"E-Ergh..." Danny holds his head as pressure clamps down, Twilight duly responds by dragging him down into his seat, asking,

"Headache again?" He doesn't reply, but luckily they're in an empty cart and no one can be disturbed. She holds his head gently with her magic, he's wincing but he looks awake, she turns him to her and tries to assure him,

"Calm, calm..it'll be over in a minute." She's noticed the patterns, it comes and goes but never lasts past a minute or two. He doesn't look assured though, Twilight's left wondering if he's seeing her like that thing in his nightmares again. He's talked about it and he says he's been trying to get over it in his dreams, but this is the first one in at least a few days. Daniel releases his grip over his hair, staring at Twilight in disbelief. She asks,

"Uh, better?" He nervously nods, shaking his head. Was that a yes or no? She assumes yes as she shuffles back in her own seat, using her magic to float him over a magazine. She informs him,

"It's only a half an hour long ride, relax a little." He seems to take that to heart and takes the magazine, skimming through it and finding an entertaining enough section. Twilight opens a journal in her saddlebag, filling in another page with details using her magic, noting down Daniel's behavior. She's been taking a lot of notes of how he's been for the past few weeks, aside from his apparent closeness with Pinkie and recovery, he's been seemingly stable along with Fluttershy. Notes for the biologists in Canterlot; they requested that she take notes, though in hindsight she should have told Daniel about it. The 'delays' have been for more observation time, she frowns upon finishing writing the last sentence, feeling like she's lying to him. Twilight glances over to Daniel from her book, he's leaned against the window seat and seems to be reading an excerpt from a recent movie. He chuckles and says to himself,

"Ha, I knew it." He glances over to Twilight, she looks back into her book and acts like she wasn't looking, whimsically asking,

"Hm?" Daniel didn't seem to notice, he explains,

"That movie me and Pinkie watched, check it out." He holds up the magazine, underlining a quote with his finger from the director. Daniel says,

"Told her they'd make a sequel, it's not much different from where I'm from." From where he's from? He's only led on with them on 'Earth', nothing else. No names, no addresses, not even any areas of interest. Twilight decides to probe further, asking,

"Oh, and what's not so different from where you're from?" Daniel explains critically,

"Big budget, average plot, looks great, but plays out poorly. Sometimes they focus too much on action or other things. I weirdly remember something about a bay, or a pier. Explosion, then the heroes drive off of that bay...bay, bay. Bah, that sounds too damn familiar. Something about Bay." He seems to give up on the thought and continues reading the magazine silently.

Twilight silently brings out her journal again, writing down his explanation about his movies and apparently a bay or pier? It didn't turn out to go anywhere, Daniel seems to continue reading the magazine past the movie excerpts, Twilight opens her own book and reads. She's too focused on Daniel to read anything coherently, she glances back at him again and he looks very passive, occasionally observing outside the window as the grass and trees zip by steadily. Are all humans like this, as whimsical and passive as him? She has her doubts, she assumes he's very different from the rest of his kind, if there are any anywhere. All the before-talk about cars, planes, jets, how ponies aren't like how they are here. Dull but still as expressive, what's that supposed to mean? Are they gloomier or just have trouble expressing themselves?

Daniel glances out of the window, their train is approaching a station, he asks a little confused,

"I thought this was a one-way trip?" Twilight's distracted with her lingering thoughts, but replies after taking a moment to register they've stopped,

"Oh, this is a station along the way. I didn't say it was a one way trip, was just a train ride to there." Did she say one-way or is he mistaken? Thinking back, it may be him. Several dozen ponies come off and come on the train, seemingly several families. Some board their cart, they take a few secret looks at Daniel. The ponies in Ponyville know him well enough, the ponies out here don't however. Good thing she requested an escort when they reach Canterlot, the high class ponies might..ogle a little.

A family of two, a mother and filly sit on the opposite double sided seat, the filly looks bored while the mother looks occupied with her makeup. She scoots down her own seat back and forth, her mother silently gestures for her to stop and the filly meekly listens, deciding instead to inspect the train cart. She turns around and spots Daniel and tilts her head, curious about the foreign animal seemingly reading a magazine. Twilight tries to ignore it, but she's staring clear at Daniel, examining his body and most notably his hands. Her fur is a light beige, her eyes a lightly hued velvet and her mane a highlighted pale blonde. She meekly says,

"Hello..." Daniels looks around confused, spotting the large eyes staring at him in front of him, her hooves clasped tightly to the faux leather seat. He glances over at Twilight, she doesn't know what to say, so Daniel says shyly,

"Uhm..hi there." He does a little wave, the filly smiles, curiously asking,

"What are you?" Twilight looks towards the mother, she's still occupied with something else, not paying attention to her child. Daniel's not sure if he should be talking, but he says,

"I'm a human." She incorrectly repeats him,

"Hooman?" Daniel nervously smiles, answering,

"Oh, no. Human. Hue-man." She meekly repeats,

"Ah, sorry. Hyuuu?" Daniel nods, she continues, "Hyuuu..min." Daniel answers,

"Yes, 'hyuuuu min'. He mistakenly repeats her mannerism and stretches the word too, the filly silently chuckles to herself. The mother hears her child chuckling, saying an apparently pre-prepared apology as she turns towards them,

"Oh, I'm so sorry. She's so curious around-" She stares at Daniel, he nervously waves again. This feels familiar somehow. Twilight assures her,

"No, he's not a chimp. He's a.." she glances over to the filly, she looks worried, she tries to play along,

"He's a 'hyuuuu min'." The mother lifts an eyebrow, a little skeptical and frankly not sure how to feel, but her child chuckles at Twilights comment again. The mother comments,

"As long as he doesn't bite..go ahead sweetie." Daniel rolls his eyes a little peeved, reminded of being treated like an animal from animals. The filly happily hops over the seat, the mother sternly reminds her,

"Just stay in your seat sweetie, don't keep rocking back and forth; behave."

The filly happily nods to agree, further asking Daniel questions, upon questions, for the next half an hour; introducing herself as 'Letti'.

"Do you like it here?" Daniel simply answers,

"Yeah, I really like it here." Letti asks further,

"Do you have any friends?" Daniel answers her, counting with his fingers to show her a better representation,

"Well there's my good friend Twilight here, there's Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack." The filly eagerly asks another question,

"Do you like them?" Daniel makes a small laugh, answering sincerely,

"Yes, I like them -very- much." She asks,

"Do you -like- any of them?" She mischievously glances over to Twilight, she looks to Daniel with a light blush and darts her eyes. She answers for Daniel,

"No, we're not..together." She feels a little uncomfortable at the thought of -liking- Daniel, he has a wonderful personality, but she doesn't want to grow too attached. She doesn't seem to take the species difference into account though. The mother tells her daughter upon hearing that answer,

"Letti sweetie, don't ask too many personal questions. Them -liking- each other is their own business. Say you're sorry." Letti meekly looks down, apologizing to them both,

"Sorry.." Twilight tries to ignore the mother's comment, trying to compose her flustered expression. She lets Daniel take it from here as she stuffs a magazine to her face while she does it. Letti continues asking,

"Where are you from? I'm from Manehattan." Daniel answers, noticeably unsure,

"Uh, I actually don't know..I guess you could say I'm from Ponyville, I live there. I remember 'Earth', but I don't remember where I was there." The filly seems a little puzzled at that answer, Daniel doesn't feel like answering that kind of question and instead asks her,

"Well where are you and your mother going, stopping by Canterlot for a visit?" She smiles and answers,

"Nope, we're heading home." She points with her hoof out the window, pointing at..water? Twilight pops her face out from magazine, looking out the window as well, confused. She sees a bay and a distant silhouette of buildings. She gets out of her seat and says out loud,

"Wait, what??" She's confused, they were on the train to Canterlot, why are they heading towards Manehattan? The mother looks over her shoulder, asking,

"Is something wrong?" Daniel asks,

"What, this isn't Canterlot?" The mother answers for Twilight, still staring out the window in disbelief,

"No, Canterlot is 200 miles that way.." She points in the opposite direction they're heading in. 200 miles?

"W-Whaa..?" Twilight's amazed she had this much of an oversight, in complete disbelief over her mistake, she wipes her face with her hoof. Daniel asks,

"200 miles? We're -that- far off?" He looks confused, staring at Twilight. Letti joins in too, not sure what to think of their disbelief, she blankly stares at Twilight, waiting for her to answer him. Twilight's not sure what to say, speechless, saying,

"I...made a mistake." She smiles nervously and tries to lightly laugh, but she just looks down; knowing she made a biggie mistake. Daniel tries to comfort her,

"It's alright Twilight, we can just take a train back." She sighs, that's true. She looks outside, commenting,

"Well, they're gonna be mad that we're late, but better late than never.." The train pulls up at the station, several ponies with suits litter the area, Daniel looks at the buildings in the distance and says,

"Feels familiar." Twilight raises her eyebrow, asking,

"It does? You've been here before?" Daniel shakes his head, puzzled a little by his own comment, continuing, "No, the buildings look familiar. I've never been here before." Is a strange thing for him to say. The mother stands up, gesturing over to her daughter, saying,

"Come on Letti sweetie, time to head home." Letti smiles, hopping off her seat beside her mother, waving at Twilight and Daniel.

"Bye Danny, bye Twilight!" They both wave politely as the mother and her get off the train. Twilight scoots out of her seat, Daniel follows, walking outside of the train they look around and Daniel personally takes in the familiarity. Following silently behind Twilight to the ticket booth, they both wait in line for another ticket. Twilight floods her mind, determined to get it right,

'Canterlot Main Station, 4 PM, Canterlot 4 PM, Canterlot 4 PM' Their turn in line, she determinately requests,

"4 tickets to Ponyville, 2 PM."

Wrong.

Wrong..

Wrong!

She puts her hoof to her face again, she corrects herself slowly,

"Scratch that.. 2 ticket to Canterlot. 4 PM."

Right!

"I'm sorry, but that's not possible."

What?

She glares at him, confused, spurting out loud again,

"Wait, what??" The pony in the booth explains,

"Track reportedly got torn out, train got derailed because some fools decided to leave a cart parked on the track. Nopony got seriously hurt, but all trains to and from here to there have been stopped and returned indefinitely. Take a look." The pony points past her, a train that left in the direction of Canterlot is pulling up backwards back to the station. The ponies aboard yell and complain on the way back, one yells out they have a business meeting in an hour.

Twilight rests her head in the booth counter and groans, annoyed at the amount of delays they're getting. Daniel pats her back, asking the booth pony,

"How long until the tracks are fixed?" He answers,

"Well they have to move the train first, get a crew out there to do that. Then have to get transport for the individual carts, the actual train engine, and THEN-" Daniel interrupts for Twilight's sake, she lightly bangs her head against the counter in complete disbelief,

"How long, short answer please." The booth pony rolls his eyes,

"A week at the least. Sorry folks." Daniel taps Twilight's shoulder, she gets the point and walks with him away from the station. She angrily groans,

"Uuugh! Great, even more late now." She sighs, "Let's find a place to stay then.." Back to delays then..

As they walk through the city, Twilight notices Daniel look at everything peering his eyes, he's never been here before. Why is everything so familiar to him? She asks as they reach a crosswalk,

"Are you alright? Another headache?" He assures her,

"N-No, no. Just that this place feels..eerily familiar. The buildings and..roads. They all do.." He gazes at the building's sides and looks into stores, he can't get over it. Ding! The crosswalk sign lights up, Twilight yanks his shirt with her magic as they walk down the crosswalk. Several multitudes of hammering can be heard, as well as a..jackhammer? Daniel looks to the street corner, a scaffolding as a frame around a construction site, several ponies are scattered all across the property, basically brandishing plaid shirts and construction grade equipment. Tearing up a foundation of a previous buildings, the ponies use jackhammers and sledgehammers to knock down and chisel away remaining exposed supports and underground foundations. A male pony lugs over a jackhammer and reaches into his pocket, pulling out goggles and...ear muffs.

Daniel freezes in place, Twilight continues on assuming he's right beside her.

"Don't fuck up..don't fuck up...you -need- this.." His voice echoes throughout his head, he thinks,

'Shut up you monster.'

But it's not the monster, he's not having a headache, it's his own clear voice. It's talking to someone.

"I won't mess this up, I can't. I promise you."

They feel cold in his stomach, those words. They don't feel true, they don't feel like he meant it. He doesn't believe himself, he starts to feel empty and his stomach starts hurting for some strange reason.

Twilight makes it across, suddenly becoming aware of her missing companion. She looks back at Daniel, he's frozen staring at the construction site. She yells,

"Hey! Daniel, move!" He snaps out of it. His senses come back and he hears several ponies, most notably a taxi pony pulling a taxi cart, yelling at him in a thick accent.

"Hey, blockhead! Watch we're you're going, get out of the road you schmuck!" Daniel runs towards Twilight, the pony drivers grudgingly drive on, Twilight pulls his short down to her gently with her magic,

"Daniel, what are you doing?? You're supposed to -cross- a crosswalk, not stand in it!" She looks furious, angered that he could have been seriously hurt if the carts weren't waiting for him. He answers, looking saddened and a little confused,

"I..I-I'm sorry, I just.." He glances over to the site again, but looks away, not wanting to feel empty again. He shakes his head, walking in the same direction they were originally headed in. He says,

"L-Let's just go..the hotel's around the corner, right?" He continues on without letting her answer, Twilight determinately trots after him. Concerned, she asks,

"Daniel, what's wrong?" He answers her quickly,

"Nothing, don't..don't hang on it. I just..got distracted."

She doesn't believe him. She tugs at his shirt collar as he speed walks forward, he gags as he stands back in place,

"Gah!" Twilight asks insistently,

"Daniel. Please. Talk to me." He looks back at her, inadvertently also looking at the construction site. Twilight notices his fixation, she stands on her hind legs and waves in front of him, snapping him out of his seemingly in-depth gaze. Daniel feels his forehead, saying,

"Twilight, I'll talk about it later. I just..I just really need to get away from -here-. It feels wrong and it..it makes -me- feel wrong." She notices he looks disturbed or scared, seemingly a mix of both. She rubs his arm, trying to be a caring friend,

"Alright, but..we'll talk about this later. Let's just get ourselves a room then." She compromises, she guides him down the street as he slowly works his way out of his weird mannerism. They round the corner, spotting the hotel she looked up on her way out of the station. She can't remember the name, a bellboy waits outside the door as they approach, he duly opens the door saying,

"Afternoon ma'am and-..er." Twilight waves her hoof, conveying Daniel to,

'Forget it.'

He takes the hint and walks with her inside, the bellboy pony looks confused. They both head inside, the overall interior screams five star class, Daniel brings out his wallet. He jokingly remarks,

"Well I was going to get a souvenir or two..but I guess this'll do." Twilight would have offered to pay, but she didn't bring any money for the trip. She didn't expect to get stranded so far away from their initial destination, she knows Canterlot extremely well, and even some of the on-duty guards know her. Just lucky Daniel deemed to think ahead. Getting a room goes over smoothly, albeit he had to pay for a week and that's expensive enough as it is.

Taking an elevator together, Twilight looks at Daniel, he's staring at the endless mirror. He waves his hand and opens it, wiggling his fingers, he moves his hand across from his right to his left. So childish.

Ding.

Elevators arrived, Twilight looks to the left and right, repeating the room number they were given,

"202, 202.." She spots 202 and trots over, sighing in relief

"Well, we can finally relax now." Daniel speed walks over, tugging his roomkey clasped to his belt loop and inserts it into the lock. With a left turn, it clicks, he pushes.

Door's stuck.

Twilight looks down, she looks defeated again.

"Never mind."

Daniel tries to budge it open with his shoulder, to no avail. It's not budging.

"Grr.." He sounds a little angry as well. He adds on,

"I'll break it down if we have to." Twilight puts her hoof on his leg, probably wisely discouraging,

"Please don't make us lose the security deposit, let's just get someone to-" Daniel backs up until the hallway, determined to open it. Twilight holds his collar with her magic, sternly ordering him,

"Daniel, stop it." He sighs and walks over, he feels defeated now. He says,

"Fine, let's go get someone." He leans his back on the door, it opens and he falls backwards into the room.

"Whaaa-!" He falls square on his back and lands on an object, sending a sharp pain all across his back and he flinches.

"Gah, f-fuck!" He rolls onto his side and grasps the object, a small grey door stop probably left by the previous tenant. Twilight stares at it intensely, grasps it with her magic, then promptly throws it in a trash bin in the corner of their hotel room. She sighs again, saying,

I just wanna lie down, we walked all around the city to get here. I just want to go to bed." She steps inside as Daniel inspects the bathroom, it looks -very- neat. Twilight stops dead in her hooves, staring into the middle of the room. Daniel peaks his head out, noticing her staring into the room, he asks,

"Twilight, what's the problem now?" He standsbeside her and sees it.

They've only got one bed.

"Fuck." Daniel looks surprised at her. She deemed it worthy..

--

"Where is he?"

"Where are they?"

"They were supposed to be here hours ago.."

Fluttershy taps her hoof on the train station deck, the station for Ponyville looks strangely empty.

"Even Twilight doesn't say anything, how could they-" She sniffles, feeling a little betrayed. She tries to assure herself,

'It's okay, it's okay. Twilight's responsible, she'd look after him if he got into trouble. I'm sure they're jus staying over late..yeah, they must be.'

She looks to the booth pony, trotting over and she asks out of curiosity,

"Is the Ponyville train running late?" The booth pony answers her,

"No, got derailed earlier this afternoon. Tracks closed for repairs."

Her heart sinks, she mumbles angrily.

"Twilight...h-he was supposed to be saf-....how could you.."

"How -dare- you."

Author's Note

Plot twist!

http://youtu.be/pX613U_DWzE?t=1m3s

This is also how I (realistically) tell my stories, only not with the godly voice of Stamper <3 c:

But seriously, I kind of enjoyed writing this not-so-pleasant-for-them experience. :D Will continue the next chapter either later today or tomorrow morning, still a bit early to call it a day.

I have a feeling I might make a few more chapters at this pace, I feel like 8 is too short for how it's going so far. Still a lot to explore, and as you can see, a lot of 1 on 1 time to be had.

So..yeah, might be a lot more to come. I again appreciate all the feedback and comments, positive or negative, it helps with deciding what comes next and what's okay and not okay for any viewers. Keep it coming, at the time of writing this I see the views are at 383. Almost at the 400 mark! So much motivation!