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// Chapter 6: Dawn of the Second Day 
// Story: Lessons from Another Dimension 
// by HolyOrdersOtaku 
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Chapter 6: Dawn of the Second Day



All our times have come. Here but now they’re gone. Seasons don’t fear the Reaper, nor do the wind, the sun, or the rain. We can be like they are. Come on baby, don’t fear the Reaper. 



Bass had never felt so tired in his entire life. Sure, he had stayed up for twenty-four hours at parties with his friends before, but he chose to do that and he felt okay afterwards. Not perfect, mind you, but okay enough to function properly. This? This was different. It’s one thing to avoid sleep, and another thing entirely to completely lose sleep. All because of those blasted nightmare. All he wanted to do was scream profanities, punch his own head, and go back to sleep: not even in that particular order. Just as he was about to start grumbling, he heard a knock at the door.
“Bass,” came the voice of Twilight. “Are you up?”
“Y-e-p-!” he tried to reply, only to find that his voice was rough from lack of use; he referred to it as his morning voice. He cleared his throat to correct the problem. “Yeah, I’m up. Come on in.”
Twilight opened the door slowly and peered inside, careful not to disturb anything Bass may have been doing. Upon finding him sitting up in bed she widened the door’s opening and entered. “I hope I didn’t wake you,” she said.
Bass resisted the urge to ‘hmph’ in response and opted to simply say that she hadn’t; he was already awake.
She smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. She must not be used to having men, er, stallions over at her home, Bass thought. “I made some blueberry waffles for breakfast if you want some.”
“That sounds nice, actually,” Bass said. He jumped out of bed and almost hit the floor face first. Twilight managed to run over and stop him from crashing by holding him up with her hooves. Bass tried to laugh it off. “Guess I’m still not used to this body.”
He steadied himself and Twilight released him, unsure if he could stand on his own. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. I’ve had worse.”
She still felt unsure, so she walked with him down the stairs to make sure he didn’t trip and kill himself on the steps. He arrived alive and in one piece to the dining room where found two plates of blueberry waffles. He sat down and gave a silent prayer before digging in. Twilight sat opposite of him and also started to eat. As they ate, however, Twilight noticed something about Bass’s face that worried her. “Bass, how well did you sleep?”
He stopped dead in his tracks. “As well as can be expected, I suppose. Why?”
“Because I can see dark circles and tired lines on your face. They’re subtle, but I see them just fine. You didn’t sleep at all did you?”
“Well,” Bass began. “Back home I didn’t sleep all that much anyway. Sometimes I stayed up late working, or maybe I felt uncomfortable and just couldn’t sleep. I’ve done better in recent years, but I’ve had those dark circles and tired lines for over seven years now.” He technically wasn’t lying. In his human body he always looked tired. He didn’t always feel tired, due to the fact that he was sleeping better than usual, but he still carried the physical signs of an insomniac due to the years of sleep deprivation. However, he didn’t truly know if those features carried over into his pony form.
“Yesterday you didn’t have that tired look yesterday, Bass. But you do today. Did you sleep at all?”
Bass was getting irritated. He didn’t want to be irritated, because he knew that she was only concerned for his health. Considering that they barely knew each other, she probably felt that it was only appropriate to want anypony you meet to be healthy and fit, so that’s why Bass tried not to get upset. “Look, Twilight, whatever issues I’m having with my sleep, I’m sure I can figure them out on my own. The longer I’m here and the more adjusted I get to this world, the better I’ll function as a pony. Please, don’t worry yourself over any little hiccup in my health.” He felt his irritation melt away as he spoke; another special talent of his was to calm him down by speaking calmly. Hearing a calm voice would calm him down, essentially.
Twilight wanted to press on, but decided not to. They finished their meal and set out the door to give Bass a tour of Ponyville. Fluttershy had requested that Bass come to her place around noon, so Twilight gave him a rundown of the town in the passing time. Bass felt like he usually did in a new place; intimidated, unsure, and challenged. It was the sense of challenge that he loved most though. Being able to memorize a new town was something he loved doing, that way anytime a friend came to that town for the first time he could show them around himself.
In what felt like no time at all, noon had come around and Twilight escorted Bass to Fluttershy’s college. Bass felt like he was staring at a scene from Tolkien’s The Hobbit when the cottage came into view. It looked to him like it was built inside of a hill. Upon closer examination he retracted that beliefe, and decided that a hill was built on top of the house. Both theories aside, he rather liked the look of the place. It seemed peaceful and set apart from the rest of civilization. For someone like Fluttershy, whose very name implied a timid nature, it was the answer to any social problems; cut out society.
“How much of an introvert is she?” Bass asked.
Twilight stifled a giggle. “Well, she may be shy, but she’s one of the best ponies I know. Just don’t make her angry.”
Bass nodded. “I can see that.”
Twilight turned her gaze to him. “Really? Most ponies don’t believe me when I say that.”
Bass nodded with a slight grin before saying, “It’s always the quiet ones.”
“I see,” she replied. “Let’s just go see her, okay?” 
The pair walked up to Fluttershy’s door and knocked. The door creaked open slightly as somepony opened it from inside. A pair of green eyes peered through the crack, identified Bass and Twilight, and the door opened to reveal Fluttershy smiling at them. “Welcome, Bass. Welcome, Twilight.”
“Hello, Fluttershy. Where do you want me?” Bass asked.
Fluttershy stared blankly at him. “What do you mean?”
“Where do you want to have our chat about my diet?” he asked again.
“Oh, please follow me.” She led the two into her living room and beckoned them to sit. “Oh, do you like tea, Bass?”
“As a matter of fact I do,” he replied with a smile. “Preferably hot, though.”
“I agree. What kind do you like?”
Bass began to think. “I don’t know what you would call it, but I am rather fond of Earl Grey. I just hope that’s what it’s called here, otherwise finding it is going to be a pain in the ass.”
Fluttershy flinched at his use of profanity, but didn’t say a word otherwise. Bass noticed of course. She thought for a moment. “We do actually have that kind of tea, believe it or not. I’ll go make a pot of it. Do you take sugar?”
“None thank you. Only iced tea should be sweet in my opinion. Hot tea is the type of tea I drink to relax.” She nodded and exited the room to prepare the tea. Bass turned to Twilight. “I feel like I made her uncomfortable with what I just said.”
“Well, profanity isn’t something most ponies in Ponyville use, or at least not as openly as you do. I’ve heard Applejack swear a time or two in frustration, but otherwise she’s very clean spoken. Fluttershy may not appreciate it,” Twilight explained.
“I see,” Bass replied.
Fluttershy came back a few minutes later. “The tea is ready,” she said as she brought three cups of tea. “I hope you enjoy it.” The three ponies began to drink their tea respectively when Fluttershy turned to Twilight. “Um, Twilight?”
“Yes, Fluttershy?” she replied.
“I’m really sorry to have to ask you this, but would it be alright if it were just Bass and I talking? I would like to keep it private for his sake. I mean, if that’s okay with you. If you would rather stay then I guess you could.”
Twilight sipped the last of her tea. “It’s alright, Fluttershy. While I am deeply curious about what you’re going to be talking about, I don’t have a problem leaving. If Bass wants to tell me later he can, unless you have other plans, of course.”
“Oh, thank you so much for understanding, Twilight.”
“Well, Bass, can you remember your way back to the library?”
He nodded. “I should be able to. See you later, I guess.”
Twilight gave her parting remarks and left. Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief. Was Twilight making her nervous or something? Bass thought.
“Bass,” Fluttershy began, sounding awfully serious. “I have something important to tell you, but I didn't want to say anything in front of the others. When I looked at your teeth yesterday I noticed that you still have your carnivorous teeth.”
Bass stared at her blankly. “So, my canines are still in my mouth, in spite of the fact that I’m not human anymore?”
“Yes, and this raises a problem for you. If your teeth didn’t fully convert to being a pony, maybe the rest of your digestive system didn’t either. It’s possible that some of the foods we eat are not digestible to you, and you may still require meat to survive.”
Bass thought for a moment. “Ordinarily hearing that I can still eat meat would make me happy, but I’m not supposed to eat meat, am I? I’m a god damn pony for goodness sake!” Fluttershy flinched at his profanity again. Bass also flinched because he made her flinch. “Sorry about that. That’s just kinda how I talk. I don’t mean to come off as…” He was about to say ‘an asshole’ but he stopped himself. “As a jerk.”
“I understand,” Fluttershy said. “But that’s not the issue. The issue is what foods you can and can’t eat. I’m afraid the only way to find out is the obvious way.”
“Let me guess; take a crash course in taste testing?”
“Something like that. Obviously fruits and vegetables are okay with you, based on your word. What about flowers and hay?” 
“Well, if my body is internally the same as before, then the answer is no. If only my teeth stayed then maybe yes. I honestly couldn’t tell you.”
“Have you seen your teeth in a mirror yet?” Bass shook his head. Fluttershy exited the room for a moment and returned with a little mirror that slipped onto her hoof. She held it up and showed Bass his own reflection.
He smiled and gazed at his own teeth. He noticed two things; his canines were actually there, but they were not as prominent as when he was human. They were obviously carnivorous teeth if you looked this close, but they were rounding off more now and would look like incisors from a distance. “They’re not as sharp as before,” he announced. “They changed partially.”
“Really?” Fluttershy said, surprised.
“I’m amazed you didn’t notice,” Bass said.
Flutteshy blushed. “Well, I haven’t seen what a human would look like normally, so I don’t know what to expect from their teeth.”
“Question; why did you even want to look in my mouth to begin with?”
She blushed again. “I’m sorry if I overstepped any boundaries by doing that.”
“I gave you permission, so apology is denied due to lack of necessity,” he said jokingly.
“Oh, right. Well, it was an errant thought of mine, really. I thought of the potential that your teeth didn’t change since your psychological need for meat didn’t change.”
“I think that’s just because that’s how I grew up. I always ate meat, so my mind expects meat.” He lost himself in thought again as he considered something. “Maybe we don’t have to worry about my diet. I can try foods as I go along, and if I like them I like them, and vice versa.”
Fluttershy nodded. “That might work.” She looked around nervously, but she also seemed happy to have the topic resolved. 
“I guess we’re done here, unless you have something else you want to talk about,” Bass said.
“I actually have a question. Personal curiosity, mind you”
“Sure, go for it.”
“Did you have any pets back on your own world?”
Bass felt a sense of sadness wash over him, and his nightmares from the night before returned for a split second. “Yeah,” he said, almost nostalgically. Only a day, and I already miss them. He thought. “I had a dog and a cat.”
Fluttershy picked up on Bass’s emotions very quickly. “You miss them don’t you?”
“Yeah, I guess I do. Honestly, even if I were with them, they’d amaze me that they’ve lived as long as they have. My dog is sixteen-years-old, and my cat is ten-years-old.”
“Oh my,” Fluttershy replied. “They are quite old.”
“Yeah, they are. And I grew up with them both.”
“What are their names?”
Bass laughed. “They’re really odd names, just so you know.”
“I won’t make fun of them.”
Bass shrugged. “My dad works for the city street department of my town. They were picking up garbage one day and they found a stray Labrador pup on a street called Troxell Drive. Dad brought him home to give to my mom but mom didn’t want him; little four-year-old me wanted to keep him, so we did. Dad named him Troxell after the street he was found on.”
“I think that’s a sweet name with an even sweeter story behind it,” she said smiling.
“Good luck feeling that way about my cat. He was born on my back porch in a litter of three kittens. The other two were energetic and playful, but he was only playful part of the time. The remainder of his time he just sort of chilled out and relaxed. Kind of like any average adult cat, really, but that’s not normal for a kitten. He acted like he was stoned on something, so dad named him Little Dude.” Bass laughed as he finished the story. “Even in his old age that cat doesn’t care about his surroundings. He just lays there without a care in the world.”
Fluttershy laughed. “I think that’s cute.”
Bass smiled, but he still felt sad. “Unless I find a way home, I’ll never see them again.”
Fluttershy looked at him for a moment before saying, “If you end up stuck here in our world, which I hope you don’t, you can come by my house and I can give you a pet if you’d like. I understand that you can never replace Troxell or Little Dude, but having a pet never hurts.” She gave him a tender smile.
“You’re really kind, you know that?” Bass said.
“I’m aware of that,” she said with a giggle, laughing at some joke that Bass was unaware of.