//------------------------------// // 1.2 - Well, that was close // Story: The Silence of the Time Traveler // by Nolamancy //------------------------------// It was rare for him to dream such pleasant dreams. He didn't even remember what he was dreaming about. Dreams tend to be like that. All he remembered was happiness. And the proximity alarm going off. And harmo... Wait, Proximity Alarm?!? Konrad's consciousness suddenly kicked into full gear, bringing him out of his peaceful slumber. He immediately opened the holographic display on his watch, trying to figure out if there was a threat of being discovered. And considering that whomever it was happened to be heading straight for him up the mountainous trails, that would have to be a hard yes. How the hell did they get so close without the alarm tripping? Wait, new form of magic. Everything still needs time to adjust... Brain, stop. We have an immediate issue. Once he stopped trying to analyze everything, he quickly opened up a communications channel to Ka via Psycho-Net.[1] "Ka, I'm going to need a history in about 5 minutes." Ka grumbled. "Let me guess: you slept in and didn't see someone coming. And I'm not able to get you a good backstory ready until you get that PURRS done. "First off, sweetie, you were the one complaining I never got enough sleep. Second, I set a perimeter, but new magic screwed with the sensors. Third, PURRS ain't going to happen anytime soon, so you'll have to make do with what you have. You should have some amount of LBSR data, so work with that. Finally, it doesn't need to be verifiable yet. It just needs to have enough integrity to pass a normal citizen. Four minutes." "Ok, I'll start working on it. You may have to stall if I don't have something ready in time," Ka sighed as he started sifting through all the information he now had access to from the limited LBSR data he had. "Did you remember to increase the perception filter on the LBSR?" "Thank you for reminding me," Konrad acknowledged as he cranked up the level on the perception filter. "Be sure to remind me to turn it down." Ka mumbled something as he got to work. Konrad, on the other hand, was busy creating an open-ended backstory. Scootaloo was having one of those days. She wasn't a filly anymore; she had her cutie mark, a job (albeit a fairly mediocre one), and her own house. But she was feeling lonely. Her fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders had their own things to deal with; Apple Bloom was off visiting her family down in Appleloosa and Sweetie Bell was hauled off by Rarity to attend a cooking class. Especially after last time, she hoped that Sweetie would learn how to not destroy every kitchen she walked into. Though she'll probably just blow up the classroom and get kicked out. She can cook about as well as Rainbow can handle mushy stuff. She sighed. Rainbow Dash had her own business to attend to; another one of the shows the Wonderbolts put on. She didn't remember where it was, not did she particularly care. She was alone. In some ways, she always had been. A child of an orphanage, she never had parents to speak of. Rainbow was the closest thing she had to family. It was a secret no one else knew. And she hated it. She hated having to grow up before she was ready. But more than anything, she hated the fact that everyone still treated her like a filly. She was a grown mare for Celestia's sake! She had her own house, her own job, her own bank account. She could sign any legal document. Hell, she could even drink if she wanted to. Even her own friends still acted as if they were all fillies., and it frustrated her. She stopped walking and took a deep breath; settling the bubbling frustration in her and looked around her. She was back on this mountain. The same one she had climbed many times prior. All with one goal: To scream. It was where she went to let out all her frustrations. A place where no one else could hear her; a place where she could be alone. A place where she could be herself. She sighed. What do I even want? I don't want to be treated like a foal. And yet, I despise the fact that I'm not one. ... Who am I, even? As she made her way around the last switchback that brought her to the outlook she came to whenever she needed to vent. She wasn't expecting somepony else to be sitting up here. She stopped for a moment; he wasn't anypony she had seen around town; she would have remembered a mane like that. And given the gear around him, she assumed he was probably an explorer or something similar. What was she going to do? She could either try to start a conversation with him, or she could just go home and return another day. You know what? Screw it. It's not like I have anything else better to do, anyways. As she slowly approached him, she was able to pick up more of his details. His mane was a dual-tone green; rather unusual, especially for a stallion. He also seemed to be ever-so-slightly larger than most ponies. While no Big Mac, it was noticeable up close. And then there was the cutie mark. It was made of several concentric blue circles, each interconnected with curved lines, and a red dot in the middle. What does that even mean. She glanced at his other gear. She didn't see anything special about it; it seemed fairly typical for an explorer. She focused back on the stallion in front of her. And after overcoming some of the adrenaline that was coursing through her veins, she spoke up. "Um, hi." His muscles briefly tensed up, obvious she had startled him. Maybe he thought that he was alone up here as well. "Oh, um, hello. Where did you come from? I didn't think there was anyone else around." "I came up the only path to this outlook. You really didn't see me from the clear vantage point you're sitting at?" "Would it be a crime if I said no?" he replied sheepishly? "...I guess not. You did seem fairly lost in thought." ... "Anyway, where are my manners? My name's Konrad. I'm.. an explorer I guess?" "That's an... interesting name..." Scootaloo said, tilting her head in curiosity. "Yeah, I get that a lot. What about you?" "Scootaloo." "That's a nice name." ... ... ... "Well, this is awkward." "Right? Like what are you supposed to talk about once you've exhausted the pleasantries? I mean, unless you want to talk about the weather." Scootaloo chuckled. "It's not like there would be much point in that topic, anyway, since it's controlled by the pegasi." "Well, to be fair, it isn't everywhere." "Really?" She sat down beside him on the ledge, looking out towards Ponyvile. This was news to her. Konrad nodded. "Some towns don't have many pegasi living in or near them, so they just have to deal with whatever weather they are given. Some remote coastal towns have to occasionally deal with storms with 100mph gusts. Good luck going outside in those." Scootaloo just looked at him in awe. "Heh, I remember one pegasus tried. They ended up crashing into the side of the house I was staying at. That was quite the storm." Scootaloo could only sigh. "You really haven't been outside this town much, have you?" She slowly shook her head. "Been here your whole life?" "I've been to the Crystal Empire a couple of times," she replied softly. "But for the most part, I've stayed here in Ponyville. Konrad frowned. He seemed to be analyzing her a bit, and it was... slightly unsettling. Like he knew her secrets. "23" "Huh?" Scootaloo tilted her head in confusion. "Huh? Oh, sorry. Lost in a memory." ... "So why did you come up here?" "I'll tell you if you tell me why." She quipped back. "There is only one way get up here; I've checked. Aside from the small meadow up here, there's nothing of interest. What purpose does you coming up here serve you?" It was Konrad's turn to frown; turning to look off into the distance. "I had a... bad experience once." "What do you mean by 'bad experience'?" Konrad paused. "I'd... rather not talk about it." "Figures..." "What do you mean by that?" "What do you think?" she grumbled. "Isn't it obvious?" I'm a FILLY, and fillies aren't old enough to hear about Grown-Up things." "What? That's not what it is at all." "Then WHAT is it?" "Let me try to put it into context;" Konrad sighed. "Say, for a moment, that your parents died in a tragic accident..." Scootaloo flinched. Hard. "...and, say, for a moment..." Konrad stopped as he saw Scootaloo. "Oh, gosh. Sorry, I didn't intend to hit so close to home." Scootaloo could only stare somberly at the ground. "Anyway, the point still stands. Is that something you want to be talking about to every stranger you meet?" "I... I guess not." Konrad took a deep breath. "Suffice it to say, what happened isn't something I'm generally comfortable talking about. The short version is this: once, I didn't check out a town before I entered it. I ended up getting caught up in a... unpleasant circumstance. And since that happened early on, I've kinda been afraid to just waltz into a town without making sure nothing... bad is happening." Scootaloo slowly nodded; still looking at the ground. And then there was silence. It was... weird. It was like Konrad knew a lot more about her than he was letting on. That, or he was very perceptive. Maybe both? Regardless, she just wanted to think right now. A lot just happened for her emotionally, and she needed time to process it all. And so for the next 10 minutes, the two of them just sat there, looking out towards Ponyville. "You never answered my question, why do you come up here?" Konrad asked, finally breaking the silence between them. Scootaloo sighed. "I guess because I want to be alone." Konrad nodded. "That's fair. Judging by our earlier conversation, the town can get... aggravating at times." "To put it one way, I guess." ... "So how long do you plan on staying up here?" "Maybe a few more hours. My anxiety still needs a little more time to satiate." "Well, I have to get back to town. I have a job, and the bills aren't going to pay themselves." "Well, good luck with that." Scootaloo got up and started to make her way towards the trail. But before she started down it, she stopped. "Will I see you again?" Konrad turned his head around, smirking. "You make it sound like I'm going on a dangerous mission." "Well, you made it sound like it was for you." "True. I'll probably come down into town later today, so maybe we'll bump into each other then." "Oh, and thanks." "Huh?" "It was nice to just talk to somepony," Scootaloo sighed. "I don't get to do that much these days." Konrad nodded, then turned back towards Ponyville; losing himself in thought. And with that, Scootaloo made her way back down the trail. As soon as Scootaloo was out of sight, Konrad collapsed to the ground and started panting heavily. "You know, I cannot begin to fathom just how LUCKY you are..." Konrad groaned. Having to listen to Ka while also interacting with Scootaloo was incredibly tiring. Now he had to listen to him complain about how things went. Then again, he didn't have to do too much in regards to Scootlaoo as he was able to redirect the conversation to be about her, and less about him. "...I mean, seriously. You just HAD to pick at random the individual who's background perfectly matches what you had set up. AND is presumed missing, but not confirmed dead. Like, what could go wrong if luck carried you that far?" "Maybe the fact that I accidentally spoke out loud when you asked me to pick a number between 1 and 62?" Konrad groaned. "Ha, ha. That would be the day... wait, you're serious?" "What do you think?" Konrad deadpanned. "...I swear to God. Shamrocks would be jealous of you. Now just wait, you'll find a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow." "What can I say? Maybe I just have a certain charm with the world." Konrad smirked as he heard a loud thump on the other end of the call. It was times like this he wished the call wasn't set to audio-only. Unless... "Sanny, you there?" "Already grabbed the recording," she giggled. "And by the way, LBSR." "Huh? Oh, right..." Such was the nature of perception filters; at high enough levels, there was no good way to easily counteract them in the moment. Even operators of perception filters weren't immune to its effects. It was always a delicate balancing act; keeping it too low wouldn't be effective, but turn it up too high and people might forget everything about that moment, occasionally leading to blank spots in their memory. Those weren't good as people started to question themselves and/or retrace their steps. They also interfere with some tech, such as the LBSR. While a low-level filter wouldn't make a significant difference, high levels could severely impact its operation. While it wasn't a super strong perception filter, it was high enough that Konrad could almost swear he heard the LBSR sigh with relief when he turned it back down to where it was. And so, the day continued on without any other interruptions. Konrad worked through the timeline of the individual he was pretending to be. Well, he's definitely dead. So standard procedure is going to apply. At least, standard for me. He continued to work on the details of his backstory until the LBSR chimed that it was finished. Once it was, he packed it up and made his way to the TARDIS to drop it off and pick up a few other things. Then it was off to town he went; making his way down the winding mountain trail. While crossing the meadow wasn't a problem anymore, this would be something else entirely. "Why is it so hard for you to walk? I mean, for real. You've been a quadruped many other times. But damn, Boi, you trippin'." That's it. Konrad was officially going to smack Ka when he got back. He could tolerate the constant belittlement, but he would not stand for gangsta speak. ... Scratch that. He couldn't stand. Period. Also, how in the bloody hell could he hear the 'I' in 'Boi'? "Well, this is the first time I've had HOOVES," Konrad quipped back as he regained his balance; doing his best to not fall off the side of the steep trail he was walking down. "Not having extra appendages on my extremities makes it a lot more difficult to balance properly while walking over uneven terrain." "Do you need a hand?" Konrad took a deep breath, trying to compose himself. Punching at the air where the holographic call to Ka and Sanny was would accomplish nothing... Wait... "Hey Sanny," Konrad called out to her, "Could you do me a favor?" "Hm?" "Remember Simplar Madronis?" Sanny looked at Konrad, then looked at Ka, then back to Konrad, and so forth for nearly a minute. "Is this what you really want to..." "Yes," Konrad interrupted her before she could finish. Sanny was quiet for a moment. "Ok," she said, rather upbeat. "What in the hell are you twoooo..." Ka trailed off as he saw Sanny's face. "Oh, no." "Have fun, Ka," Konrad said with a stoic face.[2] "Please tell me you at least told her to not use fruit punch anymore, right?" Ka looked at Konrad with pleading eyes. Konrad just looked at him. "Right?" Konrad maintained his stoic face as he slowly moved his hoof over to the end call button. "Hello?" Ka called out as Konrad closed the call. "Oh, no..." Ka muttered as he turned to face Sanny, who was now holding a large bag of red powder. "OH YEAH" It was in this moment Ka made a stark realization: If you want to be a Kera mos'liin to Konrad, be doubly sure he doesn't have a favor to pull with Sanny. [ASM/CDT: Lil' bitch-ass] And never again would he be able to look at Kool-Aid without checking over his shoulder to make sure Sanny wasn't around. Konrad, on the other hoof, wasn't thinking about the hell Ka was going through right now. Nor did he care, to be honest. While he might have been feeling really petty, he knew Sanny wouldn't abuse the power he had bestowed upon her. Would it leave a lasting impression? Most definitely. But Ka was a big AI, now. He could handle the Fruit Punch. Why am I making him sound like my child? I mean, technically, yes. But still... Crap. I actually gotta focus on not falling right now. Reminisce about Ka later; you won't be able to if you fall. And so, as Konrad made his way down that mountainous path, he found himself returning to the other events of this day. And as he concentrated on not falling over, he prepared himself for the inevitable chaos that he would find in this small town called Ponyville. The sun was getting low in the sky, so he would probably have to stay here in this town. He would have to figure out how to acquire local currency, but that problem could wait until pebbles weren't an issue.