Sometimes its through the strangest of happenings that we meet those dearest to us.
Paradox has always known he was different, he was pretty small compared to most people, he lives with his parents and rarely leaves the house, his hair was an unusual colour… He also had a pair of wings, a tail, walked on four hooves and covered in brightly coloured fur. So yeah, you could say that he is quite different to All the Humans around him. Mysteriously left on the doorstep of the wealthy couple of Rachelle & Arthur Millar as a foal, he was raised in secret by the pair and loved like he was their own. Despite his loving adoptive parents, he often feels out of place, like he hadn’t found his place in life, or rather life hadn’t found a place for him.
Snowy is an up and coming academic in the field of magical theory, specialising in the Advanced manipulation of reality (known as Chaos magic), in the Canterlot Academy of Magical Studies. She has always been looked down upon by her older colleges... literally, being about a half-a-head shorter than the average mare. Add being an Albino and a rather touchy attitude on both subjects, and you have a mare who you have a hard time taking seriously. But she is going to change that, with her new unorthodox experiment in void tunnelling she will win the respect of her peers once and for all. Nothing can go wrong today, she won't let it!
These two strange ponies could never meet, or could they?
The wind howled through the distant hills and tore through the countryside. Thunder rumbled, rain fell in sheets, trees bowed and leaves flew and danced in rhythm with the chaotic symphony of the storm. The gales surged on, wild country side giving way to well-manicured lawns, and slammed into the large house on the hill, rattling the shutters, rousing Rachelle Miller from a light sleep.
She woke up with a start, tense, listening for the source of the noise. No sound was heard except the muffled storm outside, the shutters rattled again.
She relaxed. 'Just the storm,' she thought.
She felt the bed shift, causing her to look down at the sleeping form of her husband, Arthur Miller, seemingly undisturbed by the raging gale. She smiled, fondly tussling his hair. He murmured something in his sleep, grinning like an idiot. She gave him a light kiss on the cheek, then carefully hopped out of bed, suddenly too awake for sleep. Walking silently across the padded carpet and out the bedroom door, she crept through the corridors of their home, too big to be a house, too small to be a manor.
She made her way to the kitchen. “Some warm milk would really hit the spot right now,” she mumbled to no-one in particular.
She carefully poured herself a mug and put it in the microwave, punching in the numbers 1-0-0, before pressing START. She leaned against the counter, the gentle hum of the microwave and windy downpour outside the only sounds to be heard.
The house felt empty, she knew the butler, Walter, was out for the evening and her husband was still in bed, but it still felt empty, it always did, there was something missing in her life, she probably knew what it was…
Her musings were interrupted by the beeping of the microwave. She pressed open, carefully extracted the mug, and gingerly walked into the lounge room. She sank slowly into the shapeless cushions of the couch, her body slowly being absorbed by the blissfully soft material. Talking a sip, she listened to the raging storm outside, and pondered her marriage. She loved her husband, there was no doubt about that, he was the only man for her, his smile, his passion, his eccentric mannerisms, no uncertainty there, now if only…
The door slowly opened, revealing, as if on cue, her husband. He was wearing his pyjamas, a warm grin, and a pair of bunny slippers... and carrying his own mug of warm milk. “I thought you might be here,” he said. “Mind if I join you?”
She smiled and patted the cushion next to her. After sinking into the couch next to her, they sat in the silence and the gloom for a moment, savouring their drinks. He finally broke the silence “What’s on your mind sweetheart? You’re getting that philosophical look on your face.”
She took a moment to arrange her thoughts then said, “Just wondering when we can have a new member of the family…”
He nodded in understanding, nothing more needed to be said between the two. They both dearly wanted a child, but so far, they have remained a family of two. Not for lack of trying, but as of so far it just hasn't taken.
They both sighed. She learned her head on his shoulder, as he wrapped his arm around her.
“Don’t worry, it will happen,” he whispered. “Just be patient.”
They shared a brief but loving kiss before resuming their relaxed embrace, the air feeling slightly warmer.
They were considering whether it might be worth trying again, right here, on the couch, when suddenly they heard a heavy pounding on the door, the echoes cascading through the house. They looked at each other, marital telepathy kicking into overdrive, a stream of unspoken words flowing between them, Someone at the door? At this hour? We weren’t expecting anyone, were we? Who could it be? This needs investigating. Reaching the same conclusion, they slowly got up and crept out of the room, heading down to the entrance hall as the pounding repeated.
They approached the door carefully, the hammering having stopped. She slowly lowered her eye to the peep-hole, but saw nothing, only the sheets of rain pouring down outside the sheltered alcove in which the door was built. She stood up, and scratched her head, confused. 'Was it a prank? Unlikely at this hour, maybe they got tired of waiting, or thought nobody was in?' She turned to her husband.
“There's nobody there...” she began, before she heard a soft whimpering, a little cry of something too young to speak...
...The cry of a infant.
It was coming from outside the door.
They looked at each other again, no doubt they had both heard it.
He stepped forward, slowly turning the lock and drawing the bolt back, careful to make as little noise as possible, while keeping his weight on the door, in case of a sudden rush. Ever so slowly, the door slid in on oiled hinges, and the couple peered out into the stormy night.
On the doorstep, mostly out of the rain, was a small wicker basket, the content covered in a small quilted blanket. The whimpering continued, as the blanket shifted ever so slightly.
She stared at the basket in shock. 'There's a child in there,' she thought, 'A living child that someone has just dumped on our doorstep in the middle of a storm.' She wasn't sure whether to be confused, scared, or angry at the unknown individual who had done this. Gingerly, she reached down and picked up the strange basket, her husband tensed, but made no attempt to stop her. Shivering in the cold, damp air, she brought the basket inside, her husband closing and locking the door behind her.
Leaving the gloom of the corridor, they made their way back to the living room, Rachelle still carrying the basket. Flicking the lights on, her husband went about lighting the fire, while she laid the basket down on the table, the whimpering all but subsided now, replaced by the occasional sniffle. With care, she slowly lifted the blanket over where she assumed the head was... and then recoiled in shock, because looking back at her were possibly the biggest pair of eyes she had ever seen. She stared down at the the strange face, it was fairly round, with no nose, only a muzzle. It was covered in what looked like purple fur, and it had some kind of messy red hair. Its ears protruded from the top of its head, and were large and pointed, like dog or cat ears. And then there were the eyes themselves, they were a vivid ocean blue, with large pupils, and they looked up at her, filled with silent tears, confusion, anxiety, and maybe, was that hope? She reached down, careful not to make any sudden moves, and pulled of the rest of the blanket, what she saw was no less strange. Still covered in that odd purple fur, its arms and legs ended in odd flat stumps, it had some sort of short tail, the same colour as its hair, and... were those wings?
Curiosity overtook caution as she reached down with both hands clasping under its arms (forelegs?) and lifted it out of the basket to hold at arm's length. Sure enough there were two tiny, feathered wings clinging lightly to its sides. She and it stared at each other for a while. The little creature cocked its head to one side and gave a look of curiosity, its tears now dry.
The sound of a log being moved reminded her that her husband was in the room, as he stacked the fire up with wood. She felt the need to bring him up to speed.
“Umm... Dear?” she said slowly.
“Hows the child?” he asked, not looking up.
“Its fine, I think,” she said, not breaking eye contact with the creature held in her arms. “But... it's kind of... odd?” she continued, leaning her head to one side, the small creature mimicking the action in a rather cute way.
He finished stacking the fire, the warmth spilling into the room. Then, turning around, he said, “Odd? What do you mean... odd...” his voice petering out when his eyes locked on the thing his wife was holding.
There was an awkward silence, And theyall just stood there for about a minute.
The creature started shifting about nervously, made uncomfortable by the silence. It reached out its tiny appendages at her and started making a small whining noise, its little wings fluttering gently, trying to bring itself closer to her, its eyes shimmering in the light.
She couldn't take it.
“Awww... he's so adorable!!!” she exclaimed, throwing caution to the wind and hugging it to her chest.
It cooed softly and snuggled into the soft material of her nightie.
The tension in the room was dispelled in an instant.
“What... is it?" he said, releasing a breath he had been holding for the past two minutes.
“I don't know but he's the cutest little thing ever!” she said in a sing-song voice, rocking the little creature in her arms. It giggled happily.
“Shouldn't you be a bit more cautious?” he said warily.
“Why should I?” she said, laughing good-naturedly and holding it at arm's length facing her husband. “Its completely harmless! Look, it hasn't even got teeth.”
He approached it to get a closer look. It seemed harmless enough...
A sudden urge over took him, he didn't know why he did it, but he reached out with a single finger, slowly approached the muzzle and...
*Boop*
The little creature's eyes crossed and its muzzle scrunched up as the finger touched the end of its nose.
It was too much.
He cracked up, the laughter nearly doubling him up. His wife joined, him chuckling at his husbands amusement, bringing the little creature back to her chest and cradling it in her arms. The creature in question cooed in confusion at the mirth around it.
A few minutes had passed, Rachelle was sitting on an arm chair, while Arthur examined the little creature as it sat in the middle of the coffee table on top of its quilt.
“Fascinating...” he said, gently lifting up its foreleg and feeling the base on its stump, “it's some kind of hoof, with a soft pad in the centre...” he continued, before testing some of the hinges in the appendage. “Very versatile...”
“A hoof you say?” she said, giggling “You're a doctor, not a vet.”
“Well, my dad used to keep horses...” he mumbled, before changing the topic. “Anyway this is far from any animal as we know it, it has an unusual physiology, one would almost say unique, the colour is natural as far as I can tell, its forelegs have incredible dexterity for a quadruped, showing a range of movement comparable to the human arm, not to mention the wings...”
He was cut off by a small sniffle. He looked up at the little creature's face, only to see its eyes were watering and its lips were trembling, punctuated by the occasional sniffle.
“Wha...” he began.
“And I think he's hungry,” she said, standing up and scooping the the little creature who had its forehooves out stretched to meet her, before carrying it off to the kitchen, her confused husband following behind.
“What makes you think it's...” he began
“He.” she said cutting him off.
“What?” he said, perplexed.
“It's a he, silly,” she laughed.
“Oh, I see.” He rolled his eyes and chuckled good-naturedly. “Well then, what makes you think that he's hungry then?”
“Call it a hunch,” she said, setting him down on the kitchen counter, before going to warm up some milk.
The little one lifted its hooves gently in her direction and cooed as if calling her back.
Observing its/his behaviour, Arthur seemed to ponder a possibility.
“It may be too early to tell, but this little tyke might be showing the mental capacity of a human infant,” he said thoughtfully.
“He seems smart enough,” she chimed in. pouring a saucepan of warm milk into a baby bottle. “Good thing we got our baby supplies early,” she continued, scooping up the little one again before offering him the bottle.
He looked at the bottle for a minute, before tentatively sucking at the teat, then he latched onto it and started sucking with gusto.
“I guess I was right,” she chuckled.
They sat in thought for a moment, as the little one drank away.
“So what should we do with the little guy?” she said, voicing the question they were both thinking.
“Could we hand him over to the authorities?” He asked.
They both thought about it for a moment, they would probably take it away to some laboratory somewhere, or put it down as a potential threat.
“No,” they both said, they couldn't do that in good conscience.
They thought more, they thought of multiple scenarios, none of which ended well for the little creature, then Rachelle suddenly had an idea.
“Dear...” she said thoughtfully.
“Yes..?” he replied , wary of her tone.
“You know how we wanted to have a child...” she said, continuing in the same tone, not looking away from the cute little creature in her hands, who had just finished feeding.
“What’s that got to do with it...” he said, before catching on, “...are you serious?”
“This way only we and Walter need know about him.” A determined look appeared on her face. “We can keep him a secret and therefore safe, we can raise him on our own. Who knows, he might be as smart as we suspect him to be and he will be like the child we always wanted, as far as we know he was no other home to go to.”
What she said made sense, he had to admit.
“And besides,” see added with a smile, “could you really say no to this face?” She held out the little one for him to take.
He held him gingerly, looking down into those huge eyes, filled with innocence and hope.
He grinned. “Alright, you win.” His wife positively beamed “But what are we going to call him?”
Her massive smile was replaced with a little awkward one. “To be honest, I hadn't thought of a name yet.”
He pondered it for a moment, before saying “I think I have one.”
“What is it?” she asked eagerly.
“An unusual name for an unusual child,” he mused aloud “How does Paradox sound?”
“Paradox Miller?” she said, mildly amused.
The newly named Paradox smiled and coo'ed his apparent approval.
“Well, he seems to like it,” he said, before holding him high above his head. Paradox cooed at the hight, flapping his little wings.
“Well that settles it,” he said, still holding him up high. “Welcome to the family Paradox, we're glad to have you.”
The dew on the grass glittered in the early morning sunlight as it slowly emerged from the distant hills, spreading it's light across the country estate and settling on the proud old structure that was Evergreen Manor... meeting closed curtains on one particular bedroom window.
As is the rule of nature, a tiny sliver of light shone through a crack in the curtains and with pinpoint precision, settled rather uncomfortably on the eyes of the room's only occupant, disturbing his slumber.
Paradox Miller shifted uncomfortably, his eyes flickering open for a fraction of a second, before shutting them tight, stung by the sudden brightness. He groaned at the sudden intrusion, offering silent curses to his mortal enemy...
Mornings.
An attempt to roll over and resume snoozing was hampered by his wings that had splayed out overnight. With another groan, he rolled forward and buried his head in his pillows in an attempt to stave off awareness for another precious few minutes. This worked fine for a few seconds, until he had to breathe. He rolled back on his side and sighed in resignation that he would have to wake up.
Slowly opening his eyes, he lifted a hoof in order to shield them from the bright light. With a swift but sluggish movement, he rolled out of bed, landing on all fours. He wobbled for a bit, as his balance re-asserted itself, before slouching to the window to let his nemesis in.
Grabbing the edge of the curtain with his teeth, he squinted in the sudden sunlight, before dropping the curtain and letting out a sneeze. Wiping his snout with his left hoof, before grabbing the curtain and continuing his previous task of opening the curtains. His mind strayed back to bed as he tried to remember what dream he had, it was something to do with a princess, a dinosaur, and liberal amounts of maple syrup...
He tried to make sense of his slowly disintegrating recollections as he trotted out his bedroom door and made a beeline for the bathroom. His sister was out at boarding school, so that meant he got free reign of their shared bathroom. His hoofsteps rung on the tiles as he went directly for the shower.
After about 20 minutes of watery bliss he regrettably turned the water off.
After clambering out of the shower and giving himself a quick shake to dislodge any loose droplets, he walked over and clambered into the oversized custom doggy dryer.
Setting the fan up to high, he pressed down the pedal, spread his wings and enjoyed the sensation of the warm air under his feathers for a moment before leaving the chamber and giving himself a quick toweling.
A brush of his mane, a brush of his teeth, and he was ready to go. He took a look in the mirror, and took stock to see if anything had been misplaced in the night (you never know) and found that as far as he could see, he was 100% present and accounted for. 'Hooves? Check. Wings? Check. Fur? Check. Eyes? Obviously. Red, messy-no-matter-what-I-do-with-it-hair? Definitely check.'
"Looking good there," he said to his refection. "With looks like that you'll have the girls running." Snickering at his own joke, leaving his refection to his own devices as he trotted down the hall to the kitchen for some breakfast. "Yeah, like any girl would be interested in a 21 year-old who lives with his parents, or more importantly a small winged red-and-purple pony..."
He stopped for a moment, thinking about what he had just thought.
'...At least no girl over twelve, at any rate.'
"Morning, Son."
Paradox looked up from his breakfast cereal to the smiling face of Arthur Miller as he sat down opposite Paradox on the kitchen table. The family usually ate in the kitchen, the dining room being too large and ornate to be used for anything except special occasions. Arthur was carrying a plate of honey on toast.
Paradox gave him a small wave of his hoof, before turning his attention back to his food in front of him, not having moved his head for the entire exchange.
Arthur gave a look of mock hurt before saying. "Don't I even dignify a proper response?"
Paradox rolled his eyes, before lifting his snout of the cereal that he'd been half-eating, half-drinking, before rubbing the surplus milk of his face with a tea-towel he had prepared for just this purpose.
Technically he could use cutlery (somehow), but it wasn't easy, and he preferred this method for cereal, it was strangely satisfying, especially when his little sis tried to imitate him.
Clearing the milk off, he finally said, "Mornin', Dad," with all his usual morning pep, which is to say, none.
This drew a chuckle from Arthur. "Still not a morning person, huh?" It was more of a statement, than a question.
"What do you think?" said Paradox, finally returning his father's grin.
With nothing more to say, the two returned to their meals, Paradox once again submerging his mouth into his bowl.
The amicable silence continued for a few moments longer, until another figure walked in, taking off her large summer hat and gardening gloves.
"Morning, boys," said Rachelle.
"Good morning," said Arthur in reply. Paradox just grunted, not taking a break from his breakfast.
"That's a fine hello," said Rachelle passing by his seat and giving his mane a quick stroke.
Paradox closed his eyes at the sensation. 'Damn, why does that feel so good?'
She giggled at his expression, before continuing on to the kitchen counter.
"Have fun in the garden?" said Arthur, before taking another bite out of his toast.
"Oh, so-so," she said while cutting up some peaches.
"So, you ready for this afternoon?" he asked.
"All packed and ready to go," she said.
Paradox finally picked up his bowl and downed the rest of his Sultana Bran. Wiping the remains of the milk off his snout he said, "I hope you two enjoy your anniversary." He gave them a sincere smile.
"Oh we will, don't you worry about that," she said, walking over to her husband and giving him a kiss on the cheek. She then turned to Paradox and asked, "But what about you, honey, will you be all right on your own?"
Paradox gave a good-natured roll of his eyes. "I'll be fine mum, I've been alone before!" he said, and added, "Besides, Walter's not going anywhere, so if I have any troubles he'll be here."
As if on cue, Walter entered the room, carrying a small bundle of envelopes and a rolled up newspaper.
"Anything interesting Walter?" asked Arthur, accepting the mail.
"Nothing major sir, just some advertisements, a postcard from your sister, and a letter from the school board," he stated professionally.
Grabbing the postcard from the stack and setting down the rest, he took a brief look at the cover, chuckling at the image of his sister halfway up a cliff, before flicking it around to read the message.
"Auntie May sends her love from Peru," said Arthur, smiling at his sister's antics.
Paradox snickered, his aunt had always been strangely affectionate toward a nephew that she had never seen face-to-face, or at all really.
"What's she doing now?" said Rachelle, sharing the table-wide smile.
"Searching for the lost tomb of Ayar Auca," he said.
"Who's that?" asked Paradox.
His father shrugged. "Ask May, she's the archaeologist."
"It has been a long time hasn't it?" said Rachelle. "I don't think I've seen her since our honeymoon."
They both had a laugh at a joke that only they knew. Paradox crossed his hooves and scrunched his snout up in a pout, he had wanted to hear that story for ages, but it was always, "When your older," or "Not the right time," or his least favourite "Maybe when you find a girl of your own." He was being teased, he knew, and there was probably no big story anyway, but it didn't stop it from being annoying.
"Dear, you do know you're adorable when you do that?" said Rachelle, grinning at her sons pout, which only intensified from the comment.
Later that day...
"Paradox, sir," said Walter from the door of Paradox's 'Stallion Cave' (as his mother called it), as Paradox was fiddling with a semi-dismantled computer.
"Yes, Walter?" replied Paradox, not looking up from his work.
"Your Mother and Father are ready to depart, I thought you might want to see them off," he stated.
"Thank you, Walter," Paradox said, pulling himself away and leaving it for later.
He set off at a brisk pace out of the house, Walter following discretely behind. They left the front porch and made their way down the hill to the gate, his parents where were waiting down by the car.
"Now are you sure you are OK with us leaving for the week?" said Rachelle. concern on her face.
"I'm twenty-one Mom, I'll be just fine. I'm capable of existing for a few days without spontaneously combusting," said Paradox, chuckling.
His mother laughed with him. "Sometimes I forget just how grown up you are," she said fondly, tousling his mane.
"Come on honey, we have to go, otherwise we will miss our flight," said Arthur from the other side of the car.
She bent down and gave him a small kiss on his forehead before hopping into the car. "Love you, be safe!" she said.
"And be careful not to have too much fun!" called his dad from the other side of the car.
"You too!" said Paradox as the car started up.
He waved them off as the car drove out the gate and onto the road, the brick wall obscuring them from view. the cast iron gates swung shut behind.
With a sigh, Paradox lowered his hoof. 'Welp, now what?' he thought. Nobody around, no one except himself and Walter.
"Problem, sir?" said Walter from his position nearby, a note of concern in his voice.
Sighing again, Paradox said, "Not really Walter, just wondering what I'm going to do with my time this weekend."
After a thoughtful silence, Paradox asked, "What did you do when you were young and your parents were out?"
Walter seemed to think about this for a moment, before answering. "Well... I would usually say I'll be good, wait twenty minutes after they're gone to make sure they haven't forgotten anything, then call all of my friends, tell them to bring drinks, have a party, get thoroughly pissed, and regret it in the morning, especially when I had to clean up the mess with a hangover." He thought some more. "While not all of those options are open, I do have the keys to the wine cellar if you're interested."
Paradox stared at Walter incredulously, Walter looked back passively, before they both broke out laughing, Paradox's being loud and unrestrained, While Walter's was soft and genteel, but no less genuine.
"How 'bout no?" said Paradox, after the laughter had died down.
"Wouldn't blame you, sir," he said smiling. "Barely touch the stuff."
His mood greatly improved, Paradox turned his thoughts back to how he should occupy his time. "I could go flying, but it's probably not dark enough, besides those clouds on the horizon don't look too friendly either." He thought some more, out of all the hundred hobbies he had picked up over the years surely one could be of use in his hour of need...
...Actually, there was one he hasn't done in a while.
"Walter?" he said.
"Yes sir?" Walter said patiently.
Paradox grinned. "Break out the drinks and snack food, I've got an idea."
Excess Baggage, of the Royal Equestrian Post, was not having a good day. He was running an extra shift due to four ponies calling in sick, his wife was complaining about the state of the attic, his kids were late to school, his boss complained about the delay, and to top it off somepony had broken the coffee machine in the break-room. He could really use a coffee today.
This is not really the best mood to be knocking on ponies doors and delivering parcels, but he somehow managed to keep a civil (abet slightly grumpy) façade to all the ponies complaining about their packages being late, mishandled, or whatever else they might complain about.
So it was some sort of bitter-sweet relief when he finally reached the last house on his list. It was fairly out of the way, enough to escape the bustle and noise of the city. Alone it sat in its own private tranquillity. It was a reasonably large house, very modern by Canterlot standards. Its odd geometry and minimalistic design made it stand out among some of the larger, older and more ornate houses that characterize the city. It was built on the mountain rather than one of the many platforms that make up the majority of the city. Such real estate is rare in this city. Usually land like this on the Canterlot Plateau was expensive, and most of it was taken by the houses of the rich and noble. It was surprising to find such an unusual home here on its own, and it probably says something about the pony who lived there...
...Not that Excess took any note of this, too busy contemplating the end of his work day to care. He left his cart on the roadside and walked up the path to the front door, clutching the small package to his chest.
Knocking on the door, he awaited a response, listening intently.
After about a minute, his trained ears picked up soft hoof-steps approaching, and the door was opened by a small unicorn filly, who stared up at him passively. She was completely white, apart for her eyes, which were red.
Not feeling like dealing with kids, gruffly he said "Hey kid, your parents home?"
Her expression of passive indifference instantly soured into that of extreme annoyance. Excess had the feeling the that he had trod on a sore spot, though he couldn't think of what.
"Is there a problem?" he asked.
"No," she said in a voice that seemed too mature to be coming from a filly, "No, everything is fine and dandy." she continued bitterly, before finishing with, "and to answer your question, no, my parents aren't in. Not that they have any reason to be here considering I haven't lived with my parents since I finished high-school... nine years ago." Her voice dripped with venom.
His mind froze, and suddenly he did a quick double-take at the apparently not-filly. Upon looking carefully, he could see what was wrong, while the she was indeed small, her proportions were definitely that of a grown mare, she could even be considered attractive, Her slightly off white mane almost seemed to flow like liquid, ending in a point nearly touching the ground. Though the red eyes were slightly off-putting, especially with the death-stare he was receiving.
Excess quickly said, "Oh! My apologies ma-"
"Stow it." The mare interrupted him, her death-glare softening into general annoyance.
Excess shifted about awkwardly on the doorstep, uncomfortable in the silence, until the mare spoke again.
"Well?"
"Huh?" said Excess, sounding rather thick.
"As much as I enjoy standing in my doorway watching my life go by, I've got things to do and you're blocking the view," she stated, before asking, "What do you want?"
Suddenly he remembered why he was here. "Oh, right," he said, clearing his throat before continuing, "I'm here..."
"Yes I think we established that already," she interrupted sarcastically.
"...To deliver a package to a Miss Snowy," he said, reading the shipping invoice to hide his increasing annoyance. "Are you Miss Snowy?"
"No, That's Professor Snowy, not Miss," she corrected testily. "But yes, you have come to the right place."
"Sign here please," said Excess, handing her the invoice while privately thinking: 'Geez, what's with the attitude? I make one accidental quip on her height, and she starts treating me like I'm the world's biggest dirtbag.'
"Took you people long enough, this is hardly what I call swift service," she said, looking the invoice up and down.
"Just sign please, ma'am," Excess said irritably.
She took the pen out of the clip and scribbled something at the bottom, then gave the invoice back. He looked at the signature, it matched the pre-given signature perfectly, but now that he looked at both of them, there was something odd about it...
"Is your signature written backwards, ma'am?" he asked quizzically.
She stared at him for a minute, before replying. "Why yes, is that a problem?"
"Not really," said Excess. The signatures matched after all, who was he to complain, anything to get this job out of the way quicker and this irritating midget out of his mane.
He picked up the box and proffered it to the mare. It wobbled on the end of his hoof, but she being quickly snatched it up in her magic.
"Careful!" she said, looking the box up and down for any signs of damage. "This is quite fragile, and highly volatile, not to mention possibly dangerous."
"Well sorr- did you say dangerous?!" said excess, backing up a few steps.
The mare gave him an 'are you serious' look. "Well yeah, it says so on the waiver."
He took some more steps back. "What waiver?!"
The Mare rolled her eyes. "The waiver on the back of the invoice, your boss would have signed it when he accepted the package."
Excess stopped for a minute, before lifting the invoice off the clipboard. Sure enough, the words 'waiver' and 'class five magical hazard' greeted him.
"It would be nice to be told these things," he muttered, resolving to have some words with his boss about this.
"They must have thought you wouldn't need to be told to handle a package carefully." Her voice layered with both bored disinterest and condescension. "Either that or you were not important enough for them to care."
Excess's mouth dropped open.
"As much as this discussion has been thrilling, I have things to do, good day." she said, talking the package inside and slamming the door.
He stood there for a moment, his mouth agape.
Eventually unfreezing, he said, "Geez, what a bi..."
"...Ass," muttered Snowy Bitterfrost, as she slammed the door.
She walked down the hall, thinking all the while, 'Smug prick, "Are your parents in?" very funny, as if he couldn't tell I was a pygmy. Who does he think he is?'
She walked into her study and sat down, putting the package on the desk, before staring at it intently. She knew what it was, she'd been waiting for it for some time now, The last piece for her project. She savored the moment for about a minute before carefully removing the packaging (folding it up, she stuck a small sticky note on it and scribbled a small message on the note, then laid it to one side for later,) revealing a delicately carved wooden box, with a polished brass latch and hinges.
"Nice presentation..." she whispered, before opening the latch and peering inside.
Seated on a plush felt inlay was a large opaque black crystal of an undefined shape, about twenty centimeters in length. it glowed with an unnatural black light, strange white tendrils shimmered along its surface, and it seemed to absorb the light around it.
"YES!" she shouted, doing a hoof pump and allowing her self a small victory dance, then she composed herself and straightened her still immaculate mane.
She looked down again at her latest acquisition, her fourth void crystal, and the last one she needed for her experiment.
She picked up the crystal in her hooves, as it was unsafe to pick up void crystals with magic, (they tend to react violently) and Gently hugged it to her chest. This was it, the key to her first big contribution to the magical-scientific community, and one of the biggest made in the field of discordian magic in centuries.
She grinned wickedly, she could just see the look on all their faces when they found out what the 'Small Fry' came up with, especially that Quantum jerk, who seemed to have made it his job to remind her of her Pygmy ("If you say midget I will end you,") status at every possible moment, despite how many times she had reminded him to eat clay till he shat bricks. With this, she'll leave them in the dust, then no one would be able to say didn't deserve her position, there would be no more "she's too young," "She's not fit to be a professor," or "she only got here because of her cutie-mark." She'd show them all they'ed been outdone.
She snapped herself out of her favourite daydream, reminding herself that she still had to run the experiment, and go to the lecture in which she will present it... which was tomorrow.
"Oh buck." she swore, her pupils shrinking.
She grabbed the box off the desk, and (gently) rammed the crystal into it, carefully checking the latch was secure before bolting through the house to her laboratory (basement). Turning the lights on, she strode over to her work bench and started flicking through her research notes, laying the box down by her side. Her mind worked in overdrive.
'Okay...' she thought, scribbling furiously, 'I'll need at least two hours to construct a bracket to fit this gem, half an hour to attach it to the device, another hour to calibrate the magic conductor matrix, and another two to balance its power with the other three. I'll need to run a few tests to make sure that it is working properly, that will be another few hours, barring complications. Another hour or two to refresh my lecture notes... Note to self, do not schedule the unveiling of an invention unless you are sure that the components will arrive on time...' She stopped scribbling, reviewing her impromptu to-do list, grimacing 'Well that's not to bad, if I hurry I may just finish at... three in the morning... Oh and also move the device early before anyone else arrives.'
She sighed and said, mainly to herself, "Oh well, sleep is for the weak anyway." She then buckled down and got to work.
Paradox threw another beanbag onto the already formidable file of cushions, pillows, blankets and doona's that sat strewn in the middle of his 'Stallion Cave' in front of the impressive, self constructed monolithic Frankenstein that was his entertainment system. Satisfied with his improvised fortress of comfort, he walked to a shelf next to the TV and pulled out his DVD/Game collection... Which comprised of a Two Terra-byte portable harddrive, having learnt long ago that it was way easier to use one of these rather than fragile disks with hooves.
As he carefully jimmied the cord into the PC that sat in the core of the construction, Walter came in, carrying a cardboard-box overladen with various unhealthy things, guaranteed to earn the disapproval of 8 out-of 10 mothers, and stated spreading them out in an orderly fashion next to the pile of assorted comforts.
"You got everything?" Asked Paradox, fiddling with the PA that controlled his sound system.
"Everything you requested Sir," Walter replied, moving over too the fridge and placing a tub of ice-cream and a few soft drinks into the mini-fridge.
"You're the best Walter," Paradox said, looking over and giving him a grin.
"I do my best, Sir," Walter stated, returned Paradox's grin with a small smile of his own.
"Are you sure you don't want to join in?" Paradox asked, though he probably already knew the answer.
Walter gave a look of mock surprise "Goodness no Sir. Your taste in entertainment, is rather 'Refined' as it were," He said, giving a chuckle "No I'll just retire to the sitting-room and get some reading done. Give me a call if you need anything."
"I'll keep that in mind, thanks Walter." Paradox, also chuckling.
"Any-time Sir," he said, leaving.
After waiting a minute, Paradox ran from his position next to the TV and dived onto the pillow pile, grabbed his Extra Large Remote, and with a few Button presses, the Monster entertainment system hummed to life, as well as killing all the lights, leaving the screen as the only source of illumination in the room.
Cycling through his massive collection on screen, he pondered his next course of action.
"So many choices, so little time." He thought, he settled on one folder.
"This one will do." He said, pressing the start button.
He then sat back and emptied a pack of chips into a bowl the Theme Song for one of his favourite shows started playing. At least, he mentally corrected himself, it was one of favorite shows back when it was good, and before Michael Bay and Nickelodeon got there hands on it...
Shaking his head to get rid himself of such dark thoughts, he lay down in front of his bowl and just enjoyed it.
'I'll just watch a few episodes, then I'll do something else,' He thought, 'After all, I've got all night...'
Later...
... He Walked alone through the endless Labyrinthine tunnels, placing torches as he went. Scanning the walls, he searched for treasure hidden within. He could hear the clinking of bones and the moans of the walking dead, he tightened his grip on his sword.
Suddenly he spotted something, illuminated, by a pool of Lava, traces of blue could be seen in the wall.
"JACKPOT!" He cheered. before sprinting across the room, putting away his sword and brandishing his pickaxe.
He set to work on the rocky wall, chipping away, unveiling the diamonds inside.
Suddenly a hiss was heard. It was faint,but there none the less.
He stopped working and looked around nervously, when no further sound was heard, he continued to mine, albeit warily.
The Hiss was heard again, this time closer. He spun around, brandishing his bow, scanning the cave once again. No sign.
He turned to the wall again, before hearing another hiss, this time very close.
He spun on the spot, there it was, right next to him, hissing ominously. He took a step back, drawing his bow...
... and promptly fell into the lava pool, the explosion finished him off.
"OH COME ON!" Cried Paradox, as the words 'You died' appeared on the screen.
All of his hard earned diamond, incinerated. it was enough to make you cry, it really was.
"Bloody creepers." He muttered, as he pressed the exit button, having lost the will to play.
But before exiting the game entirely, his cursor hovered over the 'Multiplayer' button.
'It would be nice to have someone to play with from time to time,' He thought, before closing Minecraft entirely. 'Well, other than my sister anyway.'
Well that was fun while it lasted, but what now?
He got up and walked over to the fridge, pulling out a tub of Ice-cream.
'I could watch Plan 9 from outer space... Nah, badly made horror films are only funny in company.' He thought, chuckling at his memories of the awful film.
'Maybe some singing... Nope, done that already' still thinking, scooping up a generous portion of ice cream.
'I guess could... No need more people' sucking on the spoon.
'Then how about... No I'm not that desperate' he shuddered at the thought, helping himself to yet another scoop.
With his spare hoof he fiddled with a Remote, looking once again though his video Library, 'I guess I could watch something else... but what?'
He looked down into the tub of Ice-cream, it was half empty.
'Wow, maybe I should go easy on this stuff, I don't want to get a stomach ache... Nah, I'll leave that problem for future me.' He thought, chuckling at the joke.
And then it hit him, there's something he could watch. He rapidly started flicking though his Library, trying to find the letter 'M'.
It has been a while since he last watched it, But it still meant as much as did to him as it did the first time.
He could go on for hours on why he liked it, from the compelling characters, to the fun story writing. lots of people could say the same. He'd seen every episode multiple times, but it didn't spoil the magic, for you see, it was more than just a fun show to him. It was special, in a special place, with special values...
...the show with very special people...
...ponies, like him.
He had no idea how, or why, but he bore a remarkable resemblance to the ponies on the show, and this fact alone, is why, whenever the show played, it helped him feel a little less lonely.
For he was lonely, no doubt about that. And though it might sound melodramatic, his little life, which consisted of a small manor, three loving family members, a loyal butler and friend, and a world that wouldn't understand him, often felt hollow and empty. A little pony in a big human world, and as far as he knew, he was the only one. When He was with his family, he was able to ignore it, but when alone, the full weight of being a one-of-kind came to rest on his shoulders. It isn't easy being different, and he was as different as they come. His whole world was this manor, and it was unlikely to change.
But the show, it gave him a new world to visit, the world where he belonged, where there where the Ponies lived, laughed and loved. Where he learns about friendship, its ups and downs, its lessons and the magic of it all. Not to mention the Ponies themselves, with all their little quirks, diverse personalities and characters, they all seemed so real to him, more real than any shady politician or vague celebrity he had seem on TV, and the main character, who went on a journey from friendless introvert to becoming the epicenter of a group of friends so close that they could face any threat the world threw at them, as long as they had each other by their sides. Despite it being a cartoon, he felt more at home in there than he ever could here.
So he began to watch, and watch, and watch, until he could barely keep his eyes open. So he stopped, and drifted into a deep sleep...
Snowy Yawned as she walked out of the staffroom canteen, a carton of chocolate milk levitating in front of her. She took a half-hearted sip as she sleepily made her way to her Office.
'Well that was quite possibly the most painfu... second most painful night of my life' She thought, talking another, longer sip of her chocolate milk, giving a little moan as she did so 'Sweet Celestia, why do you taste so good!'
she finished it though, her masterpiece. She grinned. And what's more its tried, tested and fully functional. and its currently sitting under a dust-cover in the A.M.R.D (Advanced Manipulation of Reality Department) Auditorium, ready for presentation. Despite her weariness, she had a little spring in her step...
...which immediately vanished as soon she sighted the group in the corridor ahead of her. Three Unicorns were standing around learning on the walls, right next to the poster warning personal; 'For your own safety, and for the safety of others: please refrain from tempting fate'. They all wore the Academy jersey.
'Great' she thought gloomily, 'Students.'
The Academy had them of course, its just that in her far off corner of this impressive establishment, in the secluded and comparatively isolated area the A.M.R.D buildings inhabited on campus (some Arch-chancellor of long ago decided it wise to keep the department separate from the rest of the campus, with good reason), was not an area they frequented, and due to the rarity of a 'chaos' magic affinity, means that the amount of students that go to this department are minimal at best, So bar the occasional lecture, she rarely had to deal with them.
These didn't like the look of these ones either, The first was tall and lanky, with a rather greasy look to him, 'Does he even know what shampoo is?' The second one had a slightly punkish look to him with a few face piercings and a ridiculous mohawk, 'They'll let just about anyone in these days.' The third one was stocky and broad, and was probably on the hoofball team. 'looks like someone stuck an Icecream cone on an earth pony's forehead.'
In short they looked like trouble, and she was not in the mood for idiocy. She attempted to walk past with her head down, focusing on her drink, and hoped that they weren't nearly as dumb as they looked. She got halfway before...
"Hey little filly, what's someone pretty like you doing all on your lonesome," Said the greasy one.
She internally groaned 'Oh Celestia, Ponies like him exist!' she thought incredulously.
Rolling her eyes, she tries to continue, only to be cut off by the first one again, this time stepping in front of her, flanked by his obvious cronies.
"Aww, don't be like that," he sleazed, "we just want to get to know you a little."
"Or a lot," snickered the punky one.
She resisted rolling her eyes again, "oh they must get all the mares this way," she thought sarcastically.
She really didn't have the patience for this right now so she tried to get the quick way out.
"Despite how... 'Enticing' your offer might be, I am a senior member of the faculty and I have important business, so if you don't mind..." She delivered po-faced.
The look of surprise on their faces slowly disappeared, to be replaced with a variety of emotions. The Greasy one slipping back into his sleazy grin, the punk seemed even more interested, and only the big guy showed any signs of uncertainty.
"Heh, I've always wanted to do a teacher," said the punky one, somehow lowering Snowy's opinion of him further, if that were possible, 'seriously?! how do ponies like him even get in?'
"Uhh... I don't know guys," said the the bulky one. 'huh, he's smarter then he looks... mind you, that's not hard.'
"What's the matter, chicken?" Said the punky one.
"Uhh... No." said the Bulky one.
The greasy one gave them both a look, shutting them up, before turning to Snowy again. "Come on, are you sure you don't want to spend a little time with us?"
And then she saw the rings. They were faint, but you could just see them over the whites of his eyes. She inwardly grimaced, "oh of course, one of those ponies." She knew the type, at one point in life they found out that they had a chaos affinity, and suddenly they think they are the next incarnation of Discord, and can do whatever the hell they please. "We know that feeling all too well don't we?" Said her brain, which she ignored. Sloppy execution, mind you, you'd have to be very impressionable to get caught in that hypnosis.
Time to show this guy he's nothing special. She looked down at her carton, it was nearly three quarters full "Damn, I was enjoying this."
She looked the lead colt in the eyes with her best deadpan, before taking three steps backward. Then making sure that the eyes of all three were focused on her, she put her mouth on the straw, her horns golden glow intensified. She then took a deep breath out, then, begun to drink.
Their confusion quickly gave way to shock and disbelief as the carton begun to disappear, the cardboard unravelling from the bottom up, leaving a rough rectangle of chocolate milk suspended in mind air, being held in her glowing aura. The watched in mounting horror as the last of the straw disappeared into Snowy's mouth. She glanced at the chocolate milk critically for one second before holding it to one side, and dropped it.
BANG!
They stared horror-struck at the black, smoldering hole in the floor for a few seconds before turning back to Snowy
She raised her eyebrow.
They ran.
Snowy listened until their hoof-falls could no longer be heard in the distance. She then calmly walked to a nearby bin, and proceeded to cough up what remained of the carton.
"The things I do for respect around here..." she muttered between coughs.
She looked back sadly back at the crater in the floor. "I wonder if there is any more in the canteen." she thought.
She yawned again, and looked at a nearby wall clock, "Two hours and a-half till my presentation" she thought "Maybe I'll take a quick nap in my office too, just a quicky..."
Two hours and fifteen minutes later...
"Wakey-wakey miss Sunshine!"
Snowy shot up off the desk and out of the small puddle of drool that she had been collecting under her mouth.
"Iwasn'tasleep!" she said quickly, wiping the drool from her chin and blearily looked to see who had woken disturbed her. Her eye's focused on what was she then realized was one of her least favorite ponies.
"Oh, hello Quantum, what do you want?" She grumbled, accusingly.
Quantum was flashing his trademark annoyingly cheerful cheerful smile as he said, "I saw you come in looking like you just died, twice, and I just thought I'd come in and wake you before you slept through what could possibly the most important presentation of your academic career!"
"Well... thanks" She said guardedly, before adding "And I was NOT asleep!"
His expression didn't change "Alright, alright, no need to be so Short-Tempered," he chipped.
Snowy slowly put her face on her hoof. "And here it comes..." she muttered.
"I mean, if its as amazing as you say it is, it will make everything else seem Tiny in comparison,"
Looking up the clock, she began collecting her notes, all while thinking; "Hang in there Snowy, if you ignore him, he might go away, or shut up... or disintegrate"
"I hope that it doesn't fall Short, that would be dreadful after all the work you put in it."
Snowy walked out the door. Quantum followed her.
"Still, with you running the show, the chances of that happening would be minuscule."
"No doubt about it, your discovery will Dwarf all others."
"Must not kill members of the faculty. Must not kill members of the faculty. Must not kill members of the faculty...
3 minutes later...
"...not kill members of the faculty. Must not kill members of the faculty. Must not kill members of the faculty...
"...So then I said to the bartender, hey don't be like that, some of my best friends are Gryph... Oh hey were here!"
"OHTHANKCELESTIA!" Said snowy, bolting for the Auditorium backstage.
"Well, good luck with your presentation! cya later!" He said, waving, before walking to the audience entrance.
"Not if I see you first..." Mumbled Snowy.
"Ahh, Snowy, I was hoping to have a quick word with you." Said a voice in front of her.
She looked up to see the slightly more welcome sight of Intended Consequence, the department administrator.
"Mrs. BitterFrost, how was your morning?" His tone was clipped and precise.
She jerked her hoof back "I just spent about Five minutes being talked at by Quantum, what do you think?"
"not well then." He said.
"Lucky guess." said Snowy, deadpanning.
"I don't see how being sarcastic at me will change anything." He returned calmly.
"Yeah well, with all due respect, what do you want sir?" Said Snowy.
Intended Consequence sighed, adjusting his glasses with his hoof before getting to the point "I just wanted to check that everything was in order for your presentation."
"Everything's fine, thanks for asking," She said dismissively.
Intended Consequence ignored her "Mostly I just wanted to go over some safety considerations..."
"We've been over this consequence..." Said Snowy, rolling her eyes.
"And were doing it again because I don't think you're talking this seriously enough." He said irritably.
"I've already told you there is nothing to worry about." She said.
"And I say there is, especially considering this experiment contains not one, but four void crystals. You know what happens when those things go critical." He said.
"Uhh... No I don't. Nopony does." Said Snowy, raising her eyebrow.
"Yes, that's the point," He said plainly "No one knows because no one who was ever caught in the blast were ever seen again."
"You're worrying too much" said Snowy "Those things only do off when either struck or grasped with magic. I've put an anti-telekinesis ward on the frame, so it should be fine unless someone climbs on stage or throws something."
"But..." He started, but Snowy cut him off.
"It will be fine, sir. I know what I'm doing, I built the damn thing," She said impatiently "Now if you excuse me, I have to prepare."
He sighed deeply, "I wish Ponies wouldn't say things like that, it's just asking for trouble," He said, mainly for himself, before going to find a seat.
The Auditorium had a reasonable audience, it was filled with all the Senior Faculty (all four of them, five if you included her) as well as other researchers and staff. Most of the senior students had also shown up, as well some of the freshmen.
A few objects were on stage; there was a lectern, covered in notes, and a large object under a tarpaulin. about the size and shape of a door, and a bucket of tennis balls.
The general murmuring died down when Snowy walked onto stage and walked to the lectern, climbed up onto the stool that someone had kindly left behind it. When She was sure she was balanced, she picked up a stack of cue cards in her golden aura, shuffling them around before find the one she wanted, she then cleared her throat, and began to speak.
"Ladies and gentlecolts, esteemed colleges, members of the department, etcetera, etcetera. As you know, today I have discovery I wish to share with you, a discovery the likes of which has not seen in this department for decades, not since..." She stopped for a moment flicking a few cards over. "Luna, when did I write all this?" She muttered.
She tossed the cards over her shoulder, while saying; "Well, never-mind all that, what's important is that through my research, I have found a way of viewing other planes of existence!"
She was satisfied to hear a few gasps from the audience, and at least one spit-take. Somepony raised their hoof.
"I bet you are wondering how," she said, pretending not to see. The Pony lowered their hoof.
"It is through a device I have designed and built, the prototype I have right here," she gestured behind her to the tarp-covered object in centre stage. She grasped a corner in her magic "Everyone, I present to you..." she cast away the tarp, Revealing what was underneath "...The Void Window!"
The Void Window resembled a narrow archway, made of Metal. it was covered in lines, rings and runes etched into almost every inch of it. There were four brackets, currently empty, on the frame, two on either side, one near the bottom, the other near the top.
While everyone was examining her invention, she pulled out four cloth wrapped oblongs, she held them in her magic, careful to only touch the cloth, and not the object within, she levitated the four bundles over. Everyone watched as she held each one over the brackets, she then gently loosened the wrappings, until slowly, a void stone slid out of each, into the holsters.
The effect was immediate, as the odd black light of the Crystals burned with a new intensity and began to spread rapidly across the the carvings on the surface. when the energy of all four crystals converged on the zenith, the arch began filling with a black mist, solidifying until the center was a solid black mass. It seemed to ripple ominously.
There was a suitably shocked silence, as everyone was stunned by the spectacle. Snowy broke it.
"would anyone like a demonstration?"
There was now a different silence, this time disbelief.
"Then what was that then!?" said somepony in the audience.
"That was me turning it on." Said Snowy matter-of-factly. "This is its default state, and as you can see, it is currently showing nothing. Now if you excuse me, I will tune it to see if can't find something interesting to look at."
She got off her stool, stumbling a bit, but righting herself, she quickly glared at the audience, daring someone to comment, she then continued to the device, turning small disks of metal that blended in with the surface, in a way that probably only made sense to her. The blackness slowly faded and dissolved, revealing...
...A grassy meadow, on what looked like a lazy summer day, the long grass swayed in a gentle breeze. It was mildly anti-climatic, to be honest. Until a creature came into view, ponies gasped; what they saw was some kind of biped clad top to bottom in some form of clothing, it had some sort of hand like appendage, like a minotaur's, and its head was completely bald excerpt on the top and back of the head. it was carrying a large wicker basket and was followed soon after by another, slightly thinner one, and two smaller ones, probably children. They were walking along, laughing and talking, they looked like a family on a picnic. however all sound was muffled and distant, making it difficult to decipher what was being said.
"What are they?" said somepony in the audience.
"Don't know, I have seen them several times in testing, so they seem to be quite common in other planes of existence," said Snowy, just as interested.
"So what we are seeing is another dimension?" Said another.
"Well that is what it is for, I thought I had already established that," Said Snowy (who doesn't like stupid questions). "Well they seem to have left our line of sight, so does anypony have questions before I move on to elsewhere?" She asked.
"Could they see us?" one asked.
"No, while there was a link established between our plane and there's, it is entirely visual, and only one way." Said Snowy, who was ready for that one.
"What plane was that?"
Snowy was ready for that one too "I don't know, as of yet, I have yet to find a way of identifying or differentiating planes."
Some murmuring occurred after that one. but it died down as someone else asked a question.
"What happens when you touch the image?"
Snowy grinned, she was hoping somepony would ask that. "Here let me show you"
She walked over to the bucket, and picked up a tennis ball out of it. She then piffed it at the image. As it passed through, the meadow rippled, before settling, there shock turned into bemusement as the tennis ball then rolled out from behind it.
"Absolutely nothing." Said Snowy walking up to the Window, sticking her hoof through it, then walking though and coming out from behind, with nothing but a ripple.
"Despite it looking like a portal, it really is only an image, made from coloured mist, we cannot affect it, just as much as it cannot affect us." She stated "Anything else?"
The were no more questions, so she moved on, fiddling with the dials once more, the image dissolved, and this time showed what looked like a high-school cafeteria, where more of those Bipedal creatures, several of whom seemed to be singing, something about crowns.
Snowy grimaced and moved on. The Image was replaced yet again, this time with a rocky field of ash and lava, with volcanoes in the distance.
The Image was replaced again, this time with a scene that looked like it was right out of a Science fiction move, with space ships in a pitched battle over a forest moon.
After everyone had finished gawking she changed the Image again. This time showing a massive black dragon, laying down on a hoard of oddly shaped gold. The dragon lifted its head, and everyone gasped, as it seemed to have no eyes. It then faced them and said in a voice that seemed both ancient and timeless; "Do you mind?"
Snowy quickly cut off the image, the window fading to black.
She looked out at her audience. "Lets pretend that didn't happen."
She then continued on with her demonstrations, showing many weird worlds places and creatures, all the while explaining some of the technical aspects of the device. Some places looked familiar, yet odd, such as one where Canterlot was covered in tall chrome buildings, and another where Equestria seems to have been turned into some sort of wasteland.
"Well that's it," Said Snowy turning the window to its default state once more "Now that you've had a good look at its capabilities does anyone have anything else they want to ask me? Just so you know my research will be available for study and review within a week."
There seemed to be a lack of questions but one Stallion raised his hoof.
"Yes?" She said.
The Stallion cleared his throat, then said "I guessing that those crystals power the device? what exactly are they?"
Snowy sighed, she hoped ponies wouldn't ask that "What those are..." She mentally braced herself "are void stones."
There was a slight panicked uproar, with a few shouts of "are you mad!?" and "The Abyss is wrong with you?" She Shot up a magical firecracker, drawing the attention back to her and silencing them.
She cleared her throat "While your concern is understandable, it is unfounded, the device is completely safe I assure you."
The disbelief was almost palatable.
She sighed "The window channeling the energy is completely safe, I have tested it, there is no harmful emissions of any kind, barring actual physical damage to the crystals or the device, there is no danger."
"But you admit that it is dangerous." Said somepony accusingly.
"Obviously you weren't listening," Getting annoyed "Yes it is dangerous, Void stones are always dangerous! But they are also powerful and useful. And they only react when they come into contact with magic or are struck, and even then it has a sizeable delay. Not to mention that there blast radius is minuscule! Only three meters."
"But there are four of them..." Somepony began, but Snowy cut them off.
"It makes no difference. people have tested them before, no matter how big the stone, or how many there are the blast radius is always 3 meters! Believe me, I checked." She continued her little rant "And even if it was bigger, We are in the middle of an Auditorium! Barring an idiot, what could possibly happen that could cause..."
"Don't finish that sentence!" Said Intended Consequence urgently, cutting her off.
"What?" she said, annoyed
"That was nearly tempting fate!" He said "Be careful, He might be listening!"
Snowy's eyes widened in alarm, she jumped back from the window and put her hooves on her head. Ponies shielded there faces, dived under there seats or just looked around nervously. They all knew what tempting fate meant, it meant attracting the attention of Him The equestrian God of fate, contrived circumstance, the million-to-one chance and cause and effect. To tempt fate, act arrogant, sometimes even just saying his name, was enough to attract his attention.
There was complete silence, as everypony waited for the worse. After about five minutes of nothing happening, no cosmic anvils descending from the heavens, or earthquakes, Snowy gently lifted her head. Gingerly she walked back over to the void window, she gently poked it. Nothing happened. Snowy joined in with the room-wide sigh, until...
"I think we got away with it." Said somepony.
Everypony glared at him. "What?"
"You just had to say it, didn't you?" said Snowy, beyond annoyed.
The back wall promptly exploded.
A large mangled piece of mental, soared through the hole, ricochetted off the Window and embedded itself in the sealing, small bits of loose timber raining from the ceiling, a large portion of it landing on Snowy.
"The hell was that?!" Shouted somepony.
"No idea!" Said another "Maybe the alchemists are messing with ballistics or something."
Meanwhile in home economics...
A cooking teacher and his student, stood, covered in suet, gawking at what remained of the stove, and the wall behind it, which now gave a nice view of the Academy grounds, and the A.M.R.D building. The cook unfroze first, she glared down at the student, before giving him a cuff behind the ear.
Now back at the plot...
"Never mind that!" Said Intended consequence. "Someone help Snowy Before something else happens!"
Too late. No sooner had he said that, then the Void window, whose frame was already bent oddly from the impact, started behaving oddly, instead of a sold black mass, it had became a swirling vortex of black, grey and purple. Odd black lightning crackled in the center.
Snowy groaned from under the pile of wood, barely lifting herself up, she glanced up at her device. She sighed, oh well, she was dead. She tried to think of some last words, but then just decided to go for the time honored method of cursing the deity to blame.
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.
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.
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.
That is what filled the room, though a different silence for different people. For Snowy it was a mere absence of sound as she sat in her thoughts and musings while lying on the bed, that, until further notice, was hers. For Paradox, it was an awkward silence, as he had a million questions, and no idea how to ask any of them, he fidgeted on his seat as he attempted to will his thoughts into co-operation, with little success. For Walter, it was a professional silence, as he waited for either his young charge, or the as-yet unnamed pony to speak, both of which seemed content to remain silent for the time being.
This continued for a minute or so, and would have inevitably continued to do so, if not Snowy had unintentionally ended it.
A low growl disturbs Snowys thoughts, and She looks around for the source, only to hear it again. She looked down, it was her stomach.
'Oh right,' she thought, 'I haven't eaten since the night before the Presentation.'
She cleared her throat "Excuse me, can I have some food? Kinda starving here."
Paradox eyes shot open, "Oh, of course," he turned to Walter "could you get her something to eat?"
Walter turned to Snowy "Certainly is there anything you would like in particular?"
Snowy considered the question, thinking, 'well its worth a shot,' before saying aloud "Got any chocolate milk?"
Walter seems to be mildly confused by the answer "Yes I believe so, why do..."
Snowy cut him off "Then I'll take that and whatever else your offering, thanks."
Walter sighed internally 'Oh dear, one of those people. As short on patience as she is on temper I'll wager.' he thought. Aloud he said "Very well miss, I will only be a moment." he left.
'Hmm, professional,' Snowy thought, 'This Stallion must be loaded to afford this kind of help, even if it is a... whatever he is.'
"Umm... wasn't that kind of rude?" said a rather hesitant voice to his left, belonging to the rather nervous Stallion she had yet to identify. He had a very slight Trottingham inflection to his voice, other than that it was unremarkable.
Snowy gave him a lopsided look, halfway between quizzical and her usual one of mild condescension. "Well he is a butler right?"
"And I was asked for what I wanted." Snowy once again interrupted.
"Yeah, Bu..." Paradox, trying yet again to get a word in sideways.
"Then I fail to see what the Problem is." Snowy states crossing her hooves and lying back on her pillow, making it clear that the argument was closed.
Paradox considered pushing on, but years of having a younger sister gave him the wisdom that some battles were not worth fighting, so he dropped it.
There was some more silence, though not as awkward or thoughtful as the one before.
"Soo..." Paradox said, trying to break the ice in a less confrontational manner.
The mare Paradox had yet to identify turned to face him giving a look, that said: yes, I see you, now I'm waiting to see what you do, this was not helping Paradox think. Paradox searched for something, anything to say to someone you have never met. The mare raised her eyebrow, sending him into a cold sweat, whoever this mare was, she was a pro at making people uncomfortable. Eventually he got it, something that was bound to work.
"Your name!" he blurted out.
"Excuse me?" said the mystery mare, somehow managing to raise her eyebrow further.
"What's your name, we haven't introduced each other yet." he said grinning awkwardly.
The mare considered his proposition for a moment, before saying "Yours first."
Paradox inwardly hoof pumped 'Yes I'm getting somewhere'. He grinned for a bit before remembering that he is supposed to be saying something, then said out loud. "Oh, uh, Names Paradox, Paradox Millar" he said rubbing the back of his neck.
The Mare considered this for a moment, as if running it past an internal list, before shaking her head and stating simply " My name is Snowy."
"Snowy?" Said Paradox.
"Snowy Bitterfrost," Snowy affirmed "Why, is there a problem?" She wielded the question like a threat.
Paradox leaned back, holding his hooves defensively "What! No! I mean, it just... Suits you is all."
Snowy gave him a another lopsided look, before giving a "whatever," and apparently decided not to press the issue, much to Paradox's relief.
'This is not going well,' Thought Paradox 'Did I offend her somehow? oh that would be just typical, first pony I meet and she hates me.'
'Hmm no reaction to the Bitterfrost name,' Thought Snowy 'So either not noble or not from Canterlot. Judging from the house, I'm more willing to bet on the latter. On the other hoof, he could be the son of an noble who didn't go to Canterlot High and hasn't got into Canterlot politics yet. Being a pegasus, that is not surprising, some old pegasus families tend to send their children to Cloudsdale for an education. Then again I have never heard of the name Millar, meaning that This Family, if it is noble, does not come from Canterlot. Trottingham, maybe, considering his accent.'
Snowy was pleased with her deductive skills, before her hind-brain reminded her 'Or you could just ask him, you idiot.' She hated her brain sometimes.
She turned to her current host, she asks "Excuse me Mr. Millar, but would you mind informing me to my location? I was recently involved in a magical accident and I would like to know my my whereabouts, so I can organize transportation home to Canterlot." She kept her voice formal in order to convey an air of importance, and included the location of her home, as ponies tended to be more helpful if they hear that you are from the nations capital...
...The reaction she received was not what she expected.
At the mention of Canterlot, Paradoxs face lit up like dragonfire. Gone was the nervousness and awkwardness that Snowy had already come to expect from him, and was replaced with a look of amazement and glee.
"Are you really from Canterlot?" He said, his eyes shimmering with excitement.
"Ummmm, yes?" She said, slightly unnerved by this change of demeanor.
As in The Canterlot?" Paradox persisted.
"...Yeeeah?" Snowy said slowly, wondering where he was going with this.
"As in Canterlot, where Princess Celestia and Luna Live?"
"Is there another one?" Snowy asked, her usual expression of irritated deadpan gone, replaced by one of complete befuddlement.
"The original home of Twilight Sparkle?" He went on.
"Well, her brother lived there, so I assume so, why?" Said Snowy, still lost.
"And the capital of Equestria?" He said, His excitement peaking.
"YES, and all of the above, why in Tatarus are you asking?" She said exasperated and desperate for an explanation.
An explanation that she apparently wasn't going to get, as after this last question the stallion jumped up from his seat and started bouncing around the room in a quite frankly embarrassing manner.
"Ohmagosh-Ohmagosh-Ohmagosh!" He sang gleefully, his eyes shut in euphoria "A real pony from Equestria, a unicorn even, from Canterlot, I knew it!
This deceleration set off all kinds of alarm bells in Snowys head, not least of all that this stallion was crazy, but most importantly but judging by his reaction, she was the first pony he had ever seen...
There was the sound of someone clearing her throat, she turned to see, standing in the doorway, the butler from earlier, and more importantly, carrying a tray.
Paradox seemed to have noticed too, as he stopped his little dance of joy, and gave a embarrassed chuckle, rubbing the back of head.
Snowy ignored this, her eyes locked on the tray, 'Worry about where you are later, food now.'
"I have your requested beverage miss," Walter said calmly filing away his laughter for later enjoyment. "I have also got you a salad sandwich, I hope this is to your liking."
"Yes thank you, that will be sufficient." She said as he put down the tray down on the bedside table.
As soon as he removed his hands, Snowy's hoof moved at a speed that would make a snake jealous, and snatched up the carton of chocolate milk, and was about to drink it, before remembering she was in company.
She paused for a moment before looking at the other pony plus butler in the room, who were looking at her quizzically. She said "I'm about to do something weird, okay?"
Social obligations now fulfilled, she put the carton to her lips, ignoring the glass on the tray, and began to slowly, but continuously drink the one litre carton.
Paradox and Walter shared a look, before looking back at their guest. Their confusion turned to surprise, as the mares horn began to glow with a golden light.
Another thing to be said about chaos affinity, is that while chaos is the main way to charge it, there are other ways, The most predominate way being sugar. Scientists have often puzzled over the connection between sugar and chaos, chaos mages however generally just roll with it, and use it as a convenient way of empowering themselves without inconveniencing nearby pedestrians. Coupled with the fact that replenishing themselves in this manor comes with a mild euphoric feeling, its no wonder most chaos users are sugar addicts. This fact, coupled with with the similar effect of coco, and the actual health benefits of calcium, makes chocolate milk ideal, and is recommended by nine out of ten ponies with chaos affinity, including Discord himself.
While this was usually a rather subtle process, Snowy was depleted, and carrying some rather severe injuries. The golden energy cascaded down her body, enveloping her in a light aura, lights flickered around her, focusing around her chest and horn. it shimmered around her like a veil of sunlight.
Then she finished the carton, and just as soon as it had come, the light vanished.
Snowy removed her lips with a sigh of pleasure, and gave a little shiver. She then calmly put the empty carton down, picked up the sandwich with her magic, and took a bite.
"Mmm, cucumber and avocado," she said with her mouth full. She then looked at the rooms other two occupants, and more specifically, there shocked faces "whuht?"she asked, still chewing.
Chapter Eight - Expectations and how to thoroughly destroy them
They stared at Snowy in silent shock as she finished her sandwich, though Walter was mildly more composed than Paradox.
As she took the last bite and swallowed it down, she turned again to the rooms occupants, and said "No seriously what? Your starring as if you just saw the princesses doing the Hopak, what gives?" The silence continued as Paradox attempted to do compose himself. "Have I got milk on my nose or something?" she scrunched up her snout as she tried to look at her nose.
her deep concentration was disturbed by a light snickering sound. Snowy looked up to see Paradox, with his face scrunched up, a hoof over his mouth, and trying his hardest not to laugh.
It went on for half a minute, till he managed to find to still his sniggers and look up, at the very unimpressed Snowy, who had her hooves crossed and her eyebrow raised.
"Is there something amusing about me?" she said coldly.
Paradox couldn't help it, it was too surreal. He burst out in what Snowy considered the weirdest laugh she had ever heard. it resembled it was halfway between a full-blown laugh and a fit of giggles, with no little amount of hyena thrown in for texture. He half-fell to the floor, his rump in the air, still laughing like a maniac.
Snowy was bewildered, no-one had laughed at her in years (at least, not for long at any rate) and yet here was this pegasus, laughing like she was some form of stand up comedian. She felt like she should be angry right about now, but it was eclipsed by her general confusion. 'Most ponies are generally intimidated by me, is it because he is ignorant, stupid, or just plain dense?' She thought. With most ponies she met, she could make them uncomfortable just by being in her presence for extended periods, she was proud of it, she could make the most uppity noblestallion shuffle his hooves uncomfortably and make some excuses not to be there, and even the most brazen cat-caller would fall to her cold demeanor and dry wit... with the exception of her colleges, but they were all odder than she was, so it didn't count. Yet this stallion, while initially nervous, had suddenly become brazened and carefree, it was baffling.
Snowy surfaced from her thoughts to find the stallion still laughing. 'Mind you,' she thought her expected irritation finally rising, 'If he doesn't stop laughing, I'm going to give him a reason to be intimidated.'
Luckily for Paradox, Walter Chose this time to interrupt his mirth due to the rather murderous look the mare was now giving his young charge.
"Paradox sir, it might be wise to stop, you appear to be offending your guest," he said diplomatically. A statement that Snowy thought was a major understatement.
Paradox managed to fall off his chair properly, before clambering back up, still overcome with silent giggles.
"Sorry..." He said, finally managing to put a lid on it, but still grinning. "Its just that you looked so adorable with your eyes crossed"
Snowy's eye twitched "Adorable!?" She exclaimed.
"Yeah" he said happily, before noticing her twitching eye and barely restrained grimace. "Are you ok? you look kind of off." he said with concern.
Snowy's internal monologue went something like this: 'Calm yourself Snowy, its not as if he is intending this, he is just an idiot-He called me adorable!-Just because somepony is stupid is no reason to destroy them-Nopony calls me adorable!-thats a lie, my father calls me adorable all the time, to most people its a compliment, its not like its an insult, like shorty or midg-Grrrr!-Ok, Ok! calm down its just an example. geez I can be such a baby sometimes-Hey!-Oh stop wining, but seriously think rationally about this for a minute-Isn't that what I'm for?-Then care to shut up and let me speak then?-...Al-right, fine, what is it?-He is currently my host, he has taken me in, treated my injuries, and most importantly has fed me-It was a Nice sandwich...-Exactly, not to mention that I don't like the way he said 'a real Pony' as if this is not only his first time seeing an equine, but until now he considered them fake, which is odd, considering he is one-So I pump him for info, then destroy him?-Not this again, no we don't destroy him, what is wrong with me-Hey! I'm not half as crazy as me-And what's that supposed to mean?-At least I'm not talking to myself-...Yes I am-...Dammit, walked into that one-Lets just talk to the guy and move on with my live, agreed?-Agreed.'
Snowy was suddenly aware of a hand waving in front of her face, and the butler, who had yet to be named, saying, "...she seems to be having some sort of mental break-down sir, should I..."
"I'mfine!" she said quickly, brushing the hand away and giving her head a quick shake, "Just lost in thought."
"Are you sure? You were out for a full minute" Said Paradox, blissfully unaware of the internal conflict he had caused.
"Yes, yes fit as a fiddle" she said tersely, "and while your concern is appreciated, I would much rather we return to our previous conversation."
"Umm... Which one?" He said sheepishly, poking the tips of his fore-hooves together apologetically.
Snowy sighed heavily "The one where I inquired to my location, and where you proceeded to freak out," she dead-panned.
He had stopped playing with his hooves, only to start rubbing the back of his neck again, "Yeheh, sorry about that, its just that when I heard you were from Equestria, I kinda got exited."
"Kinda?" Snowy thought. Aloud she said "And why is that exactly? Ponies from Equestria are not uncommon, it has the largest Pony population on Equus, but judging from your reaction, you seem surprised that I come from there..." She paused for a moment "...Or is it more accurate to say that you are surprised to find out that Equestria exists at all?" She then turned to Walter, "And then there is the company you keep, no offence but I have never seen, nor heard of a creature like you on Equus, Mr...?"
"My Name is Walter, miss," He said, not liking this mare interrogative method.
"Snowy Bitterfrost, charmed." She said, before continuing with her deductions "Also this bed, it also seems rather long for an pony, meaning that this was most likely intended for a creature of a larger stature, it also looks pre-fabricated, meaning that this is most likely a standard size, which implies that ponies are not the dominate species," she gave a smug smirk for a moment at her powers of logic and deduction, before drooping at the logical conclusion.
She sighed again before looking at Paradox and Walter, saying, "Just give it too me strait, I'm not on Equus, Am I?"
The duo looked at each other before Paradox finally spoke up, "You are on the planet Earth, and... You are the first Pony I have ever met."
Snowy's reaction was quite tame given the circumstances, she calmly laid down, rolled onto her stomach, burred her head in her pillows, took a deeeep breath, and screamed into them as loud as she could.
Paradox and Walter recoiled at the volume, despite it being muffled by the pillows 'Quite the lungs on her for such a small creature' thought Walter.
Her scream eventually petered out into repeating the word "Dammit!" over and over, while slamming her hoof onto the bed, unfortunately making a light pomfing noise and not conveying her emotions at all.
When her shouting finally ceased, her hoof slumped down, and she sat there motionless, the only sound being her breathing.
"Are... are you ok?" said Paradox, in what could be considered the understatement of the century.
"Yeah... Peachy." Snowy's Voice was slow and deliberate, almost venomous.
"Sorry," said Paradox looking downcast.
Snowy slowly lifted herself off the mattress and into a prone position "Don't Apologize for things you had nothing to do with," her expression back to irritated deadpan, though slightly more irritated than before, "Its bad enough without somepony else apologizing for my own failures, it just adds insult to injury."
"Sorry." Paradox said again.
"And don't apologize for apologizing!" Snowy snapped "Its pathetic and painful to watch."
"Sor..." Paradox began
"We are not starting this gag," Snowy snapping again "Its overused."
"What?" Said Paradox, who was having trouble keeping up with the mare.
Snowy seemed to stop for a moment, before resting her head in one of her hooves. She gave a sigh before saying "You must excuse me, I seem to be having one of those days." She took some deep breaths, just like her therapist once taught her, and thought of a mountain stream.
'I am the stream, I am cool and gentle as I flow down the mountain. I am not calm, I am the calm, let the calm flow through me like the stream... that I also am... I have successfully confused myself and I am no longer angry. Thank-you therapy.'
She straitened up "Better now." she announced.
"Are you sure?" Said Paradox, concerned.
"Positive." She said.
There was yet again another uncomfortable silence, and Paradox fitted as he once again tried to think of what to say, or more importantly how to say it.
Snowy surprisingly helped in this regard, "You've got something on your mind, spit it out."
Paradox started, before hurriedly saying, "Could I please ask you some questions"
Snowy raised an eyebrow. "What sort of questions?"
Paradox shifted uncomfortably. "Well, you know, about yourself, and about Equestria."
Snowy thought about this for a moment before shrugging, "sure why not," she said "But not all at once, no need to rush things, after all," she grimaced, "I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, and we might as well get better acquainted."
If Paradox was put off by Snowy's less than enthusiastic response, he didn't show it "Ok" He said, and with only a brief pause to compose himself, he asked his first question "What was that thing you did earlier?"
"...What?" Said Snowy, 'amazed' at the stallions eloquence in phrasing.
"You know, the Glowy thing you did." He said, in a way that even he thought was lame.
"Oh that" she said dismissively, "That was just my affinity recharging."
She was met with two blank stares, "As in magic affinity?" The stares continued. Snowy sighed "A magical affinity is the type of ability held by ponies, they are mostly elemental, and certain types are quite common among earth ponies and Pegasi, such as earth and wind respectively, however rarely unicorns get one too, and they become incredibly proficient in one area of magic, while making all others incredibly difficult, this can lead to ponies becoming powerful elemental mages such as cryomancers, Pyromancers and similar, or it can help them in their special talent like a musician with a sound affinity. However affinities come with a drawback and it is that it is not unlimited, unlike the 'arcane affinity' as scholars call it, which is natural to unicorns, which is one third mental focus, another physical exertion and one other a mana pool being constantly replenished by ambient magical energy, our magic reserves are finite and can only be recharged by certain actions, environments, materials or foodstuffs. For example somepony with a water will get replenished by drinking, swimming or even touching water, even being near a large body of water will help, as that means that they can draw the power strait from the source without relying on their own limited magic. However not all Affinities have this problem such as the pre-mentioned Earth and air, both of which are so abundant that you are rarely out of your element."
Paradox was hooked on every word, soaking in the information about magic (not that she minded the attention). when she had stopped her little lecture he asked another question "What affinity are you then?" Noticing that she hadn't mentioned it.
Snowy hesitated for a moment, before deciding that no harm could come from it, and stated "I have a chaos affinity."
Paradox started "Chaos? What, like Discord?!"
Snowy frowned. For somepony who had apparently never been to Equestria and never met another pony, he seemed particularly well informed. Aloud she said "Yes like discord, and no, I am not acquainted, in the employ or in any way associated with the self proclaimed lord of chaos, and I definitely do not, nor have I ever, worshipped him, despite what anyone in college may have told you." The speech was well rehearsed and one which she has used a lot.
"Oh" Said Paradox, Drooping slightly, he seemed disappointed. But he perked up quickly "but you can still do similar stuff that he can." his voice containing a buzz of excitement.
Snowy was getting confused again, this was not the usual reaction to somepony finding out that she had powers similar to one of the most dangerous beings in Equestria, Rather than the expected suspicion, fear and/or downright rudeness, this stallion was acting as if she knew sapphire shores or something.
"Well, yes I have similar powers to discord," she conceded, Paradox's response threw her for a loop.
"Can you show me?" he said.
Snowy mind froze. 'did he just ask me to show him my magic? Is he, another pony, an actual normal pony, actually expressing an interest in my talent?' The only ponies who ever expressed an interest, were her parents, anyone else either already knew or didn't care. Not that it mattered as she viewed most ponies she met as simpletons who were not worth it anyway, but to find one who was actually interested was mildly jarring, if not slightly refreshing. But unfortunately...
"Can't," she said. Seeing the obvious question, she adds quickly "At least not now, My mana reserves are too low, and its rather exhausting to go over limit." She didn't wan't to mention that she was completely powerless when drained, no-one knew that, her 100% affinity was her closet guarded secret and would continue to be a secret as long as she lived, otherwise... She never liked to be weak, so her biggest weakness will be something she holds to her grave.
"Oh, ok" said Paradox, deciding to leave that for later and move on to his next question "So how does Chaos Affinity charge anyway?"
Snowy shrugged "Any number of ways, really the most prominent being spontaneous acts of chaos," she said "but I've always found that too messy and unreliable, so I always use chocolate Milk."
Paradox gave a snort, which caused Snowy to raise an eyebrow "Whats so funny about Chocolate Milk?"
Paradox waved his hoof "Oh nothing much, just a funny thought. But seriously, you can generate power through Chocolate milk?"
"Basically anything sugar or coco based," She said, "But I just use chocolate milk because it is conveniently has both along with calcium."
"So when you were generating power before, you were using the chocolate milk?" Paradox said, which Snowy nodded "But if you have already recharged, why are you still low?"
Snowy sighed, "It takes more than one carton to get me up to full strength" she said "Besides I spent a great deal of that power regenerating my injur... That reminds me." She looks down at her bandages, before grabbing the one of the ends in her golden aura "These were starting to rub anyway" and before either could stop her, with one swift movement, she unravelled the bandages, exposing her wound... perfectly pristine white fur, with no sign that anything that had ever been there. She did a few stretches to get the kinks out of her back, the other two occupants of the room once again in befuddlement.
Seeing the look she was being given she said "My affinity gives me unnaturally high regenerative powers to rapidly overcome almost any injury." She stated matter-of-factly.
"Cool," Said Paradox enthusiastically. he thought for a moment "Next question?" he said
"Shoot." Snowy replied.
"What does your cutie mark mean?" Asked Paradox, looking at the large eight pronged Snowflake emblazoned on her flank.
Snowy didn't look impressed "Ok first up, my eyes are over here," Paradox realizing what he was doing looked away embarrassed, "and Second, that's kinda a personal question, I mean how would you like it if I asked what your Cutie Mark...meant..." She slowly petered off as she noticed that his flank was very much bereft of any mark.
Now it was Snowy's turn to shuffle uncomfortably as Paradox's embarrassment increased.
"Uhhh, anyway... Next question?" Snowy said, eager to get away from this rather awkward faux pas, which Paradox was all to happy to oblige.
"Whats it like living in Equestria?" paradox Asked.
Snowy Scoffed "I'd save that one for later if I were you, I haven't got nothing to compare it to."
Paradox was not deterred "Canterlot, then."
"Now that's slightly more reasonable," Snowy Said, before considering the question, before saying "Its an aesthetically pleasing city, every part an architectural marvel, that is thoroughly spoiled by its general population, a bigger collection of idiots, bigots, mareanisers, gossips, and self entitled pricks you will never meet, and that's just the nobility."
"Oh" Said Paradox, he wasn't expecting an answer like that. A thought struck him, "But you are from Canterlot..."
"I advise you not to continue that line of thought," Said Snowy Casting a venomous glare.
Walter, Despite the thinly veiled threat, he could help but internally chuckle at both his charges lack of tact, and the young Unicorn's touchiness.
"Anyway," said Paradox, "Next question, have you ever met Princess Celestia or Luna?"
"Well I yet to meet Luna, though I have seen her from time to time," She said, "As for Celestia, yeah I met her, but so then did Pretty much everyone who went to her school." Yes, Celestia always took the time to get to know every student that passed through those doors... especially troubled students.
"You went to Celestia's school for gifted Unicorns!" Paradox exclaimed, once again demonstrating his ability to get exited at the weirdest things, "Does that mean that you would know twilight sparkle!"
Snowy couldn't help but chuckle "Nope, she was way after my time, I was already in high-school by the time she enrolled there" Paradox seemed slightly disappointed, Snowy sensing this said "Though I did go with her brother, if that's any consolation."
He perked up at that "You knew Shining Armor?"
"Well, 'knew' is kinda a strong word" She said slowly "We never talked, and in my opinion, he was kind of thick."
Paradox looked curious, "Really? How so?"
Snowy Sniggered "How oblivious he was that one of his best friends had a major crush on him," She gave an uncharacteristic giggle "it took Cadence almost the whole of high-school to work up the nerves to confess, took the poor idiot completely by surprise."
Paradox couldn't help finding that amusing, and laughed with Snowy.
"So anyway, have you got anymore questions? I think one more is all I can take for now" She said, being questioned really took it out of a mare.
Paradox suddenly looked nervous again, "Well, there is one more thing I would like to know..." He said hesitantly.
Snowy didn't like the sound of this.
"I couldn't help but notice that I'm rather tall compared to you..." he continued.
'Oh don't you dare.' Snowy thought, glaring.
"So I was wondering..."
'Here it comes.' She thought gritting her teeth.
"... Am I some sort of giant?"
'I knew it!-Wait what?' Snowy did a mental double take.
...
"... Excuse me could you repeat that?" Said Snowy.
"Am I some sort of Giant Pony" Said Paradox pensively.
'He's Joking.'
In the silence Paradox continued, "I mean there is rather significant size difference between us..."
'He can't be serious.'
"So I was worried that I was abnormally large..." He stated, and his anxiety only increased in Snowy's silence.
'And yet he is serious.'
"...Its true isn't it? I am some sort of freakishly large pony!" he said in a panicky tones.
Snowy Finally caught up with the present, and noticed a panicking Paradox and said hurriedly, "What? No! your not large! well actually you are kind of taller than normal... But not by much!"
This stopped his little panic attack but he still looked pensive, and there was the unheard question in the air.
Snowy sighed, "Your not giant," she said, "I'm just... Short," The last word said through gritted teeth.
"...Oh." Said Paradox, "...Sorry."
"Didn't I already tell you not to apologize for things you had nothing to do with," Said Snowy irritably.
"No, I mean't sorry for bringing it up, its clearly an uncomfortable subject, and it was tactless of me," He apologized sincerely.
Snowy stared incredulously. "...Thanks." She said slowly.
Silence reigned, though it was not awkward, just the silence where nothing needed to be said.
Eventually Paradox said "So since you will be staying here for a while, and you seem to have recovered from your injuries, would you like to be shown around the house?"
Snowy's eyebrow raised, "So your fine with a complete stranger staying in your home?"
Paradox shrugged, "Your a pony just like me, so I don't see why not."
Snowy looked at Paradox, the strange stallion who was apparently all the only one of his kind. 'What's your game Mister Millar' she thought 'I've got my eye on you.' Aloud she said "Sure, why not?" and hopped out of bed.
Back at the Academy, things were finally calming down back at the department, what remained of the prototype was hidden away, all the staff had been sworn into secrecy, and the student body bribed. And now all that remained was for the senior faculty, some of the greatest minds this field has to offer, to meet up and decide on a course of action on what to do about their missing colleague, there was only one problem...
Intended Consequence was a middle aged unicorn stallion, with neat grey mane, and a periwinkle coat, he wore a pair of small round spectacles and held the position of department administrator, a unique position, as no other department has one, as the administrative role is usually taken by the head of the department. He was an organised, neat, no-nonsense kind of pony, the kind of person you need running a group of individuals whom megalomania and lunacy were common... and that's just the students. He sat back in his chair, rubbing his forehead with his hoof, and said "So, let me check if I heard you correctly, your plan is to do nothing?" He paused "and that's it?"
Lucky, a rather scruffy unicorn stallion with messy, sandy-coloured mane and bright green coat, who was the chair of Conception in the department, an interesting role that mainly deals with the creation of something from nothing, rubbed the back of his neck apologetically while saying, "Well, its not as if don't want to do anything, its just what can we do, that's my point." Lucky is a friendly everypony with a spotted past and a questionable skill set. Mostly self-taught, he ended up in the academy by a complete fluke, but soon rose to prominence through his instinctive understanding of chaos magic.
"He has a point, consequence," said Complexity, the chair of Manipulation. She had an electric blue coat, with a light pink and cream mane. She was only half paying attention, as she was currently reading a magazine, as well as filing her hoof and eating a packet of potato chips, which was quite an impressive feat for an earth pony. While earth ponies are not completely uncommon in the academy, they mostly stuck to theoretical fields, as they are generally disadvantaged in the practical application of magic. However chaos magic acts a little differently, and it has given her some unusual abilities to compensate for the lack of a horn. She continued, "After all, its not even as if we know if the poor mare is still alive, for all we know, she could have simply been erased from existence." As she spoke a tendril of her mane snaked down into the packet and ferried a chip to her mouth, while another lock turned a page of her magazine.
"That's a bit cold Complexity," said Quantum Query, a stallion with a mulberry coat and rose mane, who was the chair of improbability. It takes a certain kind of mind to work with improbability, because it deals with the absolutely inconceivable, you are always setting on that fine line between unlikely and impossible. Fortunately Quantum possed such a mind, unfortunately for his colleagues, this rather unique perspective on life gives him a spontaneous nature, as he was quite welcome to the idea that nearly anything is possible. Despite his unpredictable nature he was very friendly and good natured. He was currently wearing a small frown and looking at his only present female colleague, saying, "Snowy is our friend and colleague, we owe her enough to at least try to find out what happened to her. I'm sure she would do the same for us."
"Sometimes I wonder..." said Complexity, eyeing her hoof critically "...If that mare even has friends." Seeing Quantum open his mouth she said, "Friendship is mutual, Quantum, and I have rarely seen her initiate a conversation that was not work related, she spends most of her time that she isn't at work at home, and she has consistently shot down my offers to 'hang out', not to mention she hates your guts Quantum."
"No idea why," Said Quantum, sadly.
Lucky rejoined the conversation. "Maybe its all the terrible short puns you subject her to?" he said sarcastically. "What's up with that, again?"
Quantum cleared his throat, "Well I myself have noticed her anti-social behavior, and I believe that it is due to a lack of positive self image and esteem. I am attempting to improve it by-"
"Constantly belittling her? how is that going to help?" interjected Lucky, raising his eyebrow.
Quantum raised his hooves in the air. "Can't you see? I'm trying to better her self-image by teaching her to laugh at herself! by laughing at her own perceived flaws means that they will bother her less, so she can be more confident and stop trying to prove herself in the eyes of others!"
The room was silent for a moment as everyone contemplated his bizarre logic. Despite it feeling fundamentally wrong, try as they might they couldn't really poke any holes in it.
"...Aaanyway," said Complexity, "This still doesn't change the fact that snowy is most probably dead."
"Actually, no she is not." Said Consequence, now that he felt this conversation was back on track.
They all looked at him, "She isn't? how do you know?" asked Complexity.
"Well as you asked, at various times I have felt the need to place dormant tracking spells on all of you..." he began.
"Yeah, because that's not creepy." Said Lucky, bemused.
"Not to mention a blatant invasion of privacy." Said Complexity, glaring.
"I said dormant, believe me I have better things to do then pry into your social life," he said with a roll of his eyes. "Not that I require a spell to know what you two get up to in your spare time."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" said Complexity, icily.
Consequence adjusted his glasses, while nonchalantly looking the papers in front of him. "You really should wait till you get home before indulging in such activities," he shuffled his papers, "Or at least find a room."
Complexity paled, while Lucky quickly stammered out, "Th-that was a misunderstanding! I was just passing her in the hall and I tripped on her mane! we had a tumble and I got tangled!"
"Of course you did," said Consequence, "As much as I am fascinated by your love life, I believe we have business to discuss."
"Aww, that was getting good!" Wined Quantum, earning a pair of glares from the two embarrassed ponies.
Consequence cleared his throat. "As I was saying before, I had placed tracking spells on all of you, including Snowy," He said "This spell, among other things, keeps track of the hosts health, and I can say with absolute certainty that Snowy I currently in the peak of health."
"So where is she?"Asked Quantum, "If we know where she is, it should be easy, right?"
Consequence sighed "Unfortunately I do not know where she is, her location is a complete Enigma to me."
"Some tracking spell," Muttered Complexity.
"I assure you that my spell is infallible, if she is anywhere within this universe, my spell could locate her." Said Consequence tersely.
"Then where is she then," she shot back.
"I believe I have already answered that question." He said, leaning back.
They thought about what he just said, then it hit them.
"You can't be serious..." said Complexity, her face etched with disbelief.
"I'm rarely not." said Consequence.
"But come on, another dimension? That's just absurd." Said Lucky, waving his hooves in the air.
"It is our job to deal with the absurd, I fail to see how this is different." he said calmly. "Besides, if you recall, Snowy's 'Window' was designed to view other dimensions. Is it such a stretch of the imagination to consider that when it broke, it sent her away to one such place?"
They all conceded that in their line of work, stranger things have happened.
"So..." said Quantum, "if we know that she's alive, why don't we go get her?"
Complexity snorted "Just because we know that she might be trapped in some form of other universe, doesn't mean that we're any closer to bringing her back."
"Of course we are!" exclaimed Quantum, "We now know a destination! That's closer than we were before."
"And where is that destination precisely?" she said as she begun filing her hooves again.
"Well its..." began Quantum, before stopping. "Well..." once again he petered off, "Its..." he waved his hoof vaguely in the air, "...somewhere." he finished lamely.
"My point exactly." Complexity said smugly.
"It really doesn't look to good." agreed Lucky.
Quantum pouted, "Of course you would side with her." he accused.
"What's that supposed to mean?" said Lucky, narrowing his eyes.
Quantum gave a sly look "I always find it funny how the wrappers from those hearts and hooves day chocolates you buy always end up in Complexity's waste paper bin."
"What in Equestria were you doing looking in my waste paper bin?!" exclaimed Complexity, blushing profusely, while Lucky buried his head in his hooves.
"Would you believe that I was searching for the paperwork Breezie?" said Quantum, grinning.
"No!" said complexity, nearly shouting.
Quantum's grin didn't subside. "How about I was looking for incriminating evidence for your relationship with Lucky?"
"Definitely more believable," said Complexity, before adding hastily, "And we are not!"
Intended Consequence sighed as the bickering continued 'None of them are taking this seriously' He thought. What he needed was some sort of way to motivate them... Yes, that could work.
"Well if you are unwilling to help, I suppose there is very little we can do then." He said calmly.
The other ponies stopped arguing, Quantum with a look of dismay, Lucky looking confused and Complexity suspicious.
Consequence continued, "I suppose all that remains is to discuss how we will explain this to the head of department." He said innocently, adjusting his glasses.
Quantum looked confused for a minute, before he suddenly donned an evil grin and glanced at a still unphased Complexity.
"Why bother, well just do what we normally do." She said dismissively.
"And is that precisely?" Said Consequence, whose tone hadn't shifted.
"We'll just get Snowy to do it." She said, before Her eyes widened in realization, "Oh..."
"Lucky's head went back to burring his head in his hooves, "Oh Faust."
Consequence gave the tiniest smirk, 'Now they get it.'
"It had all started as a joke, hadn't it? a way of messing with the new mare?" Said Quantum, grinning "Lets make her spend a day with the boss, it'll be a laugh, teach her to loosen up a bit, take her of her high horse, I believe was the general gist if I remember correctly?"
"Well how was I supposed to know she was one of the only five ponies in Equestria who could stand being in the bosses presence for more that ten minutes?" Said Lucky, throwing his hooves in the air.
"But it didn't take long for you to start exploiting that, did it?" Said Quantum, with a sly look.
It was true. Not long after the prank, on the same day Complexity needed to file an important research proposal, she had come into the office with a splitting headache, and a meeting with the head of department felt like a death sentence. On the same day Snowy also happened to be going up to the bosses mansion to submit some of her research findings, so Complexity asked if since Snowy was going that way, if she could present her proposal for her, which after some small scale bribery, she agreed.
But what started as a one-off favour, had gently spiralled into unofficial standard procedure, and most staff members, whenever they needed something given to the boss, it usually ended up on Snowy's desk, with a small bar of chocolate (or a big one if Snowy was in a bad mood) and/or a carton of Snowy's favourite drink.
"As if you were any better," said Lucky, "You did it to."
"As if it matters," said Complexity, "If we don't get Snowy back, we might have to deliver them ourselves again."
"Its not that bad, right?" Said Lucky nervously, "I mean, we used to do it all the time, we could do it again, couldn't we?"
They all thought about it for a moment.
All three of them shuddered.
"Yeah, we need Snowy Back." said Complexity.
"Yep." agreed Lucky.
"Good to have you on board." said Quantum.
"I take it you three are willing to take this discussion seriously now?" said Consequence, with his hooves steepled in front of him.
"Fine," said Complexity. "But I hope you have some sort of plan since I'm still at a loss."
Consequence Smiled, and his eyes seemed to sparkle. "Well you are in Luck, because I solution is something I have."
"Wha.. Really?" Said Lucky, surprise etched on his face.
"You don't think you could have told us that before we spent half an hour bickering whether it was possible?" Said Complexity, annoyed.
"Never mind that," Said Quantum, "Lets hear it!"
"Consequence leaned back on his chair, and began to explain in his own special way. "I wonder if any of you have considered the problem, I mean actually considered it. if you do, you might find that the solution is already contained within."
This drew some confused glances, but the others remained silent, Consequence explains things at his own pace.
He continued. "You have been so busy stating that traversing universes is impossible, yet the impossible is what we do, and indeed one of us already has."
"we have?" asked Quantum, before getting shushed by the other two.
Consequence gave a chuckle "yes indeed, as you should know, unless you have already forgotten who we intend to rescue?"
Slowly the other three ponies looked at each other, realization growing on their faces.
"If Snowy is in another dimension..." began Lucky.
"...means that her device moved her there..." said Complexity.
"...and that means that we could use it to bring her back!" finished Quantum.
"Therefore, I believe that with some time and effort, that Snowy's 'window' could become a door." Consequence concluded.
Gone were all the uncertainty and dissonance, all of them wore determined grins, and Consequence was once again reminded that that these three were the tops of their fields. And, along with Snowy, were quite possibly some of the most dangerous individuals in Canterlot, and when you could get them to agree on something, they were virtually unstoppable.
"So what's our first move?" said Complexity.
"Well, first I need to get this research cleared by the department head," said Consequence, "but after that, I believe our first course of action should be to find where Snowy keeps her research..."
"Oh goody, I've always wanted to see where Snowy lives!" said Quantum.
Snowy's eye twitched as he scanned the table of contents, the impudent book continuing to defy her.
"What Kind of Geology book doesn't have a section on Mana stones!" she exclaimed angrily, throwing the book at the wall, before slumping on the admittedly very comfy couch.
Snowy was currently sitting in the lounge room of Evergreen Manor, with a pile of books next to her and a very irritated expression as she brooded at the unhelpfulness of books.
Her host had been 'kind' enough to give her some books when she asked for them, mostly geology and mineralogy. While this was not a normal subject for her, if she wanted to get home, she was going to need to get familiar with the local magic crystals. She needed to construct her window, and then modify it, after all, now she knew that it had the capacity for cross dimensional travel, so all she needed was to redesign it to induce it less... violently. But to build her window, she needed void stones, or this words nearest equivalent, so here she was, equating herself with the local precious stones.
Her plan was sound, except for one tiny problem...
"oh come on, this doesn't have anything either!" She nearly shouted, tossing yet another behind the couch.
She slumped back on the couch, so far none of the books she had read didn't even bother mention them, the lazy bastards! Would it have been so hard to include a section on the blasted eldritch rocks, but nooo, I bet they wrote a separate book just for mana stones, the bloody bit misers!
There was a small niggling doubt at the back of Snowy's head, but she chose to ignore it.
"No... No... No..." She said irritably, quickly checking the table of contents of several books, before tossing them into the steadily increasing pile of books behind her, "NO... NO!... NO-ARG FORGET IT!" she said tossing the last book in frustration, before attempting to slam her head into the couch in frustration. Unfortunately this offered her no relief, as the cushions were far too soft, absorbing the blow from her forehead like a giant marshmallow, giving her a feeling of dissatisfaction, on top of just being annoyed.
"Excuse me, Miss Bitterfrost," said Walter, suddenly behind the couch, causing Snowy to jump into an upright position, "I would ask you to be more careful with these books, they belong to Paradoxs father, and he does not appreciate people mistreating them." Walter then went to pick up the books.
Snowy went to make a bitter retort, but managed to choke it back 'Remember Snowy, you are a guest in someone elses home, and this is the only butler on the premises, and he seems quite close to the family. Do not antagonise him, he has done nothing wrong, and it doesn't pay to make enemies in this situation. After all, you don't know how long you will be here.' She thought.
Snowy took a calming breath before saying, "I Apologise, I must have let my frustration get the better of me, here let me clean it up."
Igniting her horn, she picked up every book on the floor, to Walters general surprise, before straitening up any pages that were bent and placing them back into a pile, as always resisting the temptation to disorganize them. She then went back to her brooding.
Walter considered just leaving her to her business, but politeness drove him to speak, "Is there a problem Miss Bitterfrost? Something I could assist you with?"
'...And float away, on myself because I am also the river and... Oh he's speaking' Thought Snowy. She took a calming breath, trying to keep her still bubbling anger in check, before turning to face him, "Oh, nothing its just these books are refusing to be helpful," she said trying to sound less irritated than she actually was.
Walter raised his eyebrow, "The books? were these not the books you requested?" he said.
Snowy sighed. "Yes, I did ask for books on mineralogy and geology, but it seems like non of these books seem to have the information I was looking for." She said her eyebrows creasing in annoyance.
Walter sat down opposite her. "And what is it you were looking for exactly? Perhaps I might be able to assist you in locating the information," he said.
Snowy considered this, before deciding that it couldn't hurt, "I'm trying to find the means of returning home." She said plainly.
Walters eyebrows were raised again, "In a geology book?" he said.
Snowy had to admit that sounded stupid when he said it like that, but admitting that wouldn't help her temper much, so instead she clarified. "I already know how to get back, I just need to find the means to do it."
"And what is that precisely?" said Walter.
"The same way I came here," said Snowy, trying to drop the subject.
No such luck as Walter then said, "Unless I am mistaken you have yet explain that to us, how did you arrive here? I might be able to render some assistance you in this, but only if you inform me as to how you intend on returning."
Snowy couldn't help but emit a low growl at this, 'he was going to make me do this wasn't he? I'm going to have explain how I screwed up', she thought her irritation rising. Yet Snowy conceded that he had a point, she probably needed help if she was to get home, and they couldn't help if she didn't tell them anything. So swallowing her pride she said. "I was sent here by one of my own inventions, designed to view other planes on reality. And it worked too, until something broke it, it violently malfunctioned, and sent me here."
"And you intend to recreate your invention to somehow recreate the incident that sent you here, in order to send you back?" said Walter tactfully, noting Snowy's rising irritation.
Snowy rubbed her forehead. 'I really need to vent soon, getting pent up,' she thought, aloud she said, "Yes but Device requires certain materials with unusual properties, in order to function, hence the books."
"I see," said Walter, "So what seems to be the trouble?"
This time Snowy really did growl. "I can't find references to the blasted rocks anywhere!" she very nearly shouted, throwing her hooves into the air. She then straitened herself and took some deep breaths before saying more calmly, "That is to say none of the books contained any useful information, I found it rather infuriating to say the least."
'Hmm, a short temper, but a lot of self control, an unusual combination' thought Walter. Aloud he said, "Maybe you could describe these materials to me, perhaps they are called something else here, if I have not heard of them I could surely help you in your search."
Snowy eyed him suspiciously, "That's quite generous of you."
"Not at all,you are our guest here, it be bad form in deed if I did not assist you in returning home." said Walter, who had noticed the suspicious glare, but decided not to comment.
Snowy considered that proposition, and decided that her paranoia wasn't getting her anywhere, she was probably going to need his help in this matter, especially considering that the only other option was Paradox, and he looked like a complete nut.
"I'm looking for a certain kind of gemstone," she finally said, "we call them voidstones, and they have some unusual properties."
Walter's gave a quizzical look, "Unusual?"
"it is generally uncertain as to what they do, but the common consensus is that they have the ability to render the fabric of space, and possibly time, malleable," said Snowy, causing Walters eyebrows to raise in surprise. Snowy continued with "They are also incredibly volatile, as when they are struck, or come into direct contact with magic, they tend to... annihilate the direct vicinity."
"Despite this, there was no reference to them anywhere," said Snowy, scowling, "My guess is that they must have published a separate book for magic gems."
Walter's eye brows creased slightly with worry. 'Oh dear, I don't think she has fully come to terms with her situation.'
"And I find that entirely irresponsible," said Snowy, her irritation rising again, along with her voice. "Mana stones can be incredibly dangerous, and information about them should easily obtainable, not hidden away in a separate book!" the little niggling doubt was back again, trying to catch her attention.
"Excuse me, Miss Bitterfrost..." said Walter, cautiously.
"I mean honestly, what if some amateur geologist only had one of these books, and then stumbled across a voidstone," said Snowy, who was ranting now, "he wouldn't know how to safely handle it, it could get him killed!"
"Miss Bitterfrost!" said Walter, in a slightly harder tone, causing Snowy to stop in mid rant. "I think I realise the problem..."
"The Problem?" said Snowy still annoyed "What problem, I've just been looking in the wrong books... right?" The niggling doubt was stronger now, who had given up asking nicely and had went to fetch a sledge hammer.
"Well, I'm afraid there is no easy way to put this, so I'm afraid I'm going to have to be strait with you." said Walter, carefully in order to gauge her reaction.
Snowys doubt hefted the large hammer, raising it way above its head.
"In this world, magic is considered a myth, if you cannot find it in there, it is probably because it doesn't exist" said Walter.
The hammer came down.
After a long pause, Walter said, "Miss Bitterfrost, are you quite well?"
Snowys doubt looked down confused, something should have broke it was sure of it.
"I'm Fine, everythings fine," she said, her voice a few octaves higher than it should be.
Snowys doubt brought the hammer down again, Snowy twitched.
"Are you sure?" said Walter carefully, something seemed off.
"certainly," she said, her face locked in a calm smile, "but I think I need some fresh air, excuse me."
Snowy got up and walked out of the room.
Snowys doubt tried jumping up and down on it a few times.
She walked out the front door and down the path, trying to find a clear space among the greenery and flower-beds.
Snowys doubt scratched its head at the still intact thing.
when she found a nice piece of lawn, she got of the path, and positioned herself right the centre.
"Wheres the Kaboom?" thought Snowys doubt "there was supposed to be an earth shattering Kaboo..."
And then Snowy let her rage break.
Paradox, who was out on his morning flight, became dimly aware of a distant rumbling noise.
"What the..."
'...My word' thought Walter as the tremors stopped, 'She a great deal more self control than I originally thought if she was holding all that in.'
Snowy sat there panting.
'I needed that,' thought Snowy. Calming exercises were all very well, but in Snowys opinion, nothing beats a good hard vent.
After climbing out of the oddly shaped crater and giving herself a vigorous dust off, she turned to observe the damage her 'venting' had caused.
Looking around surreptitiously, she conjured a few rocks to lay around the edge, filled it with water, and grew a few lilies, reeds and a small cherry tree. As an after-thought summoned a few koi fish, who, after the startling moment of suddenly coming into existence, proceeded to do what all fish do in such situations, and that is to swim in circles and hope to be fed.
Nodding at her handiwork, she headed back inside.
Walter greeted her in the entrance hall. "Are you feeling... Better Miss Bitterfrost?" he said Carefully.
"Very much so," she said, her voice slightly raspy from screaming, "but could you please direct me to were you keep the chocolate milk?"
Walter stood to one side. "The kitchen is right next to dining room, there should be some in more in the larder."
"Thank you," she rasped, before plodding pass him.
Walter watched her go, 'I've got a feeling that life is going to be... interesting with Miss Bitterfrosts presence'
Walters musings were interrupted by the front door opening again.
"Welcome back Sir, how was your flight?" said Walter, turning around.
Paradox stood there in the door, wiping sweat from his forehead, and wearing a rather bemused expression.
Noticing the expression, Walter asked, "Is anything wrong sir?"
"No, not really..." said Paradox, expression not changing, "its just that... since when did we have a fish pond?"
'Okay Snowy, let's think about this logically,' she thought, sitting at the kitchen table with her second carton of chocolate milk.
'You are currently trapped in a different universe, in a world were magic does not exist, and unicorns are just a myth, with absolutely no means of return... actually let's stop thinking about it logically.'
A slurping noise indicated that she had run out of milk, she fetched another one out of the larder, slipping the straw in and starting to sip as she returned to the table.
'Ok, let's think rationally instead. At least I'm somewhere safe and dry, so it won't be too uncomfortable to stay here, and I seem welcome, even if it is in a house alone with two males, one of which is a stallion who has never seen another of his own kind, and by extension, a mare until me... Oh and he seems as nutty as a squirrel... Yeah, rationally isn't working for me either.'
She continued drinking, deep in thought.
'Ok, let's give reasonably a go then... Just because I can't get home by myself, doesn't mean that I will be trapped here forever, I'm sure my colleagues are working on a way to get me back to Equestria even as I think...'
Snowy stopped drinking and thought about her colleagues for a full minute.
Unlike the bed and the couch before it, the solid crack that the table made when her head impacted against it did a wonderful job of conveying her feelings.
"... I'm doomed." she said aloud.
With sullen resignation she continued drinking, stopping only when the carton was once more empty. Plodding back into the pantry she took stock of the dwindling chocolate milk supplies. 'I wonder if I can convince them to get more, after all, I'm probably going to be here for a loooong time, assuming they don't throw me out.'
Slinking back to the table, she sat brooding, Even the euphoric effect of the milk didn't take the edge off her dark mood.
Paradox hesitated outside the kitchen. Walter had told him that Snowy was apparently in a bad mood. She had just discovered that she might lack the means to return home, and according to Walter, she hadn't taken it well. Walter had suggested giving her space for a while, but Paradox thought differently. Snowy might never be able to return home, Paradox couldn't imagine what that would feel like for her.
With that in mind he resolved to go and comfort the mare, so determined was he, that he came right there without even changing out of his exercise clothing.
However, just as he was about to walk in, he encountered an obstacle... he had no idea how to comfort a mare.
'Oh well, I have a little sister, this can't be too much harder... I hope,' he thought, gulping.
With more than a little trepidation, he stepped into the kitchen.
"Umm, hello?"
'Oh please for the love of Celestia, go away,' thought Snowy, not bothering to face the speaker, or even stop drinking her milk.
Unfortunately, Paradox didn't seem to possess mind reading powers, so he continued with "I heard you weren't feeling well."
'Give this pony the understatement of the year award,' thought Snowy, rolling her eyes but still not looking.
After an awkward silence, Paradox said, "Do... Do you want to talk about it?"
'Evidently not, or else I would be doing so right now,' thought Snowy, mentally adding that to her list of really dumb questions. She had yet to move her gaze.
She became aware of Paradox coming up behind her, and resting a hoof on her shoulder, "Hey, are you all right?"
Anger boiled up in her stomach, couldn't this dumb stallion get the hint? She just wanted to be left alone.
With that in mind she whipped around to face Paradox, who took a few steps back in surprise, and prepared to give him her best death glare, however what she saw stopped her in her tracks.
Paradox blinked in surprise as Snowy froze, her pupils shrinking to pinpricks. she sat there unmoving, her eyes locked on him. it was really starting to unnerve him 'What's she starring at?'
He spared a glance behind him. 'Nope, nothing there.'
He patted himself down. 'Nothing except my clothes.'
He looked back to Snowy, whose face had now began to scrunch up, and her eyes were twitching worryingly.
'What's going on?' he thought, worrying for his life.
'Nope, I can't deal with this, it's too soon after venting,' thought Snowy, trying her hardest not to burst.
Standing before her was what happened to be one of the biggest dorks Snowy had ever seen.
Paradox stood there, wearing a baggy, ill fitting, sleeveless top, exercise shorts, green fluffy leg warmers, and a matching sweatband, which made his hair stick out in weird directions.
'Welp, here goes my dignity,' thought Snowy, as she felt her response build up, and she still had a mouth full of chocolate milk...
Paradox watched as Snowy's cheeks ballooned out, before spraying milk all over him, before falling to the floor coughing and spluttering.
"Snowy! are you all-right?!" said Paradox, rushing to her side.
Snowys coughing quickly subsided into laughter. "He-he-he, Oh sweet Luna I can't breathe, hoo-hoo-hoo," she wheezed.
"Err Snowy, you okay?" said Paradox, not sure how to deal with this.
"Oh, I'm fine," she said between giggles. "Better than before even."
"Really?" said Paradox, still confused, and dripping with chocolate milk.
"Yep, your presence alone has cheered me right up," she said, trying and failing to stifle her laughter.
"Okay... well I'm glad to hear that, since you're fine now, no reason for me to hang around then," he said, making for the door, eager to escape the awkwardness.
"Yeah, you do that," she said, getting a bit of control.
"After all I need to get this milk out of my coat," he added, standing in the door.
Snowy had finally gathered enough composure to look at Paradox again, and Immediately lost it again upon seeing the soaked pony.
Paradox left the room, the sounds of Snowy's laughter receding. 'Mares are weird,' he thought, wondering what that was all about.
'You know, maybe this won't be too bad,' thought Showy, picking herself up off the floor, and going to get a fresh carton. "At the very least this might be entertaining"
Walter, who was in the process of tidying up the books in the living room, saw Paradox walk in. Walter had tried to discourage him from talking to Snowy, and with good reason, that girl's temper seemed to be balanced on a razor's edge, a surprisingly stable razor's edge, but a razor none-the-less, and if Walter was any judge, she had a hidden mean streak, he could see it in her eyes. But unfortunately Paradox was determined and went off regardless of Walters warnings, however rather than the emotionally destroyed Paradox he was expecting, what he got instead was a completely befuddled and rather soggy Paradox.
"How did it go sir, did you manage to lift her spirits?" said Walter slowly, eyeing the dripping liquid.
"I... I don't know," said Paradox, still confused. "She took one look at me and then did a spit take into my face, fell on the floor and started laughing."
Walter raised his eyebrow. "I... see," he said slowly, "and after that?"
"She said she felt better, then started laughing at me again, then I left," said Paradox, "and I still have no idea what I did."
Walter had an idea. "Sir, permission to speak freely."
"Eer- granted?" said Paradox, wondering where Walter was going with this.
"I promised your mother not to tell you this as it might dampen your enthusiasm, but that outfit really does look ridiculous," said Walter flatly.
"Really?" said Paradox.
"Yes, really."
"But mom always said I looked cute in it."
"With all due respect to your mother, you could dress up as Freddy Krueger and she would still find it adorable," Walter deadpanned. "Miss Bitterfrost probably just found your garb amusing is all."
"Oh," said Paradox.
"Regardless, despite it going well this time, I ask you be more careful when dealing with Miss Bitterfrost, she might not be so easy to placate in the future," said Walter.
"Why?" said Paradox confused.
Walter kneeled down to and put a hand on his charge's head. "I'm not sure if you've gathered this or not, but Miss Bitterfrost is not the nicest individual, from what I've seen, she is short tempered, mean spirited, anti-social, paranoid, and calculative. She is trying to be helpful and polite in answering your questions, but I get the feeling that she is only doing so because she feels she has no other options, if she felt she had the choice, she probably wouldn't be here."
"But..."
"I know she is the first of her kind you have ever met, and I am sorry that I have to tell you this, but she is not a friendly pony, nor does she want to be your friend. She is trying to be civil, but her temper is on a hair trigger, and I'm afraid that if you're not careful, she might end up hurting you, maybe not physically, but here instead," said Walter, holding a hand over his heart. "Please understand, I'm not saying you can't talk to her, I'm sure you have a lot of questions, and it seems she doesn't mind too much when you ask about Equestria, but it would be best for you if you don't expect too much from her other than that, she may be from that show you like, but it seems she has little interest in the magic of friendship."
Paradox sat there in silence as Walter's words sunk in. Walter knew it wouldn't be easy for Paradox, but some things needed to be said...
"Just because she doesn't want me as a friend, doesn't mean I should stop trying."
Walter raised his eyebrow.
"I don't doubt what you say, you probably have more experience in these things than I do, but If there's one thing I've learned, it is that those who don't want friends often need them the most," said Paradox, "And who knows, maybe underneath all that is a nice pony, who has just had one to many hard knocks in her life too want friends, I won't know unless I try."
Walter looked down into Paradox's eyes, who looked back with quiet determination.
Walter sighed. "You truly are one of a kind, Paradox." He gave Paradox a pat before standing upright. "You do whatever you think is right, just tread carefully, I don't want to have to explain to your parents why their son was transformed into a statue by a vengeful unicorn."
"Huh?" said Paradox.
"That reminds me, have you given any thought as to how you might explain this to your mother and father? They are coming back tomorrow, after all."
"Errr...."
"Excuse me, hate to interrupt, but you are out of chocolate milk, would anyone mind getting more at some point?"
They both turned to Snowy, standing in the door, who at least had the decency to look a little sheepish. "Okay, I went a little overboard, alright, I don't have a problem, I swear."
Walter rested his head in his hand. 'I wonder if I should consider retiring.'
Snowy sat on the bed that was, until further notice, hers, and applied her thoughts to the current situation. Pleasingly, it was a rather simple one compared to her other current problems, but was one which could go very wrong for her if she didn’t give it careful consideration.
Namely, Paradox’s parents were coming back to the house, apparently having been away for the weekend on their anniversary. While she had Paradox’s blessings to stay, his parents were an unknown factor and, as his parents, their word could overrule his. So if she wanted to stay, she would have to make sure to be in their good graces. The only question was, how best to go about this?
Tact was the key, something Snowy did not have a lot of, but she could summon it up if need be. She did not know what kind of people Paradox’s parents where, so she would just have to be polite and keep a stiff upper lip.
‘But not too polite…’ Snowy thought to herself. That was important, if she was polite enough to seem fake, it might give them a false impression of her, and might lead to them changing their minds later should they find she was not as she first seemed. Besides, they will most likely ask Paradox and the butler for their impressions of her, and she wouldn’t want herself to differ too strongly from their accounts.
‘As long as they're reasonable people who don’t mind a complete stranger in their house… Which most reasonable people would mind… but they were the kind of people who adopted alien babies, so I can hope. Then all I need to do is keep a cordial demeanor while keeping it formal and with a degree of detachment, that should be presentable enough, not too different from what I’ve displayed thus far, and an easy enough facade to maintain, and with a little luck I’ll be able to stay either until I find a way home or a better opportunity presents itself.’
There, a concrete plan which, barring unforeseen factors, should work, provided she could keep her temper in check.
She sighed. “So simple it makes me nervous.”
Deciding she should at least freshen up a bit, she took a shortcut to the nearest bathroom, and summoned a bottle of her favourite shampoo.
“What should I do, what should I say?” said Paradox, pacing in his room, while Walter stood to one side observing.
“Sir, I do believe you are overreacting,” said Walter, flatly.
“But, but, my parents will be here soon!” Paradox wailed.
“And? Its not as if you have done anything wrong,” said Walter, “unless you count eating half a tub of ice cream by yourself, but I think you are well beyond the age you can be scolded for that.”
“But, Snowy…” said Paradox, trailing off.
“Sir, if I may be so bold, you are acting like you are introducing your girlfriend,” Walter said, causing Paradox to freeze and blush up a storm. “Despite her appearance, Miss Bitterfrost is a grown woman, and is capable of looking after herself, and despite what I have said about her previously, she seems perfectly capable of keeping a civil tongue when she has the mind. You need not worry about your parents.”
Paradox shuffled his hooves. “I guess you're right… It’s just, I have so many questions, she’s likely the only pony I’ll ever meet… Is it selfish to want to keep her around for that?”
Walter considered this. “Somewhat, but but I hardly think anyone would think any less of you for it. In your situation, many would do the same. Just understand she is not here forever, regardless of what your parents say, one day she will probably find a way home and she will take it, most likely without so much as a backward glance. I advise not getting too attached.”
Paradox sighed. “I guess…”
Walter ruffled Paradox’s mane. “No need to be so glum, I have the feeling that Snowy won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. You never know what might happen between now and then, I might be entirely wrong about her. Either way, you should get ready for your parents coming back, you know your mother doesn’t like it when you're upset.”
“Okay,” said Paradox, managing a smile, “And Walter… Thanks for looking out for me.”
“My pleasure, sir,” said Walter, “Now I must prepare for your parents’ return, I shall inform you when they arrive.”
With that Walter left Paradox to his own devices. He tried to find Snowy to talk to her, but she was not in her room, so he just assumed she will turn up when she needs too, and went about his business.
Later that day...
On the winding road approaching the manor, the parents in question were making their way home.
“I mean, could you believe what that man was wearing?” Rachelle giggled, “Do you think he had any idea how silly he looked?”
“I think he had a pretty good idea,” replied Arthur, eyes on the road. “It's pretty hard to accidentally dress up as a skeleton, don’t you think?”
“I suppose,” said Rachelle, “It was good costume though, I wonder why he was wearing it.”
“Couldn’t say, maybe he was on his way to some sort of convention.”
They lapsed into a companionable silence for a while as they drove , the manor on its hill becoming visible in the distance as they rounded a corner.
“I wonder how Paradox is doing,” wondered Rachelle aloud.
Arthur rolled his eyes good-naturedly. “I imagine he’s doing just as well as the last time you asked.”
“But how was he then?” persisted Rachelle.
“Honestly, you worry too much, Paradox isn’t a kid anymore, he can survive a few days alone every now and then.”
“Him being alone is exactly what I’m worried about,” sighed Rachelle.
Arthur’s smile faltered, before sighing alongside his wife. “Right…”
“I mean it can’t be healthy, can it? To be cooped up in a house his whole life, with the amount of people he knows being able to be counted on one hand? Can it?”
“We did everything we could, we gave him every opportunity to be happy, not every parent can say the same,” said Arthur. They’d had this conversation before.
“I know, but sometimes I wish there was something more we could do.”
“Hey now,” said Arthur, “we’re nearly back, don’t look so glum, we don’t want Paradox to think we’ve had a bad time, do we?”
Rachelle managed to smile again. “I do get introspective at the weirdest times, don’t I?”
Arthur gave a chuckle as they pulled into the driveway, the gate opening before them. “That you do sweetheart, that you do.”
They parked the car in the garage at the base of the hill, before taking a leisurely walk up the hill to the manor.
As they walked past the various garden beds that Rachelle had planted over the years, she noticed something odd.
“Dear… since when have we kept koi?”
“Welcome back sir and madam, how was your trip?” said Walter, opening the door right on cue.
“Thank you Walter, our trip went very well,” said Arthur, putting his bags down in the entrance hall floor.
Rachelle however kept looking over her shoulder and out the door.
“Is there a problem, ma’am?” said Walter, concerned.
This brought Rachelle back to the present. “What? Oh, no I’m fine, it's just that…”
“It’s the fish pond, isn’t it?” Walter deadpanned.
Rachelle started. “Why yes, that's what I wanted to ask about, why do we…?”
“I’m afraid that will have to wait, as I do not fully understand how that came about myself,” said Walter. “Regardless, Paradox wanted to speak with you when we got back, on an important matter. Care to wait in the living room while I go and fetch him? I shall take up your luggage as well.”
“What sort of matter?” said Arthur, raising his eyebrow.
“I think Paradox would rather tell you himself, so if you will just wait a moment he will be down shortly.” With that, Walter picked up their joined luggage and smartly carried it upstairs.
Rachelle and Arthur looked each other in confusion.
They didn't have time to dwell on these unusual circumstances, as not moments after Walter disappeared from view, Paradox all but tumbled down the stairs, landing unsteadily in front of his parents.
“Uh, hi Mum, hi Dad… How was your trip?” said Paradox, awkwardly.
“It was fine Sweetie… Walter said you had something to tell us?” said Rachelle, concerned at Paradox’s nervousness.
“Ah, well you see…” said Paradox, before his train of thought derailed. He tried again, “Well recently,” his brain froze again, it tried desperately to try and describe the current situation, but it had all happened so fast, he had no idea where to begin.
“Are you alright sweetie?” said Rachelle, kneeling down to her son's level. “What's gotten you so nervous?” She gave a little gasp. “No one's seen you have they?”
“Well, um, kind of?” said Paradox, rubbing the back of his neck.
“What?!” said Arthur, also kneeling down, and putting his hands on Paradox’s shoulders in alarm, “Who were they, what did they look like, did they have a camera, please tell me they didn’t take pictures!”
“Err, well, um.” said Paradox, rapidly losing control of the situation.
A feminine sigh could be heard from up the stairs. “Well, as it seems that my host is incapable of explaining himself, I might as well introduce myself before any more conclusions can be jumped to.”
All eyes turned to the stairs as Snowy descended, slowly, as her body was not designed for such a steep incline, hopping down each step in a manner that she hoped was still dignified.
Even Paradox was startled, for there was something different about Snowy, Her white coat was absolutely pristine, and expertly groomed so as to be completely smooth, without a single hair out of place. She had applied some eyeshadow, the same colour as her eyes, and had groomed her eyelashes. And then there was her mane, while the past few days it had been rather disheveled, now it practically shimmered and shone, with a gentle undulation and styled into the point of being pristine, and as she moved it seemed to flow behind her, as if it hardly weighed a thing.
Indeed, to say Paradox was surprised was an understatement.
Arthur initial reaction was shock, both at someone unknown in his house, and at the fact of a very similar creature to his own son, next came a slight relief at the fact that it was another one of his kind that had spotted Paradox, not a human, then came curiosity. Who was this pony (as Paradox had taken to calling himself)? What were they doing here? Is it female or simply female sounding? Considering it had a horn rather than wings, was it even the same species?
As Snowy reached the bottom step however, only one thought occupied Rachelles mind.
“Oh my god it's so precious and tiny!” she squeed, before rushing over.
All Snowys Mental gears grind to a halt. ‘Did she just- whoa Snowy reign it in- But she- Remember I am here to make a good impression- But- it’s not an insult, at least not intentionally- She- I don’t need this right now- Are you even gonna let me get a word in edgewise?- No- Fine I’ll be in the corner mourning the loss of my dignity- why?- Because she just picked me up.’
Snowy rubber banded back into reality so fast that her head spun. She was vaguely aware of being cradled in the woman’s arms.
With a noise not unlike a distressed cat, Snowy shot out of Rachelle’s arms like she was on a spring, before landing like a mountain goat on the post at the end of the stairs banister.
Rachelle’s hand flew to her mouth, “Oh, I’m sorry, did I startle you? Sometimes I can’t help myself around cute-” Snowy stopped her by raising her hoof.
“Just... Just don’t say anything, give me a minute,” she hissed through clenched teeth.
What followed was a minute of awkward silence as Snowy performed breathing exercises from the top of the banister. When she finally felt in control of her emotions again, she hopped off and gently floated down to the floor.
She turned to Rachelle. “While I... appreciate the implied compliment, I would be thankful if you never did that again.”
“Oh, okay… Sorry.” said Rachelle, taken aback by the stiff demeanour.
What followed was a bit more silence. As usual, it was up to Snowy to break it.
“Well Paradox, aren't you going to introduce me?”
“Oh right,” said Paradox, “These are my parents, Rachelle and Arthur. Mum, Dad, this is Snowy Bitterfrost.”
“Charmed,” said Snowy curtly, giving a respectful nod. “I am thankful for the assistance your son has rendered during my current situation.”
“Um, likewise, I suppose,” said Arthur, “If I might ask, what assistance was he rendered?”
Paradox rubbed the back of his neck again, that was gonna take some explaining...
Snowy, Paradox, and his parents all sat around the living room, with Walter having just served drinks, as they all listened to Paradox recount the events up to this point.
“... and that's about as much as I know.” said Paradox, wrapping up.
He looked around the living room to see the reaction. Walter, who knew all this already, stood impassively, surveying the scene. Arthur was silently contemplating everything he was just told, his face a mask of careful consideration. Rachelle was doing similar, but was rather distracted by Snowy. Paradox wondered whether Snowy would contribute anything, but she was too busy considering whether it was more rude to ask for a refill during a discussion, or licking the bottom of the cup for the last of the chocolate milk, and had stopped listening to the conversation. She eventually decided on doing the latter much to Rachelle’s silent delight.
“So… Miss Snowy landed in our grounds… from another dimension?” said Arthur, trying to wrap his head around this.
“Apparently.” said Paradox, as Snowy was too engrossed in her activity to answer.
“And she is the same kind of creature as you are?”
“Well technically she’s a unicorn, but yeah, she’s a pony like me.”
“And how did she end up here, I mean, apart from falling down.”
Paradox opened his mouth to respond, and then shut it again, how did Snowy end up here? At his parents expecting looks he racked his brains for anything Snowy might have said. “I think she mentioned something about a magical accident, I haven’t really asked.” he admitted.
Arthur shook his head. “Well I guess we can always ask her now,” he said turning to Snowy, only to find her muzzle deep in her glass licking the bottom for the last of the chocolate. “Ehem, Miss Bitterfrost?”
At her name being addressed she snapped back to reality. Unfortunately she also happened to inhale sharply, sticking the glass to her muzzle.
Arthur watched in baffled amazement as Snowy’s face seemed to stretch cartoonishly as she tried in vain to remove the glass from her muzzle with her magic, then forehooves.
Paradox’s face contorted in a way that suggested he was trying his hardest not to laugh.
“It helps if you breathe into the glass,” said Rachelle, sympathetically
Snowy stopped her one sided battle with the drinking implement, and after a brief pause to consider, did as was instructed.
Paradox opened his mouth to comment, but was silenced by a hoof in his mouth.
“Don’t,” warned Snowy, before turning to Arthur, hoof still lodged firmly in Paradox’s muzzle. “I’m sorry, did you wish to speak to me?”
“Well first, could you…” Arthur said, gesturing to her hoof.
Reluctantly, she removed her hoof, and then absent mindedly wiped it on the couch.
“We were asking if you could tell you tell us how you came to be here,” he said Patiently.
Snowy was expecting this, and had come prepared. “I suppose so, but first I must properly introduce myself, I am Professor Snowy Bitterfrost of the Canterlot Academy of Magical Studies.”
“You’re a professor?” said Paradox incredulously.
“Why yes, yes I am,” said Snowy with a hint of pride, “and I’ll have you know I am one of the most respected in my field.”
‘However narrow that field may be’ her logical side reminded her. Which was true. Chaos magic had very few sane practitioners, and to be respectable, you just had to be skilled, understand the theory, and try your hardest not to cackle. Her pride decided to ignore this fact.
“And what is your field, if you don’t mind me asking?” said Arthur, hoping to gain some insight into her character.
“Well broadly, it is the study and application of chaos magic,” she said her chest puffed out proudly, reminding Rachelle of a little white bantam. “But more specifically I am the Chair of Distortion in the A.M.R. Department, or the chaos magic department for the layman.”
“You are a chair?” said Arthur.
Snowy must have detected a hint of disbelief, because her posture shifted from the puffed out chest of pride to the slight hunch of suspicion. “Why yes, is there a problem with that?”
Arthur, noting the shift in disposition, added tactfully. “I meant no offence, I just didn’t expect it from one so... young. usually a chair is a position of considerable seniority.”
Snowy wasn’t quite happy with the delay on young, but she didn’t think this situation would survive her being as petty as usual, so she held her tongue. “I understand, in most cases you are correct, but in my department, it's rare to find practitioners with both the talent and the stability of mind to fill the position, not to mention that applicants have to be hoofpicked the the head of department, which sometimes leaves empty chairs if there are none that meet his standards. I was taken right out of my graduating class, apparently there hadn’t been a chair of distortion for five years before I was selected. Most of the other chairs aren’t much older then me, excluding the departmental administrator.”
“I suppose in a limited field… What exactly do you mean by mental stability?” said Arthur.
Snowy waved her hoof dismissively, “Oh that, Chaos magic is known for inducing megalomania, god-complexes, detachment from reality, misaligned moral compasses and various other eccentricities in its more unstable practitioners, so much so that the department requires psychological screening. It's an unnecessary exclusion, If you ask me, I mean, just because our powers can bend the very fabric of reality, we get special attention? It's not that I disagree with the caution, but I fail to see why mental stability is any more undesirable in my profession than it is in say, for a doctor. Considering how many mad doctors I have read about in the paper, I think the medical profession could do with more vigorous mental health screening…”
Snowy then noticed a tension in the air, and that Paradox’s parents had unreadable expressions. She had forgotten that she was not talking to contemporaries. “What, are you worried about my mental stability? I said my department had mental health screening, I’m fine, it's not as if going to go Nightmare Moon at the drop of the hat, besides, last week my therapist gave me a relatively clean bill of mental health, so there is nothing to worry about.”
“You have a therapist?” said Rachelle weakly.
“Oh come on, you’re going to react to that too?” said Snowy, beyond annoyed. “What's wrong with a perfectly sane mare having a regular shrink? I mean, ponies take regular visits to the doctor in order to see if their bodies are still working, what's wrong with me taking regular visits to a psychologist? The mind is just as important as the body, and the problems there are harder to notice, ponies should be paying more attention, not less, but they don’t, because of some dumb stigma that seeing a psychologist is only for crazy ponies, and ponies are too afraid to admit that they might have problems that need professional help!”
After Snowy's little triade, there was a rather pregnant pause as Snowy threw her snout in the air in indignation.
After letting the pause go on for longer than anyone was comfortable with, Arthur cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, we seem to have offended you.”
“Hmph!” said Snowy, her nose still firmly in the air.
“I don’t suppose we could leave this topic and instead talk about how you got here?”
Snowy cringed internally. ‘Damn, nearly got away with it.’
Lowering her snoot to meet their expectant gazes, and sighed. Might as well get it over with. “I was working on a device I called the void window, designed for peering into other planes of existence,” she paused for dramatic effect, before continuing. “It worked exactly as I had intended, but on the day I was presenting, due to circumstances beyond my control, the device broke, and the discharge of energy catapulted me out of my plane and into this one.”
“What exactly do you mean by ‘circumstances beyond your control’?” said Arthur skeptically.
Snowy gave an annoyed scowl, both at the question and the circumstances in question. “The auditorium wall exploded, and a piece of shrapnel impacted the window at terminal velocity.”
“Oh.” said Arthur, “How did that happen?”
“I don’t know,” snapped Snowy, “it wasn’t as if I was able to find out afterwards!”
“Does that sort of thing happen often?” said Arthur.
“Only when it does the most damage to my life,” groused Snowy, she could feel her thin temper deteriorating rapidly. “Excuse me, I seem to be slightly on edge, mind if I step outside?”
“By all means.” said Arthur, gesturing to the door.
Snowy hopped off the couch and stalked out of the room.
After Snowy’s hoofsteps petered out Arthur turned to Paradox. “Well Paradox, she certainly is an… interesting character.”
“I know, right?” said Paradox enthusiastically. “An actual pony from equestria, isn’t it exciting?”
Rachelle and Arthur traded glances, to which Paradox responded by gradually lowering his head. “I know… not exactly the nicest pony is she?”
“She certainly is… prickly,” said Rachelle, “She reminds me of a small angry dog.”
“She does seem to take offence easily,” said Arthur. “Mind you, that's not exactly uncommon for professors, I find.”
“So can she stay!?” blurted out Paradox, adopting a pleading gesture. “Just until she finds a way home, please?”
Arthur was mildly taken aback. “You seem awfully keen on her staying, Paradox.”
“Well…” said Paradox, rubbing the back of his neck before sighing again. “It's just… She is a pony, like me, likely the only pony I’ll ever meet, I’d just like to get to know her before she finds a way home. I’ve never had a friend before, I’d like to give it a shot with her.”
Rachelle thought that it was the sweetest thing ever.
Arthur was skeptical, he wondered if Snowy had any interest in such things.
Snowy, who was listening at the door, tried her hardest not to groan, that was about the cheesiest line she had ever heard.
“So will you let her stay?” said Paradox, using his big pleading eyes to the best effect.
Arthur couldn’t help but chuckle. “No need for that, I assure you we are not going to turn someone in need away just because they lack people skills, she seems harmless enough despite her demeanor. I see no reason why she shouldn’t be allowed to stay.”
“Besides,” said Rachelle, “It might be good for you to have someone else around you can talk to. Just be careful to give her space when she needs it, she doesn't seem to be an overly social pers… pony.”
“Thanks, I will!” said Paradox. “You think she will be happy, when she hears?”
“I believe she is already quite content with the news.” said Walter from behind Snowy.
With a startled squark, Snowy jumped, inadvertently landing in the door.
With everyone looking at her, she gave an awkward cough. “Well, um. Thank you for your hospitality, I will endeavor to be a good guest… And if you will excuse me I might just retire to my room.” Snowy quickly evacuated the scene.
Arthur shared a glance with Rachelle. “This is going to be an interesting time, isn’t it?”
