Author's Notes:

Hey, a new chapter... and only a week late from when I originally wanted to post... yeah. Have fun reading, and thanks to my editor, Regreme, for helping me as always.

I'm also looking into cutting the chapters down into smaller parts like this one to keep a better tone between each one. So wait, does this mean there is a another chapter soon to be? Well all I can say is

Another day and Sam pressed on with his morning routine in the magical land of talking horses. If only he could get over the feeling of anxiety he woke up with that morning as well. He couldn’t be sure, but he thought it had something to do with a dream that he had the previous night. It was too bad he couldn’t remember any of it besides the waking up in a cold sweat. Perhaps a warm shower was all he needed.

With his morning duties out of the way, he made his way back into the suite’s main room in nothing but a wrapped towel to fetch his clothes. Only this time, instead of the tattered set he had been wearing the past week, he walked across the room where three new sets of clothes were folded up and sitting on top of the seat in front of the work desk. Sam carefully took the top set back to the bed and set them out upon the sheets. Silk Trim had dropped by the night before to deliver the finished products. He had seemed especially anxious to see the conduit’s reaction to the clothes. True to his word, they remained simple and practical. Not that Silk Trim hadn’t taken the liberty to add a few personal touches. Sam was pleased at the very least that said clothes had no frills, despite the tailor’s insistence. For some reason, Silk Trim had noted that the ensemble’s cuffs at least had these additions to add an air of sophistication. Luckily, Sam made it abundantly clear that nothing like that would be added. What was left before him was something that he could be happy with. And like the night before, he thanked the tailor for the work he put into them.

The shirt was a maroon, long sleeve v-neck. The material was a cotton blend by what Sam could tell. Light to the touch and quite durable, plus didn’t hang to loosely to his frame. The sleeves even felt comfortable when he cinched them up his forearms. The pants were still that navy blue denim-like material he anticipated, but had an interesting graphic added to the right pant leg along the outside of his thigh. A hollow silver three leaf clover club. Even more interesting about it were the lines of silver that twirled and wrapped inside of the hollow clover symbol to look like vines or wire threads. Sam couldn’t help but laugh like he did from the previous night when he first saw the design.

“Is there something the matter with the design, Mr. Reed?” Silk Trim asked when Sam started to sputter out laughing the night before.

It had taken a moment for Sam to compose himself before he spoke between chuckles, “No, nothing at all. It’s just- where did you come up with this graphic?”

Sam thought back to his friends back in Memphis. ‘The Four Aces’ couldn’t really be ‘The Four Aces’ without their ‘Ace of Clubs’. Then, there was the fact that they still never really found out why the Memphis folk even called them that. Then again, it was a pretty cool name, so it stuck. Sam hoped that his friends were doing okay and that they wouldn’t have to start calling themselves ‘The Four Aces Minus One’. That would seriously be too much of a mouthful.

Silk Trim tapped the bottom of his chin with a hoof before answering, “If I’m to be completely honest, it just felt the most fitting. It’s not too much, is it?”

“Absolutely not,” Sam replied, “It’s perfect.”

Sam hadn’t noticed that he had been staring at the pair of pants for the past few minutes while he remembered that event. So, he did what any person would do with a pair of pants; put them on… for the time being. The only thing left on the bed from the outfit was a long strip of dark silver cloth. Sam figured that it was to be used as a belt/sash and fit nicely through the loops around the waist of his pants and held them up pretty well too. No one was going to be pantsing this conduit any time soon. Sam frowned when he looked at the sash as the ends, even when knotted, drooped down almost to his knees. It looked rather dumb at the front of the pants, so instead, he fixed it so the ends sat along his left side on the outside of his left thigh. He would have prefered a regular belt or go without the sash, but the pants were a little loose if they weren’t secured like they were. Still, overall not a bad look he thought as Sam looked down over the outfit one more time.

A series of sharp knocks on the suite’s door interrupted Sam’s musings for the moment. Seemed like whoever it was has a great sense of timing. Sam strode over to the door and opened it to be greeted by his favorite stick-in-the-mud guard captain.

“Cappy!” Sam threw on his prize winning smile, “So great to see you this morning. And how goes it with you?”

The captain said nothing and narrowed his gaze, as if it would somehow set the conduit in front of him on fire. Although Sam noticed that his glare was a little unfocused, like the good captain had something else on his mind.

“Stay within the formation to the dining hall,” Aegis Flare said in a very clipped manner.

Sam knew the routine, but the Captain still seemed off. Like he was frustrated at something other than Sam. So, he took it upon himself to do the only thing he knew to get to the bottom of Cappy’s troubles.

“So, like the new duds?” Sam asked, showing off the outfit as he was led down the winding hallways of the castle.

The captain only spared a glance in Sam’s direction, then he was back to watching the hallways.

“Yeah, I hear sashes are all the rage now,” Sam quipped, “Bet the ladies would love to see the captain sporting one too.”

Aegis Flare didn’t even look back this time, but Sam could tell he was still listening.

“Of course, if sashes aren’t your thing, I get it. Everyone’s got their own tastes. By the way, got any news on what’s up with the ’way-back-home’ project?”

Finally, the grumbling captain broke his silence to answer, “No.”

Sam was a little disappointed to hear that tidbit, but pressed on, “Well, darn. Guess you can’t always get too high of hopes. Hey, so I can’t help but think that you look like you’ve got something on your mind. I mean, other than how long it would take to strangle me to death. Just to let you know, I’m a great listener.”

Aegis Flare stopped and deftly turned on his hooves to face the conduit, “You are to mind your own business, ‘human’. Whatever the royal guard is investigating is none of your concern.”

Sam’s eyebrow rose as the good captain realized what he just said.

“Damn. Gotta be an important investigation if it’s so hush-hush. Like I said, I’m a great listener. I don’t mind hearing about this,” Sam offered.

Aegis Flare gained a steely look and turned back around, “It is none of your concern, ‘human’, and you will do well to forget you heard anything at all.”

Sam shrugged and followed the captain to their destination. Upon entering the dining hall, Sam noticed that there was a distinct lack of royalty at the table waiting on him like the day before. Though before he could question Sunny and Loony’s absent, Aegis Flare spoke first.

“The princesses are busy this morning, tending to important matters. Princess Celestia will not be available until noon at the earliest. I, much to my displeasure, am to watch over you until such time that she is available. Now, if you would so kindly hurry up with your meal, I will see to your escort back to your quarters.”

While Sam made his way to the only seat at the table with a breakfast plate in front of it, the rest of the guards took up positions around the room. Aegis Flare in particular took the position of just in front of the main door and pointedly glared at the conduit at intermittent intervals. If Sam didn’t know any better, he would have thought that the good captain was pissed at him just a smidge.

Since there wasn’t much else to do, Sam finished his breakfast of fluffy, blueberry pancakes in quick fashion. Like the day before, the food was delicious. He only wished that he had his friends back from Memphis to share them with. Also like before, a butler pony appeared, as if on cue, and went about collecting his empty plate. Seemed like it was the butler from yesterday too, as he didn’t do as much gawking this time around.

As soon as Sam stood up, the guards moved back to the entrance to await with the captain for the conduit. Back out into the hallway, they were back on the path to the suite that Sam took residency in. Then, the boredom settled back in. Sam thought back to what Aegis Flare had mentioned earlier on about an investigation and decided to play around with an idea.

“So, Cappy... Mind if I ask about that investigation you got going on?” Sam nonchalantly asked.

“No,” Aegis Flare grunted out.

“Okay… what if I just guess what the investigation is about?” Sam asked, “So, let’s see here. Hmm, is it about some political corruption?”

Aegis Flare gave no answer as they continued walking. Hoping the human would just get bored again.

“How about espionage? If it is, might want to call up that fellow, double-O seven, yeah? Or maybe it was a murder? Money laundering schemes? Drug ring? Oh, how about a grand theft?”

With every moment that passed in the human’s presence, Aegis Flare found it increasingly difficult to hold himself back. It was like this was all just a game to the creature.

“...So, I can take your silence as a yes to ‘all of the above’?”

“Do you ever shut up?!” Aegis Flare reared back and spat out in Sam’s face, “Are you just not right in the head, or do you find some sick pleasure in your incessant rambling? Don’t even think about answering that, human! Not once have you shown even a bit of respect nor gratitude for the generosity that you have been given! I don’t know how your world deals with the likes of your kind, but I hope they do not tolerate this kind of foalish behavior! And just to be clear, your random accusations have nothing to do with my investigation!”

After the captain’s tirade, he settled into breathing heavily through clenched teeth while glaring hotly at the conduit. The other guards did not dare to make a move as they watched the tension grow thicker and for fear of getting swept up into it. Sam, on the other hand, looked as though he were in deep contemplation. His brow was knit furiously, and his eyes were squeezed shut while his arms remained crossed.

When Sam seemed to come out of his stupor, he quickly regained a quirky smile and said, “So, that’s a no to ‘all of the above’. Ah well, at least it narrows down the list quite a bit.”

The surrounding guards couldn’t believe this. No mortal would dare to speak so freely or nonchalantly to Captain Aegis Flare. All eyes were on the captain and awaiting what sort of retribution this human had brought upon himself. Instead, Aegis Flare remained rooted in place, seemingly stuck between looking dumbstruck and utterly furious. It was at this point that the captain realized something. The human had once again provoked him enough to reveal sensitive information. Aegis Flare couldn’t tell if the human was still just messing around or being serious and carefully chipping away to gain any secrets it could get its hands on. This creature could be more clever than it initially led on. That made it dangerous.

Though before Aegis Flare could retaliate, Sam cut him off with a clap of his hands, “Well, as much fun as twenty questions is, I think it’s only fair if you get something out of this too. I mean, I can’t let you be the only one talking here, right? So, how about it, Cappy? Wanna hear a secret?”

Aegis Flare wasn’t about to be suckered into another one of the creature’s games.

With a turn of his hooves, he set about in the opposite direction and called back, “Whatever it is, I doubt I would care.”

“Even if it's a secret about conduits that I haven’t even told the princesses about?” Sam asked with a devious smirk on his face.

Aegis Flare’s trot came to a grinding halt. What did this human mean by a secret he never told the princesses? Surely it was just another one of its terrible jokes, but if this human was withholding some vital piece of information… the captain would need to at least hear what the human had to say.

“Talk.”

Sam gave another devious smirk and spoke, “All conduits, including myself, are extremely dangerous and wanted criminals on my world. My rap sheet alone includes willful destruction of public and government property, disregard for human life, and abetting other conduits from arrest. And those are just the top three.”

Aegis Flare just stood there as he took this in. Around him, the other guards were slack jawed and frozen at the conduit’s confession. The captain watched as the human idly picked some dirt from beneath his nails, as if what he just said was just a casual conversation topic.

Then the captain regained his steely gaze. He knew this ‘human’, ‘conduit’, or whatever it wanted to call itself was a danger from the moment it had first shown up in the throne room. Now, the damn idiot basically told him all he needed to lock him up in the dungeon, where it should have been this entire time. The princesses would understand once he brought this new information to light. No longer will this ‘human’ be allowed to have so much freedom, and the captain would make sure of that. Though before Aegis Flare could issue the order to have the conduit detained, Sam spoke up once more.

“At least, that's what the Department of Unified Protection would have you believe,” Sam said, “Bunch of bureaucratic asshats that were too afraid or didn’t care to try to understand who or what conduits are like. Even gone so far as to label every conduit as ‘bio-terrorists’ to get my world’s populace to believe that they are my world’s most dangerous threat. Didn’t even matter if you were a man, woman, or child either. As soon as you got tested positive or got caught, you got an all expenses paid trip to a lifetime incarceration. No questions asked. So yeah, I may have roughed up a few of the D.U.P.’s troops from time to time whenever they tried to shoot me and friends on sight for just walking down the street, but hey. At least I never imprisoned anyone for several years without so much as a trial just for being different and who happened to shoot wire from their fingertips.”

Sam’s final words were punctuated with silence from every guard present. Most looked shocked and appalled. What Sam had just described wasn’t just simple discrimination, but a prejudice that has been unheard of in the lands of Equestria since its founding. Even if a small part of Aegis Flare continued to doubt the conduit’s claims, he was just as shocked to hear this new revelation. He was a pony that swore to protect the citizens of Equestria, but also uphold justice in all its forms. Thinking back on the first week that he interacted with the human: were his methods and mentality good examples of the oaths he swore? No, he did what he had to do to ensure the protection of Equestria…by imprisoning a human and never truly asking why he ended up displaced from his land. Aegis Flare looked at the part of himself that still doubted the human’s every word and wondered if he too had let himself become blinded by a fear of the unknown. There were still so many questions, but now, Aegis Flare would consider the possibility that there may be more at play than he originally thought, like he should have done from the start.

With his musings done, Aegis Flare looked the conduit in the eye and said, “I believe it’s time that you return to your quarters. I will return to escort you when the Princess is available.”

A toothy smile crossed Sam’s lips. His silent acknowledgement in the matter as he resumed his march with the guards back to his suite. There wasn’t much else he wanted to say, and it stayed that way until they reached the guest suite.

“Well, I guess this is my stop,” Sam said as he opened the suite’s door, “Nice chatting with you Cappy. You’re a real pal, you know that? Oh, and don’t worry. I won’t let anyone know about the super important, super secret investigation that I totally have no idea about.”

Aegis Flare sighed, “Just remain here until I return to escort you, human.”

Sam gave a conspiratory wink and mockingly saluted before disappearing into the suite. No matter what, Aegis Flare will still never understand why the human ever acted so carefree. Especially if his claims of his relentless, unjustifiable punishment at the hooves of this D.U.P. were true.

Maybe humans really were just crazy, or he was still suffering in a way the good captain couldn’t possibly understand.