The Technician

by Pyrus_uk

Crossing over

Charlie stood with his mouth wide open. Sure, he had been amazed at what he’d seen just walking through the labs but this huge machine in front of him took the biscuit. It really reminded him of a Stargate, standing at about a 50ft diameter. Scientists were all around it, looking at clipboards and instructing other scientists of what calibrations needed doing. Charlie had never seen anything like it before.

“Quite a sight isn’t it, Corporal?” Peter said proudly.

“She’s certainly something.” Charlie said slowly.

“All your equipment and supplies have already been passed through. You’re the only thing left on the list. Let’s fire it up and get you across.” The Captain said, followed by a wave of his hand to the control room. The scientist inside gave a thumbs up and began punching buttons and flipping switches. Shortly after, a low hum could be heard from the mechanical ring. The noise grew slowly and a small blue glow could be seen from the coils that surround the large ring. The noise grew and grew before a voice could be heard over the speakers.

“Initialization complete. Engaging primary systems now. All personnel stand clear!”

The hum changed into a loud crackle and a bright blue beam projected from each glowing coil with each beam meeting in the middle.

“Primary systems reading nominal. Engaging stabilization systems.”

The area between each beam began to be slowly filled with a flat blue mist, before completely filling the area of the ring. Charlie just stood staring at the wonder before him with his mouth wide open. He didn’t even hear Lieutenant Vasquez standing behind laughing at him.

“Stabilization complete. Energy successfully charged. All pre-fire procedures confirmed. Firing in...three...two...one”

A loud crack could be heard as the light from all the beams suddenly intensified. Charlie had to close his eyes because of the sheer brightness. As quickly as it started, everything became quiet. He opened his eyes and saw the all the beams were gone. The entire area of the ring was a moderately bright sky blue mist. It was flat and all seemed to be contained within the center of the ring.

“Portal established.” The voice over the speaker said.

The Captain looked at his watch. “Right on time. Alright Corporal, let’s go.”

Charlie followed the Captain, the Lieutenant and Peter up the ramp. Surprisingly, all three just walked straight through the mist. Charlie stopped about a meter away.

“This is it. There’s a whole new world on the other side of this apparently. Will it hurt when I go through? The others walked in without second thought. Maybe they’re used to it? Fuck!”

Charlie took a step back.

“C’mon you pussy! Surely you’re not gonna fuck this up before you’ve even started! Just walk through!”

He took a breath and closed his eyes. “Don’t think about it. Just........go!”

Charlie clenched his fists and took long strides, keeping his eyes closed and went through the portal.

He felt absolutely nothing. To the point where he thought he just walked through and down the other end of the ramp. That was, until he opened his eyes.

He was outside, the sun shining on his face. There were mountains in the distance and grass beneath his feet. He saw various ponies walking around, some with clipboards in their mouths while others glanced over at him. He stared back. If it wasn’t for the images the Captain showed him in the briefing room beforehand, he wouldn’t believe what he was seeing. Ponies of various colours with large eyes all moving around working. Some of them were even dressed in what seemed to be scientist clothing. He saw other ponies which were dressed in golden armour and held spears. They held a very serious expression on their faces, many of which were staring right at Charlie. His heart was racing by now, his eyes panning around taking in everything he could. He looked up and saw a few Pegasus ponies flying overhead. Again, Charlie was thankful for the images at the briefing otherwise he’d have probably fainted by now.

“You’re taking this better than I thought you would, Corporal.” The Captain said walking up to Charlie’s right side.

“This is unbelievable.” Charlie responded slowly.

“You’ll get used to it. Come on, we’re on a schedule”.

Charlie followed the others, but couldn’t resist swiveling his head back and forth taking in everything around him. The Captain led the group into a tent not far from the Portal. Inside was a large wooden table with wooden chairs surrounding it.

“Take a seat everyone, we’re expecting company.” The Captain said.

Charlie sat in the chair in front of him with his back to the entrance, slowly getting to grips with everything. He felt it was easier to do this now he was inside the tent. The lieutenant spoke up. “You should have seen Peter during his first time. He couldn’t stop poking and prodding the plants, objects and even the ponies.” She said giggling.

“Oh c’mon, can you blame me? This place is fascinating.” Peter said defensively.

“I don’t argue that, but that poor mare probably had nightmares that night from all your poking. We had to pull you away before you could cut her hair for samples! Bless her heart, she just stood there petrified.” Vasquez said shaking her head.

“Hey! I apologised!” Peter responded quickly.

“Yeah, followed quickly by you asking her for a snippet of her hair again!” Vasquez threw back at him.

Peter crossed his arms and sat back in his chair.

Charlie decided to ask the question that was on his mind. “Sir, who are we expecting to meet?”

“Before we can do anything, we need to meet the leaders of this country you’ll be working in. They’re on their way here to see you.”

This made Charlie nervous. Although, thinking about it he found that he shouldn’t really have been surprised. “And who are they, Sir?”

The Captain didn’t respond, but Charlie could see that he was looking at the entrance to the tent.

“Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.” A voice said from the entrance.

Charlie quickly turned around to face the entrance and his mouth dropped open again. Stood there, was a large white pony with both wings and a horn. She had a flowing multicoloured mane that seemed to actually move. She wore golden regalia, signifying that she was indeed the leader in question. She stood much taller than the other ponies Charlie had seen so far. He guessed she probably stood at the height of a tall human, not including the horn.

“Ah, Princess Celestia. It’s good to see you again.” The Captain said from across the tent.

“The same to you, Captain.” Celestia responded with a nod. “Lieutenant Vasquez. Peter.” She nodded to the two.

Her attention turned towards Charlie.

“And I don’t believe i’ve met you before. I am Princess Celestia, one of the rulers of this land. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She said politely.

Charlie stood up. “Corporal Charlie Williams, your highness.” He decided to add a salute.

“At ease there, Corporal. Given what you’ll be doing in the coming future, i’d like to try and tone down the formality as much as can be allowed.” Celestia said smiling. As Charlie sat back down, Celestia turned her attention back to the Captain. “I must apologise Captain. My sister cannot join us today, she has been working very hard recently and is bedridden.” Celestia's smile dropped.

“I’m sorry to hear that, Princess. Is she going to be OK?” The Captain asked, concerned.

“She’s just mildly exhausted. We expect her to be back to herself by tomorrow hopefully. With what’s been going on over the recent months, our workload has increased significantly as i’m sure you can appreciate.” Celestia briefly paused. “I have however, brought some other guests who will be working closely with Corporal Williams here during his stay.”

Celestia stepped further into the tent and stood to one side, allowing 6 smaller ponies to enter after. They were all of different colours, but all were mares. Once they were all inside, they stood next to each other peering around the tent at the four humans in front of them.

“From left to right, we have Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. They are all residents of the town of Ponyville, which is the nearest town to where Corporal Williams will be staying.”

They all offered their own quick greeting but because they did so at the same time it was difficult to pick out everyone. It was clear that there was a hint of nervousness coming from each of them. Each of the humans in the tent offered their own greeting in return after being introduced by the Captain.

Celestia smiled. “Now that we’re all acquainted, let’s sit and discuss what’s going to happen.”

Comments

[Muffin Cake]

Well, I am engrossed now. Also quick thing. Unless being used for date or time. Numbers should be written and not appear like this '2'. Apart from that. This looks really good for a first story. I look forward to more.

[Pyrus_uk]

4262972
Thanks muchly for all your feedback. They've all been added to my list!

[Muffin Cake]

4262989 Anything to see a new writer succeed. I wish you luck.

[Firecaller]

You've got my interest, eager to see how this develops.

[Watcher Pumpkin]

Well, that was amazing. Seriously, another brilliant idea in this site. You know, I always loved the 'first contact with human and pony society, human go through a advanced portal device, and human ship crash landed in equestria' sci-fi stories. Keep up the good work buddy, i can't wait the next chapter.
Oh, and here goes my like and fav. And this too, you know just for to celebrate the new story.
reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/underwear-dance.gif

[Arxsys]

Overall, not a bad start. I'll be watching.

[Pyrus_uk]

4263259 You may have touched on a point i'm pondering of implementing later on. But interesting points all the same. I've discovered that a huge issue for me will be trying not to dig myself into a hole. Thanks for the help ;)

[Pyrus_uk]

4263184 haha, glad you like it. Also, thanks very much for that lovely image! That's gone and burned itself into my retinas for at least 3 days

[Arxsys]

4264739 No problem. Glad to see someone else doing an unusual HiE story. I've got one going about a Combat Engineer myself.

Best of luck and I'll try to point out anything I catch. Btw, might want to put more tags up than just human for the story. I'd recommend Alt Universe (otherwise there will be bitching) Adventure, and something else that fits what you have planned.