Day One

by Miniscule Literary

Plans 1 & 2: Incursions in Haste

How does one make progress on an alien world, where one must stay hidden to survive?

It was quite the question for David. He couldn't just live in Twilight's basement forever. He needed to find a way to safely reveal himself. Or, if such a thing was impossible, leave Equestria without anyone noticing. As much as he enjoyed the thought of living in such a wonderful place, it was a place for ponies, not humans. Perhaps the only safe option for both parties was just for him to return to his own world.

But how would he do that? He had no idea how he had ended up in Equestria in the first place. If he didn't know that, how the hell would he ever get back? Magic seemed the likely option. It was boundless in its capabilities. Perhaps there was a spell to send him back. But who would know? He could only think of two Equestrians who might be able to help him: Twilight, with her incredible skill in magic. She was out of the question, however. There was no way for him to contact her safely, without being discovered. And the other...

Princess Celestia.

The ruler of Equestria's power had never been truly determined in the show. Many considered her akin to a god. Perhaps this was true. Being an ancient pony deity, she might know how he had gotten to Equestria, and how he might return. But she resided in Canterlot, a vast distance away. Of course, confronting the Princess may not be wise even if he could. Her response may be like those of her subjects. He needed indirect means to communicate, and, thankfully, said means were sharing the library with him.

Spike. The little dragon dealt with letters to and from the Princess daily. If he could somehow mix a letter of his own design in with those Spike would send, he might be able to communicate with Celesta, at least for a time. That implied many things. Twilight usually hands him letters to send to the Princess from what he had seen in the show. How would he get a letter of his own in there without them noticing? Perhaps she left the dragon stacks of paper to send. It was a strange and unfounded assumption, but it was the only thing he could think of.

He would try to learn as much as he could throughout the day. Twilight was gone most of the day, as she had been a few days prior. Eavesdropping on the short conversations she had with Spike, he learned that she was following a schedule that included meetings with town officials and social get together with her friends. Spike, of course, slept whenever Twilight was out of the house. David could leave the safety of the basement during this time but...the risk was far too great. With many more windows, occasional visitors, and without knowledge of when the unicorn librarian might return, such a thing was out of the question.

This was how David spent his days, listening in on the unicorn and her assistant to try and determine a schedule, as well as learn as much as he could concerning the letters to Celestia. Numerous of Twilight's friends would visit throughout this time. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and, worst of all, Pinkie. Whenever the pink pony arrived, David would retreat to one of the enclaves and hide, fearing the pony's sense would reveal him. This course of action seemed to work quite well, as he had not heard any talk about her Pinkie sense since the last time it had happened.

Every other night, he would seek out restaurants and take bits of food and drink to sate his needs. He avoided Sugarcube Corner after the first expedition for obvious reasons, and instead stuck to more traditional establishments. Ones devoid of psychic ponies. A few times he would hear of "the monkey monster" from Twilight and her friends. Each time it was mentioned, he felt his time of nightly incursions coming closer to an end. Ponies around Ponyville were seeing only bits and pieces of him during those times, but it was enough to start rumors. No matter how safe he believed he was, someone somewhere had seen him stalking in the shadows.

After a few days of this routine, he was no closer to discovering a means to contact Celestia. Letters were not dealt with in a way he could work with, meaning his plan was impossible. For now. After another night of hunting for food, he was once again able to enjoy a calm night in the library. He had gotten more familiar with the books in that time. It was like trying to learn gibberish as a language. Slowly, surely, he was making progress in his spare time. The one thing that seemed to be going good for the man.

"Maybe those books are teaching me magic. Maybe I won't need Celestia after all."

But what may seem bad may actually be good. Sometimes.

As David heard more and more about "the monkey monster stalking the night in Ponyville", he found his nightly walks considerably easier. Although he could feel eyes watching him at times, he knew they couldn't hope to see him clearly in the dark. Many denizens of Ponyville were terrified to leave their homes at night as a result of the stories, meaning the streets were as deserted as ever. While the man felt bad about inadvertently frightening the poor creatures, he was more than OK with this new found freedom.

The question was, how long would it last?

Either someone will take it upon themselves to investigate "the monkey monster", or they will spontaneously invent burglary protection out of fear. Both were disastrous for him. Ironically, despite the tales, he had not heard any reports of "the monkey monster" stealing anything. Clearly his efforts to take only small amounts of things were working. He could only hope that Twilight remained skeptical about the stories. If she happened to be awake when he returned from a night walk...things would probably not go well for him.

Listening in on her conversations with her friends, this did not seem to be the case. She did not seem to believe that a monster was creeping around at night. Rainbow Dash agreed with the librarian, and while Rarity and Applejack couldn't care less, Fluttershy and Pinkie were avid believers, though with very different attitudes toward it. Pinkie was enthusiastic about the "monster", and seemed to regard it as an incredibly funny joke. Fluttershy on the other hand was, of course, terrified.

The "monster" was still regarded as a rumor, however, and David only heard about it every now and again. This was good. A bit of popularity kept the superstitious ponies indoors, but too much popularity would lead to a manhunt. Or a monster hunt, as the case may be.

Very little had been learned on the 'letters to Celestia' front. The way the letters were given to Spike to send were incredibly direct, meaning no espionage could be had. That plan would have to be on hold, he supposed. He would need to think of a new course of action, before he became Frankenstein's monster in Ponyville.

One solution was, again, revealing himself to the Equestrians. This was an uncomfortable and undesirable plan, as the chances of success would be quite low. Just walking out in public during the day was, as it had been when he arrived, out of the question. But isolated exposure to one or two of the ponies might be met with more progress. After the initial shock, they could, in theory, assist him in reaching out to the rest. But what ponies would be most likely to help him?

Twilight, despite her intelligence, was likely out of the question. Revealing himself would undoubtedly bring to light that he was an invader, which would sour her opinion of him and make her all the more likely to respond badly. Understandably so.

Rainbow Dash was probably the least likely option of the lot. The potential of David getting his ass kicked was much higher when the gutsy blue pegasus was involved. Getting beat down by a small blue pony...his self respect shuddered at the mere thought.

Rarity was not much of a better option. He could see her reacting dramatically at the appearance of such a strange creature, even if she did not particularly believe in "the monkey monster".

Fluttershy was a tough one. If he tried to act like a true ape, maybe she would regard him as an animal and respond well. But if he approached her as a civilized creature, she might react with terror. It was a 50/50 chance at best.

Applejack was probably one of the better options. Although the risk of physical injury was perhaps even worse than with Rainbow should things go wrong, the earth pony was much more reasonable and perhaps would be one to listen before reacting. A distinct possibility.

And finally...Pinkie. Perhaps his best bet in terms of being accepted. But would she be any use in convincing the others? Would they even believe her? He didn't know. If he did approach the pink pony, it would likely be a decision he could not have second thoughts about. That sense of hers would make sure of it.

Decisions, decisions...

"If I should die, I leave all my worldly possessions to the one who brought me low. Its going to be the pink one, I know it."

Comments

[undead darkness]

first and oh my good this dude is digging himself a shit hole here

[WorldWalker128]

"Maybe those books are teaching me magic. Maybe I won't need Celestia after all."
And maybe one day birds will fly out his butt!

[Treilacl]

These are going by REALLY fast... and I kinda like it and yet I also kinda don't... my thoughts were maybe to add a little more about his explorations at night. You don't need to go into a ton of detail of course but it would be a great chance to learn more about Ponyvile from the characters point of view. It really doesn't feel like he's left the basement to me except for his 1st trip to Sugarcube Conner.

Also... for some reason I see this guy with a cloak... xD

[dakingofmuffins]

LYRA IS WATCHING HIM!!!

static.fimfiction.net/images/story_images/25249.png?1336535358

[Makokam]

...did it never occur to him to maybe just leave a note for Twilight, "Dear Twilight, My name is a David. I seem to have somehow found myself transported from my world to yours. Any help you could provide would be appriciated.
-David

P.S. I'm not a pony so I'm avoiding showing my face"

Whatever. This is going from cautious to tempting fate, to stupid.

[LikeaSir]

1465902 Judging by the fact that ponies write in illegible pony wingdings, it would be pretty likely that written english would be equally elegible to a pony. Perhaps a really complex diagram would suffice...?

[Ruby Rose]

1458478 I see this guy in a ninja suit when he's stealing.

[coandco]

Its going to be the pink one, I know it."

"Its" here should be "It's", since you want it to expand to "it is".

[xErickKingx]

1458456
or pigs will grow wing and fly
......
wait a minute
is Fucking Equestria!!!!
It might fucking happen
or maybe
it already happened!!!