Twilight decided now would be the perfect time to test out her new wings and, after some quick lessons from the former queen in her head, was flying low over the trees of the Everfree back to Ponyville. Something itched at the back of her mind and she sighed, "I still need to get those herbs to keep up appearances..." she muttered to nopony in particular and landed out of sight of the shaman's tree. The prankster instinct of the changelings was tempting her to walk up as somepony other than Twilight Sparkle, but her acting had never been very good. It would take some practice first. Concentrating, there was a brief flash of purple fire as her changeling form was overwritten by that of her original self.

She approached the door and knocked lightly twice. Shortly, the familiar zebra appeared and opened the door, "Ah, Twilight Sparkle my friend, so nice to see you again. What can this secluded mare do for one so fair?"

Twilight blushed a little at the compliment, "Oh, it's just, my estrus cycle is coming soon and I was wondering if you had some of the herbs that can suppress it laying around."

"Ah, the time of the year that all stallions learn to fear. Please come in and have a seat, while I find just the thing to ease your heat."

Twilight followed the zebra into the hut and sat down near the table by the window, examining one of the myriad odd artifacts the shaman kept around. She felt odd, as if somepony were watching her, "Zecora, do you have other company? I feel like I'm being watched."

"This is the Everfree, my dear mare. Many things may stir the air..." The zebra hesitated after she brought down a jar and eyed Twilight closely before raising her eyebrows slightly, "The Element of Honesty I may not be, but I see now you have been lying to me. You are not here to soothe the burn, so what is it you are here to learn?"

"Learn? Nothing, why? What is it?"

"You did quite well, I admit, in hiding your smell. What ill do you dare to bring, my little changeling?"

Twilight's eyes snapped open wide as she stared at the mare across the room, who was now staring her down with an almost Fluttershy intensity. Their eyes remained locked together for some time, as the unicorn mentally panicked.

'Oh no, I've heard of them before... Zebras trained to hunt down Changelings. She's a Mwindanji!

"Zecora, please, let me explain! I'm Twilight, really!"

The shaman dropped all pretense, and with it, the rhyming nature of her speech, "Tread carefully, for I will know if you speak any lies," she said as she downed a potion and her eyes began to glow silver, "The aura of a changeling is about you, child. You cannot deny this."

"I won't deny it, just, listen, please?"

The zebra nodded slowly and Twilight launched into the long tale of how she became the new queen, leaving out the bits about her friends and the new royal guards that were growing in the new hive.

Almost a half an hour later, Zecora nodded again and placed a hoof softly on the mare's shoulder, who had dispelled her illusion to prove her point, "Very well, I believe your tale. I am glad we will not be enemies. I had feared you were from the old hive, sent to retrieve an exile."

"An exile? What are you talking about? Is there another changeling here? Don't tell me you're a changeling!"

The shaman laughed and smiled, "No, no, not me, my dear Twilight, but somepony you would definitely know on sight! Mebulu! It is safe, you may come out."

Out of the shadows beneath several piled masks slunk a changeling, looking exactly like one of the hundreds of drones that had attacked Canterlot. This one however, carried itself with a shy and intelligent air, compared to the animalistic hunger the others had displayed.

"Err, Hello there?" Twilight offered hesitantly.

"Hello... You're Chryssalis' successor?"

"Yes, I'm Twilight Sparkle."

"That's a pony name, not the name of a Queen..."

"Erm... How about... Neoptera?"

The changeling nodded, "Much better, I'm Sc- er- Mebulu. I was exiled for trying to convince the former queen that naturally built love was healthier and better in the long run than magically stolen..."

"That's horrible..."

'In hindsight, I should have listened to her.'

'Yes, you should have! But we'll argue about this later!'

"I was a Mwindanji of my tribe. When I first met Mebulu, she was just another target, until she convinced me to listen. Now she is like a daughter to me. The others in my band were not so inclined, so we escaped as far from Zebrica as possible."

"So you said I would know who she was?"

"Yes, she is very close to your friend's sisters."

"So she's a student at Cherilee's school?"

"Among other things. You see, Twilight, that my Mebulu..." There was green flash at a wink from the shaman, "Is your friend Scootaloo!"

The orange pegasus filly grinned up at the queen, "Hi!"

Twilight blinked a few times, looking from Scootaloo to Zecora and back again a few times, "I see," she said before passing out cold.

"Oh dear, Mebulu, I think you broke her."

The changeling changed into a copy of her house-mate, "From her pose, we can infer."

The original rolled her eyes and went to get the smelling salts, "I have told you many a time, that you lack finesse with your attempted rhyme."

Author's Note

Apparently I can channel Zecora tonight. Weird. Her rhymes came really easily.