At the End of the Tunnel

As my days in Equestria turned to weeks, I found myself more and more in love with the little town of Ponyville. Although I was used to the big city, something about the quaint feel and usually quiet nature of the town enraptured me greatly. And as time went by, I also found more and more interesting things to do with my time.

Sweet Apple Acres, farm and homestead of Applejack and her family, has to be one of my favorite places. It was nice to be able to just come to the farm on a random day and see what the Apples were up to. Applejack and her big brother, Big Macintosh, seemed to work almost constantly, and I often found myself in awe of just how much work they did on a daily basis. Whenever I was there, and the days I would go there would usually be a day off for me, I couldn't help but get to work myself, mostly helping AJ move the wicker baskets full of apples that she would buck right off of the trees.

"Guy! 'Eads up," Applejack calling my name snapped me out of my retrospective musings, and I turned just in time to see an apple flying toward me, which I easily caught.

"Thanks, AJ," I said before taking a big bite out of the apple. Everypony in Ponyville and probably in Equestria knew that Apple family apples were the best apples ever. I would have never eaten an apple right off a tree in my own world, but here I found that the all-natural way the Apples grew and tended the trees and the almost non-existant pollution of the town made for perfect apples from buck to bite.

"Why don'tcha 'elp me get this last load in the barn before ya go and enjoy that too much."

"Yes ma'am," I smiled, as I walked over to the most recently-bucked tree. I picked up two baskets of the apples while holding the apple I was eating in my mouth like the trained great ape that I was.

"Sure is nice when ya come around, sugarcube," AJ looked up and smiled at me, carrying a basket on her back as we made our way toward the barn. I blushed a little bit as I looked down at her, trying to smile through the apple in my mouth. I was still getting used to the polite terms of endearment some ponies had, like Applejack calling everypony 'sugarcube' and Rarity calling everypony 'darling'. It didn't bother me any, of course, but I had found that the ponies were much more open with friendship and affection, something which came with a bit of culture shock.

We reached the Apple's big red barn soon enough, the two of us stacking our baskets with all the others.

"So what's next," I asked, chewing on a big bite of apple.

"Well Ah reckon we should-"

"There he is! Ah told you girls he'd be here."

Applejack and I turned to see what looked to be a scooter pulling a little red wagon traveling up the dirt road toward the barn. When it reached us, I saw that the wagon held two fillies, and the scooter was being driven by a third. I recognized the two in the wagon, the yellow filly with the red mane and matching bow was AJ's sister Apple Bloom, while the white unicorn with the curly pink-and-purple mane was Rarity's sister Sweetie Belle. The third, however, an orange pegasus with a dark purple mane who was behind the handlebars of the scooter, I was not on a first name-basis with.

"Are you three lookin' for me," I took another bite of apple and kneeled down.

"Yeah," Apple Bloom answered as they exited their transportation and made their way over to me, "we've been lookin' for ya all morning."

"We went to Time Turner's shop," Sweetie Belle continued, "but he said it was your day off."

"And since Ah know you usually come 'ere and help my sis on your days off, we came as fast as we could."

"Well you found me," I remarked, chuckling, "so what do you need?"

"Well first," Apple Bloom began, motioning to the pegasus filly, "we had to introduce you to our other Crusader, Scootaloo."

"Good to meet you, Scootaloo," I greeted before standing back up. My shadow loomed over the three fillies, and the pegasus was noticeably awestruck.

"Wow," she breathed, "Rainbow Dash wasn't kidding when she said you were cool-looking." This elicited a laugh out of me.

"Well, if Rainbow says I'm cool, then I guess I'm cool."

"But we didn't just find you to have Scootaloo gawk at you all day," Sweetie Belle said with just a hint of sarcasm.

"Ya see," Apple Bloom continued, "we all figured that since you're something nopony has ever seen before, we might be able to learn somethin' from ya." I scratched my chin at this. You didn't have to be in Ponyville long to know that these three, the so-called 'Cutie Mark Crusaders' were just trouble waiting to happen. However, I wasn't the type to spoil their fun.

"Sounds fine to me, so long as Applejack says it's OK."

The three fillies looked past me and at Applejack with the most adorable looks they could possibly muster.

"Well shucks," the orange mare replied, "Ah reckon Ah can make do without his 'elp."

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS HUMAN RESEARCHERS! YAY!" The three of them said this with way too much volume, causing my ears to ring like a tuning fork and my brain to rattle around in my skull. I still don't know how those little fillies could be so loud.

"Oh boy, what have I gotten myself into," I mumbled under my breath.

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The three fillies led me through the orchard for awhile before we came to a clearing with one particular tree. The tree contained a tree house, built all of wood, and Apple Bloom didn't hesitate to tell me the story of how dilapidated the building had been when Applejack first showed it to them and how they had fixed it all up. The three of them quickly scampered up the wooden plank that led from the ground to the structure, and I followed them, being careful to make sure that my weight wasn't too much for it. Sure, I had seen all three of them stand on it at the same time, but I had no clue what their combined weight was, and the last thing I wanted to do was be destructive, or cause myself injury.

"OK, 'Human Researchers'," I threw up a pair of air quotes and chuckled, standing in the clubhouse, whose roof was high enough for me to, well, stand, "what's the first thing you want to know about me?"

The three fillies looked at each other, then back to me before Sweetie Belle spoke up.

"We want to see your cutie mark."

This request stopped my chuckling in its tracks. Really, I should have seen this coming. The whole point of their little club was to get them their cutie marks, so it makes sense that they would wonder about this aspect of me. Rationally, I knew I should let them down gently, particularly since I had already told Twilight this little bit of information. However, since the news obviously hadn't reached the ears of my current audience, I thought it best to go for the direct approach.

"I don't have one."

This response caused the three of them to stare at me widely and drop their jaws. They were simply baffled by this new information.

"But-but Rarity said you were an adult," Sweetie found her voice first, "how can you not have a cutie mark if you're grown-up?"

"Simple," I replied with a smile, "humans don't have cutie marks."

"So yer sayin' that humans are all blank-flanks," Apple Bloom questioned, quickly bringing her forehoof up to cover her mouth. It surprised me that she would use the term that I knew had been used to insult them so many times.

"Well, it's never been a problem for us," I said simply.

"So then, 'ow do y'all know what yer special talent is?"

"Well usually, one has to find it for oneself, the same as you ponies do. The only difference is that when, and if, we find it, we don't get a little mark telling everyone what it is. Besides, even if I had one, I would not show my 'flank' to you three. It would be...uncouth."

Sweetie Belle giggled at my use of her sister's go-to terminology.

"Does it take a long time for humans to find their talents," asked Scootaloo, who had been stone silent up to this point.

"Oh sure," I replied, waving my hand, "in fact, very few humans are fortunate enough to find exactly what they were meant to do. Some never find it at all."

"What happens to those people?"

"Well, they still have lives, they still go to work, they still have families. The only real difference is that they usually aren't as, well, happy as those who have found what they love to do."

"Did you find what you wanted to do," it was Sweetie's turn to ask a question.

"To tell you the truth, no, not in my world, anyway. Turns out I was really made to make timepieces with a brown pony named Time Turner. Interesting how life turns out, isn't it?"

The three of them once again looked to each other and back to me. By this point, I had taken a seated position. I stared back just as curiously, wondering to myself just what thoughts could be turning in the little heads of theirs.

"Um...Guy," Apple Bloom said slowly and deliberately, as if she didn't want to say anything at all, "'sit OK if'n I ask you about something else?"

"Of course, little bloom," I responded, smiling, not sure what she had on her mind, "you can ask me anything." This had the effect of brightening her up a little bit.

"Are you happier 'ere than you were there?"

I'll admit, I didn't expect such little fillies to get this deep, and I wasn't sure how to respond. If I lied to them about the situation, they would probably believe me. But lying wasn't really my strong suit, and since they were used to ponies telling the truth almost always, I figured it would be best to be as truthful to them as I could.

"Yes, Apple Bloom, I'm much happier here."

"Why is that," Sweetie asked before Apple Bloom could.

"Because," I began, using my hands to pull myself closer to the three fillies before reaching and wrapping my arms around them, pulling them into a decent hug, "I have more friends just here in Ponyville than I had in the whole world before, and all you ponies make me very happy."

"Really?" Scootaloo asked, obviously not enjoying the hug as much as the other two.

"Sure. Twilight, Fluttershy, AJ, Rarity, Rainbow, Pinkie, Spike, Time Turner, Lyra and Bon Bon, you three, and all the others, all of you have done such a wonderful job welcoming me and treating me just like anyon-, anypony, else, it's amazing."

"'Ey Guy," Apple Bloom looked up as I continued to hold onto the hug, "just one more question. Would it be OK in the future if we ask you for help in getting our cutie marks? I promise we won't bother you too often."

The other two joined their mate in looking up at me and giving me the same adorable face that they gave to Applejack earlier. All I could do was smile and shake my head.

"Now how can I say no to that?" I laughed, pulling the three tighter into the hug.