The Market

After Cameron left, Nate and Kendra hung out in their rooms listening to music. Soon, due to sheer boredom, Kendra got up and walked into the boys' room for a second time. She looked toward the bunk bed only to find Nate. He was lying on his bunk with his headphones on, looking back with a confused look on his face.

"What happened to knock?" He sat up and looked at the relatively short intruder. She gave no response and instead asked a question of her own.

"Where's the asshole?"

"He left to go explore the woods. He should be back in a few hours." Nate continued to stare.

"Isn't that dangerous?" She asked.

"He said he had explored the woods before, and he knows what to expect from this place, so I think he's fine," Nate said, looking back down at his phone.

Kendra took in the information and shrugged. "I can't argue with that logic," she said before looking around the bland room, their backpacks and Nate's shoes on the floor, and the top bunk's disheveled blankets the only things out of place.

"I'm bored," she whined. Nate rolled his eyes.

"What do you want to do?"

"I don't know," she huffed, "Something." Nate raised an eyebrow before gesturing to the still-open door.

"Why don't you follow Cameron into the woods?" he joked.

Kendra shook her head feverishly. The thought of her alone anywhere with Cameron sent chills up her spine and almost made her sick. "No way. He'd probably kill me." Nate nodded, knowing something terrible would happen if they were alone for even a short amount of time.

They sat around the room doing nothing, having sporadic chit-chat, but the boredom wouldn't go away. The silence got so bad for Kendra that she asked Nate to play his music out loud. They shared similar tastes in music, so she knew she would like it. She wasn't disappointed, bobbing her head to the music and mouthing the lyrics, though not understanding the language. The music staved off the boredom for about twelve minutes, but the music was stopped for the time being to preserve battery life. It only took one or two minutes for Kendra to start groaning out of boredom.

"Let's do something," she moaned in mock agony, "I’m gonna die of boredom at this rate. My brain needs sustenance."

Nate just looked at her patiently. "Well, what do you want to do?"

"I don't know, but you have to do it with me."

"What? Why?"

"I need interaction. I am a needy person."

Nate rolled his eyes and blew off the statement. "Interact with the ponies."

"Human interaction," Kendra whined.

"That's racist," Nate muttered under his breath before speaking up once again. "From what it seems like, ponies are just four-legged people who have magic and can fly." A snort of disapproval filled the otherwise silent room.

"It's not the same."

Siting up from his bunk, Nate looked at Kendra, confused. "Oh? And how do you know?"

"How would you?" She retorted, "It's only been, like, a day, and neither of us has had an actual conversation with a pony. How would you know more than me?"

"That doesn't...," Nate lets out an exasperated sigh. "That doesn't answer my question. I asked about how you knew talking to a pony is different from talking a person. Yeah, the height difference and the fact that they are ponies will take some time to get used to, but I bet the experience is close to the same."

"It just won't be the same. I feel it in my gut," Kendra exclaims, patting her stomach for emphasis.

"You wanna bet? Let's test that out." Starting to put on his socks, Nate glanced over to Kendra, who was waiting on his next words. "We go out for a bit. See the town. Try to interact with the locals. If that doesn't work then, boom, we can just head back here and die of boredom while we wait for Cameron to get back from his 'adventure.'"

Kendra couldn't find any faults in the plan, and she didn't want to stay in the room any longer. Her decision came quickly as she started to put on her shoes.

The market was bright and colorful in Ponyville under Celestia's beaming sun. The hustle and bustle of ponies walking through the streets, doing business, having a casual conversation, filled the air, or it would be if all the ponies had not stopped to stare at the two strange creatures standing in the middle of the street staring back. The ponies weren't particularly afraid of the creatures as they were seen walking with Princess Twilight Sparkle and the elements of harmony the day before and one of the three that morning, but those were passing glances. Some ponies did crowd around them to ask questions when Princess Twilight was escorting them, but they never got the word out of them. They didn't even know if they could understand each other, so having two of them standing in the middle of the market with no supervision confused them to no end. The thought of not knowing what they were capable of also put them on edge. So, they stared.

Deer in headlights. That's what Nate and Kendra would have described the large mass of ponies staring at them. The similarities were uncanny, species being the only noticeable difference. They looked around at their surroundings, trying not to make eye contact. The market spanned several streets with carts and stalls set up in a sort of organized chaos that only worked because the system had been that way for a while. With each booth and cart being unique and colorful added with the fact that they never changed where they are located, suggested that the citizens of Ponyville had just learned where to look for what they were searching for despite the seemingly haphazard way the market was set up. A quick look up to the sky showed an expanse of blue clear of clouds as far as the eye could see, but that quiet beauty wasn't enough to distract from the mass of about 4-foot sentient equines that surrounded them.

Nate was the first to look down, making eye contact with a gray mare with a side-swept black mane and tail wearing a pink bow tie. Her lavender eyes caught a small chuckle escape Nate's lips. She then watched him as he nudged Kendra with a smile on his face and pointed at her. The mare unconsciously trembled as Kendra also started to chuckle and whispered something to her friend. He muttered something back, and a small conversation ensued, too quiet to hear. It ended abruptly, with Nate pushing Kendra toward the now confused and frightened gray mare, telling her, "Go on. Do it" in a hushed manner. Reluctantly, she moves on her forward on her own after a few shoves and a death glare in Nate's direction, walking toward the mare with the pink bow tie. The mare backed up a little but stopped in either surprise or wonder when Kendra stopped before looking down. She cracked a nervous smile, too aware that everyone was waiting for her next move.

"Uh...Hey." The words hung in the stagnant air for a second, echoing in everyone' s ear canal, even though what she said was almost a whisper. Her voice was soft. The nervousness she exuded relaxed the crowd's high tension, and now they were caught up on Kendra speaking their language. Other animals speaking English weren't uncommon in Equestria, but the new creatures didn't seem like they were from Equestria or anywhere from their universe, so them speaking the same language was genuinely surprising.

"H-hi." The gray mare answered back tentatively.

"I, uh, like your bow tie," Kendra said meekly, looking anywhere but the mare's eyes.

A small smile crossed the mare's face. "Um...Thank you," she said, a bit of surprise in her voice. The crowd relaxed, and some even started to resume what they were doing before the two humans appeared. Nate walked up next to Kendra and looked down at the gray mare.

"Sorry about that awkwardness; we just wanted to come out and meet the locals, y'know we're new," he gave a brief pause, "I realize I probably scared you when I pointed and laughed, but I just find it a little funny that you were wearing nothing but a bow tie." Nate's voice was a stark contrast to Kendra's: confidence, clarity, a beautiful middle range, a little gruff but friendly. The mare's smile widened.

"Oh, it's no worries. I'm sorry for being so nervous around you—you being so tall and all." Now that the mare had a chance to talk, the two humans took note of her seemingly urban British accent: posh, and succinct. She chuckles as Nate and Kendra talk over each other while dismissing the apology. She spoke up again once they were done, "Ah! One must not forget their manners when meeting a new acquaintance. I am Octavia. It's a pleasure to meet you." Out of habit, Octavia extended her right hoof upwards--to account for the height difference. Nate and Kendra looked at each other and back to Octavia's outstretched hoof in confusion before shrugging, kneeling, and going for a handshake and individually introducing themselves.

The hoof/handshake hybrid was slightly uncomfortable. For Octavia, the grasp of fingers around her hoof was a new and exciting experience. It unnerved her slightly to have such long protrusions griping her hoof, but the human's grasps were gentle, so that made it more tolerable. For the humans, on the other hand, the experience was familiar, sparking that feeling that they got whenever a high-five turned into a turkey. It wasn't pleasant.

After quickly, but respectfully, pulling back each one's respective extremities, Octavia looks back up to the humans. "You said you two were new around here, right?" The humans both nodded. "That probably means you haven't had a proper tour of Ponyville yet."

"Yeah, we got here yesterday, so we only got to pass through twice," Nate said

"If that's the case, I can show you around. I was just passing through here while I was on my way back home. It's on the other side of town, so it won't be too much of a problem."

The humans looked at her in gratitude and accepted the impromptu tour. The town was bustling with ponies. Stallions and mares conducted business while colts and fillies played in the roads, only pausing to look at the humans who were enjoying their tour of the town. Octavia had taken the two humans all across the village to the most visited places in Ponyville. Sugarcube Corner, the center square by the mayor's office, miscellaneous stores, and took a couple of detours to see the school and Sweet Apple Acres where they had a quick conversation with Applejack on her way back to the farm.

The more time they spent together, the more the two humans not only got to understand the world around them, as they had a resident to throw general questions at, but they also got to know Octavia more. They learned about cutie marks, magic, societal norms, how earth ponies did anything with just her hooves, and how ponies played instruments. Octavia being a cello player, shocked the two, and from that, the humans and pony bonded over music in the time between their makeshift tour destinations.

After a lot of walking and talking, the tour guide and her dimensional tourists decided to take a break and sit by the fountain near the town hall. They collectively sit down on the fountain edge. Nate looked at the statue of the mare in the basin before looking down at the water. He hopped off the ledge patting and checking his front and back pockets. Sad that he found nothing, he looked over to Kendra. "Hey dumb question, but ya got any change on you? Matter of fact, do you even have pockets?" he asked. Kendra checked her jeans and shook her head.

"No. Why?"

Nate sat down again and lightly cursed under his breathe. " Ah, dammit, I wanted to make a wish," He replied, somewhat dejected before sighing, "Oh well."

In the silence of the moment with no further questions for Nate, Octavia took this opportunity to ask something that had been weighing on her mind for a little bit. "Um, excuse me for asking, but weren't there three of you when you passed through yesterday?"

"Yeah. His name's Cameron. He's a real piece of work," Kendra answered.

"Where is he, if you don't mind me asking," Octavia asked again.

"He said he was out exploring, right?" Kendra tossed the question over to Nate.

"Yeah, he went exploring."

"Exploring where?" Octavia again, but before Nate could answer, he saw a tall, dark humanoid figure lumbering over to them. From the looks of it was breathing hard and sweating profusely.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Nate pointed over to Cameron, who looked almost dead from exhaustion but had a big smile plastered across his face.

Author's Note

Sorry for being so late again. Tell me how i'm doing so far give me any and all criticism. Thanks for reading.