Tycho was finally able to sit up after the cycle of nausea faded. He felt what must have been a hoof rubbing his back.
Nightshade had been rubbing her flank checking for bruises, blushing. It wouldn’t have been the first time someone had touched her that way. She shook her head to take her mind off that and paid attention to the new arrival. “Are you injured?” Tycho heard Nightshade ask him.
Tycho stared blankly at the ground and shook his head. His mind hadn’t caught up to the implications of his sacrifice. He was no longer on Earth. He got that the moment he ‘jumped.’ He tried another. Canada, he’ll never return there again. He couldn’t grasp it. He decided to start smaller again. No Ontario? That didn’t phase him. Never had much an attachment there anyways. His Euro account was worthless. Slight tremor there.
“Mr. Hernandez, Tycho. I know being here now is going to take time to adjust.” The mare next to him tried to empathize. “But I bet that isn’t what you are thinking about.”
No more working at CERN. That gave him a nasty knock. Happy hour. He’ll never be going back to his favorite pub with his friends. That did it for him as the depression sunk in. Shutting his eyes tightly to resist bawling like baby, he clenched his teeth and held his face in his hand.
He felt a pair of fuzzy arms wrap around him and a soft muzzle against his neck. She must have removed her helmet because he could feel her mane. There were no words, only comfort. He didn’t resist it. It was hard enough coming to grips with his situation.
He didn’t know how much time passed before she spoke to him. “Do you have family back home?” Nightshade whispered.
“I hope so.” He sobbed. “Gods, I hope they’re alright.”
“That will be the first thing we will check when Alex gets here.” She replied, loosening her grip but staying with him.
It took Tycho ten minutes to regain his bearings as he overheard a strange sound, like scifi energy movement sounds. “Nice teleport, Trace,” He heard Alex’s voice shortly after.
Tycho felt Nightshade remove herself from him but still keep a hoof on his shoulder.
“Sir Roberts!” She shouted. “He is physically okay. But…”
“Good job, Captain. I’ll take it from here.” Alex said as his mass lowered itself beside Tycho. Nightshade only inched away.
Tycho moved his face vaguely toward Alex’s direction. Many more masses were present. But they stayed back. “Well?” He asked Alex, hoping he got the gist of what he wanted to know first.
Alex, already knowing what Tycho needed to hear, pulled out the laptop. Some clicking noises were audible until he heard the audio of a news report.
The livestream came through on the Canadian news broadcast. Worldwide, people have reported the return of those that had disappeared. The website tracking the disappearances announced a sudden increase in reappearances. Thus far, all who have returned cannot recall where they had been. Reports have yet to establish why.
Tycho sat silently and listened. The sudden returns was attributed to a planet-wide distortion wave that originated at the Franco-Swiss border. Rumors had it that CERN was responsible for the sudden turn of events, but nothing was official yet.
Tycho sat as still as statue and absorbed this. It worked. Right out of a crazy science fiction movie. It goddamn worked. While he wasn’t going back home, most likely, others were. Whatever was happening had been stopped. That gave him some relief.
He lost track of time as Alex to a hand on his shoulder. “You ready to stand up?”
Tycho took a deep breath and released it, pushing everything else to the back of his mind and setting priorities in his head. “Hand me that laptop. Log me in to Skype as Darksite and let me type the password.” He immediately was given the laptop to log in. He read his father’s skype was online. “Help me out here.” He gestured to the skype as Alex sat down to read the messages and help him send messages.
<Dad! It’s me. I am alive! I can only contact you and mom on Skype. I’ll get back to you two as soon as I can.> He waited for a reply, finally got one. <You scared your mother and father, Tycho. Come home soon.> His father replied as Alex read the message. Tycho nearly choked at that request. His reply hurt to type, but he had to be honest. <Tell mom I am sorry. That may not be possible for now...Interpol got involved. I’ll keep in touch and get back to you ASAP.> His father finally replied. <Okay, Tycho. You take care.>
The entire time Tycho was aware these aliens were watching him. The nearest was Nightshade; he felt an air of sympathy from her.
Tycho then sent messages to Arjeta and Johan. <Still alive!> He refused to use their facebook as that would probably be monitored. Being on an alien world, the last thing he wanted to give those two were more hassles. They are probably mourning his disappearance right now.
Alex helped him log out and Tycho slowly got up.
“You need help getting up?” He heard the voice of Lyra ask. Here we go, Tycho already anticipated what was coming up next, the patronizing. He forgave it since they weren’t used to being around someone as functional as he. But he suspected he would tolerate more of it.
“No, I can make my way, thanks.” Tycho realized, since he was on unfamiliar ground, he needed to break out something he hadn’t used in a while. He pulled out a rod that telescoped into a blind-man’s cane. He clicked his tongue and turned off his sonar device. He felt Nightshade tap his leg and hold up his laptop.
“Thank you, Captain Nightshade.” He received it and put it away.
“Call me Nightshade from now on.” She replied. “No need for formalities, friend.”
Tycho smiled softly. “Then you call me Tycho.” He replied. “Alex, my stuff is USB charged. I am assuming that laptop has an internal power source?”
Alex nodded. “We’ll get you fitted for one. That pin-pad on yours. Is it also usb?”
Tycho nodded. “So, where are we going and how about you introduce me to your friends.” While his melancholy of his current situation hadn’t passed, he was coping well-enough to function. May as well make pleasantries and introductions. If he was to live here, he would need all the allies he could get.
He heard a whisper from the crowd. “That guy’s got to be at least fourteen hooves tall!”
Tycho heard a reply murmured back, probably from Rainbow Dash. "You see? How tall do humans get?"
Another that sounded like Twilight Sparkle asked, "Do you think we can make him something to help him see?"
Then he heard John Cleese say... wait John Cleese was in this dimension? "Sadly, anything we make for him would use our magic, you know that would be deadly."
Another said, "You think he’s dangerous? Steelskin said something about Wargs having piercings."
"Are they trying to whisper?" Tycho leaned in toward Alex.
"Pony senses aren't as sharp as ours, and don't get me started with their standards on 'stealth.'" Alex made quotes in the air. "They keep forgetting we can hear them clear as day."
Tycho decided to remind them. "To answer your questions, everyone."
"Did we just forget they can hear us?" Twilight facehoofed.
A taller figure with what Tycho could guess must have been a wide brimmed hat replied shaking his head, "Yes, all of you keep forgetting that."
"First, I have echolocation. Think of it as a bat's hearing, which me, you, and all creatures can learn. I can make out shapes and I have a good memory on how to find my way around things. Second, I need one of those magic protections Alex has, like right now." Tycho held out his hand.
Tycho then nervously received an object floating to his location. "...who did that?"
"The Great and Powerful Trixie," Bellowed another figure, "Graciously provides you with a magic-sink to keep those nasty particles from clinging to your cells!"
"D-N-A.," Twilight corrected.
Trixie stuck her tongue out at Twilight, then resumed. "Please keep that on and near you at all times."
Tycho felt it was an amulet of some kind of metal. He put it on. "Well this is great, but where do the particles get get dispersed? I mean it can't just keep absorbing non-stop or it will eventually melt."
Suddenly, John Cleese, who must be a pony in this universe, spoke up. "I am glad you asked. This particular amulet can absorb benign magic for six days before it needs to be drained. You’ll have two more in a lead box. When it is full, just switch to the other one and drop the full amulet off at the library and we'll drain it for you."
Tycho nodded and wore it immediately. "Okay, introductions are in order. I know Twilight, I believe I already met Lyra."
"Me!" Lyra enthusiastically approached. "Its a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Hernandez."
Tycho knelt down and extended an arm, which Lyra received for a hand/hoof shake. "Likewise." He said. "I am sorry all I can offer you and Twilight is my thanks. I doubt any of my race would believe how we accomplished it all."
Twilight approached as well and took Tycho's hand for a shake as well. "Think nothing of it. It was our pleasure."
"Well, I would like to examine him." Lyra murmured. "I mean his race does owe us and-"
Twilight cleared her throat loudly to shut Lyra up. "You don't owe us anything, Tycho." She ignored Lyra grumbling.
Tycho made a note to be wary of Lyra. "So who else am I meeting?"
"Well you should meet your future doctor," said Cleese. "My name is Emerald, Doctor Emerald." Dammit, Tycho thought. He hoped he was one of the Pythons. Oh well. "I am the foremost expert on human biology and medical science. You will be seeing me a lot for most of your healthcare needs."
“You have a very eloquent English accent, sir.” Tycho commented.
“English? You mean Trottingham? Oh wait, no, please don’t make that reference.” Emerald begged.
“He sounds like John Cleese, doesn’t he?” Tycho turned to Alex.
Alex nodded, grinning as Emerald groaned. “Oh, bugger all.”
Tycho turned his attention to Trixie. "So, Trixie, I take it you are some kind of sorceress?"
Trixie laughed. "Oh I am more than just a mere adept of the magical arts, for I am one of the greatest entertainers of the magical persuasion in Equestria!" Tycho heard sparklers and small fireworks go off in her direction. There was a brief moment of silence before Trixie giggled and removed her hat. "But you can call me Beatrix."
Tycho remained silent, not sure how to respond to this show woman-mare. "And... Trace, was it?"
Trace approached Tycho and shook his hand. "I take it you don't have elves where you come from, beyond legends and media, hm?"
Tycho stood still as a statue as his eyes widened. "Where do you hail from?"
“Gaia. My trade is what some of your people may call a ‘Black Mage.” The elf replied.
Tycho hesitated for a moment. That sounded familiar. "So, as in fire, ice, and lightning magic. Like Fira and Firaga?"
Trace raised an eyebrow. “How do you know that?”
“Your occupation is on a video game I once played when I was a kid. Black mages, white mages, black belt, fighter, all that.” Tycho held back his slight giddiness. His first jump and he was meeting someone from Final Fantasy!
Trace had to remind himself that these human jumpers had media in all kinds of things, even specific to his world, maybe. “Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” He decided to leave it at that for now.
"Dash, honey?" Prompted Alex.
"Saving the best for last, huh?" Rainbow Dash chuckled. She flapped her wings and hovered towards Tycho. "So you're one of Alex's friends, huh? I know what you did was pretty tough, but we all can relate. Me and my friends had to do stuff like that, a lot!" Rainbow Dash toned down her bragging as she explained. "You see, me and Twilight are Elements of Harmony, that is really big here in Equestria, like national heroes. My big guy here," She gestured to Alex, "Is a Paladin with Trixie and Emerald. And there are more like us back in Ponyville." She explained. "I am Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty, and any friend of Alex is a friend of mine."
Tycho didn't realize some of these ponies had titles; important ones it seemed. So Alex was also a national hero here, he noted. "And of course you already met Captain Nightshade of Luna's royal guard."
Tycho looked down toward the direction of Nightshade, who proudly looked back at him. "I have you to thank for finding me." He said.
"All in a day's work, 'bigger guy.'" Nightshade winked, though Tycho couldn't see, he had a feeling she was.
"Well let’s not dally here longer. We should get back so Tycho can rest and eat." Alex gestured everyone to start walking to Ponyville.
"No off-road transportation?" Tycho asked Alex.
"No phone, no lights, no motor car, Tyke. Lots of walking. But as soon as we get you fixed up with work, I'm sure you and Eleanor can work on stuff like that in your spare time." Alex replied. "El is another jumper you heard on skype. She's probably had the most unique transition of all of us."
"I guess it’ll be better if she tells it." Tycho surmised. "And there is also Matt, Steelskin, and who else?"
"Tallic. He's a dragon. He might be less friendly than the others at first." Rainbow Dash informed Tycho as they walked.
‘Here there be dragons,’ Tycho noted, but decided to inquire on something else. "May I ask what does being an Element of Harmony or Paladin means,"
“That can take a while to explain, um, Alex can you summarize it for him?” Rainbow tapped her husband on the shoulder.
“In a nutshell, the elements of harmony represent six virtues that are also embodied in some powerful artifacts here. Rainbow Dash is loyalty, Twilight is Magic, and you will meet the other four. Me and the Paladins represent the virtues of redemption. Mine is hope, Bea’s is self respect, and the good doctor’s is acceptance. So while we may all save Equestria or Ponyville from danger when we need to, we also teach our virtues, mostly by living by them,” Alex explained.
Tycho took that a lot easier than he thought he would. They reminded him of the virtues from the Ultima series. "Where are we going?" He asked the group.
Twilight answered: "We're going to Ponyville to welcome you properly. Also, Alex says he got you a place next to his home, but it’s being furnished now.”
"You’ll love Pinkie’s parties, Tyke." Rainbow Dash walked by Alex's side. “She throws the very best.”
"I can tell there will be a lot to take in here." Tycho sighed. "So what kind of accommodations and who is paying for it?"
"You can thank me for that, Tyke. I am using part of my fortune to get you started." Alex replied. Before Tycho could question, he continued. "When I first arrived here, I had a lot of aluminum on me. Turns out it’s rare on this world, like rarer than platinum on ours."
Tycho raised an eyebrow. "What is the most common metal here?"
"For monetary value, gold and platinum is very common here. We use it for coinage. Copper and silver are harder to find." Twilight explained.
That is going to make their economy very interesting, Tycho thought, but how he was going to earn money came to his mind. "Alex, I am not sure what I can do here. You said this place is steampunkish, but I have worked with complex stuff for a long time. My degrees aren't exactly accredited here either. No offense, but I don't intend to flip burgers for a living."
Twilight immediately piped up. "Alex brought that concern up, Dr. Hernandez."
"Just call me Tycho." He waved a dismissive hand about his title.
"Tycho. Your knowledge about particle physics and engineering can be very useful here. I am sure we will find you something. I have connections with the ministry of sciences and magic. And don't worry, I'll give you all the material you will need to read...." Twilight suddenly gasped. "Oh Tycho I am sorry, you can't read our books!"
Tycho pulled out from his satchel a device that resembled a web camera. "I hook this up to my laptop and a little camera on this detects text and the software on the laptop reads it to me. So its not a problem."
"Amazing!" Emerald exclaimed. "Is there no marvel your people haven't made?"
"A biscuit that won't dissolve in tea." Tycho joked. That brought mutual chuckles. "But you obviously know more than we know, Twi, Lyra." Tycho pointed out. "Those instructions you gave us were good; not very specific, but good."
She must have blushed a bit from the compliment. "Well, I had been reading up on it and your sciences for a while. We used special time-slowing spells; very dangerous by the way; to read up as quickly as possible."
Lyra shook her head. "That was really disorienting. "
"And I had been studying on the Hadron Collider before this happened. I even have its designs!" She smiled. "The only reason I was able to help as much as I could was because I was studying it before. You still have a lot more knowledge that is way ahead of our time."
"She couldn't stop talking about it for weeks." Rainbow Dash jeered.
Twilight stuck her tongue defiantly at Dash and began to retort, but Tycho stopped paying attention when he felt a tap on his thigh from Nightshade. "How are you holding up?" She asked.
"Torn between relief and upset, but holding together somehow." Tycho replied.
Nightshade put a hoof on his hand. "Here is some good advice." She said softly.
Gods that was a sexy voice, Tycho thought.
"Don't be afraid to talk about it with us." She smiled. "The greatest strength we ponies derive from are the bonds we share with each other. I am sure it will be a strength to you too."
Tycho didn't answer but gave a solemn nod. He would have received that advice better if it was still not accepting that he would be stuck here; lost with no hope of returning. The two contrasts were fighting for dominance in the back of his mind.
The walk didn't take long as they neared Ponyville. During this time Tycho insisted Alex explain his situation first. It need not be said Alex had a hard time summarizing everything. But just the story, the idea, that Alex and these jumpers had been to so many different universes, many derived from stories, games, comics, tv, and movies blew his mind. Much of Tycho's knowledge of some of these movies were limited to audio-described movies. Star Trek? Lord ofthe Rings? Star Wars? They had been there. Marvel? DC? Yep. Tycho was almost envious if not been for the fact that Alex had suffered greatly in some places, not to mention being separated from family. He made a note not to be too enthusiastic about it.
Then came the part about Alex's life here. Getting to know pony culture, saving a boy from a fire, realizing he couldn't return home, and several things that shocked Tycho and caused him to stop in his tracks. Some of these he couldn't comprehend, and just didn't question at first. So he focused on one surprise: marrying Rainbow Dash.
"So... you and an alien, huh? How has that worked out?" Tycho tread carefully.
He felt a slightly harder tap to his thigh. "Pony, Tycho. Pony." Nightshade half scolded, half corrected.
"Right, you and a Pony... dating?" Tycho asked.
"Married with an adopted daughter. Had two for a while until Grassrunner finished her prison sentence." Alex smiled. "I miss the little pup in my home."
Rainbow Dash hovered up to explain. "Alex Roberts has been the most awesome husband to me. And to adopt Scoots was a blessing!” She nuzzled Alex. “We used to to be guardians to a Diamond Dog named Summer Blossom. Now we’re her godparents. Her mother tried to raid our town but the big guy worked things out give her a chance to make it up to us."
"And she did. Grassrunner is now a Paladin and working things out with the other Diamond Dogs." Alex explained. "Yes, they are anthropomorphic dogs, Tycho." He beat him to the punch.
"So equine-like creatures who call themselves Ponies, Dogs whom are like..." Tycho began to run through the races.
"Think of them as Dwarves." Trace explained. "But not as wealthy, more tribal and primitive."
"Right, and dragons, anything else?" Tycho asked as they neared the edge of Ponyville.
"Lets see. Griffons, Demons, Cows, Zebra, Donkeys, Crystal Ponies, Changelings; those are insect-like ponies who shapeshift and feed off love;" Alex explained as Emerald cleared his throat. "Minotaurs, and I heard there were other races far to the east of anthro-like creatures, like Monkeys and Pandas."
"Earth Ponies, Pegasi, Unicorn." Tycho continued recalling what he heard before he jumped. "Every mythical being we have on our world exists here, huh? Should I be worried about Orcs or Balrogs?"
Alex snickered while everyone else had no idea what he was talking about.
"Oh yeah, a few things to save you some aggravation." Alex stated. "No sharing bread. Like, ever. That is innuendo for a request to ‘get busy' with a pony."
Tycho raised an eyebrow and looked in Nightshade's direction. "Really?"
Nightshade nodded. "Yep. On that note, you like rye bread, Tycho?" The mare naughtily giggled, copying a joke Alex made way back.
“Go easy on him, Shade.” Rainbow Dash laughed.
Tycho rolled his eyes. "Ha ha ha. So, does the type of bread matter? Like white bread for missionary?"
Alex tried hard not to break out into hilarious laughter. Rainbow Dash didn't even try holding back as she landed on the ground laughing hysterically. Tycho just smirked proudly. The rest of the group guiltily tried holding it in despite the naughty subject.
Nightshade cleared her eyes of post-laughter tears. "No, but that's a great idea." She giggled. Tycho chuckled with her.
"Okay, okay. No more talking about that in public. Might be kids around." Alex cleared the tears from his eyes. "Right, where were we. Oh yeah, socks. Socks are considered raunch-wear here, but they make exceptions for humans so no worries. Just don’t show them off. Finally, try to keep any talk involving violence or death remarks on the low, here. Try to use euphemisms. It’s a very uncomfortable subject to most ponies."
"But Alex, black humor is my specialty!" Tycho lied as some of the ponies began to show signs of nervousness.
“Oh no, not another one.” Trixie murmured under her breath.
Alex wasn't fooled, not that Tycho was really trying. "Really?" He deadpanned.
"Dr. Nicnac was thirsty but Nicnac was no more. What he thought was H20 was H2SO4." Tycho replied. There was an awkward silence before Emerald started snickering, even Twilight.
Nightshade and Dash groaned. “That was terrible!” Rainbow scolded.
Trixie and the others shook their heads but were forgiving. These were human-jokes after all. Sadly, Twilight and Emerald were torn between chuckles and guilt.
"I am going to hell, as Alex would say, for finding that funny." Emerald shook his head.
"You humans are crazy!" Lyra remarked. "Coming from me, Alex, that should mean something!"
Alex shrugged shaking his head. "Like I said, Tyke. Tone it down when you're not around your fellow ape." He explained as they were finally entering Ponyville proper as they passed a mansion.
"Right, any other taboos?" The tallest human asked.
"Aside from not being an asshole?" Alex said.
"Hey!" An aged, grouchy voice shouted from the mansion door.
"Sorry Chamor! Same word, different meaning!" Alex shouted back then turned back to Tycho "See? Gotta be mindful of your language. That donkey took offense."
Soon as they entered central Ponyville, Tycho turned on his sonar device.
"Gah!" Nightshade took her helmet off, her eyes turning from the long-slitted yellow to the Emerald shade of green and her messy, long silver mane revealed. "What was that?"
Tycho pointed to the device on his belt that resembled a nokia cellphone. "Its a sonar projector. It's stronger than clicking my tongue so I can make out objects around me more easily. You can hear ultrasound?"
"No, but I have the same on my helmet." Nightshade tapped her purple-shaded steel helmet. "It’s enchanted."
Tycho held out a hand, "Mind if I?" Nightshade hoofed it over. "It would be an amazing thing to learn how magic makes this piece of metal do that."
"I think it would be great if we knew how your kind make these gadgets without magic." Nightshade looked closer at the device.
Tycho smiled. "I'll tell you about our technological history if you do the same for magic." He handed her back her helmet.
Nightshade smiled back. "I think-"
"Woah, Tycho!" Alex tried to stop Tycho as he was too distracted to notice their front entourage having stopped in his path. The man tripped over Twilight who stumbled out of the way before Emerald looked over his shoulder in horror as the 7 foot, 250 pound man landed on him.
Alex winced and immediately moved to help the now-swearing Tycho up. "You okay, buddy?"
Emerald annoyingly got up from his new impression in the grass. "Him or me?!" He loudly grumbled.
Tycho checked his sonar device, it wasn’t damaged. “Fine, but landed on something hard” He rubbed his chest. "What are you made of, Doc? Solid rock?"
Emerald shook off the grass. "Pay more attention, please!" He retorted.
"Hey, it isn't easy for him-" Rainbow Dash was about to shout until Alex put a gentle hand on her shoulder. She looked at her husband noticing he shook his head and pointed to Tycho. She didn't know what that meant until Tycho replied to Emerald.
"Yeah, sorry about that, Dr. Emerald. I got distracted." He picked up his cane. "Remind me to buy you a coffee to make it up to you."
Doctor Emerald waved a dismissing hoof. "Not at all, good sir. It was purely an accident. I apologize for snapping at you." That seemed to satisfy both person/pony.
They had stopped in front of Sugar Cube Corner. Tycho gauged the shape of the building in front of him to be two stories. "I smell a bakery." His stomach growled. “I take it we’re going in there for dinner?” After sensing everyone nodding he dusted himself off and straightened his clothes. "Alex, do I look presentable?"
After removing a few blades of grass from his jacket, Alex gave Tycho a pat on the arm, which prompted Tycho to go on in.
Tycho stopped at the doorway and turned off his sonar device. Then he grinned. Remembering where Nightshade was, he faced her and winked before opening the door and shouted "Welcome to Ponyville!”