• Published 3rd Oct 2012
  • 8,565 Views, 406 Comments

Artemis Fowl: The Equine Dominion - _No_One_Remains_



Artemis finds himself searching for wealth in a rather interesting land.

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Recovering Ambitions

“I’m sorry sir, but you can’t go in there.”

“Excuse me? I am the young master’s bodyguard, and I don’t intend to leave him in there alone.”

“If your friend is sick, we don’t need him spreading his illness. I can’t let you in.”

“If he’s sick, he needs proper human medical attention. We need to return to our world immediately.”

“Just calm down, bro. There’s no sense in getting upset.”

“Your companion is right. Now if you would please step away from the door, I have a few more tests to run.”

Artemis listened in at the exchange between his friend and the annoyed nurse right outside his door. He looked all around, noting the similarities between pony and human medical equipment. His senses slowly returned to him over the few minutes that the opposing parties were conversing, hearing being the first to recover fully.

The young genius examined himself thoroughly, testing all of his limbs for mobility. He tried to remember how he ended up in the uncomfortably-small hospital bed, but nothing prior to repairing his device came to mind. He noticed that the weight of the device was missing, but he deemed it a necessary part of any medical procedure, and that it would be returned to him upon discharge from the facility.

He heard a loud thump outside the room, followed by a pained groan from his bodyguard. The door flew open; a white blur entered the room and immediately sealed the door behind it. The nurse that had somehow evaded the large brute of a human was startled to see her patient conscious when she entered.

She sighed, “Good to see you’re finally awake. I’m sure your friend will be glad to hear it too.” She quickly walked up to a large medical machine and examined the readings on it. Occasionally she turned her attention to the patient, as if his presence didn’t make a difference.

After a few minutes of silence, Artemis was beginning to get impatient. He scoffed, “You’re a nurse, aren’t you? Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” He crossed his arms in indignant annoyance.

The nurse mumbled, “I’ve been dealing with that brute of yours since you got here. I don’t know what’s wrong because I can’t run my tests!” Her eyes exploded with anger at the thought of the large human outside.

“He has a point, you know. If I am sick, I need to be examined by professionals experienced with the human anatomy. As far as I’m concerned, this is the equivalent of seeing a veterinarian for a human illness…” Artemis looked back down at his arm where the device once lay.

The nurse, noticing his expression, sighed, “Your friends are holding all of your belongings.” She paused for a moment before adding, “My name is Nurse Redheart, in case you cared.”

Finally, a name. Artemis smirked at the identification of the nurse. He chuckled, “How did a creature of your stature manage to subdue Butler long enough to get in here?”

“It was simple. His sister was more than happy to remove him from the building for me.” She smiled at the thought of the previous encounter’s conclusion. “Now that you’re awake, would you like to tell me anything about what happened to you in the plaza?”

Artemis adopted a blank expression. He had no idea what she was talking about. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed, “I’m afraid I remember nothing. I went back to my world to retrieve Fluttershy, and I made some changes to my device. After that, my memory’s blank…” He sat back in his bed and closed his eyes, trying to conjure up any scrap of memory from his time incapacitated.

“You don’t recall anything? Do you remember coming back to town with Fluttershy?” Nurse Redheart adjusted the bed with a small remote to make the genius more comfortable.

He shook his head and groaned, “Nothing whatsoever. Except…” A slight thought was nagging at the back of his mind as he tried to bring back his memories of the last few hours. “…there was a voice. I heard a voice, and everything went black.”

The nurse raised an eyebrow and asked, “What kind of voice? Was it somepony in the crowd?” She took a small machine off of a shelf and began to wrap it around her patient’s arm.

Artemis tried to relax as she started to take his blood pressure. He was amazed by this world’s level of technology and medicine, despite its superficial medieval look. He sighed, “No. It didn’t sound like a pony. Nor did it sound like a human. It sounded crazy and excited, almost as if it were happy to be speaking to me…” The boy considered how insane his description must have sounded to the pony.

Nurse Redheart considered this for a few seconds before remarking, “Your blood-pressure is fine, and so is your temperature. You don’t seem to be sick at all…”

“You think I may have simply blacked out?” The boy had an indignant tone, as if insulted by the idea.

His nurse shrugged her shoulders and scoffed, “It’s possible, Artemis. As far as I can see, you’re perfectly healthy. You could just be reacting to being in a ‘different world’.” She made air quotations with her hooves, as if mocking the humans’ explanation of the device and Earth. Something about her attitude annoyed the genius.

Artemis groaned, “So am I free to go? Or do you wish to run any more useless tests on me?”

“You can leave anytime you want. I would suggest taking things easy, just in case.” She waved a hoof and left the room hurriedly.

Artemis began to collect his possessions that were left in the room. He was just beginning to place his shoes on when both of his employees came darting into the room. They let out relieved sighs at seeing their friend conscious.

Butler was the first to ask, “Are you feeling well, Artemis?” The brute began digging in his pockets for the single most important item they had carried into the world.

The genius sighed, “As well as should be expected. Care to explain exactly how I managed to end up back in this world?” He was met with disbelieving and confused expressions.

Juliet scoffed, “You gotta be joking, Arty. We nearly got killed on our way back in.” The thought of the crash sent a twinge of pain up her spine.

“Did we? I’m afraid I can’t recall.” The boy placed a hand to his chin in thought, but soon decided he absolutely had no clue what she was talking about.

The large bodyguard began to explain the whole story to his charge, the parts he was absent for being filled in by Juliet. He explained of the crash, the reunion, the sudden burst of rage, and finally the unresponsive black out. The boy listened closely, hoping that some of the story would jog his memory. After the tale was finished, he let out a disappointed sigh.

“That’s that, I suppose. I’ll take your word for it all. However, I believe we ought to return to our world. I think I might need to rest before I attempt to establish any sort of diplomatic relationship with this world.” Artemis got off of his bed and retrieved his device from Butler. Retying his tie properly, the boy headed for the door to the room.

Juliet butted in, “Before we go back home, Twilight wanted to talk to you.”

The genius cocked an eyebrow in curiosity. “I suppose we can spare the time, can’t we? After all, she seems to be the intellectual of the residents. Considering how much I wish to know about this world, she should be the pony to start with…” Just from their simple exchange earlier in the day, Twilight Sparkle had come off as a very smart creature to the boy.

With that final statement, the trio was off. They left the hospital to find the sun beginning to set on the horizon, bringing to mind just how long the day had been to them. Especially to Artemis, who found himself tired and fatigued. Despite the weariness in each of the humans, they still managed to find awe in the beauty of this strange world’s sunset. It was a thing of Renaissance artwork quality, if not better.

Juliet guided her companions to a large building carved out of the center of an even larger tree. She explained that the tree was where Twilight made her home, and that this is where she wanted to speak. To Artemis it was understandable. In the security and privacy of one’s home, anything can be discussed and kept to those directly involved. The genius managed to give himself a reassuring smirk, certain that he had been right about the purple unicorn.

Before even entering the building, the boy assessed its foundations. Based solely upon the outside appearance, he assumed it was an artificial tree-based design. If Twilight’s home was truly carved from the center of the tree, it would only take mere months to rot and shrivel, and yet its leaves were a very bright shade of green, with bark of a natural brown sheen. No, a tree like this would be impossible to hollow out without destroying the outer shell.

Then again, his logic had been proven wrong multiple times during the course of the day, so he didn’t immediately cast out that possibility of this world’s logic being just as flawed on this account.

He approached the door and knocked very lightly, to which the door responded by swinging wide open. The doorknob became enveloped in a purple glow, as if some gel had been smothered over it. On the far end of the room, Twilight stood facing a shelf of books, her horn alight with the same glow as the doorknob.

She lifted her head from a book and cheered, “Come on in, Artemis!” As soon as the three humans were in, the door swung closed again, and the unicorn’s horn lost its glow with the knob.

Magic. Plain and simple. Artemis realized all too suddenly that the Nordic texts hadn’t been lying about this place being composed of magic. With a firsthand witness of the essence’s practical power, most everything made sense to him in the instant. Magic allowed for the Pegasi’s wings to lift their weight; magic allowed for the ponies’ ability to speak; and magic allowed for his survival of the supposed drop from the sky.

Artemis muttered, “This is…unbelievable…”

Twilight put her book back in its place on the shelf and sighed, “Good to see you’re okay. You gave us all a scare back there.” She trotted over to a small table in the center of the room and took a seat, waving for the humans to join her.

Butler, not wanting to break anything, simply sat on the ground beside his charge. He said, “This is a fine collection of literature you have, Ms. Sparkle.”

“Thank you! It’s mostly historical texts and research reports, but there are a few stray fantasy novels here and there.” Her horn lit up once more, and a book went flying from the shelf into her hooves. She smiled sheepishly as she showed the brute the cover of the tome. An Abridged History of Equestria.

Artemis found it funny, considering how thick the ‘abridged’ book was. He chuckled, “Historical texts, you say? Sounds intriguing. Would you mind my borrowing a few for research?” He let a smirk grace his features, attempting to look innocent for the pony.

Twilight cheered, “Of course not! I’m always glad to see a curious mind. As you can probably guess, they don’t come around too often.”

“Yes, based on the few ponies I’ve met, none of them seem quite…intellectually advanced…as you or I. I suppose we all have our interests, though.” What he didn’t tell her was that his interests involved manipulating all of ponykind to regain his family’s lost fortune. But that was a fact to be discussed at a later date. For now, he needed to be diplomatic and stealthy in his approach.

Juliet scoffed, “Oh yeah, because three out of a million is such an accurate statistic.”

Her brother couldn’t hold back a chuckle, “At any rate, these books will help teach us about the Equestrian culture.” He plucked the book from the air, Twilight releasing her magical grip on it.

Artemis sighed, “Yes, among other things…” He bowed his head for a moment before returning his attention toward the unicorn across from him. He chuckled, “I would love to stay and chat, Twilight, but I’m still fairly weak from the events of earlier. Perhaps we can do a little Q&A at a later time?”

Twilight looked slightly disappointed at this. She moaned, “I suppose so. How about tomorrow?”

The three humans exchanged expressions of debate and concern. After a moment of silence, Artemis laughed, “It’s a date then, dear Twilight. I will return to this world in the morning, and we can talk extensively at that time.” He immediately jumped up from his seat, wasting no time in leaving.

Before either party present could object, the genius was out the door with the book, having taken it from Butler on his way out. The two older humans said their farewells and hurried out of the library to catch up to their employer. The latter of the three had made quick progress toward the outskirts of town, away from any unsuspecting ponies that would be caught in the crossfire of the device.

Juliet objected, “You shouldn’t have just left like that! That’s so rude Arty!” Her annoyance was obvious in her eyes and tone.

Butler simply groaned, “What exactly do you hope to find in that tome? Do you expect there to be a secret passage of the nature of this ‘magic’ the ponies use?”

As Artemis lifted his arm in the air to activate the device, he began a light laugh. The golden light surrounded them in an instant. It was much less violent than the last time it had swallowed them. The boy simply locked his eyes to the bodyguard’s. With a laugh, the trio vanished from Equestria.

“All in due time, old friend. All in due time…”

Author's Note:

Sorry about the massive delay, everyone! I've had some trouble with writing blocks and family drama! I should update this more regularly, along with my other stories!

Enjoy!