The God Particle

Chapter 43: Project Oz

Gilda stewed in her own thoughts as the chariot continued to bounce down the rough road leading to the border of Equestria. For eight hours she had endured the ponies guarding her and seated across from her; first on the flight to the edge of Equestria, and now on the ground chariot that covered the last few thousand strides to the border. Oh how she wished she could yell at her captors; insult them, berate them. But the steel band holding her razor sharp beak shut prevented her from doing that. So she settled for simply glaring at them, her eyes blazing with fire.

Eventually, the trees on either side of them gave way as they left the forest road, and she felt the chariot tilt forward slightly as their path started on a downward slope. The icy wind blowing in her face and the smell of saltwater told her they were very close to the Sea of Tears now; the sea she would have to fly across to get back to the Griffin Kingdom.

Gradually, the chariot came to a stop, the sound of the wheels being replaced by the thundering crashes of waves against the shore of the sea. Gilda could just barely make out the whitecaps breaking near the shore in the light of the pole mounted lanterns on the front of the chariot. Several unicorn guards stood up and helped her to the ground, her taloned feet sinking into the sand. Once there, a glow formed in front of her eyes as magical energy surrounded the steel band holding her sharp beak closed, the clasp unlatching and the band falling to the ground. She opened her mouth, stretching her beak wide, her jaw muscles tense after being held shut for so long. Then, she closed it again, glaring at her captors once more, opening her beak again as she prepared to unleash a tirade of words at them. But a strong glare from the unicorn captain in charge made her think better of it.

"I have two battle mages prepared to cast spells on you if you attempt to attack any of my guards, griffin. So be quiet and listen very carefully to my instructions," he said in a rough and commanding tone. "We're going to remove the restraints from your wings, feet, and talons now. And I expect you to head straight for the Griffin Kingdom. Remember what Lady Twilight said about being able to recall you at any time. Once you have the information she wants, you are to return to Canterlot immediately. As long as you come alone, you will not be attacked as you approach the city. Got it?"

Gilda continued to glare at the ponies across from her, but she knew the captain was right. Two battle mages prepared to cast spells, plus four Pegasus Guards. She had no chance of successfully attacking them. With effort, she held her tongue and simply nodded instead.

"Good. Now get out of here," the unicorn captain ordered, his horn glowing as the restraints on Gilda's wings, talons, and feet opened and fell to the ground. She stretched her wings a few times, working the stiffness out of them that had set in from being bound for so long. Then, she spread them, and took to the sky, giving the ponies below her one last glare before banking sharply and heading out over the sea.

Her mind continued to burn with rage as she flew towards the Griffin Kingdom. How dare that sassy purple unicorn do this to her? Who did she think she was? No griffin took orders from a pony! And besides, what does that stupid unicorn expect me to do anyway? Just walk right up to the griffin king and say "Yo, king! Why don't you tell me where you are holding Princess Luna." Yeah, right. She'd be using that recall spell to break me out of griffin prison if I did that!

As she flew across the dark sea, she continued to try to think of ways she might be able to get the information Twilight wanted from her, but her mind continued to come up with nothing. Even the guards who rotated in and out of the shifts guarding Luna's prison didn't actually know where it was located. King Aetos insisted that they be blindfolded for the trip to and from the prison. Other than the king himself, only the griffins that had pulled the chariot taking her out there, and transporting the guards back and forth, actually knew where she was housed. And it hardly seemed like she could ask them either. Did any of the high officers know where she was? Some of them had to know, she thought.

She continued to fly for about another two hours before the glow of Griffin City began to fade into view on the horizon, like a ghostly light in the distance, haloed by the ice crystals that were beginning to form above the sea due to the ever falling temperatures. She shivered slightly as the city came closer, although she wasn't sure whether the shivering was from the extremely cold temperatures over the sea, or dread of having to face King Aetos and attempt to explain to him why she had not completed her assigned mission. Gilda was a reconnaissance scout, not a warrior. She was supposed to have flown near Canterlot to watch for any Pegasus Guard deployments leaving there. But when she had learned that Ponyville was the intended target of the main griffin strike force, she had abandoned her assigned mission and attempted to reach Ponyville instead to warn Rainbow Dash. The fact that she had done so, is why the griffin force attacking Ponyville had not had any advance warning that Canterlot was aware of the attack, and was sending reinforcements. How was she going to explain that to King Aetos?

She folded her wings as she neared the city, beginning a gradual descent, feeling the stiffness in her feathers where ice crystals had formed on her wings. Maybe King Aetos really is insane? How long does he think we can survive these falling temperatures? She flared her wings and landed on the walkway leading up to the king's palace. To her dismay, he was already marching down the walkway towards her, flanked by two of his guards. He roared out loudly before he had even reached her.

"Gilda! You better have a good explanation for me as to why my Ponyville invasion force had no warning that Canterlot was aware of the attack! And no warning that reinforcements had been sent!"

She cringed slightly under King Aetos' verbal assault, her mind racing. Quickly, she said the first thing that came to her mind. "I got lost, my lord." She winced internally at how unbelievable that excuse sounded. Griffin recon scouts didn't get lost. It just didn't happen.

"You got lost," the king responded in a dubious tone of voice. "And tell me, Gilda … Of what use to me is a reconnaissance scout whose sense of navigation is so bad, she can't even find her way to Canterlot!" he said with narrowed eyes

Again, she winced and her mind raced. But she quickly came up with a plan. "I have failed, my lord … And I'm no longer worthy to be one of your scouts … I ask only that you not throw me in prison … I request that I be allowed to atone for my failure by acting as your servant, and the servant of your high officers. I can cook, bring your food, attend to your needs at meetings … I can do all of that." She had said it in a timid and frightened voice, but it was an act. She only hoped it was convincing.

King Aetos glared at her in silence for a few moments, and seemed to be pondering this. Finally, he gave a sinister chuckle and responded. "A suitably humiliating punishment I suppose. Very well, consider it done. From this moment on, you are no longer a scout in the Griffin Army. You are a lowly castle servant. You can start by going to the kitchen and heating up some mulled wine for me and my officers. Then you can serve it to us in shame while I inform them of your failure at your mission!" He glared at her once more, then gave her a sinister smirk before turning on his heel and storming back into the castle.

Gilda waited until he and his guards were back inside, then allowed herself to smirk as well. We'll see who has the last laugh, Aetos … Well, Gilda, time to see how good your espionage skills are. You're the proverbial fly on the wall now. She started towards the door herself, wiping the smirk off her beak before stepping inside and making her way down to the kitchen …

. . .

Celestia's ears perked up as the engine of the van turned off, the door in the front opened, and Eric stepped out. A few seconds later, the door in the back opened.

"Well, we're finally here, Your Majesty," the human said, stepping aside and holding the door for her.

She nodded once, then teleported herself out of the van before standing up and stretching herself, slightly sore from the long trip. She looked back at him and smiled slightly. It was difficult to smile, given how heavy her heart was for her homeland.

"Thank you, Eric … and Eric, you can just call me Celestia or Princess if Celestia is too informal for you and makes you uncomfortable. You don't have to use formal titles."

He nodded once, and seemed to have a relieved look on his face, as if some great tension had just been lifted from him. "Alright, if that's what you prefer, Princess. I'll uh … show you the inside of the cabin. It's much larger than my apartment back in Chicago.

She nodded and watched him turn and walk towards the cabin. It was a large, two story log building with four windows, two on the lower level, and two on the upper level. Then she turned her head and looked around at her surroundings. In the distance, tall mountains reached for blue sky, their tops hidden by wispy cotton-like clouds. Between her and the mountains, grassy plains and hills painted with wildflowers stretched as far as she could see, dotted occasionally by small groves of pine forest. The cabin appeared to be the only building within sight, the unpaved path leading up to it, the only road. Gone were the constant sounds of the city; the roaring aircraft and blaring car horns. The only sounds now, a gentle breeze flowing through the surrounding trees, and the sound of birds chirping in their nests. Of course, it wasn't home. But at least she would be able to spend time outside here and enjoy walks through the forests and meadows as she did in the castle gardens back in Canterlot.

She turned her head back towards the cabin as he finished unlocking the door and stepped aside, holding it open for her. Trotting towards the door, she smiled in thanks and stepped inside. The sweet smell of cedar wood came to her nose as she looked around. The inside of this building had a much more earthy and rustic appearance compared to the bland white walls and ultra-modern appearance of his apartment back in Chicago. On the far wall to the left, was a large stone fireplace with two chairs situated near it. The floor was hardwood, with two large brownish-red rugs covering it. To her right, a wooden staircase with a rustic looking banister led up to an open second story balcony, where there were two wooden doors leading to what she assumed must be bedrooms. The building reminded her a lot of Fluttershy's cottage back in Ponyville, and had a warm, country like charm to it. She turned her head back towards Eric as he spoke again.

"I'm going to get started unloading the van and get to—"

She grinned slightly at him as a golden magical aura formed in the large open floor space, all of the boxes and suitcases from the van appearing in the empty space. Eric scratched his head slightly and then chuckled a bit.

"Right … Probably never going to get used to that. Thank you again, Princess."

She shook her head once. "You don't need to thank me, Eric. It's the least I can do, given everything you are doing for me."

He nodded and smiled slightly, then went over to the boxes she had teleported in, finding his laptop and unzipping it. "Well, I suppose we better not waste any time. I'm gonna see if I have a response yet from the person I contacted about getting some other people to help us. In the meantime, if you want to look around outside, feel free. You can spend as much time as you like outside without worry. There won't be anyone else around here to see you."

She nodded once and thanked him, then turned and slowly walked outside. Despite her heavy heart, at least it would be good to stretch her legs and go for a walk in the meadows and wildflowers; a small piece of home, in an alien world.

. . .

Eric watched the alicorn walk down the path for a moment before turning his attention back to his laptop, removing it from the carrying case and opening the lid. The email program was still open from last night, and a new message came in once it established a wireless Internet connection. Quickly, he opened it and began to read.

From: Dr. Brian Dalson <[email protected]>

To: Dr. Eric Thompson <[email protected]>

You're lucky I trust you as much as I do, Eric, sending you my best Ph.D students on such short notice with as little information as you gave me to work with. I've got four students who will be arriving at Billings Airport tomorrow at 10:00 am your time, and I can probably find two more for you in the next couple of days. Here's some brief information on the students:

Annette: Graduated high school at age 14, was accepted into MIT at age 15. B.S. in electrical engineering, M.S. in physics. Has published an article in the Journal of Experimental Physics on quantum spin theory.

Michael: B.S. in astronomy, M.S. in astrophysics. Did an internship at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider studying string theory. Has published two articles in the journal Science on string theory.

Thomas: B.S. in mathematics, M.S. in physics. Did his M.S. thesis on dimensional theory and has published articles in Science and Nature on the subject. Did an internship at CERN.

Wendy: B.S. in physics, M.S. in nuclear physics. Did an undergraduate internship at NASA working on the Mars exploration program, and an M.S. thesis on deep space cosmic energy. Published an article in Science on planetary formation.

All four of these students graduated with 4.0 GPA or better from their respective undergraduate programs.

I hope these students all work out for you, and let me know if you need me to find two more. I also hope someday, you will be able to tell me what it is you are working on. Obviously, my curiosity is rather high.

Eric closed the lid on the laptop and smiled slightly. His team of brilliant scientists was coming together nicely. Now, he just hoped they wouldn't run out of time.

Looking out the window again, he watched Celestia walking among the wildflowers, occasionally dipping her head to smell a few. Suddenly, she raised her head and looked in front of her towards the bottom of a hill. In a flash, she started to gallop towards it, disappearing below the hill where he could no longer see her.

"What the … Where's she going?" he said to himself, quickly standing up and making his way to the door, opening it and running in the same direction she had gone. As he approached the hill and could see the valley below, it became clear what had caught her attention. At the bottom, was a herd of wild horses, grazing lazily on the meadow grass.

"Your Majesty! Princess! I'm not sure that's such a good idea!" he called out to her as he kept running. As she approached, the wild horses suddenly raised their heads, all looking straight at her. Eric's heart raced, expecting that at best, they would run away. Or at worst, they would see her as a threat and try to attack her. But instead of doing either, the horses lowered themselves, bowing to the regal alicorn.

Eric stopped and stared in amazement. Celestia stopped as well, not far from them. Eric simply stood and watched in silent, hearing Celestia speak.

"Please, stand. All of you."

The horses, however, didn't obey, acting as if they hadn't even heard her. Eric winced slightly at that and then slowly and calmly started walking down the hill again. Celestia turned her head and looked at him as he approached.

"Why don't they listen to me? Why won't they talk to me?" she asked.

Well, this is awkward, he thought to himself, his mind racing for a moment before he answered her. "Well, Princess … They can't understand you. And they can't speak."

She blinked and gave him a confused expression, as if she didn't understand. "Is there something wrong with them?"

"Well … no. But, well … They aren't like you. We don't have any horses, or ponies for that matter, on this planet that are capable of talking. At least not in a language we understand. And well … They aren't sapient like you and your subjects are … Although it's very interesting that they're bowing to you, almost as if they instinctively recognize you as royalty."

She nodded slightly in response, but still had a slightly confused expression on her muzzle. One of the wild horses flicked its tail slightly, looking a bit nervous, a sign that Celestia apparently understood as she took a few steps backwards, then turned around, walking back towards the cabin. Eric quickly fell in next to her, walking beside her. She turned her head slightly to look at him. Her expression was one of trouble and sadness as she spoke again.

"It's very interesting … Almost all of the animals I have seen here, also exist in Equestria. But there are no non-sapient horses, and there are no humans … Well, except for James."

Eric pondered that for a moment. All of the animals she saw here, except for humans and talking horses, also existed in Equestria? His mind quickly came up with an idea.

"Princess, the box that the letter from Equestria came in … would you mind if I sent it to a colleague for analysis? I have an idea. One that might help us figure out how to get you home."

She nodded once in consent. "If you think it will help, you may send it."

He nodded and the two of them continued walking back towards the cabin. But Celestia's expression still seemed troubled.

"What's bothering you, Princess? I mean besides … well …"

"Those horses … Why they can't talk. Why they are so much like the ponies back in Equestria, and yet they aren't sapient," she said in a slightly emotional voice.

"Well … I'm hoping maybe my colleague might be able to shed some light on that once he gets the box. It's a long shot, and we're going to need luck on our side. But it might just help."

She only nodded once as the two of them went back inside the cabin. Eric rummaged through the boxes they had packed until he found the small box the letter had arrived in. Then he sent a quick email before heading towards the door.

"I'm going to take this box to the shipping place. I'll have it sent same day air since it's so important. I just have to run to the nearest town and will be back shortly."

Celestia nodded and smiled slightly as he left. Then he climbed in the van and started for town.

Returning to the cabin about forty minutes later, he found that Celestia wasn't around. She must be out exploring more, he thought to himself. He spent the rest of the day going through the data from the Fermilab accelerator detectors, looking for any clues at all that might give any indication of what had happened inside that accelerator tunnel that had sent James to Equestria. However, it was like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. And so far, all of the detectors showed the exact same thing: They all appeared to have stopped recording data right about the time the earthquake hit. He sighed in frustration and looked out the window above the desk as dusk rapidly approached. At the sound of the door opening, he turned his head to see Celestia coming back inside.

"Find anything else interesting, Princess?" He asked, closing the lid on the laptop again.

"I was observing those horses. From a distance," she said as she stepped further in. "Their behavior, in some ways, is similar to our own, even though they aren't sapient. They have a herd like structure, and it's female dominant. A mare leads the herd, and the stallions seem to keep watch around the edges, looking for any threats and protecting the mares."

"Interesting. And those are some good observations," he responded. He wasn't that familiar with equine behavior. After all, he was a physicist, not a biologist. But he did know enough about biology that what Celestia had observed was starting to make the idea in his head seem more plausible. He hoped his colleague would get the box tonight, that it would prove useful, and that he might have an answer tomorrow.

Coming out of his thoughts, he looked at her again. "I'm going outside to get some wood. The cabin only has a wood burning stove to cook on. There's no gas and no electric cooking appliances," he said as he stepped out.

After dinner, he heated up a kettle of water on the stove and made hot tea for the two of them. As they sat near the table, sipping it, he asked the question that had been on his mind for awhile now.

"Princess … You said earlier that you don't think James wants to leave Equestria. Do you know why? I mean if he had the chance to come home, why wouldn't he take it? It's not that I don't believe you … I'm just wondering …"

The alicorn looked slightly uncomfortable with the question, as if she wasn't sure whether she should answer it or not. Finally, she looked back at him and spoke a bit slowly, as if she were choosing her words very carefully.

"I'm not completely sure … But I think … well … I think he's developed … feelings for my student, Twilight Sparkle. And he doesn't want to leave her."

Eric raised an eyebrow, then chuckled slightly and shook his head. "James 'Kirk' Peterson … Boldly going where no man has gone before … In more ways than one," he quipped, chuckling again as he finished the last of his tea, then noticed Celestia had a confused expression on her muzzle.

"I don't understand what you said," she responded.

"It's uh … well, it's sort of complicated. I'll try to explain it to you another time, Princess," he said, wincing slightly. It was getting late in the evening, and he didn't relish having a discussion about Star Trek, or explaining Captain Kirk's "exploits" with alien females to a royal alicorn princess. Celestia nodded slightly, but still had a confused look on her muzzle. He changed the subject.

"I think we should probably get to bed a bit early. Considering how early we had to get up this morning. Tomorrow morning, I'm going to go to Billings … uh, that's a city not far from here, to pick up the other people who are going to help us work on sending you home. I'll sort of prepare them in advance … But I still think they are going to be rather shocked when they meet you. They'll probably think I'm playing a joke on them. So … Anything that happens when they first meet you, please try not to take it personally," he said as he stood up, taking his cup over to the sink.

"Thank you, Eric," she responded.

He nodded slightly, "You're welcome. I assume you can climb stairs, since several of the drawings in the book from Equestria showed stairs. You can have the larger bedroom. It's the second door upstairs.

"Yes, I can climb stairs," she said softly. "And thank you again."

He nodded once more, than started to climb the stairs himself. "Good night, Princess. I'll see you in the morning."

"Good night, Eric."

. . .

The next morning found Eric at the airport, waiting for the aircraft with his students on it. The flight they were on had landed, and he was waiting for their arrival by the baggage claim area. He held a sign with his name on it so they would be able to find him. As he waited, he thought about the events of yesterday, and Celestia's experience with the wild horses. At least they were wild horses, and not tame ones, he thought. Why humans "owned" horses, rode them, and trained them was not something he wanted to try to explain to her.

"Eric?" a female voice called, bringing him back out of his thoughts. He looked in the direction of the voice.

"You must be Annette, or Wendy?" he said, looking her over quickly.

The brown haired woman nodded in response. "I'm Wendy. And the four behind me are Annette, Michael, and Thomas. We've already introduced ourselves to each other on the flight."

He nodded and extended his hand, smiling at them and shaking each of their hands in turn. "A pleasure to meet all of you. And thank you for coming on such short notice. I know you are all anxious to learn why I called out to the middle of nowhere in Montana, but I'm afraid that's going to have to wait until we get to a more private area."

The five of them made small talk as they waited for their baggage, then loaded the van and began the trip back to the cabin. During most of the trip, Eric was silent. He could tell they were anxious to hear why they had been brought here, but he didn't want to try to explain it to them and drive at the same time. And he wanted their full attention, so he could stand face to face with them when he told them

Turning onto the unpaved road leading to the cabin, he stopped while they were still out of sight distance from the cabin.

"Alright, if everyone could please get out, I want to talk to you before we get where we are going," he said, opening the door and stepping out himself. His heart raced, and adrenaline flowed. They were never going to believe him, he knew. Not until they had seen her for themselves. But still, he wanted to at least tell them why they were here, and what they were doing. As the four of them lined up in front of him, he got his first really good look at them. There was Annette, the blond haired genius who had graduated high school at age fourteen. Michael, with his short brown hair and brown eyes, who had already published two articles in the prestigious journal, Science, on string theory. Thomas, who seemed to be the slightly eccentric type. He had hair to his shoulders and was dressed in blue jeans, a flannel shirt, and sandals. But he had worked at CERN and his credentials were not in doubt at all. And Wendy, with slightly longer than shoulder length brown hair, tied into a ponytail at the back, who had done an internship at NASA. They were all young. Very young. But all of them, were geniuses, still involved in academia, and therefore, still keeping up on the latest developments in physics research. They were Team Celestia; the team that would figure out how to send her home, and in the process, save her world. He put on the most serious expression he could, took a deep breath to calm himself, then started to speak.

"Ladies and gentlemen … Welcome to Project Oz. What I am about to tell you, is going to seem unbelievable to you. It's going to seem too fantastical to be true. And I will not blame any of you for not believing until you see. But I want to prepare you in advance.

"I've assigned this project the name Oz because like the Wizard of Oz, your job is to figure out how to send Dorothy home. However, Dorothy does not live in Kansas and sending her home is not going to be nearly as easy as clicking the ruby slippers together and saying there's no place like home. And furthermore … Dorothy is not human."

He watched as the four students across from him all raised their eyebrows. However, none of them spoke, and appeared to simply be waiting for him to continue. After a few moments, he did so.

"Dorothy's real name is Princess Celestia, and she's from another world. Yes, she is a real princess, and she is the ruler of her world. Whether you choose to believe she is something more than a princess is a deeply personal decision each of you will have to make for yourselves. I'll not try to push you either way. But whatever you decide, I expect you all to treat her with the same respect you would the Queen of England.

"This is, quite possibly, the most important scientific endeavor undertaken in the history of humanity. Because you see, Celestia's world cannot survive without her. And if we fail at figuring out a way to send her back there, then her entire world is doomed."

Again, he paused, waiting to see if any of them had any questions. All of them had looks of surprise and disbelief on their faces. Finally, Annette spoke.

"Do you even know yet if it's possible to send something from our world to hers?"

"Yes, it is. Because Doctor James Peterson is currently in her world, although he didn't go there intentionally."

"The Doctor James Peterson?" Thomas asked. "The world renowned high energy physicist? I thought he was killed in the Chicago earthquake?"

Eric nodded. "That's what we all thought. But it turns out not to be the case. He is alive and well, in her world. Exactly what happened inside that accelerator that sent him there, is a mystery though. One that we must solve."

"So this Princess Celestia … She's actually an alien?" Thomas asked, his voice sounding dubious.

Eric nodded once again. "In a manner of speaking, yes. Again, I know this is very hard to believe. And I don't blame you for not believing me. But soon enough, you will see with your own eyes. Presumably Brian already told you that you mustn't speak of this with anyone. Now, we're almost to Emerald City. So lets get back in the van, and finish the trip."

All of them hesitated for a moment, but then turned and climbed back into the van. They still had expressions of disbelief and surprise on their face, and Eric wondered if they thought he had lost his mind. Still, it seemed they trusted him. Or at least were curious enough to go along with him for now. Once they were all back in the van, he continued the short distance to the cabin, before stopping in front of it and getting out, the four students getting out with him.

He walked to the door, took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then opened it, holding it open for the four students to step through before closing it again.

"Princess?" he called out. "You can come out now."

As the regal alicorn stepped out of the kitchen, all four sets of eyes went wide. Wendy's and Thomas's jaws both dropped, before they closed them again. Michael opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it. For several long moments, they simply stared at the winged unicorn in front of them. Eric broke the quiet after a few more seconds.

"Princess? These are Annette, Michael, Thomas, and Wendy." Then he turned to the four students. "And this, is Princess Celestia."

All four of the students bowed, but said nothing. Celestia raised a forehoof slightly and spoke in a soft tone.

"Please, that's really not necessary. I'm very pleased to meet all of you, and I thank you for coming to help me."

"She speaks a language we can understand?" Michael asked in astonishment, the four students straightening up from their bows.

Eric nodded. "She does … And now, I'm going to let you all get acquainted for a few minutes. I have to check on something," he said as he picked up his laptop bag and went back into the kitchen, opening it and setting the laptop on the table. Once again, the email program was still open, and a new message came in.

From: Dr. Robert Benson <[email protected]>

To: Dr. Eric Thompson <[email protected]>

You're in luck, Eric. We were able to recover two DNA samples from the object you sent, belonging to two separate individuals … Although I'm not quite sure what to make of them. I'm just going to go ahead and give you the report:

DNA sample #1: Two skin cells

Analysis: Human, male, probably of western European descent.

DNA sample #2: Strand of lavender colored fur

Analysis: Equine, female, matches no known species. 98% identical to Equus ferus.

… Eric … Where on Earth did you get DNA sample #2?

Eric raised an eyebrow as he looked at the screen. "Where on Earth indeed," he said quietly to himself in a perplexed tone. "We don't need to send Celestia to another galaxy … We need to send her right to our own backyard … But where is the door to the backyard? And how do we open it …"