The God Particle

Chapter 10: Solaris

"Wake up, James," he heard a soft voice as he felt something brush against his face lightly. He tried to brush it away with his hand and then turn over in the bed.

"James, wake up," the voice said again, with a little more insistence, causing him to finally open his eyes. It was still mostly dark in the room, but as his eyes came into focus, he could see the muzzle of a white alicorn hovering over his face.

He nearly fell out of the bed he reacted so quickly in his startled state, kneeling before her and bowing. "Princess Celestia ... Your Majesty?" he said in a confused and rather surprised tone of voice.

She chuckled at his quick response. "Please, stand. You don't have to be quite so formal right now, James. Considering I basically snuck up on you while you were sleeping. Get dressed and walk with me."

"Yes, Your Majesty," he responded and stood up.

"I'll wait outside the door for you," she turned and left the room.

James watched her leave, then quickly pulled one of his shirts on over his head and put his shoes on. He didn't know what time it was, other than it was still dark outside. He tried to calm his nerves, his mind wondering what she could possibly want with him at this hour. Sure, she would trust Twilight, her most faithful student to remain silent and keep the secret they had sworn to. But she really had no reason to trust him, considering she had only met him twice and he was a complete outsider who wasn't even from the same world. He hoped she hadn't changed her mind about releasing him.

As he walked out of the room, he noticed she was alone and did not have any guard escort with her. She turned her head over her shoulder to look at him and then started to walk. James moved in beside her, walking with her as she lead the way. Princess Celestia remained silent for now. He thought proper protocol would dictate that he didn't speak until she did first, so he remained silent as well. She led him down a corridor with a couple of twists and turns along the way until she came to a large wooden door that she magically unlocked with her horn, revealing a spiral stone staircase that lead upwards. James assumed it must be one of the castle's many towers. As they started to climb the stairs, he heard the door quietly close behind him, followed by a click as the lock on the door re-engaged.

He wasn't sure how long they climbed the stairs, but eventually they came to another door at the top, which she again opened with magic. After passing through the door, they entered a circular unfurnished room, which James assumed must be the top of the tower. Princess Celestia led him to another door on the other side of the circular room, which she unlocked and magically opened. He followed her through it, finding himself outside on a balcony now, overlooking Canterlot. The two of them stood next to each other looking over the city below for a few moments before the alicorn turned her head and spoke to him.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. You can see the entire city and beyond," James said as he looked around at the various parts of Canterlot. The streets were still mostly quiet, although there was a small amount of activity below them. James suspected it was those ponies that had to get up very early to get ready for the morning rush of customers—bakers and such maybe. "Do you mind if I ask you a question, Your Majesty?"

"Of course, not. Ask away," she looked at him.

"Do you uh ... routinely wander the halls, enter your guest's rooms in the middle of the night while they're sleeping, and wake them up?"

She ignored the somewhat recusant nature of the question and chuckled softly. "It's not the middle of the night. It's early in the morning. And I wanted to speak with you alone before the two of you left this morning."

James simply nodded in response and Celestia continued.

"So, Twilight tells me you've been very dedicated to learning about our nation, and learning our writing system. And that you've been devouring the books in the Ponyville library."

"Well, I've been doing my best, Your Majesty," he responded, feeling a bit better that Twilight had spoken positively about him.

Princess Celestia smiled and nodded before continuing. "However, she also tells me that you are very ... resistant, for lack of a better word, to accepting some of the things we believe here in Equestria."

James mentally winced at that. He knew where this was going, and he really did not want to have this conversation with one of the The Princess. However, he was backed into a corner right now, and there was really no way he could get out of it. He thought for a few moments, planning his response very carefully. Angering Twilight was one thing. Angering Princess Celestia was quite another, he thought. Finally, he responded.

"There are ... certain concepts that are very foreign to me. And that violate everything I know to be true about the laws of physics ... So I am having a hard time reconciling what I know, with some of the things I have been reading, and some of the things Twilight has told me, Your Majesty," he responded, choosing his words as carefully as he could. He also intentionally left out the parts about rejecting what he perceived as the ruling style of the princesses, and his perceived indoctrination teaching style they used. He felt a twinge of anger rise in him at Twilight for having mentioned their disagreements to The Princess, but he tried to keep it hidden as best he could.

"I understand," Princess Celestia nodded. "Twenty-seven years of thinking about things a certain way is not going to change overnight. I would just encourage you to open your mind as much as possible."

"I always try to keep an open mind," he said slightly defensively. "But ... at the same time ... We can't be too quick to throw out well established laws and theories. More often than not, when something appears to violate established laws of science, or well supported theories in science, closer examination reveals that in fact, it does not actually violate those laws at all."

Somewhat to his surprise, Princess Celestia nodded and smiled at his response. "It can be difficult to find the right balance between jumping to conclusions that throw out established rules, and refusing to accept something just because it violates established rules. Throwing out the established rules too quickly can cause one to come to conclusions that are very wrong. But, if after careful analysis, you can show that something is happening that definitely does not fit the established rules, then the rules might need to be modified, or even thrown out."

James nodded slightly at that, but didn't give a verbal response.

"You have read about our ... laws of celestial mechanics? The sun and the moon?" she asked him.

"I have, Your Majesty," he nodded slightly. Any attempt at hiding his apprehension was futile now.

"And what was your impression of them? What do you think about them?"

"I'm uh ... fine with them ... I don't really have any problems with them," he mumbled, looking at the floor now.

"Did Twilight Sparkle teach you nothing of the Elements of Harmony?" she said somewhat sternly. "Specifically, the Element of Honesty? Do not try to lie me to me, James. I can see through it," she scolded him.

That caused James to wince. Somehow, getting scolded by Princess Celestia made him feel far worse than getting scolded by a boss, teacher, or even his own parents had made him feel when he was a child.

"I apologize, Your Majesty. I just didn't want to seem ... disrespectful. The truth is, I don't see how it's possible that things ... well, work the way I read they do the book. It doesn't seem reasonable or logical to me."

She nodded her head slightly. "So I take it things work vastly different where you are from."

"Some things, Your Majesty. Other things ... Well, I'm finding a lot of things here that are very similar to where I'm from. The main concept I'm having trouble with right now, of course, is magic. I've seen Twilight use it. And well, even felt her use it because she has used it on me a couple of times. I have no idea how it works, and much of it seems to defy well established laws of physics where I am from. But I'm not ruling out the possibility that the answer might be somewhere within quantum mechanics. Although no one where I am from has ever seen any documented examples of magic actually working."

She smiled at his answer again. "Also, please do not be angry with Twilight for having spoken with me about some of this stuff. She has never had to teach someone before, much less someone from a completely different world. This experience is just as new for her as it is for you. She needs my advice from time to time."

"I will try not to to be angry with her, Your Majesty," he said, wondering to himself whether he really wore his emotions so far on his sleeve that it was that obvious he had been angry with Twilight.

"I know you will," she said, looking out in the distance for a moment. "It is time ... You may want to back up some and stand over there," she said as she motioned to the other side of the balcony.

James blinked, not quite sure what she meant by that, but nodded respectfully and did as he was told, backing up until he was a fair distance away from her.

Then it happened. Princess Celestia spread her majestic wings. Her horn started to glow a brilliant orange, which then started to change to yellow, and finally to a brilliant white. The light increased in intensity until it appeared that Celestia's entire being, and even the air around her was glowing with energy. The brightness of the aura surrounding her was so brilliant that James had to shield his eyes from its intensity. Even then, the brightness kept increasing, until he was no longer able to look at her at all and had to turn his face away—sure that the increasing light would burn his retinas if he continued to look at it. Even from his position on the other side of the balcony, he felt a radiant heat wave wash over him and envelop him. The aura from Celestia's magic expanded outwards until it too, had enveloped him. The energy flowing from her was not directed at him, but so intense was its power that even being in the aura caused a sensation of energy flowing through him—like he had grabbed onto a continuous bolt of lightening and a million volts of electricity was flowing through his body. But the sensation was not painful or unpleasant. On the horizon, through the aura, James could see a faint glow in the sky that started getting brighter. The sun started to slowly appear, rising above the horizon. The entire event, so far, had lasted an eternity. No. It had lasted several eternities. And yet, at the same time, it had lasted only a few seconds, and a few minutes. Time; the movement of the heavens; even the very laws of physics itself, had all bowed in submission to Princess Celestia.

James could only stand there, frozen in bewilderment, awe, and admittedly, a little bit of fear of the alicorn goddess—for there was little doubt left in his mind that is what she must be—and her awesome power. The only movement he made was to lower his eyes towards the ground once the rising sun had become too bright to look at anymore. After a few more seconds and a few more eternities past, the aura began to shrink and diminish in intensity, eventually subsiding completely as she completed the magical act, revealing the freshness of a new morning, and a new day.

For several seconds the only sounds were the chirping of the birds in the morning sun. James was still overwhelmed and unable to move, trying to process everything he had just experienced. Finally Celestia spoke.

"We should go back down to the castle. Twilight is probably looking for you by now."

James was still speechless, and simply nodded slightly in response, starting to follow her as she magically opened the door with her horn again, leading him back inside and down the tower's spiral staircase again.

"Oh and James," she said looking back at him. "Perhaps from now on, you may find some things Twilight discusses with you to be a little bit ... easier to believe," she said more as a statement than a question.

James simply nodded slightly again, still overcome with a mixture of awe, confusion, and uncertainty about the fact that everything he thought he knew about science, philosophy, and even perhaps religion for that matter, was now suspect, and quite possibly, wrong.

o.O.o

"What do you mean he wasn't in his room?" Twilight questioned as she glared at one of the castle servants.

"I mean when we went to wake him up this morning, he wasn't in his room, my lady," the servant responded, looking a bit uneasy from her glare.

Twilight sighed in annoyance as she trotted down the corridor, and then down the stairs to the main foyer. "I don't understand him. Most of the time I can't even get him to leave the library. But then sometimes, he just wanders off without even telling me where he is going," she grumbled to herself. She continued trotting until she was in the main foyer, looking around and still not finding him. "Well, how far could he have gone? The castle gates are still closed. He couldn't have left the courtyard," she said to herself, trotting outside and looking around for him, not finding him anywhere in the courtyard either. After exhausting her search in the courtyard, she came back inside, finally finding James standing in the main foyer, albeit looking a little dazed.

"James, where have you been? Ive been looking all over for you! You knew we wanted to get an early start. Come on, we really need to get going," she scolded.

James didn't say anything in response, just nodding at her and walking out of the main castle doors to the aerial chariot that was waiting to take them back to Ponyville. Again, he opened the door for Twilight and held it for her so that she could enter first. But this time he didn't make any smart remarks, or give the slight bow, or anything. She looked at him with a concerned look for a moment before entering the chariot. He followed her in and then closed the door. The pegasi pulling the chariot looked back to make sure both of them were secure before starting to gallop down the path in the courtyard towards the doors which were opening, and the drawbridge that was lowering. Shortly after passing through the gate and over the drawbridge, the chariot took off and set a course for Ponyville. Normally, James would have taken the opportunity to get an aerial perspective of Equestria, since when they had flown to Canterlot, it was night and he couldn't see much. But he was still too overwhelmed by what he had experienced earlier. How much of what he knew ... of his twenty-seven years of experience, had just been rendered invalid? For Twilight's part, she cast a few concerned glances at him once in awhile, but did not say anything.

o.O.o

"You shouldn't have let the human leave, Tia," Luna said, standing next to her sister on one of the castle balconies, both of them watching the chariot depart. "We hardly know anything about him. How do we know he will not betray us?"

"What would you have me do, sister?" Celestia turned her head to look at Luna. "Lock him back up in the dungeon? Confine him to the castle? Just because he accidentally saw something he shouldn't have? When it wasn't even his decision to go out there?"

Luna just looked at the ground in response. She knew Celestia was right. It simply wouldn't be right of them to imprison him or confine him just to ensure he wouldn't talk about something he saw by accident.

"Besides," Celestia continued, "We don't even know for sure if there is anything to worry about. This could all be nothing. And we didn't share the most critical information with either James or Twilight anyway. Even if he did talk to somepony about it, the damage he could do is probably limited."

"You're right Tia," the younger alicorn responded, still sounding slightly uneasy as she looked to the sky again; the chariot now fading into the distance as it passed beyond the city limits of Canterlot.

Celestia gently nuzzled her sister's head in reassurance. "Sometimes, doing the right thing requires taking a chance on trust, sister."