//------------------------------// // Chapter Six: Fervor Dreams // Story: An Investigation Into Chaos // by Forgoten Null //------------------------------// Names, dates, times and reasons. These things are simple, understandable and above all logical. They hold themselves self-evident and they can be used to explain just about anything that occurs in modern society. Simply put, these things should always make sense. That being said, these were the pillars of Dual Vision’s whole world. These were the things that held his mind together and shielded it from the tirade of pointless facts and details that constantly sought to overwhelm him. They were the things that he could always rely on and the things he could always make sense of. This was especially true in the midst of an investigation. At least, that’s how it was supposed to be. For the first time in his life, Dual was finding that that wasn’t necessarily true. This investigation was proving to be a bit different than all the others. It was also the most frustrating, aggravating, and infuriating case that he ever had the distinct pleasure of working on. Dual yawned loudly, breaking the silence in his disheveled study. He started to shake his head in an attempt to dispel his weariness as he decided that it was also the most draining case he has worked on as well. It would have been so much easier for him to give up at that point. It wasn’t like he had actually found any concrete leads in the last few days, or even in the last few weeks for that matter. He blinked a few times and continued looking through the ledger, occasionally marking down names and addresses to reference later. Of course he realized no one would blame him for dropping the case, no one would question him if he said that it was beyond simply beyond him; he could easily pass the buck over to the next investigator and be done with it. However, at this point he knew Discord well enough to realize that there wouldn’t be another investigator if he quit, or more precisely Discord knew him well enough not to bother with another investigator in the first place. That’s why he couldn’t throw in the towel so easily; he knew that Discord was counting on him. Discord had the distinction of being Dual’s most interesting and most accommodating client. Not only had he brought him a case that was riddled with intrigue and mystery but he brought his own personal stake with it as well. Discord worked tirelessly on this case for months and had expected nothing less from Dual. Dual just relished the opportunity to ply his trade in the name of truth and justice and Discord had made sure that he had every tool he needed at his disposal. Dual’s insistence to continue investigating was buried deep in his own principality, the truth must always come out. Of course, the pay wasn’t bad either. But the problem still remained that this investigation was completely draining him, nothing made sense. Well to be more specific it was more like everything made sense, too much sense. Every time Dual would approach the case from a different angle he would rush headlong into a brick wall. Alibis were ironclad, motives were nonexistent and possible culprits didn’t even seem to exist half the time. This case was crumbling the pillars of his world. Names, he had thousands of names. Discord had insisted that they dredge up the name of every stallion, mare, and foal in Canterlot and beyond. At the time he thought it was an egregious violation of privacy, not to mention overkill. It shouldn’t have been necessarily at all really; all it was is a forgery of a document in his own name, it should have taken him a few weeks, at most, to find the perpetrator. Though he couldn’t even seem to find a proper suspect now, he was quickly running out of prospects. Dates, they seemed to conspire against him explicitly. Records like these were supposed to have perfect time seals, they were foolproof; somehow even this system was subverted. No matter how hard he looked he couldn’t find any discrepancies or anomalies in of it, it’s like the calendar was working against him now. Every day he spent looking for his next lead was a day that that very same lead might disappear, lost or forgotten. Days, weeks, months, all began to blur together as they swept Dual along with the relentless flow of time. Time, yes then there was time. Time would be normally be counted by officiality for Dual. Things had to happen at specific times, times that could be used to establish causality and correlation. Now time itself had abandoned him in his quest. He had no time to eat, no time to sleep, no time to rest; every second he wasted was one second that would never be returned. “Why even care?” He asked himself silently. “Honestly, why should I care? Every lead’s a dead end and that’s if I even find one in the first place! None of this is makes any sense… “I should just give up…” He sighed and closed his ledgers and reference book, hastily sweeping them over to the side and smashing his face into the table. He screamed, instantly regretting the decision, rubbing his temples to try to get rid of the instant headache. He took a deep breath and ran a hoof through his mane before rubbing the encroaching sleep out of his eyes. He needed to try to forget about everything, just for a moment, but his mind wouldn’t let him let it go. “Why? Why am I’m so invested in this?” He thought. “Why did they do this? It doesn’t make any sense! Why?” "Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?" There was a deafening crack when the sturdy oak table collapsed as his hooves slammed down on top of it. Loose papers flew everywhere and the ledgers shot over somewhere on the side of the room. The heavily bound reference book shot up over Dual’s head before landing on the behind him with a loud thud, jarring him back to reality. He glanced at the cracked and broken table in front of him and sighed as he buried his muzzle in his trembling hooves. He jumped off of the stool and looked around to see what was salvageable. The study was in a state of shambles, even without considering the splintered table behind him the place was in a sorry state. He picked up his reference book and fell to his haunches, surrounded by a veritable disaster area. After a few minutes of just sitting there, breathing, he finally managed to calm himself down and stop shaking. Once the shock and anger passed, he simply felt disgusted; though not for breaking the table. This was his job; it was his life’s work. His one purpose was to help others when they could not help themselves. Discord needed him to figure this out. He needed to figure this out; at this point it had become personal. He vowed silently to himself to double his resolve, in a show of defiance and determination he let out a weak yawn. “Huh,” he said to himself. He looked over to the far wall and squinted at the clock only to discover that he worked through the whole night… Again… There were Ponies that would say that such a thing would speak volumes about his endless determination, his limitless focus and his impeccable work ethic. Though to him, all it meant was that he probably needed to sleep Dual trotted purposefully through his humble home and into his bedroom. His room was decidedly under-furnished, a true Spartan ascetic. A window, a bed, a nightstand, and a wardrobe were all that graced the room, as far as Dual was concerned that was all he really needed. The only personal touches consisted of a train schedule unceremoniously nailed to the wall, a picture of a family left behind, and a rug from a faraway land. Once again, Dual cut to the chase. Without further ado he fell onto the bed with sun still streaming through the open window. His body fell into the recumbent bliss of slumber immediately upon contact with the soft linens; however, his restless mind had other plans. Whitetail wood was a small and secluded forest just outside of Ponyville. Besides the occasional hiker or camping party there were no disturbances, just nature and its bounty; rabbits, foxes, birds, insects, and wolves. Today the wolves hunted. He eagerly chased his prey through the dense forest undergrowth. The shadow was more than his normal prey; it was an intruder in his domain. It was an unwanted presence in his home and it needed to be eliminated, if only to preserve his pride. Either way it made the interloper his quarry, something he would hunt down and deal with at his discretion. He concerned himself not with ethics or morality nor did he concern himself with the reasoning behind the interloper’s intrusion, he was just the hunter and it was his nature to hunt. He was the predator and it was the prey, in the end there was nothing more to it than that. At least, that’s how it was supposed to be. Somewhere deep inside of him he could feel that something was wrong. Every time he would get within a hairs breadth of the shadow, ready to pounce and end this charade, it would suddenly vanish only to reappear at the edge of his vision a few seconds later. He, however, was indignant. He would catch the shadow in his jaws and reveal it for what it really was before dispatching it in the manner fitting all those who fled his presence. Just what exactly did that shadow think it was doing, he was the predator and this was his domain, he was supposed to be the one in control here. It was an affront to his very nature that it could evade him so easily. So he doubled his resolve and chased the shadow deeper and deeper into the veil. As the chase dragged on he saw the sun fall behind him and the darkness erupt in front of him. As the chase dragged on he felt the thistles and thorns of the unwelcoming forest cut deep into his flanks and haunches. As the chase dragged on he felt his body tire, breaths became labored, muscles screamed at him for release from their exertion. Still, all doubt and all fear were purged from his mind. This was his domain, this was his hunt. He would catch this shadow; there was nothing of this world that would stop him because there was nothing that could stop him. This was his world and he would claim his place everything else. Because this was his domain, this was his hunt. The darkness threatened to consume everything as the two sprinted in their deathly dance towards the center of the forest. One would follow the other to the end of the earth for the answers they needed to survive; more important still was to retain the peace of mind that all game could be caught. The other ran simply for self-preservation, the desire to survive. Fear; persecution, regardless of whether or not it is deserved, is an amazing motivator. The two paced out the clearing in the center of the forest. One was the hunter, one hunted. They stood as the primal paradigm of predator and prey while the darkness licked at the ground beneath them; it seemed to hunger for the altercation that would inevitably follow. The shadow came to a stop at the center, accepting its fate; it wasn’t going to run away anymore. He knew the now that the end of this game was nigh. He would be victorious, after all this was his world. As he crept closer and closer he repeated his mantra. "This is my domain, this is my hunt, and this is my world." He carefully aligned himself, perfectly placed as the shadow stood paralyzed in his presence. He lined up his shot and leapt in a clean arc that sliced through the air. Aiming for the neck, one bite and it would all be over. Just before he made contact, just before he claimed his prize, the shadow turned its head and locked its void like eyes on him; it seemed to stare into his very soul. The moment before it disappeared into vapor the shadow smiled at him, an obscene and maddening smile. Then his world imploded. The darkness, before kept at bay by some unseen power plunged inward; it consumed all leaving not a shred of light left in this universe or any other. He couldn’t understand what had happened, it shouldn’t have happened. He won, he had always won; this was his domain and it was his world! He should be in the throes of joy and feast! Instead he found the opposite. Pain Fear Confusion Loss His world had been torn away from him, evaporated in an instant. It had cruelly plunged him into an unknowing oblivion, one from which he had no hope of escape. Then he saw the shade. At first he feared the shadow had returned, to mock him, to remind him of his loss before snuffing him out entirely. This however, was a different presence. One also cloaked in darkness, but it held within itself an entirely different light. This was no intruder, no interloper, here was benevolence. He crawled towards the shade, desperate to be free from his torment. As he approached it the shadows no longer burned him, instead they caressed and comforted him. He felt safe and whole once more as they wrapped him up in their intimate embrace. With time he came to stand beside the shade, he looked upon it with reverence and his eyes pleaded for assistance. The shade did not return his gaze; instead it began trotting out of the darkness of the clearing and into the unknown. Still afraid of the world around him he hesitated, unsure of whether or not he should follow his savior. Eventually he stepped forward tentatively; he decided that he was more afraid of being left alone in the darkness than he was of stepping into the strange light. They walked side by side into the light. As the world around him came into focus it was decidedly alien. The grass and undergrowth were replaced by hard packed dirt that was all perfectly level. The knotted trees and shading leaves were replaced with well-manicured walls of green. A part of him realized that he was walking along in some kind of maze. A greater part of him recognized something else. This was her domain, this was her world. As he followed her through the maze, he felt her presence permeate the walls and the air around him. He struggled to resist the urge to turn tail and run away from the foreign presence, but that urge was ignored in favor of the intense feeling of safety and familiarity that surged within him with every step he took. He was sure he had been here before, though he could not remember when. He disregarded the nagging questions that ran through his mind and followed her to the center of the maze. It was an open area overgrown with breathtaking flora and an elegant fountain. He took a moment to take in the beauty that surrounded him as the shade walked towards the fountain. Content, he went and joined her as she sat beside the shimmering fountain. A brief silence passed between them before a voice echoed through his mind. “Dual Vision,” the voice called out, some forgotten part of him recognized that that was his name, “what has brought you to my sanctuary?” It asked him with utmost sincerity and concern. “What is it that has troubled you so?” He simply cocked his head at the query, confused at how to respond. For a moment the shade was plaintive and then it seemed struck by a thought. It chuckled silently before the voice spoke to him once more. “If you cannot tell me, then show me.” As she said this, the shade rose and moved to the fountain, at her touch the water seemed to defy itself. The water flew into an iridescent mist that consumed the area around them, casting them in a multi-chromatic glow. When he tried to inspect it, it shifted and flowed away from his gaze. After a bit of experimentation he discovered he could project his mind’s eye onto the canvas of mist, painting his vision onto the world around him. The shade watched as he relived the chase through the wood. It watched in perfect silence as he drew closer and closer to his prey once more. Then once again the hunt was complete and he was about to deliver the coup de grace his opponent when his world imploded just as it did before. This time he was almost immediately pulled out of his melancholy by a sympathetic touch and a soothing voice. Once he managed to calm down again the voice addressed him once more. “All is well young one,” it said with command and concern, “you have done well but now you must rest. Follow me”. And follow he did. Eventually they crossed over to yet another domain. This domain seemed to be overtaken by darkness; however, this darkness was different the darkness that existed in the shades domain his or the darkness that invaded his. It didn’t seem to have any sort of consciousness or agenda other than to obscure the world from prying eyes. From time to time he could make out shapes in the distance, broken and misshapen things that seemed to defy logic, only for them to be snuffed out entirely by the encroaching shadows. He did not like this domain. Soon they came upon the form of a great slumbering beast. The beast’s body seemed to stretch on forever before disappearing into the flickering shadows on the horizon. He shifted silently, unnerved by the creature that lay before them. It was than the shadows and the behemoth, more than the unnerving whispers and impossible stretches of absolute silence. There was something other that existed here that set him on edge. “Fear not young one,” the voice commanded once more, “this is your charge. No harm will come to you here.” He stood locked in place as his memories came flooding back to him and realization finally hit him. He looked over the beast in front of him and sat down. “So he is asleep?” He asked rhetorically. “Isn’t this the realm of dreams? Is it alright to leave him like this?” He looked over to Luna with concern in his eyes. She smiled at him before turning to look at the beast herself. “Yes,” Luna said, “I have brought you here to remind you of what you quest for, I have brought you here to calm your roiling mind. It is his nature to sleep, even in dream. You must remember that time means little to one such as him.” She walked up to him and ran a hoof through his mane. “You drive yourself to fault; be patient, he will wait for you to solve the puzzle.” Dual nodded as he looked at the giant before him, he was unsure if he should be amazed or concerned. Luna continued despite his wandering gaze “Now, breathe deep of the ether of this realm. Its age is a sedative; it will allow your soul to rest, if only for one night.” Dual, ever compliant, inhaled deeply and before slipping into blissful unconsciousness. With a thought Luna pulled herself and the sleeping form back to his domain. Her eyes glazed over as she looked upon his small and tired body. “Sister,” she said with an uncharacteristic resolve, “I respect your privacy. But the wellbeing of my Ponies must come before all else.” Inspiration is a powerful thing. Dual sighed as he looked at the state of his study, though it was nothing compared to the massive headache he had woken up to. He began the arduous job of picking up each paper, one by one, and putting them in their proper place. After several minutes he found the false report, buried in a shallow grave of notes and documents. He gingerly picked it up and placed it on the nearby table. He stared at it for a moment before chuckling to himself. “And to think,” he said, “such a simple bunch of paper could cause me so much grief.” As he turned away a golden glare caught his eye, he looked back to the table when he realized that the golden ink in Princess Celestia’s seal had caught the light in just such a way to momentarily blind him. When he saw it the first time he assumed it was nothing more than an impressive forgery, though after he inspected it he discovered it was an exact duplicate. Something seemed off about it. In all honesty it was a terrible idea to begin with. Normally he would have just disregarded it without a second though but by that point he was far to ingrained in the case to turn away a possible lead. She couldn’t have done it; there was no way she could have. “Or was there?” He thought to himself. He walked back over to the table and picked up the fraudulent report, carefully slotting it into his saddlebags. After that he took a deep breath, turned around, and walked out the door.