A Study of the Soul

"Ready, 3-2-1, start!" starts a young voice as the screen flickers to life, powered by magic. At that moment, a serious looking stallion, draped in a coat of light yellow fur stepped onto the screen from the right. The young stallion's slightly long pink-blue mane falls onto his face as he did so. With a slight huff, he brushed his mane out of the way, and resumed his introduction. "Hello there, my name is Dr. Danbow S. Seoule, a Pegasus Scientist with a PhD. in Theoretical Magic. These are my research logs." In the background could be seen various papers strewn about on a desk while many chalk diagrams cover a nearby chalk-board. The writing is utterly atrocious and incomprehensible.  But the thing that most catches one's attention is the stallion eye-fucking the camera as he gathered his thoughts.

"Why don't I start with why I'm doing this," the Pegasus nodded to himself as he blinked a few times. "While some may consider these electro-magical contraptions to be a fad, or a crime against nature, I believe they will far outlive any contemporary method we have today. If I am correct, then this will be the best chance I have of leaving my mark on the world, and preserving my findings for the future." With a brief smile, Dr. Seoule absentmindedly stared off into the distance. After a few seconds, he shook his head, and resumed raping the camera with his stern, probing purple eyes. "If you're seeing this several years from today, January 3rd, of the year 100, then my findings have been accepted by the scientific community, and are available for public use." He paused for a second, his piercing eyes looking to the left, toward a window, as his ears perked a little. With a shake of his head, he resumed his speech. "But if you are seeing this anytime before then, then you have triggered a-" Suddenly, his warning was interrupted by a knocking at the door. Subsequently, a voice was heard.

"Hey Soul-Man, you in there? I found something totally awesome while out on patrol today! You have to see it!" came the voice of a slightly older stallion. Through the (now open) door strolled in an off-white stallion with a short, light-blue mane, and off-yellow eyes. His armor signified him as one of the royal guard. With an annoyed sigh, Dr. Seoule turned to face his (uninvited) guest. With a quick flick of his right wing, the electro-magic recording device shut off, and the screen faded to black.

"By Great Odin's Raven, Storm, you know I detest that name. I neither asked for it, nor do I wish to be called by it," the pony scientist replied sternly, never losing his serious stature. "And for fuck's sake, will you stop wearing that ridiculous armor? You and I both know there haven't been any true royalty here in Equestria for decades. The only Guards left are the new, private armies held by the many petty nobles that took over after the fall. You do these patrols to check for potential threats to the research team that hired you, not as a member of the Royal Guard."

"And by 'research team', you mean yourself?" Storm retorted wryly.

"Exactly," replied Dr. Seoule as he looked his companion up and down. "And if you actually knew anything about the Old Guard, you'd know that a half-batpony like yourself would be more suited to joining The Nightguard, what with your special night eye abilities, and your overall appearance. I doubt you'd find a pony in the Celestial Guard with notched ears, and bat wings, even if you look like a normal pony at first glance," he finished,

"Well excuuuse me, princess, for lacking the knowledge of an entire library," Storm teased as he stuck his tongue out at the yellow pony. "Anyway, I'll have you know that I actually wear this armor because my dad served dutifully in the Canterlot Royal Guard. I'm just trying to uphold family tradition," he continued proudly, as he posed in his battered, faded cuirass.

"By hiring yourself out as a body guard, and throwing on some battered old armor you found attached to a skeleton under a pile of rubble in these very ruins? Yes, your old man must be so proud," Dr. Seoule replied dryly.

Storm huffed at the dry humor. "Well, someone has to start them up again, and what better place to start reforming the Canterlot Royal Guard than the ruins of Canterlot Castle? There's got to be some way to repair this armor, and rebuild this place. I bet with enough work and volunteers, we could get a full garrison going!"

Dr. Seoule rolled his eyes at his body guard's wistful fantasies, before finally bringing up the point that usually drives this thrice had conversation to a grinding halt. "That's all well and good, but how can you have a 'Royal Guard' without any true royalty to guard?"

Storm winced a little at, as his fantasy bubble popped before his eyes. "I...still haven't figured that part out yet." He looked around the room at all the scrawls and gibberish. He pointed in the general direction of the mess saying, "Besides, isn't that what all this messy shit you've drawn and scribbled is about? Making new Alicorn souls or something?" This was a new point in this conversations to the good doctor, though it irritated him more than anything.

"All of this 'messy shite' is over 1000 years worth of collected knowledge on magical theory, Alicorn history, geographical maps of the area, and various other things you probably wouldn't understand. This has nothing to do with souls, or anything of the sort." The doctor scoffed, before resuming his tirade, "Where such a ridiculous idea came from is beyond me. Just because my last name is Seoule, and thus decided to start calling me 'Soul-Man' behind my back doesn't mean souls have anything to do with my research." Danbow stopped to catch his breath a little, before once again readjusting his mane which had fallen onto his face during his irritated spat.

"Ok, ok, I get it, just calm down a bit, Soul-Ma-, I mean Dr. Seoule." Storm sheepishly nodded, as the scientist pony's flushed face began to recede. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, and once again regain his composure, Dr. Seoule set his now softer but still sharp eyes upon his guest.

"I'm rather sorry about that, I don't know what came over me. The incredulity of your generalization of my work must have triggered something in the back of my mind, causing me to loose the fury of my words upon you. Perhaps the stress of my research is starting to show." With that, Danbow, closed his eyes, and took another deep breath, before opening his averted eyes and placing on hoof over his heart. This action is the countrywide sign of regret. "I sincerely hope I haven't offended you in any way, and I wish that our relationship may remain unaffected by my outburst. " The older stallion simply smiled in response, before mimicking the former's actions while making eye contact, thus confirming that no harm was done, and that all is well between the two.

With the briefest of smiles, Dr. Seoule looked back at his guest. "Now then, you were saying you found something worth mentioning?" The doctor was, of course, referring to the outburst that lead to Storm entering his study in the first place.

"That's right!" Storm exclaimed, suddenly remembering his reason for coming here, "I found something that you have to see. It's amazing! Not something that I can just tell you about, you have to see it for yourself. C'mon!" He quickly trotted to the doorway, signaling for the doctor to follow.

"All right, all right, just give me a moment to grab my briefcase and I'll be right behind you." Dr. Seoule replied, hurrying about, occasionally stopping to grab something he had manipulated to float toward him. After a minute's time, the two began walking down the dusty, rubble strewn hallway that lead to the dead city outside.

"So, if your work doesn't have anything to do with Alicorn souls, then what is your work about?" Storm asked, before immediately regretting his words. Dr. Seoule was surprised at the question, but smirked, before pulling out a few diagrams while he walked.

"Ah, well, I happen to be studying the process by which blah...blah...blah..." Storm suddenly found himself starting to drift off while he walked down the hallway with his charge. "Yaaaawn....The good doctor sure knows how to put you to sleep, eh?" Storm thought to himself, as he struggled to maintain consciousness. With a good shake of his head, he abruptly said, "Wow, that's some really interesting stuff you're doing. Best save the rest of it for when you finish your research right?"

Danbow furrowed his brow at the sudden outburst, but agreed nonetheless."Hmm, you're probably right. Don't want to spoil anything I can't prove, even if my field of study is entirely theoretical. Very well, carry on."

Storm nodded quickly, happy to have successfully changed the subject. "Just wait till you see this damn thing, Doc, it will literally blow your fucking mind."

"I'm pretty sure my mind will remain intact after seeing whatever it is you're so excited about, but if you're this ecstatic about it, then it must be something worth studying," Danbow replied, his usual stern expression once more present and accounted for. In the back of his mind, however, gears began turning, as this mysterious find begins to take root in his brain.