At the End of the Tunnel

I awoke the following morning to the sound of knocking at the front door of Twilight's house. As I groggily peered around the room, I could see that again, somehow or other, Twilight and Spike had both gotten up without stirring me. It was a little earlier than the previous day had started, which I was thankful for. If there was one thing I never needed to worry about, it was getting enough sleep. Whomever was at the door knocked a second time before they were greeted. As I began to make my way downstairs, I could hear the unmistakable voice of Rarity.

"Oh, there he is," she smiled, noticing me coming down the stairs.

"Guy, Rarity was just asking me if you could go over to her place," Twilight explained. I tilted my head, wondering what the unicorn would need me for.

"I don't see why not," I answered, heading to the door and opening it, "shall we?" Rarity gave her mane a little flip, making sure her front curl was sitting perfectly before exiting.

I followed Rarity to her home, which was also her place of business, Carousel Boutique. Twilight had told me that she was a fashion designer, though, to be honest, fashion was not high on the list of things I paid particular attention to. Still, judging from her obvious preoccupation with style and beauty, it seemed like the perfect job for her.

"Now," she said as we both entered the boutique, "you're surely wondering why I've requested you so early in the morning." I had to admit that that was the exact question on my mind. "You see, you're something different, what did Twilight call you again, oh yes, a human. And she also told me how you wear clothes at all times, though she still didn't exactly understand why. Nevertheless, I've decided to take it upon myself to learn how to fashion clothes for you, so that you aren't going around in, how should I put it, the same dirty ones you wore yesterday."

She did have a point. Obviously I only had one set of clothes, and it wouldn't hurt to have new ones. "Thank you for the generous offer," I smiled, bowing my head slightly in acknowledgement, "but that still doesn't answer why you needed me so early in the morning."

"Oh that's easy," she chuckled, motioning a hoof toward a tall, free-standing object made of wood, "I wanted to take your measurements as soon as possible and get it out of the way. Now if you would be so kind as to undress."

I could feel my face getting just a little bit red. It'd been awhile since a female had asked me to take my clothes off, and even longer since one with such an attractive accent did so. It took me a moment or two to remind myself that Rarity wasn't a human woman, but a magical unicorn. A beautiful magical unicorn, but a magical unicorn nonetheless. I mentally slapped myself at the thought of being sexually attracted to a talking pony.

"Is that entirely necessary," I almost stuttered, the sane side of my brain fighting off the testosterone. Rarity opened her eyes, but this time with more of a 'what do you think?' look.

"How do you expect me to take your proper measurements if you're wearing such baggy clothing." This snapped me back to full sanity, as I now thought of protesting her definition of the word 'baggy'. My shirt was maybe a little large, but if anything my blue jeans were a bit short in the length, and I only needed to hook onto the first notch on my belt. "So off you go then, she said, magically pulling the dressing screen closer, "this won't take long."

There was no point in arguing about it anymore. Not to mention that if I wanted new clothes anytime soon, this was the only way to get them. I quickly ducked behind the wooden screen to remove my clothing. I had to admit that I'd always had a little bit of a body image issue. It was never that I was fat, quite the opposite, but rather that woman I had dated always seemed to have this bad habit of comparing me to their former boyfriends, who almost always turned out to be better-looking guys with attitude issues. But as I thought about it, I realized that I was now in a realm sans humans, where these ponies wouldn't know what is supposedly 'beautiful' and what isn't, at least in human terms. My mind put at ease for the time being, I went back to the task at hand. When I had gotten down to nothing but my pair of red, white, and black plaid boxers I stepped back out. I saw that Rarity was now sporting a pair of very small glasses with red frames, and holding a tape measure.

It took almost an hour for Rarity to check and double check all of my measurements. It seems that I have quite a few lengths and widths that she never encountered before with her equine clientele, particularly where my hands and feet were concerned. As with most other ponies I had met, she was fascinated with my hands, but this time more for their intracacies and dexterity than for the novel of them. I made a couple of jokes about biology and the handiness of hands. She explained to me that when winter came, I would need gloves, boots, scarves, coats, and hats, and she wanted to be completely prepared so that we would only need to do this once. I admired her due diligence and her attention to detail, as well as the knowledge that I would only have to be put through this ringer one time.

"Thanks again, Rarity," I said as I redressed, not even bothering with the screen at this point, "I really appreciate it." The unicorn smiled and waved her hoof.

"Think nothing of it, darling. It would not be very polite of me if I didn't use my talents to help you in some way. With these measurements, I should have some new clothes for you in a few days." I again bowed my head slightly before making a move for the door. "Oh, Guy," she called, "could you do me a favor and grab that roll of blue material off that top shelf, please." I looked over to the only shelving in my line of sight and saw the roll in question. For a moment, I wondered why a three-foot-tall pony would put something so high up before remembering that Rarity could use magic. I easily reached up and grabbed the material she wanted, taking a few steps back toward her before she levitated it out of my hands. "Thank you. You know, I'm sure there are many ponies in town who would find those hands of yours very advantageous." She turned and went back to her work.

As I left the boutique, I thought about this idea to myself. Of course, every pony in Equestria had hooves, making me the only being around with fingers. On top of that, Twilight had explained to me the basic currency of the Equestrian economy, bits, and I figured I would need to get some kind of work to be able to have some spending money. But what exactly? In my former world, I had trained to be a teacher, and had even done so for a short time. I didn't have much experience with physical labor, and I certainly didn't have the strength for it. As I aimlessly walked through town, I turned over in my mind what jobs I could do and how exactly I would go about being known for doing that job when a voice called out to me.

"You there," a male with a slight British accent shouted. I looked around to see if there was anyone else he could be talking to and, finding none, simply pointed to myself. "Yes you, oh blast, what did they call you, yes, the human. I wish to speak with you about something." As he made his way over to me, I noted his details. He was an Earth pony, brown in coloring, with a mane of a slightly darker shade of brown. The mark on his flank, his "cutie mark" as I had learned they were called, was an old-fashioned golden hourglass. "Do pardon me for just calling you in the middle of the street like this," he apologized when he reached me, "my name is Time Turner, pleased to meet you." I shook his hoof, still wondering what he wanted with me. "Yes, well, you see, my business is clock-making. I make alarm clocks, grandfather clocks, coo-coo clocks, hoof watches, pocket watches, stopwatches, anything that tells time, I can craft. Right, so I saw you at the party yesterday, and couldn't help but notice the nimble and precise movements of your, um, whatever you have in place of hooves, and whatever those extra bits on the ends are." I chuckled a bit.

"Well, Time Turner," I lectured, "these are hands, and the bits on the ends are called fingers. And yes, I suppose they are quite nimble." He laughed at himself and how silly he sounded before continuing.

"Of course, so I was thinking that you would be great at helping me with my business. You see, being an Earth pony and not having magic, I have to be very slow and careful with my hooves when I work. But you, you would be able to work with the exact same precision, but much faster." He smiled with glee at his suggestion.

"Um, thanks for the compliment," I said, scratching the back of my head, "but I don't have any experience with making clocks, I'm not sure I'd be good at it."

"Nonsense," he said, waving his hoof, "the princess told me that you are a quick study and a fast learner. Tell you what, you come down to my shop, I'll tell you the basics, and if you think you can do it, I'll hire you on as my apprentice. If not, well then nothing lost."  He smiled again, this time eagerly awaiting my response.

"I don't see why not," I shrugged, "let's get going."

My new friend's business wasn't very far. It was a little shop, with a sign that read "Time Turner's Timey-Wimeys". Something about that phrase seemed familiar, but I shrugged it off. When I entered, I was quite surprised. For one, the shop seemed to have a lot more space on the inside, especially considering all the clocks on the walls. And there were a lot of clocks. Time Turner wasn't joking about all the different kinds of timepieces. He began to say some technical babble about clock-making, but I'll admit I wasn't paying full attention, instead focused on examining the many pieces of his work he had displayed.

"...and that's how my business operates," Time Turner finished his spiel, looking at me from behind the counter. "Would you care to start learning about the actual practical manufacturing of timepieces?" I had to admit that I found his syntax and language quite nice, as it reminded me of my father.

"Let us begin post-haste," I replied, trying to reach back to a little bit of superior syntax on my own.

We spent the rest of the morning, and most of the afternoon in the shop, as he taught me the general points and finer details of his craft. I surprised myself by how quickly I was able to pick up the techniques. Like Time Turner said, my hands and fingers allowed me to do some things much easier and quicker than he could, and this filled me with some vague sense of pride and accomplishment. By the time I left, I felt confident that I could continue on with this job.

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"Twilight, Spike, are you here," I called when I made it back to my place of residence.

"In the study," Twilight called down to me. I made my way upstairs as quickly as I could. "I didn't expect you to be gone for as long as you were. Did it really take Rarity that long?" She never took her eyes off whatever she was working on, and I chuckled to myself.

"No, no, she did her work very quickly. But on my way back I ran into Time Turner."

"Oh, he finally found you, huh, he told me he desperately wanted to speak to you about something. What was it?"

"He wanted to make me an aprentice at his shop, and I agreed." This statement finally got Twilight to turn around and face me.

"That's great, Guy. Good to hear you were able to find some work."

"Yeah," I scratched the back of my head, "figure I needed a way to make bits anyway."

"Well that's certainly a way to start," Twilight said, returning to her project, "it seems your becoming more and more comfortable here everyday." I smiled at this thought.

"Yeah, I suppose I am."