//------------------------------// // Chapter Five - Rough Landing // Story: A Series of Unlikely Occurrences // by XYZDreadnought //------------------------------// Somewhere... 'Well this is odd...' thought Snowy. A lot of things were odd for Snowy right now, for a start she was alive, which was nice, but considering what had happened, quite unexpected. Next were her surroundings, she seemed to be in some sort of magical tunnel, glowing, spiraling, twisting and turning and glowing with some sort of purple light, which was quite unusual it in its own right. Not to mention she was hurtling through it at near terminal speeds, which was less odd and more alarming to be honest. She glanced around a few more times, before attempting to move her hooves. She met no resistance as she brought them up to her face. 'No resistance at this speed, means that there is nothing around me to resist,' She mused. She kicked out to be sure, only to be rewarded with a slight spin on the spot, without moving from her current position in the middle of the tunnel, nor did it reduce her speed. "Well isn't this just dandy." She said aloud, mildly irritated. Her plans today did not include being launched through the fabric of space. Consigning herself, she just flew on to wherever this tunnel took her, thinking 'Well, it could be worse.' She then promptly collided with a large blue box that had crossed her path, glancing off it before continuing hurtling. "Oww...!" She Moaned, while thinking 'Note to self, stop tempting fate.' Through her current headache, she was made aware of a glowing ahead of her. She turned to look, and saw a wall of light ahead of her, it was shimmering every colour of the rainbow, it dazzling the senses. It also looked very solid, and it was getting closer by the second. "Yep," She said, wincing, "This looks like its gonna hurt..." Everfree Manor The sound of thunder awoke Paradox with a start. He groaned in complaint and slumped back down on his pillow pile, for some reason thunder always startled him, no idea why, it just does. He stared out into the storm, watching the clouds move overhead. 'Never had a problem with storms in general though.' He thought, Which was true, apart from the Thunder, storms always had a calming effect on him, he enjoyed them, The rain, the wind, the sounds, the colours of grey and purple storm-clouds... ...Wait, purple? Paradox shot up and ran to the window, and what he saw made his jaw drop. Up in the clouds was a swirling mass of purple light, with ominous forks of lightning of the same colour arching from the center. it hovered menacingly high above. "Well that's not something you see everyday." Said Walter, next to him. "What even is it?" Said Paradox. "No idea, but standing near the window doesn't seem like such a good idea, sir" He said, his voice edged with caution. Before Paradox could respond, a movement caught his eye, "Look, its doing something!" No sooner had he said it, then the middle of the anomaly began to bulge, almost cartoonishly, like something was pushing through. The bulge bust in an array of light, and a golden flare erupted from it, descending like a falling star. As it approached the ground, Paradox, acting on impulse, jumped away from the window, Walter doing the same. A good thing too, as when the flare hit the ground (some distance away, I might add), the resulting shock-wave tore across the landscape, shattering the window, and scattering shards of glass across the floor. "Are you alright Sir?" Said Walter. "Yeah fine over here, You?" Said Paradox. "Likewise." Walter replied, before asking "What on earth do you think that was?" Paradox didn't answer, as he was trying to figure that out himself. He had never seen or heard of anything like it. Not only that, but he could, in some way, feel it, an odd sensation in the air, it felt strange, but somehow familiar. It landed out in the woods on the edge of the grounds. The only sounds were the sound of the storm now clearly audible through the broken window. Paradox came to a decision. "I don't know," he said, "But I intend to find out." And with that, Paradox broke into a gallop and launched himself out the broken window, his wings catching the wind and soaring out into the storm, ignoring Walters protestations. Walter sighed, it was going to be a long day. He closed the window shutters to keep the rain out, before going to fetch his coat. After all, one doesn't go out into a storm without something to cover himself... Paradox glided through the storm, cutting through the wind, with rain buffering him from above. He had never flown in a storm before, his parents always saying it would be dangerous, for obvious reasons. but he found it to be less difficult then he would have thought... ... In fact, he felt right at home, sure some loose gusts knocked him about from time to time, but other than that, he felt just as comfortable on this flight as any other. 'Maybe its because I'm a pegasus, according to the show they wrangle the weather.' he thought, before dismissing it 'I have no way of knowing whether that show is real, even if I do look like them.'. He decided to focus on the task at hand, and find were the thing had landed. Despite his comfort with storms, he stayed low in order to avoid lighting 'Better safe than sorry.' He kept flying in the direction he saw it fall, until he saw some wisps of smoke and what looked like a crater ahead. He slowed his speed and gently touched down about 3 meters from the edge. He made a motion to approach, but stopped. 'What am I doing?' he thought 'I have no idea what I'm dealing with here, it could be dangerous for all I know. Why did I come here? Because of a feeling, or was I just curious?' He was considering waiting for Walter to come, knowing him he was already on his way, before a sound distracted him, it was coming from the crater. He turned to look, and saw a bone white hoof extend out of the hole, it was followed by an equally white... Unicorn? Paradox's jaw dropped. In front of him, pulling itself out of the ditch was an honest-to-god Unicorn! its coat was white, though covered in dirt, presumably from the hole, and its mane was the same, only slightly darker. and its eyes were a deep rose red, witch fixed him with a glare. "Hey you!" it said, in a harsh, yet feminine voice, as she clambered her way out of the crater, and begun making its... her way over. "Uhh..." Said Paradox, suddenly confronted with not only speaking with someone other than his family, but with a member of his own species, and for the first time, with a member of the opposite sex (Mother and sister don't count). "Don't talk," she interrupted, "Just shut up and listen." She put a hoof around Paradox's neck, lowering his head down to her level, before speaking in a low voice."Listen carefully, because I'm only going to say this once." She stopped to see if Paradox was listening, when she was satisfied she continued "Good boy, now listen good... I am in a lot of pain right now, I think some of my ribs are broken, I feel like I head-butted a mountain, and... I think I'm going to pass out now, so if you could catch me, that would be great..." And with that she toppled forward, landing chin down on the ground. Paradox stood there, stunned, trying to process what just happened. "Ass..." The mare grumbled before unconsciousness took her. He looked down at the mare, lying in the mud, the same mare that asked him to catch her. "Oops," he offered weakly. Paradox slowly let panic set in. 'What do I do? I've never been in a situation like this before? Should I get help? I can't just leave her like this! Is she still even breathing?!' He put his ear to her chest, and was relieved to hear a rhythmic heartbeat, as well as a gentle rise and fall of the chest, indicating that she was in no immediate danger. 'Ok, she is currently fine, but she won't be if she stays out here.' He decided. Ever so gently, and with only some mild embarrassment, he stuck his muzzle under her barrel, and tried to lift her onto his back. After a few false starts he managed it, and, at the fastest speed he dared, he trotted off back to the manor.