'Oh god..' floods in his mind.

'Ohgosh..ohgosh..ohgosh..' rapidly fills her thoughts.

Knock.

'What?' the question pops in his head. What was that? Daniel glances up at the window, seeing a familiar and distinct blend of colored hair smushed against the window pane, trying to peer inside.

'What the f—'

Dash is outside the window, flying alongside the train trying to get a better view and skim for her friends. She peers inside to see if anyone's there, managing to make out Daniel's clothing color. She thinks to herself as she places her hooves above her eyes to block the reflection, 'Ah! Stupid sun.. Oh, there you are! And Pink-..'

Dash's eyes flare up in surprise and she backs away from the window when she sees Daniel on top of Pinkie, Pinkie's hind legs clasped around his waist. Daniel pushes down and sits up in a panic, Pinkie still clasped around his neck and her legs around his waist comes along for the quick jerk back upwards.

She snaps out of her train of thought and asks nervously, "What?.. What is it Danny?" She doubts herself, thinking she's done something wrong that made him sit up, pondering at him staring towards the window. After a few tense seconds of needless worry, she glances in the direction he's staring in and her heart sinks as a flicker of panicked thought sparks at the sight of the oh-so familiar rainbow mane. 'Dashie??' Pinkie lets go of Daniel immediately and scoots away, trying to back up their previous advances.

Dash holds her mouth closed with her hooves and flies backwards, somehow still keeping up with the train as she gets flustered. Waving her front legs side to side, she panics and spurts out loud, "Nononono, d-don't let me stop you!" She glances to the right, seeing them rapidly approach a railroad sign. She ducks the oncoming sign and flies speedily to the next car, trying not to freak out over the sight of her friends clasped on top of each other. Daniel thinks, 'Oh god dam- why the heck did she go outside to look inside!' He sinks in his seat, embarrassed at the whole situation in a whole.

Pinkie asks Daniel nervously, "D-Do you think she saw?"

Daniel looks at her without moving his head and remarks, "Yes Pinkie, I think she saw." . He immediately regrets his decision to say it like that and scolds himself, 'Shut up Daniel, shut up..'

Over in the other car, Applejack and Rarity are reading some magazines, Twilight is across from them reviewing her notes she's prepared thus far in anticipation for the body examination. She mutters under her breath as she flips through the journal, "..Abomination..construction...work laborer.."

Thunk.

Twilight looks up from the journal, hearing a thick bump noise from somewhere nearby. She asks Applejack, "Did..you hear that?" Applejack nods and they hear it again.

Thunk.

"Ow!" Dash yelps as she bumps into the window pane again, trying to enter the wrong train car. She mistakenly thinks she left this window open and that this is the car she originally left. Applejack promptly gets up from her seat and approaches the origin of the noise as Rarity picks up on it as well. Opening the window, she narrowly misses a large streak of blue from striking her in the face. Apparently faced with a closed window, Dash decides to use brute force to get through; Poorly.

Dash rolls along the train's wood floor, she groans as she rolls into the wall upside down from the little crash, her hind legs facing upward and her wings ruffled. Rolling herself right side up and shaking her head in a daze, she gets her bearings back. Applejack scolds her as she walks over, "The heck are 'ya doing outside the train? 'Ya know there's a skylight, right?". She can't seem to resist questioning her friend's logic, despite seeing the blue Pegasus tumble through the window. Ignoring Applejack's comment, Dash decides to blurt out to them all,

"Guys! I saw Dan and Pinkie..err.." She rubs the back of her neck, thinking over what she had just seen. Rarity raises her eyebrow in mild curiosity, the other two questioning what she's trying to say and why she seems flustered. Twilight puts some of her prior knowledge to work and assumes that Rainbow just spied on them kissing, an expected behavior with Rainbow's curiosity. Twilight scolds Dash, using the beginning of her name to convey she's serious,

"Rainbow, you need to leave them alone. They're close and you shouldn't be spying on them kissing; acting like a curious little filly." Twilight adds a comment in her own head, 'I'm weirded out by the whole idea of it too, but you don't see me spying on them..'

Dash tries to explain, unwisely trying to say it without saying it, "No, they weren't kissing! They were..uhmm—" The overzealous blue pegasus starts to doubt her decision to blurt it out like that. Regardless, she feels compelled to continue, "..Daniel was—". She starts to regret saying it like that, too late for that.

Twilight eggs her on, probing for further details, "What? What were they doing?" She gets impatient at her stuttering.

Dash finishes her sentence, "Dan was on top of Pinkie, it looked like they were going to..heh.." Twilight interrupts Dash's explanation, her face a blush with red as she yelps out loud.

"What!?"

In the other car Daniel hears Twilight's familiar 'surprised' tone, consequently sinking down lower into his seat. Pinkie hears her as well and sinks down into her seat, thinking, 'Ooookay they know, eep..' She feels embarrassed, Dash having to see her and Daniel that way; though they haven't made any actual physical contact during that little embrace. It ended before it could even start. She scoots away from Daniel and holds her arm, feeling trace amounts of shame although they didn't do anything wrong in her eyes.

In the other car with the others, Rarity covers her mouth and inadvertently fuels Dash's discovery, "Oh my..I didn't think Daniel would be that brash."

Applejack discovers her friend's view on it and admits, "...Oh! Ah didn't think of it like that." Applejack picks up on what she meant by on top of each other taking her friend a little too literal. Though she seems equally as uncomfortable with the discovery.

Dash unwisely decides fuels her own gossip with a very short comment, "I know, right!"

Twilight shakes her head, not wanting to think about it like that. She tries to force it out of her head, she pleads to Rainbow, "Rainbow, stop. Just..stop talking please." She tries to gather her thoughts, simultaneously trying to keep them all in line and out of their easy-to-instigate candid conversation; despite her efforts, her mind is not exactly clean about it either. Attempting to stop their gossiping any further, fueled by Rainbow and her curiosity discovering something inappropriate going on in the other train car; Twilight opens the door to the neighboring car with her magic and decides to have a little talk with Daniel.

Dash expects to come along or spy again, fluttering her wings to fly, she tries to follow. However, a now vigilant Applejack bites onto the end of her tail and holds her back as she starts to get off the ground. Applejack yanks her back down to the floor with her tail between her teeth, remarking to Dash while closing the door behind Twilight, "Ah think you've done enough there missy.". Dash looks disappointed.

Daniel hears the hoofsteps approach, Pinkie scoots away again to distance themselves a bit. Neither of them bother to look to see who it is, it's quickly identified by a serious voice addressing Daniel.

"Dan. We need to talk."

Twilight stands beside long seat, looking over to Pinkie near the window. Pinkie darts her eyes away once they make eye contact she rubs her arm again, a little ashamed at their apparently inappropriate display being found out. Twilight jerks her head to the right, gesturing for him to get up and follow into the halfway walkway between the train cars. Daniel complies silently, keeping his eyes to the ground, tempted to look back at Pinkie.

But Twilight closes the train door with her magic as he steps inside the confined space, isolating them away from each other. She asks him directly, "Dan, what were you two doing in there?" He feels the back of his neck, trickles of sweat still from those tense moments on top of Pinkie.

He answers before Twilight feels the need to ask it again more insistently, "I was with Pinkie and we were.." An angry thought sparks in his head, 'Fucking Dash..ugh..' as he tries to finish his sentence. Twilight interrupts him before he can continue, she flares up a little in her sternness.

"You two can't be doing that, especially on a public train. There are other ponies on board." she argues.

He sighs and angrily thinks, 'Of course you'd assume that. Same as Rainbow probably.' He tries to explain, though he doesn't think Twilight would believe him when he starts. "Twilight, Pinkie and I haven't even—". He stops himself again mid-sentence, the realization feels jarring. It's true, they haven't even kissed once the entire time they've known each other. Can he call that a relationship that calls for it? She's been so supportive and friendly, she was especially during his recovery, but does friendliness and supportive call for that? The thought rattles in his head as Twilight cuts off the sudden pause.

"Uh-huh." She sounds disinterested in his excuse. She closes her eyes in frustration, interpreting his pause as a sign of guilt instead. Twilight comments along the lines of it, "Then why does Pinkie look like she's ashamed in there?".

Daniel blurts out the excuse, "Wha— Because Rainbow decided to spy on us! Of course we'd be embarrassed if we just got spied on! Pinkie and I were just—"

She interrupts him, "Laying on top of each other?"

Daniel freezes at her attentive response, he doesn't have a rebuttal for that. Is she assuming -that- or otherwise? He doesn't have the chance to think on it as Twilight says sternly to him, still assuming they were going to do much more than just kiss, "I think it might be best if you two sit separately on the way back.". She attempts to reason with it, realizing she sounds a little unfair. "Dan, you're going to be physically examined by some biologists that I've personally taken some lessons from. They need you to be as level as possible with your mood and body. Among other things, I need you to be level headed." She puts her hoof on his right thigh and pleads, "I might have some help with your nightmares too. I promise, it's not a doctor, but it's something important for you. Just work with me."

He mutters, "Fine, fine. Just..I'll sit in another train car. Just please explain it to Pinkie, she looked like she was..expecting something." He puts his back to the wall and scoots past her into the next train car, actually populated by other ponies onboard; they were closer than he thought. Daniel keeps on walking until he reaches a seemingly empty train car, somewhere down near the back end of the train. He feels like he needs to calm himself, for whatever reason Twilight wants him to do it for. Twilight duly follows his request once he's out of sight and goes back inside the train car with Pinkie, still sat near the window holding her arm like a young filly waiting for punishment. Twilight tries to sympathize and explains,

"Pinkie, I told Dan you two need to be separated. At least until after the trip to Canterlot, I don't mean to separate you two like this, but it's for his own good. I don't mean to make you think I'm condemning you two, honest." She places her hoof along the end seat and paws at the faux leather material, gesturing for her to follow as she continues, "Come on, I'll explain it to you with everypony else in the other car." She sounds a little moody saying that, taking a mental note to remember to scold Dash not to poke her nose into somepony else's personal business in the future.

Pinkie glances over and asks hopefully, "Really?.." Twilight perks up a little smile and assuredly nods. Despite Pinkie's self doubts that have popped up for the past minute or so, she knows she can trust her friend. She scoots out of the seat and obediently follows Twilight, accepting their separation thinking, 'If it's for his own good, okay then..'.

Daniel eventually finds a seemingly empty train car and sits near a window seat, he decides to lie back along the stretch of the seat and just think. He momentarily decides, 'I can't be mad at Twilight..' as he sighs. The whole of how he's gotten to known her is smart, decisive, if a bit adorkable by his own description; but he knows she doesn't mean to be cruel about it. He ponders, 'Wonder what the help is supposed to be. What's it supposed to be if it's not a doctor, medicine?' It doesn't effect him as far as he can recall. He places his forearm over his eyes and tries to blanket everything out, he might have been thinking too much about this when she explained the reasoning for their separation. He mutters angrily to himself, commenting on his own indecision of not asking Twilight more about it,

"Probably should have fucking asked her then.". He's surprised by a soft voice asking him something in turn.

"..what should you have asked?"

He moves his arm and sees a familiar set of green and blue hued eyes staring down at him from the top of the back of the seat. Fluttershy tilts her head and waits for a response, she looks oddly calm for hearing him swear. Daniel exclaims, "Oh! Er, hi. Sorry, I'm just..a little stressed."

She quietly asks, "Can I sit with you?" Daniel's surprised at her request, but he doesn't bother to question it with enough already on his mind.

He answers her with a simple yes, "Yeah, sure." He scoots himself down the seat and pulls up his knees to leave her some room to sit. As spacy as a train seat is, they're still not made for his size. Fluttershy walks around the seat, scooting herself inside and tucking her wings in. She pulls her hind legs up and sits up, placing her hoof on his forehead, to Daniel's surprise. He glances up at her and she just very lightly smiles when they make eye contact, Daniel starts to feel a little uncomfortable.

He asks her, "Er, Fluttershy. Just curious, why are you all the way back here?"

She seems bemused, but she answers calmly, "It's quiet." How innocently simple. He doesn't have a chance to speculate her simple answer, as she in turn asks, "Why are you back here Danny..weren't you sitting with Pinkie?"

He assumes she knows of Pinkie and Dan's little embrace, as the others seem to know thanks to a spying blue pegasus. He explains, "Twilight said Pinkie and I should be separated for the trip back, so I guess I'm just back here waiting out the trip." She gently strokes his forehead without inquiring further, Daniel's a little curious of her behavior, but otherwise calmed by her display of subtle care. He knows she's caring and like this with her animals especially, he assumes she's just curious.

She slowly darts her eyes away and admits something, "I..I was waiting for you guys to get back, I thought that whole train de-railing incident had you two on board.." Daniel looks back up at her, she looks sad as she continues to recall it, "..I got mad at Twilight before I learned that it was -after- you guys left and you two weren't on that train.."

Daniel explains that gap in time, "Yeah, about that..Twilight booked the wrong train and we went to..what, Manehattan?" He's unsure if he's saying that correctly, but he continues, "We learned about it too by the time we got off and tried getting a train back. The train ticket pony told us that it'd be a week until they got it fixed, so we stayed at a hotel. Was short lived, Twilight told me we were leaving in the morning. Surprise, surprise, you guys came aboard the train." He half smiles explaining that last bit, he's glad to have seen them on board when it arrived.

She darts her eyes away and meekly explains, "I know.. I got Twilight's letter first.."

She got the letter first? Daniel raises his brow and asks, "You got the letter? So she sent it to you?"

She nods and continues petting Daniel's forehead softly, sharing a little more, "I calmed down a little..it was dark and I was a little out of it at the time. I went to Applejack's first and we got the others..she said we should do something, so we worked all night.." Daniel feels grateful, though he doesn't get a chance to say it as he notices her smile a little. She adds on, "I was relieved to know you two were okay." She scoots away and gently lies back, laying her opposite beside his.

Unexpectedly, she rubs her nose against his cheek, she meekly reiterates her previous statement with a shy little smile, "I was glad to know you were okay..".

Daniel sighs with a smile and reminds her, "Fluttershy, you don't need to worry about me anymore.". He moves his right hand up and gently pets the top of her mane with the upper part of his fingers, she flinches a little, but doesn't pull away. She's not as accepting to physical contact as Pinkie, but she seems to understand the gesture all the same and lets him continue. Daniel explains, "Apparently Twilight has something that could help me with my nightmares..whatever it is. I'll be fine, I trust her.". She doubts it silently, thinking objectively,

'Don't lie to me..you keep getting hurt over and over again..and each time it just gets worse..' She feels a balling pressure in her stomach, an overwhelming feeling of guilt.

She grasps his hand with her hooves and pulls it to her chest, holding his hand in place without saying another word. Daniel flinches at the action, but she weakly holds his hand there. Daniel thinks to yank his hand away from her, but he stops himself upon remembering how she was not too long ago. 'Course she would have been worried..' he thinks to himself. 'Repeating severe headaches, nightmares from an abomination that stalks my dreams, a knife to my gut..'. He realizes how she must feel, she patched him up from a broken mess, only to see him gradually get messed up all over again.

He closes his eyes and lets her hold onto his hand, he can faintly feel her heart beat on the top part of his hand with it held so close, she lightly hugs his wrist as she feels subdued. Daniel can't tell if she's trying to comfort him or if she wanted him to comfort her, but he just stays silent all the same. 'Maybe she needs this..' clicks in his mind as she starts to stroke his hand.

Fluttershy thinks objectively, 'If they won't care for your well being..then I will.'

She nuzzles his hand and continues her inner endearment,

'I'll never let you go..'

She gently guides his hand over to her left cheek, she feels sensitive to his touch as her cheeks run pink from contact. She furrows her brow as she thinks determinedly,

'..I won't let you get hurt..'

His hand feels soothing against her fur, she feels like he's trying to silently console her. Her heart starts to beat rapidly as she lowers her eyes, her head rushes with feelings of compassion and tenderness. Her mind racing, her heart starts to go a flutter as her breathing begins to shallow. Fluttershy lightly touches her lips against his palm, a subtle kiss as an unseen sign of her affection.

She gently nips a finger.

'...You're -mine- to care for.'

Author's Note

Is short, needed to learn how to improve on formatting. Hope it came out well. :D Thank you to KitsuneNoYomeiri for providing some criticism and tips, I hope to improve further down the line and perhaps reformat the previous chapters once the story is concluded to make it easier to read for others.

Will probably work on the next chapter later today if I can, have been up all night, is currently 8:24 AM at the time of typing this. So I'm heading to bed. Been in a bit of slump, mostly personal stuff keeping me away from the site other than the apparent need to reformat, but nothing to worry about at all.

Have this cute little picture, to everyone else that has watched and read thus far. I've gotten over 660 views, and have been getting a few more favorites for the past 2 days, so I'm happy :D Though will admit that as I write this, the 22 views have been my own since I've been bouncing back and forth to edit the chapter. I still thank you all that have read this far!

So simple, but I love this picture below. https://derpibooru.org/337398?scope=scpeb1611568b53faa68bb8386a624282b6a5cf57a45

One of my favorite lines to have typed is still Pinkie leaping onto Daniel's face, seemingly trying to assimilate. This picture gives a good representation of how I imagined it as, but on the back of an anon's head instead of on his face.

https://derpibooru.org/355505?scope=scpeb1611568b53faa68bb8386a624282b6a5cf57a45