//------------------------------// // Glorified Guard Duty // Story: Why was I so lucky? // by Artyom the Brony //------------------------------// It was a day just like any other, hot and dry in Israel. I had a very prestigious job when it came to guard duty. About twenty years ago some scientists started working on teleportation. Through lots of secrets and a lot of volunteers ending up in space or another planet, they perfected a design and method. It was a very small machine, only a five foot diameter with a giant power consumption. It consisted of a metal ring to house the portal, a terminal to set to which other portal it would go to, or free coordinates, and one helluva generator. The generator was state of the art, weighing three tons and able to power New York City, it was about as expensive as the portal. We had three portals total, one here, ready to be shipped out, another in the pentagon, and a final one in Sacramento. The two in the states were more permanent and more safe, but it was deemed a valuable investment to build a moveable one. That moveable one is under my guard and in the middle of a hot spot. What idiot thought of putting it here I don't know but I still have to guard it. It was mostly a supply route used to save fuel and put less pilots at risk. The portal would occasionally light up and I would check the signature, making sure it had proper codes and clearance. Mostly it was just three or four supply trucks moving towards the front lines, but this time it was one jeep. In the jeep was the president some secret service guys and a photographer. All the soldiers in the area snapped to attention. The president saluted and yelled “At ease!” Making sure that every soldier could heard the order to go back to their business. She got out of the truck and walked over to the portal mainframe and motioned me to come over. “Yes Ms. President?” I asked “The taxpayers want to know what they just paid for, and I think it's about time we told them. So I would like you to explain to me how all this works,” she said “Well I don't know the physics or science behind all this but I can tell you my job,” I replied “Please do,” she continued I began to describe the different signals I would give depending on what was coming through, be that military vehicles, troops, or supplies, and that I would check for proper clearance. The other soldiers were mainly a guard force but they all knew how to my job, I just had rank on them. “Very interesting, so how do you-” she was cut short by the scream of “RPG!” I dove on top of the president, using myself as a human shield. A few rockets hit near us killing a few soldiers who were slow to react. The rockets were quickly followed by gunshots, and a grenade that started spewing out a transparent smoke. The sounds the rifles made were obviously that of an Uzi to the trained ear. I got off the president letting the secret service take care of her. I sprinted to a barricade with some other soldiers and we sat there, waiting for a slight lull in the fire. “What the hell man! Where did these guys come from!” a marine yelled “I don't know, but something tells me they want to take out or use the portal!” I said It suddenly became very hard to breath. Like, something else was in the air hard to breath. I yelled as loud as I could, “Gas masks now!” As I put on my mask and I tried to talk I now understood why they had us all sing the marine anthem in a room full of tear gas. So we could talk normally in situations like this. “Shit… The portals still open!” I said to myself really The mask made it unbelievably hard to talk louder than the gunshots. I lifted my mask for just a second to say two words. “Cover me!” I ran to the portal with tunnel vision, the mask ruining my peripheral. I didn’t look back as I ran to the console but I could only assume my friends were shooting back at the enemy because I wasn’t dead yet. I pushed three buttons in a specific tune related order, which brought another screen up to the display. It was a four digit activation code,which activated an EMP powerful enough to shut it down for a month. I entered in the numbers. “2-1-1-5,” I said to myself The code was simple, the year this specific portal was finished and deemed ready for use. I heard a sound very familiar to me, the sound of a rocket flying through the air. I turned and time seemed to slow down. The rocket only a foot away from where I was standing. The rocket hit and sent me flying backwards, right to the portal. I had probably two real seconds, but for me it was about thirty. I saw myself flying just ahead of the shrapnel, while other pieces flew into and wrecked the console. I suddenly felt very cold, like I was diving into a lake during winter (Shut up maybe the lake isn’t frozen somehow). The tip of my head had gone into the portal which was soon followed by my whole head, then torso, legs, feet, and I was through. I saw a bright blue oval with undefined edges In the middle of a room somewhere. It was actually quite high up in said room. I fell quite quickly and hit the ground with a hard smack. For some reason I heard a scratch, Like someone had violently taken a needle of a record. I just shrugged it off. The blow didn’t render me unconscious, so I took a little but to examine my new surroundings. I first looked up to see the portal shrinking. I saw a bookshelf that I could climb to get up to the portal, I made no delay in doing so. Where ever I was it was probably not the best of places to be. I ran to the bookshelf and made use of my monkey heritage. It wasn’t something instantly noteworthy about me, but I was a damned good climber. I got to the top and jumped. Just as I did so however, the portal dissipated and I had another meeting with my good friend gravity. I fell down again and hit once more with another smack. This time I landed face first on a table, and the result was a shattered lens. Considering I wasn’t dead yet and I had a big hole in my mask, I figured that the air was similar if not the same. “Damn I’m lucky.” I thought At this moment I could see the amount of figures standing around me. After a few moments of processing this information I realized they were all of equine stature. I wasn’t one to judge at the time but it appeared most of them had feminine body types. Thin bodies, stylish hair, slender legs, and DEAR GOD THOSE EYES! They were almost as big as their heads! I came to terms with it quickly though. I went through a portal and didn’t go back. Who knows what’s on the other side? I was lucky to be alive, I was supposed to be dead right now anyways. Whenever a portal opens and you go through it bad things happen in the comic books. This was real life though, so in real life when a portal opens and you go through it, you have a ninety nine percent chance of going somewhere in space and freezing before exploding. But here I was, staring up at a bunch of female equines with giant eyes and coats and manes of any color that you could think of. The only thing I could hear now was my own breathing, which must have been creepy as hell. Normal breathing is fine, just a soft inhale, then a soft exhale. But with a gas mask on, you sound like a more evil Darth Vader. I slowly started to get up, drawing a murmur from the crowd. Once I had reached a full stand, I saw how tall they really were. The average height seemed to be about four feet. All eyes were on me as I channeled my inner smooth talking genius. Oh that’s right I don’t have one, I was always the weird one with a conflicting viewpoint. Well shit, I slowly started to walk to the door while everyone looked at me with shocked expressions. I got to the door and opened it. “Wait don’t go!” came a voice from the crowd “We can help you!” The last thing I needed right now was help, maybe mental help or something, but I needed space and time to think right now. I ignored the voice and walked out the door. My head promptly hit wood as I forgot I was about a foot high to fit through standing naturally. Thank god for military grade helmets! I ducked down and squeezed my way through the door. The last thing I noticed about the ponies before I left was that some had wings, some had horns, and others had nothing. I got out of the building and turned around. I was face to face with a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail. “Wow… You’re not from around here are you?” the voice was very feminine and I assumed she was a girl.