it. "It’s worse than that time I fell down plywood stairs and broke my leg when I was little.. I had splinters everywhere..."
 
He sighed and loped a hoof over her withers. "I don’t know, but we do have work to do." He flipped a couple pages on the clipboard, "See, there’s no physical. We have to examine her."
 
"And if she wakes up and tries to harm herself?"
 
A whistle of air was heard. "We’ll burn that bridge when it happens. Now then, if you’ll remove the covering sheet."
 
Vein complied, removing the sheet and hanging it over a metal bar set into the wall. "There—Sweet Celestia! She’s worse off than I thought!"
 
"Always you and your imagination." He walked over in between the beds of Caedes and Cross. "We’ve got to finish this..."
 
He gazed down to her hind leg, Caedes’s right side unburnt. There partially hidden below a restraint was the figure of a pony over a splash of red.
 
 



> C26 - The Last Respite
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bone Saw choked. He had never seen such a thing before and neither had Vein. However, at the moment he didn’t want Vein to see it due to her tendency to overreact.
 
"She’s just so – mutilated. Bandages and gauze everywhere." She looked around the room to divert her attention off of the wounds. She locked onto the semi-stuttering vanilla doctor. "Are you alright?"
 
"W-well. Yeah, I’m just looking her over, making m-mental notes." In a rare moment of insight, she looked to where his eyes were pointing.
 
"Hmm." Vein walked over to his side.
 
"N-no, no. I can do it just fine. My eyes are just tired."
 
"Then, what’re you staring at—"
 
"..."
 
"..."
 
"..."
 
"..."
 
"..."
 
"Is that what I think it is?"
 
"Well it certainly looks like it’s not standing or anything..."
 
"And! And! The backdrop of it.. It’s like it’s..."
 
"I know what you’re thinking, but neither of us are cutie mark experts. Let’s just calm down, and actually work for our bits. Obviously this is only a tiny part of her physical examination." Vein nodded.
 
They worked, making notes and marking figures. Tools floated about, measuring everything from hoof width to tail length to barrel thickness. With the wounds and conditions being previously noted, they only had to write detailed description and make sure nothing was missed initially.
 
As per normal, the third and fourth sheet were filled with the physical examination results.
 
"Well, that was fast."
 
"Yeah.. I don’t know how I feel about her cutie mark though."
 
"Look, Vein. If it’s any consolation, or distraction, we still have three other patients to do the same to." He groaned inwardly, trying to make Vein stop talking. "Okay, and I’m kind of creeped out by it too."
 
She sniffled. "Yeah, okay. I’ll figure out who’s already been examined, and we’ll work from there." She went over to the stallions, a bit forlorn. The two clipboards however were quite full of hoof writing not from any of the doctors she could think of. "Well, that’s strange. They’ve already had their checkups."
 
Bone Saw’s heart skipped at the news, "Could it be that Laceration did actual work?"
 
"I don’t know honestly. It’s not his hoof writing." Vein trotted over to Red Cross’s clipboard. It was empty except for a note, "I’ve admitted her as a patient, so she can sleep in the ward. However, if I have to examine her, she’ll kick my face in, so whoever is doing this, good luck ~Laceration."
 
"Seriously?" They both said, as Vein had read the note out loud.
 
 
Needless to say, when Red Cross was woken up, it went from violent to very awkward. "Stop kicking! Or Punching! I don’t know what you call it when you’re laying down!"
 
"Well, I thought were that lazy excuse for a doctor!"
 
"Yeah, I’m not! Please stop kicking now!"
 
"Only if you let me write that myself! I don’t like being stared at."
 
Red Cross received a clipboard to the face. "There!"
 
"Why thank you, Vein." She bowed for no reason. "Leme just grab – mmf." She took the pen in her mouth. Writing took longer than usual for some reason. In any case, she had taken about twice as long as either of the other two staff members. "Here."
 
Vein grabbed the clipboard with fuscia magic. "Soo, why didn’t you just, you know," she tapped her horn.
 
Aaaaannd, Cross face hoofed. "I forgot I was a unicorn. Fffffffuuuuuuu—"
 
"Hey! They’re children here, even if they’re asleep!"
 
Cross banged her head on the frame, "Ffffffuuuuu—"
 
"What did I just say?!" She stomped a hoof.
 
Cross coughed, "Eh, knee-jerk reaction." She inched ever closer to her bed, "I’m, just going to, you know, sleep now." She jumped in. "I’mNotOnTheClockDon’tAskMeToDoAnything! Snore!"
 
A crunching sound was heard behind Vein. When she turned around, she saw Saw eating a bag of trail mix. "Ah don’t mind me. Nom. I’m just here for the show. Nom! Crunch! Personally, I think Cross is the better fighter, but I’m rooting for you! Munch. I just love underdog stories."
 
"Oh of course," Vein’s eyes rolled, "And you always call me out when I’m emotional or unprofessional or acting like a filly. Tch. Hypocrite."
 
He went to grab more mix out of the bag but accidentally sloshed some of his lifebood onto the ground. "Hey! I’m only a hypocrite when it counts! Plus, you made me spill my trail mix!"
 
"I didn’t make you. You spilled it when you heard the word hypocrite."
 
A few choice curses lingered on his tongue. "Fine, whatever. Cross, can you be an impartial third observer?"
 
"Snore, snore, snooze, dream, hoof moves deamily."
 
"I’ll assume you mean no, but really this is serious from what we can tell."
 
"Snore?"
 
"An intrigued sleeper. Seriously though, I have legitimate concerns about young Caedes over there. We were doing the usual physical to assume any other health issues, and we came across looking at her cutie mark. I have no idea why it hadn’t been noted before, unless no one actually looked, but it brings certain.. ethical concerns." He waved his hoof at the last two words.
 
"And what am I supposed to do about it?" Red Cross hadn’t rolled over, but at least she spoke back. "The last time I checked, I wasn’t getting paid for this time, passed out in one of these beds, and had to deal with a sobering Laceration."
 
The pair shuddered at the realization of a drunken doctor. A pony who could make mistakes that cost lives. Vein spoke first, her goodwill for patients to live. "And why didn’t you report him?"
 
"Long story, but basically, his cousin has filled his hooves many times in the past, and this was just another one of these occurrences. It pisses me off, but I have to admit Laceration is one of the best surgeons and doctors here. He’s just overconfident and that makes him lazy."
 
She paused, trying to think of the topic. "Yeah, I guess I could settle whatever concern you have about the filly, but really, I am no ethics committee." She rolled over and fell out of bed, the short fall making her regret not using her legs. Trudging over with muffled distain, she peered at the mark.
 
"’Looks like she has a butt mark that looks like a murder scene in a crime book. A shadowy figure dead, on top of a splash of his own blood." Her muzzle scrunched, "Oh, I see what you mean."
 
 
 
They held a meeting outside of the curtain after dampening Ceades’s rags again. "Should we even do anything about it?"
 
"Feeling lazy Cross?" Vein asked. "This could be horrible for her to get involved in."
 
"Vein, are you listening to yourself? She’s already involved; it’s on her flank!"
 
"Hey, don’t get snippy, Saw. Vein’s just trying to look out for ponies other than herself. Learn, some empathy, stallion."
 
"Yes, let’s go there. I’m the one to blame here – no not really. We don’t even know if it even means what we think it does. None of us are experts, and now we’re just yelling at each other." Some rustling was heard, accompanied by a grunt and a slam onto the floor. "Looks like we have some guards awake now, and it’s six thirty. Perfect! We get dinner and a story."
 
 
As much as the other Nurses hated to admit it, they were all being quite aggravated and blaming the doctor. So, they agreed with each other just to eat a dinner and be nice, unless Bone Saw turned out to be a complete jerk again.
 
A new servant delivered the loaded carts of food, three for the six ponies, one cart per two ponies which was still a ludicrous amount of food. Raven took her bed while Vein, the active nurse, doled out the carts of food, one in between the guards, one in between Caedes and Cross’s beds, and one off to the side for the herself and Saw.
 
"So, Vein clopped her hooves, tell me, Deepsky and Evershade, how was last night or rather, this morning?"
 
"TAKE THE BUCKING APPLE EVERSHADE!"
 
"NO I DON’T BUCKING WANT THE APPLE, DEEPSKY!"
 
"EAT THE BUCKING APPLE, AND LIKE IT!"
 
"Fine..." Evershade ate the apple with mute appreciation. "Hey, thanks man, I need your help to stick to my fruit diet. No more carbs for this bat, or at least for a couple of weeks."
 
Bone Saw had a crap eating grin. "Cute, you two are like a married couple."
 
"We’re not, but we do have to know each other from head to tail in the guard; it’s so we can work together to the best of our abilities."
 
"Ah, so you KNOW each other from head to TAIL."
 
"Oh you dirty little ‘itch." Evershade was ready to smash the doctor’s face in with his good hoof.
 
"Just stop for a second, Evershade, I got this." He lowered his hoof, letting Evershade sit back on the bed. "We definitely aren’t, but if we were, ‘Shade here would be the wife. Just look at him, he’s too sensitive about his weight, cough, cough 240 kilos."
 
"Hey! Most of that is muscle! I just.. you know, got some extra belly.."
 
"Snrk. See, told you doc. Also, ‘Shade, that was for earlier. Consider us even."
 
 
"Cough, Cough." Cross was bad at acting, but sarcasm served its purpose. "Now then, thank you for being complete jerks, unintentional or otherwise, to Vein here." Their ears drooped.
 
"Buh, buh, my diet..." Evershade’s hoof reached out and pawed the air until it fell limp.
 
"And for you Saw," A resounding slap was heard. "Seriously, you and Laceration are the worst stallions I’ve ever met, and I’ve met Prince Bluebood!
 
"A diet, yeah I get that, I guess. But seriously, I bet you’ve said it like three million times, so just humor Vein until the official report comes out with whatever limited insight it provides."
 
"Sure, I’m sorry for being crass—"
 
"Yeah, yeah, stop trying to land yourself a mare, and get on with it, ‘Sky."
 
He seethed silently, planning out the fastest way to dispose a corpse. With teeth clenched, he said, "In any case, I think I speak for both of usss, when I say that the morning was just a terrible event. We both got laid up in here—" Evershade snickered as Deepsky said ‘laid’ which only angered Deepsky more "—AND are there any MORE questions?!"
 
Vein tapped her hooves, she didn’t cause the quarrel between the two but it didn’t serve to aid her confidence. "Well, I was, you know, wondering about the morning events.. Was any pony actually murdered?"
 
He thought for a moment, placating his anger in favor of recalling memories. "I honestly have no clue since we were the first on the scene and the first to leave the scene. However, if there was another murder after that mare had escaped, I’m sure that there would be gossip by now. However, I cannot speak of what went on in that house. Why do you ask?"
 
"Well, you see, we were inspecting the other patient, and well..."
 
"She has a butt mark of a murder."
 
"Don’t you mean a cutie mark, nurse—"
 
"Cross. And yes, while I have a cutie mark myself, I was never fond of it as it was the symbol on top of the first aid kit. I felt like I was a box and you had to rip me in half to get healing supplies. That was never a nice thought to me when I was young, so yes, I call them butt marks sometimes when I lack patience."
 
"O-okay then," Deepsky all of a sudden felt his morbid curiosity pique. Would she contain bandages... or just blood and gore? "Besides that thought, I have serious concerns about her now. We would have to turn her in for sentencing as we are bound to do by oath, if she does have a mark for murder."
 
"I’m not going to let you do that." Vein stepped forward, reasserting herself. "I don’t know why, but I feel like it’s not her fault."
 
"Oh really. I’m sorry to disappoint you, since you are my normal coworker, Vein, but cutie marks happen as a direct result of action, or inaction. Never have they just appeared as a consequence of age or random accident."
 
"Saw, you’re saying that you believe she killed a pony!"
 
"Definitely not a question, but yes, I do." His words spooked a silence through the gathered ponies. No one said anything, but every one of them, including Vein believed what Bone Saw had said to be true.
 
Still, she persisted. "And what if there was something more involved? What if it was forced?"
 
"You can’t force a cutie mark to appear."
 
"No I mean.." She pressed a hoof to the side of her head. "Like, you were good at two things, but you were forced to choose one thing over another against your will, like choosing between baking and cooking since your mother was a baker herself."
 
Evershade decided to finally add his two bits. "But if you were forced to choose, wouldn’t she have to have been good at killing already?"
 
 


> C27 - Circumstances
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

7Evidence containers were stacked hazardously as groups were not defined. Most of the cubes were easily and quickly processed, as they contained only circumstantial evidence that would be relevant to the state of the home and what had happened; these were usually pieces of wood, or charred fabric, or even some items from the fridge.
 
Catalogue QuickStamp was not very happy about this. For starters, he had to process a massive quantity of samples. Processing was normally one of his favorite things to do, but today his partner had been whisked away to the interrogation chamber.. something about guards.
 
"Dang guards." He magick’d two metal containers onto a stack to his left. "They bring me ALL this crap without a helping hoof. Do this, mark that: those bucking delivery stallions are too stupid for me to handle." He practically slid eleven boxes off of the main desk, into the debris evidence pile. "Seven hours. Bucking overtime pay isn’t even worth this."
 
He stopped, picking up the last containers from the current unprocessed batch. "One more delivery chariot, and I’m so dang out of here."
 
Fortunately, QuickStamp’s current work nearly all went into the debris pile, and he was able to uncover the last delivery. "The actual buck..." He stared at the improperly packed things. Cardboard boxes and plastic wrapped wood littered the top layer of items. There was no telling what could be underneath with how uneven the piles were stacked.
 
"Hopefully this’ll be interesting enough to actually be run over to the criminal investigators. Most of the other crap is just details never going to be bothered with."
 
He started to dig. "Ooh, that look like it hurt." The wooden shard of bedpost had a rather large amount of blood caked onto it. "That’s going to the DNA lab."
 
"And what’s this?" The box he had lifted out contained objects from all over Equestria. One of them caught his eye, "Oh my, squee! A collector’s edition of Tupper Ware’s cookery set!" He froze and looked around, making sure no one knew of his secret, dark hobby. "No one must know..."
 
 
The time passed rapidly, as he was quite interested in the items he rifled though. Even though he felt guilty at the end of the day from processing some pony’s personal belongings, it was always cool to see everything. Usually, the pieces would go to the DNA lab or the direct evidence pile; a lot of the assorted objects had staggering implications unless they were accidental pieces.
 
It wasn’t until the last few boxes that QuickStamp felt a chill. It was almost as if some pony, or something.. was watching him. Staring at the inside, he lifted an album out. The longer he held it, the more nervous he became. Accidentally dropping it on the table, the echo bounced across the room, mimicking sounds of ghouls.
 
He swallowed and reached with a hoof. The first page opened.
 
Burning words into his mind, he slammed the book closed and escaped the room.
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
Vein’s heart broke. Out of everything, it was the last thing she wanted to hear. "A-and, you’re jumping to murder.. as the best answer? All of you?"
 
They didn’t have to say anything, so they didn’t. Every pony brooded on their own thoughts, leaving any attempt at consoling behind.
 
Bone Saw was the first to respond again, contributing, "That’s four ponies Vein. We all kind of came to the same conclusion. Don’t you think that’s valid enough?"
 
"Yeah.. but if it’s true, then what are we going to do?"
 
"Well—"
 
"Now wait a minute, Saw. We’re the guards here, and you’re a doctor. We know what’s going to happen."
 
"Evershade’s right. We’re going to be doing this by the book. We’re going to take her into custody – well she kind of is already – and then we are going to investigate this. If there’s any evidence whatsoever, then she goes on trial as an adult under the charges of murder."
 
She gasped. "But! What? She has a whole life ahead of her, thanks to Doctor Laceration! What’s going to happen?"
 
"I dunno. The Princess is famed for forgiveness, but.. she has a dark side. I probably shouldn’t share this, since most of it is speculation, but I think she truly hates disharmony to the point of extreme action. I have no idea what could happen, but if she really did kill a pony, then there’s going to be some equally harsh retribution—"
 
Deep hacking and coughing ruined Deepsky’s train of thought. "Oh goodness. It’s Caedes." Vein rushed over to check on the ill patient. "There’s blood in this flem, but I’m honestly surprised there isn’t more. Laceration must have done a fantastic patch job on her."
 
The other ponies were confused and momentarily had their dark thoughts placated, just watching Nurse Vein take care of a filly, little more than a foal. Tenderly rubbing her, Vein backed off after cleaning up the bile and refreshing the rags with more cold water.
 
"It really reminds me about how we’re talking about all of this... and she’s over here having been nearly killed herself..."
 
"...What’re you all looking at me for?" Bone Saw backed up some in case of a quick escape. "I was bringing my concerns up as much as any one of you. Heck, even the guards were adding to the commotion."
 
"Yes, but you tried to keep it going. As a nurse, I’d say you are quite sick today, but I’m off duty. So, here’s what we are going to do." Red Cross was already on her bed, so she took the time to get comfortable under the sheet again. "I’m going to stay here for a while with every pony else. The two guards have been relieved of duty since they were admitted, so don’t even bother with their notions. You’re going to go back to work with Vein, and you’ll both be gone sometime in two hours at nine.
 
"I should also mention that you’re a complete arse for making Vein cry a few times, so there’s that. FINALLY, none of us are doing anything, because the situation is out of our hooves, legally, so let’s just relax and have a good ol’ time."
 
 


> C28 - The Things That Happen
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

If it wasn’t the hoof quotes on the word ‘legally,’ most of the other ponies would’ve probably missed it.
 
"So, we’re not doing anything?"
 
Red Cross grumbled under her sheet, "Evershade, for bringing the topic up in the first place, you sure are clueless."
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
Whatever had the investigative cataloguer spooked, it wasn’t going easy on him. He was a bit winded from running from all over the place, his hair was a bit frazzled, and his mouth hung open slightly. "Can I please speak to some pony who knows about curses?"
 
The guard outside of the Canterlot Archives looked at him. His expression didn’t change, but he made sure to let the intruder know he didn’t believe in curses.
 
"Uuuhh, not a curse, it’s an enchantment then!" The guard and his partner parted from the doorway. "Well thank you then." Quickstamp moved inside quickly before they decided to bar him again even though he as on the VIP list. Out of sight and back in place, the guard rolled his eyes at the supposed curse.
 
 
 
"You didn’t fill out any form or take prior precautions. Yet you come here and ask for a containment mage? What kind of operation are we running?" The senior operative for the crime unit berated Quickstamp. "Still, if it’s as bad as you say it is, then we should get some pony on the job." She pulled an index card out of a desk drawer and wrote something on it. Touching it to a candle it blew away into blue smoke. "Don’t let me catch you in my office for at least another month, Dismissed."
 
 
He never liked visiting the higher ups, even when something wasn’t entirely his fault, they blamed him anyway. Still, she had made sure that he would finish his job, and with the pony in a trench coat with the coat of arms on it, he would surely be able to catalogue the rest of the cart.
 
 
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight boxes were all that remained. Compared to his previous spook, it was rather anticlimactic to his tastes. "So, just checking, but that album is pretty bad right?"
 
"Yeah, it has some serious magic woven into its covers. I don’t think there’s anything on the inside though, from how I had to pick it up." He stopped, dragging the book under his coat. "Don’t ask me about my job, just do yours." He left, followed shortly by Quickstamp who planned on asking for the next day off.
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
Princess Celestia was feeling pretty well after the meeting with the Parliament. Since it was headed by nobles who were mostly stripped of power, the only function it served was a stopgap to certain liberties of the populace. Of course the topic had come up and was quickly silenced as instant investigation would have been a breach of privacy.
 
So all in all, nothing had changed, and it was a good day to end. There was no alarm for nine at night due to the complaints about noise, so lowering the sun for the night had been the agreed upon communication. With that wrapped, up, the nine p.m. shift replaced the day shift.
 
Lo and behold, to her consternation, Relic chose to enter into the moonlight, presenting an enchanted vessel. "Princess," he bowed, "I have come to deliver this. Whatever it is, it has powerful, dangerous magic attached to it. I am obligated to bring this to you before storing it into the vault under normal circumstances."
 
She looked at him funny. "I realize that it may be orders, but honestly, what do you expect me to do right now?" Trying not to laugh, she instead cracked a smile. "I’ve been up all day dealing with the government. If I was to try to tangle with some volatile magic, it wouldn’t end well for me, would it when I am so tired?"
 
"I retract my offer then. I will store it in the vault for the time being." Relic finished his bow, intent on leaving.
 
"You know, you don’t have to feel inept by me declining. It is only your job."
 
He paused, knowing it all too well. But it was hard to feel nothing after being told no by a princess.
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
Book Drop was running the library currently. She was on the first night shift, so it was rather surprising when she found a sleeping pony.
 
"Wake up, there’s no sleeping in the library, no matter how late it is, miss.." She had finally noticed the purple fur and the six start cutie mark. "Twilight."
 
She jolted awake once she heard her name. "I’m awake, I swear." Still not fully awake, her eyes were glazed over, fully prepared to relapse into sleep onto her nice, soft stack of books.
 
"Oh, sorry miss Twilight. I suppose since you are the student of Celestia, we can make an exception, but I must stay firm that you really shouldn’t sleep here. It’s not fit for proper sleep."
 
"Oh." She perked up even further, "I have to obey the rules like every pony else. Sorry, miss Book. I was only studying, and then, uhm." Squinting really didn’t help. Her tongue scraped the inside of her mouth in search for an answer. When no answer was found, she looked to her book, The Comparison of Gryphons and Ponies: Biologically. "I think I fell asleep."
 
Book Drop found Twilight’s thinking to be rather amusing, "No harm done. I see you stopped drooling when you sleep, or is that just a rumor?"
 
Yawning, she stopped by covering her muzzle. "Nope. It’s not a rumor anymore. I stopped awhile – wait no, it was never a rumor in the first place, hehe!" She looked at the clock, "Oh no, it’s twenty three minutes to midnight! Got to go, bye!"
 
Book Drop watched the usual occurrence as Twilight levitated Spike off the ground and whisked him away to sleep in their tower. "Huh. I guess I have to put her books back." Book Drop groaned as quietly as possible, it was a library.
 
 


> C29 - Full Circle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once again, she was in a room with strange smells and strange ponies. Only this time, she could hardly move, any movement was impaired by something soft and taut. There was something on her face.. oh Celestia, they were all over her; she started hyperventilating.
 
Undenounced to Caedes, Cross woke up and signaled for Vein to do her job. A clip clop of hooves came closer, the pony invisible as Caedes could not move her head. Wishing for anything, she locked her joints, freezing on the bed.
 
Except, it was not Empathy, but it wasn’t Tracker either. It was some pony she’d never seen before who had tied her up, and stuck something in her and placed strange, moist things all along her body. She was absolutely terrified.
 
"Oh hello," the monster said. "How are you doing?" Caedes swallowed in silence, waiting for something to happen. "Yep. Oh key dough key low key." Nothing. "Well that one usually gets some sort of response, but here," she removed the warm rags, "I’m just going to replace these with fresh ones. You’re in the castle right now," she wrung out the old water in the rags into a waste bucket, "We found you, you know, when that happened, so we got you here and now you’re all good to go; well for the most part."
 
Vein placed the rags back on Caedes who didn’t even notice how warm she was until the cold water had cooled her off. "Yeah, that’s the most part. You’re kind of sick. So just let the doctors and nurses take care of you okay?"
 
An instilled fear crept up to the surface. Doctors and nurses were never anywhere except.. "Am I in a doctor’s office?"
 
Vein laughed, alienating Caedes further into her fear, "Nope. You’re actually in the hospital inside of the castle. Pretty cool, huh?"
 
It was definitely not cool and potentially hostile. Never, not once did she ever visit a doctor, not even when she fell down from standing on the book case when Tracker had urged Empathy to take her to the hospital but she denied. Instead, they had given her a splint, created by Tracker from his guard’s first aid training.
 
"Nnnoo." She rolled over, oddly easy when she couldn’t extricate herself by moving off of the bed. "You’re all bad ponies!" Clearly, if they had never gone to the doctors, there was something wrong with them, especially since Empathy and Tracker talked in hushed tones about it, ‘protecting’ her from the truth.
 
"Hey, wait, stop!" She held a hoof to Caedes to stop her rolling. "We’re not bad ponies, we helped you."
 
"No, go away!" She batted Vein’s hoof holding her down.
 
"Dang it." Damn it. "Stop it! Empathy’s gone, we’re only trying to help you."
 
"What?" She paused her struggle, trying to rationalize Empathy being gone. There was no way, there was nothing keeping her from coming back. The only thing that even made sense was it being a lie. "No! You’re just giving me back to Empathy!"
 
"Ugh – Cross, I need you help. She’s getting wild enough to start pulling her cords again, and I don’t want her to hurt herself if we hold her back down with magic." Of course Red Cross came, she had taken an oath of patient safety and ethics when she became a nurse.
 
"I’ll get her hooves, you get her midsection and head." They nodded, letting Caedes struggle with her soft but firm ponies restraining her. Magic, while very effective, was a very fickle force. You could grasp a pony, but the field wouldn’t bend or curve unless something dire happened. Having a patient throw themselves with everything they had against something as effective as a concrete wall was dangerous, so instead they restrained by hoof, much softer and less dangerous to the patient – even if it meant getting kicked sometimes.
 
"You little bit—"
 
"Hey, she’s kicking me too! There’s no need for language in front of a filly."
 
"I just want her to stop already."
 
"She looks pretty worn out, I’d say we just giver a minute more and she’ll be fine." Vein was rather pleased at the thought.
 
Finally finished, Caedes was breathing heavily against the two mares. "Please," she choked with tears, "Don’t give me back to Empathy!"
 
"Oh, I just.. I want to.." Vein finished lamely, "Hug." Knowing better, she left Caedes wrapped up under the cloth restraints and bent down to squeeze her. "We won’t give you back. Empathy’s gone."
 
"Promise?"
 
Vein nuzzled her, "Promise."
 
 
"I just can’t." Evershade petted his mane down. "After watching that. Alcohol. Lots of it. I feel like less of a stallion from watching that hug."
 
"Don’t worry, you can have a hug too."
 
"A hug from a cute mare.. wait, cute? ...Alcohol, lots of it."
 
 
"Forget them, Caedes, they’re not cool like me." They both giggled a little. "In any case, Empathy is gone, but I can’t let you leave because you’re still sick."
 
She accepted that fact until she realized that she couldn’t move very well. "Why," she gestured, or at least tried too, "this?"
 
"Do you remember what happened the last time you were awake?"
 
Caedes nodded ever so slightly, she had been planning something of the sort a second time right around when Vein had turned around to face the strange, fluffy, dark pony.
 
"And that’s why. Unless..." She tapped her a fore-hoof on her chin, "Unless you promise not to do that again or run away."
 
Caedes perked, "I-I promise."
 
"Wonderful," Nurse Vein clapped her hooves. "Now I can untie these straps." She started by removing the thick one that held the tips of her hind hooves down onto the bed. "Wait." Vein crouched down, to look at her. "Do you mean that?" Caedes said nothing. "Do you really promise?" Caedes wouldn’t look at her.
 
"Look at me, now." Caedes still wouldn’t move her head, so Vein did it for her. "Do you promise not to do that again or leave?"
 
Caedes sniffled, misting eyes staring into Vein’s eyes. "I, promise..." Her ears folded back.
 
"Okay!" Vein used her magic to slowly untie each of the clasps on the side of the bedframe, releasing the straps so as to not give Caedes a friction burn. She also gave her a parting hug before returning to her usual job.
 
Caedes curled up under the sheets, with her strange cord trailing out.
 
 


> C30 - Bats And The Night
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Vein, It’s two in the morning."
 
"So?"
 
"Your shift ended at nine p.m. What happened to your replacement?"
 
Vein tapped her hooves. "Well, I kind of saw that every pony was getting hot and bothered, so I asked her if she wanted a day off, and well..."
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
The thestrals were waiting patiently since waking up in their rather comfortable cell. Their Captain was mute, staring into the hallway. His ears perked as he noticed a yawing, white unicorn walking into the cells’ hallway.
 
"Good morning gentleponies. I’ve got some news for you." Interrigator grabbed a small stack of papers from his saddlebags. "These," he levitated the stack into the cell, "are release forms. None of you are here for illegal charges, so fill these out, and we’ll have you released shortly."
 
"About Celestia Damned time," the Captain spat on the floor, "We’ll get out just in time for our next rounds. How you all feeling to that, boys?" Unanimous agreement echoed from behind him.
 
Interrogator rolled his eyes. "Yes, back to the subject of paperwork, all of you should leave box seventy four blank, if any of you are pregnant, well we’d have serious concerns."
 
The Captain looked at him, "Seventy four?"
 
"Yes that’s right; why?"
 
"How many things are on here?"
 
"Oh, there’s something around fifty checkboxes, and forty blank lines for personal information."
 
He growled at the length. "Can we fill it out in pencil?"
 
"It’s not advised, but it is a pain for the ponies that have to go through it."
 
"I don’t care. We can’t just all share my pen and expect to finish any time soon." He turned around. "Alright. Every pony, take out your note pencils used for documenting notes. We’re going to get out this morning."
 
Interrigator adopted a grin. "Eight ponies with over a hundred questions each, all written in pencil? It sounds like some pony has a grudge being settled."
 
The captain was already writing things down as fast as he could along with his squad. "Dang strait. Have you ever been promoted?"
 
"Nope."
 
"Good, keep it that way. There’s no more pay, more things to do in less time, and all the infernal paperwork at the beginning and even more through the entire job."
 
"I’ll try my hardest to keep where I am. Thank you sir." Interrogator walked away, leaving the cell key within easy reach for whenever the guards finished. "Oh, by the way. Make sure to read the text at the bottom of the page. You’re all exempt from your shifts for assuming you are released during working hours. Take your time."
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
Red Cross had been ranting into Vein’s face for some time. Vein had gotten used to it as background noise as she worked the other nurse’s shift. She glanced up at the clock, ten minutes until Cross’s shift started again at three.
 
"Hey, Cross?"
 
"Don’t even let me get started on why—"
 
"Cross! Don’t tire yourself out before you’ve even had a chance to start working!"
 
"Geeze." Her rage had died down, listening to Vein. "What tied your tail into a knot?"
 
"Look." She pointed toward the ponies occupying the beds. "Those ponies are pretty much depending on you for constant care, and Laceration is for more dire straits, so I am telling you to stop working yourself up, so you’re not too tired to actually do what you’re hired for."
 
Cross felt a hoof on her shoulder. "I’m sorry, but please stop. I’m worried about the patients, not you in particular."
 
Vein heard a snort of laughter. "I’m glad you value them over me. Heh. But in all seriousness, okay." They stared at each other for a moment until something interrupted them.
 
"Hey, it’s three. Cross you’re on the job." Laceration walked in, early, something that had happened fewer times than there were princesses, so never before. He paused, looking at the two nurses, "Did I miss something?"
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
The shady Trough was filled even more quickly than usual. Almost the entirety of Squad N9 had entered the bar around the beginning of their normal work hours. Since most of their friends were unaltered to their sudden leave from work, the group was rather shy without their drinking buddies.
 
Until Alcohol.
 
 
The bar got into the full swing of drunks and contests as the fourth round of beers and ales were passed out. There were fifteen thestrals and ponies cheering on N9’s captain as he was challenging the drunk from West Street to a drinking competition.
 
It was a fierce  battle of wits and will, keeping themselves from vomiting after each had an eleventh mug of beer. Though valiant and brave, the Captain groped around for a bucket which one of his own gave to him. He laughed about it, "Messy used to mean something much worse on the battlefield, haha—" He vomited again.
 
Outside of the usual antics, an earth pony sat in a shaded corner, staring down a beer and ale. Clearly having too much to drink, she started pushing the two drinks together, whispering, "Kissu, kissu~" She missed her mark, spilling the ale into the beer. "Oops. Mr. Ale, you’re supposed to wait until marriage." Thump, she passed out.
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
"I was wondering, when can we check out of here, Nurse Cross?"
 
"Technically, you can check out of here whenever." She cleaned the bandages and cast around Evershade’s leg. "However, I invoked the right of Passé, so this whole case with the custody of yon Caedes has to be cleared up first before you leave."
 
"Oh, okay." Deepsky’s ears drooped.
 
Evershade finally spoke up, "But.. But.. Alcohol..."
 
Cross sucked air through her teeth violently. "Look. You can get smashed as hard as you want come a few days from now. Just don’t mention alcohol to me again. Stallions are fools with it." She tightened Evershade’s gauze a little too tight.
 
Laceration came into the doorway with another pony in a trench coat. "I’m here for the filly. I’ve been assigned to treat her as a threat, temporarily, by orders of the Princess."
 
Laceration stepped forward. "He’s the real deal. I’ve seen the paperwork."
 
 


> C31 - Provacation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"And you are?" Cross stepped forward, obscuring Caedes from view. Nurses don’t take crap from any pony.
 
Relic coughed. "While I am here as the proverbial judge and jury, I am here for liability protection." Cross settled a little, releasing the tension in her legs. "Ah, well this is awkward. You’re over there doing your job and probably a little more, and I’m here because I’m the Princess’s go-to pony when she needs something done. I’m Relic," he said as he extended his hoof invitingly.
 
"Mmm. Well met if you aren’t here to harm or maim." She shook hooves. They moved back to a respectable distance between the two.
 
"I must be a little imposing with the trench coat, and all, but I like it: nice and brown and thick, perfect for rain." He tilted his head, possibly in a smile. "Eh, I’m more here as an alibi for the Princess when she has to address the situation publically. I’m skilled in detection and containment if necessary."
 
"If that’s all, then do you actually need to do anything besides sitting down? I’d rather not have you near the patients, if you catch my drift."
 
"I’m not afraid! –Ouch! Deepsky, stop stabbing me with your hoof!"
 
 "That won’t be a problem, although I’d like to cast some spells to check for.. dangers. The foal or filly might have some internal issues glanced over with the medical stuff."
 
Cross squinted, "Only if that’s it. Don’t harm her; I took an oath for the wellbeing of my patients." She made this very clear as she crushed the metal bucket next to Caedes’s bed.
 
Relic sweated a little, thankful for the thick coat, "Sure. It won’t take but a minute."
 
 
He approached and stood over the quiet, sleeping filly. Taking a breath, he pressed his magic to her horn first, checking for damage. Intrigued, he investigated further, snaking his magic around her form, looking for something different, but it was everywhere.
 
"The Hell?" he breathed, starting over again from the horn. Nothing had changed, although it had started to react to his magic, fighting it from looking deeper. Relic turned around at the nurse who was almost ready to pound him after the second pass of magic. "Do you know about this?" He gestured broadly to Caedes.
 
"What? Speak carefully, I don’t trust you."
 
"She’s full of something that’s not normal magic. Everywhere, head to hoof, she has some kind strange magic that gives me goose bumps on my horn."
 
"I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. Is it dangerous to her or anyone else?"
 
"I’m not sure, but it doesn’t like being touched by magic. It started to push it away once it got wind of the first time I tried to assess it."
 
Cross’s constitution wavered in favor of every pony else in the room. However, it wasn’t an oath to the greater good. "I’m going to ask you to stand away from Caedes."
 
"What?" He stomped his hoof. "The buck you talking about, this could be dangerous."
 
"I don’t appreciate your language and such foul gestures. Back off." Cross’s lasts word were as much command as statement. Relic begrudgingly agreed; he was assigned to be an alibi and last resort if any harm were to come to any pony based on the situation, not to influence them.
 
"Fine. Just take it as a warning then." He stalked off, a groan of wood sounding out from behind the curtain. Red Cross was satisfied with his distance.
 
Bone Saw came in through the entrance, he had left to work the desk when Vein had left twenty minutes ago. "That seemed fun." He noticed the bucket. "You can’t keep damaging property like that. I know you’ll fix it , but come on, there’s a bit of water coming out now. Also, Laceration is taking over from here. See you tomorrow." Red Cross sighed. Laceration was early and still ended up starting work late.
 
"Sure. I have a few tests to run, so can you send him in on your way out?"
 
"Might as well, ta."
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
Three thirty, or at least that’s what the clock said. The tower was almost deathly silent except for Spike’s breathing. Twilight hadn’t slept much if any, it was hard to tell when clouds covered the moon and a pony couldn’t remember if the blank spaces in memory were consistent with sleep.
 
She had been recalling her notes she had taken though the scores of books she had flipped through. The biology book on avians had been a dead end as birds were not similar to ponies in many ways, even their blood was mostly incompatible.
 
Books on griffons when compared to the biology book had been different. They had some similar traits, but overall, they were very different, to the point that only feathers and similar external factors were the same.
 
The real breakthrough though was when she found a record of a criminal investigation that led the evidence pointing to a griffon as the convict. It was full of holes and racism which gave her doubt as to the validity of the sentence, but the investigation was quite thorough. Even though the case was over fifty years old, the biological evidence documented was highly similar to a pony’s, so similar that it was theoretically possible to mix up samples and confuse them.
 
So, that led to the why. If ponies, even earth ponies, were saturated in magic, why were other races unable to use the ambient magic, except in very minor amounts, like griffons being able to stay on clouds. It made little sense with being so biologically similar.
 
"Oh Spike, if only you could help more than to keep me on track.. It just all points to being a difference between species." She waited, seeing if Spike would wake up. He didn’t rouse though; he was a heavy sleeper when the night came. "Unless.. magic can choose for itself..."
 
Twilight rolled over, her spot becoming too warm. "I wish it was colder already. All the warm air rising makes the tower stuffy."
 
 


> C32 - The makings of Ponies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Have any of you ever done something besides what your cutie mark stands for?"
 
"Relic, shut up. None of us like you, and the guards are on edge, especially with the right of Passé."
 
"No, I’m serious." He kicked his hooves like a bored colt would on the chair. "I’ve been wondering, that’s all."
 
Laceration was having the time of his life, no not really; He called it that to remind him how much he disliked Relic. "As much as you put me on edge, I don’t think any pony has. We grow into our cutie marks because it is what defines us and makes us special. Plus, we’re really good at what we have on our flanks."
 
Relic looked down, contemplating how he ask going to ask his question. "C-can you ask Cross or the bat pony guards in there? I just had a thought."
 
"And is it going to justify what you might do next?" Laceration ground his teeth.
 
Relic opened his mouth and shut it again, fearing his answer.
 
"Then no."
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
Happy Gary strolled along the base of the tower, "What a wonderful day," he said in a strange, patterned voice.
 
A guard heard him and decided to rebuke that statement, "Buddy, it’s four in the morning, it’s not day yet."
 
Happy Gary stopped, and was still happy. "A day is 24 hours."
 
"Shiiii, alright you got me there wise crack."
 
Happy Gary strolled off, with beats following his instantaneous change in direction with a never changing smile.
 
"Dark Storm, Canterlot ponies are strange, especially that one."
 
"Yeah, weird cutie mark too; what the heck does ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ mean?"
 
 
Twilight burst out of her tower’s doors. "Good Morning guards, if Spike asks, tell him I’m studying for my test in a few hours." They nodded, pretending not to have spoken. "I’ve got research to do."
 
"Dark Storm became flustered. But didn’t you say you were studying?"
 
"Didn’t you just pretend like you never talk?" Twilight quipped.
 
"Touché."
 
 
 
Twilight was rounding the corner to the castle library when she ran into Mr. Greenhoof. "Good morning sir."
 
His raking was an afterthought, "’S G’morning to you too. What’chu up to so early?"
 
"Oh, I’m kind of in a hurry..." She feinted a forehoof.
 
"Shoo, an’t got nothing to worry about. You’ve got plenty o’ time before the sun rises, miss student." His raking had cleared out the plant debris from the area, so he moved to a covered spot several feet to the left.
 
"How did you –" Twilight stopped asking her question as she realized that she was very well known "– err, I’d rather not take your valuable time explaining though."
 
"Valuable?" Mr. Greenhoof’s chortle nearly removed his sprig of hay fell out of his mouth. "Nah, I’m frightfully bored, cleaning’s like reflex with my age. I like talking to take the ol’ monotony away. I’ve nothing to look forward too, me being markless."
 
"Why do you say that? That’s a depressing thing to say."
 
"Well," he stopped his raking to actually think of a reason, "I’ve gone everywhere, looking for a mark, but when you get to my age, you sink real well into a stagnate life."
 
Twilight scrunched slightly. "But.. I still don’t get it? Couldn’t you find something else to enjoy, since you lack a cutie mark?"
 
He started to rake again. "Little ma’am, I ain’t good at nothin’ ‘cept raking and gardening, I’ll work until the day I die ‘cause if I don’t, I’ll be rotting, trying to find something I’m good at." He whistled a tune, collecting his mood. "I forgot I could whistle. That’s nice."
 
 
Twilight stared at the old stallion as he turned his back, intent on finishing the garden at whatever time he was assigned to finish it, probably at the first day rotation. His words milled around in her head, distracting from her immediate interest.
 
He had never enjoyed any of his life to the fullest. Even by this time, he was depressed. How far does having a cutie mark, a guiding light, drive a pony? Is there even a choice in the matter once you’ve started down a path?
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
It was a slow morning at the castle’s medical bay’s front desk, meaning that every pony was probably safe and unharmed, so it was a good day, Laceration decided. "Less work and more bits." He chuckled.
 
Looking to where the ‘alibi’ was sitting, he could hear soft snoring as Relic’s head was laying on the nearby desk, using magazines as a pillow. "Well, looks like a good time to ask." He trotted to the infirmary where Red Cross had been changing out Caedes’s fluids and redressing the guards’ wounds.
 
Relic had posed a very valid question which Laceration was not going to admit to, so he instead chose to wait till Relic had fallen asleep to ask every pony. "So, every pony, I’ve had an interesting question," he kept his voice low to prevent from waking up the filly and more importantly Relic. "Has any of you done something besides your cutie mark after you’ve had it, like a job or something not related to your talent?"
 
Evershade had spoken first, "Nope. Me and Deepsky were pretty much born and raised to be Night Guards, so we’re quite happy with it and haven’t tried anything else. Besides, why bother if you know what you’re good at which makes you happy right there on your flank?"
 
"Just curious, you know." He turned to face Cross. "And how about you?"
 
Cross was forever grumpy as she levitated on the last cold rag onto Caedes. "You know, if you did more work instead of thinking, I’d be a lot happier to answer." Laceration gave her puppy eyes. "Ugh, that’s nasty on that face. Stop that and I’ll talk." Laceration backed off to a respectable distance.
 
"That’s better. Now that I think about it, I used to hate studying. Back when I earned my mark for my medical forte, I was making do with a first aid kit. My father had suggested for me to read books and expand my knowledge when I was eight."
 
Cross sat back on a bed, done for the time being. "At first, I wouldn’t touch any book on the subject, and I just did chores and sold filly scout cookies. Eventually though, I got tired and depressed, I just felt like quitting everything. So I opened the small guidebook to battlefield medicine my father had left me; I was hooked."
 
"So, it didn’t work out then Cross?"
 
"Another thing not related my talent? No. I just came right back to my talent after forgoing it for so long."
 
"Then he really did have a point," Laceration mumbled under his breath.
 
 
Relic had been listening the entire time, hidden from behind the curtain. There were some things he needed to work out.


> C33 - Something A Little Illegal
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Relic stood up, and entered the room.
 
"You’re awake?!" Laceration was startled, and ashamed at being fooled.
 
"Indeed." He straitened his coat. "I decided to ‘fall asleep’ and listen in. I was pretty sure none of you would talk in front of me, so it was surprising when I had found my answer. Although, I did actually fall asleep." He pointed, "One of those guards was loud and woke me."
 
Laceration went on the defense, curiosity taking over. "So exactly why did this thought come to you?"
 
"Well, it’s strange really. After I was directed to grab an artifact from the evidence room, I started to wonder about the ponies involved. I was wondering what the cutie mark of the oppressor was and why they did all this."
 
Laceration started to explain they did not have that information but Deepsky talked over him. "Actually, while I fell over from being wounded, I could tell it was something akin to a split pane of glass. What it actually was, I have no idea. We have already filed our report verbally with a transcriber after we had out wounds dressed on that morning."
 
"Interesting." Relic turned to leave, clearly finished milking information. "It doesn’t sound like much, but when I spoke to the Princess..." Relic’s fur seemed to ruffle under his dressing, as though irritated. "She seemed to know what was going on. I expect a public decree within the day."
 
 
"Well now that he’s gone, may we stop the conspiracies already?" Cross was quite peeved. "I swear, you all act like this is the first time something crazy has happened." She received blank stares. "Oh fine, something like this hasn’t happened before, but it’s grating on my nerves. Even Relic is going to wait for the Princess to speak."
 
"Uugh, fine, I’ll just go back to the desk."
 
"We didn’t even do anything!"
 
"’Shade, just stop, you’re loud."
 
"Well, we didn’t, and she’s blaming us."
 
Cross rolled her eyes. Stallions.
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
Twilight had managed to pull dozens, dozens, of books on destiny. She checked Starswirl the Bearded’s theories fist, but even a powerful sorcerer had only musings on the subject. The rest were from ponies who were philosophers or were insane and preached about ‘Fate.’ A book on a guide to cutie marks was even less help, meant for foals, the book explained the varieties of marks and patience.
 
It was completely justifiable that Twilight had fallen asleep in the library, again. A college intern came by and slapped the desk, startling her awake. Twilight was about to say something about waking up the student of the most powerful pony in Equestria, but the mare had already left.
 
A faithful clock stared back at her. "It’s five thirty? Ugh, nothing here is helpful at all." A loud ‘shhhh’ sound came across the bookcase from three ponies. "Geeze, I’m leaving alright?" She scooped up her books and put three back before deciding it wasn’t worth the effort and place the rest of them back down, alphabetically on the front desk.
 
She left, contemplating the moment her holds from the criminal justice department would come back, comparing the blood, muscle tissue, and fur in the case of Griffon vs BlueBlood XIV.
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
It was not a good time to be waking up, at least for Caedes. Her head throbbed, her stomach was in pain, and she was far too hot for her wellbeing.
 
She turned, to face out from under the sheet to peek out at the eternally lit room. It hurt her eyes and she realized she was staring at the wall. Fortunately, the nurse saw the sheets shift and moved over to great her.
 
"Good morning, Caedes." She greeted in a more chipper tone that she reserved for patients. "My name is Red Cross…" Caedes could hear the hooves tap. "I know you’ve seen me before, but please, don’t run, I, we are here to help."
 
Cross waited for an indefinite span of time, until her patient responded. "No."
 
"Erm, sorry, but no what?" Cross tensed, getting ready for the usual even though Caedes had promised not to thrash.
 
"Not good morning. Bad." She rolled over under the sheets. "Hurts.. Too warm!"
 
"Oh. –Oh right!" Cross levitated the bucket of rags, it was shallow, so the water ran out quickly. "Here, I’ll take those," she floated the used rags, now very warm, off of Caedes, relieving some of the heat. "I’ll just take these and I’ll be right back."
 
She had dashed off whereupon a slap was heard and the rushing of water. She came back with the tub and rags as well as some muttering about sleeping on the job. "Ah, yes, these’ll help cool you off." A couple went on Caedes’s head, a couple on her barrel, and one on each hoof. "How’s that feel?"
 
"I-it hur-rts~" She grabbed her hind legs with her front legs, curling inward.
 
"Where?"
 
After being partially blown up, brutally stabbed, tossed around, starved for over a day, getting sick and injuring herself, Caedes couldn’t respond.
 
"Oh, I’m terrible with fillies.. Uhh, let me come right back." She trotted away, and closed the curtain to the ward.
 
 
"What’re you doing? Closing the walkway is against protocol." Laceration berated his nurse. It felt strange being on the opposite end of messing up. "What’re you doing?"
 
Red Cross was opening the refrigerated cabinet which was full of perishable supplies: blood, and medicines. "I’m getting something, and I had to shut the curtain so the guards wouldn’t see."
 
He leered. "..Why?"
 
"Because of the addiction laws. Seriously messed up. Foals are not permitted to have any pain relievers except by pill due to the higher chances of addiction. You know how many foals take the pills? I know you know, none of them were by choice."
 
"So, I assume you are going for morphine then?"
 
"Shh, Relic might wake back up and the guards are bored enough to listen in." She checked the chart on the back of the clear bag for dose sizes. "What would you say is the normal weight of a filly compared to an adult?"
 
He guessed, having held Caedes by hoof when he was sewing her. "Regular foals are about one eight, so for her, one ninth of the adult dose."
 
"Excellent, my guess as well." She had already started to slowly fill another bag before he had said anything. "’Glad you conspired with me."
 
"Well, it’s reasonable.. plus we have malpractice insurance."
 
"I forgot." She chose not to facehoof in favor of opening the minibar and stealing a certain sandwich out of it. "We should really move this thing farther away from the medical cabinet. And I’m taking this because you fell asleep earlier."
 
"Hey, you have a lunch too. I saw you put that in there. Why are you taking my sandwich?"
 
"You know, the kid’s hasn’t eaten anything since she’s gotten here a day ago, right?"
 
"...Fine. I want a sandwich in return to keep quiet about the morphine though."
 
"Deal."
 
 


> C34 - Good Eats
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So, why the sudden rule breaking, miss workaholic?" Laceration adopted a thin smile, thinking wistfully at all the times Red Cross would bark at him for slacking off, or improper conduct; he was a surgeon, not a role model.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about. This is simply a means to an end for a patient, even if it is unethical."  She halted, taking her stance against him.

"A means by which could have been avoided by simply giving some alternate drugs, pills really."

"Foals don’t like to take pills, Laceration. I’d probably have to make her choke them down, as every pony else has."

"They take it with water, so they don’t choke on it. So what’s the big deal, it just takes longer with pills."

Cross was feeling more pressure to justify her response. After he had agreed to the action, it had wholly surprised her to be under the gun. "You know the record, and you helped get her put back together. The list of damage goes from bruises, to cuts, to explosion damage; faster relief is justified... which means she’s waiting even longer by us standing here, arguing."

"I’m not letting you leave quite yet." He grabbed the bag of morphine already in Cross’s aura. "Just another moment and you can leave." She growled in response, not tugging on the medical bag in fear of damaging it. "I’m just a curious. You’ve always been a stickler for protocol, so what the heck?"

"Tch, you’re just like Relic. Fine I admit it: I’m more concerned about Caedes’s wellbeing right now than any regulations and laws. Happy? I said my thing."

He still didn’t let go. "Yes.. But why? You’re not so – clingy usually."

She just blinked at him and decided to stare. She scuffed a hoof. "You know. Because. The thing. Ehh." Cross sighed. "Look. I was raised by very affectionate ponies, my parents. I just seem cold because I don’t like crap getting in the way, and as you know: hugs and love do not fix everything. That’s why we’re here, you know. So I just want her to get better sooner, because I care for my patients, and she’s harder to care for."

"...You’re taking the fast way because you can’t make it better with hugs?"

"Mmmm, yeah. Wait, not exactly, but close enough. Are you trying to stop me? You just agreed differently."

"Nope. I full heartedly agree, malpractice insurance and all that jazz." He raised his hooves in the air, mocking defeat. "Oh I can’t stop you. You’re on an emotional rampage, and have to save the filly because you’re full of estimate." His voice raised above the usual near-silent whisper yelling. "Yeah, something like that if we get asked."

"Jerk. At least you’re lax enough to work around. Now let go, seriously, it’s been long enough." Laceration’s tan aura separated from Cross’s scarlet aura. "Thank you." She pushed the curtains separating the ward back open to their usual eternal vigil of openness.


"Hey, Caedes?" The filly just stared back up, still curled around herself. "I’ve got something for all of your ouchies, but I have to use another needle, m’kay?" Cross’s bag had another IV attached to it as it was on another hook, prepared to be put into the patient.

Caedes shook her head, she didn’t like needles; she decided.

"You won’t even feel it, promise." Caedes didn’t say anything again. "Can I take that as a yes?"

Cross moved forward, daintily grabbing Caedes’s hoof with a tin band of magic. Utilizing the needle on the end of the IV, she hovered it next to the hoof she held. "Ready?" Caedes stared back with fear, a tear forming. "It’ll be over quickly." It was a swift poke, expertly applied near the previous needle. "–Done."

Caedes just stared at it, noting the similarities between the strange cords. A few minutes ticked by and she couldn’t feel her leg, or much of anything actually. It was peculiar, being able to see and feel the movements but be unimpeded by the burning and tearing sensations accompanied by moving.

The guards had been watching the exchange between the two ponies, who would claim there was nothing better to. Perking their ears, Cross began to speak again. "Feeling better?" Caedes nodded. "Well then, how about some food? I’m sure you’re starving."

In truth, Caedes was always a little hungry for some reason, the bowls of mush never did fill her up. Now, with a numbing sensation clouding her mind, she nodded as an empty feeling grew from her midsection. "Well then, I’ve got just the sandwich for you then.." The buildup was in poor taste, as only a rustle occurred prior to the grand reveal of a cheese and lettuce sandwich. "I’ll go fetch some water, you’re sure to be more than thirsty."

More glorious to her than the onlookers, sandwiches were a small wonder to Caedes. Nice and crunchy and dry bread with some nice cold, slabs of things in between such a nice crunch was a thing not to be taken for granted.

It was a sandwich.

Getting situated was a bit of a struggle, trying not to move anything besides herself, but she struggled upright against the pillow and pulled the plastic wrapper closer to herself. Cross came back at the opportune time, seeing how the filly was struggling to eat. Placing the class of water down on the nightstand, she unwapped the sandwich and pulled hunk of it off, giving them to Caedes.

Of course Caedes wolfed down what was given to her. She had been eating nutritious mud practically for as long as she could remember with few reprises. ...That is until a piece of sandwich had gotten stuck in her dry throat. "Kch, pkt! Wa’r!"

The glass was almost instantly raised to Caedes’s muzzle, "Here, drink."


It had been a bit of a struggle to drink down the blockage, and after two more glasses, the sandwich had been eaten. Backing off, Cross had been unexpectedly huggled around her hoof and thanked with more than a few tears.



> C35 - Awkward Again
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

There’s something about being given food when hungry.  There’s another when given the reassurance of safety. They were being nice, decent ponies. "Thank you." Caedes had said between nuzzling Cross’s hoof and hugging her – huggling.

It wasn’t that Cross didn’t enjoy the sentiment, but it was very awkward to be stared down by two guards while a smaller pony was being outright affectionate. She patted her patient’s head, but kept a watch on the dewy eyed guards, trying to remain stoic when they wanted to emote at the sight.

"S’alright dear. Doing my job and all that.. helps that you’re so nice." Pat, pat when Cross’s hoof. The awkwardness intensified.

"Buh. But you’re the nice one..."

She inwardly cringed. Caedes didn’t sound too cheery after that. "Sure, but you’re nice too."

"No I’m not.. This happened." She went slack around Cross’s hoof.

Another cringe and by this point, Red Cross wondered if she was an awkwardness detector. She sighed and decided that she could handle the embarrassment and unprofessionalism. She removed her hoof and sat down onto the bed to scoop Caedes up and give her a hug. The guards silently daw’ed at the affection as Runic came in with Laceration trailing to keep an eye on the Princess’s alibi.

"I had to silently challenge the universe. It did get more awkward afterall." She nuzzled Caedes. "Feel Better?"

Caedes coughed, her illness becoming more pronounced after eating and drinking, "Mhm." Cross was nice and warm.

"Glad to hear it. I have to go and do other stuff, so I’m going to put you down and put those cold rags that fell off back onto you for your fever." Caedes sunk in her grasp, sad to be let go. "Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. I’ll have to leave anyway in a couple of hours at nine though." Cross placed her on the bed, replacing the rags as promised.

"Now then," she turned, to address Relic, "what the heck are you here for?"

"I’m curious as well."

"As am I."

"I followed him, and I’m pretty lazy around here, so I have to be suspicious by default."

"Urg. You all think so poorly of me." Relic shifted on his hooves. "Understandable and common in my line of work. Ahem. Apparently I have all of your attentions, but I mainly just wanted to apologize to miss.."

"Red Cross."

"Miss Red Cross, as for my prior behavior, I do not intend to cause harm no matter how distressed I may have seemed." They all nodded as they knew this and did not change any of their opinions of him. "Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going back to sleep. I can tell you all are still on edge but it was mainly for my conscience’s sake, not yours’."


Laceration left directly after Relic which cured Cross to start working again: checking fluids, temperatures, and taking care of the general welfare of every pony there. She was checking on the guards while Caedes was in a state of a blurred mind with morphine. "So, you can gawk if you want, Laceration is probably half asleep by now." She whispered to the two of them.

"It was just so sweet!" Evershade wiped a tear from his eye. "I just love hugs."

Deepsky just shuffled around a little. "Caedes is nice. The whole exchange was rather adorable." He seemed to stare at a wall.

"It was awkward to say the least with you two already watching and instantly tripled once the others came in." She finished checking Evershade for deterioration in his good legs since in the hospital. "You’re clean, Evershade." She moved over to Deepsky. "I hope you’re not fantasizing over there with the wall." He kept staring. "Sir?" She waved her hoof in front of his muzzle.

Evershade made note of the ponies beside him. "Wow, I haven’t seen him thinking like this for a long while.  He must be thinking of something important."

"He’s not going to try to subdue me or something if I snap him out is he? I’d hate to deal with another one of the violent types, again."

"Nope, leme do it though." He licked his hoof, and the hoof made contact with the inside of Deepsky’s fluffy, fuzzy, tufted ear.

"Eeek! The bu- heck was that for?" He swiped at the offending limb.

Evershade just coughed and pointed to Cross. "I need to check your bandages to make sure your joint is healing properly." He nodded, allowing his gauzes to be slowly, agonizingly peeled off.

"It looks good so far. The muscle loss is deep, but it will heal rapidly if you keep off of it and come back for checkup every so often." She tossed out the cloth into the biohazard bin and firmly wrapped new gauze around his wing joint and then again around his wing, pinning it to his side. "That’s how it was supposed to be. Whoever did it the first time was only toing a temp job." She growled slightly at the butchery of first aid.

While Cross was momentarily lost, Deepsky motioned to Evershade a plan. "So is that all then, my wing’s good now?"

"Yep." She turned to leave.

"Can you wait for a moment, ma’am?" She did stop. "I was just wondering if you could change out Caedes’s cloths now instead of later. It’s been a few hours, so..."

"I was going to later, but I could do that now."


After refreshing the cold cloths, Cross stroked Caedes’s mane a few times before saying something reassuring and leaving.

After Cross had left earshot, Evershade asked, "Why’d you want to rid of her, ‘Sky?"

"Remember when I was thinking?" His partner nodded. "Yeah, I kind of want to give Caedes a hug now. Just look –" His hoof swayed dangerously "–how sad she is." Caedes laid back into her pillow with sunken eyes, unfocused with tubes out of her limp arm.

"Sheesh, that’s bad. Yeah, alright. I don’t know why you had to wait though."

"I have no idea if I’m confined to my bed or not. I’d rather not ask in case of being denied."

"Denied for what reason? For your own or hers?"

"Probably my own, since Cross has already hugged her, it’s safe to assume that any pony can."



> C36 - No Hugs and An Important Thing
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was true that Evershade and Deepsky were raised in pretty close quarters. Thestrals would sometimes pile on top of each other instead of being tightly packed, side by side. So Evershade meant with no sarcasm that he really did love hugs. Deepsky just didn’t like to admit that.

"And your plan is to ‘sneak,’ yes I do hoof quotes, and to hug the stuffing out of her?"

"No – well I don’t want to hurt her, but hugs make almost anything better. Example A." He pulled two pictures out of some secret place on his person, pictures of a before and after. "This pony had just lost her pet rabbit. And the second picture is the pony after a hug. Do you see the difference, Evershade?"

"Wait, I wasn’t expecting a pop quiz. Let’s see." He hummed for a long thirty seconds. "The first is a frowny pony, crying. And then the next picture is a sad pony, but marginally better. Your point is?"

"Gah! Look. The second picture, the pony is happier because of a hug. I swear – okay, she is still sad about her pet, but overall, her mood has improved about the situation. Oh, and something that’s not stated on the pictures is that the hug needs to be about twenty to thirty seconds long."

"Whay’s that, hug teacher?"

"First, never call me a hug teacher. Secondly, a hug about that length causes ceresin – or some other chemical stimulant – to be produced which causes trust and happiness in the victim- pony hugged."

"Where do you hear this stuff?"

"Brain Games."

"You mean that newspaper that depicts experiments with people and perspective?"

"Mhm."

They stared at each other, having bantered for a least a fourth of a chapter. Gradually shifting out of the staring, Deepsky stood up and hopped off the edge of his bed while Evershade watched.

"Oh yeah." His legs popped. "Feels nice and lose after laying down so long. Wing still hurts a little." He started walking toward Evershade.  "Want to join in? I know you like hugs even more than me."

His partner coughed. "No, who told you that?"

"Now look who’s being shy; it’s a role reversal or something." He held out a hoof, to get Evershade off of his bad leg.

"TV Tropes? Really, that magazine?" He took the extended appendage. "And here I thought you never did anything besides guard stuff."

"I have to have a life outside of hugs and guarding you know." He frowned. "I don’t know if I want to include you now in the hugs."

"What?! But I—"

"—Got tricked." Deepsky snickered. "Told you that you wanted hugs."

"Ah dang it."


"Yes, and I’ve tricked both of you." Red Cross conspired with herself, "I really don’t do well with young patients, so out of the little things I do, like commit malpractice, I really can’t handle foals." She smiled knowing that she was quiet enough so that no pony woke up and no pony heard her.


Both guards sneezed.

"Eh, that was weird, we synced sneezes."

"Dang it, ‘Shade, you better not turn this into something lewd."

"Well I was – no not this time. Colon pea."

"Colon pea?"

"Yeah, some ponies writing the Equestria Daily newspaper started using those two symbols next to each other. I think they’re just being mean to the readers."

"Ha!" Deepsky bopped Evershade on the nose. "I knew I wasn’t the only one reading outside of work."

"...Shutup." His left ear drooped. "Can we just do the hugs? I’m tired of standing here with my hoof over your back."

"Eh, why not? I just don’t want to scare her, seeing how skittish she was before." Evershade nodded.

They walked over and parked themselves on a bed next to Caedes’s bed. They both wondered how they were going to approach the subject. On one hoof, asking would be like erecting a social boundary while just flat out hugging could be scary.

Instead, Deepsky took the front, pretty much ditching Evershade who pouted silently in his defense.

"Hey.. Caedes was it?" She twitched her ear, refusing to budge from her sunken position in the fluffy pillow. "How are you feeling?" He waited for a response which granted him the sound of twenty seconds going by. "Ah, uh, I forgot you were asleep."

His comment threw her for a loop. "But I’m not..." She looked at him, a tiny little smile on his face. "What?"

"Well, you were silent there for a bit, and I was just wondering how you’ve been doing. We’ve been here longer than you’ve been awake, so we grew concerned at how you’re feeling after.. all that."

"W-what?" She pressed a hoof to her forehead. "Can, you s-ay that again?"

Right, still young. Probably not a very well developed vocabulary. "We saw you wake up after being bandaged, so we were worried if you’re sad."

"Oh... yeah. I just c-can’t..." Deepsky scooted a little closer toward the bed. "It’s. Hard."

"Want to talk about it?"

"Not r-really. Nurse didn’t want to talk, so so I doubt a-any pony would want to listen." Her face buried into the sheet, muffling a short sob.


"Ah, well I’m not Miss Cross." He sat next to her. "I’m me, so if you still want to talk about it, feel free."

"Maby." She still laid facedown in the sheets, so everything was slightly muffled and softer. "I.. I don’t know. It’s not everything that happened.. It hur-rts, but I can’t stop th-inking about..." She tensed. Deepsky hummed a soft tune. "The. Thing. I can’t stop thinking about.. Ab-out.." She choked, following it up with a sob. "Daddy..."

He paused, venting was part of the plan but not the goal. He wondered if it even mattered anymore, his plan. Perhaps it was wrong of him and Evershade, but after that conversation, the real focus was lost. The point was to make her feel better, and hugs were the best way he knew how. However, it didn’t seem appropriate. Caedes picked up after his long musing.

"I-.. I. I don’t know if I can tell him s-sorry, anymore!"

> C37 - Node
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Her sobs committed mutiny against her words. "I-ch-" She choked. After breathing heavily, Caedes resigned to clenching and crying.

Deepsky was utterly out of his depth. For years he had been skimming the surface, taking the good with the bad, being happy most of the time. There was nothing serious to the point that a simple hug could not fix within his close-knit family and extended family and his friends.

He decided to reach for her shoulder, some light touch for comfort.

"Don’t touch me!" She forcefully slumped over to the opposite side, letting his hoof dangle there. "You’re not my da— " she choked again " —dad‘s job!"

"What’re you talking about? I was only—"

"No." Her word hung in the air like an armada, a loaded statement. "You don’t know.. ‘Cause it’s been like what? Three days?" She opted to crawl under the sheet, while only her tail poked out. "He.. he would be here right now... Right now! But. After everything.. he’s still not here. I know if he were here, he would be here... And I get that he’s not coming back..." She started to sob uncontrollably, some of them forming into little giggles.

"Wait. I’m sure after everything that he’ll turn up again. It was chaos that night, and I’m sure we can find him." Missing her shoulder, he smoothed out where she had been prior with a hoof.

"No! He’s not! I.." Caedes’s head shifted downward, avoiding nonexistent gazes. "I wouldn’t have even left if I knew otherwise... then none of this would have happened... ... But! I know otherwise. He’s gone, and I hope Empathy never comes back. That’s why I had to run because she... And after she took him..."

"I-I think I understand, Caedes."

"No you don’t! You would’ve left me alone instead of trying to replace ponies!"

"It was never my intention." Deepsky’s eyes glanced across the room. "I, we, were only trying to make you feel better. I was playing to my book not yours. I.. can leave if you want me to."

"..."

"I can’t make a decision if you don’t talk to me."

"Okay..."

Okay to stay, or okay to leave? "I’ll just be on the other side of the room; at least until the right of passé expires." He stood up and motioned to Evershade to follow him. Apparently his actions were what Caedes had wanted because she had made no sounds to correct him otherwise.

Evershade elbowed Deepsky before hobbling away on three legs. "Pssh, jerk, ‘Shade."

"I think you’re going about it wrong, but whatever. I’m going to sit this out. Just remember, Celestia’s speech is today, so the right of passé ends today."

"You’re not the only one going to sit this out," he grumbled under his breath.


Red Cross was being happy being devious and out of sight. "There’s nothing like trickery to let your own problems become some pony’s else’s." She figured they had grown slightly attached, so she would be able to care less about caring less; doing medical work, not psychology was her shtick.

"Smart Cross. You’re even better at being lazy than I am." Laceration stretched out, yawning from his nap. "When I’m lazy I end up having to do more work, yet with a little effort you can make your own work disappear."

"..Shut up."

"Nope!" He clopped his front hooves on the counter. "I won’t say a word to any pony else though." He looked at Cross and then looked out of the corner of his eye. He looked at the corner of his eye again. "Heyyyy, where did Relic go?" He started to sweat.



***



Clip clop, clip clop. Clip. Clip clip! Clip-clop-clip-clop-clip-clop CLIP CLOP! Relic had been stalking a target down the deserted hallway. He had been notified by another Silent Staff member that he would fill in as the new ‘Relic.’ Of course, there had never been a ‘Relic’; it was the subterfuge of Celestia’s Silent Staff. As far as any pony knew, there was only one pony, a pony called ‘Relic’ being paid in the staff except that the massive pay of six thousand bits an hour was split among dozens of ponies, not just one.

‘Relic’ cringed at his loud hoofsteps, and his magic had contained all sound into his personal space, making the sound even louder. He had been trailing a suspicious noble for fifteen minutes, watching has the stallion harrumphed at certain objects, apparently wondering aimlessly —except he hadn’t backtracked though any of the halls.

So the painfully obvious Blueblood was casing for some information. Too bad for him, he would never go down to the back of the castle where many of the servants and ‘plebians’ worked. All in all, ‘Relic’s’ job was to make sure he wouldn’t snoop in the wrong place.

He considered his Princess’s thinking. Celestia could probably pass him off as an alibi who made sure the scene was kept from any alteration by outside means. Either way, she was probably just doing something that he didn’t need to be aware of.. though seven thirty was a bit early for her to wake up.

"I hate grunt work."


As it turns out, ‘Relic’ was being watched by another pony. The head of the Silent Staff smiled, opening a green portal and stepping away at her sabotage. There would be no pony taking ‘Relic’s’ vacant watch post.



***



Eight in the morning. "RIIIING! GET UP YOU PORTLY, CAKE —" and a hoof smashed right though the alarm clock. It couldn’t talk, but it helped to imagine it yelled insults.

"Ugh. Twilight would never forgive me," Celestia massaged her temple." —losing my temper every morning, but hay, venting’s important." She stood up and cracked her back and stretched her legs. "Good thing I have a closet of these little demons."


Breakfast was cautiously served every morning, and always after the ritualistic clock smashing. Her teapot and tecup were emptied, leaving her with no choice but to face the day. Raven came into the room, looking more refreshed and tired than usual from her prior day of indoor hotubs.

"It’s today, Princess."

"I know. It will go downhill from here, for one reason or another."



> C38 - Dawn of The Final Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Deepsky breathed in. Thousands of hooves and murmurs of the populace bounced around the near-empty castle. "It’s starting."



Celestia had been waving this in front of the nobles faces all of yesterday. It was the gossip and the talk of Canterlot; a speech that promised answers. She did order an edict that all ponies available, nix foals schoolteachers, doctors, and critical ponies to come to the speech, bit gossip worked just as well, perhaps better.

"My faithful subjects..." She paused, her speech was revised by several ponies, each believing a dramatic pause at the beginning would enrapture her subjects in this era. She mused on how times had changed. "Let it be known that there was an incident two and three days ago.

"As you know, we had prior intelligence that something was going to happen." The crowd spoke in low tones about inaction and corruption. "It was not my intent for something this heinous to take place in our glorious city. However, out of respect for you, we had to adhere to civil liberties and wait for more time to pass." She gazed across the crowd, seeing only minor contempt.

"I am not blaming you or the system. I am explaining only what was just at the time... We had launched several scouting parties on the night of the incident, investigating numerous locations and places of interest. However, as Fate would have it, the incident occurred on this very night." Some words about coincidence incited some contempt in the higher class of nobles.

"I will tell you this. We did intercept the offender, but failed." Ever pony started to speak, demanding for one outcome or another. Celestia waved her hooves over the crowd, and created a flash from magic; they fell silent. "It was another unfortunate coincidence. A scouting guard squad had split up to scout domiciles. One of the five groups of the squad encountered a vicious pony.

"Initially dismissing the officers, she decided to resist questioning and the two guardsponies entered combat. Once again, it was though chance that the mare in question managed to temporarily end the fight and dangerously harm the protectors of the city.

"They called in, and we had been notified, and when al guards were quickly briefed, they came to arms. Unfortunately, they were just out of range for a long enough time for the victim and perpetrator to continue their struggle.

"A young daughter to this mare was running away for her life. Her mother was chasing her down, attempting to commit murder." The recently silent ponies became much more active with gasps and voices of insecurity. "This is why guards have blocked off East Street to part of the center of Canterlot.

"Their course of action led to the filly to be left in critical condition who was ferried to the castle’s infirmary. As there are details I cannot reveal, I have had Forgotten Relic oversee the safekeeping of the ponies directly involved.

"...Which leads to the conclusion of the event: the mare escaped." A pin dropped in the crowd. "I know... It is an unacceptable outcome. Even fully prepared, we were unable to succeed by a fraction of a hair... It is with great displeasure, that we will have to brand one of our own as a fugitive, a criminal, and most importantly: a murderer to other nations.

Celestia slammed a hoof down, breaking the wood railing. "I will not allow harm come to any one of you. I swear. I have already sworn, hundreds of times, but I do so again." She took a moment to collect her breath. "There is also the matter of the father.

"As you recall, this crazed mare was the filly’s mother. The filly’s father on the other hoof... was unable to be found. This was out early tipoff which allowed us to prepared a dozen squads of night guards, so few, long nights ago. The crime scene suggests otherwise, but as of now, there is a watch for the guard, Adept Tracker. He is a navy unicorn, trained in minor medical spells. The marehunt is on lookout for a dark pink unicorn, named Empathy.

"May you stay safe and alert. An official report will be released by the end of the week." She turned and walked out of the view of ponies.

Inside her prep room, she shuddered and sagged onto a couch. "Ah, NutterButter," her servant bowed toward Celestia, "I need something good.. And get something for yourself. I’m going to need it for the upcoming weeks."



***



"It’s over..." Deepsky had been lounging on his bed, listening to the dull roar of the crowd dispersing. He fell limp at the end of the speech.

Evershade was gleeful as a colt. "Ah, cheer up, ‘Sky. We’re free to get as drunk as we want now!"

"Sounds like a plan. Though..." He popped his legs and good wing. "I’m exhausted. G’ night—or day rather. We sleep in the day."

"Eh, killjoy." He shrugged and turned over, going to sleep himself. After an hour, all the patients were asleep, some slept better than others.



"I’m leaving now." Relic stood up from his sentry post, a cheap chair. "I’ve been recalled. Have a good day." The day replacement ponies didn’t even care. Relic shrugged, and left.



***



"Say, Twilight."

"Yes Spike?" She had a book on the top of her head, wedged to hold a page open.

"Did you even take a test?"

"Grrr. I swear, sometimes you just try to point out the worst things..."

He held his claws up defensively. "No, no, I didn’t mean it like that. I was just asking because you have all these books open still."

Twilight yawned for a long time. "Sorry about that. I didn’t sleep much at all. Besides, I could be studying for a future test you know."

"Take another look." Spike walked around the pony/book pile, "Example A: Twilight is lounging in books instead of sitting and taking books out of stacks, many stacks, not a pile."

"Well.. I’m tired." She wanted to sound assuring, but it fell on deaf ears.

"Well, deny that, and we have Example B: Twilight is mistreating books."

She shot up. "Take that back. I haven’t done such a thing."

Spike deadpanned. "You’ve creased several pages accidentally and have a book on your head, forced open wide and damaging the spine."

"..."

"What’re you working on?" He sat down, next to her, looking at some biology book.

"Honestly, I don’t know why I kept it a secret, except that it’s a personal project." She nuzzled Spike. "Thanks for that. I can stop damaging these poor books now." Open books under her front hooves were flattened and creased back while the book on her head was floated to a table.

"The question I’m looking at is why we have so much more magic than other species. And I’m getting close."



> C39 - The Other Ponies Are Sleeping
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"And are you going to tell the Princess about your research then? If there’s really a difference, it sounds like it could be important or something." Spike was digging a long lasting eye booger out with a claw.

"Ewe, that’s gross Spike. Err, yes, this could be something important. If there is a major difference between ponies and other species, we could open a ton of possibilities.. perhaps even overcome those differences."

"Sounds great. However, I’d like to point out two important things."

"What do you mean? I’ve—"

"Missed the Princess’s PSA, which might I add nearly every pony went to."

"Hey, there’s supposed to be a report out later.. I can just catch up when it comes out."

"But most importantly, you missed breakfast by sitting in a pile of books for the past three hours. I mean.. how do you function, Twi?" He scratched his belly. "No matter what I’m doing, I just can’t stop thinking about food when the time comes."

She deadpanned, "You only ever think about food."

"Eh," Spike jumped off of his chair, "I’ve got my priorities straight. In any case, we should leave the library, don’t you think?"

A muffled pop, accompanied by a sigh of relief, made Twilight wince. "I swear; every time you stretch your arm like that, I think it’s going to break."

"Eh, ‘s not that bad. Let’s go eat."

"Sure." Twilight stood up, with only a few books falling off. She had since removed and stacked most of the books, only omitting the few she was still looking at. "But we’ve got to come back a little after noon because the samples of the trial should be coming in then. Ooh, I’m so excited!"

"Pfff, says the pony who gets more excited over samples than lunch.. or breakfast for that matter." Spike shrugged, "It’s kind of in between actually."



Twilight was rather miffed at brunch. Oh the food was delicious, she had decided, but Spike had pulled her away too fast before realizing that she could have been reading while eating; checking out books is what the Library was for!

"Capital ‘L’.."


"What?" Spike’s question caused some food to be spat back into his plate. Shrugging he picked up the food and finished chewing it.

"Ahh! What is it with you and disgusting me today?" Twilight coughed. "Well, I was thinking about how I always think of the library with a capital ‘L’. You know, just something that stands out."

"Eh, sentiment. I don’t really mind. That’s kind of random though." He went back to eating a massive sandwich of grilled hay and lettuce.

"No it’s not!" She had said it with more force than necessary, causing other ponies eating in the castle courtyard to stare. "Err, I was just thinking about how I forgot to bring a book to read because we left so quickly."

Spike had managed to snag a few gemstones from a noble... for a noble cause, and he had them sitting on his plate. Crunching down on them, he deflated a bit. "You’ve been on a binge for the past few days. Give it a rest for an hour or two. Sometimes, I worry."

"Well, this could be a big thing. Imagine the differences between ponies and other species, say griffons, because that’s what the sample that is coming in. It’s about why we have such access to magic. I am so curious, and that book I was reading was the only one I found comparing the similarities between ponies and griffons."

"Yeah, yeah. That’s great, but are you going to eat that?" He mimed taking the bowl of salad from her tray.

"Ugh yes, I was distracted."

"Clearly." He finished off his last gem, an emerald.

Twilight squinted, noting the discrepancies of his food. "Spiiiiike. Where did you get gems from? We didn’t pass our tower on the way here."

He looked down at his empty plate and then back to Twilight and then to the wall and then to the conveniently placed clock on the wall. "Oh wow, would you look at the time: five past noon!"

"Noon? Oh joy; I bet the samples from the records of the crime are in!" Twilight took the plunge. She ate her salad voraciously, like an—animal. She belched, quite stallionly. "Let’s go!"

"Gah! Don’t levitate me around after eating such a large meal, Twilight!"

"Well you shouldn’t have stolen those gems then, huh?" She tore off with Spike on her back, a much faster travel than walking side by side.

"Well, that noble mare," something came back up into his mouth; Spike forced himself to swallow, "She was being awfully mean to the guards. Don’t worry. They have enough gems."

"Stealing is bad!"

"Hey, I’m allowed one free raid per noble."

"Allowed?" Twilight skidded around the corner. "Who gave you permission?"



***



Celestia sat, drinking tea. Calming down took longer than expected, at least an hour had passed. She pondered if she even liked tea after drinking it for so long. Perhaps not... perhaps the action was the best part and not the tea. "Oh, I forgot the tea bag." It was definitely the action.

"I think that’s been long enough. Thankfully court is held only on Saturdays.. I need to ask Raven what I’m doing." She rose from her private couch and slipped her gold hoof things back on. "I forgot what these are called..."

A knock came from the door.

"You may enter."

It was not Raven who entered. Relic plopped down into a chair opposite to the couch. "Sorry if I seem rude, but I’m so tired. I’ve been awake for thirty six hours, doing work. I hope you don’t mind."

"Not at all. I was going to see to my schedule though, so you may have to wait if there’s something else that takes priority."

"’S all good. Actually... Raven found me; I must be losing my touch. She said that you’re pretty much free for the day. Except for the paperwork, but that can come later."

"Ah, wonderful." Celestia kicked her ‘hoof things’ off and sagged into the plush couch. "I love this couch. Care for tea and scones?"

"Don’t mind if I do, Princess." He levitated the pot and dunked a scone in. "Oh shoot. My mistake. Let me get a cup."

She chortled at his sleep deprivation. "No worry, I have left crumbs in my tea before; it’s just extra sugar."

He managed to pour himself a cup with his field of magic. "It’s not just that. I’m rather disturbed."

"Oh," she started leering, "what for?"

"It’s as you said. That’s what worried me."

Celestia breathed in deeply and let the breath go slowly. "Chaos magic. I was hoping she wasn’t steeped in it..."

"I can’t say for sure what the effects are, but she clearly had almost her entire mana pool full of it. If she were to try regular magic, I’d say that she would have a hard time pulling enough magic to levitate something. However, I did check back in and the amount of normal magic had increased slightly; I think the ‘chaos magic’ is slowly fading away."

"Oh? What do you think about that?"

"Well.." He looked towards the ceiling, "I would be overstepping myself, but I would think it would be a good thing for her to be able to cast magic properly. Plus, I have no idea if it’s messing with her psychologically or not, it leaving is a good thing; I think."

"Has any pony asked her yet?"

"Highness? I kept watch and took measures like you asked. What are you talking about?"

"Her mother was a psychopath, and her father is MIA, and presumably KIA, since the crime scene. What does she think? What do we know about her? How do we know she’s not another Empathy to be?"

‘Relic’ ventured the failsafe, and if not, there was always another pony who could make something. "Magic?"

"While extremely useful at most times, I doubt magic is the answer here." A hoof reached Celestia’s muzzle and rubbed. "Ugh. We’ll need something like a psychiatrist or something. Caedes is undoubtedly a mess... Then we figure out what to do."

"A child psychologist. A psychiatrist prescribes medicine.. and that’s not legal without the right papers."

Celestia sagged back into her couch further. "I am just so exhausted right now. Work, work, work, and planning; really kills a mare or princess." Sagging into the couch would not do. She flipped up entirely and laid upon the cushions. "I’m going to sleep and you can’t stop me. Unless you get Raven or some pony."

"Yes Princess. Would you like for me to arrange something? I was eavesdropping for the most part while I was faking sleep, and the filly is pretty much a train wreck."

"No, Naaaah—excuse my yawn, but I have a few ponies I trust more than the average doctor, so I’ll get right on it later..."

"Sleep well Princess."

"It’s only a nap, but make sure to have some pony send up food in an hour or so. I’m starving."



***



Twilight was having the time or her life. Spike was more bored than a plank of wood.

"Twilight, what are we doing again?"

"You’re sitting there, so I can supervise you. Me? I’m taking a list."

"Then what’s the biology book for?"

She scrunched her muzzle. "You caught me. I’m looking at diagrams and the listings of cells and their components, such as mitochondria."

Spike scoffed, "Sounds like a riot."

"Oh it is!" Sarcasm was not something Twilight was smart about. "The list is alphabetical with all the cell components in alphabetical order. I am taking measurements and listing the total instances of each piece! I think this is us reaching the turning point of my theory."

"Which is?" He asked because he had forgotten to pay attention the other bajillion times Twilight had explained this grand understanding of magic.

"Since you obviously weren’t paying attention, I am trying to figure out why ponies have so much more magic, than say a griffon. Because that is what happens to be this other tissue sample. Now shhh, this is a library, plus I’m concentrating."

Spike rolled his eyes. Twilight had brought a microscope to the library to look on the preserved tissue sample of skin from a griffon trial from years ago. "So how long is it going to take?"

"I think about twenty more minutes will do." She rotated a lense on the microscope.

"Alright, finally, we’ve been here for almost an hour."

"Oh yeah, this is only the first sample. We’re going to be going through two more."

"Why are you so cruel to me, boredom?!"

The librarian promptly came over and started to quietly berate both of them for being so loud.



***



Donut Joe was an upstanding citizen. Heck, even the Princess liked his products. However, that didn’t stop the problem of the mid noon lunch rush. It had only dawned upon him as to why Tracker hadn’t come to work was because he was missing.

Of course he was just now being let out of his holding cell from the castle as the speech was being prepared. He hated how his business was closed because of being jailed.. jailed! All because he had employed Tracker, his best part time worker, and he had to be isolated for interrogation.

Well, whatever. Today was the day he would open right back up and get back to making pastries.


A little scrub and it was good to go. Donut Joe flipped the sign to open and waiting for the lunch rush. He hadn’t been open for some time, so either there would be a flood of customers or not that many.

He gagged. "I just have to be the best lunch spot on this side of town.." There were well over a hundred ponies outside.



> C40 - More Amber Than Before
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thankfully, the guards had not fallen asleep on top of each other, so nothing awkward was to come of it.

The bad news was that for some reason, the kitchen staff were permitted to keep working, but none of the ponies who delivered the food was still staffed during the speech. So, Evershade and Deepsky had woken up a couple hours early, looking for the eight o’clock dinner.


Caedes woke up from her short coma as the waiter brought the dinner carts in. The main dishes were hot, steamed bots of stews and vegetables while there were sautés of fruit and garnished dishes... not to mention the lowest shelf of each cart was covered with desserts.

"Deepsky?"

"I’m not sure I can answer your question if it is.. dirty or related to food."

"Why did we ever want to leave if we get served like this every day?"

"Uhh. Mmm, good question." He decided to call for a third opinion. "Nurse, why did we want to leave again?"

The nondescript nurse called back to them, "Your paid leave only lasts as long as you’re unable to walk about. Which, medically speaking, has run out. Your partner is well enough for a cast, and you are well enough anyway, so yeah. Leave soon before you have to pay your own bills." Her form became darkened and moved backwards without walking as she mentioned paying bills.

"Ah—" A spooked tear formed from Evershade’s eye. "I’m scared."

"Me too buddy, me too." Deepsky comforted by supplying a shoulder rub.


They looked over after their shared moment to find Caedes just staring at the food, with a hoof hovering in front of the cart, which was just out of reach.

"Oh, um, ‘Sky, push that cart next to Caedes. I don’t know why the delivery pony didn’t do it, but there’s like three feet of space between her bed and the food."

"What? Why me?"

"Because you failed earlier." He shot him a ‘you know what I mean’ look.

"Unless..."

"Unless?"

"This is just a ploy to get me away far enough to cheat on your fruit diet?"

"What? No I mean—"

"Really? You’re going to make excuses while a filly is unable to eat? Cold."

"Grrr." Evershade stood up and walked over with a little too much force in his hoofsteps. "Here ya go." The cart made a little squeaking sound. He trotted back even more perturbed. "Satisfied?"

"Mhm. Very."



"Pass me the sauce."

"That’s your third bowl of Eggplant Parmesan. I’m not giving you nay more sauce."

"Why?" Evershade’s pupils expanded disproportionately. "Do you not like me?"

"Ahh, Puppy eyes!" Deepsky faced away. "This is about your diet. Do you or do you not want to lose weight?"

"My health doc said I had six percent body fat.. and most of it is my belly. I’m so out of shape!"

"Don’t flail like that, you’ll hit me. And belly fat? I always thought a little was good. You know, poking a steak versus poking a pillow, am I right?"

He was lost thinking about how steak goes with pillows. "What?"

"You’ve seriously never heard? Wow, you’ve been sheltered. So anyway, this is a secret. Come closer." The scooted together, sharing a secret like school foals. Deepsky lowered his voice, "You know, when we’re little, we’re a bit pudgy for a lot of reasons, but belly fat was always kind of a gray area. My group family liked it for tummy tickles and raspberries. Let me put it this way, poke a tough steak and poke a pillow; which one is softer? Because belly fat is a pillow, it makes tummy tickles and raspberries fun. So don’t give it up, what if the opportunity comes again?"

"Oh, oh OH!" Evershade friendly punched Deepsky, "Dang. Man, that’s really smart. I wish I knew that earlier. I was a little pudgier down there."

"I’m a walking dispenser of violence and hug stuffs!"

"..."

"Don’t stare at me like that. It applies to you too."

A facehoof was the only logical respose.



It had been a nice long dinner. An hour had passed which had started the next shift, revealing both of the night guards’ favourite nurse: Vein.

"Hello every pony, how are you doing?" She gazed around and returned the friendly waves and smiles from the two darkly colored patients. And Caedes was... what was she doing? She just had her head lolled to the side, unmoving from a bowl of food. "Caedes?"

Vein rushed over to Caedes and started taking vitals. "Seems normal, except for the whole, head thing. Breathing, has a pulse, and has apparently jus eaten. Perhaps an food allergy? Crap." She grabbed Caedes in magic and hauled tale to the treatment table in the lobby.

"What’s going on?" Bone Saw looked up from his magazine.

"I think she’s having an allergy attack from something she ate. I think it was some of the stuff in the bowl. Do you know what it is?"

"No clue. I’d say she’s sleeping, but after jostling her like that, it could be any number of things, not just a food allergy. Seems kind of strange to be a food allergy if her usual vitals are normal."

"But I found her like this next to a bowl of food. It seems the most reasonable; occam’s razor."

"Occam’s razor? Really, after everything that’s happened, food is your bet?" Saw started to get snippy; he had not slept very well the previous night or day. "List all the trauma and damage she sustained. Occam’s razor my flank. I’m thinking of—"

A tiny voice carried up from the table. "No..."

"She’s conscious?"

"How. are.. you here?" Caedes couldn’t look up, she gazed at her hooves while prone on her back. "I threw it.. And then you stepped in it, and you..." Shallow breaths followed. "You came in. And then you.. caught the post – under your neck... How are you here?"

The doctor and nurse sort of stared at their patient for a moment. It was as if she was explaining how Vein was.. gored on a bedpost?

"Vein? I think now’s a good time for that psychologist Celestia sent to be let in now."

"Agreed."