//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Wonders of Technology (Featuring a Dog!) // Story: Outside Reality // by The reluctant fan //------------------------------// Galen gave the six mares an odd look. “Uh… who’s Lyra, and what was she right about?” Twilight sighed. “Lyra Heartstrings is a local pony who is absolutely obsessed with humans. We all thought she was just making it up either for attention or because she was crazy, but it turns out she was right. Humans do exist.” Galen raised a brow in confusion. “Uhh, how would she even know about humans? I’m fairly certain we’ve never been to magic pony land before, so she shouldn’t even have a reason to begin to think we exist, let alone know the name of our species.” Applejack just shrugged. “Ah don’t know, just like ya don’t question Pinkie’s… well, anything, ya don’t question Lyra about humans. Well, unless ya want her jabberin to ya fer hours about em.” Galen frowned. “Well, she sounds like an annoyance, but she might have a clue as to how I can get home. So I might end up having to talk to her. I’ll just have to bring a ton of aspirin with me.” Twilight tilted her head. “What’s aspirin?” “Medication that dulls headaches.” “Ah. Then yes, bring as much of that as you can.” Galen rolls his head, cracking his neck. The sound elicited a wince from a couple of the mares. “Well, you all seem pretty curious about my house, and I got nothing better to do for now. Do you wanna have a look around?” Rainbow did a loop-de-loop in the air. “Heck yeah! You must have all sorts of awesome stuff in your house! Nothing as awesome as me of course, but still cool!” Rarity’s eyes gleamed. “Oh you simply must show me all of your decorations, ooh, and your wardrobe! I’m simply dying to see what human fashion is like!” Pinkie jumped up and down! “I want to see more of what your weird projector can show us! Ooh, ooh! And your outside bathtub, and your big bouncy trampoline, and your baking supplies and everything else!” Applejack looked into the kitchen. “Ah’m a mite curious bout what else ya got in yer kitchen. Besides the *shiver* meat ah mean.” Twilight looked around In wonder. “I’m just so curious about your, well, everything! I simply must learn all about it! Ooh, speaking of, where are your books?!” Fluttershy looked around. “I’m wondering if you have any pets. I’d love to meet a new animal friend!” Galen widened his eyes in alarm. “Oh shit Sam!” The former human took off across the house, the six mares trailing behind him confused. He stopped at a closed door at the end of a hallway. “Damn it, I forgot I’m tiny now. Can one of you with wings open the door for me?” Rainbow quirked an eyebrow. “Why don’t you just use your magic? Your a unicorn and all.” Galen gave a stare that said ‘are you serious?’ “I’ve been a unicorn for two hours. I don’t know shit about how to use magic.” The cyan pegasus chuckled awkwardly. “Oh, hehe, right.” Rainbow flew up to the knob and opened the door. As it creaked open, a small figure on a large pillow lifted it’s head. It spring up and backed into a corner in alarm. “Yip yip yip!” Galen frowned and walked forward slowly. “Hey, come on Sam it’s me, Galen. I know I look different now, but it’s still me.” The tiny dog kept barking as he got closer, trying to shrink further into the corner. Once he was close enough, he tried reaching out a hoof. The canine snapped at the appendage making him recoil away before trying again. Eventually, Galen managed to put his hoof on the dog’s head and began petting him. Sam stopped barking and sniffed him curiously before jumping up and licking his face. “Agh! Alright, alright I get it, your glad it’s me! You can stop licking me now! Ugh, I think you got the inside of my mouth again.” The mares watched the scene with smiles, Fluttershy especially squealing in delight. “Oh, he’s so adorable! I just want to hug him and never let go!” Galen chuckled. “Yeah, he’s cute alright, until he starts barking and won’t shut up. Don’t take it personally if he’s still afraid of you, he’s really shy around strangers. Fluttershy crept up to Sam carefully and leaned down to his eyes. “Hello little one. Don’t be afraid, I’m a friend.” Sam sniffed her hoof experimentally, and jumped up and licked her face. “Oh! Well hello to you too! Oh you’re simply the cutest!” Galen watched as Fluttershy scooped Sam up in her hooves before turning to others. “She has that thing where all animals love her doesn’t she?” The five mares nodded their heads. “Figures. Well, that makes things easier. Sam is less shy if he has people-or ponies he likes around him.” Fluttershy flew over to the others, Sam still in her hooves. “What breed is he? I can’t say I recognize it.” “Chiweenie dog. A mixed breed between a Chihuahua and a dachshund. He loves to bark, but apart from that he’s a great dog.” Galen looked up and groaned. “Hey, uh, Rainbow Dash, can you grab the dog food and pour a cup into his bowl? It’s in the cupboard up there.” Rainbow grabbed a cup of the dog food and wrinkled her nose. “Ew, this stuff smells awful!” “Yeah, dog food tends to smell gross. Just put it in his bowl there, he’ll eat it in like two minutes.” Twilight was inspecting the machines that were up against the wall of the room. “Hey Galen, what are these things?” “Oh, you mean the washer and dryer? They… well, wash and dry clothing, bedsheets, and occasionally shoes and belts.” Twilight started in fascination at the machines, trying to get a look at every part of them she could. Pinkie had somehow gotten onto the counter and was looking in one of the cupboards. “Ooh, candy!” She pulled out an orange bag and stuffed her hoof in. “DON’T EAT THOSE!!!” Pinkie was startled by the shout and dropped the bag. Galen sighed in relief. “Sorry, just… leave those alone. They’re Tide pods. They go in the washer and dissolve into soap. They’re also toxic. If you ate one of them you could die.” Pinkie looked at the spilled bag in shock. “Uhh… oopsie?” She quickly picked up the spilled pods and put them back. Applejack looked at the bag warily. “Why would ya use somethin so dangerous to clean clothing?” “Well, it’s only dangerous if you eat it, and the bag CLEARLY says not to eat them. Like, its labeled all over. Not only that, but the ingredients that are toxic are the same ones that increase the effectiveness of the soap.” Twilight floated one of the pods down and examined it. “How does it dissolve in the washer?” “Water goes into the washer when it’s turned on. See the clear material that’s holding the soap in? That’s what dissolves in the water. The rest of the soap gets mixed in with the water and clothing and cleans it. Then the water is drained out and you put the clothing in the dryer.” “Fascinating! If ponies had these it would make the process of cleaning their clothing and beds so much easier!” “Heh, well I’m sorry to say I don’t have a clue as to how these things work. I know how to operate one, but I don’t know the specifics. That’s gonna be true for most if not all of the stuff in my house.” Twilight looked a little downcast at that. “Well, would you at least be willing to part with some of it for research?” “As long as I get paid to donate it, sure. There’s a ton of junk I don’t use. I’m pretty sure we have a couple spare 3DS’ around here somewhere.” Twilight chuckled. “You might just have to start explaining what things are as you mention them. What’s a 3DS?” “A hand—or I guess hoof held video game console. I’m assuming you don’t know what video games are either?” “Actually I do. There’s an arcade right here in Ponyville. The way our video games work is there’s a magic crystal that shows a moving image, and there are runes that make the buttons manipulate the image. I’m assuming yours work differently?” “…very. Again, has a lot to do with technology. I’ll have to show you a video on the progression of human tech soon. Also, did you say that this town is called ‘Ponyville’?” “Uh… yeah? Why?” Galen promptly burst into laughter. The six mares cast each other confused glances. “Hey, what’s so funny about the name huh?” “Hahaha! Sorry… it’s just that, *snrk* you named a town after the name of your species? That’s like naming a city ‘humanopia or something! It’s utterly ridiculous!” “Why is that so weird? A lot of towns and cities are named after pony words. Fillydelphia, Manehatten, Los Pegasus to name just a few.” Galen stopped laughing, stared for a minute and then buried his face in his hooves. “Oh good god… those are just pony puns on cities in my world! Philadelphia, Manhattan, Los Angeles. Let me guess, your capital is a pun on Washington D.C.” “No, our capital is called Canterlot. You don’t have a city named like that do you?” “Oh lord, it’s a play on Camelot, that’s even worse somehow.” “Seriously? Do you have a version of Cloudsdale too?” “… I don’t think so actually. At least not in my country. Good to know there are at least SOME names that aren’t pony versions of cities I know.” “I will admit, it is odd that so many of our settlements have similar names.” “I’m just starting to think this is some weird alternate dimension I’ve ended up in. No way in hell am I on a planet where not only are physics different, but there are cities with eerily similar names to the ones I know.” Galen sighed and walked out of the room. “You all are interested about my human tech right? I might not be able to explain it myself. But I know a video that can help you get a basic grasp on just what my stuff can do. I will warn you though, it uses a lot of terms you won’t understand. Just… try to soak up what you can.” Rainbow groaned. “It isn’t gonna be a boring ‘educational’ thing is it?” “That’s exactly what it is. Regardless, I’m sure even you’ll find something interesting about it.” Galen lead the six mares into the living room and picked up the Roku stick. The girls sat down on the couch, although they were still a little off put on how it was made of leather. Sam jumped up and curled up next to Fluttershy. Galen spoke into the remote. “Search: Past And Present Technology Then And Now.” Galen clicked the first video that came up and sat back. “This is gonna talk about the progression of digital tech throughout history. You should be able to at least understand how some of it works, even if you won’t know the specifics.” The video started up and a man began talking. The ponies settled in and listened with rapt attention. The video went through all the different parts of digital tech. Twilight was absolutely fascinated by the video, and actually started drooling when digital reading was brought up. When she found out that there was a device that could store up to 2,000 books in it, she actually fainted. Galen looked on in concern until Rarity pulled out some smelling salts and woke her up. Rainbow was trying to decide whether she was interested or bored. On one hoof, the things the video was talking about were super cool. On the other, she didn’t understand anything that was being said. All she could get was that this digital stuff was beyond anything Pony kind had even thought of. The rest of the mares were both fascinated and confused. The man never seemed to explain what a ‘byte’ or a ‘hertz’ was. All Galen said on the matter was that a byte was a way of quantifying storage and a hertz was a way of showing how fast a device could process information. As the video ended, the mares, mostly Twilight, started chattering excitedly. “That’s incredible! A device you can hold in your hoof that can solve math equations, hyper advanced video devices, and—EEEEEEEEEE! A device that can store th-thousands of books! I NEED one of those!” Rainbow flew around the room. “I don’t understand most of what they said, but this ‘digital’ stuff sounds awesome!” Applejack gave a smirk. “It WAS mighty impressive.” Rarity gave a chuckle. “While this is usually Twilight’s sort of thing, even I must admit that the possibility for technology like this to make its way into Equestria sounds very exiting.” “Well, depending on how long I stay here, that might be able to happen. Now, I think that’s enough education for one day. How about I introduce you girls to my Xbox?” Pinkie pooped up next to the stallion. “What’s an ‘Xbox’? Is it a box made of X’s?” “…No. it’s a video game console. It’s up in my room. I’ll just go and grab a couple controllers and…SHIT!!!” The girls jumped at the sudden outburst. “Um… what’s wrong darling?” “I just realized! How am I gonna play games without hands! That’s it, my life is over! No video games! I’m in hell!” Applejack scoffed. “An ah thought RARITY was dramatic. It’s not the end of the world sugarcube. Ah’m sure ya can find another way ta pass time.” “You don’t understand! Playing video games is my favorite thing to do! Gasp! Wait, Twilight, you can do magic right?” “Um, yeah. It’s my special talent actually.” “Great! Is transformation within the realm of possibility for you?” Twilight gave a nervous smile. “I… think I know what you’re trying to say. While it might be possible to turn you back into a human, transformation spells are incredibly complex, and unless I have an advanced understanding of the anatomy of a creature I’m transforming the target into, it can be very dangerous.” Galen raced upstairs and came back down with a large book in his mouth. He dropped it at Twilight’s hooves. “Here. A book on human anatomy. Let me know what I need to do to help, but I NEED to have hands again.” Twilight opened the book and frowned. “Um… Galen? I can’t understand any of this. I… think we have different written languages.” Galen’s eye twitched a little. “Are you fucking serious? Fine. FINE. I guess we’ll need to translate, which shouldn’t be too hard since we speak the same language. (For some reason). Sorry for going a little crazy, but I REALLY want to be able to play video games.” Twilight gave a sheepish smile. “No… it’s alright. It’s the least I can do to not only pay you back for bringing you here, but also for everything you’ve shown me and the girls.” Twilight looked outside. “Wow, it’s getting kind of late. I think me and the girls should start heading home. Thank you again for showing us around your house!” “Hey, I gotta get friendly with my new neighbors right? I don’t wanna be known as the local grumpy hermit.” Twilight gave a laugh. “I’m glad we could get along so well. We’ll see you tomorrow Galen. I’ll try to start translating this tonight.” “Yeah… I’ll help out with that tomorrow. See ya.” The six mares exited the house, Fluttershy found it hard to let go of Sam, but eventually she left too. Galen shut the window with a sigh. “Well, I guess this is my life now. I think I’m gonna go cry in a corner about my lack of gaming ability.” As he was going back upstairs, a thought crossed his mind. “I really should try to let my family know just what kind of situation I’m in. Maybe a FaceTime would work.” With a new plan in mind, the unicorn went upstairs to contact his Mother once again.