Wish Gone Awry. Enter Equestria! Enter New Life!

Following Fancy and Fleur through the winding corridors of the castle, the group came out close to the castle's front doors from a small, nondescript entrance. As the group walked up to the front doors, they were stopped by a host of armored soldiers.

"Halt!" One of the soldiers commanded. "Where are you taking the human and the zebra?" The mare commanded as some of the mares blocked the doors, and the rest surrounded the group.

"Relax, it's OK. The human, Julius, has taken me up on my offer to see Canterlot. The zebra, Zecora, as well as Lady Twilight have decided to come along with us. So, Fleur and I were going to take them to a few places," Fancy Pants told the soldiers.

"I see," the mare seemingly in charge said as she looked at Julius and Zecora. "While neither of you is confined to the castle, we must warn you that Canterlot is an extremely traditionist city," the mare said as she looked over the two, "though I can see that neither of you will just go back into the castle. We must inform you that we have been ordered to keep the two of you safe. A squad has been assigned to both of you in accordance with your positions, perceived or otherwise. You understand, correct?" The mare asked as Julius and Zecora nodded. "Very well," the mare said as the other soldiers took up positions around the group, "let's get on our way then," the mare commanded as she took the group's lead. "Where to first?" The mare asked as she led the group outside the castle.

"I was thinking of taking a walk down Garden Row towards the Royal Commons Park, then from there maybe see about a restaurant or two; I know a few places that'd be fine with non-ponies. Then, maybe see about a few sightseeing places, the arena, the temple, perhaps Blue Hen Way," Fancy Pants joked as Fleur lightly laughed while the soldiers looked at him.

"I don't think they'd care for Blue Hen Way," one of the soldiers flatly said.

"Why, what's there?" Julius asked while Twilight lightly blushed.

"It's a street of ill repute," the lead soldier said. "Erotic spas, brothel-style stables, love inns, and so on," the soldier said as Julius lightly chuckled. "I should tell you now that the employees there are mostly stallions. The few mares that work there are mostly for the front of the businesses," the soldier said while Julius nodded.

"Makes sense, considering how the gender imbalance is. Still, it's kind of surprising that Canterlot has a red-light district. Honestly, I'm kind of curious," Julius lightly smiled while Twilight blushed a little more. "Why so red? Have you been there before?" Julius joked as Twilight slightly hung her head. "You, uhhh, you have, haven't you?" Julius nervously said while Twilight blushed.

"My senior term in Celestia's Academy for Gifted Unicorns," Twilight said with a blush. "During my first week as a freshpony-senior, a bunch of the mares went down to Blue Hen Way. It was kind of an unofficial class thing, so I went as well. While there, we went to one place, The Bucking Bronco. The sheer musk in the place was insane; first, it was heavy with stallion musk, then it quickly changed to mare musk. That was the first place I've intentionally seen an unsheathed stallion," Twilight explained with a blush.

"Twilight! You pervert!" Rainbow Dash chuckled from above as the soldiers turned to look at her.

"Relax, she's with me. She's one of mine," Julius said with a soft sigh.

"Sorry, need to make sure," one of the soldiers said as she looked at Rainbow Dash. "Stay still; this will only take a moment," the soldier said as she charged magic to her horn.

"Wait? What are you doing?" Rainbow Dash asked as a soft yellow light enveloped her.

"You're all clear," the soldier said as she returned to guard the party. "That was scanning magic, used to detect Changelings, though; I suppose it could be used to detect other shapeshifting beings," the soldier explained.

"Huh, neat," Rainbow Dash shrugged as she flew close to Julius and Twilight. "Either way, I never thought that you would have been to a brothel before. My bad, an 'exotic dance club' better," Rainbow Dash joked as the lead soldier sighed.

"Look, we know it's really a brothel. The brothels and the crown have an awkward relationship. As long as they don't operate openly as a brothel and treat their 'employees' with the standards set by the Equestrian Workers and Labour Board, the crown leaves them alone. Better they have work in a safe place than in a place that'd exploit them more than they already are. Well, that and getting rid of brothels would make a lot of mares extremely angry. Some of these soldiers among the angry ones," the lead soldier said with a mirthful laugh.

"Surprisingly pragmatic," Julius said as he nodded in agreement. "So, what's this about Twilight going to a brothel, and what's a freshpony-senior?" Julius asked as he looked right at Twilight.

"I didn't know that it was one at the time. And a freshpony-senior is a pony who's just started their post-schooling education at Celestia's Academy for Gifted Unicorns. It goes from magical kindergarten to university. I had just started my post-schooling studies at the time," Twilight hurriedly explained.

"I see," Rainbow Dash said as a mischievous grin grew on her face. "Still, a young mare like yourself must have really taken in the sights," Rainbow Dash said as she winked and nudged Twilight. "What?" Rainbow Dash asked as the others looked at her. "Don't give me that. You know Twilight, as smart as she is, skipped a few grades. There's no way she was of age to enter anyplace on Blue Hen Way," Rainbow Dash reasoned as she looked at Twilight. "I'm proud of you," Rainbow Dash jokingly winked.

"T-that's neither here nor there," Twilight furiously blushed.

"My oh my, looks like somepony has a pair of horns," Julius joked as he lightly rubbed Twilight's whithers.

"Well, one horn actually," Twilight said as Julius lightly chuckled, "oh, it's a turn of phrase," Twilight embarrassingly laughed. "Anyways, can we move off of my past on Blue Hen Row," Twilight requested as she blushed.

"Sure," Julius said with a nod. "So, Fancy, where are we?" Julius asked as the group walked out into a large park.

"This, my boy, is the Royal Commons Park," Fancy Pants said as he waved a hoof in a greeting fashion. "It's a park that's funded directly by the crown. Mostly, it's kept for general usage by the populous for outdoor activities and events. A few quartets and quintets play in the gazebo. Multiple groundskeepers maintain the park, and several animal specialists take care of the animals," Fancy Pants explained as several geese started to walk up to the group. "These little birds can be quite the hassle if they aren't kept happy," Fancy Pants smiled as he and Fleur said as the two fed the group of geese.

"Uhhh, you can feed the geese, but I'm going to be standing over there," Julius said as he started to back up. "Far over there," Julius again said as he kept on backing up.

"Why's that? Scared of geese?" Fancy Pants light-heartedly joked.

"A little, yes. I'm from Canada; trust me, Canadian Geese can be extremely vicious," Julius said as he stopped backing up, feeling that he was at a safe distance.

"Understandable, most geese are when you first meet them. These geese, though, are usually quite friendly, though," Fancy Pants said as he trailed off.

"They can be quite the beggars," Fleur continued as a goose walked up to the soldiers surrounding Julius and 'honked' a few times.

"Right, of course," one of the soldiers sighed. "Don't suppose that anypony has any hidden crackers or anything, do they?" The soldier asked as the others shook their head.

"Here," Fleur said while she levitated a few crackers to Julius as the goose started to honk louder. "As long as you give them some food, crackers, or bread or something like that, the geese won't attack you. They're quite well trained," Fleur assured as Julius carefully took the crackers.

"If you insist," Julius said as he got ready to feed the goose, who seemed to be staring him down. "Am, am I getting stared down by a goose?" Julius asked incredulously.

"Yes, they have a habit of doing that if you have food but don't give them any," Fleur told Julius.

"That's weird; these are weird geese," Julius said as he knelt. "Here, good goose," Julius carefully said as he held out a few crackers to the goose. Looking at the offered crackers, The goose carefully pecked them a few times before eating the crackers. Honking happily, the goose waddled away. "Again, these geese are weird," Julius once again affirmed.

"All these geese do that. The first time someone new comes to the park, the geese try to shake them down for food. They'll go away eventually, but it's a lot faster just to give them some food. Besides, if they find something valuable, they're more likely to give it to you if they like you," Fleur explained as she gently patted a goose.

"So, basically, these are geese with intelligence on par with crows and magpies? Yeah, geese really don't need to be that smart," Julius sighed as he stood up.

"Oh no," Fleur told Julius. "Crows are much more intelligent. Often times crows have been shown to outsmart schoolponies. Some have even been able to mimic our speech slightly. A few studies have been done on their speaking abilities, and it's been shown that the crows know exactly what they're saying," Fleur told Julius.

"Yeah, crows really needed to be smarter," Julius said with a slight smile and nod. "And what about magpies?" Julius asked.

"No idea what those are," Fleur shrugged. "Though, there are old mare stories about a cursed pony named Magpie. Do you mean her?" Fleur asked with a slight tilt of her head.

"Nope," Julius flatly said. "Magpies are related to crows, though magpies like to take anything shiny and are extremely protective of their nests," Julius explained to Fleur.

"I've never heard of birds like those. What about any of you?" Fleur asked as she looked at the other ponies, who all shook their heads.

"I guess magpies don't exist in this world, lucky you. They exist in Australia, and somehow, despite everything that exists there, Australians are afraid of them. And that's saying something. Everything there is either venomous, aggressive, or both, yet the magpie is high on that list, somehow," Julius explained as he lay down on the grass. "This is really soft grass."

"The hired groundskeepers use a special grass. It's a crossbreed of Luna Bay seafoam grass and Bales carpet grass. This is among the highest quality grass in all of Equestria. Honestly, at this level, the only way to get better grasses is for them to be for extremely specific uses. But, for relaxing and feeling, Canterlot royal grass is the best," Fancy Pants told Julius. "The taste isn't all that great, though; it's like seaweed mixed with hay," Fancy Pants said with a shudder.

"Good thing I don't eat grass then," Julius said with a relaxing sigh. "So where to after this?" Julius asked as a goose approached.

"I'm thinking the arena, then the temple. And I suppose if you really want to go, Blue Hen Row. Though I was joking when I suggested it," Fancy Pants said with a mirthful chuckle.

"Got a coin?" Julius asked as he held out a hand.

"I do; why?" Fancy Pants said as he levitated a bit to Julius's hand.

"Simple," Julius said as he flipped the coin high in the air. "Heads, we don't go to Blue Hen Row; tails, we do," Julius said as he caught the coin," Julius said as he caught the coin and flipped it to the back of his other hand. "Who argues with a coin flip? Nobody, nobody argues with a coin flip. It's an object; arguing with an object is insane," Julius reasoned as he removed his hand. "Tails, we go," Julius said as he showed the coin to the group.

"I get your reasoning, kind of," Twilight said. "But why decide whether or not to go there by a coin flip?" Twilight asked as he looked oddly at Julius.

"Because I'm torn on it. On the one hand, I did not live my life and travel to another world just to see a stallion's ding dong. On the other, the curiosity of an Equestrian red-light district would eat me from the inside. I mean, really, how even would it work?" Julius bemusingly said with a shrug.

"That's pretty fair. Honestly, I kind of wonder how they work in your world, too," Twilight slightly shyly admitted.

"Wish I could tell you, but sadly, I cannot. I know there are brothels, strip clubs, possibly legal drug dealers, and adult toy stores; of course, this is all assuming any of it is legal. Also, I'm obviously guessing," Julius said with a shrug.

"Sounds about right. Though I must admit, the who clothes thing seems odd. I know it's a cultural thing, but still," Twilight said as she trailed off.

"Well, among the higher nobility, some forms of clothing show class. As well as some professions require wearing some form of uniform," Fancy Pants said.

"Back in my homeland, where we zebra thrive. We all wear jewelry with which we don't deprive. I know, it's not quite like clothing. But for us to remove it causes much loathing," Zecora added.

"Fair, though clothes also hold more meaning for us. We don't really have fur. Some of us have a lot of body hair, but that's not real fur. Also, we developed as a species to be rather modest. So clothes serve as our fur and protect our modesty," Julius explained.

"I figured. It was more of a rhetorical question," Twilight sighed. "Still, the whole modesty thing seems silly to me," Twilight said as the others, save Julius, nodded in agreement. "Why be ashamed of your body?" Twilight quizzically asked.

"Hah, if that throws you for a loop, then you should see some of our surgeries. Make things bigger or smaller, adjust things, move things around, and change from male to female or female to male. Then there are tattoos, where someone needles ink under your skin to draw an image on you. It's kinda like a cutie mark, only it hurts getting one, and it doesn't give any benefits," Julius explained.

"That sounds a bit like branding, only more colorful," Twilight and the others shuddered.

"Honestly, it kinda is like branding. Only nowadays, it's not used to identify prisoners. It's only used for aesthetics," Julius assured.

"Still, that could have negative connotations in Equestria. It'd probably be for the best if it's not introduced here," Twilight commented as the others nodded in agreement.

"Agreed. Even in my world, tattoos are a bit controversial. Some countries really hate them," Julius said as one of the soldiers gave the approaching goose a few pats. "Anyways, shall we continue?" Julius asked as he stood up.

"Sure," Fancy Pants said in agreement. "Might as well go to the Grand Solarian Temple; it's closer to here than the arena," Fancy Pants suggested.

"Sure. I'm kind of curious how they worship something that's basically living down the street for them," Julius lightly joked as the group got up and left for the temple.