Just thought I should mention that there is a time skip between this chapter and the last chapter. Any new objects, events, or people mentioned that you’ve never heard of before will be explained when the time is right.

…

Or when we actually finish the damn thing. Whichever comes first.

“Wake up!”

I jolted up from the tree I was leaning on expecting an attack. Instead, I got our quiet campsite. With a small growl of anger, I turned to Ren.

“What is it?”

"You've been sleeping for ages." I looked at the sun. It had just risen. I sighed in annoyance. The closer we'd gotten to the city, the more impatient Ren got. “Now hurry up and get some breakfast. We should reach Stalliongrad by midday.”

“Bout damn time,” I muttered. I thought we’d be here a lot sooner. But first there was the snake temple, then that detour with the Skaven, and then trekking halfway across the damn country because he took us too far east! For the old wise man he seems to be, Ren is terrible with directions. “So what’s for breakfast?”

Pears. We’d eaten pears for breakfast. Since we were in Equestria now, we couldn't get any meat in the wild. Which sucked. I would have killed for some bacon, but apparently that’s not why they keep pigs, so that’s out. Forever. Still, Stalliongrad was supposed to have a significant non-pony population. Might be able to get some fish at the least.

“Are we there yet?”

“No. Stop asking.”

“This is the first time I've asked.”

“And once was enough.” I smirked to myself. You know what’s coming.

Five minutes later.

“Are we there yet?”

“No.”

Five minutes after that.

“Are we there yet?”

“No!”

Another five minutes.

“Are we there yet?”

“NO!”

And once more.

“Are we there yet?”

“YES! IT IS RIGHT OVER THE HILL!”

“Wow. You snap at this game way to easily. I only asked five times.”

“Sorry. Brings back some bad memories.” Honest to god, I saw him shudder. “Still, we’re here. Well, we’re in sight of the city at least.” He motioned me forward and I joined him at the tree-line. We pulled back the branches and I got my first glimpse of Stalliongrad.

It might have been a city from earth, except that even from this distance it was easy to tell most of the city was made from wood or stone instead of steel. What was really impressive was that the entire metropolis was built on an island in the middle of an enormous river. Seriously, this thing was HUGE! More of a lake surrounding an island that is connected by a pair of rivers. Most of the shoreline was level with the water, but in a few places it rose into steep cliffs. I could see the tiny figures of no doubt colossal mansions proudly situated in these prominent areas. The only way in (for those who couldn’t fly) was a series of bridges connecting the urban sprawl with the mainland.

“Some place,” I muttered, slightly awestruck at the sight.

“Quite the sight. Let’s not stay to long. Bad reputations are usually earned for a reason.”

“Right. So we head for the nearest bridge?”

“Not quite,” he said. And you know he had a smile on his face when he spoke the next line. “How well can you swim?”

Good news everyone! I can still swim as a cat person with one arm. I’m just…slower. And fur doesn’t really make the water any less cold. So it was with great anger that I hauled myself up onto the dock to stand before the drying Ren. I shook the water off my prosthetic (now painted to match my fur) and glared at him.

We were standing on a wooden platform to the side of a modest ship. No one could see us, but I could hear the hustle and bustle of a crowded dock just around its hull.

“Explain to me why I just swam through a near freezing river when there was a perfectly good bridge a thousand feet away?”
“Because I’m not giving all our money to some damn racist guards so they’ll let us in ‘their’ city. Not when there are plenty of free ways in. Now dry yourself off. We need to blend in.”

“Ren, we’re a couple of cat people and I’m missing an arm. There is no way in all the pits of hell we could blend in with a pony city.”

“Then…try to minimize the attention you draw to yourself. Keep your head forward and act like you know exactly where you’re going. Ignore anyone that gives you a weird look and try to stay out of people’s way. Hopefully, they’ll let us by without too much trouble.”

“Yeah, that’ll happen,” I grumbled. My track record didn’t give much hope for ‘without too much trouble’. I dried off in a reasonable amount of time (thank you Celestia) and we slipped out into the crowd.

The first thing I noticed was that it wasn’t completely ponies. Throughout the crowd I could spot small amounts Diamond Dogs, Zebras, Griffins, Cows, Sheep, even the occasional Minotaur. Still, mostly ponies. Ponies who all stopped and stared at the two Bast that walked calmly out from behind a ship. So much for low profiles.

“Ren…”

“Keep walking.” Well, he's gotten me this far. I started moving a little faster and tried to give off the idea that I knew exactly what I was doing. After a few seconds they stopped staring and went back to whatever it is they were doing. We moved through the crowd (still getting a few odd looks) and off the docks, heading deeper into the city.

“It actually worked,” I said after a few minutes. No one had even talked to us, let alone stopped us. Sure they looked at us, but for the most part that was as far as they’d taken it. Maybe they see weird stuff like us all the time.

“That’s the one thing I like about big cities. Most people living there just don’t care enough to bother you.” I laughed a little as we continued wading through a sea of candy colored horses dotted with other fantastic beasts I never would have imagined meeting a couple months ago. Life can really surprise you sometimes.

We walked down stone streets (no sidewalks, didn’t really have a need when there were no cars) past buildings made of stone and wood. After a while, we ended up in what seemed to be a market district. Signs proclaiming places of business (mostly bars) competed with stalls for customers. Shopkeepers called out their wares for all to hear.

“Wow. They have a lot of stuff here,” I said, eyeing a stall selling watches.

“Don’t get distracted. We’re here to find Copper. Nothing more.”

“I was just saying. We might find something interesting.”

“These places are a trap. Most of the goods will be shoddy and overpriced. The merchants will suck you dry for every last coin and enjoy every second of doing so.”

“And you don’t trust me to be a smart shopper?”

“Not really no."

"Hey, I've always been very good with money." Back on earth, my checking account had over four thousand dollars in it. Not because I was rich, but because I barely spent any money at all. Frugal living has it's rewards.

“Whatever. You’re still not going anywhere near those stalls,” he grumbled. I sighed as a response and we kept walking. I decided to busy myself trying to figure out what had given Stalliongrad its bad reputation. It was still miles better than…let’s say Detroit. But by Equestrian standards, it was Detroit.

Never been to Detroit and if all those jokes have any merit I can be happy about that fact.

The streets were as clean as you’d expect when they’re constantly walked on by thousands of marshmallow ponies all day. Buildings seemed to be in good repair. Hadn’t seen any crime yet. Actually, I hadn’t seen any guards yet. I guess that didn’t matter.

There was probably nothing to worry about.

“So where exactly are we going? Copper’s place?” I asked after the feeling of repetition had passed.

“Of course not. I don’t know where he lives.”

…

“What?”

“We’re going to a museum. He was a semi-famous archeologist. Even if he doesn’t work there, they’ll probably have records on him.”

“Oh. That’s good then. Shouldn’t take too long.”

“We will spend as much time as we need looking for him.”

“This is really important to you, isn’t it?”

“More than you could possibly-”

“HALT!” At the sudden noise, I jumped nearly three feet in the air. It took all my self-control not to draw Erebus as I spun around. Ren turned calmly with the practiced ease of a warrior. Show off.

Standing before us was a single earth pony guard. Like magic, the crowded market cleared in a twenty foot radius around us. I quickly scanned the crowd to try to get a gage of what was happening. Most of the crowd had a look of passive curiosity. Some of them (this group being mostly ponies) were staring at the starting scene with cruel superiority. Another group (mostly non-ponies) were looking on with a tired resignation. Like they’d seen this before.

All that happened in the ten or so seconds it took Ren to respond.

“Can we help you officer?”

“Yes. You can help me by coming quietly.”
…

“Are you implying that we’re under arrest?”

“I’m not implying, I’m stating. Now are you going to come quietly or not? I’d rather not cause a scene,” he said authoritatively. A little late for that jackass.

“Excuse me, but why are we being arrested? We’ve only been here an hour at the most. I don’t remember committing a crime,” I told him, struggling to keep any hint of anger out of my voice.

"Actually, you committed three."

...

"Three?"

“One: Entering the city through illegal means. It isn’t permitted to go swimming in the river except in designated areas.”

“We didn’t-”

“We watch for that kind of thing idiot. Two: Illegal possession of weapons. Non-ponies are not permitted weapons within the city.”

“Now hold on-”

“Three: Resisting arrest.”

“What!” we both shouted in unison.

“All we did was ask why we were being arrested!” Ren yelled at him.

“I found your stance threatening,” he said, smirking. “Now if you’ll both follow me, we’ll confiscate your weapons and the two of you will be jailed.” There were some cheers from the crowd at this.

“You and what army,” I asked him, seriously considering the ramifications of decking an officer of the law. The smirk turning into a smile, he stomped once with his front right hoof. Twenty more guards of all three types stepped out of the crowd and surrounded us.

“The Royal Equestrian Army.”

“Oh…Fuck, that’s a good army.”

Short chapter because I just got back from vacation and I want to keep updating on a weeklyish schedule.