"Hello? Hello?! Goddamn it, Jack, answer me! Jack! ...Jack, this isn't funny!" a hysterical female voice shrieked from over the phone.
Matt pulled the phone from his ear, gawking at the sound of the first human voice he had heard in nearly a year and a half. He glanced over at Twilight, who was more lost than anything. The woman on the other end of the connection sounded like a quiet, steady buzz and she couldn't distinctly hear what was coming from the tiny speaker. Even so, based on what Matt had told her about the device when he first introduced it to her, she knew what was happening in front of her wasn't supposed to be. The horrified look on Matt's face helped to clue her in as well.
Taking a deep breath, Matt collected himself and answered. "Uh...h-hello?"
"Hello?! Who is this? Where's Jack?"
"Name's Matt. I guess Jack's the guy who owns this phone."
"Y-yeah, why do you have his phone? Where is he?!"
"A friend of mine's sister found it. I haven't seen anyone around here though. We don't really get many...visitors around here."
The woman started muttering incoherently; she sounded half a step away from a panic attack. Matt curled his lips and eyed Twilight again as the woman rambled. Was he as terrified when he first arrived? Maybe he'd ask her someday but right now certainly wasn't the time.
"Oh God, what's happened? What the hell's happened?!" the mystery guest hollered. It was about the only thing Matt was able to understand in the last several seconds.
"Alright, um...what was your name? I don't think I got it."
Between heavy breaths, she managed to answer, "Tina. M-my name's Tina."
"Okay, Tina..." Matt paused, knowing he needed to choose his words carefully. This was their first break since these bizarre appearances started, but if Tina didn't remain calm – or, if hearing the truth, she took Matt for an escaped mental patient – they'd be back where they started yet again. "...obviously there's something bothering you. What exactly's going on over there?"
"I don't really think you'd believe me," Tina muttered, sniffling. Just from how much her voice was cracking, she must have been crying her eyes out most of the day – not that Matt could blame her.
"Try me. There's been a lot weird shit going on around here lately," he retorted with a smirk.
"W-well, a...a few days ago, there was...I-I was watching TV – it was about mid-afternoon or so – and then, like, there was this...weird, yellow glow or something all over the place. The walls, the floors, all the furniture, me. Then, th-the power went out. I thought maybe the house got hit by lightning or something, but it was clear out and, like, why would everything glow like that? It didn't make any sense! I...I-I went outside to check the roof and...a-a-and the neighborhood was just...just gone and I don't know what's going on!"
As she frantically sobbed into the phone, Matt couldn't help but feel a little sorry for her, but he needed to remain strong and in control. First things first, he had to calm her down. "Tina, believe me, I know exactly what you're going through."
"How in the hell can you possibly know what I'm going through right now?!" she screamed into her phone.
"Because a year and a half ago, the same thing happened to me. Only difference is my apartment didn't come with me."
Matt's revelation seemed to worked at first only for Tina to continue losing her mind a second later. "W-what, are you saying that this has happened to other people before?"
He grit his teeth behind his lips. This was proving to be more difficult – and more annoying – than he anticipated. Even so, considering the insanity that had been happening recently, the question may very well have been a valid one. "No, it hasn't. I haven't heard of anyone else other than you just...showing up out of the blue around here after I did. Hell, it's been months since anything unusual's happened around here. It's all been real recent."
"Then what am I supposed to do?! I mean, where are you? How'd you find the people you're with right now?"
He bit his lip as the woman's voice shook with fear, a tentative idea coming to him. "They found me. Way too long a story to get into right now. But listen, a friend of mine is here with me now. She runs a library right around the corner from me, I can see it from my house. She probably has some maps. We can try and figure out where you are as best we can, see if we can get someone out there to help, okay?"
"Okay, th-thank you."
Matt nodded at Twilight to follow him, though she could figure out what his plan was as soon as she heard it. The unicorn trotted a step behind, closing his door for him, as they marched to her tree home. She wanted to ask a hundred questions about what this Tina was talking about but chose to keep her mouth closed until Matt was ready.
"Well, don't thank me just yet. There's a lot of area I really don't know, even if you described it to me, but hopefully we can figure out something. My friend here knows the people in charge around here, so if we ask them, they'll probably help. You said this happened a few days ago, huh?" May as well keep her talking and relatively calm. Any more information they could get out of Tina, the better.
"Yeah, that's right."
"There anyone else with you?"
"No, my son was going to be getting off from school soon and my husband was at work at the time. I-I've tried to get in touch with them, b-but the phone hasn't worked until now. I tried all the numbers on my list a few times, a-and this was the first time any of them worked," Tina explained. "Why would Jack's number work now and the others wouldn't?"
"Who exactly is Jack, if I might ask?"
A hint of annoyance in Tina's sigh told Matt quite a bit of the story before she could. "He's my brother-in-law. He's kind of an ass sometimes. Still, I needed to get a hold of someone, y'know?"
"Yeah, I understand. I'll be honest, when we found this phone, it couldn't seem to dial out either. I wonder if I should try others on Jack's list? If this thing has enough juice for that."
"How long ago did you find that thing anyway?"
He counted on a single hand, mumbling to himself as he replayed the last week in his mind. "Let's see, three days for you and we found it...I think it was three days before you showed up, three or four."
"Can't imagine how much of a fit he's been throwing." Matt could practically see the smirk on her face. At least she was able to make a wisecrack in spite of the situation.
The pair arrived at the library and swung the door open to find a small purple resident sweeping up the floor. "Oh, hey Matt. What's up?"
He nodded hello to the little dragon and continued his conversation with their otherworldly visitor. "Okay, we're at the library now. I'll see what we can find really quick."
"Alright. Please find something, anything!" Tina begged.
"I hope I do."
Twilight skipped past her suddenly confused assistant, gently pulling him with her as Matt chatted away. "Uhhh, who's he talking to?" Spike asked.
"Shh. Another human," she whispered.
"What? But...isn't he the only one in Equestria?"
The mare eyed her friend and nervously curled her lips. "Not anymore."
Spike observed the biped and noticed he seemed to be talking at the small rectangular thing he showed them the week before. A scaly eyebrow was lifted. "Wait, I thought he said that thing wasn't working."
"That's not important right now," Twilight snapped. "I need you to help me find some maps of Equestria. We want to see if we can get an idea of where this new person is."
"Oh, err, sure! No problem."
The two split up and headed for opposite ends of the room. In the meantime, Matt was tapping at his head, trying to establish some directions for Tina. "Okay, the sun's still out, it's in the middle of the afternoon. I'm assuming it's pretty clear over there?"
"Yeah, there's not a cloud in the sky," Tina said.
"Alright, the window where the sun's shining in the brightest would be west. Is it safe to step outside for a minute so you can look around for me?"
"I...I-I think so. I haven't seen any signs of life since I got...wherever I am."
"Okay, go ahead and do that. Just be careful. Let me know if you see anything in any direction, a forest, a city, a body of water, whatever. I'll try and pinpoint a location if at all possible," he instructed as he paced around in a circle.
Behind him, Spike had found several atlases and set them on the table in the center of the lobby and hissed Twilight over, moving the heavy stallion bust onto the floor to make room. The books flickered purple and opened to various pages, each eventually coming to a stop at small pieces to a larger map. Twilight set most of the books side by side, putting the diagrams together like a puzzle. In the meantime, Spike had found a complete, two-page map of Equestria and left the book open on the floor beside his surrogate.
Whispered sounds of wooden and screen doors opening and closing trickled into Matt's ear. "Could use some water," Tina mentioned. "I haven't had any running water since...this."
"Ouch, I'm sorry." He paused, cringing as he realized one of the more important things that running water was good for. Quickly changing the subject, he asked, "Uh, what about your food supply? How's that holding up?"
"I only have a few days worth left as far as I can figure. I don't know what I'm going to do if I run out."
"Well, hopefully it won't come to that. Now, what do you see outside the house? Oh, one second, let me write this down." Matt motioned to Spike for a pencil, and the dragon responded by shuffling over to Twilight's desk and snagging a sheet of paper and the requested writing utensil, handing them over. "Alright, whenever you're ready."
There was a brief pause as Tina mumbled to herself, getting her bearings outside. "Yeah, um...looks like east and a little northeast there's some trees. They're at the top of a really small hill."
"About how far do you think?"
"Mmm...few hundred yards?" she replied.
"'Kay, go on," Matt said as he scribbled the notes down.
Another quiet moment passed. "Uhhhh, there doesn't seem to be anything out west as far as I can see. To the south...wait, what the hell's that?"
Matt held his breath for the worst. "What?"
"It looks like...some kind of...buildings, I think."
"Well, that's good, no? Haven't you gone over there yet?" he asked with an eyebrow raised.
"I didn't see them there yesterday."
Great. Just what he needed to hear. He jotted down what he immediately figured to be even more bad news. If this woman wasn't aware of a series of nearby buildings, it was likely they just showed up recently as well. "About how far away do they look?" Matt asked.
"Err...I don't know, maybe a mile or two?"
With the last details down, he replied, "Alright, Tina, give us a few minutes here. We'll see if we can get an idea where you are and hopefully we'll be able to send out some people to get you."
"A-alright. I'll head back inside while you do that."
As Tina went silent on her end – save for the sounds of doors again – Matt held the phone's mic against his stomach and went over what he was informed. He explained without going into much detail to Twilight that Tina probably couldn't be more than fifty to a hundred miles away, and they scoured the maps and determined three rough areas where their guest may be based on the description. He assumed the buildings were newcomers as well and made sure to have Twilight keep that in mind as they hunted for reasonable locations. Whether or not they were correct was a question for another time.
"Tina, you there?"
"Yeah."
"Alright, so, we may have an idea where you are, but here's what I recommend doing... Do you have a car in the garage?"
"It's in the driveway."
"The driveway came too?" he mumbled just loud enough to be heard.
"Huh?"
"N-nothing, nothing. Does it have a fair amount of gas in it?"
"I-I think so, yeah."
"Okay, here's what you should do then. Go check out what's going on to the south of you. If there are other people there, great, they'd probably be able to help you. At least, I hope. If the town is, um..." He paused, trying to find the right words. He may have to let the cat out of the bag a little bit. "...well, if the...natives aren't people, whatever you do, do not panic."
"'Aren't people'? What...wh-what're you talking about?"
He bit his lip and gazed nervously at his pair of purple companions. The hole he was suddenly digging for himself just got a lot deeper. "Let's just say you're not in Kansas anymore and leave it at that."
"What, you mean like...like aliens or something?!" Tina's voice noticeably started to quiver again. Hopefully she wasn't one to believe in tiny grey men with big black eyes, but Matt wasn't about to ask.
"No, no, not like that. They'll...look familiar, they just won't be quite as large as you may have seen on TV or in the movies or whatever. And they're a lot more colorful." Whether or not his words were doing any good couldn't be determined by the confused stuttering that came from the phone's earpiece. "Look, as long as you remain calm when you go there, the natives will be more than willing to help if you ask. They did so for me. Hell, they might wonder if you know me somehow, maybe."
"Why would they think I know you?"
Matt puffed out his chest with pride as he explained. "About a year ago, I became kind of a celebrity. The folks here in town and in the royal city nearby know who I am, but I have no idea if anyone else remembers me. Tell them you know Matt, the guy who did that thing to an Ursa Major, see if that works. If not, no big deal."
"Uh...o-okay, I'll try."
"Good. Give me another second." Putting the phone against his stomach again, he turned to Twilight. "How long do you think it'd take Celestia's pegasi to fly to those areas we figured?"
"Shouldn't be more than a day," she answered with a shrug.
With a nod, he replaced the phone. "Tina, check it out. We're going to get in touch with the rulers and have them send out a squad to each of the areas we think you may be. It should only take maybe a day for them to get to those places. I'll ask for them to wait three days for you if they do happen to find your house. What's it look like anyway?"
"The walls are off-white, roof's light brown."
"And the car?"
"A green Honda. I've been sleeping in it at night since it's too damn hot in the house."
"I'll bet," he groaned, remembering his multiple treks through the residence outside of town. "When you do go check those buildings out, regardless of what you find there, make sure you at least check back at the house before the three days after tomorrow are up. I'll ask the people in charge to send out the help in the morning. I'll give them your name, so if they ask for you, you'll know I sent them. Just...again, don't freak out if you see them. I know you've been through a lot, but I assure you they'll be there to help."
"That's not really helping, y'know," Tina responded with an obvious hint of snark.
Matt rolled his eyes and sneered. After everything he'd done for this person, he really didn't need to be sassed. What else could he say to her? Telling her she was in a land with short, magical, talking horses would have probably made her hang up on him. "I know. Just trying to prep you, is all."
"Yeah. What if I don't see them though?"
A fair question. "I guess that'd mean we misjudged your location. If that's the case, I'd say stick around by the buildings if things are working out alright. If not, head home."
"But the food–"
"I know, I know. A lot of the forests around here generally have some kind of fruit trees. The one near you might too. Hell, you could probably check that before you head south," Matt wisely suggested.
"Alright. A-alright, I'll do that then. Do you want me to call you when I find out what the story is? You're the only one I've been able to get in touch with and you seem to know what's going on around here."
"I'm going to be too busy for a while now to answer, plus I don't know how much more life this thing has left in it and I don't have a charger. If you have a charger for you car though, I'd take that with you, see if you can reach anyone else."
"I could text you if that'd be better," Tina countered.
Matt could have slapped himself. "Oh. Yeah, if the call got through, I guess that'd work too. If you want, yeah, that should be fine."
"Okay. I'll go ahead and go now. I hope you're right about all this. But, thank you either way."
"No problem," he said with a nod. "I hope I'm right too. Good luck, Tina."
The misplaced pair said their goodbyes and hung up. Matt pulled the phone into view and stared vacantly at it, chewing on his lips. He knew he wasn't hallucinating or under the effects of some spell – at least he didn't believe so. Yet, he just finished speaking with someone from Earth for the first time in a year and a half on a device that had no reason to be functional.
Without saying a word, he shoved the phone into his pocket and shuffled over to the staircase, plopping down on the third step. He folded his hands in front of his nose and sighed heavily into them, hoping to God he didn't send this new human on some kind of wild goose chase or, quite possibly, to an unexpected demise. He had absolutely no idea what laid in store for her at those structures nearby. If there were even more people there, they'd probably be just as panicky as she was, and Matt assumed he knew how large groups of people would react to such an insane event. At the same time, he knew there was little other choice, especially since Tina was running out of food; she needed to get out and find some supplies or sustenance.
Two purple spots approached him in his peripheral vision, but he was too lost in thought to notice or care. It took more than one attempt to get his attention. "Matt? Matt, come on, talk to us," Twilight insisted.
"Were you really talking to another human?" Spike asked. He shared a look with the unicorn when an answer didn't come. Maybe if he tried a different approach... "Soooo, how was that device working?"
From behind his balled-up fingers, his friends could hear the tension and unease in his words. "Remember what I told you when I first showed it to you? That it bounces a signal from tower to tower until it gets to where it's supposed to go?"
"You mean when you compared it to how the radio works?"
"Mhm."
"Yeah, so?" Twilight asked.
"Those towers need power to function. The only thing it could possibly mean is...that more stuff has showed up than we realized. Like, is there something relatively small that's making them work or are there a couple city blocks out there or something? Are there even more people here that we weren't aware of? I just don't know how we haven't heard about this yet."
The librarian and assistant glanced at each other again. They wanted to help, but how could they answer such questions and make things better? Every other day, it seemed Equestria was becoming progressively more nuts, but even in a crisis, they knew they could depend on the Princesses for guidance. Unfortunately, they were just as lost as they were, if their communique was accurate.
"Well, Equestria is big and not everywhere is inhabited. I know there are some areas where ponies live miles and miles apart. It almost sounds like this 'Tina' person may be in one of those places. You don't happen to know this human, do you?"
The flustered man closed his eyes and held his forehead in a single hand, shaking his head to reply. Could he ever feel the mother of all headaches coming.
"I don't suppose you know how far away these towers you're talking about could be?"
He said with a shrug, "Some, not too far. Others...I don't know, twenty-five, thirty miles? Maybe more? I have no way of knowing which it is nor what direction she may be in either."
Twilight pursed her lips and sighed in frustration. Sitting and waiting for a solution to appear was not an approach to solving whatever problem was plaguing Equestria that she wanted to take, and yet, there didn't seem to be much else she could really do.
"I guess we should start writing to the Princess and inform her of the situation," the young mare concluded. Matt responded with a simple, silent nod.