A New Friend

It's a glorious sunny day in Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle and Spike go outside for some air, coincidentally Muyo did the same thing, he spots Twilight who strangely was the only pony outside.

"Hey Twilight!" He calls out as he approached.

"Hello Muyo, wanna walk with us?" Twilight greeted and asked.

"Sure." He answered.

As they walked...

"Wow what a gorgeous day." Twilight said.

Muyo nods.

"Rainbow Dash must have gotten up early for once and cleared all the clouds away." Spike said.

"I bet all of Ponyville is gonna be out enjoying the sunshine." She said.

Muyo nods but notices the lack of ponies around.

"What? Where is everypony?" Twilight asked upon noticing the lack of ponies around.

They look around and see a pony close a window and a filly at a door who is suddenly pulled inside the house by a relative. They continue walking.

"Is it some sort of pony holiday?" Spike asked.

"Not that i know of." Twilight answered.

Muyo remains quiet.

"Does my breath stink?" Spike asked.

"Not more than usual." Twilight answered.

Muyo snickers softly.

"Is it... Zombies?!" Spike asked alarmed.

"Uh not very likely." Twilight answered.

"Not likely but possible?" He asked scared.

"No Spike, not possible, if there were we'd hear them by now, theoretically speaking." Muyo said to him.

Suddenly they hear a *psst* they look around to see where the sound came from, it came from the door of Sugar Cube Corner, Pinkie suddenly pops up from the inside.

"Twilight... Spike... Muyo, come here! Come! Here! Hurry! Before she gets you!" Pinkie said.

Muyo and Twilight quickly get in, it was dark till Pinkie turned on a firefly lantern like a flashlight, how i do not know.

"Who? The zombi pony?" Spike asked Pinkie.

"Zombi pony?!" Pinkie asked.

"Spike there are no zombi ponies." Twilight said.

"Pinkie what are you doing here alone in the dark?" Muyo asked.

"I'm not alone in the dark." Pinkie said.

The room gets more light and they see Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack and Apple Bloom behind them, Twilight gets startled and gasps.

"Oh no, i'm surrounded by mares again, must not let lust get the better of me." Muyo said mentally.

"Ok then, what are you all doing here in the dark?" Twilight asked them.

"We're hiding from her." AJ answered pointing at a cloaked figure outside.

They all take a peek through the window and see the cloaked pony digging at the ground, the cloaked pony glances at them making everypony but Muyo and Twilight flip out and hide.

"Did you see her Twilight? Did you see her too Muyo? Did you see Zecora?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Apple Bloom, i told you never say that name!!" AJ said to her.

"Why does that remind me of someone? Hmm there was a scar, some magic and a name that started with v, if i can just remember." Muyo thought to himself.

"Well i saw her glance this way." Twilight answered.

"Glance eeevily this way." Said Pinkie.

"And then a bunch of you flip out for no good reason." Twilight answered.

"No good reason?! You call protecting your kin no good reason?! Why as soon as my sister saw Zecora riding into town she started shaking in her little horse shoes." AJ said.

"Diiiiid noooot." Apple Bloom said while AJ was shaking her.

"So i swept her up and brought her here." AJ said.

"I walked here myself." AB said.

"For safe keeping." AJ said.

"Applejack!! I'm not a baby, i can take care of myself!" AB said.

"Not from that creepy Zecora." AJ said.

"She's mysterious." Fluttershy said.

"Sinister." RD said.

"I can see your pussy." Muyo said mentally.

"And spooooky." Pinkie said.

Twilight and Muyo take a look outside through the window and the others pile up behind them to see through the window, Muyo feels warm and nervous with all of the mares so close to his body, Zecora takes off her hood, revealing her face, the others except Muyo and Twilight gasp.

"Will you cut that out?" Twilight asked irritated.

"Just look at those stripes, so garish." Rarity said.

"Oh sure make the white pony a racist." Muyo said mentally.

"She's a Zebra." Twilight said.

"A what?!" The others asked.

"A zebra, and her stripes aren't a fashion choice Rarity, they're what she was born with, so please try to not to say anything racist please." Muyo explained.

Rarity faints.

"Born where? I never seen a pony like that in these parts... Except her." AJ said.

"Well she's probably not from here, and she's not a pony, my books say that zebras come from a faraway land, but i've never seen her in Ponyville, where does she live?" Twilight answered, explained then asked.

"That's just it, she lives in, the Everfree Forest!" AJ answered.

As she says that they hear a loud noise in the kitchen, Spike had snuck into the kitchen to get some sweets while nopony was looking.

"Spike!" Twilight shouted.

"Sorry." Spike said.

"The Everfree Forest?" Muyo asked.

This was the first he's heard of it.

"The Everfree Forest just ain't natural, the plants grow." AJ said.

"Animals care for themselves." Fluttershy said.

"That's perfectly natural." Muyo said softly.

"And the clouds move." RD said.

"All on their own!" Dash said with AJ and Fluttershy.

Rarity faints again. Muyo raises an eye brow at Dash, AJ and Fluttershy with a very skeptical look on his face, Twilight looked unconvinced.

"Why are you looking at us as if we were crazy?" RD asked.

"Clouds move on their own, because they are pushed by the wind." Muyo explained.

Dash opens her mouth but doesn't know how to respond.

"And that wicked enchantress Zecora lives there doing her evil uh stuff, she's so evil i even wrote a song about her." Pinkie said.

"Here we go." RD said.

"I can see your pussy again." Muyo said mentally.

Pinkie begins to sing her song, Muyo notices AJ shaking like a coward.

"Am i the only brave one here? I thought AJ was braver than this." He wondered.

After Pinkie finished her song.

"Wow, catchy." Twilight said.

"It's a work in progress." Pinkie said.

"Like this story." Muyo whispered.

"This is all just a lot of gossip and rumors, now tell me, what exactly have you actually seen Zecora do?" Twilight asked.

"Well... Once a month she comes into Ponyville." Dash said.

"Ooooo." Twilight mocked.

"Then she lurks by the stores." Rarity said.

"Oh my." Twilight said mockingly again.

Muyo couldn't help but quietly chuckle every time Twi does that.

"And then, she digs at the ground." Fluttershy said.

"Good gracious... Ok i'm sorry, but how's any of this bad? Maybe she comes to town and visit?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah, maybe she's just trying to be neighborly." AB said.

"And maybe she's not lurking by the stores, maybe she's going to them, lurk-free, to do some shopping." Twilight said.

"Agreed." Muyo said.

"Yeah, everypony likes to shop, you know what i think?" AB asked till she gets interrupted by AJ.

"Apple Bloom! Hush and let the big ponies talk." AJ said.

"Ageist." Muyo said mentally.

"I am a big pony." AB whispered.

"What about digging at the ground? You got to admit that's weird." RD said.

"What if she's digging for innocent creatures?" Fluttershy asked.

"I'm sure there's an explanation for everything Zecora does, and if anypony here were actually brave enough to approach her, she would find out the truth." Twilight explained.

"Exactly." Muyo said.

"Well i'm brave enough, i'm gonna find out myself." AB whispered as she left.

AB follows Zecora while Muyo and Twilight try to reason with the others.

"You ponies are being ridiculous!" Twilight said.

"Well i heard Zecora eats, hay." Pinkie said.

"Pinkie i eat hay, you eat hay." Twilight said.

"We all do." Muyo said.

"Yeah but i heard about the eeeevil way she eats hay." Pinkie said.

"Hey!! Where's Apple Bloom?!" AJ asked.

"The door is open." Fluttershy said.

"She went outside?!" Rarity asked.

"And Zecora is still out there." RD said.

"That silly little filly, i told her to stay put." AJ said.

"Did you?" Muyo asked.

"Spike, you stay here incase Apple Bloom comes back." Twilight said to him.

"Will do." Spike said.

The Mane Six and Muyo follow Apple Bloom who is still following Zecora, they catch up to them at the Everfree Forest, as they reached the poison joke, Muyo stops and avoids touching it, AJ calls Apple Bloom and tells her to come back, Zecora warns them about the "leaves of blue".

"You keep your mumbo jumbo to yourself you hear?" AJ said.

The other start saying stuff at once.

"Oh brother." Twilight whispered.

"Leaves of blue? She must be talking about this plant, hmm." Muyo whispered as he examined the poison joke.

"Yeah! Back at you Zecora!! You and your lame curse are the ones who better beware." RD said.

"And you, why couldn't you just listen to your big sister?" AJ asked AB.

"I... I..." AB stuttered.

"Who knows what kind of nasty curse Zecora could've just put on you?" AJ asked.

"Just like in my song." Pinkie said beginning to sing.

"You guys, there's no such thing as curses." Twilight said.

"That's where your wrong Twilight." Muyo said but she didn't hear him.

"Well that's interesting to hear coming from miss magic pants herself." RD said.

"My magic, real magic, comes from within, it's a skill your born with, curses are artificial, fake magic, it's conjured with potions and incantations, all smoke and mirrors meant to scare, curses have no real power, they're just an old pony tale." Twilight explained.

Muyo facehoofed.

"The first four is correct but everything else isn't, Twilight one of these days i'll have to teach you the other kinds of magic i've learned outside of Equestria." Muyo thought.

"Just you wait Twilight, your gonna learn that some pony tales really are true." AJ said to her.

"She'll also learn what a curse really is and how it works, maybe i can request my friend to send me the cursed gear." Muyo again thought.

Twilight approached him.

"You ok? You look like you have something on your mind, you've been very quiet." Twilight asked.

"I do have some stuff that popped up but i rather not say." Muyo answered.

"You know you can share your thoughts, we are friends." Twilight said.

"I know." Muyo said smiling.

They both head home to sleep, Twilight starts having a dream about what happened that day, finally morning came.

"Ugh, what a dream, curses smhurses." Twilight said upon waking.

She gets up and approaches a mirror.

"Whoa, maybe Zecora cursed my hair." She says jokingly.

As she brushed she noticed her horn had blue spots and wobbly.

"Or she cursed my horn." She said.

She heads down stairs and searches her books for a cure.

"No no no no! None of these books have a cure! There has to be a real reason for this, an illness? An allergy?" She asked.

"A curse." Spike said.

"I said a real reason, something that points to something real." Twilight explained.

"How about this one?" He asked holding a green book.

"Super naturals? Spike, the word super natural refers to things like ghosts and spirits and zombies, which are as make believe as curses, this book is just a bunch of hooey." Twilight explained.

"But what if your wrong Twilight? What if it really is a-" Spike said till Pinkie bursted in with a swollen tongue saying curse which sounded like purse.

"Pinkie?! What happened?!" Twilight asked.

She tried to talk but she ended up spraying it instead of saying it.

"Hey! Say it don't spray it." Spike said.

They hear crashing outside, Dash crashes inside while trying to say what Pinkie was trying to say, Rarity enters.

"I'm afraid i have to agree." Rarity said.

They suddenly hear a tiny voice.

"I hate to say i told you so Twilight but i told you so." AJ said.

Twilight and Spike gasp.

"It's a curse i tellsya." AJ said.

"But... Fluttershy seems just fine." Twilight said.

"Yes, there doesn't seem to be a thing wrong with her." Rarity said.

Twilight asks her if she's ok, Fluttershy looks away, she asks if there's something wrong with her and she nods yes, she asks if she cares to tell them, after AJ asks what's wrong Fluttershy says in a deep voice.

"I don't want to talk about it." Fluttershy said.

Muyo enters and Spike bursts out laughing calling them funny names like Harity, Rainbow Crash, Spitie Pie, Appletini, Flutterguy but no name for Twilight because of her name.

"This is no joke Spike, now start looking for more books so i can find a cure." Twilight said.

"About that." Muyo said.

"Help him find a book Muyo, please." Twi said to him.

"Fine." He says shrugging.

"I think we'll find a cure to this curse at Zecora's place." Dash said.

"It's not a curse!" Twilight said.

"Actually it isn't." Muyo said.

"Did you find a book?" Twilight asked.

"Not yet, but this doesn't look anything like a curse, it's more likely an illness." Muyo said.

"At least somepony gets it." She said.

"I agree with Dash, we'll go to Zecora's and force her to remove this hex." AJ said.

"It's not a hex either!" Twilight shouted.

They argue and Apple Bloom leaves again to fix things.

"I don't care what you say Twilight, it's time to pony up and confront Zecora, come on girls, are you with me?" Dash asked.

Pinkie and Rarity agreed but Fluttershy was reluctant.

"How about you Applejack?" RD asked.

They noticed her missing.

"Or somepony stepped on her!" Rarity shouted.

They checked their hooves.

"Or sat on her?" Twilight asked.

When Muyo saw their plots he got a slight nose bleed and collapsed.

"Whoa! You ok Muyo?!" Twilight asked concerned.

"I... Am ok... I'll be fine." Muyo answered.

They checked Rarity's hair and she wasn't there, they leave to find them at Zecora's, Muyo goes with them. When they reach Zecora's home they accuse her of making Apple Bloom soup, after AB showed up she and Zecora explained everything and it turned out that it wasn't a curse, it was the poison joke, the cure was a bubble bath. After the bath Twilight invites Muyo over for a chat.

"So you wanted to talk?" Muyo asked.

"Yes, you were quiet, not to mention the fall." Twilight answered.

"Oh yeah." Muyo said.

"What was on your mind?" Twilight asked.

"... There is such thing as curses, they are a specific kind of magic, also i didn't touch the poison joke because i never touch a plant i've never seen before, i had a hunch that it was the poison joke, i wanted to tell you but i'm too timid when i speak up towards a mare." He explained.

"You sure they are real? And you know, you can speak your mind, if you disagree then say so, i am curious about your thoughts on curses." Twilight said to him.

"Well i've encountered many during my travels, along with all kinds of magic i don't think you'll find anywhere in Equestria." He said.

"Oooh, now i'm really interested." She said with a smile.

They chatted for a while...