I awoke the next morning to the sound of gentle singing in a foreign language, I was momentarily confused as to why I could hear singing due to still being half asleep. As I fully regained my senses I remembered why I would be hearing singing, and why I was also in a hut, ‘Right, ‘that’ happened’ I thought to myself. I yawned before getting out of the bed and walked into the main area of the hut where I found Zecora stirring some sort of liquid in the cauldron.

“Good morning, Zecora” I said whilst rubbing my eyes, more out of habit than a physical need to clear my eyes

“Good morning, I trust you slept well, and that you don’t feel like hell?” she replied

“I slept surprisingly well, thank you” I replied, a small amount of amusement from her choice of words showing in my voice “no offence”

“None taken” she replied, “We shall be going shortly, now that I don’t have to worry about making you awaken”

“That’s fine by me” I said whilst walking over to my bag and checking that everything was there, finding nothing out of place I put the bag on my back

“Before we go, would you like something to eat? You shall be walking for some time on your feet” she asked

“No, thank you” I replied “I’d rather just get going if that’s ok with you, besides, I’m sort of person where unless I’m in the mood for it I won’t eat breakfast”

Zecora nodded before picking up her staff and making her way to the door, apparently done preparing whatever was in the cauldron. I followed her, taking one last look around to check if there was anything I had left behind. Satisfied that I had everything I needed I walked out, ducking my head under the doorway as I went.

The forest was rather peaceful as walked outside, a fine mist was in the air as well as a light chill. I spotted Zecora at the start of a small pathway and jogged to catch up, as we walked I noticed that the air had a ‘feeling’ to it. You know the type you find at places that are said to be haunted, the type that puts you on edge, yeah, that kind of feeling, it was as if there was something waiting in the forest for you to stray from the pathway. I increased my walking pace a little, ‘The sooner I get out of this damn forest, the better’ I thought to myself, Zecora seemed to sense my agitation.

“Do not worry” she said, turning her head to look at me with one eye “As long as we stay on the path, there is no need to hurry”

“I just don’t like the feeling of this place, it reminds me of somewhere I would rather forget that I ever visited” I replied

“Where? What place could have given you such a scare?”

“Somewhere I would rather not talk about at the moment, all I will say is lots of people died there a long time ago and it’s now a memorial, it would take too long to properly explain it” I said, trying to put extra emphasis on saying ‘Somewhere I would rather not talk about’ whilst looking at her with an expression that said ‘drop it’.

I noticed that the forest was starting to thin out, ‘About time we got out of this damn forest’ I thought whilst looking about cautiously. As we left the forest I could see a cottage of some type on the left of the path, the roof looked like it was covered in grass and there were bird houses everywhere. I could see a yellow (!) pegasus with pink (!!) hair singing peacefully whilst feeding several animals.

I stopped walking, partially out of shock, not only because of the ridiculously coloured mythical horse, but also due to the fact it was flying using wings that should not be able to sustain flight (and don’t start going into the bumble-bee conundrum, the calculation they used was meant for fixed winged aircraft and doesn’t take into account the fact that bumble-bees flap their wings at about 50 times a second, moving on…), I also stopped because her (judging by the voice) singing was amazing, Zecora seemed to silently agree with me (about the singing, the fact that not only do pegasi exist but that they can also defy the laws of physics didn’t seem to faze her).
We both stood there for a while just listening to her voice, apparently she hadn’t noticed us for the whole time that we were stood there because the moment she saw us she disappeared behind a log with an ‘eep’. I looked at Zecora but she just shrugged, I rolled my eyes
and sighed before calling out to the pegasus.

“Excuse me?” I asked, I saw the pegasus slowly poke her head above the rock, “would you mind coming over here for a second”

“Please, Fluttershy, come here” Zecora said “you have nothing to fear”

The pegasus, apparently called ‘Fluttershy’ slowly started to make her way over, ‘Guess the two of them know each-over, that makes things so much easier’ I thought as the pegasus walked over to us, looking wearily at me.

“H-h-hello, Zecora, who is this?” Fluttershy asked, looking fearfully at me as if I would eat her at any moment

“Good morning, Fluttershy” Zecora responded “This is Vuur Koning, he has found himself in this land and does not know why” she said the last part whilst pointing at me. I slowly crouched down, trying to make myself seem not quite so tall.

“Hello, Fluttershy, was it? Pleased to meet you” I said quietly, trying to make myself seem as least threatening as possible.

“H-hello, Vuur Koning” Fluttershy said, “I-if you don’t mind me asking, what are you? If you don’t mind answering the question that is”

“I don’t mind answering the question at all, I was, until very recently, Human, now? I’m not so sure, I used to look very different” I said

“A-are you going to be staying in Ponyville?” Fluttershy asked

“That all depends on what happens today” I replied “I’m just trying to get home, you wouldn’t happen to know anyone who could help me, would you?”

“Oh, there is Twilight” Fluttershy said

“Who?” I asked “I’m not exactly from around here”

“She’s one of my friends and she’s really good with magic, she should be able to help you. I’ve just finished feeding all the animals, I can take you to her, if that’s ok with you?” Fluttershy replied

“Wouldn’t do any harm, I’m willing to try anything to get home, even this so-called ‘magic’” I said “I was headed to Ponyville anyway, are you coming with us Zecora?”

“I am afraid not, there are things that I need to get done, of which there are quite a lot” Zecora replied

“In that case then, goodbye and thank you” I said, Zecora nodded towards me in acknowledgment before turning around and walking back into the forest.

“Thank god I don’t have to go back in there” I said, relief clear in my voice “Right then, onwards to Ponyville” and with that I continued walking down the road with a pegasus this time instead of a zebra, after walking for about a mile we walked onto a small –arched stone bridge. On the other side was what I assumed to be Ponyville, we were standing in what would appear to be the equivalent of town centre, there was what seemed to be a town hall of some kind surrounded in a loose semi-circle by various shops selling all sorts of different items.

We walked past the town hall and started to go down one of the side streets, it was at this point that we started to attract the attention of several of the towns folk, some of them tried to be discrete about it (which I was thankful for), but others didn’t even try to hide their curiosity, or fear in the case of some, window shutters were pulled shut, several shops were ‘mysteriously’ closed early (with customers still inside), and then there was the staring. All of the… horses (?) were looking at me with shock, or fear, or just staring dumbstruck and it was really starting to piss me off, Fluttershy looked about ready to sink into the ground, presumably from all the attention on the both of us (but mostly on me).

“Hey, Fluttershy?” I whispered “I hate to rush us along but can we speed it up a little? I really hate it when people stare” she nodded and we quickened the pace a little. We walked over towards a tree… with doors and windows in it, and a sign that had a painting of a book ‘I guess it’s a library’ I thought to myself as we walked in side. I had to once again duck under the door way, I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding.

“*sigh* I never thought that would end, although, why did you bring us to a library of all places?” I asked

“This is where Twilight lives, wait here and I’ll go and find her, if that’s alright with you?” Fluttershy asked before walking up some stairs into another room, whilst I waited I had a look at some of the books there ‘It is a library, I wonder if they any books on what the railways are like here’ I thought to myself, remembering I saw a railway station on the way to the library, learning about railways had always been a pastime of mine, I had even been planning a model railway before ‘this’ happened. I caught sight of a book on the subject of different types of locomotives and was about to start reading when I heard voices from upstairs making their way down.

“I still don’t understand why he would need my help to get home, it’s not like he can’t just find a book on maps and plan a journey using those” I heard a voice I didn’t recognise, presumably Twilight Sparkle, say. I put the book that I was going to read on the table in the centre of the room and waited for whoever it was to come downstairs, picking out other books that took my interest and placing them on top of the first book.

“Erm, he said he’s ‘not from around here’ and I don’t think he just means not from Ponyville” I heard Fluttershy say just as the two of them came into view, the second one, who I assumed to be Twilight Sparkle, was purple and looked like a cross between a Pegasus and a unicorn ‘A crossbreed maybe?’ I thought to myself.

“Maybe that just means he’s from the United Griffon Kingdoms then” Twilight said.

“And maybe you should try looking a little bit farther than ‘another country’” I interjected, leaning against one of the book shelves with my arms crossed, “Sorry for interrupting but Fluttershy’s right, I’m ‘not from around here’, start thinking ‘from another planet’ and you’re probably on the right track”, the purple equines reaction was priceless. I really wish I’d had my camera out at that moment, she almost feinted when she saw me, then again I had just metaphorically walked up to her and shouted ‘hey, I’M AN ALIEN’.

“Wh-what in Celestia's name?” Twilight asked, looking rather pale "how are you still human, and how did you get through the portal?"

"Uh..." I replied dumbly "what?"

"The mirror portal in the Crystal Empire" she said "it changes anypony who travels through it into the most common for of life in that area, you should be a pony"

"What?" I asked "yes, I'm human, but I've never heard of any 'mirror portal', and I've got pictures to prove it" I then got out my Laptop and began showing them pictures of the different places I'd visited.

“I… but… what?” Twilight stuttered, her expression became blank for a few moments before becoming worried “I think this is a matter for Princess Celestia, SPIKE!”

“Yeah, yeah, I coming” I heard a young male voice reply

“Bring parchment and a quill” Twilight said, I could hear the pattering of feet on wood, followed by a large purple lizard of some type walking down the stairs on its back legs, its front legs carrying the requested items, he noticed me for the first time.

“Whoa! What is that?” he asked.

“The reason I called you down, take a letter” Twilight said, the lizard put quill to parchment in preparation.

“Dear Princess Celestia, I have encountered a situation and I am not sure how to proceed, a human who calls himself…” Twilight looked towards me

“*sigh* Vuur Koning” I said, “that’s spelt V-u-u-r space K-o-n-i-n-g” the lizard started writing down my name as I spelt it out

“…has come to the library requesting assistance in getting home, he is human, like the ones I saw in the mirror world, the only problem is he is from a different wold to the one I visited. He has shown pictures of locations from his world as proof, I believe it would be best if you came to the library to assess the situation and, if possible, help to send him home, Your faithful friend and former student, Princess Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight said, the lizard the proceeded to roll up the parchment and breath green fire (!) onto the parchment which disintegrated and flew out the window as smoke.

“Why the hell did you just set it on fire, I thought you were sending it to a Princess, and also what are you?” I said the last part whilst pointing at the reptile.

“I’m Spike and I’m a dragon” he said, puffing out his chest with pride, he suddenly convulsed before burping out green fire, from which a scroll materialised. Spike grabbed hold of the scroll and unrolled it before clearing his throat and reading out the letter.

“Dear Twilight Sparkle, I shall be arriving shortly to assess the situation, Princess Cellestia, P.S. stand back” the dragon looked confused before realisation dawned on his and Twilight's faces, they proceeded to stand as close to the wall as possible. Deciding not to tempt fate I also stood with my back against the wall, Fluttershy obviously had similar thoughts as she also stood as close to one of the walls. I was about to question why we were cowering against the wall when something tall appeared with a blinding gold flash and a shock wave which blew out any lit candles and left a small scorch mark on the floor, whoever it was it looked like a taller version of Twilight, except it was a pure white, wearing what looked like minimalistic armour and had hair that seemed to flow in an unseen wind.

“Holy shit!” I exclaimed, what else did you expect me to do, it had practically exploded into existence in the library.

“Sorry about that” she said “It has been a while since I last teleported” Twilight seemed to be overcome with joy, almost like she was meeting an old friend, whereas Fluttershy started bowing. I assumed that this was Princess Celestia so I started bowing out of respect ‘Better not incur the wrath of royalty’.

“There is no need for that” Celestia said, “If you are who you say you are then there is no need to bow to me”

“So, will you be able to send me home?” I asked, preferring to get this over and done with. Celestia seemed to become ever so slightly saddened

“I am afraid not, it seems you come from a different reality altogether” Celestia said “I will get my smartest unicorns onto working on an advanced teleportation spell, but I can’t promise anything”

“*sigh* that’s what I thought” I said “still, it was better that I made sure that there was no way back than spent my whole life on this planet not knowing that there was a really simple way to get home, what do you suggest I do? Seeing as I am now a citizen of your nation”

“Well, for a start, you will need to apply for citizenship and get registered as a new species, so you will need to come to Canterlot with me, after that, it’s up to you what you do with your new life” Celestia said, beckoning me with a wing.

“Ok, just a second” I said whilst preparing my backpack, I turned to Twilight “When you next see Zecora, tell her I said thank you and goodbye, and can I borrow the books on the table? I promise I will return them at the nearest possible opportunity once I have read them” Twilight nodded and levitated the books over towards me. I put my rucksack on my back and picked up the books in my left hand, not having any room left in my rucksack, I walked over to Celestia.

“So” I said “Onwards to Canterlot” Celestia nodded before closing her eyes, light started to pool on the tip of her horn before expanding, just before I disappeared from the library I turned towards the remaining occupants in the room and said.

“Auf Wiedersehen”

it's finally done, no offence to Zecora but I am lad I don't have to type speech in rhyme anymore.
also HAPPY EASTER

Vuur Koning Stat increases:

+5 to acceptance-ponies

Ponyville added to map

Everfree added to map

Perk unlocked: "First impressions"

"I guess we can trust you...?"

You have had a moderately good first impression. You have a neutral reputation with Equestrian Royalty. Don't screw it up.

*EDIT* altered the scene with Twilight, seeing as she went to the mirror world so she will know what humans are