As we came to the edge of town, I couldn't help but be amazed by how big Ponyville really was. From what I had seen of the cartoon I had assumed that it was going to be a small town, but instead it was more like a city. Applejack quickly led the way through town. We split off from Big Mac and Apple Bloom to get done quicker. "First stop, I need to pick up my work duds from Rarity." Applejack said.

"I wonder, do you think she could possibly make some clothes for me, I'm sure these are starting to smell of sweat and I'd like to have at least a couple things I could change into." I walked up to the door next to Applejack.
"Well you might as well ask, I'm guessing she can", Applejack knocked on the door.
"Come in!" came a cheery voice from inside the carousel.
Applejack opened the door and we went inside. Rarity glanced up from her work. "Hello Applejack, it's a pleasure to see you, I just finished up your order," Rarity said with a smile, then spotting me, "And hello to you too…"
"My name is Zach, it's a pleasure to meet you Rarity" I quickly provided.
"Well my-my, aren't we just a gentlecolt. So, what can I help you with darling?" Rarity asked.
"Well, I was wondering if you could possibly make some clothes for me. Unlike ponies we humans wear clothes all the time." I looked down blushing slightly as I remembered the scene at the stream yesterday.
"This is going to be wonderful darling! When I met you I couldn't help but come up with some ideas," she shuffled around at a table for a moment, "Aha here they are, would you like to see them?"
"I'd rather it be a surprise" I said, "though I'd like at least one pair to be sturdier working clothes."
"Well we need measurements!" Rarity said as she floated a tape measure over. I couldn't help but stare, it was the first actual magic I had seen since coming to Equestria.
"What's up Zach?" asked Applejack, noticing my discomfort.
"Oh," I said looking back to the ponies, "it's just, I've never seen magic before."
"What?" responded Rarity, aghast, "Don't they have magic on your world?"
"Nope, not a single bit. We use technology for everything" I stated.
"I can't even imagine," Rarity started softly, "well we better get those measurements."
I walked up and she soon had the tape measure flying all around me, measuring my legs, arms, and shoulders with speedy precision. After a couple minutes she was done.
"Well Zach I should be able to get these done in a couple of days." Rarity said.
"What about payment?" I asked, "I plan to find someplace I can help out, but as of right now…"
"Oh don't worry about it dear, consider it my welcome to Equestria gift." Rarity smiled.
"Thank you so much, it has been a pleasure." I said as we walked out. "What's our next stop AJ?" I asked.
"Well, Big Mac and Apple Bloom should have the rest of the shopping done by now. So we are going to be heading over to Sugar Cube Corner.
"Cool, I've always wanted to try one of Pinkie's cupcakes. Not that it could possibly match up to the apple pie from yesterday." I said.
"You really think so?" Applejack asked.
"Eeyup" I responded
We walked inside, for some reason the lights were off and I couldn't see anything. "Why is it… wait…"
"Surprise!" The lights flew on and I was greeted by the sight of a crowd of ponies in party hats. A pink ball of energy flew across the room and started bouncing up and down in front of me.
"Doyoulikeyourparty?Doyou?SinceyouwerenewIwasalllike" Pinkie Pie was blaring out words faster than an auctioneer, so I took the only logical maneuver and put my hand over her mouth. Muffled noises could be heard for a few more seconds until she realized we couldn't understand her.
"Pinkie Pie, the party is wonderful, thank you very much. Now I'm going to remove my hand, can you talk a bit slower please" I asked. Pinkie nodded and I slid my hand away. Pinkie took a deep breath. I beat her to the punch.
"So AJ, you were in on the surprise party?" I asked
"Twilight asked me to bring you around today." She responded
I sighed and moved off into the party, introducing myself to new ponies. Fluttershy and Twilight were nowhere to be seen, not a big surprise. Rarity was most likely working on my clothes, and Rainbow Dash was off making something 20% cooler. I went over to the snacks after a while, the few times I had eaten since I arrived in Equestria had been at Sweet Apple Acres and had, of course, been apple related foods. There was no way it was a healthy diet. I tried a cupcake, and it blew my mind. "This is the best cupcake I've ever had." I said out loud, not caring who heard.
Applejack trotted up, "Still think that apple pie was better?
"Well of course! I said it was the best cupcake I've ever had, but definitely not as good as the pie." I responded quickly.
Applejack walked off looking happy. As I wandered the party I soon ran into a very human-enthusiastic pony.
"Hey Lyra." I said as I walked up.
"Oh hello, Zach right?" Lyra looked up, "You have to tell me all about Earth and humans they seem so cool!"
I laughed, "They aren't as cool as you think." I gave her a shortened up summary of Earth and humans. "If you're still interested I can tell you more in detail some other time, I better get going, I thought I heard Applejack call me".
"See you later!" Lyra called after me as I walked away.
As I walked up to Applejack she glanced up. "Good to see you and the other ponies get along so well. Pinkie gave me some stuff to deliver to Fluttershy. I was wondering if you'd want to come with, I mean, I understand if you want to stay at the party and all".
"Of course I want to come with, here let me take the bag." I said as I reached over and pulled the bag out of her mouth.
"Thanks" she said as we walked out the door.

We slowly made our way over to Fluttershy's house. I was a nervous about how Fluttershy would react so I made sure I was behind Applejack. Applejack knocked on the door.

"Coming" Fluttershy's usual whisper came from inside. The door opened, "Oh, hi Applejack, how are you?" she spotted me, "Oh, ummm..."
I intervened, "Hello Fluttershy, my name is Zach Hurd and it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
She nervously responded, "U-um it's nice to meet you too"
I handed her the bag, "It's from Pinkie Pie." I explained
Fluttershy perked up, "Oh thank you thank you thank you!" She took the bag and rushed over to the table pulling out an assortment of goods. "Angel is such a picky eater. I was almost out of his favorites."
"Well no problem" I said. Applejack and I turned and headed back towards Ponyville.
"Hey Applejack?" I said as we walked.
She glanced up, "What is it sugar cube?".
"Thank you so much for everything," I said pausing, "you are an amazing pony. Me, a creature no one has seen before who shows up and informs everyone he is an omnivore and you give him a place to stay, then comfort him when he's crying even though you haven't even known him for a day." I looked back at her.
She crossed her legs bashfully, "Anypony would have done the same thing."
"No they wouldn't have, on my planet that kind of thing would never happen, even here it takes a special pony to do that kind of thing." I blushed a bit and started walking again in silence.

We met up with Big Mac and Apple Bloom back in the center of town.
"Everypony ready to go?" Applejack asked. We all nodded and began to walk back to the farm. I was in a bad mood, and frowning a bit, I should have known that unlike on Earth, I wouldn't be left alone when I was like that.
"What's the matter Big Z?" asked Apple Bloom.
Now I had been called a lot of things before, but Big Z was definitely not one of them. "Big Z?" I asked, "Where did that come from?".
"Well," said Apple Bloom, "you're even bigger than my brother, and he is the biggest pony I know. What's wrong?"
Smiling I said, "I was just trying to figure out the best way to gobble you up!". I bent down and scooped her up, blowing raspberries on her stomach and tickling her belly. Soon she was helplessly giggling in my arms. I looked up and saw Applejack and Big Mac smiling at me and I blushed a little, embarrassed. Setting Apple Bloom down I said, "Race you the rest of the way!" and took off running.
"No fair!" she shouted and started running after me. I had planned to slow myself down so it would be close the whole way, but I didn't need to. Unlike me, these ponies were built for speed. I sprinted side by side with Apple Bloom, pulling ahead as we neared the house just to stumble on a rock that was sitting in the road. Apple Bloom passed me and was closing in on the house. "I'm going to lose!" I thought, "No, I can't lose to a filly!". I sprinted again, pushing myself harder and slowly gaining on her, as we reached the last 50 feet I realized I wasn't going to make it. I heard Applejack give a shout from behind us, then I saw something that made my heart stop. Coming out of the woods was a manticore, and it was hungry. Unlike the version I had seen in the television show, it was a towering monstrosity that radiated pure menace. The sight of this huge predator caused me to falter. It began to run straight at Apple Bloom, who hadn't noticed it yet. I pushed myself harder, my heart was beating faster than it ever has before, "I need to go faster!" I pushed myself mentally, "Faster," the thing was only feet away, "Faster!", time seemed to slow down to a crawl as it swung a paw at her, I suddenly found myself right next to her and picked her up, time sped back up as the manticore's paw slammed into my back, sending me flying, still holding the little filly. I crashed into the house, I could hear my bones breaking from the impact. Big Mac and Applejack had caught up to us and were fighting the manticore. I saw it send Big Mac flying to the side then turn to Applejack. It picked her up and lifted her into the air. A roaring sound filled my ears, "OH NO YOU DON'T YOU SON OF A BITCH!" I screamed, coughing up blood. I winced in pain and looked up, Applejack was lying on the ground, Big Mac was getting up, limping, and the manticore was nowhere to be seen. I looked down at the little filly I was holding, her eyes glistening as I coughed up yet more blood. "Guess I won the race." I whispered, and then my vision faded to black.

I heard beeping, realizing this was one of my dreams of the hospitals again I lay quietly. I heard doctors discussing in agitated voices. "His condition just took a major dive, it's like he's losing blood, but there aren't any wounds, we aren't sure what to do, just stick it out and hope I guess." one said. I heard another, "The parents are both improving, at about the same time the kid's condition got worse, theirs began to stabilize. I felt myself fading away again.

Twilight Sparkle's house a short while later.

"TWILIGHT!" Spike shouted.

Twilight looked up from the book she was reading, sighing. "Why can't a pony get a little peace and quiet around here" she muttered. She got up and walked into the next room, "What is it Spike?".

"Come quick! It's Zach!" He said running out the door.

"Oh no, did he do something horrible?" she thought as she ran out the door. As she ran into town she found an injured Big Mac and Applejack carrying someone in a stretcher. "What happened she yelled as she ran up."

"We need to get him to the hospital, now." Applejack gasped, out of breath.

Twilight looked in the stretcher and nearly threw up. Zach's body was mangled beyond belief, he had four huge gashes running down his back and she could see rib bones sticking out of the front of his chest. He was coughing up blood and losing more of it out of his back and chest. "I'll take it from here Twilight said, encasing herself and the stretcher in magic and teleporting to the hospital. The doctors looked up in shock as she arrived then saw what she was holding. They quickly sent him into an emergency room and got to work closing the wounds and setting bones. "Will he be ok?" Twilight asked quietly.

"His survival is unlikely if he can't get new blood" said one of the nurses.

"Then give him a transfusion!" Twilight was nearly shouting.

"We can't, we only have pony blood." The doctor sighed.

Applejack rushed in and looked at Twilight with pleading eyes. Twilight just shook her head. Applejack sprinted past them and into the emergency room. The doctor sighed and trotted back in after her. Applejack was leaning on the bed crying over Zach's body. "Come back" she whispered quietly to him, nuzzling his cheek. "Come back!" she started crying harder. The doctor looked away painfully.