//------------------------------// // Where the Grass Isn't Much Greener // Story: That Others May Live // by CptBrony //------------------------------// Where the Grass isn’t Much Greener The rest of the trip went by quickly for the men. The two days on the water, though, were tough on Amel, who had never been on a ship before. She was seasick the entire way, requiring a soothing hand from whichever of her companions happen to be nearby. The seas weren’t even that rough, only three foot swells. Duke and Frost had dealt with much worse in Dive Training. When they finally made landfall, Amel was practically kissing the ground, she was so happy to be ashore. She was the first one off, leaving her share of the gear on the boat so she could get a moment of stable ground. Duke felt bad for her after she suffered so much during the sea travel, so he simply picked up what she left and carried it to land. Duke dropped it next to her. “Be careful where you leave our things,” he said. “We don’t want any unsavory characters to try to steal valuable US Military gear.” Amel came out of her happy stupor and looked up at him. “Sorry,” she said, ashamed. “I won’t do it again.” Duke looked around. “Nah, it isn’t a huge problem, not here,” he said. “Most of this stuff wouldn’t be valuable to ponies and such anyway. Most of it.” He emphasized his last words to make sure Amel understood her responsibility. They had landed at a shipping dock, not a travel port like Duke had been expecting. From the ship he, Frost, and Amel had ridden on, he could see large amounts of cargo being taken out of the ship and stacked in crates on the dock. Sauri must have sent them with a merchant’s vessel to cut the cost of transportation. Frost came down from the ship with his gear and the large sack of money in tow. He struggled under the weight of it all, most of the weight coming from the sack of money, seeing as it was gold coinage. Duke was about to trudge up to help his partner out with the weight when Frost called out to him. “Yo, Duke, you take care of immigration or whatever! Me and Amel will watch the gear!” Duke understood the importance of that. “Alright, just don’t drop our money into the water!” Duke shouted back. “We will probably need it!” He turned to Amel. “Help him out, would you?” Amel nodded and ran up to help Frost while Duke left them with his own gear to go find an immigration desk. Since it wasn’t a travel port, the odds of there actually being one nearby were low, but Duke thought it would be safer to check. If there turned out to be one and they were found sneaking into the country, there could be trouble. He searched the entire dock for an office of immigration. He found dozens of offices; exports, imports, repairs for ships, illegal cargo seizures, and many more. Not shockingly, there was no immigration office anywhere. The merchants and shippers probably didn’t go into Equestria for their business, or those that did had special passes. Duke, Frost, and Amel had no such passes, and would unfortunately have to illegally enter the country. Duke returned to where he left his companions only to find that they were missing. The gear was also missing, which set off alarm bells in his head. Were they taken by security? Did they have to run in hurry and find some place to hide? “Psst!” Duke looked to his right, where the noise came from. “Duke, come over here!” Frost said, waving his hand from out of a dark corner between two large transportation crates. Duke walked over casually and joined Frost in the dark corner, where he found Amel and all the gear. Nothing seemed damaged or broken, relieving Duke of his worst fears for the situation. Amel looked uncomfortable in her spot against the wall, sitting on top of awkwardly shaped gear. “Why are you hiding?” Duke asked. “Are there guards, were you found and questioned?” “No, no,” Frost replied. “We just thought it would be safer. Immigration through here probably isn’t strictly legal, so we thought it would be smarter to sneak our way out of here. Any ideas?” Duke thought for a moment. “Well... I suppose that we just need to find our way out of the docks, then. I’ll take point.” Everyone picked up their gear and Frost tossed the money over his shoulder and hauled it with him. They were forced to move slowly to avoid having the money make too much noise and result in them being found. It was possible that they were allowed to be here, seeing as the stallions who ran the ship had known about where they were going, but Duke didn’t want to take chances. Odds weren’t great that Sauri had sent much word ahead to whatever the Equestrian Port Authority was. They made it out of the docks, with a few close calls, and made their way on top of a hill before a field just beyond it. The grassy field wasn’t the nicest they had ever seen; most of the grass was a sickly brown, not even the dormant brown you usually see with grass. There were empty patches of dirt everywhere, and sewage drain pipes that were exposed and broken, killing whatever plants were nearby. It reminded Frost of that section of Akhal Teke where all the “undesirables” lived. Across from the field was something the men weren’t expecting; a massive, metropolitan city. There were tall buildings everywhere. They weren’t quite skyscrapers, like in New York City, but they were certainly tall. Activity could be seen on the road just twenty meters on the other side of the field, with ponies walking around, pulling carts, and such. “I see a city,” Duke said, ever observant. Frost pointed into the sky. “That wasn’t the first thing I saw,” he said. “I see flying ponies up in the sky.” Duke looked up; sure enough, there were ponies, flying around. They were pegasi, the ancient, mythical horse with wings. Similar to the traffic below, they seemed to fly around in something of a grid, stopping above intersections at floating lights on clouds and letting each other get by. The pegasi could be seen kicking clouds out of existence in various areas where the coverage was a little darker than the common gray for the day. The trio got low to the ground to evade detection. “Boss,” Frost said. “Did we take in anything that we didn’t know what it was on the trip?” “No, Frost, and I don’t think you should be surprised. We’ve already cut deals with talking horses to find OGA and fought gryphons; a few pegasi shouldn’t be surprising.” Frost sighed. “Next thing you know, we’ll be seeing unicorns.” “Of course,” Amel said. “There are plenty of unicorns in Equestria. Many live in Canterlot.” Both men stopped for a moment, then slowly turned toward Amel. Neither could speak at first, simply trying to comprehend the words that came out of her mouth. Duke tried to put it on her having bad English, but nothing could make sense of Canterlot. Frost looked like his brain had a short circuit and that he was trying to fix it with a hammer. “You’re joking,” Frost said finally. Amel shook her head. “No. There are many in Canterlot. It is the leadership capital of Equestria, and unicorns are known for their cleverness and cunning.” “So that’s where their leaders will be, huh?” Duke thought. “That would make it the place to go right now.” “Now, I think I can say that no man has ever seen what I’ve seen,” Frost said. “Sure, some crazies back home may talk to horses, but how many have seen pegasi and eventually get to talk to unicorns too? And how many also fought and killed gryphons?” Amel looked confused. “It isn’t that bad,” she said. “They are perfectly nice ponies.” “I’m sure they are,” Frost said. “So why don't we go meet some?” “Not just yet,” Duke said, eying the city. “We should find out where we are, make it seem like we’re supposed to be here. Then we’ll go in.” They moved back down their side of the hill and regrouped. Duke and Frost left their weapons hanging, as they suspected that they wouldn’t need their primaries, and Duke led the way. Frost took the middle, protecting their money, and Amel took the back. She still had the knife that Frost had bought for her in her mane. She had practiced enough with it that she felt safe taking the rear. Eventually, they made their way to the entrance gate to the docks, where they had to go one at a time past the gate to avoid being spotted by the security guard. Once past him, they moved off the road to the left, where they could see train tracks leading to and from the city. There was no train at the moment, but it was clear that they frequented the area from the way the vegetation was dying around the tracks. After some time, almost to sundown, they were able to get to what appeared to be the “front entrance” of sorts to the city. There were several highways that led in, all with carriages on them, and four sets of train tracks in just this area. Above the tracks, there was a huge green sign; WELCOME TO BALTIMARE Duke could already feel Frost’s logic starting to shut down and just rubbed his temples. He had to admit, it was hard not to have one’s mind blown when presented with something like this. What was next, the country of Prance? “Alright, let’s go before Frost’s brain oozes out of his head,” Duke ordered. They took the long way and walked into the city by the underpass. ****************************************************************** It turned out, the underpass might not have been the best way to take. Not thirty meters in, the men had to pull out their sidearms just in case some of the sketchy ponies around them decided they wanted to steal some valuable US Military gear. Amel stayed close to Frost, standing in front of him so that no one would have a chance to make a grab for her. It was a massive relief when they were out of there and back in the street. Unlike the underpass ponies, the ponies in the streets of Baltimare seemed to see the group as more than a source of money and fights. Many stared at them as they passed, most moving out of the way. While it made them feel uncomfortable, the trio was certainly happier here than on the way in. Duke’s stomach growled. “Guys, I think we should go find someplace to eat something,” he said. “Amen to that,” Frost replied. Duke continued to lead them through the city, searching for anywhere they could get a meal. The good news was that, here, there was a much better chance of finding a place where Duke would actually understand what was being said to him. They could all enjoy a decent meal together. For fifteen minutes, they walked about, but they had no idea where they were. Duke tried to figure out what kind of area they were in. There were a few stores here and there on the street they were on, but there were also a number of residential buildings. The nature of the stores varied, from what looked like an outdoors store to what looked like a store Duke would never allow himself to be seen in. Amel looked disgusted at the “XXX” neon sign in the front. Duke gave up searching. They weren’t familiar with the city on any level. Neither Duke nor Frost had even been to Baltimore back home. Amel was no help here, either, as she had barely even heard of this particular city. Only a few Equestrian cities were actually famous outside the country, it seemed. Duke had Frost and Amel wait next to a wall while he went to get directions. “Excuse me,” Duke said to a passing stallion. The stallion froze and stared at him. “I and my friends are looking for a place to eat, and maybe somewhere to spend the night later. Can you point us somewhere?” The stallion swallowed hard. “W-who are you?” he asked. “I’m Duke,” Duke replied slowly. “My friends are Frost, the tall one, and Amel, the brown one. We need to eat some food and find a place to sleep. Can you help?” The stallion nodded. “S-sure, uhh...” He looked around nervously. “Ju-just go down the street here, three blocks, a-and there’s a restaurant, nice place. They can tell you where to find a place to stay the night later.” He swallowed again. Duke nodded slowly. “Thanks,” he said calmly, trying to keep everything under control. “Appreciate it.” He walked away, making sure to fully turn his back, and heard the stallion scurry off. Frost had watched the whole thing. “Well, that doesn’t bode well,” he said as Duke returned. “You think this’ll mean trouble?” Duke looked back; the stallion was long gone. “Nah,” he said. “Nothing serious, at least.” Duke led them down the street to where the stallion said that the restaurant was. The whole way, they were getting suspicious looks, but sometimes, when it was clear that they spotted Amel, the severity of the looks would slightly diminish. Bringing her had turned out to be an excellent idea. If they hadn’t, they probably would have been arrested by Animal Control or something ridiculous. They arrived at the restaurant, and Frost could smell the food from outside. It smelled incredible; various different spices, the smell of steamed and cooked vegetables, and the refreshing feel of air conditioning. It had been far too long since Duke and Frost got to spend time in a climate-controlled room. “Let’s get in there,” Frost said impatiently. No one argued as he took the lead and went inside. Frost walked through the doors and found that the area around him was totally silent. Everyone around was staring at him, and when Duke and Amel came in, at them as well. Frost stood uncomfortably for a minute in his place, then moved forward toward where the waitress stood. Given the ponies around them, there would likely be a wait time for them, but Frost could still find out. “Hi,” he said, putting his hand up. The waitress blinked at him. “Uhm, hi,” she said. “Do you have any free tables?” Frost asked. “For three?” Frost tapped his fingers on his side as the waitress checked for him. “Uh, yes,” she said, still looking at him with wide eyes. “If you’ll follow me.” She led the group into the restaurant and to a table near a window. As they passed other groups, the ponies would lift their heads from their plates or conversations and stare at Duke and Frost. They had kept all their gear with them for fear of it being stolen, so they were bulkier than usual, and occasionally bumped into tables. Whenever they apologized, the ponies would act like they hadn’t expected an apology and show some level of appreciation. The waitress had them sit at a table and left them to retrieve some menus. During the wait, Duke and Frost glanced around the restaurant. Ponies were looking at them, some whispering amongst themselves, and pointing. It made the men uneasy, though they kept their cool to avoid creating any incidents. The waitress returned. “Here you are,” she said. “Would you like water... sirs?” Duke nodded. “That would be great, thanks,” he said. The waitress nodded and walked off, looking proud that she guessed the genders correctly. “Well, this is awkward,” Frost said. “I don’t think any of them know what to think of us.” He made it a point to speak at normal volume. “Ah, they’ll get over it,” Duke said. “We’re just passing through on our way to the capital. Won’t be here long.” “What are you going to do once you are at the capital?” Amel asked. “I know you are looking for your friend, but what do you plan to do with the Equestrians?” “That’s a fair question,” Duke replied. “I think we’ll be able to hammer something out. We help them, just a little, they help us, just a little. All we need is information on where to find OGA, nothing else. It might be similar to what we did in Saddle Arabia. We go on missions where OGA might be there and where there may be a secondary objective for us as well. It’s a fair trade.” “I guess,” Amel said. “But if you knew where he was, could you not get him yourselves?” “Depends,” Frost said, jumping in. “If we need help getting somewhere, we might need them. We have to offer something to them so that they offer that support to us if we need it.” “Exactly,” Duke said. “We need to be as strategic as possible, and make sure that we have the overall power in the situation. It’s our best bet.” The waitress came back with the water, and the group ordered some food. She couldn’t see Duke and Frost’s teeth, so she had no way of knowing that they ate meat. To further avoid any possible confrontations, they kept their meals to vegetables and bread, plus an apple each. Amel had trouble deciding, and simply settled for what her companions had gotten. They continued to talk about what they were going to do as they waited and then through their meal. When they finished, they received the bill; thirty bits. Considering that this meal would have been something like sixty dollars in the US, Duke and Frost liked the price. At least, they thought that it probably sounded fair. Frost pulled the bits out of the bag and dropped them onto the table, then the group went back to the front. “Excuse me,” Duke said to the waitress as they came close. She looked in their direction. “Where might we find a hotel nearby?” “Up the street, take a left, then the next right. There is a large building that’s really decorative. Can’t miss it,” the waitress said. “Thank you,” Duke replied. He motioned for Frost and Amel to follow him. Before they left, though, the waitress had a question. “Where are you from?” she asked. Duke turned to face her. “Not important,” he said. “We’re just looking for our friend. Human, like us. You heard anything about him?” It was possible that OGA had made the news. The waitress’s eyes showed some small level of recognition for the word human when Duke said it. Sauri had said that there was another human in this world some time before, but he hadn’t been able to give them almost any information on that. Odds were that the men wouldn’t have the time to go chasing after that old story while they searched for OGA and possibly fought a war, but it did pique the men’s interest. “No, haven’t heard anything about any human in Equestria,” the waitress replied. Duke shrugged. “Thanks anyway.” He left with his companions and they made their way to the hotel. They made it to the hotel without incident and paid fifty bits for a night there. There was a bag guy who offered to take their bags to their room for them, but the men weren’t too keen on letting some random guy handle their gear. They took the cart from him and took care of it themselves, wheeling their gear to their room on the eighth floor. There, they opened the door and took in the very nice oom. It was a nice room, tastefully decorated. The walls were green with gold stripes, easy to sleep in because of the non-reflective nature of the green. The two beds were large and looked fluffy, with big pillows and large comforter sheets on them. They were green and white, perfectly clean and ready to be mussied up again. Duke wheeled the cart to the center of the room. “Alright, we can either spend the rest of the day here, or we can go around the city and kill time,” he said. “Thoughts?” Frost shrugged. “I’ll do whatever,” he said. “I could rest, but I don’t think that seeing the city is such a bad idea.” Amel jumped onto one of the fluffy beds and sank in. “Ahh,” she said, instantly relaxing. “I think I like this.” “Well, I guess she’s staying,” Duke said. “She also gets that bed.” Duke walked over to the other bed and removed one pillow and ripped one of the sheets out from under the comforter. “Frost, you get the floor.” “Again?” Frost asked. “You just can’t accept that you want to sleep with me,” he said with a smirk. “Of course,” Duke replied. “Now here-” he tossed the pillow and sheet to Frost- “Make yourself comfortable. Odds are, there aren’t any bed bugs here.” Frost moved in between the beds and set down his pillow and sheet. “I sure hope so,” he said. “If I get any, it’s your fault.” Frost turned his attention to the already-sleeping Amel. “Well, I’d hate to leave her alone, and sleeping on something stable is pretty appealing right now...” “I agree,” Duke said, plopping onto his bed. “I’ll just-” Duke noticed something on the nightstand next to him. It was a radio, a little thing, with a knob to adjust the channel. he picked it up and looked it over. It was just like any radio back home, easy to operate. Duke turned it on and listened to what it had to say. “You’re listening to the Adventures of Daring Do, greatest explorer in Equestria!” “What’s that?” Frost asked. “The thing that’ll keep us entertained until we decide to sleep,” Duke replied. “Solid,” Frost replied. They listened to the radio on a hushed volume for hours until they finally went to sleep, glad to have some decent respite in their long journey to find one man in an entire alien world.