David woke with a start, sitting up on a cot. He felt the heart crystal bounce against his chest before he reached for it, confirming it was back.
"Ah, you're awake," said a female voice. Looking over, he saw the pegasus that had hopped on his back and bit his hand, "We were hoping you could tell us more about yourself."
David frowned, quickly getting to his feet, then realizing he was entirely naked, if one didn't count the jewelry around his neck, which he didn't. Her eyes flicked downwards at his pony half as he tried to cross his legs. There was a desk there, and he moved over to it, concealing himself by sitting behind it in the chair that was there. "I... Come on, this isn't cool at all."
"On the contrary," said the pegasus, "I think you're very cool. Tell me about yourself. Is that your natural color?"
David shook his head, "Huh? Yeah. I was always this color. The fur matches it nicely enough." He tapped the ground with a hoof, "Where are my clothes?"
"Don't be silly," chastised the pegasus gently, "Ponies don't need clothes. They're just for decoration. Where are you from?"
"I don't even know who you are, and you bit me!" huffed David, looking more and more uncomfortable and uncertain.
"Aw, I'm sorry I did that. That was very bad of me," she said, approaching David. She cantered around the desk. He shied away from her, but she came in anyway, nuzzling into his hips, "I'm sorry. Now tell me about you."
Some of the tension escaped at the soft gesture. On instinct his hand sought out her head, softly scratching behind one of her ears and petting her. She consented to it like a placid pet for a moment before she nodded, "Please, tell me. I'll be good."
With a sigh, David sat back, "Alright." Seemingly taking his posture as invitation, he soon had a lap full of pegasus. She smiled brightly at him, wings fluttering. Confusion mounted again within David as he wondered why this mare was being nice now, and why he couldn't have his pants. "Well, I came from a world we call 'Earth'. Original name, I know, dirt. Whatever, it wasn't my decision. I made games for a living, using a bunch of... technology that would confuse you explaining it."
She nuzzled into his chest,"Go ahead and try," she invited as she snuggled against him. She was warm and furry, her wings ticklish where they touched bare skin. If he wasn't fairly certain she was a bad pony, this would be far from a bad situation.
"Uh, alright. Imagine a book, now imagine the book can draw words from every other book in the world if you ask it to, and that you can write into, so other books can get its words," he started, "Now give the book the ability to show pictures on demand, or make sounds, and you're getting close. Two people can each have their own book and send words, pictures, and sounds back and forth to each other, even their faces, and chat back and forth as easily as if they were sitting across each other, even if they're half a world away."
The pegasus raised a brow skeptically at David, but forced it back down. She cleared her throat, "Please, go on."
Deciding to stop talking about miracle technologies, he went forward, "So, I was going for a walk one day, just for my own health, and I was suddenly in a very dark place."
"How dark?" she asked, patting him down with her hooves. The touches were straying towards places he wasn't comfortable with and he wriggled under her.
"Very dark, black. Words appeared and asked me where I wanted to go, and this is where I ended up." He gestured broadly, then put both of his hands on her head again, softly petting, "Now please stop molesting me. I know you're not attracted to humans."
She huffed, "You're not a human. Poor creature." She spread her wings wide, "You're a pony." She hopped down from his lap, "I'll prove it, if you give me a chance."
David crossed his arms, "Is it really that hard to imagine I'm a human that became half pony instead of a pony that became half human?"
"Yes," she replied emphatically. "Now do I get my chance?"
David let out a slow sigh, "Does it involve being bitten, kicked, or stabbed?"
"You'll do the stabbing," she replied, trotting off quickly and returning with the earth pony mare. "Look at Main Event here," she entreated, pointing a wing at Main, "Really look at her."
Main Event appeared uncertain by far. She had a light blue coat with a creamy mane and purple eyes. "Are you sure?" She leaned in close to the pegasus, grumbling something David couldn't hear.
"It'll be worth it," hissed back the pegasus, nudging Main Event towards David.
Main Event strolled up to David, "I'm not doing that. That is sick." She pointed at David, "What's wrong with being a pony?"
"Nothing," said David, "But I like being upright, and I like having fingers. The rest I can take or leave."
Main snorted softly, "You lived without fingers before, how bad can it be?"
David wriggled his fingers at Main, "For a few hours, yeah. I have nothing against you ponies, alright?"
She jerked back. "We ponies," she corrected.
"You ponies," said David firmly. He stood up, pants or not, "Can I have my stuff back?"
Main picked up a pencil with a hoof, somehow, "Hooves aren't that bad. You just have to learn how to use them. I'll show you, if you want."
Realizing these ponies were not going to give up, David switched tracks, "Maybe you're right. Show me." He settled back in his seat, "But I only have hooves for feet right now."
Main Event smiled, "That's a good pony. We can fix that."
"You can?" asked David, "I figured you would have if you could already."
Main shook her head, "Well, there are... complications. How did you get so, what did she say... mixed up?"
David rolled his shoulders, "Complicated. A unicorn decided to try making me stronger when a friend asked, and she apparently just mixed up my insides, magically speaking." He wobbled a hand, "Then another unicorn went 'Hey, let's turn him into a pony for fun', and poof, pony time." He plinked the hanging heart crystal, "Neither of them had this, and neither of them were good enough to do it safely. Twilight had to fix it."
"Twilight?" asked Main.
"Princess Twilight Sparkle," expanded David, "That's how I ended up a half pony. It was the best she could do."
"I see..." said Main with obvious thoughts swirling in her eyes. "Excuse me, we'll be right back." She trotted from the room in a hurry, gesturing for the pegasus to go with her, and soon David was alone again.
Main looked to her two fellow conspirators, "Even a princess couldn't put him back together right," she sighed out, "What hope do we have?"
The unicorn asked, "How do you know that's true? He could be lying, to discourage us."
"Call it earth pony sensibility," said Main Event. "If you don't believe me, go in there and see for yourself."
The pegasus ruffled her feathers, "It's such a pity too. He's a nice stallion. Even so angry, he doesn't try to run away or attack us." She flushed a little, "He gives nice pettings."
Main thrust a hoof at the pegasus, "We're not pets... and how do we know he isn't escaping right now?"
The unicorn rushed past the other two, shoving the door open with her blue magic to reveal David looking out a closed window. He wasn't trying to pry the window open or anything, just watching the street below. She let the door close slowly and turned back the other two. "So what happened with getting his cutie mark to show up?"
The pegasus sighed gently, "It's hard keeping him on track, and I think he has to be telling a story, one he made up, and I'm not sure he is."
Main hiked a brow, "You're saying he really is from another world."
"I don't know!" squeaked the pegasus. "I just wish we could fix him."
Main narrowed her eyes a little, "You always were fond of earth ponies." The pegasus flushed and took to the air.
"I don't have to listen to this!" she said hotly before darting out the door, leaving the apartment.
The unicorn grunted softly, "You didn't have to scare her off."
Main shook a hoof, "She wasn't helping. Eclipse, what should we do?"
Eclipse peeked through the door again, seeing David pacing to and fro, "We could try anyway. He has a good heart crystal. I may be able to get something done."
"Or kill him?" asked Main, "That's not the goal."
Eclipse held up her hooves, "I'll stop if it starts going bad."
"I have a different idea," said Main. "This is too big for us. Someone's attacked him. His brain's scrambled. We should take him to the academy of magic and let them figure it out."
Eclipse clapped her hooves together in a soft clop, "Excellent idea. You're right, this is too much for us. If anypony can put him back together again, they can." She rose to her hooves and the two trotted back into the room.
David turned to face them as they approached. Eclipse spoke first, "Hello. We're going to take you somewhere where you can be helped."
"I'm going to guess that's not my friends?" asked David, "That would be cool."
Eclipse nodded, "They are your friends. The academy of magic works for the betterment of ponykind, which includes you." she pointed at David, "Come on."
"I really want my clothes," said David, "I don't want to march through the city dangling out, and my stuff is in my pants."
Main chuckled, "Cloudburst liked you dangling out just fine, but whatever." She departed, only to return swiftly with his clothes held in her mouth. She put it down beside him, "Get dressed, we have places to go."
David was quite relieved to be dressed again, even if his pants buckle was still busted. Zipping it up would have to do, at least it held itself up. Decent again, David moved to follow the mares, not seeing the point in getting into a fight he'd just lose.
5673681 I imagine more prodding and examination and less clumsy attempts at therapy.
I'm having some name confusion here. The pegasus mare is Cloudburst. The earth mare is Main Event. The unicorn mare is Eclipse...but her name seemed to be Ruby Hoof in the previous chapter?
There are two spaces between the ultimate and penultimate words in that sentence.
"Yeah," here, not "yea."
5673797 Fixed!
5673801 More fixing applied.
"Half-pony" and "half-human," in each case.
Another "yeah" here.
Greasy, Nicole foal man, Bon bon, lyra and maybe cloud burst? He seems to be getting fair size of interested mares. Can't wait to see what happens next.
5673822 Fixed!
5673900 Cloud Burst thinks he's an earth pony trapped in a disfigured body. This is not the basis for a healthy relationship even on the short term.
5674032 ...healthy relationships actually exist?
5674045 Bon Bon's the most grounded, of David's little network of friends, and isn't likely to move to the next level unless she feels things are done right and things are on the right hoof. Rough Draft is being swept along with the tide, and Lyra is paddling madly, eager to get wherever she's going even if she isn't entirely sure where that is.
5674051 A(nother) minor issue with the names - while I doubt anyone here is confused, Bon-Bon has two "official" names, those being Bon-Bon and Sweetie Drops, which I think Lyra has used once or twice in the context of this fic. Maybe mentioning something like the former is what she prefers to be called, and the latter is her legal name would be helpful?
5674077 I thought that was established in the first scene they entered the story?
5674081 It is? Hm, unless I'm wildly misremembering (which is entirely possible) they joined in chapter sixteen, and I didn't see anything about it there.
5674104
5674111 Okay, that would explain it - I was looking for where her "real" name was mentioned. Apparently that bit about her "pet name" managed to fly over my head completely. Sorry!
So I just noticed that chapter twenty-six has 2,239 words, while chapter twenty-seven has 1,761. Given that your stated goal for this series is to write 2,000 words a day, and the average for those two chapters is exactly 2,000 (e.g. 2,239 + 1,761 = 4,000/2 = 2,000), particularly in light of today's chapter being 2,000 words exactly, I have to ask: do those numbers match up on purpose?
5674552 I will never tell.
5674546 Gee, a pony involved in an angry riot gives two names. Maybe one of them is fake. Maybe.
5674630 That seems like a bit of a stretch. Her friends call her "Ruby Hoof" after they've abducted David and he's passed out...in other words, when they're alone. Yet later they also call her Eclipse when they're in their apartment and David is in the other room...meaning that they're alone again.
So they're using an alias when they think nopony else is around and listening?
5675384 I am caught and shamed before my readers. Please be gentle with me. Past chapter edited.
5676793 Oh my. I do hope your friend's OK.
The teen rating doesn't scare me off. Just keep it coming.
5700644 It probably deserved a teen rating long before this chapter.
This double verb doesn't really work, take one off
(I'd prefer leaving the first one here)
You know, Cloudburst is the most fickle of the three. Possible shipping? Ooh! Turn her around and make her a human lover!
Jesus Christ if there's anything that I see as clear as day is that David is a walking talking doormat here.
8981537
Welcome to my world.
The phone. THE. PHONE. He seems like a clear thinker, and what with them actually being human you'd think they would jump to the phone thing as soon as the conversation landed on the computer. Ah well, there is a story to tell.
Ok Ive liked this atory so far but WTF why didnt he fight back when he woke up? Or at least try to escape. Hes waaaay to calm amd passive and its starting to go beyond being a calm person. Even the calmest kindest person would not just be a doormat in a situation like this. He doesnt even know what happened to rough draft! What if he was hurt!
10537806
This. I can understand him being too lax and all, but he should've been at least panicked when Rough Draft isn't there.
It's insensible beyond measure that one time he's willing to fight tooth and nail to know how Rough is doing and then he just went "meh" in another time getting kidnapped.
10620745
You don't get the pattern? If it's just him, he probably deserved it, and he's pretty chill. If it's someone else, he puts in more effort.
10620901
Lol, or maybe he's biding his time? Sounds like something I'd do. Assess, plan, execute.
Also, because I'm weird, and the single dislike on your comment was bugging me, I gave your comment a like so it's now an even 50/50. OCD has been satisfied momentarily.