While the ponies that he had met not too long ago lead him further into their settlement, they began to introduce themselves to him. While he had heard the orange one being called AJ, he learned her name was 'Applejack' and that it was her family that owned the orchard they had met at. The pink one had barely gotten through telling him her name was 'Pinkie Pie' before she had suddenly remembered something and zoomed off, quick as can be. When asked the rest of the group simply said that was how she was most of the time.

The two pegasi introduced themselves as 'Rainbow Dash' and 'Fluttershy', the former being loud and proud while the latter was meek and shy. Finally the two unicorns of the party gave me their names, 'Twilight' being short and to the point and 'Rarity' stopping and offering her hoof to me. While Twilight looked like she was about to chastise her friend for expecting the strange creature to understand pony etiquette, I merely adjusted my mask so they couldn't see my face while I gave her hoof a light peck after holding it with my wooden hoof.

"Well Twilight, at least we know that whatever sort of creature he is, he is at the very least a gentlecolt." Rarity said with a light toss of her mane as we all continued down the road to town.

The apparent father of the child was still quite distraught with what had occurred and was still busy fussing over the sleeping filly and too busy to give me his name. I believe I heard them calling out Diamond Tiara, so I guessed that it was the girls name. It didn't matter too much to me though, the most important thing was that she was safe and sound, back in the arms of those who cared for her. I was still a bit worried about what sort of damage that sort of scare would cause her though.

"Tell me Miss Sparkle." I started.

"Please sir, just call me Twilight." Twilight stated as she butted in.

"Well then Twilight." I said giving her a small sideways glance. "Will the young one be alright after all of this?"

"Well darling, that's awfully kind of you to ask." Rarity said while giving me a pleasant smile, with others in the group sounded their agreement.

"Well Ash, after a good bit of rest and a return to normality she should be just fine." Twilight spoke with confidence. "We've already given her a once over and other than a couple scraps and cuts from her tumble through the brush, she is perfectly fine. Thanks to you."

Finally looking up from the filly who had begun to stir, I was greeted by the wet eyes of a concerned father. "Thank you sir, you brought my little girl home safe."

"It's nothing at all sir, if anyone would let the cries of a child go unanswered then they deserve to burn in the deepest of pits." The ponies around me were a bit taken aback by my sudden anger, but after a look among themselves they agreed that it was a matter best left alone.

"Well sir, my name if Filthy Rich and I can assure you that I always pay my debts." At this he looked down at his little girl. "And I owe you a great deal." He finished nuzzling Diamond as she woke up.

As she climbed out of her father's grip she looked at him questioningly. "Daddy? Where are we? What happened to the"-Eep! she yelped as she looked over towards me. "Y-you're the one that saved me? Where's your ax?"

Aj looked over at me warily. "Ax?"

"I'm already a wooden stranger from the dark, scary woods." I replied simply. "Would you rather be prance about with it?"

Rainbow Dash snorted a bit at this, while Aj gave her the stink eye. "Well ah guess ah can't fault you for that one. Most ponies around here are skittish enough as is."

Almost on queue, a trio of ponies with a yellow coated and red haired pony at their lead stopped and gasped at my appearance.

"Oh no! It's a-a-a..."

"A kind creature that saves fillies and treats ponies with respect." Rarity offered.

"The horror, the h- wait what?" She asked confused.

Before that conversation could go any further Twilight ushered us into a large tree that was hollowed out to fit a library inside it, leaving the confused ponies outside. It was then that she showed us to an area where all the others sat on various pillows or just on the floor. At the same time the small purple and green lizard that I had seen in my observations walked into the room with a tray of goodies in his little claws.

"Whoa Twilight, where'd ya find a wooden pony? And why's Mr. Rich here with Diamond?" The small reptile asked.

"Well Spike, this is Ash. He saved Diamond Tiara from a timberwolf and brought her home. Also he's not actually made of wood, he's just wearing a disguise so the townsponies don't freak out as much." Twilight answered.

The small lizard looked at me with a bit of wonder, as one does with strangers who fight monsters and wear masks. Little guy probably thought I was some kind of hero from a comic book. Or monster.

"Wow! You're like a hero from one of my comics! Can I have an autograph?" Spike asked with eyes full of wonder, pen and paper outstretched.

While a bit surprised from his enthusiasm I decided to oblige the little guy. "Sure just let me take care of this thing." I said whilst removing my wooden forehoof, setting it on the floor and keeping my arm underneath my cloak. As I signed my name on the paper the young reptile picked up the fake hoof and studied it in amazement.

"Wow, this thing lets you walk like a regular pony?" Spike asked curiously.

"Spike! It's rude to touch things that don't belong to you." Twilight admonished, even though I could tell that she was dying to get her hoofs on it.

"It's fine Twilight, he was just curious is all. Here you go little guy." I said as I slipped him the autograph whilst keeping my body hidden. As he took the paper I slipped the fake leg back into place.

"Huh, what's all this scribble?" Spike looked at what I wrote confused.

"My name as it is written." I responded.

"Doesn't look like common equestrian to me." He held it up to Twilight.

"Huh, it isn't. Mind if I run this through a translator spell?" she looked between Spike and myself. After both of us shrugging her horn began to light up. I did not see what exactly happened, but when she was done she set the paper down on the table and the words were in a different script than I had written.

"Ash, of the Wood by the Sea?" Fluttershy asked.

"I don't know, it's the family name." I said holding up my fake hoofs.

"Sure you're not really made of wood?" Spike joked, getting a couple laughs out of those in the room including myself.

"I'm fairly certain, but for now I'm sure that you would all like to hear what I have to say about how I've come to be where I am now." Seeing the nods of those around the room I continued. "Well I arrived at what I think was about three months ago..."

Author's Note

Yay! Second chapter out. I'm so happy that you guys like the story so far and I hope that you enjoy where it leads, but for right now any comments about what you think or mistakes that need fixing are greatly appreciated.
Thanks for the read.