Author's Notes:

'So I'll just say that I'll see you later'

Ho boy. So I'll admit that I lost my interest in writing this (any basically anything else) for quite a while. I can't say what really started all that, but once that happened I just hated not working this. Which then led into hating myself for not continuing on with the story. I tried multiple times just to sit myself down and force myself to write, but that wasn't working. So I just dropped it altogether for a while. Once I had some time to gradually pick it back up. I soon remembered why I loved writing this in the first place. Not to meet some imaginary deadline I put on myself, or to gain a whole bunch of interweb fames (Although it is nice to be noticed), but just because I like to invent fun stories and let them evolve in my head until I think that it would be just as fun to write them down and share. So, I'm sorry for the delay and hope any of you who enjoy the story as much as I enjoy creating it will continue to still around til the end.

Thanks Regreme for proofreading and editing, and not giving up on me

Sam licked his forefinger and thumb and noisily turned the page of the newspaper he was reading from, this being the fourth paper he was reading from a stack that was brought up to Twilight’s lab earlier that day. A pink, poofy-haired pony lazily leaned over the conduit’s shoulder from atop the desk he was leaning on and read along, although she was mostly just waiting for him to turn to the funnies while she skimmed. Twilight, who tried to ignore the noisy affair, was pouring over her latest notes on interplanetary teleportation theories.

Sam sighed, shaking his head after skimming the last article in his newspaper, “I seriously don’t get it.”

Pinkie nuzzled up closer to Sam’s cheek and asked, “What about, Sammy?”

“This nickname they’re calling me by. The ‘Wire Wraith’?” Sam said, punctuating his comment with a tap from the back of hand to the newspaper, “I mean, why couldn’t it have been something cool like… ‘Wire-fray’ or something like that?”

Twilight, who had been listening in the whole time, turned to face the conduit with a confused tilt of her head.

“Why would you want to be called that?” the purple unicorn asked.

Sam shrugged and put on a witty smile, “Eh, sounded pretty cool to me, and you know... I got wire powers. Plus, I like to live life on the edge, and I’m pretty good in a fight.”

Sam’s smile drooped as the purple unicorn just continued to stare back at him with an even more confused look.

“Ugh, give me a break. I’m terrible when it comes to making up names,” Sam groaned, folding up the newspaper and setting it aside.

“Ah~, they’re not that bad, Sammy,” Pinkie tried reassuring the conduit, “They just don’t have the same pizzaz! Oh! Oh! What if we called you ‘The Wondrous Wire’?”

Sam sputtered in laughter, “Pinkie, that sounds terrible! No, wait, how about ‘Sam: The Wire Man’?”

“Captain Wire!” Pinkie shouted between fits of snorting giggles.

Both the human and pink pony broke down into hysterical laughter as they continued to come up with even more ridiculous and over-the-top nicknames. Beside them, Twilight was just glad to see her two friends were practically back to their usual selves after the events of a few days ago.

Pinkie had seemed so distressed after the abduction she witnessed. Even more so than the time that she thought Gummy, her pet alligator, had run away. Sam, on the other hoof, hardly spoke a word to anyone, even to her. He’d just do the work that she assigned him, and not much else.

It was thanks to Rarity that the two soon started to get better. She offered that the two get together and just talk. So, Twilight brought Sam, while Rarity gathered up Pinkie, and they all sat down to eat a quiet and relaxing dinner. It was quiet at first, the only sounds coming from the scraping of silverware while they ate. At another prompt from Rarity, Pinkie worked up the energy to tell one of her jokes. Even if she didn’t put too much effort into it, it was enough to get the human conduit to chuckle under his breath. This, in turn, got the rest of the mares to perk up, especially Pinkie.

The pink pony offered another joke, and Sam’s smile and chuckle grew. Twilight watched in amazement as Rarity’s plan began to work. She knew that Pinkie enjoyed making others smile and enjoy themselves, and Sam... well, Sam just needed some company and a distraction.

Soon, the tables had turned as Sam offered to tell his own joke. Pinkie and Rarity waited as Twilight braced herself for what was coming. True to form, Sam’s style of humor was vulgar, raunchy, and served with a bit of a dark side. Rarity expectantly did not take to it quite as well, while Twilight just rolled her eyes with a small smirk on her face. Pinkie was the exception, for as the punchline settled in, she snorted with uplifting laughter.

After that, the two seemed to become more open and started trading stories about their lives. Both Pinkie and Sam talked throughout the rest of the day, whether about themselves or about nothing in particular. Both of them seemed to thrive in each other’s presence and were looking like they were getting better with each passing hour. Twilight and Rarity watched as the two became friends nearly overnight. The next day was the same way, as the two stayed fairly close to each other and revelled in each other’s company. .

Then, the princesses pulled a curveball. They came to Sam with some unexpected news. That being that he was to appear with them before Equestria’s biggest news outlets for a press conference for his ‘official Earth Ambassador Welcoming’.

Sam groaned at the prospect of sitting around for possibly hours on end, answering questions from a bunch of journalist hacks. Though, at the princesses’ insistence, and clever word choices, Sam begrudgingly agreed to the interview. It wasn’t too bad from what Twilight saw. Plus, she thought the rest of Equestria had the right to know that Sam was a good person and not part of some alien invasion like the tabloids raved on about.

The only time that the press conference seemed to throw the human conduit off guard was when a random reporter decided to ask about his involvement with the assailants that had attacked the city over a week ago. Sam had frozen after that question, looking like a deer trapped in the headlights, but thanks to the princesses’ quick rebuttal, the crowd of ponies were reassured that Sam was no ally to them.

After that though, the questions from the reporters turned from Sam to the situation with the assailants. Luckily, the princesses had prepared for this, too. The ponies were assured that the royal guard were devoting every resource they had into the investigation. Warrants were officiated by the princesses themselves, and the name of their leader was announced. Even Sam’s exploits in combating these threats were mentioned in a minor comment to further push the public opinion in his favor. By the time the press conference was over, Sam, Twilight, and princesses were fatigued and retreated back to the castle for some much needed rest, while the presses of Equestria catalogued and produced their stories for the rest of the nation to see.

Over the next two days, Sam worked with Twilight regularly, and with renewed enthusiasm, with encouragement from his new friend, Pinkie Pie. Like Twilight said, it was good to see her two friends getting back to their usual selves and having fun together, even if their ‘fun’ got them into trouble with the royal guard, and Captain Aegis Flare in particular, from time to time.

“Ahem,” Twilight cleared her throat to get her two chuckling friends’ attention, “Ok, Sam. It’s ten-fifteen.”

“Aaah, but I was already having fun over here,” Sam mockingly pouted.

“Yeah, Sparks. Sammy and I were really onto something with that last name,” Pinkie joined in.

Twilight huffed in annoyance, seeing as Pinkie had picked up the annoying nickname that Sam had picked out for her. Through sheer force of will, and a quick breathing exercise, Twilight refocused her thoughts.

“Sam, Pinkie and Rarity are leaving for the train station as soon as Rarity finishes packing. Plus, it was your idea to want to practice until she’s done,” the purple unicorn logically pointed out.

Sam threw his arms up in an exaggeratedly defeated fashion while he theatrically hammed up his response, “Oh, the humanity! What unfairness has befallen me to have such a callous educator~! Heh, anywho. You stay right there, Pinkie, cause you got yourself a front row ticket to the show.”

Pinkie plopped herself on the desk on her rump and clapped her hooves wildly. She hooted and hollered, like she was at a performance on Broadway, while Sam bowed theatrically to the invisible audience on either side of the pink pony. Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes again, clearing off to the other corner of the room the give Sam his needed space.

Sam stretched and bounced around a bit to get loosened up, followed by a quick session of cracking his knuckles, shoulders, and neck. He turned on his heel to face the purple unicorn and nodded that he was ready.

“Alright,” Twilight said, clipboard in her magical grasp, “Today is just a quick review of the spells you’ve learned proficiently, and-”

“Hey, Sparks,” Sam interrupted, much to Twilight’s chagrin, “instead of that, why not teach me something new, like I don’t know... a teleportation spell?”

Twilight nearly dropped her clipboard in surprise, and she frantically replied, “Sam! A teleportation spell is one of the highest level spells a unicorn can learn and is extremely dangerous. You’re not ready for that!”

Sam pursed his lips in the corner of his mouth and let out a sound akin to a ‘pfft’ dismissively. Twilight was arguably ruffled by Sam lack of concern, but the human beat her to the rebuttal.

“Come on, Sparks. You’ve said it yourself. ‘I’ve been learning most of the spells you’ve been teaching me quite proficiently in a very short time’.”

Twilight shook her head, “Yes, but that is most of the spells, and some of the times, the spell has backfired on you.”

“Not the first time I’ve been blown up,” Sam waved off.

“Yes, but teleportation is on a whole other level from the spells I’ve been teaching you!”

Pinkie watched the back and forth from the side with a tub of freshly popped popcorn and a soda. Sam ignored the physical impossibility, a feat he was getting much better at, to focus on his own task at hand.

“Listen, Sam,” Twilight continued, “learning to teleport is no joke. It took me over three years to learn it, and another three to master. It’s also one of the most dangerous spells to perform, and if not executed properly, it can seriously injure the user or any other bystanders. You’re basically ripping a hole between the ethereal ley lines of the world!”

“That sounds badass!” Sam clapped, softly pondering his next thought, “That might actually make a kickass metal band name too; ‘Ethereal Ley Lines’.”

Twilight stomped her hoof and glared at Sam, “You’re not listening to me! If you don’t perform the spell exactly as it needs to be, you could cause the hole to become unstable! If that happens, you risk losing something in the event horizon, and I’m not talking about your shirt. Incidents range from severed tails, ears, actual chunks of a pony’s hide, or worse! I cannot, and will not, teach you anything about teleportation until I feel you’ve mastered at least twenty of the intermediate level spells. Are we clear?”

“Uuuuuuugggghhhhhh, fine,” Sam relented, knowing that Twilight would just continue into a lecture about all the little faults and dangers if he kept pushing, “but when are you gonna teach me any of the master level spells anyways?”

Twilight smirked and tapped her clipboard with a quill, “When I feel you’re ready.”

Sam groaned once more, avoiding Twilight’s smart grin. After that, Sam was more than eager to practice his spells just to not get bored again. Luckily, Twilight was feeling the same way and reached for the desk behind her with her magic. Probing momentarily, she found what she was looking for and telekinetically tossed the bundle of thaumium wire to the conduit.

“Alright, first is the illumination spell,” Twilight called out, “No more than fifty lumens, please.”

Sam snickered at remembering his first attempt at the spell as he caught the spool of wire out of the air. He unwound the end of the wire from the spool and absorbed the material with ease until it was all gone.

“What? You didn’t like the light show last time? Literally, the world’s first ‘thaumium rave party’, and the bookworm is unimpressed,” Sam protested, working a few strands into the correct spell matrix pattern.

“Yes, because everypony wants to be blind for the next hour after you supersize the spell matrix,” Twilight retorted sarcastically.

Pinkie obnoxiously slurped from her soda before cutting in, “That’s why you always bring sunglasses to a party, Twilight. You never know when somepony is going to bust out a light show to turn it into a rave ”

“Yeah. Always gotta expect the unexpected, Sparks,” Sam added.

Twilight tsked, not wanting to get sucked in any further to the idiocracy. At the same time, Sam had just put the finishing touches on the first wire matrix, and the whole thing began to glow brilliantly. Sam marveled at how the spell looked somewhat like the outline of a lightbulb, only with just more of a circle with the filament looping around itself from one side of the circle to the other. While not being too bright in the sunlight filled room, the ponies and human could still tell that it would adequately light the room if the sun was not out.

“Good job, Sam,” Twilight complemented, marking her clipboard, “Now, for a levitation spell. Use this rubber ball as your target.”

The unicorn held up a simple red, rubber ball in her magic out in front of her that she picked up from the table behind her. Sam disassembled his ‘light spell’ and reabsorbed the wires before summoning more to make the new matrix pattern. This spell was also considerably easy, as all he had to do was was create a circle from the palm of his hand, then carefully draw an equilateral triangle within it. He knew he did it right when he pointed the pattern in the rubber ball’s direction, and it flew out of Twilight’s lavender magical grip and into his own pale-golden one. The ball stayed perfectly still, always hovering a mere inch in front of the levitation pattern, no matter which way he turned his hand with the pattern.

Sam got a devious smile on his face and turned to Pinkie, “Hey, Pinkie. You done with that popcorn?”

Pinkie’s eyes lit up knowingly and dumped the half full tub of popcorn down her gullet before nodding, “I am now!”

Sam took a lower stance for balance and stretched his spell arm out just above the pink pony’s head. Twilight saw it coming too late and didn’t have enough time to cry out.

“Pull!” Sam signalled.

Pinkie tossed the now empty tub of popcorn up into the air, and half a second later, Sam crushed the spell matrix. The rubber ball shot off and sped across the room, nailing it’s target. The tub flipped through the air as it came back down, now with the rubber ball perfectly wedged inside the opening. Twilight was slacked jawed at what she just saw, while the conduit and pink pony hollered and jumped around.

“Did you see that?!” Sam cheered and ran up to the pink pony.

“You know it!” Pinkie cheered back, bumping her hoof against the conduit’s fist as he passed by, “You got it right in the hole!”

“I didn’t even try that! Damn, I wish I got that on camera.”

While the two celebrated, Twilight just marked another part of her clipboard while trying not to be too annoyed. She also, picked up the popcorn tub and pulled the ball out so they could move on...hopefully.

“Yes. Yes, that was a good shot. Now, can we get back to work?” Twilight called out.

Twilight watched as Pinkie whispered into Sam’s ear while looking at her, and they both shared another, short laugh. No doubt at her expense, but at least the human conduit bounded back over to his place in the room to continue his practice.

“Alright, next up is... the illusion spell,” Twilight read after consulting her list, “Remember to keep the image of what you’re conjuring in your head. The clearer the image, the more effective the spell.”

“Got it, Sparks,” Sam called, already weaving the pattern needed for the spell.

Like all of his other wire spells, Sam’s magic always worked out a little differently than that of how unicorns executed their spells. For this one, unicorns created images and nonexistent replicas of objects with their magic and projected them for all to see, useful for when you want to show someone else essentially what you’re trying to describe and can’t remember the name for.

Although, Sam could think of a couple of good ways he could use this trick in combat. Like for instance, since the images that project from his patterns seem to stay fixed to above the pattern, like a video game hologram. His thoughts came down to using them as little distraction tools for covert infiltrations, especially since once the image was being projected, he could place the spell pattern anywhere he wanted and not worry about the wire burning out for at least another minute or so. Of course, if he wanted the image to look bigger, he needed to make a bigger pattern. He shrugged that minor detail off as he finished the pattern and waited for the image to come alive.

Both Pinkie and Twilight were surprised at what they saw at first. It was a cartoonish portrayal of Twilight’s face. Only, its eyes were crossed, and its tongue stuck out the side of its mouth in a goofy fashion. Sam smirked before putting the projection up in front of him to cover his own face like a mask.

“Hello, everypony! My name is Twilight Sparkle,” Sam said to give the projection a mocking imitation of the purple mare, “I like books and reading and being an all around stick in the mud! Sam, cut that out and start taking your lessons seriously, like me! Magic is seriously serious business, don’t you know?”

Pinkie was laughing so hard that she rolled completely off her perch on the table across the room. The small tumble did little to reduce the pink pony’s fits of laughter, while Twilight on the other hand was busy staring at the mocking imitation of herself in front of Sam’s face with a displeased scowl. She could hear Sam was also snickering from behind the mask, not to mention how much his shoulders shook as he tried to keep the illusion in front of him straight.

“Ha ha, very funny, Sam. Like it was the first two times,” Twilight deadpanned.

The projection faded and Sam’s face, full of withstrained laughter, was revealed as he reabsorbed the wire. It took a few more minutes until Pinkie and Sam had had their fill before Twilight could see that they were ready to move on.

“Ok, lastly is the shield spell,” Twilight said.

Sam gave her the thumbs up and clapped his hands together, rubbing them vigorously. His hands came apart with strands of thaumium wire connected between them. The threads of magic wire bobbed and weaved at his command to form the last pattern. Another circle was all that was needed to complete the spell matrix when, all of a sudden, the pattern shone brightly and exploded, kicking up a cloud of debris and dust.

“Sam!” “Sammy!”

From the haze, Sam emerged, coughing and wheezing and waving his arms around to clear the air. The two mares ran up to him to make sure their friend was okay. They gave him a quick look over and breathed a collective sigh of relief when they found nothing beyond some spots of soot on his clothes and face.

Twilight, first to speak, chided Sam for his mistake, “Sam, you forgot the-”

“The ‘secondary focusing brace’, I know,” Sam finished.

“Well then, next time you won’t try showing off so much, will you?” Twilight scolded.

“Yeah. Yeah. ‘Practice makes perfect’ and all that jazz.”

Sam coughed up one last puff of smoke clogging his lungs before he felt ready to try again. The girls gave him some room, and Sam took a deep breath to regain his concentration. He visualized the spell matrix’s pattern in his head, taking great care to recheck every detail of it before attempting to form it with his wires. Satisfied that he would not forget the secondary focusing brace like the previous time, Sam stretched his right hand out. From the tips of his fingers, thaumium wires emerged like slithering snakes. The wires slowly began to form the pattern that Sam visualized. The trickiest part, and consequently the part Sam forgot the first time, was to make sure that both focusing braces were formed before adding the ‘catalyst array’. Essentially, two circles with inscriptions running between the two and a hexagonal frame set within the center of said circles.

The last of the inscription gleamed as Sam finished the pattern and the entire matrix flashed with a bright light. From the pattern sprang a shield made of glimmering, translucent magical energy, cast in the same hue as the thaumium wire. The shield expanded to roughly one-third of Sam’s size and into the shape that a certain star-spangled superhero would be jealous of.

“Oh~, sparkly!” Pinkie awed as she marveled at the shield.

Sam shot a cheeky grin at her and replied, “I know, and that’s not even the best part.”

Sam spun the matrix and shield around to free up his left forearm. Wires of the normal variety sprang out from his left forearm and coiled around the appendage by his command. After they had a chance to wrap around his forearm a few times, Sam fitted the shield spell’s matrix on top of his arm with his other hand and let the wires coil around it to secure it in place. Firmly attached as it was, Sam flexed and moved about to test his mobility, posing in between movements to show off various defense poses from behind his shield. Pinkie clopped her hooves together and cheered in approval.

“Alright, Sparks. Give ‘er your best shot!” Sam said, turning to the unicorn with his shield placed between them.

Twilight hesitated. They had done this before, but even while holding back, she couldn’t help but worry for Sam’s safety if she happened to overdo it and broke through Sam’s defenses. Sam and his powers were magic resistant, not magic-proof after all. Though thanks to Twilight’s trepidation, Sam was becoming impatient.

Sam smirked and put on his best terrible french accent to taunt, “Come on, you sons-of-a-silly-person! I blow my nose at you, you so called magic unicorn!”

“Sam, what are doing?” Twilight frowned at the foalish insults.

“Pfffffffffftfttftttt~,” Sam blew a very noisy raspberry at the unicorn from behind his shield.

Becoming annoyed, Twilight replied, “Sam, knock it off. I-”

“I don’t wanna talk to you no more, you empty-headed animal food trough wiper! I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries!”

Pinkie was peeling with laughter at the conduit’s antics. Twilight, however, was doing all she could not to let the taunts get to her. Though try as she might, the continued verbal assault had worn down her patience. Had Twilight taken the time to take one last deep breath to calm herself down, she might have seen through Sam’s ruse. However, Sam’s final insults had pushed her over the edge.

Twilight planted her hooves firmly against the ground, her horn bursting to life as she poured a significant amount of raw magical power into one of the few combat spells she knew. The air in the lab was humming with all the energy that Twilight was about to unleash. Pinkie Pie had taken the liberty of ducking behind the table she was sitting upon after overturning it, while also sporting the empty popcorn tub like a helmet.

Shards of crystallized magic in the shape of of six-pointed stars condensed around Twilight’s horn. The five little objects grew with each passing second as they spun in the air. Sam grinned in victory before diving behind his shield to await the oncoming attack. Twilight reared up on her hind legs, the magenta crystal stars followed the movements of her horn as she flicked it around like a magic wand. With a final flourish, Twilight snapped her horn forward and cast the stars off.

The stars shot off in the direction of their wielder’s horn, directly at Sam, and with a speed that surprised even the conduit. He barely had time to brace properly before the first star hit. The attack connected and surprisingly jarred the conduit as it exploded on impact. The hit rang out like a giant firecracker, and four more just like it soon followed.

As the faint dust settled, Sam noticed that the attack had actually pushed him back a couple inches from where he originally stood. This actually got the wire conduit both excited and nervous over the fantasy of what kind of sparring match the two could have if he wasn’t so magic resistant. Sam also imagined Pinkie Pie chiming in and giving the conduit’s feelings a more appropriate word like, ‘excitovous’, or something.

Across from him, Pinkie was chortling to herself like she had just thought of something funny, while Twilight panted heavily from the exertion of casting such a powerful spell. Wasting no time to see just how much more the purple unicorn could dish out, Sam grinned deviously.

Raising his shield back up, Sam taunted, “I thought Sunny’s personal student was supposed to be some sort of magic wiz! Come on, Sparks, stop trying to hit me and hit me!”

Twilight stammered in frustration. As much as she wanted to continue, the last spell had drained her significantly. Yet, her pride as an Equestrian Mage was being challenged. Something that she did not take lightly. Pushing past the fatigue, Twilight reignited her horn. She was determined to not let the wire conduit have the last laugh. She would find the strength needed to break through his shield, no matter what it took.

However, just as the purple unicorn was pouring the last of her flagging reserves into a futilely, weaker spell, a dainty set of knocks from the lab’s door interrupted them. Twilight’s horn sputtered out just as the door opened in a veil of a light-blue haze and swung open.

“I’m back~!” Rarity called out from the door frame.

The pearl white mare waltzed in with a poise that seemed to be just at home with the Canterlot community. Although, walking in on the state that the lab was in now made her backpedal.

“Wah! What in the name of Celestia happened here?!” Rarity demanded.

Pinkie bounded out from behind her hiding spot and bounced right up to her friend, “Oh, nothing, Rares. Sammy and Sparks were just testing out some of Sammy’s spells. They did get a little carried away near the end.”

‘I wonder if Pinkie also drives that bus that she just threw us under right there,’ Sam thought bitterly, “Hey now, I have to get my practice in somehow.”

“But look at the two of you. Twilight, your mane is a mess, and you’re all sweaty. And Sam, you’re covered in dust and soot,” Rarity pointed out, “Honestly, we’re about to travel through the heart of Canterlot, and you two go and get yourselves all sullied.”

Twilight blushed bashfully, doing little as she tried to smooth out her tousled mane. Sam, on the other hand, just looked over his clothes, spotting the patches of dust and dirt that Rarity was talking about, but not necessarily caring. He did pat them down a few times, but that did very little. Rarity groaned in irritation, reaching out behind her with her magic as she procured one of the many suitcases she had originally brought to Canterlot.

“You’re lucky I keep my emergency kit on hoof for situations like this,” she chided and motioned for her purple friend to find a seat next to her while she rummaged through her suitcase for all kinds of personal care supplies.

As Rarity worked combs, brushes and various care products through Twilight’s coat, mane, and tail, while Sam and Pinkie went about cleaning up the lab.

“Thank you, Rarity. I didn’t realize how late it was getting,” Twilight said meekly, “Your train should be here within another hour, and I go and get all messy right before we get to see you off.”

Rarity tsked, working at a particularly hard tangle in Twilight’s mane before replying, “Not at all, darling. I would just hate to see you have to go out into Canterlot proper with your coat in such a state. Now, let me just give you a few spritzes of perfume, and you should be good as new.”

“That’s ok, Rarity, I don’t need-” Though before Twilight could protest, Rarity had already levitated a fancy glass bottle of sweet smelling perfume in front of Twilight and squeezed on the bulbous applicator of a couple of times, causing the purple unicorn to choke on the concentrated scent that she inhaled.

“Oops! Sorry, dear,” Rarity apologized, “At least you won’t have to worry about stinking of sweat.”

“Gee. Thanks, Rarity,” Twilight deadpanned.

“Well, now it’s your turn, Sam,” Rarity turned to the wire conduit.

Sam was in the middle of turning a table back over when Rarity started to approach him. He quickly threw his hands up defensively and backed away in the opposite direction of the white unicorn.

“That’s alright, Rarity. Just gotta pat out a little more of this dust, and I should be fine,” Sam tried to argue.

“Nonsense, Sam. You could use a bit of a sprucing up, if I do say so myself,” Rarity retorted, sporting a variety of combs and brushes in her magic as she cantered closer to the conduit.

Sam tried to find the right argument to get himself out of this situation, but his options were running low. Throwing up his shield in front of him to block the unicorn’s advance, Sam stood defiantly and securely from behind the magical barrier. That is, until the wire matrix shattered from overuse, simultaneously dispelling the magical shield. This left the wire conduit with no more defenses, and he resumed trying to back away from the encroaching unicorn. It didn’t help that Pinkie Pie happened to sneak up on him and climb up onto his back while snickering.

With a devious chime in her voice, Pinkie whispered into the conduit’s ear, “You best just let her do her thing, Sammy, or else she might just tie you down and give you a full makeover.”

Sam gulped nervously at those words, weighing his options and thinking just how much it would be worth getting in trouble again this week by breaking out of the castle to escape the smiling fashionista.

Sam and the others were walking through the streets of Canterlot, closely accompanied by Sam’s usual entourage of royal guards. It seemed that dear ol’ Cappy didn’t appreciate having his morning coffee spiked with lemon juice two days in a row. The freedom of being allowed to roam the castle grounds by himself was nice for the first few days, but Sam had grown to miss the dear old captain after their raid on the assailants’ base. He had been so focused on finding any clues that would lead to their whereabouts that Sam and just about everyone else took notice of the captain’s deteriorating obsession.

So Sam did the only thing he could think of to help take Cappy’s mind off the matter, even for a minute. Like the mischievous friend he was, the wire conduit flooded Aegis Flare’s attention with his antics. However, he was eventually caught in the act on the third day, and after a thorough chewing out by ol’ Cappy, Sam’s usual guards and stipulations were reinstated. Aegis Flare was even there to oversee the conduit’s daily training with the guards and periodically stepping in to partake in a few sparring matches himself. Sam tended to go easy to allow the captain to learn how best to counter him and conduit abilities. All in all, the distractions from the constant manhunt for the assailants seemed to be helping, and Sam was happy with that.

“Whatcha thinking about, Sammy,” Pinkie Pie piped up.

Sam looked down and smiled at the pink pony happily munching on a sugar cookie when he replied, “Nothing much. Just how well the ponies here seem to accept me.”

“Of course they accept you, silly,” Pinkie giggled, “You’re super duper nice and funny. And don’t forget how cool you look swinging around the city with your wires.”

“Yeah, I guess I do look pretty badass when I do that,” Sam agreed.

“Sam, language. There are foals around,” Rarity chided

Sam and the rest of the ponies from the castle had just passed a corner marked 12th and Mane, which was the last block leading to the train station. Along the way, the group were repeatedly approached by various other ponies. All of whom were there to see the wire conduit up close and personal. He had grown used to the attention, much like how he and the rest of the gang did back in Memphis when they were slowly gaining popularity and notoriety as ‘The Four Aces’. Though there was the occasional reporter that had to be removed by the guards when they insisted on ‘just one more question’.

However, there was one encounter that Sam actually found very enjoyable. A filly and her mother came up to the group halfway through their trek. Sam felt like they looked familiar, like he had met them before. When they introduced themselves as Honey Spice and Peppermint Drop, the wire conduit instantly recognized them as the filly he saved from the water tower and her mother. Coincidentally, they had just been on their way to deliver a ‘thank-you’ package to the castle for the conduit. The little filly with her wicker basket full of treats she and her mother made was adorably perched upon her back as she presented it to her hero. Sam accepted the gift with an appreciative smile and examined all the little goodies inside.

The little filly stood before him almost expectantly, like she was waiting for him to do something.
After a minute of pondering the look, Sam got the hint and an even bigger smile crossed his lips. Digging into the basket, he rummaged around until he picked out one of the still warm cookies. Biting into it, his senses’ were bombarded with the deliciously sweet taste of chocolate chip cookie mix baked to perfection. It tasted so fresh that it wouldn’t be hard to believe that they were baked from scratch. He wanted more, but before he knew it, Sam had already devoured to the entire thing and heard an adorable ‘squee’ from the filly as she watched him enjoy her gift. Unfortunately, they didn’t have time to stay and chat, so they reluctantly had to say their goodbyes and parted their separate ways.

“-So, the D.U.P. has us pinned down behind their mobile comm center, and that’s when Natie dove off the watchtower and totally wrecks the APC with the reinforcements,” Sam finished recounting one of his stories to Pinkie and the others while they entered the train station.

“Wow,” Pinkie murmured between bites of her fifth cookie.

Rarity didn’t seem quite as impressed by the retelling.

“Was it entirely necessary for you to use so much force, darling?” Rarity asked, voicing her concerns.

Sam shrugged, “They would have done a lot worse to the people that they were holding prisoner there if we didn’t free them.”

Twilight, who had been purchasing tickets from the ticket counter at the front of the group, had been listening in the whole time. She could sympathize with Rarity that using force like that was not something she could agree with. Yet, at the same time, she understood more about Sam and his trials in life. At least, enough to know that he wouldn’t lie about something as serious as this.

“I’m still not entirely sure I feel comfortable with how you and your friends ‘handle’ yourselves in your stories,” Rarity shook her head, “But I wasn’t there, and if this D.U.P. are much like these assailants we’ve dealt with so far, then I shan’t say you are wrong in your methods.”

“Thanks, I guess?” Sam replied to the compliment.

A high pitched whistle cut through the ambient noise of the train station, drawing everyone’s attention to its owner, who was an older looking stallion in a conductor’s uniform.

“Last call for the train to Ponyville! All aboard!” a conductor called from down on the opposite side of the platform.

The train, which Sam noted was a god-awful vomit of bright pastel colors, was quickly being boarded by the pony patrons on the platform. A few turned to their loved ones and either gave them a reassuring nuzzle, hug, or good-bye kiss before rushing off to board the train. Twilight and her friends were doing much the same, embracing each other in a tight hug before the purple unicorn’s friends had to leave.

“I guess we’ll see you back in Ponyville then, huh?” Pinkie asked, a bit more somberly than she usually talked.

Twilight wrapped her friend in another quick hug before answering, “Oh, don’t worry, Pinkie. It won’t be that long.”

“Well, if it does take a bit longer than you expect, do be kind as to send us a letter every once in awhile,” Rarity playfully chided her friend, “Seriously though, please don’t make us worry like that. Spike’s not the only one who was beside himself when we first heard the news.”

Twilight looked down in regret over her mistake, “I won’t, and I’m sorry. I’ll write to you all every week from now on.”

Rarity tittered, placing a hoof on her friend’s shoulder, “Just be sure to let us know that you’re ok every once in a while. And you.”

Sam pointed at himself as Rarity redirected her attention toward the conduit. She nodded at Sam’s questioning look as she leveled her gaze upon him.

“I’ve heard how well you can protect others. So, please. Look after Twilight, but don’t forget to take care of yourself as well.”

Sam smiled and gave her a reassuring thumbs-up. Rarity accepted the silent agreement and hurried to get her bags aboard the train.

“Sammy!” Pinkie shouted as she lunged into the conduit’s still open arms.

The unexpected heft knocked Sam back a few paces, but he was quick to recover and chuckled at the pink pony’s antics. With more logic defying physics, Pinkie wrapped her forelegs all the way around Sam’s body for an all encompassing hug.

“I’m gonna miss you, Sammy,” Pinkie sniffled, burying her face into Sam’s chest.

“I’ll miss you too, Pinkie,” Sam replied, returning the hug.

“Promise me you’ll come visit Ponyville sometime, will ya?”

Sam flinched at the request. If he were to visit Twilight’s, Pinkie’s, and Rarity’s hometown, that would imply that he would be staying in Equestria for a bit longer. Though, looking down into the pleading face of the cotton candy looking pony in his arms. He just couldn’t bring himself to flat out say ‘no’.

“Y-yeah,” Sam finally answered, “If I get the chance, I’ll come to visit.”

“Pinkie promise?”

“Um, Pinkie? You all don’t have pinkies,” Sam pointed out, wriggling his right hand’s pinky in front of the pony’s face.

Pinkie Pie shook her head and pushed his hand down, “No, not that kind of ‘pinky-promise’. It’s this kind of ‘Pinkie promise’. Ahem; Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye~.”

The weird recital of words was accompanied by an equally weird set of gestures. Sam wanted to say how ridiculous of a routine that was, but found himself too caught up in the moment to refuse. So, setting the pony down, he mimicked the routine, gestures and all. Pinkie’s face lit up like fireworks after that, and she smothered the conduit in one more bone-crushing hug.

“Oh, thank you, Sammy! I can’t wait to welcome you there,” Pinkie suddenly went off on a tangent, “I’ll throw you one of my patented ‘Welcome to Ponyville parties’ ™, and I’ll invite everypony in Ponyville! You’ll even get to meet the rest of our friends. There’s Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, and of course lil’ Spike-A-Roonie. There’s gonna be games and dancing, and don’t forget all the food. I’ll even bake you an even bigger cake than the last one. Then, I can show you everything there is to see in Ponyville. You’ll really like it, I know it! Just don’t forget to-”

Sam rolled his eyes at the silly, pink pony in his arms. Though before she could get too caught up with her tangent, he knew he had to make sure she made it onto the train before it left without her. So, halfway through it all, he was able to free one of his arms from her absurdly, strong grasp and swiftly brought the palm of his hand in to tap her on the tip of her nose. Her head involuntarily jerked back and her muzzle scrunched up into an adorable expression. She looked at Sam silently, before sputtering into fits of laughter to which the wire conduit joined in.

Sam carefully let Pinkie Pie back down to the ground from his arms. The two shared one last look before she hustled onto the train. Not even a minute later, the front half of her body was sticking out one of the windows closest to them as she enthusiastically waved to them. Rarity was far more reserved and waved gracefully from the next window down. The train’s whistle rang out loud, as if on cue. Then, the steam engine chugged into life, and the rest of the train’s cars jerked forward.

“Bye, Twilight! Bye, Sammy! Hope to see you both soon!” Pinkie called out over the grinding wheels of the train’s cars.

Both Twilight and Sam waved back, watching as the train slowly pulled out of the station and was gradually picking up speed. They continued to wave after the train, even as the caboose passed by. Once the train disappeared beyond the station and the city walls, they turned to each other.

“Not gonna lie. I’m gonna miss them,” Sam sighed, sticking his hands into his pockets.

“Well, you did promise to see them again,” Twilight remarked, “Though, I should warn you. Pinkie takes her promises very seriously. So now, you better remember to make some time to go see her.”

Now, Sam kind of regretted making that promise. It wasn’t that he was intending to break it, but he couldn’t forget that he needed to find his way back to his own home sooner rather than later. Perhaps if the project took longer than expected to complete, he could make good on his word. He only hoped that his friends in Memphis would forgive him for taking as long as he already has to return or if he ending up having to stay even a little longer. Setting depressing thoughts aside, Sam clapped his hands together and began making his way back out of the train station with a cheerful smile on his face.

“Hey, wait up, Sam,” Twilight called after the wire conduit.

“Twilight?” somepony suddenly called out to the purple unicorn from behind them.

Upon turning back around to see who it was, Twilight gasped, “Mom, Dad? What are you two doing here?”