Midday had come, and everyone was taking a break.
"So, where did you come from again?"
Shadowpiercer wasn't quite sure how they would handle "I'm from another planet," so he figured a cover story was in order.
Fortunately, he had overheard the names of some of the other cities while watching the locals. Unfortunately, he had no idea what any of them were like, so coming up with a decent cover story would be difficult. So, with nothing better to try, he gestured in a particular direction and hoped there was a city that way.
Twilight looked skeptical. "You're from the Everfree?"
Was that a city? No... right, that was the forest. What would be a good excuse to use for that?
"Well... that's where I was last. I travel a lot."
"Is that why you were sleeping in a tree?" Everyone looked at Fluttershy, then back at Shadowpiercer.
Rainbow Dash spoke first. "He did what?"
"When I met him, he was in a tree near my cottage. He said he liked the view of the town from there."
Twilight turned back to him. "So, traveling through the Everfree and spending the nights in trees. Sounds interesting enough. What brings you here, anyway?"
Perfect. What would sound believable after all that?
"I don't know. This place just seemed interesting."
I hope this works...
Everyone looked around at each other for a moment, then split off to go back to their various roles. However, as Big Mac and Shadowpiercer went back to the trees the others reconvened in a barn.
"Okay," Twilight asked, "anyone else think this guy seems suspicious?"
"Because he spent the night in a tree?"
"I was thinking more because he claims to be from the Everfree," Twilight clarified. "Ponies don't usually live there by choice."
"Careful," Applejack interjected, "remember what happened with Zecora?"
"Good point. Did he do anything else unusual?"
"Like watching all the townsponies from dark alleys and behind buildings and that sort of thing?"
Everypony turned towards Pinkie, who just kept talking, "just studying everypony while trying not to be noticed like some sort of spy or something."
There was silence in the barn for half a minute. Twilight broke it first.
"When did you see this?"
"While I was restocking my emergency rubber ball supplies around the town."
Twilight shook her head and groaned, figuring she should have expected an answer like that from Pinkie. "I don't know for sure, but coming from the Everfree, studying the citizens, being unnecessarily vague about every answer he gives; something's just not adding up."
"Come to think of it," Rainbow added, "did anypony else notice his mark? How does somepony get a target for a cutie mark anyway? Assassination?"
As Fluttershy whimpered, Twilight facehooved. "And assumptions like that are exactly what we were trying to avoid."
"So, what should we do?"
"Let's keep an eye on him. We'll see if he does anything else unusual."
A few days later, Shadowpiercer wandered around the town. Now that the harvest was over, the Apples didn't need a hired hand anymore. Thus, he was off looking for work again.
Most of the places he already checked required skills he didn't have, and some required skills he didn't know existed. The next place on the list ran delivery services around town.
Maybe it would at least be something that didn't require the constantly-used-for-everything magic. He was beginning to wonder if his experience was what it would be like for someone who never heard of electricity to move to his world.
An hour later, he was pulling a cart around the town, making deliveries for a private parcel company. It wasn't too bad, although he couldn't help the feeling that he was being watched. As he passed a bush with a pair of binoculars and a pink nose sticking out of it, he tried to...
Wait, what?
He turned, but didn't see anything. He shook his head.
Weird.
He continued on, but still occasionally felt the odd sensation again.
Just ignore it. You're being paranoid... I think.
He checked his map again, then continued on his route. He had to figure out more information about the town if he was going to be here. Perhaps he could check the local library after his shift ended.
As he traveled, he also made note of places where he might be able to pick up supplies with which he could rebuild some of his equipment. Not that he would be able to get back his plasma gun or any fancy stuff like that, but he could at least build a couple sensors. Anything that could be used to trace the spot where he first landed on this world would help.
As soon as his shift was over, he headed out in the direction of the library. He stopped along the way to pick up a saddlebag, as he was getting quite tired of carrying everything around in his mouth.
He remembered passing the library during his route and being rather amused at how it was decorated to resemble a tree.
Surprised as he was to find out that it was, in fact, a real hollowed-out live tree, he was even more surprised to be greeted by the creature at the door.
"Hey Twi, it's that weird guy you were talking about."
Twi? As in the one from the farm the other day?
"What do you mean...?" Twilight approached, then stopped upon seeing the subject of the dragon's introduction. "Oh."
While he was not amused at finding out that he was "that weird guy," Shadowpiercer couldn't quite resist making the situation a just bit more awkward.
"Please don't tell me I'm weird because of the whole living-in-a-tree thing, because by the looks of things..."
Twilight didn't let him finish. "Spike, would you go reshelve those books in the other room. I need to speak with this one."
Shadowpiercer did not like that tone of voice at all. As soon as Spike left, there was a glow around the room. Shadowpiercer noticed that it appeared to be coming from the unicorn's horn. Considering the things she had done with it the other day, he became nervous very quickly.
"So, to begin, who are you, and where are you really from?"