//------------------------------// // A pinch of reminiscence // Story: Enigmatic Destiny // by Cosmic Enigma //------------------------------// A stallion called Cosmic Enigma sits on an express train straight to the odd town of Ponyville. This leaves him with a three to four hour train ride with only his bag for company. In it contains several grimoires , some novels, the odd comic or two, and a side-pocket of trinkets and accessories. If there's anything he learned from his traveling magician parents, it's to pack light, and he didn't really have that many possessions in the first place. He reaches into the side pocket and pulls out a drawing he made when he was but a foal. A drawing that reminds him of a reality he once knew, one that he no longer cares for, but it also reminds him of the existence of something that most others would find fictitious or irrelevant to anything important, but he knows better. He had met an honest-to-god... god. A human ogled the snow-riddled ground outside, the twilight sky and snow-storm making it almost impossible to see any details. But even in his holiday house out there on high-ground, he was not exempt from the sound pollution of nearby cars, despite the storm. And despite the storm, said human caught sight of a figure walking outside, towards his front porch. The confusing sight had him frozen in place, the idea of anyone outside in this weather was unthinkable. It was like a fish trying to swim in lava, that is to say, that said fish would have a rather piss-poor excuse for a brain. Breaking out of his momentary paralysis, opened the door and let said figure walk inside without a single word spoken. Now taking the time to properly view this figure, he found it was a tall woman, looking not a day over 20. The most interesting feature about her was not the fact that the storm did not touch her immaculate hair, nor was it the goofy looking smile on her young face, but her clothes, had in fact, caught his attention. She wasn't indecent, no, get your mind out of the gutter, in fact, quite the opposite. She wore a bright orange robe, the hood a darker shade. She had a belt like pattern of yellow; that same yellow made up the large eye-catching symbol on the front, a circle with four flares coming off of the top, bottom, left and right, with 12 triangles filling in the spaces. It was no doubt a sun. Another interesting thing was what she was doing, which was precisely nothing, just looking at the man expectantly. To which he replied "You're welcome." She laughed, "Sorry, thanks, I was just expecting 'what were you doing out there?' or something." she had a soft voice, but one that sounded as if it could be demanding if she wanted to, but something told him that that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. "I think the better question is, what are you doing in here? There are plenty of other houses." "That is a better question, but I think the answer to which will have to be postponed." "Uh, okay... well, in the meantime, why don't I get you something to drink?" "Oh that won't be necessary, I'll only be here for a moment." He wasn't sure about letting her back out in the snow, but this girl was already strange enough, so he asked another question, "What are you here for then?" "Well, I'm going to offer you a choice." "A choice?" "Yes, it is a very important choice, but first, I think I should introduce myself." "Alright, I'm..." "Not you, I know who you are." "Really? Then who are you?" "I..." She thoroughly applies a dramatic pose, "...am a god." ... ... "A god?" Her pose quickly fades, "Yes, a god, the Seer of Light to be precise." This girl definitely seemed crazy, but also seemed pretty tame, so he decided to humor her for the time-being. "So, Seer, what is it that you do?" "This is not going to be our topic of discussion, but as for what I can do, simple, I can find the best course of action for any situation, and value other courses of action, based on likely-hood and size of success." "...That's it? Seems pretty tame." "It's a lot more powerful than you think, especially when combined with the powers of my cohorts, oh, also, I can fly." She succeeds in demonstrating this by levitating as high as the roof will let her, and despite only just entering, proves that there is no harness or wires. Well, she can fly, that's pretty much all there is to say on the matter. Although most people would either faint, or do a flippin' pirouette off the handle, all this gentleman could do, was judge how likely everything else she had been saying could be true. As he asked another question, the Seer didn't seem to care enough about this to push anything. "So, you're some sort of a prophet goddess, and you want to give me a choice? Sorry, a choice?" "Yes," reality decides to reassert itself and push the Seer back to earth, "this is no ordinary choice." "So you've said, but does that mean it's not like 'chicken or fish on an airplane'? Or is this a choice that has to do with saving the world?" "Well, it's certainly not the latter, but this choice will change the way you view the world." "Will I be able to change my mind?" "No, but calm down, you don't even know what it is yet." "Well, tell me then, I'd like to go back to my 'sitting at the window' time." She smiles at this. "What if I told you that I could make your life much more interesting?" "What do you mean?" "What if I told you that there are countless worlds out there, far more interesting than the life you clearly find boring? What if I told you, I could take you to one? And what if I told you that you are guaranteed to love it?" "Color me intrigued, what's this world like?" "I can't tell you that, but here's the choice, you either stay here, your memory of ever seeing me wiped clean, or, you could change form and go to a world of magic and wonder, never to see this world ever again." "Wow, that's a big decision." He thought about it for a moment, she was right, his life was boring, his loved ones, either gone or they don't really know him that well. It seemed to be a pretty good deal, and being as anti-climatic as he is, he simply said yes. "I must say, I didn't expect such a rapid response, although to be fair, we didn't really have much time anyways." The Goddess of Light was closing curtains and turning on the light in the bedroom, ready to start the process. Meanwhile, the only thing that was going through the man's head was how quickly everything was going. First there was a mystery woman in yellow robes, then he was laying on his bed, ready to be sent to another world. Life is strange. But he didn't have much time to think about this, the Seer was once again holding the wands she had pulled from nowhere earlier. Attempting to stay calm and not crazy, he pondered the nature of such wands, as they looked like gigantic porcupine quills, it turns out, they were in fact the 'Quills of Echidna', close enough. "Ready?" No, "Yes." "Okay, just don't fidget too much." Her calm words reassured him, but his heartbeat wouldn't listen. The Seer of Light closed her eyes in concentration and slowly wafted the Quills in his direction, a gentle black void drifting towards him. He could feel the gentle tendrils wrapping around his limbs, seeping through his pores, chills coursing through his body. His senses slowly dulled, replaced by darkness, but a strange sort of comfort came with it. He suddenly saw flashes of eldritch monsters, some bigger, some more terrifying. His senses slowly started coming back, an assault of chaotic stimuli flying past him. The assault continued to grow stronger and stronger until it become to much for him, and he blacked out. Just as suddenly as his memory stops short, Cosmic is thrown out of his stupor as he hears the train pulling up at his stop. He puts back his childhood drawing of a sun and exits into the mystery town that he will now call home, his destiny sense informs him of many important events and artifacts, a particularly important one happening in about a week's time.