Ponies on Earth and their New Horizons

by TikiBat

Chapter 6: Magic Journeys

Scarlet had passed through the security checkpoint without any issue and had quietly found a cozy spot near the gate to relax in until it was time to board. Right away her thoughts drifted back to her family, and even though they’d only be separated for a short while she still couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sadness. Orion had already tried to run after her, and the look of confusion on his face just broke her heart. She knew that he’d be okay, but he probably had no idea where or why she was going and Scarlet could only hope that he wouldn’t give Silver too much trouble while she was gone. It would be a long month for all of them, and she would miss the two dearly, but she was excited for her trip and the exciting new adventure that lay ahead of her.

Before long the pre-boarding announcements began, and in no time at all she was welcomed onto the plane. Given the time, the flight was mostly empty, which was perfectly fine for her. It felt like it was just yesterday that she was flying to Michigan with her family, and now only a month later she was flying to go visit another world on her own. Technically she wouldn’t be alone for the entire journey, she would be meeting two others, both humans, once she arrived in New York.

Currently Scarlet sat in the aisle seat of the pony section, listening to some peaceful music with her eyes closed. The trip so far had been relatively uneventful, with her resting this way through most of the flight. She had always liked to glance out the window occasionally, but the stallion that sat next to it had kept the shade closed, much to her disappointment. Scarlet shrugged at this thought and figured that she couldn’t really be that disappointed. If she had really had an issue with it she could have gone to one of the other empty seats. It wouldn’t be much longer until it was time to touch down, but she was more than ready to disembark. As much as she could tolerate long flights in these kinds of settings, she was ready to stretch out her wings and move around.

It wasn’t that she was completely uncomfortable, the extra space that the pony section offered was a nice perk, but flying in an airplane as a pony was still an odd feeling at times. At least she could get some much needed rest, she’d definitely need it. There was no real telling when she’d be able to make it back this way, but given that Silver wanted to bring her and Orion along on some of his trips going forward, she was sure they’d make it back over sooner or later.

A quiet chime sounded throughout the cabin as the flight attendant began an indifferent sounding announcement. “Ladies and Gentlemen, we are beginning our descent, please return your seats to the upright position and stow your tray tables. We’ll be touching down in a few minutes.”

Scarlet opened her eyes at the announcement, quickly stashing her headphones into her saddlebags. She peeked over towards the window, and shifted them into a more comfortable position.

The pegasus next to the window stirred and cleared his throat for what felt like the first time the entire flight, pulling her attention away from her thoughts. “So, this your first time in New York or do you live out here?”

She turned towards him, “Hm? Oh, just visiting. Haven’t been here in a while, at least not as a pony. My husband and I wanted to take a trip down here after we had our foal but we never found the time. I don’t really know when or if I’ll ever get back out here so I’m definitely going to take advantage of it while I have the chance.”

He smiled, “Well you’re in for a treat then, the city seems so much bigger as a pony. Lived here for a few years before ETS and I still feel like I’m rediscovering the city for the first time whenever I fly back in. Just a fair warning though, keep to the ground, the humans are a bit uptight about flying around the city.”

She raised an eyebrow, “Really? Why’s that?”

He shrugged, “They think we’re just going to fly into an engine intake or something, name’s Skipper by the way.”

She nodded, “Scarlet, Scarlet Eclipse.”

“So what do you do, Scarlet? Couldn’t help but notice your mark. You into stargazing or something?”

She nodded, “I’m an astronomer out in Arizona. Haven’t really had a chance to do much yet but we’ve been working on some prototype telescopes. I’m actually taking part in some cultural exchange in Equestria, can’t really say much about it, but they needed a few Earth based astronomers to help oversee a project.”

“Oh! I’m talking with a big shot?” He asked in mock excitement.

She shrugged, “I wouldn’t say that, I just happened to have a friend who put in a good word for me. I’m in charge of a small team back home, in a private community called The Oasis, not too far from Phoenix if you’ve ever been down that way. The astronomy stuff is only a small part of it, but I like to think it’s a pretty important one.”

Skipper looked on in interest, “Huh, well that’s not something I tend to think about. I can’t say that I’ve ever really been out that way, this is just my connecting flight. So is the stargazing any good out there?”

“It’s amazing. We’ve designed the city so there’s as little light pollution as possible, it really gives you an amazing view of the night sky. So are you into astronomy too or something?”

He shrugged, “I dabble from time to time, it’s kind of hard to get a good view of the stars, all the bright lights and whatnot, and well, I don’t really know what I’m doing half the time. I’m a fisherman by day so It’s kind of just a hobby for me, but nothing I’d say I’m any good at.”

Scarlet smiled, “Hey, a hobby is better than nothing, as long as you enjoy it then that’s all that matters. Keep at it, I’m sure you’ll get good at it if you just take some time and learn what works and what doesn’t.”

Skipper gave a quick nod, “I’ll have to remember that the next time I give it a go.” He paused for a few minutes and peered out the window, “Well, we’re about to touch down. It was a nice chat though, hope you enjoy the city.”

“Thanks.” She paused for a moment, “Skipper, was it?”

He nodded. “Yep, kind of a dorky name for a fishing boat captain, but that was my old nickname and it got its hooks in me.”

She let out a small laugh, “Thanks Skipper. If you’re ever in the Phoenix area, look me up, my husband Silver and I would love to give you a little tour of our observatory. If you’re seriously looking to get into astronomy it might at least be a cool thing to see.”

He nodded, “Can’t say I’ll ever get down there, ‘less the fishin’s real good, but I’ll definitely think about that if I ever have the chance.”

She faced forward and prepared herself for landing, both nervous and excited at the adventure that lay ahead. The plane trembled slightly as it neared the runway, finally touching down and slowing to a taxiing speed.

The announcement chimed once again, “Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the Captain speaking. We’ll be pulling into the arrival gate shortly, until then we ask that you please remain seated with your seatbelt fastened until the seatbelt sign has been turned off. On behalf of myself and the rest of the crew, thank you for flying with us today, and welcome to New York.”

Skipper chuckled, “Freedom at last. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to flying this way as a pony, but it’s a necessary evil, I guess.”

“Mhmm, It’s definitely odd but at least we get the nice cushy seats in our own little section. I used to hate dealing with the cramped seats that the humans get.”

“Tell me about it, I used to get the worst cramps in my neck.” He cracked his neck as if to emphasize his former discomfort, “Anyways, you take care Scarlet, hope you enjoy our city.”

She nodded, “You too.”

---

Scarlet walked out towards the baggage check area and stopped to take in the scene. She didn’t exactly have a bag to wait for— her notebook, laptop, gauntlet, and charger were all able to fit comfortably in her saddlebags after all, but this was the area where she had been told she would find the humans that were supposed to be accompanying her. With sharp eyes she started to glance around the area until she noticed a pair of humans that fit the description of the two she was supposed to be meeting sitting off to the side of the carousel. As she took in the unfamiliar surroundings, a feeling of nervousness passed through her.

The momentary feeling of worry quickly passed, and seeing no real reason to hesitate, she slowly approached the pair. As she neared them the woman glanced over towards her and said something to the man that Scarlet couldn’t make out, before walking towards the luggage carousel.

With a cheerful smile on her face, Scarlet calmly trotted towards the remaining human, who returned a smile of his own. “I’m sorry, but are you the astronomers I’m supposed to meet up with?”

The human who she could only assume was Tyler nodded, “Let me guess, Scarlet?”

She relaxed a little and returned with a quick nod. “Yep, that’s me! Nice to finally meet you.”

Briefly glancing to the side, Scarlet noticed the woman walking back over from the carousel, carrying a couple small bags in tow. The human calmly turned towards Tyler, “This the pony we’re supposed to meet up with?”

Tyler nodded, “Yeah, perfect timing. Scarlet, this is Sarah; Sarah, Scarlet.”

Sarah set the bags on the ground next to her and extended a hand in greeting, “Pleased to meet you! We’ve heard a little bit about you, you’re running some observatory out in Arizona right?”

Scarlet met her greeting with her hoof and nodded, “Right. It’s nothing huge yet, but we’ve been working on a new prototype telescope. It’s not too different from anything you guys would be used to using, it’s mainly scaled down so it’s more comfortable for ponies to use, while still functioning the same as the others. I’ve also been studying some Equestrian astronomy books I was able to borrow from a good friend of mine, that’s been a fun challenge in itself.”

“Sounds fun, we’ve done some barebones research into Equestria’s stars, but we haven’t been able to get ahold of anything substantial on them. So are you guys having any luck with the prototypes?”

“Oh absolutely, it wasn’t as hard to scale them down as we thought it would be. The big project I’m really looking forward to is taking what we’ve done and expanding on it,” Scarlet excitedly explained.

Sarah leaned forward, “Like upgrading your tech? That’s kind of cool. Did you guys manage to get anywhere with that yet?”

Scarlet nodded enthusiastically, “Yeah actually, the advanced systems team back home was working on a new processor, it’s still a very early work in progress but I hope we’ll be able to upgrade our control computers with it. The other teams have been trying to downscale some of the existing tech so it doesn’t need to take up as much space as it does now, that’s still a bit of a work in progress.—”

Tyler cut in, “I hate to interrupt, but we should probably catch a cab over to the UN and talk about this more on the way there, I’d hate to be late and give off a bad first impression to whoever we wind up meeting on the other side.”

Scarlet and Sarah turned towards him and nodded in unison while Tyler reached down and grabbed his bag, waving the other two towards the exit. The two quickly followed him out and waited off to the side while he hailed a cab for them.

---

Tyler paid the cab driver and collected their bags from the back, pausing to make sure they were all set to go.

While the trio walked towards the imposing UN building Scarlet couldn’t help but marvel at how tall it and really every other building in the city appeared. She had visited large cities before as a human and had thought everything felt so big then, but her experience as a pony only served to make her feel even more out of place among the towering structures.

Sarah let out a few laughs as she took in Scarlet’s awestruck, almost bewildered expression, “So this your first time in the city?”

Scarlet blinked a few times, almost seeming to come out of some trance. She looked up towards Sarah and answered with a quick nod, “As a pony… is it that obvious?”

“Ehh… a little. The bewildered looks kind of give it away.” Tyler added with a smile.

“To be fair, this whole place just feels so different from the last time I was here, and that was so many years ago. It’s hard to really compare the two because both times I felt so… out of place, if that makes sense.”

Sarah shrugged, “Hey, can’t really blame you, but after today I think something like this is going to pale in comparison.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“What she means is that we’re about to become universal travelers. It’s just that that’s something that anyone’s able to easily do,” Tyler answered for her.

Scarlet nodded, “Right, that’s pretty much exactly what my husband said, and that’s a pretty good point. We should probably get to it instead of just standing around staring at a bunch of skyscrapers all day.”

Tyler nodded and pushed the door open, holding it for the other two as they stepped into the spacious lobby. Almost immediately, a pair of attendants approached them.

The first one, a larger man with a name tag that read Barney, who looked as if he was in his mid forties, stepped forward to greet them. “Hi, do you three have an appointment here?”

Tyler nodded, “Yeah, we’re taking part in a cultural exchange with Equestria. Part of their new astronomy program that was set up not too long ago.”

He nodded, looking down to the tablet he was carrying, “Alright, could I please have your names?”

“Tyler Anderson.” He turned towards Sarah with a smirk, earning an annoyed look from her, as if there was some inside joke that Scarlet wasn’t aware of.

Sarah gave a quick reply that seemed to carry an annoyed tone with it. “Sarah… Conners.”

Barney let out a snicker, “Off to go stop Terminators in Equestria eh?”

She rolled her eyes, “Gee haven’t heard that one before… ”

He nodded, stifling a few more chuckles, “Mmmkay, and you?” he asked as he turned to look down at Scarlet.

“Scarlet Eclipse,” she replied with a cheerful grin.

He checked off a few items on his tablet and smiled, “Perfect, you’re all checked in, we’ll just verify your identities at the desk over there. Once that’s done, then Storm Comet will show you over to the portal security checkpoint,” he finished, gesturing towards the pegasus at his side.

Storm Comet gave a quick nod, waving them along with a wing. “You’re aware of how this all works correct?”

Sarah cleared her throat, “Yep, we declare what we’re bringing, acknowledge what we can and can’t bring back, yadda yadda, you get the idea.”

He rolled his eyes, “Okay. Just making sure, a lot of travellers don’t have any idea what the actual rules are and wind up getting into all sorts of trouble. They wait months, maybe even longer to get a chance to go through the portal and then they don’t even bother to learn the rules.”

Tyler chuckled, “Trust me, you won’t have to worry about that with us, we’re professionals, not just some random tourists passing through.”

“That’s good to hear! If you don’t mind me asking, what do you guys all do?”

“Well Tyler and I were interns at the VLT installation down in Texas. It’s part of a big research project dealing with deep space astronomy. After college we were able to stay on and work with the team full time. Had some colleagues in the program that were able to get us in contact with the Equestrians, and well, here we are,” he said, gesturing towards himself and Sarah.

“And I’m the lead astronomer at a private research center in Arizona called The Oasis.” Scarlet added in.

A look of curiosity and interest spread across Storm Comet’s face. “That was that little desert city that got washed out by that freak storm right? What was the deal with that anyways?”

Scarlet raised an eyebrow and cocked her head to the side, “I’m actually kind of surprised you’ve heard of that, we worked really hard with some… friends, to make sure that that whole event was kept on the down low. It’s usually only been the weird oddballs that are into strange and unusual stuff that wind up asking about it, and to answer your question, it was a big misunderstanding between some weather ponies, but I’m afraid I can’t really get into any more detail with it.”

He chuckled, “Oh, I’m sure it was. I myself am strange and unusual. I love reading up on weird unexplained paranormal occurrences and a freak weather event kind of fits that bill perfectly. If anything big like that happens I usually find out about it one way or another.”

The warm smile returned to her face as she listened to Storm Comet explain everything. “Well it’s not exactly my kind of hobby, but that’s certainly better than having occult nutjobs show up unannounced on private land asking about whether aliens created the storm or not. Believe me, we’ve heard about every random question and conspiracy theory you could imagine.”

“I can imagine that’d be annoying.” He paused for a moment, “Anyways sorry to lead you off on a tangent like that, the checkpoint’s just ahead. I’ll be leaving you all there, if you have any questions one of the guards there will be able to answer them.”

Tyler smiled, “Thank you, Storm.”

He nodded. “Take care.”

---

The group stepped forward into the portal’s security checkpoint. The first thing that stood out to Scarlet was how different the checkpoint was to what she was imagining. Instead of the clinical checkpoint that you’d find in an airport, this one was a simple room with a few unicorns, crystal ponies, and human guards stationed around the portal. A standard bag scanner sat at the front of the room, but aside from that and the portal, the rest of the room was relatively empty.

One of the tall human guards approached the group and came to a stop, “Good afternoon, please set your bags on the conveyor and head over towards the unicorns, we’ll just need to perform a quick magical scan to make sure you don’t have anything that’s not allowed over.”

“Are we going to feel anything from it?” Sarah asked inquisitively.

The guard shook his head, “Maybe a slight tingle, but nothing really at all. The scan is non-invasive and we’re just making sure that there’s no contraband being brought over.”

“Sounds fair enough.”

“Now, if you don’t mind me asking, what are you all bringing along?”

“Not a whole lot, just some clothes, books, and notes,” she said, gesturing towards herself and Tyler. “What about you Scarlet?”

Scarlet looked up as she set her small saddlebag onto the conveyor, “Just some notebooks, a laptop, and my gauntlet, it’s basically a phone mixed with a smartwatch. I don’t know if it’ll work over there, but I use it to take notes on the go.”

The guard nodded his head, “That should be okay. Just keep in mind that power options might be scarce out there.”

“We’re headed to one of the astronomy program’s outposts,” Tyler spoke up. “Our ambassador for it said we shouldn’t have any issues at all there with that.”

“Mhmm,” the guard replied. “And you three are just going to be over there for one month, correct?”

Tyler nodded, “Yep, just a short research trip for now. Hopefully we’ll be able to stop by again sometime, though.”

“Okay, well you’re all clear to go. You’re aware of what you can and can’t bring back, right?”

Sarah nodded, “Mhmm, they included a list of prohibited items on those forms we had to sign before.”

The guard shrugged, “Alright, just making sure because they will be checking for them on the way back, as long as you’re clear on that we’re good. Enjoy your trip.”

Sarah smiled, “Thanks, we will.” She started towards the pair of unicorns that stood in the middle of the room, grabbing her bag as she walked by.

The larger of the two mages smiled, “Good afternoon miss, please set your bag to the side, this will only take a few moments.”

Without a moment’s delay, the two unicorns lit their horns and quickly enveloped Sarah in a magical aura that only lasted a few seconds.

A few moments passed before the aura faded, leaving Sarah standing there in confusion. “Was that it? It’s not some big complicated process?”

The shorter mage nodded, “Yep, you’re all clear to go.”

Sarah nodded, “Well thanks I guess, try not to work too hard okay?”

“Mhmm.” The mage rolled his eyes and turned towards Tyler, who was now just collecting his own bag. “You can leave the bag there for a moment, this won’t take long.”

“Hi. Scan away please,” he said as he stepped into place, letting the mages quickly envelop him in their magic.

Just like with Sarah before, Tyler was enveloped by the same magical aura that ended almost as quickly as it started. He stepped off to the side and gestured towards Scarlet. “You’re up.”

Scarlet stepped forward and before she even had a second to react, her vision was tinted a sparkling red that quickly faded. She blinked a few times and turned towards one of the mages, “That was it?”

The shorter mage nodded, “Yep. Like he said, it only takes a few seconds and you usually don’t feel a thing.”

“Huh, well I guess I was expecting more… maybe I’ve just been spending too much time around the mages back home.”

The mage shrugged, “Maybe. Anyways you three are all clear to go. Portal’s just ahead, feel free to proceed as soon as you’re ready, though I’d suggest you not dawdle.” He finished, gesturing towards the portal that sat only a few feet away from the scanning area.

Tyler looked on at the portal like an excited child would, earning a laugh from Sarah as she took notice. He turned towards the two and smiled, “Welp, this is it! You wanna go first Scarlet or should we let Sarah lead the charge?”

“You’re letting me have the honor of going first? You’re not getting cold feet are you?” She teased.

Tyler smiled, “Alright, guess that answers it, see you on the other side, Sarah.”

Sarah smirked at him and stepped through the portal, vanishing into the strange gateway.

Tyler was next, stepping up and pausing for a moment. He turned towards Scarlet, “You ever get that weird feeling of anxiety when you’re faced with something you thought you’d never get to do?”

She nodded, “Right now actually.”

He gave a quick nod, “Right, glad I’m not alone.” He turned back towards the portal and stepped through without any further word.

Scarlet hesitated for a moment and then walked up towards the portal and took a breath. It was an odd feeling knowing that she’d literally be leaving the only world she had ever known, even if only for a month. As normal as this all seemed to be for ponies like Sapphire, Scarlet still couldn’t help but feel a little nervous. People just weren’t made to comprehend the idea of slipping between worlds she guessed.

Not wanting to delay any further, Scarlet stepped through the portal and felt an odd sense of excitement and unease come over her as she passed from one universe and into another. What surprised her most of all was how unremarkable the experience felt despite the unknown nature of it all hyping the experience up for her. It was as if she had simply walked through a door, though the reality was far more complicated than that.

Tyler looked around the crystalline room that the group found themselves in, “Well, that was…”

“Kind of unexpectedly normal?” Sarah finished.

“That’s what I was just thinking,” Scarlet answered as she looked around at the room, first noticing that everything was designed with ponies in mind, before noticing the small group of ponies waiting to greet them once they had a chance to reorient themselves. Despite being set in the large crystal palace, it was clear that her two human travel companions were the odd ones out here. A smile came across her face as she took everything in.

“Hey Scarlet, you ready to go? They’re ready to cast the translation spell on us.” Tyler asked, pulling her back to reality.

She blinked a few times and turned towards Tyler, giving him a quick nod.

“So are you able to speak it or something? I know you said you borrowed some Equestrian astronomy books from a good friend right?” Sarah asked in fascination.

Scarlet shook her head, “No actually. I can kind of work my way through written Equestrian, though I’m still a bit rough. I tried to figure out spoken, but it’s just so different from anything I’ve ever seen. Lots of little intricacies that were hard to figure out on my own and I didn’t want to bother him by asking even more questions than I was already asking.”

“Well, lucky for you, there’s a spell for that.” The trio looked towards the dark purple night pony who was slowly walking up towards them. “I would say that you three seem rather lost, though I can not imagine where it is that you might be found in the first place. The name’s Starry Skies; I will be your guide for this journey.”

Scarlet smiled, happy that another night pony was present, “Nice to meet you, Starry; so what’s this about a spell?”

One of the mages stepped forward, “It is a simple translation spell that will enable you to speak our language as if it was your own.”

“It’s just that easy?” Tyler asked in curiosity.

He nodded, “Yes, it will only take but a moment to cast, are you three ready?”

“Of course we are! I was a bit worried that we’d have to figure this out on our own and Scarlet’s the only one that’s actually read up on any of this,” Sarah added.

He chuckled and lit up his horn, quickly enveloping the three. A few moments later the magical aura faded, leaving the three to try out their new language.

Scarlet began to speak slowly in the strange new language that was Equestrian, finding that the melodic words came naturally to her without any real thought. It still took some practice to get a good feel for the language, the words and structure were so different compared to English. After a few minutes of trial and error, she found that she could begin to speak at a more natural pace, and then began to switch between the two, finding it almost strange that she could simply jump between either as if she had known Equestrian her entire life. While her new friends were talking back and forth and feeling out the language for themselves, she couldn’t help but wonder what Silver was up to, curious about how he’d handle the next month alone with Orion.

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[ProgAltRocker]

Instead of "Alice in Wonderland", we get to see Scarlet in the magical realm of Equestria!