“You’re a zebra…”

The zebra besides me blinks and nods. I raise my feet up and plant them on the ground so that I’m now sitting up looking the zebra straight in the eyes. What I had thought was a love chair is actually a small bed.

“You’re a zebra… and you can…talk?”

Once again the zebra named Zecora nods her head. I go to stand up and immediately sit right back down with a sharp pain shooting up my left leg. The ankle of my left foot is bruised probably from that spill I had earlier.

“Here,” says the zebra holding up a small cup with her hoof…somehow. “Drink this, my dear.”

I eye the contents of the cup suspiciously. I look back at the zebra with a skeptical look on my face.

“Drink this brew and your pain it will soothe.”

This is probably going against every stranger danger video I’ve ever watched, but my foot does hurt. Besides if she wanted to kill me she would’ve done it already… I hope.

I take the cup and down it in one gulp. Almost immediately the pain in my foot begins to lessen until it dissipates completely. My head and neck also receive the same effect.

“Hey thanks uhh…Zecora was it?” She nods. “Yeah so thanks Zecora, but how can you talk? I mean unless I missed a crucial class in Biology or something, I’m pretty sure only humans can do that.”

She gives me a knowing “Mona Lisa” kind of smile.

“I’m not the only creature who can talk, you’ll see.” She turns around and walks out of the little bedroom into another part of the house. “But first, come here. I shall make you some tea.”

I go to get up from the bed which I now notice has a cheetah skin pattern on its blankets. Gingerly, I set my foot on the ground to see if the drink’s effects were still going strong. No pain. I get up and duck under the archway which separates the bedroom from the rest of the house. On top of the other side of the archway rests a tribal mask. In fact, there seemed to be many masks hanging around the main room of the house which itself seems to be carved into some sort of large tree. It is lit with several candles scattered about the main room. All sorts of jars and bottles hang from strings attached to the ceiling. The whole place has knickknacks and such strewn about shelves and, in the middle of the room, is a large cauldron resting atop a fire pit. The steam coming from the cauldron wafts upward through a large chimney hole located directly above the black pot.

Beside the cauldron stands Zecora. She holds a long ladle in her hand, er, hoof and dips it into the steaming water. She then pours the tea into two cups.

“Here drink, it may help you think.”

“Thanks,” I say taking the cup from her hoof still wondering how she can hold it without thumbs.

Yeah worry over how a zebra can hold a cup and not about how it can talk. She seems nice enough though. I suppose she must’ve dragged me all the way here by herself.

Zecora sits back on her hind legs and I follow suit by sitting cross-legged on the floor. The next couple of minutes pass in silence save for the occasional sound of one of us sipping tea.

I’m having tea with a talking zebra. So when are the March hare, Dormouse and Mad Hatter gonna to show up?

Finally, my mind can no longer hold back the many questions that have been ravaging inside it ever since I woke up this morning.

“Zecora,” I say and she looks up from her tea. “I have a couple of questions to ask…”

The next hour passes with me asking a series of questions to the zebra before me. She would sometimes rhyme back answers and to others she would just sip her tea. At the end of the interrogation session my thoughts are even more confused than before.

So apparently I’m in a land called Equestria which is home to many varieties of ponies and other equines like Zecora. I am now in Zecora’s hut which is situated in the Everfree Forest just outside of the pony town, Ponyville. The land of Equestria is ruled over by the benevolent Princess Celestia and her sister Princess Luna. There is also more royalty here; a Princess Cadence of the Crystal Empire and a Princess Twilight Sparkle who resides in the nearby town Ponyville. Yeah, we’re definitely not in Kansas anymore Toto.

I feel my eyes start to go slightly cross-eyed with all these new facts now swimming around in my head. I rub my temples.

“Listen, Zecora,” I begin. “I just want to get back home. Back to good ol’ Pennsylvania where things make sense.” My eyes are almost pleading to the zebra in front of me.

“I see. Then it may be best,” says Zecora standing up, “for you to go and meet the Princess.”

“The Princess? You mean that one in Ponyville…Twilight Sparkle I think you said?” I ask but she just ignores my question.

“Follow me, if from this forest you wish to be,” Zecora states as she moves toward the door leading out into the woods. She doesn’t even turn to see if I’m following.

Can’t get any crazier, right?

I get up and follow her out into the strange land.

“C’mon Fluttershy. We’ve been searching for like three hours. He’s probably already back at the cottage waiting for you.”

The yellow mare in front of me stops and turns her head back to face me. I can see tears starting to well up in her sad eyes and her lower lip is trembling. Guilt immediately replaces any annoyance in my heart.

“Flutters… look I just think…”

“Think what?!” shouts the once timid pony. “Think we should give on Angel Bunny?! How would you like it if Tank went missing and we just gave up on him?!”

I look down at my hooves as the double-standard hits me with full force.

“I… I would feel awful,” I manage to say, but as I look up I see Fluttershy has already started searching again. I gallop after her and join in with her calls of “Angel!”

To be honest I really didn’t like that annoying little bunny, but Fluttershy was my best friend, and to think that I would leave her hanging for even a second has made me willing to help her search for the rest of the week if need be.

As I continue to gallop my wings unfurl themselves and the wind catches the feathers to push me skyward. Nothing in my life has ever compared to the feeling of flight. The rush of the wind past my ears and through my mane was something I don’t think I could ever give up. Flying seems to define me.

I mean c’mon. I’m the best flyer Equestria has yet to see. One day I know I’ll have that spot with the Wonderbolts.

As I circled back down out of the clouds to a lower altitude I notice we’re pretty close to the Everfree Forest. I let out a sigh.

If that bunny went in there then we could be searching for months and only find a bloody carcass.

The horrible creatures that lived in that forest were enough to even make my skin crawl. A memory of fighting a ferocious Manitcore makes me lose hope of ever finding that damn rabbit.

But, we still have to try.

That’s when I notice a small white speck near the edge of the forest.

That has to be Angel! But what’s that thing next to it?

“Beyond that hill is the town of Ponyville,” says Zecora as we reach the edge of the woods.

“And that’s where I’ll meet the Princess?”

Zecora nods and turns back to the forest. As she begins to walk back into the darkness I feel the sudden urge to call out to her.

“Hey Zecora!” I shout. She turns her head back to me. “Thanks for everything! I barely even know you, but you’ve been so kind to some random alien who showed up out of nowhere. I feel really lucky to have met you!”

She smiles back at me.

“You’re welcome, friend. And may your good fortune never end.”

And with that her striped body is engulfed by the darkness.

Smiling, I turn and take in the beautiful field that spreads out before me. I take a deep breath of the fresh air and start walking to the hill that Zecora said hid the view of Ponyville. I take all of about five steps before I hear something burst through the bushes of the forest. It hadn’t come from the path, but rather a couple feet off to the side.

Is that a rabbit?

Indeed a small white bunny sits panting a few feet away from me. I can see a small patch of red defacing the white fur on its back. The rabbit turns to face me and has a look of utter horror on its face.

Wait can bunnies even make faces like that? Well then again, I’m in a world of talking ponies so I guess this is quite normal. Though, the horrified expression it has may not be.

“What’s up little guy?” I ask thinking the rabbit may be able to talk as well.

The white rabbit hops over to me grabbing my pant leg. It starts pointing excitedly over in the direction of the bush it had just come from.

“What? Running late?” I ask laughing internally at my dumb joke.

Without warning or I guess rather with a lot of warning that I chose to ignore, a giant lion comes crashing through the indicated bush with a roar that shakes me to the marrow of my suddenly weak looking bones.

The lion lowers its body getting ready to pounce and I see it has bat wings and a lethal looking scorpion tail. Not that it was any less lethal looking without it.

Right. The Manticore Zecora was talking about.

I grab the bunny and dodge/roll to the side as the beast lunges at me. It turns back to me and swipes it large claws inches from my face. I stumble backwards to avoid another swipe and try to use my hands to get up, but then remember that I’m holding the rabbit. I drop it to the ground.

“Go on! Get the hell out of here!” I shout rolling to the side as the Manticore buries its tail right where my heart had been a split second before.

The rabbit nods its head furiously and takes off toward the hill. The Manticore’s eyes follow the bunny as it hops away, but it seems to have used too much force and can’t dislodge its tail from the ground. It roars after the frightened bunny.

Why’s it so obsessed with that little guy? He won’t make much of a meal.

I look back to the bunny and once again notice the red on its back.

Of course! It smells its blood!

In what might be the dumbest and final action of my life I undo one of the bandages covering my arms. I toss it right into the face of the Manticore and watch as its eyes roll to the back of its head savoring the taste.

As the beast refocuses its eyes on me it rips its tail from the earth. It almost looks like its smiling as it rears up its body to pounce at me. Its eyes were black as death.

Here we go!.

Author's Note

Second chapter. The beginning is a little slow, but hopefully you can get into it by the end.