//------------------------------// // Rebuilding Bridges // Story: Zecora's Homecoming // by PonyPixel //------------------------------// 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.