The Maiden and the Serpent

by Hustlin Tom

Chapter 6

I found Ahmed waiting for me in the observation deck. When he saw me, he half jogged/half ran to me and gave me a huge embrace. “Thank God you’re alright,” was all he said.

I was absolutely confused by his extremely unusual display of emotion, but also by what he meant by ‘Thank God you’re alright’. “Of course I’m alright. What’s going on?”

“People are disappearing. Random people are just flat out vanishing into thin air, with no trace left behind of who or what took them. I was afraid you might be next.”

“How long has this been going on?”

“Almost two days. No one’s been told until the higher-ups can figure out what the hell is going on in order to keep people from mass panic. There’s absolutely no pattern; any time, any place, men, women, children, even unborn kids are being swept up and taken by the Devil for all we know.”

I was stunned to silence, but then I began to think. “No pattern,” I murmured.

“What?”

“Ahmed, is the wing where you kept the Changelings still quarantined?”

“Yeah, standard procedure is for a wing to be purged, wiped clean of any impurities, and a six month wait period.”

“But would the equipment and experimental tech still be there?”

“Yeah, but why? You’re not making any sense.”

“Ahmed, do you trust me with your life?”

He looked at me with realization coming to his eyes, “So..this is life and death, isn’t it?”

“For everyone.”

“Then yes, I do trust you.”

“Discord. Discord has to be the one responsible for the disappearances. I just came from a session with it, and it basically out right said it was bored with our existence, and you know how much power it has.”

“Okay. Do you have a plan?”

“...Yes.”

---

I led Ahmed back to my apartment as quickly as possible. With the door closed and locked behind us, I called out, “Dawn, Dusk, please come here! There’s someone I’d like you to meet.” Slowly two heads popped around the corner of my closet door, and soon those heads were followed by the bodies of my wonderful daughters.

Dusk ran up to me and gave my leg a hug with her two front hooves, “Hi Mommy! How are you?”

I lied, “Everything is going well Dusk.”

“Who is this Mother,” asked Dawn as she yawned; I obviously woke her from an afternoon nap.

“Dawn, Dusk, this is your Uncle Ahmed, and he has come to give you a little checkup.”

“Hold on,” Ahmed said as he waved his arm and brought his other to his forehead with a sigh, “can we talk about this? Privately?” He walked away from the girls, and I told them to stay there for a minute as I followed him. He began to quickly whisper to me, “Red, what is this? Standard protocols not aside, this, whatever it is, is a bad idea. How could you take them out of the sample pool and raise them as pets? It’s against regulation!”

“Ahmed, shut up and listen to me,” I whispered agitatedly, “These two are like daughters to me, and what I’m asking you to do is check their bodies for compatibility for Tessaractal mutation. If we can do it, they may be our only means of stopping Discord. We just need the proper chemicals, and a large source of Tessaractal energy to do it! Right?”

“That’s a gamble at best, and if it doesn’t work, these fillies may end up dead or wishing they were.”

“I know the risks, but this is even more important than that! We’ve unleashed a monster who can literally change reality on a whim into the universe without any means of checking its power, and that cannot be left as it is.”

“So you would sacrifice these fillies to save us all,” he replied.

I looked over to my dau-, the subjects, and they looked back at me. What could I see in their eyes? Hope? Worry? Childish happiness? No, the most gut wrenching thing I saw in those eyes was trust. Not just any kind of trust, either, but the trust between a child and its mother, and I was about to betray that trust completely. “Yes, I would.”

Ahmed looked at me and sighed, and then walked back towards the two fillies. Ahmed took out a device from his lab coat that would check their genetic makeup for the possibility of beneficial mutation. Dawn looked up at Ahmed as he got on his knees to do the examination, “There aren’t any shots, are there?”

“No, I’m just checking you for any bad germs is all.” The readings came back with 92.4% possibility for beneficial mutation. Ahmed scanned Dusk as well and the readings were even higher, 95.8%. Ahmed whistled in astonishment, “I’ve never seen anyone as healthy as you two are!” He looked up to me, and I nodded my understanding. It seems that Providence was on our side in spite of everything.

Ahmed got to his feet and made for the door. “Aren’t you going to stay any longer, Uncle Ahmed,” Dusk asked inquisitively. Ahmed looked back at Dusk and put on his best smile, “I’m sorry kid, but I’ve got some work to do. But first I need to have another little talk with your..mother before I leave.” We went outside my door, and locked it behind us. “Red, keep them safe through the next inspection shift tonight, and I’ll have everything ready in three days, provided I don’t disappear too. Be careful, alright?”

“You too,” I said without even thinking. My head was foggy, but I made sure to tell the subjects we would be going for a trip in three days. And as I put them to bed, I made sure to tell them that I loved them, and that I would never let them go.

Comments

[Scribblestick]

Hmm, this chapter seemed rushed. Red seemed to know too quickly that Discord was the source of their problems, and she came up with a solution pretty quickly as well. Also, I'm not really following her logic. Why does she think Dawn and Dusk can stop Discord?

[Hustlin Tom]

1433021
I do have to admit, it seems a bit rushed from the outside. The Maiden's near instantaneous distrust of Discord and suspicion of it is intended. There is an unknown agent at work here, influencing these events to their proper ends.