To say that I was confused would be an understatement. What the hell was going on?! Why did Zecora and Scarlet look like normal humans? And, come to think of it, why was it so cold and somewhat dark? And why were we in a forest? And what was with the statue of King Arthur of all people? It was massive, for crying out loud!
"Jethro?"
I saw a hand waving in front of my face. Looking towards the owner of said hand, I saw the now completely human Zecora looking at me with those gorgeous dark blue eyes of hers. She was standing in front of me, looking worried as she cupped my cheek with her warm hands. I cleared my throat. "Sorry, Zecora. Just…taking in how wrong everything is."
"No shit," Scarlet said, who by now was leaning against one of the trees, brushing off pine needles and dirt off of her new jeans. "I thought I'd be gray with the red hair?"
I wanted to yell at Scarlet for what she did. I wanted to scream at her and tell her to go the fuck back home, but there was another pressing matter at hand. I took my backpack off, reached inside, and opened the journal. Grabbing a pen, I hastily began to write We're here, but something's wrong. This world isn't like the one from the show. It's more like my own world than the world from Equestria Girls.
A few seconds passed, and then Celestia replied, What's different there?
We aren't where we're supposed to be, and Scarlet and Zecora look different than I expected. I'll keep you posted. Something cold landed on my nose and I looked up. I swore quietly as another snowflake landed on my face. As soon as we find a place to spend the next few nights. It's starting to snow here.
A few seconds later, Celestia replied, Be careful. The others here are trying hard to convince me to let you go or attempting to run through themselves. Luna and Cadance are holding those Ponies back.
It's not like we can all fit in my sleeping bag, I replied, but please tell them there's nothing to worry about. I'll be fine.
You'd better be, Jethro Bethridge, or I will be quite upset, Celestia said. Contact me regularly, please.
Will do. Jethro out. I closed the book and slipped it back into my backpack, then turned to Scarlet. "Scarlet…what were you thinking?" I gave her a disapproving frown.
"Well, what do you think?" she said, walking up and poking my chest angrily. "I wasn't about to leave you alone again!"
"This isn't the world I thought it was," I said through clenched teeth, "You aren't colored right and we're in a forest, not in front of a high school. And besides, you both look older than teenagers. We're in unknown territory here, and aside from that, it's snowing." I pointed up at the sky.
"I'm. Not. Leaving!" Scarlet shouted.
Zecora was by my side immediately. "Love, I suspected she would attempt this," she said. "I have a spare sleeping roll for the night if we need to stay in the open."
I facepalmed and sighed. "Alright…well, before we break those out, let's try and find a way out of this forest. Maybe we can find a shop where we can sell some of these diamonds or bits and maybe find a hotel that'll accept walk-ins and cash payments." I slung the backpack over my shoulder and tightened the straps. Zecora's saddlebags had changed into a dark brown backpack which I helped strap over her shoulders. When we were all ready, I looked around the clearing, hoping to hear or see anything. It would be really hard to come back to find this place in time if they took all week.
Fortunately, I heard the sound of what could only be a car driving by, and I pointed in the direction I'd heard it from. "That way. Girls, make as much of a path as possible. If it snows enough, we might not be able to see where we came from. In fact, wait." I pulled out my knife and began putting notches in the trees we passed while also stomping down on the brush and twigs on the forest floor.
Finally, I saw what could only be a streetlamp turning on as the clouds continued to darken. I took Zecora's hand, who in turn was holding Scarlet's hand as I continued making notches. I heard a few more cars passing on the road ahead and even saw their headlights and taillights. But something was off. These cars were moving too slowly to be on a public road. We were either in a neighborhood or a private road.
When we stepped out of the forest, I saw that we were in front of a large parking lot, standing on a sidewalk that went perpendi. The asphalt was already coated in a thin layer of white, further illuminated by the lights in the parking lot itself. I saw many various cars parked there and a couple driving through it. Looking left, I saw a small driveway heading to what I guessed was a main road. But when I turned right, I saw a large well-lit building. The front was mostly glass with a warm white glow coming from inside. One of the parts of the building was domed with lights illuminating something hanging from the ceiling.
"Should we go investigate that building?" Zecora asked, pointing towards it just as a large bus drove past us, heading to a large bus stop directly in front of the building where a large number of people were gathered, all wearing wintery gear and various types of backpacks.
I looked back at the pathway we'd made to make sure it was clearly visible. When I was satisfied, I turned back towards the building. "Yeah, let's go."
As the bus ahead of us stopped, it opened and other people began piling off of the bus, spreading out and talking among themselves or looking at their phones. My heart sank when I saw just how normal they looked, no colorful skin or hair, just the same shades of colors I'd seen on Earth. I heard phrases in English, which was a relief to me. They sounded as if they had American-eque accents too. One thing I noticed was the lack of masks on the people I saw, not one. Both women walked beside me on the sidewalk as we made our way towards the building.
We walked past another sidewalk that turned to the right. I looked down and saw a fountain with a depiction of a woman's hand holding a sword out of it coming out of the pool. It must have been on some kind of motor as the hand rotated slowly around. "Huh…the Lady of the Lake," I said.
"What is that?" Zecora asked.
"It's an old legend from Earth," I said as I continued watching the water come out of the sword's tip in a shower of bright multicolored light. "Supposedly the Lady of the Lake gave this sword to a famous legendary king of England named King Arthur as a sign of his divine right to rule. At least, that's what I'm remembering. It's been a while since I read up on Arthurian legends. Come on, we can explore that later."
As we headed towards the building, the trees to our right gave way to other larger buildings to the right of us, heading further down. Some were more utilitarian in appearance, looking a bit out of date when compared to the more glass-covered buildings near the front. I saw a section of one of the buildings covered by plastic and cornered off by temporary barriers. Apparently, this facility, whatever it was, was undergoing some kind of refit.
Near the main pathway leading down towards these various other buildings, I saw a large stone slab with what could only be the name of the facility engraved on it. Camelot College, it read. Unlike everything else around us, this sign was simple, and to the point. It looked like it had been recently restored, as well. Next to it, I saw a large sign with a map on it of what was, presumably, the campus. I rushed over and looked over the map. There were seven buildings on campus, and all were simply numbered One to Seven. The other side of the sign had the exact same map on it, and both sides had a bright red dot with You Are Here written in big bold print beside it. We were right next to the Arthur Building, which I assumed was mostly administrative.
A sharp breeze blew up around us, and I felt more snow brush against my neck. Shivering, I pointed to the Arthur Building as the temperature around us began to fall faster with the darkening skies around us. "Quick, inside! It'll be warmer in there and they'll probably have a place to sit," I said, rushing towards the front doors. The two women followed quickly enough, and I held the first set of doors open. Zecora, having seen how I opened the doors, opened the inner one for the two of us.
We were in a vast lobby underneath the large window dome. The object I'd seen hanging from the dome was actually a very early looking airplane, of all things. There were carious couches lining the walls that had windows looking outside. There were bright red chairs with armrests surrounding small circular tables scattered around the marbled floor, and large cylindrical lights hung from the ceiling, illuminating everything around us in a warm white glow. One of the walls had a massive painting of what I could only assume were stylized versions of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table sitting around said table. One wall was lined with various vending machines, and to my surprise I recognized various brands on the soda and drink machines, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Snapple, Gatorade, and even Shasta. There were two large walkways that led to what I presumed were either classrooms or offices. Two large staircases led up to the second floor and I saw three elevator doors, one of which was open and letting a few students out into the lobby.
I sat at one of the red chairs, leaning back and running my hand through my hair to remove any of the snow that had fallen onto it. Zecora and Scarlet also took seats, the former removing her backpack and letting it fall to the floor beside her. They were looking around at everything in awe and astonishment, but I was just tired. Camelot College?! All of the Arthurian legend stuff? What the hell's going on here?
Wanting to distract myself by doing something, I leaned down and opened my backpack to once more check on my stuff, only to realize that I couldn't hear the jingling of bits anymore. I could still see the diamonds, but something else had replaced the bits jingling: the rustling of paper. Wide eyed, I reached in and pulled out a large stack of hundred-dollar bills. "The fuck?!" I exclaimed, before realizing my voice carried in this large lobby. Quickly, I hid the money, but pulled one out and examined it.
It was clearly American currency, there was no doubt about it. It had a slightly older look to it, lacking the more colorful aspects of the more modern hundred dollar bills I had once seen back on Earth. The date on it was 1996. I pulled out my flashlight and looked through the other stacks of what looked like fresh currency, and I saw five other stacks of money, one other stack of hundreds, one of older looking twenties, two stacks of five-dollar bills and one of crisp one-dollar bills.
I pulled out the stack of ones, looking at them with complete confusion. Most of the dates I saw on them were ones like 1999, 2003 and so on. They looked completely real and even felt real.
"Wait, Jethro? I thought you didn't bring Earth money with you?" Scarlet asked, her attention now back on me. Zecora was also looking at the stack of green in my hand.
"I didn't," I admitted, "but the bits I brought are gone. This was what I found instead."
Zecora stood, walked over, and felt the paper money with her hands. I handed her one, and Zecora the other. They'd both seen what little Earth money I still held onto as a keepsake back in Equestria, of course, so this was nothing new. As Zecora handed the money to Scarlet, she looked at her own clothes. "Love, perhaps the mirror did to the bits what it did to us?"
"Changed my money into local currency?" I asked.
"Hey, in both the show and in real life, we were changed into humans and given clothes," Scarlet said, pulling on her sleeves. "So why the hell why wouldn't the Stargate change your money to better fit in?"
"That…makes way too much sense," I admitted. "But we need to find out if it actually works. Stay here, I'll be right back." I stood, pulled out a small portion of one-dollar bills from the stack and made my way to one of the nearest vending machines, which happened to be the Coke one. It was one of those older types with the plastic covering over the buttons. I was surprised by how cheap the sodas were, fifty cents a can. I put one of the dollar bills in, and to my surprise and relief, it accepted it. I hit the Orange Fanta button and the machine whirred. Below, I heard the can fall and land in the dispensing tray below. I took it and looked at the logo, which somehow looked out of date. I heard two coins fall into the change tray, and I pulled them out. Both were older coins. I slipped them into my pocket and grabbed another one-dollar bill, slipping it into the machine. As before, it accepted it. This time, I selected Barq's Root Beer. Once more, the machine dispensed it. With the change I got, this time I got a normal Coca-Cola can. As was an old habit of mine, I shoved the other remaining bills into my pocket, then took the cans back to the two girls and set them down.
Scarlet's eyes widened and she snatched up the Coke can immediately, fiddling with it until it opened. I opened the Orange Fanta can and handed it to Zecora, while I took the root beer. It had been months since my soda collection at home had lost its final root beer, and despite the situation, I was going to allow myself the opportunity to savor this moment.
Scarlet burped a bit loudly before she asked, "I take it the money's working?"
"It would seem so, yes," I said as I looked at the can carefully. The return deposit But when I looked at the bottom, I received another shock in the form of the expiration date. "May 19, 2011?!" I exclaimed, earning me a few glances from nearby students. I gave them all apologetic smiles before I put the can down. Pulling out my phone, I looked for a wi-fi signal. Finding a free one called CC-Guest, I logged in, but despite telling me that I was successfully connected, I couldn't use my Firefox app, or even the iPhone store app. I sighed and put my phone away. Is it possible I've traveled to the past? I thought as I looked around the room. To my relief, I saw a line of computer terminals. "Put those sodas down, ladies. At least until I get back," I said as I stood and rushed over to a free one. There was a login screen, but the layout for the screen was definitely Windows 7. All I needed was a date, and my eyes widened again when I saw it.
November 11, 2010.
I returned to the other girls in a daze. Not only was I on Earth, or a world that was practically identical to the one I knew as far as I could tell, but I was twelve years in the past. I had no idea where I was, but if Sunset Shimmer was here, too, I'd have a harder time tracking her down. Unless she wasn't even in whatever city or town we were in. She could very well have traveled far away from the portal-No, I'm calling it the Stargate from now on, I thought.
I heard someone's stomach growl, and looking over at the girls, saw a clearly blushing Scarlet. She raised her hand. "Sorry…that was me. I was so nervous this morning I didn't eat breakfast."
"Well…in that case, why don't we try and find a map of whatever city we're in," I said, glad for the distraction. "Oh, and go ahead and drink those sodas. They're okay."
"What made you think they weren't?" Scarlet asked as we headed towards couple of spinning brochure racks near the entrance.
"Scarlet, what year did I say I was from?" I asked.
"Um…2022, right?" she asked uncertainly.
"Correct. But in this world, it's 2010," I said.
Zecora and Scarlet's eyes widened in shock. "Are you saying we have gone back in time during your world's history?" Zecora asked.
"If this really is my Earth," I said. We reached the racks and I began looking them over. "Hmm…special events…map of campus…ah!" Finding a brochure with Pendragon Bus Schedule and Map, I snatched it opened it. The bus lines of this city named Pendragon seemed to go everywhere, giving me a good map of the city proper.
From what I could see, Pendragon was located inland and looked normal enough. Street names were surprisingly "Okay…so judging by this American flag in the corner, I can assume we're in the U.S. But seriously, what's with all the Arthurian legend stuff…?" I spun the rack around, carefully looking for anything else that could help. When I saw a world map, I eagerly grabbed it and unfolded it.
And promptly froze.
It was Earth, all right. All seven continents right where they were supposed to be, all the countries identical to the ones I knew. Everything was identical.
All except the United States borders. I peered closer at it, staring incredulously at the extra piece of land added onto the country.
Vancouver Island.
"This is not your world, then," Zecora asked me as we munched on a few vending machine snacks ten minutes later. She held a half-eaten peanut butter cracker in her hands while Scarlet was practically scarfing down a bag of Cheez-Its.
I took a bite of my Tillamook brand jerky, nodding in response to her question. "It can't be. This patch of land never belonged to the United States. Not to my knowledge, anyway," I said. "So we're in some sort of parallel universe. Heh, Twilight would love this, I'm sure."
"That nerd would have a fangasm," Scarlet smirked, a few Cheez-It crumbs falling out of her mouth. "Sorry," she said sheepishly.
"So what does that mean for us?" Zecora asked.
"It means we're playing this by ear," I said. "If Sunset Shimmer is a student at this college, it's going to be very hard to find her since she probably looks more like a normal human than what I showed you. But we need a place where we can speak more openly."
"Such as?" Zecora asked.
I stood and grabbed my backpack, slinging it over my shoulder. "First, we need to find a place to sleep, and with the snowfall outside, I'd rather not sleep on the ground," I said. "Plus, I doubt anyone here would let us just borrow one of the couches for the night. Local time says it's…" I looked around and spotted a large clock with Roman numerals on a wall just above the brochure stand. "…just around five thirty. Since we have money with us now, it'll be much easier to find a place to stay. Assuming we can find one that accepts cash."
"And how are we going to do that, love?" Zecora asked.
"Well…by asking around," I shrugged. I swallowed the last of the jerky and wadded the plastic bag it came in up. "Finish up eating, you two. We've got a hotel to find."
Zecora put her bag of half-eaten peanut-butter crackers away, and Scarlet looked at herself, trying to find a place to put her bag of unfinished Cheez-Its. I held out my hand and she slowly handed them to me. Putting them in one of the pockets of my backpack, I looked around. I spotted a student sitting on one of the couches near the window looking down at a decade old smartphone, presumably an old iPhone. Next to the latter I saw The one with the smartphone looked up at me. It was a younger guy with black sneakers with stylized lightning bolts painted on the side, a pair of light blue jeans, a white t-shirt with a dark brown leather jacket over it. He had spiked brown hair. "Yeah? Can I help you?" he asked in a friendly manner before I got anything out.
"Sorry to bother you," I said apologetically, "but could you tell us how to get to the nearest hotel that accepts cash? I lost my credit cards, and my phone has absolutely no service and it can't connect to the guest wifi here or anywhere else."
"Sure!" He looked down at his phone and typed something in, then waited. "Okay…so looks like we have a Motel 6 seven miles away, and then there's Sunway Hotel two miles away. According to this site, those two accept walk-ins and cash. Sunway is cheaper."
"How much?" I asked.
"Looks like…about fifty dollars a night for a room with two beds, forty for a one bed," the student said.
That's pretty cheap, I thought. "Alright, could you give us some directions, or tell us which bus routes to take to get there?" I asked. "Sorry for asking this of you," I added.
"Don't worry about it, dude," the student said. "Got a pen and paper?"
"Pen, yeah. Paper…no," I said. I did have the journal, but I didn't want to write something on it since there was always a chance we'd be stuck here until Twilight figured out how to permanently open the portal.
"Hey, no worries." The student took out a small notepad. "Okay…so let's see…"
Fifteen minutes later, the three of us were on the number 52 bus heading towards the center of the city. According to the student we talked to, the Sunway Hotel was located on the corner of Aban and Morien Street. We sat at the back of the bus, looking out at the snowfall and the passing city. As the bus turned onto the main road, we saw a few skyscrapers in the distance. This city, wherever we were, wasn't big. I didn't recognize any of the buildings, but then again, we were in a completely different world.
Zecora interrupted my thoughts by leaning against my shoulder. I looked down and saw her eyes closed. As I put my arm around her a second person leaned against me on the other side. I shook my head in amusement as I put my other arm around Scarlet. As the two women rested on my shoulders, I looked out at the passing buildings.
Plenty of the business I saw were familiar to me. I saw a Best Buy, McDonald's, Chevron gas station, 7-11 and various other businesses I recognized from my Earth. For a brief moment, I allowed myself to get lost in the utter familiarity of what I was seeing. I couldn't help myself: I felt like I'd never left my world.
We continued heading into the city, stopping to pick up and drop off various passengers. Without any internet access on my phone, I didn't have the distraction that the other passengers had. Plenty were on their smartphones or listening to music.
A tear fell from me and landed on Zecora's cheek. She looked up at me slowly. "Love, are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah…sorry. I just…" I lowered my voice and whispered, "When we first came here, I was expecting to be somewhere else. I guess the shock's wearing off, and now I'm just excited that this world is almost identical to my own. If Twilight can figure out how to keep the Stargate open after we find Sunset Shimmer, maybe we can visit here regularly."
She smiled and kissed my cheek. "I'm happy for you, dearest," she said as she went back to leaning on my shoulder.
"Next stop coming up is Aban and Morien," the bus driver announced over the intercom. "Transfer to line 47 and 62."
The girls and I all stood and waited until the bus came to a complete stop. When the bus hissed and the back door opened, the three of us stood and headed out, but not before we all three thanked the driver, who told us to stay safe. We walked out into relatively heavy snowfall and looked around. As the bus drove away, it revealed a decent sized hotel building with a large sign in front. The word SUNWAY emblazoned in front of an oval shaped sign with a sunset in the background against a blue ocean. Underneath, the word VACANCY blinked on and off.
We made my way over to the crosswalk (which Scarlet had way too much fun pressing), crossed Aban Street, then crossed through the parking lot, went through the revolving doors at the entrance and into a large well-lit lobby.
One of the receptionists at the front desk saw us and smiled politely. "Welcome to the Sunway Hotel. Are you three checking in?"
"Ah, sort of," I said sheepishly as we approached. "We googled this place earlier and we saw that you accept cash payments and walk-ins?"
She nodded. "That's correct, sir. What kind of room would you like?"
"Well, preferably one with two beds, but if not, one bed will be fine," I said. "I've got a sleeping bag I can use."
"Well, let me see what we have here," the receptionist said as she typed away at the desktop she was using. After a bit, she looked up and smiled. "We have three rooms with two beds left. Would you like to take one?"
"Yes, please," I said immediately.
Nodding, she typed more. "And how long will you be with us?"
"Put us down for a week, please," I said, taking off my backpack and reaching in to grab the stack of hundreds.
"Alright…so just so you know, since you're paying in cash, there will be a deposit fee just in case any of you decide to purchase anything in the minibar. Any remaining money will be returned to you at the end of your stay. Is that alright with you?"
I nodded. "I wish we had a credit card," I said. "How much is the deposit?"
"Twenty-five dollars," the receptionist said.
"Alright, that's fine with me," I said.
"Excellent, sir. That will be $375, please," she said. I pulled out four crisp hundred dollar bills and put them down on the desk in front of her. She took them, ran a pen over them to check their veracity, nodded in approval, then put them in a cash register and handed me my change. "Here you are, sir. Let me go get you some keycards." She grabbed three keycards and typed something on her computer. She slid them through a machine, then handed them to me. "Your room is 502 on the fifth floor. Our free continental breakfast is from six to ten A.M. and our pool and gym are open from seven A.M. to ten P.M. We have an in-hotel restaurant, and if that costs too much we can also provide you with a list of nearby restaurants. Please enjoy your stay here!"
I smiled. "Thank you, we will."
Scarlet couldn't help but gawk as the elevator we got into, which had a view of the breakfast area below, rose up and up with each passing floor. "This is so awesome," she squealed excitedly.
"You've been hanging around Rainbow Dash too long," I snorted as the elevator door opened. "Come on, let's find our room."
It didn't take us long to find it since our room was at the end of the walkway near a set of vending machines. Sliding the key card, I opened the door to a darkened room. Reaching over, I turned on the light. We were standing in a large carpeted room with two beds facing an older styled flat screened Toshiba which was sitting on a small dresser opposite them. The beds had sky blue comforters and pillows, covering white sheets. The room smelled just like any other hotel I'd stayed in, fresh and clean. On the other side of the room I saw the half-opened bathroom.
We all walked in, Scarlet rushing past and jumping onto one of the bed. Zecora and I dropped our bags on the floor and, after putting the Do Not Disturb sign on the door and locking it, she and I collapsed onto the other bed, staring up at the ceiling.
After a while, I sat up and looked at the two. "Well, for the next week, this is our home, ladies. Get comfy."
At that moment, Scarlet's stomach growled. Zecora and I looked over at the blushing girl, then at each other. We both grinned, then turned back to Scarlet, who was grinning with a hopeful expression. She looked at me, then said, "Can…we get some food?"
We all laughed as I stood. "Alright, let's go see what they have down at the restaurant." And with that, I slid my keycard in my pocket, unlocked the door, and with the two ladies behind me, stepped back out onto the walkway.