ASotBTiE: The Equestrian Series
Episode 2: Why James Couldn’t Make It, or “Trapped in a World He’s Only Read Of”
(from “The Show Stoppers”)
It was another day in Equestria as James was working on his latest device. A interdimensional engine that would allow him to jump from one world to another. He was of course, doing it from memory, allowing him to try and experiment on how good his memory really is.
Down in his basement lab, he was working on the latest thing, the item that would really get him revved up and back to Earth. ‘Although, I’ll miss Equestria and my friends if I leave.’ he thought, tightening a bolt. He then saw two wires, that should’ve gone together.
“Well that’s odd.” he said, trying to figure out where the wires went. He then attached the green wire to the red one, causing a strange event, as the engine started up and electricity zapped all around. Suddenly, there was a blast of bright energy, and electrical energy zapped James before he disappeared altogether, leaving a pile of what appeared to be smoking ashes on the seat.
Meanwhile, in on Earth-616…
That’s when something unexpected happened. She was saved… by a duck.
Years later, the duck, known as Howard the Duck from Duckworld lived for a while in Cleveland, Ohio. That’s when weird things were happening. It was as if Howard was some kind of Weirdness Magnet.
Right now, Howard and Beverly were just driving down the street with Howard driving. “Another lovely day in the city, right Beverly?” he said, stopping at a street light. She was about to say something when there was a shake, and the stop lights started to go crazy with the lights flashing.
“What’s that?” Beverly said, with surprise.
“I don’t know, someone from Duckworld?” Howard said, as the cars soon went crazy, lights flashing and radio’s changing frequency. People were starting to panic in the streets.
Suddenly, electrical energy zapped all around and seemed to feel unusual. Then there was a bright flash of energy before a figure appeared, dressed in a lab coat, and smoking. The figure coughed out some smoke before looking around. He walked towards their car before he looked through the open window, seeing Beverly and Howard.
The young boy laughed hysterically before falling to the sidewalk. Beverly opened the door seeing the poor unconscious boy. “Howard, what do we do?” she said, turning to him.
Howard sighed, as he didn’t want to get involved with anything weird again, but then again, he took weirdness in stride as he fought against Dr. Bong before, and he had fought off some crazy creatures in the past.
“Place him in the backseat.” he replied with a sigh. Beverly nodded, then grabbed the body and placed him into the back seat. She then got in the front and they headed back to the apartment.
“What do you mean, you’re going out?” Beverly Switzler exclaimed.
“He’ll panic that I’m a talking duck!” Howard said, as he started to light a cigar. He then rubbed the bridge on his beak. “Look, Beverly,” he started, “He’s from another world, one that probably doesn’t have talking animals.” At that moment, James woke up, hearing both Beverly and Howard’s conversation.
“He may not.” she said, “He may not act like a normal human, if he is from another Earth.”
Howard puffed a cigar smoke, as he thought for a moment. “Maybe… but I don’t want to take that chance.” he said, as he stuck the cigar back into his mouth.
“And why not?” James said, as he sat up.
“Because, people always panic.” he said, quickly turning to James. He then turned back to Beverly, letting his brain process on what to do. He suddenly realize something, and slowly turned towards James.
“A person is smart,” James said, “People are dumb, panicky, and stupid.” he finished, quoting from his favorite movie. He then smiled at them.
“WAAAUGH!” Howard exclaimed.
Beverly, Howard, and James just stayed still as awkward silence filled the room for a moment. James then said, “How about a nice grilled cheese sandwich? I didn’t come here for no apparent reason.” He got up and went into the kitchen while Howard and Beverly looked at each other, confused by what just happened.
5 Minutes later…
Howard, Beverly, and James were eating soup and sandwiches. Silence followed with only the sound of chewing and slurping from the food. Finally, James said, “I thank you for bringing me here and saving me from being roadkill, but I must find a way back to the planet I was living on.”
It seemed that they didn’t know what to do except this. “Well,” started Howard, “There’s just one problem. How?” he plainly asked. James was about to explain, when the apartment started to shake. “Not again.” Howard said, as suddenly a rift opened up in mid-air, almost like a portal.
James looked at the Portal, then looked inside where there was a fight between She-Hulk, a Astronaut, Howard and… himself. “Well, that’s-.” he was suddenly interrupted by himself being thrown by a very large squid-like thing. James fell out of the rift and ended up crashing into himself.
Future James soon got up and brushed himself off, while James lied there in pain. “Ooh. I remember that one.” his future self said, as he felt sympathy for what happened. “For what it’s worth, this won’t happen until much, much later.” he said, as he picked himself up off the floor.
His future self smiled, then looked at Beverly and Howard. “See you guys soon, at least from my perspective.” Future James said, then laughed as he jumped through the rift. For a brief moment, they saw a bit of the future, before the rift closed up.
Silence once again filled the apartment, before James smiled, and decided to do something. “If something like rifts are opening up across reality, then that means my engine is having trouble.” he said. He then looked at Howard and Beverly. “Listen guys,” he started, “I need scrap parts, machine parts, tools, and anything that you guys aren’t using.”
“What exactly are you doing?” Howard asked, worried about what he just saw.
“We’re building a rift generator and locator.” James said, with a smile.
A few minutes later…
The apartment was littered with papers, machine parts, and scraps of metal. At the center of the disaster was a mad scientist who was tinkering with a small-ish, remote-like device, with a satellite-like dish that unfolded when activating.
Beverly and Howard were mostly speechless as they saw the scientist working on some odd device. Finally, Howard spoke. “What in the name of Sam Hilton are you doing?” he said. James stopped working and looked at Howard with a bit of a crazy smile.
“Simple,” James said, “A type of rift generator and locator that will help me get back to my reality and shut the machine off before it collapses the entire multiverse into one Mega-verse.” He then went back to working on the device, while Howard and Beverly went into the kitchen, as James had made a pot of Coffee.
A few minutes passed before he finally finished it, turning it on. Beverley and Howard walked out of the kitchen, just to see James activate it. It soon started beeping, as it picked up a signal on it.
"What's going on?" she said. James looked at them, then back at the device. "It must be picking up a signal." he said, as he scanned the room, he then followed it as he headed towards Howard's room.
"Hey! Wait a minute, what are you-" he stopped as James exited the room and headed to the guest room. They both followed him to the bedroom to see him walk onto the bed, causing the lights to slightly flicker, and the room to shake. Suddenly, there was a electrical sound, before there was the sound of reality tearing opening for a moment, and James suddenly falling into the bed.
Beverly and Howard quickly ran to the bed, as they saw James in, what appeared to be in another room. Beverly and Howard looked at each other, then were about to leave when they suddenly fell into a rift of their own.
Meanwhile, in the odd room...
James got up and looked around, before the rift soon closed up. James then scanned the room, when he heard a thump from the closet door. Heading to the door, he opened it causing Beverly and Howard to fall. They looked up at James, "How nice of you two to drop in." he said with a smile. James then started scanning the room as he noticed the date on the calendar.
"January 10th, 1957." James said, confused. He then thought of something, as he opened the door and saw something fearing. Out in the front lawn was a plastic dummy. In fact the neighborhood had them standing everywhere. James' only thought was, 'Oh Cr@&!' which was strange that he thought in cartoon censor, but nevermind that.
Howard and Beverly ran out to see the same thing that James was seeing. "Great," Howard started, "We're on a planet full of dummies." James quickly turned towards them, "No, we're back in 1957. When they tested the Atomic Bomb." he said to them. James quickly ran to a nearby car, and jumped in. Beverly and Howard soon followed.
James quickly searched the car, while Beverly and Howard entered the car and buckled in. He soon found the keys and started it, quickly planning on driving it out of the suburban area, while getting the device to find a rift.
"Beverly," James said, to which she turned towards him, "I need you to look at the rift generator and look for a rift on the radar. We need to escape this world now, or otherwise-" he didn't finished, as a sudden whine came over the place, with a sense of dread coming over the three of them. James shifted it into Reverse, then turned out of the driveway, and floored it in drive.
As he drove, Beverly checked the radar, seeing a nearby rift over at the next street. James saw it too, and quickly drove the car down the next street, then he turned towards the right. He then saw it. There was a brilliant flash, and a mushroom cloud, just as they found the rift. Beverly didn't know what to do as it beeped. James just smacked the red button before it hit them.
The rift quickly opened, as James went through the rift in the car, which quickly closed as the blast slammed into the suburban area, the intense heat melting the plastic dummies. Soon, there was a powerful blast that destroyed it.
Bellewood, 2005...
Ben, Gwen and Grandpa Max were at the Groovie Smoothie where Ben was fighting against Eon, a villain who had tried to take over Spacetime, more than once across more than one reality. He had so far failed twice. Ben tried to activate his Omnitrix, but couldn't. "HAHAHAHAHA! Now Ben, I will-"
Eon was suddenly hit by a old fashioned car, and it suddenly flew out of a rift. Soon, there was a screetch and and crash. The car was mostly destroyed, and Eon out of the dimension before the trunk popped opened. Soon two human figures and a anthromorphic duck climbed out of it.
"How the heck did we end up in there?" Howard said, brushing himself off. James and Beverly did the same, before James slammed the trunk down. He then pulled out the rift generator, which had conviently ended up in his labcoat again. "I don't know," James said, "But I can tell you that there's a crossroads here."
James then activated the device, closing the rift, just as the bomb went off. "That was too close." Beverly said to both James and Howard. They both nodded, then turned towards Ben, Gwen, and Max Tennyson. At that moment, Eon soon started to reform and return back to reality.
"I have returned Tennyson!" Eon exclaimed, "And now, I will-" He was rudely interrupted again by something opening up underneath him, causing him to fall suddenly into, what sounded like, trash cans.
"Sorry for that, but we must be off." James said, walking towards the rift, "And besides, you were producing a convenient rift right below you." He then snickered, as well as Howard did, before James turned towards young Ben. "Remember, with great power, comes great responsibility." he said, before jumping into the rift. Beverly just shrugged at James' randomness, then followed.
"Good luck, you're going to need it." Howard said, before taking a swan dive into the rift.
Ponyville, 1001 C.R. ...
There was a sudden rip as Eon fell into some trash cans, followed by James, Beverly, and Howard. James pressed the button on the device. The rift didn't close. He stood there confused for a moment, as he pressed the button again. Nothing happened. Suddenly, another rift opened and caused Eon to drop into Bellwood in 2010.
"Well, that was unusual." James said, "That was supposed to work. Why didn't it?" Beverly and Howard looked stressed that it didn't work. James then turned around to see that he was back at Ponyville. "Hey! I know this place." James said, as he soon realized that his machine was causing a lot of trouble with Space-Time.
Howard and Beverly were surprised by the ponies that were running around and appeared to be speaking in English. James knew what was going on, mostly. "*SNIFF!* Ah, it's good to be home." he said with a smile. Suddenly, a black-and-white DeSoto convertible with a police crest on the side, appeared in a blast of blue electrical energy. "Ooh, nice 80s special effects." James said.
The DeSoto soon came to a halt as it started to smoke and smolder. "Well, this isn't New York. Where are we, Max, I mean Sam?" a lagomorph said. A dog stood up and looked around the area, trying to find out where they were. "I have no idea." Sam said. James soon whistled at them, causing them to turn towards the source of the sound. "Hello there. I think we need a lift." he said.
A Minute Later...
The DeSoto drove across Equestria carefully as James, Howard, Beverly, and the Freelance Police were planning something. "So what's causing all this crazy multiversal mumbo jumbo?" Sam said. James was still scanning the area as he worked hard on
the device, as he called it. (He believed it was simpler than calling it a Inter-Dimensional Rift Generator and Scanner)
“Simple.” James said, as he checked over the area. “The Multiverse is slowly being pulled into one plane of reality. If I can get to my rift generator, I can put a stop to this madness and reverse the polarity, therefore placing everything back to normal.” He pressed a few buttons, and checked the scanner for any oncoming rifts appearing. Suddenly, one did. “TURN LEFT NOW!” James exclaimed, as the DeSoto made a sudden turn, avoiding a rift that had appeared.
“When that happens, and everything is returned back to normal, you all should return back to your respective realities, like streching a rubber band. Once done and reversed, you’ll all be pulled back to your worlds and snap back into place.” he said, using the rubber band analogy, which was the closest thing to James had in explaining how they would return. It worked as they had hope that they would go to their respective Earths.
Suddenly, the device started beeping, followed by the device reading, “ANOMALY IN PROGRESS”. James was confused, until he started to see that his pocket watch was floating in mid-air. Soon, the car, and certain items and ponies were floating into the air. ‘Great! Gravity Anomalies, just what this world needs.’ James thought as the car suddenly fell, only floating a few inches off the ground.
“We need to get moving.” James said, messing with the device. Everyone in the DeSoto agreed, and soon the car was off. As they drove, they saw buildings, ponies, and vehicles floating, while clocks were thrown off and several suns and moons appeared in rifts. A Teryldactal came flying by with a screetch causing James, Beverly, Howard, Max, and Sam to duck as it tried to grab one of them. At that near same time, a flying saucer came flying by and tried to zap the T-rex.
"Holy Heidemen shooting Savage on a Flying Rocket! This is nuts." Sam said, which James then yelled, "STOP!" They did so. For a brief moment, nothing happened, then suddenly, a train came barreling through a rift, but it wasn't just any train. James saw that it was one of the trains he may be traveling on in Equestria. 'That'll get confusing as this goes on.' he said.
The train soon passed, and the rifts closed before they continued.
TO BE CONTINUED...