Chapters Author's Note
Hope you all enjoy this alternate take on season 10 comics. Many more will come and I'll give an explanation for the changes I've made in the final chapter of this story.
Marking a Call
Applebloom was walking through the Everfree Forest to visit Zecora on a lovely day. The young filly didn’t remember the last time she visited her, she does remember the last time she got the Cutie Pox when she drank the potion that led to her consequence. It is a normal day, and nothing out of the ordinary happened so far. The sun’s rays shone on the dirt path, leaves from the trees swaying back and forth, and birds flying across the sky. A moment later of walking, she saw the hut in the trees and smiled as she approached the door to knock on it.
“Zecora…” Applebloom called, knocking on the door again. “Zecora, I’m here!”
A few seconds later, the zebra answered the door and was delighted to see her old friend. “Ah, Applebloom, my friend. Long time no see,” Zecora said, “Come in and have a chat with me.”
Applebloom entered the hut and could see Zecora was already brewing a couple of potions. “Sorry I’ve been away for a while, Zecora,” she apologized. “Granny’s been having us working on the farm since Applejack’s been working at the school.”
“There’s no need to apologize because what you did is wise. And school is essential to the young ones. Though the work on the farm also needs attending to, I’d say that you must have tons.”
“No kidding. I have no idea how AJ does it, especially how she handles creatures from the outside.” Zecora started making some tea as Applebloom made herself at home. “So, have you heard about what’s been going on recently?”
“I’ve heard the news of Griffonstone’s newly crowned queen. And that griffon who was punished for being mean.”
“Boy, that’s an understatement. I’m glad most creatures like that won’t have a place to stay. They never learn.”
“Many of them think they’re always on the top, it’s only a matter of time until they get their bubbles popped.” Zecora poured some tea for herself and Applebloom into two cups before bringing them over to her friend.
“Yeah. I think Spoiled Rich would be one of those parents. I’ve tried to spend time with Diamond Tiara since she’s fully reformed, but that ugly-face mare is always in the way. I think her dad is starting to put his hoof down with her.” Zecora could only nod in agreement. As she sipped her tea, something crossed Applebloom’s mind. “Zecora, can I ask you something?”
“It wouldn’t be a difficult task. Go ahead, what do you have to ask?”
“So, I remember when you started coming to Ponyville and everypony around was afraid of you, and my sis and her friends were starting to have a bond and became not frightened. But… There’s one thing I realized… there should be the reason why you came to Equestria in the first place… we haven’t asked you where you originally live and what your life back at home was.” That statement made Zecora do a spit take, surprising Applebloom. “…Zecora?”
The zebra felt embarrassed by her reaction and quickly started cleaning up her mess. “I’m very sorry about that,” the zebra apologized, “But… there’s a reason why I don’t talk about where I came from.”
Applebloom wasn’t sure what to say at this point. She just sat there in silence as Zecora cleaned up her spilled tea. It was starting to get awkward. Maybe it would be best to change the subject.
“Um, I was… thinking… maybe you could stop by the school again to help me with a chemistry lesson. I’ve been attempting to talk with this Kirin named Timber Sparks. She doesn’t seem to be talkative with me or anypony.”
“It sounds to me like she prefers to be alone.” Zecora turned away from her friend before muttering to herself. “That or she might have something bad happening back home.”
Suddenly, a glowing light appeared from behind Zecora. She turned around and could see a glow coming from Applebloom’s cutie mark. Zecora noticed there was still a glow from behind her. “Zecora, look! Your mark!” Applebloom cried.
They both looked at the zebra’s spiral mark, like Applebloom’s, it was glowing. “Well, what do you know…” Suddenly, images of their mark appeared in the air and flew out of the hut’s window.
“C’mon, Zecora! Let’s go!” Applebloom commanded. The two followed the marks outside, but the filly was confused why they were heading deeper into the forest. “That’s weird… I’ve only done this once with my friends before, but we should be heading to the castle.” Still confused, they carried on after their marks until they found themselves at a treehouse made of crystals. “Woah! Was this always here?”
“I remember once… or twice,” Zecora said. “Some students from the School of Friendship hang out here, and I say they’re admirable and nice.” They were about to walk inside until a mark containing three apples flew past them.
“Hang on, that looked like Applejack’s cutie mark.”
As if on cue, Applebloom’s older sister walked out from the forest. “I don’t get why I’m being called through the forest,” the farm pony said to herself. “If this is Discord’s…” Applejack paused when she saw Zecora and her sister. “Oh, hey Zecora. Didn’t expect you to be away from your hut. Are you looking for mushrooms or something?”
“Applebloom here says we’re getting a call that’s confusing,” Zecora explained. “It seems like the main calling spot might be moving.”
“Whatever the map will take us, that’s where we’re going. Let’s go.” Wondering what was going on, they walked towards the treehouse. Before opening the door, they can hear chattings.
“Okay, that’s obviously Applejack’s mark,” commented a raspy voice. “But who are the other two?”
“I know that this one’s Applebloom’s,” guessed a second smoother-sounding voice. “I’m not sure about that spiral though. I wonder who’s mark is this?” Applejack knocked on the door and waited a few seconds for it to be answered by Smolder.
“Oh, hey there, professor,” the dragoness said.
“Smolder, you know you only have to call me that on school grounds,” Applejack responded. “Can we please come in?” Smolder nodded and opened the door for the three. They could see Smolder and Ocellus were just setting up a tea party when the cutie marks started swirling around a new location on their map.
Applejack and Applebloom cannot believe their eyes on what they saw. This is something new for them. They normally go to Twilight’s castle when there’s a mission, but instead, it’s a crystal treehouse; and instead of the table, it is on the floor. “Since when did you have this?” Applebloom asked.
“It’s pretty new,” Ocellus replied. “We have expected to go to the castle at first, that’s when our floating silhouettes started flying through the Everfree Forest. We got confused until we realized that they flew into this place and notice the map here.”
“She’s right,” Smolder said. “Applejack, remember that time when you, together with the other students, were at Griffonstone having a relief program there?”
“Oh, right… That’s also when ‘the incident’ happened… until you arrived.”
“Yeah. We did tell you about this, and then you said: ‘Better if you let me see it for myself.’ So… here it is. Now you know.”
“Though… I’m confused about why you’re being called.”
Applebloom then takes a glance at the locations for a while. As she curiously touches one location with her hoof, which is the School of Friendship, a flash appears, and she jumps in fright. And the translucent holograms of the school’s building, buckball field, and the students pop up in seconds surrounding them, including Zecora. Her eldest sister, who was also stunned, saw the hologram of the life-sized school, and they even saw the students hanging out outside of the field.
“Applebloom,” Applejack said to her young sister, “What do you just do?”
“I don’t know, sis,” Applebloom replied. “All I did is placed my hoof on a location, and…” All of a sudden, a holographic ball came out of her chest. Her jaw dropped.
“What the…” Then the hologram of Gus came out from her body.
Zecora was amazed by it, and then the hologram of Strawberry Scoop came out of his body as well. “Bizzare…” she muttered.
They then see Gus and Strawberry Scoop both grabbed the ball and kept playing. Applejack thinks that they’re playing buckball. Applebloom turns to see a hologram of November Rain standing behind her, levitating the basket while focusing on the ball and the players.
“Well… if that surprises you,” Smolder declared. “These things you see happened in real-time.”
“You don’t say!” Applebloom exclaimed.
“Yeah,” Ocellus smiles. “It’s astonishing to have this, seeing what’s happening simultaneously.”
“Exactly,” the orange dragoness agrees. She then turns to one of the bench stadiums. “Look over there.”
They all turned to the direction where Smolder was facing, and they saw holographic figures of Gallus, Silverstream, Garry, and Geena sitting beside each other having a lovely chat; they even laugh and chuckle as they talk.
“I’d say… It’s a splendid sight to see those kids having their good delight,” Zecora chuckled.
“That’s what the School of Friendship is all about, Zecora,” Applejack said with a proud smile. “Glad I helped.”
In just a split second, it then turns back to normal, with the cutie marks of the three still spinning on a specific location.
“That was an interesting trip we have…” Applebloom mumbled.
Applejack took a good look at where the marks were floating. This new map was strange and the locations were unfamiliar to her. “I don’t get why you have a bigger map than the one in the castle,” she admitted. “This one’s more… grand and fancy.”
She looked at the location that they would have to go to and couldn’t put her hoof on what it was. Zecora recognized the location. “I recognize that place.” Zecora declared.
“You do?”
“Yes. The place you see is known as Zebrat,” she explained. “And that is where my home at.”
“That’s your home?!” Applebloom said with a surprised look.
“It is. I have reasons why I don’t want to go. Perhaps, it’d be better if you leave as a duo?” She looked towards Applejack, hoping to be excused from this.
“Oh no, Zecora,” Applejack responded, “The map there calls you, and it needs you. You don’t just quit when it happens even with those excuses you made, it’s like a firefighter being asked to do 10 push-ups on the field, and instead, just not attending and being a sloth. So, Zecora, when the map calls you for a mission, you’ve gotta do it.” The zebra looked upset when she heard this as the farm pony turned to her sister. “Anyways, I’m going to Canterlot and tell Twilight about our mission. You go home first and start packing our stuff up. It’s going to be a prolonged trip.”
“Yes, sis!” Applebloom did as she was told and headed back home, thinking to stop by Zecora’s first to see if she could help pack some supplies at the hut. However, she noticed the zebra’s distraught about going home, whether she liked it or not. Applejack and Zecora also left the treehouse to do their thing as well to prepare, leaving Smolder and Ocellus alone.
“I’m curious about what life in Zebrat looked like,” Ocellus said.
“Me too,” Smolder added. “Maybe their culture is as unique as the Kirins. I mean, yeah, it’s called Zebrat , so they could have zebras living there.”
“Maybe. Unless there are other creatures species living there. We’ll wait until she comes back and has time for her to tell us about it.” Smolder nodded.
A couple of hours later, Applejack, Applebloom, and Zecora were in Canterlot, taking a couple of carts of supplies with them. They soon arrived at a dock where Princess Twilight and Spike were waiting for them. “Hello, Applejack,” the princess greeted. “Got everything you needed for the long trip?”
“Sure do,” Applejack confirmed. “Everything’s all handy.”
“Zebrat shouldn’t be as bad as a certain team,” Zecora informed. “It’s a nice place filled with plenty of tribes and communities. If we leave now, we should be there by tomorrow.”
“The crew is ready when you are. Good luck on your mission, you three.”
“Thanks, Twi,” Applejack replied. “We’ll let you know how it goes when we get back.” The ponies and zebra soon board the airship as the princess called out to them.
“Oh, and also… make sure to take notes on what the new land is like!” Applejack chuckled as she started remembering Twilight getting excited over learning about unfamiliar civilizations. After a few last checks, the airship took off towards Zebrat.
The trip was going to take a couple of hours, so they got comfy in the ship’s lounge. Knowing that the trip would take a while, Applebloom brought some board games to help pass the time. “Okay, so I’ve brought a couple of board games we can play,” the filly noted. “Zecora, what do you want to play?” She looked around the room only to see the zebra wasn’t there. “Where did she go?”
“I saw her board the ship with us,” Applejack noted. “Maybe she needs a bathroom break… Or maybe she needs some time alone.”
“Yeah, could be. She sounds kind of upset earlier and… did you notice she didn’t rhyme when she told Twilight about Zebrat?”
Applejack didn’t really take notice before, but thinking about it now, that was strange. “You’re right. I hardly ever hear her say anything without rhyme. I thought it was just something most zebras do. Everyone in Ponyville was so scared whenever she walked into town, I’d just roll with it like a pig on a muddy hill.”
Both sisters were confused and a little concerned.
“We should ask the crew if they’ve seen her,” Applebloom suggested.
“Will do.”
They asked a couple of the ship’s crew if they could look around for her and they said they would, given they confirmed that three pony passengers were boarding the ship. Applebloom and Applejack figured they mistaken Zecora for a pony since she was similar in shape to one. The two sisters just made themselves comfy inside their room and played some Battlecloud. They figured that Zecora wanted some time alone and left her to her privacy.
About an hour later of playing the board game, Applejack took out her sister’s last cloud, much to the filly’s disappointment. “Best five out of seven?” Applebloom asked.
“Okay, five to zero it is,” Applejack chuckled. They were about to reset the game when they heard the door open. They saw Zecora walk in with one of the crew ponies.
“We found her in the kitchen, madam” the stallion crewmate explained. “She asked to borrow one of the pots and was trying to make potions.”
“Your chef said yes,” Zecora reminded. “She didn’t mind me, and I caused no stress.”
“Good luck explaining that to the rest of the crew. Stay out of the kitchen until we get to your destination.” The stallion left the three passengers to their room and walked back to his duties.
“Why were you trying to make a potion?” Applebloom asked.
“It’s something that helps me soothe my mind during moments like… being hundreds of miles above the ground.”
“You’re not a fan of flying, are you?” Applejack asked.
Zecora nodded. “Not to mention the fact I don’t want to go home is another reason why I don’t want to be on this ship.”
“It’s too late to turn back now. The map ain’t giving you a choice. I had that same feeling when Rarity and I were called to Manehattan at the same time as the Sisterhooves Social.”
“But I was happy I got to spend time with Big Mac,” Applebloom admitted, “But boy… that was a weird moment I have.”
Zecora didn’t say anything to this and just simply walked over to one of the beds to help herself to a book. The two sisters were a little concerned about how their friend was acting but decided to be quiet and give her some privacy.
The next day, the three passengers were having their breakfast. Zecora hadn’t said much since last night and still looked upset about heading to her homeland. Despite wanting to know why Applejack and Applebloom kept quiet as they could tell she wasn’t in the mood to talk.
After she ate her breakfast, Applebloom walked out onto the deck to see how close they were to their destination. So far, she could only see the ocean. She could see a pegasus looking through a telescope before coming down onto the deck. “Good morning, sir,” Applebloom greeted. “How close are we to Zebrat?” Applebloom asked.
“Let’s just say… only a couple more miles,” the pegasus reported. He held up his telescope to her and tried to show her what he had seen. In the distance, the ocean came to a beach that would lead to several miles of a sandy desert.
“Alright! We’re almost there!” she exclaimed. “Thanks a lot, sir.”
“Anytime, little fella,” the pegasus smiled. Happy to see they were almost there, Applebloom went to find Zecora and Applejack to inform them. Not even an hour had passed, and everyone on the ship was starting to feel the heat of the desert.
Eventually, they could see they were coming down for a landing. Looking over the deck, they could also see plenty of zebras and camels walking around doing their daily business. A couple of them looked to be a little down, some of them even looked to be dehydrated. Aplebloom was happy to finally be at their destination, but she was a little concerned about the villagers’ conditions. She went to go tell Applejack and Zecora.
It didn’t take long for the ship to land. Upon dropping anchor at the dock, everyone could start feeling the desert heat. “Woo! The weather’s scorching hot!” Applejack said to herself using her hat as a fan. Applejack and Applebloom started disembarking as Zecora took a look at her old stomping grounds.
“Zecora! Are you coming?” Applejack called. Zecora jumped when she heard her call for her. She slowly stepped off of the deck as another zebra wearing a white veil approached the visitors. The zebra had a black and white mane like Zecora, but it was curlier and had pink dye in it to go with her eyeshadow. Also, she has a mark on her flank with pink and green marking to show some sort of X .
“Greeting! Welcome to Zebrat,” she called while taking off her veil. “I see that you’re travelers from a different land, and I’m grateful to have someone who’s adventurous. Anyways, my name is Chief Marini, but you can call me ‘Chief’ , and may I ask where you came from?”
“Howdy ma’am,” Applejack said, taking her hat off to show the gesture of respect. “I’m Applejack, and we came all the way from Equestria. This here is my little sister Applebloom, and our friend right there is…”
“Zecora!?” Marini walked past them as she was shocked to see her standing.
“Marini!?” Zecora was as shocked as her.
“Zecora!” Without hesitation, Marini gave her a tight hug. Applebloom and Applejack were as shocked as them that Zecora knows this zebra.
“Marini. It’s been… quite a while,” Zecora admitted. “And I’m glad to see you’ve still got a smile.”
The chief let go of her old friend and spoke up. “Oh, I’ve got a good reason to, my friend. I thought we’d never see you again. The others have missed you a lot!”
“Ah, our old friends. Do you think there’ll be any bridges I need to mend?”
“I’m sure they’ll all forgive you. Come, I’ll show you where they are.” Marini pranced back to the village with Zecora and the apple sisters following her.
“So, was that one of your old friends?” Applebloom asked.
“Yes, but I’m detecting some stress,” Zecora admitted. She looked at Marini’s face, while it did show a joy to see her friend again, though she looked a little worried.
The visitors were taken into town, where a couple of zebras and camels looked towards them. They didn’t get that many ponies in their home, though Applejack could deal without it. “Could you tell the villagers to stop staring?” the farm pony requested, getting a little annoyed. “It’s getting annoying.”
“I’m sorry,” Marini apologized. “We’re in the middle of a drought and… I’m guessing they think you’re the ones who’ll help fix that.”
“Huh… That’d explain why the map called us here.”
“So, why us and Zecora?” Applebloom asked. “Wouldn’t it make sense if a pegasus was sent to help with the weather?”
“They have more control over the weather than us, but they need clouds to do that.” Applejack looked up in the clear sky, trying to block the light of the sun with her hat. “That sky’s clearer than a pig tray after feeding time.”
“That’s the problem,” Marini sighed. She brought the group to a stop as she pointed to a field of dry crops, desperate for water. “I’ve been rationing out water for essential needs. We’ve used up the last of it our crops just last week. Now we need to use the bare minimum of our reserves to satisfy our thirst.”
“How much water do you have left?”
“If everyone in the village drinks the bare minimum needed, it’ll be 3 days. We need a solution.”
Applebloom looked up to Zecora. “Are there any kind of potions that can affect the weather?” the filly asked.
The zebra pondered for a little bit before responding. “I have read about those potions before,” she admitted, “Though because of the forest, I’ve always made them indoors.”
“Well, these zebras need help.”
“Don’t forget camels,” Marini said. “Speaking of which…” She pointed over to a group of two zebras and two camels. Zecora recognized them. “Now, Applejack, Applebloom, I’d like to introduce you to my friends: the zebras Medley Brook and Crystal; and the camels Dust Devil and Catus Rose.”
The two sisters looked at the four creatures. Like Zecora and Marini, they had some marks on their flanks, similar to the ponies’ cutie marks. Some of them like Dust Devil have some tattoos on parts like their chests. Medley Brook and Crystal looked to have some water-themed tattoos around their hooves.
The creatures were interested in meeting the visitors from Ponyville, but who really caught their eye was, “Zecora!” they cheered. The group quickly swarmed around the said zebra, who wasn’t quite ready to meet them again.
“Where have you been?”
“It’s been so long.”
“Like my new look?”
“How about a game like good old times?”
Zecora was fairly overwhelmed until Applejack stepped in. “Okay, settle down, y’all” she called. “Give her some space to think.” The old friends all stepped back making Zecora feel more comfortable. “Now, I know you’re happy to see your friend again, but I think we need to focus on the bigger fish. We have three days to figure out a solution for your drought.”
Marini stepped in front of the group to speak up. “As much as I want to know more about Zecora since she left,’ the chief spoke, “But that orange pony with a hat here is right. We desperately need a solution for our water shortage fast. It should be alright since Zecora and her new friends have been sent to help save us.”
The group cheered as they were looking forward to having a proper drink in the future. Zecora was still looking to be upset over… something. It was starting to bother Applebloom. She wanted to know what was bothering her friend, but asking her wasn’t going to work.
Walking through the village, Applejack and Applebloom closely stick together with Zecora and her old friends to see the cause of the drought problem. The farm pony walked beside Marini, who was leading the group. “So, chief, I hope you don’t mind me asking,” Applejack said to the zebra, “But where do you usually get your water?”
“We have a few different methods of getting water for the village,” Chief Marini noted. “Our common approach is fetching it from the well.” She pointed over to a stone-walled well that had a bucket tied on a string sitting next to it. “That one over there.”
“So… I’m guessing that well is dried up.”
“Aye. It is connected to an underwater river. We guess that there’s a blockage down there, but sadly, we don’t have the tools to check and fix it safely. Right after it dried, I had the town focus on rationing our water, saving it for our crops.”
“There have to be other ways of getting water, right?”
“We do. We usually get our water from the ocean,” Dust Devil informed. “We camels usually take those trips since it’s a long journey.”
“And… how long are we talking about?”
“Hmm, from here to the ocean is approximately 1.5 kilometers, and it takes a whole day to get there, so about two to three days.”
“Darn. Feels too risky to try that. I don’t feel confident sending creatures out there with so little water to drink.”
“Camels can go for over a week without water,” Cactus Rose noted. “We can handle it.”
“It’d still be too close to risk it,” Marini commented. “You brought any bottles of water on your airship, am I right?”
“Of course,” Applejack confirmed. “It would only give us two extra days to find a solution.”
“We could still go on that trip for ocean water,” Dusty Devil commented.
“Or… we could try and make a potion that can make it rain,” Applebloom suggested. The creatures looked to her with Zecora deciding to speak up.
“Applebloom’s idea might help you out,” Zecora informed. “If we find the right potion, it’ll bring an end to this drought.”
“Do you have any books about potions?”
Marini was hesitant to try it, but they were desperate and she had a feeling Zecora could help them. “We can take you to the library,” the chief explained. “I’m sure we’ll find the one you’re looking for in there.”
“You do that,” Applejack said, “I’m going to see if I can fix that well.”
“Are you sure about that?” Crystal questioned. “It’s dangerous.”
“My friends and I have faced a lot of danger back home alone. I’m certain that fixing a well will be a Tuesday in comparison. All I need is strong zebras and/or camels, a durable rope, and a light source.”
Medley Brook stepped over to Applejack. “Let me help you,” she proclaimed. “The library makes me feel… confined.”
“Same here,” Dust Devil spoke. “I’ll help.”
“Thanks a lot, you two,” Applejack responded. “I’ll go check back the zeppelin for some tools and a flashlight. You two see if you can find a sturdy rope. One stronger than the one tied to this bucket.”
“And we’ll check the library for books about potions,” Applebloom commented. The apple filly left with Zecora and the rest of her friends to go to the library while Applejack went to fetch some tools.
In the library, Applebloom, Zecora, Cactus Rose, and Crystal looked around for any kind of book that could be useful. While they were searching, Applebloom wanted to build bridges with Zecora’s old friends. She decided to try and start with Cactus Rose. “So, Cactus Rose, what was Zecora like when she was a filly?” the apple filly asked.
They were in a bit of a predicament, Cactus Rose did want to know more about what her old friend had been up to. “She was… fairly introverted. She liked to be at home and learn more about other zones and creatures such as you ponies.”
“Oh, you’ve got books about us?”
“Yea. They don’t have too much information though. However, I guess that’ll change if you show up more often.”
“I’ve been wanting to know more about your home since I’ve met Zecora for the first time. Do all creatures here talk in rhyme?”
“No, not even me. It seems to be a specialty only she does.” Applebloom thought that this was kind of odd. “It might just be a quirk of hers. Maybe she does it to help remember potion ingredients.”
“That’s kind of what I thought. What else did Zecora do when she was young?”
“Oh, there was this great game we played! When we’re kids, we pretend to make and fight monsters. Dusty had a blast playing as a dragon. And Zecora was a great alchemist.”
“You mean one of the characters in the game?”
“Yep. She often did real potions too when she was your age. She was kind of inexperienced but I knew a lot about some plants that she used. Like… there are these cacti that help prevent dehydration if used with the right materials.”
“So… we could drink cactus water?”
“Not the raw water itself, because that makes you ill.” Rose stopped and thought as she suddenly had an idea. “Keep looking, I’ve got to tell Marini something.”
The camel ran to where the chief was while Applebloom kept looking for a spellbook. She kept searching until she found Crystal going through all the books as fast as she could. “Um, excuse me…, Crystal was it?” the filly asked.
“Yep, that’s me,” the zebra responded. “Did you find what we’re looking for?”
“Not yet, but I think Cactus Rose had an idea on using cacti or something to help with the drought.”
“Hmm, that could work. Cacti are known to have thick, hard-walled, and succulent stems, so the water was absorbed and was stored in it. Extracting it can take time. It’ll be better to have more than one plan.”
“True. Though, I do want to know more about Zecora’s childhood here. She never said much about this place so I thought…”
“I know you’re curious, little one, but we have to find an ideal solution to the drought right now.” Applebloom didn’t object as she knew the village was in a tough predicament. She walked to another bookshelf, not noticing Crystal’s concerned expression as she looked over to a frustrated Zecora.
Back at the well, Medley Brook and Dust Devil were helping Applejack to lower herself down to see what was causing the lack of water. The earth pony was then safely landed on the bottom of the well and turned on the flashlight she had found. She found the small tunnel in front of her, which was connected to an underground river. There was no water flowing from it. Applejack cautiously crawled down the tunnel to see what the matter was. As she crawls, she can scent the smell from the erosion of the stones surrounding the tunnel including wet sand. Eventually, the earth pony came across a blockage, which had likely stopped the village from getting its water: a huge boulder.
“Ahh, I see the problem now,” she whisperingly muttered herself. “I wonder how am I gonna remove that thing. Of course, I can’t do with my hooves, I ain’t Iron Will or Prince Rutherford. I should tell them right now.”
Applejack then exited back from the tunnel, gave a tug on her rope to signal both Medley Brook and Dust Devil to pull her out. They, who are holding the rope on their hooves, flinched when they felt the quick and unexpected tug. “She’s back,” Medley called. “Pull!”
Applejack was then soon lifted out and started climbing back onto the sand. “How was it going?” Medley questioned.
“As I expected,” she replied, “A giant rock was blocking the flow.”
“I knew there was a blockage,” Medley commented.
“I’m already worried that the river had dried up,” Dust admitted.
“Well, you were right about one thing,” Applejack said, “We don’t have the tools to remove it safely. Not unless you have an explosive around here.”
The zebra and camel both glanced at each other before nodding their heads left and right telling her no. Applejack felt that she should’ve known better, but was confused when she saw Cactus Rose pass them, so were Dust and Medley. “Rose, where are you going?” Dust Devil asked.
“I thought of a solution that can help buy us more time,” Rose informed. “We have some ingredients that could be used to give us more time and save a little bit of water. At this point, I’m willing to try anything.”
“I’ve seen a couple of cacti near the village,” Dust Devil informed. “Maybe those could be useful.”
“Lead the way and we’ll do it.” The two camels walked away to find good and healthy cacti, leaving Applejack with Medley Brook, who was starting to look under the weather. The zebra sat down and clicked her tongue a little bit, concerning the earth pony.
“Are you okay, sugar cube?” Applejack asked.
“I’m fine,” Medley responded. “Just… a little thirsty.”
Applejack thought about this. They had to reserve as much water as they could, but it was never good for someone to get to the point of dehydration. “You need a drink.”
“But… we have to save that water for the village.”
“You’re a part of that village and you need a drink. You look like you’re about to die from dehydration.” Applejack helped Medley Brook up and wandered around the village until they could find her a drink.
They made it to one of the biggest huts in the village, where there was a large barrel containing the last of its water. When the camel in charge of watching the barrel of water saw the earth pony and zebra walk up to him. “Low on water again, Medley?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Medley admitted bashfully.
“This has happened before, sir?” Applejack questioned, concerned.
“I’ve been doing this since we stopped having enough water for our crops,” Medley explained. She was given a cup of water from the camel, to which she quickly drank it down.
“You can’t keep this up.”
“I know. The others have warned me to stop this, but… I want my friends to be satisfied. I did that by singing, but I have done that since the first time I got dehydrated.”
“Don’t worry, we’re going to find a solution to this. That well might be too dangerous for us to work on right now, but hopefully, the others have found the book we need.” The two soon walked away to the library, hoping for some better luck.
Sure enough, they found Applebloom, Zecora, and Marini looking at a book titled, “Magical Legends.” “Oh, you found it!” Medley cheered.
“It was more of Zecora who found it,” Marini noted. “Right now she and Applebloom are just trying to find the right potion for our predicament.” They eavesdropped on the two potion makers, who were having a hard time finding what they were looking for.
“Bye-bye snake bite,” Applebloom read.
“Useful, but not what we need,” Zecora commented.
“Excelardo.”
“Not going to help unless we require speed.”
They flipped through a couple of pages until their faces lit up. “This sounds useful. Rainy Day!” Applejack and the zebra looked at what they had found.
Zecora read out the description. “For those who can’t fly, here’s a potion to help when crops are dry. Mix the listed agreements and prepare a crowd, a successful brew should make a cloud, and will form into a rain-filled sky.”
“Sounds like just the potion that we need,” Marini commented. “What’re the ingredients?” Applebloom began reading off the list of ingredients when Crystal saw Dust Devil and Cactus Rose return with baskets loaded with cacti.
“We’re back,” Dusty proclaimed. The camels set down their baskets as the chief looked inside.
“Nice one, you two,” Marini commented. “This should help us buy time. Plus, they could be useful since we found a potion that could save us.”
“Oh, that’s perfect!” Cactus Rose commented. They listened in on the ingredients that were at the end of the list before Zecora spoke up.
“We’ll also need to get the integrants to make this brew,” she proclaimed, “And possibly a caldron too.”
“We should be able to gather everything that we need,” Marini noted. “Rose, go check to see if any of these cacti are going to be useful. Crystal, Dusty, go find a cauldron.”
“Will do,” Crystal and Dusty responded.
“What about us?” Applejack asked. “Surely you’ll need a fire to heat that potion.”
“We have firewood. They should be in the storage hut over there. Crystal, you can help Zecora and Applebloom look for ingredients.”
“Will do.” With that everyone split up to do their tasks with Medley excited to be with her old friend.
“So, Zecora…,” Medley asked, “I know it been a long time since we last met… what’s life like in your new home?”
Zecora wasn’t in the mood to talk, but she saw her friend was wanting to reconnect after such a long time. “Well…, after leaving, I moved by the forest near town,” she explained, “Usually when I went shopping, I was lucky to meet someone with a frown. Most ponies living there feared me for reasons unknown, so most days, I spend time at home.”
“Yeah, I never understood why my sister and her friends were afraid of Zecora basically,” Applebloom spoke. “I guess they just fear whatever they don’t understand. It happens a lot more than you think.”
“Huh, sounds like there’s never a dull moment,” Dust Devil commented. Zecora chuckled as they didn’t know half of it.
“Ponies find ways to make trouble a constant, like the time Applejack and her friends, touched a humorous plant,” Zecora told.
“Ooh, right! The Poison Joke,” Applebloom remembered. Zecora’s friends didn’t understand it as they entered one of the huts. While they told their stories, the friends looked around for supplies. Dust Devil checked a nearby chest, looking inside they gasped at what they dug up.
“Hey, girls, look at this!” the camel cried.
“What did you find?” Crystal asked. Dust showed their friends a wooden sword, which seemed to have a few parts of its dull blade missing and the handle was barely holding itself together.
“Wow, Martini’s old toy sword,” Medley gasped. She walked over to the chest to see what else was inside and then found a book that was covered in dust. Blowing it off, she saw the cover read “Ogres & Oubliettes.”
“Wow, I haven’t seen these things in years!” They showed what they found to Zecora, who was amazed.
“This game gave us such a fun time,” Zecora commented, “It’s time like this I could go back to my prime.” The zebra sighed as her friends understood how she felt.
“We had some really good times,” Medley said. “Remember that story about Meadow Brook?”
“Ah, I remember the stories about that mare, making potions to help all ponies with care. Doing whatever she can for her loved ones’ health, but the funny thing is I’ve met her myself.”
“No way,” Dust and Medley spoke.
“It’s true,” Applebloom confirmed. “Some sort of magical time zone thing… Applejack was vague on the details.”
“Okay, you have to tell us about that,” Dust Devil spoke.
“It can wait,” Crystal proclaimed. “We need to focus on that potion.”
Zecora took a deep breath before. “Crystal is right, we should keep on the mission,” she noted, “We have to make for the rain is a fruition.” Dust and Medley placed the nostalgic items to the side and continued to look around. Crystal looked inside of another chest and then saw something. It looked to be a painting of Zecora, though much younger, with an older-looking zebra.
Looking a little concerned, Crystal quickly moved some stuff around to try and bury it. “Hey, there’s a cauldron over there,” Applebloom called. Crystal quickly closed the chest and followed to where the filly’s voice came from.
A little while later, they had the cauldron set up with all of the ingredients to use for the weather potion. Marini walked back to the group with enough water to fill the cauldron up, much to the worry about herself and her friends. “Are you sure we should take this risk?” Crystal asked.
“If we play everything right, it should be okay,” Marini commented. “I don’t know what other choices we have.” Applejack helped pour the water into the cauldron as Zecora started the fire underneath it.
“Hey, what are you doing!?” cried a voice. Everyone looked to see some camels walk over to them, looking fairly angry.
“I’m very sorry,” Marini apologized. “But we’re running low on options.”
“Have you sent a team out to grab water from the ocean?” the camel asked.
“Um… No. We’re taking too much of risk for how long that would that.”
“And yet you’re perfectly fine with outsider boiling water with your favorite villagers,” the other camel said.
“Hey, they’re here for a good reason. Just let us try this idea and see what we can do.” Both camels just snorted and walked away.
Applejack looked to Cactus Rose, who was taking out the cacti they would need. “Are most camels like that?” the farm pony asked.
“No, they’re just under a lot of tension,” Cactus Rose responded. They poured in just a bit more water until the cauldron was full enough to start mixing.
Applebloom doubled checked the recipe to see what they need and checked with Zecora, who looked to be happier than when they left. “Think we’re all ready?” the filly asked.
“Just need to give some time to heat,” Zecora informed. “Once that’s done, the drought should face its defeat.”
Marini was feeling a little anxious at the moment. She was looking at the other zebras and camels, most of which were looking dehydrated. These were concerning enough, but many of them were looking irate with the fact they were using their precious water for a plan they weren’t even sure was going to work.
“Maybe we should start mixing right away,” the chief suggested. “I’m pretty sure we’re down to two days of water now.”
“The potion has to be at the right temperature,” Zecora noted, “If not the mixture won’t be pure.” The group had to wait around for a little bit until they could see the water starting to bubble. Once it was at that point, they carefully started adding what was called for in the recipe.
They carefully added them one by one, with the liquid changing color the more they added in. It didn’t feel fast enough for Marini though. The villagers kept glancing at her, not looking pleased about brewing what they thought was a stew. The chief was starting to get anxious and decided to step forward.
“Look, time is kind of limited,” the chief noted. She quickly started tossing the items in, making boiling water splash a couple of times.
Crystal ran up and pulled Marini away from the cauldron. “Marini, this is very important,” Crystal noted. “Zecora, is it still good?” The zebra that moved to Ponyville looked at the mixture and gave a confident nod, with everyone else sighed with relief.
After everything needed was added, Zecora started stirring the mixture as everyone stood back. Zecora joined them at a safe distance, the potion bubbled and…. Nothing happened. Everyone was confused. The villagers began to look towards Marini and the visitors.
Sensing their anger, the chief spoke up. “Now everyone,” she spoke, “I’m sure there’s a perfectly good explanation.” Marini gave a nervous chuckle as Zecora and the apple siblings looked between each other.
“…So, who’s going to check out the cauldron?” Applebloom asked. The three looked between each other and then to Zecora’s friends, who pretended to walk away.
“I’ll go check,” Crystal said bravely. The zebra cautiously stepped forward to look inside the pot and was confused by what she saw. The brew wasn’t forming a cloud of any kind. Instead, it was bubbling violently a red hue to it. “Um, Zecora, what color is this potion supposed to be?”
Double-checking the book that they found, Zecora saw the illustration of the weather potion had a nice blue color to it. “The proper potion is supposed to be blue,” she proclaimed. “I don’t understand why it’s got a red hue.”
Applebloom took a look at what went wrong and her eyes widened when she saw something. “There’s a page missing!” she informed. In between the page containing the potion description and the recipe were markings of a page that had been ripped out.
Crystal was now concerned as she stepped away from the mixture. “Okay, so we didn’t make a weather potion,” she commented. “What did we make?!”
The answer would be revealed when the cauldron started shaking. Sparks started to shoot out of the top like a volcano. The villagers ran for cover as the sound of creaking metal could be heard. Eventually, there was an enormous “KABOOM!” The cauldron exploded, launching its shards of metal in every direction almost at the speed of a lighting bolt.
Each piece narrowly avoided the zebra and camels that didn’t make it to cover. The shards embedded themselves in the sand and several huts until there was a long silence. Everyone was frozen with fear until some of them decided to pluck up the courage to see if it was safe to come out. When they did, most of the villages crowded around Zecora and the ponies.
They were not happy with almost being blown up. Applejack tried to get a word in, but the angry crowd overshadowed her voice. Zecora could barely peak over the villages to see that Marini was in a similar predicament.
“Look at what you did! You’ve just wasted a whole day of water!”
“I almost lost my head!”
“You didn’t check that the page was missing!?”
Marini was struggling to get her word in, but it was practically possible. Lucky for the chief, her friends stepped in and managed to get the crowd to quiet down. While they tried to get everyone to calm down, Marini made a run for it. Zecora saw this and quickly gave chase, with Applejack and Applebloom on her tail.
After getting a good amount of distance from the village, Marini sat down as she saw her old friend running over to her. “Zecora, are you alright?” the chief asked.
“I’m fine, we don’t seem to have any harm,” Zecora reported. “I should’ve known the list of ingredients should’ve caused an alarm.”
“How could you not see that a page was missing? C’mon, you studied potions for years, haven’t you?”
Zecora felt offended by this remark. “Just because I’ve studied something for years doesn’t mean I’m incapable of avoiding mistakes!” The two zebras walked closer to each other as the apple siblings sensed a fight about to break out.
“Enough, let’s take it easy and…” Applejack was cut off by Zecora.
“Applejack, my friend, this is personal! No one interrupts my personal space!” the zebra who normally spoke in rhyme proclaimed. She turned her attention back to Marini.
“You do realize someone would’ve lost his or her life in that explosion,” Marini stated.
“I was trying to help your village since you seem to be a bad planner,” Zecora remarked.
“Bad planner? What the Tartarus are you talking about?”
“Once you saw the well couldn’t give any more water, you could’ve sent more camels to the ocean and get water as soon as possible. Instead, you decide to hold back on how much everyone could drink until you inevitably run out of it.”
The rest of the zebras’ friends showed up after escaping the angry crowd. “Okay, so do we have a new plan or what?” Medley Brook asked.
“We’re kind of endeavoring to stop an argument right now,” Applejack noted. They could see and hear Zecora and Marini trying to talk over each with their anger building. Crystal stepped forward to put an end to it.
“Girls, look,” Crystal spoke, “We’ve lost a day of water and…”
“Not now!” Marini interrupted before turning back to Zecora. “I’m the only one zebra. You thought I can make every decision in this damn scorching hot desert!?”
“Why were you chosen as the chief anyhow? Crystal would be a better candidate than you!”
“We had it put to a vote, which I won!”
“With what? Popularity? Of course, you’d win by that.”
“I brought up plans for what I would do too. It’s not just some critter just randomly picking someone for how they look.”
“Or maybe they selected you for the idea of you being more fun.”
Applejack stepped forward and forced the two zebras away from each other. “Alright, that’s enough,” she proclaimed. “Is this what you always do to solve anything!?”
“Maybe we could follow Zecora’s ideas,” Marini suggested. “Like running from the problem.”
“Running?” Zecora questioned. “Do you know why I left? I couldn’t stand in this place for…. For…”
“Was it because of us?” Cactus Rose asked. Zecora looked to her friends, who were concerned with how she was acting.
“No, no, it’s not you…. It’s just…”. Zecora looked back to Marini but her expression fell when she saw a guilty-looking frown on the chief’s face. “I…. Marini…. He was…” Zecora could feel herself starting to shed a tear. “AHH! I CAN’T TAKE THIS! Not knowing what to do, she bolted away from the conversation.
“Zecora, come back!” Applebloom cried. But the zebra kept running, trying to hide her face from her friends.
The young filly was about to chase after her until Dust Devil stopped her. “She’s heading into the desert,” they cried. “You two could get lost out there.” All Applebloom could do was watch as her friend ran off until she was out of sight.
Applejack, Applebloom, the camels, and the zebras returned to the village, which was still a mess from the cauldron explosion. The villagers were still mad at Marini and the ponies for causing this, at least that’s what they thought had happened. They all met up in a private hut where Applejack closed the door behind them. “Okay… Zecora ran off into the desert… because I’m certain that she remembered something that stabs her,” the farm pony spoke. “What is going on?”
The zebras and camels looked towards Marini, who gave a sad sigh. “It’s not just hard for her to remember,” the chief explained. “It’s about me… and her father.”
“Her father?” Applebloom questioned. “But… we didn’t see him and Zecora would… Ohh…” She had quickly put some details together along with her sister. Many of the creatures started gathering supplies to find Zecora, feeling things were getting awkward.
“…What happened to her?” Applejack asked. “Tell me!”
Marini took a deep breath before explaining. “It’s easier to explain if I start from the beginning.” She then began narrating. “When Zecora was a foal… she wasn’t into socializing…”
Years ago, Zecora was a young zebra who wasn’t much for socializing. She enjoyed her free time finding some books to read and sitting in the shade of the tree. She didn’t appear to have her mark at this point, as the process for zebra and camels getting their marks was a little different compared to the ponies.
She looked at the children running around before looking back down at her book. Her attention was grabbed after getting struck in the head by a ball. “Ow!” she shrieked. Zecora stood back up a camel and zebra ran over to her.
“Sorry about that,” the camel apologized. “It was my fault.” They picked up their ball and were about to walk away if it wasn’t for the young zebra looking at Zecora.
“You looked bored today. Do you want to join our game?” she asked.
Zecora looked at the zebra she hadn’t met before until now. She looked back to her book and dusted off the sand before responding. “Pass. I’m sticking with my book reading,” Zecora responded.
“Okay. If that’s what you want, go ahead.” The young zebra walked away as Zecora returned to her book. After a minute, another zebra walked over to her, this time it was Zecora’s father, Zane.
“Zecora, are you okay?” he asked. He could see a bruise on the side of his daughter’s head and felt concerned.
“I’m okay, father. A ball hit me on my head on accident.” They both looked over to the zebras and camels that were playing around with the toy that hit Zecora. “They didn’t mean to do it.”
“Hmm, I understand that. What did they say to you?”
“They wanted to know if I wanted to play with them.”
“And did you say no?”
“What’s wrong with that, father?”
“My daughter, it’s important that you make good friends. I’m glad you like reading these books, but you might not have another chance to meet nice creatures like them. Go ahead, have a talk with them. You’ll be having a good time.” The young zebra looked to see the others playing and didn’t seem to be too confident. Zane held out his hoof. “Don’t worry, I’ll help you.”
Zecora hold onto her father’s hoof as they both walked over to where the group of friends was at. They stopped playing as they looked at father and daughter. “Oh, it’s you again,” the first zebra said.
“Um… Hello,” Zecora said shyly.
“Are we in trouble for hitting with our ball?” one of the camels asked.
“No, not at all,” Zane smiled. “I want to help Zecora here to make new friends. Who knows, you could learn new things from each other.” Zecora slowly stepped forward to join the group that had seemed to form a circle.
The zebras and camels looked at her for a while until one of them kicked the ball over to Zecora. When it stopped by her, Zecora kicked the ball over to one of the camels, which started the young ones kicking the ball around to each other. Zane looked at his daughter, who was smiling as she was starting to have fun.
After a bit of playing, the friends all introduced themselves to Zecora. Here she learned about many things, such as Medley’s affinity for singing and Dust Devil’s love for speed. However, the fun was cut a little short after the girls started getting thirsty. Hearing this, Zecora spoke up.
“How about some of my father’s cactus juice?” she asked.
The five young creatures looked at her a little confused. “But my mother said that cactus juice can make you sick,” Cactus Rose commented.
“Not the way my father makes it, he knows how to manage that. I can show you if you want.” Zane was impressed with the pep his daughter had in her step. The two of them led Zecora’s new friends back to their hut, where Zane quickly started preparing some of his cactus juice by adding some water to a medium-sized cauldron. He added in a few other ingredients, such as some powders, and cacti mixed them together.
As he stirred up the drinks, Zane muttered some rhymes to himself. “Some cacti to get some flavor,” he said to himself. “Must add the powders so it can be savored.” Zane looked at his brew before looking over to Zecora. “Could you fetch me some mugs?”
“Yes, father,” the young foal replied. She quickly found 4 mugs and placed them beside her father, who promptly got a ladle to pour the cactus juice into each mug.
Once that was done, he passed one out to each of his daughter’s friends. After letting the drink cool down for a little bit, they were still a little unsure about this beverage.
“This looks unenticing to the eye,” Marini said. With her deep breath, he bravely grabbed the mug and took a sip of the juice. The foal’s eyes lit up from the taste. “Hey, this is pretty good!” she satisfyingly commented. Zecora smiled at the thought she could share one of her favorite beverages with someone other than her father.
As much as they were starting to warm up to each other, the friends had to go back to their homes since it is almost nighttime. Zecora herself was starting to get tired. She lay down on her bed as Zane draped a blanket over her.
“It seems like you and your new friends are getting along well,” he said.
“Yes. But… will they ever stick around?”
“Of course, they will. Why would you think they wouldn’t?”
“Well, I like reading, but I’m not too sure about what the others like to do.”
“You might not know what they like doing for fun, but once you do, you’d enjoy it to its fullest. Now, rest your head ‘cause it’s time for bed. Save that energy for tomorrow, and you’ll be able to meet your new friends again and have an amazing time. Just remember not to quit.” The father kissed his daughter’s forehead before blowing out the nearby candle and leaving his daughter to sleep.
The next morning, Zecora went to find Marini and her friends. She was surprised to see Medley wearing a dress that was a little big for her. “Oh, hi, Zecora,” Medley said cheerfully.
The young foal was a little confused about her new friend’s accessories. “Um, why are you wearing that big dress?” Zecora asked.
“I’m a troubadour, and they play instruments, like this kora.” Medley held up the said string instrument and tried playing a couple of strings, though it was pretty clear she wasn’t used to playing it. “Everyone else is inside getting their costumes together.”
Zecora looked at the hut that her friend pointed at and walked inside of it. Marini, Dust Devil, Cactus Rose, and Crystal were digging through some chests to find items that could fit their characters.
“I can’t find anything that’ll be a good ax,” Dust complained.
“There’s no way our parents will let us have real weapons,” Crystal noted.
“Maybe we could make some?” Cactus Rose suggested.
Marini was about to give her opinion until she felt someone tap her shoulder. She turned and saw the newest addition to the group. “Oh, Zecora, you’re here!” she cheered.
“Hello, uh…. What are we doing?” Zecora asked.
“Roleplaying. My mother found this book about Ogres and Oubliettes. We’re going to go on an adventure!”
“I’m going to be a warrior!” Dust Devil proclaimed.
“And I’m going to be a Druid,” Cactus Rose added.
Zecora didn’t fully understand what those statements meant until she was given the book the foals were so excited about. She looked through the different classes of characters she could pick from then she saw the alchemist.
The description read; “An Alchemist is an expert at combining reagents to produce mystical effects.” This made Zecora think about Zane and share some knowledge with the group.
“My father makes potions for the village,” Zecora proclaimed. “An alchemist will be perfect for me.”
“Great choice!” Marini dug through the chest again, finding a few saddlebags, some empty bottles, and a pair of goggles.
“Um…. What do I do?”
“Just pretend you're mixing stuff into those bottles and use them to help our team or fight off evildoers.”
Zecora thought about the process of when Zane made potions. She remembered the rhyming he did to help her remember what was needed for each recipe. She also took a look through the book to learn about the other classes of characters.
After some time of searching, everyone had gotten their outfits together. They walked outside and Crystal quickly had to ask something. “Um, Marini, who’s going to be the bad guy?” she asked. The young leader thought for a moment as she didn’t quite think this part through.
Lucky for her, Zecora had an idea once she found a long stick. She picked it up and stabbed it into the sand. “We’ll each dig away at the sand at the same time,” she explained. “Whoever the stick points to when it falls, gets to be the creature… Doing the crime.”
Everyone seemed to think this was a good idea, so they all started digging at the base of the stick. Eventually, it started to tip over and landed pointing at Dust Devil. “Looks like you’re it, Dusty,” Cactus Rose commented.
“Alright then,” the camel proclaimed. They ran off doing their best evil laugh, leaving everyone else to start their adventure. Zecora took the book with them so she could read up more on her character.
After looking for Dust Devil for a little bit, they found the camel warrior standing proudly above them on a hill. “Behold foolish weaklings!” they proclaimed, “I’ll show you my true power!” They quickly swung their stick, which was supposed to be their ax, in front of the group of friends, pretending to attack.
“I summon a sandstorm to stop you in your tracks!” Cactus Rose cried. She waved her hooves around as Dusty pretended to be caught in a storm.
“My ice spell will help freeze you in place,” Crystal proclaimed. She held out her staff and made magic noises as Dust Devil did their best to stay statue-still.
“Zecora, do something!” Marini cried.
The foal panicked as she quickly grabbed one of her bottles. “You are not going to bring this land any doom,” Zecora cried, “Take this potion that’ll go boom!” She chucked the bottle at the camel, landing right beside them. Dust Devil provided the “boom” noise before jumping back dramatically.
“I have been defeated,” Dust proclaimed. “I have not prepared for the new one’s power. Need…. More training!” With that, the camel played dead with its tongue sticking out.
“...Did… Did we win?”
“I’m pretty sure we did,” Marini confirmed. “Good thinking with the boom potion.”
“Um… Thanks.”
“I like how you did that rhyming,” Medley added. “Do you think you could help me write some songs sometimes?”
“I… I think so.”
“We’ll have another adventure very soon,” Marini proclaimed. “Onward!”
After having a fun time with her friends, Zecora returned home, where her father was just putting out the flame under his cauldron. “Welcome home,” Zane proclaimed. “Did you have a good time?”
“It was fun,” Zecora beamed. “I got to pretend to be an alchemist and make exploding potions as healing ones.”
“Hmm, sounds like you’ve been inspired by my business haven’t you?”
“Yes. You make so many of them and they sound so cool.” The young zebra ran over to a bookshelf and picked out a notebook in that Zane had written down his successful potion recipes. Zecora then looked at her blank flank before turning to her father.
“Are you about to suggest what I think you’re thinking of?”
“Yes. Father, I like to have my mark.” Zane smiled as he looked around for his tools for the marking process.
A zebra or camel getting their mark is a little bit different than the process a pony goes through. Instead of the mark magically appearing, they have it marked onto their bodies like a tattoo. The process took a while and it was a bit painful for some creatures, but Zecora was ready for this.
Zane was told what his daughter wanted for her mark and he carefully started his work. Zecora cringed a little bit from the process, but she held it together. After a while, Zane stopped his words and looked at the two spirals that his daughter now possessed.
He soon got a mirror to show his daughter what her new mark looked like. “Wow!” she gasped.
“It’s rather simple, but I think it could have a deeper meaning.”
“Does it mean we can make potions together?”
“Of course. Now, how about we start with something simple by making some cactus juice?” The foal beamed as she looked through the notebook to find her father’s recipe. Zane started another fire under his cauldron, which was filled back up with water. Zecora had gathered more than enough ingredients to make the juice. Zane chuckled as he took his daughter step by step on how the juice was made.
Zecora’s life was rather uneventful as she grew up throughout the years. Her friends were impressed that she was the first one in their group to get her mark. The others would get their marks, with Marini getting hers right after Zecora’s.
Aside from that, their friendship grew to be pretty healthy. Zecora would love to share the potions she and her father would create and share knowledge of other brewers, like Mage Meadowbrook. Marini and her friends would enjoy their time with her, playing Orgres and Oubliettes, helping around the village, or just doing something simple and calming like star gazing.
One day, Zecora was checking a list while she checked on some basket she had on her back. Marini walked over to her and was curious about what she was doing. “What do you have planned for today?” Marini asked.
“My father is a little low on ingredients,” Zecora answered. “I was just about to head to gather some cacti.”
“You’re going by yourself? Doesn’t that seem kind of dangerous?”
“My father said that it shouldn’t be too much trouble if I do it quick. Through the different types of cacti, I worry about getting mixed up and getting someone sick.”
“You know the others can help.”
“No, I don’t want to bother them.” Marini saw the list her friend was looking at and then saw the number of cacti she needed.
“I’m pretty sure it’ll be a bother for you looking for all those different cacti. You should bring Rose along, she knows a lot about those different plants.”
“Hmm, alright if you say so. However, I’m doing it because you won’t take me saying no.”
A little while later, Zecora, Marini, and Cactus Rose were all set up to explore the desert. They were just leaving the village when they noticed the other half of their friends running over to them. “Hey, girls, wait up!” Dust Devil cried.
Zecora was confused as she thought that only Marini and Rose would be joining her. She turned to the camel to ask why everyone else was joining her. “Well, I just thought the more the merrier,” Rose explained. The zebra just rolled her eyes and just carried with her runs as her friends tagged along.
The journey through the desert would be difficult for a few reasons. One was the fact that every direction looked the same, making it very easy to get lost. The second problem was the heat. The sun beat down relentlessly, making it very uncomfortable for the zebras. The camel would have a better time as they were better suited to exploding in the dry environment.
Cactus Rose proved to be very helpful with picking the different cacti. She identified them almost just by glancing at them. Zecora was very thankful for her help and they were just about to head back home when a loud screech was heard.
Everyone looked and was horrified to see a roc flying around its future prey. Marini almost went into a panic as they had nowhere to hide. “Scatter!” she cried. The friends did so, running this way and that to hopefully confuse the roc.
The big bird looked down at Zecora and Marini, who were running side by side. The roc flew downwards and was about to swoop the two up if it didn’t see the large sand cloud heading their way.
It flew away, making the zebras think they were in the clear until they saw the sandstorm. “Oh no!” Marini cried. They tried running away from it, but the storm was gaining on them. Fearing that they were unable to escape.
“Get down and cover your face!” Zecora cried. The two did this action, bracing themselves for the worst. The storm hit them like a swarm of bees. The sand smacked against their bodies, causing some cuts. Zecora and Marini could barely hold on.
Mercifully, the storm subsided. The zebra managed to gather their energy to stand up, covered in sand and injuries. “Did…. Did we make it?” Marini asked.
“Yes, with some injuries,” Zecora groaned. “And right now it looks like it’s you and me.” The rest of their group was nowhere to be found. To make matters worse, they were now lost.
“Which way is back to the village?”
“The storm got us turned around and covered our tracks, I don’t know how we’re going to make it back.” Both of them were lost for words about what to do. All Zecora could think of doing was staying still, hoping that somebody would find them.
Marini, on the other hand, didn’t want to stay put. She stood up on her shaky legs and slowly walked away from her friend. “That roc could come back for us,” she guessed. “We can’t stay here.”
“But we have no idea where we're going. It’s less likely we’ll find our way back than it is to start snowing.”
“You can stay here and wait for your idea to work. I’m not…. Going to let a roc eat me.” As Marini traveled further away, the more concerned Zecora got. Even though she knew this was a bad idea, she lifted herself up and slowly walked after Marini.
Zecora groaned in pain as she seemed to have suffered a little worse from the sandstorm. She was struggling to walk as Marini waited for her to catch up. “Maybe we should walk together,” Marini suggested. Zecora only nodded in agreement as standing was a little hard with assistance.
The two zebras kept walking, even though they had no clue where they were going. The plan was that they’d keep walking in one direction until they found something they could use as a landmark. Zecora didn’t think this would work, but she knew Marini would probably make her condition worse if she went off alone.
Eventually, the two got tired and sat down to catch their breath. As they took their break, there was a hissing sound. The girls looked and suddenly saw a snake slithering across the sand. It looked to be a viper, and a dangerous one too. As if this wasn’t bad enough, there was more than one.
The snakes quickly surrounded the two friends who felt like they were done for. They braved themselves for one of the vipers to bite them, only to be taken aback by the sound of one of the snakes getting hit with a stick.
Zecora opened her eyes and saw her father smacking the vipers away with a stick. Some camels raced over to the injured zebra and placed them on their backs.
They started running back to the village with Zane just about to catch up to them if it wasn’t for the sharp pain in his back leg. He looked back and saw, to his horror, one of the vipers had bitten him.
He kicked it off but weakness quickly took over his body. One of the camels was able to run back to him and carry him away. “Zane, are you okay?” the camel asked.
“I’m…. I need medical attention but…. Make sure Zecora recovers,” Zane groaned. He breathed heavily as the camels quickly took them all back to the village. Zecora had lost a lot of her strength by walking with Marini. She eventually passed out and would be unconscious for a while.
When Zecora woke up, she found she was back home in her hut. She looked around wondering where her father was. Stepping out of bed, she headed outside to see some zebras and camels talking amongst one another, sounding concerned.
“Excuse me,” Zecora spoke. The creatures turned to her and looked nervous. “Where is my father?”
Everyone looked nervous as if they didn’t know what to say. Crystal, who was among the crowd, walked over to her friend, who still looked to be injured. “Zecora, but we think you need to lie back down,” she proclaimed.
“But… What about my father?” Crystal didn’t know what to say and just helped her friend back to the hut. While she wasn’t answered, the fact they were surrounded by poisonous vipers was a clear sign of something Zecora didn’t want to believe.
For the next few days, Zecora was very quiet. She would often avoid others whenever she could, and refused to speak with any of her friends, especially Marini. Though her friend tried her best to apologize, Zecora didn’t want to hear it. The loss of her father was too much for her to bear. It got to the point where simply being in the old hut was reminding her too much of him.
One day, Zecora gathered up all of her essentials and left the village. While Marini and her friends didn’t quite know how Zecora got to Equestria, the most like cause was by boat, they did wish they would see her one day again.
Everyone had gathered up the supplies they needed to find their friend as Marini finished her story. “I always felt guilty ever since that incident,” the chief sighed. “I didn’t think that she’d ever forgive me.” She lowered her head as Applebloom and Applejack felt sympathetic.
“We all make mistakes,” Applejack noted. “And judging for how long Zecora has been visiting Ponyville, I say it was long ago.”
“Zecora’s shown to be very wise,” Applebloom said. “She’s helped us out of several problems. Even if we caused them ourselves. I know it was hard but… you didn’t mean for that to happen on purpose. You’ve both grown, and I believe that she’ll forgive you like a friend.”
“How can you be so sure about that?” Marini questioned.
“We have a friend that likes to cause trouble and even slipped back into his old ways, nearly causing damage to all of Equestria,” Applejack informed. “And yet, we know creatures who were still forgiving him.”
“He’s putting in the effort,” Applebloom noted. Her eldest sister nodded.
“Nevertheless, I’m positive that if our friends can forgive someone who almost destroyed Equestria… twice… Zecora can forgive you for what happened. We can’t just leave her out in the desert and die from thirst.”
Marini looked at her friends, who were all set to go. The chief thought about everything that had happened so far, sulking wasn’t going to fix anything. “You’re right.” With her spirits lifted back up, Marini stood up and took a deep breath. “Let’s go find our friend,” she proclaimed.
They walked out of the hut, pushing away the angry zebra and camels that wanted a word with Marini. Applejack helped push them away, letting them know they were going to find Zecora, even if they had to push some creatures that were getting in the way.
They headed in the direction where they saw Zecora runoff, using a compass to help them from not getting lost. After walking for a little bit, Cactus Rose saw something lying down in the sand. “I see her!” she cried.
The group of creatures ran over and soon took a sigh of relief when they saw the zebra turn to face them. “Leave me alone,” she ordered. “I don’t even want to go back home.”
“We aren’t forcing you to go back,” Marini said. “We want to talk.”
Zecora looked away from her old friends as Applejack and Applebloom walked beside her. “Zecora, I know what it’s like to lose a parent,” the older farm pony spoke. “You could’ve done something different and tried to figure out the problem.” The zebra looked back at Marini, who stepped back as she could feel some guilt. Applejack lowered her brow. “And blaming a friend for an accident like that merely makes things worse.”
Zecora looked down at the sand knowing she was right. “We’re sorry that you had to go through something like that,” Applebloom added, “But that doesn’t mean you have to shut the rest of the world out. Your friends want to help you cope and… Chief wanted to make up for her mistake.”
Zecora looked at the chief who realized it was her time to speak. “I’m sorry for everything that happened,” Marini spoke. “I should’ve listened to you and waited for the villagers to find us. Zane should never have been bitten and perished. I’m sorry for all of the trauma I caused you. I’m failing now as chief and even worse… as a friend. You don’t have to help in the village, I’m not forcing you to do that. I… I just want to be friends again.”
Marini’s voice sounded like she was about to cry. Zecora sighed as she took a moment to find the right words. “I shouldn’t blame you for what happened in the past,” she spoke, “I felt that guilt would always last. The memory of my father’s incident is grim, but every time I think about it… I miss him.”
Zecora lay down as she started to cry from her father’s memory. Applebloom tried to help cheer her up by hugging her. “It’s okay,” the apple filly said. “I hear sometimes it’s best to let it all out.” The zebra was in shock, even more so when Applejack join in with the hug. Eventually, the zebras and camels join in to make a group hug. Zecora felt overwhelmed but found herself smiling as she started crying tears of joy. The hug carried on for a while before everyone separated and stood up.
“I’m sorry for how I acted,” Zecora apologized, “I should’ve been more mature. The problems I should’ve talked with you about it so it would be easier to endure.”
“It’s okay Zecora,” Marini said. “I think the worst might be behind us. …Unless you count the drought.”
“About that,” Applejack spoke. “I think I’ve got a risky idea that should help with the drought.”
“At this point, I’m willing to try anything,” Marini admitted. “What’s the plan?”
“Well, there’s a boulder blocking the underground river. There’s nothing in this village that’ll be able to remove that thing safely, except for a boom potion.”
“Hmm, one paper that sounds like a good idea,” Crystal commented. “But there’s still the chance of you also getting blown up and/or the chance of being swept up in the flowing water.”
“Maybe the thrower of the boom potion could just run back to the hole,” Dust Devil commented.
“Unlikely. Applejack, how far was the boulder from the hole?”
“I give or take about a three-minute walk,” the earth pony guessed from her memory.
“Running out of there would barely get away from the water.”
“Not to mention climbing up a rope,” Cactus Rose added. “Could there be any way to make someone go faster?”
Applebloom and Zecora both thought until they came to the same idea they found in the potion book. “Acelerado!” they proclaimed.
The creatures were a little confused until Zecora informed them what they were talking about. “The potion Acelerado is exactly what we need,” she explained, “For it’s that can increase a creature’s speed.”
Marini smiled as they had the plan in motion. “Okay, but we have to make sure things go properly this time,” she informed.
“We’ll make sure we have the right potion this time,” Applebloom proclaimed.
“Okay then. Let’s get back to the village and fix this.” Everyone followed Marini, ready to put their new plan into action.
After getting back, Applebloom and Zecora got started on the new potions. They made them in a smaller cauldron this time, inside one of the huts in case of another explosion. While they did that, Applejack had a rope tied around her waist, getting ready to use the two potions she would be given.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Marini asked.
“I’m not letting any of your villagers get hurt,” Applejack stated. She looked to Marini’s friends, who all gave a tug on the rope around the pony’s body, making sure it was secure. “Applebloom, how are the potion coming along?!”
“Almost done,” the apple filly replied. She watched Zecora pour the second potion into a bottle carefully. She and Applebloom then took the red and blue potions outside to the creatures standing next to the well.
“The blue potion is the one you go faster,” Zecora explained. “Be careful with the red one, or it might be a disaster. Also, Acelerado is something I’ve never made before, it’s one I often skip. I recommend just starting with a sip.”
Applejack took her advice, opening the Acelerado potion and drinking a tiny amount. That alone sent a flash of energy through her body. “How do you feel, sis?” Applebloom asked.
“Fine. I’m totally fine,” the farm pony responded quickly. She shook her head as the energy needed to be let out. “I feel finer like a bull in a china shop that’s been condemned.”
“Is this normal?” Marini asked.
“The potion’s description said it would have the user acting a little jittering on the first use,” Applebloom informed. “Let’s put that energy to good use.” Applejack simply nodded before grabbing the boom potion and leaping into the well with an excited “YEEHAH!”
The creatures quickly grabbed the rope to stop Applejack hit the ground. The farm pony then ran to where the boulder was and chucked the bottle at it, running back to where she came from. The potion blew up upon impact and the boulder started cracking. Streams of water started to leak out as the cracks got bigger and bigger.
Applejack had gotten back to the hole and gave the rope a couple of yanks before she was starting to get pulled out. It was good timing too since they all heard the sound of rushing water getting closer. Thankfully, Applejack was out of the well just as the river flowed right by the hole.
The group of creatures peered down into the well and saw the water down inside. Marini dropped the bucked down inside and turned the handle to lower it in slowly. After letting all of the rope out, the chief then pulled the bucket back up to find it filled up with water.
“It worked!” the chief cheered. “Quick, get a barrel.” Dust Devil and Medley Brook did as they were told, running over to the first barrel they could find and taking it back for the water to fill it up. The bucket went up and down several, each one coming back with water that was filled into the barrel.
The villagers looked and saw the well was back in working order. They were relieved that they weren’t going to have to worry about water for a while.
“What a relief,” Crystal commented.
“Agreed,” Marini noted. “Let’s get as much as we can. If the well gets clogged again, we’re setting camels to fetch water as soon as possible.”
“Noted,” Dust Devil and Cactus Rose responded. Dust Devil looked at the Acelerado potion and was curious to test something. They picked it up and drank some of it. Like Applejack, they felt a wave of energy flow through them.
When Rose saw what they did, feeling a little concerned. “Dusty, what are you doing?” she asked.
“Trying out the potion,” Dust Devil responded. “Kind of taste good. I’m going to go for a run.” With that, the camel ran off, causing small dust clouds with their steps. Dusty grabbed some large buckets and ran towards the ocean, making clouds of dust the whole way.
Everyone watched in amazement. “So… How long will it take him to get back?” Applebloom asked.
“The ocean is a kilometer and half away,” Marini noted, “Though with his speed it should…”
“About thirty seconds?” Applejack finished. She pointed to the distance, seeing the quick camel running back with his buckets spilling some water thanks to his speed. They screeched to a stop, splashing out some water to creatures that were in front of them.
“Oop, sorry guys,” Dust Devil apologized.
“It’s alright Dusty,” Marini responded. “You’ve got me thinking about some backup plans for something like this happening again.” The chief turned to Zecora, who looked to be much happier now. “Thank you for helping us Zecora. I’m sorry you had to go through any… Past trauma.”
“You don’t have to be sorry, whatever grudges were there are at an end,” Zecora responded. “The village is saved and I’m glad we can get back to being friends.” This comment was enough to have Marini hug the rhyming zebra, who simply smiled while she hugged her back.
There was a sudden glowing, which grabbed everyone’s attention. Zecora, Applejack, and Applebloom’s marks were all glowing now, signaling the mission was complete. “Since when could you do that?” Marini asked.
“It’s something that special creatures do when there’s a mission for us to do,” Applejack explained. “It also shines when it times for us to go.”
“Aw, already?” Medley questioned. “We just started getting along again.”
“I know I have to leave,” Zecora noted, “But just remember not to be lost in grief. I’ll try and find a good time to visit you again, so don’t fret, who knows, maybe we can get to play a game of Ogres and Oubliettes.” This brought excitement to her friends, hoping the next time they met up would be very soon.
It took a couple of minutes for the airship to get ready to leave. As they waited, Zecora took a few more minutes to explore her old stomping grounds before they went back to Equestria. She looked around and gave a sniff… Something smelt familiar.
Poking her head into one of the huts, she found Marini looking at some notes with Cactus Rose, as they were throwing some ingredients into a small cauldron. The two looked to their and were surprised to see her. “Oh, hey…” Cactus Rose spoke, “We weren’t expecting you to find us so soon.”
Zecora looked at the cauldron they were using, and the mugs that Marini was soon filling up with a familiar green liquid. “Is that…?”
“Cactus juice, yes,” Marini confirmed. “I thought we’d give you one last goodbye present before you leave.” She let the juice cool for a little bit before handing one to her friend. Zecora looked at the liquid and gave it a little sip. It almost tasted like the kind her father used to make. She felt nostalgic and reminiscent of her past. Marini was worried when she saw the look on her face. “You’re not crying, are you?”
“No,” Zecora responded. “I appreciate the drink. It has a memory that will always have a link. I’m really lucky to have someone like you as a friend, and I highly doubt this will be the end.” The friends smiled as they drank up the cactus juice.
Just after they finished it, they heard Applejack call out to them. “We’re ready to go!” she called.
The two zebra just simply smiled at each other as they shared one last hug. “You again soon,” Marini said. Zecora let go of the hug and walked to the airship. As they started setting off, the zebra’s old friends ran out and waved goodbye, and Zecora did the same.
The ship kept on sailing away until the village was out of sight. “How are you feeling?” Applebloom asked.
“...Going back home was something that I fear, that memory would always make me shed a tear. However, I’m glad that you two came along, and made sure the problem didn’t around for long. I still miss my father when he fell victim to his condition, but I do hope he is that whatever grudge I had against my friend is forgiven.”
Applejack placed her hoof on the zebra’s shoulder. “If there’s ever a moment you need to talk, we’re always available,” the farm pony stated.
Zecora looked between Applejack and Applebloom. She gave a warm smile as she simply replied, “Thank you.” And with the past behind her, Zecora and the apple sister rode home back to Equestria.
Author's Note
So, this is our first of the comic rewrites. Honestly, I was a little worried since I’ve been thinking about the other three stories more than Zecora’s, since those stories allowed a little wiggle room for me. Because her story gets more detail than the others, Zecora’s home might’ve been the hardest one to rework.
Luckily, with some help from Greg, I was able to work out some details. For starters, I didn’t want to have multiple trees of harmony since it would feel kind of gimmicky. It’s like having all of the mane six becoming alicorns, it feels more like a gimmick if you do it like that.
So, I changed one of the main issues that Zecora’s home, Zebrat, is dealing with is a drought. It would be a big deal since it is a desert after all. These natural predicaments are going to be a thing throughout the rewrites since we won’t have trees of harmony since they also kind of contradict how the OG Tree was made.
Another change I’ve added to Zebrat, is that it’s mostly just zebras and camels. I’ve changed Zecora’s friends into those species too. I looked around but Crystal and Medley Brook were the only kelpies I could find. The same applies to Dust Devil and Cactus Rose being abadas. Sorry if this is controversial.
Also, looking at the comic again, you notice in her youth, Zecora kind of acted like a jerk. Marini and her friends just wanted to hang out and they didn’t fully understand what she was reading. Marini was even warning her she might be disappointed if she couldn’t use magic.
Lastly, let’s talk about Tempest and Rockhoof and why they’re not in the comic. I don’t want to bring along characters I don’t think will be important to the plot. I think a story about Zecora’s homecoming would be best with just Zecora, Applejack, and Applebloom, the last of which was one of the only ponies who wanted to know about her when Zecora made her debut.
As I said, Zecora’s story is probably going to be the hardest story I had to rewrite. All these changes are in my opinion and have been done to better fit into the continuity of my stories. Hope you enjoyed.
