“Stranded”
Chapter I: Fateful Journey
“Okay, David. Are you sure you're ready to do this?” Colonel Bell asked.
“Y-..yeah. I- I think so...” I replied shakily. This experiment was potentially extremely dangerous, and I was about to test it on myself. Wow, I'm an idiot. “Let’s just get this over with..”
I was one of a few select test subjects for the U.S. Military’s prototype teleportation technology and was going to be the first to test it since the Accident. The teleportation process had been under extensive re-checks and bug fixes since a deadly mishap 3 years prior in 2093. The teleporter had all but vaporized the test subject when he came through the other end. It was gruesome. Blood, entrails, skin, and bone flew out of the exit portal and got over everything. God, it was heart-wrenching and nauseating. The incident plunged the scientists into 3 long years of trial and error, attempting to fix the deadly teleportation machine. Finally, the scientists dubbed it ready for human testing and a few test subjects from the team and I volunteered. I had faith in the scientists despite the previous accident, but that might have just been because my dad was the lead scientist in the facility. I volunteered to go first because I truly believed that they had fixed it and nothing would go wrong. I would be famed worldwide as the first man to ever be teleported. It would be glorious. ....Nah, I'm just kidding. The other subjects and I drew straws. I drew the shortest. I was horrified. I wanted to test the technology, don't get me wrong. I just didn't want to go first! If something got fucked up, it would be me who would be strewn to shit. I had a family (Well, I had my dad at least. About 5 years ago, my mom and brother died in a car accident caused by a drunk driver. My dad and I were crushed. We only had each other now.), and I had my whole life ahead of me. I was only 22 after all. My dad was the lead scientist in the teleportation department and I trusted him when he said that the teleporter worked perfectly now. Besides, what could possibly go wrong? Oh...right. 3 years ago. Duh.
I hugged my dad one last time and held him tight. "Good luck, David" he whispered into my ear, "I'll be here the whole time. I promise that everything will be fine, don't worry. I love you, son." He pulled out of the hug and sniffed, a tear rolling down his cheek.
"I love you too, dad. I'll see you soon" I said with a bittersweet chuckle.
I turned around and stepped into the chamber. I was standing inside the teleporter, hoping for the best. I was really shaking now, even after my dad's reassurances. There was no turning back now. My dad tapped away at the touchscreen worktable in front of him, touching icons and typing intricate codes and algorithmes, finalizing the teleportation coordinates to the exit portal on the other end of the room. The platform I was standing on began to glow and whir as the chamber was closed and sealed. Two arm-like vertical bars with lights on them began spinning around me, eventually blurring into glowing, horizontal lines from the bottom of the chamber to the top. The whirring sound was getting louder as it raised in pitch. I started to feel weightless, like I was floating. I couldn't see anything outside the chamber now; the lights spinning around me were too bright. I felt energy coursing through me, like jolts of electricity but without the pain. It almost felt good in a way. It was exhilarating. Suddenly I felt nothing, as if my mind and body separated, leaving my consciousness floating in nothingness. Then, a searing pain ripped though my body and I tried to scream out but I couldn't. I couldn't breath or move and the pain wasn't letting up. I tried to struggle with all my might but it was like I didn't have control over my body at all. I felt like I was spinning, and then a hard thud on my back awoke me from my painful journey.
I was lying on my back, eyes closed. The pain was gone but I was still in shock. I felt the sun's warmth on my face and chest and cool grass on my back....wait. Grass? What?! Frantically, I tried to get up but my body wouldn't let me. The moment I tried to move, my back erupted in pain.
"GAH!" I yelled out, my spine screaming bloody murder. I winced as I tried not to focus on the pain, a tear rolling down the side of my face.
I heard quiet murmurs and whispers around me. "What is that thing?" "Where did it come from?" "Is it okay?"
One voice eventually rang out above the others. "Back up everypony, I need to take a closer look at this creature" a woman's voice called out.
I heard soft footsteps....no, that's not right. That sounds like a horse walking. I opened my eyes as the hoof steps got closer. I looked up to see two large, purple eyes looking at me with a mix of curiosity and concern. She was smaller than the average horse but with a much shorter muzzle. She had a golden crown, a Unicorn horn, and she had wings tucked at her sides. What? That can't possibly be right. I must be seeing things.
"Hello, creature. Can you understand me?" She asked in a gentle, caring voice.
coughed, hard. It hurt. I slowly wiped my mouth and looked at my hand. It was covered in blood.
"Peremedics!" The white Unicorn Pegasus thing yelled, "Get him to the hospital, now!"
I felt immobilized as a gentle blue aura surrounded me, picking me up and moving me quickly. I heard the clopping of hooves on either side of me as one of the smaller looking horse...pony...whatever-the-fucks with a horn shifted over to me and wiped the blood off my face with a sanitizing wipe. She started assuring me that everything was okay and we were going to the hospital.
"Shhh, it'll be okay. We're taking you to the hospital. Everything will be fine, I promise." The white Unicorn continued to sooth my stress all the way to the hospital. Her hair was a light pink and she had it in a bun on the back of her head. She sported a large Red Cross with little hearts at the corners on her flank. It was then that I started noticing all the little pictures on the ponies' flanks. I wanted to ask what they were, but my lungs burned when I breathed and I figured it'd be a bad idea to try to talk right then.
We finally reached the hospital and I was rushed to the ER. Unicorns surrounded me, horns pumping glowing streams of light into my chest, warranting wonderful waves of warmth (fuckin' alliteration) to course though my body, relieving the aching. Suddenly, my chest seized up in pain. I clutched at my heart, panicking. My time in the CPR class in high school taught me that I was likely going into cardiac arrest. One of the doctors quickly rushed over and touched his horn to my chest. That was the last thing I remembered before waking up in a hospital bed.
I sat up and looked around the room. The sunlight beamed in through the window, lighting up the whitewashed walls and reflecting off of the shiny tile floor. I recalled the events of the previous day. The teleporter, the Unicorn Pegasus queen lady, the nurse, the ER. I laughed and shook my head. Surely that was all just a dream. Probably a side effect of the teleportation.
"Hey doc?" I called out, expecting a human doctor and my dad to walk in. He would be ecstatic that I was okay and he would take me to lunch after I got out of the hospital. We would celebrate for the success of the teleportation and we would become richer than rich. However, that was not what I saw. A white unicorn pony with a stethoscope around his neck and a clipboard hovering beside him walked into the room.
My heart stopped. No. No no no. NO! This isn't happening. This isn't real! I'm still having hallucinations. Everything will be fine. Yeah. Everything's gonna be fine. I calmed down a little. Unfortunately, my relief was short-lived.
"So, doc. When are these hallucinations gonna stop? All this pony shit is getting weird." I said, rubbing my temples.
The doctor looked at me in question, a confused look across his face. "Whatever do you mean? You are in Ponyville. Surely you expected there to be ponies in Ponyville, no?" He said with a chuckle.
I blanched. "Wait, Ponyville? Where am I? Am I even on Earth anymore?"
"Earth?" The doctor asked, obviously confused. "We're in Equestria."
"Please, doc. Stop kidding around. Where's my dad? His name is Jerry. Jerry Shiner."
The doctor gave me a quizzical look, checking his clipboard. "Um, there has been no Jerry Shiner here to see you. Nopony has asked for you save for Celestia." I reached out and touched him, confirming that he was indeed real. I glanced over at the door and saw the tall Unicorn Pegasus queen lady standing at the door, sorrow in her eyes.
Oh no. Oh no no no. It can't be true. It just can't! I bagan to studder and panic. "I'll n-never s-s-see m-my d-d-dad again." I started sobbing, images of my father going frantic trying to get me back flashing through my mind. "NO! No, it c-can't be true! I'll...I'll never see him again......n-n-never..a-again...." I broke into tears again, soaking the hospital sheets with salty tears of fear, pain, and sorrow. I buried my face in my hands, silently sobbing. I lied down on my tear stained pillow and closed my eyes, still crying. I cried for another hour, remembering good times with my father. All of the times playing baseball when I was young, playing the trumpet to jazzy tunes while he ripped away at the piano. Teaching me how to DJ on my Maschine Mikro he got me for my 16th birthday. All of the time we shared through thick and thin, through my mom and brother's death, and I'd never see him again. I cried myself to sleep that afternoon and slept for a long time, memories of home haunting me through the dreamscape
