I woke with a start, hearing a soft thump. Looking to the noise, I saw Frost was up and alert. She was staring at something just past me. Whipping around, I didn't see anything at first. I eventually saw a scroll resting against the floor.

Who got in to put that there?

Snatching up the letter, I opened it up only to have an object fall out. Picking it up, I saw that the item was a small clock of some kind attached to a chain. Looking back at the letter, I began to read it's content.

To Grey Sword

I forgot to give you this before we parted ways. Staying in The Grove, you'll need someway to keep track of time since the sun and moon aren't an option. Hopefully Sunny got around to teaching you how clocks work, or maybe you have an old memory of them. Otherwise this pocket watch won't be much help.

Regards
Watchful Eye

P.S. There's an enchantment on your bag that can send notes and other items through. If you ever need to contact the princess but don't know how, just send me the message and I'll pass it along.

Well ain't that handy. Would have been nice if you told me earlier.

Setting the note back down, I looked at the "pocket watch". As Watchful had hoped, I did end up asking Sunny what the clock in there home was as well as it's purpose. While she didn't get around to teaching me the finer details, I knew that the sun was up between 8am and 8pm, and the moon rose and set at the contradicting times. The pocket watch had a little slot that showed pm, just as their clock had, and that it was just past 3.

I've got at least 5 more hours till Luna comes back. I suppose I should find something to occupy my time.

Putting the watch away for now, I looked around the hut to see it was mostly barren. There were no books, not much in the ways of physical activities aside from cooking, and little to no furnishing. I growled slightly, thinking to the bed and the little 'message' they had left for me. Turning to the door, I contemplated whether or not I actually wanted to leave.

They've got nerve, marking my house and defiling my bed. But there were some that seemed genuine in their response to me, like Midnight had. Maybe I'll get lucky and run into her or one of the other four elder's children.

I looked back into the hut to see Frost was staring at me with an expression the spoke of worry. She had been concerned, as far as I could tell, last night when I had stomped away from the bed and thrown myself onto the ground. Frost had nudged and prodded me with her nose, trying to get a reaction, until finally deciding to just curl up with me and sleep. It had felt nice to be in the presence of someone who genuinely cared.

I chuckled softly, offering her a small smile. "I'm just heading out til Luna returns. I trust you can keep yourself entertained until then?"

She boofed softly, perking up a little at my words.

I couldn't help my smile from growing at her actions. "Alright, but don't cause any trouble. I don't want any more problems than we already have."

I turned back around and walked out. My face fell neutral as I walked out into The Grove. The threstrals were working once again, attempting to make more platforms and huts. I saw one group across from my home, staring up at a tree that was much like Demi's. It was at the edge of The Grove's clearing, but this one reached all the way up and made up a part of the roof overhead. The group seemed to be discussing something, and moving closer I began to make out there words.

"It's too close to the starflies, we can't risk damaging them."

"It's already been cleared and discussed, our job is to find a way, not bicker about if it's possible."

"But how are we supposed to do this? The platform isn't the problem, it's the wind from our wings."

"We could cause immense damage to the colony if we fly that close to them."

"Wings are out of the question!"

"We'll figure this out, we just need to approach this differently."

I recognized the last voice. Stopping just behind the group, I made myself known.

"Maybe I can help." I stated.

All heads turned to me, and the one who spoke last walked forward. Thorn Pincer stepped up to me, scrutinizing me with his eyes.

"You look better without the hood." He said, smile touching his face.

I smirked at this as he offered me a hand. Taking it, we shook before turning back to the tree.

"So what's the problem?" I asked.

"We're trying to figure out how to connect the trial hut to all our sentry and communications posts. It wasn't an issue at first, until we found out we needed another communications hut up here." He stated, pointing to all the corresponding locations.

Following his movements, I saw the trial hut was above the main hall. The sentry and communication posts were all high up in different trees spread throughout The Grove hidden mostly by the natural foliage. Looking back to the tree before us, I saw the many starflies seemed to be buzzing about near the top.

"Why this tree?" I couldn't help but ask.

"It's the last area we need for full coverage of the surrounding area. It'll also double as a collection center for the starflies pollen and saliva as it'll be the closest to the colony. But that's where the problems start..." Thorn trailed off.

"Can't fly up to build without disturbing the colony." I finished.

"Exactly. We don't even need to build, we just need to place markers. Once those are in place, the building can be done without flying." He said.

"Well if that's all-"

"Why do you care?" I was cut off

I turned to the source to see a male threstral glaring at me.

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

"Why do you care? This is our job, our home. Not your's. You shouldn't even be here, and you damn sure shouldn't be butting in on our work." He stated.

Thorn was about to say something, but I beat him to it.

"I don't."

That seemed to get everyone in the groups attention. The silence hung in the air before I spoke again.

"I don't care about your plans, or about helping you. I came over because I needed something to do, and you looked like you were struggling with something. But if your so sure you know what your doing, that you don't need me, then so be it. I'm sure I'll find something else to bide my time with." I said, walking away as I did.

Just trying to help jackass. No one asked for your opinion on the matter.

"Grey!" Thorn called out.

I turned to acknowledge him.

"If you think you can get these markers up there, I won't stop you from trying."

I mulled over the thought, looking at the markers. They were two triangle shaped open prongs with pikes on the end, no doubt for placing them into the tree.

Fuck it. I need something to do.

I took the markers without a word, throwing my right arm through the openings. I stood at the base of the tree, touching the bark and looking at the branches to decide my best course to the top.

"They need to be placed at the same height, roughly ten paces apart." Thorn said.

Without responding, I leapt and began making my way up the tree. I crawled my way up the trunk, letting my mind flash back to the memory of climbing with Nelli. While the overall memory had been bitter, the freedom I felt when climbing that tree brought a calm to my mind. Before I knew it, I was just under the colony of starflies. Some of them began floating around me, curious of this new entity near their home. Securely planting my feet and readjusting the grip of my left hand, I slid the first prong off my arm. Grabbing it, I thrust the pike into the tree. Giving it a few test pulls to make sure it wouldn't fall out, I shimmed over to where the next prong should be. Going through the same steps, I slammed the pike in the tree only to have the bark holding my feet give out. My breath hitched and my body tensed. I gripped the prong tightly as my legs swung out beneath me. The pike was slipping as well, so I acted fast. Swinging myself forward, I grabbed hold of the tree once more. Pulling the prong back out, I placed it further away hoping it wouldn't offset the construction too much. After testing it, I took a moment to catch my breath. Calming down my nerves, I made my way back down much slower than I had gone up. When my feet finally hit the ground, I shakily stepped back and turned back the group. Eyes wide and jaws down, it seemed that Thorn was the first to recover.

"I... Did you grow up in a tree?" He asked, still bewildered by the sight he had witnessed.

I couldn't help but laugh at this. His question brought the memory to surface once again, and I found myself asking the same question. When I recovered enough to look again, Thorn and the rest of them had lost their shell shocked expressions and a few had even started to laugh with me.

"I honestly don't know, but I suppose it's not out of the question is it." I told him.

"Well, that was all I had to attend to today. You said you were looking for something to pass the time, right? Why not come with me to the barroom and we can start to know each other, since it seems you'll be staying for a while." He offered with a smirk.

"Barroom" was not a word I was familiar with, but the tone of his voice didn't indicate anything sinister. I agreed, and we proceeded to disband from the rest of the workers towards a hollow tree near the far end of The Grove not far from Demi's hut. Walking inside, I saw that the walls of the tree had been shaved to make shelves which held strange bottles of varying size and color. There was a long booth along the front of the shelves, just far enough away for a body or two to move behind comfortably. Tables and chairs were set about the place with stools in front of the long booth. Threstrals were enjoying themselves, talking and drinking the liquids as they laughed and cheered with each other. A single threstral was behind the booth, cleaning out a wood mug and removing empty bottles from the shelf.

Watchful had something similar to this in his home, though it was more personal.

"A bar?" I asked Thorn, casting a glance in his direction to see he was beaming at me.

He chuckled at me, "No not a bar. Bar's are messy, dirty places for deadbeats. This is our barroom, similar but you have to work in order to earn your drink since we don't have a currency yet. Figured you earned it for solving our little dilemma so fast."

I nodded, following him to the stools of the booth. I saw that most of the patrons ignored us, and those that didn't offered smiles and raised glasses. We took our seats, and the threstral working the glasses came over.

"We don't serve anyone. You gotta earn it pal." She told me sternly, her voice low and threatening, her gaze hard.

"Easy Jager, Grey here just did my days work in a few minutes. He's earned his drink." Thorn reassured her, patting my back as he did.

"Oh!" Jager exclaimed, "Hehe, sorry 'bout that. Usually visitors don't know the rules and expect their drinks on the house. Name's Jager Meister, yes like the drink. What's your poison hun?"

Her voice calmed considerably taking a lilt, burr undertone to her words. She had an almost song like voice, ringing sweetly through the air. Nothing like before when she had put on her threat.

I spoke softly, "No offense taken. But what's Jager Meister, and why would I drink poison?"

Both their faces fell considerably. Jager turned to Thorn, glaring accusingly.

"Is he old enough to be drinking?" She asked.

"Hey, I thought he was! I didn't really ask!" He argued.

I decided to step in, "As far as I'm aware, I'm nearly two thousand years old."

Jager stared at me for a moment, before bursting out into laughter. She clutched her side and hung on to the booth as she regained her breath. Once she looked back at me, her face fell and the laughter stopped.

"Holy shit, your serious." She stated.

"Yes, I am. I have drank before, and you didn't answer my question." I said pointedly, annoyed at being laughed at.

She straitened herself up, "Well, this isn't what I expected but sure. 'Poison' is just another way of referring to the drinks, you know, alcohol. As for Jagermeister..."

She turned around, grabbing a bottle off the shelf. Placing the bottle in front of us, she reached under the booth to pull out to small wood cups. As she did, I took the bottle in my hands, inspecting it. It had no label, but was a blue wide glass with amber liquid.

Snatching the bottle from my hand, Jager poured both cups and placed one before me and Thorn.

"Drink it slow, and enjoy the burn." She told me.

"C'mon now Jager, we want him to enjoy his first drink. Well, first that he can remember anyway."

Choosing to listen to Jager, I slowly poured the liquid down my throat. It tasted sweet, like vanilla, with a hint of a dirty, root like aftertaste. As it washed down my throat, I felt a gentle burn pierce through me. When it did, I felt something tug at my mind, almost as if I was trying to remember where I had felt this before. It spread through my body as a drank, eventually finding the cup to be empty. I placed it back down, looking to see Jager staring at me with a small smile.

"So? What do you think?" She asked.

"It was good. Calming almost." I stated.

A smile grew on her face as she turned back to Thorn, "See? I don't have a special talent in this for nothin'!"

Thorn thew his hands up defensively, "Alright, you were right. But now that we know he can drink, lets see if he can make us laugh."

I saw both eyes turn to me, expecting me to do just that. I sighed, trying to think of something to say to satisfy my company.

I smirked, thinking of when Watchful first met Frost, "Alright, why don't I start with how I got here..."

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Laughter echoed around the room as I finished my last story. I had told them of how Nightshade had gotten into the habit of laughing at my misfortune. I couldn't count the number of drinks I had had at this point. My mind was a haze, and it was becoming incredibly hard to talk and sit up-right. During our story time, I had learned that Jager had been giving her name at birth and simply chose not to change it after finding her special talent. When I had asked about why she was named that, she told me that she'd rather not talk about it. Thorn had not been named as he was, his original name had been "Fairy Dancer". I had fallen over from laughing at this, as the prospect of such a large man with a name like that had been too much for me to hold back. Many of the other patrons had begun to overhear us, and had started listening to our stories and tales. Now we had the whole barroom's attention, but before we could go any further, Jager tapped my shoulder gaining my attention.

"It's late Grey. Wasn't there something you had to do?" She asked.

Something I had to do? What does being late have to do with me? Silly mare, I like you.

I chuckled softly at the thought, reaching into my pocket to pull out the pocket watch. I giggled at the notion, before opening it up and looking at the time. I still couldn't read it, and my hazy mind wasn't helping, but I eventually made out that it was 9 something.

Huh... was I suppose to do something? I remember 8... and passing time... something about Lun-

The world stopped as realization hit me. That moment sobered me up enough to have me spring to my feet staring at the watch in horror. But the time hadn't changed.

"Oh shit." I said.

"Grey? What's wrong? You shouldn't be moving so fast!" Jager shouted at me.

I didn't listen to her. I bolted out the door, rushing to my hut as fast as I could. The adrenaline in my veins kept me moving, helped me to see where I was going.

"There you are!" A familiar voice called out.

I stopped, stumbling as I did and turned to the call. I turned to see a pegasus mare, with dark blue fur and snow white hair. Her hair was done up in a bun, and the white hair was echoed by white tuffs on the inside of her ears. She wore a black cloak, covering most of her body, but I could see she was nobly dressed. She had brilliant blue eyes, and everything about her seemed weird. I could have sworn I've seen this girl before, but I couldn't put a name one it.

"Uh... H-hello? Hwo are you?" I slurred out, the adrenaline wearing off allowing the effects of the alcohol to take over again.

"My name is Winter Breeze, but you know me as Luna." She said with a soft smile and bow.

I could only stare in shock, this mare was too small, to high pitched in voice. Yet everything about her told me she was telling the truth. There was one way to be sure.

"Why 're we meeting tonoht?" I demanded.

She shrunk at this, and possibly the harshness of my voice. "Tonight... we sever you from the ritual."

I smiled, stubbing towards her and pulling her into a forceful hug. "It IS youuu!"

She froze, sniffing as I held her in my grasp. "Have... have you been DRINKING?!" She shrieked.

I stepped away, a smile upon my face. "Abstalutaly!" I told her, watching her disappear from my view and be replaced with The Groves leaf ceiling. Frost wandered into my view not long after, sniffing and prodding at me.

I reached up and pulled her to me. "Heyyyy buddy! I've m'ssed you!" I told her, wanting Frost to know how much I care.

I heard a sigh not far from me, but couldn't bring myself to let go of Frost. "Well, I guess this makes one thing easier..."

I giggled as I began to feel the grass beneath me move, watching the ceiling above do the same.

Everything is right in the world! Now I sleep.

And I did.

Author's Note

Unedited, Late, and I was drinking while writing this. 10/10 author!