No Matter Where

by Clean Karma

Episode 4: Assistance

Professor Karma peered at his watch carefully. The ticking continued at a steady pace, filling the room. Every gear turned like a brain who's thoughts had just conceived the greatest of plans was about to give birth to them. Karma however seemed unaffected by this and continued to stare at his watch.

He smiled and said, "Three, two, one."

The door burst open as a blue Pegasus came through, knocking over several piles of books that stood about neck height. Before they could fall on the floor Karma's blue magic enveloped them and put them back in place. As he did so, the blue Pegasus spoke hurredly.

"That orange lass 'as arrived with a couple of er friends."

Karma smiled and said, "I know Deft, I know." Karma began walking past her through the door.

"Oh." Deft furrowed her brow and asked, "If ya know den why be Oi tellen ya?"

Karma motioned for Deft to follow him and she followed suit, "Because my dear, I asked you to." With another glance at his watch Karma asked, "I take by now her friends have taken the train and she is on her way here now?"

"Oi tailed 'em foe a whoile. She outta be getten here any--"

DING DONG DINGDONG DING DINGDONG DINGDONG DINGDONG.

Karma paused for a second and turned to Deft, "Deft, why is the doorbell playing funeral music?" The blue Pegasus shrugged her shoulders and grinned guiltily. Before she could respond, the Professor huffed and continued down the stretch of halls. After a short trek with the ominous music playing, they reached the front door. Karma opened it.

---

"Hello Miss Dash, we've been expecting you."

Scootaloo was facing away from the door at the time, looking at the clouds in thought, thus Professor Karma's voice came as a surprise, causing her to jump slightly. Scootaloo turned around quickly and saw the changeling. He hadn't changed a bit. Scootaloo was a bit surprised, she wasn't sure what she had expected. Maybe a little bit of grey facial hair? Then again, Changelings didn't have fur or hair so at least that makes sense.

"Uh..." Scootaloo uttered in embarrassment, "...hello Professor Karma."

Karma chuckled, "Please, just call me Professor. Please follow." He headed deeper into the building. Scootaloo followed behind him, hundreds of questions running through her head. As she did though she noticed the hallway she was stepping into was all to familiar. Shivers ran down her spine as she remembered that field trip. Walking down the hallway, meeting that...thing.

"OI!"

Suddenly a blue Pegasus Scootaloo hadn't noticed at first stepped in front of her and smiled a little too wide, "Oi'm shore ya 'ave 'undreds of questions foe the Professor doncha?" Scootaloo stopped to keep from running into the strange pony. Her hair was straight up in a weird fashion and her body was a plethora of colors ranging in blue, white, and red.

"Well, yeah I do actually. I'd like to know what the deal is about his letter and--" before she could continue she was interrupted by the blue Pegasus.

"Moi name's Deft. Deft Thought. Noice ta meet ya." still smiling she put her hoof especially close to Scootaloo's face for a shake. Then Karma's voice rang from the under end of the hall.

"Please stop scaring with Miss Dash Deft. Also...don't move." Before either of them could respond a locking sounding emitted from Scootaloos left side. From it a door opened revealing Karma, "There we go, I found the door. Please, please come in." He stepped back allowing the door to remain open. Deft Thoughts stepped from completely unfased by the sudden fast travel of the Professor. After a moment, Scootaloo stepped through as well. As she did she looked around. It was the same room she had been in after falling away from the creature in the hall. It was messy as before, maps, compasses, globes, and telescoped strewn about.

Deft Thoughts bumped Scootaloos shoulder, "For a Professor, ee's a bit messy ain't ee?"

Scootaloo could only nod in response, too unprepared for what had happened within the last five minutes. Deft left her side and went through a door on the other side of the room. Scootaloo saw Karma going through a few papers so she decided to look around. The room had several tables in it, each one covered with papers and pictures. On one table she found a file open with a picture of the Element of Honesty next to a picture of a rotten apple. Curiousity compelling her, Scootaloo pushed aside a the pictures and saw under them a third picture of a blue earth pony. It was circled in red.

Before Scootaloo could look closer, a blue aura appeared over the pictures and file and they popped out of existence. Scootaloo turned around, only to see Karma standing there, with a very unhappy look on his face. He immediately began burrating her.

"Do you just go through other lings stuff when you want?! That was completely irresponsible and stupid, I don't want to see you doing stuff like that again under my building. Understood?"

Scootaloo heard the words but didn't react in fear, but instead in annoyance, "Hey, I didn't know that was something you wanted kept private! If you're going to put stuff in the middle room, you outta expect ponies to look around. And who do you think you are yelling at me like that? I'm an adult, just like you."

Karma rolled his eyes and mumbled loud enough for Scootaloo to hear, "Give or take a couple centuries." Shaking his head he turned around, "Follow me. You want answers? I can give them to you."

Scootaloo still wasn't happy with the indignant tone but followed anyway. They walked through a door on the other end. It opened to an old looking elevator. They stepped inside and Karma pressed a button that read 'Below the Truth'. As he did Scootaloo took notice that none of the buttons were in order. Some had words, and some had numbers but they were strewn all over not even in columns.

Karma said, "Whatever you do, remain still." Before Scootaloo could ask why, the elevator shook violently. Scootaloos vision blurred slightly until she realized she had begun crying. Her bones started to feel like they being twisted around. Every sense in her body was attacked, and she didn't know how to react. Trying to remain still she noticed that the door to the elevator was vibrating harder than anything else. Then it stopped. The room was quiet again for second until Karma looked at her smiling, "Welcome to Final Resting Place Base of Operations."

The door opened and Scootaloo's jaw dropped. There before her was a large underground base, at least a few miles in both width and height. Long tube-like halls ran in and out. The entire place having dungeon type of look with a hint of adventure. Long bridges stretched to places unknown. She looked around she noticed that the elevator opened to a area with a sign reading 'loading area'. Stepping out, Scootaloo took in the sight. As she did she bumped into someone.

"Ow. I'm sorry. I didn--" on the ground of Scootaloo lay a pile of pony bones. The head turned around and glared at her, "Why don't ya watch where yer going little missy?" it said as it started pulling itself together...literally. Femurs, ribs, and other bones alike flew together in a synchronized fashion. The skeleton never ceased glaring Scootaloo until it was fully together. It picked up a box it had been carrying and continued on it's way. Scootaloo gaped after the walking pile of bones.

"There's no need to stare Miss Dash." Karma trotted by her as though he didn't see the whole ordeal, "They are merely cursed ghost from the past sworn to do as they are told until the end of time or until they fulfill their promise. Come along now."

After Scootaloo recuperated, the two of them made their way down one of long expanse of hallways. Besides the occasional skeletal being, the two were very silent in doing so, thus Scootaloo tried her best destroy said silence.

"So uh...how long have you known about this underground base thing?"

Karma kept his eyes forward, "Since the day I got it Miss Dash."

"And that's another thing. You don't have to keep calling me Miss Dash. All my friends call me Scootaloo."

Karmas pace never slowed but if studied closely enough one could see his eyes glance downward in thought by the tiniest movements. Movements the orange Pegasus caught on to, "Alright then...Miss Scootaloo. If it's all the same to you, I'd rather keep the 'Miss'."

Scootaloo nodded in response. When she turned back forward, she noticed they were now in front of a large door, at least two grown ponies in height.

Karma's magic enveloped the handle. As he opened it he said, "Miss Scootaloo, you want answers, this is where you'll find them.

---

Scootaloo sat on one end of a very long table. Said table was a dark mahogany painted dark violet. on each side sat ten chairs, twenty two in all including the ones on each end. The room she was in was one of many rooms they had passed by while on their way. Professor Karma sat on the other end, staring at her intently. He'd been this way for at least five minutes and didn't seem to intend on stopping. He however was the one to break the silence.

"Before we begin Miss Scootaloo, I have a number of questions for you."

Scootaloo exaggerated a groan, "Ugh. I thought I was done taking tests when I finished school."

Karma was unamused, "Miss Scootaloo, what is love?"

"Um...well, love is a feeling you have for another."

"Hatred is a feeling you can have as well. Do you mean to say that love and hate are the same?"

Scootaloo shook her head, "That's not what I meant."

"It's what you said."

Scootaloo furrowed her brow slightly and then smirked, "Okay then, let me explain. I said that love is 'a' feeling you have, not 'the' feeling. Because of that, I am indicating that love is one of many different feelings you can have. The feeling itself is unexplainable."

Professor Karma raised an eyebrow and smiled ever so slightly, "You have more wisdom than I gave you credit for Miss Scootaloo." He levitated a clipboard I front of him and asked another question, "Miss Scootaloo, you see a thousand bit, and next to is a hundred bit. What do you do? Take both, leave both, or take one, and if so, which one?"

Scootaloo thought for a second and then responded, "I would take both but I would turn in the hundred bit to authorities. Whoever dropped the hundred bit is likely to need it for something. Whoever owns the thousand bit is likely rich enough not to care. A thousand bit piece is worth too much for the pony not to return as soon as possible."

Professor Karma wrote a few notes on his clipboard and then asked, "Alright then, last question. If asked to describe who you are in three full sentences, what would you say?"

"Hmm...How about 'I am a flyer and not afraid to prove that I am fast.', 'I am headstrong but I not stupid enough to fly blindly.', and 'I hope I am and will always be as loyal as my sister."

Several silent second went by until Karma dropped the clipboard with crack that echoed through the room. Scootaloo watched Karma in curiosity. He smiled and sat down before speaking, "My name is Clean Karma, also known as Professor Karma. I am a special breed of changeling. I'll explain why later." His smile faltered slightly, "When I was one hundred and forty-six, I found a large mansion deep in the woods. The land around it was quite a livable so it came as a surprise to find the only nearby buildings all abandoned. I went inside, and didn't emerge until twenty years later." By now Karma wasn't smiling at all.

"Twenty years!?" Scootaloo couldn't believe her ears, "I was told you started the museum shortly after finding it. It couldn't have been twenty months, much less twenty years!"

"I don't mean twenty years in our time filly." Karma rose his voice slightly but it was enough to shock Scootaloo, "You remember the first time you came here? When you and your friends got lost? How long did it feel like you'd been walking?"

Scootaloo thought for a few second before answering, "About a few hours. Why?"

"You were gone for ten minutes."

Scootaloo went silent in disbelief. How was that possible? Time didn't...change.

"Time is funny in some of the hallways here." Karma continued, "As a changeling I'm used to a constantly changing living area. Had I been a pony, I likely would've completely disappeared permanently. I'll teach you how to navigate as soon as I can. I may be able to navigate here but finding you that first time was quite possibly just an Effect. We can't rely on those too heavily. Now I--"

"Hold on." Scootaloo was frustrated, she was getting answers but not the right ones, now she only had more questions, "Before we go any further, I need to know, what does this have to do with me?"

Karma glanced away from Scootaloo for a moment. Finally he walked over to her side of the table and stood there. Karma said to her, "Scootaloo? How did you get your cutie mark. I know how but I want you to tell me in your own words."

The orange Pegasus was confused but answer anyway, "I got it the day I finally learned to fly. It resembles how I'm willing to do anything to accomplish my goals. Butterflies will sometimes fly straight into danger to get food. Why?"

"You ask that question a lot, but anyway, your cutie mark means more than you think. Have you ever heard of the Butterfly Effect?" Scootaloo shakes her head, "Ah, well it is an interesting thing. It is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a small change in one state of a deterministicnonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state.. Basically, it is the fact that the smallest events, such as a Butterflies wing flap, can change the entire course of the world and it's future."

Scootaloo stared, still confused. Karma groaned in frustration, "There have only been eight ponies in existence with a butterfly as their cutie mark. Every single one of them has had some influence on Equestrias history, even if unintentional. You even know one of them as the Element of Kindness. No, she doesn't know how much she has changed, and that's actually for the better. If she found out, knowing her she'd likely attempt to have the least amount of effect as possible. This would likely have the opposite effect and cause the universe to be desperate for her decisions."

"Wait, wait, waitwaitwaitwait wait wait!" Scootaloo took a deep breathe and closed her eyes, "You're saying that there ponies who have to influence the universe, because of my cutie mark, I am now destined to help make sure the universe stays in balance, and Fluttershy is one of these universe ponies but doesn't know it. Have I left anything out?"

Karma put a hoof on his chin before responding, "Well two things: first, You don't know what this has to do with me and second, you can technically blame your destiny on your wings since they healed from a body growth disorder that should have been permanent."

Scootaloo stared at Karma for a few minutes until she frowned and leaned back in her chair putting her hooves on her face, "So...what does this have to do with you."

"I collect dangerous items all over Equestria and thought maybe having a Effector with me as an assistant might be useful."

Scootaloo thought for a few seconds, So I'm some sort of world changer. I guess that's not terrible, I've heard worse. She'd likely be in danger, probably more now than ever before. She didn't really like the title 'assistant' but it was likely just that, a title.

"I'll take the job."

For the second time today Karma let his composure fall slightly and he displayed confusion, "Wait, just like that? After everything I just told and everything I haven't told you yet, you're still good with this?"

Scootaloo shrugged her shoulders, "Why not? I could use some action in my life. Anything you need help with?"

Just as Scootaloo said this, the entire room shook slightly as a loud booming sound echoed throughout the structure.

"You Effectors have uncanny timing. Come with me."

Author's Note:

Sorry it took me so long to write this chapter. I've had some stuff going on IRL. Anyways, I hope you are enjoying this cause I'm...
...NOT! Seriously how do writers work this hard on a daily basis!?

Anyways, if any of you are wondering about the CMC's looks you can find them all on This Blog.

Have a pleasant day.

Comments

[Hipparcos]

Hoo boy. This is getting heavy.