Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.
Viktor E. Frankl

Kestral, on his way to the castle, had thought of every different way he could to get into the property. It was a meager list, but a list nonetheless. He might have been able to sneak past guards, if he played with distractions correctly. Or, perhaps, he could trick them into thinking he was some kind of diplomat. It wouldn't be likely that he could find armor to disguise himself in, since all the guards seemed to be strictly ponies. Of course, theses were all thoughts that had plagued his mind up until the moment he saw the sign...

“Free tours of Canterlot Castle. Huh.”

It never occurred to him that a castle housing deities that governed day and night would be open for everyone....both day and night.

He looked at the two leather-winged guards that were standing firm on each end of the main entryway. They didn't even offer suspicious looks at the pedestrians as they casually made their way either in or out the wide path. Just inside of the path was a small stand, with the sign he read attached. Around the stand was a mass of ponies, most of them with bat-like wings, and a single minotaur.

He walked his way past the guards, and entered the crowd. He slowly came up to the booth, looking for anyone that could help him.

“She's looking for her hoofouts.” A voice said behind him. Kestral turned around to look at the dark colored pony. “Under the counter.”

Kestral looked back over the booth, and leaned over the edge. He spotted a pony, wearing a familiar frilly dress. Her head was ducked under the counter, presumably getting some form of paper. She shifted from side to side constantly, almost like she was dancing to a tune stuck in her head. “Silver?” He asked.

Said earth pony shot her head up, giving Kestral a surprised look. She put down several colorful pieces of paper on the counter, where a number of ponies grabbed them, some muttering words of disdain. “Hunter?” She asked. “What are you doing here?”

“Well, I'm taking a tour of the castle.” He casually grabbed one of the cards, reading over it.

“Oh, that's great!” She said. “Our next tour actually starts in a few minutes.”

“Cool. So, are you my tour guide? Or do you just manage the tours?”

“Oh, no, I’m your guide. The usual girl doing this is out sick for a couple of weeks, so I was hired as temporary replacement.” She explained.

“Figures.” Someone said. Kestral turned his head around to spot one of the few male ponies behind him. “The one time we come, we get the only one that's not a professional. Let's go another day.” He began walking off, with three mares in tow, one of them holding a child.

He chose not to comment on that statement, but instead aimed his eyesight back to Silver, whose eyes seemed to have a slightly disappointed look. It was only a moment, however, as she grabbed a clipboard and placed it next to Kestral. She cleared her throat. “I just need you to sign here, and you're good!”

“Alright.” He said, grabbing the pencil and simply writing down 'Hunter'. He handed it back to her, and she looked it over.

“No...last name or titles?” She asked.

“None.” He said. “Just 'Hunter'.”

She gave an uncertain nod, but put the clipboard down anyways. She walked around the group until she was between it and the castle. “Okay everyone. If you'll follow me, we can begin our tour.” She began walked down the cobblestone path, towards the menacing stairs that laid just before the massive golden doors that stood as the entrance to the mostly stone building. The path was long, so it gave Silver plenty of time to talk.

“Canterlot Castle was built seven hundred and sixty three years ago to date, on March eighth, year two hundred and thirty five, according to the Solar Calender. It took over six thousand blocks of stone to build the main corridor alone, and an additional five hundred to create the supports.”

“What kind of stone?” Asked a voice.

“Marble.” She replied, all too happy to answer. “But, according to the legend revolving around the creation of the castle, the stone used was never refined. Some say that if you break open the stone, you'll see diamonds everywhere, which is how the stone stays in such good condition all these years.”

Several 'oooooh's and 'aaaahh's escaped the mouths of some of the ponies, but the minotaur and Kestral stayed quiet. The group walked to the end of the flat path, and began the ascent up the stairs. The trek was silent, barring a couple of the ponies heavily panting. Any of them that had wings just hovered their way up, while the rest simply suffered the torment of leg exercises.

Silver got to the top, and gestured to wide view of the area. Once most of the people got behind her, she pointed directly at at building a few hundred feet from the gate. It was built so that it was on the fence line, and had an entrance on their side. He was willing to bet there was another opening on the opposite side as well.

“Over there” She said. “Is 'Iron-side', a bar made for guards that like to go and have a drink immediately after their shift. It's the only location in Equestria that sells alcohol on government property.”

“Is there whiskey? I could really go for some whiskey.” Called out a mare.

Another mare hit her in the chest, then spoke in a loud whisper. “Why is that always the first thing you ask?”

“There is whiskey.” Silver said. “Along with an array of other beverages. They even have tables set just outside, so that anypony under age can have a place to sit and order.”

Kestral took notice of the unnerving stare that crept onto the minotaur's face, which was aimed directly at Silver. He couldn't tell why, but as the group began making its way into the castle, his only guess is that she had said something offensive. As they made their way past the giant golden doors, Silver spoke once more.

“This is the main corridor. Any time a celebration occurs, it happens either in here-” She pointed out the stained glass windows, to the garden looking area. “-or right in the strip between the maze and the castle. Or both, if it's especially big.”

They passed a series of doors on their left, and Silver pointed to each, explaining their presence. “The first door on your left leads to the courtroom. It's open from two pm to ten pm, with a half hour break in the center so Luna can take over for Celestia.”

One of the ponies -and a noble, from the looks of it- scoffed. “That's Princess Luna and Princess Celestia.” She said. She took on a weaker voice, like a forced whisper, then added “Don't drag them down to degenerates of your kind.”

Kestral watched Silver's face, and saw not a look a offense, but more like a wince at having forgotten the titles. Since she didn't reply to the second part either, he decided that she simply didn't hear it with the rest of the group. He felt the need to say something. To defend Silver on the 'degenerate' thing. But alas, as they walked down the path again, it seemed as if the practicality of being silent won against the morality of speaking up.

“Right there are the bathrooms.” She said, pointing at the two doors. “If any of you need to go now, I suggest that you do. We won't be seeing any again for at least half an hour.”

Kestral watched as... not a single person made a move for the doors. In fact one of the ponies seemed to be rather impatient.

This is going to be a long tour.

An hour had passed.

An excruciating hour had passed.

The group had gone through most of the inner building. They had seen the library, the throne, the labs, even the gate that sealed off the 'Swarswirl the Bearded' section. Every once in a while, he would see a flash of green, bit most times he saw it was just a unicorn using his or her magic. All the while, in singles or in small pairs or trios, the group had slowly been pealing off and breaking down into consistently smaller sizes.

The reasoning behind most was understandable. Some got bored, and wanted to go back to whatever entertainment they thought fitting. Several stayed in the Library once it occurred to them that it was open to the public. Some had seen good friends and shot off to go talk to them, then were left behind as the group moved on. There was a handful, though only a small one, that seemed to be discontent with the whole experience. The worst part though?

The 'discontent' ones are almost the only ones who stayed.

“The very least you could do is know where all of the facilities are located.” The stallion bitched again.

I swear, I’m going to take his 'saddlebag' and beat his skull in with in. Kestral thought darkly. He looked at the unicorn, with his high-and-mighty monocle and mustache. He had two large saddlebags, along with an unarguably aristocratic, black coat, which was probably the norm for the nobles. Upon looking at the unicorn, he decided it was high time that he put his two cents into the conversation.

“You do realize that she told you back at the entrance that we wouldn't be seeing a bathroom for a while, right?”

The unicorn looked to his side as they all climbed the steps of the spiral staircase. “She said we wouldn't see a restroom for thirty minutes. It's been an hour and we still haven't come across one.”

“She said,” Kestral corrected, “that we wouldn't see one for at least thirty minutes. That statement says to me that there is a chance, not a certainty, that there will be a restroom after that thirty minutes. So quit your bitching.”

The unicorn looked appalled at the words. “Excuse me? Do you even know who you're talking to?! I am Golden Palate the Third, and I will not be told what to do by a lowlife such as you!”

Kestral smirked, though no one could see it through the mask. “'Golden Palate'? Really? As much as you complain about your bladder, I'd have thought your name was 'Golden Piss'.”

That statement caused Golden to misstep, and fall on his face. Kestral was pretty sure he saw the minotaur try to hide a smirk out of the corner of his eye, and a couple of the less angry tourists giggled softly. As he looked back, he saw that one of his mares helped him back up. They, too, were giving him angry looks, but he did not give a single care to them.

He shook his head, with a smile on his lips as he kept going up the stairs. He felt bad for Silver. Being the former head manager at his father's own hotel, he understood what it was like to deal with people from the service industry's perspective. Many people were passive in interaction. They followed the rules when they remembered them, tipped a little when the work's done, said please and thank you to their servers. Some of them were genuinely nice and caring to anyone that served them. Often the truly nice ones actually get even better service, if only because their servers enjoy their presence, or got to know them.

And then there was these people. You couldn't ever do a good enough job for them, or be enough of a slave to them. There was no pleasing them, only having the slightest hope of being 'satisfactory' in their eyes. He hated the latest of the three kinds of people he had always dealt with, but he usually kept quiet until they just went away.

But when he looked at Silver, he saw something else. She didn't seem to be able to soak it in and just ignore it. Each time someone pointed out some kind of shortcoming, she flinched, or frowned, or did something else. He knew what that behavior meant. It was everything stacking up on her. It's something he saw rather often in some of his former employees. Wave after wave of hateful things could burden a person's mind, and without an outlet, it would hurt her.

Maybe she didn't realize what she was doing, or that she might not be quite fit for the job, but if either was true, it was all the worse for her.

“Ahem.” Silver cleared her throat, grabbing the attention of everyone there. “If you look to your left and right, you'll see the beautifully decorated doors of Princess Celestia's and Princess Luna's quarters respectably.”

Everyone looked to each side, spotting the two doors covered is celestial decorations, such as stars, the moon, the sun, and maybe a few mountains along the lower edge. Kestral also took note of the fact that exactly one guard was present at each door, and didn't seem to be moving any time soon.

“Unfortunately, nopony is allowed in there without the presence of at least one of them.” She began walking straight, passing both of the doors, and heading towards an opening at the end of the hall. “Down this hall are the balconies that their majesties often occupy whenever they raise and lower the sun and moon. You can get a good view of it from the gardens, and on Sundays, they even let viewers come up here to watch up close!” She said.

The group walked onto a small, circular platform. Around it was another circular platform, which seemed to be at least five yards away from theirs at any given point. It looped all the way around, and ended at either side whenever it met another entrance, presumably to each of the celestial sister's rooms. On the ground, a moon was painted at the left, and a sun at the right, with navy blue and golden yellow expanding on the stone until they met at the center.

There were a couple torches lighting up along the rail, making sure there was plenty of light, given the castle was casting a shadow over the whole area from the moonlight.

The group hung out for a while on the balcony, with Silver answering questions as best she can. Kestral paid little attention though, as his eyes were on the single pegasus guard, who was moseying around, probably not paying attention as much as he should have.

Already he had a plan in his mind. He walked over to the side closest to the open entrance surrounded by solar décor. He whisked away his boots, removing the loud indicators for his footsteps.

Then, he waited.

He had stood there the whole time, pretending as if the sky was something to behold. Only about ten minutes had passed, sure, but it felt much longer while doing nothing but looking. Silver had come up to him and told him they were leaving, but he said he wanted to stay and watch the stars some more. She gave an unsure nod, but he reassured her by saying he'd catch up again later. Then they left.

So there he was, watching for the moment the single guard's lazy gaze moved away from him.

...bingo.

As the guard faced nearly opposite of him, Kestral teleported across the distance and landed on the other side of the rail. As quickly as he could, he used his magic again, leaving him in the door-less entrance. He moved a drape to the side and entered the room, letting the cloth fall in place again.

It was pitch black. Not a single light leaked into the room. With a cautious mindset, he flicked a small flame into existence. He made sure to keep the light from getting too close to the entrance by moving between it and the flame, then walked inward until it no longer mattered.

He then switched out his leather disguise and mask for his own clothing. He left off the coat, though, so he was more exposed than usual. He realized something, though. He carried both his backpack and his satchel no matter if he was in his disguise or not. It then occurred to him that people might be able to recognize him by it, since his backpack looked so... unusual. It certainly was not the normal 'leather or cloth everything' kind of style. So he put his backpack on the ground, and dug out all of the supplies in it that he could not put in the rift, and stacked the items on one side of his satchel. Then, the backpack disappeared by Kestral's will.

With that out of the way, he took out the spray-can he had and looked for anything worth spraying. In the center, he saw a ridiculously large bed, and made his way there first. He shook the can a little, then sprayed all over the regal bed. After he was done covering the whole thing, he looked around, and made his flame a bit large for a moment.

From the center of the room, he could see several chairs, another door, the opening of what looked like a closet, a desk next to said closet, and a mirror large enough to match Kestral's height.

He began spraying constantly. All over the furniture, over as much of it as he could muster. Then when there was nothing else to spray, he simply started covering the floor as much as he could. Soon enough, though, the can started sputtering, until there was nothing left. Once it was empty, he tossed it under the bed in the center of the room.

He was about to make his way towards the exit again, but a glint caught his eye. He turned his attention to the open closet again, and saw a small amount of light glittering back at him.

Should he consider stealing from someone that raises the sun? Probably not. Would it damage the small amount of trust Luna has with him? More than likely. But it wouldn't hurt to look, would it? After all, it's not like he'll end up in that room again any time soon. He'll just look at the items and be on his merry way.

He walked towards the closet, with more than mild curiosity. He made his flame brighter as he entered it, and what he saw amazed him. Dresses, jewels, trinkets, and other items to be envied where there. They ranged from the prideful, such as a set of gold plate armor that stood on a pony-shaped mannequin, to the humble, like the flimsy green dress of leaves that simply whispered 'one with nature' to anyone that saw it.

While the dress-wear seemed to be lined up along the walls, there were some objects that were placed on pedestals around the middle of the room. He walked up to one of them, and watched it with ever growing curiosity. It was a plant of some sort. It grew out from the center, before going upwards, leaving a gap in the center about the size of his hand. As he moved around, the flower-looking tips of it moved around toward him.

No...not to me. To the light.

He moved his flame around in circles, watching as the direction of the flower tips moved in unison. It amused him more than he would have admitted, but then he saw something else. On the pedestal was a clear case. He moved his light down to see it, and looked at the contents.

It was a picture. It looked like Luna, as far as the general shape went, but the mare in the picture had an alabaster coat and three-colored mane. She had a sun on her flank, and sat next to the plant with a warm, motherly smile. On the other side of the plant was what looked like a dragon, only slightly larger than Celestia.

He looked around to the other items placed for observation, and saw similar things on each pedestal. Then he saw a familiar object. He walked away from the plant, and looked down to see a pure white, stone egg, set in a gold container that had four legs running down to the base.

That look's just like...

He pulled out the black egg from the rift, and held it next to the white one. Sure enough, it was the spitting image of the other. He put the black one away again, and looked at the legs of the white egg, trying to find the text it had out of curiosity.

“Spread light, give warmth and life unto the world.”

He looked below it, and instead of a picture in the glass case, all he saw was a note. It read “To my love. -SS” on a worn out piece of paper.

He looked at the other pedestals, and saw similar items. Letters, pictures, signatures, or anything else pertaining to that item's past. All the beautifully crafted or grown objects in that room weren't just there to look good and gather dust. He realized that they weren't just silver, gold, gems, and anything else sought after. They were tied to people, to places, dates, events. He realized that everything in that room was not precious for its worth...

Each was precious for its memories.

That room was a shrine to the past. It wasn't made for anyone to come up and gawk at it. It was made for a single person to visit from time to time, to look at what was left of history, whether it was recent or long past. For one to look back on in old age, and watch the young smiles of old friends through a teary eye.

Kestral walked out of the room without having stolen a single item from it. Consideration of Luna, or the likeliness of the guards shifting into DEFCON one over him having stolen from royalty, aside, he really didn't feel the need to steal from that room, regardless of his previous justification from stealing just about anything else. He just didn't want to take away the only remnant of a memory. To him, removing the memory of them was like removing the body from the grave; He was no grave robber.

He walked toward the exit again, extinguishing him flame, and prepared himself.

He needed a visit with Luna.

With his disguise back on, Kestral made his way down the main corridor, and got up to the entrance of the court. As he passed through the large, open doors, he also passed two leather-winged guards, who sneezed almost simultaneously.

“Bless you.” He said.

They didn't say anything, so he just walked on in.

All along the side was benches, lined parallel to the walls, almost exclusively covered in well-dressed ponies. They sat or laid around, talking to each other in loud whispers or hushed voices. At the other end of the room, Luna sat with a bored expression, or at least that's what it appeared to be. Her eyes seemed to be nearly closed, and she had a glow around her horn.

As he took each step further, another set of eyes laid on him, and another voice went quite. As he grew closer, he knew his movements were more watched, more scrutinized, than before. After being on the run so much, if felt unnerving -unnatural- to be the center of attention. He should have expected it, though, given the nature of how public the royal family seemed to be with their lives.

Between Luna and him, there were two guards standing, and two desks where presumably parties would make their cases in the court. Right as he stepped by the desks, though, Luna's eyes snapped open. Almost like she simply detected him, rather than being woken by sound. The glow of her horn stopped, and in the now silent room, her voice rang out with conviction.

“Welcome to night court, sir.”

He stopped. Kestral made sure to give an exaggerated bow at the waist to seem as humble as he could. After all, he still didn't want a single person to see through the disguise. Not even her. “Your majesty. It is a pleasure to be here.” He said, with a voice intentionally deeper than was normal for his.

“There is no second party for court.” She stood up, letting her chest rise to a visible angle, and seemed to make her all the more of a leader. “We presume you have something else of importance?”

“I do.” He said. “I am a courier.”

“Ah. Very well. One of the guards here shall escort you to my quarters to deposit it, then you'll get compensation.”

One of the guards made a few steps to show Kestral the way, but he cut in. “That will not do.” He said. She simply raised an eyebrow. “The message and item I bear are of immediate importance.”

The crowd around them launched into quiet whispers, already focusing on speculations. He wanted them to listen, though. If he just wanted to deliver the mail, he could have followed the instructions she gave him. But, he needed to make it abundantly clear that 'Hunter' was not Kestral. Not that the rumor-driven crowd would make the connection. It was Luna he worried about, really, so he just needed to develop the two 'people' as having two different personalities. In his mind, it was more likely to work than not.

She gave a focused look at him. “What is it then? And at that, what mark do you bear?”

“No mark.” He said. “But a name.” Feels weird to beat around the bush like this.

“Then what name do you bear?” She looked at him with a slightly irritated expression.

“I am Hunter, your majesty.”

“And the one who sent the message?”

“I cannot speak his name, for fear that merely uttering it would utter my own death just as much.” He may not enjoy the position of being feared by a whole country, but damn it, he was going to milk it for all of its ego-feeding worth. That, and it really helped separate the two identities. After all, why would Hunter fear Kestral any less than the population that already knows about him?

“Then how will we know who sent it?” She asked, rather skeptically.

“He gave me another name. One that he claimed would give you his true identity, and keep his name safe still.”

“Then say it! Cease this verbal ploy and speak it!” She said, with some more irritation.

“He is known by you as the 'dream walker'.”

Luna opened her mouth to speak, but closed it soon after. She pursed her lips in thought, trying to keep her stoic composure. Her next words were simple and forceful.

“Approach.”

He did, and placed his hand in his satchel. As he passed the two guards standing below her, he pulled out a folded piece of paper, and the black egg. He put each in a different hand, and gave her the paper first. She snatched it with her magic as soon as he held it out. She unfolded it and scanned the parchment quickly, not letting her face change from that slight scowl not matter what she saw.

After a minute, she looked up at him. “And the item?”

He held out the egg, which she grabbed and examined. “He said that it was to further prove his identity. And that it was to match her majesty's, Celestia's.”

She eyed the egg, then him, and then cleared her throat. “Very well. Thank you for bringing this to us.”

He gave another deep bow. “It is an honor, your majesty.” He began to walked away, but was stopped by Luna's voice.

“Before you go.” She said, to which he turned back around. She magicked him a leather pouch and a scroll with a ribbon and seal. “Your payment, and a message I would like brought back to him.”

He put them both in his satchel, and nodded to her. “Yes, your majesty. I will do that as soon as I can.”

She gave a nod, and he began walking back to the court's entrance again. As he did, the whispers of the people around him grew, likely due to the confusion of who this 'dream walker' was. He ignored it, though. He didn't mind speculation, as long as it they didn't come to the conclusion that he had something to do with humans or changelings.

After he walked out the courtroom, he turned to the large, open doors that he first entered nearly two hours prior, and made his way out. He then descended the steps, and spied the small stand near the end of the cobblestone path.

...bingo.

Silver was not having a very good day. She placed a bit on the wooden counter again, and snapped it between her hooves, making it spin for a minute or so. Said bit was the source of her frustration and sadness. Or at least, it was the lack of accompanying bits. After an hour and a half of work, she had gained, through the grand scheme of tipping, a single bit.

Granted, she was also being paid minimum wage by the state, but tips were how guides made money! She had watched the previous guide make enough bits to fill the jar twice over! And it was nontaxable income to boot!

...so why wasn't she making anything worthwhile?

She blamed herself. It must have been her skills, or her presentation. After all, the ponies that found something they liked in the tour simply stayed there. She failed to captivate them with the whole tour. And the ones that wanted to know every possible detail about the place were left unsatisfied by her meager background knowledge of the castle, or its occupants.

“Ho hum....” She said.

Silver leaned back and looked down at the bulge on her belly. With a sad smile, she gave a soft rub, and spoke quietly. “Well, little one. At least we have you.”

She felt a small kick, which warmed her heart a little, and took it as a her little baby saying she loved her. If she could have figured out how to crane her neck so she could nuzzle her own belly, she would have, just to try and make her child more comfortable in the womb.

...not that that was weird or anything...

Unfortunately, she only had so many neck vertebrae to spare, so she settled for the next best thing; Belly rubs.

And rub away she did, consoling the growth that would one day become her child.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Copper.” She said, with a tinge of sorrow. “We should have done a better job making sure we could bring you up in good times.”

True to her word, the family was not doing too well. Stock tried as much as he could, managing inter-city shipments of supplies, and Belle could only make so much money working as a band director. So, Silver had convinced them to let her find a more lucrative job than being a silversmith's polisher. Sure, being a guide had nothing to do with her cutiemark, but sacrifices had to be made!

Her slowly building smile had snapped, though, as she realized that unless she got a lot better at her job, she'd still be stuck with minimum wage in a job she barely likes, let alone loves.

“Huuuh...” She sighed.

“Sounds like a problem.”

Her head snapped up to see a masked minotaur's face. One with black cloth for eyes and metal for fur. He leaned on the counter like he was quite interested in conversation.

“Oh. Hello, Hunter.” She said. “Uh, no. No problem you need to worry about.” After all, she didn't want to push her problems onto friends she's only had a day.

He gave a curt nod. “But is it a problem I can fix?”

She looked at him, confused. Why would he want to help? So far, they know each other's names, and that's about it! “Well, do you know a lot about business?”

“Depends. Legality, functionality, or customer relations?”

“Uh...” She thought for a moment. “I guess customer relations covers it.”

“In that case, I know an awful lot.” Hunter said. “So what's the problem?”

“Okay.” She said. I guess I should just throw it all out there. “So, Stock owns and manages the only general store in the middle-class district. Anyways, we're slowly losing customers, and there aren't any new ones coming to replace the lost ones. We haven't found a good reason for them to leave, so we think ponies just aren't keeping interest in us. At this rate, we'll be closed for good by winter.”

“Ah, so, is that why you got this job? To earn some more cash?”

“Well, yeah. We need to eat somehow.” She said. “We're only above breaking even by a few hundred bits a month.”

“Hmm.” He thought aloud. “...Have you ever tried advertizing?” He asked.

“I...what?” She asked back. Isn't that just for entertainment and city events...? “No, not really. Anypony that comes in is just from word of mouth or curiosity.”

“Well, there you go. Make a bunch of posters, and spread them across the city. Put the address, so people can find it, and make the info you have on it interesting. Like 'one-stop shopping, all you need in one place' or something along those lines.” He said, as if it wasn't the single most innovative idea she had heard.

“I...” She said, stunned. Why didn't we think of this before?! “Brilliant!” She shouted. She threw her hooves over the counter and did her best to hug Hunter. She felt him tense as she did that, but he slowly returned the hug. “Oh, thank you, Hunter.” She said as she released from the hug. “You might have just saved us!”

“Heh.” He said. “No problem.” He looked around for a moment, perhaps trying to thing of what to say. “Hey...” He said.

“Yeah?” She asked.

“...The name 'Discord' wouldn't happen to mean anything around here, would it?”

She just smirked. “Well, yeah. He's kinda the god of chaos, enemy of the state, and now imprisoned, thanks to the elements of harmony.”

“Oh, cool.” He said. “I just kept hearing his name, so I thought he was a big deal or something.”

“Yeah, he kinda is. Were you asleep when he turned the world's oceans into syrup?” She asked, in a sincere manner.

“...well... I may have been unconscious at the time. So yes.” He said, not a hint of humor in his words.

“Oh...” She said, not sure how to take that. “Well, he's in the gardens if you ever want to go look.” She offered.

He nodded his head. “Okay, that sounds.... wait.” He paused. “They keep prisoners in the gardens? Won't they get loose?”

“Normally, yes.” She admitted. “But Discord's trapped in stone, from the elements.”

“Oh, cool. I've got to check this out.” He pointed over to the side, where there was a gap in the hedges. “Entrance is right there, right?”

“Yep.” She said.

“Thanks, Silver.” He reached out and ruffled her hair with his hand.

“He- Hey!” She worked hard to make her silver hair in such a beautiful ponytail! But as she opened her eyes again, she spotted him already running towards the entrance. Minotaurs. She thought. No tact.

She gave an amused sigh, and turned her head back to the desk, where something caught her attention. In the large tip jar, there was a leather bag. She leaned in and pulled it out, reading the small amount of earth pony text on the side.

“Payment from the royal court. Five hundred bit count.”

She opened it to find ten, small, silver bars in the bag. Her eyes twitched at the sudden increase in funds. How useless must money be for someone to just throw away five hundred bits at a day old friend?

Or, how easy?

She grabbed the bag, and began taking careful consideration that she may have found someone that can make their business launch, if she could convince him to help them. She should invite him to dinner sometime...

Thank you, Hunter. This chance won't be wasted.

Author's Notes:

Okay. Back from that hiatus, because i didn't want this story to die off.

This was going to have the whole night covered in the chapter, but i decided to split it in two, to get you this a bit earlier.

Have a great read.