//------------------------------//
// Chapter Twelve: Adults in America 
// Story: The Titans' Orb: Breaking Dawn 
// by Mister Horncastle 
//------------------------------//

The wind began to whistle in my ears as Rainbow Dash hurtled faster and faster towards the ground, the poor thing was barely able to flap her only available wing as I clutched onto the other one, desperately holding it open to allow at least somewhat of a glide. A few moments later, we met the ground, hard; with an almighty smack, Dashie collided with the beach and tumbled over and over multiple times, taking my arms with her and twisting one of them forcibly, and with one tumble too many, I felt it.

SNAP!

“Uh… Ah… Ah! AHH! AAAHHHHHHH!!!!” I bellowed, unable to hold in the pain as I felt my forearm break.

Rainbow Dash finally came to a halt and lay motionless, to which I quickly clambered out of the bag and knelt down in the sand, clutching my wrist and emitting a gut-wrenching growl of agony.

“Oh gosh… Oh gosh… Callum! Your… Your arm! Oh fuck, oh gosh I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry!” Dashie cried through her desperate gasps for air.

The poor mare was too exhausted to even stand. Meanwhile, the bag she was carrying gave violent birth to the other five ponies, urgently seeking to find out what the hell was going on. Rarity’s horn lit up to allow us all to see better in the dark, and honestly, it would have been better if she hadn’t.

“Gaaahhhh…” I rumbled.

“I think I’m going to be sick…” Applejack spoke, gagging.

My left hand was completely back to front, limp and unresponsive to my input; worst of all however, was the sharp broken bone that was protruding out of my arm’s exposed flesh. Fluttershy raced over to me to inspect the injury, and then immediately rushed back to her medical bag.

“Don’t… bother…” I hissed through gritted teeth.

Unsheathing Vitra ‘Aku, I decided the best course of action would be to use the souls of the gang men from the yacht to heal my wounds, it seemed strengthening my soul would have to wait. As not to waste needless mana on correcting the break, I clenched my jaw and began to perform the unspeakable.

“No… Callum no, stop!” Fluttershy gasped.

“Oh jeez…” Twilight murmured in disbelief.

“I can’t watch…” Said Rarity.

“Then don’t fucking watch!” I snarled back.

Grabbing my limp wrist, I twisted the hand back around and forced the broken bone back into where it had come from, slotting my hand back into its vaguely correct position. Needless to say, this was absolutely excruciating, I was on the cusp of sobbing throughout the whole ordeal, snarling like an animal as I fought to suppress the agony. Once my hand was reasonably in place, I grabbed the sword and immediately willed it to heal me; the orb at the hilt glowed brightly, and I felt the energy flowing into me, followed by the sensation of pins and needles in the damaged area.

“What does that feel like?” Twilight asked.

“Is now the time?” I bit back.

“Yes? I mean no! Like, maybe?”

“It feels like fizzy sparkling water on your tongue, only, in my damn arm! And it’s both hot and cold at the same time, it’s hard to explain. I can actually feel the shattered bone shifting back to where it should be, and literally unbreaking itself. And it still really hurts, so shut up!”

After a few more seconds, the pain finally subsided, with the wound being almost totally healed, there was nothing but a faint bruise to indicate that an injury had even occurred in the first place. Twilight immediately slinked forward to get a closer look, enthralled by the power of the Titans’ magic.

“Whoa…”

“So, um… That was bloody painful.” I announced, pulling away from the unicorn.

“I can’t even begin to imagine how much that hurt.” Said Applejack.

“Oh, tremendously.” I replied grimly.

After clenching and unclenching the hand a few times to ensure I was properly intact, I went to inspect Rainbow Dash, whom was still lying on the ground, panting and drenched with sweat.

“Hey Rainbow Dash, y’alright?”

“I… I… Heh… Yeah… I just need a moment… To catch my breath… How’s the hand?”

“Still a bit stiff, but I think I’ll live.”

I crouched down and felt along the mare’s legs and wings, just to ensure she hadn’t suffered any breaks for herself, which thankfully she hadn’t, although I could imagine her wings would be out of commission for a few days from the strain they’d just been through.

Getting up again, I looked around to inspect our surroundings properly, we were on an incredibly long beach, thankfully devoid of all human life. To the left, the beach continued way off into the distance, and to the right, the beach went up to an unnatural cut-off to what appeared to be the mouth of a river, with even more beach on the other side, along with a large series of buildings and lights.
A beachside city.

“Excellent.” I said, mainly to myself.

“What’s the plan?” Twilight asked.

“Beachside cities have hotels, plenty of them. We just need to creep into one of the empty rooms, and boom, we’ve got ourselves a place to rest up for the night.”

“What about contacting your friends?”

“One step at a time, Twilight, jeez!”

“Hey, there’s no need to get bitey with me.”

“Well pardon my short temper, my arm just snapped!”

“Okay, point taken.”

Looking down at Rainbow Dash, whom was still wheezing, I proposed to everyone that best course of action was for everyone to stay put while I entered the city and found a hotel, and then communicated to Twilight via the collars when it was time to join me. Fluttershy then cleared her throat, before completely invalidating my plan.

“Um, I’m not sure if this is a stupid question, but why don’t we just keep using the bag to get around? We’ve literally got a portable disguise you can wear on your back, so why not use it?”

“I mean, firstly, shut up. And secondly, that’s actually a really good plan and I wish I’d thought of that first, instead of making myself look like an idiot.” I playfully replied, ruffling her mane.

Fluttershy giggled and helped me unlatch the bag from Rainbow Dash, I then upturned the bag just to let out some of the sand that had cascaded in during our crash. After Rarity helped dry off Dashie with a spell, we got her into the bag along with the others, all except Fluttershy, whom I’d requested to remain at my side in order to fly across the deep gap in the beach, which turned out to be an inlet.

We made our way along the beach at a leisurely pace, and it reminded me of one of my fondest memories with the pegasus.

“Hey Flutters, do you remember that time we went for a stroll, just after Ukraine? We found that little stream in the forest and had a nice chat there.”

“Oh gosh, I do remember that! You’d just had a big argument with Rainbow Dash and Rarity, and I could tell you were in a bad way, so I wanted to take you out of the situation for a while.”

“Heh, yeah. I can’t even remember what that argument was about…”

“It was tent pegs!” Rarity called out from inside the bag.

“Firstly, thanks! Secondly, stop eavesdropping!” I called back.

Fluttershy and I continued to walk and talk, reminiscing over the fond memory we shared.

“Do you remember how strong the smell of tree sap was? It was so relaxing.” She hummed merrily.

“And how soft the mossy ground was?” I added.

“Oh yes! It was heavenly!”

Sighing, I expressed that I missed having moments like that, to which Fluttershy agreed. The conversation came to an end just as we approached the gap. I temporarily hopped in the bag and allowed Fluttershy to carry us all across, and then we switched places so I could freely enter the city without the girls being detected.

“Please don’t take forever, it’s the early hours of the morning and I’m exhausted!” Rarity implored.

“Do my best!” I replied, shutting the compartment and covering it with the flap.

Slinging the bag onto my back, I made my way off the beach and up to the pavement, where I was met with a large car park; there was a small Ferris Wheel and ride tracks to my right. Continuing inland, I tried to locate anything that could help me establish where I actually was, but all I found was a museum and a plethora of souvenir shops. The East Coast was massive, I could be anywhere from Maine to Florida, and until I found a sign or something, I was entirely lost. Soon enough I reached the Ferris Wheel, which clearly belonged to the Pepsi brand, judging by the massive logo on it.

The park it was stationed in was called Jolly Roger at the Pier, hardly helpful in telling what state I was in, I decided to continue beyond it and follow the road, until I eventually came across a hotel.

“Belmont Towers, hmm… Yeah, this’ll do.” I said to myself.

After forming a somewhat reasonable plan in my head, I went to a secluded area and made sure there were no CCTV cameras around that could see me; I then dipped my head into the bag to confer with the group. Poor Rainbow Dash was already fast asleep in there, completely wiped out by the most demanding flight she’d ever experienced.

“Right team, I’ve found a hotel, and we’ve got two options.”

“Go on?” Twilight spoke.

“Option one, I use the Piercing Shot Rifle to see through the walls and find an empty room, which we’ll then break into. The only downside is that we might unexpectedly have people arrive the next day, as the room might get checked into by guests.”

“What’s option two?” Fluttershy asked.

“Option two entails me being the bad guy. I can break into a room that’s already occupied, and end a life or two. Obviously I know it’s a shitty thing to even suggest, but it would also mean access to their phones, which would allow me to contact my brony friends a whole lot easier.”

“Jeez, Callum! Option one! Option one!” Twilight barked angrily.

“How could you even suggest the latter?” Rarity exclaimed.

“Innocent people, Callum! Innocent!” Applejack added.

“Look, I just wanted to throw an extra choice out there!” I replied defensively.

Twilight literally lunged out from the bag and grabbed me by the collar of my shirt.

“How on Earth and Equus combined is that a viable choice? Have you no foresight at all? Even if we chose to go down that route, after we left, room service would find the bodies, and then there would be an investigation, and while I’m no expert in humans, I’m certain your criminology department is far more advanced than ours. What happens when they find the DNA of six extra-terrestrial ponies and a dead man from another nation? Huh? Isn’t that why you burned the boat earlier? To avoid that very issue?”

Humming, she was absolutely right, and I very happily backed down, I hadn’t even been keen on the idea. As I had honestly said, I was just throwing out an extra choice, should the group prefer that I got my hands on a phone sooner rather than later.

“You used to be quite scary, but these days, it’s actually really cute when you’re angry.” I teased.

Twilight frowned at me, before bonking the top of my head with a hoof, which actually hurt a tad; I responded by shoving her back down into the bag and asking Rarity to provide the Piercing Shot Rifle, whom happily provided. I looked up to the hotel building and peered down the scope, making sure to change the setting to Piercing Shot Mode to allow sight through walls, along with the illumination of living creatures. The hotel was certainly well off for clientele, more than half the rooms were occupied.

“What do you see?” Applejack asked.

“Anyone having a party?” Pinkie added, her voice full of hope.

“Sorry Pinks, no parties, just a lot of people sleeping, a few people watching TV, and oh! Okay, those people are having a late-night shag, delightful.”

“What’s a shag?” Pinkie innocently inquired, tilting her head on one side.

“Never you mind!”

“Is it a bad thing?”

Applejack pulled the pink mare back into the bag and allowed me to focus, and soon enough, I located a room without anyone inside.

“Right, I’ve spotted an empty room, Fluttershy, can you fly us up there if we swap places?”

“Um, okay!”

The pegasus got out of the bag, and I pointed to the balcony where there was an empty room.

“Just there on the far right side, second balcony from the top, got it?” I instructed.

The pegasus nodded, and I got into the bag, making sure not to disturb Rainbow Dash; as soon as I was inside, Fluttershy grabbed the bag and flew us up to the balcony, where I hopped back out the bag and tried pulling open the sliding door.

“Locked, bugger.” I muttered.

I began to unsheathe Vitra ‘Aku, the blade’s insane sharpness would effortlessly go through the metal catch, it was then that a hoof caught my wrist, stopping me.

“Not everything has to be so boorish, darling.”

Rarity’s horn lit up, as did the entire handle of the sliding door, following that was a loud click. I pulled a second time at the handle, and the door came sliding open, allowing us entry.

“Show-off.” I said.

“If you say so, dear.” The unicorn replied smugly.

After waking Rainbow Dash, everyone got out of the bag and we entered the hotel room; it was quite spacious, there were two bedrooms, one of which had a double bed, while the other had two singles. There was an open-plan living space which connected to the kitchen area, complete with an oven, a microwave, an electric kettle, sofa, and television; the bathroom had a lovely big tub too, which I was sure a couple of us might use at some point.

“This’ll do, don’t you think, girls?” I stated.

Everyone was in full agreement, our only hope now was that nobody came by in the morning, it was relatively unlikely as it wasn’t summer yet; if Twilight’s memory was anything to go on, we were in the first few days of May. Regardless, it was still something to be aware of, and so I decided to stay awake and keep watch while the girls rested, just in case someone came by in the early morning.

“Do you think I could joi-”

“Yes.” I replied bluntly, cutting Twilight off.

Delving into her bag and retrieving her pillow from home, Twilight merrily made her way to the living area and hopped onto the far end of the sofa, curling up and patiently awaiting my company. I rolled my eyes and smirked, shaking my head with amused endearment; how was it that she could be so adorable, especially after so many months prior of practically being my mortal enemy? It almost seemed impossible that I had once hated the mare, that we had been at each other’s throats to no end. But now, I was certain that I would never tire of her; for as platonic as our relationship was, there was no doubt that we had a connection well beyond that of a normal one, and it slowly dawned on me for as much as Twilight needed me, I needed her too.

{God, saying goodbye to her is going to fucking kill you…} I thought to myself.

I shook the thought from my head, now wasn’t the time for such notions, I was absolutely not going to let my depressive mentality return, not now. Besides, as I had said to Twilight just the other night, this journey was far from over, and there was a lot more living for us to do before we had to part ways.


After taking turns to use the bathroom, the others went into the bedrooms and unpacked their sleeping bags, before finally clocking off for what remained of the night. I sat on the sofa and turned on the television, making sure that I kept the volume low, and flicked on a news channel.

“Let’s see what’s going on in the world…” I hummed.

The main headline which seemed to be getting the most attention was something about North Korea, apparently their government had announced plans to increase its development of nuclear weapons to ‘maximum pace’, and would conduct a nuclear test in the near future.

“Hm, not ideal.” I hummed.

“I take it they’re not a very good nation?” Twilight asked.

“Oh goodness no, they’re bloody awful.”

“How come?”

“Well, they’re an oppressive hermit kingdom, run by a ruthless dictator called Kim Jong-un, whom inherited the position from his father, Kim Jong-il. In fact, the country has only ever been run by the Kim family, so needless to say, they hardly play fair. They’re military focused and are extremely repressive to their own people, not to mention their hostility to the rest of the world. They have literally killed foreign journalists in the past, who’ve just tried to uncover how messed up their country really is. They’re widely accused of having the worst human rights policies in the world.”

“Gosh… That’s… That’s horrible!”

“I know. So let’s hope they don’t actually start testing nukes anytime soon, I don’t want to know how that’ll end up panning out.” I hummed.

“Would it affect our quest?”

“I doubt it, but still, it wouldn’t bode well for humanity overall.”

Humming, Twilight looked at the TV again and took in all the information present, clearly trying to learn and understand more about human civilisation. The screen then switched over to some loud-mouthed candidate for the next President of the United States, some guy called Donald Trump, addressing journalists about the North Korea situation and what he’d do about it if he was elected.

“Cor, he looks a tad orange, doesn’t he?” I scoffed.

“Is that his natural skin colour?” Twilight asked.

“Unless there’s a new breed of orange-skinned humans I didn’t know about, probably not!”

We chortled about the strange orange man for his duration on the screen, before Twilight pointed out that we hadn’t actually eaten anything all day.

“Oh yeah, we never ate Fluttershy’s stir fry!” I exclaimed.

“Sshh! You’ll wake the others. But yeah, I would love to eat some of that right about now.”

“Well, I asked Applejack to bag it up and keep it fresh, so if it’s in Rarity’s time-locked bag, it should still be hot and good to eat, right?” I posed.

“Then go get it, quietly though!” She hissed.

Getting up, I tip-toed over to the bedroom where Rarity was sleeping. I felt like a little school-boy again, sneaking around in the night, it reminded me of how I used to creep down the stairs as a child in search of midnight snacks; nine times out of ten my dad would catch me, but every so often I would make it successfully, and happily munch on whatever treats I could get my hands on.

I found the saddlebags, and felt along their surfaces with my fingertips until I made contact with the patch in the shape of Rarity’s cutie mark, just to confirm that I was nicking the right bag. I carefully lifted it up and was able to get back out of the room without disturbing anypony. Sitting back down with Twilight, we opened the time-locked compartment and found the stir-fry, sitting in a plastic bag just next to the refrigerated section.

“Ooh, it’s still really warm.” I said.

I removed the food and prudently closed Rarity’s bag to ensure the time-lock reactivated, I then went to grab a couple of bowls from the kitchen area. Giving them to Twilight, I allowed her to evenly distribute the food while I searched for something more entertaining to watch on the television.

“Ugh, there’s nothing good on at four in the morning. Just late-night news and adult channels.”

“What’s on the adult channels?” Twilight quizzed.

“Take a guess.”

Her eyes widened as she realised what I meant.

“Oh… Oh!”

“Yeah, it’s almost always just some naked woman with a phone, teasing her assets, and waiting for some lonely sod to spend his money to call her and be verbally seduced for a few minutes.”

“Not going to lie, kind of curious… Also, how do you know that?” She probed.

“I’m a teenage boy, I think that explains enough.”

“Did you ever make a call?”

“Goodness no, I was just a fourteen-year-old boy who liked looking at boobs.”

“Can we… take a peek?”

“What, at the channel? N-No! Absolutely not!”

“Come on! Just for a few seconds!”

“Not happening, Twi.”

“Please? I’ve never seen a female human without clothes on, and I never will again once I go back to Equestria, you know how curious I am, I just want to know what they look like!”

“It’s awkward enough that you’ve seen me in the nude, now drop it!”

“That was a totally different scenario, we swapped bodies. Please?”

“I refuse to eat Fluttershy’s stir-fry to softcore porn, Twilight, you fucking imbecile!”

“Now that’s a sentence I thought I’d never hear.”

Playfully smacking Twilight on the back of the head, I continued trying to scroll through the channels until we found something appropriate to watch, and eventually found a channel showing episodes of The Big Bang Theory.

“Well, it’s better than porn, I guess.” I grumbled, flicking on the channel.

“Ugh, you’re no fun.” Twilight muttered.

The two of us munched on stir-fry together and sat through two episodes, and in all fairness, they weren’t dreadful, Twilight got a huge kick out of the Sheldon Cooper character. After putting the bowls in the sink, I crept into the bathroom and went for a wee. I came back to find the purple unicorn with eyes like saucers, gawking at the TV with her mouth agape.

“Oh for fuck’s sake, Twilight!”

Rushing forward and snatching the remote from her, I switched away from the channel she had swapped to, which had content far more explicit than the adult channels I’d seen in the UK.

“You… You said it would just be a woman, holding a phone…” She murmured.

“Well clearly, America is far more lenient on what they can show on late-night TV.”

“They… They were… Really going at it.”

“I noticed.”

“I was just, curious… I didn’t mean to see… All that…”

“Yeah, well now you have, and you’ve officially made things awkward as hell. So, now that you’re fully aware of how humans reproduce, go, the fuck, to sleep.” I ordered.

Almost immediately, and quite out of the blue, Twilight started crying. Shaking my head in sheer disbelief, I sat down next to her and tried to reassure her, albeit awfully confused.

“Okay, it was just sex, Twilight. You don’t need to cry about it.”

“It’s not that… You idiot…” She whimpered.

“Well, care to enlighten me then?”

“I don’t want to make things awkward between us!”

Burying her face in her hooves, she continued.

“I know we’re super close, closer than friends should normally be, but I need this, I need us! After what Nah’Lek did to me, you’re the only thing that makes me feel safe, and now I’ve gone and made things awkward because I couldn’t help my stupid curiosity!”

{You really are still so fragile, aren’t you Twilight…?} I thought, with a tinge of sorrow.

Pulling the mare closer, I wrapped my arms around her and told her that it was okay.

“Remember in Portugal, when we all got drunk and played Truth or Dare? We were dared to make out, and the next morning, you got into this exact same panicked state, because you thought it would hurt our friendship. Remember that?”

Twilight nodded, wiping the tears from her cheeks.

“I promised you that it wouldn’t affect our friendship, that it was just a bit of harmless fun. Well, I’m promising you now, things are totally okay between us, you don’t need to worry.”

“B-But, you said it was awkward…”

“It just caught me really off-guard. Can you really blame me? I was hardly expecting to come back and find you watching porn, that makes for an uncomfortable situation for even the closest of friends.”

“I was just curious…”

“I know, and it’s time to forget about it now, it’s almost five in the morning, and it’s time for you to get some rest, alright?”

Sighing, Twilight nodded again, before curling up in the corner of the sofa, still clearly ashamed of herself for potentially bringing unease to our relationship. I got comfortable beside her and continued browsing the TV channels until I found some mindless nonsense about ghost hunters to zone out to.

“Night Twiley.” I spoke softly, gently stroking the mare’s back.

“Night Cal.”

Moments later, the mare was sound asleep, not realising how tired she’d actually been; I smirked and leaned back, watching the TV and patiently waiting for what remained of the night to pass.



“Um, weren’t you supposed to be keeping watch?” Rarity barked, waking me.

“Huh?” I mumbled, slowly opening my eyes.

I was still sat in the sofa, albeit slumped backwards, with one arm draped over Twilight, whom was already awake, contently watching a talk show on the TV.

“Shit, what time is it?” I asked.

“A little past ten o’clock in the morning, everyone bar Rainbow Dash is already up and awake!”

“Bugger… I must’ve dozed of…”

“No shit.” Applejack remarked from the kitchen area.

“Why didn’t you wake me sooner?” I demanded to know.

“Because Twilight insisted that you needed the rest.” Rarity informed me.

I looked over at the purple unicorn, whom returned my gaze with a sheepish grin; she elaborated that it was highly unlikely that anyone was planning on coming by after nine o’clock, so there was no harm in letting me rest a little. Shrugging, I noticed the most pleasant aroma coming from the kitchen, to which Pinkie and Applejack cheerily announced that they were making pancakes.

“Speaking of food, I woke up this morning to find my bag missing. And upon coming out here, I find it beside you, now lacking of the stir fry that Applejack had put there. Would you happen to know anything about that, mister?” Rarity queried with a stern frown.

“I… Uh… Sleepwalk, question mark?” I replied with a curious shrug, giving her a toothy grin.

Using her magic to conjure a telekinetic mass in the shape of a rolled-up newspaper, Rarity smacked me in the side of the head repeatedly, to which I laughed and admitted that Twilight and I were hungry. Changing the subject, Twilight asked what the plan was for today.

“Methinks I’ll take a walk around the city, do a little reconnaissance and see if I can actually figure out where the hell we are. I can wear the collar and stay in touch, maybe find an internet café or something like that, then I’ll just need to get my hands on some cash and job’s a good’un.”

“Job’s a good’un?” Rarity repeated, confused.

“It’s just an English saying, means to successfully complete a task in an acceptable manner.” I clarified.

“Ah, got’cha.”

“How are you going to get money?” Applejack asked.

“Still working on that part.” I responded.

Standing up to stretch, I went over to the sliding door and peaked down at the beach below, there were plenty of people around, perhaps Rarity could use her magic to steal a wallet from one of them? I wasn’t sure, I’d think about it while I explored the city.

“Um, if I may… What’s the emergency plan, if room service come by?” Asked Fluttershy.

Before I could offer a suggestion, Twilight spoke up.

“I mean, cramped as it is, the bag technique has been working like a charm for us. In the unfortunate case that room service come by, we hop in the bag, which Rainbow Dash can quickly grab and fly off with.”

“What if we are to be seen?” Rarity posed.

“Then you all get in the bag, double time, while Rainbow Dash fends them off. And so long as you don’t get seen by anyone else, it’ll be fine. Because let’s be real, who is really going to believe that some hotel staff saw alien ponies, with an uncanny resemblance to the My Little Pony cartoons?” I interjected.

“Yeah, that’s fair.” Twilight hummed.

“And if there’s more than one human? What if Rainbow is attacked by a group?”

“Why, Rarity, would there be a group of hotel cleaners? And even if there was, I’m pretty sure Rainbow Dash could quite easily take a couple of humans at once.” I replied confidently.

“Phrasing!” Dashie hollered, bounding out from the bedroom.

“Ew.” Rarity muttered.

“Welcome back to the land of the living, Rainbow Dash.” Applejack chuckled, rolling her eyes.

“Sleep well?” I inquired.

Nodding enthusiastically, the pegasus strutted into the room and sat down beside me, eagerly awaiting pancakes, which Applejack and Pinkie soon dished up, resulting in a very pleasant start to the day.



With the collar around my neck and my belly full of a delicious breakfast, I tucked Vitra ‘Aku’s handle underneath my shirt to keep it well hidden, and then headed out the door.

“You don’t think I’ll get a load of weird looks, do you? Wandering around with a black collar around my neck?” I asked the girls, turning to face them.

“Does it matter?” Applejack replied, shrugging.

“Hm, I guess not.”

“Maybe it’ll start a conversation, I’m sure some humans are into collars.” Twilight teased.

“Oh, piss off.”

“Just… Find a way to get some money, okay?”

“You got it.”

Pulling the door shut before they could continue conversing with me, I cleared my throat and marched down the hallway in search of the elevator, I rode it down to the ground floor and left the hotel.

Stepping out into the street, I found myself immediately almost going into a panic attack upon realising just how many people there were. After all I’d been through, I hadn’t been around normal people for ages, the closest thing I had to grouped social interaction was my time with the Blood Family, and needless to say, that wasn’t comparable in the slightest to being around ordinary folk.

{Oh god, is this what it’s like as a killer? I feel like a bloody alien around these people…} I thought to myself.

{What does that make me then?} Twilight’s voice echoed in my mind.

Oh, right, the collars.

{A double alien?} I teased back.

{Firstly, that makes no sense. Secondly, buck up, if you can socialise with six ponies from another world, one of which has tried to kill you, sorry about that… Then you can quite easily socialise with ordinary folk within your own kind. Get a grasp of the area, get some money out of someone, and see if you can get access to the internet somehow.
You’ve got this, Callum. I believe in you.}

{Okay, fine! And thank you…} I droned back, grumbling.

Taking a deep breath, I reminded myself that these people were no threat to me, and bravely strode along the street.

After nearly an hour of drawing together information from buildings and signs, I gathered that I was in a place called Ocean City, in the state of Maryland, and although my American geography wasn’t all that great, I knew that it bordered West Virginia at least, which in turn, bordered Ohio; this meant that it wasn’t unbearably far from Michigan, so long as I had reliable transport. Once I had access to the internet, I could contact Josh and Rommel, to which I would hopefully wind up with said transport, along with armed backup.

“Nice collar.” A young man spoke to me as he passed.

“Cheers, I’m trying to start a trend.” I deadpanned in response.

“Wait a moment, are you… um, are you British?”

The lad was my height, with short sandy blonde hair and bright blue eyes, which were practically sparkling upon hearing my middle-class English accent.

“I am, but don’t worry, I don’t intend to colonise you.” I joked.

“Good to know! I’ve always wanted to meet a British guy.” He laughed back, grinning.

“Well, you’ve met one. The name’s Callum.”

I extended my hand, to which he merrily shook it.

“I’m Phoenix, Phoenix Storm. It’s a real pleasure to meet you.”

“Now that’s a name to remember!” I exclaimed.

“Heh, thanks. So, uh, what’s a Brit like you doing out here in Ocean City?”

Thinking on my feet, I simply told him that I was here for work, on a business trip of sorts.

“Oh cool, what do you do?”

{Jeez, you like to ask questions, don’t you?} I thought.

{Making friends already?} Said Twilight.

{Yeah, someone saw my collar and commented on it, and are now obsessively talking to me simply because I’m British, and wants to know what I do for a living.}

{Well that’s an easy one, you’re a bodyguard! And stick with it, maybe this is your way into some money!}

{Ugh, fine.} I replied.

Clearing my throat, I cautiously answered Phoenix’s question.

“I work for a protection agency, I’m here to safeguard a client on holiday.”

“So you’re a bodyguard? Whoa, that’s cool! Who for? Someone important? Someone royal?” He gasped.

“I wouldn’t really make for a very good protection agent, if I told a complete stranger whom I was protecting, now would I?” I replied, winking.

“Oh yeah, sorry. I’m just really excited to meet a British guy, it’s not like you meet one every day.”

“You do in England.” I retorted, chuckling.

“You know what I mean!”

“I know, I’m just taking the piss.”

“That’s a British saying, I’m guessing?” He quizzed.

“Yeah, it just means I’m messing with you.”

“Got’cha.”

After a slightly uncomfortable silence, Phoenix asked if I was busy today, and if I would like to grab lunch or something, to which I had to conduct another lie.

“I’d be utterly delighted to, however I haven’t any money on me. You see, my whole business trip is on a prepaid package, and my client manages all the payments for my meals and such, they’re very particular about loose ends.”

“Oh, okay, that kind of sucks.”

Humming to himself, Phoenix studied me silently, and after taking another look at my collar, he tutted once and smirked at me.

“Tell you what, how about you meet me here at six tonight? I’ll show you around the city after I run some errands, and we can grab a bite to eat and a few drinks. I know all the best bars around here, they know me personally and never ask for ID. And before you say anything about money, yes, it’s all on me.”

“I… Um…” I began.

It dawned upon me that this guy had just asked me out, and although I was completely taken aback, the fact he’d offered to pay meant one thing, he was generous; perhaps I could borrow his phone and contact my friends that way? Either that, or perhaps he could straight-up give me some cash if I explained my situation a little more earnestly, from what I could gather, he was a genuinely nice bloke.
And for what it was worth, he wasn’t bad looking, for a guy that was. His body was slender, yet muscular, and his face was pleasing to look at. Interestingly, I noticed that there was barely a shred of facial hair on the lad, only a few patches of shaved stubble here and there, it seemed the poor guy couldn’t grow a beard all too well.

“You know what, Phoenix? I would absolutely love to take you up on that, I’m sure my client can get by a single night without me. Thank you for such a kind offer.” I finally replied.

“As I said, it’s not like you meet a British guy every day. And seeing as I’m the one who stopped you during your busy day, it only seems right that I treat you with a nice night out, you know?”

“Well, if free drinks are involved, how could I possibly turn you down?” I chuckled.

“That’s the spirit!” He laughed back.

“Six o’clock, yes?” I asked.

“Yeah, meet me over there by that water tower.”

He directed my attention to the massive water tower just down the road, it was painted to look like a beach ball and was impossible to miss. I nodded confidently and gave a warm smile.

“Very well then, Phoenix. I’ll see you later!”

“Awesome, I can’t wait!”

After very awkwardly patting me on the arm, Phoenix turned away and headed off to run his errands, looking back at me twice to see if I was still there, goofily smiling like an idiot.

{Twilight, I think I’m a whore.} I thought.

{Um… Okay… Elaborate?} She responded, concerned.

{Well, it just so happens that I’m going on a date tonight, and I don’t have to pay a penny.}

{What!? How… Um… Okay! Jeez, that was not exactly what I meant when I suggested you meet someone for the sake of getting money out of them. But, uh, if it gets you some money, go for it, I guess. Best not tell Rainbow Dash, she might get jealous!}

The mare was clearly quite gobsmacked at such a rapid turn of events, and honestly, so was I.

{So uh… Who’s the lucky lady?} Twilight quizzed.

Gulping, I replied with words I never thought I’d find myself saying.


{Well that’s just it, Twilight… I’m going on a date with a guy…}