The multiverse theory. A theory that states there is an infinite number of alternate universe to ours. That's all it was, just a theory, or so it was believed for the longest time.
With every new decade that arrives, new and amazing technologies often accompany it. In 1903 fixed winged flight became a reality. In 1915 the tank was invented, upgrading the art of war. In 1951 nuclear power is used and harnessed and so on and so forth.
The cylce continued to 2021; when the fantasy of time travel became a reality.
It was a day unlike any other at Earthinput Sciences: footsteps echoed through the halls, scientists discussed among themselves, and the occasional sound of beakers rattling. The usual routine.
"No, nothing spectacular ever seems to happen on my shift.." the janitor thought to himself as he swept the hallways. "Never." He continued sweeping. "I never even wanted this lousy job, but rent doesn't pay itsself." Matt, the janitor, was your typical slacker/geek that you see in the movies. Minus being overweight and acne-ridden, Matt was pretty run of the mill. He owned all the current-gen gaming consoles, he owned the Star Wars saga on classic DVD and Blu-ray Hi-def, and he had the standard issue 'I don't care about shaving' beard. Not too bushy and not too out-of-control. Just right.
"Just once I'd like to witness an explosion or the creation of radio-active spiders. That'd be neat." he thought to himself. He finshed and admired his efforts.
"You missed a spot" an elderly man said from behind, pointing at the floor.
"Can it, Gramps" Matt retorted "I don't tell you how to do your job, you don't tell me how to do mine!" Matt turned to look at the man, locking eyes.
"I don't think you could even fill out my most basic of paperwork, much less tell me how to do my own job." the man chuckled. "How are you, my friend?"
"Eh, prolly not." Matt chuckled in reply. "Pretty good. How's your work coming along, Doc?"
"Quite well, care to come have a look?" The elderly man offered. The two started off down the hallway.
The man was Dr. Stephen Meadows, the laughing stock of Earthinput. Time travel and worm-holes weren't exactly important fields of study. Doc Meadows put everything he had in to his research. He had nothing left, except his research. He was constantly mocked by his peers and the higher-ups at Earthinput threatened on multiple occasions to cut his funding. They never funded much anyway, causing Meadows to have to use money out of his own wallet. He had no wife, children, or friends, except the janitor.
The two entered Doc's lab, where in the middle of the room sat a large turbine-like machine with various large industrial cables leading and connecting to an archway.
"Nice, doc!" Matt said. "What exactly does it do? It's very Stargate-ish"
"That, dear boy is a time machine!" Doc replied enthusiastically. "I've finally done it." Doc walked past a few computers pumping out rows of data papers to the floor.
"Why not just save all that digitally?" Matt said looking at all the paper.
"Don't really trust digital storage! doc said from behind the machine making a few minor adjustments. "With the press of a button you could lose an entire life's work in the blink of an eye!" Doc got up and walked around to a command console and punched a few numbers. "Unfortunately this thing takes a mega amount of energy to function. A few bars of plutonium powers the turbine which basically amplifies the power from the plutonium causing a massive nuclear reaction."
"Nuclear reaction!?" Matt exclaimed "Jesus, Doc, I'm no physicist but I'm pretty sure a nuclear reaction in the middle of a public facility is really unsafe!"
"Oh relax" Doc said " The entire outer shell of the machine is lined with lead as is this entire room. We'll be quite safe I asssure you." He walked over and grabbed an odd looking device which looked like an old Ipad. "Return module" Doc explained. "Once I leave how would I ever expect to get back?"
"Once you leave?" Matt asked "You're not serious are you? I mean, shouldn't you test it first?"
"It is a bit rushed I admit, but you can't rush dicovery." Doc said. That was his motto of sorts. "Don't worry! I'll be fine!" Doc said, laying a hand on Matt's shoulder. "I'm going ahead 1 hour and if anything goes wrong or I've made a miscalculation I've got the return pad." Doc smiled. "I'll be back for lunch. You have my word." With that doc made last second adjustments at the command console. "May wanna stand back a couple of feet. When this baby hits 3 megatons of energy, you're gonna see some serious shit." With that Doc pulled the lever. the Machine hummed and the turbine kicked on. The Machine hummed and the archway flickered, then slowly the power built up and the portalway glowed to life.
Lights all of the building began to flicker and the ground started to shake. Doc approached the portal, turned to Matt and said "Seeya in an hour." With that he jumped through the portal which shut off as soon as he went through.
"I hope you know what you're doing, Doc." Matt said. Soon after people started pouring in and started asking questions. "It was an experiment Dr. Meadows was doing I'm sure it's fine" Matt said trying to lower the other scientist' curiosities and hoping to prevent any questions Matt didn't want to answer, because he was sure a machine that could put off that kind of power would peak even the greediest person's interest and he didn't want anything to happen to the machine. Notuntil Doc got back at least. Or else he could be stuck wherever or whenever he ended up.
"Look I'm sure he's fine" Justin said to Matt. Justin was one of Matt's closest friends along with Blake. They often came over to Matt's house to play video games and what not.
"No it isn't. He said he'd be back in an hour it's been 2 days!" Matt said pacing. "Somethings wrong. We have to go to the lab to see if we can see what went wrong."
"Wait isn't that illegal?" Blake asked. "I mean we can't exactly waltz in there." Blake and Justin were polar opposites, yet they were the best of friends. Justin was often optimistic and Blake was much more timid.
"I'm the janitor, I have keys." Matt said jingling the keys "It's just for a minute just to poke around it'll be fine. Try to relax."
"Yeah sure, I'll relax once you pay out bail" Blake said instantly regretting coming to Matt's today.
"Lighten up big guy." Justin said giving him a slap on the back. "Prison won't be too bad for you. You'll be too big to rape!" At that Justin laughed. Blake rolled his eyes and followed Matt and Justin out the door.
They ariived at Doc's lab. Matt flipped the light switch. "Ok, don't touch anything and stand guard while I search the data logs and see what happened." he said. Blake and Justin nodded in confirmation. Justing walked by the by the machine to look for clues and Blake went to the door.
"There's nothing here but just a random sequence of numbers." Matt said in disappointment.
"What about this button? Maybe it needs to be on for him to return." Justin said while pressing the button.
"NO!" Matt screamed trying to stop Justin, but it was too alte he had already pressed the button and the machine kicked on.
"What the hell Justin!?" Blake yelled over the noise of the machine. This time it was different. The portal turned to a vortex and began sucking in the boys one by one. First Blake then Justin.
Matt felt the vortex sucking him in as he was dragged along the floor he grabbed a spare return pad, then there wasn't time to react, no time to scream, no time to fight. There was just a blinding light and a ringing in his ears. then his hearing began to return. He heard voices, but he still couldn't see.
"Halt in the name of the princess!" one of the voices said.
"Shit! it really does work" Matt thought. "Now I'm gonna be burned at the stake for witchcraft"
"Hold him down!" Another voice said. forcing their weight onto Matt. it didn't feel right. He didn't feel hands, kind of like hooves? What the hell di they run of him with a horse? It must have been a small horse.
"What is that thing?" asked a female voice.
Slowly Matt's vision began to return. He rubbed his eyes and when he opened them again he thought he was hallucinating because before him stood a unicorn. A unicorn?
"What's going on?" Matt asked drearily.
"Silence!" the unicorn said stomping his hoof.
"Holy fuck you can talk!?" Matt yelled. Scrambling to his feet but knocked right back down by the other unicorn guards.
"What are you? Where am I!? What have you done with my firends!?" Matt asked in a panic.
"We don't have to answer anything you ask!" The guard snapped. "In the name of Princess Celestia we place you under arrest! Take him to the prison!" With that the other two guards holding Matt began to drag him across the grass.
"Wait! What about my friends!?" Matt exclaimed.
"Don't worry you'll make plenty of new friends where you're going!" Matt's vision was completely returned now. He began to look around to see that he was in front of a huge castle perched atop a mountain a valley. He Looked at the locals. All of them were horses, unicorns and pegasi.
"Where the hell am I?"