Welder
Chapter 17:
Welder
Applejack opened her eyes. She’d been dreaming, but the details had not survived the transition to the waking world. Since she was still smiling she gathered the dream had been good. She gazed up at the canopy of her bed, allowing herself to linger a moment in comfortable drowsiness. Then she heard somepony knocking politely on the door to her room.
“It’s unlocked. Come on in.”
The door swung open and Applejack twitched before smiling at Twilight. She inwardly cursed her poor impulse control: the look Twilight was giving her could only mean she’d noticed the little involuntary reaction.
“Hello, Twi.”
“Good morning, Applejack. I came to see how you’re doing.”
“Twilight, I just slept one of the sweetest sleeps of my life. I don’t rightly know what spell you cast on me last night, but I’m mighty glad I was desperate enough to let you.”
Twilight smiled.
“Nightmares and dreams are linked to the state of our spirit. It’s a little bit of info I’ve come across during my recent research into spirit magic. I contacted some zebra families living in and near Canterlot and talked to them about their magic. One of them was friendly enough to teach me a spell the other day that soothed the spirits of those who’ve been traumatised.”
Applejack raised an eyebrow at this.
“Well I guess I can testify it works.”
She threw the duvet off her and leapt to standing on all fours before jumping off the bed, landing next to Twilight.
“Now, I know you saw that you gave me a bit of a start just now, and I apologise for that. That said...”
She peered closely at Twilight’s eyes.
“Why in tarnation are your eyes glowing purple, Twilight? You’re not turning to darkness are you?”
Twilight giggled nervously, made uncomfortable by her friend’s close examination of her face.
“Um, I’m not sure. Seems like it’s just excess magic.”
“Excess magic?”
“Yes. I haven’t had time to investigate it much, to be honest, but it seems harmless.”
Applejack looked doubtfully at Twilight.
“If you say so.”
“I do. So anyways, since you are feeling better perhaps you could help me out a bit with the creature?”
“Sure thing, Twilight. Lead the way.”
“Excellent!”
Twilight turned around and headed out the door, talking to Applejack over her shoulder while walking.
“Thank you so much, Applejack! I’ve actually designed a spell that I think will help us a lot. It’s my first time creating a spirit magic spell, so I’m eager to try it...”
The walk to the hidden section of the castle was uneventful. When they arrived at the theatre that held the creature Applejack noted that the place was changing. Four pillars supported a square frame, centered above the creature’s slab. The pillars and frame were solid stone, magically shaped and seamless. A stack of thick glass panels leaned against one of the pillars. Applejack regarded all this in silence before turning to Twilight.
“All right, what am I here for?”
Twilight nodded her head towards the creature.
“Before I let the creature wake up I’d like to explain to him, via his spirit, where he is and perhaps ask what happened to him. This is a bit difficult at the moment, because he believes he’s stuck in some kind of afterlife with us ponies as his tormentors. Don’t laugh, Applejack! This is serious!”
Applejack struggled to relax her face.
“Sorry! I’m real sorry! It’s just – that’s the most cockamamie thing I’ve ever heard!”
“I know, I know. It’s what he believes, and I’d like you to help me convince him otherwise. Previously I’ve been limited to whatever scenery he’s thought up, but my new spell should change that.”
“So, what are you planning?”
“I intend to show him Equestria.”
~~~~~
The creature looked up and blinked, confusion and wonder slowly stealing over his features. At least, to Twilight’s eyes that’s what it looked like. His face was so deformed compared to ponies’ that it was hard to tell. At least his body image was once more unhurt, otherwise she wouldn’t have tried to guess. She simply remained still, smiling benevolently at him as he looked around, taking in the view.
Admittedly, the view was spectacular. Twilight had always liked this hilltop near Canterlot. It was a smooth, uniform dome and was covered by soft, short grass thanks to the various herds that grazed nearby. Colorful flowers dotted it almost year-round. All in all, Twilight had done a pretty good job (she thought) reconstructing it in the spirit realm. Canterlot was more, er, Canterlot-y than the real thing, and distant Ponyville was not so distant, but those were just for reasons of convenience (she’d managed to convince herself).
A venerable oak grew right on top of the hill, and she’d made sure the creature would be leaning back against it for his first view of Equestria (or its spiritual simile if you wanted to get technical).
She was getting nervous, though. The creature wasn’t saying anything. He was just sitting there, taking in the view. It was unnerving. She glanced over at Applejack and was taken aback by how carefree the farm pony’s expression was. Applejack was smiling while looking at the creature through half-closed eyelids.
“Fine day, partner. Mind if I join you for a spell?”
The creature started and seemed to notice the ponies for the first time.
“You again? Wait, you look different.”
“Pleased to meet you. Name’s Applejack.”
“You’re not real. None of this is.”
“You’re right, of course. Twi’s here’s the one for technical terms, but she said ‘spirit’ enough times so I got the gist of it. We’re talking through them, you see. But we do have real bodies, just as you, and we’d really like to make your acquaintance in the flesh, as it were.”
Applejack walked up to the tree, turned around and planted her rump on the ground next to the creature. She leaned back until she met the bark of the tree and sighed.
“Take your time, though. We’ve got no hurry. All of this must be mighty strange to you, and from what we can tell you’ve been put through the wringer something fierce, so we’re not pressuring you or the like.”
Silence reigned for a while. Applejack gazed out towards Ponyville, a small smile gracing her muzzle. Eventually she tilted her hat to the side, rolled an eye towards the creature and saw him staring at her.
“Give you half a bit for them thoughts of yours. Deal?”
“I – I don’t understand. Why are you doing this? Aren’t you just trying to trick me before I burn again?”
“Now why would we want to do that?”
“I don’t know!”
Applejack sighed and pulled her hat down lower.
“Look, just think for a bit, all right? Let’s say we actually do have this odd hankering to see you burn. Well, what’s stopping us? Why aren’t you burning right now? Also, why did Twi here together with Fluttershy go through all that trouble to get you out of the sunfire if they wanted you to be there? Because we don’t want to.”
She tilted her head back and turned to stare straight into the eyes of the creature.
“This is the honest truth, stranger. We don’t mean no harm.”
The creature’s mouth fell open and he turned to stare straight ahead. Then he lifted his arms and cradled his head with his hands.
“But if that is true then...”
He gazed at Twilight.
“Am I back on Earth? Did we survive?”
“Um, sorry, this isn’t Earth. This is Equestria. You... fell out of the sky, basically. But I don’t want you to worry. We’ve healed your wounds and are doing our best to get you on your hoo – feet.”
The creature coiled into a foetal position, rocking forward while digging his fingers through his hair.
“I can’t believe this is really real!”
This caused Applejack to chuckle.
“Didn’t I just tell you that it technically isn’t? But I get what you’re saying. It’s a lot to take in, I bet. You want us to leave you alone for a while?”
A hand shot out and grabbed Applejack’s leg, causing her to flinch.
“No! Please, don’t go!”
Applejack hesitated, but only for a split second. She leaned gently against the creature and patted his hand with a hoof.
“It’s all right, partner. We’re right here.”
Twilight watched the pony and creature in front of her. She couldn’t interpret the creature’s facial expression, but his posture and the way his body tensed seemed to indicate a high level of stress. Unsurprising, really. She was quite glad when he uncoiled and relaxed, letting his legs sit flat against the ground and wiping his face with his hands. His small eyes darted to the side and his head turned until his full attention was on Applejack beside him.
“Okay, this is real, and holy shit at that. You are real. You look like some kind of small, colorful horse. Is that what you really look like?”
“Yup, near as I can tell. We’re ponies.”
The creature’s brow furrowed.
“We’ve got ponies on Earth, but they don’t look anything like you.”
Twilight nodded.
“It’s probably not the same thing, but close enough so that we’d use the same word in our respective languages. You see, we’re not actually talking right now, our spirits are directly exchanging ideas and concepts, but we experience it as talking thanks to the spell I use to talk to you.”
The creature stared at Twilight.
“S – s – spell?”
“Um, yes. You know, magic?”
The creature clapped his hands over his eyes and giggled.
“Holy... shit.”
Then he laughed, a strange, high-pitched laugh that seemed to force itself out of his lungs in fits and bursts. Eventually he settled down and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. He sniffed and grinned at Twilight.
“You’re telling me that you do magic?”
“Yes.”
“Oh wow. That’s unbelievable.”
Applejack grunted at his side.
“Believe it, buster. Twi here’s one of the strongest magic users in Equestria.”
“Oh wow. How do you do that, anyway? Do you wave your hooves about?”
“Um, no. It’s controlled with my horn.”
The creature focused on Twilight’s forehead and his fingers straightened, apparently subconsciously. His voice dropped to an awed whisper.
“You’re a damned unicorn. That’s just sick! Can I touch it?”
Twilight chuckled nervously, causing Applejack to laugh at her discomfort.
“Go on, Twi, let him touch your horn!”
“Erm, I’m not sure it would feel as it should, actually. Our body analogues aren’t perfect copies, just good enough to be accepted as real. They don’t need organs, after all.”
The creature did an amazingly good version of the puppy-eyes considering how small his were.
“I wanna touch it anyway. Please?”
Twilight huffed. “Oh all right.”
The creature leaned forward until he tipped over into kneeling and stretched out a hand towards Twilight’s head until he’d placed a finger on the very tip of her horn.
“Holy close encounters of the third kind, Batman...”
He giggled again, while running his finger lightly against the side of Twilight’s horn. Then he gripped the tip with the ends of his fingers and lifted, causing Twilight’s unresisting head to rise a bit. Then he pushed gently back down before pulling again, causing Twilight to do a sluggish, bobble-headed nodding motion while she raised her eyebrows and peered at him. Applejack burst into such a bout of laughter that she fell over. The creature also started laughing while he released his grip and sat back against the tree. Twilight pouted in order to stifle her own giggles and cleared her throat.
“Could we focus for a bit, please? I’d like to figure out what we should call you.”
The creature reined in his laughter and grinned at Twilight.
“Hello Twilight Sparkle, unicorn pony of the Horselands, my name is— —and I am a— —.”
Twilight blinked and then sighed, while Applejack frowned.
“Say, partner, could you repeat that? I didn’t catch it.”
The creature obliged, making a show of speaking slowly, but it didn’t matter. Both his name and species came out as mere gibberish to Twilight and Applejack.
“Applejack, it’s no good.”
“Why don’t we understand him, Twilight? I thought the spirit thingy translated for us.”
“It can only do so if we have the same approximate concepts in both languages. It appears that his name and species don’t even remotely match any word we have. We’ll have to work around that.”
She turned to the creature.
“You’ve mentioned that we look like small horses to you, and it’s certainly true that we’re apparently distant relatives of horses. We’ve tried to guess your general type and have you listed as some kind of ape. Would this be correct?”
“Oh, so you got apes, then? Yes, it’s true, my species is a kind of hairless ape.”
Twilight nodded and smiled.
“Good! We’re making progress. Next question then: Do you have a cutiemark?”
“A... what now?”
Twilight turned until she stood sideways to him and pointed a hoof at her flank.
“That’s a cutiemark. I don’t suppose you have one?”
“Is that like a tattoo, or is it painted on?”
“No, it’s natural fur pigmentation.”
“You’re kidding.”
“I assure you, I’m not. I ask because they can be pretty strongly tied to our identity, and if you have something similar then we could use it to give you a name you could use.”
The creature rolled his eyes.
“Magical tattooed technicolor ponies, holy shit.”
Applejack harrumphed.
“Be respectful. You look pretty strange to us too.”
“Sorry, sorry. It’s... a lot to take in, you know? You can’t just convince me that I’m not dead or hallucinating and then go and tell me that I’ve landed in some kind of fantasy land where magic is real and the horses talk, without making me feel dizzy.”
“Don’t your ponies talk?”
“They’re just dumb animals. Do your apes talk?”
“No they don’t. I think we already established that what you call pony might not be what we call pony even if the concepts are generally similar.”
“Still, you said you use magic. Do you guys have any technology? Any— —or— —or— —?”
He stared at their faces while his expression soured.
“Damn, what am I supposed to do on friday nights? Do you sit on sofas eating popcorn while staring at the wall?”
“We can discuss technology later. Since we know that word it does mean we have something similar, but perhaps not the exact same things. There’s bound to be differences, after all. I’d like to work on the name problem a bit longer, though. Do you have some kind of title?”
The creature thought for a moment.
“All the bills are addressed to a Sir or Mister. Oh, then there’s my job title, of course. That would be Junior Welder.”
“Welder? That’s oddly specific. What about the rest of the blacksmithing trade?”
“Huh? Oh, you got no mass production of steel then? We don’t have smiths anymore, that’s all done in factories. I work in construction anyways. I weld together prefabricated steel bars that form the skeletons of buildings.”
There was a short silence while the ponies digested this. Applejack hummed tunelessly and nudged the creature with a hoof.
“Stranger, I kinda like the sound of Welder. Junior Welder. No, wait. Welder Junior. Could you live with that name?”
The prospective Welder leaned back against the tree and let his gaze unfocus for a moment before shrugging.
“Meh, I’ve been called worse. It’s what some of the foremen call us all at work anyways, the impersonal bastards. Might as well make a joke out of it.”
Twilight grinned and brought her front hooves together.
“Welder it is! Pleased to meet you, Welder! Now, could you tell us what happened to you?”
Welder’s face fell instantly into a frown.
“The end of the world is what happened to me.”
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Ladies and Gentlespoons, we have contact! Meaningful contact!
so im guessing earth blew up or something
Dun dunnn dunnnnn.... The plot thickens to the point of oatmeal.
Good pacing :)
FUCKING FINALLY
HOLY SHIT.
ACTUAL PLOT DEVELOPMENT.
5 bucks says it immediately grinds to a halt again.
I, for one, absolutely love that it's taken this long to get here. This is a nice pace.
It just means that anyone who's stayed this long is really invested and probably won't want to back out now.
Also, I was a bit worried that the human's character was getting a bit obnoxious for a moment there, but he seems alright by the end of the chapter.
But will he wake up anytime soon?
Hooray!
*trying not to make a joke about the planet Krypton*
1871586
Welder's super powers include bloodshot eyes and slight acne. But now you've planted a horrible, horrible idea in my head. I'll have to grapple with it to make it go away.