01; [Video]

[bibliocorn]

[The entrance hall to the mansion is certainly glorious, but what it isn't is the throne room of Canterlot- which is where Sunburst absolutely just was. As such, there's a cloaked, bespectacled little unicorn wandering around, looking about himself in confusion. He's pretty tired, he's just been on an epic adventure- this is probably some strange hallucination brought on by too much magic-strain or something. That makes sense. That makes absolute sense.

And then he finds his device- which is absolutely alien to him. What in the hay IS it??? The device is suddenly surrounded in a sparkly, yellow glow- an action which turns it on- as Sunburst levitates it closer to his face, squinting at it. He talks to the screen, though he doesn't realise it- he's largely speaking out loud, trying to understand what's going on.]

I've never seen an artefact like this before. I'm not convinced I could dream this up along with...whatever this place is. Perhaps there was a magical feedback loop from the portal? Though it would have to be on a delay for it to start happening now. Hnnh, I hope the effects don't last long, I have a lot of new research to compile. I guess I need to wait for it to wear off. Talk about inconvenient. I wonder if any of the others are suffering side effects?

Comments

[Audio]

[shslliar]

[A TALKING UNICORN. Kokichi should be getting used to the weirdness by now, but THERE'S A TALKING UNICORN THAT DOESN'T GET TECHNOLOGY.]

[... Whelp, time to mess with him.]

Hey! Put me down! You're holding me too close to your face!

[Why yes, he is pretending to be the device itself.]

[Audio]

[bibliocorn]

[That is pure evil, and of course, Sunburst is going to react to the shouting without a FACE on the screen. He almost DROPS the device, fumbling with it - his magical aura flickering from it for a second, before he catches it again and lowers it a little more carefully to the ground. ]

Oh...um. Sorry. I've...never seen anything like you before. Are you some sort of magical communication device? Do you have a name?

[Audio]

[shslliar]

[It is, and he even screams a little as the devices is fumbled about to make it seem more realistic.]

G-Gah! Well, if you'd stop shaking me about for a moment, I'd be happy to explain.

[Hmph. Such an indignant little "device."]

Seriously, I get it if you've never seen a smartphone before, but that doesn't give you permission to manhandle me!

[Audio]

[bibliocorn]

[Oh nooo, he doesn't want to anger it. Nothing good comes from angering magical anything's. ]

I'm not sure what that word means, I'm afraid. But I'll be more careful in the future.

[He keeps it gently on the ground, keeping his distance from it. ]

Is this better?

[Audio]

[shslliar]

Mmmn.... This is fine, I guess. Just don't step on me, okay?

[Heh. He got the unicorn to treat a smartphone like royalty.]

Now to answer your question, I am your smartphone device. You use me to connect to Wonderland's network. Though, seeing as you have never seen me before, I can guess you don't know what Wonderland is either.

[bibliocorn]

I'll do my very best not to do that.

[No. No he has no idea what either of those things are. ]

I don't, I'm afraid. It's certainly not part of the world I come from.

[shslliar]

Figures, since this is definitely not the world you're from at all!

[Time for the infodump.]

You're in Wonderland now. Everyone gets to pick a room in this mansion here, and you're all provided with smartphones in case you need to send messages to everyone. Don't worry, there's also a private function in case you only need to contact one person or something.

Do whatever you want, but keep in mind you can only die four times. Don't waste your lives.

[bibliocorn]

[You know, he was all on board until that last part: slightly panicked: ]

Why would anypony have an intention of dying once? Let alone four times?! How can you even die more than once? Is that...is that just normal outside of Equestria?

[shslliar]

Nobody's forcing you to die! Geez, I thought you wouldn't freak out about that...

I mean, I was only giving you a heads up in case you do die from something. We can't be too careful now, can we?

[bibliocorn]

Why would it even be a thing? What could I even possibly die from here?

[Yeah, he's not going to let this POTENTIAL OF DEATH thing go. This is exactly why he doesn't go on epic adventures with the girls. This is exactly why. ]

[shslliar]

Uh. What do you think?!

[Gezus, grow a backbone, pony.]

I mean, you could scratch "old age" off the list since time doesn't quite work here, but otherwise... Yeah!

[bibliocorn]

So things are dangerous here? Like...oh man, are there things like manticores and timber wolves here?

[When you come form a species of prey animals, that's the first thing you think that can kill you. Big things with BIG TEETH. ]

[shslliar]

Nah, those things aren't here... Not unless an event from your world brings them here.

[Those are pretty fancy species you know, unicorn wizard.]

[bibliocorn]

[Wow he does not want timber wolves here. No one wants timber wolves anywhere. They're the worst.]

Honestly, there are worse things that can appear from my world. I'd rather hope that doesn't happen at all.

[The happy magical pony land is horribly full of dark, monstrous world-ending beings, ok. He's literally just finished fighting one. ]

[shslliar]

I don't make the events, pal. I just get you connected to the other people here.

[Nobody knows where they come from, okay?]

[bibliocorn]

Right, of course, my apologies. Is there anything else you're able to tell me?

[shslliar]

Oh, yeah! Thanks for reminding me!

You can go ahead and pick out a room to sleep in. Any available room at all. And don't worry about the lack of an economy, the closet will give you almost anything you like!

[bibliocorn]

How do I know if a room is available? I'd hate to just steal somepony else's space.

...I take it the closest is tied to the magic of his world?

[shslliar]

Yeah, and so is the room. If it looks like a plain old hotel room and not like something personalized to anyone else, you can have it. It will automatically change to suit your needs.

[bibliocorn]

Amazing! For a place that keeps us captive, it certainly is very accommodating.

[shslliar]

Thanks! This place isn't a dungeon, y'know. Think of it as a luxury resort you can't escape on your own.

[bibliocorn]

Well, the lack of escape is less than ideal- but as such places go, it really is fairly pleasant. I can think of far worse places to be trapped.

[shslliar]

Yep! And there's even some space outside the mansion for you to run around in if you gotta! We have gardens, a beach, a lake, some hills... Your pick.

[bibliocorn]

Oh...that's alright. I don't really go outside all that much.

[He may be less of a shut-in than he used to be, but he's still not a fan of nature- specifically being outside in it. ]

[shslliar]

Oh. In that case, explore the indoors! There's a lot of indoors to cover.

[A unicorn that doesn't like being outside. Shocking.]