Another World: Discovering the Unknown

by Zen

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, DJ P0N-3, Human, Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Rainbow Dash, Original Character
Length: 44151

A group of friends trying to restore peace and learn more about their new home.

An accident on Earth creates a rift between Earth and an undiscovered world. This same accident also opened a similar rift between Equestria and this new land, and both humans and ponies came to live in peace. However, things are not quite as they seem, and disruptions across Haven create concerns over their new home.

Published 2012-11-04 21:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2013-11-27 20:17:07 UTC

Reunion

1: Reunion

Waves crashed against the long, crowded beaches. A coastal breeze offered slight relief from the unrelenting summer heat. For beach-goers the neighboring modern high rise condos that lined a major coastal highway offered no shade today. The only potential comfort was the prospect of an afternoon thunderstorm.

Zen leaned on the railing of his condo, looking over the beaches and out at the sparkling ocean. As his room was on the fifteenth floor of the high rise he had an unobstructed view of the beachfront, and it was a view he gratefully enjoyed each and every day. Zen shifted his gaze downwards onto the busy highway below. Even during slow hours this highway was constantly packed with cars. Every few minutes Zen could watch the light rail cars travel by between the highway and the beaches. He never understood why city officials refused to try and divert traffic; he was well aware that the city took up nearly half the island that it was situated on but there was still plenty of room to expand this highway. He only ever wondered this because without fail something would happen every day during evening rush hour that would bring the segments of the road in front of the condos to a complete halt.

The tall young adult liked living in Crystal City though. He never thought he could seriously live on an island for very long but found that he actually enjoyed it. Zen did concede eventually that Crystal City barely counted as an island city since the island was connected to the mainland by an eight-lane highway and that the mainland itself was only a few miles away.

Zen had always been a city dweller. Born in one of his home country’s largest coastal cities and raised not far from another massive metropolis by the mountains, he was accustomed to the busy life of living in the city. There was always something to do, people to meet and socialize with, and places to visit. In fact he had a number of friends he was supposed to meet that evening for dinner and a movie at the Crystal City Mall across the island.

Running fingers through his dirty blond hair, he contemplated his current situation. Zen was a socialite; he was rarely happier than when he was interacting with friends at social gatherings. Unfortunately that character trait got him kicked out of his house during a severe economic slump back in his home country a few years ago when his parents refused to even listen to him try to explain just how difficult getting a job was at the time. How he managed to land a fairly nice suite in Crystal City was something he had considered to be pure luck. Not even a year before he was evicted, he had been introduced into a cartoon called “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” that changed his life forever. At first he was hesitant to watch it; the show was originally geared towards young girls, yet for some reason it had gained something of a cult following among people his age rather quickly. After some time and much grief from his then-roommate from college, he eventually began to watch some episodes and was quickly drawn into it. Since then he had made countless friends that very quickly became something of a second family to him and often they felt like they were more his family than his actual family.

One day during the following summer shortly after getting booted to the curb, Zen was attempting to reach his friends in a city to the north when he heard some strange news. At the time he still had a working cell phone and had answered a call from one of the friends he was trying to get to. All across the online brony network there was chatter about some kind of device that would allow humans to travel to Equestria and back. How such a thing had ever been built he never found out, and that night the device malfunctioned and opened a rift to an unknown world. Despite all best efforts, the device could not be shut down, and within a day parties were sent in to explore this world. Discovering what appeared to be an empty world not unlike Earth, the bronies decided to inhabit it as their own, dubbing the new land as Haven. It was to be their ‘home away from home’, a place where they could live life how they wanted without the woes of the world they left behind. Within a decade several cities and a main capital had been fully developed and constructed; Crystal City was one such city. Since then peace and prosperity reigned over this new colony.

But something rather curious had happened; when the device went haywire it opened a secondary rift to this new world, but not from Earth. Instead this rift lead to Equestria, but this rift had opened up some distance away from where humans first arrived. Roughly a year and a half passed before the equines and humans crossed paths. Initially there was some conflict as confusion and surprise took over common sense, but after a quick meeting between ruling parties an understanding was reached and an alliance between the two factions was formed. In the year that followed, humans and ponies began to mingle and travel between the other’s cities. Being a more tourist-based location, Crystal City exemplified this mixing of the races.

Zen continued to watch the ocean sparkle in the mid-day sunlight. When he and his friends from an online forum decided to come to this place, many of them decided to leave their old identities behind and create new ones. Zen was quite partial to his forum handle ‘zenith’ but decided to shorten it to what he was often called, ‘Zen’. Zen was also naturally a blond, but when he arrived he immediately noticed that his hair was blue with a few streaks of turquoise. Nobody could explain why, but he wasn’t complaining; he liked the color blue and it matched his eyes. But whatever caused the color change happened to a fair number of others as well; occasionally Zen would see someone with lime green or neon pink hair, so he figured he couldn’t have been the only one.

The one thing that bothered him was that when he and his friends from back home travelled through the rift, most of them were separated when they arrived. Only three others from that group had ended up on the island with him, and since arriving he had only heard from two more. What made things complicated was that he lacked a means of travelling very far and despite the fact that entire cities had been built seemingly overnight there was still no reliable internet service. A phone service had been developed but getting an internet service that spanned across every developed part of Haven without the use of satellites was still slightly out of reach. However they had developed short range wifi within the developed cities that functioned fairly well for local use. But the lack of a global internet system hasn’t stopped Zen from trying to get back in touch with everyone; in fact part of what he was going to discuss with his friends that evening was possible ways to find everyone and get that whole group back together.

Zen took one long lasting look at the ocean before heading back inside the air-conditioned condo. He checked his phone to see no new messages and there still were several hours to go before the scheduled meeting time at the mall.

Just as Zen was about to relax in one of his couches and channel surf for something interesting there was a knock on the door. Zen wasn’t really expecting anyone, and he doubted that it was one of his friends that he was having dinner with later. Opening the door Zen was greeted by a grey male pegasus sporting a white mane.

“Hey Zen, some dude down at the beach was looking for you.” The pegasus said.

Zen raised an eyebrow. “You don’t say?”

“I do say. I also say that this person seems to know you really well and seemed like he was in a hurry.”

“Alright Sprinter, got a description for me?”

Sprinter thought carefully for a moment, as if trying to decide what words to use. “Yeah, he was about average height for a human, had dark hair, slightly tanned, and was wearing sunglasses.”

Fortunately and unfortunately for Zen that particular description fit several of his friends from Earth. He only had one choice from here. “Cool, thanks for the heads up. Whereabouts on the beach was he?”

“Just down by the boardwalk.” Sprinter pointed with a front hoof in the general direction of the boardwalk.

“Well I suppose we shan’t keep this guy waiting. Let’s go.” Zen closed and locked his suite before heading down the elevator and outside of the condo with Sprinter.

Zen had met Sprinter not long after landing his current home in that condo as compensation for helping in the construction of many of the city’s parks and beaches. The pegasus had been out flying with the waves when one crashed down on top of him and deposited him at the edge of the beach. Zen happened to be in the area and noticed that the pegasus had been washed up. Being the person he is, Zen couldn’t help but run over and make sure that the equine was alright. Fortunately Sprinter was mostly okay, just a few bruises and a damaged ego, and very quickly the two were chatting as if they had been friends for years and nothing had happened.

The two friends had made it out of the condo and across the busy highway by way of an underground pedestrian tunnel. Sprinter was busy trying to locate this mystery character.

“So I’m guessing this guy knows you know me somehow?” Zen asked, also scanning the crowded beaches.

“Considering how often you and I hang out most of your friends should know who I am.” Sprinter replied. After another moment he pointed with a hoof towards somebody. “There he is!”

Zen looked in the direction Sprinter was pointing and struggled to see anyone he recognized. “Where?”

“Right there by that pier. Blue shirt.”

Zen scanned the area by the pier but the bustling crowds made it difficult to see clearly. However he did manage to spot the mystery man and recognized him almost immediately. “That’s James…I wonder what he’s doing here…”

Sprinter shrugged. “Beats me, I just know that he really wants to talk to you.”

Zen quickly jogged across the hot sand and weaved between the crowds as he headed towards James, who spotted him and walked up to Zen when he got close.

“Long time no see Zen.” James greeted with an extended hand.

“Long time no see is right James.” Zen shook the extended hand. “So to what do I owe this visit? I thought you were working in Alliance?”

“I was, but when the city government caught wind of the group that we had back home they gave me orders to find as many of us as possible for some kind of project. Since you knew almost everyone I thought I’d start with you.”

“Well it is true that I got around back in Colorado…visited every region we had in that state and got to know a lot of people.” Zen mused. “You know I was actually going to have dinner later with Kevin and Zan. They both found me about a month ago and decided to stay here for the time being.”

“Sounds good.” James said. “Since dinner is still a few hours off, what’s there to do around here?”

Zen chuckled. “Well if you’re a tourist there’s plenty between the beachfront gift shops and the various strip malls and parks across the city. Otherwise we’ve got about the same that any other city in this world has.”

“I certainly noticed no lack of any beaches here, that’s for sure.” James looked up the beach and then at the condos across the highway. “You live in one of these?”

“Yup, that one there next to the intersection.” Zen pointed about halfway up the thirty-five floor structure. The condo, as with most of the other condos on the island, looked not unlike the average condo found in the many coastal cities in the state of Florida. Zen was originally from Florida, but has no memories of it due to moving away at a very young age. Not going back was one of the few regrets he had when he left for Haven.

“Well maybe we could crash at your place then?” James suggested.

“Not like there’s anything better to do for the time being.” Zen looked at the pegasus. “You wanna come?”

“Nah, I think I’ll go fly the skies for a bit. I’m liking this breeze.” Sprinter replied and promptly took off. Zen watched him go for a moment before motioning for James to follow.

“So about this proje-“ James began but was cut off by a gesture from Zen.

“Save it.” Zen said. “If it involves our group from back home then Kevin and Zan will want to hear this.”

James paused for a moment but nodded. James was also a part of the group that Zen was a member of before coming to Haven and getting separated. Though the two had never formally met beforehand, James had bumped into Zen on the mainland a few times. One thing that Zen noted was that James put on a tough façade more often than not but was really a friendly individual once his trust was gained. James had talked about having some friendships turn sour and how it had caused him to distrust people at first to avoid having it happen again. Zen could sympathize with that, and was pleased to learn firsthand that once he was able to gain James’ trust, James was a very loyal friend, though a bit quiet at times.

After heading back up to Zen’s condo, James immediately went to the balcony to get a view and Zen started up one of his many gaming consoles he brought to Crystal City and began to mindlessly pass some time on it. At some point James came back inside and settled down into an empty chair and watched Zen play. Zen cursed as he fell into a trap he had completely forgotten about and his character died. As he restarted the level, he noticed that James seemed to be deep in thought.

“What’s up dude?” Zen asked. “I know you have this tendency to be quiet but it looks like something’s really eating away at you.”

It took James a moment to respond, and when he did he almost sounded like he had barely even noticed he was being addressed. “Huh? Oh sorry, just got to thinking…how many are you currently in contact with?”

“Well including you there’s just Zan and Kevin.” Zen replied. “I have a vague idea as to the whereabouts of the others but it’s a shot in the dark at best and even then it’s only for a few. If you need our entire group then that could take a while.”

That last statement didn’t seem to bring James good tidings. “Hmm…we’ll just deal with it then. When exactly are we going?”

“We could leave now I suppose.” Zen put his controller down and shut off the screen. “It takes about half an hour to walk there from here.”

“Alright, let’s get going then.”

Zen could definitely tell that something was bothering James, and he has a suspicion that it was related to whatever business that had brought James to him in the first place. However he refrained from pressing the matter until they had met up with Zan and Kevin.

They took the stairs down to the lobby and from there exited the tower. Zen took a deep breath of the fresh, yet slightly salty, air. It reminded him of the home he never had.

“So which way from here?” James asked.

Zen pointed towards the middle of the city. “This way.”

Encounter

2: Encounter

There was one part about cities everywhere that Zen didn’t particularly care for; traffic. Even on this new world traffic behaved very much like it did back on Earth. Congested city streets, waits that feel like forever at pedestrian crossings, constant construction everywhere, this was one of the few aspects of life that experienced very little change on Haven.

The green light came on, the pedestrian signal changed, and Zen and James walked across one of Crystal City’s many inner-city streets. Zen could feel the heat radiating from the baking asphalt and was thankful for the cooling ocean breezes.

“Reminds me of back home…” Zen muttered as they reached the other side of the street and continued along it.

“What reminds you of home?” James asked.

“A lot of things actually.” Zen admitted. “Wandering the core streets of a big city, feeling the heat radiate from said streets and the concrete. You know the city I come from is not unlike this one.”

“Really now?” James replied. “And yeah this does kinda remind me of back home too. Heh, this actually slightly reminds me of the afternoon we met back in Colorado Springs at that mall.”

“You know what, this does seem a lot like that afternoon.” Zen laughed a bit. “And I’m glad I was able to go, even if that day left me broke afterwards. I had a lot of fun there.”

“We were glad you were able to come down for the day! I certainly remembered you being that guy who always wanted to try and make it to every meet, and often you did. So tell me, why is Crystal City like the city you come from? Longmont is nothing like this.”

“Longmont? Oh no, Longmont was just the place I grew up. I’m actually from Jacksonville.”

“As in, Jacksonville, Florida?”

“That’s correct.”

“That’s a pretty long ways away from where we were all at.”

“You don’t have to tell me that.” They reached another street and waited for the signal to change.

James looked around. “So how long were you in Colorado?”

“For longer than I cared for.” Zen replied, but lacked any sort of real emotion in his response. “Don’t get me wrong, Colorado’s a wonderful place, but I stayed in one place for far too long. I needed someplace to move that was new, someplace where I could just be myself and make my own schedule and not have to worry about too much.” The signal changed and the two walked across the street.

“Someplace like this one?” A knowing grin grew on James’ face.

“Exactly. It’s why I was so eager to leave and come here. Sure it sucked leaving my family behind and I do miss them, but since coming here much of the stress and frustration I had back home is gone and I feel like a totally new me. I can’t even remember the last time I’ve felt this good about anything.”

“I see…” James’ voice trailed off.

As the two walked, Zen was constantly observing everything around him. He observed the relatively cloudless sky above, people and ponies mingling on balconies across the many condos in the area, and a team of unicorns attempting to fix a rather large pothole in the road half a block to his left.

“I can see why you chose to establish yourself here, Zen.” James said as the pair crossed another road and under an elevated monorail.

“Oh yeah?” Zen replied, eyebrow raised.

“This place is both hot and humid, two things you always mentioned about having in your ideal home.” James answered. “You also have always seemed like the type who enjoys being in the bustle of the big city with plenty of things to do, but also enjoys being somewhere one can relax pretty easily in. Crystal City seems to fit that description as well.”

“Heh, you’d be correct on that one. Anyone who asked me about what I thought about living back home knew immediately that I preferred life elsewhere, even if it meant leaving the biggest and best social ring I ever stumbled upon.”

“Hey man, even if you had left us you’d always be welcome in our group.” James extended a closed fist.

Zen paused for a moment, then met closed fist with closed fist. “What about you though?”

“What about me?”

“What sort of place would you prefer? I can tell that Crystal City isn’t exactly your style.”

James was silent for a few moments. “…I miss Colorado.”

Zen sighed, remembering the place he used to call home. He wondered if anyone there still remembered him after ten years. “I think we all do James, in some way or another.”

In truth, Zen really did enjoy Colorado. There were few places in America where living well didn’t mean needing exceptionally deep bank accounts. Colorado was also one of the few places to have four truly distinct seasons, and had a lot of other very odd and special quirks that made it a popular place to both live and travel to any time of the year. The only real thing it lacked was a giant lake or an ocean of some sort; otherwise one could find almost anything there. Zen also didn’t particular care for the extreme dryness or for the elevation. He didn’t function very well at higher altitudes, but the fact that he put up with it for nearly twenty years must mean that he enjoyed living there well enough. He did miss the majestic Rocky Mountains however.

Their destination, the Crystal City Mall, was only a few blocks away now. Zen could actually spy some of the features of the multi-level structure between condos and office towers on his right. Glancing to his left, the city flattened out very quickly and he could see clear blue skies save for the occasional pegasus flying around.

On the ground groups of people and ponies of all varieties mingled at various shops and restaurants, in parking lots, and alongside streets. Even after a decade in Haven, Zen couldn’t help but feel a bit of pride in being where he was currently at. Not even in his wildest dreams did he ever think such a thing as humans and ponies living together in peace would be possible, and add in their own little world to share separate from both Earth and Equestria was like a golden frosting on the best cake he had ever had the honor to partake in. So while it was true that he also missed Colorado and the place he used to call home, he was equally as glad to have left the problems of that world behind and for the chance to start anew.

The two rounded a corner in the direction of the mall. Zen continued to walk without stopping, but he heard something that caused him to pause momentarily. Looking back for the source of the sound, he noticed that James had stopped by the corner. Zen backtracked and saw what James was looking at: a tan earth pony strumming on an acoustic guitar. The stallion looked like he had seen better days, but Zen thought that he could play the guitar pretty well. The two listened for several minutes in silence as the pony played on. What was being played was a mystery to Zen, who figured it must have been a song brought from Equestria. Zen enjoyed hearing the music of Equestria, a totally different culture and lifestyle meant more music for him to add to his already large library. This was especially true after he began to notice bands consisting of both humans and ponies where musical styles often blended and clashed at the same time to create totally new genres and sounds.

After a few more minutes of silently listening, Zen reached into his pocket and pulled out some pocket change. He deposited the coins in a jar that the stallion had set out. James also dropped a few coins into the jar and the two made to leave.

The stallion stopped playing long enough to give them a small salute of gratitude. “It’s much appreciated.” He said with a gruff voice.

“Always a pleasure to lend a hand to a fellow musician, especially one as talented as yourself.” Zen replied and returned the gesture in kind.

“You play too, huh?” The stallion looked up, revealing bright green eyes.

“A little. Can’t say I’m more than a novice, but I do play some bass guitar from time to time.”

“Heh.” The stallion returned his attention to his guitar playing. “Maybe you should stop by that joint there at the other end of the block. Got all kinds of locals showing up once a week to jam for whoever’ll listen.”

Zen looked over at the location in question. He couldn’t see much from this angle though. “I’ll keep that in mind. It was a pleasure to listen to your music though.”

“The pleasure was mine.” The stallion went silent as he continued to play.

Zen and James walked on. Zen glanced at the establishment that was recommended as they passed it. It was currently closed, so he couldn’t make much of it, but decided that he would in fact stop by at some point when it was open and maybe join a jam session.

Zen checked his watch as they crossed another street. “We’re going to be pretty early.” He observed.

“How early?” James asked.

“About forty-five minutes or so.” Zen said. “It gives us time to screw around at the mall, and I haven’t been there for a while. I’ve actually heard that there’s a new arcade, so we could check that out.”

“Alright, let’s do that.”

They crossed the last street and the large parking lot in front of the Crystal City Mall. As much as Zen enjoyed the heat and the general climate of his current home, he was looking forward to the air conditioned halls and shops of the multi-level structure.

Walking inside, Zen immediately headed for a directory. James simply stayed back for a minute to look around. Even indoors James kept his shades on; Zen never understood why.

“Okay, so we’re here…” Zen muttered as he pointed to a spot on the map. “…this is that new arcade here…” He pointed to the arcade on the list at the bottom of the map. “…if that is the store number, then that means it must be located…here!” He found where the arcade was located within the mall and motioned for James to follow.

Moments later the pair was standing at the entrance to the Crystal Arcade. Inside the walls were decorated to match the natural surroundings of the city; palm trees, beaches, endless oceans, and other such things were painted across every visible surface. Even the ceiling and floors matched the décor. Humans and ponies alike milled about, playing all kinds of games within the arcade. Behind the counter all manner of prizes waited to be claimed.

Zen and James stepped inside. Zen obtained himself a small handful of tokens and wandered about one end of the arcade and lost track of James. He gazed across the various machines, recognizing some titles as ones that had been brought from Earth, though there were still a good handful of other titles he had not heard of before.

“Oh come on!”

Zen froze as he heard those words. He knew that voice, he knew that voice very well.

“I swear this thing is rigged!”

Zen slowly began to scan the crowded establishment for the source of that voice. Being relatively taller than most by several inches at least certainly comes in handy from time to time, and this was one of those times. After a moment of searching he found the source of the voice; a cyan-colored pegasus mare in front of a machine.

“No way…” Zen muttered to himself and slowly made his way over. He had heard rumors over the past few years that the main characters of the My Little Pony cartoon he enjoyed had found their way to Haven, but he had not seen anything firsthand to confirm those rumors.

At least not until now.

He silently stood a few feet to the side of the rainbow-haired mare, watching as she put another token into the slot where it rolled down a ramp and flew right into the spinning wheel before falling out of sight into a tray, which elicited another bout of displeased words from the pegasus.

“Frustrating little machine isn’t it?” Zen spoke up, now standing beside her in front of the machine.

Startled, the pegasus jumped back and nearly fell over. Zen was fast though and managed to catch her before she fell over.

“Don’t do that!” She protested after regaining her balance.

“My apologies, I didn’t realize how focused you were.” Zen said.

“And I was about to have that whole timing thing down for it too!” Clearly frustrated, she turned her attention back to the machine. “Besides, what would you know about this machine?”

Zen raised an eyebrow and quickly judged the speed of the wheel and the approximate time it would take for the token to travel from the slot to the wheel. Before the pegasus could make another attempt, Zen snuck a token into the slot and watched as it sailed through a slot in the wheel, causing the machine to spit out fifteen tickets.

“I spent a lot of time at arcades like this one back on Earth.” Zen confessed to the rather surprised mare.

She let out a harrumph and stuck another token into the machine. This one, like her last, bounced off the wheel and into the abyss below.

“Okay, wise guy, how’d you do that?” She demanded.

“Like I said, I spent a lot of time at arcades.” Zen repeated. “And just like you already know, it’s all about the timing. Figure out how long it takes for the coin to travel down the ramp and how long between slots on the wheel. Like this…” Zen waited a moment and inserted another token, this time earning him ten tickets.

It also earned him a glare from the mare. “You make it look so easy.” Her voiced dripped with sarcasm. “Do you even know wh-“ Suddenly she looked rather deflated. “Oh who am I kidding these days?”

Zen thought that if his eyebrow went any higher it would merge with his hairline. “Is something wrong, Dash?”

The mention of her name immediately got her attention. “You know who I am?”

“You seem rather surprised at that fact.” Zen replied as he tore his winnings from the machine and offered them to Rainbow Dash.

She stared at the tickets for a moment before slowly taking them. “How do you know who I am?”

“Would you believe me if I told you that a cartoon is responsible for that?” Zen said with a slight grin. “Let’s step outside and talk.”

Rainbow simply looked at Zen for another moment before deciding to follow him out. Zen sat down at a table in front of the arcade; Rainbow sat opposite.

“So, seriously, how do you know me?” Rainbow insisted.

“Like I said, I know about you because of a cartoon back on Earth.” Zen insisted. “But why are you so surprised that I know who you are?”

Rainbow sighed. “I’ve been on this world a good while. I lost track of time long ago, so I’m not sure how long. But ever since I got here, it’s like nobody knows who I am anymore.”

Zen became very confused. “Elaborate?”

“I mean, I’m only the Rainbow Dash! Back in Ponyville I was the best flyer around, the town’s top weather pony, I was going to be in the Wonderbolts!” She looked desperate with this last bit before sighing and looking down. “But then one day I woke up here in this place. Took me days to find anyone else, and when I did it was as if nopony had ever heard or seen me before. I haven’t seen any of my friends since I got here either, so I’m really worried about them. In fact I’ve been flying around from place to place, hoping to find any sign of them, but so far no luck. I only just recently came to this island, thinking maybe a little vacation would be nice. But no matter where I’ve gone, it’s like I’m some stranger to everypony.”

“Not gonna lie, I found it rather odd myself that you were by yourself and didn’t have some fan tagging along.” Zen leaned back in his chair. He checked the time and discovered they still had nearly twenty minutes before Kevin and Zan showed up.

“Yeah. I mean, every once in a while somepony will recognize me. I’m just wondering if this has also happened to any of my friends…” Rainbow was visibly upset at this point.

Zen walked around and sat next to Rainbow. He put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry this has happened to you, and I wish I had some sort of answer.”

Rainbow faked a smile and looked up at him. “Do you know why we’re all here?”

“Unfortunately I’m still lacking in a lot of the details.” Zen admitted. “All I know is that a group of humans back on Earth attempted to open a rift to Equestria, but something went wrong and the rift led to this world instead. Somehow that same rift opened in Equestria and ponies were brought here as well. I don’t know how ponies came here, but I along with every single other human on this world all came here by choice. It wouldn’t explain why very few people seem to recognize you, because everyone who knew about Equestria back on Earth knew about you and your friends. I want to chalk it up to people just not paying attention, but you stand out pretty well.” Zen stared off into space at that thought.

“I just want to find my friends…” Rainbow said softly. “I don’t even really care that much anymore that I’m a nopony these days. I just want to know that my friends are alright…”

Zen put his arm across Rainbow’s shoulders. “You’re not the only one who’s been separated from their friends.”

It was Rainbow’s turn to look confused. “Really?”

Zen nodded. “That’s right. When I and my group of friends left Earth to come here, we were all separated upon arrival. I’ve only just recently begun to find any of them, and it’s mostly because they came here and found me. In fact, one such friend just found me a few hours ago and we were going to have dinner with a few more here in a bit.”

“Oh. Well I don’t want to intrude, you ha-“ Rainbow made to get up but Zen wouldn’t remove his arm. She looked at him for a moment, trying to determine his motives.

“I know my friends would be happy to meet you Rainbow.” Zen winked. “Besides, being lonely is something nobody should ever be. So please, will you join us?”

For a moment Zen thought the pegasus was going to insist on leaving, but after a moment he felt her relax and settle back down in the chair. “Only if you tell me who you are.” She said.

“You can call me Zen.” Zen smiled.

Rainbow smiled back. “Something tells me you and my friends would get along very nicely.”

Zen chuckled a bit. “You think so, huh?”

Rainbow nodded. “So where are your friends?”

Zen looked back in the arcade just as James stepped out. “There’s one of them.” Zen waved to get James’ attention.

James saw Zen waving and began to head over but slowed down as he noticed that Zen wasn’t alone. Zen saw James mouth something inaudible before shaking his head and walking over to the table. “It seems he recognized you.” Zen said under his breath.

“I thought I lost you back in there.” James said as he took a seat. “And is that…?” He pointed at Rainbow, who waved back at him with a smile.

“Your timing was good since the others should be here any moment now.” Zen relaxed back in his own chair, looking around for Kevin or Zan. “And yes, this is in fact Rainbow Dash.”

James continued to stare, mouth slightly agape. “So my ears weren’t deceiving me…”

“Oh…you heard that too?” Rainbow grinned apologetically.

“Rainbow, this is James.” Zen introduced his friend. “He’s the friend that just met up with me earlier today.”

“A pleasure to meet you.” James said with a nod, and was about to say something but his attention seemed to have been diverted. “I think our friends are here, Zen.”

Zen and Rainbow both turned to look in the direction that James was. Zen immediately spotted them. Heading towards them was a pair of young adult males; one was rather skinny and just marginally shorter than Zen but with dark hair, the other was of average build and height but with orange hair and a very fair complexion. Both were wearing glasses of some kind.

“Yo Zen!” The taller one called out. “Long time no see buddy!”

“Long time no see indeed Zan.” Zen stood up and greeted his other friends. “And Kevin, it’s also been awhile.”

Before Kevin could speak, Zan pointed over Zen’s shoulder and said. “That’s Rainbow Dash.”

Zen was just about to introduce them to the pegasus and James when Zan repeated, “That’s Rainbow Dash.”

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out.” Rainbow said with a grin. Zen could tell that she was enjoying every second of this.

“Yes, that’s Rainbow Dash.” Zen said. “Now then, I don’t know about you guys but I am absolutely starving.”

“That pizza place we used to go to is still here.” Kevin suggested.

“I haven’t had a decent pizza in a long while.” James said.

“Alright, so then unless anyone objects…” Zen paused and waited for a moment. “…then pizza it is!”

Those who were still seated stood up and the crew walked over to the food court. Zen’s nostrils will assaulted by the dozens of smells wafting around from the various eateries in the large food court.

“So I got two questions…” Zan said as they walked over to Ocean’s Pizzeria.

“Fire away.” Zen said as he started looking over the menu.

“Who is that guy?” Zan pointed at James. “And where did Dash come from?”

“Well I just met up with Dash back in that arcade, and there’s a lengthy story behind that encounter alone.” Zen replied without taking his eyes off the menu. “And our other companion is James. He’s from our group, but lived in the southern part of the state. I only met him personally a few times before we all came here. He caught up with me today with news of some kind of project that we’re all needed for. I told him to hold off on the details until we met up with you two.”

“Interesting.” Zan nodded with pursed lips.

“I think I’m gonna go with the usual.” Kevin said.

“Same here.” Zen said before addressing James and Dash. “What are you two getting?”

“I think I’m going with the ‘Local’s Favorite’ option.” James pointed to one of the specialties, which included smoked ham, three different kinds of cheeses, and various vegetable toppings.

“I can’t afford anything here…” Rainbow said after a moment, then pointed to an empty saddlebag.

“My treat.” Zen offered. “I won’t stand by and let you go hungry while we all have a meal.”

Rainbow hesitated. “I’d feel bad.” She said. “I’d have no way to pay you back.”

“Don’t worry about it Rainbow.” Zen insisted. “Money isn’t a problem for me. I helped build this city from the ground up, so I’m pretty much set for life here.”

Rainbow looked back at the menu. “Do you insist?”

“I do insist, especially if you wouldn’t be able to afford a decent meal otherwise.”

Rainbow sighed. “Alright, but make sure I can pay you back.”

Zen stifled a grin and a laugh. Within a few minutes they had each ordered their desired picks and were enjoying cold sodas at a table, waiting for someone to call their table number.

“So…” Kevin said after a moment. “How did you meet Dash, Zen?”

Zen glanced over at Dash, who was busy admiring the hanging décor, for a brief moment before giving an overview of how he had initially encountered her in the arcade to her explaining her personal plight with her friends and how hardly anyone seemed to recognize her.

“Well shoot.” Zan said, putting his cup down. “I hope you are able to find your friends.”

“Same here.” Kevin said, and James simply nodded.

“Thanks guys…” Rainbow’s voice trailed off.

“Yeah, and until you decide otherwise you’re more than welcome to hang out with us.” Zen added. “One of the things my group of friends and I prided ourselves on back on Earth was our willingness to reach out to anyone in need, and right now it looks like you could use someone, or four, to hang out with for now.”

Rainbow looked around at the four men, who all added their own agreement in turn. “You guys really mean it?” She asked. Zen could tell that she was fighting her emotions.

“Of course we mean it.” Zan said.

Rainbow beamed. “You guys are officially awesome!”

Just then someone called out their table number and Zan went to get their food. It wasn’t long before everyone was enjoying their dinner and exchanging stories in an attempt to catch up. Zen noticed Rainbow wasn’t saying much however.

“You haven’t said much since we started eating.” Zen observed out loud. “What’s up?”

Rainbow was about to take another bite, but instead put down the veggie calzone she got. “I just miss my friends.”

Zen nodded, but got the feeling that something else was eating at her. “You sure that’s all?”

Rainbow nodded and continued eating. Zen was sure that there was something she wasn’t saying, but he wasn’t going to press her for details.

The others kept talking as if Zen hadn’t said anything at all. James was also fairly silent, but Zen knew that this was normal for him; from what he remembered James didn’t normally talk very much but instead had this tendency to stay back and just observe from a distance. Zen respected this; it was something that he often did in social gatherings. He was just glad that his friends seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Before long everyone had finished their food and was relaxing as food comas threatened to take over. It was right about then that Zen remembered that they had a second reason for meeting up.

“So James…” Zen started.

“Hmm?” James responded.

“So how about this little project you mentioned earlier?”

“Oh, right!” James sat forward and rubbed his hands together.

“What project?” The other three present said in unison.

“Let’s just say that my coming here today wasn’t without a reason.” James started. “I had a purpose for coming here beyond just catching up with friends, though you guys are involved with this.”

“Alright then, let’s hear it!” Zan insisted.

“Well I think I’m gonna split.” Rainbow suddenly said. “It was nice meeting you guys but-“ Once again Rainbow was cut off by Zen.

“Something tells me you’re going to want to hear this.” Zen insisted with a wink. While Zen had no real idea what James was about to say, he could put enough of a picture together to guess that it was similar to what Rainbow Dash was trying to do.

Rainbow simply looked at Zen with a puzzled face, but eventually put on a smile and turned her attention back to James. “I just feel like I’m intruding.” She said.

“No such thing.” Kevin replied.

“Well then…” James said pulling out a tablet computer from his backpack that Zen had somehow failed to notice. “…this is why I’m really here…”

Plans and Stories

3: Plans and Stories

“What’s that?” Rainbow pointed at the device that James had brought out.

“This is a tablet Rainbow.” James replied. “When we left Earth these tablets were incredibly popular and considered to be top-of-the-line tech.” He turned the tablet on and started to open up some documents. “Actually, before I begin, I think our new friend here would be very confused about what I’m about to say without knowing anything about us. Zen, you’re better at describing our group than me, so why don’t you tell her a little bit more about us?”

“Alright.” Zen cleared his throat. “Back on Earth, there’s a country known as the United States of America, though most people just call it America for short. America is divided into 50 states, each working together as a single entity, despite the fact that they work independently enough as though they were separate nations. My group of friends and I are either from or were currently living in the western state of Colorado. Colorado is known for many things, among them are tourism, the mountains, the four distinct seasons, relatively low crime, less than average taxes, pretty good economy, the outdoorsy and athletic culture…the list goes on. The people in Colorado are also fairly friendly people. Like, they tend to keep to themselves when out in public but are friendly enough that if you start talking to them then they’ll usually listen and carry a conversation. That’s where my groups of friends and I differ to a bit.”

“Colorado seems like a pretty good place to chill.” Rainbow said.

“Yeah, people don’t really realize how awesome Colorado tends to be until they go there for themselves.” Zen replied. “For some reason we’re either a bunch of health nuts or barbarians…

“In any case, my friends and I are slightly different than your average Coloradan resident in that we’re all really friendly and willing to, in some cases, drive across several states and then some just to visit each other. We’re also willing to lend a hand out to anyone in need, hence why we insisted you stay and enjoy dinner with us.” Zan, Kevin, and James all nodded to confirm that final point.

“Tis true.” Zan added.

“Yeah, well when we elected to come here we had intended to come as a group and maybe start our own colony. Unfortunately most of us became separated when we arrived, and I’ve only managed to come into contact with a small number of those within our group.”

“And that alone is going to make our job that much more difficult.” James said.

“Huh…” Rainbow said after a moment. “So…wait then…Colorado sounds like the place to be. Why did you guys decide to leave?”

The four guys sent silent for a moment, and Rainbow felt like she had unintentionally hit on a touchy subject. “I didn’t me-“

“That’s a story for another time Rainbow.” Zen said, voice devoid of any emotion.

Rainbow wasn’t sure if she had somehow offended her new friends, but didn’t press the matter any further.

“I think I’ve covered just about all the important things that she might need to know.” Zen said to James.

James nodded. “Alright, well if you guys will just take a look at this…” He set his tablet flat on the table and turned it around so it faced the other four.

On it was a news article featuring a photo of what looked like a riot.

“What the.,,” Zan couldn’t believe what he was reading.

“When did this happen?” Zen demanded, not taking his eyes off the screen.

“A while ago.” James said solemnly. “Crystal City receives a lot of news from most places we’ve established. Any of you notice that one of them has suddenly gone quiet?”

Zen thought hard. He couldn’t think of any particular place that he hadn’t heard something from in recent weeks. Except for…

“Alliance.” Kevin suddenly said. “I haven’t heard anything from anyone in Alliance in months.”

“There’s a reason for that.” James said, turning the tablet back around. “And no it’s not just because Alliance is far away from most other cities.”

This didn’t make any sense to Zen. There hasn’t been any major conflict anywhere on Haven since humans and ponies first met, and even that only included a few confused scuffles before peace was established. Sure every once in a while someone would snap and stir some trouble, but by and large Haven and its cities were free of crime.

“When I first arrived here, I quickly came upon a large group of fellow humans and we decided that we were going to form a town. The location was good; it was in a large but shallow valley with a river and forested areas surrounding the open valley floor. We hadn’t decided on a name yet, but shortly after getting some basic structures assembled, we were set upon by a group of earth ponies. We were able to defend ourselves from getting too injured and it didn’t take much effort to calm them down. They were just scared, and we offered them asylum in our new city. As you can guess, the town was named Alliance to honor that meeting.

“It took us longer than most to establish contact with the other cities, and once we did we tried our best to keep in touch with everyone else since we were so far away. However, we quickly learned that our distant location was fairly appealing to those who wished either for the life of solitude or to escape the supposed ‘troubles’ of the other cities, so Alliance began to acquire a rather sizeable number of disgruntled and detached residents, both human and pony alike. Things slowly began to deteriorate in Alliance because of it.

“Eventually a small group of individuals got together and decided that they were fed up with the way things were here and started a riot. This only served to attract anyone else who happened to be likeminded, and so they were very quickly able to overpower what little the city had to offer to protect itself. They barricaded themselves in a supermarket and only have one demand. They wanted as many people from our group specifically to go to Alliance to talk with them.”

As James had talked, the others grew more and more disgusted with what they were hearing. Rainbow seemed to be especially affected by what she was hearing.

“Ever since the riot started the town has done as best as it can to keep the news from spreading. The only reason I’m here is because the elected officials there sent me off to find you guys. Alliance has basically fallen apart, and from what I’ve heard things haven’t improved any since I left almost three days ago.”

“You’re keeping in contact?” Zan asked.

“I am.” James pointed to the tablet. “Cellular service in Alliance isn't all that great but at least our internet works well enough.”

There was silence for a few moments.

“…so what exactly do you want us to do, James?” Zan asked, stating what everyone was wondering.

“We need to find as many of our group as possible.” James replied. “After that we need to go to Alliance and clear out this mess.”

“Alright, then here’s what we’ll do.” Zen said. “We’ll meet up at the main monorail terminal off Coastal Boulevard and head out for the next town in the morning, say eight? I know that Colton lives somewhere in Junction Park, which is just across the bridge and a little ways inland. We can start there.”

“Alright, well I think I’ve got some packing to do then.” Zan announced and took off.

“Me too!” Kevin also got up and left. “See you guys tomorrow.” He called back over his shoulder.

“See you tomorrow!” Zen called back as he got up. “Well do you need a place to stay for tonight?” He addressed James.

“Thanks but I’m already set up at a hotel just off the coast.” James replied as he put his tablet away, threw his backpack across a shoulder, and made to walk off. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Alright then, see you tomorrow.” Zen replied as he stretched. “Well it was certainly a pleasure to meet you, Rainbow. It seems like both of us have some friends to find now.”

“Yeah, hehe.” Rainbow got up and flexed her wings. “It was really nice to meet you guys too! You guys are super awesome!”

“Heh, well thanks.” Zen started to leave.

“Zen…?”

Zen turned around and looked at Rainbow, who now looked nervous. “What’s up?”

Rainbow fidgeted for a moment before responding. “C-Can I come with you?”

Zen studied the mare for a moment before smiling. “Sure.”

Rainbow suddenly became very relaxed as a wave of relief overcame her. “Thanks Zen!” She beamed as the two made their way towards the exit.

“Don’t have a place to crash here?” Zen asked after a moment of walking.

Rainbow let out a dejected sigh. “Unfortunately I don’t. I can’t manipulate clouds here like I could back home, so I’ve had to find shelter everywhere I’ve been. I haven’t had the chance to sleep on anything but hard ground for weeks.”

“So there really was something else bothering you.” Zen stated.

“Well…yeah, but it wasn’t that. Okay, so it was that, but that’s not all that’s been bothering me.” Rainbow let out another sigh. “I’ve been all alone since I found myself here. No friends, no family, nopony to hang out with except the odd bum here or there. You and your friends are really cool, and you’ve been especially nice to me and we only just met!”

Zen smiled. “It’s what I do.”

“Yeah, well what got me down during dinner was the thought that you guys would go off on your little adventure and I’d be all alone again.” At this point Rainbow was visibly upset. “I don’t remember the last time I’ve felt like somepony cared about me….” Now a tear had formed in one of her eyes.

Zen stopped walking and knelt down next to Rainbow, who also stopped looked back at him. Gently placing an arm over her, he looked directly into her eyes as he spoke. “Let me tell you something. I hate seeing people in distress, whether I know them or not. In fact, on the way here I met a pony down on his luck playing a guitar for money on the streets. Being something of a musician myself, I felt compelled to donate what little cash I had on hand to help him out. I talked to him, and seemed like a respectable individual. I wish I could have done more. But I’m guessing that you feel as though you’re worthless, is this correct?”

Rainbow nodded with a small sob.

“Well Rainbow, you are not worthless. I can only imagine how hard it must have been to suddenly go from somebody to essentially nobody literally overnight, but that doesn’t mean you’re worthless. If you were worthless would I be here right now talking to you?”

Rainbow didn’t respond to that question, so Zen continued. “When I was growing up, I was a ‘nobody’. I had very few friends and was often bullied at school, so I know what it’s like. I know just how bad it sucks to have nobody to turn to when you need them the most. I actually think that you’re pretty awesome yourself. So then, Rainbow…”

“…yeah?”

“Can I be your friend?”

No sooner had the words left Zen’s mouth then had Rainbow grabbed Zen in a tight hug, almost knocking him over. “I don’t want to be alone anymore…” She was fighting back tears as Zen returned the hug.

“Well I certainly hope that you won’t be alone anymore after today.” Zen assured her. “I’d actually like it if you came with us.”

“You w-would?” Rainbow asked through another sob.

“You haven’t had any luck finding your friends on your own, right? Well what if you came with us instead of just wandering around aimlessly? I think the odds of you finding your friends are much higher if you’ve got extra pairs of eyes on the lookout.”

Rainbow let go of Zen and tried drying her eyes. “I’d love to come with you guys.”

“It’s settled then.” Zen let go of Rainbow and stood up, and almost lost his balance again as he suddenly regained feeling in his bent leg. “And it just so happens that I’ve got a spare room in my suite, so you’re more than welcome to it tonight.”

The prospect of new friends and a cozy place to crash for the night was almost too much for the depressed mare. “For reals?”

“For reals.” Zen replied with another smile.

Rainbow seemed to cheer up almost immediately, which made Zen pretty happy. “So where’s your place?”

“I live in one of the really tall condos out by the beach.” Zen replied as they started heading to the exit again. “It’s not that far from here.”

“Awesome, let’s go!” Rainbow almost flew to the door but remembered her new friend couldn’t fly, so she was content with walking for the time being.

Once outside Zen noted that the sun was still pretty high in the sky and that it would still be awhile before the island began to cool off a bit. There was also hardly a cloud to be seen, meaning that the potential storm he had spotted earlier in the day had either already passed or had dissipated. The two made their way for the condos, chatting the whole way like they had been friends for years. It occurred to Zen just how desperate Rainbow was for friendship and it pained him to know that she had gone without for so long. Soon however he rationalized that she would no longer be going without and that he would do his best to keep it that way.

It didn’t take them long to reach Zen’s suite. Once they were inside Zen got himself a glass of water, and he offered the same to Rainbow who gladly accepted as she set her saddlebags down by the front door. Zen handed Rainbow the glass of water and sat down on a couch in the living room with his. Rainbow drank half the water before joining Zen in the living room on a couch opposite of his.

“This is a pretty nice place you’ve got here.” Rainbow observed as she looked around. “Better than anywhere I’ve been in Equestria, and that’s saying something.”

“Heh, thanks.” Zen took a drink of his water. “It’s actually pretty simple compared to what a lot of people I know would like, but I’m more than happy with it. Especially since I get this place for pretty much free.”

Rainbow was about to take another drink but stopped and simply looked at Zen like she didn’t believe me.

“What?” Zen asked.

“There’s no way you get this place for free!” Rainbow said. “An awesome place like this has to be really pricey!”

“Well if I had to pay for it then yeah it would cost me a pretty penny.” Zen answered and took another drink.

“Why do you get to live here for free?”

“Because, just as James helped build Alliance, I helped build Crystal City. I happen to know the owners of these condos and to show their appreciation for the work that I did to build and help get this town running, they give me this place for free and a monthly bonus for helping keep the peace.”

Rainbow looked even more surprised, and unable to find her voice for a moment. “That. Is. So. Awesome!”

“Yeah, I think it’s pretty cool.” Zen propped his feet up on the metal coffee table between the two couches and lounged a bit in the one he was currently sitting in.

Rainbow finished off her water and set the glass down, suddenly looking confused again.

“What’s on your mind?” Zen inquired.

“Am I that easy to read?” Rainbow protested.

“Consider me pretty decent at knowing when people are thinking hard about something.” Zen said with a wink. “So tell me, what’s up?”

“Well…I can see why you would like living here so much, but I still don’t know why you would leave Colorado since it sounds like a really awesome place.”

Zen pursed his lips and stared off into space for a moment. “I’ve got a lot of reasons to have wanted to leave Colorado. Some of those reasons are more private than others. Colorado is very high in elevation, and it’s also very dry. My body doesn’t function very well at high altitudes and I can’t stand dry climates. I’m actually not originally from Colorado, but instead I’m from another state called Florida, which is very much like this island here. Florida is a giant peninsula in the southeast part of America where the climate is pretty much identical to Crystal City, so being here reminds me of my real home. I also don’t have to deal with allergies here, which is another bonus.

“I, along with many millions of other people back in America…yes, millions.” Zen emphasized the amount when he saw Rainbow’s stunned reaction to that number. “Millions of people were incredibly unhappy with the way our country was run. Our government was originally there for the people it was supposed to govern, but now it’s all about who has the money and can smear the most mud against the opposition, and once someone’s in office all they care about is lining their pockets instead of actually helping to improve the country.

“It doesn’t help that people in America come off as hypocrites and are generally very uneducated compared to the rest of the industrialized world. America used to be the answer to everything…and when we left America was basically just one gigantic business calling all the shots without regard to what the nation actually needed.

“Crime was also a pretty big issue. Lots of very unsavory people lived in America, and people weren’t afraid to use very underhanded and cruel means to get ahead and get what they wanted. I got sick of it, and I know I’m not the only one who came here because of that reason alone. Colorado had somehow managed to escape the worst of it for the longest time, but towards the end there were very few places where even the most heinous of crimes weren't being committed…” Zen’s voice trailed off and he continued staring off into space.

“I’m sorry Zen…” Rainbow said after a moment. She could see and hear how painful it was for Zen to be talking about the place he left behind.

“It’s not your fault.” Zen said. “I came here looking for a better life away from the bigotry, hypocrisy, and the cruelty of the world I left behind. And for the longest time it seemed to have worked…but with what happened in Alliance in mind, I’m not so sure anymore. I don’t want to see Haven turn into another Earth.”

“You okay?” She sounded concerned.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I don’t mind talking about Earth and the evils that it’s home to, but that doesn’t mean I won’t get slightly homesick. I do miss my family and a lot of the more desirable aspects of the country I used to live in.”

“Yeah…” Rainbow fell silent for a minute. “I miss my home too…”

“I can only imagine.” Zen got up to put the two empty glasses away. “It seems to me as though you were taken from a very nice place, and unlike me you actually had a lot of things going for you.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I was jobless, broke, and didn’t have a damn skill or any experience with which to advertise to get a job.” Zen leaned on the kitchen counter and faced Rainbow. “All I had were my friends. Basically I was just another schmuck who was caught in a very cruel and unforgiving system.”

Rainbow winced slightly. “You can’t be serious! There had to have been something you could have done.”

Zen shook his head. “Without experience or a college degree attached to my name nobody was willing to even give me a chance.”

“That’s just awful.” Rainbow got up and walked over to the kitchen. “I guess I can’t really blame you for wanting to leave so badly, even if at first it sounded like a really cool place.”

“Well don’t get me wrong, America was still far better off than many other places on Earth. We weren’t being ruled by tyrannical dictators who supported mass genocide in their own countries.”

Rainbow froze at that statement, jaw to the floor. After taking a moment to fully absorb what Zen had just said she collected herself with a protest. “Why would anyone ever put up with that? Why couldn’t they overthrow whoever was in charge?”

“If it was that simple Earth would be a much better place.” Zen said solemnly. “Those people ruled using fear and their religion was their excuse. The really sad part was that these madmen often had the support of a good portion of their country to help justify their killing off the ones that they simply didn’t like.”

“That’s…that’s just…” Rainbow couldn’t finish her statement, and Zen simply nodded. At this point Rainbow almost felt bad for asking Zen to tell this much. She was really beginning to sympathize with him and there was now very little doubt in her mind that Zen really liked it here better.

“What about you though?” Zen wondered.

“Huh?”

“Tell me about the home that you left behind.”

“Oh. Well do you want to hear about any place in particular or Equestria in general?”

“Whichever.”

“Hmm…well Equestria is a pretty awesome place. It wasn’t perfect, but I certainly loved it. Princesses Celestia and Luna were really kind to us and everyone else. They weren’t mean or cruel or anything. I mean, yeah they were immortal but nopony ever really had a problem with them. They helped make sure that we were safe and that everything ran smoothly. Canterlot was pretty cool too I guess, but I never cared for all that fancy high society stuff that was always going on there.

“Ponyville was where I spent most of my time though. That place was usually a really quiet town out in the country but every once in a while some crazy stuff would happen there to change things up. I liked the quiet mostly though; it helped me focus on my training. Sure it got boring sometimes, but I had a regimen to keep to if I wanted to get into the Wonderbolts so it wasn’t all bad. At least most of my friends were there and were willing to hang out when they could, and there really wasn’t a shortage of places to go. It was also nice that most store owners knew me by name, so I guess that was pretty cool.

“But no matter where you were in Equestria, we never had the technology that you humans have brought here. At best we’d have devices that ran with magic, but they were often very simple and hardly what I’d consider to be reliable.”

“So I imagine that adjusting to the lifestyle that ‘we humans’ are used to had taken a while.” Zen said with a small grin.

“You have no idea!” Rainbow said, throwing her front hoofs in the air. “All of it was new to me and I wasn’t sure if I should have been afraid or interested or anything else! It’s partially why I stayed by myself for a long time after coming here; I was afraid that I was going to get hurt by one of your machines or that you guys were out to get us ponies.”

“Heh. So what do you think of it all now?”

Rainbow remained silent for a second and cast her gaze towards the outside balcony. “It’s still a lot for me to take in, and I’m still not used to it all. But I do know that you guys aren’t anything to be afraid of. Not because I think I’m better or anything, but because I’ve seen for myself just how well humans and ponies alike get along and how you guys just want to be friends. Just like earlier today…” Her voice trailed off, and a curiously pensive look stole across her features.

Zen waited a few moments before speaking again. “What’s on your mind?”

“Huh?” Rainbow blinked. “Oh, a lot of things actually. I miss my home, I wish I had somewhere to actually call ‘home’ here, I miss my friends…” She then said something that Zen didn’t quite hear.

“Sorry, what was that last part?” Zen asked, leaning in slightly to hear.

“…I just want to be appreciated.” Zen could hear the reluctance in Rainbow’s tone as she said this statement. Whether it was because she was afraid to admit it out loud or for some other reason Zen wasn’t sure.

“Well I appreciate you.” Zen said, repositioning himself next to Rainbow.

Rainbow looked up at Zen for a moment with a small laugh. “I don’t know why you would, but thanks.”

Zen smiled back. “I think you’re awesome and deserve better than what you’ve been getting.” He resisted the urge to laugh as Rainbow’s face turned a very slight shade of red. “And as for your lacking of a place to call home, you are more than welcome to use my spare bedroom whenever you wish or I can set you up with your own place here.”

Rainbow’s eyes lit up. “Are you being serious?”

“Why would I lie to you?”

The pegasus then grinned from ear to ear as the realization that she would no longer have to constantly be seeking shelter on the streets or out in the wilderness dawned on her. “Zen, just when I thought you couldn’t get more awesome you went and proved me wrong! I think for now I’d like to stay here with you, if it’s not too much trouble.”

“Of course.” Zen said, but then was tackle-hugged again.

“How am I going to find a way to repay you?” Rainbow asked, now clearly ecstatic about the prospect of both friends and a permanent home to boot.

“You can…stop crushing my…ribs!” Zen struggled to say as he held Rainbow in return but found breathing to be difficult in her tight embrace.

“Oops, hehe.” Rainbow said sheepishly as she let go of Zen, who rubbed his sides gently for a moment and hugged her again.

“So long as you’re happy with things, then I’ll be happy.” Zen stated. “Since you’re my friend it’s the least I could do, and don’t worry about paying me back. It’s really no trouble at all.”

“Thanks Zen.” Rainbow beamed. “You know, nopony has ever been this nice to me since I came here.”

“I think that’s just downright unfortunate.” Zen replied, suddenly fascinated by Rainbow’s mane. Despite the fact that it was obvious that Rainbow hadn’t had the chance to properly wash in a considerable amount of time, her mane still shone with a natural brilliance that Zen had never seen before. The fact that it was also naturally rainbow colored was also very intriguing to him.

“…what are you looking at?”

That curious inquiry brought Zen back into focus. “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help but notice how beautiful your mane is.”

“Oh, that. Yeah it is pretty cool. Would be more awesome though if I could actually take care of it like I used to.”

“Had nowhere to really get all the grit and dust from the road off?”

Rainbow shook her head.

“Hmm…I’m not sure if I happen to have anything that’s designed for pony hair but you’re more than welcome to my shower.” Zen gestured to a door at the beginning of a short hallway on the other side of the kitchen.

“Do you have a brush of some kind?”

Zen thought for a moment. “You know…I think I just might…” He walked over to a closet near the balcony and dug around in it for a few moments. “Aha!” Zen produced a brush and gave it to Rainbow, who smiled and headed over to the bathroom and closed the door behind her.

Moments later Zen heard the sounds of the shower being turned on. With not much else to do at this point, he turned the monitor on and resumed the game he was playing earlier. Zen considered himself to be a fairly competent gamer, but he was at a point in this game where he was absolutely stuck with no clue of what to do next. He poured over his mission log, but when nothing became apparent he decided to just go grind for money and experience. If nothing else it was a mindless task that he could do while he pondered other things.

“What a day this has been…” He mumbled to himself after roughly fifteen minutes of mindlessly obliterating anything he came across. Glancing outside, he could see the sun setting low in the horizon, lending a golden glow to both the clear sky and the sparkling ocean.

Putting his controller down, Zen walked outside to the balcony and leaned against the railing, staring out over the water. Back home he was often treated to wonderfully colorful sunsets with the mountains serving as a beautiful silhouette. Here the horizon was perfectly uniform, but Zen found it just as beautiful in its own way. The water reflecting the sunlight was, in his opinion, just as gorgeous as seeing the sunsets that he grew up with.

Moments later he heard the tell-tale sound of hoofs striking linoleum. He glanced behind him, and immediately noticed that Rainbow’s coat, mane, and tail now shone as if someone had lifted a thin dark veil from her. “Feeling clean yet?” Zen joked.

“I hadn’t noticed just how much dust I had all over me.” Rainbow admitted as she placed her front hoofs on the railing next to Zen. “You sure do have a wonderful view from here.”

“Yeah, I’m really lucky to have been able to get this place.”

A minute of silence passed.

“Can I tell you something?” Rainbow asked.

“You can tell me anything.” Zen replied.

Rainbow let out a sigh before continuing. “I’m not quite the same mare I was back in Ponyville.”

“Oh?”

Rainbow shook her head. “No. Back then I was incredibly arrogant and hot headed. Had quite an ego too. I still try to act like I used to, but it’s not worth it anymore. Since coming here I’ve learned a lot, and it’s definitely brought me down to earth, pardon the pun.” Zen snickered a bit but didn’t comment. “Anyways, I’ve learned to appreciate what I have and that winning isn’t everything. Being competitive only helps so much. I’m a lot calmer now than I used to be.”

She then gently prodded Zen’s arm with a hoof and a smile. “But like it or not I still have a debt to pay back for your kindness. I may have changed a lot, but believe me when I say that I’m still incredibly loyal to those I consider my friends and I will do anything I can to help you out.”

Zen simply smiled back at Rainbow for a moment. “Well I appreciate that.” He then stretched and headed back inside. “I’m going to go get some rest. Gotta get up early for that long journey ahead.”

“Rest sounds like a good idea.” Rainbow followed Zen back inside. “Which room is the one you said I could use?”

“The one at the end of the hallway.” Zen replied. “Mine’s right next to it, and if you need anything don’t be afraid to wake me up.”

“Alright. See you tomorrow?”

“Yup. See you tomorrow.” Zen walked back into his room. Shutting the door and stripping himself down to his briefs he collapsed in his bed. He lazily reached over and set the alarm for an early morning and contemplated the day’s happenings. He had caught up with Zan and Kevin, James had paid him a surprise visit bearing some unfortunate news, and he had not only met Rainbow Dash but had also befriended her and now she was living with him.

That was about all he got to contemplate however, as sleep quickly stole up on him.

The Mainland

4: The Mainland

The alarm Zen had set the previous day jolted him awake. Zen eyed the offending device before shutting it off and groaning from being awake so early. It was necessary and he knew it, but that didn’t mean he enjoyed it very much.

Getting out of bed and switching on a light, he threw on a fresh set of clothes and packed a few extra sets away in a backpack along with some other necessities that were sitting on his night stand. He looked around the room for a moment to see if he was missing anything. He had his wallet and everything else that he usually kept in his pockets. Satisfied that he had not missed anything, he put the pack on and walked out to the kitchen to make some breakfast.

As he left his room he stopped for a moment in front of Rainbow’s room and listened. He could hear a soft but steady rhythm of breathing from inside, and decided that he was going to let her sleep for a short while longer.

Setting the pack on the kitchen counter Zen began to gather some small snacks and packed them away in his pack. He then turned his attention to the matter of breakfast. He wanted to make breakfast for two, but truthfully he was still woefully ignorant of what ponies typically consumed. In fact he wasn’t even sure that he had foodstuffs that would fit into a normal pony diet.

“Well I suppose I could make veggie breakfast burritos…” Zen thought out loud as he rummaged through the contents of his fridge. Deciding that this would be the best course of action, he pulled out what he needed from the fridge and rummaged around for the right tools to cook with. In short order he had several scrambled eggs cooking along in one pan with some ground beef in another. He also began sautéing some chopped onions, potatoes, and thin strips of bell peppers in a third pan. His suite was quickly filled with the various aromas being produced by his work; even more so after he seasoned the beef and vegetables.

It didn’t take him long to finish cooking everything. He set out the food in a buffet-style manner on the kitchen counter along with some shredded cheddar, salsa, and tortilla shells. He was just about done making sure that everything was set when a voice startled him.

“What smells so good?”

Zen jumped slightly and, heart racing slightly, turned to face Rainbow Dash who was grinning at the reaction she had gotten. “Breakfast.” Zen said. “How did you sleep last night?”

“I was out like a light!” Rainbow stretched with a small yawn. “I hadn’t slept that good in forever. I almost didn’t want to get up.”

“Well I’m glad you were able to get a good night’s rest.” Zen said, taking two plates from a cabinet above the counter. “I’ve cooked up stuff for breakfast burritos since I didn’t know what your preference was. Figured I’d let you put whatever you want on it.”

“Sounds good to me! I’m starving!”

Zen handed one of the plates to Rainbow and let her have her pick of food first while he set out two glasses of water. Then he turned his attention to the food and began to make his own, adding a little bit of everything. Feeling especially hungry this morning, he went ahead and made a second and joined Rainbow at the table in the living room.

“How is it?” Zen asked, sitting down across from the mare and digging into his first burrito.

“This is really good!” Rainbow said between enthusiastic bites.

“Glad to hear it.” Zen smiled as he quickly finished the first burrito and moved on to the second.

“You know, I’m still not sure wh-“ Rainbow began to ask, but stopped mid-word at the sight of a suddenly uncertain expression on Zen’s face.

It took Zen a moment to register that Rainbow had spoken. “Hmm?”

Rainbow now had a similarly concerned look. “What’s up dude?”

“Oh, just thinking about something that just occurred to me…” Zen said and took another bite. “But go on, you weren’t sure about…?”

Rainbow blinked; expression unchanging. “I was just saying that I still don’t understand why you’ve been so awesome.”

“Well…” Zen put down what was left of his second burrito and clasped his hands together. “…to put it in short terms, it’s just what I do. I don’t particularly like seeing other people suffer for any reason, so I make it a point to try and help them out as best as I can. It is true, however, that I don’t just invite anyone to stay with me and-“

“So why me?” Rainbow interrupted with an almost accusatory tone hanging about her voice. “What makes me so special?”

Zen sighed. “Remember when I mentioned that I know who you are based on a cartoon?”

Rainbow thought for a moment. “I think…yeah. Why?”

“Are you familiar with why we humans are even on this world to begin with?”

“I don’t think so...”

“I’ll try to make this as simple as possible then. Back on Earth, where we humans are originally from, we had this cartoon series called ‘My Little Pony’…” Zen made note of the reaction he got from Rainbow and continued. “…and the season that I was introduced to was about you and your friends. Eventually, those of us who enjoyed the show and everything about it decided we’d had enough of the world we had lived in, so a group of us somehow made a device that was originally supposed to place us in the same world as Equestria. However, something went wrong and that machine instead opened up a rift to this world, but somehow caused a similar rift in Equestria that lead to here as well, though from what you’ve told me you guys didn’t really have a choice. Come to think of it I’d never thought to ask Sprinter about it…and suddenly I feel somewhat ignorant. But anyways…

“We came to this world looking to start over, to escape what we viewed as a very corrupt world. The hopes that we would live in peace with ponies was originally dashed…pardon the pun…but it seems as though the device did what we had originally wanted, though not quite in the manner that we had intended. Does that answer your question?”

Rainbow was silent for a minute as she processed the information. “I had heard…I had heard that you humans knew of us before, and you had told me that some of you humans had come here with hopes of a better life, but I never in a thousand years would have guessed that your being here involved us!”

“Well it did.” Zen replied and finished off the last of his breakfast. “And please don’t take this the wrong way, but you were one of my favorites.”

Rainbow blushed. “Umm…thanks?”

“Call it bias, but when I saw that you were down on your luck, I felt pretty obligated to try and help you out as best as I could. But this still doesn’t make sense…”

“…what doesn’t?” Rainbow was almost not sure she wanted to know.

“To the best of my knowledge, every last human who came here from Earth was a fan of the cartoon.” Zen answered. “Every one of the main characters had quite a following of fans, including you.” Zen pointed at Rainbow for extra emphasis. “That tells me that there should be a considerable number of people here who would, figuratively speaking of course, die to be your friend. Yet that contradicts what you’ve told me…and along with everything else you’ve said your existence here is a complete mystery to me. This is actually what I was thinking about earlier. I actually have a question to ask now, and it’s one that I want an honest answer for…are you even sure that your friends are here?”

For a split second Rainbow looked as if she was going to respond, but as the possible implications dawned on her a look that can only be described as horrified crept upon her and she silently mouthed ‘Oh Celestia’. A single tear formed in her eye, and Zen sat next to her and pulled her into an embrace. “Even if they aren’t here, Rainbow, you still have me and my friends. I can tell you right now that none of us want you to be alone, especially not me. I’m glad that I met you and that you’ve allowed me to be your friend.”

“And lemme guess, you’re only glad that you met me because I was some favorite on a cartoon, right?” Rainbow, suddenly bitter, tried to push away.

“That’s not it at all!” Zen replied, surprised at the suddenly bitterness and let Rainbow go. She immediately went to the front door and was considering just leaving but waited to hear was Zen had to say. “Yes I’m happy that I was able to discover that someone I originally thought was pure fiction and even more so when I was able to make this individual happy with my generosity. But I had always thought that you were pretty cool, and I liked your attitude, even if you were portrayed as a little full of yourself at times. Nobody’s perfect, and often it’s the flaws that make each of us who we are. I will admit that I’m a little surprised to see that you’ve had such a personality change, but that doesn’t mean I think you’re any less cool; in fact I respect you even more because of it. After meeting you and getting the chance to know you as an individual, I couldn’t live with myself if I had just let you continue to suffer alone, and don’t argue because you were clearly alone and not having a good time. Call me overly friendly, but I do care about you, especially after you put your trust in me like you did. You didn’t really know who I am so you didn’t have too much reason to trust me. I want to try and make sure that you don’t fall back into that depressive state that I found you in because I consider you a friend of mine, and that’s just what I do. If you do however decide to leave, and I’m well aware that this is a lot to take in all at once, I don’t blame you and I wish you the best of luck.”

Zen waited for a response, but Rainbow simply stood facing the door, totally silent. After a few moments he got up and sat cross-legged next to her by the door. She didn’t look over at him but instead sighed, sat down on her haunches, and lowered her head. “I just don’t know what to do or think anymore…”

Zen placed a hand on her shoulder. “Believe me, I’ve been there.”

“I don’t even know for certain that I believe it all either.”

“I don’t expect you to believe it, only to know about it.”

More silence.

“…do you really think that my friends aren’t here?”

“I hate to say it but it’s a very real possibility. Since it doesn’t sound like you came here by choice, it’s very possible that your friends have not been pulled into this world yet.”

“But what if I never see them again?” Now she did look at him, sounding afraid.

Zen really didn’t want to answer that question in the honest answer he normally would have. It was the last thing that Rainbow Dash needed to hear, and he knew it. So instead he simply smiled and said, “You’ll see them again someday.”

It did little to reassure her, but it did enough to wring a small smile. “Right…well shouldn’t we be going now?”

“Yeah, just let me clean up everything and we can get going.”

Zen quickly put away everything in the kitchen and cast a quick glance out the glass balcony door. He noted that the day had only just begun but that if they stalled much longer then they would be late. He grabbed his bag and, seeing Rainbow had her saddlebags back on, they departed his dwelling and locked the door behind them.

“Since we’re going to be traveling across rather large distances in relatively short time, walking simply won’t do.” Zen mused to himself.

“What do you mean?” Rainbow asked.

“We’re going to need motorized transportation, at least for the four of us humans.” Zen said with a wink. “I can get us a large rental van, courtesy of the condo’s owners, but the process is going to take a little while.”

“Okay.”

They reached the main lobby of the condo and Zen walked up to the clerk behind the front desk, who greeted him.

“Hello Zen, what can I do ya for today?”

“Well I’m going on a bit of a road trip with some friends of mine, so I was wondering if I could rent one of those large vans you guys have.”

“Certainly.” The clerk reached into a drawer and pulled out some paperwork and a set of keys. “Just fill this out and I’ll show you to it.”

“Awesome.” Zen picked up a pen and began to write.

At the station, Zan and James were waiting for the others to arrive.

“So James…” Zan started. “Just how bad do you think this could get?”

“It’s hard to say.” James replied. “If it gets big enough it’s very possible that they could completely overtake Alliance. When I had left we were fortunate that all they had really done was stir civil unrest and barricaded themselves somewhere, and I know that should this have happened back home there would have been blood.”

“Yeah, ain’t that the truth.” Zan said with almost a scoff. “So glad I decided to leave. This place is so much better.”

“Haven or Crystal City?”

“Both. Haven is so nice, and the fact that pretty much everyone here more or less wants the same thing…with the one obvious exception of course. But Crystal City is nice especially because everyone is just so chill here.”

“Were you always here?”

“Nope. When I first arrived here I was just outside of Lethean. Spent a few years there trying to get by and enjoying life, but the bigger it grew the less I liked about it. Eventually I decided to pack up and leave for some other place, preferably one less crowded.”

“It’s still a mystery to me how Lethean got so big.”

“Well they do have the largest financial center as well as one of the biggest resorts, and the fact that it also has a port definitely helps. So anyways, I travelled around between towns and thought that maybe Harmony’s Point would be a good place to stay.”

“The capital city?”

“Mhmm. I thought it was pretty nice, being situated not far from those mountains, as short as they are. It reminded me of Colorado in a lot of ways, only not nearly as dry and the city got a lot more rain. I really liked the emphasis on education of history and the sciences that the city has, and the Harmony Bridge is an amazing building to see. Absolutely breathtaking. For a few more years I was pretty happy; I had a steady job that I enjoyed with one of the universities, I had a place that I really liked, and the people and ponies that lived there were alright. It was also a lot cheaper to live there than Lethean. I even met a girl that I thought was pretty cute there.”

“So why’d you leave?”

“Honestly? I just got bored. As nice as Harmony’s Point is, life there is pretty dull on the daily basis. I just needed a little bit more excitement, so after moving around some more I came across this place. It has everything that I wanted, and enough stuff happens here to keep it interesting, plus I was able to meet up with Zen again, and Zen’s awesome.”

“Yeah, Zen is pretty awesome.”

“Hey Kevin.” Zan said. “When did you get here?”

“A few minutes ago.” Kevin said. “Telling life stories?”

“Sorta. Just kinda talking about how I ended up here in Crystal City.”

“Oh, cool. You guys probably don’t want to hear about how I got here…”

“Why not?” James asked.

“Because it’s boring.” Kevin replied, setting his backpack down on the concrete.

“Can’t be that bad, can it?” Zan.

“Trust me, it’s pretty boring.” Kevin.

“If you say so.” James.

“I do say so.” Kevin again. He looks around for a moment. “We’re waiting on Zen, right?”

“Yeah.” Zan replied, also looking around. “We’re still a little bit early but usually he’s the first to show up to any sort of gathering.”

“Zen likes being early for some reason.” James shrugged. “I wonder what’s keeping him.”

“Speaking of Zen, freaking Rainbow Dash.” Zan said.

“Yeah, what’s up with that?” Kevin said.

“I’m honestly not really that sure.” James replied with a shrug. “Just like he said, he and I went into that arcade back at the mall and got separated. Sometime between us splitting and getting food he bumped into her somehow and managed to convince her to tag along. How he does that I’ll never know…”

“Heh, if we were still back on Earth I’d almost say his friendliness would get him into trouble.” Zan said.

“Oh come now, you know he’s smart.” Kevin said in defense of their friend. “Zen knows when to be friendly and when to keep to himself.”

“I wasn’t trying to say that he’s not smart!” Zan got defensive. “The dude’s got a heart of gold; can’t fault him for trying to be nice to people when he thinks they could use it, and apparently he thought Dash could use some friendship.”

“Apparently she needed it.” James said. “Just judging by the expression she was wearing when I found them outside the arcade, she’d been in some real bad spots before.”

“I wonder where she went after we all left…” Kevin wondered.

“Hard to say.” Zan said. “I know that pegasi can’t alter weather and clouds here like they could back in Equestria, so she’d be more or less grounded, so to speak.”

“That must suck.” James said sounding genuinely surprised to hear this. “To have the ability to alter weather back home then arrive here and suddenly not have that ability must be…unnerving, at best.”

“I bet…” Kevin kicked at the concrete.

The conversation died at that point, each taking to glancing around for their friend and occasionally watching the people and ponies move about during the morning commute. The sun had now risen fully above the horizon; the towers along the beachfront cast long shadows over the blue water.

Several more minutes of silence passed. “I wonder when Zen’s gonna get here.” James wondered out loud.

“That might be him there.” Kevin pointed at a large white passenger van that had just pulled into the adjacent parking lot. James and Zan both turned to look as the van pulled beside them.

“Well this is…new.” Rainbow Dash commented as she situated herself on a row of seats in the passenger van Zen had rented.

“If it makes you too uncomfortable you can always follow us in the skies.” Zen suggested as he pulled out of the parking garage and onto the street.

“It’s not that. I’ve just never seen anything quite like this before.” Dash replied. “The closest thing we had to these…cars was the train that ran from Ponyville to Canterlot. Sure we had carriages and stuff, but you don’t use ponies or humans to pull these things.”

“Well we could but it’d hardly be practical.” Zen grinned slightly at the thought of people trying to pull multi-ton vehicles filled with more people. He looked both ways up the main road before pulling out and getting up to speed. “Besides, driving is way too much fun.”

“Yeah? D’you think it’s as much fun as flying? Actually…” Dash rubbed her chin as she contemplated something. “…have you ever even flown before?”

Zen laughed a bit. “I’ve flown several times.” He noted the confused look on the mare’s face. “Back on Earth we have large machines called planes and helicopters. Helicopters use overhead propellers and a tail rotor to maintain flight while planes use either wing propellers or jet engines to fly. I can say with certainty that the most enjoyable air ride I’ve ever been on was when I rode in a Robinson helicopter, though flying in a massive passenger jet across the country was pretty fun too. However, I personally think that nothing quite beats being behind the wheel of a car. Just something about being in control of a transportation machine is enjoyable to me, whether that machine is sporty or utility-oriented, powerful or a total beater.

“That being said, driving is an insane responsibility. You could get yourself or other people killed. Back on Earth most places required you to go through so many hours of practice and have practice sessions with licensed instructors before you could even get your license. That’s not quite the same here, and personally I think the process here could use some improvement, but that’s neither here nor there. I was actually really scared to learn how to drive…I’d seen too many terrible accidents and people die because of it.” Zen slowed and turned to the right into a parking lot.

“And yet you seem to really like it.” Dash observed. “How’d you get over your fears?”

“Simple.” Zen replied, pulling to a stop next to a group of people. “Lots of practice.” He killed the engine and stepped out of the vehicle. “Sup guys, ready to go?”

“Morning Zen.” Kevin replied.

“Yup, I think we’re all ready to go.” Zan said. James nodded in turn. “Also, shotgun!” Zan added quickly.

“Alright then, let’s get going.” Zenith got back into the driver’s seat and unlocked the other doors before turning the engine back on.

Zan climbed into the front passenger seat as Kevin and James found seats in the back. “Oh hey Rainbow.” Zan said. “You coming along too?”

“You bet I am.” Rainbow said, scooting closer to one side of the row to make more room, though Kevin and James took the very back row of seats anyways.

“Dash could really use some new friends so I let her stay at my place last night and invited her along.” Zen explained. “I told her she was more than welcome to hang out with us.”

“Like any of us would have it any other way!” Zan said, holding out a fist to Rainbow Dash, who bumped it with a hoof. “Glad you’re coming with us.”

“Believe me; I’m happy to be joining you guys.” Rainbow Dash beamed back at Zan.

“Well if there’s no objections, shall we be off?” Zen asked, and after not receiving any objections, “Alright then, let’s go!”

Zen put the van in drive and pulled out into the main road again, this time heading the other direction. This morning was devoid of any heavy traffic so far, and Zen was very grateful for it. He may love driving to no end but having to deal with congested streets and people who don’t know what they’re doing definitely is not fun in his books. It didn’t take them too long to leave the city proper and then reach the bridge connecting the island to the main land.

As they began to cross the bridge, Zen couldn’t help but glance out over the water. The early morning sun created a majestic sparking glare off the water just below the horizon. Everything looked pure, untouched by any sort of evil or madness that Zen or his human companions might have known back on Earth. It was also a sight that Zen appreciated to no end; after having at a young age moved to and grown up in a mountainous region bordered by deserts and plains, he had resented the fact that he had never been given the chance to see the ocean that he was born next to. To Zen, the sight before him was more beautiful than waking up to pink-hued mountains in the morning. Before returning his gaze to the road ahead of him, Zen noted Zan also looking out towards the sunrise.

“Sure is a sight to see, isn’t it Zan?” Zen asked.

“Definitely different than what we’re used to back home.” Zan replied, not taking his eyes off the sunrise. “Never get tired of seeing this.”

“Me neither.”

James and Kevin held a conversation in the back of the van while Rainbow Dash had elected to take a quick nap. Zen and Zan both fell quiet though, and the only noise that Zen wanted to focus on was the familiar sound of tires on the concrete road. That noise was quickly joined by the sound of air coming out of the ventilation system as Zan turned the A/C on. Despite the early morning hours the temperature was still fairly warm and the van was getting stuffy.

Zen rested an elbow in the corner of the side window and door frame and the other elbow on a leg, keeping only a loose grip on the wheel. The bridge was fairly straight and they were the only ones on it, so he was in no danger of losing control or running into anyone else.

“You know what’s funny?” Zen asked.

“What’s that?” Zan replied.

“Crystal City seems so isolated, but when you think about it the mainland is only about nine miles away with the first town only another two or three further.”

“Yeah it’s really not.” Zan agreed. “I guess it’s just the stigma of living on an island that makes it seem so far away from everything.”

“Mhmm.” Zen made mental note of the sign that read ‘Junction Park: 6’. That meant that they were just over halfway there already. With only another mile or so to go before reaching the mainland, Zen cast one more glance towards the sunrise. The sun itself was already above the horizon, with the sparkling glare off the water even bigger than what it was earlier. It soon vanished from view behind an outcropping of rock and vegetation further along the coast.

The vehicle suddenly began to emit a series of beeps. Curious, Zen cast his gaze across the instrument cluster and quickly found the offending mechanism behind the noise.

“What was that all about?” Rainbow asked with a yawn.

“My apologies if that woke you up.” Zen responded. “Apparently whoever services these vehicles neglected to give this thing a recharge and I somehow didn’t notice.”

“Figures.” Zan said with slight contempt.

“Oh well. Looks like there’s a fuel station just up ahead, so we can fuel up there and stretch a little bit, maybe pick up some food for the road or something. Besides, I need to look a map really quick.”

“Alright then.” Zan turned his attention to the passing coastal scenery, which could be described as very dense assortment of coniferous flora that was a very healthy green year-round. Trees and shrubbery were cut back from the pavement by about ten feet, but what was left alone was not unlike a wall of green.

“So Zen, what does power these machines?” Rainbow asked.

“Back on Earth most cars ran on either pure electricity or gasoline.” Zen responded, moving the van onto the off ramp and decelerating to a stop at the intersection before moving into the fuel station’s lot. “Once we re-developed the technology for powerful enough motors and batteries, we decided that all commercially sold vehicles should be run on pure electricity gathered from wind, solar, or aquatic current power plants. Some have built motors that run on bio-fuel made from plant life for the more ‘natural’ feeling that some people like, but this car is purely electric and very quiet too. That ‘revving’ noise you might have noticed earlier was totally fake, being produced only by the van’s sound system, and can actually be shut off at will.”

“Huh. That’s pretty cool…I guess?” Her tone suggested she didn’t really fully understand what Zen had just told her.

Zen just laughed a bit. “Sorry I tend to get slightly carried away when asked about vehicles. In short this van runs totally on electricity, but there are other methods.”

“Oh.”

“We like to think that we’re trying to avoid making the same mistakes that previous generations made back on Earth.” Kevin added.

“We certainly don’t want to mess up the chance we’ve been given to start over as a society.” James said as Zen parked next to a plug-in station.

“Alright guys, this shouldn’t take too terribly long…” Zen climbed out of the van and began to pay for a full battery recharge.

Zan walked inside the station while Kevin and James simply stayed by the van.

Rainbow Dash climbed out of the van moments later and flexed her wings. “Ah, that feels better.”

“Why don’t you just follow us in the air?” Kevin asked, curious.

“You know, I’ve never actually spent that much time around humans until I met you guys, and I’m discovering that I really enjoy listening to you guys talk and swap stories about your lives back on Earth.” Rainbow replied. “Maybe once we get to where we’re going I’ll go for a flight but for now I’m just enjoying some company, even if it means being grounded for a little while.”

“Huh, well I think I speak for all of us when I say that we’re glad to have you as company.” James said, pulling out a set of headphones from his pack and plugging them into a device before setting them over his ears. Kevin then decided went off to explore the station with Zan, and Zen had his face buried in a map.

“What are you listening to?” Rainbow asked James as he scrolled through a music library.

“Oh just some mixes I came up with during my spare time.” James replied, leaning against the van.

“Cool, so you’re like a DJ then?”

“Being a DJ is something I enjoy doing.”

“That’s pretty cool. Kinda like that one pony that was playing the music at that royal wedding we had.”

“Who, Vinyl?”

Rainbow shrugged. “I never learned her name.”

“White coat, electric blue hair, huge goggles, and a musical note for a cutie mark?”

“That’s the one.”

“Yup. Back on Earth we simply called her Vinyl Scratch or DJ Pon-3, as she was never given a name in the cartoon.”

Rainbow gave a discomforting look at the mention of the cartoon. “Sorry.” James quickly apologized. “I can’t really imagine how I would feel if someone from another world told me they knew about me from a cartoon show or something.”

“It’s okay; it’s just something that I should be used to by now.” Rainbow replied.

“Let me let you in on a little secret of mine.” James said. “I’m actually not this talkative or friendly with people. I’ve had some bad friendships in the past that have caused me to generally distrust people I know, but unfortunately the position I’m in requires me to do plenty of talking, so I do apologize if I happen to make a remark that makes you feel uncomfortable. I’m just not really used to having many friends.”

“Sounds kinda like Twilight in a way.” Rainbow mused as she glanced back at Zen, his face still buried in the map. She trotted over to him and attempted to get a look in at the map as well. “So what’s the plan?” She asked him.

“Well it looks like Junction Park is in a large clearing off the highway just after this interchange here.” Zen lowered the map so Rainbow could see and pointed at the interchange he was talking about.

The map itself showed the known geography for Haven; there was still much to explore in this world so only a small portion was shown. Crystal City was located on the eastern side of Crystal Island, which had been named after the crystal clear waters that surrounded the island, and the island was located in the northeastern part of the known world. The main highway that connected the island to the mainland ran south a few miles before splitting in an east to west fashion just beyond the town of Junction Park. The highway travelled east not far from the coast until both curved south. There the highway turned back inwards a little bit until it reached Alliance, where it ended. To the west the highway gradually made its way southward before leveling out some distance before the capital of Harmony’s Point, which it bisected. After that the highway split off again; one stretch headed north along the coast again, passing through a few smaller towns before dead-ending in Lethean, the northernmost and largest city. The other stretch continued in a westward direction and eventually split off into smaller roads that dead-ended in various towns and cities.

“So it’s not much farther then?” Rainbow asked.

“Maybe another five minutes on the highway. Once we get there we’ll pull into town and locate Colton, which shouldn’t be too terribly difficult since Junction Park is relatively small.” Zen quickly checked his watch and noted the time. “After that we’ll decide what we’ll do from there.”

“Sounds good.” Rainbow grinned. “Should give me enough time to go on a quick flight.”

“You’ll have plenty of time for that.” Zen folded the map up and set it a pocket in the driver’s side door. He walked back around to check the progress of the charging when Zan called out from the store.

“Hey guys, look who we found!”

Zen, Rainbow, and James all looked up to see Zan standing next to two ponies, a unicorn and an oddly familiar pegasus.

“Wait, Sprinter is that you?” Zen called back.

“Yeah man, didn’t expect to see you out this way.” Sprinter replied and walked up to him. “See you’ve made a new friend here.”

Zen nodded. “Sprinter, this is Rainbow Dash.”

“Hello.” Rainbow greeted Sprinter.

“Rainbow Dash…that name sounds slightly familiar.” Sprinter concentrated for a moment. “Wait a sec, you won that Young Fliers Competition back in Equestria didn’t you?”

“Yeah, yeah I did.” Rainbow seemed surprised. “You actually know who I am?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that, just that I know your name and something you accomplished.” Sprinter replied. “Why?”

“Well it’s just that nobody here seems to know who I am aside from these guys.” Rainbow gestured at Zen and company. “I’ve only saved Equestria twice and was the first to perform a Sonic Rainboom in years.”

“Huh.” Sprinter blinked. “I hadn’t heard any of that before.”

“Doesn’t even ring a bell?”

“Nope.”

“Darn…oh well.”

“So Sprinter, what’re you doing out there?” Zen asked his friend.

“Not long after I last saw you yesterday that unicorn back there, Solstice, approached me and said I was needed for some kind of project in Alliance. Sounded like riot control to me from what I was told.”

“No kidding?” Zen laughed. “That’s exactly what we’re out here for. That friend of mine that found you had been looking for me to tell me that exact same thing.”

“That’s pretty funny…well Solstice and I were just heading out to Lethean. He says he knows people out there that can help.”

“What do you guys plan to do?”

“Dunno. We haven’t really talked about that yet, but I think he plans to try and convince these screwballs to pack up and find their own little corner to trash.”

“Not a bad idea.” The charging was now complete so Zen unplugged the charger from the van and put it up. “Well we’re about ready to take off. We were going to find one of our friends in Junction Park before doing anything else.”

“Alright well we won’t keep you guys.” Sprinter turned to walk back to his companion. “Take care Zen and nice meeting you Dash!”

“Nice to meet you too!” Rainbow replied.

“See you around.” Zen finished the transaction and called out to his companions. “Alright guys, whenever you’re ready we can head out!”

“Sure thing!” Zan replied and went back inside to find Kevin. James climbed back into the back of the van and Rainbow settled back into the spot she had previously occupied. Zen got back behind the wheel and watched as Sprinter took off with Solstice, who was using magic to fly.

A minute later Zan and Kevin were both back in the van. “Okay, so I got some sodas for everyone and some large bags of chips we can all share.” Kevin said, placing a large paper bag on the floor of the van and closing the side door.

“Could you pass me up a soda?” Zen asked, and Kevin tossed him a bottle. Zen opened it and took a long drink before putting the cap back on and setting it in a drink holder. “Alright then, let’s get going.”

Zen turned the van on and buckled up before putting it in drive and getting back on the highway. Zan had started to chat with Kevin and Rainbow had taken to staring out the side window while James continued to listen to his music. Only a few minutes had passed before they came across a very large clearing in the forest and they could see the town of Junction Park in the middle. It reminded Zen of the many towns he would pass in the state of Kansas where the only notable feature of each town was the large water tower. They passed a large decorative sign that read “Welcome to Junction Park” which was quickly followed by an off ramp that Zen took to get into town.

“Okay, now that we’re here how are we going to find him?” Zan asked.

“We’ll just have to split up.” Zen answered. “I’ll explore the middle of town; you guys do what you want. There’s a Dan’s Grille just up ahead that we can meet up at for lunch at noon. Sound good?”

Zen’s companions agreed and Zen began to look for a place to park. He found an open spot in front of a large brick building and killed the motor.

“See you guys later!” Zan hopped out and started heading up one street. Kevin chose another direction and began to walk that way, while James took a third and headed out.

“Looks like you’ve got a few hours if you wanted to go for a flight.” Zen said to Rainbow as she climbed out of the van.

“Cool, catch you later!” Rainbow said and took off. Zen watched her vanish into the sky and surveyed his immediate surroundings. The town was mostly devoid of pedestrians, and the only other individuals he could spy were a pair of earth ponies working to fix a pothole in an alley across the street. He turned his attention to the structure he had parked in front of. There were no noticeable signs on the exterior and the windows were covered in various posters and fliers, but he did spy a blue sign on the door that read ‘Open’. ‘Well this place is as good as any to start…’ he thought to himself and walked up to the front door.

Things Don't Add Up

5: Things Don’t Add Up

A bell chimed as Zen opened the door to the unmarked structure he had parked in front of. There was hardly any lightning so he had to stand still for a second as his eyes adjusted.

A female voice called from the back of the room. “I’ll be right with you!”

‘Strange, that voice sounds oddly familiar…’ Zen thought as he blinked a few times and looked around. The walls were lined with shelves, and the shelves filled with…

“…books.” Zen muttered. “Must be the town library or something.”

He heard something heavy being set down in some back room and turned to see a purple unicorn appear from behind a shelf. “Sorry about that.” The unicorn apologized with a grin. “My name is Twilight Sparkle, and welcome to Junction Park Book Emporium!” She smiled as she walked up to Zen. “I don’t recognize you. Are you new to town?”

Zen blinked a few more times before squinting slightly at Twilight. With a finger pointed at her he said, “Wait a second…Twilight Sparkle?” The mare nodded. “As in the bearer of the Element of Magic? Personal protégé to Princess Celestia and all that?”

Now it was Twilight’s turn to blink, but in confusion. “That’s right. How do you know all that? Wait, you know who I am! That must mean that whatever has caused you humans to not recognize those of us who were featured on that cartoon of yours didn’t affect you!”

“So you’re already aware of that.” Zen stated, crossing his arms. “Then I needn’t explain how it is I know you.” She shook her head. “Well then to answer your question, you could say that I’m just passing by. But there’s something I’d like to know from you first.”

“I’m an open book, figuratively speaking of course.” Twilight replied before carefully studying her customer.

“What are you doing in this little town?” Zen observed the fact that he was being looked over. “I would have expected you to be in Harmony’s Point or some other city that has a focus on education.”

“Do you want the long and detailed explanation or the cliff notes version?”

“Whichever is fine.”

“Very well then. When I was originally pulled from Equestria, which was roughly four years ago by Haven standards, I did end up in Harmony’s Point. After I got over the initial shock and depression from not being in Ponyville and not having any way back, I began to enjoy life there, taking in all there was to take in. I learned a lot from the Earth archives that the human historians had put together, and I must say you humans sure do have this knack for violence.”

“You don’t know the half of it.” Zen commented dryly.

“In any case, I stayed in Harmony’s Point for the greater part of three years and helped expand Haven University’s science and magic departments, though I never did any teaching myself. I preferred to stick to the libraries and archives to learn all I could, and maybe discover a way for both ponies and humans like to go home, or at least travel between each world. I had also hoped to discover why most humans don’t seem to be able to recognize us higher-profile ponies, but none of my research did any good.”

“Did you find anything out at all?”

“Well…” Twilight looked concerned now. “There is something that I do know that I never told anyone back at the University…”

“And I suppose there’s no point in telling a total stranger like me, eh?”

“You’re different though.” Twilight looked Zen directly in the eyes. “You recognized me; in fact you’re the first to do so. What I know has a lot to do with why we’re here in the first place, but I’m not sure why it has affected people’s memories.”

“Alright then, so will you tell me?”

“Yes. When your scientists activated the machine to create the portal to Equestria, I had been studying with Celestia to create an effective and efficient mass teleportation spell. We had just devised a way to potentially send upwards of one hundred ponies from Canterlot to Manehatten in the blink of an eye, and right as I cast the spell to test it out, the portal had been created to connect our two worlds. However, the magic from my spell interfered with the portal on our end, causing it to redirect to this world and cancel my spell. On your end, things looked like the portal had been intended to open there as if nothing had happened except a miscalculation that was caused by an apparent power overload. In Equestria, the redirect caused our entire nation to be enveloped with a misfired spell that would pull random ponies from Equestria and drop them in this world instead. Another side effect from the interference was that the location that the portal dropped everypony off at changed every time somepony came through, though it seems that we were all dropped off in roughly the same part of this continent. From the time of that mishap until I was pulled through, I worked diligently to find a way to reverse it, but I found nothing, and not even Princess Celestia could devise a way to reverse the spell. I suspect that the issue concerning memory is another side effect of this disaster, but I cannot say that for sure.”

“Go figure.” Zen said. “And here we thought that something had gone wrong on our end. Turns out technology and magic don’t necessarily work very well when crossing dimensions.”

“It’s definitely not something I’d like to test out anytime soon.” Twilight commented. “I did write down my discoveries and thoughts in a personal journal, but nopony else has ever seen it. Now then, as I said earlier I stayed in Harmony’s Point for roughly three years. I only stayed there for that long because the University needed me, but eventually I got tired of them constantly bugging me for help and to teach some courses, so I personally trained a few individuals to teach more advanced courses and left town. I decided to stay here because it was sufficiently out of the way without being too far away from everything, and the smaller population meant I could run this establishment without being interrupted too much from my studies.”

“Oh, did I interrupt something?”

“No, I was just re-shelving some recent returns.” Twilight smiled again. “So then, is there anything I can help you with?”

“Maybe…” Zen whispered. “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Zen, and I helped to build Crystal City. I came here with a large group of friends from the state of Colorado who were all looking to start over and build a world we could actually tolerate. Recently there have been rioting and general unrest in the city of Alliance and my friends and Iwere called upon to help control the aggressors and settle things there. I’m here in town looking for one such friend, named Colton. About so high, darker hair, tends to keep to himself unless he’s around friends. Have you seen him?”

“Hmm…” Twilight tapped her chin with a hoof and thought for a moment. “That description sounds familiar…let me go check my records to see if he’s recently purchased anything or checked a book out.”

Zen followed Twilight as she walked back to a counter and opened up what appeared to be a receipt book using magic. “Hmm…” Twilight flipped through a few pages. “I can’t find anything here, sorry.”

“Well it was worth a shot.” Zen said, mentally going over the different places that Colton might have recently visited in this part of town.

“Is there anything else?” Twilight asked. “I might have a book or two on how to deal with aggressive individuals that might come in handy!” She dashed off to a section of the store to check inventory.

“Thanks but I think I can handle it.” Zen said with a small smile. “Although…”

Twilight looked back at him. “What is it?”

“I think there’s a friend of mine who would love to see you and could really use your company.”

“Really? Who is it?”

“I’d like to keep it a surprise for now, but unfortunately that friend won’t be here until around noon. We were meeting up at Dan’s Grille for lunch. I’ve got some other friends looking in other parts of town looking for Colton, so maybe one of them will have better luck than I.”

Twilight glanced at a clock. “Well noon is still a little over two hours off. The only other place I would suggest checking for any leads on your friend’s whereabouts would be the local police station, but the town’s only active officer just sped out of town on a call not long before you walked through the door.”

“Huh. Got two hours to kill, nothing to do, and nowhere to go.”

“Sure would seem that way.” Twilight walked back to the counter and began to put some loose items away. “Besides, I can’t leave my shop for very long, and lunch would be stretching it. Not only would I lose time to devote to my research, but I would also lose potential customers. Not that I’ve been getting very many customers, which has been both a blessing and a curse, but any chance I have to make a sale is an opportunity I can’t miss.”

“Hard times in this town?”

“Not really, just not very good times either.” Twilight said with a sigh. “We get by here, but mostly just. Most of the locals who are here are here by choice, and accept the fact that this town just can’t support more extravagant lifestyles. Personally I’m okay with that, the fewer distractions the better, though I do enjoy having people and ponies stop by. Things do get slightly lonely here from time to time.”

“I’d get lonely too if I lived in a town this small.” Zen commented. “Crystal City is by no means a ‘small’ city but it’s still the smallest city I’ve ever lived in. I like being in the city where there’s things to do and people to see. From what I’ve heard, the city I’m originally from would dwarf any town or city from Equstria, except maybe Manehatten, in pure size alone.”

“I see.” Twilight blinked as she tried to picture such a place.

“Yeah, while excursions to smaller towns are nice from time to time, I couldn’t see myself living in one for very long. Well anyways I’d hate to keep you from doing your job, so I think I’ll stop back by later with my friend so you don’t have to miss anything. Besides, you’ve given me quite a bit to think about.”

“I’m sure I have. It was nice to meet you Zen.”

“Likewise Twilight.” Zen stepped back outside into the bright morning. He squinted and shielded his eyes from the offending rays as his sight readjusted to being outside. He went to the van and retrieved his still cold soda and sat in the driver’s seat with the door open, one foot hanging out of the van, thinking about what Twilight had told him, and the fact that he had now met another pony of importance is as many days.

‘None of this makes sense…’ He thought to himself, taking a drink. ‘Everything was cool until James showed up with the news that Alliance needs some serious riot control, and then I start meeting high profile ponies like Rainbow Dash and Twilight, but nobody else seems to know who they are? Something’s not right…’

A small gust of wind and the sound of hooves hitting pavement interrupted Zen’s train of thought. He looked up and saw Rainbow Dash standing there looking at him, confused.

“What’s on your mind?” She asked.

“Something I’ll explain later.” Zen said after a moment. “Get tired of flying already?”

“Well I was flying over the town and saw you climb back into the car so I thought maybe something was up, and you know, as much as I love flying, it’s just not the same here as it was back home.” She looked down as if incredibly disappointed.

Zen stepped out of the vehicle and kneeled down next to Rainbow. “I’m sorry to hear that, but I think I know of something that’ll cheer you up.”

“Really now?” Rainbow asked with skepticism not totally absent from her tone.

“Really.” Zen stood up and motioned for her to follow. Zen walked back up to the front door of the Emporium and opened it, motioning Rainbow to step inside.

There was a muffled response from a back room as the bell chimed again. Rainbow looked around the book store. “Okay, it’s a book store.” She observed. “What’s so special about a book store?”

“Just wait a second.” Zen replied, barely containing a growing grin.

Rainbow cocked an eyebrow at him and continued to look around. Zen saw Twilight come out of the back room. “Hey Twilight, remember that friend I said who wanted to meet you?” Zen said to her.

“Oh hello again Zen, and yes I d-“ The rest of Twilight’s statement was cut off by a loud gasp and a blur of colors as Rainbow tackle-hugged Twilight. Zen couldn’t help but grin at the sight and jogged to the back of the store.

“I never thought I’d say this but I am so glad to see you again!” Rainbow nearly squealed as she tightly embraced her unicorn friend.

“It’s…really nice…to see you…again!” Twilight sputtered as she struggled to breathe properly through her friend’s embrace.

“Oh, hehe. Sorry!” Rainbow let go and Twilight took a deep breath and felt her ribcage. “I just never thought I’d ever see you again!”

“I was actually beginning to wonder what had happened to you and the others as well.” Twilight responded. “Where have you been?”

“Oh man is that a long story.” Rainbow said. “First…”

Zen stopped paying attention and let the two mares have their chance to play catch-up. He spotted a chair towards the front of the store and sat down in it to contemplate everything. The more he thought, the less sense things made and less he liked it. He could always chalk things up to just magic, but he was certain that there was something else going on. There was another factor that had not yet been discovered that was affecting life on Haven, and it bothered him to no end. Zen doesn’t particularly mind unknowns in life, but for him this was an exception. He sat there for several minutes, mentally arguing with himself over how to address this issue.

“Then that’s what I’ll do…”

The two mares stopped chatting for a moment and glanced over at Zen.

“What’s that?” Twilight asked.

“Huh?” Zen responded, unaware that he had spoken aloud.

“You muttered something about doing something.” Rainbow said.

“I did?” Zen scratched his head. “Huh, guess I was just thinking out loud.”

“Apparently so.” Twilight said. “So what’s up?”

Zen sighed. “I know my friends aren’t going to like this, but I’m not going to Alliance with them.”

Twilight looked confused and Rainbow’s eyes widened slightly. “But why?” The cyan pegasus asked.

“None of this makes sense!” Zen stood. “The fact that, for whatever reason, hardly anyone seems to know who you guys are despite how popular you were back home on Earth is baffling, the fact that pegasi can’t manipulate weather here is still something of a mystery to me, and even after what you told me…” He addressed Twilight. “…ponies getting pulled here at random just doesn’t seem to make much sense either.”

“So what are you going to do about it?” Rainbow took a single step towards Zen.

“When we meet the others for lunch I’m going to tell them that they’ll just have to go on without me.” Zen replied. “I know that there are people at the Haven’s Point University who have been using a design from the original portal machine to try and open a way back home, both to Earth and back to Equestria. If anyone would have anything resembling an answer to why none of this makes sense, it would be those working on that project.”

“Okay, then how are you friends going to get to Alliance?”

“If I can’t find an alternative way then I’ll drive them there, but they’ll have to deal with the issue themselves, and hopefully Sprinter and that unicorn…Solstice?...will be there too.”

“But what’s the rush?” Twilight asked.

“I don’t honestly know.” Zen answered with a slight shrug. “But I know my mind won’t let me rest until I get this stuff figured out, or as close to getting it figured out as I can.”

“Well, for whatever use I can be, I come with you.” Rainbow said with a grin.

“Thanks, Rainbow.” Zen replied. Twilight kicked at the floor and looked back a little bit. “What’s up, Twilight?” Zen asked.

The unicorn sighed. “I know I could be of help, especially with what I know and what I’ve learned. But I simply cannot leave my store behind; I can’t afford such a trip at this time.”

Zen thought for a moment. “What if I told you that you won’t have to worry about affording the trip?”

“What do you mean?” Twilight looked back at Zen.

“I can make sure that you’re financially taken care of for the duration of our trip.” Zen said. “Money is of no problem for me, and I think you’re right; you can definitely be of help.”

Twilight hesitated while she thought the offer over. “Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to impose on you.”

“I’m positive.” Zen said, firm but not unkind. “Whatever it is you would need to have taken care of I can personally make sure that it will be seen to.”

Twilight seemed to think for a moment, and then walked up to Zen. She suddenly reared up and placed her front hooves on Zen’s chest; Zen didn’t even react. Even at full height Twilight was still about half a foot shorter than Zen. She peered closely at Zen’s facial expression, studying him.

“Just who are you?” She finally asked after a minute.

Zen studied Twilight’s features in turn for a moment. He could see simple curiosity, but also a slight hint of uncertainty. He smiled and chuckled a bit after a few seconds before responding with, “A very fortunate individual.” He gently placed a hand on Twilight’s shoulder, and she flinched slightly as if she didn’t expect it. The unicorn stared at Zen a moment longer before getting off him and resuming a four-hooved stance.

“Alright then…” Twilight used her magic to get a pen and a sheet of paper from her desk. She began to scribble down a list of some kind. “This checklist will detail everything that I will need to stay financially secure. It’s not much, but I want to make sure that everything is taken care of before embarking on any kind of journey from here, no matter how much I may or may not need one.” Twilight deadpanned the comment about the vacation.

“Trust me, if you’ve been stuck here for as long as you say you have, you need a vacation.” Rainbow said.

Twilight finished writing the list, magically rolled up the paper, and levitated it over to Zen who grasped it and began to read. “Things really wouldn’t be so bad if I had some company to help me out around here.” She commented dryly.

Then a realization came across Zen like a ton of bricks. “Twilight, did Spike not end up here?”

Zen noted the wide-eyed look that Rainbow wore as she also realized what Zen was getting at. Twilight simply shook her head and sighed. “If he was ever pulled through to this world, I’m currently not aware of it. None of my spells have been of much help in finding him either, so I believe he’s still back in Equestria.”

“I see.” Zen stated. ‘Man, must be quite a change going from having an assistant to help you with everything and a mentor to help guide you to being totally alone in a world that you know nothing about’ Zen thought to himself as he re-read the list. Most of the items on the list including making sure any bills were paid on time and expenses for food. He didn’t see any problem with what Twilight was asking since nothing was terribly expensive, so he rolled up the list and tucked it away in a pocket.

“Can you make sure everything is seen to?” Twilight asked.

“Don’t worry; I can make sure that everything on this list is taken care of.” Zen responded with a smile.

“Okay then.” Twilight stepped back into the back room for a few minutes and returned with a saddlebag filled with books, paper, pens, and other things. “I know it’s still a bit early, but maybe we could leave anyways?” She asked.

“Sure.” Zen said. “Let’s go ahead and put that stuff in the van and we can go.”

As they walked out of the store, Twilight turned to Zen and asked, “So I’m going to assume that Crystal City was not named after the Crystal Empire?”

Zen laughed. “No, it was named after the crystal clear waters that surround the island.” He unlocked the van and allowed Twilight to place her belongings inside. Zen walked around to the front of the van and leaned up against it to try and pop a vertebra that had been bugging him all morning when he heard someone call his name.

“Yo Zen!”

He looked up and saw Zan across the street heading his way. “Any luck?” Zen called back as his spine popped with a rather loud crack that made Rainbow wince.

“Did that hurt?” She asked.

“Quite the opposite.” Zen replied and stretched his arms.

“I wasn’t able to find anything, so I hope Kevin or James did.” Zan said, now with the others at the van.

Twilight trotted up to the front of the van, and when she came into view Zan just stared. Twilight looked back at Zan for a moment. “What? Do I have something on my face?” She asked, trying to look into the van’s side mirror.

“Alright Zen, fess up.” Zan turned to Zen. “What’s your secret?”

“I have no idea what you are talking about.” Zen replied, barely containing a grin.

“Oh yes you do! How do you keep finding these ponies?” Zan gestured to Rainbow and Twilight.

“Umm…” Zen pretended to think really hard about it. “…luck?” Zen laughed as Zan made a table-flipping motion with his arms.

Twilight and Rainbow just looked on. “Some days I think I’ll never understand these humans.” Twilight said with a sigh.

“I’m right there with ya.” Rainbow concurred.

“So what are you doing back here? We’ve still got about an hour before lunch.” Zen asked.

“It didn’t take me very long to look around. This town isn’t very big, you know.” Zan said. “Nobody seemed to know Colton by name but a few recognized a description I gave.”

“Huh.” Zen pondered something. “I’m beginning to wonder if Colton doesn’t live here full time.”

“That might be possible.” Zan said. “I had some friends back in Colorado that lived somewhere else during the winters.”

“Do you know where else he might be?” Rainbow asked.

“I’m not sure.” Zen said. “The last time I heard from him he said he was moving to Junction Park because he was tired of living in the big city.”

“Well then let’s hope that one of the others had some luck.” Zan joined his friend in leaning against the hood of the van.

Nobody spoke for a few minutes, but the silence was interrupted by an odd gurgling noise that was coming from Twilight. Everyone looked back at her and she looked sheepishly back at them. “Hehe, I guess not eating this morning wasn’t the best idea I’ve ever had.”

A collective facepalm, or facehoof in Rainbow’s case, followed. “Alright Twilight.” Zen said, pulling out the keys to the van. “Let’s go get you something to eat.”

Parting Ways

6: Parting Ways

Pulling up to Dan’s Grille, Zen and company noticed that they weren’t the first to arrive. Kevin had showed up, and he had company.

“Looks like Kevin found him.” Zen remarked as he pulled into a parking spot and killed the engine.

Everyone climbed out of the vehicle and walked up to Kevin and Colton. “Long time, no see dude!” Zen said to Colton.

“It has been while.” Colton greeted Zen with an extended hand that Zen took and shook. “So Kevin here more or less explained to me what it is you guys are doing.”

“Yeah, I can’t help but feel like there’s something else they could be doing instead of wasting time waiting for us.” Zen commented dryly. “Like, seriously…oh well.” He shrugged. “This mess gives me an excuse to get out of Crystal City for a while if nothing else.”

“I thought you liked it there?” Kevin asked.

“I do.” Zen said. “I just haven’t left the island for a good year or so, but without personal transportation to go anywhere, I was and am limited to only going wherever my feet and my bike can take me.”

“What about that van?” Colton asked, nodding towards the vehicle.

“Rented from the company that owns the condo I live at.” Zen replied. “The people who own the complexes along the shore also have an auto rental company across the mainland called Haven Rentals.”

“Oh those guys.” Colton said with a nod. “I didn’t know they were also in the real estate business.”

“That happened fairly recently.” Zen said, putting the keys away in his front pocket. “Well I’m getting kinda hungry and I know Twilight here could use some food, so shall we head inside?”

“I don’t see why not.” Kevin said. “James will just have to be late.”

They went inside the restaurant. Dan’s Grille was set up like a typical fast food joint but focused on sandwiches with ingredients cooked on a grille. The interior was decorated with a traditional Southern flair, which Zen found comforting because it reminded him of home without making him homesick. Behind the counter were two menus: one for those who preferred some kind of meat on their sandwiches, and another for vegetarian options. There was also a smaller menu to the side that listed and categorized all the ingredients for those who liked to build their own sandwiches.

Zan, Kevin, and Colton all walked up to the counter and began to place their orders. Zen waited by the door and looked at his two equine companions. “Whenever you two are ready.” He said, glancing over the smaller menu.

“You know by the end of this I’m going to have to find a way to pay you back, right?” Rainbow commented.

“Only if you insist.” Zen replied, grinning as he waited for Twilight and Rainbow to decide what they wanted.

Several minutes later saw them enjoying their food with no signs of James showing up. Twilight was the first to finish her meal.

“Did you inhale that sandwich or something?” Zen commented before he consumed a few more fries.

“Well…” Twilight blushed slightly. “I don’t normally eat that fast, and although I hate to admit it I had been neglecting my health as of late to make ends meet.”

Everyone at the table stopped and stared at the purple unicorn, who shifted uncomfortably and turned slightly more red.

“Twilight, when was the last time you ate?” Rainbow asked, suddenly very concerned for her friend.

Twilight didn’t respond for a moment, but when she did her response was barely audible. “Umm…yesterday morning?”

Rainbow only stared in disbelief, as did most of the humans at the table. Twilight withered slightly under everyone’s gaze.

“Be honest with me here, were things really that bad for you?” Zen asked.

Suddenly Twilight broke down. “Yes!” She sobbed. For the second time that day Rainbow wrapped her friend in an embrace.

Twilight took a moment to compose herself. “I was actually going to go bankrupt within a month if I couldn’t find a way to bring more customers. I was actually considering moving the business somewhere else, but I couldn’t afford to move anywhere, and as hard as I tried there’s just nothing in this town that can help me.”

“You couldn’t get a loan?” Colton asked, finishing off his sandwich.

“The bank refused to help me.” Twilight replied. “They looked at my finances and told me they didn’t think I’d be able to pay a loan off.”

“This is why I hate banks.” Zen said. The others expressed their agreement.

“But now do you understand why I was initially hesitant to come with you?” Twilight asked Zen, who only nodded.

“So Twilight’s coming with us now? That’s cool.” Zan said.

“Well not exactly.” Twilight said.

“What do you mean?” Kevin asked.

“She means that I won’t be joining you guys in Alliance.” Zen said, seeing where this conversation was headed.

“Why not?” Colton asked.

“This was something I was hoping to discuss once everyone is here, but I suppose I can give a quick rundown while we wait for James.” Zen cleared his throat. “There have been a few things that have been bugging me lately that I cannot find a logical answer to, and it won’t stop bugging me until I at least try to make sense out of it. Unfortunately that means I’ll be going to Harmony’s Point instead.”

“What’s been bugging you?” Kevin asked.

“I’ll get into the details after James shows up.” Zen replied.

“Okay, then how are we getting to Alliance?” Zan asked.

“I’ll drive you guys there and drop you off, but after that I’m going straight to Harmony’s Point.”

“So then what about you, Rainbow Dash?” James asked.

Everyone at the table jumped. “Don’t scare us like that!” Zan protested.

“Sorry.” James apologized. “Didn’t realize that I was that stealthy.”

“So yeah, what are you going to do Dash?” Kevin asked.

Rainbow let out a small sigh. “As awesome as you guys have been, and as much as he may not want it, I’ve got a debt to repay to Zen for the hospitality he gave me last night. So I’ll be going with him.”

“So then it’ll just be the four of us huh?” Colton observed, looking at Zan, Kevin, and James.

“Looks like it.” James said. “So then, Zen, why suddenly are you leaving us?”

“Those things I said that were bugging me…” Zen paused for a moment, thinking how to best explain what was going through his head. “Pegasi can’t manipulate weather here. Now I realize that this doesn’t affect us.” Zen gestured between his human friends. “However, when you also consider that for some reason most people don’t recognize ponies like Twilight or Rainbow or the fact that ponies just randomly show up here, things start to make less sense. It’s almost as if there’s something about this world that we’ve found that’s affecting us, and I want to know what exactly is going on. Twilight knows a little bit about what happened that day we discovered Haven, so I suspect that by going to Harmony’s Point and speaking with professors and scientists at Haven University we just might be able to figure things out.”

Zen’s friends thought about what he had just said for a moment. “So what do you know, Twilight?” Colton asked.

“I know that a teleportation spell I was developing with Princess Celestia might directly or indirectly be responsible for why we’re all here.” Twilight responded.

“Heh. So how long will this take?” Zan asked.

“Not sure.” Zen replied. “But I don’t have anything for you guys to get in contact with me.”

James pulled something out of his pocket. “Take this.” He said. Zen took the object; a business card with James’ email address. “Just shoot me an email once you guys get to Harmony’s Point.”

Zen pocketed the card. “Okay then.”

“So, hang on a sec.” Zan said. “Weren’t we going to find other people first?”

“I think the four of us will suffice.” James said.

“And if I happen to run into anyone, I’ll point them your way.” Zen added.

“Then I suppose there’s no more need for us to wait around here.” James suggested.

“You gonna get something to eat first?” Colton asked.

“I’ll get my food to go.” James responded and went to the counter.

“Alright then, back to the van.” Zen get up and led the way out of the restaurant.

Before long the crew was back on the highway and headed to Alliance. It was almost midday by now, and there was a little bit more traffic on the roads. Zen glanced upwards for a moment, observing the almost clear blue skies. Today they almost seemed to be a purer blue than normal, but Zen didn’t pay it much attention. The interchange came up and Zen took the exit that would lead them to their proper destination.

“Just how far away is Alliance, anyway?” Kevin asked.

“Alliance is about an hour’s drive from here at reasonable speeds.” James replied.

“With Harmony’s Point being about the same distance in the other direction, we should get there by midafternoon.” Twilight said to Zen.

“Cool.” Zen said and got up to speed. In actuality, most rural highways in Haven didn’t have official speed limits, only a suggestion for private vehicles and the text ‘Drive Safe’ underneath. Commercial transportation had a mandatory limit they had to follow at all times. As it were, Zen was in control of a large vehicle packed with people and ponies, so he drove at what he felt was a safe speed without being excessively slow. He was just thankful that most rural highways were mostly straight and that the one they were traveling on was rarely used.

As they rolled on across the road, Zen listened to the several conversations going on between those in the back. Kevin, James, and Colton were playing mind puzzles with each other to pass the time, and Twilight and Rainbow had started catching up some more. Zan remained mostly quiet, observing the scenery as it passed. Like with Junction Park, the scenery here was mostly wooded, though not quite as dense, and neatly maintained at a distance of roughly twenty feet from the highway. As they drove, Zen noticed that to the right the landscape was gently rising.

“So what do you expect to find in Haven University?” Zan asked Zen.

“I’m not sure.” Zen replied. “Twilight thinks that maybe what she knows can help them build another machine like the one back on Earth; one that can link Earth, Haven, and Equestria together. Then maybe we could do things properly this time, and use Haven as a sort of middle ground between the two. But that’s a long shot, not even guaranteed that it’ll work. If nothing else, I’d like to at least get a better understand of just what happened when we first arrived here.”

“I see. I wish you luck, because it sounds like you’re gonna need it.” Zan said.

“Thanks.” Zen stared down the relatively straight highway for a few moments. “You know, I’ve never actually been to Harmony’s Point.”

“No?” Zan sounded somewhat surprised. “I would have imagined that you would have been all over the place by now.”

“You know, I would have expected that too.” Zen nodded with a small smile. “But I guess I just never had a reason to leave Crystal City, even after being there for so long. I was, and still am, content there; Crystal City is everything I would have ever wanted in a home. It just never really crossed my mind to go somewhere else for a change.”

“Which is really odd for you because back home you’d always jump at the chance to go somewhere.”

“Yeah, I guess that is pretty odd isn’t it?”

Just then they passed a sign that read “Alliance: 15”.

“Guess we’re making pretty good time.” Zen commented as the sign passed. “We’ve only been on the road for maybe half an hour.”

By now everyone except Zen was in on the mind puzzlers, and they were all having a great time with it. Unsurprisingly Twilight was able to figure them out with ease, but Kevin was also pretty sharp and was giving her some tough puzzlers; a challenge she gladly accepted.

More time passed, and it occurred to Zen than they were now in a rather large valley with a river running next to the highway. On the other side was a line of short cliffs. Up ahead he could see what looked like the town of Alliance, but there was something on the road blocking the entrance.

“Hey James!” Zen called back.

“Yes?” James responded.

“What’s that on the road?”

James carefully made his way up to the front of the van and peered over the two front seats. “Looks like a road block.” He said. “That wasn’t up when I left.”

“Hmm.” Zen began to slow down and pulled to a stop in front of the road block, which consisted of several large traffic barrels and a standard ‘Do Not Enter’ sign. The crew was approached by a grey earth pony with a black mane, who got up on a small platform to be level with the van. Zen rolled down the window.

“Please state your business.” The earth pony said gruffly, but not unkind.

“We’re here on business pertaining to the unrest.” Zen replied.

“Do you have proof?” The pony asked, producing a clip board from his saddlebags.

“Check with the town officials.” James said. “My name is James and they sent me to find these people to help deal with the dissenters.”

“Hmm…” The stallion checked the clipboard for a moment. “Stay here, do not enter the town.” He said and walked back to a booth just beyond the barrels.

“Shit musta got real if they’ve got the highway blocked off.” Zan said.

“No kidding.” James said.

They waited there for several minutes before the stallion came back and gave them clearance.

“You are to meet the town council at city hall. Have a good day, and good luck.” The stallion gave a small salute, which Zen returned as he maneuvered around the barrels.

Despite being several times larger than Junction Park, Alliance seemed pretty empty, even at this time of day. There were various stores and restaurants that lined the road into the town core, but most of the parking lots were empty, and the businesses all appeared to be closed. For Zen and company it was slightly unsettling, and James seemed to be especially nervous.

“I’ve never seen Alliance this barren before.” He commented. “I wonder what happened.”

“I reckon we’re about to find out.” Zen replied and followed James’ directions to the city hall.

When they got to the city hall, the first thing everyone noticed was the large crowd gathered outside. The street looked like it had been turned into a warzone; debris and trash covered the pavement. The city hall itself had been boarded up.

“This isn’t good.” Zan commented.

Zen pulled into a lot a few structures down from the city hall. “Good luck you guys.” He said, putting the van into park.

“You too Zen.” Zan said as he got out and opened the sliding door for everyone else. Twilight and Dash both got out and stretched.

“Not used to being cramped up in a vehicle like this?” Zan asked.

“No, not really.” Twilight responded.

“Heh, I can only imagine how uncomfortable that must have been.” Kevin remarked.

“It actually wasn’t that uncomfortable.” Rainbow said. “Just the inability to really stretch can make ya feel stiff.” She flexed her wings to their fullest length several times before folding them back up against her body. “Though to be fair those things aren’t exactly built for ponies.”

“True.” Zan looked back at the large crowd. “Well guys, guess we better get going.”

“Good luck.” Twilight said and waved them goodbye as Zan, Kevin, James, and Colton took off.

Rainbow climbed back into the van and took her spot in the second row seats. Twilight was about to climb in after but paused. “Do you mind if I ride in the front?” She asked Zen.

“If you can make yourself comfortable enough.” Zen replied and Twilight shut the sliding door. She jumped up into the shotgun seat and sat there, rear legs hanging over the edge of the seat, back up against the back of the seat. Zen eyed the peculiar sight for a moment. “That’s not uncomfortable?” He asked.

“It’s odd, yes, but not particularly discomforting.” Twilight responded and magically buckled herself in.

Zen blinked and stared for a moment longer. “If you say so.” He said before putting the van into reverse and backing out into the street.

As they drove off he could see his friends vanish into the crowd, wondering what had happened in this town.
Rainbow echoed Zen’s thoughts with a guess of her own. “Maybe whoever started this mess got tired of waiting and they attacked the town?”

“It’s possible.” Zen said, pulling back onto the highway.

“I hope that nopony was injured.” Twilight said.

“Yeah…” Zen’s voice trailed off.

They sped along the highway in relative silence. They managed to make it back to the interchange before Junction Park within forty minutes, but this time they took the third branch of the highway towards Harmony’s Point.

“So what’s the plan for after we get to this place?” Rainbow asked.

“First we need to get to Haven University.” Twilight said. “Once we get there, I’m going to go find the science department and try and locate my former colleagues to see if we can meet sometime tomorrow to discuss everything.”

“Well if we’re not doing anything important today I just might go for a little bit of sight-seeing.” Zen said. “What about you, Rainbow?”

“I dunno yet.” The pegasus said. “Might go sight-seeing with you, might go wandering on my own.”

“Okay, then we can all find a place to meet for dinner and then go hunting for a place to stay.” Twilight suggested.

“Sure thing.” Zen said. “Got any particular place in mind for meeting up before dinner?”

“The front entrance to the Administration building should do.” Twilight said.

“Cool, then that’s what we’ll do.”

The Sights and Scenes of Harmony's Point

7: The Sights and Scenes of Harmony’s Point

As Zen and company approached the capital city of Haven, traffic slowly began to build on the highway. Twilight had informed Zen that the highway cut just north of the center of the city and straddled a very large commercial district. Just as they reached the city limits, the highway cut into the ground, allowing roads to pass overhead without having to elevate much road. Zen found the exit they were looking for before too long and got off the highway, fighting the congested road the whole way.

“Were there many cities back on Earth that were designed like this?” Rainbow asked.

“There were a few, but there very few highways like this one in Colorado.” Zen replied. “Denver, Colorado’s capital city, had a few small stretches of highway that were not totally unlike this, but for the most part the highways back home are like the ones in Crystal City, just over land instead of water.”

“Okay, why would they do that anyways?”

“Sometimes places are really tight so it’s easier to have the highway sink underground a bit and allow traffic to flow above normally and just have ramps for major exits.”

“Oh, well that makes sense….I think.”

Zen pulled to a stop at the end of the off ramp and waited for the light to change. As he did, he couldn’t help but look around. To his left he could see some midrise condos and apartments mixed in with a few office towers; this he assumed was Harmony’s Point’s downtown area. Just beyond that he could see a lone building perched on top of a hill. He assumed this was the Harmony Bridge, the main governmental facility for Haven.

The light turned and he headed down the avenue towards downtown and the Harmony Bridge. Zen couldn’t help but notice that Harmony’s Point was a lot more crowded than Crystal City, or at least this part of the city was more crowded. He also noticed that, while Harmony’s Point had always made itself appear like a modern city, street level in this area had a slightly aged appearance, as if everything was constructed to make the city look like it had been around for decades. It was an aesthetic touch he very much enjoyed.

“This place is pretty cool.” Rainbow commented, observing the many outdoor cafes and plazas that they passed, each packed with people and ponies.

“Definitely a different place than Crystal City, that’s for sure.” Zen said.

“Yeah it sure is.” Rainbow said without taking her eyes off all the activity going on.

“Once you reach the University you can use my old faculty parking pass.” Twilight said. “The University is at the foot of the Hill.”

“Alrighty then.” Zen said.

They continued slowly up the avenue, fighting midafternoon traffic the whole way. Eventually they made it to the bottom of the Hill, and Zen began to search for a parking lot. Eventually he found one just off the major road and parked. Twilight got out and dug around in her saddlebags for a few moments before producing a placard for Zen, who hung it from the rear view mirror.

“So…why exactly did you get one of these?” Zen asked as he affixed the placard to the mirror.

“I really don’t know. Everyone on staff was given one, no matter who they were or whether or not they actually had a vehicle to drive. But this doesn’t have an expiration date printed on it so I would assume this is still good.”

“Huh. Interesting.” Zen hopped out of the van and locked everything up and making sure everyone had everything. “So, meet in front of the Administration building in, say 3 hours?”

“Sure thing.” Rainbow said. “But first, which one is the administration building?”

Twilight pointed towards the middle of campus. “It’s over there, but if you guys get lost there are campus maps everywhere.”

“Alright then, we’ll see you later Twilight.” Zen said and the unicorn galloped off.

“So, where are you headed?” Rainbow asked.

Zen looked back up the Hill to the Harmony Bridge. “I think I’m gonna go for a little hike.”

Rainbow grinned devilishly. “Race ya to the top then!” She crouched down for takeoff, wings spread.

“Oh come on! That’s hardly fair!” Zen protested.

Rainbow stopped for a second. “Yeah, you’re right. Wouldn’t even be much of a race.”

Zen sighed and shook his head for a moment. Rainbow just looked at Zen, perplexed. “C’mon, let’s go.” Zen started to walk.

It took Zen roughly twenty minutes to walk from the parking lot to the top of the Hill. Now he and Rainbow Dash were at the base of the Harmony Bridge. The Harmony Bridge was actually two leaning towers, each rising four hundred feet tall at a forty-five degree angle from each other, with a third multi-story section at the top that connected the two. The entire façade was tinted glass, giving the structure an extra modern appearance, and by both entrances sat a giant concrete slab with the words “Harmony Bridge” engraved into it. Zen marveled at this structure for a few minutes before looking back down the Hill. The Hill itself was the highest point in elevation for miles and was part of the inspiration for Harmony’s Point’s name. Looking down the Hill back at the university, Zen was reminded of the Mall in Washington, D.C. back on Earth. Only interrupted by a single two-lane road halfway down the gentle slope, the Hill was a greenway composed of nothing but grass. The occasional bench and table lined the sides of the greenway, but there was not much else.

Looking beyond the university and the greenway, Zen studied the cityscape ahead of him. The Hill only rose a few hundred feet, but it was more than enough to give a panoramic view of nearly the entire city from this one spot. Unlike the condos and apartment towers of Crystal City, the ones that rose before him were not particularly eye catching. Even the office towers lacked many unique details; some had radio antennae, others has slanted or stepped roofs, but for the most part Harmony’s Point’s skyline was lacking in anything particularly outstanding. Zen thought it weird that the Harmony Bridge was such a magnificent sight while the rest of the city looked quite bland.

He continued to stare off, observing small groups of pegasi move about between the various towers; some leaving, some going, others just floating in one spot. Despite being more crowded, Harmony’s Point seemed to be a lot more peaceful and easygoing to Zen, and he began to contemplate why.

“I like Crystal City better.” Rainbow said, interrupting Zen’s thoughts.

“Huh?” Zen said, only just catching what Rainbow had said. “Oh, yeah I like Crystal City better too.”

Then Zen felt something against his leg and side. He looked down to see that Rainbow had sat down and was leaning against him, half asleep. Smiling at what he was seeing, he gently ruffled her mane. “Tired?” He asked.

“Just a little bit.” Rainbow responded, trying to stifle a yawn.

“Go fly around a little bit.” Zen suggested. “We’ve got plenty of time to kill.”

The pegasus stood up and stretched. “Ya know, I think I just might do that. Catch you later.” She took off.

Zen stood there for a few more minutes. “Well, might as well go explore the university while I can.” He thought out loud. He took one last look at the cityscape, then Harmony Bridge, and began his decent.

On the way down the Hill he was greeted by various individuals, both human and pony alike, and he returned each greeting in kind. It was quite a nice change from Crystal City where most people would probably just walk right by without too much as a nod. Not that people from Crystal City were unfriendly, but they had a habit where more often than not they’d just keep to themselves when out in public.

Zen reached the bottom of the Hill and crossed the street onto Haven University grounds. ‘Maybe I should figure out where this Administration building is actually located.’ Zen thought to himself, and decided to go find one of the campus maps that Twilight had mentioned earlier. Wandering along one of the pathways he looked around, studying the buildings he passed. The campus was built with a mix of different styles and architectural eras, and no two buildings looked quite the same. As he looked around he forgot to pay attention to where he was going, and began to walk off the pathway and bumped into something very hard.

Rubbing his knee, Zen silently cursed at his lack of paying attention as he looked at the offending object. It was a small metal post with a large copper slab at the top, with different paths and shapes carved into it.

“This must be one of the maps.” Zen said to himself as he inspected the legend. It quickly became apparent that the campus was far larger than he originally thought. He found ‘Administration’ with a number next to it, and scoured the map to locate the matching number. When he found it he next tried to figure out where he was, and then realized that the facility he was seeking was just to his left.

Zen studied the building carefully. The Administration building was rather rectangular and constructed with red brick, making it stand out against the green of the many lawns and trees that dotted the campus. It was then that he started to notice the various people and ponies wandering about the campus, and it reminded him of the short two years he spent at a university. He thought that those two years were among the best he ever had, and had no regrets about anything that happened during those two years.

During those two years he had made many friends and had been able to experience many new things. Despite previous assertions that he would not get involved with ‘Greek life’ he became a member of a business fraternity for a year and half, but was forced to leave when he left the university. It was also during those two years that he was introduced to My Little Pony and the community that was ultimately responsible for him being in Haven. Overall, even if he hadn’t graduated, he still considered those two years to be very successful.

Zen checked his watch and saw that several hours remained before he was supposed to meet Twilight and Rainbow, so he turned his attention back to the map to see what else he could locate. He found several dorms and a few dining halls spread across the campus, the science department that he guessed Twilight was at, a separate part of campus dedicated solely to business and economics, the campus gym and library, and what looked like a university center not far from where he was standing. Curious, and slightly hungry for an afternoon snack, Zen began to make his way across the campus towards the university center.

As he walked along the path, Zen came across a large clearing with a portable stage on the far end and a large gathering in front. He paused to watch from a distance, curious as to what was going on. He couldn’t hear anything very clearly, but some banners that hung across the stage gave a very clear indicator of what was going on. It was a rally for support of interracial partners between humans and ponies. On the stage was a stallion and a woman, and the stallion was currently giving some kind of speech.

Zen leaned against a tree and observed the gathering for a few minutes. Interracial partners and even interracial marriage were not things that Zen ever really cared for, and in fact Zen didn’t particularly care about intimate relationships or anything related so long as he had friends, but he wasn’t against individuals having such relationships. He figured it was none of his business what people did behind closed doors, but unfortunately not everyone shared the same sentiment. Despite being from a community that espoused ‘love and tolerance’ there was still a large number of people, and ponies too, who were against such practices. Such individuals called it an ‘abomination’ and that it ‘goes against nature’…Zen never really understood the hate. As far as he was concerned, love was love and nobody had the right to take that away from anyone else.

After a few minutes the stallion stopped speaking and the crowd applauded. The stallion backed away from the microphone stand and allowed someone from the crowd to come up and say a piece. At this point Zen decided to continue on his way towards the university center.

When he found the university center, he immediately noted the fact that it was three floors high and had an overhanging section with outdoor seating near the front entrance. Most of the tables were empty, but there were a few people sitting at a table, hunched over what appeared to be large textbooks. Zen was about to walk inside but thought that one of the individuals at the tables looked familiar. He began to walk over to the tables instead, and sure enough he knew someone at the table.

“Bax?” Zen said as he approached the table. “Is that you?”

The young man Zen was addressed was startled by being addressed by name. He turned around and nearly jumped again. “My goodness! Zen, where did you come from?” Bax said, his voice deep and with a slightly sophisticated tone.

“Do you want the literal answer or the sarcastic answer?” Zen replied with a grin and joined Bax at the table. “I didn’t know you were enrolled here.”

“I only just started a few weeks ago.” Bax said. “Right now I was studying for my biology exam next week, but I’m waiting for Das to get back with some snacks.” He gestured to the large textbook and several notebooks filled with notes that sat in front of him.

“Das is here too?” Zen said, genuinely surprised. “I thought he was still back in that one town out west of here working at some farm.”

“Well he was.” Bax replied. “But I guess he decided that he wanted to do something more productive so he enrolled here last year.”

“I see.” Zen said.

Bax was unique among Zen’s friends. Bax very much enjoyed overdressing and acting as a part of what Zen would consider ‘high society’, most mannerisms included, but never believed himself to be above anyone else socially, and although he never smoked he always carried around a pipe that he’s occasionally hold between his teeth and suck on. He also had an authentic lacquered oak cane that he carried everywhere and a pocket watch to help complete the look. Today Bax was wearing a wool jacket over a vest and white button shirt, complete with dress pants. His hair was slicked back with gel, and his face was clean shaven except for a goatee. It was a look that Zen thought not many people could effectively pull off, but one that fit Bax very well.

“Yes.” Bax said. “Das will likely be very happy to see you.”

“I would hope so.” Zen said.

Then a voice came from behind them. “Hey Bax, sorry about the wait I…Zen?”

Bax and Zen turned to see a familiar face approach them. “It’s been awhile, hasn’t it, Das?” Zen said to the newcomer.
Das could easily be described as a casual biker. He had a scruffy beard, slightly long hair, and average build and height, and loved his bikes. Back on Earth Das was a fairly prominent member of the group, but mostly disappeared after deciding to go to Haven.

“Yeah, it has been awhile bro.” Das said, taking a seat across the table from Bax and placing a tray containing two paper baskets filled with fries in front of him. “And hell if I’da known that you were gonna be here I would’a bought you something too.”

“S’all good man.” Zen said. “Heck to be totally honest I didn’t even know I was gonna be here until earlier today. It’s good to see you again, both of you.”

“Speaking of, Zen, why are you out here?” Bax asked, taking a few fries from the basket in front of him.

Zen contemplated explaining the full situation to his friends, but decided to keep things simple. “Let’s just say I decided to on a little adventure and as a result I wound up here in Harmony’s Point.” He said.

“You’ve been living in Crystal City since you came here, right?” Das asked, also taking a few fries from his own bucket and offering some to Zen, who declined the offer.

“Yes, and as much as I like it there, I guess you could say I got bored and wanted to see more of Haven.” What Zen said wasn’t totally untrue.

“Huh. Haven’t quite made it out there myself yet.” Bax said.

“Me neither.” Das said.

A thought struck Zen that moment. “Say, I got two…no, three questions for you guys.” He said.

“Fire away.” Bax replied.

“First, are you guys free tonight for dinner around, say six?” Zen began.

Das and Bax looked at each other for a moment. “I can’t say I have any plans tonight.” Das said, and Bax expressed a similar statement.

“Cool, second question is what is the best restaurant in town?”

“Hands down gotta be that place called Todd’s down at First and Canter, just past the other side of campus near downtown.” Das said almost immediately. “It’s kinda pricey though, so I rarely go there.”

“I would have to agree with Das.” Bax said. “Yes it’s pricey, but that’s what you expect for a sit-down restaurant. Todd’s also has a great variety of things to get.”

“I’ll have to remember that.” Zen said, making a mental note. “And lastly, where’s a good hotel that’s not far from campus? Preferably one with a three person suite or some equivalent.”

Das and Bax blinked, both immediately curious as to why Zen made that specification. “So you’re not alone out here? What’s going on, Zen?” Bax wondered out loud.

“I’ll explain everything at dinner if you guys want to join me.” Zen promised, and both agreed.

“Hmm…” Das thought for a few moments. “I personally hate all hotels, but I think that Lamplighter place just a few blocks up Bridge Avenue would be a good place. I haven’t heard anyone complain about it at least. I don’t think it’s very expensive either.”

“Bridge Avenue is that big road at the bottom of the Hill, yes?” Zen asked, and both Das and Bax nodded. “Awesome. Well guys, it was good seeing you again but I’m gonna go explore the campus some more.” Zen made to get up from the table.

“Wait, Zen.” Bax said. “Where and when shall we meet you?”

“In front of the Administration building, say just before six?”

“Works for me.” Das said; Bax agreed.

“Then I’ll catch you guys later.” Zen said and waved them goodbye. As he walked to the entrance of the university center, he couldn’t help but think he was forgetting something.

Inside the university center Zen first noticed how cool it was inside compared to outside. While it was warm and sunny outside, Zen thought that someone had set the thermostat just a bit too low. He then began to take note of everything he saw. To his left was a large food court with dozens of tables and several fast food chains along the far wall. Above hung some large banners with Haven University colors and logos, and he could see up to the third and top floor, and a stairway in front of the fast food chains led to the upper floors. To his right were a large lounge and a computer lab. Ahead was a hallway that led to various student and campus service offices as well as the back entrance and restrooms. There was also a large three-sided billboard that had flyers and posters for upcoming events. Suddenly Zen felt like he was back at the college he attended. Eyeing the food booths, Zen went and got himself a soda and a pretzel to deter his hunger until later. It didn’t take him long to devour the pretzel, so with what remained of his soda he began to explore the ground level.
The seating area was packed with students, and the lounge and computer lab were similarly filled. As Zen passed the billboard he stopped and glanced over what was posted. Most of the flyers were for campus related events, including the rally he passed earlier. Other flyers including students seeking roommates, others pertained to student groups. One particularly eye-catching poster advertised a charity dinner put on by the all-inclusive fraternity Tau Kappa Pi, a co-ed fraternity centered on drawing human and pony students of all kinds together.

Seeing not much else of interest, Zen moved on from the billboard and walked down the hallway. On the wall opposite of the lounge was a large Haven University flag. Just beyond that were the restrooms and a student service desk, manned by two unicorn mares. Across from that was the campus mail service. In the middle of the hallway were a few benches and a support pillar that was covered in more flyers, and at the end of the hallway were an elevator, a set of stairs, and the rear entrance. Curious, Zen decided to take the flight of stairs to the next level, and observed that the exterior walls of the staircase were glass, allowing a view of the outdoors.

Reaching the second floor, Zen finished his soda and found a nearby trash can to deposit the empty cup. Looking around he observed that most of the floor space on the second floor was a giant lounge with large couches and seating areas. In the middle was a large stone pillar with a fireplace in the middle, but whether or not the fireplace was authentic Zen couldn’t be sure. To his left was campus job center office, and to the right were conference rooms and ballrooms. On a fall wall was a large flat screen monitor showing the local news.

Ascending to the top floor, Zen was greeted by a large hallway that circled the outer part of the floor, and the exterior walls were all glass, allowing a panoramic view of the surrounding area. In front and about fifteen feet to the right of him was the entrance and above the door frame was a line of brass letters that read “Haven Conference Center”. The doors to the conference center were closed, and a metal stand next to the entrance had a sheet of paper that read off when the conference room was reserved and who reserved it. Walking around the hallway, Zen found an outdoor observation deck with some concrete tables. From here he had a clear view of the Harmony Bridge, and Zen thought the building seemed more imposing from a distance at lower elevations than when he stood almost underneath it.

Zen exited the hallway onto the observation deck and leaned against the rail, watching students mill about below. After a few moments he heard the door open and two stallions came out. He couldn’t help but overhear part of their conversation.

“…and I really hope that he’s available tomorrow evening to work on that physics project. If we don’t get that thing finished by the weekend there’s no way we’ll have it done in time.” The first stallion said.

“I hear ya.” The second stallion replied. “I’d personally hate to lose all that progress we’ve made just because Edge can’t keep his schedule straight.” Both stallions snickered at the pun.

“Hehe, well he never replied to my message that I sent him a few days ago, so maybe I’ll send him another one tonight. Also, we need-”

At that point Zen stopped listening. He just remembered what he had forgot to do, and that was sent James an email. He jogged over to the doors and reentered the hallway. Half jogging, half running, he started to round the corner to get to the stairs when the next thing he knew he feet were no longer beneath him and he hit the tiled floor, face first and hard.
He skidded for a few inches across the cold tile, feeling the skin on his left cheek turning raw from the friction. It was also then that he registered mild pain in his shins, but not from him hitting the ground.

“Ugh…” Zen groaned as he struggled to get upright again, his whole left side of his face aching from suddenly hitting the unforgiving tile floor. ‘What the hell just happened?’ He wondered as he sat upright and gingerly felt the raw skin. Pressing his whole hand against it softly, he drew it back and discovered to his relief that there was no blood.

At this moment his mind began to register someone else groaning in pain. He turned around carefully and saw an alabaster unicorn lying on the ground, curled up slightly in pain. Zen slowly made his way over to the unicorn, suddenly spitting out apologies. “Are you alright? I’m so sorry! I didn’t even know you were there! Can I help you up?” He knelt next to the unicorn.

“Ugh….man, watch where you’re going!” The unicorn, a mare, protested and shifted to face Zen. “Anyone ever tell you your knees hurt like none other when rammed into your side?”

“Again, I’m so sorry I-“ Zen froze. Alabaster fur, crazy electric blue mane and tail, eight-note cutie mark, and cerise eyes. Zen knew those features. “Wait a minute, I think I know you.”

“Well if you’re big into electro or the club scene I imagine you would.” The unicorn struggled to get up. Zen immediately helped her back on her hooves. The mare studied Zen for a second after inspecting her side for damage. “Looks like the floor sure did a number on your face.” She commented.

Zen involuntarily felt his still stinging raw cheek. “Yeah, I suppose that’s what I get for not paying attention.” He said. “You’re Vinyl Scratch, right?”

“The one and only.” Vinyl replied, and then winced again from her aching side where Zen had struck. “Ugh. Finally looks like I’m starting to get some recognition around here.”

“Man, I’m so terribly sorry about that.” Zen apologized again.

“I’m going to assume you didn’t mean to trample me like that.” Vinyl replied shortly. “My one day off too…”

Now Zen felt especially bad. “Hey, let me make it up to you.” He said.

Vinyl eyed him suspiciously. “You’re not exactly my type, and I’m not that kind of mare.”

It took Zen a moment to process what she was hinting at, and when he did he thought he felt himself turn slightly red. “Say wha-? No no no, I wasn’t going to ask for that!”

“Well that’d be a first.” Vinyl remarked. “Seems like everypony who meets me off-stage just wants to score, and I’m not talking the musical kind of score.”

“I’m not like that at all, trust me.” Zen assured. “I was actually going to ask, since you said it was your day off, if you wanted to join me and my friends down at Todd’s, my treat.”

Now Vinyl got really suspicious. “You sure you’re not…?” She asked after a moment of thought, and Zen insisted he wasn’t. “Well…I might take you up on that then if it’s on you.”

“It is on me, and it’s really just in my nature to be this nice.” Zen confessed. “But if you decide to take me up on my offer, I’ll be waiting in front of the Administration building just before six. Deal?”

“Deal.” Vinyl said and turned to leave. “Oh, hang on a sec.” She turned back to Zen. “I can’t enjoy dinner with someone if I don’t even know their name.”

“Call me Zen.” Zen replied with a smile.

“Zen, huh? That’d be a pretty wicked stage name for dee jay.” Vinyl commented. “Alright Zen, if I decide to accept your offer I’ll see you later.” She trotted off around the corner.

Zen turned to continue on his way downstairs and wonders ‘Just how many more am I going to meet?’

Zen spent the next twenty minutes for a computer to open up in the lounge, and is relieved when he finds out that he doesn’t need a student I.D. to log in or access the internet. He opens up a browser and logs into his email account and opens a new message. Pulling out the card from his pocket, he types in the email address printed on it and adds ‘It’s Zen’ under the subject line. He sat for a minute, contemplating what he was going to type before going with:

“Hey it’s Zen. We made it to Harmony’s Point a few hours ago. Twilight ran off to find some people and I went sightseeing. Found Bax and Das, but they’re both enrolled at the school and probably can’t leave for a while, but I’ll run it by them anyways. Speaking of running, I ran into none other than Vinyl Scratch today too (literally). Here’s to hoping that you guys have things under control there.”

Zen read over the email a few times before hitting ‘Send’ and logging out. With some time left to kill, he browsed a local news site for a while, reading whichever articles happened to catch his eye. After about the tenth or so article he glanced at the clock and noted that it was time to go, so he left the computer lab and began making his way to the Administration building.

Even though it was getting late in the day, things seemed to have hardly changed outside. It was still hot, the sun was still bright, and there were still plenty of people milling about the campus. ‘Everyone must be heading to dinner.’ Zen thought.

When he arrived at his destination he found that Bax and Dash were already there.

“Hey Zen, you didn’t tell me that you knew Rainbow Dash.” Bax said, as if accusing him.

“Remember that whole ‘I’ll explain everything at dinner’ thing?” Zen replied with a slightly sheepish grin and Bax nodded. “Well Rainbow happens to be part of that.”

“Ah.”

“So why’d you keep a cool friend like this guy a secret?” Rainbow asked Zen.

“Heh, well mostly because I had no idea I’d be bumping into him.” Zen replied. It was about then that he noticed both Bax and Rainbow staring intently at a very specific spot on his person. “What? Do I have something on my…oh.” Zen knew what they were staring at.

“So, you wanna tell us what happened or what?” Rainbow asked.

“Well, long story short I was exploring the university center after meeting with Bax and another friend of mine who should be joining us shortly when I jogged around a corner and nearly trampled some poor unicorn. Unfortunately my being so tall led met to topple forward onto the floor, resulting in this.” Zen pointed to the now reddish and slightly bruised spot on his cheek.

“Is the unicorn alright?” Bax asked.

“She should be. I felt really bad about it, so I invited her along with us at my expense.” Zen continued. “I’m not sure if she’s going to take me up on that offer, but if she does then she should be here any minute now.”

“I see.” Bax said. “Das should be here in a few minutes, so would there be anyone else we’re waiting on?”

“Just one and she’s right behind you.” Zen pointed.

Bax and Rainbow turned to see a purple unicorn who smiled in return. “Hey guys, who’s this friend of yours?” Twilight gestured at Bax.

“Twilight, meet Bax.” Zen introduced them. “Bax here is a good friend of mine from back on Earth.”

“Nice to meet you.” Bax said.

“Likewise.” Twilight replied, still smiling. She studied Bax’s formal appearance for a moment. “Something tells me that you and Rarity would get along just fine.”

“I was just thinking the same thing.” Rainbow added, and Bax and Zen only laughed.

The four continued to idly chat until Das arrived, and another round of introductions was had.

“So Zen, I got an appointment set up for tomorr-“ Twilight stopped and looked at Zen for a moment before wincing and pointing a hoof up at him. “What happened to your face?” Das apparently hadn’t noticed but did a double take when he did.

“This douche here ran me over and face planted on the tile, that’s what happened.” A new voice said, tone only half joking. Everyone turned to see the newcomer in the form of an alabaster unicorn mare with an electric blue mane and tail sporting a small bag slung around her neck and shoulder.

“Hello again Vinyl.” Zen said, ignoring the small insult. “I’m guessing you are taking me up on my offer?”
“My other plans for tonight fell through, so I figured why not.” Vinyl replied with a small shrug. “Besides, you don’t actually seem like that much of a bad guy.”

“Say Vinyl…” Bax began.

“Hmm?” Vinyl turned to face Bax.

“Don’t you normally wear some kind of glasses or goggles or something?”

“I used to, but nowadays I save em for the parties.”

“Well now that everyone’s here, let’s get going.” Zen said.

“Great, I’m starving.” Vinyl and Rainbow said in unison.

“So where are we going?” Das asked.

“I would like to go to that Todd’s place you mentioned earlier, my treat.” Zen said. Bax and Das just stared.

“You really think you can afford to pay for all of us?” Bax asked; disbelief not completely absent from his tone.

“Of course he can!” Rainbow said before Zen could say anything. “He’s got life made back in Crystal City!”

“It’s true, unlike back on Earth money is not an issue for me here.” Zen said.

“Well that’s good to hear.” Das spoke up. “How are we getting there?”

“It’s close enough that we can walk.” Bax said. “It’s only, what like maybe four blocks away from campus?”

“I could use the exercise.” Zen said. “Let’s walk there.”

As the group headed towards the restaurant it didn’t take very long for Bax and Das to strike up conversations with the three mares. Zen hung back a little bit and admired the scenery as they walked, letting the others have their conversation. He wasn’t really paying attention to them, but at some point he noticed that there was a voice missing from the conversation. Looking ahead he only saw a group of four, and a quick glance behind him revealed that Rainbow had fallen behind a little bit and seemed unusually interested in the sidewalk.

Zen slowed his pace a little bit until he was level with the pegasus. “What’s up, Dash? Something on your mind?”

“I don’t really wanna talk about it…” She said.

“Rainbow, don’t be afraid of telling me something. If there’s something that’s bothering you then please let me know.”
Rainbow looked up at Zen for a moment before letting out a sigh. “When I said you had life made in Crystal City, it reminded me of the life I had back in Equestria before ending up here. Back home I was on track to being a celebrity flyer in the Wonderbolts…but here I have nothing, and I am nobody. If it wasn’t for you I’d still be sleeping in gutters in Celestia only knows where, but it’s still hard coping with the fact that the dream I’ve had since forever can never become reality…but you…you seem to be living your dream. You’ve got a nice place to stay, wonderful friends, and don’t have any worries. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t insanely envious of you.”

“Don’t be.” Zen replied.

Rainbow looked quizzically at Zen. “Why not?”

“Because I got lucky.” Zen said flatly, looking Rainbow directly in the eyes. “If I hadn’t come here, I’d probably be just another homeless schmuck back on Earth, and Colorado isn’t a very nice place to be when you’re homeless. I only have things ‘made’ there because I happened to be at the right place at exactly the right time and fell in with the right people. Because I know just how fortunate I am, I try my damnedest to help out others when I see they’re down on their luck because I’ve been there. I know what it’s like to have nothing and have to rely on someone else just to get by. My generous nature comes from that. I also used to think of myself as not much more than a mooch because I was forced to rely on other people’s hospitality and kindness to get by, and I hated it. But let me assure you that I don’t think of you as a mooch. If I did I’d just hand you a small bag of money and that would be that, but instead I choose to share what I have with those who I consider to be my friends because that’s just who I am.”

Rainbow just looked at Zen as they kept walking along the path. “I still can’t help but feel jealous that you got to achieve your dream, no matter how it happened.”

Zen grinned slightly. “It’s definitely nice that I can say I’m living the good life now, true. But you shouldn’t let that get you down. You still have your whole life ahead of you to complete yours.”

“But what if I never make it back to Equestria?”

“We’ll find a way, trust me.” Zen smiled. “C’mon, let’s catch up with the others.”

Zen and Dash jogged to catch up with the others, who were so engaged in their conversation that they barely seemed to notice they had lagged behind. Zen didn’t really pay attention but what he did hear told him that they were talking about some recent concert in Lethean that had an audience so enthusiastic that they left the stage in pieces after the show was over.

By now they had reached the other side of Haven University. In front of them was a wide pedestrian mall, packed with people and ponies bustling about, visiting shops and restaurants, chatting outside in large groups, or watching the many street performers that lined the cobblestone mall.

“I forgot how crowded University Mall could be.” Twilight commented as they made their way across.

“This is University Mall?” Zen asked.

“Indeed it is.” Bax answered. “And because the university itself is right next door, it’s dinner time, and since the weekend starts tomorrow, it’s going to be especially crowded.”

“Might have to come back and explore this place a little bit.” Zen said, more to himself than anyone else. He couldn’t see much through the thick crowd, but he assumed that if University Mall was anything like the pedestrian malls from Earth then he had a hunch of just what he could find here.

They made their way through across the mall and continued on to their destination. The first thing Zen noted was the outdoor seating and how vacant it was.

“Doesn’t seem like the place is fairly busy this evening.” Bax observed.

“Every time I’ve walked by it’s usually pretty packed.” Das said. “Though I don’t usually walk by here this early in the day.”

“Looks like they’re open, so let’s go inside. I’m starving.” Vinyl said and walked up to the door.

The other five followed the dee jay into the establishment and almost immediately they were greeted by a unicorn waiter. “Welcome to Todd’s! Do you have a reservation?”

“We do not.” Zen answered.

“Alright then, is this your entire party or are there others?”

“This is it, and can we get outdoor seating, please?”

“Certainly, good sir. Right this way.” The unicorn stallion led the way through the moderately busy establishment to the patio seating and set up a table, placing six menus and six sets of silverware out as Zen and company took a seat. “What can I get you all to drink?” The waiter pulled out a paper pad and a pen, ready to take orders, and after everyone placed their order he left to fulfill them and give them a few minutes to read the menus over.

The first thing that Zen noticed was the incredible variety of food all across the menu. Everything from Mexican to Southern, Italian, and even a Chinese dish was listed. He even spotted a few items that were Equestrian-inspired that were separate from the vegetarian menu that was designed for the equine clientele.

Bax barely skimmed through his menu before picking something. “So Zen, I think it’s time for that explanation you owe us.”

“Yeah I suppose it is.” Zen cleared his throat. “You guys remember James, right?”

“Yes I remember him.” Bax said.

“I believe so.” Das said.

“Well just yesterday he showed up in Crystal City looking for me. I was minding my own business, enjoying the nice weather and contemplating what to do with my down time. Then my friend Sprinter got a hold of me and said some dude was looking for me down at the shore, and when I went looking I found out it was James. Turns out he had been hanging out in Alliance since arriving here in Haven and even helped build that town.

“Anyways, he had come looking for me because he knew I was hanging out in Crystal City and needed some help from people who were in our group back in Colorado. Fortunately for him I had plans to have dinner with Zan and Kevin at the Crystal City mall that evening, so he waited on revealing anything until we met up later. We got to the mall early so we decided to kill some time in the arcade there; that was where I found Rainbow here, all frustrated with one of the machines. Long story short Rainbow was having a tough time here so I offered her friendship and let her come with us.

“While we ate James told us what he needed us for. Alliance had been the victim of some kind of riot organized by a group that for whatever reason didn’t like the status quo. James was sent to find us so that we could somehow do something about it. We left early this morning and stopped in Junction Park to find Colton, and there I met Twilight at the town’s book emporium. We had a good conversation and by the time we were ready to leave I had convinced her to join us, but because of what Twilight had told me, I decided to come here instead with Twilight, and Rainbow decided to come as well.”

“So what did you learn?” Bax asked.

At this point the waiter had returned with everyone’s drinks and let them have a few more minutes to look the menus over.

“I had a few observations that I didn’t really think much of until Twilight mentioned being aware of them as well. So pegasi can’t control weather here. I had always chalked it up to weather in Equestria being different by nature than here in Haven. What got my attention was the fact that Twilight had already made the observation that for some reason, most of us humans don’t recognize any of the ponies that are here. As a result she had already done some research both independently and from her time working at the university. I thought it over and began to wonder if maybe these two observations were somehow related, so I chose to come here and have a few conversations with some professors. Figured I could probably learn something from it all.”

“I see.” Das said. “Well if we can be of any help don’t be afraid to ask.” Bax nodded.

“So what about you Vinyl?” Zen said, turning his attention to the dee jay. “What’s your story? Didn’t think I’d ever find someone like you at a university.”

“Well under normal circumstances you’d be right.” Vinyl replied. “Unless I got hired for a gig, I usually stay away from schools. I actually live in Lethean where most of my usual clients and my personal studio are. A few months ago I was approached by somepony who claimed to be a producer at some studio I’d never heard of. He said he had heard of my music and was impressed, but thought that my music was ‘lacking’ in something. So he set me up with the music school here so I could study music theory and hone my talents some.”

“And how’s that worked out so far?” Rainbow asked.

“So far it’s been working great and I’ve even run into a few other underground musicians and participated in a few collaborations. I think I now understand what that producer had meant about my music being ‘lacking’ of something. I think it was lacking emotion. Before I’d always just put some really sick beats and rhythms that sounded good together into a track and mix it a little before calling it good, but after working with some other musicians I’m beginning to notice that a lot of my previous work didn’t have much depth or variety, something everypony else said was really important. Since that revelation I’ve been working hard to come out with totally new material and as a result I’ve got an EP coming out soon. I plan on throwing a huge party once it’s done, and you guys are all welcome to attend.”

“Well that’s cool, congrats.” Zen said. “Do you have a release date in mind?”

“Not quite yet, but I’ll have posters and flyers up all over town when it’s ready.” Vinyl said. The waiter came back and took everyone’s orders before heading off to the kitchen. “As of yesterday, I have six fully completed and mastered songs for the album with another five that just need to be mastered. I’m debating on adding a twelfth song that I’ve been putting together as a bonus track for certain releases as well. The only thing I’m really missing is artwork for the cover, back, and insert. The last guy I had commissioned skipped town and I have no way of getting a hold of him.”

“Well that’s unfortunate.” Zen said.

“I think we might be able to help in that regard.” Bax said.

“Really now?” Vinyl said.

“A good friend of ours lives out in Lethean and he’s a fairly good artist.” Bax replied. “I can shoot him an email tonight and let him know you need an artist.”

Vinyl beamed. “That’d be great!”

Zen finished off the soda he had ordered and idly watched the street side activity. For reasons he couldn’t really say, he suddenly felt…alive. Here he was, enjoying a nice dinner with friends on a wonderful summer evening in a bustling city. There was a nice, gentle breeze that helped cool off the patio. Back on Earth going to dinner at some nice restaurant with his friends and chatting about anything was one of the few things he looked forward to the most when going to meets, and this felt just like another evening with friends.

He felt truly content that moment.

The whole while his friends continued chatting as if they’d known each other for years. Everyone was enjoying themselves, and Zen was happy that everyone else was happy.

Before long the waiter returned with an assistant and set out everyone’s food. As the last plate was set down, the wait asked, “I’m assuming I need to ring each item up separately?”

Zen shook his head. “Just one ticket, please.”

The waiter and his assistant looked at Zen for a moment, puzzled. Bax and Das were right, the food at Todd’s was not cheap, though it wasn’t outrageously expensive either.

“Are you sure?” The waiter asked.

“I’m sure, thank you.” Zen said. The waiter and his assistant gave each other a quick unsure glance before walking back inside.

The crew began to dig into their food, but that didn’t stop the conversation. Far from dying down, everyone seemed to be chatting more than before now in between bites, except for Zen who elected to simply stare off and observe the goings-on of the city as he ate. By now the sun was setting lower in the sky; long shadows were cast upon the city, and the sky was beginning to take on a slightly golden hue. Zen felt happiness, real happiness, begin to build up inside as if he had finally found something he had long been looking for.

Zen leaned back in his chair and felt his spine pop in a few places. Then something gently prodded his arm. Zen turned and saw Bax giving him a slightly concerned look. “Something on your mind, Zen?” He asked.

Zen smiled. “Having dinner with you guys like this…I can’t help but be reminded about all the times we had dinner out at places in Fort Collins back home that were very much like this one. I guess I’m just a little bit nostalgic right now for all those amazing gatherings with the others. There were few days back in Colorado that I wasn’t having a fantastic time at those meets.”

“I know what you mean.” Bax replied with a smile. “Those gatherings at the college, and elsewhere for that matter, were some of the best times of my life before coming here. The Colorado group was the first real group of friends I had.”
“Heh, yeah I thought I had a lot of ‘friends’ back when I was in college, between my co-workers at the dining hall, my fraternal brothers, and the people I happened to meet in class or around campus or even those I roomed with, plus all the friends I had left in Longmont when I first went to Greeley. Then my then-roommate Brandon convinced me to watch the show in my second year, and it didn’t take me too long to get involved with the Colorado group after going to that Winter Moon party in Greenwood Village. Since then I’d felt like I was a part of a second family, and I would have done damn near anything to not lose that.”

“I think most of us were like that.” Bax nodded.

Zen returned to his food and ate in relative silence, listening in on Vinyl describing some of her more crazy gigs in Lethean.

“…so then this wicked crazy bass drop comes in and everypony just goes crazy!” Vinyl waves her forelegs around for emphasis. “Everypony was jumping and I think at one point there was a mosh pit going on…don’t ask me why there was a mosh pit at an electro gig, but there was. After the party was over there were more than a few that had to be carried away or dragged off to the hospital for broken bones.”

“And that’s why I don’t go to parties.” Twilight said flatly.

“I don’t blame you Twilight.” Vinyl said. “Parties can be pretty hectic places sometimes. I’ve actually found myself to be in danger on several occasions, but you know why I keep going?” Everyone present shakes their head. “I keep playing for parties because I’m dedicated to playing music for those who want to listen. If my own music gets big enough, then maybe I can move away from playing gigs and go for the more formal concert settings, but for now gigs at clubs and parties are all I have.”

“Now that’s dedication.” Bax commented. “Potentially risking your own safety to do the thing you love most.”

At that point the waiter returned with the bill and Zen gave him his card without much hesitation, earning him another odd look from the waiter before he trotted off.

“Are you loaded or something?” Das asked, somewhat surprised. “You didn’t even look at the bill!”

“You could say that.” Zen replied. Not long after the waiter returned with Zen’s card and bill for him to sign, which he did and wrote in a fairly generous tip before handing the ticket back to the waiter and pocketing his copy. “Well, shall we take off then?” Zen asked his friends.

With the general response being in agreement, Zen and company got up and made their way out of the restaurant and began to make their way back to the campus.

“So what now guys?” Rainbow asked.

“Personally I’m kinda wiped.” Zen said with a yawn.

“Yeah I should probably get back to studying.” Das said.

“Same here.” Bax said. “Well good friend, it was very nice to see you again.” He extended a hand, which Zen took.

“It was definitely a pleasure to run into you two again.” Zen replied and noticed Vinyl deadpan at the phrase. “And it was definitely nice to meet you, Vinyl. I hope that dinner made up for earlier.”

“Actually it was very nice of you to do that.” Vinyl replied. “I haven’t been treated to a good meal in too long. If you’re sticking around the campus for now, I’m sure we’ll meet up again.”

Zen laughed. “Hopefully it’ll be a much less painful encounter, and I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

Vinyl waved a goodbye and trotted off towards one of the dorms, and before too long Bax and Das followed suit.

“Back to the van then.” Zen said and started heading towards their vehicle.

“Do you know of any places around here we can stay at?” Rainbow asked.

“Bax and Das mentioned a potential place just up the main road from campus.” Zen replied.

“We can discuss tomorrow’s schedule once we’re there.” Twilight added. “But I suppose I should mention that the director for the Science department said that she could reimburse any hotel expenses while we’re here.”

“That’s definitely nice.” Zen said.

It took them a few minutes to reach their vehicle, and Zen was relieved to find that he had received no parking violations. Unlocking the van and climbing into the driver’s seat, he started the van and waited for Twilight and Rainbow to become comfortable in their seats before setting off. Zen waited patiently at the parking lot exit for a break in the evening traffic before merging and driving to the Lamplighter.

The hotel itself wasn’t particularly fancy. A four floor complex, its architecture mostly matched that of the surrounding area: pale stone exterior with dark metal corners and trim. To the side of the building was a large parking lot and valet parking under a large metal overhang. Zen found a parking spot near the back of the lot and, after making sure that all present had all they needed, locked the van up and they headed inside.

Once inside they were greeted by a staff stationed by the front door who pointed them to the front desk. A short conversation and one monetary transaction later with the receptionist and Zen, Twilight, and Rainbow were off to their room on the second floor.

They located their room and crossed the threshold. Immediately Zen noticed that the room was simple, but elegantly so. A small balcony with sliding glass doors was opposite them on the far wall. In the commons area was a large couch that faced a decently sized flat screen. Adjacent to the couch was a desk with a computer. To the far right of the suite was a small kitchen complete with a dining table and four chairs that were designed both for human and equines. Immediately to the right was a hallway that led to the three bedrooms and a washroom. Overall decoration was minimal, though the room didn’t feel barren or bland.

“This is actually quite nice.” Twilight commented, setting her saddlebags down against a wall.

“This is much better than what I was expecting.” Zen agreed, setting his pack against the couch.

“Not as awesome as your place Zen, but I could get used to this.” Rainbow headed straight for one of the bedrooms with a yawn. “If you two don’t mind, I’m gonna go make some z’s.”

“G’night Rainbow.” Zen and Twilight replied as the sound of a door shutting was heard.

Zen made his way to the kitchen to explore it as Twilight began to explain what she had accomplished. “I met up with the director of the Science department today to discuss when we could meet formally and discuss everything that we know. It took a little bit longer than expected since she insisted on telling everyone that I was back in town and then she had a meeting to attend, but eventually I got to have that chat. She informed me that she would be busy in the morning but that we could meet up with her and some of her advisers in the afternoon in her office.”

“Sounds good. Does this director have a name?” Zen replied as he explored various cupboards and drawers.

“Yes. Her name is Dr. Nyl.”

Zen worked his way to the various appliances before turning back to Twilight. “Cool. Hopefully we can make something of all this.” He studied the unicorn for a second. “Maybe you should go get some sleep. You look beat.”

Twilight sighed. “Admittedly I am really tired. It’s been a long day.”

“Yeah, go get some sleep. I’ll set my alarm and wake you and Rainbow up if you sleep in too much.”

“Alright. Good night Zen.” Twilight took her stuff and made her way to the second unused room and shut the door behind her.

Zen waited for a moment before heading for the computer and booting it up. No login was required, and soon he had his email up. He sifted through some spam and found what he was looking for: a reply from James. He opened the email and began to read.

“Zen, glad to hear that you and the others made it to Harmony’s Point safely. How is it there? Bummer that Bax and Das are too busy, but that can’t be helped and I’m not about to pull someone away from their pursuit of education for something like this, and that’s awesome that you met up with Vinyl, I’ve always heard she was a fantastic dee jay. Speaking of…things are pretty bad here. Turns out that the night before we left Crystal City, the protesters took to the streets in a very violent way. They overpowered the local authorities and drove most of the people out of the city. Those who fled are now at a temporary camp not far from town. There were a few people injured, but they’re all being taken care of. As for those who stayed, they were that group that we saw on the street when we pulled up. They were about ready to tear that building apart, but we convinced them otherwise. I’m not sure what the protesters want anymore, but talks with them should begin tomorrow.

I’ll update you when I can. Keep us all updated with what you guys are doing.

-James”

Zen finished reading the message and closed the browser and putting the computer into sleep mode, making sure to reply tomorrow morning when he could think straight.

Zen got up and picked up his pack from the couch and headed towards the last room, but stopped at the washroom and peered inside at the mirror. He winced as he studied the colorfully dark bruise on his face and quickly ran a wet rag over it to try and get any remaining dirt and dust off. Proceeding then to his room, he put his pack down next to the bed and set the alarm clock on the nightstand. Shedding himself of the day’s sweaty attire and into something slightly more comfortable, he collapsed into bed and promptly fell asleep.

Stories

8: Stories

Zen fought the urge to get out of bed the next morning, but the alarm he had set made it impossible to avoid. Rolling over he shut the device off and threw the blankets off. He changed into some fresh clothes and headed out to the hallway, deciding to let his companions sleep in a little bit longer.

After a quick check in the mirror to make sure everything looked decent enough, and wincing at the bruise again, Zen went straight to the computer and composed a quick response to James’ email before logging out. He flicked through several channels on the flat screen and found nothing of interest to watch. There wasn’t anything in the kitchen to eat so he had to wait to get breakfast, but he didn’t mind that much.

Zen pulled out some headphones from his backpack and plugged them in before playing some music while he browsed through his list of games to play. Eventually he found one and began to play while keeping an eye on the clock. But before too long he heard the sound of a door opening and hooves on the carpet. He looked up and saw Twilight emerge from the bedrooms. “Morning.” He greeted her.

“Good morning.” Twilight replied with a smile. “Are you ready for today?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Zen pulled out one of the ear buds so he could hear better. “You know when and where exactly we’re supposed to meet up with Dr. Nyl?”

Twilight nodded. “Two p.m. in her office on the third floor of the Science Department office building.”

“Excellent. So that means we’ve got the entire morning to kill.”

“Then what will we do until then?” Rainbow asked.

Twilight thought for a second. “Hmm…well it occurred to me that you, Zen, know quite a bit about Rainbow and myself, but I at least know next to nothing about you other than what you’ve described in relation to your mission.”

“Yeah.” Rainbow added. “You haven’t spoken too much about your life before coming here other than why you left Earth.”

Zen grinned. “Well I can see where this is going. Let’s go find a coffee shop or something and I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”

Down in the hotel lobby they received directions for a café just down the street from a clerk and towards the café they went. Rainbow and Twilight idly chatted about some adventure they had been on together in Equestria. Zen opted to walk silently and let them talk while he admired the scenery. He also made an effort to memorize the various shops along the short walk.

Once they arrived at the café Rainbow and Twilight found a table near a corner of the building and Zen went up to the counter to get himself and his friends something to drink. A minute later he sat down at their chosen table and he passed out a coffee to Rainbow and Twilight before taking the final beverage, a soda, for him.

“So.” Zen stated, taking a sip from his drink. “What would you like to know about me?”

Twilight set down her cup using her magic and cleared her throat. “I’d like to know about your life back on Earth, in detail.”

Zen raised an eyebrow. “You sure about that?”

Rainbow looked at him funny. “What, don’t wanna tell us after all?”

Zen shook his head. “Not at all.” He took a quick drink. “It’s just that that topic is quite a broad one. Perhaps you’d like to narrow your question a bit?”

“I know that humans don’t have cutie marks like Equestrians do, but would it still be fair to say that humans still have a tendency to seek careers in the one thing they like doing the most?”

“When we get the opportunity to do so, yes.”

“Did you ever get to do that before coming to Haven?”

Zen took another drink and leaned back in his chair. “Long story short, not really. There’re three things that I like doing the most: hanging out with friends, listening to music, and traveling around. It’s almost impossible to make a career out of simply listening to music back home, and even here that’s not much of a career option as it is more of a hobby. The same goes for socializing with people. As for traveling around, I certainly did a lot of that during the last year I was on Earth, but none of it was for a career. Instead I would up doing odd jobs and short-term employment to make enough to just get by.”

“Where did you travel to?” Rainbow asked.

“All kinds of places. I traveled to a city called Las Vegas in the state of Nevada for a convention early on in the year, and then shorty after my twenty first birthday I went storm chasing across the states of Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas befo-“

“Hold up.” Rainbow interrupted. “Storm chasing?”

“Storm chasing.” Zen nodded. “Every spring and summer across most of America, violent and powerful storms develop. When this happens, there’s a certain population of daredevils like myself who love to go roaming across the nation in the hopes of finding and capturing these storms in photos and videos.”

“Awesome!” Rainbow said. “Did you see anything?”

Zen nodded again. “That year was my first, and currently only, chase. My chase partner and myself found ourselves in the path of a violent storm in the Kansan city of Wichita before heading into Oklahoma…and the next day something happened that I won’t ever forget.”

“What happened?” Twilight asked.

“We had just travelled through the Oklahoma capital of Oklahoma City when we spotted a rapidly developing storm just to our north that was headed right for the south end of Oklahoma City. We decided not to chase that storm because it was headed right for a major population center…and very quickly we learned that particular storm produced the tornado of the season. A powerful tornado ripped through the city of Moore, Oklahoma. It leveled neighborhoods and schools, killing two dozen people. The most chilling part of that storm, though, was that had we arrived where we first saw that storm half an hour later, we would have been caught right in that twister’s path.”

“Oh my…” Twilight breathed, and Rainbow remained silent.

“That season was terrible, with several powerful tornadoes hitting central Oklahoma and killing many people, including a famous meteorologist and fellow storm chaser.”

“Why do you put yourself in that position?” Twilight asked.

“We all have our own reasons.” Zen replied. “Some of us have a simple fascination for watching weather. This is my motivation for chasing. Others chase for scientific reasons, to gather data about storms and try and better understand how the form and why exactly they cause so much damage.”

Twilight’s face brightened slightly at the mention of science. “How do you collect data from these storms?”

“The most common way that I’ve seen chasers do this is by building a data probe that they try to stick in the path of a tornado. They hope that the probe survives and runs properly so that it can collect data, and when all is said and done, if they managed to position their probe correctly, they translate their data into sets that they can read and then use that data to help develop better warning systems, more sturdy buildings, and so on. The problem is actually getting a probe into a tornado. Since most chasers are only willing to chase certain kinds of terrain and have only so much technology to predict where a tornado is going, getting in position to place a probe without getting sucked into a tornado themselves is a highly dangerous task.”

“I bet it’d be easier if humans had wings like these.” Rainbow spread her wings.

“I don’t know how tornadoes in Equestria work, but back on Earth there are few weather phenomena more destructive than a tornado. I’ve seen reports of the occasional twister here on Haven but none of them compare to the raw power of an Earth tornado. Those who get close enough to see a tornado without getting caught in its path are lucky…those who get caught in its path and survive are even luckier. For the less fortunate, death is the usual outcome.”

Rainbow folders her wings back up and remained silent. Zen cleared his throat and continued. “So yeah…storm chasing. Anyways, like I was saying I chased across the Great Plains before spending the night in a city in the state of Louisiana before heading home to Colorado to pack up for my excursion to Ohio with a friend. That trip to Ohio was a fantastic trip, one of the best I’ve been on. It was actually not long after that trip that we developed the device that is responsible for us all being here.”

“But you never found employment that related to what you loved to do?” Twilight asked.

Zen shook his head. “Not once.”

“That’s too bad.”

“Eh. I have a pretty decent life here on Haven though, so I can’t complain too much. I’ve got a pretty good place back in Crystal City, money’s not an issue for me anymore, and I’ve got friends to hang out with. Friends both new and old.” Zen nodded towards his equine companions. “So I can’t say that life for me right now is undesirable. But what about you two?”

Rainbow sighed. “Well you know my story from before we met. Though now that I’ve found Twilight I think things will be much better.”

Zen nodded and turned to Twilight, who smiled at Rainbow before speaking. “When I first arrived here things were…interesting. There were already established towns but most of them were still being finished. I found a place to stay around Harmony’s Point while I got back on my hooves and figured out what I was going to do with myself. In doing so I helped found and build the university here. During those years I had helped conduct a massive amount of research with Dr. Nyl regarding Haven and its connection between Equestria and Earth before I decided to move to Junction Park where things were a little bit quieter. I brought a fair number of books and articles with me when I left, and with those I was able to start the Emporium I run there. My inventory there has grown by nearly double, but it’s just barely enough to keep the store open. In fact most of my business comes from travelers going through Junction Park.”

“How does that town survive?” Zen asked.

“To be honest I’m not entirely sure.” Twilight replied. “But if I had to guess I’d say that if nothing big happens to improve Junction Park soon, I don’t think it’ll be able to financially survive for much longer.”

“That’s unfortunate.” Zen commented before turning to Rainbow Dash. “What about you, Rainbow?”

Rainbow blinked. “What about me?”

“You have any interesting stories you’d like to share?” Twilight asked.

“Hmm…” Rainbow tapped her hoof on her chin. “Well there was that one time I was in Lethean and nearly got mugged by that one guy. You wouldn’t believe it! It’s getting dark, I’m tired and just looking for a place to rest for the night. Eventually I found a nice looking tree branch to crash on for the night when this crazy stallion came out of nowhere and tried to fight with me! I got away from him with my awesome speed and cool moves though! I swear he must have been on something by the way he was talking and sputtering.”

Zen had his eyebrow raised. “Really now?”

“I swear it’s true!” Rainbow protested.

“Yeah, I believe you.” Zen replied, rather unconvinced as he finished his drink.

“Zen, would I lie to you?” Rainbow asked.

“Maybe not, but would your ego lie to me?” Zen countered with a knowing grin.

Rainbow had no words to say and Twilight only giggled. “I think he’s got you figured out, Rainbow.” She teased. Rainbow mumbled something into her cup of coffee and let it drop, and then a few minutes later they left the café.

“Well what do we do now?” Zen wondered out loud.

“We’ve still got a few hours to kill.” Twilight observed. “There’s some stuff I have to go gather and take care of before our meeting with Dr. Nyl, so I’m going to go now and meet up with you two at her office.”

“Okay, see you later.” Zen said and watched Twilight trot off towards the campus. A moment after Twilight vanished out of sight Zen realized something. “We have no clue where this Dr. Nyl’s office is.”

“Nope.” Rainbow replied flatly.

“Oh well…just gonna have to ask once we get to the campus.” Zen looked around. “So, what do?”

“I dunno.” Rainbow shrugged and looked around before looking skyward. “I might go fly around for a while.”

“If you know how to get to the university then go for it. I’ll just meet you there later.”

“Okay, catch you later!” Rainbow took off into the clear sky and quickly vanished from sight.

Zen watched Rainbow disappear before thinking about what he was going to do next. He checked his watch and, noting the time, went off back towards the direction of the university. He never made it though, because along the way he discovered an outdoor mall and felt compelled to explore it.

It didn’t take long for him to lose himself in the bustling activity of this mall. Street vendors and performers lined the wide pedestrian passage between rows of stores, each store filled with humans and ponies alike going about their business. When Zen noticed an unusual looking location he would briefly step in to check its wares. He found the Equestrian-based shops to be especially fascinating and took extra time examining the hoof-crafted objects but eventually would move on to the next interesting shop until he had made it a good ways through the mall. He refrained from buying any trinkets though, making note to come back by here when he had more time and more space to put stuff.

Just as he was about to head back to the university, Zen thought he saw a familiar figure flying off in the distance. The figure vanished before he could get a good look though, but there was little doubt in his mind as to who it was.

“Wha’cha staring at?” A voice said from behind, slightly startling Zen.

Zen quickly turned around. “Oh Vinyl, it’s just you.” He said, mildly relieved. “Don’t do that.”

Vinyl only laughed. “So, what’s got your attention so good?”

Zen hadn’t realized how long he was staring off into the distance. “Oh, just thought I saw somepony I knew.”

“Somepony I might know?” Vinyl asked, curious.

“Depends, does the name Sprinter mean anything to you?”

“Hmm.” Vinyl tapped a hoof to her chin in thought for a moment. “Nope. Not a thing.”

“Ah. Doesn’t surprise me, to be honest. He never really cared for much in the way of music.”

“Pity. I’m guessing Sprinter is a good friend of yours?”

Zen nodded. “He was one of the first friends I made not long after I arrived here on Haven back when humans first discovered it. Got himself nailed by a rogue wave off the coast of Crystal City while he was wave-riding…kinda funny to watch actually.”

“So he’s a pegasus then?” Vinyl ventured a guess.

“Yup. He’s the kind of pegasus that likes to have fun and doesn’t take life too seriously, which is why the two of us get along so well.”

“Sounds like my kind of stallion.” Vinyl commented.

“Well if I happen to see him again I’ll be sure to introduce you.” Zen replied. “Though not long after the Haven government was officially set up he suddenly vanished for a few weeks. Came back and acted like it was nothing and refused to talk about it…he never was quite the same afterwards.”

Vinyl blinked. “What changed?”

Zen thought for a moment. “He was…he became more…passive? Disconnected? Something along those lines that I just can’t quite put my finger on. Nothing terribly different, though it’s still probably something I should be concerned about…ah who am I kidding it’s been years since that anyways.”

“Years, huh? You really must have been among the first to come here.”

“Believe me, as much as I like the place I came from I was desperate to escape it.”

“At least you had a choice. All I know is one day I’m in Fillydelphia prepping for a set and then I’m here. At least when I got here things were already established, otherwise I would have gone crazy with the lack of anything at all.”

“I know the feeling.” Zen nodded.

“Well I’d love to chat more but I got things to do, ponies to meet, so I’ll see ya around!” Vinyl then trotted off into the crowd and disappeared, leaving Zen alone once more to his thoughts.

Zen wandered towards the direction of the university, lost in his own thoughts. Something just wasn’t right to him. Sprinter had said that he was going to Lethean to find some other ponies before heading to Alliance for riot control, so what was he doing in Harmony’s Point? Lethean took several hours to get to even from the capital and even then the city itself wasn’t known for being small. Then there was the matter of the sudden behavior change after suddenly vanishing. Zen eventually came to the conclusion that it would have to be another mystery to solve at a later date and instead worry about his current mission.

Zen checked his watch again and picked up the pace in earnest. He still needed to figure out where he was supposed to be. Muttering to himself about needing to pay attention to time better, he reached the university and began his search for the science building.

“Zen!” Another voice called out Zen’s name as he was studying a campus map.

Zen looked up and saw Twilight trotting towards him. “Just in time.” He said. “I was just trying to figure out where exactly we were supposed to be meeting up.”

“Well there’s no need for that now, and everypony’s already there anyways so let’s go!” Twilight said and began to head off between some buildings.

‘Time to get some answers.’ Zen thought to himself as he followed.

Author's Note

So this update (along with my other incomplete stories) is WAY long overdue...and I do apologize. Life and lack of motivation tend to do that. In any case, I make no promises but do hope to at least update more frequently than...every four to five months.

Findings

9: Findings

The science building was not quite like the other facilities on campus. Outfitted with glass exterior walls and a multitude of antennae and other such equipment above, the science building looked highly modern and almost out of place compared to the more modest brick and mortar structures. The building itself was a multi-story crescent shape with a circular extension rising several more floors above the rest of the facility.

Inside the lobby housed many screens displaying various slideshows depicting anything from biology to meteorology to technology and then some alongside sculptures and displays of various native flora and fauna. To Zen the lobby felt more like a museum than the entry to what amounted to a laboratory.

A quick visit with the secretary was all that the trio needed to find out where Dr. Nyl’s office was located, and not long after that they found themselves in front of said office. The door lacked much distinction other than a brass nameplate that simply read “Nyl”.

Twilight took a breath and knocked on the door with her hoof. Silence followed at first but then a distinctly female voice from within called out and bade them to enter, so they did.

The office was sparsely decorated, with only a few scientific posters and a large map of Haven on one of the walls and a bookcase in a corner. Directly in front of them was a large wooden desk, adorned with pens, papers, and other miscellaneous items, and behind it a young woman working furiously on a laptop.

“Dr. Nyl!” Twilight smiled and stepped forward.

The woman glanced up from her work and smiled. “Twilight Sparkle, punctual as ever. I assume this young man here is the reason we have arranged this meeting?” She gestured at Zen.

Twilight nodded. “That’s correct. We were hoping that you would be able to give us some answers.”

Nyl stood up from her desk and walked around to greet us. Nyl was of fairly average height and build, with mid-length brown hair and small reading glasses framed her face. What struck Zen as curious, however, was her casual attire. He had expected at least business casual for a professor of a university. “I’m Dr. Sandy Nyl. You are Zen?” She held her hand out.

Zen nodded and shook her hand. “That’s my name. It’s good to be here.”

“The pleasure is mine.” Nyl replied. “And you are Rainbow Dash?”

“That’s me!” The pegasus replied.

“Good. Now let’s get down to business…”

Nyl walked over towards her desk and pulled out some papers from a drawer. “As you both know, Haven is still very largely unexplored. What we’ve colonized here is but a very small minority of this planet, therefore there’s still plenty about this place that we have yet to discover, meaning the answers we seek may not be within known boundaries. Also we have been aware that something here has caused a number of issues with both humans and Equestrians for some time, and the answers you are looking for tie into much of our research here. Understanding this, we’ve done what we can to try and ascertain the origin of this particular mystery and give you as much information as we can offer.”

“Wait a minute, what issues?” Zen asked, suddenly very concerned.

Nyl laid out the papers on the desk for Twilight and Zen to see. “Sudden mood changes, mild loss of eyesight or hearing, rashes, things that we suspect are side-effects of suddenly being placed in a totally alien world with similar but still different environments. They haven’t been affecting everyone, or everypony, but the symptoms were still widespread enough for us to consider researching them.”

Nyl gestured towards the papers. “In short, these reports are our most recent findings pertaining to the memory problem. Originally we had thought that, in addition to the original fiasco that caused us all to be here on Haven instead of Equestria to begin with, perhaps an error in the original device was causing selective memory loss upon the transferring of one’s body to this location. Testing this proved more difficult than anticipated, and our findings were inconclusive. What we did discover, however, was that Equestrians brought here were totally unaffected by any sort of memory loss.”

“Interesting.” Twilight commented. “Perhaps something back in Equestria protected us.”

“We believe that there is some kind of inherent magic in Equestria that prevented any memory loss.” Nyl explained. “Unlike Earth, however, where magic does not exist.”

“Hard to believe there’s an entire world without magic.” Twilight said.

“Hard to believe there’s an entire world where magic is the norm.” Zen quipped.

“Right…” Nyl said. “Well from there we guessed that something about the transportation process itself had caused this, but once again our findings were inconclusive. Other than some mild disorientation we were unable to link any symptom directly to the actual process of being placed here. That lead us to what seemed like the most likely hypothesis yet.”

“And what was that?” Zen asked.

“That there was something inherent about Haven itself that was causing this.” Nyl replied. “That led to several discoveries that changed our entire perception of Haven. However, we have not yet released our findings on the off-chance that we might cause mass panic across Haven.”

Zen and Twilight shared a quick look, while Rainbow was still busy reading the reports. “Were your findings that significant?” Zen asked.

“They certainly weren’t what we were expecting.” Nyl replied. “Tell me Zen, have you noticed anything odd about this place compared to Earth?”

Zen thought for a few moments. “Well I’ve noticed that the days are a bit longer here than compared to back home. There are also no seasons…just a perpetual summer-like state.”

“Correct.” Nyl said. “Now Twilight, Rainbow, how about you two?”

“Well the weather here can’t be controlled by pegasi.” Rainbow said.

Twilight thought for a moment. “Most things happen naturally here, but Equestria must be an exception to that rule. So many things are different here compared to Equestria, it’s hard to say. Though I have noticed that gravity is stronger here.”

“Understandable.” Nyl conceded. “As I said before, there’s much about Haven that we do not know, and this fact is strongly reinforced by some of these discoveries. First I must point out that the inherent magic of Equestria still lingers on in the ponies here. Whether or not it will eventually wear off and dissipate is still unclear.

“Now Zen, you mentioned that days are longer here, and Twilight, you mentioned that gravity feels stronger here. This is an accurate observation, and we believe we know why. This planet rotates at about the same rate as Earth, but is slightly larger. We haven’t quite determined how big the world Equestria resides is, but we guess it to be smaller than Haven. This allows for the longer days and for the difference in gravity.

“As for the weather, while running tests on the residual magic from Equestria, we discovered that Haven appears to have its own ‘magic’ that interferes with certain innate abilities. Unicorns are almost completely immune to this because their magic is of a different kind, but pegasi are unable to manipulate weather here, and whatever benefits earth ponies get are surely negated as well. This discovery led us to run some tests to find out how humans are affected.”

“I’m going to wager a guess that it’s this discovery that best supports an explanation to this.” Zen commented.

“Precisely.” Nyl replied. “This magic permeates this world, but in a subtle way. We suspect this magic is responsible for the lack of any noticeable seasons. While we are still unsure of what the long term affects will be for us, we believe that more immediate symptoms of this exposure include memory loss. What we cannot figure out is why this memory loss is so specific. We spent days trying to figure this out, and then we found something…interesting.”

“What was it?” Rainbow asked.

“We found an unusual concentration of this innate Haven magic radiating from somewhere within the city of Lethean.” Nyl said. “We cannot determine just what it means, or even where exactly it’s coming from, but we dispatched two field researchers to Lethean yesterday to find out what they can. Memory loss as a result of some innate property of this world carries some disturbing implications.”

Twilight nodded. “Right. If living here is putting us all in danger, we need to find out a way to get us all back to where we belong.”

“Exactly.” Nyl said. “Until we determine the source and the effects of this local magic, utmost caution must be taken at all times. Now if you three wouldn’t mind going on a little errand for me…”

“What is it?” Rainbow asked.

“I want you three to go to Lethean and contact our researchers.” Nyl replied, pulling out a separate folder from her desk and offering it to Twilight. “Lethean is a big place, and they’re going to need all the assistance they can get.”

Twilight took the folder using telekinesis and stuffed it away in her saddle bag. “You can count on us.”

“Good.” Nyl replied. “Everything you’ll need to know is in that folder. Contact me as soon as you get there.”

“Will do.” Zen said and the trio left the building.

“Lethean, huh?” Rainbow stated. “How far of a trip is that from here?”

“A few hours.” Zen replied.

“Nice place too.” A voice said.

“Hey Vinyl.” Rainbow said. “What’s up?”

Vinyl shrugged. “Eh. Buddies cancelled on me so I don’t have much else to do. Why’re you talking about Lethean? Headed that way for some reason?”

“Actually yes.” Twilight responded. “We’re headed that way to do some research.”

“Sounds…fun.” Vinyl said, and then tapped a hoof on her chin for a second. “Can I come with?”

Zen, Twilight, and Rainbow else exchanged a look. “Might I ask why?” Zen asked.

“I actually have to go talk with my buddies back at my recording studio about a new project I wanna start.” Vinyl said. “But unfortunately I have no ride.”

“No other means to contact them?” Twilight asked.

Vinyl shook her head. “Nope. Only way I can talk with them is in person. Besides, I know Lethean, so I can help you guys find what you’re looking for.”

Zen passed another glance at Twilight and Rainbow before turning back to Vinyl. “Sure, you can come with us.”

“Sweet!” Vinyl exclaimed. “When were you leaving?”

“As soon as possible.” Twilight said.

“Okay. How are you getting there?”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you think that was something you should have asked first?”

Zen rolled his eyes. “We’ve got a van back at the hotel we’ve been staying at.”

“Works for me.” Vinyl said, ignoring Rainbow’s remark. “Let’s go!”

Once the group had gathered their belongings and checked out of the hotel, they piled into the van and took off for Lethean. Zen followed the freeway through the eastern portion of the city, and the further they drove the city increasingly gave way to a mixture of forested areas and open fields. Neighborhoods became ranches and farms, roads became paths until they were completely clear of Harmony’s Point.

Zen had some tunes playing through the vehicle’s sound system while making note of each directional sign they passed, Twilight had taken shotgun and was studying a map of Haven, and Rainbow and Vinyl had each claimed a row of seats for themselves and were casually making conversation.

Zen glanced over at Twilight. “Looking for something?” He asked.

Twilight shook her head but didn’t take her eyes off the map. “For all the books and articles I’ve read, I haven’t really taken the time to look at a map of Haven. There’s a lot more here than I gave our joined society credit for.”

“Yeah…and there’s still an entire planet out there for us to explore.” Zen replied. “In any case, there aren’t any established towns between the turnoff and Lethean, so as long as we don’t run into any issues along the way we shouldn’t have to stop.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at Zen. “Why would we?”

“That particular freeway runs through a swampy area before following a river through a canyon. It’s known for having somewhat hazardous road conditions as a result, either from fallen rock and other debris on the road or from swamp overgrowth mucking up the highway.”

“Can’t somepony maintain it better?” Twilight asked, returning her attention to the map.

“Despite being the only real road between Lethean and Harmony’s Point, people tend to use the coastal highways into Lethean more often than not. As such this highway has become not much more than a commercial delivery route. That being said, the highway is still maintained to a degree, though it certainly could be better.”

“I’m sure it’s nothing we can’t handle though.” Rainbow chimed in.

“The most common issues are things like flat tires and other minor annoyances, so it’s nothing that I’m particularly worried about.” Zen replied. “It’s just annoying that should something go wrong there’s nowhere to go.”

“There aren’t even any fueling stations?” Twilight asked, skeptical.

“Well there is one large fuel and rest stop between the swamp and the canyon, and that’s about three-fourths of the way to Lethean.” Zen moved a lane over to give a stopped vehicle on the shoulder some extra room.

“I see.” Twilight seemed thoughtful for a moment. “Well I suppose if we do run into any problems we’ll just have to deal with them as they happen.”

“Exactly.” Zen smiled and returned his focus to the road.

The scenery remained a constant wall of trees on either side of the highway with only the occasional river, pond, or open field to add variety. Before long they passed a sign that indicated that their turnoff was approaching.

“We’re making good time.” Vinyl remarked. “If we keep this up we should be there before the afternoon is over.”

“Good to hear.” Zen said and, after making an inquiry about needing to take a pit stop and finding that it was not necessary, prepared to merge onto the upcoming highway.

The junction for the two highways wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, and after turning off the previous highway and onto the off ramp, the group was now headed in a northeastward direction along the new highway. A few miles later they passed a small community known as Fieldville, and in the blink of an eye they had left it behind.

The thick, full trees they had been passing since leaving Harmony’s Point slowly gave way to empty, moss-laden, gnarly-shaped trees, and the grass and shrubbery gave way to mud and murky pools. Whereas before the foliage had been maintained at a certain distance from the road, now nature encroached closer to the pavement, and at some points it was mere inches away. The shoulders of the highway were often caked in dry dirt and vegetation.

“Yuk.” Twilight remarked, looking down at the edges of the highway. “You weren’t kidding when you said that this road was hardly maintained.”

“This is about what we’re going to see for the next hour or so.” Vinyl said.

Rainbow laughed. “Rarity would be having a fit if she saw any of this.” Her laughter subsided quickly as she and Twilight were both reminded of how neither had seen their friends since arriving on Haven.

Zen noticed how quickly the general mood had completely turned around and made an attempt to lighten things some. “Yes, well I dunno about you two but I’m excited to be seeing some fresh scenery. Thick forests are fun for only so long.”

“I suppose.” Twilight said, and all Zen was able to get out of Rainbow was a dismissive grunt.

They continued onwards without much conversation. At one point they passed a grassy field and a road that
connected with the highway, but the sign that went with it was hardly legible due to rust and dirt. Something that Zen noticed was the distinct lack of traffic of any kind along the highway for both directions. He pondered whether or not this was normal, as he hadn’t personally been along this highway before and had been relying on what he had gleaned from other accounts, but wasn’t given much time to think about it as his thoughts were rudely interrupted by a sudden shudder and a loud bang.

A chorus of exclamations erupted from the three equines. Zen cursed and, activating his hazard lights, pulled the van off the highway and onto a relatively clear patch of dirt.

“What the hay was that?” Rainbow asked, peering out the rear windows.

Zen mumbled something as he unbuckled himself and exited the vehicle. He glanced along the left side of the vehicle as he walked around it and cursed again as he saw the cause of the trouble: an exploded rear tire on the right side. Zen unlocked the rear doors and started digging for tools.

“So, what happened?” Vinyl asked.

“Blown tire.” Zen stated rather shortly as he pulled a jack and a wrench from a compartment.

“How long will it take to fix?” Twilight inquired.

“Hopefully not too long.” Zen replied, placing the tools on the highway shoulder and opening a floor panel to get to the spare tire.

“Do you need any help?” Twilight asked, putting away the map.

“Nah. I’ve got this.” Zen grunted as he yanked the spare tire from its place. “Just sit tight and we’ll be back on our way in no time.”

The midday heat and high humidity conspired to make Zen drenched in sweat before long, but he didn’t complain. Carefully placing the jack between hard ground and a solid part, he lifted the van high enough to get the tire several inches off the ground. Playing it safe he also added a secondary support jack just in case the first one failed. Zen took his time to assess the damage to the tire and the surrounding area and was pleased to see that only the tire had been affected. Within a few moments he had removed the lug nuts and then the damaged tire, and then replaced it with the spare.

As he was putting the lug nuts back on the fresh tire, Zen noticed a pair of shadows approaching him. He looked up from his work and saw two somewhat bulky men standing in front of an SUV. Somehow he hadn’t noticed them drive up behind him.

“We noticed you had broken down, and offer our assistance.” The first one stated without giving Zen a chance to speak. Something about this man’s tone of voice didn’t sit well with Zen, and he immediately went on the defensive, though he tried not to show it.

“Oh no, I think I’ve about got things squared away here.” Zen put on a smile and wiped the sweat from his brow. “Thanks anyways.”

“But we insist.” The second man said. “Certainly there must be something you still need help with.” He began to walk towards the van.

Zen worked fast to tighten the remaining lug nuts and then dropped the van back to the ground. “But I insist, I’ve completed with my repairs and will be on my way.”

“But clearly it’s unsafe to travel through here.” The first man said, also now walking towards the van. “Our vehicle can withstand the conditions of this road, and if I’m not mistaken you have other passengers in your van. We’d be…delighted to offer them a ride.”

Any doubts about the intentions of these two men were vanquished with that pause. Zen slowly reached for his wrench. “I think I can handle things from here on out.” He said, letting his tone drop to a more serious one.

“Well that’s too bad, because we say that you can’t.” The second man said, now peering inside the van from behind Zen.

Without warning, Zen lifted the wrench and swung around, catching the second man square in the gut with the end of the wrench. The second man fell to his knees, winded. The first man rushed Zen, who backpedaled a few steps before lunging with the wrench. His attempt was blocked, but his assailant had miss-stepped and tumbled forward, off-balance. Zen took the opportunity to push the man off his feet and into the muck. By now the second man had recovered, and just as Zen readied himself a purple blast hit the man square in the chest and he collapsed.

Confused, Zen turned around and saw Twilight leaning out of the passenger side window. “We have to get out of here!” She exclaimed, levitating the various tools and the blown tire into the back of the van.

Zen nodded, rushing around to the driver’s seat and, buckling himself in, gunned it back onto the highway and sped away from the two assailants. As he had rushed around the side of the van, Zen had taken a good glance at the SUV behind them. The vehicle itself was black, windows were all blacked out and the front end lacked any sort of identification or tags.

“What was THAT all about?” Twilight half asked and half exclaimed once the men and their vehicle had vanished from sight.

“I haven’t got a clue.” Zen replied, attempting to calm his still racing heart. “Whoever they were they didn’t seem to be acting on their own…”

“Implying that they are part of some kind of crime syndicate?” Twilight replied.

“Exactly.” Zen said. “Though organized crime in Haven has been mostly nonexistent.”

“What do you think they were after?” Rainbow asked.

“Well they seemed mostly interested in getting you three into their car.” Zen replied. “I don’t know if they were after any of you specifically but they were sure insistent in getting their hands on you for some reason.”

“We should report this right away.” Twilight stated.

“There’s usually a patrolman stationed at the fuel depot up ahead.” Vinyl said. “That’s about the only chance you’ll get to talk to anypony about it until Lethean.”

“Right.” Zen said. “Then we’ll stop there and talk to the patrolman.”

They continued onwards in relative silence. Only the road noise and stereo could be heard. This lasted the remaining distance until they broke free from the swampy lands and entered a vast open field. In the distance one could spot some tall hills that filled the horizon.

The freeway parted ways for the fuel station, and Zen pulled off the highway and parked the van at one of the fuel pumps. “Might as well fuel up while we’re here.” He commented.

He left Rainbow to get the van fueled up as he and Twilight began to search for the patrolman. Vinyl headed inside the station, which was home to both a convenience store and a restaurant.

“Over there.” Twilight pointed to a black-maned grey pegasus sporting a navy blue outfit and a bright gold badge over one shoulder. Zen and Twilight approached the pegasus, and were greeted by the officer.

“Hello, do you need assistance?” The pegasus asked.

“We ran into some trouble not too far back into the swamps.” Zen replied.

He was cut off by a raised hoof from the officer. “Lemme guess, two burly human males driving a black SUV.” The officer stated.

Zen and Twilight stared at the officer for a moment before nodding, and the officer sighed. “I’m going to assume that we aren’t the first?” Zen ventured.

“Hardly.” The officer replied with a frown. “For the past few months we’ve received reports of attempted kidnappings by these two within the swamps. Sometimes they are accompanied by ponies, or only the pony associates attempt the kidnapping, but we haven’t been able to catch them or even figure out who they are or why they’re doing this. There’s also no telling whether or not they’ve actually succeeded in kidnapping somepony. The only common denominator is that they target vehicles that have broken down. I can only assume that yours did?”

“We had a blown tire.” Twilight responded.

“Not uncommon, but still unfortunate.” The officer said. “Do you folks need anything?”

“I think we have everything covered.” Zen replied.

“Good.” The officer smiled. “Now then, how did you manage to escape them?”

“I was able to fend them off with a large wrench and luck.” Zen admitted. “Twilight here used some magic to keep them off me long enough to get back into our van.”

“You’re among the fortunate then.” The officer stated. “Usually when they fail to kidnap somepony it’s because somepony else happened upon the scene and scared those thugs off.”

“I see.” Zen said.

“Yes.” The officer replied, and then reached into a pocket for a notepad. “Now if you wouldn’t mind I’d like your information for the report.”

Zen and Twilight both wrote down their information for the officer. “Well then I think we’ve finished our business here.” Zen said.

Twilight nodded. “Thank you, officer.”

The officer smiled and nodded. “I’ll make a report back to the local department. Drive safely now.”

Zen and Twilight headed back to the van. Rainbow had just finished fueling up and Vinyl was already in the back row of seats. “Did you find out what was going on?” Rainbow asked.

“Apparently what happened to us has been happening to others as well.” Twilight said.

Rainbow frowned. “But why?”

“Nobody knows.” Zen said. “Anyways, we’d best be going. We’ve wasted enough time.”

Before long the group was all back in the van and they were on the highway once more. Ahead of them were the hills that separated them from their destination, and they were going to drive right through them. A river approached them from the west and snaked its way through the prairie alongside the ride, and as the terrain turned from flat fields to rolling hills the river cut through the elevation undeterred. Zen and company watched as they cut through the hills into a canyon, flanked on one side by cliffs and on the other side by the river.

They had reached the final stretch.