Drawing a Blank.

Thankfully today's royal duties had been less strenuous then the past few days for Princess Celestia, seems her hard work yesterday had paid off, but despite having some much needed time to herself there was still an issue eating away at her. Namely, the human that had somehow found his way into her domain. She wasn't worried about Drew himself, she knew their kind wasn't dangerous based on her past experiences, but the Embodiment of the Sun was still a bit perplexed as to how, and why, a human had appeared practically at the door step of one of Equestria's most powerful citizens. Either this was a major coincidence, or something sinister was afoot. Celestia's worries started to subside as shes her beloved sister Luna approaching her, the two rulers stopping to greet each-other in one of the many hallways of Canterlot Castle.

"Ah, Luna. How was your evening?" Celestia asked of the tired looking Alicorn. It was clear she was accustomed to sleeping during the day. "I assume you met the human?"

"It was...most entertaining," the Ruler of the Night responds. "Drew is a perfectly fine young stallion...or whatever the human equivalent is. It was nice to make his acquaintance...though he is a cheat at chess."

"So what were you able to figure out? Is he...you know."

"No, dear sister, We did not sense any ill intent in his being here," Luna explains, letting a large yawn escape her lips. "He is just as confused at his being here as you are. Possibly more so."

Celestia let out a sigh of relief. This was good, it meant the human wasn't a hostile force. A part of her had known this deep down, partially thanks to more letters from Twilight and her own past experiences, but there was something about hearing it first hoof that had cemented it in her mind.

"Though, We will not lie--"

"You're doing it again, Lulu." Celesta suddenly interrupts, referring to the darker Alicorn's tendency of speaking in the third person. There was a disgruntled sigh from Luna as she took a moment to recollect her thoughts.

"...I will not lie, he can be a bit...jumpy at times. From what We--...I could gather, he has adverse reactions to unfamiliar circumstances and ponies," Luna continues. "He had shown great caution when we first appeared to him...and interest in my dream magic...and when I told him that it could not aid him in his quest for memories...though perhaps it was my own fault for not treating the situation with proper care..." There was a hint of shame in that last remark.

"...How badly did you scare him?" The younger Alicorn baked away at Celestia's question.

"...Enough?" Luna couldn't look her sister in the eye as she answered the question. "We-- I didn't show him Nightmare Moon...if that's what you're asking." The elder Alicorn could only let out a tired sigh at this new development. She had asked her sister to ask Drew a few questions, not make him wake up with soiled sheets. The Monarch of the Sun took a few moments to process Luna's previous statements, particularly the one where she mentioned "dream magic" and "memories."

"Did you at least explain yourself?"

"...He received an explanation as to why I took that course of action," Luna slowly explains, her eyes finally looking in Celestia's direction again. "And he seemed to forgive me for my transgression..." There was another sigh from the white Alicorn, one of relief this time around. Despite her sister's actions, the elder of the two sisters was at least happy that she had managed to make amends for her mistake fairly quickly. And if Celestia's own experiences with her sister's dream magic were anything to go by, then the human would more then likely be over this by now. He'd remember meeting Luna and their conversation, but the nightmare portion would be just that, a nightmare. Quickly forgotten once he entered the waking world. If he did take anything away from that experience, maybe it would subconsciously help him to not be so easily startled as Twilight had described.

"Drew! Come down from there!" Twilight shouts up at her clearly over reacting friend.

"NO! One of those tree wolf things is down there!" Drew shouts back with tightly closed eyes, his limbs wrapped in a death grip around a high tree branch. "And it wants to EAT ME!"

The two were in the middle of Drew's tour of Ponyville, the human expressed great interest in getting to know the area since he was going to be staying for awhile, Twilight being more then happy to show him around town. By this point the two had seen a good chunk of the town, they'd gotten lunch at Sugar Cube Corner, and he had gotten a general layout of the town's major locations. He had seen the market and some stores that Twilight recommended, it was going great!...Until they had reached Sweet Apple Acres.

Why did everything turn so sour at the one location in Ponyville that literally had 'sweet' in its name? Well, as it turns out, while most of the townsponies had gotten used to Drew, it seems that the local animals within the city would be a bit harder to win over. One of these animals turned out to be Applejack's work dog, and dear companion, Winona. The second the canine had spotted the human, she instantly began barking at the unfamiliar intruder.

Drew however, had yet to actually lay eyes on the Collie. He had only heard the dog frantically barking at him, and visions of his run in with the Timberwolves came rushing back into his head. Reacting on purley instinct and fear, mostly fear, the human jumped-- not climbed, jumped-- into the nearest tree, and had yet to come down.

That was about fifteen minuets ago.

"Fer the last time, they're called Timberwolves," a rather frustrated Applejack shouted up at the human. "And there ain't any on mah farm! The thing that spooked ya was just mah dog, Winona!"

"You're lying to me!" The human shouts back, still not opening his eyes. "I can still hear it gnawing on some poor pony's bones! That'll be ME if I go down there!" He releases one of his arms for the tree, pointing towards the sound of the gnawing before reengaging his death grip. His eyes were still shut tightly.

The two ponies give a disgruntled glance over to where he had pointed. Just as he said, there was indeed a canine creature gnawing on a bone. But it wasn't a Timberwolf doing the loud chewing, and it certainly wasn't a pony's bone. It was simply Winona once again, happily chewing on a large milk-bone Applejack had brought her to stop her from barking. The canine was happily growling at the treat as she continued to chew and crunch.

"...He has to be messin' with us..." the farm pony states matter-of-factly, looking back over to the Alicorn. "He can't ACTUALLY think there's a Timberwolf here, right?"

Twilight could only look back up to her human friend with a concerned glance. Twilight couldn't help but stifle a laugh as she watched him dangle from the tree like that, it was admittedly a bit funny if it was a joke. "Drew, if there's a Timberwolf here, then why are WE not being mauled by it?"

"Because it wants ME! It found out I was still alive, and it's come back to finish the job it started!"

"Alright, this is gettin' old," the orange colored earth pony exclaims in a tired tone, walking up to the side of the tree. Spinning around with one swift motion, Applejack slams her hind hooves into the trunk of the apple tree Drew had climbed into with a loud crashing sound accompanying the impact. Drew lets out a loud screech as he plummets to the ground alongside a few leaves and apples. Taking notice of the reappearance of the strange creature, Winona slowly walks up to the unknown entity and begins to sniff at its face. His eyes finally opening, only to see the work dog investigating him.

"Oh...it actually WAS just a dog..." he stammers, doing his best to sit back up without agitating the canine again. It was hard to tell if he was being sincere or not, but either way Applejack could only roll her eyes while the Alicorn let out another chuckle while helping the human get up.

After seeing her sister off to bed, Celesta continues on about her day as she normally would. Eventually her reprise from duty had ended, and she was faced with the one thing that nopony ever guesses when listing off a Princess's duties. The one foe that no matter how many times she faces it will never truly perish, only retreat momentarily to lick its wounds. Only to come back stronger then ever. Over the many centuries as Equestria's primary ruler, she had faced this beast more times then she could count. Each time she was the victor, but each time the battles became longer and harder. The Princess allowed herself, just for a moment, to dream of a world where she no longer had to face this foe. But, walking into her office, she steeled her resolved to face her oldest most persistent foe.

Paperwork.

Sitting down at her desk as she always had, and despite despising this being her least favorite parts of her duties, over the many years she had managed to streamline the process exponentially. Specifically, setting up a system that prevented the documents from being written in overly complex ways and requiring them to be set up in a particular fashion. While it didn't make the pages and pages of documents any less time consuming, it did make it so there were patterns and processes for the Princess to follow and thus get her work done in a more efficient manor.

And over the years of using this streamlined system, Celestia had managed to practically make it second nature to her. To the point where she was capable of maintaining full conversations while still being aware of and completing said paperwork without any major issues. It was rather impressive, but when you have decades upon decades dedicated to this kind of thing, you learn to multitask after awhile. And thus we come to Celestia's favorite mental exercise to practice during her paperwork sessions: daydreaming. Or, in today's case, it was more akin to remembrance rather then daydreaming.

She allowed herself to remember the first encounter ponykind had ever had with humanity. Specifically, her first interactions with them. She hadn't actively thought about such topics in nearly a thousand years now. But the memories came back to her clear as day, pun intended, like rushing water. She spent a long time thinking about how they had gotten there, and how they were finally able to leave, and it made Celestia's calm attitude give way to momentary anxiety.

"...That was a thousand years ago..." Celestia reassured herself, placing the paperwork down for a moment. "If he had told his people of Equestria, they would have surely come back long before now." She looks to the ceiling with a sigh. "...And if he had arrived in the same manor, SOMEPONY would have noticed the crash..."

One of the biggest differences between Twilight's interactions with Drew and Celestia's with humanity, the humans Celestia had known knew how they had ended up in Equestria. And he had a method in which to get them home, with Celestia's help of course. Drew seemingly had neither, which only meant one thing, his method of arrival had been completely different then that of the previous humans.

Letting herself relax for a moment, Celestia looks back to the paperwork she had filled out during her remembrance. Double checking the documents just in case she had made an error, Celestia took notice of one particular law that she had ended up passing.

"...'With the enactment of this law, use of excessive mounts of frosting on all cakes baked within or distributed within the city shall henceforth be frowned upon, and an offence punishable by a fine of 600 bits'...Who even submitted this? Is this some kind of joke?!" Celestia had asked out loud, magically reaching for a "veto" stamp she had in the events something like this slipped through her system. "Honestly, who even thought this was a good idea? I swear some of these nobles are to uptight for their own good! You can NOT make a cake with to much frosting. It's the BEST part!" She says passionately, vetoing the law she had accidentally enacted with haste. It was clear that the Monarch of the Sun was very passionate about the sponge-like desert.

Remember when I said it was going to take some of the local animals in Ponyville a bit more time to get used to Drew being around? Well, at first Twilight had thought that Fluttershy might have been able to help out with that particular problem. Temporarily forgetting that Fluttershy's abode was home to about 85% of the entire animal population in Ponyville.

Thankfully, Fluttershy's animals were less protective of their territory then Applejack's work dog had been, most of them showing timid curiosity towards the human, spurred on by Fluttershy's encouragement. It was going really well, actually. Drew was getting along with a good portion of the animals...all except for two of them. The first was Angel Bunny, Fluttershy's personal pet. The second was the large grizzly bear that Fluttershy watched over, who had been somehow convinced by Angel that the human was some kind of threat. And that... would have some consequences.

"You really think it's okay to leave him out there alone?" Twilight asks, taking a sip of tea. Fluttershy and herself had retreated to the inside of the cottage to partake in some tea while the human was busy socializing with the animals outside.

"If you want the animals to get used to him, it is." Fluttershy responds, glancing out the window. She eyes the human sitting on the ground surrounded by various birds and other critters. "And it looks like they've taken a liking to him. I wish I knew where Angel Bunny put my camera..."

The Alicorn and the Pegasus proceeded to casually sip their tea while waiting for the Animals to conclude their investigation of the human. However, just as the two were about too sit down, there were two loud sounds that alerted their attention. The first was what could only be identified as a loud grizzly roar, the second was the sound of a human screaming in fear. Quickly forgetting about the tea, the two Ponies rush outside to see what had happened.

Drew was currently screaming his head off, running at top speed from the grizzly bear currently chasing him. Atop the grizzly's back, Angel Bunny sat; wearing a small food bowl as a helmet, and wielding a carrot as a sword. Brandishing the weapon and pointing it towards Drew, the bear roars again as it begins to gain on the frightened human. The two Ponies looked at each other for only a split second, the looks on their face saying more then enough words to encourage the two to leap into action.

Celestia paced back and forth in her personal chambers, every now and then her horn flashing with a golden light. It was almost time for her to lower the sun for the day, but she couldn't focus on anything other then getting at least one of these spells to finally work. She had spent the past hour or so trying every message, communication and summoning spell she knew, desperately trying to get in contact with the Lord of Chaos himself, Discord.

"This doesn't make any sense, distance is not an issue with any of these spells," the Monarch of the Sun growls to herself in frustration, a side of her that she almost never showed in any capacity outside of a few specific circumstances. "So why can't I reach him? He can't be blocking me out, he agreed to stop doing that. So why can I not reach him?" A sudden knock at her door snaps her out of her train of thought. Quickly returning to her usual demeanor, she calls out for the Pony to come in.

"Sorry for the intrusion, your highness, but some mail addressed to you has just come in," one of the castle's many guards states as the door opens. He quickly trots into the room and sets the small stack of envelopes on a table. And with a bow, the guard makes his leave.

Deciding to take her mind off of her current frustrating situation, she grasps the small stack of letters in her magical aura, shifting through them with a sigh. "From Blueblood...from Fleur de Lis...from Fluttershy?" That last one had caught the Alicorn's attention. Why would Fluttershy be sending mail through the postal system? Surely if the pegasus needed to speak with the Princess, Spike would be more then willing to help. Her curiosity was also peaked when she saw the date on the envelope, it was from at least a week ago! If Fluttershy had needed something, the issue has gone entirely ignored for quite some time. The Alicorn quickly opens the letter with baited breath.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Hello, it's Fluttershy. I hope you have been doing well. I'm writing on behalf of Discord, he wanted to send you a message, but he said he was in a hurry. He said something about "missing his flight." He also told me not to send this letter directly to you with Spike, he didn't exactly say why, but he made it seem like it would be very bad if this got to you the day I wrote it.

Anyway, Discord told me to tell you that he was going on vacation to go see...something. He didn't exactly say what it was, but he said it was a "once in an eternity event" and he didn't want to miss it again. I'm not sure where exactly he is going, but he wanted you to know that it would be very far away, and that trying to contact him by normal means would be 'completely and entirely impossible' (his words, not mine). I'm not exactly sure what he means, but he seems to be in a hurry so I have to wrap this letter up now. Oh, he also wanted to give you this picture, so I'll include it in the letter.

He should be back in Equestria soon enough, but he said that the event he's going to will last a couple weeks or so. So it might be ahwile.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this letter. With best regards,

Fluttershy.

Looking back into the envelope, there was indeed a photograph still within. Looking at the image, it depicts Discord with a pair of sunglasses and a red shirt covered with white floral patterns. In each of his hands was a brief case, and his face was twisted into his usual smile. Celestia could only groan at this.

If Celestia wasn't worried before, she was now. Discord just so happened to evacuate Equestria right before Drew shows up? That was a pretty big coincidence. And when Discord was involved, it was never just a simple coincidence. He HAD to know something about all of this. But there was no way of contacting him right now, if what Fluttershy said in her letter had been true. Letting out a remorseful sigh, Celestia moves to go lower the sun for the night. After all, there was nothing more she could do about the situation for the time being. All she could do was wait.