--Chapter Three--
Stairway To Infinity
or
How We Know The Earth To Be Banana Shaped
"Where am I now?" Annoyance filled his voice as Lee stood, attempting to glean any details he could from his dark surroundings. Pitch black was the environment he found himself in. He couldn't even see the floor he stood on, if there was a floor at all. Without sight to rely on, he turned to sound, noticing the faint but growing tap of footsteps. They grew louder and louder until coming to a stop about 10 feet away, by his best guess.
"Hello Mr. Porter. Glad you could finally join us." The sound of clapped hands lead to a light flashing suddenly, forcing Lee to throw his hooves up to shield his eyes. After allowing time for his eyes to adjust, he lowered his forelegs, only to notice he still had hooves. Turning his head quickly to both sides, he verified that his front still matched his back.
"Alright. So I'm not home and I'm still a pegasus. That's unfortunate..." Sighing loudly, he looked around and found himself inside a small room. Several pictures occupied the walls. Pictures of humans. The people who occupied them all wore casual clothing and appeared to be enjoying various activities. One showed a small child holding a football. Another contained a large group of people enjoying barbecue at a picnic table. However, none of the people depicted in these pictures had a face. No eyes, mouth, nose or any trace of an emotion. They were simply blank.
"Only a temporary setback, I assure you. What is unfortunate is that my other guest has yet to arrive.". The voice came from everywhere and nowhere at once. In the center of the room stood a large wooden office desk. Several pieces of blank paper were scattered on its surface. In front of the desk sat two plastic chairs. A sphere of blue light, no bigger than a tennis ball, floated out from underneath the desk and quickly made it's way in front of Lee's face. "Please, have a seat."
"Am I to assume you are the reason I am here, instead of at my home?" Lee approached the desk and occupied one of the chairs. Upon sitting, one of the pieces of blank paper rose from the desk, floating off to the side. Upon it's surface, words began to appear, though there was no visible pen or quill from which the writing should be coming from. Lee turned his attention to the floating page and cleared his throat as he read aloud as the ball of light fluttered behind his ear. "Name: Lee Porter Age: 17 Gender: Male Realm of Origin: Hercules Universe.... Are these things supposed to mean something to me? Just where the hell am I? Why am I still a pegasus?" His voice again betrayed a note of annoyance as he asked questions in rapid-fire order.
The orb floated away from Lee and turned a light shade of violet. "Please, dear sir. It would be rude to discuss such things before all guests have been accounted for." A faint scream began to form somewhere in the room. "Speaking of which..." Just as the light had put more distance between itself and the agitated pegasus, a rift opened suddenly behind Lee and a still screaming Twilight Sparkle flew out of it, colliding with him and knocking him out of his chair.
The impact left Lee laying on the ground with his head stuck under the desk. Twilight was laying belly up over Lee's back, her head still swirling from the sudden collision. The orb switched back to it's blue color and quickly floated over the disoriented ponies. "Oh dear. Perhaps I should have warned you of that... Not to worry. I shall make it all better.." A small blink of light overtook the ponies and the upturned chair, causing them to disappear. They reappeared instantly in the proper place, sitting in front of the desk once more.
Twilight shook her head rather forcefully, bringing herself out of the impact-induced disorientation. She than began to take in her surroundings, noting the faceless pictures on the walls, the office desk and the odd floating light in front of them. After staring at the light for a few seconds, she turned to Lee and opened her mouth to speak, only for him to place a hoof over her mouth, stopping any questions she was about to undoubtedly ask.
"Whatever it is, I don't know. I'm as much in the dark here as you are. The only thing I know is we are here and this light seems to want to speak to us. Alright?" Gesturing his free hoof to the floating orb, Lee held his other hoof in it's place until Twilight gave a small nod. After removing his hoof from her face, Twilight took a deep breath and turned her attention back to the light. "All right. We're both here now" he said. "Are we waiting on anyone else or can we finally get some answers out of you?"
The orb flew back to a position behind the desk. "Indeed you can. All guests are finally present, so we may proceed. But before you ask your questions, let me get the basic ones out of the way. To start, I'd like to welcome you to The Threshold to Infinity. This is my realm and I am it's creator. I go by many names. Some would call me The Green Wraith. Others would call me The Adamant Guardian. Others still refer to me as Immortal Thunder Reaper. And above even them... there are those who call me... Tim."
The ponies sat staring at the minuscule orb, not saying a word. After a few seconds of awkward silence the light flashed away. In it's place sat a large brown office chair with it's back turned to Lee and Twilight. It swiveled forward, revealing a tall man wearing a white business suit and a red tie. His face matched those of the people in the photos. "Tiiiiiimmm.....?" He emphasized on the last name, allowing more time to lapse before leaning back in his chair and waving his hand towards the still floating paper, speaking out loud, "Young Twilight Sparkle is not of his world. She is forgiven, as she does not know. However, the human known as Lee has no excuse. Clearly has no sense of humor..." as the words were written down line for line.
Lee seemed to take some offence to Tim's last statement, letting out a small scowl and staring at the floor. Twilight took notice and let out a small giggle before turning to address their newly-changed host. "His world? You mean Earth, right? Do you know anything about it? Lee didn't tell me much and what he did tell me..." Her eyes wandered to the floating paper as it copied down her words as well. "Well, let's just say I'm having trouble believing it's exactly as he claims."
"And doubt him, you should. Humans can be a bit melodramatic at times... It's usually best to weigh their words carefully and take anything presented as 'fact' with a grain of salt. No, their world isn't that bad at all. It has many places of natural beauty, much like your own world. And the people there mirror your own people in many ways. Almost everyone has something that drives them. Some great dream of accomplishment or a vision of a changed future. Music, art, literature... Knowledge! Entire generations of humans dedicating their lives to the pursuit of study and discovery! In a way, I admire them. They still have what I have long lost... the deep drive to seek knowledge. To claim it as their own and become the masters of their realm. I still document the universe, but it is now done out of necessity rather than a sense of discovery."
"Excuse me? I don't mean to be rude but this place looks like a simple office to me... How can you document the universe from here?" Twilight stared intently at her host, one eyebrow arched as she stroked her chin with her hoof. A small frown adorned her lips.
He leaned forward once more. "Yes. Perhaps I should go a bit more into detail about that. But rather than sit here and bore you with all the specifics, I think I will simply show you..." Tim clapped his hands three times, causing each corner of the small office to let out a small but noticeable pop. Each wall then fell outward, kicking up dust as they hit the floor, causing a loud crash.
Once the dust had settled, Twilight and Lee stood from their seats, their faces caught in a state of pure astonishment. "So... many... books..." Twilight was practically drooling. She found herself inside what she could only describe as the biggest library she could ever imagine. What had once been a simple office now sat in the middle of a gigantic circular room. The walls of the library were covered in bookshelves and had several levels circling upwards. It seemed to spiral up into the heavens, with no end in sight. And there were several hallways leading into other areas of the library on each level. Moving back and forth on each level were many other people who looked exactly like Tim, removing or replacing books from their shelves, sitting down and reading books and even writing new books. Those who weren't writing or reading in some manner were peering out windows with large telescopes pointed towards a deep starry sky.
"Would you care for the tour?"