Worried I may have been unconscious for more than a few minutes, I pocketed the empty tube then quickly left the cold interrogation room and eventually got to the regular halls, scanning the walls as I walked. My strides were rapid and my breath was short, the halls seemed to stretch on forever. I felt incredibly alone.

"Clock, clock, clock..." I mumbled to myself as my frantic jog turned into a slow sprint.

As I was running, a firm hand gasped my good shoulder, stopping me in my tracks. It spun me around to face the creature. "Woah, slow down now, Dan. You don't want to fall again." Steve said, standing on his back legs, still holding my shoulder and using it as a support for his odd stance. "I heard about what happened." He sighed.

Propped up like he was, he was almost as tall as I was, if he had straightened up a bit, I'm sure he could have been towering over me.

He was wearing an uncharacteristic suit, but maintained his hat. The blue officer-style cap was a lot more vibrant than usual and the golden insignia on the front was impressively reflective. It was clear he had tidied up his feathers as well, he was not nearly as puffy-looking as usual, and was instead sleek and clean.

Despite how well he was dressed, his sudden appearance only served to tighten my chest further. "What day is it?" I snapped, "What time?!"

Steve's brow folded in concern as he looked me over in an effort to explain my rushed, panicked tone. His eyes locked with the tube sticking out of my pocket. "Ahh... Cadamene..." He sighed with a hint of nostalgia, "Come on." He said comfortingly as he pressed on my good shoulder, forcing me to my knees as he returned to all-fours, he met me at eye-level that way. "It's only been a few hours, don't worry. Just lay over my back, let's get you to your room."

I blurrily stared as Steve turned sideways, "But... your wings..." I said, waving a hand in their general direction as a way of pointing.

Steve gave me a very straight face, "Trust me, I've carried griffins out of bar fights like this, and they weigh a downside more than you do." His face shifted back to sympathy as I continued to hesitate. "If it helps, lay on your back, it'll take the weight off of your arm."

I took in a deep breath, then sighed it out as I turned and fell backwards onto Steve's back. One of his wings extended to support my head and shoulders.

Steve began to walk down the halls and my heels limply dragged across the floor slightly. I could feel, to my right, his broad shoulders rolling in and out with each step he took, the movement causing my shoulder to ache slightly. It took my full willpower to not jump or shake every time his talons hit the marble flooring, as, or a reason I was ignorant to, and despite the sound being expected each time it happened; the clicks and clacks his claws made as he walked were startling me. Each step sent a small spark of pain up from my shoulder to the back of my head, but that pain was being overshadowed by the pressure building in my chest.

Using my healthy arm, I placed a hand across my chest and pushed slightly. My heart was beating so fast it felt like there was an organism in there trying desperately to claw and bash its way out.

I turned my head, letting it lay limp on Steve's wing. All I could see of the griffin was the back of his head. "What's going..." I said airily. It was all I could make out before I simply ran out of air.

Steve's head turned and he stared at me. His powerful avian, amber eyes bored into my skull. He need not speak, for his calm yet serious eyes spoke but one word. "Stop."

I took a few more very deliberate breaths as looked back to the ceiling and slowly closed my eyes. Focusing on keeping my breathing steady and my mind relaxed. The pressure in my chest was restricting my lungs and my breaths were becoming slightly panicked but I had faith in Steve, the look of sympathy in his eyes told me he knew what was happening.

I though, had no idea.

I heard a second set of clicks approaching from further down the hall, behind us. The sounds rushed to the griffin's side and began to walk along side my ride.

"Please, Mister Rosewood..." An elderly voice sounded, "You really should get back to the rehearsal. You'll want to get it right on your big day."

The fur on Steve's back shifted as his head turned to face the source of the voice. "Don't get ye'r feather's in a tangle, I'll be back soon." He said, "An' quiet down will ya'. I've got'a keep this one calm before he 'as a..." Steve's voice trailed off before he leaned closer to the elderly-sounding being and whispered something. I couldn't make out what was said, but it was made of three distinct syllables.

That really left my mind to wonder as to what I could potentially 'have' as I tried to slow my exploding heart.

The other set of steps slowly declined in speed and faded into the hallways behind us.

After a few minutes of walking, I felt a wash of air as Steve opened a door ahead of us and took a few steps in. "You're not in here, right? Dawn?" He called, lingering in the doorway. Steve waited for a response before sighing and stepping into the room and letting the door fall shut behind us.

Through my eyelids, I saw the light turn from a light orange tinge to a calm blue as we headed further into the room.

Steve lifted the wing that was under my head and tilted his body, forcing me to stand. I got onto my feet reluctantly and put a hand to my face, hunching over slightly. Seeing a sofa infront of me, I happily collapsed into it's embrace, being careful of my shoulder.

"There ya go, just relax. I'll get something for your head." Steve said, grinning and heading off into their room's kitchen area.

Their apartment was dimly lit. The sunlight passing through their thin blue curtains gave me only just enough light to see by, and gave the place a very calming atmosphere.

"My... head?" I asked, feeling around my skull for injurys with a hand.

Steve was rummaging around in the kitchen, he paused every couple words to concentrate. "You had a large dose of cadamine... In ponies, that's okay... What they tend to forget is that it can cause nasty stuff in things like griffins... I assume you're the same." He came out of the kitchen and produced a small orange pill-bottle. "Take three of these."

I took the bottle from his extended claw and examined it. "Anti... Bacterials? Why?"

He shrugged, "Cadamine's a magical drug, it works in strange ways. Those should nullify the negative effects of having a large dose."

I took Steve's word and downed three of the small tablets. Which was hard, given I had no water and I wasn't sure whether or not I could safely chew them, but the anvil resting on my chest worked as a great motivator. "What are the effects in griffins?"

He took the bottle from me and tossed it in the kitchens general direction before sitting across from me in the sofa that was facing mine. "Everything from paranoia and seizures to stiff joints and cardiac arrest." He chuckled slightly, "Good stuff though."

I smiled in agreement, "I know, right?"

He snorted before a silence fell upon the room. He shuffled in his seat before standing abruptly, "You try to relax. By the looks of it, ya' heart, or whatever's in there, wasn't doing too good. I could feel your pulse." He said, concerned, ruffling his wings as he made his way to the door.

As I tracked him with my eyes, I noticed, propped up in the corner of the room, was the electric guitar. Or at least, the piece of plywood with some metal and magic attached I liked to call a guitar. It was looking slightly worn out and I'm pretty sure the bottom two frets had fallen off. The pick laying on the floor next to it was all but a splinter now.

"Hey, er..." I said, stopping him just as he got to the door, "This may sound pathetic, but could you play me something?" I asked, pointing to the guitar. "Something at least half relaxing?"

Steve eyed the instrument uncertainly. "I dunno Dan... I don't have much time, wedding rehearsal and all... and I don't think I know anything relaxing..."

I turned my head at Steve inquisitively, "You're not nervous, are you?" His uncharacteristic deminor didn't change. "Oh come on, it's the screw-ups people remember when it comes to weddings, something you can both look back on and laugh. You want it to be memorable, right? Memorable doesn't go by the book."

He turned to me with a slightly goofy smirk, "Okay, fine." He closed the door infront of him and picked the guitar up out of its spot in the corner, leaving the pick on the ground which turned out to just be part of the guitar which had fallen off. He sat back into his previous sitting position opposite me, this time with the instrument lying across his lap. "So... Relaxing?"

I hummed as I thought, thinking of relaxing tunes I used to play. "Ah! I... Can't really show you how to play it so..." I sighed, gesturing to my right shoulder. "...Try something like this..." Although I prepared myself, I was still a little embarrassed vocalizing an instrumental sound, "Oooo-Oooo Oooo-Oooooo Oooo-Oooo-Oooo-Oo Da-Di-Da." More of a feel-good track than a relaxing one

Steve's hand slid down the frets, trying to find the first note by ear. He tried a few experimental plucks here and there once he thought he'd got it. He worked his way through the notes, trying to recreate the sound I had given him.

After a few failed attempts, I thought I'd remind him of the tune he was going for. "Try something like this-"

I was cut off by Steve pulling off the first couple longer notes with a few downward movements across the fret-board, his fingers danced back and forth between two-or-three frets for the rapid conclusion to the tune. It couldn't have lasted more than six or so seconds, but it was an impressive show of tone-awareness. I'm pretty sure he added him own flare to the tune just to make it sound better as well.

When it comes to this kind of thing, it's most likely a successful attempt is just a recreate-able fluke, but it's worth congratulating even if it was just luck.

"Damn, even I couldn't have done that. That was incredibly fast, you've really got a talent there." I said genuinely, letting a large smile spread across my face as the familiar tune resonated in my head for a second.

He shook his head, smiling, "Nah, was just luck, I'm sure."

I scoffed, "I refuse to believe that, that was skill, right there!" I said, pointing enthusiastically.

Steve just continued to shake his head, refusing my compliments.

"Do it again, come on!"

Me and Steve probably sat and played about on the weathered guitar for the best part of twenty minutes before a grey-maned pony came to the door and requested Steve's company. Steve left for what I assume was his wedding rehearsal.

The door shut behind him and left me in silence with a guitar which was still lightly humming from it's last note. My chest was relaxed and I could actually think straight, so I sat and thought for a second or two, just collecting my situation.

So... thing's to do list...

Get this band thing going... We're going to have to think of a name... And we'll need some new members and instruments... How am I going to get drums? Pots can't last forever...

Gotta see Alloy about those ponies I told him to find...

I haven't seen Eb since I woke up... I should probably find him...

Got Steve and Dawn's wedding tomorrow... Wait a second...

I stood from my seat and made for the door, muting the guitar's strings on the way there with a palm. I stuck my head into the hallway and saw no sign of Steve. Luckily, as I turned my head to return into the room, I caught a glimpse of a thin brown tail disappearing behind a corner further down the hall.

I caught up to Steve after a short jog. He was accompanied by the elderly pony. Once Steve noticed me, which was while I was still an impressive distance behind them, he stopped in the hall and gestured for the pony to continue. The old stallion gave out a small sigh and continued down the hall.

"I'm... kinda busy here Dan." Steve said, glancing further down the hall, "Try and make it quick, will ya'?"

I smiled nervously and held my bum-arm with the other, "I don't want to sound all 'entitled' or anything like that... But I am invited to your wedding, right?" Steve blinked, then leaned his head in as if he had misheard something. "I never got a formal invitation, that's all." I said, now tapping my fingers along the underside of my sling-ridden arm.

Steve stayed silent for a while, as if processing what I had just said. He broke into an airy chuckle, "This isn't some 'royal wedding' Dan. Anyone can attend." He smiled at my still confused face. "It'll be at noon, tomorrow. I'd say get their 'bout twenty minutes early, just in case."

"Okay, that's when. But where?" I asked, beginning to sense a cultural divide between me and the griffin.

Steve blinked at me as if I was an idiot. Implying that isn't true sometimes. "...In one of the ceremony halls? Where every other wedding in Canterlot takes place?" He said like it was obvious fact. "Except for those who can afford the royal stuff, but we don't care for the fancy stuff." He added, shrugging.

"Erm... ce- ceremony halls?" I shrugged cluelessly, "D- What?"

If he were a pony, his mouth would have made an 'o' shape, but his beak kind of stopped that from happening. "Oooh yeah. You 'aven't been here all that long 'ave you? It's a little easy to forget, you bein' all settled in now."

I simply shrugged again, in response. It pulled my shoulder a little, but it was good to see it could actually move a little still.

"Well... You look settled in at least. Ah well, don't worry about it, I'll just send a pony or somein' to your room tomorrow, to guide you there, show the ropes and all that good stuff." He said before pointing over his shoulder with a thumb, "I... really should be going, though..."

I quickly gestured down the hall with an arm, "Oh, go ahead. Thanks for the help." I thudded my chest with a fist a few times, "It's feeling a lot better already."

Steve shot me a brief smile before turning and quickly making his way down the hall.

Not really knowing what to do next, I decided heading somewhere familiar would do me good. I turned and headed back towards the way we had come from, I skipped Steve's door, shutting it as I passed, and made for my room.

Once a few feet from my door, I noticed a few small puddles of water just outside of the door. Not big enough to slip in, but noticeable. Stepping over the water, I pushed the door in and was hit with a chill up my spine. Something about the room was off.

Deciding this was probably best ignored, I wandered further into the room, shutting the door behind me.

The room was dead silent. It's hard to describe, but it felt like someone had been in there while I was gone and replaced everything, but it looked exactly like how I had left it. Instead of feeling 'terror' like Stephen King proclaimed one would feel in such a circumstance, I was merely unsettled. "Probably just the meds," I thought, "Steve did say they could cause paranoia."

I walked past the kitchen and poked my head into the bedroom. No one was there. For some reason, the weird feeling seemed to be centred around the kitchen. Everything there was too clean or looked purposefully dirty.

I hummed in thought as I walked further into the room, stood on the bed and put an ear to the wall opposite the door. This was the wall connecting Chrome's room to mine. I listened for a few seconds. Not hearing anything, I thudded the wall twice slowly with the bottom of a fist. Still nothing.

***

Tap Tap Tap

My one good hand drummed against the arm of the sofa as I sat, hunched over in boredom. Relaxing isn't nearly as fun when it's basically mandatory. Similar to how everyone likes to have a lay-in in the mornings and spend an extra hour or two in bed, but as soon as that bed's a hospital bed they want to get out and stretch their legs every chance they get.

I let out a long sigh as I laid back, letting my back rest on the cushion behind me. Glancing at the window, I noticed the sun was starting to dip, heading for the horizon. I rolled my eyes, deciding I'd had enough of waiting. I stood, adjusted my arm in it's sling, then set off to the throne room.

As I approached the throne room doors, one of the two guards grinned at me, pulled out an old-looking polaroid camera and gestured to the doors to his right with his head and did a hitting motion with a hoof. "Now, there's an album-cover idea..." I thought to myself.

Disregarding the very sudden and physics-breaking appearance of a very large camera in the hoofs of a previously empty-hoofed pony, I shook my head and pointed to the sling. "Sorry, can't right now." I said, chuckling slightly. "Maybe next time."

The stallion's armored shoulders dropped in disappointment as I pushed my way through the doors, slipping through as soon as the gap was large enough.

I was slightly surprised to see the room empty, aside from one lone alicorn, sifting her way through a stack of papers. Though it wasn't the usual alicorn.

Luna glanced up at me briefly before burying her head back into the floating papers. "You know, it's illegal to enter unannounced like that." She said, flatly.

I froze where I stood, about a quarter of the way into the room, "...It is?"

She shrugged, "Well, it is when I'm in here. But..." She looked past her papers and smirked at me, "I'll let you off."

A stress that had built up in my chest released in the form of a relived sigh.

"I heard about what you did in that prison." She said as I continued to make my way towards her. Like Celestia, she had a way of making the whole room reverberate her every word, making everything she said audible wherever you were in the room. It was slightly menacing, in a way. "That would explain the sudden rise in crime-rates in the north."

"It was an accident." I said, quickly.

"I'm aware." She said simply as she continued to trace the lines of text infront of her with a magically-willed quill. "You are looking for Ebony?"

I nodded, though she probably couldn't see me past her papers, "Among other things, yes." I replied.

She sighed as she scribbled on one of the pages, "He, my sister and his Queen are having a little meeting at the moment, it is... taking a lot longer than expected."

"What's going on?" Anything that requires more than one of those powerhouses in one place for an extended period of time is probably a bad thing.

"Something to do with the changeling food-source." After saying this, she glanced up, as if to see my reaction. I probably had my most attentive face on for that moment. She continued, "Something's rolling in on the winds from the north east. It's not love, yet it is 'feeding' them involuntarily in the same way that most love does."

I paused in thought, "That doesn't make any sense." Luna nodded in agreement. "I don't tend to be very... good at things that don't make sense..." I said, giving a quick glance to her horn, "That's you guys's area of expertise, I'll just leave them to it. Call-... Sent me a letter if they have any major breakthroughs, okay?"

"I'm sure they'll let you know." Luna sighed.

She was being blunt, but considering the sizable pile of paper floating before her, she had good reason to want no part in an extended discussion.

***

TAPTAPTAP

My foot thudded against the ground in a steady rhythm as I sat, again, in the sofa. Waiting.

"Quiet up there!" a stallion yelled from below the floor, followed by a few impacts of what I guess was a broomstick hitting the ceiling.

I groaned and slumped back in the chair. "I'M BORREEDD!" I yelled.

"Go dance with Discord for all I care! Just stop that incessant tapping!" He yelled in response.

A thought struck me, "Discord..." I hummed in thought, before standing and leaving the room, hoping I still knew the way to where I was going.

About ten minutes and a few floors later, I was met with a pair of vaguely familiar doors, the setting sun shining through the stained glass panels inset in them. Turning the knob, I walked out into the small garden and headed towards the small brick-lined pool of water.

I sat in one of the four benches and watched the orange sun dance across the water infront of me. I waited.

It was a painful few minutes before someone spoke up, I tried my best not to jump at the voice as it emanated from seemingly every direction at once. "Back again hmmm?"

I collected myself quickly, "I'm bored, and I need a favor." I said, trying my best to project my voice throughout the garden confidently.

"A favor... Perfect." Discord said, now beside me on the bench, mimicking my pose. "What is it you desire?" He continued as I turned towards him, shocked by his sudden appearance. His eyes were, as anyone would expect, sparkling with mischief.

"I need a drum set, from my world. A normal one, a full one. One from my era." I said, making sure my wishes were clear, the last thing I needed was him summoning a battle drum from the year 1500BC.

I was only doing this because I doubted I could make a full drum set out of stuff I could find in Equestria. The guitars were a pain to make, since each fret has to be a certain distance from the last, the strings need to be the right thickness and tuned correctly, but a set of drums is a little more involved than that. They need maintaining, yes, but the actual physical construction would be near-impossible. Plastic isn't very widespread here, I'm not even sure if it exists.

Discord blinked a few times, as if he had caught something in them. "Wait... hang on..." He put a paw up to his eyes and grabbed them, pulling them clean out. He shook them violently, like someone trying to get the last of the tomato sauce out of the bottle. Tiny pieces of paper started to fall from the two egg-shaped balls, as they settled on the ground I noticed each one had the word "mischief" printed on it. Some glitter came out along with them as well. "You'll get it later." He whispered.

Now that I'm writing this, it's kind of strange... I used the term "sparkling with mischief" before I even- oh that damn draco-whatever and his stupid... thing powers...

He shook for a few more seconds before placing them back into his skull. Leaning down, he picked up two of the small slips of paper and read them aloud. "Reason? Understanding? ...Oops, guess I shook too hard." He said, shrugging nonchalantly as he threw the papers back towards the ground. "So, a drum set?" He asked, as the papers beside him burst into small individual flames.

"Yeah, a drum set." I said, still trying my best not to seem weak. "You're probably the only one who'd know what I was talking about."

He raised an eyebrow, lifted his talon and clicked his fingers. In a flash of light, a spotless and very extensive drum set appeared floating over the pool of water. It contained everything a regular person expects from a drum set, plus some.

I nodded, "Yes, exactly like that." I pointed.

He scoffed slightly as a smirk spread across his face. He patted about his body with his paw, like someone who had lost their wallet or phone. "Ah," He said quietly, before pulling open a pocket attached to his side. He whistled a flat tone and the drum set, as if no longer solid, flowed through the air and fed into the strange pocket, shrinking to fit. Afterwards, he patted the area with his paw, the pocket was nowhere to be seen and there was no sign of the drum set. "I think I'll hang on to it, until you can drum up a payment." He said, leaning back in the bench and sighing.

I huffed and weighed my options in my head.

I only saw one.

"What would you accept as payment?"

"Oh I think I know a few..." A grin spread across his face, at first I smiled along, but, finding myself completely outmatched, my face began to twist with worry. "They're not... that hard to obtain, I assure you."

Part 2 coming relatively soon. Sorry about the wait guys, I've had things getting in the way plus a rather bad writer's block.