Brad led the way to a small building. It was well-lit and welcoming by design. "We'll value what you found here." RC grinned at that idea. "See if you found a big thing or a small thing. It should be interesting either way."

The girls were brimming with curiosity and eagerness to see what they'd found. Twilight wanted to find out more about this world, looking around curiously as the trailed behind the other two. "So similar, but different."

They entered the office, finding themselves in a pleasant place filled with all sorts of odd things. It seemed that appraiser kept their more interesting-looking finds posted up for people to examine, most in clear boxes.

A man behind a desk turned to look at them, surprised. "Hello! What have you brought me today?" He beckoned them closer. "Put it on the desk and I'll have a look. It's my job and all."

Brad chuckled at that. "Some coins, and a statue." He dug out the bag of coins first. "Here we go." He dumped them out onto the desk.

The man had his hands on the coins instantly, picking through them quickly. "Quite a find!" He was more than pleased. He held one up to the light, then turned it about slowly, taking in its features. "Mmm. Quite dated specimens. That's good, for you. They're not recent mockups. People find those all the time, and I have to inform them they're only worth the metal in them."

"That is good," Brad said with a nod. "We thought as much."

"These are probably Spanish, probably from their era of colonial holdings. And these," he held one out for them to see, "are silver. A nice haul."

Brad took one and rubbed his thumb over the face on it. "Huh, wow." He put the coin down gently. "And the gold ones are actually gold?"

"I'll have to run some tests to be 100% sure." He nudged the coins closer to himself. "But what I see makes it worth doing. Permission to proceed?"

"Sure." Brad nodded with a thumbs up.

"It's worth it." The appraiser set his fingers on the statue. "And what about this?" He glanced over at Brad. "If you found this on your property, that is."

RC pointed vaguely. "Out in the middle of nowhere." She left out the part about the moonbow. "What is it?"

"I couldn't say at first glance, other than I think it may be genuine, whatever it is. I'd like to verify its composition at least. It wouldn't be too much more hassle since I'm already doing the coins." The appraiser turned the statue on his desk slowly. "Marvelous."

Brad leaned in for a look. "That's definitely old."

The appraiser tapped the statue with one finger. "Well, they both are, but this one seems to be... different. Not Spanish in origin, like the coins. It looks much older. An authentic native artifact? What are the odds? If you're lucky, this could be worth quite a bit. Possibly more than the coins."

Brad sighed at that, while RC burst into a happy squeal. "How long until we know for sure?" He caught himself. "Not trying to rush you or nothing. Things take time. Just curious on the time frame."

The appraiser smiled at him. "About a week, give or take. We'll get it back to you as soon as we can." He slid the statue and coins into a box he'd prepared for them, then snapped it shut. "Until then, I'll keep it all safely secured." He produced a form and began filling it out meticulously. "Let's get you a document of what you've given to me. You don't want to walk out of here with nothing, right?"

Twilight frowned slightly at that. "A piece of paper isn't proof they found something."

Brad leaned in. "The paper means someone is looking into the items, checking them out, figuring out what they're worth, and the like. Also leaves a trail of what we're leaving here, so we can get it back."

"Exactly." The appraiser flipped the paper around. "Sign at the bottom and date it kindly. I'll get it all back to you when it's done. Oh, add your number and email, for contact. Do you have a preference?"

Brad nodded at that and put his digits down with the information requested. He passed the pen to RC. She signed eagerly, not having to write out her name as much as scribble it.

With the paperwork completed and stamped, he gently shooed them off. "I'll give a call as soon as I have something. Don't worry, I'm just as excited."

Brad held up a hand. "One thing. Sorry, but how much will this cost?"

"Ah." The appraiser pulled a little form from under his desk. "Normally, I'd charge $100 per item being checked, since there'd be a high odds of it being random junk. Yours, on the other hand, look like they have real value, so I'd instead ask for 1% of the declared value. Considering how many of those coins you have, this shouldn't be too painful."

Brad stroked his chin. "Alright. We can live with that."

"Nice." The appraiser reached across the desk and shook Brad's hand firmly. "Looking forward to doing business with you."

With all that settled, they left the office. Brad put an arm around RC. "That's going to be a good payday, one way or another."

"How long do you think it'll take?" RC clapped her hands. "Will it really be worth a lot?"

"Depends." Brad rocked his head back and forth. "But let's forget that for now. He'll call when he's finished. For now, I say we relax a little, have some fun."

Twilight had been walking with them, but now she sped up. "If you don't mind, I'm going to go for a bit of a walk, just to see what else is out there."

Brad caught her by the shoulder before she got too far. "Hold on. We can all go for a walk, together."

She glanced back at him, a wry smile crossing her lips. "I was thinking of looking into a few things about the human world. The pony worlds didn't have any info like this."

RC hopped up next to Twilight. "So, let's do that! Why are you being so secret secret about this, Twi?"

"It's... I just want to explore on my own." Twilight rubbed the back of her neck. "And, well, I don't want you guys telling me things."

Brad winced at that. "I'll keep my mouth shut, promise." He waved onwards. "You can be in charge today. Brave explorer Twilight, where are we headed?"

Twilight struck off down the sidewalk, an unabashed grin crossing her face. "Come along!" She trotted on ahead of them.

Brad gestured for RC to follow and she took his hand as they trailed behind Twilight.

Twilight wanted to explore a bank, asking perhaps too many questions of the poor teller inside about how the bank worked in detail. Once she was satisfied, she asked for a ride. A loan from Brad helped pay for the taxi fare to get her around town. She visited a few places of interest, each one filled with delightful information that had been utterly unknown to her.

She finally arrived at a museum. "Now we're talking." She strode inside with a giggle. "Viewing the past will bring a lot of things together. Don't look like that. You're the one that insisted on following me."

Brad groaned and pulled his hat lower. "This is your day." He followed her into the museum.

Twilight wandered around, happily looking at all the different exhibits. RC paced around as well, finding herself drawn to a display about birds. Brad just stuck close to Twilight, listening to her babble on excitedly about whatever caught her eye. He dared to get an arm around her, keeping her close as she wandered. "You know." Twilight paused at his words. "As interesting as this stuff is, you're still beating it out."

Twilight colored at that. "You're trying to flatter me!"

"What? It's the truth." He let her wander towards the next exhibit, right behind her. "If you're having fun, worth the time."

Twilight sighed gently, pulling him along after her. "I guess we can look at this together." She examined a display, peering at the description posted beside it. "Hm, interesting."

"It is." Brad considered the exhibit of early people traveling long to reach to Americas long before any Europeans even got the idea. "Wow, those Native Americans were super brave, coming across like that."

Twilight nodded at that, still reading intently. "A lot of them died trying too."

"Still." Brad rubbed his arm slowly. "They made it, and spread from there, all over the Americas."

Twilight leaned in. "To have come from that point of arrival, across such vast distances, building up their own culture and societies."

Brad glanced down at her. "And what would you have done?"

Twilight paused a moment, considering it. "Too many variables to answer that off the cuff. It seems other humans arrived and tore down what they had built. We should move on." She wandered off to another exhibit, finding herself fascinated by the machines of the industrial revolution.

Brad held back a bit, standing at the display as RC scampered up next to him. RC grabbed his hand and squeezed it. "Thanks, for letting Twi geek out and stuff. I think she needed it." She leaned in close to Brad. "She'll thank you later, if you know what I mean."

Brad laughed at that. "Love isn't an exchange. I'm not doing this in the hopes of getting something back. She wants to explore, I want to help her, because we're friends."

RC raised a brow at that. "You're such a sap. I love it. But she does appreciate it, just like I do." She tilted her head. "Is it weird that we're getting closer?"

Brad nodded slowly. "Yes, but it's the kind of weird I can get used to." He put an arm around her and guided her towards where Twilight was.

Twilight was busy examining an old farm tractor from the 1800s. It was just one of the many old machines on display. The rustic little device seemed perfectly fit for Twilight, even as she began her chattering on about the era, the place, and anything else that came to mind. "This place is full of wonderous things!" She twirled on the others.

"But I've kept you all for long enough. I think I've absorbed all I'm going to in one day. How about we relax?" She gestured for them to come close. "And no more hiding, Brad. You can show us your interests."

Brad chuckled nervously. "Maybe tomorrow."

They wandered back out onto the street and found a coffee shop, somewhere they could hang out for a while. They got some snacks and drinks, sat down at a table and relaxed. "I never knew this world had so much history in it," Twilight said, waving her hands in front of herself.

Brad took a sip from his drink. "I'm going to guess most worlds have a history, as big as you have time to study, really." He considered the idea. "It'd be odder if there wasn't a big history."

"I don't get it," RC piped up. "But that's fine, right?" She poked at her snack idly, chewing on one bit before stuffing another in her mouth. "The history isn't for me, it's for Twi."

Twilight giggled at that. "It isn't really my history either, but it is interesting. The differences between this human world and the other I've seen are vast, and fascinating. I could write a paper on it, or two... But we do have things we should be doing. Thank you, for obliging me. You're a wonderful friend."

Brad ducked his head. "I'm nothing special." He smiled warmly at Twilight. "I'm happy to see you enjoying yourself. We could explore some more tomorrow, if you like."

"Maybe we should." Twilight considered that as she took a sip from her drink. "But no. I've had my fill for the moment, and we really should get back to Equestria. I do have business there."

Author's Note

That was a nice, mellow, slice of life kinda episode right there. Amirite?!

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