//------------------------------// // Arrival // Story: The Human Side of Things // by Gylden Glor //------------------------------// "All you have to do...is open the door." I lean over, the leather seat letting out cries of protest as I scrutinize the door behind the man's desk. I cast a quick glance at him, taking note of his red tie and black suit, as well as his trimmed hair, carefully clipped fingernails, and placid expression. He seems sincere enough, and the wooden door behind him does give off a feeling of...mystique. I purse my lips as I settle back into the chair, staring down at my lap and the coin that I'm fiddling with. It seems to catch the dim light in the office as I turn it, gleaming with malevolent beneficence. This coin is the coin I was holding when I died. My name is Peter Alias. Throughout my entire life, I've felt that something has always been...off; that there was something wrong with the universe. Of course...I never would have suspected that it was true. Recently, the universe I reside within has been falling apart - becoming unstable. Bit by bit, things are happening that shouldn't be possible - streets are crumbling and rebuilding; people are moving from one side of the planet to the other; even my dog was transported to my living room to...well, as far as the carbon scan could tell, somewhere near Mars' second ring - a remnant from the moon's collision with the red planets' surface. I died during one of these fluctuations. I had been studying them, and according to data, they were caused by this universe and the one adjacent to it simply flowing through each other. The reason as to why they didn't fall apart is because they're the same universe - just at different times. One is at the year 2058 - the universe I was born in - and the other is in the year...well, we haven't quite figured that out yet, given the fact that the earths' orbit has been altered in that universe so severely that time isn't recorded by years anymore. The only reason we can actually study that planet is because, when both are in existence, their orbits are so different that they never so much as brush by each other. It was during one of these overlapping fluctuations that I met my end. It was the longest fluctuation yet - it had been going on for about a half a year, with both Earths existing in the same solar system. Unfortunately, they have also had spacial fluctuations, so when something disappeared from their planet, I received it. The thing I received was a coin. It seemed to be a penny. However, that was not all the universe had in store for me. Another fluctuation occurred, and, well... Well, let's just say I was the none-too-lucky recipient of a pocket of very volatile, very spontaneous gas. I don't know what gas it was, but I know it detonated upon contact with oxygen. As I was sent flying through the air by the combustion, both of my legs torn off and a hole rented through my chest, I found myself in a different sort of fluctuation. The fluctuation I was caught in was the first of its kind - it displaced my body outside of both universes, left to float in the eternal nothing. At least, that's what I thought would happen. When I opened my eyes, I wasn't dead. I had all my limbs. My organs weren't spilling out of the hole in my abdominal region and chest. And I most certainly was not in a regular office. The man sitting before me appeared to be human. At least, as far as I could tell. He nodded to me, and began to explain. While I may have died in that universe, I had been expelled from both by a fluctuation of pure chance, as I already explained. Due to that, I was immediately placed into the universe between universes - a place the man calls the Waiting Room. He claimed that its appearance differs between species, universes, and even individuals. And then he told me what came next. "You can either die, and embrace the void of nothingness - never feeling, never even existing again - or you could go to a completely random universe. I have no control over where you will be sent. I have no control over when. And I have no control over whether or not you will survive. The only thing I can promise is that you will remain within your own body." I nod for him to continue. "All you have to do...is open the door." I lean over, the leather seat letting out cries of protest as I scrutinize the door behind the man's desk. I cast a quick glance at him, taking note of his red tie and black suit, as well as his trimmed hair, carefully clipped fingernails, and placid expression. He seems sincere enough, and the wooden door behind him does give off a feeling of...mystique. I purse my lips as I settle back into the chair, staring down at my lap and the coin that I'm fiddling with. It seems to catch the dim light in the office as I turn it, gleaming with malevolent beneficence. This coin is the coin I was holding when I died. I nod to myself before placing the coin on the man's desk and standing upright. "Thank you," I announce, extending a hand towards him. He accepts it in a short shake, and I give him a curt smile and a nod as I quickly make my way over to the door, and slowly pry it open. Before I step through, I turn back to say one last thing to the man. Unfortunately, he's gone. I blink in surprise, and as I do, the room disappears as well. Everything goes white. And as my eyes are forced to close, everything goes black. Meanwhile... Pinkie Pie hops around, humming giddily as she prepares a cake. A new pony is coming to Ponyville! If only she knew who, then she could prepare a party at their new home. Unfortunately, she has no idea where they will be living. Yet. After a quick touch of whipped cream - because everypony loves whipped cream! - on the cake, she stops dead. Knee twitch... Eye flutter... Tail yank... FLAPPING EARS!? Pinkie Pie's eyes widen as she realizes what this means. With a poof of a cloud of cotton candy, she disappears. Princess Celestia smiles as her student takes the chariot to Ponyville. She's so proud of - POOF With a puff of cotton candy, a pink pony appears before the princess, her eyes wide and her tail wagging. The regal alicorn pulls back with a cry of surprise and trips over a step, causing her to tumble to the ground in pain and confusion. "Hi Princess!" Pinkie Pie chirps, hopping onto her incredibly soft tummy. The Princess simply blinks, her eyes shrinking to pinpricks and her mouth hanging open as she struggles to comprehend what the fuck is going on. "I know you don't know me yet! My name is Pinkie Pie, I'm the Element of Laughter! Oops, you weren't supposed to know that yet!~ Anyway, somepony from another universe just arrived in the Everfree Forest, and Fluttershy is going to find them and bring them back to their cottage and make sure they're okay! Just thought you might wanna know!" Celestia blinks, her heart hammering in her chest. She opens her mouth to reply, or perhaps call for her guards, but before she can, the pink pony lets out a ridiculously loud gasp. "Ohmygosh I've gotta go sorry Princess no time to chat BYE!" With that, the pink pony turns into a cloud of confetti. As Celestia brings herself up to her hooves, (after a moment of shaking in petrified shock,) she looks around at her equally shocked guards. "Why the hell didn't you do anything!?" She demands, her wavering voice giving away her shaken demeanor. "I...uh..." One of the guards bravely stammers. Celestia sighs as she waves a hoof towards all of them. "Nevermind, none of us expected it to happen...don't bother filing a report on this or anything, just forget it ever happened." The guards salute the Princess with a chant of "yes, Princess!" Celestia sighs as she turns to return to her chambers. "I need a drink," she mutters to herself as she forcefully kicks the doors closed.