Where no mare has gone before.

by Tobbzn

Chapter 4

Despite the community it hosted, the stargazing opportunities at the CERN complex itself were terrible - there was far too much light pollution. Luckily, if you ever tried to look up, the solution would present itself.

Tarry parked his car half-way up the slope of the mountain. That the swiss alps were so close was a blessing, not only for recreational activities such as skiing and messing with the laws of nature, but also his current endeavor.

He had never been much of an astronomer, but Christina had quite an interest, so he ended up chivalrously carrying her telescope. It wasn't strictly speaking necessary - the Pegasus constellation would be quite visible with the naked eye - but she had insisted that going stargazing without a telescope was a waste.

He didn't mind though - he supposed that meant they'd spent more time here than was needed for her proposed experiment.

"This looks like a good spot. Let's set up base here."

Christina had found a small ledge suitable for sitting on while gazing, so they set up the telescope next to it. It didn't take long before Christina had focused it, and got Tarry to take a look and "tell her what he saw." Since he barely knew anything about stars and constellations, he decided to poke fun at his own ignorance.

"Based on my expert knowledge of astrophysics, those are stars."

After a short laugh, somewhat stymied by her palm covering her face, she explained that she meant to ask which stars they were.

"Well, stand back! I think I got this. Betazed, Gallifrey and Betelgeuse?"

If not, he'd have to start using the names of famous musicians, since he had now run out of "real" star names.

"Of those, only Betelgeuse is an existing star, you know." She sighed.

Great! Now I can make a Ringo Starr pun!

"It's actually what we came here to see - the Pegasus constellation," she continued before he could figure out how to tell his brilliant joke.

Oh. Does she want to leave already, then?

"We shouldn't base our conclusion upon just one observation though." She smiled slyly. "That's not scientific. We should keep watching to make sure. That is, if you have the time?"

What a wonderfully literalist, intentional misinterpretation of the scientific method.

"I have more than enough; according to relativity, time slows down in an attractor field." He winked.

---

Daniel opened his aching eyes to a dark room. He assumed he was at the hospital by now, though his vision was too clouded to verify it.

"He...o?" he whispered with a wheeze. Talking was difficult, as he couldn't feel his tongue, and he had a respirator mask covering his mouth.

No response. Fumbling for his phone, he discovered not only his lack thereof, but also how weak the incident had left him. He also had some problems breathing, which was no surprise considering the time he had spent near a liquid helium leak.

He wasn't afraid, though - he wouldn't have woken up like this unless he was out of danger. Had there been complications, there would have been someone taking care of him. He trusted the doctors to have made the right call.

A few days of relaxation - a week, tops - and he'd be able to function again.

As the hours slowly passed, he pondered what he had found, and whether or not it was still alive. He hoped it was, and that he would be able to see it again soon.

While the events of today hadn't exactly been inherently positive, it was a significant change from his otherwise dreary existence. For the first time in what seemed like forever, he felt like he had been important. He had been the centerpiece of something great. He had made a great discovery. He was sure of it.

Eventually, he fell asleep with a grin on his face. And when he did, he dreamt of what he had seen.

---

This time, it was noise that woke her.

Her skin still burned, but her nerves had been deadened by the intensity of it, so she wasn't very aware of it unless she tried moving, and her nose had long since become accustomed to the smell. She could now open her eyes, but only by truly straining the muscles behind them could she see anything. Her attention were not on her eyes, though.

It sounded like voices were talking. Had somepony found her? The thought made her wings pulse with joy.

"Help..."

She could barely manage a whisper. It hurt to breathe, let alone talk, yet she had to call out whoever it was, so they would notice that she needed assistance.

"Help... Me..."

The voices kept talking, but she couldn't make out what they were saying. Gathering up her will, she defied her body's refusal and moved her head as much as she could. She barely moved an inch, but she was positive it had made more noise than her futile cry.

The voices stopped talking, and soon she felt something soft push against her neck. Finally, somepony had found her. She would be safe.

She wasn't sure if her tears were caused by pain or joy.

---

From the pegasus' pulse, it seemed to either be having a seizure or a nightmare - it was obviously very stressed. Somewhat ruining the good mood they had, he barked an order at Christina to prepare some lorazepam, which normally was used to treat epileptic fits in humans, but it was the treatment most likely to work off the top of his head.

As she ran off, he went around to take a look at its eyes. The first thing he noticed was that there was a stream of water trickling to a small pond at the foot of the pillow. He was about to lift its eyelids when they opened on their own.

For a moment, they froze and stared at each other. Gradually, the creature's facial expression turned to shock and fear.

Comments

[Bomarck]

.......of course you end the chapter that way

[Tobbzn]

530530
Here, have a heart for caring.

[just moar]

Cliffhangers, you hate them but you can't live without them.

And awesome story, cant wait for the next chapter

[GrimPInkamena]

T^T Rainbooooooww

good chapter!

[Northwest Brony]

I personally would have traded in update speed for chapter length, but anything you produce is masterful.

[KingOfTheMuffins]

Well, time to go to chapter si-

*only sees 5, which is the one I'm on*

WHAT KIND OF DEVIL-WORSHIPPING WITCHCRAFT IS THIS!?

:C

[~FightThePower~]

let me state the physical impossibility's here (constructive critisizm alert)

1) an object can not go the speed of light or it would have to have infinante mass.
2) drag cannot be reduced or that would break the laws of physics, the only place where the laws can be broken is in a black hole
3) multiple sonic booms cannot be acheved after that the mock cone that forms around an object (indicating it has broken the sound barrier) becomes acuter.
4) time can only be slowed in the black hole.
5) pretty shure rainbow would have died.

but other than that its pretty good

i can be your proof reader for physical impossibility's if you want, im kinda an egghead... ok im a HUGE egg head.encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR2A6shKROKkF3xwmGjwZEn_28Sl3cDe3yiGYxp8Hkc0do1HrBgFA

[idk12345678910]

531014 There's a reasonable explanation for all of this:
magic.
All of what you said may be true in our world, but all that kind of goes out the window when you go into the world of My Little Pony , as they have a very different definition of physics than we do.

[Gyro Steambass]

And this chapter is called happines!?

[Tobbzn]

531014
While your offer is appreciated, I'm a physicist myself, so some of the fun for me lies in taking into account the physics.
The whole reason I wanted to write this story was to explore some of the physical differences between Equestria and our world, and eventually offer a field theoretical explanation of how Magic works.

1. The speed of light is not conserved in Equestria - I never said anything in our world moved at the speed of light. I said the neutrinos from the CERN experiment had an apparent speed higher than c, in accordance to the OPERA anomaly.
2. Magic can circumvent "our" ideas of physics to a certain degree. To make a simile, if you were in a capsule falling from space to earth, the "effective drag" would have been negated somewhat by the force of gravity. If an observer from a world without gravity was to see this, they would consider it magic. An aerodynamic shape would also reduce the drag experienced.
3. The picture that goes with the story is sort of foreshadowing an explanation of this. If you understand it from just that, kudos to you.
4. Actually, time only STOPS in a black hole. It's slowed all the time both due to attractor fields such as gravity (See General theory of relativity) and the relative motion of inertial systems. (See the Special theory of Relativity)
5. She would have, but the "Wrap" Twilight cast has some interesting properties that limited the damage. Ever wondered why the USS Enterprise from Star Trek doesn't get blown up by space dust when it goes to warp?

Thanks for the feedback though, if you find other things confusing, I'll be more than happy to address it.

532831
Well, until the last sentence, everyone was happy.

[~FightThePower~]

532854

soooo... in fan fics we can write anything we want?!?!encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS3RQdwm1NNxVE2KbNs4u0cq955Vy-KR84-8Csa1p-tWsnr69XgYg

THE POSSIBILITY'S!!!!!encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS6sr9LdKzYtDauDge0vwcpG2BfLZE__nOcsRWmLnmK0dUgfkm6

[Tobbzn]

535558
First off, I re-read your initial comment.
1) A particle moving at light speed would not have infinite mass, it would have no mass at all. If it had mass, it would have had infinite momentum and energy, which I think was the point you were trying to convey.

As to what you can do with fanfics...
Yes, you can write anything, but it doesn't mean you should.

For instance, making Twilight be Opalesence's little sister and also the mother of Scootaloo AND Celestia doesn't make sense to anyone who has watched the series, and would most likely be poorly received.

[~FightThePower~]

awesome

[Andy-025]

532854 Or in English

It's Magic I don't have to explian shit

[Shellsh0cker]

Oh Celestia, nerd flirting. They're so adorable.

[Clockwise Gear]

[youtube=GhMvKv4GX5U]

"I have more than enough; according to relativity, time slows down in an attractor field."

Ugh. That was brilliantly horrible.

[iloveportalz0r]

530530 dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Rainbow_Dash_lolface.png

[Focusphobia]

531014
That picture is hilarious.
Or it would be, if The Gaze of Bruce Willis didn't scare the crap out of me...

[Zombieinferno32]

MY my my when did these two arrive? luckily they didint run or cause a scene when Rainbowdash finally awoken? so now Rainbow Dash is completely bare and her wings and all her mane has been singed off. funny thing exposer to radiation can cause some serious permanent damage. Hope rainbow dash recover her feather and hair loss. But still a very suspenseful story, keep up the good work chap.

[fuckyoudeletemyaccount]

I freaking love the geeky little date. I have GOT to use some of those lines!

[Norad2]

"I have more than enough; according to relativity, time slows down in an attractor field."

That pun physically hurt.

[Zanec]

That the swiss alps were so close was a blessing, not only for recreational activities such as skiing and messing with the laws of nature

Ha, we like this little jab.