Omega Industries
Chapter 3: Ahead of Schedule
Previous ChapterNext ChapterI_/I---^---#*#---^---I\_I
As Omega thought, nobody disturbed his sleep. He stretches, legs releasing his bags, which he quickly puts back on before descending the ladder. Today was a new day, and the second day of observation. Breakfast was more of the same, with Ms. Care leaving the foal unattended, something Omega both understood, and didn't like. Once that was over, he'd decided to hang around in the main room, watching the others all play around and roughhouse. That's when Loan decides to step forward, smirking.
"Remember when I told you not to do anything stupid yesterday?" He asks rhetorically. "Because I clearly remember saying that. And what did you do immediately after?"
Omega rolls his eyes. "Enlighten me."
"Ooh, mister fancy words here thinks he's soooo much smarter than me. Did you all get that?" Loan asks the now silent room.
"Listen, Loan. I don't think I'm smarter than you. I know I am." Omega retorts. "So much for observation. This fatass wants to do this now, so there's no turning back now."
"That's the third stupid thing you did in the last day and a half, you're really in for it now." Loan threatens.
"Ooh, I'm sooooo scared." Omega says sarcastically.
The now infuriated Loan Shark attempts to tackle Omega, who quickly levitates his own body up and out of the way.
Loan looks up in mild shock. "What the!? Get down here now!"
Omega looks down at him. "No, I don't think I will."
Loan's face contorts in anger, as he attempts to jump at Omega, barely getting off the ground, yet landing with a noticeable creak in the floorboards, somewhere it normally didn't creak too. Omega moves himself through the air slowly, allowing Loan to continue to jump at him, until he gets to one of the usual creaking places, where Loan ends up falling through the floorboards with a loud crash. Ms. Care immediately rushes out to see what the noise was all about, seeing Loan in the hole, and Omega floating above it.
"WHAT HAPPENED HERE!?" Ms. Care bellows in a tone even louder than last night after Omega had played hookie.
That's when Loan starts to cry. "Of course, here I go forgetting that I'm not dealing with idiots, I'm dealing with literal children. This won't end well." Omega thinks.
"In my defense, he continued to jump at me after I tried to get away from him." Omega says before Loan can manage to get a word out.
"He-he's lying, he picked me up and dropped me through the floor, and then he called me fat!" Loan blubbers out.
"Never out loud, you fat bastard." Omega thinks. "You honestly think I could lift him up this high? How strong do you think I am exactly? Look at me." Omega says, gesturing to his small frame.
Ms. Care looks angry, seemingly in general about this. "You're both in trouble! Look at the floor! I don't care WHO did it! Go to your beds! NOW!" She yells.
Loan shark runs off crying to his bed, seemingly fine despite what happened, while Omega just casually floats there. "Fuck, now how am I supposed to do anything around here? Unless I can wait it out, the temperaments of these ponies might be less severe than that of a human's..."
I_/I---^---#*#---^---I\_I
After what seemed like an eternity, and a lot of construction noise, Ms. Care finally comes into the bedroom to check on the two troublemakers.
"The floor's been fixed. I hope you two have had enough time to think about what you did wrong?" Ms. Care asks sternly.
Omega floats down to the floor gently. "Yeah, I'm really sorry about what happened Ms. Care." He apologizes.
Meanwhile, Loan cries and hugs Ms. Care's leg.
"And neither of you will be doing that again, right?" Ms. Care asks once more.
"It won't happen again, Ms. Care." Omega states.
"Good, you're both free to go." Ms. Care says, stepping aside as both colts exit the bedroom.
Ms. Care seems to linger in the room for a moment, then is about to leave when Omega pops his head back into the room.
"I'm going out, I'll be back before dinner." Omega informs her, promptly leaving.
Ms. Care lingers for another moment, seemingly in thought, before walking off to go handle another task.
I_/I---^---#*#---^---I\_I
Omega browses through some of the books in the library, procuring a recently returned magic book. "Specialty Magic: How your special talent relates to your magic. This should be interesting..." Omega thinks.
As he reads the book, he learns about how Cutie Marks are formed, why spells won't make them appear any faster, and how most unicorns have higher magical potency in the field of work their marks lead them to. He looks back at his own mark, wondering what exactly his supposed talent entails.
"Sometimes a talent may be harder to discern from your mark because its meaning won't be apparent from appearance alone. Look closely at what it is you're good at doing, and you may rediscover what your destiny is. Pfft, okay book. The fuck's an Omega symbol mean anyway, the end? The end of what?" Omega ponders, shaking his head. "I might have to go through trial and error for that, which could take a while. Then again, I AM a child now, I've got plenty of time." He reasons.
The rest of the day was spent trying out some of the more immediate suggestions the book offered, none of which seemed to work. Once it got late enough in the day, Omega decided to put the book back and exit the library. Once he got back to the orphanage, something felt... off, somehow. Steeling himself, he opens the door, seeing a new adult pony there. The somewhat snobbish looking stallion and Ms. Care both look at Omega once he enters, as Omega walks in cautiously.
The stallion approaches him. "You must be that Omega colt Ms. Care was talking about."
Omega nods. "I am, and you are?"
"Professor Theory, from Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. Would you care to demonstrate that levitation spell for me?" The Professor asks.
Omega lifts himself up, floating up to eye level with Theory. "This all you wanted?"
Theory nods. "Yes. It seems even with the minimal basics of magic, you're already pulling off some mid-level techniques without proper education. Tell me, would you like to pursue an education in higher magics?" Theory asks.
Omega looks to the ground in thought. "Already being offered tuition at a school for higher learning just for levitating myself? Like it or not, if that's considered high education in Equestria, I'm going to need it to stay sane in any kind of educational environment." He reasons, looking back up to the professor. "Yes, I also think it would help me put my talents to good use." Omega says.
"Well-spoken for such a young colt. Of course, your current accommodations seem to be a bit... lacking. Naturally, we have many good candidates for fostering an aspiring academic such as yourself. Tomorrow, you will be taking your entrance exam in front of these candidates. Should you impress them enough, you may have a choice in whom you stay with until adoption or adulthood. Is this an agreeable arrangement?" Theory asks, brow quirked.
"Yes, what time should I be ready by tomorrow?" Omega queries back.
"You will be escorted to the school tomorrow at eight am, be ready by then." Theory says, stepping out the door. "Farewell, young Omega."
"Goodbye, Professor Theory." Omega waves, before setting himself back on the ground.
Ms. Care picks Omega up in a hug, nuzzling him, much to his chagrin. "You've got a real chance at this dear! I'm so proud that a colt under my care's getting such a big opportunity! I knew from the moment I saw you floating around like that you were something special!"
Omega attempts to breathe while being crushed in Ms. Care's grip. "Agh! Thank- Ghh, you!" He sputters out.
She lets go of Omega, patting him on the head. "Sorry about that, I can get a bit emotional sometimes."
Omega wheezes for a moment as he regains his composure. "Yeah, apology accepted."
I_/I---^---#*#---^---I\_I
Dinner that night was somewhat different, as Loan Shark hadn't taken as much as he usually did, leaving everyone with normal-ish portions. Omega wondered if the incident from that day had left an impression on Loan, since from what he'd seen, all the foals there had very short attention spans, and being forced to stay in one spot for that long as a punishment by their only guardian figure must have left some kind of effect on him. After dinner, the other foals had bombarded Omega with questions about his magic, his mark, and how to get into the school too. Having answers for none of this, Omega just told them that he studied at the library. He felt sorry for Dusty on the account of the onslaught of foals she would likely have to deal with the next day. As he lies in bed, one last thought occurs to him.
"Tomorrow, I'll have some answers to some of my suspicions. The fact that Canterlot is a predominately unicorn inhabited city, and the higher class living around here seems to coincide with that, I wonder if my entrance exam will be stacked against me for not being of noble blood..." Omega wonders, drifting off to sleep.
Next Chapter