Oddball

by The Infinity Doctor

Chapter 12

Mirror held my hand as she and I walked up the driveway to Elaine's house, she was still
having trouble walking on two legs- but she was getting fairly good at it. I rang the
doorbell, and Elaine answered.

"Hey" I said.
Elaine looked over her shoulder and back to us.
"Hey..." she said.
"Are you okay? You look a little distracted"
She smiled nervously, and shifted her gaze.

'She's hiding something, Mirror'
'Is she? I thought she was just happy to see you'
'...no, this is something else...'

"Elaine, what's the matter?"
"Nothing- come on in, there's someone here I want you to meet..."
Mirror and I stepped into the house; and I was completely floored at who the visitor was-

-Sady smoothed her skirt as she stood nervously in the living room.

Mirror's reaction was instantaneous, she shrieked and clawed her way into my arms.
"It's the bad lady! Make her go! Make her go!" she whimpered, trying to dig herself into my
chest.
"Shhh, it's okay, I'm right here" I cooed, making an attempt to calm her down.

I looked to Sady.

"It's been awhile..."
"Yeah...I guess it has..." she coughed.
"Why are you here?" I asked "I believe I made my point at that facility"
"That's...part of why I'm here...James was relieved of his position and committed to a
mental institution"
"That is good news- but that still doesn't answer my question"
"-and as a result" she continued "I've replaced him as head of the department"
'I've got a bad feeling about this...'
I opened my mouth to speak.
"Let me finish- with the promotion came new responsibilities, and we've got a situation on
our hands, one that none of us can solve..."
"Yeah?"
"That's...That's where you come in, we were hoping you could help"
"What do you need me to do?"
"Not here, we'll...need to bring you back...to the facility"

X X X X X X X

"Daddy...Daddy...I'm scared-" Mirror whimpered as we rode in the back of a S.W.A.T-type van
with, Elaine and Sady.
"I know, sweetie- it'll be over soon" I soothed, running a hand through her hair.
"I'm sorry, I know you must be uncomfortable like this" Sady apologized.
"Well, flying would've been much faster-"
Sady smirked as she rolled her eyes.

The trip to the facility was relatively short, being cooped up in that van was a lot more
comfortable when I was disguised.

Mirror held on to me as if her life depended on it as our group walked down a narrow hallway,
we suddenly stopped and Sady motioned to a wide door.

"Here we are" she said
I walked to the door and flipped open a peephole in the door. As soon as I did, the sound
of crying filled the air.

"Oh no..." I groaned.
"What is it, daddy?"
I latched the peephole closed, and turned to the other three.
"Sam- what was in there?" Elaine asked.
"How long has she been here?" I asked, ignoring her.
"About three weeks, I've tried making her comfortable...she's taking all of this a little
worse than you did"
"Gee, I wonder why" I said sarcastically "Could you take Elaine and Mirror, I think I need
to do this alone"
"Do what alone? Sam, what's happening?" Elaine asked.
"I need you to trust me on this, it's my situation all over again"
She nodded and picked up Mirror.
"I'll see both of you in about an hour, two tops"
I said goodbye to Mirror, Elaine, and Sady- and reached for the lock on the door.

'Here goes nothing...'
I transformed into my human form, and entered the room.

X X X X X X X

'Let's see what the damage is now...' I thought, slowly approaching the small creature
curled up into a ball in a far corner of the room.

"Hello?" I asked softly.
The small creature's head shot up, and she stared at me in wide-eyed terror- and constricted
itself tighter into a ball.

"It's alright" I said, giving her enough space.

"No it won't" she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
"You don't need to be afraid, I know what you're going through"
"How could you?"
Her eyes didn't rise to meet mine

"Because I..."

Fire engulfed my form, burning away my disguise.

"...am just like you"

This time she did look up, with awe, fear, shock, and a number of other emotions.
"I- I- I- heard- about you- in-in- the news..."

'I'm surprised they let that get out'

"Well, good to see I'm still famous" I chuckled "I'm Sam, what's your name?"
She looked down shyly.
"That's alright- do you have anyone I can contact for you? Family or relatives?"
"Not anymore..."
"What do you mean by that?"

Her mismatched eyes darted to the security camera.

"...are they listening?"
My horn glowed, and the light died from the camera.
"Not anymore"
The little girl wobbled as she stood up, and her entire form was revealed.

A horn and antler jutted out from her hyena-like head, two small fangs poked out of the
corners of her mouth, her head was attatched to a long neck, the fur was the same
coloration of her head- her long, slender body was attatched to a thick brown tail, on the
end was what looked like a claw from an arcade game, one of her arms was a dark blue
flipper, her other arm as a bulky appendage with sharp claws, her left leg was a cloven
hoof, and her right was feline, three toes attatched to it. Two wings hung from her slender,
snake-like body, one was that of a bat, and the other was distinctly bug-like and filled
with holes, much like my own. Her heterochromic eyes were two different sizes, her left being
the smaller- she almost looked insane, now that I think about it...

'Don't assume stuff like that-' I scolded myself 'she's no different than you'

"My mommy never liked me" she began, stumbling over to the bed
"How do you know that?"
"She said I was never 'apposed to be born- an' when I got turned into this, she was gone
when I woke up..."

I struggled to keep my anger hidden as she sniffled.

"I'm sorry"
"I- I- don't think I'll miss her...I'm pretty sure she didn't love me anyhow..."
I sighed and ran my hands over my face.

"...what happens now?" she asked hesitantly.

"I honestly don't know, I'll talk to Sady- don't worry"

I smiled and held out my hand, she looked to it, then to me- A puzzled look crossed her
canine features.

"*Ahem* Well, I'd better get going, I'll come back and visit before I leave, okay?"
"...okay..."

I exited the room and into the hallway; Sady, Elaine, and Mirror were all waiting for me.

"How'd it go?" Sady asked.
"A little better than I expected...her case is just like mine, I said I'd talk to you for
future arrangements"
"I'd be more than happy to release her-"
"Great!"
"-but I'm not cleared to do that, not unless she was in your custody- since she's a ward of
the state, there's nothing much I can do..."

"Ah jeez- with all she's been through? Can't I just take her back to Equestria with us?"
"As much as I'd like you to, you can't- I almost got fired for what happened here a few
months ago"
"Woah...well, is there anything I can do?"
"Not unless you decide to adopt her" Sady laughed.

"That's one idea..." I said, thinking out loud.

"Sam- you've got enough responsibilities already" Elaine said "I don't think you'll have
time to take care of another kid"
"Elaine...it wouldn't be right to just leave her here, if I do this- I can give her a home,
give her a life"

"But- ugh, there's other way around this, is there?"
"I guess not, unless we can think of another way" I said.
I looked down to Mirror.
"And you and I have to talk about this, too"
"Yes, daddy"

"Are you sure what you're getting into?"
"No, I'm not..." I sighed

X X X X X X X

"Hey, I'm back" I said, opening the door "-and I brought someone with me"
The draconequus-girl looked up in surprise.
I chuckled and introduced the two.
"Mirror, this is-"

'Shoot- she never told me her name...'

I could have read her mind, but that would've been unethical of me.

"Alicia" she answered, blushing "my name's Alicia"
"Alicia, this is Mirror, Mirror, this is Alicia"

Mirror approached Alicia cautiously, Alicia doing the same. They stared at each other for a
few minutes, I prepared to break the stalemate when, to my surprise, Mirror's hand shot up,
outstretched.

"H-hi" she said nervously.
"Um, hi" Alicia answered, her paw rising to meet Mirror's hand.
They shook, and smiled at each other, still somewhat nervous.

"Alicia"
She looked up upon hearing her name.
"I talked with Sady, she said that you can't leave without a guardian"
Her eyes immediately filled with terror.
"P-please, don't make me go back! I don't wanna go!" she wailed.
"Don't worry, no one's going to make you go back, sweetie; what I mean is- do you want to go
back to Equestria with me?"
"B-but-but- th-that would mean-"

I waited patiently

"D-do y-you mean it?"
"Yes"

She grabbed me and wept, tears and an aura of joy, happiness, and a hint of fear leaking off
of her.
"Th-thank y-you Sam, what should- should I call you?"
"You can call me whatever you want, hon"
Alicia gasped and shot to Mirror, hugging her for all she was worth.
"Omigoshwe'resistersnow!" she exclaimed rapidly.

"Can't...breathe..." Mirror gasped.

"Oh...right, sorry" Alicia blushed, releasing Mirror "please don't be mad..."
"I'm not mad, just a little surprised"
"Oh...so when do we leave?" she asked, turning to me.
"Well, we still have to wait for the paperwork to go through, then we're good to go"
"So I have to stay here?"
"For at least a little longer, yeah, I'm sorry..."
She sighed and leaned back on her tail.

I jumped as Sady burst into the room, several documents in hand.
"They went through! I've got them!" she cried.
"What? I thought the process took weeks" I said.
"My secret" she smirked, handing me the papers.
"But-but-but- I- you- ugh- thank you, I really appreciate it" I said.
"No problem, Elaine's waiting just outside-"
"She's still here?"

"Who's Elaine?" Alicia asked.

Her question went unanswered as Elaine walked through the door.

"Is everything okay?" she asked.
"Yep, come here, I'd like you to meet Alicia"

Elaine slowly approached Alicia and held out her hand, Alicia looked down shyly; becoming
very interested in the floor.
"It's very nice to meet you Alicia, I'm Elaine"
"Hi..."

I stood up and hugged Elaine, eliciting a shriek of surprise from her.

"I'll get you for that"
"Well I'd better start running then, shouldn't I?"
"Yes, yes you should"

I opened the portal and we said our goodbyes, Alicia clasped my hoof in a death-grip as we
passed through the portal and into Equestria.

"Where are we?" Alicia asked.
"Alicia, welcome to Equestria"

'Welcome home'

Author's Note:

Edited version to come!

Comments

[The Slending Angel]

FIRST!!!!!!!!! Epic fantasticness is what this story is made of.

[The Infinity Doctor]

4029494 Thank you, glad you enjoyed it.

[Deactivated27683799]

Ok this story is coming along nicely but you should redo this chapter . It's a whirl of confusion.

[tsaukpaetra]

Lot happened...