Twilight and the Volcanologist

by Razor Flake

Ross Island

Ross Island. A paradoxically volcanic island in the Antarctic. Only an island in definition, though, as the surrounding sea is frozen. Ross Island is made of four peaks. The second tallest is Mount Terror. The third highest elevation is Mount Bird, with Shell Glacier and Endeavour Piedmont Glacier on its slopes. Abbot Peak stands between Mount Bird and the king of the island. Mount Erebus. Earth's southernmost active volcano, and one of three places where those who look into the crater see the very mantle of the earth itself. With new breakthroughs in heat resistant materials, A volcanology professor and five hopeful grad students make their way to a little piece of frozen hell for science.

Three of the graduates, Samuel, Max, and Charlotte were all cracking jokes at how bad the weather was, and the prospect of free, water flavoured sno-cones. One of them, Lance, was sleeping. Jonathan, however, couldn’t wait to get out into the field. One may wonder what is so appealing about being in a five room outpost between an active and dormant volcano, on top of being in Antarctica. Well, These were volcanologists. This was a toy store, a candy shop, and a free boost to their resume, all rolled into one ball of potential and flying lava. But, on top of that, Jonathan had something else going for him. He got to be outside. The appeal? Not the camera work on a volcanic crater rim, not deploying the new probes while being held by a cable. No. It was cold. And he loved it. Sure, he still wore a coat, and a coat, and a coat, and so on, but was still notably thinner looking than his thermal fiber clad companions. He knew his body’s limits, something key to extreme weather. That didn’t keeping him from pushing them.

Their plane had landed. They stepped outside into the more (less?) than sub-zero temperature. His compatriots were all basically the same orange and red laden marshmallows fumbling with their mittens and equipment.

While he got his equipment out of the plane, the others had already made their way to the base. To his left, he saw Mount Erebus. The stalwart volcano held a window into the earth itself, and that's what he was here for. He smiled at his future job for the expedition. Placing the cameras at the crater edge.

“Hey Snowy!”, Jonathan grinned at the nickname. His snowy hair was somewhat of a conversation starter, and working on explosive mountains with usually snowy peaks,well, the nickname was inevitable. This was most definitely compounded by the locale.

“What?”

“Catch!”

The voice of Charlotte was quickly followed by what he knew to be cameras that probably cost more than some people would see in their lives came sailing to him. Making a valiant effort, he saved the heavy camera box from an icy death. However, he dropped his stuff on the ground, but nothing more than snow was clinging to the bag while he picked it up.

Making his way to the outpost, he saw some snow falling off of Mt. Terror. Where he would be spending what passed for summer in Antarctica. He smiled.

This is going to be fun.

Elsewhere…

Fascinating! These portals aren't linked to the magic Al field, but something else…

A purple mare was under the library, and was eager to conduct experiments with her new runic-based thread tracker. The machine had several dishes covered in runes, all adjustable for maximum precision. It worked by sending out a unique type of magical pulse through a portal, and based on the pulse back from the magic's time to reach the device, and said pulse’s trajectory, one could calculate the location of the other end of the gate without risking any lives.

Using the magic signature of the portal, a sufficiently powerful unicorn, such as the one taking these readings, could cast a spell allowing them to see the magical field. Everything on Equestria had a field, even the world itself. Everything even had it's own colored aura, and thus, the nearly invisible gate had become a circular purple door. Unfortunately, Twilight could only see what some bipedal apes may describe as a wireframe of the corporal world. Hence, debatably one of the most powerful unicorns who had lived, and ever would, tripped into her portal.

Ross Island

Jonathan was aware of a thud in his room. Never one to sleep that much, college of had made him into a true creature of the night. He was, in fact, doing a once over of the equipment stored in his current abode, drawing the shortest straw and getting to sleep in the storage room. Then, he heard what sounded like…

Are those… Hooves?

Yes, he was certain. The town he grew up in a had a horse race track. He would recognize the sound anywhere. However, the steps sounded softer than a full sized horse.

A pony, perhaps?

It crossed the student's mind that he was, in fact, in Antarctica, and that it was highly unlikely that a pony of all things was here. Then, he spotted a purple light of some sort behind a rack of servers. He knew the sensitive devices had no such feature, ruling out the possibility of it being an odd LED. Though he preferred volcanology, Jonathan was still a scientist through and through. Another thought ran through his mind.

What if this thing is dangerous? I doubt it's a pony based on the strange light.

Jonathan was picked on a lot for his hair in grade school. It didn't help when his mother, the only one he had to fall back on being an only child, died in a car accident. His father was there, and by no means a bad man in any sense of the word. He tried his best, but Jonathan, even at nine, could tell his father was nearly as crushed as he was. His father had always been fighter at heart, no matter the form of conflict or means he had. It was simply his nature to protect. He taught his son to take care of himself in anyway he could, because he knew he wouldn't be able to support his son the same way his mother had. And so, like father like son, Jonathan immediately took stock of his surroundings, noting items of use.

Ice pick, stakes, hammers, rope and cable…

Jonathan settled on the ice pick and rope. He quickly joined the two with a bohlon and the carabiner integrated in the handle of the ice pick. He knew he could throw the ice pick well, and use its weight to yank it back if he missed, or didn't and needed it again.

An expression colder than the outside, and tension sharp enough to cut steel, the young volcanology student approaches the server rack.

Twilight was confused on a few levels. For one, she wasn't dead. She fully expected that her death would be caused by a stray cable. Another, it was quite chilly.

Winter isn't for another six months. The probability of being caught in temporal stasis is small, and doesn't explain a change in location…

The unicorn’s mind moved a mile a minute, and only then did she realize that her eyes were open. It was dark, but there were faint colored lights coming from strange boxes on shelves. She reasoned the were some sort of runic or arcane devices. Maybe even one of those new computers she was so excited about. She cast a simple light spell, lighting up the room. Her theory about the lights coming from the boxes was correct. Then, she heard footsteps. But definitely not a pony, and based on the cadence and frequency, she reasoned it was bipedal.

Oh horsefeathers. Did just portal into somepony’s house? Or someone's. Perhaps a diamond dog? That would explain the dark. Same goes for a dragon, though it would be a relatively small dragon, though still older than Spike.

Jonathon's knowledge of what was real and what was not was called into question when he saw what was behind the server rack. He saw…

A unicorn. A purple unicorn with sparkles on it's flank. Charlotte was right, maybe I do need sleep. Or maybe I can't leave my coffee unattended.

Jonathan groaned in irritation. Suddenly, the unicorn swiveled, seemingly as surprised as Jonathan.

“Great. Now I'm hallucinating a tiny unicorn next to a server rack. Maybe next I'll see some pegasi, too.”
Jonathan rubbed his eyes. Then, he was startled.

“Um… Hello? I've never something like you before. Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean you were a thing! Please don't be upset! Uh.. can we start over? Hi! My name's Twilight Sparkle! What's yours?”

Jonathan, to his credit, deadpanned for about four seconds before he was utterly confused.

“ You can t- You know what, why not? I’ll approach the strange, small unicorn. Now I'm talking to myself. Assuming the unicorn is a figment of my imagination. Hello. My name's Jonathan Sigurd. Pleased to meet you.”

“That's an interesting name. If you don't mind me asking, what are you?”

“ I'm a volcanologist. Or at least I will be soon.”

The small unicorn let out the most adorable squee sound Jonathan had ever heard.

“A fellow scientist! Perfect! But, I meant what are you. As in species. I have never seen anything quite like you.”

“I am a human. By our own scientific name, we are Homo sapien. Essentially, we are sapient hairless apes.”

An odd thought was crossing Jonathan's mind.

What if I'm not seeing things? I'll need to experiment.

“Are you real?”, Jonathan asked.

“Of course I am! Where are we?”

“We are in Antarctica, though not close to the South Pole. We are actually on Ross Island.”

“Antarctica? You mean Moiria?”

Jonathan blinked at the name. Then he frowned.

“Name a few countries”

“Equestria, The Griffin Kingdom, The Hippogriff Republic, The Principalities of Moiria, The United Spider Federation.”

Jonathan's frown deepened. He had never heard of these nations.

“What planet are we on?”

“We're on Equis. Is this a test?”

Jonathan thought for a bit.

“Hmm, of sorts I guess. And we are on Earth. Third planet from the sun.”

Twilight's eyes widened and she started to hyperventilate. She ran the numbers over and over again. It all added up. To odd thread, the strange being before her.

“Twilight? Are you ok?”

Jonathan suddenly felt very bad for even considering the use of his makeshift weapon. Not only was this sentient. The poor girl seemed to be terrified and on the verge of a mental breakdown. Her horn suddenly glowed and she disappeared. Before Jonathan could even react, Twilight reappeared, very, very cold.

“D-Did you just go outside? It’s twenty below zero out there! You could have succumbed to a number of conditions in a matter of seconds! I won’t even question how you do that teleporting, and whatever else you can do is something that I would love to discuss. But not now. As another sapient being, it’s my duty to make sure you don’t die. Stay here, I’ll get some blankets.”

Jonathan disappeared for a little bit into the dark. He must have flipped a switch, as the room was instanly filled with light. Twilight then realized something strange. She could not, for the life of her, close her left eye. Very gently, she probed the area with a hoof, and came to a horrid conclusion.

“J-Jonathan? I-I think my eye f-froze.”

Jonathan dropped the blankets and rushed for some red box on the wall. He brought it back and opened it, revealing medical instruments.

“Twilight.”

Jonathan’s voice was very stern and serious, a complete turn from his previous demeanor.
“Twilight, I know we just met, and I’m willing to bet you are currently very distressed. But listen to me. I need you to trust me, and do exactly as I say. Do you trust me?”

Twilight’s mind raced through thoughts until she came to one conclusion. She had almost no medical knowledge, but Jonathan seemed to know what he was doing. She thought for a little, and decided to trust Jonathan.

“I trust you, Jonathan”

Author's Note:

This is the first story I actually have a direction for! My previous two, Political Blizzard, and it's prequel, aren't finished, and pretty bad. Don't look at them unless you want a laugh. I might take those on later, when I'm better at writing. Anyways, this first chapter is simply my take on one of my favorite genres: HiE (Human in Equestria), except this one goes both ways! for a while at least. This will be updated sporadically, but, school allowing, a new chapter will be up at the most every month, definitely speeding up over vacations.

And, if anyone actually read this far, thank you. You can't imagine how much it means to me that someone would actually give my story a chance. This will by no means be a masterpiece, or ever will be. But the mere notion people are interested in my stories makes me a little happier. I know it is likely no one will see this. Thank you.

Comments

[FireheartThePone]

This is great! Really curious to see what happens next. Thing is, I noticed multiple grammatical errors. I have good eyes when it comes to reading and things, would you like me to be your editor or something?

[Razor Flake]

8584626
No, it's good. I'm dyslexic, and no matter how many times I go over a story, some slip through. I was actually about to so when I saw your comment. From the bottom of my heart, thanks for reading this. And don't worry. It gets interesting