Three months later...
The morning sun graces the small town of Ponyville with its golden rays of light. Birds are chirping merrily on rooftops as a number of ponies start doing their morning rituals.
Sienna trots through the earthen path of Ponyville with a happy spring on her steps. “I gotta say, Twilight,” she says with a smile, looking back at her two companions. “I really love what Rarity did to my mane.” She turns and looks at her reflection on a nearby window, admiring the twirls and waves the fashionista did to her green mane. “Now I have more reason to visit Ponyville.”
Twilight chuckles. “That's Rarity for you. Always has the eyes for beauty.”
Seri sighs a longing sigh. “I wish I had a mane, too.”
Sienna smiles, looking around. “And thank you for having us here.” She shakes her head. “Finally, with the felidae's help, we're able to have a breather with those trolls.” She stops and stretches. “I've been wanting to have a vacation in a looooong while now.”
Twilight and Seri chuckle as the trio resume their walk.
Smiling, Seri looks around. “It's really nice to see that ponies wake up early, too.”
Twilight shrugs. “Some. Some wake up in the afternoon.”
“Really?” Seri comments, looking back at the mare. “Us swans and deer always wake up the moment the sun rises.”
“Except for my brother,” Sienna grunts. “Lazy bum will probably not wake up even if the trolls run over him.”
Twilight smiles and shakes her head. “Well, speaking of the trolls, I've talked with Discord and have—”
“TWILIGHT!” a female's shout breaks the quiet tranquility, startling the birds and making them fly away. Skidding to a stop in front of the trio, the lime-green unicorn mare levitates a book in front of the blinking alicorn princess. “You gotta help me, please!” she asks, her sleepy and baggy and bloodshot eyes twitching slightly.
Sienna blinks. “What seems to be the problem, dear pony?” she asks as Twilight grabs hold of the book with her magic. She and Seri eye the book. “...ee-hooman?” she reads the title with an arched eyebrow.
The sleep-deprived mare glares at the deer princess. “It's ‘iHuman’!” she corrects her. “And it's the greatest books I have ever read!”
Sienna blinks at her, then at the book, and then at the sighing alicorn. “...human?”
Twilight shakes her head as she opens the book on a random page. “Strangely, Lyra here has an ... obsession in ‘humans’.”
“They are real!” Lyra suddenly says, startling the swan.
Sienna blinks. She leans closer to the alicorn and whispers: “...Like Jay?”
Lyra points a hoof at the deer. “You whispered to her about something!” She angrily stomps her hoof on the ground. “I am not crazy! I know they are real! We know they're real!”
Sienna blinks at the unicorn. “...we?”
“The Circle of Human Believers, of course!” Lyra then angrily taps the book in Twilight's hold. “And that book proves that humans exist somewhere out there!”
Seri blinks blankly at her. “... Wow.” She smiles. “How do I join?”
Sienna arches an eyebrow at the swan.
Before Lyra can grab the swan, Twilight closes the book. “Sooo... You needed my help with what exactly?”
“That book was released yesterday!” Lyra says with a weird yet excited smile. “And I finished reading it just a few minutes ago!”
“Wow...” Sienna says, eyeing the thickness of the levitating book. “That's dedication if I ever hear one.”
Lyra proudly puts a hoof over her chest. “We of the Circle of Human Believes, or CHB for short, are one-hundred percent dedicated to prove the existence of humans!”
Seri smiles and nods. “Humans are real!”
Lyra finally grabs the swan with an excited squee. “You should join us, fellow human believer!”
“Yey!” Seri chirps excitingly. “Do we get badges?!”
Sienna frowns at the giddy duo. “You are not serious...”
Twilight sighs. “Lyra,” she calls the mare's attention. She gives her a patient smile. “So... How may I help you?”
Lyra let's the swan go. “Ah, right. Sorry...” She takes a calming breath and sighs. “Like I said, that book was released yesterday.” She leans a bit closer to the mare with a hopeful smile. “A-and I wanna invite the author to our group meeting next week, but I don't know where he, or she, lives.”
Twilight blinks at her. “Uh... And um, why do you think I—”
“Because you love books!” Lyra blurts out. “You're like an expert of books! Princess of Books, even!”
Seri chuckles.
Twilight rolls her eyes in amusement as she flips the pages to the very first page. “Honestly, Lyra... Even though I do love books,” she says, reading the contents of the first page and sees the name of the author. “It's not like I'm going to look for the author and...” She trails off. She rereads the author's name once more. She rereads it again. She rubs her eyes and rereads it again.
Curious, Sienna leans closer and reads the contents of the page.
Joining in the fun, Seri wobbles behind the two and pokes her head in between then. “I wanna read it, too.” Her eyes swan the contents, reads the author's name, and smiles. “Oh, hey! I know who that is!”
“You do?!” Lyra quickly asks, her impatience quickly forgotten.
Seri smiles at her and nods. “Yep! He's—” She blinks. She rereads the author's name once more. “...wait.”
Twilight suddenly closes the book. “Lyra... You don't mind if I borrow this book for a while, right?”
The unicorn's eyes grow wide. “Whoa... So you'll find him for me?” Her horn lighting, she quickly slips a letter in the book. “Give him that invitation letter, 'kay? 'kay!”
Sienna blinks at the giddy unicorn. “...Where did you pull that enve—”
The alicorn mare quickly turns around and gallops toward a direction.
Startled, Sienna quickly runs after her.
Seri looks at the two go. With a smile, she extends her long white wings and flies after the duo, leaving the excited unicorn mare behind.
“Are you sure about this, Twilight?” Spike asks, sitting on Twilight's back and holding a book on a claw. “Is it really him?”
“I don't know, but there's only one way to find out!” the alicorn replies in between panting breaths. “It can't be a coincidence!”
Twilight and Sienna are running towards the train station as quick as they can, with Seri flying closely behind them. They arrive at the station just in time to hear the train's whistle.
“All abooooooooard!” the conductor yells, standing by one of the train's open doors. He blinks and quickly steps aside so the rushing royalties won't bump into him.
They then quickly sit down on the nearest couches as they catch their breaths.
“So where are we going?” Seri asks as the train's doors close.
Another whistle, and the train rumbles slightly as it starts to move towards its destination.
“Canterlot,” Twilight says, looking out the window. “I already asked Spike to send a letter of our arrival to the publishing company that published and distributed the book.”
Sienna blinks at her. “...Isn't that like ... a breach of somedeer's privacy?”
Twilight blushes slightly. “Um... I-it's a good thing I'm a princess then?”
“That's abuse of power,” Sienna says, frowning.
Spike chuckles. “Oh, trust me. Even when Twilight and I were still young, ‘Books and Imaginations’ are well aware of Twilight's antics when she wants her favorite books signed by their authors.”
Twilight's blush darkens as Spike and Seri chuckles.
Sienna blinks a blank blink at the embarrassed mare.
Shaking his head, Spike looks at the book's hardcover. “Huh...” He opens the book and reads the contents on the first page. He blinks. “...Yep. That can't be a coincidence.”
Sighing a sigh of relief, Spike jumps off of a bench and smiles at the approaching trio walking under the early afternoon sun. “I got the tickets,” the drake says, waving four train tickets on his claws.
With the book levitating beside her, Twilight smiles and nods her head. “Thanks, Spike.”
Seri chuckles. “It's a good thing Twilight's a friend of that conductor, right?” She smiles at the frowning doe. “Else we would have been kicked out of a moving train!”
Sienna sighs. “I still think those were abuses of power.”
Spike smiles at her. “Power of friendship, my dear...” he blinks, his smile faltering. “...dear?”
The group then move towards the train that will be heading to their latest destination. They fall in line, a few ponies starting to converse with the pony princess.
Spike turns to Sienna and Seri. “So where are we heading?”
Sienna looks at him. “They say he lives in Vanhoover.”
Seri chuckles. “I just realized that a lot of your cities' names are horse puns.”
The drake blinks. He places a claw on his chin. “...huh. I never even noticed it.”
The train screeches to a stop. Its many doors open, and passengers start to exit the locomotive in an orderly fashion.
Twilight and her group exits the train, a gust of the chilly night city air greeting them.
Sienna groans, shaking her head. “Ugh... Remind me to never eat those weird-looking stick fries ever again...”
“Hayfries?” Seri asks, blinking. “I think they tasted great!” she chirps with a smile, earning an annoyed groan from the suffering doe.
“I-I think I need to visit the little doe's room...”
Twilight turns to her and nods her head in understanding. She turns and points toward a direction. “I believe the restrooms should be over there.”
Sienna immediately runs toward the direction without a second thought.
Seri chuckles. She ruffles her white feathers as she turns to her other two companions. “After she's done, where should we go next?”
“I remember the address, but,” Twilight says, and shakes her head. “I'm not really familiar with this city. So we'll just have to ride a taxi.”
“Ooooooh, that sounds exciting!” Seri says with a wide smile.
“Mrrrfff...” Spike mrrrfff's, sitting on Twilight's back and sleepily rubs his sleepy eyes. He lets out a big and long yawn. “Mmm...” He uses the book as a pillow and lies his head on it. “Wake me up when we get there.”
Twilight rolls her eyes as Seri chuckles.
As they wait for Sienna to return, another train arrives and screeches to a stop. With nothing else to do, Twilight and Seri watch the exiting passengers, the swan making a few comments and Twilight either nodding or explaining things to her.
One of the exiting passengers is a young and bipedal panther, wearing a thick coat, a scarf around his neck and a beret over his dark-blue hair. “Brr...” he shivers. “Syroc was right about how cold the autumn nights here.”
Smelling a familiar scent, he sniffs the air and turns toward the three familiar figures. Sapphire eyes blinking, he smiles and approaches them.
“You guys are here, too!” Reykan says, stopping before them.
“Reykan!” Seri chirps, immediately giving the yelping cub a big feathery hug.
“Why did I expect a different greeting from you...?” Reykan groans, trying to push the clingy swan away.
Twilight chuckles as a groaning doe approaches them.
She blinks at the scene. “Oh, he's here, too.”
Seri finally lets the cub go and smiles at Sienna. “You feeling okay now?”
The doe sighs. “I think so.”
Twilight turns to the cub. “You came all the way here from your home?”
Reykan nods his head as the group heads toward the station's exit. “Xana showed my brother and me a book and pointed at the name who wrote it.”
“What a coincidence!” Seri chirps, smiling. “We're here because of the same reason, too!”
As the group exit the station—
“Oof—!”
A stallion bumps into the alicorn princess. He quickly takes a few steps back and bows an apology. “I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I was in a hurry and I wasn't paying attention and—!”
“It's fine, it's fine,” Twilight cuts him off as the sleeping drake on her back mumbles something.
The stallion blinks at her, and then at her companions. “Whoa,” he whoa's, his wings ruffling. “It's you guys!”
“Huh?” Sienna and the others give the stallion a proper glance. The doe blinks. “Wait... Aren't you...?”
“Moon Gaze?” Twilight says after finally figuring out where she has seen the stallion before. “Is that really you?”
“Yup!” the pegasus stallion eagerly nods his head.
A chilly breeze breezes by.
Reykan shivers, and pushes the swan away before she could hug him.
The stallion's breath freezes in his lungs as he stares at the alicorn mare trying to stop her mane from waving. “Whoa...” he breathes out.
Twilight shakes her head and smiles an apologetic smile at the stallion. “It's nice to see you, Moon Gaze, but um...” She bites her bottom lip. “We're kinda-sorta in a hurry and—”
“Oh! I'm sorry for keeping you!” the stallion quickly says, startling the alicorn. “I just realized I'm also running late for work, too.”
Reykan blinks at him. “You work at night?”
“At a twenty-four hour fast food joint near the heart of the city,” the stallion explains.
Seri blinks at him. “Why not just fly there?”
Moon Gaze shakes his head. “Here in Vanhoover, there's a curfew for flying.”
Seri blinks once again. “...Now that's just stupid.”
The stallion sighs. “Tell me about it.” Shaking his head, he smiles a small albeit nervous smile at the alicorn. “Um, you guys are planning on staying here in the city for a day or two, right?”
“Probably,” Twilight quickly replies, blinking.
Moon Gaze small smile grows a little bigger. “Great! That sounds really great! Would you ... um...” He nervously looks away as he scratches the back of his neck. “A-after my shift, w-would you like have some coffee maybe? Y'know, while talking about ... stuff?”
Twilight blinks and smiles. “Coffee sounds good.”
The stallion stops himself from cheering. He instead smiles a very wide, very nervous and very awkward smile at the mare. “T-that's great! Um ... m-meet you at the city park at seven?”
Twilight, still smiling, nods her head. “Sure. We'll see you then?”
Moon Gaze nods nods nods his head in excitement. “Great! S-see you soon then, Twilight!” He quickly and nervously trots away. When he is out of earshot, he blinks after he realizes something. “Wait ... what did she mean by ‘we’?”
“Wow, Twilight,” Sienna says, staring at the pegasus' retreating form. “I didn't know you were so good with stallions.”
“Huh?” Twilight says as she waves a hoof at an incoming taxi. She looks back at the doe. “What do you mean?”
Sienna blinks at her. “...You're not serious right now, are you?”
Seri chuckles as a taxi stops before them.
Twilight uses her magic to open the cab's door. “He invited us over for coffee. It would be rude to say no.” She smiles as she and the others start entering the cab. “And besides, I'm sure he just wants to figure out why he also remembers his memories from the alternate Equestria. And coffee in the morning sounds really nice.”
Sienna sighs as she uses her magic to close the door. As Twilight tells the drivers where they're heading, she turns to the cub. “I'm curious how you figured where he lives,” Sienna asks.
Reykan shrugs. “I dunno. Xana maybe asked when she bought the book.”
As the cab drives through the streets of Vanhoover, the group takes in the brightly-lit buildings and establishments they pass by.
Minutes later, the cab is now driving through a rather dimmer and quieter parts of the city. They soon start to slow down and finally stop in front of an old-looking apartment building.
After paying the drivers, Twilight turns around and joins the group who are staring at the tall apartment building.
“Huh,” Seri says as Spike slowly wakes up. “This looks nice.”
“Are we there yet?” Spike sleepily asks, rubbing his eye with a claw.
“Looks really old,” Reykan comments.
Sienna rolls her eyes as Twilight approaches the building's door. She and the others follow the alicorn.
Twilight stops by the door and knocks.
“Come in,” a muffled voice says from inside the building.
Horn lighting, Twilight opens the door inward and trots inside—
“Princess Twilight!” the old mare by the counter shrieks in surprise, her glasses almost falling off of her face. She shakily bows her head. “G-good evening, your highness,” the old mare says as the group approaches her after closing the door.
“Please,” Twilight says with a patient smile. “Just call me Twilight.”
The old mare smiles and nods her head. “The press were right about you being so humble.”
Twilight blinks and blushes.
The old mare chuckles and shakes her head. “Well, good evening to you and to your friends. I really doubt you are all here to rent a room or two, so may I ask how may I be of service, your highness?”
Spike chuckles as Twilight holds a sigh.
“We're hoping if you could tell us where room number three-twenty is,” Twilight asks.
The old mare nods her head and gestures at the stairs with a shaky hoof. “Of course, your highness. It's on the third floor. Doors are marked by numbers, so you'll just need to look for the number you are looking for. Although...” she smiles at the group as she brings her hoof back down. “It's pretty late already, so if it's not too much to ask, may you save the explosions and rainbow beams in the morning?”
Spike laughs as Twilight nods her head.
The group then march up the stairs, seeing nopony during their ascent to the third floor. They walk through the small hallway, looking at the numbers on the doors until they finally find what they are searching.
Twilight stands before the closed door, with the others standing behind her. She closes her eyes, takes a breath and sighs. Reopening her eyes, she lifts a hoof up, knocks on the door, and takes a step back.
They hear a muffled meow from inside, and then...
“Door's unlocked. Come in!” a familiar voice of a stallion says from the other side of the door.
Taking another breath, Twilight uses her magic to open the door.
The room looks somewhat small, and messy. There's a bed, a closet, and a stallion sitting on a chair who is busily writing on pieces of paper on a small table.
“Just put the pizza on the bed, please. Money's on there, too,” the brown earth pony stallion says without looking.
Blinking curiously, they look at the bed, where a yawning cat and a few bits are on it. They slowly look back at the busy stallion.
“Don't worry about the cat. He'll just sleep on the box like usual,” the stallion says, chuckling.
The cat on the bed then looks at the newcomers, blinks, and slowly sits down, its tail slowly waving behind it.
Seconds fly by.
The stallion stops writing and blinks. He places the quill on the table, looks at the table, and blinks.
He smirks. “Well well... What is this? Some kind of joke?”
Reykan swiftly tackle-hugs him.
“Gah—!” the stallion yells as the duo falls down on the floor. “Reykan! I swear to god, if you bite me again—!”
The cat yawns a long and bored yawn. It curls on the bed and goes to sleep as the others slowly enter the room.