He followed her into the hut, finding the interior to very much match the aesthetic of the outside, various tribal masks, herbs, and brewing accoutrements lined the walls and were placed here and there. ...huh. A witch doctor? I mean, I'm some sort of eldritch horror and she's a talking zebra, so, I mean, not too farfetched," he thought, before realizing they hadn't really acquainted themselves quite yet.

"My name is... huh," he paused, trying his best to remember his own name. He'd gone by it his whole life, he'd always been known by it. Any other time he'd know it for sure, but at that moment it was as though he simply had a hole in his mind where that memory used to be. He decided he would fill it, perhaps with a new memory. A new name, to fill the gap the old one left behind. "It's King, I suppose."

The zebra paused and looked at him, tilting her head in confusion, distrust written plainly on her face. "You don't seem too certain of that name of yours. Is this another of many monsterous lures?" She paused, looking into his eyes for moment, though a very short one as she grew very uncomfortable doing so immediately.

"I promise, it's not, though with how you seem not to trust me, my promise probably isn't worth much. I've only been wherever it is I am, and whatever am I for that matter, for a few hours now, at most. I don't know how I got here, and I certainly don't understand why it is that I can't seem to remember my own original name, so I decided to try something new instead. I'm sorry, I guess. That's just what I've got," he said as he raised his hands in what he hoped came across as a supplicating gesture rather than a threat. The witch doctor seemed to lose a little of that tension from before. Sighing a moment, she spoke again.

"I am sorry, I suppose, for acting that way before. Living here makes one wary of strangers at their door. My name is Zecora, and that's the truth. To find yours, I'd likely need more than a sleuth. I'm sorry, again, for treating you as such. Like Ponyville once treated me, perhaps I deserved as much. Where you find yourself now is the Everfree, the heart of the forest is home to me," she paused a moment, hoping perhaps for some semblance of recognition to appear in his face, though, finding none, she continued. "The wider lands are called Equestria, further still are the Badlands, Griffonstone, and Zebrica. More still rest on this planet called Equus, upon which live ponies, dragons, zebras, and rarely, moose."

She paused once again to study his face, deciding that maybe she'd rather have something a little closer to normal, after all. He picked up on this, quickly asking, "Do you mind if I turn to something a little more normal for this place? You seem really uncomfortable with how I look right now and I'd rather not make things too much worse right now." She nodded quickly at his question and he stepped out of the door again, not wanting her to see his transformation as he wasn't sure of the kind of effect it might have had on her mind. He turned himself into a zebra stallion again, this time polishing the look somewhat, artfully designing spiralling designs across his body that seemed somehow smooth and jagged at the same time, coming to an end in the rough, thorny shape of a rose on his flank. He wasn't precisely Picasso, but he was happy with his form for the moment, nonetheless. He walked back into the hut, and turned to show Zecora his form. "Is this any better?"

Zecora turned to look, paused a moment before a small blush came to be on her muzzle, if only for a moment. "Much, I... I suppose. Apologies, I seem to have lost my prose," she turned away for a moment as she collected herself. When she had done so, she turned back to speak again. "You remind me much of one I once knew, but that cannot be, after all, it's just you. That aside, I assume that you seem civilization. I can't give you that, but there's Equestria's nation," she said and seemed to chuckle at her own joke, and he joined out of some awkward sense of obligation. "Ponyville is as far as I'm willing to go. From there you're alone, just so that you know." He nodded sagely at this, or whatever approximation of sageness he could manage in a form he wasn't terribly familiar with.

"That's alright, I suppose. Anything's better than nothing. I appreciate the help."

"It's not much help at all, though I'm sure that you'll see. Ponies aren't always what they're cracked up to be..." She then held open the door of her hut, gesturing out, and the two of them left, beginning the short journey to Ponyville, arriving shortly thereafter, Zecora bidding him good luck as he walked into town. The first pony he encountered immediately turned and walked away, clearly trying to keep herself from panicking. She had a rose cutie mark and had a pasted on smile, avoiding King whilst attempting to seem friendly for appearances. Many other ponies seemed to have the same reaction to him as he passed until he heard a sound like something between grunts of anger and barely restrained tears. He followed the sounds until he came upon a white-furred unicorn with striking two-tone blue hair, her beautiful bright red eyes only marred by tears and anguish.

"Urgh!! What did I do to deserve this shit!? I was born like this, why the fuck does it matter what color my eyes are!?" She continued raging against the nearest wall as he approached, cautious but concerned.

"What's wrong with your eyes? I happen to think that's a wonderful color," he asked, looking only to help.

"It's just... ugh, you wouldn't even get it..."

"Try me, I might understand better than you think," he said, turning to show her his eyes, the bright crimson color shown like precious rubies.

"They... no one comes to my shows. Not since Octavia busted my damned sunglasses. Ever since people started spreading rumors that I was some kind of monster because of my red eyes." She sniffled, "I just... I wish I never even had to show them, that people would just forget about my eyes and listen to my music..."

"Well, I disagree, but if you really feel you need to hide them..." He paused thoughtfully before settling on an idea. "Here, just a moment, please." He turned around for a moment, hiding his hoof as he extended a bit of it and stretched it out, pulling and stretching it thin until it became a shaded lens, then two, forming a large pair of dark purple sunglasses which he quickly snapped off, deciding not to think about it when he didn't feel any pain from it, a sensation akin to clipping a nail the only feeling that accompanied it. "Try these. They should help you cover them if you really feel you should."

She accepted them and smiled, happy for the help. "Why are you doing this, anyway? Why help some random mare you heard yelling in the middle of the day?"

"Why not? It was worth it for that smile, anyhow." He smiled at her, happy to have helped, before turning and holding a hoof in the air in farewell. "Well, see you around."

"Wait! At least tell me what I can call you next time I see you," she chuckled as she spoke, surprised he hadn't even given her his name. "I'm Vinyl."

"King," he stated confidently. "It's nice to meet you."

Author's Note

I think I got it right this time? Don't be afraid to inform me that I am, in fact, a huge big dumb idiot. Still don't have an editor.