My Equine Adventure

by YoungQuillMaster

Chapter 4: My Homeward Struggle

Chapter 4: My Homeward Struggle

Doctor Baedeker crouched behind one of the desks, as one of the machine’s electro magnets flew off. It crashed through several computers, and hurt quite a few of his fellow scientist. Suddenly a high pitched shriek filled the room. Baedeker chanced a look over his desk, only to see the ruby shatter into hundreds of tiny fragments. After a few seconds, a ‘boom’ echoed around the room. Baedeker stood up, and what he saw greatly concerned him. The main body of the machine was on fire. Several of his co-workers rushed in with fire extinguishers.

“What just happened?” Baedeker shouted as the scream of extinguishing foam cleared. Behind it was a charred machine. Evidently a large shard had hit the machine directly, easily said because it still was sticking out slightly.

“Sir, it appears that the machine worked and failed.”

“What do you mean by that, Doctor Hartman?”

“Well, sir, the camera’s recording showed Dr. Webster making it through, but, as you see, the machine had a critical error.”

“How long do you estimate it will be until we can go to Webster and get him back home?”

“A few months in the very least. I keep you posted on our forward progress.” then turning to the rest of the scientist, “I want a full report of the all of the damage. I need to know what functions the computers that were damaged. Let’s go people, move.” Baedeker walked out of the room. This was a dark day in science for sure. Sure, they had successfully made and executed a test on the Rift Maker, but in doing so they might have lost their head scientist, and his greatest friend.

It had been a full month since Webster had been teleported, and still no word from Hartman. Mr. Hartman was their team’s head technician, and if he couldn’t fix the machine, no one could, which in itself was comfort and concern. Comfort, he was the best of the best. Concern, if he failed, they had no one else to look to for help. Suddenly, Dr. Hartman walked through the door of Baedeker’s office.

“So, Dr. Hartman, do we have good news?”

“Yes, we have some good news, but we also have some bad news. First, I’ll tell you the good news. We have found a way to repair the machine, improve its efficiency, keep it from blowing up or destroying itself in some other manner, and a way to make the portal a two way gateway. We also perfected a trans-universal communications device.” Baedeker didn’t smile. No matter how good this news was, it was tied to bad news, and in most cases, the better the good news the worse the bad news.

“”That’s the bad news, Doctor?” the smile that Hartman had on died out.

“Although these advancements have already been proven, for the most part, fully functional. The repairs on the ‘Parallel Universe Transport Device, Human Version III’ will take a substantially long time to complete. The data on the fifty-seven damaged computers needs to be reprogrammed onto new computers, and that alone will take a while. Not to mention to repairs on the main body of the device are great. The shard of ruby that had jammed itself into the machine, clipped several vital wires, not counting the damage caused by the fire. The device is almost completely destroyed.” Baedeker thought on this.

“It sounds as if it might be easier to simply build a new one. Can’t we just forget repairing the old one and order the build company to send a new one?”

“It might be less hassle right now, but it would take longer than repairing our current one.”

“Might we only recode the vital systems among the fifty-seven broken computers so as to cut time and be able to retrieve Webster from whatever parallel universe he is in?”

“The only problem is that those computers are all vital systems for the machines. All of our computers are absolutely necessary. In fact, if you remember back, Webster told us not to include unnecessary computers for this mission. If anything, we need more computers to run all the systems that we now have confirmed we need.”

“You mean to tell me that it seems we didn’t have enough computers with enough coding to make it work correctly even though we veritably filled that place to the brim with computers?”

“I’m afraid so, sir. It seems that we didn’t have enough coding to make the system work to its best possible performance level even though we filled every one of those one hundred fifty-two computers with the maximum amount of coding. I think we could use some more stabilizing systems, energy spreaders, and many other diverse systems plus backups for those and for the backup for the backups. If all this means a bigger area, then so be it, but we need more computers. I can say fairly surely that we were slightly careless in our last attempt. We thought we could do without those systems, but we end up needing them all the more than we realized. All these operations of repair, reset, and reboot will take at least a year if not more.” Baedeker put his face in his hands. After a moment of calming down he looked up at Hartman.

“Do what you must. If Webster is going to wait, we better start shortening the amount of time it will take. I want every possible man to work for as long as possible. Do shifts with extra coffee if necessary, we need to work 24/7. Webster is counting on us, now go!” With that Hartman ran out the room, already flipping out his phone. “Don’t worry, Johann, we’re coming for you.”

I was sketching up ruffs sketches of how to make a ‘Rift Maker’, but nothing was looking right. I had no idea how Baedeker got it to work, or how he had built it. I might as well wait until somepony invented a teleportation device of the same magnitude as the one I had, or I could ask somepony who had one already. I remembered a pony in one of the episodes called Doctor Hooves. He was Doctor Who in pony form, and if anypony here could help me, it was him. But how would I explain myself? How would I persuade him to allow me to go with him back to my Earth?

I trotted down the streets of Ponyville, trying to find any sign of the Doctor or Derpy. It was possible that Derpy was delivering letters. But where would the Doctor be? Then again, how hard could it be to find a small, blue police barn amongst all the techno colored building of this small town? Answer, how hard is it to find a needle in a hay stack? Easy, just keep on looking. Eventually he would have to return, and I hoped I would be there when he did. As I walked down an alley, I bumped into something, something invisible. Slowly the shape of the Equine version of the TARDIS zoomed in and out of vision. Whether coming or going, I wasn’t sure at that moment. Soon the answer came, it was coming in. The reason I knew was that every time it faded into view, it became more visible instead of less visible. After it was completely solid, the door opened, right into my face.

“WHOOPS! Sorry, fellow didn’t see you there.” I shook my head.

“Oh, it’s nothing, I’m quite alright. I, in fact, find it an honor to get smashed across the face with a door by a Time Lord.” I already knew it was him by the British accent the laid heavily on his speech. When I repositioned my glasses on my snout, I saw the Doctor starring me in the eyes.

“How do you know I’m a Time Lord?” I chuckled. I had to be slightly giddy; he had been one of my favorite TV characters since I was eleven. I stood up and brushed myself off.

“It’s quite easy to tell when your box is zooming in and out of visibility as it does. I’m Johann Webster, and you are The Doctor. It is nice to finally meet you face to face, sir.” I said as I extended my hoof in greeting. His face said everything. His left eyebrow was raised at me and his mouth was kinked in a half frown, as he extended his hoof to mine. “So, how does it feel to be on the other side of the confusion? I know how many times you have done the same too others.”

“I have to say it is definitely a new feeling for me.” I chuckled slightly. Afterwards, I cleared my throat.

“Look, let’s get down to it shall we? First I’d like to explain I am not an Equine.”

“Hog wash! You’re clearly equine as I am Time Lord!” I raised an eyebrow at him. “Well, maybe not that clear. Let me rephrases that. You are as clearly equine as my box is blue and your bowtie is red.”

“True, my outward appearance makes my words confusing, but I must insist you hear me out. I am a human scientist who conducted an experiment with a device called the ‘Rift Maker’. It transported me to here, and now I need to get home. Now I ask you to please take me back to Earth in the TARDIS.” The Doctor looked at me in his strange way. After a few moments of deliberation he replied,

“No.” with that he closed the door on his box, and it soon began to fade away. Still as mysterious as ever I see. I trotted away and began to think of what other ways might be possible. There was magic, but I didn’t know any spells like that. But I could think of one unicorn that did. But again there would be a problem. The Doctor was trust worthy enough for me to share m secret. If he thought it was a lie than he wouldn’t publicize it. If he thought it was truth he would have given me a ride. But sharing my secret with a unicorn would be hard. A Pinkie Pie promise might bind the unicorn to its word of secrecy but even that might not end well. A pony is a pony, and like humans, you’d be hard pressed to keep a secret of this magnitude. I reminds me of the episode where Twilight learned the lesson of promises. But still, I couldn’t truly say the same principal applied here. First, she tried harder because Pinkie popped out of random places and said ‘FOREVER’ but my luck might not be a providential. Second, she was bound because it was a promise to a friend, while as I am not quite sure I would yet be considered a friend; especially after I tricked them into thinking I was dead. The only pony I knew who would consider herself a friend no matter what would be Pinkie, but Pinkie is no unicorn. The one unicorn who I thought of was the bookworm of Ponyville, the personal student of the Princess, the one who could suddenly combust out of rage-shift. That’s right, Twilight Sparkle, the only unicorn who would have the spell is anypony did.

I walked into the library, met by the happy jingle of the welcome bell. I knew it was there before I entered because I was the one who installed it as a winter job.

“Oh, hello, Mr. Webster, what can I help you with today?” the voice of Twilight rung out as I trotted past the threshold of the library. I looked around the walls of the library, more specifically at the books. Evident by the few gaps present on the shelves, a few ponies had been checking out books lately. The bags under Twilight’s eyes told me that she probably had been studying late for the last few night, only to be confirmed by the fact her head swayed up and down as she drifted in and out of dream land.

“More to the point, Twilight, how can I help you?” Twilight lazily raised an eyebrow, only to have it fall back into its usual position.

“Help me? I’m sorry; I have no more jobs for you to do. Thank you for…” her last words were cut off by her falling asleep, only to bob back up into the land of the living. “What was I saying again? Oh, Mr. Webster, nice to see you again…” Again she submitted to sleep. I placed a hoof on her shoulder, which startled her awake, “I WASN'T SLEEPING, CELESTIA, HONEST!” I had to admit she was rather comical when she was drowsy.

“Twilight, tell me, what have you been studying and for how long?” Twilight was obviously still drifting in and out of reality, especially in the light of her next statement.

“I have no idea what you are talking about, dad. I haven’t been studying past bedtime, honest.” I knew if I told her I was Johann, she probably extremely confused. So that only left one option, pretend to be daddy for a while.

“Twilight Sparkle, you can’t tell me you haven’t been studying past proper hours. You are veritably sleeping on your hooves, you obviously haven’t been sleeping properly, now tell me want you have been doing. ”

“But, daddy, I’m telling you I’m fine. I haven’t been studying late; besides, I don’t have any tests to study for.”

“Yeah, what about the exam you said was for next Tuesday? You can’t expect me to forget about that. You said it was going to be the most important exam of your life.” Twilight dozed off for a few seconds then came back. She shook her head vigorously.

“Well, maybe there is that exam, but I already finished studying for it. Can I go out and play now? Shining said he was going to show me a new game today.” I shook my head.

“No, you are not going outside until you are properly rested. You need your rest, and I know for a fact that you haven’t been getting enough of it. ”

“But, dad…”

“No ‘buts’ young lady, now go to your room this instant or you won’t go outside to play for a week!” She groaned and turned around towards her room. I followed her to make sure she was going up stair to her room, I’m sure her dad would do the same, and being the player of his part, I wasn’t about to let it slip. I have to say my experience with my own son prepared me for this situation. He once studied for an exam for two days straight, only to be too tiered to go to school the day of the exam. Rather funny when you think about it though. At any rate, Twilight got into her bed and fell into dream land and did not rise again for as long I was in the room. After making sure that she wasn’t pretending to be asleep, I went downstairs. Spike smiled at me as I passed. He had been in the kitchen when the incident started, and had entered about the time Twilight had said Shining was going to show her a new game.

“Glad to see you got her in bed.” He said to me with a smile.

“Are you telling me that her number one assistant couldn’t get her to bed when she thought she was a kindergartener?”

“Hey, she only gets like that after a long while. You were just there when she snapped.” He said with the accompaniment of waving his hands back and forth defensively. I smirked and continued to the door.

I had walked in silence as I took the beautiful path back to my abode. I wasn’t lined with fountains and marble statues, but it was still nice. I took me past several flowering trees that waited for a bee to com and pollinate so it could produce its fruit, the path also took me through several flower field that, thankfully, were not poison joke. Everywhere I looked, I could find a pleasant prospect, but all this beauty could not stop my mind from wondering. Wondering if there was hope for me. If I would ever get home, if I’d ever see my precious family again, if I ever would be able to properly thank Baedeker for all he has done as I planed, if I’d ever get the chance to see my friends again, if I could ever set foot on our earth again. Usually when I got homesick I would just go to where I felt homesick for and so get rid of my feelings of dread. But in this case, that option was the one I was looking for in every direction. I was truly torn. I loved Equestria as it were my own, but I longed for Earth, for my family. My father would definitely be disappointed if he knew I didn’t do all I could to get back. That thought stung more than the rest I had awakened. My dad, why did I have to think of him? Now don’t get me wrong, I love my father as much as any man could. The pain comes from the past, but, more specifically, his death, that along with my mother who followed only two years after. My dad had suffered through long days of pain as he died slowly of some form of cancer. The doctors said he was too fragile for chemotherapy, and for his type of cancer, there was no other remedy. After he died, my family was shook, to say the least. He was the best dad I could have ever have hoped for. As you might aspect, because I am the youngest in my family, I took it the hardest amongst my siblings. My mom grieved greatly, and a little over two years after my dad was gone, she suffered a stroke. No one was around at that time; my biggest brother was on a business trip of some kind, while the next was working on some epic math problem, my sister was on the third day of her four day tenth anniversary trip, my other brother was working his shop as he usually would, and me, well, I was in my lab probably inventing my flubber compound. The pain of the loss came back all at once. The dams that held back the headwaters at my eyes were beginning to breach, and I could feel it. To lower the amount of embarrassment that I would achieve if somepony found me weeping in the middle of the road, I walked under a rather shady tree that was in good proximity to my area. Tears that had been held at bay for more than ten years came out all at once. Tears of regret for my parents passing, tears for my daughter who never was properly born, tears for friends I had lost, tears originating from thousands of causes, all of them ganged up and smashed the wall that held them back in a matter of seconds. As the multitude of the pain filled tears dribbled down my cheeks and snout, I relived it all. Every moment of loss that I had somehow come out of without a tear, every grueling instance of pain; I relived every horrid second of it. Seeing the body of my mother lay on the ground in the kitchen with smoke everywhere, I saw my dad dying with me holding his wrinkly hand tightly with mine. I heard the words of the doctor echo in my ears as he said my daughter died in the birth process. I could hear the goodbyes of many friends as they grew apart from my life. I had to say that all in all, up to this point since my dad passed on, was one painful moment to the next, almost never a moment to relax and really enjoy life. But, I did realize there might be a moment I had time to enjoy life from then to now. It was time I had spent here in Equestria, I was happy here. Maybe, just maybe, I could get my wife and son to come and live the rest of our lives here. Yeah, that would be great, the painful daily life on Earth was veritable torture compared to the loveliness of Equestria. Besides, my son almost always came home crying because some idiotic bully from school hurt him physically or mentally. My wife complained about the neighbors occasionally on how they threw back her offers of help with sneers and looks of disgust. Yeah, this would be the perfect place; every neighbor would be glad for help and glad to help. Schools… well, they were rather the same because of two fillies, but beyond those two was a classroom filled with fillies and colts who would love to be friends. If only I could bring them here, if only I could. My eyes were still gushing out tears of pain, with a small mixture of tears of joy for the plan of a new country that would be better for my family. I heard hoofsteps on the road, but I didn’t care, my grief was too great to hide, and maybe talking would console me a bit if the pony would have it. The strokes of hooves came closer, but they seemed to slow as they came closer. The hooves slowly stopped all together, I could only guess that the pony had stopped, although by the sound of distance in the last hoof fall told me that it was still not looking at me probably. I slowly ran out of tears to shed; only wishing for more so I could rid myself of all of my grief. Crying is all good and well, but when your tears dry out you can only wish for more to send forth from your eyes. The pain of loss still held me fast in its painful, unforgiving grasp. It was then I began hearing the steps hitting the stones on the path again. I would have to confess, at that moment the only face I wanted to see was that of mw wife and son, and if more my sake it was them, I have to say it probably wouldn’t have helped me in my current state. The steps grew closer and closer as the pony made progress along the road. All I could do was to wait, with my head hung long; too tired to lift myself from my hiding place and walk away. Slowly a shadow casted itself along the murky cobblestone road as the pony drew ever closer. I cleared my throat as quietly as possible, so that if the pony would talk my voice wouldn’t be too terrible but also to make it so my throat clearing wouldn’t be the cause of them coming to me. The pony eventually came into view, it was the last one I expected to see coming. The one I hoped wouldn’t come, for her own sake.

“Webster, is that you under there?” I nodded slowly, still fighting back the pangs of sorrows. “I’m so glad to find you. I heard that you…” She was cut short by placing her hoof in the turf near me. It was saturated with tears, and was more like a marsh-like terrain than the forest terrain that was everywhere else. “Mr. Webster, are you alright? Do you need something?” If I could, I would have smiled, but the pain held me back from that and talking. I could feel the knout in my throat keeping my vocal cords from moving. “Johann, it’s me, Twilight, Twilight Sparkle. Are you alright, should I go get somepony?” The knout began to relax its grip on my throat, allowing me to speak.

“Oh, Twilight, it hurts so much…” My voice cracked as I spoke. I know, the line was rather corny, but in my agony, it was the only words that would form correctly.

“What hurts, Johann? You can tell me.” I knew I could, but the knout began to coil in my throat again, as if to say one phrase was enough. “Johann, it’s alright you can tell me.” A tear streaked down my cheek. Her pleading voice was enough to set ones heart aflame. I only wish I could have answered her, but the knouts grip was so tight that I found breathing a stretch for me. “You wait here, I’ll go get Fluttershy. I’ll be back in a few minutes, just wait right here.” With that she was off like a shot, my only life line.

“Oh, Twilight, I’m so sorry…” With that I fell over, exhausted from crying for so long.

I opened my eyes to the sight of extremely bright lights. I blinked several times before my eyes adjusted. Was that the rising sun? I was moving and it was very bright, but it was on a blue sky. To tell the truth, I couldn’t see anything besides the light. I slowly began to here the pumping of oxygen capsules and the beeping of heart monitors. I looked around as much as I could, I could see that it was a hospital and I was in one of the less crowded rooms, while still having to share the room with three others. How did I get here, and why was I wired up to so many machines? Well, actually it was many wires for just one machine, but it had the same effect.

“Mr. Webster, are you awake?”

“Well, Ah would guess he is since his eyes are open.”

“Well, Applejack, one can never tell.”

“Well, Ah can tell, and Ah know he’s awake.”

“Lower your volume, you two. Who knows what’s wrong with him. You might just be making it worse.”

“Yeah, you guys have no idea how boring it is to be in the hospital like this.” I almost felt compelled to say ‘I second that motion’, but it wouldn’t have been appropriate considering the circumstance. I heard hoofsteps as somepony came through the door.

“Is Mr. Webster awake yet?”

“I think he just woke up.”

“Oh, good, you girls go wait outside. We’ll be out in a few seconds.”

“Alright, Nurse Red Heart, let’s go girls.” With that several ponies left. I could only assume it had been Twilight and her friends.

“Mr. Webster, are you awake.” I lifted myself up in my bed, stretching my joints out.

“I suppose I am.”

“Good to hear that, sir. Would you like to tell me what happened?”

“No, I would not like to tell you what happened.” I had learned in previous years that doctors and nurses were people of specifics. If you answered a question, they usually would want a full sentence instead of a monosyllabic answer. Of course, most of their questions were one sided in that if you answered no to a question they wanted the answer yes too, they would force you to do what they want. Although I can’t blame them, they’re just doing their jobs to the best of their abilities. I could only hope equine doctors would be satisfied with my answer and not force me like the rest of doctors I have faced.

“Mr. Webster, I need to know what was wrong so I know what to do for you now.” Of course, you can’t expect doctors to be too different from one parallel universe to the next. It’s all medical procedure. But as for all procedures, there are ways to get around them with a bit of dignity while retaining your privacy.

I trotted out of my room, dressed in my usual clothes instead of the green robe they gave me. I had maneuvered around the nurse’s questions with almost political tactics. Always answer questions as broadly as you can is the way to work around, unless you really feel like telling them, which in my case, I did not. Eventually the nurse will get the hint that you are not going to tell them, and after around a dozen times of reassuring them you are fine, they let you go. As I had expected, Twilight and friends were outside the door.

“Mr. Webster, so good to see… wait, you are already leaving? Don’t you think that…?”

“No, Twilight, I don’t think I need to stay here for an extended visit. Yes, I am sure I am doing the right thing in my choice. No, you can’t persuade me to stay. I am sorry that I troubled you all, but when you found me, Twilight, I was completely and utterly physically fine.” The seven friends, including Spike, looked at each other rather perplexedly at how quickly I had anticipated their questions and how I had shoved them of so quickly.

“But, Johann, you said…”

“Yes, I said that it hurt so much. You must understand it was not physical pain, I am perfectly fine, thank you for your concern, but it was not needed.” I quickly left, leaving the seven friends to wonder about me. I wasn’t about to answer their questions, they would in all inevitability be too painful for me.

It had been two weeks since the incident that landed me in the hospital. Thankfully, most every pony had moved past that and had continued living normal life; although I knew the suspicion would never be completely gone. I never got around to asking Twilight about the spell, I knew that in all likelihood it would drive suspicions higher than necessary. Even though the possibility to ask Twilight my all important question, I still endeavored to find a way home. While doing so, I spent most of my time at Sweet Apple Acres, earning some money in advance for the winter in case I had to stick it out for another year. Although Apple bucking season was several months out, it was still the season to work. From tending the animals around the farm, or sprucing up things that wouldn’t get dirty afterwards, I was rather busy throughout the day, which gave me the usual feeling of exhilaration, because I had the knowledge that what I was doing would benefit many others, but as with all jobs, it soon came to an end. But I remained idle in no wise. When my days at Sweet Apple were over, I started to tend to a farm of my own. I had a single apple tree along with other berry giving plants, including a coffee plant. I had a range of plants from wheat to strawberries. It was a nice life, it was peaceful. I knew that my wife and son would love this place. It would trap them like a fly on tap, but it would be a whole ton better than being stuck to some strip of plastic with adhesive on the side. Of course, my house would need expanding before they came, if they came.

It had been six long months in Equestria. In that time I had expanded my house and farm, made a proper farm, painted my house orange, and had added the long awaited fountains to the garden and walkway. I can’t really complain, it has been nice to live here all this time, but the absence of my wife and son took its gruesome toll on me. I had added a second floor to my house; I fortified the foundation with cement. I had added a few more windows and installed glass panes into each to contain the heat during winter. I could only help but wonder, when was Baedeker going to come for me? Was Baedeker going to come for me, and for how much longer must I wait for him? Should I give up on that hope, or should I continue waiting for him to come to me?

Baedeker was in his home, lying in his bed. He had just woken up, but he wasn’t ready to get moving. Mornings were never his strong suite, but having Webster gone was just another reason for him t stay in the comfortable embrace of his bed. It had been months, and no word of progress from Hartman. Hartman was the best, and as far as Baedeker could tell, had been awake for most of the time that Webster had been gone. Baedeker, on the other hand, only had a Masters in theoretical science. It had been in college when he had met the half psychotic Johann Webster. It was the fact they both had their Masters in theoretical science that they were in this problem. Although it sounds simple, theoretical science is a rather hard work. It is laborious, but in most cases, fruitful. Through his efforts of hours on end, Webster had made Smart-dough (the replacement for Playdough), and compound X-89 (flubber). Baedeker had to say that Webster had a better time than he did. Baedeker’s parents forced him into this like most parents would for their sons to be a lawyer, while Webster; he wanted to be a scientist. Webster, in some instances, had been thought of like Belle’s father in ‘Beauty and the Beast’. He had some radical ideas in science, most of which eventually were proven correct, and all those instances of fluke erroneous calculations turning into the best thing since sliced bread had made him out to be a walking example of serendipity. Baedeker was startled by the ringing of his phone. He looked at the screen to see the caller, Dr. Hartman. Baedeker lifted the phone from the stand and pressed the blinking green button.

“Hello, Hartman, any news, particularly good news.”

“Well, Baedeker, I am calling to tell you all the coding is done. We only need to manufacture a few more add-ons for the machine and in will be ready to get you to Webster and get him back here.” Baedeker’s jaw dropped.

“You are telling me that Webster is coming home before schedule?”

“I guess I am, sir. I’ll call you again when we are ready, okay?”

“Alright, I want to be kept posted, keep up the good work.”

“Sure thing, Dr. Baedeker, I’ll get right on it.” With that Hartman hung up. Baedeker was left shell shocked. His long time friend was finally going to be coming home!