//------------------------------// // Dear Journal - Today I Rode in a Balloon (Chapter 3) // Story: Master of None // by Dalken Starbyne //------------------------------// I wasn’t sure exactly how long we spent talking. I told Princess Celestia everything I could remember from waking up the day before to the moment I met Pyra. Celestia hummed and nodded along with my story, waiting patiently for me to finish. Then she asked me about Cheney, the USA, and Earth in general. She asked me about my life. I had never before encountered someone so interested in what I had considered a rather unexciting existence. But, in turn, she answered a variety of questions about Equestria. Apparently there were more than just ponies living here, and I wouldn’t be stuck eating muffins forever. She explained the basics of governance in Equestria, as well as generally what I might have to expect from living here for an extended period. Frankly, if I had to be suddenly and unexpectedly stranded somewhere, I could think of worse options than a place where the weather is literally scheduled and manufactured. These ponies must’ve had some seriously advanced technology to manage that, and it was something I definitely wanted to see for myself. As things got late, the princess asked me to excuse her for a moment. It wasn’t as if I was about to argue, so she stepped over to the window beside me and began concentrating. I turned around in my chair to see what she was looking at. And just like that, I saw the sun drop from the sky and the moon take its place. All the other things wrong about it aside, it was anything but gradual. Not the way it should have been, at least. I mean, it was by all accounts a graceful and fluid motion, but it was still as if someone had grabbed the sun, pulled it very abruptly from the horizon, and then scooped the moon up so they could hang it in the night sky. I’d thought the sunrise this morning had happened rather quickly, but I’d attributed that to being extremely tired and unfocused. Now, however, I’d slept. I’d eaten. And there was nothing mistakable about what I had just witnessed. I stared. I was at a loss. I eventually got my mouth working enough to utter a very confused, “What.” “Hm?” Celestia gave me a sideways glance. I pointed out the window. Well, more appropriately, I stood up and promptly committed aggravated assault against the window with my finger. “The--the sun, and the moon...but gravity...and...it’s not...with planetary rotation--” Okay. A wordsmith, I was not. “It’s not supposed to do that!” The princess regarded me for a moment. “What is it supposed to do?” “The sun! The moon! They’re not--they don’t work like that! The planet rotates, the sun rises, crosses the sky, and sets. And the moon does its whole orbit thing and, y’know, sometimes it’s visible in the sky and sometimes it’s not,” I replied, attempting--albeit, admittedly, failing somewhat--to subdue my rising panic. “They don’t just bounce around like ping-pong balls! How does that happen?!” I was doing my very best to slow my breathing down to a rate at least somewhat visible to the naked eye while Princess Celestia assured the guards alerted by my outburst that I was not about to try to stab her in the neck. It took a minute or so, but the room returned to a relative sense of serenity. I sat back down, and Celestia offered me a bottle of water. I got about halfway through muttering my thanks when I noticed the bottle was just floating in the air. I stared at it. Then I stared at Celestia. Celestia stared at me. Then she stared at the bottle of water. “Well?” she prompted. I gingerly accepted the bottle with my thanks. “Magic is not common where you are from,” she observed. She was right, of course, and I nodded to confirm what she had already deduced. Magic? I couldn’t think of any more rational explanation for it. I was not just very far from home. I was so impossibly lost that the fundamental laws of reality were different from what I knew. “That would explain your confusion with arriving here,” Celestia continued. “Though it does raise further questions in regard to how this could have happened at all.” “So what you’re saying is not only could I be stuck here forever,” I began, twisting the cap off my bottle. “It’s the more likely outcome.” For the first time since we’d begun our conversation, I’d noticed her smile was gone. “I’m afraid so,” she answered. I took a very long drink. She had just delivered the gentlest gut punch I had ever received. ~*~*~*~*~*~ The hospital cafeteria was practically barren. Its total population consisted of myself, Pyra, and a single pony handling the register and cleaning. I had a feeling it normally would not have been open, but there were a lot of exceptions being made in my case lately. I’d finished my tray, which consisted of a granola bar, potato chips, and an assortment of mixed vegetables. I missed meat already. I expressed my lament by dropping my dead phone onto the table repeatedly. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. I felt a force stop my arm. I looked up to see Pyra eyeing me with concern. “Sorry,” I sighed. I laid the phone out on the table and started pushing it around with my fingers. “Just processing a lot right now.” Pyra watched me for a short while. “What is that, anyway?” She asked finally, pointing a hoof at my makeshift finger skateboard. I pushed it towards her. “It’s a cellphone. A smartphone, actually, if you want to get technical. But it’s,” I paused, trying to think of how to actually explain a smartphone to someone who had zero context for what one was. “It’s a lot of things, really. When it has power, at least. But the battery’s dead, so right now it’s basically just a brick.” The phone floated into the air as Pyra grabbed it with her telekinetic grip. “It’s shiny,” she noted, peering at the black, lifeless screen. I’d bought one of those thick, drop-proof cases for it, so its silver backing wasn’t especially visible beneath the green plastic, but Pyra seemed satisfied with her mirror image in the screen. That is, until said screen suddenly came to life, causing her to drop it back to the table with a loud THUD. On the screen, I could see its powered-off charging indicator. Just a large image of a battery, partway filled with a solid red bar, and matching bold text beneath reading “1%”. It blinked back off again moments after Pyra let go. I picked it up and stared at it. “What’d I do?” Pyra asked. I glanced over at her. I wasn’t positive, but I had the impression she was worried she’d damaged my phone somehow. “You charged it,” I replied, looking up at her. “Your magic charged my phone.” ~*~*~*~*~*~ Pyra bobbed along to the tinny music coming from my phone’s integrated speaker. I still had no signal, which didn’t really surprise me. But it was a connection to home all the same. I found myself wishing I’d taken more photos. I had practically no pictures on my phone at all save for ones I’d downloaded to use as backgrounds. The vast majority of the space on my phone had been reserved for music. Other than that, I had a couple of games. Solitaire. Mahjong. Y’know, the kind of stuff you use to kill time when you have nothing better to do. I was still getting used to the whole magic thing. I wasn’t really sure what to make of it. I could’ve spent ages trying to rationalize it within the scope of what I already knew, but I got the feeling that was a pointless endeavor. So, as far as I was concerned, these ponies and this world really did have genuine fairy tale magic, and that was all there was to it. And it got my phone working again, so as disconcerting as watching the ruling monarch play with celestial bodies was, I had to concede that it wasn’t necessarily bad. I was still musing on the potential implications of being in a world of magic when I felt something wrap around my waist. I turned my head downward to see Pyra hugging my midsection. I blinked. “Pyra, what are you doing?” Pyra looked up at me, but she didn’t let go. “What’s it look like? I’m giving you a hug.” “I gathered that much. Why?” “You looked like you could use one.” I huffed a burst of air through my nose. She wasn’t wrong. “Thanks,” I said, wrapping an arm around her to return the hug the best I could from my cafeteria seat. Her fur was surprisingly soft between my fingers. Plush, even. I hadn’t realized it previously, but I’d expected something shorter and more coarse, like the horses from back home. This was fluffy, more like a cat’s, though I wasn’t sure if that description even did it justice. It was almost impossibly soft. “Sorry. I’m not good with...this. With people,” I told her. “I don’t think I ever properly thanked you for saving my life. So, y’know, thank you. I wouldn’t be here to mope around if it wasn’t for you.” She smiled up at me. It wasn’t often someone smiling at me made me smile back. Without even thinking, I began petting and scritching her behind the ear. That was when she pulled away from me, grabbing my arm in her telekinesis and giving me an odd look. I gave her one in return. “Don’t do that,” she said. I freed my arm and looked at it briefly before setting it on my lap. “What’d I do?” Pyra rubbed her hoof behind her ear. “That. It was...well, please just don’t do it.” It was hard to tell with her fur, and I was still getting a handle on her body language, but I thought she might have been blushing. “Oh,” I replied, leaning away from her. I felt bad. I hadn’t meant to, but I’d still made her very uncomfortable. “Okay. Sorry.” I made a mental note to be more conscious about the way I touched. Pyra returned to her spot just around the table, and we sat quietly for a while, with only the music from my phone filling the air. I picked it up and opened the camera app, putting the little pony sitting across from me into frame. “Mind if I take a photo of you?” I asked, pulling Pyra from her own thoughts. She canted her head at me in an unspoken question. I explained, “If I ever find a way back home, I want to be sure I have a picture of the pony who saved my life.” I paused, lowering the phone to look her in the eyes. “And was such a good friend to an absolute mess of a stranger who probably didn’t deserve that kindness.” Pyra smiled at me again. “It can do that too?” She sat up, apparently intrigued. My heart lifted at the sight, and I nodded. “Oh, yeah.” I’d barely known her a day, but already her opinion was far more important to me than most. I wasn’t terribly sure why. She’d saved my life, sure, but that wasn’t it. Not entirely, at least. I just liked her. She stepped out of her seat and posed dramatically. That got a chuckle from me. I raised the phone up again and took a snapshot. I sighed in frustration at the blurry preview image and then took a few more shots. Much better. I waved Pyra over to come see the results. She trotted over and beamed at the images of herself. “I’m a rockstar!” She proclaimed, pointing at the screen enthusiastically. I grinned. Yeah. She certainly was. ~*~*~*~*~*~ I was discharged from the hospital the following morning. Celestia had requested I see her in Canterlot to follow up on finding me a way home, and though she stressed that it was not a decree, I was still not sure how you were supposed to say ‘no’ to a princess. Spending time with her was intimidating. I told her I’d think about it. Pyra and I made our way through town, and as before, most of the ponies seemed very anxious about my general presence. Several were at least willing to interact with me, or, more appropriately, with Pyra despite me being nearby, including a very excitable pink one whose idea of a standard greeting was, evidently, coating me in confetti. Still, I had to admit it was a warmer welcome than most I’d gotten that day. We stopped at a cafe for lunch and then wandered around town for a while before sitting down at a decorative fountain for a break. I had to admit, this place was beautiful. Not just Ponyville, but everything I could see. Even if I could find a way home, I thought it would be nice to come back and visit if I could. I told Pyra about Celestia’s invitation. “Well, if anypony is gonna have an idea of how to get you home, it’s those book-nosed unicorns in Canterlot,” she said. “I think I might know somepony in Fillydelphia who can help, too. Ooh! We can take a balloon there!” My eyebrow shot into the sky. “A balloon?” Pyra nodded and pointed past several buildings down the street. Sure enough, there was a small dock with several hot air balloons tied to it, including one that was inflated and ready to take off. I stood up. “You know what?” I said with a clap. “Let’s do it. If I’m gonna be stuck here, the least I can do is try to enjoy myself. Pyra grinned. “That’s the spirit!” We waltzed over to the balloon dock, and Pyra commissioned a flight to Fillydelphia. A pony behind the counter at the kiosk attached to the dock took a minute to reference a big map with a bunch of suns and clouds and such stuck to it, but it wasn’t long before we were getting into the balloon, ready to go. Once the pilot had time to get used to me, anyway. He reviewed some basic safety procedures, and then we all climbed in and took off. I was not prepared. The view from the basket was the best I’d had yet. I could see for miles. I could also see that Ponyville’s population stretched out a fair distance further than I’d initially realized. But not only that, there was a humongous apple orchard on one end of town that occupied acres and acres of land. I pulled out my binoculars and could see some of the ponies working the farm, as well as the ones wandering around Ponyville now that they weren’t hiding from me. It was a bustling little community, all things considered. I could also see the expanse of what I now knew to be the Everfree Forest. According to Pyra, it was a rarity in Equestria: a wholly untamed area where even the weather did whatever it wanted. I was already used to the weather doing basically whatever it wanted, of course, but I had to wonder if that had anything to do with why I emerged there, of all places. Pyra and I passed the time playing ‘I Spy’, as well as just conversing and watching the scenery pass by. “So you manufacture fireworks?” I asked, poking at a bottle rocket sticking out of one of her bags. “Manufacture, sell, and operate!” She replied proudly. “I can also reproduce a variety of pyrotechnic effects magically, but I can show you that later.” She pointed at the balloon above us and stuck her tongue out at me. I laughed. Yeah, Pyra. Setting our ride on fire would probably not have been the best idea in the world. Pyra and I stood up to get another view out of the basket, only for my coat to catch a gust of wind strong enough that I had to grab the edge of the basket to maintain my balance. Ahead of us, I saw a set of dark, angry storm clouds rolling across the edge of a mountain range not far away. “Hey, yeah,” I said, pointing at the weather system. “Do we need to be worried about that?” The pilot nodded. He had to raise his voice as the wind picked up even more. “It wasn’t on the schedule. Tryin’ to see if I can get us around or take us down, but that thing came outta nowhere. Gonna have to have a serious talk with the folks over in Cloudsdale about this one. Hold on. We’re in for a bumpy ride.” I watched the storm with a grim expression. I’d been on a plane in a storm before, and that was fine. But we were not in a plane. My coat whipped around as the wind picked up even further, and I exchanged glances with Pyra. The basket began to rock violently as the storm’s intensity grew, and I took hold of one of the ropes for safety. Lightning arced through the clouds and thunder roiled. The wind had become a gale, and even ducked back down into the basket, the storm assailed us for all it was worth. The rain came, and I held Pyra close to me beneath my coat to keep her safe and dry. Now, do you remember when I mentioned the sensation of thunder striking right beside you? How it rattles you to your bones and turns you to jello? Well, this time, it really was thunder. I also felt a jolt of electricity run through my body as the lightning struck the balloon. Every muscle in my body tensed up at once, ‘causing my legs to jerk and my grip on Pyra to tighten as, involuntarily, I ejected the both of us from the balloon. Unfortunately, I had no more motor control in the split second following the strike as during it. Pyra tumbled out of my coat and away from me. I shouted her name as I reached for her, and over the sound of the air rushing past my ears, I thought I heard her shout mine, but it was too late. She was already beyond my grasp. The last thing I saw was the flaming balloon coming down behind me as we tumbled to the woodland below.