Author's note: Sorry for the long delay all. Been having some other things going on that have kept me somewhat distracted from writing. Anyway, here is chapter 16. Hope you all enjoy it, and thanks so much for your patience. I'm hoping by next week I will be able to pick up the pace and get chapters out quicker and on a more regular basis.

The God Particle

Chapter 16: The Outpost

"Wake up!" James awoke to the rude sound of a hoof pounding on his door roughly, a gruff voice telling him to get up. It was a female voice this time, but just as brusque sounding as the stallion tending the bar last night had been. Well, at least they remembered to wake us up. Guess I can't complain about it too much, he thought to himself. He yawned, climbing out of bed before he had a chance to fall back asleep. He hadn't slept well—the spartan accommodations here making even his simple guest room at the Ponyville library seem like luxury by comparison. A dull thudding on the door next to his room suggested Theory Point was getting the same rude awakening he had just gotten.

He quickly changed into his winter day clothes, then opened the door, making a quick stop at the bathroom at the end of the hall. The bathtub in it had no shower head, the faucet appeared to have only a cold water valve. A sign on the wall next to the tub read Ask bartender for hot water. That settled that. There would be no time for bathing this morning. He settled for a quick face wash and combing his hair instead. As he left the bathroom, he passed Theory Point, who was heading towards it. Her mane had not been straightened or tied into the bun she wore yesterday yet. She didn't look like she had fared much better than he had last night. Her uniform was still unbuttoned, having been thrown on with little care for appearances. No doubt, she would have been reprimanded in Canterlot if she were seen in a public area wearing the uniform so sloppily.

"Morning, James," she mumbled as she continued towards the bathroom.

"Morning, Theory," he grumbled back. "I take it you didn't sleep well either?"

"In this dilapidated throwback to pre-classical era peasant accommodations?" She scoffed. "I hardly slept at all." She walked past him and into bathroom.

He continued to the other end of the hall, yawning again as he descended the staircase. The main floor, which had been bustling with activity the previous night, was now deserted. The windows were still covered in frost and caked with snow, he couldn't see out of them. He finished descending the stairs, glad for the warmth coming from the two stone fireplaces, the chill from the cold air upstairs starting to leave him.

He opened the wooden door, having to force it against the significant amount of new snow that had accumulated outside of it, its hinges protesting about a lack of oil with a squeaking sound. Immediately, the icy air assailed him, causing him to shiver slightly, his breath visible in the air. Looking outside, the snow had mostly stopped, the blizzard having given way to light flurries dancing in the wind. The sky was still overcast hiding the rising sun behind it, but visibility was good. There was probably a foot, maybe more, of new snowfall accumulation.

"You best stop letting all my warm air out unless you want to end up out there in a snow drift with my hoof print on your face," said a rough female voice from behind, startling him.

"Sorry," he responded apologetically, closing the door again. "I was just checking to see if the snow had stopped."

He turned and walked over to the bar. A charcoal gray furred earth pony stood behind it. Like most of the ponies up here, she had longer fur than the ponies in other parts of Equestria. Stocky and muscular, she was clearly no stranger to hard work. Her long midnight black mane hung down over her withers, her deep hazel eyes boring into him as if trying to read his soul—eyes that hinted of the kind of wisdom that cannot be learned in academia, but only gained through experiencing the world. She was older them him, in her mid fifties he guessed, probably twice his age. The left side of her withers bore a scar, slightly visible even under the long fur, her right ear torn down the middle—an old injury that had never received proper medical attention and been stitched back together. Work related, he suspected. She was probably no stranger to throwing unruly patrons out of the bar herself.

He sat down at the bar and tried to make smalltalk. "Was that your husband working last night?"

"Yes, it was," she said flatly.

He nodded. "Sleeping now from working late last night?"

She gave him a menacing glare. "He's at the market stocking up on food for tomorrow's weekend rush. We are happily married and I ain't no whore. So get rid of any ideas you got in your head right now."

He blinked, completely taken aback by her response. It took him a few moments to recover. "That's ... not what I meant ... Not at all." He looked down at the top of the bar.

"Even if it ain't, don't get any ideas of robbing me either just cause he ain't here. I'm more than capable of defending myself and taking care of outsiders like you."

He had no doubt she was more than capable of backing up her claims. "Ma'am, I'm not—" she cut him off.

"Ponies up here are leery of outsiders. Especially academics. And even more especially, academics from Canterlot—especially when they are ones that dropped in from some other world or wherever you came from." Her hazel eyes narrowed and drilled into him again. "We don't want you here! And we don't want your unicorn friend here either!" she said, raising her voice somewhat.

He cringed as she unleashed her venomous tirade on him, even leaning backwards on his stool to put more distance between them. He looked at the floor for several long seconds, staring at the wood grain and cracks in it, rubbing his forehead a couple of time with two fingers, at a loss for words how to respond to her. Finally, he looked back up at her, a look of placation, and understanding in his eyes. "Look ... Ma'am ... I promise you I'm not here to cause any trouble. Nor am I looking for any ... Can I just get some hot tea please? To take the morning chill out of my bones?"

She blinked twice, then gave a cackled laugh. "Tea? This ain't one of your prissy Canterlot boutiques! We ain't got tea here. All we got is coffee. And only straight. None of them fancy drinks."

His eyes lit up. It had been more than three months since he had a nice cup of coffee. "You have coffee here? I kind of assumed ... there was no coffee in Equestria."

"There ain't no coffee in Canterlot. Those ponies consider coffee a peasant beverage for folk who aren't sophisticated enough to appreciate tea." She took a covered tin can of coffee off the shelf and started to boil water for it. The logo on the can was a painting of a midnight black alicorn with an ethereal purple mane and tail rearing up on her hind legs. James recognized it as Nightmare Moon from a drawing in one of Twilight's books. Underneath the logo, written in a gothic type calligraphy were the words Nightmare Brand Coffee.

"So why is it called Nightmare Brand Coffee?" he looked at her curiously.

"Well, local legend is that it was created by Nightmare Moon or Princess Luna herself to keep ponies awake at night and stop them from being able to sleep. Of course, the legend probably ain't true. But either way, a couple cups of this stuff? And you will be awake all night."

Once the water had started to boil, she removed the kettle from the stove and began to strain it through the coffee grounds. The aroma of brewing coffee started to fill the room—an aroma he had not had the pleasure of experiencing for several months now. It reminded him of the book store back home in Chicago—the one with the coffee shop in it where he had spent much of his free time when he wasn't in the lab.

The sounds of a door closing upstairs, and James looked up to the second level to see Theory Point walking towards the stairs. She started walking down them, her mane and tail well groomed now, her uniform pressed and neat, a very different look from her disheveled appearance earlier. He nodded to her. "She's making coffee for us. They don't have any tea. Weather looks ok. Overcast and a little windy. Light flurries. But shouldn't stop us from flying."

"Coffee?" the unicorn responded. "Peasant beverage. They don't have any tea I take it?" she said, confirming Canterlot's feelings about the beverage and earning a scowl from the bartender.

"Oh come on, I used to live off the stuff back home. It's great," he protested, wishing that Theory Point would stop going out of her way to make the animosity between them and the local populace worse than it already was.

The coffee finished brewing, the bartender pouring two steaming mugs of and setting them in front of the human and the unicorn. "five bits," she stated flatly. James nodded in response and retrieved some bits out of his bag, making sure to give her a generous tip as a show of good will.

The two of them sipped the coffee, James continuing to savor the aroma. The coffee was of a light roast, resembling a New England Roast. It was definitely not the best coffee he had ever had, being too acidic, and brewed too strongly, but nor was it the worst.  He wasn't about to be picky though, given he had been deprived of coffee entirely for the last several months.

The door opened, a cold blast of arctic air charing through it as the hinges complained in protest. The pegasi that had agreed to fly them to the outpost walked in, carelessly tracking snow into the building as they didn't bother to wipe their hooves on the mats. The bartender gave them an annoyed glare, but they didn't seem to notice, or didn't care enough to apologize. Both of them looked as gruff as they had the previous day.

"We leave in fifteen minutes. Assuming you got the bits," the one named Ice Breaker stated unceremoniously.

"Yeah, I got them," James responded, pulling out a cloth sack tied off with a piece of yarn at at the top , handing it over to the pegasi who took it with his mouth and shoved it into one of his saddle bags.

"You aren't going to count it?" James raised an eyebrow curiously.

"I'll count it after we get you up there," the pegasus responded gruffly. "I doubt you two would try to stiff us. Cause if you do? We simply won't come back to get you and will just leave you stranded up there."

"Fair enough," he nodded.

"We'll see you out there shortly than." The two pegasi turned and went back outside, letting another frigid blast of chill air in, causing James to shiver despite the warm clothes he had on and the steaming cup of coffee he was currently sipping.

The human and the unicorn quickly finished their coffee in silence, which had cooled enough that they could drink it faster now. As they finished, James thanked the bartender for her hospitality, to which she only responded with a disapproving grunt that had a hint of relief in it that she would finally be rid of them. Then, James and Theory proceeded outside, the frigid north wind cutting through their clothing as soon as had left the inn.

The chariot waiting for them was at the opposite end of luxury than the chariots in Canterlot. It was more like a buggy than a chariot, on skis instead of wheels. Constructed primarily of wood, it was weather beaten and appeared to have seen better days. One thing of interest though, a small chimney coming up from the cabin. Was it heated? He hoped so. But more important, was it even air worthy? Air worthy or not, it appeared to be the only way they would be getting to the outpost. He opened the door for Theory Point, who climbed in and sat on the unfurnished wooden floor. He climbed in after her, pulling the door shut and locking the biting wind outside, sitting down on the floor next to her, for there were no seats or benches in the primitive buggy. A small wood burning stove and stack of firewood next to it confirmed his suspicions that the chariot had a primitive heating system installed though. It was already burning, giving the otherwise primitive chariot a cozy feel to it. The two gruff pegasi took a brief running start, kicking up the freshly powered snow around them. Then they took to the air, turned, and headed north.

James looked out the window, using the opportunity to take in a part of Equestria he had never seen before. As the chariot climbed higher, the town faded from view as they passed beyond its edge. Coniferous forests eventually gave way to pure white flat tundra. Turbulent air, combined with the white cloud layer above that obscured the horizon give him no reference to tell which was up or down, causing him to get a sense of horizon inversion and vertigo.

"So you thought anymore about whether you are going to join the Academy?" the unicorn asked, bringing diverting his attention away from the window.

"I'm still thinking about it. I'll probably have a decision by the time we get back and report whatever it is we find to The Princess."

"It pays well. It's prestigious. And you will have access to be best research facilities in all of Equestria if you join," she added.

He didn't respond, but smiled inwardly. It was clear she really wanted him to join, and was impressed with what little she knew about his past research.

The two of them spent the next hour or so comparing and discussing the latest developments in quantum mechanics and other such topics of theoretical physics. It was amazing how often his own world and Equestria had independently arrived at the same conclusions. Of course, in some areas, they had vastly different ideas and shared alternative hypotheses and ideas. After a lengthy discussion, they simply sat in silence, each with their own thoughts.

He wasn't sure how much more time had passed before building pressure in his ears told him that the pegasi had begun their descent. He looked out the window again. Directly below them, nothing but cold barren tundra. Further out, very small groves of hearty evergreens stood in defiance of the harsh climate. Turning his head to see as best he could towards the front of them, tundra gave way to ice shelves, which eventually gave way to open water, dotted here and there with sheets of floating ice and large bergs.

"I'm not familiar with the geography of this part of Equestria." He turned back to look at the unicorn again. "Haven't even read about it."

"We are actually very close to the planet's magnetic north pole now. That's the Hailstorm Ocean in front of us," she informed him. "It's named after Captain Hailstorm, a legendary pegasus explorer from about four hundred years ago who is credited with being the first pony to ever travel this far north and actually find it." She paused a moment. "Of course, it's difficult to believe that the princesses didn't already know the ocean was here."

"You think they knew it was here, but didn't tell anypony?" He raised an eyebrow in question.

"I don't know..." She mused and paused, flicking her tail once. "I don't know what the princesses know and what they don't. Nopony really does. It's kind of a mystery. "

"Well, what do you think then?"

She paused in contemplation before responding. "I think if the princesses just came out and told us everything they knew, life would be pretty boring cause there would be nothing left to discover or wonder about."

He smiled. It was a good answer.

He was jolted by a rough bump as the skis touched down, followed by several more jolts as they glided over the ungroomed drifted snow and gradually slowed down. When they had safely stopped, he opened the door, immediately regretting it as the arctic air blowing in off the freezing ocean assaulted him. It was much colder than even the air in Whitepony had been.

He stepped down, almost falling as he did so. He hadn't expected his feet would sink into waist deep snow. "Careful. Snow is much deeper than it looks," he said, holding the door for Theory Point.

She grumbled, stepping down as well. James tried, and failed to suppress a giggle as she sank into the snow all the way up to the bottom of her flank and her chest.

"Not another sound out of you!" she hissed at him, glaring daggers.

"I'm sorry ... I'm trying not to—" he had to stop to suppress another giggle, getting another cutting stare from her as he unloaded their bags. His attention was quickly diverted when he closed the door and the two pegasi immediately started moving in a jerky motion, gathering speed.

"Woah! Where are you two going?" he called out in a panic.

"We got other things we have to do! We will be back in about eight or nine hours to pick you two up!" one of the pegasi called out to them.

He tried to chase after them, but his movement was severely hampered by the deep snow.  Before he could get close to them, they had to taken to the air. All he could do is watch helplessly as the carriage rose into the sky and began to disappear towards the south.

His shoulders lowered in defeat, he turned back towards Theory Point and walked back to her slowly, a look of concern in his eyes. "Well ... Here's hoping they don't strand us up here."

"They won't," she reassured him, then pointed her horn at the only building in the area. "Come on, lets get this done with."

The building in question was of single story log construction. A metal sign written in Equestrian script posted to the right of the building and a hundred feet or so in front of it, read "Equestrian Science Outpost #4: Northern Climate Lab". The building itself resembled the log cabin type construction back in Whitepony. A steeply slanted roof promoted the easier runoff of snow. The three windows on the front of the building were covered with very thick sheets of frost. There was no hint of any light behind the windows. The front door was blocked by knee high snow which had drifted in from the wind. James was already beginning to suspect the large amount of frost on the windows and the deep snow in front of the door suggested the place had been deserted for at least the last few days.

Trudging through the snow, he eventually got to the door and tested it. Locked. "I uh ... hope you have a key," he said, turning back towards Theory Point. "Cause Princess Celestia didn't give me one."

She just grumbled in response, having to lift her forelegs very high to navigate through the snow, towards the building. The way she walked through the snow reminded him of a prancing horse in a Lipizzaner Stallion show and he had to work to suppress another giggle. When she made it to the door, she inserted her horn into the keyhole. It glowed slightly. A small clicking sound, and the lock came undone. She roughly pushed the door open with a forehoof and stepped inside, stomping the snow off of her hooves on the rug.

"Or that works too ... Yeah ..." he commented and followed her inside.

The walls of the building kept the biting wind at bay, but they did little else to take the chill off of them as he had suspected, the place appeared to have been abandoned for at least a few days. A wood burning stove in the middle of the room sat cold and unlit, frost clinging to the top of its chimney pipe.

"Hello! Anypony here?" Theory Point called out, receiving no response. "Check the back rooms over there." She motioned James to the right. "I'll take the ones on this side. Lets hope we don't find any bodies."

He nodded and started checking the rooms she had indicated—two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a storage pantry. He found nothing. Returning to the main room, he simply shook his head in a 'no' motion at her.

"I didn't find anything either. There's nopony here," she commented.

James started to look around the main room they were in while Theory Point went over to examine a desk. He opened a cabinet near the small kitchen. There were several large unlabeled glass jugs in it, most of which were full. But one of which was half empty, He took it out, removed the cap, sniffed it carefully. He pulled his nose away from it rapidly.

"Woah! It would seem climate research isn't the only thing they were doing up here. I guess this was to help keep them warm at night?" he quipped.

"What is it?" She looked up from the desk at him.

"Back where I am from we would call it moonshine. They have quite a stash of it here."

"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow. "You want to open a bottle and indulge? They aren't coming back to get us for at least another seven hours."

He blinked at her, taken aback for a moment before responding. "Wow, you really are a bad girl aren't you? Trying to pick fights at the inn with the locals. Wanting to consume the illegal alcohol." He shook his head and chuckled.

She raised a forehoof defensively. "Hey! They started it back at the inn. I was just sticking up for us. You should be thanking me." She fake pouted. "And as far as the alcohol, it's not like anypony would know about it. What's wrong indulging once in a while and having a little fun?"

He looked at the jugs of moonshine in the cabinet again, pausing for a few moments. Then shook his head and looked back at her. "Don't tempt me." He gave a short nervous chuckle. He had to admit, it was tempting. It had been months since he had last had a drink. But he definitely didn't want to end up on the wrong side of the law in Equestria—not when Princess Celestia was just starting to trust him enough to give him his freedom from having to be supervised, and when she had just offered him a position at the Academy. He replaced the jug he had removed and closed the cabinet again.

"Suit yourself. But you don't have to be such a do-gooder all of the time." She chuckled at him and went back to looking through the drawers in the desk.  "It's empty," she said, closing the last drawer on the desk with a thump. "When they left, they took all their research with them ... James? What you looking at over there?"

She left the empty desk and walked over to him. He was looking at a table now. A strange looking contraption sat on the table. It consisted of a small block of wood with a meter mounted on it. A small empty coffee tin with wires protruding out of a small hole tapped in one side of it was crudely taped to the block of wood. The other end of the can was covered with aluminum foil. "What do you think it is?" she asked him.

"It's a homemade radiation detector," he responded, looking puzzled.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I've seen plans for one very similar to this back where I am from. The tin can is the ionization chamber." His expression had taken on a deep look of concern. He quickly grabbed the meter off the table, finding a switch on the side of it and turning it on.

Theory Point shared his look of concern and spoke in a nervous tone. "Are we—"

"No. We're fine. Radiation levels here are no higher than what I would expect normal background levels to be ... assuming the meter is accurate that is. I wish I could find a calibration source to test it."

"I think I can help with that. Stand behind me. I don't want to irradiate you."

He blinked but did as she told him, backing up to stand behind her. She pointed her horn at the tin can. A few seconds later, the needle on the meter jumped a little bit and held steady at a low reading. Then, the meter went back to zero.

"It's accurate," she said.

The two of them both had expressions of relief on their faces now.

"You can create ionizing radiation using magic? That sounds like a useful skill to have," he commented.

"It comes in handy in the lab sometimes."

"Why would they need a radiation detector up here?" James rubbed his forehead with his thumb and index finger. "It doesn't make any sense. And radiation levels, at least inside the building, are nominal. So it doesn't even explain why they abandoned the place so quickly."

"There don't appear to be any signs of a struggle either." The unicorn looked around the room a little bit. "I'd say they left voluntarily."

"I think we better have a look around outside," James said, picking up the radiation detector and moving towards the door.

Theory Point nodded reluctantly and followed him, neither one of them looking forward to tromping through the deep snow.

Outside, they walked a spiral pattern away from the door, looking for anything unusual. Any tracks leading away from the building would have been completely obscured by the fresh snow. As cold as it was outside, both of them were starting to pant and felt too hot—a consequence of having to work thought the waist deep snow. James stopped towards the Northeast of the building, about two hundred paces away from it. He pointed further towards the Northeast.

"Do you see that?"

Theory Point looked in the direction he was pointing. There was a small circular area, no more than a few feet wide, where it appeared there was no snow. "I do ... Interesting."

He started walking towards the apparently dry area, the unicorn following close behind him. As they got closer, it started to feel warmer, as if there were some kind of heat source near by. In the center of the dry area, was a small gray sphere, glowing with a faint green glow. It also seemed to be the source of the heat. They stopped and looked at each other, but neither said anything. Then he moved the radiation detector towards the sphere.

"Whatever it is, it's radioactive," he commented.

"How radioactive?" she asked in a concerned tone of voice.

"Well, I wouldn't want to sleep with it if that's what you mean ... But for a short period of exposure, it's unlikely to be dangerous."

He stepped back a few paces, staying as far away from it as he could but close enough to allow him to still see it in detail. He walked around the object in a circle. Other than the green glow and heat it was giving off, it was unremarkable. It was around the size of a soccer ball and slate gray in color. There were no obvious visible markings on it. Then he backed up further, motioning Theory Point to back up as well, until the radiation detector had gone back down to background levels.

"What do you think it is?" He looked at her.

"I have no idea ... A fuel source for a radioisotope thermoelectric generator maybe? We've never made any in Equestria. But we are aware of the theoretical concepts behind them."

He thought for a moment, rubbing his chin with thumb and forefinger. "Possibly a failed attempt at making one. It's not hot enough to be of much use. Although it might have been hotter at one point to melt all this snow around it ... So what should we do with it?"

"I'm not sure."

"Well, we can't leave it here."

"I don't think we should bring an unknown radioactive material into Canterlot without permission either though. And besides, we don't have a safe way to transport it."

"True. But it's dangerous. What if somepony comes across it? I'd rather not leave it here. Also, I'd rather get it out of here now in case whoever left it here decides to come back looking for it before we get a chance to get back up here and fetch it."

She nodded and thought for a moment. "Lets go back to the building. Maybe there's a container in there to transport it and we overlooked it the first time. After all, it would seem if somepony was going to make something like this, they'd have a way to move it safely."

"Alright." He turned around and started tromping back towards the building, the going a little easier now because he could follow the snow they had already packed down getting out here.

Back in the building, they started looking around again, James going back to the food pantry. There was a trunk on the ground which he had not taken note of earlier, having assumed it was simply for food storage. Now, he noticed that it looked rather heavy to simply be a food storage container. He opened it up. Inside, there was, indeed, food stored in it. But the walls of the trunk itself were thick and the lid was remarkably heavy.

"I think I found something!" he called back out to the main room. Theory Point trotted back towards the pantry and looked at the trunk. "I think this trunk is shielded," he continued. "It's too heavy and the walls are too thick to simply be a normal food storage trunk ... Unless they were trying to keep manticores out or something."

"Well, there's only one way to find out," she responded.

"Right." He emptied the food from it and then tried to lift the trunk. It didn't budge. "Ugh ... Yeah, definitely shielded. To heavy to be lifted by one person ... Can you ... levitate it or something?"

The unicorn shook her head slightly. "I doubt it. Remember, I don't use magic all that much. Twilight Sparkle could move it easily I am sure, but probably not me."

"What if I lift, and you use magic to just try to make it somewhat lighter?"

"I can try that. But it's going to feel ... very strange for you. Because your hands will be inside the magical field."

"I know how it feels already. Twilight demonstrated to me ... or rather on me once." He closed the lid again. "Ready when you are." He grabbed the handles on the side of the trunk with both hands.

Theory Point concentrated and pointed her horn at the trunk. It began to glow, and the trunk was surrounded in a light aura as James felt it begin to get lighter. His hands began to tingle and there was a strange sensation of his hands feeling much lighter then they were before. He lifted. This time he was able to pick up the trunk with the unicorn's magical help.

The two of them carried the trunk out to the main room, near the door to the building.

"Hold on. Set it down for a moment," said James.

She gently helped him lower it to the ground, dropping the telekinesis spell once it had been lowered.

"I'm gonna get a fire going in the stove first," he said. "Since we are going to be here for several more hours. Hopefully, by the time we get that thing loaded up and back here, it will have at least started to warm up in here."

"Good idea," she responded, simply sitting back on her haunches and waiting.

He went over to the stove, opening the door and blinking. "Hello ..."

"What? What is it?" The unicorn tilted her head to one side, standing up and walking over to him now.

"Looks like somepony tried to burn their research," he quipped.

Theory Point looked inside the stove. There were several journals and notepads. Many of them had been reduced to blackened sheets of ash. A few of them, however, or at least a few pages from some of them appeared to have survived, although some had charred edges and holes in the middle where flames had attempted, but failed to consume them. She looked up at the damper on the chimney.

"Looks like they forgot to open the damper in their haste to get out of here. That caused the fire to suffocate itself before it could consume everything."

James reached in and very carefully removed the notes that were still intact and might be at least somewhat readable. He rubbed his chin with thumb and forefinger as he carefully paged through one of the fragile documents, stopping on one page and staring at one page,  seeming to be very intently focused on it.

"What is it?" Theory Point finally asked, drawing his attention back to her.

"I'm not one hundred percent sure ... But it's definitely NOT climate research."

o.O.o