August 1883
At a very nice Victorian home, an eight year-old girl was surrounded by many books on the floor while she read in front of the fireplace.
Her parents looked on from the other room. "Isn't great? Our little girl actually wants to learn." said the very proud mother. They father did not look as excited about it. "What's wrong Sam?"
"Learning and reading is good and all, but it will just be wasted away once she finds a husband and raises her children Tara." sighed the father.
"What if she doesn't find a husband-"
"It's either live a professional life or get married and raise a family, she can't have both!" he interrupted.
"I don't care what life she chooses as long as it was her who chose it." the wife stated before she left to cook dinner. The husband just looked on with concern with her daughter's future, he did not want her intelligence to be wasted away.
Chapter XIII
Adam Gray
18-year-old Adam was looking out the window from his seat in the train, until he heard some arguing.
"You don't understand my good sir!" yelled a man to the train conductor. "The last time I entrusted my luggage under your care, it ended up being stolen!"
"But sir, regulations state that any luggage that cannot fit under the seats or in the over head compartments must be stowed away with the rest of over-sized loads." stated the conductor to the man. "Now hand me the luggage or I'll be forced to remove you from this train!"
The man just reluctantly hands the conductor his over-sized suitcase. "Thank you." he stated before taking the bag and walking off.
The man then sat down in the empty seat next to Adam's.
"I don't trust the railroad companies." he sighed.
"That's why I packed light." mused Adam.
The man interested in Adam puts out his hand. "The name is Wotton, Henry Wotton." he greeted.
"Uh...Gray...Adam Gray." Adam shook his hand.
"So...where is a young man like yourself heading anyways?" asked Henry.
"Columbia College, New York...I got a scholarship there." answered Adam.
"Why...I'm going there to begin my graduate studies!" mused Henry, smiling at the coincidence.
"Oh how interesting."
"A small world." mused the older man.
November 1883
Both Adam and Henry walked into a rowdy and festive Irish pub in the city.
"Now this is what I call a drinking establishment!" mused Henry and he lead Adam to the bar. "Some of your best Irish whiskey good sir." ordered Henry.
The bartender took their order and served them their pints.
Henry then turned around to look at those in attendance. He then spotted a nice young woman looking at them with flirty eyes. "Adam" he asked. "have you ever been with a woman?"
"No...why you ask?"
"Well, now is your chance." Henry then turned Adam around and pointed to the woman. "I want you to walk up to her and tell her that you want to spend a magical night with her." he stated.
"You just want me to walk up to her so I can have sex with her?" clarified a confused Adam.
"You need some experience in the bedroom...your future wife will greatly appreciate that." stated the older man to his friend. "Now go and talk." Henry pushed Adam off the bar and towards the woman.
Henry could see Adam nervously talk to the woman, only to then see the woman get up and smack Adam in the face. The 18-year-old then stumbled back over to Henry. "She wasn't interested." explained Adam before sitting down next to Henry.
September 1887
A horse jumped over a ditch as it sprinted around an open field filled with make-shift obstacles. Riding the horse was Mary she directed it towards the different obstacles. As she did that, her father watched and kept time on his pocket watch. "Making good time sweetie!" he yelled.
Soon, the horse and rider reached the home stretch and jumped the final obstacle and crossed the finish line. "And time!"
"How did I do dad?" asked Mary.
"Five seconds off your previous time." said her father as he helped his daughter get off the horse. "You really have a natural talent for horses."
"Thanks, I always felt a special kinship to them." explained the girl.
"Yes, I can see that." chuckled the father. "Now let's get going home before it gets dark."
"Yes daddy."
Adam was nervously waiting at an office in New Jersey, waiting for his interview to start.
A representative in a white suit walks in and sat down at his desk. "So...you must be Mr Adam Gray?" asked the man.
"Uh...yes..." Adam nervously shook his hand.
The representative then looked over at Adam's application and resume. "A Columbia graduate huh?"
Adam just nodded his head.
"It says here that your senior thesis was on how light bends in the presence of high mass, is that correct?"
Adam nodded his head again.
"But then it says here that you failed your senior thesis because it was, and I quote your professor, 'a well researched thesis that is not grounded on any current trends in physics and of reality.'"
"That professor was always mocking my theories, check the math, you'll see that my theory has ground." defended Adam.
"I'm just a man who works at human resources for a great scientist Mr. Gray...not a physicist." the representative then handed Adam his resume back. "Unfortunately, there is no place for you here in West Orange."
Adam just looked at the man in shock.
"But I do know a scientist that I know you'll work great under."
"Who?"
Adam nervously entered the laboratory to several people working on various electric motors and generators. He then saw a tall well-dressed and groomed man with a mustache walk up to him. "Adam Gray?" he asked in a noticeable accent.
"Yes..." he puts out his hand. The man reluctantly accepted it.
"Welcome...the name is Nikola Tesla." answered the man.
Adam was shocked that the actual man he was going to work for is standing in front of him. "Uh...nice to meet you Mr. Tesla."
"Come," said Tesla as he puts on his overcoat. "we'll walk while get to know each other." he then walked out the door, Adam following him out.
The two of them walked the streets of New York City. "So, where do you live Mr. Gray?" asked Tesla.
"I live in a boarding house on the lower east side." answered Adam.
"I read your thesis Mr. Gray, and it was very interesting." he stated.
"Really?"
"Oh yes...even though I don't believe in it, it was very well thought out and bold." explained the slightly taller man.
"Why...thank you Mr. Tesla."
"You're welcome."
June 1888
"OH COME ON!" exclaimed Mary. "I'm a far better rider than half of those boys out there!"
"No girls aloud Miss Oak." said the show official. "Besides, horse competitions are best left to the men where riding is an essential show of true manliness-"
Mary screamed and tackled the show official to the ground. "LET ME COMPETE! LET ME COMPETE!" punches him in the face repeatedly, Mary's father had to run in and pull his daughter off of him.
"MARY NO!"
Adam was busy looking over electrical schematics when he heard Tesla walk in. "Stop what you're doing Adam!" he announced.
"What is it?" asked a confused Adam.
"I was offered a deal from the Westinghouse Company for the induction motor." he answered while looking through some papers on his desk.
"Why that's great! We should celebrate!" exclaimed and excited Adam.
"Unfortunately, I've been asked to go to Pittsburgh to do consulting work." explained Tesla.
"And...?"
"I can't bring you along...they want their own workers helping me." he stated.
"But what's going to happen to me?" Adam asked, confused.
"I don't know Adam, but I guess you're on your own." he stated.
Adam was in complete shock. barely one year into his new job, and already he has been let go.
Mary's father was pulling the horse with his daughter on it. "Why do I live in a male dominated world daddy?" asked Mary, ashamed at what she did.
"Because we men are better fit at surviving this harsh world...and to navigate the difficulty of life." stated her father.
"I wish I can have BOTH a family and a career." the thirteen year-old sighed.
"Me too...but that is just not possible...a career will leave you little time to find a husband and start a family and vice versa." explained the father.
Mary was afraid of her future.
November, 1893
28 year-old Adam arrived at Athens, Ohio on horseback. After he spent four years on the road with a Vaudeville group, he was ready to settle down and find stable employment. After he performed his final show with the group in Chicago to celebrate the closing of the Colombian Exposition, he decided to go straight to Athens where is hold University friend Henry Wotton stayed at.
He arrived at Henry's modest home, he hitched up his horse by the street and walked up to the steps to the front door. Adam knocked.
An old woman answered the door. "Can I help you?" she asked in a Scottish accent.
"Yes, I'm Adam Gray, is Mr. Henry Wotton in?" politely asked Adam.
"Ah, he is, come on in and wait by the door, I'll get him for you." the woman led Adam inside and walked to the parlor. "Mr. Wotton? A Mr. Gray wants to see you."
"Adam Gray?!" said a voice is disbelief. The 38 year-old Henry happily walked in to see his old friend Adam there. "It is you!" walked up to him and hugged the young man tightly. "You may go now Mrs. Tuppence." he said to the woman.
"Yes sir." nodded and left.
"So good to finally see you in the flesh again...it has been too long!" he was overjoyed in seeing Adam again. "Come on, let's catch up over some nice tea...I would also love for you to meet my wife Lauren and daughter Tabitha." he lead Adam into the parlor.
"It would be nice to meet them."
At the same time, Mary was at the Athens Library as she re-shelved some books.
"Let's see...Mechanics go on this shelf...Magnetism goes on the shelf below..." Mary looked at the subject matter of each book. "And what's this?" sees an out of place book in her arms. "Domestic animals?! What are you doing in the Physics shelf! You should be right across the row under Agriculture!"
"MISS OAK!" yelled the library's chief librarian, his booming voice started the woman which caused her to jump and accidentally drop some of the books in her arms.
"Oh my goodness...sorry about that Mr. New." she crouched down to pick the books up.
"Don't worry about that Miss Oak...I just wanted to personally deliver you a letter from New York State Library School." said Mr. New as he took out a sealed envelope from his suit pocket.
"Let me see!" she snatched the letter from his hand and ripped it open.
Mr. New decided to leave Mary alone to read it.
Dear Miss Mary Oak,
I regret to inform you that you have not been accepted to work for me at the New York State Library and become a student there, although I sense amazing potential in you, I feel like you have not completely matured yet to the point where you can handle such a responsibility. Please do not take this the wrong way and instead take this as motivation to better yourself and grow to reach your full potential, and do not let being a woman prevent you from reaching your goal. Try again in a few years and I will be glad to accept you.
Sincerely,
Melvil Dewey
A tear landed on the letter.
June 1894
Adam walked out of his new home with his bicycle. "Be back later Mrs. Tuppence." he waved inside.
"Just be back before sunset!"
"I will." he closed the front door, got on his bike and rode off.
"ADAM!" yelled a familiar voice as he reached the nearby park. He turned around and stopped the bike to see Henry who ran towards him.
"I need to...talk...to you..." Henry breathed heavily as he tried to catch his breath.
"About what?"
"The fact that your are turning the house I gave you to live in into a horse shelter."
"So?"
"Mrs. Tuppence told me that you have been developing a habit of buying unwanted horses at the monthly farmer's auction." explained the older man.
"Well of course I have been doing that...I can't bare to see those horses get turned into glue or meat."
"And to provide you companionship?" bluntly asked Henry.
"What makes you say that?"
"Look at you Adam...29 years old and not even a girlfriend!" he exclaimed. "At this rate you'll be doomed to live and die alone!"
"Well I am content with my life regardless...besides, I understand horses better than the opposite sex." answered Adam. "Plus, most of the women I have met were mentally un-stimulating to me."
"You'll never find a wife if you keep these high standards up Adam."
"So be it..." Adam got back on his bike and rode away without a single goodbye to his friend.
As Adam rode across the park, he noticed the sun start to set, it was time for him to get back to his home. He turned around and continued along the path until he noticed something curious; a young woman on a hill reading, but this young woman happened to have something that immediately caught Adam's eye; her lavender eyes.
"Lavender eyes?" he was so focused on her eyes and the way they sparkled in the sunset that he failed to notice the small rock in the pathway. The front bike-wheel hit the rock pretty hard which caused the bike and Adam to tumble head over heels to the ground.
"Oh my goodness!" exclaimed the shocked young woman as she dropped her book and ran up to help the poor man. "You okay?"
Adam looked up to see the lavender eyed girl over him. "Oh yes...I'm fine now...Miss...?"
"Oak, Mary Oak." greeted the woman. "And your name?"
"Gray, Adam Gray." he greeted. "Sorry...I kind of got distracted there."
"Let me guess...it was me that distracted you?" she rolled her eyes.
"That and your book on the basics of Mechanical Engineering." he pointed out.
"Is that a bad thing?"
"I actually find it impressive to see anyone, let alone a woman, read about such a subject." he smiled.
Mary kind of blushed from the statement, a man who is actually impressed by her intelligent, a rarity in her life.
Christmas 1894
The months pass and both Adam and Mary hit it off fine. They grew closer the more they got to know each other and became more in love with each other. Adam finally found a woman who can keep his interested, and Mary found a man who was respectful to all of her wishes and goals. They both also bonded over the care of Adam's six horses.
It snowed hard outside as the happy couple quickly got inside Adam's home to get warm. "Oh my that snow came out of nowhere!" exclaimed Mary who shivered as Adam closed the front door.
"I know, let's go to my study, I'll get the fireplace going."
Mary agreed.
About an hour later, the fire was roaring as the couple sat down on the floor and cuddled in front of it. "Best Christmas ever." mused the woman.
"I can agree." grinned Adam, he gave her forehead a quick peck.
"You know...you're the first ever man I ever falling in love with."
"I am honored that I was your first." Adam smiled as their faces grew closer together.
"Adam."
"Yes Mary?"
Mary whispered into her boyfriend's ear. "I'm ready."
Adam's eyes went wide. "R-Really? N-now?"
The girlfriend just laughed. "Let me guess...this is your first time as well?"
The man reluctantly nodded.
"There's no shame in that...we can learn about this together." and with that, they both started to kiss each other passionately.
But what Adam did not know, but Mary only had a year left to live.
December 1895
A gunshot echoed across the park landscape, as Mary slowly fell to the snow covered ground.
"NO!" she could hear Adam yell. Is this how death feels like?
Next thing Mary knew, she was in Adam's arms, she felt helpless as she could do nothing but see Adam hopelessly cry for her to live. She soon saw a bright white light in the corner of her eye, she turned her head slightly to see a confusing sight; A blue coated alicorn mare with a crescent moon on her rump and a slightly older Adam crying and watching on.
"Is that mare death?" she asked to herself as her vision darkened. "Or a guide to my next life?" she just accepted her fate and let the sweet embrace of death take her. "Hopefully we'll be together again in another life...hopefully."
Adam saw Trixie fire another beam at the ball of energy in front of him. The human quickly braced himself for the impact.
"NO!" boomed a new voice as the beam just froze in mid air.
"What the buck?!" exclaimed a shocked Trixie. Both she and the human turned only to see the sight of Twilight, floating, eyes white and glowing.
"Twilight?" Adam was in complete shock.
"That is one of my many names...for I have lived and died multiple times across multiple places..." boomed the lavender unicorn.
"What happened? What did Trixie do to you?!"
"I traveled into the void between universes...and I saw past, present and future all at once...I have lived during the Hyperspace War...died during the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor...and met the most amazing man I have ever met and died in his arms."
Adam finally placed the puzzle pieces together. "Mary?"
"Me and her are one in the same Adam...always have been...and it is so great to finally have you in my life again Adam...but now...I must become death...the destroyer of worlds!"
"WHAT THE BUCK IS GOING ON?!" yelled a confused Trixie.
Twilight waved her foreleg. "I spread your atoms across space and time." Trixie suddenly disintegrated in front of Adam's eyes.
"Twilight stop!" pleaded the human.
"I can't Adam...I just can't...it's burning me alive!" cried Twilight as this new power flowed through her.
Adam walked up to the unicorn. "Can you see a future where you and I are married and growing old together?" he asked as he reached her.
"So many of them Adam...but none involving myself as Mary...and none involving me as Twilight..." the mare continued.
"But am I content regardless in any of them?"
"In all of them..." a tear flowed down her cheek as Adam placed a hand under her chin.
"Let me help you..." was all he said as he tenderly kissed the mare, his body absorbed all of that new power and energy.
Twilight felt like she was in complete bliss as she felt this power drain away from her. The most magical moment in her entire lives was this very moment and kiss.
"Adam...." was all she said as the energy was removed from her.
"Mary..." Adam broke the kiss, Twilight was now cured.
They both just stared at each other. "But...how...?" Twilight confused.
"I'm a time traveler...a temporal anomaly...anything is possible...or at least that's what I think happened."
Twilight just grabbed the human and kissed him passionately. Adam happily went along with it, satisfied to be reunited with the mare that impacted his life more so than he realized.
"I know you're with Fluttershy now...but just this once...love me like I was Mary..." pleaded the mare.
"You ARE her..." smiled Adam as he continued to kiss her. They both went down to the ground.
Little did they both knew, but Celestia peaked from around the corner and saw them. She was in complete and utter shock, her blood boiled. The princess quickly teleported out of the room and into her chambers.
"DAMN YOU ADAM! DAMN YOU!" she screamed as she bucked a priceless vase. "Ugh...I guess it is time to start preparing for Plan B...I really hoped I wouldn't resort to this...but you left me no other choice human!" she snarled.
She walked to the window and looked down from it to see Discord's statue still in the garden but with a crack that ran down its side. "Although I have a feeling Plan B is going to be...interesting..." she smirked.
TO BE CONTINUED...