Face the Unexpected

by Hakuno

6. Face the Timeskip

Every day that passed in Equestria, Daniel learned something new about this world. One would think that living in a library would make the knowledge come faster, but Daniel wasn’t the reading type of person. Sure he enjoyed a good book from time to time, but he preferred listening to others.

That’s why it took him two weeks to learn that a week in ponyland had seven days and their names were the same as in his world, but their months didn’t have names, they were just numbered to make a total of twelve. And if it wasn’t different enough, their calendar was made under the lunar cycle. But even if twelve cycles of the moon made a year, they didn’t say ‘two years ago’, they said ‘24 moons ago’. It was going to take a while for Daniel to get used to it.

Thankfully, since he had breakfast and dinner at the library and lunch at the boutique, Daniel was able to save money fast enough to buy a scarf and custom clothes such as gloves, pants, shirts and even underwear –though the last was really difficult to explain how he wanted it-. Everything from Rarity, of course, who would feel offended if Daniel tried to go somewhere else. Yes, that fateful day when he had to ask the white unicorn to make him some underpants, for the very first time in his life, feared for his sexual health. But nothing happened. Maybe it had been because of Rarity’s attitude that Daniel saw her as some kind of harasser, but at the end of the day, she was more professional than even Twilight herself. He was starting to think that the pony air was messing with his head.

Working at the boutique wasn’t bad at all. His job consisted in buy the fabric, accessories and tools for Rarity, keep the entrance clean, store the dresses, serve the customers, close the boutique at sunset and help Rarity directly at the making of a dress when she was running out of magic, which happened really often. At first Daniel had problems when Spike came to help too, but as days passed and sometimes the work was just too much, he finally got used to the little dragon. In fact, after a week they started to talk more and quickly found out that they were surrounded by females, so they had to stick together as the only males around. Or at least that’s what Spike said.

Life in Ponyville was relaxing, aside from the small catastrophe that seemed to be scheduled every week by a totally different monster or insane pony that never stood a chance to the Elements of Harmony –Daniel learned about them in the first Timberwolves rampage in the last hundred moons-, nothing really happened there. Sure he quickly learned to step aside when three singular little fillies were together, going by the name of Cutie Mark Crusaders, but lovingly called Cutie Mark Disasters by the town folk. But nothing happened there. Granted, from time to time he would be forced to help in the library’s repairs due to failed experiments or crashes from a singular rainbow pegasus. But nothing- Oh fuck it, every day in Ponyville was a new adventure. And Daniel was growing extremely stressed because of it.

It passed a month –or Moon, to be semantically correct- since he first appeared in Equestria. And with all his bad luck, it was the coldest part of the winter. Fortunately he had the coat Rarity gave him as a gift. It was black and long enough to reach under his knees, and it had an integrated belt to make it a little closer to the body if he was starting to feel cold. Daniel didn’t know the first thing about human fashion, let alone pony fashion, but the coat somehow reminded him to the one he wanted to buy when he was on Earth.

But not everything was a torture in this world. Daniel quickly came to learn that, at least in Ponyville, unicorns didn’t change the weather, that was the pegasi job. They called themselves the Weather Team, they happened to be the ones responsible for, well, the weather. And it was extremely ridiculous how perfectly scheduled they had it. It wasn’t just a ‘tomorrow will be sunny’, no, they had planned everything. From the position of every single cloud to the speed and force of the wind, calculating the temperature of the air and its moisture. They even had scheduled exactly at what time it was going to snow.

That alone wasn’t directly a good thing, but Daniel had a great idea. For three weeks, the only thing that kept him sane was his vest and archery equipment. Just looking at them was enough to remind him that he wasn’t entirely insane. But when he learned about the weather schedule, he asked Twilight if there was someplace where he could practice archery. She didn’t know, ponies weren’t able to do that kind of activity, even with magic it was really hard for them to use properly a bow, so they didn’t even bother to try. But then she remembered that they had stored some targets they used in Nightmare Night for their pumpkin launch activities.

Some arrangements with Mayor Mare later, they were able to move one of the targets to a small field located somewhere between the library and the boutique. It used to be a park, but one fateful day they discovered that there was an anthill of red ants, and foals didn’t want to play there anymore. They were going to just remove them, but Fluttershy insisted to let them live there, and nopony would ever say no to the local animal caretaker, not since her last outburst. So it was really easy to convince the Ponyville’s Mayor to let the human practice his favorite sport there. The only thing he had to do was cut the grass every weekend. And thanks to the weather report, Daniel would always know which days he would be able to use the field without wondering if it was going to snow.

And there he was, finally being able to use his personal archery field. Ants weren’t a problem, the anthill was at the far corner of the park. Daniel thought that it was ridiculous that ponies were afraid to use the field just for that, but he wasn’t going to argue about it.

He waited until Sunday. The day prior he cut the grass and placed the target a hundred yards from the spot where he built and marked a small shooting zone. And today, he was going to start practicing for the first time in a month. Some ponies seemed interested, since that kind of sport was only played by minotaurs, griffons and just a few ponies with cutie marks in archery. Among them were, of course, the Elements of Harmony, Spike and Mayor Mare, who was there just to see if Daniel was going to properly use the field as he promised, not that she didn’t trust Princess Twilight’s word, she was just doing her job.

Daniel felt a little nervous. When he practiced in Earth, the only person watching him was his teacher and sometimes the other people in the field. And now he was surrounded by at least fifty magical equines with enormous eyes. He sighed and tried to relax. Took an arrow from his quiver, tensed the bowstring with it leading it to his cheek. The lack of practice made a little difficult to keep the bow from moving. But he sighed once again, and when he finally felt relaxed enough, he released the arrow.

The few seconds the arrow was in the air the silence made its realm. Everypony looked at the target, not able to follow the ammunition with their eyes. And then, the arrow hit it. The target was made of three red circles and two white, being the smallest red circle the bull’s-eye. The arrow ended in the second red circle. ‘Well,’ Daniel thought. ‘not bad from a lack of practice of one month’.

And then the crowd cheered. Daniel felt better for this, even if he didn’t hit the center, the ponies seemed excited, and that was enough to make him relax. So he took another arrow and repeated, this time the arrow hit a little closer to the bull’s-eye.

Half an hour passed. Daniel had to walk to the target every five shots to retrieve his arrows. And eventually, ponies started to get bored and walk away to do their own daily chores. Spike said that he had to do some things at the library. Rainbow Dash was the first of the six mares to leave, she didn’t even bother in think of an excuse, she directly said that she was bored as hell and needed to nap in a cloud. Rarity remembered that she still had to finish minor details in one of her dresses. There still were chores at the farm that Applejack just couldn’t leave disregarded. And Fluttershy had to feed her animals.

By the time Daniel decided to take a small break, only Pinkie Pie and Twilight were still there. “Are you going to stop? But you were just fine just a couple of seconds ago!” The pink pony said.

“If I don’t rest my arm I will hurt it” Daniel said and sat in the bench where the two ponies were. He didn’t remember that there were benches, but he just shrugged. Living in Ponyville taught him that these damn ponies were able to set enormous parties where half the town attended in just one night, and in the next morning it looked like nothing happened. “Just fifteen minutes would do it”

“How much time will you be here?” Twilight asked with a friendly smile. Daniel couldn’t help but notice the way her eyes sparked with the sunlight coming from the side. How the dim light cast stylized shadows in the opposite side of her face. And how her mane waved with the soft breeze of a partially cloudy day.

He blinked, realizing that he had been silent for several seconds. “Well, the snow is scheduled in yet three more hours” He said resting his arms in his lap.

“Oh no!” Pinkie said almost shouting. “I just remembered that I promised Mister and Missus Cake to foalsit the twinsies in an hour! And I have to get ready for a super duper fun day with the sweetest foals and I have to get ready the flour for bad jokes emergencies and-“

“It’s ok Pinkie” Daniel interrupted. “I don’t want to be the reason why you missed your fun day” Pinkie looked at him with a hesitating smile. “Besides, I’m going to be here any other day as long as it doesn’t snow or rain”

Pinkie hugged and thanked him and turned into a pink blur that quickly disappeared. At first that sight didn’t surprise him. It was when other ponies told him that nopony else was able to move that way, that Daniel started to find the pink mare a little more interesting.

After a few seconds of silence, he finally spoke. “And you Twilight?” He asked, and the princess only looked at him with a confused gaze. Those purple eyes of hers looked like two amethysts softly shimmering with the tenuous sunlight. And the way her lavender fur danced gently with the wind making a whole choreography of faint shadows in her face was almost hypnotic. “What are you going to do?”

Twilight scratched idly her chin with one hoof. “Well... Today I don’t really have anything better to do” She looked at Daniel with a warm smile. How her lips were able to curve in such a gorgeous manner he didn’t know. “So I’m going to be here. The physics of this sport is something fascinating. I’ve never had the opportunity to study anything related to archery since it’s an almost unknown activity in Equestria” She then looked at one side. “That is, if you don’t mind, of course”

Daniel stood up and took his things with him. “I don’t mind it” He walked to the shooting line and stretched his arms a little.

Twilight watched him as he once again started his practice. She didn’t know why, but for some reason she found herself staring at him. His pose when he was holding the arrow, waiting for the right moment to shoot it. The expression in his eyes filled with concentration and the way he slightly narrowed them to improve his accuracy. That elegant manner in which he curved his hand after shooting the arrow, holding it in the air until the projectile hit the target. And the fact that he always held his breath until the arrow reached its objective, releasing it softly as a small smile but filled with satisfaction appeared in his face.

After an hour, Daniel’s stomach made a small growl. So he decided to take another break. “Are you tired?” Twilight asked with a small amount of concern in her voice. He looked at her and for a moment he only smiled. The alicorn couldn’t help but notice his black eyes and their small shine and how at dim light they seemed to be just a really big pupil. For a quick moment he licked his lips before opening his mouth to answer, he was clearly thirsty.

“Just a bit hungry” Daniel said looking away and searching with his eyes a particular building. “Do you want to come with me to eat something?” He asked once he found the restaurant.

“Sure”

Author's Note:

Just in case you're wondering, this fanfic is canon until Season 3 finale. So the elements of harmony are still there.

This one was a short chapter, but sadly I couldn't stretch it more. I hope next chapters are longer and more enjoyable.

/)

Comments

[Noal]

dis gon be good.

[PickleSurprise]

Maybe it had been because of Rarity’s attitude that Daniel saw her as some kind of harasser, but at the end of the day, she was more professional even than Twilight herself.

Than even.

His job consisted in buy the fabric, accessories and tools for Rarity, keep the entrance clean, store the dresses, serve the customers, close the boutique at sunset and help Rarity directly at the making of a dress when she was running out of magic, what happened really often.

Which.

Granted, from time to time he would be forced to work in the library’s reparations due to failed experiments or crashes from a singular rainbow pegasus.

Help.
Repairs.
Reparations means to make amends for a wrong they have done.

And today, he was going to start practicing once again in a month.

For the first time in.

“If I don’t rest my arm I will harm it”

I'll hurt it.
seems to come across abit better.

“I just remembered that I promised Mister and Missus Cake to foalsit the twinsies in an hour!

The Cakes would work but if this is just Pinkies vernacular then by all means ignore this.

At first that sight didn't surprise him. It was when other ponies told him that nopony was able to move that way, that Daniel started to find the pink mare a little more interesting.

didn't surprised.
nopony else was.

Good chapter. Loving the fact that the romance hasn't started yet. Seen that to many times in well written fics. Declarations of love are fine, more than four chapters in...
Question I do have for you is, should I just start PMing these to you? Save up comment space for actual comments or does it not matter?

EDIT: Forgot to say, *Looks at title* you cheeky lil....

[King Sombrony]

Looks like its up to me.

(\

Will add to favorites

[Hakuno]

3849254 Once again: Thank you very much. I can't believe how many mistakes I have =( And well, if you'd really like to keep helping me with that, I'd prefer it to be via PM and let the comments more for opinions of the story itself. Of course, if you don't mind ^^