//------------------------------// // Ch. 2: Getting Your Bearings // Story: Extraria: And Then I Was to Serve // by Thinking Engine //------------------------------// Extraria: And Then I Was to Serve Chapter 2: Getting Your Bearings Pre-reader: Zeela ---- "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Merlot Mirage, savant and owner of this facility." the one speaking has a burgundy coat and reddish purple mane. His eyes are a slightly dark violet, and he has a pencil mustache. Out of everyone in the room, he is wearing the most clothes by far; a dark beige vest with matching pants that end just above his hocks. He's also wearing a brown collared cape and a scarlet scarf. "You've already met my son, Righty Tighty, the manager of this workshop." he continues. Righty nods in acknowledgment "And this is Doctor Ingot Cast. He is, as you've probably guessed, not an authority on biology, but a metallurgist sent from the University of Marelin to aid us on our current project." "Eet is a pleasure..." he nods at me as he smiles cautiously. Unlike the other two, the doctor isn't wearing anything except for a pair of glasses in front of steel gray eyes. Compared to the other two he seems somewhat slender, with a white coat and brown mane. Also, there's a horn sticking out of his forehead. "A unicorn..." I mutter. This is too surreal. It feels like the wheels in my brain are spinning red hot to process everything that's going on around me. I can practically feel every neuron pulsing, frantically assessing and relaying information to its neighbors. My observation seems to surprise everyone in the room, however, and Doctor Cast looks very interested in finding out more. “Zat is correct! You know of ponies? Where are you from? Und what exactly are you?” “You're not real. You can't be. I…I was in the s-shower and had some kind of stroke or something, and now I’m hallucinating.” Righty frowns. “You're NOT hallucinating.” he looks at the cup I'm still holding “Why don't you try some of that coffee?” he suggests. I look at the dark steaming liquid for a second before I take a sip. And scald myself on burning hot coffee. “Ow!” “It's hot, right? But it tastes of coffee, like you would expect? Now look at your forelimbs. How do they feel?” “Sore...” I look at the bandages. It doesn't really feel like a bad injury. “Right. Now look at me. Do I look any different from before?” He still has that serious look. “No?” “What did that coffee taste like, and how does your wrists feel?” “Like hot coffee. Still sore. What's going on?” “Your observations are all consistent, and you're making them because you're actually here, seeing real things, drinking real coffee.” It makes sense, I suppose, but something bothers me. “Your voice. Weren't you wheezing and coughing a lot earlier?” I narrow my eyes at him, but he merely throws an unconcerned look over to the desk. Then I see the small inhaler-shaped device on top of it. “My Salbutamol inhaler. I have occupational asthma, resulting from prolonged exposure to rosin fumes from the flux we use when we solder copper pipes here.” Alright then. I take a deep breath and turn the cup between my hands as I lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees. I have no idea what to think anymore. The spinning wheels have frozen in place, and the neuronic cacophony has died down to quiet whispers. “Look, you're obviously confused by all this, and to be honest, we're not sure what happened.” Righty looks to his father, who simply nods for him to continue “Hm...assume for now that what you're experiencing is real. If you have any questions you'd like to ask, we'll answer them as best as we're able to. Let you get your bearings, you know. Then, if you're up to it, we'd like to ask you a few of our own. Sounds fair?” I take a moment to gather my thoughts. What Righty is saying is true. This will probably be easier if I just accept this as reality for now, and getting a few answers would help, I think. Aside for my initial treatment, they haven't given me any reason to assume they have any ill intent, and they obviously didn't intend for me to be here in the first place. I have no idea what they plan to do with me once we're done here, but for now they seem as interested as I am in figuring out what's going on. “Sounds good to me.” I reply quietly, leaning back on the couch. I feel awkward sitting in it. It's much too low to be comfortable for a human, and the soft velour upholstery feels like it's stuffed with bricks. I drape one of the towel-sized blankets over my shoulders as I think about what I should ask them. “First, I’d like to know where I am.” Merlot, Righty, And Doctor Cast share a look before Merlot decides to answer the question. “You are currently in our workshop on the outskirts of Trottingham, an old city in the nation of Equestria.” “Excuse me?” I honestly don't know what kind of answer I was expecting. I gape at Merlot like an imbecile trying to comprehend what was just said. He seems amused by this. “You don't know of Equestria? I'm not really surprised. As far as I know, there are no records of there being anything matching your description in the known world, whatever you are. Err, perhaps there's a map you could...no?” I guess he was thinking of having me point out my original location, but Righty shakes his head at the request. Apparently there's no map available here. “Equestria? Where the hell is Equestria? Am I even still on Earth?” I ask exasperatedly, only to have the whole room look at me like I'm talking nonsense. “I'm not sure I understand. Can you elaborate the question? Is Earth the name of your homeland?” “Earth? Terra? Gaia? Tellus? The third planet orbiting the sun?” the way Merlot's expression snaps into one of sudden comprehension says it all. The others seem to realize what's going on too. “If it is as you say, then there can be no doubt. This world does not orbit its sun, nor is it the third one from it.” “He's an alien? That's what you're saying?” Righty raises an eyebrow incredulously. “I won't speculate on his origin, but it's clear that he's foreign to Equestria at least. Let's settle on that for now and let him ask his questions.” I don't know if it's because I’m already in shock, having trouble believing any of this to be real, or because I already suspected it, but this revelation that I’m not on earth anymore doesn't surprise me as much as one would think. Maybe it's a combination of all three reasons, I don't know. “What do you mean; your world doesn't orbit its sun?” I ask the burgundy horse thing. Either something even weirder is going on, or these creatures don't have a good grasp on astronomy. “The sun and moon are raised through the power of the royal princesses Cel-” he begins “Actually, forget I asked, next question.” I interrupt him brusquely, fighting the urge to flip the table and walk out of the office. They seem a little put off, but this shit is just too much for me right now. Maybe this question thing was a bad idea. “Sorry, it's just... I guess I'm asking questions that only serve to raise more questions, and I’m not sure if I can handle all this at once...” I apologize, not wanting to offend my only allies here. Doctor Cast nods sympathetically, while Righty waves it off. Merlot looks pensively at one of the pictures on the wall. “I just realized that I don't know what you call yourselves. What are you?” I should've asked this earlier, I guess. “The majority of the inhabitants in Equestria belong to one of three tribes collectively called ponies. As you somehow guessed, Doctor Cast is a unicorn. My son and I are earth ponies. There is also the pegasi-” “What? Flying horses? Really?” I know this is going to cause questions, and sure enough, they all react with varying degrees of alarm and wide eyed disbelief. Merlot narrows his eyes at me suspiciously. “Alright, either you're joking, or there's something you're not telling us. How is it that you're able to identify unicorns and pegasi if you're not from Equestria?” he asks. “Where I’m from, Unicorns and Pegasi are mythical creatures. There are “earth ponies”, but those are non-sapient beasts that don't really look all that similar to your kind of...ponies.” I'm not sure it would be correct to call Merlot and the others anthropomorphic, but they are definitely sleeker and more neotenous than regular ponies. “I see...” Merlot seems to accept this answer hesitantly. Doctor Cast seems fascinated, contrasting with Righty, who doesn't seem to react at all. “And what about you? What can you tell about yourself?” “My name is James Maxwell. I am a welder working at a machine shop in my hometown, Fairview...” I've always hated introducing myself, ever since I was a kid. Usually I either feel like I'm about as interesting as pocket lint, or I feel like I’m being vain, as if I'm trying to make myself more interesting than I really am by adding in stuff like hobbies and marital status and whatever. I usually keep it brief, hoping it'll be good enough. “James Maxwell... I see. Anything else you can tell us?” I guess it wasn't. Shit, what do they want...? “Uhm... I'm not sure what else to say.” “Well, what are you? As far as we're able to tell, you're some kind of simian analogue, but you look different from any primates I've ever heard of.” I mentally slap myself. Of course they'd want to know that. I think the doctor already asked earlier. “Oh, right. I'm a human. Yeah, we're primates, I guess.” Merlot and Doctor Cast nod approvingly to each other, no doubt pleased to have correctly guessed what kind of animal I am. “Oh! You said you were a welder, didn't you?” Merlot suddenly blurts out excitedly “I would very much like to hear what kind of technology humans have!” The sudden change from “distanced and dignified” to “manic child in a candy store” is unnerving. Before I can say anything, however, the doctor speaks up. “As much as I'd like to hear zis, I belief eet is time I get to ze hospital.” he says with an odd mixture of concern and bitterness “I'll probably come back later, unless eet is anythink serious, but I doubt that. Until then, gentlemen.” “Oh, right... Yes, you should do that. Take care, Doctor.” Merlot says as Doctor Cast leaves the office. “Is he alright?” I ask the burgundy stallion, who seems more serious now. However, it is Righty who replies to my question “He's not physically injured, but it looks like the...anomaly that brought you here caused him an acute thaumatical disjunction. Unicorns can be temporarily cut off from their magic when their horns suffer any form of trauma, but that usually resolves itself after a short while. Doctor Cast has been cut off for almost two hours now, which is worrying, but he insisted on staying here. It's good that he finally came to his senses and went to the hospital...” “Indeed, it would not do the project any good if he was injured, and Canterlot would prob-” “The project? Canterlot?” Righty snaps as he glares at his father. Merlot and I jump at the sudden anger in his voice. “Ingot Cast may have permanently lost the very thing that defines him as a unicorn, and James could have been dead! It's a miracle nopony got injured, and you're worried about scandal? -cough- You're unbelievable sometimes!” he hisses Merlot looks extremely uncomfortable at Righty's sudden change in demeanor, and I can't blame him. I get the feeling Righty is the kind of...individual...who is normally mellow and restrained, but the atmosphere right now is intense! “I-I don't mean to interrupt, but how exactly did I get here?” I ask, hoping it will be enough to stop things from escalating. Thankfully, Righty breaks his glare and turns away with a huff, much to his father's relief. “You explain.” he simply says to him. “Oh, yes of course...” Merlot smiles nervously, turning to me “And, um, for what it's worth, you have my sincere apologies for all this. I'm sure being separated from your friends and family in this way must be quite distressing.” “Right...” “Right! And of course I'm going to find a way to redeem the situation, but we can talk about that later.” he clears his throat and begins his explanation. “One of the greatest equestrian innovations over the last century is its railroad network. The steam locomotive is revolutionizing passenger and goods transport, tying the nation together, and reinforcing the infrastructure between major settlements. However, there are two things a steam engine needs to operate, namely fuel and water.” He pauses to see if I have any questions. I obviously don't, but we never got to the part where we compare technology levels. “Now, fuel is normally not a problem, but the with the current designs their dependency on water is a liability, especially in arid and mountainous regions where you can't depend on rainwater to replenish the water tower supply. If a boiler runs dry between towers, it not only puts the whole engine at risk of severe damage, but it will have to be hauled manually to the nearest water source, causing delays and possibly injuries.” “About a year ago we were commissioned by The Royal Institution of Canterlot to help devise a way to eliminate these problems, and what we came up with was the Spatial Contraction Fountain, as much a wonder of magic and metallurgy as engineering.” “Magic?” I ask, though I don't think I have the energy to add the tone of disbelief I wanted. He said the device used magic. Everything would be much easier if I could just shut up and blindly accept everything I’m being told at this point. “Yes?” Merlot replies “What about it?” “Nothing. Please continue.” “As I was saying, after consulting some experts, we were able to create a device that would generate a field around itself by tapping into ambient leylines. This field will connect with the fields around any similar devices, effectively making the space around the first and second device the same space by bridging them through the fourth dimension.” “A good analogy would be to draw a map on a flat piece of paper and put two marks on it, representing the devices” he pauses to allow my simian brain time to conjure up an image of a map “and then you fold the map so the backside of where you placed the marks are touching. When the devices are activated, a hole is punched through the paper, and anything that enters at point A will immediately emerge at point B, and vice versa. Do you understand me so far, James Maxwell?” Merlot is basically giving me the explanation of a wormhole. I nod, letting him continue. “The idea was to place one of these devices at the bottom of a lake and keep it constantly active. Smaller devices would be placed in water towers along the railway network, and activated by float switches when water levels were low. The water pressure at the bottom of the lake would force the water through the linked space, filling the empty tower until the float switch could deactivate the destination device.” “Alright” I nod slowly “But what does that have to do with me?” Merlot rubs a hoof against his chin as he thinks for a moment. Righty, who has calmed down again also looks interested in hearing this. It is only now I realize that the coffee I’m still holding has gone cold. I put it down on the table in front of me before Merlot decides to speak again. “Obviously the prototypes didn't work as intended when we tested them. Either because of a freak anomaly, or simply because the scaled up version works differently from the small proof of concept devices. The exact nature of the malfunction is purely speculation at this point, but... assuming that the things that came out of the receiver device wasn't part of your immediate environment, I think maybe there is a chance that instead of punching a hole through a sheet of paper, the device somehow took a shortcut by punching a hole through a whole stack of papers, dragging with it whatever happened to be in the corresponding spaces on the different planes.” To be honest, I'm only halfway following him at this point, but it sounds like this wormhole device just grabbed a bunch of random stuff from different dimensions and shoved it through the exit in Equestria. I'm kind of curious about the things that appeared with me that he mentioned. “Other things came through with me? What kind of things?” Righty trots over to the window behind his desk and motions for me to follow. I wrap a blanket around my waist, keeping the one around my shoulders where it is before I stand up. I notice that my legs feel kind of numb and shaky, but I seem to be able to use them just fine. It is the first time the ponies see me standing at full height and, from their expressions, it seems they find the sight equally novel and imposing, as their eye level is roughly around the middle of my abdomen. After making sure that my legs aren't about to give out on me, I walk over to the window with the other two. What I see appears to be a yard surrounded by brick buildings bathing in the evening sunlight, no doubt related to the workshop. A railroad track runs from outside the complex into what looks like a platform in one of the larger buildings, which I guess is either intended for train repairs or handling shipments. The styles of the buildings aren’t very different from what you'd expect of early 20th century factory buildings on earth. In the middle of the yard stands two wooden structures. One is a simple water tower, slightly elevated above the hard packed dirt ground. The other is a splintered mess of shattered wood, greenish sludge, and....jellyfish? The sludge is spread in a semicircle from where it burst out of the tower, but from the dampness of the soil, it's obvious that there's been vastly more liquid spilling out of the tower than its intact twin could possibly contain. I think I see pieces of my bathroom here and there as well. “Aside from a vast amount of carbonated brine, there were large single-celled organisms the size of apples skittering about the yard. They were obviously not adapted for the environment they now found themselves in, and they all died as their membranes burst after a few minutes. Various gasses also forced their way through, along with a fair amount of black smoke. The green sludge you see was actually a mass of what I guess was bioluminescent algae.” Merlot explains while pointing around the yard with a hoof “It was near the end of the event that Doctor Cast suddenly panicked about not being able to use magic, but he calmed down when it became clear that there was a possibility that the local ecosystem could be at risk from what our experiment had caused.” “While we were sifting through the sludge and debris,” he continues “it became clear that the problem was solving itself. The environment just wasn't suitable for the life forms that had come through. That is, until we found you face down in a puddle. You were unconscious, but alive, so we hosed you off and brought you into the workshop until we could figure out what to do next. And that's pretty much it.” The reality of the situation is starting to sink in. It really happened. This ridiculous cauldron of insanity I'm trapped is actually real. On one hand, I find it slightly comforting to know I haven't gone batshit insane. On the other hand, maybe insanity would've been easier to deal with. This is just...fuck. “So what will happen to me now...?” I ask somberly to no one. I know I’m not in immediate danger, but I know nothing about how things work in this world, or how these ponies think. For all I know they could decide to put me in a zoo or something. The irony of someone as mundane and ordinary as me being shown off to alien ponies as an exotic creature from a world beyond isn't lost on me. All because I was in the shower at the wrong time. My stomach rumbles. I frown at the sound. Great, now I’m hungry too. “I suppose we'll work something out, but right now I guess we should get you something to eat.”