//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Following Through // by Alaborn //------------------------------// Following Through By Alaborn Standard disclaimer: This is a not for profit fan work. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is copyright Hasbro, Inc. I make no claim to any copyrighted material mentioned herein. Chapter 1 Okay, calm down, I told myself. You’re in your friend’s apartment. He seems to have disappeared. And there’s some scientifically impossible ball of energy surrounding his computer. At least it’s not red this time. With what I had seen yesterday, I had a bad feeling that this was a portal, and that it was linked to someplace I didn’t want to ever see again. Worse, it appears to have claimed Jason. And that’s really bad. I was a huge fan of the Harry Potter series from the day I picked up the first book. I still am. I was actively involved in the fan community, and of course we all thought it would be wonderful if we were transported into the wizarding world of Harry Potter. It wasn’t until that unusual experience of four years ago that I ever thought, really thought about what would have happened had I ever fulfilled my childhood wish of going to Hogwarts. I would not have been the kind of person you’d want to meet, if you were someone from that world. And that thought echoed in my mind as I thought about my next step. First things first: retrieve your phone. Second, lock that door. Third, think about what you learned. And try not to think about whether this is another plot to destroy the world. The textbooks I happened to bring with me to Equestria actually helped me get home. Jason probably had some textbooks here. I also looked for a backpack. I found the backpack. I grabbed some textbooks off a bookshelf. I then looked in his bedroom. Jason’s wallet was sitting on his nightstand. He might need that. There were more books stacked in the closet. He has the Harry Potter series? They were just the trade paperbacks, but if there was even the slightest chance I was going to be stuck in another world, I was not leaving without my favorite book series. There’s a duffel bag, too. I’ll probably need both, to carry these books. What else? Food? I don’t remember what human foods the ponies ate. I’ll have to rely on others. Any other knowledge? I remembered my speculation about the transformation magic. Did the material of the backpack protect its contents from being transformed? I hid a ten dollar bill in the pocket of the backpack, as a test. Lugging two heavy bags, I returned to the glowing laptop. Here goes nothing. I leaned forward…. I cautiously opened my eyes, and then shut them against the light. My head pounded. I was no longer indoors, and the bright sunshine indicated I was far removed from an overcast December day. I opened my eyes again, this time more slowly, and saw I was flat on my stomach, my forelegs splayed in front of me, the grass beneath me tickling me. Was it really too much to ask to arrive gracefully? I checked again, confirming my fears. Olive green forelegs, dark green hooves. Looking behind me, I saw my yellow tail and orange wand and cauldron mark. Raising my right foreleg to my head, I felt my horn. Ow. It was sensitive. Everything looked unchanged from last time I was here, except I arrived with two sets of saddlebags instead of one. “Okay, you figured out how to stand and walk as a quadruped once before,” I muttered to myself. “Hopefully, it’s like riding a bike.” Position my forelegs under me, push up, repeat with my rear legs. A few hesitant steps, practicing the gait until it again feels natural. Finally, I strapped on my two sets of saddlebags. I immediately regretted how much I packed. Back on my hooves, I finally looked around. I don’t think this is where I appeared last time. The terrain looks a little more tended, like a park. I spotted some ponies off in the distance. I was also close enough to town to see the rooftops. It looked like Ponyville, but for all I know, there could be hundreds of towns that look similar. I mentally organized a checklist of goals. First, find Bobbie, and see if she knows what’s going on this time. Second, there’s a very good chance Jason is here, and he’s probably getting along a lot better that I had when I first came here. I want to find Jason, but I have no idea what he looks like. Third, try to avoid Twilight Sparkle and her friends. Last time I came here, there were potentially dire consequences for Equestria, so I’d like to see if I could figure out what’s going on first. Fourth, get home, preferably with Jason and Bobbie. I headed in the direction of the rooftops and soon found myself in town. Everything looked vaguely familiar, although I wasn’t sure if this was the town I visited. I wandered through the town, trying to get my bearings. That round building with the carousel horses looked familiar. It was not until I saw the library built from a giant oak tree that I was sure I was in Ponyville. As sure as I could be, that is. I looked around town. Ponies were walking around, shopping, talking, and just enjoying the day. Yesterday, according to my calendar, there was this huge battle under a darkened sky with a dome over the town. No one seemed the least bit distressed, and there was no sign of this battle. In this world, had a lot more time passed than one day? Could I be in the past, relative to that episode? That might make it hard to find Bobbie. Or what if it is the next day, and these ponies didn’t care? Was it a sign of the typical episodic television series, where everything is back to the status quo at the end of the episode? Or did strange things happen so often, that they were used to it? Lost in my thoughts, I didn’t notice where I was walking. I bumped into a pink pony, who dropped the watering can she held in her mouth. “Oh, I’m sorry,” I said. “It’s okay,” she replied with a smile. “John?” I recognized that voice. Oh crap. “Hi, Twilight Sparkle.” “How did you get here? We sent you home!” She looked like she was about to panic. “Well, as for how I got here? That’s some story.” I tried to smile warmly. There were ponies all around me, though they didn’t appear to be paying me any attention. I’m just an old friend, not an alien who shouldn’t be here. “Why don’t we go to the library, and I’ll tell you all about it?” “Right. Library.” I followed Twilight Sparkle to the library carved into, or magically shaped from, a tree. The latter seemed more likely. It might not be a tree at all, just a magical construct resembling a tree. I never did ask last time. Twilight Sparkle flipped a sign hanging from the door from Open to Closed. Heading inside, I looked around, curious if I could see some sign of whether the tree was living or constructed. I felt a tingle, and then my hooves lost contact with the ground. I looked down, and I was hovering a few inches off the ground, a violet glow covering me. I felt a spike of fear. Heights had never bothered me; was this reaction caused by my transformed body? “What are you doing to me?” I said nervously. Twilight Sparkle let the spell fade, and I returned gently to the ground. “I wanted to make sure this wasn’t a repeat of last time,” she said. “I’m so relieved!” I was breathing heavily as I planted my hooves on the ground. “Warn me first! Geez!” “Huh? You mean that bothered you? That’s a comforting gesture for unicorns.” “I’m not a unicorn, remember?” I reminded her. I sat on my haunches, letting my saddlebags slide off me. “Oh, right. I just got so excited. A species from another world! I never got a chance to properly study you last time, with that whole threat to Equestria thing.” The unicorn conjured a quill and scroll. It was an actual feather quill, and the scroll looked like a scroll. It brought to mind Hogwarts, where assignments were classified by inches of parchment. I’m guessing those scrolls weren’t parchment, since that was made from animal skins, right? “I don’t think we have time for studying. We need to find out why there were new portals appearing in my world, and then find out how to get home.” Twilight Sparkle looked down, disappointment etched on her face. She looked heartbroken to be missing a chance to study. It was cute, in a way, but something told me that her method of studying would inevitably end with me in a mad scientist’s laboratory. “I promise to teach you as much as I can,” I volunteered. “It’s going to take time to find a way to send us home, right?” “Not as much as last time, since we know it can be done, and generally how to do it,” Twilight Sparkle said. Again, she sounded disappointed. She readied her quill again. “So tell me more about the portal.” “Um, it was green, and spherical?” I had to gently remind her that I didn’t actually know anything about magic when she asked me more detailed questions. I instead focused on the details I could provide. “The portal appeared in my friend’s apartment, emanating from his computer, and I suspect he went through the portal before I did.” “That’s a potentially troubling wrinkle,” Twilight Sparkle said. “First, can you clarify what you mean by computer? I feel like you were referring to an object, not a pony.” Right. Whatever magic made me a pony, and had me speak their language, wouldn’t translate unknown concepts. I struggled to remember what level of technology I saw four years ago. “Do you have adding machines?” “Yes, though it’s been a while since I read about how one works,” she replied. “So instead of a machine that does one thing, add and subtract numbers, it’s a machine that can be programmed to do many things. You could play chess, or communicate with another computer. You could record what you’re writing now, and it would save it forever, and allow you to reread it at any time.” “I wish I could see one of these computers.” “If it had come through the portal, you’d have your wish.” That’s a good question. Why didn’t it? Twilight Sparkle must have been thinking the same thing, as she answered my unspoken question. “If this computer was the focus for the portal, then that makes sense. I’ve read about mirrors being used as the focus for portals before. The magic does not consume the mirrors. It would be such a waste if it did!” She cleared her throat. “Okay, you mentioned something about a friend? Tell me about him. Or her?” “Him. His name is Jason. He’s around my age. And, um, I really don’t know what else to say, if he’s transformed like I am.” “Good point. Can you tell me what he’s like? We could speculate on his cutie mark. Is he a fan of fake magic like you?” “I really don’t know.” “Just talk it out. I remember you had a talent for speculating last time you were here.” “Okay. He’s probably smarter than me. We both studied engineering, but he was better in school. And he’s better than me at fitting in during strange happenings,” I said. That last part might not be true, but I wanted to say something to cover his knowledge of this world. For all of Jason’s interest in ponies, he’s never really forced the issue on me. Trying to get me to watch the show was more an ongoing joke than a serious attempt to recruit me into his fandom. If only he had told me about his OC, it might be easier for me to recognize him. After reading far too many bad Harry Potter fanfics, I can’t believe I’m uttering those words. Twilight Sparkle scrunched her muzzle. “That’s not much to go on. Probably our best bet is to go around town. I’ll look for ponies I don’t know, and then you can see if there’s anything familiar about them. But first, I need to write a letter to inform the princesses about this new portal.” “Actually, there may be more than one portal,” I volunteered. “What do you mean?” “I saw Bobbie, one of the ponies from four… er, how long ago was I here, from your perspective?” Twilight Sparkle looked at me strangely for a second, before remembering. “Right. There was something about time displacement. You left here almost eight months ago. So you’re saying you saw Bobbie? Did you talk to her?” “No. I couldn’t.” I immediately regretted my words when I saw Twilight Sparkle stare at me crossly. Well, honesty served me well last time. She accepted my crazy story, after all. “I had a vision, I think.” Okay, not total honesty. “Something about a blue unicorn, and a dark dome, storms, and a magical battle? Did something like that happen?” “Yes, but... how in the wide wide world of Equestria did you see that?” “I don’t know! Magic? Somehow, magic is connecting our worlds again.” I’m not sure if she totally bought my explanation, but I continued anyway. “In this vision, rather than focusing on you, I was looking in the background, where I saw Bobbie walking.” “Oh, this is bad. This is bad!” Twilight Sparkle cried. “It has to be a plot. One portal could be chance. Two means another plot.” Looking resolute, she put quill to scroll. Twilight Sparkle finished writing, and rolled up the scroll. “I’m going to take this to Spike and have him send it to Princess Celestia. Could you stay here?” “Sure,” I said. Did she not want to draw attention to me? That’s not a bad idea, especially considering what happened last time I was here. She headed up the stairs, and returned a minute later. “All right. Let’s go find your friends!”