A Stellar Affair

Well, not much to say in my obligatory chapter introduction except congratulations to MyLittleBurger on his OCs getting accepted, they fill a pretty good plot hole, and I have something interesting for them...

Natural Museum of History, Los Angeles, California

30 Minutes before the Earthquake of the Century...

"Bill, please take care of Cynthia while she is with you, alright dear?"  Mrs. Wullardson, Bill's mom, asked.  Why am I still taking orders from my mom? He thought.

"Mom, don't worry.  I'd never let anything happen to my little sis' now, would I?"  He said as he kneeled down, allowing Cynthia to hop on his back.

"Let's go to the planet room, Billy!"  Cynthia said, strangely enthusiastic for a nine year old in a museum.

"Alright, let's go!"  Bill said, as he began walking down the hall at a moderate pace.  He strolled down the hall, occasionally slowing to look at exhibits he was interested in, but ultimately ended up in the Planetarium.

"Wow, those are so cool!"  murmured Cynthia in awe.

"Heh, I know sis, if only you could've seen them in person like dad."  Bill replied.

"Yeah, like -sniff- dad."  Cynthia said, as she did her finest to hold back a barrage of tears, the same flood that came every time she thought about her late father.

"Hey, Sis, don't worry.  I mean, you're having a good time, right?"  Bill asked.

"Yeah, Billy.  I am.  I just wish dad could be here too.  He loved this room.  Sometimes I can still imagine him here, with us."  Cynthia said.

"Well Sis, just relax and have a good time.  We aren't gonna be here much longer before we have to head back to DC."  Bill said soothingly.  He noticed a group of kids in the corner of his eye.  It seemed to be some sort of field trip, as they were corralled into a group by a few adults.  Hopefully they were enjoying their time here as much as Cyn-  Oh shit!  Cynthia was gone! he thought.  Where could she be? He pondered, and left to head towards the most grandiose exhibit, a 1:3 scale model of the same shuttle that their father had died on.  She had to be there.  As he arrived, the floor began to shake, and a deep rumbling began to ricochet through the walls.

The quake had begun.  The door to the womans' restroom burst open, Cynthia came flying out towards Bill; he picked her up and clutched her to his chest in a protective manner.  He ran for cover, something sturdy, and large.  The shuttle.  He darted back to the exhibit and told Cynthia to crawl under it, with him following.  The large, sturdy support beams for the model were barely creaking, as the rest of the room began to crumble like a Muppet at an Iron Will seminar on Methamphetamines.  He was helpless, so was she, the siblings relying on a representation of the very thing that had driven a spike into their lives with the death of their father; only now it was saving them from certain death.  Immobile, they watched the happenings around them.  A group of teenagers were heading towards the employee exit, until one of them bolted back down, and shouted something.

It was inaudible over the current raucous, yet he still raced into the crowd, trying to save some of the children who were clustered together under the... Oh god.   The horribly unstable looking Director's Booth.  Bill covered Cynthia's eyes and looked away.  He heard a massive crash, creaking, and screaming.  Then, a horrible, moist squishing sound.  The guy who ran back was apparently crushed by the booth.  The group he was with ran through the door with a tribal looking guy in an employee uniform.  Bill was a aspiring Seismologist, and he knew what happened after a quake, especially one that big.  The aftershocks.  One by one, they passed, annihilating the area again and again.  He saw the tribal employee return and climb into the toppled booth, pulling out a profusely bleeding figure.  He bandaged him, and took him back into the door.

Bill eventually decided to escape.  He grabbed Cynthia, and followed the path of the man from earlier.  It lead to a massive flight of miraculously undamaged stairs, which went further and further down, almost sadistically long.  Eventually, it ended at a large steel door, lying on the floor, its frame misshapen to the point of it breaking.  Bill entered with Cynthia, and they saw nothing in the room except a few bloodstains, a trio of brown robes, and a strange arch with some glyphs on it.  Seeing as they were trapped, they decided to investigate the area.

As they approached, they saw the glyph... change?  Bill was sure he was just hallucinating from lack of rest.  It seemed to look like:

SELOHSSA ,EM HGUORHT OG ,ENIF

Bill approached it, slowly.  There seemed to be some kind of burn on the granite floor, along with a... dried up blood stain on the arch?  He approached it, cautiously, and peered into the center.  That was when a large shockwave accompanied by a loud rumble knocked him over, and into the arch.  A light flashed around him, and he was engulfed in a slight burning sensation, and disappeared.

"Billy!"  Cynthia cried, and ran over to where Bill had just been, running under the arch, and experiencing the same sensation as Bill.

__

Royal Castle, Canterlot, Equestria

"That is.. an impressive story, Matthew."  Princess Celestia said.

"Yeah, I kinda can't believe it myself!"  I said.

"Your ru- I mean I find that story hard to believe, despite its ingenuity."  Said Luna, investigatively.

"Yeah, I don't even want to be here.  I would rather be in the world of EVE Online or something, myself.  But I think I can stand this place for the REST OF MY FUCKING LIFE!"  Shouted James, still confused, and stunned with disbelief that he had been sent to Equestria.  He had never been a brony, but tolerated their existence, considering one of his closest friends was one.  Still, being sent to a world he was completely unfamiliar with just as he was getting to understand normal life was shocking.

"Yeah, James does have a point.  Why are we here, anyways?"  Keon said, noticeably more calm than James.  He wasn't a brony either, but he seemed to accept it.  "It is destiny."  He said when we asked about his demeanor.

"None of us know, and apparently they don't either.  But seeing as how we are stuck here, we might as well try to fit in.  Maybe we could try to find a job, or somewhere to live or something.  I mean, we can't stay in the royal throne room being interrogated forever."  I said.

"Who said this was an interrogation?"  Said Celestia.

"Well, it might have been the legion of guards hiding behing the doors.  HEY!  YOU GUYS!  I CAN SEE YOU, YOU KNOW!"  Ewan shouted towards the door, where a response was garnered.

"Huh? Who?  We're jus- I mean I'm just a simple royal courier..."  The silhouette replied.

"No, you are not.  I know you are a royal guard."  I said.

"Alright, maybe we are a bit... nervous about your arrival.  It is admitably suspicious, with no proof."  Celestia said.

"Well, we can provide proof, I mean, we could maybe...tell about our lives before we got sent here?  I mean, we couldn't make this crazy stuff up on the spot."  I replied.

"Well, We- I can hear you out I guess."  Luna said, just as another bright purple sphere began to form.

"What the hell is that?"  I inquired.

"It seems that more ponies are coming through this "Arch" of yours!"  Celestia said as she formed a magical barrier.  "Everyone behind me!"  She said.

The sphere grew, and exploded, swinging the doors open violently.

"OW! THAT BUCKING HURTS!" A royal guard behing the door exclaimed.

"I TOLD YOU SO!"  I shouted over the ricocheting blast.

Bill was feeling like he had jumped in a pool full of boiling water.  Made of needles.  Coated in cyanide.  And molten.  It hurt.  A lot.  He felt like his spine had been twisted into an L.  He opened his eyes, and rubbed them.  There was a group of... horses?  But wait... something was wrong... where was Cynthia!?