It must have been several hours before Denzel stirred. His eyes flickered open to the towering branches of trees high above, as he sat up, his back popped several times. "AH! whew... must've been out a whi-" his voice trailed off as he rubbed the side of his head with his hand.........only, it wasn't a hand. "What......the....." on the contrary, in place of his hand, was now a dark blue horse hoof. His response to this, was such.

" WHAT THE ACTUAL BUCK!?! " He frantically got to his feet.....er hooves. He then looked down at his other three legs. ".........WHAT THE BUCK!?! Wait, why can't I say Buck!?! Holy shit, this is some freaking scary ass magic.......magic?........wait, magic! The others!" He held up his right leg, there it was, the Highwind-7: A portable journal, radio, phone, and computer. With a Compass and Blowtorch included.

"Okay okay let's see..." He sat down to have free use of both his front legs to keep from falling, he then had to carefully type in each number on account of him no longer having fingers. It took some time before he managed to complete the distress signal. "Now to see if everyponies alrigh- what in the!?! -oh not now." The little gadget then began to beep in a steady rhythm, it the stopped around 20 beeps, then stopped. "Nothing, no response. Which means either they're Dead or way out of range...." He hoped it was the latter. "Well, I guess I better find a town or somewhere sa-OOMPH!!" He fell flat on his face as he took a couple steps and tripped. "..........dis.......iz gunna be a wooooong day.....ptooey!" He got up, spitting the dirt out of his mouth.

.................SEVERAL HOURS LATER....................

"Okay, I think I've got it down...." He leaned against trees every few steps to keep his balance. "1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, You. put. one. hoof. in. front. of. thee. other! YES! GOT IT!" He the started to gallop "Oh yeah! Here we go! This what I'm talkin abou-YEEET!!!" He his hoove hit something and he crashed into a nearby bush. "....it's a good thing nopony didn't see that." He stood up and started to look around for what had caused him to trip, he spotted it, a large Black Duffel Bag, it was one of the many that were aboard the ship. "Oh my god, thank you Jesus!" He ran over to it, grabbed it and sat down.

"Okay, don't lemme down, what'd ya got, let's see what ya got..." He held his breath as he unzipped the bag. "JACKPOT!!" He pulled out each item in the bag, setting them each side by side, and writing down what he had in his journal.

The list wrote off as:
5 Cans of Soup
10 Packs of BBQ Jerky
1 Large Combat Knife
1 Canteen
1 Sleeping Bag
2 yards of Fishing line/w hook
1 Medical Kit
2 Lighters
1 5lb Bag of Gummy Bears

He did a double take at last one. "Wait, a 5 pound bag of......aw, thanks Martin." He loaded all of it into the duffle bag, and strapped it around his waist, he then noticed he had his leather armor vest still on. "This is getting weirder and weirder......anyway, it's time to move." Denzel started to make his way through the trees, hopefully to find a settlement, or at least a cabin.

A few hours passed, and the only thing that had changed was the scenery. It went from being a forest, to a swamp-like jungle. Now, this wasn't a problem for Denzel, he had gone through worse back on Gaia, but when it started to thunder, then downpour, oh this was aggravating on whole new level, he was wet, tired, hungry, lonely, cold, and fed up. "RRRRRAAAAAAUUGH!!! WHEN WILL IT END!?!"

A few minutes later, something caught his eye, a light! He tore through the mud and reeds heading in that direction, and burst into the clearing, and stood before a hut, it was made out of a weeping willow, and covered in colored masks and other baubles. "Yeesh, reminds me of the Ancient Forest back home...."

Denzel hesitantly walked up to the door, and after a moment knocked.

....

Nothing. He knocked again, a little harder this time, there was movement, and locks on the door were being undone, and the door opened, reviling a tall Zebra. "Who comes knocking at this time of night? Wouldn't it be better if you waited till Light?" She looked around before looking down at Denzel, by which her eyebrows raised. "It's dangerous to be in the dark for one so small as you, the creatures are liable to tear you in two!"

Denzel, who was not only taken aback at her constant rhyming, but the fact that she was a walking, talking zebra. Though, the thought was put out of his mind when he remembered he himself was walking on 4 legs, realizing the zebra was waiting for him to respond, he spoke up.

"Ah, I....I'm lost. You got a spare room?" He asked hopefully, using his best manners, despite his crappy situation.

The Zebra stood there for a moment, then smiled. "Small one, having you here will be no pain, now please, come in out of the rain." She stood aside for him to pass, which he gratefully accepted.

She stripped him of his wet vest and hung it on line to dry over the fire to dry. As Denzel put down his bag, he got a good look at the place. A Cauldron over a pit with a roaring fire sat in the center of the room, several shelves line the walls holding many different colored bottles, hanging higher up the walls are more masks similar to the ones outside, and a bed round the corner. "Wow, this place is fascinating....never seen anything like it...."

The zebra smiled at him "My home, though it is a tree, thank you for saying that, it means a lot to me." She suddenly realized something, putting her hoof over her mouth. "Apologies, small one. But introductions must be done. I am Zecora, potions and remedies are what I do, and now young colt, what shall I call you?"

Denzel, however had a little trouble responding. "D-Denzel. You can call me Denzel. Mis Zecora, you seem to be rhyming a lot, why is that?"

Zecora chuckled "That question has not gone unasked, back when ponies considered me an outcast. I talk in rhyme, my answer shall stand, it is a custom I have inherited from my home land." she proclaimed proudly.

Denzel's ears parked up "Oh, so you're not from around here?"

Zecrora shook her head "Sadly no, for in Equestria only ponies mainly stock, a zebra however, is the black sheep of the flock."

He didn't like the sound of that. "That sounds a little raciest."

The zebra quickly responded "Oh, there are other races too, yaks, Diamond Dogs, Griffins, Dragons, and others. It's true!"

Denzel wiped his head "Whew good, I hate seeing folks being pushed around for being different or being a different color." The last part ended with a sneer.

Zecora raised an eyebrow "You sound rather bitter on the topic too, has something in the past happened to you?"

The colt scrunched his muzzle, shaking his head "Not to me, a close friend, he's bullied mostly cause of both his different color and his inheritance. But to me, in my opinion, Friendship doesn't see color or race. Those two words can disappear from the Friend category for all I care."

The Rhyming Zebra giggled "So you do not mind my being a zebra? Then-"

Before she could finish, Denzel bet her to the punch. "Ma'am, I wouldn't mind if you were a Cheetah or an Amoeba.

She stood there for a moment, then burst out laughing that the colts smugness. She then walked over to her bubbling cauldron and began stirring the contents. "Before we turn in for the night, shall I cook us a up something to bite?

Denzel nodded in agreement "That would be nice, thank you." as he unrolled his sleeping back near a warm spot not too close to the fire. "We can talk more in the mourning..." he let our a yawn.

"My next question you must answer true, and I shall try not to stutter, but..." She looked at him over her shoulder "Do you take your potatoes With or Without Butter?

Author's Note

Denzel seems to have had his first encounter with an actual resident of the planet! Though, perhaps the others won't be so lucky.

Hope you enjoy, I'll try to post chapters when I can, works driving me nuts.