//------------------------------// // Chapter XXXVII~The Confrontation~ // Story: The Machine // by ADRNEL //------------------------------// Along the banks for the Ohio river, Adam walked along side of the mighty waterway with his eight year old daughter in tow. Adam looked over at the little girl to see that she was quiet and subdued. "You okay Evie?" he asked his daughter with worry, crouching down to look at her face. "I miss mommy..." she quietly said, holding back her tears. Adam grabbed hold of her gloved hands while he brushed away some her long curly hair from her face. "I know, I miss her too." he said to her with a sigh. "But we need to be strong for her, continue living for her." he explained. Evie just looked at her 39 year old father. "You knew she was going to die didn't you?" she asked bluntly with suspicion. Adam was taken aback by that statement, but he knew he could not avoid the topic forever. "Eve Florence Gray," he began trying to find the right words to explain what happened. "When she was nearly killed almost nine years ago, I made a deal that would allow her to live again..." he stopped as he thought back to that moment. "...temporarily..." he finished. "Why did you make such a deal daddy?" she asked confused. "Because at the time I was willing to be happy temporarily than be miserable forever." he explained. He quickly enveloped his daughter in a tight hug, both to show how much he loved her and to not let her see her father cry. "But at least she can never take you away from me like she did your mother, I will make sure of that." he promised as tears flowed down his cheeks. Sometimes he wondered why he made such a deal with Celestia in the first place. Chapter XXXVII The Confrontation (Part Two) Celestia patiently waited as she sat on her throne. Her mane still yellow and red, flowing like flames, her fur yellowish white like the surface of the sun. She looked over at the far corner of the room to see her student Twilight still encased in stone, only her face free from the prison. "That human better be here within the next hour or else." she said to her prisoner. "Just let me go Celestia, please..." Twilight begged, it was all she could do, completely exhausted from struggling. "Not until Adam leaves." she got up from her throne and walked over to a nearby window that provided an impressive view of Canterlot and the surrounding landscape. "I will not allow him to undermine and corrupt my subjects any longer, potentially feeding them ideas about technology that does not require magic or governments that does not require me." she explained. "My rule over Equestria is my birthright, and the only way that can be taken away from is if you pry it out of my cold, dead, hooves!" "But you always looked out for the best of your subjects." stated Twilight, confused by what her mentor said. "And the best for my subjects is for me to stay in power forever!" she exclaimed. "I will not allow them to go on their own, they need me!" She then calmly walked over to her sister Luna, completely encased in stone. "When Luna proposed to me that she wanted to give our subjects more political power during the night, I found that unacceptable." Celestia told her student. "I saw what happens when the humans adopted democracy, and it ended with them blowing themselves to extinction." Twilight could not believe what she heard. "But you can't stifle them forever Celestia." "I HAVE STIFLED MY SUBJECTS FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS!" she boomed. She then looked over at Adam's time machine waiting in the middle of the room. "Besides, I think it is best to know that Adam was not the first human to visit Equestria." "What?" before Twilight could probe further, the throne room door suddenly opened to reveal Adam. The human quietly walked into the room, going up to Celestia. "So you finally decided to show up, I was worried you would let Twilight down and fail her." said Celestia as she stared down the human before she trotted back to her throne so she could sit. "As you can see, your machine is waiting and ready for you." she pointed to the human's time machine parked in the middle of the room. Adam looked over at Twilight, she looked like she was in agony from being encased in stone. "Adam...don't worry about me, don't do it!" she begged. The human said nothing but sigh. He turned his attention back to the princess. "It is true your highness, I have come to leave as you ordered, just promise me that no further harm will befall Twilight." he said to her. "I know when I have overstayed my welcome." "You are smarter than I give you credit for." said a dower Celestia. "But you are TOO smart to be here, a bad influence on my subjects and the Elements, now leave and never come back to any point in time I am living." she ordered. Adam slowly began to walk over to his machine, but stopped in front of the throne. "But before I leave there are still some questions I want answered." he said to the princess. "I must know." "Well, ask away." Celestia told him, if he was going to leave she might as well answer his questions to further reduce the chances of his return. "Am I the only human in Equestria?" he asked. "No," answered the alicorn. "there are at least 100 others exiled away in an island in the middle of the vast sea, made sure that their knowledge never grows beyond the stone age, as punishment for their ancestors unwanted invasion of Equestria." she explained. "Invasion? But they did nothing to warrant such a harsh punishment." exclaimed the human. "If I had waited for them to do something to warrant the punishment it would've been too late!" bluntly snarled the princess. "Just like cockroaches, the best way to deal with you humans is to exterminate them onsite before they can breed." she growled. "Any other questions?" "Yes," began an increasingly frustrated Adam. "why are you stifling your subjects?" "To prevent them from killing themselves like you humans did." she answered. "My subjects need me to survive and to do that, they must be kept in an infantile state, every so slightly adjusting along the way." she explained. "Besides, I like things just the way they are now." Adam clenched his fists. "But that is wrong and unethical!" he snarled. "Keeping your subjects in the intellectual dark because their monarch's vanity!" he spat. "What you are doing goes against nature!" he was suddenly grabbed by the neck by magic and dragged over to Celestia on her throne. "AND WHAT IS TIME TRAVEL BUT ONE MAN'S SELFISH NEED TO GET WHAT HE WANTS?!" boomed Celestia with anger at the human, she pulled the human's face towards hers. Adam looked on with fear as her words began to hit him. Has he truly been selfish? He did not know. "I can read you like a book Adam Gray, I can read you clearly." she snarled, looking into his eyes. "You are nothing but a sad little man who has been tortured throughout his entire life by two little words." she then went over to the human's ear. "What...if..." she whispered into it. Adam was suddenly thrown back to the floor. He landed hard on his back but quickly began to get up, but as soon as he did, he suddenly found himself in a dark void. The human looked around the void only to see his desk from his home time period appear, just the way he usually left it. He walked over to the desk to see it littered with plans, equations and schematics of his time machine on it. He then saw the desk calendar and it read "April 15, 1900". "DADDY!" yelled a little girl's voice. This caused Adam to turn around to see the most surprising sight of all; Mary in a greenhouse playing with a little girl he assumed was his daughter. He walked over, now wearing a clean white suit, slightly dumbfounded by the sight. "Hey..." he said with a smile as he walked over to Mary and his daughter. Mary smiled at her husband. "Happy birthday." she said to him as the little girl ran up to him and hugged at his leg. Adam patted the little girl's head, the feeling of her curls felt real. But just as Adam began to enjoy this vision, it faded away. He found himself patting nothing but air, it was never real. "There's a reason why Mary cannot be saved..." began Celestia. Adam turned around to face the alicorn. "...you see, the universe has a self correcting mechanism that prevents paradoxes from ever happening." explained Celestia. "Saving Mary would have caused a massive one that could destroy the universe." "What paradox?" asked Adam for clarification. "If she hadn't died, you wouldn't have a reason to build that machine in the first place, which meant you couldn't travel into to the past to save her in the first place, resulting in a recursive loop that could destabilize the universe." Celestia continued. "That's why you couldn't save her, because you can never change the past, the universe will never allow you to do so." Adam was too stunned to say anything. "Now there you go, the question that lead you here has finally been answered, you can now leave." she pointed to the machine again. Adam began to walk over to the machine, completely defeated, everything he did suddenly became pointless. "But since I am not completely heartless..." Adam stopped in his tracks and turned around. "What?" Celestia suddenly materialized a vile of phoenix tears. "You may not be able to save Mary from her inevitable death, but you can delay it by giving her this." she levitated it over to the human. "Being temporarily happy is better than being eternally miserable in my opinion." Adam took the vile and looked at it. "What's the catch?" he asked. "That you never return to Equestria or any other time period I am alive in." she warned. Adam looked over at Twilight one last time, her eyes pleading with him to stay. The human new staying any longer will be futile. "Now please go, I have a bug problem to take care of." Celestia ordered. Adam thought over the offer, and it was tempting to him. With the vile he can finally save Mary and live the life he always wanted, but that would mean turning his back on the love and friendship he developed during his stay in Equestria. He slowly and reluctantly plucked the vile out of the air and looked at it closely. It rained and thundered during the night as Adam took his daughter Evie to bed. It worried him greatly that his eight-year-old daughter has been in a melancholy mood for months now, he wanted to make her feel better, luckily, he knew that a good book would liven up her day. "I went into town and bought you a new story book that we can read together." he offered as he show his daughter the new book. "It's called The Tale of Benjamin Bunny, I know you loved Peter Rabbit, so I bet you'll love this one." he mused. The daughter just blankly stared at him as she climbed up on her bed. "I just want mommy back..." she dove under the covers of her bed. The father knew that once his daughter was under the covers, it was hard to settle and calm her down. He just placed the book in her bookshelf for later and walked out of the room. "Good night then..." he said completely dejected. Even though it was not his fault Mary died of breast cancer, he still kind of felt like he did, as if her cancer was the universe's way of spiting him for ruining their grand plan, and for taking Celestia's deal. It was going to be another night of crying to sleep, he knew it. The human walked over to his machine, vile with him, but stopped before climbing on. "Before I leave..." he began, he then unceremoniously dropped the vile to the floor, Celestia's ears perked up upon hearing it shatter on the marble floor. "...you wouldn't mind if I take this along with me?" he said. "Take what?" Celestia was suspicious at what he was talking about. Adam reached down under his shirt and pulled out the Element of Wisdom that was wrapped around his neck. "This." he pointed to it. Celestia was completely taken aback. "Where did you get that?!" she was stunned. "Why were you so desperate to keep this hidden?" Adam retorted back. She growled. "Give it back!" she threatened. "Knowledge scares you doesn't?" he taunted. "Knowledge threatens you, because the more knowledge your subjects have, the more useless becomes." "GIVE IT BACK!" Celestia yelled with anger. "Over my dead body!" spat Adam back as he pulled the lever on his machine, starting it up. Before the the machine could fully start travelling, Adam was suddenly tackled into his seat by the alicorn. "THAT CAN BE ARRANGED!" snarled Celestia as she swiftly stabbed Adam in the arm with her horn. The human screamed out in pain as the machined along with Adam and the princess disappeared in front of Twilight's eyes. "ADAM!" yelled Twilight unsure at what she just saw and when they went to. To be continued...