Alternate has managed to get his bag with his stuff and walk back into the trains bathroom once again without anypony noticing. He found it funny how easy it was to make them think he was one of them. Then again, they all thought the Changelings were gone for good, so he couldn´t really blame them.
"Well, I better get going!", he said to himself as he changed into his Changeling form once again and opened the window that was in the room.
He peeked his head out of the window and the wind was brushing almost harshly against his pure black skin. He made sure he had a good hold of his bag and climbed out the window and jumped. As soon as he was out he stretched his bug-like wings and wasted no time flying into the forest.
He made sure no one saw him as he landed on one of the trees. He was deeper inside the forest than he had intended to. He checked if he still had his bag on. He hadn´t.
"Oh, come ON!", he gritted his teeth, cursing under his breath. "I guess I´ll have to go search for it. It can´t possibly be still on the train. So it should be here somewhere."
He sighed as he started walking through the forest, searching. He felt like he had spent an eternity trying to find his bag. He still couldn´t find it and had been searching the whole way back to the tracks and again to where he started searching.
"Where did my bag go? It can´t possible have vanished into air! It has to be somewhere! Hehe, that rhymed! Now back to my thoughts. . . Where did my bag go?", he thought to himself as he searched and searched but still couldn´t find it.
He abruptly stopped in his tracks as he saw a Zebra picking some flowers, which he guessed would be for a potion. He had heard that Zebras were good at potion making and he tended to believe things like that, even though it had gotten him into trouble a lot of times back in the Changeling kingdom.
"Maybe she saw my bag somewhere!", he thought, hoping he was right.
He changed into his favourite form, the unicorn he has been playing the whole time. Why it was his favourite, he had no idea. It was possible that he just liked to play a personality that is so much, if not identical to his own. Plus, he made that form up all by himself so he was very proud of it.
After changing forms he slowly walked towards the Zebra.
"Uhm. . .Excuse me? Have you seen my bag around here somewhere?", he asked the Zebra, acting a bit shy.
The Zebra turned around.
"Oh, hello there, my friend. What was it that you searched for again?", the Zebra asked again, rhyming in the process.
"Uhm. . .It appears that I have lost my bag. And I was wondering if you may have seen it?", he asked again and the Zebra nodded with a smile.
"Yes, I have. It is right up that tree. But may I ask how that came to be?", she rhymed again.
"Thanks!", Alternate said as he saw the bag. His horn glowed green and so did the bag as it was levitated by Alternates magic and carried to him. "And, no, I don´t know how it got up there. I was just walking around the Forest trying to find a way out and maybe find a way to Ponyville, as I noticed my bag was gone!"
The Zebra nodded understandingly. Then looked surprised.
"Oh, Ponyville was where you wanted to go? You can follow me. The way I certainly know.", she said, surprising Alternate in the process.
"Thank you very much! You´re too kind helping a stranger like me twice already!", he smiled brightly. He would like this Zebra in the future, he was certain of that. Maybe he could even be friends with her! The mere thought of it was making Alternate really happy.
They started to walk and Alternate noticed he didn´t even ask for the Zebras name.
"Oh, I´m sorry I forgot to tell you. My name is Zecora. And you are who?", Zecora asked looking at Alternate curiously.
"Well, my name is Alternate View. But I suppose it´s too long, so just call me Alternate.", he answered smiling.
Zecora nodded and they proceeded to walk. Alternate looked up to the sky and noticed it was getting dark. If he wanted to get to Ponyville he had to hurry.
"It seems it´s too dark to continue to go west. Why don´t you stay the night and be my guest?", she asked pointing towards a house in a tree.
Alternate nodded and they approached the house and went inside. He didn´t notice how cold he was outside until the warm air of the house hit his coat sending shivers down his spine because of the sudden change.
He noticed Zecora preparing something he could only guess was supposed to be a bed. Well, he would take anything at the moment. He had absolutely no strength anymore and needed to restore it with some sleep.
Then realization struck him. He wouldn´t be able to change back into his natural form. Zecora pointed towards the "bed" she made, signaling him to go to sleep there. He obediently lay down and pulled a blanket over himself that Zecora had put there for him. He looked at her getting into her bed and getting comfortable.
He had that strange feeling that he could trust her and tell her everything he had on his mind and heart. But he wouldn´t. At least not now. He wanted to enjoy this as much as he possibly could and wanted to experience as much as he could without anypony noticing what he was.
He changed his eyes and the part of his body that was covered by the blanket back ito the Changelings form to restore at least a bit of his shifting magic without Zecora noticing. But strangely enough, his mind told him he didn´t need to. That she already knew or something. But that couldn´t be right. . .right?
Soon after having that thought, Alternate finally fell asleep and started dreaming of swimming in a black ocean. It was relaxing and restored his energy.
The next morning he woke up to a delicious smell. He opened his eyes, changing them to the green eyes he had as the Unicorn he was playing, and turned his head to where he assumed the smell came from. He saw Zecora making a delicious looking breakfast and he couldn´t help but smile at the kindness that Zebra was showing towards a stranger like him.
I mean, she barely knew him for one day and she helped him three times already. The Changelings he knew wouldn´t trust you fully, let alone do something like this for you, after a month! A bit rare was that they wouldn´t trust you for a year of knowing you.
It made him wonder if everypony was like that in Equestria. He highly doubted that EVERYPONY is nice and kind, but he assumed the majority of the ponies were.
He made sure he changed the rest of his body to the Unicorns body as he stood up slowly and walked towards Zecora, careful not to scare her.
"I see you´re awake. May I add quite late. I assume it must be from the long journey you must have had, but still, the sun is way too high in the sky for an excuse like that.", she said turning her head towards him, surprising him greatly.
"Yeah, I suppose you´re right. I could balme it on the dream I was having though. Wonderfully relaxing I tell you.", Alternate confessed.
Zecora just nodded as she proceeded to prepare breakfast. After she was done they ate in silence. Alternate liked this kind of silence, for it was relaxing, comforting to some level and refreshing from everything he knew.
"I think it´s about time I should leave. I don´t want to bother you any longer as necessary. I´m in a bit of a hurry too.", Alternate said slowly.
"If you want to go. Just get your bag now.", she said and Alternate got his bag and was ready to leave.
They walked out of the house and started walking towards the end of the forest. Alternate looked around trying to remember every little landmark so that he could find Zecora again.
After a short while they arrived at the end of the forest and Zecora excused herself and went back. She said she still had to create a potion with the flowers she was picking when they met.
Alternate just nodded and procceeded to walk into Ponyville on his own. He looked around interested. Everything seemed so. . . Colorfull. Even more so than Canterlot.
Suddenly he bumped into someone.