Dragon Road Season 1

Kai laid in his bed, coughing periodically. And sniffling. Then sneezing. Yes, Kai had gotten himself sick, but it took some mental strength to figure out how he had managed that, in his sick state.

With the weeks passing, he hadn't done much of anything. Apparently, a showpony arrived in town, but was humiliated by Twilight Sparkle. Being that the event drew a huge crowd, he naturally kept out of it.

Then, there was a dragon sleeping on a mountain. It was a simple affair to intimidate the thing, and surprisingly enough, Fluttershy had been there to give the “two” to his “one-two” speech of intimidation. And that had been it. The high altitudes, despite having been much higher for training, must have set him up.

Then he got caught in a rain-storm. These things were scheduled, but… Kai forgot.

Anywho, he was resting, and waiting for Rarity to return with healthy food to help him recover. But… it had been quite a while. Their home wasn't that far from the market district, so the journey should have taken ten minutes—twenty if something caught her eye. But fifty minutes and counting? Ridiculous… and worrying.

Coughing, Kai stood out of bed and dressed himself for the journey to find his sister. And maybe get a bite to eat while he was at it.

Chapter 15

One of Us

Being sick made flying and other uses of ki crazy difficult, so Kai walked through town at his own pace. Though, something concerned him.

“It's a ghost town out here… They haven't even seen me today.” He could guess at the reason or the cause, but he didn't really care as it was. All he wanted was to find Rarity… but then, she may be in hiding, too.

It was at that exact moment Kai noticed a single figure out and about. As he started to approach, he couldn't help but admire their cloak. It was simple, sure, but Kai was always a fan of cloaks. This individual was digging at the dirt for some reason. It hit Kai, in his own way.

“Ah, uh, hey!” The saiyan called out as he neared them. They turned, yellow eyes flashing at him. “You're—achoo!” Kai sniffled. “You're looking for fresh soil? You don't want this stuff, then. But there's some great stuff just on the other side of town, by this old flower garden.”

The individual removed their hood, revealing themselves to be a zebra—the first Kai had ever met. The zebra smiled at him.

“Truly? In that case, you've been quite a help to me.” She rhymed, getting a chuckle from Kai.

“No problem! I like to help when I can.”

“Then I will return the gesture. Allow me to cure your fever.” Kai cocked his head, silently questioning how she knew. She simply pointed to her nose, and Kai realised he had a snot-drop. He wiped it away.

“Well, thanks! My name is Kai, by the way.”

“I am Zecora, Kai. A pleasure to catch your eye.”

“Same!” With that, Kai led Zecora to the old garden he was refering to. But not without a quick glance backwards. He had felt eyes on them since he started talking to Zecora, and he could easily make out at least six figures inside of the Sugarcube Corner. ‘So that's where you went, Rarity…’

Disregarding his sister and her friends for the moment, Kai simply continued onwards.

Kai trailed after Zecora to her home, the zebra carrying the good soil in a sack on her back. True to her word, she had helped him with his sickness, providing him with a premade potion in her cloak that lessened his symptoms. Though, as they walked now, he couldn't help but feel a bit… at home. Kai looked around the Everfree Forest.

“I remember coming here a lot as a kid.” Zecora looked back at him, but he seemed not to notice. “I used to be such a crybaby, running here to get away from it all. That was a long time ago.” Now he looked to the zebra, who was paying close attention to his words. “Being an outcast isn't easy, is it?”

“...Most certainly not. But then… living with it cannot be taught.”

“Well, that's okay. You and me—we can be friends. I may be a saiyan, and you a zebra, but what does that matter?” They smiled at one another, outcasts, made friends.

It was another few minutes of traveling before there was anything else to note. Zecora held up a hoof, halting Kai in his tracks.

“Hold, Kai. I fear you are not as knowledgable in these as I.” Kai lifted a brow as he stared closely at the blue plants in front of them. Although Zecora opened her mouth to speak again, she was interrupted.

“Hey…! I remember these! Gave me the worst rash…”

“What's this? Are you saying you know what the cure is?”

“There's a cure? I just waited for it to wear off. Took a while, though.” Kai looked around, taking note of just how many of the plant there was. “So what is the cure, anyway?”

“Ah. Well, whether the ailment is abnormal or a mere rash, the cure, my friend, is a simple—” Zecora stopped herself upon seeing Kai's sudden movement. She followed his now back-casted stare, and saw a filly. Whether she was scared of Zecora or scared of being caught was unclear.

“You're… Apple Bloom, right?” Kai recalled, getting a nod in reply. “Thought you'd be with your sister.”

“I-I was… but…” Apple Bloom looked between Kai and Zecora. “Well, they keep sayin' she's evil and scary but…! But they're wrong, right?”

“Heh. Brave little filly, aren't you?” The saiyan knelt down, smiling at the girl appreciatively. “Zecora here isn't evil. Right?” Zecora simply chuckled, shaking her head. “See? Just because you see something different, doesn't mean it's evil.”

For a brief moment, the three smiled at one another.

Then the peace was broken.

“Apple Bloom!” Sprinting frantically to her sister was Applejack, much to their surprise. She was accompanied by the rest of the Elements of Harmony. The blonde mare scooped up her sister and hefted her onto her back. “We're gettin' outta here.”

“But—”

“No buts, missy!” It was then that Kai noticed something.

“Ah! Hey, don't—”

“Beware! Beware, you pony folk! Those leaves of blue are not a joke!” Zecora warned instead.

Rather than heeding the warning…

“Y-you keep your creepy mumbo-jumbo to yourself, ya hear?”

Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie proceeded to yell and hurl insults at Zecora. Kai stared with wide eyes, and opened his mouth to speak… but Zecora stopped him with a hoof and smiled, before walking away.

Kai's gaze lost its focus as he brushed past the mares, tuning their words out.

“Scum…” Absently, he knew there was a response… but he couldn't bring himself to care.

“Kai! Dinner!” Rarity called from the kitchen table, finished setting everything out. She awaited the tell-tale steps of descending down stairs… but nothing. She looked to Sweetie Belle, who shrugged in return. “Kai! Dinner is ready! You know, food!”

…No response.

“I'll go get him.” Sweetie Belle declared, standing and walking to the stairs. When she reached his room upstairs, she watched Kai briefly. He was just… staring at the ceiling. “Kai?” He slowly moved his eyes to her. “Um… it's dinnertime.” Just as slowly, his eyes returned to the ceiling. Sweetie Belle blinked, then turned to run downstairs. “Rarity! Kai is in one of his moods!”

All that followed was scrambling, hoofsteps, then the loud swinging of a door. Rarity was at Kai's side in an instant.

“It's about earlier, isn't it?” The saiyan was silent for a long time, but Rarity kept quiet. She knew he would speak eventually.

Sure enough…

“…They just… degraded her. Without a chance, they treated her like nothing. I've been on the end of it… but I've never seen it happen to someone else.” He sat up, leaning over his knee. “They're supposed to be heroes? I get you and Fluttershy, maybe even Twilight—as weird as she is, she wasn't insulting the poor zebra.”

“Kai. We aren't perfect. We live and we learn. From what you told me, even Princess Celestia has room for learning.” Rarity tried to defend her friends a bit.

“If they aren't perfect, how dare they yell at someone else for not being perfect, either.” His gaze darkened. “This world is lucky it needs them.”

“None of that, Kai. It was already more than enough to have heard I wasn't the only one brought back to life. Don't push it.” Kai met Rarity's glare, lifting a brow.

“I don't need to be lectured about that. It's a low point in my life, and it's over with. You should have been lecturing your so called friends.”

“You think I wasn't? Is that the view of me you've suddenly developed?”

“You sure didn't make an impact.”

“Have you?” Kai scoffed and looked forward again. “Contrary to your beliefs, I tried my hardest to sway them. Twilight tried, Fluttershy tried, even Apple Bloom tried. But, to no avail. Some ponies just don't care for those who are different.” Try as she might, she couldn't hide her disappointment. “Even if they are my friends… and supposed to be heroes.”

“…Sorry, Rarity.”

“It's okay, Kai. You have been dealing with this sort of thing since you were born. You're more than entitled to feel as you do.” Kai smiled, giving his psuedo sister another look.

“…Black and white stripes are so tacky, though.”

“I KNOW, right!?”

The siblings laughed together, forgetting their issues and proceeding down the stairs together.

The next morning, however, was a new batch of issues.

Kai awoke early, as he normally did, and struggled out of bed. Going through his usual morning routines, he gathered his clothes to wear. However, he had encountered a little problem when trying to properly put on his bottom apparel.

“Huh…?” He glanced in a long mirror… and his eyes went wide. “Woah! I have a tail again!” He did indeed have a tail, brown and bushy like a monkey's. Though, being a brother to a fashionista, his focus was on how he would even wear pants like this. With a snap, he realised.

Gathering scissors, he cut a hole at the back of his pants. Success struck when he could put his tail through comfortably. That was one issue solved… Well, kind of. He still had no clue how it grew back.

“AAAAAHH!” Kai flew through the doorway and into Rarity's room upon hearing her scream.

“Rarity! What's the—oh… my…”

“Kai! Don't look! I'm hideous!”

“I'll say!” Rarity's mane and coat were… unmanageable. That was all that could be said about it. “No amount of brushing is gonna fix that! What the heck did you do—fly with Rainbow Dash in a thunderstorm?”

“I just woke up like this… My life is over!”

“Don't cry, you'll just make it worse!” Kai walked over to her and tried to move her mane. “Ugh! It's all… oily.”

“Kai, yesterday, I was beautiful. Today, I'm a monster. This is some kind of curse, isn't it!?”

“Curses aren't real, but seriously. This is crazy.” Kai glanced up in thought. “Then again… my tail grew back, so maybe they're related.” He couldn't quite decide what it was, but… it sure was weird. Looking to his hand for an answer as a habit, he— “No way!” …actually found an answer. Kai looked to Rarity, and slowly moved her mane about.

“Kai? What are you…?”

“Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew—there!” He saw it, so he retracted his hands and shook them off. “So, back when I was younger—”

“We don't have time for nostalgia! We need to find all off the mane-care products in Equestria!”

“No, listen. There was this plant that I tripped over as a kid. It gave me a rash that looked just like this.” He held up his left hand, revealing several blue dots on him. “Then I saw them again yesterday when I was with Zecora. I left without paying attention, so I must have brushed against it by accident.”

“Those patches of blue plants, you mean?” The saiyan hummed in affirmation. “…Yes, I do recall walking right through them…” Rarity admitted. “And if that's what did it, then that means—”

“Everypony else probably has a batch of symptoms themselves.” Rarity nodded.

“What's the cure?”

“I… don't know. Back then, I had just waited for it to wear off, but that took a few weeks.” He snapped his fingers. “Zecora knows! She was about to tell me but we got interrupted.”

Rarity stood up suddenly.

“Then you may want to hurry. I'm sure some of the others will default to blaming this on Zecora.” Kai nodded in response and turned to the door. “Oh, and Kai?” He stopped. “Put a shirt on, for goodness sake.”

“Ha… right. Forgot about that.”

Kai appeared in the field of blue plants, falling into step down the path. He had to assume Zecora lived somewhere near.

“Kai? Where did you…?” He turned to face Apple Bloom.

“It's a secret. But forget that. I take it everypony else got a dose of the bad stuff and have ‘curses’?” He emphasised the word with finger quotes, not that anypony would understand that gesture.

“Yeah! And I just know Zecora can help.” The saiyan chuckled, before picking up Apple Bloom and setting her on his shoulder.

“You and me, both. Let's get this settled so we can go home.”

“Yeah!”

Perspective was one heck of a thing. As the afflicted group of six spied Zecora through her window, most were coming to a conclusion—even the more skeptical ones.

“Scary looking masks, confusing incantations, and a great big bubbling cauldron?” Twilight listed off, sighing deeply. “Everything is pointing to Zecora being… bad. Or… what if Zecora is just making soup?” Twilight was adamant about giving Zecora the benefit of the doubt… until…

“Mmm! The perfect temperature for ponies, I presume. Now, where are they…? Kai and little Apple Bloom?”

“Or… what if she's making Kai and Apple Bloom soup!?” From behind her unmanaged mane, Rarity rolled her eyes.

“I suppose nopony remembers how strong Kai is?” Her protest fell on deaf ears… as she had expected.

“We've gotta get in there and save them!”

With that, everypony, excepting Rarity, bursted through the door…

…only to crash right into the suddenly appearing legs of Kai.

“Huh? I counted four.” Kai turned, and displayed his own surprise at seeing Twilight and Fluttershy now on the other side. He quickly took note of their afflictions as well. Twilight's horn was floppy, Applejack had shrunk, Rainbow Dash's wings were upside-down, Pinkie Pie's tongue was swollen… but he couldn't tell what was wrong with Fluttershy.

That was neither here nor there. Kai glared at the recovering group.

“Are you frickin' kidding me?” Kai knelt down, giving Apple Bloom a brotherly smile. “Bloom, cover your ears, okay?”

“Okay.”

It was a very good thing Apple Bloom could not read lips. She had no clue what Kai was saying as her hooves went over her ears, but it must have had a profound effect on the others. She had never seen so many grown up ponies looking so guilty all at once. Even her own sister was rid of her stubborness and looking downright upset. His rant was filled with pointing, waving, a few gestures she didn't know, a couple stomps, and one burst of whatever special energy he used.

About two minutes of verbal lashing later, Kai gave Apple Bloom a gesture to uncover her ears, which she did.

“Good girl.” It was slightly offputting to Apple Bloom just how quickly he flicked through ‘deadly serious’ to ‘loving brother’ and back to ‘death’ with no notice. His gaze on the mares, he continued. “Now apologise or so help me I will cripple you all!”

“W-we're sorry!”

“Who are you sorry to!?”

“We're sorry, Zecora!”

“And what are you sorry for!?”

“F-for treating you wrong because you're different!”

“And…”

“And barging in your home!”

Kai smiled.

“Good.” Now he turned to Zecora. “Anyway, we got all the materials for the cure.”

“Wait, Zecora knows the cure?” Twilight Sparkle spoke with much confusion. “But I scoured all of my books for something and couldn't find anything!”

“Those flowers we walked through yesterday.” Kai explained. “They're called Poison Joke. Pretty much, they're prank plants, messing with things we care about.”

“And the cure is just a bubble bath.” Apple Bloom closed, gesturing to the cauldron Zecora had been using for her brew. “We were gatherin' herbal ingredients for it.”

“Speaking of, is this gonna be enough?” Kai pulled a bundle of ingredients from his coat and gave them to Zecora.

“It will be more than perfect. In fact, you two have brought it in excess.” Kai and Apple Bloom grinned at each other. “Ah, however, while your joy I do not wish to kill, remember I am still missing an herb from Ponyville.”

“Oh yeah…” Kai scratched his head, knowing well that they would never get that ingredient so long as Ponyville still hated them.

“You know something, girls?” Rarity suddenly spoke up. “I think it's just about time to put an end to the mindset of Ponyville. Who, after all, can ignore a message from us?”

There were no arguments from anypony there.

“Look Rose! How awful!”

“The wicked enchantress has cursed them all—and that monster is here to finish them off.”

“The horror, the horror!”

As the town ran scared, Kai waved to the group.

“I'm goin' home.”

“Kai…” Rarity grounded out. The saiyan sighed.

Twilight approached a pony and stopped her with a stern look.

“Daisy, we need to talk.”

It was almost too good to be true… but, no. This was real.

Everyone afflicted with Poison Joke was sitting in the curing bathwater, courtesy of spa owners Aloe Vera and Lotus Blossom.

“…This is nice.” Was all Kai could comment. What else could he say, really?

“Yes, this herbal bath is doing wonders for my coat!” Rarity enthused, understanding what Kai had meant, but deciding it was best not to dwell on it.

With everypony cured of their ailments, they were no longer troubled by anything. Speaking of…

“Say, Kai?” The saiyan looked to Twilight. “Our issues were mostly obvious, but I never saw what was wrong with you.”

“My tail grew back. Bad news if I looked at the full moon.” His tone was dismissive, making clear he didn't want to speak on it. “So, noone came up with nicknames for you girls, right? 'Cause I thought of a few as soon as I saw your condition!”

Before he could continue, a blue magic aura was submerging his head in the water.

“Let's not repeat that fiasco.”

Everypony simply laughed, even moreso when Kai lifted his head above the surface.

“Harity.”

“Monkey King.”

Their laughter rang out, a world's worth of happiness finding the group.