//------------------------------// // Chapter Six - Rise, Shine and Panic // Story: A Series of Unlikely Occurrences // by XYZDreadnought //------------------------------// Snowy slowly opened her eyes, and blearily stared into her pillow. 'Not now consciousness, Snowy's trying to sleep.' Snowy thought blearily. She shut her eyes and rolled onto her side, only to have them shoot open as she yelped in pain, her neck standing upright out of shock. She looked down, lifting the corner of her covers, only to find that her chest wrapped in bandages. She looked around the room, that she just realized was not hers. It was a large bedroom, with equally large ornate furniture, with a bookshelf, a dresser, a writing desk, a chair and a large bed, which she was currently occupying... oh and a bedside table. The room looked expensive, yet lacking any personal effects, leading Snowy to believe that this was a guest room in a manor or something similar. As memories from yesterday came trickling back, she groaned and slumped down onto the pillow. What a catastrophe, her invention had broken, right in front of everyone, she was never going to live this down. She had barely gotten over her involvement with 'The Domino' experiment. She shuddered, she still had nightmares about that one. She spotted a bottle of water on the bedside table. Lacking the effort to reach over to grab it, she ignited her horn to bring it over here, only to have it fizzle out on her. "Oh, great, depleted." she muttered. She must of used it all up in trying to break through the barrier, and surviving her rendezvous with the ground. She looked down at the bandages that she wore. "At least that explains why these injuries are still here" she thought. That was the problem with a chaos affinity. Unlike normal magic, which is basically unlimited, and only requires practice and focus, along, with some physical exertion, Chaos Magic was more like a battery, that was replenished through chaos, among other things. This usually wasn't a problem for most ponies with Chaos Affinity, who only had it fifty percent affinity or lower, sometimes a seventy percent in extreme cases, so they still had a portion of normal magic for usage at other times, as for her however... 'hundred freaking percent' she thought bitterly. There was a flip-side to this of course, because of her high affinity, she cast Chaos magic fast and easily with almost no physical exertion, she could heal at asinine speeds, and her body was much more resilient and flexible. But she is incapable of normal spell casting, and if she gets depleted, she might as well be an earth pony with an ice-cream cone on her head... and absolutely no skill in gardening. Her bitterness slowly transformed into worry. Without her magic, she wasn't exactly the most intimidating of ponies, or the strongest, if whoever had her, wanted to hold her captive or something, she couldn't do more than complain. While it was unlikely that such ponies would have taken her in and tended her wounds, the possibility was still there, and Snowy was never one for making friends, she found that enemies were easier to manage. These rather worrying thoughts were interrupted by a sound at the door, it sounded like voices, though she couldn't quite make out what was said. She decided to play dead, in order to get a look at who had found her, without them realizing that she was. 'I hope the're friendly... Or at least tolerable.' She thought, as she very nearly closed her eyes, and hid them behind her mane. "... and I honestly doubt she's awake anyway, so there's no real point in us both going in sir,". Said Walter, his hand on the door knob. "But..." Paradox begins "I know you want answers Paradox, but watching her in her sleep will not bring you any," said Walter, as Paradox winced at his choice of words. Walter continued, "I will inform you if their are any improvements in her condition. Please, find something else to do in the meantime." Paradox sighed, and walked off. Walter shook his head as his young charge rounded the corner. He could understand his frustration, given the circumstances... Yesterday... Walter trudged through the grounds, the rain cascading down his coat as he searched for Paradox. 'I sometimes wonder what that boy is thinking,' he thought, sighing at his young charges impulsiveness, 'He's a smart lad, but sometimes he really needs to think before he acts.' As he approached were he believed the light to have landed, He was was greeted by the sight of Paradox, walking out of a collection of tree's on the edge of the property, with something muddy slung across his shoulders. "Sir, what is that..." He begun, but Paradox cut in. "I've found someone," He said quickly. "Excuse me?" Said Walter, confused at the interruption. "I've found someone... somepony, Like me." he said, his eyes glittering with excitement. Walter took a closer look at what Paradox was carrying, and was surprised to find, a creature that looked very much like Paradox. Though there were some quite substantial differences, it was considerably smaller, and lacked any kind of wings from what he could see, and had a horn like extrusion on its head, and the mud partially obscured what was clearly a pure white coat, with a mane that was only slightly darker, yet its general body build was similar enough to paradox to at least be considered as the same species, or subspecies if you counted the lack of wings and the horn. Walter was silent for a moment, before asking, "Where did you find him?" "I found her in the impact crater... It's a she by the way." Said Paradox, barely containing his excitement. Walter eyed him quizzically, before asking in carefully neutral tone, "Might I ask how you know that?" "Oh, she talked to me before she passed out, she sounded feminine..." Said Paradox, completely oblivious to the implied question. Walter internally sighed with relief. "... and you gotta admit she looks like a girl." Walter gave her another once over, while there was nothing that particularly shouted out to him as feminine, he did note that her snout was considerably smaller, her head was rounder, and her eyes seemed to have traces of make-up, though the rain seems to have removed most of it, her eyelashes where also quite prominent. "I will defer to your judgement on this matter, sir." Walter finally said. Paradox, not to be deterred, "Don't you see Walter? One of my own kind! Well technically she's a unicorn, but still! Think of what she could tell me, where I'm from, what my race is like, she might even be from Equestria!" He was beaming like the sun his eyes positively glowing with excitement. As much as he did not want to dampen his young charges spirits, there was the problem that the 'unicorn' in question was currently unconscious on his back. but first he had to ask ,"You said she spoke sir, what exactly did she say?" "Oh something about broken ribs and a concussion," he said, waving a hoof dismissively. Then his eyes widened when he realized what he just said and the reality of the situation came rushing back "Oh shit." "Do you want me to carry her? I could probably get her back faster than you could on foot." he said while taking his coat off, despite the rain. "Umm..." said Paradox, looking a little bit bewildered. "And while I'm doing that you could fly back and get some things ready," he said, picking up the mare off Paradox's back, and wrapping her in his coat to shield her from the rain. "Clear out one of the guest rooms, run a bath with warm water to about five center-meters, and get the first aid kit, the sooner the better." "Uh... right! I'll get right on it" Said Paradox, before talking off. Walter watched him go before trudging off back towards the house, a bundled up pony in his arms. Present... ...If Walter were in a similar situation, he would be rather anxious too, especially considering the pony in question has done nothing but but sleep for the past seventeen hours. Walter walked into the room and surveyed the small unicorn, she was still asleep, no surprises there, but at she at least seemed to have shifted position somewhat, which is a good sign... ...Snowy vaguely recognized the creature, she had seen ones like it several times in her Void window, though she still had no idea what they were called. This one was quite tall from what she could tell, it had a immaculate black suit, and trousers to match, while its skin was bereft of fur like all others of its species, it seemed to have some wrinkles, suggesting advanced age, a few grey streaks in his short black mane further reinforced this. Despite that, he carried himself with a certain air, it suggested poise, self control, and discipline, the sort of feeling Snowy usually associated with butlers, bodyguards and members of the secret service, it gave nothing away. His light green eyes seemed to be examining her, looking her over. Now most ponies in this situation would have stayed stock still, Snowy new better, she made a subtle show of shifting her left hind leg slightly, twitching her ear, and flicking her tail, while mumbling something incomprehensible, before settling down again, hoping her little display would be enough to convince the creature that she was asleep, and not playing dead. He seemed to buy it, as he sighed, before walking over to the nearby desk and laying a small doctors bag on the bench before rifling through its contents. 'What's he up too?' Thought Snowy, slightly anxious... '...Where are those blasted Bandage scissors?' Thought Walter, mildly annoyed. He must have left them in the bathroom when they put the bandages on, how tiresome. The only other thing with a cutting edge in here is... He pulled out a small scalpel, still in its protective sheathe. 'Oh well it will have to do' he thought, removing the sheathe and approaching the patient... ...Well this escalated quickly, thought Snowy, silently panicking as the creature approached with a scalpel. She briefly wondered what he was going to do, before deciding that she didn't want to find out. As she creature got close, she made her move and Sprung... ...backwards as the pony launched its self from a prone position on the bed, the covers sliding off her as she landed on the floor in a gallop, shooting past him and stopping in the door frame. Looking back, she said in smug tone "Nice try, but you ain't gutting this mare tonight!" Before sprinting around the corner as fast as her hooves could carry her. Walter, still slightly shocked, looks down at the scalpel in his hand, before massaging his forehead with his other hand. "Of course, she had to be awake" He said, getting a feeling it was going to be one of those days... Paradox slowly moped along the hall, his thoughts on the mare who literally dropped into his life. 'Why can't she wake up already,' he thought 'she's been out since yesterday morning, how can anyone be that much of heavy sleeper?' He stopped for a minute, "What if she's in a coma or something, and will never wake up!" He thought, wondering whether it was possible to go into a coma over broken ribs and a concussion. The only member of his race he ever met, in a coma. That would be depressing. Before he could continue this rather gloomy thought any longer, he was suddenly made aware off a sound behind him... no a voice, steadily getting louder. ".....Helpme,Helpme,Helpme,Helpme,Helpme,Helpme,Helpme,Helpme,Helpme!" He whirled around and was suddenly hit full force with a small, white, and panicking mare. For the second time in twenty four hours he found himself in a close proximity of the member of the opposite sex, and once again she had her hooves around his neck, and was clinging on for dear life. "Thank Celestia, somepony normal!" she said. looking at him, she gave a slight frown, "Hey, aren't you the stallion from yesterday?" she said accusingly. "Uhh..." He said, once again lost for words. "Wait, doesn't matter, you gotta help me" She said frantically looking back down the hallway, "There's some weird creature with a scalpel is after me!" "Urr, what?" Said Paradox completely lost. "Hurry! Distract it while I escape, your a pegasus, you can move faster, do your duty as a stallion and defend me!" "Aren't you injured?" He said, Finally managing to say something. The mare seemed to stop mid panic and looked at him, she then looked down at the bandages, and at the small, yet slowly growing red patch on her chest. She whimpered, before falling to the floor. Paradox stood stunned for a moment, before mare said in a resentful tone; "You could at least try to catch me." While Paradox searched for a reply Walter rounded the corner. "Sir have you seen our guest she seemed to have... oh I see you found he then," He said looking at the heap on the carpet. The mare went into a semi-upright position and looked ready to bolt again "You keep away from me, I like my insides where they are, thank you, she said in a threatening growl. Walter held up his hands "You simply misunderstood the situation miss, I was merely going to remove and replace your bandages." "With a scalpel!" She nearly shouted. "I had misplaced the scissors." He stated simply. There was a long silence before she said "...Oh." with all the tension in the room replaced with awkwardness, Paradox gave a light cough. "Do you wan't help back to your room?" He said tentatively, extending his hoof. The action was stooped by her slapping his hoof away "No thanks, I will walk." She said without even looking up. She struggled to her hooves, lightly dusted her self off. Then, with her head held high, with as much dignity she could muster, and only the occasional wince, She walked away from Paradox, past Walter, and around the corner and out off sight. It was silent again for a minute, before The mares head stuck out from around the corner, and asked "Which one is my room again?" Paradox was befuddled beyond belief, this was quite possible the most surreal moment off his life up to this point, but there was one thing for sure, it was only going to get stranger from here.