(Gore tag is only for one short scene in ch2 due to description of blood in T story)
(It tickles me every time people erroneously think this is a self-insert)
Tobias has lived in Ponyville for almost two years now. He's been holding onto his secret, even though his friends keep worrying more about him every day. He focuses on the different jobs he does around town, trying to get by one week at a time.
He's become a welcome resident of the town, even if a few ponies still shout insults now and then because of his appearance.
Not a single one of them knows he's only been a diamond dog for two years and he's been trying to find a way home.
~~~~
What the crap am I doing in the feature box?!
That's like 
And the top of the feature box the day after?!
I'm kind of glad I intended this to only be five or less chapters. 
Second chapter given a great boost by feedback and proofreading with the help of:
FreedomFiend
Timetraveling Pony
m2pt5
Third chapter editing and feedback help from:
FreedomFiend
JimboTex
Great Start, glad you\re not stretching out the reveal.
5958973 Thanks.
Only two to four chapters further. I can't do another long one with one and a half already going. The half is cause one of em is a total 'when I feel like it' thing.
Original concept was actually having him as a minotaur, but it wasn't fitting right.
I strongly approve of the plot and you've got a good flow to your writing.
Have an upvote and a favorite, I'm eagerly awaiting more.
5959229 Thank you.
The writing is well done, but the angst is over the top.
Reminds me of animorphs when tobis was turned in to a bird
5959638 Thank you. I've tried to improve and it seems to be showing more.
The angst is also a culmination of two years of buildup bubbling over. I'd think just about anyone would be a little bonkers by then.
I like this story of yours. To be honest, I don't think I could have found this hidden gem if it didn't get featured today. Anyway you sir, for awesome writing skills, get me trying for five minutes to upvote this story 10 times.
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Welp. I only succeeded in doing so 7 times. Oh! Almost forgot. If you are ever on my account you will see something very awesome there. I also hope that someone actually does a drawing for this or something because I can just picture how awesome the fan art could be.
5959694 hehe, so it's not just me who was thinking that :)
5960268 I'm finding it rather surreal, to be honest. I've only technically been writing for a little over a year, when I started my main effort. To see this new story get so much attention so suddenly is...well, weird. And it even failed moderation at first because I mangled the Short Description without realizing it. Not to mention when I am ready to return to college, I am supposed to require a remedial english course before I can take English 101. This is so weird to me.
And I did look at your account because you mentioned it. Thank you for the appreciation.
Sweet story..Good grammar.....I
5960329 Thank you.
I still think the semi-colon is an alien, however.
5960338
No need to thank me..Just admiring the story....I was going to say tho I think Tobias is a whiny bitch but that's just my GRIMDARK talking.
5960405 It is in-head introspection as he thinks about everything he'd gone through to find himself where he was. More comes out in the remaining couple of chapters. There is still how the girls react to what he is going to tell them, among other things in that meeting. Which, by the way, isn't in the second chapter.
I thank you for your perspective and opinion. I actually have no real idea what I'm doing as a writer, lacking any training or education to support it beyond basic american schooling (shudders expected). I know I make plenty of literary mistakes I don't even recognize as such. What little feedback I get is very helpful.
A diamond dog? Quite the refreshing change for a human dropped into Equestria. I rather liked the whole quietly melancholy feeling Tobias was giving off-- and he did not seem a whiny bitch to me. The ending were we read his letter, goodness, that smacks of a pilot episode to some delightful series. While I am a little disappointed you're planning on just two or four more chapters, I'm certain they'll be well received, and I can see why you would want to end it there. Once the initial drama is over, it gets dull chatting about day to day life.
Word: "vegetarian"
Reaction: "ewwww" picks up the word like a dirty rag and puts it in a bin labeled 'HERESY'
Addendum: vegan too
Enjoy this, though not greatly but it's a good read
Masseur. Tobias is a dude, so he is a masseur; only females can be masseuses.
I guess it's a minor thing, overall. I mean, it's not like Tobias went into business as both an analyst and a therapist, and then proceeded to pass out business cards to let everyone know that Ponyville had a new analrapist.
Hm, not bad. I'm curious to see where this goes.
Such Whiny
Very Angst
Wow
Now that was some good shit
She Who Scares Dragons. Thats a good one for Flutters. Would you mind if I use this for a story myself?
Tobias eh? Any way that's a reference to Tobias Mistmantle from WoW?
Brace yourself, the dog related jokes are incoming!
Interesting start, and it's reasonably well written, too. I'll be following along to see where it goes.
You did a GREAT job, IMO, because this would also work as a one-shot as is. I am glad it is continuing, of course, but it should be a small point of pride for you, I think. X3
Looking forward to the next chapter!
While I find that this story has been very well written, this comes to me as being very hard to believe.
I don't mean that it's hard to believe that a human got sucked into Equestria and turned into a diamond dog, because that's the given fantasy element of the setting. What hard for me to believe are the emotional responses of the main character. A lot of people, myself included, really don't understand just how subconsciously dependent they are on their world staying what it is.
I remember when I was a kid, I used to have this big trunk of LEGO building blocks in the attic, and even though I hardly ever touched them, they were always there, right where I left them. But after I sold them at a tag sale, I felt a bit disheartened at the loss of something that I had so strongly associated with normalcy.
Now imagine that not only all the material possessions being lost, but all the social connections being lost as well. And even more importantly, losing many of the laws of nature that you are familiar with. I can't pretend to know that it's like, since nobody has ever lost that much that they associate with normalcy, but I calculate that the vast majority of people that this would happen to would wind up killing themselves from depression before their mind's adapted to their surroundings.
Wow. A human comes to Equestria and is turned into a diamond dog. Interesting. I look forward to Tobias finally opening up to the girls. I have a question though. Two actually. Where is Discord through all this? Are the princesses aware of a diamond dog living in Ponyville?
I find this line of the description odd in the fact that it's a contradiction that permeates through the story for me. He's trying to find his way home after a magical event he understands nothing of, and is trying to reverse it with... getting odd jobs? Seems like, being someone with no magical knowledge, he would immediately jump at the chance of having the help of the most magical beings on the planet. (the princesses).
If I'm reading this right, his behavior is a form of lying to himself in that he actually wants to stay in Equestria, but feels guilty for feeling as such as it means leaving his old friends and family behind. I mean, I personally hate characters like this that have the gall to whine about experiencing something so amazing out of the billions of humans across the planet. It's like winning the lottery, and then burning the money in front of a bunch of homeless people.
Yeah, there are some things I would miss, but I would get over it in light of all the stuff I would gain; a whole new life filled with new experiences that no other human had been able to have before. I suppose it's good then that Tobia admits to himself that he likes his new life and isn't so gunho to get back to Earth.
If Tobias does get home though, I hope he get's put back into his crippled body and that the years lost makes life even harder; it will be a suitable punishment for spitting in the face of fate in the beginning when it handed him such an amazing opportunity.
5960947 Yeah, heaven forfend that a guy living in an alien world for years, hiding the most important fact about himself from his closest friends, should be upset over it.
I'm curios on what his attempts at getting home were if he forewent asking Twilight advice on the matter. Did he just check the library for relevant texts, and when none were found, decide to play the waiting game?
"Well, if I was randomly snatched up and brought to this world with no warning, then surly the reverse can also happen, right?"
5962004
After two years, any emotionally stable adult human would have gotten over it.
Is Tobias from Animorphs?
Interesting start. Alone the fact he got turned into a Diamond Dog makes this interesting for me.
There are nearly NONE good stories where the "hero" is not turned into something else as a Pony or stayed human (before turned into a pony).
I take a guess and say you are going to write the story like he is telling it to the girls.
I'm looking forward to the next chapter.
I really, really dislike veganism. And vegetarianism is just the Unitarian version of veganism.
i FUCKING LOVE IT!!!!! HOW LONG DID IT TAKE TO MAKE!!!!!
also its like all "human in equestria" fics is like either Human, Pony...and changeling and that pretty much it....ive only found 1 story whit a human as a diamond dog...and that was "Echo"
5962515
Hmm . . . never seen someone refer to being vegan and vegetarian as beliefs, but there's a first for everything.
Interesting concept, but it lost me when I realized the protagonist was a 'human' who knew all of the mane 6 personally. Not only that, he's close friends with all of them. It's an entire setting with so many characters and it's shoehorned in in time and again. It's unfair, but it's been done to death so many times I'm just numb to it.
Why are people talking as if they have in depth knowledge or experience on how a human would cope after being transformed into a complete alien body and thrust into a world across the planes of reality with no way of contact of family and friends?
5962592 Vegan is a belief, which is why so many of them seems to have the stick of their Moral High Horse shoved firmly up their asses.
Vegetarian is often health related(My uncle can't eat most meat, or he get's indigestion, so he's a psuedo-vegetarian. He loves Fish and Chicken though.)
5962515 You' be surprised how many people HAVE to go Vegetarian for health reasons. My uncle gets indigestion from most types of meat. Fish being the exception. He still eats chicken though, even though he knows what happens afterwards.
As 5962610 said, Main 6 friends all around was done to death, and it was fresh maybe till second season, now most people just go "ugh, this again". It would be much better, if he was close friend with maybe two of them, and "knows from sight" to acquaintance at best with the rest. Most people have friends that don't know their other friends, and they're fine with it.
Also vegetarianism part isn't to logical. If he was one because of "meat allergy" or other sickness, he should be fine in his new body. If he was one because of weird morality, he can't get physically ill, because it's all in his head, a placebo.
Besides, canines need much more meat in their diet than humans, so he would be rather physically from NOT eating any meat, because of huge deficiency of vitamins and micro elements. And I doubt that herbivore society has vitamin pills for "ex onmi/carnivores".
Like others have said, too much angst. If he's psychically healthy, he should be over this after two years, even without telling anyone else. It could be more believable, if it was 2-3 months since coming to Equestria. Unless he was riling up himself, than he's not, and wasn't mentally stable for a looong time.
Anyone else. Do any of you know any other good 'human turned DD' story, excluding "Ballad of Echo" and its sequel?
5961542 It's actually not as far fetched as you might think. in truth, the 'freakout' reaction is actually less likely, as the mind would assume it's a dream or a hallucination. As the mind slowly comes to realize the world is real, it will also ease into accepting it's new reality. Think of it like easing into a cold swimming pool.
5960625 Yeah, he's not 'fabled hero' material. Just someone in a difficult situation. For Tobias, it's more about things like acceptance and letting go. Once he's done that, he just wants to live a normal life.
5960737 I shall look forward to it whilst I hide behind my desk wearing a helmet. I am not sure if I'd want you looking at my other stuff, such as my main effort because I know it's got cliches and cheese (generally on purpose, at least), though only because my head might explode or something. One reason it's easy to accept differing opinions is because I am writing for myself, not anyone else. I wanted to explore a story and choose to share what I came up with. I also try to take a second or two before responding to comments. They can only drive you crazy if you allow it, so maintaining perspective is a good thing. All I'd ask of you is honest opinions.
5960814 Masseur it is. I can fix that easy enough. It's one of those little things many wouldn't even notice. I neglected the painkillers a proper first aid kit would have in my main effort. Primary character is supposed to have decent experience in wilderness survival, so when I did the big revision I slipped in mention of why they weren't available. Thanks for the suggestion.
5961082 You and anyone else is perfectly welcome to borrow little things I write like that. Heck, I wrote a primer for the Wonderbolts on Equestrian pegasi having elemental abilities that gave them parity in ancient times when fighting the unicorn tribes and their spells. It was created to support my main effort as a bonus supplemental story, grown from a story Spitfire tells Rainbow Dash about a battle she was in. It's intended to give basic guidelines and operative cues for both myself, and any author that might want to use the idea for themselves. Calling Fluttershy 'She Who Scares Dragons' is but a small thing to share and all are welcome to borrow it.
5962747 Dietary reasons are one thing. I'm lactose intolerant, my dad is glucose intolerant. We know about dietary problems.
And I mean serious dietary reasons, not half-arsed granola crunchy propaganda.But the overwhelming number of vegetarians are people who are doing it for the sake of moral sanctimony.... their dietary strictures are as pointless as the paper/plastic sorting by greenies, and just as counterproductive*
But oh it makes them feel so enlightened and good about themselves, whether that feel-good is the delusion that they're being "healthy," or the delusion that they're helping the poor cuddly animals. Either way, it's empty sanctimony---the REAL product they're selling at Whole Foods--- and more than enough to motivate someone to want to groin-punch them.
You think a goody-two-shoes is annoying? Oh no. That doesn't even come close to how annoying it is to meet someone who believes they're better than you for no actual reason at all.
* (recycling? save for aluminum and copper It causes more pollution and uses up more energy and natural resources than if you'd made the stuff from scratch. If sorting your and recycling your trash was actually beneficial, the trash collectors would be paying you for your garbage.)
5962612 well, we CAN make certain extrapolations based on what we know about ourselves and human psychology... There's no comparable experience IRL, but we can come close with things like dysmorphia and post-surgical trauma (for the metamorphosis) and all the flavors of culture shock out there (for being on an alien world...)
How much culture shock? try this on for size....
An african explorer once persuaded a member of a tribe from the deep jungle to accompany his crew out of the jungle and onto the savannah. They were unprepared for how disoriented he became. He often expressed confusion at how far away/close certain objects were, or how far they had to get to a mountain that was "just over there." It wasn't until the elephant that they figured it out.
One morning they saw a herd of elephants on the horizon. When he asked what they were, surprised, the explorer told him it was an elephant herd. The tribesman laughed uproariously and said they were far too small.
Then one of them wandered over in their direction. The poor tribesman's eyes got rounder and rounder as the bull drew closer (calmly, thank heaven).... and came to a stop a few yards away from their jeep. The poor man nearly became unhinged.
It was then that the explorer realized: all his life, the tribesman had lived in the jungle-- in a place where line of sight was, at most, a few dozen yards. But when he traveled with them out onto the savannah, he was suddenly able to see for MILES.... his spatial perception was thrown completely out of whack. He was in a world where all the rules of size and distance templated into his brain were turned to gibberish.The poor tribesman decided that elephant encounter was enough for him, and caught the next ride BACK to his village.
5962967
The knee-jerk reaction of thinking it is a hallucination would only last a few hours at best. The human brain is too good at making connections and seeing consistencies to keep up that delusion for very long. A few hours is not nearly long enough for someone to adapt to this situation. It would probably take a few months on average.
5961169 I'd love to hear what you think is self-insert. I have all my fingers, my legs work, I can't draw for beans, not exactly fastidious, and I don't mind nudity.
5961201 I don't know any Tobias Mistmantle. And if WoW is world of warcraft, I still wouldn't know. I haven't played that MMO-clone-that-became-the-mold for many years because it got boring.
5961243 You may or may not be barking up the wrong tree here.
5961261 Thank you.
5961389 Actually, I was considering letting it be a one shot if there was no interest. While it could stand on it's own, I had more going on in my notes. And one thing to note about how I write...little things can be huge clues as much as obvious hints, not to mention it can be vice versa with major allusions proving duds to reality. I currently have a 600k word joke set up in my main work for far down the road that will drive the characters crazy when they find out. Because it's only prepared and not hinted, there are no clues to figure out what it is. It was kind of arbitrary to include, but I think it's a hilarious prank. Deities feeling playful around mortals can lead to very, very strange experiences.
5961542 Well, look at it this way. First, he's trying to survive and get a grip on everything changing. Some of which he dealt with by trying to aid those that chose to help him. Then he realized he needed to be elsewhere and ended up in a place that gave him stability over time. After the life he'd had, I imagine you gain a greater appreciation for what you have within and the importance of self-reliance. He created what he needed, in a sense, through his own abilities and could always re-create those things so long as he had those abilities because it came from within himself and not somewhere else. I've personally been taking a new look on the piles of junk I've collected, thinking it had more meaning than it does. Our material possessions have far less importance than we think they do, when we truly look at the perspective of their greater value. It is, as they say, just things.
5963042
I do agree that material possessions don't need to hold a large significance in our lives, the anecdote I provided was just an example of the feeling of separation from normalcy. However, our possessions only hold little value to us because their importance pales in comparison to how we understand the laws of physics themselves.
When humans are in their infant-toddler stages, you see them doing all sorts of experiments to test how the world world. They knock things off of tables to test gravity. They break fragile materials to test material compositions. They love playing with bath water, to test the laws of fluid dynamics.
We all go through this at such a young age, we never appreciate just how much of an impact that those experiences have on our subconscious, and to have all that knowledge of the world being rendered useless would put more emotional and psychological stress on someone than they have ever felt before.
5963031 I think you're under-estimating the human mind. The mind will protect itself, and it's stability. The acknowledgement of another world like Equestria would damage the mind, so it would maintain that the world is a delusion until it can cope. The subconscious mind may recognize the truth, but the conscious mind would deny it until it slowly acclimates. In this manner, it would only take a matter of weeks, days, or even hours, depending on the individual, to get out of that danger zone. Of course, this is only so far as to ensure one's mind doesn't break down. There would still be a long time of acceptance. One would likely go through the stages of grief at the loss of their reality, but unless something interrupts that state of denying reality, something that proves the truth, there wouldn't be much of a freakout. There might still be a bit of one, but likely no longer than an hour or two. I think this portrayal is quite accurate, as he's only now, after two years, truly coming to accept this world as his new reality.
5961608 Thank you. As for your questions, I can't say much because of the story itself. They are involved, but you will just have to wait and see to know how.
5961976 You have an interesting perspective there. Some of your impression is on track with what I intended, some of it not. There are also some that are story points or related and I'm not going to spoil things. I hope the remaining chapters will satisfy your concerns.
5962004 Indeed. He's been holding it all in, trying to figure out a world with more things that don't make sense than do, and been afraid of facing the totality of everything. We all possess incredible capacities for lying to ourselves, or letting our sense-making processes cover things up so we feel like we have more stability than we have.
5962063 Some of that is for later explanation. All I will say is he's been acting like an idiot in a lot of ways.
5962066 He's been keeping all his friends and co-workers and acquaintances at a certain distance, telling himself it's less hurtful to keep them in the dark than open up about something they can't fix, and bottling up almost everything to keep up a facade. Yup, as emotionally stable as a quicksand foundation.