Fortunate Misfortune

AN: Finally, an actual new chapter. I'm not overly happy about it, though that's probably because I've been trying to write it for way too long now. Anyway, I'll be taking a quick break... don't give me that look, I mean a week. I know everything I'm going to include in this story now, I'm just not sure about the order, so I'll take a bit of time to sort that out and give myself some sense of actual structure. Hopefully that'll make writing easier.

~Chapter 10 – A Minor Detail~

I knelt on the soft red carpet before the throne dressed in a neat navy blue blazer with golden coloured buttons and cufflinks. Several guards lined the walls of the room, and Twilight, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity were all gathered nearby. I knew someone else was standing close by, though I couldn’t see them from my current position, I could still see the expressions of everyone else gathered though. Looks of surprise adorned the faces of each and every individual present, even the Princess of the Sun who stood before me gave me a surprised yet warm smile. A scabbard hung from my belt and a sword rested across upturned palms extended towards the Princess, though for some unknown reason I was incapable of focusing on the details of these objects.

Princess Celestia regarded me for a moment longer. Finally she opened her mouth to speak, but in place of her melodious and uplifting voice a high pitched scream escaped her throat.

Startled out of my dream I awoke with flailing arms, getting caught up in the bed sheets and falling unceremoniously to the floor. I pulled the sheets off my head just in time to see a white and pink blur dart out the door and around the corner, the sound of hooves hurriedly beating against the floor pounded at my still groggy senses.

‘Was that Sweetie Belle?’ I thought tiredly as I pulled myself to my feet.

Normally I’d leave my bed the way it was when I woke up, but this was someone else’s house. Rarity’s to be specific, and I certainly didn’t want to leave a mess. Once I was finished I stumbled out of the room and down to the kitchen where I could smell something being made. I left my backpack back in the room with my jacket since its only purpose at this time was to hold my now useless possessions and my glasses.

Being nearsighted is somewhat irritating, but luckily I haven’t needed to use my glasses for anything since arriving in Equestria. I only wear them when driving and trying to read something far away, like in the large auditoriums where I had some of my classes back at Dalhousie. ‘Probably part of the reason why I didn’t discover that I can’t read Equestrian sooner.’

I never was a morning person so I was still half asleep when I arrived in the kitchen, though I did wake up considerably when I almost fell down the stairs. As I rounded the corner and stepped into the kitchen I flinched when I finally recognized the smell that led me down here. ‘I hate eggs…’ Sure enough, there was Rarity cooking the disgusting things, though her attention was mainly directed at Sweetie Belle, a young unicorn filly with a white coat and two toned pink mane.

Rarity’s head turned when she heard me stagger into the kitchen, “I’m terribly sorry for that wakeup call. I suppose I forgot to inform Sweetie Belle here that you weren’t a pony when I sent her to wake you for breakfast,” she said apologetically as she nudged her sister forwards.

“I’m sorry for screaming like that, I didn’t mean to startle you.” Sweetie Belle said with her gaze directed at the floor.

I forcefully rubbed my eyes, and after stifling a yawn and running a hand through my short hair I replied, albeit slightly slurred, “No worries. I never was a morning person, so anything that helps get me out of bed is welcome.” Once Sweetie Belle looked up I finished by saying, “Heck, I wouldn’t mind if I was kicked out of bed… or had something dropped on me.”

“So… you’re not mad?” she inquired hesitantly, hope slightly evident in her voice.

“Nope,” I said as I vigorously shook my head in an attempt to further wake myself.

I missed what Sweetie Belle said next as she quickly ran off to some other room; though I could tell from the way she moved that she was certainly happier.

“That was cute,” I said while rubbing my eyes again.

“Again, I’m truly sorry for that rude awakening,” Rarity spoke, turning back to the eggs now that the issue had been cleared up.

“And again I’m telling you don’t worry.”

Rarity shrugged, “Well all right then, if you insist that it really is no problem.” Her horn glowed as she levitated three plates onto the counter and transferred some egg onto each, “You can eat eggs, can you not?”

“Yeah, I can…” I grumbled. Rarity didn’t take any notice of my dour response; either that or she simply attributed it to my lingering drowsiness.

“Splendid,” Rarity replied, setting the plates on the kitchen table. The stench of eggs assaulted my nose once more. “Breakfast is ready now. We can start eating once Sweetie Belle returns, she just ran to get your shirt for you.”

Sure enough, not a minute later Sweetie Belle came back into the kitchen carrying my polo and sweater. I thanked her while pulling my shirt over my head. I was awake enough to think of keeping the cutie mark on my polo hidden, and after I slid both my arms into my sweater we all sat down to eat.

The first bite of my egg was enough to wake me completely, though I hid my disgust as best I could; I was just a guest after all.

I noticed that Sweetie Belle kept glancing at me with a curious expression and looked as though she wanted to say something. Eventually she spoke up, “Rarity still didn’t tell me what you are. So what are you?” and almost as an afterthought she added, “And where did you come from?”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Rarity cast an apprehensive look my way as I answered. “I’m a human, and I come from far away.”

“How far?” Sweetie persisted.

I thought for a moment before saying, “So far away that I can guarantee no one around here has ever heard of humans, not even Zecora.”

The young unicorn went slack jawed in surprise and I gave a slight chuckle.

Remembering last night before I went to bed, I said to Rarity, “I thought you said you were going straight to bed last night, not staying up and working.”

Rarity gave me a puzzled look, “To tell you the truth, I was planning on getting started on your new clothes, but Pinkie’s party was rather tiring so I decided to wait until today and headed off to bed.”

“Really?” I returned with a puzzled expression of my own. “I could have sworn I… heard someone down in the shop last night.” I hid the fact that I actually felt someone’s presence since I didn’t want Rarity to think I have something wrong with me. As far as I can tell, being able to do that isn’t exactly normal.

“Are you certain?” I nodded in response to Rarity’s question, and she turned to her sister. “Did you happen to come downstairs at all through the night?”

Sweetie Belle shook her head, “I was asleep all night.”

“Did you lock the front door before you went to bed?” I asked Rarity.

“Well, no… there isn’t much of a need to really. Besides, most ponies here in Ponyville don’t bother locking their doors at night.”

“You should probably take a look around later then, see if anything’s missing. Someone might have stolen something.”

“But theft is nearly unheard of here in Ponyville. What could possibly drive somepony here to steal?” Rarity stammered.

I shrugged and didn’t say anything even though I could list several reasons off the top of my head. Then again, some of those reasons may or may not apply with the peaceful lifestyle of most of Equestria’s residents… well, Ponyville’s anyway. I know next to nothing about anywhere else.

We finished the rest of our meal in relative silence, a silence that was soon broken by a loud knocking at the door.

Rarity left the kitchen to answer the door, irritably saying as she left, “Honestly, everypony should know that the boutique doesn’t open for another hour…”

The opening front door was announced with the ring of a bell, followed by a small cry of alarm from Rarity. I started towards the front of the boutique myself to see what the problem was, but soon found myself being bowled over by a cyan and rainbow blur before being picked up off the floor and quickly carried towards the front door.

“Time to start your training!” Rainbow laughed as we flew through the open door and past a bewildered Rarity.

“Thanks for letting me stay the night!” I hollered back before I was dragged out of earshot. I lifted my head to look at Rainbow Dash, “You know you don’t have to carry me.”

“The faster we get to the park the faster I can start whipping you into shape,” she replied quickly.

Once again I found myself sailing through the air along the streets of Ponyville, yet this time not nearly as many eyes were drawn to me and my abductor, although we did manage to startle Zephyr pretty badly as we flew past the town hall while he was busy examining a map of the town.

As soon as we reached Whitetail Park, Rainbow dropped me the short distance to the ground where I unceremoniously landed and rolled to a stop. Grumbling while climbing to my feet and rubbing the arm I landed on for a second time in two days, I staggered backwards as she landed right in front of me.

With an almost frightening look of eagerness in her eyes, Rainbow said with a grin, “Now, let’s get started!”

After one to two hours of nonstop running, pushups, sit-ups, and other such exercises, the duration of which Rainbow Dash had spent hovering beside me shouting words of… ‘encouragement,’ and occasionally joining in to get some exercise herself, I was stretching out my sore muscles while attempting to regain my long lost breath.

Rainbow was currently relaxing in the shade of a nearby tree. Her eager expression from earlier was replaced with one of mild disappointment. After some time she said with a slight groan, “This is going to take longer than I thought.”

“Maybe, maybe not…” I mumbled in response as I tried to wipe some sweat off my face. The workout she put me through had reminded me of just how much of my past physical abilities I had lost. The physical test that black belts in Tae Kwon Do are required to be able to run, at the club I went to anyway, consists of a run from a start point across to the other side of the dojang, approximately a thirty foot distance. Once there you need to do one hundred pushups and run back to the start. Run again, but instead of pushups you do sit-ups. Do that a few more times with jumping-jacks, squats, knees-up running on the spot, and stutter steps. And all this has to be finished in four minutes or you fail the test. ‘Oh well, I had it before, it should be easier to get it all back.’

Rainbow startled me out of my thoughts as she suddenly stood and said, “Well, I think I’m going to take a quick nap now. Catch ya later.” And with that she flapped her wings and propelled herself towards a large branch.

I slapped my face. Conveniently placed on the branch that the pegasus was now occupying was a fluffy white pillow. ‘When did she put that there?’

“Alright, I guess I’ll just…” I trailed off as the sound of snoring greeted my ears, “… leave now.” Sighing I pushed myself to my feet; my legs shook slightly as I stood. I cast a slightly amused look towards Rainbow and headed off along the dirt path.

With no plan in mind for the day, I simply began the short trek back towards Ponyville. I caught myself absently fiddling with the bone pendant around my neck, I wear it pretty much all the time so it’s no wonder that I forgot about having it with me. A carving from the Indonesian hill tribes that’s apparently supposed to bring the wearer protection and good fortune, bought in a small gift shop on Prince Edward Island. I’m not superstitious in the slightest, but I’d definitely say that it was fortunate for me to end up in Equestria… then again, getting hit by a car is quite the stroke of misfortune. No protection there.

My attention was drawn towards the sound of humming; it was quite the bubbly tune. The sound became slightly louder as the humming individual approached. I lifted my head to see who it was, and I couldn’t stop a large smile from creeping onto my face.

A very familiar pegasus mare was skipping down the road towards me, eyes closed and humming, seemingly without a care in the world. Her coat was grey and her mane was a bright golden blonde, and I could accurately guess that she had yellow eyes. A saddlebag was resting on her back, its empty pouches bouncing lightly against her sides. As she drew near I spoke up.

“Hello!” I flinched as I said my greeting a little louder than intended, and the pegasus mare stumbled to a stop, slightly startled.

“Oh, hi mister…” she trailed off as a single yellow eye focused on me, the other looking towards some point on the ground beside me. “I’ve never seen you here before.”

“I just arrived in Ponyville yesterday.”

“Oh, so you are new! No wonder I didn’t recognize you. I’m a mailmare so I know pretty much everypony in Ponyville. My name’s Derpy, what’s yours?”

“Matthew, or Matt,” I responded with a smile.

“Nice to meet you… um, what are you?” she asked with a sheepish tilt of her head.

“I’m a human,” before she could inquire any further I added, “I’m from very, very far away.”

“Oh, not from anywhere in Equestria right?” I gave a confirming nod. “I… um… help out with deliveries all over Equestria sometimes, and I never saw anything like you before.”

“Understandable, but you didn’t even see me yesterday? Rainbow Dash dragged me pretty much all over Ponyville, and Pinkie threw me a welcome party.”

“Yeah… I just got back from a delivery to Appleloosa last night.” Derpy lowered her head slightly and began scuffing her hoof on the dirt path. “When I got home I saw the invitation in my mailbox, but it was already too late to go.”

“Hey, no worries.” In an effort to lighten her mood I decided to change the topic. “So… where are you headed.”

Derpy seemed to brighten up at this. “Oh, I was just on my way to Fluttershy’s to get some eggs.”

“Fluttershy’s house? Eggs?” I asked, honestly intrigued.

“Yeah, to make muffins for the annual bake sale on Tuesday. Fluttershy said I can stop by and get eggs whenever I need them.”

“Oh, that makes sense.” I chuckled silently to myself. “Mind if I tag along?”

“Nope, come on!” With a grin, Derpy fell once more into humming her tune as she skipped happily along, with me following not too far behind.

It would have been shorter to cut through town than to travel through Whitetail Park, but Derpy said she preferred this way. Something about how she didn’t have to watch where she was going nearly as much.

At one point, the smiling pegasus mare stopped her humming to ask me a question. “You asked what I was doing, but I didn’t ask you what you were doing. So, what are you doing?”

I gave her a strange look, “Well… I’m following you to Fluttershy’s.”

“That’s not what I meant,” she retorted with a frown. “I know that you’re following me. What do you think I am, dumb?”

“Wh-what? No, of course not!” I stumbled to a halt.

“I’m kidding,” Derpy said with a smile. After shaking her head with a small giggle she continued, “I mean what are you doing here in Ponyville?”

I rubbed my stubble covered chin thoughtfully. “Ah… nothing really at the moment. Well tomorrow I’m going to go to the school here so Cheerilee can start teaching me how to read Equestrian.” Derpy gave me a quizzical look, but decided to stay quiet. “Other than that I don’t have anything specific planned. Twilight and her friends are helping me out and giving me a place to stay, but I really should find a job so I can support myself.”

“Why’d you choose to come to Equestria? You don’t seem very prepared for living here.”

I shrugged. “It was… kind of a last second thing actually. I didn’t have any time to prepare.”

“Oh, I understand what that’s like,” she nodded her head seriously. We walked on for a little while longer before Derpy gave an excited squeal and spun around, tripping a bit over her hooves. “Hey I know! You should apply at the Ponyville Post Office.”

“…What?” I replied hesitantly.

“The Post Office I work at is understaffed right now. You said you need a job so why not apply?”

I hummed thoughtfully. ‘Now there’s an idea. Although… there’s an issue of me not having a resume- I have no idea if I actually need one though –and no one here knows me well enough to give a recommendation. But again, I don’t know how things work here.’ Lifting my head I gave a smile, “Thanks for the tip, I’ll think about it.”

“You’d better,” Derpy grumbled. “It’s been really busy for a while… and Hearth’s Warming Eve is just a month away.”

I chuckled quietly to myself. ‘Christmas was just last month, and in another I’ll be celebrating Equestria’s equivalent. That’ll feel weird.’

After what felt roughly like half an hour we arrived at Fluttershy’s cottage. Derpy skipped right up to the door and gave three loud knocks. Aside from the ever present sounds coming from the animals that lived in and around the cottage, there was no response.

“Looks like she’s not home,” I said even as the grey pegasus trotted off and around the side of the house. “Where are you going?”

“Fluttershy said that if I don’t disturb the chickens I can go get the eggs myself,” she called back.

Shrugging, I simply elected to follow her out back. Rounding the corner I saw Derpy already walking up the ramp into the chicken coop. The coop built in the shade of one of several trees in the yard. The yard itself was encircled by a pink three foot tall wooden fence, on the other side of the fence was a wide field bordered on the far side by the Everfree Forest. I was heading over to the chicken coop just as I began to hear alarmed clucking.

“Oops! Um, okay. Every… chicken, calm down? Please?” Derpy’s slightly panicked voice floated out of the chicken coop amongst the cacophony of clucks.

Poking my head through the door I called over the noise, “Is everything all right?”

A moment later, all the chickens became silent and regarded my silhouette with something akin to terror. They all immediately calmed down. Derpy brought her saddlebag away from its protective position atop her head and gave me a feeble smile.

“Um, thanks.”

With another shrug I stepped away from the chicken coop and sat with my back against the wooden fence enclosing the yard. I was planning on resting my eyes until Derpy was finished, but a new sound caught my attention.

The sound of singing.

I have never had a larger smile than I did at that moment, listening to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy’s duet up close and in person. There may have been no accompanying music, but that didn’t take away from the experience in the slightest.

I didn’t think that ponies actually broke into song here- not that ever gave it any thought since arriving in Equestria –I would have believed the songs were simply something in the show only. However, seeing it through a screen and hearing the song through speakers did the moment absolutely no justice.

As Rainbow landed on the roof of the chicken coop and puffed out her chest- thinking too much about singing and which pet would be hers to notice me –the realization struck me. I was sitting in on events from the episode ‘May the Best Pet Win.’

A moment later Derpy decided to poke her head out of the chicken coop.

“Finished?” I asked.

“Almost,” she seemed almost as enthralled by the song as I was.

Once the pair finished singing, Rainbow Dash took to the sky and Fluttershy went about gathering up the flying animals that her friend had requested. I stood up and made my way over to her.

As I walked across the yard I noticed for the first time how all the animals turned to face me warily and backed away, ‘They’re probably just a little nervous seeing some strange new creature,’ I shrugged. Fluttershy also noticed the change in their behavior, turning around to see what was causing it her eyes fell on me and she jumped.

“Oh, it’s just you Matthew.” She let out a relieved sigh. “You startled me, I didn’t hear you coming.”

“Sorry,” I apologized, chuckling lightly to myself. “I get that a lot.”

Having a quiet stride was something I often enjoyed, especially since it made sneaking up behind people easy. ‘Although… I feel bad for doing it to Fluttershy, even if it was just out of habit.’

“That’s all right, I’m not mad at you,” she replied in her usual quiet voice. “But I do want to know why you’re here- I mean… if you don’t mind me asking that is.”

I shook my head. “Not at all. I just followed Derpy out here, she came by to get some eggs.”

Fluttershy turned her now troubled gaze to the chicken coop, “Oh… oh dear…”

“What’s wrong?” I asked, turning to see what the source of her distress was.

“Nothing… it’s just-“ she was cut off by a loud thud as the front of the chicken coop fell off its frame. Fluttershy just sighed, “Not again… I’ll go get the hammer.”

I stood there slack jawed. As Derpy was backing out of the chicken coop she somehow managed to knock the front wall of the chicken coop down, and now she was just standing sheepishly in place.

Not a moment later, Fluttershy returned with a hammer and a bucket of nails tucked under her wings. Before she could get to work repairing her chicken coop, I said, “I can handle this. Besides, don’t you have to be going somewhere with those animals?” I indicated the winged creatures grouped behind her.

“How did you know that?”

“I heard you and Rainbow Singing,” I stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

Fluttershy’s face lit up like a cherry, “Oh! Y-you heard that?”

“A truly breathtaking performance I must say,” I replied with a firm nod of my head.

“Oh, well… um, th-thank you,” Fluttershy hid behind her mane as she began digging at the ground.

Derpy trotted over with her head hung low to apologize. As the two of them talked I went about lifting the front of the chicken coop back into position. My dad used to be a carpenter so I have a little experience with fixing and building things from the times he would get me to help him with renovations around the house.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Derpy heading off and Fluttershy getting ready to leave, so I turned to wave a farewell to the grey pegasus. As I did so, I noticed that something was missing from what I was seeing.

“Hey, Fluttershy!” I called. As she turned to face me with a questioning look I cast my eyes around the yard looking for my target. I found him and immediately pointed him out, “You’re forgetting someone.”

Fluttershy turned to see the tortoise I had indicated, she turned back with a perplexed expression. “But Rainbow said she only wanted animals that could fly.”

“Just look at the little Tank. Can’t you see how much he wants to try out?” I countered.

She regarded the tortoise for a moment in thought. “Do you want to try competing Mr. Tortoise?” The tortoise in question gave an almost agonizingly slow nod, and Fluttershy smiled in return. “That settles it then. Besides, it can’t hurt to let you try.”

With that Fluttershy scooped the reptile up in her arms, and with a final farewell, flew off towards Ponyville with the rest of the flying animals in tow.

Turning back to finish my work, I lifted the hammer to strike another nail into place only to let it fall to my side once again as yet another realization hit me. ‘I just stopped Dash from getting a different pet!’

Whitetail Park was located at the southwestern edge of Ponyville, between the town itself and the forest from which the park got its name. I was currently sitting on a bench fairly close to the town, ignoring the few curious stares I was still receiving.

‘If things go like they did in the episode, Rainbow will end up choosing Tank to be her pet. If that’s the case then I’m responsible for it. She won’t be getting the falcon that wins the race at the end, but Tank will rescue her from the rock slide… that is, unless Rainbow gets…’ I shook my head viciously, “No, no, no! Not going to finish that thought!” Cupping my face in my hands, I continued muttering to myself, “Some things may be turning out differently than the show, but I doubt something like that would ever happen.”

I failed to notice as someone headed my way, instead I chuckled mirthlessly to myself, “And here I said I wasn’t going to interfere in how things play out. But now that it’s happened, I don’t know if I want to let things play out or not. What if things start to get too far away from the show? Then again… who’s to say that what happened in the show is what is actually supposed to happen?”

“What are you talking about?” I snap my head around to see Zephyr Swift standing behind me.

‘Damn, how long was he standing there?’ I jumped to my feet, “Oh, nothing!”

Zephyr gave me a hard look, not even trying to hide his suspicion. I knew for certain that he was aware I was hiding something, and something in his eyes made me believe he was determined to find out what.

After what seemed like forever under his surprisingly scrutinizing gaze, Zephyr visibly relaxed with a sigh. “Anyway, I’ve been looking all over town for you.”

“What for?” I asked, relieved that he was letting things go for now.

“Yesterday I said I’d be checking in on you today, remember?” I nodded and Zephyr smiled. “So what’ve you been up to?”

I shrugged, “Not much really. Woke up and had breakfast, then Rainbow Dash dragged me out to get some exercise. After that I headed over to Fluttershy’s house with a mailmare named Derpy. After fixing Fluttershy’s chicken coop I came back here.”

“So where did you sleep?”

“Rarity let me stay at her place. She hasn’t said anything so I think I’m staying there tonight also.”

Zephyr nodded, “And what are you doing tomorrow?”

“Heading to the school here to start learning how to read Equestrian.” As Zephyr started to open his mouth to ask a question I added, “The language is written differently where I’m from.” That seemed to answer his question.

“Now that that’s done with, I need to find a way to get my report to the Princess,” Zephyr said.

“Why don’t you just mail it?”

“Princess Celestia said she wants me to check in on you every few days and to report back to her. Using the regular postal service would probably take a little too long to be practical,” he sighed in response.

I thought for a moment before an idea came to me. “Hey, why not ask Twilight to send your reports for you? Her assistant can send a letter to the Princess instantly.”

“That’ll work, thanks.”

“No problem.”

Zephyr’s stomach chose that moment to growl. Looking up with a light chuckle, he asked, “Say, do you want to go get something to eat?”

“I don’t have any money, and I’m not really hungry… but sure, I’ll come along,” I replied.

“All right, let’s go!” Zephyr exclaimed eager for some lunch, before asking sheepishly, “You wouldn’t know where the closest restaurant is, would you?”

I just shook my head and laughed as we turned and walked back into Ponyville.