An Ally Called Preponderance

by Myriad Kay

January 11, 2016. 1:50 AM

When I spoke to Preponderance, I was the less experienced individual when it came to interplanetary travel. Speaking to Applebloom, I found, reversed these roles. After our first exchange I felt I had done adequately well at providing the visitors help and assuring their safety. When I received my next call from Applebloom, I realized with her first words that I had overlooked absolutely every important question I should have asked.

"The grass here is poisoned."

I asked her what she meant. Apparently, the three of them had been digging around in the snow to find live grass to eat. After Scootaloo located a sufficiently-sized clump and consumed it, she was rewarded with only horrible flavor and, shortly thereafter, vomiting. My first instinct was to wonder why anyone would try to eat grass, but I quickly dismissed that notion as I realized that my world's grass was not their world's grass.

Questioning them further, I discovered even more facts that painted the situation as a bleaker than I had first realized. For one, their "shelter" was a cardboard box they had found lying by the road near the woods. Even huddling against one another for warmth, the winter night had been growing colder than they anticipated and the damp cardboard was not providing much protection. For two, the food source they had been counting on was apparently inedible, and the water they had already drank was very likely unsafe for them (Applebloom at one point embarrassedly admitted that all of them had "used the woods" a lot since then). For three, they had no understanding of how to get home, and very little understanding of the circumstances that brought them here. Apparently, they had crashed through the neighborhood scientist's window of all things, finding themselves in their new surroundings without ever learning of the experiment they interrupted.

I was not looking forward to breaking the truth of the situation to what I now knew were three cold, lost children. "I need you all to listen to me," I said, addressing them in the same sympathetic-but-firm voice I used for a group of failing students. "This is not your home world, and food and even water that are normal here may be dangerous to you. Not only that, but the people of this world know very little about traveling between planets." I took a deep breath. "The notebook you found may have information that can help you get home, but beyond that there will be very little our world's technology can to do help you."

The three children were silent. Up to this point, they had been optimistic, quick to answer questions, and speaking as though I could guide them to some magic train to their home world. I watched, apprehensively, as their composure slowly broke. Applebloom gulped. Sweetiebell had tears in her eyes, and Scootaloo was speechless, mouth agape.

Applebloom was the first to respond. "I... I rightly thank you for your honesty, Dr. Sydney. If it helps you any, any at all, I tried to use this phone thing's glow to read some of the book, though I didn't get far. Do you know what a 'veils pawn' is?"

"I do not. What did the book say?"

She shook her head. "Like I said, I didn't get that far into it. The light is dim and the hoofwriting ain't that good. And cursive, to make things worse." I couldn't help but roll my eyes at this last part; I had never thought a first-contact scenario would make me feel like an elementary school teacher.

"Later I'll show you how to take pictures of it and you can show me the pages. For now, we need to get you somewhere safe. You said you were near a road?"

Applebloom gave a quick nod, peering out the side of their cardboard box. "It's up the hill. I don't wanna get ran over by one of them big carriages, though."

"Keep just off the edge—or on the very edge if you have to—and follow it until you find a sign saying the road's name. One of you carry the phone so you can see where you're going, and I'll try to help you find shelter.

My view rustled as the phone was dragged around and lifted up. The camera adjusted to the new angle and focused on Applebloom and Sweetiebell, leading me to conclude Scootaloo had taken up the mantle of phone-holder. With the phone off the ground, this marked the first real look I had at the alien creatures' bodies. They were short quadrupeds, lacking any apparent digits on their hands or feet (which I suppose explained why they used their mouths for tactile manipulation). The bend of their back and neck was distinctly equine, though the similarities did not reach far beyond that. I had heard them use the word "pony" several times in reference to their own species, which I supposed was as accurate as anything else. Applebloom had a black backpack tied sideways around her midsection, presumably the bag they had recovered from Preponderance.

Outside their box, the three of them (or, perhaps, four of us) walked along the road for several minutes in silence. Though I couldn't see any signs or lights, the snow along the shoulder was thankfully shallow enough to not inhibit movement. Looking up from my screen, I gazed at the perpetual blizzard just outside the airport's tall glass windows, feeling a tinge of jealousy for the tamer American weather. I was lost in the thought when Applebloom's voice pulled me out of my reverie. "Are there other ponies on this world?"

I wasn't entirely sure how to answer, so I went for detail. "We have creatures we call ponies, but they're not like you. They are animals people keep as pets. They have shorter lifespans, and they can't speak."

"So is everyone here like you? A... what's it called, human?"

I was thankful she had specified that she was talking about species, since it simplified my answer. "Yes. There are other creatures, but humans are the only ones who are capable of intelligent thought and speech like you are exhibiting."

"Exib... oh, you mean like showing. You should've just said that, rather than talking fancy." These were children, I reminded myself; even if I apparently shared a language with their species, I had to keep the vocabulary at their level.

Sweetiebell was the next to speak up. "So are there different kinds of humans?" This, I didn’t quite understand, so I asked her to clarify. "Like, I'm a unicorn, so I can use magic. Applebloom is an earth pony, which means she's really strong. Scootaloo is a pegasus, so she'll be able to fly someday". I heard words mumbled directly into the microphone that sounded vaguely like "I can fly now".

Her statements about magic and flight raised questions, but I held off for now. "Not as different as that. Humans come in different sexes, colors, and sizes, but that's about it."

About a solid minute of silence passed before Sweetiebell spoke again. "Are there bad humans we should worry about?"

"Yes," I answered simply.

Before the conversation could continue down that dark path, I spotted the vague shape of a road sign in the distance. After pointing it out to the three ponies, their speed doubled as they made a break for the marker of civilization. In a few short minutes, they stood below a looming sign that marked this as the crossroads of Hayes St. and Annual Way. After their last call, I had spent some time poring over a map of the USA I procured at one of the terminal stores. The children waited as I checked it again; and while Hayes St. was relatively easy to find, Annual Way proved too small to be necessary on a national map. Applebloom had mentioned a river, though, and there was only one place Hayes St. got close to a river. Based on this, they were headed north and about four miles from the nearest town, labeled as Cherry Pike.

"You're going the right way," I announced. "If you go about four more miles you should get to a town." I felt a pang of sympathy for the alien who had been silently holding the phone in her mouth the whole time just so I could have eyes among them. "You can put the phone away and call me back when you're almost to the town. I'll help you get situated there. I mean, find some place to stay and something to eat."

"Alright," Applebloom said. "I reckon it'll just be an hour or so if we hurry. Scoots, you up for a race?" The last thing I saw before the call clicked off was Scootaloo spitting the phone out, giving me an upward shot of her grin as she closed the call.

If I was there in person, it would be a simple matter to get the extraterrestrial visitors the help and resources they needed. However, blizzard-locked in an airport a thousand miles away, it poses a puzzle. I could call the local police, though my claims would likely be laughed away as a prank—or, should I simply call them "lost children" and neglect to mention they are quadrupedal extraterrestrials, risk getting them shot as wild animals. My best option, as it stands, is a puzzle of its own: to guide a second-contact scenario with someone in town who can get them to safety. Once that is under control, I plan to get a colleague there as quickly as I can. Dr. Arbeck is the obvious candidate, both for her zoology knowledge and her proximity, living just north in DC. Someone needs to look at this book and, more excitingly, "claw" left by Preponderance, and I can think of no one more qualified.

For now, though, I plan to pass the time by checking what's in the area.

Comments

[PresentPerfect]

Clever use of the prompt. :3

[Sypher]

Applebloom had mentioned a river, though, and there was only one place place Hayes St. got close to a river.

Repetition here.

This is shaping up to be a really interesting story.

[AppleTank]

Really hope we get to find out what happened to Preponderance

[Twilightsparklefairy]

Ohh, there's the "equine" part. OK, so they are ponies and I can imagine Preponderance looks somewhat pony-like... but... different...