Morning had arrived and Zecora was already awake, her Saiyan guest was still asleep in his bed as he had been all night. She was startled awake when he started to yell and thrash about during a nightmare, but the Zebra knew of Princess Luna and her ability to dream walk, as well as sense when somepony was having a nightmare. The shaman brewed herself some tea, which the scent of was enough to stir her guest from his sleep. "The smell of tea has caused you to wake, but I see you have yet to join us," she observed.

Kolard was trying to shake off some of the sleepiness, he had just awoken from what was initially a nightmare that turned into a heavenly dream for Saiyans. He was in front of a feast that had never ended. His stomach started to growl and Zecora revealed a bunch of food that she had gathered, knowing that it would've come to this. Her guest started chowing down on the various fruits, vegetables, and meats that she had gathered. "When you are done, perhaps it would be time for our training to have begun," the shaman pointed out.

It took a while for the Saiyan to stop eating, but once he did, he turned attentively towards his host, "I am ready, my teacher," he told her.

The Zebra chuckled and sat down in lotus position, Kolard noticed this and imitated her, "Close your eyes and focus with your mind's eye, do not ignore what it shall disclose. Life exists all around us, with it, the forest is rife. Focus your mind on what lies outside, do not allow what is inside to leave you blind," she instructed.

The low-class warrior relaxed his breathing as he closed his eyes as instructed. He focused on his mind, and then focused outwards. He couldn't sense anything. It was as if nothing was there. He could smell the different creatures and plants of the forest, but he couldn't detect them. He started pushing his aura outwards, something that did not go unnoticed by the shaman, "Relax Kolard, if you struggle too hard, you will not find magic's tracks," she told him.

He reduced his aura back down and started to relax. He felt himself starting to float a bit, but not like flying, almost as if he was freed from his own body. It was as if the vessel that he inhabited was nothing more than a weight that had been holding him down, an anchor point for him to inhabit. Everything about this felt foreign to to the Sayian, he felt like he was in a new world, even newer than the one he had found himself in after woke up the first time since the destruction of his world.

The low-class warrior started to see things differently. Everything stopped being completely dark as things sprung to life in his mind. He could see faint trails leading to and from his surroundings. He couldn't follow these trails, but he knew that they were there. He started to focus on the one that was directly in front of him, the one that he knew belonged to the one who had welcomed him into her home. The aura flared to life, very brightly. This knocked Kolard out of the meditative state that he was in, bringing him back to the world that was in front of his very eyes.

"Most ponies do not try to sense me when they use this technique, this naturally caused you to be a bit tense," she told him without breaking her concentration.

Thanks to his Saiyan biology, now that he had the basics of this technique down, it didn't take too much effort for him to get a grip on it. Instead of closing his eyes and focusing, he started to relax his mind, allowing the magic to flow into him. He was able to faintly sense everything in the near vicinity. All the different animals and plants. It was too much for him to be able to filter through. But he felt that with enough practice, that it'll be very little issue for him to be able to get a handle on the ability.

"I have some ingredients I need to get, and Ponyville is the only place where I can get the reed. Would you like to walk with me, perhaps we could talk a bit," Zecora offered to her guest.

"I would really like that," the low-class warrior replied truthfully. This Zebra was the one person that he trusted above all else here. She offered him her hand and he took it, lifting her onto her feet with a smile between the two of them. Neither of them really wanted to go out on their own, not while the Timberwolves were still out there.

The pair of them left the hut and walked along the path towards the edge of the forest. "You have much untapped strength within you, but you have such reservations upon using it, why is that?" Zecora asked.

Kolard closed his eyes for a second and laughed, "It's not common for Saiyans to be born with gentle hearts, but I was also born with a low power level. I was more or less sent off to die, but I instead survived and got stronger. My world was mostly a peaceful world, off the radar of the Cold Force for the most part. The world itself wasn't high value. Not a whole lot of resources other than food, some powerful beasts that had to be contended with. You know, that sort of thing. When I was sent to that world, I was discovered by a family of farmers and I learned how to farm. It was through that, that I learned the preciousness of life. Just how important it was to protect each and every seed, each and every sprout and every animal. While I've hunted several beasts because of a need for meat, I've never taken the life of a sentient creature. All because of how I was born and how I was raised. To be honest, I kind of like it here. All of the ponies have accepted me as if I was one of their own. And you, Zecora, you are someone that though I've not known you for very long, I can feel a kinship between us. We both want to help others in our own ways," he told her.

The two of them arrived in Ponyville, where Kolard could see the various ponies going about their usual affairs. But something didn't sit right with him, he couldn't put his finger on it, but his instincts told him that something was a bit off. Nothing seemed different and Zecora didn't seem on edge. He wondered if this was something that only he could sense, and if it was magical in nature to begin with.

Then it hit him, a slightly rancid smell. A familiar one though, the Saiyan's stomach churned inside him as the smell grew stronger. There was food that had gone bad. He walked towards the source in question, it was just a small food stall, "Your wares are overripe," he stated to the pony in question, a dark red Pegasus mare with green hair.

She looked at him and then down at her wares, "Wait, how do you know that they've spoiled?" she stated, confused as she looked back up at him.

Kolard pointed towards one of the vegetables in particular, "These things aren't exactly that much different from the vegetables that I helped grow and learned how to on the farm. Most of the people where I come from were farmers, it was how we survived day to day. It wasn't an easy life, but it was honest. And my sharper sense of smell from the people I grew up with allowed me to tell when their produce was going bad before they could. It helped my family's farm before I chose to become the protector of the farm," he told her.

The Pegasus nodded, "I know it's a bit odd, but I wanted to try my hand at being a farmer. The Earth Ponies make it look so easy, but I guess it really is harder than I thought," she stated, somewhat dejected.

The low-class warrior folded his arms with a chuckle, "It was hard for me to get used to. These things take time and if you want to grow more food for your people, that's very admirable. It takes patience and courage to step out of one's comfort zone and to learn something new," he stated, reassuringly.

The two of them shared a laugh with each other and then smiled. "Food preservation techniques also help, I would recommend asking ponies a thing or two about those. I'd teach you a few myself, but Equestria is more advanced than where I came from, at least from what I've seen. I hope you'll find the answers that you're looking for," he stated.

The two of them waved at each other and Kolard wandered back off to try to find Zecora. One would think that a Zebra would be easy to spot in a sea of ponies, but it seemed nigh impossible. Knowing that he could fly, he took to the air and started to look around from above, but that didn't help either. It seemed like nothing was going to be able to help him find the one he came with. The Saiyan remembered what she had taught him and focused his mind, searching for her magic.

He found it in a shop, it was faint, but strong enough for him to pick it up. The low-class warrior flew to the shop and landed at the door. He walked in and smiled as he saw the shaman standing there, ordering some ingredients. "You are more than welcome to visit, Kolard, but if this potion I am brewing backfires, you'll be very sore indeed," she warned.

Though this stung a little, the Saiyan knew what the Zebra was talking about regarding that. There was a medicine man where he came from that stayed away from their villages in case something went wrong. It caused a lot of suspicion, but when the warrior had gone to confront this medicine man, he learned that the old man just stayed away from the villages so that if something went wrong, no one would get hurt. "I understand. But Zecora, if anything happens, don't be afraid to come find me, I like you and see you as a friend. I'll do anything I can in my power to help you," he told her.

The Zebra nodded and the two of them shook hands with a smile. There was an understanding between the two and they left the shop together, but went their separate ways. Zecora went back to her forest and Kolard went towards the outskirts of town. He wanted to be able to focus on training his new magic sense so that he'd be able to use it more, but with so many ponies in a single place, he was afraid that it would burn his senses out or at best, just blind him.

He didn't want to admit it to anyone, but he was afraid of the changelings, he wanted to be ready for them. If they could turn into copies of him, then that might be a problem for the ponies that he had chosen to protect. He quietly slipped into meditation and followed his mentor's instructions.

Author's Note

Despite having focused more on Mega Man because of the Zero/ZX Legacy Collection, this fic has been bouncing around in my head. I've not forgotten it and kept all of my old notes. Though I've made a few alterations to those notes