//------------------------------// // On our left we have... // Story: Out of my Element // by TheLostwriter //------------------------------// Out of My Element Chapter 2: And on our left we have…             Two days after I had woken up, I was given a clean bill of health and was allowed to leave the clinic. I hadn’t had a nightmare since before I woke up, but the black oily flame was present; hiding in the background of all my dreams. The nurse came in as I was packing and told me that Twilight Sparkle would meet me in the lobby shortly and guide me through the town. It was when she turned to leave that I realized something that surprisingly hadn’t struck me before, probably because I had just now accepted that I was stuck this way, but none of my clothes would fit and I would be nude. Just like everyone else, I thought. I felt myself blush; the heat on my face came just from the concept of walking around nude. Followed by slight anger at the fact that my mind was holding on to old ideas that were no longer important.   Soon I had jury rigged the two duffel bags into a saddlebag set up, and my leather jacket was used as a saddle blanket while I waited for my guide to arrive. Eventually I saw the purple unicorn walk into the clinic along with an orange pony with a long blond mane and a cowboy hat. I nodded a hello to the two of them.         Twilight bowed her head slightly as she introduced us, pointing to the owner of the names as she spoke, “Steel, Applejack, Applejack, Steel.”          The orange one smiled and said “Howdy,” offering a hoof up as if to greet me with a handshake.          I returned the gesture and it did turn out to be a hoof shake. I smiled a little at the awkwardness and said “So I understand I have your brother too thank about finding me?”          “Yeah, he was the one that found you, what the hay were you doing' out there in that strange carriage?”          I glanced at Twilight and asked in a whisper, “She doesn’t know?”          The purple pony shook her head and replied in the same tone “No only the Princesses, Nurse Redheart, the doctor and I.”           “Is it a secret, or can I tell peop… I mean ponies?” I was still having trouble switching to this new vernacular.           “It’s up to you,” she replied.         I relaxed a little the unrealized tension in my shoulders flowed out of my body and I looked over at the orange pony.  She looked very confused but she was patiently waiting while I talked to Twilight. I sighed and then said, “I’ll explain later but I have a feeling, that I could be telling this story several times, can you wait, I would like to tell as many ponies as I can in one go.”          “Aww, I guess,” she said kicking at the dust on the ground, I could hear the disappointment in her voice.           The two ponies lead me through town showing me the market and the several other notable locations. One was a cake shop, but looked more like a party shop. Another was a boutique, and I got the feeling from their description of the owner that if I needed anything tailored I should take it there. Twilight pointed down one road out of town to the, glanced at the sun. West, I thought.  “That road goes towards the Everfree Forest; that’s where you appeared,” she continued to point as she spoke.         “And that road,” said Applejack as she motioned slightly to the south, “Heads out to Sweet Apple Acres, my farm, your stagecoach is in one of the old barns out there.”          I smiled when I realized she was talking about the station wagon and said, “Thank you.”          “And,” she continued, “That’s where you’ll be staying until you can find yourself a place.”          “Thank you, I feel a little better now that I don’t have to worry about survival.” "Ain't nothin’ I wouldn’t do for a lost pony out of their element. I’ve been there.”         These two were very friendly, and I had decided that I had misread the purple one earlier in the week. They were just extremely friendly and it helped me relax. I was on an endorphin high everything was brighter and everyone seemed to be talking faster. The conversations continued and eventually they lead me to a large tree that was the library, and Twilight's house.       The two lead me inside and as soon as I entered there was a loud shout. I took a step back; fight or flight kicking in, and I looked around slightly panicked. The room was full of ponies. Well full is a little excessive...maybe ten. I guess my face was stuck in an odd expression because half of the ponies started laughing. One pony, she was cotton candy pink with a puffy mane, popped out of seemingly nowhere and started talking a mile a minute, “Hi I’m Pinkie Pie, What’s your, wait they told me your name was Steel. Hi Steel, I know I hadn’t met you so I had to throw you a party but I thought you might be sick so I decided on a small party, so what do you think.” I smiled cautiously at the high strung pony. “Thanks I guess.”               “Pinkie Pie,” said Applejack seeing my unease, “Why don’t you come with me, we can set up the party games for the Crusaders.” “And switch to decaf,” I muttered.          “Oh that would be fun,” she said as she about faced and bounced off towards a group of little ponies. She stopped and had a full body spasm and looked back at Twilight and said “There is going to be a doozy here in a few hours,” before returning to skip behind Applejack.          I looked at Twilight with a raised eyebrow.          “Sorry about Pinkie Pie, she is, uh,” the purple unicorn rolled her eyes trying to find the correct descriptor for her friend.  “Well she’s like that all the time. Anyways, follow me I will introduce you to everyone,” she finished her statement with a smile.          “What’s with the doozy prediction?”         "She probably can sense that you’re going to tell us where you came from later tonight.”   I stopped for a second, shook my head clear and began to follow her around the library.  Now that the pink ball of energy was out from in front of my face; I was able to take in the rest of the room.  There was one large red pony named Big Macintosh, Applejack’s older brother and the one that rescued me. He was only a hand or so taller than myself, and his reply to my thank you was, “Tweren’t nothin’.”          Next were the three Cutie Mark Crusaders; they had been with Big Mac when I crashed. The three found it very interesting that I was a “blank flank”- their words. I did find it uncomfortable that I had so many individuals glancing at my bare backside. However, I did my best to keep myself relaxed, trying not to think about it.           Sitting off in a corner was a yellow pegasus with long flowing pink mane and tail; she was talking with a bright white unicorn with a purple styled mane.         “Those two are Rarity and Fluttershy,” said Twilight “and that” she said pointing up at a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail, “is Rainbow Dash.”                 “Um, Twilight,” I glanced at the source of the voice it was a purple and green bipedal reptile holding a scroll and pulling at Twilight’s mane.         “Oh yeah, this is Spike, he’s a baby dragon,” she shifted her gaze down to the dragon, “What is it?”         “The Princess sent this letter to you,” he held up the scroll.         Twilight’s horn began to glow and a similar light enveloped the scroll and as it unrolled.         "Whoa,” I muttered and I could feel my jaw hanging open.         “Never seen magic before? Twilight's the best there is,” said the dragon. “Spike quit it, I have told you not to brag for me,” Twilight lectured the little dragon while she read the letter, using the parchment to hide her embarrassment.         I looked at the little dragon and said “I guess I’ll take your word for it Little Zilla.”         “What” he began to ask but was interrupted by Twilight.         “Here send this back,” she said handing a scroll back to the dragon. He quickly belched flame, and the scroll was engulfed in fire and smoke. Soon it disappeared and the flame and smoke flew out the window.           “That’s new,” I muttered as I watched the flame disappear into the sky.         “Well anyway let’s go introduce you to Rarity and Fluttershy; you can also put your bags down over here,” said Twilight ignoring my murmurer and gesturing towards the corner.                     I took the bags off and set them on the ground in the corner, then rejoined Twilight with the other two ponies.  I said hello as I entered the group.         “Hi” said the pegasus barely audible; she then began to slowly drift away.         The white unicorn glanced at me “Darling what is that on your back.”         I glanced back my leather jacket which was still draped across my haunches. “It’s a jacket, but it doesn’t fit right anymore.”         “Why do you have that old thing then, look how worn out it is.”                  “It means alot to me; I can’t get rid of it,” her voice patterns were already starting to get on my nerves. After two sentences I wanted her to go away. Not because of what she had said, but the stresses she put on words.         “Don’t worry about that I will give it a look and see if I can get it to fit again,” she said with a smile as she lifted the coat off my back with magic. I shifted almost instinctually to grab the coat back from her. There were too many memories associated with it to allow anyone to take it away without at least asking to see it. The moments after the tug of war felt tense but were quickly broken by a seemingly oblivious Twilight as she called out “Rainbow Dash, get over here.”                     I followed Twilights gaze to the cyan Pegasus. She stopped her mid-air antics and flew over to the corner and said, “Hey,” in a raspy voice.         I nodded in response to her greeting, then there was an awkward silence, I had nothing to say to these ponies and I could tell they didn’t have much to say to me.         I laughed and scratched the back of my head, an odd maneuver with my new body. “Well I know I’m supposed to be the guest of honor here but to be honest I don’t know enough about this place to have a true conversation with any of you.” I looked at the ground and added, “I’m sorry.”         The little yellow pegasus floated over to me as I looked at the ground, and tapped me on the shoulder. I looked up and she said slightly louder than her greeting, “Don’t worry we know you’re not from around here can you tell us about where you come from?”             “Actually Fluttershy, why don’t we have Steel wait until later, Celestia wanted to ask him the same questions and will be coming over to see him,” said Twilight a little apprehensively.         “The Princess! Here? I’m not dressed for a meeting with royalty,” a panicked Rarity began to wine.           “Rarity they wanted to keep this visit informal and quiet, only a few people are to know,” Twilight whispered at the other unicorn.         “They, you don’t mean both of them, Luna’s coming to! Oh dear, oh my, oh dear,” the purple haired unicorn began to pace as she panicked.         “Wait, they're coming here. Your royalty is coming here, to talk to me? Why, and how would you know?” my eyes grew a little wider as I asked.         “Oh I guess I forgot to mention, I’m Princess Celestia’s personal student,” said an elated Twilight. It was like just the statement made her endorphins run and gave her more energy.          “Oh, Twilight,” started the yellow pegasus that was now on the ground, her words almost a whisper, “When will they get here?”         “About an hour,” replied the purple unicorn.         “An hour,” cried Rarity, “I can put together an ensemble in an hour,” she ran out of the library as soon as the words left her lips.         I was at a loss for words; if not for where I found myself I would have laughed at the unicorn’s behavior.           A half hour later, Applejack asked Big Macintosh if he would take the Crusaders home, and as they left Rarity returned wearing an odd looking dress. Well any dress for a pony was odd looking in my book but when in Rome.   Soon there was a knock at the door and Twilight answered it, I was too far away to see who was there or hear the conversation but her body language was excited. In walked two ponies one dark blue about my height but slimmer and graceful. The second was a purer white than even Rarity’s coat and by far larger than even Big Macintosh, but just as slim and graceful as the first. Both had unicorn horns and Pegasus wings along with flowing wispy manes. From what I had been told and everyone’s reactions I could tell these two where the princesses. They also brought with them a chest that had an eight digit combination lock and some familiar writing on the top. The chest was surrounded by an aura that matched the light given off by Celestia's horn.         Twilight eyed the chest and then asked “Is that from the museum, isn’t that Star Swirl the Bearded’s chest?”                     The tall white one that matched Twilight's description of Celestia replied, “Yes Twilight Sparkle, this is his chest, and if my guess is right he,” she said pointing at me, “can open it.”         “I’m sorry for asking princes but why is that?” Twilight continued with asking questions.                  “Twilight sparkle,” this time it was Luna talking her voice taking on an almost disappointed tone, “You should, know this after all you dressed as him on Nightmare Night.”         Twilight thought for a bit and then listed off several things, “No one knows where exactly  he came from, he helped found Equestria a millennia and a half ago, he supposedly lived nearly three if not four times the lifespan of a normal pony, and he was constantly searching for his friend that he lost in” she paused, looked at the Princesses then at me, and ended her statement like a question, “an experiment?”             Celestia nodded and added on to Twilight's list by saying, “There are a few more things to add that were left out of the history books. He had an additional nickname while he was alive, Star Swirl the Immortal. He lived several centuries beyond what was recorded and as he aged he became crazed. He started talking about an oncoming darkness and that he was the cause of it all, and then he became truly mad and disappeared. Nopony knows where he died and no pony has ever found his grave.” The Princess sighed with a stare that seemed to gaze into nothing.         I had seen this face on my grandfather several times as he told stories of his youth. It’s kind of funny how facial expressions translate so easily here, I thought to myself. I then thought about what I had just learned about this pony from the past, could this Star Swirl the Bearded individual be Jack in this world, but why would he have appeared so long ago. She pulled herself back as soon as she noticed me looking at her face, “Well, here is Star Swirl’s chest he left it with us so if you showed up we could give it to you.” She brought the chest forward and set it on the ground in front of me, the aura dissipated and I stepped up to examine it.   I looked at the box, the eight dials were set up date format but the text wasn’t in English, it wasn’t even romanized but I had seen it before.  It looked almost Elvish, it was Elvish, Tolkien Elvish, and the Fellowship of the ring came out on Jacks birthday. I rolled the numbers until they read 12-19-1988, nothing happened so I adjusted the year to 2001. When the last number clicked the script written on the box began to glow. What was the work that Gandalf said outside Moria, Elvish for friend? Mellon, that was it, wasn’t it, I smiled at my thoughts and said “Mellon,” out loud. When I spoke the word I could hear the lock release inside and the lid swung open.  Inside was a scroll surrounded by purple velvet cloth, “Twilight can you open the scroll with your magic? I don’t want it to fall apart when I touch it.”                                 She nodded and lifted the scroll with her magic it read:           Hey Steel This is Jack or Star Swirl the Bearded as I’m known now. As I’m writing this it’s been about three hundred and thirty years since I last saw you. It took me twenty years to rebuild the device after I looked at the data and found out that our new dimension was traveling at an odd angle to the old one. I could jump into this one before you arrived, but it appears the time variance was a lot greater than I thought. I brought quite a bit of tech with me and I have a ‘secret’ lab, it’s hidden a short distance away from the castle. I’m leavening the chest with the Princesses because they appear to be truly immortal and I have grown to trust them. I’m sorry I can’t get us home from here, but this world seems to be more carefree than the old. As for my age from what my math has shown me, our presence disrupts the flow of time in this dimension. Ponies around us will age slower and there life will be prolonged to an extent, however we age even slower. I personally haven’t aged more than ten years in the past hundred. I feel that I will tire of this world eventually but I’m having fun with magic, I showed up as a unicorn, cool huh. I also got to play Ben Franklin in forming a new country, so life’s good.   There is so much I want to tell you but I don’t have room anyway I will leave some more notes in my lab. Find it and everything there is yours. Oh yes I'm forgetting, it hasn't been that long ago for you. Our little business endeavor was quite successful when I left OCSS had just finished construction of a lunar station. That might make you smile. Best of luck. Jack Serasen AKA Star Swirl the Bearded P.S. I left a guide in the box.             He was right it did make me smile. I looked in the box and found a USB jump drive and clumsily held it up examining it between my two hooves. I sighed, “Jack you fool,” then looking at the two Princesses I said “You’re right.”             I sat there for a while looking at the floor in silence before, Applejack said “All right I’m missin’ somethin’, can somepony explain what the hay is going’ on to me.” I sighed and said “I’m not from this world, and neither was Star Swirl the Bearded also known as Jack Serasen, my adopted brother.”             “So you’re aliens?” asked Rainbow Dash.              “Of a sort, Jack and I build a device that could let you jump reality’s, in my home reality I’m not a pony I’m a, never mind you wouldn’t have a frame of reference. I might have a picture on my computer. Anyway I have no way home, and my only friend from that world died centuries ago, and if his numbers hold true for me I have around five or six hundred years left in me, on the short side.”             This comment caught everyone off guard, “Six hundred years, how?” asked Luna.             “According to his letter our existence in your universe messes with time and now I'm cursed to age about one year for every ten," I frowned as I spoke, deep in thought. I shook myself from my mind and then continued to speak, "anyway he gave me this jump drive for my computer it’s supposed to help me find his hidden lab.” I looked around the room at all of the ponies and read the confusion in all of their faces, except for Celestia’s.  “Okay let me start up my computer and I will start at the beginning.”