So, time to look at another baddie? Somepony else who spreads pain and misery wherever they go? Well, tough, because today we’re looking at Zecora.

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Zecora is a zebra, a race of equids from a land far from Equestria. For whatever reason, she has made Equestria her home, and set up a small hut for herself deep within the Everfree Forest. Unfortunately, her strange appearance, mysterious mannerisms, and choice of residents horrifies the denizens of Ponyville, who believe her to be an evil enchantress and shut up the town whenever she comes in to shop. Even Twilight eventually comes to believe in the stories after a run-in with Poison Joke causes the Mane 6 to come down with strange maladies shortly after talking to her. In the end, however, they learn that she’s really a good person, and Zecora is accepted by the ponies.

And then Season 2 happened.

Zecora continues to reside in the Everfree, but now interacts more openly with the town. She has apparently taken up a profession as an alchemist/apothecary, brewing up potions for anypony who requests them. She is placed in charge of telling the tale of Nightmare Moon, using her abilities to make the story scarier for the foals. She also serves as a mentor of sorts to Twilight, providing her with answers whenever the Unicorn finds herself out of her league. Other than that, though, she remains firmly in the background, appearing only as needed.

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Much like Luna, Zecora spent much of Season One as a victim of the executives vetoing parts of the show. Initially, she was meant to serve as another mentor to the ponies, providing them with knowledge of various beasts and lands they would encounter during the adventure episodes. But when those were put on the backburner in favor of Slice-of-Life, the zebra was just left hanging for most of the season, only appearing in two episodes and being mentioned briefly in a third. It wasn’t until the second season that she was allowed to be used heavily again, although most of her appearances were in the first half.

Zecora, and by extension the zebras, are implied to come from the FiM version of Africa, which is apparently quite far from Equestria itself. Her hut is a small affair, decorated with the usual trappings one would find in a “Darkest Africa” kind of story; she even has a big, bubbling cauldron. This also extends to her accent; the team had originally wanted to bring on a VA who could speak Swahili, but because of time and budget concerns they had to settle for a stock African accent and some foreign-sounding gibberish.

Her most distinguishing characteristic, however, is her rhyming. Zecora always rhymes everything she says. Not just the last words, either, but rather the whole scale and rhythm of every word is kept to. Back during her evil enchantress days, this was one of the things that made her seem untrustworthy to the ponies; nowadays, it’s one of her most endearing qualities. Granted, the writers don’t always pull this off very well, and fan creations tend to not stick to the principles all that often either, but it’s still an important feature of her characterization.

Zecora’s primary ability lies in potion making and herbalism. She uses her cauldron to mix up potions for all sorts of ailments, from mending chipped teeth to chicken Viagra. She is also able to create illusions with her instruments, such as showing a very ghostly representation of Nightmare Moon out of a green powder and using her cauldron to visually demonstrate what happens when a dragon’s greed is allowed to go unchecked. She’s also far more knowledgeable about exotic beasts and otherworldly dangers than the bookworm Twilight, and is the one the ponies go to when even the Unicorn is stumped.

All of these qualities feel like the components of what is sometimes called the “Magical Negro” – a black character who exists solely to serve as a magical wise man to the white protagonists. Personally, while there are some elements of that in play, Zecora is at least presented in a far more believable manner than most, with the show justifying her behavior and knowledge without coming off as patronizing or manipulative like most examples. She’s also allowed a degree of snark, such as telling Twilight she’s doomed when she learns about the Parasprites.

One aspect that hasn’t really been explored is the mark where a pony’s Cutie Mark would go. Since there have been no other zebras on the show so far, and nobody has really posed the question, it’s unclear whether this is an actual Cutie Mark, or just a very elaborate spiral tattoo. Personally, I’d be leaning towards the latter, since none of the other non-pony species have been shown to have marks, but it’s still interesting that it’s there.

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Oddly enough, Zecora doesn’t have a steady shipping partner. In fact, she tends to be on the periphery for most stories. Of course, this all means that you’ll be pointing out a few dozen Zecora shipping fics I’ve missed, so we’ll have plenty of counters to this comment before long.

The character Zecora interacts with the most is Twilight. Whenever a problem arises and they need her help, the Unicorn is almost always either the one who contacts her or amongst the ponies when they do so. Twilight also visits Zecora from time to time for tea, implying that they have a fairly good friendship off-camera. As for the rest of the Mane 6, Zecora has a fairly good working relationship with them, although Rarity seems to still be put off by her stranger mannerisms and Applejack thinks she has a “zebra sense.” Probably radioactive blood, too.

Zecora also has a close relationship with Apple Bloom. Back when everypony was scared of her, the filly was the only pony that was brave enough to approach her and try to become friends. This was frayed slightly when AB stole the Heart’s Desire and unwittingly infected herself with Cutie Pox, but she was still willing to forgive the filly and not revoke her right to stop by the hut.

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Zecora is one of the more interesting members of the show’s supporting cast, if only because we know almost nothing about her character. Season Two beefed up her importance slightly, but she’s still more on the periphery than anything else. Still, it’s nice to have someone the group can go to for advice besides Twilight Sparkle and her endless book selection, and she’s an entertaining member of the cast in her own right. Here’s hoping the third season continues to utilize her and doesn’t push her into the corner again.

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And now we’ve done every zebra on the show. That’s one whole race down. Who’s next?