Sylvester, a big-time computer geek, lands in an alien world, at first he's excited, because, well, ALIENS, but then he notices something scary... They don't know what a computer is. Well, that and the shadow that's been following him.
Sylvester, a big-time computer geek, lands in an alien world, at first he's excited, because, well, ALIENS, but then he notices something scary... They don't know what a computer is. Well, that and the shadow that's been following him practically everywhere he has gone...
Maybe he should be using his 'computer magic' to defend himself, rather than to annoy the locals?
And there it was, the final brushstroke. No, I didn't paint some grand painting to be hung in a museum forever. I more simply had just finished with my boring job - wood sealing a wooden (duhh) walking bridge with the ever-smelly Armor All.
This meant that I no longer had to be outside with this unbearable heat, and I no longer had to deal with coming home smelling worse than a guy who puked on his own clothes last night, and then left them on all night so the smell would fester.
This also marked the date of my first paycheck. First job done, first paycheck received. I know it won't be much, considering it's just an on-call sort of thing, but I'd like to think that I now won't have to ask my mom for everything I want.
Maybe I could even save up for a better desktop. I mean, mine can play most games, but, being a hand-me-down from my parents it was a pretty old one. It was a simple single core processor with only two gigs of RAM. I say was because I had saved up my allowance for a painstaking year when I was fourteen to buy a custom dual core, and a higher capacity RAM chip.
But hot damn, does technology change fast. Now there are freaking octuple core processors that you can get... I think. I never really did search anything up about them because I knew I'd never be able to afford one, so it could have been just a hoax I had seen on Facebook, too... There seem to be a lot of those now.
Though my paycheck, which I'd estimate to be around two or three hundred dollars, probably wouldn't get me very much. I'd still have to wait until I got a few more to even decide on what I'd want.
Sadly, in order to get my paycheck I'd have to go through Sally...
Sally is basically your stereotypically mean and lazy boss. Kinda like those you'd see in the movies. Figuratively hanging lead weights on your back while you are working, and choking you with rage every time you talk to her. I mean, she just has that snootiness to her voice that just makes you want to punch her in the face and then tear her throat out and shove it up her a--
Yeah, I dislike her quite a lot, same with many other people. She got herself a bad reputation after hours, too. Many people even call her, "The Bitch of the Village." though I'm not sure if she knows that or not. This is a small town, after all, and word tends to get around fast.
Don't know why she seems to hate me so much, though, I'm just some mostly average guy with a weird choice in hairstyle.
Yeah, before I go and make fun of myself, I should probably explain myself.
I'm a guy, I hope that was obvious, I have an average build, but some people comment that I might be a little skinny... Which the Wii fit also tells me, when I do the BMI scan thing, it places the marker right on the line of 'underweight," and 'Ideal.'
My eyes are lightish blue, and I have short, silver hair -- No, it's not natural (sadly), when I was like, twelve, I decided that I really liked the color silver, asked my mom to dye my hair that color, and it just stuck from then on.
From afar I look like some old dude, though. The way the sun reflects on my hair makes it look more white, so some people will mistake me for some old guy and ask me if I need help crossing streets every now and then... It gets annoying sometimes... I mean, don't you see the unwrinkled face?
I broke myself out of my thoughts, I still had to carry the empty cans of wood sealant back to the garage after all.
oOo The most innovative chapter break in the world oOo
Holy hell, who would have thought that carrying three empty cans of sealant and a couple of brushes and rollers would be so hard. I must have dropped each item at least three times! They do not fit well altogetherin my hands. Though, this also might be why I usually take a few trips to get all the stuff...
Meh, it was still faster this way.
I stuck the empty cans on the shelf inside of the garage labeled 'empties.' Turning around from the shelf of empties, I almost thumped right into Sally's face... That horrible, horrible zit filled face....
"I wrote your paycheck," She grumbled as I began to choke on her breath, "I factored in today's work too. Enjoy your first paycheck, you little gray shit. Now go home!" Then she slapped the cheque into my arms.
You thought I was kidding when I said, 'Bitch of the Village,' didn't you? Sorry, but I don't like to lie often... Except when I'm in trouble... But that's aside the point. I'm pretty sure if Sally had her way, she'd start World War Three through Seven.
I looked down at the paycheck I received. Two hundred, seventy-three dollars and twelve cents. Sweet! I'm richer than I was before!
I looked up from the cheque to kind of thank her, but she was already half way to the other side of the garage.
Once she was out, I counted to thirty so she wouldn't be anywhere near and then left also. It was time to cash this cheque. To the bank!
oOo The most innovative chapter break in the world oOo
Walking into the air-conditioned bank, I sighed. This is simply the best day I've ever had... Kinda. If you factor out the meeting with Sally then it was.
I walked up to the bank teller, feeling slightly nervous because I've never done this before, and looked up at it.
"Hello, what services do you need," Read the screen of the obviously not a bank teller. Motherfu- Really? Am I that dumb?
I turned away from the bank machine and shuffled my feet to the front desk, "Hello, sir. How may I help you?" The real bank teller asked with a smile on his face. I looked at his blue shirt and read his name tag. He was labeled, 'Bob.'
Who names their children Bob? That's so rude. It's like your parents walking into your school and formally asking all the bullies to bully the hell out of you... Though I should probably stop internally ranting and answer his question.
"Uhh, yeah. I'd like to cash my first cheque please." Just have to rub it in that I got my first paycheck.
"Your first one, eh? Who do ya work for, son?" He held out his hand for me to drop the cheque into. Which I gracefully replied with by handing it over.
"Well, your gonna hate me for this, but I work for... Sally" That was painful to say.
The teller looked shocked, "Oh, shit. That must really suck man, I feel like blowing my own brains out whenever she walks into the bank, how do you put up with her all day... Every day?" He then looked down at the cheque I handed him and started pushing keys on the computer that sat on top of the desk.
"Mostly just try not to get murdered. Don't talk, and just do what your told." Advice from a slave. Take it or leave it.
"Damn, pretty harsh. Anyways, do you have a bank account here already or would you like to set one up?"
"Oh, I have one, just hold on a sec..." I reached into my left pocket where my wallet stayed at all times and pulled it out. Once I had it out I slid the bank card out of its holder and handed it to Bob, "...Here you go."
He refused to take the card and said, "Nonono, I got the cheque on the computer here. All you have to do is plug your card into the debit machine and transfer the funds." I withdrew my hand and waited for him to pass me the machine. Once he did, I inserted the chip side of the card into the bottom and clicked accept when it asked me to confirm the amount transferred. After that I put in my pass code and holy crap that was easy.
"Thanks, I'll be back next month... Hopefully!" I told Bob, to which he replied with a 'have a good day' or something like that. Wasn't really listening. Too excited about money.
I walked out of the bank and headed to the village library, where my mother worked... Which was way across town. Even though this was a tiny village, I still felt too lazy to walk all the way there.
About halfway to the library, my quiet walk was interrupted by a familiar voice calling my name -- er, nickname.
"Hey, Silver! Wait up man!" Definitely Haddon's voice. And yes, he did call me 'Silver.' It was a nickname the bullies gave me when I had first started dying my hair silver. I used to hate the name a lot and would, in my step-father's words, 'Freak the fuck out on those little bitches.' Whenever somebody called me it. But then practically my whole family started calling me it, starting with my mother. They had done it just to annoy me at the time, but it just kind of... Stuck.
I stopped walking and turned around to wait for Haddon. He was a tiny guy, and was about four foot seven when he was in grade ten. This year, in grade eleven, he has not actually told us his actual height, but I'd say he only grew about two inches. Though like they say about small dogs, he acts a lot tougher than he actually is so he can scare away the bigger dogs with noise. He had black hair and light green eyes.
But the major thing that set us apart, was that he had a girlfriend and I did not. Forever alone, my friends. I wouldn't know much about her though, she doesn't even go to the same school as us. All I know from the few times I've caught a glimpse of her is that she had long blonde hair and either uses a ton of makeup, or is a natural model.
Once Haddon caught up to me I looked to him and asked, "Did you just get off of work too?"
"Yep. But I'm pretty sure that job underpays me. I swear, if another five year old walks in again and asks for ice cream, I swear I'll murder it." Haddon looked really angry. It should be noted that he also hates kids. He always talks about how 'those little snots will ruin me one day.' Though that day has yet to come.
"Well, at least you don't have to work for Sally. Although, speaking of that, I just got my first paycheck today!" Rub-rub-rub it in! Rub-rub-rub it in!
"That's sweet, how much?"
Aw crap, I forgot the exact number now, "It was like, two hundred and seventy something." I answered.
"Oh, and here I thought you would get hazard pay, not just minimum wage - That's fucking cheap!" Huh? Why would I get hazard pay? I was just painting a walk bridge. I voiced my exact thoughts.
"Oh that's easy, you have to work with Sally. That's hazard enough."
"Oh... Heh." I then proceeded to slowly fall into a fit of laughter, along with Haddon.
Once we had calmed down, I looked over to Haddon, "Welp. I've gotta go, my mom will be driving me home like usual, so I gotta hurry over to her work. See ya!"
Suddenly there was a honk coming from the road beside me, "Huh, speak of the devil, I guess we chatted longer than we thought?" It didn't seem like it was that long at all. Maybe she got off work early? Haddon waved to me and then left, so I turned around...
...And it looks like she went home and got the Beefed-Shit mobile. My step father got this little tiny Kia Rio, which has like fifteen horsepower, and he went and he painted fucking racing stripes down the center and put a dumbass spoiler on it then named it, "The Lawn Mower Hot Rod."
Our family has never felt so ashamed before.
Anyways, she pulled the little car up beside the sidewalk and I hopped in.
"Hey Silv, late again?" The evil ladymy mother asked.
"Er, yeah. But I got my paycheck today! It was two hundred and seventy something dollars!" I began to do the 'Rub it in' dance in my head.
"Yeah and I got my paycheck yesterday -- It was three thousand, five hundred dollars." Fucking bitch, why would you so rudely rub it in like that...? Oh, wait... Oops. I was quietly poutinglistening to music for the rest of the ride.
Once I got home my usual routine commenced. My 'usual routine' was actually very closely followed by myself, and it went in this exact order:
1. Clean out the dishwasher
2. If Thursday, Vacuum house (which it was not Thursday today, it was Tuesday.)
3. Scoop shit and piss from kitty litters.
3.5 Wash hands three times because I accidentally touched the scoop end instead of the handle.
4. Clean room, then proceed to play Robocraft or other significant game.
5. Eat what mom cooks.
6. Hopefully don't get forced to do the dishes after dinner, go back to playing on my desktop until 3 AM.
Don't judge, my life is organized... Probably better than yours - er. Well, talking to myself and saying my life is more organized than my life. Seemed pretty disorganized really.
I followed that exact order of business, -- and luckily did not have to do the dishes. Dinner was good though. We had nachos, which I hadn't had the pleasure of having for like... Three months. IT TASTED SO GOOD ... Ahem, sorry about that.
After that I started up my computer and looked through my library of games to play...
But then came midnight. I was still playing From the Depths (a game which I had just found the night before), and had finally managed to capture the first resource zone that was a little to the right of my main fortress. Rockets and torpedoes rock, man. You can make a twelve block long rocket and take down half of the enemy's boat... And then build six more rockets the exact same way and put it on a turret with heavy electric shielding on the front.
Though that's not the tactic I used to take the resource zone, all of that was in the ftee designer, just messing around with stuff. My actual tactic was to use stolen ships. The revelation that you could steal ships led me to just ignore making fleets all together and just wreck their ships from the insides. I made something simple and resource friendly (like the Swift from the Deep Water Guard) that flies super fast and will dodge most bullets and missiles, then I would swim over to their boat and take over the AI mainframe and let the boat I infiltrated destroy the rest of the fleet. No loss because I wasn't the one who built the boat, and if it got destroyed, well, it got destroyed. Simple enough plan, and it worked. The two Marauders and a Riverhome I had stolen right off the bat could prove that.
But now I could feel the urges of a piss incoming... It would be a big one, probably a killer.
I quickly turned off my computer, then jumped up and out of my seat and ran into the bathroom to relieve myself. I then didn't flush, but proceeded to wash my hands, and accidentally, somehow, splashing and soaking my socks in the process. Why didn't I flush, you ask? Well, we have this SaniPlus shit pump thing -- Basically how my mom explained it was that it was a 'Place a toilet anywhere' pump. Even if the toilet was beneath the sewer lines. It would just pump it up, loudly. It had a sensor inside of it that would automatically turn the pump on once its reservoir was full, but the sensor was broken, so we had to go out of the bathroom, reach into the roof, and plug it in and unplug it from there.
Sadly there was no towel, so I stepped out of the bathroom, hands and feet still soaked, and reached into the roof to plug the machine in.
PLEASE I DON'T WANT TO DIE! NOT THIS WAY! PLEASE LET ME LIVE!
...ZZZZRRRRT
I promptly fell to the floor, it seemed that the circuit breaker finally did it's job and shut down the damn power. I moved to get up, only to find that I couldn't move my arms... Or my head... Or my legs. Hell, It didn't even feel like I had crapped myself anymore. Instead I just felt... Nothing. At all.
Aparently even in death, you felt pain. Well, wherever 'death' is. I seem to be in a small room.
Is this Hell? A small room? It'd work for a guy with claustrophobia, but not me.
I looked around the room from my vantage point lying down on the floor and quickly noticed a series of buttons beside a large sliding metal door. Oh, it's an elevator.
Quickly standing up, and feeling a distinct lack of crap in my boxers, I surveyed the room from my new vantage point.
Damn, I thought those were mirrors, but they are actually windows to... Something.
Peering outside, I noticed that everything was black, save for a few... Really large stars. I stared around in wonder at the giant orange, yellow, and white fireballs (Though I didn't stare too long. I didn't seem to need to wear glasses here to see and I'd like it to last.)
After looking at the stars for a couple minutes, I decided that I'd like to know where this elevator was going. Mostly because my brain decided that it would think up a couple scenarios. Like, the elevator could be going to an alien spaceship! I looked down at the buttons beside the door, but they weren't any help. There was only one button on it that was labeled 'Lounge.' Below was some black almost liquid looking square that took up an area of the wall a little bit larger than my hand. Kinda looked like you could classify it as that weird liquid stuff in The Room 2 that's in the shape of a circle, and has the sliders around it that make the stuff move and make shapes when you slide them.
A person who isn't a nerd like me would probably just call it "Dark Matter."
With my search to find out where I'm going not looking promising, I did the only thing I could do at the time -- Try to see what's above me through the window. I did exactly that, by pressing my cheeks against the window, and HOLY SHIT THE ELEVATOR IS MOVING TOWARDS A GODDAMNED STAR!
I looked outside in a panicked attempt at escaping. There was no luck. All I could see was stars and darkness. Though darkness was preferred over hot searing death, and I know what the 'death' part feels like now.
I decided to punch the window. The first hit left a large crack, and the second opened up a larger crack with a small hole in it.
It started whistling.
Oxygen was leaking out through the hole that was burst in the window, "Shit, shit, shit!" I screamed, trying to quickly think of a way to plug the hole.
I looked down at my pinkie finger, I've had worse ideas, I thought. Then I proceeded to shove it in the hole. Many things were made known during this instance.
Number one, Space is FUCKING COLD!
Number two, There was still a squealing noise, though it was much quieter.
Number three, Fuck! My finger is frost bitten already.
Number four, I made a comment back there that could be considered dirty if read in the wrong context.
...
I pulled my finger out, (Oh look, another one.) because the pain had quickly became unbearable, and the tip had already begun to turn black. The whistling picked up again, and I knew I had to think quickly, or die quickly.
I tore off one of my socks and jammed it in the hole, and waited, no, listened.
There was no more whistling noise, though I was starting to feel a bit light headed. I'll just lay down on the floor here...
AN UNDETERMINED AMOUNT OF TIME LATER
The sock had been forcefully ejected from the window about a minute ago. The air pressure inside was just too much higher than the pressure outside, and my breathing was beginning to become strained. I lay on the floor, wondering what would happen if you died in death, or if you just sat in between dead and almost suffocated. I think I feel like how Deadpool felt when he was in the torture room.
I resigned to my fate. I would be in eternal pain, that is what hell is, after all. I knew there was no way for me to be able to get out of the elevator.
But then it suddenly it stopped, launching me about a foot off the ground only to land painfully with my elbow digging in to my back.
The elevator dinged, and the door opened with a loud hiss of equalizing pressure. Suddenly I was able to breath again, and that I did. Inhaling rapidly, I could feel my senses return to me almost immediately, along with a pain in my side where my arm had dug into my shoulder.
A loud, "Holy shit!" was heard from inside of the room, and a scampering of feet running over to where I was revealed a cloaked figure. It grabbed my legs and dragged me, being too weak from oxygen deprivation to drag myself, into the room and shut the door; cutting off the renewed oxygen leak.
My brain was finally oxygenated enough to replicate thought. A process which my deoxygenated mind seemed to forget how to do. The first thing I realized was, Holy shit this guy just saved me. But then I realized that I was able to talk.
"shtansh." ... Nevermind. What I meant to say was 'Thanks for saving my life.' but with the condition in which that one word came out my mouth, I just gave up on the rest.
The hooded guy seemed to understand what I had meant to say, and replied with, "Yeah, no problem. Any longer in there and you would have been stuck In-Between." The guy then went and sat back at his desk and resumed doing what he was doing before my grand entrance. Hah, when you're too busy to help a guy that just about died... Again.
Once I felt that I was capable of movement, I propped my back up against the wall, and stared around the room. It was simple, really. It looked like a small office. The walls were made of painted drywall, with a few pictures of people, probably family. Except on one wall there was an 'Employee of the Month' plaque, in which there was a picture of a skeleton. Holding a number card. It's jaw slightly open as if it were smiling. The fuck? Eh, probably just a joke thing.
The rest of the room held the same office...ness. A table sat in one corner of the room, in which the cloaky dude was sitting at with his back turned to me and reading some files. On the desk was a computer monitor, keyboard, and mouse. A small lamp was perched a little ways away from the monitor. Oh, and a coffee was sitting beside the lamp. Or I'm guessing it's a coffee, I can't really see from down here.
Behind the desk was a filing cabinet - which the dude just placed another folder into - that looked like it was made of tin. There was also a weird green gem in the center of each drawer.
I decided to make my presence known.
"So... What was that?" The hooded man did not turn when he gave me the reply.
"That, my friend, is the elevator from the Out-Between." First In-Between, and now Out-Between? What do those even mean? These names sound stupid as Hell... His voice also seemed a little ominous.
"What is the Out-Between, and i remember you said some thing about being stuck In-Between...?"
The figure stood up, "Ah, attention to details, I see. Well, in order for you to know that, you'll need a backstory." He (It sounded like a he) turned around and took his hood off, revealing a very bony face like the one on the 'Employee of the Month' plaque.
"HOLY SHIT YOU'RE UGLY." Wait, shit. Way to go, brain. Antagonize a demon.
I'm fucked. I backed my ass up into the corner of the wall I was leaning against.
The demon looked at me and looked hurt, "Aww, but I just got my face buffed last night. I'm sure it can't be that bad."
"Shoot, sorry, I didn't expect to see a demon!" Voice crack levels have been maximized. This is scary as fuck.
I don't wanna die again.
"Demon? Oh, you hurt me. I can't look as bad as one of those guys, can I?"
"Wait, you aren't a demon?" The demonnot demon shook his head, "Then what are you?"
"I am death. You are dead. I decide whether you go Up or Down, and so far with your comments I'm leaning a bit Down." Death spoke.
"So... I'm dead then?"
"Yes., but back to the story. As I've already told you, I decide whether you go Up or Down. Or in your terms, Heaven or Hell. Now, where we are at is called In-Between, because we are in between the living and the spirits, which is kind of self explanatory. Out-Between, where you just came from, is the land of the living. You are neither between worlds, or inside of the spirit realm, and therefor you are Out-Between. That elevator you rode on took you to my Death Lounge. Got it so far?"
I looked at the floor, then back at Death,"I... Think I do."
Death grabbed a sheet of paper off of the desk, then began talking again, "Each star is it's own Death Lounge, though some Deaths name theirs' differently."
"So you're really not the only death then? I thought there was only one?"
Death looked down at the papers he clutched, and continued, "Ha, about three or more million people die every minute. That's on just your world alone. Do you seriously think one death can handle that? Even with our powers, we can't bend time like that. That's also why we have the elevators. We figured out how to 'vacuum' souls into an area, which are then automatically sorted to each death." Oh, so that's why they have the elevator, but I'm still curious.
"So... What happened to the 'Stairway to Heaven?' Or was there never such a thing?" I quickly asked, a little bit confused.
He took a pen out of his cloak and wrote something on the paper, crumpled it up, and chucked it behind him. It then disappeared in a flash. What the hell? First he says he has powers, now flash burning papers for no reason? So many questions...
"We used to have the stairway, but then the cocky ones figured out they could go back down. Really inefficient if you ask me. Though we mustn't get off track any more. You died, I have to file your paperwork and send you Up or Down." Death walked back to his desk as I stood up, realizing I was still hiding in the corner of the room.
Death opened his filing cabinet and drew out a blank piece of paper, "What's your name, lad?"
Walking over to the desk, I answered, "My name is Sylvester. Sylvester Burn. Though most people end up calling me Silver."
"I will need to take your fingerprint and a small DNA sample to authenticate you. After that I'll read through your files and decide whether or not you go Up," Death opened one of the desk drawers and grabbed an ink pad out of the desk... After reaching his arms in about two feet. What the fuck. He placed it on top the desk, "Rub your index finger on the pad then roll the finger across the paper."
I did as he asked, my finger gaining a dark black ink stain. He took the paper and put it in the very top drawer of the filing cabinet. The gem flipped, and revealed a gem behind it that was colored red.
"You may sit in the chair by the corner over there," Death pointed to a corner where, indeed, a new chair has appeared, "This shouldn't take too long." I obeyed, and sat in the chair. Though, with nothing else to do I just watched death.
Which was boring.
Until the gem on the filing cabinet clicked and flipped again. I expected to see green, but with whatever weird 'power' these guys have, instead of being green, it was blue.
Death turned around, hearing the click, and opened the drawer. The gem flipped again, this time to green. Must be some sort of notification system. Green for read, blue for unread, and red for sending. Though it still confused me how after flipping one hundred and eighty degrees three times got the gem back to green. Wouldn't there be only two sides to that gem?
I have concluded that this 'realm' is messed up.
The cloaked skeleton removed a paper from the drawer and began to read it.
"Huh, I've never had this happen before. I mean, I've heard some of my colleagues talking about this, but I'd never thought it would happen to me." He stated, after wiping some nonexistent sweat from his also nonexistent eyebrows. Force of habit.
"Err... What exactly happened?" I asked as I stood up from my chair.
"Well, you know how you think you are a human?"
"Uhm. I kinda know I'm a human, actually. Sapient, posable thumbs, two arms and two legs. How can I not be a human?" I redact my current statement of 'This realm is messed up.' and replace it with, 'This realm is fucked all the way up to shit creek.' I sat down in the other chair that was in front of his desk so we could talk face to... Face.
"Well, you weren't originally supposed to be human, but you got misplaced at birth. As it seems, it happened when the new sorting tech had just been put in. It was on a field test, and it malfunctioned, sending around one hundred or so random souls to randomized dimensions. We couldn't find them and get them back though, because the machine didn't store where and who was sent, it just did what it was programmed to do." He stopped for a moment and let it all sink in.
"So I'm just a lie then? A fake human?"
"No, you are a real human - On the outside. On the inside, you are a pony. You should have been born to a pony called Twilight Velvet, but as it seems, that was unable to happen."
"So... Let me get this straight. I was meant to be born as a mindless, miniature horse, but instead I got lucky and became a human. What happens next?" This is getting confusing at an alarming rate.
"Well, first of all, I didn't mean the mindless ponies of your world, I meant a completely different world where they have become sentient and have built homes and operate their daily lives much like humans do." Death looked down at his paper, then back up at me, "As for what happens next - Since in the other world, you probably wouldn't have died due to some long and really boring explanation about everything being different in multiple dimensions, we now get to send you there in the form of a local."
"Can I hear this explanation of why?"
Death looked me right in the eyes and stated, "You really don't want to hear the explanation."
I probably looked bewildered, "So now I have to go to a world I don't know at all, in a different body? Fun."
"Do not worry about that. I will help you as much as I can, and if you work hard enough for it, you should learn the basic ins and outs within a few months."
I was quiet at that. I mean, how do you respond to someone saying that you are going to be in a new world?
Death then reached under his desk and pulled a book out. It was labeled, Being a Death for Dummies. He opened it to about three pages in, and began reading. He then slapped his finger down on a part of the page and slid it to the right. He began to mutter, "page one-seventy-three." over and over again, while simultaneously flipping through the book. Once he got to the page he was looking for he began to read.
"In the case of a misplaced (Note: Not to be confused with the more common term, Displaced) being, allow them a chance to choose anything they want, whether it be something they've owned before or not, but limited to only a single item. Once the being has chosen, send them to their new dimension. Be sure to provide a small home for the being to live in, and, if the dimension uses currency, provide enough currency to last one month."
He paused and looked up at me, "You got all that?"
I leaned back a little and nodded, "Yeah, I think I do... So I basically get to take one thing with me, and it can be anything I want?"
"Yes, but please don't go overboard. It also says I can revoke your item at any point in time."
I leaned the chair back some more, "Alright. Let me think." I zoned out on the roof and ignored Death. I am pretty sure he said a couple more things after I began ignoring him, but I was concentrating. I also just realized that Death shouldn't be able to talk as a skeleton.
I could just ask for something that could change into anything I want it to... But I feel like I would get a little power hungry and have it taken away. Maybe I could ask for like a tool kit and a computer or something. The tool kit for being practical when I'm found in a situation that I may need help in, but not like screw drivers and stuff, I mean axes and etc. And the computer, or a laptop since it would be more mobile, would be for writing thimgs down and playing games, if Death would preinstall them. But er, nevermind, I can only take one item. Could I combine a tool kit and a computer? Maybe make the computer actually just build the stuff I wanted? That would be cool. Oh, I could even add that octuple core processor that I heard about on Facebook! Maybe even get more than a few Gigs of RAM, and a 64-bit computer!
"I got it!"
Death jumped, he had half fallen asleep while waiting for my internal rant to finish.
"Alright, what is it you want?" Death asked, visibly calming down from his minor shock.
"I would like a laptop that has all the newest stuff in it, like an octuple core processor, and like, 20 Gigabytes of RAM. I guess, if you could, you could make the RAM and the hard drive infinite? Also, because I don't know what I'll be walking in to and what I'll need, can you give it the ability to factorize items? Kind of like Factorio or something... Or, actually... hmm..." I paused for a moment, Is there such thing as being too big of a nerd? Will I really need my computer to do all this stuff? Ah what the hell, there's no harm in asking, and I dont know what I'd choose otherwise, "...Ehh, actually yeah. Maybe make it indestructible too, because I feel like I would drop it, repeatedly."
I believe that's everything. I'm almost 99.9% sure that nobody will need a computer that can do this much, but eh. I wonder how much power it'd use though... Speaking of... "Also can I get some sort of natural charger? Since where I'm going may not even have electricity."
Death nodded throughout my minirant, but had some problems with it, "Nobody can make anything infinite. To go on forever would mean to keep on creating forever, and no amount of Gods, Deaths, Demigods, and mortal powers combined could supply enough power to keep something infinite. However, I can use a size reduction spell to make a very large chip the size of a bug. I could increase the storage capacity to be about three-hundred times more than what it would normally be. But other than that, it is a fine request. Consider your 'wish,' granted." For whatever reason, Death said the last part in a Scottish accent.
"Sweet, thanks. What do I do now?" I asked, hopine to get out of this boring room.
Death pointed his finger to the elevator, "The repaired elevator should arrive at any--" a loud Ding interrupted him, as the light above the elevator door turned green, "--The repaired elevator is now here. When you go inside, a button will form from the Dark Matter beneath the button panel. Push your hand into it, and the elevator will automatically go to where it is needed to go. I will find a way to communicate with you down there, now go, you've already taken too long. I may have another client coming at any time."
I stood up from my chair, and walked over to the elevator. The doors slid open slowly, this time without hissing. I turned to death and waved a goodbye, stepping into the elevator with the doors closing behind me.
I looked at the black panel that I remembered that it looked like that weird 'The Room' stuff. I waited.
And waited.
And waited. Until finally, the black goop stuff began to flow out of the panel, still remaining in it's square shape. I pushed my hand into it as Death told me to, and the stuff engulfed it completely. Suddenly there was a painfully sharp stabbing sensation all over my hand, and I jerked it back quickly. The Dark Matter oozed back into the wall and I noticed that my hand was bleeding from about forty or fifty different pricks. None of them were deep, luckily, but it hurt like a mother fuUUUUUUUU--
AAAAAAAAAH! THE ELEVATOR IS FALLING! I DON'T WANT TO DIE AGAIN!
WAIT, SHIT! HE SAID 'DOWN' WAS HELL!
I DON'T WANT TO GO TO HELL!
I panicked and began pressing the lounge button on the panel, while my feet slowly lifted off the ground. It was of no use. I kept pressing it harder and harder, but everything was slowly getting darker and darker, until everything just went completely black, and completely quiet.
oOo The most innovative chapter break in the world oOo
The cool, evening winds slowly rolled over Equis, acting as the small planet's coolant system after a hot day of the sun baking the lands. It slowly rode over hills and mountainsides, brushing grass and weeds effortlessly out of the way as it smoothly drifted into a light forest, the trees swaying in rythm with the wind's music. The wind then saw a light gray Pegasus, sleeping the day away, and decided that, no, he must awaken. So it brushed itself against the pony's ear, making it twitch, then come to life, along with the rest of the pony's body.
"Augh." I whined out to nobody in particular, "Who the fuck thought it was a good idea to push me off a bridge?"
Everything was still blurry, evident by the fact that my forearms were looking like a fuzzy little twig. Oh, and the trees behind them that were still blurry. Trying to shake off my growing headache, I noticed two black bags, lain neatly on their si- scratch that, the two bags were attached to each other at the top, making it look like it could be some sort of belt-bag, except that it didn't go all the way around.
I reached out and grabbed it with my hands- Alright. I understand that my sight is blurry, but even my hands feel like they are blurred. -and pulled it towards me. It was then that I actually realized that, Holy hell, there's two sides, so there must be two laptops! I smiled delightfully and ripped open both zippers. I was heavily disappointed. I only got one. The other side was the solar charger. Though I guess I should have seen this coming, as I had been the one to ask for it.
Then was the moment I remembered something. Something so very important, that it may change my life as I know it... "I DIDN'T TELL HIM WHAT OPERATING SYSTEM TO PUT IN IT! NOOOOOO!" Several birds flew away after my dying screech. One could only hope that death put in a good operating system at this moment, as I all but mashed the power button inwards, regretting my decision before remembering that I had wished this laptop to be indestructible and going back to staring at the screen.
The laptop booted, and then the windows 10 logo appeared, "YESSS, I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO TRY WINDOWS 10!" Yeah, it's true, laugh it up. I haven't gotten to try the newest windows edition yet. But now I have it! And I shall not be disturbed.
About a half an hour later, while messing around with some programs that were pre-installed, I noticed Cyberlink YouCam 6. The best (in my opinion) random video generator. You could literally animate your face into random things, like statues of famous people. Or even a bear. So I double clicked the icon, wanting to have more fun. But then the camera came on.
Hmm. I've never seen this 'morph' in YouCam before. This one even has a body, and a background! It's eyes were a bright blue, and huge too. It looked like a horse, but there was one significant difference. The wings on it's back. Huh. a Pegasus; those are some cool mythological beasts, but it just looks so cool and realistic though. You can actually see each piece of it's light gray fur, waving in the wind. I feel like if I looked at my own chest, I'd see... Light gray... Fur..
Author's note: Quick notice: I am currently (yes currently, as of June whatever of 2018), editing this story to begin writing it again. I have just finished some partial edits of this chapter, but now have to go to work. The next chapter may not match up with the ending of this one.
Er. Death? Did you mess up somewhere? I thought pegasi were myths?
If I was turned into a local, wouldn't I turn into a horse, and not a Pegasus? Or are the locals all pegasi? That would be awesome, seeing flying horses.
But I have something even better to say.
I'M A FUCKING PEGASUS WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON GAAAAH WHERE ARE MY HANDS WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME...
...Five minutes later...
I awoke from my raging-scare freak out thing, and noticed I was halfway across the clearing I originally appeared in. I guess I had a pretty big freak out. There were also upturned rocks, and shredded grass everywhere.
I rolled onto my back and stared into the cloudless sky. I layed there for a little while, just thinking and trying not to panic. At one point, I even lifted my hoof up to my face and started crying about my poor hands being degraded into their basic form.
My self-fueled sad rant to myself was suddenly cut off, as the sun quickly flipped off the horizon, with the moon moving just as quickly to replace it.
What the fuck?
I started looking at where the sun moved to on the horizon, well, my horizon anyways. Can't really see much of a horizon with trees in your way. Anyways, I looked to where my horizon was, and saw nothing. The sun was gone. Looking over at the moon though, I could clearly see I wasn't on Earth anymore.
There was a horse's head in the moon. I was about to have another internal panic attack when I heard a wolf howl off in the distance. That's when I noticed just how dark it had actually gotten.
I need shelter, and fast! I quickly shut down my laptop, to which the screen was still glowing, closed the lid, and then shoved it in my backpack. Quickly still, I somehow managed to pick the bag up with my hooves and stick it on my front shoulders. It kinda dug into my ...wings... a bit, but I chalked it up to just being fitted wrong.
I don't think Death got my exact size in this body, unless he somehow examined me before I left.
I ran off in a random direction in the forest. I started wondering how I was able to run, then promptly faceplanted because I was thinking too hard about it, but when I got back up I forgot what I was thinking about before. I just continued on.
A cave jutted out of the ground. A cave which I saw. A cave which didn't look inhabited. A cave I could steal. I was about to head in, when I suddenly shivered.
It was pretty cold, and my fur doesn't feel thick. Feels like a T-shirt, actually. Before I go in, I should grab something for a blanket, like a big leaf or something. Sadly this was not a rainforest, and there were no abnormally large leaves nearby.
Hm... Think, think.
Oh, I got it! I remember asking death to make my laptop factorize items. Maybe it could 'manufacture' a blanket?
I grabbed the bag in my hoof, and pulled it off my back and plopped it in front of me. After opening the bag, I grabbed the laptop out and pressed the power button. The laptop booted up, and I clicked unlock (there was no password set up yet).
I expected it to be a program that would allow me to build things, so I started looking in each individual folder. I quickly found that this method of search-and-find was not very efficient. I clicked on the main hard drive, and did a full search for 'Factory.'
Nothing.
When I searched for 'Manufacture,' the search box still came up empty. But when I was about to give up, I searched 'Build,' and a program named, Build-it, Cortana popped up.
I clicked it. I dialogue box popped up saying, "Loading..." With black text on a white background.
When it finished loading, a large blue box appeared. Within the blue box, was a horizontal scroll bar located near the bottom of the window, at this point only showing three items; Help, Settings, and Foodstuffs. I scrolled the bar sideways, and more list items appeared. In order, the items were listed as: Help, Settings, Foodstuffs, Housing, Clothing, Machinery, Weaponry, Decorations, Currency, and Other. The Weaponry section would have been fun to look around in, but for now, since I knew what I needed, I clicked on Housing. Another scrollbar appeared above the first one, this time listing: Bedroom, Kitchen, Bathroom, Living Room, and Other. I clicked on Bedroom
...Yet another scrollbar appeared above that one. This one going all the way to the top of the blue window the program is running on. The first thing I saw was 'First Night Blanket.'
I see somebody anticipated that I would need one.
I clicked on the icon, and it flipped over to reveal a recipe. It literally said 'A crap ton of grass,' and 'About a half ton of feathers.' Both were in a red font.
...
I really hope this isn't accurate weighing. I'd die under that much weight.
I decided I'd grab the grass first. Seemed simple enough at first, just grab the stuff with my handweird hoof suction cup thing, and pull, but nooo. Life wanted to be a jerk and show me that, even though these hooves can lift a laptop bag, they cannot lift a wee piece of grass. What did that mean? I had to use my mouth. Like an animal. Luckily I managed to block out the taste. After I had a good pile going, I ran into another problem. What the hell do I do with the materials? Do I jus-- Oh. I guess all I had to do was push the material in front of the laptop. When I pushed the grass in front of the laptop, the grass was wrapped in a cyan aura, and was lifted into the air. the materials for the grass on-screen also went green. Easy.
Now time for the feathers!
I looked back at my wings, taking note that they would probably be the only source of feathers I would find for a while. Again, I tried to use my hooves, but it just felt wierd, if you know what I mean. (And, like grass, the feathers didn't come out.) I decided to use my mouth again, instead. I bent my head towards my wing, the wing being awfully wierd to move, and ripped a feather out with my mouth, "Ow! Mother fu-!"
Spitting the feather on to the ground, I decided I would need a better way. Luckily, at that moment a bird landed right in front of me and looked at me as if to say, 'Are you okay?'
My brain went elsewhere at that moment.
Hmm... I could squish the birdy and use his feathers. I looked down at my hoof, "I'm a horse now... Horses have strong legs. Would they be strong enough to bash a bird's head in?" I asked aloud. The bird tilted its head at me and then started to back away, as if understanding me. I put on a sadistic smile as it widened it's eyes, and then I launched, smashing it's head into the ground. There were squawks of alarm around me and the sound of small wingbeats. It seems the rest of the flock saw what happened.
Looking down to the dead bird, I noticed that there was practically nothing left of it's head. "Yep, definitely strong enough." I confirmed. At least it felt no pain when it died...
Now I'll spare you the details of what happened next, as I still had to use my mouth to remove the feathers, I will just say it wasn't the greatest experience, and I'd rather not have to do it again.
I then moved my new pile of feathers in front of my laptop, which again, wrapped it in a cyan glow and lifted it.
Except this time was different. The two piles rolled together, and suddenly flashed brightly. I covered my eyes with a hoof, and once I was able to see again after blinking, I saw... Nothing.
No blanket, no feathers, no grass. Just an empty space above my laptop where the stuff was previously floating. I was about to freak out when suddenly something flashed above me, and I felt something drape over my back.
It was warm. I sat with the blanket on my back for a few minutes, but then life had to interrupt my calmness with a loud 'brung-brung' noise coming from my laptop. When I looked back at the screen it said in a large dialogue box across the center, "Battery is critically low (6%). Consider saving documents and shutting down."
Aw, well... I guess I should shut it down.
I shut it down, and it was sad. It was like putting down a cat. The battery was almost dead. Never to be used again.
Oh yeah I asked death for a solar panel. Heh. Now ain't I just smart?
...
But I still have to wait until sunrise to go charge it. Damnit.
With everything done that I needed done out here, I put my laptop unto the bag, and proceeded into the cave with my grassfeather blanket in tow. Once the darkness fully enveloped me, it became very clear that navigating through here would be hard. I considered my options.
On one ha--Hoof, I could stumble around blindly and more than likely walk into a snake or two (Or maybe a giant spider), but on the other hand... hoof ... Fuck it, sticking with hand. On the other hand, I could use the remaining battery in my laptop to act as a giant flashlight.
I looked over my shoulder---which was weird to do as a pony, because my head basically did a one-hundred and forty degree turn-and looked at my backpack thing. The way the two sides sat on my shoulder left a sort of double log looking thing, a hump on my left and a hump on my right. These humps went a little bit higher than my shoulders themselves, and I figured that I could place my laptop on top of them, because it would have a stable lump on both sides to rest upon. Though, not that I'd really have to worry about it falling, as Death did say he was going to make it indestructible, and would more than likely just be a nuisance having to pick it up all the time... Though I'd still rather not stumble into a giant spider, so I'll go with using my laptop as a guide.
I pulled out my laptop from the bag, and turned it on. The screen lit up, and instantly I could see better within the cave. I lifted the laptop onto my back with some awkwardly mad skills, and my mouth. Seriously though, my mouth is good for everything! No wait! You pervs don't even think about saying that!
Ah, who am I kidding, you probably already did.
Anyways, once the laptop was on my back, it was like the cave was never dark in the first place. Every nook and cranny was lit, and... Oh damnit, battery died and I didn't even get a foot into the cave.
It seems all that was just filler, then.
I put the laptop back into my bag with some more mad mouth skills and continued on my way. Eventually, after crashing into multiple walls and using recursion to recursively curse curses, I made it to a large opening that was glowing with a slightly green tint.
I approached cautiously. I wasn't sure whether the glow was just a rock, or something man made. Though it turned out it was just a rock, as when I peered around the corner there was a large green rock that was glowing in the center of a large, clear area. After I fully emerged from the corner, I headed to the far wall so that I could see anyone who tries to enter. Pulling my backpack thing off, I set it on the stone floor beside me. I wrapped the blanket around my body like a Horse Burrito, and rested my head on the bag facing the entrance.
After lying down for a couple moments, I noticed what looked to be a smooth black rock, that was rising and falling, as if it were breathing.
What the fuck? I had to go check this out. Is this what is meant by the heart of the mountain? Is this even considered a mountain?
Once I got unwrapped, I snuck over to the movement, well, as much as you can sneak when your feet make solid 'clop' noises no matter what you do. The green rock in the center of the cave gave me just enough light to make out that this was, in fact, not a rock. As I scanned the thing over, I noticed a pair of closed eyes and twitching ears. Though the most prominent feature I saw at the moment was the legs.
They had holes in them.
After my initial 'What the fuck?' moment, I continued scanning it's body. On its back were two insect like wings, and underneath was a greenish carapace. As it snore, it opened its mouth into a short yawn. I saw fangs, and then it began moving it's legs.
MOTHERFUCKING SHIT! IT'S WAKING UP!
I backpedalled to the giant green rock and hid behind it, afraid it had heard me and had awoken. After steeling my courage, I peeked around the rock, only to see that the thing had just simply stretched out across the floor, still sound asleep. I breathed a sigh of relief.
Heading back to my stuff, I looked over to the thing.
It doesn't look too dangerous, the fangs might get me though. Should I leave?
I looked over to the exit of the cavern, contemplating.
If I leave, I probably won't find any other shelter, but if I stay I might get killed... Again.
I weighed my options, and decided that a quick, painless death from a fang bite to the neck would be preferred over freezing to death, or death by whatever else may be out there. It's also unlikely that the thing---I'm sick of calling it a thing. All I know it's Fucking Ugly, so I'll call it Fugly. No wait, it has insect wings, so I'll call it a Fugfly. Yes, Fugfly it is---It is unlikely that the Fugfly would wake up before me, right?
Climbing back into my Horse Burrito, I rested my head and continued watching the Fugfly warily. After a long while I slowly drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
oOo The most innovative chapter break in the world oOo
......Poke......
...Poke...
..Poke..
"Ugnnnn go away. I would ask for five minutes, but that wouldn't be long enough. Come back in three hours."
...
Poke.
...
SLAP!
I rocketed up, knocking whatever was hovering over me away, "I'm up, Mom! God, try waking me up calmly ne-" After I blinked the blurries out of my eyes, I noticed something that I had hoped was a dream---I was still in the cave.
This meant that I had actually died, and that all that had happened was not a dream. The realization crushed me a little, but I got over it unnaturally quickly. It was almost as if my mind didn't care, which troubled me a little. I'll have to look into that...
I was snapped out of my moment of inner confusion by a loud click-clack noise. When I looked up, I saw the Fugfly thing staring at me with narrowed eyes...
OH SHIT! IT'S GONNA HUNT ME! I RAGRET MY DECISION TO STAY! AND I MEAN EVERY SINGLE LETTER OF IT!
The Fugfly began advancing as I began to back away. This, however, was in vain, as I had set my 'bed' up to be directly beside the wall, and my butt quickly smacked against it. But then it spoke.
"Why are you here?"
Those four words were enough to make me have a panic attack, and promptly faint.
...
Thwack - Plink-plink
Ow, what the- Thwack! Plink-plink
Opening my eyes, I quickly looked around for the source of my dis-THWACK!
"OW! What the fuck!" I practically screamed, shooting up onto my fe-hooves and whirling to face the direction the pain was coming from.
It was the Fugfly, and it looked rather bored. It lifted a hoof and proceeded to toss a rock at my face, this time a lot more lightly than the rest. It bounced off my nose painlessly, but I glared at the Fugfly anyways.
"You know, prey, it's not good to black out like you just did in front of a predator." It spat and snarled, though 'It' sounded like a girl. 'It' also looked like it had some sharp teeth, and a sharp horn-thing that it could stab me with. I began to hyperventilate.
The Fugfly, seeming to notice this, immidiately stopped snarling and stood away from the entrance, "Look, I'm sorry, okay. Just run along. I don't actually eat ponies." She's sorry? Also, she won't eat me?
Huh. I guess I'll have to check this out now. Now that my fear had slightly subsided and partially replaced with curiosity, I looked up at the Fugfly, "You... Won't eat me?"
"Nope."
I put two and two together and realized that if she won't eat me, then she isn't a threat to me. So, like the cocky dumbass I am, I said, "Then I'm staying here."
"W-what? No you can't, I'll... I'll..." She trailed off, realizing that she already revealed to me that she would not eat me. Her face slowly morphed into that of a sullen ...Fugfly? Person? This is confusing.
"Well, what's wrong? Why don't you want me here?"
"I--Uhhh..." Suddenly the Fugfly adopted an expression of anger, while her eyes began to tear up, "Because everypony hates me!" She screamed, lifting her front hooves and shoving me back. Woah, shit, I think she is a little crazy. I began to back up again, not trusting my ability to defend myself in this foreign body. Maybe I should actually leave...
While I backed up, she moved forwards. I bumped my rear into the cave walls. Deja vu, anyone? Once she realized I was cornered, she stopped, and began yelling unintelligible things at me, and finally ultrabitchslapped me with her hoof. I was knocked to the floor.
Yep, that settles it, she's crazy as fuck. I need to get out of here.
Groaning, I slowly stood up and looked nervously to where the Fugfly was. She was staring at me in horror. When she saw the fear on my face when I looked at her she broke down, "I'm sorry, look, ple-ease just leave me, I can't be around anypony. I'll stand over here---" She moved over to the side of the cave, head down, "---so you can leave in peace."
At this point, I had no clue what to do. In front of me, there was a possibly-murderous crazy person. Yet at the same time, this same person just started crying. Is that a sign that she's going insane? Or should I try to help her?
Unsure of how I should handle the situation, I backed myself up towards the cave entrance, but paused just inside of it. I was ready to run in case I needed to.
Looking back at the Fugfly, I called out, "Are you okay?"
"Huh?" The Fugfly was visibly confused, shocked, hurt, and... Hopeful?
"I asked if you were okay."
The bug thing continued to sit there, continuing to look as confused as ever. She was opening and closing her mouth as if wanting to reply, but not knowing how to.
She made an excellent impression of a fish. Too bad this exposed her fangs to me.
Finally, she seemed to be able to formulate a reply, "I... I guess so. I think I was just so used to Ponies running away from me whenever they saw me. They'd always say I'm a monster..."
Well, I could certainly see why people might say that, but this is a different world so maybe the other 'people' have different standards or something? I quickly looked behind me at the winding tunnel that would lead me to safety, then I looked back to the Fugfly. I steeled myself, and asked, "Why would they say that?
She hesitated for a moment, "I... I feed on love."
You fucking what? Is that even possible? How does that even work? "You what now?"
The Fugfly looked to the ground and began to cry, "I feed on love, okay---" After screaming that, she lowered her voice to a faint whisper, "---Please don't hate me."
I looked at the roof, trying to digest this new information, then looked back at her, "...How does that even work?" The question seemed to rouse her from her once again saddened state.
"What do you mean?" She asked, slowly looking up towards me through her tear drenched eyes.
"I mean exactly what I said."
"So... You don't hate me for eating love?" Once again with the whole "I'm a monster" thing. Is it a bad thing to eat love? Maybe it hurts people and leaves them love-less?
Deciding against running for the moment, I sat down. "If you were to try to eat my love would that hurt me?"
"No, I just passively feed off of the love around me. Nopony feels a thing." Her eyes were still teary, but the talking had seemed to calm her down a little
Well, if it doesn't hurt anyone why does she think she's a monster? "As long as it don't kill me, I'm fine with it."
She looked at me with glee, "So then I guess you wouldn't mind if I told you that I've been passively feeding off you the whole entire time?"
There was an awkward silence.
A really LOOOONG awkward silence. A VERY long time, and I just sat there and stared at her. This is actually getting to be a little bit silly. Why was I scared of you? Your teeth were sharp? Was I judging a book by its cover? I noticed that the Fugfly was beginning to shake again, what with the silence.
Deciding to break said silence, I asked the first question that came to mind, "What's your name?"
The Fugfly was not expecting me to ask that, as evident by her head jolting upwards, along with her eyes widening. "My name... I-is C-Chrysalis." She stuttered out.
I looked around the cave, the green, glowing rock giving me just enough light to see some new features I hadn't noticed before.
On the one side of the cave, where she had been sleeping when I first walked in, was a very worn looking patch of dirt and rock. It looked like she had been sleeping here for weeks, maybe even months. With my eyes still wandering around the cave, I asked, "Do you have a home?"
The Fugfly jumped at the question, then hesitated, "I, I... Uh.. Yes, this cave is my home."
I looked back to Chrysalis, "No, I meant a home that you can feel safe in, a home where random people - like me - can't just walk inside. A home with a locking door, and a comfortable bed."
Chrysalis looked at the floor, and muttered a weak "No..."
Deciding that I should follow through on the question my brain decided to ask, I proceeded with, "Would you like to live with me?" Wait, I shouldn't have asked her that... What if she is actually a psychopathic killer?
Meh, already died once, wouldn't hurt to do it again.
...Actually it would, I just meant that figuratively.
She looked up at me with bright eyes, her past depression forgotten. She then jumped to her holy hooves, and began yelling while jumping around in circles, "Oh my gosh! YES! YES! YES! YES!"
"Woah, calm down!" I yelled, trying to outmatched her voice. I stood up once again, prepared to bolt out the entrance of the cave.
"I can't! I finally have a real home!" She screamed, still prancing around in circles.
"You mean you've never had a home before?" I asked. I had calmed down a bit now afted the adrenaline died from her initial outburst, and had once again sat down.
Cautiously, she said, "Well... There was the few ponies that I replaced... But none of those were my actual home."
Replaced? What does she mean by replaced? Is she some sort of hit man? Identity thief? Maybe if she asks, I shouldn't give her my real name. Maybe I should ask her what she means. Before I could voice my thoughts, though, she squealed out happily, "Where is your home?'
That stopped any train of thought I was currently experiencing. As far as I knew, Death had set me up with a place to live and enough currency to last a month.
The question was; where is my new home? I quickly told her 'one sec,' then turned around and hooved myself over to my backpack thing. Hopefully Death left some information in here. Not wanting to leave Chrysalis out of my sight, I threw my double-sided backpack onto the floor in front of me, and began to look through it. I began by opening each pocket, finding stuff that I already knew was there, but in a pocket I hadn't yet searched I found some gold coin things, and a note. On the note was written:
#17, 3rd Street East, Ponyville.
-Death
Huh, okay. "Hey... Uhh. Chrysalis, was it? I know where I live."
"Really? Great! Let's go!" Suddenly she shot around me and out of the cave.
Holy Hell, she's fast. Yeah, if she decided to attack me I wouldn't have even been able to run... Good God...
Ugh... I might as well commit myself to this now. I turned around and looked to the cave entrance, "Wait!" I yelled, "You don't even know where we're going!"
She came shooting back in, "Oh yeah, where are we going?" I flinched back a bit by her sudden approach.
There was an awkward silence. She noticed my flinch, but neither of us said anything about it. I also didn't know where to go, so even if I wanted to answer, I couldn't, "Where is the nearest town? I.. Uhh... Got lost in this forest."
"Oh, that'd be Ponyville! I can take you there and then we can find you a map to your home from there right?"
"Err... Yeah, something like that. Lemme just grab my stuff." I then spun on my hooves, almost faceplanted from the quick movement, and then picked up my bags and set them on my shoulders. The Fugfly looked at me weirdly.
"You know those saddlebags are supposed to go on your flank, right? It's much more comfortable." I looked back at the bags, which I had just learned to actually be saddlebags. I should have guessed though. I moved the bags to my butt without saying a word.
"Well, let's go I guess." Instantly the Fugfly shot out of the cave again.
"Uggh." I groaned, she's freaking crazy... Meh, I got myself into this.
I resolved that I might as well get a move on, and began walking out of the cave into the bright sunlight.
A happy Chryssy is a crazy Chryssy. (3) (REWRITTEN)
As I stepped out of the cave into the bright, orange sunlight, the first thing I noticed was that the clearing the cave was next to looked like it had been used a lot. The grass was trampled in many areas, and in some areas, the grass had completely disappeared, leaving behind a sand-colored, dry dirt. It looks like this thing has been living here for a while... At all edges of the clearing were just large trees, with a good amount of spacing in between each tree. I'd say it was a large enough gap to fit a quad.
I looked over to the Fugfly, who was prancing around a little, "So what are you, and what is your name? I've just been calling you a Fugfly in my head--don't ask."
She looked a little deflated after I asked the question, it seemed she was waiting for this question to surface, and she dreaded it.
"Well... My name is ..." She paused for a moment, deciding whether or not to tell the truth. She took on a look of determination and continued, "...Chrysalis, and I'm a Changeling." She looked at me hopefully, dreading that she would get rejected for telling the truth.
"Well, I've never heard of a Changeling before, but it's not the weirdest thing I've ever heard of. I guess it's good." The Fugfly, now dubbed Chrysalis, visibly brightened after hearing that she had been accepted. She jumped over to me and hugged me.
Wait, does this make us friends? She doesn't even know my name...
Though I guess I should fix that.
I pushed myself out of the awkwardly long hug, and looked over to her, "Well, my name is Silver, and I'm a Pegasus." Woah, I wanted to say 'Sylvester,' but it slid out as Silver. Why did that happen? Letting the name change slip go, I outstretched a hand... Front foot? Front hoof...? ...and held it in front of me like I wanted a hand shake (Do Changelings do handshakes? Do Pegasi do handshakes? I guess I'll find out now.)
Chrysalis looked at my outstretched hoof and slowly lifted one of hers up, and touched mine. Then she slowly shook it, as if it were her first time doing such a thing.
Truthfully, it was her first time doing such a thing. Most, if not all, ponies would run away from her when she was in her true form. Knowing that a pony knew about her true form and that said pony had offered a friendly gesture--it was the weirdest feeling she had ever felt. Acceptance, it was new to her, and she knew it would only grow within her. Maybe even turn into something else.
Feeling confident, Chrysalis asked me, "So... Where do you live, anyways? We'll have to plan a train when we get to Ponyville to get to where you are staying."
I looked at her and chuckled, "Oh, we won't need a train, Ponyville is where I'm staying."
"Oh."
"Yeah. Would you like to lead me there? I kinda... uhm... Got lost in these woods." I said, trying to sound convincing. It was actually pretty easy to say that without lying, because I actually was lost in the woods.
She shot off in a seemingly random direction and quickly yelled, "Yeahthisway!"
I stood up and began to chase after her, "Hey! Wait up!"
A distant call was heard, "Only if you can catch me--I'm too excited to slow down!"I guess it's time to find out how good these legs work on this body...
Turns out, these legs are really good for jogging, and I guess I have an increased stamina in this body, 'cuz I ran for like, thirty minutes longer than I normally would be able to and probably could have ran longer still, but I caught up to Chrysalis.
I think she slowed down for me, because she ran at a much faster pace. I guess she thought she was too far ahead of me or something. Now we were just walking, and had been for a little while now. Of course I was starting to get bored, because everywhere I looked was the same.
Oh look a tree.
Hey a tree.
Ooh tree.
Tree.
Tree.
Tree.
Though I should have guessed, this is a forest, after all. Except now that my boredom had taken hold, it would not go away.
"Are we there yet?"
"Oh for-- NO!"
"Eheheh... Are you sure?"
"NO!"
"So your not sure that we're not almost there yet?"
"That's not what I--"
"You said it."
"Yes, but I thought you asked 'Are we there yet?' again. Ugh, you are infuriating!"
"Aww, I thought we were friends?"
"Yes we are, I'm sor--STOP PLAYING MIND GAMES!"
I finally conceded, lowering my head, but laughing at the same time, "Sorry, I was just bored and wanted to see how far I could push you."
As she walked, Chrysalis turned her head and glared at me. She opened her mouth to probably reprimand me, but then before she could, she crashed into a tree.
"Looks like you should keep your eyes focused on where you're going instead of my handsome body." Me - 1, Chrysalis - 0.
Chrysalis quickly thought up a reception, "Ah, but the only reason I was so focused on you was because I was trying to see if my eyes would actually crack from staring at you, or if it was just a myth." Ouch, now we are tied one for one. Chrysalis got up from her impromptu resting place in front of the tree and started heading in the direction opposite of where we were headed before.
"Uhh. Chryssy? I think you are going the wrong way. We were headed this way before." I pointed my hoof in the direction we had been headed in while Chrysalis looked back at me with a confused set of eyes.
"Uh. Are you sure?"
"Yeah. We were walking this way before you decided to become a tree hugger." BOOM, BITCH, NOW IT'S TWO TO ONE!
"Ah, my brain must have cracked instead of my eyes when I stared at you then. Sorry, not much I can do about forgetting things because of your disturbing looks." And we are tied again.
Chrysalis did go in the right direction in the end.
"Hey guess what." Chrysalis called.
"What?" I teplied
Chrysalis hesitated, "...We're almost there... But that brings me to another important thing to discuss. I haven't told you something critical about my biology. Remember how I said I had replaced some ponies before?" Chrysalis didn't seem too happy about what she was going to say next.
I looked at her with a hint of fear; was she going to replace me?
"Uhh... Yeah." I replied slowly and cautiously.
Chrysalis looked away from me, "Well... I... Argh, screw it!"
Suddenly she burst into flames.
"WHAT THE FUCK? CHRYSALIS ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" I panicked, trying to blink the sudden light spots out of my eyes. When my eyes refocused, I saw a green coloured freaking UNICORN with a green mane and green eyes just staring at me. I grabbed the Unicorn, "What'd you do to Chrysalis?" I yelled, trying to look threatening (but ultimately failing).
The Unicorn backed away quickly, and stated, "Woah, Woah, calm down. I am Chrysalis... I can just shapeshift." Then she said in a quieter voice, "Please don't hate me."
There was a sudden flash of green flames and Chrysalis was back to herself again. Albeit she looked on the verge of tears, again. She still feared rejection, well, as long as she stays near me and doesn't try to replace me, she won't get rejected... Unless she asks me out on a date or something.
Definitely still in to humans...
My thoughts were completely opposite to her thoughts though. I looked over at her and smiled, then yelled, "That is so cool!"
Chrysalis looked at me with a mild happy expression, "Really?"
"Yeah! Can you change in to me?" I asked, hoping to see more of these awesomely inspiring flameshifter crazyness.
"I could, but I'm not going to."
My spirits were smashed faster rhan a bullet would smash through a beer bottle, "Party pooper."
Chrysalis looked back towards the direction we were headed, "There was a reason why I wanted to show you that. You know how I said that ponies tend to run away from me on first sight? Well, I'll have to take on a disguise in order to hide myself. Trouble is, I'm not very good at coming up with names."
I looked back at Chrysalis, confused, "How can someone who can shapeshift not know how to make up a name?" It made no sense. Wouldn't she be making up names like crazy to go with each of her forms?
Unless... She did say that she replaced 'ponies,' so... What if she actually just killed off these 'ponies' and then assumed their name and role, and looks? If this was the case, then it would explain why she can't think of good names, as all the was actually doing was just stealing names, which required little cognitive processing to do, thus causing no links to from between different names that she had made up herself.
Chrysalis looked a bit peeved, "Well. You see, I never went to naming school, yah freakin' scholar."
I recoiled away from her after that remark, "Woah, calm down, I'm not good at names either. I was just joking."
"Well, could you help me come up with a name? My disguises can never really look good without a name to start with. You probably could tell with that green Unicorn I turned into back there. It just ends up plain, and odd looking."
Well, that makes it harder. I kinda would rather have someone's looks to name, it'd be easier. This way I have to come up with a completely new name.
"Uhh... Melissa?"
"What? No! That doesn't even sound like a name." Yeah, fuck you too, my grandma's name is Melissa. It is so a name.
I suddenly and conveniently remembered a certsin mod loader for Minecraft. You probably know which one I'm talking about.
"Forge." I muttered
Chrysalis perked her ears towards me, "What was that?" She asked.
Would that be a pony name here? "Would Forge work?"
Chrysalis sat down and looked up into the air and said, "Yeah, that would work." Then she closed her eyes, and sat there for a moment, as if to meditate. I was about to ask her if she was okay when she suddenly stood up, and did her weird flash fire thing. The flames settled down to reveal a Unicorn with gray fur, blue eyes, and a mane of rusty orange with streaks of brown 'hair.' She also appeared to have a tattoo dyed into her fur on both sides of her butt.
Not that I was staring or anything. Still into human females.
Though I'll have to ask about that later. For all I know all of these 'Ponies' have them. I should also get a mirror to check myself out too.
"Well, now that I've got a disguise, I'll need a story This part I'm a bit better at, though I may take a few minutes." Chrysalis paused for a long moment, thinking.
She continued to sit there for a while, so I decided to wander around. I went and looked around this tree and that tree, but found nothing but more trees, more trees, and can you believe it? Trees.
Though I did see a squirrel, so I guess that was cool. Wasn't even afraid of me or anything. It just waltzed right on by me. I headed back when I heard Chrysalis call for me.
As soon as I got back to where Chrysalis was sitting, she began to ramble off a story to me, "Alright, so; I decided that, if it's okay with you, I could go with the back story of Forge Spark, your sister. I recently gained my Cutie Mark in forgery and am still trying to learn to master it. Is that okay with you?"
Chrysalis-now Forge-stood up as I nodded the affirmative. I had nothing to lose, anyways.
"Shall we get going, then?" she asked.
"Sure."
As the trees began to thin out, and I could begin to see objects that were distinctively not trees, Forge asked, "So, where do you even live, anyways?"
Without thinking, I replied, "Oh, the note said it'd be number seventeen on Third-Street, East."
Forge looked at me incredulously as she walked, "So you've never actually been to your own home before. Not even to see what it looked like before you bought it?"
Aw shit, not sure if Death will allow me to tell her that he is the one who got it for me... Gotta think of a way out of this.
"Err.. No." I replied, trying to act casual. Denial was a good excuse I guess. Let's hope she doesn't prod further.
"How do I know it's not gonna be some plotstorm piece of ponyfeathers set on top of a poo-pile?" I almost burst out laughing at her poor excuse for swearing, but managed to keep my cool... Barely. I may or may not have tripped, but I regained my balance quickly enough to make it look like I stumbled on a twig. I also mentally yelled at myself for hoping she wouldn't prod further.
My brain decided to relay the best excuse it could give, given the short timeframe it had to reply, "Eh. I won it. In a lottery. Yeah. They had pictures of it and all I had to do was bid five buc- uhh... A small amount of currency." Weeeee. Not suspicious at all. NOT.
"Wait, you can get houses in lotteries now?" She sound genuinely surprised.
So I guess I didn't do as bad as I thought. She's easier to convince than my dumb old grade seven teacher! "Yeah." Was all I ended up replying with. There was a little bit of an awkward silence after that as we continued heading in the direction of the houses that I could faintly see. The trees began to thin out much more and I was able to start to see some details. Mainly, they were shaped like houses from Earth. I was currently too far away to detect any other details. With the walk being held in silence, I had a bit of time to think to myself.
I wonder if they'll be modern, with, like, computers and stuff. Hell, it'd be great if the locals at least had electricity, but without human hands I don't really think they'd be able to forge tools they could grip. Or maybe they still can grip them, I remember I was able to pick up my saddlebags with my hooves, so why not tools?
So they could possibly have electricity, which is a nice thing. If they don't though, I will be deeply saddened.
Meh
On to another thing; are all these ponies just Pegasi, Unicorns and Changelings? Or are there more? Will they know I'm an alien? Do they have different customs I'm unaware of?
I began to panic, but panicked harder when I felt Forge's hoof touch my shoulder, "Hey Silver, whatever you are scared of, it'll be okay." She said in a soothing voice.
I looked to her and stopped my legs, causing her to almost trip over me, "Sorry. I'm just a bit... " I paused as I sought for the right word, "Overwhelmed."
Forge hugged me reassuringly, "Yes, moving away from home can be a difficult thing to do. Especially when you move far away." You have no idea, buddy. Forge took on a look of pain, and I knew that she must have been reliving some old, sad memory.
With renewed confidence, I looked up to see that, while I had been thinking, we had gotten exponentially closer to the town. We were now in a grassy area that lead up to a small trail that lead into the town. Once we got onto the trail, I saw that there was actually many different types of 'Ponies.' There were regular, horse-like (minus the color) ponies, and more Pegasi like me, and even more unicorns.
When I saw the other Pegasi, my brain decided to shit out a bunch of bull crap. I wonder if when they fly they fart rainbows?
It was at that moment, that I looked up and saw a flying rainbow streak. I totally did not fall to the ground laughing or anything. I also totally didn't stay rolling on the ground for like five minutes either. Although Forge was looking at me as if I had.
"Are you done with... Whatever that was now?"
"Y-y-yes, I am. Sorry." My voice was still a bit shaky from laughing so hard, but I managed to regain control of it.
When I finally looked around to the houses, I noticed that they looked like some old timey stuff. I mean, they had that hay/thatch/whateverthatmaterialiscalled stuff as the roof, and there were no power lines anywhere in sight!
Unless the lines were underground, I now face the significant possibility that I will no longer have any benefits of electricity. No WiFi, no microwave, no electric heating and air conditioning, and finally, no indoor lighting, other than candles.
But worst of all; no connection to all of my Steam friends. All of those friendly online players that were just the right amount of crazy to make it on my friends list.
I resolved that I would find a way to connect the Earth's technology with... Whatever this planet is called's technology. ...If they even have technology, otherwise I'll have to invent ALL of the technological items here. I guess I could become famous if I did that here, but eh.
Actually fame does sound nice, I guess I'll have to check to see what tech they DO have here, and produce the stuff they don't have. If my laptop is up to the task, anyways.
Chrysalis/Forge looked over to me from where she had been standing and asked, "Shall we get to our new home?"
Well, this place isn't worthy of an Apple store, I'll tell you that much. Literally from the five minutes that I've been here for, and the twenty or so houses I've walked by, I have already noticed that this town has no electricity... The serious lack of power lines were a dead giveaway, though. Also the roads weren't paved, they were just stereotypically gray gravel.
Also, I've noticed that random everyday objects, like bags and stuff seem to literally float around the Unicorns' heads. Now, I'm no stranger to weird shit, but that tripped me out quite a bit. Interestingly though, aparantly the tiny wings on my back should be able to lift me off of the ground. I saw many Pegasi that were flying above my head.
... Not sure how these 'Ponies' ignore what's on the underside of the Pegasi as they fly over top of you, but I guess I'll just have to try to hide my embarrassment for now, after all, one day I'll be the one flying above ponies' heads... Displaying... Although I'm pretty sure the ponies who have been around here longer than me wouldn't see it as that... Just me and my perverted mind, I guess.
Enough of that, though. It seems the written language here is different than that of my home world - Hey, I can say I'm an alien now, sweet! - but luckily I have a translator, walking right beside me.
What, you forgot her name already? Yeah. I did too... Not the best with names as I've stated before. Think it had something to do with iron or steel or something. I'll just call her Chryssy.
"Hey Chrysalis, can you read what these signs say? The written language here is different than the written language for where I came from for some reason."
"First of all, you aren't supposed to call me Chrysalis, You should call me Forge. I'm in disguise, remember? " Chrysalis, or Forge, whispered with a commanding tone, "And that sign says Third Street West." She continued, completely flipping her tone around to happy while pointing towards a sign at a small intersection.
"Alright, we need to find Third Street East, so we have to walk straight to the other side of town." Yay, more walking... All I want to do is get to my new home and sleep.
So we continued walking along the gravel road. We got a little ways, and then it hit me. Not figuratively, though. There was a pie. Now, normally I would have freaked and and totally probably beat the fuck out of whomever threw the pie. However, this wasn't 'normally' as when I wiped the pie off of my face and turned to the right, I saw a giant gingerbread house. To say I was speechless was an understatement. Slack-jawed would also be an understatement. Jaw to the floor would also be an understatement. I'm pretty sure I was wiping my ass with my chin.
Now of course this would be the perfect time for a random pink blur to appear in my face, and scare me shitless, "Sorry!" the pink blur squealed.
Then she took in a large breath, and the dam overflowed, "Me and my friend Derpy were having a pie throwing contest and then she threw hers and it was like WOOSH and then it hit the target over there and I went to throw mine and it was like WOOSH and then you were like clop clop clop and then the pie was all like SPLAT! It's funny how things turn out isn't it?" The whole time it seemed like she didn't even take a single breath. Now I'm sweating, because I am quite scared... If this is what all ponies are like, I'll probably die before I have even lived here for more than three days.
While I stood there, dumbfounded, the pink thing used Wraith Screech.
...
It was really effective. On my ears, anyways.
Once the effects of Wraith Screech wore off, and I stopped hunching over in pain, I heard that the pink one was talking at a rapid pace... Again.
"Whatsyournamewhatsyourname OOH I have to plan a party! Ohmygosh! WHATSYOURFAVOURITECOLOR? NO WAIT! I HAVE A MORE IMPORTANT QUESTION! WHATSYOURFAVOURITECAKEFLAVOUR?" Then, without waiting for an answer, she gasped for one huge breathe, then ran away. Like, ultra fast. ... The Sanic levels are high with this one.
Looking over to Forge, who looked a little bit out of it, I asked, "Ehhh, what just happened?"
Forge just sat there, same dazed look on her face. So I got right in her face, stared straight into her eyes, and said, "I love pie."
Damn, still nothing. Looks like we'll have to do this the hard way.
The hard hoof to the face way. Ergh.. Why did I have to think of that, now I have that stuck in my head again... Eugh. Hooves...
...
Well at least I'm not as afraid of them as I was earlier, but anyways, back on task.
I started lightly tapping her with my right foreleg on the tip of her nose.
And then she burped.
"The fuck was that?" I asked.
She looked at me sheepishly, "She gave off so much love... I feel so well fed, and tired now."
Checking how many blocks we had gone since third street, and judging by the super freaking tall and wide building that sat dead in the center of the next street, I estimated we were on First Street, "Yeah, once we get past that overly huge building we will be half way to my house." Though I'm not sure if it came with furnishings or not, otherwise we may have to sleep on the floor.
Turning to look at me, Forge asked, "Will it have a bed?"
"Heh, was just what I was thinking about. I'm honestly not sure, when we did the... Lottery... All we were told is that we would win a house. It's honestly kinda scary now that I think about it." Well, all I can do is hope that Death was trustworthy , and built me -- or us, now -- a stable home with good insides and a sturdy frame.
"We'll have to check it out when we get there. I can't imagine Ponyville carpenters would do anything bad. They seemed pretty nice last time I was here." Forge said while pointing to some of the houses around us.
"You've been here before?"
"Yeah, it's a quiet little place. Locals are pretty nice too, a little easily startled. But not much you can do about that."
"Ah. Where is everyo-pony then?" Gotta get used to these new words...
"That's a... Good question. I see there are boards on the windows and doors on all the houses," Then she added in a quiet voice, "I am disguised, right?"
"Um, yes you are," I then gestured to the town around us "But this is really weird, all the ponies were just running around out here, and now they're all gone... Can they just... Disappear? "
Forge looked at me with a nervous look on her face, "While some Unicorns are able to teleport, doing so requires a lot of energy. Even more so when additional factors are present, like additional ponies, or a longer range. Did you see when they disappeared?"
Glancing her way, I said, "Must have been when I was trying to get you out of your trance." Wait, teleport? Dood. If a pony tries to teleport me I have to say, 'Beam me up, Scotty!'
Forge suddenly looked really nervous, "We need to run."
"What?"
She took off into a dead sprint, turning her head over her shoulders to yell, "Run! Run now! I'll explain on the way!"
I gave chase, speeding up until I was almost beside her, "What's wrong?"
"I don't know, but I sense fear from every household here. Everypony is hiding, but from what, I don't know. All we can do is hide also."
After about a minute of nonstop running -- Pony endurance, bitches -- we made it to Third Street East, evident by the gasping Forge, who could barely stammer out, "What's the house number?"
"Think it was Seven-teen." I gasped
She nodded her head towards one of the houses, which surprisingly looked like any other house on the street. I don't even see any house number on it, how could she tell which house was which? But instead of a stopping to think about it, I followed her as she raced to the door, flung it opened, and raced inside.
I shut the door as quickly as possible, just fast enough to suddenly hear something slam into the door on the other side. Running back to the door, I put all my weight against it, hoping to keep it closed, "Holy shit! CHRYSALIS HELP ME BARRICADE THIS SHIT!"
It seemed the home opened right into the living room, and there was a couch right in the center of it, "Grab that! Place it in front of the door!"
A green aura wrapped around the couch, lifting it off the ground and floating slowly towards me and the door. I would've been dumbfounded by this, but my brain was in 'Fuck everything SURVIVE' mode.
Once the large couch got close enough, I scooted out of the way, and helped position it in front of the door.
There were a few more bangs on the door, but then the unknown beast gave up, as it seemed, and went away. Don't ask how I know it was gone, I could just tell somehow.
"What... Was that? And why was everyone so afraid of it?" I asked.
"To both of your questions, I don't know. This is the first time I've ever even seen... Whatever it is. But I didn't really See see it, I just felt it. Tasted it, really. It tasted of sadness, pain, and anger."
Ergh, all the indents are different lengths... I will fix that another day... Doing so on the phone is not the greatest of things to do. (Seriously, editing on phones need to be much easier.)
"I think we should bunker down. I sure as hell am not going outside if that thing is still around."
Forge looked over to me, eyes still showing signs of fear, "That would probably be the best course of action. But first we should make sure nothing can get through the doors and windows."
So we set off to doing just that, finding random objects, like book cases, beds, coffee tables, etc. to seal all the entrances. While doing so, I 'explored' the house. By explored, I mean simply look around while finding random crap to block windows with. I found that the house has three floors. The basement, main floor, and second floor. On each floor was one bedroom, and in the basement, within the same hallway that led to the bedroom, there was a bathroom.
Looking inside showed nothing fancy, but ponies did have basic plumbing. Though the super long and thin toilets looked weird. Imagine a regular toilet, then stretch the bowl forwards, and trim the sides. Then make it much lower, too. It was practically in the floor, maybe a couple inches off the floor. I'll have to figure out how to use it later... There was also a bathroom attached to the main floor's bedroom, but no bathrooms upstairs.
The kitchen was decent, though I would have to learn how to cook on this awkward looking 'magical variant' (according to Forge) of a stove. It had no oven, but where the oven should have been there was a series of pipes that ran along in spirals and twists and in other confusing ways until they all eventually met at each of the two burners.
This really doesn't look efficient.
As it turns out, ponytown has running water. But not the warm kind, just freezing cold water. Looks like I won't be having a warm shower any time soon... Sad thoughts aside, my stomach decided it was bored of not eating, and decided to let me know using it's stereotypical little growl. Looking to the pantries, hoping to raid them of their food contents, I went to open one.
"Hey, Silver! I'm gonna put this new bed I found to good use. Goodnight!" Forge suddenly called.
Glancing in the direction I heard the call from, I hollered back, "Alright, see you whenever you wake up." Not going to say see you in the morning, because who knows what a normal pony's sleep cycle is. I don't!
Suddenly something started scratching against the door again, and I ran off to where I heard Chrysalis' voice, "I don't think we should yell, it's back!" I whispered with a scared tone as I got in her room, "It's scratching on the door again."
"Oh pony feathers..." Chrysalis said as she hunkered down underneath the covers, "I ain't movin'. This is my hiding place, go find yer own."
Feel the 'brother sister' bond? Nope, me neither. I guess this is what adopted kids feel like... I'm never gonna make fun of an adopted kid again. Now I feel bad.
As I headed off to hide in my new room in the basement, my belly, once again, cried out in anguish. I swear that thing is a drama queen. But I guess I should still find something to eat.
But that means you have to go through the house with that beast lurking outside.
Oh shit, brain... You're right. Goddammit, I have to, though. I haven't eaten since before I woke up yesterday, and it's already nighttime!
Steeling my resolve, I began to sneak over to the kitchen, taking quick glances around corners before fully committing to going around them.
Once I got to the kitchen, and all seemed quiet, I reached up to the cupboard. Guess what I found?
Nothing.
Fuck me.
Searching in the cupboard directly beside it, I found that this house did in fact have food. It was cheese heaven. So many types of cheese. So many types of cheese that I almost missed the mouse that ran up to me and looked up at me with pleading eyes.
"Well, I guess animals on this world might be different from the ones on my world... In other words, maybe this mouse isn't full of germs and other nasties."
With my external thinking done, I got generous, and ripped a part of the cheese off of the brick I was holding. I then passed it to the little dude that I have dubbed, "Larry."
But he didn't take it. No, it almost looked as if he was looking at something behind me, and I swear I could see it's eyes growing in fear. I also could've sworn there was only one mouse here, so how come there are little scritch-scratching noises behind me... Turning around, while preparing another chunk of cheese for Larry's other mouse pal, I noticed that there was no other mouse there. Though I still heard the scratching noise. It took me a moment to realize that the scratching noise was coming from somewhere a mouse wouldn't have been.
The noise was coming from somewhere level with my head. Turning, I saw the one thing I wished I wouldn't have seen. The only window that I forgot to cover. The only window that it could see me through.
The window seemed very dark, where light appeared, it was sucked into the window. It was as if there was a black hole directly outside of the window. But then suddenly two orbs opened up, staring directly into my eyes.
Fear gripped me at that moment, and I wouldn't have been surprised if I had screamed, only I wasn't able to. As soon as I saw those eyes, it was if I was frozen.
I couldn't move. No, scratch that, I was moving... Towards it. My face began to smile on it's own accord. No! No, help me! Please stop! Stop going towards it, body! Stay!
I was practically standing in front of the sink now, with the sink being just below the window. With nothing else to do, I resigned to my fate; death.
But then suddenly the cupboard hanging above and to the right fell off of its hangars with a green, magical spark, landing directly in front of the window and cutting off my view of the monster. This caused whatever grip it had on me to falter, and I fell to the ground, shaking.
Chrysalis came running over to me, and grabbed me in a hug, "Wake up! Don't be gone!"
"Wh-what? What just happened? How'd you figure out I was in trouble?" My already addled mind began to overload. Questions were flying about at 50 kilometers per second. 'Holy shit, I almost died!', 'What was that thing?', and, 'Am I still alive?' being the most prominent and repetitive of them all.
"I sensed the dark presence, and a sudden large influx of fear from you, and then your emotions began to feel... Forced. As if you were under some sort of mind control. I thought I lost you already." She then started weeping on my shoulder.
Huh, one day and she's already this attached to me? I guess pony bonds happen fast... I also take back what I said about the brother/sisterly love thing.
Cuz now I'm feeling it.
But now this hug thing was starting to get weird, so I began pushing her off, and stood up, "Well, I am alright. But I'd prefer to not have another encounter with that thing. So, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go hide in the basement." I said the last part with speed that matched my physical speed, as I had already started to run down towards the basement. Definitely do NOT want to have another encounter with that thing...
Once I got to my new room in the basement, I began unpacking my saddlebags. Starting with the left side, I pulled out the laptop and stuck it on the nightstand. The one on the opposite side of the bed that wasn't in view of the door. I knew that I had to make sure nobody -or nopony- would see it, as I could get singled out as an alien for having way better technology than what they have... Unless they have better technology than me, but I don't see it yet?
Nah.
Once the laptop was set up, I grabbed the solar panel and went to set it up, but promptly hit a roadblock.
In order to set up the solar panel with maximum efficiency, I would have to unblock the window, and more than likely, open it all the way. Which of course, is NOT happening due to the reason of 'I've almost died already and I don't want to now.' So I guess I will just have to wait to set it up. Hopefully that thing will be gone by morning.
Reaching in to my bag to check if there was anything I wasn't aware of, I found another note.
Hello Silver, I'm sure that by now you have found your home, and have settled in peacefully. You have also probably noticed some subtle things too, like being able to walk as a Quadruped while having no training in how to do so.
This is normal. Part of the protocol for misplaced (note that misplaced should not be confused with displaced) beings such as yourself was to hardwire these small things into your brain, so it's like instincts. Normally this is very helpful, but if you don't know what you are doing, it can seriously mess up one's mind. You may or may not have noticed that your wings... Don't respond to your mental command very well. You see, in order to be able hardwire an instinct in, you must have had prior knowledge of how it works. I have 'worked' with many quadrupeds, but never before have I worked with something that is winged.
I know you are probably thinking that 'How can death himself not have served a winged species?'
The answer to that is simple, remember the elevator you came in on? How it went into a star? Each star has their own 'Death Lounge' (It's what we call it), so there are actually over sixty three billion other deaths out there. The thing is, is that I've actually only served three dead entities, including you. There was a horse named Rose, which is how I knew how to hardwire the Quadruped motion into your brain, as my trainer was still with me at the time to teach me how. But there was also a squid, again, my trainer was there, so if you ever grow tentacles, let me know. I can get you control over them with a snap of my fingers, literally. But never before have I had a winged species. I didn't want to mess you up, so I let you go without the mind changing. I'm pretty sure you can spare some time to learn how though, right?
For future reference, this bag can be used to transport letters to and from me. Just write your letter, roll it up, and write, "Death 71495443" on the sides of it. Then put it in the outer left sac of the bags, the one with the emerald on the zipper. It will send straight to my office.
Huh, I guess that's good to know. I'll have to find some paper and a pen, but until then I guess he won't know how I'm doing. I'll also keep this paper, as his number seemed like it was too long to simply remember.
Once again entering my bag, I found an Epipen.
Holy shit, I hadn't even thought of that. I'm allergic to Timothy!
Not the best thing to be allergic to in a land populated by hay eating species...
Hopefully the dust from it won't trigger my allergies. And for anyone who doesn't know, Timothy is, as it was explained to me, Hay grass. Like, the stuff that grows before they dry it or whatever they do to make it hay. Yeah, as I said, not the best thing to be allergic to.
But, with nothing better to do than think, I spread myself across my new, cozy bed, and went to sleep.
#$The most innovative chapter break in the world$#
...As the crown tower blew up and I won the frighteningly realistic Battle Royale, my troops presented me the queen who had been locked away by the evil overlord, and I made my move to kiss her ha--
"WAKE UP YOU DEAF NINCOMPO-EUGH"
Perfect morning to give a nice smootch to someone you just met the other day eh?
...
Maybe you shouldnt interrupt my good dreams then. I thought while looking over to a disguised, and grossed out Chrysalis, who was currently rubbing her forehead and making 'ew ew ew' noises.
"Sorry, I should mention that I have vivid dreams, and it's sometimes dangerous to wake me up during them," I said, Lucky she didn't get me during a swordfighting dream, though this is more awkward than painful, "Sorry about that though, let's just forget this ever happened please?"
"Yeah, yeah. I see that now... And it never happened." She replied hastily, "What kind of bucking dream were you having anyways?" Though she said the last part so quietly that I couldn't catch it.
Looking over to Chrysalis again, who had adopted a neutral expression now, I asked, "What was it you wanted me up for?"
Oh, here she goes, from grossed out to happier than life faster than you can say 'Pizza', "Oh yeah!" She practically yelled, causing me to twitch my ears backwards. Oh yeah I can do that now! "The ponies are out again! We can go back outside and explore the town!"
But did I hear her? No. I was too busy with a goofy expression on my face while twisting my ears back and forth. Don't look at me like that, if your ears could move like that you would too.
"SILVER!" Smack!
"Ow! Ow, I'm sorry, Mom, I'll listen now. Lay off with the physical abuse, jeez." Chrysalis - One, Me - Zero.
Wiping her angry expression from her face, she once again exclaimed, "The ponies are back! We can go outside again!" Upon hearing this fact, I realized that I had in fact heard chattering coming from the direction of the window when I was playing with my ears.
"Alright, you can wait upstairs, I'll be right there." Once she complied and had left the room, I removed the large board I had found from the window, and looked outside.
Well, this isn't one of the greatest vantage points, as the window was level with the ground and I was therefor looking up from underneath the ponies as they passed. But I did make some discoveries... Very awkward discoveries.
Female ponies don't have their breasts on their chests, nope. In fact, they were down a lot farther. Like I said, kinda awkward, but would probably save me an even awkwarder moment if this ever (somehow) got brought up in a conversation and I didn't know about it. Although it kinda does make sense, as that is where a female horse's (from my world) would be.
Throwing those thoughts aside, I happily opened my saddlebag and pulled out the solar panel, using some skillluck, I managed to get the solar panel held up against the window using that chunk of wood that I used to board it up. Then I simply plugged it into my laptop, and waited for the charge.
...
Dammit, I forgot solar panels would be slow and inefficient, especially when they don't get direct sunlight... Houston, we have a problem. Though I guess I could just simply wait until after we get back from exploring the town...
My estimate says that the battery will be at least half full by then.
"Hey! Are you coming to explore or what?"
Oh yeah, I guess she asked me to explore with her. Should probably go now then.
Heading for the door of the room, I began to get a little bit excited and nervous about what I would see. I stopped in the doorway and began pondering; Would they figure me out as an alien instantly? Would they like me? Would they all be as crazy as the two I've already met?
I suppose that it is inevitable that I meet them, so I might as well face my fears and do it now. Forcing my hooves to move forward, I began heading up the stairs... Then I promptly faceplanted into a very impatient Chrysalis
"What were you doing down there, you are keeping me from going out and exploring!" She whined, with a very pouty pout on her face.
"I was talking to Jimmy."
"...Who's Jimmy?"
"The pony standing right behind you is Jimmy." She quickly reared around to face 'Jimmy' only to find --(surprise)-- nothing.
"Ugh, I should have realized when I didn't feel a second set of emotions..." This whole sensing emotions thing is really weird but cool... Though I'm still not quite used to someone just casually saying they can sense emotions.
But that angry look on her face tho. She could make it in to the army! I do admit that I chuckled a little at her reaction.
"Alright, I guess we should head out then now that the joking is over." I said, looking over towards the stairs. Let's try this yet again, shall we? Maybe I won't get distracted while heading to the stairs this time. And I did. I made it to the top of the stairs without getting distracted. I also managed to get outside too with the same luck.
But then I did get distracted. By the sun. It was damned bright today. I never really liked the hot days very much, I was more of a calm spring day kind of guy. Those types of days is when the weather is perfect. Not too hot, but yet not so cold you freeze your ass off. Luckily for me, even though the sun is as bright as it is, it must give off a lot less heat on this planet. Because it feels like a nice spring day to me.
Looking around my newest neighborhood, the first thing that I noticed was that the houses here were crazy. Like, so crazy that it looks like one of my Lego houses from when I was about five or six years old.
Each house started normally, a square shape that went up about five or six feet (Though my reference may be off due to being smaller than I used to be), but that's where it ends. After the initial normalness, the house begins to look like an upside down snowman. with each segment larger than the last, and more off center and askewed. Most if the homes were about three floors high, but I was one of the unlucky few that only got two floors above ground level rather than three.
As I walked down my lawn I looked left and right at my new town. To my home's direct left (facing away from the front door) was a river, along with a bridge that spans the gap. Across he bridge were more houses, and possibly some sort of shops. To my right was the big town hall. Also it seemed there was some sort of market around there.
The next thing I noticed -- no, realized was how to tell mares and stallions apart. It's literally the most simplistic thing ever. Mares have a rounded nose while stallions have a straight nose.
Once I noticed this, it led me to another conclusion... There were many more mares than stallions...
Now all I can do is hope that they don't go stir crazy around males.
Perhaps that's why Chrysalis acts so hyper? Actually that's probably not it, as I'm pretty sure no... Pony likes her without her disguise, so I'm probably a first on that.
I should ask her about that sometime too.
Though I guess I should start following Chrysalis, now disguised as Forge, go to... Wherever she's going.
Catching up to Forge, I asked her, "Hey, where are we even gonna go anyways?"
Continuing to walk down the block, she stated, "I thought we could go to the market, get something better to eat. The only things I saw in cupboards were cheese. I know you can't survive on just that."
"You may think I can't, but I know I can." I retorted. Just thinking about all the cheese in there made me want to run back to the house and eat it all right now.
Forge looked at me with a face of disgust, "I know for a fact that ponies need more than just cheese to keep them healthy. Don't try to fool me." With that, I just shut up resigned to following her. Mostly because I had no the comeback. Totally not because she's intimidating, nope.
We were just walking silently when suddenly all the ponies around us started to cheer, while looking up. I decided I would look up too.
What I saw was this magnificent beauty, with the sun radiating around her with her hair flowing just perfectly.
Actually I didn't, because I couldn't see anything for the first few seconds of looking. But after those few seconds, I saw a white... Pegasus? On the horizon. Why were these ponies cheering for a Pegasus that looks like me other than the hair color?
That's when I noticed the regalia. Golden shoes, golden chest plate, a crown. Oh... This pony must be some sort of Queen or something. Judging by the shouts of other ponies around me, I'm pretty sure her name is Celestial.^** I should probably keep away from her then. Not sure if I'd like to literally be an illigal alien around royalty...
oOo The most innovative chapter break in the world oOo
Celestia was not having a good day. Well, a good two days, really.
First she was stuck in Day Court, then suddenly, there was a huge spike in magical energy coming from the direction of Ponyville. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but with her sister's return supposed to be the next week, she couldn't help but think that maybe she had estimated the date wrong.
But she knew that she couldn't just assume like that, so she went through the rest of the boring day of rich nobles whining about not having enough bits.
Then this morning as she was still groggy from sleep, she hit her head on her door when she went to close it, causing the two nearby guards to chortle in laughter.
And now she was tracking the high amount of residual magic that was emanating from the White-Tail woods.
oOo The most innovative chapter break in the world oOo
"What are you doing, Silver!" Forge angrily called.
"Uhh, standing here and watching the show?" I said sarcastically.
"She's royalty, you have to do something you idiot." She sounds hella angry, I should probably do something.
Looking up, I saw the white Pegasus. 'Celestial' looked in my direction, so I waved. She waved back. You should have heard the crowd, too. I laughed a good bit at their reactions. 'Who's she waving at?' 'Me you wart!' And then there was that one pony who just overdid it way too much, 'OH MY GOSH SHE'S WAVING AT ME' then heavy breathing was heard, and a flop echoed around.
She fainted. I feel bad for saying this, but I think I laughed even harder at that, while Forge glared at me, of course, for 'acting bad around the princess'
Yes, she said princess. So not queen, apparently. I guess there's a prince then, too?
Though it did look like the princess was giggling a little bit. Though I have no clue how I could tell that with how far away we were. Maybe magic eyes? That'd be pretty cool.
She seemed to fly at a calm pace, I guess. The only reason I say this is because she wasn't going crazy trying to flap her wings, but I couldn't really say for certain though, as I haven't been a Pegasus for longer than two days.
But then she flew over top of us, and I noticed that the Pegasus, was indeed not a Pegasus.
She had both body parts. NO THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT YOU PERVERTED... Ugh.
She was a Pegasusacorn. I think. I'll have to ask about that one, it's kind of a mouthful to say that.
'What's your race?'
'It's called a Pegasusacorn.'
...
And now back to our regularly scheduled program.
While I had been thinking, she had flown by. Long gone was this Celestial girl, didn't even stop to say "Hi." to her followers. Rude.
With that event over, we returned to walking to the market. I wonder if they have Pizza Pops here...
Now, my version of a market and Chrysalis' are VERY different. I thought we'd be walking into some miniature version of Walmart, but nope, this 'market' is outside.
Out-Freaking-Side. I mean, who even has outdoor markets anymore? It's fucking 2017 man, get with the program.
Oh yeah, nevermind that. I just figured out that I am, in fact stuck in a world that's still in like, the bronze age or something.
I'm going to die here. Forever without an online friend on Steam to beat up in CS:GO... Though I shouldn't complain, because at least I got to bring my bae, laptop. (I should think of a better name for her.)
The market here though, if you ever wanted farm fresh instead of GMOs, this is a great place to go. Most of the ponies who work the stalls have fruits that look very fresh.
As I was admiring the stands, I began to notice that I was getting a few stares. Normally I wouldn't mind getting stared at, as I was usually constantly awkward back on earth, but being on a new planet and being a whole new species. But I couldn't help but get the sense that I was doing something wrong. Like that feeling when your boss tells you to do something and leaves but you didn't hear him properly, so you don't know if your doing it right the whole time you are doing it? Yeah, that's about how I felt right now.
Until I picked up some of the murmurs from the ponies watching me.
"Is he the new stallion in town?" A male voice said
Why yes, I am new. Thanks for asking behind my back.
"He looks pretty nice." A female voice spoke soon after.
Thanks brah... Or whatever you call them here.
More female voices joined in, "I think he looks cute."
"He is very handsome for his colorings."
And now we are getting into weird territory...
But then there is always that one person who is so blunt, that you'd think they were a hammer, "I'd buck him."
Now this message didn't get across to me at first. I thought she literally meant, buck. Like a wild horse does when you get too close to its rear end. But then I realized... After another pony came up to me, of course.
"Hey stud, how would you like to go for a roll in the hay with us.
I turned around and looked at the blue unicorn.
I almost bitch slapped her (but I restrained that action barely).
There was a little something that I figured out after hearing this.
For one, there are more females than males here, so our roles are reversed. One gender will be more 'dominant' than the other, and will be trying to make me their bitch.
And two... I didn't want to be anyone's bitch.
I walked around the little shit, and she watched me, slightly confused. When I got past her she hiked up her tail and made some odd chittering noises (probably classified as 'sexy' in this world). It was of no use, as I was quite unhappy. I got to the stall Forge was at, and told her I would be heading back to the house.
"Aww, but we just got out here!" She whined.
"Yeah I know, you can stay if you want. I'll tell you why I left when we get back."
"It's okay, I'll come with you. I got most of the stuff I wanted anyways." Kind of wondering where she got the money for that though, as she was kinda sorta living in a cave when I found her.
During this time, the blue pony was looking towards me hopefully. Her tail still hiked in the air, until I began trudging away, "Hey, wait, you didn't answer me!" She made to begin walking beside me, so I began to jog. Hopefully she understands the memo.
Turns out, she did. And once I began to jog, she slowed down and turned around and went back to her group of friends... Probably to plan how to rape me.
I wonder if my laptop can replicate the Iron Man armor for a pony. I feel like I need that to survive here. Like, I think it's a legit NEED.
Once we got back to the house, I turned the door handle and stepped into the unusually dark room. I mean, I'm pretty sure the curtains should be letting in more light, right?
Please don't let it be another one of those creepy ghost things that got in my new home already.
A Pink Abomination and Some Actual Exploration (6)
I pushed the door open. I could see that it was very dark in the house.
Oh no, please don't let this mean that the thing got into the house...
I thought I could see shadows flitting across the room, behind the furniture, and along the walls. My breathing and heartrate increased tenfold almost instantaneously.
Chrysalis, sensing my mental distress, walked up beside me and placed her hoof on my shoulder.
"Relax, Silver." She soothed, "There is nothing in there."
At first I was reluctant to calm down, but after having it dawn on me that she could, in fact, sense the emotions of any being within (and that she said she sensed nothing); I managed to calm down. Taking a deep breath, I stepped through the doorway and into the house, with Chrysalis following directly behind.
And then suddenly, nothing happened.
I looked at the walls surrounding the door, wondering where the light switch was. I did not find anything but shortly came to the conclusion that the reason it was so dark was because the windows were still covered over. I'm an idiot. I scooted myself over to the first window I saw (it was to the right of the door by about a meter), and started sliding the bookcase that was covering it away from it.
It didn't end well, though. With me being relatively new to this body, and trying to figure out how to push a bookcase while not in a panicked state, all I ended up doing was grunting and flopping against the bookcase. Chrysalis noticed my horrible attempts to move the bookcase and stood there for a moment. Probably laughing internally at me. Eventually though, she did come to my aid with her glowing green stuff (which tickles when you touch it, by the way).
I did end up getting the hang of pushing things around while on four legs, though. Although it's really not so much of pushing as it is shouldering. I had expected it to go quite fast with Chrys' glowy levitation, but it still took around ten minutes to move everything back to where we thought would be a nice spot to put it. With the rooms now brightened by the sunlight cascading into the house, I felt surprisingly at home, but I believed there was something I was missing.
How can I be at home if I don't even know what my home looks like fully?
Without memorizing the interior of my home, I felt kind of detached from it, like it wasn't fully mine yet, even though I was it's new owner.
And so after around thirty seconds of internal debate, my mind settled.
I gots some esplorin' to do.
oOo The most innovative chapter break in the world oOo
After a slightly not so brief (It was feeling late in the day, even though the sun stayed in one spot all day) exploration of my new household, I found out that my new home is a bit larger than I had originally thought.
You enter the house onto the main floor (obviously); which has a medium sized, wooden wardrobe directly to the right of the door (I'd assume for some sort of Ponycoats or something, but I'd doubt ponies wear clothes). To the left is the living room, which is just a couch and a rocking chair facing a fireplace that is built into the wall. To the right is the entrance to the kitchen, and beyond the kitchen is the rear door. There's a hallway in the center, which leads to the bathroom, bedroom, and two stairways (one up and one down).
In the basement is my room, a storage room, and a bathroom.
Upstairs, though, is the definition of, 'Why?'
You enter into a hallway. There is a bedroom on one side, and another on the opposite side. Directly on the opposite side of the staircase is a bathroom.
Now here is where things get weird.
The one bedroom on the same side of the hallway as the bathroom is literally colored the brightest fucking pink ever. Even the carpeting of the room was not spared! The bedding, closet, drawers, nighttable, and everything! Pink!
Why?
Anyways, I ended up naming that room the 'Pink abomination,' while Chrysalis named it, 'Chrysalis' room.' Well, girly things for girly girls I guess?
I think?
Maybe?
You would think that even the girliest of gals wouldn't be able to survive in that much pink.
Anyways, once I was done exploring the house I decided to head back to my room to further explore the capabilities of the Build it, Cortana program. Once I was there I closed my door, hopped up onto the bed, and turned the laptop sitting on the nightstand towards me. After that, I opened the lid and turned it on, waiting for it to boot. I didn't have to wait very long, however, as this laptop seemed to be relatively quick.
Once it was on and I had signed in, I decided to check the battery level, as doing so would give me a good estimation of how quickly the solar panel would be able to charge my new machine. I was expecting the battery to be maybe a little over a quarter full, as solar panels are rather inefficient for their size, but nevertheless; I was quite surprised to see that the battery was fully charged. It seemed like it was faster to charge on this than it was to charge it using a wall socket!
Hmm, a wall socket. Something that I have not yet seen on this world, amongst many other things... With this thought my mood slowly begin to sour. The thought provoked many memories within the recesses of my brain. It was beginning to sink in just how much I will miss things from my planet, but most importantly; how much I would miss my family.
I slowly closed the lid of the laptop and curled up on my bed atop the blankets and begin to softly whimper into my arms--forelegs. I would never be able to wake up to my mother and her golden highlights, nor would I ever even see my father, my brother, my aunt, cousin, uncle, or my grandparents again. Slowly my quiet whimpers became half sobs, tears starting to flow more freely from my eyes.
I found myself relishing in my past memories of the family and I going out together for dinners or to theme parks, and even on times my brother would try to torture me (kid torture, of course. We would just fight about everything).
But then my brain made it to the hardest pill to swallow.
They all probably think I'm dead...
I fully broke down at this point, freely weeping into my pillow. If only I could send a message to them... Let them know I'm okay...
There was an abrupt knock at my door.
"Silver?" It was Chrysalis, "The overall mood of the house has seemed to gotten really sad; are you alright?"
I did not respond, as at that moment I was trying to recreate the sounds of my parents' voices in my head.
Given no response, Chrysalis opened the door slowly, trying her best not to frighten me -- not that I would have noticed anyways in the state I was in. She crawled her way over to me and gave my shoulder a slight nudge.
"Are you alright?"
I finally broke out of my revery, only to be very confused about my surroundings. For one, Chrysalis had came in without me noticing; and two, she asked a question that was ringing around in my head.
Are you alright...
Are you alright...
Are you alright...
...
No. No I am not.
"No, no I am not." I repeated what my thoughts told me, "I miss my family."
Chrysalis attempted to soothe me, "Everyone misses something, Silver. I too miss my family of old, but it has been so long that the feeling has dulled."
I rolled over, lifted my head, and latched my front legs around her in a tight hug. "I just wish I could go back..." I whined.
"Then why don't you?" She asked, beginning to rub my back like a mother calming her child, "What is stopping you?"
"Lots." Was all I managed to choke out.
"Like what?" She pushed, still rubbing my back.
"I have... Sacrificed a lot to get here, and the things I lost I cannot get back..." Like my Humanity.
Chrysalis pushed me down onto the bed, clearly realizing that I would not leave this matter alone. She then crawled in beside me and allowed me to curl into her, again, much like a mother would with her child; and I slowly drifted off to sleep as she continuously rubbed my back.
oOo The most innovative chapter break in the world oOo
I awoke with a jolt. There were no dreams, just a slowly increasing darkness, then light again. It was like dozing off in class and being called upon by your teacher. The sudden feeling that you should not be doing what you were currently doing. I quickly sat up - or tried to, anyways. I soon realized that I was once again -- still -- a pony, and could not do certain things my human body could once do.
I scanned around my room, noticing a vacant feeling to my side. Chrysalis was no longer here. Where she went, only she may know.
I thought about how I would get out of bed this morning... Or evening...
I could not tell what time it was because of the solar panel that was sitting in the window was blocking out most of the space for any light to come through. Soon, I decided that rolling over would be the simplest way. All four of my new hooves would already be facing downwards if I were to just roll off.
...Or of course I could land on my back if I misjudged it, but I have four legs now, and cats always land on their legs, so I assume it must apply to me that I will always land leg-down.
When I rolled off my bed, I did manage to stay upright. I wasn't sure if it was just luck, or if I was just getting more used to my new body, but it sure felt good to not be tipsy when I first stood up.
I scooted myself over to the window, and pulled back the solar panel away from it. I was assaulted with darkness.
Really though, it wasn't that bad. It was dark, and that's about it. This of course meant that it was night time now, and night time meant that I should hide inside and probably sleep. Now that I was awake, however, I knew I would be unable to go back to sleep, so I set the solar panel back up in the window and turned to my laptop.
Lifting the lid of my laptop, I watched as the screen slowly came back to life. It delighted me that I hadn't fully shut it down last night during my little temper tantrum, and it was quick to restore from sleep mode. After quickly logging back in using my odd new hooves, I checked what I could do. I was quite bored, as usual when I wake up earlier than intended, and so I slowly began scrolling through the list of programs.
One program in particular piqued my interest. Build it, Cortana. The program that was able to build anything, with little input from myself. The program that built me a blanket when I knew I would freeze... Which I now realize I left behind when I left the cave.
...Oh well, I now have a heated house with a bed that has an actual cottony feeling blanket. While it would have been nice to keep my first blanket as a keepsake, it was not very important, or required.
I began scanning through the list of items I could make after opening the program. There were many 'main' topics to choose from, and from looking through it before I knew those branched off into many other sub-topics. I decided to look for something that would be useful to me as soon as possible. Not simple comfort items like 'ooh better beds,' or 'microwave;' but something more along the lines of actually creating my life here.
And why not start by making it so my computer could build better things, faster?
I began looking for something I could use to 'factorize' my computer.
After skimming through about four of the ten main folders, I began to slowly realize that the system was set up much like a game.
There was a base item, but then you could get upgrades to it. Unlike most games you did not have to progress from tier one and up, but rather you could just skip a tier if you had the resources.
So basically if I wanted to make a silk blanket I didn't have to make the grass blanket, then the pelt blanket, then the cotton blanket, and so on; I could just skip directly to it.
After searching through the main directories some more, I found that I had limited my search down to three options for now.
One: I could start by building some electrical generators.
Two: I could start by building an excavator robot (really it looked like a rover though).
Or three: I could start by building machinery capable of refining things I found.
Upon weighing the pros and cons of each in my current situation, I realized that building an electrical generator would be my best bet for now. This conclusion came to me after I realized that the rover excavator would need power to run, and so would the machinery -- which would also require ores from the excavator to run. I also realized that if I had a stable source of power then the computer could manufacture items at a much quicker rate, because if the first test with the blanket was anything to go by then I would only be able to make one item per day before the battery would deplete.
For now, I decided I would stick with a simple handcrank-like device that would push out a moderate amount of power. Nicely enough, the 'moderate' amount of power was still a much larger amount of energy than the solar panel could output. (As noted by the quite helpful portion in the item's description that states, "Can produce up to 600% more energy per hour than the starting solar panel Death gave you."
Even then though, six hundred percent more than what the solar panel can make really isn't that much. If I were to only use the crank, I would be able to output six items during the day, rather than my current one. You could also include nighttime now, since my solar panel does not run at night, but the crank can. So you can add another six to that for a total of twelve items every twenty four hours. However, this would mean I would have to constantly crank for twenty four hours straight.
So really, the crank is more meant for when I have a couple hours spare time and want to get another item finished earlier.
I was about to click 'build' when my brain decided to clue me into the fact that, Hello~ you kinda need resources for that.
And indeed, my brain was correct. I needed a moderate amount of copper, a larger amount of iron, and a minimal amount of gold.
Well, fuck.
I guess I will have to start with a pickaxe then...
... Ah, who am I kidding, this isn't Minecraft, I can just buy the shit I need and get a lazy person job!