2 months.

2 months

"Agh.."

Daniel groans and leans back in his chair, cradling his forehead with both his hands, slowly lunging forward trying to grasp the pain and tear it away. It's to no avail, though the pain grudgingly fades and incentive to open his eyes again comes. Leaning his head on his right hand, he sighs and mutters under his breath.

"Fucking-...ugh."

The headaches have been growing less frequent, but haven't begun hurting less for the past month. Medication hasn't been effective, just as the ponies theorized. His body size in proportion to their own made the medication very ineffective, not to mention the significant species gap. He pleaded with them that where he was from, animal and pet medication was not much different to regular medication for human, but they didn't want to take that risk that if and when it came to the point he needed them, they would end up a bust anyway. Now they won't let him near any more medication in fear of doing more harm than good, there's some merit to those kind of words, ponies are similar to the ones he knows; but by far they are radically different from them. They talk after all.

Daniel slowly breathes in then back out, trying to think with the remnants of pressure-like pain throbbing in his head. Trying to focus on that one moment, those few marginal few seconds, that one tim-

Thunder strikes in the distance, he momentarily gets spooked from the noise, a storm is coming tonight and all he can think is that he hopes another rolling headache doesn't come again. Noise and vibration doesn't mix well, it hurts enough already and he fears how severe it'd probably be. He tries but quickly forgets whatever he was trying to focus on. He audibly sighs, angry at losing the first coherent thought he's had in the past hour.

He looks towards the window, watching for any sign of rain, seeing nothing so far but wind and dark weather. Faint signs of thunder dance in the distance, high above the mountains; the wind is blowing his way so it should come soon to Ponyville. Reaching his hand down his chair's leg, he grasps a small magazine on the floor and skims through it. No TV means no immediate entertainment, so he has to make his own. Not that it's been any different ever since.

Spotting several local ads, he reads through the back end of the magazine, particularly looking for any sort of odd jobs to do in the meantime tomorrow. Time's been passing slow to him, a little too slow, he wants to spend some time out in town rather than penned up in this temporary home. Upon finding nothing particular suited towards his 'skills', he folds it and drops it back near the chair leg. Leaning back, he lays his head back and stares behind him, spotting the fridge in the small kitchen with his upside-down point of view. Perhaps something to eat, just something to do.

He props himself back up onto his feet, standing high above the small chair made for ponies and walks over. He hears the floorboards creak from his weight, he's not overweight, but this home was not built for someone like him. It's too bright, and overall small. It's layout is something in a family home. Daniel makes his way to the fridge, basically leaning down to look inside as he opens the door and skims through the various leafy foods and ingredients. He mumbles a list aloud,

"Tomato, lettuce, celery..." All leafy, all green, a natural part of the pony diet. A plus and a minus for him, he can't eat meat nor can he reference to meat-related types of food, the closest probably being veggie burgers. Healthy, but not always the most appetizing things to eat, the overwhelming greens can become a bit sickening. He wonders why even they don't just eat grass straight off a field at this point, he ponders and settles on the looming thought,

'If they have a society, I guess they have their own food quirks. Hay burgers, pff.'

He sighs, perhaps he shouldn't be so stereotypical. Ponies are similar to the ones he knows back home, but they are still drastically different, only sharing traits. Not satisfied with the amount of veggies at the front, he moves further inside with his arm and feels around the back end. He mumbles aloud again,

"Jam, molasses, peanut butt-"

He's interrupted by a foil-like crushing noise, he feels a bag of something. He pulls it out and to his surprise it's a bag of chips with a large rolled up note taped to the top. He yanks the note off and reads it to himself.

'Heya Danny!'

It's Pinkie. He's confused upon reading it in her voice after figuring out it's her mannerism, but is considerate and continues reading.

'Heya Danny!

Those weird doctors said you shouldn't eat anything abe-nor-mal? '

She seems to have had trouble spelling it.

'Like chips, soda, greasy, sweet food, desserts or fizzy stuff because they said they might 'affect your physical condition in the study' or something. I told them you know better than to lounge around the house all day and snack on chips or sweets!'
She must not have realized at the time he ate all the cupcakes in her fridge, a small discrepancy given their past. He continues reading her note.

'Soooooo, I said 'The hay with this!' and snuck you a bag of wheat chips in your fridge when they weren't looking. Don't worry, they're not the grainy kind; they're the roasted in the sun kind with brown sugar, they're sweet and crunchy and all wavy~! <3 '

She drew a little heart beside the end of the sentence.

'Hope to hear from you soon after the whole doctorologist thingy- He chuckles at reading that part.

-you still haven't told me what your birthday is, so I want a heads up at least~!'

-Pinkie Pie ~~<3

Daniel smiles, warmed by the consideration given by Pinkie, though there's the circumstances of literally lounging around the house all day, she inadvertently had that part come true to it's fullest. Daniel opens her gift and takes a chip in his mouth, tasting hints of brown sugar indubitably, though the actual texture is a bit grainy anyway. It tastes of a sort of sun chip back home, though this is more or less made for indoor instead of outdoor consumption. He closes the fridge, laying the note back on the counter and returns to his seat slowly picking away at the delicious, albeit small, bag of roasted wheat chips.

The thunderstorm has picked up significantly, the wind has started to effect the trees outside and light bits of precipitation has started to gather. The thunder, unbeknownst to him has become more frequent, he sees a flash outside and counts the seconds before the sound comes. In a monotone tone he says out loud,

"One, two, thr-" The thunder sounds.

"EEEP!"

He hears a shrill scream from outside after the initial thunder, for a moment he thinks it might just be him hearing things, he listens for anything else to confirm. He hears nothing after a few seconds, then seeing another lightning strike in the distance, he counts again reluctantly.

"...one, tw" It strikes.

"EEEEP!!"

It's higher pitched, he then hears a soft collection of knocks at the door, it's someone at the very least and not a figment of his imagination. He sets down the chips and gets up and speed walks towards the door, peering through the peephole with his right eye. He asks out loud, seeing a distinct familiar figure.

"Hello?" He sees a familiar yellow color cowering near the porch, it's Fluttershy? Why is she out here in this weather?

"Fluttershy, what are you-" He sees another flash in the distance, counting the one second, he opens the door on the second second. Thunder sounds and crashes in the distance, she instantly makes a grab for his leg and holds tightly with a closed mouth whine.

'She's scared of thunder..right.' How could he forget? "...uhh." He's not sure what to do, so he asks the obvious question to this situation.

"Fluttershy, what are you doing out in this storm?" She slowly opens her eyes, upon realizing she's gripped onto his right leg, she steps off of him and blushes softly while collecting herself and her embraced forelegs. She stutters, meekly apologizing to him.

"O-O-Oh s-sorry Daniel, I-I was just v-visiting and-"

Another flash. Daniel doesn't want to hear her shrill out in the open so he kneels and closes her ears before the sound echoes past them. She feels soft, though very slightly wet from the moisture in the area. She still minimally jumps, but doesn't make a noise. He asks politely and conservatively for his ears,

".. I think you might want to come inside." He stands and opens the door wide open, waiting for her to respond in a minimal way, the minimal way being a shy shuffle towards the middle of the room as he closes the door behind her. Fluttershy glances back towards the window, her eyes dart but slowly calm over the lack of severity in thunder and the comfort of the indoors. She stands near Daniel's chair as he sits, simply asking a familiar question.

"How do you feel?" She turns her head slightly for some reason.

Daniel mutters, a bit confused as he gazes back at the small pony gazing towards himself. "Huh?"

She blinks, asking again with a little more hesitation with him facing her as well.

"H-How do you feel? Are you o-okay?"

Daniel answers her passively. "Yeah, I'm doing fine. Just got a headache half an hour ago, but it's passed."

She suddenly asks, "Do you want some tea?" She asks so sudden with the same expression as when she asked how he felt, Daniel questions the speedy response.

"What?" He turns to face her again, she looks intimidated slightly as one of her ears lower and her eyelids do the same, she asks more considerately and comparitively less assertive.

"W-Would you like me to make some tea for you?" She waits with the same expression, it's a bit...odd to him.

"..uhh, sure.. but I don't have any tea mix in the kitchen. So—" He's quickly interrupted by her.

"I brought some."

Daniel looks puzzled at her, not sure what to say. He momentarily and impolitely thinks, 'Good for.. her?' as he's genuinely not sure how to answer her. Fluttershy waits for a few moments, realizing the awkwardness in her readiness to answer.

"O-Oh uhm..I-I'll go make some." She turns towards the kitchen, he suddenly notices she actually brought saddlebags he didn't see before. She hides her eyes with her hair, recently she's changed her haircut to something much shorter, they barely cover much of anything in reality.

Daniel sits back and wonders what's gotten into her, she comes over just to ask how he feels then offers to make tea; bringing her own tea. She prepared at the very least, he brushes it off with the knowledge that she's very caring and would do this for anypony or animal under her care. Though Daniel is way beyond her means of care, so this comes as surprising as a sudden gesture of goodwill. He didn't call anyone over nor has he gone out for the past day or so, maybe she's worried by that fact?

Daniel looks over the back of the chair towards the kitchen, watching her prepare the tea. Surprisingly she already has a pot of water on the stove with a tea bag on the side, she just flips on the gas and the flames slowly ignite and start to heat the underside. This seems...strange, even for her. Just a few minutes ago she was cowering on the doorstep and now she's in the kitchen making tea for his now non-existent headache. He decides to ask her about it, he gets up almost stepping on the chip bag and walks over to Fluttershy, the creaking floorboards give him away behind her. She gets a bit spooked,

"O-Oh!" She stares up at him, blinking twice, saying, ".. uhm, the tea will be done in a few minutes. You can just sit and wait.. " She looks up at him, with a tiny smile. He feels warmed by the gesture and the expression being given, but he still feels compelled to ask her something else.

"Is everything alright, Fluttershy?" He asks honestly, yet her smile goes forms into a small frown, she replies with her eyebrows furrow with a confused expression.

"Y-Yes, I just wanted to make sure you were alright. I want to make you some tea in case you get another headache.. I don't want you to be in pain." She sound innocent enough, albeit she didn't explain her initial motive in the first place.

"Oh..well." He replies warmly, continuing. "Thank you Fluttershy. I'm glad to have someone, er, somepony to want to take care of me when I'm hurt." He kneels down to her level and goes for her hoof on the pot handle, gently grasping it and looks to her now widening eyes. She blushes lightly when he does so, Daniel continues his train of thought. "You don't need to take care of me anymore. I appreciate it, I really do.. I want to make that clear." He slowly lets go of her hoof and reaches for the stove knob, clicking it into the off position. She looks disappointed at the act, but it slowly changes into her previous considerate and caring smile when she sees his expression, seeming sincere.

"O-Okay.." She blushes again, treading her hoof slightly on the floor out of slight embarassment.

Daniel stands, stating and referring to a very related topic. "Pinkie had the same idea, though she kind of went a different way."

Fluttershy looks at him, seemingly puzzled. He turns and prepares to sit again back in the chair across the room, reaching down to his chair's leg he picks up the chip bag and holds it up as he lies back. Fluttershy squints to see what it is, eventually stepping towards him for a closer look, the label looks familiar. She sees it a roasted wheat chip bag, the kind that has brown sugar, a local favorite. She purses her lips upon seeing him eat from a chip bag sent by Pinkie, hearing the crunch and apparent delight on his expression, her mindset focuses on that in particular. He suddenly glances at her in suspicion, seeing in the corner of his eye her pink mane and her green-hued eyes as she changes her expression almost instantly into a surprised/startled one just as he turns.

Feeling it's a fitting question, he casually asks "Want one?" She blushes unexpectedly at the gesture, slowly shaking her head with an affirmed excuse.

"I-I already ate, thank you.." She thinks it over instantly, replying back as his hand starts to retract. "B-But I can have ..o-one..if you want me to..~"

Daniel turns to her and reaches into the chip bag, thinking little of it as he holds a chip out towards her. She lowers her eyelids, looking at him though he's just blankly looking at the ceiling, blissfully unaware of her kind of expression. Closing her eyes as she takes the chip and slowly whisks it away from his hand with her teeth, Fluttershy opens her eyes again hoping for him to stare back at her in a similar way. Sadly, she gets no such response, making an inaudible huff as she eats the chip. It's otherwise sweet, in her mind it's a literal bittersweet.

Daniel glances over to the window, seeing dusk and it's already ever-present fog accompanying the thunderstorm. He realizes Fluttershy has been remarkably calm throughout her short stay, though the majority of the area outside the house has been greyed out from the following fog and approaching night. He finds this odd, since today's weather in the first place is supposed to be sunny all day, at least according to the Pegasi weather schedule he'd been given in today's paper. Daniel considers Fluttershy's sake and asks her a fitting question, taking note of the consuming darkness outside, a likely fear she has to deal with.

"It's getting late, I don't think you want to stay here before it gets worse and darker outside." It takes a moment to register, but she hears and looks toward the window, seeing the light-consuming dusk. She huffs, suddenly turning her expression around into a tone he doesn't quite recognize.

"I-I don't want to go out alone." she looks at him with a show of slight fear, he suggests,

"Come on, I'll walk you home. Your animal's will get worried t—" She interrupts him suddenly, seemingly prepared for such a response.

"They're at the vet's. They're getting their yearly immunizations and I'm supposed to pick them up in the morning." She looks at him with the same expression, he's as puzzled as he was earlier. He stutters, being suddenly derailed off his suggestion and reasoning to her personal life duties.

"O-Oh, well..we should probably get you home anyway. You have to get up in the morning an—" He's interrupted again, the excuse coming off as a bit more valid.

"I-It's a little late to go out.. and cold.." She looks like she shivered a little, he's unaware of any draft present in the house. Daniel sighs upon realizing that he doesn't even have an extra coat for her anyway to accommodate for a trip home, nor does he have an umbrella for the assumingly approaching rain. Rarity didn't expect him to stay that long to tailor enough extra clothing during his stay in Ponyville and he didn't bother to pick up an umbrella because during his stay the weather is supposed to be clear, his laziness having gotten the better of him this time. Daniel yawns, the dark is starting to invoke sleep on him. Upon seeing this, Fluttershy coyly joins in and does a very soft yawn. She very lightly and quietly suggests while subtly petting his lower leg, encouraged by his similar display.

"M-Maybe we should go to bed." Before he has a chance to refute, she takes steps towards him and grasps the chip bag with her mouth and walks towards the kitchen, throwing away the assumed gift from Pinkie.

"...." He's not sure how to answer such an action, but he's not sure if he can anyway. He feels his forehead and leans back, saying to himself. "This is going to be a long night.." He moves to stand and gets a little dizzy, thinking he should wait it out he holds his head and waits for his vision to clear of the colorful and blurry images. Fluttershy glances over and asks out loud from behind the counter, noticing his hand in her peripheral grasp his forehead.

"Daniel, are you okay?" He lightly smiles back and prepares to say something, trying to assure her he's fine. "Yes I'm fi-" He hears a faint ringing sound and Fluttershy mouths something else, but he can't hear it. The dancing colors aren't going away, he feels them pressure his eyes and his head starts to ache badly.

"Fffff...fff...-" He tries to make out the word as pressure in his head crowds and shoves them aside, he can barely see Fluttershy and her yellow coat, blending into the background as an incoherent blur. She mouths and outright yells something at him, it just comes out muffled as if they were underwater, it doesn't feel right but he can't express pain in this state. Her eyes look mortified and she bolts over, she gets closer, then higher. Then higher. And even higher. Suddenly the ground gets higher. So close, in those last few seconds. He falls on his front over the chair and flips onto his back staring at the ceiling, having lost his ability to stand and keep balance. Something high pitched and muffled is heard through this seemingly infinite void, a blur of pink and yellow blend with the other colors, dancing along with green and blue of the ceiling, back and forth as they adhere to the background like glue.

Blue.

Dark Blue.

Dark Grey.

Silver.

White.

He sees white. He sees light red. Dark Red.

Dark colors.

Black.

He feels a warmness roll over all of his body before everything goes fully black, losing consciousness.

"Dan! Look at me! L-Look at me!!" Her hooves clasp the side of his head as she tries to meet each other's eyes, but he's no longer awake or aware of what's going on.

"S-Say Something!...Anything!!" She repeatedly pleads panicked, to no avail as his breathing simply shallows.

".. I'm sorry Dan.. Dan please wake up.. p-please.." Fluttershy tugs at his shirt one last time before she comes to terms with what's happened.

It happened again, but she couldn't stop it.

Author's Note

The meaning behind the 'Sad' tag will probably come sometime later as another chapter, as it will probably fit in the next one even more. There -IS- backstory to these two and I -DO- want to post it. Something that speaks deeper than the impression Dan gives -now- compared to back -then-.

And just to make it clear, this is not Dan from Dan Vs.

This representation of Fluttershy is supposed to be a variant of Flutterstalker/Stalkershy, but very toned down. Less watching and waiting for sexualized view; instead more shy and determined, like regular Fluttershy but more obsessed than overly obsessed. I tried to make it implied more than anything, would personally prefer no NSFW content at all, unless the situation in the story needs it. (Yeesh).

I'm on and off with many things I do, so may either dabble a few lines or complete half of it at once, I'm not consistent on that specific aspect but I -am- eager to continue. If I can help it I will continue with a few more chapters, especially if people end up liking the path it's going. Would like some light criticism as well if possible, either on the way this ended or just general tips as I'm new to this site but I'm not entirely new to writing stories.