David was becoming bored of looking at the ceiling and deprived of his usual electronic means of distraction. The bed still being short was the final straw, and David soon stood back up and began pacing. He noticed that the bed that had been occupied was no longer so. All of the beds beside the one he had slept in were neatly made for the next patient. He spotted a bookcase and he wandered over and ran his finger along the spines while reading. To his relief, the words appeared to be understandable enough. He silently thanked the fates that the English writing of the show translated over.
Most of the books were at least tangentially medical in nature and dry reading, at least as far as the average pony was concerned. David plucked one up about unicorns and parked his butt on the edge of the bed, starting to read about maladies that could afflict a unicorn. He hoped he could learn more about how their magic worked, if only through the many ways it could go wrong. As it turns out, unicorn biology was much more complicated than he would have given credit for at a glance.
"Interesting choice," came the familiar voice of Patch up. "Plan on an exciting career in medicine?"
David looked up from his book, "Huh? Nah, just reading."
She rolled her eyes, "I couldn't pay most the ponies in this town to read through that, and you're doing it for fun?"
David shrugged a little, "Just curious, uh, Patch right?"
"You forgot already?" she asked, "Yes, that's my name. Patch Up." The book David was holding wrapped in the green magic as Patch lifted it from him, "And you are going to take a nap."
"I'm a little old to get that order," protested David, "I mean, thanks for everything, but I'm not tired."
She raised a furry brow at him, "You're not tired? You should be achy all over from that."
David gave a 'huh', "I thought that was from hiking for almost two days straight."
Patch nodded hesitantly, "And that's not enough to sit down?"
"I am sitting," he pointed out, "But I'm not tired."
Patch approached and reached up a hoof to poke a dangling green thing at his belt. "Is that your job?"
David looked down at it. Hanging from his keychain, besides a key, was a green bit of plastic that read 'Ponyfinder'.
"What sort of ponies do you find?" asked Patch with a hint of dubiousness, "Are you a bounty hunter?"
David shook his head, "Nothing like that, really! It's just a thing I made."
"A thing?" she asked.
He thought of how to explain it. "It's a game," he started. "Have you ever heard of roleplaying games?"
She nodded hesitantly, "Not my kind of thing. The little ones play pretend all the time."
He shrugged at that, growing slightly embarrassed, "Well, where I came from, adults do too. Ponyfinder is a game about pretending to be a pony and going on adventures."
She stared at him a moment before snickering laughter escaped her, "Celestia save me! Now I'm picturing a whole herd of you... humans? on all fours like a bunch of foals playing make believe."
David went quiet, embarrassed into silence. He would think of a thousand witty comebacks later, but for the moment, he just wallowed in his shame. "Uh, it was... kind of popular."
"I bet it was," came Patch with her amused smile still worn, "You're a curious pony, David. Do you have a second name?"
"Silver," replied David.
Patch brightened at the news, "There's a proper name. What is a 'David' anyway?"
Sinking deeper into shame, David replied, "An old king, back where I'm from. Also means beloved."
"Huh," said Patch, "beloved silver. I can work with that. Do you work with silver?"
He shook his head, "Nah, I made games. I'm a writer."
She seemed to consider this a moment, "Never played a game that needed a lot of writing. Well, I can't force you to sleep, but take it easy, OK?" She trotted off with a soft whistle as she retreated into her office and closed the door behind herself. David glanced at her retreating rump. Her swaying straight haired tail seemed to cover most of the objectionable bits. He noticed a lighter shade of orange ran down the middle of the otherwise red tail.
With her gone, he stood up. He was still barefooted as the cold floor made clear. He got down slowly onto all fours and peeked under the bed, finding the shoes and socks peeking out at him. He reached underneath and grabbed hold before he hefted himself back to a seated position and starting to get dressed again. Feet covered, he moved for the door. Deciding to err on the side of caution, he opened it slowly but surely, resisting the urge to toss it open or act like he had something to hide.
The small town had mares and stallions moving about. Most seemed to have clear destinations, but a few were parked beside the road, sharing idle conversation. Most of the ponies came up to his midsection while on all fours, though he imagined they would be at least as tall as he was if they reared up onto hindlegs. David felt a sense of wonder at this place. It was as fantastic as he'd hoped, and yet, mundane. These ponies were clearly not enraptured by their own lives.
Most of them didn't seem to pay him much mind, aside from the occasional glance at him before returning to what they were doing. Suddenly David was slapped on the shoulder. He went rigid even as he jumped, body protesting at the shock of it.
"Woah there, partner," came the familiar voice of Wet Hoof. "I didn't mean to surprise you." He fell back to all fours from where he had been standing. "I just saw you there taking in the sights and thought I'd come say hello."
David looked over the pony and the name came to him thankfully easily, "Damp hooves?"
Wet snorted, "Close. Wet Hoof. Good to see you up and around. I was starting to think you were going to stay down."
"Huh?" replied David, "It isn't the day after?"
He shook his head, "Add another day."
David frowned a little, "I... I mean, I appreciate it, but how am I still, you know..." he wobbled a hand before gesturing at his clothes, "dressed?"
Wet Hoof shrugged, "Patch Up says she's treated diamond dogs, and they get real upset if they wake up without their clothes if they went to sleep with 'em, so she just put them back on you each time. Must have worked, you look alright now."
David nodded a little, "Yea, that was actually kind of cool of her to do... So... what is there to see in this town?"
"Not too much," said Wet, "But we got plenty of work. Speaking of, I should get back to it. You're not going to stop me from reaching the fishing hole this time."
David waved a hand, "Promise, but what do ponies need with fish?"
Wet shrugged softly, "Trade, fertilizer, hay, some ponies like it as delicacy, but I think that's more common in the cities. Don't know no ponies in town that buy m'fish for that."
Having answered the question, Wet gave a parting wave, and moved out towards the direction of the dangerous water hole. This left David to resume his wandering. There, parked on a stool, was a dark brown pony who was furiously scribbling with a white quill held in his snout. Without the advantage of a horn, it seemed ink was a common casualty of this pony, with splotches on his face, sides, and even the blue saddlebag he wore.
David approached this pony, becoming more certain that he knew it with every step. Just about fifteen feet away, the pony looked up at David, and stared at him with widening eyes.
"My human!" he exclaimed as the book he was writing dropped to the ground, quill fluttering after it slowly.
"Uh, my pony," replied David, suddenly nervous. The pony did not share this hesitation, rushing up and circling David quickly.
"You're just as I imagined you!" He reached up and batted the ponyfinder keychain, "Even the little details. Luna be praised, my dreams have come true." Feeling all the confidence that David had lost, the earth pony began to inspect his 'creation' intently, butting his snout and hooves all over the stunned human.
"Woah, I mean, hold on there," complained David, backing up a few steps. "I'm --"
"David," said the pony before clapping his forehooves together, "David Silver, right?"
David nodded at this, "And you're Rough Draft, right?"
Rough bobbed his head, "That's me! How did you get here? Aren't you supposed to be living in the great city of Oak Town, with all the other humans?"
"Oakland," corrected David, "And I was, until I had a chance to visit. I thought you'd be in Everglow, not Equestria."
Rough Draft snorted, "So we're both a little off on where the other lives. I'll forgive if you forgive."
David nodded as the stallion suddenly offered a hoof. He took the hoof and gave it a light shaking. Rough Draft apparently wanted more of a shake and accelerated the motion.
David recovered his hand, then considered. Of all the ponies, his OC was the one most likely to agree. "May I?" he asked again, reaching for Rough Draft. Rough didn't object as David petted over his ears and ran fingers through his mane, "Thanks. I've wanted to pet a pony for too long."
Rough snorted out a snicker, "So long as you return the favor. Are you on an epic quest or something? Going to save the universe?"
"I hope not," said David honestly. "I'm not exactly in shape. I think you know that."
Rough shrugged, "So get in shape."
David pointed accusingly, "If you're anything like me, you're not much in shape either."
Rough Draft patted his belly with a hoof, "I could stand with one less doughnut with breakfast. But that's beside the point! My creation is standing in front of me! This has to mean something huge, it has to!"
Other ponies stared at the two of them as they talked, confused, curious, but moving along. David noticed their passing interest and asked Rough, "Do you always act... this way?"
Rough tilted his head, "What way? Excited that my creation from another universe just dropped in to say hi? Buck yea!"
David patted the friendly pony on the head, "I'm staying at the, uh, clinic, I think?" He pointed back where he came from. "Want to hang out a while? I don't want to get Patch Up worked up by staying away too long."
"You couldn't pay me to stay away," spoke Rough Draft. He quickly gathered his dropped book and quill, stuffing them into his saddlebag before hurrying after David.
5580253 Are you calling me fat? Maybe... a little...
pony counterpart?
5580301 My OC, which was literally designed to be 'me, if I was a pony.' way back when one of my artists(Sita Duncan) offered me a free OC for giving her a lot of pictures to draw (for money) when making the first Ponyfinder core book.
5580354 Ah, I think I get it now. You want some swanky spell to be cast on David to go from a little tubby to a little muscular when he's freaking out?
5580410 Your wish has been granted! Note, I really don't want to do super powers, as noted in the desc, so expect hilarity.
Um... never seen that before. Meeting one's counterpart... unusual. Not quite sure how I feel about that. Will read on and see how it goes.
5624994 Yeah that situation is a whole othee level of awkward. Now imagine if you also happened to appear in the story you are writing as well. Would you warn them of things to come or do nothing to interfere as bad things happen to them that you could have prevented?
5697646 As you will find out, some of that may be coming up. Welcome to the herd!
That little plot twist have picked my interest, see you next chapter ;p
Okay, i think the first story is safe to read, i already like that he found his OC, while he is the OC of his OC.
While i would say no one of them, has created the other one, i am still curious how they started to use exactly the other one for their storys.
Okay that sounds wrong, long story short i like the story.
5769090 Neither did. They were just 'their other half', as in 'me as a pony' and 'me as a human'.
They will learn this did not actually mean a copy very quickly.
Lol
those are ink splotches? i thought your oc was a mutant or something. it did not help that the first story i saw of yours was one foot, two foot, three hoof,four dead.
6277654 He's just a somewhat messy earth pony.
I love the fact that your OC is a earth pony nothing against pegasus and unicorns but its just nice to see a earth pony get the spot light for once xD add in the fact that you made him just another slightly out of shape dreamers is epic and makes the story alot more relate able to a reader. Though Im surprised they were so calm about it, if I had seen a character I had created out on the streets and they had recognized me in turn I would have freaked out lol.
6467381 Both of them got rather excited about it and the petting commenced. They quickly bonded, knowing exactly what the other side would allow or not allow, which let them approach one another with little fear. Now if either side had reacted strangely, that would have thrown it all off.
That's quite an interesting idea. Meeting the own OC, who created an OC of David the Human? I say that's a new one!
6603083 Rough Draft deserves his own story, though he's managed to keep it far less dramatic in life. You'll find out later.
6603083
That is a new one, I might try it, actually.
6631906 I hope your pony is as happy to see you.
Quite the interesting idea.
6768871 I am always amused when called back and I start reading my older writing.
Corrections offered without malice.
straw
barefoot
like he had
Good job making the "name unrelated to job" thing seem alien to ponies.
5744032
It's "piqued my interest", for future reference.
Oh my. This story piqued my interest when someone mentioned it. The typos, the errors, the pacing! David, do you need any editing help?
Anyway, the story seems fine so far. Hopefully Rough Draft is a permanent character. And it's nice to see that Ponyfinder is a thing in this story.
(Just realized how cool it would be to make a table top RPG [technically houserules] and get to explain it to a race that's never heard of it. I need to make one now....)
Image links broken.
6631951
If I ran into Tempest, I'd probably hug her while apologizing profusely and likely getting zapped by her little storm cloud.
If I ran into My OC... He'd most likely hug me then buck me in the shins, KO for being stupid enough to come to equestri in the first place, all before draging me before the Sisters... grumbling under his breath about "Stupid Evolved Apes braking the 4th wall"
7174183 Write it!
It's OC CEPTION.
7190209 Would you want to meet your OC?
The Images in this chapter are broken because imgru doesn't like us any more.
7342593 This is true, if sad.
7342608 can this be fix? If not, oh well. Funny story I like already.
Huh. Got to admit, I haven't seen many HiE or SI fics which have a self-insert running into their own OC and being mutually recognized. Now I'm a little curious as to where this is going to go.
Here's a question, who was created first? The human who was created by the pony? Or the pony who was created by the human?
7962880 Or were they simply two antennas set to the same frequency that happily vibrated with visions of the other?
Fail images.
It was just a well-written generic HiE story...
Then this happened.
You have my attention.
8597057
Oh, what a blast from the past! I did get in shape.
7391791
Oh there was one where a human became a Celestia clone and started running around doing pranks. She met her OC and found out the her OC's brother or something had her as an OC.
8965847
whats the story called
Yes! I mean, I noticed the start of some uniqueness, but you managed to keep it up.
I wish I could write this genre. Really, I do.
I can write all sorts of pony fiction, but HiEs always flop for me.
9029767
I believe it is Celestial Disposition by Switchlock.
I’m pretty sure that picture is a legit picture but the more I look at it the more I’m honestly not sure
9391945
I literally just took a snapshot of my leg at the time.
That moment you realize you've actually met the author before
9469809
Hiya!
Well... that was certainly surreal.
9494876
Thanks for joining us on this path.
There seems to be a Invalid Image issue? Decided to binge read the whole series, since I haven't touched it in *years*. So far, having a good time thinking back on what I read and where it lead to.
10461629
Welcome back!