The Visitor

“Alright here we are.” Safon said as he opened the door to his house and let Trinity in.

“This is where I’m going to live?” Trinity asked unsure as she looked around the entrance hall.

“Yeah,” Safon said as he untied his bow tie, “There’s a spare bedroom upstairs for you to use.” He said gesturing the stairs to the side, “Listen it’s almost midnight. I’m going to do a few things down here but you should go to bed I’ll fill you in on everything tomorrow morning. The locked door is my room ok.”

Trinity was still unsure of how a food run has changed her life so quickly. However he was right and she was getting tired. “Ok sir,” she said nervously.

Safon noting her nervousness knelt down to her level and gave her a reassuring smile. “I know this is all so sudden but I want you to know I’m not going to hurt you. Fortune smiled on you tonight through my need of someone to help me okay?”

Trinity nodded still nervous, “Yes sir I understand.”

Sighing Safon looked at his wristwatch, “Ok we’ll have to work on that,” he said under his breath. “Alright you go upstairs and try to get some sleep, We’ll try and get things started tomorrow morning,”

“Yes sir,” Trinity nodded as she started heading upstairs.

“Oh and Trinity,” Safon said as she got to the top of the stairs.

“Yes,” She asked.

“You don’t have to call me Sir, Professor is fine,” He said winking.

“Yes Professor,” She said as she searched for a room.

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Trinity awoke the next morning to the sound of a quartet singing from a phonograph. She looked around and found that she was in a real bed, confirming that last night wasn’t a dream and that she was still in Safon's house.

She sat in the bed thinking about what happened. She'd been stealing food for years just to survive and in all that time she has been looked down on. Rat, urchin, and worthless, those were all things ponies have called her for as long a she remembers. Last night though Safon and Fancy Pants showed her the first acts of kindness towards her in a long time and she didn’t know how to feel. On one hoof here was this strange creature offering her a home, food and a job. Yet on the other hoof she didn’t know if he was being truthful about letting her live with him. She really wanted this to be true but she’s been burnt too many times to truly believe it. Deciding to face the music she got up out of the bed and went downstairs.

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She entered the living room and saw the phonograph playing another record. Using her magic she levitated one of the records and attempted to read it but couldn’t because to the language barrier. Instead she looked at the label with a picture of a dog listening to a phonograph and wondered where it came from. The language on the label was different but the quartet was clearly singing in equine.

However she was interrupted by her thoughts by Safon entering the room dressed in his tan tartan pants and blue paisley shirt holding a bowl of steaming oatmeal.

“Good morning,” He said when he noticed Trinity. “ Did you sleep well last night?” He asked as he sat down in a chair.

“Yes I did. It’s been awhile since I’ve slept in an actual bed.” Trinity said looking down to avoid looking at him, shifting her stance slightly away from him.

“I'd imagine,” Safon said as he started eating his oatmeal, “I’m thinking that after we’ve eaten I’ll give you a rundown of what we’re doing and start as soon as possible. I have to kick things into high gear now.”

“You mean this is real?” Trinity asked after a long pause of silence from her.

“What?” Safon asked in slight confusion thinking he knew the reply, yet gave her the chance to answer.

“This!!” She exploded, “ I’m talking about this! Ponies have been calling me worthless for years and now all of the sudden you come along giving me a job like I’m worth something. If this a joke please just deliver the punch line,” She finished sobbing.

Safon took a deep breath, “Trinity.I know how you feel.”

“H...ow cou…ld you? H….ow could yo...u possibly know?!?” She shouted with tears in her eyes.

“Because,” He started putting his oatmeal down on the table. “ I was in a similar situation as you.”

“Y...ou were?!?” Trinity asked with wide eyes.

“Yes,” He said as he approached her, “ You see like you I was born at the end of an era and the start of a new one. The empire I was born in was collapsing from invading barbarians from east and interior means. During all that my parents were merchants on the silk road, a large trading route to the east. They would travel in caravans from Constantinople all the way to Beijing, because it was such a long trip me and my brother Augustus were part of the caravans. However on such trip when my brother and I were nine we were attacked by highwaymen. We were just a days travel from Constantinople and just made camp when they attacked. They came in and started killing everyone. My mother hid me and Augustus under one of the rock formations nearby . When the attack was done Augustus and I were the only survivors and what ever the bandits didn’t steal was set on fire.”

“What happened after that?” Trinity asked with her full attention to Safon’s story.

Safon cleared his throat, “Well after that Augustus and I trekked across the desert and eventually made it to Constantinople exhausted and starving. However we weren’t in the clear. When we got back we couldn’t prove we were who we were and we were forced to live on the streets for three years before an old noble found us. He didn’t have children of his own and saw potential in both of us. So he took us in and when he passed away he left us his fortune.”

“What does that have to do with me?” Trinity asked.

“Because like that noble I see potential in you.” He started, “From what I’ve gathered those ‘cutie marks’ you all have show your special talent and you,” He said gesturing her blank flank, “ Don’t have one yet which is unusual at your age isn’t it?”

“Ye...yes,” She replied ashamed.

“It’s ok you just haven’t found what you’re good at. It’s hard to find what you’re good at when you have to scavenge for food everyday. Perhaps a good home to live in will help you find it.” Safon said giving her some hope.

“Do you really think so?” Trinity asked slightly hopeful.

“I think so.” He simply stated.

“And all I have to do is help you?”

“That’s it,”

Trinity sat there in thought as Safon waited for her response. She looked back up to him, “Alright I’ll do it.”

Safon smiled at the news, “Wonderful. Now lets get you something to eat and I’ll start to fill you in on what I’m doing here.” He said as he gestured her towards the kitchen to get some oatmeal.

After getting Trinity a bowl of oatmeal Safon brought one of the chalkboards into the living room. On it were various color photos of varying quality and a crude drawing of a machine with a shaded shape in the center.

“Ok,” Safon began pointing a fireplace poker at a particular grainy photo of him looking unkempt with dirty long hair and beard. Wearing a dingy brown three piece suit in front of a large machine made from scrap metal. “In July 1974 my time just outside of Portland Oregon me, my brother and my friend Bill pierced a hole in the fabric of reality and made contact with another dimension, Then by 1977,” He started as he pointed to another cleaner looking photo. However in this photo he looked a lot cleaner with his hair neatly parted, beard trimmed and dressed in a grey crewneck sweater with the black plaid pants he favors. “ We managed to get better understanding of how to traverse the multiverse.”

He took a break and took a drink out of a glass of whiskey he had on the table, “We were so good that we managed to control where we went. After an... incident in 79 I had to take some time off from the machine, to teach in the University of San Diego in California until 1984. While there however I figured out how to build a more stable and compact machine. So after that I moved shop over to Japan.” He said as he pointed to a less grainy photo of him in his light grey suit standing in front of his ship. With a women dressed in faded blue jeans and pale blue sweater standing next to him. “There I served as an on call nuclear technician, while I created a new machine that I could place inside my ship and use to fly my ship to other dimensions. Now twenty years later my machine in my ship malfunctions and sends me to a dimension it detected here.” He finished as he looked a Trinity looking at the photos, “Any questions?”

“Yes, Are those paintings?” Trinity asked looking at one of the photos.

“No,” He said confused at the question, “They’re photos Augustus took as we worked.”

“But they’re in color. How is that possible?” Trinity asked interested.

Safon facepalmed, “ I’m talking about tearing a hole in the fucking fabric of reality and you’re asking about something as trivial as color photographs!”

“Sorry I was just curious,” Trinity responded.

Safon sighed, “ It’s fine lets just say we’ve had many advances in photography in my world ok,”

“Alright, but why are you telling me this?” She asked scratching her head.

“Because,” He began, “If you know what I’m doing you’ll be better help to me,”

Trinity gave him a blank look, “I guess.”

“Don’t worry you’ll be fine,” He said reassuring her, “ Besides I have to get more funding first and we’re going to work on that through good old fashioned patton loopholing.”

“Huh?” She asked confused at the phrase.

Safon looked at her and gave a deadpan response, “ Basicly I’m going to build the movie camera Flim and Flam won’t sell me and change a few things so they can’t sue me. Now it looked like the Edison design so it won’t be hard to reconstruct,” He then walked back to the dining room turned lab with Trinity following him. He walked over to the desk and pulled out some design paper and a quill, “ Hopefully this won’t take too long. My talk with a couple generals last night showed me that there’s a war brewing in Snider’s Grocery Store and I need to get the hell out of here before it happens.”

“What does that mean?” Trinity asked with concern in her voice.

“What I mean is,” He started turning towards her, “That there is a powder keg of countries just ready to go off and if I’m still here they’re all going to try to get me involved.”

“Oh my,”

“Yes and we’re going to have to be careful if we want to avoid that. I’ve already had an offer from the Changeling Kingdom and the others may not be too …” A knock at the front door interrupted him. “Trinity can you get that?”

“Sure,” Trinity said as she went to the front door and opened it to find General Four Star and a yellow pegasus mare dressed in a service uniform similar to Shining Armors but it was grayish blue with different symbols on the coat.

General Four Star took off his hat, “Hello little filly I am General Four Star and this is General Spitfire. We were wondering if the Professor was home this morning?”