Snout woke up early, a normal thing for him, but he was surprised to see that Bio and Emerald were up as well.

“Morning.” He said.

“Morning.” Bio replied from the kitchen counter. “You’re up early.”

“I always wake up early. You?”

“Royal guards, remember? They drill it into us during training.”

“Where’s Chaos?”

“Getting food.” Emerald replied, reading on the sofa. “Place is fully furnished but there’s no food.”

“When will he be back?”

“Soonish. Assuming he doesn’t run into Rarity.”

“Who’s Rarity?”

“The element of Generosity and a council member in Princess Twilight’s castle. She mostly runs dress a shop in town and in other cities, but Chaos hates her.”

“Why?” Emerald asked, now intrigued.

“They’re polar opposites. Chaos hardly ever is polite or uses good manners while Rarity strives for glamour and perfection.”

”GET SOME BITCH!!” The sound of Chaos’s voice boomed from outside.

“Oh crap!” Bio yelped as he ran out the door, followed closely by Emerald and Snout.

Some distance into market, a large crowd was both cheering and shouting. Once the three entered they saw why, Chaos and Rarity were fighting, physically.

“Admit it, you’re a hypocrite!” Chaos yelled, bucking the white unicorn across the ground.

Getting up, Rarity used her magic to lift Chaos off the ground and slam him back onto it. “Brute, didn’t anypony teach you how to treat a lady?”

“Like I give a fu-“ Chaos was stopped before finishing. He and Rarity both were held in a purple aura.

“Honestly I can’t believe you two.” Twilight said, emerging from the crowd. “This is the third time this month!

“She started it!” Chaos replied.

“I don’t care who started it! Rarity, of all the ponies I can’t believe that you would engage in a fight! And Chaos, you’re a royal guard! You’re supposed to be setting an example!”

“Eh, nowhere in the Friendship Guard contracts does it say we have to set an example off duty.”

Twilight’s eye twitched. Out off all the things she hated about Chaos, his smart ass smarts were one of them. He always was able to find a flaw or loophole in anything to turn into an excuse for his actions. “Looks like I’m rewriting the contracts, AGAIN!” As Twilight looked through the crowd, her eyes found three individuals that were trying to make an unnoticed exit. Lifting them up with her magic, Twilight gave Bio, Emerald, and Snout a harsh glare. “Did you three just let this happen!?”

“We got here not long before you princess.” Bio quickly replied.

“Then why were you trying to leave unnoticed?”

“I know better than to get involved when Chaos is in trouble.”

“Too bad, you’re involved! You four are coming with me for a long lesson on proper public manners. Snout, consider this an opportunity to roam freely, but the other guards will be keeping tabs on you. It’s not that I don’t trust you-”

“Yes it is.” Chaos interrupted.

“Quiet! Okay that’s half the reason, I just don’t want you to get hurt or for you to hurt somepony else. Understood?”

“Yes Twilight.” Snout replied. He felt a tad sad Twilight didn’t fully trust him, but understood her concern. He did come from a place unknown to her.

“Thank you.” With that Twilight left, Chaos and Rarity still bickering while leaving.

The  crowd of ponies left in seconds. Snout was surprised they left so quickly, people on his world would have stuck around for a bit before finally leaving. Then again Twilight did say that this was the third fight this month. That's more than what a village in his world would have in a year.

Eventually, Snout began walking. Much to his surprise, very few ponies gave him a glance. Most that did were small, children obviously. As time passed he noticed two things. One, females practically outnumbered males seven to one, and two, most of the buildings in town reflected this. Windows in the shape of hearts, pink was almost everywhere! And every speck of dirt had a feminine touch.

A thought came to his mind. Is this why Chaos is so edgy? He brushed it aside.  He could probably ask Bio or Chaos himself the reason. Snout hatted to assume without clear facts.

Looking up he spotted ponies like Chaos, flying up and moving clouds… wait MOVING CLOUDS! Snout had to blink several times to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. He really wanted to see this up close. He reached into his tail. Magic is odd in his world, some people are born with unique magical abilities, some objects have them for no real reason, and sometimes magic bends to the will of individuals without any reason or cause. For Snout, he was born with a tail that can store and hold things like a backpack. He never understood why, but he didn’t care all that much. After some searching he found his prize.

It was a bandana, like the one he was already wearing, but blue. He switched them fast and once he did he felt the magic activate. Snout has several bandanas, each a different colors with their own power. Magic in his world is an odd thing, now he was curious about Equestria’s magic. He jumped, the bandana giving a small flash then he floated, upon reaching the clouds he placed a paw on one, only for his paw to move through it like thick fog.

“Dude, only pegasi or alicorns can move clouds by touch.” Snout turned around and was met by a purple maned, orange coated pegasus resting on a cloud behind him. “Neat trick for flying though. Took me years to figure out how to stay off the ground, you just swap clothes. Honestly, I’m jealous.”

“Why?”

“Biological magic. Depending on a ponies race depends on types of magic. While unicorns can use and create all sorts of magic earth ponies will always be ridiculously strong and pegasi like me can fly and move clouds. Names Scootaloo by the way, you?”

“Snout.”

“How fast can you move while flying like that?”

“Pretty fast I guess. Never really tried it out all that much, I usually save them for an emergency.”

“Keep them handy then. Ponyville is known for strange things and climatic, world endangering battles.”

“That explains why no one down there payed much attention to me.”

“I didn’t pay much attention to you either until I saw you fly up here. Like they say, “Just when you’ve seen it all, there’s Ponyville.””

“Who said that?”

“Tourists looking for excitement. So if you can move fast, do you wanna race?”

“Nah, I’m not into sports.”

“Awww. Well alright then, by the way, have you talked to Fulttershy yet?”

“No, who’s that?”

“A Pegasus like me, well older than me, and she lives out next to the Everfree.”

“I thought that place was dangerous?”

“It is, but that’s the thing, animals are naturally passive towards her. The only exceptions I’ve seen have been timber wolves and dragons.”

“Oh. Wait, you think I’ll get affected?”

“Not sure. Only one way to find out though.” Scootaloo said with a smile. “She didn’t earn that cutimark for nothing.”

“Cutie what?”

“Cutiemark. A symbol of a pony's special talent. We all have one, some latter on in life than others. I was in that group till fifteen years ago.” Scootaloo stood and showed her cutiemark to Snout, a small purple shield with a wing on it. “My friends Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell and I all got ours at the same time and for the same reason. Helping ponies understand and discover their special talents.”

“That sounds like it was hard to figure out.”

“You have no idea. We got into so much trouble trying to figure out what our talents were.”

“Maybe I’ll listen to it sometime.”

“Sure thing, if you race me for it.”

Snout laughed. “Sure, just remind me, okay?”

“Okay. Oh, and if you are going to Fluttershy’s first just follow the road west, she lives on the outskirts of town.”

“Thank you.”

---

Scootaloo wasn’t kidding when she told Snout she lived on the outskirts of town. The road went on for miles out east. It took close to an hour before he spotted what must have been Fluttershy’s home. A surprisingly large cottage surrounded by small animals, bird houses, and had a small stream with a bridge over it that cut right in front of the cottage.

Upon landing, he switched back to his usual bandana and approached the door. As he knocked a small yelp was heard from inside. “Who’s there?”

“Uhh, Snout.”

There was a small moment of silence before the door opened just a small crack. “A… a wolf?”

“I just said my name-”

Before Snout could finish, he found himself brought to the ground, all he could see were two very up close eyes, yellow, and pink. “Oh my gosh! A talking wolf!”

“Yes I am. Can I stand now?”

The pony, Fluttershy, Snout figured, moved to the side, letting him stand. “I’m so sorry Mr. Wo- Mr. Snout.”

“Snout’s fine thanks. I was told to come see you.”

“Told by who?”

“Scootaloo.”

“Oh, that was nice of her. Would you like to come inside, I mean, if you want to.”

Clearly the ‘shy’ in her name is extremely literal. Snout thought to himself. “Sure.”

As he walked in, Snout saw that the small animal houses didn’t just stop outside. Inside there were what looked like twice as many bird houses, mouse holes with doors, some even had mailboxes! “You really treat your pets nice.”

“I don’t think of them as pets. More like friends than anything.” Snout took a seat on a large green sofa, Fluttershy took a seat next to him. “Um, is it alright if I ask you a few questions?”

“Sure, I don’t mind.”

“Alright, so what’s it like being a wolf?”

Snout almost laughed at the question. “What’s it like being a pony?”

“Well… uh…” Fluttershy was at a loss for words. No answer came to her.

“Exactly. You can’t explain what being what you are is like. It’s something that has to be experienced.”

“Wow, that was pretty wise.”

“I have my moments. Anything else?”

“Where are you from.”

“We just call the world, The World back home.”

“No, I mean where were you born?”

Snout’s expression turned sad. “I don’t remember. As far back as I can remember I’ve always traveled. I don’t remember my parents or my place of birth.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s alright, I’ve made so many friends, and every now and then I run into my sister.”

“You have a sister?”

“Yeah, Aura. We’re exact opposites. And she’s always causing me trouble. She doesn’t mean harm but she does like to cause mischief.”

“Sounds like Discord. He’s the spirit of chaos and used to cause all sorts of trouble, but he never actually hurt anypony.”

“God forbid he and Aura ever meet.”

“God?”

“Uhh, that’s a totally different subject I’d rather not talk about.” Fluttershy nodded. “Anything else?”

“Do you eat… meat?” Fluttershy asked, slightly frightened when she spoke.

“Mostly fish, since everyone on my world is a talking animal it’s kinda hard to be a meat eater like me, but I can and do mostly eat vegetation. I just never liked the idea of hunting and killing.”

Fluttershy let go of a breath she had been holding for a while. “Why do you wear that bandana?”

Snout placed a paw on it. He wasn’t sure of that either, but thinking about it made him sad. “I’m not sure, I’ve always had it, ever since I was a pup. I don’t know why but I never keep it off for long.”

“Maybe it’s your mom or dad’s?”

“Maybe. I’ve asked Aura about it but she just get’s the same look I’m giving. The only difference is that her eyes tell a different story. She knows why I have it, maybe even if it was one of our parent’s, but she won’t talk about it.”

“It must have scared her in some way.”

“Maybe… can I ask you a question?” She nodded. “How big is Equestria exactly?”

“The kingdom or the planet?”

“Both I guess?”

“Equestria the kingdom expands over most of the continent. The only exception being the Griffon Kingdom up in the mountains up north. Further north is The Crystal Empire, passed that is the Yak kingdom. Across the ocean are a few other continents, the biggest being the Zebra Lands, and the Dragon Empire, the rest are mixed villages either shared or owned by the larger governments.”

“Impressive. My world is much less… well it’s big but we aren’t divided into countries, it’s all just villages and a few large cities.”

“That sounds peaceful.”

“It is.”

“Are you staying with anypony?”

“Twilight assigned Bio, Chaos, and Emerald as my “guardians” but Chaos got them all in trouble.”

“Again? I swear that stallion has some mental disorder.”

“He’s not that bad, he probably just needs an outlet for his anger.”

“Maybe, speaking of which you should go see if Twilight’s done lecturing them.”

“You think she’s done already?”

“No, but I think they’d appreciate it if you met them when they got out.”

“I’ll do that, It was nice talking Fluttershy. Let’s do this again sometime.”

“That would be lovely.”