Author's Notes:

You know what this story is missing? Brutal, heart pumping fight scenes and hookers...Wait, no. Forget the hookers. In any case, this one has been a long time coming, so enjoy.

Thanks to Regreme as always for his help in proofreading and editing. Can't tell you how awesome you are for doing all that for me.

It’s been several days since Twilight and Sam made amends after their fight, even slowly becoming friends the more they got to know each other. Twilight got to learn more about Sam’s homeworld and all about its strange and wondrous sounding technology, while Sam finally had someone that he was willing to truly open up to and trust besides the friends he had fought alongside with back in Memphis.

Between all that though, Twilight worked diligently in her task to return the wayward conduit to his world. Although, the progress was tedious with how the unicorn had promised to not let herself get carried away as she did before. Sam appreciated the gesture, but soon found himself becoming annoyed with the unicorn’s tiptoeing. She would constantly check to see if Sam was alright during whatever test she put him through, no matter how small it was. Twilight took a painstaking amount of time before each procedure to explain every step she would conduct to the conduit, no matter if he was directly involved or not. Whenever Twilight would ask a question about Sam’s world, whether it be for her research or just out of curiosity, she’d always follow it up with something along the lines of ‘I hope it’s not too much to ask’. It was like she thought everyday she was navigating through a minefield blindfolded.

Then there was even the time that she accidently threw a beaker at the conduit. Although, that one was more Sam’s fault since he thought it would be funny to sneak up on the distracted unicorn with a wire frame of a giant tarantula in his hands as a prank. It didn’t matter though, since the beaker smashed against the conduit’s face and opened up a small gash on his forehead. The wound healed quickly enough, but the damage was done. Twilight looked about ready to have a heart attack for what she did and apologized as many times as she could before Sam could get her to realize it was all an accident.Yet, she still seemed to assign the blame to herself and tried to avoid Sam whenever she could for the rest of the day.

It wasn’t until the point that even a small bump into each other would turn the unicorn into an apologetic mess that Sam had had enough. Sam pulled the little unicorn aside and finally let out his grievances. Twilight seemed even more distressed at first, then hurt moreso. Then, after the two talked about it some more, the two came to an understanding on how they should be working together. From then on, Twilight and Sam were much better off, and the research Twilight conducted began to pick up steam.

“I know we’ve been over this before,” Twilight said without turning away from the set of notes she was looking at, “but is there anything else that you can remember from the time when you ended up in the throne room, or especially before?”

Sam knitted his brows in concentration and paced a bit around Twilight’s lab. The place was littered with used or discarded pieces of paper with all sorts of scientific equations and scrawlings. A few bunsen burners were busy keeping a couple of test tubes and beakers at the right temperatures for further use later. A machine that Sam didn’t fully understand its purpose to hummed quietly in one corner. It was very boxy and had a lot of dials and buttons on it. Twilight had said it was called a ‘spectro-thaumatilyzer’ or something like that. He didn’t quite pay attention to when Twilight was explaining it, but it had something to do with analyzing samples for inscriptions or signatures of magic. In anycase, it was apparently vital to Twilight’s research, so Sam didn’t encase it in a wire cocoon and hang it from the ceiling as another prank. Other such loose equipment was scattered around the room and added to the organized chaos that was a unicorn’s workshop.

In the meantime, Sam stopped his pacing and spoke. “Sorry, Sparks. The bomb went off, I tried to shield myself, everything looked like the world’s trippiest kaleidoscope, and bang! I’m faceplanting against the floor in Ponyland.”

Twilight didn’t know what to be more annoyed about. The nickname that Sam now kept calling her by or how he kept calling other ponies or places by the wrong name, like Equestria. She sighed heavily and rubbed the side of her head with her hoof to avoid another headache. After which, Twilight levitated a few more pieces of paper from various places around the room and added them to the growing stack in front of her. She skimmed over the information the new pieces provided and hummed to herself in deep thought.

“The reports from the royal guard archives says that your arrival was also accompanied by the appearance of a mirror of sorts.”

“Yeah,” Sam said, “We went over this too. The conduit me and my friends were trying to save had powers over mirrors. Sent one of the DUPes into one of them, and the guy just upped and vanished. From what I remember, I think I did fall into one behind me when I was protecting the girl. She mentioned that ‘the mirrors take stuff away’, or something like that. I just thought she meant that the mirror trick was just another one of her abilities and did something else. Never thought she meant that she could send stuff to another world.”

Twilight nodded in understanding as she looked over the papers with a bit more scrutiny. She had suspected that the mirror was the root cause of Sam’s ordeal, but held off on inquiring about it too deeply, since it was also the reason that Sam’s first encounter with Equestria had ended so poorly. She didn’t want to risk upsetting Sam by bringing the event back up when he might still be recovering, but she needed more information.

“Sam?” Twilight’s throat ran dry as she prepared herself for what she needed to ask, “I want to ask you about this one thing, and I know this might be a bit hard for you-”

The little unicorn didn’t get any further into her inquiry as Sam let out an exasperated sigh. He pinched the bridge of his nose and got a slightly annoyed look on his face. “Sparks, we’ve been over this. I’m not going to be mad, or lapse into some sort of resent against you and never want to talk to you again just because you ask me about something that might help you figure out a way to send me home. Honestly, I don’t get it. You want to help me, but every time it comes down to it, you make it out to be like I’m about to bite someone’s head off afterwards. I’ve been shot, blown up, chased down, and imprisoned at least three times now, so please, stop trying to act like I’m made of fucking glass or something.”

The harsh tone made Twilight flinch as the air in the room became still with tension. When Sam finally looked up, he saw a little, purple unicorn huddled in on herself with a remorseful look on her face. He could already sense the string of apologies that Twilight was putting together in her head and cut her off before she could start.

“Look,” Sam started off, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that.”

Twilight waved her hoof and shook her head, “No, you’re right. Even if most of it’s about gathering all I can to find you a way home, I still want to know all there is about you and your world.” The little unicorn’s hoof wavered over her healed cheek subconsciously. “Yet, I don’t want to offend you or make you uncomfortable after… the last time. Although at the same time, I’m just making excuses and delays to what could be your way home. But I can’t just ask you whatever I feel like. I have to consider each question and line of tests in regards to what you’ve been through and how traumatizing it could be. You’ve said that the D.U.P. had done awful things to you and all the other conduits. What if I end up doing the same thing without even knowing it? I’d never be able to forgive myself.”

Twilight danced on her hooves nervously as she ranted. She was completely absorbed in her world now, and Sam knew it. Of course, this is why he came up with his patent pending technique of breaking the unicorn out of her guilt loop. While she was still distracted, Sam crept up to her side. His arm stretched out to find its target, and his fingers twitched with anticipation for what was to come. His hand and his target were mere inches away, and he lunged forward to strike. Contact was made, and he proceeded to scratch that one sweet spot behind Sparks’ ear that she seemed so fond of. Her first reaction was to yelp in surprise and drop the bundle of papers floating in front of her, but once the sensations fully set in, she was practically sighing in pleasure. She began to lean into the conduit’s hand, begging for more attention as her eyes fluttered happily.

The moment of bliss only lasted for a few seconds before Twilight’s eyes shot open as she realized what was going on. She quickly batted the human’s hand away while her cheeks flushed red and tried to look as annoyed as possible.

“Would you stop that?!”

“Well, I would, but then I wouldn’t get to see you make that adorable pouty face you always get afterwards whenever I do,” Sam replied with a devious smirk on his face.

Twilight shook with aggravation and growled at her assailant. It was like Sam enjoyed frustrating others for his own amusement, which just made Twilight even more irritated.

Sam chuckled, “Yup, exactly like that. Oh, and here comes frustrated sigh~”

Although she really wanted to, Twilight stopped herself from doing just that. There was no way she was going to let Sam have the satisfaction. Instead, she inhaled deeply through her nose and let the breath out slowly through pursed lips. After sufficiently calming herself down, Twilight concentrated on what she was initially set out to ask.

“Back to the topic at hoof. The mirror you were sent through. Do you remember anything about it, like its tactile composition or possibly if it had a thaumaturgy signature or inscription?”

Sam shook his head, “I was a bit too busy dealing being a human pin cushion with all the shrapnel that bomb threw at me when I got thrown through the mirror. Plus, I have no idea what you mean by ‘thaumaturgy’ signatures or whatnot.”

“Oh,” Twilight said, her ears splaying back in unease, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to overwhelm you. It’s okay if you don’t remember.”

It was Sam’s turn to massage his temples as Twilight mentally reprimanded herself once more. So, he did the only thing he could do in this situation.

“Didn’t you say that the guards wrote a report on the event?”

Change the subject.

The strategy appeared to work somewhat, as Twilight blinked a few times and levitated the stack of papers she had earlier back to herself and looked over the report in question carefully.

As her eyes scanned over the report, Twilight voiced her thoughts, “Yes, the whole event took them by surprise, so nopony got a long enough look at the mirror itself. The whole thing, the mirror, seemed to have just willed itself into existence within the throne room, despite the innumerable wards placed about the castle and the room itself. Magus level unicorn guards also recorded odd fluctuations in the ether fields when the mirror was forming. Although the fluctuations were not due to the mirror drawing ether to itself, since the readings taken afterwards showed no signs of field decay, like with how all spells work when they consume ether, but the field was still vastly distorted or non-present. It seems like the mirror just pushed the ether field away from itself entirely in all directions. Kind of like with your resistance to magic, Sam… Wait a minute.”

The purple unicorn looked like she had just stumbled upon a breakthrough. A whirlwind of papers and documents were engulfed in her magic and circled around her. Sam was unsure if she was actually able to read all the stuff that surrounded her at once, but by the look of pure concentration, she was doing a fairly good job at it.

Twilight’s eyes lit up, and Sam waited with bated breath to see what she had come up with. Though before he got his answer, Twilight snatched up her saddlebags from the corner of her lab with magic and a few other items from around the room to place in said saddlebags. She muttered to herself as she examined each piece of equipment and either sent them back to where they came from or placed them carefully in her saddlebags. Sam was becoming bored with just watching the unicorn work, so he conjured up a few strands of wire to busy his hands.

Of course, he also asked the obvious question that was on his mind, “So, want to share with the rest of the class what you think you figured out, Sparks?”

Twilight ignored the conduit’s snark, but explained her thoughts, “It’s more of a theory, but I believe there is a way to hone in on your world’s signature. From there, it’s just a matter of following the signature’s leyline back to its origin point.”

Sam stood up straight and banished the wire from his hands, a glimmer of hope in his voice, “Wait, does that mean you can send me home?”

“N-no. At least, not yet, but it will bring us one step closer to doing just that,” Twilight said reassuringly.

Once all her selected tools were stashed away, which made her saddle bags bulge unevenly, she levitated the whole thing over her back. She struggled a bit under the weight at first, but her determination let her push herself forward and out toward the door.

“If we’re lucky, I can still grab my own readings from the throne room on any residual anomalies. Come on, Sam!”

The excited unicorn left with Sam on her heels, along with their usual escort that peeled away from their positions from beside the lab’s doors on their way out. Well, they were more like Sam’s escort.

Even though the two had made up, a certain royal guard captain was none too happy to find out that a pony, and Celestia’s personal student no less, was injured due to the conduit’s actions. His immediate orders were to have Sam detained on the spot and thrown into the dungeon, but before ol’ Cappy could get out an ‘I told you so’, Twilight came to Sam’s defense. She confessed her role to being the main cause of Sam’s outlash, but Cappy wasn’t fully convinced until Sunny and Loony came around to also attest to the unfortunate event being a clear incident of miscommunication. It also helped that the two rulers of the country have enough pull to order Sam’s release with no further questions.

That didn’t mean that Cappy was going to let the conduit go with just a slap on the wrists however. So, he cleverly suggested that Sam’s ‘free roam’ privileges should be revoked for a time and that he should be confined to his room unless he was needed for Twilight’s research or by order of the princesses. Much to Sam’s displeasure and Cappy’s delight, the princesses agreed with the ruling, and Sam was sentenced to think about his actions from the confines of his suite for the next several days unless he was told otherwise. Other than a mundane routine of wake up, research with Twilight, eat, and sleep, it wasn’t too bad. Just very boring, and the princesses did warn him if he tried sneaking out from under the guard’s watch, they would extend his sentence. So, he grinned and beared it, swearing that he would get back at the smug face of Cappy when the opportunity arose.

The near silent walk about the castle was soon met with a much needed interruption, by way of the princess of the sun making her way from just around the corner in the opposite direction. Both Twilight and the guards planted their muzzles on the ground to bow in reverence for their leader and ruler. Sam on the other hand, just shoved his hands in his pockets and nodded his head with a light smile.

“Sup, Sunny?” Sam greeted nonchalantly.

“Sam!” shouted a very worried Twilight, looking very tense once her gaze fell back on the princess. She quivered almost unnoticeably and waited for what was surely going to be her punishment for allowing the slight by the conduit go under her watch.

The princess, on the other hand, chuckled in warm mirth and bid the ponies to rise, “I appreciate your gesture in wanting to be less formal and more at ease with me, Sam. However, I would like to remind you that as a princess of Equestria, I have a certain image to uphold in the public eye, and such casual interactions may be taken the wrong way.”

Sam looked about the hall they were standing in and smiled back at the princess, “Then, I guess it’s a good thing that the public eye is nowhere around today.”

“Indeed,” Celestia smiled back, “And hello, Twilight. Do not think I haven’t forgotten about my most faithful student. It’s wonderful to see the both of you today. Although, might I ask what is it that you are doing with so much equipment that you have?”

Twilight looked like she had just avoided a car crash in the middle of rush hour and quickly recomposed herself, “Not at all, your majesty. I believe I have discovered a breakthrough in my research and was on my way to test my hypothesis.”

“Oh?” Celestia said with intrigue, “Would you mind if I accompanied you? I am curious to know how far in your research you’ve progressed.”

Like a switch that just got flipped, Twilight’s expression was nothing short of a nervous wreck. If the princess wanted to see about Twilight’s research, it could mean only one thing in the unicorn’s mind. She was about to be evaluated and judged on her performance in front of her mentor. She regretted leaving her flashcards behind in her lab at that moment.

“S-sure! I don’t mind one bit, princess. Why would I mind? Nope, totally do not not mind at all,” Twilight sputtered while she sweated bullets.

Sam didn’t know if Sunny enjoyed seeing her own student become so distraught, but it was hard to tell with her wearing that constant sirene smile all the time. Hopefully not, or else he would have to reevaluate the whole ‘benevolent ruler’ persona he was led to believe in the solar princess. Sadist was definitely one of the first new words he could use if he was proven otherwise.

“Wonderful,” Celestia calmly stated, “If I may also ask, where is it that you are conducting your next examination, Twilight?”

Twilight spoke, albeit nervously, “The throne room, princess. I, er, think there might be a way to find Sam’s origin leyline if I can gather the right data. It all has to do with Sam’s magic resistance phenomenon. There’s just something to it that connects with the mirror anomaly.”

“Splendid work, Twilight. I knew I chose the right pony for this task,” Celestia said as she moved to the side to allow the unicorn the lead the way, “It is fortunate that I close day court early on the week’s end. You will have full access to the area, all to yourself, for as long as you want for the rest of the day.”

“That is what I had been counting on,” Twilight muttered under her breath dejectedly.

Twilight took the lead and led the procession throughout the castle’s elaborate hallways to their destination.

In the meantime, Celestia struck up a conversation with Equestria’s resident conduit to pass some time.

“How are you feeling today, Sam? Is everything going well with you?”

“Alright, I guess,” the conduit shrugged and yawned, “Just a little tired.”

“Are you not getting enough sleep?” Celestia asked, looking a little worried.

Although he brushed it off, the princesses and Twilight had noticed that Sam would sometimes appear less than awake during the waking hours. They had inquired into his condition, but Sam would just smile and say that he was fine. Any further prodding would only get them a change in subject by the subtly distressed conduit. Celestia was unconvinced and asked the guards that watched over him at night for any unusual behavior. For the past few nights, the guards reported Sam waking up at odd hours of the night, sometimes even hearing him awakening with a startled yelp or cry.

Celestia consulted her sister on the matter, but even she was unable to tell what was wrong with Samuel. Luna was known to have the unique ability to dreamwalk, or lucidly enter the dreams of others. With this ability, she had become something akin to a guardian of the dream realm against the dark terrors and nightmares that plagued her subjects during the night. It wasn’t too much of a surprise that she would also want to peer into the subconscious of an extraterrestrial that had just dropped into their fair kingdom. So, anytime Luna would explore the dream realm, she had kept a special eye out for a certain conduit’s dreams among the ethereal plains. At first, it was just another way for the princesses to investigate Sam’s purpose in coming to their world. But now, Sam’s restless nights had become a concern for them, and they wished to help him any way they could. Yet, night after night, Princess Luna was unsuccessful in locating Sam’s dreams. On a few occasions, she had glimpsed the specter of an unknown consciousness within her dominion that carried a very unique energy about it, but it would fade almost instantly into the oblivion before she could get a chance to hone in on it.

Neither of the princesses were very successful in discovering the cause of Sam’s restless nights. Neither had they been able to get the wayward conduit to open up to them on the issue. It was discouraging to them both, but they left the topic alone for some other time when Sam was willing to talk.

Back to the matter at hand, the princess and her entourage eagerly awaited what Ms. Purple Egghead had planned. They all waited patiently from just inside the throne room doors as Twilight nervously glanced about the room, looking somewhat lost.

Sam found himself a little intrigued. This was the first time he had been in this room that didn’t involve him fighting for his life while bleeding out all over the floor. The entire place was massive, almost like a mini-cathedral. The decor still held warm marble white tones with golden accents everywhere. Banners were hung between marble columns in alternating depictions of the sun and moon, with a few United Equestria national flags in between. A long red carpet ran the length of the room from the entrance doors to the foot of the elegant throne on the opposite side of the room. Sam was a bit unsure, but it looked like there were a set of water fountains idly trickling crystal clear water on either side of the throne’s dias. Along both sides of the room, there was enough stained glass that it wouldn’t be surprising that whoever did them must be a millionaire.

While Sam was busy taking in his surroundings, it seemed that Ms. Purple Egghead did not work well with an audience. Her mane and tail had a few strands sticking out unevenly, and every hesitant move she made was as stiff as a board. Everyone continued to wait on her until Sam got bored of just standing around and took some action.

“Hey, Sparks.” Sam whispered while leaning over the unicorn’s shoulder, “You need another pick-me-up behind the ears? I can use both my hands this time if you want.”

Twilight sputtered at the conduit’s remark and made a fairly good attempt at impersonating a tomato. Sam snickered at the flustered unicorn while Celestia just looked at the two questioningly. When Twilight caught a glimpse of her mentor’s expression, she tossed her saddle bags off her back unceremoniously and quickly set about her work.

With more volume than what might have been necessary, Twilight shouted, “I believe we should get started with the tests!”

Her movements were still very stiff, but at least she was focused on her task again without distractions. Celestia looked to Sam, who had a seemingly innocent smile on his face as he followed the purple unicorn to help in any way he could. His good cheer was suddenly swept away when he heard a sound coming from beyond the stained glass windows outside. It was the sound of condensed chucks of rock and concrete whistling through the air and in his direction. A sound that Sam was very much familiar with and made his blood run cold. From his left and behind the stained glass, a shadow grew darker as the incoming projectile closed in. With the speed instilled in him by his instincts and training, he threw himself at the unaware unicorn in front of him to use himself as a shield.

“GET DOWN!” Was the last thing he said before stained glass shattered inward along with a yellowish glowing hunk of rocky debris.

Time crawled at a snail’s pace as everyone else in the throne room either dived for cover or were too stunned to move. The concrete grenade hit the floor of the throne room and exploded, filling the air with a high pitch ‘bang’ and pieces of shrapnel. The unlucky guards closest to the blast were thrown off their hooves and riddled with splintered concrete. Princess Celestia and the other guards faired slightly better, but suffered their own injuries in not reacting fast enough and were dealing with a painful ringing in their ears. Twilight, although pretty dazed at the moment, suffered the least damage from the attack as Sam shielded her from the impact and only took on a few bruises from the initial tackle.

Sam groaned as he picked himself up. He could already feel his body rapidly healing its injuries after taking the hit for his unicorn friend. Though he couldn’t relax just yet. This was just the beginning of the attack, and he had to act fast. He looked at Twilight below him and swiftly took note of her condition.

“Sparks!” Sam barked to gain the dazed unicorn’s attention, “You need to get out of here, right now! Go get help!”

Twilight’s senses were slowly returning to her as she listened to Sam’s instructions. She shook her head to clear her thoughts more and opened her mouth to protest against Sam’s orders. She wasn’t about to leave her friend to whatever had just attacked her, the princess, and Sam.

“Go, NOW!”

The harsh tone and serious expression on Sam’s face cut off whatever argument she was building in her mind. Unwilling to defy the conduit’s wishes, Twilight drew on her magic reserves and pooled it at the base of her horn. In a flash of magenta light, she was gone, having teleported to carry out Sam’s instructions of getting help. With Twilight out of the danger zone, Sam stood up and readied himself for more incoming attacks.

A quick glance around the throne room let him see the crater in the marble and torn up red carpet where the concrete grenade went off. Two of the guards looked severely injured, and only one of them was moving. The princess and the two other guards looked worse for wear with streaks of blood from open gashes and other obvious injuries coating their bodies. Sam didn’t have more time to assess his surroundings as four figures came hurtling in through the broken window.

“No,” Sam whispered in a shaky voice.

Before him were a squad of D.U.P. troopers, decked out and ready for combat. Their black with yellow and off-white uniforms gleamed in the sunlight that streamed in through the hole in the window. Sam could only focus on the clearly visible ‘D.U.P.’ patch adorning their uniforms and everything it represented. Sam shook with unconscious, paralyzing fear.

“Boss, look,” one of the troops called out as the squad fanned out to their positions, “It’s another one of those ‘humans’. What do we do with it?”

The verbal outburst was enough to snap Sam out of his trance, and he was able to see the figures for what they truly were. They were quadrupeds wearing crudely altered pieces of D.U.P. standard issue armor. Some of them had wings or a horn, but one of them didn’t even look like a pony altogether. It was much bigger than the others, but also sported a pair of angular, feathery wings. It may have had the head and talons of an eagle, but its back half more like that of a large cat, like a lion. Sam had to think for a moment to remember the word for the creature and came up with only one that fit the description: a griffon.

The griffon, or boss, looked in Sam’s direction, but his expression was obscured by a tinted visor. He cocked his head for a moment, then scoffed.

“Flash, Tango,” the griffon spoke in a gravelly tone, “Get rid of it. We’re only here for the princess.”

Sam snapped out of his daze at the command. The two unicorns broke from the intruders’ ranks to face him. One of them leveled an assault rifle on Sam in its magic, ready to fire while the other lowered its head and scraped at the ground. The griffon and the pegasus of the group turned on the princess and her battered guards, shards of concrete encircling them like bees. The sound of a gun safety releasing was all the signal Sam needed before springing into action. Wire shot from his outstretched fist faster than the ponies had time to react and knocked the assault rifle out of the unicorn’s magical grasp.

“What the-!” the unicorn exclaimed before being knocked aside by another wire appendage.

The rest of the intruders’ attention was thoroughly stolen by Sam’s action, but he wasn’t about to let them get a chance to catch their breaths. With another thrust of his fist, a wire grapple shot forward toward the other unicorn. The unicorn seemed to have a better reaction time than his partner as he narrowly sidestepped the attack. However, he did not anticipate that this was just a feint as the wire grapple embedded itself in the wall behind him. Sam smirked as he used the grapple to reel himself forward and delivered a flying kick to the other unicorn on his way over.

“Oh, I don’t think you’ll get rid of me that easily,” Sam quipped.

Both the unicorns, the pegasus, and the griffon backpedalled in disbelief of the wire conduit.

“Shit, the thing’s a bio-terrorist!” one of the downed unicorns cried out as it scrambled to his hooves.

Sam frowned at the remark, “I think the word you’re looking for is ‘conduit’, ya’ asshat.”

The griffon clicked its beak a few times, “Doesn’t matter. Take it out, now! We have the princess to subdue.”

The two idle guards by the princess moved to put themselves between the assailants and the princess. Celestia, however, readied her horn to unleash her fury on the would be attackers.

“How dare you!” she declared, waves of power that could match the sun rolling off her, “You attack not only myself, but my loyal subjects and distinguished guest? You will all pay dearly for your arrogant crimes!”

As her declaration ended, she wove all the power she had been building up into a spell of raw, physical force that would knock any opponent she directed it at into a broken mess on the floor. She aimed her horn at each of the intruders and fired, only to find that they had merely been knocked back a couple of paces once the dust settled.

Seeing her attack fail left the princess stunned and wide open, which the griffon and pegasus took full advantage of to issue their counterattack. Concrete shots fired from the griffon and pegasus’ outstretched limbs. One of the guards in front of Celestia hastily erected a barrier to stop the incoming barrage. Though, the rounds tore through the bubble shield like wet newspaper and struck him, his partner, and the princess behind him.

On the other side of the room, Sam was too busy dealing with the unicorn duo that blocked his path. The cries of pain made him grit his teeth as he tried to figure out a way past them to reach the other assailants. One of them tried to grab hold of the conduit with his magic only for the magic field to burst as Sam burst through it through sheer force. It looked like being extremely magic resistant was coming in real handy for the conduit. Wire and concrete shots were exchanged as they kept each other at a distance for the moment.

“I don’t have time for you punks,” Sam growled, but an idea soon struck him when he looked beneath him, “So, why don’t you two just take a seat for a sec.”

Sam grabbed the rug from underneath him and heaved as hard as he could. Both of the unicorns, who both had a few hooves on the rug too, stumbled as the red carpet flew out from underneath them. Of course it wasn’t enough to topple them, so Sam took advantage of their moment of imbalance to move in closer and sweep their legs out from under them with another wire whip. With the two unicorns stunned for the moment, Sam lept over top of them and ran to intercept the other two.

“No, no. Don’t get up on my account,” Sam sneered as he passed over his first two opponents.

The princess and her guards were barely holding on as the pegasus and the griffon kept up their assault of concrete shots and flailing talons and hooves. Celestia wanted to at least teleport all of her guards away, especially the more injured ones, but the onslaught kept her from being able to concentrate long enough to execute such a complex spell. She was trapped, powerless, and rendered incapable of even protecting her subjects. Her guards did their best, but the sheer gap in power between them and their adversaries was too great.

“Excuse me,” Sam called out with his usual brand of snark as he slammed a wire whip down in front of the opposing forces, “mind if I drop in on this dance?”

The griffon and the pegasus halted their advance. Sam couldn’t tell, but he was sure that the two must have looked upset from behind their darkened visors. Sam put himself between the princess and her guards and the mysterious assailants. The two unicorns regrouped with their companions to face down the conduit all together.

“Move aside, Bio-terrorist,” the griffon called out.

“For the last time,” Sam charged up power within his fists, “I am a conduit!”

Sam slammed his fists into the ground, causing multiple sets of wires to burrow through the the floor and thrust up and around the assailants in all directions. The griffon and the two unicorns used different methods to avoid the strike by either teleporting away, blasting a path out the side of the encroaching fence of wire, or flying up and out of the cage before it could close. The only one to get snagged was the pegasus who was too slow to react and got tangled in the wire cage when he tried to follow his other winged friend. The griffon and two unicorns moved to flank the opposing group from the sides, but Sam was ready and fired off spikes of wire at the incoming forces.

Celestia used the moment of reprieve to gather her energy and focused a teleportation spell on the two most injured guards within the throne room and sent them away in a flash of light. She then summoned a golden halberd from the ether, her main weapon of choice for melee. If spells and magic had no effect on her opponents then maybe she could at least keep them at bay with a physical weapon. The other two guards that still remained took up positions to hold back the assailants with Sam where they could with spears and any debris they could throw with their magic.

“Damn it!” the frustrated griffon screeched as he threw another concrete grenade at the conduit as a distraction, “This was not how the plan was supposed to happen. Pack it up and move out, boys!”

The two unicorns, looked to one another between dodging and repelling the guards’ counterattacks.

One of them looked at the griffon and called out, “But boss, what about Jet Stream?”

The griffon glanced over to the trapped pegasus who was doing everything he could to escape from his wire confines. If only there was more time.

“We have to fall back now,” the griffon called out while pulling a out metal canister from his belt.

“But boss-”

“Get your fat flanks moving before I kick them!”

The two unicorns faltered under the griffon’s harsh tone, but obeyed immediately.

“Come on!” Sam called after the retreating assailants, “There might not be any music, but that doesn’t mean we can’t stop dancing!”

“Maybe next time,” the griffon called back, “Celestia, the doc gives his regards!”

Sam gave chase after the the fleeing ponies and griffon, but just as they jumped through the broken window they originally came through, the griffon tossed the metal canister into the throne room behind him. Sam came to a halt as he watched the metal canister’s arc. He only spared a glance back in the griffon’s direction before turning around and going after the grenade he just threw. Celestia and the other two guards also watched as the assailants fled, but were slightly mesmerized by the metal canister as it made its first bounce. Sam sprinted as fast as he could and threw out a wire whip to try and knock the grenade away.

“Get down!” Sam cried and hit the grenade out of the air and away from the group.

There was loud bang and smoke poured out into the throne room from the grenade. Sam hacked and wheezed as he realized that the grenade was a smoke grenade. It played havoc with his senses, but just as soon as it came, powerful gusts of wind blew the offending smoke away. It was Celestia with her mighty wings, that with each beat blew away more of the smoke until there was none left. She and her guards, although wounded, stood proud and tall.

“Thanks, Sunny,” Sam threw the princess a quick thumbs up, “Take care of Birdy over there, would ya?”

The pegasus that was left behind flailed and writhed as he tried to free himself. Sam smirked at him before turning back around to head toward the broken window.

“Sam, wait. Where are you going?” Celestia asked with concern.

“I’m going after the wonder triplets.”

“No, you are not,” Celestia said with as much authority as she could muster, “You are to remain here and allow myself and any reinforcements I can muster to go after them.”

Sam smirked as he twirled around to give the princess of the sun the cheekiest grin he could give her, “What? Can’t hear you over the sound of me not caring!”

Sam could hear the princess disapproving shouts behind him, but he had already leapt through the broken window to give chase to the fleeing assailants. They were just to the garrison wall of the castle when Sam caught a glimpse of them as he fell from the window two stories off the ground. Any guard foolish enough to try and stop them as they escaped were knocked aside along their path. He also saw the unicorns use some concrete pillars to vault over the top of the wall while the griffon flew overhead. Sam hit the ground, rolled out, and ran as fast as he could to catch up. He had no time to lose.

The sprint lasted only a couple of seconds before he hit the wall between the unicorns’ boost pillars. With another grapple wire, he scaled the wall in half a second and looked out from the top to find his assailants. It seemed that luck was finally on his side for the moment, as the assailants drew enough attention from the citizens of the city to hear where they were going. It was also at this moment that Sam realized something. This would be the first time he had ventured outside the castle walls. The thought made him nervous, but also made him excited. Of course, there was no time to dwell on the thought of how the ponies of the city would react to him. He had some D.U.P. wannabes to hunt down.

With a leap from the garrison wall and out into the city, he shot a wire out to the closest building to swing and propel him toward his targets, much like a certain costume wearing webslinger. The exhilarating feel of using his powers to their fullest only pushed him to go faster. The streets of Canterlot whipped past him, along with gawking onlookers that watched him swing, sprint across rooftops, and slingshot overhead. The bustle of the ponies underneath shouted and pointed at the strange creature moving swiftly through their city. Sam paid them no mind as he closed in on the escaping trio.

“There you are,” Sam smiled as he vaulted over a rooftop air duct to see the unicorns vaulting up to another building less than a block away, “Hey, assholes! You miss me?”

The unicorns and griffon overhead turned to see their pursuer jump from his building and shoot a wire into an adjacent structure. From there, the wire conduit reeled himself in and used the momentum of his swing to close the distance. The griffon wasted no time in firing off a couple of concrete shots at the conduit, but missed with his wild aim. One of the unicorns continued to flee while the other turned to send a shotgun blast of concrete at the incoming conduit. Sam had no time to dodge and just braced himself for the impact. The sharpened shards of concrete cut into him, and he hissed in pain as he was pushed away. Ponies on the ground scattered from the dropping conduit as he hit the ground below. Thankfully, the fall wasn’t too far, and Sam got back up and dusted himself off.

The griffon overhead flew past the unicorn still standing around and shouted, “Tango, leave it! We need to escape from the city before the guard reinforcements arrive!”

“R-right, boss,” the unicorn replied and prepared to leave.

Sam wasn’t about to let them get away that easily though and shot a few bolts of wire at the fleeing unicorn. His regeneration ability had just finished its work on his body, and he was ready for round two.

“Ah, come on now! I thought we were just starting to have fun!” Sam called out.

Sam could swear that the griffon was giving him the meanest stink eye from behind that visor of his. Though it seemed that he wasn’t going to play along with Sam’s taunt. Instead, he charged up another concrete grenade and threw it at the conduit’s direction. Sam ran out of the way of the exploding ball of concrete and climbed the building that the griffon and the unicorn fled away on. Back in the air, Sam could see that the trio were heading for the closest edge of the mountain side city. He could chase after them if he wanted to from there, but who knew how far these guys could lead him. Not to mention that they could lead him into a trap outside the city too. So, Sam had to stop them as fast as possible.

The chase continued along the rooftops of Canterlot. Exchanges of wire and concrete shots fired between the opposing forces. Though it seemed that the fleeing trio were not as adept at using conduit abilities like the people of the clothes they wore. So, Sam used their inexperience to deftly weave and dodge between their blind fire and close the distance once more. Occasionally, a wild shot would make contact from either side and stagger his progress, but the chase was quickly looking to be in Sam’s favor.

Sam smirked as he landed a hard hit on one of the unicorns with a wire whip, “Surprise, bitch!”

Sam was in the middle of executing a tackle on the downed unicorn from above when the griffon flew in and swiped at him with his sharpened talons and blasted the conduit point blank with another barrage of concrete once he was off balance. Sam fell away and hit the supports of a water tower behind him hard enough to bend them. The water tower’s frame creaked under the stress and tilted precariously to the side. Sam groaned as he tried to regain his senses, but once he did, he had to jump to the side to avoid another blast of concrete from the griffon and the other unicorn.

Sam was about to resume the chase when he heard the water tower next to him creak and groan under all the damage it took. From below, ponies screamed and ran as fast as they could out of the way of the crumbling water tower and the side of the building that got destroyed. It only took a moment to see that most of the ponies had fled the area underneath, but it seemed that in the panic that a foal had got knock around and possibly concussed by the bigger ponies. Sam glanced back in the direction of the fleeing assailants one last time before grinding his teeth in frustration.

“Fuck!” Sam screamed as he jumped off the building toward the foal just as the last of the supports of the water tower gave way and sent the entire thing careening over the edge. Sam landed hard next to the disoriented foal, but pushed any pain of the the hard landing away to quicking scoop her up and rolling off to the side.

“Hang on, kid!” Sam yelled as he braced himself.

The water tower crashed with a resounding boom behind the conduit. The foal in his arms cried out in fear, but Sam just cradled her closer as a cascade of water swept him off his feet from what spilled from the broken water tower. The water pushed him further down the street and caused him to skip across the ground a couple of times painfully until the torrent of water started to subside. Once the now thoroughly wet conduit came to a stop, he uncurled himself from the foal he was protecting and checked her over for injuries. Aside from a few scrapes and wet fur and mane, she appeared to be okay. The little sky blue unicorn shook as the shock of the events that befell her caught up with her. She looked up to the creature that was holding her and soon realized that the creature was the one that saved her from being crushed by the falling water tower. She didn’t know what to do or say, so she just continued to stare at the soggy creature holding her.

“Are you okay?” Sam cautiously asked in a warm tone.

The filly’s only response was to nod to the question as the adrenaline started to leave her system from the terrifying experience. Now that she wasn’t in danger of falling debris, Sam gave her reassuring smile to help her feel a little more at ease.

“Can you stand on your own?” Sam asked next.

The filly nodded again, so Sam slowly set her back on her shaky hooves on the watery street. The sound of dripping water from the busted water tower was slowly replaced with the sound of voices murmuring and clopping hooves. Since the perceived danger had past, ponies were once more claiming the streets and came to bear witness to the strange creature in the middle of the road. Sam soon found himself surrounded by a throng of ponies and their apprehensive or curious stares. That is until a turquoise colored unicorn mare with a pale yellow mane pushed past the growing crowd to get to the front.

“Honey Spice!” The mare called out in distraught, “Honey Spice, where are you?”

“Mommy!”

Her eyes fell on the foal in front of the conduit and her worried look melted into relief. The apparent mare’s foal rushed forward into her mother’s outstretched arms in a heartwarming embrace that everyone in the crowd smiled at. The misty-eyed mother looked to the conduit and could only mouth the words ‘thank you’ between joyful tears to her daughter’s savior before she pulled her daughter in for a tighter embrace. Sam gave a sincere smile of approval before he remembered that he had a couple of wannabe DUPes he had to catch. Though before he could take off back up the building next to him to resume the chase, royal guards broke through the crowd and encircled the conduit with horns and spears at the ready.

One of the guards with eyes as hard as steel yelled out, “Hold it right there, you are under arrest!”

Sam sighed at what would be a very difficult situation before him, “Oh, goddamn it.”