Zecora hummed a little tune to herself as she walked circles around one of her smallest cauldrons. It dangled a very precise height above a small fire that was currently keeping it simmering at a very precise temperature. Even though it was a simple potion she had made many times for many creatures over the years, it was still a process she took very seriously.
"Simmer gently for one half an hour," she paused in her pacing to grab a small jar from a nearby table. "Then sprinkle generously with ginger root powder." She gave a vigorous shake of the jar, covering the top of the brew. The gentle churning within seemed to do all the mixing it needed. "The brew will turn from black to red." She watched as the thick liquid did proceed to do so. "To drink it now will surely make you dead."
She covered her nose slightly as she took a few steps away. She then took up a small vile, popped the quark, and held it out at the farthest length of her reach over the pot. "Quickly add tears of a manticore, so the brew will be toxic no more."
The brew bubbled violently for a minute before settling down and turning nearly clear. Zecora smiled smugly at her own work. "If the brew is clear as glass, be sure not to consume on mass." This was a good batch and she knew it.
It was a formula she had made many times before and one she was proud that she could still make better every time. She couldn't help putting a little extra swagger in her step as she stepped over to a large shelf full of empty viles, jars, and other various containers. With another smug smile she chose what looked like a just large enough glass flask. Even though the pony who would eventually get this potion probably wouldn't know what the brew being so clear meant and she wasn't vain enough to explain it, she still feel like showing it off. That and she knew it helped ponies remember to handle potions carefully when the container seemed fragile, and this one in particular needed a light touch.
It was a long process to ladle out the whole cauldron into the flask, but pouring it to was out of the question. "Of all the delicate brews I make, this one sure does take the cake. Though it may cure most that might ail, it takes so little for it to fail."
With one last gentle turn of her hoof the flask was filled to the top. However she was not so shocked to notice that there seemed to be just about one extra ladles worth left at the bottom of the pot. She scooped it up with one last smug smile to herself. While the potion was meant to be carefully mixed with water to draw out it's medicinal affects, she lived in the Everfree and always had good reason to keep herself in particularly good shape. And considering that making this particular potion usually marked using up the last of her supplies, she was in for a few good days of adventuring through the forest.
"One drop for a normal pony will make them more hearty," she held the ladle to her nose to take in the smell of the perfectly prepared concoction. "For me, one swig will mean it's time for my own kind of private party." She tilted it to her lips to take a gentle sip.
"DID SOMEPONY SAY PARTY!!!!!" The previously empty and presumably still hot cauldron was suddenly filled with half a Pinkie Pie sticking out of it. Even the usually collected zebra was caught off guard by such a surprise, the face full of confetti and sprinkles didn't help. The gentle sip turned to the whole ladle dumping into her mouth, followed by an involuntary gasp sealing her lips. Not for long, but just long enough for her to feel something she never thought she would.
A small magical explosion went off in Zecora's mouth. She stared in shock as she watched smoke push itself out from her nostrals. Her mouth dropped open letting a small plume escape. She then shifted to a glare at the perpetually smiling pink pony in front of her. Zecora did not lose her cool very often, but when she did her rhythmic tongue lashings seemed to leave a lasting impression on whoever was on the receiving end of them.
With one smooth motion she managed to remove Pinkie from the vessel she shouldn't have been able to fit in in the first place. This apparently caught the other mare off guard as a look of shock came upon her face as the zebra glared at her. She opened her mouth to begin her tyraid, and realized something was wrong. She pushed past the previous target of her wrath and over to a particularly large and shiny crystal she'd found in the forest and decided to polish into a mirror. She opened her mouth to examine her tongue, only to realize this time that it fell limply from her mouth when she did. Her throat was not in much better shape. She was sure if this hadn't been a magically caused affliction that she'd be in an incredible amount of pain right now.
"Oh my goodness Zecora, are you ok?"
Zecora was now aware of another pony in the reflection. The party mare stood behind her, a look of concern now on her face. Zecora tried to put a glare back on her face, but had to suck her tongue back into place in order to manage it. It did still seem to have some effect on Pinkie as she drew away sheepishly. "Right, magical explosion in your mouth. Probably a dumb question."
Zecora was now irritated on several different levels, not least of which was wondering how or why Pinkie had come to her hut in the first place.
"I'm sorry. My Pinkie sense told me somepony was talking about cake, which normally wouldn't be that big a deal because lots of ponies talk about cake. I mean who wouldn't, cake is so delicious, but then my Pinkie sense said the same pony was talking about a party too, so I just had to come and see what was going on. And then it even seemed like someone was setting off party poppers when I got here and...."
Not a lot could stop Pinkie when she was in the middle of a rant. The look Zecora now gave her as she had turned back to the mare was apparently one of them. Reflexively she opened her mouth to tell off the cause of her current situation, only to become even more irritated as her tongue flopped again and revealed that she currently could not even manage grunts that might resemble words. The one bright spot she could think of was that she could still manage to growl in irritation, which she did so readily.
"Uh oh, since this is a super complicated magic thing it's actually affecting you in some sort of specific way, isn't it? So now you can't talk at all. Not even the way I did when I got into the poison joke." Pinkie Pie gasped at this. "Oh no. I definitely know how horrible that is. We need to get you fixed right away."
This made Zecora cringe. A look over to the shelf where she'd gotten her flask from earlier only reconfirmed what she already knew. Her eyes closed as her hoof came up to rub her forehead.
"Oh no. But you're out of supplies huh? And whenever you go out to get supplies your usually gone in the Everfree for at least three days. You can't stay like this for three days, who knows what kind of other affects the potion might have on you."
Zecora was thinking just that at that moment, and was slowly coming to the conclusion that one of her rare trips into Ponyville might be in order. She started to assemble a shopping list in her head before deciding that she'd be better advised to put it down on paper. It would save her a step later when attempting to converse with the necessary ponies for what she would need. However after getting into a cabinet for a scroll and quill she realized one major problem. Her hoof went to her forehead again.
Pinkie was standing over her shoulder again. "Oh no Zecora. You can speak Ponish just fine, but you can't write it can you?"
Zecora had now completely abandoned her usual collected demeanor and was currently banging her head against her table. She held one particularly hard impact for a moment, for once glad that no sound could escape her. She pried her face from it's spot and began pacing, deeply considering her options.
The most obvious option seemed like the best one. But it came with other complications as well.
"You can't just decide to brave the forest though. You can't do any of those really cool battle cries that usually scare off most of the scary things."
As much as she hated to admit it Pinkie was right about that one. Avoiding conflict would be difficult in her current state. And the alternative meant...
"And if you are just fighting anything you come across then you might end up getting hurt. And as hopeless as it normally would be in the Everfree you wouldn't even have the option of calling for help if something happened."
Zecora growled at this insight. She would have to make the trip into Ponyville and deal with the ponies who had trouble understanding her even when she did speak the language. Although there were some ponies who's knowledge she did have faith in.
"Oh you know what Zecora," Pinkie chimed in while brightening and beginning to pronk around the zebra happily. "I would bet you that big bag of bits under your bed that Twilight has some kind of book that could translate Zebracan and make this whole thing easier for you." Her pronking stopped and her smile dropped visibly. "Although come to think of it, I think both Twilight and Spike are away in the Crystal Empire visiting Cadance and Shining Armor right now.
Zecora growled hard again. She was really...
"Wow Zecora, you are really starting to run out of options. What are you going to do?"
Zecora stopped her pacing and now faced the pink pony for the first time in a while. Though the prospect of it already made her feel tired, she knew what she needed. What she needed was some...
"You know what you need," Pinkie declared turning suddenly to the zebra. "What you need is somepony who's really super good at knowing what other ponies are thinking."
Pinkie stopped, noticing the smug, almost predatory smile that now adorned Zecora's face.
***
As certain as she had been about this plan some time ago, Zecora was now seriously considering returning to her hut and waiting out the affects of the potion. Though the ponies of the town no longer hid at the first sight of her, she was still the kind of reclusive pony who chose to live within a hostile forest for a reason. She hadn't really gotten around to getting to know ponies in town outside of those she had dealings with for occasional supplies and those who now relied on her for her various remedies.
It was thus very frustrating to her that Pinkie was now stopped and conversing with some random pony. Especially as they were only a few steps away from where she had previously stopped to talk to a random pony. Which of course was barely a few steps from the previous pony she had apparently NEEDED to stop to talk to.
"... So that's when I decided I needed to help Zecora come get all the stuff she needed. Although mentioning it I think I should probably get back to doing that. See you later Carrot." She began walking away which made Zecora give a sigh of relief. Half way through that sigh Pinkie made a sudden gasp and instantly was standing back in front of the other pony. "Oh and I almost forgot. Happy birthday, in seventeen days."
Zecora could only growl once again as she pondered just how that could possibly have been important enough to delay them once again. As much as she tried to keep the frustration off of her face Pinkie did seem to pick up on it.
"Sorry. I know you're not really that social a pony.. zebra. I just can't help myself when I see a pony who looks like they might need a smile in their day." Zecora cringed at the possibilities of that statement. "But don't worry. I don't need to try to make you into a social pony like me. I know not all ponies are the same and not all ponies share their friendship in the same way. You're just perfect the way you are."
Despite the overdone nature of the sentiment, Zecora was actually impressed by the usually over the top mares maturity at that moment. She tried to express as much by turning to give her a smile as they walked.
Pinkie gave her back a much bigger one. "Yeah, that really was a hard lesson to learn, and I have to relearn it every now and then too." She seemed to smile even bigger as she directed her attention back to where they were walking and seemed to see something. "In fact, I almost always have to relearn it while dealing with my pal Cranky over there."
The name made Zecora's ears perk up as she turned to where Pinkie was now pointing as they walked. With great surprise, she altered her direction to head over to the mule currently digging through a cart of what seemed to be random junk.
"What, you actually want to meet Cranky. You don't have to do that just because I've been stopping to talk to everypony." Zecora just shook her head as she made her way over, trying to gesture something to give Pinkie a better understanding. "Wait a second are you saying..."
Pinkie seemed to get her answer as the old mule finally seemed to look up and notice the pair approaching. His eyes immediately went wide as he pulled away from his cart and turned to the zebra. "Sweet Celestia, is that really you Zecora?" The two creatures met and shared what seemed to be a very enthusiastic hoof shake. "Well I guess it must be since I've only ever met all of two zebras in all my years."
Pinkie was suddenly popping up between them. "Wait a sec, you two already know each other?"
Cranky gave a small chuckle as he began to explain. "Well yeah. I've been all over Equestria and I've met quite a few ponies in my life. Most I don't really care to remember, but somehow or another in my wandering I kept crossing paths with this little lady right here."
Pinkie's jaw nearly hit the ground. "Oh my goodness, I never even thought of that. I just usually assumed Zecora had been living in the Everfree forever. I didn't realize she must have traveled all the way across Equestria to get here."
The old mule just smiled and shook his head at Pinkie's surprise. "So old friend, how the hay did you end up around these parts?"
Zecora almost opened her mouth without thinking, but caught herself and attempted to gesture to her throat.
"What's a' matter? Something got you tongue tied?" Cranky said with some concern.
"Oh oh. I got this one Zecora." Pinkie popped up next to Zecora and attempted to put on a passively cool demeanor like Zecora usually affected. She cleared her throat and spoke in a reasonable imitation of her friend. "Though I have not talked to you in many a moon, I'm afraid I still can't do so very soon. Despite being careful in my every endeavor, this pink mare here is quite a terror. My voice we currently do venture to restore, then we can catch up once more."
Both ponies stared at Pinkie. Cranky finally broke and turned to Zecora. "That all true?" Zecora nodded vigorously before raising her hoof and gesturing to his cart. "Oh right. A recluse like you doesn't venture out too often. Guess you'll be needing more then a few hard to find things."
Zecora now nodded enthusiastically as she turned, dropped her bit bag in front of Pinkie, and proceeded to dive very ungracefully into his cart, rear hooves sticking into the air as she dug.
What followed was several minutes of the zebra randomly throwing things from the cart, the mule calling out a price, and the pony dealing out bits. After a while things started being thrown from the cart less frequently, until they finally seemed to stop. Pinkie noticed two striped rear legs waving in the air and took that as a queue to grab hold. With the zebra extracted and a fair pile of supplies and bits exchanged they now attempted to say their fair wells.
Once again Pinkie volunteered, giggling excitedly as she took her Zecora pose again. "My heart swells at meeting you again old friend, our long time apart we must make amends. Once my brews have fixed what's damaged... Perhaps we'll go.. have some, cabbage?" Pinkie smiled sheepishly at her rhyming.
Both ponies stared at Pinkie once again. "She's really bad at capturing your voice isn't she?" Zecora could only hold up a hoof and turn it from side to side in response. "Welp. I'm closing up for the day. You mares have fun. Hopefully I can talk to you soon Zecora."
With that he hitched himself up and gave a wave as he left the two mares behind. Zecora wanted to say something to Pinkie at this moment, but rather then trying to make some kind of gesture she decided to just stare at the other mare.
Pinkie was slightly off put by the intensity of the zebras attention for a moment, but relaxed as a thought seemed to come to her. "Oh. You just don't know how to express how happy you are that I helped you reunite with an old friend. And not just because it saved us most of the stops we might have had to make today."
Zecora just smiled as she turned and began walking, her secured supplies bouncing against her haunches as she went.
"Wait. We still have one stop left right?"
Zecora just nodded and kept walking.
***
"Wow. I really didn't expect you of all ponies to buy stuff in a place like this."
Pinkie said this while Zecora pushed her cart forward in line at the check out of Barnyard Bargains. And while pinkies statement would normally be true and Zecora would usually find a place where the last of her supplies would be more fresh, she honestly couldn't resist seeing the look on the ponies face when she turned to enter the store.
The last few things she would need in town jostled gently in her cart as she pushed it forward again. The fairly chatty cashier turned to see them after seeing off her previous customer.
"Welcome to Barnyard Bargains. Did you find everything you needed today?" The practiced lines gave way to a genuine smile when she saw Pinkie standing in line. "Oh, hello there Pinkie, what brings you here today?"
"Heya Clicks. I was just giving my friend Zecora a hoof since I caused her a little trouble earlier today." Pinkie pointed over to the mare now stepping from behind the cart she'd been pushing.
Clicks tilted her head in confusion for a second before smiling. "Oh right, that zebra who lives out in the Everfree."
Pinkie smiled at the mares recollection. "Yeah, Zecora is a real survivalist. She normally doesn't have to come into town for almost anything."
"Well that's good. The amount of fuss you use to make whenever she came around was more then a little bit inconvenient. Although the little dance you use to do to convince everypony she was evil was kinda entertaining." The older mare chuckled lightly to herself as she took the few items from the cart and started ringing them up. That's why she didn't notice Zecora direct a cockeyed stare to Pinkie who now seemed a little nervous. "I don't know if you were the one who started that whole thing, but you were certainly the one who got the whole town in on it. Well I'm just glad to see that even you two can get along. That's the power of friendship thing you and your friends are always talking about right. Twenty-five bits by the way dear."
Pinkie could only look down at the floor as Zecora continued to stare at her while sliding the bits over. "Yeah, Zecora's a real pal now. And she's so reasonable and understanding too."
"If she's one of your friends then I'm sure she is. You two have yourselves a nice day."
Despite the fact that she couldn't speak, Pinkie felt like Zecora was giving her the silent treatment as they left the store. The second the doors closed behind them Pinkie turned to her with pleading eyes. "Ok, I know I never told you it was my fault everyone in town avoided you. But it was honestly one of the things I was most ashamed of. I'm always telling ponies that they should be friends no matter what and I didn't want to be your friend just because you were different and I'm sorry."
Zecora didn't respond to Pinkie's words at all. She just managed to get her newest supplies secured to the rest of them and began trotting in the direction of her hut.
"Zecora, you're not mad at me right? Because I really am super sorry about that. Almost as sorry as I am about not telling you about it and about how super sorry I am about it. Zecora? Zecora, am I still helping you? Should I keep following you in case you need me to translate for you again? Zecora?"
***
Pinkie had indeed decided to follow Zecora to see if she still needed her help. And she'd been trying to get any kind of response from the stoic zebra the entire time. Zecora hadn't even bothered taking a route to her hut that went through Ponyville. She had taken the shortest possible path, one that was almost entirely through the Everfree. And yet Pinkie had stayed just a few steps behind her, smiling nervously and trying to make idle one sided conversation.
Now they were in her hut, and Pinkie was doing her best to stay out of the way while simultaneously trying her best to convince Zecora to let her help prepare the potion that would fix her problem.
"I could stir that for you while you go prepare the rest of the ingredients." Zecora said nothing, she merely stirred it twice more before setting down her ladle and proceeding over to the table and picking up a knife. "Ok, then I could chop some things for you. I'm good a chopping, I chop nuts at the bakery all the time." Once again Zecora didn't respond. She just took the flat of the blade and used it to squish some of the seeds she'd gotten from Barnyard Bargains.
Once again Pinkie was right behind her, offering her hooves out enthusiastically. "I could put those in the pot for you. Just tell me if you want me to dump them, or sprinkle them, or I guess you can't because you still can't speak because of me."
Pinkie was now getting noticably downcast, her mane beginning to lose some of it's usual poof. Zecora seemed to take no notice of this, only taking the knife and using it to scoop up the remains of the seeds. After consolidating them into a nice pile on the blade she brought it close to her face, tipped it back, and dumped the pile into her mouth. She then proceeded to hold it there as she walked back over to the pot she'd mixed the rest of the ingredients in.
"Ok, I'm not sure how I could even help you with that so I'll just..." She trailed off while stepping back to let Zecora through, her gaze now slipping to the floor.
Zecora now took up her ladle again and scooped herself out the majority of the small brew she'd made. With one motion she poured it back and held that in her mouth as well, swishing it to mix in the seeds. Rather then swallowing it, she now tilted her head back and opened her mouth. A magic vapor escaped from her mouth and quickly dissipated into the air. She smacked her lips lightly as the mist did so.
Pinkie was now looking back up to Zecora, the smallest amount of hope still in her eyes. "So... did, did it work?"
Zecora turned to Pinkie, no emotions showing on her face. In the most stoic voice Pinkie felt she'd ever heard she finally spoke. "The song of which the store mare spoke, I would like to hear it, note for note."
The words made Pinkie shy away like she'd been smacked. "Are you sure. It's not very good. I really never put that much time into it. I was never really that serious about making it into a full song." Zecora didn't ask again, but the look in her eyes seemed to be enough for Pinkie to know what she wanted. "O..ok". She took a deep breath and tried to summon all of the energy she usually had.
"She's an evil enchantress
She does evil dances
And if you look deep in her eyes
She'll put you in trances
Then what will she do?
She'll mix up an evil brew
Then she'll gobble you up
In a big tasty stew
Soooo... Watch out!"
Pinkie stood on her hind legs panting. She didn't know why the song always took so much out of her, but she managed to catch her breath when she noticed Zecora now standing with a hoof to her chin, looking at her critically.
"Hmmm, while I will say it definitely was not a bore, but honestly, with your reputation, I expected more."
Pinkie now plopped to her haunches and stared. "So you're not mad at me any more?"
"Oh my silly friend of pink, of what anger do you speak."
"You know, making you an outsider, judging you before I even knew you, thinking you were evil. All of that."
"Oh Pinkie Pie, you really are such a smart mare, but everypony has at least one moment when they were quite the derrière."
Pinkie squinted at those words, her mane now poofing itself back up. "Hey, did you just..."
Zecora cut her off. "I've no lingering grudge for you so long as you have none for me, so we can all continue to live in harmony." She just smiled as she turned to start cleaning up the mess. Pinkies smile was now back in full force as she came up next to her to help. Pinkie noticed as Zecora's smile slipped back to it's usually smug confidence. "And by the way, if you have the time, perhaps later we could get together and I could help you with your rhyme."
Pinkie could only giggle, a giggle which Zecora gladly shared with her.
Author's Note
Ok. So I'm blaming this for why my other stories are currently being delayed. Normally I don't pay attention enough to know when writing contests are taking place, but some of my friends are participating in this one so I thought I'd give it a try. Although I had no ideas on where to start at first. My wife is the one who had the idea of Pinkie and Zecora as an odd couple, and that's literally about all I went on, although I had been wanting to do a Zecora sorry for a while. My wife also chose the title too. In fact, I originally had so little to work with that I wasn't going to do it if I couldn't think of a good title. It took her all of like eight seconds. Gotta love her.
So hopefully this will qualify for the contest. And hopefully I'll be able to figure out how to get it submitted in time. I don't intend to win by any means, but I was hoping to get some feedback.
As I've said many times before, I love hearing what you think of my stories, even if you hated them. So leave a comment and I'll do my best to respond. Stay safe everyone.