Chapter 3
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 3
“How was it that Amber didn’t recognize her own grandmother, yet she recognized me?”
I stood rigid, not sure how to respond to Twilight Sparkle’s question. On my previous trip, the mare struck me as extremely intelligent. I guess it was too much to hope for her to be an inattentive absent-minded professor type.
“Aren’t you famous? Like, you know, those stained glass windows I saw?” I sputtered.
“I suppose I should start expecting ponies to recognize me and my friends,” she replied. “But I wouldn’t expect that from a pony from another world. And given the timing of her arrival, I doubt she’s toured Canterlot Castle.” She looked in my eyes. “Is there something more you can tell me?”
“Like I said, it’s really hard to explain.”
Twilight Sparkle looked like she wasn’t going to take no for an answer. “Bobbie also mentioned a vision, a television. But since distance doesn’t make sense in the context of the discussion, I suspect it’s a term that’s not translating correctly. Perhaps you could start by talking about that?”
“It’s another technology that I’m guessing you don’t have here,” I said. “What do you use to communicate over long distances?”
“Equestria has an excellent postal system,” Twilight Sparkle replied.
“I mean instantaneous communication.”
“Oh. Dragonfire can transmit scrolls from one place to another. We have magic that duplicates this effect, without requiring a dragon. If you just want to transmit words, though, you can use the telegraph.”
Sounds like there’s no telephone, and no radio either. “Do you have movies?” I asked.
“Oh, yes! But, ah, I don’t watch many movies.”
“Okay. Now picture a movie being filmed, but instead of being captured on film, the camera transmitted the image to every movie screen, as it happened.”
“So, it’s like a movie version of a play?”
“Somewhat. Like I said, it’s hard to explain,” I said. A full explanation would end up touching on every form of media from my world. I had no intention of staying in Equestria that long.
“You, Jason, Bobbie, and Amber all saw glimpses of my battle with Trixie. They were illustrated in a cartoon, like the ones that show before movies. But this cartoon wasn’t captured on film and shown in a movie theater, but transmitted into your individual homes?”
My jaw dropped. “That’s... surprisingly accurate,” I said.
“It sounds preposterous,” Twilight Sparkle commented.
“Like I said earlier, if we can find Jason, there’s a good chance I can show it to you.”
“Right. We need a plan for that.” Out came the scroll and quill, again. “Is there anything more you can tell me about this Jason? Perhaps, something you were afraid of revealing?”
“There’s one worry I have, that Jason won’t want to leave.”
“That’s really for the princesses to decide,” Twilight Sparkle stated.
“But we have to find him first,” I said.
“If all else fails, we can ask Pinkie Pie.”
“If Jason actively tries to blend in, in particular by using a pony name and pretending to be a pony, would she know he was a transformed human?” I asked.
“That’s a good question,” Twilight Sparkle said. “I suspect she would know, but she would also respect his secret identity.” Her horn glowed, and she started writing on the scroll. “Step One: assume Jason arrived in Ponyville, sometime between the arrival of Trixie and now. If he didn’t, we will need a completely different plan, which will probably require involving the princesses. Step Two: Look for unfamiliar ponies in public. With luck, we will find him right away. Step Three: Attend each Pinkie Pie party for a new Ponyville resident. This is likely the surest way to find your friend, but we will be at the mercy of Pinkie Pie’s schedule.” She rolled up the scroll, and it disappeared... somewhere. “So let’s focus on Step Two. Any ideas, John?”
Let’s see. He would need a name to introduce himself, and a place from where he moved. I’m sure he knew enough to create a fake identity good enough to fool any pony who wasn’t suspicious. And ponies as a whole were very open. Of that I was certain, since they were welcoming even to someone like me.
“If Jason is trying to hide his presence, then you shouldn’t call me John. From what I’ve seen, my name doesn’t sound like a pony name, and hearing it would make Jason very suspicious.”
“You’re right. In the big cities, there’s something of a trend toward giving foals names without meaning, but I haven’t seen many examples either here or in Canterlot.”
“I wouldn’t say my name has no meaning,” I said. “It’s just that, where I come from, when you hear John, you think of a common male name.”
“Okay, what does it mean? Your pony name could be the meaning of your real name.”
Like most people, I’ve looked up what my name means. It still took me a moment to remember what it was, and once I did, I frowned. “It means chosen by God. But, um, I don’t know if that even translates.”
“We do have religion, speaking of the concept of a creator and eternal life beyond the mortal realm, what we call the Great Pasture. The concept of a god, an omnipotent divine being, is more closely associated with other races, particularly the griffons and the minotaurs. We ponies have two immortal rulers who, by any academic definition, are gods, but they are very clear about not wanting to be thought of as such.”
That was actually very interesting to learn. I think if I had heard that during my original visit to Equestria, I would have seen it as a fascinating aspect of the strange world to which I had been transported. And now that I knew that this world, as far as I could tell, was the one some person in our world created, that raised even more questions. I doubt religion would ever be discussed in a television show ostensibly for children.
“So, in other words, there isn’t a pony version of my name?” I asked.
Twilight Sparkle shook her head. “Sorry. Now, if I had some idea what kind of magic you specialized in, I would be able to come up with a good name.”
“No magic in my world, remember?”
“That doesn’t mean you don’t have a talent in magic! If we have time, I could teach you something. Maybe you’re good at brewing potions, like in your cutie mark.”
To be honest, the idea of learning to use actual magic was appealing to me, though it still wouldn’t make up for being sent to another world.
“Your world is such a strange one,” Twilight Sparkle mused.
That gave me an idea. “How about Strange Brew?”
Twilight Sparkle nodded. “That fits your cutie mark,” she said. “Nice to make your acquaintance, Strange Brew.”
I nodded. “Now, back to the issue at hand. We should start by looking for a pony around my age,” I said. “Last time, everyone who came here appeared as one of the three pony types, and I don’t think anyone changed age or sex. But at this point, I’m not sure that’s the case. Bobbie certainly didn’t look older.”
“You don’t look older either,” she said. “How much time passed from your perspective?”
“Four and a half years.”
“You still look nineteen. Perhaps your form is set on your first arrival to Equestria, or perhaps it ages only in accordance with the time that passes here,” Twilight Sparkle speculated.
“Okay, then, we will look for a man, or stallion, a few years older than me, one that you don’t recognize,” I said.
That shouldn’t be hard, right?
We returned to Ponyville, where we walked around the town. The quaint downtown area with its multitude of quirky shops, the open-air marketplace that resembled the farmers’ markets that pop up every summer, the parks... I saw a lot of mares, and later in the afternoon foals started running around. But there was a definite lack of ponies that could be Jason.
“Where are all the stallions?” I finally said.
“Work,” Twilight Sparkle replied.
“Work?”
“Yes. Don’t ponies work in your world?”
“Well, of course, but what does that have to do with the absence of stallions?” I asked.
“You’re only seeing the ponies who work around town, most of whom are mares,” Twilight Sparkle explained. “Stallions tend to work elsewhere. There are the offices by the train station, the silver mines over by Ghastly Gorge, and the lumber ponies working in the Whitetail Wood. And then there are the stallions in the guard who stay in the barracks in Canterlot while raising their families in Ponyville. Mares work in these jobs too, of course, but not as frequently as stallions.” She looked up. “But it’s 4:00, and we should start seeing more stallions around.”
A work day that ended at 4:00 sounded very appealing to me.
“Where do you think we should look for Jason?” she asked. “The park?”
“Probably wherever there are the most ponies,” I suggested. “I don’t think he could come here and not try to get a glimpse of his favorite ponies.”
“Oh! Do you know which pony is his favorite? We could look for her!”
I shook my head. If he had just been pushier about the show, I might have learned that. “Just look for some pony that looks upset by something.”
“Why is that?”
“It’s just something I thought about after my visit here. Had I gone to the world I really wanted to visit, I would have known a lot more about the people there than some random wizard would have known, personal information. And hearing a stranger say it would be creepy. Or worse, I could have made a wrong supposition about someone about whom little is known,” I said. My favorite example there was Parvati and Padma Patil. Twin sisters, one sorted into Gryffindor, the other into Ravenclaw? That’s a story waiting to be told! And I read many fanon interpretations, most commonly that they were identical twins expressing a desire to be treated as individuals. But others presented rivalries, or the influence of magical ancestors, or some even more bizarre plots.
And then the movies put them both in Gryffindor. Stupid Warner Bros.
I realized that I wasn’t paying much attention to the crowd. And once I did, I realized how useless I was. I just didn’t know enough about these ponies to distinguish them. The three kinds of ponies were obvious, and mares and stallions were easy enough to distinguish, with the mares having smaller and more rounded muzzles, and more prominent eyelashes. Was that natural, or mascara? But ponies’ ages... I didn’t know what I was looking for. I could identify young and old, but didn’t know the difference between a 19-year-old stallion and one in his thirties.
I was thinking we’d have to ask Pinkie Pie when a mare barreled past me. She was a unicorn, with a pastel green coat, and a mane of bluer green with a white streak. And she looked upset. She was hurrying away from something.
“Twilight Sparkle?” I said.
“On it. Where did you come from, Lyra?” she said to herself.
I searched in the direction this Lyra came from, and saw a bench, where a stallion sat. “Do you know that stallion?” I asked Twilight Sparkle.
“I’m not sure. He doesn’t look familiar, though,” she replied.
“Let’s check him out.”
We headed there, Twilight Sparkle taking the lead. I saw the mystery stallion was a unicorn, with a royal blue coat and mane of white and silver. His mark looked like an old Roman aqueduct. He grinned as he saw Twilight Sparkle approach, but didn’t glomp on her like some crazed fanboy.
Since he didn’t speak, Twilight Sparkle addressed him instead. “Good afternoon. Are you a new arrival to Ponyville?”
“That I am! I just arrived yesterday. My name’s Stone Arch.”
“Twilight Sparkle. And this is Strange Brew, a visiting researcher.”
I nodded to the stallion, paying close attention to his reaction.
“It’s an honor to meet you, Miss Twilight Sparkle. I’ve read about your heroics.”
Twilight Sparkle blushed. “It’s nothing, really,” she said. “Well, I’m sure you’re busy, so I’ll let you go. I’m sure we’ll see you around town again.”
“Nice meeting you as well,” he replied. He nodded to me as well, showing no special recognition of me.
Twilight Sparkle started to walk away. She turned to me and said “Well?”
Well indeed. It could be coincidence, as I think he was one of the ponies on the backlog of party invitations. His reaction to Twilight Sparkle was measured and reasonable, but if this were Jason, he probably was more careful with his actions, given what happened with that unicorn. But there was one thing I noticed.
His aqueduct mark. The aqueduct was one of the great advances in civil engineering from ancient times. And it seemed reasonable that an older human might be given a mark related to his career.
“Let me try something,” I told Twilight Sparkle quietly. I turned back to the stallion. “Hey, Jason?”
“Yeah?” he replied.
I walked up to him and looked him in the eye. “Why did you jump through that portal?” I said. I must have said it louder than I had planned, as I felt a number of eyes on me.
The stallion blinked. “John?”
“Yes, it’s me,” I said, hopefully quietly.
“What? Why? I mean, I didn’t think you’d want to come here.”
“Do you really think I want to be here?”
“Boys!” Twilight Sparkle hissed. “We’re going to the library. If you want to fight, do it there.”
We turned and followed Twilight Sparkle. Walking in silence, I felt myself calm down somewhat.
Jason looked at me. “So, Strange Brew, huh?”
I grunted noncommittally.
“You never told me you had a ponysona,” he needled me.
“I don’t. We just came up with the name so you wouldn’t be tipped off that I was me. So, what, is this your OC?”
“No. I’ve never made one.”
“But Stone Arch?” I said.
“I chose a name that fit the cutie mark, and came up with a brief back-story. And then I crossed my fingers that ponies were as trustworthy as they seemed on the show.”
“Were they?”
“More than I could ever have hoped,” Jason replied.
“That might not last. I think Twilight Sparkle is going to go all mad scientist on you.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. She does have the mad scientist lab in her basement.”
I blinked hard. The library approached, and I couldn’t look at it in the same way.
Twilight Sparkle started as the gracious host. She directed us to sit on the comfortable couches while she prepared some light refreshments. But as soon as she served us, she got to work. Out came a scroll, quill, and ink.
And I could tell she meant business. She also brought out extra scrolls, extra quills, and extra ink.
Jason wasn’t paying attention to Twilight Sparkle. Instead, he was looking at the library, taking in all its details. He had a big smile on his face.
Twilight Sparkle cleared her throat. “Now, Stone Arch, or is it Jason? I want you to tell me exactly how you came to Ponyville. From talking with John, I know you’ll probably use some words or concepts I’m not familiar with, but just go ahead. I’ll ask you and John to fill in the blanks later.”
“Okay. My name is Jason Sedmak, but I’ve been using the name Stone Arch, and that’s how everypony in Ponyville knows me. As for how I came here, I’m not sure. I’m guessing it was some magical portal. It dropped me somewhere near the edge of town, behind some bushes. I found a crew of ponies working on repairing a damaged road. They saw me approach, asked me to help, and that’s how I spent the day yesterday.”
“This portal, was it a green sphere?” Twilight Sparkle asked.
“Yeah.”
“Do you know anything about the magic this portal used?”
“Sorry, I don’t actually know magic,” Jason said.
“So far, what you’ve told me is consistent with what John said. But what we don’t know is what caused this portal to appear, in your apartment, of all places.”
“I’m guessing it appeared sometime between when you e-mailed me and I arrived at your apartment,” I said.
“That’s right. It was right after I sent the message that I heard an unusual notification noise. I looked, and there was an AOL Instant Messenger screen, saying, ‘Would you like to go to Equestria?’”
“Wait. You clicked on a spam link?” I said.
“Of course not. It was just a message.”
“A troll message?”
“Possibly, but it piqued my interest, so I replied.”
“Why?” I asked.
“John, do you think I normally use AOL Instant Messenger?”
I had to admit, he got me there.
“Like I said, I was curious, so I replied ‘Sure’,” Jason continued. “It responded ‘Would it make you happy?’ I shrugged, typed ‘yes’, and that’s when the green sphere of energy started growing from my computer.
“To be honest, I was thinking the message was some kind of prank. And if I had just come across this portal, and given it some thought, I probably would have backed off. But I was close enough to get pulled in before I could make that decision. And that’s how I got to look like this,” Jason said, waving his hooves.
Twilight Sparkle lowered her scroll. “I wrote that all down, but I’m afraid I don’t understand any of the concepts, other than the portal itself. Can you help me?”
From there came a crash course on computers, e-mail, instant message and chat programs, and the Internet. Twilight Sparkle absorbed this information with great interest, filling a second scroll with notes.
“So, Jason, do you think it was one of your fellow humans that sent this message?” Twilight Sparkle asked.
“I really don’t know,” he replied.
“On the Internet, no one knows you’re a dog,” I said.
“Wait. Dogs in your world use this Internet?” she said.
“No. That’s an old joke,” I said. “The point is, without a visual method of communication, we have no way of knowing if it was a human, a dog, or a unicorn.”
“You could possibly trace it, with the right tools, but not from Equestria,” Jason said.
“And that’s the problem,” Twilight Sparkle said. “Right now, there are at least four humans in Ponyville, arriving from two distinct portals. There could be any number of others we don’t know about. And we have no idea who is responsible for opening these portals.”
“Why is that a problem?” Jason asked.
“Last time portals to your world appeared, it was part of a plot by Discord to prevent the functioning of the Elements of Harmony, and thus secure his escape. If it wasn’t for John and his friends joining together to fight Discord, his plan may have succeeded.”
Jason blinked. “You... went to Equestria?” he said to me.
I nodded.
“And you fought Discord?”
I nodded again.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he shouted.
I just looked at him.
“Right. Dumb question.”
We heard a thump from upstairs, followed by the pounding of steps. The softer footfalls mixed with the clacking of claws on wood told me it was Spike before I saw the small dragon. “Twilight!” he called, waving a scroll in his hand. “Reply from the princess! It’s urgent!”
“How do you know it’s urgent?” she asked.
“It gave me heartburn. All the urgent letters do!”
Twilight Sparkle plucked the scroll from Spike’s hand with her magic and unrolled it. Her eyes traced over the scroll, and then she gasped. “You shouldn’t be here!” she told us.
“I know. That’s why asked for your help to get home,” I said.
“No. I mean a portal to your world is not possible. You are not possible!”
“You said that about Future Twilight,” Jason said. That earned a shocked response from Twilight Sparkle, then a venomous glare.
“Please, Twilight Sparkle. This whole situation is strange enough without throwing around accusations. It certainly feels like we’re here,” I said. “So, what is in the letter that makes you say we couldn’t possibly be here?”
“Princess Celestia stated that neither she nor Princess Luna has observed any of the magical energy signatures that marked your transit to this world eight months ago. Then she goes on to say that, following your return, they crafted a magical barrier to prevent another interdimensional incursion. That is why you shouldn’t be here!”
“Well, since we are here, let’s think about it. You know magic, right?” I said. “So tell me all about the magic spell the princesses used.”
“Now, I can’t presume to speak for the princesses, not being involved in the crafting of the spell, but I can speculate based on my studies of multiphasic magic,” Twilight Sparkle said. She followed that statement with a lot of techonobabble, though in this world, it’s probably actual magical jargon. I had attended a number of lectures in college that went over my head, but this was another level entirely. I instead focused on the few words I did understand, and the general concepts. It sounded like this was a barrier designed to prevent the flow of magic beyond the planet.
“Wait,” I interrupted her. “Did you just say this barrier extends around the planet?”
“Yes,” she replied.
“Wouldn’t that interfere with the sun and moon? I’m remembering that correctly, that the princesses raise the sun and moon, right?” I looked to Jason, who nodded.
“Yes, but.... Hmm.” Twilight Sparkle raised a hoof to her chin and pondered. It was a surprisingly humanlike gesture. “The connection to the heavens was already firmly established. If I had to speculate, and again I was not privy to the spell being used, this barrier was designed only to prevent new magic from crossing it, like a fresh portal.”
“So if there were a firmly established connection between our two worlds, then the barrier wouldn’t do anything?”
“Most likely, but given the difficulty we had sending you home the first time, I don’t think that’s the situation.”
“Um... I think there is one, that you’re not aware of,” I said hesitantly. “Jason, do you have your phone?”
“Yeah,” he replied, pulling out a pouch that was tucked into his mane. It makes sense that ponies would have something to carry small items, given they weren’t wearing clothes with pockets. At least it wasn’t hammerspace.
“I’m going to assume you have the series on it,” I said.
“What? No, we can’t!” Jason protested.
“Look. The other humans that came through the portal are a six-year-old girl and her grandmother. And Twilight Sparkle noticed when this girl recognized her. She’s all but figured it out, so I think it’s time to be forthright. Don’t you think Twilight Sparkle deserves that?”
I felt the mare’s eyes on me. She was definitely interested, watching us like she was reading the final chapter of a mystery. Which, to her perspective, it was.
“Okay,” Jason said. He reached into his pouch and pulled out his iPhone, having no problems grasping it with his hoof. Turning it on was a trickier matter, as he awkwardly touched the circle with the edge of his hoof, once he figured out what part of his hoof was closest to an edge. He then ran his hoof over the phone’s surface, and frowned. “It doesn’t work with hooves.”
“Try using your tongue,” I suggested. I recalled holding a pencil in my mouth, and remembered that it didn’t end up with me drooling on the paper.
Jason responded with a frown, looking mildly disgusted by my suggestion. But he tried it, and it worked, judging by his continued silent effort.
“Do you have the latest episode?” I asked.
“No; they’re normally released overnight.”
“Too bad.”
With one last swipe, an episode started playing. Jason held up the phone, and Twilight Sparkle plucked it away in her magical aura.
Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land.
It was the start of the episode I watched some two years ago, when I discovered my strange magical journey was actually a preview of a cartoon world that hadn’t yet been created.
...and harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since. Hmm... Elements of Harmony. I know I've heard of those before... but where?
“I do not sound like that!” Twilight Sparkle protested.
“Actually, you do,” I said. The voice in the cartoon really sounded like the Twilight Sparkle in front of me.
“Most people react that way when they hear their recorded voice played back for the first time,” Jason observed.
Twilight Sparkle huffed and watched quietly for a few more minutes. “Is this going to be the story of me meeting my friends in Ponyville and the saving of Princess Luna from the clutches of Nightmare Moon?” she asked.
“It is,” Jason said.
She levitated his phone back to him. “I think I’ve seen enough, though I really want to study that device. That’s the connection you were talking about?”
I nodded. “From our perspective, Equestria is a fictional world, created not that long ago.”
“For more than two years, we’ve seen your adventures, Twilight Sparkle,” Jason said. “Millions of humans have enjoyed this show.”
“I don’t know how this magic works, but would this qualify as a strong connection between our worlds?” I asked.
“Possibly, though it doesn’t explain how these portals were concealed from notice,” she said, making some more notes.
“Wow,” I said.
“What?” Twilight Sparkle said.
“You don’t seem fazed at all by me saying that your world is fictional.”
“I assure you, this world is very real, and you of all ponies should realize that,” she said. “Besides, I’ve already gotten used to the concept of being a character in a story.”
“What do you mean?”
Twilight Sparkle levitated a book off the shelves and floated it to me. I grabbed it and opened it. It looked just like a children’s book, each page having a picture and a small number of words, and the first character illustrated was (a very crude rendition of) Twilight Sparkle. After flipping through a few pages, I knew exactly what story the book was telling. “This is the same thing as the cartoon episode, right?”
“Correct. Most ponies knew Princess Luna only as the legendary Nightmare Moon, if they knew her at all. Princess Celestia thought it was important for everypony, especially young foals, to learn about the real Princess Luna. And so this book was commissioned days after her return.” She returned the book to its shelf. “It’s funny. All my life, I thought I’d be in a book, but as the author of a scholarly paper discussing a breakthrough in some field of magical study. I never imagined something like this.”
“But do you like it?” Jason asked.
“I don’t think I can answer that question. I’ve come to realize how important my friends are to me, but there’s always that nagging question. What did I do to deserve this?”
“Other than save Equestria?” Jason noted.
Twilight Sparkle remained silent for a moment. “I don’t think I will be able to answer that tonight.” She rolled up her scroll and stashed it away. “Let’s plan on talking again tomorrow. I assume you both will need a place to stay?”
I nodded, but Jason shook his head. “I’m good,” he said.
“What?” I and Twilight Sparkle both said.
“One of my coworkers had a spare bedroom in her house,” Jason said.
“Wait. You have a job?” I said.
Jason shrugged. “I helped fix the roads when I showed up. Somepony saw my cutie mark, and knowing my special talent, hired me to help with the expansion of Ponyville. I must say, it beats the hiring process in our world.”
I had to agree with Jason there.
“They haven’t noticed that you aren’t using magic?” Twilight Sparkle asked.
“I told them I was recovering from illness.”
“The horn flu?”
“That’s what they said, so I said yes,” Jason said. “What exactly is the horn flu?”
“Well, it’s not really a version of influenza, though like the feather flu, it shares some symptoms, such as congestion and body aches. The lining of the nerves in the horn becomes inflamed, interfering with a unicorn’s use of magic. The disease lasts for one to three days, with lingering effects for up to five days.”
“So you only have a couple of days before these ponies become suspicious,” I said.
“Yeah. I just hope I can figure out this magic, but nothing’s worked.”
“I don’t see any reason why you two can’t use basic magic,” Twilight Sparkle said.
“But we’re not really unicorns,” I said.
“Well, what color is my coat?” Twilight Sparkle asked.
“Pastel purple,” I replied. Jason chose lavender.
“You can see fine, so I don’t see why you can’t squink.”
“Squink?” I said. I looked to Jason, the expert here, but he was as confused as me.
“You know, squink!” she replied. “It’s one of the six senses, sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, squink—I’m using the classical definition of Mareistotle, and I know it’s a simplification, but it’s what every foal learns.”
“Humans have something similar, but we only talk of five senses,” Jason said.
“No magic, remember?” I added.
“No magic. Right. Squink is... oh, this is one of those classic conundrums! How do you explain sight to somepony who can’t see?”
“How does it work, biologically?” I asked.
“Okay. I guess it’s something between sight and touch. You can sense the magic in everything and everypony. It’s a part of all your cells, but as a unicorn, the sense is strongest in your horn. Your eyes work fine. So why wouldn’t your horns?”
That was an interesting point. But how would I know whether or not it was working? “My only thought is our minds appear to be entirely our own,” I said. “I remember only my own experiences, and have no knowledge of this world, save what I picked up four years ago. I couldn’t tell you the name of the next town to the south or what this part of my body is called.”
“Appleloosa and pastern,” Twilight Sparkle said.
“What?” I interjected.
“Appleloosa is the town to the south, although there’s a lot of dangerous terrain in between. And that area above your fetlock is called the pastern,” she explained.
“Right.” I sighed. “My point is, what’s in here is all my mind, which knows how to see, because my normal body has eyes. This?” I tapped my horn. Again, I felt the contact, but it wasn’t much different than bumping my knee. “There’s nothing equivalent.”
Twilight Sparkle raised a hoof to her chin thoughtfully. “I have an idea. Please close your eyes.”
Jason closed his eyes right away. I had my doubts, but Twilight Sparkle didn’t seem to be the kind of mare to do anything funny. I closed my eyes as well.
I felt something indescribable in my horn. The closest sensation to it was static electricity, like touching a balloon after rubbing it on your shirt. It was followed by a release that I can only classify as my horn sneezing.
“Open your eyes,” Twilight Sparkle said.
I did, and everything looked... different. Most notably, I could see something I didn’t see before, but it wasn’t really sight. Twilight Sparkle pulled out her scroll again, and I definitely saw that, bright and... with the same flavor as the mare.
“What was that?” I asked.
“The normal test of magical reflexes. It proved your magic is functioning normally,” she said.
“Things don’t look as bright anymore,” Jason noted.
I blinked. Jason was right. The books in the library didn’t look as vivid as before, now resembling the shelves of cloth-bound books in Hicks. The walls resembled normal wood. But Twilight Sparkle was still her unnatural shade of purple.
The mare scribbled some notes. “Fascinating. Of all the senses, your brains mapped squink to sight. Further study is needed to determine if this is because of the importance of sight to humans, or the importance of sight to ponies, or both.”
“Does this mean we can use magic?” Jason asked.
“The two basic forms of magic, illumination and telekinesis, are as basic as walking and talking, and are only difficult for foals until their horns fully develop. To illuminate your horn, hold the magic in your horn. And to use telekinesis, squink until you contact the aura of the object you wish to move.”
Twilight Sparkle pulled two books off the bookshelf and placed one in front of each of us. I accepted her invitation, and tried to lift the book. I looked to the book, though it wasn’t looking, and I could sense both this strange feeling reaching, and the dull, flat aura of the book. I connected the two, and then willed it up. Or, rather, I squinked it up.
The book hit the ceiling. I heard Jason grunt; across from me, he was doubled over in pain. I think he tried to bring the book to himself, and overdid it, just as I did.
“You don’t have to squink so hard,” Twilight Sparkle said.
“Noted,” Jason gasped. He caught his breath and stood up. “I think it’s time to go home. I have work tomorrow.”
I was about to mention that we didn’t know how to get home, but then I deduced he was referring to wherever it was he was staying. Just like I suspected, he was fitting into this strange world.
I jumped up. “Wait.”
“What?”
“I, uh, brought your wallet,” I said. I looked around, finding my saddlebags; they had been moved to one corner of the library. I nosed around, finding two pouches like the one Jason had around his neck. I opened the first, finding a handful of gold coins and several plastic cards, including Jason’s driver’s license, unchanged by the transit.
Jason looked at it curiously. “So my money turned into bits?”
“That’s Star Swirl’s Fourth Law of Interdimensional Travel at work,” Twilight Sparkle said. “Value cannot be created or destroyed between worlds. Although that was purely a theoretical concept, until you arrived.”
Not trusting his horn, Jason took the pouch in his hoof and put it around his neck. “What’s the rest of this?”
“Um, well, last time, the books I was carrying were instrumental in finding the way home, so I thought I’d bring some books,” I said. “They’re your books, Jason. I hope you don’t mind.”
“It’s okay.” He looked at the two sets of saddlebags, the pockets bulging. “I didn’t think I had that many books.”
“I probably took them all,” I admitted.
“In a situation like that, it’s better to overprepare than underprepare,” Twilight Sparkle said.
“We can worry about bringing them back later,” Jason said. He headed for the door.
“Do you need any help finding your way?” Twilight Sparkle asked.
“No, I’m good,” he said.
He shut the door behind him with a kick of his hoof. I just shook my head.
“What is it?” Twilight Sparkle said.
“I just don’t understand how normal Jason is acting.” I wondered just how much he thought about making it to Equestria. It was one thing to come up with a name and biography that fooled these ponies, but then to settle in like that? A home, a job?
Twilight Sparkle scraped her hoof on the wooden floor of the library. “So, John, can I see these books?”
“Of course you can.”
Twilight Sparkle squealed in delight as her magic illuminated both of my saddlebags, opening them and quickly sorting their contents. I focused on the other goods. I found my phone, unchanged by the transit, and my keys, which now resembled something from the 19th century. A pouch like the one Jason carried held my driver’s license and now-useless credit cards, along with a number of golden bit coins. Another pocket of the saddlebags held five more bit coins; that was probably the money I separated from the rest.
“I see you brought mostly textbooks. But what are these books?” Twilight Sparkle said.
I smiled. “That’s the Harry Potter series. Those are the books I mentioned last time I was here, the ones about a fictional world of magic hidden within the mundane human world.
Her eyes sparkled. “You brought human fiction books, the ones about magic?”
“It’s about more than magic. Friendship, bravery, working together, overcoming obstacles, and yes, defeating the greatest villain the magical world has ever known,” I said. “I decided that, if I ended up stuck here, I wasn’t going to be stuck without my favorite books.”
“Ooh, I can’t wait to read them!” She stamped her hoof and adopted a serious expression. “After I review everything you brought, and report to Princess Celestia, of course.”
“Of course. But please, remember that they’re not a textbook about human magic. They’re fiction. You can prepare a rebuttal all you want, but I don’t think the author is going to see it.”
“Okay. Do you remember where you stayed last time?” Twilight Sparkle asked.
I shook my head. “That was more than four years ago, remember?”
“Right. Follow me.”
Twilight Sparkle directed me to a guest bedroom. As I got ready for bed, I saw her effortlessly moving all the books I brought, her aura capable of manipulating dozens of items at once. That must be nice.
I collapsed on the bed, focusing on the alarm clock on the nightstand. It was also old-fashioned, a style I recognized only from old cartoons. It was analog, wound with a key, and with two bells and a hammer for the alarm.
I focused on the magic all around me, and reached out to the clock. I squinked, as Twilight Sparkle called it, with as light a touch as I could manage. An orange aura, the same color as my unicorn eyes, surrounded the alarm clock, and I lifted it into the air.
With a thought, the alarm clock moved across the room, powered by nothing more than my own willpower. I tested my horn, trying to move other items in the room. A book, a blanket, a chair; they all felt different as my magic touched them.
I eventually reached my limit as the nightstand slipped out of my aura, landing with a thud. The weight of the nightstand overpowered my will, and the throbbing in my horn told me it was physiological as well.
Even so, I smiled.
I still felt like smacking Jason for being so stupid as to jump through a portal to this strange world. But having a chance to use magic, real magic?
I had to admit, it was pretty neat.
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Indeed! That is the problem with smartphones. They have bigger screens (more power needed for the backlight) which are brighter (more power needed for the backlight). They have powerful processors (more power needed to power it) and oodles of memory (guess what? More power needed). And with 3G and 4G, faster throughput means more power needed to transcode the signal. Even with a huge battery, it wont last very long.
You could have magic constantly charging the phone like other stories do
6379183 I would certainly see someone like Twilight Sparkle, after studying human science textbooks and analyzing the phone, being able to charge it. I wouldn't want the ambient magical field of Equestria to automatically charge electronics.
Generally, I assume late 19th to early 20th century technology, with magic being used in place of technology in some places.
6379338 I've just seen stories where the person pulls out their phones only to see the charge icon while not plugged in and using the ambient magic is powering my phone as the excuse
D'oh!
Oldest trick in the book.
Says the guy stupid enough to jump through a portal to this strange world, while Jason just got accidentally sucked in.
6379338
I love HiE stories but there's one issue that always comes up.
Just how advanced are the Ponies? In some areas like the Earth Pony town of Ponyville, they probably use oil/gas street lamps so Twilight can probably wire a bunch of lemons and potatoes up, while at the same time Ponyville has a freaking HYDROELECTRIC DAM!
Their tech be all over the place!
[edit]
http://www.roundstable.com/2013/04/23/halberds-and-hair-dryers-the-bizarre-tech-of-my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic/
6816787 Ponies are exactly as advanced as the writers need them to be, for any given plot line, scene, or gag.
Sorry; my Iphone's lasted two days without issues. On the other hoof, when it's in Equestria where there aren't any cell towers in easy reach, it'll expend all its battery searching in vain and probably die within eight hours or so.
They would both have a good handle on what electricity is, so a battery recharge by moving electrons may be a feasible fix. Only problem is without a phone tower, the phones at beast could only Bluetooth or WiFi at close range.
Gotta say, staying in Equestria is looking like a tempting prospect for Bobbie. The family she seems to care about the most is there with her, she became a pegasus that can fly, and she's 21 again instead of 53? Sounds like a hell of a deal to me.