Chapter II

~Striped Shock~

Ponyville was always quite lively, but today, it was a bustling metropolis. Ponies from all across Equestria were trotting around happily, chatting away with their good friends. But it was expected. Today was the day of the Eclipse Festival after all. No one was up to miss such a sight, so no wonder the town was so crowded. Even Fluffy Star was surprised by how many ponies were here. Now she knew for a fact she had to keep her empty flank covered. Having a few ponies tease you is better than all of Equestria pointing and laughing at you. Fortunately for her, both sides were almost perfectly covered by the bag she wore over her back.

Fluffy looked around. Snack parlors, carnival games, and even rides dawned the town. Foals were running around, begging their parents for a snack or to play a game. Ponies yelled in excitement as the rides swung them back and forth. But, of course, the rides were just there to pass the time. Everypony was more excited for the Eclipse happening that night. Even now, the moon was inching closer to the sun in preparation for the event.

Unsure of what to do first, Fluffy took a seat on a bench. Embarrassingly, she couldn’t get her mind off that incident from yesterday. It was just a few foals, and she was a grown adult. She shouldn’t be so upset about this, and yet she was. All she wants to do is fit in, but it never works. It never…

“Excuse me,” a voice exclaimed, making Fluffy jump. She turned to see who was talking to her, and came face-to-face with a mare wearing a black hood, covering her head and most of her face. From what Fluffy could see, she had a white coat with purple markings, the most prominent she could see being one covering her muzzle. The pony spoke again.

“Oh! Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you! You see, I came to….um…” she paused for a moment to think. “Help me find… something to do…?”

“Huh…?” Fluffy murmured, tilting her head to the side in confusion. What did they mean?

“Um… you see, I’m not from here, and I’m not sure where to go, so I was hoping you could help me, and…” she paused again. “The town you…me…show…?

Fluffy looked at the pony like they were crazy. Were they…trying to rhyme? Who talks like this? What were they trying to say?

“Show me around,” the pony said bluntly, sighing in annoyance.

“Oh!” Fluffy exclaimed in understandment. “Well, why didn’t you just say so? You didn’t need to rhyme, or, whatever you were doing. Why were you doing that anyways?”

“Uh…” the pony muttered. “It’s a long story. Let’s just go around already. My name’s Zuri.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Zuri! Where are you from?”

“Erm…. There’s a lot of ponies around! What’s the occasion?” Zuri replied, trying to change the subject.

“You don’t know?” Fluffy questioned in surprise. “Everypony in Equestria knows about it! It’s the Eclipse Festival, y’know, when Princess Luster comes to Ponyville and makes an eclipse! Isn’t that why you’re here?”

Zuri stared at Fluffy, seemingly trying to think of something to say. “Uh- oh yeah! Of course! The Eclipse Festival! I was just kidding… I am… trivial…”

Fluffy Star glared at the purple-marked pony in confusion. She was rhyming again, what is with this?

“Ooh, look! A pastry stand!” Zuri exclaimed quickly. “Looks delicious! C'mon, let's go get a little something!” she hurriedly grabbed Fluffy's hoof and dragged her to the stand, not even giving her a chance to speak. What was going on with Zuri? She’s rhyming like a weirdo one moment and acting nervous the next. It’s almost like she’s hiding something. What could she possibly be hiding? She seemed normal, other than some strange lump seeming to be hiding under the dark cloak. Possibly just a bag. But, her thoughts were going off topic. Zuri was definitely trying to hide something. Should she ask…? No. She doesn’t have the right to trespass on her privacy. Fluffy decided to just go along with the purple pony. Maybe she could finally make a friend without her knowing about her lack of cutie mark.

“So, what are things like here?” Zuri questioned the pink pegasus, chowing down on a savory cupcake covered in sprinkles. They were sitting across from each other at a table, relishing in their pastries. Before sitting down, they had been all over. They went on rides, played games, even won some prizes. In fact, it was some of the most fun Fluffy ever had. It was a long time since she was able to do these things with someone else. But now, it was getting close to evening. It was almost time for the eclipse.

“Well, I'd think it'd be the same as it is for you,” Fluffy replied. “But it's pretty good. Not that interesting to be honest. The most interesting thing to happen this week was this festival.”

“Speaking of which, the princess is supposed to be coming tonight, right?”

“Oh, yes!” the pegasus exclaimed, her eyes glowing in joy. “I still cant wait for it!”

Zuri cocked her head. “Well, I gotta ask… who is the princess?”

Fluffy looked at the pony sitting across from her in disbelief. “How do you not know about Princess Luster?”

“Well, I do!” Zuri said in desperation. “I…just don't know much about her. You think you could…?”

Confused but willing to help, Fluffy smiled. “Well, I do know a thing or two about history. You see, Luster Dawn was the very first pony in Equestria, until she used her magic to create ponykind. Once she did, she became the princess and was worshiped by all!”

Zuri glared at Fluffy skeptically. “Is that true?”

“Of course! I mean, she is the only pony to ever have magic or flight. There must be a reason for that.”

“Wait… you can't fly?” asked Zuri in surprise.

“No…?” Fluffy stared at Zuri in confusion. “Why are you even asking? Of course I can't!”

“You literally have wings! What's the point if you can't fly?”

“Well…” Fluffy paused, looking down at her useless feathers in thought. “That’s a little weird… but have you ever seen a pegasus fly before?! Where did you get that idea from?

“To be honest, I've never even seen a pegasus walk. I… uh… live in an… earth pony community,” Zuri said, seemingly making up words as she went.

“I… guess that makes sense…” Fluffy murmured, rubbing the back of her neck as Zuri got back on topic.

“But all of this seems kinda… I dunno… not very believable? Where are you guys even getting all this stuff from?”

“The princess herself told us!” Fluffy replied. “And there’s no reason for her to lie so what’s the point in arguing? Though I will admit, there are several things we’ve discovered that didn’t really go with the princess’s story… that’s where we came up with mythology that ‘explains’ it. Speaking of which, there are a lot of myths that I really like. But some of them are pretty weird. I mean, one had this weird creature called a… zebra, I think? It’s supposed to be a pony that’s all white with stripes. Heh, such a weird concept!”

Zuri let out an awkward chuckle, sweating nervously. Fluffy couldn’t help but notice her behavior.

“Hey, are you okay?” she asked, reaching for Zuri’s hoof.

“YEAH!” Zuri shouted desperately. “Yes, of course I’m fine! I… like… doing… the conga line…?” her voice lowered to a high-pitched squeak as the sentence went on. Fluffy raised an eyebrow. Another one of these rhymes! This is getting really weird.

“What is up with you?” Fluffy asked. “You've been acting so strange this whole time! Is there something wrong? Why do you keep rhyming?”

Zuri started sweating profusely, thinking of what to say as Fluffy waited for another excuse. She didn't want to be rude by trespassing on her privacy, but she had to know. As the silence between the two persisted, Zuri finally spoke up, a look of sterness and annoyance on her face.

“It's a part of my people's culture… and if you can't handle that, then I don't see why I should continue talking to you!”

With a “hmph,” Zuri stomped away from the table. Fluffy stared at the white pony surprise and guilt. She didn't mean to offend her! She should've known not to ask such questions!

“Wait!” Fluffy yelled, following Zuri. “I didn't mean-”

Before she could persist, something hit her on the back of the head. Fluffy looked down to see a crumbled up wad of paper lying on the ground behind her. Confused, she picked it up. She looked around, not seeing anyone that could be the potential owner of the paper. Out of curiosity, she opened the paper, wondering if there was a message on it. The pink pegasus’ face turned from confusion to shock as she read the message.

“Blank flank!!!”

As Fluffy dropped the paper, the sound of guffaws filled the air. The pegasus whipped around to behold the sight of two foals pointing and laughing at her. The same two foals that had knocked her off the ladder yesterday. She stood paralyzed as the foals proceeded to belittle her.

“Blank flank, blank flank! Fluffy Star's a blank flank!”

Those words pierced her mind like needles. How pathetic could she be to be teased by a bunch of kids? Why can't she just be normal and escape this bullying for once? It never stops. It won't stop. It'll…

“Hey!” Fluffy perked up at the sound of a familiar voice. She turned her head to see Zuri, who was glaring at the foals in anger.

“Leave her alone!”

“Ha! What're you gonna do?!” one of the foals teased. “Tell our parents?”

Keeping her gaze locked on the foals, Zuri reaches into her cloak, taking out a small, round beaker full of green liquid. She tossed it in the air, a smug grin spreading across her face as she caught it again.

“Nah, I think they'd be mad at you for other things,” she remarked darkly, chucking the beaker to the ground, causing it to shatter in front of the foals. They watched it in confusion as the green liquid absorbed into the ground. Instantly, an ominous green mist erected from the ground, forming the faces of two ponies. As the foals quickly recognized the faces, they began to cower as the faces glared at them in anger.

“Cookie Dough, didn't I tell you to clean your room this morning? What are you doing out here with that messy room of yours?!”

“Fruitcake, I checked your grades, and I have to say… I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed.”

“AAAAHHHH!” The foals ran away in fear, forgetting the belittling that they had come there to do in the first place.

Satisfied, Zuri wafted away the smoke. Her work here was done. She turned to walk away, proud of herself knowing that the foals wouldn’t be coming back any time soon.

“Wh-what was that…?”

Zuri turned to face Fluffy Star, who was staring at her in confusion and horror.

“Oh… crud. She wasn’t supposed to see that!” Zuri murmured, stomping the ground in frustration. “Uh… you didn’t see anything…” she added in a ghost-like manner, waving her hooves mysteriously, as if casting a spell. Fluffy continued to stare at the white pony in disbelief, quivering in shock and fear. The two locked eyes for what seemed like forever, Zuri trying to come up with something, anything to explain what just happened. Finally, she sighed, breaking the deafening silence. She was tired of making up excuses.

“It’d probably be better if I told you in private.”

She grabbed a hold of Fluffy’s hoof, leading her somewhere far away from the large, neverending sea of ponies of all kinds. Fluffy tried to resist the pull, but it was clear that she couldn’t overpower Zuri’s grip. She didn’t want to be near her any longer, afraid of what she may do to her. Nevertheless, she was still curious as to what had just transpired.

Soon enough, the two found themselves behind a shop, secluded from the seemingly infinite crowd. Taking a deep breath Zuri locked eyes with the pink pegasus.

“Alright, I know you have like, a million questions, so ask away.”

Immediately, Fluffy blurted out: “How did you make that smoke?! What was in that bottle? Did you make that stuff? Was it magic? How were you able to make magic? Who even- no… what are you?”

Inhaling deeply once more, Zuri answered.

“Listen, I know that you probably won’t believe me, but you're gonna have to promise me not to tell anyone about this, got it?Anyone.”

Gulping out of fear, Fluffy performed the motion of zipping her mouth closed with her wing.

“So, for a while, I’ve been studying potion-making, which, surprisingly, is possible, seeing as how it seems there’s no magic,” Zuri pulls out another bottle from underneath her cloak. “I’ve made a lot of potions over the years. Invisibility, flying, super speed, anything you can think of, I’ve probably made a potion for it.” with a smirk, she tosses the potion bottle around, seemingly juggling it between her hooves. Fluffy continued to stare at Zuri, no longer fearful, but curious.

Putting the potion away, Zuri wears a more serious expression.

“And about the ‘what are you’ thing. Okay, so, basically…” Zuri exhaled deeply one last time before removing her cloak, revealing her body and the rest of her face. She was mostly white, with purple hair. Her eyes were two different colors, one being blue and the other pink. She wore golden jewelry, a necklace, bracelets and earrings. On her back, she had a bag filled to the brim with more potions. But one of her most prominent features of all, were the light purple markings all over her body. Stripes. Fluffy looked Zuri up and down before staring at her mismatched eyes in disbelief.

In three simple words, everything Fluffy Star thought she knew was turned on its head.

“I’m a zebra.”