Fauna Leaf nervously stepped out of the new house, the cold winter air greeting him as his hoof touched the even colder ground. His only protection from the cold was a faded black hoodie which he wore everywhere, it was his only protection from the stares, hiding the more pony-coloration that patterned his otherwise light brown fur. However, there was nothing he could do about his cutie mark, as it stuck out like a sore thumb. Fauna wished he'd at least had his antlers a little more grown out, thinking it'd make him tough. He sighed, putting on his saddle bags and heading for town.

He watched ponies pass as he nervously set hoof into town square. He could see a pink mare heading his way, and prepared for the worst.

"Hiya! You must be new in town, mustn't you? My names Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie Pie grabbed his hoof and proceeded to violently shake it.

"Do you like vanilla or chocolate cake? Ooooh, or maybe strawberry! Wait, why not do all three!" The mare ranted to herself.

Another mare quickly rushed over to save Fauna from her ranting friend.

"Sorry dear, she does get a bit carried away sometimes with newcomers. My names Rarity." The unicorn held out a hoof, Fauna wearily taking it, preparing himself mentally for an aggressive shake that never came.

"M-my names Fauna Leaf.." He'd shakily replied. 'No rude comments yet... looking good so far..'

"Fauna Leaf? What a lovely name!" Rarity seemed to look over his attire, and Fauna felt himself tense up.

"You must come over to my boutique sometime! I will get you fitted with something absolutely dashing, on me. Consider it a 'Welcome to Ponyville' gift." Fauna felt himself blush slightly at the offer, and could only bring himself to nod.

"Also, be prepared for Pinkie's 'Welcome to Ponyville party'." Rarity whispered to him, Fauna could see Pinkie bouncing around, listing off several party supplies to herself.

Afterwards, they parted ways, and Fauna couldn't help but stand a little taller. As he trotted through town, something couldn't help but catch his eye. A library, fittingly named 'Golden Oaks Library' near the edge of town and, as he approached, he could see it was open. He couldn't help but smile as he entered the library. Several books filled his vision, ranging from 'Daring Doo' to 'Beginners Levitation'.

"Spike! We have a visitor!" He'd heard someone call, and a moment later he watched as a baby dragon stumbled his way down the stairs.

"Hi! We uh-" The baby dragon seemed to instantly lose all focus, transfixed by his cutie mark. Fauna mentally prepared for a long line of questions that were surely going to come.

However, they didn't, not yet anyway. The baby dragon simply stood there, mouth agape, staring.

"Spike, is it Fluttershy? If so, she's-" A lavender alicorn mare, stepped out from behind a bookshelf, her attention instantly caught by Spike's stare. Fauna cowered slightly.

"Spike, it's rude to stare, you know this!" The alicorn angerly stated, pulling Spike away.

"Sorry about that.. how can I-" Soon, her mouth too hung open, but she was able to regain her composure quicker than the dragon.

"How... what... but I.." Or.. maybe not.

"My mother was a deer and my f-father was a pony." Fauna Leaf stated almost as if he'd been reading from a script. He had, of course, to explain to ponies many times over the years why he'd had a cutie mark.

"I... I..." The alicorn stutter as Fauna Leaf prepared for the worst.

"I have to go get some ink! Spike, get me some paper!" The alicorn rushed off, leaving him utterly confused.

The next hour was filled with boring questions such as 'How did you get your cutie mark?' or 'How did your parents meet?'. After years, he'd memorized the answers to every single question Twilight threw his way, having been asked them several hundred times before. The alicorn had even sent an oddly eager message to Celestia. Was he really that much of a spectacle? Eventually she'd moved on from the questions, and wanted to take notes appearance-wise. It made him uncomfortable yes, but he didn't feel like he had much of a choice, she was an alicorn after all.

"Can you take off your sweater? I want to get a bit more of an idea of the pony deer genes overlapping." She'd asked.

He stuttered, trying to get out some words, something to warn her of how much of a freak he was, but it was already too late. A purple aura surrounded his sweater and quickly removed it from him.

Revealing his pair of huge wings.

The alicorn gasped, Fauna's ears going back as he expected the worst. But he soon realized that it was a gasp in awe..? The alicorn squealed with utter fascination and amazement, much to Fauna's confusion. She wasn't calling him a freak?

"Are they real..?" Twilight asked, her voice nothing more than a whisper.

Fauna stretched his wings out in response, not sure how else to respond. All this did was cause another ear piercing squeal from the alicorn as she looked on. Fauna only made the squealing worse when his nubs (or soon to be antlers) lit up in a bright orange aura similar to a unicorn's and he brought his hoodie over, putting it back on.

"Spike! You need to write this down!" She called as she galloped over to where her assistant had gone.

Fauna soon realized he was being watched by another. As he glanced over, he could see a yellow pegasi watching him, her pink mane covering her face. When she noticed him looking, she let out a small 'Eep!' and retreated.

"No- It's alright.. I didn't mean to startle you.." Fauna replied, immediately feeling bad.

"My name is Fauna Leaf, and yours?" He asked, holding out a hoof to help the pegasus up.

"... Fluttershy..." The pegasus replied, taking his hoof.

She instantly became more curious, causing Fauna to relax. This time, when the questions came, they seemed more caring. She'd ask how he was doing, if he needed a place to stay, and all in all how his day was, and when leaving the library, there was a hop in his step. Today was a good day. Trotting through Ponyville once again, he found himself feeling good, being able to ignore the stares for today. Walking into an oddly empty street, he all too soon heard someone cry out, but it wasn't because of him. He could hear 3 voices cheer,

"Cutie Mark Crusaders!"

He glanced to the direction of the noise and instantly saw the culprits. While one filly was positioned on a scooter, 2 other fillies were sat in the wagon tied behind it. He felt his heart skip a beat as they started going down hill.

'What in the hay are they doing?!' He thought to himself as they approached. They flew dangerously fast past him, and all too soon he heard their cries for help. Bounding after them much like a deer would, he could see the pegasus at the front trying to slow down with her sadly too small wings while the unicorn tried to use some form of magic of the wagon wheels.

Fauna sighed, mentally preparing for the bruises he'd surely end up getting from this.

Author's Notes:

So.... Fauna Leaf is kind of like a Peryton, but not quite. I assure you it.... gets more confusing down the line. Peryton Alicorn?

-Also, I merged chapters, so, sorry if that sparks some confusion!