Tracy's week off went by in a blur so rapid he could barely grasp it in his fingers.
Technically he didn't have fingers for any of it, which was part of the problem. Spending so long in Equestria without stepping outside even once wreaked havoc on his perceptions. He didn’t have nightmares about being trapped with stumps instead of hands. Instead, he woke in a cold sweat Thursday morning trying to reconcile the thin, bony digits that grew from his hooves.
How could they be so thin? How had he managed to keep them all for more than two decades now, and not get them caught in car doors or blenders or the mouths of carnivorous fish?
Waking brought clarity, but still left him feeling shaken. What would happen if he couldn't tell which world was his anymore?
Of course he had the very best company during his break, though Rose still left several times a day for brief shifts at the flower shop.
It was during one of these that there was a knock at the door on the Equestrian side. He almost ignored it out of habit, but a glance towards the door showed him that the windows were open, and the pony on the other side could see him at the kitchen table. He pressed the laptop lid closed, hobbling over to the door and opening it with his mouth.
"Afternoon Muffins," he said, as politely as he could. "Something for Rose?"
It was just a letter, but he couldn't quite bring himself to ask why she hadn't just put it through the slot. Saying anything unkind to her felt a little like deliberately stomping on a garden.
"For you, Tracy," she said, proffering it. "It's... a little late, sorry about that. I wasn't sure where the pony with that name lived... I knew we'd talked once before. Sorry."
He took it. There was an address scribbled under his name, just like any message sent on Earth. But if Muffins's boss let her do the mail by learning where everyone lived, who was he to tell her otherwise.
He squinted down at the text for a moment, before gripping it delicately on the back of one wing. It was some of the worst handwriting he'd ever seen, worse than most grade schoolers. Only his name was readable.
"I'm glad you found me at all with an address like that," he said. "Have a good day."
"You too!" She beamed, waving one of her feathery wings in return. She stopped halfway down the path, turning to glance back at him. "Shouldn't you be asleep? The sun is still up."
He'd already shut the door most of the way. He cracked it open, smiling ruefully. "Sun's down where I'm from," he answered. She seemed to accept that answer, because she returned to her route without a backward glance.
A few months ago and he probably would've gone outside to open the letter, where his weird fingers could do the hard work. But now he knew where Rose kept the letter-opener, and he could brace the envelope with one hoof while slicing through the thick paper with the tool in his mouth.
There was only a single sheet of paper inside, written in the same almost indecipherable script as the address. It took only the first line for Tracy to realize why. Shane didn't have magic, and he didn't have months to learn to write with his mouth. Interpreting the scribbles took a great deal of attention and focus, but he managed.
"Tracy,
Wanted to tell you I was doing well. The ponies sent me to help at a dig. Big words are hard, but Fossil says I need to practice if I want to get better.
I'm still not sure what I will tell my family about this, but I know how. You have a few months left, I remember. If you get a package from me with a letter addressed to Ely, just stamp it and send it on. Maybe walk up to the mailbox wearing a mask or something, I dunno. I don't want them to think you killed me.
This community service stuff isn't so bad, even if I am digging holes. I think maybe when I'm done I might look for work in construction. A couple of the other volunteers are talking about starting something together, and I'm invited.
I'm losing track of time. But if my math is right, I should be done before your last month. I'm going to try to see you off in Ponyville, if I can.
You probably feel the same way as Anton and Marshall, but I'm gonna say it anyway. If you're smart, you won't go back. I know you didn't fail at life like I did, but take some advice:
It's better here. There's no promotion in the world as good as whatever demon let you move here. If you're smart, you'll take one look at the door back home, and run as far away as you can.
You can share this letter with the others if you want, I don't care. I'm sure they still think I'm insane. But you've been here. You know what I'm talking about. Don't give it up.
-Shane"
Shane was right about one thing—the others would think he was crazy. He would tell the others that Shane was doing okay, but that was it. That was probably all they needed to hear.
And not because they would start pressuring me to get out of here. Certainly he had no selfish motives.
He slept restlessly that night, and not because he hadn't been using the Everwake during his week off. There was a pounding from downstairs, loud enough to shake the floor under his feet. Tracy sat up groggily, and found his phone was ringing.
Good thing he hadn't started sharing a bed with Rose yet, or she wouldn't be happy. He pressed the speakerphone button with his nose. "Hello?"
It was Steven, the other junior intern at Apex. "Tracy, are you still alive or what?"
He sat up, shaking off the vestiges of sleep. At least the banging stopped. "Yeah," he answered. "I'm recuperating. I'm not supposed to be at work until Monday."
"I know," he said. "Janet sent me to check on you, assess your recovery, and collect your doctor's authorization for HR."
He stiffened, then jerked painfully into motion. "Is that you making a racket at my front door?"
"I'm checking for signs of life," Steven answered. "Look, just get down here. It's cold as hell out here, I'll be in my car. It's not your leg, right? Let me expense you some lunch."
"One minute," Tracy said. "I'll be right out."
Tracy started with a little glass vial, which banished the exhaustion in an eyeblink. He dressed as quickly as he could, working around the cast. Here's hoping it doesn't break my arm as soon as I step through the door.
It had been long enough since he went out, he almost forgot his phone. He didn't forget the folder of medical notes he'd prepared for HR, though his heart started to race at the very thought of having Karen looking at what was inside. If she gave it anything more than a passing glance, he was screwed.
Rose was standing in the doorway to her bedroom, mane disheveled in a way he swore was deliberate. Following her into that bedroom was the one step he hadn't quite been ready to take. So long as his foreleg was in a cast, he had an excuse. But he wouldn't have it for long. "What's the noise?" she asked. "Is it your side?"
He nodded, leaning forward to peck her lightly on the cheek. "It's a friend from work—my only friend from work, really. He wants to make sure I'm okay."
"Should I make snacks?"
His wings opened nervously to either side. "I don't think he'd handle the revelation of where I live very well. Janet might—my boss is really chill. She'd probably ask about the cell coverage or something."
He turned, making his stumbling way downstairs. It took deliberate concentration to walk with only three legs, and took a harsh toll on the leg he used more often. He didn't bother closing the intermediate door behind him, or else waste another thirty seconds fumbling.
Eventually he reached the front door. He braced his shoulder against the wall for a second to catch his breath, then undid the locks one at a time.
Hope it's been long enough that you're bored, Tracy thought. Unlike the old door, Discord's replacement was built entirely from steel, without so much as a peephole to glance outside.
He lifted the medical folder out from under a wing, taking it in his mouth. Then he swung the door open.
Steven lounged on the porch, tapping out something on his phone. He looked up as the door swung open, staring straight in at Tracy.
The iPhone slipped from his fingers, shattering to splinters on the pavement in front of him.
Oh shit.
Tracy lunged across the threshold to the Earth side, feeling a wave of nausea sweep over him at the speed of the transition. Adrenaline was on his side this time, and he managed to hold down his dinner.
He removed the folder from his mouth, tucking it between the arm brace and his chest. The arm was restrained almost exactly as his leg had been, with straps that wrapped around his neck and chest. It itched something fierce.
He bent down, picking up the fallen phone and pressing it towards Steven. "Thought you were gonna wait in the car." He wasn't wrong—for San Jose, this was the coldest he'd ever felt it. Nothing close to how Ely could get during the worst nights, but chilly enough that he'd go back for a sweatshirt.
Except, of course, that would probably give his poor friend another heart attack.
Steven took the phone, his hands shaking visibly. He muttered something indistinct—Hindi, not English. Finally he recovered enough to slip the phone into a pocket of his jacket, stumbling away from Tracy. "S-sorry. Think I... think I might need to go to the hospital. Swear I just..."
His eyes fixed on Tracy, suddenly intent. "Swear I saw something impossible. Demon, or maybe a stroke."
Tracy nodded weakly. A few words right now could probably convince his friend he'd had a brief bout on insanity—but it hadn't been some quick glance. Steven saw him from feet away, for several seconds straight.
He just couldn't bring himself to lie. "Actually, you saw into another universe. If you want to get technical about it."
Steven's face was already as pale as Tracy had ever seen him. His mouth opened and closed a few times, and he looked between Tracy and the still-open doorway. The door into the kitchen was still open, exposing the living room with its too small furniture.
And much more significantly, the windows on the Ponyville side, with empty streets lit by moonlight where another building should be on the Earth side.
Steven took another step back, muttering a long string of Hindi under his breath.
Only when Tracy pulled the door closed did he finally stop. "What is happening, Tracy? Thought you were shy, bit weird. So is everyone at Apex, that's the point. What the hell is going on?"
"I got tricked into a lease with the devil," he said. The words felt strange on his tongue—after his Ely friends visited, he never imagined saying them again. But what more harm could they do? "I can't move out until the year's over, and everyone on that side is a horse. I can show you, if you want."
Steven backed away another few steps. "Insane," he said. "Impossible. All of it."
"I thought so, but I've been stuck here for nine months now. It's not so bad when you get used to it." He held out the folder. "Do you want my medical stuff for HR?"
Steven shook his head vigorously, backing away another few steps. He was most of the way to his car now. He bounced on the edge of his toes, ready to sprint for his life at a moment's notice. "I'm gonna... I'll tell Janet you're in bad shape," he said. "See if I can convince her to give you remote work. Don't know... what the hell else... demon at work."
"Not a demon," he said again, annoyed. "I made one deal, and I thought I was just signing the damn lease. The people who live there are really nice, actually. You could meet the girl I've been talking about, Rose. We can have lunch at my place."
Steven sprinted for his life. He flung himself into his car, wheels squealing as he peeled away, door hanging open all the while.
Tracy watched him drive off, medical file still in hand. "Well... crap."
Well this potentially will cause problems...
This will go well.
Janet is totally going to show up now, if only to see what spooked Steven out so badly that he forgot to pick up the HR stuff and is almost certainly going to refuse to go back.
Might also make the bar night when Rose shows up very awkward. Well, more awkward.
The way Tracy handled that situation was hilarious!
Remote work sounds tricky. Cad drawing with hooves sounds... Difficult.
You know, Tracy could just call Janet right now and say Steven showed up and was acting odd, I was trying to give him my medical papers but he just sped off. Nobody would believe Steven.
As for Shane, that letter would make me more self-conscious and less likely to stay rather than more likely. Except for the circumstances of the ending I was going to say a lot more about it, but Tracy is probably spinning in his head and the impact of Shane's letter will be minimized.
That chapter was only 2100 words, and we skipped the whole off-week and the movie. Pacing set to extremely fast.
I hope Tracy gets to do fully remote work now. and that cell reception works after the lease is up.
Remember Discord "fixed the door"?
That may have been the Red Herring or Chekov Gun for the meeting with Janet... Discord does hold all the cards
I wonder what kind of Pony Janet will become when she shows up to get the stuff for HR.
Oh, this was sweet, and an unexpected twist. If there is one thing superstitious, religious humans freak out about, it is demons and devils. Tracy is totally screwed - even if Steven dare not rant a tear about the ontological implications of real devils and real contracts and real alien universes - he is definitely going to bad-mouth Tracy to anyone who will listen. Tracy's social standing at Apex is capital 'F' fucked. He has zero chance of a promotion now, and nobody will ask him to join them after work once Steven gets done. Steven won't mention what he saw... but he will definitely assassinate Tracy's character.
Yes, I speak from experience, and such total blackballing doesn't need devils to guarantee nobody in a corporate culture wants to deal with someone. I have seen people I know - and love - utterly ruined by mere rumors... or because some office Karen decided they didn't like the color of their skin. Skin color is nothing compared to a belief in devils. Tracy is soooo screwed at Apex now.
Tracy may soon have no free choice in which universe he needs to live in.
10567006
Why does she necessarily need to become a pony?
I see her becoming a Griffon.
I’m thinking his friend is thinking he is a Rakshasa. And while he may get over it he may acquire a blessed crossbow to deal with the demon.
10567037
I never said that.
And while you could be right, I honestly think of her as a Pegasus, maybe even a Bat.
10567013
With such a sudden turn-around -- I mean Steven was the one most accepting of Tracy before -- the broken phone -- the failure to pick up the medical records.... If Tracy heads this off right now, and talks to, or better sees Janet, handing off the medical records that Steven didn't get and say Steven seemed to have a nervous breakdown. Steven will set himself up as being a lunatic and any character assassination he tries against Tracy will be minimized. It is hard to attack the visibly injured. You are fighting a sympathy element.
Heck, if Rose keeps her mouth shut and goes along with Tracy, and Steven starts going demon -- she's a demon -- on her in front of Janet or the co-workers... Steven might find himself out on his rear, or at least under significant medical review.
(Of course demon is simply dimensional traveler anyway -- at least as of the Another Fine Myth series of books)
10567039
Heh -- even showing up with a crossbow would make it far worse for Steven -- if he tried to shoot Rose or Tracy that would be right off to the Criminally Insane ward.
10567013
Even if he does though, Steven is an intern, lowest on the totem pole so to speak. He got sent to Tracy's house to do two things: assess his recovery and collect HR stuff.
He didn't grab the HR stuff and is going to try to convince Janet that Tracy is a mess, so when Tracy comes in on Monday with just a cast and burns, the office is most likely going to come to the conclusion of 'He didn't actually go to Tracy's place'.
Failing at that simple task will make anything he says suspect, assuming they don't just fire him for wasting company time and insubordination.
Also with how spooked he is, shaking, talking of impossible things, they might assume he was just on drugs, lowering his credibility further. If anything, Steven is the one with no future at Apex now.
I'm more concerned about Janet showing up just out of annoyance that she sent someone on an easy errand that didn't get done. Who knows how she would react?
Well that's just great. Now there's gonna be workplace drama.
Obviously, Discord intentionally didn't put the transition in a sealed-off vestibule.
Would've made it far easier, and less chaotic, to deal with people at the front door.
Well that went pear-shaped. Janet is gonna be mighty confused when it says he broke his foreleg.
- Nice ending!
10567052
Electrocution burns are pretty wide spread and distinctive as he'll have patterns burnt across whatever paths of least resistance the electricity took passing along his skin.
And a lot of them.
This episode brought to you by Otterbox, the best iPhone protector on the market. I've had one on my phone since I got it, and it bounces instead of breaking now.
10567052
I can imagine Janet not reacting at all.
So far all humans has reacted poorly (at first) in the story to the other world. That is expected.
It would be time to meet somebody who is 100% chill about the whole thing, and completely does not care about different universes or aliens.
10567037
She has the attitude of one for sure, but my bet is dragon
10567125
Zebra would be my guess.
Spark Gap's face looks like a nightmare back there.
HAHAHA Tracy, you can be pretty funny.
Wait, what, that wasn't a joke on your part?
You know, randomly, there are enough people on Earth who believe in magic (even if it's through the lens of their religion) that it would have been kinda funny if Steven had just gone "Oh, neat."
to be fair if i saw a dimension portal in real life, impossible creatures and told my work colleague signed a deal with the devil i be running too
10567139
Oh my... "We can have lunch at my place." I didn't get it until now -- he further panicked at the end because he thought he was going to be eaten.
10567146
Yeah here I was thinking he was playing, but in fact he was just a dope.
And so the dice have been rolled... How will they land?
Figured we'd reach this point eventually.
Well....I'd say that's relative. In any case, I know for a fact that even Equestria isn't free of its share of downs either. It does make me sort of think that Shane's still a bit high, so to speak, on all of the positives he's seen of Equestria that he's still seeing none of the negatives, regardless of how many there actually are or are not, nor their size, and I feel like that's a fallacy on his part. I mean, if he really wants to stay, then more power to him--hope it works out for him and all that--but at the same time, I feel like he ought to have more perspective about it. Equestria truly is a great place, but it can't possibly be all pluses and no negatives.
That being said...it might still be advice Tracy takes up, though for his own reasons and motivations different from that of Shane's. Tracy could probably still make it just fine back on Earth if he wanted and I'm sure he knows it, but he has built of a life for himself here in Equestria too, and I can certainly understand if he chose to pursue that further instead, despite how bizarre the circumstances seem.
But we'll see. I mean, the story's certainly leaning in that direction, and I've read enough of Starscribe's fics to know the usual trend to expect, but you never know--this might be the one that mixes it up a little.
Plus, I really do kinda want Tracy to keep the job at Apex. It's not always a forgiving job, granted, but it is a very promising job that actually has gone out of its way to get him on its staff, and with it, Tracy could still have just as promising a future there too. It is still, after all, basically his dream job.
I guess what it really boils down to is which life Tracy really wants the most...which is where I suspect the likes of Discord and Celestia come into play, trying to determine the answer to that for themselves...
Oh no. Of course not. Don't know why anyone would ever think that.
Yeah, I've been worrying about that too. Just the names of the doctors alone would be enough to make it all seem like it was made up by a three-year-old. If anything is going to make or break this for Tracy, it's going to be these medical papers.
Oh c'mon--I could! I mean, if that was how he wanted to choose to interpret it, then he could go right on choosing to believe it for all I cared, if it meant I'd spare myself the whole headache of explaining the real situation to him, let alone the whole can of worms that'd inevitably follow doing that. I mean, the last time you went down that route, the affair ended up getting taken to court in another universe and left you in hot water with your "landlord" that still hasn't been totally cooled off even now. And that time, it was with close friends, not a coworker who's going to report in to your boss. So ask yourself--you really want to risk doing that again, or worse still?
I mean, yeah, if you loose the job, that'll probably be all the motivation you need to stay in Equestria...but you better believe that if that happens, Discord will be getting involved in some manner to cause mischief at that same time, so...there'll still be downsides to this.
Already went through all of that, so I'm not repeating myself, dude.
On the upside...don't have to worry about the medical papers getting you in trouble for another day.
I mean, it might not matter at this point, but...thinking happy thoughts here?
10566991
Concur on the matter of Steven. That mess isn't that desirable, but it is still plenty salvageable, if Tracy plays his cards right. Which means no more of this "oh, I'll just tell the truth, what harm could it do?" philosophy he's apparently adopted. I mean, honestly, that probably made it all worse, playing right into Steven's fears--if Tracy had instead just shrugged it off and played it up as if he didn't know what Steven was talking about, Steven might have just concluded he imagined it and, in time, let it go, but noooo, he had to go and basically confirm it for poor Steven here. Still, his relations with Steven is probably all shot to heck, and regardless of whether or not Janet believes anything Steven says, she's still going to wonder what the heck is up and start asking tough questions, so...Tracy's definitely not in the clear yet, but he's also a long way from hitting bottom on the matter still too. Still time to pull up and save it.
So that leaves what is, perhaps, the better question to be asking here...does Tracy even want to?
10567052
I suspect much of this is what will likely go down too...though there is also the possibility Janet or some other high-up might suspect Tracy bullied Steven into dropping the matter, since Steven will inevitably appear extremely frightened of Tracy now. I mean, if I were Janet, that's at least one of the possibilities I'd be considering, and it'd probably be one I'd take seriously until I got satisfactory evidence to prove otherwise, something that might be hard for Tracy to provide, given his unusual circumstances.
But we'll see.
She could just think it's a matter of time zones. She might consider the possibility of alternate worlds, but that's me projecting my usual depictions of Best Pony.
I'd honestly love to see that.
Oh dear. This could go very poorly indeed. At least Tracy had pants on the human side of the portal. No need to add that layer of awkwardness on top of everything else. We'll see how this goes from here. Poor Steven never asked to be an eldritch horror protagonist, horrified unto madness by the immensity and implications of the sheer scale of the multiverse... but really, who does?
10567113
Same! I have one on an iPhone so old, the Genius Bar would probably say it belongs in a museum. Not. Even. A scratch.
Well... that was either the best or worst thing that could ever happen to Tracy. We'll have to wait and see.
Probably a side effect of the sleep drugs and the sort of confusion sleep and dreaming can bring about. Still, I'd be a bit worried about it. It's certainly going into the "what is real" territory. Heck, if I was Tracy, I'd be half wondering if the body provided by the gate wasn't actually a real pony that I'm unwittingly possessing or just a magically manufactured doll.
It's starting to feel like we're heading towards a bittersweet ending. Anyway, I still think Tracy has better cause to stay than Shane.
I honestly wouldn't know whether it's easier to tell the truth or attempt to persuade Steven that he was seeing things. Both are risky yet doable.
He should really keep his mouth shut
10567116
PLOT TWIST!
Janet is actually the Human Side's Spirit of Chaos and just walks in and tells off Discord!
Why do I get the feeling that the craps going to hit the fan and Discord is going to have to collapse the gateway to protect Equestria.
The Monk
“Come into my parlor, Ted. I have cookies!” -Reykan
"Can my niece visit on the weekend?"
"Uh, sure? I'm allowed one guest at a time."
"Excellent. Do that and I'll make sure Steven gets off your ass about the whole incident."
Uh oh.
Super uh oh.
Well that's just not safe.
Well, that happened.
I'm of the opinion that a lie would not have worked. As Spark Gap said, Steven had a good look, for several seconds, and ~wave hand~ who will you believe, me or your own eyes? -- tends not to work really well, actually.
Could Tracy have convinced him, by lying? Sure. But would Steven trust him after that? Probably not. (I'm not going to say been there, done that, but I've seen similar.)
What happens next? Frankly, I think Janet will be an earth pony. Down to earth, this is what must be done type of person. Manages a bunch of flightly, magical-thinking people who she doesn't understand, but gets them to do what must be done.
"Tracy? What the heck did I just see?"
"Oh, Janet. What you just saw was another world, and that happens to be where I'm living at the moment"
"But ... Well, does this affect your work at all? Do you get reception there?"
"The front half, by this side, yes. But that's where my injury happened."
"Hmm... Well, will you be in on Monday?"
"Yes"
"Alright. See you then."
Hmm, might not even see what her pony form is.
10567178
Better question: WILL they land, and if they do, will they still be dice?
Oh no, that's less than great.
Steven's reaction is going to cause problems and I seriously doubt that Janet will beleive what he says. I won't be surprised if Janet decides to show up herself to see what caused Steven to sprout such nonsense which would cause a lot of trouble for Tracy. I wonder if Tracy will take Shane's advice and I like the picture.
Starts chanting: Tracy be smart....
Some people can't look a little horse and keep cool. It's the same with some people and their fear of midgets.
10567965
Tracy isn't a little horse. He is a bat, with fangs and membranous wings. To the uninitiated he doesn't exude cuteness.
Or if he does at all, that is swept securely into the uncanny valley making the "vampony" even more scary.
The first thing people in IT business concern whenever they in somewhere new is to make sure they still get the coverage.
understatement this is going to have a bit of blow back.
and dang this is a grate chapter and i just love this story all the more for it.
10567006
that is easy,,,, stop and think about it ,,,, cool ,,,, chill ,,,,,,and level heeded....
Pegasus all the way.
oof
Here's to hoping he talks his way outta this one
i.imgur.com/VleB3VN.jpg