[RFC][SI][Multi-Xover] Being You is Convalescence

[RFC][SI][Multi-Xover] Being You is Convalescence - Printable Version

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- Black Aeronaut - 09-02-2014

Edited for some grammar tweaks. - BA
Yeah, that one time with Twilight was more her being excited about learning what Garrick is - tail-less bipedal omnivore with hunter-gatherer societal roots.

As for someone calling Garrick out on that... Well, physically, he'd eventually demonstrate that he's stronger than Big Macintosh (Juraian strength enhancement FTW). Emotionally, though...

"I no afraid hurt you. I afraid hurt me. I hurt enough." Thus pointing out, unflinchingly and unabashedly, why he refuses contact where possible. This is what will make the story interesting - his fears are very real and very well founded - not irrational in the least. And nopony, from the Cutey Mark Crusaders all the way up to Princess Celestia, will really be able to fault him for it once they stop and think about it. In fact...

Quote:Dear Princess Celestia

I'm happy to report that my first contact with the alien is a complete success! He is intelligent and... if not friendly, then at least not hostile. Remarkably enough, he has actually been very cooperative. And he has some incredible and astounding tools! For example, he has his own dwelling with him that is tucked into its own pocket of subspace! I have no idea how he does that, but it seems to be tied to a device that non of the staff here at the clinic were able to remove - it is obvious that the device is never to be removed, no matter the circumstances. However, the most remarkable thing was his Tree!

He has an intelligent tree in his garden and she was able to speak with me through some sort of telepathic means! She even transferred two of his languages into my mind so I'd be able to converse with him - English and Japanese.

I have no idea why she gave me Japanese as well. She'd only laugh and say, "Reasons."

Oh! I forgot about their names! The alien is male and he is named Garrick Grimm and his tree is named Katherine. It took Spike and I a few minutes to figure out how to properly spell their names using our language - it's not exact, but it will get the job done.

Unfortunately, the joy I take in all these discoveries is tainted by the sorrow of Garrick. His arrival here is a horrible mistake - as far as I can glean he has at least one fiance where he came from... and before he was taken away they had just discovered that she was pregnant with his child! If his familial associations are even half as closely knit as the Apple Family's... then I can't even imagine how he's coping!

He seems to have a very clear idea of what is going on with him. He even had a remarkable book written by a close friend of his - a brilliant scientist called Washu Hakubi. Spike and I will work on transcribing this book for your personal review over the next week. Garrick has indicated that this has happened to him once already and that it has happened again is a very bad indicator. I fear he is right, and that brings me to another issue.

While Garrick is being very cooperative, he is behaving in a manner that is anti-social. He is trying to keep matters between he and I very professional, and he has even gone out of his way to explain why: he does not want to make any friends just to lose them when he inevitably leaves our world. Worst of all, I cannot find any real fault in his logic. I tried, at first, likening his departure to death. He simply gave me a long look and said that, "Friends and family are reunited in the afterlife. I will not have that luxury when I leave here."

I... I couldn't say anything. He just walked away and shut himself inside his living space.

Princess Celestia, I understand that I am still learning about the Magic of Friendship... but I have no idea what to do and it is breaking my heart! I always was afraid of having a coltfriend for this reason, but I never imagined that a stranger could do this to me! Please help me find a way to make him, and me in turn, feel better!

Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle

Quote:My Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle,
I am quite relieved to know that our visitor is not hostile... but I am nonetheless troubled by what you have related to me.
Someone like Garrick cannot really be forced to open up. They can only do so of their own volition. Until such a time comes, all I can suggest is to be there for him. Try to involve him in matters where you can, and make sure that he knows that he is welcome.
In the meantime, I will make preparations for him to have an audience with me here in Canterlot. It will be a quiet affair, so I need to set the date sometime in advance to ensure I have a clear day. I will provide you with more details later.
In the mean time, follow my advice, My Faithful Student.
Your Mentor,Princess Celestia

Sorry, I don't quite recall how Celestia signs off her letters with Twilight.
The audience he has with the Princesses will be interesting because, as I mentioned before, they'll be quick to notice the hint of the divine that Garrick holds within his soul, magnified by his connection to Tsunami via Katherine. Also, Luna will feel an especially sharp pang for Garrick since she's gone through similar herself. Being banished to the moon for a thousand years has its consequences, and there are ponies she won't really get to see again.

- classicdrogn - 09-03-2014

Quote:He is intelligent and... if not friendly, then at least not hostile and cooperative.

I think you mean, "He is intelligent and... if not friendly then at least not hostile, and cooperative." Unless he's not hostile, but not friendly or cooperative? That doesn't fit too well with the snippets you've already released.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

- Black Aeronaut - 09-03-2014

Ah, thanks. Bit of a grammatical snafu. :p Lemme get back in there and edit that...

Also, more episodes reviewed...
Episode 21 (Over a Barrel)
Twilight, following Princess Celestia's advice, wheedles and cajoles Garrick into going with them into Appleoosa. And this is where they find out that maybe, sometimes, it's not a good idea to coerce Garrick into something. Garrick is pretty well fed up with Applejack's bullheadedness and he makes it very clear by calling her out once again. Of course, to no avail. So, he decides to take matters into his own hands and blows the pie carts to hell using End of the Quiet Day (his semi-auto magazine-fed 40mm grenade launcher - this time he's using low explosive grenades with cellulose casing so as not to hurt anypony). And then he turns on the Buffalo tribe, laying down a most righteous smack-down using the Bokuto that Yosho gave him (tentative name: Funaho's Sliver).

Once he has everyone's attention...
"Stupid! Stupid! STUPID!!! All you is stupid no brain idiot! No want talk. No want compromise. No want deal. All think self more important than other. Home we have name: knucklehead! It mean you need beating with knuckle to get sense in head! YOU ALL KNUCKLEHEAD!!!" And at that point, he pulls open the utterly flabbergasted chief's mouth... and then shoves an apple pie into it.

After Garrick storms off, he's confronted by Twilight, where he says, "New thought: stupid be constant everywhere. Not limit to human. Pony pretty good at stupid, too."

At this point, Twilight is submitting two reports back to Princess Celestia: her regular Friendship Report, and now a Garrick Report. That night in her Garrick Report, she writes that Garrick does have a point, no matter how much it hurts to admit it. As utopian as Equestrian Society seems compared to Garrick's original home, there's still plenty of room for stupidity to go around so long as ponykind is willfully ignorant.
Episode 4 (Applebuck Season)When Garrick sees the potential for trouble, he decides to try and head it off. First, by bringing Applejack copious amounts of iced coffee. (I've actually checked on this one - IRL it seems that horses love coffee, even if it's black, and even has its uses (even horses get constipated). There was even one about a pony (!!) that drinks coffee and gets real hyper afterwards.)
Applejack, of course, is a bit suspicious. Why is Garrick suddenly being so helpful? Garrick explains that if she can't keep up with the work, then she'll probably screw up real bad. Like maybe accidentally hurting Rainbow Dash, accidentally giving ponies food poisoning, or even accidentally driving the rabbits into Ponyville proper. And of course.... she refuses!
Garrick facepalms and goes, "Remember I say about knucklehead? You be one now! I leave ponyville one day. Be back after. Maybe you learn sense by embarrassment."
Twilight is pretty upset by this turn of events as well. This was one of the few times Garrick has come forward of his own volition, and Applejack shot him down flat.
In the end, Applejack finds she owes Garrick an apology. Once she does, though... "Well, I go get truck.""Eh? What's a... truck?""You see. You like. You even wonder how you ever work without truck." And then Garrick brings out Scooby, the incredible diesel-electric truck, along with the trailer. The apples never got put away faster than that before, and Garrick finds himself carting of a couple of bushels of apples, a few cases of apple juice, and a jug of hard apple cider.
That night is first time since before Garrick arrived in Equestria he's ever gotten absolutely blitzed. This is not a real improvement, as Garrick is no longer a happy drunk, but a maudlin one.
Episode 15 (Feeling Pinkykeen)Oh man... Garrick is going to have all kinds of fun at poor Twilight's expense. He will, of course, try to explain that Pinky Pie is something of a precognitive talent that is somehow able to predict important events in the very short term, which manifest in the form of twitches, aches, and itches. The unfortunate thing is that, even by Washu's reckoning, such talents are difficult to understand and will likely remain shrouded in mystery for thousands of years to come. Of course... Twilight doesn't listen. (You'd think they'd learn by now.) So, Garrick will watch from a safe distance, calling out "Told you so!" whenever she shoots him a look.
Garrick's coup de grace is gonna come when the hydra shows up. He won't tolerate something that nasty living that close to Ponyville, so once it comes up out of the bog, he whips out Sunspark and let's it have it in the center-of-mass.
"WHAT DID YOU DO!?!?""I hit with sun-hot fluorine. Keep back. Air be poison for while.""you... you killed it with fluorine plasma!?"
And now Garrick earns the pony equivalent-title of "One Scary Sunuvabitch". And then the Doozy happens... Garrick makes sure to get a good picture of Twilight going up in flames - it is epic. In the end, Twilight learns a new term from Garrick: Tool - As in, "That person is such a tool." The best part about it is that the 'tool' in question needn't be intentionally manipulated - they can merely be led on by the situation in such a way to give others the impression of someone that is easy to manipulate. And Twilight relates to Princess Celestia in her Garrick Report that she had been acting like such a tool by letting herself get worked up so easily by Pinkypie's Pinkysense.
I know Gilda isn't being mentioned much. I haven't really figured out what role she'll really play, but she has a definite interest in Garrick. I'll figure it out once I start writing in earnest.

- Foxboy - 09-03-2014

"So, monkeyboy." The griffin sidled up to Garrick. "How do you hunt?"

"You to ask me, or to ask all human?"

"I'm just kinda curious how such a fragile-looking thing as you could hit top-tier predator on your world."

"Long old time human, to scare, to injure prey, to run, to not stop. Last to be most important. I to add not as fragile as to look." Garrick did his best to get across the concept of persistence hunting. "To track prey to make smart. Smart to make tool. Tool to make prey to collapse soon-soon." He takes a breath. "We to learn to make kill fast. Prey no to suffer, just to die."
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

- Black Aeronaut - 09-03-2014

Yeah, he'd probably add in something about how broken legs on his world was a death sentence to quadrupeds, but for his kind... as long as they had enough fat stored and it wasn't a compound fracture (bone protruding through skin), a broken leg was survivable because we'd just sit the hell down and heal. (And that because moving freaking HURTS!)

Soon enough, we figured out splints and the secrets of setting a broken limb so it can heal properly, becoming the only species on the planet that can rapidly (relatively speaking) recover from a broken bone.

(I don't buy into that line from the last Wil Smith movie about everything on the planet having evolved to kill humans. It's the other way around. We evolved to kill everything. We apparently even nearly killed our planet.)

- classicdrogn - 09-04-2014

(Raises finger)
(opens mouth)
(realizes this isn't the Politics forum)
Carry on.

(I wasn't about to argue against the assertion.)

The explanation of how endurance hunting works does need to include that they keep the prey moving without time to rest until it can't run away any more to make any sense, though. "You can run, but you'll just die tired" is a meme for a reason, after all.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

- Black Aeronaut - 09-17-2014

Point taken.

Have some more blow-by-blow.

Episode 12 (Call of the Cutey)
This one, oddly enough, starts out with Garrick attending class with the rest of the school fillies. Reason being that a good amount of social studies is covered in addition to Equish. However, Garrick can turn the tables when they get into more academic topics like mathematics - probably to the point where Cheerilee is left gobsmacked. Probably something about Fibonacci Numbers and how Snails picks up on them right away.

Of course, we get into the whole cutey mark thing. Garrick is quick to point out that humans do not gain cutey marks and this did not stop humans from becoming a force to be reckoned with. To wit, he goes on about the many things he is quite good at. When Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon start heckling him, he is quick to turn on the two and ask what the meanings behind their cutey marks are.

Afterwards, Garrick stands aside from Applebloom's quandary, but he does go to DT's and SS's parents about the fillies teasing 'Blank Flanks'. (Wondering if their parents would give him the brush-off or take him seriously.)

Once Applebloom has been through the wringer and met up with Sweetiebell and Scootaloo, Garrick will step in as an assistant to the three. Validation: as a being that doesn't gain a cutey mark, he is uniquely qualified to help find that 'hidden talent' every pony has. In reality, he's going to be making sure their antics don't get out of hand.

Episode 20 (Green Isn't Your Color)
Derailment time! A pack of Timber Wolves chases Garrick into Ponyville Park - it is only then when he has the room to work with that Garrick draws First Cut and let's them have it. The problem? He's wearing a Rarity-Original summer-weight travelers cloak with a pair of his own sturdy cotton cargo pants and a heavy cotton long-sleeve shirt (I'm a Texan - the heat don't bother me much - it's the dirt that gets mixed in with the sweat that does... and the damn mosquitoes) along with his trusty Navy boots.

The image that Garrick presents while battling the timber wolves is so striking that Photo Finish goes on a picture-snapping frenzy! Of course, when she declares that she must have Garrick, he politely declines. However, she persists by sending other photographers his way. Garrick finally gives, saying that he will agree to do photo shoots, but only the ones that he agrees to. In other words, Photofinish can't push him around willy-nilly.
The end result is that Garrick becomes known across Equestria, but the story behind the human remains a mystery for the populace.
Episode 10 (Swarm of the Century)Batten down the hatches! Parasprites are a'comin! Garrick goes out of his way to help Pinky Pie gather the needed instruments and the invasion of pests is more or less headed off before critical damage can be done to the town. Garrick and Katherine discover by a bizarre accident that the critters, when eaten by Garrick, provide him witch magical energy. Pinky Pie winds up leading the entire swarm down his gullet, and they later advise the Princess of how to deal with the infestation in Fillydelphia.
Gilda: "Wow, you humans really can eat anything!"Garrick: *BUUUUURRRP!*

Now I come to realize that I have yet to actually post any story-bits here. Whoopsie.
Well, that changes now, starting with me reposting the original first bit I posted in the other thread.

I woke up to the sting of half-dried tear tracks on my face. I felt
the ache of sorrow and depression gnawing in my chest.

Hello heartbreak, my old friend, I thought to myself
sorrowfully.

I took a deep, shuddering breath and let it out in a sigh, trying not
to start crying again. I was in no more pain. No soreness, no
stiffness. I was in perfectly good health – fat lot of good that
did me.

So, I simply turned over to my shoulder and pulled the blankets
tightly around me, barely even registering the fact I was nude
underneath them.

I then blinked at what I was confronted with: a canary-yellow pegasus
pony with a carnation-pink mane and tail. And she was looking at me
with frightened looking seafoam-green eyes.

You
guys are gonna love this! Dark-blue hair and emerald-green eyes –
a perfect mix between you two!

I couldn't stop the memory from coming. My Hikari! Will I ever
get to see her beautiful eyes!? I broke down right there and
then. This was just so unfair. It didn't matter if I was amongst
the most friendly people you could ever wish to meet.

My family was gone and I may never see them again!

I felt a soft pressure on my shoulder and I knew it was Fluttershy,
uncertain yet trying to comfort me, whispering sweet and loving
sounding words in a tongue so alien and yet so beautiful. And that
just made the hurt so much sharper.

I carefully turned away from her, knowing that the cold shoulder
treatment on its own would be enough to send the poor pegasus pony
into a tailspin of worry. I am sorry, Fluttershy... I am so
sorry.

Regardless, she stayed where she was at, softly rubbing my back and
cooing gently to me.

Eventually, someone else came into the room and there was a softly
spoken conversation. It was another filly, probably one of the Mane
6. It sounded like Twilight. Fluttershy's voice was fraught with
barely contained sorrow. She undoubtedly had no idea why I was so
sad, but my sorrow was obviously contagious despite the unknowing.
Oh if only you knew! You would not be able to contain your self.

“Garrick,” said Twilight's voice suddenly as I felt a hoof at my
shoulder once more.

My eyes shot open as I gave Twilight a shocked look. Twilight was
giving me a look filled with giddy hope.

“You name Garrick, yes?” she said slowly, her tongue not used to
forming the sounds and somewhat misshaping them. “I Twilight
Sparkle. I help you.”

“How did you learn my language so quickly?” I asked quietly, my
curiosity momentarily overriding my sorrow.

“You tree teach me,” she replied excitedly. “Scared me, but
she very nice. Why you so sad? You seem healthy – no problem
now.”

I felt my face scrunch up as I fought back the tears. “My
family... is gone.”

“Gone? Gone where?”

Dammit, please
don't make me go through this.
“No... I was taken away from my family... I can't go back! I can't
see them again! I won't get to see my children born!”

There it was. Horror. She finally had some inkling, some idea of
what I was going through, disconnected as she was. I didn't think
for a moment that she could even wrap her mind around this, but she
at least had some idea now.

“But... we can find way back!”

“No. You won't. Not even the Goddesses could discern how I
arrived in their world the first time. Goddesses, Twilight! More
powerful than your Princesses altogether.”

Twilight took an uncertain step backwards. “... How you know?”

I gave Twilight a sharp look. “How good are you at reading
English?”

She tilted her head. “I think I okay.”

I nodded and pulled up the holo-book function – this was a
modification of the manual utility that I came up with and Washu
coded up with glee. It was eBooks taken to their most logical
conclusion – the best of both worlds: absolute-fidelity digital
storage combined with holographic representation of the printed
materials. My entire library had been scanned into my C-pod, plus a
few other interesting things. Like Washu's thesis on
Interdimensional Transfictionality. I pulled up the entire journal
of notes with the thesis as an introduction and it appeared as a
composition book in my hand.

Twilight gasped and Fluttershy squeaked.

“This book is not real,” I said. “It is made of light and
force-fields projected by the device on my wrist using a tiny hole in
space. It will only work inside the walls of this room – it will
disappear if you try to leave with it.”

“What is in book?” asked Twilight with trepidation.

“The reason why I know all about you,” I said. “As well as how
I got here. You can try and find a way home for me, but I don't
think you will do any better than someone that makes Princess
Celestia look like a child by comparison.”

“What!?” cried out Twilight in shock.

I have to admit, that made me crack a small, grim smile.

“Washu Hakubi, the woman that wrote that book, is more than
twenty-thousand years old. Trust me, Celestia is like a child
compared to her.”

Twilight gave me a suspicious look, but took the book anyhow and
began to read. With the lavender unicorn occupied, I sighed and
pulled up the music app and summoned up the wireless ear buds,
stuffing them into my ears and putting on some music to help me cope.
I knew that once Twilight got into that book she wouldn't be
satisfied until she read it cover-to-cover several times.

That was fine by me. I had nothing but time.

Nothing at all but time.

Depression makes me sleepy. I dozed off at some point and was woken
by Twilight gently prodding me with a hoof.

“Sorry,” she said, offering me the book. I took it numbly and
she continued, “This book... strange. I not want believe... but it
make sense perfect. You... have real book?”

I shook my head. “No. You will have to transcribe it.”

Twilight nodded. “Okay. You come with.” She then looked over
at the side of my bed and I followed her gaze.

Oh... I never
did dismiss my door. Oops.

“That door... go to you home?”

I sighed. “Yeah. That's my home now, I guess.”

“You move it?”

“Yes. I can.”

“Good. You come to library. Live there with me.”

“I suppose so,” I said listlessly. I sat up slowly and looked
around. The hospital room hadn't changed at all. Fluttershy was
gone and Twilight was alone with me. With a sigh, I dismissed the
book, then I slowly got to my feet, pulling the bed sheet with me and
wrapping it around my waist.

Twilight gave me an odd look, but decided not to question it. As I
went to the door to my C-Space she followed. I gave her a stern look
at that.

Twilight had the decency to blush. “I... curious. Not look close
before.”

I sighed. “Whatever. Don't touch anything.”

“I no foal!” she cried out in idignation.

I snorted at that. “No. You're a scientist. You're curious. And
I have many very interesting items inside... some of which may not
like magic very much. So, until I know how your magic affects my
things... no touching.”

Twilight grumbled something in her native tongue, but didn't seem to
really disagree.

We entered my C-space and I went straight to the clothes racks I had
setup by my bed. It was only after I had set up my C-space that I
realized that I had made a very stereotypical-male type of mistake: I
forgot the closet.

So, rather than fret over it, I simply made use of the closet
organizers I had and set them up as an open-air clothes storage. It
actually seems to work rather well.

I took a look at Twilight and saw that she was staring intently at
me.

I sighed, “Whatever,” and let the bed sheet fall as I began by
picking out some underwear. This is a foregone conclusion for me.
If a person is not gonna give a shit about my modesty, then I just
won't give a shit about it either.

“You body strange,” said Twilight.

“My species is called 'Human'.” I said. “We are descended from
tree-dwelling apes that evolved to live on savannahs – big grassy
plains.” I then tapped the side of my head. “Excellent sense of
balance inside the inner-ear to compensate for not having a tail.
Excellent range of motion in our spines and our major joints. Good
eyesight, good depth perception, good hearing, very sensitive skin –
enough to detect air currents. Okay sense of smell... but we don't
track by smell. We simply learned how to pay attention to small
details.”

Twilight made an excited noise. “You is hunters!”

I nodded. “We're the best on our planet. We dominated the entire
world with our special hunting method: outlasting prey.”

Twilight tilted her head. “What you mean?”

“How long can a pony run for?” I asked.

She frowned at that. “Only few hour. Why?”

I grinned. It was not a nice one. “Humans may not be the fastest
runners on our planet. There are many that are much faster... but
nothing outlasts us. A human in peak fitness can run from sun-up to
sun-down... and then some.”

Twilight's eyes widened in shock. “No way!”

My grin got a bit wider. “Oh yes. In fact, I bet I can beat
Applejack running from Ponyville to Canterlot, easy. Sure, she may
get the lead at first, but I'll beat her by maintaining a steady pace
that she can't keep up with.”

“Wait,” said Twilight suddenly as she gave me a queer look.
“Open mouth?”

I obliged her by opening my mouth wide. One thing I am grateful for
was that Washu saw to the full restoration of my teeth.

“Your teeth... not really like carnivore.”

“Humans are omnivorous,” I said. “You see, we were not only
hunters, but gatherers as well. Males typically hunted and females
typically gathered. Eventually we developed agriculture and things
went from there. Our history is pretty messy.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “I think that constant.”

I had picked out what I would be wearing. Jeans, long-sleeved black
T-shirt, and my ever trustworthy Navy boots – still good thanks to
only being gently worn over the years. I then raised an arm and
inspected my state of cleanliness. I did smell a bit ripe... but not
too badly. It was as though I had bathed yesterday but forgot to put
on deodorant.

“How long have I been here?”

“You here five day. Spend most time sleep and heal. Thought you
dead – you make big hole in ground.”

I winced at that. I must have fallen from some incredible height or
something. The only thing that saved me was the durability
enhancements Washu gave me – the monomolecular carbon
reinforcements improving my all-around toughness, the lingering
medical nanomachines to quickly repair critical damage, and the
anti-shock treatment to my neurochemical system to prevent any trauma
from killing me outright and blunt the more negative affects of
shock.

It was a horrible thought, but at the time I kinda wished that I
didn't have those enhancements. It meant that I was still alive to
suffer this new loss. I felt it would have been so much more
merciful for me to have died on arrival to this foreign world.

At least now I
had some kind of baseline for survivability to really compare with,
I thought grimly to myself. Not that I'm going to go
looking for my death, but it is going to be very hard to find a
reason to keep going after this.

“You... okay?” asked Twilight Sparkle tentatively.

“No,” I replied honestly.

“Can... help?”

I gave her a look. “Can you?”

Put on the spot like that, Twilight looked down at the floor and
shuffled her hooves.

“I... not know how. You arrive... make strange energy. But no
magic. Book help me understand... but not know how send back.
Maybe... be friend?”

I sighed. “No. I'll answer your questions. But I would not like
to have any friends right now.”

Twilight gave me a bewildered look. “Why?”

“Because...
I may end up going to another world again against my will. Even if
you do help me by becoming my friend, I'll simply end up losing you,
too.” She gave me a mystified look at that and I sighed. “I
need to bathe real quick. Give me about ten minutes... You can look
around, but do not touch anything.”

Twilight grumbled once more and I took that as grudging acceptance.
I went to the bathroom, taking my clothes with me.

It all felt so surreal. Part of me felt like I should be home...
like if I walked out the door right now, I'd be gut-checked by Yuki
and reassured that this was all some terrible nightmare.

I've had nightmares in the past. They were nothing special. Just
bad feelings – somehow the idea that it was all a dream hovered in
the background, just far enough out of reach to keep me from dreaming
more lucidly.

But
now... Goddess, I could only wish this were a dream.

That thought, though, brought something to mind as I scrubbed myself
down.

Katherine? How
are you holding up?

I'm doing good,
Gar-kun. And I have great news!

What is it?
I thought, daring to raise my hopes.

I still have my
connection to Tsunami-sama! I'm still getting energy from her!

I sighed, relieved. It had been something that I hadn't even dared
to think about – that if Katherine had lost her connection to
Tsunami, then that she would inevitably lose her sapience and become
a normal tree. The worst part is that it would not have been unlike
losing someone to Alzheimer’s Disease... I was glad I did not have
to see it, but I could still imagine it... every day, Katherine's
usually vibrant voice getting slower, her words clumsier, until
finally... silence.

At the same time, though, I was dismayed because there was still no
word about going back home... not that I really expected it.

You should make
friends here, Gar-kun, said
Katherine with uncharacteristic soberness.

I
sighed. I don't want new friends... I want my family.
Besides, if I make new friends and we jump again...

I didn't need to finish the thought.

Katherine
made a mental sigh. This is going to be a very lonely
existence, isn't it?

I'm sorry...
just... keep me posted.

I will.

I
rinsed and dried off, then got dressed. When I exited the bath, I
found Twilight surrounded by books from my library. I sighed at
that, but didn't feel any real ire. Twilight was simply doing what
she does best – getting lost in a library. As I approached I saw
that she had a reasonable cross section of my library. Some math and
physics text books, a couple of automotive repair manuals, several
science fiction novels by Anne McCaffery and Diane Duane (she was
currently reading So You Want to Be a Wizard),
a few mangas and graphic novels... but what caught my eye instantly
was my copy of The Hite Report
sitting off to the side.

I was just glad she hadn't started reading that already!

Twilight made some sound of dismay in her native tongue as picked up
the book and tucked it under my arm.

“Trust me, you're not ready for this one by a long shot.”

She gave me a challenging look. “What it about?”

I gave her a nasty grin. “A research report on the sexual habits
and preferences of human females.”

Twilight blushed a bit. “But... why that bad to know?”

“Twilight. We humans have sex for simple pleasure.”

Twilight's blush turned radioactive. “For... pleasure?” She
then blinked and said, “You right, I not ready.”

With a satisfied nod, I went and shelved the book.

“You may borrow the rest of those books, but I'd like them back in
a fortnight.”

Suddenly, I was glomped. I looked down and saw Twilight Sparkle had
her forelegs wrapped firmly around me waist while she squealed
something joyously in her own language. She then stopped and looked
up at me. I simply sighed and raised an eyebrow at her. Twilight
chuckled nervously and let go of me, settling back onto all four of
her hooves.

“You ready?” she asked.

“I just need my shoes,” I replied as I picked up my navy boots
from the chair I'd left them on.

“Looks heavy,” said Twilight eying the footwear.

“A bit,” I allowed. “You ponies have hooves. Humans simply
adapted and invented. These are tough, durable, and give good
protection. There is even steel inside the tips to protect the most
vulnerable parts of my feet.”

“What that?”

“My toes,” I replied, holding a socked foot up and wiggling the
appendages. “They're actually fairly important. Over the course
of human evolution, they've gone from being prehensile limbs to
serving the sole purpose of accurately and evenly distributing
weight, thereby improving our overall agility.”

“That why you not need tail!” said Twilight excitedly. “Amazing!
Human like no other creature on world!”

“Yeah yeah,” I grumbled as I tied my boots. “Humans are
awesome, I get it. Now let's get going. I'd like to get this all
over with.”

Hope you guys enjoy this. It's actually pretty tough to write at times because Garrick's loss really is depressing to think about. He'll get a bit better once he starts getting messages from home, though.

- Bluemage - 09-17-2014

I do... and yes, it is. Surprised the whole Katherine/Tsunami link didn't have a bigger impact on Garrick, though. It's a fairly simple logical progression from 'tree is still linked to Tsunami' to 'tree is still linked to TM-verse', to 'link might be used to trace location and/or communicate'.
Maybe it's a personality thing. I know that, if I were cut off like that, depression would be my second or third response- my first would be 'where am I', and my second would be 'how do I get back, or at least back in touch?', so that piece of information would've put me in Project Mode.

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

- deadpan29 - 09-17-2014

As with the Tenchi stage, I think a little more time in the "what are you, what is this, etc" stage before Garrick settles in to the group would be good.

In the Tenchi setting, Garrick had a set up with Washu to alert her when something from his foreknowledge was happening. How far out does his MLP knowledge go and is he going to have a similar setup with Twilight or the princesses?
----------
No, I don't believe the world has gone mad. In order for it to go mad it would need to have been sane at some point.

- Black Aeronaut - 09-18-2014

Quote:Bluemage wrote:
I
do... and yes, it is. Surprised the whole Katherine/Tsunami link didn't
have a bigger impact on Garrick, though. It's a fairly simple logical
progression from 'tree is still linked to Tsunami' to 'tree is still
linked to TM-verse', to 'link might be used to trace location and/or
communicate'.
Maybe it's a personality thing. I know that, if I
were cut off like that, depression would be my second or third response-
my first would be 'where am I', and my second would be 'how do I get
back, or at least back in touch?', so that piece of information would've
put me in Project Mode.

I should go a little more into depth on that. Thing is, though, Garrick knows this stuff is way beyond his paygrade - Washu herself is barely able to figure it out, and even then it's tricky business for her because it's transcending dimensions she's only ever heard about. He knows that if messages are possible, then the others back home are gonna figure out how to send one as quickly as they can (which will probably be much faster than what it would take for him and Katherine to figure out). This is pretty much why Garrick mentions that Katherine should 'keep him posted'. Also, if she knew it was then Katherine would have told him it was possible right away.

Quote:Deadpan29 wrote:
As
with the Tenchi stage, I think a little more time in the "what are you,
what is this, etc" stage before Garrick settles in to the group would be
good.

In the Tenchi setting, Garrick had a set up with Washu to alert her when
something from his foreknowledge was happening. How far out does his
MLP knowledge go and is he going to have a similar setup with Twilight
or the princesses?

Oh, no worries. He's still very much in the settling in phase. He's going to be studying Equish under Twilight, trying to get the hang of the language while the rest of the Mane Six come by and gawk and ask about a million questions.
Rainbow Dash will want to know what he is physically capable of.Rarity is curious about his fashion sense since he wears clothes all the time.Fluttershy just wants to make sure he is alright - she's pretty shaken up by her earlier experience with him.Applejack is a little curious about the work ethic of an 'endurance hunter' like Garrick. Also, whether he can be trusted - unknown meat eater, you know.Pinky Pie just wants to cheer him up and throw him a party.
I think, out of them all, Pinky Pie is going to pose the most trouble. She is going to be relentless, even after she understands about what happened to him. (It'll make her mane deflate some, but then she'd bounce back saying that in this case it's even more critical she cheer him up.) She'll eventually get him to agree to a small party with just him and the Mane Six, but that would be about it for the time being. And of course, during the lead-up to that party, he's going to be dealing with each of the Mane Six in turns and combinations.
As for setting up the Pondstrider system... it's not quite so urgent here. Most things he warns ponies about are just simple interpersonal affairs. And in other cases he can always take direct action, as implied with the episode Feeling Pinky Keen - when the chips are down, blast them into oblivion.

EDIT: And now, more blow-by-blow, because why not?
Episode 14 (Suited For Success)Garrick
has been opening up more and more as of late, even going as far to be a
special mentor for the Cutey Mark Crusaders. To this end, he decides
to liaise between Rarity and the rest of the Mane Six. Between working
with Rarity and Photo Finish, Garrick has been picking up a lot of
knowledge about fashion in general. When he confronts the Mane Six, it
will be with the current fashion trends in Canterlot, and knowledge of
why certain things come off as just plain silly looking. He'll also
encourage Rarity to spend time one-on-one with each of her fellow
Element Bearers with a sketch pad and work out in advance what the
dresses should be like. Also, Garrick pushes Rarity to pace herself
better.
With this, the first fashion show with Hoity Toity goes
off without a hitch. Of course, he still sets the demand of sevnety-two
dresses in less than a week. At which point Garrick says to give her
at the bare minimum one month... unless he is to give her a generous
start-up bonus to hire on new staff and purchase new equipment to help
make the deadline he's setting. And thus, with input from Rarity over
man pony-hours required to make a dress and what good hired help goes
for, Garrick and Hoity Toity get into it.
After all that, Rarity says Garrick's suit is going to be pro bono.
"So, tell me, Darling, what is it that you want to say to everyone a the Gala?""... I craftsman, warrior, and adopted son of proud royal family. I want armor. Intimidating, but noble.""But Garrick, forging armor is beyond me, darling! Simply too much... dirt.""I forge. You just design and fashion accessory."
Episode 13 (Fall Weather Friends)"You two act like clown. Iron Pony just glorified rodeo. Ironman... That a triathlon that trouble even human. If you compete at human level... maybe then I be impressed."
And then later...
"Applejack... did we just get our flanks kicked by a tall, tailless thing that walks on just two legs?""Rainbow Dash, we got our flanks kicked by a critter that can run down its food until that food can't get up and run no more. Just you be glad we ain't on his menu, because he looks like he can handle more. Besides, didn't he kick your flank before?""I was goin' easy on him. If I knew he had bones made of diamond I'd have cut loose on him."
Episode 19 (A Dog and Pony Show)Oh man, Garrick is going to make those diamond dogs wish for death when he produces a sonic weapon he calls 'The Screaming Mimi'. Once he has them boiling out of their hidey-holes they'll be on the receiving end of beat downs that makes the one he gave RBD look take in comparison.
RBD: "I take back everything I ever said about him not being tough - I've never seen anyone make limbs move like that before."Twi: "Rainbow, I don't think their limbs were supposed to move like that."

- Black Aeronaut - 10-11-2014

Man, I really haven't posted much here lately!
Time to rectify that. Also, let me know how I did on The Doctor.

Before I was allowed to leave I was given a very through physical.
Even though I grumbled about it, Nurse Redheart was gentle about it
all. I understood why, though. Now that I was healthy and whole,
they wanted to establish what my normal baselines were. This meant
taking my vitals while I was exerting myself.

“You need run harder,” Twilight said after Redheart murmured
something in her ear. “Nurse say you not even try. Need see what
heart like under strain.”

“Oh is that all?” I grumbled as I rolled my eyes. And then I
began to sprint on the treadmill. Oddly enough... I didn't really
feel the strain like I would normally have. I mean, sure, I could
feel the effort that I was putting into it... but the pain that tells
you you're nearing your limit simply wouldn't come.

Of course, the body enhancements were already starting to take
affect. I wondered if this is how it felt for Yuki.

Yuki... sweet,
loveable, little Yuki... stealing more and more of my heart with that
smile of hers... Will I ever see it again?

“Hey? Why stop?” came Twilight's voice suddenly, knocking me out
of my reverie.

I looked at Twilight with tears stinging in my eyes. At least Nurse
Redheart was taking this well.

“Have you ever known what it was like to lose someone that was a
part of you?” I asked Twilight as I sat down on the now motionless
treadmill.

Twilight's eyes widened a bit and she shook her head.

“There were four women – female humans – that are very special
to me. They are all strong, beautiful, and remarkable women. The
youngest... she always surprises me. She is not physically strong
because she is so young... but she more than makes up for it with an
indomitable spirit. You cannot break her. She'll only smile at you
and ask, oh so sweetly, for even more. The only way you can hurt her
is to take her family away.

“And to her, I am her family. I am the man she wants as her
husband. And I can only hope that the others are helping her as much
as possible, because for me this is taking an effort of will to not
just lay down and die.”

Twilight
swallowed hard at that. Nurse Redheart asked Twilight a question and
there was a brief exchange between the two. Suddenly, the Nurse gave
me a look, and then began nuzzling me, saying something in a soothing
tone.

I didn't have to wonder for long though. Twilight translated for me.

“She say, 'No be sad.' That 'You no be lost forever. You find
home soon.'”

I sighed as I got up, gently pushing the Nurse away. “I hope so,
Twilight. I really do hope so. Now... how much more does Nurse
Redheart need?”

The two ponies had a brief exchange, and Twilight said, “No more.
She get plenty data. Also, you not joke on running. I see data.
Really can run many hour.”

I sighed heavily. “Twilight... can we get going?”

“Why? What wrong?”

“I'm tired and I would like to sleep in my own bed. By the way,
how did you find a bed big enough for me?”

Twilight shrugged. “We have being called Minotaur. Is your size.”
Twilight suddenly blinked at that. “What? You have name for
Minotaur in your language?!”

I nodded. “As well as unicorn, pegasus, alicorn, hydra, manticor,
and griffon. All of them are mythological creatures where I'm from.”

“But how you...” Twilight then blinked and then hoofed her face.
“Oh. Transfictionality. I get now.”

Afternoon was giving way to evening and the market was just now
shuttering their doors and windows. Ponies everywhere were on their
way back home, either from their day jobs or with the goods and wares
they'd purchased. And everyone of them stopped to stare at me, all
in varying degrees of curiosity, surprise, and even a few in horror.

I think the only reason they hadn't broken out into outright panic
was because Twilight was escorting me.

We made it back to her home, the library tree, with no incident and I
found that the tree was a lot larger than the cartoons made it out to
be – it had to be in order to accommodate the library that was held
inside it.

I put that aside, though, as I carefully ducked through the library's
entrance – it certainly was not scaled for anyone larger than, say,
Big Macintosh.

“I don't know if this is going to work as a regular thing,” I
said as I came upright again.

Twilight hummed at that thoughtfully. “Maybe we put door outside
when other pony used to you.”

“Maybe,” I sighed as I got my first good look at the place. It
was much nicer inside that the cartoons implied. There was a lot
less pink – all the walls were a comfortable raw-wood color, and
every available space was packed full of books. Nearby was the loft
where Twilight and Spike slept, along with the stairs that led up
there as well as to the balcony. I had zero notion whatsoever about
those stairs supporting my weight.

There suddenly came a young, slightly scratchy sounding male voice
from the room in back.

Spike the Baby Dragon came in, with two plates in hand and balancing
a third on his head. When he saw me looking at him he startled and
would have dropped the plate on his head had I not reached down and
plucked it away.

There was a short, somewhat heated exchange between Twilight and
Spike. I could guess that Spike was a little upset that he didn't
get more warning about my arrival, though I think the third plate of
food belied that. Perhaps he wasn't aware of the nature of his
guest? Probably – that'd be par for the course around here.

Twilight noticed me looking on with a raised eyebrow and then gave me
a nervous little smile and laugh.

“I sorry. This Spike, my brother. He not expect you.”

I nodded. “Well, let him know that I apologize for the
inconvenience and that I'm looking forward to working with him on
transcribing that book.”

Twilight relayed my sentiments and Spike made a surprised sound that
I'm pretty sure translated into 'What book?'

Before Twilight could say much, I pulled up the book from my library
and had it appear in front of Twilight, which caused her to yelp in
surprise. She quickly mastered herself, and gave me a quick thank
you before turning back to Spike, Washu's book held in her telepathic
grasp, as she began to go over everything with the dragonlet.

I simply left them to it, noting that the plates, now set aside by
Spike, were all identical in contents, so I set to munching on what
was inevitably my share. Fortunately, there was a fork provided,
even if it was a bit small for my hands. The food, while being a
simple fair of a leafy salad with an assortment of other vegetables
and a zingy vinaigrette dressing, was delicious and it was in a
filling portion.

Spike and Twilight looked over at me in mild surprise as they heard
me munching on a particularly crunchy bit.

“Don't worry about me,” I said idly, waving them on. “I can
fend for myself. Carry on.”

Twilight gave Spike a shrug, made some mild mannered sounding
comment, and then joined me at the table where I was kneeling. Note
to self – procure a cushion for my knees.

Over the course of the meal, Spike asked, through Twilight, all the
usual questions. For the most part, Twilight answered for me, but
there were a few questions she had to relay to me for clarification.

“What about family?” asked Twilight.

I raised an eyebrow. “What about them?”

“Can you tell about family?”

I sighed at that. “This... I wanted to avoid this,” I said as I
looked up to the odd ceiling. It reminded me suddenly of being in
Tenju, so I looked back at Twilight, who was giving me a look
somewhere between expectant and worried. “Fine,” I said, all but
snapping. “I'll tell you. But do not expect me to repeat this
often, if at all.”

And so I told them everything. Of my original life and its pitfalls
and follies and its terrible pains and sorrows, and then of my second
life...

About my brothers, Tenchi and Yosho.

My sisters, Ayeka and Sasami.

My friends, Mihoshi and Ryoko, who were so close they might as well
have been sisters.

My beloved mentors, Washu-chan and Yakage.

My Mother and Aunt, Funaho and Misaki.

My Grandparents, Seto and Utsusumi.

My Father, the Emperor, Asuza Masaki Jurai.

And then my wonderful women, Minagi, Yuki, Yume, and Achika.

It was an awkward process. Twilight would whisper the translation to
Spike, but would become so caught up in the tale that she would lose
herself until Spike jabbed her in the ribs with an irritated
expression. And then she would give us embarrassed smiles as she
requested that I back up a bit.

She was utterly astounded at the situation I had found myself in. A
man yanked out of place by a person of evil intents, adopted into a
fantastically powerful family, and urged to cultivate his own share
of power... among other things.

“It strange you have many bride,” said Twilight as she set about
to tucking a more-tired-than-he'd-admit Spike. “But not unheard.
Among pony, we call such family 'Herd'. Fall out of practice recent
century. This despite gender imbalance. Ratio one colt, two and
half filly.”

“Why did it fall out of practice?” I asked.

Twilight shrugged. “Not know certainly. Think culture shift to
monogamy. Many book and play of monogamous romance start two-hundred
year ago.”

I thought about that for a second. “Might have been Celestia.
It's a clever method of gently influencing the populous to control
population growth.”

Twilight gave me a shocked look. “How can say thing like that!?”

“Twilight, my Grandmother is a master manipulator, and I find her
methods admirable. If this is what Celestia did, then she's not any
different from my Grandmother. Hell, I bet Seto would love to spend
an evening with Celestia. I can only imagine the debauchery those
two would get up to.”

“But.. Princess is proper ruler!”

“Just a facade,” I said through a yawn. “Just you ask her
yourself. She'll take you aside and tell you in private – she's
bored to tears most days.” I yawned again and looked out the
window. Only the barest glow of dusk remained, the sun having long
since set. “I'm going to go for a walk.”

“But... what about you get lost!?”

“I can find my way back. I'm not stupid. And I have good night
vision – once the moon is high I'll be able to see very clearly.”

I got up, leaving Twilight to splutter as I went to the door,
carefully ducked through it, and began to make my way to the west.
However, Twilight insisted on following me.

“Can't you take a hint?” I asked acerbically. “I want some
time alone.”

“But... I worry... you might become hurt.”

I sighed heavily – so this is what it was about. I turned and
looked down at Twilight sternly.

“Twilight Sparkle,” I stated loudly. Kinda wished she had a
middle name – it would have had more impact that way. Twilight
Andromeda Sparkle would have been nice – it not only sounds lovely,
but it has gravitas, too. “I have been dealing with depression for
more than thirty years and even though it still hurts me, I am not
going to do anything to harm myself. I just want some time alone so
I can sort through my emotions without anyone distracting me with
warm and fuzzy feelings. Whether anyone likes it or not this is
still something I have to deal with myself, because no one else can.
Do you understand me?”

“Yes,” said Twilight after a long pause. “Just worry you go
into Everfree Forest.”

“No. I was looking for that big hill near Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Oh.”

“Besides, if I go to the Everfree Forest, you shouldn't worry for
me. I'm probably far more dangerous than the most dangerous
creatures there.”

“You not have claw or scale.”

I laughed. Goddess help me, I laughed. She was so innocent, so
naïve. I knew right then and there that I would turn her world view
so upside down that by the time Discord showed up she was going to
chew him up and spit him back out.

As Twilight backed away in fear from my borderline-insane laughter, I
looked down upon her and spoke,

“Twilight Sparkle, remember always what makes us humans special:
Mother Nature has never been kind to my people. She did not grant us
the gifts of sharp teeth or claws, nor of scales to protect our
hides. So we forged our own in fire and crafted them out of steel!”
And then I slapped my C-Pod and called out, “First Cut!”

The blade, naked of it's sheath, dropped into my waiting hand.

“Behold my claw.”

“Ah, may I?” asked Twilight. I nodded my consent and Twilight
levitated the blade out of my hand with her magic and began to look
it over carefully. Of course, she probably knew a few things about
swords, her brother being Captain of the Royal Guard and all.

“You make this?” she asked.

“I did.”

“It very good. Not best, but still excellent. Good style. Good
structure. Very heavy, but good balance. What composition?”

“Seventy-six-point-two-five percent iron. Point-seven-five percent
carbon. Four percent chromium. One percent vanadium.” I then
grinned as I knew the last bit would knock her for a loop. “And
eighteen percent tungsten.”

“Tungsten?! No wonder this so heavy! How you forge it?”

“With a very, very hot fire.” I then tapped my C-Pod and called
for my belt and sheath. Thus provided, I put the belt on around my
waist, sheath on my left side, then motioned to have my sword back.

“You still worried for my safety?” I asked as she passed me back
the sword and I sheathed it.

“No! Now worried for other pony safety!” griped the unicorn.

“The only people that should worry about me hurting them are
monsters. Now please, let me be for some time. I promise I will
come back later.”

“Argh! Alright! But you come back or else I come find you.”

She then turned and trotted off, leaving me to myself. With a sigh,
I went out looking for that nice hill.

I sighed as I heard the approaching hoof beats. Had it really been
that long? I checked the time on my C-Pod – Nope, didn't think
so.

“I didn't think you'd come after me so soon, Twilight,” I said
wearily. “Are you really that worried?”

“And here I thought Bonbon was lying like a rug,” said a voice in
perfect English. I blinked at that and jolted upwards.

Standing before me was not a man, but a pony with a brown coat, black
mane, and a befuddled expression.

“Oh hell no,” I grumbled. I then side stepped to get a look at
the pony's flank. Sure enough, there was a pocket watch cuteymark
there. I sighed to myself and looked the pony in the eyes. “As I
live and breathe. I never thought I'd ever meet you, Doctor.”

“Well, glad to see my reputation precedes me. I'm afraid you have
me at a bit of a disadvantage. Mister?”

“Garrick Grimm. And I'm a man who's every bit as misplaced as you
are.”

The Doctor snorted at that. “That's putting it mildly. Well, you
seem to be on the up and up. What do you know?”

“Happen to know about a woman named Washu Hakubi?”

“We bump into each other now and then. What of her?”

“The version I know is my Mentor and, don't let this get back to
her right away, also a Goddess who's slumming it in the name of
Science.”

“Bollocks! You really are a jumper, aren't you? What the bloody
hell happened?”

“If you know Washu then you probably know about Clay, right?”

The pony sniffed. “A dirty dog if there ever was any...” A look
of realization came over his face. “He didn't.”

I scoffed. “Worse. The Masaki household was just my first
layover.”

The Doctor then proceeded to curse up a blue streak in a number of
languages. Take notes, Katherine. Some of that might come in
handy later.

Katherine's giggle echoing through my head made me smile a little.
Soon enough, though, the Doctor had gotten all the vitriol out of his
system and he turned to me.

“Right then. Best come along with me.” And with that he began
to trot back towards Ponyville.

“You think you can get me sorted out?” I asked, a glimmer of hope
shining in my heart as I jumped up and jogged after him. “Send me
back home?”

“I hope I can,” the ponified Galifreyan said noncommittally.
“I'll need to run a few tests to be sure. I think I know what's
going on, but I really do hope I'm wrong.”

“Shit, you just had to go and say it.”

Under the cover of darkness, the Doctor and I made it back to his
home, a watchmaker's shop with a cozy looking set of apartments up
top. Of course, that wasn't where he really made his home at.

The TARDIS is, and always has been, a blue police call box. And the
inside has always been a ramshackle tumbledown collection of rusty
bits and pieces all thrown together into the semblance of what
someone thought would be what a time machine looks like. And this is
to say nothing of the random bits of kipple left laying all over the

place.

Let it be known that the good Doctor is indeed one of us, for he is
the King of Messy Desks.

“Before I go," I said as he did something around me with his sonic screwdriver, "would you mind teaching me to make one of those?”

“Sonic screwdriver?” asked the Doctor as he poked at me with said
device. “Probably not. Terribly complex little gadget.”

I was not about to let that sentiment go on without a fight. “You forgetting who I said my mentor was?”

“'Course not. Washu Hakubi. Heck of a scientist – give her
enough time she'll work anything out. Hell of a drinker, too.”

“And?”

“And I think this is too complex for you.”

I glared at the Doctor and began to recite a very simple, very basic
block transfer equation – it was literally the block transfer math
version of a 'Hello World' program. It was something that Washu had
been encouraging me to dabble in on the offhand chance that I needed
to do some hard-coding work on my C-Space.

Also, pretty much everything Katherine did was block transfer
equations.

It was pretty dangerous stuff to work with, really. One misspelled
parameter could blow you to kingdom come. But the Hello World
program was a safe bit of math that Washu had thoroughly drilled me
on, and one of the few I felt comfortable in casually dropping in any
given setting.

The Doctor simply gaped at me as the words 'Hello World' appeared
over my head in a garish, glowing neon-green and in a big, friendly
sans font. After the words faded from sight, he then opened his
mouth, closed it as he reconsidered, and repeated the process no less
then five times.

Finally, he managed to settle on something. “Bloody Americans.”

“Oi. I'm a Texan first. Federalist nation, you know.”

“You know a party trick. I'm not teaching you anything.”

“I know the basic concepts, which puts me leagues ahead of most
people you come across.”

“Someone else drummed it into your head.”

“Someone you know and respect, and who felt that I was worthy of
it.”

“Bollocks to that! That woman is a self-professed mad genius, and
I wholeheartedly agree with her!”

“Oh, c'mon. She's not crazy... at least not anymore than you
are. She just likes to have a good time.”

“Her idea of a good time and mine are two entirely different
things!”

“Kettle, cried out the pot, thou art black.”

“Bastard.”

“Am not and you know it. Look, I'm a jumper. You said it
yourself. And there's no telling when I'm gonna find myself up to my
armpits in Goddess only knows what kind of trouble. So how about you
do the right thing and show me how to make that wonderful little
gadget of yours so I'll have a holdout to get myself out of the shit
and into the roses when it counts the most.”

“Now you see here! You say you were one of Washu's students?
Someone she favored? Then prove it. Invent something yourself.
Build something you can use like my sonic screwdriver to get yourself
out of trouble. Impress me.”

I had to admit, he stopped me cold with that one. If there was one
thing Washu was always pushing me to do, it was to stop standing on
other peoples' shoulders and make something new. This was why many
of my weapon designs, save for First Cut, departed so far from the
norms.

This situation was no different. If I wanted a macguffin the likes
of the sonic screwdriver, then I was going to have to think up one
for myself.

I then smiled at the Doctor. “Okay then, Doc. You want me to
knock your socks off? You got it. Just don't be disappointed if I
manage to pull it off.”

“Blinder! That's the spirit! Now, about your current issue...”

“Hit me, Doc.”

“Right. You're too heavy.”

“Heavy? Okay, I know you're not talking about physical mass.”

“Of course not. Temporal mass. The energy with which you've hit
this time-space combined with your temporal mass has you mired in the
muck.”

“So it's like time-space is quicksand (and yes, I know what real
quicksand is like) and I've somehow managed to get up to my neck in
it?”

“An excellent metaphor. Fortunately, someone's got a line tied to
you – I'm honestly not quite sure what to make of it, but I can
tell that the energy signature is Juraian. They seem to be trying to
pull you back, but you're stuck fairly well.”

“It's probably Tsunami. She managed to get some kind of tether
onto me before I got punted.” Suddenly, for some weird reason I
got the image of two children with tin can phones talking to each
other. “Say, Doc? Would it be possible to send some kind of
resonance along this line? A wave of some kind?”

“You want to send a message? Is it important?”

“My fiance is pregnant.”

“Ah... that would be important. Let me see what I can work out.
You're not even going to ask about getting unstuck?”

“Doc, you said I got a Goddess on the other end trying to pull me
out of here. If that's not working, then I doubt there's anything
better you can try.”

“Do you ever get tired of being genre savvy?”

“Sometimes, Doc, but it has its advantages.”

- deadpan29 - 10-13-2014

Something I'd like to see in this is Spike getting an older male role-model. Someone to help him get past the butt-monkey role he too often gets stuck in.
I'm trying to get a handle on the translation effect you have going here, and it seems odd to me that you have something that is maybe one step above Hulk-speak but somehow the following

Quote:“Seventy-six-point-two-five percent iron. Point-seven-five percent carbon. Four percent chromium. One percent vanadium.” I then grinned as I knew the last bit would knock her for a loop. “And eighteen percent tungsten.”

gets communicated loud and clear.
----------
No, I don't believe the world has gone mad. In order for it to go mad it would need to have been sane at some point.

- Black Aeronaut - 10-13-2014

Basicly, what happened is that Katherine made a link to Twilight and downloaded English and Japanese into her mind. Twilight is doing Hulk Speak because, while she has comprehension down pat, she's still getting used to actually speaking the language. Besides, that's just basic math. Twilight practically does that in her sleep!

- Bluemage - 10-13-2014

...and, to build on Deadpan's comment, I found myself surprised that Twilight's familiar with all those metals.
Then, I looked it up. Turns out that vanadium is the last of them to be discovered/isolated, and that happened in the 19th century. Equestria could've isolated all of them already, even without magic.
Not sure it's relevant, but I found that an interesting bit of verisimilitude.

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

- Black Aeronaut - 10-13-2014

And, of course, isolating an element for scientific study isn't exactly the same thing as isolating it for industrial use. That's a whole different beast altogether, and I don't see the Equestrians having much use for it.

Therefore, for Twilight to realize she's holding that much tungsten in her telekinetic grasp... and the fact that its alloyed, forged, and hardened... well! She's just gonna have to blow through those books as quickly as she can, that way she can get a couple of books on metallurgy out of Garrick's library.

- robkelk - 10-14-2014

One wonders what Twi's reaction will be when she realizes exactly how large an environmental footprint is left by the mining and refining of metals. She isn't what one would call a worldly filly, after all...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

- Bluemage - 10-14-2014

Quote:robkelk wrote:
One wonders what Twi's reaction will be when she realizes exactly how large an environmental footprint is left by the mining and refining of metals. She isn't what one would call a worldly filly, after all...

Some period of horror, followed by a frantic search through her books and/or SCIENCE!
"THERE IS A BETTER WAY OUT THERE, AND I'M GOING TO FIND IT!"

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

- Black Aeronaut - 10-14-2014

More than that, I think she'll try to find a way to reverse the damage done. Especially when Garrick shows her this:

- Black Aeronaut - 04-25-2017

M'not dead yet!
I've gone through the originally posted bits and they've been rubbing me wrong. It took me a while to figure it out, and I realized that the it was just TOO melodramatic, so I worked on it some so it goes down a bit smoother.

Oh, and I added a bit more. Figured you guys might like to know that there's some actual PROGRESS. Wink

(There's still going to be a few more changes to make once we get the rest of Tenchi Muyo OVA 4... but I don't think those will have a HUGE impact on Convalescence.)

Pain.

My whole body ached.

I didn't want to open my eyes, but I knew I had to. I had no idea what had happened and I needed to assess my situation.

Slowly, I cracked them open. To my relief, the light outside was bright, but no more painful than normal. I squinted, groaning from the pain of flexing my facial muscles – even those were sore, dammit! Within seconds, though, my eyes began to adapt and I was able to start taking in the details.

I was in some sort of room... it was like an old hospital. I slowly turned my head to the side and saw a day-lit window with a cast-iron radiator under the sill. An armoire sat against near the corner and there was a door right in front of the bed. Next to me was another bed, empty, and just past that was an open door leading to a hallway beyond. The bed was an old looking sort – all porcelain-coated metal and in a plain white color.

In fact, everything in the room was white.

Why wouldn't it be? In hospitals, like most ordnance bunkers, everything is white so you can better see the contaminants when they appear.

So I had been receiving medical care. Which meant that I was under someone's care. I felt around a bit, shifting my arms and legs, even though they burned from soreness.

I was not restrained, which is a very good sign.

I noticed that my left arm felt particularly pained. I looked down and grimaced as I saw an IV line taped to my wrist, the thick needle embedded deeply into my arm.

I hate these things with a pink and purple passion, but I knew better than to mess with it. On the other hand, though, that didn't mean I couldn't get someone to see about pulling it out for me. I looked around some more and saw a night stand by my side with what looked like an old AM radio... and a silver bell with a black handle, standing upright on the nightstand.

I groped for it clumsily, almost knocked it over, but I got my hand around the handle just before I could push it over the edge and then gave it a shake. The clear, ringing tone was a bit louder than I expected, but I knew this to be a welcome thing.

I heard a gasp at the door and automatically turned to the sound. All I caught was the blurring of blue hair as it disappeared down the hall.

Was it just my imagination or did I hear hoof-beats? Probably just the acoustics.

Whatever had happened, I hoped that answers were waiting for me. I was already starting to feel anxious. I know that Dr. Clay had attacked, but I somehow felt that he was unsuccessful. Even so, I was worried for my ladies and my adoptive family.

The clip-clopping sound got my attention and I turned to the door, anxiously waiting...

A small, white equine figure entered the room. It had a white coat and a pink mane. PINK!? And even stranger was she was wearing an old-fashioned nurse's cap.

She then made some sort of sound... she was talking to me! It was very strange and fluid sounding, almost like the elvish language from Tolkein's Lord of the Rings series.

And then I saw the mark on the equine's flank – a red cross with small, pink hearts at the corners, pointing inwards.

Nurse Redheart.

I was in the world of My Little Pony.

I had crossed dimensional boundaries once more... and the reason for my anxiety fell into place as I felt my heart sink down to my feet.

I tried to hold it back, but it was impossible. My breath caught in my throat and I held the outcry back, letting it out only as a faint, high-pitch wheeze as my eyes teared up against my will.

Dimly, I heard worried and distraught sounding noises from Redheart and I felt her hooves gently probing at my face the way a mother tries to comfort a weeping child. The expression was clear here: Oh my goodness! What's wrong!? Can you tell me where it hurts!?

I had to check my C-Space. I needed to know that was working still! Oh dear sweet Tsunami please tell me I still had Katherine!!!

I made a frantic shucking motion over my left arm. Get this IV out of me, NOW!

Nurse Redheart got the message and I heard her call out to someone, followed by a series of receding hoof-beats. While I waited, Redheart tried to reassure and comfort me. I was so sorely tempted to just grab her and wrap her up in my arms. Oh Goddess, why!? Why do I lose everything like this!?

A frantic set of approaching hoof-beats came, followed by what sounded like a collision with the unoccupied hospital bed. A few excited imprecations later, Redheart was by my side once more and said something to me. I think it was something along the lines of bracing myself.

Carefully, she removed the medical tape. Then the gentle pressure at the puncture site, followed by the dull ache of the needle being removed. Quickly and deftly a bandage was tied around it.

Redheart then made a probing, comforting sound. There now, is that better?

Gently, I pushed her aside as I pulled up my blanket to wipe my tears away. She didn't struggle and allowed me my movement as I brought my C-pod into view.

Placement doesn't really matter, as long as I don't hurt anyone or anything, I thought as I hurriedly entered a set of relative coordinates and bearings. I struck the execute key, and just like that, the most welcome sight in all of Equestria appeared at my bedside. I almost broke out into fresh tears, even as Redheart and whoever else was present whinnied in shock.

Sorry, Redheart. I have to do this. I then keyed the emergency escape and I was sucked, feet first, out of the hospital bed, taking the blanket with me.

Just like that, they were gone... or rather I was. The sudden movement was replaced by the familiar feeling of low gravity as I drifted to the common area of my C-Space. As my feet touched the floor, gravity gently increased, pulling me down to the ground in a boneless heap.

Garrick! Please hurry!

“katherine,” I groaned as I painfully levered myself up.

We must complete the bond, Garrick!

“I'm coming, sweetheart” I wheezed as I began to limp to the stairs and pull my way up. “I'm coming baby girl.”

Katherine said no more as I limped my way down the hall to my Garden Room. She knew I was doing everything I could to get there, and she wasn't going to rush me needlessly.

As I pushed my way past the door into the garden, the scents of wood, earth, and sweet flower fragrance filled my sinuses and I stumbled towards my beloved tree, collapsing almost right on top of her.

“katherine,” I whispered sorrowfully. “i'm so sorry...”

A single leaf dropped from the little sapling, the edge of the leaf glinting oddly in the light as it did so. I looked where it landed and saw that the edges of the leaf had a coating of crystallized sap.

You can use it to prick your finger, Garrick. Make the pact and our bond will be complete. You need me and I need you.

I nodded my head and picked up the razor-sharp little leaf, and then harshly nicked the index finger of my left hand, causing it to bleed freely. I then grasped Katherine's tiny trunk gently, yet firmly, making sure my wounded fingertip had solid contact.

The words then came into my mind, and I spoke them out loud.

“I, Garrick Grimm, just as the First Emperor did on the First Day, hear your voice. I name you Katherine of the Second Generation of Tsunami-no-Ki, progenitor of all trees of Jurai. I swear to care for you in all my days, until I am no longer able to. In return, I accept your gifts of power and long life. And now, I shall seal this pact with my own life force. Accept this blood sacrifice, Katherine, and forever be at my side.”

As with Bizen did with Yuki, Katherine now extended thin, vine-like tendrils around my left wrist, wrapping them around my C-Pod's wristband and framing the bezel screen.

I, Katherine of the Second Generation of Tsunami-no-ki, do accept your blood sacrifice. I grant you this Master Key to me so you may effectively command me and my power wherever you may be. And through my Water of Life, I shall grant you long life and youth until the day you die. Go, my bondmate, and partake of the water now. But know that this is your sacrament and you shall be forever changed.

I then went to the pool of crystal clear water that surrounded my tree's planter, and without hesitation I dipped my hands deeply into the water and brought the sparkling treasure to my lips.

I have never tasted water that was so good. The cool liquid swam down my throat leaving a path of refreshment all the way to the bottom.

That didn't last long, though.

Not even a second later, that cool feeling turned to a burning that expanded from my guts to my limbs and all the way to the tips of my fingers and toes. I wanted to cry out, but I would not let myself. To do so would sully the memory of my beautiful little Yuki as I held her close to me, comforting her as she endured the very same fire as it burned through her veins.
I don't know how long it took. Minutes, hours, days... it didn't really matter. All that did matter was that it eventually subsided. I dared to put my hand in the water and take another sip... once more there was that blissful, wondrous sense of refreshment, but no burning came of it.

Afterward, I simply laid there, basking in the warmth of the artificial sunlight and the cool of the earth beneath me. There was something else, as well. A sort of gentle and steady hum... Katherine.

I'm here, Gar-kun. Whenever you need me, no matter where you are. I will always be there for you. You won't be alone.

It was like a kick to the gut and the tears came once more. “But... my family... Katherine, what do we do now!?” I pretty much lost it there, breaking down into wracking sobs.

There was a sound next to me. Something purple, with a sorrowfully sympathetic expression. There was a bright glow, and then a deep and dreamless sleep.

##

I woke up to the sting of half-dried tear tracks on my face. I felt the ache of sorrow and depression gnawing in my chest.

Hello heartbreak, my old friend, I thought to myself tiredly.

I took a deep, shuddering breath and let it out in a sigh, trying not to start crying again. I was in no more pain. No soreness, no stiffness. I was in perfectly good health – fat lot of good that did me.

So, I simply turned over to my shoulder and pulled the blankets tightly around me, barely even registering the fact I was nude underneath them.

I then blinked at what I was confronted with: a canary-yellow pegasus pony with a carnation-pink mane and tail. And she was looking at me with frightened looking seafoam-green eyes.

You guys are gonna love this! Dark-blue hair and emerald-green eyes – a perfect mix between you two!

I couldn't stop the memory from coming. My Hikari... Will I ever get to see her beautiful eyes? I broke down right there and then. This was just so unfair. It didn't matter if I was amongst the most friendly people you could ever wish to meet.

I had been ripped away from my family and I didn’t even know if I would be able to get back to them yet!

I felt a soft pressure on my shoulder and I knew it was Fluttershy, uncertain yet trying to comfort me, whispering sweet and loving sounding words in a tongue so alien and yet so beautiful. And yet it was so painful to hear because part of me just did not want to be consoled - it wanted to wallow in this grief and misery.

Regardless, I fought that evil part of me. Fluttershy, in turn, stayed where she was at, softly rubbing my back and cooing gently to me.

Eventually, someone else came into the room and there was a softly spoken conversation. It was another filly, probably one of the Mane Six. It sounded like Twilight. Fluttershy's voice was fraught with barely contained sorrow. She undoubtedly had no idea why I was so sad, but my sorrow was obviously contagious despite the unknowing. If only they could understand... they’d probably be crying even harder than I am...

“Garrick,” said Twilight's voice suddenly as I felt a hoof at my shoulder once more.

My eyes shot open as I gave Twilight a shocked look. Twilight was giving me a look filled with giddy hope.

“You name Garrick, yes?” she said slowly, her tongue not used to forming the sounds and somewhat misshaping them. “I Twilight Sparkle. I help you.”

“How did you learn my language so quickly?” I asked quietly, my curiosity momentarily overriding my sorrow.

“You tree teach me,” she replied excitedly. “Scared me, but she very nice. Why you so sad? You seem healthy – no problem now.”

I felt my face scrunch up as I fought back the tears. “My family... is gone.”

“Gone? Gone where?”

“No... I was taken away from my family... I won't get to see my child born!”

There it was. The shock from what she had learned. She finally had some inkling, some idea of what I was going through, disconnected as she was.

“But... we can find way back!”

“No. You won't. Not even the Goddesses could discern how I arrived in their world the first time. Goddesses, Twilight! More powerful than your Princesses altogether.”

Twilight took an uncertain step backwards. “... How you know?”

I gave Twilight a sharp look. “How good are you at reading English?”

She tilted her head. “I think I okay.”

I nodded and pulled up the holo-book function – this was a modification of the manual utility that I came up with and Washu coded up with glee. It was eBooks taken to their most logical ultimate conclusion – the best of both worlds: absolute-fidelity digital storage combined with holographic representation of the printed materials. My entire library had been scanned into my C-pod, plus a few other interesting things. Like Washu's thesis on Interdimensional Transfictionality. I pulled up the entire journal of notes with the thesis as an introduction and it appeared as a composition book in my hand.

Twilight gasped and Fluttershy squeaked.

“This book is not real,” I said. “It is made of light and force-fields projected by the device on my wrist using a tiny hole in space. It will only work inside the walls of this room – it will disappear if you try to leave with it.”

“What is in book?” asked Twilight with trepidation.

“The reason why I know all about you,” I said. “As well as how I got here. You can try and find a way home for me, but I don't think you will do any better than someone that makes Princess Celestia look like a child by comparison.”

“What!?” cried out Twilight in shock.

I have to admit, that made me crack a small, grim smile.

“Washu Hakubi, the woman that wrote that book, is more than twenty-thousand years old. Trust me, Celestia is like a child compared to her.”

Twilight gave me a suspicious look, but took the book anyhow and began to read. With the lavender unicorn occupied, I sighed and pulled up the music app and summoned up the wireless ear buds, stuffing them into my ears and putting on some music to help me cope. I knew that once Twilight got into that book she wouldn't be satisfied until she read it cover-to-cover several times.

That was fine by me. I had nothing but time.

Nothing at all but time.

##

Depression makes me sleepy. I dozed off at some point and was woken by Twilight gently prodding me with a hoof.

“Sorry,” she said, offering me the book. I took it numbly and she continued, “This book... strange. I not want believe... but it make sense perfect. You... have real book?”

I shook my head. “No. You will have to transcribe it.”

Twilight nodded. “Okay. You come with.” She then looked over at the side of my bed and I followed her gaze.

Oh... I never did dismiss my door. Oops.

“That door... go to you home?”

I sighed. “Yeah. That's my home now, I guess.”

“You move it?”

“Yes. I can.”

“Good. You come to library. Live there with me.”

“I suppose so,” I said listlessly. I sat up slowly and looked around. The hospital room hadn't changed at all. Fluttershy was gone and Twilight was alone with me. With a sigh, I dismissed the book, then I slowly got to my feet, pulling the bed sheet with me and wrapping it around my waist.

Twilight gave me an odd look, but decided not to question it. As I went to the door to my C-Space she followed. I gave her a stern look at that.

Twilight had the decency to blush. “I... curious. Not look close before.”

I sighed. “Whatever. Don't touch anything.”

“I no foal!” she cried out in indignation.

I snorted at that. “No. You're a scientist. You're curious. And I have many very interesting items inside... some of which may not like magic very much. So, until I know how your magic affects my things... no touching.”

Twilight grumbled something in her native tongue, but didn't seem to really disagree.

We entered my C-space and I went straight to the clothes racks I had setup by my bed. It was only after I had set up my C-space that I realized that I had made a very stereotypical-male type of mistake: I forgot the closet.

So, rather than fret over it, I simply made use of the closet organizers I had and set them up as an open-air clothes storage. It actually seems to work rather well.

I took a look at Twilight and saw that she was staring intently at me.

I sighed, “Whatever,” and let the bed sheet fall as I began by picking out some underwear. This is a foregone conclusion for me. If a person is not gonna give a shit about my modesty, then I just won't give a shit about it either.

“You body strange,” said Twilight.

“My species is called 'Human'.” I said. “We are descended from tree-dwelling apes that evolved to live on savannahs – big grassy plains.” I then tapped the side of my head. “Excellent sense of balance inside the inner-ear to compensate for not having a tail. Excellent range of motion in our spines and our major joints. Good eyesight, good depth perception, good hearing, very sensitive skin – enough to detect air currents. Okay sense of smell... but we don't track by smell. We simply learned how to pay attention to small details.”

Twilight made an excited noise. “You is hunters!”

I nodded. “We're the best on our planet. We dominated the entire world with our special hunting method: outlasting prey.”

Twilight tilted her head. “What you mean?”

“How long can a pony run for?” I asked.

She frowned at that. “Only few hour. Why?”

I grinned. It was not a nice one. “Humans may not be the fastest runners on our planet. There are many that are much faster... but nothing outlasts us. A human in peak fitness can run from sun-up to sun-down... and then some.”

Twilight's eyes widened in shock. “No way!”

My grin got a bit wider. “Oh yes. In fact, I bet I can beat Applejack running from Ponyville to Canterlot, easy. Sure, she may get the lead at first, but I'll beat her by maintaining a steady pace that she can't keep up with.”

“Wait,” said Twilight suddenly as she gave me a queer look. “Open mouth?”

I obliged her by opening my mouth wide. One thing I am grateful for was that Washu saw to the full restoration of my teeth.

“Your teeth... not really like carnivore.”

“Humans are omnivorous,” I said. “You see, we were not only hunters, but gatherers as well. Males typically hunted and females typically gathered. Eventually we developed agriculture and things went from there. Our history is pretty messy.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “I think that constant.”

I had picked out what I would be wearing. Jeans, long-sleeved black T-shirt, and my ever trustworthy Navy boots – still good thanks to only being gently worn over the years. I then raised an arm and inspected my state of cleanliness. I did smell a bit ripe... but not too badly. It was as though I had bathed yesterday but forgot to put on deodorant.

“How long have I been here?”

“You here five day. Spend most time sleep and heal. Thought you dead – you make big hole in ground.”

I winced at that. I must have fallen from some incredible height or something. The only thing that saved me was the durability enhancements Washu gave me – the monomolecular carbon reinforcements improving my all-around toughness, the lingering medical nanomachines to quickly repair critical damage, and the anti-shock treatment to my neurochemical system to prevent any trauma from killing me outright and blunt the more negative effects of shock.

It was a horrible and selfish thought, but at the time I kinda wished that I didn't have those enhancements. It meant that I was still alive to suffer this new loss. I felt it would have been so much more merciful for me to have died on arrival to this foreign world.

At least now I had some kind of baseline for survivability to really compare with, I thought grimly to myself as I quashed the previous bit of selfish thinking - Aeka would have surely slapped me for thinking so little of everyone else’s feelings. Not that I'm going to go looking for my death, but it is going to be very hard to keep going after this.

“You... okay?” asked Twilight Sparkle tentatively.

“No,” I replied honestly.

“Can... help?”

I gave her a look. “Can you?”

Put on the spot like that, Twilight looked down at the floor and shuffled her hooves.

“I... not know how. You arrive... make strange energy. But no magic. Book help me understand... but not know how send back. Maybe... be friend?”

I sighed. “I... want friends. Friends are good to have. But... I have family. And I was taken away from them. And it hurts... a lot. And I’m worried now if I am stuck here, or if I will jump again. What point would it be to make friends if I’m going to lose them forever?”

Twilight gave me a bewildered look at that and I sighed.

“Look, before we get into anything really existential I need to bathe real quick. Give me about ten minutes... You can look around, but do not touch anything.”

Twilight grumbled once more and I took that as grudging acceptance. I went to the bathroom, taking my clothes with me.

It all felt so surreal. Part of me felt like I should be home... like if I walked out the door right now, I'd be gut-checked by Yuki and reassured that this was all some very surreal nightmare.

I've had nightmares in the past. They were nothing special. Just bad feelings – somehow the idea that it was all a dream hovered in the background, just far enough out of reach to keep me from dreaming more lucidly.

But now... Goddess, I could only wish this were a dream.

That thought, though, brought something to mind as I scrubbed myself down.

Katherine? How are you holding up?

I'm doing good, Gar-kun. And I have great news!

What is it? I thought, daring to raise my hopes.

I still have my connection to Tsunami-sama! I'm still getting energy from her!

I sighed, relieved. It had been something that I hadn't even dared to think about – that if Katherine had lost her connection to Tsunami, then that she would inevitably lose her sapience and become a normal tree. The worst part is that it would not have been unlike losing someone to Alzheimer’s Disease... I was glad I did not have to see it, but I could still imagine it... every day, Katherine's usually vibrant voice getting slower, her words clumsier, until finally... silence.

At the same time, though, I was dismayed because there was still no word about going back home... not that I really expected it.

You should make friends here, Gar-kun, said Katherine with uncharacteristic soberness.

I sighed. I want my family. Besides, if I make new friends and we jump again...

I didn't need to finish the thought.

Katherine made a mental sigh. This is going to be a very lonely existence, isn't it?

I'm sorry... just... keep me posted.

I will.

I rinsed and dried off, then got dressed. When I exited the bath, I found Twilight surrounded by books from my library. I sighed at that, but didn't feel any real ire. Twilight was simply doing what she does best – getting lost in a library. As I approached I saw that she had a reasonable cross section of my library. Some math and physics text books, a couple of automotive repair manuals, several science fiction novels by Anne McCaffery and Diane Duane (she was currently reading So You Want to Be a Wizard), a few mangas and graphic novels... but what caught my eye instantly was my copy of The Hite Report sitting off to the side.

I was just glad she hadn't started reading that already!

Twilight made some sound of dismay in her native tongue as picked up the book and tucked it under my arm.

“Trust me, you're not ready for this one by a long shot.”

She gave me a challenging look. “What it about?”

I gave her a nasty grin. “A research report on the sexual habits and preferences of human females.”

Twilight blushed a bit. “But... why that bad to know?”

“Twilight. We humans have sex for simple pleasure.”

Twilight's blush turned radioactive. “For... pleasure only?” She then blinked and said, “You right, I not ready.”

With a satisfied nod, I went and shelved the book.

“You may borrow the rest of those books, but I'd like them back in a fortnight.”

Suddenly, I was glomped. I looked down and saw Twilight Sparkle had her forelegs wrapped firmly around me waist while she squealed something joyously in her own language. She then stopped and looked up at me. I simply sighed and raised an eyebrow at her. Twilight chuckled nervously and let go of me, settling back onto all four of her hooves.

“You ready?” she asked.

“I just need my shoes,” I replied as I picked up my navy boots from the chair I'd left them on.

“Looks heavy,” said Twilight eying the footwear.

“A bit,” I allowed. “You ponies have hooves. Humans simply adapted and invented. These are tough, durable, and give good protection. There is even steel inside the tips to protect the most vulnerable parts of my feet.”

“What that?”

“My toes,” I replied, holding a socked foot up and wiggling the appendages. “They're actually fairly important. Over the course of human evolution, they've gone from being prehensile limbs to serving the sole purpose of accurately and evenly distributing weight, thereby improving our overall agility.”

“That why you not need tail!” said Twilight excitedly. “Amazing! Human like no other creature on world!”

“Yeah yeah,” I grumbled as I tied my boots. “Humans are awesome, I get it. Now let's get going. I'd like to get this all over with.”

##

Before I was allowed to leave I was given a very through physical. Even though I grumbled about it, Nurse Redheart was gentle about it all. I understood why, though. Now that I was healthy and whole, they wanted to establish what my normal baselines were. This meant taking my vitals while I was exerting myself.

“You need run harder,” Twilight said after Redheart murmured something in her ear. “Nurse say you not even try. Need see what heart like under strain.”

“Oh is that all?” I grumbled as I rolled my eyes. And then I began to sprint on the treadmill. Oddly enough... I didn't really feel the strain like I would normally have. I mean, sure, I could feel the effort that I was putting into it... but the pain that tells you you're nearing your limit simply wouldn't come.

Of course, the body enhancements were already starting to take affect. I wondered if this is how it felt for Yuki.

Yuki... sweet, loveable, little Yuki... stealing more and more of my heart with that smile of hers... Will I ever see it again?

“Hey? Why stop?” came Twilight's voice suddenly, knocking me out of my reverie.

I looked at Twilight with tears stinging in my eyes. At least Nurse Redheart was taking this well.

“Have you ever known what it was like to lose someone that was a part of you?” I asked Twilight as I sat down on the now motionless treadmill.

Twilight's eyes widened a bit and she shook her head.

“There were four women that are very special to me. They are all strong, beautiful, and remarkable women. The youngest... she always surprises me. She is not physically strong because she is so young... but she more than makes up for it with an indomitable spirit. You cannot break her. She'll only smile at you and ask, oh so sweetly, for even more. The only way you can hurt her is to take her family away.

“And to her, I am her family. I am the man she wants as her husband. And I can only hope that the others are helping her as much as possible, because for me this is taking an effort of will to keep going.”

Twilight swallowed hard at that. Nurse Redheart asked Twilight a question and there was a brief exchange between the two. Suddenly, the Nurse gave me a look, and then began nuzzling me, saying something in a soothing tone.

I didn't have to wonder for long though. Twilight translated for me.

“She say, 'No be sad.' That 'You no be lost forever. You find home soon.'”

I sighed as I got up, gently pushing the Nurse away. “I hope so, Twilight. I really do hope so. Now... how much more does Nurse Redheart need?”

The two ponies had a brief exchange, and Twilight said, “No more. She get plenty data. Also, you not joke on running. I see data. Really can run many hour.”

I sighed heavily. “Twilight... can we get going?”

“Why? What wrong?”

“I'm tired and I would like to sleep in my own bed. By the way, how did you find a bed big enough for me?”

Twilight shrugged. “We have being called Minotaur. Is your size.” Twilight suddenly blinked at that. “Wait, you have name for Minotaur in your language?!”

I nodded. “As well as dragon, unicorn, pegasus, alicorn, hydra, manticor, and griffon. All of them are mythological creatures where I'm from.”

“But how you...” Twilight then blinked and then hoofed her face. “Oh. Transfictionality. I get now.”

##

Afternoon was giving way to evening and the market was just now shuttering their doors and windows. Ponies everywhere were on their way back home, either from their day jobs or with the goods and wares they'd purchased. And everyone of them stopped to stare at me, all in varying degrees of curiosity, surprise, and even a few in horror.

I think the only reason they hadn't broken out into outright panic was because Twilight was escorting me.

We made it back to her home, the library tree, with no incident and I found that the tree was a lot larger than the cartoons made it out to be – it had to be in order to accommodate the library that was held inside it.

I put that aside, though, as I carefully ducked through the library's entrance – it certainly was not scaled for anyone larger than, say, Big Macintosh.

“I don't know if this is going to work as a regular thing,” I said as I came upright again.

Twilight hummed at that thoughtfully. “Maybe we put door outside when other pony used to you.”

“Maybe,” I sighed as I got my first good look at the place. It was much nicer inside that the cartoons implied. There was a lot less pink – all the walls were a comfortable raw-wood color, and every available space was packed full of books. Nearby was the loft where Twilight and Spike slept, along with the stairs that led up there as well as to the balcony. I had zero notion whatsoever about those stairs supporting my weight.

There suddenly came a young, slightly scratchy sounding male voice from the room in back.

Spike the Baby Dragon came in, with two plates in hand and balancing a third on his head. When he saw me looking at him he startled and would have dropped the plate on his head had I not reached down and plucked it away.

There was a short, somewhat heated exchange between Twilight and Spike. I could guess that Spike was a little upset that he didn't get more warning about my arrival, though I think the third plate of food belied that. Perhaps he wasn't aware of the nature of his guest? Probably – that'd be par for the course around here.

Twilight noticed me looking on with a raised eyebrow and then gave me a nervous little smile and laugh.

“I sorry. This Spike, my brother. He not expect you.”

I nodded. “Well, let him know that I apologize for the inconvenience and that I'm looking forward to working with him on transcribing that book.”

Twilight relayed my sentiments and Spike made a surprised sound that I'm pretty sure translated into 'What book?'

Before Twilight could say much, I pulled up the book from my library and had it appear in front of Twilight, which caused her to yelp in surprise. She quickly mastered herself, and gave me a quick thank you before turning back to Spike, Washu's book held in her telepathic grasp, as she began to go over everything with the dragonet.

I simply left them to it, noting that the plates, now set aside by Spike, were all identical in contents, so I set to munching on what was inevitably my share. Fortunately, there was a fork provided, even if it was a bit small for my hands. The food, while being a simple fair of a leafy salad with an assortment of other vegetables and a zingy vinaigrette dressing, was delicious and it was in a filling portion.

Spike and Twilight looked over at me in mild surprise as they heard me munching on a particularly crunchy bit.

“Don't worry about me,” I said idly, waving them on. “I can fend for myself. Carry on.”

Twilight gave Spike a shrug, made some mild mannered sounding comment, and then joined me at the table where I was kneeling. Note to self – procure a cushion for my knees.

Over the course of the meal, Spike asked, through Twilight, all the usual questions. For the most part, Twilight answered for me, but there were a few questions she had to relay to me for clarification.

“What about family?” asked Twilight.

I raised an eyebrow. “What about them?”

“Can you tell about family?”

I sighed at that. “This... I wanted to avoid this,” I said as I looked up to the odd ceiling. It reminded me suddenly of being in Tenju so I looked back at Twilight, who was giving me a look somewhere between expectant and worried. “Fine,” I said, all but snapping. “I'll tell you. But do not expect me to repeat this often, if at all.”

And so I told them everything. Of my original life and its pitfalls and follies and its terrible pains and sorrows, and then of my second life...

About my brothers, Tenchi and Yosho.

My sisters, Ayeka and Sasami.

My friends, Mihoshi and Ryoko, who were so close they might as well have been sisters.

My beloved mentors, Washu-chan and Yakage.

My Mother and Aunt, Funaho and Misaki.

My Grandparents, Seto and Utsusumi.

My Father, the Emperor, Asuza Masaki Jurai.

And then my wonderful women, Minagi, Yuki, Yume, and Achika.

It was an awkward process. Twilight would whisper the translation to Spike, but would become so caught up in the tale that she would lose herself until Spike jabbed her in the ribs with an irritated expression. And then she would give us embarrassed smiles as she requested that I back up a bit.
She was utterly astounded at the situation I had found myself in. A man yanked out of place by a person of evil intents, adopted into a fantastically powerful family, and urged to cultivate his own share of power... among other things.

“It strange you have many bride,” said Twilight as she set about to tucking a more-tired-than-he'd-admit Spike. “But not unheard. Among pony, we call such family 'Herd'. Fall out of practice recent century. This despite gender imbalance. Ratio one colt, two and half filly.”

“Why did it fall out of practice?” I asked.

Twilight shrugged. “Not know certainly. Think culture shift to monogamy. Many book and play of monogamous romance start two-hundred year ago.”

I thought about that for a second. “Might have been Celestia. It's a clever method of gently influencing the populous to control population growth.”

Twilight gave me a shocked look. “How can say thing like that!?”

“Twilight, my Grandmother is a master manipulator, and I find her methods admirable. If this is what Celestia did, then she's not any different from my Grandmother. Hell, I bet Seto would love to spend an evening with Celestia. I can only imagine the debauchery those two would get up to.”

“But.. Princess is proper ruler!”

“Just a facade,” I said through a yawn. “Just you ask her yourself. She'll take you aside and tell you in private – she's bored to tears most days.” I yawned again and looked out the window. Only the barest glow of dusk remained, the sun having long since set. “I'm going to go for a walk.”

“But... what if you get lost!?”

“I can find my way back. I'm not stupid. And I have good night vision – once the moon is high I'll be able to see very clearly.”

I got up, leaving Twilight to splutter as I went to the door, carefully ducked through it, and began to make my way to the west. However, Twilight insisted on following me.

“Can't you take a hint?” I asked acerbically. “I want some time alone.”

“But... I worry... you might get hurt.”

I sighed heavily – so this is what it was about. I turned and looked down at Twilight sternly.

“Twilight Sparkle,” I stated loudly. Kinda wished she had a middle name – it would have had more impact that way. Twilight Andromeda Sparkle would have been nice – it not only sounds lovely, but it has gravitas, too. “I have been dealing with depression for more than thirty years and even though it still hurts me, I am not going to do anything to harm myself. I just want some time alone so I can sort through my emotions without anyone distracting me with warm and fuzzy feelings. Whether anyone likes it or not this is still something I have to deal with myself, because no one else can. Do you understand me?”

“Yes,” said Twilight after a long pause. “Just worry you go into Everfree Forest.”

“No. I was looking for that big hill near Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Oh.”

“Besides, if I go to the Everfree Forest, you shouldn't worry for me. I'm probably far more dangerous than the most dangerous creatures there.”

“You not have claw or scale.”

I laughed. Goddess help me, I laughed. She was so innocent, so naïve. I knew right then and there that I would turn her world view so upside down that by the time Discord showed up she was going to chew him up and spit him back out.

As Twilight backed away in fear from my borderline-insane laughter, I looked down upon her and spoke,

“Twilight Sparkle, remember always what makes us humans special: Mother Nature has never been kind to my people. She did not grant us the gifts of sharp teeth or claws, nor of scales to protect our hides. So we forged our own in fire and crafted them out of steel!” And then I slapped my C-Pod and called out, “First Cut!”

The blade, naked of its sheath, dropped into my waiting hand.

“Behold my claw. Few things are harder and stronger than this, for I have made it to cut through things and withstand blows that are beyond your ken.”

“Ah, may I?” asked Twilight. I nodded my consent and Twilight levitated the blade out of my hand with her magic and began to look it over carefully. Of course, she probably knew a few things about swords, her brother being Captain of the Royal Guard and all.

“You make this?” she asked.

“I did.”

“It very good. Not best, but still excellent. Good style. Good structure. Very heavy, but good balance. What composition?”

“Seventy-six-point-two-five percent iron. Point-seven-five percent carbon. Four percent chromium. One percent vanadium.” I then grinned as I knew the last bit would knock her for a loop. “And eighteen percent tungsten.”

“Tungsten! No wonder this so heavy! How you forge it?”

“With a very, very hot fire.” I then tapped my C-Pod and called for my belt and sheath. Thus provided, I put the belt on around my waist, sheath on my left side, then motioned to have my sword back.

“You still worried for my safety?” I asked as she passed me back the sword and I sheathed it.

“No! Now worried for other pony safety!” griped the unicorn.

“The only people that should worry about me hurting them are monsters. Now please, let me be for some time. I promise I will come back later.”

“Argh! Alright! But you come back or else I come find you.”

She then turned and trotted off, leaving me to myself. With a sigh, I went out looking for that nice hill.

##

I sighed as I heard the approaching hoof beats. Had it really been that long? I checked the time on my C-Pod – Nope, didn't think so.

“I didn't think you'd come after me so soon, Twilight,” I said wearily. “Are you really that worried?”

“And here I thought Bonbon was lying like a rug,” said a voice in perfect English. I blinked at that and jolted upwards.

Standing before me was not a man, but a pony with a brown coat, black mane, and a befuddled expression.

“Oh hell no,” I grumbled. I then side stepped to get a look at the pony's flank. Sure enough, there was a pocket watch cuteymark there. I sighed to myself and looked the pony in the eyes. “As I live and breathe. I never thought I'd ever meet you, Doctor.”

“Well, glad to see my reputation precedes me. I'm afraid you have me at a bit of a disadvantage. Mister?”

“Garrick Grimm. And I'm a man who's every bit as misplaced as you are.”

The Doctor snorted at that. “That's putting it mildly. Well, you seem to be on the up and up. What do you know?”

“Happen to know about a woman named Washu Hakubi?”

“We bump into each other now and then. What of her?”

“The version I know is my Mentor and, don't let this get back to her right away, also a Goddess who's slumming it in the name of Science.”

“Bollocks! You really are a jumper, aren't you? What the bloody hell happened?”

“If you know Washu then you probably know about Clay, right?”

The pony sniffed. “A dirty dog if there ever was any...” A look of realization came over his face. “He didn't.”

I scoffed. “Worse. The Masaki household was just my first layover.”

The Doctor then proceeded to curse up a blue streak in a number of languages. Take notes, Katherine. Some of that might come in handy later.

Katherine's giggle echoing through my head made me smile a little. Soon enough, though, the Doctor had gotten all the vitriol out of his system and he turned to me.

“Right then. Best come along with me.” And with that he began to trot back towards Ponyville.

“You think you can get me sorted out?” I asked, a glimmer of hope shining in my heart as I jumped up and jogged after him. “Send me back home?”

“I hope I can,” the ponified Galifreyan said noncommittally. “I'll need to run a few tests to be sure. I think I know what's going on, but I really do hope I'm wrong.”

“Shit, you just had to go and say it.”

##

Under the cover of darkness, the Doctor and I made it back to his home, a watchmaker's shop with a cozy looking set of apartments up top. Of course, that wasn't where he really made his home at.

The TARDIS is, and always has been, a blue police call box. And the inside has always been a ramshackle tumbledown collection of rusty bits and pieces all thrown together into the semblance of what someone thought would be what a time machine looks like. And this is to say nothing of the random bits of kipple left laying all over the place.

Let it be known that the good Doctor is indeed one of us, for he is the King of Messy Desks.

“Before I go, would you mind teaching me to make one of those?”

“Sonic screwdriver?” asked the Doctor as he poked at me with said device. “Probably not. Terribly complex little gadget.”

“You forgetting who I said my mentor was?”

“'Course not. Washu Hakubi. Heck of a scientist – give her enough time she'll work anything out. Hell of a drinker, too.”

“And?”

“And I think this is too complex for you.”

I glared at the Doctor and began to recite a very simple, very basic block transfer equation – it was literally the block transfer math version of a 'Hello World' program. It was something that Washu had been encouraging me to dabble in on the offhand chance that I needed to do some hard-coding work on my C-Space.

Also, pretty much everything Katherine did was block transfer equations.

It was pretty dangerous stuff to work with, really. One misspelled parameter could blow you to kingdom come. But the Hello World program was a safe bit of math that Washu had thoroughly drilled me on, and one of the few I felt comfortable in casually dropping in any given setting.

The Doctor simply gaped at me as the words 'Hello World' appeared over my head in a garish, glowing neon-green and in a big, friendly sans font. After the words faded from sight, he then opened his mouth, closed it as he reconsidered, and repeated the process no less than five times.

Finally, he managed to settle on something. “Bloody Americans.”

“Oi. I'm a Texan first. Federalist nation, you know.”

“You know a party trick. I'm not teaching you anything.”

“I know the basic concepts, which puts me leagues ahead of most people you come across.”

“Someone else drummed it into your head.”

“Someone you know and respect, and who felt that I was worthy of it.”

“Bollocks to that! That woman is a self-professed mad genius, and I wholeheartedly agree with her!”

“Oh, c'mon. She's not crazy... at least not anymore than you are. She just likes to have a good time.”

“Her idea of a good time and mine are two entirely different things!”

“Kettle, cried out the pot, thou art black.”

“Bastard.”

“Am not and you know it. Look, I'm a jumper. You said it yourself. And there's no telling when I'm gonna find myself up to my armpits in Goddess only knows what kind of trouble. So how about you do the right thing and show me how to make that wonderful little gadget of yours so I'll have a holdout to get myself out of the shit and into the roses when it counts the most.”

“Now you see here! You say you were one of Washu's students? Someone she favored? Then prove it. Invent something yourself. Build something you can use like my sonic screwdriver to get yourself out of trouble. Impress me.”

I had to admit, he stopped me cold with that one. If there was one thing Washu was always pushing me to do, it was to stop standing on other peoples' shoulders and make something new. This was why many of my weapon designs, save for First Cut, departed so far from the norms.

This situation was no different. If I wanted a macguffin the likes of the sonic screwdriver, then I was going to have to think up one for myself.

I then smiled at the Doctor. “Okay then, Doc. You want me to knock your socks off? You got it. Just don't be disappointed if I manage to pull it off.”

“Blinder! That's the spirit! Now, about your current issue...”

“Hit me, Doc.”

“Right. You're too heavy.”

“Heavy? Okay, I know you're not talking about physical mass.”

“Of course not. Temporal mass. The energy with which you've hit this time-space combined with your temporal mass has you mired in the muck.”

“So it's like time-space is quicksand (and yes, I know what real quicksand is like) and I've somehow managed to get up to my neck in it?”

“An excellent metaphor. Fortunately, someone's got a line tied to you – I'm honestly not quite sure what to make of it, but I can tell that the energy signature is Juraian. They seem to be trying to pull you back, but you're stuck fairly well.”

“It's probably Tsunami. She managed to get some kind of tether onto me before I got punted.” Suddenly, for some weird reason I got the image of two children with tin can phones talking to each other. “Say, Doc? Would it be possible to send some kind of resonance along this line? A carrier wave of some kind?”

“You want to send a message? Is it important?”

“My fiance is pregnant.”

“Ah... that would be important. Let me see what I can work out. You're not even going to ask about getting unstuck?”

“Doc, you said I got a Goddess on the other end trying to pull me out of here. If that's not working, then I doubt there's anything better you can try.”

“Do you ever get tired of being genre savvy?”

“Sometimes, Doc, but it has its advantages.”

##

It didn't take the Doctor long to compile the new app in my C-pod and send the primer message down the line for me. Once I got a message back, I would be in business.

I left from the Doctor's home and went back to the hill, flopping backwards and sighing as I gazed up at the night sky.

It was a brilliant and beautiful night. So full of stars that they overlapped and blotted each other out. The Milky Way was a soft, glowing band of light reaching across the heavens. And the moon itself... it was not the moon I was accustomed to, but it was lovely just the same.

So alien, yet so similar. And unwittingly, I sought out Jurai in the night sky.

I sat up and rubbed my eyes, because I wanted to be sure I wasn't seeing things.

Katherine! Is that what I think it is!?

Let me see... Oh wow, it IS Jurai! Everything matches! Spectral lines, magnitude, motion... But... that's strange...

What is it?

…Garrick, the system is silent. There are no transmissions of any kind coming from there. Just stellar noise.

I knew exactly why that was. The Choushin did not exist in this universe. Therefore, there was no Tsunami to settle on what would become Jurai and grow into the Great Tree. And therefore, there was no Great Tree for the pirate that would become the First Emperor of Jurai to stumble upon.

...What about other star systems? Places with major native habitations? Any society that gained space faring capability without outside assistance.

… I'm picking up on a few... but Garrick, what could they do that a Time Lord can't?

...Nothing. I... guess I just wanted some sort of reassurance.

I'm here for you, Garrick.

I know, Katherine... but... it still feels so empty.

You are stronger than the emptiness, Garrick. Carry on. Fight it. You will get home no matter how long it takes because you are going to live for at least ten-thousand years. Probably even longer than that. I can feel it in you now... you are growing even more powerful. Just like Tenchi-kun. Maybe, someday soon, you can even make a Lighthawk Wing of your own.

That stopped my mind in its tracks. I know Washu had mentioned it before, but I had brushed it aside back then. Besides, I was thinking that it would take me at least a hundred years, maybe more. Now, Katherine was saying 'soon'.

A Lighthawk Wing? Me!?

Your energy marks you as some sort of cousin to Tsunami-sama. And every day, you take more and more of Grandmother's energy into your being. She has adopted you, Gar-kun – you are kin to the Choushin now and the Lighthawk Wings are your new inheritance.

That was food for thought. In fact, as I thought about it, one thing jumped to the fore.

What about you? What happens to you when I hit the threshold? When what I can do exceeds what you can do?

Katherine giggled lightly. Silly. It's a two-way road! I take care of you and you take care of me. In fact, someday I may not even need to rely on Grandmother. When you become strong enough, I can draw power from you and you alone. All the seeds I produce will be independent from Tsunami-sama's control.

You can create another Empire. One that will rival Jurai.

Power.

That was the only thing that flashed through my mind as her words echoed ominously through my head. The power to carve out an empire of my own, one that I may rule over eternally. Our children would be without number and would spread through the Universe and beyond!

NO! came the thought, screaming from the more rational parts of my mind and blowing out the burning visages of power as effectively as a halon flood.

“No,” I said under my breath, my breathing heavy from an incipient panic attack. Carefully, I took slow breaths and cleared my mind.

I cannot be that. I am not that. I'm just a man... I just want to be a husband and a father. I just want to be a good man.

And that is part of why I love my Gar-kun. And with that I felt a strange sensation, like someone was embracing me from behind – which was strange since I was laying down with my back to the ground. Nonetheless, it was there and I knew what it was. Katherine was giving me a hug.

I knew I was being tested... sort of. Katherine really wanted to see how I would react to being offered that sort of power on a platter. However, I had no doubt in my mind that she would go along with it regardless. Katherine, like all Juraian trees, was created to serve her master...

...but I want her to be her own person.

Warmed by Katherine's affection, I wondered idly how was I to give her a 'hug' back. However, that train of thought eventually meandered back to the stars in the sky. This time, my musings were more idle and soothing.

I hope there is something out there, I thought as the ending of Carl Sagan's Contact came to mind. Otherwise... that'll be an awful waste of space.

I heard hoofbeats approaching, but didn't bother to get up. I knew who it was for certain this time.

“You feel better now?” said Twilight Sparkle's voice. It was astonishing how quickly she was getting the hang of English.

“A little,” I allowed with a sigh. “If you know anything about emotional disorders, then you should understand that there is no such thing as a 'quick fix'.”

“I know,” replied Twilight with a sigh as well. “I also know, knowing not make easier.”

“Good. I'm glad you understand that. The only thing I will really ask of you is to give me my space when I ask for it. Otherwise... whatever. And just so you know, I'll do what I can to make my way. I don't like the idea of being some sort of welfare case.”

“You is not,” Twilight said sourly.

Finally I looked up at Twilight to give her an equally sour look. “Okay then, where's the hospital bill?”

Twilight chuckled nervously as she gave me a sheepish look. “Pro bono?”

I cocked an eyebrow at the unicorn. “'For the public good' does not exactly apply in my case.” I sighed at that. “At least there's no shortage of things I can do around here. So tomorrow I want to see what I owe to the hospital.”

Twilight growled in frustration. Gotta say, that was kinda cute coming from her.

“Why you be so stubborn?” asked the pony angrily. “Other pony know accident happen. They not angry about not pay hospital.”

“No, they're upset about the seemingly dangerous alien creature in their midst that is tripping their 'stranger danger' sense in a way that makes them want to run for the hills. Being a good member of society is going to be one of the small ways I can show that I'm not some ravenous star-heathen from Dimension-X.”

“Uuuurrrrgh!” groaned Twilight. “Will you try be nice at everypony?”

“Hmm,” I said, thinking. “Just the ones that don't act like they think they're better because they're a pony.”

Twilight made one last comment in Equestrian that sounded something like 'Oh brother!'

##

Interesting thing about my C-Space – setting the time on my C-Pod will adjust all the clocks inside my C-Space, including the ones on my computers and devices.

This was the first thing I did when we got back, though Twilight admitted that although the Princesses were pretty good about raising and setting the sun and moon when they were supposed to... sometimes... things... ...happen.

Making a mental note to keep tabs on the sun and moon schedule, I placed my door in the basement (all the other walls having nearly every available space taken up by books) and told Twilight that I'd be up at around seven in the morning.

Not taking any chances, I had Katherine put me to sleep. The last thing I wanted to do was to lay awake in the dark and think of my family. I knew I'd be having enough nightmares as it was.

##

Nightmares indeed.

Sorrowful dreams of being pulled away from my helpless family by some unseen force. I could hardly care less what it wanted with me, I just wanted out of its unyielding grip! Please don't take me away from my family!

I woke up that morning, my eyes still watery from tears I'd cried and my pillow damp with them.

I clumsily crawled down from my loft bed, got my coffee maker running with automatic, mechanical motions, and went to my sink to clean up my face. Through my sleep-hazed eyes, I could tell that I was absolutely haggard looking. My long hair was everywhere, my face was tear-stained, and my eyes were puffy and dark.

I hate it when I look unhealthy.

I heaved a sigh and went to work on cleaning up the mess, beginning with my hair. Within a few minutes, I had the mass of unruly locks tamed into a reasonably presentable ponytail and that meant I could get to my face without making my hair an even bigger mess. Once I had washed up and toweled off my face I was able to take a better assessment of my grooming status.

What I saw just about knocked me off my feet.

My pores had shrunk to be nearly nonexistent and the developing smile lines and crows feet were gone entirely, though I still had my scars, such as they were. My facial hair had remained, but even with that I looked more like I did when I was twenty-one... which meant that most humans would mistake me for being eighteen - maybe even as young as sixteen.

Again.

If I shaved off the facial hair that would shave another two years off my appearance and I would have no problems sneaking into a high school.

I decided to leave it, for now. I wasn’t ready to get rid of it. Though I had no doubt that at some point in time I may need to do so.

As for why this happened? I didn’t wonder. I knew.

The Water of Life had no real visible effect on Yuki because she was only thirteen. But I had been encroaching on middle-age. Granted, I didn’t look it, but I had the wear and tear from simple things like sun exposure.

With that in mind, I reached for my beard trimmer and set to work on tidying my van dyke. It wouldn’t do to look slovenly with my renewed youth.

##

I came upstairs to find Spike bustling around and Twilight reading Washu’s Journal while a quill caught in her TK field scribbled furiously on the sheaf of parchments. All the while she also made good on putting away a breakfast of eggs, hash browns, and something that looked a bit like bacon.

What I heard next took me by surprise.

“Ohaiyo gosaimas’ Gar-kun.”

I blinked and gave Twilight a queer look while she gave me the smile of the cat that ate the canary.

“Well, Nihongo seems to suit you much better,” I said, switching over to my own flawless Japanese. Thank you oh so very much, Washu-chan.

Twilight nodded, and continued on in rhythmic language. “Yes. This Nihongo, while highly regimented and dependent on loan words, is much simpler to use. The phonetics are much easier for me to handle as well. In fact, it reminds me of Neighponese, only... different. I hypothosize that Neighpon is actually an alternate version of your own Nipon. Am I right?”

“Close enough for government work,” I answered. “Our version is separated from my country by about two-thousand kilometers of open ocean, hence why the two cultures are so alien to each other.”

Twilight nodded excitedly. “Yes! You write left-to-right and down, while the Japanese write down and right-to-left! Your grammar hinges on sentence structure while Japanese grammar depends on word particles! I can’t wait to learn about both cultures so I can write a paper on how they diametrically oppose each other! It must have taken a long time for your two peoples to get along! How did it all work out?”

I sighed. “It wasn’t pretty. There was eventually a horrible war between our two peoples, and my country won that war.”

“A war? But... it couldn’t have been that horrible... could it?”

I sighed again and decided to give it to her straight.

“When we took their southernmost island, they started sending their children out to our soldiers with explosives hidden in their clothes. That provoked us into using the first ever atomic fission chain reaction explosive devices. We had to destroy two of their cities before their emperor decided to surrender.”

Twilight first went pale, then went green, and finally dashed into the kitchen where I could hear her retching into the sink, with Spike chasing after her, making gravely concerned sounds.

Afterwards, there was a short and terse conversation between the two - it was the sharpest I’ve heard her pitch her voice yet. She made some sort of demand of Spike, and when he back talked Twilight only snapped at him loudly.

Spike complied, making his way out through the front door, but before shutting it, he gave me a glare, pointed to his eyes, and then to me.

The door slammed shut loudly.

“Alright,” said Twilight, her voice tense with anger. “Now that we’re alone, why in Tartarus did you feel the need to say something so.... horrible! I mean... that can’t possibly be true!” Her expression became a mixture of hope and dread. “Can it?”

I gave a glare right back at her. “First of all, understand this - we’re not really friends. I don’t want any friends. I want to go back home to my family. So I am not going to do you any favors like sugar-coating the horrible and bloody history of humanity.

“And second, in order for us humans to become awesome, we first had to become horrible. For example my people have been flying for over a hundred years. But in the first years people felt that it was literally ‘flights of fancy’. ‘Why bother with something so dangerous when we have perfectly good feet?’ they would reason. And so, it remained a curiosity to a few, and an obsession to even fewer. Until the world became embroiled in warfare. Suddenly military strategists and tacticians saw the use of the flying machine in their war plans.

“Fifty years afterwards we sent a man to the moon and returned him safely to Earth.”

“THAT’S AMAZING!!!” squealed Twilight. And then she checked herself and asked, “Why?”

“It’s a long story. Simple version: some people with an ax to grind against my country wanted control over that space. My country’s leaders were not about to let it go without a fight.”

Twilight gave me a confused look. “WHY?” she asked.

I sighed at that. “Long version, then. There was another country that had undergone a revolution, killed off the monarchy that ruled them, conquered a swath of other countries around them, and called itself the United Soviet Socialist Republic. Now, I have no huge qualms against socialism, but the ways of the USSR left certain things to be desired.

“You see, their people were forced to come into line under the new socialist system or else they would be banished to the penal colonies, or worse, slaughtered like vermin. And their first leader, a man named Josef Stalin, did not think twice on matters such as those.

“His cossacks took great pleasure in murdering, pillaging, and raping wherever they were sent.”

Twilight went pale and shuddered at the very thought.

I went on. “In the second world war - we had two of them in close succession, by the way - the Soviets had happened upon the plans of the mad ruler of our common enemy. You see, this enemy of ours... he made the USSR look tame by comparison. It was not enough to get in line with everyone else. You also had to be genetically pure. The ethnic cleansing they employed turned the skies black with the ashes of the people they incinerated.”

Twilight turned green. Again. “Tha... That’s...” she murmured as she tried to restrain her stomach.

“Yes. It was heinous. We all but destroyed their country for it. But that is neither here nor there for the moment. The thing is, their mad ruler felt he would not be content with the world. He wanted the moon and stars as well, and had scientist working on how to make that happen.

“And when Stalin’s army beat a path into their capital city, they found many things, including these plans. Stalin quickly had the scientists rounded up and put them to work.

“A few years later, the USSR, with great fanfare, launched an object into stable orbit around the Earth.”

“Orbit? Around the Earth?”

I nodded. “Traveling so fast that it essentially achieves equilibrium with Earth’s gravitational pull and continually ‘falls’ past the horizon, remaining in a continuous, stable loop around the planet.”

“WITHOUT MAGIC!?” she cried out, astounded.

“Without magic,” I confirmed, a small grim smile on my face. “Just chemical rockets and a lot of careful, painstaking calculation. The Soviets had placed a simple temperature reporting device into orbit for ninety-two days.

“What frightened my people, though, was that the Soviets made their intents clear. The rocket used to launch the satellite into orbit was intended to carry nuclear fission bombs on high parabolas and accurately land them wherever they were aimed.”

“Buh... buh... WHY!?” cried out Twilight, on the verge of tears.

“Because my country was the only one with the military might capable of opposing the USSR. And like I said before, Stalin had no qualms about killing people that opposed him. While later leaders would dismantle some of his nihilistic policies, the generally ham handed ways would continue.

“So, for many decades our two countries endured what we called the Cold War - a war that was not really war, a peace that was not really peace.

“And in the meantime we put a man on the moon... only because we didn’t want the Soviets to get there first.”

“You... you were afraid,” Twilight said as she fended off a panic attack. “They threatened you.”

I nodded. “To be fair, we did our own bit of threatening now and then. My people’s leaders were not quite so innocent themselves. Secret projects, clandestine operations, some successful, other utter failures. In response to nuclear intercontinental missiles, we made our own... and then placed them within allied nations right at the Soviet’s borders. In return, the USSR turned a small island nation very close to our country against us and placed their own nuclear missiles there. We tried to stop this from happening by secretly taking the native people opposed to the new government and training them to fight... but they were discovered when we sent them back and they were slaughtered.

“When the Soviets shot down one of our special reconnaissance aircraft, we secretly created a better one. It would fly faster than five times the speed at which sound travels and so high that the sky turns black. It wasn’t subtle, but it could never be shot down because it flew so high and fast.

“The Soviets made all kinds of noise about it, yet they could do nothing to stop it. We would only send more of those planes to monitor their military. And, of course, they were worried about getting into direct warfare with us.”

“But... they had to do something.”

“They did. They instigated proxy-wars by propping up socialist movements in neighboring countries that were formerly allied with us. Said movements were just as vicious and blood thirsty as Stalin’s own revolution. Those wars turned into some very terrible and bloody conflicts, and it was all the more galling for my people because the Soviets were winning more often than not.

“So you see, Twilight, for the most part my people only became awesome in response to the ones that became horrible. So much of our technological progress was from war. But that is what happens with a race like mine. We so readily go to extremes - some of us are so evil that it fails to make any sense, and some of us are so good that it borders on being evil.”

Twilight got her breathing under control and gave me a sorrowful look.

“You’re people are not all evil,” she said. “Many of you are good. Enough that you always seem to find a way to rise above it.”

I nodded. “Indeed. But bear in mind, my people’s history is rife with conflict despite some of our best efforts, and I am not going to shelter you from that aspect of my heritage... Though, I will give you fair warning. I won’t spring anything on you like this again, but when it inevitably comes up it will be no holds barred. Do you understand?”

The unicorn pony nodded weakly. “I do.”

“Alright then. I apologize for the rough treatment, metaphorically speaking. Will Spike be back soon?”

Twilight shook her head. “No, he’s going to be gone most of the day. I sent him off to help a friend.” Twilight smiled and giggled. “He kinda has a crush on her.”

I rolled my eyes at that. “Don’t they always?”

Twilight giggled again and I shook my head.

“So,” I drawled. “What’s on today’s agenda?”

“Mostly just translating this book. I’m already a quarter of the way through.”

“Do you need any help with the translation?” I asked.

“No, I got it. Katherine was pretty thorough when she programed those languages into my head. It’s just that some of the complexities in English are a little hard to understand. I mean, it’s in here, but it’s just...”

“Too much?” I hazarded.

“Yeah. Makes me wonder how you deal with such a language.”

I shrugged. “We usually think nothing of it, seeing as many of us are learning it from birth. However, most people I ever came across that got to know me would always say that I always sounded very proper and always used big words.”

Twilight snorted and rolled her eyes. “Well, that sounds familiar. So what you mean is that most of your people don’t really use the language properly?”

I nodded. “Pretty much.”

“Ugh, I can only imagine. Ponies here are taught much more carefully... well, in most places they are. And then of course there are the regional slangs and accents.”

“No different than from where I came from.”

##

For the rest of the morning, Twilight worked quietly at the translation process, pausing only to ask me to clarify one or two details, usually anecdotal in nature.

I myself had settled into a meditative state. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really assume my favorite pose of sprawling on one of Funaho’s wide branches. Space was at something of a premium in Twilight’s home, so I had to settle for the traditional lotus position.

And that was when Katherine’s telepathic voice went squeeing joyously through my head.

IT’S THEM! IT’S THEM! THEY RESPONDED!

It didn’t take me long at all to figure out what she meant.

Get me a hard copy through the book app! I fired back at her excitedly. Now!

Right away, a sheaf of papers bound in a presentation folder appeared in my hands. Twilight gave me a curious look from her table, but I mostly ignored her for the moment.
Flipping the folder open, I saw the first letter was from Washu.

Quote:[i]Garrick:[/i]

[i]I can’t tell you how relieved we all are to get this letter from you! Everyone here is worried sick over you, and we’re going to do our best to get you home, ASAP![/i]

[i]I will mention that there does seem to be a time differential. How much, I won’t say - I don’t want you to worry any. We have bigger fish to fry as it is.[/i]

[i]I’m so glad that you managed to find The Doctor on your first go (I’d recognize his handiwork anywhere) - that’s an amazing stroke of luck! Maybe the Multiverse doesn’t hate you as much as you think.[/i]

[i]Be strong for us, Garrick. We miss you and we want you to come home, safe and sound.[/i]

[i]From your Mentor with Love,[/i]

[i]Washu-chan[/i]

My eyes began to sting with tears of pure, unadulterated joy as I flipped to the next letter.

Quote:My Beloved Garrick,

I can’t believe how hard this is. Every day you are gone feels like an eternity. How long will this last? Years? Decades? Centuries?

I miss you so much. The others try to fill the hole in my heart. It helps... but you’ve become such a large part of me that I feel so empty without you.

But the one greatest comfort to me is our child. I can feel her now. Our Hikari is so tiny, but I sense a strong spirit from her. I can already tell that she is going to be magnificent once she is born.

I train at a much slower pace now. My body is a cradle with a precious and fragile treasure inside - one that I have no desire to jar. Every movement I make is with our Hikari in the back of my mind. And I think she knows this. I can feel her love for me already.

There has been talk lately - debate over whether I should place Hikari into stasis until you return. Mother assures me that there would be no adverse affect, especially under her care.

I know that you would want nothing more to be here for her birth, but I also know that you would prefer the natural order of things to run their course.

What do you prefer, my beloved?

Love, everlasting,

Minagi

That knocked me for a loop. But there were other letters to read.

Quote:For My Own

Things have not been easy for me. I knew this going in. I’ve known what measures to take. But in none of my careful plans did I ever suspect that you would not be around. It is far outside your character to abandon us, and you are far too careful to become lost to us.

And yet, here we are.

Despite everything else, though, I have a modicum of happiness for myself.

Your seed has taken root, My Own.

I have decided to name her Hotaru - Japanese names for fire or light in some form or another seem to be the theme. I hope that our little firefly will be the one to shine brightly when things seem the darkest.

Come home quickly. I doubt our daughter will be patient. I am far from it myself. In fact, if I find Clay first, then I fear I will leave nothing of him for you to deal with. And I know you definitely want a piece of his hide for your wall, carved out with your own two hands.

Regretfully yours,

Yume

Quote:Dear Garrick,

I guess it only stands to reason. A man comes out of the blue, sweeps me off my feet, gives me the most outrageously good night in the sack ever, disappears before I get a chance to enjoy the afterglow... and then to top it all off, I find out I’m pregnant.

If it weren’t for the fact that it’s not your fault, I’d want to beat you within an inch of your life and then make you take responsibility.

Fortunately, we all know that that’s not only not in your character, but also who is really to blame.

Clay is a dead man walking. He just hasn’t realized it yet. And I really hope to be there the moment it does happen.

On to more pleasant topics. Our child is a girl - wonder what’s up with that? Three girls in a row? Is this your genetics getting revenge for having so many brothers?

I hope you don’t mind, but I have already decided on a name for her: Akatsuki - because she will be glorious like the rising sun. Just like her momma and poppa.

I know it’s strange for me to say, even though we have only known each other for a few days...

... but I love you. You’ve somehow managed to change my life in a way I don’t totally hate. Yes, even my new responsibilities. I don’t mind being the temporary head of your household in your absence. It helps that the others are backing me up all the way on this.

I want you to know that we purchased a good sized plot of land near where you were born. Washu told us about it, and we only thought it was right.

I wish I had done it sooner! I had no idea it could be so beautiful out here. It was a little frightening at first - there was a huge storm last week and I thought it might bring the house down! Fortunately, though, people seem to know how to build homes for this place.

And then the week after that, all the wildflowers came up and I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.

Come back soon, lover. I’m learning a lot about this place... but I’d rather have you here to show me its secrets yourself.

Love,

Achika

The next letter started without an address.

Quote:After I learned where you came from, I began to learn everything I can about your home. The places, its peoples, the plants and animals... even the ancient history.

All the people that ever wrote about it have something in common. They said that it was a beautiful land.

And they were right. This place is beautiful. It is also a little bit hard and a little bit dangerous. But I think that explains part of why you are the same way. It is a good place to learn to be strong like you.

I’ve been spending a lot of time with Yume. She’s a lot like you - tough, but also gentle. She calls me her little sister. And even when she is angry and snapping at the others, she will always hug me and tell me she’s not angry at me.

Yume even takes time to teach me things. She teaches me about her culture, about her people. She is even teaching me to hunt. I thought it was strange, at first, but then I began to learn to pay attention to the world around me.

It was like I was blind before! I notice things now that I never would have before. And when I go with Yume to practice hunting, I feel more alive than I ever have in my life.

The others are busy planning our new home. While the land they bought already has a small, but sturdy house, it is not going to be enough for us. I’ve been doing what I can to help, and the others do listen to me - especially Yume. But even though I’ve become strong with Bizen’s power, they all tell me that I should take time to play while I’m still young.

Even Yume, but at least she’s a bit more understanding about it.

At least I have Sasami-chan around. She knows what it’s like to not be able to do anything when you’re not grown up yet. But the problem is... I have grown up. Even though my body is that of a little girl’s, my mind is no longer so immature. I have seen too many things.

My friends at school have noticed, too. Even though I’ve become better at everything, no one wants to be my friend anymore. They can see it in my eyes - how their affairs seem so childish to me now. I guess I never really had friends there in the first place. They never were there for me anyhow.

I have been getting better with both the staff and the sword. I can’t really decide between the two, so Washu-chan made me a disguised staff like Sasami-chan’s, and Yume helped me make an energy sword from some of Bizen’s wood.

I am so envious of my sister-wives! All three of them are pregnant now... and I wish I could be, too. I know that it couldn’t be just yet. I’m too young and you would have been in trouble. But I know my body is ready. It reminds me every month. In fact, I’ve decided that I want to save the eggs I have left.

Seto warned me, you see... even though I will retain my youthful vigor for many centuries, my ovaries will still run dry in just a few decades.

After I finish writing this letter, Washu-chan is going to perform the procedure to stop my ovulation. I’ll still develop into a woman - I just won’t release an egg every month.

But please... Come back quickly. I already miss you so much.

I love you, Gar-kun.

Yours Forever

Yuki

There were other letters there - from Tenchi, Ayeka, Sasami, Ryoko, and Mihoshi (GYAH! WALL OF TEXT!). There were letters from... Father... (It would take me time to get used to calling him that) and from Mother as well as Aunt Misaki and Grandmother Seto... even Grandfather Utsutsume!

Even Noboyuki and Reia wrote me letters!

But I couldn’t read them anymore. The Nihongo characters all blurred as the tears ran down my face.

A purple blur appeared by me. She tried to comfort me.

I pushed her away - gently, because I didn’t want to hurt her for wanting to help me - and just shook my head. What I wanted the most was something that no one here could possibly give me.

Without another word, I went down to the basement, into my C-Space, and crawled up into my bed.

God, I hate depression.

- Black Aeronaut - 04-28-2017

Uh... Huh...

I don’t know how long I slept for. All I know was that I woke up, aching slightly and feeling miserable. I’d woken up a few times already, but then gone back to sleep. Finally, though, I had to get out of bed so I could use the toilet.

Gar-kun, I thought you’d like to know... Twillie came down and knocked a few times. I didn’t wanna wake you because I felt you needed the rest - your brain chemistry was really messed up.

Thanks Katherine, I replied with a tired sigh. How long was I out for?

You slept for a whoooooole fifteen hours.

I grimaced sharply at that. That was a new personal best for me, not counting the few times in my life I’d been really sick.

Ugh, it sure feels like it. Local time?

It’s 4:13 in the morning. The sun’s not gonna come up for a while.

I had to admit, I did feel somewhat better. Just... tired. Lethargic.

But I knew I had to start moving around, so with great reluctance I began to haul myself out of my bed, causing the frame to creak as I clambered down.

At the very least, I didn’t feel too sore. Instead, I felt clumsy, as though my body was still asleep. I trudged to the bathroom turned on the faucets, filling the deep basin of my pedestal sink, and then scooping the lukewarm water up into my face. I looked into the mirror. My face with its renewed youth looked back at me, facial hair and all.
It was time for a change, I decided then and there.

First I grabbed my beard trimmer and set about cutting all the hair on my face down to the skin, which didn’t take long. Then came the razor - normally only used to keep the rest of my face clear, I now lathered my face and went to work, leaving my skin shorn clean.

This task finished, I looked once more in the mirror thoughtfully. My fresh face framed by long, dark hair stared back at me, and I found it somewhat wanting. But I know what was wrong.

I combed my hair, dampened it, then combed it out again before going for the scissors. I started by trimming the long strands down to my neck and then went from there, carefully shortening each section a little bit at a time.

I had never done this before, but with the care I was taking it was not an impossible task. I worked in layers, keeping them parallel to the floor, working them down until I had a long, layered and feathered crown that covered the tops of my ears. It had a natural look to it as it tapered down to a shag carpet at the base of my head.

I then cleaned up the entire mess I had made, and then took a shower to get rid of the remaining loose hairs and wash away accumulated dry sweat and body soil. I then came out and looked at myself in the mirror one last time.

I felt different. Almost like a whole new person. I looked young, but hard. Constant activity and training had left their marks on my body - muscles rippled under a healthy layer of skin - I was nowhere near having the cellophane-skin look of a body builder. I knew better than that. Instead, the definition of my muscles was blunted by a layer of fat. And yet I looked every bit like the triathlete I had aimed to be in the past.

I had the look of someone with a potent balance of speed and strength. But most of all, the hard look in my eyes and the sharp features of my narrow face combined with the rest of my physique gave me an air of intimidation - I looked dangerous.

Oddly satisfied, I went to get dressed.

##

I spent the next few days hammering down the basics of the local language with Twilight, though this was mostly done in the confines of my C-Space where I didn’t feel quite as cramped. Besides, the austere setting of my space helped blunt the pangs of home that Twilight’s tree induced. Even if sometimes I felt like I was about to walk out into Tenchi’s home every time I went to the door.

It was hard the first few times, seeing only the bleak basement that Twilight kept instead of the bright and airy rafters where Ryoko would nap.

With Katherine’s help, I soon had a solid enough grasp of the Equestrian Language that Twilight felt comfortable enough to send me off to see the Princess with only Spike as an escort - Twilight herself being too occupied with local affairs to come with us.

Of course, I didn’t think that was a good idea, but the fillie was insistent... in the same sort of way that only an absent-minded researcher can be.

Thus, Spike glowered at me suspiciously from the far end of the private car on the train that the Princess had arranged. Unicorn guards stood at the doors on either end. For my protection, I had been assured.

And I believed them. I was an item of curiosity amongst the ponies, in both a good and a bad way. Ponies had been calling on poor Twilight for everything from photo ops to hair and tissue samples. There was even a mint-colored one that wanted to know everything possible about my hands.

(The ones being of pure academic interest, I authorized Twilight to disseminate all kinds of anatomical and medical information on humans that Washu-chan had packed into my library, just in case. Of course, they still had to be translated, but Twilight was also giving out primers.)

For my part, I simply tried to ignore Spike by trying to read a copy of the Ponyville gazette for practice.

“How can you be so calm?” snapped the little dragon suddenly. “You know that the Princess is just gonna banish you to the moon.”

The guard-ponies all snorted - whether in irritation or amusement, I wasn’t sure. For my part, I simply raised an eyebrow at the dragonet.

“How you is be knowing this?” I asked in my broken Equestrian - I swear I must have sounded like their equivalent to the stereotypical Russian-speaking-bad-English.

“Why!? Because you made Twilight cry, and she’s the Princess’s favorite student!”

I simply shrugged. “Good. If on moon, maybe get peace and quiet. Sleep away sad feelings is being difficult when all pony is wanting to be knowing things.”

“Big deal!” huffed Spike.

“You is thinking this not being small matter?” I asked caustically as I held up the copy of the Gazette that I was reading. On the front page was a candid photo of me making arrangements to pay for my stay at the hospital while a headline screamed luridly over the top, “IT LIVES!!!”

While these ponies can be affable folk, you have to get through a layer of sensationalism about a mile thick to get there. Good thing it was about as substantial as as cotton candy - all fluff and hot air.

Spike sneered contemptuously and decided to leave me to my own devices. As powerless as I felt at the time, that was fine by me.

##

By the time we had arrived at Canterlot, the capitol that hung off the mountain cliffs, the sun was long-gone from the horizon and the moon hung large and picturesquely in the night sky. I admired it for a time before we pulled into the station - at the detail that stood out so sharply since the air was so clear and the moon was so close.

Even though it was late, a crowd of press ponies awaited. Pegasi toting folding cameras with their signature accordion bellows flitted around, their flashes igniting in brief, sun-bright starbursts as they lined up and snapped pictures. Unicorns and Earthponies contented themselves by getting as close to the roped-off path to the carriage that waited for me with heavily curtained windows. They shouted questions at me that I didn’t really understand too well.

Spike apparently tried to stop so he could spin some yarn or other for the press, but a guard simply interposed himself between Spike and the press, huffing sharply as he gave the little dragon a meaningful look.

Spike got the message and despite his irritation, accompanied me to the carriage.

Who’s escorting who here? I wondered to myself wryly.

The capitol was not a big city, at least as I am used to them, and the streets were relatively empty once all the gawkers and rubberneckers were cleared away. Within fifteen minutes, I was already disembarking to the pleasantly quiet castle-keep, isolated from the ruckus of about a hundred-strong crowd of pressponies that had followed us, but were denied access to the keep.

I sighed in relief and the guards seem to echo my sentiment as they politely guided Spike and I into the castle-proper.

The interior was about what you’d expect - white marble and sandstone, all polished until it gleamed, and tapestries and stained glass windows all in a riot of colors that put Peter Faberge to shame.

Now this here, folks, was a Royal Palace.

Soon I was being walked through a long passage lined on both sides with stained glass windows, all of them seeming to tell one story or another. I briefly recognized the one that showed the Elements of Harmony healing Nightmare Moon and restoring her back into Princess Luna.

Another pair of large doors opened, and I entered a cavernous and airy throne room. At the far end, she sat in her throne, glowing radiantly as was her divine right.
Princes Celestia.

- robkelk - 04-28-2017

Quote:I briefly recognized the one that showed the Elements of Harmony healing Nightmare Moon and restoring her back into Princess Luna.

Somebody works fast.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

- classicdrogn - 05-15-2017

Still late, if not as much as my reply in your other thread, but I agree the new version feels less overdone on the angst and misery, while still showing how hard the situation is hitting Garrick. Just one specific comment:

Quote:“It strange you have many bride,” said Twilight as she set about to tucking a more-tired-than-he'd-admit Spike. “But not unheard. Among pony, we call such family 'Herd'. Fall out of practice recent century. This despite gender imbalance. Ratio one colt, two and half filly.”

“Why did it fall out of practice?” I asked.

Twilight shrugged. “Not know certainly. Think culture shift to monogamy. Many book and play of monogamous romance start two-hundred year ago.”

I thought about that for a second. “Might have been Celestia. It's a clever method of gently influencing the populous to control population growth.”

Twilight gave me a shocked look. “How can say thing like that!?”

“Twilight, my Grandmother is a master manipulator, and I find her methods admirable. If this is what Celestia did, then she's not any different from my Grandmother. Hell, I bet Seto would love to spend an evening with Celestia. I can only imagine the debauchery those two would get up to.”

“But.. Princess is proper ruler!”

Of course she is, Twi, that would be why she set about making a big cultural change by quietly arranging a social campaign through arts and media that took centuries to work instead of passing down a royal decree and declaring that it would be obeyed or else. It probably wasn't even anything more than deciding which authors and productions she would support through patronage or just being seen attending the show and letting people draw their own conclusions. This way, no one got hurt and any direct changes were a matter of the ponies involved deciding to make them for themselves.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

- Black Aeronaut - 05-28-2017

Quote:robkelk wrote:
Quote:I briefly recognized the one that showed the Elements of Harmony healing Nightmare Moon and restoring her back into Princess Luna.
Somebody works fast.

Magic. :V
Really, though, it would not surprise me one bit is there were several unicorns in Canterlot that are master-level artisans in various fields. That, and I figure that it's been at least one month since Luna was restored.

Quote:ClassicDrogn wrote:
Still late, if not as much as my reply in your other thread, but I agree the new version feels less overdone on the angst and misery, while still showing how hard the situation is hitting Garrick. Just one specific comment:

Quote:“It strange you have many bride,” said Twilight as she set about to tucking a more-tired-than-he'd-admit Spike. “But not unheard. Among pony, we call such family 'Herd'. Fall out of practice recent century. This despite gender imbalance. Ratio one colt, two and half filly.”
“Why did it fall out of practice?” I asked.
Twilight shrugged. “Not know certainly. Think culture shift to monogamy. Many book and play of monogamous romance start two-hundred year ago.”
I thought about that for a second. “Might have been Celestia. It's a clever method of gently influencing the populous to control population growth.”
Twilight gave me a shocked look. “How can say thing like that!?”
“Twilight, my Grandmother is a master manipulator, and I find her methods admirable. If this is what Celestia did, then she's not any different from my Grandmother. Hell, I bet Seto would love to spend an evening with Celestia. I can only imagine the debauchery those two would get up to.”
“But.. Princess is proper ruler!”
Of course she is, Twi, that would be why she set about making a big cultural change by quietly arranging a social campaign through arts and media that took centuries to work instead of passing down a royal decree and declaring that it would be obeyed or else. It probably wasn't even anything more than deciding which authors and productions she would support through patronage or just being seen attending the show and letting people draw their own conclusions. This way, no one got hurt and any direct changes were a matter of the ponies involved deciding to make them for themselves.

I really do need to make that a bit more clear, don't I?

Anyhow, I had been hoping to garner at least a little more attention, but oh well. Right now I'm just trying to work out the meeting between Garrick and Celestia, and I think I just figured out how to do it.

A place like Canterlot Castle has to have a Servant's Hall - a common area and dining hall for all the servants in a great house or a castle. And Princess Celestia strikes me as the type that engenders enough familiarity with her staff that she occasionally takes her meal with her staff if she's not entertaining the typical stuffed saddle types.

And then he runs into Luna... Upon whom he makes a huge impression.... "Has Moon Princess hear of sleep disorder? Is being called... how you say.... Delay Sleep Phase Disorder."

Yep. Luna learns Garrick is pretty much prone to nocturnal behavior and that he loves staring at the night sky.

Re: [RFC][SI][Multi-Xover] Being You is Convalescence - classicdrogn - 07-26-2017

Rereading this, I feel I should note that the bbcode is all showing up in the text for some reason in post #44, which makes the letters in particular hard to read with the italics tags everywhere.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

Re: [RFC][SI][Multi-Xover] Being You is Convalescence - Black Aeronaut - 07-26-2017

Ugh. Yeah, I'd peaked into a couple of my other threads and seen the same there as well.

I'll probably have to go and fix them, seeing as the scrape that was taken of the forums for The Big Move will probably have all that malarkey as well. Sad