Author's Notes:

Hello~

Bet ya'll have been wondering where I've been. Well, I was afflicted with the terrible ailment called responsibility. Yeah, too much in my life happening at once, so I was only able to work on this sparingly. Luckily, life has calmed down, so hopefully my wave of inspiration will stick around for a little while longer to crank out another chapter soon. Thank you all for sticking around to want to read. Oh, and you'll probably notice something different in this one. Just a little something to help make the reading easier, let me know if it works better this way or if I should get rid of it.

As always, A big ol' thank you to my proofreader and editor, Regreme. And another big ol' thank you to the readers for the support of just enjoying a casual writer's fantasy.

Celestia would have been having a nice, humble slice of her favorite triple-decker, strawberry cake at this particular part of the afternoon, to enjoy the peace and quiet she so rarely can afford. However, baked confectioneries were the furthest thing from her mind at the moment.

Following the attack on the throne room, Celestia wasted no time in rallying the guards to both lockdown the castle and begin the pursuit of the three escaped assailants. From there, she teleported herself to her sister’s quarters to bring her sister up to speed on what had transpired. Surprisingly enough, the princess of the night was already blearily awake for this time of day. Though, Celestia could see that the early rise was not intentional by the ruffled feathers in her wings, the tired expression hidden behind her stalwart gaze, and her ethereal mane’s lack of its usual luster when it hasn’t had its morning brush.

When Luna saw her sister appear, her expression shifted to one of shock and worry. Celestia found herself bombarded with question after question about what had happened to her. She tried to reassure her younger sister that she was alright, but the various wounds, bruises, and dust flaking off her once pristine coat of fur said otherwise. The two argued over Celestia’s condition until they agreed to address it later once other issues were dealt with.

Luna surprised her sister once again when she told her that Twilight Sparkle had teleported to her not too long ago and frantically explained what she knew of the situation. Luna deployed her own guards in an effort to assess the full state of affairs and report back to her. Once she was made aware of intruders in the castle, the lunar princess rallied as many guards as she could and sent them to assist those already working to contain the assailants. Luna informed Twilight to make her way away from where the reports of the intruders had been seen, to seek shelter under the protection of a couple more guards.

Celestia was proud to see her sister take charge as she did and could not think of any other way she would have done in this situation. The moment passed as Luna insisted that her sister finally see herself to the royal clinical ward. Her sister’s persistence wore down Celestia’s defenses, and she made her way to the clinical ward of the castle. While she was there and treated for her injuries, Celestia also went to see the injured guards from the throne room that fought to protect her.

The first two she came across were in a recovery wing with bandages covering some more severe gashes and cuts. One of them was even fitted with a cast, as he had suffered a broken bone or two. Celestia bid them a speedy recovery and looked for the two others that held her more deeper worries. Both of the other two guards had suffered grievous injuries from the attack, and one of them in particular was still being treated in their surgery ward. By the sound of the doctor that she spoke to, neither of them were looking to continue their career in the royal guard, if they even survived the next twenty-four hours. It was painful to hear, but she bade the doctor to do whatever they could for the ponies under their care and wandered back out to the castle halls.

More guards than what were usually present stood at various intersections of the castle that Celestia strode through. A quartet of them were now shadowing the princess as she left the clinical ward to reach her final destination, Twilight’s makeshift laboratory that she set up to study with Sam. The trip was anxiety inducing, and even when Celestia was before the door that she seeked, she couldn’t help but feel worried. Her hoof rose and rapped upon the door being flanked by a duo of more guards that stood ever vigilant for anything or anyone out of the ordinary to approach.

Frantic hoofsteps raced to the door before the door was enveloped in a magenta aura. The bookish nerd, Twilight Sparkle, gasped as she opened the door to see her mentor before her in the doorway. She immediately sank into a low bow, but Celestia waved her hoof.

“Rise, Twilight,” Celestia said with as much mirth as she could muster, “There is no need for that when it is just me.”

The little unicorn blushed in embarrassment as she rose, “I’m sorry, princess. It’s just- Oh my gosh, what happened?!”

Twilight’s sense of formality flew out the window as she bore witness to her mentor’s appearance. Celestia only had a few bandages covering her, as some healing spells settled the lesser wounds, but it must have been the dirt and grime that spotted the princess’ ivory coat that really drew the unicorn’s attention. If it wasn’t for Celestia’s quick response, she was sure her student would no doubt be scrambling for any books or notes she had on every aspect of healing magic she could find.

“Please, Twilight. I am alright. The castle’s healers have already done everything they can, and I am feeling much better than I look.”

Celestia’s words seem to put the unicorn at a bit more ease, until another thought hit her, and her worried expression redoubled, “What happened to Sam? Is he alright? Who, or what attacked the throne room?”

Celestia raised her hoof once more to keep Twilight from ranting, “There was a group of individuals that sought to do harm. It is still unclear what their goal was, but we hope to find something soon. Sam… If it wasn’t for him, I do not believe the guards left in the throne room or myself would have suffered so little injuries. He fought bravely and was able to hold the individuals off. Unfortunately, the individuals fled, and Sam went after them into the city.”

Twilight gasped and shifted back and forth on her hooves, “Sam went after them?!”

“Yes,” Celestia said, “Fear not my student. I have already sent more guards to join the pursuit and bring Sam back safely.”

The words only helped to ease Twilight’s worry a little. Sam may be a foul-mouthed, wisecracking alien from another world, but he was still one of her friends. So, she couldn’t help but worry for him while he was chasing these ponies that thought to attack the castle. Before Twilight could go on to rant some more, the sound of clanging armor came from the hall to their left, and a new set of guards marched up to the princess. They gave a quick bow before one of them stepped forward.

He cleared his throat to speak, “Your Highness, I have news of the assailants.”

The princess turned to fully address them and waved for him to continue. Twilight listened in intently, as she was very much interested to know who had brought on the castle wide lockdown and the hunt for the escapees.

“I am sorry to report that the first three assailants have already fled the city,” the guard said somberly, “However, the conduit is back in our custody. By the report, he did not put up a fight with the guards detaining him and is being returned to the castle as we speak.”

“He did not harm anyone, did he?” Celestia asked with a hint of worry.

The guard shook his head, “No, your majesty. In fact, the runner that returned ahead of the retrieval party stated that the conduit was involved in the rescue of a pony that was caught in the crossfire from his pursuit. We do not have the full details, but once he is returned, we will have him interrogated.”

Celestia breathed a sigh of relief. If anyone were looking closely enough, they could see the princess’ tense posture slightly relax. There was still much to do, however, so Celestia gathered her focus.

“That will not be necessary, lieutenant,” Celestia spoke up, “Be sure to have Sam escorted to me as soon as he returns. I will handle him from there.”

“Understood, your majesty.”

The guard bowed and was getting ready to delegate the order to one of the other guards behind him, when the princess of the sun drew his attention back to her. There was still one final issue to address, but she was unsure if a certain purple unicorn should be present for this part. In the end, the lieutenant gave her no choice, as he anticipated what the princess was looking to hear about.

“As for the fourth assailant that was captured,” the guard hesitated for a moment before continuing, “He is no longer with us. The guards sent to collect him reported that he made it impossible for them to approach and apprehend the assailant with his abilities. Then, the assailant started to have some sort of seizure, to which the guards that were finally able to approach were unable to stabilize his condition. I am sorry, your highness, but there was nothing we could do.”

The guard looked more disappointed in himself than the princess did in him having delivered the unfortunate news. Celestia was only more disappointed and saddened in the fact that the pony had died in the end. She did not wish to admit it, but even if the pony had been an assailant sent to harm her and her subjects, she couldn’t help but feel a sliver of remorse in his lose. That sliver was overshadowed though in the fact that his passing left them with less information as to the assailants motivations that they could have gotten from him.

“See to it that the remains are handled properly,” Celestia commanded, “They may be our enemies, but we are not tribal barbarians and we will treat them with more respect than they may have shown us.”

The guards bowed again and turned to carry out their tasks. Once they were gone, Celestia turned on her hooves to speak with her student again. The little unicorn looked much more worse for wear after the exchange. Celestia blanched as she realized that Twilight had overheard everything. It was no wonder that the unicorn would react in this way. She wasn’t so jaded to not know about the circle of life, but to be so closely involved left her with an uncomfortable feeling in herself.

“Princess,” Twilight tried to speak through the lump in her throat, “I’m sorry I couldn’t be there to help. Maybe I could have-”

Celestia silenced Twilight with another raise of her hoof, “No, Twilight. None of this is your fault. I am more relieved to know that you are safe, and I thank you for thinking fast enough to inform my sister of the situation. It is thanks to your efforts that more guards were able to be rallied to the pursuit of the intruders, and that is all I could ever ask of you.”

“I can’t take all the credit,” Twilight looked down at her hooves, “I froze when the attack happened. If it wasn’t for Sam, I don’t know what I would have done.”

“Then, you should thank him upon his return,” Celestia lifted Twilight’s chin up so she could see the radiant smile on her face, “Come. As much as I know you would like to return to your research as soon as possible, it might help if we were to retire to a more suitable chamber to await Sam’s return, yes?”

Twilight looked behind her at all the equipment and notes she had left to organize and store. She would have protest, but even before the princess’ arrival, Twilight found it hard to focus on anything besides the commotion that echoed through the castle from outside her door. Not to mention, she wouldn’t dare to dispute her mentor when she asked her of something. So, Twilight nodded her agreement and stepped out into the hallway to join her mentor to wherever she may lead.

--o0o--

Twilight had barely taken a few sips of her jasmine tea and only had a few nibbles of the daffodil sandwich on her plate before her. Princess Celestia had led them to her personal boudoir, where they awaited the arrival of Sam after his excursion into the city of Canterlot.

Every once in awhile, a guard would appear at the door and bring a report to the princess to hear and issue more orders. Having seen her student nervously shift in her seat idly beforehoof, the princess called for one of the guards to fetch them something to eat. Twilight thanked the princess as she received her humble meal, but hardly touched the tea or sandwich since then. Princess Luna had come to join them not too long afterwards and also awaited the return of the conduit whilst helping to coordinate the guards’ search efforts.

It was nearly a half hour before another knock at the door came, and the princess of the sun went to answer it. Her upbeat tone carried through the room and with it, a statement that got Luna’s and Twilight’s attention.

“Sam, it’s wonderful to see you safe and unharmed.”

Of course, Sam had to come back with usual snark, “Well, I can say that the rapid healing helps for the second part. As for the first, you mind getting Cappy here to stop trying to set me on fire with that stare?”

“Quiet, human!” the usual gruff tone of Captain Aegis Flare also came in from beyond the doorway.

Twilight shot up from her seat and rushed past Princess Celestia only to come skidding to a halt in front of the snickering conduit.

“Hey, Sparks,” Sam waved at the shocked unicorn, “Ya miss me?”

The unicorn grabbed hold of the conduit in a nearly bone crushing hug. The tension of not knowing where her conduit friend was from earlier slowly ebbed away in the embrace. Sam could only let the whole thing happen as the unicorn’s reaction was the only response he needed for his question.

“...Um, Sam?” Twilight asked as she eased up on her hug a bit, “Why are your clothes damp?”

“Well, there was this water tower, and it kinda got knocked over. Which was totally not my fault by the way! Plus, I didn’t see a water park anywhere in Canterlot while I was out there and thought you’d all could use at least one slip-n-slide.”

Twilight pushed herself away to look at Sam with a confused look. Though, before Sam could get to elaborate, Princess Luna cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention from the other side of the room.

“Would it not be more proficient if Samuel would explain the whole story of why he not only disobeyed our orders to not leave the castle, blatantly disregarding my sister’s command while in the throne room, and took it upon himself to chase after a group of dangerous assailants into the city like some vigilante?” Luna asked with an annoyed undertone.

“Hey, I am no vigilante. If you read the papers back home, I’m a god-damned criminal mastermind,” Sam snarkily corrected.

The sound of many hooves meeting faces echoed around the room from the few guards, Cappy, and Twilight that knew of Sam’s antics. Luna’s only reaction was to sigh heavily and sit back down.

Aegis Flare snorted in annoyance, “Human, just shut up, sit down, and tell us what happened.”

Sam walked over to one of the couches closest to Luna and sat down. Everyone else took this as their cue to find their seats while Sam regaled them with a tale of the exploits of his first excursion out into the city. Nopony found it quite as amusing when he started it off with ‘A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away’ though. He concluded that they must have all been trekkies. In any case, Sam rattled off all the details he could remember about the chase and more importantly, the assailants. Aegis Flare and the princesses were actually impressed with how much he was able to remember about the intruders with the limited encountered he had. All of it would find its way into the guards ‘Wanted’ bulletins by the end of the day.

“So, yeah,” Sam concluded, “That’s when Catbird and Thing 2 took another shot at me and hit the water tower. The whole thing toppled over the side of the building, and they fled toward the southwest cliffside.”

“Why did you not give chase after that? I thought you said it would have been ‘as easy as Taco Tuesday’ to catch them” Cappy asked.

“Remember the slip-n-slide idea?” Sam wittily shot back.

One of the guards stepped forward before Aegis Flare could berate Sam, “Sir! Reports from the retrieval team say that the human gave up the chase to save one of the citizens that was caught in the crossfire. A filly by the name of Honey Spice. If the human did not take action, the filly would have been killed. The mother of the filly wished to pass along her most sincerest gratitude for her filly’s rescuer.”

The princesses, Twilight, and even Aegis Flare looked to Sam with astounded surprise. The conduit just laid back into the couch with his arms crossed and gave them all a confused look.

“What?” Sam asked.

Celestia was the first to speak, “It seems that there is still more to you than what you lead us on.”

“Come on. I’m a conduit, not a monster. I thought we’ve been over this. Sure, it would have been nice to know where those DUP wannabes got their gear, but I can’t just ignore someone when they’re in danger.” Sam’s eyes lit up as something clicked in his mind, “Wait, what about that flyboy that I caught back in the throne room? Oh~, I so want first crack at him whenever he’s ready to be ‘questioned’. I’ve got my whole Christian Bale impression worked out.”

Just like that, the whole room was silent. Sam could feel the disturbingly cold mood that everyone put off and was slowly becoming more anxious.

Aegis Flare decided that he should be the one to break the ice, “Human. The last intruder you caught is dead.”

A cold lump dropped into the pit of Sam’s stomach. This was the last thing he expected to hear after all the trouble he went to to try and catch these intruders. He tried to recall if at any point he may have done more than aim to ensnare those four, but he could not. There wasn’t much blood, at least, from the ponies and griffon that attacked. Yet, what if he did do more than just trap that pegasus? He had to know.

“Th-that pony, he...I didn’t-”

“No, human,” Aegis Flare interrupted, “The intruder was alive and fought to escape himself. It’s unclear if you killed him, but for what it’s worth, I don’t believe you did.”

Sam breathed a sigh of relief and muttered under his breath, “At least that’s one less name to add to the list.” Before anyone could question what he said, Sam sprang up from his couch with a smile and clapped his hands together. “Well, we’re not getting any younger. Who wants to go on a little hunting trip?”

Luna blocked Sam’s path as he tried to make his way to the door. She still looked rather annoyed for some reason.

“We have already sent scouting parties to follow any tracks that our adversaries may have left behind. Which just leaves us with you. Do not think that we have forgotten about how thou still disobeyed our orders, Samuel Reed,” Luna finished with a dangerous bite in her tone.

Sam tried to avoid her gaze, but he could only smile nervously as a small bead of sweat grew along his brow. He had actually hoped that she did forget, but it seems that fate had other plans.

“Can we just pretend that I did it out of pure selflessness and for the greater good?” Sam chuckled nervously.

Luna’s eyes narrowed as her frown grew deeper.

“Yeah, didn’t think so.”

--o0o--

A tape recorder sits alone and empty on a metal table until a new tape is inserted, and the device is set to record.

“Log number D-119. Subject B-14 has proven to be invaluable toward unlocking the full potential of the ‘conduit gene’. I’ve never seen such a high rate of synergy in any other subject before. If I can just replicate these results, I could graft this development into the final serum. Hmm, on second thought, I need one more key component. These results still show a deterioration of the grafted serum over a rate of seven point three percent. If only I can get my hooves on another subject. Possibly one that has already been ‘activated’, it might help me to see how I can slow, or perhaps better, stop the deterioration.”

“DOCTOR, WHERE THE BUCK ARE YOU?!”

“Ah, it seems that the simple-minded have returned, but what in the name of Tartarus are they yelling about?”

“Doctor!”

“Yes, yes, in here. What do you want? Can’t you see I’m in the middle of a breakthrough?”

“I don’t care if you’re in here curing cancer! What the buck is your problem?!”

“I have no idea what is you are referring to, but seeing as you are here, I take it that the job has been completed?”

“At the expense of one of my wing.”

“Ah, a regrettable loss, but his sacrifice will at least be a footnote in the pages to progress.”

*A great crash is heard in the background along with things clattering to the ground.*

“What is wrong with you, you buffoon?! That equipment is worth more than your miserable life!”

“Are you deaf? They took one of my partners prisoner!”

“I heard you the first time, but that is of no consequence. He should expire soon enough.”

“What in the name of the great eagle are you talking about, doctor?”

“Tell me, Aras. How are you feeling? A little weak, shortness of breath, migraine ranging from annoying to head splitting?”

“... …”

“Yes, all symptoms of the serum’s effects running out.”

“What do you mean?”

“The beta serum only gives you the capacity to access a fraction of your potential conduit abilities. Even then, it can only give you access through a preset code, which in turn would have rewritten your original genetic code. Of course, your metabolic stability does not take too kindly to that kind of imbalance. Think of it as an infection, although that would be a very simplistic way of putting it. Your body can’t handle this amount of irregularity to your system, so your body does the only thing that it can to correct it. Destroy the infection, which consequently means that it will try to destroy every living cell in your body, seeing as the serum affects every cell within you.”

“So, what you’re saying is, that Jet Stream is-”

“Dead? Yes, or at least, he will be without another administration of the serum. If he continues to use his powers, he’ll just burn himself out faster. At least he won’t have the chance to reveal anything of use to those idiot princesses. Now, tell me. Did you at least deliver the message?”

“Sure, but there was a complication, so we weren’t able to give the princess the ‘full demonstration’ like you asked.”

“What?! She was to be made sure that she understood her mistake! I told you to make sure she was within an inch of her life; an inch! No more, no less! *sigh* I should have hired a bunch of rocks to do this at this point.”

“Well, maybe you should have told us that there were more of those bio-terrorists in Equestria!”

“What the name of Tartarus are you talking about?”

“There was another one of those ‘humans’ alongside the princess. We didn’t think much of it, until it starting shooting metal strands out of its claws and captured Jet Stream!”

“...There was another human?”

“Yeah, or did the ‘great doctor’ not know.”

“...Perhaps you and your band of misfits aren’t a complete failure after all.”

“Listen here, Doc-”

“Ah, ah, ah. You can’t do a thing to me. You see, without me, you and the rest of your merry little band won’t last more than a week. Even with the reserve stores of the serum I have.”

“... …”

“There. That’s a good birdy. Now tell me, what was this about another human that can control metal strands?”