Author's Notes:

Thanks Regreme for helping me get through this chapter, and not just for the editing.

I actually ended up scrapping the first two drafts for this one cause I just didn't like how they turned out. No matter what I tried, the characters either felt too OoC or the scenes just never made sense for the long run. So, like I said I just scrapped them all together and took a few days off and binged on 'Horizon: Zero Dawn' (Fantastic game btw). When I finally came back, I realized that this chapter wasn't meant to hold too much major significance and just be more of a transition for the next. That doesn't mean this chapter is useless. I just wanted to bring a few things full circle for later on. In any case, I shall remain optimistic in the regard that I may have some new content sooner rather than later for next go around.

In the end, have fun reading. And thanks to everyone showing their support by just doing that.

‘Needs to look fiercer,’ Sam thought to himself as he surveyed his creation.

It was a wire frame model of a hydra. No taller than he was, but with enough detail that it was unmistakeable. He got the idea to make it after realizing that it would still be a few hours before the princess would be able to see him, if what Captain Aegis Flare said was true. Which left a certain conduit with nothing to do except twiddle his thumbs. Well, there was something else he could do with his thumbs, but it would be no fun by himself. Not to mention none of these horses had this human trait to rightly play a game of thumb war with him. They couldn’t even do a round of rock, paper, scissors. Childish? Yes. However, nothing beats a stupid idea to kill a bit of time. So in the meantime, Sam noted that there was always the option of going back to reading that bestiary from the day before, but he needed something a little more immersive. That’s when the idea struck. Maybe it was time to work on another project.

At one time, Sam believed that his abilities would have no more use than to fight. That is until one day in Curdan Cay, when he was able to sneak a bit of material back to his cell to just spite his captors. At first, he only imagined what he could have come up with as new techniques to use in a fight. Though after a while, and letting the bit of metal thread dance between his fingers, he tied it in a knot. After that, he added another knot, and then a bend. Soon, the little piece of metal took shape into a tiny stick figure of a human.

He stared at the little figure for longer than he could remember, subtly moving it in a way that moved it to do simple actions like walk and wave its stick figure hand like a puppet. When the guards finally noticed his ‘unauthorized material’, he was severely punished, but now he knew his abilities were not meant just for violence. They could build, and over time, his skills improved till he could produce impressive pieces of art out of wire. It helped him understand his powers all the better, and produce an ease of mind that his powers were more than just a weapon.

Back to the present, now all he needed was a bit of inspiration. His eyes wandered to the open pages of the bestiary he was using as a reference to eye the creature once more.

“Bingo,” Sam said as his eyes fell on the particular feature he now knew was missing.

The heads were the last thing he worked on. Faces always gave him the hardest time. It was honestly the best, yet most challenging part of any project. However, with a snap of his fingers, he added the last touch. A few tendrils of wire snaked from his fingers and settled along a weave above the beast’s eyeless sockets to help make the brow leading to the snout become more pronounced and menacing. Sam took a step back and eyed the completed work with a smile.

It took a good chunk of his reserves, but he could always reabsorb it later. One of the perks of being a solid matter conduit. The three heads of the hydra snaked from the body on elongated necks in twisted directions. The body was made to look like a simple wire egg shape, but Sam put extra spines leading from the necks and down to converge along the center of the hydra’s back. Sam couldn’t see how such a creature could traverse land all that well on such stubby legs, but the recreation was accurate, according to the pictures. Finally came the tail that almost dragged out along the floor from behind the hydra’s body. A simple piece, but Sam added a bit of life to it by having it coil around to the side of the main body. If it wasn’t for the fact that the entire thing was made of metal threads, it could almost look alive.

Crossing his arms and nodding in approval, Sam found his time well spent, and his boredom alleviated for all of twenty seconds, “Well, I’m bored again.”

Who knew so much peace and free time would drive a conduit crazy from restlessness. Usually a project like this was enough to keep him satisfied for far much longer. Of course, he also had to deal with defending his creations from Lu, as he tried to use them as target practice. Which would have led to the two brawling it out in their abandoned warehouse headquarters. Isabelle would try to reason with the two, but the fight would always be too far along to be stopped by words. Finally, Nataline would step in; and by step in, she would blast both the idiots with a few thousand volts of electrical energy til they could only taste ozone for the next hour.

Sam looked over his creation once more. It still needed one more detail before it could be completed. So, with a wire whip in hand, Sam lashed out at the side of the creature’s body. A loud pop resounded across the room, and a sizeable dent was now present.

“Damn it, Lu,” Sam muttered under his breath with a smile.

Now, it was complete.

The guards outside the door must have heard the commotion that Sam made, because a trio of knocks sounded upon the suite’s door.

“Mr. Reed,” the voice of a guard called out, “Is everything ok?”

Sam would have answered immediately, but then an idea entered his mind. A deliciously devious idea. Another series of knocks rang out from the outside of the door and another call of his name. Sam worked fast and set up to put his new plan into action.

--o0o--

Star Arrow and Violet Rose, the two royal guards posted outside the extraterrestrial’s suite, were doing what every good guardspony does when performing sentry duty.

“Alright,” Star Arrow said, “a million bits, but every time you sneeze. It actually sounds like a fart.”

Pass the time with stupid banter while the captain was away.

Violet Rose rolled her eyes, yet stuck out her tongue in concentration, “Can I control how loud the fart will sound like when I sneeze?”

“No, and it will always sound like a really loud one. Like that one time Midnight let one rip after downing a whole bowl of expired pears,” Star Arrow retorted with a smirk.

Violet Rose cringed a bit at the memory. The eastern barracks had to get fumigated after that.

“But wait, it won’t smell like that, right?”

Star Arrow shook his head, “No, but it’s not going to go unnoticed.”

Violet Rose thought it over a little more, and soon, her choice became clear.

“Pass.”

“What, too embarrassed to break a little wind?” Star Arrow chuckled.

“No, but that would get too old explaining after a while if I took the bits.”

“Alright, alright. You’re turn.”

Though before either of them could continue, a loud clanging noise came from inside the human’s room. Both the guards looked at each other, as if asking who was going to investigate first. Neither of them were particularly jumping at the chance, seeing as they were two of the guards that had once faced off against the human back in the throne room back when it first arrived. Star Arrow’s knee still ached from where it was broken. Violet Rose had to be put in a neck brace for a week, not mention all the other bruises and cuts each took when the fight picked up.

Unfortunately, their first encounter made them prime candidates for escort duty for the human. Along with every other guard that were a part of the first contact. Through the grapevine, they learned that the princesses have been facing media and other inquisitive ponies non-stop to suppress the fact they were currently housing an alien from another world in this very castle. It was mostly to keep the general populace from freaking out or even starting a full blown panic. Conspiracy theorists would be chomping at the bit just to even get a glimpse of the extraterrestrial, so with fewer ponies in the know about the human, the better. That didn’t mean that the it wasn’t a hot topic among the the castle staff that were in the know.

Back to the matter at hoof, Violet Rose gave Star Arrow a look. A look that said ‘you better do it or I’ll tell everypony about the barracks incident from yesterday’. So resigned to his fate, Star Arrow drew in a deep breath and faced the door. His hoof lifted up and started shaking a bit. He wasn’t scared. He was just being cautious. Three knocks on the door and no explosions later, Star Arrow let out his held breath.

“Uh,” Star Arrow needed to speak up, “Mr. Reed. Is everything ok?”

The suite and the hall outside with the two pony guards was silent. Had the human not heard him? Maybe it was just their imagination and nothing happened in the first place. Or the door to the suite would slowly open just a crack. Both guards were now sufficiently on edge. They took up positions further away from the door, and Violet Rose ignited her horn. The door was surrounded in an amber colored glow and slowly began to open further. Neither guard was prepared for what came next.

A glint of metal was all they saw before the door was wrenched open, and a slithering silver hydra head jumped out. Its maw opened to emit a terrible screeching noise they never heard any other hydra make. Star Arrow was too busy watching his life flash before his eyes to move, which left Violet Rose to act. Quick as a blink, her sword flew from her sheath, aided by her magic, to slice at the head and chop the creature’s face nearly in two. With her sword firmly embedded in the hydra’s face, the air became still, besides from the two guards hyperventilating.

“Damn~,” a familiar voice came from further into the suite, “didn’t think you’d just start hacking at it.”

Out walked the human with a stupid grin on his face and came over to inspect the hydra. It was at this point that Violet Rose could get a better look at the hydra she just killed. Although, to call it dead would be the wrong word. The part where she cut into had the most detail, but it was nothing more than a bunch of wires spun together into the shape of a hydra head. From there, she also saw that some wires were connected from the head all the way back the human’s ‘fingers’ if she pronounced them right. The human lifted one of his forelimbs, and his fingers made a few movements. At the same time, the wire hydra’s head shifted and moved. It was all a trick.

“So, what did y’all think?” Sam said to the two flabbergasted ponies, “Pretty crazy, right?”

“Th-that thing nearly gave me a heart attack!” Star Arrow shouted.

Admittedly, Violet Rose was also mad, and let the human know it, “What in the name of Celestia did you do that for?! Why did you set that to attack us?!”

Sam raised an eyebrow, “Attack you? That was just a harmless prank. See?”

The conduit used the wires from his fingers like puppet strings to get the wire frame to move once more. Only this time, just to dance around a bit with a sword stuck in its ‘head’. It also made that weird screeching noise, although more quietly. Violet Rose noted that it was due to some of the wires inside the psuedo-hydra’s mouth scraping against each other.

“That wasn’t exactly very funny!” Violet Rose retorted.

“Haters,” Sam muttered under his breath as he reached up to pluck the sword from his creation, “Here, I think you dropped this.”

Violet Rose snatched the sword out of the air as the human tossed it and used it as her pointer as she talked.

“Mr. Reed-”

“Sam,” Sam corrected.

“Sam, does your world think something like this would have been funny?”

Sam brought his hand up to stroke his chin, “Eh, depends on who you ask.”

“Well, neither of us exactly found it funny,” Violet Rose growled.

“Pfft. I thought you royal guards were made of tougher stuff. Guess you wouldn’t even be able to handle ‘The Ring’ at all.”

Violet Rose and Star Arrow looked on in confusion at the human’s comment.

“What ring-wait, nevermind.” Violet Rose shook her head in frustration, “I don’t care how or where you got that ‘hydra’. Just get rid of it.”

“Don’t you wanna at least see the rest of it?” Sam asked with an innocent looking smile.

‘The rest of it?’ Both Star Arrow and Violet Rose thought at the same time. Sam merely moved himself and the hydra head back into the room and made way for the guards to come see the creation. With a bit of hesitation, though ultimately overcome with curiosity, the two guards followed until they viewed the entire piece. Both were once again flabbergasted at the piece of art that the human created out of nothing but wire. A scale model of a hydra made out of wire sat in the center of the room. It was actually really good, by what the two guards could tell. Neither of them are really art critics.

“Wait, wait. You’re distracting us,” Violet Rose spoke up, “The captain is going to want to hear about this incident.”

She was about to leave, but Star Arrow stopped her, “Hold on. The captain said that we were to report to him if the human tried to escape again. Plus, this thing ‘is’ pretty cool now that I look at it.” The little pony’s eyes were filled with wonder at the creation as he walked around to inspect it.

Violet Rose almost snorted, “I think this also counts under his ‘other’ orders, don’t you think?”

‘Other orders?’ Sam thought to himself.

“Okay, but you know how the captain gets,” Star Arrow argued back, “And look at this thing. It’s just so cool, plus nopony got hurt.”

“Yeah, listen to the big guy here,” Sam joined in with an innocent grin, “No harm done. What if I also throw in an apology?”

Violet Rose had to fight off the two pleading faces as they continually threw up pleading gestures.

“Fine, but I want that apology.”

Sam clapped his hands together, “No problem. Ahem… I’m sorry for scaring the pants off you.”

Violet Rose looked back at herself in confusion, “I’m not wearing pants.”

“Well, I did do a good job of scaring them off.”

Light snickering from Star Arrow could be heard coming from beside her. She realized that she now had to deal with two awful senses of humor and frowned at the terrible joke. At least she could count herself lucky that she hasn’t suffered a concussion from the human this time around, although there was a growing headache. Violet Rose realized that she could now sympathize with the Captain’s frustration when dealing with the human. Maybe she should have taken that apprenticeship at the archive like her father said many moons ago. Any further thoughts or arguments were banished when another royal guard knocked on the open door outside the suite. Everyone inside the room turned to see the stunned expression the messenger had upon seeing the hydra frame.

“Yes, private?” Violet spoke up to gain the new guard’s attention.

The new guard shook his head and coughed into his hoof before speaking, “Captain Aegis Flare ordered a message relayed to the human to inform him that the princess is ready to see him. He also wanted to inform the human that even if he is not here to personally escort him, that if he tries anything then ‘he will hunt him down and throw him back in the cell in the dungeon for another week’.”

Sam smiled, “Good to know he still cares. So, sounds like that’s my cue to clean up.”

The three guards wondered what he meant until they watched the hydra wire sculpture begin to deform and unravel. The wires untangled in a matter of seconds, and all of it was soon reabsorbed back into the conduit through his outstretched hands. The guards didn’t know how to react to this, so they just pressed on with their assignment.

“Private,” Violet Rose addressed the messenger, “Is there anypony else with you for the escort?”

The private snapped a salute, “Yes, ma’am. The captain ordered for a four pony escort, you two and two others outside. Another messenger has been sent to relieve the pegasi guards on wing duty.”

“Very good. You are dismissed private. Alright human, if you don’t know the drill by now-,” Violet Rose took charge.

“Yeah, yeah,” Sam cut her off, “I already know. Let’s get a move on. Hate to keep ol’ Sunny waiting.”

The conduit cut in front of the two guards and walked out into the hall. Like the messenger, who already left, said. Two more guards were standing at attention at the opposite wall. They seemed familiar, but it was really hard to tell with all the guards looking the same in color. Maybe it was just the color throwing him off. The first two guards followed shortly after, and after closing the suite’s door and arranging their formation, they were off.

Back in the dining chamber, Sam noted that the solar princess was the only one at the table. She gestured for the human to sit down across from her at the elongated table, where they sat in silence for the time being.

“Where’s Luna?” Sam finally asked.

“My sister’s duties carry a burden of retaining a nocturnal schedule,” Celestia said, “So, she is asleep at the moment.”

Sam nodded in understanding. It seemed like the two princesses’ aesthetics were more literal than Sam originally thought. It was almost too much to believe, but so were magical talking equines about a week ago. Just then, the butler, Sam had to remember to learn his name one of these times, came along and set a lunch tray in front of him before scuttling off to do whatever little butler ponies do. Again, the room was silent for a moment. It may have been a little funny, but Sam did try to remember what his parents taught him as a kid about manners. Plus, he was too busy trying to come up with a few new one liners. Never a bad time to keep a bunch on hand for the future.

Celestia cleared her throat to gain Sam’s attention, “Please, do not feel that you must wait on me. Enjoy your meal.”

Sam looked down at the tray in front of him. A bowl of chicken and vegetable soup sat piping hot, and the fresh aroma wafted up to greet the conduit. On the side was a small cup of cut fruit and a glass of water. By no means was this lunch any less elegant, as the chef garnished the plate with leafy lettuce around each item. Bit of a waste in Sam’s opinion, but he wasn’t going to complain about good food.

Sam began to dig in at a steady pace. After a few bites, a familiar looking unicorn butler came in with a covered tray. He quickly set the tray up in front of Celestia and uncovered the tray with a flick of magic. Celestia’s lunch appeared to be some sandwiches with nothing but leafy greens as its fillings. The solar princess smiled in appreciation and the butler bowed and exited with the tray cover in tow.

Both the princess and Sam ate in peace for a few minutes until Celestia broke the silence.

“I’ve heard that you gave guards quite the scare before you got here.”

Sam gave a pointed look at the guards that escorted him that screamed the word ‘tattletails’.

“Just having a bit of fun,” Sam said.

Celestia, although looking bemused, gave a knowing frown, “Then I would appreciate if your ‘fun’ did not try to incite a panic in the future.”

“Yes, your highness,” Sam spoke back with a mocking tone, “Speaking of the future. I don’t suppose you’ve got the latest on a portal slash ride slash possible way home?”

Celestia’s expression went flat once she was done thoughtfully chewing on her food. Sam did not take this as positive news.

“Progress has been… slow,” Celestia’s response was met with a disheartened frown, “However, I have made contact with somepony that I believe will be invaluable to the effort.”

This last statement gave Sam a small glimmer of hope. Although, something about it did catch his attention.

“Somepony invaluable?” Sam asked, “Who is this pony?”

Celestia tittered from behind her hoof. Obviously, she was the only one in on the joke, as Sam just looked confused.

“Forgive me,” Celestia said, “It is just that most ponies at least know of this pony, or at least, her exploits. Of course, I have to remind myself that you are not a pony.”

‘Some pony who is famous then?’ Sam thought to himself.

Though before Sam could question the matter further. One guard had entered the dining room and swiftly made his way to the princess’ side to whisper something to her. Sam was unable to hear what was said, but by the looks on her face, she was quite pleased with the news. Celestia dismissed the guard with a nod, to which the guard bowed and took a place by the door to await some kind of command. Celestia’s attention returned to Sam with a more joyful smile.

“It seems that if you speak of the devil, Tartarus will arise.”

Sam got a little kick out of the little synonymous quote.

“Who you are about to meet is a pony that I trust fully to handle this endeavour with dignity and respect. She is a brilliant mind that will be more than capable to solve this problem,” Celestia continued to build up the suspense.

Sam cooked a smile, “Sounds like a real egghead.”

Celestia chuckled again, “I’ve been told she has been called that.”

A muffled cry of indignation was suddenly heard from beyond the dining room’s door. By what Sam could hear, the pony was complaining about something being complicated. Celestia didn’t seem too fazed by the outburst. In fact, her smile broadened at the mystery pony’s distress.

The solar princess cleared her throat and with a bit more volume called out, “I suppose it’s about time that we meet the pony I have entrusted to aid in your endeavour, no?”

A few seconds ticked by with no indication that the cue was heard. Although before Sam could question it further, the dining chamber doors slammed open with a bang. If it wasn’t for the doors being made of some the highest quality materials, they would have been flung from their hinges entirely. From behind the doors stood a frazzled looking purple unicorn. Her hair, although disheveled, had an odd dark hue to it with two lighter streaks of purple running through them. Sam thought these ponies seriously needed to lay off the hair products, not like they already covered the whole damn color spectrum. The unicorn immediately galloped inside the dining chamber, almost tripping over her own hooves and nearly threw herself to ground in some hasty bow.

She jerked back up and with an askew smile, faced the conduit and said, “Hello and welcome to Twilight Sparkle, my name is Equestria!”