Without a Scope

by mathwiz617

Chapter 6

Hours of questioning later, Luna stepped out of the room.

"What's the verdict, Your Highness?" Mighty Impact asked.

“They… are morons," Luna began. "All they talked about was 'stand your ground' laws and 'the Constitution'. They said if they feel threatened, they 'have every right to blast your face off.' Then they said that the police would be looking for them soon, and they wouldn't hesitate to kill ponies."

"So… what? Do we just release them?" Far asked.

Luna sighed. "As dangerous as they are, both to themselves and others, yes. I cannot risk putting your lives in danger, just to keep two humans incarcerated. However, I cannot authorize the release of their weapons."

"I don't think they'd want them anymore," Mighty laughed. "Not after what Sprocket's done to them. He's taking one apart, and saving the other for testing purposes."

"Testing? What for?" Luna's confusion was apparent.

"I'm trying to understand how these weapons work," Sprocket shouted from the far corner, "and see if I can modify them for pony use. It's funny, the one thing ejected from the guy's gun was still full. It had some little steel pellets in it. I assume it was supposed to split open at high speed, but it wasn't fired correctly."

"So, what you're saying is… what exactly?" Luna questioned.

"Put more simply than it needs to be, I agree. Those two are, or at least Bill is, a total idiot. Then again, it might have been a misplaced intimidation tactic."

"I see. Very well then, I want the six of you who captured these humans to escort them, and myself, back to the place they entered this world. I want to see this rift for myself. Private First Class Far Sight, I hereby place my safety in the capable hooves of you and your team."

Far and 'his' team saluted, then lead the humans out of the building. Herding them out of the town, Princess Luna following behind, they quickly came to the clearing with the rift inside. As they pushed the humans through, the two took off running into the brush on the other side. Meanwhile, Luna examined the rift itself.

“It is not as bad as I feared,” she said. “While large, it is stable. I was worried the rift would grow, but that does not seem to be the case. It seems that anything can traverse it, too, if those humans are anything to judge by.” She stepped through, into the night on the other side. She then spread her wings, flying up above the forest’s canopy.

Far and Windy followed; it was their job to protect the princess, after all. They were greeted by a sky even more beautiful than Equestria’s. Luna was staring at it intently.

“It’s almost exactly as I remember,” Luna said softly. “It’s wonderful.”

“Almost?” Windy couldn’t help but ask.

“Yes, very nearly exact, but not quite,” Luna explained. “We’re obviously in a different part of the world than the rift a millennium and a half ago, judging by the locations of the stars, but some are even further away than that could account for.”

“How is that possible?” Far asked. “Did the humans’ god redesign the sky?”

Luna chuckled. “Not at all. I’m not even sure the God humans worship exist. No human could ever prove it, one way or another. No, stars work differently on this side of the rift. This world is not fixed in space like Equis is. The moon rotates around the Earth, just like our home, but that’s where the celestial similarities end. The Earth moves through space, as do the stars. They move in different directions, meaning no two night skies are exactly the same. Of course, it’s hard to tell unless you have an unbound lifetime. Even then, the angles have changed so slightly over the centuries, only the most detail-oriented could tell the difference. It’s very fascinating.”

“Wow…” Far was amazed. To think that there was so much detail in one sky was a little overwhelming.

“Ah, but I have looked for far too long,” Luna sighed. “We don’t want any more humans to see us, if at all possible.” The three landed and walked back towards the rift. They stopped when they heard something crash to the ground nearby.

“Oh. My. God.” came a voice from the same direction. When Luna cast a small light spell, it revealed another human, who raised his hands and claimed, “I mean you no harm. I am unarmed, I just want to talk. I know you can; I heard you just now.”

“Who else is with you?” Windy asked.

“I have a colleague, Amanda, just at the edge of the woods. Besides us and those two hunters that came through this morning, there’s no other humans in the forest.” Keeping his hands raised, he slowly walked out from the bush he had been hiding in. “My name’s Jefferson. Jefferson Young.”

“Already, I like you more than the other two,” Luna complemented him. “Tell me, Jefferson, what are you and your colleague doing here so late at night?”

Jefferson looked at a small band at the base of his hand. “Well, it’s only nine o’ clock. It’s not that late. As for the reason I’m here, put simply, it’s research. I’m a theoretical physicist, studying the interactions between this universe and others. I think I just hit the motherlode. As for Amanda, she’s an… well, she calls her job ‘cryptozoological anthropology’, or the study of rare creature’s cultures. She keeps me company.”

“Ah, so you are here for the rift,” Luna surmised. “You are welcome to study it, as long as you do not destabilize it or expose what is on the other side to your world.”

“Thank you… I’m sorry, I don’t even know your name.”

Luna laughed. “No, I suppose you wouldn’t. I am Princess Luna, Mare of the Night, half of the ruling diarchy of Equestria.”

“Well, Your Highness, on the behalf of the scientific community, I extend my deepest gratitude,” Jefferson said, bowing.

Luna smiled. “I suppose you will be working by yourself, correct?” The human nodded. “Well, in that case, I shall ask my sister about having a certain pony scientist help you. As the saying goes, two heads are better than one. I’m sure she’d be very interested in your line of work.”

Once the princess walked through the rift, Far told the man, “You’ve taken the existence of talking ponies fairly well, considering the circumstances.”

Jefferson smirked. “Trust me, I’m freaking out on the inside. The reason I’m outwardly calm is a story I doubt you have the time for. I’ll have to tell you eventually, though. For now, I just need to talk with Amanda. She’ll be delighted to have something she can study.”

Comments

[Thunderblast]

4704039 Spots for cameos you say?

Can Thunderblast (My OC if you haven't already guessed, he's also a royal guard) have a cameo?

[Thunderblast]

Also, i'm loving this story so far!

It's also a coincidence that my friend named the pony world Equus. (Not Equis). I'm just wondering, how long do you plan this story to be?

[mathwiz617]

4731820 I think Equus (or Equis, like I use) is the fanon name for the planet. As for how long the story will be, well, I'm kinda winging it. Hopefully, it won't be as long as MLMH, but I can't say for sure. As for cameos, I'll see where I can fit him in.