Cause and Effect: Discord's Truth

by Coltsguy

Making a Good First Impression

9:32 p.m.

My watch currently read 9:32 p.m. as I finally watched the sun rise in the distance. While it was nice to see that finally happen, I think that means that the time scale is not quite synched up. Either that or they just have their own personal times on when to yoink the sun and moon up and down. After all, they both raise them on their own schedule. It’s not like they couldn’t do it whenever they felt like it. They could make one day shorter than the last and then make the day two hours longer than the previous one. When you’re capable of moving stellar bodies just using magic, you can pretty much just set your own timetable.

Well, at least within reason. If not, then you pretty much get the Nightmare Moon scenario all over again. I doubt they want a repeat performance of that anytime soon. Even if soon was a thousand years ago.

“Well, now that the sun is up, I should be getting some activity soon.”

My stomach growled at me again.

“Hopefully, some breakfast as well.”

I sat there waiting again. Damn it was boring. I had already sung every song I’ve ever heard that I can remember, played tic-tac-toe with myself, messed with invisible finger puppets, tried to count all the stars in the sky and failed miserably, and then I finally started doing something productive. I thought about how to talk to them like I knew them.

Unfortunately, it didn’t take me that long. I actually already had a plan in case this ever happened, as scary as that sounds. The only thing that I changed slightly was some of the details in regards to how I got here. With that sorted out rather quickly, I had to go back to thinking up things to do. I decided on how pissed I was that I hadn’t seen the Avenger’s movie yet. I’d missed it for two straight weeks after people going with me had bailed on me. This weekend I had Saturday afternoon off and would just see it myself. Forget trying to get my family together for a viewing this time. They just ticked me off at that point.

That segued me into thinking about home. Did my family know I was gone? What about my job? Did my boss fire me for not showing up? I needed that paycheck. I doubt that she would take ‘I got transported to a world of talking ponies’ for an excuse. That would happen even if she believed me. Wow, that was kind of a depressing thought.

Thinking that got me to look at the sky and notice that it was getting brighter, which brought me back to the present. Despite the fact that the sun had just risen, I knew it would still take a bit of time before I got noticed by anything. At least it wasn’t deathly quiet anymore. I could start to hear the sounds of nature around me a little. Birds were chirping in the distance. I could see a few butterflies flitting around as well. Would the butterflies be able to talk to Fluttershy? It didn’t really matter since they weren’t coming in this direction.

Finally, some of the animals around the house were stirring. I checked my watch really quickly. It was 10:09 p.m. Please, somebody tell me the correct time!

I watched as a few birds and squirrels moved in the trees. Some rabbits were moving around as well. I didn’t see Angel anywhere, but then again I had no idea if I did or not. It’s not like I can tell it apart from any of the others and I didn’t see its little house from where I was sitting.

Why weren’t any of them noticing me? It seemed odd how they either didn’t notice me or did and just didn’t react in a way that I could tell that they did. Perhaps I was just unassuming in my spot over here. Oh well, it didn’t matter. I didn’t want to move from this spot until I was within normal speaking distance of a pony. I needed to stay non-threatening. Play nice or I get the boot.

After a short time, it finally happened. Fluttershy came slowly out of her house. She was deliberate in her motions afterwards, which means she didn’t know I was here yet. I looked at my watch again. It read 10:24 p.m. I fiddled with the mode a few times and stopped on the function that I never used.

My T2 time mode.

It was a feature that let me set the time to a different time zone from elsewhere in the world. It was a silly feature, but it was a cheap watch and I needed a new one anyway. Now, however, there was finally a use for it. It had been almost an hour since the sun rose so I could set the watch for that. It took a couple of tries since I went through it so fast that I accidentally skipped it once, but I got it set. Now, when the sun came up, in theory anyway, it would be midnight according to the watch and I could calculate a day time from that. It was a few hours off from my current time and seemed like a waste, but it was somewhere to start from.

A quick yeep tore me from my attention to my watch. It seemed Fluttershy had finally noticed me. I looked up just in time to see her zip back into her house and slam the door behind her. Now the clock had officially started. Unfortunately, that sucked because it meant more waiting. It all boiled down at that point to what outcome would happen next.

The first option was that she talked to me herself. That meant that she mustered up the courage to come down from her house to talk to me herself. I didn’t really like that option since she was, well, shy. It was in her name after all. I could sympathize with her, though. Her behavior was a lot like how I acted. I would be shy around people I didn’t know unless you got me on a topic I was very comfortable with. That even happened with my family sometimes. I had learned to deal with it.

That brought me back to the other option: waiting for her one of her friends to show up and notice me along the way. They were all close friends, so not seeing her for a time would bring them to her and when they showed up, they would see me. I’m not sure how long that would take, and it had a great many factors of its own. Who showed up would be the biggest factor. How they reacted would be the next. Moving past that, however, was not something I really thought much upon.

The biggest factor, however, was the fact that I haven’t eaten since I had arrived. That fact was compounded by the knowledge that I had gotten about four hours of sleep back home before whatever that was woke me up. Also, I then remembered that I hadn’t eaten dinner that night.

“Argh, that means I haven’t eaten in almost a day. That sucks.”

At that point, I fell to my back and started laying there. The food situation was really not going well for me. I needed a distraction from it and fast. I looked at my watch again. 1:16 set time. Sixteen minutes since Fluttershy had zipped back to her house in what I guessed was fear. Who knows if that was what had actually happened.

“All this waiting is just brutal.”

At least that sounded thought got me thinking about the show Deathklok. They loved saying things were brutal. Of course, the stuff they were saying was brutal was way up the list from my predicament. That moved me back into rock music again. That got me thinking of how you could make a rock song about MLP:FiM. What would that even sound like? What would the lyrics be? I bet Rainbow Dash would appreciate it. Rock music sounds like something she would probably enjoy. I wondered what else she might enjoy. Things she considered awesome like the Wonderbolts made me think of how she would react to a Blue Angels show. Those were some good pilots. Piloting made me think about my Ace Combat game. Why hadn’t they released a new one yet? Ace Combat 6 was a bit of a weaker entry. Perhaps they were just figuring out how to get past that.

I looked at my watch again. It was 1:49 set time. Half an hour since the last time I looked. My stomach groaned even louder. My tactic worked, but it just got worse afterwards. By that time, I was hoping that she had an appointment with one of her friends and being late would make them come sooner.

“Ummmmm…”

I looked over and saw Fluttershy about fifteen feet away. I was a bit surprised. She showed more courage than I thought in order for her to come over to me.

“I, uh, I heard your tummy growling. D-do you want something to eat?”

She was still pretty timid. Her voice was barely above a whisper. I didn’t want her scared of me, so I simply nodded my head.

She didn’t seem like she became frightened or calmed by my answer. So far, so good.

“I have some food in my house. I could bring you some, you know, if you don’t, you know, you don’t mind.”

Her voice kept getting quieter as she said that. I needed to dial it up a little. This time, I smiled and then nodded.

“Okay. Wait here and I’ll bring you something.”

She was still quiet, but that last sentence came out without a stutter, so maybe the smile worked. She flew back to the house and went inside. I really hoped that she would bring me something I can actually eat. I wasn't sure what I could get that’s edible for me and fits into the diet of herbivores. Not to mention my picky eating habits.

A few minutes later she flew back to me with a basket containing a few different items. I leaned up from my back to take a look inside, making sure I keep my smile on my face.

Luck found me a couple of things in the basket. I spotted a carrot and a slice of bread. I reach in and grab both of them.

“Good. I’m glad there was something you could eat in there. I wasn’t sure there would be and that would be sad if I didn’t have anything you could eat.”

I sat up and started eating the carrot. I was glad that it was washed. Halfway through, I started eating the bread. It was, of course, oat bread. It makes sense that it would be oat bread. It’s not really my favorite, but I was starving and I would have to force my way though.

While I was working on that, I noticed that Fluttershy had left and brought me some water. I honestly can’t stand water, but I’m eating this and I’m thirsty enough by that point to take it. I drink it down halfway before I come up for air.

“Are you feeling better now that you’ve had something to eat?”

Her voice has gotten sturdier. I know this is working now. I’m not sure if I want to press this yet, so I smile again and nod.

“That’s good.”

I finish off the bread and the water and decide that now would be the time to press on. I really hoped that this would work.

“Thank you for the food.”

She flew back a bit in shock. I’m just glad she didn’t fly away completely and hide in her house again.

“Y-You can t-talk?”

The stuttering was back. At least she was still talking.

“Yes, I can.”

“I d-didn’t think that you c-c-could.”

“That’s alright. Have you never seen a human before?”

“A h-human? N-no I haven’t. I’ve n-never heard of that.”

“It’s okay if you haven’t. I’m not from around here. My name is Seth.”

“I’m… I’m… Fluttershy.”

I couldn’t hear her when she said her name, but then again I knew it already. I decided to act like I did to make things easier on the both of us.

“That’s a nice name. It’s definitely better than mine. You seem uncomfortable. Is that my fault?”

“Um, no, no. It’s not.”

“I think I am. I’m sorry about that. I’m big and scary and most kids are a little scared of me. I’ve learned to live with it.”

“Awww, that sounds sad.”

“I know. I’m okay with it, though.”

“I know. Maybe you should come and meet my friends. They wouldn’t be scared of you.”

Wow, that was easy. I was hoping to convince her to let them meet me. I didn’t think that she would try to take me to them of her own accord. This was turning out to be easier than I thought. Still, I’d better keep myself this way. Any change might make her change her mind and it will be that much harder to get the ball rolling.

“Are you sure they won’t be scared? If you’ve never seen a human then they probably haven’t either. They might not be as amiable as you’ve been.”

“It’s okay. If you’re with me then they won’t be afraid of you.”

“Really?”

“Trust me. If they see you with me, I don’t think they’ll be scared at all.”

“Alright. Lead the way Fluttershy.”

As I stood up and followed her down the road, I noticed two things. One, she went down the road the opposite way that I would have picked. That means I probably would never have found my way to Ponyville. Two, Fluttershy was using her normal voice to talk to me. That meant she wasn’t totally afraid of me anymore. I probably seemed too pitiable to be scared of.

Finally, I was on my way to Ponyville. A true test of what awaits me will come there. Even with Fluttershy leading me there, I doubt things would go that well. I wonder what-

My thought was cut off as something tackled me from behind. I flew by Fluttershy and landed hard on the ground; tumbling head over heels a few times. That hurt. A lot.

I started to black out from the pain. Before I did, I heard a voice from behind me.

“Don’t worry Fluttershy! I’ll protect you from that thing!”

What is it with Rainbow Dash causing me to black out?

Comments

[ItsaMe]

It's strange that almost every single human in Equestria story has Rainbow attacking the human, but I never mind because that is exactly what she would do.

[Coltsguy]

1546449 It's sort of attacking. I'd like to think of it as protecting her friends from a potential threat.I'm twice as big and walking right behind Fluttershy.

[ItsaMe]

1546706 I get that, but sometimes the human in question is surrounded by her friends or even is talking to the princess and she'll be like "Oh no, Celestia is talking calmly with a thing I've never seen before. I think I'll buck it in the face." and the funny thing is that the whole 'see weird creature, buck it' mentality is never really out of character for Rainbow. If anything the most OoC example I ever read was one story where the rest of the main six are there, being perfectly calm, and she attacks because Fluttershy was scared. She's afraid of her own shadow and Dash knows it.

[Lucien Chance]

Welp, I was one of your first readers on this story, and my, my, my; you've improved. Improved a lot actually.

Your writing sounds less awkward, you added more details, and the whole thing makes sense. I look forward to seeing where this goes.

[Coltsguy]

1548821 In all seriousness, I came up with this story about five days before the first chapter was published. I have the beginning mapped out and the ending mapped out, but the middle will take some work. I'm usually better than that. My works on Fanfiction.net are way more thought out.

[Lucien Chance]

1548903 I see. Still looking forward to more. //dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Octavia2.png

[CrystalHero97]

Seth huh? Read Person In Ponyville by Zeta.
Name Of Human - Seth (Codename Ezekiel Tho)
Name Of Pony He First Met - Fluttershy

[PotatoManato]

1577099

Seth McFlutter.

[KvAT]

Oh my God, he has actual brains? What kind of blasphemy is this? Everyone knows isekai protagonists will just went up and knock on the door.

1546449
It's very inline with her character tbh.