The Second Morning

"You did what?!" The loud outburst from Octavia caused some ponies to turn their heads in confusion. An apologetic look from her sent the message that it was nothing to worry about, and the ponies went their separate ways. She looked back at the human sitting on the fountain edge covered in scratches, dirt, and sweat with deep concern. They had just met, and already his actions prompted a genuine sense of worry. "You went into the Everfree Forest," She reiterated, incredulously. Cameron just looked to the side, sheepishly chuckling to himself. He would tell Nate and Kendra about the manticore and, more importantly, Discord later that day, but he left out that information for the fear that poor Octavia would have a heart attack on the spot as the Everfree Forest was already a big point of concern for the ponies of Ponyville.

Cameron looked over to Nate. "Anyway, you said you were on a tour, how is it? Is it almost over because I don't want to walk too long."

Nate looked over towards Octavia. "It's up to her. She is the tour guide," he said. The two other humans looked over to their guide, who was regaining her composure.

"Well, it shouldn't be too much longer, just two more stops and then back to the castle."

"I think I can manage that," Cameron grunted while he got up. His legs were still a little weak, so it took a bit more effort for him to get up. He stumbled forward. Nate quickly stood up and went to support Cameron, but his friend stopped, still hunched over, and put up a finger before standing straight up and stretching. "I'm fine," he repeated twice, looking over at his friends.

Nate smacked Cameron's back. "Alright, ya, fuckin' idiot," he started, "let's get going."

They enjoyed the rest of the tour, going to some more shops and the Carousel Boutique before going back to the castle doors. The humans thanked their pony tour guide and walked into the castle foyer, the doors less heavy than they looked. Cameron, leading the pack, looked around and noticed all the doors he could see were either wide open or swinging themselves closed. Some small things, like plants, were knocked over, and random papers strewn on the floor stood out to him. He mentioned it to the others when they heard a faint cry of distress.

"AGH! Where are they?" The voice came from a very panicked Twilight Sparkle in the room ahead of them. A second voice rung out.

"I don't know. They've got to be somewhere. Let's search outside." This voice came from an equally panicked Starlight Glimmer trying to be reassuring. The humans looked at each other and walked forward into the room while the two mares kept trying to rationalize where whatever they were looking for went. The thought of the ponies possibly looking for them, as they never told them they were leaving the castle in the first place, hadn't come into their minds until they came face to face with the two. When Cameron walked through the door, it wasn't completely open, so when he pushed it out of the way, the door gave a weak squeak alerting the ponies of their presence. The two parties made eye contact, and the humans watched as the look of worry turned to ones of annoyance. They walked over and took a deep breath looking up at the formally missing party.

"And where were you?" Twilight's voice strained slightly. One look at her, and anyone could tell that she was trying to hold back her anger. Starlight stood about a foot behind her with a look of annoyed curiosity. It was apparent they had been looking for the humans, but for how long they didn't know. But at that moment, it was easy to know they were a little pissed.

"Out on an impromptu tour of the town," Nathan gulped. Twilight nodded, skepticism still her eyes as she looked over Cameron's scratches on his still sweaty arms and face.

"And what about you? Cameron, right? Where did all these fresh scratches come from?" Twilight interrogated.

"I was taking a walk in the forest. Wasn't really watching my step or where I was going, I guess," Cameron looked back a little sheepishly, trying to play it off as embarrassment. He knew she wasn't going to believe him, and her eye raise only proved he was right.

"Which forest? There's only one forest anywhere near the town," her face switched from skepticism to worry, "You aren't telling me you went to the forest near where we found you three, are you?" A small nod and a sheepish grin came from Cameron. "Alone?" Another nod. An exasperated sigh escaped Twilight's lips. She turned and paced around breathing. She couldn't rationally scold him. He was a visitor. He didn't know the dangers of the forest. Honestly, he got lucky. He must have stayed on the path, the scratches being stay branches or a misplaced step. He was sweating, so he had to been jogging and tripped.

"Did you at least follow the path?" she asked, turned away from Cameron.

"Nope," he chuckled in response. In that instance, Twilight whipped around to look at him. Despite being a cartoon pony that can exaggerate expressions, the face filled with worry and concern. Twilight gave Cameron reminded him of his mother. It was a type of look she would often make at Cameron after he ended up following his impulses without thoroughly thinking the situation out. Every time he wanted to do something, he tended to overlook whatever consequences were associated with it. It was a bad habit of his that got him into a lot of trouble at home. Many evenings were spent looking down at the floor as his mom lectured him about the importance of decision making and being mindful of others, making the same type of face. Seeing that type of face made him instinctively look down, and even though he was several feet taller than Twilight, he felt meek and smaller. Twilight noticed this shift in demeanor and sighed.

"It's incredibly dangerous to go in that forest, especially going off the path. Many of the creatures are very territorial and..." Twilight's voice seemed to become muffled as Cameron half listened. He had never heard this version of the "Make Better Decisions" speech, but he already knew the core message of what she was going to say from hearing, many like it in the past. He felt like he should interrupt and not have her waste her time telling him something he already knew, but he thought that would be too rude. He slowly looked over to his friends, who were standing on either side of him. They looked back in slight annoyance. They were dragged into this big lecture that Twilight somehow managed to weave into being about telling her or Starlight, or even Spike, where they were going before they leave. The speech would have been smaller if it weren't for Cameron's makeshift adventure, so of course, they were a little annoyed at their friend, but after seeing his apologetic face, their faces softened, and they gave a slight shrug. They were going to have to deal with it. It was somewhat like school in that regard. One person makes a mistake or a bad decision, and the whole class gets a talking to. They all go down with the ship.

A few minutes later, Twilight's lecture ended, and a weak "sorry" from the humans escaped from their lips. Twilight looked the new additions to their dimension once again. She sighed a sigh of mixed emotions and smiled softly, glad that her study subjects and possible friends were still safe.

"You said you went on a tour? Who took you? How do you like the town?" Starlight stepped next to Twilight and spoke up, feeling that the situation was cooled down. That was the only other time that day she had spoken to the strange creatures. The mention of the tour perked up the three up as they sang praises about the homeliness of the town. They mentioned Octavia and the acquaintanceship they had already acquired. Starlight and Twilight looked at each other a smiled. Their general safety still a worry, their carefree attitude, and bubbly nature reminded them of two others they knew that garnered the same concern from time to time.

A few minutes of talking about Ponyville and its citizens passed. Last laughs were had, and the humans finally retreated to their new rooms, Kendra staying the boys a little while longer. Through digging through his backpack, Nathan found a pack of playing cards, much to the enthusiasm of the other two. They played card games and waited for the day to pass.

The next morning, each of their alarms went off again, and the three of them woke up in a tired mess. Once they were fully awake, they went to the bathroom to freshen up, the only problem being the lack of toothbrushes and new clothes. They realized that they would need to go shopping. They all knew that they weren't going to find anywhere that sold clothes for them, but Cameron knew a place that might help. The Carousel Boutique. Rarity, being the resident seamstress, would most likely love to take on the challenge.

A small knock on the library's door caught Twilight's attention. It was still a little before seven. Any average pony wouldn't be up for another hour. Twilight had just woken up a short while ago herself, so she wondered who else in the castle would up and about. "Come in," she called, facing the entrance. The door creaked open a little to reveal Cameron's smiling face.

"Hey, Princess Twilight. Sorry, did I wake you?" Twilight shook her head and rubbed any remaining sleep out of her eyes.

"No, I was already up, and just Twilight is fine," she smiled, "What's going on?"

"Well, Nate, Ken, and I were wondering about where we could find some clothes. It's been three days, and we're starting to get tired of wearing the same thing, like an anime character."

Twilight didn't know what an "anime" was, and she didn't know what it was like wearing clothes for more than two days, but she could get the gist of what he was saying. She couldn't imagine wearing the same thing more than two days in a row after being active could be comfortable. She thought of the fashionista on the other side of town. "You could go see Rarity. You stopped by there yesterday on your impromptu tour, right?" Cameron nodded, and she continued, "She's the best candidate for helping you, though, she might not be awake yet. Why don't you wait a couple of hours before you head down there?" Cameron gave her thumbs up before thanking her, wishing her well on her studies, and leaving. Twilight smiled softly and turned back to her book. She was getting close to figuring out the spell, and she already had an idea of who the culprit might have been. She just needed another day to get all the details and another to confront the prime suspect.

Another hour passed, and Starlight joined Twilight with breakfast and tea. The humans stopped by, telling of their departure before walking to the Carousel Boutique. After much deliberation, it was decided that Kendra would be the one to lead the charge on talking to Rarity. The reason for this was poorly veiled laziness. Nathan had suggested that it would help bring Kendra out of her shell and be more communicative. The real reason Cameron had been doing much of the heavy lifting and talking since they had made it there and Kendra had done the least, so they felt it was Kendra's turn.

Kendra knocks on the door to the Carousel Boutique. It felt odd to her. She had never knocked on a door that was the same height as her. She backed up in anticipation as they heard the unicorn walking towards the door. The faint glow of magic appeared on the door.

"I'm terribly sorry for the inconvenience, but the boutique isn't going to- oh!" Rarity was wondering who would be at the boutique this early. Everypony in Ponyville knew her usual store hours. She looked at the three newcomers, and her thought was replaced with several others. It took her a second to remember their names as the one in front waved nervously. It was clear that one needed more social practice. "Um... Hello. How may I help you today?" They stood there staring at each other for a few seconds before one of the two in the back nudged Kendra.

"Oh, hey! Um. Twilight said you could help us with finding new clothes."

"Why, of course, darling. I love a challenge," Rarity said, smiling. She ushered the humans into the boutique. They all had to duck under the frame. Once inside, Rarity became incredibly giddy. "So, what do you need?" She asked with a widening smile. "This will surely expand my designing repertoire, working with humans." Cameron nudges Kendra.

"Uh... just stuff like we have on now, I guess. Shirts, jeans, socks, underwear?" She looked at the other two and got nods of approval.

"And we need quite a few pairs," Nathan chimed in. Rarity nods, looking at the three. She walks around them, eyeing the material and stitch work. She nods one more time.

"I'm going to need to take measurements and an article of each piece of clothing you need." The three humans looked at each other in response to the last part. They overlooked that possibility. A light argument about who went where and who was giving up what broke out and after a quick three minutes of deliberating, the measuring and clothing exchange could begin. For safety purposes, each person was given an individual curtain to sit behind while Rarity worked her magic. After about 20 minutes, Rarity came back with a change of clothes and a few more sets for each person. They changed into their new clothes and collectively sighed in satisfaction. The fit was just right, and the fabric felt just divine. They walk out from behind the curtains and look at each other. The basic designs of the shirts and jeans were the same, but a little color here or there and some other flourishes would be what made each set of clothes unique. Nathan walked up to Rarity and gave a slight bow.

"Thank you so much for the clothes, Rarity. Sorry that we can't pay you for your work."

"No, don't worry about it, darling. It was going to be free anyway. I was just helping out," Rarity dismisses, waving a hoof. Cameron put a hand on his chin and thought for a second.

"We should get jobs," Cameron said absentmindedly.

"What? Really?" Kendra asked as the three others in the room looked at Cameron.

"Well, yeah. We need some money and something to do while Twilight and Starlight find the spell to get us back home. Plus, I'm sure some ponies could use help only humans can provide. So Rarity, are their any shops looking for help?" Rarity thought for a second.

"Yes. There are a few shops. The music shop-"

"I call that one!" Nathan interrupted.

"Dammit! You fucker!" Cameron called out after him. Rarity cleared her throat loudly, giving the two dirty looks. She waited for a second, letting the humans give them her full attention before she continued.

"As I was saying, the music shop, Sugar Cube Corner was looking for help, and I always think Sweet Apple Acres could use a helping hand. Applejack also wouldn't mind."

The humans looked at each other, and their jobs were decided. Nathan would apply at the music store, Kendra would apply to Sugar Cube Corner, and Cameron would work at Sweet Apple Acres. Excited by the events that were about to happen, the three started chanting "Job hunt! Job hunt!" over and over as they left the boutique with their new clothes, thanking Rarity one last time.