A Series of Parallel Events
The following is an excerpt from the diary of one Amelia Green, a young girl from the early victorian era with a mind imaginative enough to create whole worlds.
Dear Diary,
War passed for them today, I wish there was something I could do, I never anticipated that we’d return, that we’d survive even. I’ll have to make sure we go extinct in the next iteration. I couldn’t stand watching them fight, over nothing, we return to our homeland, and what do we greet them with? Destruction. We made them, does that give us the right to kill them too? Even though they’re not completely perfect yet, I still love them, I never wanted to see this.
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Mother advised that I spend more time with Thomas over the summer, I don’t want to, but I suppose I will eventually have to get to know him anyway. I don’t want to tell mother the truth that I don’t want to be married, I’m not certain how she’d take it. I want to use my life as a greater force for knowledge, not another housewife.
I was reading up on old mythological creatures earlier, I think I found how to completely rid ourselves for them, a Wendigo. It’s a creature that feeds on greed, normally through possessing people who’ve committed that of murder, turning them into cannibals. According to most records, it would seem they also cause coldness around them, like a block of ice.
I’ve decided these would be perfect for the next iteration inside Iota, assuming they do exist of course.
I’m hoping I’ll be able to catch a wendigo to make a new copy in Boston, perhaps even three so I can perform tests. I should really be packing my things for the ship tomorrow, but I won’t be able to take you with me, so you’re going to stay here in London for the next few months. I can’t wait to write in you and tell you about my time there, for now, Boston awaits.
This was the last entry of the diary, a few weeks after Amelia’s arrival in Boston, she went missing. And a year later, her body was found over 400 miles west, next to Lake Erie, her body was found near a strange figure. Reports say her corpse was being eaten by a human with no eyes, skin void of all moisture pulled tightly over its bones. These features do indeed match up with the beast she was trying to capture, but why it chose her as a victim, we still do not know.
In recent years, an effort has been made to decipher her possessions, holographic recordings have been made, but like nothing we’ve ever seen, these are extraordinarily detailed picturing an entire planet. When people say she had an imaginative mind, we had no idea it was at this scale.
A Series of Parallel Events
1.1 – The unicorn and his dog
The rhythmic clanging of metal on metal echoed throughout the large building, littered with tools, contraptions, and materials – most of which were sharp scrap metal and jagged pieces of wood from the Everfree forest. The clanging noise came from the western side of the building, a pony whose coat was black with soot, his original coat only identifiable from his light grey horn that protruded from his mane that alternated between two shades of purple.
“I'm sure there’s a better way to bend metal.” He said to himself, levitating paper and a quill over too him in place of the hammer, scrawling lines onto the page, vaguely representing some form of object. “Hmm, yes, that could work, ill need fresh materials though.” he thought aloud.
“Betje!” his voice echoed through the building, causing a pair of ears to perk up on a napping brown and black Belgian shepherd. The voice echoed again “Here girl!” the confirmation of the voice’s owner made Betje stand up on her paws and make her way to the other side of the building, avoiding the scrap and wood. The unicorn was now scrawling a list of items on the rear of the page he was drawing on earlier, hovering a multitude of objects to his side, appearing to be estimating lengths and shapes.
Betje remained at his side sitting patiently, then lifted a paw to tap at his hind leg, startling him and making the quill drop down on the paper, drawing a line across the page through the list followed shortly by the crashing of objects into a pile. The unicorn groaned whilst the dog still sat happily, panting and looking innocent.
“Right, uhh… where di- oh! Of course, Betje, take this to Sprocket’s Smelting.” he ordered her, sliding the note into her collar, tying the page to itself to make sure it wouldn’t be lost. The dog barked twice, stood up, and nudged the small door open, walking off on her task.
The unicorn sighed, staring at the half finished contraption for a moment, thinking intently, until he trotted to sit on his chair, pressing a button on the way, machines and gears beginning to grind. He sat calmly in the sunshine beaming through the window, his eyes slowly drifting of to the sound of machinery.
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A blue pegasus, coated in golden armour stood outside the building, looking up at the sign that read ‘Wolf Rayet’s Workshop’, along with a painted image of a wooden cog and two toothed bars, the words only decipherable by the shapes they left from when they were once there. The pegasus knocked on the door, and a few moments after she done so, bells sounded from within, followed by an alarmed yelp, clattering of metal, and locks being opened until finally the unicorn opened the barn door, only enough to show his face.
“Mr. Rayet?” the pegasus asked in firm, royal voice.
“You did read the sign, did you not?” the unicorn asked rhetorically.
“Just making sure, Mr. Ray-” the pegasus was cut off quickly, “And if I am Wolf Rayet?”
“Sir, Princess Luna has requested an audience with Wolf Rayet at O one hundred hours tomorrow.”
“One o'clock in the morning?!” protested Rayet, “Couldn't she just speak to me in my dreams or something?”
“So you are Rayet” the pegasus smirked, “Recently, Luna’s schedule has become much more strict, as well as her dream spells having much less effect and security. Besides, we very much doubt you’ll be awake at that time anyway, what with your sleep habits.”
Rayet looked rather ashamed at that last part, knowing she was alluding to his countless nights of waking up everypony with his machinery. “Fine, I’ll come, let me get a few things first.”
“No need,” came an ethereal voice from behind him. Luna was standing behind him, observing his flank, counting the teeth of his cutie mark, matching the one on his workshop sign “Twenty, twenty one, and twenty two. ‘Tis thee real Wolf Rayet.”
The unicorn’s focus faded away from that of the guard pegasus and Luna, noticing he was suddenly in one of the halls of Canterlot castle, specifically, the wing designated for use by visitors. Luna turned to face the confused unicorn, dipping her head to bow to him, “Rayet, thine living and working quarters have had an extra entrance and exit added to them, allowing you to pass through the door over here.” Luna raised her head, pointing a hoof towards a door, marked with his cutie mark. “Thou have been requested to remain in close proximity to canterlot for the next few weeks, at the very least, there is a matter of utmost importance that requires a few select individuals attendance. Your questions will be answered later, for now, return home and get some rest. As for me, I have a long night ahead of me, so I shalt now leave and hope for thine audience later this evening.”
Luna promptly bowed her head to Rayet, and hurriedly trotted away the pegasus following close behind, a few short moments later, the sun lowered and the moon raised into the sky. Rayet wore a look of confusion on his face, looking around, he noticed three other doors, each with a mark on them. He could distinguish a large blob on one of the doors, four thick lines of varying length floated above the large blob, and a smaller smudge to the side of the large blob.
He opened the door curiously, all that was to be seen was a dark void, all that was to be heard was the howling of emptiness, and all there was to touch was coldness, as cold as death itself. Rayet produced a short “huh” before closing the door as if he’d not seen a thing.
He opened the second door, marked by a strange image of nothing, no light seemed to pass through the mark, and no light seemed to get sucked into it, it was almost physically draining on his vision. The same thing appeared through the doorway, nothingness, and the same response was received: a gentle push on the door to shut it.
The third door had a mark much more recognisable, a lyre, but yet again, the same thing was waiting, and again, the door was unceremoniously shut. Finally, he came to the door with his own cutie mark, opening it to find something far more familiar, his home and workshop through a glowing green doorway, stepping through and finding his way to his tattered chair now stained with tea.
Betje was found licking at the tea stain, a new note tied to her collar, Rayet sat down in the chair and the dog jumped up and curled next to him. He took the note from her collar, it simply read ‘Not Enough Materials! Will Get Back To You Tomorrow’. Rayet sighed, and tossed the paper away with his brown aura, settling down to get some rest.
“What the hay is even going on, Betje?” He asked softly, petting her head gently as he drifted off to sleep for the second time today.