James had moved deeply into the forest after his encounter with the two horse-people a few minutes ago. In fact, he had gone so far into the forest that he had become lost. James's eyes darted around, and began to piece together a good reason as to why this place was worse than the town's borders. The surrounding forest had a different look than the previous environment; it looked almost…diseased.

The trees here had grown gnarled and blackened, more befitting of a swamp than a wood. Whatever flowers that grew here were thorny, vibrantly coloured, or just looked threatening. For the most part, however, the only plants that grew were thistles, ivy, mushrooms, weeds and tall grass. But most importantly was how dark it was; the canopy of the trees was so thick that, even at roughly midday, they closed off the sky and shut out the sunlight. Where the woods where James first awoke filled him with a drowsy, blissful feeling, this forest gave him a sense of foreboding and paranoia, which did not help in the slightest as it worsened the feeling of paranoia that James already had.

Something rustled in the tall grass a few feet away. Immediately, James's muscles tensed. His heart began to hammer with excitement as adrenaline and endorphins began to pump into his blood. The rustling seemed to drag across the grass like a snake, until finally coming to a stop right in front of James. The grass parted and out poked…a chicken.

James was about to relax, but immediately tensed again when the grass around the chicken began to rustle again, with a horrible dragging sound. The chicken locked eyes with James, and a strange effect overcame him; his muscles began to literally lock up, his movements becoming sluggish as his legs were rendered immobile. With all of the strength he could muster, James forced his head to look away, breaking eye contact with the thing and furthermore breaking the effect it had on his body.

James was able to move again, and had only a split second to dive aside as the monster-chicken made a fierce lunge for him. Grasping around for a weapon, his hand clasped around a heavy object and brought a thick oaken branch up in a clumsy arc, striking the beast full-on in the side of the head. As the creature reeled from the attack, James took his chance to sprint away from it; he hadn't the resources or training to take on a monster like this, let alone blind, and he needed to prioritize his survival until he could find a way home (wherever 'home' was). And so he ran for all his worth, eventually leaving the creature- and the black forest -behind.

Yet again, James found himself in the open, only this time he stood in a field. A small footpath led up to a small cottage that appeared to have been built into a hill, or from a hill, or something along those lines. Looking around and seeing nobody nearby, James decided to approach the house to ask for help. As he neared the cottage, he noticed the door slowly open. Another winged horse stepped outside to enjoy the day. This one had a simple but still weird coloration of pastel pink and yellow, and its huge eyes slowly drifted around the view of the nearby town as it sat facing away from James.

As it would be pretty stupid to startle the pony by sneaking up on her, James thought it better to announce his presence. What he didn't factor in was the fact that he had a rough 3 feet over her, was covered in dirt and sweat, brandishing a hulking club and with a general threatening look to him, not to mention the fact that she's probably never seen a creature like him before.

"Uh…Hello?" James called.

The pony perked up at the sound of the creature behind him, and she turned to face him. Her expression changed from curiosity to shock, and she froze like a deer in the headlights of a car.

"Uh, hey," James continued, lifting the club in a gesture of greeting. "Look, I'd like to know where I am, and—"

Without a word, the pony darted into her house, slamming the door behind her.

"Hey, wait a second!" James called after her, slightly quickening his pace. "Just—Wait—Hold on! I'm trying to ask for HELP, goddamn—"

James reeled in his irritation, noting that he didn't need to frighten the horse any further. Placing the branch at the end of her lawn, James raised his arms and slowly approached the door. When no response came, James lightly tapped on the door.

"Hello. Please come out, I'm not here to hurt you, I just want some help," James stated flatly.

No answer.

"Hello? Telegram...Special Delivery?" James tried to relieve the situation by making small jokes, but the horse didn't seem to have much of a sense of humor. James peered into a nearby window and saw the pony hiding under a mound of bedsheets, its furry little hooves sticking out.

"You realize I can see you…right?" James asked. The pony responded by digging further under the sheets. "Oh, screw this," James said to himself. "Fine! I'm going!"

'One day,' James thought as he retrieved his weapon and trudged back to the wooded area. 'Hell, HALF a day, and I already hate this place. Half a day; that has to be some kind of record.'

Now that he was out of danger and calm enough to clear his thoughts, James's mind turned back to his original task; getting some food from the town. That desire burned more than ever now, as he had been running everywhere all day. James stood at the edge of the woods for a brief moment in order to gauge the distance between where he was and the trees he saw when he first arrived. It was going to be a bit of a trip.

Taking a final glance to see if anyone was watching or following, James saw no-one, not even the horse he attempted to speak with. With that, he turned and strode into the trees.

James took his time walking to the apple tree forest, remaining within the fringe of the trees in order to conceal his approach. By the time he had reached the cluster of apple trees, the sun was a burnt orange and was slowly dipping downwards toward the darkening horizon. When James felt confident that there was nobody around, he quickly swept from the trees, clambering over a tall fence to get to the nearest apple tree. He wasted no time, climbing up into the branches and emptying the boughs of the tree, picking ten apples in all.

James stretched out atop a sturdy low-hanging branch and sat against the trunk of the tree. He didn't really have a bag to carry the apples in, so in order to lighten his load, James decided that he would eat whatever apples he couldn't stuff in the pockets of his jacket. He crunched into a bright red, round one; he had little to no memory at all, and yet he still felt that it tasted better than anything he could remember. He continued to eat, and before he knew it he had eaten half of his take, content and tired.

It was only when he heard a voice in the distance that his thoughts turned back to where he was. Climbing upwards into the higher branches of the tree, he gazed through the leaves in an attempt to see the pony approaching from cover, but only saw more apple trees. The trees seemed to go on forever, in an almost linear pattern.

In fact, it was a perfect linear pattern.

'This isn't a forest,' James realized. 'It's an orchard. Which means… that I'm stealing from whoever owns it!'

Indeed, the pony approaching him was getting closer, which meant that James had to get further, and fast. Moving as quickly as he could without making too much noise, he planted his feet onto a low-hanging branch… and stupidly went cold and still as he locked eyes with an orange pony, her mane tied in a ponytail and a wide-brimmed hat atop her head. Luckily, seeing an armed, slender being of alien origin had her equally stunned.

"W-what the…?" The pony stammered.

James knew that she wouldn't be surprised for long, and took advantage of her momentary pause to leap from his perch to the nearest branch on another tree. He landed on the thick branch with a slight stumble, then immediately hopped, branch to branch, to another tree. Suddenly, in mid-jump, James felt a tug against his ankle that sent him crashing into the ground with a heavy thud and a winded gasp.

"Ha!" the pony called. "Gotcha, ya rotten little thief!"

James rolled onto his back, sitting up to see the creature approach him. In a cruel twist of irony, she had lassoed him with a length of rope, and was dragging him back to her by holding the rope in her teeth. Unfortunately, the mare had enough common sense to keep him a few feet away, preventing him from getting the drop on her. She then turned away from him and continued to drag him towards a place James thought it would be better to avoid.

"Thought you could steal from me, huh?" She asked (or at least James thought it was a 'she'), without looking at him. "I don't know what you are, but you don't seem to be from 'round these parts, so I'll forgive you for not thinking it's a dumb idea".

"Right," James replied to the shock of the mare, "Because I certainly knew this place was an orchard or anything of the sort. No, this had to be theft, and not some misunderstanding."

"Sarcasm'll get ya nowhere," she shot back.

After a brief pause, James decided to continue to bother the mare. Perhaps, with his banter, she wouldn't notice him untying the rope around his ankle.

"So, is this how you treat every guy on a first date?" He asked. "No dinner, no coffee, not even a name? I mean, it's a good method, but I don't think this relationship will work. You're a horse, I'm white, and I'm not going to be hurt again."

That response got the mare's attention, as she gave an uncomfortable look at James over her shoulder. Seeing he had touched a nerve, James flashed her a sarcastic grin. Noticing a marking of three apples on her flank, James gestured to it and added, "Nice tattoo".

The mare's expression changed from discomfort to irritation. "It ain't a tattoo," she explained, "It's a cutie mark."

"There's a difference?"

"Yes, there's a difference!"

"...Oh, yeah, I guess there is. Sorry, being 'not from 'round these parts' makes me unable to guess something that I've never heard of before."

"Yer gettin' on ma nerves, thief," She replied.

"Oh, no!" James said in mock fear. "And what terrible wrath will I incur if I push too many of your buttons, whoever you are? Because, to me, you just look precious. What'll you do, adorable me to death with those green dinner-plate eyes?"

"Oh," she replied, turning around to get into his face, "I can think of a few things."

"Yeah?" James goaded, leaning in closer. "Name one."

"Keep pushin' me and I might just show you," she replied. The two of them were forehead-to-forehead at this point, James with a taunting gaze, staring right into the angry eyes of orange-hat mare.

And that's exactly what he wanted.

Taking his chance, James scrambled away from her, nearly making her fall face-first into the dirt. It took the mare a full second to piece together that, while they were having their little staring contest, he had untied the knot and freed himself.

"Looks like showing me your ways will have to wait," James called out in a taunting, flirtatious manner as he took off like a shot.

As James sprinted full-tilt towards the fence, he noted three things; the first was that, if he reached the fence, it would take too long for him to climb over. The second thing was that he could hear the hoofbeats of the mare slowly catching up to him. The third thing was that he wouldn't have any time to get to the fence because he was trying to outrun a galloping horse that would inevitably overtake him. Without distraction, that is. James knew he had to think quickly in order to avoid getting caught up or smashing face-first into the fence. James's eyes darted around, taking in every split-second opportunity he could spot.

There. A root had grown out into the footpath, sticking up out of the ground in a loop. No way would the mare fall for him just leading her into the natural trap, but if he were to further distract her, he might have a chance. James began to run in a zigzag pattern, turning the straightforward chase into a slalom through the trees. James called back to his pursuer, "You know, this must be really embarrassing for you!"

James knew that he would only have one shot in order to make this plan work. He slipped a fair-size apple from the pocket of his jacket, then turned and whipped it overhand at the mare. She was in the middle of responding to James's taunt when the apple struck her square between the eyes. James seized his chance, bolting for the fence with all of his speed. The mare shook off her daze, still running, and made a yelp of surprise as she caught her hoof in the root and tripped end over end, sliding to a stop in the dirt.

With the mare incapacitated, James went to make a leap for the top of the fence.

That's when things got that much weirder.

James was about 5'8" and the fence was about 7' tall. He had intended (and should only have been able) to jump high enough to reach the top of the fence with his fingers. Instead, he somehow managed to jump high enough to catch his stomach against the fence. This almost sent James tumbling back to the ground, but he managed to get his bearings and hop the fence, landing in a crouch on the other side. Not a split-second later, a loud, cracking bang sounded on the other side of the fence as the mare caught up, slamming front-hooves first against the wood.

"You scrawny little punk!" she roared. "If I ever catch you in ma orchard again—"

"Aw, don't worry," James goaded. "I'm sure a mare as beautiful and charming as you will have other chances to nab the perfect guy!"

"SHUT UP! You filthy, stinken, rotten, featherbrained…!"

James had already began striding back towards the trees, leaving the mare to bang on the stiff fence and spout a series of G-rated expletives. The good news in this little adventure was that he managed to escape punishment and had a successful take. The bad news was that, of the ten apples he had taken, he had walked away with four, and that would only last him a few days in dire straits. Like it or not, he had to move back into the city and secure more food and supplies.

The thought of doing that made him edgy. It was guaranteed that the mare he had a close brush with would go to her friends or family, telling them about the thing that stole from her orchard. Hell, for all James knew, the other pony he had frightened earlier had done just that by now, and where one incident could be written off as crazy, two separate incidents, especially on the same day, would make it plausible that the thing in question could exist. The risk of being seen, and of being definitely caught, would be much greater now that the populace was aware of his existence, even if it was only a rumor. If James got caught, that would be it. Best case scenario, they would imprison him and ask questions that he wouldn't know the answers to. Worst case, they would interrogate him, torture him and in all probability execute him, then his body would likely be possessed by whatever government these ponies had to be dissected for scientific purposes.

'Enough,' James thought to himself. 'This is paranoia of my own making, and that will only worsen the situation. What's important is that I haven't been caught yet.'

Before James fully entered the forest once more, he risked a moment to glance at the position of the sun. The town had turned into a dark silhouette against the red sky as the sun set below the trees. It would be dark soon, and that may just give James all the edge he would need. As James quickly ducked into the trees, he formed a plan; he would sneak back into the town under cover of darkness, find food and other provisions like matches, and sneak out before dawn as the people slept. From there, he would be able to properly ration his food until he could hunt and gather on his own. He would survive and thrive in the shadow of a civilization that would undoubtedly come to fear the rumor surrounding a being beyond their world, perhaps even their plane of existence, until he could find a way back home.

Not that James knew of it yet, but he would come to regret this decision.