Something fuzzy was tickling my nose.  I wanted to open my eyes and see what was going on, but the pounding in my head was more insistent.  I could feel every little brush of whatever the hell it was crossing my nose, itching and tickling worse.  Seriously what the hell?!  It was rhythmic almost.  As everything came back to focus in my mind, I slowly realized what was going on.  The soft breathing, something flicking my nose every few seconds, the damn ponies were messing with me. That's when a plan came to mind.  A devious and evil plan.  I waited patiently, doing my best to ignore the tickling, the urge to sneeze, timing the movements in my mind as my eyes rested in the darkness under their lids...

NOW!

Guessing where the thing would be, I snatched my hand out into the air.  Immediately I knew I was right, as coarse fur brushed against my fingertips when they began to close.  A slight tug whatever it was ended up getting pulled toward a mouth that was making exaggerated chomping motions.  That's when the screaming began and my eyes snapped open to see nothing but pink.

"JESUS FUCKING FUCK!"

At least the moment I yelled the screaming stopped and only a few chuckles came out of the ponies assembled around my cot.  It felt like someone had used my skull as a drumset from the echoing of the screaming.  What made it worse was the pink thing was just grinning evilly at me while screaming.  

"Ow...my freaking head.  What was that for?"

It took me a moment of getting strange looks to fish something funny feeling off my tongue.  It turned out to be a loooooooong pink hair that tasted like cotton candy.  Gross.

Thus started the longest day of my life.

Thankfully it turned out that introductions largely seemed to be done.  I just had to put the voices and fuzzy figures from earlier together with what was in front of me.  It just seemed cliche that their names and personalities mingled so simply, but everything about this world was odd.  Over the next hour I was barraged by a massive series of questions and introductions that tested my patience at times.  At first, everything seemed to be going well.  I had gotten the groups names and had slowly started to get a feel for their personalities.  Lyra, as her name suggests was a musician who also apparently dabbled in biology and mythology.  Apparently I was her crowning achievement to prove that humanity was real.  She didn't seem so amused when I stated I wasn't really that human anymore.  It seems Twilight left that little bit out, to Lyra's great annoyance.

Speaking of Twilight, she was the only one I had had any real interaction with, so she had taken the lead on calming her friends.  Each of them had their own questions, albeit strange as they were.  The alabaster mare Rarity oddly enough accepted me as I was with nary more than a few idle questions about my camo.  Being a seamstress, I imagine she is used to seeing the strange on a daily basis.  If only I knew how strange.

Fluttershy acted out true to her name.  Soft spoken and skittish, I treated her like you would a newly adopted pet.  I sat there and watched her out of the corner of my eye while answering questions from the rest.  Eventually she crept out of her corner and timidly asked a few questions about my past.  Nothing painful really.  It was amazing to see how relaxed she became as I let her lead the questions however she liked.  As I described all the pets I'd had over the years and how they were cared for she seemed at ease.  Call me crazy, but I'm pretty sure she's going to offer me a pet at some point.

After Fluttershy's reaction to me, the damn broke and I was torn away with a wave of endless questions from the ponies.  Life, love, what I thought of the wonderbolts, nothing seemed to be out of bounds for their curiosity.  It was strangely refreshing in a way.  In Canterlot none of the ponies other than the Princesses paid me any mind, and I was always careful to mind what I said.  After such a long time, real conversation was a delicacy.  Onward through the evening the talking continued.  Eventually I got all of their names, although Applejack was strangely quiet through most of the conversation as it dragged into the night.

The days passed in a blur as the ponies in town grew to accept my presence.  At first there was a lot of screaming and general freaking out by a few parties, despite the Mayor and Twilight introducing me to everyone at a town meeting.  Despite all that, a certain group of gossip filled mares continued to be a thorn in my side.  Apparently Roseluck and her friends were dead set on the idea that I was going to eat them all in their sleep, or just carry off fillies to the Everfree forest for a quick snack.  It probably didn't help that she caught me changing back from looking like a monster after going for a morning run with Rainbow Dash.  

Speaking of which, Dash and I kind of hit it off decently after she caught me running one morning.  From there it turned into a regular thing as she needed practice for this whole "Running of the Leaves" thing that was coming up.  According to Dash it was supposed to be a fun run to clear the leaves off the trees, but it had quickly turned into a challenge between Applejack and herself to see who wins.  Either way, it sounded fun to me.  The longer I was in this strange place, the greater my affinity for the outdoors became.  Yes, I still slept in Twilight's basement as finding a job was more difficult than I thought.  On the other hand, it gave me plenty of time to work on other things, which usually turned out to be helping Fluttershy look for herbs and other plants for poultices, or the occasional fishing trip to feed her bear....and myself.

But I digress.  Apparently this years Running of the Leaves was coming up and there was talk about which pony was going to win yet again.  Three years ago, Twilight had surprised all of them with a win and the title has been fiercely contested since.  Granted, there was no way I could manage to win a race against miniature horses, but it still would be fun to test my new body against something.  The downside for all this was that Pinkie in her terrifying way, stated that after the race they were going to have a party.  A party that I was under no circumstances allowed to miss as it was for both the celebration and as she put it, my "Welcome to Equestria and Sorry for Knocking you Out" party.

Soon enough, the dreaded day came.

"Hex....Time for breakfast!"

I could only grumble to myself as I peeled the blanket off my prone self.  There was no way to deny Twilight if she said it was time to get up.  I tried that once and it didn't end well.  As the temperatures lowered through the fall, I'd taken to sleeping as a wolf.  The fur was strangely warm and good for keeping the chill of the autumn air away.  The first time I had walked through town like that was a little... chaotic... to put it nicely.  Despite walking with Twilight, it took a while for the townsfolk to get used to the other me.  Eventually, my presence was as accepted as the drama that happened weekly.  It was like clockwork almost, and suitably strange but I just marked that down to this strange reality.

The cool floor met my paws as I stretched out, enjoying the feeling as joints creaked and popped.  Any mental grumbling was put aside as a very familiar scent tickled my nose.  It was something I desperately missed and needed.  After making sure that my robe was closed properly, I followed my nose toward the door.  The cool knob caressed my fingertips as I twisted it and pulled the door open with a creak.  Out of practice, I shut my eyes halfway to avoid the rush of morning light that floods into the basement and gave myself a moment to adjust.  From the kitchen, sizzling and scraping could be heard, along with Spike humming while he cooked.  From the smells alone, it was going to be a good morning.

"Morning Spike.  Twilight."

Three steps into the kitchen was as far as I got.  Arrayed across the table was an assortment of goodies and treats that included the three food groups.  More importantly was the three Princesses sitting at the table and watching me as I entered.

"...um.... Good Morning Princess Celestia.  Princess Luna.  What brings you two to Ponyville today?"

Internally, I was yelling several different things, most importantly of them being "Mister Scott!  Give me Pucker factor nine!.... I cannae give you any more sir!  She's puckering all she's got!"

It was probably a given that they knew I was a little freaked out.  Thankfully, I was set at ease when Celestia started speaking.  

"My sister and I wanted to see the Ponyville Running of the Leaves for some time.  It just so happened that this year we managed to get a some free time to visit and enjoy ourselves.  Twilight has been keeping me appraised on your progress fitting in.  More importantly, she told us that we needed to try two things that you created."

I could only grin at that as my discomfort faded away as I stepped toward the table and grabbed a seat.  Idly, I began to pull an assortment of foods off of plates and onto my own while trying to come up with where to begin.  Eventually, I had a decent breakfast piled up and figured it was time.

"So, which of the two do you like better?  Twilight said that ponies don't react well to salt, so I hope the new recipe helped.  I still find it somewhat disturbing to see ponies eating some types of meat, but I do understand why.  And I trust you enjoyed the other surprise?"

While we talked, bacon and eggs quickly found their way off my plate and into my stomach quite enjoyably.  Damn I'm happy that my upbringing had a wide variety of topics to learn.

"Honestly Hex, it really is hard to decide.  Before you told us to replace the salt used in bacon, it was a little used or known item.  With the new brine, it seems bacon is a hit at the castle.  The recipe is already making it's way around Canterlot.  With one little difference, you singlehoo...handedly changed something about our cooking.  It is quite amazing that nopony thought to look for a salt replacement.  As for your, what did you call it, Coffee, I believe.  Personally I don't really..."

Whatever she was going to say was cut off with the clatter of porcelain against porcelain as Luna set her cup down with her magic and began to eye the kettle on the stove.

"As you can see, Luna is rather enamored by your invention though."

I could only chuckle at that.  It really was kind of amusing to see what changes a little knowledge from another world can cause.  I spent weeks wondering why the bacon here was so bland, and then it occurred to me.  It wasn't salted.  Instead, a sweet brine was used to preserve it and ruined the glorious taste.  Coffee was a different matter altogether.  I ended up having to bribe Rainbow to do a little side trip to Mexicolt for me.  And yes, the puns still kill.  I sent her to look for a plant on the volcanic mountainside with red berries.  After some trial and error she managed to bring back coffee beans.  From there, my childhood took over.

The rest of breakfast was somewhat uneventful thankfully.  Before I knew it, we were stacking the dishes in the sink and getting ready for the race.  Twilight and the other Princesses went on ahead while I went downstairs to get some shorts on.  Rarity had the crazy idea to make a pair of shorts out of this grotesque purple material that could stretch and conform to me no matter what shape I was in.  If only the guy who played the Hulk back home had some.

"Welcome to the Annual Running of the Leaves!  I, your ever present host Spike and my partner Pinkie will be here to give constant live reporting!  As special guests, we have Princess Celestia and Princess Luna watching the race with us."

When I first saw Pinkie's balloon, I thought there was no way she could steer it.  Apparently that pony can bend and defy physics no matter what the reason is.  Still it was kind of neat to see a steerable hot air balloon with two Alicorns in it..  There already was a large crowd forming around the starting line.  As I walked that way, most ponies shied away, but I managed to get the occasional "Morning Hex" or "HI" tossed my way.  It really went a long way for making me comfortable

"Ooh!  It looks like Hex is here.  We can start the race in a few minutes!  IS MY MEGAPHONE TOO LOUD!?"

A chorus of "Yes" or "DUH" was tossed Pinkie's way, but I really didn't think she'd care much.  Pinkie was one strange pony to say the least.  

"Mornin' Hex.  Glad you could make it."

"Yeah Hex, what took you so long?  I want to win this already."

Applejack was still friendly yet cautious.  At least she was slowly warming up.  Rainbow's comment only seemed to get groans as she stretched before the race.  It seemed like a simple enough feat really.  Just had to follow the packed gravel trail through the forest and enjoy myself.  The air was crisp and cool but would be perfect once I was warmed up.  All in all, it was a beautiful autumn day.  To be honest, I never even heard Pinkie start the race as I was enjoying the weather way too much.  The flow of ponies around me was a good reminder to move.  So the race started in earnest with Applejack and Rainbow Dash taking the lead as expected.  

I wish I could say something neat like that I stomped the ponies in the race, but most of them quickly outpaced my slow jog.  At least they were pleasant about it as they passed, a few even offering to wait at the finish line for me.  Either way, this was a fun run for me as I watched the trees go by while being showered in an assortment of multicolored leaves.  Thick white birch and aspen lined the path and gave it a feeling so close to my home.  The occasional spruce or pine tree just reinforced the feeling.  After a while, I just gave into the feeling of running.  The feeling of being free for a little as my paws met the packed trail ahead of me.  With the rising sun and solitude as my company, I strode on.  Small jogging steps eventually turned into distance eating loping strides as I reveled in the feeling.

All of that was shattered in a moment when a scream filled the forest.  Adrenaline surged through me as I pushed harder and faster toward the sounds of pain in the distance.  My paws screamed as they slapped against the ground again and again as a small hill loomed ahead of me.  At the top, I could see three fillies back to back with each other while a group of small figures circled...