Chapters The 'Infinite Loop' bug was still going strong, so the transit agent printed out a blank ticket and hand-wrote my number on it in black marker before handing it to me. I said, "Thank you", and headed to the platform with my bags. The black iron steam train looked out of place on this side of the tunnel, but it reminded me of home, so far and yet so close.
Tempest Shadow was there, sticking out of the crowd slightly less than she usually did. She was also looking at her ticket. "Funny how, when their systems break, they're forced to do things the way ponies always do it."
"Yeah," I agreed, though I had something else on my mind. She'd been on her hooves for nearly ten years. And the way she told it, it didn't seem like her home village was much of an option. "Do you have somewhere to crash once you're back?"
"I'm sure I can figure something out," she said, without much concern. "Might have some friends in Ponyville."
"That's good," I said, trying to keep my smile down. "My parents are in Ponyville, so we might see each other again while we're there."
Tempest raised an eyebrow. "We might ? In a town the size of Ponyville?"
"Okay, we will ," I chuckled.
"That's right. It would be pretty hard not to see each other."
That was part of why I was so nervous.
When the conductor called for passengers to board, we went up to the train, and Tempest stepped up right away. I hesitated for a moment.
I remembered this moment in reverse. I had stepped off this train at this station over two years ago. And here I was again, unsure if I should step back on.
But I swallowed my fear, and followed Tempest's lead.
I was coming home.
The 'DL' symbol flashed on my screen. I put my headphones on and answered the call. "Hi Devon!"
His usual greeting started as suddenly as it stopped: "Hey." However many meetings and calls I'd had with him, he'd never said anything different, unless it was nothing at all. He continued, "So. Let's look at it."
"Alright, sharing my screen now," I said, giving myself some time to move the cursor up to the 'share screen' button. After I clicked it, and the screen finished fighting with itself, I was met with a hum.
"Hmmm. What's your zoom level?"
"Um." I didn't know what that meant. "My what?"
"The zoom level of your browser."
"Um." I still didn't know what that meant, but I knew enough to know there was probably an answer in the internet settings, so I moved the cursor over to that button and clicked on it. I hazarded a guess, "I think it's normal?"
He said absently, "two hundred percent," I assumed reading from something on my screen. My eyes found it - there in the settings, with a plus and minus symbol next to it.
"Is that bad?"
"Not if it works for you. What was the issue again?"
"Right - I can't create this bug report." I moved the cursor to close the settings and show the full page again. "The page won't move to show the 'create' button, so I can't, you know... create it." Saying it out loud made me feel stupid.
Devon was always super busy. I wondered how he felt dealing with my stupid problems - other than confused, which was obvious. "What do you mean it won't move?"
"I normally make the page move down with this button -" I pressed the button with the triangle symbol on it. Well, it was one of the buttons with the triangle symbol on it. The one with the point facing down. "The down button," I remembered, since he couldn't see what button I was pressing. "But it doesn't work on this page."
"Hmmmmmm," came the humming again. He went quiet, but I heard some button presses on his side, and a moment later the 'share screen' menu went away and I was looking at Devon's screen instead.
It was always impressive watching him work. Not just because he was smart - though he was, in that quiet-genius way where you couldn't follow his train of thought until it had already arrived at its station - but also because of his mastery of the mouse-and-keyboard. His cursor flicked across the screen faster than I could follow it, and he typed faster than he could talk. Maybe even faster than I could talk, and I could talk way faster than he could.
In no time at all, he'd found his way to the same page I was at, and he'd changed his settings so it looked the same as on my screen. "Okay, so you can't move the page down..."
"That's right."
I heard a few button presses, but nothing changed on his page. He must have been pressing the down button.
Then he did something that made the page look really weird and complicated - it was divided in two, with the bottom half coloured dark with white text in another language written on it. His cursor poked at the text, and I heard more button presses.
"I see," he said, almost... gleeful. I could hear the smile in his voice. "It doesn't work on this page."
That sounded like what I'd described, but his tone was strange. "What doesn't?"
"Keyboard panning. You'll have to use the scroll wheel."
"Oh." That I understood. "I don't have one."
"You- you don't?"
"Yeah, I have to use a special mouse, and it doesn't-"
"Oh right. No problem." His page went back to normal, and his cursor flicked to the edge of the screen, where it pointed at a skinny grey bar. "You can use the scroll bar instead. Should still work."
I didn't see anything that looked like a scroll bar, but I tried to memorize what he'd done, and thanked him regardless. "That's great, thank you so much!"
"No problem," he replied flatly, as he always replied to that sort of thing, and somehow he managed to almost squeeze it into two syllables. "Hopefully that helps."
"It does, thank you!"
"Great."
A second passed. That's right, he never said goodbye first either. "Bye!"
"Later."
The call ended.
I sighed, and took off my headset. The call had only lasted six minutes and he'd solved the problem that had been stumping me all morning. I knew he was smart, and good at this stuff. I knew that. But it didn't make me feel any better.
I went to a mall cafeteria for dinner before heading home, as usual, but the usual server at the noodle place I liked wasn't there. It was someone else - too impatient to be new, I figured. Our schedules just hadn't crossed before. I had to explain all over again how my BitCard worked. You'd think if a pony could figure it out, a human should have no problem. Just scan it! Then I had to assure them I didn't need any help carrying my food to my table. The way they looked when I levitated it, you'd think it was the first time they'd seen a unicorn, but that seemed unlikely considering the cafeteria had those weird plastic half-seats the humans gave to ponies in lieu of pillows.
To be fair, maybe it was their first time seeing my kind. I couldn't stay mad about it. It was just tiring going through this whole routine every time I had to buy something from somepony new. And maybe humans had similar trouble with ponies who weren't used to their world and all its... things.
In that respect I didn't have much to complain about. All the big problems had been sorted out before I arrived, and the worst of the unfamiliarity was behind me. This place wasn't home, but it was comfortable, more or less.
While slurping my noodles and people-watching, I couldn't help but notice another pony in the mall, passing by. She was dark-purple with reddish hair and wore a gray scarf over a black turnout. But it wasn't her outfit that caught my attention.
Well, it was the fact she was another pony, firstly. Even in a tunnel town there had to be more than a hundred humans for every pony, since they're the ones who'd been living here all along in the first place. It was the same in reverse on the Equestrian side. But more than that, and more than her size - she was quite tall, probably taller than some stallions - was the way she carried herself. She moved with a sense of belonging and purpose. She was on top of the world looking down. The humans in the crowd made way for her .
Eventually she passed into the distance, and I couldn't keep staring at her like I was, but I kept wondering. Was she some kind of celebrity? I didn't know if any ponies had gotten famous on Earth, but I knew some ponies who were famous at home had kept their fame here, too, even discounting the Princesses and such. Maybe she was like that. Or she just acted the part and strangers behaved accordingly. If that was the case, I was a bit envious.
At least I had my noodles.
I still hadn't heard a good explanation for why the humans didn't do Winter Wrap-Up. What was the point of freezing weather for nearly half the year? They couldn't grow crops, all their machines needed extra work done or else they break, and going outside for anything sucked . Probably more for them, since their coats were so thin, but by the time I got into bed I was still thawing. I'd heard it was different in other parts of the world - nearer the bottom the seasons were reversed, with summer taking winter's place and vice versa; while nearer the middle there was no summer or winter, nor spring or autumn, but simply a wet season and a dry season. It all seemed silly to me. But I was a pony.
I opened HoofPrint and right away swiped left on some humans. I could have set my preferences to exclude them entirely, since I just wasn't that interested, but they were the ones who'd invented dating sites in the first place, so I could learn a thing or two. Sometimes I did.
More went left. Even some ponies. It wasn't healthy to do this so late at night when I felt so awful about myself, but I did it anyway. The swipes were as shallow as they were easy. Coat a shade too green? Left. Cheekbones slightly asymmetrical? Left. Broken horn? L-
"Oh shit," I said, out loud, to my empty room. That was her - the mare from the mall. I couldn't see it at the time, but she had a huge battle-scar down one eye, and a broken horn, ending in a jagged edge halfway up. I'd known some ponies who had broken their horns, but they usually capped it so it would look normal. This mare hadn't done that. It was just... like that. Like she was unafraid of showing it. Like she was proud of it. Looking past that - or not - she looked like she belonged on a movie poster. That would explain the celebrity vibe I got from her earlier.
I couldn't swipe left on her . But I couldn't swipe right, either. She wasn't the kind of pony you could just trot up to and chat with. What would I even write? "Hay?" Not a chance.
So I left her unswiped. It took another long moment of staring at her profile image before I noticed she had a name: Fizzlepop Berrytwist. Hints of a spiral, like my name, but it didn't seem too fitting. Then again, I wasn't sure if mine was, either.
If she really was famous, I could search her on the internet and find out what for. But that didn't feel right either. And it meant I'd have to close HoofPrint and stop looking at her for a moment.
I didn't feel like doing that.
Someone said my name. I inhaled and focused on the screen. Circles with initials in them. Right. Work.
I unmuted myself and said, "Sorry, I was muted." Muting and unmuting my microphone had been a real problem for a while, until I learned the relevant keyboard commands. After that it became a cheap excuse. As it was for everyone else, I figured.
Devon said, "Mhm," as if it wasn't obvious. "So, release testing? How's that going?"
"Right. That's in progress. I'll have it done by tonight."
"Sounds good. Seems like we're in a good place for the release. So... If nobody else has anything, I guess I'll say Merry Christmas."
And then we moved on. And I kept thinking about her.
Everyone kind of assumed I knew what Christmas was about, and I kind of pretended I did, too. Seemed similar to Hearth's Warming, and it made no difference to me as long as I got a week off before school started again. I wondered: was the same true of Fizzlepop? The time off, that was, not the confusion about Christmas. I'd only find out if I saw her again, and the chance of that was pretty slim.
There I was, mid-slurp, and she was looking right at me!
Fizzlepop had a box of food in her mouth that she must have just bought at a stall here, and she must have been looking for a place to sit down - finding me at the only table built for ponies. That left me with half a mouthful of noodles and that heart-stopping feeling that I was about to choke on something.
I had two choices: finish the slurp, or whatever you'd call it; or bite it off and swallow what I could. The way things were happening in my throat there was a good chance it would come out my nose if I tried the first option, so I tried the second. Swallow. Just swallow! It was the most normal thing in the world, and I'd been doing it all my life. I wasn't going to let myself screw it up this time.
She was halfway here. Any second now she would ask, 'Is this seat taken?' and I'd have to say something. Finally, the last hanger-on came free, dropping into the wax paper box. I swallowed all I had, and had just enough time to wipe my muzzle before the words came.
All she said was, "Hay," around the box handle, before she sat down on the opposite chair and started opening things up.
False alarm. No reply needed. I just nodded and pretended I was normal.
But this wasn't exactly what I wanted to happen. I wanted to talk to her, to figure her out. To get to the point I could swipe right. Maybe.
A glance or two couldn't hurt.
She was even taller up close, but she wasn't reedy like some unicorns were. With broad shoulders and a strong neck she was built more like an earth pony. That might have been related to her horn if she'd lost it when she was young. And her coat wasn't as dark as it looked from far away - it had a pearlescent quality to it, shifting from burgundy to violet as the light bent around it. I would have liked to get a better view of her cutie mark, but leaning over the table to check it out would be a little too obvious.
Without looking up from her pierogies, Fizzlepop said, in a half sigh, "You can ask, you know."
I grunted, "Huh?"
Next was a full sigh, and she looked through me with dark cyan eyes. "The questions you're dying to ask. Everypony wants to know. It's fine."
I had no idea what she was talking about, until my eyes flicked up to her horn, and then down to her scarred right eye. Of course. But I wasn't going to ask that! "Uhhh," I said, trying to think of a different question. "What brings you to Earth?"
That made her raise an eyebrow as she looked back down at her food. "Hmmm." She stuck a pierogi with a plastic fork and ate it before she answered, "Just trying to figure things out. You know, find my place in the world. Or worlds - plural." She chewed on another pierogi. "You?"
I considered going back to my noodles, but I didn't want another repeat of that disaster, so I just let them cool and turn to mush in their box. "I get it. I'm here for school, but I guess I'm trying to figure things out, too. Things are..." I didn't want to go too dire on her. "...different now. Hard to know where you'll land, right?"
"Right," she said, as if she knew exactly what I meant, even though I wasn't sure I knew exactly what I meant. Then she extended a hoof across the table. "I'm Tempest."
I bumped her. "Sea Swirl. Nice to meet you!"
Then I looked down at my noodles.
Tempest ? Not Fizzlepop? I was sure it said something different on her profile. Was it out of date? Or was she giving me a usename?
As I thought about it, I realized it didn't matter. I was going to use whatever name she gave me. And what I was going to say still kind of worked.
"You know, 'Tempest' and 'Sea Swirl' are both spiral-themed names, when you think about it..."
"Oh, great, name analysis," she groaned, in a tone I took as slightly sarcastic, but it was hard to tell. Then she pointed at her forehead. "I think I'd rather answer awkward questions about my horn."
I grimaced. "Sorry. Though, now that you mention it, I am curious..."
She covered her mouth with a hoof and snorted.
"Sorry..."
That made her laugh even harder, which made me laugh. By the third time I said, "Sorry," there were tears in her eyes.
Her HoofPrint profile was exactly the same. Same strong, beautiful face, same proud expression, same confusing name. This was the same pony who was sitting across from me in a cafeteria an hour ago.
She wasn't anything like me. I'd lived a pampered life, compared to most ponies, at the hoof of the capital. I had never even left Ponyville before the tunnels opened. And I wouldn't have even gone this far if I hadn't had a reason. But Tempest had seen the world , and now spent her time traveling this one. She probably had a reason - more substantial than 'putting distance between myself and the ursa minors', as she'd joked - but I couldn't guess.
And there she was on my phone. If I swiped right, I might have a chance to talk to her some more. But it might also come off as creepy. Like I was stalking her. I didn't really know what I'd do if I was in her position, but I might be worried somepony was stalking me again. Maybe.
But if I didn't swipe, I might never see her again.
Caught in a loop of indecision. I felt like I'd been here before. I didn't know how to get out of it.
My phone falling on my face put a stop to it.
By the time I got it back in my hooves, Tempest was gone. Must have closed HoofPrint off my snout or something. I was too tired to think about it.
Tomorrow. Tomorrow I'd change things. If I saw her again.
It was tomorrow.
"You know, the funny thing about this city..."
And I'd seen her again.
"... is that it sounds an awful lot like the city in Equestria..."
But I was just stalling.
"... but the tunnel here points to Filly Delphia , of all places. And the nearest tunnel to that is in Appleloosa or Dodge City or something, and that one doesn't even lead to the same hemisphere. You gotta wonder who designed these things."
Tempest gave it a moment's thought, then shrugged. "Nobody designed them. And none of them point to the same place on Earth. So, I don't know what you'd expect."
"Right, but, it's kind of weird, isn't it?"
She shrugged again. "Yeah, I guess."
I was boring her! Why did I keep doing this?
Silence wasn't the enemy. I could sit across from her and eat lunch in silence for a while and nothing bad would happen. I could . But I had never been good at it.
As I was fidgeting in silence, all the lights in the mall went out with a whump for a split second, then flickered back on in patches. Must have been a momentary power outage. I'd seen this happen elsewhere - they were more common in winter. Everyone was looking around at each other for a while, gauging reactions, and I found most humans weren't all too surprised either. Seemed nothing to worry about.
"So," I kept yapping, "Got any plans for Hearth's Warming - or Christmas, or whatever?"
Tempest had to think about it for a minute. I hoped that wasn't a bad question. Eventually she said, "I haven't been home in a while. But I might just keep moving along."
"Moving along?"
She nodded, smiling. "Still a lot of world to see."
So it really was my last chance. I was just trying to turn some words over about my own plans for the holiday - or lack of plans - when there was a commotion behind us.
Some humans were arguing over a food stall. The payment hadn't gone through, or something, and the teller turned their computer around to show a 'blue screen of death'. I'd seen those before. But I'd also seen the logo in the corner. I saw it every day I walked into the office, every time I turned on my computer, and every time I read an official e-mail.
Infinity Enterprise Solutions. That was where I worked.
The same little skit played out around the whole food court. It seemed most of the stalls used Infinity software, and it was breaking all at once. That didn't look like a coincidence.
"Is something happening?" Tempest asked.
That was more or less what I asked Devon via text: Is the release going alright? To Tempest I said, "I'm not sure." Well, obviously something was happening! "It might be a problem at my job."
"Good thing you have a week off, right?"
I wasn't so ready to wave it off. I didn't have to text my supervisor, but it seemed like the right thing to do if I was serious about my career. Or whatever.
Devon's response came: no
As I picked up my saddlebags and said a quick, disappointed goodbye to Tempest, I was less certain about actually having the week off.
The bus schedule was different in the evenings, so it took me twice as long as usual to get to the office, and there was freezing rain out, so I was wet and cold by the time I actually made it indoors. At least I had slept in today.
There were fewer people in the office than usual, but every one of them was in a panic or a daze, shouting into phones or pleading with their workstations or hopping between humid meeting rooms. Devon wasn't responding to messages on the work chat, but he must have still been in the building, so I circled the floor looking for him.
Eventually I spotted him half-trotting out of an elevator. I actually didn't recognize him at first - most days I never actually saw him anyway, and on top of the lack of variety in office outfits, he was a little disheveled and wild-looking. But the glasses were distinct. In contrast, he recognized me immediately. But I was the only pony on his team.
"Oh, hey."
"Hay," I said. Then I repeated Tempest's obvious question, because I couldn't think of anything better. "Is something happening?"
"Yeah, kind of," he said, pushing a hand through his mane. "There was a problem with the release. We're still looking into the impact, but it seems kind of, uh..." He shook his head. "Bad. And widespread. Which is also bad."
"Anything I can help with?"
"On your vacation?"
"I mean, I'm here. I can help. Just show me what to do."
He grimaced as he said, "I appreciate it, but right now we just need to work the problem. I think you would get in the way more than help. Just-" he started walking away. "Just enjoy your vacation. And I might not see you before your term ends, so Happy New Year, too!"
"Happy New Year," I said, qietly, though he was already out of earshot.
I got soaked again on the way back to the bus stop, and had to wait in the cold for about a half hour.
Devon was a good supervisor. A good person all around. He was patient, generous with his time, and accepting of differences. And I knew he was honest, too. That was just his honest opinion. He wasn't being mean. He was telling the truth.
Why did the truth make me cry?
I couldn't find her on HoofPrint anymore. She had probably moved on, like she said. It wasn't really a big deal if I never saw her again. That was just another truth. I could live my life alone - I'd been doing it for a couple years already.
There wasn't much left for me back in Ponyville. I'd seen to that. He either still hated me or didn't even remember me, and I wasn't sure what was worse.
But there wasn't much for me here either. Another year of school, another term of co-op, and maybe I'd get a diploma out of it. For what? I was never going to have the skills of a human educated in her field or the talents of a pony committed to her mark. I would always just get in the way.
No reason to stay, no reason to leave, but it wasn't so bad. I was still pampered. I could keep existing like this for as long as I...
Ping!
Wanted?
I checked HoofPrint. There was a match. In my messages, I saw her in a little bubble, with her strong neck and her dark eyes and her truncated horn. And she'd sent the word: hay.
