01 - "Bad News and Introductions" [PG13]
Author's Note
This Chapter is rated [PG13] for the following:
Strong Language | Suggestive Situations: (Implied Suicide Attempt)
01 - "Bad News and Introductions" [PG13]
This message is disclosed for Mr. Jack Baker
We regret to inform you that, no matter how hard we tried, the portals couldn't be made. Though we could find the location, thanks to your generous donation of those samples, the amount of Magic within your world is just... too small for a portal of this size to be made without posing too much of a risk for both of our worlds.
While we do know that your appearance in Equestria three months ago was, without a doubt, caused by a portal through the Luna Lake and the location where your Airship was, unfortunately, wrecked, the locations were confirmed to be within a large body of water... large enough to where the ripples of the portal, itself, would less likely harm anyone.
And that isn't even concerning the time differences in our worlds. While it is true that you were here for only a month, that is only by Equestrian standards. Upon seeing the time of your world... it seems you weren't just taken from your world, but your time, as well.
The year on Earth was 4018... one thousand years difference, from your own timeline. The world's population has grown, and the oceans once uninhabitable now holds cities above and below the sea. To open a portal between our worlds would not only pose a threat to us both, but if successful, could also be taken as a threat, where their leaders could potentially take up arms against us... and we are not as advanced as they are.
But please... do not think we have given up just yet. We will continue to find a way to send you home again... but at the rate things are going... we do not have an answer for how long it will take.
We shall talk later.
- Princess Celestia
As the human finished reading the message on his Holopad, a frustrated sigh escaped his lips. Tapping on his watch, the Holopad shrunk and returned into its now black screen, which would occasionally emit a green pulse of light.
He then made his way through the darkness of his makeshift house, scrapped from his Airship that, upon being lifted out of Luna Lake months ago, was salvaged into a home for him.
When he tapped a small button on his desk, a projected screen rose a few feet up into the air, and his monitor booted to life, floating just a few feet in the air.
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, trying to think of something to say.
"Well... it's been a week since this message was received... still haven't recovered just yet, though... not all the way, at least." he told the monitor as it recorded his usual journal entries.
Ever since his arrival here on Universe EQ03, or from the Equus Galaxy's standards, "Equestria", he found himself in quite a bind when his ship failed to respond, after having been pulled into a wormhole that, in the end, left a strange large-scale ripple in the sky, and a stir within the planets' solar systems that many could just feel.
Luna Lake, while named "Luna Lake", was actually a floating lake in outer space circling Planet Equus, with very little landscape on it. Normally the Equestrians would have to take an Airship there, but the proximity of it, aided with the use of a little Magic, makes it a frequent tourist attraction that many families come to visit.
Especially since it is rumored to have been one of the first stars that Princess Luna made as a filly... a failure that resulted in water, or at the time, just a large chunk of ice that eventually got melted down by the sun that surrounded it.
But even still, when rumors of an unknown flying object orbited into it, and crashed, the princesses were quick to the scene, using a modest mix of their own personal Airships and Magic to pick up the wreckage and, in extension, rescue the "Sole Survivor".
Back to the present, and at a loss for words, he decided to close the monitor, needing to lay down in his bed for the time being. The amount of stress he was feeling from the anxiety as he waited for some kind of miracle was just too great to ignore, and he would much rather not ruin this world's fine atmosphere with his own depressing thoughts, seeing how the locals were all kind enough to help him at least learn their languages, and even help transcribe their languages for his Holopad.
They discovered that they would have trouble speaking the other's languages due to their jaw structures being vastly different from one another. As such, they settled for just teaching each other their native tongues, so that they could at least understand what was spoken, despite not being able to speak it, themselves.
One month on, and their languages were starting to get easier for him to understand... not having much to do saw to it that he would spend most days and nights studying, with a few visitors coming by to help him out. He could now, at least, make some of the basics of their whinnies and nickering, and contrariwise, a few of them have started developing a mutual understanding of his own words as well, making conversations possible, with a bit of a delay between he and his company, due to the languages still being fairly new for the both of them.
He started to think more and more about his present situation, as he lied there in bed. Sure, it was a frustrating situation to be in, what with his crew having mysteriously vanished after they entered the wormhole, likely to be assumed dead, lost in space, or (in the best-case scenario) stranded somewhere in this world, or a neighboring one... hopefully alive. But... he also owed one of the inhabitants of this world his life.
A particular pink pony that was the first, and only, to approach him once he was on his feet again. In the medical station, when they removed his Oxygen Mask from his mouth, that is.
He could remember the panicky looks they all had on their faces when he started choking, and it was the pink one that sprang into action, clamping his mask over his nose and mouth, which allowed him to breathe once again.
Her words, while unknown back then, was later translated as "He's having trouble breathing! Somepony put his mask back on!"
That pink pony was none other than the town's local Party Planner, Pinkie Pie. Her friends even admitted that they never saw her that worried about someone before, but considering the circumstances, their feelings were also quite mutual.
While looking back at it, there was another thing that frustrated him about this planet... everywhere he goes, he has to keep that mask on, whenever he's not inside his house, as if his life depended on it... and in hindsight, it kinda did.
While it's true, these ponies also breathe Oxygen without any trouble, there was just something about the Magic in their planet's air that made him struggle to breathe... and as it turned out, they weren't breathing with just the Oxygen, but the Magic in the air, as well.
This meant that he and they couldn't really be in the same room without at least one of them wearing some type of mask, either to filter out the Magic in the air, or to generate Magic into their systems.
And so, here he was, in perhaps the only source of true Oxygen... his house. Luckily they were able to line a few ACUs (Air Conditioning Units) with Magic Inhibitors, so that he didn't have to wear his mask 24/7.
This, of course, was a suggestion by the lavender one with a horn and wings... another one of his new friends, known as Twilight Sparkle, the one who physically put his mask back on.
With his eyelids growing heavy, he decided to just sleep on it for now. He would cope with the losses in due time.
"Oh, Jaaack~" an all-too-familiar bubbly voice called out from the other side of his doorway, through a radio system he had installed, due to his entire building being soundproof. Though to most it would almost seem like just another whinny, he could tell who it was from the tone.
After all, none of his other friends had a pitch that high.
He sighed, before forcing a smile on his face. Though he knew she would somehow know that his smile was a fake, despite not seeing his mouth due to his mask, he figured he should at least try to look on the brighter side of things.
For starters, at least he's still alive.
He stood from his bed and began walking over towards the front entrance. Once there, he lifted a small Inhibitor Mask from the wall, and slid it over his mouth and nose.
Due to the world at least having some type of Oxygen, he felt it would be more resourceful to just make a mask that prevents the Magic from entering his lungs. His lavender friend saw to that quickly upon his first week there.
With his mask on, he pressed the button to the Air Lock, and waited for the door to finally slide open. Once it did, he folded his arms over his chest in a casual manner, while the pink party pony stood on the other side, wearing her usual attire - a white sleeveless dress with a pink skirt that lowered halfway down her thighs. Her hooves were covered with a pair of black buttoned loafers, and her legs were almost entirely covered by white stockings. The corners of her shirt were surrounded by pink rings, and her wrists were covered with pink and white armbands.
If he didn't know of her occupation, he would've likely guessed that she was some kind of Cheerleader... which wouldn't really be that much of a stretch, considering how often she loved to spread happiness around the town.
"Hey, Pinkie." he said casually.
She whinnied back at him. "Hiya, Jack! Whatcha doin'?"
Taking a few seconds to mentally translate her response, he shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, you know... human stuff. And you?"
"Pony stuff!" she replied in kind, having seemed to catch onto his reply rather quickly.
The two shared a chuckle, while he pointed his finger at her in a "Point Taken" gesture. "Touché... but then again, I'm sure you aren't just here to say hi, are you?"
She grinned at him. "And what makes you say that, silly?"
"Well for one thing, it's you we're talking about here. If anything, most of what you do has some kind of purpose behind it, such as improving one's spirits or asking them to hang out."
She giggled and waved a hand at him. "Well, you definitely got the second part right! I was wondering if you wanted to have brunch sometime? You've gotta be bored stiff, just sitting in your house all the time, right?"
He scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah... not gonna lie, it's been... difficult, y'know?"
And as if it were a switch being flipped, the atmosphere surrounding the pink equine grew heavy. Her smile was quickly dropped, and an understanding frown soon followed.
Then she walked up to him and patted his shoulders, before pulling him into a full-blown hug. He didn't reject it, of course, seeing how she practically did the same thing last week, shortly after he emailed Twilight the news about the portal's complications.
"I'm sorry, Jack... I can't imagine how difficult it is for you, but... know that we're still here for you, if you need anything!" she whispered in his ear.
He could feel it... the tears on his chest... her tears. Last week, for the first four nights in a row, he cried himself to sleep. Now, though, he couldn't even find the strength to cry anymore... he ran out of tears the moment he ran out of hope. But even still, he felt disheartened that his pink friend was still crying for him to this day.
And so, he raised an arm to pat her on the back, in a half-hug. "Hey, hey, it's alright, Pinkie... I don't blame you for this, nor do I blame your princesses. I'm just... I just needed a moment to myself, y'know? Still do, in fact... sorry, but... I'll go join you girls for brunch whenever my head's screwed back on right, okay?"
She sniffled and nodded her head, but refused to let go. "Okay. I... I understand. But please, whenever you are able to, can you at least come see us again? We've been worried about you this past week!"
He smiled behind his mask. "I promise."
"Pinkie Promise?" she asked in a hopeful tone.
He rolled his eyes playfully and pulled back from her hug, then slid his right pinkie finger into hers, locking the two together. He then took his left hand and crossed his heart, before tapping on his eyelid, making her giggle.
"From both sides of our universe... I Pinkie Promise." he concluded with a smirk.
She seemed content with that, and nodded her head, now "switching" back into her usual hyperactive self.
"Okie-Dokie-Loki, then! I'll be here again tomorrow, though, to check up on you. Okay?"
"Sounds good... I'll probably head outside at about 12 tomorrow... still need to unwind a bit, after all."
And with that, they said their goodbyes. When she was no longer at his home's entrance, he slid the door back shut, and after the air was filtered, he removed his mask once more, and hung it back onto its usual spot near the doorway.
He then made his way back to his desk, where he sat back down and re-read his previous message.
"... Well, shit, now I'm just getting bored here..." he told himself, looking back up at the monitor.
A few of his previous recordings were still there, from the day he heard the news, to the second day. Small images of himself could be seen, with the first being him in tears with bloodied knuckles on his forehead, as he contemplated what to do... the second day, however, managed to catch one of the darker corners of his mind, where his legs could be seen standing on top of a chair.
He was fastening a cable onto the ceiling, and was about to tie the end around his neck, when Pinkie Pie just happened to show up at that time, having just heard the news then.
It was almost like some kind of sixth sense went off in her mind, as she described the situation that he was, quite literally, about to make a reality, despite not even seeing the cable on the ceiling in his office area.
He sighed, and hovered his finger over the trashcan icon, about ready to delete those videos... but something stopped him.
"No... if I'm gonna catalogue my journey to coping with this shit, then I'd better not delete it... I'm gonna need to record every last detail."
And with that, he closed the tab, and went back to his bed, where he would try sleeping just a bit longer.
After all, while it was in the middle of the day, the average day in Equus is actually a lot more different than back on Earth. What counts as one day to him is only half a day here in Equestria... a detail that he noted to the princesses whenever he messaged them during odd hours.
He closed his eyes and tried to get rested back up... but once again, he was met with problems.
"...... Eh, fuck it."
Kicking his legs off the bed, he slipped on his hiking boots and put his mask back on. Once set, he opened the door and took his first step outside in a week.
His destination? Sugarcube Corner...
