My Little Pony: The Zecora Tales

Chapters

Destinies are Fun
Is Friendship really that Magical? Part 1
Is Friendship really that Magical? Part 2

Destinies are Fun

Some unspecified time ago...

"So, as you can see, we ponies pride ourselves on our mastery over the mysterious art of Magic. This painting was the first one ever crafted solely by magical means and, as such, is archaic in nature, but if you look closely, you can..."

The crowd of ponies leaned in closer as the tour guide droned on. The unceasingly repeated words were dull, especially to those who were really not interested. The crowd of ponies had really stopped paying attention to the guide as he lazily repeated his script, but they all leaned in to see one of the most ancient artifacts in Equestria. The painting in question was little more than a couple blurbs of color splattered upon a rock, something that made some ponies, particularly young ones, bored.

"Mother, do we really have to do this?" a filly whined, "Why did you say this was something I had to not miss?"

The tour guide, a cream colored stallion with a blueberry colored mane, rolled his eyes at that. He had been a tour guide for seven years and had to put up with all sorts of dumb questions, particularly those of fillies and colts. His love of history had drawn him to this position, but he learned early on that he was the only one who actually cared about it. Most ponies didn't really appreciate what these stood for, the markers of how society had advanced, and came solely to be considered 'cultured'.

"Mama," the young voice whined again, "Do we have'ta--"

A loud shushing came from the crowd as an older zebra mare spun to face her child. The mare was pretty for a zebra. Her mane was draped onto one side of her neck, a very fashionable style of the time. Her white pelt nearly sparkled against the grayish stripes across it, making them very prominent. Her sky blue eyes and gray muzzle bore an angry look down to the young filly standing next to her.

The filly was almost an exact copy of her mother. Her mane stood up in a natural mohawk while her coat was just starting to show it's gray stripes. The only real difference between the mother and daughter was that the younger one had a set of wonderful teal eyes, which now looked up at her.

"Mommy, this is soooo boring!" she complained, "I thought I even heard a pony snoring."

"Shush, little one, a few more minutes and we will be done!" the older mare hissed at her.

"But mommy!" the young one whined.

"Enough, Zecora!" her mother whispered wit an edge to her voice, "Behave or you will get no flora!"

Sighing unhappily, the filly known as Zecora looked around the room with a frown. The room was pretty, to be sure, with large windows reaching up to the ceiling and rich colors on the walls. Thick red curtains hung around the windows, barely skimming the checkerboard floor. Golden busts of various ponies stood on pedestals between the windows, acting like lookouts for the hunk of painted rock.

The room was pretty, but it was also stuffy to Zecora. Everything in the room seemed to be too rich, like a slice of cake that filled you up after three bites. It all looked dusty, dank and old, just like the tour guide standing next to the rock. The sun poured in from the windows, revealing a very inviting garden behind them.

Zecora sighed again, wishing she was outside where she could run around and study the plants. She had always been fascinated by the flora that grew where she lived, back in the Marengetti, and had even started learning from the village's voodoo doctor on how to use them.

The subject was absolutely enthralling to Zecora. The young zebra had already learned how a variety of plants could be used for helpful purposes, like healing wounds or feeding a pony for a day with a couple leaves. She had even begun to experiment with her own concoctions, finding a few peculiar mixtures that either exploded, heated objects incredibly fast or even helped ponies remember things. Her mentor was not so impressed with the first two things, mostly because the first blew up half of her hut while the other nearly burned the rest of it down, but was extremely interested in the third.

Thinking about this, Zecora drifted off into her absent minded state as the tour group went into the next room. The young zebra started to follow, but something else caught her attention. There was a doorway leading into the hallway outside the room and within the hallway were three unicorn fillies, each fidgeting nervously. They were about her age and looked like they expected a manticore to bust through the door at any second.

Curious, the young zebra began to trot over to them when, as soon as she exited the doorway, the door the three fillies were standing at flew open. The door slammed against the stone wall, scaring all the ponies as another young unicorn filly ran out, crying hysterically. The filly tore off down the hallway and rounded the corner, sobbing the whole way. The zebra filly turned back to the three as they glanced nervously to each other.

Without warning, a large and imposing looking mare entered the doorway. She wore her brown mane up in a tight bun and wickedly pointed black framed glasses on her nose Her manilla pelt was covered up mostly by a tight looking dress of faded forest green that covered up everything but her head and hooves. Little white buttons marched single file down the chest of the dress while a sharp white color sat at the neck. Her unimpressed glaring green eyes stared intently at a clipboard she was levitating in front of her.

"Next!" she called out in the most stern voice Zecora had ever heard.

The three fillies looked at one another before turning around and running away as fast as they could. The mare moved the clipboard so she could see them and made an indignant noise.

"This is what they call the best and the brightest?" she sarcastically spit out before returning to the clipboard.

A magically levitated quill flew up to the parchment on the board and began to scribble furiously, making some very uncomfortable scratching noises that Zecora cringed at. The mare wrote for a few seconds before her eyes shifted over to the young zebra. The quill stopped as the mare spoke.

"And you are?" she asked impatiently.

Zecora looked up at the mare before turning around to see if there was anypony else next to her.

"Me?" Zecora asked, turning back to the mare.

"Yes, you," the mare spat to her before her quill started scribbling again.

"Oh, um, my name is Zecora," the young zebra stated brightly, "I am named after our tribal word for a dish made of grass and the oils of the remora!"

"Empty...minded...and...talks...too...much..." the mare murmured as she regarded the quill.

Zecora's friendly smile she had put on slowly started to melt as the mare turned to her.

"And what school did you come from?" the mare demanded.

"I... uh... do not attend what you call a school. I am instead educated by a zebra who teaches me about our tool..."

"Will...not...give...a...straight...answer..." the mare mumbled.

"Now wait just a minute!" Zecora cut in, "You asked me a question and, an answer, I gave it!"

The mare turned to her and narrowed her eyes even more.

"Do you want to take your entrance exam or not?" she asked harshly.

Zecora remained silent, unsure of what to say. Entrance exam? Entrance exam to what?!

The mare turned back to her clipboard and her quill scribbled a few more times before both items lifted high into the air. The mare turned her gaze to the filly and was about to say her introduction when she noticed something odd about the filly.

"Where's your horn?" she asked.

Zecora tilted her head at the mare before answering.

"What horn are you referring to? We zebra's do not grow such things like you ponies do."

"Then how do you cast magic?"

"We do our special magic called voodoo. It's really cool, it's true!"

"Voodoo...?"

"Yes, it is our special magic only we can use! It come from within us, deep down in our shoes!"

The mare was speechless at that. A pony practicing magic without a horn to guide it? Something didn't seem right here, but the filly was of the age that Princess Celestia was looking for and in line to be tested. Maybe the princess wanted a challenge in teaching her next pupil? Sunset Shimmer was quite a hooffull for the solar princess, but who was she to question what Princess Celestia wanted?

"Alright, come on in," the mare said cautiously as she stood aside.

The young zebra's face lit up as she saw the room. Finally, something interesting was going to happen! The filly strode confidently by the mare who watched walk in before shutting the door with magic.

Inside, the room was huge, slightly bigger than the entrance hall Zecora had seen coming into the castle. Three ponies stood at one side of the room, eyeing her like she was a criminal. They each had a clipboard and quill at the ready, as if they were going to document everything the young filly was about to do.

Zecora ignored them and trotted happily to the center of the room, head held high and a large grin on her face. She wasn't intimidated in the slightest by the death stares she was getting, mostly because she had no idea of what was going on. The room filled quickly with silence once the manilla mare joined the three, all staring at her.

Just as Zecora was about to ask what was going on, the manilla mare cleared her throat.

"Alright, Zecora, your exam is about to begin. Your challenge is to..."

The door off to Zecora's right opened as a cart magically wheeled its way out to her.

"... Make this dragon egg hatch," the mare continued, "Your test begins... now."

Zecora peered over at the cart to see a rather large purple egg nestled in a soft red velvet pillow. The egg was much bigger than a chicken's, but smaller than a manticore's. There were smaller dark purple spots all over the egg, spread out into some kind of irregular pattern that the young zebra had never seen before.

Deciding it would be to her advantage to physically inspect it, Zecora lifted the egg with her forehooves. The egg was moderately heavy, meaning there was either a still developing or fully developed baby inside. The shell was thicker than most, even more than manticore eggs, and had a coarse texture around it.

As Zecora examined the egg, the four ponies began to scribble onto their clipboards. She was obviously showing some smarts by checking the egg over before attempting to cast a spell on it, but she had not shown any magical abilities yet for them to evaluate.

While they scribbled, Zecora noticed some irregularities with the egg. There was a slight depression on one side, as if the egg had been dropped or smashed into something. There were faint cracks near the tip obviously not made by an outside source and the side opposite the depression was heavier than the rest, indicating the baby's back was to that side. After making some mental notes and thinking up one of her voodoo potions, Zecora set the egg down and turned to the ponies.

"There are some supplies I will need if I am to hatch this egg," she stated to them, "I will need a violet, toad slime, extract of a hibiscus flower and the hair from a dog's leg."

The four ponies looked up at the filly like she was crazy. The young zebra merely smiled at them when they turned to look at one another.

"Is she allowed to use outside items?" one asked.

"Well, the test is to complete the task by any means..."

"But isn't that cheating? She's supposed to use magic to hatch the egg!"

"Well, she doesn't have a horn, so she can't conduct the magic like normal unicorns,"

"But isn't it the school for gifted unicorns?!"

"Well, Princess Celestia did say she wanted to branch out the school to include more ponies..."

"But... what?"

Zecora cleared her throat at that, gaining the attention of the four ponies.

"I thought the test was for me to hatch the egg, not to sit here and beg. If you want to see my kind's magic, I need the supplies, or the results will be most tragic."

The four ponies stood on silence as they stared at the filly. There was an uncomfortable silence in the room for several minutes until one of them finally spoke up.

"Well, this is highly unorthodox, but I suppose we can get you the supplies..."

"Are you crazy?!" one of them shouted, "She has to pass the test like every other filly! She can't cheat and use other means to hatch it!"

"And if we fail her because we don't get her what she requests, we can all lose our jobs!"

"The guidelines of the test are to demonstrate a pony's magical abilities!"

"Through any means necessary," the one pony finished.

"What?! That's not-- I mean, that doesn't mean we allow her to cheat!"

"It's not cheating if she uses objects to help her. You allowed that one filly to smash the egg with the cart!"

"That didn't matter! She still failed!"

"But you let her use it to aid her in her test, didn't you?"

"Because I knew she was going to fail!"

"So you are assuming this filly will fail?"

Silence struck the room as soon as the question was asked, giving Zecora's ears some much needed peace. There were still some grumblings coming from the evaluators, but eventually Zecora was brought the items she needed to complete her task.

Smiling to herself, the young zebra set herself to work, arranging the various ingredients in specific ways. First, she coated the egg in a mixture of toad slime and the hibiscus extract before sprinkling the dog hair around it. Once it was set, Zecora took the violet and placed it atop the egg in a perfect line. Once that was complete, the young zebra closed her eyes, emptied her mind and concentrated on the violet.

To the evlauators, the sight of this was rather silly. The egg, which was now covered in a smelly and sticky concoction, would have to be cleaned after the exam and the cushion replaced. For about two minutes, nothing happened, causing the one to get impatient.

"Do you have any magical ability whatsoever?!" she asked harshly, "If not, stop this ridiculous charade and leave!"

Inside Zecora's mind, however, she didn't register a sound as she focused. Her mentor had taught her that in order to fully harness and manipulate her natural magical ability, concentration was key. Many times, Zecora would spend all day meditating at her mentor's request. Once she proved she could easily handle the concentration required to perform voodoo magic, then she would teach her about using the right materials to get the desired effect.

Just then, Zecora felt an uncomfortable pull in her stomach. The feeling was small at first, but she concentrated on it more, feeling it get worse. Instead of causing her pain, however, she felt energy surge through her body, travelling like lightning around her limbs.

As she prepared to release the magic, a deafening explosion shook the castle. The evaluators screamed at the noise and Zecora's concentration broke, releasing her grip on the magic. Usually, if her concentration on her magic was broken, Zecora would lose all the energy that had built up and would have to start all over again.

This time, however, was different.

Instead of losing the energy, the power seemed to amplify. The lightning in her limbs began to become more frequent, causing her to spasm. When her eyes opened, they were no longer pearly white with teal irises. In their place was a harsh yellow light that filled her eyes. The yellow light wasn't confined to just her eyes, though. They gray stripes on her back began to glow as well, shining like the sun.

An instant later, a beam of light struck the egg, causing it to erupt in blue flames. The evaluators screamed at that and even more as the flames formed a phantom dragon in the air. The flames began to spread quickly from the cart, snaking their way across the floor and eventually up the walls. The young zebra, however, was protected by a faint yellow bubble of magic that the blue flames licked at.

The whole place was in utter chaos for a few more seconds until a piercing white light bathed the room. Zecora, who couldn't see anything, simply felt the energy flowing through her get brushed away like cobwebs. Squeezing her eyes shut, the young zebra felt herself hang in the air for a second before crashing to the floor.

Blinking, Zecora's vision slowly returned to her as she looked around. She thought she was hallucinating when she saw an extremely tall white pony with a rainbow mane striding towards her, but soon realized she wasn't seeing things whe a hoof touched her back.

"What is your name, young one?" a soft voice asked her.

Zecora was speechless for a few seconds before she could make her voice work.

"It is Zecora, like the dish made from the remora..." she mumbled back.

From her still hazy vision, Zecora could see the mare smile at her.

"Nice to meet you, Zecora. My name is Celestia, and I would like for you to be my new personal student."

Is Friendship really that Magical? Part 1

Present Day

"Here you go, Chamomile! Sorry getting it here was an ordeal!"

The large leaves of the Colocasia plants, or Elephant Ears as they were commonly known, shook slightly at the voice. From behind them, a set of bright pink hooves pushed aside two of the larger ears, revealing who was behind them. The hooves led up to an older pink mare with a crystal blue mane, emerald eyes and large white flower above her left ear. A curious expression graced her features as she looked down at where the voice was coming from.

Opposite the mare stood a small purple dragon with a green frill running down his head. His lime green irises smiled at the mare in the same way his mouth did, making him much less fearsome than a dragon should be. He stood on his hind legs, tail outstretched to keep his balance, and held a small vial in his claws, offering it to the pony. Inside the vial sat a peculiar mushroom brown liquid that looked more like muddy water.

The mare's face lit up as she saw the vial and gently took it from the young dragon.

"Thanks Spiro!" she almost yelled, "I've been waiting for Zecora to brew this for a while!"

The young dragon beamed up at the mare as she turned and uncorked the vial. A small and comedic 'pop' came from the mouth of the vial when he spoke up.

"We had to wait for the half moon to brew it, but it was worth the effort, I'm sure you will admit."

Chamomile wasted no time in dumping the contents of the vial onto a wilting plant. The dried out husk wasn't quite dead yet, but it most certainly on it's way. The crumby soil the roots had taken hold in eagerly absorbed the liquid, sopping it up in a few seconds. Silence washed over the room as both Chamomile and Spike eyed the husk, waiting for something to happen.

As if on cue, the plant husk began to shimmer with a faint light. It was slow at first, but a vibrant blue light steadily began to lift the husk from the shelf it was laying on, extending it to the fullest extent. Once the plant was upright, the blue light glowed a little more brightly before fading away, causing Chamomile to gasp.

Instead of a straw colored shell of a plant, a vibrant green stalk stood straight up on its own. Atop the stalk were several wonderfully colorful flowers, each white around the bud and at the gently became sky blue at the petals through a series of small stripes. Chamomile's eyes widened at the sight, awe etched into her face.

"Vanda cultivar..." the pink pony whispered.

Spiro walked up the white stone steps in a hurried manner, rushing to his destination. The steps wound themselves around a tall tower leading off from the main castle. It was a pain to climb up all these steps, but he was used to it. After all, this was where his surrogate big sister was staying while studying under Princess Celestia.

When he reached the top, a set of wonderfully carved wooden doors greeted him. Etchings of a zebra surrounded by many exotic plants ordained one door while the other was of a young dragon encircled by flames. The only thing linking both doors together was a large spiral that rotated around counterclockwise, surrounded by little lines that made it look like the sun.

Spiro pushed the doors open to reveal a most unusual sight. The entirety of the room looked nothing like a chamber for a pony to reside in. Instead, countless ceramic and earthen jars lined the room on a variety of shelves. They each varied greatly in size and shape, some big and round like pots while others were narrow and long.

All of the containers lined the walls, surrounding a rather large black cauldron that bubbled and frothed with an electric orange color. In the smoke that rose from the contents, Spiro could faintly make out the figure of a pony. As he approached the cauldron, however, three small purple berries plopped into the mixture, causing it to turn a violent shade of bright magenta before the smoke turned green.

As fast as lightning, several vials swiped across the smoke, capturing it in large quantities. As the vials flew by, the magenta potion began to evaporate quickly along with the smoke. In a mere few seconds, the entire potion was gone, evaporated into thin air. The room dimmed as it's main light source extinguished, but Spiro heard somepony shuffle around and eventually a curtain opened, flooding the chamber with light.

"Ah, that is much better," came a very familiar voice to Spiro, "It got so dark, I wouldn't be able to read that letter."

Across the room, a large and pretty zebra stood, basking in the sunlight. She had changed quite a bit since Spiro had first seen her years ago. Back then, she was just a timid little zebra who spent all of her free time meditating. Now she was a full grown mare with many stripes across her pelt and a confident smile. Her teal eyes stared contentedly at the blue sky outside before she turned to Spiro.

"Welcome back, my sweet assistant," Zecora spoke with a smile, "I trust Chamomile used the potion as it was meant?"

"Yes, Zecora," Spiro replied, "The potion restored to the full her flora."

The zebra smiled as she trotted over to a table near her, where upon it sat several vials of the green smoke. She examined them closely before backing away with a proud look.

"That is great news," she spoke confidently, "On this, I hope my teacher will share her views."

The young dragon started to walk over to her when a strange thought struck him.

"Zecora you said it was too dim to view a letter. Is there something you know better..."

As if on cue, the young dragon felt a magical pull in his stomach. A warm sensation filled his throat and soon, he belched. It was a bit rude and disgusting, but green flames flew from his mouth. At the very tip of it, a singed letter appeared and landed in Zecora's hoof with a small 'flump'.

The zebra smiled smugly at the dragon before handing him the letter.

"If you would," Zecora spoke to him.

Spiro took the letter and cleared his throat as he unrolled it. The beautiful script of the letter told him who it was from, but it wasn't like he couldn't already guess.

"My dearest and most faithful student Zecora," Spiro began in a dramatic tone, "You know that I value your diligence and trust you completely, but you simply must stop spending all your time to yourself!"

Zecora's eyes widened at that, a shocked look on her face.

"Zecora, there is more to a young pony or zebra's life than just meditating and crafting potions all day. So, with that reason, I have arranged for you to go to a small town on the Everfree Forest called Ponyville to investigate some new plants that have recently been found there. I also have a more essential task for you to complete while you are there..."

Spiro paused at that, a smirk pulling at his lips.

"Make some friends!"

Zecora spun on the spot, a look of utter shock on her face.

"What does she mean by this 'essential task'?! I have friends here already, just ask!"

Spiro's smirk became more pronounced as he looked a little farther down the letter.

"I know you will claim to have friends here already, but doing favors for ponies like Chamomile does not make them your friends."

Zecora's face became unreadable as a look of shock, confusion and her signature 'say what?' expressions all mixed together at that line.

"I was impressed with your potion and the magical properties you displayed, but according to Chamomile, you shut yourself up for a week and a half to make the potion. That is extremely unhealthy for a young zebra like you and reinforces my point that you need to make friends. There is a chariot waiting for you by the gates and you are to bring no supplies from Canterlot with you. I have arranged for you to stay in a home just inside the Everfree's rim, so you will find most everything you need there.

"Please do this for me. I know it seems extreme, but it is for your own well being. I will contact you shortly after you arrive.

"Signed, her royal highness, Princess Celestia."

Spiro looked up from the letter to a clearly unhappy zebra, his smirk gone but a small smile on his face.

"So, looks like we get a vacation, huh?"

Zecora narrowed her eyes at him and said two words to complete the rhyme.

"Well, duh!"

To say the trip from Canterlot to Ponyville was terrible would be a lie, but then again, it all depended upon the pony or zebra or dragon you asked. For Spiro and the Royal Guards pulling the chariot, it was a very cozy ride. The wind was blowing with them, the sky was clear and there were no birds. For Zecora, on the other hoof, it was utterly boring. She couldn't bring anything with her to tinker around with during the trip and the wind made it difficult to attain full concentration while she attempted to meditate.

Zecora was forced to, instead, think about her leaving Canterlot. She had never been anywhere else outside of the capital of Equeatria, save for her home village back in the Marengetti. It was rather funny to her that, while on vacation of all things, she was taken on as Princess Celestia's personal student. Her mother hit the roof when she found out that Zecora had wandered away from her and into a test for fillies with powerful magical abilities.

What shocked her mother even more, though, was that Zecora had passed the test and had even been invited to study under Equestria's ruler by the Princess herself. There were some tough negotiations between Zecora's mother and Princess Celestia that almost ended with Zecora turning down the invitiation, but thankfully Princess Celestia agreed to have Zecora return home to see her mother every year until she was old enough to live by herself while she studied under her.

Needless to say, it was a difficult road for Zecora to learn the art of Magic without a horn to conduct the flow, but Princess Celestia found a happy medium to educate the young zebra. The voodoo magic Zecora was versed in was very similar to a field of Magic known as Herbology, the study of plants and their magical properties. Using this avenue, Celestia was able to educate Zecora in every kind of magic, from teleportation to transfiguring objects.

As the chariot landed, Spiro hopped out eagerly while Zecora still sat there and daydreamed. The young dragon knew the zebra had an issue with that, especially since she entered into her meditating state when she did, meaning she was oblivious to pretty much everything.

After some awkward waving at her and strained explanations to both the Royal Guards and passing ponies, Spiro breathed a sigh of relief as Zecora snapped back into her normal self. The two set off in the general direction of the Everfree Forest when they met a strange pony.

She was a minty blue with a deep blue and bright white mane. She was a unicorn, a type of pony Zecora had some problems being around, but she had a smile on her face. On her flank was a cutie mark of an hourglass. Spiro nudged Zecora as they approached.

"Go on, say something to her," he whispered, "She can't be any weirder than you were."

Zecora shot him a nasty look before returning her attention to the mare. She smiled awkwardly before trying to say something.

"Hello there, who are you? I see your coat is quite the shade of blue."

Zecora expected the pony to smile and answer her like a normal pony. Instead, the mare's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and she rushed up to the zebra without any warning.

"Oh my Celestia! A zebra in Ponyville?! I never thought I'd ever see one of you!"

The mare by this time was examining every inch of a flustered Zecora and then, much to Spiro's amusement, pulled up her lips to inspect her teeth.

"Large front incisors, good for breaking and chewing tough materials like bamboo shoots and tree grass. A set of long canines, most unusual since ponies do not have canines, but you are a zebra, so it makes no difference since you are another species. A series of premolars, ranging from about a two all the way to a five. Good variety. And then are your regular molars, about twice the size of a normal pony's, so you must mostly use those when you chew."

What was really amazing about all of that was the mare said the entire thing in about five seconds before Zecora snapped her teeth at her. The mare let go, as if she was expecting it, and backed away. She smiled even more widely, revealing teeth so white and spotless, they could be mistaken for dentures. As Zecora rubbed her cheeks, feeling like her personal space had been totally violated, the mare grabbed one of her hooves and shook it vigorously.

"Hi, I'm Colgate, the local dentist! I make sure every single pony in Ponyville has good and healthy teeth so they can have perfect smiles. Some ponies say I'm obsessed and I talk really, really fast, but they don't understand how amazing teeth are! Did you know that if you were to use your teeth as they were designed, you could eat both plants and meat?! It's totally gross to think about it, but it's just so fascinating! What's your name?"

Zecora heard all of that in about ten seconds, all the while trying to get her hoof back.

"I'm Zecora, master of the flora. I came here to investigate some odd plants, so please take me there without the rants!"

Colgate's eyes twinkled at that.

"Oh! You're Princess Celestia's student, aren't you?! Mayor Mare said you'd be coming, but I didn't think you were a zebra! The weird plants were found by Thunderlane after he crashed in the Everfree! He was trying to catch this super pesky cloud and missed and went ZOOOOOOM! into the forest! We sent out a search party for him and found him eventually tangled in some strange plants that we couldn't identify! If you don't know him, Thunderlane is a stallion who has a charcoal colored pelt along with a sky blue mohawk shaped kinda like yours!"

Zecora felt her head start to spin as she took in all the mare had to say.

"Uh, thanks for your help, Colgate," she mumbled, "I need to find this Thunderlane before it's too late?"

"Too late?! Too late for what?! I am never late! Okay, there was that one time I was really, really late, but that wasn't my fault because..."

As Colgate rambled on, Zecora seized the opportunity to slip away from her and started walking off with Spiro.

"Okay, that was weird," he said when they were out of Colgate's earshot, "But at least you didn't get jeered."

Zecora rolled her eyes at that, but said nothing. She had to find this Thunderlane pony and find the plants before any more strange ponies found her first.

Sadly, a mailbag smacked her in the face right then.

"Oops! My bad!" came another voice.

The mailbag lifted off of the zebra's face and she rubbed her nose before looking up to find the culprit. Above her, hovering not too far away, was a misty gray pony with a blonde mane and a lame eye. The pony smiled widely to her before holding out some food in her hoof.

"Here, I'm sorry about that!" she almost yelled to Zecora, "But eat this muffin! Everypony feels better after they eat a muffin!"

Is Friendship really that Magical? Part 2

Zecora stared uncomprehendingly at the gray pegasus mare as she fluttered above her. It wasn't because of her eye, which somehow was looking up at her mane while the other one was fixated upon her. The mare wore a small blue cap, indicating she was a mailmare, along with a large red bag. In her extended hoof was a chocolate chip muffin with a bite taken out of the back. The mare held it out, smiling the whole time. Her gaze was one of friendliness, but before long her smile began to falter as Zecora just stared at the mare.

"W-What's wrong?" the mare asked timidly, "Don't you like muffins too?"

A sharp nudge at Zecora's side snapped her gaze away from the mare. She spun her head to see Spiro elbowing her and he cleared his throat. Zecora stared at him for a second before realizing what he was indicating.

"Oh, uh, yes I do!" Zecora almost shouted to the mare.

She took the muffin from her hoof and looked back up at her.

"If I may ask, who are you?"

The gray mare's smile returned rather quickly and she flapped her wings a little faster.

"My name's Derpy!" she yelled to Zecora, "I'm the town's mailmare and proud mother of my daughter, Dinky!"

Zecora stared at the mare for a bit before responding.

"Derpy?" she asked unsurely, "Are you sure your name isn't something like Harpy?"

Derpy looked down at Zecora with a confused expression on her face.

"No, it's Derpy," the mare said slowly, "At least, that's what it says on my birth certificate..."

The two ponies shared some confused looks at each other for a few seconds before Spiro butted in.

"Ahem, why don't you tell her your name?" Spiro asked to Zecora, "Not doing so would be rather lame."

Zecora shook her head and smiled to Derpy.

"Please forgive me of my absent persona. My name is Zecora."

The zebra held out her hoof to Derpy when a surprised snort came from behind her.

"Oh, making more friends already, huh?" came Colgate's voice, "That's really cool! I mean, you just met me and we only talked for, like, half a minute maybe, but I see you met Derpy. She's really sweet and friendly, so you two will get along just fine! I know because I'm good friends with her and she has the most adorable little filly you just have to meet!"

The minty blue mare, who Zecora had left to rant by herself, appeared in the corner of her vision, smiling widely and unnaturally close to her face. The zebra yelped and backed away from the mare frantically, trying to regain some personal space. Colgate just smiled at her and continued with her fast paced talking.

"Derpy's a really sweet mother, as I'm sure you will find out on your own. Her eyes are a little different, but I think that only makes her more special. Even her cutie mark is unique! Have you ever met a pony who'se special talent had something to do with bubbles? Because I never had until I met her and--"

Colgate stopped there and breathed in deeply, giving Zecora a second of peace before she continued.

"I just had an awesome idea! You remember how I said that there was a search party for Thunderlane? Of course you do, and Derpy here was the leader of one part of the group! In fact, she was the one who found him and helped get the plants off of him. She should come with us to find Thunderlane!"

Derpy, who had been silent the whole time, turned to Zecora with a quizzical look on her face.

"You are looking for Thunderlane and the strange plants? I thought princess Celestia's student was supposed to do that..."

"Derpy!" Colgate shouted before turning and wrapping her hoof around the gray mare, "She is Princess Celestia's personal student!"

Derpy's eyes shifted to Zecora, who stood there mutely, and a look of understanding crossed her face, something that kinda creeped her out.

"Oh, that makes a lot of sense!" Derpy exclaimed as she rushed over to Zecora, "That's why you're here, to see those strange squiggily plants?"

Zecora shifted uncomfortably before speaking.

"Um, yes, that's why I am here, but I would like to finish this before next year. So if I may, will you two please let me go my way?"

Derpy tilted her head to the zebra while Colgate's smile began to falter.

"But how will you know where to go if nopony shows you the way?"

Zecora opened her mouth to say something, but a small purple claw snapped her muzzle shut.

"We would be delighted if both of you could help us!" Spiro interjected, "Now, let's find this Thunderlane..."

He paused and turned to Zecora.

"... Without a fuss," he pointedly added.

Zecora shook her head free of Spiro's claw and glared indignantly at the little dragon before both Colgate and Derpy trotted up and smiled.

"Come on, Zecora. It'll be fun!" Colgate said.

"Yeah, it'll be an adventure, just like those Daring Do books!" Derpy squealed happily.

As the two mares began to trot off, Zecora glumly hung her head and followed behind them, still glaring daggers at Spiro.

"Don't ever talk for me like that or you will be sleeping on a mat," she growled.

Spiro rolled his eyes before looking back at the zebra.

"What was the task Princess Celestia gave you again? Was it to make some friends?"

The trio of odd ponies had just made it to the town square when they hit another roadblock. This one was quite literal, since a crowd of ponies had gathered near the fountain to hear a pony play music. Zecora, who was not one for delays, found it quite irritating that both Colgate and Derpy had stopped and stood at the edge of the crowd.

The two ponies were rather excited for some reason. Zecora herself had never been a big fan of music, mostly because she needed silence to meditate. Princess Celestia usually had Zecora accompany her to some concerts every year, but the zebra always found some way to meditate or study plants during them. Now that she was away from her mentor, Zecora could have just as easily walked away.

Instead of doing so, Colgate spun around and grabbed Zecora by the shoulders, grinning widely.

"Hey, I got another pony you should meet!"

Zecora didn't have any time to react as she was suddenly pushed through the crowd of ponies. She didn't understand how Colgate was pushing her, but eventually Zecora stopped at the front line and saw the musician playing.

She was a brilliant seafoam green unicorn who levitated a lyre with her magic. Her mane bore a striking resemblance to Colgate's, it having white and darker seafoam green stripes. The music she was playing was quite catchy, but to Zecora, it sounded like nothing but strings being plucked.

The golden eyes of the mare eventually found Zecora and the mare smiled brightly. A few more strings plucked before the lyre was set down, causing the crowd to cheer and whistle for her. The mare smiled, but kept her eyes on Zecora.

"Well, you're different than my normal selection of ponies," she stated happily, "Not that it's bad, but it's nice to see new faces."

She held out her hoof to Zecora and smiled sweetly.

"My name's Lyra. I see you met my twin sister, Colgate."

Zecora spun around to look at the minty blue mare before turning back to Lyra. Gingerly, the zebra extended her hoof to shake Lyra's.

"Hello, my name is Zecora. I was sent here to study some unusual flora."

Lyra's smile remained unchanged as she shook Zecora's hoof.

"Oh, I know all about that. I also know you are Princess Celestia's personal student, you met Derpy and you are on your way to meet Thunderlane."

Zecora could swear she felt her jaw touch the grass before she remembered how to speak.

"H-How did you know about that? Does word move here faster than a bat?"

Lyra gave a small laugh before continuing.

"Oh, no, nothing like that," she giggled, "You see, since me and Colgate are twins, I can sense things about her through our magic and vice versa. I felt her get excited through my magic and sensed exactly what was going on."

The zebra just stared at the unicorn, utterly speechless for the first time in a while. Magic was something that, no matter how hard she applied herself to learning it, always did something so surprising under the right set of circumstances. It was almost impossible for Zecora to perform advanced spells that most unicorns learned in school, but this one unicorn could read her sister's thoughts if she chose to.

Without realizing it, Zecora stood there dumbstruck when Colgate, Derpy and Spiro had joined the two. Lyra stood there, smiling uncomfortably and glanced to her sister's unimpressed look.

"Lyra, you told her about us, didn't you?" she asked pointedly.

"Well, I wasn't going to hide it from her, was I?"

Colgate groaned loudly and went up to Zecora, trying to get her out of her stunned state. Spiro, however, was left alone with Derpy.

"What is it about them?" he asked a little worridly, "Zecora looks like she saw a slug turn into a gem."

"Oh, nothing aside from that's Colgate's twin sister," Derpy stated happily.

Spiro narrowed his eyes at the green mare. It was easy to see she and Colgate shared quite a few features, making it absolutely believable that she was indeed Colgate's twin, but it didn't seem weird enough to make Zecora freeze like that.

When Zecora finally came back down to Equestria, Lyra readily agreed to show the way to Thunderlane. He had come by earlier to listen to some music before taking off to the edge of the forest to keep track of the weird plants. Apparently there was also another pony there as well, one who had some previous experience with plants. While neither Colgate, Lyra or Derpy knew who it was, they knew she had worked at Sweet Apple Acres with the Apple family that resided there.

Zecora didn't really pay much attention to the conversation that was going on, mostly because Colgate was rambling on, and was more focused on the task at hoof. She had to identify some strange plants which evidently grew only in the Everfree Forest and, from the endless retellings of Colgate, apparently it was either easy to get tangled in or it tried to wrap itself around ponies, indicating the possibility of a predatory species of plant.

She shuddered to herself as she thought, but it probably wasn't anything that malicious. If anything, it was probably just a shrub of some kind, completely harmless to anypony. The plant itself had probably changed to adapt to living in the Everfree, making it look alien to ponies.

As she walked, she failed to notice the group stop, resulting in her bumping against Derpy's rear end. Zecora flinched at that and started to try and apologize before she saw something. All three mares were staring straight up, awe on their faces. Zecora followed their line of vision and noticed they were on the edge of the Everfree, but something else was going on. Something big.

Shooting straight out of the forest was a series of black thorny vines. They thrashed about, winding themselves around each other and through the trees, slowly covering the green foliage. Near the tips of the vines, a black blur whipped around the vines, kicking them and tricking the vines into tying themselves into knots. A sky blue blur followed the figure as it circled the plant at impressive speeds before the blur stopped.

When it did, the figure of a stallion could be easily made out. He glared angrily at the plants, watching to see how they would react before he grit his teeth and dove at it. The mares around Zecora gave a shrill scream, trying to tell the stallion not to go into the vines, but he didn't seem to hear them. Once he was below the treeline, Lyra, Colgate and Derpy's eyes got huge.

"I don't mean to interrupt, but who was that and that plant is a what?" Zecora asked.

Derpy's face paled slightly as she turned to the zebra, but Colgate spoke up first.

"That pony was Thunderlane and those huge vines are the plant we found, just gigantic!"

A rustling came from the forest, causing all the mares to turn to it. The vines shifted rapidly and seemed to get bigger, causing Derpy to let out a small yelp. As it did, a blur of colors shot out from under the canopy of the Everfree, flying in a large arc before heading straight for the group. The blur was a little difficult to make out, but Zecora could see the stallion, Thunderlane, hurtling towards them with another pony in his hooves.

The two skidded to a halt in the dirt before Zecora could make them out clearly. Thunderlane was indeed of a darker coat with a sky blue mane and tail, but he was also strikingly handsome too. His gold eyes were filled with concern as he set the pony down before turning his attention back to the vines. Without a single word, he took off, heading back to the plant to fight with it again.

The pony he dropped off, however, was a sandy colored earth pony mare with a richly colored red mane and tail. Her green eyes searched around before they found the group of mares, causing her to run over to them.

"Lyra, Derpy, Colgate!" she shouted to them, "Get away from here! The plant reacted strangely to my medicine and is now trying to tear the forest apart!"

"Roseluck?!" the three mares shouted in unison, leaving a very confused Zecora.

Instead of wondering what they were going to talk about, or who the hay Roseluck even was, she turned to the vines and watched as Thunderlane kept fighting with the vines. He was good, but the vines were growing in number. Every time he kicked one back or evaded a swipe, more of them seemed to rise up out of the forest like the limbs of some mythical monster.

Without thinking things through, Zecora left the group and charged at the vines, wanting to do something to help. Normally, she preferred to stay away from thing that were overly large and covered in thorns the size of trees, but some little voice in her mind told her she needed to help. Before she could stop and realize what she was about to do, a vine lashed out at her from the trees. The serpentine-like appendage whipped at her, but Zecora was already casting her magic. A series of tugs at her stomach told her it was working and, in a flash, several tree roots shot up from the ground and grappled the vine.

A sense of accomplishment came over Zecora, but it quickly faded as the plant seemed to notice her. Several large vines erupted from the tops of the trees and streaked towards the zebra, who didn't have time to react to anything. With just a few feet until they collided with her, a strange green shield popped into existence and the vines slammed against them solidly, but were unable to reach Zecora.

Spinning around, Zecora saw all four mares, Colgate, Derpy, Lyra and Roseluck, running towards her. The vines were none too pleased about the shield and shot towards the mares. Zecora tried to shout out to them, but the vines seemed to slow down as they were wrapped by a blue magical aura. Looking back at her friends, Zecora saw Colgate standing defiantly at te vines, her horn glowing.

As Derpy took off and Roseluck stayed near Colgate, Lyra ran into the shield and started to yell at Zecora.

"Just what the buck were you thinking?!"

Zecora blinked blankly at Lyra before trying to say something. She was cut off, however, by a scream. Turning to the source of the noise, both ponies turned to see Derpy wrapped up in a vine, She wailed loudly again as Thunderlane frantically tried to fly over to her, dodging several swipes by a couple vines.

"Help!" Derpy shouted.