Harmonics: The Accidental Project

“Oh, geez. What the hay happened?” I groan loudly into the darkness, my whole body feels slightly sore. The more concerning thing is the immense headache I’m feeling, it could more than likely be a migraine. My eyes flicker open, all I can see is darkness. Actually, that’s not completely true, i can see a thin line of bright white light at the bottom of what appears to be a door.

There are many concerning things here, by many, I mean that there are two main concerns. First is that the lights in my house aren’t that white. Second is the awkward position I’m in, I’m haphazardly sprawled out on various items. I guess that could explain the soreness I’m feeling, but it doesn’t tell me much about my situation. My magic lights up and I look at my surroundings, I appear to have woken up in a broom closet of sorts.

It’s not the strangest place I’ve woken up; after my expedition across the United States a Starlet, my life hasn’t been normal. After all, a little magic goes a long way. I’ve had to adjust to keeping things a secret, which isn’t as hard as it sounds. I used to be a decent liar, but living with this big secret has honed my fallacies to neigh undetectable. I’ve managed to keep my life at a steady, and somewhat boring, pace. Though, every once in a while something exciting will happen. That doesn’t mean that this is a normal occurrence and I’m not freaking out about it, I’m just more annoyed than I am afraid.

I find the door and it slides open, I’m met with blinding lights in a hallway. the hallway is a clean and rather drab looking one, the design suggests a facility or laboratory. Afigure down near the end of the hall confirms this, for he is very obviously a scientist. There are two other figures without labcoats walking down the hall, they must be interns. I duck back into the closet and pull out a business dress so I can blend in. I pull out a regular jacket and put it on, I focus on the image of a standard lab coat. I can feel the magic flow out and into the jacket, changing it into the coat. But, there’s something else. The spell ends with a flash as i realize what went wrong.

I gasp in surprise as I fall to the floor with a thump, the new coat now covering my body. that took too much power, I should be able to do more than this easily. The power was also much harder to control, like my magic is quickly leaving me. I’ll have to keep magic to a minimum until I can figure out what’s wrong. I use another spell to cover my tail which, in my frantic scrambling, I had almost forgot about. The spell, being another high power spell, nearly knocked me out. Fortunately, it didn’t and I remembered to cover my ears as well. They should stay in place for at least a month, so I have that much time to find a more permanent solution.

“Deep breaths, Skylar. You can do this,” I take a deep breath exactly like I commanded myself to and step out of the broom closet. As soon as I step out I release my breath and a wave of calm washes over me. I walk over to the nearest lab with haste, if this is a laboratory then they surely have computers. If they have computers, then I know exactly where to get the information i need.

~~~~~~~~

I stare at shock in the screen, I can’t believe what I’ve just read. Yet I know that however impossible it seems, it has to be true. Somehow I’m in the year 2038 and the earth is in danger. Something called the black tide, millions of tiny nanomachines, is eating the earth. Now I’ve appeared in the middle of a top secret facility for something called Project: Harmonics… and that’s just the most basic of information I could find. There was some other stuff that went into depth about the Harmonics jobs and how they searched for worlds. There was also some news reports and small things about the Black Tide.

Thanks to finding some loose case files, I was able to replicate and store them in the correct spot. Now I’m in the system, so I won’t get thrown out. It wasn’t easy, and I’m pretty much completely drained on magic for a while. To anyone’s knowledge, I’m a twenty-two year old Intern that has the same qualifications as an average worker here. My job is to fine tune for snapshots of potential worlds, just like the others. That’s what most people at this facility do, though their records don’t show any success in finding worlds. At least, no records that I could access showed that.

If they have dimensional travel in mind, then they must have some information on it. I’ll need some of this information if I plan on getting back to my world, which is my working theory on how I got here. That this is a different dimension, that is, it’s the only logical explanation. The one thing that irks me the most is that I can’t figure out why, I can’t determine why I’ve been dumped here. I push the thought aside and grab a pen and notepad, I caught word of some meeting that seems important that seems to be starting soon. I’d better get down there, they might say or announce something important.

~~~~~~~

I shuffle into the auditorium and take a seat near the back, there’s no need to draw attention to myself. From the back I can watch carefully and be inconspicuous with my reactions. My hair didn’t go unnoticed and I feel stupid for not concealing it, of course red-dyed tips would seem unusual in a business place. Normally I’d magically mask them, but my magics grown too weak to do that. As long as I keep on the down low, no problems should arise. Though i should start thinking of other solutions for if my magic fizzles for some reason and my other spells wear off.

I’m glad I managed to blend in some way, it would be terrible if I’m thrown out. I’ll have to be careful in my actions, I’ll have to be precise. I try to organize my thoughts, it’s difficult. My minds been racing to comprehend everything that’s happening, it’s obvious that I need to go on the offensive. A take charge and find answers approach, being a doormat will get me nowhere.

The other interns are filing into the auditorium excitedly, it’s possible they don’t get much action here. However, the next girl to sit next to me doesn’t look as enthusiastic as most of the others. She sits there with a bored expression and note taking instruments. There’s nothing especially different about her except her attitude about this. it’s likely she’s a long standing employee that’s bored of the tedious work day. Maybe these meetings are normal? other interns expressions beg to differ, but I could be wrong.

A stout older man in a classy brown suit and flashy red bowtie walks up to the stage. He has large glasses and a bushy beard, the bushy beard contrasts the emptiness atop his head. It brings a small chuckle. I notice the girl next to me, that was previously looking bored, perk up at seeing the man. Perhaps he’s an important person on this facility, probably well respected. The man begins and the lights Dim, he clears his throat.

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. First of all, I wanted to thank you for helping with Project Harmonics. I know the work is hard, and especially your end of the work is very tedious, but what we're doing here is, quite simply, the most important thing in the world today.” the most important thing that most people don’t know about. With this being a secret facility, most people probably don’t even know the name Project: Harmonics.

"You've all been working very hard.” Some of us have, “I can't thank you enough for that. But it's time, I think, to show you some of the fruits of your labors. Yes, yes," I hear a lot of excited whispering from the crowd, "that's right, we're going to show you just a few of the worlds that you've helped us to discover." I can see him waiting for the excitement to die down. Even I have to admit that I am pretty excited about seeing another world, even accounting the fact that I technically have seen another world.

"First up..." the man continues to show various images and talk about other things that have to do with their operations. Everyone continues to look at the screen in awe, I can’t help but notice that every single world is uninhabitable for some reason or other.

"All of these worlds have been, in a very real sense, a triumph for humanity and science in general. Each of these worlds presents to us marvelous opportunities to study and learn fantastic things about our universe.  We've seen things that, honestly, baffle us. Worlds where the laws of physics as we know them simply do not seem to apply.” the laws of physics don’t apply the same? I wonder if they have a way to travel between realities, its much safer than tearing all these holes in dimensions…Then again, they are looking for a different world, its kindof necessary.

"Unfortunately," he continued, "None of these present to us the opportunity we were looking for. A world which would, to put it bluntly, save human kind." he nods to a technician and another video pops up. “No world, that is, until this one, which we first discovered three weeks ago.” the man continues in quite a dramatic manner.

I adjust in my seat to get a better look as many excited interns sit up straighter to do the exact same thing. The images on screen show a world that looks very similar to earth, or the earth as I know it. It might not look like this earth, but I notice that these pictures look very bright and picturesque. The man raises his hand and silence reigns over the auditorium.

“Now this world, this world looks very like our own. Some species of plants are unknown to us, but we see many that look very similar to ones that we have here on Earth. We've seen animals that at least look like normal birds, squirrels and rabbits." I watch pictures of various plants and some animals go across the screen. A particular picture of a blue flower catches my attention.

“Poison joke? no, it can’t be…” I mutter, I notice the girl next to me look over questioningly. I brush it off and continue looking at the various landscapes flashing across the screen. I must have been seeing things or something, it would be too much of a coincidence if this was Equestria. Maybe other dimensions have poison joke, or poison joke looking plants. after all, Equestrian foliage is similar to Earth’s. Then again, so is this worlds.

“We were able to send some probes over,” the man at the microphone clears his throat to gain everyone’s attention "Ahem! Yes, as I was saying. We were able to send over some probes, and I'm pleased to say that, while the atmosphere is very slightly higher on oxygen, perhaps 23% or so, and the gravity is very slightly less than here on Earth, and the environment seems to be totally and completely compatible with human life. We've done it, ladies and gentlemen. We've found a world that will save humanity!" I calmly clap while everyone else cheers. While I feel many things about this development, I can’t feel as proud as the others. I did nothing, I just got here, and it’s not my own Earth.

The man smiles back as everyone cheers, thankfully, everyone is too caught up in cheering to notice the one outcast. The cheering turns into applause and then a standing ovation, to which i have no problem joining in. As the cheering dies down, the man raises his hand to talk.

"There is, however, one small problem. Perhaps it's not an insurmountable problem, but it is one we need to take into consideration.  Show the next video, please." the screen resolves into an image of a town with winding streets and vibrant rooftops. I feel a twinge of familiarity, but I wait for confirmation before jumping to conclusions. "As you can see, this world is inhabited." the man waves off everyones’ disappointment and continues.

"Now, now, none of that. It's inhabited, yes, but the population density is nowhere near that of the Earth, at least in the regions we've been able to see so far. Granted, that's only a small portion of this world, as there is something about this one that makes matching harmonics with it... well, tricky, to say the least. But it's entirely possible that we can co-exist with the inhabitants. But first, we need to learn more about them. Because, you see... they aren't exactly human." I hear multiple gasps at this statement.

"Now, this is one of the larger settlements we've found. For the most part, they appear to be a community of farmers. It seems fairly similar to the USA in the mid-1800's, actually. If they turn out to be hostile or inhospitable, we could, if we wanted to, simply move in by force and take what we needed." the idea of forceful entry puts me off about this whole thing. Force is the one thing a first contact with aliens shouldn’t have, especially not with the aliens on the receiving end.

"We'd much rather co-exist, of course, but we're talking about the future of the human race, here. We're talking about our survival as a species, and we're talking about billions of lives. Naturally, we're still looking for other viable alternate worlds while we study this one. Maybe we can find an uninhabited one that is similar enough to the Earth that we could move there, instead. If not,then it's entirely possible that they would be friendly and welcome us into their world. They seem friendly enough as it is. We'd still like to get some people over there to study them, unobtrusively, but for now we're just watching everything we can whenever we're able to get a window open. Which is anywhere from five to twenty minutes on average, once or twice a week.” the man continues to talk as everyone grows anxious.

"And now, I bet you're all just dying to see what our 'alien' intelligence looks like!" the confirmation was loud and unanimous. “last video, please,” the auditorium grows quiet as the video plays. The man narrates, but his voice is just background noise as I see the multi-colored shapes appear.

“Oh my god, ponies!” I look over in shock at the girl next to me, she had yelled so loud it had broken me out of my stupor. Equestria? They’re trying to migrate to Equestria? It’s too surprising to seem real, yet here it is. The man continues to talk, as soon as he finishes, the auditorium is filled with excited voices from over enthusiastic interns. Even the girl who used to be dying of boredom, the girl next to me, seems to be rambling excitedly. I can’t make out much over the din, but she stops once she realizes what she’s doing.

"It shouldn't surprise anyone, that my team has dubbed this place 'Ponyworld'." I scoff at the ridiculous name, maybe I’ll ‘suggest’ a better name later. The video is cut and all attention returns to the man.

"Now back to business, we need to get a sense of the pony society. How is it organized? What are the people... er... ponies like? Are they religious? Do they have any needs that we could supply for them, in return for letting us live there? Are there any large areas of land that we could move our populations to? Basically, we need vast amounts of information. More than we can get by pushing probes out there and watching through the occasional window. And that's why I called you all together. What we need, essentially, are some volunteers.” I watch as the girl next to me shoots her hand up.

"Ah, well, that was fast. You're the 'oh my god ponies' girl, aren't you? What's your name, young lady?" the man inspects her from afar.

"Um... Erin, sir. Erin Olsen."

“And, why are you volunteering for this project, when we don't know what we'll even ask of you?” the girl looks like she’s thinking.

"Well, sir, will this project involve staring at a small screen while making minuscule adjustments for twelve-hour shifts?" the man and many other people in the auditorium laugh.

“No, it will not. But it will involve being subject to an experimental Harmonics gateway, being sent to this new world, and observing the ponies in their environment for some time while we gather data. And, also, you'll be undergoing surgery to have several various probes and sensors inserted into your body, in order to better facilitate our data gathering." I watch as her hand starts to drop, but she pushes it back up in determination.

“I’m in,” Erin says, I admire her courage.

"Wonderful! Do we have any other takers?" This could be a great opportunity, enough of lying low. Like I said, take charge.

I raise my hand and Erin looks at me, I flash her a cheery smile. Within the next few minutes only four other volunteers raise their hands, with the last on being very hesitant. Eventually the man realizes that there are no more volunteers.

"Well, then, We have six volunteers. Six brave souls who are willing to go the distance and face the unknown, and... er... Apparently that last young lady has reconsidered. Very well. Five brave souls. Stand up, then, you wonderful people! Stand up! We salute you!" I stand up and try to act non-standoutish. I can see the girl next to me blushing as everyone applauds. The applause goes on a long time and we just continue standing, the man at the podium starts leafing through some papers. The girl named Erin started towards the stage with the volunteers, I follow them up to the man that had apparently forgotten them. We all stand at the bottom of the podium being ignored until one of the volunteers clears his throat.

“What?” the man looks startled until he sees us, “Oh, yes, of course. Everyone, thank you for coming today. Feel free to take an hour of celebration at the cafeteria before returning to work. We still need to find other viable alternate worlds, just in case this 'Ponyworld' doesn't pan out!"

After the other interns start filling out he turns to us volunteers, "Ah, my dear volunteers! Wonderful, wonderful! Please, for now, join your peers and get something to eat. It's a special day! We ordered in cake and ice cream, it's waiting in the cafeteria. Mention that you're a volunteer, and you should get an extra-large slice! Here you go." he hands us each a folder with a few papers in it.

"Read those over as soon as you can, after the cake of course, and meet me in conference room 4-C in three hours. There are a few things we need to go over." We all open our folders and look in them, it looks like standard paperwork.

“Well, that was interesting. But for now, let’s go get some cake!” I follow the volunteers out to go get cake. After a day like this, I’m gonna need the sugar.