Zecora slumped against her cauldron. Her attempts at finding a cure had run into dead end after dead end. Most required her close proximity, and that was unacceptably hazardous, just as likely to snare her as it was to save any of the others.

Of all the days such a specific malady could befall her, why then? She glanced back at her rump, tail lifting a little. If she desired a foal, she need only surrender. She was healthy. The time was right. She would become a dam of some half-blood zebra.

Would that be so bad?

Zecora's left ear twitched. She did not oppose the thought of motherhood, but... She shook her head vigorously. "I must keep a clear head. I will not share a random bed." She was a shaman. If ever a foal were ahead of her, it would need be an important child. She couldn't simply lay across the path of a random stud. That would be shameful. No. She would be strong...

She was making no progress. She sat up on her haunches, tapping at her cauldron forlornly. "I need some help, clever and smart, to even get me to the start." She looked over at the cube that had provided all the materials she wanted and smiled. That had been nice of Twilight to just slip into her hut. A most gracious and wonderful gift.

Twilight... She trotted to the cube and grabbed a corner of it in her teeth, tossing it up and back. Even as it fell onto her, she trotted for the door. Twilight was clever and smart, sometimes too much so. If anypony could give her a hint, perhaps she would be best seeking out a royal solution.

Twilight and Spike sat at the map. The map was showing all of their cutie marks, and Spike's head, swirling around Ponyville. They were being called, but none of the others were present.

Spike rolled a hand at the display. "So, what do you think it means? I'm not sure they're coming."

Twilight heaved an exasperated sigh. "They've never... not shown up to a map calling." She glanced back at her pulsing rump and back to the map. "Maybe they're in trouble?"

Spike hopped up on his small throne. "Maybe they're already looking for the problem, or ran right into it before they got here. Friendship problems can be tricky like that."

Twilight's frown grew. "That could be true. It is right here in Ponyville. Maybe we're just the only two not already there."

Spike rolled a hand at Twilight. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's find us a friendship problem."

She smiled at that. "That's the spirit. Let's leave a note, just in case, and we'll head out." With her magic, she quickly scribbled a note and left it on the map before the two of them moved out. Spike hopped up on her back for an easy ride with Twilight as his valorous steed.

Just as they reached the front door of the castle, a knock came from the other side. Twilight tilted her head in surprise and pulled the door open to reveal their exotic friend, Zecora, with a curious cube on her back.

"It is good to see my princess friend, perhaps you can assist with this problem then." She trotted inside. "Hello to to you as well." She dipped her head at Spike. "I hope you have time for what I will tell."

Twilight suddenly smiled. Had the friendship problem come to her? Wouldn't that be convenient. "What's wrong, Zecora?"

Spike pointed at the box on her back. "What's up with that? Some kinda zebra charm?"

Zecora glanced back at it, then raised a brow at Spike. "It is a gift, most precious and grand. But it is not the matter at hand. The ponies of the town have taken leave of their senses. We must cure them of this or there will be dire consequences."

Twilight's smile only grew. If that wasn't the problem, what else could be?! "We're here to help! Is it a poison joke outbreak?"

Zecora's snout wrinkled a little. "If only it were so simple, I could pop that problem like a pimple." She shook her head quickly. "Big Mac has become a princess, and that is only one instance. Behind him and her stood two others, Fluttershy was but one another. They were..." She trailed off, trying to think of good words to explain the madness she'd seen. "Another with an udder fit for a cow, and I couldn't even start to tell you how. Multiple copies of the same mare, More than one just shouldn't be there!"

Spike scratched at a cheek with a clawtip. "That sounds... kinda crazy."

Zecora nodded at that. "Precisely so, and it must be fixed. The ponies of this town are transfixed."

Twilight raised a hoof to Zecora's shoulder. "Well you've come to the right place. We'll have everything back in order in no time. Perhaps we should go see this problem for ourselves?"

"No!" Zecora stepped to the side, barring the way to the door. "To be close is to invite peril, They wear their madness like apparel. To stand close is to share, This is a thing you should not dare."

Spike raised a claw. "Wait, did you mention Fluttershy before?"

"She is lost, by Big Mac's side. She is now Big Mac's bride."

Twilight colored faintly. "Well, I mean, they did have a short... thing... I thought it had passed?"

"Please, let us focus." Zecora looked Twilight eye to eye. "We must find the locus. Disrupt it and free all our friends. It is the only way to make amends. I have tried to think of a proper brew, but I just don't know what to do."

Twilight turned away from the door. "Well, let's approach this logically. What do you know and what have you already tried?"

Zecora smiled at that, feeling some small measure of relief. She began to detail the mixes she'd made and how they would work, in theory, and their universal failing of proximity. As they talked, they walked. The three of them ascended to one of Twilight's laboratories, vials and beakers bubbling with unknown fluids. It was like Zecora's hut, without any of the rustic charm.

Spike hopped down off of Twilight. "If this is a science thing, Twilight'll figure it out in no time at all," he stated with complete confidence. "Show us that 'egghead power' as Rainbow would put it."

Twilight rolled her eyes at that. "I'll use my 'egghead power', right." She trotted up to the chalkboard and began placing numbers on it. "Approximately how close does the trouble begin?"

Zecora moved to stand beside her. "It grows in intensity the closer one comes. I could not say precisely when it becomes. Where we are standing--" She gestured between herself and Twilight. "I would be lost. Between Spike and I, the dice would be tossed."

Twilight lifted an ear. "Is it magic? Or does it spread some other way?" Her nose twitched in a soft sniff. Why did Zecora smell... nice? She leaned forward without thinking about it and sniffed at the striped equine's neck and mane. It was heady, exotic, and perfect.

Zecora felt her cheeks warming up at being sniffed so openly. "We should... focus."

Spike tilted his head at the exchange, confusion growing. "Twilight?"

"Mmm? Oh!" She blinked out of it. "Sorry, I got distracted a moment there. Are you wearing a perfume, Zecora? I'd love to get that recipe."

Zecora shook her head quickly. "There is no perfume to enhance my scent. There is only my season that comes yearly frequent. You are a mare, this much I know. Only a stallion could properly sow." She smiled gently. "I appreciate your words, kindness in speech. the bees and the birds is not a lesson I will teach."

Spike came closer on unsure feet. "She didn't smell that great, Twi. Focus." Even as Twilight stammered and blushed as she tried to get back to work, he came in close and tried giving a sniff himself. As it turned out, zebra pheromones are not made to entice dragons, but the magic box she wore was enhancing that aroma and he felt strange sensations he was not accustomed to. She did smell nice. One could argue she smelled better than Rarity, as impossible as that seemed.

His cheeks went dark. He was being unloyal. "I... have to go." He scampered away, leaving the two mares alone with wild thoughts of somehow making up for his impure thoughts that did not have his true love in them.

Twilight raised a hoof towards her fleeing assistant, but he was gone in a flash. "Well... guess it's just the two of us then..."

"Just you and me," agreed Zecora as her own snout wriggled. Twilight did not smell bad herself, but she was a mare, and Zecora needed a stallion to scratch at that particular itch. "Let us work together against this mad spree."

They turned their attention to the herbal properties of leaves, roots, and assorted chemicals Twilight had ready for such tasks. In a pot they began to mix and test. Twilight shook her head. "I really think some Twalderin Root would help, but I'm all out."

Zecora's ears perked as she curled in place. "That is why I brought this with me. Simply ask the box."

"Right, ask the box." That would be a silly thing to do, but she was trying to not think about the scent in her nose and its nudgings to act. She stepped up to the box on Zecora's back, the oddly colored cube. "Do you have some Twalderin Root?" The box fell open. Inside it was a bundle of the root she had asked for. With a broad smile, she grabbed it with her magic. "Perfect!" She ground up the bulbous plant into a pink paste that she added to the batch. "If we do this right, we can cover the entire town in a fog."

"A fog of a literal sort, to give their minds needed support." Zecora looked equally pleased that they were making progress. Twilight was so very smart. She would make a fine partner. Royalty, clever, powerful of magic... A pity she was a mare... Zecora shook her head, trying to be free of those thoughts, but they would not simply go away. Besides, zebra did not have magic, not of that sort. What would a half-zebra with Twilight's lineage be like?

Twilight was muttering to herself as she worked, trotting from place to place as she checked her notes and figures and added pinches of other bits to the bubbling brew. "We're lucky you weren't affected." She threw a leg over Zecora's withers, drawing the Zebra close. "I don't think I've said this before, but I should have! It's always reassuring knowing you're there, watching out for us. You always have the answer, or can at least get us pointed in the right direction. Zecora, I am glad to have you as a friend."

Zecora felt her heart twist. On one level, it was a joy to be called a friend and praised for her wisdom. On another, she wanted more than friendship. "It... is a pleasure to serve as your seer. One simply wonders what it would take to endear." Wait, what did she just say? She darkened swiftly, realizing her words.

Twilight laughed softly, not entirely realizing what was said. "Silly Zecora. You're already dear to me." She leaned against the Zebra, sniffing gently at that heady perfume. "Very... dear..." She sat up suddenly. "Listen to us, rambling away. Maybe we're already being affected." She hopped up to her hooves and trotted to the pot. "We should be the first to be fogged, just in case."

Zecora followed after Twilight, her eyes between the princess' legs. Why did she have the wrong parts? "Tell me Twilight and tell me true. Is being a stallion something you can do?"

Twilight froze in place before slowly turning to face Zecora.

Author's Note

Well, things are moving... Shall we see how this ends?
Note on the last vote, won by +2 votes. Every vote counts! Vote for all the ones you want to see.
1: It's Twilight Time!
2: They resist their urges and make the curative brew.
3: Milk begins to be delivered. Pinkie is happy to get a batch to get to baking.
4: Octavia meets Octavia.