Keepsakes
I laid in the bathtub, utterly relaxed, and breathed a content sigh. And then I touched myself.
More specifically, I picked my nose. It was interesting, with both a new nose and a new thing to pick with.
It was a continuation of an activity from last night, when I also explored my new magical pony anatomy. I guess I'm like most people in that I've never given much thought on how a horse tail works. There was actually a lot more to them than just a bunch of long hairs above the butt. Things started to feel really strange when I tried the flexibility of my fore hoof.
Imagine being able to scratch the front of your left wrist, with the knuckles of your left hand. That wasn't exactly what it felt like but it's the closest I can describe it. It was a bit like waking up one morning and finding out that you can nibble on your own ears, which, come to think of it, wouldn't be an all that spectacular feat around here, ears on magical ponies were a lot larger than the mundane ones from back home, and ridiculously cute, I had probably spent the better part of an hour waving them around in front of the bathroom mirror yesterday evening.
The water level was pretty low, as I had the forethought to not raise it too much while in a small body like this. This also eliminated the chance of passing out and getting water in my lungs, for the sensation of brushing my coat came with the considerable risk of putting myself to sleep, whether in water or not. Celestia had said that it only feels this way if you let it. Which was a relief, because otherwise, the act of abduction would be worryingly easy here in Equestria. Brushes would probably be considered contraband. Though brush runners made for an amusing mental image. Like that scene in Commando where a closed dry cleaner for some reason has a warehouse full of guns hidden in the back. That, but with an assortment of brushes.
Brush slingers with two brushes in a belt, and hold-out brushes that shoots out on a spring from under your shirt arm... not sure what the equivalent of explosives would be, though.
A trail of thought this ridiculous was strong indication that I should get on with my day. I was done with the brushing anyway. Between my flexible hoof and the strong grip of my magical pony mouth, I could reach anywhere.
I had skipped on my mane, though. Celestia had said that I'll learn to resist the sleep-inducing effects in time. But I wasn't there yet and so I just settled on washing it. I'll get Armor to help me if it looks too bad.
I let out the water and hosed myself off again in warm water just to be sure, not even bothering to stretch myself to turn the knobs with my hoof. I didn't have a lot of control over my magic yet, but I had enough, and it was like having a remote for everything. Or it would be, once I got some practice.
I initiated my sort of roundabout way of getting out of the tub, and now that my magical malaise, or whatever you can call it, had worn off I was starting to appreciate being a child again. Remember when you were a kid? You had all that energy and you didn't weigh anything. As strange as it sounds I sometimes wished that I had been younger when my arm and leg were removed. If I was, like, five years old or something it would have been a lot easier to get used to it. As it was I was just old enough to get tired from running around for an hour and my brain had already established that doing this and that had these effects and was very reluctant to change its mind.
Come to think of it, as interesting as it is to be turned into a unicorn foal, I wonder what it would've been like if it were to happen as a child.
I did something similar to what I had tried in the hospital, I leaned against the side of the tub and sat up, then reached over the edge with my foreleg and started hoisting myself over the edge. Someone, somepony, had the foresight of providing me with a low profile bathtub so that I could scamper in and out of it without hurting myself, and I in turn had the foresight to lay out a bath towel on the floor beside the tub, which I plopped down on and started rolling around on to dry myself off.
Bath towels in Equestria were unsurprisingly large and fluffy specimen. Not just because it fit with the sugar-sweet feel and aesthetics of the place, but naturally also because its inhabitants could fit a lot of liquid onto their forms.
A bit of rolling around later and I scooted over to my new wheelchair. Again, my child-like energy made it a lot easier to climb it than it otherwise would have, and also because this one had a parking break and didn't roll away without permission.
Once in place I concentrated and flowed some magic into my horn, then reached out for the towel on the floor. My magical aura enveloped one of the corners and I gave it a tug. The towel lifted off from the floor and I could probably have lifted it far enough for me to get a grip on it with my hoof if it wasn't soaked. But it was, and so I couldn't.
"Armor, are you still out there?" I asked loudly in the direction of the door.
"Yes, miss Gabrielle," I heard Armor respond from the other side.
"Can you come in here?"
The door opened and my still nervous guardspony companion stepped inside. "Of course, miss," he managed to say in a fairly confident voice.
"Don't worry, I figured out how to manage lavatory visits on my own. I just need your help to hang up the towel," I said and gestured to the fluffy pink thing on the floor, making a mental note to pay attention to the frequency of bathroom visits I require these days, and perhaps asking a few questions about the length and volume of magical pony digestive tracts. And that's one of the things that Equestria doesn't have in common with classical antiquity, to my relief, personal waste disposal is not a social activity.
"Of course, miss," he said and picked the thing up in his mouth and hung it over a rack, which made me very grateful that I wasn't an earth pony working in a laundry. A little filly that sits around most of the day probably won't have a very disgusting towel.
"Thanks, Armor," I said. "Also, how does my hair look?"
He stiffened at this and looked uncomfortable before answering. "Eye-catching," he finally said.
I grabbed the lapis lazuli visible through the metal structure of my chair with my magic and moved forward so that I could get a look of myself in the mirror. My hair, or mane, was indeed eye-catching, in that it looked like a mutated, orange and blue bracken. "Agreed," I said. "Could you do me a favor and brush it out? I keep falling asleep when this happens."
"Yes, miss," he said and grabbed a brush from a dresser and brought it to my mane.
"And wake me up if I do fall asleep, please."
"Yes, miss," he said before setting to work.
A few seconds later for me and a few minutes later for the rest of the world, I felt myself coming to from Armor gently shaking my shoulder. "Miss Gabrielle," he said. "You wished for me to wake you up."
I shook out some kinks after my little nap and looked to Armor in the mirror. "That I did, thanks, Armor."
"My pleas-, uh, I mean, don't mention it, mada- miss."
I gave him a smile that I hoped was understanding. Funny, he's walking on eggshells around me and while I feel it's more urgent to do the same with him. "Could you help me with my eyepatch, next? I'm not very good with fine manipulation yet," I said and floated it over to us from the dresser.
"Of course, miss," he said and went to work, not nearly as shaky as yesterday.
After he was done I craned my head around, noticing that it was placed as comfortably as yesterday. "Thanks, Armor. Should we get going?"
Armor started wheeling me out of my new abode and into the hallway, I looked back at him and he quickly averted his eyes from me and looked straight ahead. "You look like you have something on your mind," I said.
Armor was silent for a moment as he no doubt considered his words carefully. "Permission to speak freely, miss?"
"Encouraged. Though do you really need to ask that? I'm not an officer," I said.
Again, there was a pause before he answered. "No, miss. Which is what I wanted to speak about. You are an ambassador. I am a guard, insubordination against my superiors would be grounds for disciplinary action, mistreating or insulting you, even more so."
"That's, uh," I started, trying to figure out my feeling on that statement. "That's heady, Armor."
"I'm sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable, miss Gabrielle," He said, sounding genuine.
"Uh, I just hadn't considered this before. Where are you going with this?"
"Yesterday, Princess Celestia, well, told me about you. Where you're from and such."
"Uh, okay?" I said.
"I was first simply told that you were an ambassador, and treated you as I was expected to treat a pony in your position. You must have noticed that I was a bit nervous around you," Armor said.
"Ah, yeah, I tried to not make things difficult for you," I said with an unsure smile. I looked around and noticed that we were alone in this particular hallway. "Perhaps we should have this conversation face-to-face?" I asked.
We came to a halt and Armor walked around the wheelchair to face me. "Thank you for doing so. And the point I'm getting to, is that... " Armor started before trailing off. He looked at the ground with a look of concentration on his face before continuing. "We get trained with how to treat dignitaries and officials, and how they are expected to treat us and frankly speaking, you were not acting according to script," Armor finished with a hint of a smile.
"I believe you," I said and looked away with a slightly bashful smile.
"Now, I would never presume to ask a pony in your position if you would like to cut back on formalities for a more relaxed working relation. But after speaking with her majesty yesterday, I thought of a way to maybe bring the subject up in a tasteful manner."
My eyebrows raised at those words. "I think I've misjudged you, Armor," I said after a while. "I figured you for a nervous rookie. And yes, I think a more casual working relation would be a fine idea," I said with a smile.
He gave a genuine smile at that and said, "Don't jump to too many conclusions, I'm still a rookie and I had quite some time to think up a way to approach this. And of course, this doesn't change my overall objective, I am still to follow your wishes... Gabrielle Desrochers."
"Very well then, Private Armor," I said with a smile. "Take me to the dining hall."
"As you will, Gabrielle," he said and walked around me and started wheeling me forward again. "It's a beautiful name, by the way."
"Thank you," I said and smiled. A few years earlier I might not have appreciated a compliment as readily. There was a lot of internal conflict when I felt fed up with all the “You're doing great!” comments and all their variations, but still having to admit to myself that they really helped. That's drama right there, the masochistic elements of healing: When you think, “I am so sick of your encouraging words... but please continue.”
"What's your name? Besides Armor, that is."
Armor groaned behind me and hesitated before saying "Studded."
"Studded?" I asked.
"Yeah, Studded Armor, youngest in a family with a long line of guardsponies. My parents, Silver and Chain, are stationed in Cloudsdale," he said.
"Don't get along with your family?" I asked. "And tell me if I'm being too nosy."
"No, it's just that... well, my parents try to stop themselves. But they're proud that I'm a royal guard now, so proud that they're terrified that I'll screw up. They would've been a lot more assured if my sister, Dress, was a royal guard instead of me."
"Wow that's... I'm sorry, uh, Studded, that sounds hard," I said, unsure.
"Ah, don't be. They're not abusive or anything, and I won't be disowned if I do screw up, Uncle Scrap is still invited for Hearth's Warming Eve, despite him being, well, Uncle Scrap."
"And that was part of why you were so nervous yesterday? Because you don't wanna let your family down?" I asked.
"Well, yeah, that's part of the reason."
"Part of it?"
"Well... I'm still a Private, and I'm no glory seeker but I'd like to not be," he said.
"What rank are you aiming for?" I asked.
"Any but Private."
"Why?" I asked.
"Private Stud- the Codpiece," He said darkly. "Six years in training and everypony in my unit still think it's hilarious."
I didn't look at him but I could tell that he rolled his eyes so sharply that they whipped up a gust of wind. Or maybe it was just his feathers bristling. "And how old are these ponies who think this is hilarious?" I asked.
"Either sixty-two, like me, or older. I joined up as soon as I was old enough."
I nodded my head at this information. "Okay," I said slowly, curious and more than a little apprehensive about how people my age act around here.
I was thinking up a question along those lines when Armor beat me to it. "Uh, mi- Gabrielle?"
"Mm?"
"Her majesty didn't go into all details when talking about you, so I hope you don't mind me asking this, but how old would- or, no, what, uh, level of maturity would you say you are?"
"In magical pony years, you mean? I'm not sure myself. We humans are legally adult when we're eighteen, at least where I lived, but that's a relatively recent development. If I remember correctly, in many ancient civilizations, princes and kings and people like that were old enough to lead armies when they were, like, fifteen."
We got to another set of stairs and Armor paused a bit. "Unbelievable," he said. "And sort of impressive, too."
"Well, don't get me wrong, these days, a fifteen year old military officer sounds pretty ridiculous, too. But hold up a second," I said and projected myself into my horn again and double-checked the structure and material of my new wheelchair. "Let's try this," I said and grabbed the hoof rest with my magic and lifted it up, sacrificing fine control for strength. "How about this?"
The wheelchair tilted backwards towards Armor and he quickly caught on and carefully maneuvered us down the stairs, now able to do so without tipping me out of my chair. "Is that why you're so proficient at magic at such a young age?" Armor asked me.
"Unicorn magic, you mean?" I said as we touched down. "I don't know. I haven't been able to compare with anyone except Twilight, and she's naturally better than I am."
"Well, yes, her highness is the element of magic, after all."
I nodded. The element of magic and the princess of friendship. Well, it was easy enough to become friends with her. Hmm, with friendship a seemingly tangible force for good and heroism here in Equestria, I wonder how much dramatic weight the theme of friends becoming enemies have here. Heh, an epic tale of Twilight and her friends bickering: Clash Of The Tight Ones! I shook my head. Focus, Gabe! You're in the middle of a conversation.
"And who might share traits with your former species, I think," the voice of Celestia coming from the side, where she, Luna, and Twilight were walking towards us from another hallway.
Armor turned to them and saluted. "Your majesties, your highness," he said. I was a bit unsure what I should do, myself. Twilight seemed almost oblivious to her royal nature, most of the time, and Celestia was almost carefree in her position while Luna had established her lenient nature towards me. Still, the sisters were awe-inspiring presences, especially to one my size.
"As you were, please," Celestia said. "We were wondering if now felt like a good time for you to teach us about Terra, Gabrielle."
"Uh, I guess," I said. "Do we skip breakfast?"
"I've personally never felt that you can't study during breakfast, I hope you don't disagree," Twilight said jovially before turning to Celestia. "By the way, what did you mean by sharing traits with humans?"
"You were always a very knowledgeable filly, Twilight," Celestia said with a smile to her former student, who blushed a bit. "And from what I've heard so far, I would assume that by the standards of my little ponies, humans, like you, must pursue knowledge and skill with great eagerness and determination, considering what they can do without our luxury of magic or time."
Twilight turned to me. "Cutie mark related or not, you did pick up on magic pretty fast."
Now it was my turn to blush, but I decided that that a slightly bashful smile would be more my style. "Thanks," I said and turned to Armor, which, by the way, wasn't all that hard as a unicorn. "As to your question, if we juxtapose human and pony rate of maturity, rather than expected lifespan, I'd say I might be somewhere in my mid-eighties. Which is a strange experience."
"And oddly reassuring, we feel," Luna said, or possibly announced. "It would be most distressing if this was inflicted upon a foal that, well, had the level of maturity expected from somepony your age. As it stands we feel somewhat conflicted, which is honestly a more joyous feeling, if you'll forgive our bluntness."
"Shall we get going?" Celestia said and gestured invitingly down the hall we were headed with a wing.
Armor started pushing me down the hall as the others started walking beside us. "I wasn't sure how formal this would be," I said to the princesses.
"Unless you object, I would like to conduct this learning session in a relaxed manner," Celestia said. "An entire culture is far too complex an idea to relay through a classroom-style lecture. A discussion would be more appropriate, I feel."
She's probably right. This isn't like math, which is all facts. There's a lot of strange things about a culture that's hard to communicate. How does one explain alien concepts like the internet, folklore and fantasies, or the seventies? ...Wait a minute. "That's probably true. But I have a question."
"Of course," Celestia said.
"You guys have fiction with fantastical elements, right?"
"Of course," Twilight said.
"What are they typically about?" I asked.
"Well, Spike's really into superhero comics if you know about those," Twilight said. "Ask the girls to tell you that story with the enchanted comic sometime," she continued with a smile.
"And in those comics, there often happens a bunch of stuff that's pretty much impossible?"
"Well, being around Discord reinforces the notion that a lot of things are not as impossible as one might think. Still, I think the answer you're looking for is yes."
"That's interesting, in a world with magic," I said.
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.
"Well..." I said and put my hoof to my chin and thought for a moment. "On Earth, or Terra as we might as well call it, things like unicorns and pegasi and magic are myths, pure fantasy. And when you think about it, it's strange to find yourself in a world where some make-believe things are true and others are not. Not sure how else to put it."
"I can only imagine," Twilight said. "But then again, you're pretty much the same, at least to me, seeing as you're from a science-fiction world. Mapping out a pony's anatomy with magnetic fields sounds pretty amazing to me. Especially since it's almost all accomplished by what would be foals by our standards."
"Children," I said.
"Sorry?"
"Children. We don't call our, well, children, foals."
"You look like you have something to say, Private," Celestia said to Armor.
"Uh, well I, uh," Armor stammered.
"Please speak freely, it sounded like we interrupted a conversation earlier," Celestia said invitingly.
"Well, it was just, uh, a dumb thought, your majesty."
"Well, now you must share," Luna said with a small smile.
"Oh, well, I just figured, I thought it would be kind of neat to redo foalhood with all I know as an adult. There would be a bunch of embarrassing things I wouldn't do again."
That is an interesting idea. Too bad I can't get my limbs back. I thought darkly before a happier idea struck me. Well, I'm not saying anything until I've taken a look at those books about magical prostheses myself. "I'm still twenty-six, you know."
"Well, you certainly act older," Armor said.
"Mm, yes. The subject of what kind of life you'd like to lead shall have to be addressed sometime as well," Luna said. "You would of course be welcome to remain here, but keep in mind that your life shall now be longer than you'd probably be used to."
"Thank you," I said.
"Well, you'd be welcome to visit Ponyville where me and the girls live, Gabrielle," Twilight said. "You know, in case you'd feel better in a small town rather than the capital. It would be fitting, in a way, since it's close to where you arrived when you came to Equestria. I could roll out the spare bed for you."
"Thank you, too. It sounds appealing, but I wouldn't like to leave anything here unfinished."
"You might not need to worry about that," Celestia said. "After all, Twilight is the one deciphering Starswirl's old inventions. She would be one of the ponies that should get to know about Terra during the coming time."
"Oh, okay."
"I'm partially saying this because, and I mean no offense, as we would like to learn about Terra, you should learn about Equestria. The standard school semester is about to start and Ponyville's school teacher, Miss Cheerilee, is a teacher of the highest quality, and very understanding where many professors in prestigious institutions here in Canterlot, I'm sad to say, are not."
"Really?" I asked.
"I consider many of them stuck in archaic thinking, which should tell you enough," Luna said grumpily. "Considering your new role, I see political scandals, even."
"That bad?" I asked. This sounded very inconsistent with how I've been treated so far.
"I myself requested aid in adjusting to modern times after my return, and found them arrogant in their not always impressive knowledge. Their behavior was harsh and dismissive, even against myself," Luna continued. "Some choice words with the Royal Canterlot Voice changed this quickly enough. So while their behavior can be rectified easily, we feel it best to point out the option of Ponyville to you."
"Oh, okay. Is it fine for me to just come and go like that?"
"Of course," Celestia said. "And I understand that learning magic under Twilight is going very well for you. A joyously efficient aid in your physical hindrances."
Does she mean suddenly being another species or the lack of body parts? The first one's hopefully temporary, and now the second one might be too. I thought and felt my spirit rise despite it trying to be discreet about it. "Teaching suits her," I said and saw Twilight blush a bit again. "Alright, I think I'll take you up on this."
"What say you, Private," Luna said to Armor. "Can you handle a more rural scenery?"
"Naturally," Armor said, his voice faltering only slightly.
-
"How many similarities," Celestia observed in a fascinated voice, lifting her teacup in her magic and taking a sip.
"You mean hereditary privileges?" I asked while glancing up at her, trying to do the same but leaning my neck forward so that the cup wasn't so far up that it'd shatter if I lost my grip, so to speak.
"And the difficulty of letting go of that notion," she continued and I raised an eyebrow at her as I sipped my tea. "Ah, please do not assume too many poor things about my little ponies, Gabrielle. This is simply very noticeable to me. I may be the pony who witnesses this behavior most of all."
I looked around at the ancient, monied, lavish castle with three seemingly incarnations of wisdom and benevolence around me. "I can imagine. Anyway, how did we even get in on this?"
"Yes, let's go back to those computers," Twilight said. "I wanted to get a better look at them in the other human world, but I really didn't have the time. How do they actually work?"
Seeing Twilight's adorably eager look, I couldn't help but droop my ears at my answer. still getting used to that. "I can't really tell you," I said. "You can, uh, instruct a computer to do lots of different things without really knowing how they work, which is actually sort of their point to begin with. You use them to help you with things that you otherwise need education or training for."
This only made Twilight look even more eager. Celestia and Luna looked fascinated as well, and even Armor had dropped his stoic facade in front of the princesses and was looking more than a little curious, too.
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.
"Well, you mentioned that everyone at school in the other world got to see videos of you getting used to being a human, which sounds very much like the Internet. Now, the Internet, or at least one of its purposes, is a pretty good example of what a computer is for. Everyone with a computer can hook up to the power grid and get an internet connection, and let's leave out the business side of that for now, and share, well, pretty much everything a computer can do with each other."
"And what exactly does that mean?" Luna asked.
"Well, uh," I started. "I need a moment to think up how to phrase this. This is one of those things that we're so used to it that we don't really have a good way to explain it ready." I paused, took another sip of my tea and scratched the back of my head while thinking. "Alright, in a computer, you can keep tools which we call programs to help you with various tasks, and databases with information. These tools range from everything to, uh, writing programs instead of using pen and paper, to virtual movie screens."
"Oh yeah!" Twilight exclaimed jovially before suddenly realizing something and looking embarrassed. "That's uh, how everypony at the school saw me messing up."
"You won't see me laughing at you," I said and sent signals to from my brain to instruct my arm to lift up and do the wave with my fingers, with the only result being that my hoof gave a small twitch. "Anyway, we use these programs to help us do things, and learn things. Pretty much our entire collective knowledge is easily available with computers and we perform advanced calculations and automated tasks with them, like, uh, one can use them to communicate with others, or navigate ships, or handle economies."
"These thinking engines, they seem to fill some sort of servile role," Luna observed.
"I guess you could say that," I said. "They're very good at menial and repetitive tasks."
"Do they not object?"
"Oh, I see what you're getting at," I said. "I guess it's not very obvious unless you've seen them yourself, but they're not actually intelligent. No sentience or sapience. I can't remember who said this but there's a quote I like that goes 'If the brain was so simple that we could understand it, we would be so simple we couldn't'. Well, if you study enough, you can understand everything about a computer, so you'll know that they don't have the capacity to be intelligent. There's actually some pretty good stories about that changing, when computers start thinking for themselves, often rebelling against humans," I said, with a thoughtful look on my face.
Luna looked pleased at this while Twilight looked concentrated as a quill in her magic grip was scribbling furiously on a parchment. "This is absolutely amazing," she said. "It sounds nothing like the notes that Starswirl left about your world."
"And how old are those notes?" I asked.
"About a thousand years," Twilight said without looking up from her scribbling.
"Ah, well, it was before the industrial revolution, then," I said. As if that would explain everything, oblivious to the fact that it did not.
"Would that be one of those stories?" Luna asked. "About machines rebelling against humans?"
"Uh, no." Wow, teaching someone about an alien culture is trickier than I thought. Marlon Brando made it seem so easy in Superman. "It was when the steam engine was invented... I'm probably gonna need another minute to think up how to describe this, too," I said, as I leaned back into my chair and brought the teacup up to my muzzle and took a sip, looking down in surprise when I realized I'd barely noticed using my magic this readily and brought my hoof up to catch it in case I lost my concentration. Twilight was still scribbling, Luna looked lost in thought, Celestia smiled encouragingly and Armor had raised his hoof and looked poised to catch the cup himself before relaxing as I set it back on the table.
"Alright, I think about three hundred years ago, the steam engine was invented and all kinds of production increased very fast, this meant surplus wares and food that led to greater populations, which led to greater production and more invention, which led to more food and wares and invention and of course a greater population which in turn... well, you get the idea," I said and waved my hoof for emphasis. "Anyway, this has been a work in progress ever since and with few signs of slowing down anytime soon."
Twilight had now stopped writing and was looking at me with raised eyebrows. "Steam engines?" she said in disbelief.
Not being sure what warranted this reaction, I simply said, "Yeah?" carefully before realizing something. "I'm having vague memories of being told I was being moved here, to Canterlot I mean, by train. I assume you know about steam engines." I looked down on one of the wheels of my chair and pressed my hoof against it. ‘Rubber. Well, they seem advanced enough to have a petrol industry.’
"Strange to think that steam engines could have led to that," Twilight said and shook her head slowly. "We've had steam technology for centuries."
"Ah, but perhaps we should not assume too much by our standards, Twilight," Celestia said and turned to me. "Did you say that this increase in food production led to a greater population?"
"Well yeah, of course," I said.
"Hmm," Celestia said and looked to me with a strange amount of sympathy. "That implies that human population was limited by food."
"I thought that would be obvious," I said with a small shrug. "... Isn't it?" I continued, unsure.
"No," Celestia said softly before turning back to Twilight. "There's a lesson here, I think. About how limitations and conditions can provoke other solutions and improvements."
Twilight Oh-ed in understanding. I myself wanted some conformation, but Luna spoke first. "And do you know how life was for humans before this?" she asked.
I shrugged and gave a succinct answer. "Hard, short, and preferably boring, according to what I've learned."
"Mmm," Celestia said while resting her chin on her hoof. "As strange as it is, I feel a certain joy as I learn this. Your people have advanced themselves rapidly out of necessity. My own little ponies might seem stagnant by comparison, but that indicates something joyous, in a way."
"I guess that's true," I said, half to myself. "If you have magic to help you and everyone lives happy and healthy lives for centuries, what's the hurry to improve?"
"And so I assume you must be schooled in a new lore," Luna said. "Advanced healing."
"You could say that. Medical care has come a long way. I wouldn't have survived this if it hadn't," I said and poked my right shoulder. "In fact, I've read that if one injured their eye like me a few hundred years ago, chances are they were living on borrowed time since it was almost impossible to keep the wounds clean," I continued before looking up at the assembled ponies and regretting that last part. They didn't seem to enjoy hearing about that detail.
"You seem to have done a study on the subject," Luna said. "Despite your youth, you keep striking me as a scholar."
"Well," I said bashfully. "I don't know about that. It's just layman's knowledge, really."
"Perhaps. But you've found the time to learn in addition to training for a dedicated profession," Luna insisted.
"Computers make it easy to learn for those who want to," I said. I guess I might've spent more time than your average person studying various topics. But what else would I do on my free time? TV these days is all about adding the illusion of drama where there clearly is none to be had. Yes! All those chefs really want to win those cooking competitions, I get it! Virtual academies are, frankly, more entertaining than that.
"Further fueling your technological advancement, I take it?" Celestia said. "Knowledge easily gained is as much a blessing as a hard lesson learned."
"That sounds right," I said with a shrug.
Twilight looked like she was ready to explode and just stopped herself from shouting something and instead said in an indoor voice. "I had planned to ask you... or, well, you see, I've been looking through my notes on Starswirl's orb, and I think that I might be able to teleport something from your world, if we're careful and I get some help," she said and started fidgeting with her hooves, which looked so adorable, I swear it actually made the air smell sweet. "I was going to ask you if there was anything you'd like me to retrieve from your home. Things that can't be replaced, perhaps. But, well, you said you have a computer and I thought that, maybe, I can take a look at it?"
"Sure," I said with a shrug. "That doesn't mean that you're able to send me back, right?"
"I'm afraid not," Celestia said. "Myself and Luna have looked through the results as well. We suspect that trying would be very risky, and in all likelihood, you'd remain a unicorn if we succeeded."
"Alright, in that case, I'm fine with staying here, thank you." I suspect that if a friendly alien really was found on Earth, it wouldn't really be autopsied by shady government agents, but I still don't want to deal with whatever would happen.
-
My suite was luxurious, I would never deny that, but it paled in comparison to Princess Celestia's personal abodes. In fact, while many royal castles back home are not entirely owned by the royal families, when I asked about it, Princess Celestia said that Canterlot Castle was entirely owned by her, and her alone. So from one point of view, my "personal" suite was part of Celestia's private chambers. It seemed like a good way to skip red tape, when an ambassador arrives, her majesty can just say "she can have one of my rooms". No need for a committee or a board to approve financing anything and things like that. I guess that means that Luna, along with the royal guards and a large number of personnel and aristocrats were lodgers. But I digress...
We were situated in a large chamber. As always, soft red carpets adorned the floor and a multitude of portraits hung on the wall. This was part of Celestia's "apartment" which apparently housed Twilight's old study, and this room, which seemed like Celestia's lounge, or at least one of them. Really, it was pretty much a whole wing of the castle.
"Alright, I don't think it should matter, but just in case. Could you stand outside, Private Armor?" Twilight said. "We want as few disturbances as possible."
"Yes, your highness," Armor said, and I heard the door close behind him.
"We are ready, Twilight Sparkle," Luna said.
"Alright, good... Uh, were you speaking for yourself or for both of you?" Twilight asked Luna.
Luna looked awkward and her sister let out a small giggle. "I am ready as well," Celestia said.
"Okay, just a minute," I said. "I'm not used to writing with quills."
Celestia had the idea to leave a note at my apartment where I could tell anyone who searches my home, most likely the police and/or my landlord, that I was alive and well. "Alright, done," I said.
Luna took the parchment I had written in her magic and scanned through it. Unsurprisingly, she looked very confused near the end. "What does this mean?" she asked and pointed near the bottom of the message. "'It does not need to rub the lotion on its skin', with a smiling circle next to it?"
"It's from a kidnapping story," I said. "I disappeared without a trace, and the authorities might suspect the worst. That's there because I don't think anyone can make that reference under duress."
"Sounds ominous," she said. You have no idea. "Even so, very clever." I hope so. It could have the opposite effect.
"Alright, We'll start some ways away from where you work, Gabrielle, so that we won't have a repeat incident," Twilight said. "Then you'll help guide me to your home while Celestia and Luna suppresses any unwanted magical effects."
"Sounds like a plan," I said. "I'm ready."
I looked into the orb as Twilight's horn lit up and suddenly felt like the images in the orb took up all my visual capacity. It was a bit like using magic to perceive the world, in that sight was overridden with another sense, a bit away from where you're used to sight being situated.
"Alright," I heard Twilight say. "Where do we go?"
"Uh, whoo," I started, a bit disoriented. "Let me just get used to this."
"We should be looking down on the city where you worked."
"Okay," I said a bit hesitantly. "I think I got it. You'll want to go, I guess it's north by northeast."
"Okay, uh, which way is that?"
"You see the ugly, plain, grey building? Keep an... eye, out for a crossroad with metal poles with lamps with different colors, and follow that road."
"I see it," Twilight said. "Just try and relax, Gabrielle. Let me handle the moving part and you'll just tell me where we should go."
"This is quite the city," Luna said. "What was that big, grey building? It looked like an enormous storage."
"Ah... of sorts," I said. "Those vehicles I was talking about? People can keep them there when they're not in use. Alright, take a right down this crossroad." At first, this was very disorienting, and it still was, if a bit less so. It was a bit like looking at someone else using a map on the internet. Some directions later and we found ourselves, for lack of a better term, outside my former home.
"This is where I lived," I said. Twilight eased us into my apartment. It looked almost like how I left it. Someone had apparently been rifling through my drawers and my wardrobe, but it didn't seem like anything had been taken.
"Okay, Gabrielle, tell me what you want me to get for you," Twilight said.
"There's a big book on a shelf in the big room to the left, and some cylinders in the bottom drawer of the desk."
"Alright, here we go," Twilight said. I heard a sound like muted chimes which turned out to be Twilight preparing powerful magic and then what I'll describe as a magical-sounding pop. "It seems to have worked," Twilight said.
I pulled away from the orb and felt a bit groggy as the real world came back to me. I looked at the big table beside us and true enough, there they were. My things.
I smiled and looked back at the orb and let it take over my senses again. "Thanks. Now, there's a guitar case leaning against the wall behind that screen. That, and everything that's in it, please."
"You play the guitar?" Twilight asked.
I couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Not really."
"Oh, sorry. I'll just..." Twilight said before trailing off and repeating the teleport-procedure.
"Thanks," I said. "Now, what you're after is mainly a black, metallic box on the desk. But you'll also want the thing that looks like a thick, framed, black painting that's facing the one sitting at the desk, as well as the speakers, the small... I don't really know how to describe its appearance, two boards with lots of buttons on them and all the wires connected to all the things."
"Uh. I think I might need some help with this," Twilight said, uncertain.
"Don't worry, Twilight," Celestia said. "I'll help."
"You'll wanna be careful with them," I said. "They're pretty delicate. And don't forget the small box on top of the big box," I added.
A few seconds later, my personal computer and every related object was resting, intact, on the table. A pretty stout, stationary rig, laptops just not being the same when you only have half a lap.
"Alright," Twilight said. "Now let's see if can leave the message somewhere it might be found."
"Just put it anywhere. Parchments are pretty eye-catching over there," I said.
"Okay," Twilight said and once again I heard her magic firing up. "It's... not... working," she said in a strained voice.
"Never fear, Twilight Sparkle, I shall assist you," Luna said.
A few seconds later, the parchment flew across the room, the room we were in, with such speed that it left a small dent on the thick oak doors on the far side and caught on fire, with the guards opening the door in alarm and noticing the gently burning paper on the floor and a unicorn among them wordlessly carrying it out and closing the door behind them.
"I've decided that I'm fine with staying here," I slowly said after a pause, not sure if I should look horrified or laugh.
Twilight let out a disappointed sigh. "I guess it's not a big surprise. The orb is one-way, after all."
I jumped a little as Celestia put her hoof on my shoulder. "Gabrielle, could you please look me in the eyes and tell me whether you're really fine with staying in Equestria," she said.
It was one of those strange situations where positive thoughts have to be pushed aside for other positive thoughts. In this case, the humor of what I just saw made way for Celestia's care and sympathy.
I looked her in the eyes, windows to an ancient, powerful and benevolent soul, and thought hard before I answered. About Redheart, about Twilight, about Twilight's friends, about Celestia and Luna, about Zecora. Not even a week here and I've made more friends and seen more amazing things than the entire last decade back home. Earth can be a wonderful place, but compared to my short time in Equestria, maybe it wasn't the place for me anymore.
"Yes."
Celestia smiled at me. "Then let me, again, welcome you to Equestria, my little pony," she said and I realized that I was still wrapping my head around the whole idea about living here, in the magical world of Equestria.
I couldn't help but give a small smile at her words. "Thank you," I said quietly.
"Now then, shall we make sure that your belongings arrived here intact?" She asked and pointed to the table with her wing.
I moved over to the table and looked at the various things. "It all looks fine," I said and pulled the memories closer.
"You only wanted one book?" Twilight asked.
"It's not a book," I answered without looking up, having a small smile as I opened up the photo album.
I didn't see my parents smiling back at me, since none of the pictures on the first page had them looking at the camera. But smile they did. Especially one vacation photo where mom was giggling desperately from being tickled by a dozen small clawed feet belonging to colorful parrots, who were very interested in the cup of nectar that dad held up next to her face.
I had seen these pictures countless times. I knew the bittersweet joy of watching memories frozen in time, the melancholy of reaching the end and realizing that there would never be any more of them, and the comfort of knowing that even so, the ones I had would not go anywhere.
The princesses had gathered around me and was looking at the pictures in silence. I looked at Twilight and saw an expression that I could not interpret, and felt Celestia put a wing around me.
"They will always be with you," she said.
"... I know," I said and closed the album, not being able to shake the feeling that she wasn't just talking to me.
Luna lifted one of the other objects into the air. "Ah," she said. "A technology I recognize. These would be photo negatives, would they not?"
"Yep. And that smaller box on top of my computer serves a similar purpose, so I'd like to keep that one for myself, please," I said and pointed to the external hard drive.
After Luna gently carried it down to the table, I pulled the guitar case towards me, which gave me a sense of how small I was now. I had to use my hoof as it was too heavy to use my magic on. I unlatched the lid and opened it up. Resting inside was one of the most beautiful things the worlds had ever seen, softly mirroring the light with its deep cherry-red gleam. I had never gotten very good at playing it before the accident, but both my parents had. "You have guitars here, too, right?" I asked.
"We do indeed," Celestia said.
I decided then, that I'm gonna learn again, probably by using magic. As even if I had both my... forelegs, it would be many years before I was big enough to reach properly around it. Still, I gently caressed the strings with my hoof. Still perfectly in tune. I'm probably gonna practice on a less precious one, though. I dug around in the soft interior and pulled out what I was looking for, a harmonica and a kerchief.
I took the harmonica in my hoof and brought it to my muzzle, and since magical ponies around here didn't have those rubbery horse lips, I could play it just as well as I could as a human, which was not very well but at least I had the capacity to improve.
Lastly was the kerchief. An instrument this fine needs care, and this was used extensively to keep the guitar polished and its strings dry. I brought it up to my nose and gently breathed in, being well aware that scent was strongly connected to memories.
"Thank you," I said. "This is all I wanted."
The princesses had been very quiet throughout the whole thing, and I realized that this must have seemed like a powerful moment for me. Which, in fairness, it was. "Alright, the rest is yours," I said and gestured towards the computer, with paraphernalia. "Just remember, electrical current which alternate directions sixty times per second."
This finally seemed to shake Twilight out of her stupor. "You'll help us get this running, right?"
"Yeah, sure," I said. "Just, don't pick apart the components. You need, like, probably three scientific fields or more before learning computer science and they're gonna be hard to recreate. If you're not having any luck, maybe we can see about getting some books on the subject."
Twilight walked up to me and hugged me so eagerly that she lifted me out of my chair. "Oh, thank you!" she said.
"Don't get too excited, your highness," I said as she put me down. "I'm not really sure how to get those books without access to the internet. And tell me if you want me to show you the games I have on it."
"Games?" Luna said in a surprised voice. "Perhaps we should move these to a place suitable for study."
"You're right!" Twilight said excitedly and grabbed the whole collection in her magic and started skipping excitedly towards the door. "We'll be right back! And don't worry, I have some pretty good spells for repairing things!" she called as she and Luna exited the room.
I saw my main source of entertainment being taken away by an eager unicorn and was strangely unaffected. I was a more avid gamer than one might think, considering my limited ability to interact with the input devices, but between the mementos from my parents being back in my possession, and the feeling of anticipation at starting a new life here, I didn't really care much.
Celestia looked at my guitar and asked "May I?"
I nodded and she gently took it out with her magic and started familiarizing herself with the tuning. Hm. I didn't figure her majesty for a musician. I guess I thought she'd have chamber musicians for that. I wonder what type of music they have here. I thought, before realizing something and started digging around in a side pack of the case. Breathing out a happy sigh as I found the thick collection of tablature.
As Celestia was gently plinking away at the guitar, I looked around the room. In the corner was a potted plant, but that wasn't what caught my attention, it was the broken piece of mirrored glass and the piece of paper in a ribbon hanging from a twig that caught my attention.
I slowly wheeled over to the plant and watched. For some reason, I found this little arrangement fascinating. I reached out my hoof to the piece of paper and looked at it. On it, a single word was written in a beautifully flowing penmanship.
Always
"Your majesty? If you don't mind me asking, what is this?" I asked as I let go of the piece of paper and instead turned my attention to the mirror shard.
"Just Celestia is fine. At least in situations like this one. And it is a small part of a wishing garden. Like this-" she said as I looked back at her and saw her gently put my guitar back in its case "- it is a reminder. Of another time and another place."
I slowly reached out with my hoof towards the shard and inspected it. As I turned it around to see my face in it, the reflection suddenly went dark and all I could see in it were a pair of malicious-looking, emerald-green eyes in a purple mist looking at me. The whole thing lasted a fraction of a second and came so suddenly that I couldn't even let out a proper gasp.
"Gabrielle? Are you okay?" Celestia asked behind me.
I took a moment to ensure that I was as she walked up to me. "I... yes," I said. "But I think I saw something."
Celestia put a wing around me and gently led me away from the small tree. "Yes, I know. It is not an entirely happy memory," she said in a heavy voice.
As I was being wheeled away from the small tree, I craned my neck and looked back at the mirror shard, and as strange and possibly cliched as it sounds, I felt it looking back at me.
Stats
Page generated in 0.093 seconds
Total duration
1,019 users online
1,856,692 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
I might be wrong, but is that is supposed to be are? It reads a lot better to me that way.
Nice chapter, though I still think there should have been some sort of limitation to what, and how much, or often (maybe even a time limit since her arrival) things can be retrieved. As it is, the princesses can all get together and get stuff whenever they want, or Gabe wants.
I wonder what she's going to say if the ponies get the computer up and running without her present and find her porn collection... I would be shocked to find an adult without a porn collection on their personal computer.
Wow, I think its more of she terrified of what might happen at the moment should they try to send her back.
6029927 Done. Must've missed that when I proofread it.
Well, sure, they technically could. But it seems like strong magnetic fields, and possibly other things, could have unwanted results, which makes prolonged scrying risky, even with Gabe's help. As it is, Gabe has everything she really wants, and pretty soon, her stuff will most likely be gone. Taking anything after that will be theft
6030683 *Waves hand* Ooh! Ooh! Me! I don't have any!
6030851 Luckily, they're not so eager to send her back that they won't make sure it works with an inanimate object first
6030292 All conversations in the Royal Guards' lounge suddenly stopped as dozens of mohawk-adorned pony-heads stopped and looked with shocked expressions at Lab. After a few seconds, one of the guards closest to the door gently and quietly pushed it open and peered out into the yard. After what for the guards felt like an agonizingly long time, the guardspony slowly shut the door and gave a small nod at the room at large.
"So how about that local sports-team, eh?" one voice nervously said over the silence, followed by nervous laughter from all assembled and the mood in the room slowly returned to normal.
What brought this on? Well, Captain Shining Armor was barely out of his sixties when he was made commander of the greatest fighting force in all of Equestria, through ability and dedication alone. He made quite a splash in the military, but not as big a splash as the ones using that particular pet name did on the training field with him. That name will not be used lightly for many years.
(good joke, though
)
Oh, you think you're so clever universe, letting them take stuff out, but preventing them from putting stuff in so the humans will never know. Well Twilight Sparkle will get the last laugh, when she teleports things into Equestria in morse code, thereby communicating with this human world purely by omission!
Invoking EQG was probably a bad idea in this fic. They could just shove her through the mirror and she comes out human again no problem. It's easy enough to overlook the obvious solution that mirror presents, but it doesn't really help the story to incorporate it.
6043073 Ah, thanks. Missed that.
An easier solution might be to just try and open a portal to Earth. At least, that's plan A
You mean using the mirror to turn Gabe back into a human? I certainly wouldn't want that if I was in Gabe's... shoe. Things are looking up for her as a unicorn, after all.
6043073 Ah, but it isn't her world or humans.
Hmm... was that a call back to the Reflection Arc at the end?
6063307 Perhaps a callback, perhaps something else. Now aren't there any emoticons looking coy? Because I need one here.
6068246 You're welcome.
surprised that this story has not gotten more ratings/views. Great job in writing it and will be looking forward for every update.
6137686 Well, just short of a thousand views and a like/dislike-ratio of 30 to 1 (once 40 to 1) is something I'm pretty happy about regardless
And thank you for the compliment. I'll try and keep it rolling
6170501 Lot's of quacking oranges everywhere, perhaps?
6171037 Don't analyze my dialogue too deeply, you'll notice the seams
Great fic, I want more.
~Crystalline Electrostatic~
6184317 A heat wave delayed me, but it's coming along again.
A modern computer or monitor power supply that's not trying to pinch pennies may be pretty darn flexible, accepting anything from 100V (Japan) to 240V (UK) input at 50Hz or 60Hz without any need to flip switches (It's cheaper if you have one assembly line for the entire global market and just package different power cords at the last step) and the wall warts for many things like external hard drives are following suit, but it's still perfectly reasonable to overshoot that range and damage things. (Or waver across the bottom end of the range and get data corruption and/or spurious reboots.)
If they could send something of value back or were OK with a one-time theft of a nearly cost-less item, I'd suggest swiping one of those $1 LCD pocket voltage detectors with 12-240V range from a dollar store.
6188660 The first part in the upcoming chapter actually addresses just that (in an off-hand fashion), but Gabe (and the princesses) don't wanna use the orb and magic on Earth if its not necessary before they learn more about how magic works there, so she's gonna play it safe.
6188675 I like Earth-Equestria contact stories as well, and stories when Earth and Equestria has already made contact and explores cultural quirks from outsiders' perspectives, like Pillow Case.
I'm not entirely confident about my abilities to write a contact-fic that's interesting or realistic, let alone both, but here's what would be unusual about 'MLAABQ: Second Contact': I haven't specified Gabe's nationality 'cause I haven't felt there would be much of point, but if I ever do, she's not American, or British, or from any other large power that everyone can place on a map, and Equestria would first make contact with her nation, so a small run-of-the-mill country would suddenly have the most say of all Earth powers when it comes to diplomacy and commerce with a whole other world
PS: Thanks for that group-submission. I assume that was you?
6188794
I definitely agree. We need more stories like that...or just more well-written stories with external perspective on humans in general. (eg. I like both the inner and outer stories in AdmiralTigerclaw's Change is Good equally.)
6188805 "Mhm," he mumbled and turned his attention to a pile labeled 'To Read' until he found the story that ssokolov mentioned, picking it out and placing near the top.
The scroll being atomized and her nonchalant reaction to it were very amusing, good work.
6188660 Or, they could borrow a non-valuable electric device from Gabe's house. Perhaps a simple lamp would do. If that lamp works, chances are Equestria's electrical systems are fairly similar to America's (I assume that's where Gabe is from), and therefore Gabe's computer should work just fine (aside from not having an internet connection). If it doesn't work, perhaps some type of electric meter could be manufactured in Equestria, eliminating the need for even petty theft.
Of course, that's all assuming that A) Equestria has electricity, and B) Equestria's power outlets have the same shape as those in America (or wherever).
6188660 6474497 Ssokolow has the right idea: snag a meter from her Earth to measure the voltage and frequency before applying it to the computer.
There would still be the need to ensure the ponies can supply the amperage, but that's far less damaging in the event of an insufficient supply than if they apply too great a voltage to the system.
I'm assuming that Gabe would be writing this story as her diary once she settled down. I would love to know what Celestia and the other ponies would think of Gabe's "random thoughts and ideas" that seeing their society through her eyes would result in more than a few laughs
Also, I'm sort of glad that their experiment to send something to her Earth resulted in a failure too spectacular to want to try again anytime soon--true, her prosthesis didn't accompany her to Equestria, but I'd be extremely leery of sending her back with a magical artificial pony's eye in her socket--just imagine if she did go back and the artificial eye went with her--the delivery could be rather....messy
of
*of
Alondro nods, "If I got turned into a pony, I totally would..."
Which is, of course, exactly what I meant.
Indeed, knowledge greatly increased and men began to run to and fro.
Things started getting simply revalation-ary.
Gamer Luna and hopefully Undertale. To see these ponies with absolutely no idea what they're getting into accidentally Toriel...
... I'm a horrible person.
That opening line. Just wow.
Not how I'd describe the industrial revolution - she describes one of the major developments that furthered it, but not really what it was.
6030683
Except that by Equestrian standards she's a pre-pubescent kid...
...with a giant stash of alien-fetish porn.
7141300 uuuuuuhuuuuuuh........
Something that's been nagging me that I don't see anyone else pointing out here:
For something like a piece of paper to leave a dent in a wooden door, it needs to be moving at a truly absurd speed. I wonder what would have happened if Twilight and Luna were trying to move something heavy like metal, or even something alive. Neither case is looking pretty.
8050551 I figured the magic around the paper is what caused the dent and the paper caught on fire from the friction from moving at high speeds.
What a way to start a chapter
8131961 It could have a perverted intention, if you know what I mean...
Parchments are pretty eye-catching over there," I said.
*All the eye puns!
and caught on fire, with the guards opening the door in alarm and noticing the gently burning paper on the floor and a unicorn among them wordlessly carrying it out and closing the door behind them.
*And their goes your letter that would have sparked something in the news.
And now would be a good time to stay in Equestria. don't you think?
Well you can be an even better gamer now that you have magic on your side. Imagine... pressing all the right things at once! Man if humans went up against unicorns in video games we would be screwed/out matched.
Heh. This is great.
8228806
I had a feeling that would get some comments when I wrote it
Couldn't handle it you could have used this video its only 19 mins and 25 seconds long (I Personally think its funny)
8238049
*Snerk*
It's a funny mental exercise to try and imagine what Luna would say about that video, yes
My guess is that mirror shard will be important in the future.
8271763
It is, but things are gonna get even better
8271951
You guess correctly.
I haf some strange thoughts about Celestia calling everyone her "little ponies", so sometimes that can even sound weird coming from her.
8798023
I keep having to stop myself from touching the inside of my orifices all the time, and instead get some paper to blow the content out into
8798026
Just play the tape again
I just love references to the Reflections comic arc.
3:30 am. I blame you.
9073996
Heh, I was just gonna say that it sounded like you didn't have a lot of time, so I hoped it would be an enjoyable read, but it seems like you liked it
I'm twirling my mustache by the way
Edit 7/29/2019:
I like this phrase, considering how it's both right and wrong. It's considered pretty much impossible to make a self-aware AI by hand, but allowing the AI to become self-aware through learning algorithms is getting very close to becoming a reality.
If AI become sapient, it won't be because of us.
9848816
I can guarantee you that AI won't be a threat to us in my lifetime, since I can wreck any software. Artificial intelligence will never be able to compete with my naturally occuring stupidity