Living in Equestria

The next several minutes were filled with loud shrieks of joy, crying and happy warm hugs from Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. They met us on the edge of the stage and plowed into Sweetie Belle who could barely talk from her tears and excitement. After a frantic tumble of manes and tails, they finally composed themselves enough to actually look at Sweetie's new cutie mark.

It was a simple golden microphone with a small portion of the cord shown trailing behind it in a single, lazy loop. Sweetie's eyes fixed on it and she bubbled with emotion again.

"Oh my gosh guys!! I got my cutie mark!!" She squealed and began to cry all over again, hopping up and down in unrestrained joy.

"It's sooo cool!" Scootaloo rubbed her hoof over the mark.

Apple Bloom was too busy crying herself to say anything and simply hugged her friend. Scootaloo followed suit and I stood close by, watching the three friends celebrate her achievement that they've all been waiting for anxiously. I found I was also feeling a bit overwhelmed from the emotional event and it was all I could do to not start crying with them. But as soon as they parted their circle and waved me down to them, pulling me in to join in their tight embrace... I lost it.

After some time, we managed to get ourselves together enough to move on. Several ponies came to tell Sweetie Belle that she was amazing and she beamed with pride, thanking them each with sincere and uncharacteristic openness that the normally shy unicorn didn't have. Eventually we moved far enough away and we were on our own again, marching down the isle and talking excitedly between us.

Sweetie Belle kept looking back at her flank every couple of seconds as if she wanted to make sure the microphone was still there. All three of them energized with the idea that it was finally happening for them, bouncing against each other and me as we walked down the wide isleway between the stalls. It was infectious to say the least... it was hard not to smile at how the afternoon had changed our lives.

"We always told ya you were good at singing, Sweetie Belle! Just think! You could have probably had that cutie mark long ago if ya just would've sang more!" Scootaloo gave Sweetie an affectionate smack from her tail.

"I know! That was soooo much fun you guys! I wanna do it again and again! I wonder if I'm gonna be a famous singer?! Think about it... me traveling all over the world and singing for all kinds a important people!" her grin widened, if that was possible. " I can't wait to show my sister!"

"That's it! I'm goin to Zecora's tent right now n gettin my future told! I wanna know when mah cutie mark will get here! It ain't fair that only one of us got it!" Apple Bloom pouted, losing patience with not having her own now.

"Aww Apple Bloom... Don't get mad! Ours are sure to come soon now that one of us has it!" said Scootaloo.

"Well I ain't waitin no more! Come on girls!"

The three took off at a quick pace through the crowd, leaving me to follow along as best I could in their wake. We passed by a long row of game stalls, each one had a pony in it calling out at us to 'Try your luck! Only 1 bit per game!' as we passed by. They ran on, uninterested in taking them up on the offer and soon we passed into a quieter area of the fairgrounds.

The attractions here weren't the hard wooden stalls like the others in the more populated areas. These were simple tents and awnings, sparsely decorated and with few things to offer the light foot traffic that passed by. I couldn't tell if they were just exhausted of their wares already... or didn't have that much to sell to begin with. Apple Bloom made a beeline for a small, black and white striped tent with a flap opening that had a sign hung above the entrance.

Zecora's Fortunes

She halted under the wooden sign that was painted in black, exotic lettering and turned, giving us an excited grin before pushing through the flap and leaving us to file in behind her.

My eyes had to adjust to the dim lighting inside before I could take a look around. The interior of the tent was dark, lit by only small, red glowing points of light near the tightly peaked ceiling that gathered over our heads. There was enough room for the four of us to stand before a heavy and well worn table filled with all sorts of vials and containers along with a cast iron vat resting on a stand over several candles that heated it's soot covered bottom. The walls, covered with strange vegetation hanging in curtains of green, gave off a wild and mysterious scent that tingled at the back of my nose and made me feel like I'd stepped into a completely different world. Even the sounds of the festival outside seemed to disappear in the incense tinted air that smelled almost like sandalwood.

All this exotic decor paled in comparison to the figure sitting on the other side of the table from us, however. Two almond shaped eyes glittered an aqua blue color out of a sharply featured pony face marked with strong contrasting dark and light grey lines. Her main was cut in a single thin strip down the middle of her head like a mohawk that alternated white and black to where it ended above her neck. Twinkles of reflected light sparkled from her earrings and neck where several thick bands stacked up in rings of richly colored gold. She looked wild compared to the rest of the citizens of this world I had met so far and had she not given us a warm and friendly greeting, I might have been a bit frightened of her.

"Apple Bloom! Sweetie Bell! And Scootaloo! And who is this, the famous human who's new?" her chocolate brown voice spoke in a curious rhyme, thick with an accent that I couldn't quite place but it made me think of someplace like Africa.

"Zecora! I got my cutie mark!" Sweetie Belle beamed with pride to the strange looking pony across the table. Zecora stood up and inspected the new mark on Sweetie's flank with a bright smile.

"Ahh Sweetie that is good to see. Long over due, if you ask me."

"And that's why ahm here!" Apple Bloom interrupted. "Mah cutie mark can't be that far off, now! Can I try your fortune potion? I wanna see if it will tell me what mah cutie mark will be!"

"Me too!" Scootaloo chimed in, sliding next to the redheaded pony in front of the table and grinning up at her.

"Well then a double dose you do desire! But first this human, may I inquire?" her eyes turned to me with a surprising warmth and friendly feel.

"I'm Mason. It's nice to me you... Zecora, right?"

"Yes that is my name indeed. A zebra if your mind needs peace. My specialty is potions and drinks, but many things my knowledge links." She gave a courteous bow of her head to me in greeting. I found her instantly fascinating.

"I cannot help but be aware, that something sparks between our air. A magic that I cannot place. Tell me, human... is my thought misplaced?" her muzzle turned up in a knowing smile.

I had to think a moment about her question before realizing she was probably asking me about my appearance. "Yeah, courtesy of a bite from a pegasus." I smiled with what I hoped was charm and turned, showing her my wings and legs.

She shook her head patiently. "No... I do not think that is it at all. A magic moves between you all. The only type I can compare... is the special love from a single mare." her eyes drifted to the three girls before she gave a small, dismissive shrug.

"But no matter, let's not waste time. For it is no business I can say is mine. So for you... my Apple Bloom. A single hair is what I desire. For the potion to work it is what's required."

Apple Bloom eagerly whipped her red tail around to her face and bit down quickly on a single strand, placing it on the table in front of Zecora. The zebra slid it carefully into her hooves and dropped it into the small black vat before adding several other liquids from the vials nearby. Moments passed in dark silence as she stirred it slowly, heating the mixture, before delicately and with purposeful showmareship... she reached out with her muzzle to pluck a single flower from one of the plants hanging near her head. The zebra then dropped the purple item into the vat and gave a satisfied smile when a small puff of violet smoke drifted up from inside.

"A single dose is done for you. Please drink it and then give room." she indicated for Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to step away from Apple Bloom before she tipped the vat on its hinges in the stand, decanting a bright purple liquid into a waiting cup. The young farm pony snatched the clear vessel up in her hooves, the liquid brooding mysteriously in the container before she tipped the whole thing up into her muzzle without a second thought. She placed it back on the table and licked her lips with satisfaction.

"Alright... now how lo-" her words cut off as her body stood strait up, balancing on her back hooves. A white light shone from her eyes that was eerily creepy and I had to stop myself from grabbing a hold of her, remembering at the last second that this was a parlor trick... nothing more.

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Apple Bloom floated in a white light for a moment. She knew this was supposed to happen from Zecora's potion and waited patiently for the visions to start. Ponies everywhere that had visited her tent during festivals in the past had talked about this... it was always the weirdest part. A shimmering in the veil of white came and the blankness dissolved into a scene filled with colored hard chairs and tables. She was in the waiting room of the hospital in Ponyville. The sounds that reached her ears were muffled and distant, like she was hearing them through a thin pane of glass.

Mason sat with his head in his hands, his grey furry leg bouncing nervously and his eyes red from crying. Apple Bloom saw tears dripping from his funny looking but adorable nose while beside him Rainbow Dash sat, the normally unflappable pegasus chewing on a hoof in anxiety. The door to the hallway leading to the hospital rooms opened and Mason flew out of his chair, his mouth opening to speak to the doctor who had appeared but his voice was so faint she couldn't hear what he was saying. Apple Bloom tried to move forward to hear the conversation and found that she was rooted in place. She could only watch as Mason sagged to his knees in front of the doctor, his hands clutching at the white coat the pony wore.

Another one of those shimmering waves came....

Now she was in the great room of the barn and she could see Granny Smith, Scootaloo, Mason and Big Mac gathered around the cushions where Applejack sat, leaning with her back against the wall, holding a swaddle in her front legs. Her big sister was crying silently, tears rolling down her face as she looked down into the wad of cloth in her hooves. A tiny, muffled cry came from the bundle and Applejack's face lit up at the sound of it. Apple Bloom's heart felt like it would jump out of her chest. "No way!!!" she cried. Her voice came back to her in her own head, unnoticed by the others. She tried to hang on to the vision as long as she could, but there was no power to stop it from changing again in a moving curtain of white that washed the happy scene away.

When her vision swam back into color, she was looking at the trunk of an apple tree, high up on a ladder near the middle branches where she watched her hooves working to hollow out a spot in the dense wood with a hoof drill. The hole became large and deep before she watched herself drop the tool and bring a small, still living branch into her vision, it's raw end covered with a green, slimy looking substance of something she didn't recognize. Her yellow hooves socked home into the hole of the tree and a dull green light flared around the seal the thick stuff made between the branch and the hole tree. This meant nothing to her and she pondered it's meaning while the white wash of the potion came again.

She was back in Zecora's tent, sitting on her flank in a daze staring at the low table in front of her.

"Apple Bloom?" she heard Sweetie Belle's voice ask quietly.

She shook her head to clear it, quickly coming back to her senses and felt her heart pounding from excitement.

"Applejack!!! She's gonna have a foal!" she blurted out.

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"No way..." Sweetie Belle said.

"Yeah! I saw it with mah own eyes!" Apple Bloom nodded with a massive grin. "I saw Mason and Scootaloo and... and Granny Smith and Big Mac! We were all in the barn an Applejack had a foal in her hooves!!!"

Scootaloo didn't say anything at Apple Bloom's outburst but her eyes had grown large before she looked to the floor, scanning the dirt there as if there were words written in the dust. I gave her a nudge and she quickly looked up at me, forcing a small smile on her muzzle that did nothing to change the panicked look her eyes.

"You must always keep in mind, a vision shown might be behind. In truth and time you come to see, the visions plays out differently." Zecora intoned.

"What's that sapossed ta mean?" Apple Bloom asked with her face scrunched up in confusion.

"I think it means that the visions might not be completely accurate? Is that right Zecora?" I asked the zebra. She nodded in return.

"But... I also saw you in the hospital, Mason. You looked so worried! And Rainbow Dash was there as well..." her yellow face fell with concern. "I hope that one isn't right... you didn't look like you were happy" Apple Bloom looked up at me with concern.

"What about your cutie mark?" Sweetie Belle asked axiously. "Did you see anything about that?"

"I dunno!" she threw a hoof in the air, frustrated again. "I saw mahself drillin' a hole in a tree and then stickin' a branch in it with this weird goop on the end..."

Zecora's head cocked in sudden interest at this description. "Tell me yellow one what you've seen, was this substance by chance... green?"

"Yeah! It was Zecora!" Apple Bloom's face lit up in recognition. "Do ya know what it was?!"

"Interesting I must say... A potion made for trees you gave. It heals and grows with leaves anew, to breed a tree... it's what you use."

"Breed a tree?" Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom said at the same time.

"Please, come to my hut and see, I have an idea you might agree."

"A- alright..." Apple Bloom shrugged with a little apprehension mixed with confusion. "You... you think this might have something to do with my cutie mark?"

"I do not know, but wish to try... an experiment will pass the time. And at the end we may just know, if your specialty is to make things grow..." Zecora gave her a warm smile that seemed to put the red haired girl at ease.

"Zecora?" Scootaloo's voice came timidly from her worried face. "I wanna try the potion now."

The zebra paused and then gave her secritive smile again, falling into the role of her presentation with a dark and mysterious voice. "Again we'll start if you desire... you know the item that I require."

Scootaloo placed the hair from her tail on the table and the esoteric process repeated itself. Zecora tilted the kettle on the pivoting hinge and the purple fluid filled the cup once more. The young pegasus took the clear container up and gave a deep breath before going any further. Her face was pensive, as if she was scared of what the visions might tell her... and I had a pretty good idea why.

She tilted her head back, closing her eyes and opening her throat to swallow the thin, watery substance...

But it did not move.

It clung to the bottom of the vessel in a strange display of gravity and physics defiance, as if it had suddenly become as thick as molasses. Scootaloo opened her eyes in confusion and gave the bottom of the glass a gentle tap with her hoof. The fluid rippled, still looking for all the world to see as thin and light as water but remained firmly attached to the bottom of the glass.

Zecora reacted quickly, reaching over the table and clamping onto the cup with both her black hooves. She set it on the table and gave Scootaloo a wide eyed stare of surprise.

"The potion! It does know your plight and will not give your fortune's sight. A hair from each it needs to flow, without it... it will never go." She shook her head and then slowly continued, her words coming almost reluctantly.

"Only one reason it has that goal, and surprised I am to tell you all." her eyes moved between Scootaloo and I. "Since it is missing hair from both, it does not work on a mare with... foal." Zecora fixed her eyes on Scootaloo and a pregnant silence filled the tent.

As pregnant as Scootaloo's small orange body.