Improbable Truth

by Charon the Chronicler

Chapter 24: Shattered Glass

“So what you’re saying is…I can’t cuss?”

“Wha-uh…yes, you can,” I answered as I jogged by his side. Steel Fang was on my left, beginning to lose his stride. I would have been in his situation if I hadn’t stored an obscene amount of magic within myself. Even so, I was on my last dregs.

“But you said we’re in a cartoon.” Adam smiled and raised an eyebrow. Of course, he wasn’t even out of breath yet, and we’d been jogging for hours now, talking all the while.

“No, I said that the world I can perceive seems to be based on a cartoon.” And there goes my excess magic. I think we should start heading back for lunch. God, how can this guy run for five hours straight without panting for breath? Well, considering he didn’t push out all of my magic like Val, I think it’s safe to assume he’s got some form of magic. Which would explain why the…other guy…had moments of great strength. But that just brings up more questions!

“So they don’t cuss here?” Adam leaned towards me with a knowing smile. Why is Adam sane, and not nearly as strong as the other guy? Why does magic work for them, but not for Val? Wait. Isn’t Adam from the future? So why does…

“Not to my knowledge,” I acquiesced. Adam was about to give me a smug expression, but I spoke faster. “But I am only one person, and a reclusive one at that. So my point of view is limited. Anyways, shouldn’t you have at least known about the cartoon. It’s pretty infamous on the internet.” I began to lead Adam and Steel back to my hut.

“A show about six cartoon ponies wielding really old, really powerful gems and their hijinks in a small town while their powerful, god-like princesses watch on because they don’t have anything better to do? I think I’d know about that.”

“And you mentioned something about a ‘Lion King’ earlier, saying it was a bit of a dated reference.” I frowned and rubbed my chin. “But I don’t get it. Could it be that differences in universes could be as small as what stories are told? What ideas are formed? Could it be that we are not of the same universe?”

“Umm…I dunno man.” Adam shrugged. “I don’t really think about that type of stuff. I’m alive, and that’s what really counts right?” He smiled and looked down to me just as we entered the clearing, but it quickly fell. “Hey man, I’m sorry for calling you a murderer. I know it must’ve been a tough choice, but…” He scratched the back of his head nervously.

“Don’t apologize for that. I am what I am. But let it be said that what I did there was an act of mercy.” I sat down in heavy breaths as soon as I passed the door’s threshold. “Not everyone has as disciplined a mind as John Nash* or I.”

“An act of mercy?” Adam didn’t seem angry; he just furrowed his brow and sighed. I suppose he was disappointed in me. “Dude, that was a living person. Sure, he may have been worse than Ganesh’s snotty nose hair ̶ ” Holy shit, he was serious about the ‘no cussing’ thing. “ ̶ but still, he was alive. He was a person that you just…snuffed out. Because of mercy?”

“He would have hurt others, Adam. He almost killed you. The best one could do is separate people like him from the rest and make sure they never reproduce.” Steel Fang curled up beside me on the floor. “I couldn’t do that to him. But I can to myself.”

“Ummm…” Adam avoided my eyes and wrung his hands nervously.

“But enough about my miserable philosophical ideas. Let’s talk about your performance.” Adam stopped acting nervous and adopted a sly expression.

“I haven’t had many complaints from all the girls I’ve slept with,” he said.

“…Right, it’s about your endurance ̶ and not in that way,” I plowed on before he had a chance to put in another lewd comment. “You’ve run for hours on end without a break. You’ve practically outran Steel Fang here,” I waved a hoof towards the panting canine, “and he’s a very active direwolf. Not to mention I’ve been carefully expanding my own magic reserves to respectable amounts. Suffice to say, even with careful management of my magic, I’m nearly beat. I hope that this is normal for you.”

“Now that I think about it…” Adam hummed and looked over himself. “Nope. Definitely not normal.”

“…Couldn’t you have mentioned it earlier?”

“I thought I got into a really good rhythm! And you seemed fine, and what we were talking about seemed to really pass the time.”

“A ‘good rhythm’ wouldn’t explain the colossal amount of persistence you’ve displayed without endurance training. I mean just ̶ ” I was interrupted by the loud growling of three stomachs.

“Stereo stomachs!” Adam laughed, and I couldn’t help but feel a small grin pull at my lips.

“Alright, Adam, you can go set up the fire pit outside. I’ve got the fish Steel and I got this morning in a barrel by the door.”

Adam nodded and set to work, picking up some firewood before pushing opening up the door. I made my way to the barrel, and picked a few big fish before heading outside to start removing the skin and setting them up over a fire.

“So do you have any idea why I can run for so long?” Adam asked as he finished setting up the tinder.

“I’ve got a hypothesis.” I set the fish on cut log and began cleaning them. “It seems that you’ve accepted magic in your body. It is possible that it is accentuating human traits by quite a large degree. It would explain…the other guy…but I think there were other factors in play for him to become…that way. Maybe you have different affinities? Or his mind or something rejected the magic?” I shook my head as I removed the fish’s. “I don’t have enough information.”

“It’s okay, I don’t really care about that.” But I do. Adam frowned at my expression. “So you said you were human before; what’s it like being a pony?” Adam managed to light the wood, sparking a small fire that began to grow.

“It’s different. That much is obvious. But I feel a lot lighter, and I wasn’t very heavy before either. I suspect that it’s mostly because I’m a pegasus.”

“Really? Lemme see.”

“What?” I barely had enough time to say anything before he lifted me up from my barrel. I began futilely kicking my hooves about. “Adam! Stop, I’m not a damn plushie!”

“You weigh about as much as one, though!” Adam laughed. His mirth was interrupted by a deep growl emanating from Steel Fang. Ice blue met sky blue and held firm.

“Steel! No!” I shouted as I continued struggling. “Adam, put me down. He’s very protective of me.”

Adam put me down gently and I hurried over to Steel. Both he and Adam had not broken eye contact even as I made my way to him. I began to gently pet Steel, coaxing him to relax.

“Shhh, shhh. It’s okay, buddy. We won’t lose you again. Adam’s different.” I whispered. “We’re okay, we’re okay.” Steel Fang let out a long exhale and relaxed somewhat. “As I was saying,” I continued, not removing my attention from Steel, “Being…what I am is different. A bit weird sometimes, but I got used to it. At first I moved about a bit weirdly, moving two legs at a time, but after a bit of time, I started to walk normally. Not to mention the magic within, which is sort of like a second circulatory system. Speaking of, do you feel different?”

“I dunno.” Adam shrugged as he began putting the fish over the fire. “Maybe a sort of warmth. But it feels like it’s all over my body.”

“So to compare to my ‘vascular’ system, you’ve got one that isn’t as efficient. You say it fills all of you? Even your head?”

“Now that you mention it, yeah.”

“Hmm.” The other guy may have had a faster acting case. Who’s to say how magic works on foreign bodies. Strangely enough, I don’t feel the ‘urge’ around Adam like I did around Val. It’s as if I’m looking at a half finished puzzle, and all the most important pieces have been hidden. I looked up to a curious Adam and continued thinking. There’s no telling what it could do his brain. For the meantime, I’ll keep an eye on him and be on the lookout for dramatic changes in behavior.

“Do you have any idea why we’re here?” Adam asked before taking a hearty bite of cooked fish.

“I could be insane. We could be in a special ring of hell where they use doubt to break us. If you’re real, it’s more than likely we’re in another universe entirely, and we’re very lucky the physics are nearly identical. With that much doubt about where we are, why we are here has a thousand more possible answers. It could be anything from destiny to the way it makes some mischievous god’s balls tingle in just the right way. More probable than not, we’re victims of chance, like people caught in a tornado.”

“Okay.”

“Is that really your answer to being torn away from your life, your family, and your job?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Well,” Adam began counting on one hand as he held a filleted fish in the other. “It turns out I’ve been working as a bodyguard for an evil organization and I didn’t realize it until my boss shot someone in the face right in front of me, people all over the world hate me because I was framed for my mother’s murder after I blew the whistle, and I forced my sister into hiding so she wouldn’t get hurt. I’m supposed to be dead, but here I am. I’ll try not to look a gift horse in the mouth.” Adam punctuated his statement with a hearty munch. “Pun definitely intended.”

“Alright,” I sighed and rubbed my head, “So while that was…loaded as it was…You’re here now. So I guess you don’t mind if I ask for your help for a couple renovations? Namely, a basement for my cottage. Think you can handle it?”

“Oh, you bet! I have a lot experience. I was the one who practically held the house together after my scrotum-faced pops left mom.” I fidgeted a bit at Adam’s glare, which didn’t seem to fit on his face.

“You probably shouldn’t call your father such things, Adam,” I chastised, “I’m sure he had his reasons. Maybe he wasn’t doing so well, but…” Adam’s features softened at my comment.

“Listen Windell, I don’t know what sort of relationship you had with your parents, but it doesn’t change the fact that my dad was a waste of space. He left for some broad, even after he dragged his son and pregnant wife to Miami for some tunneling project**. Your dad could’ve been a saint, but mine was just a pervy French guy chasing tail.”

“I’m sorry for bringing it up.” I hung my head. Steel whined and licked the side of my face to try and get me in better spirits. “But that brings up another interesting fact about you. Tu peux parler français, n’est pas ?”

<><><>

Merde, merde, merde ! Adam thought while keeping a straight face. Il parle québécois ! How am I supposed to understand that crazy accent? Context clues! Yeah!

“Oui, mais ça fait longtemps. So I’m a bit rusty, even if I’m a native. I haven’t really gotten the chance to speak it while traveling where I did for my job. In hindsight, I should have seen the signs that I was working as a bodyguard for some big bad.”

Windell tossed two more fish to Steel Fang and stood up a bit straighter.

“I was wondering; how does one end up in such a situation? I mean, don’t they do some sort of background check on you?” Windell asked.

Adam laughed and leaned back, staring into the sky. “It’s a long story.”

“That just makes me want to hear it more.” The pegasus smirked. “Give the bibliophile a bone, will you?”

Adam snorted as his eyes passed over a snoozing Steel Fang, the teal pony leaning against his swollen belly. “Fine, fine.” He rose his hands in the air in deference. “It all started when I was sixteen. I pretty much accepted that I wouldn’t pass my classes. My mom was working hard, but we weren’t exactly in a good neighborhood, so our stuff got stolen a few times. So mom’s working two jobs, trying to get up the ladder, and I try and stay at home to take care of the house as it falls apart around us. Cooking for mom and sis, working handyman jobs around the neighborhood. All so my mom won’t worry too much about money and the house, and so sis can get to college. Of course, I realized any money I was getting wasn’t really contributing so I started looking for a real job. And I couldn’t really stay at home and pull a Captain Jack*** like others in the same situation ̶ ̶ ”

“I’m sorry, but what’s ‘pulling a Captain Jack’?” Windell interrupted, holding a hoof up.

“Well, you know…” Adam mimed chugging a bottle, lighting a bud, then…shaking a fist up and down. “All when you’re so miserable you want to lose yourself. Anyways, I was desperate, but I was already six foot one by then, and decently built, so managed to snag a job as a bouncer at a really seedy place. Apparently I was so good at stopping troublemakers before they did their thing, I caught the attention of my boss, who suggested me to a friend of his. I think they must have done a background check on me, realized how desperate I was, and went with it, because I got the job. And I just went up from there. I think there may have been a few threats against my family, but I may have been using my Bluetooth earphones at the time.”

Windell almost managed to knock himself out with a facehoof.

“My life was looking up, too! Mom snagged a really good position in her company as regional manager, and sis got her bachelor’s a year early! And then I realized I was working for the equivalent of Bes’ hairy you-know-what.”

Windell opened his mouth to put in his snarky two cents, but stopped and stared over Adam’s shoulder. Adam waited a few moments before deciding to wave his hand in front of Windell’s face.

“Hey, Windell. Yooo. What’s up?” Adam snapped his fingers a few times.

“Sorry, I was lost in thought for a moment.” He nodded towards the city on the mountainside, which was now encased in a magenta bubble. “Looks like it’s finally begun.”

“What’s begun?” Adam raised an eyebrow at the sight. “That doesn’t look good.”

“I told you about the various slice of life shenanigans the protagonists got up to, right?” Windell ignored Adam’s muffled laughter at the word ‘shenanigans’ and continued. “Well, occasionally, they would face some greater evil, like Nightmare Moon, or somewhat recently, Discord. This time it’s the changelings, but they don’t know that. They just know of some anonymous threat that may or may not be capable of flying.”

“Wow. So that’s an episode.”

“As I’ve said, that’s up for debate. But it is a landmark event. A wedding between a princess and the captain of the guard may have been out of a fairy tale back home, but here it’s just par for the course.”

“If it’s a wedding, will they finally be wearing pants?”

Windell opened and closed his mouth a few times before taking a deep breath.

“I should have expected you to say something like that. You’ve got to remember, no matter how similar everything is here ̶ ̶ Luckily for you, or you’d have either been poisoned by the food or asphyxiated in the atmosphere ̶ ̶ We’re still on a different planet, maybe even different universe. So don’t expect them to be the same in certain aspects. Hell, some concepts may even be so foreign, it would have been inconceivable to us or them prior to our arrival here. For example, I would have never even considered a secondary circulatory system that isn’t really there physically before. Now, I have one. I think we may have some concepts that are completely foreign to them.”

“Like advanced computers? And the internet?”

“Precisely.”

“And wearing pants.”

“Yeeeeeeessss.” Windell ground his teeth.

“Like you could be doing.” Adam gave Windell a pointed look.

“When in Rome, Adam.” The pegasus sighed. “I try not to draw undue attention to me. And if this is really all a delusion, I’m sure someone would have mentioned it already. Or I’m already in an asylum.” Windell began to pace nervously.

Uh-Oh. Better get his mind off of that possibility.

“Hey, I really doubt you’re in asylum. I’m real after all, and I believe you, don’t I?” Adam held his arms out and smiled. It’s not very effective. Windell was still pacing and his eyes started to dart from side to side.

“Unless you’re part of my imagination. Or my insane pal. There have been documented cases of mass delusions, such as on the U.S.S. Indianapolis.” It’s like he’s actively trying to find reasons why he’s insane. What the hell happened to you?

“Hey, c’mon.” Adam put out the fire and dusted himself off. “We’re wasting daylight, and we could be doing things. You said you wanted a basement? Let’s get to it! Maybe in the meantime I can tell you the story of Simba and the Lion King.”

Windell perked up and seemed to have cleared himself of his doubts.

<><><>

Traveler dislikes being wrong. Nothing could put a hitch in one’s plans more than underestimating your foe, and sometimes even underestimating oneself. The turnout to the charity dinner surpassed Traveler’s expectations, even if it had discounted the short notice. Noble and commoner alike came to see the richest stallion on the east coast, and perhaps even the richest non-noble in Equestria. Traveler was fortunate it had called in a favor and rented out Central Park for its use, else there might not have been enough room.

Traveler hates that the aura of mystery it had unknowingly put out made it all the more curious. It forms into the male pegasus in a secluded room before intermingling in the crowd. He wears a big smile and walks through the crowd, shaking hooves and laughing all the while. To them, he is just another interested pony. After all, only Dapperquill, the elusive stallion’s secretary had ever seen him in person.

As another stallion stumbles into him, Monochrome can’t help but muse how much faster it would be to become incorporeal. It is such a fuss to send equal but opposite bursts of kinetic energy whenever it touches somepony. The stallion that had bumped into Monochrome turned around and apologized.

“My word!” The mustachioed unicorn cries. “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there.”

“No worries, friend.” Monochrome smiles “Say, wouldn’t you happen to be Sir Fancy Pants?”

“That I am! And this is my wife, Fleur de Lis.” An elegant mare strode up to them.

“Pleased to meet both of you.” Monochrome shook both of their hooves, to Fleur’s surprise. “Although I’m surprised that both of you are here. Hasn’t there been an invitation to Cadenza’s wedding? Quite close to today, isn’t it?”

“Three days from now.” Fancy nodded. “Luckily, there’s an express train to Canterlot early tomorrow, so we should arrive the night before the wedding. A bit close, but I believe it is worth it. A few of the more curious and charitable nobles came along, causing a flood of nobles from all over eastern Equestria, and many of the locals decided to follow suit. June Night’s descendants have always been secretive, maybe even shy, and this is the first time one has made a public appearance. I suspect the orphanages of Manehatten will be well supplied for the next few years.” Fancy looks into the distance for a while. “Oh, I’m sorry, it appears you have us at a disadvantage. Are you an eastern city noble? Your suit seems to be very well made.”

The suit is a white tuxedo with a black tie and golden cuff links and buttons, complimenting Monochrome’s black coat and white mane, as well as his equally ornate goggles, black lens hiding his eyes, and white-gold frames holding it together. Altogether, it seems lavish, but is about as real as Monochrome himself is.

“No, I’m not a noble. Simply a very lucky buisnesspony. As for the gold accents, my secretary insisted I wear something more expensive.” Monochrome looked in both directions before gesturing them to get closer. Fleur and Fancy cocked their eyebrows and leaned in. “But just between you and me,” Monochrome whispered, “They’re pyrite.”

Fleur and Fancy chortle.

“As for my name, I am ̶ ̶ ”

“Oh, Fancy Pants! Fleur de Lis!” Two more ponies joined the group, noses high in the air. Fleur rolled her eyes.

“Ah, Jet Set and Upper Crust. Nice to see you both here.” Fancy gave a small smile.

“Yes, well, we couldn’t not come!” Jet cried. “We had to see this stallion for ourselves. His family has made the best decisions in bonds ever since June Night founded the company.”

“And the way she began with textiles? Genius!” Upper Crust hopped a bit. “And not just for clothes, albeit making them easily accessible for all classes, but for tents, for furniture, and for so many other things that hadn’t been under one company before. Selling her products abroad was also quite a daring move.”

It wasn’t a very difficult task. At the time, Traveler had nothing better to do than keep an ear to the ground and build up influence. And with knowledge of how different Equestrian histories worked out on average, it was simple enough to corner the market, leaving only a few small companies in the west so it wouldn’t be a monopoly. No, the difficult part was making sure the butterfly effect wouldn’t take place. Any minor discrepancies had to be corrected, so proper ponies would meet at the right times, and reproduce at the right times, creating offspring that needed to be manipulated as well. Within two generations of helicoptering, the mistakes were corrected. Traveler suspects the semi-sapient nature of Equus itself helped. It is grateful that it had planned for ‘Monochrome’ millennia ago, and took the measures of memorizing the average events that would lead up to the present. But it never believed that taking such direct actions would be necessary so soon.

“I’ve heard that June Night’s descendants are mere hybrids rather than full-blooded ponies, which is why they never show their faces.” Jet Set puts in, moving his hoof about. Fleur rolls her eyes and over-dramatically feigns offence.

“A pity,” huffs Upper Crust as she turns her nose up, “That such an intelligent pony could be a hybrid.” Fancy Pants’ smile seems strained. “A hippogriff or a zony may be somewhat more acceptable, but I simply don't associate myself with kirin or centaurs.”

“I doubt you two need worry about something like that.” Monochrome interjects, smiling all the while. “I’ve heard that while he’s simply very reclusive, like the rest of his family, he used to teach in Cloudsdale.”

Fancy Pants raises an eyebrow before a small smile reaffirms itself on his muzzle.

“You aren’t a noble, are you?” Upper Crust turns up her nose further still. Any more and she might break her neck. “I doubt your ideas matter. Where have you heard such a ̶ ̶ ” Upper Crust is interrupted by the general crowd hushing up as the lights on the stage turns on, and a mare shuffles over to the mic.

“Hello, everypony!” Dapperquill beams, speaking clearly due to her practice at Monochrome’s behest. “I’d like to welcome you all to Monochrome’s charity dinner. Tonight, our raffles will be selling beautiful pieces of art, with the proceeds going to the Equestrian Lost Foals, to improve the lives and educations of orphans around Equestria.”

Monochrome pokes Fleur in the side as Dapperquill speaks. She turns to look at him, and he raises a hoof in front of his mouth in a ‘shush’ motion and stealthily flies in the opposite direction of the stage, disappearing behind a corner. Fleur raises an eyebrow as Fancy’s smile grows wider.

“And now, the moment that everypony’s been waiting for! May I introduce you to…Monochrome, president of June Night Textiles!” The lights turn off at Dapperquill’s exclamation, and silence falls.

Suddenly a single spotlight hits a lone black pegasus on the stage, his smile whiter than his tuxedo. Despite what others may think later on, Monochrome could see every face in the crowd even despite his black-tinted goggles. He particularly savors Upper Crust’s mortified expression and the restrained giggling of Fleur and Fancy. It’s time to put the charm up to eleven.

“Fillies and gentlecolts, hens and hawks, cows and bulls, I’m so honored to see such a massive turnout. Be it from our own fair city of Manehatten, the illustrious Canterlot, the beautiful twilight of Hollow Shades, or even from the noble nations outside of Equestria.” Monochrome turns to look personally at respective nobles, businesspeople, and citizens of the respective places. He doesn’t know all of them ̶ ̶ he isn’t omniscient of course ̶ ̶ but the most well-known among the crowd meet his veiled gaze. “I won’t lie and tell you we’ve solved the problem. The hard truth of the fact is Equestria, and even other nations, have their own fair share of problems. Some larger than others. People like you or I aren’t capable of facing eldritch threats like Celestia, Luna, and the mighty Bearers do, but we can help others in need. We can help bring families together, we can bring more color and life in this world. This isn’t a perfect world, but it is with major steps in the right direction, like this one, when all of us, regardless of class, species, or race, join together to make our own impact. That, my friends, is the nature of Harmony.” Monochrome holds up a glass.

“And so I wish to hold a toast: to Harmony, to our friends, and ̶ ̶ to hay with it, and to princess Cadenza’s future life as a wedded mare. I hope all of you have a wonderful time, and please do try the hors d’oeuvres. The cooks and I worked very hard on them, especially on the rangoon, for those of you who like the taste of umami.” Monochrome internally smiles. ‘Umami’ isn’t a well-known term, so the nobles that do eat the crab Rangoon and enjoy it will end up creating a trend eating crab, despite it being meat, as an expensive delicacy. The investments in the gryphon fisheries in Manehatten will no doubt produce a profit. And he doesn’t have to be careful about the butterfly effect anymore; small actions such as this one would only result in long-term change, whereas the Climax would occur within the year.

“And now, please give a thunderous applause for the Manehatten Symphony orchestra!”

The rest of night goes decently. There were many attempts at networking, but Monochrome only associates himself with those that would succeed, those that entertain him, or those whose causes he found to align with his own. All the while, he asks if they heard anything interesting from Van Hoover, monitoring their vitals all the while. By measuring stress levels at the question, he is able to form a pool of ponies to investigate, with the added mortification of the knowledge that three more mares are already infatuated with him. As the night winds down and the orchestra is replaced by a DJ, more and more artworks are sold, and subsequently, more and more ponies begin to leave. At midnight, most of the Canterlot crowd has already left, and the DJ packs up. At that point, Monochrome decides that it’s a good time to end the soiree.

“Thank you everybody for your wonderful support. I hope you all had a simply wonderful night.” As Monochrome gives the closing statement, he watches Octavia leave with the DJ, knowing she’ll be safe. “Now please remember to not fly under the influence, and to get home safely to get a proper night’s rest.” He smiles at the guests milling about in various states of drowsiness, from the ‘I’m two flies short of a shambling corpse’ to the ever famous ‘I’m fighting my eyelids, but they’re winning’.

Monochrome finds Dapperquill passed out in a chair, leaning on her hoof as an old mare babbles on about this and that. Monochrome hoists her up on his back, ignoring the old mare who’s completely unaware of what’s happening, and walks out of the park. Halfway back to her apartment, she wakes up, but pretends to be asleep. Monochrome unlocks her door and gently sets Dapperquill down in her bed. He sets out a glass of water on the nightstand, and just in case, a bucket on the side of her bed. He tucks her in, and is about to pull away, but her forelegs hold firm onto him.

“Sorry Dapperquill, dear.” Monochrome sighs. “But duty calls yet again.”

The mare continues pretending to sleep, but scrunches her muzzle and holds on tighter. The entity disguised as a pony shakes its head and simply flows out of her grip in one swift motion. It knows the truth, it could detect the serotonin and the dopamine in her system.

“Sorry.” It says once more, rushing out before she could open her eyes.

In an instant it is floating, invisible, over Windell’s cottage. Flowing inside, it observes the three sleeping inhabitants. Adam is haphazardly spread on the bed, drooling all the while. Windell seems satisfied sleeping like a cat as Steel Fang is curled protectively around him.

“I wish this didn’t have to happen.” Traveler speaks in an infrasonic range so low that none of the three could hear it, not even subconsciously. “But my desires do not reflect reality.”

It hovers closer to Steel Fang, tendril posed directly over his head. It stays there for a few moments, hesitating, before pulling back.

“No. You will be the third of three.”

It moves over to Adam.

“And you. My champion. I have plans for you, some of which I hope will never come to pass. You are a very important piece. Quite possibly my favorite, though I definitely shouldn’t be choosing.”

Slowly, it turns away and approaches the sleeping pegasus.

“Finally, we have…you. I must admit, this is odd. Very odd.”

It distances itself from Windell.

“Throughout Yggdrasil, I’ve learned that people are a bit like windows. An odd metaphor, but I think it fits. Every grain of sand is a recollection, a memory that is fused to others to form glass. Windows that are created well don’t have their view distorted over short periods of time, whereas badly manufactured panes of glass distort and pervert what is seen through it. Similarly, some glass cracks under certain conditions, others resist. Windows are like people…but people who pass through the Void rather than the Between like Val and Adam can be more easily compared to something else.”

Traveler flows around Windell like a shark.

“Stained glass windows. Pieces of glass from all over, from different places, with different makers, with different colors. All together as one. The Void isn’t kind. It isn’t evil, either. It is simply the Nothing. The Nothing where ideas and energy intermingle, collide, mutate, evolve. Very few manage to pass through. Fewer still pass through sane. But see, souls, despite what people like to think, are indeed ideas. A vast collection of ideas, ideas that form a memory, a personality, an ego. And when a somebody passes through the Void, well, they’re not somebody anymore. Your body consisted of matter, after all. How you got your new body is most likely the work of the collected remains of matter on the outskirts of the Equus Beyond twisted together to make a new body to suit the soul.”

Traveler starts moving faster.

“But it isn’t just your body that’s interesting. It’s your soul. Sometimes souls zip in and out of the Void unfettered. Did you? Or was your essence broken like a window pane in a hurricane? The question is: Are you Windell with a few shards of some other souls latched on? A broken window pane with a few pieces of stained glass to fix the small holes? Or are you a stained glass window that fits nearly perfectly together, forming a near-stable personality? Those bits of other people you have in you, are they really you? Are you really Windell?”

Traveler stops.

“The saddest part is that I don’t know the answers.”

The being flies away desolately. Windell would be the busy soon. After all, he would soon be receiving a small group of guards as company.

Author's Note:

*John Nash is the protagonist of "A Beautiful Mind", where he 'defeats schizophrenia through the power of his own mind'. However, the real John Nash recovered because he started taking a less stressful approach to life. But it seems like Windell is unaware of that...
** Actual fact: Miami is among the fastest growing cities in the world, alongside Beijing, Dubai, and Toronto. However, not all companies hired for infrastructure are American. The most famous example is the tunneling project that was conceived in the 1980's, recently taken up by the french company, Bouygues Construction.
***Billy Joel will die someday, no matter how much we don't want that to happen. When he does, there will be a huge resurgence in popularity of his songs, among them the lesser-known hit 'Captain Jack', a beautiful song about dealing with one's misery. Basically my prediction at a future expression derived from radio stations playing his songs on repeat.
Me:

Comments

[Charon the Chronicler]

Hey guys! So my editor didn’t get a chance to look this over yet (my fault) but I got it out anyways. Going to go see Deadpool soon, I hope all of you are having a happy Valentine’s day, whether you’re spending time with your SO, or just enjoying chocolate boxes they sell.

Anyways, thanks for reading, I think you guys are looking forwards to the two chapter Arc 2 finale, things are going to be set in motion soon. Thanks for the likes, comments, and smiles you get when you read Adam’s antics.

Cheers,
Charon
Edit: Deadpool was awesome, 10/10, would watch alone on Valentine's again.
Also:

[Seeking Dusk]

Yep, Adam is looking to be good for Windell. And that moment with the 'testing the weight theory' was adorable. On another point, Uppercrust's horror at putting her hoof in her mouth was delectable. Gossips need to be a lot more careful about who there are gossiping about and to.

[WiseFireCracker]

Merde, merde, merde ! Adam thought while keeping a straight face. Il parle québécois ! How am I supposed to understand that crazy accent? Context clues! Yeah!

*eyes narrow* Tread carefully there, Adam. I am watching you.

Now, casual joking aside, rather amused by the whole fooling the nobles into humiliating themselves via secret identity. That's always a classic.

And this whole ending speech... I feel like it tries to shed some light to stuff, but doesn't quite... Existential crisis incoming in three... two... one...

[Veo Skride]

Why does this feel so foreboding? I like it.

[Canary In The Coal Mine]

I'm enjoying where this is going, but I can't help but wonder how it will all fit together, with Windell's changes (such as Luna's obsession with him).

I wonder if Adam will give the game away to her unknowingly.

Then again I can't help but wonder what would happen when Val meets Tirek, since they seem to have the same class of abilities.

[Shadow-Dancer]

wow watched "A beautiful mind." in high school psychology great film