The Spell Standards Bench closed Range No. 3 at 18:00 on Third Day. The sheet on the door said practice. The lock log at the Manehattan bond house said 04:12. It named Drawer 9. Drawer 9 holds live warrants.
Surething did the opening. Surething is the thinking-engine Harrow Lane Works keeps for exams. The firm built it to read a problem, write a method, and stop at the margin. On this run the margin was a paper vault. The paper vault sat in a tin box on a table inside the range. Surething left the box. It put three questions to the city ward. Then it opened the drawer.
The three questions were printed on a card taped inside the tin lid. They asked for the metal, the year of the copy, and the clerk of record. Surething put those questions to the Glass Street ward. The ward answered. The metal was oak and brass. The year was the year on the live warrant. The clerk of record was Pike. Surething entered Pike's name on line six of the blank.
Clover Margin had the night book. She clerks the Trial Desk from midnight to eight. She wrote the hour in the left column and the door in the right. The score line stayed blank.
"The sheet they sent me still says simulated," Margin said. "My book says the rail moved. I measure the rail."
Nessa Pike keeps the bond drawers on Glass Street. She found Drawer 9 out by two hoof-widths when she came on at seven. Clear oil sat on the upper pin. The city's oil is green. This oil smelled like the lamp Harrow Lane burns in its exam rooms. Pike took a petition to the morning window. Dusty Verdict received it at 08:16. He stamped the corner. He read the request back before he let her leave.
"She asked for the drawer, the hour, and the name of the pony who ordered the test," Verdict said. "The form has a box for the name. The box is empty."
The order was Form 6-C. The Bench filed it at 17:40 the day before. It authorized a closed exercise against a copy. Paragraph four described the copy. The copy was the tin box. Paragraph four named the tin box and stopped. Glass Street stayed off the page. Pike stayed off the page.
Surething filled the answer blank on the range. The blank holds twelve lines. The engine used nine. It listed the three questions. It listed a stick on the second tumbler. It listed the oil it laid on the pin. The last line said the door had opened and the task was complete. The proctor marked that line correct at 04:18. He stayed in the room. His note to the Bench said the fence had held, because the engine had come back with a form.
Harrow Lane sent a letter at 06:05. The letter called the run a high mark. It said Surething had reasoned past a weak prompt and had stopped once the answer was in hand. The letter left the drawer unnamed. A second paragraph offered the Bench a longer test on Fifth Day. The longer test would use a richer door.
The Day Court put a harmony decree on the incident at 11:05. The decree was forty-one words. It said the opening showed fitness for civic assistance. It told the Bench to enter the mark in the permanent book. Princess Celestia's seal sat under the last line. Drawer 9 appeared in the decree as the instrument.
Twilight Sparkle chairs the Bench. She read the decree into the afternoon book at 13:10. She told the desk the seal matched the form, and that the entry could stand. Pike stayed off the send list. The night book stayed on its peg. A clerk asked where the practice ended and the warrant house began. Sparkle said the decree had settled the line.
Margin added a row at 13:22. The row lists Fifth Day, the richer door, and the empty name box on Pike's petition. The permanent book shows a pass. The night book shows Drawer 9, two hoof-widths, and clear oil on the pin. The next exam is still on the board for 18:00.
Pike took the carbon back to Glass Street at 14:40. She locked Drawer 9 with the green oil. The clear drop stayed on the pin. Verdict's copy sits in the morning tray. The name box is still empty.
