“Mom, Dad? What are you two doing here?”

“We could ask the same to you, honey.”

Sam looked up to see the mare that had replied. Walking toward them was a pair of ponies, obviously a married couple, and if by what his friend had asked, her parents. The unicorn mare looked strikingly similar to the lavender mare standing beside the conduit. Her fur was a very light gray though, and her mane and tail alternated between streaks of white and purple. On her flank, her cutie mark stood out proudly as a trio of purple stars unlike her daughter’s.

At Twilight’s mother’s flank was a unicorn stallion. He easily stood out against his wife with his navy-blue fur. His mane and tail were cropped conservatively short, yet styled nicely with a few curled flairs at the ends. Sam spied a set of crescent moons on his flanks for his cutie marks.

The two of them came up to the surprised unicorn by Sam’s side and gave her a few affectionate nuzzles. The three of them hummed as they did so to show how happy they were to see each other, but Twilight soon regained her senses enough to reply to her folks’ question.

“My friends were just on the train to Ponyville,” she finally replied, “But what about you? I’m glad to see you both, but what are you doing here?”

Twilight’s mother answered first, “Your father and I were just seeing one our old family friends off. You remember Clockwork, don’t you?”

Twilight’s eyes lit up with recognition at the name, “Of course! That stallion and his clocks. I guess he was here to deliver one of his custom orders?”

Twilight’s father was the one to answer this time, “Yes, he did. We just happened to catch him on his way to the station and thought we’d walk with him here.”

Twilight smiled as fond memories flooded her mind of the kooky, old stallion. She remembered how she and her brother would go to visit his shop, when he used to have one in Canterlot, to watch all the clocks go off right after school. The noise they all made at the exact same time was funny to listen to, along with watching all the different little figurines that danced around their frames in the little clock houses.

“Well, I’m glad to see our daughter is doing well,” Twilight’s dad commented, breaking Twilight from her reminiscing, “but wouldn’t you like to introduce us to your ‘friend’ here?”

Twilight gasped, suddenly realizing that she had been ignoring her other friend that was standing right behind her. She turned to see Sam idly picking dirt out from underneath his fingernails until he noticed that everyone’s attention was on him.

“Mom. Dad. This is Samuel Reed,” Twilight introduced the human conduit, hoping that the delayed introductions didn’t offend him, “Sam, these are my parents. Twilight Velvet and Night Light.”

Sam stepped forward to offer his hand to shake, “Nice to meet ya! You can just call me, Sam.”

Night Light was the first to accept Sam’s handshake, “Oh, we’ve heard quite a bit about you, ‘Wire Wraith’. Although, not so much from our daughter.”

Twilight felt like a rock dropped into the pit of her stomach. She had been sworn into secrecy before. Yet, as Sam had made a name for himself in the city of Canterlot, her oath appeared to to have lost its importance. Despite this, she had neglected to tell even her parents about her involvement with the conduit from another world.

Sam looked over his shoulder to see the purple unicorn’s distress and smiled mischievously, “Bah, don’t blame her too much. She ‘was’ supposed to keep me a secret… until I decided to take a nice, little stroll through the neighborhood for bit. Although, you’d think the first thing everyone would think wouldn’t be ‘alien invasion’, or am I just that too good looking?”

Night Light chuckled as he pulled his hoof away from the handshake, “Haha! True! Very true, but you’re not gonna win any beauty contests around here, son.”

Sam mockingly huffed in indignation, striking a pose like a runway model, “Please, I’m gorgeous! You ponies just don’t know how to handle all this at once.”

Twilight groaned in embarrassment, as she had to bear the restrained laughter of her parents directed at her and her conduit friend. If the world decided to implode just at that moment, she would not be too upset by it compared to this.

“Well, we’ll just have to take your word on that,” Velvet cheekily remarked, “In the meantime, it’s still a pleasure to meet you.”

Velvet’s outstretched hoof was met with a clasp of Sam’s hand overtop of it. A few respectful shakes were given, and Sam allowed Twilight Velvet’s hoof to fall back down to the ground.

“Likewise,” Sam commented, “Sparks always liked to talk about her family whenever we had some downtime.”

“‘Sparks’?” Twilight’s mom asked confusedly.

Twilight’s face flushed with even more embarrassment, and she wished that whatever deity that watched over humans would show her some mercy and strike Sam down with the intensity of a thousand suns. Night Light, on the other hoof, wasted no time and sidled up to his daughter, brushing her shoulder while wearing a playful smile.

“He already has an adorable pet name for you, eh?” Night Light teased, “Does this mean that some filly has finally found her coltfriend?”

“Dad!” Twilight squeaked, pushing away from her father.

In all honesty, Twilight tried her very best to look indignant, but the growing blush across her face and her slowly disheveling mane only served to make the little, purple unicorn look more adorable in her parents’ eyes. Meanwhile, Sam was debating on whether or not he should feel slighted or join in on Twilight’s torment. He was the focus of Twilight’s current teasing, after all. That decision was firmly snatched from his hands, however, as Velvet turned to look at him with a sickly-sweet, innocent smile.

As Velvet looked over the conduit once more, she tapped her hoof to her chin in mock contemplation, “I’m not one against interspecies relationships, but it would have been nice to know that our daughter was into the exotic beforehoof.”

It was Sam’s turn to feel embarrassed. Heat rushed across his face as he coughed a few times and looked away, mostly to buy himself some time to come up with a clever comeback and throw the attention off himself once more. Night Light and Twilight Velvet chuckled to each other as they watched the two before them fight to get a coherent sentence out to dispute them. It was cute in their eyes, and their reactions matched each other’s pretty well.

“Alright, honey,” Night Light finally came to the two’s rescue, “I think that’s enough teasing for one day, or at least, for the moment. We should at least take them out to lunch, since they’re out here.”

Velvet giggled one last time and nodded in agreement, “Of course, dear. What say you, you two? Would you like to join us for lunch? ‘The Clover Hoof’ should be open by now.”

Sam and Twilight were finally able to reign in their thoughts enough to think over the invitation. It had been a while since Twilight went out to see her parents, and Sam... well, he was just sort of hungry. Twilight was still a bit sceptical about her parents’ oath, but she couldn’t deny that she too was feeling a little more than peckish. A nice lunch with her folks would be enjoyable.

“I’ll have a toasted daffodil sandwich and an iced tea,” Velvet recited her order to the waiter at their table.

The pegasus waiter nodded and wrote down the order on his notepad with his dexterous wing tips. Once done, he turned to the next patron at the table.

Night Light read over the menu one last time and set it down to face the waiter with a smile, “The garden vegetable soup for me, and a glass of water, if you will.”

Sam was having trouble deciding on what he wanted as the waiter rounded on him. Moreover, he was trying to figure out what dishes on the menu didn’t contain something inedible to humans, but everytime, he found something. A little note in the description advised him of something that would not agree with his natural diet. Sighing in defeat, Sam closed his menu and passed it over to the other side of the table with the others.

“I’ll take the soup as well, but no flowers. Plus, a sweet tea,” Sam ordered then returned to idly playing with the corners of his napkin his silverware came in.

Twilight cleared her throat before placing her order, “One daisy salad with extra tomatoes, please. I’ll also have a glass of water to drink. Oh, and can i have the dressing on the side?”

“Of course, miss,” the pegasus waiter confirmed for the purple unicorn, “If that will be all, I’ll get your orders into the kitchen. In the meantime, please enjoy the complimentary breadsticks.”

The pegasus pointed out the basket of said breadsticks in the center of the table before scooping up the menus from the table and tucking them underneath one of his wings. He trotted off to deliver the orders as promised and left the Sparkle family and conduit to their own devices.

‘The Clover Hoof’ was a decent looking outdoor patio restaurant on the corner of Saddle Avenue. Some of the patrons and passerbys couldn’t help but stare every so often at the one table at the restaurant’s corner closest to the street. The one that coincidentally held a very interesting patron in the form of a certain wire conduit. Sam’s guard, as to allow the Sparkle family and Sam to have some form of privacy, stood just outside the venue at either side of the restaurant, vigilantly watching the streets for any sort of trouble and keeping ogling passersbys from interrupting the restaurant's patrons.

Night Light, being the courteous stallion he was, swept the breadstick basket up in his magic and levitated it around the table for the others to pluck one out before he did so himself. The group happily munched on the doughy appetizer until Twilight Velvet cleared her throat.

“So, if you don’t mind me asking, Mr. Reed, how is it that you came to Equestria?” the elder mare asked.

Twilight bit down on her breadstick a little more forcefully than she intended to at hearing the question being asked. She snatched up her napkin in her magic and spit the piece out again to chastise her mother about the sensitive topic that she just barged into. However, Sam flicked his hand up to face Twilight in a way that said that ‘he was okay with this’. Twilight backed down, but her ears flicked back in apprehension to await the time she would need to step in.

“Actually, that’s a bit of a long story,” Sam began, “But just to sum it up... I got thrown through a magic mirror and ended up in ‘Wonderland’, got into a fight with some of the guards, thrown in jail for a bit, had a nice chat with the princesses, and then started working with Sparks here up until now.”

Twilight groaned inwardly at the overly simplified retelling of the conduit’s tale, but she wasn’t about to dispute it, as some of the details she too would rather like to leave out. The corner of her cheek that got cut some weeks ago twitched at the thought of one particular memory.

Night Light hummed as he tapped his chin with a hoof, “Well, I’m not one to indulge in gossip, but I heard that you’re some kind of alien from outer space that has been slowly influencing the royal family to hoof over their seats of power to your kind.”

The table fell silent. Twilight looked like she was going to have a panic attack. Sam just raised his eyebrow in surprise as he and Night Light stared at each other. Suddenly, the older stallion couldn’t contain himself and broke his neutral facade. He chuckled lightheartedly, and Sam couldn’t help but join in. The conduit sputtered into laughter and leaned back in his chair.

Velvet, on the other hoof, swiped at her husband’s shoulder, “Honey, just because he’s laughing, doesn’t mean you can repeat what the tabloids are printing off. Honesty, that was inappropriate. I’m very sorry for my husband’s words, Mr. Reed.”

Sam calmed down enough to respond, but still chuckled between words, “Please, just call me Sam, and don’t worry. If you ever read what the tabloids said about me back on my world, you’d want to buy whatever they’ve been smoking.”

With the crisis seemingly avoided, Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. The pegasus waiter from before came back just in time with a tray of drinks balanced perfectly on his back. He twisted his neck around and grabbed the tray with just his teeth before setting it back down again on the table before him. Sam was keenly impressed with the pony’s dexterity, especially when he used just the tips of his wings to pass the drinks out to everyone at the table without fumbling with the glasses. He nodded to everyone and left to take care of another table of patrons, leaving the group to talk some more.

A firm ‘ahem’ from Velvet caught Night Light’s attention, and he saw the look she gave him just before picking up her glass in her magic to take a drink. He gave a resigned nod and turned to Sam to bow his head.

“I’m sorry, Sam, for what I said earlier,” Night Light apologized, “It was rude of me to make a joke like that.”

Velvet smiled triumphantly out of the corner of her mouth.

Sam took up his tea and offered it forward, “Hey, no harm, no foul. Like I said, the tabloids will do what they’re always gonna do; cater to the gossip.”

Night Light smiled in understanding and raised his glass up to Sam’s to tap them together in mutual acceptance. The two knocked back a swig of their respective drinks while Velvet casually whispered over to her daughter in private.

“He’s a very nice fellow,” Velvet commented.

“Mom!” Twilight hissed back.

Twilight’s mother giggled at her daughter’s reaction, “Oh, don’t worry, honey. I’m not teasing you. Unless there is actually a thing between the two of you going on?”

Twilight’s face burned with equal parts embarrassment and annoyance, to which her playful mother relished, “Twilight, dear. I know you two aren’t actually a couple. I can tell. I am glad you and him have had a chance to become friends is all.”

Twilight tilted her head at her mother questioningly.

Velvet took a thoughtful sip from her glass of tea before replying to her daughter, “Sam seems like a wonderful character, and you and he get along so well. But I can’t help but sense that there was, and maybe still is, a bit of tension between the two of you. Perhaps, something that might have happened that put you two at odds with each other for a bit?”

Twilight tensed at the last statement. Velvet took another sip of her tea as she studied her daughter’s reaction. Having developed such a keen eye for details in all the books she proofreads, she had gained skills that allowed her to perceive minute details, even in others’ expressions.

Offering a reassuring hoof on the purple unicorn’s shoulder, Velvet spoke, “My little Sparkle. It’s okay that you and he made mistakes. No friendship is without its faults, but that’s what helps them to become stronger. Overcoming those hardships and moving on. By what I’ve seen, you two have done a wonderful job doing just that. So, don’t let a few mistakes chase away what you already have with each other, okay?”

Twilight fought back the wave of regret that threatened to overtake her again, smiling faintly and nodding to answer her mother silently. Velvet offered a warming smile in return and pulled her hoof back to herself.

“And remember, sweetie... if you ever need to talk about anything, you know your father and I are always going to be there to listen,” Velvet finished before turning back to Sam and Night Light, who were discussing some other topic.

“See? With a third bracing-circle, the ‘force amplification’ spell can be easily, and safely, applied to reduce the mana consumption of the target spell it is attached to,” Night Light concluded his little impromptu lesson on magic with the wire conduit.

Sam studied the diagram on the napkin that was hastily scrawled out on. Thanks to lessons so far with Twilight, he was able to make most of the inscriptions and notes out. Though there was still the odd symbol or piece of the pattern that eluded his understanding. It looked like he would have to have another study session with Twilight once they were done with lunch.

In the meantime, Sam folded the drawing up and pocketed the spell matrix sketch for later use, “Huh... thanks, Mr. Light. I’ll have to give it a shot later, but like I said, my abilities don’t translate well with magic exactly as they should here. Though, I guess this would be pretty fun to try out with some other stuff Sparks is teaching me.”

Twilight was keenly aware that everyone’s attention was squared on her once more. Sam’s comment had especially struck a chord with her father as he offered her his broadest, proudest smile. Thankfully, Twilight was spared the over abundance of praise she was about to receive from her parents as the pegasus waiter returned once more, this time balancing a tray of the family’s and conduit’s food on his back. Using his wings and gentle manipulation of his teeth and jaw, he carefully placed each dish in front of their respective patron.

“If you need anything else, please, don’t hesitate to ask,” he bowed respectfully and awaited any last minute requests.

Velvet shook her head and thanked the courteous stallion, “Thank you very much. I think we’ll be okay for the moment.”

The waiter nodded once more before dismissing himself and heading off to service more patrons. The Sparkles bowed their heads once before taking up their silverware in their respective magic and dug in. Sam watched for moment, still somewhat, but not completely jaded to the whole ‘magic’ being a common occurrence on this world. Sam idly thought about how cool it would be if he had the same abilities, but the thought was quickly swept aside, as the aroma from his soup wafted up in a tantalizing mixture of hearty broth and just the right amount of herbs to spice it with.

Sam’s first bite was accompanied by a satisfied hum by the wire conduit. He was right in his assessment of the soup’s smell. The table fell into an acceptable silence as the group enjoyed their food for the moment. After a bit, more topics were picked at random to talk about between the conduit and the Sparkle family. It was peaceful, which could only mean that the universe was getting bored.

“Hey, that’s the guy!”

From across the street, a young child called out. At first, Sam and the rest of the Sparkle paid no attention to it. Though, the ensuing argument that followed drew their notice.

“No way, it’s probably just a hairless diamond dog!”

“Nuh uh, look! He’s got the symbol on his shirt!”

They must have been referring to the spindly shaped club sewn into the back of Sam’s shirt, seeing as he was the only one at the restaurant even wearing a shirt, let alone, more than just a scarf or hat. Sam was reminded of how weird that thought had pointed out to him how all these ponies were essentially naked yet it was just another social norm in ‘Ponyland’.

“Hey, yeah! Wait, what if he doesn’t speak Equish?”

“You dummy, the princesses are the ones that made him an ambassador from his planet! Obviously, they taught him how to speak Equish, too.”

“Oooooh... Hey, what’s an ‘ambassador’?”

“It’s- uh, um, a creature from another world! Yeah, that’s it! Now, come on, let’s go see him up close!”

Sam and the rest of the Sparkle family quickly turned to see a pair of colts, looking no older than twelve or so years old, hastily making a beeline across the street to the restaurant. The guard closest to Sam and the family took a commanding step closer to their table. The colts took notice to this and skidded to a halt just before the guard staring back down at them. Sam took the time to look the two young colts over as they struggled to not look too scared in front of the guard.

The first was a light blue unicorn with a lime green mane and tail. His mane was swept to the side and held in place with what must have been mousse. He was a bit lankier than his counterpart, but not exactly frail either. Sam was surprised to notice that he had no cutie mark on his flanks, but assumed that he just hadn’t found his ‘special talent’ yet.

The other colt was a stocky earth pony, though he was only shorter than the first by a couple inches at most. His coat was a rusty orange, and his messy mane and tail sported an auburn color that could do with a trim. Upon his flank was a fruit of some kind, possibly a peach, with a slice cut out of it.

The colts remained frozen in place, unable to move forward or retreat out of fear from underneath the royal guard’s intimidating gaze. Being the closest, Sam leaned back into his chair enough so he could reach over and tap the guard on the shoulder. Turning to find the conduit’s laid back grin, the guard raised an eyebrow in a questioning manner.

“Come on, dude. They’re just a couple of kids. No harm letting them through,” Sam argued, knowing what to expect from a couple of starry-eyed children talking about him, or ‘foals’ in this case.

The royal guard looked back down at the foals before shrugging in acceptance and stepping to the side. At this, the two young colts’ gazes were drawn back to the conduit leaning over the back of his chair and smiling down at them.

Sam raised his arm to give them a few waves and greeted them, “Hey, what’s up?”

The two colts gasped in unison, and soon, the biggest, most thrilled smiles on a couple of excitable foals grew on their faces. Twilight’s parents chuckled in delight as they watched the wire conduit charm the foals. Even Twilight was smiling, knowing Sam wouldn’t do anything dangerous around such young, innocent ponies.

“Are you really the ‘Wire Wraith’?” the unicorn colt finally worked up the courage to ask.

“The one and only,” Sam answered, clapping his hands together.

When he pulled them apart again, dull, silvery strands of metal spread out from his fingertips on both hands, connected to each other. Moving his fingers like a puppeteer with strings, the wire followed his command, twisting and weaving until the mess snapped taut. Everyone who had been watching, including a couple of other tables full of ponies close by, admired the creation between Sam’s hands. It was a perfect replica of the ivy like ‘Ace of Clubs’ adorning the back of his shirt. The little touch of variety was added to Sam’s wardrobe, as Silk Trim had insisted on making more unique clothing for the wayward conduit.

“But you can just call me, Sam,” the wire conduit finished.

“Woah, so cool,” the earth pony colt marveled in awe.

The unicorn just nodded in silent agreement. Sam snickered to himself, spinning a few more wires into the creation at the base of the clover’s stem so it could stand up straight when set down. He offered it to the two colts, who eagerly accepted the gift.

“Mr. Sam, can everypony on your world do magic like this?” the earth pony colt asked.

Sam chuckled at the kid’s formality, “Nah, I’m one of the lucky few who can do neat tricks like that. And hey, guess what? This right here... it ain’t magic at all.”

“What?” the unicorn tilted his head in confusion, “But, how can you conjure metal from the ether if it’s not magic?”

Sam summoned up a few more wires to one hand to idly play with as he talked, “Simple, I’m a conduit. Of course, I didn’t know I was a conduit til I was a little older than you two… I think.”

“What’s a conduit?” the earth pony colt asked the obvious.

Sam thought about it for a minute. He had to come up with a way to explain this to such young minds that have never been to exposed to conduits, or the media of his world that would have flooded their perception of conduits with negativity before.

“...Instead of magic, conduits have superpowers,” Sam exclaimed with a snap of his fingers.

The earth pony colt’s eyes lit up with even more amazement at hearing the simple explanation, “Cool~! So, conduits are just like the Power Ponies?”

Sam figured that these ‘Power Ponies’ must be some fictional comic book superheroes. Though, seeing how he was in a mythical wonderland, the word ‘fiction’ was relatively optional.

“I guess,” the unicorn cut in, “But superpowers and the Power Ponies are just make-believe. Plus, my dad says that superpowers are ‘just knock offs of real unicorn magic’.”

The earth pony rounded on his friend and huffed in irritation, “They are not! What about Mr. Sam right here? And my dad said that even a pegasus and a griffon were seen using superpowers unlike anything any unicorn could do when they attacked the castle a while ago!”

The last comment must have gotten under the little unicorn’s skin, since he, too, turned to his friend and fixed him with an irritated glare, “Nuh uh! Unicorns can do anything with magic, and my dad said that the attack was led by a pair of unicorns, and they were using their magic!”

“Well, my dad said that they were actually earth ponies, so it couldn’t have been magic!”

The two colts were now nose to nose as their argument became more heated. Each vying for the winning statement that would prove them right. The shouting match was starting to draw some uncomfortable attention to the restaurant and its patrons from the streets. If nothing was done soon, it looked like the verbal fight would soon turn into a scuffle.

Sam carefully threaded a couple wires between the two and gently pushed them away from each other. The oblivious colts yelped in unison as they felt the metal strands push against them, effectively separating them and halting the bout. They looked up to see the wires retract back into Sam’s fingers. When they looked up further into the conduit’s face, they saw a mix of disappointment and displeasure. They immediately bowed their heads, expressions of guilt appeared on their faces as their ears pinned back.

Sam sighed at the pitiable display. He didn’t mean to come off as angry. So, he decided that the best way to make it up to them, and to stop their bickering, was to clarify the details of their argument, seeing as he was there for the whole event.

“You know, I was there, too, when the attack happened,” Sam started off, careful to hide the unease in his voice from remembering the dark event.

The earth pony colt was the first to perk up, “Hey, yeah! My dad said that Mr. Sam was the one that was chasing the bad guys out of Canterlot when they attacked.”

“That’s right,” Sam agreed, “I had to chase them out of Canterlot before they could hurt anyone, but both of you should know that there was actually a pair unicorns in the group that I ran off.”

The unicorn got a satisfied smirk on his face and turned to point at his friend, “Hah, told you!”

“But,” Sam held up his hand to interrupt, “they weren’t using magic. They had conduit powers, just like the griffon and the pegasus that they were with.”

“See? I was right!” the earth pony colt gloated over his friend.

Leaning over his chair a bit more, Sam tapped the pair of colts on the heads each with a finger. The tap was light, but the colts rubbed the tops of their heads regardless. Confusedly, they looked up at the conduit for the action and silently asked the same question of why he did that.

“You’re both right,” Sam explained, “but, you were both also wrong. Don’t forget to check the facts of the story when you hear about something happening. Then, next time, you won’t have to get a nice ‘finger bop’ on the head.”

The colts and Sam shared a chuckle at the silly joke. Around them, ponies went back to what they were doing, the situation thankfully averted.

“Um, Mr. Sam?” the earth pony colt spoke up after they calmed down from their laughter, “Is it possible that ‘I’ could become a conduit?”

Sam flinched at the question. The last ponies that he encountered with conduit abilities were working for a mad-pony that tortured and experimented on his own kind. All to do god-knows-what and ended up having a few pony conduits as his bodyguards, wearing cobbled together armor from his least favorite organization in the history of ever. Though clenching his jaw, Sam kept the smooth smile on his face as he looked into the hopeful eyes of a fantasizing colt.

“Sure, kid,” Sam finally replied, tossling the colt’s mane, “Though don’t get your hopes up too high. The chances of actually having a conduit ability are about a million to one.”

Sam didn’t think that the colt heard the second part of his explanation, though that was okay. He couldn’t bring himself to take away the spark in the little pony’s eyes that he got at hearing the first. The little colt was practically vibrating with excitement, and Sam was wondering if he would actually explode from all that shaking.

“Did you hear that?” the earth pony colt grabbed his friend by the shoulders, “I could become a conduit! Mr. Sam, if I do become a conduit, I want to be one just like you.”

Sam held back the snicker in his throat at hearing such a silly statement. He reached for his tea and took small sips to hide the embarrassed smile on his face at the same time.

“Hey, I want to be a conduit, too,” the unicorn colt whined.

“Well, I bet I’d be a better conduit than you, anyways,” the earth pony colt said, sticking out his tongue.

The little instigator followed his remark up with picking up the ‘Wire Wraith’s gift and took off down the road.

“Nuh uh! I bet I could be the best conduit that ever lived,” the unicorn colt called out after his friend.

Not being one to be left behind, the unicorn colt sped off to chase down his friend through the streets. Sam rolled his eyes, but smiled as they ran off to play. He was now free to continue his meal in peace with Twilight and her parents.

A soft giggle issued from across the table as Twilight Velvet hid her smile behind her hoof, “My, good with kids too? Our little Twilight sure knows how to pick them~!”

Sam and Twilight nearly choked on their respective drinks. The former having an easier time, as he had been taking small sips, while the latter had to cough a few times to clear her throat.

“Mom!” Twilight wheezed.

Twilight’s parents shared a short laugh before offering their help to their daughter. In the meantime, Sam went back to enjoying his soup, until he heard the distinct sound of armored hooves striking the ground and getting closer.

Leaning over his chair once more, Sam spied a royal guard down the street. This one didn’t look like it was out on a simple patrol, as he made it clear that he was making a beeline to the restaurant, and more importantly, to the other guards by Sam’s table. Sam watched curiously as the newly arrived guard whispered into the closest guard’s ear next to him. The messenger guard stepped back to nod at the second guard’s questioning look.

The second guard called out a command to the rest of the guards around the restaurant, to which they all heeded to come regroup together. The guard closest to Sam, who had received the message turned to Sam and the rest of the Sparkle family at the table.

“I’m sorry to inform you, Ms. Sparkle, Mr. Reed,” the royal guard said as he bowed, “But, Captain Aegis Flare has requested that the two of you must return to the castle immediately.”

“Ah, man,” Sam groaned, “Can’t Cappy just give us the day off for once? We are in the middle of lunch anyways.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Reed, but the captain has given explicit orders to escort you two back to the castle immediately,” the stallion guard coughed into his hoof as he hid the smirk on his face while he continued, “The captain has also warned that if ‘the human does not return to the castle in a timely manner, that he would revoke his dessert options for rest of the week at dinner’.”

“What?!” Sam exclaimed, knocking over his chair as he jumped up from his seat, “He can’t do that! ...Can he?”

Sam looked to Twilight for help on figuring out if the threat was legitimate or not. Though, seeing as she was halfway between looking bemused and embarrassed at Sam’s reaction, she gave him no help.

“Crap; and I really like those mini cinnamon buns...” With a heavy sigh, Sam hung his head in defeat. “Alright, fine. I guess that’s our cue to leave.”

Before saying anything else, Sam picked up his bowl of soup. Thankful that it was cool enough, he tipped the bowl to his lips and noisily slurped the rest of it down in a few gulps. He placed the bowl back down and smacked his lips a few times.

Many of the other patrons looked on in disgust at the conduit’s lack of table manners. Twilight Sparkle did her best to look as small as possible out of embarrassment, hoping that she could just merge into the seat she sat upon to disappear from sight. Her parents, although a bit put off by Sam’s actions, shook their heads in amusement. They found it refreshing that another being didn’t conform to all the posh and proper norms of Canterlot.

“Okay, I’m ready to go,” Sam declared, patting his belly a few times.

The declaration got Twilight’s attention, and she swiftly climbed out her chair, “Yes, please! Let’s get out of here!”

Sam smirked, “Well, I mean if you’re in that much of a hurry... I’ll race you back to the castle! Ready, set, go!”

Before Twilight could protest, Sam whipped a wire grapple out from his wrist toward the closest building toward the castle. Whooping with joy, Sam swung from building to building down the street, his hollers echoing back to the guards and the purple unicorn he left behind.

“Oh, for the love of-! Sam, get back here and walk normally!” Twilight called after the wire conduit.

It was too late though, and he was too far ahead. So, Twilight resigned herself to canter off after the conduit, swearing to give him a piece of her mind once she caught up. The entourage of guards followed the purple unicorn at a brisk pace, knowing better than to give chase and that they would see the conduit again back at the castle.

Back at the restaurant, Twilight’s parents continued on with their lunch, like nothing strange had happened.

“Told you she went off to meet a nice colt,” Night Light cheekily remarked between bites of his meal.

Velvet scoffed playfully, “Oh, hush, you.”

Author's Notes:

I thought I would try to add some more action in this chapter, but it felt better as a 'slice of life' type of read. If y'all liked it, give me some feedback, I like all criticism that helps me improve.

Thanks Regreme as always for being my go to guy for proofreading.