With a determined look, Maya trotted towards the forest. Her pace slowed on hitting that boundary. "It's not scary." She took a slow breath. "It's the only way to know. And I promised I would." She stepped into the shadows. The soft earth gave way beneath her hooves, a gentle ground with every step.

She looked up and found herself surrounded by trees, growing so high she could not see the top of them. She looked around nervously as she heard the scuttling sounds of various critters that called it home. "I know you're here," she shouted out as she walked forward. "Somewhere." She didn't know more than that, frowning with thoughts of that deer. "I want to talk to you, please? You can find me!"

Maya kept walking, but her hoof soon struck something that made it sink in, and she began to tumble forward, sliding down the hill. "What?" She tried to stop herself but the slope was so steep and the way so loose. She yelped as she fell to her belly and slid right down that incline. Everything was lost in dirt and dust as she squeaked, coming to a slow stop.

She tried to get to her feet, but they were all stuck in dirt. "No!" She struggled to free herself, but the ground held tight and she was too weak to break free. She started to cry softly. "Help!" She hadn't told any of them she was going there. "Please help!" The thoughts of what could happen to her raced through her mind. "Please!"

The deer emerged from around the base of a tree. "Hello again."

Maya jerked in place as she saw it standing there, towering over her. She gasped, eyes wide with surprise. It was the deer, but it was also different. They had four limbs, not six. They were a deer, not a deer that was also a man. They were male still. She colored, wrenching her eyes away from checking that point. "H-hello. I seem, um, to be a little trapped. Can you help?"

The deer stepped forward and nudged her with his head, making her giggle and squirm. "Why would I help you? You are the one that came here. This is my home." He sat there next to her. "Besides, you can help yourself."

"No I can't! I'm stuck!" She tried to pull each of her legs free, but they were quite stuck in the grasp of the dirt.

"You're afraid, and forgetting who you are." He reached out and tapped her on the lower spine, above where her cutie mark rested.

"Magic," he continued. "It's something you've learned how to use, and now you're afraid you'll never be able to do so again. Why? What has caused you to lose that confidence in yourself?"

She blinked slowly, the question causing her struggles to slow. "I'm not afraid of that." But the answer came right along with it. "Oh, I'm being silly." She imagined vines growing under her, gently lifting her up, and so she was, emerging from her captivity on a bed of helpful kudzu. She looked around, and then down to find her legs freed by that same plant. "Thank you," she whispered to it.

The deer nodded sagely. "You believe in your magic and its ability to help you and those you care for." He raised a hoof to her cheek. "I'm glad. But you act like you know me."

"Because I do?" She inclined her head at him as she shook herself out. "I met you a few times. You kept saying cryptic things to me that made me think, and pointed me at this forest. That's why I'm here."

The deer took a step back from her, shaking his head. "I don't understand."

Maya blinked at that. "What?"

The deer considered her for a time. "Let us say I believe you." He smiled gently. "The green around you invites me to trust you. You saw me, but I do not remember visiting you." He leaned in a little closer. "I think, were I to guess, you were visited by something wearing my face. How interesting."

Maya stared up at him with wide eyes, jaw hanging open. "What? Are you telling me I was visited by someone pretending to be you?"

"I don't know. That's what I'd guess if I had to." He lifted his shoulders with a chuckle. "If you have a better idea for why you know the sight of me, but I know not the sight of you. You didn't see me in the pony village, I don't go there." He suddenly leaped over her, easily clearing her and twirling to face her. "But maybe I should have. What is your name, green pony?"

Maya bowed her head to the creature, taking care to keep eye contact as she did so. "My name is Maya." She offered him a little smile. "I was born a human on another world."

"I don't know what that is. Is that a kind of pony? It's a nice kind of pony, if it makes green ponies like you." He walked slowly around Maya, inspecting her. "The trees whisper gently. They say we could be great friends. I'm not opposed to the idea. I should give a name too." He raised a hoof to his chest. "I am Wodan." His eyes turned sad. "The last of my kind."

"What happened?" Maya gasped in surprise.

Wodan shrugged gently. "We just were not strong enough. We did not change. The forest did, infested with the seeds of change. Forced change. Sad, but it is." He closed with Maya abruptly. "But maybe there is a new life for me?"

Maya sputtered gently at that, not sure what he was getting at. "What does that mean?"

Wodan turned away and hopped back, his hooves clopping gently on the ground. "You are the greenest living thing I've seen aside of my mother, and she is gone." He turned back slowly. "I saw how you examined me. I would like to be your friend. I would like, if we do that, to maybe dance and court. Maybe more, if we continue to get along."

Maya felt blood both drain from her face even as her cheeks warmed in a curiously mixed sensation. "I... Wow. That is the strangest pick up line I have ever heard. I have no idea where to even start." She turned her head to study his flank, her face burning hotly.

He laughed softly at her reaction. "And yet I speak true. You see things for what they can be, and help them on the way to being that thing. Can you help me? I would gladly help you in kind." He didn't seem to mind being so examined, turning to allow her to see him entirely. "I would be yours. You would be mine. That is the way when two singing creatures claim one another. I would take it seriously." He spoke of it with such casual confidence, but the intensity of his eyes betrayed how he felt. "Shall we?"

"Are you asking for courtship?" Maya's ears perked at the question. She laughed with building amazement. "Of course you are. You aren't being subtle about it." She bonked a hoof to her own forehead, chastising herself for sounding as she did. "I, you know what? I say yes to trying out friendship. Wodan? I would like to get to know you. Only after that do we even consider anything past it."

Wodan chuckled softly, moving up beside her and bumping into her side with his flank. "Then let us explore, green pony. What things shall we find? Things that will bring us closer, no doubt." His right ear danced to some distant sound. "But first, you must terrify me."

Maya started at that. "Why would I do that?"

"Because you must." He touched his nose to hers. "You must take me to your home. Your home is with the other ponies who are so much less green. I will be scared, but you will be there."

Maya turned to glance nervously towards town. "Okay, that's not something that makes me feel comfortable." She shivered gently, looking towards Ponyville. The trees were distant, but her mind was mostly whirring on other things. "If you move where you aren't comfortable, that'd put our relationship on uneven footing. That's a good way to start a co-dependent hookup, which neither of us wants, trust me."

He snorted and shook his head. "I would be afraid. But not afraid of you, or what you represent. I would not do something that would put me in danger just for your sake, that is silly." He trotted around her, almost pronking. "I will be scared, but only at first. I will learn your pony village, and your pony friends. Some of them, I hope, will become my friends."

Maya smiled warmly at that. "Okay." She nodded slowly, as if she was still processing it. "I have a good friend named Applejack. I think she could help. She's part of a pretty big family called the Apples. They're really down to earth, and I think you'd like that." She flipped her ears back and down. "And there's Twilight, who is a peach, but she will want to study you the first thing she sees you. Let's delay that meeting a little until you're more comfortable."

Wodan laughed softly at that. "Yes, study. You seem worried about that. Are you afraid I will be taken from you before we have gotten to know one another?" He leaned in to nuzzle her cheek.

That cheek warmed with his touches. "N-no! The ponies are very nice."

"You speak of them from the outside." He almost hopped over her, but landed with his front on her back quite on purpose. "Why is that?"

Maya grunted with the sudden weight pressing her down into the soft grass. "Because I'm not a pony." She took a breath and pushed herself to her hooves, causing him to slide off and to the side, where he landed on his side with a chuckle. "I wasn't one, I should be more specific. I was something else, then I became a pony."

He inclined his head. "Do not make me a pony. I am happy as I am."

Maya rolled onto her belly and stretched out a hoof to gently pet him along his cheek. "You're a pretty deer." She smiled to him. "But the ponies aren't going to change either of us, so let's relax." She considered things, her own cheeks refusing to calm down. "Wodan, I'm excited to meet you. I think I like this, living, confused, version of you better than the thing I met before."

"I'm glad, Maya, that I can meet you properly." He bowed his head to her. "I have seen what you do. It is a power of a different kind, but it helps."

She rolled up to her hooves. "This?" She tapped a hoof on the ground, flowers growing from each spot she touched. "I, uh, helped a tree with it in here before. I was told the forest can feel it. In a good way, I hope?"

"You would like the forest." He walked along beside her. "The forest is happy you're in it."

Maya smiled gently to him. "Thank you, Wodan." She gestured towards Ponyville, hidden by the trees. "Let's go. You can stay next to me. No matter how scary things are, I will protect you."

He laughed softly, nodding gently. "Thank you. I will not be afraid so long as you are there. I will not be afraid if you are with me."

Maya smiled to him and turned to head back to town. Together, they trotted side by side. On the way, he spoke of ancient dances he saw when he was but a tiny thing, before the others moved on from the world.

"Hiya!" Pinkie sprouted up from a rock alongside the road they were just joining. "I felt somepo—creature new! Are they a friend of yours?"

Maya gasped softly at Pinkie's appearance. "Oh, hi Pinkie!" She gestured between the two. "He's my friend, Wodan." She waved a hoof at his form, standing a little taller than her, but with long graceful legs that were not hers. "He's a deer, as you can see."

Wodan considered Pinkie curiously. "You feel of change and disorder, but with no malice. Hello. I am not a pony. You are?"

"Yep! I am!" Pinkie sprouted up in front of him. "A PONY!"

Wodan didn't seem bothered by Pinkie, though he did lean away from her. "I see. You live here, in this village of ponies?"

"Sure do!" She waved back at it. "Are you visiting or coming to live? I need to know." She bounced in place, eyes darting between Wodan and Maya.

Maya shrugged. "I don't even know where he'll be staying."

Pinkie giggled as she bounced. "He's staying with you, silly. There's plenty of room. Oh!" She stopped, caught by Wodan suddenly. "Hiya!"

"Hello." He placed her down but kept a hoof on her. "You are like a spirit made living, full of energy and unable to be still."

Maya could not contain a snicker. "That is an excellent way to describe her."

Wodan chuckled and released Pinkie, who resumed bouncing in place. "Have you a name, little one?"

"Pinkie!" She turned right around. "And I have a welcome party to plan. See you two later!"

Author's Note

Apologies for letting this story wait so long, let's get going! Busy months have been very busy.

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