Adam left the throne room with confusion dominating his mind. How long had Celestia felt like that? What was he going to do now? It seemed like he'd stumbled upon a set of feelings his friend had that he wasn't prepared for. Of course, he was rarely prepared to face the feelings of others.

"Hey, watch where you're going!"

Adam hadn't been looking, and stumbled over one of the ponies waiting in line to see Celestia. In that moment, as he hit the floor, Adam's glasses fell off his face and he noticed everypony looking at him. He may not have known them, so he couldn't scan their true thoughts like he could with Celestia and his other close friends, but he could still see their emotions radiating off them.

Anger from the pony he tripped over. Anticipation from the few about to enter the throne room. Joy from those laughing at his misfortune. Sadness from the recently rejected suitors. Curiosity. Envy. Determination. Pride. Hatred. Serenity. Fear. Panic. And many more. Each emotion radiating like an aura off each pony, each emotion a different color. In such a crowded place, with so many wild emotions, the colors flooded his vision and formed a kaleidoscope of hues as he lost his senses. Sound faded. Smells faded. Touch and taste went the way of the wind. Adam was so overwhelmed with the sheer amount of emotion without his protective glasses that he didn't even hear himself scream, nor feel pain as he collapsed to the floor.

The darkness of sleep welcomed his abrupt return to unconsciousness.

"Oh, hey. You're finally awake."

"Huh?"

Adam woke up to a somber-looking pony staring him in the face, not three inches from him. He recognized the teal-colored, gray maned pegasus stallion as Sir Sky Trimmer, one of Celestia's high-ranking guards. "You don't remember? You walked straight into Imperial Ambush, one of the guards on duty as you exited the throne room. You 'saw' everypony and I had to bring you back to your room."

Adam stared back at Sky, groaning. "I swear that sounds familiar. But more importantly, where are my glasses? I need those so I can block my stupid soul gaze power. I swear, if I didn't need them, I wouldn't need glasses at all…" he paused for a second. "Luckily you're around. I don't think I could get by without an assigned guard to help me when I have an episode."

Sky smiled. It looked like a genuine, caring smile, but he and Adam both knew it wasn't real. "I genuinely don't care, Adam. You know that."

Adam grinned. "I know. You only 'care' because you want to see what I'll do. But you're good at hiding it."

Sky shrugged. "Good point, I don't care. How about this then?" He hopped up on Adam's bed, glaring at the human angrily. "How dare you oversleep, private! Roll call was half an hour ago! Drop and give me twenty! No, thirty push-ups!"

Adam furrowed his brow, his patience wavering. "Cut it out, Sky. Now, glasses, please, and then I'm going for a walk."

"Alone? At this hour?" The door of the room opened, and Adam saw the warm-colored aura of kind emotions before Celestia even entered the room. He pulled his enchanted glasses back on amd breathed a sigh of relief to see normally again.

"Celestia!"

"Adam. I heard what happened, but I couldn't leave until the last of the suitors left for the evening. Are you alright?"

"He just woke up, your majesty. But…" Sky began to have tears well in his eyes. "...He doesn't remember a thing! The impact must have damaged his brain! It's so sa-a-a-d!" He fell to the floor, openly sobbing.

Celestia glared at her guard. "Sky Trimmer, cut it out."

The pegasus instantly hopped back to his hooves, any signs of sadness gone. "Aww… 'kay. Yeah, he's fine, just a little out of sorts." Sky stood still for a moment, then walked over to the balcony, grinning. "Anyway, I'm gonna go pester Luna and see what kind of faces she makes this time. Toodles!"

As he flew off, Adam glanced at Celestia. "Remind me again why you hired him?"

"It would have been far worse to let a different group recruit him first. I don't think anyone besides us realizes he can't feel emotions."

"That's not true, he feels a bit of joy at seeing new reactions from ponies. He all but assigned himself as my personal guard because human reactions are so different. But enough about that crazy pegasus. You wanted to go for a walk?"

Celestia smiled, and levitated some fresh clothes to her friend. "Yes. A romantic, nighttime walk, where we can discuss our intentions freely. Shall we?"

"Of course!"

As the two left the room together, Celestia hopeful for a potential romance and Adam curious to see where this would lead, a certain pegasus poked his head back into the room. Making sure nobody was around, he grinned wildly. "...but I can bother Luna any time I want. I wonder what kind of faces those two will make when their 'date' goes haywire, courtesy of yours truly? Oh, it's high time I had some FUN!"

Author's Note

What, you expected a story woth no antagonist? Meet Sky Trimmer, a pony with Alexithymia, the inability to feel most emotions! All he cares about is seeing how ponies react to things... and a princess in love is an opportunity he can't afford to ignore.