"I lost them, I fuckin' lost them!" The Quiet Kid's armor molted away, and he disappeared into the crowd of people, emerging on the other side and making a beeline straight for the coast.
"Hello, wel-" William slammed an Equestrian bit down on the Barista's countertop. "That's real gold. Black coffee, cold, no ice. Please and thank you." His eyes sunk behind his sunglasses. He was tired, exhausted. And all he wanted was a simple cup of simple coffee to calm his nerves.
"Oh-M-G. I have to Insta this." The green haired checkout girl squeaked. William sighed.
"Look ma'am, I don't give a dragons ass what you do. Just get me my coffee. Please and thank you. " The women pulled out her cellphone and began to record.
"OMG fans, this person just tried to pay me with real gold-" William reached over the counter, and brought the phone down onto the countertop in a firm manner.
"I waited in line, I paid you, I've been polite, I see no one else back there, please ma'am. It's a matter of personal security, just get me my caffeine. " The lady grabbed her phone and raised it back up, turning it to her face to reveal a mock shocked expression.
"OMG!" She screeched into it, trying to make her best puppy dog face, " This weirdo just misgender-"
11:00 AM
William was ready to snap. For all he knew, those killer drones from earlier were still here. Looking for him. There were no apparent security cameras or sensors in the brick walled coffee shop. But he still had a sinking feeling he was being watched. He needed to get out of this place. This was not his Earth. His Earth was bad, sure. But not his bad. Not even close. There were no hunter killer drones with hammers and sickles and rainbow flags on their sides gunning down strangers while ignorant morons sat by and watched with their phones. William tapped the brim of his hat as he waited for the Barista to finish whatever it was she was doing, but instead of helping him, she just continued to stand there. Absorbed in her phone, she wanted nothing to do with him.
"Hey, I have a question, since you aren't going to give me the coffee I just paid for, can I go back and make it myself?" The lady didn't answer. William considered hitting her with a rubber baseball bat. But decided against it.
"Alright, how about this? Can you ask your, followers and whatnot if they've recently seen a unicorn with wings dressed up like a detective and a pegasus mare with a rainbow mane? That exactly."
"Umm... I think I can help you with that." A meek voice answered from behind the row of shop customers. William leaned off to the side. Standing there, took all his surprise. Was an honest pegasus, a quaint mare with a pair of glasses, a grey sweater, purple fur, and an orange mane.
"Now I'll be." William turned to stare at the mare.
" Who are you?" The mare smiled. "My name's Purple... You don't look like you're from around here..." William laughed.
"Now ain't that obvious? You pretty out of place all the same." The mare smiled. "No, no, I'm pretty sure it's just you. Tell me, do you know what a brony is?" The Quiet kid froze in place and stared at the nearest wall. His mind went through a thousand scenes. He turned back and cracked a grin.
"Yeah, I know who and what they are. Can we talk about this somewhere else?" He glanced back at the countertop, his gold coins were still sitting there, gathering dust. And the Barista was nowhere to be seen.
"Damn fools can't even make coffee right without drifting off." He stepped out of line and waved the mare out the front door. When they were outside and out of sight of the 'shopgoers', the pegasus paused to straighten her glasses.
11:02 AM
"Well, what is it?" William asked her, setting his gloved hands in his coat pockets. "Why did you ask about some obscure internet fandom that I know almost nothing about, and why did those people in there not bat a single eye when you walked in. Are magical creatures just... A regular occurrence here? Because if so, I want out even more!"
"You definitely aren't from around here. " The mare responded, scratching her chin. " I have a lot of explaining to do then, I suppose." William snickered, "Well yes ma'am, yes you do. You noticed me when I started talking about my friends. They're um... Well, they're ponies as well. One is about stomach high, has white fur and a blue mane, brown eyes, responds to the name, 'Joey', oh... and he's an alicorn. The other is a pegasus has a rainbow mane and a haughty energetic demeanor. Goes by, "Rainbow Dash". Have you seen either of them?" The pony's blue eyes widened, and she murmured something to herself.
"I don't know why, but there's something about you... Follow me."
11:15 AM
William wandered down the street with 'Purple' for a while, they crossed a street, and then disappeared down into an underground parking lot.
"Where the hell are you bringing me?" The Quiet Kid murmured, setting his hand on his M45A1 Holster. At last, the mare led him past rows of defunct gasoline powered cars, the first he'd seen in a while, and through a locked metal door and two flights of stair before reaching a set of ornate wooden doors. "Follow me." She told him. She tapped the doors with her right hoof, and they swung open. What William saw on the other side left his jaw hanging open for a good 20 seconds.
"William, welcome to- what used to be the Bay Area Brony convention's hotel. Now, we just call it the Everfree sanctuary." He looked around, and rubbed his eyes, a smile began to crest across his face again. The Quiet Kid wasn't speechless, but he sure was close to it.
"Wow." He muttered. If it had at one time been a hotel, then it sure wasn't one now. It was like a scene straight out of the Equestrian wilderness. William realized that he was standing on green grass. The entire ground floor seemed to have been transformed into some kind of meadow, open oak trees adorned flowing blue streams and rocky outcroppings. It seemed to be the case with the upper floors as well. the walls were adorned with all manner of flora and fauna, Pheonix nests, vines of a dozen different kinds of fruit vines, and glowing flowers and gemstones provided interior lighting in place of regular LEDs. But most prominently of all, were the hundreds of ponies. Unicorns and pegasi and Earth ponies, mixed in with griffons, kirins, hypogryphs, a few dragons, and even a couple anthropomorphic wolves and cats.
"How?" William asked, turning to Purple. "How the hell did- Why- how does this place exist!? How can it exist!"
"Well," She answered, " It all started about 2 years ago, The Union of Progressive peoples had just reached a Stalemate with the State of Jefferson. " William stared at her with a blank expression.
"Ok, ok. Go back, go back." William insisted. " Tell me how this all unraveled from the very beginning. Because this clearly not the Earth I'm from."
"You're from an alternate universe! Oh, of course! Just wait until I tell my friends!" William facepalmed. "Just... Start from the beginning."
11:28 AM
And so, Purple did. She explained how she had once been human, but one day four years prior, a bright light appeared in the sky over the Pacific Ocean, and not long after, all the changes began to occur. For her, and a few others, it was just a simple transformation into some kind of simple magical creature. But, with the rest of the West Coast, it was a calamity of apocalyptic levels. Silicon Valley had been overtaken by a hostile AI led by unknown entities which began to create Terminator like armies of drones to try and spread their agenda to the rest of America, and then, the world. And, because of San Fransico's already, 'interesting population' no one complained. Then again, no one directly helped either, the most any person ever did was send a bit of Tax revenue disguised as funding. All while drone armies clashed with National Guard forces in the Hills above the Bay. Eventually, a State of Emergency was declared in California. But at this point, San Fransico might have just as well have become its own country, with beliefs and culture hostile to the rest of America. And because of Government unwillingness to invade its own territory, they left it to be. Opting to just blockade it and do nothing else. Meanwhile up north on the Orogen border, The State of Jefferson movement gained rapid popularity, and the Govenor's first role was to mobilize all the states Milita's to form a protective ring around the States southern border with California's former territory. Terrorist attacks and incursions into their land by the increasingly totalitarian Coastal foe. To the south lay a blatantly communistic entity that wanted nothing short of the dissolvement of the United States and its rule of law and to the north, an increasingly Libertarian and Independant state about the size of Tennessee that wanted nothing to do with any of it... Until they were provoked when a Town in the Cascade Range was attacked by suicide drones, prompting retaliation, and a full-on 2nd Civil War between the two States all while the Federal government debated the best way to deal with the whole debacle.
Oh, but that wasn't all. All the while, strange occurrences began to occur around the West Coast, spanning as far East as Lake Tahoe. Monsters, glowing deer, dragons living in ancient caves and on the tops of dormant volcanoes, bigfoot, and, most prominently of all, humans transformed into sentient magical creatures who retained their entire past personalities. Everything from ponies to griffons. Previous places of significance and social gathering were morphed until they were nigh unrecognizable, like the hotel Willaim now found himself standing in. All while civil unrest and political anarchy raged in the world and city outside.
11; 32 AM
"Simply put..." Purple continued, " It was like those lights that day made reality fall apart. But it's all good now. All us pony lovers got their lifelong wish, everything short of going to Equestria itself! But that's for the best, if all of us went there at once, it just wouldn't be the same." William bit his tongue.
"Anyway... My friends, Joey and Rainbow Dash-"
"You're just joking about Rainbow Dash, right?" The mare laughed uncomfortably. William just sighed. "No, I'm not."
"You're... Hey everyone, this guy knows Rainbow Dash, personally!" A ring of pandering equines quickly formed around him.
"Tell me, what's she like?" One Stallion asked.
"Have you met the rest of the Mane Six!?"
"What about Celestia, have you met her?"
"Yeah!? Does she like mares or stallions!?" Another voice shouted from the back of the crowd. William held his hands up and took a step back. " Listen, I don't know that much about her, I barely even know her! She's lost in this damn city with the best of my friends, so if any of you see her, please find me and tell me! She doesn't belong here, as much as you all probably want to sit down and meet her. I've gotta get us back to our original world. We don't belong here!" The crowd fell silent.
"Listen, I'm happy that y'all were able to find common ground and build yourself this nice little community in such an awful place. And I can't tell ya how happy that makes me. But I can't stay, and neither can Rainbow Dash, or my best friend, Joey." The group remained silent, he could hear shuffling in the crowd, two ponies, a Stallion and A mare, were chasing something. Finally, they burst out on the other side, right in front of William. Standing in front of them, was a little Unicorn Filly holding a Rainbow Dash plushie in her magical grasp. And, an earthpony colt. They both froze to look up at William with eyes full of wonder.
"We'll help you find your friends!" The little filly told William. Bouncing around gleefully. The Quiet Kid looked down at the foals, and then over at the older ponies who had been chasing them, he presumed that they were the parents.
" We're so sorry." They said in unison, trotting up to their foals and herding them away. William held out his right hand and stopped them.
"No, no. I understand. You picked a good role model by the way, loyalty to the things you love is important, with me, it's my personal beliefs, and my friends. Twilight Sparkle got that much right." He turned back to the crowd of adults.
"And no, she isn't into mares! Get your heads out of the poison oak!"
11:34 AM