//------------------------------// // Fowl Manor Follies // Story: Artemis Fowl: The Equine Dominion // by _No_One_Remains_ //------------------------------// Artemis let out a deep sigh as the stony interior of his laboratory formed around him. He was still mildly upset by his lack of foresight and the fact that he needed to return so soon because of it. He examined the lab carefully for the pastel-colored pony that would be his ticket to a much more efficient diplomatic relationship with the other world. To the boy’s disdain, however, the Pegasus was nowhere in sight. Annoyance began to boil in the boy’s brain as he considered all the problems that had arisen in such a short time frame. His annoyance increased when he realized that there were even more variables to account for now that he had returned. The most deterring variable was the fate of the equine creature he’d returned to collect. It was possible that she had been caught in the device once again and sent straight back to her world, making this entire trip completely pointless on the boy’s part. That possibility quickly faded as the genius noticed the current condition of the elevator. According to the panel above it, it was waiting on the first floor of the manor. He and Butler had left the world with the elevator resting on the basement floor. He considered carefully that Juliet had no obvious reason to use the elevator herself, leaving only one possibility. “So she managed to work the lift, eh? Impressive.” Artemis muttered under his breath as he approached the call button for the machine. He tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for the elevator to descend to his level, all the while wondering just what wing of the mansion the pony may have found refuge in. The ride to the foyer was a long and boring one in Artemis’s eyes. His mind continued to shift from Butler in the other world to the pony in his. As the doors slid open, the boy caught the butt end of a fit of laughter. Two voices, both feminine, rang out from the kitchen on the other side of the foyer. The genius assumed they had to be Juliet and Fluttershy. He took long swift strides toward the kitchen door, wondering just why the two seemed to be having such fun after only just meeting one another. Shoving it open without hesitation, the boy was greeted by the two girls sitting at the counter, each with a sandwich in hand. Or in the pony’s case, in hoof. Yet another logical fallacy that would need an explanation… The sight of the two different species side by side brought Artemis a momentary lapse of thought, and his expression fell blank. Fluttershy immediately let out a squeak of fear, dropping to the floor as if to hide. Juliet, on the other hand, greeted her employer with a small frown of confusion. The latter of the two giggled, “What brings you back so soon, Arty? Leave something behind?” She waved a hand to her pony companion, at which point she realized the equine was cowering in fear. “You could say that, Juliet. Miss Fluttershy, your friends are worried about you.” The boy didn’t feel like wasting much time with useless bits of dialogue, and as such jumped straight to the point. The top of the pony’s head peaked out over the edge of the counter. She stammered weakly, “They are?” The boy nodded affirmatively and sighed, “Yes, in fact one of them thought it necessary to attack Butler and me upon our arrival…” He held back a grin at the thought of the rainbow blur and its lack of physics. “A blue Pegasus, if memory serves correctly.” Fluttershy leaped from the ground into Artemis’s line of sight. She gasped, “Oh no! I hope Rainbow’s okay!” Her eyes widened at the thought of her friend being injured by his large bodyguard. Juliet scoffed, “Not even there ten minutes and you start a fight? Typical.” “Not quite, Juliet. You see, Fluttershy just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The device landed us on top of her, sending her back here while we carried on over there.” The boy shook his head in disappointment, wondering just what else could go wrong with his plans. Juliet took a bite from her sandwich and rolled her eyes at the boy’s explanation. Something then dawned on her. “Wait, so you left my brother over there all alone with them?!” “Oh please, Juliet,” Artemis scoffed, “Butler is much more capable of handling himself than you give him credit for.” The boy turned his attention to the pony at the table. He sighed, “At any rate, we need to return immediately so your friends don’t get the wrong idea.” “O-okay!” Fluttershy nodded and approached the boy. In most cases, she would’ve hesitated to get within reaching distance of the human, but with Juliet monitoring his actions she felt safe. Juliet sighed, “I guess things aren’t going right to plan, Arty?” The boy grimaced at the use of her pet name. He groaned, “You could say that. Now, we must return to the lab where it’s safe to use the device. God forbid we bring a few centuries advanced technology to their world.” Without waiting another moment, the boy turned on his heel and left the kitchen. The two girls followed him back. Juliet and Fluttershy shared small talk as they descended into the laboratory, while Artemis pondered something in silence. As soon as the doors opened, the three advanced into the room, Juliet stopping half way. She gave the other two a farewell wave and turned to re-enter the elevator. Artemis lifted his arm and pushed the button on the device, prepared to get back to the other world and prove Fluttershy’s good health. It took a few seconds for the genius to realize that the device hadn’t done its job. Thinking he might have pushed the button too lightly, he tried again. Nothing happened. There was no golden light or reaction. Absolutely nothing happened. Artemis’s face dropped into an expression of disbelieving anger. He let out an annoyed grunt and stomped over to a table set up on the far end of the lab. He examined the device intently for any sign of damage, but found none. Juliet asked, “What’s wrong Artemis?” The only reply she received was an angry groan as he continued to fiddle with the device. After a few seconds of messing with it, the genius shouted, “This doesn’t make sense! The device worked perfectly fine not half an hour ago! I haven’t dropped it, nor have I let it off of my person since its initial test!” He placed it on the table with restrained rage and turned back toward the pony. Fluttershy stammered, “S-so…we can’t get back?” Noting the expression on Artemis’s face, she ducked down and plopped her hooves over her own. The boy sighed, “No worries, Miss Fluttershy. I assure you, I’ll figure out the problem in no time.” He shook his head and turned toward his human companion. “Juliet, go to the surveillance room and check to see if anything in the mansion may be interfering with the device’s functionality.” With a nod, the girl followed her employer’s instructions. As soon as she disappeared into the elevator, the pony’s body tensed up. Artemis noticed his companion’s sudden change of demeanor and tittered, “You needn’t be afraid of me. My actions earlier were only caused by my lack of knowledge on your species. Had I known you to be intelligent, I would have behaved much more civil.” It took Fluttershy a moment to understand what the human said. Once she understood him, she relaxed her muscles slightly. A few minutes passed in silence as they waited for Juliet to return with news on the device’s situation. A voice rang out from a small speaker in the corner of the lab, “There’s a satellite in orbit above the mansion, Artemis. Could that be messing with your thing?” The sudden sound startled the pony, while the intended receiver simply pinched the bridge of his nose in anger. “I suppose it could be. After all, the device was made from the use of a satellite…” he turned to the pony, “Very well Miss Fluttershy, we’ll have to wait for the satellite to pass before attempting to get you home. Juliet, how long must we wait?” Her voice called back, “The radar says it should be another hour or so.” “That’s fine. Go ahead and return to the lab.” The boy glared at his inter-dimensional device, disturbed by all of the problems he hadn’t accounted for. Fluttershy relaxed completely, aware that she would be stuck in the lab with the humans for over an hour. She squeaked, “E-excuse me, can I ask you something?” The boy placed a hand to his chin and nodded, not saying a word. She continued, “When your mouse showed up in my world, it was on the edge of the woods. When we got back, we were in my house. You showed up in the Ponyville Market…” Not certain where she was going with this, the boy asked, “Yes, and what’s your point?” Fluttershy tapped a hoof on the ground shyly and continued, “But every time we come here, we’re in this room. Why don’t we end up in the same place in my world?” She flinched as Artemis slapped a hand to forehead. The irritated boy slumped over the table and let out an extended sigh. He clenched his teeth and groaned, “You raise a valid point, Miss Fluttershy. I’m not certain why that is…” He picked up the device and gripped it tightly, almost tempted to just forego his original plan and stash it someplace in the manor and forget about it. He let his mind swim through all the problems he’d run into so far. He was astounded that he hadn’t noticed the difference in locations between his first and second visit. Above everything, he couldn’t believe he never accounted for a two-way-portal. The genius relaxed his body and placed the device gently on the table, a wave of calm falling over him. The ding of the elevator only assisted in bringing that calm. Juliet re-entered the lab with a smile on her face, confident that the satellite was the problem, and that everything would be fine in the end. She giggled, “Things could get worse, Arty! “Sarcasm is surprisingly fitting for you, Juliet. I’m more concerned for Fluttershy than I am myself or your brother, however.” He opened a drawer on the counter and pulled out several unusual tools, laying them on the table beside the device. The pony mumbled, “Why is that?” Artemis began to fiddle with the device using the strange tools. He chuckled, “Butler is a very versatile man, my dear. He’ll be fine in almost any situation. You, however, seem to be fickle. I’m afraid that almost anything in our world will do you harm.” He continued to mess with his somewhat-functional machine, much to the two girls’ amusement. Juliet sat down against the far wall, Fluttershy joining her. The human asked, “So what are you doing, Arty?” Stopping temporarily to answer her question in full, Artemis held the device in her direction. He groaned, “I’m attempting to fix a disturbing flaw with the device’s portal generation. Considering no portal will open for a while, I see this as the perfect time to do maintenance.” He immediately resumed work, while his companions shared small talk for the remainder of the time he did so. It felt as if an eternity had passed when the genius finally dropped his tools on the table haphazardly, adopting a wide grin of success. Though he wasn’t certain he had actually accomplished his goal, he had done everything he could think of. Success or fail, he’d done what he could. Noticing his sudden shift from determined to happy, Juliet cheered, “Did you do it?” “Possibly.” Artemis replied bluntly. “All I did was twist a few…” His voice trailed off in mid-sentence. A peculiar whirring sound rang out in the lab. The three residents searched around in a confused manner, the pony adopting an expression of pure fear. Artemis turned to grab his device, wanting it on his person in case of a necessary emergency evacuation. As his hand met the device, the sound of a loud explosion filled the room and deafened the trio. Golden light erupted from his hand and swallowed the group. Suddenly, a force began dragging them down as the light shifted to the other world. All of the organic residents of the room, excluding the lab rat in the far corner, were suddenly jerked out of stationary position. As the light faded, the three found themselves high up in the sky, the creatures on the ground just small specks in their vision. Juliet and Fluttershy immediately let out shrieks of fright, while Artemis simply stared at the impending death below him. As he fell, he began to consider the physics of the world, and how the impact might not actually kill them. In fact, he noticed a cart of carrots waiting to cushion their fall. He chuckled internally as he decided the g-forces were making him temporarily insane. Taking a hard gulp, Fluttershy stopped screaming, clenched her hooves, and threw open her wings, the air resistance almost stopping her fall entirely. She leaned forward into a somewhat-nosedive and grabbed Juliet’s collar with one hoof. The genius grimaced as he realized that even that force should’ve snapped his employee’s neck. He watched as the pony dove in his direction, attempting to catch him. The boy closed his eyes in anticipation of the inevitable pain that would follow his contact with the pony. To his amazement, he landed considerably softly on the Pegasus’s back. His comfort was short lived as the pony lost her balance, her wings buckling under the forces acting upon them. Roughly twenty feet off of the ground, the three continued their plummet to the ground. They resumed their initial reactions, except Artemis joined his cries of fear in with his companions’. In almost the blink of an eye, they destroyed the cart of carrots and audibly collided with the solid ground. A series of shocked gasps and screams followed their collision.