“Batman? Me? Are you nuts, Myrna?” I give her an incredulous look. “I’ve got eight-hundred bits and no job. Do you know how much just one of those Batarangs cost? One-hundred dollars! Wayne can only manage ‘cause he’s richer than Scrooge McDuck!”

“And you have fingers! think of all the things you could use them for. You could make millions on massages alone. I know that I’d pay for a massage or two from you.”

“Yeah yeah, I know. One thorough back-scratching and Celestia seems to have forgiven pretty much everything I’ve done so far... You and Anne should probably meet the Princesses some time. At least Anne if you already have.”

“I did while you were away. She seems really nice.”

“Yeah, but she’s got a bit of a short fuse at times, though it’s kinda hard to actually light it. Luna on the other hand... well, she also looks out for her subjects, but apparently is a lot more severe, though less forward-thinking.”

“I met her, too. She seems so lonely, though. I wonder if she has any friends of her own?”

“Well, her little Nightmare Moon episode is over, so I don’t see why not. Except there’s the whole goddess-of-the-night thing going on. Doesn’t sound too inviting. She’s fun to mess with though.”

Myrna shoots me a sideways glare. “Don’t be mean to the pretty pony princess, Anthony. She seems like she’s scared of others. Idunno, didn’t get to speak with her much.”

Before I can give any form of response, a bright flare of light blinds me, and I cover my eyes. Almost immediately, I hear shouts of ‘sorry!’ from the shore.

“I thought you could turn that off or something!” I shout over to Anne. She’s the only reflective object I know that can apologize.

“Sorry!” she calls again. “But my wings are still all metal-ey, and and so’s my hair. I’m sorry!”

I sigh and gesture her over to us. I continue my conversation with Myrna as Anne makes her way over to us.

“Well, as for Luna being scared of others, I’m gonna have to call bullshit. If she had the guts to suggest I would take the idea of her locking me up in a dungeon or something and not even protest... well, I’d say she’s not afraid of anyone.”

“Wait wait wait, you think that a politician, literally a hundred-plus times older than the stinkiest master of red tape from the Pentagon, would just spill out every emotion in a place where she’s being watched by the peop- uh, ponies she’s trying to make sure don’t send her back to prison? A prison so bad, she was literally incapable of eating or drinking or anything for a thousand years?”

“No, she’s allowed to hide her emotions, but that doesn’t mean she’s scared of anyone. I showed her what I thought of it and she was pissed off by the time she recovered. If she was scared, she’d have avoided the person who gave her horn third-degree burns and laid her out in under ten seconds.”

“Because, of course, nobody ever lashes out when afraid. because nobody has ever made a rash, mean decision while fearing someone. Nope. Never happened ever.” Myrna looks at me with a deadpan expression.

“Look, all I know is she threatened me, and I made it clear that she shouldn’t. End of story. She’s not scared of me, but I’m not a danger to others. I’m not just go on a rampage and destroy cities for kicks. I don’t like being locked up, so I made that very clear.”

“What, by attacking her? To show you’re not violent? Pfft, that’s some brilliant thinking, there, Holmes.”

“No, I did it because she suggested that the best course of action was to have me detained. I didn’t like that. Besides, I don’t hate her for it, I mean, I made one of my little diamond creation-things for her... before she suggested it. Kinda made it seem like she didn’t care how nice I’d been. I still don’t hate her though.”

“Uh, Anthony, while I’m sure it was a nice gesture... didn’t you know that diamonds are the second most-common gemstone in Equestria? It’s like offering someone a nicely carved piece of granite; it’s cool and all, but not that special. Even I know that, and I’m not really much of a rocks person. Er, well, you know what I mean.”

“So you’re saying that it’s not a nice gesture if the value of the gift is equal to dirt, no matter how much of my own literal energy I put into making it specifically for her? Yeah, you’re right, what was I thinking. Should’ve g-”

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it!” Myrna interrupts, and I feel my ‘raft’ dip dangerously close to the cool water of the lake.

“Well I don’t really care.” She can soak me if she wants, I have my opinions and I’m going to speak them, damnit! “Luna and I don’t see eye-to-eye all the time and that’s that, why do you think I have to be super-best-friends with everyone I meet, even when they piss me off?”

“I don’t know, maybe because your reaction to ‘don’t go on a rampage’ is to nearly kill one of the rulers of the land and release one of their oldest enemies without any precautions!” Myrna snaps. “Or maybe you didn’t know Luna was hospitalized for two months after your little stunt? I got a full run-down about the things you’ve done. How you’ve done some really amazing things for this town. And how you’ve taken every chance you can to torment the equivalent to your parole officer on a regular basis!”

My what? “Did they actually say that they were my parole officers? And second of all, don’t you dare act like Discord is a monster. I’ve talked with him. He’s no more monster than a rambunctious child! The princesses are feeding you propoganda like they did to me!”

“Neither they nor I have even once called him a monster, Anthony-”

“They did when I first asked about him. I’m serious, in a few days I’m going to release him again. He’s served his time, and he’s getting let out. Also, I don’t listen to anyone, I have my free will, and not even a pair of over-glorified royal horses are gonna tell me what I can and can’t do.” Feeling fed up with the conversation, I jump off of her and swim to the shore, passing by Anne who was still at the shore. Guess she can’t swim or fly. Oh well.

I head off to... I don’t really care. I wonder if Discord could give me my powers back... Next Chapter: Chapter 96 Estimated time remaining: 21 Hours, 27 Minutes