//------------------------------// // 49. Research // Story: Divine Entertainment // by Orthoros //------------------------------// Scholar Arc Year 5, Month 1, Day 3 "I'm leaving," Atlas called over his shoulder. He was putting on his saddlebags when Belle rounded the corner from the living room, sporting a big smile. "Alright, have a great first day at work," the pink mare responded as she approached. "And don't let them walk all over you." She gave him a peck on the cheek and received a hug in return before Atlas opened the door and stepped outside. "I have no idea when I’ll be done, so if I'm not home in time for dinner, don't wait up for me, okay?" Atlas turned around to look at Belle once more. "I'll make sure to set aside some for you if you can't make it," Belle replied, still smiling. Atlas nodded once, satisfied with her answer and started on his way towards his new place of work. He could hear the door close behind him as Belle retreated back into their home. Now that his time at the academy was over and he didn't have to spend his days in the dorm anymore, he could, or rather had to live in the city. Crimson had recently moved out of the flat he shared with Belle to move in with Blue Current, so Belle and Atlas decided to do the same. They found themselves a nice flat at the base of the mountain, near the academy. Belle's commute was a little longer now, but she assured Atlas that she didn't mind it in the least. Something about being able to visit various shops on the way to collect ingredients for White Mallow. Amber returned to her job with the royal guards and was living in the barracks for the time being. After the events of two days ago, they had talked about a lot of things and Atlas told had told her the truth about himself. This time he made sure to withhold some of the more important details instead of lying about them. After all, nopony knew the full truth about him, not even Belle; and he planned to keep it that way. The last time he heard from Amethyst was via a letter, stating that he had been accepted into the Teras branch of the guard, effectively making his dream come true. Meanwhile, on Crimson and Blue Currents side of things, talks about marriage had begun. Atlas was happy for the two of them, but was low-key a little nervous since their move put pressure on him to propose to Belle. Atlas knew that marrying Belle was the next logical step to take. He really loved her, he was sure of that now, and Belle loved him back just as much, if not more. But whenever he thought about it, he got cold feet. Even though he had a lot of time to get used to it, the idea of marrying someone just didn't click well with him. Originally he thought he would stay single all his life, enjoying life as he pleased without someone else telling him how to go about it. That was even before he was whisked away to magical pony land. "Marrying a pony..." Atlas said under his breath as he ascended the climb up the island. "Even though I am one..." Shaking his head in an attempt to clear his head, he focused back on the road. Thinking about it now would help nobody. He entered the Academy grounds proper, fighting the urge to turn right and towards the school, Atlas turned left. He had been to the other sections of the island before, sometimes because some researchers wanted to run tests on him, or sometimes simply because he had to deliver something for a teacher. Since each section was dedicated to the various research facilities pertaining to their respective schools of magic, he had to pass through the sections for the schools of combat and illusion before arriving at the one for manipulation. Atlas pulled out the map he received with his orders, where a building towards the back was circled. He followed it, trying to find the shortest route while also remembering the layout of the buildings around him. Unicorns were walking to and fro, some even greeting him or wishing him good luck on his first day. He returned their greetings with a smile, apparently, he was already well known around these parts. Finally, he arrived at his destination. The building was rather large compared to others he had passed on his way here. Although there seemed to be a lack of traffic around the area, which seemed a bit weird to Atlas. He chalked it up to it being sort of out of the way and went for the door. Not sure if he should just enter or not, he decided to knock first. He wouldn't want to step on anyone's toes on the first day after all. He waited for a minute, since no one answered the door he knocked again. Same as before, nothing happened. Atlas shrugged his shoulders and just went in. Should have probably done so in the first place, since such a big building was bound to have no one watching the door. Once inside Atlas took a look around. To his surprise, the building was more like a warehouse instead of the normal interior he imagined. A single space spanned the whole building, with the ceiling being about three stories high. Why such a high ceiling was necessary was beyond Atlas and he made a mental note to ask once he got the chance. In contrast to the open ceiling, almost every inch of floor space was occupied by something. Weird machinery stood around with no apparent rhyme or reason and scrolls littered the floor in between them. The odd desk could be spotted in some places, their occupants nowhere to be found. In fact, the whole building seemed to be deserted. Atlas watched for any sign of life but came up empty. They should have been informed of his arrival today, so where was everyone? "Hello?" Atlas called out. "Anypony here?" Atlas' ears turned in various directions, trying to hear any kind of sound. After he got no answer he decided it was time to explore a bit. Trying not to disturb anything he made his way to the center of the large room. He knocked a few stacks of scrolls out of the way, but otherwise, he made it there relatively unhindered. Again, he looked around for any sign of life. "Hello?" Again, he received no answer. "Huh, must be late or something..." With a sigh, he levitated his saddlebags off his back and onto a nearby desk. Compared to everything around it, it was relatively empty and Atlas figured it would be just as good a place as any to put it. He picked one of the scrolls at random and scanned its contents. It was titled: "My thoughts on Crystal Clarities Resonance Jewelcrafting: A Guide to Enchanting Gems", followed by messy notes that were almost illegible. Frowning he put the scroll back where he found it. Looking around some more he found a bookshelf nearby and decided to check out what kind of books they had here. He recognized quite a few from the school library, but there were also some advanced books he had never seen before. "Dr. Quartz Sigil's Theory of Thaumic Resonance... The Theory of Thaumic Harmony... The Gruff-Blackwell mineral detection incantation... Chaotic Entanglement: The Pattern Within Nonsense, by Cookie Crumbles..." Atlas read the title's out loud while tilting his head sideways to read. Since he figured he'd have to wait around until someone actually showed up, he decided to read one of those books. The Theory of Thaumic Harmony struck his fancy and he levitated it off the shelf. He looked back to the desk, in search of a chair, only to come up empty. Taking a moment he scanned his surroundings until he spotted something that looked suspiciously like a bean-bag chair. Shrugging, he made his way over to it while flipping the book open to the first page. On his way there, he came across a particularly large stack of scrolls, piled up to almost twice his size. He gave it a cursory glance in passing and had to do a double-take when he saw a face staring back at him. "Great Scott!" The head said. "An unknown pony roams around my laboratory!" The mountain of scrolls collapsed as the unicorn jumped out of it and directly in front of Atlas. He had a brown coat and a messy white mane, springing out into every direction imaginable, creating the worst case of bed hair Atlas had ever seen. Judging by the wrinkles in his face, the stallion must have been of an advanced age. "State your business intruder!" The stallion commanded while getting uncomfortably close to Atlas' face. Atlas took a step back after the initial shock petered out and recollected himself. "Uhh... hi, my name is Atlas and I'm supposed to start as a research assistant here. Who might you be?" The stallion furrowed his brows in thought and mumbled something incoherently. Suddenly, he perked up and started looking around. Apparently, he found what he was looking for as he immediately ran away. He seemed to navigate the utter chaos with ease while Atlas could only see where he went by the scrolls flying around. "A-HA!" A cry of joy could be heard somewhere, followed by a quiet "pop" sound. Atlas' eyes were blinded as the stallion reappeared out of thin air before him. Teleportation was still a somewhat new concept and only a few had actually successfully cast the spell. Seeing the mystery stallion pull it off so casually was impressive. "You seem to be right!" He said to Atlas. "I seem to have received a note announcing your arrival. But it says here your name is..." the stallion squinted at the paper, "...Otlus? That right?" "No, it's Atlas, actually," Atlas repeated slightly confused. "Huh, yeah that seems about right," the floating scroll tilted sideways a few times as if he was trying to decipher its contents. "I might have accidentally spilled some coffee over it once... or twice. Well, no matter!" The scroll was unceremoniously thrown over his shoulder, to be forever lost in the sea of paper all around them. "I see you were about to start reading The Theory of Thaumic Harmony by Rainbow Bismuth, good choice!" The stallion said, eying the book floating next to Atlas. "Are you interested in enchantments perhaps? Would you be interested in becoming an assistant here? So few ponies actually care about enchantments and I have no idea why!" The stallion laughed, apparently completely forgetting his earlier hostility and replacing it with overbearing interest. "Ummm... yeah, as I already said. I'm supposed to become an assistant here today." Atlas explained once again. "Might I speak to whoever is in charge around here?" The stallion blinked owlishly, tilting his head to the side. "I am," he said matter of factly. Atlas let out an exasperated sigh. Apparently, he'd be stuck with some cooky old stallion for the foreseeable future. He hoped that at least the other ponies were a bit less... all over the place. "Might I ask for your name?" Atlas asked. "Oh yes!" The stallion exclaimed. "How silly of me! You don't know me! Of course.. of course... Well, my name is Brown Diamond, but ponies just call me Doctor Brown most of the time!" Atlas' right eye twitched when he heard the stallion's name. Truth be told it kinda fit, but it still seemed like a bad pun. "Well, color me pleased to meet you Doctor Brown," Atlas said calmly. "May I ask where the others are? Shouldn't they be here by now?" Atlas had to hide how awkward this whole conversation made him feel and tried to remain as polite as possible for now. "Oh, no, no, no," Dr. Brown said "It's just me in here. Always has been. Yes. Just me... all alone... all day..." He seemed to turn a bit sad before he suddenly brightened up. "No, wait! You're here now! And you care about enchantments! Ohhhhh, I have so much to show you! Follow me!" As soon as he completed his sentence Atlas' eyes were once again assaulted by a bright flash, accompanied by a barely audible pop. Atlas just stood there frozen in place, Dr. Brown seemed like a true eccentric and he could tell already that working here was going to be an ordeal. Why the guard thought his talents would be put to good use as this stallions assistant eluded him. Shouldn't there be a bigger research department dedicated to enchantments? And if there was, why wasn't he sent there? His thoughts were interrupted by another flash and pop announcing the return of Dr. Brown. "Well, what are you waiting for? We don't have all day!" Dr. Brown said excitedly. "Oh wait, I guess we do... Well, follow me anyway!" "Wait!" Atlas called out. Dr. Brown's horn had already started glowing again, no doubt in preparation for another teleport. "Why?" Dr. Brown asked, genuinely confused. "There's research to be done and you're burning daylight." "I can't teleport," Atlas said exasperatedly. "Really now?" Atlas confirmed with a nod. "On foot then! Follow me!" The doctor once again took off, weaving through the maze-like chaos around them effortlessly. He stopped at a distance, once again calling for Atlas to follow him. The latter just sighed and started trotting in the stallions rough direction, trying to find a way through the unnatural environment. He floated the book back to where he got it, trying to introduce at least a little bit of order to the chaos surrounding him. After a while he arrived at Doc Brown's location, finding him rummaging through the contents of a seemingly random chest. "Oh, you're going to love this! Just came in last year, truly revolutionary stuff!" He said with his head buried in the chest. "A-HA!" His head emerged, a triumphant look on his face. Apparently, he had found what he was looking for. Out of the chest floated a familiar stack of cards. "Magic: The Channeling?" Doc Brown fervently nodded his head in excitement. "I kinda made that, so I'd say I'm pretty familiar with it already," Atlas added offhandedly. Doc Brown's eyes went with excitement and Atlas immediately recognized his mistake. The doctor started bombarding him with questions, talking so fast that Atlas could barely make out anything. "You'll have to show me how you managed to make all the spells compatible without them interfering with each other! Oh, it's so exciting to finally meet a kindred spirit!" He exclaimed finally. "I invent a lot of things as well in here, come, let me show you my newest invention!" He stormed off to a nearby desk, upon which rested a complicated apparatus. It seemed to be made from various metals, interwoven with each other to form some sort of pedestal. All kinds of gemstones were embedded into it and at the top rested one of the biggest Opals Atlas had ever seen. He could practically feel the energy washing off it to the point where he asked himself how he hadn't noticed it before. It was fascinating and it's purpose must have been quite amazing if it needed this much mana to power it. Maybe Brown Diamond actually was a genius and not just some crazy stallion. "This looks incredible... What does it do?" Atlas asked in awe, just as Doc Brown arrived at the desk. "This thing?" He looked back to confirm that they were talking about the same thing. "Never mind that, that's just some trash I made last week." He levitated it off the table and chucked it over a mountain of books. "But this thing here is a real beauty." He said as he pointed at something small resting on the table. Atlas was still looking towards where the contraption was chucked, regret filling his mind over not finding out what it actually did. Still, if the thing on the table was even more amazing, it must have been truly stupendously awesome. He approached the desk, looking curiously to where Doc Brown was pointing. A significantly smaller contraption rested on it, looking similar to a very crude, legless crab. A topaz was embedded on top, giving it quite the stylish appearance. It looked rather unimpressive at first, but Atlas wouldn't judge it until he found out what its purpose was. "So, what does it do?" Atlas asked curiously. "It passes butter!" Doc Brown replied happily. Atlas sighed. This was going to be a long day.