The God Particle

Chapter 5: The Road to Ponyville

So here it is another chance. Wide awake, you face the day. Your dream is over … Or has it just begun?

James awoke with a start, realizing he was in bed. It was a dream … No … It was Queensryche? He looked around, disoriented at first, but then remembering the magnificent castle guest room he had been brought to last night. No … it wasn't a dream.

He rubbed his eyes and stretched, the first rays of the morning sun starting to shine through the open windows. The sound of birds singing gently floated into the room, serenading him out of bed. Despite the stressful and foreign situation he was in, he honestly couldn't remember the last time he had slept so well. The fancy space technology foam mattresses and the air beds from his own world had nothing over the comfort of the bed he had just slept in.

He got out of bed and stretched again, shuffling over to what he presumed to be the bathroom and opening the door, blinking at what he saw. A personal hot tub, made from marble dominated the center of the room, a door behind it leading to a spa. There was a large bathtub, separate from the hot tub, and a separate shower. "They certainly don't spare any expense on their guest rooms," he said to himself. He only wished he had more time to enjoy the amenities. But alas, Twilight had said she wanted to get an early start. As tempting as the hot tub was, he settled for a quick shower instead, which in and of itself, felt very refreshing considering it was the first one he had taken since arriving here. Then, he put on his tattered clothing—he wished he had time to wash them, but they would never dry in time—and headed for the main door of the room, slowly opening it and stepping outside.

He nodded to the guard pony posted outside the door, although it was not the same one he had seen the night before. They must have changed shifts in the middle of the night sometime. The guard pony nodded back at him slightly.

"Good morning, Doctor Peterson. I trust you slept well? Miss Twilight Sparkle requests that you meet her in the Grand Foyer on the first level of the castle."

"Thank you," he responded and took a few steps away from the door. He looked left, then right. Long tapestry lined corridors led off in both directions, each disappearing into a turn at the end. In addition to the turn, there were multiple passageways in the middle of the corridors on both sides that snaked off in different directions. "Right … The Grand Foyer …" he said in a confused tone as he looked at the guard pony, his unasked question no doubt obvious.

"Oh yes. My apologies. I will show you the way," the guard pony responded as he started leading James down one of the halls and through several different passageways.

Eventually, they came to the Grand Foyer where Twilight was having a conversation with some other unicorns. With the exception of Twilight herself, all of them were wearing some type of official looking uniform, but they were not the same uniform the Academy faculty member from earlier had been wearing. Once again, the formality of it all bothered him somewhat. He had no idea what the new uniforms represented, but he assumed he would learn all of that as he became more familiar with the culture.

"Oh, Good morning, James," the purple unicorn said cheerfully, her ears perking up and a smile forming on her muzzle. "You slept well I hope?"

"Good morning, Twilight … Very well, surprisingly." He looked around a bit. The Foyer had a domed ceiling that divided similar to the Taoist taijitu, one half painted white, the other dark blue. On the white half, the golden, blazing sun that he now recognized as the royal symbol of Princess Celestia. On the other, a silver crescent moon, the same one he had seen on the door to the throne room. Stars were also painted on that half that seemed to glow, reflecting the natural light of the room, like the Adler planetarium in Chicago that he had visited several times.

"We'll be leaving shortly," Twilight said, drawing his attention back to her. "The chariot that will take up to Ponyville is ready. It's about a ten hour trip and the Royal Kitchen has packed food for us. I apologize that we have to eat on the run, but I have things I need to attend to back in Ponyville, so I'd like to leave as soon as possible."

"That's quite alright. I'm used to eating on the run. And I'm sure the food from the kitchen here is much better than the stuff they try to pass off as food at the McDonald's I stop at on my way to work every morning."

"McDonalds?" Twilight raised an eyebrow. "If the food from this place you call 'McDonald's' is that bad, why do you eat it?" She motioned with her horn for him to follow her as she trotted towards large doors of the castle's main entrance and exit.

"Well … because it's fast I guess. And we are always in a hurry," he said as he followed her.

Twilight shook her head a bit as she kept walking. "You should slow down and enjoy life a bit more, James. You are gonna burn out if all you do is focus on your work."

He couldn't help but chuckle at that. "One of my coworkers—Eric, his name is—back at the lab used to tell me that all the time. In fact, he told me that the … the night the earthquake happened … and I ended up here."

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of the large castle doors unbarring and starting to open. Sunlight started to flow through the doors, forming a widening reflection on the polished stone floor. He could see the chariot waiting for them outside. It was a brilliant white color, with gold wheel hubs and gold trim. On the sides of the chariot, Celestia's coat of arms, or royal symbol, was once again, emblazoned. Two stallions stood ready to pull the chariot, wearing armor similar to that of the Pegasus Guards, although it had different symbols on it. James surmised the chariot must be part of The Princess's own fleet, given the royal symbolism.

As he approached the chariot behind Twilight, he saw an armored pegasus to the left that he recognized as Captain Swordstorm.

"Hey, Twilight. Hold up a moment," he said. She stopped and turned her head to look at him and he nodded his head towards the Captain, then started walking towards him, stopping a few feet in front of him.

"Captain," he acknowledged, nodding politely.

"Doctor Peterson," the Captain responded and nodded back. "I see you seem to be doing well. I thought I would come see you off."

James nodded slightly, then hesitated for a few moments before speaking again. "I … never thanked you before, Captain. So I want to do it now. Thank you. I mean that."

The Captain flicked his tail and raised an eyebrow as if in surprise. "For what?" he questioned.

"For saving my life yesterday … For not letting me jump from the flying chariot."

Captain Swordstorm only nodded in response, then extended his forehoof in the air. Assuming it was some sort of hoof shake gesture, James reached out and touched it with his hand.

"Good luck, Doctor Peterson. I'm sure you will do well in Ponyville. Next time you are in Canterlot, perhaps we will have more time to talk."

James nodded. "I'd like that, Captain," he responded. Then he turned and walked back towards Twilight again. She resumed walking towards the chariot, and he took up his place slightly behind her again.

When they had reached the chariot, a guard standing next to it opened the door and motioned for Twilight to step in. She did so, followed by James. Once the guard had closed and secured the door, he motioned for the two stallions pulling the chariot. They started towards the castle gate as James wondered at the efficiency with which the whole operation worked. It was like a well oiled machine, every pony knowing where they had to be, what they were supposed to be doing, when they were supposed to do it. As they approached the gate, a guard at the gate house called out.

"Open the gate!"

The iron grate made a loud noise as the heavy bars locking it closed opened and it began to raise up. Beyond those, large, heavy wooden doors creaked as they swung outward, the drawbridge on the other side lowering to cover the moat between the castle court yard and the road beyond. The stallions trotted through the gate, the chariot vibrating ever so slightly as their hooves clopped on the drawbridge.

"Close the gate!" he heard from behind him. He turned his head back, watching the doors swing shut again, the chains on the drawbridge drawing taught and pulling it back up. Once it had closed, he turned his attention back to Twilight.

"The gate was open yesterday. When we went out to look around Canterlot," he commented.

"They leave it open during the day as long as there aren't any suspected threats to security. But they close it when Princess Celestia lowers … uh … when the sun sets. And they don't open it again until seven o'clock the next morning. It's only about six thirty right now."

He nodded at the explanation as the stallions continued their trot, moving closer to the edge of the city limits of Canterlot. The irony of ponies pulling a chariot that contained a pony was not lost on him, and he thought it was a little strange. Perhaps even some form of class exploitation by the ruling aristocrats. He filed it away for later, since asking about it while they could hear him was obviously out of the question.

He turned around again, looking at the castle behind them. This was the first time he had been far enough away from it where he could actually see the whole thing. Even from up close, it had looked impressive. But now, it looked truly magnificent. Now that he could see the whole castle from a distance, it was even larger than he realized. It was like something straight out of a medieval fantasy novel. His eyes drifted upward. At the top of the towers, Celestia's banners flapped in the wind. He still thought the constant visual reminders of her rulership were overboard, but he did have to admit the banners made the castle look even more majestic, and gave legitimacy to it as the seat of power in Equestria.

After about twenty minutes, the bustling city of Canterlot began to thin out into smaller settlements, mostly farms, on the outskirts of town. Eventually, even the farms gate way to rolling hills dotted here and there with patches of woodland, mostly deciduous forests. He recognized trees that resembled oak, birch, and maple. The grand castle, although still visible in the distance, gradually faded into a light sunny haze as they moved further away from it. They passed several forks in the road they were following, the path becoming narrower after each fork. Eventually, the major road which had been wide enough to hold at least six chariots side by side, had narrowed to where it would only hold two. The road seemed well maintained though, and bumps were rare.

He turned around once he could no longer see the castle anymore, leaning back into the plush velvet upholstery of the chariot and trying to relax. Then, he noticed Twilight looking at him with that fascination in her eyes. That child like curiosity of needing to learn. Uh oh. Here it comes, he thought to himself.

"So tell me more about this place you worked," she asked.

"It was a place called Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. In a nutshell, it used very strong electromagnetic fields to accelerate protons and antiprotons around a giant ring and collide them together at extremely high rates of energy."

"How much energy?"

"A lot."

"How much?" she demanded again narrowing her eyes at him slightly.

He blinked at her, then shrugged. "Around one trillion electron volts. Does an electron volt mean anything to you?"

She shook her head. "No. I'm afraid I'm not familiar with that unit of measurement."

"It's … well, it's …" he tried to think of a way to explain it to her. "Well, I'm not sure how to explain it because any explanation I give you is going to rely on other units you probably aren't familiar with either. Maybe we can come back to that later? Once we figure out how to convert units of measurement where I am from into units you are familiar with?"

She nodded. "Alright then. How fast? You said nearly the speed of light. How close to the speed of light?"

"You know what the speed of light is?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Of course I do," she said with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Do you think just because I'm different than you, or walk on four legs, that it means I'm not intelligent?"

"No … that's not what I meant," he frowned. "I didn't mean it to sound that way. I just don't know much about you. I have no idea exactly how far along science is here … Anyway, over ninety nine point nine nine percent the speed of light."

Her eyed widened. "Really? That's incredible. Can you travel that fast where you are from? I mean can anything else move that fast?"

He shook his head. "It takes enormous amounts of energy to accelerate something even as light as a proton to that speed. We can't travel anywhere near that fast … at least I don't think we can."

"You don't think you can?" She raised an eyebrow and cocked her head slightly.

"Well, for the moment, if I'm not dreaming, and that's a big if, some type of relative faster than light travel is one possible explanation for how I got here."

"One of our most prominent magical theorists, Star Swirl the Bearded his name was, didn't think anything could travel faster than light. To this day, that's what most scientists and magicians here believe."

He nodded. "Albert Einstein, one of the most prominent physicists in history where I am from, came to the same conclusion. But there's always the possibility that they are both wrong."

Shadows reflected off the chariot as the road they were on entered a wooded area. He was glad for the shade of the tree canopies as the sun was starting to become rather warm.

"So this particle accelerator I think you called it? It must be quite the machine."

"Well, they built an even more powerful one in Europe … That's another continent in the world where I am from. That one is designed to accelerate them to seven trillion electron volts. Although so far, it's not running at full power. The government was actually planning to shut our lab down because with the new, more powerful one, they figured it was no longer needed and was too expensive to run." He hesitated for a moment before adding. "Although after the earthquake, I imagine it won't be starting back up again ever. So the shutdown date probably got moved up."

"And the particle you said you were looking for?"

"Well, there are some who believe the Tevatron … that's the main particle accelerator in our lab, wasn't powerful enough to find it. I believed it was powerful enough, and so did most of the other scientists on our team. We wanted to prove them wrong and find it before CERN did. It would have been so sweet if we could have done so. No doubt, we would have gotten more funding to stay open."

"CERN? Oh, the other lab I assume. I guess uh … it probably would have been kind of embarrassing for them as well," she added.

"Yes. The other lab. It would have looked like a very expensive mistake if we had beaten them. But even if the Tevatron never runs again, at least I can continue my research at CERN now. I will just have to go to Europe. So in the end, I'm glad it was built given what happened at Fermilab."

Twilight frowned slightly. "You still think you will find a way to get home," she commented in a sympathetic tone.

"I still think there's a very real possibility that this is all a dream."

"You are going back to that argument again?" She raised an eyebrow.

"There are just too many things here that don't make sense. And too many strange coincidences."

"Oh? Like what?"

"Well, to begin with … Where I am from, unicorns are mythological creatures that date back to Ancient Greece, which is a very old civilization … Although I admit none of them look like you. Or any of the other unicorns I have seen around here for that matter."

"And how are we different from the unicorns in your mythology?" she asked. She seemed to be genuinely interested.

"Well, for starters, they don't come in all the different colors I saw back in Canterlot. And certainly not in lavender … but then again, maybe my mind took mythological unicorns and mixed them with the Horse of a Different Color from the Wizard of Oz … uh … that's a classic movie where I'm from."

"Oh? But what's this 'Horse of a Different Color' you refer to?"

"Well, to make the movie, they took several horses and spray painted them different colors. Then they switched them out between short scenes to give the viewer the illusion that the horse was changing colors."

Twilight blinked and then giggled slightly. "That sounds … ridiculous?"

"Well, uh …" He chuckled. "I suppose it kind of was."

"And how else were they different from us?"

"Well, they didn't talk in the mythology. At least I don't think they did. Not in a language we could understand anyway. And that brings up another point. How is it that we are able to understand each other? And that we seem to speak the same language?"

"I don't know," she admitted and shook her head. "Do you have any ideas?"

"No. I don't know either. And that's part of my point. If I'm in a completely different world, or dimension, or Universe, and our two species have never had contact with each other before … what are the odds that we would speak the same language? More evidence that none of this can actually be real."

"Well, I do know that despite the fact that we're able to understand each other's verbal communication, we don't use the same type of system for written communication. Fluttershy described some writing on some of the debris that arrived with you. It didn't sound like any script I have ever seen before."

He just nodded and remained silent for now, lost in his own thoughts. It was several long seconds before Twilight spoke again.

"There are things I don't know the answer to. But I do know that you are here. I'm sure it's easier for me to accept that you are here than it is for you to accept that you are here. But there are some things you are eventually just going to have to accept that you will never have all the answers for."

He was silent for a few more moments. Then, he changed the subject. "So why do you have scientists and engineers here anyway? I mean if you have magic, why do you need …"

She looked at him strangely before responding. "Intellectual curiosity and the desire to learn how the world around you works is a good reason to practice science. Surely you understand that?"

"Well, of course I understand that. But well, at least where I am from, good luck trying to get research funding if the only reason you can come up with for wanting to study something is intellectual curiosity and understanding how something works."

"There are practical reasons as well. Only unicorns can use magic. So science and engineering are very useful to those who are not unicorns. And even when it comes to unicorns, most only have a relatively small amount of magic that's specialized for whatever type of work they happen to do."

"What about you, Twilight? You seem to have quite a bit of it available, and also to have a rather diverse range of magical skills based on what I have seen you do with it so far."

She seemed to blush a little bit at the compliment. "Well uh … I'm what I guess you would call exceptionally gifted when it comes to magic. That and my potential with magic was realized when I was very young, so I was sent to Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. But then The Princess took me in as her own personal student."

He simply nodded at that and looked up through the canopy of trees. It seemed a little darker now than it had been earlier. Gray cumulus clouds hid the sun and the temperature had dropped slightly.

"I think we are going to get wet," he said matter-of-factly.

Twilight looked up as well, then frowned and muttered. "Maybe I shouldn't have sent Rainbow Dash home yesterday after all."

"What was that?"

"Oh … I was just talking to myself. Wishing we had taken one of the covered chariots instead."

He looked at her a bit strangely. That wasn't what she had said and he knew it. But he decided to let it slide for now. After all, the fact that Rainbow Dash wasn't around was just as well with him, given she didn't seem to trust him or like him very much. He changed the subject.

"Alright, so that telekinesis thing you do? I'm having a hard time with that one. How does it work? I mean I would say it were a trick using magnetism, except I saw you do it with an object that magnetic fields clearly should not work on, unless the glass of water you gave me back in the dungeon cell had a lot of iron in it."

"We don't really know how it works. It's just something unicorns seem to be able to do naturally. With practice, we get better at manipulating the objects we lift, as well as moving larger and heavier objects. Hold out your hand. I'll give you a demonstration."

James hesitated for a moment before doing what she asked. Her horn started to glow. He felt that tingling sensation again, like when the guards had forced his hands behind his back to restrain them. The invisible hand pulled on his again. As the pull got stronger, he had to use more and more of the strength in his arm to prevent his hand from being pulled closer to her horn. Then her horn stopped glowing and the pulling sensation was gone, at which point, his hand flew backwards a bit from the reverse pulling of his own arm.

"How … How did you do that?" he questioned in amazement, his jaw dropping slightly before he picked it back up.

"Well, like I said, we don't really know. Trust me, if you can figure out how to artificially reproduce it, you will be a celebrity here. Our brightest unicorns have tried for years to figure out exactly how it works. So far they haven't been able to. We unicorns that can do it don't even know how it works. It's just sort of … a natural ability that we can hone with a lot of practice. Do you have any theories on how it might work?"

He thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. "No, I've got nothing really. It would seem to violate several established laws of physics, including the second law of thermodynamics and the law of conservation of momentum. But at the same time, I've actually seen … and now felt you do it. There might be an explanation buried deep within quantum mechanics that could explain how it works. But if there is, we are years, if not decades away from understanding quantum mechanics well enough to find it."

He paused for a moment before continuing. "Okay. I have to ask. What's the largest object you've ever lifted and moved?"

"Uh … Well, I lifted an Ursa minor—uh … that's a large animal that lives in the forest near Ponyville—and moved it once."

"And how large is that?"

"Hmm … Probably going to have a units of measurement problem again … but taller than most of the houses you saw back in Canterlot."

His eyes went wide and he stared at her for a moment. "Damn … Remind me never to make you angry." He chuckled a bit.

Twilight blushed a little again. "I … don't like to talk about the Ursa minor that much. It kind of feels like bragging sometimes. And I don't like to brag."

"Oh don't worry about that. I never thought you were bragging. I did ask after all. And, of course, I must say I am very impressed."

"Well, most of the time we just move very small objects. That's the first, and only time I have moved something that big. And I had an adrenaline rush helping me because it was attacking Ponyville. I don't know if I could lift something that large under normal circumstances."

James simply nodded and then went silent again for a long while. There were things he wanted to talk to Twilight about, but he didn't feel comfortable doing so with the stallions pulling the chariot potentially eavesdropping on their conversation. After all, they seemed to work directly for Princess Celestia, and he didn't know what they might take back to Canterlot with them and tell her. Twilight looked at him a few times, but did not say anything to him. He drifted off into his own thoughts again.

A splash of water on his face brought him out of his thoughts. He looked up at the sky to see it had fully clouded over. Gradually, the light rain increased to a full-on downpour.

"Yeah," Twilight grumbled in an annoyed tone. "Definitely should have taken a covered chariot."

The rain continued to throughly soak both of them. Although it did not last long, if left the air smelling of wet horse. Once it tapered off, the sun started to come out from behind the clouds again, its warming rays beginning to dry them off.

"There it is!" said Twilight as the mist from the rain started to clear in front of them, revealing a few tall buildings fading into view. "Look off in the distance ahead of us. That's Ponyville. We'll be there shortly now."

He continued to look where she had pointed with a forehoof, more of the taller buildings becoming visible as they got closer. Eventually, shorter houses faded into view as well. The roofs of the houses were made from some kind of thatching, the buildings appearing to be of a much more primitive construction than what he had seen in Canterlot.

"Definitely a lot different than what I saw earlier," he remaked.

"Most of the ponies in Ponyville are very traditional compared to many other areas of Equestria," she explained. "You won't find a lot of technology or anything to marvel at here. But the library is well stocked. And there is none of the bureaucracy and formal dress codes that you seemed to dislike so much in Canterlot."

James nodded and just continued to take in what he saw of the town they were approaching. The closer they got, the more nervous he became. Questions swam around inside his head. He already knew that cyan pegasus named Rainbow Dash didn't like him very much. That yellow pegasus … Fluttershy he thought Twilight had said her name was … probably wouldn't be real fond of him either, and might still be afraid of him. He had no idea how any of the other inhabitants of the town would react to him, even if Twilight assured them he wasn't a threat. He turned his head, looking back at Twilight.

"So now what? Now that we are here?"

"Well, the first thing we are going to do is stop at Carousel Boutique and get you some new clothes. Cause those torn up things you are wearing now? Yeah … Not gonna cut it. Not even for Ponyville."

He blinked and looked at his shirt sleeves again. His shirt and his pants legs did look pretty bad from getting torn up in the forest—not to mention some blood staining on the shirt from where some of the thorny bushes had gotten through to his skin.

Before he had time to worry too much about it, his attention was drawn to a whooshing noise above him. He looked up just in time to see Rainbow Dash land right beside the chariot. She folded her wings to her sides and started walking along side it, keeping pace with it.

"What took you two so long? Did he slow you down or something, Twilight?" the cyan pegasus mocked. She was already getting on his nerves again.

"Hi, Rainbow," Twilight responded. "No, he didn't slow us down. We actually made good time for ground transportation. Anyway, does the rest of Ponyville know we are coming?"

"Yeah, yeah. They know. They're gonna leave you alone today so he can get settled in. But tomorrow … All bets are off." She snickered in a way that made him nervous. He thought back to getting mobbed by the curious colts and fillies in Canterlot and wondered if something similar would happen here.

"Thank you, Rainbow," Twilight responded. "And yes, I'm sure tomorrow will be a full day."

James just looked back and forth between the two ponies without saying anything, although every once in awhile, he caught a bit of a mischievous glare from Rainbow, which he simply rolled his eyes at.

"I'm gonna leave you two alone for now then," Rainbow responded. Then she looked at him again, narrowing her eyes slightly. "But I still know I could put you on the ground in ten seconds flat. Don't forget that!" she said. Then she spread her wings and darted off into the sky before he had a chance to respond.

James shook his head in exasperation and turned to look at Twilight again. "Is she always going to be like that?"

"Nah. She'll warm up to you sooner or later. And try not to take what she says too seriously. But do watch out for her. She's uh … quite the prankster. Almost everypony in Ponyville has been a victim of one of her pranks at one point or another. You will be too. Sooner or later."

"Great. It's not enough that she wants to beat the shit out of me. Now I gotta worry about her practical jokes too."

Twilight couldn't help but chuckle slightly. "She'll warm up to you, James. Just give her some time."

James looked at her uncertainly for a moment, then looked back towards the approaching town. Despite Rainbow Dash's reassurances, he still prepared himself for a cold welcome from the small town. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm his nerves as they entered the outskirts of Ponyville.