• Published 10th Dec 2016
  • 2,611 Views, 205 Comments

Soul Reclamation Society - David Silver



Have you lost a dear one long before their time? Accidents, monsters, foreign attack... they can all leave you with a hole in your heart. We can fill it, and give your loved one another chance.

  • ...
26
 205
 2,611

6 - Case 04: Robert Aqua

Dr. Fetlock had gotten that secretary she wanted. A griffon hen, seated behind her front desk and claws ticking away at a typewriter. Fetlock felt pride swell, knowing she had reached a new level in which she could afford to pay that secretary without worrying about her budget. "Gudrun?"

The griffon, Gudrun, looked up towards the doctor. "Yes, Doctor?"

Fetlock's smile grew. She liked the respect that was given in the tone of those words. "Has anypony made an appointment for today?"

Gudrun reached over with her clever fingers and quickly flipped through some papers. "I don't have anything noted for today, Doctor. I'll be making some follow-up calls on some potential clients that showed some interest previously. Doctor?"

Fetlock's ears perked. "Yes?"

"May I ask something?"

Fetlock's confusion grew. "What?"

Gudrun gestured towards the door leading into the back. "What is it you do, exactly? You speak to the client, go into the back, and return with a pony that I didn't see go in."

Fetlock considered that reply. She could angrily brush Gudrun off, but she wanted a loyal assistant, not a cowed servant or, worse, neither if she drove the griffon away. "I use very advanced magic to create the pony that the client wishes for."

Gudrun blinked owlishly, which fit her owlish face. "You create life, from nothing?" She shook her head. "Unicorns are like little gods." Despite her words, her eyes went back to her typewriter and she resumed typing, apparently satisfied with the answer she had received.

Fetlock let out an internal sigh of relief that her words had been accepted at face value. She liked Gudrun. The griffon was efficient, polite, and despite being a griffon, courteous to guests. "I'll be--"

Her words were interrupted by the door to the street being pushed open to admit a pegasus. He was blue, with multi-colored mane and tail. He looked a little frazzled. "Is this the place for getting ponies?"

Gudrun looked up at him, undisturbed. "You'll have to be more specific." She produced a pamphlet and offered it over her desk. "We offer a wide variety of pony location services."

The pony approached with a strong nod. "Great, yes, that's what I want!"

Fetlock wasn't sure about that pony. There was something... peculiar about them. "What, exactly, are you--"

He rushed her, eyes wide and mane becoming all the more frazzled. "Can you send a pony back?"

She raised a brow high. Was he? "Come with me. Gudrun, I'll be seeing to this client."

"As you wish, Doctor." She returned to her typing as if nothing remarkable had occurred.

Fetlock led the pegasus into the back room before turning to face him again. "Who are you?"

The pony gestured at himself. "That's a trick question. The name's Robert, or Aqua, if you prefer."

Robert. Yes, she had heard that name, and Aqua as well. "You're patient zero's acquaintance."

"Patient what?" Robert shook his head. "Look, I came to Equestria thinking it would be all that and a bag of chips."

"Every pony has a place," stated Fetlock evenly. "You did not belong there. The 'real' Aqua has integrated wonderfully." She pointed at Robert. "You are not Aqua."

Robert took half a step back. "G-great, so we agree. Send me home."

"Impossible."

Robert went rigid. "Don't lie to me! If you can pull people here, you can send them back. It's just common sense!"

Fetlock let out a slow breath. "Shall we try an analogy?"

"This better not be stupid."

Fetlock rolled her eyes. "You are fishing. You set your hook into the depths, find something, and pull it up. The fish is now in your hooves. It asks to be put back. Now the complexity. Every smallest bit of direction in that ocean is another ocean of oceans. If we put the fish back in the water, it will not be in the ocean it began in. It will never find its way home. If we try hurling the fish in the same direction, same result. The chance of returning that fish to the same place it began? Basically impossible."

Robert sank to his haunches with a thud. "Then what am I supposed to do?"

"If I read her report properly, this was your decision entirely."

Robert scowled at the doctor. "I thought I could get a mare. I thought life would be easier here!"

"Why?" Fetlock raised a brow at him. "What point is there in any universe where nothing is challenged. If we had everything we could ever need, there would be no change, no growth, only slow stagnation." Something he said clicked with her. "A mare could be arranged."

"What?" Robert stood up. "Just like that?"

"Just like that," agreed Fetlock. "But... you would need gainful employment, for yourself, and for my fees. There are plenty of opportunities here in Manehattan." She pointed past him to the door they had entered through. "Surely you have some talents?"

Robert's face scrunched with thought, his wings fidgeting. "I used to work retail, like George did. Hell, that's how we met in the first place."

"Do you not have hobbies and interests beyond that?" Fetlock rolled a hoof. "Besides, even retail is a desired field. There are more than enough storefronts, if you clean yourself up and make yourself presentable."

"How?!" Robert took a step towards her, clopping the ground. "I don't have a shower!"

"I can smell." Fetlock wrinkled her nose a moment. "Look, here." She pulled out a bag of bits and counted out a few moderate coins. "Go buy a room at a motel, get cleaned up, then get a job. This is your world now, like it or not. You chose it. You have nopony to blame."

Robert glanced at her bag, as if considering trying to get more bits than were being offered, but the urge seemed to fade quickly. "Yeah..." He reached a hoof for the bits, only to have them fall to the floor. He hadn't perfected hoof-grabbing yet. With another try, he had them up and tucked away. "Look, I'll do it, but you better be here when I come back."

"I plan to be," stated Fetlock confidently. "Prove you can adapt to the situation. I would like to speak with you further, but only then."

She watched him walk out and closed the door behind him. Would he manage? She almost hoped he did. She was curious what pony he thought would fill the many holes she could see in his heart. Maybe it would end happily? Only if he took care of himself first.

Author's Note:

This case is not over yet.

Do you remember Robert from You Are What You Paint?

It's about time he got some character growth, don't you think?