"Why would we go west? The east is at least more likely to have something that can help us!"

"We disagree. Thou dost not know of this forest as well as us! The west is more wise of a direction to travel among!"

"You lived in a rundown old castle! I lived with the rest of my hive, exploring every part of this forest as one!"

"It would seem that thou hadn't explored every part."

Yeah, this was going to be a cycle wasn't it? Waking up to the sound of their arguing, I mean. Its kind of annoying really, being that this is the second time that that's happened, but I could live with it... Not this time though.

"Can we just compromise and say we go north?" I offered, lifting an arm from my laid back position to better address them. I would have just sat up so that I could face them, but my still aching ribs wouldn't allow that. The sound of their arguing stopped as they realized that I was awake, leaving a slightly uncomfortable silence in the cave that was only interrupted by the sound of the occasional owl from outside.

"Hm. Perhaps Sir Jeremy holds reason." Nightmare Moon hummed, the sound of her hoof steps clear as she seemingly approached my place on the floor.

It felt strange to have slept through the day and to wake up at night. Kind of like I was a bat or something. I'm certainly not going to complain about it though. The idea of walking around during the day had lost its charm, in a way.

Finally trotting into my limited view, Nightmare Moon looked down to me with a slight smile. "How go your injuries, Sir Jeremy?"

I returned the smile, albeit forcibly, as I glancing down to my chest. I could still quite clearly see many blackened blotches of skin through the tears in my shirt.

"Well, it doesn't hurt as much as before when I'm not moving, so that's probably a good sign."

She rolled her eyes at the obviously horrible joke, her horn beginning to glow as I felt my body once again feel lighter than before. I gave out a sight as I felt a large portion of my practically ebb away from me before I began to stand up from my 'bed'.

I nodded my thanks before then and looked towards Chrysalis, dusting myself off and crossing my arms as I noticed her slightly narrowed eyes.

"So. Would you prefer to make it a unanimous vote and start making our way north, or are you gonna stick to your guns and lose the vote 2 to 1?"

"... I really dislike you."

I couldn't withhold my chuckle, waving her off dismissively and rolling my eyes at her behavior.

"Good afternoon to you too."

Chrysalis grumbled under her breath at this, already turning to face the entrance to the cave. Next to me, I could hear Nightmare Moon snickering.

"Fine then, have it your way. We go north. We have 12 hours before the sun rises again. Remember to stick together and we should all be fine."

Nightmare Moon nodded and very quickly made her way around me. I blinked as I watched her follow after Chrysalis in what seemed like an almost hurried pace.

Odd.

With the pain I felt being much less intense than before, I was able to catch up to the two rather easily, meeting up with them just outside of the cave's entrance.

"Any particular reason we're in such a rush?" I asked the two. Chrysalis looked at me with a deadpan expression while Nightmare Moon gave me a questioning one. I felt my lips purse at this. "We already got away from those guards at Canterlot. Why else should we be worried?"

"Oh, I don't know," Chrysalis began, sarcasm already dripping from her voice. "Maybe it has to do with the fact that we're in one of the most dangerous forests in Equestria!" Raising both of my arms up in surrender, I took a slight sidestep away from her.

"Whoa. Geez, calm down. It can't be that bad, ri- Oh." I stopped myself mid-sentence as I finally processed our surroundings. A forest of several familiar sights. Darkened trees with high canopies, vines hanging down with life-like potential, and odd looking plants spread around the area, occasionally accompanied by one of several shadowed figures rustling past the plant life. This forest was familiar for all of the worst reasons, seeing as I had lived in it for a few months.

"We're in the Everfree Forest!?!"

Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon quickly shushed me, urging me to be more quiet. I winced as I quickly corrected my volume. I'm more than a little aware of how many things there are around here that would jump at the opportunity to silence whatever loud noises were coming from other parts of the forest. After living with Zecora, I knew more than enough about how dangerous this forest was. I had nearly been turned into manticore feed more times than I could count, let alone the timber wolves, and the weird plants that were scattered around the place. Poison joke was one of my more personally hated plants.

"Sorry, but why the hell are we here!?!" I asked in a much lower volume.

"'Tis the only location the two of us could recall that my 'sister' wouldst never attempt to follow." Nightmare Moon responded. She watched out surroundings with absolute focus, her ears twitching at so much as the slightest noise.

"It's not like it was my first choice." Chrysalis added, looking blankly in front of her and shrugging as she did so. "But it wasn't like we had many options."

I couldn't believe this. I managed to escape from a torturous prison cell only to end up in an even crueler forest. Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire. I took in a deep breath, filling my lungs with that familiar Everfree air, before just as slowly letting it out again.

"... So... north?" I glanced towards the two, noticing them both nod their heads. "Then I guess we'd better get going."

This couldn't possibly go well.

-------------------------------------

Well, it hadn't been horrendous, but it had certainly been annoying. While my two former cellmates had somehow walked through the forest with little to no issue, I was constantly rubbing my legs on a thorn bushes and thistles. The spell that Nightmare Moon cast helped me walk, sure, but it didn't help me see any better in the dark. Granted, my eyes had adapted to the dark over time, making me see better than most other humans would at night, but I was competing with the former princess of the night and an insectoid with night vision. Not really a fair comparison.

On the dim side though, I was finally able to look at something that wasn't a ceiling for the first time in what felt like forever. Call me cliche, but there's a reason I always tried to work in lots of windows or sunroofs into any building designs I made when I worked in Canterlot. I always figured it was healthy, if only spiritually, to be able to look outside and see the sky from whatever office or room you were in. I personally even left my office windows open at night, often times glancing out at the star filled skies whenever I would need a moment to empty my thoughts. I had always enjoyed the sight, both on Earth and on Equestria. Now, after being crammed inside a small room for so long, it seemed heavenly. It was dark, yet bright. Solemn, yet cheerful. It was everything that I was hoping it would be and more.

"Dost ye enjoy our night?"

To my left, Nightmare Moon had now taken to walking right next to me, a small smile on her face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We had all been traveling for over an hour's worth of time, the forest of Everfree constantly seeming to revolve around us with every step we took, splitting itself apart in an effort to allow us three to journey through its many mysterious trails. The changeling queen, Chrysalis, had been leading us in our quest for escape. She did not seem to hold any fear nor emotion whatsoever as we continued down the deadly forest in which my 'sister' and I had once inhabited.

Time and time again I would hear Sir Jeremy grunt or flinch in discomfort as he followed us two, likely not possessing the same attunement to the darkness that Chrysalis and I held. I held my spell at its full strength in my attempts to keep Sir Jeremy limited to the discomfort of the forest rather than the pain of his wounds. 'Twas not until yet another short period of time did pass before I could no longer take the sound of his misery, turning to face the friend I knew as Jeremy with worry in my mind.

Much to my surprise however, Sir Jeremy did not seem discomforted. Rather, he seemed enthralled. His head was seemingly fixed upright as he looked towards the sky. My sky. 'Twas the very reason that Sir Jeremy had been injuring himself so constantly, his eyes focused on my night sky rather than the path before him.

I could not withhold my smile as I purposely slowed my walking pace, allowing Sir Jeremy to reach my side before matching his steps. Yet he was blissfully oblivious of my arrival in his distraction. I took another moment or so to enjoy the sight of a subject observing my joyous night sky before deciding it best to make myself known to him.

"Dost ye enjoy our night?" I asked, quickly drawing his attention with a slight start. I withheld a chuckle as I myself looked to the heavens above us. I could almost feel its energy pass through me, much like the smooth silk of my original quarters' bed coverings being moved across my side.

"Heh. Sorry about that. Zoned out for a second." He returned his own gaze to the stars. "To answer your question, yes, I do. Its been so long since I've seen the night sky, I'd almost completely forgotten how nice it looked." I felt my face warm itself slightly as he said this, but fortunately he did not seem to notice.

"We are glad that ye think so, Sir Jeremy. Few other ponies seem to appreciate the stars and moon as ye do in these times."

"Really? I can't see why. I mean, sure, people, er, ponies, need their sleep from time to time, but there's no way they can just not notice something above their heads for half of the day, right?" I glanced to Sir Jeremy and sighed, shaking my head at his statement.

"I'm afraid that ye do not understand, Sir Jeremy." There was a moment of pause before he gave a response.

"... Probably not. But maybe this will help. What do you think humans like me do at night?" I raised a brow as he raised the question to me, unsure of what direction he had been taking.

"We are not sure. Mayhaps ye rests?" He shook his head with an earnest smile.

"Not all of them. For humans, the night isn't just a time for us to sleep. If anything, we think of the night as a time to really... well, let loose." I didn't quite comprehend what he had meant by this at the time.

" 'Let loose'?"

"Yeah. Let loose. Humans would throw parties, go out for walks, even go out with the people they love so that they can enjoy the night together." This was surprising to hear. I had never heard of so much activity during the time of my night. "Sure, some prefer the day, and that's fine. Others though, myself included, prefer the night. I mean, its relaxing, its peaceful, and it certainly helps that its a beautiful sight."

I once again felt a warmth rise to my face, this time being more intense than before. Still, I could also feel the corners of my lips rise seemingly without my own control.

"... Thank you, Sir Jeremy. Those were truly kind words for you to say."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"It's no problem, Nightmare Moo- Ow!" Okay, that particular rose bush stung quite a bit. It also tore through quite a bit of my already torn pants. What fun. "Oh come on! How the hell are you two avoiding this all? These bushes are all over the place."

"Maybe if you pay attention to where you're actually walking, you'll be able to avoid hurting yourself so much." Chyrsalis chimed in from ahead of us, not taking her gaze off of the path ahead of her.

"In case you haven't noticed, I don't have night vision like you two." I told her with a deadpan tone. I heard her chuckle from ahead of me, which was more than a little irritating.

"Too bad. Especially since the Everfree Forest is so full of deadly animals." She teased. I could practically hear her smirk from back here.

I could only roll my eyes as I glanced back to Nightmare Moon. Concerningly, she held a look of odd confidence as she narrowed her eyes at Chrysalis.

-------------------------------------

After about another three hours of walking, we had managed to get past the more 'thorny' part of the Everfree Forest, thank whatever god might matter around here.

Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon had been silent, for the most part, since the conversation from a few hours ago. Nightmare Moon had sped up her pace again, returning to her original position in between Chrysalis and I. As for me, I was doing fine aside from a few dizzy spells I would have from time to time... Okay, a lot of dizzy spells.

Nightmare Moon may have handled my pain with that spell of hers, but she couldn't exactly have taken care of the fact that I had only recently started eating and drinking again. Granted, the berries and water that the two brought me were delicious and satisfying, plus they felt like an outright blessing to me, but it took more than a single day's worth of food for the human body to recover from a state like mine was in.

I stumbled slightly from another dizzy spell taking away my balance for a moment. Thankfully, I managed to stop myself from falling with the help of a nearby tree branch. I took a second or two to regain my bearings and catch my breath. I was fortunate that both Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis seemed to have taken notice of this, stopping and turning to face me.

"Is all well, Sir Jeremy?" Nightmare Moon asked. I forced a smile. They had already lost enough time because of me. I didn't want to cost them even more.

"I'm fine. Just a little dizzy." For a second I thought I actually convinced her, what with the fact that she turned around again and began to walk off. I should have figured that it wouldn't be that easy though. Before I could even let out a sigh of relief, dizziness became the last of my problems as I started to float up into the air. That magical aura at the edge of my vision and humming in the back of my head both began to increase in intensity.

I flailed my arms and legs wildly, trying to get back to the ground as quickly as I could. I was not okay with floating!
I respected Isaac Newton as a man as well as a scientist and preferred to continue respecting his law of gravity, thank you very much!

"Nightmare Moon, put me down!" Chrysalis laughed as she watched me struggle like an flailing deer, turning and beginning to walk off herself. Nightmare Moon, in the mean time, was starting to get a smile as she trotted along, floating me over to her side and slightly turning my stomach in doing so.

"Do not fret, Sir Jeremy, for we do not plan on carrying you throughout the night." She wasnt looking at me as she said this, her eyes narrowed in a somewhat devious manner. I followed that gaze and felt my heart drop ever so slightly as I realized what she meant. But, by then, she had already floated me well over halfway above Chrysalis before slowly placed me down onto her back. I shivered as I Chrysalis like one would a horse back on Earth, not quite used to either the feeling of riding a horse or the unique variation of this brought on by the cold exoskeleton that Chrysalis was covered in. At least I thought it was an exoskeleton.

To say that Chrysalis was displeased with this, though, would be an understatement.

Chrysalis stopped walking yet again, turning her head to see the source of the new weight on her back and widening her eyes in surprise as she saw me. I could only give a sheepish smile as I gave a small and awkward wave.

"And just what are you doing?" She asked, lightly jabbing me with her horn. Nightmare Moon took the opportunity to respond.

"Sir Jeremy was experiencing a lack of balance, so we decided that he would need a rest." Chrysalis looked to Nightmare Moon with a look of pure annoyance before returning her gaze to me.

"Then why did you put him on my back?" Chrysalis retorted. I, in the mean time, just put my hands up to make myself seem as harmless as possible. Nightmare Moon gave a smug glance to Chrysalis.

"We need to continue advancing, do we not?"

"Yes, but not like this!" She shot back. Nightmare Moon just chuckled though, walking past the two of us with a glance.

"As thou hast said thyself, 'Too bad'." And with that, she went on, not saying another word as she continued through the forest, leaving Chrysalis and I some distance behind her. Score one for Nightmare Moon, it had seemed. Unfortunately, I was still in a bit of a sticky situation.

I felt my throat get just the slightest bit dryer as I looked back to Chrysalis, who was currently in the direction Nightmare Moon had walked off in incredulously.

"I'll just get off now-"

"No you won't." She interrupted. I froze, raising an eyebrow as she told me this.

"Pardon?"

"As much as I hate to say it, she's right. We're better off with you like this than having to slow down for you every minute or so." Was... was that compassion? No, surely she was just following the clear logic that had been placed before her. But even then, this seemed to different from her usual behavior. Where's the cold, sarcastic changeling that I knew? "If you ever bring this up again though, I'll give you even more of a reason to need carrying."

Ah, there she is.

-------------------------------------

Nibbling on one of the berries that we had found in our trip, I couldn't help but find the current situation to be at least the slightest bit uncomfortable. For the past hour or so we'd once again been walking in silence. Or rather, Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis were walking while I rode atop of Chrysalis.

Despite my and Chrysalis' insistence, Nightmare Moon wouldn't let me set foot on the ground. So, I was stuck riding on Chrysalis' back through the whole night.

Its one thing to feel like you're causing a friend trouble, even if she didn't technically think of me as a friend, but its another to literally be riding on top of them. Especially since both Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis were taller than me, standing over me by at least two heads. So now, not only was I riding on Chrysalis, but I couldn't see in front of me! Maybe I'm just being overly self-conscious about this, but I didn't particularly appreciate feeling like a kid. It was oddly patronizing.

Besides that though, the only other major problem with this situation was how boring it was. It was like a broken record. 'Tamp, tamp, crunch, rustle. Tamp, tamp, crunch, rustle. Tamp, tamp, crunch, rustle!' Christ alive, I could practically hear someone creating an annoying pop song to the beat of this that would inevitably get stuck in my head.

Still, its not like boring is a bad thing in the Everfree forest. Its either boredom or pure adrenaline as you run away from whatever horrifying creature was trying to make you into its next meal. Or use you as a chew toy. Or rip off your skin.

I'm rambling again, I really need to talk to someone soon.

"... So, anypony know how to pass the time?" I asked, cracking my back in an effort to get rid of the many knots that had built up. This was why horses normally wore saddles. That and my butt was starting to go numb. Then again, I'm riding on an insect-pony hybrid.

"How exactly would we do that?" Chrysalis rebuked, glancing back to me with a turned head. I shrugged.

"I don't know, I thought maybe we could just... talk, or something." Please, don't leave me alone with my thoughts. Even I get annoyed by how much goes on in there when I have nothing to do.

Rolling her eyes, Chrysalis put her attention back to the path ahead of her.

"Perhaps ye can regale us with a tale from your past." Nightmare Moon suggested. It took me a second or two to figure out what she had said, I'm not going to lie.

"Oh, like a story?" I asked. When Nightmare Moon nodded, I let out a mental sigh of relief at the fact that I had guessed right. Chrysalis glanced to me again, a sarcastic smile on her face.

"Oh yes, please! Fascinate us with whatever you had done in your life before being arrested. I'm soooooo interested." Someone needed a nap.

"Ha ha, very funny." I sarcastically replied, drawing a smile from Chrysalis.

"I thought it was. Now, under any other circumstances, I would ask about whatever crime it was that landed in jail." I narrowed my eyes at the theme that seemed to constantly repeat with her.

"I don't remem-"

"But, since you're so dead set with the idea of not telling us, I'll just settle for what you used to do before you were arrested." I continued to glare at her for a moment or two, though she didn't seem to notice, before I let out a sigh of frustration and pinched the bridge of my nose in annoyance. Had I really never talked to her about this in the time we were in the same cell?

I mean, I guess we didn't really make conversation that didn't take the form of idle arguments, plus we never really brought it up with each other, so...

"All right. I was an architectural engineer in Canterlot." I began, looking to the starry sky again as I fell slowly into my thoughts of the past.

"Architectural engineer? Ye were a builder?" Nightmare Moon asked, slightly throwing off my train of thought.

"Um, no. I didn't build anything, I just made the designs. Schematics and the like." Nightmare Moon nodded in understanding, seeming to listen to me with her utmost attention.

"Anyways, it was a pretty good job. A good pay, nice ponies, and I even chose my own hours. Plus, I was doing something I loved, so that was a bonus I guess." I chuckled as I recalled the eagerness that I would normally feel on a workday compared to everypony else's exhaustion. Funny how the only human in an all pony company was more eager to please than the more experienced personnel.

My guess was that it was because many of the ponies that worked there didn't exactly have their so called "special talent" based around the business. Sure, there were a good portion of them that were pretty good at things like structuring and demolition and such, but a lot of other ponies had cutie marks for thing like making homemade Ice Cream despite working in the industry.

"The day I had gotten the job was a miracle on its own. See, I was heading home after having bought some furniture for my new house since I had just moved into Canterlot. Then, there were these two ponies."

********************************************

"Well that was nice of them."

So far, the move was going pretty well. Granted, some of my neighbors were snooty as all hell. So much so that even if they had poles up their asses, it still wouldn't make a difference to how uptight they were. 'Stop with all that racket!', 'Can't you see that some ponies are trying to relax here!', 'How rude!'. That kind of stuff. I don't know how they expected me to be quiet while I was moving heavy furniture but I did know that it was annoying.

Luckily, there were still some nice ponies in this town after all. The furniture store I went to made it quite clear that they wanted nothing more than to keep their customers satisfied. That included bringing over furniture to the buyers house, even though it wasn't necessary. They weren't being obligated by their manager or looking for tips, but actually doing it because they wanted to. So naturally, as soon as they finished, they could bet that I was going to treat them to something nice.

"Which reminds me, how many funds do I have again?" I cringed at the thought, but I was still going to reward those ponies nonetheless. Right now though, I was just focused on getting back home. It was getting late and soon Celestia would completely lower the sun and make way for Luna's moon... I still couldn't get my head around that concept.

"What do you mean, 'he's sick'! He's been 'sick' for the last two months!" The sound of someone yelling was pretty clear. A part of me wanted to just avoid it, but it was kind of coming from the same direction that I was walking. So yeah, that was out.

"Look, that's the message he sent me. Whether he's sick or not, I'm not too sure, but either way, I still need to know what kind of material I should use for this support beam." Support beam? Are they talking about architecture or something?

Suddenly, my attention was very much drawn to the source of the voices. Back home I loved physics and had always wanted to be an engineer before I ended up here. I blinked as I purposely made my way much more directly towards the voices, eventually reaching and glancing around a wooden fence where two ponies seemed to be looking over blueprints. One of them was an earth pony with red fur, an orange mane, and a measuring stick as his cutie mark. The other, to my confusion, was a unicorn that wore a suit and tie coupled with yellow tinted sunglasses. His fur was brown and his mane was colored the same. Though, it was cut into some kind of buzz cut. Finally, he had a cutie mark of a protractor on his side, surrounded by the white lines a person would normally see on a schematic. The latter of the two was currently floating the building schematics in front of the both of them.

"I swear, when I get my hooves on him... Look, I think that if we were to put a solid steel support column in the center, it would be able to hold the place up."

"Yeah, but we'd end up putting a support beam in the middle of the room." He wasn't wrong. By the looks of the structure, while a steel column could, in theory, keep the building well supported, it would end up being more of an inconvenience than an advantage.

"True, but it's all we got. If you got any better ideas then why don't you go ahead and say 'em."

"You could just cover it in drywall and repurpose it as a bookshelf. That would make it into more of a centerpiece than some weird distraction."

Ah. I was rambling again. More concerningly, I'm pretty sure I had rambled that out loud, if the looks the two ponies were giving me were any indication.

"... What did you say?"

"Um... I just figured... you could make it seem nice while being functional... is all."

Am I normally shy? No. Do I have even the slightest clue as to whether or not I had offended these possibly dangerous ponies that were in front of me? No. Did I need to be nervous? I'm pretty sure I had just answered that question.

For some time, the two ponies stayed silent, glancing to and from the building blueprints and me.

"I'll just be going now... Bye." And just like that, I made my way back home. In other words, I sprinted the hell outta there.

-------------------------------------

That had to have been one of the most embarrassing things I had ever done. Let alone stupid. I rubbed my palms against my face as I sighed and glanced out the window. The ponies from the store had kept their word and, since I didn't really have much else to offer, I gave them a pretty hefty tip. Though, looking at my funds now, I think that I may have slightly overextended myself. They sure weren't expecting it.

At least all the furniture was in the house now. Hopefully I could finish unpacking before another of my neighbors came by the complain about the noise.

The knock I immediately heard at the door very quickly destroyed whatever hope I had of that rather quickly though. I groaned and practically slammed open the door as the knocks against the wood just kept on coming.

"Alright, alright already! Keep your pants on m-" I froze as I opened the door, noticing the same two ponies from before were there, looking at me with raised brows.

"Um... We're not wearing pants."

********************************************

"If they were not wearing pants, then why didst ye claim they were?"

"It's a figure of speech, Nightmare Moon. It means to calm down, basically." I explained. "Like I was saying, as it turned out, those two were the co-founders of one of Canterlot's more successful engineering companies, 'Hooves and Elbow Grease'. They had come by to tell me that my idea was actually really effective, and best of all, they even offered me a job!"

"Hm. They must have been desperate." Chrysalis commented.

"Would it kill you to say one nice thing about me?" She gave a snicker. "... Well fuck you too."

I turned my attention towards Nightmare Moon, who was currently holding an unimpressed frown on her face towards Chrysalis.

"Anything else you want to hear about?"

********************************************

"Mr. Tendhoof, I've got those schematics you asked for." I told my regular customer, unfolding the blue sheet of paper and laying it out on the flat wooden table in front of him.

"Thanks Jeremy. And you can call me 'Hardhat'." He was always a relaxed stallion, never really taking anything too seriously unless it was absolutely necessary. He had a orange-yellow coat with an even darker colored orange mane. He was an earth pony, the biggest one that I had met, rivaling even the size of a quiet red stallion I had seen in Ponyville when Zecora would ask me to get her some groceries. As for his cutie mark, it was that of a hammer with several nails and a yellow hardhat on top.

I wasn't sure why at the time, but whenever he came over to the company for new schematics he would always ask for me personally. As it turned out, he just really liked the designs and ideas I brought to the table. I guess some of the stuff I had learned back home was relatively new knowledge here in Equestria, so I was bringing some interesting new concepts to attention.

"Sorry about the short notice by the way but the pony that wanted us to build this place cut our time limit. We had to pick up the pace if we ever wanted to make it on time."

Placing two paperweights on the side of the blueprints so it wouldn't be blown off of the table, I looked to my old 'friend' and waved my arm at him dismissively. "It's no problem, it was a slow week anyway. Besides, haven't I always pulled through for you, Tendhoof?"

Rolling his eyes, he nodded, a comical smile on his far. "And that's why I usually choose you to be my building designer. Though, I do have some questions about this ventilation system you added to the building structure..."

Looking over the schematics again, he began to silently read out the details of the plans again... Before punching my arm. Considering he was an earth pony and he had hooves instead of fists, it hurt. A lot.

"Ow! What was that for!" I yelled, rubbing my now aching arm.

"For calling me Tendhoof again. I've told you over a dozen times now that you should call me like everypony else does. 'Hardhat'. Say it with me now. 'HAAAAARRRRRRDDDDHAT'." I rolled my eyes at his sarcasm and found myself leaning against the table with blueprints.

"Yeah, why do they call you that anyway?" I asked. To my surprise he looked to me and smiled before looking to the construction sight ahead of him and gesturing towards it.

"Watch this." No sooner that he had said that, he began to trot his way onto the site. The problem? He had, ironically compared to his name, headed in without a hardhat. The moment he stepped in though, I heard a pony from above yell.

"Look out below!" The next few seconds could only be described as true anxiety-ridden horror as I watched a series of objects ranging from cinderblocks to steel beams hitting everywhere around the smiling stallion as he sat on the ground, seeming to draw a perfect circle revolving him. As the dust cleared up, I was pretty sure that he could easily see my dropped jaw considering the fact that he had begun to laugh hysterically.

"H-how? Okay, you know what, fine. You're lucky when you get into danger. But that still doesn't explain why they call you 'Hardhat'." He stopped his laughing for a moment or two, comically raising a brow at me with an expecting smile.

"See, that's the fun part." He easily made his way out of the mess of debris around him and towards the entrance of the construction site, grabbing a hardhat from one of the tables and once again taking a seat.

"Incoming!" This time, a solid cinderblock landed upon and crumbled on his head, the hardhat protecting him perfectly from the falling peace of debris just as it was designed to.

I heard him chuckle as he made his way to me, taking off his helmet and shoving it into my arms.

"Hardhats always seemed to do the opposite of what they're supposed to for me, huh?" Glancing down to the hardhat he had put in my hands, I carefully put it down on the floor and took a couple of steps away from it.

"So... about that ventilation system."

********************************************

"Hehe. I ended up avoiding construction sites altogether for a week after that. Made it hard to work with Hardhat, but after the performance he put on, I doubt that anypony else would do something different." Nightmare Moon had apparently seen quite a bit of enjoyment behind that story of mine, seeing as she was barely holding back a laugh behind one of her hooves. Even Chrysalis, surprisingly, seemed to be struggling to withhold a poker face as the corners of her mouth occasionally rose and threatened to make a smile.

"Your experiences in Canterlot are most amusing, Sir Jeremy." Nightmare Moon chuckled out, a smile plastered on her face as she looked back to me. Returning the smile, I then looked to Chrysalis with a raised brow, tapping her lightly as I slyly hoped for a response.

"Well Chrysalis? What did you think?" Chrysalis took a moment or two to respond, almost hesitant to speak.

"... Alright. I admit Jeremy, it was pretty entertaining to hear." Smiling, I leaned back in my 'seat' on Chrysalis' back, closing my eyes in content relaxation.

"And you thought this wouldn't help pass the time."

We fell back into silence for a moment, reveling in it, before all at once both I and Nightmare Moon realized what we had just heard.

"Did you just say 'Jeremy'?"

Next Chapter: Chapter 7: Visiting Hours [Here Again] Estimated time remaining: 14 Hours, 25 Minutes