A/N: hey guys, sorry I haven't uploaded a chapter for this story in some time, I had other projects to work on, but here it is, the next chapter for this story, hope you all enjoy.
Wonders of Science: chapter 6: settling in
After his official meeting with the princess's, Nathan and his six new friends made their way back to the train station, Celestia had ordered one of her carriages to take them back, and having been taller than most creatures around, he had to sit with his head leaning forward, and his knees pushed together, an awkward silence, fell between them.
Finally Nathan decided to speak up, "so…what is it you six do, for jobs I mean?" he asked, they all looked at each other, Twilight was the first to speak up, "well, I run the local library in town, but I spend a lot of time studying" she said with a smile, Nathan smiled back, then Rarity spoke up, "well darling, I run the local boutique, I am a very skilled dress maker, if you want, I could make you a suit, but it might take some time, judging by your height" she said with a smile, Nathan thought for a moment, "I'll keep that in mind" he said, as Applejack spoke up, "well I run Sweet Apple Acres with my family, best darn apples you'll ever taste, aside from Appleloosa" she said with a smile, Nathan thought, he did love apples.
Just then Rainbow Dash got looked at him, "yeah well, I work for the weather factory, and I'm stationed in PonyVille, I help make sure everything goes as planned" she said with a proud smile, just as she did Pinkie jumped up, "yeah, I help run Sugarcube corner, it's the local bakery in town, all the sweets you could ever want" she said with a wide smile, and finally Fluttershy, "well…I um, take care of the animals, I live on the edge of the forest, the animals come to me for food, shelter, anything" she said.
Nathan was surprised, that they all had such interesting jobs, ones that weren't different from the ones back on earth, he smiled as they came to the train station, they all got out and boarded the train for PonyVille, Nathan knew he would be here for a while, he would need to find a place to stay, and get to know the area.
(Canterlot castle, throne room)
Princess Celestia stood looking out the large stained glass windows, a cold chill passed through her, and she shook, she felt a change in the air, there was a great magical disturbance, and it was coming fast, she left that train of thought when her younger sister walked up beside her, "I take it you have felt it too?" she asked, Celestia sighed, and nodded her head, "yes, there is a very powerful magical force out there, I have sensed it since our human friend has arrived" she said with her eyes closed, Luna looked up at her, "is there any way to tell what it is?" she asked, this time Celestia shook her head, "no, but whatever it is, it is very dark and evil, but it is very powerful, we all must be cautious, sooner or later it will reveal itself, perhaps our human friend is more involved than he believes" she said as she turned and walked away, Luna turned and followed her.
(PonyVille, train station)
As they got off the train, Nathan stretched fully, and looked around, being able to see the town closer, since they went around to avoid suspicion, he was amazed, the town looked like a town engineered by humans in the earlier centuries, the architecture looked similar, he looked down at his pony friends, they looked up and smiled, "well, I must say, this town is very impressive, not quite what I expected for a race of your…technological advancement" he said as they started towards the library, Rainbow turned to him and floated in front of his face, "what's that supposed to mean, is that some sort of human insult" she said with an evil glare, Nathan chuckled, "um no, I just meant to say, your species is only about…2 or 3 hundred years behind mine, it's impressive, at the most we expected to find nothing more than simple single-celled organisms, but nothing this advanced, I am speechless" he said as they arrived in town square, Nathan was looking in every direction, trying to take it all in.
As they walked, Twilight remembered something he said about a machine, "so Nathan, tell us about this machine you were working on, back in your world, and was it some sort of project?" she asked, he looked down at her as they walked, "more than just the project, it was funded by the government of the United States, our job was to build a doorway into another world, so that we might further our knowledge of science, turns out, we got more than we ever wanted" he said as they came up to a large tree-like house, "well, this is the library, what do you think?" Twilight asked looking at him, Nathan looked over the entire building, surprised that it looked like a hollowed out tree.
"it…looks great, for an oversized tree house" he said, Twilight turned to all her friends, "well girls, it's late, we've all had a long day, we'll get together tomorrow, maybe Nathan could tell us more about this world he came from" she said looking up at him with a wink, they all exchanged goodbyes, and went their separate ways, before he went in, he turned and looked at the town, before turning to the door, instead of going in, he hit his head on the top on the door, and cried out, "oww!" he yelled as he kneeled down, and walked inside, being taller than all of them he would have to lean down to go through the door, he walked inside and looked around.
The library was big, filled with shelves and books, all of them large books, "Spike! I'm back" she yelled up the staircase, she waited a few seconds, and a much younger male voice replied, "coming Twi" the voice said, followed by the heavy footsteps, of something coming down the stairs.
Nathan turned and saw a small purple scaled creature run down the stairs, the second he came down he turned and saw Nathan and instantly froze, eyes widened, Nathan stared back equally shocked, even though he hadn't been there more than a day, he could tell it wasn't a pony.
"Um Twilight, what is that thing standing in the middle of the room?" he asked, Twilight smiled and walked in-between them and cleared her throat, "I believe introductions are in order, Spike this is Nathan, he is a human scientist, it's a long story, Nathan this is my assistant Spike, he's a baby dragon" she said, Nathan looked at her with a confused look, and then back at Spike, as smile started to spread across his face, he let out a chuckle, and relaxed his tensed muscles, and took a step toward Spike, who stilled seemed cautious, despite Twilight's reassurance.
"wow, I've never seen a dragon before, and here I thought that this world was inhabited by just ponies, now I'm officially surprised" he said, looking him over, considering that Spike was even shorter than Twilight, he had to get on his knees, just as he was still looking him over, Twilight cleared her throat, Nathan turned and looked at her, "well, it's late, and this has been a long day for all of us, and I'm sure you must be very tired from your…journey, there's a spare room in the basement, come on, you can stay there" she said as she walked down the hall that lead to her basement, Nathan grabbed his bags and walked after her, careful not to hit his head on the ceiling, they walked down the hall, and Twilight walked into another room, Nathan crouched and followed after her, the room was fairly large, it already seemed furnished, all the furniture was covered by blankets, Twilight pulled the sheets off and revealed a bed, which appeared to be too small for Nathan, maybe if he was a teenager again.
"Um, that bed seems a little small for me" he said, Twilight giggled, "well, the beds here are designed for ponies, not humans, it's the best I got, sorry" she said, Nathan thought for a moment, and then rummaged through his bags, and pulled out a large wrapped up blanket, "that's okay, I came prepared, I could just sleep on the floor with my sleeping bag" he said, Twilight gave him a confused look, but shrugged and made her way to the door.
She turned back and smiled, "well, goodnight, I hope you sleep well" she said, Nathan turned to her, as he set up his bed, "listen, thanks for this, giving me a place to stay, must be pretty awkward for you, having such a mysterious creature living under your roof" he said, Twilight smiled again, "wouldn't be the weirdest thing that I've done, goodnight" she said as she closed the door.
After the bed was fully laid out, he sat on the edge of the smaller bed, taking off his shoes, and quickly changing into his sleepwear, he quickly rummaged through his bag, and pulled out the recorder, he sighed and brought it up to his lips, thinking about what he needed to say.
He sighed again and pressed the record button and spoke, "this is the audio log of Professor Nathan Richards, I am nearing the end of my first day in this new world, and already there is much to tell, the inhabitants of this world, appear to be of Equine sort, similar to that of a pony back on Earth, I have had the great honor of meeting the leader of this country, she has agreed to let me study this land, in order to better understand this place, I will go ahead with the original plan, of studying this world…" he said stopping, still holding the record button.
"…I have no way of communication to my friends and family back home, in the following days, I will continue with my mission, of trying to reestablish communication to the base, but what I do know is, there are many things that mankind has yet to understand" he said releasing the button, and putting it back in the bag, and taking out a cellphone, he flipped it open, and stared at the picture on the main screen, it was a picture of him and his fiancée, he smiled and looked at the top of the screen, the reception bar had nothing, he frowned, "no cellular reception, that's…disappointing" he said as he put it in the bag, and quickly went to his make-shift bed.
Lying down, he turned off the light, and turned on his side, thinking about this world, all the beauty it held, he was excited to learn more about, he needed to satisfy his scientific curiosity, but another feeling rose in him, fear, he feared that he may never get to see his family again, or his fiancée, just the thought sent a cold chill up his spine, he pushed that aside and closed his eyes, hoping to fall asleep quickly, he would need a lot of energy for tomorrow.
A/N: well there you have it, I apologize for nor updating this story sooner, but I was working on my newest ones, anyway, hope you enjoyed, see you next time, peace.
