Previously...
Derpy leaned in, “Weeeell? What do you think?”
He took a deep breath and made his decision, not that he felt had much else of a choice at this point, “OK, I’m in; let’s give your idea a shot.”
If he still had fingers, they'd be crossed.
Our Story Continues...
…
“There, all set!” Derpy exclaimed once the last of Zach’s disguise was put into place.
Zach wished he could have seen for himself, but she didn’t have a mirror with her. He briefly considered venturing back into the woods to find one of those little pools of water to try and see his reflection, though he decided against it almost immediately. ‘No, I’m not going back into those woods. Besides, I can just use the river, assuming its surface is smooth enough.’
For now, he’d have to take her word for it… though considering her track record in the show, he wasn’t too confident with that. This was the mare that wore paper bags for a Halloween costume; not decorated bags, not cut outs, literal paper bags.
Zach glanced over his shoulder and looked to his sides, then to each of his legs. His disguise utilized the jacket to cover most of his upper torso--could he still call it an upper torso?--the saddlebags to help cover the outer shell on his back and his wings, socks and scarves improvised to cover up the holes in his legs, and a hood to cover his head. Looking over it all helped reassure him, but he was still quite concerned with his face.
Derpy assured him it wouldn’t be an issue, that the hood overlapping his horn helped conceal his face plenty enough. He would have felt better if he had an extra scarf, maybe some goggles to help cover up with. They had to use the scarves to help keep the socks from snagging on the edges of his holes or coming loose, else he would have worn one to cover those fangs of his. Those fangs, clearly predatory and intimidating, and clearly visible... yet Derpy insisted that it wasn’t a big deal.
Once the two of them got into town, they would find him a safe place to stay the night, then he could figure out how to eat like a changeling. His only hope in the ‘eating’ regard was for his body to know what it needed and how to get it… and that it didn’t involve hurting anyone.
Zach grunted and set his mind back to the task at hand. Fretting over the future wasn’t helping him.
…
Utilizing the map that the pegasus kept on hand, Zach and Derpy travelled east along the border of the everfree for a good distance. It wasn’t too long until the east branch off from the river came into view, the body of water’s path coming to meet the forest’s edge a bit further east.
“See? There’s the river, just like the map said.” Derpy exclaimed.
“I never doubted its existence, but, ok.” He said with a neutral tone.
“You should be able to cross it over there, the river I mean. Look!” She stated, whilst pointing a hoof to a point where a tree had fallen not too long ago, creating a natural bridge from one side of the river to the other.
To Zach, the water flow looked more like a big stream than any river he’d seen before, but he didn’t care enough to comment on it. It was an obstacle, and that was all that really mattered.
Stepping up to the water’s edge, he peered in and got a look at his reflection. His fangs stuck out against the dark colors of his face, as did his eyes. It was… mildly frightening to look at, but by far the least uncanny of his changeling attributes, at least in his opinion. ‘As long as I don’t stare at anyone, I should be ok.’
His disguise kept the most blatantly ‘changeling’ parts of him all covered up. The face was one thing, but the holes and bug wings would have freaked people out for sure.
He turned his attention back to the fallen tree; it must have been uprooted by rain soaking the ground near the river, or some kind of force of erosion. Most of the tree was still intact, so it couldn’t have been struck by lightning or otherwise damaged. For all he knew, it looked safe enough to cross.
Stepping up to the natural bridge, he apprehensively set a hoof onto the bark. Zach carefully shifted his weight more and more onto the tree, looking and listening for any signs that this wouldn’t hold his weight, or shift around as he tried to cross it.
“Question,” he started.
“Answer!” Derpy replied with a smile.
Zach blinked with a slightly confused expression at her odd response, but got back to his question. “Are you sure that this is safe to cross?”
Derpy shrugged at Zach’s question, “It fell pretty recently, so it should be safe to cross, I think.” Her response alone would have made him feel uneasy, seeing her take to the air and leisurely fly over the river as she did so made it that much more disconcerting.
‘Yeah, thanks for the vote of confidence.’ He gave the tree a few good shoves with his hooves, one last stress test before taking a deep breath and hoisting himself onto the fallen tree.
Carefully, Zach made his way across, one step at a time.
“Just take it slow; nice and easy!” Derpy voiced her encouragement.
Halfway across, he nearly mistepped and had to adjust his balance. The natural bridge was proving to be a bit wobbly, but otherwise sturdy. Once he’d made it to the last few steps, another thought popped up in his mind. “Hey, uh, stupid question, but how would I have gotten across the river if this tree wasn’t here?”
Without hesitating, she pointed off into the woods, “There’s a couple shallow spots you could have crossed over, further that way.”
“Aaaand why didn’t we just do that?” Zach asked.
“Because you said you didn’t want to be in the woods anymore, because that’s where the monsters are?” Derpy quickly replied, as if the answer were obvious.
“Oh, right, that’s a… that’s a good point.” Zach hopped off the end of the fallen tree, slightly stumbling with the last step.
He looked to the town in the distance and took a breath, “Ok, we’re through the woods and over the river, now to Ponyville we go.”
Derpy nodded with a chuckle and led the way. She elected to remain airborne for the time being; unwittingly flying backwards at first. “Normally, nopony ever has any reason to go into the woods, or anywhere over in this direction really.” Eventually she got her bearings and righted herself with a bit of flailing hoofwork. “One of the roads leading into town should be just up ahead.”
‘I wouldn’t exactly call dirt paths a road, but to each their own.’ He commented in his head, recalling how the show depicted Equestrian ‘roads’.
The two of them made their way across the grass and towards a hill. Once they ascended to the top of said hill, Zach couldn’t help but pause and take in the view.
What he saw was a grand landscape of numerous gently rolling hills and scattered pockets of trees and woodland. Patches of farmland stood out against the greenery to the north and in a few spots to the east, paths and trails connecting them all together in some way or another. Over to the west and a short ways north sat the town of Ponyville, with a sizeable orchard to the far west and a bit more to the south.
Mountain ranges jutted from the horizon right where he expected them to be in the far-off distance, just like they did in the show, but they had a much more defined sense of presence than a simple backdrop. They were, more or less, exactly how a mountain would be expected to normally look.
On one such distant mountain to the north east, Zach could faintly make out the colors and shapes of a large castle structure, or a castle town, maybe both. “That’s gotta be… Canterlot, right?” He said aloud with a hoof aimed in the direction of the distant mountain structure.
Derpy nodded and vocally confirmed it with a chipper quip. “Yup!” She in turn aimed a hoof out over to the north west, to a distinct cluster of clouds with a peculiar, yet familiar, formation and architecture. “And over there, that’s Cloudsdale!”
“Cloudsdale, that’s where the Pegasi live, right?” He commented, remembering the cloud town from the show.
“Well, yeah, Pegasus ponies live in Cloudsdale, but that’s not where all the Pegasus ponies live.” Derpy had a hint of ‘matter-of-fact’ in her tone. “There are other cloud cities in Equestria, we just can’t see them from here because there’s mountains, and because the world’s big and round and stuff. They’re there though.”
Zach blinked once and looked off into the distance with a bit of contemplation. “Right.”
Back down into the fields and hills, everything was lush and lively with vibrant shades of green; his mind immediately started drawing comparisons to the sights he’d see during summer trips to the Shenandoah valley. It was different, of course, but the land held a familiarity to it that he wasn’t expecting.
He could pick out a few ponyfolk here and there, most were easily spotted with their bright colors contrasting against the sea of grass or the shade of a tree.
Over in Ponyville itself, the Town Hall stood out smack dab in the middle of ponyville square, or whatever they called their town square, he could only guess. By far the largest structure in town, it was distinguishable even from this distance with its design and size.
Zach wasn’t expecting all of this to be so... grand, and vast, as it was. The show had always presented everything more compact, and it never gave much consideration to scale. What lay before him wasn’t anything someone just yanked from a cartoon and superimposed over a 3d rig; It was almost real.
The saturated colors kept him from fully making that jump, though. Well, that and the whole ‘talking cartoon ponies’ aspect, and the implications of Magic, Pegasi, Griffons, Dragons… etc. It was all fantasy. It was imagined, nothing more than the carefully orchestrated madness mulled over and processed through creative genius.
A TV show, a cartoon.
Zach blinked once and smirked at the irony. ‘It’s pretty difficult to argue that something isn’t real when you’re literally standing in it, huh?’ Equestria or not, a crazy fever dream, insanity, or a hallucination... whatever this place ultimately turned out to be, he reaffirmed his earlier promise to treat this as if it were real.
Looking back towards the Everfree, he could see that it went on for a good distance eastward, and it stretched out almost as far to the southwest, further than he could see from his current vantage point. Zach could only imagine just how deep the forest went; he was thankful he’d elected to head in the direction he had earlier… and also that he hadn’t been dropped into this world at a point deeper in the forest.
Speaking of, he still needed to figure out the ‘how and why’ he wound up here, and why he was dropped into the Everfree forest of all places. There would be time for that later, though.
His eyes trailing up, the sky was a brighter, fuller shade of blue than back home, sunny with a few stray tufts of cloud here and there. The sun shone just the same as the sun he was used to, but it seemed almost gentler with its brightness than the sun back home.
“Wow.” Zach eventually said, his vocabulary failing him in the moment. He looked to the pegasus and she seemed to smile in agreement.
“I know, right?” Derpy quipped, then added on, “It’s a nice view, especially in the evenings. The sun peeks between the mountains, the sky turns all sorts of nice colors and different shades, like oranges and pinks… it’s really pretty! Like a painting!”
“I can see why you’d want to build a town here, even if there is a magical death forest as your next-door neighbor.” He had to admit, as crazy as this situation was, it was at least appealing to the eyes.
She shrugged in response, “Oh it’s not that bad, the forest doesn’t usually bother us. It’s more going in the forest that’s the problem.”
“I will gladly take your word for it.” He would have liked to spend additional time admiring the scenery, but his hungry stomach rudely interrupted him in its expected, painful fashion.
Derpy extended a hoof and pointed out the road into town just up ahead. “Look! There’s the road, we’re halfway there!”
Zach looked for the dirt path that was typical for the show, only to find that there was no dirt path at all. Rather, the ‘road’ derpy pointed out, was an actual cobblestone road. Further emphasizing that this was the road, was a pony heading into town using said road.
‘Cobblestone?’ He eyed the thing with suspicion. ‘Since when did they use cobblestone in Ponyville?’
Derpy was already well on her way to the road, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he wasn’t following her.
Zach blinked, then shook his head. ‘Right, I’ve got more important things to worry about.’ He picked up the pace and caught up with the mare before she got too far ahead. The two of them continued along the road in relative silence, aside from a little tune Derpy hummed to herself.
Just up ahead, the pony from earlier had come to a stop on the side of the road to converse with another. Whatever they were talking about, the two seemed engrossed in the conversation. As such, they paid Zach and Derpy no mind at all as the duo passed by.
Further ahead, another pony could be seen on the road, headed in their direction. A blue earth pony male by the look of it, no-one significant. ‘OK, keep your cool, just keep your head down and try not to draw their attention.’
As the pony drew closer, Zach took a few deep breaths and cooled his nerves. Right when the pony came to be within ten feet, Zach breathed in and held it. ‘Moment of truth, just don’t look at-…’
Derpy turned and greeted the pony with a wave as they passed by.
The pony indifferently returned Derpy’s greeting as they kept walking. “Hi Derpy…-” They then abruptly stopped and did a double take… staring right at Zach. The pony had a wide-eyed look that had a mix between ‘shocked’ and ‘puzzled’.
Too late did Zach realize that he himself had stopped too, and had been staring right back at the stallion the whole time.
Fortunately, Derpy came to his rescue when she nudged him and gestured towards town. “Hey, don’t stop now, we’re almost there!”
Zach blinked, looked away and quickly got moving again, putting distance between himself and the now bewildered background stallion. ‘Holy crap that was close! God I am such an idiot… The one thing I wasn’t supposed to do, and I did exactly that!’
Just as he’d begun to doubt the efficacy of the disguise after that interaction, he heard the pony behind them letting out a huff and commenting to themselves. “Well, certainly don’t see that every day…” Zach glanced back at them to see the pony promptly moving along and paying the duo no further attention.
The swiftness with which they’d disregarded the encounter confused Zach for a brief moment. It raised some questions, but it also gave him some reassurance. The disguise worked, it did exactly what it was supposed to do. So long as Zach didn’t stare at anyone and acted casually, this plan would work.
…
A few minutes later, the two of them stood before the bridge leading into the town of Ponyville.
For a brief moment, the nervousness and anxiety for what was to come were overshadowed by the sight of the town up close and the wonder that took up the forefront of his mind.
It was one thing to see the town from a screen, to see the camera pan over buildings and streets; vicariously visiting the town in those glimpses of structures rendered as a backdrop for superimposed vector images… none of that could hold a candle to standing in front of the town, firsthand, seeing it for himself with his own eyes.
Ponyville was a lot bigger than he expected, there were many more houses and other structures than what he could recall seeing from renders in the show and fan interpretations. The layout still resembled what he recalled from the show; the Town Hall was where it should be, at least.
Many of the houses were that iconic ‘medieval’ style: visible timber frames, overhanging upper floors, stone bases, thatch or plated roofs, etc. He spied a few other styles of architecture peppered into the mix, but the majority of structures kept a consistent ‘medieval village’ theme going, for the most part.
The street layout and buildings were arranged and organized in a manner that made sense from Zach’s perspective. It was… surprisingly normal, for lack of a more fitting description. Aside from the whole ‘this is a town of magical midget horses’ aspect, and its medieval theme, it looked like a suburban town just like any back home.
Still, it was Ponyville, The Ponyville. the town he’d have done anything to be able to visit back when he was a fan of the show. He wasn’t a fan of the show anymore, yet, here he was.
Taking everything in, he mused with a smile that held sadness behind it, ‘It’s a shame I couldn’t have come here back when I still liked ponies, I would have loved this… I would have loved every second of this.’ The smile faded as a more serious thought entered his mind. ‘Silver lining, if I AM going insane, at least it’s something nice and not, like, brutal alien mutant zombies and eldritch cultists or something. I think I’d much prefer sugar coated ponyland over that, if given the choice.’
A hoof waved in front of his face.
“Hey… you ok?” Came Derpy’s voice from Zach’s left, the same direction the hoof originated from.
He shut his eyes for a moment and focused back to ‘reality’, or, whatever this was, then turned to address his helpful pegasus guide. “Yeah, I’m alright; just thinking again.”
Derpy giggled, “You do that a lot, huh?” She smiled and then tried to reassure him, “Hey, this is gonna work, nopony’s gonna notice you’re a bug pony, because you’re disguised. Just put one hoof in front of the other and follow me!”
“You’re sure I don’t need a mask?” Zach asked with a little bit of emphasis of concern in his voice.
Derpy gave him the same, carefree reassurance. “It’ll be fine! Trust me!”
Zach looked back across the bridge, took a few deep breaths and hopped in place. “Right, right… The disguise works, I just gotta keep my head down and avoid eye contact. Nice and casual, nobody knows I’m a giant bug, they just think I’m a shady pony.”
Derpy was already crossing the bridge, once again paying little attention to whether Zach was following her or not.
“W-wait, Derpy!” he called out to her, but tried to keep his voice down at the same time. He guessed she hadn’t heard him, because she didn’t stop or give any indication of hearing him. As if on cue, he felt the pain of hunger gripping at his stomach, adding onto the list of things spurring him to press forward regardless of his nerves.
There was no turning back now.
With a tentative hoof raised, he leaned in and placed it upon the stone bridge. Then another, and another; Zach stared into the town square, keeping an eye on where Derpy was so as to not lose sight of her. An equestrian couple walked past him without so much as glancing in his direction, the two of them much too involved in whatever it was they’d been talking about with one another.
With the help of the little boost in confidence that added, Zach pressed on with a bit more vigor in his step. Another pony passed by, glancing only once before seeming to pay him no mind. Once Zach’s hooves touched down on the other end of the bridge, he paused and looked around. Every which way his eyes wandered, ponies were coming and going; it looked like most of Ponyville had taken to the streets.
There was a large number of equestrians decorating the town square with streamers, lights, artistic visages of the sun, all manner of decorations that Zach could tell were intended for the big holiday tomorrow. ‘This’ll work in my favor: if everyone’s busy with preparing for the holiday, they’re less likely to take notice of me.’
Zach picked up the pace and continued, taking care to avoid eye contact with any of the townsfolk. It took a bit of maneuvering to avoid bumping into the busy ponies, but luckily for him, most of them seemed to also be taking care not to bump into anyone.
Occasionally, Zach brought a hoof to his hood to make sure it was still firmly in place, then reaching back to ensure his jacket hadn’t shifted. It was a precaution, he knew the disguise wouldn’t come undone so easily, but he wanted to be absolutely sure.
The occasional glance from a pony as he passed by gave him a little spark in the nerves, but nearly every time it happened, they simply looked away or shrugged it off. Either the disguise was working as intended, or they were too busy with prepping for the Summer Sun Celebration. Regardless, everything seemed to be working out.
Zach emerged from the crowd and exited the Town Square in the direction he’d seen Derpy headed prior. Relief eased his nerves when he spotted her just up ahead; the pegasus had stopped to talk with a pair of ponies who were working to string up a set of decorative lights. He caught up with her in time to hear a portion of the conversation.
“…are you sure you don’t want my help?” Derpy asked the pair.
They quickly, and a bit forcefully, responded with smiles that even Zach could tell were fake, “Yes, we’re positive! We’ve got everything handled here, no need for an extra pair of hooves!”
“Oh, ok then, I-I’ll let you get back to it!” Derpy forced a smile and turned away. She looked back the way she came and a more genuine smile washed over her face when she saw Zach. “Oh there you are! Hi again!”
Zach tilted his head slightly to the side with a mildly puzzled look, “I was right behind you, barely gone for more than a few seconds.” He raised an eyebrow and smirked, “What, did you forget about me?” His intent was for humor, but the wall-eyed mare once again took him literally.
“Wh-what!? No, I-I didn’t forget about you! I was just…” Derpy turned and gestured with a hoof to the pony duo and their lights, “They were hanging the lights, a-and I thought they might need help, I’m sorry.”
Zach considered trying to explain the intent of his previous statement, but at this point, it was easier to just go along with things as is. Besides, he couldn’t be mad at her for simply wanting to help people, or rather ponies, “It’s fine, Derpy, I understand.”
This seemed to smooth things over, judging by the way her expression lightened. “Well, l-let’s keep going then. This way, I think!” Off she went, taking to the air in a low hovering height just above the roadway.
As he took a step forward, Zach heard one of the ponies hanging the light addressing him.
“You ok there buddy?”
Zach halted and cast a quick glance to the duo, though he just managed to stop himself from looking at them fully. “What do you mean?” He asked, but in hindsight, he should have ignored them and kept moving.
“It’s your voice; I don’t mean to be rude, friend, but you sound like your throat’s all gunked up, or terribly sore, like you’re coming down with something. Might wanna get that checked out.” The one pony offered.
“Yeah, especially if it could be contagious! Don’t wanna get folks sick before the celebration tomorrow, or during!” Came the other’s follow up.
Zach shrugged, “Yeah, thanks, I’ll uh, do that… Get my throat checked or… whatever.” He quickly moved himself forward and away from the two ponies.
A quick look back, and the two had already gotten back to the light hanging. Zach ducked around a few ponies and caught back up to derpy, who was happily floating along through the streets.
Now that he was effectively in Ponyville and safely hidden in plain sight (more or less), it was as good a time as any to ask a few more questions, and figure out where Derpy was intending to take him. “Hey, Derpy?”
She turned her head and looked back at him, “Yes?” Her entire body soon followed in turn to the direction she was looking, which resulted in her flying backwards.
“Where exactly are we headed? We managed to get me into the town, which is great, but I do still need a place to stay, and a bite to eat.” The sooner he was situated with a place to stay, the sooner he could figure out the whole ‘eating love’ thing and put an end to the painful complaints from his stomach.
“Well, the Weatherly Hotel always has rooms available, if I’m remembering correctly.” Derpy tapped a hoof to her chin in thought, then smiled and nodded, “Yeah, they should have a room, they always have rooms available. C’mon, it’s this way!”
She tilted her backside in one direction and altered her course accordingly, then brought herself to a stop, and then started propelling herself forward in the opposite direction.
Zach idly watched the display of maneuvering, amusing as it was. He followed behind as the pegasus took the side path between a set of buildings. “So, uh, is it normally this busy? The town I mean?”
“No, most of the time it’s pretty peaceful.” She casually answered without looking back.
“Oh, I get that, I was wondering more about the holiday. Seems like a lot of effort is being put into the decorations, and the streets are packed. Is that normal for the Sun Celebration?”
Derpy stopped to turn around and address the question, but ended up continuing along with her momentum even as she spoke. “Oh that!” She giggled and waved a hoof, “Normally, not really. It’s just that this year’s celebration is gonna be special!”
Zach felt he already knew where she was going with this, but he played along. “Really? How so?”
She held her hooves out and gestured in an excited fashion, “Princess Celestia’s coming to Ponyville for this year’s celebration! Everyone is super excited!”
That confirmed it, he was just prior to the pilot episode, assuming this place followed the show’s timeline at all. He passively nodded, putting things in place in his mind. “I see.”
“Huh, that’s odd…”
Zach stopped and raised an eyebrow at her exclamation, “What’s odd?”
Derpy stopped to pull out her map. “Oh, oops, the hotel is actually that way… sorry!”
“No worries.”
A slight course correction and they were back on track, at least Zach hoped they were.
After following his guide for a good minute or two, Zach found himself gazing at a rather plain looking multi-story building with a large wooden sign propped up just above the front doorway. The words ‘weatherly hotel’ were painted on the sign.
“I take it, this is the hotel?” Zach asked rhetorically.
Derpy shook her head, “Nooo, this is the street the hotel is on.”
At a momentary loss for words, Zach blinked a few times and followed the pegasus as she casually walked through the front door.
“This is the hotel!” Derpy exclaimed once the both of them were standing in the front reception area.
Zach rolled his eyes and went with it.
The hotel reception area was casual, not overly decorated. He guessed that this was likely one of the cheaper hotels available, judging by the overall appearance of the place. It wasn’t run down or anything of low quality, but it didn’t look to be expensive or high quality either.
There were two other ponies in the reception area, folks staying the night, probably. Other than that, the front was empty.
Derpy strolled up to the front desk and lightly tapped the bell for service, then the two of them waited.
“Coming!” came a response from the staff room not far behind the desk. Within the next minute, a Pegasus stallion came trotting out and took his place at the reception with your typical ‘customer service’ smile. “Welcome to Weatherly hotel! I’m Mr. Weatherly,” he took one look at the pegasus mare and his demeanor shifted slightly, “oh hello, miss Hooves! What can I do for you on this fine day?”
“Hi Mr.Weatherly! I’d like to purchase a room for a few nights, for my friend, please!” Derpy merrily declared.
Mr. Weatherly nodded and took up a pen with his wing, “Certainly! I’d be happy to book you a room, may I have a name?”
Derpy turned and gave a gesture to Zach, “This is my friend, he’s a bug pony!” before stepping aside.
Zach scrunched up his face a bit, ‘Oh come on, Derpy!’ He took one step towards the counter and spoke up, “Actually, can you put it under her name?” Zach cast a glance to the mare, “I mean, as long as that’s ok?”
She shrugged with a smile, “Yeah, that’s ok.”
When Zach looked back to the receptionist, the stallion’s ‘customer service’ expression was completely gone and replaced with a look like someone who was staring at the uncanny. ‘...aaand this is why I wanted to cover my face.’
Mr. Weatherly spoke after having had his mouth hanging open for several moments. “What in Equestria are you?”
Zach blinked once, then said the first thing that came to his mind. Unfortunately, the first thing to come to his mind was, “I’m the guy not judging you based on your appearance.”
The silence was deafening. ‘Greeeat, pretty sure I just made that a hundred times worse. Thanks, brain, appreciate it.’
Mr. Weatherly’s facial expression went through a small array of emotions before it settled into one of awkward embarrassment. He cleared his throat and spoke with a self-conscious air, “I-I- didn’t mean to judge, you’re just so very… err, frightening!”
Zach raised a mildly indignant brow at that, though he tried not to judge the stallion. After all, he could agree with him that Changelings were pretty creepy.
Mr.Weatherly bit his lower lip and mumbled under his breath, “Oh dear, I just made things several times worse didn’t I?” He cleared his throat and tried again, “You see, what I’m trying to say is: you’re just so very um, well... it’s the eyes and the fangs, well maybe not the fangs per say, but the gaunt facial features...” He fumbled about with his words, visibly struggling to avoid making the situation more awkward and failing miserably. “Heavens, I’m not making this even the slightest bit better am I?”
Zach was genuinely surprised: he was expecting hostility and malice, not an effort in backtracking and damage control. Sure the guy was kind of insulting him to his face, inadvertently, but still.
He didn’t really care if he was insulted, that wasn’t anything new to him. Being insulted for the way he looked or dressed didn’t faze him any other of the thousand times he’d heard it growing up, and it wasn’t going to magically start just because he was now in a world of talking ponies.
Still, Mr. Weatherly seemed reasonable enough, perhaps this could be salvaged?
“Look, I get it, I’m a scary bug thing. Even I sometimes get spooked when I look at myself in a mirror.” Zach finally spoke, hoping humor would help smooth things over. “I just need a room for a few nights to get myself sorted. Can you help me out?”
The receptionist looked to the right, behind Zach, to the two onlooking equines who’d also been in the reception area. The two onlookers were eavesdropping, judging by the expressions they both had, and both eavesdroppers reacted with a combination of curiosity and mild unease when they caught a glimpse of Zach’s face.
When Zach looked back to Mr.Weatherly, any hope he’d had for the situation evaporated.
The stallion forced himself to smile through his nerves, shifting through some papers and setting his pen down. “I-I’m terribly sorry, but I think we’re booked solid…” He quickly asserted.
Derpy, who had been silent and baffled by the sudden series of events up until now, cocked her head to one side in disbelief as she spoke, “Whaaaat? But, but, you guys always have rooms open! I mean, I’m happy you’re finally getting more business, but…”
“Again, terribly sorry, really, but we are booked solid!” Mr. Weatherly reaffirmed with a nervous expression firmly plastered on his face, though by now he was refusing to look at either Zach or Derpy, averting his gaze and keeping it aimed down at his desk.
Zach knew he was lying, it was blatantly obvious. Glancing to his right, the two onlooking ponies in the reception area were staring at him with equal parts concern and interest, all while quietly whispering to each other.
For a moment, he could have sworn he tasted something funny. He flicked his tongue around his mouth to try and find the source, to no avail. The taste came and went, leaving him mildly puzzled.
Derpy stepped up to the reception desk and pleaded, “Can you check again, just to be sure? Please?”
The receptionist briefly thought about it, then gestured to some paperwork. “Suuuure, miss Hooves. J-just a moment, let me check.”
Zach didn’t need to see the contents of the paperwork to know that the guy wasn’t actually checking anything. Ignoring the fact that just behind the desk was a chart with the rooms listed, and the rung for the room keys right next to it… and that there were clearly vacancies.
“Nope, no rooms, terribly sorry, miss Derpy!”
For whatever reason, Derpy seemed to believe the stallion. Zach couldn’t tell if she was gullible or didn’t want any confrontation. ‘I should say something, rip into this jerk for lying and treating her like that!’ He argued with himself, argued that point. He wanted to say something, so very badly did he want to call the guy out for lying to their faces like this.
Derpy turned to Zach, and with an apologetic expression, hung her shoulders in defeat. “I’m sorry… I guess they don’t have any rooms after all… m-maybe the other hotels might have rooms?”
Zach glanced in the direction of the receptionist; the stallion was still averting his gaze with that sheepish, nervous expression. ‘Say something! Now’s the time! Call this guy out on his bullcrap!’
He sighed and said, “Yeah, maybe.”
The two hurried their way back out the front door before things got any worse. Glancing briefly to his left, Zach caught sight of the blue earth pony he’d encountered on the road into Ponyville earlier, looking in his direction. The second he made eye contact with him, the pony looked away and quickly trotted off.
‘The heck was that about?’ He shook the thought from his mind.
Once the duo were a few paces down the street, Derpy came to a stop and pulled out her map. She didn’t speak, save for a few distraught mumbles to herself.
‘You should have said something back there.’ Zach chastised himself. ‘No, that wouldn’t have helped. Would’ve just made things worse.’ The logical side of his mind tried to argue. He went back and forth in his mind for a good minute or two
He took a step forward and opened his mouth to say something to the mare, but abruptly stopped. There was an odd taste again, different from the last one, but just as confusing. Zach glanced around and smacked his lips trying to figure out where the flavor came from. Just like the last time, the flavor dissipated, although it lasted significantly longer.
When he returned his attention back to her, Derpy had already begun moving again with the map held under her wing.
He followed, waiting until Derpy stopped to check the map before attempting to speak. Again, Zach tasted something in the air, but this time, he also felt something in his head in response. It was… information? No, not just ‘information’, this was sensory information. It told him that the pegasus mare was upset, not that he didn’t already know that.
Zach couldn’t understand what this supposed sense was, between the taste and the response in his mind. It was alien, confusing, information from a source in a way that didn’t make any sense according to what he was accustomed to.
‘Is this supposed to be some kind of changeling extrasensory crap? Because if it is, no thanks, I don’t want it.’ Although he was trying to make light of it with humor, he was genuine in not desiring additional senses to have to account for. With as much difficulty as he’d had in life trying to figure out how to tell what others were feeling… or recognizing emotional cues. Never in his life had he ever ‘tasted’ how someone felt; to say it creeped him out would be a colossal understatement.
He turned his mind against the sensation and tried to force it back and out of focus. Whatever it was, he didn’t need it adding any more confusion into the mix of this already frustrating enough series of events.
Refocusing his attention back to his pegasus companion, Zach wanted to say something to Derpy. He wanted to try and reassure her, cheer her up, anything really. This extra sense was making things difficult.
‘Or you’re just making excuses.’ He sighed and tried to clear his head again.
Eventually he spoke, but not with what he wanted to say. “So, where are we headed next?”
Derpy glanced back with an expression that made him feel even worse about this whole thing, “Oh, right… umm, we’re headed to the next hotel. It's just that way, I think… yeah, it’s that way.”
“Good, good.” Was all he said in response.
The mare put on a smile and tried to reassure him, much to Zach’s surprise. “Hey, don’t worry, everything’s gonna be fine! We’ll find a hotel you can stay at, or… well, if not, you can always stay with me at my place.”
Zach stared for a good moment, visibly confused. ‘Wait, What just happened? Hold on, I’m the one supposed to be reassuring you, not the other way around. Is she upset because she thinks I’m upset? Does she feel sorry for me? Does she not understand what happened back there?’
Derpy was proving to be nothing quite like what he’d originally expected her to be. To say she was nothing like what he’d seen of her on the show would be pointless, as she didn’t have any notable characterization in the show, from what he could remember. All he really had to work with was fan speculation.
Was he misjudging her? It wouldn’t be the first time he’d misjudged someone, nor would it be the last. That was a dumb question, of course he was misjudging her! Equestria wasn’t real! Who’s to say any of these ponies would act the same way they acted in the show?
‘Well, if this is a fever dream or hallucination, it’s only fair to assume it’d have some basis in my experiences and knowledge of these characters… but if it is real, somehow, then it’s up in the air as to how--...’ He stopped his train of thought when he noticed Derpy was no longer nearby. ‘...and there I go getting lost in thought again. Nice work.’
Zach swiftly moved to try and catch up with the pegasus, following the direction he last remembered her going. He caught sight of her just down the next street and quickly kept pace with her.
Now back together, the two went about navigating Ponyville, taking the less crowded streets and alleyways to get to their next destination. Zach kept himself busy in his mind to fend off the hunger pains, but he always kept one eye on his companion so he wouldn’t lose track of her.
All he could really do now was hope that they would find a hotel with vacancy, and fast...
…