• Published 16th Oct 2012
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Day One - Miniscule Literary



A man surviving in a cartoon world. Its not as easy as one might think.

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The Calm

Doubt is a very dangerous thing.

The rest of the day went by very slowly. David spent most of his time either hanging around Sugarcube Corner's public areas (much to the dismay of the customers) or the library, waiting for Twilight to finish her research into the changeling problem. As day turned to night, however, even David began to have doubts. His gut told him he was correct, that he saw what he saw. But the more he thought about it, the more alternate explanations seemed to make sense. He did not vocalize his own doubts, however. If nothing else, Twilight's spell would prove either his sanity or his madness. One way or another, he would have his answer.

As the sun disappeared from the sky, he left the library for the night, leaving Twilight to get her rest. She promised that she would have the spell prepared by morning. His sleep in Sugarcube Corner was a very uncomfortable and frustrating one. It took hours for him to grow tired enough to sleep at all, and he frequently awoke during the night to make sure the doppelganger of Pinkie wasn't about to smother him with a pillow. Changelings did not seem to operate exactly like ponies, so he wondered if murder was really out of the question.

Almost as soon as the sun began to peak over the horizon, David was awake. He was determined to have his answer, and avoid any further contact with the doppelganger. It was unlikely it would appear again, if indeed it was a changeling. Exposing it to the open should, in theory, send it running. If it did reappear...well, either it was a particularly arrogant changeling, or he had his answer.

After about an hour of sitting in a daze, David finally left Sugarcube Corner and made his way back to the Ponyville library. After a few quick knocks, Twilight answered the door.

"Oh, David," she said at once, seemingly caught off guard by his early appearance. "I'm sorry, but the spell is not as simple as I hoped."

"What's the matter?"

"Well, it should, in theory, span the entirety of Ponyville and tell us if any of the residents are changelings," Twilight explained. David was rather off put by how specific the spell was to their goal, but nodded. "But at this time of day, many citizens of Ponyville will be outside the city limits. We need to wait until nightfall, when everypony has returned to their homes, before we cast the spell."

"Alright," David breathed, relieved that it wasn't a far more troubling and dramatic setback. Wait until nightfall. Easy enough. "Thank you. For the help, and for believing me, Twilight."

"No problem," Twilight responded with a smile. "I've never tried this spell before, and I'm always eager to learn."

The two said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Twilight retreated back into the library proper to continue her work, while David was left, once again, with a lack of anything pressing to do. Although his answer would undoubtedly come later, he figured he might as well try and figure out the situation to the best of his abilities. Perhaps Pinkie had seen something strange around Sugarcube. She did live there, after all.

She wasn't normally hard to find, either. Arriving back in the store, David was rather surprised to not find her behind the counter. It was surely time for her to start her shift, so he figured it must be a day off. Heading back upstairs, he found the room transformed. Although party objects littered the room to begin with, they seemed to grow vastly in number in the few minutes he was gone, and had taken consistent shapes. Bundles of balloons were tied to various surfaces, streamers were draped all along the walls, along with various other colorful decorations.

"How the he-"

"Mr. David!" Pinkie yelled as she sprung out of a pile of discarded ribbons. David nearly jumped out of his skin in response, but swiftly calmed himself. "I was just about to go looking for you! I wanted to invite you to the party this afternoon!"

"Party?" David repeated, his shock replaced with confusion. "What's the occasion?"

"Why it's Gummy's birthday of course!"

"Gummy..." the man repeated, his mind drawing a blank. Pinkie's pet alligator? He had been staying in Sugarcube Corner for well over a week now, and he had seen nothing of Gummy.

As if in response, he felt a sudden tug on his foot. Looking down, he found the toothless alligator holding the laces of one shoe in its mouth, staring off blankly as per usual.

"Well that's...wonderful."

"So you'll be attending?" Pinkie asked, giving him an expectant grin.

"Sure, I guess," David responded with a shrug. He had nothing to do, after all.

"Great!" Pinkie replied, diving back into the pile of ribbons without hesitation.

The next few hours were spent preparing for the occasion. Pinkie was an expert at setting up a party, that much was sure. He helped as best he could, but even without her strange reality-bending powers, the pink pony was an expert in her trade. David had completely forgotten about his original quest by the time the first few guests arrived. He was quick to discover, however, that this was not just a small get-together with Pinkie's close friends. Ponies of all shapes and sizes were arriving at a steady pace.

It wasn't long before David once again felt like an invader. The ponies, unintentionally or otherwise, isolated him even from his few pony friends. He found himself lingering on the outskirts of the party, drinking punch and contemplating avenues of attack, so to speak. Every time he approached a group of chatting ponies, however, he was kept at bay by their silent, awkward staring. Those he did manage to talk to only responded with short, nervous answers before retreating a safe distance away.

Eventually Pinkie noticed his predicament, and tried to introduce him to one particular group of ponies. That went as badly as he thought it would: after a few nervous hellos, the group inched their way to the opposite side of the room, taking Pinkie with them.

"Enjoyin' the party, David?"

The use of his name almost made him drop his drink in surprise. Turning, he spotted Applejack skillfully pouring herself a cup of punch, manipulating the ladle with her mouth.

"Not exactly," he responded with a frown.

"Havin' trouble fitting in, ah take it?"

"Was it really that obvious?"

Applejack laughed. "They just aren't used to ya like we are. They still got this notion that you're some sort of monster."

David was more than a little surprised that Applejack would describe her and her friends as "used to him". It made him feel a little better about his current predicament.

"It seems like every time I try to make progress on that front, they just run away."

"Give 'em time, David," was all the farmer said, finishing her punch with a single gulp. After giving the man a reassuring pat on the lower arm, the earth pony trotted back into the party itself.

Eventually the light of the sun retreated from the room, forcing the party-goers to switch to indoor lighting as night fell outside. Shortly after that, the party dispersed. David was surprised at how quickly it had ended. One minute they were all laughing and enjoying themselves, and the next they were leaving. Ponies were quite dedicated to the concept of sleeping at night, it seemed. Habits commonly seen in his world - ones he frequently practiced - would be unheard of here.

Twilight Sparkle was one of the last party guests to remain. David hadn't seen her throughout the event itself though, and figured she was preparing for the spell. After spotting him, she swiftly approached.

"I think we're almost ready to begin." She wasted no time with greetings or small talk. "We'll give everypony a few minutes to get home, then we cast the spell."

"Here?" David asked with obvious surprise. He assumed they would return to the library to cast the spell; he figured there would be much preparation required, and Twilight would have all of that taken care of by this point.

Twilight nodded. She did not have any supplies with her, nor was their any sign of Spike bringing them over. Was it really so simple?

"Do you think this will work?" David murmured to Pinkie, who was standing beside him.

"I have no idea what we're doing!" Pinkie replied with a smile, looking up at him. He sighed, but smiled back.

"Alright, I think that's enough. Let's begin," Twilight said after a few minutes, looking back at the two with clear focus.

"How can we help?"

"I just need time to concentrate, so try to keep quiet for a while."

"Easier for some than others," David replied with a short laugh. Pinkie did not seem to understand the joke.

Twilight's horn was swiftly coated in brilliant purple light. The unicorn's expression displayed the strain of what she was trying to do, as the light around her only continued to build. Pinkie and David sat in stunned silence watching her work; purple light began to billow out of the windows and into the streets below.

Without warning, a massive wave of light shot out from Twilight's horn, like a sonar pulse in the sea. It seemed to ignore physical objects around it, spreading out all over Ponyville in only a few seconds. A few more pulses followed as the strain of Twilight's work slowly increased. Just as it seemed the unicorn was about to collapse under the strain, the spell ended and the light quickly faded.

The three stood in relative silence for some time as Twilight caught her breath. She didn't seem troubled, and David wondered if the spell had worked. Perhaps it did, and the effort was merely proven meaningless.

The unicorn's head shot up suddenly, her eyes a solid glowing white in color. She acted as if she was seeing something they could not, her head slowly turning to look in all directions.

"What's wrong with Twi-" Pinkie began. Her words were swiftly ended as Twilight let out a loud gasp, her eyes fading to normal.

"Dear Celestia...this is bad!" she exclaimed, bolting over to one of the windows. She looked out over Ponyville expectantly. "This is very, very bad!"

"What?" David asked as he approached, trying to spot what the unicorn was looking for. "What is it Twilight? What happened?"

A pause.

"We need to get to the library," she said suddenly, rushing over to the stairs. David and Pinkie simply stood in silence. "Now!"