Chapter 42: To Somewhere New
Theo was lying in the snow. He couldn’t have said how he got there, or what he’d been. He couldn’t say much of anything at first, as his body adjusted to the apparent beating he’d just endured. For a few seconds it was all he could do to twitch and moan, trying to get up. There was motion around him, shouts and boots and many moving figures. More than there should’ve been.
God, what happened?
Memories were foggy to return at first. There’d been… a confrontation. Kate had been waiting for them, and… they were through. Somehow, impossibly, they’d still made it.
I’m home. Despite everything, nobody died. Now it’s time for the hard part. Kate had been the first to get sucked into the sky. They’d still have to deal with her, somehow. Should he be feeling bittersweet about coming home?
Only seconds passed there in the snow, however it might feel like hours. I should’ve expected this. Changing back was never going to be easy.
But then he sat up, and it wasn’t as hard as he imagined. He blinked, wiping away the snow with the back of an arm and getting a good look at himself for the first time.
Herself.
She’d landed in the snow at the base of one of the new towers, in a gigantic snowdrift just waiting for her. But there was nothing new to see—no embarrassment from being naked in front of his old boss, or anything like that. Summer looked exactly as she had five minutes ago, right down to the scarf and the necklace sticking out of the snow beside her. She snatched it with a claw, wrapping it around as tightly as she could.
She might not have changed, but Barrow Observatory sure had.
Previously the base was mostly empty space, with lots of temporary buildings spread far apart from the few older, permanent structures. But now she could hardly see the snow. There was a vast field of military trailers, generators, and APCs. Facing away from her was a barbed wire fence and a set of machine gun nests facing the road.
Before it had just been a computer shed beside the tower. Now the tower had grown a set of tumors on either side, with huge conduits running into the snow and out of sight. Their surface remained clear despite the falling powder, a sign that she probably shouldn’t touch them.
Barrels and crates hadn’t landed as softly as she had, and many of them crashed on the snow, spilling their powdery contents everywhere. They didn’t rain down fire and explosives on the camp—with the blowing snow and fierce cold, there were no open flames to set them off by accident.
I didn’t change back. The Doorway was supposed to fix me! The tears froze to her face as she looked back up the tower, searching for the opening into Equestria. But only the aurora remained above them, crackling with green and purple and no magic in sight.
Summer rose to her claws, shaking the snow from her feathers and scanning the space around her for Emerald and Sharp. They’d been right beside her, so hopefully… yes, there they were. They’d landed when she did, without much sign of catastrophic impact. Maybe the portal had done that intentionally, rather than just dropping them to fall to their death. She wasn’t going to complain either way.
“Hey.” Summer reached down, gripping Emerald by a foreleg and lifting her up out of the snow. “That was some seriously brave stuff you did, sweetheart. Maybe you should’ve just run away.”
The filly’s eyes were glazed over as she looked back, confused and maybe a little overwhelmed. Then she spoke, and Summer could understand little. “Thank… Summer…”
Duh! I’m not wearing the necklace! Summer tossed it on. “Sorry, forgot. Thanks for saving it for—”
Emerald still looked confused. When she spoke again, it was still mostly incomprehensible. “Summer… can’t…”
Her eyes widened in horror, and she snatched the necklace off again with a claw, searching for damage. But she could see nothing different about the metal. No missing links, nothing broken. Kate hadn’t damaged it, not as far as she could tell. It just… wasn’t working anymore.
She soon had other things to worry about. The distant sound she’d been hearing wasn’t just her imagination. A line of towering figures approached from the side, wearing black and white digital camouflage and carrying insulated rifles. They closed in quickly, forming a dense ring around the towers. “Do not move!” several voices yelled, echoing across the snowy clearing. She couldn’t see even an inch of skin—were those gas masks? What in the hell did they think was going on?
Summer dropped the necklace, putting up her foreleg reflexively. She’d never had one gun pointed at her, let alone a dozen of them. “Don’t shoot!” she yelled back. “We’re people!”
That didn’t catch them as off-guard as she might’ve expected. She couldn’t see eyes under their polarized goggles, but none of them were quaking with terror or surprise at seeing their first aliens. Or worse, attacking them.
She didn’t have to imagine how Emerald would feel seeing such a thing—she huddled close to her, shielding herself from the gigantic, loud creatures. Twice my height. Why are they so big?
Sharp said something next, shaking himself free of the snow on her other side. But Summer didn’t catch a word this time. Apparently none of the soldiers did either.
“Remain where you are!” yelled the same voice as before. Summer saw him this time—he was the only one not actively aiming a weapon at them. Instead he held a portable computer, wrapped in rubber against the elements. “We don’t want to hurt you.”
Something else emerged from the snow half a dozen meters away—Kate. She shook off the snow, looking around in horror and shock. Then she turned, not for the soldiers, but for her. “You fucking bitch!” she yelled. Either she didn’t see the soldiers, or she didn’t even care, because she charged.
Summer backed away in horror, nearly tripping over her own claws in the snow. Kate might not know how to fly, but she wasn’t hobbled, and she sure knew how to run. Her beak snapped and glittered in the white floodlights, and Summer had no doubt in her mind what she’d do with it.
Then Sharp smacked her in the face, a single blow that sent her soaring through the air in the other direction, to land in the snow a few feet from the line of soldiers. “No… hurt… love,” Sharp declared.
The little army glanced between each other, understandably confused by all they were seeing, and apparently not knowing what to do. Soon enough, a pair of figures emerged from the distant buildings, jogging across the gravel path towards them. Both wore suits instead of military gear, though they had the same model of gas-mask as all the soldiers. One carried a silenced handgun in her hands as she ran, the other a radio.
“Got word as soon as…” He trailed off, lowering the radio. “God in heaven. After all that, we finally get something out of those damn towers.”
“Emitters are down again as you ordered, sir,” said the one Summer guessed for their officer. He spoke quietly, but with the masks in the way he couldn’t do it quietly enough for Summer not to hear. Her ears were just too good.
“Keep them that way,” he said, pushing one of the soldiers aside and stepping through. “Stand down, men,” he said. “Don’t shoot unless they run.”
At once, men and women in bulky uniforms snapped to attention, no longer aiming at them. Summer relaxed, and at her relief Emerald chanced a glance outward. She whimpered and closed her eyes again, muttering something about monsters. “They’re just masks, sweetie,” she whispered. “They aren’t really that scary.”
But the pony didn’t show any sign of recognition. She’d dropped the necklace, where was it?
“Unless I’m very much mistaken, one of you is Theodor Pichler,” said the man in his dark suit. Already snow was melting onto his sleeves, and his tone shook with cold. “I’m freezing my balls off out here, so I’d appreciate it if you just told me.”
“Me,” Kate croaked, emerging from the snow and shaking herself out. “These criminals—”
“No she isn’t!” Theo barked, easily louder than Kate could manage. She hadn’t just been earth-ponied into the ground, after all. “I’m Theo. Ask her one thing about computer science and see if she can answer, go ahead.”
“No need,” the man took another step forward. “You’ve got a German accent, she doesn’t. I’d love to learn what the hell is going on, and why there are barrels of… is that gunpowder?” But he didn’t wait for her to answer. “I’d like to have this conversation somewhere more comfortable. If you would follow these polite gentleman, we have quarters prepared for you with proper biohazard isolation.”
“Sure,” Summer said. “We’d love to come out of the wind. But… that’s probably not necessary. No one here is sick.”
The man glanced back towards his partner, who shrugged. “Hell if I know.”
He turned away, waving a dismissive hand. “The doctors can work this out. I’m not paid enough to make first contact in a blizzard.”
“You heard the man,” said the officer, filling the opening he left in the circle. “Each of you is an extreme biohazard risk to the people of this country. As such, you will be escorted at all times. Do not attempt to escape, and none of you will be hurt. Is that clear?”
“They can’t understand you,” Summer said. “The horses can’t, I mean. They’re actually aliens.”
“You can,” he said, not skipping a beat. “Tell them, then.”
She turned to face the two of them, prying Emerald from her side. The filly backed away, scratching awkwardly at the floor and not looking at her. But Summer didn’t think the soldiers would be terribly patient while she explained. “We go with them. No run, no hurt.”
Sharp nodded, expression darkening as he glanced sideways at Kate. She was recovering from the blow, evidently not enough to do any permanent damage. She glared daggers at them, but didn’t attack again. “Necklace?”
Summer shook her head sadly, then held out her forelegs to him. “Untie me?”
He reached her in a few strides, bending down with his teeth. He bit clean through the rope like it was licorice, spitting the pieces aside. “Cheap rope.”
“That’s enough!” called the officer. “Biohazard team is already going to be put through hell sterilizing this place. Let’s not make their job any harder staying out here, please.”
Summer turned, gesturing for the ponies to follow. She didn’t much care what Kate did, though she kept as far from her as she could. If the bird attacked her again in close quarters, she was probably a better fighter than Summer.
But Kate didn’t resist either, and soon they were following at the center of a circle of soldiers. They kept their weapons at the ready all the time, but not aiming at them. Apparently they cared a little about the diplomatic angle here.
They didn’t have very far to walk—a large temporary building waited not far from the towers, with fortifications facing towards it on all sides. None had soldiers in them now, though that looked like it was changing already. Spotlights shone towards the building, which had a good fifty feet of clearance on all sides. More like a prison than accommodations.
The building had multiple entrances, one on each side. They headed straight for one, and the soldier opened it with a complex key. A massive metal door, probably bear-proof from the inch-thick steel. Probably earth pony proof too.
Lights came on inside, along with a wave of warm air. Not a cell at all, but a comfortable-looking apartment. Except that there were no windows facing the outside, and only the armored door.
Summer slowed beside the stairs. “We come in peace,” she said ruefully. “We’re not going to hurt anyone.”
“Tell that to the other one,” he said, glancing at Kate. “Looks like you’re not even at peace with each other.”
She wanted to argue with him, but he was so tall, and she was mostly naked in the snow. It was ultimately a waste of time—he wasn’t the reason they were getting locked up, he was just following his orders.
Could’ve been worse. They could be dragging us off to get dissected in a lab somewhere. She hurried inside, not wanting to be anywhere close to Kate as they passed through the doorway. She might try to claw out her throat or something, if she was going to stay as violent as before.
Once inside, the differences with the comfortable apartment she thought they’d been walking into were obvious. There might not be windows to the outside, but one of the walls had been replaced with a solid plexiglass barrier. Low chairs were set up near a device obviously meant to pass messages to the other side, along with an acrylic box with openings on their side and the other, a little like she might’ve seen in an inner-city bank.
“You’ve fucked up now, Theo. I hope you’re happy.”
Summer turned, staring at the bird with her mouth hanging open. “Are you bucking serious right now? You were going to kill me, and probably lots of other people in this camp. Go for us again if you want. Sharp and I won’t stop at just one blow next time.”
She puffed up her chest, wings flaring to either side and beak exposed. It was all instinct, just daring Kate to fight.
But maybe the other hippogriff was finally calming down, or she’d just discovered common sense.
Summer backed towards the center of the room, near the chairs and the communication device. Sharp and Emerald followed, with Kate backing as far into the corner as she could.
“You’ll regret this,” she muttered, glaring daggers at them. “I’m going to make you—” Then she looked up, and fell abruptly silent.
The massive metal door slammed shut behind them, then clicked locked.
“Summer, I don’t know what I imagined when I said I’d come to your world, but I don’t think it was this,” Emerald said from beside her, tiny voice speaking in flawless English.
Summer blinked, retreating a step from her.
Sharp did too, staring in shock. “You… spoke like them!”
“English,” Summer agreed. “How did…”
Her eyes caught the glint of metal around Emerald’s neck, and suddenly everything made sense. She had picked up the fallen necklace again, and this time she’d put it on for safekeeping. It was made by hippogriffs who visited other worlds. It doesn’t let a human speak Equestrian, it lets an explorer speak the language of the land.
Of course there were flaws with that idea. Like, why English? Why not German, or the native language of Alaska? Did mystical artifacts care about state borders? Would it have helped her speak Russian before it was sold to the United States?
She might’ve worried about such concerns, if it wasn’t for the more obvious, practical tests. “Emerald, can you understand me?”
The filly nodded. “Of course I—” Then she trailed off, eyes wide. “Oh. That’s strange.”
Summer hugged her momentarily, though she kept one eye on Kate at all times. “You’ve been wonderfully helpful, Emerald. I’m going to, uh… I’m going to borrow that for a moment, okay?” She wrapped her claw around the necklace, but didn’t pull it off.
“But then I… oh.” She glanced sideways, to Sharp. “Of course. My master needs to understand. You can take it.”
“I promise to explain everything when we’ve figured it out,” she said. “Or Sharp will. Somepony will.”
“I thought we were supposed to look like you,” Emerald whispered. “But I don’t know if I want to anymore, if you look like that. With those… scary mouths, and glowing eyes.”
“They don’t look like that normally,” she said. “They’re wearing magical armor, so they… stay warm. Look.” She gestured at the glass, where a door was just then opening on the far side of the room. “You’ll see. We look different, but we’re not that scary.”
She pulled the necklace up and off Emerald’s neck, walking towards Sharp. “Put this on,” she instructed. A simple command, one he probably would’ve understood even if she didn’t know enough Ponish to say it. But he’d been watching the entire exchange, and he was far from stupid.
Sharp slipped it on swiftly. “Say something, Summer. Anything.”
“You’re speaking English,” she said. “Welcome to Earth.”
Relief spread across his face, and he flung his forelegs around her, squeezing her for several long moments. “I thought they’d taken this away! That I’d never understand you again…”
Then something moved on the other side of the glass, and he broke away. Just in time to watch the two figures in suits walk inside.
The other side of the apartment wasn’t a perfect mirror—it was much smaller, with just enough room for a table and a few chairs. Other than a computer station off in the corner, there was nothing else on that side.
At least Summer’s prediction proved true. They weren’t wearing armor as they came in, and Emerald didn’t react with horror when she saw their faces.
A man and a woman as Summer had guessed, both middle-aged. The woman wore glasses, and a large gun was clearly holstered inside the jacket of her suit.
They made their way up to the glass, shaking off a few stray drops of moisture before the man finally pulled up a chair. He seemed to be nodding towards its opposite on the other side. “Theodor Pichler, if you would sit down. We’d like to have a word with you, before we make introductions. Big day today… for both our worlds.”
She made her way over, claws feeling strange on the entirely normal carpet. She sat down in one of the chairs, and without prompting Sharp did too.
Sure it is. But which of those worlds is mine?
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Ha-HA! He finally up and fucking said it!
Now do it again!
I really like this paragraph. Someone should draw this.
What’s an APC?
I think that maybe the necklace doesn’t make people speak the language of the land, but rather the language of the majority of people in the immediate vicinity.
"A German accident"? :)
The transformation aspect only works one way? The heck?!
9989548
Armored Personnel Carrier. Often erroneously referred to as "tanks" by the media.
In this case, probably Strykers deployed from Fort Wainwright.
9989565
Not a mistake (in the text, anyway). A mistake from the character not being able to tell accents apart.
oh this chapter was twenty kinds of satisfying and has again piqued my interest for the following chapter and ensuing conversation!
Please tell me Kate gets her comeuppance soon
9989760
But can the character tell "accidents" from "accents"?
Huh. Well, that didn't go as expected. Though the true function of the translator necklace was a brilliant little twist. I was worried that it needed ambient magic to function... though going by Sharp's ability to buck his ex into a wall, there may be more of that in the area than Theo realizes. In any case, better safe than sorry with the biohazards. The last thing they need is some virus that will slowly turn the planet's population into hippogriffs.
I mean, it'd make for a fascinating story, but not exactly helpful for anyone here.
Better to focus on firstish contact.
9989724
How, you ask? Time to plan and a lack of any real competition. She was a big fish hidden at the bottom of a small pond for a long time, and then Theo cannonballed into it. Kate never really had to improvise before he came along. At this point, she's flailing in a blind panic, grasping for anything that even remotely resembles an advantage.
9989719
My guess is either the gate is still not functioning at 100%, or they need to find the owner's manual and un-bork the system settings. Transmogrification seems like something the gate builders would have wanted to have an on/off switch for.
9989840
Unless I miss my guess, it’s already in progress.
9989914
not until theres a corpse or manacles there isnt
It's strange that they knew about hippogriffs and that Theo would actually attempt to return to them through the portal. The government certainly knows more about the overall situation than we thought.
Even more strange is that the portal did not return Theo or Kate to their original bodies nor gave Sharp or Emerald human ones (Or even hippogriff ones since it is hippogriff tech).
It appears the portal's transformation function is either broken or off.
A more outlandish and improbable theory is that the portal is completely functional and is currently set to revert people to their original forms (Somewhat related to the transformation pearl) which would have big implications for humanity. Though I guess it still wouldn't explain the human bodies back in the fortress though. Or Theo's gender change for that matter.
Either way, we're bound to find out more with this conversation.
9989721
Thanks. The top search results were of a clothing company.
I'm loving the clever chapter titles, it almost reads like a song telling of the story, like a bard might sing it.
9989760
It's still "accidentally" German
Oh, and Kate is sooooo thoroughly going to get borked!
9991186
I'm curious about this German accident now. Where did it happen? Did Theo get a distinguishing mark, like maybe a visible scar? Is that how they could so easily tell Summer apart from Kate?
I could see a dueling scar & monocle coming out of that, ja!
Oops, so much for Theo.
Welp, looks like the necklace is no longer usable as a language crutch.
That's a good start.
Nice.
"Earth-ponied into the ground", hahaha.
That last gasp attempt by Kate may backfire hard. She's clearly not working with these people, and she just introduced herself to them with an obvious lie.
They really need to find that necklace, if only for future use.
Poofy, angry sea birb.
Ooooo, nice. Good job Emerald!
Definitely, as long as it doesn't get swept under the rug for national or world security reasons.
9992584
She always had the accent from my understanding
9994537
Starscribe has now corrected the spelling error. It originally said Theo had a German "accident", not an "accent", and Starscribe previously said this was the intended spelling. I was starting to imagine some interesting new backstory!
9994560
Sorry just read the chapter and I did not see the mistake
9994617
Hehe yeah it's confusing now that the error has actually been corrected!
Summer looked exactly as she had five minutes ago, right down to the scarf and the necklace sticking out of the snow beside her. She snatched it with a claw, wrapping it around as tightly as she could.
Yay! I like this development.
My theory is, that the portal itself doesn't transform the beings that cross over, it's the gates.
The reason that the Equestrian side of the portal transforms you, is because it's actually a fully functional gate. Whereas, our side is just there enough to make the bridge.
And that could explain the humans in the fortress, from the description of that gate. It didn't seem nearly as complex as the hippogryph version. Could be different building/magic styles, or could be that ancient humans didn't understand what they were doing, as much as the hippogryphs
Hmmmm, maybe the lack of the structure on Earth side makes it so there was no change back to human.
9989548
Should be Armored Personnel Carrier. An armored vehicle used to transport troops mainly, kinda self explanatory with the name. They can have wheels or tracks, an example would be the Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
YES