75. Lost Memories
“Seth? Come with me, if you please,” Hammer calls out to me, approaching from the other side of the study room. It seems like he and Flash had been looking at the shattered glass wall that had once separated this study room from the study area in the science building. Yeah, there were two study rooms right next to one another. The science one is a lot larger, because of the amount of assorted science majors that came here.
“What, do you need something?” I reply, looking away from the study area behind him. Hammer nods and gestures for me to follow him.
“We're about to start tunneling, and I'd like to know where to direct our digging efforts,” Hammer explains, leading me down the stairs to what used to be the front doors to this entire building.
Sure enough, while I've been working with some of the other archaeologists, the miners have excavated a sizable area beyond the doors, forming a rotunda of sorts. The walls have been shored up with lumber and the excess dirt has been moved elsewhere for processing. It also seems like some of the ponies have brought bedrolls down in there, along with desks and carts filled with mining equipment.
Hammer takes me to the desk, where another copy of the map I'd helped them create is resting, along with writing utensils and ink. Once he comes to a stop, he presses a hoof to the map, showing me a small circle there. I can only assume that's where we are right now. “You tell me you know where the different buildings are. Can you show us the fastest way to reach the closest buildings?” Hammer inquires, passing the quill and ink to me.
“Sure, but don't expect a to-scale road map. I didn't exactly wander around with a fucking meter stick,” I respond tersely.
“Do the best you can. Even the slightest amount will save us bits,” Hammer assures me. With a shrug, I take the quill and start sketching some lines, wracking my brain to remember exactly where my dorm is. Yeah, I'm leading them to my dorm first. That's one of the major reasons I came here.
“Fair enough. Well then, I'm going to give you basic directions and landmarks. I'm going to hope that whatever the fuck buried this place underground helped preserve said landmarks. Otherwise this is going to be a lot harder,” I remark. I draw a short line from the small circle and then end it with a small rectangle. “This right here is the first landmark. It's a brick sign that displays the name of the building on it. It's right at the edge of the street, so if you tunnel left from there...”
I draw another line, this time a little longer. At the end of this line, I sketch in a set of badly drawn trees. “There used to be a small copse of trees here...which essentially means that there's trees beneath a forest. Go figure,” I recall dryly. “Anyway, they should still be there. If they were buried, they should be petrified by now. If you take another left from there and follow it maybe a half a mile, you'll reach a large residential complex.”
“I see. And you think there will be artifacts worth salvaging there? That's our pay, you know,” Hammer remarks with a half grin.
“Should be. The housing office had a lot of computers. There may even be old documents. My college loved their fucking paperwork, even when they had computers on which to keep records,” I answer. Honestly, I don't know how intact the place is, but I want to see nonetheless. If I can reach the housing office, my dorm is literally just a flight of stairs down from there.
“Very well, I think that gives us enough to get started,” Hammer decides, moving away from the map. I follow him, because I essentially have nothing else to do. “Stay close, if you can. You're the only one that can tell us if we're on the right track.”
“Sure. I've pretty much looked around most of the lower levels. I might even help out if I get bored enough,” I say with a shrug. Hammer grins appreciatively, and then he moves away from me, heading towards his miners.
“That's enough lounging around everypony! It's time to get digging!” Hammer announces to the miners. At his call, the miners get to work, following Hammer's direction. The rotunda is soon filled with the sound of shovels and pickaxes thudding into the dirt, along with the grunts of exertion from the ponies wielding them.
Now that my attention isn't being demanded by Hammer, I take a look around the rotunda. While I assume this room is now going to be used as the miner's staging point for the tunneling efforts, it's far from empty.
Several human fixtures are present, standing exactly as they had over three thousand years ago...albeit damaged due to the passage of time. A rusty iron railing is in the center of the rotunda, serving to divide the crowd of human traffic that no longer existed. Two bike racks are on either side of the area as well, though one of them has fallen to pieces. I remember back when I had my bike on campus. I used to hook it up to those very racks. The last thing of note in the rotunda is the lone concrete pillar that held up the overhang over the building entrance, to keep the elements away from the doors.
I can't even put into words how weird it is to be standing in a place so familiar...but underground. It's like walking outside of your house one day to find an earthen roof literally less than a foot above your head. Or it's like Maine if you replace the earth with snow.
The tunneling continues for several hours, making progress inch by inch. It's even slower due to the need for wooden supports every few meters, in order to keep the tunnels from caving in. Therefore, Rivet and his construction ponies are down here almost constantly, though a few select members of his group patrol the building every so often and make sure everything is structurally sound.
The first thing to be uncovered is the brick sign that I mentioned. One of the miners announces its presence by letting out a cry once his shovel hits something significantly more solid than the surrounding dirt.
I approach the old sign from behind, remembering how many times I'd walk past this thing on my way to and from classes in this building. It's remarkably well preserved, much like the rest of the building. Even the silvery lettering has been preserved, though its long since tarnished to black. This makes me wonder how this place ended up underground anyway. Three thousand years is hardly enough time for enough sediment to accumulate to cover the whole campus. Now that I'm thinking about it, it probably has something to do with that detonator Maka used in the video. Though I fail to see how it could do something like this. A bomb would have destroyed the building; instead, it just looks like the whole place stayed the same...only dirt came from nowhere to bury everything.
After discovering the sign, the miners do as I suggest and dig a little further before going left for the first time. To my surprise, they uncover bits of asphalt from the road that used to be here.
“See this?” I say to Rainbow, who had joined me upon finding the sign. I show her a piece of ancient asphalt. Rainbow takes it with a hoof and peers at it curiously, obviously having no idea what the hell she's looking at.
“It's a rock,” Rainbow states in a bemused voice before I can start explaining.
“Yes, but it's an important rock,” I correct her with an exasperated huff. I direct her gaze to the dusting of asphalt fragments that the miners have just revealed. Even some of them take a quick moment to look at the irregular material, having never seen the like before. “More specifically, just like you ponies make your roads out of cobblestone or whatever, this is what we made our roads out of.”
“Why is it so weird though? How is it all black and stuff?” Rainbow asks in confusion, bringing the chunk closer to her face. I notice that some of the other miners are listening in, even as they continue to dig.
“Don't ask me, I'm no chemist. It's some mixture of rock and oil that makes it black and tough; tough enough to handle the weight of our transportation,” I attempt to explain, though I'm sure that's not all of the details. Because I chose a major in something useless that I didn't even get to complete, most of what humans knew is lost. I notice Rainbow open her mouth and cut her off. “And don't ask me what our transportation was. There's no way that I can describe it that wouldn't make it sound stupid.”
“What about airships? Did you have any of those?” one of the miners pipes up, turning away from his digging for a quick moment. It seems like some of them are pretty curious as well. “Hot air balloons?”
“We did have airships, but not in the sense that you know. Hot air balloons we did have, but they were outdated and unreliable compared to what we had then,” I tell him. He still seems curious, but I've already told more than what's necessary. After I turn away from him, the miner goes back to work.
As far as I see it, I don't want to talk about my race to anypony except Rainbow...and maybe Vinyl. Maybe. I'm content to let the ponies figure us humans out on their own. I'll do what I promised I'd do: identify what I can and lead the ponies to the different buildings.
“Heh, I remember this damn road,” I remark to Rainbow, chuckling despite what I'm feeling. “There would be a crazy bus driver – a bus is like a carriage, but faster – who would tear down this road like his ass was on fire...only to stop so hard his brakes would squeal. It was totally unsafe and annoying as fuck, but he never hit anyone, so he never got fired.”
“I don't even know what half of that means. Is that like when a cart goes out of control?” Rainbow admits sheepishly. I nod halfheartedly. I don't care whether she understands or not. I just wanted her to listen.
The digging continues, but at my direction, we follow the road. It's amazing that the road is still as well preserved as it is. It actually doesn't make much sense. Nothing about this place makes any sense. There's no way it should have ended up underground, especially considering it was in an mountainous area with no danger of being flooded. Floods or rain is how all that sediment accumulates, if I remember right.
At one point when I come down to check on them, I get so impatient that I actually grab a shovel and join in with the work. We're so close...so agonizingly close I can almost see it. We just have to reach the end of this road and then head up the hill for a little while until we reach my dorm. So close...
I position the nail against the wood with my thumb and index finger, making sure its in the very spot one of Rivet's construction ponies outlined. In my other hand, I hold the hammer. I'm determined not to hit my thumb again like I did last time I tried working on one of these.
The pony holding up the strut for me looks down at my dexterity with jealousy. “I wish I could do that. Looks so much easier than wielding the hammer with my mouth,” he comments. I don't respond, because I'll hurt myself if I get distracted.
I swing my wrist back, and then I start repeatedly nailing the strut to the rest of the support structure. When the nail is finally stable, this particular structure is complete. The tunnel has to be held up somehow.
I let the hammer fall to the ground and I sigh, wiping my forehead. The air is always thicker and hotter down here, despite the many ventilation shafts and air currents that the scientists and miners have set up to give us fresh air. So whenever I work, I sweat much faster. So do the rest of the ponies, as the tunnel constantly smells of dirt and pony sweat.
It's been a few days since the miners and I found the road. It's taken longer than I thought it would because at one point we uncovered a large deposit of granite in our way and had to dig around it. Rainbow barely sticks around, because working with these miners is hard work, and she is certainly not one for this kind of thing. She tried of course, but when it became clear that I focused more on the job than on her, she departed. I'll make it up to her later.
I rest my back against the wall and take a swig of water from a bottle provided to me by Pinkie on my way back down from today's lunch...though I have no idea where the hell she got it. It was ridiculous: no sooner had I opened my mouth and mentioned I was thirsty than Pinkie was bouncing up to me with a bottle of water. That mare. I have no words.
That's the situation I'm in when I hear the sound of a pick ringing against something that isn't dirt. I only know that because the sound is so different from the usual ambiance that I've been used to hearing while I'm working. I glance up in curiosity even as I hear the cry of surprise from the miner in question.
“I think I've got something!” the miner declares, gesturing for his fellow miners to join him. I join the group of miners that go to take a look, though I'm pretty sure I know what he's found. Sure enough, the miners are gathered around a dull looking material that's just been uncovered. “It's like wood, but...it's too hard to be wood.”
“That's because it isn't wood anymore. That's petrified wood,” I correct him, moving to stand by his side. I've never actually seen petrified wood in my life, so I run my hand across the fossil to feel its texture. I shudder slightly, the texture of the material feeling weird against my fingertips. I'm telling you, nature is fucking weird.
“That means we're in the place you told us about,” Hammer states. The mining lead pushes his way through the other ponies to glance at the petrified wood for himself. “Hm. Been a while since I've seen some of this. Might take some home as a souvenir. That aside, remember what I told you? The moment we find petrified wood, turn left and keep digging!”
“Yes sir!” the miners chorus, and the digging begins once more, this time heading slightly up an incline. In fact, they don't have any choice except to tunnel slightly uphill because the old concrete that used to make up the sidewalk here blocks their picks from digging straight without significantly more effort. Hammer was about to order them to push through it, but at my urging, they continue uphill. It'll be easier for all of us if we follow the way my school originally had it set up.
It shouldn't be too much longer.
“You wouldn't believe the things that Dr. Forward and I have discovered! It's only been a few weeks, and we've already discovered an extraordinary amount of intact electrical artifacts!” Twilight gushes. Her mane is a bit scruffy, as if she'd stayed up later than she should have last night. Hovering in midair next to her is a daisy sandwich, with one bite already taken out of it. “And to think that the infrastructure is still so intact even after all these years! Did you know the humans heat their water through a system of pipelines, rather than with magic? The layout has to be...”
I don't know who she thinks she's talking to. Pinkie is nodding as if she understands everything Twilight is talking about, though I'll eat my flip flops if she actually does understand. Rainbow is pointedly ignoring her, munching on a hayburger with no delicacy whatsoever, while Vinyl is trying to look like she's paying attention, though I can tell she's clueless.
I lean back in my chair, taking a break from the salad in front of me. I hate spinach, really, but I have no choice but to eat it if I want to keep my body supplied with iron. Sometimes it really sucks not having access to any meat.
The dining tent is filled with countless ponies here on their lunch break. Lunch is taken in shifts because of how many of us are here, so there's never a time when the dig site is idle. That way we can relax even while work is still being done. As big as this project is, it's nice to know that I only have to do as much as I want.
It's been a month since the expedition first started, and we've made decent progress. I think this site will be active for quite some time, considering we haven't even found another building just yet. Nor are the scientists and archaeologists anywhere near finished cataloging and studying everything they've found in the initial building. Even I know there's more to be found down there. Some of the ponies have been talking about exploring the basement levels as well, though I have no clue what's down there. Probably just maintenance tunnels.
“Hey!” Rainbow interrupts Twilight, right in the middle of a lecture about the fascinating nuances of human hydrotechnics that she and Flash had come up with recently. Twilight shuts her mouth with a clack and glares at Rainbow...who is looking pointedly at her sandwich. “You gonna eat that? Or you just gonna keep talking about egghead stuff?”
“Yes, I'm going to eat my lunch...” Twilight answers, pouting. She takes another bite out of her sandwich, looking rather disgruntled at Rainbow's dismissal of her discoveries. “It's not 'egghead stuff.' It's just what we've discovered. Aren't you the slightest bit curious about how human technology works?”
“Not really. I got all I needed to know when you said it works without magic,” Rainbow returns nonchalantly, frustrating the bookish unicorn even further. “Pass the ketchup, would you?”
Twilight passes over the bottle and then looks to me for support, but all I give her is a shrug and return to my meal. One thing I've accepted is that Rainbow will never understand anything that high in technical knowledge. Nor does she give a fuck, which is both appealing and funny as hell. Twilight heaves a sigh. “I'll write to Rarity about it then. At least she listens to me.”
“Quit complaining and eat your sandwich, or Rainbow is going to eat it out from under you,” I warn her, just as Rainbow is sneaking her hoof over to the sandwich in question. What results is a comical scene where Twilight jerks the sandwich away and swats at Rainbow's wandering hoof with her own.
It doesn't take me long to finish my meal. It's just a salad after all. I drink some water from the glass in front of me, and then I refill my water bottle with what's left. I'll be down in the mines in no time, whether I'm looking through the old building, identifying old artifacts, or helping dig. I think the miners are close to...
“Mr. Seth?” I don't even get to finish that thought before one of the miners enters the lunch tent, asking for me. Some of the ponies near him break off from their various discussions to look between him and me curiously.
“What?” is my usual apathetic response. It's probably just a summons to go look at some piece of shit artifact that has no business being in one piece.
“We've uncovered the entrance to rather important looking building. The boss thought he should let you know, in case you wanted to help us explore,” the miner informs me. I immediately stand up. They've broken through at last. Today is the day I reach my old dorm.
“I'll be right down,” I say, waving the miner away. With one last respectful nod, the pony retreats from the tent. Rainbow and the others are watching me curiously...though Twilight seems to be filled with excitement from the announcement. I turn my back on all of them and start walking away, towards the exit. “Rainbow, let's go. Vinyl, you can come if you want.”
Rainbow and Vinyl look at one another, and then they both get up at once. Twilight starts to get up as well, but Vinyl stops her, giving her a strange expression that I can't read. Twilight appears uncertain for a few seconds, but she slowly sits down and lets the two of them follow me out. Good, I don't want Twilight here for this.
“Vinyl, I don't think you've been down in the tunnels since we began,” I recall as we descend into the ruins, following the scaffolding down to the lower levels.
“Yeah, blame my mother. She's being pretty overbearing. She likes having me around when she's working,” Vinyl justifies dryly with a hint of distaste. I think mentioned at one point that she didn't like sniffing around old ruins like this.
“I don't know how you handle it. I'd hate it if my mother suddenly started acting clingy,” I remark at her expense. “But that's not the point. You should see the progress we've made. It's pretty extensive.”
“Sounds like you're proud of your work,” Rainbow comments, brushing up against my side. I give her an odd look. I'm not sad or anything, so why is she doing that? Behind her, Vinyl is snickering and shaking her head, for whatever reason. Goddamn confusing ponies.
“Well yeah, considering how much work it was. You wouldn't know, since you didn't a do a damn thing,” I denigrate her. The three of us walk through the rotunda and into the main tunnels. Several fresh ventilation shafts have been dug recently, so the miners can breathe. There hasn't been much issue with gases either, despite how deep we are in the earth. I wonder if that has something to do with how this place ended up underground anyway.
“Why would I? That's what we have miners for,” Rainbow returns lazily. Now it's my turn to shake my head. “Plus, there were naps to be taken.”
“There's always naps to be taken in your mind,” I state flatly, and then we fall silent. Vinyl's head cranes around to look at all the human relics we pass on our way through the tunnels, such as the sign that identifies the building, the crumbling asphalt of the ancient road, and the trunks of the few petrified trees that we've uncovered.
Finally, we rejoin the rest of the miners and archaeologists at the end of the tunnel. Sure enough, they've uncovered the entrance to an old decrepit building. It looks like it used to be white, but has long since faded to gray.
Rough Hammer sees me coming and moves aside to give me room. “There you are. Sorry about taking you away from lunch like that, but I thought you might want to be here,” he greets me. In front of him, several miners are chipping away rock and dirt away from the double doors. “You said this was a residential area, right?”
“Yeah. This is the office for the whole place. It is literally surrounded by other living areas several stories tall,” I reveal to them all. This piece of news gets the other ponies whispering animatedly amongst themselves, the air tense with anticipation. “If you want to explore the place or dig further, be my guest. There's no shortage of buildings around here.”
Hammer nods, and then he approaches his miners. “I'm splitting us up. The living areas are within a short distance of this one, so therefore we don't all need to be here. I'll take the majority of you all and we'll dig to another area,” he determines, and then he turns to me. “Seth, I understand that you wish to explore this area, but could you take a moment to show me the next building you believe is worth excavating?”
“Wait here,” I tell Rainbow and Vinyl, somewhat annoyed at the disruption. Even though I should have expected that.
I wanted to bring them here so that I wouldn't have to look at my empty dorm alone...and I just realized how fucking lame that sounds. As I walk with Hammer to someplace where I can work on the map, I remember how I was back in my time. I never really felt emotions like this. I could handle anything life sent at me by just wrinkling my brow and working hard. If life sent me a problem, I'd just work through it.
So now I'm faced with just another of these problems...and it's not even a real problem...just me going to look at an empty dorm that isn't even mine anymore. So why is it that all of a sudden, I can't do it on my own? And it's not just that...I don't want to do it alone. I hate to admit it to myself, but I'm not going into that dorm without Rainbow.
…...I'm never telling her that. Ever.
“All right. That took fucking forever, but I'm back now,” I declare, announcing my presence to Rainbow and Vinyl. The both of them look rather bored, leaning by the double doors to the office that haven't been opened yet like that. They look up in delight upon seeing me come to join them. “You ready to go inside?”
“Only if you are, bro. You know the place better than we do,” Vinyl says with a grin.
“Yeah! I'm really curious to see how you lived,” Rainbow agrees. I nod, and then without another word, I push on one of the doors with vigor...only for the rusted hinges to snap and the door to fall right on the floor with a cacophonous bang. There's a comical silence as I stare down at the door, my hand still hanging in midair where I'd pressed it to the now fallen portal. “Good job, Seth. That door never saw what hit it.”
“Oh, fuck you. Just....goddammit, Rainbow,” I growl, but when Rainbow bursts out laughing, I can't help but chuckle as well. “Come on. We're going to have to do a bit of work to get to my dorm.”
I grab a shovel on the way in, and then I lead the two mares into what used to be the leasing office for the dorms as a whole. It was a quaint place that had been horribly understaffed, but it worked. Even now I recognize it; it's much the same as it used to be, except it looks much older, and the scent of must and decay hung in the air.
There are two offices on either side of me where the officials would meet with students to help them with their paperwork. I remember that there used to be a rug on the empty floor space in front of us, but I assume that these shreds of fabric the three of us are walking over is what's left of it.
I lead the mares through the old hallways and down a set of stairs. As we walk, I see them peering into the different rooms with interest, but they follow me faithfully.
We pass through the old recreation room, where the other students would come to play pool or dick around with their stupid friends. I never came here myself, because sometimes the resident assistants would hang out here, and the last thing I wanted to do was piss them off.
Finally, I throw open a side door that opens onto the path right next to my dorm. Instead of seeing the path, I see a solid wall of dirt and soil, just as I'd expected. “It's not more than a few feet. It shouldn't take me more than an hour at the most,” I tell the both of them, lifting the shovel. Without wasting any more time, I stick the shovel into the dirt and start digging.
“What, did you think we were going to sit here and do nothing?” Vinyl asks indignantly the moment I turn my back. A shovelful of dirt hits the floor, and I look back at her to see two shovels floating in midair with her magical aura surrounding them. “We're going to help, of course.”
“Yeah, what kind of friends do you think we are?” Rainbow tacks on with a grin, taking one of the shovels for herself. There's nothing I can do but watch in shock as the two of them attack the dirt wall along with me. With their help, the dirt practically melts away, a tunnel forming before us. My estimate is blown out of the water, and we actually make it all the way to my old front door in less than half the time I expected.
Yes, my old front door. Even now, after more than three thousand years, the number “207” still clings to the wall. Though I can hardly tell that it used to be made of brass.
“Well...I'm home,” I say wistfully, even though I know the place is no longer mine. The handle doesn't turn, as it had rusted a long time ago. Out of force of habit, I almost fish out my wallet and take out the door key.
Rainbow brushes up against my side, noticing my hesitation. Vinyl does the same on my other side, and once again my inner voice scoffs at the fact that I need these two ponies to comfort me. But despite that, I can't help but feel grateful that they're here.
Knowing that they're here to support me, I gather up the will to ram the door open with my shoulder. The fragile frame shatters under the impact, fragments of wood raining down on the decrepit carpet.
“Come on in and make yourselves at home. I don't think my roommate is around, so be as loud as you want,” I tell Rainbow and Vinyl, irony dripping from my tone. Together, we step over the threshold and into my old dorm.
The front room of all of the dorms in this complex are essentially the same. We're given a small sofa and a chair, made of rough thread that isn't all that comfortable against your bare skin. We also get a large, low table made of wood and a TV stand. Right now, the couch and chair have degraded to almost nothing and the table and stand have fallen apart. The stand actually had a TV on it, because I can see it shattered on the ground. There's also the remains of what I think used to be a printer.
“Nice place. Seems a bit outdated if you ask me,” Rainbow jokes as she walks around the front room. She pokes her head into the kitchen, carefully avoiding the sharp edges of the broken tiling.
“Oh, ha ha.” I walk past her and Vinyl and move towards the back of the dorm itself. The living room and kitchen actually take up the majority of the dorm, so back here all that's left are the two rooms. The door of the one on my right has fallen in, but the other, my room, looks like it's still locked. My eyes widen in shock when I see what's pinned on the door, right where I left it.
“What's this say?” Vinyl asks curiously, standing behind me and looking up at the tarnished brass nameplate on the door. Of course she doesn't know what it means. It's English.
I reach up and trace the engraved letters in the nameplate, wondering how in the hell this was possible. “Seth Rogers...my name,” I say breathlessly. But...that can't be.
“Awesome! So I get to see your room, huh? Move aside, Vinyl, the Dash is coming through,” Rainbow exclaimed, pushing past Vinyl to stand next to me. “Well? What are you waiting for? Open it up!”
“You don't get it. This dorm should have been cleared out ages ago. How can it still be mine?” I express in disbelief. I stand there limply, a little hesitant to open to door. By all rights, it should be empty, but now I'm not so sure. And that just doesn't make any sense.
“Maybe they held it for you,” Vinyl suggests. I turn around to face her, confusion making me me look a little flustered.
“It's a college! They don't 'hold' anything for you. If you don't keep paying rent, they're going to kick you out and give the dorm to someone who can!” I snap, gesturing emphatically with my hands. “I may have disappeared and woke up in this world, but time still passed. Eighty years! That's too long for the dorm to still be mine!”
“Does it really matter? If it's still yours, that's a good thing, right?” Rainbow responds after a surprised pause.
“It just doesn't make any sense,” I admit, rubbing my forehead. I can't think of any possible reason why my room would still be the same after the eighty years that humanity held out. “Whatever, let's just get inside and see what's left.”
The door is still locked, though one simple blow from my fist breaks the flimsy lock...and the hinges in the process. The door might fall on something fragile, so I hold onto to the doorknob...only for that to break right off in my hand. So in the end, the door falls onto the floor and falls into pieces.
“You and doors just aren't friends, it seems,” Rainbow comments. This time I ignore her joke, because I'm looking at my old room.
Yes, it's mine. Down to the last detail, everything in here is mine, even to the faded posters nailed to the walls, the clothes hanging from the open closet, and even to the color of the faded bedsheets.
I don't say a word. I can't bring myself to, in the wake of all that I'm seeing. I have so many memories of living in this place coming back to me. This room had been my sanctuary; it was my place to be alone and forget about the rest of the world. Muscle memory almost has me throwing myself on the bed like nothing had changed, but common sense tells me that even if I did that, the flimsy thing would just shatter.
Vinyl and Rainbow look pointedly at one another, and then they follow me into the room, staying rather quiet. I wonder if they're doing that on purpose.
“I remember hitting that fucking alarm clock every morning,” I say, and it's only after Rainbow and Vinyl turn to look at me that I realize I'd said that aloud. I indicate the old machine where it lay on top of my dresser. “I'd put it there, far away from my bed, because I knew that if I didn't, I'd just turn it off and go right back to sleep.”
I move over to my desk, where I would usually go to do my school work. It was as bare as I remember. I'm one to overly decorate or strew loose items all over the place, so all that's there is a few tattered notebooks and rotted pencils, old figurines bought from anime conventions, and yellowed pictures that I'd kept to remind me of the few things I treasured. It was those that caught my eyes.
I pick up the picture frame closest to me, the old picture still recognizable even after all these years. It was a picture of Amaryllis and I, standing together on her birthday. She wasn't one for parties, so I surprised her by working with her parents and showing up by myself when she least expected it. She'd complained, but I could tell that she'd appreciated it.
Rainbow and Vinyl are still silent, letting me search through my old things at my own pace. However, when Rainbow spots the picture I'm holding, she presses herself against me once more, and doesn't leave my side for the rest of the time that I'm in the room.
The more I look through my room, the more I feel melancholic and nostalgic. This had been my life...but it isn't my life anymore. I don't live here anymore.
I'm glad I came here. It feels good to look over it and finally get a chance to say goodbye to the place that used to be my home.
“This...heh, it's ridiculous. It's just my room,” I say to myself. It's weird that I'd get all torn up about something so simple. I mean, it's not like I was ever attached to this place.
“How long did you live here?” Vinyl asks, peering under the broken desk at the degraded laundry basket that I always shoved under there when I wasn't using it. She pokes at it, and the plastic snaps and clatters on the floor.
“About three or four years,” I answer her. Vinyl looks back up at me, nodding in newfound understanding.
“It was your home. It's not so wrong for you to miss it...the way it used to be, I mean,” Vinyl explains. “Sometimes you take things for granted...until they're gone.”
“Yeah...I suppose,” I admit. I pick up one of the figurines on the table. Somehow it doesn't break in my hand, being surprisingly firm for its age. It's the one of Crona that Adam got for me one year, on my birthday. The features are weathered and the colors faded, but I don't mind. I think I'll take this back with me.
“What's this?” Rainbow questions, drawing our attention. She's looking at something on my dresser. I step over to her to see her holding an old sheet of paper in a plastic sheath. It looks like there's some writing on it, but I can't make it out from here. “I can't read this. Seth, what does it say?”
Taking the paper from her, I give it a glance. The words are faded, but some of them I can still make out. It looks like an official notice from the housing office...which means it's probably worthless. However, something makes me read it anyway.
My hands start to tremble while I hold the notice, my eyes widening slightly at what I'm reading. Dated several months after I disappeared, it's addressed to the resident of this room, which is me. It 's written to the resident that a payment schedule had been established for my rent, to be paid every three months...for the next fifty years.
“Fifty years!?” I repeat incredulously. Vinyl and Rainbow looked confused by my seemingly random exclamation, but I ignore them, my mind racing. That's a lot of money...just one month's rent is about seven hundred dollars. Multiply that by twelve and again by fifty...the final count is staggering. Who the hell would have paid off my room for that long, and why?
Reading further, the letter tells me that the money will be taken from a particular account, which is identified by a long string of numbers...which I actually recognize, having had to use them myself before. That's...my mother's account number. Did she go crazy? Why the fuck would she pay off a room for fifty goddamn years that I wouldn't even be staying in?
Unless...what if she was holding it for me? What if...she was holding out hope that one day I'd return...and she wanted to give me a place to come back to? Maybe this was her way of showing that she'd never stopped believing that I'd come back...even over those long years. She kept my room open for me, even as Adam grew up and got married, had a kid, and everything.
I set the letter down, my breath catching in my throat and coming out as a strangled sob. My friends, who'd been watching me curiously as I read, now look at me with alarm. I can't look at them. Instead, I rest my face in my hands, to hide the tears that are squeezing out of my eyes despite my best efforts.
“God...dammit, mom,” I cry, my body starting to shake. I kneel down on the ground, feeling utterly disgusted with myself. How could I have acted so spoiled and bratty to my mom...when she cared about me this much? Why couldn't I have returned her relentless, unconditional love, rather than wallowing around in self pity because some bitch made my life hell for a few years? Twilight was right...I'm pathetic.
Vinyl lifts a hoof and rests it on my shoulder in a comforting manner, as does Rainbow on my other side. They don't say anything, but they don't have to. They have no clue what the hell I just read...but they don't care.
Vinyl, Rainbow, Adam, Amaryllis, my mother, and my father...all these individuals that have cared for me over the years...I really don't deserve them.
“Thanks...mom.”
Finally! Sheesh, this one took me forever to get out. I know I promised to write while on vacation, but...vacation happened. Between the pool and the beach trips, I was in the water more often than not with my family, so I didn't get as much done as I would have liked.
And just as I was about to finish...Christmas happened, and now I have all these distractions. Between Omega Ruby and Dragon Age Inquisition (Finally got an Xbox One to play it), I didn't do a damn thing until today.
Anyway, finally I've got this scene out of the way. With this, Seth is one step closer to being fully metamorphosed!
: Uh, what?
Altered, changed, revamped, transformed, transmuted...
: developed?
...whatever.
If you get that reference, you get a cookie. Anyway, leave your comments and tell me what you think!
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RIGHT IN THE FEELS, you bastard! THE FEELS!!!
fk. I love you. I hate you. I adore you. I envy you. You magnificent bastard.
I cri evritiem
dammit you ....*wipes a tear away*
a nice chapter, and slice of development for Seth, and now he has less of the weight he did before on his emotions now that he has said good bye to his old life. and now he has somethings to put in his new house like the plate on his door.
also good catch on the ventilation shafts, not many remember that air does not go down a tunnel very easily.
now if you will excuse me i need to go hug my mom
Yes, but is his porn collection still there?
5439122
Goddammit, Maud.
...I feel like I've said that before.
5439128
I'm sure you have!
And it was either that or asking if he remembered to put a sock on the doorknob when he took Rainbow in there. >.>
5439122
...oh god...imagine if someone left a semen stained tube sock under their bed and it mutated due to magic/radiation into some sort of giant semen sock monster.
5439195
....Welp, that's enough internet for me today.
5439268
What if the semen sock monster is what ended the war with Sombra and the Oppressed? Like Godzilla or something.
RAWR *monster shoots radioactive splooge from its mouth*
"It was the greatest bukkake that the world ever saw, with Japanese business men staring in total awe."
5439128 Terran! My man! Love the chapter, keep the utter awesomeness up! I'll be waiting for all of the amazing chapters ahead. :DDD
That part about the notice...man, not cool. I'm really tired. I'm sleep deprived...and you used that to make me sad. You monster :<
Now my eyes are teary and shit. Fuck that's depressing. I'm going to bed now. I can't take this writing.
In other news, there has been an increase in violence among the ocean. A civil war has broken out between the loyal water and the rebelling water.
"We just wanna, ya know, flow how we wanna flow bro. Flow how we wanna flow." says rebel water member Double Hydrogen.
5445534
DERP. Fixed.
Wow this chapter was sad but also a large step in helping Seth overcome some of his issues.
Starting off we have Seth directing the minors towards his old dorm room. At this point I'm starting to make a mental image of the school, but the size makes it difficult to picture. After that he shows Rainbow some old road fragments. It's interesting that road fragments actually survived this long. Concrete doesn't have a massive time span (hell concrete lasting 3000 years is pushing it) but road tends to crack and break after just a few years. 3000 and it must just be pulverised into nothing. Still it was completely buried so that would help to persevere it somewhat. After his explanation about the road, he gives some brief knowledge of balloons in our era but nothing more. While he can admit to himself that he has no issues discussing things like this with Rainbow and Vinyl now, it's still not something he's comfortable with talking to random ponies. He's decided to let them figure things out for themselves. While it still isn't a very open or friendly attitude to have, he is justified somewhat about not wanting to talk about his old home, and he can at least be open with friends now. a big step from his original attitude.
Later we have a fun moment with Twilight going full egghead (t everyone's annoyance) before being blatantly interrupted by Rainbow wanting her sandwich, and then attempting to steal it. The complement he gives Rainbow in his head is nice. He sees an aspect of her that irritates well educated ponies like Twilight and enjoys that she not only doesn't understand large science concepts, but doesn't actually care to either. It's just a small thing, but to hear him like something about her that others dislike is nice, as he likes and respects a core concept of her that she likes about herself. However shortly after this we have a minor inform them the dorms have been reached and Seth sets out. The fact that he outright asks Rainbow and Vinyl to come with him rather then wanting to be alone shows a vast difference in him then when he started out. Twilight wants to join them, but Vinyl can tell Seth would prefer just his friends be with him and gives Twilight a look to get her to understand. It's probably hard for Twilight, wanting to be Seth's friend but having him reject it and keep an emotional distance from her. After living a life without friends and then meeting such a diverse and amazing group of them, it's difficult to understand why someone wouldn't want anymore friends then the limited group he has. Maybe in time Seth might be able to accept her as a friend, but I don't see it happening within the timeline of the story personally. Her analytical all-knowledge-must-be-mine attitude puts him off, and as it is such a core concept of her character it will be difficult for Seth to look passed it. Anyway, as Rainbow, Vinyl and Seth head for the dorms, Rainbow rubs up against him like she does when he needs support confusing him. It's obvious to us why she is, but it's a little odd he isn't picking these signals up yet. Or perhaps he subconsciously choosing to ignore these displays. We'll see how this plays out eventually, but for now it's cute to see moments like these (and see Vinyl being smug and cracking jokes the whole time).
After helping some miners, they reach the dorms and locate Seth's old room. From the moment he makes it inside, the tone shifts and becomes melancholic. He reminisces about his old room and old life before finding his old bedroom has been preserved with all his possessions. After seeing an old image of himself and Amaryllis, Rainbow can sense how upset he is becoming and once again joins him at his side. The fact that he outright admits he needs her company there is telling of just how much he has come to care about her. Upon discovering the note left behind telling him of his mother's actions, he simply loses all composure and his friends comfort him. He makes an interesting note here about a girl having made his life hell and him wallowing in self pity because of it. This was obviously the incident with Janna, but it looks like he has made the conscious decision to see that his lifestyle has derived from what she did and that he should have moved passed it rather then wallowed in his grief. I suspect this will convince him to discuss it with Rainbow in private, or at least give him a nudge toward doing so in the future.
An excellent chapter for character development, both here and a promise of more in the future. Great work, I can't wait to see how Rainbow and Vinyl handle about his mother's actions, and what future discoveries they will find in the school.
I've basically read this entire story up until this point, since around midnight last night. I have school Tuesday, and I expect an apology, you talented bastard.
Have ponies discovered DNA yet in your version of Equestria?
Because if they have then wouldn't they have tried to clone a human using its DNA from the skeleton; because its only been about 3000 years since they died, it should still be intact.
Of we had dinosaur DNA we'd try to create a clone (but sadly it's too fragmented).
Then again, humans are sapient and ponies act differently.
Dayum, thats was amazing. He's so close to being nice. Sooooooooo close!
Keep it up. I love it.
5458327
"Sure, they're like five years old~"
"Miners, not minors!"
*pause* "Ya lost me..."
Cookies if you get the reference~
Dang, this chapter made me all teary eyed.
5466355
I doubt they have the technology to clone a human, even if they had dna tech
And i think the skeletons wouldnt be much help for cloning, considering we havent cloned a tyranasouras rex with its bones
Itd be cool tho
7459445 it was only a few thousand year, not long enough for bone to fossilize, and considering we've found dna on mammoths that are a few tens of thousands of years old, it's not impossible that their could be some salvageable dna
Oh my god, that's so sad. Got Me in the feels right there.
5458327
Why try to make a mental image of the school when you can google it?
8624037
Do you know what school it is?
9065175
Check chapter 1 my dear fellow. It's stated in the first line