//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Accepting an Impossible Truth // Story: The Impossible Journey Part 1: The First Encounter // by Decimatore123 //------------------------------// Chapter 2: Accepting an Impossible Truth Jacob didn't know how long he was out, but when he opened his eyes he found his hands dangling in the air, and felt as if all the blood had been rushing to his head for quite some time. He looked at the viewport and saw nothing but dirt. He was incredibly disorientated and had a splitting headache and felt he would black out again. He heard the metal of the once battle-hardened ship creak and turn. Soon, he felt his hands fall back into place and blood flow down through his body. The light of day began to come in through the viewport, but in all honesty he probably would have rather stayed upside down when he discovered what was causing the ship to roll. When the ship finally stopped its slow roll, he went from disoriented to wide awake in a mere second, probably the fastest time I have ever seen a man recover from that state. The creature he was looking at had the body of a lion, the tail of scorpion, and the wings of a bat. It was at least twice the size of a lion from earth, and it was practically drooling over the front of the ship. It didn’t take long for him to realize he was having a staring contest with a manticore. “Oh gosh…why me…” Jacob thought silently “…breath, and don’t panic maybe it hasn’t noticed me.” The manticore stared straight at him, and let off a massive ear-shattering roar as it began its assault on the remains of the ship. It took its left paw and smashed it against the glass standing between it and Jacob. E.D.I equipment was decent when it came to starships and the reinforced glass, and held up against the first strike. The second one \hit the viewport again and caused it to crack. Jacob unbuckled himself quickly and looked around the ship. The weapon systems were offline along with all power to the ship, making that route useless. He then spotted the ejection points of Michael and Jiggs. Those looked promising. He grabbed his old .357 Peace Maker, unsure if it would do anything against that thing, but it was better than going out with nothing. He moved to the back of the ship to Michael’s ejection point, just as the manticore jabbed its tail through the viewport and punched a hole through the glass. Jacob quickly climbed up out of the open hole in the back near the rear turret, just as the manticore ripped its tail out of the wreckage. It didn't plan on letting his prey get away so easily. “That is a mythical creature…there’s no way it EXISTS I READ ABOUT THEM AS A KID…made up stories that’s all they were…what kind of planet did I just crash into?!” Jacob thought as he continued to panic. He jumped down from the back of the ship and took to a full-on sprint into the forest, followed closely by the manticore. He hurdled over the bushes and ran through the trees. He could hear the beast getting closer and closer as its heavy steps grew louder and louder. While running, he pulled out the Peace Keeper, popped out the cylinder that held the bullets and noted it was fully loaded. He quickly put everything back into place, and continued to run. His body grew tired from the endless sprint, but he ignored the aching in his legs, wiped the sweat from his brow, and kept running. A few moments later he found his face in the ground because he didn’t see the tree root that had worked its way onto the surface of the ground. Attempting to scramble to his feet, Jacob felt something hit his back hard, forcing him back to ground. He heard the steady growling behind him and felt his left arm become wet as the manticore drooled over it. As the monster raised its tail to give the finishing blow, Jacob prepared for the worst.However, the manticore fell over, limp. He heard a crash and opened his eyes to find he could move the paw that was holding him in place. He turned to see its eyes closed as if it had just fainted for no reason. “Brilliant shot Mike,” Jiggs said aloud. “Why thank you,” Michael said, accepting the rare compliment. “Just out of curiosity how did you know the proper dosage for the trank?” “I didn’t…..” Michael and Jiggs walked out from the brush. Michael handed the trank rifle back to Jiggs; he had used enough tranquilizers to knock out a full grown elephant, so they all contended the manticore would be asleep for a while. They took advantage of this fact and decided to get as much distance from it as they could. Jacob hadn’t fully shaken off his disorientation and had some other injuries he needed to tend to so his companions both helped him walk through the forest. Eventually they reached a fair distance from the manticore and tended to Jacob’s injuries. “You sir are the luckiest man to walk the face of the Earth.” “Oh?” Jake responded curiously. “Well you managed to survive a crash that should have killed you, and you came out with a mild concussion and a couple of bruises. You’ll be walkin’ straight in no time! All you need really is a day’s rest.” Jiggs took out a small syringe from his left side and put it into a vial of clear liquid. “This is just gonna hurt a small bit, I’m givin’ you a shot of the knock-out juice you need the rest. While you’re out I’m goin’ back to the ship. I’ll salvage what I can and Mike’ll keep an eye on you till then….” He put the needle into Jake’s neck and pushed all the liquid from the syringe into his body. “….Pleasant dreams mate.” Jake was out within a few seconds of him saying that. When he woke up again, he found that a day had passed. Jiggs had returned with whatever equipment he could find. It wasn’t much; he brought back some food rations he found and a spare pack which held all kinds of firearms. Jiggs made the pack and designed it to hold virtually any firearm despite its size, using something called dimensional displacement. He stole the idea from the EDI special science division before it was shut down, because the scientists literally went insane trying to complete their designs. The specific design he stole was for the ARCH storage device, or more simply known as "the pack." I have no idea how it works and personally I never want to; it probably would cause my brain to explode because of its complexity. This was my personal pack he had found, and I entrusted it to Jiggs for this time, figuring if it came down to it, despite his vast arsenal he already carried on his back he could use the extra firepower. Seeing as Jake was a little bit more needy at this time, he gave the pack with the weapons to him. Despite the bulky contents of the Pack, it was incredibly lightweight. He at this time didn’t even know what was inside it. The last items he found were two jetpacks designed for Michael and Jiggs before I installed flight modules within their metal bodies. After he finished scavenging, the ship promptly blew up without warning or explanation. It was clear that they had to find another way home. As painful as it sounded, the three began to make their way through the forest looking for intelligent life. They walked for several hours until they found what looked like a dirt road, intentionally placed by someone else. Suddenly there was hope as they figured someone built the road. But, they kept their guard up as they had no idea if they were hostile. So they followed it from the brush along the sides, allowing themselves time to hide should they encounter any other travelers. Eventually they made it out of the forest to an open field near a small town. Jacob’s eyes went wide as he saw it, “Jiggs quick question…..is dimensional travel possible while in slip space?” He saw the town and recognized it immediately, but he couldn’t believe that he was this close to it in person. “It’s possible, but highly unlikely a dramatic event would have to occur while in slip space. Hittin' some debris shouldn't cause something like that to happen. But then again no one really knows what’s happenin' in the space around them while in slip space.” “What kind of event?” “Flying through a black hole, wormhole, rift in the space time continuum, the list is endless, but all the events have one thing in common.” “And that is…?” “They don’t bloody exist! Okay, so maybe black holes exists, but as for the others, mankind has yet to document any of them, and the ship’s fail-safe took us to the nearest habitable planet. I’m rulin' out black hole; there is no way that ship could survive going through one…” Jake carefully examined the town with Michael and Jiggs from a distance. What he saw only confirmed his suspicions. “…The architecture suggests primitive intelligence, far from mastery. I am seeing a lot of animals present in the town yet…..” Jiggs paused for a moment as he took a closer look “….I see horses loads of em yet no riders…” “Being here is not physically possible.” Jake said aloud “Oh and why is that?” Jiggs asked back “Because I know this town, and I know there’s no way it could exist in our realm.” “Well alright then, what’s the name of the town? Since you seem to suddenly know it so well.” “Oh that’s easy, Ponyville.” “Ponyville?” Jiggs asked in a confused manner “Yep, we are in the land of Equestria.” “Equestria?” Michael asked “Did Richy tell you anything…” “Nope,” the two bots answered in unison. I gave them the choice of watching My Little Pony, but they chose not to. Looking back, I probably should have made them watch it; it would have saved both Jacob and me a lot of grief. “Well alright, I’ll fill you in best I can then. Equestria is a land of mythical creatures, which explains the blood thirsty manticore we encountered earlier. It is also home to talking ponies…” “Ok just stop right there,” Jiggs said interrupting Jacob. “….You’re being serious, aren’t you?” There was a small silence amongst the three “…Alright I’m re-examinin' your skull. Mike, put him out!” “Wait, what…I feel fine!” Jake began to panic slightly as he watched Michael load a trank round into his wrist cannon. At this time Mike only had one barrel on the wrist cannon. Later I would upgrade him giving him four, but for now one did the trick and unlike when he had four, you could tell which barrel the bullet was coming out of. “I’m not putting him out. His vitals all read normal. He sustained no injuries that would suggest loss of sanity." Jake felt relief knowing someone in his presence still possessed some form of sanity. “Fine I’ll do it myself.” Jiggs brought up a small pistol from his pack, sadly Jake wasn’t off the hook that easily. “Hey wait a min-” before Jake could end his sentence he heard a small puff of air and felt a fine needle pierce his skin. He had a moment of bright light before his world went dark. When he regained consciousness he awoke to both of my bots arguing over his condition. “…He’s fine, look at your scans!” Michael shoved the screen in Jiggs face ensure he saw the results. Jiggs simply refused to believe them. “Did you hear anythin' that he was sayin'? PONIES DON’T TALK MIKE!” “As illogical as it sounds, he is still the highest ranking officer here and I trust his judgment no matter how crazy it may sound.” “Oh, so if he told you to jump off a cliff would you do it?” “Depending on the height of the cliff and if there was reasoning behind it yeah, I probably would.” “You see Mike that’s the problem, THERE’S NO REASONIN' BEHIND THIS!” “On the contrary he currently possesses the most knowledge on this world, and if you think about it does actually make sense. I mean, you saw the indigenous population in the town, nothing but horses!They had no drivers or riders and they looked as if they were communicating to one another through verbal speech.” “I know…” Jiggs began to cross his arms and pout “…I know what I saw, I just can’t believe it.” Jiggs is what we call a “skeptic.” The weird part is I went through his memory banks and he has no recollection of this event, which was weird until later when I found out why. He was, shall we say, too much of a geek to accept the place he was in right now, which I don’t blame him. The first time I crashed into Equestria, I nearly shot myself cause I thought I was dreaming and I had a deep desire to wake up. Jake moaned as his senses began to return to him “…uuuggggghhhhhh…hey, a little help down here,” Jake called out weakly barely lifting his hand. “Dang he’s awake already.” “Odd, thought I gave him a dose to keep him out for longer.” “Apparently not.” “I gave him three hours! It’s been only one and a half! The man’s a bloody juggernaut. He has already had a brush with death, why should a little sedative keep him down?!” Jiggs reached down his hand and helped Jake to his feet. “Sorry about that mate, I just had to be sure you were alright.” “….I appreciate the concern, but do that again without my approval and I will tear out your CPU and give it to my cousin who will use it to play Call of Duty 11, 24/7.” After that, there were no more unexpected medical examinations performed by Jiggs. Jake wasn’tspecifically angry with Jiggs, but rather annoyed with his odd actions. Even if it had good intentions, it did involve putting Jacob out without his approval and that didn’t sit too well with him. Jake knew that taking a straight route into town would be a bad idea even though the ponies were perhaps some of the friendliest creatures in the known universe. Humans don’t exist in their world. He figured directly approaching the town would generate a lot of unwanted attention. Now unlike me, when he crashed into Equestria he had, to a degree, an element of stealth that he could use to his advantage. So the three split up and snuck around the perimeter of the town, spying out every possible entry point, as well as basically how far out the ponies settled. That’s where Jake got his “when in the pony universe he was.” While out exploring the outside of the town, he came across some ponies having a picnic in an open field, all mares. He counted carefully: six were present, all of which he recognized. With the blonde mane that apple cutie mark, it could be no other than the apple bucker herself, Applejack. He looked and nearly fainted. Rainbow dash was sitting mere feet away from him, the fastest being to fly the face of the universe. He saw a carefully placed purple mane, a white coat, and a diamond cutie mark, and there was no mistaking it was Rarity the perfectionist, still looking as stunning as ever. He looked beside her, and with the pink mane, yellow coat, and butterfly cutie mark was Fluttershy, the only Pegasus that fit the description. He saw another pink mane a slightly darker shade of pink and took note of its crazy arrangement on the head of the one who possessed it, he contended there was only one pony crazy enough to have a hairstyle like that: Pinkie Pie. And last but certainly not the least, Twilight Sparkle. He quickly noticed her star for a cutie mark and her purple and pink mane. The unicorn was enjoying herself along with her friends, and as much as he was sweating and trying to refrain from going nuts like a good fan boy, Jake still kept his low profile. Just as he thought his day couldn’t get more awesome, Spike came running along with a message. The purple dragon was panting, out of breath, and he collapsed onto the mat the six ponies were eating on, clinging to a message in one of his claws. At first Jake just thought it could be any other message until he burped up another, and within a few moments of being read, Twilight began to sing “Big Brother Best Friend Forever”…right in front of him. Live performance by Twilight Sparkle. I am truly envious of him. In my opinion he got the better trip, but that is a matter of opinion and is not relevant to this story. I will try to do my best not to bring my journey into this I shall save that for another time. Anyway, he couldn’t believe the world he was in right now, he was at the end of season two, just in time for Twilight’s brother Shining Armor to get married to Twilight’s foal sitter Princess Cadence. His timing in my opinion was beyond amazing. He couldn’t hold out, that information was just too much for his brain to process and he passed out…again. Thankfully this time it was of his own accord, and he passed out in some bushes so nobody could really see or hear him. When he recovered from his sudden blackout Michael was standing over him. “Sir, are you alright?” Jake blinked trying to put his eyes back into focus. “…Ouch…” He said as felt the pain return from his sudden collapse, “…what happened?” “Well sir, from the looks of things you fainted and hit the ground rather hard.” “I see…” Michael helped Jake to his feet, and by that time the Mane 6 had cleared out and it was growing dark across the sky. Jacob realized then that he had been out for quite some time. Despite everything that had happened, he needed more proof to assure him he really was in Equestria. “Mike I’m going into the town, tell Jiggs I’m alright…” “I thought you said going in there would be a bad idea.” “If we are seen, it would be a bad idea…this is going to be tricky. I doubt all the ponies will be asleep at once, and going in on foot is going to be maddening.” “Well I have something that just might help you with that,” Michael reached into one of his back panels and pulled out a small metal circle. “This is a stealth emitter. My creator gave it to me so I could a low profile, or make a speedy escape should I ever need to go unnoticed. There are currently only seven in existence and it may a little bit glitchy considering it is the prototype, so use it only if you need to…” “…It’ll do Mike, thanks…” Jake firmly attached it onto his wrist, this emitter I built was designed to be worn like a bracelet only it looked a heck of lot cooler than that sissy girly jazz you call bracelets. “…uh, Mike” “Yes sir?” “How do you turn this thing on?” Not too bright, I see. I only put one button on it. “Oh, that’s easy man here let me show you.” Jake moved his wrist into Michael’s metallic hand. “See this button right here on the side…press once…” Michael pressed it and Jake looked at his hands both of them were gone as well as his whole body for that matter. “…and you disappear, press again…” He pushed the button again and Jake could once more see his own hands “…you reappear.” “…Whoa…cool.” Of course it’s cool it was made by yours truly. Before permitting Jake to leave, Michael gave him some last minute tips and advice; I did originally build him to be subtle and went with him on several smash and grab missions, as well as assassination missions. He was a highly qualified assassin: he knew how to move, where to move, and when to move to avoid being seen. “Just be careful, this thing is unstable. I would not recommend keeping it active for longer than ten minutes without at least a thirty second cool-down in between uses, otherwise it may short out and you will be exposed. Use the darkness and the alleyways to your advantage. From the looks of things, after the sun goes down this town is full of them. Avoid the buildings unless you ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO GO IN THEM. You don’t know the layouts, you could be running yourself into a corner, they can box you in, and you get caught. Above all else, if seen, pretend that you weren't. Yeah sure, you have to run and stuff, but since you’re probably the first human these beings have seen, they will be too afraid to chase you, based on your description, and they will be too afraid to talk about you to the local authorities, because of the fear of being rejected and called ‘crazy.’ Ultimately, I personally believe this to be a very easy mission. You sure you don’t want me coming with you just in case you run into any trouble?” “Thanks for the advice Mike, and no, I need you to make sure the insane one doesn't do anything stupid.” “Alright I’ll go take care of the crazy one, good luck to you Jake.” With those final remarks Michael headed back towards Jiggs’ position and Jake began his walk into town. The sun was setting when he started. As he walked, he began to think about all that had happened so far; all of it seemed so surreal. While being in this world alone seemed surreal, he didn’t know what truth to believe. Even though he was a fan of the show, this was a bit much to handle in day. Oh he had accepted that he was in Equestria, and it was nice to have a break from the warzones of space that he usually fought in. But then his thoughts drifted elsewhere. He knew if the humans discovered it, it would redefine their reality: at this time they would view this world as a threat to mankind, as it had become so paranoid for its own survival that it wouldn't trust a bunch of kind-hearted ponies for its survival. So how was he to explain his disappearance? Personally in a battle between mankind and ponies, I would believe mankind would lose horribly simply because the ponies have magic more powerful than our guns. Wagging war on the Equestrians would end horribly, assuming anyone actually took his original story seriously. By the time he reached the town the sky was dark. The only light produced was within the houses, and by the moon. Jake concluded this was the perfect time to begin his search. His target, Twilight’s Library, he had to know, if this really was the Equestria he knew, and not just a cheap mock up. This was the final piece to the puzzle, in his mind at least, and he activated the stealth emitter and proceeded into town.