In around ten minutes’ time, during which they passed by several humans who didn't so much as glance at them meaning the enchantment was working, the group of friends found the Seattle Public Library. It looked exactly as the man had described: two trees stood side-by-side in front of the building while the roof was diamond-patterned. Also just as he had told them, the building’s design was indeed very abstract. To the girls, it resembled a house with its roof smashed to one side and the ground floor having imploded on itself.
After crossing the street via crosswalk, they made way toward the library’s front door and entered, passing through a couple of black gate-like structures bolted to the floor. A fair amount of humans occupied the building, mostly sitting at tables reading books or wandering around probably looking for some. The librarian sat at a desk just next to the entrance, typing away at a computer while mumbling to herself.
Twilight, as could be expected of her, was immediately transfixed by the sight of so many bookshelves containing multiple rows of her favorite inanimate thing in the universe, her favorite animate thing/s being her friends and family, of whom the former three of which waited impatiently for their lavender friend to give them directions.
“Um, Twila?’ Rainbow asked the starry-eyed lavender alicorn. “What do we do now?”
“Huh!?” Twilight snapped back to ‘reality’. “Oh, um . . .” She swept her gaze over the library’s interior. Eventually she spotted an unoccupied reading table near to one side of the building.
“Just go wait over there for me, girls,” she said, pointing toward the table. “Assuming this comic’s world follows the same book system as real life I should be able to find an atlas fairly quickly.”
“Very well, dear,” Rarity replied. “We’ll meet you over there when you’re done.”
Twilight nodded, and began heading toward the shelves while the others made way toward the empty table.
“So,” Rainbow said as they sat around the table, taking a moment to position her wings so they wouldn’t scrape against her chair’s back. “What’re you guys hoping to do while we’re here?”
“What do you mean, Jenny?” Rarity asked, her head tilted in confusion.
“You know,” Rainbow replied while making a rolling motion with her hoof, “anything in this world you want to see or do?”
“Yeah,” Pinkie said with a bright smile, “there’s sure to be lots of cool things for us to do here.”
“I’m sure there is, you two,” Rarity replied. She adopted a look of stern-forthrightness. “However, no matter how tempting it may be to see the sights of this world, we’re not here to dilly-dally. Our goal is to head straight for Warren Zaccaro and nothing more, which means no sightseeing.”
“Come on, Maria, where’s your sense of excitement?” Rainbow asked exasperatedly. “Let’s explore a little and check out all of what this world has to offer. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity here, the least we can do is make the most of it before we leave.”
“Um, excuse me?”
The three girls almost jumped in alarm at the unfamiliar voice right next to them. As one they turned to see a teenage girl wearing a green sweatshirt, blue jeans, and thick red glasses holding a couple of books in her arms. It took all of their willpower to stay rooted to their seats and not panic from having drawn a human’s attention.
That didn’t stop them from shaking like leaves in the wind in their seats, however, and the girl stared at the three of them awkwardly, clearly offput by their nervous behavior. None of them said anything back to her, all waiting for one of the other two to do so instead. Eventually, Rarity decided to be brave and reply to the human.
“Um, can we help you?” she asked, a bead of sweat trickling down her face.
The girl blinked for a good solid second. “I just wanted to know if you really need this table. I’ve got a final exam to study for and really need someplace quiet to do so.” She looked downcast. “My apartment isn’t quite satisfactory in that regard.”
“Oh, why of course!” Rarity said almost too loud. “We’re merely waiting for a friend, so by all means take this table for yourself.” To show she was serious, she got out of her chair and turned it around, gesturing with her hoof for the girl to sit down. Rainbow and Pinkie also got up and pushed their chairs in.
The girl smiled. “Thank you,” she said and took Rarity’s seat, setting her books on the table in front of her.
“Well, good luck with your exam, darling,” Rarity said kindly.
“Thanks,” the girl replied. Then she looked confusedly to Rarity. “Actually, your voice sounds very familiar.” She tilted her head. “Have we met somewhere before?”
All the hairs of not just Rarity’s, but Rainbow and Pinkie’s coats stood straight. “Um, no I don’t believe we have, darling,” Rarity replied with a nervous chuckle.
The girl blinked. “Why do you keep calling me ‘darling’?”
Rarity gulped. “Sorry, force of habit, I’m afraid.” Sweat began running down her face.
The girl stared blankly for a few moments. “Are you sure we haven’t met befo-”
“Hey, didn’t you say you had to study or something?” Rainbow cut her off, irritation clear in her tone.
“Right, sorry,” the girl replied before turning around and opening up one of her books.
Rainbow rolled her eyes and motioned for the others to follow her deeper into the library. All three couldn’t help but feel as if the girl’s eyes were staring into the back of their heads as they left, though none of them turned around to check. Once they’d turned a corner between two columns of bookshelves they all breathed a collective sigh of relief.
“Whoo, that was close,” Pinkie declared, wiping some sweat off her brow.
“Indeed it was,” Rarity agreed. She sat on her haunches and leaned against the shelf behind her. She held a hoof up to her forehead in exasperation. “But it’s for that very reason that we mustn’t dilly dally here. We’re still at risk of being exposed even with the disguises, and the less focused we are on returning home the more likely it is we’ll blow our cover.”
“Yeah, but . . .” Rainbow began to argue, but stopped herself upon seeing the furrowed gaze Rarity was giving her, to which she let out a defeated sigh. “Okay, okay, I understand.”
Rarity turned her gaze to Pinkie. “And you, Candy?”
“I may not like it, but I understand perfectly well, Maria,” she replied with a wistful smile.
“That’s good to hear,” Rarity replied with her own, genuine smile as she stood up and shifted aside a tad. “Now, what say we find our bookworm friend, hmm?”
Neither Rainbow nor Pinkie replied, instead staring blankly down the column of bookshelves. Rarity tilted her head confusedly. “Is something the matter girls?” she asked them.
Rainbow pointed behind her with a hoof. Rarity turned around to see what they were staring at, only to go slack-jawed at what she saw before face-hoofing. Way down the aisle, sitting around a bunch of book stacks as tall as her, was Twilight. Even though the lavender alicorn had her face buried in one of them, the trio could still see the corners of a smile etched upon her face. This, combined with the fact that the book’s title was Lord of the Flies, clearly showed to the three that their friend had gotten distracted in her search for an atlas.
Groaning in exasperation, Rarity gestured for the other two to follow her as she made way toward Twilight. They complied, looking less-than but still fairly peeved at their princess friend’s behavior as they trudged towards her, all while she remained oblivious to their approaching presence.
“Heh heh,” Twilight chuckled as her friends stepped in front of her, “‘Fancy thinkin’ the beast was somethin’ you could hunt n’ kill!’”
Rarity cleared her throat.
“Huh! Wha!?” Twilight started in response, dropping the book to the floor and swiveling her head around before her gaze landed on her three friends. “Oh, uh . . .”
Rarity cocked a brow and briefly looked upon the book. “Care to explain how reading this novel equates to finding an atlas, darling?” she half-sarcastically asked the lavender alicorn.
“W-well,” Twilight stuttered, trying to make up a believable lie before eventually giving a defeated sigh.
“I’m sorry for getting distracted,” she said, then grabbed a booklet from off the stack to her right. “I did find an atlas, though, so all we have to do is study it for the quickest route to Warren’s hometown.”
“That’s good to hear,” Rarity replied, then winced. “Although, the girls and I have discovered a rather alarming problem regarding our disguises.”
Twilight cocked an eyebrow. “And what would that be?” she asked.
“Everyone keeps recognizing our voices,” Rainbow replied with a groan. “First that dude in the alley, and just now we gave up our table to some girl who also thought we sounded familiar.”
"Yeah, that is one of the enchantment's more jarring problems," Twilight stated, hanging her head. "Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do to fix it here and now; sorry."
“Well that's a bummer,” Pinkie sulked, her mane deflating a little. “I was looking forward to making lots of new, if temporary, friends here.”
“Me too,” Rainbow said, sadly.
“I won’t condemn such desires, girls,” Rarity said. “Indeed, I too have an inkling of curiosity to see what this world has to offer, but like I said before we aren't here to dilly-dally.”
“Yeah, sure,” Rainbow and Pinkie simultaneously groaned.
Twilight’s heart melted at the sight of her dejected friends. Hoping to liven their spirits, she decided on a compromise.
“Okay, here’s the plan,” she said, drawing everyone’s undivided attention. “We’re going to head straight for Cary, and depending on how far away it is from Seattle we’ll make some stops along the way to take in whatever sights there are.” She gave them a small smile. “Does that sound fair, girls?”
“That sounds cool,” Rainbow agreed, perking up a bit.
“I second that,” Pinkie added with a smile while her mane re-inflated.
“And I as well,” Rarity finished with her own smile.
“Alright then,” Twilight said, “let’s see where our destination is.” She opened the atlas and began reading the index so as to find a map of the whole United States. Her friends stared at her intently, anxious beyond belief to know how long they could end up staying in the comic’s world.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, Twilight found out on which page the country map was located and flipped to it. Her friends watched as she scanned the page for a few minutes to locate both Seattle and Cary’s placements on the map. When she finally finished, her expression turned wide-eyed for a brief moment before she furrowed her gaze down at the page.
“Is something the matter, darling?” Rarity asked, trepidation clear in her tone.
“Well, it might be for you, Maria,” Twilight replied. She set the atlas down on the floor so they all could see the map of the whole United States drawn upon it and pointed to the state in the top leftmost corner; printed within its borders was ‘Washington’, and ‘Seattle’ in smaller print next to a large black dot in the top leftmost corner of the state itself.
“According to that man from earlier, we’re here,” Twilight told them.
“Okay then,” Rarity said, nodding her head. “And where’s Cary?”
“Well . . .” Twilight hesitated for a moment, then slid her hoof across the map all the way to the far right side before resting it on the middle state bordering the accompanying ocean. Just like before, printed within its borders was ‘North Carolina’, and ‘Raleigh’ in smaller text next to a large black dot near the center of the state itself.
"I remember saying in my portion of the second HUMAN book that Warren's hometown of Cary is located right next to the state's capital, Raleigh," Twilight explained. She then adopted a wry expression. "It looks like we'll have to travel all the way across the country in order to reach him."
“Uggghhh,” Rarity groaned.
“YES!” Rainbow and Pinkie both cheered.
“Shh!” Twilight said, giving them a small glare. “We’re in a library, remember?”
“Eheh, sorry,” Rainbow said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head. Then she smiled so wide the corners of her mouth almost clipped the edge of her face. “But this is so awesome. I mean, think of all the things we created for HUMAN that we can now see in person.” She stared off into space, contentedly fantasizing about such things.
“Um, Jenny,” Pinkie said, snapping the cyan pegasus out of her daydream. “We don’t have to see everything we contributed, right?”
Rainbow turned to her friend with a confused look. “What’re you talking about, Candy?” she asked.
Pinkie leaned forward and whispered something in Dash’s ear, to which the pegasus recoiled in shock at what she said before looking solemn. “Um, sure Candy,” she said. “We can skip out on a few things.”
“Thanks,” Pinkie replied with a small smile, and hugged her friend, which Rainbow returned in earnest.
“And with that settled,” Twilight started, drawing everypony’s attention, “now we need to figure out how we’re going to get from here all the way to the East Coast of America.”
“Just how much distance are we to travel?” Rarity asked her.
Twilight looked down at the map once again and read the legend’s scale comparison. “According to this . . . about two thousand miles.”
Rainbow whistled. “Dang, that’s a lot.”
“Yeah,” Twilight agreed as she continued scrutinizing the map. “Walking’s definitely out of the question.”
“We could always just fly,” Rainbow suggested.
“Pardon me for stating what should be plainly obvious,” Rarity ground out, “but even if we were to chance being seen flying, only half of us have the means to do so.”
Rainbow glowered at her. “Yeah, but who’s to say we couldn’t give you and Candy a lift?”
“Oh,” Rarity tilted her head in mock curiosity. “Are you saying you can carry us across the whole country by yourself, Jenny?”
“Well . . .” Rainbow sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. “. . . Okay, maybe we can’t just fly.”
“Indeed,” the alabaster unicorn replied, deadpanned.
“You know, whoever made the Enchanted Comic isn’t very nice,” Pinkie said, drawing the others’ collective attention. “I mean, making us travel sooo far to reach the goal, and not giving us any neat-o powers or resources to help,” she shook her head with disgust, “how could they be so cruel?”
“I don’t know, Candy,” Twilight said, looking downcast. “But once we get out of here, the first thing we’re gonna do is confront them about what they’ve done.”
“Or what’s left of them after our friends are done tearing them a new flank,” Rainbow mused. Then she tilted her head up in thought. “I wonder how things are going for them right now?”
Applejack, Fluttershy, and Spike ran like mad toward Ponyville Station, intent on catching the last train to Canterlot.
“C’mon y’all!” Applejack called back to the other two, her strong applebucking legs having easily kept her ahead of them. “We ain’t got much time ‘fore the train leaves!”
“We know!” Spike called, straining to shout in spite of his aching lungs.
Fluttershy fared no better. The butterscotch pegasus weakly galloped just behind the baby dragon, panting with exertion every few steps while a torrent of sweat leaked from her body which her wings took to soaking up, making it even harder for her to move.
“Must *gasp* get to *gasp* train!” she wheezed between ragged breaths.
By the time Applejack had reached the platform, Spike and Fluttershy were still a good twenty meters away from it, practically dragging their legs forward as they tried to maintain hold of their carry on bags. At about ten meters away from the platform, Fluttershy’s grip on her bag loosened enough that she dropped it to the ground, to which a small cracking sound emanated from inside.
“Oh my!” she exclaimed, her previous discomfort and exhaustion seemingly evaporated as she scooped it up in her hooves. She quickly zipped it open and peeked inside.
“Oh, thank goodness!” she said, breathing a sigh of relief. “They’re alright.”
Spike, still exhausted, turned around to face her. “What’s *gasp* alright, Fluttershy?” he wheezed himself.
The manic look that Fluttershy gave him sent an even bigger chill down Spike’s spine than the one she gave back at her cottage.
“Oh, just a little present for our victims . . . heh heh.”
“I’m sure they’re doing okay,” Twilight said, standing up. She began reshelving all the books around her as she continued. “For now, let’s just focus on finding a method of transportation that can take us all the way across the country.” She briefed a glance to her friends. “Any ideas?”
The other three mares sat down and began thinking hard on a solution to their problem. They poured over everything they remembered from the HUMAN trilogy, as well as what little they’d seen of its Crystalvision adaptation, trying to think of an idea as to what there could be within the comic’s world that they could use to aid them in their quest.
“Well,” Rainbow finally said after a few minutes, by which time Twilight had finished reshelving about half of the books, “maybe we could hitch a ride with one of those cars outside; just hop on board and ride it all the way to your OC.”
“Small problem with that, Jenny,” Twilight said, finishing off another stack. “Humans are xenophobes by nature, meaning they won’t give rides to anyone they don’t know very well.”
“Humans can also travel en masse using planes, right?” Rarity inquired. “If we could acquire a ride . . .”
Twilight sighed in exasperation. “We’d need money for that, Maria. Not to mention we’d have to get past so much security, assuming this comic stays true to HUMAN in that regard.”
“How about we go by train, then?” Pinkie asked.
“Again, we’d need money for tickets, Candy,” Twilight replied, now having finished shelving the books. She banged her head against the shelf and groaned. “I swear, whoever sent me this comic deliberately set it up so that I’d end up having to expose myself in order to leave.”
“All the more reason to pummel them once we get out of here,” Rainbow affirmed, bumping her hooves together in a threatening manner. “AJ had better save some flank for me to kick.”
“Easy now, Jenny,” Rarity said, putting a placating hoof on her shoulder. “Let’s focus on what’s most important at the moment which, if I’m to understand correctly from Twila’s assertions, is our complete lack of bits.”
“Humans don’t use bits,” Twilight corrected her. “But yes, our first focus should be acquiring some money so we can buy transportation to Cary.”
Everyone nodded in response. “So how do we do that?” Rainbow asked.
“Maybe if we ask reeeaaal nicely someone will loan it to us,” Pinkie suggested, completely sincere.
Rarity resisted the urge to snort out a laugh. “Sorry to burst your bubble, Candy," she told the bubbly mare, "but I sincerely doubt humans would be so generous.”
“Oh, come on,” Pinkie whined. “We won’t know unless we try.”
"Of course we won't." Rarity rolled her eyes. "While we're at it, why don't we just walk right into the nearest bank and ask the patrons for a burlap sack full of money?”
". . ."
“This. Is. Pure. Unadulterated. Foalishness,” Rarity said through gritted teeth.
Ten minutes was all it took for the ponies to find out where the nearest bank was from the locals, all the while Rarity fumed at the ‘utter stupidity’ of what they were doing. Now they stood inside the (aptly named) Bank of America, waiting in a line of humans to do exactly as she’d sarcastically suggested previously.
“It’s worth a try, Maria,” Twilight said a little bit more harshly than intended. “The worst that can happen to us is we look stupid to the banker.”
“Look?” Rarity failed to hold back her laughter this time. “I’m genuinely starting to consider that, perhaps, your brain has turned as soft as cheese, Twila.” She threw her hooves up in exasperation, which had the unfortunate side effect of drawing the attention of everyone behind her. “Why else would you agree to such a stupid plan?”
Twilight furrowed her brows and scowled. “Unless you can come up with a better alternative, I’d hold my tongue if I were you, Maria.”
“I’m positive that anything I could think up would be better than this,” Rarity replied, matching Twilight’s scowl with her own.
Rainbow tilted her head in confusion. “But, didn’t you come up with this plan in the first place?” she asked.
“I WAS BEING SARCASTIC!” Rarity shouted at the top of her lungs.
The room went silent as every single human’s attention was drawn to them. Rarity, realizing her mistake, blushed profusely and shrunk under everyone’s collective gaze while her friends sheepishly chuckled and attempted to reassure the humans closest to them that everything was alright. Eventually, everything returned to normal and all attention was diverted from the girls.
“Sorry about that, girls” the alabaster unicorn apologized. She then turned back to Twilight. “But in all seriousness, I wasn’t being serious when I suggested we just go to the nearest bank and ask for money.”
“I know, Maria,” Twilight replied with a sigh, “but we really don’t have much of a choice from the looks of things.” She gave her a soft smile. “Believe me, this is the last plan I’d ever go for if I knew of a better alternative.”
“I know, darling,” Rarity replied with her own smile before it fell into a frown. “I just wish there was a better alternative.”
“Well, look on the bright side,” Pinkie said cheerily. “Our situation couldn’t possibly get any worse.”
The bank’s front doors opened to reveal four humans wearing ski masks and brandishing pistols as they stepped into the room’s center.
“Everybody get on the ground now!” one of them shouted. “This is a bank robbery!”
It took a moment for the initial shock to wear off, at which point all the humans slowly but surely got on their hands and knees and pressed their faces against the cold, tiled floor. It took an extra moment for Twilight and her friends to realize what was happening, but the amount of time it took for them to get down once they did would’ve put Rainbow Dash to shame had the cyan pegasus herself not been among them.
“I take that back,” Pinkie whispered to the others. “Now things can’t get any worse.”
“We’ve also got a bomb!”
“. . . Horseapples.”