The Mysterious Tale of the Man Who Didn't Do Much

Chapter 2: A Running Race

Once Pinkie saw that me and all the other ponies were sort of pals, I was bombarded with questions, "I know WHO you are so I'll just ask WHAT you are, if you don't mind my asking and where did you come from and is it nice there cuz I might wanna vacation there but if it's somewhere far then how did you get here-" Rainbow stopped her again. I did my best to answer. "I'm a human, spelled like 'HOO-man', but yes, um... Human. I'm from Earth, which is a different planet, I'm guessing. HOW I got here I might never know." I paused. "More importantly... How I'll uh... Get back..." Pinkie looked at the ground, "Sorry to make you uncomfortable, I like to make people feel happier!" She giggled.

"Don't worry. You didn't make me uncomfortable. I just don't know how I'll get back to my own place. Or time, for that matter."

Twilight laughed and commented, "Yes, well, time-space is a very tricky thing!" Suddenly Rainbow started growing anxious. I noticed and asked, "Hey, are you okay? What's the matter?"

"Well, if I'm right, there's a storm coming in about... 5 minutes."

That confused me. "What do you mean? Do you, like, control the weather?"

"Yeah, basically." She smiled a little and Twilight offered to let us all hang out at her library for a while. Interesting... A pony owns a library. Sure... That makes sense. Noooot really. As we walked, it started to drizzle. "Come on! It'll pick up fast!" Rainbow Dash called out and we all ran for the library, but they were ponies and... well, I'm just a human! I was too far behind, and the rain was picking up. Rainbow noticed and turned around, grabbed my arm and flew towards the library.

When we finally reached the library, Rainbow dropped me, realizing what she just did. "Sorry," she said, scraping the ground with a rear hoof, "it's just... It was raining... yeah... so... We can forget about that?" I was puzzled for a moment, and got up off the ground. That's when I realized something, and thought to myself, 'Whoa! Something about her nervous body language said she liked me. Uhh... This is getting moderately awkward... I mean, as nice as she is, she's a horse. Pony, rather.' I looked at her, "All you did was pull me outta the rain," I laughed, "but whatever. My lips are sealed." I said to please her, but I suppose she thought it was more than that. This place couldn't be that different. Whatever.

We went inside and were greeted by the rest of the gang. "Well," Twilight said, "Let's just talk for a moment, shall we?" We all sat down on the floor and I was, yet again, asked a multitude of questions. Not really questions like, 'Who are you, where did you come from, etc...' because they had already been asked and answered. Instead, the one by the name of Applejack said, "So uh... Do ya have any idea how ya got here?"

"Not a one."

Pinkie bounced over, "Well, what were you doing before you go here? Making hot coco?" Then Rarity butted in. "Pinkie, that's hardly kitchen attire. Maybe he was hiking! It's camouflage, don't you see?"

"Actually, I'm a soldier." I informed them. "It's like a protector for our region. It's a very dangerous job, but... I volunteered. Also, Pinkie, I wasn't makin' coco." I laughed. "I was coming back with supplies from a building. I was running to our cargo truck, but... A building fell on me." I tried to make light of it and smile, but the ponies looked horrified. There was an awkward silence. Finally, Twilight broke it. "So... Are you dead? Invincible? I don't quite understand."

"Neither do I. If I did, you'll be the first I would tell, really, but... I'm just as clueless as you."

Twilight looked interested. "Alright... You know... I should probably notify the princess. Spike! You awake?" A small purple dragon trudged out slowly and yawned "I am now..." he said. Twilight looked worried. "Oh... Sorry, but, could you quickly take a letter?" He walked right past me without bothering to look and without a double-take, either. I stiffled a laugh at this random little fact and then he noticed me. "Whoa! What's this thing?"

"Spike! Don't be rude!" Twilight replied, angrily.

"Good morning to you too, sunshine..." I snapped to the dragon, but I laughed to let him know I was joking and he chuckled back. "Nice one... Now what did you want the letter to say, Twilight?" He reached for a jar of ink, but... it was empty. "Uh oh. This jar's empty. We're gonna need more."

"Oh shoot! We forgot to run our errands today!" she sighed, "And all the shops are closed... It's getting dark." Fluttershy spoke up for the first time since the forest scene. "Um.. I think Zecora might have some..."

"But it's raining..." Twilight replied sadly. Spike looked out the window. "Not anymore!" Applejack spoke up, "Huh. Well, would ya' lookit that. Guess it took a break."

"You might want to hurry. I don't think this opportunity window will stay open." Rainbow called from the back of the room.

Applejack looked back, "So I guess it's a runnin' race!" Then twilight turned to Rainbow, "Alright, we gotta go now, it's late and it might rain again soon so Rainbow, you stay here with Jackson. The other 5 left quickly, and I was was left alone. In a library. At night. With a pony. That was rainbow colored. That had a crush on me. My vernacular can't describe the weirdness level appropriately. This was gonna be a loooong night, I could already tell.