Unexpected Company
I was enjoying this latest royal visit because of the ponies involved rather than anything political in nature. In other words, Prince Baked Bean and his wife, Princess Celestia (Bean), were here in our world purely for social reasons. The Prince had even brought along some culinary treats that he had made himself just like one’s neighbor would pop around to watch a ball game. I loved the spicy pepper cauliflower dip and Trixie couldn’t stop praising the dark chocolate sunflower seed butter cups. When I asked if I could try one, she let me know that there was a limit to how much she loved me, and that limit was defined by dark chocolate. I laughed as loud as our guests at that playful jab. Still, that left me with the spicy stuff which suited me fine.
Interacting with the yellow earth pony was a breath of fresh air after dealing with the stuffy nobility. However, because both our visitors were true royalty, I was more than ready to use that as a legitimate excuse to take an afternoon off from my duties. The lords and ladies would never know that Trixie and I were conversing about our foals, favorite foods, and pranks we’d pulled rather than serious matters like trade agreements and mutual defense pacts between our worlds. Right at the moment, the subject had turned to how each of us had become leaders of our respective nations.
“I can’t believe that you chose this life,” Bean said. “I fell into it completely by accident.” He glanced fondly at his wife. “Best accident ever, but still completely by chance.”
I replied, “Would you believe I once jumped off a castle balcony before I had yet to master flying just to get away from the suggestion that I become a ruler?”
My wife said, “There you go again, Dowser – taking credit for something that was not your idea. The Great and Helpful Trixie recalls that she dropped you in a sensible attempt to get you past your unreasonable fear of flying.”
I had almost forgotten about that incident. “I hadn’t had wings for even a day! And I had no idea we would ever get married, especially with that kind of first impression.”
Trixie smirked. “Could it be that even then, you made a precipitous attempt to escape your destiny…”
“… or just crazy mares.” I quipped back. “Looks like I failed that spectacularly as well.”
She patted me on the withers. “Don’t feel inadequate. It is what all your wives have come to expect of our stallion.”
By now, both Bean and his Celestia were crying tears of mirth. I shot a glare at Captain Penumbra in time to see her toothy grin. She nodded to Trixie. Of course. Why wouldn’t she give lessons in snark to my other wives?
Still, I could at least get the conversation back on track. “Actually, I was talking about when I jumped off the balcony at the Castle of Friendship. This was before Trixie and I were an item and she joked… I think… about having Marklestia sit in for the Diarchs. Not wanting to take any chances, I high-tailed it out of there.”
Bean chuckled. “Sounds like something I would have done, and I don’t even have wings. And yet, here you are today, Prince of an empire.”
I reached around Trixie with a wing to cuddle her. “It just shows what stallions will do for love. Trixie stole my heart and I would have done anything to make her mine. Taking responsibility as a Prince of Equestria was the price I was quite willing to pay to be with my soulmate.”
My wife smiled and leaned into me. “Trixie made sure that her stallion knew what was best for him.”
That was not quite how I remembered it happening but I wasn’t going to argue with the results.
Celestia beamed and emulated my action with Bean. “I believe that we were both fortunate to gain the husbands that we needed to complete our lives. And both our worlds have benefitted from the changes those events precipitated.”
I nodded. “Sometimes, it takes a major shake-up to get a country out of its comfortable rut and make advancements. Bean was your catalyst while the disappearance of our Royal Sisters and their subsequent replacement was ours. I hope that my and Sally’s visit to your Queen Chrysalis was of some help too.”
“That situation is still playing out,” Celestia admitted, “but I have high hopes.”
Trixie said, “You are every bit as optimistic as our Celestia.”
The alabaster mare smirked. “I have reason to be. The changeling queen may not want to admit it but she is hopelessly smitten with Hokey Pokey, and he with her. I would not tolerate her presence in Canterlot or her continued freedom otherwise.”
“Your Chrysalis deserves a chance,” my wife agreed. “Our herdmate has more than proven herself.”
“What else have you been doing to encourage her to stay on the right path?” I asked Celestia.
Before either could reply, there was a firm knock on the sun room’s door. At Celestia and Bean’s curious looks, I said, “We left word not to be disturbed unless something important came up. Pardon me for a moment.”
I nodded to Penumbra who opened the door to talk with whoever had knocked. While their voices were too low and muffled, I did detect a surprised tone. The batpony then turned around and said, “I think you need to deal with this, Your Highnesses.”
If Penny was reverting to full formality, it had to be important. “Send them in, Captain Penumbra.”
She stepped back, pulling the door fully open. Two EUP soldiers, both pegasi, stepped inside the room with another creature between them – a tall biped. My eyes opened in shock as I recognized the species. He was a human! And not one from Sunset’s world either. He could easily have been my neighbor back when I still lived on Earth. He was olive-skinned, had black hair, and was perhaps around thirty years of age. He had a thick growth of stubble and there were several scrapes and bruises visible on his limbs. His T-shirt and shorts were badly torn and filthy. He looked around with the bewildered expression of someone who had just been thrust into an insane situation. The Guards stopped before Trixie and me and saluted.
“Your Highnesses – we found this creature stumbling around the edge of the San Palomino Desert not far from Los Pegasus. It appears to be dehydrated and disoriented. It keeps asking what happened to something called Las Vegas. Because we did not recognize the species, Corporal Slipstream applied the decontamination crystal as per Princess Sparkle’s standard procedure. We then used a daggerscale portal to bring it here and we were going to have it treated and interrogated. However, Sergeant Crimson Boulder saw us and told us that you would want to see it immediately.”
I glanced back to the door and noticed my earth pony alternate bodyguard waiting in the doorway. I met his eyes and inclined my head to indicate that he was to join us. I turned my attention back and noticed that Trixie was appraising our strange visitor. She certainly recognized what he was and was probably wondering if he was from my world too. I spoke to the Guard who had addressed us. “Find Doctor Bellows and have him come here to evaluate this human. Then I want extra patrols sent out to check the desert in case there are more of them. If so, approach them cautiously but do not treat them as hostile unless they are clearly a danger. Have them brought here too. Oh, and provide them with water and food.”
“Yes, sir!” The Guards saluted again and departed.
“Will someone please tell me what’s going on!” the man croaked.
I got up and gently steered the man to a lounge chair. Although I judged him to be of normal human size, he towered over my pony form. It was similar to when I had first visited Phil’s home without the adaptation spell active and Rosa had been much taller than us. The chair was therefore a bit too low for him but better than leaving him standing. “Sit down and make yourself comfortable while we sort this out.”
Bean said, “He looks like he could use a drink.”
“Agreed,” I said, levitating a glass and a jug of lemon squash over to the man.
“What the fuck?!” he said, staring at the objects suspended in the glow of my power.
“It’s magical levitation,” I said. “Don’t question it for now. Take these and pour yourself a drink.”
He gingerly grasped them and did so while I examined him in detail. He drank the lemon squash like someone dying of thirst and I stopped him from pouring another glass.
“Too much too quickly isn’t good for you,” I told him. “Let your body absorb that first. Meanwhile, tell us your name.”
“My name is Caleb Awad. Who and what are you?”
“I am Prince Mark Wells and I am an alicorn, as is my wife, Princess Beatrix Lulamoon.” I then indicated our visitors. “These are Princess Celestia and Prince Bean, guests from another world. Yes, you heard me right. They aren’t from this dimension and, obviously, you aren’t either. This world is called Equus and you are now in the Equestrian Empire.”
“But… you’re all horses!”
“Ponies,” I corrected. “Magical colorful talking ponies. Some are pegasi like the Royal Guards that brought you in. Some are unicorns. Some are batponies or earth ponies like my bodyguards. But all of them are sapient citizens of this country and just one of the many races that fill this world. I know that this is all hard to take in quickly, but you have to accept the situation that you’re in while we figure out how you got here.”
“Easy for you to say. You don’t have what look like animals telling me to be calm. It’s all a bit too surreal.”
“Believe me – I do understand. I was once a human too.”
Caleb’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re shitting me?!”
“Nope. You’re looking at a North Carolina native, believe it or not.”
“What happened to you?”
“An accident with a portal.”
“And that made you a prince?” he asked doubtfully.
I laughed. “Hell, no! However, that’s a very long story. What we need to know is how you ended up here in Equestria and why you were not transformed like I was. Then we will have to see if we can get you back home. The Guard mentioned something about Las Vegas – is that where you’re from?”
“No, I was just visiting. A bunch of my work buddies and I went there for a weekend. We all got a bit drunk and I stepped outside for some fresh air. Not sure how, but next thing I know, I’m waking up in the desert with civilization nowhere in sight. I wandered around for a day and cooked in the heat, then froze that night. Those winged ponies found me the next day. I thought I was hallucinating. Still not sure I’m not.”
“You stumbled into a portal in the middle of Sin City?” I asked dubiously.
“Nah. We had rented a place on the outskirts of town to save money for other stuff. The desert was on our doorstep. I walked into it for a minute or so to get away from the noise from our guesthouse. The lights of the city still drowned out the night sky though. And then… they didn’t.”
“You poor creature,” Bean said, getting up from the sofa. He grabbed the tray of chocolate treats and brought them over. “You must be starving. Help yourself to some of these. We’ll get you a proper meal later.”
“How in blazes are you holding that?” Caleb asked even as he reached for the food. Trixie shuffled on her hooves but didn’t complain as he scarfed down a couple of the chocolate cups. “Oh, wow! These are amazing!” That earned a smile from Prince Bean. Caleb continued. “Did you earn your crown in a cooking competition?”
Trixie and Celestia laughed so hard they had to hold onto each other to keep from falling over. For his part, Prince Bean sighed. “If only it had been that easy.”
“He’s holding the tray with magic,” I reminded Caleb. “It’s pretty much everywhere. Anyway, it sounds like you ran into a random natural portal between our worlds.”
“Does that happen a lot?” he asked between bites.
I recalled some of the stories that Celestia had told me of interdimensional incursions over the centuries and of discoveries made during her adventures with Daring Do. “Not really, and not necessarily to Earth.”
“What about the way you got here?” Caleb asked.
“Magic mirror that was created with a spell,” I informed him.
“Can I get back that way?”
“Maybe. We’ll definitely try that but there’s one problem and it’s a doozy.”
Caleb frowned. “And what’s that?”
“The world I came from might not be the Earth that you know.” I waved my hoof towards Celestia and Bean. “Our guests here are also from Equus, but an entirely different one. I have personally been to several other Equuses and they all differ from this one – some by a little and others by a lot. We might get to my Earth and find that there’s already a Caleb Awad there, or that Caleb never existed. The multiverse is enormous.”
The human slumped in his chair. “Sounds like I’m screwed unless I can get to that portal again.”
Celestia spoke up. “I’m afraid that we have more bad news. Natural portals tend to be temporary, according to our dimension’s research on the subject. That’s why we affix ours to a permanent object such as a mirror. The portal that brought you here may or may not still exist.”
Caleb bolted up out of his chair. “Crap! I gotta go find that portal!”
“Calm down,” I said. “While what Celestia said is true, natural portals tend to last as long as there’s mana to power them. Out in the desert, there’s little else using mana so it should stay around for a while. On the other hoof, I admit I don’t know when it opened, but if the other end was in such close proximity to the place you were staying and hadn’t been encountered before, I’d guess that it was fairly new. Was there some sort of major storm that had recently passed through the area?”
“Yeah. There was a helluva lightning storm while we were in town. It had cleared away by the time we got home that night though.”
“That sounds plausible as the cause.” There was a knock at the door and Crimson admitted Doctor Bellows into the room. “First, we get you checked out. Then we get you cleaned up and given a proper meal while we search for the portal.” I turned to the physician. “Doc, we have a visitor that has suffered from exposure in a desert, and lack of food and water. His species is called a human and you’ll find that he’s very similar in many ways to anthroponies, physiologically speaking, so he should be safe to treat. However, he doesn’t possess any form of magic ability.”
Bellows nodded. After years dealing with me and the many odd circumstances that I had found myself in, he was inured to the unusual. “Please remove your clothing so I may examine you properly,” he told Caleb.
The man’s eyes shot wide open. “What?!”
I chuckled. “No nudity taboo here, Caleb. Just take off your shirt if you don’t have anything wrong elsewhere.”
The doctor glared at me but proceeded with the examination when the man removed his tattered T-shirt. After a thorough check-up, he pronounced that Caleb was dehydrated and sunburnt but otherwise in excellent physical condition. His dark complexion had obviously helped. Bellows patched up his scrapes, gave him some salt tablets, and we allowed him another glass of lemon squash. Doctor Bellows promised to send a salve for his skin before departing.
While the doctor was busy, I had arranged to assign more squads to search the location of the portal. Given that Caleb had been wandering for so long, the area to be checked was quite extensive and there was a chance that it might be gone anyway. Nevertheless, it had to be tried for the man’s sake. Trixie had sent a servant to bring a decent meal for our guest and Lace Doily turned up with a hearty vegetable stew. Not unexpectedly, a full stomach quickly made the exhausted man drowsy. We had two Guards take him to a guest room to get some sleep. The stallions were instructed to keep watch at the suite’s door and let us know when Caleb woke up or if anything else needed our attention.
With that situation dealt with, we were finally able to turn our attention back to Celestia and Bean. However, given the circumstances, we decided that it would be best to reschedule our visit for another day. We all knew that this latest drama wasn’t over yet.
Caleb did not wake up until the following morning and he joined us for breakfast. Fortunately, he had taken advantage of the bathing facilities and a maid had the idea of providing a minotaur robe for him to wear. While the robe was on the small side for one of the bovine bipeds, it was still quite large for the human. Considering that the same maid had absconded with Caleb’s torn clothes, the man was grateful to have something to wear.
“We’ll get you some more clothes if necessary,” I promised.
Caleb looked doubtful. “Ponies make clothes? For humans?”
“Yes to the first, and to the second as well if you ask the right pony.” I was sure Rarity could whip up something fabulous for him in no time. Not my herdmate though – the anthro Rarity. We still visited there regularly due to our anthro daughter.
“Any word on finding the portal?”
“No luck yet, I’m afraid,” I replied as I poured syrup on my waffles.
“So I might be stuck here if your mirror isn’t the way home?” Caleb sighed. “I suppose I should be grateful that I’m still alive and not a pastel pony. What was it like turning into a green four-legger with wings and horn?”
“For starters, I didn’t have the horn then. I was only a pegasus when I arrived and I had no idea how to use these wings. I barely managed to walk. I crashed a lot but I learned. Now, I wouldn’t give up being able to fly for anything. There are worse fates than becoming a pony.”
“So, how did you get the horn?”
“Got a few weeks for me to tell you the whole story?”
“I might,” he replied glumly. “For now, though, give me the highlights.”
So I did. He scoffed about the effect of poison joke so I demonstrated. I think that my becoming a female freaked him out more than anything else. I suppose not everyone is going to be comfortable with the idea of transgender transformations. I bet he’d be leery of blue flowers from now on.
After breakfast, we headed for the portal mirror to Phil’s home. It was the obvious first possibility to eliminate. Despite the implication that I would take my human form there, Caleb was still surprised to see both me and Penny standing there on two legs and fully clothed while he just had the robe. Nobody was home but that was not surprising. Phil and Rosa would be at work right now while Yolanda and Miguel would be in school. Not that it mattered because my family had the run of the place. I also had a cell phone stashed here if needed. I turned it on and waited for it to start up.
“Okay – simple first test. What’s your number?” I asked Caleb when the phone was ready. He told me and I dialed it and put the phone on speaker so we could both hear.
The phone rang for five seconds before it was answered. “Caleb Awad speaking,” came a very familiar voice.
My Caleb’s face fell as I replied to the man at the other end. “Oops! My apologies. Wrong number!” I ended the call and looked at the distraught man. “Sorry, my friend. Wrong universe.”
He nodded glumly. “Can’t say you didn’t warn me. What now?”
“While this world is possibly very alike to yours, I don’t recommend that you stay here. I won’t force your choice but you’re alien to this world and you can’t be replacing the other Caleb. With modern identification systems, you’d be a non-person at best. We’ll have to move on to plan B.” I turned off the phone and put it away. “Let’s go back now.”
Upon returning to the room with the portal mirror, I stopped Caleb from stepping through. “Give me a moment to disable the adaptation spell. If you step through now, you’ll be transformed into a pony or other sapient species.” I was certain he would have been pissed off mightily to end up as a pony or other being. Some might enjoy the experience but I had a feeling that would not be appreciated right now. However, he surprised me.
“If I ended up like you, I’d still become a human if I came back here?” Caleb asked.
“Yes – the adaptation spell is designed to give you the physical form best suited to you in the destination world. Naturally, that means that you’d revert to human form on this side of the portal.”
“In that case, can I at least see what I could have become?”
I shrugged. “Can’t hurt if that’s what you truly want. If it freaks you out, normality is just a couple of steps away.”
“YOLO,” he replied and stepped through before I could ask if he was sure. I glanced at Penny and she shrugged. His choice, for better or for worse. I instructed her to wait and followed Caleb, wondering what he had become.
I discovered an earth pony waiting for me there, incongruously clad in a robe that was far too big for him. He was struggling to get it off and I used my magic to assist him. Once free of the encumbrance, he turned to the mirror to use its reflective properties to study himself. What he saw was a well-muscled stallion with a golden-brown coat and a maroon and purple striped mane. A glance confirmed that he did not have a cutie mark. He nodded approvingly and I reckoned that he made a handsome specimen.
“Feel like staying that way?” I asked.
Caleb chuckled and shook his head. “Nope. I was kind of hoping I’d get wings so I could try flying. No such luck. Gotta admit though that I don’t look half bad. Still, I don’t plan on staying, so I’d rather be human again.”
“Better take this with you then,” I said as I levitated his robe back to him. “The adaptation spell is placed on the departure gate, so let Captain Penumbra know what you want to do.”
“Thanks.” He stepped through the mirror and returned as soon as Penny disabled the adaptation charm.
After my herdmate reset the spell, she joined us in her normal batpony form.
“Man, that felt weird. I don’t think I could ever get used to that.” Now human again, Caleb flexed his fingers. “What’s our next move?”
“We consult with this world’s expert on portals. Twilight Sparkle should be awake by now. She’s really not a morning pony,” I explained.
I think Caleb was more impressed by the daggerscale portal that he had taken from the desert where he had been found than by the permanent portal that connected Canterlot Castle with Friendship Castle in Ponyville. It’s one thing when you step from a natural environment to an artificial one and another when essentially stepping from one room to another. Even so, they awed him while we had long since taken them for granted.
Sure enough, Twilight was at the breakfast table, eyes still half closed as she drank her coffee. Black, of course. Honestly, if she didn’t insist on staying up so late reading, she probably would have been far better off, but that’s our book alicorn for you. She barely raised an eyebrow at the sight of the human accompanying me.
“Morning, Sparkles,” I said cheerfully. “I’ve got a problem.”
Twilight brightened. “A Friendship Problem?”
“If you’d prefer to look at it that way, yes. Caleb appears to have fallen through a wild portal into our world and he wants to rejoin his friends on his Earth.”
“Not the same Earth as yours, I take it?”
“Nope. Already checked that out.”
“And you haven’t found the wild portal yet?”
“We’ve got squads searching for it but no luck so far.”
“How long has he been here?”
“A couple of days but we only knew about him since yesterday afternoon. He was in fairly bad shape and we had the doctor patch him up and let him rest. I figured we could tell you this morning and here we are.”
Spike arrived just then with a plate of waffles dripping with syrup. He placed it in front of Twilight before noticing Caleb. “Hey! I haven’t seen a human in a while. Where are you from?” he asked with a smile.
Caleb looked gobsmacked as he stared at Spike. The dragon had grown considerably since I’d first met him and was now a gangly youth nearly as tall as the human.
“Are… are you a dragon?”
“Sure am. Spike’s the name. I’m Twilight’s Number One assistant and Ponyville’s Librarian.”
I chuckled. By the look on Caleb’s face, that sure wasn’t what he had been expecting. “Seriously? I didn’t think that’s what a dragon would do.”
Spike put his hands on his hips and fixed the man with a frown. “What do you think I should be doing? Menacing ponies and hoarding gold?”
“Umm… well… you see…”
The dragon grinned and laughed. “Just messing with you. My family and friends are my treasure, so this is where I belong.”
In the short time this conversation had taken place, Twilight had wolfed down her breakfast. Wiping her lips with a napkin, she said, “It shouldn’t be a problem setting up a portal tuned to his home universe. All I need is some inanimate object from there to tune into it. Seeing as Caleb has only been here a couple of days, that’s well within the usable parameters before it becomes hopelessly contaminated. What can you give me?”
It had slipped my mind that Twilight could do that. It had been many years since it had been necessary. “He arrived with only the clothes he had been wearing.”
“Those will do. It’s obviously not that minotaur robe he’s wearing though. Where are his clothes?”
“A maid took them away to be decontaminated as per standard protocol. Will that be a problem?”
The purple alicorn looked thoughtful. “Hmm… no, although it does reduce the window of opportunity. We’d better get on it straight away. Let’s go to Canterlot now.” She got up from her chair and started heading for the door before pausing and looking back to her brother. “Thanks, Spike. That was a great breakfast.”
“You’re welcome, Twilight.”
Caleb shook his head. “I still can’t get over a dragon serving a pony waffles.”
I chuckled. “My friend, you’ve seen nothing yet.”
“You WHAT?!” Caleb screamed.
Silky Sheets took a nervous step backward. “Burned them, sir,” she repeated.
“Why would you do that?!” the man wailed.
“They needed to be decontaminated but since they were judged to be irreparable, it was simpler just to burn them.”
I facehoofed. Completely logical and the worst thing she could have done. “Thank you, Silky. You’re dismissed.”
The maid shot me a grateful look and hastily departed.
Caleb turned to me and asked, “Why would anyone burn someone’s clothing? Especially since I don’t have anything else to wear besides this silly robe!”
“Calm down. You have to realize that clothes are unusual here. Aside from uniforms, protective wear, and fancy outfits made for special occasions, most ponies simply don’t wear clothes. Same goes for griffons, hippogriffs, kirin, and other species. There’s no nudity taboo here, remember? It’s usually simpler to buy new items to replace seriously damaged ones. Silky didn’t know that you would need them for non-wearing purposes.”
The man sank down onto a chair. “Can’t you just tune the portal to me instead?”
Twilight shook her head. “No, a living creature won’t do as it’s easily molded by the new dimension and your body has already been too contaminated by Equestrian oxygen and food.”
“Is there any chance that you had something else with you when you passed through the portal and then left it behind? A cell phone? A flashlight?” I asked, grasping at straws.
“I… don’t think so. I just went outside to get some fresh air. I was pretty drunk at the time still.”
“Then it’s even more imperative that we find that wild portal because we’ve run out of alternatives. We’ll go personally and have a look around the region where you arrived. There are already several squads combing the vicinity but, if you recognize any landmarks, it could help us narrow down the search area.”
“Haven’t you got the morning session of Day Court today?” Twilight asked.
“Can you handle it? I’ll take the afternoon session instead.”
“I have a few audiences scheduled but I’ll see if they can come in early. Caleb’s needs are more urgent.”
“Thanks, Sparkles. Come on, Caleb – we’ve got a portal to find.”
Lieutenant Aerial Ace was in charge of the search. As his name suggested, he was a pegasus as were two-thirds of the EUP squads assigned to this task. Their keen eyes and ability to cover large areas quickly made them the ideal ponies for the job, although there were a few griffons too. The ground crews consisted of a mix of earth ponies and unicorns, the latter using their talents to try to detect the magic of the portal. Considering how much mana those holes in the universe leaked, it didn’t bode well for the search if it hadn’t been found yet. Nevertheless, the ground squads diligently searched the ravines and other places that were awkward for the pegasi to check from the air.
“Any luck, Lieutenant?” I asked.
Aerial Ace saluted. “No, Your Highness. No tracks were found because of a sandstorm last night. The area that the human could possibly have traversed has already been swept at altitude without any sign. I have ordered the squads to tighten their sweeps but this will take at least four times as long as the initial search. We are about a third through it so far.”
I grimaced. “We may be running out of time. I’ve brought Caleb here to join the search in the hope that he might recognize any landmarks.”
The pegasus nodded. “That could be useful. Seeing as an aerial perspective would probably be of no help in his case, I will assign a ground team to him. Please follow me.”
Caleb and I fell in behind Aerial Ace and he took us to a nearby tent where we found about twenty ponies apparently taking a break. While it was still fairly early in the day, this was a desert and it heated up fast. The searchers probably had to cool down and re-hydrate frequently. I noticed that several of them looking nervously at Caleb. As a prey species, it was an unfortunate trait of ponies that the unfamiliar was often regarded with fear, and that was true of these soldiers as much as civilians. Familiarity would cure that but we didn’t have time for socializing.
Lieutenant Aerial Ace narrowed his eyes as he scanned the soldiers. “I need a three-pony squad – one earth, one unicorn, and one pegasus to accompany the human, Caleb. He will be attempting to retrace his steps. Any volunteers?”
Smart pony. The lieutenant knew better than to force a human onto a fearful soldier. I’d have to keep an eye on him for potential promotion.
A silvery grey-coated earth pony mare with a dark blue mane promptly stepped forward. “I’ll do it, sir.”
“Very good, Sergeant Willow Branch. You can lead the squad.”
A yellow unicorn stallion named Exact Point was next but no pegasus volunteered. After it became apparent that none of the winged ponies wanted the job, Aerial Ace ‘volunteered’ one. “Private Hawkeye – you’re up.”
“Yes, sir,” the mare replied after a pause.
“Take a cart with supplies,” Ace ordered the sergeant. “You have full autonomy and may continue the search as long as needed subject only to my recall. You have my authority to call upon pegasus scouts to check potential sites.”
Willow saluted. “Understood, Lieutenant.” She turned to Caleb. “Please follow me, sir.”
I spoke up. “I will be accompanying you for a few hours. I wish to learn more about our visitor while I have the opportunity.”
“Of course, Your Highness,” the mare replied. “Please let me know if you think you can be of assistance.”
I nodded. That had to be the most tactful way I had been told to stay out of someone’s way while they got on with business. I liked her a lot already!
Willow Branch was very efficient and she had organized the cart and had us ready to depart within minutes. Meanwhile, Caleb had been scanning the surroundings, trying to find any familiar landmarks. The base camp had been set up at the spot where the human had been found, so hopefully, something would strike a chord.
“Any luck?” I asked when he came over to rejoin us.
“I think so. I seem to recall those twin sandstone peaks. I think I was using them as a goal, but I was pretty much a wreck by that point.”
“Then we’ll start in the opposite direction,” Willow said. “Get aboard the cart.” She proceeded to strap herself into the drawbars.
“Is she going to pull this entire load by herself?” Caleb asked skeptically.
I chuckled and urged the man onto the cart to sit by my side. “You’re grossly underestimating her. Earth ponies are very strong.”
Considering how diminutive the mare looked in comparison to the cart and its contents, I couldn’t really blame him for his assessment. However, any earth pony would be ashamed if they couldn’t handle twice the load comfortably. There was a reason why earth ponies were the shock troops of the Equestrian army. Once I had ascended to alicorn status, the extra earth pony strength I had acquired necessitated me learning to restrain myself considerably. So many broken weapons, practice dummies, plates, mane brushes, utensils, and so forth until I had adjusted!
Hawkeye elected to fly alongside as Willow took off. Penny flew on the other side, her aviator sunglasses firmly in place against the desert glare. I would have stretched my wings too but, as I had told Aerial Ace, I wanted to chat with Caleb until I had to return to Canterlot for my session of Day Court. There was a limit to what I could get away with despite being a Prince of the Realm. Responsibility won out eventually.
“So, you do use electricity here?” Caleb asked.
“Yes,” I replied, “although we are still rolling out the infrastructure. Our two biggest hurdles are environmentally clean methods of power generation and enough expertise in the field to build networks that are efficient and safe. Why is that important to you?”
“I’m a welder by trade. MIG and TIG welding kind of need it.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, I can see that. Actually, you’d come in handy to teach some of our tradesponies modern techniques.”
“Not that I plan on hanging around, but where would you get the welding machines?”
“From Phil’s Earth that you visited briefly. We’re doing some contract work for his company with our revolutionary ‘special technology’.”
“Magic, you mean,” Caleb said with a smirk.
“Of course, but that’s a closely guarded secret. Anyway, the money we earn from those contracts allows us to buy equipment that we can’t produce here yet.”
“Sounds good. What about the expertise problem?”
“We’re exploring the possibility of recruiting some humans, but our first choice is finding the technology in an alternate Equestria. That’s one of the reasons why we’ve been using our portal generator to explore the parallel worlds. So far, though, we haven’t found any Equestria that has a better knowledge of electricity and electronics although some worlds have some superior magitek. It’s our expertise with portals that has enabled us to bring advances to our world that might have taken decades or centuries to otherwise come about. And it’s also your one real hope of getting home.”
Caleb’s face fell. “Tell me straight – do you think we’re going to find the portal?”
I took a deep breath and looked him in the eyes. “My friend, if it’s there, we’ll find it. But considering that it has eluded us thus far is not a promising indication.”
“Yeah, I thought so.”
Willow Branch brought us to a halt just then. Despite pulling us around for over two hours, the only sign of strain on the pony was some sweat staining her coat. Caleb had become a believer in her durability long before then.
“We’ve reached the gully that Hawkeye spotted,” she declared as she unstrapped herself.
“It doesn’t ring a bell with me,” Caleb said.
“Nevertheless, we’ll check it out and eliminate that possibility,” I said. “Let me levitate you down.” Just as I had done at various other places, I used my magic to move the human to a position where he could walk safely. Exact Point was able to levitate himself to the bottom of the depression before using a spell to scan for a portal signature. Willow declined help but she really didn’t need it anyway. She was quite adept at reshaping rock to give her secure footing – a process that Caleb found endlessly fascinating. It certainly helped keep his mind off his predicament!
The site was yet another bust. When we returned to the top, Penny pointed out that it was time for me to head back.
“Caleb, I have to attend Day Court. You’re welcome to continue the search. If you don’t find the portal, I’d like if you would join my family for dinner.”
“Maybe I should stay out here and camp overnight if we don’t find anything this afternoon. That way, we can get off to an early start.”
Willow Branch spoke up. “That’s not necessary, sir. We have daggerscales to take us back to base and we would leave one where we finished so that we could resume the search first thing in the morning.”
“That’s right,” I said. “So, unless you find the portal, I’ll see you again tonight. I hope to miss the opportunity to chat more though.” I spread my wings to take off but paused. “If you do get to Las Vegas, try chucking something back through the portal that we can tune into with one of ours.”
“I’ll do that,” the man promised.
I nodded and took off, Penny by my side as always. Yeah, I could have taken a daggerscale portal back but I really needed the exercise. Besides, I had seen the warning glance when Penny lowered her glasses to stare into my eyes. My bodyguard refused to let my fitness deteriorate. Such a nag sometimes! Glad to have her as my herdmate though. I stole a kiss and she slapped me with her wing. Worth it.
# # #
I finished a perfectly routine session of Day Court and Chrysalis and I headed to the living room where our family members would gather to chat about our day before dinner. Before we got there, we were met by Willow Branch and a very despondent Caleb. I instantly knew what had happened but I needed to make it official.
“Report, Sergeant!”
The mare saluted me. “Your Highness, we found the site of the wild portal. It has already closed.”
TO BE CONTINUED
in the new spin-off story:
Stats
Page generated in 0.094 seconds
Total duration
972 users online
388,667 hits today, 2,314,256 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Eh, just drop him to anthro pony world for a moment, and he'll be good to go and not so horribly human : )
And so Murphy has struck again and has sent a human to Mark's world. this will get interesting very quickly. I wonder how Discord will feel about this?
10933071
A possibility, also help both worlds as he'd fit in one a bit better ...
I can definitely see Caleb holding a bit of a grudge over the clothes thing. That was definitely an oversight on their part
Was just in Vegas last week. I can picture many places to go astray there.
This is going to be interesting. Thank you, Goldfur!
You know, another universe/timeline they could visit would be one in which Mark is married to the Mane 6, as was hinted at early on in the original story.
here's a silly fan-comic with a character named "aerial ace":
https://www.deviantart.com/vavacung/art/Crazy-Future-Part-29-490791658
reminds me of "if wishes were ponies" and it's sequel. (it's a Harry Potter crossover)
10933298
Aside from the name (which was changed to protect the guilty), this WAS you!
You don't know it, Alden, but you just missed that random wandering portal by this
scitechdaily.com/images/Entanglement-Enabled-Quantum-Holography.jpg much!
Looking forward to the next story!
10933441
So THAT'S what happened to the missing bolt on my walker that caused a wheel to fall off... closer than you think...
10933402
Heh! I confess that I stole that term as it was too perfect.
10933145
I'd call that a Class 3 oopsie. Someone needs to educate Silky on the importance of personal property, ESPECIALLY where the multiverse is concerned.
10933730
It's easy for us to think it would be obvious, but to a pony with a different set of standards and mores, it doesn't come naturally. For Silky, she would wonder why anyone would want to keep what were essentially rags.
"What will the human do now?" Well start welding of course. Of course, that will have to wait till after he gets some actual clothes. He'll probably get pretty rich, being the "Grand Master Welder" and all. Probably worthy of a noble status too.
10933344
That would be funny
10933759
Actually if he teaches welding unless its somehow sparkless or really seamless he is gonna have to get clothes or protective gear for all the beings under his tutelage. Hair and feathers will burn EASY. Any oil product in feathers natural or syn will be flammable and hair in itself is pretty flammable regardless if its on your head or body :)
10933924
Definitely, I've had a small share of burned hair from my small experience welding. Though the standard Leather Apron and gloves is out, any synth-leather on its own wouldn't be good enough. They'll probably figure out some spellweaving to put in the Welder's Attire to mitigate the issue.
Either way, I'm really looking forward to this new story.
O,o this is sad for Caleb and at the same time a new story
Should be interesting
Its truly sad, ya know?
Mark's completely forgotten in the moment about pony Q (AKA Discord) and how he helped get a message to Phil all those years ago, he could ask a small favor from him right about now say, bring one itty bitty object over from Caleb's world so they can make a portal.
But alas, that wouldn't be conducive for a writer who's starting another story.
10934932
Discord has already made it clear that he won't do that kind of thing. Even when he gave Phil the diamond enema, the diamonds were created in that dimension, not brought over from Equestria. Besides, it wouldn't appeal to his chaotic nature.
(And from a writer's point of view, he is ridiculously overpowered.)
10934937
Fair point
Ouch... Harsh to lose everything. Poor dude.
Great chapter
Lightning storm dimensional rifts. Any visitors from Jazmyn's world?
Awesome chapter, definitely interested. About the spin-off
They really had to nerf Starlight Glimmer.
Imean, only need to observe something 2 days back? She can do that while having breakfast?
"Ello, my name's Caleb Awad, and this is akward."
10933357
Is that silly thing still updating? it's been years since I last caught up!
10941909
oh, he's actually moved on to a sequel, "chaos future".
Hair is dead so shouldn't have any of the uptake of magic. It is literally an inanimate object.
Just cut it towards the end and use that to home in.
Tooth fillings could also be used.
Wasn't there a story where Mark meets his alternate selves?
10947157
Chapter 59 of "Off The Mark" — https://www.fimfiction.net/story/415985/59/off-the-mark/chapter-59-theres-something-different-about-you
10947544
Thank you!
A opportunity is lost, while another is opend.
👍
The Spin-Off was a great read and addition to the series
Eyyy, forgot this was a slice before a full story. 😇