//------------------------------//
// Chapter 47: We Caught Up 
// Story: Through the Aurora 
// by Starscribe 
//------------------------------//

Summer stared up at Corey, at first so overcome with disbelief that she didn't even move. Yes, Brooks had made it clear that they would be sending someone in. But shouldn’t it have been some kind of scientist, or at least a doctor? "You weren't the one I expected," she said, probably sounding incredibly stupid. But she wasn't quite self-conscious enough to care.

He laughed amicably, glancing from her to Sharp, nodding politely to him, before waving one hand towards Emerald. "And I didn't expect to lose one of my staff to a magical storm in the sky. It's strange new experiences for all involved."

"Corey has volunteered himself for the initial test of the safety of contact between our species," the soldier said. "He'll be remaining with you until tonight, when he'll be moved to quarantine for study. If he starts bleeding or anything, use the phone to call for a doctor." He didn't wait for them to acknowledge what he'd said, slipping out the door and locking it behind him.

Leaving Corey standing only a few feet away. He removed his jacket, hanging it by one of the hooks. "I hope you don't mind if I make myself at home for a bit. They're really keeping this place nice and warm."

"Sure, but..." Summer stared, still having trouble so much as forming words for him. "Why are you... why'd you volunteer to come in here? Aren't you afraid of getting sick? The disease that ends humanity, or whatever Kate said about it?"

"The symptoms are comical," he answered, still mostly watching her companions. So far Sharp had remained in the kitchen, eyeing him warily. Emerald was less afraid, though without the necklace she hadn't understood a word they'd said so far. "I knew there wasn't a chance it was real. Besides, we were supposed to spend the winter together. You got vaporized on my watch, it seemed like... this was the least I could do."

Summer followed him to the couch, watching nervously. "I'm surprised they told you anything about this. The spooks waiting for us when we got here seemed more like 'make everything disappear' types."

"I found your group picture the day after you disappeared. The one with... your friends here in it. I guess they figured the cat wasn't going back into the bag." Corey shrugged, slumping down onto the couch and waving at Sharp again. "You don't have to keep staring. I'm not going to bite. Worry about Theo for that, just look at the hook on that damn beak. You could probably gut a fish with that thing."

I think that's exactly what it's for, she thought. "Sharp, this is Corey. We worked together at the observatory before I ended up in Equestria. He stayed over winter like I did."

Sharp approached cautiously, like a frightened animal in the presence of a predator. Summer could barely process that kind of timidity coming from him. This wasn't some soldier, it was just her old boss!

"You're a brave volunteer," Sharp eventually said. "That's... very helpful. You were willing to risk the terrible fate of becoming a hippogriff. Are all humans this brave, Summer, or just the ones who travel up north?"

She shoved him in response, glowering. "You're confusing him, Sharp. He knows I don't really think..." She trailed off, turning slightly towards him. "I actually have no idea what you know, Corey. Just having this conversation makes it more than I would've thought."

"I didn't know you had a new name." Corey kept his tone neutral, but he never looked away from her. Like he was searching for something. "I guess that goes with the whole 'sounding like a woman' thing. Is that just how all you... giant mythical birds sound?" He gestured vaguely at Sharp. "He sounds pretty chill."

I guess this is a test for what I can expect when I tell my family. “My species wasn't the only thing to get screwed up on the way across," she said. "No, I don't think it can be fixed either."

"Oh." Corey twitched once, shuddering. "Tell me again that the disease everyone's afraid of isn't real? I'd rather pass on whatever the hell that is."

"It's not real," she said flatly. "Someone else went to Equestria before I got there, someone who knew about the portal and..." She turned, her frown deepening. "I can't believe I never realized this before, Sharp. How did Kate know how to cross? What happened to me was an accident, but she just... waltzed right across. When we met the first time, she told me she'd made her own device. Probably something similar to the giant one at the top of the tower right now, but... smaller and less expensive. Did she say how she knew?"

Sharp shook his head. "Kate told me almost nothing about your world. That's why I was so eager to talk to you about it. She probably would've tried to not tell me anything, but the language made it impossible to hide. You'd have to ask her."

"People know about Equestria," she declared. "Not that... This isn't the conversation you came here to have." She tilted her head to one side. "You really came in because you felt guilty about losing me?"

"Someone had to volunteer. Signing up keeps me involved in all this. The other members of the winter crew are all gone now, shipped back home. But they didn't see, and I did. If you prefer, you could think that... I'm so jealous about your mark on history that I want to get in the book too. Now I'm the first human to ever contact an alien species." He stuck out his hand towards her. "Go on, shake my hand. Just... easy on those claws." He yanked off his glove, tossing it aside. "Just be sure about the no disease thing, because if you were lying up until now and I end up a woman because of this, I'm going to blame you."

"The magic is in the Doorway," Sharp said. "The worst that could happen to you is getting scratched. Though I'll admit, I am curious to see those limbs up close. Are they as... They're not hard and boney like claws at all? More... fleshy. This cold must be an absolute torment for you."

Summer reached out with a claw, moving slowly enough that she wouldn't scratch him by accident. In reality, that would probably be better for the test. But Corey had been one of her few friends on base back when she was up here. He deserved her caution. Under her claw, a human hand felt exceedingly strange. Soft and yielding, but also far warmer. Skin and flesh retained heat in a way that claws were designed never to lose it. It was a silly thing, she probably shouldn't have felt so embarrassed about it. But she flushed bright red anyway, ears flattening to her head. Would he notice that? Probably not, there was no reason Corey would know how to read her feelings.

"There we go." He pulled his hand back, straightening in the chair. "And now I'm the first person to shake hands with an... alien?" He turned towards Sharp. "I guess my friend here doesn't count. Would you mind helping us make it official? You've got to count as an alien." He stuck out his hand again, grinning wider.

Sharp took it, though he seemed more confused than anything. "I'm not sure what you're trying to do, but sure. Pleasure to meet you, Corey." They shook, though the gesture didn't make nearly as much sense for the hoof as it did for Corey's hand.

When he pulled back, Corey stared down at the limb, as though he was afraid it were going to catch fire or something. Of course nothing happened to it. "So while we wait for me to die, why don't you tell me what you've been up to, Theo. Must've been quite the adventure. Though I'm going to tell you up front: it's probably not going into the log either way. Just to... set your expectations. Even if I did have access to the base record, it would probably all get erased anyway. Might as well be honest with ourselves about that."

She told him. It was the same story she'd told before, though now she didn't even feel self-conscious when it came to sharing it. Everything but her time with Sharp was worth sharing. It probably took well over an hour, with Sharp there to add details or correct her when she didn't quite get things right. In a way it was a relief she'd needed for a good long time. Did it matter that there were probably a dozen different cameras recording them right now, and microphones listening in?

If anything, she felt better about that. All the stupid cameras and listening ears would just be there to confirm what she was saying. Her story was true, and they needed to understand that. If they started listening to Kate... God only knew what she could convince them to do.

Eventually she had gone through everything, or at least the summary of it. She sat back in her chair, feeling winded but relieved. This was the kind of story she wanted to tell, instead of feeling pressured into it.

Corey had listened closely through the whole thing, only interrupting to ask the occasional question. He'd generally left her to tell the story as she wanted, despite how absolutely insane it must have sounded. "I wouldn't believe a word of that," he said, as soon as she'd stopped talking. "I'm sure you wouldn't blame me for not believing you either... except that I can see it right in front of me. There's Sharp, and that little one pretending not to be here must be Emerald. Somehow that absolute insanity you just gave me is... the truth. You went sailing through another world. You dodged lightning in a storm, you crashed a zeppelin into a lake. You talked to a magical princess in a tree made of rocks." He ran one hand through his hair, eyes wide. "Well... it sounds fucking more interesting than keeping the server running all winter. I had to do that without you. I expect a full apology."

Summer burst out laughing, shaking violently in the couch. It was just like Corey—ignore the crazy thing, and ask her to say sorry because he had to do a stupid chore. "I'm sorry." She held up one claw towards him. "I'm not really sure these would do so well with keyboards, anyway. I'd cut the plastic to pieces. But on the bright side, you're still human. I spent a few days as a fish."

"I thought Seaquestria was quite pleasant," Sharp argued. At least he was relaxing around the human after a little exposure. Corey might be a great deal bigger than any of them, but he hadn't done anything even a little violent since his arrival. He didn't even make any sudden movements. "You didn't?"

"I thought it was fine," she said. "But I'm not sure Corey would've enjoyed it so much."

He didn't stay for much longer, though. They'd said he'd be around for just a few hours, and that was exactly what happened. Minutes later and the door opened again, with the same soldier from before apparently in the same hazmat gear. He moved in slowly, scanning the room for the three of them before he seemed to relax. At least he wasn't waving his handgun around.

"That's good for a first encounter," he said. "But your old friend needs to go into medical isolation."

Corey began gathering up his cold weather gear. "Talking to you about things that shouldn't exist was the easy part," he said ruefully. "Now they start taking samples and scans and... dunno. Medical stuff? They take scans, right?" He dressed quickly, waving towards Emerald again. She still hadn't been brave enough to get anywhere near him, hiding in the back the entire time. “Hopefully they let us talk again. Keep an eye on your screens just in case." He pulled up his hood, then followed the marine back out the door.

It slammed shut behind him, leaving Summer staring after him in confusion. Why would you tell me to look at the—she froze abruptly, eyes widening. You waited for the end to tell me that?

"Who was that?" Emerald asked, as Summer tinkered with the computer they'd given them to watch movies. Those base stickers on the computer weren't for nothing. They'd been careful enough to make sure they couldn't pick up any Wi-Fi from their prison, but that wasn't it. Each tablet had radio, so low power it was generally only used for observatory news and occasional chat back and forth between buildings.

Summer signed into the general IRC channel, and found it wasn't empty. There was one other user here: Corey.


Even in this bedroom there are probably cameras watching us. I can't make this obvious. She barely glanced at it, keeping it mostly covered by her pillows, and keeping her eyes on Emerald. "One of my human friends from before. We weren't close or anything, but we worked together for a long time. I was... really just impressed with how willing he was to come in here and be in danger to talk to me. He used to be my boss, and that's way above and beyond what I'd expect a boss to do."

"They're not as scary up close," Emerald said. "Sorry, I know I... I shouldn't say that. You aren't scary. It's not his fault he's all stretched and tall like that. I should be nicer."

Summer reached over, mussing her mane with a claw. "You're fine, Emerald. I don't blame you for being a little scared. Though I don't quite understand what's so scary about him when I've got claws and this beak and everything else. Shouldn't you be more afraid of me?"


"I was," Emerald said. "When you first walked into Sleighsburg... everypony was a little bit scared. But because everypony got so weird about it, I decided that you must be alright. When they all act like that, it's usually not because of something real, but because of one of their pretend-things. And I was right! You were nice, and the villagers were the ones who tried to hurt you."

She glanced briefly at the screen, just long enough to see that nothing on it had changed. That probably shouldn't surprise her that much, though. Corey would have tests and examinations to go through, just like he said. That would take time, and he wouldn't want to reveal they had a potential way of communicating that these big important military people had overlooked.

We probably won't need to do anything serious with it. We'll be free in a week, ready for this first contact to go the way it's supposed to. We'll be on the news, sharing the truth with the world. Then I can go back with Sharp and we can invite a princess into a meeting. They'd be talking about her in two worlds instead of one.

Summer just couldn't feel the excitement. She was missing something, something critically important. Something waiting in the shadows to bite her as soon as she remembered where it was hiding.


"I wish I'd talked to him," Emerald went on, oblivious to her considerations. "Do you think he would've let me touch that weird... naked arm skin?" She shivered all over, spreading her wings as she did so. "How do you even live in the cold?"


"With lots of clothes," Summer said. "Which you'd probably think about us in general, since we're always dressed."

Emerald rolled her eyes. "That isn’t as weird as not having fur. Most of the fancy ponies in Canterlot were wearing clothes too. Sharp said that sending a human in here meant that we were going to get out soon. Do you think that's true?"


She nodded. "That's what Brooks told us. We were going to be locked in quarantine for a week until they knew if we were safe to contact or not. Sending Corey in means their laboratory tests turned up good results. If they thought we were going to make them sick, they never would've sent someone in. So we're most of the way there. Four days or so from here and..." She sighed, knocking her knuckles against the wall. "Not sure where we'll go after this. I guess I'll be able to give you a tour of the observatory? But it's gonna be pretty short, because I'm not from this kind of cold either, and I'll freeze my wings off."

"What did you even do here? Before you went through and met us. Were you scared being surrounded by those royal guards all the time?"

She reached to the side, pulling the pony into a weak hug. "They're not royal guards, silly. And they weren't around before. In winter the observatory was a ghost-town. In summer there were lots of things to do, but... you'd be bored by what I did. Mostly I sat in the same chair all day fixing things on a screen. Sometimes I had to get up and fix things somewhere else. It wasn't part of the job description, but... somehow I always ended up as base IT."

She was losing her already. Emerald looked away, pawing at the blankets. "It sounds like we saved you," she declared. "Now you'll get to... fly around the world with Sharp and me. Isn't that more fun?"

"A hundred times," she agreed. "But let's focus on getting back through the Doorway. Flying all around the world looking for archeological sites and delivering messages to important people can come after." Along with anything I happen to do with Sharp in the meantime.

There wasn't anything else exciting that night, assuming it was even night time. And when they woke up, she finally had a message waiting.

Theo, I don't think they're going to let you go. The one who came through with you, the other bird—they're doing what she says, and I don't know why. I'll try to find out more in the next few days. Don't get too comfortable.