"Here you leave Today
and enter the World
of Yesterday, Tomorrow,
and Fantasy"
As Nathan stood there, letting the equines take in the proclamation, Twilight slowly trots up to him with a confused expression upon her face.
"Earth? You mean to say that this entire world is called Earth? How can you officially declare this place to be the happiest? Is there some sort of measurement to the level of amusement and enjoyment that is exhibited to those who visit the park?"
The Cast Member slowly lowers his arms and lets out a small sigh of exasperation, having not expected a question like that to have been asked.
"Well you see Twilight it's-GAH!"
Before Nathan could finish his explanation, another equine jumps out in front of him, only this time it has a pink coat, a dark pink mane, baby blue eyes....and is looking at him from upside down.
"Hi! My name's Pinkie Pie! And of course Disneyland is the best! IT'S THE GREATEST, FUNNEST PLACE EVER!! I mean COME ON you've got rides, cotton candy, caramel apples, parades, shows, and let's not forget fireworks! Although there might not be any fireworks, do you know if there will be fireworks tonight? OH! What will it be?! Wishes? Hallowishes? Or maybe Fantasy in the Sky?"
Nathan could not help but shutter at that last firework show's name, having remembered seeing it during the slow seasons. It was not one of the best shows that Disneyland had produced, but it was something. Once the pink equine finished her rant, Nathan carefully picks her off of his shoulders and places her onto the ground.
"I am afraid that Wishes is only featured in Walt Disney World in Florida, and Hallowishes doesn't start until September. However we do have Remember..Dreams Come True, but that performance along with any other firework show only happens on the weekend."
Pinkie, at first, looked saddened to hear that her asked show was not being played at this time, but perked up when Nathan mentioned that there will be fireworks. Maybe not today, but definitely in the not-too-distant future! With that resolved, Nathan turns to see the other equines waiting patiently for him to introduce himself. With a sheepish grin he walks over to the nearest one, and bows slightly before quickly uttering an apology.
"I am so sorry for keeping you all waiting. Allow me to properly inroduce myself. My name is Nathan, and I will be your VIP tour guide for today."
He raises his stretched hand outwards as he flashes the white unicorn a friendly smile. The unicorn smiles back politely and gingerly accepts his hand...erm...hoofshake? Allowing him to gently grasp it's hoof and shake it up and down slightly before letting it go.
"Why it's a pleasure to be meeting you Nathan, my name is Rarity, and my you're such a charming gentlecolt aren't you~?"
Nathan blushes slightly from the unexpected praise as he then sees Rarity flutter her eyes at him in interest. Before he could reply his thanks to her compliment, he is then circled by said unicorn, who appears to be looking at his outfit with an analytical scrutiny in her eyes.
"My goodness darling, I do NOT recommend red plaid for ANYTHING, but it appears you pull it off quite well! Who is your designer, if I may ask? I feel inspiration striking me at this very moment!"
As Rarity strikes raises her hoof to emphasize her spurt of designing motivation, another equine steps up next to her with a raised brow before speaking in a similar accent to Applebloom.
"Now Rarity, that's enough of you putting the poor sap on display like that. He ain't one of your mannequins to dress up and pin needles with, he is our guide and we should respect him as such. Besides, I'm sure he'll give ya some designer tips and designs for you to work on after the tour, alright?"
At first Rarity looked a bit hesitant, but she then let out a sigh of reluctance and backed away from the somewhat-unnerved Cast Member.
"You are right Applejack, how uncouth of me to act in such a way. Do forgive my behavior Nathan, it was rather rude of me to be so forward after having only just been acquainted."
When Nathan sees Rarity look down in shame, he immediately gets down and gently tilts her chin up so he can smile softly to her.
"It's alright Rarity, we all get excited sometimes. Even I can hardly containment my own excitement when I'm greeted by one of my favorite characters, like Jack Skellington or the Mad Hatter. Tell you what, when you guys are sitting down for lunch, I'll go and see if I can find more information to our costume designs to share with you. Sound good?"
The mentioning of the characters' names seemed to confuse the unicorn, but that confusion soon turned to happiness upon the realization of possibly receiving fresh, new ideas for her line of work. With a thankful nod she turns and trots over to the Crusaders, leaving Nathan and Applejack to both sigh in relief.
"Thank you partner. I can tell she's really excited to be here with her little sister, just like I am."
Nathan looks as Rarity nuzzles Sweetie Belle affectionately to then see Applebloom chatting with Twilight and Spike. After taking a moment to ponder Applebloom's name along with Applejack's, he can safely assume that Applejack's sister must be Applebloom. Which now leaves the question of who Scootaloo's sister must be. The Cast Member turns his head to look at the other ponies and soon sees a rainbow color-maned pegasus idly chatting with a pink-maned pegasus. Realizing that either of them might be the young pegasus’s relative, he walks up to them and politely nods his head in greeting.
“Hello, how are you two doing this fine morning?”
Says the Cast Members who greets them with a soft grin, only to see the pink maned equine cower and hide behind the rainbow maned one. It would then seem that the rainbow maned equine looked slightly annoyed as it sighs in irritation.
“Come on Shy, we talked about this! He's not a monster here to gobble you up!”
The one now identified to be Shy pokes her head out and let's out a terrified, yet adorable meep as she ducks her head back behind her rainbow maned savior. Seeing that it was starting to bother him calling this mare by the color of her mane, Nathan decides that it would probably be best asking for her name.
“Um...you wouldn't happen to be Scootaloo’s sister now, would you?”
The rainbow maned mare shows a face of confusion before erupting into a fit of giggles.
“Nah, I'm not her real sister, but she's kind of my responsibility. Name’s Rainbow Dash. Fastest flier in all of Equestria.”
Nathan tilts his head in confusion at the foreign nation named, having never heard of such a place before. However, it must be where Celestia and her friends are from. It makes sense that a place where beings of myth and legend are from a place unheard of.
"It's nice to meet you Rainbow...and who is that hiding behind you?"
Rainbow smiles and steps aside to reveal a clearly distressed yellow coated pegasus cowering behind her. A single cyan eye pokes out from the mare's long pink mane, and in a small timid voice softly mutters something.
"Hm? Well hello to you too Miss Shy, which I believe is your name? How are you doing this fine morning?"
The mare's eyes widened in surprise, as well as Rainbow's, at the Cast Member being able to hear what the quiet pegasus barely uttered. She then says something else at the same volume, as Nathan leans forward slightly to hear better.
"Why yes I can understand you. I met a lot of shy kids who can barely speak up, so I kind of have some experience hearing those who speak softly. Also, thank you for correcting me on your name Fluttershy."
Cast Member Nathan then leans straight up before sharing a soft smile to Fluttershy, who then smiles back and brushes aside her mane that was covering her muzzle and face. Just as Nathan was about to continue his conversation with the two mares, another pair of familiar mares approach him from the side, Celestia and Luna.
"But my dear Nathan, surely you are not suited nor prepared to allow ponies, such as ourselves, into this kingdom?"
Upon hearing Celestia's voice of concern and hesitance, Nathan slowly walks up in front of both sisters to show a look a fierce determination and passion. If there was one thing Nathan did not like, it was people thinking that they did not belong.
"That may be so Celestia, but a very famous man once said that Disneyland is for everyone, and I hold that saying very close to me. That very same man also said that we Cast Members are those who give, who like to bring delight to other people, and therefore gain pleasure and satisfaction for themselves. That is why I wish to continue to honor our arrangement, and show you around the park as agreed by your contract. Not for compensation, but because I really am excited and delighted to be showing you on your first visit."
Both Celestia and Luna smiled and nodded along with all of the other equines (and dragon) in gratitude, as they were all gathered around the Cast Member. As Nathan finished his proclamation, he felt a familiar tug on his pant leg and looked down to see that it was Sweetie Belle holding his trouser instead of Spike.
“Yes Sweetie Belle? Did you have a question?”
The little filly lets go of Nathan’s pant from her mouth, and looks up with a curious smile towards him.
“Will there be others in the park besides us?”
Nathan smiles and nods.
“Indeed there will be. Why do you ask?”
Sweetie Belle then raises her foreleg and points to the front gates.
“Because I think I see them right now.”
Nathan follows his gaze towards where Sweetie was pointing to see a huge gathering of people eagerly chatting amongst one another as they looked at and took pictures of the unique beings surrounding him. How the heck did he not notice them before?! He quickly looks down at his watch and sees that it's 7:59, nearly time for the gates to be opened. He then looks at the massive crowd of barely-restrained people in mild distress, knowing that his fellow Cast Members will soon open the gates and a flood of Guests will invade the park. Knowing that there was not enough time to waste, he gestures for his group to follow him as they make their way away from the flashing cameras and video recordings to the sanctuary that is underneath the Disneyland Railroad.
“Sorry about that, people are not used to such...interesting individuals as yourselves. However, I can assure you that this will be remedied as soon as possible. You are all VIPs, and will be treated as such.”
“We’re all Very Important Ponies? Oh that's awful nice of yah!”
The relieved Cast Member chuckles at Applebloom’s excitement, glad to see that she is having a good time so far.
“You are very welcome Applebloom, but you shouldn't be thanking me. You should be thanking Celestia for booking this package deal. Speaking of which, before we start our tour, I will need to have you all inside of City Hall to go over your customized plans for the day.”
As Celestia and Luna nodded in agreement, Twilight goes over to one of the posters lining the walls off the tunnel. It was a piece of artwork showing a submarine drifting upon a pair of fish and a small sea turtle. One was a clown fish that appeared to be worried, while the other was a blue tang who seemed blissfully happy. At the top of the poster is a title that reads Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, and at the bottom of the poster had Tomorrowland labeled.
"Hey look at this! I think this might be one of the rides at the park!"
While some of the mares took a look at Twilight's poster, Rainbow is immediately drawn to one that has a jungle themed template with a biped wielding a whip and a fedora. Behind the leather clothed individual was a cracked idol with a beam of light shooting from it's left eye at the being's back. Underneath the explorer is a rugged vehicle, clearly used for rough terrain carrying a load of screaming passengers as they are surrounded by snakes, vines, and skulls. The poster also had a title like Twilight's, labeled Indiana Jones Adventure Temple of the Forbidden Eye.
"Forget about that ride, check this one out! It looks so cool! Like one of Daring Doo's adventures!"
On the sideline, Spike watched as all his friends eagerly looked at the various posters such as: Star Tours The Adventures Continue, a space ship-featured piece with various planets in the background, Pirates of the Caribbean, a sword-wielding and pistol-waving buccaneer wearing a red pirate's outfit, and Matterhorn Bobsleds, where people are seen having fun as they ride down alongside a snowy mountain. The little drake then set his gaze upon a particularly interesting piece, where three eerie-looking figures are standing in front of a disturbingly green two story house. One of them had a ball and chain as well as a long beard, another had a bowler hat and a large bowtie, while the last one had a top hat and a carpet bag. All three of them had their thumbs stuck out, as though they were trying to hitch a ride.
"Um...Nathan? What's this? It looks kind of scary."
The called-upon Cast Member turns around and walks up to where Spike is, seeing the poster that scared him slightly.
"Oh that? Well that's the Haunted Mansion Spike, or Gracey Manor if you want it's official name. It's where all of our otherworldly spirits and sectors go to live out the rest of their afterlife. I know it looks pretty scary, but believe me when I say it's not. It's actually one of the funnest rides here at Disneyland! Besides, you don't have to ride it if you don't want to, okay?"
After hearing Nathan's explanation and reassurance that he will be alright, Spike began to relax and smiled in gratitude to the Cast Member. With that settled, the two join the group and then make their way out from underneath the bridge and onto one of the most well-known streets in America.
Main Street U.S.A.