I awoke one morning...

I awoke the next day, still tired from my slumber. Opening my eyes I found that it hadn't rained during the night, which was a good thing as being soaked through isn't a nice feeling when you're wearing the only pair of clothes you can get your hands on. Looking up from my hammock, I surveyed my environment. Tree, tree, tree, something vaguely Fluttershy-shaped, tree, another tree and finally Zecora's hut.

Ahhh, time for my visit, methinks. Stepping out onto the marshy floor of the Everfree forest certainly felt different to the usual wooden flooring I had gotten so accustomed to back home. Tentatively, I made my way through the thick under-growth until I had found myself at the edge of the small clearing surrounding the zebra's home. Looking up to see where the sun was in the sky in an effort to figure out the time was a fruitless task, as the canopy was too thick to see through. Well, let's just hope that she's awake then...

I made my way through the final ring of shrubbery until I was in plain sight for all to see. If Zecora looked out the window just then, I would have certainly been spotted. I shuffled carefully to the door while raising my hand to knock upon the bare wood. As soon as I started to move my wrist, the door opened and... I may of lightly punched the zebra in the face.

The sudden assault upon her snout caused Zecora to rear up and push me over into the dirt beneath me. I scuttled back a few feet while blurting out apology after apology. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please don't trample me! It was an accident!"

Zecora lowered her front hooves after hearing my begging, and stared down at me with a sincere look in her eye. I removed my arms from in front of my face to see her looking down at me with a smile. "Umm... Sorry about that. I was stumbling through this forest in an attempt to find my way out. You wouldn't happen to know the way would you?"

Still keeping the smile upon her face, the zebra asked me why I was in the forest. "Ahh, the way out I know for sure, but what in Equestria caused your detour?"

I had to think about this one for a second, what would be a good excuse? 'I come from a land where magic is dead along with its only sentient population becoming recently extinct and I wanted to see what life would be like in a land filled with magical talking horses' didn't seem appropriate at the time, so 'I'm lost' had to do.

Zecora then proceeded to invited me into her home, (I'll tell you now, it's WAY smaller than it looks. If I was a foot taller then my head would have hit the roof when I stood up.) to which I humbly agreed. Having sat myself down on one of the minuscule stools that a pony would call a chair, I looked around the place. It looked just like it did from the show, except that I was there this time and not behind a screen. Having acquainted myself with the place already, I figured that now would be a good time to start asking questions.

"So, what's your name then? It wouldn't be gentlepony of me thank my host without knowing her name." Smooth move. Act like you don't know anything at all, and you'll get along fine.

"My name's Zecora oh one who roams. I welcome you to my small home." Zecora replied.

"Well then, Zecora, thank you for the hospitality. May I ask, what's compelled you to such a kind act?"

Zecora thought about my question for a second, with a rather sorrowful expression on her face, which slowly turned to that of a smile as she recalled past events. "I was once an outsider like you, shunned by most, liked by few. It was after events caused by poison joke that I became friends with all the pony folk. I do not get many a guest, so one like you I must attest."

We talked for what felt like hours, discussing whatever came to mind. Realizing how long I spent with the zebra, I decided that it would have been a good time to get going. Standing up to stretch my legs, I told Zecora of my intentions. "It's been nice talking to you Zecora, but I must get going. Things to do, ponies to meet. We should do this again some time."

Zecora looked up at me taking in my full height before replying. "Ah, yes you're right, a lot of time has passed. Let's hope this meeting will not be our last."

I was starting to think I had spent too long in Zecora's hut and inhaled one too many fumes, as I caught her winking at me out of the corner of my eye. "Errm... bye then." I replied nervously, slightly startled by her actions. I headed to the door with a very brisk walk, trying to avoid any more eye contact with the potion brewer. Placing my hand on the door handle I stopped everything as my mind came to a blank, door handle? Hand-le. Why is this in Equestria? Before I could finish riding my train of thought, a set of hoof-steps awoke me from my day dream and I turned to see Zecora watching me with a worried look.

"Something wrong?" She asked.

"Um, no. I just remembered something, that's all. Bye." I replied, while turning the handle and stepping through the doorway. I closed the door behind me gently as to not make any sound while thinking about the out of place handle. Looking up through a minuscule gap within the forest canopy, I could see that it was nearing mid-day. Time to head out then.

Having trekked for half an hour through thick shrubbery and narrowly missing a sleeping manticore, I finally found myself on the main pathway leading out of the forest. The exit was only a couple hundred feet away, but the sounds of farm animals reminded me that a certain butter cream-coated pegasus lived by the entrance to the Everfree.

Damn. Fluttershy's bound to see me if I just stroll on out there into the open. Zecora's unlikely to tell anyone about me so she should be fine, but Fluttershy'll be likely to tell someone. Thinking about my current situation, I let out an audible 'hmm' while walking down the path. Stopping only a few metres away from the exit, I listened yet again to the variety of sound coming from the collection of animals, straining my ears to see if they could pick up the gentle voice of Fluttershy.

Nothing but animals, so where was the pegasus?

Even with my new reassurance, I still creped around the edge of the small hovel trying to remain as hidden as possible. The most attention I received during my walk past the animal-lovers home was just the un-approving looks of the birds sat in the trees around the back garden, nothing to really worry about then. Still creeping away from the cottage, I looked back to see what it really looked like. It looked just like it did from the show, so what was I expecting? The door handle from Zecora's hut must of caused me to start questioning things more than I should of. Having made my way past the timid pegasus's home, I started heading off around the edge of the town trying to remain out of sight.

Ponies are strange creatures, I'll tell you now. Having remained hidden on the outskirts of Ponyville gave me ample time to survey its inhabitants. I must have just sat there hiding in a hedge for at least an hour watching ponies go about their daily business. From my studies I managed to count one hundred ponies, with 61 being earth ponies, 11 being pegasi and 28 being unicorns. No two of them looked exactly identical, so that must of just been the animators of the show being lazy.

Having starved off boredom with statistical analysis, waiting for the right time to move went by pretty quick. By the time it was the afternoon; most ponies were done with their day-to-day chores and had returned home to relax from a long day of work, which gave me a large window of opportunity to carry on making my way through the small town. Having passed through the area already, making my way back to the library was easy. Getting there without being spotted however, was not. Hearing the sound of somepony's voice, I dived into the nearest trash can.

"Hey, you. Why are you hiding?"

Say nothing. Act like they never saw you...

"I saw you dive into the trash can. I know you're in there."

So much for that plan... I poked my head above the rim of the surprisingly empty waste container to get a better look at whoever was calling for me. A young, red coated, unicorn colt with an atom for a cutie mark had trotted over to my hiding spot, causing me to duck back into the trash can, and tapped the metallic cylinder with an inquisitive hoof.

"Come on, I'm not going to hurt you. Come out from there, there's no reason to hide."

"Yes there is", I replied from within my hiding spot, "It's a little late for a colt like you to be out, shouldn't you be at home?"

It took him a while to reply, obviously trying to think of a reason for being out later than he should of been. "Hey, not cool. I had stuff to do that took longer than I expected it to. What reason could there be for hiding in a trash can anyway?"

"How well can you keep a secret, little one?"

"Huh? What's that meant to mean?" Sometimes I think these ponies are purposely acting dense.

"It means can you keep a secret? If you can, I'll tell you the story of the trash-can pony and why he's hiding in it."

From what I could hear, the colt stamped on the ground a couple of times in excitement. "I like stories! Keeping a secret is easy! Please, tell me why the trash-can pony is in the trash can? Is his special talent sorting rubbish? Mine's science, but that's not important right now. Tell the story!"

I paused for a few brief seconds, adding tension to the currently non-existent amount already in the air, before standing to my full height making sure that the sun was behind me as to cast a dark shadow over my face. I looked down upon the young colt, before speaking with a deep and booming falsetto with my arms held out wide.

"Trash can pony is not of your world!" DUN DUN DUUU!

The colt stood there for a minute, processing the sight before him. After looking up and down from my hidden face to the empty can I was stood in, he looked me in the eye (Well, what he could see of them) before replying with a frown upon his face. "That's a terrible story."

Shrugging of his criticism, I replied "It was meant to be a distraction anyways. You can't tell anypony that you saw me, right? I'm not supposed to be here - I'd tell you why but that story is far too long to tell it right now.... Actually, if you keep me a secret, I'll tell you that story some time. I promise it's way better than the trash can pony one."

He sat down on his haunches, contemplating my offer. He eventually spoke up and raised a hoof. "Deal."

I shook hands/hooves with him and stepped out of the impromptu hiding place. Standing on the real ground, I shook off what litter that had stuck to the bottom of my shoes. I would of asked why he wasn't curious as to what I was, but I didn't want to waste my time. The sun was nearly completely over the horizon and him being a colt probably meant that he didn't care what I was anyway. "It's been nice meeting you, young one. I have to head off to the library now to meet a certain pony and I can't be late. There's a very important topic we have to discuss. Don't forget our deal."

"Bye mister, and I promise I won't forget."

Walking away from the little pony, I turned around after a few paces and waved. He returned the gesture as I made my way to the library, now under the cover of night. I had a certain bone to pick with Miss Sparkle about the eradication of my species, a very large bone indeed.