The friendship particle
“What made you come here? Why did you come here? How did she get to you?”
Sundance was ill-prepared for the rapid-fire inquiries. He hadn’t even sat down, nor had he said anything. Paradox’s strange cat was looking up at him and something about the cat’s piercing gaze left him with a vague sense of unease. Mindful of his back, he sat down upon the wooden floor and did his best to look completely and utterly non-threatening.
“She got to me. That’s what she does, you know. She lifts you up, boosts your ego, and I don’t know how she does it, but she makes you… forces you to believe in yourself. Some kind of confidence trick. That is, until the reality of the situation hits and then whatever spell she’s cast just wears off. At least, that’s what it feels like. I hate that she got to me. So how did she get to you? How did she wear you down? Which method did she use to con you into becoming a caretaker for this forsaken place?”
The blunt-force questions left Sundance at a loss for words.
“I can’t believe I’m here. Even more, I can’t believe that she got me excited to come here. Sure, I was hesitant, and I didn’t want to come in the first place, but then she buttered me up with talk about being a court wizard and somehow, she made it all sound so good. So enticing. She’s dirty, you know, and she cheats. If I was a more powerful unicorn that could cast greater ward spells, I could protect myself against inspiration-based vocal charms and then maybe, just maybe, all of her pretty words wouldn’t work so well on me. I’d have a chance to resist them.”
Suddenly uncertain of himself and how much free will he possessed, he took a deep breath. It was almost intimidating; Paradox was a whole lot smarter than he was. She had better schooling and from the sounds of it, a far better grasp of what was going on. This was not going to plan, not at all. He’d come over here to make her feel better, but now, he felt worse. How had things just been turned upside down? Was it time to retreat?
Never.
“Geiger tells me that you’re decent. I wish I could take him at his word, but…” Her words trailed off and whatever it was she was about to say was left unsaid.
“He what?” Finally, some words came out, but not good words, no. Terrible words. The sort of words that made him look like an oaf. Hating himself a bit, his eyes focused on the zombie-like ginger cat for a time and then he looked Paradox in the eye, hoping for an explanation of some kind.
“Geiger is my familiar. It’s how I managed to get into Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, actually. I cast a Find Familiar spell. One of Star Swirl the Bearded’s conjuration spells. I’m not a very powerful unicorn, but I seem to have a knack for conjuration. I cast the spell after straining hard enough to give myself a nosebleed and all of a sudden, POOF! Ginger kitten. He tried to hook Princess Celestia’s nose and he hissed at the admissions examiners.”
Something that was almost a smile spread over Paradox’s face.
“You have a familiar too, Geiger tells me. You have that magic about you.”
“My owl?” Sundance didn’t like how the words he said came out as a question.
“I’m sorry that I’m so moody.” Paradox’s faint hint of a smile turned into a scowl. “I don’t deal with pressure very well. Because of my sudden mood shifts, I’m not well liked. Nopony wants to put up with me or my anxiousness.”
The cat was looking at him in a strange way. Maybe looking through him was a more accurate description. Geiger appeared beyond ancient, as though he shouldn’t even be alive. Yet, for his apparent age, he seemed to move just fine. At the moment, his tail swished side to side, and his whiskers quivered in some weird, wise way. Sundance had the distinct feeling that he was being judged, and he wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Was the cat inside of his head?
Anything was possible…
“My mother and father didn’t want me coming here. I defied them to do Princess Celestia’s bidding. Now I feel insecure, and scared, and I keep wondering if my parents were right. I’m at that age where I do the opposite of what my parents say. What they tell me to do. But they’re angry with me. Just what am I doing here, anyhow?”
Sundance gave Paradox a blank stare.
“I want to be a great wizard,” Paradox said, almost whispering. “Like Trixie Lulamoon, or Dim Dark. Dim is my inspiration, actually. I’ve read all of his publishings. Memorised most of them and can repeat whole volumes word for word. Dim pioneered explosioneering, harnessing mundane forces of physics to enhance magical casting. I’m not so very powerful, but I’ve taken Dim’s methods and made them my own.”
She sighed once, and Geiger rubbed his head against her foreleg.
“Princess Celestia told me that wizards are measured by the tests they endure. As a yearly attendee of Wizcon and a real fangirl of the great wizards of our age, I knew that Princess Celestia was telling me the truth. The truly great wizards struggle their way into great power. She… she convinced me that this would be my struggle and that it would be here, in this place, that I would find greatness. And she said all these words at me and I got caught up in the moment. I want my shot at greatness and I’m not afraid to get dirty and earn it. But coming here… to this place… it feels like a mistake.”
“Mistakes are just learning opportunities that we accidentally stumble upon,” Sundance said to the distressed young mare.
“You sound like her when you say that.”
“Well, we are related,” he replied.
“And we are too.” Paradox’s expression turned dark and her eyes glittered with the hint of tears. “Your grandmother, Noonfire Shimmer, is the sister or possible half-sister of my mother’s mother. The records are spotty at best and unreliable. Sunset Shimmer, once Princess Celestia’s student, is of close relation. Only matriarchal lineage was put to paper and very little was mentioned about sireage.”
“I know,” Sundance replied, as he nodded. “I ran into that problem when I was filling out the family tree and tracing my roots back to Princess Celestia. I wasn’t aware about you, though. High Noon the pegasus took up with several mares, one of which was Morning Blaze, and that’s how my grandmother, Noonfire Shimmer came about. High Noon was real popular with the mares and was reputed to be a sweet talker—”
“Can we not talk about that?” Paradox’s tone was pleading, and gave Sundance pause.
“I’m sorry. Consider it dropped.”
“Thanks.” Paradox, who squirmed in place, averted her gaze and stared off in the direction of the fire.
“So why particles?” Sundance asked.
Now it was Paradox who wore a blank stare, but she was quick to recover.
“We know almost nothing about them,” she replied as her expression both warmed and became animated. “There’s too much focus on magic and hardly any focus on the mundane. We know a fair bit about thaumatons and magic-infused particles, like Solestium and Celestium. But, by and large, common, mundane particles are ignored. Which is a sad state of affairs if you ask me. We unicorns are capable of particle manipulation. Creating light is just photon emission. Telekinesis is matter-manipulation, reaching out into the world around you and creating a chain of molecules that you send your influence through, like a telegraph wire. Magic works poorly in a vacuum, you know. Dim highlighted this fact with his vacuum void bubbles. I’ve seen a demonstration! When Princess Luna does magic out in space, it is theorised that she is causing spontaneous matter creation. It’s a great mystery.”
Sundance blinked; it was a conscious action that he had to give some thought to.
“Of course, it could just be that our understanding of space-magic is poorly understood. Not too many unicorns can get out into space for extensive testing. So everything is speculation. Everything we think we know might be wrong. That’s what I want to do with my study of particles. I want to change everything we think we know. I want to show that the mundane, natural world is every bit as important as the magic that we hold in such high regard.”
After a moment of quick thought, Sundance said the only thing he could think of. “This is the perfect place for you to do that. Just be mindful of your duties. These ponies need you.”
“And what, exactly, are my duties? Princess Celestia was vague on that point.”
“I’m glad you brought that up,” he replied. “Give me a moment to gather my thoughts, and I’ll tell you…”
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Fair enough.
Always trust your cat.
Definitely trust your cat familiar.
Given her particle oriented talent this is fairly concerning.
Duty #1: only explode small fractions of the Barony in any given spell.
Of course, the particle loving unicore has a familiar named Gieger I wonder if the cat came with something that can count. I love this buy the way nice science reference.
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Duty #2: No circumventing Duty #1 by means of casting multiple small destructive spells in rapidity or by other parallel processing means that violate the spirit of the law but follow the letter.
Interesting. Though I wonder....since our protagonist DOES have a familiar, how old is that owl really? Are any of the other owls powerful enough to become familiars themselves...?
Love the talk about mundane particles, though to me I feel like just causing explosions is a waste of research, but then again all that physics stuff is way over my head, other than the basics you put to "paper" here.
Rather curious about Void Bubbles & Space Magic now!!
So Dim infected others with his ideas. The world will never been the same.
I have a bad feeling that by the end of Paradox's story, we'll all be sons of bitches
So did his familure choose him instead of being summoned? Is it perhaps a family familure? Hmmm
Ponders to ponder.
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Milord is reaching out for all the help he can find. A baby owl isn't the greatest help, but having something small and cute in your corner can be surprisingly helpful.
I suppose it wouldn't take too much to turn the barn cave into a bomb shelter, would it?
It's not short, it's paragraphically challanged.
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Geiger, I’d like to take this moment to introduce you to another particle-ly active cat, Neutron:
cinemacats.com/wp-content/uploads/movies/thisislandearth04.jpg
Schrödinger’s cat also said to say hello. She wanted to greet you personally, but wasn’t sure if she’d be here or not.
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Sooner than that, she still doesn't know that she has no wizard tower yet.
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More over... he is a cat that you are unsure is alive or dead... or maybe he is both... Wonder if he also has a box...
finally back to reading this on here heh heh