The Forest… For a city boy, Dan felt comfortable in the middle of a forest, it always gave him this childish idea that he was in some forbidden woods searching for never before seen ruins or creatures. As the years went on, and the more he took on his family’s favorite past time, he certainly got to see or even stalk interesting animals. Nothing rare or never before seen, hunting one of those was a lawsuit waiting to happen if not jail time. He would just attend hunting seasons, participate in any overpopulation threats, or even get dragged by his father to hunt an animal that was harassing a farmer. More often than naught, he’d end up in a forest. Much like the one he was in right now.

It was dense, unfamiliar, and somewhat dark. So many trees, so little sunlight. The whole time he just stood in that spot and looked around. Why was he here? Where was he? Was he back on Earth? Was everything that he experienced about Equestria one long dream after he hunted that unicorn? Did he pass out in the middle of the forest from shock? No, again, the forest was dense. Last he remembered when he shot that talking unicorn, there weren't enough trees to block out the sunlight like this… So it really did happen, and he’s in another world, but he was forgetting something, this much he knew.

He suddenly felt uneasy. Was something off? He looked around…. He saw nothing, but he did sense something-ABOVE! Something within himself was warning him of something above him, His legs barely managed to obey his brain’s command as he side jumped as far as he could before tucking into a roll. It was then that he noticed how he narrowly dodged a large beast pouncing onto where he once stood. “Ah, Crap! What the hell?!” When he was back on his feet he instinctively gave a wide berth of space between him and the creature. After getting a good look he was shocked to see it was a Manticore. The Manticore he just killed. How did he know? The hole in his head was still there. “Holy Crap, Zombie Beast!” His hand went down to his side only to end up grabbing his pants. His Desert Eagle wasn’t there, and he had no rifle strapped onto his back. “You’ve got to be kidding me here. What is going on?!” Not giving him any more time to think, the Manticore lunged at him, only for Dan to narrowly break out of his stupor and dodge it again, then kick off running.

“This can’t be happening, this can’t happening, this can’t be HAPPENING!” he chanted as he could hear the creature chasing after him. “Why the hell am I even here?!” he vaulted over a rock and rounded a large tree only to see the Manticore reached the other side before him and lunge for him again. “AAAUGH!” The only thing he could think of was to duck and slide under the beast, narrowly dodging its claws as it passed by above him and he immediately got to his feet and ran as fast as he could. “OH MY GOD, I’m gonna die! I’m gonna die in a dark forest alone with this thing picking at my bones!” He panted as his body was on autopilot frantically running through the forest. “What is up with my life?!”

He ran and ran and ran, surprisingly not even feeling tired, but he just chalked that up to fear as fuel to his engine on running away. He had no direction, just a primal goal to stay alive. Something within him felt like this was a correct response, yet at the same time, it made him feel somewhat frustrated about it. He immediately felt that he could do better, but at the moment there wasn’t anything he could think of or see that could help his situation. Suddenly he felt an ominous feeling just behind him. Then the image of his death crossed his mind and reflexively he made a hard juke to the side, just to barely dodge a giant paw smashing into the ground where he just was. “AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!” he screamed and back jumped away from the beast as far as he could until he slammed his back into a tree. “OH SHI-” he narrowly ducked under a swipe that lopped off the upper half of the tree he slammed against. The wood tilted and toppled over with a thud that could be felt on the ground. However, he was more distracted by the sinister looking lion face glaring down at him. This was it, this was where he would die… The beast lunged at him, once again. There was nothing he could do…

YEAH RIGHT!

Keep Clawing your way through life! He socked that Manticore right in the nose as hard as he could, the force knocked the beast’s face away from him, however he did so when it was still in mid air, when the punch was delivered so the next thing Dan knew, he was about to experience two ton of mythical beast colliding into him.

~~~

Dan shot up in with a start, his eyes wide, a sharp intake of air, and his heart pounding. It was a few seconds after did he finally register his current whereabouts. He was sitting up on a large couch, a blanket seemed to be carelessly tossed off to the side of him, the majority was on the floor while some of it still rested on his leg. A look around and he could see that he was in that Library in a tree. Oh, right… I stay here now.... He thought as he calmed down and his memories recollected. It was the only place Twilight could think to put him at, of course, she and Spike seemed to avoid as much conversation as possible with him. He can take an educated guess it was still about his actual job… that or the fact that he eats meat. He couldn’t tell, he wouldn’t be surprised if both were the reason.

At least they fed him that night, granted he had to explain to Twilight that humans don’t eat daisy sandwiches or any flower for that matter, but at least there were some things that he could eat there, he didn’t have any meat yet, but even if he did, he wouldn’t cook it now. He was pretty sure it wouldn’t sit well with Twilight’s stomach. Spike, was a different story. He was a dragon, but he couldn’t tell if the little guy would handle it or not.

“Well, it looks like I got all that I needed to know.” Said Aegis as he “ghosted” out of Dan’s body to hover above and look back at him. “How disappointing.”

“Huh?” Dan yawned but was unclear on what the old stallion meant.

“That session with the manticore, I honestly had expected more from you after what happened in reality yesterday.” Aegis shook his head.

“Manti-wait! You saw that? Did you cause that!?” The groggy feeling Dan had was replaced with anger and annoyance toward the ghost.

“Aye, I wanted to evaluate what you are capable of now so I know how to train you from now on to become a better hunter than I was.”

“You... You crusty old fart-” Dan glared at the stallion, trying his best to emphasize his extreme displeasure with him without yelling too loudly and waking his two purple roommates upstairs. “That scared me half to death!”

“Impossible, despite all that, the one thing you do have in spades is enough vitality to avoid from dying from extreme shock. Otherwise, the shock of that beast lunging at you would kill you easily enough.”

……. “What?”

“Honestly it was a bit of a gamble from my part, you seemed pretty sturdy a fellow so I decided to give it a shot.” Aegis explained.

“I hate you…. I’d wish you would die in a fire but you're already DEAD.” Dan grumbled as he grabbed the covers from the ground and to place it over him, laid back down, turned away from Aegis, and closed his eyes. “I’m going back to bed.”

“Ah, perfect we can get to training right away, we’ve got a lot of work cut out for us to graduate you from that sorry state of a coward you acted like in that last session.”

“No! Sleeping is meant to recover from hard work, and you're just gonna exhaust me before I even get to see the sunrise?” Dan rebuttaled as he pointed toward Aegis without looking back to see if he was even pointing at him at all.

“Oh come now, what you experience in the dream won’t affect your body in reality, by the time you wake up from training, your body will be just as well rested as it would be if you had a normal dream.

“MY MIND WON’T BE!” Dan replied adamantly. “That’s a mental strain.”

Aegis rolled his eyes. “Oh quit being a baby, I turned out fine and you will too.” Aegis said before he floated back into Dan’s body.

“N-no, NO! You will NOT-gaaaah!” Was all Dan could say before he suddenly felt extremely tired. The last thing he saw was someone coming down from upstairs before sleep overtook him.

At that moment Spike was peeking down from the top of the stairs at the couch Dan slept on. “What in Celestia was that about? Does he mumble this loudly in his sleep or something?” He rubbed one of his eyes and yawned. Before heading back up to bed.

The rest of the night, and every night onward, Dan was forced to undergo an unforgiving training regimen of near death encounters under Aegis’ tutelage…

~~~~~~~~~~

The Following Morning

The morning after, Spike was on his way downstairs to start his morning routine and make some breakfast for everyone. As he rubbed the sleep out of his eye and reached the bottom step, the strangest thing caught his eye. Dan was off the couch, standing in front of it and away from him. Utterly motionless, he rivaled a statue with his Dedication. “”Uuuh, Morning?” Spike eventually said.

“Oh… you're up… Morning…… Spike, right?” Dan asked as he still faced away from him.

“Uuuh, yeah…. Can I ask, why are you standing there?” Over to Dan if one were able to see through his eyes, they would see that he was glaring at Aegis who seemed to be smirking at him. That just ticked Dan off even more.

“I can’t let him win...” Dan mumbled.

“What?” Spike raised an eyebrow, he couldn’t quite catch that.

Of course, Dan immediately recovered. “I uh, can’t GIVE IN, I said. I’m uuh training… mentally…” Dan hastily made up. Aegis snickered, which of course ticked Dan off even more since he knew why. After the umpteenth time being thrown into “dream training” Dan finally figured out that if he mentally defended his mind and kept his eyes on the old man. Aegis would be prevented from flying back into his body and inducing that heavy call to sleep like before. However, he had to learn about keeping his eye on the ghost the hard way after succumbing a few more times to get it right.

“Oh.” Spike blinked, “Well um, I’m gonna make some breakfast for all of us…. Pancakes… Can humans eat pancakes?”

“Spike, where I come from, we have a restaurant chain dedicated to pancakes. Just don’t put any flowers or jewels in it ok?” He mentioned after dealing with the “dinner debacle” last night.

“R-right.” Spike managed to say, He was now more curious of the human after hearing that.

Breakfast finished as soon as Twilight woke up. This time, the meal was much more enjoyable for Dan, now that they knew a human’s diet. However, it was shortened quite a bit thanks to the purple mare. It seemed she had something planned today, and it involved Dan. So with some speed eating and a trip to the bathroom, he was ready to go. “Ok, Twilight, so what’s with the sudden urgency?”

“We’re going to visit the girls today.” she said curtly

…. “Aaaand why? Are they dying or something?” Dan raised an eyebrow.

“What!? No! Why would you think that?!” she asked, shocked to hear such a question asked so casually.

“Well, I figured since this was supposed to be “urgent” I figured someone was dying or a monster suddenly appeared or something,” Dan pulled out his phone to check the battery. 57% Great…

Before Twilight could even reply to his question, she found herself glued to that device with intrigue “You keep, pulling that out from time to time, then you stare and poke at it. Why?”

Dan looked up at her from the screen. “It’s a smartphone, the Swiss army knife of phones. Even if it does autocorrect my texts to say the stupidest nonsense.”

Despite being confused about the use of the terms such as “autocorrect” and “text” she would be lying if she said she wasn’t intrigued to know more about the device. Actually, the word intrigued would probably be an understatement. Quite honestly she found Dan to be utterly fascinating since she has never come across a human before. At least to her knowledge. She didn’t know what a human was until yesterday. She wanted to just take him down to her lab and run a million tests and barrage him with two million questions. However, thanks to her friends she is learning moderation, as well as the phrase “A time and a place for everything.” And now, unfortunately, wasn’t that time. “Well, that aside, yesterday, admittedly we did not make the best impression with each other.”

“Can’t argue with that.” Dan said as he closed out of an app he was checking before putting the phone back in his pocket to focus his attention on her.

“Right, well, I’ve decided that today we should try again to get know each other more, and by we, I mean the girls as well. Seeing that we will be working with each other from now on. It’s best to take care of any issues with each other as soon as possible.” Twilight stated as she opened the front door with her magic and walked out of the library soon followed by Dan.

“I agree with you there, but I have serious doubts it’s gonna be as easy as you make it. They didn’t really part on the best of terms with me the other day.”

“Well can you blame them? What pony would after what they just saw?” Twilight replied

“I guess, so who do we hit first?” Dan asked. This made Twilight stop and look back at him only for him to sigh “Figure of Speech Twilight, I didn’t mean literally.”

“O-oh! Right, of course!” She knew the term but the event yesterday still weighed on her mind. “Well, I decided that we should start with Pinkie Pie. She’s the perfect candidate, to begin with, since she’s always ready to make a new friend.”

“Pinkie Pie… She did seem excited about throwing me a party before the… ‘incident’. So, that'd be great I guess.” He replied, “Parties are a great way to meet people.”

You think so?” Twilight looked back at him with a smile seeing that he was into making all this work.

“Yeah, though normally they’re hammered out of their minds and barely able to walk two steps without puking over their own shoes, so you generally don’t want to be near them, to begin with.”

Twilight’s face turned to that of disgust. “What kind of parties do you humans even have there?”

“Oh, that was just for frat parties and teenagers that like to drink booze while their parents are out of town cuz they're all about being rebellious and thinking their adults already.” He chuckled at that reminder. “Many teenagers can be stupid.”

…. “I’m not sure if you're being serious or messing with me.” Twilight raised an eyebrow.

Dan just shrugged “Maybe both, I’m really just fishing for a conversation at this point. Walking in silence is kind of awkward if you're walking with someone else.”

“You… Have a point.” And then it clicked for her. “Oh! That actually is perfect. Why don’t we do just that! It’ll be some time before we get there anyway. So we should get to know each other.” she had a smile going on. It was the perfect excuse for her to ‘casually’ barrage the boy with her most curious of questions.

“Well, that’s generally the idea.” He replied but he was getting a hint of the look in her eye that there was some ulterior motive to all this. It seemed harmless anyway and information sharing is important to him right now in a world he hardly knew anything about.

“Perfect, well then, you’re already aware of my name and who I am and I know why you are here. So we’ll start from there and ask questions back and forth.” Twilight suggested to which Dan just shrugged and nodded putting his hands in his pockets. “Excellent! Then I’ll go first. What were you doing before you took this job?”

“Wow, straight to the personal questions, huh? Alright then- Well I live in a place called Detroit, Michigan-” And so he began a brief explanation of his life on Earth, leaving Twilight utterly fascinated with that world’s technology, making her interest on Dan’s “smartphone” increase all the more.

“Wow, your world’s magic is so advance if you can create such devices.”

“No magic.” Dan replied as he looked up towards the skies. There was a cloud being pushed by a Pegasus from one group of clouds to the other. Ignoring the fact that they were quite literally manipulating water vapor like it was play dough.

“...Excuse me? Ahem, sorry, I think I misheard you, but it almost sounds like you said no magic.” she chuckled.

“I did. We have no magic in my world.” he said bluntly.

This realization didn’t hit Twilight right away, she stopped walking at first, causing Dan to do the same and look back at her with a confused look before he could ask if she was alright, she started stammering over her words until finally, she made a coherent “WHAT?! But that’s impossible!”

Dan just folded his arms and leaned to the side. “Oh? How so?”

“It-... It just can’t work that way. You claim that “smartphone” thing in your pocket can do so many things, but without magic?

“Yup.”

She shook her head “That can’t be! What other way could it possibly work in such a way that isn’t magic then?” She asked with a skeptical tone.

“Electricity, battery power to be precise.” He was smirking now as he pulled out his phone to look at it once again. He would really have to show her a thing or two about it. If only there was an internet connect-THERE’S WIFI!” He was shocked, he never really looked at the icon for it on his phone because he just assumed as much. Wouldn’t anyone else?... Now that he thought about it, the world clock on his phone seemed to be working as well… and so did the alarm each morning. He brushed it off at first thinking it was running on some kind of internal timer, but that’s not entirely how it worked. The thing would constantly update itself given his location in case he was in a different timezone and follow daylight’s saving as well…. No, no, none of this was adding up.

“Hey! Dan?! You alright? You’re making a weird face.” Twilight tilted her head and looked confused for a moment before suddenly she started grinning. “Ooooh, I get it. You were just bluffing, weren't you!? Can’t put your money where your mouth is, huh?”

….. On second thought. The astonishment could wait. This chick needed to be brought down a peg or two. He tapped on the phone’s browser app and he opened a tab and went to google. Twilight watched as his thumb furiously tapped on the screen part of the phone, though she couldn’t see what was on the screen that he would tap his thumb on so much. After a bit of time, his smug grin returned and he turned the phone around to face the screen at her. “Read it and weep, nerd.”

She glared at him, it was kind of rude for him to call her that just because she called him out on his bluff- That was when her eyes locked onto the screen. It was a Wikipedia page that explained electricity, in Equish no less. She decided to read it. She knew the basics of how electricity works and some rudimentary devices that used it, so this helped remind her that such a power source exists. “Ok, I see your point, but you can’t honestly expect me to believe that-” and then Dan swiped up to show more text. “Wh… What is this? How can this tiny thing fit more of this page?” she asked as she continued reading as it explained more in depth of the uses of electricity and the use of the foreign term “Electronics”. Dan tapped on that word since it was hyperlinked, and the page she was reading disappeared and then suddenly appeared an entirely new page talking about the word “Electronics”. “What?! How?!”

Dan smirked. “Keep reading and you might find out.” Suddenly his phone was pulled out of his grasp by a magic, magenta aura surrounding it and flew straight in front of Twilight’s face. “Hey!! be careful with that! Also, asking first would be nice.”

“This is… unbelievable...” she continued to read and thanks to Dan, learned how to scroll down for more info using the tip of her hoof. Then she found the process kind of fun and continued doing it. “What an interesting device I’ll admit, but with just two pages, I don’t see much value in this.” That’s right. It surprised her and perhaps someday in the future it might even hold a whole book’s work within it, but if that’s all it had then it’s really not all that great.

That’s when she heard Dan chuckling. “Done already? I guess you only read the first part of that electronics page and started playing around with the touch screen to notice didn’t you?” He took the phone as she tensed up, he got her there. “You haven’t even scratched the surface of it.” He then pointed to the device. “Think of every book and dictionary you’ve ever read in your life and that still wouldn’t even put a dent in how much knowledge you’d get from this thing here.” He replied as he started tapping away again at it.

“No…. You're bluffing!” She was shocked, but deep inside her, something wanted to him to be right.”

“Would I really act this smug if I wasn’t. Here, check it.” He then stood beside her, knelt down and pulled her close to him holding the phone in front of them. “Smile!”

“What are you do-Oh my Celestia! Is that us!? It just became a mirror!” she then heard the clicking sound of a camera shutter. In actuality he originally had that sound effect turned off, but he was just using it this time to rub it in for the little know it all. He then brought it close to them to get a better look. And there they were, on the phone's screen as if it were a photograph but much better quality with more realistic color and lighting and- “It’s so real…!”

This was when Dan stood up. “I’ll say it again, Twilight.” he then turned back to her with a big grin holding out his phone and tapping on the touch screen once more. Letting some music play.

“You haven’t even scratched the surface on what this thing can do!”

~~~

Sugarcube Corner

Pinkie, no surprise, was already up and energized like she just guzzled a few barrels of liquid Cotton Candy and finished off with an after dinner chocolate mint. However, all that energy was used to help the Cakes get their business up and ready for yet another day of hungry customers. “Pinkie, could you check on the oven? The next batch should be done any minute.” Said Carrot cake.

Pinkie had been helping Carrot setup cupcakes inside the glass display as Carrot’s wife was mixing up another batch in the making. This time with chocolate as the base for them. “You got it!” And before he could even blink, she was already gone and in the Kitchen, where Miss Cup Cake was working her magic.

“Ah Pinkie, How’s everything up front?” She asked as she just finished pouring the batter into the cupcake pan.

“Everything is ship shape port and starboard, Captain!!” Pinkie Saluted as she somehow managed to acquire an eye patch and bandana out of nowhere. “Arrr! 'Twas sent to the galley to check on the booty!”

Cup Cake smiled and rolled her eyes but played along. “Very Well First Mate. And what say you? Are they ready?”

Pinkie opened the oven and had a look inside. She then took a moment to make unnecessary gestures of rubbing her chin, glaring into the hot oven at the risen cupcakes within, as well as a lot of “Hmm”s coming out of her mouth before she finally nodded and pulled out a hot cupcake tray filled in each slot with a naked but fresh vanilla cupcake. She then gave a nod. “They are PERFECT!” she cheered before taking them out.

“I’ll handle those dear, You can just set them over here.” They then heard the sound of their front door opening. “Oh, it appears we have a customer already.”

“I’m on it!” she exclaimed just as she set the tray down and bounced her way to the front.

Meanwhile, Carrot was in utter shock at what he was seeing. He looked like he was about ready to bolt then and there when Pinkie arrived. Before she could even ask why she heard a familiar voice coming from the front door. “Uuuh, Twilight, the clerk over there looks like he’s about to freak out too…. Oh hey, the Pink one is over there too.”

Immediately she ran right over. “Hey, Twilight! Hey, Dan! Welcome to Sugarcube Corner! Here for something super duper yummy I bet!?

“Well, you’re half right on that one, bubble gum.” Dan stepped to the side to let Twilight in completely.

“Bubble gum?” Pinkie tilted her head and had an adorably confused look on her face.

“Why’d you call her that?” Twilight asked.

“Cuz she’s bubbly and just as pink as bubble gum. Surprisingly still cheery to meet me after… You know…. But hey, if you don’t like that I can call you Cotton Candy cuz of that wicked awesome hairstyle.” he joked, it was literally all he could think of and Twilight just face hoofed. “Or just your name is fine too if you don’t like those.”

“No… I LOVE IT!” Pinkie cheered and bounced so high in the air one would question if she was floating in place for a moment. Causing both Dan and Twilight to jerk back from the sudden outburst but just like that she zipped off and was now riding on Dan’s back. “Oooh if I’m Bubble Gum, then I’m gonna call you Danny!”

“Uh, yeah sure whatever floats your boat. Can you get off now?” he asked before reaching back and pulling the giggling pink fuzzball off his back. “Oh and you mind saying something to that guy over there before he gets a heart attack?” he looked past her to Carrot Cake who was locked in place wide eyed and in shock at what he was seeing.

When she looked back she just laughed “Oh don’t worry about it, He’ll be fine in a few minutes. OH! But where are my manners!?!? Let me introduce you to everypony here!!!” And so despite the light protest of Dan and Mommy & Daddy Cake. She started firing off introductions of Mr. and Miss. Cake, and their twins Pumpkin and Pound who WERE napping. But now that they were up and out of their crib, Thanks to Pinkie, they stared at the tall two legged “pony” and were immediately fascinated by him. “Awww, they want to play with you!”

“Wait, what? Uh, that’s... I don’t think- and you're giving them to me anyway, that’s fine...” and immediately found himself now holding the little tots in his arms as they reached out with their hooves to touch his face and scruffy goatee and started babbling away in baby gibberish. “Ah-hahaaa… yeah, that’s my face.” Despite the relative uneasiness he felt suddenly holding infant ponies, his body seemed to react instinctively to at least hold them with gentleness and care. Something that wasn’t missed by Cup and Carrot. It at the very least helped the two parents relax a little about the strange newcomer. “Pinkie, why don’t you take care of your friends while we deal with the twins, ok?” Cup asked as she trotted over to Dan. “I’ll take them off your hooves, dear.”

“Huh? Oh, uh sure..” he knelt down to let the actual mother take the little toddlers off him and toward the kitchen, no doubt to feed them their own breakfast, Dan could only assume it was like some kinda Gerber baby mush for ponies…. that or bag mushy oats or something.

Now you're just being racist. Dan heard from the back of his mind.

Shut up, gramps. You’d think the same too when the last time you saw a horse they couldn’t care less if they crapped on their own leg. This just… takes some getting used to so bear with me. He stood back up and noticed Pinkie and Twilight start chatting.

I know, I just felt like getting a rise from you.

“Seriously Aegis, come back to life so you can die in a fire...” Dan mumbled to himself

“What’s on fire?” Twilight managed to hear the end of his rant.

“It can’t be the cupcakes, I JUST pulled them out of the oven!” Pinkie defended.

“What? Oh uh, no I mean I was just saying “Wow, my guts…. on…. fire wwww-with hunger! Yeah!”

Seriously...? Aegis groaned

Well you're certainly not helping me out in this situation, douche..

What is this douche you speak of?

I’m done talking to you right now. Dan replied, meanwhile the two girls thought the phrasing was odd, more so for Twilight since breakfast wasn’t ALL too long ago. But she wouldn’t mind a cupcake before leaving.

“Well, in any case, Pinkie if you don’t mind, we would like something to eat. Cupcakes this time since you mentioned it has gotten me craving for some.” Twilight started pulling out some bits to pay for both their meals.

“Oooh! Perfect timing! They’re fresh too, You two have a seat and I’ll be back in a jiffy!!”

And so their first stop to help Dan get acquainted with the locals and the girls started off relatively well. Dan was still surprised to hear that Pinkie was still preparing the party for him. Another thing for him to note: “Jeez, This cupcake is awesome!” He managed to say as he was practically destroying his chocolate frosted and rainbow sprinkled one. “Screw those store bought ones!” he said before taking another bite

“Store bought?” Pinkie stated. “You mean stores make cupcakes where you come from?”

“Uuuh, kinda yes and kinda not, really. I mean some big supermarkets tend to have their own bakery, but smaller ones or convenience stores tend to get theirs shipped to them.”

“Supermarkets? Convenience Stores?” Twilight’s curiosity was starting to hunger after hearing such words. Dan was more surprised how fast she got her notebook out. “Can you tell me more about these things? Or better yet, I am very much curious about your world entirely, I would love to take the time to ask you about it!” The more she talked the more excited she seemed to be getting.

Dan felt like he just stepped on a landmine with the way the girl was staring at him stars in her eyes.

“Uh, that’s fine and all but don’t we have other places to be?”

“Oh you can just tell me a little bit first and THEN we can go!” She insisted, moving ever so close to him.

Is she for real? Dan had to respect the tenacity he was sensing from her. “Look I just want to get this whole meet and greet done as soon as possible cuz apparently I have work to do after this AND I need to get settled in too. How about after this we can talk ALL you want, ok?”

“Oh, you said it now!” Pinkie said with a giggle and trotted away back to the kitchen before he could even ask her why.

“You promise? You promise to answer EVERY QUESTION that I ask when that time comes?”

Seriously, warning flags and internal alarms were going off inside him, but against his instinct, he nodded “S-sure, that’s fine.” and the purple unicorn nearly squee-ed before she finished her cupcake in a flash and magically shoved the remainder of Dan’s in his mouth before hopping off her seat. “See you later Pinkie! We gotta run!” Twilight said nudging Dan out of his seat “Let's go let’s go, Dan! Time’s a wastin’!”

Dan was seriously contemplating what distance he could make if he punted Twilight like a football, right now.

Now, now, it’s your own fault for lighting a fire under the young scholar. Aegis said with a chuckle. With a wave from Pinkie, the two were out the door and Twilight was practically dragging Dan to their next stop.

~~~~~~~~~~

Carousel Boutique

The next stop was Rarity’s. If Dan planned on being on better terms with her, he would have to reach back to his mental “toolbox” so that he at least looks like a gentleman in front of her. She seemed to react well to him acting like that so that’s what he was going with. He’s been to formal gatherings before, having a wealthy mother and father they tend to invite or be invited by snobby people to get together. Frankly, his mother said it was for business reasons cuz he knows his father would rather be cracking a cold beer and fishing or something than deal with another minute in one of those. This also meant that being the oldest, you’d have to stop acting like the child that you are when you're 10 and stand there with an ugly comb over and a mini version of the same monkey suit your pops was wearing.

Dan did that only cuz he loved his mom, so he at least made an effort on keeping that gentlemen mentality to heart. “OK, this is where she lives and works.” Twilight stated as she trotted ahead.

“Much respect to entrepreneurs. And she’s in the fashion department?” Dan looked at the building. He can definitely see where the “carousel” part of the title came from.

“That’s right, though she can be a bit… enthusiastic about her work and fashion itself so… don’t take it too much to heart if she critiques you about what you wear.”

“She seemed fine with my duds before.” Dan replied.

“That’s just because you were wearing your cloak, we couldn’t see your actual outfit under all that.”

Dan looked at himself, he was still wearing that camo hoodie unzipped, Zelda shirt with Link making a pose with pulling out the Master Sword, some well-worn jeans, and his boots. He left his gear at the Library seeing as he wasn’t going anywhere dangerous with Twilight at the moment. “Welp, she’s just gonna have to deal with it. I didn’t exactly bring my dress clothes with me.”

Twilight seemed to avoid his gaze when he said that and knocked on the door. ”Don’t say I didn’t warn you….”

Dan just shrugged as he heard Rarity call out “Just a minute!” From further in the building. Dan got a look through one of the windows showing a few pony mannequins inside wearing some rather… flamboyant outfits. And one that just looked rather dapper. He assumed it was just gonna be one of “those” fashion shops. He remembered renting out a tux once for his Prom. He regretted it later, his prom just sucked, or maybe all Proms suck when you don’t have a date to them. The door then started to glow a blue magical aura before opening up revealing Rarity as she trotted right up, and giving that usual welcome line she does for customers. “Welcome to the Carousel Boutique whe-"

“Where everything is chic, unique, and Magnifique, Miss Rarity?” Dan cut her off. He still remembered that line from yesterday.

“Oh uh, yes, are you a regular-Oh!” When she finally caught sight of him all the memories came back. “It’s you the… the… the-”

“Yes I am, but you can just call me Dan as I’ve said before.” he nodded to her.

“Ahem.” Twilight cut in, “Say how about we head inside and have a chat? I was just showing Dan around and helping him get more acquainted with everypony since we all got off on the wrong hoof, after...you know...”

Rarity looked like she was about to say something…. “Think of the princess.” Dan threw in. Rarity seemed to scowl at that, but she eventually breathed in and then out.

“Oh very well, I suppose a simple chat is fine. However,” Rarity then stared at Dan with a scrutinizing gaze.

“What?” Dan raised an eyebrow

“Here we go...” Twilight muttered to herself as Rarity went up to him then circled around him looked at his outfit.

“Please tell me you have much more formal wear when you speak to the Princesses during your meetings with them.”

“Yeah, your purple friend here was wondering that as well. Can’t say that I do. I was ripped from my own world after all. Hard to plan out your luggage when you have no clue you’d be leaving. You know?” Dan then felt Rarity start nudging him in toward the doorway leading in. “Hey, whoa, what’s going on?”

“We are going to fix that right this instant. It’s only proper when you meet such royalty that you should look your absolute best. Now, come along, I must have your measurements.”

“My what?” Dan looked back at Twilight who just flashed an apologetic smile before following behind them. “Well, at least you managed to break the ice with her, Dan.”

“You are not helping, Twilight...” Dan grumbled as he was forced inside. There he experienced another side of Rarity he’d care not to invoke anytime soon. The nit picky, fashionista that demanded perfection. However, he went with it only on the account that it seemed to help clear the air and allow him to have a conversation with her. Before he knew it, it was time for them to leave for the next stop. Now Rarity was smiling and waving them off in a much more cheery demeanor. After taking some time to talk, Rarity, although was still against the act of the Manticore’s demise, now felt like she had a better understanding of the man. He can be a kind and polite gentlemen when he wants to be, but he also follows his emotions and his beliefs when things get rough or unclear for him.

“Ta-ta you two! I’ll be sure to prepare your suit by the end of the week, Dan.”

“Uh, yeah, sure, thanks.” he waved back to her but then sighed when he turned around to face forward. “Jeez, that woman doesn’t take no for an answer.” He adjusted his jacket. “But I guess when you're passionate about something…”

“Oh, and Dan?!” Rarity called out making him and Twilight stop and look back. “Thank you… for yesterday… Especially with my dear sister and her friends.” She was referring to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. “I’m sure if they weren’t at school right now they’d come to thank you as well.” Dan stood there for a moment, in the end, he could only nod to her.

“No problem, Rarity.” he did smile a little, however, then for real this time they turned and left after once more waving goodbye to her.

“I think that went better than I would have hoped. At this rate. The girls will definitely warm up to you in no time.”

“Let’s… try not to jinx it ok?” Dan scratched the back of his head. “Anyway, where to next?”

“To Sweet Apple Acres.”

“That Apple farm the cowgirl spoke of?”

“If you mean Applejack, then yes and also I think it’s very clear that she is a pony, not a cow. Could you not tell?”

Dan just rolled his eyes. “Forget it, wiz kid, it was just a figure of speech from my world. I know what she is.”

“Wiz kid?” She tilted her head

“OK, moving on.” Dan just kept on walking forward.

~~~~~~~~~~

Sweet Apple Acres

The Farm seemed to be just fine, The apples were doing their usual farm work like nothing happened. It seemed Celestia sent for some guards to properly move the Manticore corpse and dispose of it properly seeing as it was in a very visible and open area of the farm for others to see. However, it was clear on Applejack's face, when they met up with her, that she held some concerns about Ponyville’s new resident human. However, like Rarity, she understood there was a reason for it, and a pretty good one. Also, she knew full well if it wasn’t for him they wouldn’t know the Crusaders were in trouble in the first place.

So it was frustrating for her. Altogether, she should thank him, but she wanted to scold him, yet she knew that she shouldn’t since it was his job. So finally she decided on the only way to get over her issues. She came up with whatever her gut told her that would help.

“She wants me to kick a tree?” Dan stared up at the apple tree they were standing under.

“Yyyyyyup.” replied Big Mac as he was setting up the baskets. “Buck the apples out of the tree, whatever ya bring down, we’ll make sumthin’ nice with it for ya.”

“Like?”

“Oh Apple Pie, Apple Fritters, Apple Turnovers, Cider…. Hard cider if ya want.”

Dan looked back at the Stallion with a raised eyebrow. What, is that the pony version of moonshine or something? With a shake of his head, he looked toward the tree again. Last time I checked an average human roundhouse kick can't knock apples out of a tree. He looked at his chest where the medallion resided under his shirt. Your thoughts, Aegis? Am I able to pull this off?

When Dan looked back at the tree he could sense Aegis contemplating, It’s… doable, though not to a great extent, you have just gotten used to this power, without the proper muscle training I have set up for you later you won’t be able to use the full extent of the medallion. However, I trust that the very least you can do is knock out a few apples. I’d recommend a running start though.

He did just that. After taking a few steps back, taking a ready stance he bolted straight for the tree, jumped, and performed a flying drop kick on it. It shook the tree for a few seconds before ultimately gravity laughed at the foolish human by making him fall on his back to the ground with a grunt as some apples started to fall, which one of them bonked him on the forehead before bouncing off it and rolling away in the grass. “AAAUGH! SON OF A BI-!”

Aegis barely managed to shut his mouth up in time before he would say anything vulgar in front of the ladies. Remind me to add basic manners to the list of lessons I’ll drill into your head.

Dan was too busy nursing the throbbing pain on his forehead to give him a snappy remark. After a bit of first aid and apple collecting, Dan, Twilight, and Applejack were now standing at the farm entrance as Dan held a basket of his hard earned apples in his hand, a piece of cotton wool stuck to his forehead with medical tape, and an “I couldn’t really care less what happens now at this point” look on his face. It kind of made things awkward for either of the girls to speak for a bit. Then AJ broke the ice.

“Look, I’m sorry Dan, I didn’t want ya to get hurt, but it’s just..” Dan just lifted his palm in front of her to stop her talking.

“It’s fine, you were conflicted about me and tried to think of a way to overcome it. I kind of expected that from you and the rest of the girls. I think Rarity’s way to vent was talk about how tacky and plain my outfit looked and wanted to make me a suit.”

This got a chuckle out of the farmer. “Yeah, that sounds like her.”

He then smirked. “Look at that, got a laugh out of you.”

“Ah guess ya did… It was pretty funny how that apple clonked ya on the noggin, too.” Applejack started giggling, Twilight soon joined as well.

“All right now you’re just rubbing salt in the wound.” He couldn’t help but chuckle about it as well.

“Alright, we should get going, we still have two more stops to make today” Twilight started walking. Before Dan could do the same, however, Applejack called out.

“Hold on a moment, Dan.” She asked, when he looked back he could see the smile gone from her face as she seemed to be fighting about something in her mind. It took her a moment and a pair of eyes staring at her curiously before finally saying. “Thank you… fer savin’ mah sister and her friends…. Truly.”

….. Dan then looked away scratching his cheek. “Jeez, you too huh?” Reminding him of Rarity’s thank you about it. “Uh, don’t worry about it. Anybody else would’ve done the same thing.” They’d totally crap their pants though seeing the thing, though, He thought.

“Well, ah’m thankful anyway. Yer welcome here anytime ya like.”

“I certainly hope so.” Dan replied grabbing one of the apples from his basket and taking a bite “You weren’t lying about these apples being the best. I might just become a regular.”

Hearing that definitely lightened the mood and put a smile back on the mare’s face, before she then stood proudly. “Told ya so.”

“Ok, you two, we gotta get going for real now. Dan still has a promise to keep.” Twilight butted in.

“Oh yeah… alright, alright. Catch ya later AJ!” Dan called out before walking off with Twilight.

“Take care you two!” She waved them goodbye, glad that she got to know the guy better. He was a lot more easy going and friendly than she had assumed earlier.

~~~~~~~~~~

An Open Field in Ponyville

Dan looked around, grassy hills, some houses in the distance, and the tree line going to the Everfree on the other end. “Uh, you sure this is the right place Twilight? Cuz All I see is nature…. is Rainbow a hobo?”

“No!” Twilight sighed “She’s working today, but we should be able to met up with her here.”

“Oh yeah? What’s her job?” He asked

“She’s a weather pony.”

Dan folded his arms “Oh yeah, I remember Luna telling me about the ability of a Pegasus… and there were those pegasi flying about in Canterlot ramming right into some clouds bursting right through them like nothing.”

Twilight nodded, “That’s basically part of what they do, yes.” She looked back toward the sky and perked up. “Oh, there she is!”

When Dan looked up, he could see a cloud moving really fast with a rainbow streak coming out from the back of it. He was about to comment about that when he then noticed some blue sticking out from the back of the cloud as well. “That’s Rainbow up there?”

“Of course! Who else can make that rainbow contrail when they fly?” Twilight said matter of factly.

Dan was then reminded of that time Rainbow rammed into the Manticore when it was aiming for him. “Oh yeah… It did look like a rainbow was coming out of her butt.” That last part made Twilight trip up a little and smirk. Now she had something to mess with Rainbow with later. She decided to keep that bit of knowledge to herself until she needed it the next time Rainbow messed with her. Meanwhile, Dan watches the Pegasus go to work shaping and molding the cloud. “So what’s the reason for this?” He pointed to the cloud.

“Oh, that’s because there will be rain at 7 pm tonight. So she and her coworkers are getting the clouds necessary for it and turning them into rain clouds.”

“So Pegasi really do have control over the weather.” Dan stated.

“For the most part yes. So long as it involves clouds as well. Thunder, Lightning, Rain, Snow, Hail, etc.”

“That is… very convenient.” If Pegasi lived on Earth, He wondered if enough of them could stop a raging hurricane, or bringing a massive rainstorm to arid inhabited places when there is a long standing drought. Overall, control of the weather is definitely a step up in civilization. “Man… Magic is like life’s cheat code or something here...” He mumbled.

When it seemed like her work on that cloud was done she was about to fly off to get more clouds as her co workers finally showed up with their clouds. That was when Twilight called out. “RAINBOW! DOWN HERE!” This caught the pegasus’ attention and she locked eyes with Twilight and gave a wave but it cut short when she noticed Dan as well. In a flash, she was diving down straight toward them before stopping a foot and half above and hovering there.

“Heya, Twi, What’s going on?” She glanced over to Dan. “This guy causing you any trouble?”

“Hm, Honestly I kind of expected at least one of you guys to ask that.” Dan replied with an uninterested look on his face.

“Everything’s fine Rainbow, Dan is really not a bad guy. I actually brought him here so you two could take a moment to get to know each other better.”

“Now? Uh, I’m a little busy here, Twilight. Uuuh we just got started and all so we definitely need more clouds before our deadline hits. I’m on the clock after all.”

“Oh, I see. Well, then we can wait until you’re done.” Twilight suggested.

“I don’t know, this might take an hour or so to get ready, plus it’s going to be a big rain cloud with more of its friends to join it.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “This coming from the mare who brags she can take care of things in “ten seconds flat” if I recall?”

“W-well, this is different and-” Dan spoke up instead.

“It’s fine Rainbow if you’re busy, then we can try again another time.” He then pulled out an Apple and tossed it to Rainbow. “Here, straight from Applejack’s farm.” He then turned to Twilight, “Let's head to our next stop for now.”

“What? Really? But-” she looked between the two and was going to offer a retort before heaving a sigh. “Very well, Fluttershy is the last stop then.” she started walking with him. “We’ll come back later Rainbow.” she looked back.

Rainbow simply nodded “Uh, yeah sure.” before flying back up. When she was high enough she looked back to see the two head off to Fluttershy’s… She then looked at the Apple…. and then took a bite out of it before setting back to work on the rain clouds.

Dan could tell now probably wasn’t going to be the best time for Rainbow to want to speak with him. She definitely seems like she had some thoughts she wanted to deal with first with how she wanted to avoid speaking to him in general. As well as her body language. So better not to poke a potential beehive and move on for now.

~~~~~~~~~~

Fluttershy’s Cottage

Twilight and Dan came up to a quaint looking Cottage that looked like it was melding itself into nature as well. “Welp, this is the place.”

“Fluttershy correct…. the yellow pegasus with pink hair?”

“Pine MANE and yes, you are correct. This is where she lives. She’s an animal caretaker so she lives near the forest in case any poor creatures need her help.”

“Oh…. OH that explains a lot.” Dan turned to the side and slouched a little. “Of course she would’ve been so adamant yesterday in her argument.”

Twilight remembers that as well. “W-well, she really does love animals. She’s usually such a shy pony but she definitely surprises you when you least expect it.”

“The shy ones always do, Twilight.” Dan replied before walking over. “Either way, we still need to talk… Now there will probably be even more we'll have to talk about now that I know this.”

Twilight was close behind. “Perhaps I should speak to her first then, to make sure she doesn’t get too nervous or anything.”

“She’s that timid, huh?”

“She just… needs more work on her pony skills is all.”

“Shy AND a social outcast…. great…” Dan said under his breath before he went and knocked on the door. They both heard an adorable little squeak, then the sound of someone shuffling about in the house…. then silence.

Twilight just sighed. “Fluttershy? It’s me Twilight.”

……

The door opens, only just a little though for an eye to peek out and look. When she saw it definitely was Twilight she smiled “Oh, hello Twilight.” she opened the door more, “What can I do for-EEP!” When she caught a glimpse of Dan she immediately shut the door and the sounds of her scurrying off to hide were heard once more.

Dan just slumped over “Yeah, figured this wasn’t going to be easy.”

Author's Note

Hello everyone, As promised here's another chapter. and within a month this time. Doing pretty good so far. This Chapter I felt like there were some things that needed to be established and fleshed out a bit before continuing on. So this Chapter focused more on trying to get the new guy assimilated to society and make friends.

Personally, I want to write some actiony stuff in the Next Chapter, but I follow the pacing of the story so it all depends really.

Until the Next Chapter folks.