Chapter 3:
More Grease to Your Elbow
The town streets were empty as Orisa entered its limits, and she was made expressly aware to how large she was in comparison to the little ponies.
She was barely shorter then the smaller single story buildings and could often see scared ponies looking down at her quite easily as she walked passed the few two story houses in the hamlet. It was a big difference to the towering mega-structures of Numbani filled with humans and omnics.
"That's where my friend Tarnish lives!" Dandelion exclaimed, interrupting her guidance as the group passed a single story house with a wide door and some warm yellow roses planted in front. At that moment the door was opened a crack and a small face was pushed through the opening with gunmetal fur and a rusty, short mane.
"Hey Tarnish! I made a robot friend!" Dandelion exclaimed happily from her spot now upon Orisa's broad shoulders.
"Dandelion? Is that you?" the figure in question asked with a tilt of its head, its ears perking up.
"Sure is you silly colt! Climb on!" Dandelion replied as the colt started approaching us wearily, Orisa halting her march so the colt could approach safely.
"Uh, where'd you find a robo-Tirek?" he questioned as he approached. Stopping a fair distance away once realizing that the robot's hooves were so much bigger than his entire head.
"I found her sleeping and twitching on the road in to town!" Dandelion replied with a grin as she looked down from her perch.
"Mum says that it isn't safe to leave the town." The colt replied smartly.
"Well, that's why no adults found Orisa before me then, isn't it?" Dandelion replied without missing a beat. Orisa couldn't find any faults in the small pony's logic.
"Huh. That's true I guess." The colt replied, still eyeing Orisa's colossal form wearily.
"Do not be afraid small pony, I will not harm you." Orisa offered, placing Dandelion on her back, kneeling and offering her hand out to he colt. "Climb on." she said, her apertures rotating and forming a pair of upwards pointing chevrons.
The colt gazed at her wearily until Orisa lowered her hand for the colt to climb up on to. He questioned to himself whether listening to the filly was such a good idea, but the presence of the guards was enough to remove his fears and he quickly jumped on.
Once Orisa placed the colt upon her other shoulder she began steadily moving towards the building Dandelion had pointed to earlier, her steps lightly shaking the ground as she walked.
Orisa was quickly running out of street that she could comfortably move through as she got further in to the town. Thankfully, the long two story building up ahead she was assured to be home to this "Booky" pony, and the town library.
Inside, a pegasus mare sat at a desk filling out the library's ledger, fountain pen firmly lodged between her teeth. She had fur of ivory, mottled with graying hairs, and a mane and tail of ink black, that when the light hit it just right would appear a deep green, also mottled with graying hairs. Marks adorned her flanks of a closed book with a deep green cover, underneath a magnifying glass.
Her work was interrupted though, as something caught her attention at the corner of her eye. Upon her desk was a simple glass of water, but currently the normally still water would fill with ripples at regular intervals, ripples growing is size as each shock shook her desk. Her gaze passed over the glass and towards the newspaper also on her desk, some news about a new monster that the Element Bearers defeated. She looked back and forth between the two items before her eyes opened wide and her mouth opened in shock. Not a moment later she yelled "Quill!" at the top of her lungs, "Something big is coming!"
"You're telling me!" a pale blue unicorn mare with deep purple mane and tail yelled in reply from across the room, her complexion showing similar gray signs of age. Marks adorned her flanks depicting a white, closed book with a purple wisp of magic flowing out of its cover. "Get over here and get a look at this!" Quill yelled in reply.
The mare at the desk quickly made her way past bookshelves to the front of the building to a large window with a couple of beanbags at is base and the aforementioned Quill gazing out of it.
"Sweet Celestia..." Was all she could say as she soaked in the behemoth that was casually walking towards her humble abode.
"This is going to be interestin'!" Quill quipped as the building continued to subtly shake around her.
Orisa eased to a stop in front of the building she was guided to. It was barely one and a half times her height even with its tall roof, and in a large first floor window she could see an ivory pony and a light blue pony looking at her with shock and mirth respectively.
She held her hand flat above her head in front of Dandelion and Tarnish, "Hop down," she said, "I will need you to retrieve this "Booky" as I cannot enter the library due to my size."
Tarnish jumped aboard Orisa's hand and she quickly set him down whereas Dandelion chose to glide down from Orisa's shoulder, towards the entrance to the library. Tarnish quickly ran after her as soon as he was set down.
"Orisa!" the horned soldier from before yelled at her right, "I have sent a letter off to Canterlot notifying the guard and the princesses of your situation. If anypony has a chance of getting you home in time to help your friend, they would be in Canterlot."
"Thank you sir," Orisa replied, "this is good to hear." Her gaze met the soldiers and her apertures rotated into upwards facing chevrons, showing her satisfaction.
A loud "WHAT!?" was heard from the now open entrance to the library, pulling Orisa's attention from the guard. An ivory furred mare glared down at Dandelion from the entrance. "Wait until your mother hears about this!" the mare threatened.
"Are you the pony known as "Booky"?" Orisa asked the mare, interrupting the mare's tirade before it entered full swing.
The mare quickly looked up and glared at the robot as laughter could be heard from within the library and her cheeks started to tint red. "My name is Tome Seeker, and I would rather be called that than my niece's nickname of "Booky", thank you very much."
"My apologies Ms. Seeker," more peals of laughter from inside the library, "I will keep that in mind."
Seeker took a moment to glare back inside the library, silencing the laughter momentarily.
"I require your aid, Ms. Seeker. I must find my friend and creator Efi, urgently. She was in grave danger when I was unexpectedly transported here and I have little to no information on how far away from home I am. I wish to confirm some theories of mine." Orisa said mater-of-factly.
Tome Seeker's features softened as she heard Orisa's story, her glare moving to one of determination rather than annoyance. "That is terrible to hear of Orisa. I will do what I can to find the information you need."
"Thank you immensely." Orisa replied with a dip of her head in thanks, "I need only a map of the continents to prove or disprove my theories."
The mare turned around "Astral Quill, pull yourself together and make yourself useful! Grab a map for our friend in need." she barked.
A "Yes Ms. Seeker - ma'am." was replied in a snarky tone. Tome Seeker's cheeks quickly went pink before she barked out a "Just go!" as the other pony went deeper in to the library, taking her giggles with her.
Only a moment later was a map handed to the pony known as Tome Seeker. She looked at the map for a moment, let out a soft "Well, it will have to do." and handed the map through the doorway into Orisa's large awaiting hand.
"Sorry it isn't too detailed, but if you recognise any of these places you should be able to figure out where you are. We are on the eastern coast, in the south." clarified Ms. Seeker.
The map depicted a rough approximation of a super-continent with an area marked "The Frozen North" at its peak. Other areas of interest, and the only ones marked on this map were an mountain with an apparent city growing out of the side of it marked "Canterlot", and the apparent desert and mesa area to the south of that labelled "Southern Frontier". There was a crude red lable with a red dot marked "Sydneigh" to the east of the "Southern Fronteir" label. Further east and north over a small ocean was another label marking the western coast of a smaller continent as "Griffonstone" and to the south of that, and just east of the "Sydneigh" label was a second smaller continent with a simple stylised depiction of a dragon next to a large volcano.
All of this information was interesting of course, but the worst kind of information for Orisa. She realised that with none of these areas being familiar, nor with the continental shapes being recognisable, she was undoubtedly on another world, with many questions about how and why flooding her processors.
With an even tone only slightly betraying her annoyance she managed to get out a "Thank you for this" towards the pony in the doorway.
"My fears have been proven." Orisa suddobenly said after a good 25 further seconds studying the map, startling the guard beside her. "I am indeed on another world than the one I call my home."
"Another world? Are you sure?" The horned soldier asked, look up at Orisa and tilting his head.
"Certain." she replied. "I have extensive knowledge of the geography of my home planet including the shapes of my worlds continents, of which none in my memory banks match the ones on this map. This can only mean that I am further from home than any other has ever been." she said, her voice even and gratingly robotic, with the barest hint of melancholy.
Suddenly, a bright light formed nearby, with energy sparking from it and a great blast of wind emanating from it. Orisa moved herself between the ball of expanding energy and the library, readying her fusion driver and readying her protective barrier, her optics turning a deep red, and her apertured forming two straight, aggressive lines.
Suddenly, a purple pony dropped from the energy ball as it cracked closed, letting out a soft "ouch" as it landed.