Chpt. 10 - Is Something Wrong?
Sunday, March 30
It was all such a crazy dream. I’m sure an aspiring psychologist would have a field day with it.
I was standing in front of the well-dressed brown horse thing in the middle of an open, grassy field, the sun shining brightly above us. We stared at each other for a good twelve seconds in silence, eyeing each other and probably thinking very similar thoughts. That’s when it happened. The brown horse spoke. It was so surreal. Without a speech impediment or even a verbal tick, the creature said in plain English, "Well, now I’ve seen everything," not even mixing up the order of the words.
It was so impressive that I found myself actually wanting to say something in response to show it that I was just as capable of speech as it was, but my tongue didn't seem to believe me and was refusing to cooperate. After a few seconds of me standing there with my mouth open trying to form words, I must have startled the thing, because it took a nervous step away from me. I didn’t want it to run off, so I tried reaching out my hand toward it in an attempt to at least be responsive, but a large flash emitted directly from my palm that made the beast jump and run off.
Truly I’m the master of social interaction.
The horse continued dashing away until it was just a tiny speck on the horizon, leaving me standing there alone in the middle of the empty field with no idea how I even got there. I tried to recollect what had happened in previous chapters that brought me to the empty field, but all that came to mind was the color purple. It wasn’t full amnesia since I still remembered I had an audience to narrate for, but clearly I had some mitigated form of it.
However, at that moment, mild memory loss seemed to be the least of my worries. All of a sudden, some strangely threatening pink clouds cast their shadows over me from the clear blue sky above. Not only that, but I happened to notice that, despite how bright it was, I didn’t see any form of sun anywhere. Logic was caving in on itself around me, it seemed, and all I could think to do was run in a random direction to get away from it all. Soon, the rain began to pour out from the oddly colored clouds, and I quickly noted that the substance coming down from the clouds wasn’t water at all. It was pianos. It was raining pianos.
I'd like to see the weatherman predict that.
I ran faster, trying to elude the clouds that continued to drop their heavy musical instruments, which were crashing into the ground at my heels. I wasn’t making any progress by running, and there weren’t any other horses with ties around to ask for assistance. Of course, still not being able to speak, that didn’t matter anyway. As the falling pianos got closer with every unmelodious crash, my entire body came to a sudden standstill as I felt something pulling on my foot.
It was gum. I had stepped in gum.
When does that ever happen to me?
The momentum caused by me running forward had stretched the gum from its resting spot, naturally causing it to launch me backwards like something eerily familiar to me. With my foot still attached to the gum, it kept jerking me back and forth until the momentum finally died down, resulting in me being completely stuck in the middle of the piano downpour. As I put my hands over my head and braced for the inevitable, I curiously found that not a single piano had actually landed on me. In fact, they all seemed to be crashing everywhere except directly on top of me.
Well, it’s a good thing I spontaneously became immune to pianos or this could have been an discomforting turn of events.
Then, right out from under my immobile feet, a gigantic stack of books popped out of the ground, sending me straight up through the pink clouds and into the sunless sky. As I passed through the cloud, I found myself now in a room that I actually recognized. It was the room where I took all my exams for my psychology class.
Ah yes, psychology. I remember that. Everything I adore about life in a flawless amassment of interest and excitement.
After a bit of recollection, I soon managed to recognize the five others in the room with me. Reed, Rook, that clerk lady, and the tie-wearing horse were each at their own desks, and they all seemed to be working feverishly on something as Dr. Stellar watched over them like you all do with me. Rook’s head was about three times its usual size, Reed had an oversized, black cat on his head that he didn't seem to notice, the clerk lady was using a toothbrush as a pencil, and Dr. Stellar’s shirt wasn’t tucked in, making the talking horse the only other normal-looking one in the room.
I still didn’t understand what was going on, but I looked down at the desk in front of me to see an exam patiently sitting there, taunting me with its incompleteness. My natural test-taking impulses took over and I got right to work on it. However, this exam was odd. It had only one question, and it was multiple choice.
Choose the best answer from the following:
A: Life
B: Goo
C: None of the Above
D: All of the Above
Oh, I despise these questions. It’s not asking for me to choose the ‘right’ answer. It wants the ‘best’ answer, which is basically just another way of saying ‘read the teacher’s mind and pick the one he's thinking’. Also, they mistakenly put ‘D’ under ‘C’, so if I pick ‘D’, I’ll technically be saying ‘all of the above’ including ‘none of the above’. What kind of tonguebiter made this exam, anyway?
"Don’t blow this, think tank," a voice spoke up as I noticed a pencil drop down onto the desk from nowhere.
Devil Me? Since when do you show up during exams?
Ignoring my thoughts, he barked, "Put some of that thinking nonsense to good use for once in your life. There’s only one choice you can possibly make here." He paused as he suddenly transformed into Angel Me.
"And I think you know exactly what that choice is," Angel Me finished before disappearing completely, leaving me even more confused than before he appeared.
I didn’t exactly know what to choose, but I figured I needed to answer before Dr. Stellar said ‘pencils down’ with his usual perfect timing. However, as I reached down to grab the pencil in front of me, I realized that what I had grabbed was not a pencil. It was a bomb. It blew up right in my face, making everyone in the room explode with laughter at the sight of my soot-covered face.
How does one explain what it feels like to be laughed at by a clerk lady, an egomaniac, a friendly stranger, an exquisitely-dressed talking horse, and my strictest college professor all at the same time? Bad, it feels bad.
But there wasn’t time to think about that, because the next event that transpired made everything else irrelevant. I suddenly found myself once again stuck to gum in that open field as if I had just transitioned there. I checked the sky to see if those pink clouds were back, but the sight I beheld was a much more horrifying one than mere clouds or pianos.
I didn't need a moment to recognize him. It was my roommate, twenty feet tall and staring down at me with his squinty eyes and that same obnoxious grin he always wore whenever he saw me. It was like he was both preparing to sell me something while trying not to laugh at something funny he had heard. He raised his arm in the air, making the entire world turn upside-down. The green grass beneath my feet all flew up into the sky, and the blue sky crashed into the ground below, yet I was still somehow stuck to the gum that was now floating in the middle of the sky.
I suppose it only makes sense that my roommate can do something like this.
Then, he stuck his finger into his ear and pulled out a strange glob of transparent mystery goo that I could have sworn I’d seen somewhere before.
Really, it's like my entire life's on the edge of my tongue right now.
He reared back and threw the glob straight at me with perfect accuracy. After splashing onto me, it felt as if it was trying to swallow me up. I tried to call out for help, but my tongue still wasn’t working, and I doubted that anyone was foolish enough to save me from my now omnipotent roommate. Through the transparent goo, I could barely make out his giant hand slowly reaching down toward me. Then, right as he was about to wrap his fingers around my goo-covered body…
I heard a loud crash, and my dream suddenly came to an end. It sounded to me like glass breaking, but I was a tad too disoriented to be sure or really care. I grabbed my forehead and jolted up in my bed.
Wait, how did I get in a bed? How did I get in this room? What was I doing before I fell asleep? Didn’t something strange happen last time I was conscious?
I had no idea how long I had been asleep, but I was still exhausted regardless. I quickly concluded that no matter what was going on, I could wait to freak out about it when I was in the right mindset for it all. I laid my head back on someone’s sufficiently comfortable pillow, and readied myself for another crazy dream.
There was a knock on Fluttershy’s door, and the sound of it sent her diving underneath her table. Wondering who could possibly want to speak with her at this hour, she peeked her head back out from under her table to nervously ask, "W-who’s there?"
"Just a pony with a problem. May I speak with you for a moment?" a deep, calming voice uttered from the other side of the door.
Fluttershy relaxed a little and carefully walked to her front door. She stuck her head out the partially opened door, a bit surprised to see a stallion she’d never met before on the other side of it. The unfamiliarity made her a little uncomfortable, but she opened the door up the rest of the way to hear what was troubling him.
"Um, can I help you?" she asked.
"Good evening, miss. My name is Mr. Rich," the stallion said with a respectful bow. "Of course, I’m sure you already knew that."
Fluttershy blinked in response to the stallion’s introduction. After a few seconds without a response, he accepted her silence as acknowledgement.
"Anyway, I’ve been informed that there’s a mare named Fluttershy at this address. Do you mind if I speak with her?"
Fluttershy looked down towards her necklace at the mention of her own name. "Um…that’s…that’s me," she replied in a barely audible tone.
Mr. Rich smiled confidently as if she had just purchased half his inventory. "Splendid! Now, correct me if I’m wrong, miss, but I heard that you’re good at dealing with wild animals?"
Fluttershy’s eyes shifted back up towards the wealthy stallion with a peculiar, new shine. "Oh, well, I've certainly spent a lot of time working with a bunch of different animals, but…"
"Fantastic," he said, cutting her off, "because there’s this odd creature that I...ran into on my way home tonight, and given the time of night I figured I wouldn’t be able to ask…"
Fluttershy gasped, suddenly becoming grossly invested in the stallion’s words. "It’s not an owl, is it? Because one of my owls got loose last night, and I’ve been looking for her everywhere. I’ve been so worried."
Filthy shook his head. "No, I’m afraid it’s definitely not an owl."
"Oh," Fluttershy said, sounding a bit depressed. "Well, you wouldn’t happen to have seen her by any chance, would you?" Fluttershy asked as she pulled out one of the flyers she had made for visual reference, displaying the image of a white owl perched on top of her head. She held the flyer in her teeth, her eyes full of hope.
"Er…I’m sorry, miss. I can’t say I have," he replied, shaking his head once again. "But, if you wouldn’t mind, could we get back on topic here?"
"Oh, no. Of course I don’t mind. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to change the subject like that. Please, go on. You said you found a strange creature?" Fluttershy asked as she put the flyer away, now more curious than anything.
Filthy cleared his throat. "Yes, well, you see, this thing passed out after crashing into some of my leftover wares, and I can’t seem to figure out how…"
Fluttershy’s eyes shot open like Pinkie Pie’s mouth, and every ounce of nervousness within her suddenly vanished like a cupcake placed near Pinkie Pie’s mouth. "There’s a hurt animal lying on the ground somewhere all alone?" she softly shouted, causing Mr. Rich to take a step backward in surprise.
"Um, actually I'd say it’s more like a sleeping animal, and I brought it up to my guest room after I noticed—"
"Is it sleeping okay? Did you make sure the pillow was soft enough? Were the sheets warm enough? It’s not having nightmares is it?" Fluttershy asked, taking more interest in the situation than the stallion himself.
Filthy rubbed the back of his neck ."I…um, well, it seemed fine when I left. It hasn’t moved since I brought it inside my—"
"Oh, the poor thing. It’s probably too terrified to move. I have to go check on it before—"
Fluttershy stopped as she heard a rapid tapping sound and looked back into her cottage to see a small rabbit impatiently stomping its foot as it stood atop a large, green book. She turned back to the stallion to regrettably squeak, "I’m sorry. Would you please excuse me for just a second?" She closed the door shut behind her; although the businesspony could still clearly hear her muffled voice from behind it.
"I know how much you love your bedtime story, but this sounds serious. You understand, don’t you?"
After the question was asked, Filthy almost felt the ground shake underneath his hooves as he heard a series of calamitous crashes and thumps and wondered what in the name of retail was going on in there.
"Come on, now. Who’s my little Angel?" Fluttershy asked after the chaos finally died down. "That’s more like it. Now, don’t you worry. I’ll be back in no time at all, and I’ll read you that story as soon as I get back. I promise."
Fluttershy reopened the door with a carrot wedged up her nose and her mane a bit disheveled.
Filthy smiled at the mare. "You sure handled that quickly. I guess you must be as good with animals as they say."
"Oh, no, I wouldn’t say that," Fluttershy replied as she yanked the carrot from her nose. "Angel’s just really understanding, that's all."
Filthy chuckled. "Yeah, I'd imagine. I’ve got an angel of my own who ‘understands’ me all the time."
Fluttershy perked up at the sound of that. "Oh, really? Maybe we could arrange a playdate? I’ve always wanted to find another bunny for Angel to spend time with when I’m not around. You wouldn't believe how lonely he can get when I’m away."
Filthy had to stop laughing once he realized the mare was serious. "Uh, mine doesn’t really play well with others," he said, not caring to explain his little joke. His comment made Fluttershy tilt her head in confusion, so he decided to get back to his main point. "Now, about that creature, do you think you can come and—"
"Oh, yes! That creature needs our help!" Fluttershy shouted in a serenely panicked manner. "Oh, what am I still doing just standing here? Bad Fluttershy! Bad!" She ran down the pathway leading from her house and headed straight into town.
"Guess I’ll take that as a ‘yes’," Filthy said to himself as he chased after her, wondering if the animal-loving mare even knew where she was going.
I’m not ready for another crazy dream.
As I relaxed in a stranger’s bed that night in the plain-looking bedroom someone had placed me in, I found myself facing a very peculiar dilemma. My body was practically writing a letter to the president demanding that I go to sleep, and the BGM was encouraging it. On top of that, the bed was even more comfortable than the one back in my apartment. However, my mind was too afraid of the notion of seeing my giga-roommate again to even consider sleep. All I could do was lie there and try to find some filling for my empty pie of memories.
My mom had once told me what to do in case of a sudden bout of amnesia, but I couldn’t quite remember what it was. I eventually decided to create a thought bubble of her so she could just tell me herself. After a little concentration, the fluffy, white cloud manifested itself above my head, and the image of my mother holding her whisk and wearing her signature apron appeared right across it. She spouted off the advice to me like a prerecorded message.
"Remember, son, if you ever get amnesia, you won’t remember me telling you this, so don’t bother trying."
That's it! Now I remember. I got eaten by a blob of floating goo in order to finally fulfill my dreams of finding a supernatural adventure, and, now I must be in some new supernatural world of wonder and excitement.
Well, isn't that a lovely trove of chestnuts? I'll never get to sleep now that I remember all that!
"What's the matter, sweetie? You look upset," my mother asked out of concern from within her white domicile.
"I've got insomnia, mom. It's the fourth grade all over again."
"Oh, honey lamb, don't worry. Just do what you did then. Visualize something that relaxes you, like your old stuffed octopus, Mr. Spider."
"Okay, I'll try. Thanks, Mom."
"Don't mention it, sweetie. By the way, how's school going? Are you still loving your classes?"
My classes...psychology...oh...puttypudge.
"Well, I just aced my second exam in psychology yesterday," I responded, preferring to avoid telling my mom about my very recent and drastic decision about my major.
"That's great news! Wait until your father hears about that. Just you wait, cornpop. Some day all that hard work's going to pay off, and you'll be glad that you kept your nose to the grindstone."
And the award for 'Most Awkward Conversation of the Day' goes to...
"All right then, Mom. Say 'hi' to my sister for me. Talk to you soon!" I wiped my thought bubble clean, glad that I did so before my mom started using deductive reasoning.
That's not going to be any easy sell when I have to tell them about all this.
Regardless, I decided to give my mom's visualization idea a try to help me get to sleep. Considering the tragedy of what happened to Mr. Spider, I figured it would be counterintuitive to use him as a topic for relaxation purposes. After some brainstorming, I realized there was only one thought I had stored away in the 'relaxing' category: my campus fountain.
Is that as pathetic as it sounds?
Pathetic or not, it turned out to be the perfect visual. The blissful sound of the endless stream of water gloriously accompanied the hushed melody of the BGM as the image spread across my mental cloud. My imagination embellished the scene by adding a beautiful rainbow in the background, and the shoddy donkey-horse sculpture remained as silent and tolerable as always the entire time.
Wait a second. ‘Horse'. Wasn't there something about that word I needed to remember?
"My daughter should be asleep by now, so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t make too much noise when you see it."
"Oh, no, I would never. I wouldn’t want to frighten the poor thing."
"Are you sure you’re up to this?"
"Oh, of course. I couldn’t get to sleep tonight if I knew there was some poor animal that needed my help."
Voices?
They sounded like they were coming from just behind that door on the far wall. I couldn't be sure if they were actually supernatural beings or not from their voices, but there was a good chance that I was about to finally meet the creatures that were going to bring all my supernatural wishes to life.
The only problem was that I wasn't in the mood for it yet. Despite how anxious I was, I wasn’t prepared for any monotonous introduction processes at this level of exhaustion, so I popped my thought bubble and shut my eyes like they were a pair of romance novels, pretending to be sound asleep.
Whoever they are, they have to believe it’s rude to interrupt someone sleeping, right?
The door quietly opened, and I heard at least three or four pairs of hollow-sounding footsteps enter through it. I found it a bit strange considering I only heard two voices, so I deduced that either these were some very eccentric human beings who enjoyed crawling and wearing clogs, or they were something else entirely. I was hoping for the latter.
The intro music that started playing was strange as well. For one thing, I could barely hear it since it was even quieter than the BGM, which had lost so much volume that I knew it had to be nighttime. Mainly, though, I was confused that I could only hear the one tune. Since there were two distinct voices, that had to mean that I had already met one of these two creatures sometime before. I was almost tempted to take a small peek to see for myself, but I knew the cliff I’d be jumping off by doing that. After a long period of silence, I heard one of the voices speak up again.
"I’m not sure what it is. I’ve never seen anything like it," the more feminine voice of the two said in a whisper about a foot away from my ear.
That voice…is delicious.
Never in my life had I heard such a sound that I didn't want to ever stop. It was like a scoop of soft ice cream placed on top of a milky bar of chocolate in an empty void of serenity. If the owner of that voice was my shoulder angel, I’d do everything it said no matter how righteous. It was better than tennischess. It was better than thought. Even hearing those two short sentences was better than all the thought bubbles of peaceful horse statues I could make at once. That would be three. All I wanted to do was lie there and hear this unidentified creature say more words. In fact, I couldn’t have moved if I wanted to.
"It looks like it’s fast asleep," the perfect voice continued. "You said it just collapsed when you saw it for the first time?"
"That’s right," the less appealing voice responded. "At first I thought it was some kind of monster that came from the Everfree Forest, but then I noticed all the clothing it had on. Never heard of a monster that wore a watch before."
Okay, so they don’t know what I am, and they thought I was a monster at first. That can only mean...this is really happening. I am genuinely in a supernatural world, and two creatures from that world are right next to my bed talking about me! Also, they know what clothing is! Odd, I've never heard of a supernatural creature who—
That was when it all came back to me. The image of the brown, well-dressed horse with the out-of-place intro music I’d encountered pounded into my skull like a swing from my mallet.
So I'm in a world that contains normal-looking animals that wear clothes, sleep in beds, and talk normally? This has to be the most obscure paranormal find in human history! I have to learn more!
Since the horse with the less appealing voice was the one that said it found me, I concluded that it was the brown stallion I suddenly had burned into my memory. However, I was curious about what the other one looked like. I couldn’t really be sure if the other creature was another horse or some other type of animal with a giant nose and a funny-looking hat. It still wasn’t worth opening my eyes to check, though.
"You’re right," the voice above all others replied. "I’ve never see any kind of wild animal wear this much clothing. It doesn’t appear to have any claws or fangs either. I wonder if it’s even wild."
Don't...open...eyes.
"Well, do you see anything wrong with it? Does it look sick or hurt or anything?" the ordinary voice asked.
I felt some form of hair brush up against my neck as a very gentle appendage of some sort rested itself against my forehead. I figured one of them was either getting a closer look at my face or just double checking to see if my pimple was really that massive.
"Its breathing is normal, at least compared to animals I know, and it doesn’t seem to have a temperature, but it does look really, really tired. We should leave before we accidentally wake it up."
Aw, don’t go yet. You’ve only said four lines!
"Well, alright then. I just wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything dangerous about it before I let it spend the night in my house."
"Oh no, I don’t see anything dangerous about this creature. It reminds me of a monkey more than a monster. I think we should let it stay here for the night and then help it find its way back to wherever it came from in the morning. That is, if that’s okay with you, Mr…um,"
"Please, call me Mr. Rich, and it'd be my pleasure. I’ve certainly got the room for it, and it seemed a bit cruel to just leave it there on the ground in the condition it was in."
"Oh yes, and I’m so glad you didn’t. This poor thing looks like it hasn’t slept in weeks. I’m sure it’ll be very appreciative of your hospitality."
"So, you wouldn't mind coming back first thing in the morning to take another look, would you?"
"Oh, I wouldn't dream of not coming back, Mr. Rich. How does nine o’clock sound?"
I imagined how they would react if I suddenly just asked how much time that would give me to sleep. I couldn’t tell if it would frighten them or if they would just attack me, but either way I felt it was best to continue fake sleeping. Since they thought I was some kind of monkey monster, they probably didn’t even think I could talk anyway. It was ironic, yes, but it was also definitely too early in the adventure to stir up that much of a plot twist.
"Great, I’ll see you then. Thank you for your cooperation, Miss Fluttershy."
"Oh…um, well, I didn’t really do anything, but you’re welcome. And you can just call me Fluttershy…if you want, that is."
As I cherished those last few golden words, I heard the door close and the footsteps fade off into the distance, leaving only the original BGM to fill the empty sound space.
I made a vow at that moment that I would not leave that building past nine, lest I miss out on hearing that voice again. Of course, I had no idea where I would go if I did decide to leave, so my vow was probably completely unnecessary. One thing I did know, though, was that I had names now: Mr. Rich and Fluttershy.
It turned out that voice relaxed me more than I suspected, because as I felt my consciousness slipping away, not even the sudden realization that I hadn't brushed my teeth was enough to keep me awake. All I could think about was the floating goo that brought me to that little bedroom and how grateful I was for its existence.
Monday, March 31
Diamond had it all figured out. If everything went smoothly, she’d have her tiara back before lunchtime.
She had spent the previous night racking her brain trying to come up with a way out of her punishment. She knew she’d never resolve the situation if she just waited for it all to pass considering how serious those nay-saying grownups were about it all. She needed a new battle plan or she was going to lose this fight, and if she lost, then everypony lost. The way she saw it, she was about to do all of Ponyville a favor by getting that tiara back on her head.
She thought through several possibilities as she lay there on her dessert-stained bed that night, clutching her pillow like a stuffed animal as she plotted.
She could try to steal it back or find a way to get a new one. No, then she’d have to hide it or it would just be taken away again, and nopony would even see it.
She could act extremely depressed and wait for her parents to take pity on her. No, that would take too long, and she had no patience to wait for something this important.
She could try wearing something else on her head until they all believed it didn’t matter what she wore. Ugh, no, anything else would just look hideous, and she’d rather die than go around wearing something hideous.
She stayed up long past her bedtime trying to come up with a solution, her frustration building as she found fault with each new idea until she finally got so angry that she grabbed the nearest object she could find and threw it across the room in anger. Unfortunately, the object she happened to grab was one of her school textbooks that she was using as stepping stool. It soared straight into her mirror, shattering it with a loud, reverberating crash that made her cat fly up to the ceiling in shock.
At first, she was worried that somepony might have heard the crash and would come up to yell at her about it, but she sighed in relief when she didn’t hear any immediate angry, stomping noises approaching her bedroom. She stared at the broken glass on the floor. It reminded her of her original broken tiara and the stupid incident that started all this. She recalled the insulting comments those blank flanks had made during that distressing situation, and that’s when an idea popped into her head.
A smile crept back onto her face as the gears started to turn inside her head. The idea she had imagined was so simple that she couldn’t believe she hadn't thought of it before. She considered the details about it more and more, realizing the sheer genius behind it as she gleefully squeezed her cat which had just begun to calm back down. It wasn't exactly the most glamorous plan ever, but the fact that it was guaranteed to get her tiara back genuinely made her happier than she had been in over a week.
Her dad was coming home that night from his business trip, and she didn't want to risk him finding out she was up past her bedtime and punishing her even further, so she decided to make the sacrifice and go straight to bed without rinsing off her ice cream coating first. It was obnoxiously uncomfortable, and the excitement she felt made it difficult to fall asleep, but it was still the best night sleep she had gotten in seven days.
After waking up, she practically sprung out of bed and dashed straight out of her bedroom door, too excited to even notice how messy she and her room still were. However, her enthusiasm took a small detour after making her way to the family dining room table, because she soon found that something very odd was going on.
First of all, she found it curious that her dad wasn’t already there. He had said he would be coming back the previous night, and he never missed breakfast on Mondays. Not even his newspaper was present.
Secondly, even though her dad wasn’t at the table yet, somepony had already set the table and made breakfast. The curious thing about it all was that there were three plates set out on the table as opposed to the usual two. Her mom wasn't supposed to get back from her cruise until Thursday, and her dad had said nothing before he left about bringing any company over. Did he invite somepony he met on his business trip to breakfast? If that were true, why wasn’t he there right now making small talk and lobbying for a merge? None of it was adding up. She needed to go find her dad and ask him what was going on herself.
She checked her dad’s bedroom first. She opened the door to find not only was he not there, but his bed was undisturbed as if it had just been made. She started to wonder if her dad had even come home at all the previous night, and the idea didn't sit well in her stomach. She walked down the hallway, searching through all the other rooms she could find and slamming the doors incrementally louder with each failed check. He wasn’t in his office, the study, the foyer, the playroom, the attic, the panic room, the backyard, or any of the twenty-seven closets. At this point, she was beginning to worry for her dad’s wellbeing. She didn’t even want to imagine how she’d cope if anything were to happen to him.
"Dad!" she called out from the middle of the hallway. There was no response, so she called out again slightly louder and more distraughtly.
"Dad!"
Still nothing. She’d almost run out of places to look, and the fear of the situation was really starting to seep in. She was now standing in front of their guest room. They never really had guests over, so the room usually served as much purpose as her classmates' brains. She had wanted to turn it into a second room for herself, but her dad wanted them to always be ready to have company over. Lousy, imaginary company.
Still, this was the only bedroom she hadn’t tried yet, so it couldn’t hurt to check. She slowly opened the door and found the sight inside somewhat disturbing. For one, her dad wasn’t there, which contributed to further her frustration. However, what really piqued her interest was the fact that the bed inside the room wasn’t undisturbed like her dad’s was. In fact, it looked like somepony had just gotten out of it.
There had to be an explanation for all this. Did her dad sleep in this room last night? Maybe he was really tired when he got back. This room is closer to the front door than his bedroom. Maybe he just went into the closest room he could find. It wasn’t that farfetched of an idea. Of course, that still left the question of where he was now, though. Maybe he did invite a guest over to butter up for a business deal, but he had to go pick her up first and he didn't want his precious little daughter to go hungry while he was gone.
Yeah, and then he was coming right back with his guest, which is why he had set up three plates. It all made too much sense to not be true.
As Diamond Tiara convinced herself of how right she was, the fear in her mind was swept away, and she happily skipped back toward the dining room to await her dad’s return.
It felt so good to be at 100% again. I never imagined that I'd get to experience a full eight hours of sleep in the middle of the semester. Apples might be a decent source of vitamin C and superhuman strength, but they just couldn’t beat the feeling of genuine sleep.
This supernatural endeavor had already given me more than I could ask just from that. I was thinking so clearly that the world around me almost looked shinier, and the BGM almost sounded happy to be playing. Thanks to how good I felt, it only took me a few seconds to remember the wackiness of last night. I remembered it all: flying through Purple World, Mr. Rich’s dollar sign tie, Fluttershy’s perfect voice, me somehow forgetting everything, and all the other special events that happened within a few measly hours.
I jumped out of that bed like a flipped coin to begin my quest to solve the mystery of what not on Earth was going on. The idea of a supernatural adventure waiting right outside that door made me too excited to keep it closed. I couldn't begin to imagine all the fun, interesting things that awaited me right behind it, so I headed straight for it to discover what was in store. My first observation of this world came as I reached out my hand to open the door. My hand was still shiny, but I was too thrilled to care. The door had a doorknob just like the ones I was familiar with, but it wouldn’t turn. After some experimentation, I found that the door opened without actually turning the knob. I was reminded that this building belonged to a creature of the equestrian variety, so it would make sense that the doors would be designed for such creatures.
So, what’s even the point of a doorknob for a door like that then?
Putting that thought in storage for the moment, I walked out the door and took a look at my surroundings.
Judging from the hallway alone, the house seemed eerily similar to one that a human would live in. There an impressive number of nearby doors which probably also had pointless doorknobs, there was one of those small lamps that forced you to buy a small table to put it on, there was a small bookcase full of those thick books with the multicolored covers that no one ever reads, and there was even one of those small, random circular modules latched onto the wall that everyone knows is important but no one ever considers what its actual purpose is.
All of it felt so familiar that I almost forgot that the odds of me even being on my home planet anymore were about the same as me ever getting back to it. Then I remembered this house was owned by a talking horse, and my sense of adventure took hold of me once again.
Since this was my first ever supernatural encounter, I possessed very limited information about how these things were supposed to work. All I had to go on were what I'd seen in movies and stories I'd heard from my friends and family. Therefore, I decided my first objective was to find this house’s owner. Since he was the only creature I could recognize on sight, I figured he’d be the best one to ask about how to get things started. I made my way through the well-furnished living quarters as I searched for the attired animal.
I had no idea where to start, considering the amount of doors, so I decided to just choose one and see what was behind it. This strategy led me into what I assumed to be the place’s kitchen, which was foolishly left empty and unguarded. Upon arriving at said kitchen, I received a reminder of one of the physical problems I was still having, courtesy of my stomach.
I was starving.
I suppose the phrase "I’m so hungry I could eat a horse" might have been appropriate, albeit in bad taste, but seeing as how the last things I’d eaten were an apple and the few ounces of toothpaste I’d accidentally swallowed while brushing my teeth the previous night, it wasn’t the time to be concerned about ethical word phrasing.
I searched through some of the drawers and cabinets to see what was inside them. I was actually sort of curious to see what sort of strange diet Mr. Rich and his kind possessed. I'd heard that some supernatural beings ate abstract concepts rather than physical nutrients, and I wanted to see what one of those actually tasted like. However, I had to say I was underwhelmed at what I found.
There was primarily just a bunch of flowers, hay, and other forms of vegetation that I’d expect an ordinary horse would eat. However, I was surprised to find copious amounts of baking ingredients within the wooden cabinets. There was probably enough flour in there to make about seventeen cakes, three pies, and a life-size model of an oven to bake it all in. I couldn't really find anything to eat myself, but I did stumble upon an interesting new idea.
What if I made breakfast for Mr. Rich and Fluttershy?
It was the perfect way to reveal I was capable of sentience without having to resort to any senseless gabbing. Plus, it would probably net me a great deal of experience right off the bat. My sister had once informed me that experience was important to an adventure that started in a bed with amnesia.
I grabbed two plates from the drawer and started haphazardly laying out an assortment of the plant life on top of them like I was topping a pizza, the excitement of . My cooking skills amounted to pouring things into other things, so I had no idea what I was doing in a culinary sense, but I was making a meal for a horse and possibly another horse, so how picky could they possibly be?
Then, a light went on in my head, and I recalled Mr. Rich mentioning something about having a daughter before he came into my room the night before. That being the case, I quickly made another plate on the off chance I could get some bonus experience for paying attention.
Even in this world, my watch was still working, and it showed the time to be 8:44 AM. Fluttershy had said she'd arrive at nine, so I hurried my completed dishes into the next room, where I found what I assumed to be the dining room.
I set up the plates on the table in front of three of the chairs. My rampant hunger was making even the assortment of grasses and weeds I’d prepared look appetizing, but eating raw plants was a one of the easiest ways to get some kind of foodborne illness. Frankly, I'd prefer starvation.
After setting everything up, I spotted a typical-looking newspaper lying right there in front of me. My excitement spiked as I imagined what kind of crazily fantastical current events it might contain. I picked it up, practically trembling with anticipation as I read the headline, "Local Flower To Bloom In Two Days".
All right, I think every word of that sentence just bored me. And I'm me.
Seeing as how that was the headline of the paper, I didn’t bother to look at anything else. I simply put it in my hammerspace in case it could come in handy later. If there was one thing I knew about adventuring, it was the importance of developing a good inventory as soon as possible.
I did happen to spot the date at the top of the paper before I put it away, though. It said it was Monday, March 31st, so I figured it must have been yesterday’s paper.
I guess that means there's only one day until that flower blooms then. How will I handle the suspense?
You know, this strange new world has a strange way of being strange. I've already been here for almost half a day, and the most unusual thing I've seen is an oddly-crafted door. Sure, I slept through most of that half day, but so far my adventure has amounted to sarcasm, reading, and food preparation. Aren't encounters supposed to be an endless fountain of excitement or something? Maybe I'm just doing something wrong.
As I tried to imagine what I needed to do to spice up my adventuring soup, suddenly the sound of a door slamming shocked me out of my thoughts.
It was odd. I had been waiting this whole time for anything to show up so I could get my adventure started, but as soon as I heard that door slam, I zoomed back into the kitchen so fast that a cloud of dust in the shape of my body manifested. I couldn’t believe it, but my antisocial tendencies were actually making me afraid to be seen by one of these unknown creatures.
Get it together. You have to talk to one of them sooner or later, so just get it over with now. Go out there and introduce yourself.
I couldn’t do it. As I heard the approaching footsteps, all I could do was stand there in that empty kitchen and hope that nothing gave me away.
There were two sets of footsteps, which I assumed to mean one creature if last night was any indication, though these ones had a slightly faster rhythm to them. I leaned up against the wall, hoping that whatever it was would start talking to itself so I could discern if it was one of the two from last night. Between the two, I was hoping for Fluttershy if only for the fact that there was a chance I'd finally get a glimpse of what she actually looked like. However, soon I heard the same footsteps walk back out of the room, followed by the sound of a rapid succession of doors being opened and shut back.
That doesn’t sound good. Is someone looking for me? Should I have just stayed in my room and waited there for someone to show up? I hope I didn't do anything sacrilegious to these creatures.
After about another minute of the slamming barrage, I finally did hear a voice. It was an earsplitting scream that sounded like it was from a young girl with a big mouth.
"Dad!" the voice called out, making my entire body waver like someone just blasted a trumpet through my ear.
A few seconds later she yelled it again, only louder and somewhat pathetically. The second yell actually made me feel bad that I was just standing there hiding while she was looking for her dad. I assumed from what she was shouting, she was probably that daughter that Mr. Rich mentioned. Since she didn’t know where he was either, I started to get concerned that he was telling some of his other friends about my being here. The last thing I wanted was to become a local celebrity.
Just think of all the talking that would involve.
I heard a final door open and close, and all the racket finally stopped. I couldn't tell if she'd actually found him or just given up hope. I probably would have been a bit more proactive if I weren’t such a pineapple in a vineyard at the moment. I still wasn’t sure what sort of reaction I’d get if I were to show my face now or what reaction I’d have to seeing another talking horse.
A talking horse's daughter would be a talking horse, right? Can I assume that to be true?
As I continued to hide right behind the corner of that kitchen wall, something suddenly happened that drowned and strangled all my preoccupations. Those same quick footsteps came back into the dining room, and I heard a chair slide against the dining room floor. Then, an unmistakable sound graced my ears like the world going silent. It was the sound of eating, which I could only take to mean one thing: Mr. Rich's daughter was eating the meal I had made.
It wasn't that I was thrilled to have someone appreciate my little gesture. It took me less time than a montage, and I didn't even do a very good job on it. No, this sound made time stand still for a much more significant reason. It was a sound that made me finally realize something about this world that made my mind almost boggle: I wasn't being ignored here.
At least through Fluttershy and the Rich family, I was having a physical effect on a supernatural world. It was a small effect, yes, but it was mine, and it was very real.
It was at that point that I knew this world wasn't going to disappoint me, and that fact alone brought the biggest smile to my face that a stick of dynamite couldn't have blown off. I didn't believe in eternity, but at that moment, I wanted to sit there and listen to that sound for at least seven of them.