//------------------------------// // Making the Best of a Boring Situtation // Story: Rarity on Earth // by whatmustido //------------------------------// You snap awake some time later. You slowly look around, realizing that you’re in some kind of medical ward, in a bed that’s way too large to fit you. You slowly sit up, checking your body for any aches or pains. Finding none, you call out, “Is anypony there?” The door immediately opens and in walks James and Tilson, followed by Marshall. “What happened?” James smiled and said, “As far as we can tell, you passed out from exhaustion. There was nothing physically wrong.” Tilson added, “And I hope you don’t mind, but we took the liberty of performing a few more tests while you were asleep.” You did, in fact, mind, but there was no reason to make a fuss about it now. “How long was I asleep?” Marshall finally spoke up, “Three days, ma’am.” You nod, knowing what happened. “Magical coma. It’s what happens when a unicorn uses too much magic in too short of a period of time. The more magic that’s used, the longer they’re asleep. I’ve never heard of it killing anypony, thankfully.” James sighed. “Well, that’s a relief. The physicists have been suitably chastised for almost killing the first proof we’ve had of extraterrestrial life. Looks like they wouldn’t have killed you, just put you out of commission for a while.” Tilson grinned and said, “Still, it was a good time for us. We managed to measure your brain waves and—” He goes on to say a long series of words that to you had no meaning or intelligence. You just smile and nod, since he’s saying it with a happy tone. When he finishes, you look to James and asked, “What did he just say?” Tilson rolls his eyes and James smiles. “He said your brain is similar to a human’s, but at the same time very different. That makes sense, since we evolved from monkeys and you evolved from some form of equine. Still, it’s fascinating that the first sentient life we meet is so similar to us…” You look down at yourself before looking over at him. “Similar?” “Mentally, not physically,” James said. “You dream, you have the same or similar emotions to ourselves, you think, you have tact and manners… If I was a philosopher, I would say that you are what would happen to us if we evolved from prey rather than predators.” You… you never really thought of the humans as predators before. But looking over them… you feel a shiver go down your spine as you recall looking into the eyes of a diamond dog for the first time. Yes, the humans are predators. And judging from their history, they are very, very good at their craft. But they haven’t hurt you on purpose yet. And you think that as long as you play along, they won’t hurt you at all. So that’s what you’ll do, Rarity. Play along and do your best to get home. “So… what now?” you ask. Marshall said, “You have the rest of the day off, ma’am. We didn’t know when you would wake up, so we decided to let you do so before we scheduled anything else for you. And we decided to give you a full twenty-four hours after you woke up in case anything else was wrong. As soon as Doctor Tilson says you can leave, you are free to wander the non-restricted parts of the base. Or if you had something else in mind, you are free to do that.” Tilson took a step toward you. “After a quick checkup, I can clear you. James, would you like to assist?” Between the two doctors, they do a relatively short check of your health to make sure you are healthy enough to leave. Soon enough, Tilson says, “You are free to leave, Miss Rarity. You are healthy as a horse, if I do say so.” He got three glares for that pun. He just grinned before the two scientists left. You sit in bed, pondering what you can do. “Is it possible for me to see Anonymous?” “No ma’am. He’s very busy with advanced training. He won’t be able to talk until he gets off tonight, and then he’ll be too exhausted to.” “I see… Then is it possible for me to get some needles, thread, and fabric?” He blinked a few times. “It… might be. The needles will have to be cleared, of course…” You hear him murmuring into his ‘walky-talky’ or whatever he calls it. “Boss-man wants to know why you want the supplies, ma’am.” “My special talent is fashion, Marshall. It’s been too long since I got to dip my hooves into the industry, and seeing some of the human outfits around here… It’s given me all manner of inspiration. And if you must know, it’s very good at relieving stress.” “Whatever you say.” He goes back to talking into the thing on his shoulder. Eventually he looks up. “Looks like you’re in luck, ma’am. The colonel’s wife is apparently into knitting and sewing. I can’t promise it’ll be much, but there will be a sewing kit waiting for you in your room in a few minutes.” You hop out of bed, taking a moment to stretch. “I suppose a bit of beauty sleep did me good…” Marshall didn’t comment… You were beginning to miss Spike, who would take any opportunity possible to compliment you. Although did you really want a human to tell you that you’re beautiful? Before you can continue on that disturbing line of thought, somepony slammed the door of the medical ward open, rushing in. You and Marshall both look over and see two humans wearing ugly doctor clothing wheeling another human in on a stretcher. Marshall grabs you and pulls you out of the way as they rush past you, before putting the patient on another bed in the ward. “Training accident, if I had to guess.” He put you down. “Come on, the docs here know what they’re doing.” Well, it wasn’t Anonymous that they wheeled in… And you don’t want to get in the way. You follow Marshall out of the room. “Where do you want to go?” he asks. You know that if you were asleep for three days, you can’t have had much in the way of food. You may not feel it, but your body needs something to eat. “Can we go to the dining hall?” “I can take you to the mess hall. I hope that’s good enough.” You sigh, tired of calling it that. The food isn’t that great, but they don’t have to remind you every time that you’re eating slop. He chuckles and leads the way to the cafeteria. You grab your tray in silence and fill it up. However… this time you sit at a table that has humans at it. Silence reigns as the humans stare at you. “Um… hello, everypony.” They all blink and look at each other when you call them ponies. Oh Celestia… You quietly eat some of your spaghetti, hoping you didn’t just sabotage a chance at friends. “Hi.” One of them spoke back! Quick, think of something a human would talk about! “So how about that predatoring?” … THAT WAS THE WORST. POSSIBLE. THING! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, RARITY?! The human is understandably very taken aback. “I didn’t know anyone told you about the drones. It’s pretty fun, I guess. I get to help the soldiers over in Afghanistan while being in a safe environment. How did you know I was a predator drone operator, though?” …Did you just accidentally do something very right? Of course you did. You are Rarity, after all. But what was he talking about? “Um. Lucky guess?” “One hell of a guess. Name’s Robert. Me and the others here, we’re curious about where you come from. What’s your home like?” You smile, back on a topic you’re familiar with. You regale them with tales of peace and happiness. You tell them about the elements and your adventures with your friends. You teach them of the kindness of Celestia and the horrors of Discord. All in all, you had fun. The humans seemed to enjoy your stories as well, though they were less than impressed with some of the methods you and your friends used to solve some of your problems. Robert snorted. “That Chrysalis bitch sounds like she needs a missile to the face.” “Well, she wasn’t so bad,” you said, unable to help defending her. "I mean, she was just trying to feed her changelings. She just went about it in a bad way, is all.” Marshall decided to join the conversion. “A ‘bad way’ shouldn’t involve potential genocide. If she tried anything like that here, it would not end well for her.” “Well, we’re not as naturally violent as you seem to be. I heard somepony here call it the predator’s instinct.” It was probably one of the historians. “The fellow that said it was talking about a situation in my world that started similar to a situation here, but ended in a very different way because you chose violence while we chose peace.” The humans all shrug at that. “I like to think we aren’t as violent as we once were, but I don’t really know. But we’re definitely predators while you are prey. It’s interesting to think about, at least. Still, I think it’s time these men went back to duty.” Robert looked over at the clock and nodded. “Yep. Our break is ending soon. It was nice talking to you, ma’am.” Well, he still called you ma’am, but at least he seemed to enjoy it. Maybe you can make some friends here after all. Before you can answer, he and his friends depart. You watch in a familiar silence as they leave. You sigh and finish up your food before leaving as well, Marshall trailing behind you. You’ve made the trip between the mess hall and your room enough times to know the way by now. When you arrive, you find a fabulous sewing kit waiting for you, as well as a number of drab fabrics that could only have come from spare military uniforms. You look over what you have before inspiration strikes. Thankfully, a ruler was included in the supplies you were given. You levitate it up. “Mister Marshall, would you mind if I took your measurements?” “I… okay?” You look him over, waiting a few moments. “Well?” “Well what?” “I need you out of those clothes, Marshall.” He blinks a few times before looking at an inconspicuous part of the wall. “You heard her. This is for measurements, nothing else.” He very carefully manages to remove his shirt without letting go of his gun at all. You wouldn’t have taken it, of course, but you have to admire his ability to hold onto it. You also have to admire his muscles… He then removes a layer of pants… only to reveal an inner layer. He stops there. “And the last piece?” you ask. He shakes his head. “That’s not coming off.” “I don’t see what the big deal is…” “I’m not taking it off.” “Fine, be that way. If your new set of clothing is measured wrong, it’ll be your fault, not mine.” You float the measuring tape over to him and begin taking measurements, marking them all down in your head since you don’t have paper or a quill. It’s a lot to remember, but you have a lot of practice. When you have everything noted, you begin creating. You barely notice Marshall getting dressed as you fly scissors and fabric and needles and thread all around your room. “It might be a little sloppy without an equinnequin to use as a base, but I’ll do my best.” “You mean a mannequin?” he asks. “Hm. That too, I suppose.” You admit that you weren’t really paying much attention to what you were talking about. You were in the zone, finally making an outfit for the first time since you got to this world. It feels right. Of course, you’re sadly limited in materials, so it takes you less than an hour to finish. You float the new set of clothing over to Marshall. “Please, try them on!” He looks at them dubiously. “Like, right now?” “Well, when else?” He looks past the clothes to you. “I’m not really supposed to leave my uniform while on duty, Rarity. I could already get in trouble for letting you measure me.” “Oh come now! I’m a foreign ambassador, right? Just tell them you’re doing me a little favor.” He sighed, but grabs the clothes. “Alright…” Once again, he managed to remove his shirt without letting go of his gun. Again, it would be impressive if it didn’t mean he was still paranoid about you. He wasted no time putting his new clothing on. They looked good on him, if you do say so yourself. But… “That ugly thing really doesn’t fit the outfit, you know.” Meaning his gun, of course. “The trouble I’d get for being caught out of uniform would pale in comparison to the trouble I’d be in if I let go of this thing for a moment. Thank you, Rarity. It’s a little too… formal… to wear for most occasions and too military to wear for those formal occasions I do need suits for, but it’s nice.” Just because it’s nice doesn’t mean he doesn’t seem to want to get out of it quickly. You’re afraid he doesn’t like it… but he did mention needing to be in uniform. You know how military pon—humans are, after all. So you do your best to swallow the crushing sadness you feel as he casually tosses your outfit aside in favor of his uniform. “So… what do you usually do for fun around here?” He took a moment to think before answer, “Well, there’s a rec hall somewhere around here. There’s a few games there, a few books, and some TVs.” Your ears droop at the mention of TV. “Yeah, not a fan myself. We also have an exercise room, though I don’t know if you’d be able to use any of the equipment. You could at least jog, I suppose. There’s really not a lot for us to do in our down time.” “What about archery? Do you have anything like that here?” He raises an eyebrow. “Not that I know of. And I don’t think anyone would consent to giving you a gun and letting you try your luck at the range.” You sigh. The bow was a lot of fun… “I don’t suppose there’s a spa?” “There is not.” Well, shoot. In the end, you settled for going to the gym. He was right, though; you were too small to use most of the equipment as it was meant to be used. You made do as you could. Celestia knows you needed to keep up your marish figure, and the constant lack of exercise you had been going through didn’t help. …Not that any of the humans appreciated your attempts to look good. It was for your own self-image, of course. Although you did notice a number of them watching you. Marshall hastily assured you that it was because they were curious to see how you would work out. Once again, you didn’t know if you should have felt insulted. At this point, you just wanted to go home. Instead you went back to your room and took a nice long bubble bath. The next day, you had an extended session with the historians, talking about all manner of things. Culture, day to day life, and—surprise surprise—fashion. It didn’t even occur to you until you were already with the physicists to wonder why they switched gears so quickly. Speaking of the physicists, they hooked you back up to their little machine and had you practice with stronger magic. They didn’t go to any larger numbers, since they knew the potential consequences now. But, as Twilight once told you, magic is like a muscle. When you practice with it and exercise it, it becomes stronger. The physicists were hoping to make you stronger so you could hold a portal for longer with more electricity pumped into your horn. You wondered why they wanted to have a portal for a long time when all they were going to do was send you home, but you did welcome the chance to practice magic and get stronger at it. After all, it was nice to finally feel strong in magic, like Twilight or the princesses must feel. With the electricity molding with your magic, you feel like you could do anything at all. One of the physicists proposed an interesting yet terrifying idea: “Do you think it’s possible to attach a battery or something to her horn and let her draw as much as she needs for a particular spell? Kind of like a reserve that she only accesses if she wants to use a spell stronger than what she wants, and that lets her do it whenever she wants?” You honestly liked the sound of that. And just think about what somepony like Twilight would be able to do with that kind of power! …Actually, you don’t want to think about giving Twilight something like that… She’s smart, but occasionally lacking in the common sense department. “It’s certainly possible,” one of them answers. “It would take a lot of work and more understanding of how magic works for us to be able to make it run only when she wants to do something that goes over her normal max magic ability.” Another nods. “Yeah. We still don’t know just what magic is. The only way we have of detecting it is by its effects. We still can’t detect her actually using magic.” Your guard, Vance, speaks up. “Hey guys, sorry if this is stupid, but I was thinking… If electricity makes her stronger, what would an EMP do?” “Young man, EMPs do not do what they do on television and your newfangled videogames. However… now that you mention it, a faraday cage or something like it could do the trick. It shouldn’t be that hard to test, we just need to ground her horn.” You jump back, not wanting any kind of grinding tool near your sensitive horn. “You want to do WHAT to my horn?” “It’s a science term, Rarity. It would involve no manner of grinding. Basically, it means that we attach an electrode to your horn and attach the other side to the floor. It should be quick and easy to test.” That doesn’t sound so bad. “What’s an electrode?” “One of those clamps you already have on your horn. We can have it set up in five minutes.” So you get to freely wander around in the room while the scientists fiddle around doing science things. You see Vance watching you while he idly twists something neat looking on his wrist. “What is that, darling?” You really want to get rid of his fear of you. Showing him that you’re harmless might help. “Just a watch, ma’am.” “…May I see it?” You aren’t quite certain of what a ‘watch’ is, but you have seen a number of humans with things on their wrists. Maybe it’s something you can use in your fashion? He sighs and undoes some manner of strap on his wrist before holding the ‘watch’ up. You grab it with your magic and— …Strange. You grab it with… Why isn’t the grabbing part working? You peer up at your horn to make sure it’s working. “Ma’am?” “Um. Is my horn glowing to you?” You’re steadily trying to take the watch. “Yes?” Hm. You change your grip to his shirt and tug at it. He flinches and you go back to trying to take his watch. “Strange… I can’t seem to move it!” The scientists are starting to pay attention now. “Can’t move what?” one of them asks. “His watch, or whatever it’s called. My magic isn’t working on it!” The scientists look at each other before one of them runs over and snatches the watch, looking it over. “Nothing strange… See if you can move this one.” He pulls off his metallic one. You easily grab it and gently tug it away from him. “Now try this one again.” Once again, you try pulling the black watch toward you. He looks over at Vance. “Is this watch standard issue?” Vance nodded. “Yes sir.” “Tell someone to bring three more here immediately. This bears investigating.” Vance presses a button on his mic and says things into it while the scientist gestures you over. “While he’s doing that, let’s see if this grounding idea works.” They put another clamp on your horn. The other leads somewhere else. “Hit the target, please.” You do so. “Sixty-five. Normal. Well, it was worth a try.” Someone walked in carrying a few more watches. “What did you even need these for?” the soldier asked. “Science,” one of the physicists answered. “Leave them here, please.” The soldier shrugged and did so, leaving the room. “Now, Rarity, attempt to levitate any of these, please.” You do so. With much more concentration than usual, you’re able to pick one of them up. “It’s… a lot harder than usual,” you tell him. The scientists nodded. “We’ll study these watches tonight while you move on. We might have an answer tomorrow for why you can’t move them.” This could be bad. You knew they were looking for ways to counter magic, but you never thought they’d succeed! Now, if they managed to open a portal… They’d be able to fight back against your only advantage. Just what have you gotten you and everpony into, Rarity? The next day, your trip to the physicists enlarged your fear. “We think we know what is causing your magic to stop. Radiation. There was a tiny amount of radium in the watches you were trying to move yesterday. We’re going to test that today.” One of the others nods and says, “Blah blah blah, how we did this isn’t important. Hit the target, please. As hard as you can.” You metaphorically rear back and hit the target with your magic. “Six. It barely moved at all!” One of the scientists does the most horrifying thing you’ve ever heard a human do: He leans back and lets out an evil, maniacal laugh. One of them crosses his arms and gives him a blank stare. “…Are you done?” “Yeah, I’m good. Shall we keep testing?” What have you done, Rarity?