Home of the Ponies and Awesome Bronies

by Lady Spider

6. Zecora

*** I'm not one for rhyming... trying to space more... keep the feedback up!***

Zecora’s place was somewhere on that very fine line between let’s-get-our-asses-outta-here creepy and really kinda cool. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had helped Ryan and I find our way here and well... I was just glad I didn’t come here by myself. The door to the hut was shut but we could hear the zebra humming inside.
Fluttershy knocked timidly on the door. “Um... Zecora? We... uh... well... we...” She was interrupted as Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and flew into the hut causing the door to bang on the opposite wall.
“We have two visitors who have some questions for you!” Fluttershy poked her head into the room.
“If... well... I mean if that’s okay.”
Zecora smiled at the two pegasi. “You are always welcome to be my guest; I will try to put those questions to rest.” Fluttershy tiptoed into the hut with me and Ryan in the rear. Zecora’s eyes fell on Ryan and her jaw dropped open. “A human you have brought to me; how is that possible to see?”
Ryan stared at her blankly. “Why can’t she speak normally?” I kicked him gently with my hind leg. He yelped and bent forward. Apparently I had better aim and stronger kicks than I thought.
“Zecora,” I stepped toward her. “I was a human until I came to Equestria. We have three questions for you. First, could I ever become human again?”
The zebra thought a moment then flipped through a rather large old fashioned book that had been lying on a shelf. “A human turned to pony has never been done; as far as I know you are the only one. To turn back is unknown; in this you are alone.”
I nodded and tried to make Zecora’s rhymes make sense. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes impatiently and flew out the open door, saying something about changing the weather and dragging Fluttershy behind her. Ryan asked the second question.
“Is there any way to get back to our home on earth?” Before he even finished Zecora was shrugging.
“The existence of other worlds I knew, but the search to get there is meant for you.”
I sighed. They weren’t straight answers. But then again, it’s a talking, rhyming, spell casting zebra. What HAD I been expecting?
“Lastly, do you know how to turn him into a pony?” I pointed to Ryan with a blue hoof. Zecora stopped flipping through her book. She flipped the book around so we could see the pages. I felt my face droop slightly in disappointment as I realized it wasnn’t a spell or potion for changing other species into ponies. It was an old legends book.
A pony and a human were pictured on the pages. A figure was behind them and seemed to be turning to stone. I squinted at the form not recognizing it.
“Is that... Discord?” Ryan guessed. Zecora shook her head making her golden hoops glint in the strange lighting of the hut.
“The figure is similar to Discord but not exact; humor is the only thing it seems to lack. The figures almost represent you; you must remain as you are to keep it true.”
Ryan and I exchanged skeptic glances. It was a book of legends after all. Zecora wasn’t being as helpful as we had hoped.
“Thank you Zecora, for your help.” I said graciously. Ryan nodded his thanks to her and followed me out of the hut. He shut the door behind him and groaned.
“’Thank you Zecora, for your help.’ What help? I have a headache from trying to figure out her stupid rhymes.”
I shrugged helplessly. “Maybe it will make sense some other time.”
We returned to Ponyville as it grew dark and we went our separate ways, him to Sweet Apple Acres (ugh) and me to Twilight’s (double ugh). As I lay on my pillow bed listening to Twilight read off a letter to Princess Celestia I decided that tomorrow I would start earning my own bits and I would earn enough to get my own place.

I surprised myself. As a human it took seven alarm clocks, my mom, my stepdad, a cat, and a dog to wake me up in the morning. As a pony, it usually took Twilight dropping ten or eleven books on my head. Not thin books either. Like those really freakin’ huge, thick binded, heavy inked, thick paged, gold plated... well maybe not gold plated but you get the point. Not today. Today I was up before either Twilight or Spike had even begun touching the edges of consciousness.
I rose and shook my mane out of my eyes. I slipped out of Twilight’s house and trotted around Ponyville. It was strange being up early. The air was cool and the ground was damp. In the clouds above I could see pegasi pushing the clouds to wherever they needed to go. Windows overlooking the streets were being opened and store shops were setting out open signs. I eyed the shops wondering who would hire the human pony without a cutie mark.
Somehow I found myself in front of Sugarcube Corner. I looked at the building and sighed. Perhaps the Cakes and Pinkie needed an extra hand. I went into the bakery to find Mr. Cake tidying up the front room. I could clearly hear Pinkie in the kitchen.
“Why good morning Elise.” greeted Mr. Cake. “What can I do for you so early in the morning?”
“Um.” I shuffled my hoof on the floor. “I was wondering if you guys need any help around here. I kinda need a job.”
Mr. Cake thought for a moment. “Well, Mrs. Cake is going to be gone for a few weeks. She went out to Manehatten to visit her sick sister. I suppose it would be alright with me.”
A blur of pinkiness flew from the kitchen to the counter. “You’re going to be working with me?! Oh boy!”
“Now, Pinkie. It’s only temporary until Mrs. Cake gets back.” He turned back to me. “I’m sorry. I would hire you permanently but there are usually enough ponies around.”
I smiled reassuringly. “It’s alright Mr. Cake. Temporary will at least give me some place to work until I find someplace else.”
I thought Pinkie was going to explode from excitement at Mr. Cake’s next statement. “Okay then, you can work in the kitchen with Pinkie.” Pinkie started bouncing around the room with happiness.
“Um. Pinkie? Pinkie. Pinkie!” I grabbed her mid-bounce with a small bit of light blue magic. She giggled.
“Yes silly?”
“Shouldn’t we, you know, start baking something?” That did it. Somehow the pink pony broke hold of my magic (?!) and bounced right into the kitchen. I sighed and followed her.
“Now then.” Pinkie said in an all not-so-serious-seriousness. “There are good cupcakes and then there are Good cupcakes.”
“What’s the difference?”
Pinkie rolled her eyes. “One has a lowercase g and the other has an uppercase G silly.”
I facehoofed. Pinkie continued her explanation of the good cupcakes and the Good cupcakes. “Good cupcakes make a customer want to eat a whole batch of them. good cupcakes make customers just want to eat one or two. We don’t want to make good cupcakes do we?! We want to make Good cupcakes!! YES WE DO!!”
I stared blankly at the pink pony. She had ended up standing on her back hooves on the island in the middle of the kitchen. Pinkie was panting from her speech (?) and looked thoroughly proud of herself. I, on the other hand, was thoroughly confused.
The silence lasted only a few moments before we heard the door bell chime signaling a pony customer.
“Let’s do this!” I blinked a few times as I tried to register hearing Ryan’s favorite line said by the pink pony then joined the pink blur of energy in baking.

8 hours, a lunch break, 12 cakes, 14 sheets of cookies, and 18 double batches of cupcakes later my first workday with Pinkie finished. Mr. Cake hung the closed sign up in the evening light and faced the two ponies sitting at a table. I was sure I was a mess. I could feel flour on my nose and back. Pinkie, I swear, had simply dumped a bag of flour on her head. Even the pink ball of never ending energy looked a little tired.
“Well, good work today girls!” He lifted an eyebrow at Pinkie. “You might want to wash up...”
“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie half bounced half hopped across the floor and up the stairs. Mr. Cake went over to the register.
“Here Elise.” I tiredly got up and dragged myself to the counter. “Since we don’t know how long you’ll be staying I’ll pay you by day okay?” He dropped 40 bits in front of me. “You girls did great today.”
I smiled up at him with half closed eyes. Back at home I used to bake for fun. Baking for a job was much more tiring. I took my 40 bits, bid Mr. Cake good evening and shouted up the stairs a goodbye to Pinkie.
As I walked slowly through Ponyville toward Twilight’s, I kept an eye out for Ryan. I hadn’t seen him all day. Again. If this was going to become normality for us I didn’t know if I could keep my feelings for him going. I sighed as I reached Twilight’s. I was so tired I didn’t even hear her yammering on about the latest book she read or Spike’s complaining of his missing gem that he forgot he ate yesterday. All I could do was curl up on my pillow bed and dream of ... well... you don’t want to know.

Comments

[skysky2112]

...part of me doesnt want to know and another does, on one hand bat shit craziness, on the other...bat shit craziness.

AWSOME chapter! keep up the good work!

[FlowerGirl3765]

Dude. See the FREAKING Princess. If anypony could possibly turn pony/ human into human/pony, it would be her.

[Lady Spider]

Lol. but if we did that, the story would make too much sense!

[DemonRykuKyuubi]

Well, I was GOING to say this after reading the first five chapters, been then you had to go and fix nearly EVERYTHING I was going to say:

"Hmm. Interesting first few chapters. I like what you've done so far, but it is FAR too rushed in my opinion. Elise seems like a likable person, and Ryan is... a bit more easy to relate to for me than I should be comfortable with, but you are developing a bit fast. I mean, you did hit a loop-hole with the two of them knowing each other for a while before hand, but five chapters in could be a bit soon for a couple to appear. I will applaud you on having the PonyXHuman couple be incompatible though, as many stories try to come up with an excuse for how a pony and a human could be together (I am not excluded from that particular list! ). Your chapter structure could use some work too. Some spacing and separation of speakers would make it easier to read. The chapters are also just a pinch short for my tastes. I'd say, try working for at least a 2k word minimum, which I see you said you would try for anyway. All in all, it's a great start to what looks to be a fairly long story coming together. Nice work so far, Ela. (That nickname okay?) "

Nearly everything I was going to say fix, is fixed. Bucking. Fantastic. Your word count is still messy, so that's one thing. Also not so sure about the 'incompatible' comment anymore. But I'm impressed. Formatting has improved (Quite a lot, I should add), You slowed the pace down a bit,which is good. Speakers were separated and paragraphs were spaced fairly well. All in all, a big improvement. I'm loving the story, Ela. Great work so far. (Seriously though, is that nickname okay? I like nicknames, but not everypony does!)