Drawing a Blank.

If one were to ask how his day yesterday had gone, he'd choose a series of very specific words. In short: fun, but tiring. Yesterday he had convinced Twilight to give him a tour of Ponyville, to get the general lay of the land since he would be staying for the foreseeable future. And since the locals had just gotten a chance to meet him, this would be a perfectly opportunity to help them get used to him further. It was sound logic, in Twilight's mind, so they had elected to spend the day doing just that. And it went pretty well, all things considered. Though there were a few...issues.

For starters, Applejack's dog Winona chased him up a tree.

Then there was the fact that Fluttershy's rabbit Angle Bunny did not take kindly to his very existence.

And let's not forget how said bunny was able to convince a bear that Drew was not to be trusted.

It was kind of a rough day.

But it wasn't all bad. He got to see where Twilight's friends work, and what they do for work, he got a delectable lunch of baked goods, and he got to learn where everything in town was. He even helped Twilight find the third book in that "Broken Stone" series she had been looking for, and that made her happy. But as you can imagine, it was a very tiring day as well. Walking around, being chased up a tree, being chased down by a bear, it was a great physical workout but also pretty exhausting. So when Drew had returned to the castle, the first thing he did was go to bed...and then he got out of bed about an hour later to eat dinner, and then went to bed.

And the human was permitted a good night's sleep. The best sleep he ever recalled having, if you asked him. But as all good things do, it had to end eventually. And that's where we find the human right now, laying in his bed as he groggily wakes himself up. Looking over to the clock mounted on the wall, it revealed that it was a little past six thirty, far earlier then he would have liked to get up...but significantly later then usual...

"Weird...usually the Purple Princess is in here by now..." Drew mutters to himself with a loud yawn. "Maybe it's some kind of pony holiday or something...international sleep in day or something." With that thought, he casually rolls back over and attempts to reenter the land of dreams. Unfortunately, that would never happen. The human was fully rested, and he wouldn't be getting any more sleep this morning.

"...Of course she doesn't come get me the ONE day I can't sleep in," he growls to himself, throwing the blankets off of himself and heading towards the box of clothes he had been given the other day. The guest room he had been set up in had all the basic amenities, but lacked a dresser or clothes hangers. But for now, the box worked just fine for what he needed. Picking an outfit featuring a nice vivid red shirt and another pair of dark colored pants, he walks out of his room ready to face the day.

"Tomorrow, I'm giving her the fight of her life. I'm sleeping in until at LEAST four if it's the last thing I do. Just to spite her," he continues to grumble to himself, making his way towards the castle's library. He knew the Princess would be in there, she spent a good amount of time in there based on what he was able to ascertain in his short stay.

Though if he were being honest? Something about the castle felt...different today. Maybe it was the dim morning lighting, maybe it was the fact that just about everything in here was made out of crystal, or maybe it was the fact that this was one of the few times he had walked the halls alone, but something felt...off today.

These thoughts were immediately pushed into the back of Drew's head as he entered the library. And he was surprised to see that it was entirely empty, practically abandoned. The only sign that anypony had been in here was the stack of books on the desk. Spell books, if Drew had to guess, likely for that memory problem of his.

"Weird...she's usually in here by now..." Drew says to nopony in particular, walking over to the stack of books. "...Maybe she's still downstairs?" He starts to overlook one of the open pages. At the top of the page, the words Rappel de Mémoire can be seen. The human was able to piece together that it was some other language that he didn't recognise.

"Oh hey, you're up," the somewhat muffled voice of Starlight Glimmer suddenly calls out from behind. Quickly turning around, Drew found that the pink unicorn was currently munching on an apple that was floating in front of her. "Didn't expect you up so early," she continues after swallowing the chewed up mush.

"The early bird is starting to get to me," Drew states lamently, slowly looking up from the tome, "Where is she anyway? Usually she has to fight me out of bed."

"I've noticed. She was the same with me when I first moved in," Starlight explains with a chuckle, taking another bite of the apple. "But she won't be back for awhile, so I thought you'd like to sleep in for a chance."

"...Did something happen? Where'd she go?"

"Something like that," the unicorn chuckles for a moment, turning around and gestured for the human to follow her. "Come on, it'll be easier to just show you."

Starlight had led Drew into the chamber of the Cutie Map, a room he had been familiar with since his first day staying in the castle. But it was currently much different then he knew it, all these changes centered around the large crystal table in the room's center. What was once a smooth table top was now a rather detailed map, likely of the country of Equestria, he thought. And above one particular space on the map, two magical symbols floated in a slow, lazy orbit. It took Drew a moment to recognize these symbols as the Cutie Marks of both Twilight and Rarity.

"...So this map tracks Twilight and her friends?" Drew asks, poking at the floating glyph of his friend's Cutie Mark. As expected, his hand passed right through the magical image.

"Not exactly, it tells us where we need to go to fix a friendship problem," Starlight explains, using her magic to swat Drew's hand away from the magic. "It also tells us who to send to fix the problem."

"...So this table is constantly observing everyone in Equestria and keeping track of their friendships?" Drew asks again, turning towards the unicorn and rubbing his sore hand. "That's a little creepy."

"That's...one way of looking at it..." Starlight mumbles, looking over to the magical table. What exactly was it anyway? Was it conscious? She had to help her friends fix it one time, but they still had no idea how it worked. And it took Drew's observation to get her to realize that. Shaking herself out of these thoughts, she quickly turns back to her human friend.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Twilight left a bag of bits for you on the kitchen counter. Just in case you wanted to get out of the castle or something."

"...Well that was nice of her. See ya later, Starlight, I wanna see more of the town," Drew says blankly, looking back towards the table. He points two of the fingers of one hand at his eyes, before flipping his hand around to point the same fingers at the Cutie Map. "I'm watching you, magic table. You better not be watching me in the bathroom." He warns to the magical artifact, slowly backing out of the chamber.

"What do you mean humans don't eat hay?!" A rather disgruntled employee of the Ponyville Hay Burger asks of Drew, who was currently on the floor hacking up his lungs and tiny bits of hay. "Why did you even order it if you can't even EAT it?!"

"I thought it was named after the restaurant!" Drew defends of himself in a hoarse voice, hand wrapped around his throat with tears coming out of his eyes and running down his red face. "It made sense, at the time!"

For context, Drew had been spending the last few hours exploring the town of his own accord, stopping by the shops he didn't get a chance to yesterday and doing a bit of window shopping. And then, as it often did, hunger struck at around noon, so the human decided to get some lunch. But not wanting to bother Pinkie at work a second time, he decided to go to another local food establishment: the Hay Burger. Where he promptly ordered a hay burger.

Though unfortunatly for Drew, the "hay burger" was not named after the restaurant like he had assumed. It was actually made of hay. And, apparently, humans do not eat hay. Drew learned this the hard way when he started choking on the sandwich. Thankfully, one of the employees was quick enough to ram him in the stomach hard enough to dislodge the mass of food from his throat, which leads us to where Drew is right now.

"...You can't be serious," the employee states blankly, not taking her eyes off of the human as he stands back up. "How in the world could you have NOT known that? We're PONIES. We eat hay, for Celestia's sake!"

"Well I know that NOW!" Drew shouts back, moving both hands to his gut. The earth pony had hit him pretty hard, and he was still sore. "...How much for something that doesn't have hay in it? I'm still hungry..." To say the restaurant worker was surprised was an understatement. Who almost dies at a restaurant and then asks to buy something else? She was used to getting demands for refunds for this kind of thing.

"...Let's just say your refund'll cover it," The earth pony rolls her eyes as she begins walking towards the kitchen. "I need a grilled cheese out here!" She shouts into the kitchen, turning back to the human for a moment, who was currently climbing back into his seat and taking a few long gulps from his drink. "...And an order of onion rings..."

So after almost dying, and being compensated with food he could actually eat, Drew spent the remainder of the day continuing to wander the streets of Ponyville. He actually ran into a few ponies from the party who were kind enough to ask him how his day was going. Though much to Drew's shame, he couldn't quite recall the names of everypony he ran into, he did meet what was essentially an entire town in one day, so he had to apologize a few times for not remembering every name. Thankfully, the ponies of Ponyville seemed pretty forgiving. Guess that's what happens when you live in a town inhabited by the "Princess of Friendship."

Though as the day went on, Drew eventually found himself running out of things to do. He had managed to find a relatively secluded and quiet part of the town, perfect for collecting his thoughts. This had been his first day in Ponyville with any kind of lull in activity, usually SOMETHING was going on around him, but today was just normal. Which was abnormal.

"...Maybe I should try and get a job or something," the human mutters to himself, placing his hands behind his head as he looks up to the late afternoon sky. "...But I'd need to know what I'm good at first...that might be a little tricky." He continues to ponder these questions as he aimlessly walks though the town. However, this train of thought would have to be put on the back burner, for as soon as he lowered his hands away from his head to stretch he was greeted to the sounds of canine barking right in one of his ears.

Just as it had yesterday, the distinctive and familiar sound sends memories rushing through Drew's mind. Memories consisting mostly of intense pain, immense fear and a sudden blackness that had convinced him at the time he was no longer a part of the land of the living. And just as he did yesterday, he reacts by leaping into the nearest hiding spot available. This time, instead of a tree, he dives into a nearby bush that begins to shake and rustle with his terrified trembling.

"Oh man! Applejack was right!" The voice of Rainbow Dash suddenly shouts through her own laughter. "You're a wuss!" The traveling from the bush stops immediately, Drew angrily rising from the bush practically draped in an aura of anger.

"...Why would you do that?" The human asks, doing his best to hold back his rage.

"I wanted to see if you really did freak out like Applejack said," the multicolored pegasus replies, smirking as she crosses her front to hooves. "And I'm not disappointed. It wasn't even that good of a dog impression, but it certainly fooled you!"

"...You're going to regret this, rainbow horse," Drew promises as he steps out of the bush. "My revenge shall be legendary." Without warning, he suddenly lunges at the pegasus with his arms outstretched. However, the only thing he would be able to catch was open air as Rainbow took flight.

"Hey, it was just a joke!" Rainbow Dash shouts downward, watching the human pick himself up. "I didn't mean to set you off! Calm down"

"Oh, so my canine-related trauma is a JOKE?!" Drew shouts up at her, doing his best to try and grab at one of her hooves. Unfortunately, she was just too high for him to reach. "I'LL GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO LAUGH ABOUT!"

"Yeesh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to upset you so bad!" Rainbow Dash shouts again, quickly flying off after deciding that the human needed some space to cool off. It didn't do much to calm the human down in the moment, but Rainbow was sure this would all blow over soon enough. In hindsight it probably wasn't a good idea, she thought, but it was funny to watch him dive into that bush like that. Drew continued to shake his fist at the air long after the pegasus had quickly vanished from his line of sight.

"Umm...Drew? What're you doing?" Spike suddenly asks from behind. Turning around, Drew as greeted to the sight of Spike and Starlight making their way downtown.

"Oh...just planning some divine retribution," Drew mutters, looking back for only a moment to the direction Rainbow flew off in. "...What about you guys?"

"The friendship emergency got solved a little while ago, we're on our way to greet Twilight at the train station," Starlight explains with a smile. "...And before you ask: yes, the map tells us when the issue is resolved."

"That's still creepy, but convenient," Drew responds with a blank tone, having quelled his rage rather quickly. He didn't bother waiting for an invitation, joining the dragon and the unicorn on their quest to welcome their friends home after their long day's work.