“...And what of the abductees that you were able to rescue, Captain?” Princess Celestia asked, her features already grim from everything else that was reported to her.

“Sent to the royal infirmary, your highness,” Captain Aegis Flare replied, just as stoically as he always did, “The doctors have already given me their word that they will do everything they can.”

The princess of the sun nodded, more out of an automatic response rather than risk letting her wilting voice betray her.

It was nearly an hour before daybreak when the royal guards and a lone conduit returned to Canterlot Palace after searching the assailants’ base of operations. The captain reported directly to the princesses, who had been waiting anxiously within one of the castle’s drawing rooms to receive word on the search. They had been glad to know that their guard had suffered no fatalities, thanks to no small part to their resident human conduit, but the rest of the news that the captain brought was anything but welcoming.

After the assailants had made their escape, Aegis Flare led his guards in the search of the base. What they found was not what they had hoped for. There were two tunnels, not including the collapsed one, that led deeper in the Geode Caverns, and the Captain decided on a systematic search of them, going with the one furthest from the collapsed tunnel.

The tunnel did not delve as deep as they expected, ending at about thirty meters inward. At the end of the twisting tunnel, it expanded into another open area. This one wasn’t nearly as big as the first chamber, roughly one-third the size. The unicorns, and even Sam with his magic wire, illuminated the space with magical light to properly search the area.

Inside, it looked to be some kind of sleeping quarters, sparely furnished aside from the four cots and clothing racks. There were a few other items scattered here and there, looking more like they had been haphazardly strewn about. Among them were some toiletries, loose and most likely preened feathers, some broken glass, and a photo of a griffoness smiling at the observer.

As the guards searched, they came to realize that this was the sleeping quarters to the original four assailants who attacked Canterlot nearly a week ago. Aegis Flare looked this all over, finding it very likely that aside from the unknown unicorn that he witnessed toward the end of the battle, these four, now three, assailants were the only ones working together at this time.

With nothing else to find within the first tunnel, the guards moved on to the second. This time they did not find anything like the first. The tunnel led to another sleeping quarters, or rather, what was left of it. What wasn’t a pile of ashes was burnt or broken beyond repair. On one side were the burnt out remains of a more suitable bed rather than a cot, big enough to hold three ponies if they really snuggled together. On the other side of the room sat the splintered remnants of a once beautifully crafted work desk. Almost everything in the drawers fared no better, except for a cassette tape that miraculously only had a few scratches on it and was covered in bits of debris, having been shielded from the worst at the bottom drawer underneath a pile of now charred and illegible papers. A bookcase was the last thing to be examined by the guards. It, too, was broken and battered and lying on its side with many of the books that once adorned it now piles of ash or shredded, charred paper. A few of the books still had legible covers, but none of them really helped to explain what exactly had been going on in these caves.

With the second tunnel fully examined, it was time to work on excavating the third and final tunnel. Unicorns and earth ponies carefully extracted the rubble piece by piece, working their way to fully uncover what lie beneath. Even Sam helped out with the process, proving once again how useful he was by lifting pieces away with his wires, now looking like claws at the ends of his fingers, nearly the same size as he was. Some of the guards stood awestruck at the feat, before having to snap themselves out of it before getting back to work.

Once the tunnel was cleared enough and deemed safe to search, the pony guards and Sam tensed as they delved into the final tunnel. They knew that the assailants were unlikely to still be there, but just knowing that this tunnel was the last place they saw them put them on edge. However, the assailants were not what they found in their final investigation. In fact, what they found was much worse.

The tunnel split off into two more tunnels, so the guards and Sam decided to work from right to left again. This tunnel did not go on for too long, much like the first two, but what they encountered made even the most veteran guards of the search party feel disturbed. At the end of the tunnel was another open area, but not with a sleeping quarters, but a makeshift prison.

Cages, just big enough for a pony to shift around in, were pushed up against the walls. There were five of them in total, but only two were occupied. Ponies were their inhabitants, and not just any ponies by what Captain Aegis Flare could tell. These were two ponies from the missing ponies reports that he had been looking over for some time now. One pegasus mare and one unicorn stallion, and they looked the complete opposite to the happy and healthy looking ponies they once did on their missing posters. Even more striking were the heavy looking manacles that covered the entirety of their front hooves down from their cannons.

When the guards first entered, they at first started to whimper and push themselves as far back into their cages as they could, as if they were expecting something to happen. It took some time to reassure the abductees that the guards were there to rescue them before they calmed down. After which, the guards set about trying to get the cages open. Unfortunately, powerful enchantments guarded the locks from anything they tried to open them with. Aegis Flare then decided that it was time to make use of their living skeleton key known as Sam, but noticed something peculiar about the human just before issuing his order.

Sam stood frozen at the entrance to the room, face twisting in a grimace. His body shivering, as if he could feel an invisible chill in the air. Though it was his eyes that the captain was drawn to the most. They were wide with fear and constantly shifted about the room, but always shifting back to gaze upon one of the two ponies in the cages.

It took the captain three times to call out to Sam before the conduit realized that he was being addressed. When Aegis Flare tried questioning if Sam was okay, the conduit shakily brushed it off and got to work on unlocking the cages as Aegis Flare asked. Both the cages and manacles on the ponies were unlocked, and the ponies that were now freed and nearly broke down into tears of joy with what little energy they seemed to have. After a quick field examine, Aegis Flare ordered two of his guards to escort them out to safety. With nothing more to find in this area, Aegis Flare guided the search back down to the other tunnel.

This final tunnel was different in that it kept going into what looked like perpetual darkness, but there was a small branching path off to the left. When the guards thought they were unprepared for the room full of cages, they had not seen the worst of it yet. Just inside of the branching path was one last open area, and anyone who walked inside would immediately be drawn to its centerpiece. A metal table with an overhead lamp shining down on a pony that lay strapped down and unconscious upon it. From what they could see of the unicorn mare, blood matted the side of her foreleg from a strip of flesh that had been carved from it and dripped over the side of the examination table.

Fighting against the initial shock, Aegis Flare rushed with another guard that broke through his trance to save the pony on the table. He was at least glad to see that there was not enough blood on the floor to fear for the pony’s life, but he couldn’t relax just yet. Although as he was more focused on the task at hoof, Aegis Flare was once again surprised to see the human conduit out of the corner of his eye standing just outside of the room looking in, looking as pale as a ghost. Though before he could say anything, Sam ran off.

Aegis Flare, once ensured that the third abductee was not in danger, had asked his guards where Sam had run off to, since he was not found in the first cavern when he and his guards returned after finishing investigating the sickening lab the third abductee was in. He later found out from the guards outside the assailants’ base that the human conduit had sprinted all the way out of the cave systems and collapsed to his hands and knees, looking like he had just witnessed a nightmare made real.

“Did Sam mention why he acted in this way?” Princess Luna asked the captain after his report, already suspecting the reason.

Aegis Flare merely shook his head, “No, your highness. I questioned him on the matter, but he would not say why. Which was... odd... for him.”

“Odd?” Princess Celestia furrowed her brow in confusion.

“Usually, the human would have deflected the topic by making some inane joke or snarky remark, but this time, all he would say is ‘I don’t want to talk about it’, and do his best to hide his hands in his pockets, since they wouldn’t stop shaking,” the captain answered, “If I may speak freely, your majesties?”

Princess Celestia waved her hoof and nodded, to which the captain silently thanked.

“I’m not exactly qualified to understand or help the human with these issues he seems to have, but I can’t deny my concern for his wellbeing,” Aegis Flare noted with a troubled look on his face.

It was Princess Luna that spoke up this time to meet the captain’s words, “We know the feeling, captain. Samuel’s psychological health is a heavy matter that we, my sister and I, are doing everything we can to ease at the very least. It is a rather pleasant surprise to see you show such concern for ‘the human’s’ health though, Captain.”

“Were it not for the human’s intervention, I don’t believe our assault on the assailants’ base would have gone as well as it did. For that, he has earned my gratitude, even if he does not show proper respect where he should,” Aegis Flare countered, “Though, if I may conclude my briefing on the operation.

“I had as many able-bodied scouts as I could muster to search the perimeter of the Geode Caverns’ exterior for any signs of the assailants or clues of where they had fled while the rest of my guards prepared the sky-chariots for the return journey. Unfortunately, the search proved fruitless, and the assailants had escaped. I blame myself for this failure.”

“No, Captain,” Princess Celestia interrupted, “This operation was not a failure. At least, not in its entirety. You and your guard weeded out these dangerous elements from their base of operations, disrupted their work, and saved three innocent ponies from what was a terrible fate. If we continue as we have, it is only a matter of time before these assailants are brought to the justice they deserve.”

Aegis Flare dipped his head in a bow of acceptance, even if he still felt like he should have been able to do more. Across from him, the two princesses held a silent conversation that only they knew of what was being said before returning their attention to the royal guard captain.

“Captain Aegis Flare. Earlier, you mentioned one other pony among the assailants that bared no resemblance to any of the others that were previously encountered. A unicorn, was it?” the princess of the sun inquired, “Could you describe him?”

“Yes, your highness,” Aegis Flare answered.

The captain began his description of the unicorn, recounting every detail he could remember of the unicorn’s features that seemed to be leading the other assailants. With every new detail the good captain recited, the princess of the sun’s features grew almost unnoticeably paler. A thick knot twisted in her gut, as every word the captain spoke about the new unicorn raised her concern. Aegis Flare punctuated his description at the end with what he thought he could see of the unicorn’s cutie mark.

“It looked to be a reddish sun on the horizon of the land,” Aegis Flare recited, “one like you would see at sunrise, just after the twilight hour.”

The room fell into silence. For the captain because he had nothing else to say. For the princess of the moon who pondered on the identity of the pony that the captain just described. Though, it was the princess of the sun that seemed to drown in the silence, as she tried again and again to keep herself from letting her unease reach her face with varying success.

“Your highness?” Aegis Flare asked, sensing something was amiss.

“Thank you, Captain. For you and your guards’ work this day,” Princess Celestia said automatically, “See to it that you get the rest that you’ve earned. It is nearly daybreak, so I will make sure to appraise the day guard leaders of the events that have transpired.”

Aegis Flare frowned at not understanding what it was that had his nation’s leader so troubled, but he could see the dismissal hidden under her words and thought better of undermining his ruler’s authority. The captain of the royal guard snapped rigidly to attention, against his aching body’s protests. With a deep bow to each of his nation’s leaders, he turned away from them and made his way to the drawing room’s door. Though, not before giving one last sidelong glance in their direction from the door before closing it shut behind him.

With the captain gone, Celestia felt like she could let her emotions play out a little more in her privacy. That is, until she remembered that there was one other pony in the room and was currently looking directly at her.

“Nay, dear sister. Thou shalt not hide thy thoughts beyond the veil,” Luna eyed her sister with a serious gaze and tone, “I saw the way you shifted at the captain’s mentionings of the unicorn. You know who he is, don’t you?”

It wasn’t so much a question as a statement. A statement that told the elder sister that she would tell her sibling what she knew, or else. Celestia rose from her seat, solemnly moving to the only window in the room that overlooked the city of Canterlot. She looked past the city and out into the horizon, right where her celestial charge awaited her bidding to rise. She soon took notice of her translucent reflection in the window and the drawn-out features that stared back at her with a melancholy gaze. She inhaled deeply before letting out a deep and tired sigh.

Celestia rounded back on her sister and spoke, “Yes, I know who the pony is. I knew him for some years before your return, Luna. Though, the captain got one detail wrong. The pony’s cutie mark was not that of a rising sun, but a ‘setting’ sun.”

Luna hung on her sister’s words with bated breath, as she too stood up from her chair, waiting for the inevitable answer that Celestia was stalling to give to her question. She watched and followed her sister as she paced before the window while she continued to speak.

“He was a promising mind in many of the fields for both magic and industry. A natural prodigy that I took to and cultivated from time to time. I saw a great potential in him, just like I saw in Twilight Sparkle, many years ago. Perhaps that is where I may had failed.”

Luna became frustrated in her sister’s usual routine of prancing around the answer she wanted. That was certainly one thing she hated about today’s society. There were too many words that ponies would use to answer a single question, and her sister had adapted well to this practice, after many years in the nation’s political world. Though, before she let her anger get the best of her, Celestia finally got to point that she had been seeking.

“His name... is Visionary Dusk. Like I have said before, he was a promising academic and somepony that I hoped would have benefitted Equestria and her ponies.” Celestia’s head dipped and her ears drooped back as she remembered this pony, “He had such aspirations to change the way we looked at the world. Even I was amazed and inspired by his theories that he proposed, no matter how fanciful they seemed. He was even made one of Equestia’s Grand Mages of the highest order at the mere age of twenty.”

Luna looked on in curiosity at the praise that her sister was bestowing on this one pony, the likes of which she had only seen her do with her current pupil, Twilight Sparkle. If this unicorn, Visionary Dusk, was such a promising mind, why did her sister seem so distraught over him? And more importantly, why was this pony leading a group of assailants that bared such ill-will toward their nation and her ponies?

“I had to banish him, Luna,” Celestia answered the unspoken question, “You see, Visionary Dusk proposed that ponies and all sentient life of Equues were on the cusp of a new stage of evolution. He believed that we had reached a point in our time that nature was ready to take its course, and thrust new life into the chain. However, he also believed that there was something holding all sentient life back from this new evolutionary step. Like a barrier in the way, keeping us from obtaining this stage.”

Celestia’s features deepened as more of her story went on.

“Nopony saw it until it was too late. Many of his fellow mages whispered about how Visionary Dusk was becoming desperate in his research into this new evolution. To the point where some said he was becoming... obsessed,” Celestia held back the tears that misted her eyes, “Then, one of the Grand Mages went missing.

“Nopony knew where he had gone, but he did not simply disappear. The search went on for a full week, but no leads had arisen. That is, until another pony in Canterlot also disappeared. A young filly, only sixteen years, and her family had no idea where she had gone. She was supposed to have been on her way back from Canterlot’s Higher Education Academy, but when she never returned home, her family reported her missing.

“In both cases, the last pony that the two had been seen with was Visionary Dusk. When confronted, Visionary Dusk had stated that he had been too busy working on his research, but too many other witnesses stated otherwise. The Royal Guard investigated Visionary Dusk’s whereabouts extensively and presented some disturbing findings to me. Visionary Dusk had been secretly using an older research lab that had been condemned in the lower ring of Canterlot. When the Royal Guard had raided the lab, they found not only Visionary Dusk, but the other two ponies as well… dead.”

Luna gasped in shock, though Celestia wasn’t done yet.

“They had been cut apart, dissected. All manner of medical equipment and research papers were strewn about the lab, and at the center of it all was Visionary Dusk, with their blood on his hooves. He was arrested for their murders, but when he was put to trial, he denied that he killed them. Rather, that they were necessary sacrifices for his research and the world’s evolution. He believed so fully that what he was doing was for the benefit of all of Eques, that those ponies lives were nothing more than a stepping stone to his research. So much so that when the order to destroy all the research was given, he fought back and severely injured over half a dozen guards before being subdued.”

The Princess of the Night was taken aback, practically appalled, by this unicorn that her sister described. A pony that saw others as merely tools for his own selfish desires, and what a selfish desire it was if all he wanted was to prove his beliefs to be true.

Celestia tore her sister from her thoughts as she reached the conclusion of her story, “The families of the ponies that had been lost called for Dusk’s execution. They demanded his blood for their own, but I did not allow it.”

“W-what?” Luna gasped out in surprise, galloping up to try and meet her sister’s wandering eyes and shouting, “Sister, even you could not deny that this pony, this criminal, deserved a just end. Why stay thy blade?”

“Because, Luna!” Celestia shouted back before reigning in her emotions, “Those ponies that had just lost their loved ones and were only seeking revenge. I try everyday to steer my ponies away from making a mistake like that, to only seek bloodshed for bloodshed. There is no peace in that.”

Luna scoffed, “Tia, you can’t honestly say that a pony like this didn’t deserve his end for what he’s done. Unless...after all that time, you still felt guilty over my imprisonment?”

Celestia’s jaw clenched unconsciously at the accusation. Luna noticed the reaction and was given her answer. She wanted to scream at her sister’s ignorance. After all that time to reflect, her sister still solely blamed herself for her own actions. She was supposed to be the wiser one, the one that had time to grow and learn.

Luna stamped her hoof on the ground as she exclaimed, “My debt had been paid for my actions, sister, and so had yours so long ago! Why is it that you thought that you had to keep punishing thyself for my actions?!”

“Because I was also to blame, Luna!” Celestia shouted back.

“No, you were not!” the Princess of the Night huffed before taking a more steadying breath to speak, “I thought we had been over this, Tia. I was the one that wanted to plunge the world into an eternal night. I’m the one who stole the elements of harmony and used their magic, nearly corrupting them, to set my plan into motion. You were the only one who could stop me and you did it with the only way possible. Nightma-my other self, would have cursed your name to the pits of Tartarus, but I can only be thankful that you had the strength to do what had to be done for the sake of Equestria and the rest of the world.

“It might not have been what either of us wanted, but we know it was the right thing to do. The same can be said for here as well. Yet, knowing what this pony had done and was capable of, you let him go?”

Celestia rounded on her sister, trying to look angry, but at the same time, couldn’t deny her own sister’s words. Throughout her thousand-year rule alone, the Princess of the Sun had made more mistakes than she cared to admit. It was only thanks to her unwavering will to fix them, and a bit of luck, that her nation grew under her rule. Executions were especially hard on her, because everytime she saw a pony ready to be sentenced to death, she couldn’t help but imagine her lost sister in their place if her actions the day that she banished her did not go the way it did.

Sure, some of these ponies on death row were wholly irredeemable and would not hesitate to commit the same crimes that put them there in the first place, but Celestia wondered if they were given another option, would they have somehow changed for the better? Much like how she hoped her sister did when she returned from her thousand-year banishment?

Visionary Dusk was not the first pony that she had offered such an option to. Though, all who were banished from the Equestrian territories had never returned or were never heard from again. She saw Visionary Dusk and his brilliance and thought that if he was given time to reflect on his actions, he would find some way to redeem himself, even if he was not allowed to return to his birthplace. Maybe she had been too merciful, but that didn’t matter in that this was just another mistake that she now had to live with and hopefully fix.

Celestia let out a deep and tired sigh, not just from having been woken up in the middle of the night, but from the countless years of the weight on her shoulders that she had to carry even to this day. She looked up at her sister and looked her in the eye. Neither had to say anything, as they both understood what the other was thinking in that moment. It was time for the elder sister to try and let go of this weight. Maybe not all at once, but possibly to start with the mistake of always blaming only herself for that fateful day over a millennium ago. From there, she could start to think a bit more clearly, but only time would tell.

Luna caught her sister’s attention by placing a protective wing around her older sibling's body and spoke, “Tia, remember what mother used to say? Especially when we would break something in the castle when we were foals?”

Celestia leaned onto her sister, her lip curling up in a faint smile, “You can never really fix the past, only try to do better in the future. Thank you, Lulu. Though, I must be off. The Day Guard leaders need to be briefed, and Day Court will need to be opened soon after.”

Before the solar princess could pull away to stand up, she was surprised when Luna held her back with a firm tug of her wing.

“Nay, sister. You still look exhausted from last night. You should; how do you say it, ‘catch up on your sleep?’. I do not mind staying awake for a few more hours to complete your morning tasks. However, when you do arise from your slumber, I think it is about time that we address to the general public about everything that has transpired and correct any misgivings that they may have, yes?”

Luna was right. The ponies of Equestria were scared, and without any official statements from their beloved princesses, the newspaper outlets speculated wildly left and right on what everything that has happened in nearly the past two weeks means. So, hesitant at first, Celestia allowed her sister’s words to sway her tired mind and bayed her sister farewell.

As her older sister left to sleep in the rest of the morning, Luna soon followed out of the drawing room to take on the tasks she set before her. The guards would be easy enough to deal with, as the report that Captain Aegis Flare had given them would just have to be reiterated to the rest of the guards so they may begin their investigation with this new information. Day court would be manageable, so long as Luna didn’t have to deal with too many ‘stuck-up’ nobles, but the final task is what worried her. Public speaking was not her strong suit, but if she at least planned it to take place later in the afternoon, that would give her sister enough time to rest up and return to aid her when the time comes.

Twilight galloped through the castle at a breakneck pace. Bobbing and weaving between the morning guards’ patrols and castle staff while spouting off apologizes in her wake. She hadn’t realized that she had fallen asleep the previous night until she woke up the following morning.

When she had woken up, she found that she was back in her old room in the castle and her friends, Pinkie Pie and Rarity, had been set on another bed across from her, curled up together in their sleep. At first, Twilight couldn’t remember how she and her friends had gotten there, but when the events of the previous night started to return, her heart leapt up into her throat.

After Pinkie had told them of what happened to her last night, Sam had vanished from the castle, presumably to go after the assailants that abducted another pony. The castle guards were whipped into a frenzy to both hunt down the missing human conduit and prepare to track down the assailants once the scouts had reported back. In the meantime, Twilight stayed behind with Rarity to do all she could to comfort her distraught friend. All the while, another part of her mind lingered on her other friend, Sam, who had undoubtedly fled the castle to hunt down the assailants on his own.

At first, Twilight reassured herself that the guards would find Sam and convince him to return to the castle and let the guards handle the ordeal. Though after the first few hours, and no sign of his return, Twilight’s anxiety redoubled. It was only thanks to her mentor, Princess Celestia, as she came to check on the three ponies that Twilight was kept from worrying herself into a panic attack. Twilight bombarded the solar princess with question after question of what was going on, but Princess Celestia cut her off and helped to ease a bit of Twilight and the other mares’ worries with reassurances that the Royal Guard was doing everything within their power to settle both issues.

All three of the ponies looked a little bit better after hearing these words, but that didn’t settle their fears entirely. Yet, with everything that had gone on, none of them could deny that the lack of sleep and stress was starting to affect them. The princess had tried to convince them to get some sleep, but the first to refuse was Twilight, saying that she couldn’t sleep without knowing her human friend was safely back in the castle. Pinkie followed up that she too couldn’t sleep without knowing the same, but Rarity and Twilight could hear the waver in her voice. What she had been put through and seen was still affecting her.

So, all three of them agreed to remain awake until they knew everypony and human was safe. Princess Celestia admired their devotion and allowed this condition, although it didn’t take much longer before everything caught up with the young mares, and one by one, they each fell asleep. This allowed the princess of the sun to move the sleeping ponies to Twilight’s room and tuck them into bed.

After waking up and remembering the previous night, Twilight pounced from her bed to find the nearest guard to tell her of what happened. Luckily, there was one just outside her room to provide her with just that. When she was told that Sam had returned with the guards after assaulting the assailants’ base, she sped off without even taking a single stroke of a brush through her messy mane or coat.

Twilight bounded around the last corner to the castle guest suites, panting heavily. Sweat poured through the fur on her face, but she didn’t care. She only cared about the suite that had a set of guards standing in front of it. The guards instantly recognized the disheveled mare coming up to them and allowed her access to the suite’s door.

“Sam? Sam?! Are you in there?!” Twilight pounded on the door as she half yelled between pants for air.

The guards were about to ask if Twilight was ok, when the suite’s door slowly swung open. Just beyond stood the familiar looking human that Twilight had been looking for.

“Hey, Sparks. I-woah!” Sam couldn’t finish his sentence as Twilight threw herself at the conduit and started to cry.

The force of the sudden tackle nearly knocked him off his feet, but he was able to catch himself and Twilight after being pushed halfway into his room. Afterwards, Sam could only stand there and stroke Twilight’s mane while she let out her pent up emotions.

“You idiot!” Twilight sudden threw herself off the human to glare at him with a livid gaze, “How could you have done that?! You’re strong, I know that. You fought those assailants before, but chasing after them? Alone?! What were you...Sam, a-are you okay?”

Although Twilight had her tirade ready to unleash on the reckless conduit, once she was able to see past her anger and get a good look at him, she noticed something. He looked exhausted, like he hardly even slept at all. His clothes were covered in dirt and were in need of a wash, much like the human himself. Though there was something else beyond the heavy, dark bags under his eyes too once Twilight refocused on those strikingly dark colored orbs. Sam didn’t just look tired, he looked...dejected.

Sam rubbed his face with his hand, following up with pinching the bridge of nose as he spoke, “I’m fine, Sparks. Just tired.”

Twilight wasn’t the most adept at perceiving hidden truths, but even she could see that Sam was lying. Her earlier anger was all but forgotten, now replaced with worry for one of her friends, and she wasn’t about to let him suffer alone.

“Sam, you don’t look okay. What happened last night?” Twilight pressed on.

Twilight watched as Sam did everything he could to avoid looking her in the eye directly, and his hands started to shake until he hid them in his pockets.

“The guards and I found the wannabes’ hideout,” Sam explained, “We beat them, but they slipped away.”

Twilight waited for more, but when the silence continued, she found herself a little disappointed. It was unusual to hear her human friend explain something so concisely. She had expected him to slip some kind of joke in between or fluff it up to make the fight sound more epic. This was really starting to worry her.

“Sam, it sounds like there was something else. What else happened?” Twilight asked again, hoping to persist.

Sam turned away to stare idly at nothing, “It’s fine, Sparks. I’m fine.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

“Twilight, I don’t want to talk about it.”

Twilight gasped. Sam only used her real name when he was being serious. Yet, she couldn’t just stand to see another one of her friends like this, especially after Pinkie.

“Sam, please. We were worried about you. I was worried about you, and I still am.” Twilight continued to plead, cautiously moving to place herself in front of Sam, “No matter what it is or what you say, I won’t judge you. You’re my friend, and friends don’t let their friends feel alone or scared.”

Sam inhaled and exhaled slowly a few times as he thought. Twilight waited, hoping her words got through, and after a few more moments, Sam turned to face Twilight directly. Twilight saw the dejected look on his face staring back at her and tried to look as sympathetic as she could in return.

Sam sighed heavily and gave Twilight a faint smile of appreciation. Twilight sat down on her haunches and listened to Sam while he paced anxiously as he told her what they found after the fight. The cages with ponies, the notes on the experimentation, and then the medical lab. He even managed to share why this all upset him, if just a little bit by saying ‘I know what they’ve been through’. Sam did omit a few details, only because as he kept going, he could see that Twilight was looking very pale. Neither did he want to relive those thoughts as well by speaking them out loud and possibly leading himself down another, darker train of thought.

Twilight listened the entire time, even if she wanted Sam to stop so she wouldn’t have to hear anymore. She couldn’t believe that somepony would treat another so cruelly. As Sam concluded with his and the guards return to Canterlot, he plopped himself down on his bed, unsure if he felt better about talking about this with someone he trusted. Twilight continued to sit across from him on the floor, processing everything she heard. Once more time had passed in silence, Twilight stood up and walked over to Sam and placed a comforting forehoof on his arm.

“Sam,” Twilight began, hoping that her words would be enough, “I’m sorry I yelled at you earlier. You’re not an idiot. You saved those ponies from having to suffer and pushed those assailants back. That was incredibly brave and selfless of you. I’m also sorry that these assailants remind you so much of your own life.”

“Sparks, that’s not something you should be sorry for,” Sam spoke up.

“I suppose,” Twilight accepted, “I just thought you’d want to hear it. Like I said, you saved those ponies, right? Nopony, or anyone, should of had to be put through something like that. You put yourself at risk for others, just like that time in the throne room. I honestly wish I could be as strong as you to have faced all that by myself.”

Sam chuckled under his breath, “That’s just it, Sparks. Neither could I.”

Twilight tilted her head, but Sam stopped her before she could ask the obvious.

“I’m strong, clever, and have a great sense of humor, but if it weren’t for my friends, both back in my world and here, I don’t think I could have made it this far.”

Twilight took these last words in, and a smile began to grow on her face, “Well, I’m glad that you have made it this far. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have made such a great friend like you, even if your sense of humor still needs some work.”

Sam’s smile grew to match Twilight’s, and they shared a small laugh. Though, Sam suddenly got a worried look on his face himself.

“Sparks, um, is Pinkie doing any better? I know she was really upset last night, and I never got a chance to check up on her when I got back.”

Twilight bit the inside of her cheek at Sam’s question. Pinkie still seemed unlike her happy-go-lucky self from the time she remembered being awake the previous night, and she, Rarity, and Twilight had only grown more distraught upon Sam’s disappearance. Yet, Twilight was unsure of the pink mare’s feelings, since she was not awake when Twilight left to find Sam. Though seeing the hopeful look on Sam’s face, Twilight could only do one thing.

“She’s...doing better,” Twilight lied, even though she didn’t know if this actually was a lie or not, “She and Rarity were still asleep when I came to find you, but she seemed to fall asleep a little easier last night once princess Luna told us that she already had the guards tracking down the assailants and you.”

Sam breathed a sigh of relief, as did Twilight for Sam buying her story.

Sam was about to scratch Twilight behind the ears, but pulled his hand back and spoke, “Thanks, Sparks. I know they probably want to see it themselves, but can you tell them that I’ll be around to apologize to them later? I could really use a nap right about now.”

Twilight could see that Sam was doing everything he could just to stay awake at that moment. She realized that even if she hadn’t slept all that much the previous night, Sam had been up longer than she had.

Twilight hopped away from the bed and nodded in understanding, “Of course. I’ll make sure that Pinkie and Rarity are around when you’re awake.”

Sam could only give a grunt in response as he finally let his mind find some peace after talking with his friend. From the door to the suite, Twilight watched as Sam flopped back on the bed, not bothering with covers, and soon heard light snoring arising from the human. With that, she gently closed the door to allow her human friend some time to rest and go check up on her other friends that she neglected that morning.

Author's Notes:

God, what is up with me and not getting these chapters out faster?...Alexa, that was a question for you.

You had over a dozen appointments throughout the month and another work related trip that took over a week before you could return.

Crap, that's right...still that's not really an excuse. I lust wish I had more time to just sit down and write without constant distractions or worries. Maybe I can work something out in the future, but for now, I'm just gonna have to make due and hope for the best. Because I still have more work IRL coming up soon that will demand a significant amount of my attention.

Editor: Regreme for whom I am eternally grateful for having the patience to wait out my draft updates

Be sure to leave some feedback if you'd like, I'm always welcome to constructive criticism