Chapter 12

Big Mac screamed as he saw the ground rushing towards him, Dave slid into his path just in time to catch him. He let Big Mac down to see a mixed reaction of horror and anger.

Applejack ran around laughing to see Big Mac look between Dave and the barn “that’s what ya get for interrupting us”

“Sorry… how was last night?” Big Mac looked at his sister “Actually I don’t wanna know”

“It’s ok we only talked and then she started getting competitive” Dave pointed an accusing finger at Applejack “we didn’t sleep much to be honest”

“Well alright, I best be starting work” Big Mac nervously walked into the barn to get some baskets

“Alright Big Mac I’m gonna take Dave into town for breakfast then I’ll be back ta help” Applejack called after her brother and nudged Dave towards the path for Ponyville

“Hey wait for us!” Scootaloo and Applebloom came running out the house and pounced onto Dave “We were going to see if Sweetie Bell wanted to do anything today” Scootaloo explained while she wrapped her hooves around Dave’s neck and hung down his back

“Yeah we were gonna do some more crusadin!” Applebloom cheered as she balanced on Dave’s head “Do ya think we are tightrope walkers?”

Dave giggled as the fillies continued to shout out ideas “so Applejack, where are we going for breakfast?”

“I was hoping we could go ta sugarcube corner” She looked at Dave with his exposed chest “But I have a feeling that ya may want ta see if Rarity made those clothes”

Dave nodded in agreement and followed Applejack around the outskirts of Ponyville to Rarity’s boutique, they allowed themselves in as some of the nearby ponies began staring at Dave again.

“AHH” Rarity screamed as she heard the door open and quickly threw a pony mannequin, covered in clothing that Dave didn’t see, behind some curtains “Oh it’s just you” She sighed in relief as she regained her composure “come to visit have you?”

“We were goin for breakfast at sugarcube corner but we popped by ta see if Dave’s clothes are done?” Applejack tried to ignore Rarity’s strange behaviour “Ya can join us if ya like”

“Well I would be delighted to” Rarity levitated some clothes over to Dave “Here you go darling, try them on”

“Thank you so much Rarity, I swear I’ll find a way to repay you” Dave looked around “do you have a changing room?”

“Why yes of course it’s…” Rarity started to point where she had thrown the mannequin but quickly retracted her hoof “very messy at the moment”

“Well ok…” Dave looked at the two ponies and the two fillies “so where should I change?”

“What’s wrong with ya?” Applebloom asked

“How do you mean?” Dave looked down at the child that circled him

“Do ya have some kind of condition that means ya have to wear clothes all the time?” Applebloom poked his leg

‘Why does everypony keep asking about my clothes?’ Dave thought irritably before heading for the stairs “I’ll get changed in the bathroom”

Dave walked into the bathroom and removed his old clothes and dressed in his new ones, the trousers were the same but the shirt had buttons running up the front so Dave could open it up if he became hot. The colours were also different, they were a dark blue with three thin white lines stretching down the short arms. “I got to admit she does a good job” He said whilst checking himself in the mirror.

Downstairs Applejack and Rarity watched as Dave walked down still admiring his new clothes “Do you like them?” Rarity asked

“I love them!” Dave smiled happily at her “How do you manage to make these so quickly?”

“You asked for simple so I made simple” Rarity levitated a bag over to him “besides I completely forgot about the clothes I brought to Canterlot for you”

“Oh of course I forgot about them” Dave took the bag and slung it over one shoulder “So are we going to eat?”

“Yes you two go on ahead I’ll catch up” Rarity wanted to hide her little outfit from everypony a little better “save me a seat” she called and waited until she was sure they were gone before quickly hiding the mannequin upstairs in her room

Dave wandered happily down the street, not noticing the awkward stares he was receiving until he stopped outside a building that looked like it was cooked rather than built “Heh for Hansel and Gretel’s sake I hope not every giant cake house has an evil woman”

“What ya on about?” Applejack looked puzzled at Dave who giggled to himself

“Nothing, just a tale back on my world” He continued to giggle as he walked inside behind Applejack

“OH MY GOSH HI DAVE!” Pinkie screamed happily as she ran full throttle at him “I MADE YOU SOME CUPCAKES AND SOME SWEETS AND SOME OTHER THINGS THAT ARE FULL OF SUGARY GOODNESS!” She stopped suddenly before crashing into him “so how are you?”

Dave rubbed his ears to get the ringing noise out before looking down at the overexcited pony “Yeah I’m good, how are you?”

“I’m GREAT!” the ringing returned “Sit down and I’ll bring some food over for you”

Dave and Applejack sat down at a table, Dave noticed that Applebloom and Scootaloo were gone probably to go see Sweetie Bell so he decided to leave it. Pinkie Pie quickly retuned with a tray full of cupcakes, muffins, sweets and slices of normal cakes

“Wow did you make all these?” Dave gawped in wonder at the variety that lay before him

“Yes silly I help Mr and Mrs Cake here and baby-sit their two cute little babies” She smiled as Dave picked up a large white cupcake “eat up!”

Dave cautiously bit into the cupcake feeling an instant sugar rush “hmm” he quickly looked at the cupcake before shoving it all into his mouth greedily “Thith ith amathin!” He said from behind the cupcake that blocked his mouth

“I know they are just so amazingly, delicious and tasty not to mention made with a spoonful of happiness!” Pinkie squealed in excitement

Dave swallowed the cupcake and picked up another “no wonder you are so hyperactive with this kind of food!” he almost swallowed it whole with the eagerness to eat

“I’m not hyperactive silly I’m just happy to see that my friends are enjoying themselves” Pinkie threw an entire slice of cake into her mouth

Applejack laughed as Dave tried to stuff an entire handful of chocolate into his mouth but only half wanted to go in “Whoa there sugarcube, you are gonna get sick eating that fast”

Dave controlled himself and took his hands away from the suddenly empty tray and looked at a chocolate covered Pinkie “Those were delicious”

“Thanks Dave!” Pinkie wiped herself down with her tongue in one sweeping motion “So what are you doing today? I would love to hang out”

Rarity walked in and saw the chocolate faced Dave and the giggling Pinkie “Oh Dave how did you get so messy so quickly?” she levitated a cloth to his face and wiped it clean

“Thanks Rarity, I tried to not ruin the clothes this time” he joked and Rarity giggled

“Yes I noticed how you stopped all the food with your face” Everypony laughed as they started to eat some sponge cake together

As they finished the cake they washed it down with some soda but Rarity had a cup of tea, Twilight and Spike came in through the front door, Spike holding a scroll in his claws

Dave noticed them enter and gave them a wave “Hey Twilight, hey Spike how is everything going?”

Twilight walked over with a smile “Dave would you be so kind as to open this for me?” Spike handed him the scroll “It has been sent for you”

“Well I’m fine thank you for asking” He joked as he took the scroll from Spike and looked at the writing around the seal “For Dave only” Dave looked at it curiously “Where did this come from?”

“The princess, I have no idea what is in there” Twilight peeked over his shoulder to see

Dave shrugged and broke the seal and slowly began to open it

Dear Dave

Please read this alone, that means no peeking Twilight…

Twilight sighed as Dave chuckled and walked over to the corner of the room and continued to read

…I am writing because I may have need of you, a problem has occurred near a town called Appleoosa, I believe a member of the Apple family lives there and may be able to provide greater detail if you choose to take this task.

A number of strange activities have occurred in a large cave, I do not wish to risk anypony but it needs to be investigated further.

This is why I am ASKING you to consider taking this task as I believe you will be more capable of tackling any issues that you may encounter

Please reply ASAP

Celestia
P.s. you may allow Twilight to read this now

Dave read the letter again before handing it to Twilight “What do you think?”

Twilight read the letter “This looks suspicious… she didn’t write Princess at the bottom”

“I meant the task” Dave stated as he sat down

“Oh sorry, well if it is just looking in a cave I can’t see any problems” Twilight looked at Applejack “Have you talked to Braeburn recently?”

“Nope not since the incident with the buffalo” She then read the letter with Rarity and Pinkie “it would be good to visit again while Dave does his duty”

“Ok then I should write a reply… Pinkie do you have a pen and paper?” Dave asked as Pinkie handed him the pen and paper instantly “Thanks… wait where did you?”

“The letter?!” Twilight reminded him

“Oh yes of course” Dave looked at Pinkie again before writing a reply

Dear Celestia

I would be happy to complete this task for you, my friends would like to come with me so they may visit Appleoosa while I am looking in this strange cave

I would be happy to depart right away

Dave

P.s. nice prediction about Twilight

Dave rolled up the letter and handed it to Spike who blew it away in a bright green flame “Thanks Spike” He turned to see a frowning Twilight “What?”

“You forgot to write PRINCESS Celestia, where are your manners?” Twilight shook her head “She is royalty after all, she deserves to be treated as such”

“Oops sorry”

“Just because she forgot to write it doesn’t mean you should” Twilight helped herself to Dave’s slice of cake

Spike belched out another scroll onto the table and an envelope containing some tickets, Dave opened the letter and read it privately to himself first “She writes fast I’ll give her that”

Dear Dave

I appreciate this as I could not ask just anypony, inside the attached envelope are train tickets for this afternoon, show them and you shall be able to have the entire first class sleeping area for yourselves

I recommend sleeping well on the journey as you should reach Appleoosa by tomorrow morning

I wish you the best of luck and please send a letter as soon as your task is complete

Celestia

Dave massaged his eyes “so much for looking around Ponyville”

“We don’t have to go until this afternoon so there is still time to do some things” Spike grabbed Dave’s head and pulled him in for a whisper “besides I need something interesting to do, Twilight has been so boring recently”

Twilight looked at the two letters “Why did she forget to put Princess at the bottom of both these letters? Is she ill?” Twilight put the panicked thoughts to the back of her head “We should see if the others want to come with us”

“Yeah we’ll go find Dash and Fluttershy for ya” Applejack left with Pinkie Pie and headed for Fluttershy’s cottage hoping to meet Rainbow Dash along the way

“So what does everypony want to do?” Dave asked as he took the letters and envelope and placed them in his bag of clothes “we have a few hours I’m guessing?”

Twilight nodded “I think the next train arrives at seven o’clock so we have plenty of time to get ready”

“So what should we do until then?” Dave looked at his watch which had both hands pointing trait up at twelve o’clock “I’m already packed” he joked, lifting his bag back over his shoulder

“Well I suppose we could show you around most of Ponyville” Twilight peeked outside “get everypony more comfortable seeing you walking around”

“Yeah I suppose that’s a good idea” Dave stood up as Spike climbed onto him and followed the ponies outside.

Dave walked past a brown pony as he started to walk down the street and received an open mouthed stare “What the hay?” it gasped

“Hello” Dave said happily as he continued to follow his friends down the road

“H-Hello” It said in disbelief as the large creature walked past it

Twilight and Rarity proceeded to take Dave to many different buildings, receiving many stares along the way, they only had to stop to introduce Dave a few times before finally stopping at a large round building.

“So what’s this?” Dave asked as he looked up at the tall building

“This is the town hall” Twilight opened the door for Dave and Rarity to walk in “The mayor would probably like to meet you”

They all walked into the hall and walked into a reception area, another set of double doors sat in front of the group but Twilight and Rarity walked over to a door on the right which had ‘Mayor’ written in large golden letters across the top

Rarity politely knocked and they heard a female voice from the other side call out “Come in”

Twilight opened the door and the others followed her inside, behind a large wooden desk and a small pile of paperwork sat a grey haired earth pony that read through a final sheet of paper before placing on top of the stack

“That’s the funding done for another month” She adjusted her glasses as she looked up “Now how may I help youuuaahhhhhhh!” She screamed slightly as she saw Dave standing behind the two unicorns

“Miss Mayor we would like to talk with you about something” Twilight stepped aside to allow the mayor to see Dave completely

“Does it by any chance have to do with that strange creature?” the mayor couldn’t help but shrink into her chair as Dave walked over to her

“Hello my name’s Dave” He outstretched a hand and the mayor weakly shook it “Thank you for seeing us in such short notice”

“Not a problem um… Dave” the mayor adjusted her glasses before sitting up strait “Well I can safely assume that you are the cause of all the disturbance recently”

“You make that sound like he is a problem” Twilight raised an eyebrow

“No not at all, I was just slightly confused when I heard that Princess Celestia came for a quick visit and then a few days later a freaky creature was reported to be walking through town”

Rarity slammed her hooves on the desk “Would you stop calling him things like freak and strange, he is none of those things!”

The mayor stared blankly at Rarity and then at Twilight as she raised her hoofs to her table as well “I agree, just because he looks a bit different doesn’t mean he is a monster!”

Dave stood up and placed his hands on both the ponies’ mouths and pulled them back “Sorry mayor, they had some cake this morning and I think they are a bit over excited”

“Well it’s good to see that somepony round here is still calm” the mayor didn’t notice the looks she received from the unicorns

They both opened their mouths to protest but Dave quickly stuffed his hands into them “Thank you for the compliment” he noticed something moving around his fingers, he winced slightly when he realised that Twilight and Rarity’s tongues were playing the fingers that rested in their mouths ‘ew, do they realize that they are both doing that?’

Releasing himself from their mouths Dave wiped his hands dry on his trousers and Twilight took her gaze from Dave and back to the mayor “Princess Celestia took him to Canterlot for a while so she could see what he was like”

“She hardly spent any time with me though” Dave realized he only spent a small time with Celestia ‘I only saw her at breakfast, lunch and when she came to see me in my room’ Dave buried his head into his slightly moist hands ‘ohhhh god! I hugged her and kissed her… KISSED her, even if it was just on the cheek. I must be the most disrespectful person ever.’

Rarity ignored Dave burrowing his head into his hands “well the princess talked to us about Dave rather than talk to him directly” Rarity and Twilight continued to tell the mayor about their journey in Canterlot but ignored the physical powers Dave discovered, both the strength and the healing

After they all retold their tale the mayor simply sat and asked a few questions before finally standing up and shaking Dave’s hand again “Well Dave I can see that you should easily fit into life here in Ponyville and please come and pop in if you ever need anything”

“Thank you Miss Mayor I will try to not cause any fuss for you” Dave took a sigh of relief as he released the mare’s light brown hoof

“That reminds me, where are you living?” she took a letter out of her desk and wrote Dave’s name at the top and instead of ticking Earth pony, Pegasus or unicorn she ticked a box labelled ‘other’

“Well um…I have kinda just been staying where I could” Dave scratched the back of his head “I guess when I come back I could find somewhere to live more permanently” Dave briefly explained his task to the mayor before she placed the letter on a shelf behind her

“Well when you return please drop by and I’m sure we can arrange something” the mayor then bided them all farewell as they all departed the hall

“You could stay in my basement if you wished” Twilight suggested with an agreeing nod from Spike

“Twilight you already have Spike living with you full time” Rarity placed a hoof on Dave’s arm “I only have Sweetie Bell occasionally so it makes more sense to have Dave stay in my spare room”

“But you get so tied up with work” Twilight also placed a hoof on Dave

“I can manage perfectly well” Rarity said with a hint of annoyance in her voice “your occupation is very unpredictable, being Princess Celestia’s student and all”

‘Are they fighting over me?’ Dave thought to himself “To be honest if I am going to be here a while, I would like to have my own place”

“Why of course darling, you should have some independence” Rarity kept her hoof on Dave

“And we will be here to support you” Twilight also kept her hoof where it was

Spike who had been quiet most of the day, decided to speak for once “But how will you pay?”

They all fell silent “You have a point there” Dave wondered if Celestia would pay him for assisting her with this task ‘no I couldn’t accept payment for helping out’ Dave shrugged “I’ll figure something out when we get back”

“Figure what out?” Pinkie asked bouncing beside Dave causing him to jump in fright

“Oh Pinkie it’s you” Dave turned to see Applejack, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash all following close behind her “hey everypony” they all replied with smiles, even Fluttershy “feeling better?”

The yellow Pegasus looked confused but Dash nudged her with an elbow “oh, y-yes thank you for asking” She hid behind her pink mane slightly

“So does everypony here want to go to Appleoosa while Dave does this task for Princess Celestia?” Twilight asked the group and they all nodded “good because…” she peeked at Dave’s watch “we have two hours before we need to catch the train”

Dave looked at his watch ‘where did I lose five hours? Heh time flies when you’re having fun’

“So we all meeting at the train station once we are ready” Twilight looked at Dave “seeing as you are already packed you should just follow one of us to the station”

Dave looked at all the ponies “I wouldn’t mind seeing Fluttershy’s animals… if that’s ok with you of course” he looked at Fluttershy who still hid behind her mane

“Oh um… ok… if you want to… see you in a minute girls” Fluttershy then allowed Dave to follow her out of Ponyville and towards the Everfree forest

“Wouldn’t have thought you lived inside the forest” Dave asked still worried about going back in

“Oh no I live just outside” Fluttershy explained

“Ok, but still it is quite close” Dave noticed a cottage coming into view

“When any animals from the forest get injured they come near my house, so I can help them and send them back in all healthy and happy” Fluttershy happily smiled as she thought of all the animals she nursed back to health “they are still animals after all”

“That’s a nice thing to do” Dave saw a variety of animals moving around Fluttershy as she came closer to the front door

“Hello little ones” Fluttershy greeted all the animals individually, to Dave’s amazement “Oh hello Angel”

Dave looked down to see a very angry bunny “well isn’t he cute” Angel gave Dave a kick in his ankle at this comment “Ouch”

“Now Angel that wasn’t very nice, I have to leave you in charge for one more day because I have to go help my friends” Fluttershy walked upstairs and came back down with a small suitcase, she obviously didn’t have time to unpack because of all the animals “I know you will be ok”

The bunny bounced up and down angrily as his master began to leave again

Dave looked at the bunny before quickly walking back outside with Fluttershy “What was his problem?”

“Oh he is just a little bit sad I have to go again so soon” Fluttershy had trouble trying to get the bag on her back so Dave carried it for her “Oh thank you, but I can manage”

“I insist” Dave easily held the bag in his left hand as they started to walk for the train station ‘If that bunny was sad I would hate to see it angry’

As Dave and Fluttershy arrived at the station they were met by the others who all had one small bag each

“Everypony ready?” Dave asked but was drowned out by the loud noise of a steam train braking and turned to see the most colourful train he had ever laid eyes on

The train itself was a deep blue and the driver had his head out the window gawping at Dave, the cartridges had varieties of different roofs, some bumpy, some flat and they all came in colours of brown, pink or blue.

The driver stopped the train and his head was parallel with Dave’s “What the hay?” he mumbled

“Yeah I get that a lot” Dave giggled but took the envelope he received from Celestia out of his bag and handed it to the stunned driver

The driver opened the envelope and looked at the tickets “Royal duty eh?” He tore the corner of the ticket and handed them back to Dave “Second cartridge down” he pointed at a large, regal blue cartridge with a smooth, curving roof

The group all climbed in and placed their bags down onto their respective beds, as Dave walked in he looked around, there were four sets of bunk beds on either side so there were just enough for one each and a two long tables sat at the end of the cartridge next to some large arch windows.

“First class is an understatement” Dave chuckled as he climbed above Spike’s bunk at the end and relaxed on the soft mattress, he still had to curl up a bit so he could fit, after all this was designed for a pony

The train’s horn whistled to show that they were now leaving the station and slowly began to pick up speed

Dave rested his eyes while the other ponies all talked amongst themselves and fell asleep

Twilight on the other hand was writing a letter to Princess Celestia describing Dave’s home issue and had Spike send it before climbing into her own bunk, opposite Dave’s, she wrote the letter with the obvious hint of Dave staying at her library

Twilight quietly watched Dave sleep for a while before finally deciding to shut her eyes ‘I’m sure the princess will allow him to stay at mine’ she thought as she drifted off to sleep

The train travelled non-stop towards it’s destination Appleoosa through out the night while transporting it’s cargo, until they were all suddenly awoken the next morning.