Welcome to Hotel Nebula

Elevator En-Route to Control Room

"He did what?" I asked, speaking to my dear friend, Midnight Rider. I had recently hired Midnight initially as a night guard for the Hotel, but after encountering that Creep, Never Alone, I decided to find something else for him. After fruitless attempts everywhere else, I eventually got him a job as assistant barkeep at the Void Vineyard. Yigvar was more than happy to have him around, especially since he livened the place up. As an added bonus, he'd report to me if that old Nord was sampling the booze again. At the moment, he was telling me a story of how Yigvar beat a minotaur in hoof- I mean arm wrestling, and had a less than pleasant rebuttal.

"Like I said, this Bronze Fist minotaur picked up the table and smashed him over the head with it!" Midnight recounted as he stood beside me. "But get this, he shook it off like it was nothing!"

"Amazing!" I exclaimed.

"The minotaur was so stunned," Midnight said, his wings lifting him up into the air in excitement. "He barely had any time to react before Yigvar pulled out this HUGE hammer, with a head that looked like a beer barrel, and WHAM!" He kicked into the air. "Knocked the big lug out!"

"Must've been a big hammer, then." I mused, placing a hoof to my chin. One of the rules of Hotel Nebula was that weapons are forbidden on the premises, but I guess it makes sense that the Hotel staff should arm themselves. Maybe I should buy something next time we stop.... Midnight touched down on the floor again, looking at me with his off-colored eyes with curiosity.

"So, why are we going to Control again?" Midnight asked.

"Commodore Legs told me he wanted to make a jump across universes soon," I explained. "And he wanted me to be familiar with our course."

"Okay, but why am I here?" He responded. "I don't exactly have the kind of attention span to learn charts or boring stuff like that."

"Well, I figured it would be a treat if my best friend would enjoy watching time and space flow around us as we make our first ever warp." I said, wrapping a foreleg around my friend's neck.

"Sweet." Midnight said, chuckling. The elevator slid open, and we entered the large room, where the anthropomorphic frog leapt from computer console to console, muttering to himself in... what was that language again? French, he called it? I whistled, and Commodore Legs turned about face, smiling widely and adjusting his oversized hat.

"Ah, bonjour, mes bons messieurs!" Legs greeted, giving a salute. "Just a few more preparations, and we will be ready to set sail across ze cosmic seas!" Hopping to a console, he rapidly tapped buttons with his webbed fingers and glanced at a large screen. An image appeared on the screen, revealing a beautiful array of stars and clusters neatly arranged on a map grid. Resting on a swirling bright symbol was a flashing yellow light shaped like the Hotel. Midnight trotted up to me, a bright look in his eyes.

"Cool, can you play Sky Assault on that thing?" Midnight joked as I face-hoofed. Legs gave a cough (although frankly, it sounded a bit like a croak), and pointed at the flashing icon.

"We are currently located here," Legs pointed out. "In ze Equus Universe on ze fringes of ze Hub Cluster," He gestured to a series of universes that appeared to be closely clustered together. "Zere are a total of three heavily populated Universal Arrays nearby, two of which are mostly protected by ze IDA. Ze third one, ze Sensō Collective, is mers inexplorées, uncharted waters." He pointed a webbed finger at an image of a cluster of stars that bore semblance to a blade. "For now, we shall turn starboard and head here," Tracing a line on the computer, he drew a red dotted line from the Hotel to a cluster that looked like a massive starburst. "The Starry Array, and dock in a universe on the borders of the territory."

"And that universe would be?" I asked. Commodore Legs turned away from the computer, putting a (I kid you not) corncob pipe in his mouth.

"Ze Force Universe, where the powers of good and evil belong to two powerful orders known as Jedi and Sith." Commdore Legs explained, bringing up several images of futuristic cities and planets. "We will start with the Planet Tython, seeing as one of ze IDA's elite agents sits on ze new Jedi Council, zen after a week, we will jump once again to a later universe, compris?" I nodded, moving over to an intercom wired to every speaker in the Hotel. Clearing my throat, I turned it on and began a quick announcement to everypony and everyone in the building.

"Attention guests and staff of Hotel Nebula," I announced. "This is the Manager, Tab Keeper, and we are about to depart from Equestria. Anyone who wishes to leave the Hotel should do so immediately. All guests and staff must find a stationary object to grasp onto, or remain in their rooms until the jump is complete. We will jumping in about," I paused, looking at the frog pilot. Commodore simply raised a webbed hand and gestured to his fingers. "Five minutes. Thank you and have a pleasant stay."

"Good work, sir," Commodore Legs complimented. "Zere are a few chairs with seatbelts to ze side you and your friend can use before we depart." Thanking the pilot, I made my way to the velvet cushioned chairs. Just before I could sit down, I realized that there was a slight problem on my mind: where did Midnight go? Looking about the room, I couldn't see the black coated pegasus anywhere in the bright room. I had assumed during my speech, Midnight had probably left to batten down in his room, but he isn't that kind of pony. Even Commodore Legs was looking for me, a bead of sweat running down his face (I didn't even know frogs could sweat). Eventually, we found him in the worst place possible: In front of a big, unmarked, red button on a pedestal, with eyes agleam and hoof raised. The reaction was instinctual, to say the least.

"DON'T TOUCH ZAT BUTTON!" Commodore Legs shouted, but it was too late. Due to the surprise, Midnight accidentally pressed the button, and the entire room lit up in bright lights. I shot my idiot friend a dirty look, while all he could do was sheepishly grin.

"You idiot."

The entire building began to shake, engines roared to life, magical energies rippled throughout the power sources, and the Hotel was beginning it's take-off. Midnight, Commodore Legs, and I were trying to keep stable footing as the entire Control Room vibrated with the ferocity of an earthquake. Outside the massive window, I could see the clouds zooming past us as we exited the stratosphere. Right before we broke the atmosphere, a massive tear ripped open in the skies, creating a Rift between time and space. And we entered it. I felt as my body was being turned into jelly as the myriad of colors zoomed past us in a cyclone of a mad artist. The building swerved, pivoted, twirled, flipped, and barreled through the vortex as I could barely hold my lunch in. At the center of the swirl of madness that was the Rift lay a large black circle, leading to whatever universe we were on a clash collision course with. Finally, we reached the black hole, causing it to fade away into a new backdrop. The Hotel began to steady itself, granting me a new view. From outside the window, I saw a large, grassy landscape as far as the eye could see, with a few tall trees dotting the grounds. Off in the distance, I could see a massive wall, towering high above the ground.

"You stupid, ignorant, careless, feather-brained, cloven-hoofed, fils de chèvre sans mère!!!" Commodore Legs shouted. "You pushed ze ignition button! I haven't even set a course yet!" Glancing to my side, I saw Legs strangling Midnight nearby. While I don't blame him in possibly stranding us in an unknown universe off-course, we needed to keep a level head and calm attitude in order to set things right. Using my magic, I pried Legs' hands off Midnight's neck and pulled him over to me.

"Calm yourself, Commodore!" I shouted. "Getting angry and throttling my friend for being careless won't solve anything at the moment." I released the frog, who looked at me with apologetic eyes. "Now, would you kindly check where we are while I calm the guests?" He gave me a salute, hopping to the command console and began plotting our location. Right before moving to the intercom, without even looking I yanked Midnight's tail with my magic and brought him face-to-face with me. And I was not happy.

"How was I supposed to know what that button did?!" Midnight exclaimed. "It's big and red, and unlabeled! How am I not supposed to press it!" Frowning, I bonked my friend on the side of his head with my hoof. "Alright, I'm sorry. Won't happen again."

"It better not." I bluntly stated. "Now, I want you to go check on the staff and clean up any messes you may have caused." Once my magical field dispersed on Midnight's tail, he flew out of the room, muttering to himself possibly stuff about a stick up my butt, but I really didn't care at the time.

"Oh, mon dieu." Commodore Legs sighed. Trotting over to the computer, I joined the frog pilot, who looked more nervous and frightened than I have ever seen anyone or anypony before. "We're in ze Sensō Collective."

"That unexplored array?" I asked, looking at the machines.

"Oui, charts say we are on ze fringes of the Collective," Legs explained. "On an earth-like planet. According to planetary scans, there's a high abundance of plant and animal life, and some human life several miles away, possibly beyond zat wall, but zere is... something else."

"Something else?" That worried me. Unknown factors always worry me.

"Yes, zere appears to be another type of life here zat ze scanners can't seem to figure out." He said. "I'll do my best to comprehend zis new information, then call you once we dock at ze harbor." Politely nodding and thanking Legs, I once again returned to the intercom and addressed the Hotel.

"Dear guests and employees of Hotel Nebula," I spoke. "We would like to apologize for the rough and sudden trip, but the mistakes have been corrected. For the moment, we request that all guests remain within the Hotel and all staff report on the surroundings to the Hotel Manager. Thank you and have a pleasant day."

Elsewhere....

Unknown Perspective....

"Sir, you better have a look at this," A young Garrison soldier said, passing me a spyglass. Taking the small device in my hands, I peered through the lens and looked towards the direction I was informed of. Beyond the green lands that once was human territory, now fallen to those... those monsters, sat something I never thought to see before. It was a fully intact building, one of the tallest I had ever seen. But what had caught my eyes was that it was floating nearly twenty meters off the ground. I don't know how or by what technology could do this, but something like that needed to be brought under attention to the higher ups. Returning the spyglass to the soldier, I tucked my hands into the pockets of my uniform and furrowed my brow.

"Report to General Pixis on that floating building," I ordered. "Make sure to have him pass on the information to the Scouting Legion. We need to know if there are lives that could be in danger at that thing, or if it's a ploy by the freaks below."

"Yes sir!" The soldier said, giving a salute before running off. I know those rumors of a human who could turn into one of the monsters is unusual, but that building might just top it all.

Back at Hotel Nebula....

Perspective of our Main Protagonist

"This is the reason I discourage you drinking on the job!" I exclaimed as my magic pulled ferociously hard. "Just in case accidents like this happen!" I think Yigvar might had said something snarky, but his head was stuck inside a beer barrel and possibly submerged in booze, so I couldn't hear him. "Just keep pushing and we'll have you out in no-time." His hands grasping the sides of the barrel and my magic wrapped around his body, we continued to pull himself out of his situation more so. The damage done to the Hotel during the accidental jump was minimal in some areas, like guest rooms and bathrooms, but the Void Vineyard and the Gourmet were an absolute mess! Tables and chairs were overturned and thrown about the place, dishes and glasses were shattered from impact, and the staff were no better off. I found Moogaroo trying to put out the fire on his hat caused by an overturned stove, Twitchy huddled in a corner in a fetal position, trying to find her happy place, Lily was hanging from a light fixture above her salon, and... well, you know what happened to Yigvar. The only ones who weren't really harmed were the guests in their rooms, the guests who could float, and the Mister Handy robots. Why can't living beings be geometrically stable like those hunks of metal.

With a final heave, Yigvar's head managed to pop from the barrel, as well as the entire lid... which Yigvar and several Skritt were trying to lap up. *scoff* Alcoholics. Rolling my eyes at the bartender's antics, I moved to help some ponies who had been trapped under a flipped booth, when who should pass by but Jeff, his eyes rolling wildly and hands clung to his head.

"Stop the ride, mommy," He muttered. "I wanna get off."

"I don't know what the fuss was all about," Discord said, flapping his way towards us, holding a martini glass in his paw. "Take off was just perfect, if I do say so myself." Freeing the ponies, I glared at the two upstart guests as Jeff shook himself sane.

"Look, the entire thing was an accident," I explained. "And the troublemaker is being punished as we speak. So, why don't you two go to your rooms and wait until everything's normal."

"But nothing's fun when it's normal." Jeff whined. "And besides, this place is an unmarked world! Who knows what kinds of shit they've got here!"

"Don't even think about it." I declared, jabbing the Creep in the ribs. "I don't want this place to become a danger zone just because you  decided to have a little fun." I moved towards the Spirit of Chaos as he picked his teeth with a tiny umbrella. "That goes for you, too." The draconequus merely humphed and opened the tiny umbrella, causing him to float upwards to Celestia knows where. Jeff had decided to wander off, leaving me alone whilst the Skritt and Mister Handy's were helping the injured or startled guests. Feeling my work was somewhat done, I decided to get a lay of the land.

Stepping out the front lobby's doors, I stood upon the floating ground that held the Hotel aloft. I still have yet to find out how this rock can fly, but it didn't matter to me at the time. Looking out onto the far green pastures of land, I could see far into the distance of this mysterious new world Midnight had left us stranded in. I wondered what lived here, what laws this world followed, why that wall off in the distance was there, and why the area seemed devoid of life. Just as I was about to leave, I met one of the inhabitants. It appeared right out of nowhere, in front of the Hotel doors. It was a massive human-like creature, with messy brown hair, a blank stare, and a fixed smile that, while nowhere near as horrific as Jeff's or Never Alone's, still chilled me. Oh, and I probably should mention that it was completely naked and showed no gender-specific features. It just stood there, staring exactly on eye level with me. It was probably about fifteen meters in height alone! If this was going to be a guest, there might be some rooming complications.

"Um... excuse me, sir?" I spoke, raising a hoof. "I do hope we didn't startle you with our rapid arrival. You see, this is the Hotel Nebula, a hotel that can travel through time, space, and the universal barrier, and we sort of accidentally stranded ourselves here." It didn't respond, just stared at me. "Well, if it's not at all trouble, we would like to know exactly where we are and who you are, since we're kind of stuck here." Still it was silent. I was beginning to wonder if this thing had any intelligence at all. "So... Can you even say anything?" Footsteps behind me revealed Yigvar joining me, wringing beer out of his beard.

"Is this the local life?" Yigvar asked. "He's a big one." Then, the tall human reacted. It's mouth opened wide, revealing a wide collection of sharp teeth. What bothered me most was that it was leaning towards us!!!! Quickly reacting, I pulled Yigvar away and dove back inside the building just as the local bit into the ground. I stared at the monstrous thing as Yigvar merely gaped in awe at the beast. "Did that thing just try and eat me?!"

"I think it did." I clarified, rising to my hooves. "Okay, I want you to get the Skritt and Mister Handy's, tell them to get all the guests to their rooms. If whatever that thing is has friends, then we might be in danger. Alert the Big Daddies to protection and keep an eye out." Yigvar nodded and bolted into the Hotel. Bringing up my technological watch, I contacted Commodore Legs. "Commodore, we've got a problem."

"I'll say we do!" The frog's voice responded through my ear-piece. "Scanners just picked up zat something just hit ze Hotel front door!"

"Yeah, it was a local." I explained, watching the monster slowly pull itself from the door and shaking dirt out of its mouth. "Big naked human thing. It tried to eat me once Yigvar stepped out."

"Big naked human zing?" Legs asked. "And it tried to eat you and ze Nord? For some reason, zat sound familiar."

"Familiar?" I asked. "I though you said this world was unexplored?"

"No, I said zat zis universal array is vastly unexplored." The frog clarified. "Zis could be a 'Here Be Monsters' universe. Come back up to Control, I'll probably have something." With a click, I disengaged contact. Shooting one last look at the monster that nearly tried to eat me and a fellow co-worker, I trotted away, hoping to find some pieces to this broken puzzle.