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                The Unforgettable Vacation                 
                        -by makota-                        
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                       Something New                       
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Something New
“Look MC., If you want to be different you should go to the Human World.” MC. a cyan-colored mare with a snow white mane gave her friend a questioning look. “Don't look at me like that, you know how my father's shop is one of the few with human merchandise," MC. nodded. "Well every once and a while when he goes to the human world to meet with the human that he gets his supplies from, mom and I go with him. It's usually pretty boring but afterwards we take some time to see a few sights." MC. would have been more questioning of her friend if she hadn't known her for so long.
MC. thought to herself for a moment. “Well, I will think about it.”
Six Months Later.
MC. Walked over to her partially full saddlebags dropping another item of her personal belongings in with the rest.
“I just don't see why you have to go to the human world.” Bookkeeper a blue mare with the same snow white mane as her daughter, followed her to her bedroom, worried about her daughter's choice of vacation.
MC. Rolled her eyes “Mom, it's not that big of a deal. The portal has been open for almost two years and lots of ponies go there on vacation now.” MC. stared off into space as she pictured some of the wonderful things that her friend told her about the human world.
Bookkeeper moved to stand in between her daughter and the saddlebags she was packing. “I just don't understand why the human world. Couldn't you just go with your sister GT. to one of the beautiful locations you can visit here in Equestria.”
MC. pushed past her doting mother placing the last item in her bag before closing it. She then sighed as she turned around and gave her mom a hug. “Please mom, who knows when GT. is going to be back and I'm only going to be over there for a few days, I'll be just fine.”
“I just don't think it's safe, you know that they have a specific kind of human called a deviant?”
MC. couldn't help but chuckle. “Mom, they’re called deities and they are not bad… think of them as the unicorns of humans.” her mom pulled away from the hug to look her daughter in the eye before realizing that she wasn't going to be able to talk her out of it.
“At least promise me you will be safe.” MC. nodded, getting a smile from her mother. “Well then I'm going to head home.”
With one last hug and friendly goodbyes, MC. was finally alone. Finding a nice comfy spot on her couch she opened up her Human language book, it was a leftover from the class she had taken about earth that was supposed to help prepare those going to earth for extended stays of months to years. As such it included more than just language help. Stuff like etiquette, politics, and economics the latter two didn't interest her as much since she was only going to be there a couple of days. After a couple of hours studying she stopped satisfied that she at least knew enough to get by with her two-day trip but bringing the book along just in case. Fixing herself a quick dinner she ate and tried to go to sleep but found herself too excited to rest.
Moving over to where her packed bag laid she opened it up and pulled out some paperwork, the first one was a small booklet attached to a string so that she could wear it around her neck, something that the humans called a ‘passport’ it was supposedly something that she was to keep on her at all times. As she opened it up four brochures fell out, they were the places that planned on visiting during her stay, the first was a museum dedicated to human history, second was a tour of the deities main building where she was supposed to be able to get the closest one could get to the most powerful deities that were available including some time to speak with them. The last ones were a relic from the gods' civil war and a art museum and where the most trouble came from they were in the next town, a place called Ambridge city. Which meant that it was a half a day of travel just to get to. So she planned on staying in that town for the night so that way she could spend the whole day there then head back in the evening. She took the passport and pamphlets and stuck them back into her saddlebags, resigning herself to go to bed.
The next morning she woke up to the loud ringing of her alarm. Questioning for a moment why her alarm is set for this Celestia damn hour she was about to lay back down when she remembered her trip. Excitedly, she jumped from her bed and headed for the kitchen deciding to get a good meal before she started her trip. After eating she grabbed her saddlebags and opened the door only to be surprised by her parents.
“Hi, Sweetheart.” Each of her parents greeted her in turn as they hugged their daughter.
“What are you two doing here?”
“Well, your father and I decided to take the day off so we could see you off on your big trip and walk with you to the portal Station.”
MC. rolled her eyes but smiled. “You're acting like I'm going to be gone for a long time… but I would appreciate it anyway.” The truth was that MC. was nervous about her first major trip and walking with them might help calm her a bit.
Her father, a stallion with a darker coat than hers who had always been a quiet stallion finally chipped in as they started walking. “Are you excited to finally be going?”
MC. smiled. “I'm so excited, I've wanted to see the human world for some time now.” as they drew closer to the portal station the humans became more predominant but that was common since Equestria was as much a tourist vacation for humans as their world was for equestrians. With Canterlot being the only town that had a portal station it was the only place to travel between the two worlds. It only made sense that as you drew closer to it you would see more humans leaving the station. As they reached the station she gave each of her parents one last goodbye hug before heading inside.
Inside the large building were several lines, many of them leading to counters where information could be found, a currency exchange counter, and a general help area each had a service pony behind it. The largest line headed back further into the building that was the one she needed because it would take her to the portal. The line thankfully didn't take too long. After rounding the final corner she saw that there was a checkpoint before she reached the portal which she could now see in all its glory. It was a large metal structure with several lines of blue that pulsed with life zigzagging throughout it and a swirling vortex of distortion that ponies and humans were both disappearing and appearing in two distinct lines. When she hit the checkpoint he showed her ‘passport’ to the pony behind the counter before it was her turn to move through the portal. Now with the portal looming in front of her MC.’s nerves shot through the roof causing her to hesitate long enough to cause a voice to speak up from behind her.
“First time going through the portal?” The voice was rough. Looking back she saw the voice had come from a human which surprised her because they spoke perfect Equestrian. Nodding her head the human smiled at her. She noted that while the human had almost jade green eyes and their hair was completely snow white just like hers besides a single stripe of purple down one side. “If it'll help you can close your eyes and I will lead you through.
She looked at the portal again then turned back to the human. “I think that might help.” The human walked up next to her and placed a hand on the middle of her back.
“Alright, here we go.” The human moved forward applying just enough pressure to encourage her to move alongside them as they moved the human spoke up again. “hold your breath for a second.” She chose to not question them and took a quick breath then there was a quick squeezing feeling going down her as though she was passing through a thin layer of water. After the squeezing stopped she finally opened her eyes and was enchanted by the sight before her.
Gone was the equestrian style of architecture instead stood a building alien in design. The art that decorated the walls now instead of featuring ponies of significance now features humans. The same zigzagging lines of life now moved across the entire building in every direction. To the immediate left and right were two other portals just like the one she had come from but with other alien species coming through. MC. looked to the human that had helped her noticing that they seemed to be dressed in some well worn loose fitting clothes.
“Thank you…” she paused, realizing she didn't even get his name.
“Chris.” he filled in for her as the two of them had moved from the line getting out of the way.
“Call me MC.” She held out her hoof to which Chris gave a quick bump to the mare's confusion.
“Is this Your first time in the Human world?” MC. shyly nodded. “Then may I suggest you head over there.” Chris pointed over to a large window on the other side was a large classroom setting. “They teach basic information and rules you may need to know while here.”
MC. smiled and shook her head feeling proud of her preparedness. “Actually I already took a class like that back in Equestria.”
Chris was about to say more when a ringing started, prompting them to look at their watch. “Oh, My time is almost up, I gotta get going.” Chris stood up and walked away.
MC. now alone began looking around for her next stop, the currency exchange counter. As she looked around again this time she saw the signs hanging about all now in human, they were a little challenging to read but eventually, she found the right one. After waiting in line for what felt like forever it was finally her turn at the counter. Pulling out the sack of bits that her family had helped her save up for this trip from her saddlebag she braced herself against the counter as she stood to place the bag down. “I would like to exchange this.” The human sitting behind the counter at first didn't look up at her, instead they were finishing up the paperwork from the prior customer. MC. waited patiently once they had finished, they looked down at the sack of bits before reaching up they tilted it just enough to catch a glimpse of what was inside before raising an eyebrow at her.
“First time on earth huh,” they spoke in human to her
MC. shyly nodded. “Is it really that obvious?” She chose to speak back in the best possible human that she could muster, hoping she didn't mess up too much.
The human gave her a comforting smile. “Don't worry, there's always a first time for everything.” they reached forward grabbing the bag of bits and pulled it closer to themselves. “I just need you to come to this side for a moment of your time.” MC. did as they asked, going through a door that led to the other side of the counter. When she arrived she was surprised to find the human they were talking to currently speaking to another one. The second human turned their attention to her.
“I'm sorry to take up more of your time but if you will follow me we can get you settled as quickly as possible.” The new human had spoken to her in a very rough but understandable Equestrian then led her a little further into a small room. Once there the human smiled at her. “My name is Alex and I am the manager here.” MC. quickly filled in her name. “It's nice to meet you. Anyways the reason you were brought back here was so that I could ask you if you knew what the current exchange rate was for the Equestrian bit.” MC. thinking back to the class she had taken before this trip she remembered all the Etiquette stuff, dangers, and general information about getting around in the human world but once they had started talking about politics and economics she just found the subjects too boring to stay focused on. Shaking her head she both cleared her thoughts and gave Alex their answer. Alex sighed “Okay well the current exchange rate is one Equestrian bit to one hundred and fourteen and some change earth Dollars.
As Alex spoke MC. eyes went wide. “What.”
Alex nodded “Now you see why I have taken you aside. In the bag, you are currently carrying about six thousand dollars.” Alex paused, letting the information sink in. “So the normal option for you is that we give you the cash but I'm afraid that will put you at risk carrying around that much.” Alex paused as if debating something with himself. “Or I could set you up with a special deity account. It is not something done for tourists but we use a machine to implant a small magic chip in one of your forelegs but it will be tied to an account that will keep track of all your money and all you need to do to pay for something is press the chip to a scanner.”
MC. sat in silence weighing her options before she looked up at Alex. “Does it hurt?”
Alex looked confused for a second before he smiled. “The chip implant, not at all.”
MC. only had one other question “Will you be able to remove it when I go back?”
Alex nodded “yes the removal is just like the placement only takes a couple of seconds then I will refund all the bits you hadn't used yet and erase the account.”
MC. nodded “Okay, let's do it.” Alex stood up and motioned for her to follow as they left. He hurried down a couple of hallways before he stopped in front of another door looking around. He quickly opened it and rushed her in, inside was a pretty empty room save for the large machine that was sitting in the corner covered in a thin layer of dust. Walking over to the machine Alex flipped a switch on it causing pulsating blue lines of life to appear.
“Okay just place whichever fore hoof you prefer into the stir up and we will be done in no time. Following their directions and putting her hoof into place another piece of the machine came out and clamped down holding her in place. Alex in the meantime was tapping away on a monitor that she couldn't see. “Okay, we are all ready to go.” With one final tap the machine started to make some noise but almost as soon as it had started it stopped and let go of her hoof. Taking a quick look at her hoof she could see a faint glow under her fur for a few seconds before it stopped. "Now if you forget where exactly it is just touch the area that the implant is in it will start to glow."
MC. gave her thanks as Alex walked her back out to the counter. Finally getting to leave the portal station she looked around off to one side where the flying species that had taken a special class would be allowed to lift off and land from and looking around made sense as to why it was needed because this place was packed, it was hard to see anything through the crowd of humans. Moving her way through the crowd she finally made it to the street where she saw the human carriages except that they were made of metal with no wheels they just floated off the ground and no pony to pull them. Waving her hoof out she got the attention of a taxi cab who pulled up in front of her so that she could climb in.
“Where can I take ya little one?” The cab driver said as she closed the door.
“Can you take me to the Deity history museum?”
“You got it.” The driver confirmed and immediately pulled away. MC. watched in awe as they passed by a building so tall that she couldn't see the top of from the cab. Her friend was right, this was way different from Canterlot. There each building had a unique flare, here everything was built uniformly. She wondered how the human could even tell some buildings apart from the others.
Once the cab came to a stop the driver turned towards her. “that will be twenty-eight fifty.” MC. quickly reached into her saddlebags before remembering that she no longer had her bag of bits.
“Oh right,” she spoke mostly to herself. Reaching with her hoof she touched near the spot where they had put the chip and she got the desired effect once it started to glow. “Do you accept this?” she asked, holding up her leg to show off the glowing spot.
The driver's eyes went wide. “of...of course I don't know a single reputable company that wouldn't take that. Just put it up to the scanner on the seat behind me.” MC. followed their instructions as she placed her hoof up against a small protrusion on their seat there was a soft beep to inform her that it worked.
“Thank you,” MC. spoke as she left the cab.
“No, thank you.” The driver called back, as the door came to a close the cab pulled away.
MC. watched a little confused about the reaction that she got but decided that it wasn't worth worrying over. Turning around she headed inside the museum. Once through the door she saw a long line all the way up to the counter she sighed figuring that she was going to have to wait in line until she saw a second counter. Taking a closer look at it she noticed a sign hanging above that read Deity accounts. She had to thank Celestia that today must be her lucky day. As she reached the counter she used it to stand on her rear hooves much to the confusion of the human behind it. “One please.” She stated as she thrust her hoof out. The human continued to stare at her in confusion as they grabbed their scanner and waved it over her hoof. Eyes going wide as it made a confirmation beep. MC. smiled happy that she took the human up on the offer for this account so far it has only benefited her. Walking through the turnstile into the museum she wandered about looking at all the exhibits when one started to talk to her.
"As seen here Earth used to be teeming with life before the great calamity." There was a holographic diorama of a beach with life skittering about that would whirl around and you were suddenly underwater watching the different animals. As she passed by another exhibit of wreckage and fire with a screen nearby showing a scene of humans fighting a dragon.
“Found recently in an archeological dig site this partially restored documentary called Reign of fire shows the struggles of humans without magic to defeat the now extinct dragons of their age.” a voice from the exhibit said. She didn't stay too long at that exhibit as a voice rang through the museum that reminded her why she came to this one.
"The history of the earth video presentation will be starting in ten minutes in theater seven. All those who wish to attend please head there now." Heading directly to the theater, she found that it was a large circular room with some sort of machinery in the middle in circles by the seating. a bored looking human at the door was handing out translators that MC. figured it would be nice since the presentation would probably talk too fast for her to catch everything in human. Choosing a fairly close up open seat she had a little trouble getting comfy as the seat wasn't built with ponies in mind. As the lights began to dim the machine in the middle whirled to life and a projection of a globe appeared in the middle of the room and a voice boomed in.
"Welcome to Earth, the year is 167 BG. The planet is lush and full of life but unknowingly in a couple of years the discovery of magic and the subsequent harvesting of it will kill ninety-nine percent of both plant and animal life."
The globe changed to illustrate by showing the greenness of the planet shrinking while deserts expanded. “Then a new group of humans appeared, the Deities and their leaders called Gods. They slowly took control of the planet with their abilities to manipulate magic without the use of large machinery.” Arrows formed on the globe and started to spread out in every direction.
"Once the Gods were in control they ruled for millions of years leading the large cities that have now spread across the globe. But not all was peaceful. The Gods were powerful and corrupt forcing their deities to fight for their amusement and forcing humans to work their life away in order to just barely survive. But with the magic in our planet continuing to decline they were forced to find a new source thus started the portal project with the help of the smartest humans and deities they figured out how to open a link between our world and other worlds of powerful magic, where deities would infiltrate the civilization in order to find the best tactic of taking over and securing a new supply of magic for use. But one God got tired of the way that humans, deities, and the other worlds inhabitants were treated and started a rebellion. For thousands of years, this civil war between gods raged on until Victor the leader of the gods was betrayed by his most loyal and most powerful deity. Though his name was lost we know that this deity then led the rebellion armies taking down Artemis and Toni the last of the gods that struggled against the rebellion. Once the rebellion was finished Rose the last of the gods had this to say." The visuals that had been illustrations disappeared and were replaced by the upper body of a woman.
"If you are seeing this message then the time of the gods have passed. I alone cannot make things better but if we work together we can build a better tomorrow for everyone. I have already sent deities out to every corner of not only our own world but to every single one that we had conquered with this message. The power of the gods is too great therefore once peace has returned and leadership has stabilized I will be disappearing for good." The head disappeared and an image of the city they were in took its place.
"Thanks to the efforts of everyone we now live in the stunning city that you see today and thanks to the alliances we have made through dimensions we have been given the opportunity to return life to our planet." The lights in the theater slowly started to come back to full strength as the image faded.
"Please watch your step as you leave the theater." As MC. dropped off the translation device and left the theater she found herself wandering around until she came across a section of the museum that was separated by a hallway. On the other side was a sign that pointed towards the deity and gods section. Soon entering the first thing she noticed was the projections of humans that were in every corner. Moving to the closest exhibit, the display was three different humans standing next to each other. Her approach seemed to activate it as it lit up and began speaking.
"In the time of the god's deities belonged in one of three categories." Two of the humans faded and the one remaining began to spin showing off the machinery strapped to their back. "The first was the capacitor deity. Capacitor deities often struggled with the formation of magic but excelled at the manipulation and storage of it, they often wore large specially designed tanks that they would fill with as much magic as they could." The first human stopped spinning and faded as a second human took their place. "The second kind of deity was the creator deity. Creator deities were very good at the formation of magic but had trouble manipulating it, as such they had to use external sources of magic for most complex uses." The second human disappeared and a third one took its place. "The last kind was the fighter deity. The fighter deities didn't excel at either formation or manipulation but instead were able to balance between the two this allowed them to be more versatile than the others. Often the fighter deities were used by the Gods as a way to entertain themselves by forcing two into an arena style of combat." After it was done the whole exhibit reset itself.
Moving on to the next one it showed the same three humans as before. "After the time of the gods the jobs of Capacitor and Creator deities has much remained the same but the fighter deities no longer being forced to fight each other have taken up jobs as first responders in times of crisis, in fact, the title of fighter deity has been removed and re…." She didn't hear what the exhibit had to say as a loud noise rang out indicating the time. Looking at the clock she realized just how much time had passed.
"Shoot I gotta get to the deity center if I'm going to make it to the tour." With that, she made for the exit as quickly as she could. Once outside she hailed down a cab and was quickly off to her next destination. As she paid and left the cab she bolted straight into the deity center and to the front desk. Taking a moment to catch her breath she then stood up on it. "Hi, I'm here for the tour." The female human looked up from her desk and smiled.
“Right this way please.” The human stood up and led MC. to a door. On the other side was a small room with several others already inside. Taking a seat she waited patiently, soon enough their guide had arrived.
“Hello everyone my name is Hailey. We are so happy to have you all here today there is just one rule that we need to go over before we head out. Please do not wander off from the group, this building is full of restricted areas and often they are full of dangerous stuff and we don't want anyone getting hurt. With that out of the way please follow me.” The guide opened a door in the back of the room and proceeded to lead everyone out into this new hall. “The first floor that is open to the public and deities alike has a shared gym and pool for exercise and off to this side there are the locker rooms. "Alright everyone if you just come this way we will get on this elevator and I can show you some more of the building." Hailey pushed a button on the wall causing a couple of doors to open and then ushered everyone inside. Pressing a button on the wall she then started talking again. "So we are going straight to the fifth floor mainly because the second and third are just living quarters for deities and the fourth is a training room but you will get to see that." While waiting MC. took a better look at the others in the group and noticed that this group while mainly consisting of young humans and their parents did have a number of other species in it.
"Do deities have to live here?" A young voice called out.
"Not at all the deities are free to choose their own housing if they want but a lot of deities do enjoy the closeness they get to other deities from living here as well as when they work in this building it makes for an easy commute." Suddenly there was a ding as the doors opened and Hailey gathered everyone outside. The hall that they were in had a glass window lining one side. "Now if everyone were to look through the window where you will see the training rooms down below and oh we seem to be just in time for the first responder's disaster training." As MC.watched it was an empty room that had a bunch of people gathered on one side. "Now thanks to advancements in hard light technology they are able to simulate any kind of terrain so that they may be ready." Lights suddenly filled the room building upon each other until the entire room looked like a city. Suddenly the humans made their move as the city started to fall apart. From what she could see they seemed to move in three distinct teams, the first group seemed to be the fastest ones as they scattered about, she could hear yelling but not make out what was being said. The second group seemed to be a defensive group as ice and groundwork would move around them in ways that seemed to help hold the collapsing city together. Then the last group would move in and search around a bit before pulling what looked like another human from the rubble before they would glow and disappear. As she watched in awe but her sight was suddenly distracted By quick flashes coming from the side as she looked she noticed that there were some rooms separated though none of them had any roofs.
"What's going on over there?" She asked, drawing the attention of everyone. Hailey looked over to where MC. was pointing.
"Oh, that." She had pressed a button on the side of the window and a zoomed in version of the room appeared. It was two humans fighting each other. "Even though deities are no longer forced to fight each other there are some that prefer to spar against others in order to hone their skills." They all watched this fight for a little bit before their guide moved them back into the elevator. "Next we will be seeing the Creators lab." As they all left the elevator they were greeted with another window, this one though was at floor level as they looked around there were many different species moving about all of them wearing lab coats though one thing stuck out to her.
"How come there's no Equestrian's here?" This seemed to get the attention of the group as they all began scanning the room.
"Well, the Equestrian species is still relatively new to our world with the portal being open for travel for only a few years now so my best guess would be that none of the applicants from Equestria have completed the tests to become one yet."
"What kind of tests are there to become a deity?" Someone else chipped in.
The tour guide moved as she spoke, continuing the tour. "Well I'm not a deity myself so I don't know all the tests, but I do know that being one is not easy on both the mind and body so they have many rigorous tests to make sure that anyone applying is going to be okay." She suddenly stopped and motioned to the window next to them. Inside was a gym-like structure with several humans on workout equipment with a second human nearby watching them. "This is where they test the physical fitness of the applicants." Moving on she continued to speak. "I also know there is an isolation test, a mental health test, and a magic test and even though I personally haven't seen those ones I have heard applicants complaining about them." As they moved down the hall the tour guide finally stopped at a door. "So here is where you will get to meet some of our deities and ask them questions." As they all filed into the room, where several humans were already standing off to one side there were several tables and chairs for them to sit at. As everyone took a seat, MC. took a random empty chair near the back. "First we will allow our guests to introduce themselves. Then we will have about an hour of time for questions." With that, the tour guide took a seat off to the side and one of the humans stepped up.
"Hello I'm Alicia I'm one of the leaders of the first responders, my group specifically is one of the builder groups that help with the reconstruction of homes and buildings during the aftermath of a disaster. My personal rune is, communicate which allows me to link my entire team together so that we can talk at any distance." After they were done talking they moved on to the next human.
"Hello my name is Harry, I'm a Capacitor deity. I am currently working with the revitalization organization to help bring sections of our planet back to life." After moving aside the next one came up.
"I'm Sean, a creator deity, I am also working with the revitalization organization. My unit is focused on animal life using DNA from fossils found at dig sites." As he stepped aside the next one that stepped up was a little different, while the others had looked calm and ready this one looked more nervous.
"H...hello." This human stuttered out." As they then took a deep breath Though MC. suddenly felt something behind her not that it touched her but more of it gave off a weird feeling. Looking back she was surprised to see a human with fiery red hair that was spiked up as she didn't notice anyone else coming in and she sat behind everyone else away from the door. When the human had noticed that she had seen them they gently put a finger to their lips indicating to keep quiet. "Th..thank you." She turned back and realized that she had missed the nervous humans part. As they stepped aside everyone in the tour stood up presumably to ask questions to the individual deities. As she stood up to talk with the deity that she had missed she heard a commotion coming from outside the room.
"I know he is in there." Another voice spoke but wasn't understandable, presumably trying to calm the first one. Everyone in the room was now looking at the door except for the single human that was giving off the strange feeling they just seemed to be chuckling to themselves while drinking something out of a teacup that they somehow now had. "I don't care what's going on in there… fuck you I haven't needed my badge in this place for years now...I just need Simon to sign this fucking paperwork so I can get started on my vacation." There were questioning murmurs throughout the room as everyone looked around strangely enough though no one seemed to look at the unknown human in the room.
"I know he's in there because this is the most inconvenient place for him to be right now." Suddenly the door flew open on the other side was the human that had just kicked open the door, MC. recognized them as Chris. A few humans came in on them from the sides of the door grabbing and pulling them away. "Simon I know you're in here, don't make me go to her you know what she will do if I have to get her to do your paperwork again."
The way they spoke it seemed more like a threat as he was pulled away. Chris reached out straight for the unknown human. It was only a little while before things calmed back down. Looking around she wanted to talk to and she had a very nice and polite conversation with Alicia the first responder deity, it was soon interrupted by a knocking. Their tour guide was the one who got up and answered.
"Oh my Hello. Please come in." As they stepped inside MC. was shocked to see none other than Princess Twilight Sparkle walk into the room. Quickly getting up from where she was sitting she made her way over to the princess and bowed down. Feeling something lift her up she looked up to find that Twilight's magic had lifted her.
"There is no need for that here." She spoke softly, almost a whisper. The Alicorn then lifted her head up high. "I'm sorry for intruding on your tour. Please don't mind me, I'm just looking for something and I was told that it might be in this room." With that, her horn lit up again and waves of magic radiated into the air. MC. could only watch in awe as the waves passed through everything except for the unknown human when they touched them they seemed to bounce heading back to Twilight. "Ah, there you are." There was a sudden glow around the unknown human's ear that started pulling dragging them outside the room as Twilight left.
"Well I'm not sure what all happened there but our time is up so if everyone will follow me I will take you all back down to the front of the center." Their tour guide stood back up leading them all back to the front of the building. As MC. left the building she looked to the clock on the front of it seeing as she had plenty of time before the bus would leave she decided to walk and take in a few sites on her way. Several of the stores that she walked by had human mannequins in the windows displaying clothing or shelves displaying various objects, she made a note about the stores that had something that caught her eye deciding that on her way back she would stop by and see if they could make any of them fit her and maybe find a few that she could hit for souvenirs before heading home. As she arrived at the bus station she quickly purchased her ticket and made her way to the bus. Once there she was surprised to find quite a few military humans surrounding several buses including the one she was boarding.
"What is going on," MC. asked as she reached the human taking tickets at the door to the bus.
The human looked at the pony with a questionable look for a second until the realization came across his face. "Oh, you must mean the armed escort. Well, you see there have been some unintended side effects with the planet revitalization project. Some animals on the route seem to have a negative response to the project becoming more aggressive while they have never attacked some upper management person decided it would be good to have a plan in place in case such an event did happen." A worried look must have crossed her face because the human tried to calm her down. "Don't worry about it like I said they have never attacked before and the big stuff rarely moves from their source of magic."
MC. nodded then made her way onto the bus, looking around she found an empty seat next to a sleeping human as she drew closer she was surprised to see that it was Chris though he was dressed up in a nice suit and tie and his hair now missing all color leaving it pure white. he was still recognizable from the commotion that he caused earlier. Sitting down in the seat next to him she secretly hoped that he would wake up during the ride so that she could ask him some questions about earlier. So she waited and after the most boring eight hour trip in her life he hadn't woken up, after leaving the city walls there was nothing but dessert as far as she could see until they entered the next city. She had even snacked her way through most of the food that thankfully was kept fresh by an enchantment on a small pocket in her saddlebags. By the time they arrived, night had fallen and last she saw as she got off the bus Chris was still asleep. Tired and exhausted from the day and the ride there MC. made her way to the hotel that her friend had reserved and paid for in advance since she said that was how they do it in the human world. Walking to the front desk she smiled at the person behind the counter.
"Hello, I'm MC. and I'm here to check in."
The human smiled back at her, tapping a few things on the screen in front of her. "Ah yes here you are." She pulled out a pad. "If you could just place your hoof on this pad." MC. did what she was asked as she touched the pad and a light shone out of it around her hoof.
"What was that?" MC. asked.
"Oh many Equestrians struggle with the locks at our hotel so instead we use a biometrics lock for our Equestrian rooms." there was only one word in that sentence that she didn't understand but if it had shown through the human behind the counter didn't react. "Your suite is on the fourth floor, room 25. Just place your hoof on the scanner and it should let you in." MC. nodded and silently left, following the instructions given to her she found her room. As she placed her hoof on the scanner the same kind of light shone through around her Hoof before she heard a click and the door opened. She stood in awe of what she saw. The room that she was staying in was bigger than her home. After shutting the door behind her the first thing she did was drop her saddlebags and breathed a sigh of relief.
"I should have done these ones first so that I didn't have to carry that all day." She stretched out her back while she checked out this room. The bedroom and bathroom were huge, it had a full working kitchen though it had nothing stocked in it and through the living room and dining room were combined it didn't feel cramped at all. MC. wished she could afford a nice place like this to live in. Finally heading to the bed the moment she laid down the exhaustion from the day finally caught up with her and she was out in an instant.
The next morning she woke up to the sun shining brightly through the curtains stretching and then rolling out of bed she made her way to the bathroom for a nice relaxing bath before going to her saddlebags and pulling out ingredients for a sandwich for breakfast. She then packed her stuff and moved on with her day. Her first stop was the relic, it was a special kind of bunker from the god civil war. Arriving at the meeting point she heard a voice call out to her.
"Over here please." Looking around MC. spotted a human waving to her motioning her over. MC. followed the human to a small clearing where several others were waiting. "We still have a few more minutes for the last arrivals before we leave for the bunker. There are some snacks and water if you would like some while we wait." The human motioned over to a table that had been set up. Soon enough they were on their way.
"Attention everyone, as we head to the site I'm going to go over some of the history of it." MC. looked to the front of the bus where the human that had greeted her was now talking on a radio that projected their voice through the bus. "The bunker that we are heading to was discovered around two hundred years ago and is believed to be one of the bunkers built by the rebellion leader during the gods' civil war. These bunkers were built in order to protect and hide both civilian and non-combat Deities." The tour guide continued their speech as the bus left the city. MC. watched the trail markers go by out the window as the tour guide continued on.
When the tour bus finally stopped and the guide filed them all off the bus MC. took a look around seeing nothing but dessert for miles around. “Where is the Bunker?” one of the other visitors asked.
“Well this bunker was hidden very cleverly using a mix of magic and non magic methods.” The guide reached into the sand next to a marker coming up with a rope in hand as they pulled a hatch slid open moving a mound of sand with it. “Now please be careful as you enter the bunker especially if you are a species that has an internal magic source. These bunkers were made to hide deities so as such they suppress magic. You may feel a weakening feeling upon entering but through extensive testing it has been deemed safe for all to enter.” The guide was the first to enter before stepping off to the side to assist anyone that needed it into the bunker. As MC. placed her hoof onto the first step she felt the immediate weakening feeling that the guide was talking about. After a few hours of wandering the bunker and the guide explaining how they used magic to pipe oxygen into the lower levels of the bunker the guide herded them all back onto the bus where they were driven back to the pick up point.
Her second stop was an art gallery. She spent most of her day there enjoying the wonderful pieces, there were even a few that could only be seen through a special lens though even with the lens it was still quite difficult for her to see something about human magic being normally invisible. Tired from her long day she made her way back to the bus station. When she got there the first thing she noticed was a crowd of people surrounding the ticket office, the second thing was a sign on a few of the buses saying 'Out Of Order.' Walking over to where there was a human standing next to one of the out of order buses she found the driver standing next to the engine of the bus with a pair of legs sticking out from under. "What's going on?" She asked the driver."
"There was a sandstorm last night and while it didn't hit the town hard it hit the station pretty hard and I'm not sure what happened but several of our buses wouldn't start because of it."
"How am I supposed to get home?" MC. asked worriedly.
"Don't fret now the station is doing what it can with the buses we have that are working if you go talk to the ticket manager they will have you squared away. In the meantime, this nice gentleman here has offered to help fix what he can." The human motioned to the pair of legs sticking out from under the bus.
"Luckily for most of them, it has just been a clogged magic intake." A muffled but strangely familiar voice said. The human under the bus slid themselves out revealing a dirty but recognizable Chris though now the strip in his hair was brown in color and he was back into his baggy clothing. "Luckily it's an easy fix but it just takes forever to get to it."
"Chris?" The calling of his namesake made him turn to the mare.
"Oh hey, your umm… MC. from the portal station yesterday."
MC. nodded. "Thanks again for your help. I probably would have held up the line a lot longer if it wasn't for you." As she spoke equestrian to him he gave her a confused look before realization dawned on him.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I don't actually know Equestrian." He sheepishly smiled at her before he slid back under the bus to continue his work.
Now it was her turn to be confused. "But didn't you speak it perfectly yesterday?" She chose to speak human this time.
"Well, you see I was sent on an errand to Equestria so I borrowed someone's knowledge of the language." He slid out from under the bus. "Okay go ahead and give this one another try." As he spoke the other human walked onto the bus and started it up. They gave Chris a thumbs up before pulling the bus away.
"Borrowed?" MC. asked while she watched him pick up the tools that were laying around.
"That's my rune as a deity, it lets me borrow the skills and or knowledge from someone else." MC. followed him as he started making his way to the next bus. "It comes in handy for both my real job and side job."
"Is that why you came here?"
"Yea you see my side job is to run errands for a higher up creator deity."
"This Simon you were yelling for yesterday?" MC. guessed remembering the incident.
"Oh, you saw that huh?" Chris looked slightly embarrassed before he quickly slid himself under the next bus and got to work soon after the other human was joining them again. "That man is absolutely brilliant and one of the greatest creators around but getting him to do any kind of paperwork is like pulling your own teeth out."
"And Princess Twilight?" MC. heard laughter coming from under the bus. "Don't let her hear you call her that here. Despite being the ambassador for Equestria and now apparently a princess the only thing she wants is to be treated like a normal person. But she is a fucking angel for dealing with Simon, I don't know what they are like when they go to Equestria but when she is on earth she is by his side at almost all times. Some days they seem more like a married couple than business partners."
"Business partners?"
Chris slid himself out from under the bus to give her a look before sliding back in. "Yea for the revitalization project, About ninety percent of the magic that is supplied to it comes from Equestria in return we help to develop Equestria's technology." The fact of the matter was for MC. that the new technology didn't seem like a big deal, so she never paid attention to where it came from. Sliding out from under the bus he gave the driver the go-ahead to try it.
When the bus started right up the driver poked his head out the window. "Well our technicians can handle it from here and as thanks, how about we get you on the next bus out of here."
Chris smiled. "That sounds great, I can finally get my vacation started." Then he looked down at MC. "Mind if she comes with me she did keep me company while I was working." The human nodded and led the two of them over to a bus that was being loaded. As they were walking she watched as Chris pulled out a phone and called someone only hearing half the conversation. "Hey man I just finished up and I'm on my way back so I can return it to you now...yeah thanks for letting me borrow it, this would have taken so much longer to get home without it." As he spoke MC. watched as the brown stripe in his hair began to fade leaving him with pure white hair. As the last two got on the bus they found seats next to each other near the front and continued their conversation as the bus pulled out of town and started making its way back. For several hours they talked, Chris seemed to be interested in how MC.'s vacation was going and what sort of sights she had been taking in. until the bus stopped popping and crackling noises could be heard and through the front window they could see a bunch of military people fighting with a giant reptile in the distance.
The driver quickly picked up the radio. "Attention all buses on route 105 there is contact with at least a class two kaiju near marker 352 please return to your departure points and await further instructions."
After the announcement was made Chris seemed to perk up. "Damn Looks like if I want my vacation I'm going to have to take care of this myself." MC. was a little confused as she watched him grab the radio out of the driver's hands. "This is Chris, hunter deity identification number 406358. I will personally clean up this class two myself if it means getting my vacation started earlier." Chris then turned to the driver. "Get this bus out of the danger zone." Chris didn't wait for a reply as he pulled his phone out and made his way off the bus. MC. panicked and followed her new friend off the bus despite the protest coming from the driver. "Hey, Mac, the other two home as well… great I need to borrow all three of your runes...yea got a class two here… Thanks." Chris hung up his phone and as he stood there he was suddenly surrounded by light as his white hair gained three different colors, black, blonde, and red. MC. was unsure about what he was doing, reached up with her hoof and tugged at his pant leg. As Chris turned around his eyes grew wide as he saw her standing behind him. "What are you doing MC. you need to get back on the bus." His sentence was cut short as he looked up and saw that the bus was already pulling away Chris sighed. "Look, just stay here and be safe okay."
"What are you going to do?"
Chris smiled. "I'm going to do my real job." With that, Chris turned around and ran off towards the commotion with a speed that was inhuman. MC. was forced to watch from a distance where she could just barely make out Chris as he fought this giant creature. Chris’s opening move had been to leap in and punch the giant lizard causing it to topple over. This had the unfortunate effect of turning Chris into the target of the beast's rage. Righting itself the beast turned to Chris charging only to get sent reeling as Chris had jumped to the side and gave it a swift kick. This time once the beast had regained its bearings it spit out an acid that had missed Chris but quickly turned one of the military vehicles into a steaming pile of scrap. As a black spot opened next to him Chris quickly pulled a sword out before jumping out of the way as the beast spit another volley of acid. This time as he reached the air he managed to jump again as if there was solid ground beneath him. From above the beast, he quickly pushed himself off the invisible surface coming down with his sword and lobbed the beast's head off.
Seeing the fight finished MC. ran to Chris. "Wow, Chris, that was amazing!" She yelled as she drew near. Chris turned holding out his hand and shouted for her to wait but it was too late the beast's eyes sprang open locking on to the only thing moving in front of it and with its last dying second launched one last volley of acid. The last thing MC. saw was the putrid green acid envelop her vision before there was nothing.