Chapter three

                                                 Chapter 3 (Note: I’m kinda stuck at the beginning so forgive Me.: P)

   “Ow! That hurt! Am I dead?” I exclaimed as I hit something. After wincing in pain for a few minutes, I crawled back up. My stuff was strewn all over the place. Hurriedly packing them back into my saddlebags, I noticed that I had teleported onto a small hill, covered in lush green grass. The air was cool and had a hint of Jasmine in it. “If this is how it’s like to be dead then I’ll pretty happy!” I continued as I began exploring. The sky was a shade of blue similar to the colour of my tail and it was full of fluffy white clouds. The terrain was pretty hilly and it probably went on for kilometres until I spotted a small town not far away from here. In the distance, it looked like an old town from the 1800’s. I decided to head towards there rather than spend the day and then get turned into stone from the chicken-dragon. That’s if I made it to Equestria.

         “Hello? Aqua? You there? This is Kevin speaking.” Mr Olsen’s voice came over the implanted speaker just as I was

         “I’M STILL ALIVE!!! HAHA!” I exclaimed, realizing that I was still alive and well and, in Equestria. I think they had their speakers on at full volume when I said that though, as I heard someone screaming about their ears.

         “Now, I must apologize for the mishap in the Lambda complex just now.” Mr Olsen continued. I could hear more explosions in the background.

         “Apologize? I swear, when I’m back, I’ll sue the hell out of whoever that built the place. Is anyone like, dead there?”

          “No. Everyone’s okay, albeit a bit shaken up. I have some bad news though. You want to hear it?” he said.

          “What is it?”

         “The portal generator got blown up, so it’ll take a long time to get it up and running again. We’re using an old prototype to contact you but it’s unstable so we’ll have to make this quick.”

          “How long?” I asked, desperate to know the answer.

           “Alright Aqua. This may be hard on you so I’ll get the drug administrator started up first.” he said. “It’ll take about two years.”

           “WHAT?” I exclaimed. Two years? I’ll be stuck here, without civilization for two years? Alright, maybe I’ll have the ponies to keep company but seriously? Just as I was about to have a mental breakdown however, I had an idea. “The princesses! The princesses can help me!” I exclaimed.

            “No Aqua, I’m afraid you can’t do that.” Mr Olsen said.

             “Why? Since everything went haywire after I stepped through the portal, shouldn’t you guys be trying to get me back?” It didn’t make sense. There they were, trying to get me back to Earth as soon as possible any when I come up with a good idea, they don’t approve it? What kind of logic is that?

             “We need you to appear as normal as possible to them. If they find out that you’re not a pony but a human, who knows what would happen?” Mr Olsen argued.

             “Fine I’ll just act happy for two years and possibly go crazy and then contemplate suicide.” I said sarcastically.

            “That’s the sprit! Now since you’re good and the sensors are still working, let’s get to work,” Mr Olsen said. “Simmons? You can take over.”

            “Alright Aqua. I’ll need you to take a nibble of the grass there.” Simmons said.

            “You said nibble?” I asked

            “Yes. The sensors in your stomach will give us the biological and organic compounds of what you eat” he explained.

             “So… basically, you’re going to see what I eat.” I commented.

            “Yes, I know. Now we don’t have much time. We’re running on the old portal generators and they’re really unstable. We only have like thirty minutes.” He complained. Rolling my eyes, I lowered my head and took a bite of the grass. It tasted sweet, so I decided to take another bite.

             “Alright. You can stop eating the grass now!” Simmons said. So, I stopped and started to make a beeline to the town, only to get interrupted by Simmons’s constant requests of “eat this and taste that”, until I munched on some yellow-ish rose like plant. Immediately, after swallowing it, I felt as if my stomach was burning. “Oh no. Aqua! Spit it out! It’s poisonous!”

          My first instinct was to scream “I’m going to die!” after spitting out the remains of the flower from my mouth as it now felt as if my whole body was on fire but, after a few seconds, I felt better. “Thank god for the modifications.” Simmons muttered.

           “More like thank god that your multi-million dollar project didn’t go to waste!” I complained. “I mean, did you EVEN THINK ABOUT WHAT IF I DIED?” I exclaimed. Suddenly, I felt like crying.

             “Alright. I’m sorry Aqua. I know you’re going through a lot of emotional stress right now but please, at least try to focus on the task for now?”

             “No.” I replied.

             “Alright, I’ll leave you to yourself for now. We’ll still be observing your sensor readings for now.”

             I decided that since they were going to leave me alone for now, I’m going to take my time to get to the town ahead. The Equestrian sun felt warm on my coat and soon, I felt not as bad as before. It’s hard to remain down in such a nice day. Oddly enough, the sun looked indistinguishable from the one back in Earth but since this is an Alternate Universe, I wasn’t really that surprised. After walking for like, ten minutes, I saw that the town was just in sight so I decided to make a dash for it. Unfortunately though, I didn’t notice another pony in front of me before it was too late.

            She had a light orange coat, a blond mane and tail, which for some reason she decided to tie up and she wore what appeared to be cowboy hat. She had three apples on her flank. Judging from that, I assumed that she was an apple farmer as from the information gathered, the tattoo-like pictures on ponies flanks are an indication of their special talent (not really sure how it works though). On the transmitter however, I could hear the excited gasps of the scientists. Last thing I needed was a distraction from them.

           “Wow! Ya all right there sugarcube?” She asked me. She had some kind of accent when she said that.

             “Erm, yeah I’m fine. How about you? You hurt or anything?”

              “Nah. Ah’m good.  Name’s Applejack! What’s yours?” she inquired. Darn! I should have decided my name days ago. Frantically, I began thinking. Cloudrunner? Aqua Dash?* I was sweating all over by now from nervousness. In the end, I just used the name I thought up of last month.

           “Aquasplash or Aqua Splash, whichever you prefer. Most ponies call me Aqua.” I replied.

         Just then, Simmons’s voice came back on again. He spoke in a low voice, as if he was afraid that Applejack would hear him. “Aqua listen. The generator’s getting too unstable so we have to shut it off now, okay? Next time we contact you would be probably in a month so, b-” The speaker gave a crackle and went silent. Great, now I’m officially out of contact for only-god-knows-when.

         “Well, nice to meet you Aqua! Ah never saw ya in Ponyville before. Ah never saw ya ‘round here. Ya new here?” She asked as she somehow managed to clasp both of her fore-hooves around my right hoof and shake it so vigorously, it gave me a terrible headache.

            “Ow.” I muttered, trying to shake the pain away before continuing “Well, yes. I’m new here. But please don’t ask where I’m from because I don’t remember. I mean if I remember, it’s just more like explosions and stuff falling from a celling.”

             “Well, tell you what, how about we go to ma farm and have some breakfast to welcome you to Ponyville?” she suggested.

                “No thanks. I mean it would be rude to go and have lunch at your farm without telling you. Plus, we only just know each other!” I protested. Breakfast? But when it was already in the Afternoon when I came through the portal. Unless their time was slower by five hours or there was something with the portal.

              “That’s okay. Granny Smith makes so much food; just breakfast is enough for lunch and dinner. Oh yeah! Some of ma friends would be joining us too. By the way, I know a friend who could help ya out with that memory problem of yours.” She said. I silently scolded myself for not thinking up of a better cover story. On the bright side though, I could always fly away or something.

                About twenty minutes after I lost connections to Transtech, my orange companion stopped abruptly. “Well, for once she’s not late.” She muttered, waving a hoof in the air. “Howdy Rainbow Dash!”

              Looking up, I saw a cyan blue Pegasus, with a mane that contained the six colours of the rainbow, heading directly towards us. “Hi Applejack. Who’s your friend?” she inquired, after landing in front of us.

           “Rainbow Dash, this is Aqua Splash. Aqua Splash, this is Rainbow Dash. Hey, are ya two related?” The orange pony asked.

       “No.” Rainbow replied. Got to admit though, my name did sound a lot like the one the pony with the colourful mane had. “Hey, I’ve never seen you in Cloudsdale before!” She suddenly exclaimed. Before I could reply, there was a clanging sound in the distance.

     “That’s Granny’s Smith’s bell!” Applejack explained to me. “She rings it when the food is ready. Tell y’all what, let’s race.” Then, she promptly took off, with Rainbow Dash hot on her tail. Seeing that I had nothing better to do, I decided to go along with their race. Obviously, Rainbow and Applejack had some sort of rivalry going on. When one of them was a tiny bit ahead of the other, the one slightly lagging behind would quicken the pace and gain the lead and vice versa. Occasionally, one of them would glance behind to make sure that I was keeping up. Heck as if I was that weak. Deciding to show off, I gave this silly grin and sped towards them.

     “Hi ya!” I said in between breaths. That was until I noticed that there was a fence right in front of me. Just as I leaped over it, I almost crashed into a purple Unicorn pony. That was until I was blinded by a flash of bright purple light. “What? Where did she go?” I asked to no one in particular. That was when she tapped me on the shoulder. “ARGH!” I exclaimed, jumping up in fright. “But you…were…there and now you’re behind me.”

     “Teleportation spell. I’m Twilight Sparkle by the way.” The purple Unicorn explained. Whoa. That was freaky I thought to myself as I made my way to an oversized picnic bench. Applejack was right about the food though. The whole table was covered in food, leaving almost no space for the cutlery. There was apple pie, apple fritters, apple cake and a whole lot of other apple-related food.

                                                                    ~~~~

     “Well, here’s your room! I hope you enjoy your stay here! And remember that after three days, you’ll need to pay rent! It’s a bit for a night, or five bits for a week as Saturdays and Sundays don’t count.” Evening Bloom, the receptionist of this nice guest house I decided to check into reminded me as she walked away.

    Looking at the light yellow pony, I couldn’t help but smile. The funny thing was, I’m stuck here but it feels more like a holiday to me. The townsfolk were quite nice to me and that almost made me forget that I can’t go home. Placing my saddlebags onto a hook on a wall, I decided to go job hunting for the day. So, I grabbed a map of the town with my teeth and headed for the door, only to bump into Evening Bloom again. What day is it I asked myself mentally? Bumping into people day? No wait. It should be bumping into ponies’ day.

       “I just remembered something! Have you met Pinkie Pie?” she asked me.

       What was so famous about her? I thought. Is she a celebrity or something? “Yep! She said that she was going to throw me a surprise party although I told her it wasn’t a surprise party because she told me.  But then she ran off so, well I don’t know. I think she’s weird.”

“Nah. That’s just Pinkie being herself. Do enjoy yourself at the party though.” She continued, with a serious look on her face.

  “Why? Is she going to get angry or something?” I asked curiously.

    “Sort of. She goes grey and starts talking to inanimate objects. But overall, she won’t do that unless she’s having a very bad day.”

     “Oh! By the way, do you know where I could get a job or something?”

     “Cloudsdale might have an opening in the weather factory. If not, go to this sign board in the town hall. There are quite a lot of jobs available in Ponyville.”

      “Where’s Cloudsdale? I heard Rainbow Dash talking about it.” I asked. Transtech seriously need to do a lot more researching. I thought to myself.

         “Are you kidding me?” She asked, eyes wide. I swore that if I looked close enough, I could see her brains through them. “It’s like the most well-known place besides Canterlot.”

        “No, I’m not kidding you. I had some sort of memory lapse problem after I woke up so well, where is it?” I seriously wished I came up with a better cover story by since it’s now official, I’ll have to stick with it. I’ll just have to try my luck and not get visited by the princess. Come to think of it, I don’t even know her name!

        “It’s in the sky. Fly high enough and you’ll see it.” She said.

        “Alright thanks for your help!” I said, waiving to her as I took off to Cloudsdale. Evening Bloom probably said something but I couldn’t hear her.

      It took me a while before I found Cloudsdale, but man, it was huge! It was literally made from clouds and there were rainbows flowing from some places. The buildings had some hints of Greek architecture. There were hundreds of pegasi of different colours milling about and in the distance, I could see a factory of some sort, with a bunch of clouds hanging above it. Rain clouds, white clouds, even a pink cloud with a sign that said “Cotton Candy cloud. Do not use!” There were also rainbows pouring from some kind of drainage system. “That must be it!” I exclaimed in excitement, like a three year old in a candy store. “I can’t wait to see how they make the weather!”

     A closer look at the gates revealed that there was an intricately designed arch way with the words “Cloudsdale Weather Factory.” Below that were the words “We make the weather for the whole of Equestria!” There was a paved pathway leading to the main gates of the factory. Just as I was about to push the doors leading into the factory, I was tapped on the shoulder by a security guard of some sort in a uniform similar to those police ones back on Earth.

   “Halt!” he ordered, which I obeyed. “You need a pass to enter the factory.”

    “But I don’t have a pass!” I protested.

    “If you don’t have a pass you can’t pass.” He explained.

     “But I’m here to look for a job!” I explained to him. If he was going to say the ‘no pass can’t pass’ thing again, I’m so going to see his manager. Thankfully, I didn’t have to.

         “Oh! Looking for a job! Well, we do have walk in interviews. Judging by your cutie mark though, I’ll suggest that you go talk to the cloud section’s manager. He’s in let me check-” after flipping through a clipboard for a while, he found the correct entry. “Ah! Here it is! Level two of the management office, door number fifteen.” He then proceeded to give me a pass thing with a “V” in capital letters. I assumed that the V was for “visitor”. After saying thanks, I proceeded to the manager’s office.

          On my way there, I began thinking. The Cutie mark thing that the guard mentioned must be the tattoo like picture on my flank. When I reached the correct door however, I could hear a heated argument of some sort. There were two voices, one that some kind of British accent and the other I couldn’t quite tell. It went something like this:

        “I’m sorry Doctor but you can’t wear bow ties to work! It’s due to safety!” The first one without the British accent said.

         “But I like bow ties! Bow ties are cool and they don’t interfere with the work!” The second voice said.

          “But you still can’t wear them! What if you got sucked into a cloud-making machine and died?”

           “Come on man! I’ve got a time travelling Police Box! I’ve fought metal monsters, stone statues that could send you back in time and I’m still here! The bow tie’s no problem!”

          “Well, then I’m afraid that you’ll have to go and speak with the manager.” The first voice said.

         “Fine. I’ll go and speak with him Nimbus.” The second voice relented.

I couldn’t help but burst into a fit of laughter after hearing this conversation. This is ridiculous! All for a bow tie! Back on Earth, it was “Listen to what I said or you’ll get fired!” at least that was what I heard from some guy in Black Hill Research Facility. That was until I noticed that my map was gone! “Where is it?” I asked no one in particular. I swore that I placed it on a chair just now. “Chair…” I muttered as I examined all the chairs in the hallway, getting a few stares in the process. That was when I noticed that the map was sinking into a chair! How strange! Just as I was pulling the map from the chair, the door opened. Good timing too as I managed to get the map out.

“Well, who are you?” a grey Pegasus Stallion asked me. I assumed that he was Nimbus and the other pony with a bow tie to be the “Doctor”.

“I’m here to apply for a job, that’s if you have one. I’m Aquasplash by the way. Or you can call me Aqua.” I explained to the grey Pegasus.

“Well, we have an immediate opening in the maintenance area so if you’re interested, you can apply. The salary is about twenty bits a day for two weeks then thirty bits but we can be flexible on that. Pay day is Friday so don’t be sick!” He said.

Thirty bits? That’s actually quite a lot! If their machines are the same as the one I had made on Earth that would be so strange. With the alternate Universe thing though, I think it’ll be perfectly normal.

“I’ll sign up. I don’t have any references but I promise that I’ll work hard. And I’m pretty good in machines so, erm please?” I said.  To my surprise, he handed me some forms, told me to fill them in and I could work in the factory! The forms were something like those back in Earth. Like where you lived, qualifications, disclaimers and a bunch of others.

After filling the forms out, Nimbus gave me this tour on the factory with all its respective areas which were the cloud making department, the rainbow factory, a place where they make snowflakes and a tornado room. I tried to taste the rainbow but he didn’t allow me, explaining to me that they were extremely spicy. After the tour, he led me to this room where he gave me a safety vest and a hard hat. It took me a while to get into the vest but I managed in the end. Putting the hard hat onto my head, I asked him “What next?”

“Well, I’ll need you to get familiarised with the machines so here’s some instruction manuals-” he said, while giving me some thick books “- and here’s your tools,” giving me a saddle bag of what appeared to contain a wrench, a spanner, some spare bits and pieces and a flash light. “Oh yes! After this shift, go to my office for your pass. In the meantime, use the visitor’s pass.”

“’O hay ‘I’ll ‘ead up on ‘em!” I said, grabbing them the manuals with my mouth. Nodding, Nimbus left the room, not before saying “Enjoy your work here!”

So, for the next hour or so, I began reading up on how the machines worked. About ten variants had some sort of design flaw, which I decided to tell Nimbus later. Just as I was reading something about a “Magical processor” thing, a mare with a wisteria coat poked her head into the room. “Yes?” I asked her.

  “You’re the new mechanic right?” she asked me.

    “Erm, yes. Is there something you need me to fix?”

    “Yes. One of the old cloud-makers just broke down a few minutes ago and I need you to check it out. I’m Rainbowshine by the way.” She replied.

“Oh. I’m Aquasplash. Most ponies call me Aqua. Pleased to meet you, Rainbowshine!”

     Putting the manual down, I followed her to the broken machine. It was okay on the outside but after turning off the power supply and opening a panel to look inside, it was a wreck. There was steam coming out from some mysterious box, which turned out to be the water supply. There were also some other things which appeared to be covered in rust. “It’s overheated. I’ll need to let it cool before I can fix it.” I told Rainbowshine. She nodded and went to tend the other machines.

                                                                        ~~~

     It was about twenty minutes later that I crawled out of the cramped interior of the machine, covered in grime. Apparently, some fool had removed the coolant pipes and I had to rebuild one all from scratch. I did improve some components though. Like a belt that was way too long and caused the machine to eat up too much energy. Just as I had guessed, the parts were pretty much the same as the ones I used to build mine back in Earth. “It’s fixed!” I exclaimed cheerfully. This job, however dirty I might get, was more interesting than the one I had back at Transtech.  Flipping a switch to power the machine back on, I watched eagerly to see if it would work smoothly.

   “It’s working better than before!” she said in surprise. “How did you do that?”

    “Well, I just replaced the belt with a shorter one, changed a few pipes and did some rewiring and that’s about it.” I replied. Someone should tell the pony who manufactured it that he should re-study engineering and electrical wiring. I thought sarcastically.

Just then a bell rang in the distance, followed by an announcement. “All workers, this is the end of shift one. New staff members, if there’s any, please report to the respective department’s office.”

‘Oh! The bell! Well, I’ve got to go Aqua! See you later!” she bid goodbye to me as she headed to the main exit.

Wiping the sweat off my face, I waved goodbye to Rainbowshine and proceeded to office number fifteen. Nimbus was already waiting for me there. “Ah! There you are! You could use a bath though.” He commented. “Anyway, I heard from Rainbow Dash that you’re new so here’s advance payment for today.” He said, handing me twenty bits in a bag.

  “Err… do you know where I could get some lunch in Ponyville?” I asked Nimbus.

   “Well, there’s Sugarcube corner for cakes or if you want a decent meal, there’s the Café a la cart. They’re both near the library which is a tree so it’ll be hard to miss. By the way, I forgot to tell you that there’s a locker in the maintenance room. All of your tools and vests are in there. Also, the weekends are your rest days so you don’t need to report for work unless it’s really urgent. Come back for work at around 2 p.m.!”

   “Thanks boss!” I said cheerfully as I headed for the exit.

                                                                 ~~~

   I didn’t go to the Café immediately though. My first stop was the guest house to get a bath. “The machines could really use a good cleaning.” I thought to myself while I was soaping myself down. “Twenty minutes inside the cloud-maker shouldn’t get me so dirty.” I muttered to myself as I began trying to get the grease off my tail. It took me some time but I managed to clean myself up so that I don’t look like some pony going for war. (Pinkie Pie said that when she saw me heading back.)

  After getting cleaned up, I donned a fresh vest that I found in my locker and got the helmet back on. The old vest was drying on a washing line in the bathroom. On the way out however, I met a rather unpleasant stallion.

   “Well hello pretty filly!” he said. “I’m Fast Cash. I am form Manehattan or was from Manehattan because I’m travelling all over Equestria. Who are you anyway?”

   “Go away. And I’m Aquasplash.” I replied, in a deadpan voice. However, he just kept on following me.

   “Well, of course. But if you’re looking for company-”

   “You know what? I think I’ll enjoy dissecting you and seeing what’s wrong with your brain. And then I’ll stuff you and return your body to your family members.” I replied. Seriously, he was starting to get on my nerves.

     “I’ll leave then.” He replied, his voice full of fear.

     “Thank god.” I muttered as I saw the Café come within sight. And a few meters, there was Pinkie Pie, doing something. When she saw me however, she gave a terrified “Eep!” and ran off. “Well, that’s weird.” I thought as I entered the Café. Sitting down on a bale of hay, I started flipping through their menu. There were sandwiches, soups, fried eggs, some cakes, and an unsurprisingly large section of fruits and vegetables, drinks and to my surprise, Klondike bars! I never expected them to eat the same desserts here! So, I settled for a daffodil and daisy sandwich and a Klondike bar.

    It took them a few minutes before the waiter brought a plate with a rather large sandwich with my Klondike bar. I decided to finish the dessert first for fear that it would melt. It tasted just like how they made it back on Earth so I was pretty happy. At least I have something to remind me of home. I thought as I started to take a bite of the sandwich. The first bite was amazing! It felt like some kind of hamburger that I once tried in McDonald’s, only twenty times better and without the meat. So, I took another bite and then another and within a few minutes, I found myself staring at an empty plate with only a few crumbs on it. “Well, back to work!” I said, after seeing that it was five minutes to two.

                                                               ~~~

~A few hours later…

    “Whew! What a day!” I exclaimed, opening the door leading to my room. After taking a nice bath and brushing my teeth, I decided to write a journal before going to bed. Here’s what I wrote:

     Dear journal-thing,

    Equestria seems to be a nice place, with all the people (Or ponies) being quite friendly. A few notable things here are: 1: Unicorns can do telekinesis, do spells similar to those wizards back on Earth and teleport. Weather here is manufactured in the sky, by a process similar to how most of our things are made back in Earth. However though, it seems I may have backfired on my cover story thing. So, well wish me luck.

Notes to self:

1: Get a house.

2: Come up with a better cover story when given the chance.

3: Read up on history from library. The library seems to be a tree. How odd.

4: Get more Klondike bars.

     It took me awhile to finish writing the whole thing because of this itch in my wings that caused me to preen them non-stop,but when my head finally hit the pillow, I fell asleep immediately.