Every day was the same.

Sit in the corner and get as much sleep as possible.

Get food through the door.

Eat the food.

Repeat.

This went on for probably a month.

Until, one day. I seriously thought I had finally cracked and lost it.

There was a knock at the door.

A Knock. Not the usual sound of scraping metal that signified food being passed though. An actual knock.

I waited for a couple seconds. Another, single, knock.

I sighed. Expecting yet another 'questioning session' as they like to call it. "Yes?" I asked, my voice dry. At least they seemed to be in a polite mood for once, they actually bothered to knock.

There was a long pause. Before the door clicked, and slowly opened.

I stared in wonder. Her pristine, white coat. Her perfectly folded wings. Her golden accessories. Could it really be?

"You." I said, pointing at the pony in the doorway. "You have a LOT of explaining to do." My voice was quivering slightly. The complete absurdity of the whole situation hitting me like a freight train.

She smiled at me and stepped into the room, the door closing gently behind her. She trod softly towards me, then sat in front of me. I was still sat in my corner.

"Dan. First off..." She said, "I'm sorry."

I looked to the floor and nodded. Tears falling from my eyes. My face; torn between a beaming smile and a terrified glare.

"Second..." She continued. "I believe this is yours." A large knife landed in my lap.

I looked up to her. She looked... happy. I took that moment to channel my inner self, to listen to that tiny voice in the back of my head, to speak my mind, to voice my deepest and darkest feelings. I stared at her. "Celestia, what the actual fu-"

She put a hoof to my mouth. "Come, sit with me." She stood and walked out of the room.

I blinked and stood up, placing the knife in my belt. I stared at the door as it slowly swung shut again. Did... that just...

I pushed all thoughts out of my mind and walked through the door. I looked around. There were no guards. I walked down the hallway and into the open door at the end of it. There was a table. Celestia was sitting at it, an empty seat across from her. She smiled at me as I entered the cold, concrete room.

I shook myself slightly and sat. I was the first to speak. "So... I'm asleep right now... right?"

Celestia laughed slightly. "No Dan, I assure you. This is quite real."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "I watched you die."

"Oh Dan, you really think I would die from that? I think you forget just who I am sometimes." She said, putting a proud hoof to her chest.

"So... if this is real..."

She sighed. "I guess an explanation is in order."

I glared at her, and nodded. She took a deep breath and began.

"You see, when I saw the charges that were being pressed against you, I knew you would be sent to some form of punishment, and as we rightfully discovered, you are not exactly... 'hardy' as you put it. You would likely die in a prison, either to the conditions or the... other prisoners. I had to find a way of guarantying your safety. I could not simply 'get-rid' of your past actions. But... I could over-shadow them. By framing you, for my... attempted... assassination, I made the charges being pressed against you seem minuscule in comparison."

I just stared at her. "How does that help me?"

"Let me finish. I framed you, so that you would be classed as a danger to everything you are near. That is why they gave you an isolated cell, with little-to-no contact. And ponies who commit treason, or attempt it, are allowed to be punished personally by whoever is in power at the time."

I realized then why she did it. "So... you framed me... so that you could let me off of my potential punishments?"

She smiled. "Exactly. All I have to do is say that I've punished you and all the charges will be dropped. Even the ones from before."

I blinked. "So... wait, I'm confused."

She groaned. "Do you want me to tell you the loop-holes and politics behind it?"

"No!" I quickly answered. "God no! I hate that stuff... So... I'm free to go?"

"Almost." She said with a mischievous grin. "Stand." I stood, and so did she. She walked over to me. She lifted a hoof and gave me a light smack around the jaw. "There, I punished you. You are free to go." She said. Beaming.

I rubbed my face. "...Er... thanks... I guess... Do the others know?"

She nodded. "Oh yes, they are aware of the circumstances. I'm sure they completely understand now. Plus, I told all of the media companies this morning that you will be being released 'later today' so... just don't tell anypony what the punishment was. Okay? And don't tell anypony this was a set-up, enough know as it is."

I laughed slightly. "You're enough to make a man go mad, you know that?" I said, patting her on the back. She flinched at the contact. "Welp, I've got to go check on my guys. Oh, and do you have those 500 bits?"

She gave me a dead-pan stare. "Dan, you just got released from solitary confinement, are you sure you're... okay to be walking around in public? Also, I already paid that pony for you, as a little... apology for not informing you about my... secret plan."

The hell'd she say it like that for? I laughed slightly. "I'll be fine. Anyway, I have got a secret plan of my own to get to." I said, as I strolled out of the room.

I happily waved to every guard and pony I saw on my aimless walks around the concrete hallways. I may have looked confident and giddy on the outside. But I was completely lost. I beamed to the guard passing me, he looked at me with a concerned glare. Ha, no idea where I'm going... Eventually though, I found a staircase which lead upwards. It took me into a part of the Palace I recognized, so I continued to my room.

I walked to my eerily silent door and pushed the handle down. I knew something was up. It was too quiet. I slowly push the door open, it was pitch black inside, the thick curtains blocking almost all of the sunlight. I groaned, subduing to my inevitable fate, flipped the light-switch beside the door and braced myself.

Have you ever been tackle-hugged by a griffin, an changeling, three ponies and an alicorn? All at once? Let me tell you, it sounds nice, and it is. But god is it painful.

I pushed the teary sods off of me and closed the door behind me. They were all making some kind of "It's good to have you back Dan" Or "I'm sorry I didn't trust you Dan." Speech. All talking over each other.

I silenced them by lifting a hand. "Everyone. Lift a hoof and repeat after me."

They all looked at each other, shrugged and raised a hoof, or talon, in Steve's case.

"I will never speak of this again."

Luna, Steve, Chrome, Feather, Dawn and Ebony all repeated it.

"There. Now that that's all cleared up... How's about a drink?"

Basically we all went down to the Shadey and got completely wasted. And I mean ALL of us. Even Hazel came along after some convincing. They all told me their little speeches, and I immediately lost them in a haze of blurred memories.

I was off the hook. It was a time for celebration. And then forgetting... everything.

The next day, after some very necessary recovery sessions with the gang, I left Chrome's room. We all woke up there, so I assume Celestia came along at some point and put a stop to our escapades.

I walked out into the streets. Just to walk, really. It's only a coincidence that I passed the smithy on my way around the city. Really I was just looking around to see how much things had changed. The only real change was the temperature. It was cold cold now. Late November or something.

I walked into the smithy and the poor guy behind the counter sighed. "This ain't a- Oh! Dan! There you are!" He perked up when he saw me, a smile on his aged face.

I gave a slight wave. "Yeah, hey. I was wondering around outside and thought I would check on how my stuff is coming along. And also check that Celestia really did pay you."

He nodded. "She sure did! A little extra too!" His head ducked under the desk and pulled out a bag about twice the size of his head. "I got your stuff done early, as a 'thank you'!"

I blinked and took the bag. I just got a thank-you gift... for a thank-you gift... I'm okay with this..."Aw, thanks dude."I said as I peaked into the bag. Everything I need... wait... "Hey, I'd hate to be a burden..."

"Anything for you Dan. Well, not anything, but you get what I'm saying. What do you need?"

"I just need a couple planks of woo-" My words stopped as a batch of about 10 or so rather large planks hit my chest. "T-thanks." I said, struggling to keep them up.

"You're welcome!" He called to me as I walked sideways out of the door.

I hauled that stuff all the way back to my room. And got to work. Using my new knife to shape the wood and create the cavities necessary.

A couple hours later, I had finished. My creation was almost complete. Just one more thing...

I took myself, and my new toy, to the throne room. A still very hung-over Luna greeted me.

"Okay, this is going to sound weird," I started, "But I need you to cast a spell on the end of this wire which changes electrical current into sound."

She blinked sluggishly and sighed. Her horn lit for a split second. "There, done." I could tell, she really wanted to be alone.

I looked down at it and tested it. Luna recoiled at the sound, but I made sure nothing too loud came out just yet. It sounded right, a little off-key though.

I laughed. "Yes, it's done! It's finally done!" I ran out of the room laughing, just to spite Luna. And also scare her, just a little bit.

I got back to my room and set it down on my table. In front of me was one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen.

With a knife-molded wooden frame... screw-tightened strings... A hollow underside with wires precariously taped into place... Magnets under each string... Wires leading off of the magnets and into a blue, glowing sphere of magic... I had made... from scratch... An electric guitar.

There are no words for the amount of pride that coursed through my body when I attached the final piece of wood onto the back, concealing and containing the mess of wires and magic beneath the wood. I quickly began to tune it by tightening/loosing the screws at the end of each string. Eventually, it let out a magnificent sound that made everyone in the other room, Chrome's room, groan in pain.

As much as I would like to torture them some more, it hurt me too. So I just settled for some quite practice-strums. To get back into the feel of things. I mean, how could I teach Steve how to play without knowing myself?

Luckily, I still remembered a lot of old riffs from back home. So I had a blast just sitting there and browsing through my inner library of songs. I tried using the guitar while channeling music magic, but it never really worked, unfortunately. It looked like I could only play things I knew how to play, so I was not able to cheat, like I did with singing.

Eventually, the others next door seemed to recover, as Ebony and Steve walked into the room while I was playing.

As soon as I noticed them ,frozen in the doorway and staring at me, I ushered them inside and quickly shut the door.

"Dan?" Ebony asked, "What is that?" Pointing at the impromptu instrument in my hands. Steve looked even more confused that Ebony. Ebony was probably resistant to confusion and shock at this point, he had spent way to much time with me.

"This? Oh, just a little toy I made." I said, strumming the strings to demonstrate. I held it by the handle and thrust it towards Steve. "This is for you, Steve. Learn it and it's ways. You learn how to do this and I will love you. Give up and I will be disappointed." He took the handle from me and looked it over in confusion. "Break it, I will kill you." he flinched and continued inspecting it a lot more timidly.

"So... I hold it like... this?" He sat on his hind legs and held the guitar like I had been seconds ago.

"Yep, it's basically a very manly harp. That's the best way to describe it, considering that's like the only instrument that exists here." I said.

He reached out and plucked a string. Then plucked a couple more, slowly. "Dan, I can only make like... 6 noises with this..."

I laughed slightly, at his complete innocence to how strings work. "Try using your other hand... claw... whatever... to press on the wires as you strum them. Experiment a bit." He did so and was taken back by the difference applying pressure to points on the strings made to the sound they produced.

Ebony seemed jealous. "Dan, how come Rose gets all the cool stuff?" He said, having to raise his voice over Steve's practicing.

I rolled my eyes. "Ebony, you said it yourself a while ago, you have nothing but legs. You can't play something like that."

He turned into a very familiar griffin after a flash of green. Steve jumped back and dropped the guitar. It made a horrible sound as it hit the ground.

"Remember what I said Steve. Break it and I'll..." I didn't have to finish my sentence, he quickly picked it up and smile sheepishly, glancing at the new Steve in the room, who was glaring at me.

"And yes Ebony." I said to the griffin. "I forgot you could do that, but I doubt you want to be like that when my plan executes." He gave me a scared look, Steve did too. "But don't worry, I'll find you something." Steve got a suspicious look on his face. Oh no... he might be figuring out what I am doing. Steve didn't make any further comments. At least he is keeping it to himself, if he's figured me out.

Later in the night I asked Steve how Dawn was. He said that she was really enjoying that 'pot' thing I taught her. I laughed at his wording, he didn't get it. But yeah, turns out she's turned out to be quite the drummer from what I have heard. If everything goes to my plan... aw man, it would be glorious.

Updated: 10/11/15
-There were a LOT of spelling/grammar mistakes in this one for some reason, maybe I was EXTRA tired when I made this one. I mean... "Oh no... Me night be figuring out what I am doing" ... seriously, it's like someone's gone and vandalised it. Damn tired-past-me.
-Also "Reveiled" ... god damn it past meeeeeee
-Fixed stuff
-Blah blah usual stuff fixed

Sorry about the short chapter, only so much I can do right now. Kind of got a lot of college stuff going on right now. You know, as it does.

See, I told you guys everything was fine. And guess what? Everything IS fine. For now at least.