Providence

Chapter Four: Wavelengths and Booby Traps

"And I heard it on the radio that one day we'll be living in the stars..."

First it was a whisper, and then it slowly became a blaring pulse. Lines of white would rush at him and enter him, coming from all around him. It was too loud and too bright, like a rave, but at the same time it was deathly quiet and darker than black. Jordan's brain felt like someone was squeezing it with a vice while simultaneously pouring hot water on it. His eyes weren't having a fun time either. He couldn't tell whether or not it was tears or blood coming out of them.

He saw some things that could only be heard, as well as something he didn't know had a sound. Ants piling on a trespassing grasshopper, leaves shifting slightly in the breeze... dying flames licking the side of Providence. All this stimulation at once made him nauseous, making him retch in his semi-conscious state. The taste of bile only made everything worse. It felt like he was going insane, and he was convinced that he was doing exactly that when he kept seeing something – someone, actually. A girl he'd never seen before, yet she was too familiar to be a stranger. It wasn't her who called, but someone did.

Jordan.

It's time to shake things up.

The world came back to normal, much to his relief. His back ached thanks to the fact he was leaning against the hard trunk of a tree. What had happened again? Oh, right, he tripped. He subconsciously reached for his rifle to his right, only to find it wasn't there. He looked to where his hand was. The first thing he saw wasn't the gun, which was a few feet away, but the back of his hand. There was blood smeared on it. It wasn't there earlier, when his leg was cut. How did it get there? Unless...

He lifted two fingers to his cheek and wiped. Blood. His eyes had bled while his mind was being raped. All at once he had headaches, blurry vision, bleeding from the eyes... what was causing this? Would it kill him, or cripple him to the point he would be fed from a tube for the rest of his life? Or was that the worst of it, and it was going away now? Everything going on would cripple him for sure. There was too much of it. Since the beginning, nothing good had happened. It was just one thing after another! Enough already!

"Shit!" Frustrated, he slammed his hand on the ground. As his hand connected, he felt something. It wasn't something he hit, but it was like the pulses from earlier. His headache wasn't there, and he was wide-awake, so he wasn't imagining it. He slammed his hand again, but nothing happened. How could he get it to happen? Was the first time an accident? Focusing on trying to get the pulse again, he brought it down again. The pulse was something he could see in his head, while he wasn't actually seeing it. He could picture it as white ripples, like in a glass of water. He focused harder every time he brought his hand down, and he could somehow feel where they were going. Vibrations. Somehow, he was able to see the vibrations he made every time he hit the ground.

He stared at his hand, wondering what could cause him to do this. There was no answer, but he didn't care. It was interesting, almost amusing. Shrugging, he reached for his gun... but he stopped halfway there. A thought had struck him. It was a stupid idea, he knew that, but he was still curious. Ready for what he was expecting to happen – which was nothing – he slammed his hand down again. He focused hard on the rifle's stock, which was pointing away from him. The humming the pulse made in his head started to move from where he hit the ground to where he was focusing. So he could somehow move the origin of the vibration, which was interesting. That was only half of what he was aiming to do. He focused harder on where he sent the pulse. Make it stronger.

The strength of the vibration spiked, and he released. The stock lifted a few inches in the air, only to land back onto the ground in the same place. He made it jump! It wasn't telekinesis–which would involve him doing nothing–but it was like... like he could toss something by tapping his foot. He just had to practice this. Making a fist, he pounded the ground and repeated what he had done before. This time, it went up a few more inches than before. He picked up his left hand, ready to catch the rifle. This time it would go. He pounded, and the rifle flipped up and flew towards him, forestock landing in his hand. He smirked. This was definitely a useful trick. Time to try it out on some other things.

Ah wonder where they're goin'? Apple Bloom thought as she trotted along the streets of Ponyville. The adults were whispering to each other urgently as they trotted towards the center of town. Must have had something to do with the thing that crashed earlier that morning. Curiosity made her want to find out what was going on. Time to find Big Macintosh and Applejack! Neither of them was in sight, unfortunately. Just as she was about to go looking for them, she spotted a certain somepony else to ask.

"Howdy, Miss Cheerilee!" the filly yelled to her teacher. Cheerilee was speaking to Amethyst Star – or "Sparkler", which was her nickname – in the same urgent whispers everyone else spoke in. Though the teacher was the one being spoken to, it was Sparkler who replied.

"Apple Bloom, do you know where my sister is?" she asked. Apple Bloom wasn't expecting the question, and took her time to think. Dinky... should be with Pipsqueak right now, ah think. Where are they now? Oh, right.

"She's at the playground," Apple Bloom answered.

"Is she alone?"

"No, Pipsqueak's with her."

The older sister rolled her eyes. She wasn't fond about Pipsqueak hanging around her sister, and vice versa. "Well, at least she's not alone, but could you..."

"Me and the others were goin' to be hangin' out with them today." Unfortunately. "You got nothin' to worry about!"

Contrary to what the filly believed, Sparkler began to worry even more. Those Cutie Mark Crusaders... so much for a "secret" club when everypony knew about it. That was because of their talent for trouble – which, amazingly, wasn't their special talent. Her mom didn't seem to have a problem with the antics until they made "the most blasphemous muffins ever". Amazing, since Ditzy loved muffins of all kinds, and saying she "loved" them was an understatement. Her daughters never knew what kind of muffin the Crusaders made that managed to earn their mother's disgust. The word through the grapevine – a certain trio of flower sellers – said that they were either mint and orange muffins or potato chip muffins, both of which were terribly disgusting even to think about. It was common knowledge that mint and citrus do not mix, and potato chips in muffins were just ridiculous!

"Uh... well, okay then! Keep her out of trouble!" The unicorn trotted away, following the other ponies to their destination. Cheerilee was about to follow, but Apple Bloom stopped her.

"Wait, Miss Cheerilee! Where is everypony goin'? Is this about that thing fallin' from the sky?" The teacher stopped in her tracks, then quickly turned and lowered her head to the filly's.

"Yes, and... there's more, but it's only rumors. Nothing for you to worry about." The mare's tone became very serious and she added: "Apple Bloom, if you see anything... strange... get your friends, and run to the Town Hall."

"Whaddya mean 'strange'?" the filly asked.

Cheerilee thought for a moment. What to tell her? "You'll know when you see it. Let me put it this way: stranger than... your brother's obsession with that doll he has."

Apple Bloom looked unsure. Of course, she should have known Cheerilee saw Big Mac with Smarty Pants during the Gabby Gums stint. However, that was probably one of the weirdest things she ever saw. Ever. Nothing could be weirder! Right? "Alright, Miss Cheerilee. Ah will."

"Good!" Cheerilee turned and trotted away. "I'll be seeing you in school tomorrow morning!" There was the slightest hint of uncertainty in her voice, but Apple Bloom, as perceptive as she was for a filly, didn't detect it. She just watched her teacher trot away, being joined by Berry Punch and Minuette on the way.

After watching for some time, she remembered what she was doing and made her way to the school's playground. Hanging out for the day; not trying to get her Cutie Mark. She had said it was a waste of time, but Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo voted against crusading today. Which was amazing, since the latter was just as eager to get their Cutie Mark as she was. The previous day's argument went over in her head again...

"Are you kiddin’, Sweetie Belle? One day without searchin' for or talents is one more day of getting ridiculoused!"

"That's not a word! You mean ridiculed!"

"Whatever! We have to go crusadin' tomorrow!"

"Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle has a point. I don't like all that... uh... um..."

"Ridicule."

"Thanks, Dictionary. I don't like all the ridicule Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon throw at us, but we need a break. Besides, it's only a day, how bad could it be?"

By some stroke of luck, the two bullies were not in sight; they were probably at their homes. The day was looking up in the tiniest bit, now. Still, Apple Bloom wasn't very happy. As she approached the playground, she spotted her fellow crusaders chatting with Dinky and Pipsqueak by the swing set. The pinto was the first to see her trot up to the group.

"Oi there, Apple Bloom!" he greeted.

"Howdy, Pipsqueak," the yellow filly replied. "How’s everyone doin'?"

"We're talking about what we think that thing was this morning," Scootaloo said. "I still think it was just a big meteor."

"I say it was an airship," Sweetie Belle said with a shrug. "It isn't the first time one of them crashed, right?" A few awkward looks told her that none of the others heard of an airship crash. Honestly, she only said that to find out if they knew about any airship crashes – she certainly didn't.

"Well I think was a space pirate ship, but nopony wants to listen!" Pipsqueak said, feigning exasperation. Dinky giggled at the colt's acting. Apple Bloom was even stifling a chuckle.

"What about you, Dinky?" Scootaloo asked the blond unicorn. "What do you think it is?"

Dinky looked flustered for a moment, as if trying to think of what to say. She really didn't know what the object could be in the first place, and she couldn't think of something now. Her eyes darted around, and finally landed on Pipsqueak. "I think it's a ship!" she declared. That made two for a ship, one for an airship, and one for a space rock. All that was left was Apple Bloom's opinion.

Her classmates stared at her expectantly. What exactly should she say? She didn't have a clue about what it could be. For all she knew, Sweetie Belle's guess could have been correct. Taking her time, she tried to remember what it looked like, but all she saw was the smoke trailing from it, so that didn't help. She was about to guess that it was a meteor when she remembered something; what Miss Cheerilee said. Something was pretty strange about how she was acting after Apple Bloom asked her what was going on. Maybe... just maybe... Pipsqueak and Dinky were right. What if it was a ship, and there was something on board the adults were having a meeting about?

"Equestria to Apple Bloom? You in there?" Scootaloo tapped on the farm filly's head. Her orange hoof was knocked away by a yellow one.

"Cut it out, Scoots. Ah think it's... a ship."

Pipsqueak thrust his hooves in the air a let out a victorious cry. Dinky mimicked the motion, but the other three fillies did nothing, and two of them were pretty curious about the opinion the third made.

"Why do you think that?" the pegasus filly asked roughly.

"Somethin' Miss Cheerilee said," Apple Bloom put simply. "Come on, let's do somethin' else."

They went about their business on the playground, chatting about this and that. Pipsqueak talked about pirate legends he was told by his father. Burying treasure, plundering small ports, boarding other vessels in search of wealth, courting maidens (without their father's knowing), and years of high seas, swashbuckling adventure. It was an understatement to say the colt like pirates and everything involving adventure. He could talk about what he planned for adventures he would go on when he grew up for what seemed like hours on end, but not in a bad way. His fantasies were entertaining to the other kids, save Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. That was Pipsqueak: small in stature, large in imagination, full of heart. The story of Black Mane actually spurred a thoughtful question from Dinky.

"What do you think space pirates do?" she asked.

"A lot of what sea pirates do, of course!" Pipsqueak reared up and wrapped a hoof around a nearby support on the swing set, leaning forward in an adventurous pose. "But they have energy swords instead of cutlasses, lasers instead of flintlocks, torpedoes instead of cannon balls! They go across the universe to plunder space-cities, or just to stop for a drink and some time with the..." He leaned backwards, changing his tone to a suggestive one. "Lovely alien women!"

Scootaloo, who was overhearing his description of space pirate life, stuck her tongue out. "Bleagh."

Jordan ran the waves up the tree, to the closest twig he saw. When the waves got to the base of it, he focused, making them vibrate faster and stronger. The twig snapped and fell into the palm of his hand. This was useful, but if he could just do this on larger objects, it would be indispensable.

He turned towards a large rock nearby and stomped the ground. He strengthened the vibrations in the stone until it had the desired effect. A deep cracking sounded, and the large rock became two smaller sized ones. Stomping again, he focused on one of the halves. This time, it cracked into many pieces, all of which flew in different directions, as if the rock exploded.

"Damn, I'm awesome," he said to himself with a grin. Some far, he had managed to sending a stick to himself from a few yards away, throw a rock by stomping on the ground, and dig a small hole by tapping the ground with his hand several times. This new power... he was getting good at it. Really good! It was probably one of the only good things that happened to him that day. He only had it for less than an hour, but he was already in total control of this! He congratulated himself in his head, pumping a fist in the air. You can do it, Jordan! You can get the others off the ship! You're not useless!

Suddenly, in the middle of his mental cheering, a burning sensation took his right side. It didn't hurt, at least not like it would cripple him or something. It just felt like the dull pain of a trigger point. Even so, he still stumbled in surprise. Also in that surprise, he unwittingly focused on the trunk of a tree, sending a vibration to it, and strengthening it. The trunk shattered, sending splinters in every direction. They never struck him, but he had more to worry about; the tree was tilting toward him. It was going to fall on him!

The ache in his side went just as he yelled out. He dodged to the right just in time, as the tree landed right where he was standing only seconds later. The echo of it falling rang through the woods, startling birds out of the trees. He stood there observing what he had done. The trunk was completely shattered – not like the rock when he first tried the very same thing on it. The damage was, on one hand, impressive. However, it soon clicked in his mind that the noise would attract attention. If those ponies were looking for him, they would be there soon. He took that as his cue to make an exit, turning back north and setting off.

The crash sounded throughout the forest, immediately gaining everyone's attention.

"W-w-what was th-that?" a cowering Fluttershy asked.

"Sounded like a tree fallin'," Applejack said, adjusting her Stetson. "You girls think..."

"No way." Twilight stepped up next to the farm pony. "Even if he is different, he can't be that strong."

"Let's just follow the sound already!" Rainbow Dash urged, flying ahead of the group, towards the source of the sound.

On taking a step forward, Applejack stopped, spotting something on the ground. "Whoa, nelly! Look at this!" What she saw was covered by old, dead leave that she brushed away. It was an old rope.

"Big deal, it's just a rope," Rainbow said dismissively.

"No, Dash, it's more than that." Applejack took a careful step over the out-of-place length of rope. "Ah remember... a few years ago, me 'n' Big Macintosh set traps out here, cause some wolves were gettin' in the orchard through here. After a few o' them got tangled, they got the hint an' left."

"Applejack, dear!" Rarity spoke in a miffed voice. "If they didn't come back, why did you leave the traps?"

The orange mare chuckled nervously. "Ah... we forgot?"

The foals flinched when they heard the boom from the woods. Pipsqueak fell on his back, since it happened while he was leaning back from the support. They all looked north to the source.

"What was that?" Scootaloo asked.

"Sounded like a tree fallin'," Apple Bloom told the others.

Pipsqueak rolled onto his stomach and jumped up. "Why don't we have a look?" he suggested, trotting towards the woods. Dinky and Scootaloo shared his curiosity, and followed him. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle weren't as enthusiastic, but they didn't share the same reason. Sweetie Belle was usually wary of things like this – even if she ended up getting in trouble with such things in the first place – so it was predictable that she would at least try to avoid jumping into something like this. Apple Bloom, on the other hoof, thought it could be the "weird thing" Miss Cheerilee told her to watch for.

The others up ahead looked back at the two fillies. "C'mon, guys!" Scootaloo told them. "It's not like we're gonna check out the thing!" Little did she know that Pipsqueak secretly wanted to do that. He wanted to know if he was right. If only he could get a look at it!

"I don't know, Scootaloo," Sweetie said. "Maybe we should stay..."

"And what? Play on the swings all day? No thanks!" the pegasus filly stepped in front of the unicorn. "So whaddya say?"

Sweetie, still unsure, looked at the ground and didn't respond. After considering her options for a few seconds, she looked back up at her fellow crusader and nodded. No words were necessary. She was in.

"What about you, Apple Bloom?" Dinky asked. "Are you coming?"

The yellow filly kept her worries to herself and nodded. "Sure, sure. Better than stayin' here," she said before trotting to the front of the group, leading the way to the woods.

As they reached the edge of the woods and started going into it, Sweetie Belle stopped and looked behind her, then in front of her, then behind her again. Turning back forward, she sighed. "I have a bad feeling about this," she whispered to herself.

Jordan slowed to a snail's pace when he thought he was far enough. They wouldn't catch him... at least not yet. When they did – it wasn't a question of if they caught him, but when – he would have to explain some things, such as his exit.

"I panicked," he said to himself as he vaulted a rock. "What do you expect me to do when I'm on a planet inhabited by..." Freaking mythical creatures from fairy tales. Oh. That. Should he explain it? That might be a tough thing to explain, but not as tough as the other topic – the one involving the normal Earth ponies. By that he meant the Earth ponies populating Equestria and the dumb ones from back on his home world.

"Well that's gonna be fun to explain," he muttered. "'Oh, yeah, the ponies on my world sit in petting zoos all day long and shit!' Genius, Jordan. Genius." He shook his head roughly as he almost bumped into a tree out of his inattention. Beyond it, he could see the opening to a clearing, and tell tale smoke said that it was a certain clearing he should know. The crash site. Better there than nowhere. He made his way to the edge of the woods.

All of a sudden, his foot snagged onto something. As soon as he looked down, he realized he was in trouble. A length of rope had made its appearance and tightened around his ankle. He just stepped into a snare trap! With a swift movement, the trap knocked him onto his back, following that by dangling him in the air. The surprise made him shout.

"GENIUS!"

They heard the shout as soon as they found the fallen tree.

"That sounded like him!" Twilight said.

"Shoot! Sounds like he stumbled on one o' the traps!" Applejack shouted.

"Oh, perfect." Rarity raised a hoof to her face. "Now it's Applejack's fault that our chance of some friendly chit-chat has plummeted."

"Ah, don't get yer tail in a knot, ah'm sure everythin' will be fine," the farm pony in question answered. No one notice her look of uncertainty.

"His wound may have reopened!" Fluttershy pointed out. "We better hurry... uh... a little faster? If that's possible?"

"It better be..." Rainbow whispered to herself before taking the lead in mid air again.

"Why don't I ever get to talk when our part comes? Come on! I haven't said a word, like, this whole chapter! That's like... this whole chapter!" Pinkie said to herself.

"CHENIAAAAATH!" That's how the foals heard the cry. It had been distorted by many factors. The main one was the fact that the speaker was dangling upside down.

"Whoa!" Pipsqueak said. "That sounds like somepony's out here!" He turned to the fillies. "Who do you all think it is?"

Scootaloo shrugged. "You know... it kinda sounded like Twist."

Apple Bloom glared at her. "Seriously, Scoots? Twist doesn't sound like a colt at all..."

The orange filly rolled her eyes and started trotting ahead. "Let's take a look..." she groaned as she began to crawl over a rock. Dinky and Pipsqueak decided to follow her over, though it was really pointless – they could have gone around. Apple Bloom saw that and got ahead of them again. Sweetie Belle followed her, stopping in front of the others and watching as Scootaloo struggled to get over the boulder. When the other two foals finally got her up, they all noticed their error.

"Oh," they all said in unison. Scootaloo slid off the rock as Dinky and Pipsqueak trotted around to join her. Sweetie grinned. She had a plan. She nonchalantly joined the pegasus as they trotted, catching up to Apple Bloom. After a few moments of silence, she leaned over and whispered into her ear.

"Hey, Scootaloo... I got a secret to tell you."

After a few seconds and a quick look back at the other two classmates with them, Scootaloo leaned towards Sweetie. "Yeah?" At that moment the unicorn grinned and tapped her with her hoof.

"Race you!" she yelled as she ran ahead. Scootaloo smirked. It was so on. She managed to close the gap between them and get up next to her challenger. Apple Bloom – who had gone some distance ahead – came into view. The racing fillies exchanged a mischievous glance and sped up, flanking the Earth pony. And then...

Apple Bloom had the wind knocked out of her by the collision, but shook it off. Her fellow crusaders had just tackled her. She had to get them back! She got up and leapt at the closest filly, Sweetie Belle, and pinned her down. This wasn't helpful for her, since she had neglected a certain somepony.

"Bonsai!" Scootaloo yelled as she jumped on her two friends. The pile of fillies broke into fits of giggling. Apple Bloom shook the pegasus off of her and climbed onto her, and then Sweetie Belle did the same. Whatever the outcome, it always seemed like Scootaloo would always be the third level in the "tower". It was either that or the two flightless crusaders would pin her down, laughing hysterically. By the time Pipsqueak and Dinky caught up, the pile... or tower... or whatever it was... was no more. All that was left of it were three fillies rolling around on the ground, laughing as if they had heard the world's funniest joke.

"What did we miss?" Dinky asked the colt next to her.

"I was with you, lass," Pipsqueak answered. "I'm asking the same thing." He took a step towards the crusaders. "Oi! Ladies! What's going on?"

Apple Bloom sat up on her haunches, panting from all the giggling. "Nothin' Pipsqueak. Crusader stuff," she said as she stood up. Her friends did the same, letting out the occasional chuckle.

The pirate – at least, he was a pirate in his own mind – took a long look at the three fillies. "Well, let's get on with this. Let's find whoever shouted, they might be in trouble, after all!" He got an idea, and acted on it. "Maybe you could get your Cutie Marks that way..."

Sweetie had a serious expression. "We were taking a break from that today, though," she pointed out. "But... maybe just once today."

Scootaloo shrugged, seeing no problem with the idea. Apple Bloom smiled. It may have not been an entire day of looking for their special talents, but a little searching was better than none at all. She took the lead again, eager to find whoever this pony was. "It came from over here. Not too far away, now."

His head started to hurt again, but this time it was for a reason. All the blood was rushing to Jordan's head, making the top of his skull feel like it would fall off. This was apparently how a bottle felt when it was held upside-down. The difference in his case, however, was the rope that held him by the ankle, which felt just as sore as his head.

"Genius," he sighed submissively. "Jump out a window then... this shit." It didn't matter to him, though. Soon the ponies that were looking for him would be there to hopefully cut him down. Hopefully.

He turned his head and tried to take a look at the plain behind him – just to look at it. Was it better than before? Ridiculous as that idea was, he still held on to it. He hoped that, at the very least, the fires would be out. Then, he could jump right into working on the rescue... or whatever it was. He wasn't necessarily rescuing them – just opening the door. Then again, opening that door could mean the difference between life and death.

Complicated stuff he shouldn't have been thinking about. If this were a normal situation, he would be getting the tools to build the greenhouse by now. Or dig irrigation, or maybe something completely different. But this wasn't Mars, this was Equestria – an inhabited that has already had someone build the greenhouses and someone dig the irrigation... or something else. Basically, that made him useless. Now all he was good for was being a sideshow. To be the freak of nature, or to be hunted down because he was too different. Back on Earth, the same thing would happen if one of these ponies appeared and uttered a single word. They would be strapped to tables, plugged in to machines with no purpose but to spit out numbers, be cut open for further research. Everything that could be done to them would be done. For science.

Why wouldn't it be the same here? They're exactly like humans besides the... well... the obvious. The same could happen to him. For science. Or magic. Some ridiculous reason like that.

It would be in there right to.

A rustle from the woods shook him out of his thoughts. Finally, they were here to get him down, It didn't matter what they wanted to do anymore, as long as he didn't stay there looking like the design on a tarot card. They got closer... and closer, but it wasn't them!

Out from behind some bushes came a little yellow Earth pony wearing a pink bow in her mane, followed by other small ones of every variety. They looked up at him, nonplussed. Clearly, they were just some curious kids.

"Uh," he said. "Hi there?"