You become what you are.
After being discharged, we went to the Ponyville library—the place where Twilight herself had lived.
"Well, yeah, where else could the most well-read pony in Ponyville live?" I said quietly, smiling as I gazed at the unusual house.
"Come on, my friends are waiting for you. I bet Pinkie's already thrown a party and got half the village together," the alicorn said, pushing me toward the door. "That's why you go first."
"Yeah, right, on to the mines," I laughed, opening the door when something swift and pink nearly knocked me off my feet.
"Welcome to Ponyville! Glad to see you! Wow, you're so tall! You're..." All this was said literally a couple of seconds before the thing suddenly fell silent and stopped. The reason for the monologue's abrupt end was the apple the orange filly deftly stuffed into Pinkie Pie's mouth. That this pink something was Pinkie Pie was clear from Twilight's description back in the hospital—"If you see an Earth pony chattering nonstop and not standing still for more than a few seconds, it's twenty to one Pinkie Pie."
"Ah, so you're the p... person Twilight wrote to us about," smiled the orange Earth pony with a cowboy hat and an apple-shaped cutie mark. "Come in. Oh, hello, Twilight!" She stepped aside, ushered us in, and closed the door.
I found myself in a spacious room hung with garlands, in the company of several ponies whom Twilight introduced as her friends. Pink and hyperactive Pinkie Pie, orange and outspoken Applejack, white and purple-maned fashion designer Rarity, blue and rainbow-maned pegasus Rainbow Dash, and shy yellow and pink-maned pegasus Fluttershy.
"Yeah, it's hard to get bored in such company," I said to Twilight after the exchange of greetings and introductions had concluded and the party had settled into a chat over a piece of cake. Knowing that all six of us, including Twilight, were guardians of the Elements of Harmony, it was immediately clear why each element had chosen its bearer.
"So, where are you from anyway?" Pinkie Pie's sudden appearance next to me made me jump in surprise. "How does she even move so fast?" Apparently, the question was so clearly imprinted on my face that the others laughed. "Get used to it, it's Pinkie," the rainbow-maned Dash laughed, rocking idly in her chair.
"Well, I'm afraid you still won't believe me. I'm from another world, where the only intelligent, speaking race is humans. I don't remember how I got here, I just remember that something bad happened, and now I'm here." As soon as the restless party pony opened her mouth, I hurried to intervene. "Girls, I can't tell you about my world in a few words, so let's not terrorize me with ten questions a second."
"Okay," the ponies answered in disarray.
"Are you really cold?" Applejack asked, surprised, pointing a hoof at my custom-made clothes (I doubt I could find a shop for humans anywhere in Equestria).
"No, why would that be? Ah-ah-ah," it dawned on me. "You see, in our world, everyone wears clothes almost all the time. It's... It's just a cultural thing."
"It's a bit confusing, but if that's the tradition..." the earth pony said, scratching her head.
"I feel like I'm about to be bombarded with questions," I thought, pouring myself a glass of water.
***
A couple of weeks had passed since that first meeting. I'd settled into Ponyville and now seemed to be less of a source of surprise to everyone I passed. Having given up living in the library—I didn't need to be a burden to anyone—I decided to find a job and somewhere to live. Employment, of course, was a bit of a challenge until the ponies got used to me. However, being a translator in my world, I clearly couldn't work in my field here—what could I translate if everyone spoke the same language? My only saving grace was that, unlike ponies, I had flexible fingers, so I could do fine work, but that clearly wasn't what I needed.
And there were some issues with the house, too. The pony houses were a bit too low for a human; perhaps the pegasi houses were a bit more spacious, but that clearly didn't solve the problem.
So one early morning, I was walking through the city streets, lost in my sad thoughts, when I suddenly bumped into a passerby. "Careful, human!" The unusual accent and voice made me jerk my head up and meet the gaze of the zebra standing before me. There was only one zebra in all of Ponyville, the one Twilight's friends had told me about the first time we met.
"Oh, I'm sorry, uh... Zecora? I didn't see you," I began to apologize, helping her gather up the bunches of herbs that had fallen out of the small basket attached to the side of the "sorceress."
"It's okay, just don't remember them," my companion smiled, placing some roots at the bottom of the basket.
"By the way, I heard you always speak in rhyme. Did you lie?" Looking around, I noticed a ball of light blue grass rolling away.
"Well, I don't know." "For some reason, I can't even put a line together right now," Zecora turned away from me, quickly singing a short poem, then turned back to me. "No, I don't think I can speak in my usual manner just to you."
The surprise in her eyes quickly gave way to a researcher's enthusiasm, which made me sigh heavily—I'd seen that look in Twilight before she started testing some of her theories.
"Hmm, maybe you could do me a favor? I live in the forest, and you could help me carry the herbs."
"Yeah, right. I'm sure she's interested in 'rejection,' like Twilight. I wouldn't be surprised if the alicorn already told Zecora about it," flashed through my mind as I nodded in agreement and, picking up the basket, followed the zebra. The repulsion effect, as Twilight called it, was that I was probably the only sentient being in Equestria untouched by the strange magic of this world, which sometimes forced me to describe the world around me or my emotions in song, which almost everyone around me joined in. Thankfully, this didn't happen very often, but Zecora's rhymes apparently suffered the same effect.
Thoughts idly flowed through my head as we chatted about trivial matters, managing to glance at each other as we went. The striped fur of the Everfree Forest resident stood out from the other ponies, looking so natural to the human eye, even though I had grown accustomed to the color variety of the inhabitants of this world. Her eyes were full of wisdom, which, however, didn't hide the occasional glimmer of cunning. I glanced sideways at my companion's side. A sun mark. However, it differed from Celestia's cutie mark, depicting African symbolism.
"I'm curious," I voiced the thought. "Aren't all zebras black and white in this world?" After waiting for an affirmative nod, I continued, "And you personally don't confuse each other if you don't look at your cutie marks?" Then I quickly snapped my mouth shut, fearing the question had sounded impolite. Zecora laughed softly and explained, "Of course not. If you met another one like me, you'd know who's who. It's hard to explain, but even twins are easier to separate among our people. Why were you outside at this time? Ponies usually don't like to get up so early, except for a few days, and of course, the Apple family."
"Oh… Just a walk to clear my head," I tried to squirm, after which the zebra nudged me gently with a hoof.
"I'm not a colt for whom you can tell such stories."
"Oh… You see… I'm not sure I can find a job in town that suits me…" My companion tilted her head to the side, waiting for him to continue. "Well, my profession wouldn't be suitable for this world."
Zecora looked at my pants, lost in thought.
"Humans don't have cutie marks!" "I immediately responded, moving a little further away. "I was simply studying for a profession that's useless here."
"So people can master and practice several... paths?" Zecora asked, clearly trying to find the right word, but I already understood what she meant.
"Yes, and an artist can write music. If they try," I added, recalling the less-than-stellar songs of my world, which were composed, at the very least, by professional drug addicts.
While talking, I didn't notice how I'd approached the forest. This was the forest I was definitely accustomed to—not the tidy clearing where you can only get lost after a few liters of the strongest cider, but a thicket of strange bushes and an endless tangle of branches and leaves. However, Zecora immediately found the path and followed it, without interrupting her thoughts. Apparently, it was automatic for her. "Well, I thought zebras weren't particularly good at navigating the woods." We soon reached Zecora's house.
The zebra, who had stopped in front of her house, stared ahead for a few seconds, clearly pondering something serious, then shook her head and entered the house, nudging me along, ignoring my protests. After seating me at the table and pouring tea into clay cups, she looked at me seriously.
"Perhaps I can help you with your work. It's not exactly suited for ponies."
Raising an interested eyebrow, I sipped the warm drink. Among the kaleidoscope of smells and tastes, I discerned mint; all the other ingredients grew only in Equestria.
"You see, in this forest, everything operates according to its own laws, unaffected by pony magic." And here you can find some very rare and useful things that not only potion brewers but also ordinary workers would happily snatch up. The problem is, you can't drag most ponies here even with a lasso. And personally, it's not always safe for me to wander the Everfree Forest alone. As I understand it, humans are basically predators, although you can eat our food too. So it will be easier and freer for you to move through the forest," Zecora thought for a moment. "Well, after I teach you what useful things you can find and how to avoid being eaten by a pack of timberwolves. There's just one 'but.'"
"Hm?" I was busy savoring my tea, but the zebra understood everything already.
"Princesses. You're the only human in this world who helps the ponies and is, like, their subject. It won't be easy to persuade them." "But you could get a job... well, at least as a forester, although, of course, this forest doesn't need foresters. What do you think about that?" the mistress of the house asked, taking my cup to refill my tea.
"The idea is excellent, but even if I manage to persuade the princesses to create such a place of work, do you realize how long it would take me to learn everything I need?"
"Are you in a hurry?" She handed me the cup and sat down opposite me again. "Or do you have somewhere to go?"
Acknowledging the truth of her words, I ran my hand through my hair.
"Okay, I agree. But I still need to eat somewhere, and somewhere..." She interrupted me immediately, raising a hoof in front of my face.
"You'll live here while you're training, then you'll surely be able to build a house where you'll be comfortable," she continued, lowering her front leg. "And believe me, the forest can feed a true hunter."