Phase Shift

Notes on a new world day 7

It seems I've been generally accepted around town in spite of the market incident. I've managed to develop relations with a few of the ponies I met at the party and I'd even worked out a naming system based on the images on the ponies sides. The wall eyed mail stallion was Bubbles, the town official was Rolled Scroll, the mint green unicorn and his friend were Harp and Mints, etc. The first six I had met kept their original color names though, I just couldn't get used to thinking of Purple as Starburst, or White as Diamonds, and the whole naming convention fell apart around Orange and his family. Every last one of them had an apple of some sort.

Names aside I had three pressing problems. The first was that I still didn't have an anchor, and I was starting to feel the disconnectedness the Dimension Jumper's Primer warned me about, The second was food based.

I have eaten through my MREs and must now face the day I have dreaded. While I have been able to convey to my technicolor friends that not everything they eat are things I can eat, I have yet to really broach the protein issue. I've been staving it off a bit by supplementing my MREs and protein bars with beans, cheese, and any other protein rich foods as I could.

Purple appears to be the most scientific of the group, and yellow definitely cares for a variety of animals, some of which are carnivorous like snakes or omnivores like bears. It it my hope that I can use these creatures as examples to get the food I need.

The last issue has to do with the limits of communication. I have not forgotten my original goal of finding Sarah Jordan, though I am several weeks delayed already thanks to my pods extended acclimation stage. I'm having a lot of difficulty conveying the concept of Sarah to Purple, and have little hope of randomly stumbling across her, especially since her companions would give her the ability to blend seamlessly into this world. My only real hope is to find some way to activate my companions and remove the communication barrier. The only alternative is hoping Sarah finds me, making this the worst rescue in ARCO history.

It's the only rescue in ARCO history so I guess that technically makes it the best as well. Somehow that seems more pathetic.

It is with great concern that I notice that, though I am obviously able to pick the lock, they still insist on locking me in each night and only letting me out in the evening or in secluded areas. I have to wonder if it is for my care, as though they are protecting me from something dangerous. They seem to be just a normal group of friends who have stumbled upon something wonderful. The town party implies that secrecy is not important, so why lock me in? What are they protecting from me? Or, more disturbingly, what are they protecting me from?

I hope that this world does not have it's own version of Men In Black. Ponies in black? Sarah mentioned that one of her jumps ended with incarceration simply because she was alien.

Clearing my throat to get Purple's attention I very carefully asked to see Yellow. "" I was doing my best with a very limited vocabulary. They had tried to teach me each of their names, but either I'm pronouncing them wrong or they all are named after food because I keep hearing the word for apples in Orange's name and the last time I asked for Yellow by name I got a candy.

"" he asked. I nodded as that sounded correct. I'd learned Blue's name easily enough as every other pony kept yelling it. Last time he visited he had wanted to test my speed and strength, and purple had just gone along with it.

It didn't take us very long to walk out to the cottage at the edge of town. Yellow seemed happy to see me, but reluctant.

"" he said. The tone sounded regretful, and I surmised we had interrupted something.

I waved my hands (an attention getter if ever there was one) and made the "just a moment" gesture used to keep people in place for long enough to sell them something. "" Yellow nodded in response and opened the door to let us inside.

Wandering through Yellow's cottage, I found what I was looking for: a plate and held it up for him to see.

"" Yellow asked. I pointed to an otter he was tending, then to the plate. ""

His tone and excitement made me realize he had taken this entirely the wrong way. I shook my head and set the empty plate down in front of the otter, then went to fetch a fork. Yellow eyed me suspiciously while I moved about.

"" Yellow asked Purple. Purple shrugged.

I sat down across from the otter and mimed giving it a fork full of food and then taking one for myself.

"" Purple asked, perplexed. ""

""

""

""

""

""

""

"" Yellow frowned at me. ""

Three hours later and on the back end of Orange's apple farm I was doing my best to grill up some fish. I'm not the best chef in the world, so what I was cooking was parchment paper packets with a terribly cut filet and a lot of herbs and butter. At this point I didn't even care if I was going to be pulling fish bones out of my teeth, I was happy.

Purple watched nearby, while Orange kept watch over Little Yellow, Little White, and Little Orange as they played. I could tell from their expressions that the scent of my fish cooking was disturbing to them, probably because it smelled good. Mostly, it smelled like butter and lemons.

""

"" the dragon inquired, tugging at Purple's saddle bags.

"" Purple chided, making notes. ""

Orange leaned on a shovel and mopped his brow. He'd been putting in posts to support saplings and help them grow straight. The three younger ones had been helping out by putting the posts in, filling in the dirt and tying them off to a tree. Orange had spent the last half an hour undoing their help.

"" Little Yellow whined.

"" Little Orange stated apologetically.

Little White just sat with his hooves over his nose. ""

Little Orange sniffed the air and pulled a face. ""

"AAARRRROOOOOOOOOO!"

My head shot up. "Did anyone else hear that? It sounds like-"

"" the three little colts cried, running for the farmhouse. A trio of creatures that looked like living wood carvings of wolves shot from the tree line straight for us. Orange ran to place himself between the three young ones and the wolves. Purple lit her horn and the little dragon panicked.

"" Purple yelled, picking up one of the wolves with his magic and tossing it away from us. Another wolf stepped up the grill and snapped up the fish packets. The last was chasing down the kids and Orange.

"" Orange screamed as he lashed out with a powerful kick. The one he hit broke into pieces and scattered across the ground. Little Yellow tripped as they ran and the last wolf, finished with it's meal of fish, pounced. Sharp wooden teeth bit down on soft flesh, and the claws drew blood from deep scratches as it landed.

"Ouch!" I hissed, holding the wooden monster off at the cost of my arm. A knee to it's rotten stomach and the thing released my arm to back off a half step. "Go to hell!" I yelled, swinging Orange's shovel around with both hands. The edge caught the side of the wolf's head, taking off the top in a single hit.

Everything was quiet for a moment as the dust settled.

"" the dragon said, pointing at me.

"" Orange chimed in.

""

I dumped my backpack out and started pawing through the items for my first aid kit.

"Spirit companion, AI companion, empty MRE pouch, where the hell are the bandages?"

"Here ya go boss," a small pair of hands passed me a roll of bandages.

"Ah, thanks," I said, taking it and wrapping my arm. I got half way to the elbow before I realized something was off and looked up.

There was a dark red skinned humanoid about a foot and a half tall standing next to my bag poking through the items with a tiny spear. It was wrapped in a ragged tunic, and had a pair of large bat wings sprouting out of it's back. It looked up and me and waved.

"Sup."

"" Orange asked.

"Whoa," the little demon thing said, "Better kick the translation in."

"Whoa, that one talks too," Purple asked. "I wonder what it does."

"It allows me, for the first time in days, to introduce myself." I said, smiling at the surprise on the ponies' faces. "My name is Justin Carter, and on behalf of the ARCO corporation I say 'Hello'!"